Private Hometown Zero

[Arris Windrun]

CORUSCANT
SITH TEMPLE
Nilira Vornix

"Hey."

The voice cut through the ambiance of the Temple hall.

"I've been looking for you," she said and waved Nilira along. "Come with me." Her tone suggested it wasn't a request.

There was a seriousness to Arris Windrun that wasn't there the last few times she interacted with Nilira. No ill-conceived food stand, blurry photos, or empire-busting hijinks. Her energy, the way she walked - it was like watching a starved and restless predator gnaw on its own leg.

She took the acolyte to an empty dojo. Not another acolyte in sight. Just a rack with training weapons and scuffed floors with fading bloodstains. Arris took off her jacket and threw it to the side, standing before Nilira in a cropped black shirt and dark brown slacks. She walked over to a table and grabbed what looked like a pair of old, metal gauntlets with powerpacks attached to the outside.

"You know what these are?" She held them up.

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Arris Windrun

"I'm normally in my dorm. You clearly weren't looking hard enough."

Once again, whilst one could assume that Nilira was being snarky, the tone of voice she had just seemed to imply that she was being as simple and as logical as she could be, as she followed Arris without a second word. Just holding her hands behind her back, as she walked through the temple, being lead over towards the dojo, where Nilira raised an eyebrow at the sight of the place. If she hadn't known better, Nilira would have assumed that Arris was going to make her clean things...But then Arris lifted up the gauntlets.

"Shock-boxing gloves. The average pair costs around 600 credits, and they're more often than not less than half a kilogram. Of course you will find those who illegally modify their gloves to give themselves an unfair advantage."

She recited, almost as if she was reading off some kind of article, tilting her head to the side in thought. Not necessarily confusion. When it came to Arris, Nilira was rarely confused anymore. Just mildly irritated.

​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Nilira Vornix

"Yeah, something like that."

She tossed the gauntlets on the ground in front of Nilira. "Put 'em on."

Arris stretched her cybernetics, showcasing uncanny flexibility for one more machine than flesh-thing. Admittedly, she belonged in the category of 'those' as the acolyte mentioned. Hell -- not that it was terribly common knowledge -- the Dark Horse even cheated during the Galactic Kaggath. Cheated in every round, in fact. Beginning to end.

"I'm gonna teach you how to use them. I figured eventually you can achieve the same effect with your lightning powers."

The cyborg wasn't exactly sure how shit like that worked in the Force. They weren't gifts the Dark Side made available to her, for one reason or another, but she figured this might actually work out in the young Sith's favor.

"Until then, you've got the gauntlets as standin."

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Arris Windrun

Ah. Yes. Her Lightning powers. The ones that had been strangely absent since Coruscant. Not that most people would probably know that. But it would only be a matter of time before people found out that the only "strength" Nilira had was gone now, and she'd once again be at the bottom of the totem pole. Neriah perhaps would have been terrified of that thought, of the concept of being picked on again like the runt of the litter...Yet Nilira knew that was how reality worked, plain and simple.

"It gives more possible avenues on dealing with those who wear armour constructed of mostly metallic materials."

Another strange...cavet of "Nilira" was the way that her speech had somewhat changed as well. Whereas Neriah, whilst being somewhat of an intellectual, also spoke like a regular person, Nilira was far more...robotic in her speech. Monotone. Speaking far more complex than one actually needed to. None of that mattered however, as she simply used the Force to lift the gauntlets off the ground, before placing them onto her hands.

She didn't make any comment about how "foolish" she thought it was, giving what was more of a "strength" based tool to someone like her, one who was nearly completely lacking in physical strength. Instead she just folded her arms along her front, staring across at Arris.

"What now?"

​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Nilira Vornix

Arris has been hesitant to read Nilira since their incident on Narsh, so what she did pick up on stayed in her pocket for now.

"Yeah - it can work against some armored opponents." Arris corrected.

She doubted that Nilira needed reminding, but instruction was one of those appropriate times for redundancy. After Nilira fastened the gauntlets to her arms, Arris nodded approvingly.

"What now?"

"Mirror me."

The cyborg took a stance. It was simple and looked like dozens of other hand-to-hand combat stances. The aim was to achieve balance with your core while maintaining upper flexibility.

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Arris Windrun

"Anything can work against some armoured opponents. Water, if they're heavily armoured and are too stupid to take it off to swim. Electricity. Heat. Air. All of it is a potential weapon that can be used against a threat."

With that all said and done, Nilira raised an eyebrow as Arris told the Acolyte to mirror the Cyborg. It seemed simple enough as Nilira copied the stance. Balance had been something she had always been somewhat decent at...Though to add a slight "surprise" to her mirroring, Nilira also attempted to copy a lot more than just Arris' stance. She tried to copy her facial expression as well as the Acolyte could...whilst at the same time, she just seemed to let the "void" of emotion within her grow larger, almost as if she was trying to imitate the void she saw within Arris.

After all, she was told to mirror Arris. And a reflection showed you everything, even the parts you didn't want to acknowledge.

"...Like this?"

​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Nilira Vornix

Arris watched the acolyte take her stance. At first, her attention was drawn specifically to the footwork and body language. An analytical appreciation of how quickly Nilira mirrored her. But when the cyborg's eyes trailed up, she noticed those startling subtleties.

"Is that how I look?" Arris wondered.

"Yeah," she gave the young woman a small nod. "Like that."

Next, she moved her right foot forward and pivoted her body slightly.

"The key is to get familiar with your body. Your footwork. The tension in your muscles. The flexibility of your spine. You need to know it well enough that you never have to focus on it -- builds instinct to know your limits, and subconsciously adjust to them."

She loosened a bit and reversed her stance, then brought it back. In that motion, she bent and extended her arm, with fists closed.

"With that attention freed up, you can focus everything on your opponent. Learn how their body works. But you can't just sit there and stare. You need to be able to tell what someone's feet are doing without looking down. And you need to be able to follow their eye without losing sight of their fists."

These were all basic principles that applied to many forms of combat, but Arris was a champion-level fighter before she was a Sith. From the regional circuits of Corellia all the way to the big show on Ruusan.

Her eyes followed Nilira, making sure she continued to mirror her motions.

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Arris Windrun

Huh. Who would have guessed that Arris could actually teach? Nilira raised an eyebrow at that realisation, breaking the mirror for a moment as she was honestly surprised at the concept. At the very least Arris was proving herself as someone that Nilira could actually learn from, instead of a constant irritation.

Though she managed to somewhat try and imitate Arris' stance. Physical combat had never been much of Nilira's forte. She was weak. She knew that. There was barely anything form of muscle to herself, her flexibility was basically at an all time low, considering how much time she spent slouched over datapads and books in the library.

Either way, she did her best to listen. She understood part of what Arris was saying, but from a different perspective. When she looked at someone, and imagined how their body worked, she imagined every single muscle and ligament moving. The blood circulating through their veins. She had started to do enough..."experiments" on animals she found near the Temple to understand how their body worked, and whilst she had yet to do so on a humanoid, she was sure it wasn't that different.

"What if they're using their eyes to distract you? From what you're saying, it sounds as if two trained fighters don't actually have to look to know what their opponent is doing? Ergo, following that logic, they could trick a less-trained fighter into getting distracted?"

​