New Beginnings

[Tyran Numeck]

He laughed out loud at that last remark she made. "Hey, I've earned the right to be boring in my home because when I'm out on a job it's usually anything but boring. Have you forgotten the firefight with the Trandoshans?" He said to her. "You've been on enough jobs with me over the last two years to know the kind of things I get sucked into so excuse me for be leisurely at home to avoid getting more gray hairs than I should have."

Tyran paused and looked up at her. "That's probably a pipe dream at his point though, you'll give me more gray hairs than any amount of shoot outs with Trandoshan slavers will." He tossed the polishing rag at her. "Fine you want to have some fun, go get your armor on. We'll go have some fun in town."

 

[Anora Vahn]

"How could I ever forget a thing like that?" she questioned him, almost but not quite curtly. "You made me crawl around in confined spaces." Anora still wasn't a fan of those, in any scenario. And no amount of making her push her limit with what she could take was seeming to help the fact. "Exciting and crazy jobs do not give you an excuse to be boring at home." she did point out to him, then scoffed when she got the rag tossed at her.

Her hand came up, stopping the cloth midway between him and herself, but rather than throw it back at him she just let it fall.

"What could you possibly be dragging me out to do in town that I would need my armor for?" she questioned him, suddenly rather suspicious. And she didn't move just yet because of it.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Tyran crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at her. "Go put it on and you'll find out." He said as he walked around to his armor and began to put it on. It wasn't really an odd request in his mind to ask her to wear her armor out into town, that was just common dress on Mandalore. It would have been more outlandish for her to just show up in fatigues or something even more formal, at least in Keldabe anyway, there were definitely other places within the sphere of the Mandalorian Empire where that kind of dress would be more appropriate than armor.

The place that Tyran was going to take her was anything but formal though. It was a place he'd spent some time when he was younger and angrier, it was kind of an underground fight club where a lot of young Mandalorians went to hone their fighting skills, or where more veteran Mandalorians went to earns some extra credits when bounties and other contracts were sparse. You could make a pretty decent profit if you were okay with taking several beatings throughout the night.

Tyran stepped outside his home and waited for his trainee to join him and when she did he kept his mouth shut about where they were going until they made it into town and walked through a rather seedy building and down a flight of steps. "Just so you know this place is something of a known secret, no one talks about it outside of this room we're about to go in. Word to the wise don't act like a stiff, grab a drink and relax." He said as he knocked on a thick durasteel door and when it opened he gave the guard on the other end a few credits to get him and Anora entrance into the arena.

In the center of the room was a large caged in ring and already there were two Mandalorians in the middle of it doing their level best to render the other unconscious much to the delight of the sizeable crowd that had gathered to watch the event.

 

[Anora Vahn]

Anora had grumbled at him in response, but she had gotten up from her seat and went to put her armor on. It was second nature by now, to fit herself into the pieces without needing help or getting herself tangled up in anything. How she had managed - more than once no less! - even she didn't have an explanation for, but it had happened. Now however, she had it under control.

Once she was armored up, she waited for him to finish doing whatever it was he had left, and then she was out the door behind him. Surprisingly, Nora didn't ask any questions between point A and point B. Yes, she was curious, but she had learned by now that she wasn't going to get any information from Tyran by bugging him about it. So instead, she just went along with him.

At least until they came to the questionable door and she had been given instructions before they even got inside. "Not entirely sure how I should feel about this, but alright." she at least agreed. Once they got inside, first instinct was to pause and look around, but she didn't. She stuck close to Tyran and did her looking around as much as possible while she did so. "Holy crap," she let out, "What the hell am I seeing right now?" She wasn't an idiot, she knew there were fights going on, that was obvious. No, she meant the establishment as a whole.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"This," He said casually. "Is how I used to spend my nights when I was a kid and needed some credits between jobs. Made myself a good reputation in this place...lost a couple of teeth too." He made that last remark with a bit of fond inflection to his voice. He had a lot of great, but albeit painful, memories in this dark and smoke filled room. "You want dancing and music then you're on the wrong planet Anora." He added as he made his way over to the bar and bought him and her each a drink.

"One of these days I might volunteer you for that cage to see just how much of your fight training has actually stuck." Tyran said as he removed his helmet and clipped it to his belt so he could have himself a healthy sip of his drink. "Might even put some money down on you."

 

[Anora Vahn]

She took in his answer while still looking around the room, but his comment about music and dancing? That made her scoff. "You think I don't know that by now? If I wanted to get molested in some shady night club, I'd let you know." she quipped, shaking her head as she followed him to the bar. How long had it been since she had danced at all? Well, aside from brief displays here and there that were brought on by booze and not a real desire to dance. Her helmet came off as well once she was offered a drink, and she took a moment to check the tie in her hair before she took up the drink.

The comment about putting her in a fight made her frown, and her gaze shifted to the cage. It wasn't the same for her, not yet - and who knew if it would ever be? For her, fighting wasn't just a good time, or a test of skill. It had a purpose, and all of the fights Anora had been in? They were purely for survival. Not that she was judgmental about it. She was aware that it was a matter of being raised in different ways, trained differently, that's all.

"Pretty sure you'd lose money." she commented against the rim of her glass. It was meant to be funny, not taken seriously. Though really she was only half joking, but kept that to herself.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"I don't train losers." He said giving her a look that indicated he understood she was only half joking. He wouldn't throw her in that kind of environment unless he was certain she could hold her own. Right now? No she wouldn't win but she was getting there, as stubborn as she could be she was also a quick learner. "Just take in the environment, watch the fights and how the fighters in there win them and more importantly how they lose them. See if you can spot their mistakes, but also try to have some fun." He nudged her with his elbow.

 

[Anora Vahn]

Anora swat at him with her free hand when he nudged her, and not so surprisingly she was already ahead of him in terms of watching the fighters. The way they moved, the way they held their arms - or didn't hold their arms, depending. Their foot work, that wasn't so different from what she had already learned, both before her time with Tyran and after. There was at least a bit of comfort in knowing that she hadn't been too far out of the norm in every aspect when she had been taken from one way of life to another.

"The bigger guy is going to lose." Nora may not have been the best fighter out there, but she was damn good at reading opposition. And it wasn't even her tapping into the Force, she could tell by simply watching the pair in the cage. "He packs more of a punch, but has a hitch on his left side when he swings. It's a full three to five seconds. The smaller one is of course quicker, but not ridiculously so. Just enough to keep from getting his nose broken or his lights knocked out. He's wearin' the big guy down, and if he sees that hitch?" she shrugged her shoulders and took a heavy drink from her cup.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Tyran grinned and nodded his head. "Not bad, not bad at all." He said as he also drank from his own glass. Without removing his eyes from the cage he asked another question. "What if the bigger guy is doing that on purpose, it's an obvious flaw to be exploited by the smaller fighter. Fighting is every bit a mental game as it is a physical one, out smart your opponent up here and you beat them in the ring." He said tapping his temple with an armored finger.

As if on cue the smaller fighter seemed to think his strategy was working and got cocky. The end result was him walking into a solid right hook that connected squarely on the chin and floored the guy. The crowd let out a collective "Ooh!" of pain before erupting into applause as people went to cash in their bets. Tyran turned to Anora. "Don't ever assume you can beat your opponent, there's having a good plan and executing it properly or differing from that plan and getting cocky. I can tell you which option that guy drooling on the mat went with. We'll see how good you do when I get you in that cage." He teased her and gave her shoulder a playful pat.

 

[Anora Vahn]

Anora rolled her eyes hard at the collective reaction to the knock out. "Some people are just stupid and move too early." she stated with a shake of the head, and then shifted back around so that she was no longer facing the cage. "There's a lesson on patience in there somewhere, I'm sure." she shrugged a shoulder, clearly not going to bother with dishing out whatever lesson that could possibly be.

When he pat her shoulder, Anora reached out and pushed him in reaction, and she made a face at him to boot. It was of course by no means hard enough to make him stumble in any given direction. "Do I have a say in this cage thing? Because I have yet to hear a question of whether I want to do it or not."

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but you'd be surprised at what you can learn in that arena." He said crossing his arms. "I'd never suggest you getting in there though if I didn't think you could handle it. You think I'd throw you to the wolves like that?" He grinned at her as he walked back to the bar and got another drink.

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Do I think you would-- Did you seriously just ask me that question?" Anora countered, though she followed him back to the bar. "The answer is yes. Yes I absolutely think you would throw me to the wolves. With steaks around my neck, no less!"

Her head shook and she got a second drink for herself as well. "Do I think you'd throw me to the wolves..." she muttered against the rim of the glass once she had it, before taking a drink from it.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Well if I put of vegetables around your neck it wouldn't have the same effect now would it?" He asked her as he paid for his drink and half turned to lean against the bar and look at her. Of course he was going to be hard on her at times, that was his job as her trainer. If he took it easy on her all the time then she wouldn't learn anything useful, he'd expected even the Jedi to know that.

"Look you wanted to do this, I told you this lifestyle isn't an easy one and your most likely to suffer famine than have a feast. My job is to make sure you can survive anything after your training is done with and if at the end of the day every so often you think I'm an nerf herder then that means I've done my job right. I am going to put you in dangerous situations whether you want to or not because you won't learn anything if I take it easy on you." He fixed her with a serious look. "So you need to let me know if fully committed to this or if we've both wasted two years of our lives."

 

[Anora Vahn]

She just stared at him in response. A full blown, full on, almost stoic stare. For quite a long time she just stood this way, no words, not even a huff or puff in response, and then there was one single shake of her head. "You have got to be kidding me right now." she didn't give him time to say anything in response to confirm or deny. "I walked away from everything I have ever known, and I did it without complaint, without hesitation, and without looking back. I have stepped up and tackled every single damn thing you've thrown at me, from the most mundane, to the craziest shit. Did I do it without complaint? No, of course not, I'm only human. But the key words there are that I did it.

"And now you are going to stand there and ask me if I'm committed? Reprimand me about taking it easy on me? When have I ever asked for you to take it easy on me? In any complaints that I have thrown around, when have I ever said that it was too hard, or that I couldn't do it? At what point did everything I've accomplished suddenly mean I'm not committed?" She extended an arm and pointed at the cage without looking away from him. "Just because I personally don't feel I'm ready to step into something like that, I need to decide if I've wasted two years of our lives?"

Nora looked away from him now, but only so that she could down the contents in her glass. It was then harshly set back on the bar and her gaze found his again. "Piss off, Tyran." she nearly growled the words at him, then stepped away from him.

 

[Tristan Ortega]

Running into friends wasn't something that Tristan could say that she did very often. She had very few of them, and usually whenever she saw them, it was planned. So to come across Tyran completely unexpectedly? It had been quite a surprise, and Tris had been ready to mosey on over and throw herself into the middle of whatever was going on. That was at least until she saw that whatever had been going on, took an immediate sour turn.

She had been standing idly by long enough, looking for a place to insert herself and cause trouble, that she had watched the pair. And she had been fully prepared to tease them mercilessly once she had made her presence known. So whatever had just happened - she hadn't been close enough to hear what was said - she was immediately curious.

As she approached her friend, Tris reached out a hand to touch the underside of Tyran's jaw and push it upwards. "Close your mouth, you'll catch something you don't want." she told him, then dropped her hand away so that she could signal for the bartender's attention and get herself a drink.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Tyran scowled at Tristan. Of course she would be here for this moment, he jerked his head out of her grip and went to the bar to get himself another drink. "The last thing I need right now is your input right now." He grumbled at the cage fighter. "Don't you have to go get punched in the face or something, you're still doing that right?"

 

[Tristan Ortega]

"Ooo, I seem to have struck a nerve." Tris let out with a smirk, and she shifted herself so that she was leaned against the bar top on her side, facing Tyran. "I don't think I've ever seen someone get under your skin like that before." she pointed out, brows slightly lofted as she looked at him. "You ever gonna tell her that you like her, or are you just gonna keep pushing her away until she really snaps at you?"

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"I'd sooner ask a Toydarian for romantic advice before I ask you." He said as he downed his drink in one go then let out a tired huff of air. "Finally came back to Mandalore huh? Ran out of people to punch in the Deep Core?"

 

[Tristan Ortega]

"Mmm, that would be a 'no'." Tris stated with a shake of the head. "You're gonna run her off, and then you'll have no one to blame but yourself." Her hands came up and she shrugged her shoulders before turning to take up her drink when it was finally placed beside her. "You can never run out of people to punch, doesn't matter where you are." she replied to him before taking a long sip of her drink. "But to answer your question, yes. I was getting a little homesick." And since this was the first real place she had ever considered home? That meant something. She then paused, and lift her free hand to point at him. "Dyir doesn't know I'm back yet, so keep it to yourself if you see him before I do."

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Don't think that'll be a problem, Dyir spends most of his time at his home on Concord Dawn from what I've heard. The years of patching peoples wounds up have seemed to have gotten to him." Tyran said as he thought about what Tris had to say. "Damn it woman why do you always have to be the voice of reason, you of all people." He muttered as he paid for his drinks and left to go and find Anora.