Private Big heights in the city lights

[Silas Westgard]

"Look at us! It's like all those lessons came in handy after all, huh?"

"They have! I don't think even Master Valery could match what we just did"

For the first time in a while, Silas was laughing and smiling. He hadn't had this amount of fun for years, and it was all thanks to Iris who tried something he loved to do. Iris was probably going to be hooked on these kinds of machines for the rest of her days now, just like he was.

"In all honesty, I didn't think you were much of a dancer until now"

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Valery Noble on one of these dance machines?

Oh, oh yes. That was something they were going to have to do now. Not today though. Today was Silas's day. She just grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Dancing? Maybe. But it wasn't really about dancing so much as hitting the right buttons on rhythm. If I can't do that, what business do I have learning Makashi?"

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Dancing? Maybe. But it wasn't really about dancing so much as hitting the right buttons on rhythm. If I can't do that, what business do I have learning Makashi?"

"Hm, with me it was just muscle memory. I'm pretty sure I mastered most of these songs when I was still on Azbrian. Even after all this time I still haven't forgotten" Silas said with a thoughtful smile. He couldn't forget all the times he jumped on the machines with his mom after a hard day of work. She was very much different from his no-nonsense father, who liked to do things the right way at all times. On the other hand, her mother gave room for messing around and living life with no limits.

"Makashi is something I've learned but want to develop further, I can't help but think this will help me towards that"

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"Maybe. But!" Iris flashed a grin. Shook her head. "We're not here for training! We're here to have fun for your birthday, remember? C'mon! Another dance, maybe another game, doesn't matter to me! But we're focusing on having fun before anything else, okay?"

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Yea yea, you're not wrong Iris" the birthday boy chuckled and looked around the arcade until something caught his eye. The punching bag machine was another personal favorite of his, where it measured the force of a single punch from zero up to a thousand to test the power of the person using the machine. Tugging Iris by the arm he walked over and instantly put it on the hardest difficulty possible, Jedi Mode.

"With this one, all you need to do is punch it as hard as possible, highest score wins," he said simply, just before sliding a single credit in the machine to lower the bag down.

"Ladies first, let's see that power Iris!"

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Punch as hard as possible, huh?

Iris glanced to her hand, letting her fingers curl into a fist. Stared for a moment. Alright sure. All her might. She turned then, setting a stance. Took a breath. Let the Force flow through her before swinging her fist in a quick, savage punch. With all her might. Probably a bit too much might given she crashed the punching bag right into the machine. Glitched it a little. She blinked, glancing to it. Then to Silas.

".. Shouldn't of used the Force, huh?"

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

Silas blinked a few times, a bit taken back from the fact she had used the force on it. Smirking slightly, he walked up to the machine and checked on the damage "Oh stars Iris, try not to break the machine" the teen said with a brief chuckle just before bringing the bag back down "Try to use your natural strength on it, not everything needs the force"

Forming his hand into a fist he brought back his arm and swung it cleanly into the bag. The object swung back up into the machine and calculated the force of the blow, which in the end went up to "889" as a whole. For a kid his age, reaching their numbers on the hardest difficulty was phenomenal.

"See? even without the force you can still get a decent score"

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"You said all my might. The Force is part of that." That was her justification. Still, at least she didn't break the thing. She watched him do it, properly, nodding her head. Strength, without the Force. When he stepped back to let her try again, she again took her stance. Twisted at the hips, brought her fist around. this time without the Force, but a similar smack resounded as her fist collided.

The bag sprang back. "799."

She nodded once, smirking.

"There."

 

[Silas Westgard]

Silas watched on and was impressed with the power she put behind the punch. In the end, she scored lower than him, but it was still very impressive that she got a score of that amount "Now that's a punch!" he said with a smirk across his face, sliding in another credit to give it one more go "This, time, I'm going to give it a good run up"

Backing away, he suddenly ran back at speed at the bag and threw a powerful punch to throw it back into the machine. It only took a few seconds to calculate, but in the end, it gave him his best score yet...

912

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris raised a brow curiously as she watched. And smiled. So he was a lot stronger than his first punch, then? Or did he use the Force? Hard to tell exactly, but she snickered at the thought none the less. Not that he would, but just knowing him was enough to know he'd never cheat.

"Impressive. Valery's lessons are really working for ya, huh?"

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"With the intense training, strict diet, and my religious self development I'd say it has done me nothing but good. I'm the fittest and strongest I've ever been" he said proudly. Silas would have been lying to say it was exhausting, but the results more than made up for the pain. Valery had more or less made him into the warrior Silas dreamt of being.

"Say, do you even have a diet? I always seem to see you eating whatever you want"

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I have a diet. It's a lot more strict than it seems, but I think Master took some pity on me given I never really used to eat food before." She did eat, obviously. Just never actually tasted food. That wasn't burn your tongue off spicy. "Especially as of late. Can't get strong just eating whatever."

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Yea, that's understandable," Silas said with a reassuring smile. Iris had a rough life up until joining the order, so he could see why Valery Noble would be more lenient in a sense. Silas himself had the same rough treatment as she did when he was pretty much held as a slave for a criminal gang. Before that, he had a relatively normal life on Azbrian.

"Without it, I probably wouldn't be as fit as I am. She wouldn't have been so hard on me if she knew I couldn't take it" he said, looking around the room for another game to play

"How about we have a go on the cranes before we go? I'm pretty sure I'll need to be back for a lesson soon"

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Yeah, Valery would probably want them back soon. Maybe even to help Silas celebrate his birthday in her own way. Maybe. She blinked though.

"Er.. Crane?"

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Oh yea... you haven't seen one before have you? well, follow me!" he said with a smile as he grasped her hand and walked her over to the claw machine, something which he called the crane from a young age.

"You basically use the controls to hover the claw over a bunch of toys below and try to pick one up. Believe me, it's harder than it looks..."

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris stared at the machine for a little bit, just seeming to study it in silence. Just a little. Curious more than anything. Use the controls to guide the claw to drop and pick up a toy? Sounded incredibly simple. But she trusted that Silas knew what he was talking about when he said it was harder than it looked.

"Alright. .. Then.. You're going to get a gift?"

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Alright. .. Then.. You're going to get a gift?"

"More of a momento from such a fun day. It will be cool to remember my first birthday in years" he said with a brief smile to Iris as he glared into the machine and saw a limited edition Jedi plushie "That plushie in the middle is mine..." he grinned before putting his face to the protective screen and slowly making the crane go over to it.

"Concentration is paramount here."

Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Concentration, huh? Iris watched on in relative silence. The thought came to just reach in and tug out one of the dolls herself. A thought that was quickly dismissed as cheating. Last thing she wanted to do was cheat. Or be a thief. That'd probably be stealing, right?

"You got this."

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

Silas's tongue stuck out of his mouth and kept his laser beam gaze on the claw as he used the buttons to bring it to the middle. After repositing slightly, he had found the perfect position and hit the button activating its descent "Come on..." he said to himself, the claw going down to wrap itself around the many toys that lay waiting. Within seconds, it closed around a bunch of them and raised up. Many of them fell back down, but surprisingly two remained stuck within the claw's clutches.

"Hey, look at that!" he said with a wide smirk back to Iris, who was probably as amazed as he was.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris canted her head to the side, far more curious than anything else when it came to the contraption. It was Silas's surprise that clued her in to this not being a normal thing. His excitement, his joy. She smiled for him, nodding her approval.

"Er.. Good job!"

Silas Westgard