Private On The Rocks

[Jackie Rosso]

​

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken

---

The pink boy let out an aggravated huff. Once more a narrow spire of rocks had toppled over from its own weight and poor balance. He was only now getting the hang of telekinesis and learning how to manipulate matter and objects remotely.

He’d been tasked by Mathew to stack stones as a way of practicing. Starting with more fine manipulation. It was simple, deceptively so. It was hard finding the point of balance and center of gravity for the rocks. Standing not being able to physically feel the weight and touch of the rocks was making it much more difficult than simply using his hands to stack the rocks. Jackie wasn’t even sure how high he was supposed to make it.

The pink boy was hoping that he’d be able to ride his swoop once he got back to the temple. Having spent the previous two days helping Braze and their friends with some technical maintenance.

Once more he started with building up another tower, once more finding a decently sized rock to rest at the bottom and function as the foundation. Treating it almost like a narrow pyramid that gradually tapered to a point of smaller tones as it got higher.​

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Jackie Rosso

Valor watched the lad with a flat, unimpressed stare. He scooped up a palm-sized stone, weighed it lazily in his hand, then started tossing it into the air as though the exercise meant absolutely nothing to him. Up, catch. Up, catch....Bored. On the last toss he let it drop into his palm and flicked it straight at Jackie's little leaning tower of pebbles,

"Stop pouting and find the balance point. Even toddlers manage this without throwing a tantrum."
He folded his arms after the throw, not even checking to see whether the pile survived.

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken

---

“Ah what the hell?!” Jackie hissed as his tiny tower was knocked over. His blue eyes flashing with frustration as he looked over at Valor. “It’s hard enough stacking them. I don't need you sabotaging me too.” Jackie still didn’t know what the point of this task was.

“They’re too smooth, not enough bumps for them to grip each other.” He tried to rationalize why he was having trouble. Thinking it was a problem with the rocks themselves rather than why he was struggling to find the balance point. “I know what to do…” He added, trying to clarify. “Why are you here? what do you want?” Jackie said as he tried once again to stack the rocks. The way he manipulated the rocks was delicate enough, but not accurate when finding the balance point.​

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Jackie Rosso

Valor let out a low scoff, the kind that made it perfectly clear he found Jackie's entire explanation pathetic.

"Smooth rocks. Right. That's the problem." He stepped closer, nudging one with the tip of his boot. "Tell me, pink boy… do excuses stack better than stones? Because you seem a lot more practiced at those."

He crouched just enough to pick up another pebble, rolling it idly between his fingers.

"What I want is to see whether you fold every time the Force doesn't pamper you. So far?" He flicked the pebble lightly toward Jackie's half-built tower again, not enough to knock it over this time… just enough to make Jackie flinch. "It's not looking great."

Valor straightened back up with the faintest smirk.

"If you knew what you were doing, you'd have done it already. Now quit whining and actually feel the balance point instead of blaming the geology."

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken

---

Jackie’s teeth clenched and grinded some within his mouth as Valor continued to press him. Trying to focus some on gently placing the small rocks on top of one another. But he gasped and flinched right as Valor flicked the other pebble.

The zeltron looked back at Valor with anger and held his fists up as if ready to scrap with the pale teen. But held back only because his small pile hadn’t been toppled over yet.

“Yeah I'm sure it’s really easy for you and your friends with years of experience and practice. I can’t put what I’ve learned to use yet. I can’t go galavanting around the galaxy like some people.” Jackie said back.

He wasn’t very knowledgeable about what was going on in the rest of the galaxy but he felt like taking his studies here was the least he could do. Maybe then he could be an asset for once. He felt the emotional turmoil others brought with them here and true to his nature it made him restless and eager to help in some way.

Lowering his fists and letting out a sigh he turned away from Valor and back to his pile. “I’m trying… but I don’t know how to feel the balance. Because I can’t touch it…” That was part of the zeltron’s problem. Right now he used The Force more like it was some sort of personal tractor beam and repulsor. He wasn’t really connecting with it, at least not properly.

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Roten Jackie Rosso
Valor let out a short, derisive breath at Jackie's explanation as if the thought of it was pathetic. "Listen to yourself. You want to help the galaxy but a stack of rocks has you ready to cry." Jackie's accusation only made Valor's eyes narrow further.

"Where I came from there was no room for failure. That is exactly why you collapse the second something does not come easily. You were trained to fear mistakes, not learn from them."

He stepped around Jackie again, circling him with that slow, predatory pace that felt half like he was assessing weaknesses and half like he was bored.

"Perform or be cut. You are not on whatever little stage you crawled out of. You are here, and here you get better by breaking things, rebuilding them, and breaking them again."

He tapped a toe lightly against Jackie's base stone, just hard enough to make it wobble.

"And if failure scares you, then you will treat the Force like a shield instead of a partner. That is why your control feels like a tantrum." Valor crouched down besides the pink boy and reached down, he plucked a stone from the foundation. He set it on its edge on his fingertip. The pebble rocked for a moment, then stilled. He looked to Jackie's eyes.

"This is not about touch. So stop pretending it is. You are not meant to feel the stone with your skin. You are meant to feel what it wants to do. The shape. The weight. The way it leans....You keep shoving the Force at things like a spoiled noble waving a toy around. That is why nothing listens to you. The Force is not your machine."

He shifted into a squat beside the half built pile, his voice dropping to something softer but not at all kinder.

"Stop pushing. Start listening...Let the rock tell you where it belongs. If you cannot do that, then your dream of being useful out there is just smoke." Rising again, he folded his arms, gaze steady and unflinching. "You are a Zeltron. Feeling is supposed to be what you are good at." His tone stayed flat, but the challenge in it cut like a blade. " If you want to be of any use to anyone, start there." He tilted his head slightly.

"And if you pout or glare at me again instead of focusing, I will knock you over with the tower, and every rock within ten meters."

 

[Roten]

Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken , Jackie Rosso

Kiba no Shimai​

Roten was perched in a nearby tree. He had been practicing his Buried Presence all day, focusing on meditating to maintain his isolation there in that tree. It was, of course, a racket that brought him out of his focus. The greaseball was getting frustrated at himself, and lo and behold a hero came to his aid. How strange. They looked much like that little Echani that Lord Kalrath was so often absorbed in collecting, something to mess with that Kai'el guy no doubt. The guy looked like he was grown in a test tube, and definitely needed some melanin.

The edge in his tone was grating. It was like listening to nails on a chalkboard, or more accurately some edgelord who thought they were better than everyone else. The advice seemed sound enough, at least.

"Oi! Skinwalker!" Roten called down from his tree. "You're on the right track, but you got some things to improve on. Nobody wants your sob story. 'Oh, where I came from there was no room for failure.' What value does that even add? If what you even said is a lick of the truth, than you had to have feared failure just as much, if not more. Fear pushes people with a will to survive to succeed. You were backed into a corner like an animal."

Roten knew that kind of life with intimacy. There was nothing to brag about, only remember and learn from. The Bursantian hopped down with a scoff, using the Force to whisk up some of the lose stones to begin making his own pile.

"What you're saying ain't even bad advice," he mused, "But you can't get out a word without that little hint of venom, can ya? If you wanna be a teacher you gotta find a middle ground. Why should someone listen to you if you can't at least muster up a respectful tone?"

The young man sat down and began stacking his rocks. Roten wasn't perfect by any means. He was some failed reject pirate that got taken in like a stray dog. Even so, he knew what had helped him develop respect for his teachers. They had been stern, sure, and certainly intense, but they had never been demeaning. How was anyone supposed to learn if all you did was make them angry? The first thing that helped Roten learn was to be pulled away from his anger.

"Teach like you give a damn," the teen sighed. "You wouldn't have butted in if you didn't..."

Unless he really did just want to hear his own voice.

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Roten Jackie Rosso
Valor glanced over and a smirk "Stray dogs bark the loudest. Still doesn't make anyone listen. Some of them even convince themselves obedience is a personality trait~ Most of them just end up following whoever throws them table scraps." He walked past Roten with a shrug, before he looked at Jackie, "See? Distraction is everywhere. Some of it even walks upright."

Valor lifted his hand slightly, palm angled toward the ground. A small stone jerked free of the dirt at his feet and floated upward, turning gently in the air as if presenting itself for inspection. He did not bother bending. His eyes tracked the pebble's rotation with cool detachment, studying its shape, the way the light caught the smooth edges, the tiny imperfections along one side.

He caught it between two fingers without ceremony.

For a moment he weighed it, testing the balance with the slightest shift of his wrist. Then he flicked it with a lazy snap of his fingers, as if discarding something unimportant.

The stone arced through the air and clipped the top of Roten's pile with surgical precision. The top three rocks tumbled apart, scattering down the slope, while the pebble Valor had thrown dropped and settled upright on a narrow edge. It wobbled once, twice, then steadied itself.

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken | Roten

---

Valor had a lot to say, and for Jackie it was difficult to piece together what was worth listening to and what could be ignored. All of it just added and built up Jackie’s frustrations. To top it off, Roten was here as well. It was hard enough to be insulted by himself but now the fuzzball was here too.

Jackie wasn’t even sure where they came from. If they were just passing by or had been listening in this whole time. He was already far too distracted by Valor’s insults and advice.

But what pushed the zeltron teen over the edge was when Valor began to talk down to Roten like he was some stray canine. Once more his pink hands clenched into fists. These kinds of insults wouldn’t pass where he was from. “AH! That does it!” Jackie shouted before practically divining towards Valor. The burst of movement caused his own small tower to finally topple over.

Attempting an over committed tackle to knock Valor onto the rocky garden floor and get the jump while they were busy messing with Roten’s own pile of stones.

 

[Roten]

Veridia
Tags: Jackie Rosso , Valor the Forsaken

Kiba no Shimai​

Roten let out a scoff.

"If I'm a stray you're some failed show dog," he shrugged. "Ain't nobody here who wasn't abandoned by someone. Act prissy all you like, but someone left you behind-"

“AH! That does it!” Jackie shouted before practically divining towards Valor. The burst of movement caused his own small tower to finally topple over.

Attempting an over committed tackle to knock Valor onto the rocky garden floor and get the jump while they were busy messing with Roten’s own pile of stones.

"YOU STUPID GREASEBALL!" the Bursantian snapped as Jackie surged forward, ready to fight. "The hell are ya doing?! I was- UHG!"

The young man let out a groan, standing over and kicking his rocks to the side. This was about to go really bad. Just his luck. He'd keep that in mind next time he went to bat for Jackie.

He wasn't gonna stop him, though. Sometimes people needed to get hit to learn. He'd see if Valor used this as an excuse to fight the both of them. If that was the case, Roten was very ready for that. In fact, he was eager to. He hadn't had a good fight in a while.

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Roten Jackie Rosso

Valor simply stepped to the right and shifted his left instep to catch Jackie's instep as he tried to trip Jackie allowing his own momentum to assist in leading to his down fall. He gently set a boot on the back of Jackie's leather jacket effectively 'wiping it off on him like a door mat. "A failed show dog. At least you managed a creative insult," Valor said with a quiet lift of his brow. "But a stray sees strays everywhere. It is the only world they know."

His gaze slid over Roten, utterly unimpressed A coy devious grin slipped on to his features.

"Strays cling to whoever feeds them. That is why you follow anyone who throws you a scrap of purpose... is that all you got little pup? All yap an no bite~?"

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken | Roten

---

“Oof!”

Jackie exclaimed as he clumsily fell. It hurt falling against the stony ground. But not as much as when he felt the boot wiping against his jacket. Having him white knuckling so hard the skin around his fists almost weren’t even pink anymore. The fact that Valor kept insulting his fellow apprentice didn’t help either.

“Buzz off Fuzzball!” Jackie shouted out before shifting and turning his body so he could grab Valor’s ankle. Capitalizing on how they shifted their attention away towards Roten, and with a mighty tug would attempt to pull the young echani off himself and off balance. Trying to make them fall onto the ground with him.​

 

[Roten]

Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken , Jackie Rosso

Kiba no Shimai​

"Strays cling to whoever feeds them. That is why you follow anyone who throws you a scrap of purpose... is that all you got little pup? All yap an no bite~?"

"And what makes you important, huh?" Roten retorted with a huff. "You're barking up the wrong tree. You came after my associate here looking to feel better about yourself, I can see it in that smug grin of yours. It's easy to ignore how your own life is falling apart when you get to kick down, yeah? Maybe I am a stray, but I'm not loyal because it's all I have. Being a piece of chit ain't exactly a rewarding profession. Turns out life kinda sucks Bantha hide when you're a closed-off anti-social loser. Sure you have a lot of friends, yeah?"

“Buzz off Fuzzball!”

"Stuff it, pinkie," Roten scoffed back. "You got your ass into this mess just as much as he provoked you, but I ain't leavin' ya. Understand that?"

Roten build up his breath before he spoke, letting that primal energy flow through his body. His voice was the conduit, bringing his will upon the world and making it so. A burst of strong Force erupted, a powerful Force push style projection as he spoke his intention.

"NOW REMOVE YOUR BOOT FROM HIM AND BE ON YOUR WAY."

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Jackie Rosso Roten
Valor’s weight shifted the instant Jackie’s hand closed around his ankle. He turned to step back, already disengaging, when the Force struck him like a wall of compressed air. Dust and loose pebbles rippled outward as the impact caught him mid-movement, the purple puffball’s rant fading into background noise he didn’t bother to even pretend to register, nor dignify with a response.

The Force struck him and sent him tumbling backward. He hit hard, rolling across the stones before coming to a painful stop, grit and searing pain biting into his knee as he steadied himself.

He took a deep breath letting it out slowly as he stood up taking a few steps forwards before falling in to a forwards charge ready to deliver a haymaker to Roten

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken | Roten

---

Deep blue eyes blinked a few times as he witnessed and took in the telekinetic push. Jackie hadn’t really known that Roten could do that. Getting to his knees he was also surprised to see Valor get back up as well.

From where he was from Jackie had seen bigger guys put down when taking hits like that from getting run over with a swoop-bike. For him it went without saying that he was feeling rather inadequate here. He struggled to stack a few rocks and pebbles with The Force.

Yet he didn’t want to feel like a spectator watching from the side lines. Not again. But before he could scramble himself back up onto his feet Valor was already mid attack.​

 

[Roten]

Veridia
Tags: Jackie Rosso , Valor the Forsaken

Kiba no Shimai​

Roten watched as the fist flew towards his face. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. He grew up fighting slobbish, violent pirates. This was what he was born to do.

"Alright... come on then..."

He wasn't going to be quick enough to not take that hit. So Roten adapted his strategy. The fist flew naturally into the Bursantian's face and right into his nose. It was violent and brutal, blood spurting out and spraying across Valor's clothes. Roten's head rocked back, but all the while he wore a grin on his face. His clawed hands shot up to grasp hold of the Echani's arm, not letting him go. The young padawan spoke his will and made it known.

"Eat THUNDER, chithead."

The sparks crackled out from Roten's maw before lighting his fur up with electricity, static to an extreme. It wasn't lethal, but he made sure the shock was enough to give him a wake up call and hopefully ground him.

 

[Valor the Forsaken]

Jackie Rosso Roten

The moment his fist connected, followed by the hard edge of his kote driving in after it, the shock hit him full force. His muscles locked instantly, the current ripping through his arm and chest in a violent seizure that stole the breath straight out of his lungs. Air left his lungs in a sharp, involuntary gasp as his balance shattered, boots scraping against the stones below while his connection to the Force snapped like a cut wire.

Pain followed a heartbeat later, white-hot and immediate, radiating from his arm through his shoulder and into his spine. His stance buckled and he staggered back a half step, then another, barely catching himself before. His fingers twitched against his will, a delayed tremor running through his hand as the aftershock lingered, nerves screaming even as he forced his body back under control.

He raised his hands, locking them onto Roten’s arm, reared back a boot, then jammed it forward from the hip chamber, aiming to firmly plant the heeled boot into Roten’s groin with a grinding motion to follow. He would then try to fall back on to his bck with all his weight, using his planted boot as a fulcrum to pivot Roten over and throw him.

 

[Jackie Rosso]

Location: Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken | Roten

---

Things had seemed to escalate rather quickly between all three of them. Jackie tried to follow along and take in what was happening. Seeing Roten get shocked in the face before suddenly discharging electricity from himself.

The fight had evolved into a grapple. Which certainly wasn’t the zeltron’s strong suit. Fighting in general was never really something he was good at if he was honest with himself. Surviving street brawls, and scraps did make him decent at one thing however.

Jackie himself locked onto the opportunity the moment it presented itself when Valor fell back with Roten to toss him off. In a dash the pink teen was over them and pulled his leg back. Exploiting the vulnerability of Valor being on the ground by delivering a solid kick into the side of the echani’s body. Payback for disrespecting his jacket.​

 

[Roten]

Veridia
Tags: Valor the Forsaken , Jackie Rosso

Kiba no Shimai​

Roten wasn't letting go... at least until he was struck in a place most sensitive. He let out a howl of pain, Force power spilling off of him as he was easily thrown and tumbled across the rocks. The room shook, and a few of the stones below him split from the strength of his bellow. The Bursantian landed and curled up int a ball for a moment.

"Little BASTARD!" he hissed, gritting his teeth. "Some nerve calling me a stray... honor-less muck-drinker..."

And then his vision went black.


Roten stood, standing in an inky pool. a crippled figure stood before him, cloaked in black and holding a cane. A sneer formed on the young man's face.

"So that Kai'el guy did kick your ass..." Roten sneered, still in pain. "You look like hell."

"A temporary setback, temporary form," Kalrath mused. "You let yourself be beaten around like a slave. A wretched beast. Even still, you do not lash out. It is a shame you cannot see the weakness in your own heart."

"Did you come here to berate me?" the Bursantian snapped. "I'm kinda over you, gramps. You're the worst."

"Just looking for entrances," the ancient Sith stated coldly. "You will surely resist my invasion next time... my lost puppet seems to have shut me out entirely. I simply need to take in the energy of this place you hide... Lovely, isn't it?"

"Come here and I'll snap your neck myself," he hissed. "Get out of my head."

And when Roten spoke his will it was made to be so. Kalrath was banished from his mind.


When his red eyes opened he was face down in the rocks. It had only been a few seconds. He turned to see Jackie throwing a kick at Valor. An irritated snarl escaped his chest before he sprang forward, this time on all fours. Roten dove, his fur prickled as he made a leap to grapple the legs of the Echani and send him to the ground.