Private Plays Well With Others (Mercy and Avalore)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

SOMEWHERE IN THE ANCIENT SITH WORLDS

"This is not a simple test," Ashin said to Avalore and Mercy . "As you can see, you're standing on a colossal trapdoor. As you can hear, there's something unfriendly down there."

She held up a metal apparatus — a circular analog dial in a four-pointed frame — to her eye.

"This is an Angakut training tool. It can increase or decrease your Force sensitivity." She looked at each of them, moving the dial clockwise, then tucked the phenomenal little piece of alchemy back into her pocket. "You're both strong for acolytes; congratulations. For the next hour, you're both strong for Sith Knights. Right now you're feeling the Force like you never have before. That should serve you well as you fight, or are eaten by—"

She pushed a convenient button and the trapdoor opened, ideally dumping both her students into a gigantic pit occupied by—

"—a bull gorog."

​

Most exciting.

 

[Avalore]

Avalore's singular eye followed her Master's every moment, braced for the twists she had come to expect from her trainings. She use to hate them. Now she accepted them as inevitable-- even useful, at times. This moment was different.

'What was she doing here?' Her gaze screamed for clarification, hyper aware of Mercy standing besides her. It was hard not to be, not when the scars across her lost eye were still puckered and pink.

Eventually she will realize you won't ever be able to stand on yar own two feet."

Ashin had never been a cruel or fickle master, but Avalore couldn't help the speckle of doubt as she was dropped into an arena with the acolyte that wanted to replace her.

She landed lightly, breaking her fall with a roll that put distance between the them. --But don't settle, stay sharp-- there's more danger here. Locate it. The voices of her instructors ran through her. She looked around, her head whipping for a full scope-- You don't need eyes to see.

Didn't she?

A thundering roar ripped her attention to her left.

 

[Mercy]

Ashin Cardé Varanin Avalore

Mercy squinted at the device Ashin was holding.

Some fancy arse alchemical device. She didn't like it. Mostly because Mercy didn't understand it. The mysteries of alchemy were beyond her capabilities and as such they became immediately suspect. Before she could voice a complaint however- a gasp escaped her lips. Eyes went wide when she felt something... glorious.

"Master-"

Before she could say anything more? The trap doors (she hadn't even noticed the grating) dropped outward. She fell. The moment of panic was replaced by sudden clarity.

The force streamed through her and cushioned her as she dropped to the ground. There was a heavy rattle through her bones as the shock ran through her, before being forced out of her body as kinetic energy. A dusting of sand spreading around her in a flashy, try-hard move to look really damn cool in the moment.

"Oh, yeah." Mercy muttered as she rose up from the small indent made into the ground. "I can get used to dis type o' chit."

"The feth is a Bull-" A piercing scream that made the whole arena rumble shook the young apprentice. "-...oh, feth me."

Before Mercy could come up with any plan of attack? The giant creature began to step towards them. First, Mercy took a step back, clearly intimidated by that display. For a moment anyway. Her spine forced itself in an iron barred position. meatmeatmeat. "I do wonder how it tastes..." Mercy licked her lips as she took a step forward towards the beast, past Avalore.

"Should stick behind me, kid. I can take care of this."

How graceful.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

High up, Ashin crouched at the edge of the trapdoor to watch. Avalore had been her student for years, Mercy wanted The Job, and neither one of them was ready for this test. Not alone, anyway.

At a surface level, the exercise had a simple and obvious goal: see if they could work together despite their animosity. Ashin had no interest in the outcome of that question. No, what interested her was whether they could do something distasteful to get a serious job done.

And whether they could overcome that distaste deliberately, with good judgment, and in time. The gorog had literally eaten a rancor for breakfast. Two little Sith barely rated as a snack, but the gorog liked snacks just fine.

Mercy Avalore

 

[Avalore]

"...By all means," Avalore leveled dryly. Mercy seemed to accept this moment at face value but she did not.

This could be a punishment, it could be test, feth-- it could be a chance for either to finish the other off. It could be a great number of things, but none of them answered the question of why. Why Mercy, why this, why make them stronger at all? Avalore didn't know what they were meant to accomplish, but she sensed in her gut this wasn't about strength. Mercy, however...

...could learn that lesson for herself.​

The ground vibrated with each monstrous step of the beast running forward. Avalore backed up, her attention snapping upwards and looking for tools or clues around the large dome.

All the while sparks of electricity flew off her clenched fingers. Finally. She didn't allow herself a moment to truly appreciate it. She shoot a bolt at a service door, testing its strength instead.

 

[Mercy]

Avalore Ashin Cardé Varanin

Mercy was entirely incapable of taking things outside of face value.

"I have..." The woman growled as she crouched down to grab a piece of rock. A boulder escaped from the walls of the arena, presumably during one of the beast's rampages. That should have tipped her off just how outmatched she was right now. But Mercy was never one to be introspective, so maybe it could be forgiven. "...had larger chits than you."

Lifting up the boulder with surprising ease.

The Force running through her and magnifying her strength. She could get used to this. The boulder was thrown and Mercy was already cheering, because it was a beautiful throw. Perfectly aimed towards the gorog's ugly mug.

So excited Mercy was that she missed the beast's swinging hand entirely. It dashed the boulder... right back towards Mercy. A fraction before it hit her eyes widened. But she was slow, oh so slow, and it hit her square and fair. The boulder shattered and sent Mercy flying. Right into Avalore and her cheerful lightning practice.

Just like being hit by a boulder in that sense.

"Oh, kark... my head..." Grunting as she crawled back onto her feet. One half of her glasses were ruined. The world a two-dimensional view of darkened muted colors and too bright shines.

"Gonna enjoy eating that karking schutta...."

Already stepping forward again without paying Avalore any heed. Acknowledging her in the middle of her failure was a bit too much.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Mercy and Avalore were now officially out of time. The gorog was upon them.

Ashin pulled her Khovesk mace from her belt and dropped it. The weapon zipped past the gorog and crunched into gritty earth. Yes, some of that crunch was pulverized bone.

The mace hit the ground between the two acolytes. Equidistant in fact. While Ashin didn't consider herself a sadist, she wasn't above playing the occasional game.

 

[Avalore]

Avalore's skin shimmered, a near indiscernible sheen hinting at the lack of damage she took as she peeled herself off the ground. The urge to spark electricity at the woman's retreating back was curbed by the sight of the gorog leaping overhead. Her eyes widened. Its protectory was less than ideal.

She threw a pulse of the force at Mercy, the resistance sliding her own body out of the way of three scaly fingers as they smashed into the place she had been. She couldn't help a spark of fear as she scattered back from the beasts confused form. The fingers lifted up to its face, flexing open and closed for the meal that had eluded it. They were as big as her... and then some.

Fethin hell, Master.

A glint of light drew her attention to the falling can. She followed its path, her eyes catching Mercy's in understanding it.

It was at that moment that the gorog turned its hunger back to them. Avalore dashed forward, electricity sparking along the ground like wild fire as she tried to reach it first. She ducked another three-fingered grab, skidding the last meter with her hands outstretched.

 

[Mercy]

Ashin Cardé Varanin

They saw the mace at the exact same time.

Their eyes met.

They dashed towards it. Mercy knew that she lost, the moment the sprint began. In a competition of speed? The small and light Avalore would always win out from her. It was simple physics. She reached the mace moments after her rival. Once a huge boulder was in motion though... very difficult to suddenly stop however.

Mercy saw the mace looming up to bust into her head. Nothing could be done about it however. It collided with the side of her face and send her flying sideways, the power behind her run carrying her forward. Blood splurted and Mercy growled as her hand reached out towards the receding form of the young one.

Said hand? It squeezed down.

And all of a sudden a fixated force stuck around the fellow apprentice's foot, pinning her in place.

Here's the problem though. The Gorog was rearing up again with claws wide to catch its prize. Mercy cursed as she realized that. She twisted her hand to throw Avalore back into the wall instead.

Gorog smash and left a big hole where a young girl had been standing just a moment ago.

 

[Avalore]

The mace sprayed, dead on Mercy's face, as the woman crashed down on her. Avalore twisted and turned, seeking to evade the series of forces that came down on her, but something wrapped around her ankle and flung. Avalore coiled through the air, unable to find down from up, before cracking into wall. All she heard was her head snapping back, then nothing. Her limp body dropped to the ground, the mace still clutched in her hands.

It wasn't worth it.

She groaned as she stirred, her head as thick as ... thick as...

Mercy would be left to face the Gorog alone. It reared up and chucked the fist full of packed ground her way.

Rock meet ... rock.

It charged in behind it.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin stayed crouching at the edge of the pit. Avalore had the Khovesk mace—no, wait, Mercy was chucking her out of the line of fire—no, wait, Avalore was running head-first into the wall of the pit—no, wait—

Ashin tsked with disappointment and grabbed hold of Avalore in her mind's eye. So much for that.

Avalore's quasi-conscious body levitated out of the pit and flopped beside the edge of the trapdoor. Ashin kept one eye on her and the other on Mercy.

 

[Mercy]

Avalore Ashin Cardé Varanin

Mercy couldn't help but smirk at the collapsed-shape of Avalore, dropped like a sack of potatoes against the wall.

Yeah.

Only I am allowed to break you, schutta.

She turned quickly towards the Gorog. Her arms crossed before her, the sheen of the Force lighting up, once the beast threw a metric feth ton of concentrated dirt her way. Her feet were rooted in place. Her posture was perfect. And she did it. Using Force Weapon Mercy stood tall against the ground as it split apart against her oak-structure.

Of course... that was nothing compared to the Gorog that came in only two heartbeats later.

The moment shattered and everything slowed down for Mercy. Her brows rose up in shock. Lips curled into a snarl as she drew harder from the Force, knowing she'd need it. Her tendons set like steel cables in her neck as the young woman stood her ground. Trying to flee now meant certain death but standing her ground... at least a death of dignity.

Mercy clenched her teeth and tasted blood as every fiber in her body screamed at the tension.

Then the Gorog collided against her. For a moment? Its movement was arrested, slowed down and the rocks underneath it shattered at the force being returned to it in kind.

It even looked a bit surprised at the sudden resistance. Only for a moment anyway. Because even as Mercy's crazed laughter boomed through the arena? The shield snapped. The moment sealed back up into grim reality. Mountain met rock... and rock shattered as Mercy's form flew back into the wall and several inches inside of it.

Her arm snapped at the elbow. Blood flowing from her ear, her eye bloodshot red and several teeth crunched from clenched force.

And even then... Mercy was climbing out of the Mercy-shaped hole. Back onto her feet with a bloody snarl on her face.

 

[Avalore]

"Master..." Avalore shifted, a fair bit of relief slurred into her voice when she found she had been pulled out. The fear of replacement soothed only slightly, Mercy's presence in the arena below still bringing to light a swath of insecurities.

She would never be enough. Big enough, strong enough, good enough. She could hear Mercy surviving just fine down below.

"Why are you doing this?" She challenged, pushing herself up. Ashin had given her power for this exercise, but control was a skill that could only be learned. Her frustration pulsated through the force, loosening her tongue and causing the walls to creak with pressure.

"She's nothing. Train her and she'll still give you nothing. I've given you everything, I'm your apprentice."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin kept watching Mercy from above. Situations like this could go from dangerous to coffin-worthy in moments.

"Trust isn't something we talk about," she said to the seriously injured Avalore , who she kept in her peripheral vision. "But you can, at least, trust that my choices as your teacher are designed to teach. When I started training you, we had a discussion or two about your tendency to complain instead of think. I'd like you to apply that lesson now; I'll even give you a prompt. Answer your own question. Why am I doing this — putting you side by side with Mercy, putting you two in situations like this? What purpose does all of this serve if you assume that I'm trying to continue my years-long investment in teaching you? What are you supposed to be learning from being around her?"

 

[Avalore]

There. It had been said-- the confirmation that Avalore had been clawing for for weeks.

I am your teacher.

The only thing that had disrupted that security had been Avalore's own insecurities. Hearing it made the chaos around her begin to soften.

"This is. A lesson," she repeated numbly. Her chest puffed with each heavy breath she took. Well that changed things. Her own behavior became clearer to her, as had the situation around her. "But I hate her."

And still, here they sat. Because contempt was reserved for when it needed, and even then not at all. Avalore growled in audible protest, the girl realizing what Ashin wanted her to do and hating every fiber of it.

"This is stupid," she spat in retribution, moving for her boots regardless. "She's stupid. Pointless oaf." She ripped at the seam of her boots, the rough stitches done by her own hand, and tore away a pocket sown in.

Out rolled a healing stem as she prepared to reenter the scene below.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Alright. So hate."

With a flick of her eyes, nothing more, Ashin shoved her apprentice off the edge.


Avalore Mercy

 

[Avalore]

That 'itch.

Avalore landed, stumbling as the empty stem fell from her hands. Within moments the pain faded from behind her temples. Her double vision straightened, her legs held their own. That was her only Kolcta reserve.

She grimaced and turned the mace around in her fingers.

She would make it count.


Quickening steps brought her in from behind. She steeled herself, trusting her recovering balance to catch her as she jumped up to catch the back of his middle leg. From there it was a matter of climbing up his spikes and curved spine, trying to ignore the notice of the gorog that paced towards Mercy. The woman would see Avalore's dark hair peek up around the gorog's shoulder. He lumbered as high as tree. She tried not to look down, hanging onto a spine as she yelled for his attention.

"Oi!"

She sprayed.

 

[Mercy]

Avalore Ashin Cardé Varanin

Avalore and Ashin's conversation didn't take long.

'Not long' was still an eternity in combat definitions. She was barely holding on at this point, but... managed to do some damage at the same time. By the time that Avalore dropped into the pit courtesy of Ashin, Mercy was chewing on fresh Gorog meat. Her snapped arm was re-snapped in the right direction but still dangling uselessly.

Half her shades were ruined, letting in piercing light into oversensitive eyes and pretty sure several ribs were broken and puncturing into internal organs.

"At least the meat is good..." Mercy muttered as she stared at Avalore climbing up on the beast. "Took ya long enough." She shouted to the girl as she dropped to her stomach and narrowly avoided being decapitated.

meatmeatmeat

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Chew, chew, teaaaaar. Just as the Gorog was about to slam their foot down and splatter Mercy, Avalore sprayed something in one of its eyes. That... didn't go over well. The beast howled in pain and slammed itself in the face, trying its best to dislodge Avalore. Which would have been a satisfying sight except-

"I dun' wanna die right now..." Muttered to herself as her fingers ripped up a piece of concrete. Her muscles cried. Her bones creaked. But she hefted it up while leaning heavily on the Force.

Her connection was already wavering, burning out, there would be hell to pay for this.

For now though?

"Ey, karkface, over 'ere." And chucked the boulder at its knees. To distract it and let Avalore do whatever she was doing. Hopefully it would work.

 

[Avalore]

That.

That didn't help.



Who throws a fethin can into a gorog fight??

Avalore continued to curse out Ashin, feeling none the better for it as she held on for dear life against the thrashing Gorog. A clawed hand came on from her side, her blind side, and knocked her flying through the air.

Enough of that already.

Avalore landed awkwardly, rolling out of it and sliding to her feet not far off from Mercy.

"You need help." She shot at Mercy. "Admit it."

 

[Mercy]

Her gaze followed the trajectory of the amazing flying Avalore .

"Oh, yeah?" A grunt there as she tried to stretch but all it did was cause more lightning bolts of pain to course through her. "An' what about ya, champ, you doing so swell then?"

Spit.

Splatter of blood to the ground. Also a tooth.

Mercy set her jaw there and stared the Gorog down. "Why should I admit chit while all ya doin' is clutchin' dear Empress' leg and whining about how I wanna steal her away from ya?" She still wasn't sure where that idea came from. As if Mercy needed to be Ashin's ONLY apprentice. She could have that distinction, Mercy didn't give a chit about it.

meatmeatmeatsorefeelingsmeatmeat

"Didn't ask ya chit." Hissed into the air as her eyes stayed on the Gorog's movements. It was currently real busy trying to claw its own eye out, but that wouldn't keep.

How the feth was she going to take this down? Nothing Mercy did was hurting it in the long run.