Float like a Bouncer, sting like a Dinko (open Jedi group training)

[Jorus Merrill]

OOC/ This is open to any Jedi, from any good-guy faction.

IC/

Spoiler

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(source)​

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HOTH ENCLAVE​

...HOTH​

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With the virtual destruction of the Republic over a decade of war, the Jedi had moved out of the Core. In some cases, secret bases and enclaves had been built, many of them by Jorus Merrill, once Master of First Knowledge. The Hoth Enclave was secretive, a last-ditch redoubt -- but now, with the Jedi more scattered than ever, and so many temples lost, places like this could be centres of learning.

The kind of learning that would keep young Jedi alive in a war-torn galaxy.

***​

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"Hi there," said Jorus to the crowd. "I'm Captain Jorus Merrill, and today we'll be talking about hitting things." He tapped the lightsabre on his belt, a simple machine. "But not with these. There's any number of Jedi Masters that can teach you to swing a lightsabre, and I'm not one of them. What I do know about -- no, this isn't another instinctive astrogation class -- is how to not die. If a Sith gets flamboyant, go simple. If a Sith starts gathering power, break his concentration with a quick unimpressive Force push to the face, or a blaster shot, or just about anything. When you've got the choice between a slow attack and a fast attack, use the fast attack. If a Sith wants to sleep with you, karking don't. Basic principles like that give you a slightly better chance of going home at the end of the day."

He opened a big crate full of shockboxing gloves. "Question for the class. How much combat training and experience do you have? I'm separating training and experience for a reason."

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Training and experience? Jack had one hand on his Besk'ads pommel, resting idly and the other hooked into his belt loop. He wasn't familiar with the Captain or even the Enclave, having found it by mistake. When he'd mentioned Astrogation Jacks ears perked up and his eyes flashed for a brief moment. Yes not a lesson. But that was how he'd stumbled here. After a brief encounter with the Zeison Sha on Yimchor, he was more drawn to learn the lore of the force than ever before.

"I got a bit of training in Teras Kasi, and a bit more experience fighting with it." Jack blurted, brows furrowed as he regarded the gloves.

"Pirates and Deathwatch and the like."

And then he was silent, a man of few words...

 

[Nyxie]

There she was, alone among a group of like-minded individuals... or at least like in spirit. Kass knew not one face nor of the chambers and walls of the temple she was not, for lack of a better term, trapped in. Among the others, her fine fabrics, messy healer robes and seemingly unnatural bust made her feel completely out of place. She did not know how she got there -- it's location was a closely guarded secret after all -- but that it was where she was lead by her greaters and where she needed to be. Outside its rocky walls was a frozen wasteland, unforgiving even of a healer and pyromancer such as herself. Even her predecessor would have faced great difficulty traversing Hoth's snowy plateaus and peaks in the brightest of flame. The cold of the landing areas still chilled her to the bone and followed her in, leaving behind a strange, phantom euphoria of warmth and frostbite. This was a place completely out of the vixen's element.

The young fox-woman slowly took a step forward, her tails fluffed out into large wads of fur shaking sporadically to generate heat, and spoke.

"I was trained extensively in Force magics and Pyrokinesis. But..." Kass reluctantly paused. "I have not seen true combat... yet, at least. Only what my mistress had shown me."

[member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Jack Raxis"]​

 

[Julius Sedaire]

The first few speakers were young, but the lad out of the two seemed at least to have some idea of himself and his abilities. The shockboxing crate made him intrigued. He knew Jorus didn't do much with that saber at his hip, not by his reputation anyway. Just like Julius wouldn't ever be a telekinetic prodigy, or use the more mystical or arcane parts of the Force, Jorus just didn't work in certain ways. Meant nothing more or nothing less than they had different strokes amongst different folks. Only reason he had come was because he wanted to meet the man again, get a better measure of him. Shockboxing, shotgun beat-down, or tea cozy knitting... He would have been there all the same...

"So far as training? A few more years than I'd like to count with lightsaber, saber-staff, light-pike, shotos. Little bit with guard shoto, and some pistol training. A handful or so of lightsaber forms. Few years of traditional Jar'kai from an Atrisian master when I was a Padawan. As far as experience... Eriadu... Sullust... More incursions in the Outer Rim than I want to count... Dozen or so little raids here and there to Corellia since it fell and Broke.. Recently relief efforts on Roche as an escort."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] [member="Jack Raxis"]

So a variegated class, then. One genuine veteran in Sedaire, who he knew already; one less-trained but experienced spacer in Raxis, whose last name made Jorus sad; and one ivory tower type in Zyn'meshurok, with plenty of Force training but no sightline on the elephant. There were others present, a mix of Jedi and his own Baobab astrogators, but he knew how to handle those; mostly they fell into the same category as Raxis.

"So you'll all be coming at today's work from different perspectives." He started handing out metallic gloves. "These are for shockboxing. If I give you the wrong fit, they're labelled by size and there's plenty in the box. Now, shockboxing isn't normally associated with Jedi training in any serious way, but I grew up with it, and I've found it's helpful. The principle I mentioned, about interrupting a powerup with a quick attack? Nothing forestalls a big windup like a quick jab, especially with some voltage behind it. Sometimes we get tempted to get fancy. Flamboyant. Sith feel the same temptation and they give into it an awful lot. Let me tell you a story. There was a Sith Master named Avicus DuSang, used to be Emperor of this tiny little chunk of space. Telekinetic, right? Seven lightsabres at his belt, lots of spinning and sneering and things. He went up against my daughter's godfather, Sarge Potteiger -- maybe you've heard of him -- and ol' Sarge beat the crap out of him. This is before Sarge became Force sensitive and before he owned a lightsabre. He wasted DuSang in close quarters with, I kid you not, a knife and a boot. Absolutely humiliated him. We got the whole thing on video; look it up sometime. It's a classic. Every time DuSang went to twirl and duck and whatever, Sarge just planted his boot in his face. Great timing, tons of training, but mostly just a recognition that it's the simple, straightforward attack that gets through, unless your enemy is seriously distracted. And you can't count on that.

"So. What are some other insights on the Force you think you could get from shockboxing? There's going to be a bit of unlearning what you've learned, and there'll be time to weave in your preexisting abilities, but for now -- broaden your minds and give me some ideas."

 

[Marli - Kran - Parlovi]

Marli - Kran rushed to the training. He would not miss it. It was shockboxing training. One of Marli - Kran's interests.

"Hello, master."

He picked up a pair and listened to what the Master had to say.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Jack reached into the box and slid the gloves on. His eyes lit up with delight as he gave them a quick snap into each other and electrical currents arced, snapping like the sound of branch breaking in the wide area. He was listening intently, especially the part about the Sarge kicking the crap out of the Forcer.

Jack liked to to use a flurry of blade, hands and boot to take down his opponents. Precise strikes, tempered and velocity completely controlled. He could achieve that discipline without the force. When Jorus asked his next question he was rather stumped. Then he replied.

"How to kick an opponents Sheb's without it? Maybe a bit more control and discipline of oneself? Boxing is technical work If I remember right, requiring lots of focus. Same as Teras Kasi."

He puased eyes lost deep in thought and then continued.

"I suppose more discipline would apply to Force use. A greater ability to focus your abilities."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"]

[member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"]

"Welcome. You must be Marli-Kran. Why don't you tell us a bit about your combat training and experience while we get started?"

[member="Jack Raxis"]

"Good insight, Raxis. There's a ton of connections between control of the body and control of the mind. That's one major reason that the ancient Jedi learned combat in the first place. And Jedi who neglect physical fitness often wind up mentally unimpressive too. Which isn't to say that excessive fitness is an indicator of spiritual worth. It's all about balance. Learning not to neglect sides of your skillset. So you're never going to be good at X, Y, or Z -- that happens. What matters is identifying and filling your own limits and possibilities.

"So -- let's pair up. I'm going to teach you to resist electric shocks in a combat setting, and you'd better believe that's going to come in handy."

He paired them off and began walking them through the Force technique necessary to strengthen your body against electric shock. It was a complex thing, part Control for the physical aspects, part Alter for the tutaminis side of things. This training wouldn't let them absorb Force lightning -- at least not fully. But it would help them turn death into crippling, crippling into incapacitation, incapacitation into injury, injury into inconvenience. Once they got the hang of the technique in theory, then it'd be time to try taking a punch with a shockboxing glove from a partner.

 

[Nyxie]

Kass listened intently to [member="Jorus Merrill"]'s lecturing, but withheld from speaking for the time being. She did not want to answer in the obvious, but she also sought to hear what the others might say to get a better grasp of their character. Despite not experiencing the raw grit of actual combat, she was well-trained in the Force and equally refined martially. It prompted the question in her mind of whether or not she was even at an unfair advantage due to the preternatural agility of her kind or the cybernetic prosthesis that was her lower left arm. If she spoke, however, it could draw more attention to her—attention she did not want. For now, Kass retained her silence.

With the slight wave of her tails the vixen pulled a pair of shockboxing gloves out of their box using the Force and dropped them gently at her feet. She unstrapped the large Mandalorian iron gauntlet from her right arm and slowly slipped each fingertip out of its long metal claws. She only strapped on one shock glove on, leaving her white cybernetic hand bare.

Out of necessity, she uttered one line. "Just... don't hit me directly in the chest or you might regret it..." said Kass in the most unthreatening, disinterested tone.

Sadly, as far as she knew, her defensive implants didn't come with an off switch.

[member="Jack Raxis"], [member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"], [member="Julius Sedaire"]​

 

[Judah Dashiell]

He wasn't sure how to feel upon his invitation to [member="Jorus Merrill"] 's 'shockboxing' class. For one, it seemed like a class for a bunch of Jedi kids who couldn't live more than thirty seconds without a lightsaber by their side. Being someone without the Force meant hand-to-hand fighting was one of their only means - beyond a Firemane bolter of course.


It had been awhile since he fought, the last being some anti-Primeval thing off in Silver Sanctum territory. Even then it had been blasters, grenades and X-Wings powering much of the fight. Didn't even need to break out a punch. Maybe it was for the best then he had decided to take Merrill up on his offer. Once honed skills could easily get rusty...with the 'verse on the edge of war there was no telling when some training could come in handy once again.


Judah arrived late to the party, the small class already in session. Snow lingered on his jacket as he removed it, placing it on a hook in the corner. A small shake of his shaggy head loosened the rest of the snow, letting it drift to the floor of the training room.Merrill was speaking of pairing off the class, so he waited silently behind the group.

Spoiler

[member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] | [member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"] | [member="Julius Sedaire"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] [member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"]

"Is taking you on an option? Captain to Captain?"

Jack snapped the gloves together, grinning as he did so. Having sailed the Transistory mists, and the Dune seas massive Sandstorms recently, he was feeling a bit cocky today. Plus he had some martial arts training on his side. The Captain seemed well enough, this Merrill fellow.

Jack wanted to see what he had up his sleeve though. The way he talked, and walked; even the way he looked designated him as a spacer, and from the way the folks around her spoke of him he seemed to be a big deal. Jack liked big deals, he liked showing them up underdog style and then having a drink over it later.

"Let's see what you got Cap'n."

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

Amongst the 'other Jedi present' was one large, muscle-bound felinoid, friend and... dare he say it, brother to [member="Julius Sedaire"]. Though his mutual training with the Corellian had slowed in pace, between missions, Avalore, and caring for the twins, it was a part of his life he considered just as important. They trained together, or one went and filled the other in later, sharing what he had learned. It was a beneficial thing for the both of them, and would take them far, no matter where their individual paths went. Despite being present, Meeristali was late in sharing his piece, as his attention had been accosted by a holocall from back home. How many of the twins' milestones would he miss, and what few would he witness? The news of these things always made him smile nonetheless.

"For training, hm. Lightsaber since I was a padawan, a number of firearms before that since I was a prepubescent kit," he mused, after catching up, knowing full well he already had the brunt of training required for strengthening himself against electric shock, as [member="Jorus Merrill"] instructed, "close and ranged, rather fond of sniping. Tutaminis with Master Jacobs... sorry, Varanin now, isn't it, stealth from Master Sardun. Physically, aside from what's granted by biology, I've trained with Ordo in enhancement and endurance. Smattering of other items with other masters, over the years. As for experience, mine runs much along the same lines as Sedaire's, and includes more time spent on Manaan than I'd like since my first days as a padawan. Was also homeworld military prior to my time as a Jedi."

He'd never considered the application that was now imparted to him - as of yet, the need for such a facet of a resistance had never come up, but it was better to be prepared than screwed. In other ways, it was far, far better to be screwed... oh, tangent. His tail swerved, and he coughed away a grin as he ambled over to Julius, furtively eyeing the fox, [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"], as a potential fair match for his abilities. He mulled it over, tapping his pardner on the shoulder on his way to nab a set of shockboxing gloves.

"Looks like this'll be another way I can beat you up, Sedaire," he quipped, that grin cropping up again, "you think our kids will like this?"

Kids meaning the eager students following in their footsteps. Of course.

 

[Julius Sedaire]

[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Meeristali Peradun"] | [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"]

He had been paired up against a fox, or so it would seem. Where most might have been bothered by her appearance and form, he had spent a long while training with 'Stali, and so the felinity, or foxinity... Whatever it was... It really didn't bother him. Bending to a crate of the gloves, he snapped them on and nodded, adjusting his grip and take a swipe at the air experimentally. He was never really the type to dance about in polyester shorts in a ring but enough time spent in a bar, particularly the ones he favored on the 'Rim, and you learned the basics of throwing a punch or two. Nodding to Kass at her warning, his trademark Elvis like smirk emerged and he nodded, taking up a classic dueling stance, modified to be better for hand to hand. Or, at least, he thought it was, and took the stance until he saw a familiar form.

'Stali! So Avalore let you off your leash, eh?! Been too long since I seen your tail! Or kicked you square in it. I might beat you for speed now-a-days, boyo. Picked up a few tricks! But where are my manners, Miss Kass, this is Meeristali Peradun, my esteemed sparring partner and brother. Note the family resemblance round the positively fabulous posteriors and faces?"

He had pulled 'Stali into a half hug at his side, which he rather expertly turned into a headlock and raked a knuckle across his friends scalp before letting him go and assuming the proper stance again from Kass, nodding slightly to her and hoping Jorus didn't kick his ass for the bit of rowdyness... Just couldn't help it, where his brother was concerned. Too much time apart as the Galaxy called to them down different paths. Far too much time apart.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] [member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Meeristali Peradun"] [member="Jack Raxis"][member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"]

Jorus' face lit up as Judah came in. "Gotta put a pin in that," he said to Raxis. "Some of these Padawans are going to need support. Let's pair you up with Zyn'meshurok." He leaned closer. "Oh, and if you're Vassara Raxis' kid, I've got something for you. We'll talk after."

He worked his way through the Padawan/Baobab Astrography crowd, taking a moment to look at the long-range sensor readouts on a wall panel. The Padawans and astrogators, many of them anyway, needed help getting gloves on and not electrocuting themselves by accident. He gave them a hand with that, then made his way over to Judah.

"Hey there -- glad you could make it." He stuck out one non-shock-gauntleted hand. Feth, but it had been a long time since the Vagrant Fleet. There'd never been better days. He'd met Alna in the Vagrants, and they'd built the Mara, and liberated Roon, and battled Moridin -- old fething memories, but treasured ones.

"How's Thess and the progeny? Ready to show a couple of Jedi how it's done?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Julius Sedaire"] | [member="Meeristali Peradun"] | [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] | [member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Marli - Kran - Parlovi"]


Judah rolled his shoulder experimentally as Merrill talked to the students assembled. Everything seemed decent since slid down the edge of quasi-cliff, no troubles. Then again, shockboxing wasn't a part of his daily routine. He took the gloves near him and started to put them on, being careful not to shock himself. Ocean-blue eyes looked to see what setting the gloves were dialed down to. He doubted Merrill would want to kill a bunch of Jedi kids - especially ones fighting each other.


Un-gloved hand reached out to give Merrill's a hearty shake. It had been some time since they had seen one another. Busy schedules tended to do such a thing. Vagrant Fleet was where he had gotten to know the man better, where a motley group of them flew the skies, picking up trouble here and there.


"She's doing better...just came back after being away.Happy to have her back" Jorus would know full well Thessa still had an itch to be in the skies, to sit in that cramped X-Wing cockpit. "Tadpole is great, couldn't ask for a better kid."


"How's the wife? Mara?"