Private Obstacles

[Kyra Perl]

Living in the middle of an ancient jungle had its downsides. No cities. No malls. Horrible night life. But there was something to be said about the beauty of the Kashyyyk forest that surrounded Silver Rest. Or more specifically-- about how fun it was to play in. The massive trees stretched high into the sky, creating the perfect jungle gym for the acrobatically trained padawans. Kyra had spent much time in the forest, growing bolder with her tricks as she used the force to send her sailing through the air.

She would have thought this made her an expert at aerial maneuvers, but a upon introducing the concept into her saber lessons... Kyra had learned otherwise. There was something to be said about the concentration and control one needed in a fight. Her time playing in the trees had made force aided jumps and twists feel as natural as breathing, but it was not enough.

Kyra needed control. That was not an enviroment the trees could provide.

Caedyn Arenais had made it very clear that her skill with the saber forms would not progress until she gained better control over her acrobatics and state of mind. Meditation was still a foreign concept to the hyperactive empath. But aerial tricks?

She knew a better place to help her with that.

The Silver Rest obstacle course had been removed from its temporary spot in the lawn and placed inside a covered gym. The muddy water had been replaced by padded form. The excitement of running through it had burned its way through the masses, leaving the massive device mostly unused by those burning about their daily schedule. Kyra stood alone atop the middle of the course, rubbing at a sore on her hands as she stared down the hardest part: A pure drop, a jump, and a need to grab constantly moving handholds. It was a maneuver one could only achieve with the force, the sporadic movements require more than just a sense of timing to make it across the gape to the next part.

Kyra had not yet made it across, a fact which was beginning to frustrate her.

She took a deep breath, eyes watching the jerking hand hold... And jumped. A moving foam arm lashed out, knocking her off her path and sending down into the pit with a "Hnng."

Acaadi

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi watched her fall. It seemed a very long time since she had watched him falling into the kashyyk depths. They had both laughed so hard, so entirely carefree. It felt like a very, very long time since that day.

He had stayed stock still to avoid distracting her, but now she was down in the foam pit he turned away to leave. Acaadi had come here in the hope that he could make one of those leaps of faith again.

All the physio, all the scans, they all told a picture of a body that had healed the wound that torture chamber had left him with. At least in the important places. Some of the breaks would apparently always ache in the winter, but he was ready to move as he once had. It was the deeper wound that stopped him from making the jump. A hand that gripped him with fear when he stood at the ledge and looked down. He doubted himself in a way he never had.

Acaadi stayed where he was. He wanted a private moment to do battle with himself once again. He also didn't want to run from Kyra.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra kicked and squirmed and fought her way through the foam, only to freeze in shock to turn a bend and find Acaadi standing there ... seemingly waiting. She had done nothing but try and run from him lately. Not out of shame, no. She wouldn't have that be the assumption. It was... other things that had left her turning corners and leaving Acaadi to dust again. She had been there for him, without being there for the stuff she knew he wanted to hash over.

Ironic, as they had resolved to cut that crap that night after the hospital.

Heat hit her cheeks, her throat closing at once. She knew she had things to be sorry for. She knew she had explaining to do. But all at once, she was without words. She approached him with a healthy dose of appropriate shame, wading forward and stopping at the bottom steps.

"...Hi," she finally said, her voice tight.

 

[Acaadi]

A thousand thoughts ran through his mind. A jarbled mess of things he could have said. Perhaps things he should have said. She elicited a flurry of all kinds of conflicting emotions that he was not equipped to deal with.

"I was...going to try and make the first jump again," he explained, jobbing over his shoulder with his thumb.

Acaadi sighed and lowered his head. He wanted her to stay but he didn't want her to see just how much he was struggling again.

He looked up at her from below his markings, corner of his lip trying to form a smile.

"Want to watch me fall again?"

 

[Kyra Perl]

His feelings struck her-- raw and pure through that stupid bond they had formed. It was dangerous, so dangerous, to be connected to him or any of the others the way she did, but there it was. She pushed up the steps without a thought, and wrapped him in a sudden hug.

He was struggling.

But of all the work the two had to do inside their lives, being afraid to show her it wasn't something she'd let them sit with. It was good to see him out of the hospital? She held him tight for a moment then pulled back, moving around him to the landing. "Sure. Hell first person to makes it through is owed ice cream. Stat." She didn't look back him, leading the way to the starting platform first.

 

[Acaadi]

He had not expected that. In the game of predicting what Kyra was about to do he had come up short time and again. Acaadi wrapped an arm around her back and gave a gentle squeeze. Back through that bond flooded a genuine warmth of relief.

He turned and followed her, making his way to the edge of the platform. He would have liked to lightly leap from the edge, make a start and blow a raspberry over his shoulder. She would feel the little tremor that planted his feet by the edge.

"I think...when I do this once...it will be easier again?" he said hopefully.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra looked at him once, his trepidation clear inside the tremor of his stance.

Her face blank, no ounce of her betraying her flickering thoughts, she stepped forward...

and pushed him off.

Like a baby bird taking flight.


She peered over the edge, a small grin growing across her lips. "Yeah, I'd say so."

 

[Acaadi]

"Woa-ah!" went Acaadi. His belly flipped as the sense of weightlessness took over and he fell without a hint of grace.

Kyra was afforded a clear view of of his distorted expression as he twisted in the air moments before the foam swallowed him up.

"Kyra!" he accused.

She would feel the full rotation of emotions, most of them driven by animal instinct. A flash of fear, and a leap of anger. It burned bright and burned itself out in three seconds flat.

Acaadi laughed loudly and shook his head. From the foam he wagged his finger up at Kyra. The adrenaline had his hands shaking.

"You're not allowed you to start until I get back up there!" he called out, starting the awkward crawl towards the stairs.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra chortled, shaking out the burst of energy pumping through her body. As he approach she treated him with a mock rendition of his shocked expression, another bout of laughter falling easily from her lips. “You can’t be standing here a scardy cat. We got enough stuff out there giving us trouble to be scared of foam.”

Buried concern for him sat in her chest. It did not sit well with her to see him so shaken. Then again, being broken by a sith did that to you. She understood that concept as well as any other.

When it came between a choice of him baring the brunt of things or her, she was determined to shield him from further harm. Out of the two of them, he needed to get out of here in one piece. He was the better of them after all. She hid all these thoughts with a shove against him shoulders— an abrupt jump his way done as if she was about to shove him again. She stopped short and broke back out into more laughter, the moment kept light and cheerful.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi tensed and held his arms to defend himself from another shove. He did not laugh as easily as he would normally have done, but he still laughed. Even a little chuckle was good.

"And what's on the table for whoever gets furthest?" he asked.

Acaadi didn't even think about falling as he ran past her and jumped. He got his fingers to the first hanging band of metal and clung on.

As if his fear has been slow to catch up it found him there. He hung on and waited for it to pass. If he could make one jump then he could move on to the next.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra lept after him, splatting into the wall beyond him and clinging tightly with her fingers at the small cracks in the walls. It was just another method up-- one she began to take quickly.

"Ice cream isn't enough?" Breathless, she surpassed him, her arms stretching as she reached for the overhead bar he was already hanging from. Her movements were deft and well practiced. It was clear she had been spending time on here without him. Her muscles flexed, her lithe form being hefted up up and over, until her feet found purchase and she could balance precariously on the beam over him.

"Fine. Loser does the winners laundry-- and gives a back rub!" And with that, she grinned and took off. She always left him in the dust struggling to keep up. Nothing had changed there.

 

[Acaadi]

"Ice cream is normally enough," he laughed, "but that's if one of us makes it to the end! Fair deal!"

Acaadi found his balance and watched her pass him overhead. On one hand it served a useful distraction to enjoy watching her go, in the other it drew a pang of longing. He had desperately missed these moments of joy with her.

The mirialan kept below the bar and swung along. There were many ways to complete the course.

At the next junction he didn't even look down, didn't think of the fall. He had to catch up. He swung his legs out behind him, green skin taut over his powerful arms as he threw himself forwards. There were a series of rings next, that could be walked through or swung between.

His first hand missed. He caught the ring by fingertips and hung on.

His laughter bubbled up from below Kyra.

 

[Kiegan Lysle]

Kiegan had been waving at the pair from a distance, but unfortunately they still hadn't noticed the poor Hapan. He had been in this jungle gym for a good bit of time without anybody to practice with, Jamie preferring to stay in her room and read her stories than hang out and train with her poor older brother.

And so here he was all alone.

The figures in the distance were unfamiliar to Kiegan, but that didn't prevent him from trying to get their attention any less. He had been practicing how to do the course as quickly as possible and wanted at least a few people to acknowledge his skill in i. Does it really matter if they knew him or not.

"HEY YOU TWO, WATCH THIS!"

With a winning smile and a point at the pair, Kiegan took off in a sprint. He made it an impressive 2 metres before some of the sweat he had left on the mats took away his balance and he began to slip on the platform. As he slid towards the edge, Kiegan's mind began to consider how it could all go so wrong so fast. The situation took a turn for the worse and he fell off the platform, an imperfection in the wall snagging his shirt as he tried to hold on.

As it turned out the shirt had a better grip than he did, the boy falling down to the foam below without his shirt.

Fortunately the stitches held together better than his pride, his eyes began to mist at the annoyance with himself. In a last ditch effort to save face the boy began to do some crunches from his laid out position, hoping that it would at least look slightly intentional.

Hopefully they didn't have the angle to see his face barely holding back tears of embarrassment.

Kyra Perl | Acaadi

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra was so easily distractible, it was without a doubt her biggest flaw. Acaadi launched from down below. Kiegan called out for her to watch. She looked down at one, then out at another. As Kiegan fell and Acaadi slipped, a bit of their disorientation hit at her senses. down the three went, almost in sync. Kyra gasped, her focus tunneling back in on herself as her footing left her.

She reached blindly out, desperate to stop her fall and stay on. Her fingers caught onto a ring, the strength she had been building up over the months taking over. She gave a heavy blink, mere feet in front of Acaadi and many feet over Kiegan.

"..." A laugh bubbled up from her, amusement drawn from all their expenses. She would master this damn thing if it was the last thing she did! She stuck her tongue out at Acaadi, turning to give him her back as she swung her way on ahead.

A platform appeared below them. She dropped onto it, running by Kiegan and giving him a playful salute as she did so.

Nice abs.

Kiegan Lysle Acaadi

 

[Acaadi]

"Nice abs," muttered Acaadi, just below earshot. His gaze lingered on Kiegan just a little too long when Kyra turned her back to him. He laughed too at the ridiculousness of the situation and it made him feel a little light. Both literally and figuratively.

He swung after Kyra, landing fairly softly. He felt a thrill through his gut at actually being on the move again, in the air again.

She was ahead of him. There was a narrow path, barely a shoe width wide. It worked upwards and then led to a series of tiny platforms several metres apart. They required near perfect balance to jump between and Acaadi always hated them.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra lept lightly between the platforms with a sense of ease that suited her. The physical activity and high energy task had always suited her so well. For all the areas she had dragged behind, athleticism was not one of them.

Honing her senses however...

The ever shifting obstacle course changed its projectory, one platform dropping on the dime of a hat. She squeaked, not prepared for it, and went flailing face first into the now open belly foam pit below.

Splat.

If she hard only listened better, she would have felt the force's warning and adjusted her jump accordingly. Instead she spat foam out of her mouth, an exasperated sigh falling from her. A shadow passed over her. She glanced up ... and she she force-tugged at Acaadi's foot as he went by.

...What! It was no different than the changing course! He should be paying attention!

 

[Acaadi]

His victory lay before him. He didn't even need to make it to the end of the course. Just to pass the platform Kyra had fallen from and ice cream and a back rub were his to claim.

Acaadi didn't even think of the steps. He kept his gaze ahead and let his feet do the rest. He had been thinking about everything too much, wrangling with not being good enough for himself. Thinking too hard was a block, he needed to trust himself.

But not Kyra, apparently.

There was nothing dignified about the noise he made when his face came inches from planting on the platform instead of his foot. His hands pushed him back so he didn't hit the pole on the way down.

Acaadi was on the floor for a heart beat before he picked up a block of foam and threw it at Kyra.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra dissolved into a burst of laughter, ducking the foam block and tossing one back. "Ha! No ice cream for you!" She tossed another and began the awkward crawl back to the staircase, surprised to find most of the tension she had been harboring towards him had melted away. Just like old times.

She glanced back, smiling at him once before pulling herself up and onto the pit's edge. "See. Like riding a bike." She referred back to his previous concerns, dropping a reassuring comment and tossing another foam block his way as he approached. She let her legs rest ontop of the foam, stretching and straightening herself out as he came to edge with her.

"How you feelin?" She asked, glancing sideways at him.

 

[Acaadi]

He laughed too and it felt light and easy. He didn't feel like he was held down so firmly. It had felt s if he could never float with the Force around him again. The first block caught him square in the chest and he made a dramatic show of collapsing back into the foam. The second one he batted aside.

"How you feelin?" She asked, glancing sideways at him.

Acaadi slowed his movements as she asked that question, drawing himself alongside her. They sat side by side at the edge of the safety pit as he chewed on that question.

"I missed you," he said simply. It wasn't the pleasant note of a greeting. It wasn't an accusation. The tone weaved somewhere in between the two with a melancholy note.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra froze up a little, that wall he knew all too well rising back up. "Well I've been right here silly. Silver Rest isn't that big." And yet she had managed to stay busy where ever she went, leaving no real room for them to talk about what had happened that visit. She was afraid of regretting it if they did.

That bit of fear sat inside her chest as she let the dismissive statement fill the air. Fair or not, she couldn't help but to hide behind it. She just heard so much about what guys do after the fact and then other specie expectations, and drama, and- "I just like being your friend, okay?" As abrupt and as harsh as the words might sound, she knew he had seen a deeper aspect of that.

She hoped, desperately, that he would just understand her, harsh words and all. But it didn't stop her from getting defensive about it, a pinch of fear in her chest. "I don't know why you're always acting like I'm not."