How hard is the Big Dog's Bite

[Arla Ordo]

Her purple and black armor was already beginning to show the signs of hard use long scratch marks that removed some of the paint streaked the breast plate. Her buy'ce was speckled where drops of acid had dripped on her as she crawled on her belly while hunting for a man named Alrick Mayhew wanted by Mandalorian authorities for stealing beskar.

Her red hair was pulled back the tresses trailed down her back tightly woven into a braid, red haired women were unique there were more blonde, and brunettes in the galaxy then redheads. Arla's deep emerald green eyes looked out through the HUD the readouts providing her information that kept her aware of her surroundings.

She was standing now on the planet Vendaxa this harsh place would forge anyone into a weapon if they survived it. She survived Tatooine she'd survive this. She had been thinking as of late about the Cuy'val Dar and their prowess on the battlefield. After her encounter on Empress Teta with the Vong she had been upgrading everything she had and she thought of the Cuy'val Dar she wanted to emulate them.

New armor, the addition of crushgaunts, the heavy pistol given to her by Ordo, the talisman given to her by Naimes, the blade in the slot of her armor, her rifle from the armory, the bres'briik, and her own new found determination Arla could be counted among the warriors of Mandalore.

But.

Warriors always needed to keep their skills honed, and to keep learning. Vendaxa would be a new classroom, a place to sharpen the warrior's defensive sense.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Vendaxa was one of the places no sane man would go without an army. I had trained here before under an insane man. It was where I learned the finest points of combat. Here in the jungles of Vendaxa dangers came and went. Beasts rose from the shadows, and the land itself was treacherous. I detected [member="Arla Balor"] as she approached with my Force Sense. She was a fellow Mandalorian, arguably more experienced overall than me, but she had still sought me out, so I had directed her here.

I turned my attention towards her, rather than my own task of cleaning weapons sitting in a pile. My own armor was off, except for the boots and greaves. The Armorweave tied around my waist, leaving my chest and cybernetic spin exposed. The first lessons would be that in the basics. I wanted to know what she already knew before I worried about training her in a long list of fighting styles.

I stood when she got closer. She would see the small encampment, really just a tent and a fire in the middle. Simplicity was often best out here. Too much drew too much attention. “Good morning,” I said with a smile, “You won’t need that armor to start with. First lessons are learning to survive a fight with nothing but yourself to rely on.” It was a lesson I had learned the hard way, after years of relying on technology I had been shown the warrants of learning with nothing. If you could be deadly with just your hands and feet, you could be very deadly with everything else.

 

[Arla Ordo]

[SIZE=12pt]Arla nodded with a practiced hand she reached up tilting her head down pulled off her buy’ce her long red braid fell forward, with a shake of her head and a quick movement she pushed it back. She could now see [member="Draco Vereen"] clearly . He was a robust man who gave off an aura of knowing what it was he wanted and made no qualms about doing what he needed to get it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She smiled not out of character for her she took a deep breath, “Good Morning Draco, thanks for doing this ner Vod it is much appreciated” So he wanted her down to the bare essentials . She continued to smile back, “Ok give me a few minutes and I’ll have most of it off” she began opening the buckles that would remove each piece, underneath she wore the black armor weave.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]She felt no embarrassment at having to take her armor off in front of a brother they were both soldiers, warriors when in the trenches it wouldn’t matter.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She was soon standing there in as much as he wore . “this will be hand to hand with only what is around?” She arched a brow , “I tended a bar on Tatooine for a number of years was pretty much a brawler then but that was a time ago.” She moved to make sure her armor was secure she had worked hard for it she touched it gently reminding herself nothing would happen to it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Anyhow I’m sure my skills are rusty.” She sat down on the nearest rock her emerald green eyes shows her curiosity and her anticipation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She needed to learn to be deadly with nothing but her hands. Draco could teach her this.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Alright good. She was willing and ready for this. "Its no problem to lend a helping hand to a sister." I said to her as she started pulling of armored plates. Armor was excellent. Beskar was some of the best armor there was. But that was about surviving. This was about killing, and doing it quickly, quietly and moving on.

When she was done, I nodded, cracking my neck and rolling my shoulders. A quick flex of my muscles and I had centered myself. Normally I had the benefit of being a skilled Mentalist and Force User, but for this, I wouldn't be using it. She didn't come here to learn about that. She was here so that I could teach her to defend herself and injure others. "Well here comes the hard part. I need to know where you are at before we get good and started with any kind of training. How about we start with you attacking me."

I took up a peek a boo stance with my feet shoulder width apart, by hands placed out in front of me, and resting on the balls of my feet so I could move if need be.

[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

[SIZE=12pt]Arla noted the familiar boxing stance she had not seen this in a while, no one that she ran into usually covered first most times they just reacted.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Arla balled both her hands into fists tucked her thumbs since she had nearly broken them the first time she had attempted to throw a punch immediately her emerald green eyes locked with Draco’s she bent her knees slightly to give herself some bounce inched slightly closer, and threw the right hand into his waiting block, her left hand came up from below trying to slip past the block. She quickly shifted her body weight from forward leaning to back balancing she needed to keep her balance.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She the whole time breathed evenly while she watched for his reactions, she needed to know his style of fighting as well in order to know if he had a weak spot.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I stepped backwards, letting her press forward. It was easier than blocking and let me get a better gauge of what kind of fighting she preferred, where her strengths were, and what weaknesses she had. My weakness, which may not have been obvious, but just an overall weakness, was my over zealousness. In combat I often left myself open to counter-attacks in order to deal more devastating blows to my opposition. As far as style goes, I preferred to brawl, wrestle, and box my opponents. A few well placed strikes here, a grapple there, and then pounding them into submission worked well. When in real combat, I liked to use several combinations of weapons, at one count I carried a dozen different weapons in battle.

Her right hook, I blocked, and the left uppercut suffers from less reach than a hook or a jab, so backing out of it worked alright, at least for now. I wanted to know where she was at, not hurt her, not attempt to dominate her to show off. That wasn't constructive. I needed a baseline to work from. She was quick, but fighting up a bunch of weight classes, and I had two benefits she didn't. I had the Force if I needed it, and some serious cybernetics to enhance my potential. Even still. I wanted to know how she would react to offense. Once her left arm came up, most people would snap it back to a guard after finding no purchase, and back-stepping had placed me slightly out of reach, and put her out of mine without more footwork. I lunged forward, trying to clothesline her, and spun following the maneuver back to face her. My feet were more stationary, less movement available in order to put real power behind the attack, but, again it flowed pretty well with my style. The hope was she would try and follow up and walk into it, but most people didn't fall for something so easy so early.

[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

Arla had taken that step back only to see that he was now coming at her with a move to clothes line her. At first she thought freight train, then her mind calmed by the talisman told her DROP!

Arla dropped to her knees, ducked her head to be sure but as she did so just enough to feel the elbow. She scrambled behind him then like a raging strill she pushed off from the ground to grab him by the waist. Her attempt is to knock him forward, but there was the possibility that because of his strength all this would do was look like he was dragging her around.

She was clearly not thinking her move through, another reason she looked for additional training from those around her. On Tatooine this would knock a drunk down, but a fully trained mandalorian, might just laugh at her attempt.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

She ducked, which wasn't entirely unexpected. She had said she just needed a refresher course and some pointers. She was doing very well so far. Her charge wasn't entirely unexpected either, her hands wrapping around my waist, pushing forward. This was going to be rather complex now, and if she was stronger than she looked, with her rather petite frame, she would have a very good chance to turn this around on me. With her shoulder in the small of my back pressing forward, charging, I was going to get shoved, that much was certain.

The only thing I could do was drag her to the ground with me where my size and strength advantage would be more of an advantage. I twisted my torso and reached back with my left arm as she drove into me, grabbing for her armorglove, just anything to get a hold of attached to her. Then I leaned forward with her push, dropping to my knees and continuing to twist. She was gonna end up on top of me if this worked out, but she wouldn't be as maneuverable as she would be otherwise.

[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

That sensation of falling she could feel it part of her wanted to grab something else to break her fall but that meant letting go and if this were a real fight and she let go, she'd get her arse handed to her. So, she hung on and that was going to be her mistake.

Too late she realized he was reaching back for her arm and pulling her from back to front even as they both were down. Arla was trying to think of a way out of this if she landed on top her knees could be placed either side, but he'd still have a grip on her.

She was stuck or was she...what she had in mind would ring both their bells, and likely give them both a terrible pain...but even as she came around she knew she would do it. She tried not to smile but in her head what she was going to do was ridiculous but...well...

She could see his face he was holding her, then she reared her head back and gave him a keldabe kiss to the forehead. Nearly knocking herself silly and not knowing if it had any affect on him. She started to laugh, "owww" her ears were ringing. No wonder they only did it with a helmet on.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

As we landed on the ground I worked to wrap my legs around her waist, a standard leg scissors that could help hold her in place and leave my arms free to guard or to rain blows onto her. Fairly basic maneuvers done well and in proper sucession were better than more complex moves that required a lot of set up and practice, however, it did have the downfall of being fairly predictable. Since she was use to bar room brawls, which were fairly unpredictable and sporadic, I had expected fairly unorthodox maneuvers and attacks. What I had not expected was for her to headbutt me in true Mandalorian fashion. My head ached, ears rang, and eyes crossed. If my legs were wrapped around her well, she might stay put long enough for me to fully recover, but if not, she would be able to scamper away, as I released her from my hands to grip my own head in my head. Why would any sane woman risk marring their pretty face by headbutting someone was beyond me, but perhaps she was trying to show off, perhaps she was crazy, or more likely she was pulling out all the stops in order to win. As a side effect I was too disoriented to use the Force and the headbutt had at the very least bought her time to gather some real offense and begin attacking me.

[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

Arla didn't know where to put her hands one on her head one in his leg. She pushed with one hand not a bright move she wanted to show him she had some skills. She groaned softly. "Ugh" she pushed harder she struggled against the hold.

"Your head is harder than beskar" She was finally able to crawl free, as she moved. Up on her knees she looked over at him she scrambled even as her head throbbed to get around him. She put a hand to his chest fingers grabbing the armorweave, she dragged her knees across trying to get her elbow locked around his throat.

If she could just breath now.

"I'm sorry for the headache" she spoke soft but clear, "but I need to prove I can do it. " She wanted to be a well rounded warrior, "you understand. Yes?"

She was breathing a littler heavier from the effort she put forth, sweat beaded on her brow.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"I understand" I said in between my own breaths. She wasn't doing poorly. Her elbow going for my throat could lead to problems, but I was more focused on what I was going to do next. I hadn't really mounted any real offence, and I wanted to avoid her face. Scars were not reminders of lessons learned among allies. I drove my own elbow at her ribs with as much force as I could muster given our close proximity, aiming to drive what ever air was in her lungs out of them. With my other hand I moved to keep her elbow out of my throat, her attempt admirable and well done so far.

I needed to get up, get behind her and send her to suplex city, but all that was the future, right now, we were focusing on tusseling around on the ground. Vendaxa was chosen for its remote location and its vicious flora and fauna. The longer we fought the more attention we would attract, and that was the point wasn't it. To change the rules half way through, to keep her, and well me guessing about what would happen next.

Slowly an Acklay was taking notice. Not yet close enough to charge, just observing, waiting for the right time. I could sense its approach prior to her headbutt, but as rattled as I was and as hard as she had hit me, I had lost contact with it.

[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

The shot to her ribs landed knocking some of the wind out of her she tried to take a breath and found she could only cough, a little payback for the head butt maybe.

OOO not the face she thought.

He so far was a man of very few words not too unusual a lot of the men she ended up around or taking training from said little. They preferred to stay on task and remain acquaintances. You know the type you see them walking down the street and get the nod that says yeah I know you. Should she continue to try and be a friend? Or just take the training and say thanks.

Anyone who knew her just knew she wasn't going to just stop talking. Course once some air returned to her lungs she might be able to utter more than ugh.

She didn't mind tussling around it felt good to expend some energy, she wasn't trying to hurt him just trying to show him. He said he understood. Her left hand rested on the ground palm down supporting her, while her right arm was draped over his shoulder where she was attempting to put a choke hold on him. Her long red braid fell forward as her body shook with each cough.

She didn't give much thought at the moment to the flora or the fauna. Arla was beginning to feel the trickle of air returning to her lungs.

What was her next move? Lay on the ground give up and ask for pointers? She felt something about his body the muscles in his shoulders, a moment of tension and then released. Why was he tense?

"Is something wrong?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

When she started coughing I instinctively started to continue the attack, swinging from on my back to up on one knee. I didn't talk a lot during a fight. The last time I had done a lot of talking, I had angered my opponent and then I had become angry. It had went from a friendly therapeutic sparring match, to a death match that hadn't ended well. Even still, this had been a fairly good-natured little scrap. That is where I stopped and placed a hand on her back, not attacking, "I'm okay, let's take a breather. You done good, proved to me you aren't just a pretty face." I said, moving to get to my feet.

"How about you, ribs aren't broken are they?" I asked, helping her to her feet. I began expanding my presence in the Force again, increasing my sphere of influence. After a moment I detected the acklay. "Well... it looks like you are gonna get a chance to fight something a little higher up the food chain. You might want a weapon though, Acklays don't go down easy." I said, kind of joking, kind of serious. By the time I had finished the monster had crept within forty meters and was just getting ready to charge. Lets see how she does. Not exactly hand to hand combat, but it was good training.

[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

[SIZE=12pt]She felt the hand on her back and nodded. “Vor’e” She tried to draw another breath slowly she could feel her lungs allow the air to pass, she laughed again. She reached up to feel her ribs, tender for certain broken, fractured, “No I think they are ok for now” She smiled broadly as was her habit.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Arla was soon on her feet nodding putting up a hand to show she was alright.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]There were times she had wished for the ability to sense the world around her like the force users did. Today would be one of those days but it would not hinder her. Arla was strong in her own right without the jetii magic. The magic used by the jetii to Arla often defied logic.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Arla considered the weapons she had, then she looked over at [member="Draco Vereen"] “Acklays “ she repeated. “I’ve never seen one, I am open to the lesson of knowing how to defend against it.” Draco was her teacher in this his advice was to be heeded.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I could see her wincing. I had, very, very little skill with healing someone through the Force. I could draw on it, reinvigorate myself with it, but to do so for others, that was much more difficult. I reached out, going to touch her ribs. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so rough with you." I said, hoping to inspect her injury for a moment before moving on with the lesson. It would not do to have her push herself too hard and be permanently injured as a result of a training exercise. "I know some healing, but it would hurt to reset a bone. A lot." I warned. I didn't want to cause her too much pain. That would not only be counter-productive to training her it would also not bode well given my recent history with training and sparring with other Vod...

"Well... Broken ribs will keep you from being able to climb or run, which is absolutely necessary. If you don't feel up to it, that's fine, I can ward it off with the Force and we can try something else." I offered. Perhaps trying to fight a ferocious beast with injured ribs was too much for the first day. We still had a long way to go, and a few days to do it. Still I was here and it was her choice. "But if you are going to try, I suggest to stay mobile, strike for its joints, and when you have slowed it down, go for its head." Sage advice, though vague enough to allow her to move around and adapt. "In the jungle, you adapt, or you perish."

[member="Arla Balor"]