Here We Go Again...

[SoloWing]

The hallway came to an end; a door loomed up ahead. Nuala studied the door for a long moment, fighting a sense of deja vu, trying to decide how this was all going to go. This was her third master in as many months.

Granted, losing the previous two hadn't been her fault, but by now people were starting to talk about it. Nuala didn't mind that much. She'd gotten used to rumors years ago when she'd studied underneath Cath. What she did mind, however, was all of the bumps and bruises that her training had taken.

She wouldn't lie to herself. Sometimes she wondered if this was the force's way of saying: "This isn't the path for you." It was her goal to work through those feelings when they came and not to let her imagination influence her. But, eh... such wasn't always so easy.

Meh. Now wasn't the time for this. Nuala stepped forward and activated the doorway. She was supposed to meet some guy named Akacen Mothturus and learn underneath him for a while. Hopefully, making some actual headway in her studies would put her mind at ease for a while.

 

[Master Maverick]

((Yay! You spelled his name right! ^^))

Off to the side of the training room a young man of average height and build sat upon a small, modest chair of deep red, slightly cushioned but otherwise forgettable. His head was faced down towards the floor, his eyes closed and his face calm. The position he was in was rather unusual, but that was only because he was not simply sitting, which would be easily determined after but a few moments. His back straight with his knees at right angles, his hands rested upon his thighs, he meditated, drifting into a shallow trance as he readied himself for training a Padawan.

Reading up on the young woman, she had been in a position similar to the one he was in now as well as when he had been a Padawan. He could empathize with her situation well enough. He had been through only 2, but his second Master had only trained him for an unfortunately short period of time; guiding him through the intricacies of the Force, through creating a lightsaber, and then leaving for a mission. He hadn't seen her sense. Indeed, he hadn't even heard of her. Normally this would have made him quite curious, but being as busy as he was, he didn't have the time to dedicate to finding her.

Not yet anyway.

As well, he had been through 2 previous Apprentices who had left the Order for a time, leaving him back to his duties to the Alliance Defense Force. He felt guilty, as though he had done wrong by them and that they left because he didn't do his job well. He knew this wasn't the case, but couldn't help the fleeting thoughts as they passed through his mind.

The door whooshed open and he raised his head slowly, opening his eyes to look at his new Apprentice. Nervousness clenched his chest, so he took a deep breath and calmed down as much as he could. It wasn't much though.

Rising from his seat, he bowed to her. He was wearing his simple training garments, a green linen long-sleeved shirt with brown linen pants. His shoes were practically mere foot coverings so they didn't get dirty. "Welcome, Nuala. How are you?" With his question, he motioned for her to sit in front of her in a chair identical to the one he had been sitting.

 

[SoloWing]

((C/p does wonders.))

Well, that was certainly different. Most of the time her training had started right off the bat. Being asked to sit and talk things through, that was a new one. Nuala gave her new master a customary bow and then accepted the offered chair.

"I'm doing well." She answered truthfully. "How are you?"

She quietly sized him up without being obvious about it. He seemed like a decent enough sort. Hard to read, though. It made her wonder where all of this was heading...

 

[Master Maverick]

Nodding his head, he replied, "Good." A genuine smile accompanied it as he watched as she looked at him. He had nothing to be ashamed or nervous about and allowed her to do such. That she was sizing him up, checking him out even, was unknown to the young Knight.

"So, tell me of your previous studies. I wouldn't want to go over what you already know!" He almost chuckled slightly as he shifted in his seat. He was trying almost too hard to be friendly and open. It wasn't unnatural on the exterior, but inside his mind he felt a little out of place doing so.

While he was used to commanding small groups, training another Jedi one on one was something completely different. It left him more exposed, he felt. Either way, this would be good for him. He had gotten out of contact with practically all of his friends and he needed to make some friends. Even if his friend happened to be his Apprentice.

 

[SoloWing]

"Well, my previous studies were rather straightforward." Nuala began her explanation. She cast her mind back to the beginning and quickly ran through the past several years. "I've learned force pull/push/telekinesis, detox poison, force speed and electric judgment. I... at the risk of sound proud, I have a very strong affinity for force weapon.

"I've received relatively little lightsaber training, although I've picked up some duels on the side to help balance that out that inconsistency. As best I can figure, my force affinities lie more with defensive powers than offensively oriented abilities."

All in all, that was pretty much it. While she could use electric judgment and never failed to be amazed at the ability to shoot lightning from her fingers, Nuala just flat out didn't like the power. It felt off to her-- not in the sense that it was morally wrong to use the power, but in the sense that using it just went against who she was.

The same could be said of force weapon. That was a power that felt right to use, that came naturally. Nuala suspected that it was because the lightsaber always felt clumsy and awkward to her. Maybe she wasn't as far away from her past as she thought.

Either way, she'd learn what she was taught and then roll all of it into a style that was her own. That was her attitude from day one and she didn't see much reason to change it now.

 

[Master Maverick]

For the most part remaining silence, the young Knight nodded in understanding as Nuala recounted her previous Master's teachings. Akacen knew little of Cathbodua, and he didn't care to learn. She had left and there was no need in knowing who she was, being somewhat bitter at those who would do such a thing to something he held so dear.

"Good," he finally said. "To be honest with you, I know nothing of Electric Judgement and don't care to ever learn it. If you wish to practice it or learn more about it, I would have to suggest that you find another." His ignorance at this ability was self-imposed. He knew well enough about this power, but other than its theories, he kept far away from such things. He believed it to be too dangerous for one of his age, never mind young Padawans who had not fully learned to control their emotions.

Smiling slightly, to lighten the mood after his rather stern statement previously, he said, "Perhaps you can show me a bit about force weapon. I know it in theory, but have never practiced it." At this, he lowered his head, his brow furrowed slightly as he thought for a few moments. "Actually, woudl you mind demonstrating it for me, along with your other skills?"

Akacen, ever humble, was never above learning from those younger than him. Age meant little to nothing in such circumstances and, while he did feel slightly awkward for asking his Apprentice to teach him something he himself didn't know, he realized that it might allow them to start out on more equal terms, something he held highly. While he would play the role of her Master, he would never pull rank unless the situation required it. Otherwise he just wanted to be like everyone else. Power, at least at this point in his life, wasn't getting to his head.

 

[SoloWing]

"I... guess I could." Nuala tumbled over the start of her sentence. "Sure."

Of all the ways that she'd expected the meeting to go, this wasn't quite one of them. Had he really just asked her to teach a force power? For that matter, the demonstration of her abilities knocked her a bit off mental kilter as well. But she righted her train of thought as quickly as possible.

Now the question became how to go about demonstrating her abilities. Nuala didn't just want to string them together in one big rush. That smacked of theatrics and showboating and Nuala had never been one to flaunt her talents. Hmm... She'd probably best just walk through all of her abilities in the order that she'd learned them.

She stood slowly and said: "Here's force push, pull and telekinesis."

Nuala unhooked a training baton from her belt, extended her arm, and held it aloft in her open palm. It was a simple enough matter to dip into the force and cocoon the wooden stick in the force. With a slight mental exertion, she used the force to heft the baton into the air.

She held it there for several long seconds, suspending the baton a half-meter above her palm. Once that was done, she moved the baton back and forth-- closer to herself and then back away.

"I can't really show detox poison without poisoning myself. But its a fairly straightforward process. You just use the force to locate the toxins inside of you and then just adjust things so that you sweat them out before they get absorbed. Yeah, it's as nasty as it sounds." Nuala frowned at that explanation for a moment and then continued. "But I can demonstrate force speed."

A flick of the force sent the baton arcing through the air; spinning over her shoulder. Nuala broke off her use of telekinesis to pour the force through her own body. Bone strengthened and muscles tightened as the force shored up her own body's processes. Nuala twisted in place with unnatural speed and darted after the baton. Her hand lashed out to close around the baton inches before it hit the floor.

"Force weapon."

She brought the baton up in a horizontal guard at shoulder level. This time Nuala deftly channeled the force through her body and into the baton. There was the familiar shift as, for one split-instant, she felt the baton as it was her own being and the force patched up weakened molecular bonds and created a powerful shroud over the entire weapon.

Her free hand closed about her lightsaber and Nuala brought it up to ignite the blade. She tapped the newly force forged baton against the slick wood. Rather than sheering straight through the baton, the lightsaber simply hissed and seared in a failing effort to penetrate the simple wooden dowel. Its job done, Nuala extinguished and replaced the lightsaber blade.

"And electric judgment." A flick of her wrist sent the baton twisting through the air. Simultaneously, Nuala brought her free hand up and brought it to bear on the weapon. She quickly and quietly delved within herself, plucking some loyalty from the core of her being and rolling it off into energy. The energy passed down through her arm and manifested as a spark of green energy between her fingers. The bolt of energy snarked through the air and impacted the training baton.

The baton, for its benefit, withstood the blast due to force weapon and simple bounced away from it. Nuala brought her good hand forward and stretched out with the force once again. The baton snapped back into her hand and she returned it to her belt.

"I have little intention in studying electric judgment any further." Nuala explained. "I was taught it as a last resort and I'm content to leave it as such. If I never had to use it again, that would be alright with me."

 

[Master Maverick]

He watched carefully as she performed her skills with telekinesis rather intently, noting her control and fine manipulative abilities of the object. Being honest with himself, it was nothing special. He had almost hoped that she'd show off, show what she was truly capable of with the ability. He didn't really believe that was all she could do, but perhaps it was. Either way, he just took it for what it was.

When she moved on to Force Weapon, he rose from his seat and moved closer to the girl, watching her and almost peering through her being. Indeed, he was in a way. Feeling the force, he followed and felt what she did. While what he felt was imperfect and incomplete, he now had a better understanding of the power. Standing back as she demonstrated the implications of the power, he kept going when she moved on to Force speed.

It was satisfactory enough. Certainly not the fastest he's ever seen, but that was to be expected and he, of course, didn't judge her for that. She could use some training in the skill and he kept that in mind for future training sessions. Taking a few more steps back after, he watched as she performed Electric Judgement.

It was impressive enough, but it seemed simply far too dangerous. He felt that, too easily could one so untrained in the Force and the ways of the Jedi be seduced by its power and fall to the temptations of the Dark. At first he kept his thoughts to himself, not wanting to show his disapproval and fear, in a way. However, he remembered that he was her Master and it was his job.

"To be quite honest with you, I don't believe you should use it during your time as a Padawan. The power has very dangerous implications and can turn even the most devout followers of the Light to the Dark. I don't mean to insult you, but for one so young and untrained, I don't think it wise to use such a power. Not even I would tempt such a thing." His natural personality would have had him look down and away at that, being embarrassed at his almost irrational fear of it. However, he force himself to keep his gaze strong and on Nuala for the duration of his speech and the moments of silence thereafter.

Finally he added, "Instead, I would ask you to fill that time with more meditation and self-enlightenment. I don't mean to say that you should never use the ability. It is quite powerful and would be excellent in many situations. I just want you to be aware of the implications of what you use."

Moving closer, but not too close, he moved on to the next part of the training session. "If you would, could you show me your skills with a blade?" Not reaching for his own blade, he wanted her to simply go through the motions. Perhaps pretend she was facing opponents. They would spar soon enough, For now he wanted to see her skills.

 

[SoloWing]

Evidently, Nuala reflected ruefully. All of her maturity over the past three years was for naught. She pushed the comment aside as quickly as it had come. Akacen hadn't meant the comment like that and she knew it. So, Nuala gave him an obedient nod and made a mental note to do just that.

"Very well." Nuala said.

A twist of her wrist brought her lightsaber up and she ignited it. Several loose seconds passed as Nuala moved through her paces. Guarding, thrusting, parrying. Her blade skill was nowhere near as refined as her force skill; that was just a simple matter of course.

 

[Master Maverick]

The maneuvers were performed well enough. It was quite clear that she didn't practice with her blade nearly as often as with the Force. He remembered when he was as such, almost jealous at the lack of responsibility she held. Almost jealous, but simply remembering those times, he finally moved forward and motioned with his hand for Nuala to stop.

"Reading over your file, as well as watching you play-fight, I believe that Soresu would be a form that fits your personality well. Would that be acceptable to you?" He hoped she would accept because the only other form he knew in depth was Makashi, and he was relatively certain that she might not necessarily wish to learn that one. If it was another, he would have to, for the most part, improvise.

His hand sat lightly on the hilt of his lightsaber. It wasn't threatening, simply his hand rested there showing that he would soon take it out. As well, it gave his hands something to do so he didn't look overly awkward.

 

[SoloWing]

Soresu... Nuala cast her mind over what she knew of that particular form, which, honestly wasn't that much. She knew that it was considered the most defensive of the lightsaber forms. It definitely seemed to fit.

"I believe that would." She said with a slow nod.

It was just another reminder of how much she had changed over the past three years. The old Nuala would have enjoyed a more reckless form that utilized flash and flare. At present, Nuala was forced to admit that the notion of being so fancy didn't appeal to her at all. It was curious. She'd have to reflect on that later.

 

[Master Maverick]

While the debate that went on in Nuala's mind was unknown to the Knight, the one on her face was clearly seen and, in a way, analyzed. Of course not negatively, simply that he watched as she considered the form and agreed to it.

"Alright." A smile grew on his face as he was rather glad that he would be teaching another in his favored form. It would be quite an interesting experience for him and he hoped he would explain and teach it effective.

"So, as I'm sure you've read, Soresu is based on an impenetrable defense. Tight movements around the body, keeping one's blade close and never allowing for an opening. This in itself will require years of practice and training, but can be quite formidable in the right hands.

"I want to specify that Soresu is not simply defense. You must know when to attack, but your strikes, for the most part, will simply be attempts and, hopefully, successful ones that draw your opponent out, unbalance and distract them, to allow for an opening for you to exploit. In this way, Soresu is actually quite offensive for you need an extensive knowledge of offensive maneuvers to utilize this form best.

"For now, though, we'll simply go through the motions." With that, he drew his blade, revealing the orange/amber, a fire in his hands, and dropped into a defensive ready stance on his left side, waiting for Nuala to mirror him.

Then he went through rather basic movements, naming them as he went along. He would do sets of 6-8 before speeding them up a bit, putting the maneuvers taught into various combinations. Then he would teach another set, speed it up and put that set into various combinations. After the second set, which was marginally more difficult than the first, he then wove in some of the stances from the first set with the second; making sure she remembered and keeping all of them flexible. He made sure her form was, more or less, perfect and made sure to reverse each maneuver so she'd know how to do them for both sides as well as make sure it was comfortable for her to do so.

He'd show her several sets in the course of a few hours. By the end, even Akacen had some perspiration accumulating on his face which he wiped off after deactivating his blade and showing they were done with that, for now.

Then he started to move back towards the chair, motioning for her to follow, as he poured them some water so rehydrate themselves. He drank the first moderately sized cup in one go and poured himself another, which he sipped from slowly. "We'll go over those occasionally, but I expect you to work on them on your own. If you forget, then that's what we'll go over together." Slightly out of breath, he didn't mean to sound harsh. He simply wanted her to take the initiative with her training; he wasn't about to hold her hand through it.

Several minutes passed as they rested. Nothing of importance was spoken, and for the most part it was silent. He asked her if she felt comfortable with everything she learned, even though he had done that, what seemed like, hundreds of times in the actual demonstration.

If she had any questions, she was more than free to ask them. Especially when he asked if she had any questions.

_____________________________________

"Are you ready to spar?" he finally asked after all was said and they were rested. Even so, it was more a rhetorical question as they would do it regardless.

"You can use whatever you wish; treat this as a normal duel. Let's just make sure we don't lop off any limbs of stick each other with anything!" He chuckled with that and rose from his seat.

Moving to the far side of the room, he turned to face the chairs they had just been sitting in. Grabbing his hilt, he turned the dial on the device to decrease the intensity of the blade and make it far less harmful. It would now prove quite difficult to cut through the arm of a person.

Activating the blade, he took a traditional Makashi stance, his arm (singular) and legs strong. His left arm, at this point, was in a fist behind his lower back, with his saber hand out in front, pointing towards the ground directly between the two. "Ready?"

He waited for her ready, before approaching. It was merely a somewhat quickened walk, speeding up not too much by the end of it. He would perform a series of short raps; first at her left shoulder, then her left thigh, moving to the right side of her head then left shoulder before stepping back.

The strikes were of no real speed and were simply to allow her to get a feel for his moves and for each of them to get ready for the friendly duel between Master and Apprentice that was to commence.

 

[SoloWing]

It didn't matter if she was ready or not, the duel was going to take place and so it would be silly for her to delay. Nuala settled into a light defensive stance, dropped the power of her lightsaber to bare training levels, and indicated her readiness.

A part of her was tempted to simply cut loose with the force but she refrained-- that didn't seem to be the purpose behind this duel. Besides, she needed more practice with the bladework than with force manipulation. It would be a good challenge for herself if nothing else.

Trying to implement the lessons that had just been learned, Nuala tried to keep her lightsaber motions quick and tight. She juked the blade up and down, back and forth, intercepting each blow as it came. One foot moved back and Nuala retreated a step, putting some distance between herself and the man.

She tried to keep her focus tight and anticipatory. Whatever Akacen decided to throw at her, Nuala wanted to be able to counter it. Where she would go from there or how she would mount a counterattack, Nuala didn't quite know yet. In the end, all she ever did was make it up as she went along. That was about all of the plan that she ever had and it'd worked out so far.

 

[Master Maverick]

After a rather simple combination, simply strikes to the major zones of the body, he disengaged for a few short moments.

Looking around, they were near the center of the space, a rectangle in which the longer walls were to their sides at the moment. The door was to Akacen's left, and that is the way he started to move around Nuala. As before, they weren't quick by any means, just watching as she followed his movement, seeing what she might do in response.

With no real warning, he snapped his blade up at a diagonal striking at her right side. His blade, in this position, would be crossing his body. Anticipating a block, he decided to pick it up, but only marginally, as he would circle his blade in a tight motion to strike at her right shoulder.

During these strikes, he continued to move around her right side, picking up his already slow pace only a little; taking smaller, faster steps. After the strike to her shoulder, he suddenly changed direction, not only stopping his movement around her right side, but moving left in a moderately distanced strafe. He then struck a bit more quickly at her left shoulder and then stabbed at her chest. He would disengage by backing up, allowing the power of the block be taken by his wrist and, thus, keep his blade in front of him, not allowing for an easy counter.

Though, he wanted her to try anyway. If only to see what she could do.