Private Rage Therapy

[Ghruna]

Ghruna thought she had him. She managed to start out maneuvering him on the floor. She got her knees under herself and tried to get some purchase on his arm and shoulder.

He laughed at her and she growled in frustration. It didn't sink in that he was laughing for the enjoyment of the combat and not at her until he found some purchase and lifted.

She saw the ceiling, then she felt her back hit the floor. Pain shot up to the base of her skull. The hair shot out of her lungs with a cough.

Her body was done, but she didn't know it yet. Ghruna's hands reached out for some purchase.

Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

Ah, too much. Aris's laughter died off as a more calm smile formed. She was still trying to grapple him down, but he could feel the lack of strength behind it all. Another slam might be too much, so while he did the same again, he didn't hit that hard. Enough to loosen her grasp and for him to break away and stand. "Get your breath back, yeah? Show me what else you can do."

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

Ghruna’s breath caught as Aris slammed her down again, though not as hard as before.

A warm blush crept up from the sides of her neck. It reached her pointed ears.

"What else..." she repeated under her breath.

Ghruna swallowed. Maldrani culture was based around strength. All aspects. He was right there, tall and solid and smiling at his victory.

But he was not maldrani, she reminded herself firmly, as she looked up at

The ridiculous idea flared bright and mortifying before she shoved it away hard. The flush that had not been there during the fight remained on her pale, freckle cheeks.

She planted her feet and grunted as she pushed herself away and then sat up.

She looked intently at the floor as she breathed slowly until her lungs stop hurting.

"What...did you...have in mind?" she asked, her response broken. "Will you give me a blade?"

 

[Aris Noble]

"A blade? Hmm.. I don't see why not." He wasn't worried on being harmed, it seemed. He looked about before finding a training rack, taking up a couple of blades. Training blades, considering they were in a training room. Jedi weren't keen on actually harming each other in spars after all. He'd toss it over, flashing a bit of a smirk. He brandished his blade in turn.

"Shall we?"

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

Ghruna caught the training blade easily, the weight familiar enough from her father’s brutal lessons. She tested the balance with a quick swing, crimson braids shifting over her shoulder.

When Aris spoke again and flashed that smirk, her mind tripped for a moment. Heat rushed to her cheeks and she hated how awkward it made her feel, like some clumsy adolescent who could not keep her thoughts straight.

She shoved the ridiculous idea aside with a rough snort and raised the blade, meeting his eyes at equal height.

It was infuriating that he had bested her. Infuriating that he smirked at her. Infuriating that he didn't even wear a few bruises from the encounter.

"We shall," she echoed, a little gruffer than intended.

She dropped into a ready stance, blade held firm, determined to prove she could handle steel as well as fists. The reality was that she was a better brawler than a fencer. She was still better with a real bladed weapon than in using a delicate lightsaber.

Ghruna took a half step closer and swung viciously. She put too much of her strength into the swing.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris leveled his blade as she charged in. The smirk remained, though his eyes had taken on a much more serious glint than the fun he'd been having before. He took her strike head on, even with all the strength behind it, and lashed out with his own might unrestrained to try and catch her with a parry to knock the blade clean away.

He'd been watching, paying attention to how she reacted. Emotions were a Sith's strength, but she had no real control over them, that much was clear now.

"Do you want to be a Sith, daughter of Jhyrack?"

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

She wasn't thinking ahead in the fight, but she hadn't expected him to immediately meet strength with strength. After being kept in a small room for days she was enjoying stretching her body.

Ghruna took a step back and raised her blade.

"Do you want to be a Sith, daughter of Jhyrack?"

She grunted and took another swing, this time going through a rudimentary offensive routine to try and create an opportunity.

"My people are sith," she countered. "We were visited by Sith thousands of years ago and their ways have served us well."

There was much more to it than that. Her people had only a fraction of sith knowledge. It was on her to try and learn more and bring that back to her people.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris fell to the defense now, his eyes scanning and watching. With a proper form she'd be able to do so much more, but even this was something he needed to focus on to keep from being battered away. "If you were Sith, you wouldn't have your emotions so easily read. My people were shown just enough by the Sith to believe they are, but they were little more than slaves. Are your people different, daughter of Jhyrack?"

It was a guess, based on everything he'd seen with the Epicanthix, that they mihht have something similar. His brow furrowed as her blade caught his just enough to open his guard. He lept back as her blade near hit his chest, severing some of his shirt in the process.

"It could be because you're young, learning. But I don't think that's it. You weren't trained as a Sith."

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

She hissed as she reset her posture. There was a glint of pride in her eye, but she was still aware that he was testing her. It still felt good to swing something heavy.

When Aris spoke told her she was young and not truly trained as a Sith, irritation flared hot in her chest. The words stung more than any cut could. She was eighteen, still growing into her strength, and yet he spoke as if she were some clumsy child playing at being her father's daughter.

The sight of the torn fabric sent another unwelcome flicker through her. He stood eye to eye with her, lean and focused, and the memory of their earlier grapple made her cheeks warm for a stupid second before she pushed it down.

"I am still young and I am still learning," she snapped. "But I am not a slave. My father rules. He does not serve. One day I will rule too."

She threw out a testing feint. As he might have expected, that tempest of emotions was not controlled. It wasn't focussed into battle, like a sith would have done. Nor was it kept out of mind, enabling her to fight with discipline like a Jedi.

 

[Aris Noble]

"Your father rules, and you fight for his approval. You have siblings, don't you? All fighting for his permission to exist." That was more a push of his own experiences onto Ghruna. He frowned after a moment before being caught by the feint. A line of red formed across his side, which as ever slowly knitted itself together as he dipped back a couple steps.

He glanced to it, then back to Ghruna.

".. Apologies. I did say I wouldn't bother with words." The blade in his hand flicked back up as he let himself smile again. "My people fight as an art, for fun and enjoyment as much as to protect and win. We learn a lot about each other and our foes. You are learning and you are young. Just have fun, at least for a little bit. You like fighting too, right?"

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

You like fighting too, right?"

"Obviously," Ghruna replied sharply, taking a step back.

Her people could heal quickly. She could repair bones or deep wounds in days. They could even grow back hands and tails over weeks. What he could do had to be some kind of magic.

"My people fight for fun. Also to settle disputes, decide who rules. Even to choose friends and partners. I have never heard of it as art."

She lifted the blade again. Her tail gave a sharp swish across the floor. Ghruna rolled her shoulders and smiled.

"Fun it is," she declared, before launching herself into the attack.

 

[Aris Noble]

"Choosing friends, huh?" Aris smiled at that. He'd done the same before, more often than once. Not really to choose a friend, but to solidify friendships. Seeing her finally smile though was a welcome change. He met her attack, and would continue to do so with his grin returned. He was quick to find rhythm, to clash blades and try to overwhelm her defenses with skill rather than trying to distract her with his words. To let her fight to her hearts content and be free, at least for a little while, from the confines of the cell she was in.

He didn't tire or lax, more like a machine than a human in that regard.

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

Aris Noble

It was some time before she eventually relented. Despite his skill she had been caught a few times and was bleeding in several places. Her chest heaved as her lungs burned.

"You are... Not even... Tired..."

Ghruna dropped to her haunches and set the training blade on the floor in front of herself.

"Who trained you with a blade?"

 

[Aris Noble]

"I can't scar, and I can't get tired." There was an odd sadness to his tone with thay admission, but he ended up joining her on the ground regardless.

"My mother. My father and mother both taught me to fight with my hands, but she taught me a lot with how to use a blade."

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

"Hmm."

She gave a nod at that. It seemed proper. This man seemed to be the first person she understood and he was a jedi.

A jedi, but not like the others she had met.

Ghruna suddenly grinned.

"So what did my father teach you?"

Aris Noble

 

[Aris Noble]

"What pain was. What it was to be defeated." Even when his home was broken into as a boy he wasn't harmed or in any danger. His body was too strong for normal people to hurt. Her father though. He glanced to his hands, idly flexing them on and off. "He broke bones in such a way I couldn't heal as fast as I normally did. I had to be carried by someone I trust until everything resettled properly and I was able to stand on my own."

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

"Sounds like a valuable lesson," Ghruna said. She glanced down at where his shirt had torn and then found something else to look at.

"He must have been impressed," she said.

That, suddenly, hurt. She rarely saw any approval from her own father. She didn't blame Jhyrack. It had to be earned and she had done nothing to stand above her siblings.

"Could you grow back a hand?" she asked suddenly.

 

[Aris Noble]

"He didn't kill me, so I suppose that would be the case." Aris likely would've died otherwise. He blinked though, glancing to his hand curiously. If it was cut off, would he loose it? "I've yet to have something like limb loss, so I'm not sure. I'm also not too keen on finding out. It'd be very awkward to be down a hand."

Ghruna

 

[Ghruna]

"We can," she said.

Ghruna didn't know why she was proud of that fact. Probably because he and his stupid face seemed so impossible to wound.

Yes, it was fun to be able to let loose, but it was also frustrating.

"Takes months. A tail in weeks."

Ghruna stood tall again. He lungs no longer burned.

"Awkward? A whole hand gone and you call that awkward?"

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris frowned faintly at that admission. Not because she took pride in it or the like, he was certain there was a pride to be found in being able to recover from otherwise crippling wounds for a warrior species. Rather things that he learned of his father, and his siblings flashed through his mind. "I don't have much of a frame of reference for what sort of emotion that'd bring. Awkward is the only thing I can imagine."

He watched her for a moment.

"What is your name, daughter of Jhyrack?"

Ghruna