Private Don't run with sabers

[Roxsie]

Location: Outside ship docks
Tag: Iris Arani

Roxsie had already left her ship docked and paid for it's fee before leaving. Things were...odd. Her mother was just not acting the way she expected her too, not that it was enough to necessarily directly impact things. But there was still something going on she wasn't saying anything about. She talked to her droid though, really, of all things. The droid. Sure it was designed to understand people and she'd had it for a while but it was still a droid.

Maybe she just over-estimates droids, or it could be me...again. She thought as she kept on walking. She had her golden rebreather over her face, and her sword at her side. And her outfit was a little more 'stylish' than something the rest of he family would wear. Or at least, styled. With bits of gold and odd golden appearing skulls on each shoulder. It wasn't even that she had more of an obsession with death than her mother, it was just the skeletons. She had no interest in speaking to the dead, or necromancy, or anything. She just liked the look.

She was drawn from her thoughts when some merc grabbed her by the shoulder to turn her around, she stepped back as she did so, "Don't touch me Sleemo." it was a very blunt statement and almost caught the mercenary off guard before he pointed at the docks, "Get your ship out of my spot girl."

"Psht, should have reserved it sooner, not my fault." She shrugged turning around again and starting to walk again, he grabbed her by the should again more roughly and she gritted her teeth, her fingers tapping against her leg as she looked at him with a tilted head, "What's your deal?"

"Move your ship. I better not have to say it again. You're testing my patience." His patience was in his voice as well. She narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms, "Oh, oh, I'm testing your patience? Oh-oh no, how absolutely awful. How that must make you hurt. I didn't realize. If only there was something I could do."

She turned again, "Sure would be a shame if your ship couldn't take off next time."

Roxsie stopped, he continued, "I'd really move that ship if I were you." She turned around narrowing her eyes at him he was over a foot taller and covered in armor. She felt her anger boiling, and gladly let it do so. Things were about to get ugly. "Should've left it alone Schutta." Her sword was drawn quite quickly as the force empowered her movements onto the attack.

 

[Iris Arani]

To travel the galaxy and learn more about it's inhabitants. That was Iris's task while Valery Noble was stuck in bed rest due to her pregnancy. It's what brought her here, provided she didn't get into trouble. That was the stipulation. After she'd arrived to see her master down a pinky such rules had been strictly enforced. No going to warzones, current or former. No getting into fights. Learning to avoid danger when possible.

Not that it helped this time. No sooner did Iris arrive to this world than she felt something off. The colors twisted, and without thinking she'd run off. Domxite flashed into existence as she leapt, getting between Roxsie and the man she was intending to cut, blocking the damage before the man would surely get killed. The man stumbled back, nearly falling on his rear in surprise.

"Go." It was all Iris said, and the man didn't argue. Iris kept her blade pressed against Roxsie's sword, having never looked away.

"You need to calm down. There's no need for violence."

 

[Roxsie]

Someone managed to get in front of her before she could cut into the mans neck, she narrowed her eyes at the girl in front of her. And the most notable thing, naturally, was the lightsaber. She may not have the killers instincts her mother had, but she knew better than to try and go after the mercenary and turn her back on Iris Arani .

Fortunately, the blade was made of Phrik, so it wouldn't wield. But her own flesh definitely could. "You're right, there is no need." she said, she was the smaller of the two, if barely, but she never intended to play by strengths anyway, she leaned forwards, and with that motion brought h foot forwards aiming for Iris's right shin and twisting her own blade and body to one side. The purpose was to get her own blade on the inside of the two, while pushing Iris's down and away so she'd be able to cut towards her unhindered.

Whether that would work or not, she wasn't sure. She was fast but she didn't have much to go off of when it came to any other force users. If it were her mother, she'd fail dreadfully. If it were her sister, she'd probably have easily succeeded. But she'd never have gone for a sword lock anyway.

She was interested to see what would happen.

 

[Iris Arani]

"You're right, there is no need."

These words usually would fill Iris with a sense of relief. It meant the end of the of a potential conflict in most cases. In this, it did little to ease her mind. The colors still signified danger. And for good reason. The Padawan winced as her blade was forced down, but rather than linger she moved. The blade that existed shut down as Iris leapt back away from Roxsie , trying to create distance.

"Then why are you still fighting!?"

 

[Roxsie]

Blade off and make space. Ok. So she is defensive. Treat her like a Jedi right? For now. Especially wary of force pushes, mind tricks, and disarming moves. Were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she took on a stance looking at her intently while trying to close the distance, though carefully, "You took his place. That was your call. I didn't want you-" She lunged forwards, then ducked to the left at the last second, swinging the sword with one angled up at iris, while using her free hand to let her use her momentum to bring her back on her feet on the opposite side.

She had to keep acting fast though, Ataru was an aggressive form, so she was going to stay aggressive, she pushed forwards again, her weapon usually staying in both hands but sometimes shifting to only one in several attacks. Only two of them would even have any chance of being lethal, assuming medical aid was an option once the fight was over. But she was fine with causing injury, she was angry, but she was hardly bloodlusted. It was however, quite hard for her to naturally disengage from a fight without either winning or losing. "-But you...got in...the way!" she finished her earlier sentence between strikes.

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris brought Domxite back up, gripping the hilt of the lightsaber casing in both hands as the pink blade erupted forth again. She kept purely to the defensive as Roxsie lunched forward, acting on instinct alone to get the running current of energy between herself and the weapon. It was heavier than a lightsaber. Worse, Roxsie seemed to be actually good at bladed combat.

The Padawan had never been good at lightsaber combat.

She continued back from each strike, using the world around them to help offset her obvious lack of experience. Ducking behind speeders, spinning around support pillars, anything to use to disrupt Roxsie's flow. "I couldn't let you-" She hopped back, onto a parked speeder to get away from another strike, then farther back to put it between her and the other woman.

"Just attack someone!"

 

[Roxsie]

She was deflecting, and keeping herself at bay, but that meant they were both playing to their talents she believed. Ataru was made for offense, and it was what she knew the most in. She noticed Iris using the environment to her advantage, but that just couldn't be allowed to stand. She had to up her game. She started leaping far move often, using more aggressive attacks that could leave herself open, but only if Iris too was willing to take a possibly worse hit, as she started empowering her weapon through Force Weapon.

As Iris passed by the speeder Roxsie used the moment to breath, Ataru was taxing and she wasn't tired yet, but if she pressed too hard she risked exhausting herself too fast, so she would take pauses and go in bursts to prevent that. She tilted her head Iris Arani as she said she couldn't let her attack someone. "You could but you refused. Besides he threatened my ship at the very least." She responded before leaping over and then using the bike as a push off to shove her further towards Iris with a diagonal swing. She expected her to dodge that, she assumed deflecting would be much to hard with an entire body behind the weapon. So she was ready to quickly move her feet back to the ground and turn towards her, aiming to slide her weapon towards Iris's hilt. Most of her attacks were towards the padawans body, so she hoped the sudden change would perhaps offset the girls defenses.

She was still angry, but she was running into the same problem her mother did when facing jedi who were actually skilled at defense, yet refused to fight back as she had with Kahlil. Though Roxsie hadn't come to the conclusion she would fail at hitting the girl just yet, she still believed she could win this. But the problem was time. In a way she was as much a user of Ataru in form as in mind. She went in bursts, and while she could force her anger to remain, she might not actually want to. But anything might set it off again, and if she made any ground, it might stay on its own.

 

[Iris Arani]

The longer this went on the harder it was for Iris to actually keep up with Roxsie . If not for Domxite's meld with her, she'd of been taken out some time ago. Her reactions were on point, barely enough to keep her from being stuck down again and again. But her style wasn't made for this. She wasn't much of a swordsman, and it showed all too clearly. Eventually it reached the point that barely in time blocks to stop her from getting hit were barely there to stop her from being cut too deep. Shallow cuts lined her robe, thin streaks of blood dripped down from fresh wounds.

She was tired.

"Look, look!" Iris practically scrambled back from the next strike, breathing fast. "Stop! Please! I don't want to hurt you."

 

[Roxsie]

Progress...sort of. Wounds were being made, but it wasn't a win. Could cut small wounds a hundred times but if an opponent made just one well placed stab that might be the end. She was breathing fast, so she was weary. Good. Then the battle was nearly over. Roxsie didn't need her to die, but she hated that she stood in her way. If she turned her back on her and went for the man, then she'd still try to protect him. And that was enough to convince her she had to keep going.

She did hesitate slightly, as Iris scrambled to her fight, actually considering it, though doubtful that she'd agree. But Iris saying she didn't want to hurt Roxsie, didn't exactly push the girl towards seeing reason. "You chose that!" she growled striking forwards again, if Iris was weary, maybe if she ended it quickly it'd work out. She struck faster then before, empowering her weapon and trying to increase its speed so that she could force Roxsie to make a bad move. Now that she was actually endangering a person though. She just wanted success. She didn't really want her to die. And at least the delay of the fight was actually helping her in that regard. She just needed that feeling of accomplishment. A dropped blade, a surrender, exhausting Iris till she couldn't fight, or an injury to do the same. That'd be enough.

She wouldn't say that, naturally. And she had only thought of her own risk of failure in how to avoid it, but little beyond that. She was tiring too, it could be hard to hold up a fight. Especially against an opponent that refused to fight back, but still held their ground. Sure from a strategic standpoint it gave her an advantage, but it didn't mean she couldn't exhaust herself emotionally and physically in the process.

Iris Arani

 

[Iris Arani]

Roxsie wasn't backing down. Iris was getting tired. Hurt. But she was going to have to keep fighting? No, the Padawan didn't want that. She continued back, her blade still barely stopping the crashing strikes of the other woman. Just defending was only going to get her hurt. That's the conclusion that the Jedi came to. And if she fell, who knew who else Roxsie would hurt? Go after?

The exhausted expression on Iris's face blanked out as she let herself fall into the embrace of the Force. Into the colors. She was tired, but her body pushed past that. Sluggish movements had life brought back to them, seemingly renewed by a second wind. For better or worse Iris turned to strike back. While not heavy blows, her blade started to strike out. Her body weaved through Roxsie's strikes as the burning edge would in turn go to disarm. Either by knocking the blade from Roxsie's hand, or simply removing the hand entirely.

 

[Roxsie]

Roxsie felt the change, almost as much in the force as in the shift in Iris's abilities. She was crippling herself in her fighting. That or she only just now managed to properly tap into what she could do. Not only did Iris get a second wind, she actually finally struck back and Roxsie was forced to dodge, almost frustratingly, she was also going for disarming shots now. Still, Roxsie wasn't yet out of her element, her mother fought aggressive and only used Soresu when she was bored, really needed to, or for training purposes.

Still, her mothers style rarely went for the hand, disarming strikes were at best something that was a side-thought, meaning the techniques were indeed different. She outwardly didn't change though, though her emotions could definitely falter, her outward control was much stronger...in some ways. She rushed in thought, making more feints to draw out more disarming strikes from Iris and then attack in turn, but she doubted that'd be enough. She ended up twisting her blade in her hand in a rushed movement intended to appear like a strike from beneath, when really she dropped it lower, and, especially due to force weapon, tore up the ground sending many bits flying at Iris's face followed quickly by as much of a force push as she could muster in that split second moment.

Her skills with a blade were far superior to her force abilities, especially preferring to just enhance her abilities, but sometimes alternative methods were required. And if all it took for Iris to get a second wind like that was to take Roxsie seriously after lasting this long with mostly just cuts, she really needed to adapt in turn or risk failure.

Iris Arani