Private Letting Go

[Briana Sal-Soren]

​

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Training Blade
Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Training Dojo
Tag: Kyell Laysel

Before her departure for Hapes, Briana had often tried making use of the Training Dojo and its sparring droids, and after her earlier business with Justice Lesan , Briana felt the need to sweat off the encounter.

It was hard to dwell on the mistakes she'd made with her friends, with four droids advancing on her, their sabers modified to allow a greater damage output than the standard training saber. Self flagellation? Perhaps a little. Should she fail to best them, she'd be in a serious world of pain. No lost limbs, or anything quite as dramatic, but there'd be some decent burns.

Truthfully, however, her reasoning came from more than just a desire to punish herself.

In real combat, the odds were never evenly matched, and rarely were they stacked in your favor. Training against stronger opponents would help her learn and grow as a fighter, perhaps even bring her up to snuff with her peers after the months apart. She hadn't considered if Valery would approve of her method or not, though deep down she already knew exactly what her Master would think of it.

Clad in a pair of loose fitting pants, her signature Corellian boots, a form fitted tank-top, and thick leather greaves that covered her shins, Briana stood with saber unlit in her right hand, awaiting the first attack.

The first droid lunged at her with a two-handed strike to her midsection. Sidestepping the blade, she ignited her own and struck at the droid's leading leg, letting it crumple to the floor as the second droid moved in for a high to low vertical slash. Another sidestep, and Briana was out of harms way. Muscle memory overtook her months of absence, though she could feel the strain in her movements. Her arms ached and trembled under the onslaught, showing how comfortably she'd relaxed into the lifestyle of Nobility. Her life of ease.

Footwork, she always knew was key. Blocking only took you so far, but it seemed that was all she was able to do under the relentless push from the other two droids. As the second droids weapon shot toward her torso, she brought her blade down hard to defend herself, disarming it in the process... the third droid, however...

Her attention turned to face that blasted third droid, but not in enough time, yelping in pain as the blade from the third struck her in the ribs and sent her tumbling.

​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Coruscant | Training room
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

Kyell drew in a sharp breath, dropped his jacket, tucked his shirt into his pants, and rolled his shoulders — it was time to train again. For the last few weeks, he had found himself in the training rooms for hours each day, trying to improve his skills with the lightsaber especially. The Force had never been a strength of his, but he was tall and physically very strong, so he could at least use that to his advantage in lightsaber dueling.

Still, he was nowhere near the level of some of the other senior Padawans, let alone the Knights or Masters. The loss of his arm had set him back as well, and with recent drama at the opening of the Temple, he wasn't quite sure how to feel about his place in the Jedi anymore. But especially his Master had been able to convince him to keep going, and so that's what he did. It kept him distracted from more depressing thoughts as well, which was an added benefit.

But as he entered the training room, his internal focus shifted when he heard a woman's voice yelp in pain. He blinked and quickly moved over to see what was going on, and noticed her on the ground with several training droids coming at her. Usually, they were set to a low-power mode, so they weren't all that threatening or painful. Something about the way she looked and felt in the Force gave him the impression that she had altered their settings.

A purple blade ignited and with a powerful jump, he positioned himself between Briana and one of the droids that came in swinging down at her. He blocked the strike and held the droid's blade into a lock with gritted teeth, <Can you stand?> he then asked her telepathically.

<If you don't mind, let's take them together. Team exercise?> He flashed a quick smile over his shoulder and shoved the droid back a few steps before he backed up towards Briana, waiting for her to get ready alongside him.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

​

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Training Saber
Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Training Dojo
Tag: Kyell Laysel

It was a pathetic sight, but not unlike situations she'd been in before.

As many liked to often point out... Briana had a knack for getting herself into trouble.

The young woman curled in on herself with her hands gripped in a tight fist around the lightsabers worn handle, the blade raised high to block a blow that never landed.

One blue eye slowly opened, followed by the other, revealing a handsome young male standing before her as the only bastion between her and the amped-up training droids. He wasn't someone that she remembered encountering during her last stay at the Temple, but with more immediate problems surrounding them, Briana made the prudent decision to cast aside the unraveling of mysterious identities for some time later.

<Can you stand?> he'd inquired telepathically, a method of communication that she was not unfamiliar with. How often had she needed to communicate with Iris in that same way, until she'd become more comfortable with verbally expressing herself?

<I can.> she confirmed, finding her confidence as she rolled out of the way and to her feet, finding a comfortable position between the stranger who showed up to save her hide, and the droids now circling in front of them.

<If you don't mind, let's take them together. Team exercise?>

<Sounds good to me. You go right, I'll go left.> And without further delay, Briana stepped into the fray, her adrenaline pumping as the droids came towards them for the second round of attacks.

For the first several minutes, the same pattern continued.

Pivot, guard, strike, repeat.

Again, and again, and again, until she was panting, until her arms burned beyond anything she'd felt before and the movements started coming fluidly once more. Gritting her teeth, she locked blades with one of the droids and dropped her shoulder, moving her left hand down to send a Force push at its middle, sending the machine flying backwards to land with an audible crunch, the energy behind its lifeless eyes flickering out.

​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Coruscant | Training room
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

Only seconds after he had made his offer to team up, he began to fear that his telepathic message wouldn't be appreciated. Usually, he always made sure to ask before connecting minds, but this felt like an emergency situation to some extent, so he decided it was worth taking the risk. Luckily, she didn't just seem open to it, but her mind felt as if it had been trained in Telepathy for a long time. The bridge easily formed, and he heard her words as clear as she could hear his.

<Sounds good to me. You go right, I'll go left.>

<I've got it,> he replied with a faint smirk before his expression turned neutral and his mind focused. Against multiple opponents, an aggressive approach was no option, so he fought in harmony with her tactics. He positioned properly, parried attacks, and looked for opportunities to counter-attack, before repeating the same process. There was, however, one factor he overlooked and he feared Briana possibly did as well while she focused on taking down the droid attacking her.

Earlier, she had disarmed one of the four droids she engaged, but it had retrieved its weapon and moved to rapidly strike at her from behind. Noticing this, Kyell made the choice to help her first. So after shoving back his direct opponent enough to buy himself only a few seconds of time, he tossed his lightsaber straight for the droid attacking Briana from behind and knocked it out a split-second before it could reach her, right as Briana took out her direct opponent.

It left him exposed and only a second later, he felt the droid's blade connecting with the back of his head, before it struck all across his back. The pain was far worse than he was used to from training droids, and while he couldn't yelp from the pain, the expression was there as he fell forward and crumbled to the ground with the inanimate duelist standing behind him, ready for what would be a finishing move against the young man.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

​

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Training Saber
Location: Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Training Dojo
Tag: Kyell Laysel


Pivoting on her heel, Briana realized too late the mistake that she'd made.

She had gone for the kill rather than keeping an eye on all of their opponents, and as the first droid fell from Kyell's blade, it was the sight of what came next that made her stomach churn. The pain on her would-be-saviors face, the smell of flesh and fibers burning as the saber strike collided with his backside, winding him, and sending him staggering forward.

It was almost as if she was re-watching the situation with Justice unfold all over again, the sithspawn's massive jaws ripping through her friends shoulder bit by sorry bit, but instead of cowering in fear as she had back then, the young Sal-Soren was compelled to action - to protect.

Before the droid could finish its assault, her feet moved, dashing faster than she realized she could to the young man's side, the brilliant blue of her blade swinging up in a defensive, powerful arc that knocked it backwards.

Her forward motion didn't stop, swinging again and again until the honking piece of machinery fell to the floor, until at last she raised her blade and drove it through it's core...

Without delay, she ran to Kyell and crumpled to his side.

-----------------------------------------
​

Briana didn't know how long she'd been sitting there on the dojo floor with this nameless boys head in her lap, having administered the last few remaining stim shots she had leftover from what Iris had given her in a case of emergency, while gently trying to get him to rouse.

After what seemed like an eternity, she felt his resurgence.

Briana's heart fluttered, her body quaking slightly as the relief sliced through her like a hot knife, a heavy breath loosing from her lips. <Oh! Thank the Force.> she sighed into his mind, placing a hand against her chest. <How are you feeling? Are you okay? I gave you a few stimshots... does it hurt anywhere?> The questions poured in rapid fire succession.

'Deep breaths, Briana.' she scolded, closing her eyes as she fought to regain her composure before slowly opening them once again, straightening her posture. <I guess this is a reminder of why the Masters would say it is not wise to seek out adversaries beyond what we are able to handle. I shouldn't have messed around with the droids like that... Thank you for showing up when you did, though I'm sorry you were hurt on my account. I'm Briana, by the way.>

​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Coruscant | Training room
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

Kyell's eyes slowly flickered open, and for the first few seconds, he had no clue where he was or what happened to him. All he remembered was joining another Padawan in a training session, and before he knew it everything turned black. But as he looked up and saw Briana's face filled with relief, the memories rushed back into his mind, along with her first few words. A silent groan escaped Kyell as he adjusted himself to sit up, which made him realize she had held him in her lap.

An awkward smile followed, and he'd rub the back of his head where he felt a slight sting from the hit he took, <Just a little sore, but I'll be alright,> he tried to assure her while he looked around at the carnage they had caused. They weren't really supposed to destroy the training droids.... right?

<Thanks for the help and don't worry about it. I know training against these droids gets boring after a while, and it was my own choice to jump in.> Raising his hands up to his face, he rubbed his eyes and took a brief moment to collect himself. At least the two of them had taken out four droids, so it felt like an accomplishment despite the fact that a hit like the one he took would have killed him in a real scenario.

After a moment, he spoke to her mind again.

<I'm Kyell, it's nice to meet you, Briana. And sorry for the Telepathy - I'm mute, but I can hear just fine, so you can talk however you wish in return," he said before a more sheepish smile appeared. <You uh... think I should go for a medical check at the infirmary? I don't know what standard procedure is, but I feel fine...> Of course, he hadn't tried standing up yet, and for now, he was okay with that. The last thing he wanted was to pass out like that again.

He also needed a new shirt now that his was burned and torn a bit along his back, but that could wait. <You doing alright as well? I heard you get hit pretty bad, but not sure if it was anywhere serious.>

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

​

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Training Saber
Location: Coruscant, Training Dojo
Tag: Kyell Laysel

Briana was pleased that he seemed to have his wits about him, helping him ease back up into a sitting position.

Her own gaze followed his line of sight to the droids that laid strewn about the training room, trying not to grimace. Hopefully, they weren’t beyond repair… her quick mind already swirling with thoughts on figuring out a way to covertly drag them back to her dorm where she could work on them.

No one would miss a few droids… right?

Hearing his laidback response made Briana blink slowly, clearly unused to not being solely blamed whenever there was a misfire or when something went sideways. Vizion would have lectured her, Justice would have absolved himself... and had done exactly that, before this. Iris… Iris was usually the only one who forgave her many misgivings.

<It does,> she agreed, <and I like to challenge myself. Figured that fighting against something I already knew how to beat wasn’t going to help me learn anything useful.> It was most of the truth, anyway, she just wasn't willing to divulge her full reasoning for why she'd decided the best course of action was to take on four, over-powered droids.

Dusting herself off, Briana groaned to her feet and held out a hand to help him up.

<Pleasure is mine,> she returned, <haven’t been able to fight alongside someone like that in a long time, it felt good. And no sweat. I used to have to communicate this way with a good friend of mine, so I don’t mind.>

The easy smile on her face faded slightly when he asked if he should go to the infirmary. It was the smart thing to do, after any kind of head trauma. Especially when it was enough to knock you out, no matter how long… <I think if you’re feeling alright,> she started, <then you’re probably fine, but it wouldn’t hurt to get checked out? Uh… but if… maybe you could leave what happened, here, out of it?> Briana and the head healer were not on the best of terms, having been responsible for many a sparring wound in the past, and with the added destruction of the droids… Briana didn’t want to add any extra trouble to Valery’s plate.

Instinctively, her hand moved to the wound on her ribs, flinching some as she inspected it. The blood had mostly congealed around the crack from where her skin had become charred. Had it been a real saber…well… that would have been game over. She grinned some, ignoring the stinging pain with a noncommittal shrug. <Just a flesh wound, I’ll survive.>

​