Private A First Meeting

[Valery Noble]

Coruscant Temple

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Toby Perris

Valery let out a soft breath and lowered herself from the handstand she had been in for over an hour. It had been part of her own training routine, but now that she had wrapped it up, she was going to get ready for a small meeting with a younger Jedi. So after settling on the ground, she grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off her face, before picking up a bottle of water to drink a little.

Toby Perris was going to arrive any moment now at the training room she summoned him to. It was a chance to learn a little more about him, and perhaps even train together.

Sometimes, a spar or training session was the best way to get to know a Padawan, after all.

"Hmm, maybe I should have given myself more time to get ready." She shrugged and put away the towel before summoning her lightsaber into her hand. The violet blade ignites, and until Toby showed up, she'd go through a routine of simpler, more relaxing exercises.

 

[Toby Perris]

FLOWING FORWARDS - PEERING BACKWARDS

CORUSCANT JEDI TEMPLE
TEMPLE DISTRICT - GALACTIC CITY - CORUSCANT
Valery Noble

Toby had hardly been at the Coruscant Temple for very long... it was almost like he had checked into a hostel with different rules than a hostel, then turned around and hopped on a party bus to another planet to go to that concert. Not that he had ever stayed at a hostel, or been on a party bus, but if he didn't know any better, going to a concert so soon after arriving might have set the wrong expectations. Yet, Toby had gained a sober perspective on becoming a Jedi well ahead of his arrival.

Rather, he'd learned from Rik in their countless discussions and from other sources that this was not an easy path, but a righteous one. Also that Jedi were not infallible, but more often than not, they learned and grew from their mistakes, and were more likely to be humble. And that there was no one right way to be one. Of course, when he’d told Kelly that he decided to go through with it, the ‘becoming a Jedi’ thing, the guy had ruffled his hair after a moment…

‘Huh, guess nerds like you can be Jedi too.’

…That was what he’d said. “I’ll show him,” Toby had groused when the older sib was out of earshot, wondering for not the first time how they were even related. Or why. But this was the furthest thing from his mind, today. So far from it: today, he’d been summoned by the Sword of the Jedi herself to one of the many training rooms the temple had to offer.

He was going to be in a training room. Alone. With Valery Freakin’ Noble. “I’m not nervous,” he insisted to himself as he walked the corridor toward the training room, “Nooooooope.” She could crush him, without a shadow of a doubt, pictures and news coverage gave the impression, but… he’d also seen pictures where her likeness was plastered on the side of a fighter or two. Very different from official sources.

Again, thanks to Kelly, who was one of the Alliance’s many fighter pilots, and who teased the feth out of him, seeing the red in his cheeks, when Toby realised just who that was an artistic rendition of, painted on those B-Wings. Why did he have to share blood with such a frustrating person? Why did he let that laserbrained cockwomble live rent-free in his head? How was he an adult?

Maybe it wasn’t so far from his mind, after all. “Ugggh!” he uttered under his breath, coming to a moderately frustrated stop a foot or so from the door, < No, I will not let you ruin my day when you’re not even here! > came the thought; he shook his head fervently, as if that would shake the subject of his second-oldest brother free from his hovertrain of thought, then, taking a deep breath in and out like he had countless times before, Toby unfurled his fists at his sides. “We good?” He muttered; another less-deep breath, as he reminded himself of what he was in this corridor for, and he nodded, raking a hand through his hair, “We’re good.”

Then he walked up to the door, let himself in… and almost let himself get hit by the door. There she was, Master Noble, moving like water. Like a gentle breeze… with a very. defined. shape. His jaw only dropped for a second or two, then he closed his mouth and swallowed. “Make that 'crush me gracefully',” he whispered in awe.

After another moment what he’d said clicked, and he couldn’t have clapped his hands over his mouth any faster. The nerves rushed back in with vengeance as his eyes widened...

 

[Valery Noble]

Coruscant Temple

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Toby Perris

While Valery could hear the doors open, and felt the nervous presence of a young Jedi entering the room, several long seconds passed before she finally finished up her sequence of movements. Her blade then disengaged, she straightened her posture and turned to face the young man...who was still staring at her. Valery blinked, then chuckled when she faintly heard him whisper something that he regretted. "Well, are you going to just stare at me, or join me?" She asked with a smirk, and a tone chosen carefully to tease, rather than scold.

She knew what young boys or men were like, so she wasn't angry, but she still preferred him to look up into her eyes rather than-

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Padawan Perris," Valery then added before dipping her upper body into a bow when he made his way over. A hand then came up through her long hair, and she offered another friendly smile.

"I like to familiarize myself with all Jedi in the Order if I can, so I figured I'd invite you here so we can get to know each other, and perhaps train as well." She paused for a moment and focused her senses on the young man. It wasn't uncommon for Padawans to be a little nervous meeting her for the first time, but she did hope for those feelings to fade. She wanted ber fellow Jedi to be comfortable around her, so she could offer them the guidance they might need.

"So please, tell me a little about yourself and if you have any preferences for this training session, let me know as well. We could spar or I could teach you something new."

 

[Toby Perris]

FLOWING FORWARDS - PEERING BACKWARDS

CORUSCANT JEDI TEMPLE
TEMPLE DISTRICT - GALACTIC CITY - CORUSCANT
Valery Noble

"Well, are you going to just stare at me...

His eyes shot up to her face and his hands fell away from his own. Though the tone she used caught his ear, together with the smirk it only muted what being caught made him feel; his eyes briefly squeezed shut in a hard blink as his head shook.

“No ma’am!” he exclaimed softly in mild embarrassment rather than outright mortification, raising a hand halfway, one finger extended and the rest half-curled, prepared to launch into explaining himself, or apologise? ”I’m…”

“...or join me?"

Whatever words might have come next died before they could live. Toby’s hand dropped and the fingers curled into a very soft fist, while his brow knit gently together in momentary confusion, “...in what, exactly?” But wait, this was a Jedi training room, not someone cute teasing him in the school cafeteria! “I mean, yes, Ma’am!” Was he going to trip over himself the whole time? < Jedi training room, genius. > He hoped not. “Uh, Master Noble.”

Toby scratched the side of his face, looking a little sheepish as he loosed a short sigh at himself. < Come on, Tobes… could you be less awkward? > He admonished internally as she finally greeted him by his new rank and name while he started to move away from the door, only to stop again when she bent into a bow.

This was familiar! Toby faced the Jedi Master fully, and dipped his torso into a bow, just like he’d been taught by the Green Jedi that manned the Saber. And he’d taken to greeting the Jedi there like that, every time he entered the Enclave. He’d spent copious amounts of time in their library, studying the history of the Jedi and historical wars after school when he didn’t have other extracurricular lessons, and had even managed to befriend one of the Jedi there, with whom he had many discussions that delved just as much into philosophy as they did into history.

The man had also helped him learn to interpret what he felt through the empyrean, and had, in his way, ultimately convinced Toby to take the next step beyond simply flirting with the idea of the Jedi. Little nuggets that lead the teen there, through the frame of answers to his own questions.

“Likewise, Master Noble,” he replied after righting himself again, greeting her in the way his friend at the Enclave had greeted him, at their first meeting. That was the truth, no matter his nerves or awkwardness. He was happy to be here.

Finally, Master Noble explained why she had invited him here, and that was when things started to feel a little more real than they did already. As if starting to live at the temple wasn’t real enough! And training?!

“Well uhhhm--” What should he say about himself? “--I’m sixteen,” that was probably on his file! He could do better than that! “Ah, and I graduated a few weeks ago!” Early. Smarty-pants. “And I can fly - not literally! - but I’ve been learning to fly for a few years,” a.k.a. since he could reach all the controls and pedals, starting with a landspeeder at thirteen, “no matter what we wanted to do with our lives, we each had to learn,” he explained. That was a little, and it was enough for now. There was something itching at his brain.

“So, sparring. On the subject of sparring? I, uh, I have a question: I’ve only held and switched on a lightsaber once, and that was, uh, really, really, really cool to hear and see up close, but… also really, uh, weird,” almost uncomfortably, hazardously weird, “how long did it take you to get used to using a blade that weighs, ah… essentially nothing? There’s nothing countering the weight of the hilt that I could tell. It felt like I could drop it really, really easily if I didn’t keep a tight grip.”

And that made him a little wary.

“Not that I’ve ever used an actual sword, but it was just… weird.”

 

[Valery Noble]

Coruscant Temple

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Toby Perris

"...in what, exactly?"

Valery tilted her head slightly and quietly watched him for a moment. It was to be expected that calling out his staring would make him a little embarrassed, but the awkwardness with him seemed to run deeper. Perhaps it was just the idea of meeting here with her for the first time, or perhaps he was a little shy. Either way, she offered him a kind smile and didn't plan to linger too long on teasing or calling him out for staring.

Instead, she wanted to focus on why she really brought him here, and bringing that up seemed to loosen him up just a little bit as well. He explained a few basic things about himself, and one thing in particular seemed to stand out to her, "Flying?" she asked with a bit of a smirk. "I might have to see your piloting skills in action sometime, then." Her grin likely made it clear that she loved flying herself, especially if it was in her fighter.

There was a time when she flew as part of a Jedi squadron, even, but these days it wasn't quite as common and mostly reserved for specific battles.

On the topic of sparring and the question that followed from him, Valery began to smile, "It took me a while before I felt comfortable that I had mastered the basics, and even now I'm still learning and developing my skills. It's almost like learning how to play an instrument — it's a lifelong journey." Valery then turned and raised a hand to summon the hilt of a training lightsaber into her hand. It was simple but it would be more than enough for training. "Here, this is a training lightsaber. They're locked to a low power mode so you can't harm yourself or others with it. At most, it'll sting a bit." She tossed it over and reached for her own lightsaber.

"To cover the basics, we typically start with Shii-Cho and its Ideal form. Here, we strike various parts or zones of the body with basic horizontal or vertical strikes, and block them in ways to always have a 90-degree angle between lightsabers. It's not very practical for real world use, but it's to learn how to control this rather odd weapon."

With a flick of a switch, the violet blade of Valery's lightsaber ignited, "Do you feel ready to try a little? We can talk more as we practice."