Midnight Wanderings

[Celiana]

I appreciated the restraint Aria showed just now giving me a minute to catch my breath. Pausing I could see she was looking for a way to find out what I was going to do. She was looking for me to telegraph... Then she moved to close the distance while trying to off balance me from my low to the ground position with her knee. I let her close the difference then I let her attempt to off balance me with her knee.

It was only when she was midway through her movement that I circled my left leg around allowing her to barely miss me. As Aria's knee hit the floor I landed my right knee into her back lacing my fingers together catching her neck as she landed. My knee firmly planted between the arch of her shoulders and my fingers laced together over the front of her throat I waited to see what she'd attempt in terms of trying to get out. If she moved though I'd move with her.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Celiana was good - Aria was now stuck between a rock and a hard place as the knee over her back pushed her into the vice-like grip around her throat. Using the blunt pain to help her focus, Aria shut her eyes for a moment before sticking her left leg out, hopefully sweeping Celiana's grounded leg off the floor. At the same time she jerked her upper body backwards and out from under Celiana to avoid being landed on if she had successfully tripped her up.

Assuming she had successfully knocked Celiana down, Aria would then place her knee on top of both her ankles to make it harder to get back up.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

As my other leg that wasn't currently in the middle of Aria's back was the only anchor point I had I knew Aria would try for it. Maintaining my hold around her throat I moved as she did keeping firm my holds on her. I was tired and this had dragged on past my normal duels in my mind Aria had already earned my respect. Now though I could say I'd trust her with my life. Simultaneously driving my knee further between her shoulders while I pulled back against her throat as I waited for her to admit defeat and tap.

I'd learned what I'd needed to know about Aria through this duel and I wondered...What had she learned of me? In any case at the end of this duel would be our opportunity to voice those things.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Fair enough that Celiana would dodge Aria's attempt to trip her up - she was Echani after all and very skilled anyway - but it left her a little stuck.

Aria wasn't used to defeat - even before she'd finished battle school as an honors student she'd trained nonstop and the Echani martial art was by far the most effective - and even if Celiana was certainly a worthy defeator, the feeling left her a little prickly. Even so, prickly was better than trapped with a grip on her neck and a knee driven firmly between her shoulder blades, so with a small sigh she tapped out and wriggled out.

Straightening her back and rubbing between her shoulder blades, Aria said "I'd forgotten what it was like to have a proper duel. You're very good."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Helping Aria up she said "I'd forgotten what it was like to have a proper duel. You're very good." Chuckling softly I accepted the compliment and brought my left open palm vertically against my horizontally closed palm and gave a small bow while smiling. "You're quite good yourself Aria, rarely have I had to work so hard to gain a victory. Although I am curious,what did you learn of me through that duel?"

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Reciprocating the bow, Aria smiled. "You were comfortable being aggressive, but never too aggressive - you always gave me a chance to tap out. Once, someone didn't give you that opportunity. Either that or you have a great deal of respect for duelling etiquette. Or both."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

"I normally am what I'd consider controlled aggressiveness. Aggression without control is little more than a drunk brawler. As to giving you the chance to tap out my belief is that even if someone has fallen to The Dark Side there's always hope and a chance for redemption perhaps sometime look into the tales of Darth Revan, The prodigal knight. He was a very interesting man, not to mention one of his teachers was Echani which is worth noting."

Pausing for a moment I sighed, then spoke again. "You see much Aria, you're correct there was a point where I wasn't given an option, I decided to ALWAYS give people an option after that. As to etiquette? It goes out the window when in any circumstance other than a duel to understand someone or as a matter of honor. Though I try to conduct myself well, it tends to be harder than it looks."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"Controlled aggressiveness...that's a good way to put it," Aria mused. "It's possible to fight without aggression, some fighting styles are based on passive moves that use your opponent's strength against them, but it's rarely as satisfying as a bit of aggression."

Interested to hear that her deduction had been correct, Aria paused. "You do a good job of it, you know. Anyway, I'm almost surprised to hear you need to be given an option. By now though I'm sure that you'll have the upper hand in situations nearly all of the time."

She was curious to know in what situation Celiana hadn't been able to 'tap out' but she supposed that if Celiana, who had beaten the then undefeated Aria, hadn't been able to win that fight then it would have been a horrific encounter. She concealed her interest with the Force as best she could, decreeing that if Celiana wanted to talk then she would and that she shouldn't feel otherwise pressured.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

"You don't hide your curiosity very well Aria." Chuckling to myself I continued, "the situation I wasn't able to tap out of was before I'd left Coruscant and several years before I trained under Arja on Concord Dawn. In my time on Coruscant my father's associates grew... handsy. Everything short of actual sexual assault essentially and as I wasn't yet of full age on Coruscant I couldn't leave my father's household. I was 18 when I discovered The Force.

"I instinctively threw up a Force Barrier to shield the dancing girls from a handsy, intoxicated, and further erratic Zabrak. In any case I wanted them to have a choice to leave the party they were to "entertain." And I made that happen for them. Everyone deserve the choice for good or evil but I WILL NOT be the one to take choice from somebody."

Sighing again I looked at Aria hoping that she wouldn't be utterly horrified at my shortened version of things. "In any case that's the what and why of it. Though I learned a great deal from you I think too."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria made a sigh of overwhelmed surprise. "Celiana, that's...I'm sorry. Nobody should need to go through that, especially before you've even reached full adulthood. But what you did, saving those girls..." she trailed off, unsure how to finish. Aria wondered, if she'd been put through the same thing, would she have had Celiana's strength?
"Just know, you're safe now on Voss and you're one of the strongest people I know. Especially knowing this."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

"Yeah....Fierfeck'la Osik! This is why I don't normally make too many friends or have relationships. People find out or I get around to telling them this and it either changes their view of me or makes them want to put distance between me and them. I knew I was truly strong when I put myself between myself and those girls it was part of why I chose to be Jetii."

Realizing I'd just sworn in Mando'a I turned back to Aria and said, "my apologies for my language. I just don't want people's pity or their opinion based on my past. Though I'm immensely thankful you're still here. Poofing out a breath of air blowing my bangs out of my eyes I said, "In any case I learned a good deal about you through our duels today, Both with the blades as well as in true Echani fashion."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

It was interesting to hear about how Celiana had become the fearless Echani warrior Aria had come to know her as. Definitely far more eventful that her relatively peaceful childhood had been.

"If anything it makes my view of you clearer. I get to know how and why you've become who I know you as, and trust me, I'm not going anywhere. But I'm curious now - what did you learn?"

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

"My understanding of you grew quite a bit during the duel with sabers. You couldn't conceal the reaction when you saw my sabers and how they became a staff, you thought if even only for a moment that weapon is typically associated with The Dark Side yes? You're open to possibilities but frequently afraid to go the full distance. I gave you open reign to TRULY hit me and even though you hit me you held a great deal back. Which tells me that even though you'll do what's necessary, if circumstances change you'll usually stick to what you know."

"Though I do appreciate you not going out of your way to hurt me. I realized that in order to beat you I'd have to hurt a bit myself, true in life as well I suppose. In my opinion Light Side, Dark Side they're the same thing, power and it's for what reason we use those powers that matters. If I could use Force lightning, a typically dark side power to restart someone's heart and didn't, that would be evil; especially if I could've saved them. There can't be one without the other and frequently there comes a point when the lines become blurred and we do things we'll have to own up to.

I think you're starting to question how far will I go if I let myself use ALL of what I'm capable of. Rather than letting yourself do so and having someone to help you if you're about to lose yourself in those powers. Powers and actions have consequences but the powers of the Dark Side and the powers of the Light aren't inherently evil. Only how people use them... Something to keep in mind for us all I think.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria couldn't help but be impressed at Celiana's uncanny observance. "Huh. Well, truth be told, the Dark Side scares me. The darkness is so vast, and so much harder to escape than it is to fall into. My mother once explained it as being like a cliff, and climbing back up the cliff is so much harder than falling in. You see, at the time I was afraid of heights." She chuckled, remembering how her mother hand levitated her higher and higher until her seven-year-old self had realised that there was nothing to fear.

"So while the Dark Side is almost limitless, she said, it's unbelievably dangerous and out of those who survive the fall and live to realise their mistakes, the number of fallen Lightsiders who don't die trying to redeem themselves is very slim. Naturally, I've gone out of my way to stay as close to the Lightside as I can. She's good with analogies that way."

Not realising that she'd sat down at the bench on the side, Aria hastily stood up. "Anyway, enough talk. We can go for round two or we can go get some sleep like good little Jedi."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

I listened intently to Aria speak, though it was difficult for me to imagine her scared of anything like heights. As she finished up she said, "Anyways enough talk, we can go for round two or we can get some sleep like good little Jedi." Chuckling at her remark of being good little Jedi I said, "Oh Aria you and I both know we're definitely not good little Jedi. I'm good to go another round but I wonder what we could do to make it more interesting...."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria gave an amused but exasperated sigh at Celiana's desire to liven things up. It was three in the morning and she'd just lost a very physically intense duel, but she supposed that sleep could wait. The best fun was to be had when the merrymakers were the only souls awake, after all.

Stifling a yawn, Aria replied, "well, you're the creative one between the two of us. I just help you kill the bad guys and make you look cooler. So, what's it to be?"

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

I caught the yawn Aria had stifled and it was quite early..."Well Aria, it's clearly very early and I can see you're tired. So dueling wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Though I am slightly hungry, ice cream perhaps? Then call it a night, day, whatever it is?"

Nobody should be able to turn down ice-cream I thought to myself....

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"Ice cream?" Aria looked amused. "And where exactly do you propose to get ice cream at three in the morning?" She laughed. "Alright, let's go on an ice cream heist! I bet the Masters have a secret stash of junk food, but that might be pushing it. We'll raid the cafeteria then shall we?" Tiredness forgotten, Aria was grinning widely and genuinely looking forward to whatever Celiana next suggested.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Aria questioned my choice of Ice cream asking where I proposed we get ice cream at three in the morning. Then she said, "I'm sure the Masters have a stash of junk food but that might be pushing it." Laughing slightly I said, "Well as far as secrets go the rooftop access, and access to other parts of the temple are all I know of. Though I'm fairly certain that if the Masters had their own stash of junk food it'd never be mentioned anywhere. Ever."

"That being said give me some time and if they have a secret junk food stash I'll find it. But until then to the cafeteria love? I'm feeling in the mood for mint chip Ice cream, how about you?"

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"Give it time and we'll know all their secrets," Aria declared with a grin. "Until then, the cafeteria it is. I've always had a penchant for raspberry ripple myself, but they do make excellent mint here. Although I can't say I've ever gone for ice cream at three - but if we have to raid the freezers then raid the freezers we shall. Come on!"

Laughing, Aria snuck out of the training chambers and through the corridors, navigating the maze of hallways until she had reached the cafeteria.

[member="Celiana"]