Faction Push Me Harder | Jedi Duels

[Braze]

Tags: Ko Vuto | Aris Noble ​

Aris’s fist struck beneath Braze’s guard and drove hard into his ribs. The breath left him in a sharp sound as he was thrown back across the ring, boots carving jagged scars through the earth below. The armor along his side split under the force of it, as plates cracked in jagged seams from rib to hip, several fragments grinding loose before the stone softened and tried to seal itself again to no avail.

Braze caught himself low, one hand pressed to his side, fingers spread over the cold surface as the pain traveled through him in a hot, pulsating line. He coughed lightly trying to hold back a small spray of blood that passed his pale lips.

A crooked smile wormed it's way on to his features, small at first, with an almost disbelieving expression, touched mildly with pride more than mockery. His pale jade green eyes lifted through the veil of steam left between them as he shifted into a tighter guard. He was pleased… but every part of him had started to move as though this had become dangerous in a way worth respecting.

The mist gathered in slow, uneasy bands curling toward Braze’s ankles. The air pressed strangely against the ears, subtle as a change in altitude. Above them, the light thinned slowly in degrees, the sun blurred behind a wash of gray that had not been there some time before. A dampness crept between the heat and frost, carrying the faint mineral scent of coming rain on the wind.

"You can keep up now, can you~?" Braze breathed, smile sharpening as cracked stone scraped back into place along his ribs. "Then I don't have to be gentle~."

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris's grin never faded, but his brows did knit together as he jumped back and away from Braze. The change, even as he wasn't completely corporeal, brought him some memories of their last bout. It felt like a lifetime ago, when they were still just boys, where Aris had been trapped and brought to unconsciousness.

Even he flinched at those kinds of memories it seemed.

Fire continued to flicker along him, but he reformed to a solid state, his golden eyes watching Braze, watching the mist as it swirled about and shifted. "You never had to be gentle with me. I can take all kinds of punishment." His hands resettled, focus filling his gaze. He wasn't going to charge in blindly like before now.

Braze

 

[Braze]

Tags: Aris Noble ​

Braze seemed to appreciate the lull, taking the time for reprieve. He appeared to be using a massive amount of energy to keep things up as he let the last of his stone armor fall away, allowing his focus on the protective shell to slip.

"Perhaps most… though surely not all… As I recall, your ears are quite sensitive, aren't they? Funny thing about sound… it travels through air and moves in a funny manner when caught on the breeze."

He mused aloud, taking time to seemingly rest as he spoke in a soft, somber manner, slowly drawing out each word.

"You never did tell me if you got in trouble for running off to the Sith libraries with me…"

High above, the currents continued to work. Moisture gathered; the clouds darkened slowly, degree by quiet degree. He was curious to see what Aris was planning next as he worked away at his larger task far from the typical person's perception.

 

[Aris Noble]

"True, that hasn't changed." At least physically it hasn't changed. The bands behind his ears that Zaiya Ceti had made for him had helped him with that. He was wearing them even now, just a habit to keep around. That and their necklace. He shifted his stance, let out a breath. Fire exhaled with it before he grinned wider yet again.

"I didn't get into too much trouble. But it's not something I plan on doing again if I can help it."

Braze

 

[Braze]

Tags: Aris Noble ​

"Shame… here I was going to ask if you wanted to come to Dromund Kaas and help me free slaves~?"

Braze offered lightly, while the swollen clouds overhead began to churn with a low, rolling growl of thunder. The air changed suddenly as pressure dropped. A cool wind crawled over the land, the scent of wet earth and bruised grass rising upwards sparring grounds. The first drops of cold rain, followed sparsely before the sky opened up in to a torrential down pour.

Rain came down in silver sheets, hard enough to blur the space between them and turn the world into a blur of motion and sound; water rushed over Braze's shoulders, darkened his clothes, and ran in quick lines down his jaw as thunder rolled above.

The storm swallowed the heat haze, and dragged steam from every place Aris's fire touched the downpour, and turned the battlefield into a slick, treacherous myer of mud, stone, and white vapor. Braze stood within it, soaked through and smiling faintly as he stepped back in to a low stance and curled his fingers towards Aris in a 'come hither' motion.

 

[Aris Noble]

"That is a different story. Helping others rather than risking myself for knowledge is something I'm up to do." He had a desire to know that was dangerous. Even the Forge had been a curiosity he couldn't leave alone, despite Vera Noble 's protests and suggestions to stop. Aris tilted his head though as he glanced upwards. Atmosphere. Clouds. Braze could shift the weather now?

"You always could show me up."

He teased before grinning back towards Braze. Heat erupted over Aris's skin. He remained dry, flickering in the haze of steam as even the downpour atop him couldn't contain his heat. He didn't keep it up though. The heat would simmer down, leaving him drenched in the rainfall. Aris wasn't about to try and see just how hot he could burn before he'd burn himself.

A foot was brought down, splintering the floor they were on. It was a full break, shattering and cracking to leave the floor completely unsettled. He sprang forward from that, aiming to catch Braze unbalanced with another heavy series of blows.

Braze | Ko Vuto

 

[Braze]

Tags: Aris Noble | Ko Vuto ​

Braze wobbled as he hopped up, briefly trying to settle one boot against the slick terrain. Wet stone and grass were already an obstacle on their own, but broken rocks and rough ground made an entirely different kind of hazard out of their arena.

Almost coyly, Braze tried one of his earlier tricks again now that things had changed, and now that Aris had given him more ammunition much more readily available. A flurry of sharp rocks and loose stones lifted into the air before a fresh barrage was sent Aris's way, scattering through the rain as Braze fell back onto the defensive.

He stayed on the back foot, trying to outmaneuver and out think Aris rather than simply meet him head-on. His hands moved much the way they would with Makashi, seeking different sweeping angles, bleeding momentum into circular motions as he tried to redirect attacks, shave the force from them, or nudge them just slightly off course. Rather than fight against Aris's body once it was already in motion, Braze tried to work with that motion, guiding it away from himself where he could and making each committed strike carry a little farther than intended.

His hands moved in an odd blend of Makashi and Soresu principles, sweeping through careful angles, catching what he could, redirecting what he could, and trying to bleed force away before it could break through him. All careful angles and circular redirection rather than hard blocks. But he couldn't stop all of them. Aris was far too strong and far too persistent for that, and even the slick water beneath their feet stole friction away, making each step, pivot, and planted heel less certain than Braze wanted it to be.

For all his careful angles, Braze simply could not turn everything aside... his energy was waning and Aris's strength broke through in pieces, first as a punishing jolt against his guard, then as a heavier impact that drove into him hard enough to make his breath catch and his stance buckle. Water sprayed beneath his boots as he was forced back across the slick terrain

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris didn't stop, didn't slow. Every strike had him slamming a foot down, biting into the very stone they stood on for traction simply by imbedding himself there. Strength and speed was his gambit. Even as he felt himself pelted by stone he broke, he didn't let himself slow. He didn't tire, he didn't feel exhaustion, he could keep up the assault as long as he needed to to batter down Braze and catch him when he did falter.

It was his gambit now. With the rain in the air, the ground shifting for Braze's command, the only avenue he had left was to take him out with sheer assault here and now.

Braze

 

[Braze]

Tags: Aris Noble ​

Even with the water drumming across Aris's form, giving Braze the faintest warning of how his body meant to move, he was struggling to contend. There was no competition between them in sheer strength. He could feel the cold rain soaking through his robes and making the fabric cling to his body, white hair sticking to his face in loose, wet ringlets as he braced against each punishing blow.

He was yielding ground whether he wanted to or not. Boot heels slid back through the mud as he tried to shield his ribs, breath catching unevenly, rainwater running pink from the corner of his mouth. The whole while, he fought to diminish what force he could, turning aside the worst of the attacks, redirecting their energy before they could break clean through.

And through all of it... Braze wore an eerie smile.... it turned into a grin, fixing itself across his features, oddly bright and yet somehow wrong beneath the rain, stretched through pain as if this were still somehow amusing. A soft laugh slipped out of him, thin at the edges.

"You really can keep up now."

Then Aris's assault finally broke through; Braze was sent sliding back through the mud and stone alike, falling down to one knee striking down hard as his guard dropped halfway. His free hand caught in the wet earth to keep himself from falling fully face first in to the mud, fingers sinking into the mire as finger nails were ripped bloody against stones, while the rain beat down hammering over his back and shoulders.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris followed. He had to. The grin hadn't faded from his face as he launched forward onto Braze, fully planning to bring as many blows as he could on the other Jedi. Every second was a chance for Braze to turn everything around. Hell, he expected as much. The wet air around them felt charged with energy, the kind that he knew Braze was going to capitalize on.

Part of him even assumed charging in like this was it's own trap. But it was the only path he had forward.

Braze

 

[Braze]

Tags: Aris Noble ​

Braze stayed where he had fallen, one knee sunk deep into the wet earth, white hair plastered to his face beneath the heavy rain. The lingering sentiment of some last-minute clever turn, some hidden answer, or some little twist he always found at the edge of losing may have been expected… but none came. His fingers loosened from the ground, split knuckles and nails trailing thinned blood beneath the rain as his shoulders sank with a slow, uneasy breath. He reached up and simply opened his hand, palm bare and empty between them. He was completely open, utterly unguarded.