Private Lore Intrigue

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Had it been most other men, they would probably have scared away and deeply apologised for their behaviour, but not Kragr. Oh no, not him, for he only returned her stare of hellfire with such an intensity that lesser beings would have cowered. However, Kragr had smiled with such smug satisfaction over her reaction, because it had been exactly what he had hoped for. Essentially, he wanted to see her bring out that burning fire with her feisty personality and she gave the Mandalorian exactly what he wanted.

For that, she didn't even need the Force to feel and sense that his attraction and interest for her had only doubled significantly.

To her demand not to call her "kih senaar", he simply looked at her with a tilted head, "as you wish" he said, though he had an old look in his eyes that was hard to place.

Nodding at her words, "good. Then let us begin" said Kragr simply and mentioned for her to follow him further away from the furnace. "The armour is important for your education, so you might as well start to get used to it" stated Kragr and planted his ass on the floor by the Titan's feet and crossed his legs.

With his left hand resting on his knee, he requested Valery to sit down in front of him only a few feet apart.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

"As you wish"

Her eyes remained narrowed when he agreed to her request, as she didn't want to back down under the glare he shot her in return. She knew why he did, and that her attitude was something he only enjoyed, and might even encourage him. But backing down and accepting the behavior he displayed was something her personal pride and respect would not allow. So she kept up her fiery demeanor and watched him step away.

"The armour is important for your education, so you might as well start to get used to it"

"Would be easier if I had some properly made..." she grumbled, still bothered by having to wear something as heavy as Mandalorian armor while it didn't fit her too well. But perhaps it was meant to constrict the body too much, and she was just being difficult, so she'd push herself to endure it either way.

Valery then sat down in a lotus position on the ground, directly in front of him, and set aside the backpack until she needed it. Whatever this first part of the lesson was about, she was all ears. "What are we starting with?"

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Waiting for her to get comfortable, before beginning, he smirked, "the basics".

"You clearly have no idea how to speak our language and that will put you at a disadvantage"

"To understand and be able to speak Mando'a, you have to know the Resol'nare, or in galactic basic, the six actions or the six central tenets that you have to observe in your daily life should you wish to be a Mandalorian. But since you're only here to learn and understand, I shall cut it short" began Kragr to explain.

The six tenets consist of wearing armour, speaking the language, defending oneself and family, raising your children as Mandalorians, contributing to the clan's welfare, and when called upon by the Mand'alor, rallying to their cause." Explained Kragr further.

"In our language, Mando'a, the armour we wear is called beskar'gam which roughly translates to iron skin. A bit of a literal translation, but it is what it is" shrugged the fiery-haired Mandalorian.

"Furthermore, our beskar'gam is like a second hide for us, without it many feel naked, while others completely refuse to take it off with exception of when they're in private. This is also why you might have seen so many different types and looks of our armour".

"Then there is the third tenet," said Kragr.

"Raising your children as Mandalorians. There isn't much to this tenet other than some interesting facts you might find interesting".

Kragr continued, "Like your younglings, many clans raise the children in groups, with a teacher, like now, who teaches the children the values and expectations as they grow up".

"The fourth tenet, contributing to the clan's welfare. I'm part of Clan Krayt, with my daughter as my Alor," he said, grabbing his pauldrons and handing Valery the piece of his army. The Jedi see a sigil of a Krayt Dragon's head mark on the pauldron. Letting Valery examine the pouldron with the Krayt Dragon sigil on it, Kragr remembered back to his clan... the family he lost to the Sith-aligned Dar'mandas, which caused Kragr go grow silent for a couple of seconds.

He quickly recovered and returned into teaching mode and continued, "Each clan has a different symbol and each clan is different so be prepared when meeting with a new clan," warmed Kragr, leaning forward a bit.

"Mand'alor is a combination of Alor, the leader of a single clan, with Mand from Mandalorian and means sole ruler or leader of the Mandalorians. It is the duty of every Mandalorian to come when called for war"

Pausing, Kragr let the woman before him, process what she had been taught and told as it no doubt here a handful.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

After getting comfortable on the ground, Valery remained quiet and listened to the man starting about the Resol'nare. It wasn't a term she had heard before, but when he began going through the six tenets, it seemed that she was somewhat familiar with them. Or at least a few — the importance of their armor, defending oneself, and raising a family was not entirely unknown to her, although the others and their individual specifics were certainly new.

The first two tenets he covered were fairly straightforward, and with some nods of her head, she showed she understood them. But when he covered the the third, and went over raising children, Valery warmed up a little and smiled. Having kids with someone she loved had always been her big dream, and now that she had a daughter, she was immensely happy. One day, she wanted more, and raising them would be one of the best things in her life.

Finally, he covered the remaining tenets, and after inspecting the symbol on his particular armor pieces, she began to understand more. Perhaps the different clans explained why some Mandalorians behaved so differently from others?

"I don't believe the Mandalorians currently have a Mand'alor, correct?" Valery asked after he finished and waited to make sure she had understood everything. If they did have a leader like that, she would have known, so she seemed to wonder what the reason behind it could be.

"But I understand the points you've made, and it... explains quite a lot of what I've seen and experienced myself."

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Kragr nodded to her question. "The last couple of times someone attempted to unite under a single Mand'alor it all fell apart or straight out got our people killed".

"It's a great dream for the young, but it's nothing more than a fantasy, held together by the more fanatical and religious Mandalorians. You should know by now, that we aren't exactly an agreeable people" it was more of a statement than anything else as he released a dry short laugh. It was no secret that Mandalorians were probably even less agreeable than the Sith when it came to debates, even less so choosing a Mand'alor to lead them all.

"no, right now we're nothing but the clans coming together in some kind of correlation" shrugged Kragr finally.

Getting up from his sitting position, he felt the restlessness in his body and started to pace. "The Resol'nare, again, giving some good guidelines, but that's what they are" continued Kragr.

"In my experience, what makes a Mandalorian isn't weighed by their skills as a fighter or their number of defeated foes. Everyone can learn how to shoot and fight. Those who accept their fate laid before them, and endure whatever is thrown at them, can walk the path as a Mandalorian" he said and stopped and looked down at Valery. It was the same lesson he gave his daughter the day he took her in as his foundling and began the girl's training.

"Get up and put on your armour," said Kragr, crossing his arms as he waited for the Jedi to do what she had been ordered to do.

If Valery had done as she was instructed, an amusing smirk and a raised of an eyebrow when he looked at her with an armour that didn't fit her, at all. Honestly, it made her look much smaller than she in truth was. His amusing smirk stayed while walking around her, "you should get Shai to fit the armour for you, but this will do for now" commented Kragr as he ended up in front of her again.

Equipping his own incredibly heavy armour, he lastly placed his helmet over his head. Looking back at the Jedi in her unfit armour, she was met with the emotionless face of a t-visor clad in red, black and white, like the rest of Kragr's armour.

"Put on your helmet" instructed Kragr. At the moment the Jedi had done so, with mindboggling speed, she would feel Kragr's powerful hands grab her arm and her stomach and launch her through the workshop with such unbelievable power that if she didn't correct herself, would have her back smash into the wall by the door.

Cracking his neck, he jumped a bit on the spot, making his limps lose, before getting into a hand-to-hand position. "Time to teach you what it means to be a Mandalorian. Rules are simple, you use the Force, I win, you give up, I win. You beat me fair and square and I'll gladly call you my better... But I'll warn ya, I've faced far meaner enemies than you, Jedi" explained Kragr grinning wildly behind the t-visor.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

"Mandalorians? Not agreeable?" she met his laugh with a smirk after her joke and nodded in understanding. She was originally born in a time not long after the Mandalorian Wars, so she knew a few things about their leader uniting the Mandalorians and leading them into war. But a lot has changed since then, and perhaps it was for the best they weren't rallied under one leadership figure like that again.

She then watched him rise and explain what he believed was necessary for someone to be a Mandalorian. Strangely enough, it resonated with her a lot more than she thought it would, "I'm of a similar mindset for any path you choose to walk in life," Valery said in response. "Accept and endure," she added before she got up on his request and reached for the backpack with armor. This time, she had put on the body glove before meeting up so she wouldn't have to strip down to her underwear again. So after removing her own clothing, she began putting on the rest of the armor and strapped herself in tightly.

It was as uncomfortable as she remembered.

"You should get Shai to fit the armour for you, but this will do for now"

Valery grumbled and adjusted her chest-plate several times before she looked at him and nodded, "I'll be meeting with her soon, I'll ask if she can help with it." She wasn't quite sure how much more she would have to wear it, but properly fitted armor would make a huge difference. She just feared it was a lot of labor for something temporary, making it not worth the woman's time. For now, she just had to endure this, and after he commented again, she put on the helmet and gently adjusted it.

The second she finished, however, she felt a pulse of danger in the Force. Turning his way, she watched him close the distance and without her having any real time to respond, he tossed her across the hall. In a split second, she tapped into the Force and allowed it to cushion her impact against the wall, so that it barely hurt at all, but he didn't need to look into her eyes to know a fire was burning behind the T-visor.

"Time to teach you what it means to be a Mandalorian. Rules are simple, you use the Force, I win, you give up, I win. You beat me fair and square and I'll gladly call you my better... But I'll warn ya, I've faced far meaner enemies than you, Jedi"

"I don't think you know me well enough for such bold claims, Kragr," Valery said in return, partially because of her feisty attitude, but there was a hint of seriousness to it as well. She knew Sith and certain other enemies were more "mean" but she was the best of the best the Jedi had, and she was an aggressive fighter. Now it was time to show that to this Mandalorian. "No Force though? Hmm... very well." Without it, and in this armor, she felt the odds were heavily stacked against her. But she wasn't going to show that and give her it all anyway.

Without any further delays, she raised her fists, tucked in her elbows, and closed the distance. Without being able to draw strength through the Force, her best bet was to strike fast and get out quickly, so she could avoid grappling situations. So that's exactly what she did — a series of quick jabs were aimed at him to measure and control distance, but she followed up with a few powerful crosses and hooks to weak spots, hoping to soften him up before slipping back out.

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Kragr was extremely hyped for this fight and in a similar position, he pumped his arms to ready himself as he walked with an absolute focus toward Valery. Predicting his opponent to go for quick attacks, he did the complete opposite and jolted forward with his upper body and aimed to smash his helmet with hers for a powerful surprise strike.

It did however open him up for her powerful crosses and hooks as he felt the hits connect, knocking him to the side. A hyped grin had remained on his lips. "Good! I want to see more of that feisty prowess Jedi!" crackled Kragr delighted and went right back at Valery with a mean quick jab with his right hand in an attempt to force her to dodge, by which he would immediately follow up with a jump with his left fist going for an aerial attack at the collarbone.

If the combo had worked, and Kragr's strike to Valery's collarbone had connected, she would feel the crushing blow of a freight train. Now granted her heavy, though unfit armour would tank most of the strike, it would still hurt like hell.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

With quick movements, Valery dodged the incoming helmet by slipping to the side, and landed a series of quicker strikes that knocked him to the side. She was trying to be as precise as possible, looking for openings in his armor to hit the weakest spots she had access to. But with a strategy like that, it was going to take time and effort to bring someone as big as Kragr down. Somehow, she would have to land bigger hits as well.

"Oh you'll get plenty," she said with a fire burning in her words.

Kragr then went on the offensive and aimed another jab at her, which she slipped by angling her body to the right. But as she did, he moved up and slammed down hard against her collarbone, sending her back several steps with a jolt of pain echoing through her body. Despite it though, she remained quiet and forced herself to bite through the pain.

In retaliation, she tapped into her biggest advantage — speed and agility. With the rotation of her body, she suddenly lashed out with a powerful kick aimed at the side of his knee, hoping to unbalance or even cripple him with a dirtier strike. Then, whether it connected properly or not, she aimed a simple combination at him as well; a jab followed by a stronger cross of the dominant arm to hopefully capitalize on her kick.

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

The dirty strike brought a sense of excitement to Kragr as he kneeled down, making her powerful kick, connect with his side instead, but have her attempts at striking him with her fists. Release a low grunt from her impressive kick, he had his armour take a lot of the punishment as he latched his arm around her leg. With an iron grip around her lower leg, locking his war gauntlet tightly, the Jedi would feel a crushing pressure on the upper part of her armoured shin.

By letting Val's kick connect to his side, the giant Mandalorian have now sieged complete control over the woman's leg and is over a head taller than Valery. With a crushing blow to Valery's stomach, she would suddenly feel the loss of balance as Kragr stood up.

Not only did he stand up, but he moved forward, putting much of his weight against her one leg's balance, aiming to force her onto her back, trapping the woman below him.

The Jedi might have superior speed and agility, being both lighter and more nimble, but Kragr had a mindboggling high pain tolerance and could take punishment to a frighteningly high degree.

If he managed to slam her back into the metallic floor, leaning over her, he would then proceed to pummel a series of powerful gut punches, hammering his fist into Valery.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

While her kick connected with a lot of force and follow-up strikes were ready, Valery had not expected him to lower himself so quickly. Her leg was caught and while she tucked in to absorb the strike aimed at her stomach, his forward movements got her to fall over and hit the ground hard due to the added weight of armor. With him leaning over her to continue a barrage of strikes seconds later, she knew she was in trouble.

As the first punch connected with her stomach, Valery let out a loud moan of pain, but as he raised his fist to strike again, she suddenly moved quickly again and used her flexibility to swing her legs up and trap his arm and head between her armored thighs, hoping to constrict his movements. But using that momentum, she spun as well and used her core and leg's strength to try and throw him off to the side, and onto the ground.

Only then, Valery jumped back up to her feet and raised her fists to stand defensively, "Come on, then."

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Damn the girl was quick with her reactions and tough as nails. For only a split second, her pained moan had caused Kragr to halt his next strike, only to find himself slammed into the floor. To make it even more unfair, Valery followed suit with the momentum and ended up hugging Kragr's head between her well-refined and armoured thighs.

For a second or two that they were in that position, Valery could praise herself lucky that they wore helmets, as a highly enthralling smile, wider than ever before from their position. Only when the fiery valkyrie decided to leave a position that would have looked incredibly suggestive to anyone entering the workshop.

Laying flat on his back, he looked over at where Valery stood and no matter what, he simply couldn't stop smiling as this fight turned out to be more than what he could have asked for. Standing back up, he went into his own fighting position and moved closer to his opponent. He held a sharp eye on her, prepared for whatever she might throw at him and began to circle her.

Watching for any openings in Valery's defence he, unfortunately, found non for the moment and decided to test it and threw a couple of quick jabs followed by a low haymaker. Dodging back in a flash to avoid any counterstrike the Jedi might throw at him, he kept a close eye on any patterns or break in her defence when faced with his strikes.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

As tempting as it was to strike while he was on his back, she wanted him to get up to his feet before she resumed the fight so she could avoid more grappling situations. He seemed to enjoy them more than he probably should, but she was at a disadvantage trying to grapple without augmenting herself through the Force. The armor didn't exactly help with her mobility either, so she just stood defensively and watched him rise.

Even with the helmet on, she could feel the grin behind the metal — she showed no signs of how it affected her, but it definitely made her want to bring him back down against the concrete floor of the forge hall.

After rising, he moved back in with his own stance and circled her to try and find openings or even provoke her into attacking. But this time, she stood strong, so the only way to have an opening was to create it. He realized this and began to open up with a series of strikes she parried, blocked, or slipped away from. Some glancing blows were still able to hit, but the armor protected her against those pretty well. When the haymaker followed, she lowered her arms and kept her elbows tucked in to block the strike, but the force behind the blow rippled through her body.

What she hoped was that it opened him up, with her now able to pierce through his guard down the center. To capitalize on it, she moved forward and aimed a quick but powerful jab to the torso, followed by a more devastating uppercut for his chin, before slipping back out to hopefully avoid retaliation.

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Feeling the haymaker connect, he thanked his sharp instinct and weaved to the side to dodge the attempt from Valery to capitalize, but instead, he grabbed onto her hand with his right and pulled her further forward than she probably would have liked. Then, while twisting her arm as he continued to weave behind his opponent, he forced her arm to twist high on her back.

With a flash of his other hand, in order to stop her from wiggling her out, Valery felt a powerful hand around her throat tightening the grasp, right underneath her helmet. Even though Kragr wore his gauntlet, capable of crushing highly dense metal, he did not its strength for obvious reasons. However, that's not to say he didn't hold a dominatingly tight grasp around her throat so she felt a tiny pressure on her airway without being too much in serious danger.

"Got you!" spoke Kragr with a smug satisfying tone, even lifting her up, so she was forced to tiptoe with her feet. Twisting her arm a bit more, making her really feel the pressure in order to see if she would squeal or bite the sounds back.

Standing in the middle of the workshop, the orange glow caressing both their armoured features were painted into long merging shadows of two expansive silhouettes. Kragr could no doubt feel Valery's fiery struggle, but he held on, pressing her back against his front in a show of dominance in their current struggle.

"Ready to give up Jedi?" Asked the Mandalorian with a smirk of enjoyment, knowing full well her fiery personality would never willingly give up and counted on it. There was an unbelievable strength behind Kragr, as he held the Jedi on her toes as he flexed his muscles in order to and attempting to hold Valery locked in their position for as long as possible.

While his goal was to have her give up in her current position, then again, he found great enjoyment in feeling her squirm beneath his iron grip, whether she wanted to give him the satisfaction or not.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

While her approach was swift, she overestimated her actual speed due to not being used to her armor yet. It resulted in her timing being off just enough for him to weave to the side, and manipulate her arm to force it behind her back. Valery's posture straightened, and Kragr closed in to lock her up, and bring an arm around for a chokehold. With the pressure applied to her neck, she felt herself rise as well and gritted her teeth.

From the start, she knew the odds were stacked against her with the rules of this fight, but she wasn't really the type to give up. But at the same time, she wasn't exactly looking for this spar to get as intense as her other training session, or the majority of her time on Kestri would be spent recovering in bacta tanks or stuck in her apartment.

So with the grip only tightening in response to her struggling, she was ready to give up on this spar. But then he said something that sparked another inferno in here.

"Ready to give up Jedi?"

"You..." she said with a clear struggle in her voice. "...should have locked up both my arms." Before he had even a second to prepare, she used all her strength to jab her elbow back, directly into his crotch. It would be the second time during her stay here that she delivered such a dirty strike, but they were pretty much asking for it each time. Following the blow, Valery pushed herself away and gasped for air while she turned around and smirked underneath her helmet.

"But you win this one," she finally added before she dipped her head. It would be very rude if he chose to get some payback for that dirty blow now.

Kragr Krayt ​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Tag: Valery Noble | Location: Tor Valum

Valery heard a deep grunt when her elbow connected and the iron grip around her throat and twist of arm disappeared as Kragr dropped her. He had really felt that strike as he wobbled back a few steps with a full gritted show of teeth behind his helmet. Luckily, his extremely armoured beskar'gam kept him from seeing too many stars. Despite her dirty but highly brutal crotch strike, Kragr just began to crackle joyously and removed his helmet.

"Going right for the beskar-jewels, eh?" joked the Mandalorian with a raised eyebrow and an amused look in his eyes.

Valery could see the slight glistering sweat peals hinting on his forehead, which meant he had at least given him a good warm up. With his helmet in off he walked over to her and waited for the Jedi to remove her own helmet, as he liked looking in her eyes. Nevertheless, whether or not she removed her helmet, he placed a palm on her shoulder.

"Well fought, Jetii, fighting like a true Mandalorian!" congratulated Kragr, removing his hand from her shoulder and went over to a table where a small container with water in stood. Grabbing two decent sized cups and began to fill up the first. While her filled up the first cup to spoke again. "You have a strong form Valery and the mindset of a warrior, no doubt about that" praised the orange-coloured Mandalorian and turned around to face the Jedi and give her one of the cups.

Taking a big gulp of water, he looked at Valery again, "you have the fire and spirit of a true Mandalorian in you!" he said, smiling excitedly at her. Emptying his cup, he placed it back on the table. "Let us continue the lessons" stated Kragr simply and beckons her to follow him.

For the next couple of hours throughout the day, they sat on the floor, as Kragr taught her various knowledge of the Mandalorian people, culture and religion, though he was not very religious and Val only gained some very simple superficially answers. Valery also learn quite a few Mando'a words and she would quickly realize that the man in front of her were a very good at teaching by introducing a lot of it with such a passion and excitement that it would be hard not to get hyped up.

While she wouldn't be able to hold a conversation in Mando'a, she could at least understand and with more practice, pronounce simple words such as Jetii(jedi), Jetii'kad(Sword of (the) Jedi), kando(importance), kote(glory, might), Mando'ad(Mandalorian - Son/Daughter of Mandalore), parjai(victory), dar'jetii(Sith or Dark Jedi) and many more words. Of course, she would have to work on the words she had learned, but Kragr had given her a very extensive guide to help her when she was alone.

Before they both knew it, it was getting late.

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Kestri

Free of his grip, Valery kept herself distanced and ready until the moment he began to laugh and removed his helmet. She felt her body relax and reached up to remove her own helmet. Much like him, she had definitely been sweating — a combination of being stuck in armor while surrounded by forges, and the training, "You're not too bad yourself," she said, clearly downplaying his strength as a joke. "Without the Force and in this armor though, it's hard to keep up."

Normally she may have offered to keep fighting without holding back - but she had enough hard training going on, and this was more a test of the mind and attitude in her eyes.

Valery then reached up to tuck away some of the long strands of hair that were sticking to her face and joined him as they continued with more lessons. Learning about the culture and language was fascinating, and a nice change of pace from all the heavy combat training here. At the same time, it offered her a lot of insight into the Mandalorians, which she felt confident would become useful in her life.

But soon enough, it was getting late, and only when it was actually getting dark outside, Valery seemed to have noticed. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of time when having fun, after all. "Thank you for the lessons, Kragr. I have a lot of training planned this week, so it might be a while before I visit again. But I do still owe you something in return, so I'll make sure to come back as soon as I can."

With a final smile and dip of her head, she finally departed and made her way back to her apartment.

[end thread]


Kragr Krayt ​