Craving

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer felt a lot, but she knew it was something that didn’t need to be bought up. She locked away emotions she felt as an Empath, it was something that she had grown to do, mostly because people were aware of what they felt deep down and many didn’t want to discuss them. Seeing this as a time to keep the feelings she felt from her wife hidden away as if she didn’t feel them, she shifted slightly to pull her full weight off of Ashin. Despite being off of her wife, she remained close with the sheet pulled up and tucked under her arm. Light finger tips trailed along Ashin’s torso as she nodded softly.

“Nothing to be sorry about. At the time it was what you felt was right, you were tormenting yourself and how you are and who you are – you needed that slap on the wrist I guess is the best way to put it.” Spencer sat up slightly using her elbows and kissed the woman’s tender skin. “You’ve said you’re ready and you’ve shown it more than I can count. The only person holding you back from rising to your previous status is you.” A soft smile and a shy giggle escaped from the blonde, “Though I have an inkling to have you try and beat me in a fight to prove that you’re ready. But that can be for another time – for now before we heal you – I’d like for my wife to hold me, because she’s been away from my bed for some time.”

"I do have a question though, why did you go and fight Odium? Why did leave to fight?" [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

The holding issue was quickly addressed. That settled, Ashin's thoughts turned, at least fractionally, to the question at hand.

"I didn't. You know I'm bad at Sense, Spence -- I had no idea I was walking into a Sith Master's private underground fortress." She reconsidered, visibly, staring at the ceiling. "I hoped, though. I was looking for something worth doing and got in over my head, again. Maybe trying to train up for that faceoff with you; maybe just trying to prove to myself that I still had it in me to walk into just about any situation and walk out again.

"If it helps, my armor's covered in his blood. I gave better than I got."

 

[Allyson Locke]

“I know you’re terrible at it, maybe that’s why you keep me around” The feeling she felt when Ashin held her was something different, the easiest way to describe it was home. Sighing softly she played with Ashin’s fingers a bit as she listened to the woman’s story. She was always the type to bite off more than she could chew, but Ashin always made it out – it was just how she was. That lifestyle was what scared Spencer more than anything and why she was determined to remain at Ashin’s side in battle at all times. At least then, the woman had someone looking out for her.

“I’m just happy you made it out. As for the trial against me, you know how to beat me, you know my weaknesses better than anyone. In the end as long as you can outlast me – you’ll win every time. You shouldn’t worry too much about it. Ashin you’re beyond ready, you’ve survived so much and that’s enough for me too call you a Master.” Sitting up, Spencer ran her fingers through her hair and then glanced over her shoulder at Ashin. “Next time don’t leave me at home, [member="Jared Ovmar"] is perfectly capable at being a Godfather and keeping an eye on Ibaris.”

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ashin grunted in pleasure and agreement. "Jared, plus the dog, plus the teddy bear, plus our kid's on friendly terms with a whole raft of people who'd gladly kill for her. I don't worry about Ibaris' physical safety. It's not that I...well, I didn't leave you behind just to leave you behind. I just get the urge to charge off and accomplish something in the short term, and I don't want to drag you into it when you don't necessarily have the time -- I don't want you to feel obligated to jump in on every little thing I decide to do off the top of my head."

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer shook her head and proceeded to climb out of bed. She slowly gathered her things for the shower and chuckled softly. The comedy of it all was that Ashin continued to try and keep her away from fights, to keep her safe and sound. It was moments like this that made Spencer realize her importance to the woman along with how silly it is to keep one of Ashin’s greatest weapons locked up. Grasping the towel she wrapped it around her nude body. “I don’t ever feel obligated Ashin, I’d walk into Chaos with you because I want to. I have a mind of my own and I intend to follow its will.” Turning her back she headed into the shower. “By the way, its your fault I’m so strong willed!”

The door shut behind her, but quickly opened. Blonde hair poking through the crack of the door and the frame. “Pick a planet, a moon, or something. After I’m cleaned up and I send Ibaris to Jared, we’re going to see how ready you are Lover. Course after I heal you up a bit.” Winking, she laughed while she closed the door. “Don’t want to leave you any excuses when you lose”

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Fingers laced behind her head, Ashin watched with eyes half-lidded. When Spencer vanished into the shower, Ashin's eyes drifted shut, and she stayed there, resting and pondering the fight to come.

***

She'd picked the jungle on Varunda IX, her homeworld in a sense, the place where they'd been married. This far into the jungle, in a clearing made by an old orbital bombardment, the echo of death was tangible, but civilization was distant -- no chance of collateral damage, at least not to sentients. Ashin wore the same thing she'd worn when she claimed the Imperial throne: gi pants, tank top over breast band, combat boots. Not willing to risk Spencer's Force bonds, she'd left Ravening behind and brought only her lightsabre.

"Whenever you're ready, lover."

 

[Allyson Locke]

The jungle of Varunda IX held memories and Spencer nodded in approval at the location. Peering around, she did a sweep for any sentient life forms. While Ashin had chosen a perfect location, the woman wasn’t the greatest at sense. It was clear and Spencer once more nodded towards her student. The clothing was recognizable, it was another memory, one etched into Spencer’s mind as the moment she really noticed Ashin. The woman was everything from that time on. Focusing her mind on the duel, she unclasped the buttons of her robe. In dramatic fashion, the wind blew through the clearing and the robe went with it.

Tutaminis, the base for all of Spencer’s defensive moves required her expose herself fully for the absorption to occur. Because of that minor detail, Spencer’s attire was a bit revealing. A crop top, Echani combat training pants, bare feet bound with tape (for reasons), and her hair pulled back out of her face. Taking a step forward, she formed small spears of midnight black in her right hand. “Always ready.” Quickly the darts were thrown with all the force she could muster towards her lover. The key to this was to keep Ashin away and for Ashin to win, she needed to get close.

No weapon hung on Spencer’s waist, the woman more than enough unarmed. [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"] knew her -- knew everything about her. Regardless of whether the converse was true or not, Spencer had her number, knew that she would need to close the range to prevail -- and knew that Spencer was far more mobile than Ashin. But those were only the broad strokes. There were many factors at play, all of which they both knew and knew well. From Dromund Kaas to Naboo to the Spires of Hell, they'd trained together in every kind of combat.

When the spears flew, she caught the telltale sign in Spencer's wrist, and pulsed Force protection across her body in a greenish aura. Her sabre flicked out and caught two of the miniature darts -- Spencer's trademark, just as Force-shielding of the body was Ashin's -- and the third and fourth crashed against her defensive aura. The greenish nimbus shredded them and threw their remnants wildly off-course, but shards of the energy constructs raked across her skin, ripping her tank top at belly and breast. Another shard caught the back of her sabre hand, just a quick hot kiss.

She, too, took a step forward.

 

[Allyson Locke]

The darts did their job, it justified what Ashin’s current game plan was. The woman was a tank she was designed to survive. Watching the step forward, Spencer knew what she was trying to - it was going to be a slow and steady pace till someone gave out. When one gave out, the other would swarm unrelenting. Till then of course, it was a dance. The ground was loose under her toes, which gave her a quick idea, she fought with distraction, mental attacks and defense. Ashin knew this better than anyone, the woman taught her most of what she knew.

Stepping back, Spencer centered herself in stance. Using her body to manipulate the force around her, she gathered up the loose dirt from under her feet and along the battlefield. In a sweep of a Force push, the fragments were launched. In the same sense only a few seconds behind, three more energy constructs were fired towards Ashin. [member="Ashin Varanin"] knew everything about her and could possibly predict every move before she made it. If it came down to it, she would have to invade, but a part of Spencer wondered what she would find deep down in the thoughts of Ashin Varanin, the woman who made the galaxy bow.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

They'd had a long talk once, in the lake country, about the utility of dirt. Choking, blinding, burying...obscuring.

Unwilling to be choked, blinded, buried or misdirected, Ashin rolled right, but the Force push behind the wave sent her tumbling across the greenery, out to Spencer's left. The darts snapped past her harmlessly.

The tumble became a roll that brought her to her feet, with a mobility that Spencer'd given her when she'd healed Ashin's knee after long years as a cripple. Ashin set her stance, a low one, and that aura of distortion sprang up around her as she reached down to the core of the world and grounded herself. As if playing the outlast game...even if she was fighting someone who just plain didn't run out of strength.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer blinked as she watched her attack counter itself. Frowning, she knew Ashin was resourceful, but this resourceful? The thought caught her as she laughed, it was this resourcefulness that kept her alive when she was alone. That resourcefulness was passed down from Master to Student what felt like years ago. So this wasn't going to be as simple as she thought, seeing that Ashin had grounded herself it meant she wasn't going to be flying like a rag doll with a push of the Force. Reaching into a small sewn in pocket, she pulled out several seeds, a trick Ashin should know quite well. Throwing the seeds to the ground, she focused on forcing them to sprout. When they did sprout they grew like massive weeds which with help of the force became weapons.

Thick vines whipped at Ashin, each covered in thick hearty thorns. As the thick group of vines whipped at the woman, several smaller vines scurried along the ground searching to tie the woman where she stood. [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ashin had been First Apprentice to Sirella Valkner. Plant surge, she knew, was taxing for most practitioners. It required immense complexity of thought and purity of focus.

So as the vines wrapped around her, further immobilizing her but not quite piercing the aura, she snapped out the best counter she could have managed, whether or not most of her attention remained on Force protection.

One little Force push. Origin point: Spencer's humble endowment. Destination: The underside of Spencer's chin.

Nothing powerful, so far as telekinesis went, to be sure. Originating a push from something other than your aura or your hand was just plain tricky; you had to trade in an awful lot of your strength for it. The vines tightened, thorns pricking her skin. With luck, though, she'd break Spencer's concentration and her hold over the vines.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer felt something against her chest, it was as if someone had placed their hand against her heart. Trying not to focus on it, she continued the assault on the woman with the vines. The moment the weight lifted from her chest, her line of sight was shifted as the weight now made contact with her chin knocking her head back slightly. Thrown off by this, the vines stopped growing and stopped movement all together.

Dathomiran curses spat from her lips quietly as she should have paid attention to the shift in the force and the pressure she had felt on her chest. Shaking her head, she had to give Ashin some credit, though the move she had pulled was something she had seen before several times. Spencer didn’t move, she didn’t kick up dirt or cast another spell over the weeds. She stood there with a smile across her face. Something moved in the force, her own aura expanding as she sought out for Ashin’s mind. Instead of using illusions or Force Fear, she focused on putting pressure through the Force on the woman’s mind, surrounding it with a blanket of suffocating Force.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

A good solid move -- the evaluation came unbidden, as if she was still the one training Spencer and not vice versa. Ashin had no explicit counter to this, other than...tough it out. Be a rock, trust her instincts. Wait. She had the wherewithal to stand up against this kind of mental influence, if not to strike back; if there was one thing Spencer had taught her, it was mental resilience, and the ability to keep some portion of her senses and instincts viable even in the throes of what was pretty much a psychic storm.

She fell to one knee, curling her body in to simplify the shape of the Force protection, in case Spencer chucked something at her. That was a three-way split in Ashin's focus -- the protection, the resilience, and the sense. Not something she could maintain for long. For the moment, though, she gave her best impression of one of those lighthouses taking the brunt of a wave the size of a Star Destroyer and not giving a crap.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer stepped forward as she watched Ashin center herself and put up some defenses of her mind. This made entering it harder. Thinking quickly, she pulled her influence from Ashin to focus somewhere else. The sky started to shift, darken above them. Keeping her senses open to anything Ashin might want to counter her with, Spencer began to gather the ingredients for a perfect storm. The woman wanted to stay ground, then it was time for Spencer to pull her away from the core of the planet.

Clouds continued to form, darkening above them and blocking out the natural light from the clearing Ashin had found for them. The trees rustled and the wind began to pick up. Trees that weren’t secured with their roots began t uplift and fall forward crushing whatever was under the trees. Her eyes glanced from the storm and looked towards the Force Cocooned Ashin. “Looks like rain.” Spencer stepped forward as she watched Ashin center herself and put up some defenses of her mind. This made entering it harder. Thinking quickly, she pulled her influence from Ashin to focus somewhere else. The sky started to shift, darken above them. Keeping her senses open to anything Ashin might want to counter her with, Spencer began to gather the ingredients for a perfect storm. The woman wanted to stay ground, then it was time for Spencer to pull her away from the core of the planet.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]. There wasn't a lot of sense in trying to tank a falling tree, and with the mental dominance attempt replaced by the storm, Ashin's returning instincts gave her fair warning. The issue, though, was how comprehensively she'd grounded herself, and the answer was yes.

She met the tree with a rising block. Her feet slammed two inches into the ground. The dented tree rolled away, leaving her in the unenviable position of having expended as much strength in that one block as Spencer was spending on the storm. Proportionally, anyway. Not good for the outlast game, and that was perilously close to being Ashin's only game.

A storm, though, didn't provide the kind of single-sided benefit that won fights. As the weather bent to Spencer's will, Ashin used her recovery to untether herself from the core. She bolted at Spencer, offering her the choice: let Ashin get close, or keep control of the growing storm.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer focused on the storm brewing above them. The clouds and air twisted at her will. The force shifted and she glanced towards Ashin, with the yellow eyes of the darkside corruption. The woman was coming at her using the opportunity to gain ground. She had choices to make, and the storm wasn’t at full power yet. Gritting her teeth, she stepped back and did her best to pull the focus of the spiraling winds to be on the ground between them. Along with the Force, the storm’s winds blew against the charging Varanin.

Knowing Ashin could take mostly anything, she prepared herself to enter hand to hand combat with the woman. It was inevitable, but Spencer had some tricks up her sleeves to create distance again if this gust of wind didn’t do the trick. Spencer felt her barefeet sink into the now wet dirt of the clearing. Rain began to fall from the sky as lightning began to streak along the clouds, thunder boomed around them once. The storm was close, but this distraction would hinder it for another moment. She couldn't let Ashin close, the storm needed to gain power.

Fething chaos...[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ashin did pretty much the only thing she could do, when faced with a backpedaling opponent and a hefty Force-obstruction-slash-gale-force-wind. Wrapping the Force around herself, grounding herself step by step to keep her balance regardless of how Spencer buffeted her, she kept running. Her intent was to shoulder-rush her way through the intense little tempest (and the wind too). Not much to it, all things considered. Simple in its way, her move, though it required her to split her attention, and for moments like this that was less than idea. Then again, ideal didn't currently exist.

 

[Allyson Locke]

She was still coming towards her. Spencer bit her lower lip as she watched as the woman continued to press on towards the her through the storm. The winds weren’t enough, they didn’t stop her at all. A part her felt excited, there was something about this display of power from the other woman that reminded Spencer of the Ashin she first met. Though another part of her felt frustrated and angry, in the end she knew that Ashin’s skills countered hers and possibly she would lose this. Either way, Ashin was back in her mind and that mean there was protection for her and Ibaris specifically for Ibaris. Both of her parents were at full power - there was nothing that could hurt her.

Ashin continued towards her, Spencer taking another step back focused all her energy into the storm. The wind and the rain increased and finally the lightning occurred. She could feel the power of the storm slipping every so often, gritting her teeth she sacrificed her split thinking and focused on the storm. If it came to full power, she could possibly keep Ashin at bay - but for how long? Lightning started to strike down around the woman in hopes of throwing her off course.


[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Lightning snapped down around Ashin, but lightning around her, backed by whatever state of mind Spencer had drawn from her relief and various other factors, had a hesitancy about it that spoke of a lack of killer instinct. Ashin couldn't exactly blame her wife for that, but that was a tactical limitation that didn't factor into Ashin's countermoves. Not because Ashin had killer instinct in Spencer's direction, but because it wasn't required for Ashin's techniques. Tanking a gale didn't require the same directness of intent as sending a few million volts up from the ground into your wife's legs.

There weren't many things Ashin could claim to do very well, but reading people, her wife especially, was one of them. Hair standing on end from static discharge, eardrums rattled from point-blank thunder, she took the last couple of steps and skidded to a halt right in front of Spencer, too close for the lightning.

And did nothing. Being a Master, after all, was more about mastery of oneself than about mastery of advanced abilities, and in that sense, Ashin had never lost her rank, at least not to the same extent.