easy as 1,2,3

[Seto Du Couteau]

Seto Du Couteau
Location: Coruscant, Commissariat Academy Center [Redacted]
Academy Students
[member="Marriskcal Lati"]

​

If Seto had chosen to spar against Marr on a more regular basis, perhaps he could have figured a different approach to combat her aggresiveness. His defensive approach had only yielded near misses, and yet Seto intended to continue his strategy. But the lack of the Force was evident with Seto’s style of saber dueling, and the young Du Couteau heir realized his own shortcomings as his spar continued. Perhaps if given enough time he could figure out a way to cover his weakness during their spar, if only Marr would be considerate enough to allow him to formulate a few thoughts on the matter. . .

But-

Lips cracked to a bemused expression at the recollection of when Seto attempted to teach Marr the waltz. Initially Seto had not put much thought with Marr’s lack of experience with dance, as someone who trained with such discipline as her, Seto figured she would pick the dance up rather quickly.

And. . .

Several sore and red toes later, Seto had excused himself and told Marr he would reschedule their next dance lesson further into the future. "-And I remember you working on your two left feet later that night because you didn't want to embarrass me during the next Gala." Seto added, his sister was a lot of things but weak wasn't one of them, Unless we mean weak against sweetsss-

And now she brings this up now of all- Seto nearly found himself meeting face to face with the floor as his blade blocked Marr’s next swing. The impact was great and Seto side stepped to let the momentum of the blade to carry it down and away from his body.

His second arm instinctively grabbed his sword and pressed against Marr’s heavy attack, his plan on letting glance away backfired due to Seto not prepared for such heavy attack. Seto was stuck, he couldn’t let himself stand still while blocking Marr’s attack, his plan was to keep moving and act as water against Marr’s ferocity. But to move away now with the weight of her attack bearing down. . .

Seto jumped back, but his training sword was the sacrifice to allow his short escape, and Seto raised his fists. Without his sword Seto pushed for the first time into the attack, his legs jumped back into Marr’s range and Seto bet against Marr’s reaction time with his own. His head dropped low and his body twisted to move around Marr from her left side with his hands ready to block any counter as Seto intended to get her unbalanced.

His cape snapped around with Seto’s movement, the young heir appeared as one of those drawn heroes moving into danger with a billowing cape. The young students all leaned forward, many weren’t sure what to think, but to simply smile wide with excitement. Even the younger ones who shielded their eyes from time to time whenever the swords would clash against one another with a loud sound, looked with awe.

 

[Marriskcal Lati]

Marriskcal Lati
Equipment: Dress, Lightsaber x2 (Cyan & Azure), Throwing Knives
Location: Commissariat Academy Centre, [REDACTED], Coruscant
Interacting with: [member="Seto Du Couteau"]

If there was one thing she learned while standing by her once Lord and Master’s side in silent vigil, reputation and influence were weapons, wielded as how one would wield a sword and shield.

You only need to speak of your displeasure, and the entire room would quail and bow.

You only need to look covetously at a world, and the war machine would oblige and march.

And Marriskcal was not about to allow herself to stain her beloved brother’s reputation, nor allow the gilded to whisper that he had made the wrong decision of taking her in.

But those thoughts remained unsaid as the young woman merely arched her brow and reinforced her form to bear with the attempt as Seto brought up a hand to the toy blade to bear with the intensity of her strike. “You would have lost a hand if you attempted that with your lightsabre,” she stated calmly. His act only reminded her of why she detested the toy swords.

The lack of consequences made for a poor lesson. A student never forgot their mistakes when they felt the burn of plasma on their forms due to a missed opportunity or a careless undertaking.

The blade clattered to the floor as Seto gave up his sole weapon, taking the opportunity to step away even as the blonde straightened out of her press. A wise decision, because if the other had waited a moment longer, Marriskcal would have struck at him from another avenue. She watched with narrowed eyes as her brother flowed into what was unquestionably an unarmed combat stance of some form. But alas, her partner was a master of the Teräs Käsi, and he had taken her training under his own wing ever since their fateful second meeting on Skye.

It only told her one thing.

Seto did not know.

And the most important lesson in life was to never give up one’s advantage, as well as to exploit the ignorance of one’s adversaries.

With the tip of her toes, Marriskcal swept the fallen blade out far across the room, refusing to allow her brother to reclaim what he had given up. Using the same leg, the young woman used it to anchor her frame even as Seto drew nearer and nearer with even passing moment. And when her senses hit its’ fever pitch, she moved. As sinuous as a viper, Marriskcal struck, shifting the toy to her left before she swept out in a diagonal slash as she arched towards his right. With her dominant arm, the blonde closed around the edge of his cloak, and tugged at it sharply even as she continued to watch her brother’s raised fists.

Taking a step away, the young woman flicked the toy sword into a reverse hold, the arm coming up swiftly in form of a blow towards the centre of his torso. And concealed by the material of the cloak, her right leg swept inwards, the limb aiming for the back of his knees to take Seto down.

 

[Seto Du Couteau]

Midare stared with wide eyes, growing larger and larger with every swing of the blade and flare of movements that both of his instructors demonstrated for them. Words were exchanged between the two adults, words that Midare could not but barely catch as “dance” and wondered if he was witnessing a fight or a dance with how graceful the two were with one another and their movements.

Midare clapped his hands together as Instructor Marriskcal charged forward with her blow that sent Instructor Seto’s blade falling down to the ground. The wicked sharp turn of her blonde hair only enthused Midare with ideas of himself with his own blonde hair and wondered if he could move with such beauty as his Instructor.

But Instructor Seto his without sword. . . Midare slowly turned his attention back to the male instructor and wondered what he could do against an armed opponent and one such as Instructor Marriskcal. Akita scooted closer as he clasped his hands together in similar fashion as Midare. The two stared in awe of their instructor and curiosity bloomed between them as they wondered if they were capable of such abilities themselves.

Both of their hands gently grasped the hilts of their own training swords, their imagination grew with each step their instructors took, themselves imagining approaching their opponents in identical fashion. Perhaps they could one day fight off their nightmares in such majestic fashion as their Instructors duel with one another, or even their instructors fighting alongside with them.

Yagen watched intently as his instructor flew quickly at the other with only his fists, his cape billowed behind him with quick and sudden movement, and perhaps without it Yagen doubted that he could follow his Instructor with any sort of focus. Instructor Lati kicked away the forgotten blade, but Instructor Du Couteau appeared uninterested in retrieving his lost weapon and instead focused directly to get closer to Instructor Lati.

Their movements were fluid as water and both attempted to crash into one another without entangling themselves and feeling the sting of other’s attack. Instructor Lati poised herself ready for Instructor Du Couteau’s attack and something occurred that Yagen could not make out thanks to the white cape.

But he heard a yelp of pain, the deep tone indicated it was Instructor Du Couteau that cried out suddenly and Yagen could only but watch wide eye as Instructor Marriskcal shoved Instructor Du Couteau straight to the padded ground with a loud thump. One of her hands held tightly to the cape while the other continued to push down her blade into Instructor Du Couteau’s middle section.

“What?” Yagen asked quietly, both Hirano and Maeda looked in confusion to the sudden conclusion to the match as the trio gave confused and questioning glances. How did such a match end so suddenly? Neither understood, or even knew what to look out for in their Instructor Du Couteau's error in his last attempt to swing the match to his favor.



Seto Du Couteau
Location: Coruscant, Commissariat Academy Center [Redacted]
Academy Students
[member="Marriskcal Lati"]

​

Seto blinked, his eyes stared directly to that of Marr’s fierce blue, a depth of an ocean filled with her strength. There perhaps Seto wondered how he ever agreed to another duel with his sister. Am I this lacking without aid from the Force? Seto wondered to himself as he finally felt the pressure of the practice sword release as Marr raised it off of him and allowed him to properly yield the match. Perhaps he had assumed that Marr would had taken a lighter approach to their match did he feel overwhelmed by her ferocity, but Seto had mistaken himself yet again and hoped he hadn't disappointed Marr too badly this time around.

Hopefully far less my own disappointment and my wounded pride.

“You win.” Seto finally coughed up, his smile trembled as he slowly picked himself up. Carefully he patted his clothing to smooth away the wrinkles that had accumulated during their match. His eyes traced itself to his cape that Marr was still clutching and with his own hands he gently clasped her clenched first and patted her hand, “-You always said no capes, but I always had the Force to rely on.” Seto added, his voice no longer held the pain edge as instead he replaced it with his usual charming self and joking manner.

He looked down at his own hands and noticed a red mark that matched the shape of the training sword and knew Marr’s words were spoken in truth but it was because the sword was not his real did he allow himself such leeway with defenses. Something to practice later I guess. With his left hand softly rubbing the back of his head, Seto turned to the rest of the class and bowed his head to address his students.

“As long as you do not slack off on your studies, we shall continue to do live demonstrations for all of you see and witness.” Seto explained to them, knowing full well that the data-slates filled with information could only inspire so much until a leave exercise would be needed to encourage the students along.

 

[Marriskcal Lati]

Marriskcal Lati
Equipment: Dress, Lightsaber x2 (Cyan & Azure), Throwing Knives
Location: Commissariat Academy Centre, [REDACTED], Coruscant
Interacting with: [member="Seto Du Couteau"]

The very moment her leg struck true and his balance began to waver, the hunter that she was surged into her blow to strike him down. Before her brother could regain his breath, the blonde fell into a crouch and held the toy sword parallel to his vulnerable neck, the flat of the blade pressing insistently on his trachea.

Marriskcal paused as it was customary, and waited for a familiar strident voice that she would never hear ever again. One that would announce her victory to her fellow brothers and sisters. One that would chide the failure and pointed out their flaws in a cold succinct manner before she was ordered to strike them unconscious.

One breath.

It was why she disliked it so when the memories of her life from before haunted her every step–

Two breaths.

–And its shadows eclipsed her life at present.

Even as her need for violence began to subside with each calming inhale and exhale, the young woman backed away, a fine tremble coursing across her fingers as she angled the crimson blade away from Seto’s form as she rose. It was only then that the whispers of the younglings permeated her senses and Marriskcal remembered that they were performing for an audience. Quietly, she observed her brother with a wary gleam in her eyes as he yielded, a twinge of guilt threading through her presence when she noticed the faint tremble on his lips as he crafted a smile.

The blonde kept her silence until all their students has filtered out into the hallway, before she meandered to stand before him. Carefully keeping her gaze averted from his own, Marriskcal bit down on the bottom of her lip for a fleeting moment, before she began to speak, “I am… sorry.” There was a prolonged pause in between her apology as she slowly gathered her scattered thoughts.

Somehow, it was inexplicably difficult for her to find the right words to convey to man she called brother.

“In my need to… prove myself… I forgot… that it is… different.”

Marriskcal allowed her revelation to echo through the space as she continued to refuse to look up at her brother. She did not say anything further as she swiveled on the delicate heels of her stilettos, moving to place back the toy on the rack alongside the younglings. Day after day and weeks upon weeks of being far away from her life of before, the young woman was beginning to come to a realisation that what she had once considered reasonable and customary was… false.

Just like the foundations of her life.

Perhaps she would have to speak to Seto and divulge her life growing up within the Order, but today was about their students and their new lives. And while she could not quite find it in herself to give them a smile that came from her heart just yet, but Marriskcal was once a herald and the voice for the Supreme Leader, her veneer was near flawless.

Like a living doll, the blonde left her brother to his thoughts, crafting a bright smile for the younglings as she followed their enthusiastic chatter out into the corridors.