Private Showing the Ropes

[Darth Strosius]

Odavessa.

The world that was hidden away in a secret nebula and home to one of the last and greatest bastions of active Sith in the galaxy. Housing the throne of the Worm Emperor and serving as the base for almost all major Sith operations since the collapse of the Sith in the TIngel Arm, it was of course meant to be a place of training and arming as well as defense and grandeur. Where future Sith would train and eventually help to reclaim the Sith's rightful place on the galactic stage.

Alisteri himself had never liked the place much. Far too many Eternalists for his taste, not to mention the watchful gaze of the Worm over it all.

What he liked even less was being ordered around by its officials and administrators. His new position as a Knight meant greater responsibilities and opportunities of course, and part of that meant helping out Acolytes that had yet to find a master of their own. He almost pitied them to some extent.

Not nearly enough to enjoy his current predicament though.

Stood in the middle of a hallway of some random training barracks on Odavessa was not his idea of excitement or any real obligations. Listening to the waffling of the Overseer of said barracks entertained him even less so.

"Your charge will be arriving shortly. The training grounds will be open if you wish to test him in some manner, but your main priority is-" "Teaching the basics." The Overseer's recoiled slightly as Alisteri interrupted him, fixing the masked Sith with a glare before nodding. "Good, you can listen to instructions after all." He chose not to respond to that, instead looking away from the Overseer and towards the door as it slid open.

"Acolyte, step forward and introduce yourself."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

Lukas stood in the hallway in front of the training barracks, his mask head in his hands as he slowly paced around, making sure to collect his thoughts. Strangely, it was not his nerves that he needed to settle, he was actually excited, as this was an opportunity for him, potentially a very valuable one if he could prove himself.

He’d put in the effort in training himself as far as he could, but he was sure any sort of guidance would double the pace at which he could improve. He took a deep breath, pulling the mask over his face, and sliding open the doors to the barracks.

Lukas paused as he entered the room, waiting until he heard the man speak, and he dipped his head slightly, before confidently walking towards the Knight, once again dipping his head once he came to a halt before him. “Lukas.” He responded to the man. “Pleased to meet you.” He relaxed his shoulders after having introduced himself, awaiting instruction or action.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

The other masked Sith didn't respond at first, simply watching Lukas for a moment and glancing him up and down. "Alisteri. A pleasure to meet you as well." In a move that made the Overseer glare, he dipped his own head out of respect. "Now be off with you. Just be sure to bring the boy back alive." The Overseer then turned on his heel and marched away down the hall.

The moment they were out of earshot the Knight audibly sighed in relief. "Thank the Force he's gone." He rested his hands on his hips and nodded to his temporary charge. "Alright Lukas, we're going to give you a proper Sith introduction without all these awful officials getting in the way."

Without further explanation he turned and began walking towards the nearest exit. "Come along, no time to waste. We can talk along the way."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

Lukas’ gaze followed the overseer as he walked off, his frown hidden by the mask, having noticed the glare. Upon hearing the Knight speak, his head snapped back towards him, nodding at his words when appropriate. “What’s the issue with him?” He asked after hearing the Knights comment about the overseer. “And what do you mean by ‘proper sith introduction’?” He added before hurrying after him as he headed off, nodding at his final comment.

As they reached the exit, Lukas began to look around, taking a moment to do so before attempting to strike up any kind of conversation with the Knight. “Mind telling me about yourself a bit while we walk? I figure it’s best to get to know as many people as I can.”

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

There was no response given to his first two questions as they headed towards the exit, but Alisteri definitely heard them. He knew that the answers would come to the younger Sith all in due time. Well, one of them would be answered very soon. "Myself?" His stride paused for a moment as he glanced back to look at the Acolyte.

"I'm not so different from you, or I was anyway." Wasting little more time he stepped out out the barracks and turned back forward to look for the quickest route to their destination before continuing on. "I was also merely one of many not too long ago, another faceless Acolyte in a sea of Sith. The difference between me and all those others is that I still live. I grew stronger against all odds, as you must if you wish to survive."

His march didn't pause as he crossed the compound towards the nearest training arena. "My days as an Acolyte were defined by the wars of the late Sith Empire. That is something of a benefit that you have over me, you will be trained in the shade of Odavessa instead of the glaring light of war."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

The acolyte remained quiet for a moment, considering his response to Alisteri’s words about a war. While he was sure that would not have been an enjoyable experience to learn under, he was certain that it was a situation that would have led to very fast improvement, however it didn’t seem like a good idea for him to suggest this, so he kept his mouth closed for the moment. “I see.” was all that he commented on that matter, instead focusing on the training room that they were swiftly approaching.

As the pair entered the training barracks, an almost childlike joy passed over Lukas for a moment as his eyes darted about, taking note of the various training tools littered about the room. This joy passed just as quickly as it had appeared, as he regained his composure, not wanting to make a fool of himself. “Good room for training.” He noted, walking ahead of the knight, deeper into the room, making his way directly towards a rack of training weapons, grabbing a pair of training blades. He paused for a moment, before taking an experimental slash with each blade, before placing the blades on the rack, and walking back over towards the knight. “Sorry about that, I got distracted.”

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

It had been a good long while since Alisteri had set foot in a dedicated training room, let alone one meant for Sith. Occasional skirmishes and the missions that he was dispatched on usually did more than enough to keep him ready for action. Still, he could appreciate the design the training barracks and all that it offered. Targets, training droids, a full on arena for sparring, even a little gauntlet to run through as well. It would work out far better than he had initially thought, and as a bonus it was just the two of them.

"Agreed." He idly watched as the Acolyte moved to the training weapons, noting his form and movement as he made the experimental slashes. That was good, eagerness would only accelerate training. "No need to apologize. We Sith rely on emotion to push ourselves and face obstacles, being eager is merely another facet of that." His arms crossed behind his back as he walked past the other masked Sith and made his way over to the variety of training droids. "Tell me Lukas, how confident are you in your skills? If you were thrust into a battle do you believe you could survive?" After a moment of looking over the controls he plucked one of the training remotes from a table and turned around to face the Acolyte.

"Grab a weapon."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

Lukas nodded to the man's words, moving back over towards the rack as he was instructed, as he began to compare various blades weights and lengths in his hands, occasionally taking a slash before placing back, he pondered the question that the knight had asked. Would he be able to survive a fight? That was something he was entirely unsure of, he felt he had a good theoretical knowledge of how to fight, and trusted his instincts fully, however would those be enough or even remain with him in an actual fight?

“That..” He paused, finally settling on a pair of blades, the one held in his left hand slightly shorter than the one he held in his right. “That question is a hard one to answer.” He continued, making his way over towards the training droids. “I’d like to say I'd be able to, and I trust myself to survive a fight, but whether I’d win is another matter. I’m confident that I’d have the sense to cut my losses if I got in over my head, and I think I’d be able to escape. However, that all ultimately depends on the opponent.” As he spoke, he gave off varying degrees of confidence, seemingly especially unconfident in the part about cutting his losses. He liked to think that he would, of course, however he tended to act in the moment and a lot of his pre-planning would be likely to go out of the window.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

While the Acolyte was testing and picking out his weapons of choice, Alisteri busied himself with tweaking the settings on the training droid in his hand. He didn't want the droid to be completely harmless and easy to hit but he had no idea what the other Sith was capable of just yet. Turning down the intensity of the blaster a bit would suffice enough for now until he could get an understanding of how Lukas worked in a fight.

He listened as the Acolyte responded to his question, nodding to show he was paying attention. "A fairly genuine answer. Surprising, but far better than one of overconfidence." The Knight finally finished his tinkering and launched the small droid into the air with the press of a button, the droid briefly circling Alisteri before going to circle around Lukas as well. "This is a simple test of your reactions and reflexes. The droid shoots, you block or dodge. If it hits you it's not nearly strong enough to kill you but I can assure you that you'll feel it."

He stepped away from the Acolyte to give him space and held up the remote that controlled the droid. "Ready?" Of course the Knight didn't wait for a response, tapping on the remote and causing the droid to fire a blaster bolt right at the Acolyte's back.

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

As the droid began its circling, Lukas would turn with it, keeping himself mostly square with it, and ensuring it remained clearly within his line of sight. “Yeah I’m r-” His eyes widened slightly as it managed to fly behind his back, muttering angrily under his breath as he whirled around, his right blade, the slightly shorter of the two, already moving up to cover his chest area. He moved surprisingly quick for someone who had seemed so unsure about his ability level only a few moments ago, and he did manage to deflect the bolt with a small slash of his blade towards it. His slash was accurate, and fairly text book in technique, however there was a lot of wasted movement in it, clearly showing his lack of practical experience.

As the droid continued to fly around, taking shots at the acolyte, Lukas’s style and evident weaknesses became glaringly obvious. He was accurate and quick in managing to block the attacks, however some of the movements were unnecessarily big, which naturally tired him out much faster than it should. He also tended not to use his left blade for blocking, as it was slightly longer, and therefore had less accurate movement upclose, as this blade would typically be reserved for attacking. Instead, if any bolts were sent towards his left side, he’d attempt to dodge them, typically shifting his foot back and unsquaring his shoulders, hoping that it’d simply fly past him.

He was successful in his dodging and blocking for quite some time, until eventually he horrifically misjudged the path of one of the bolts. He’d taken a deep breathe, resetting his stance after having blocked a bolt, when a second one came much faster than he had anticipated. The acolyte began to raise his blade up to knock the bolt of course when he noticed the bolt was aimed towards his left shoulder. “Oh” was all he managed before the bolt hit it’s mark, cleaning connecting with his shoulder. The knight really hadn’t been kidding when he said you’d feel it, and it took all of Lukas’s self control not for him to yell out in pain, instead biting down on his tongue beneath his mask. “Caught me by surprise by that last one.” As he spoke, he subconsciously began to pat around the place where he’d been shot, as if checking for any blood.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

His gaze narrowed as he carefully watched the Acolyte's movements. The Force of course enhanced the reactions and reflexes of all its users and Lukas was clearly no exception, being able to keep up with the little droid's blaster shots just fine. In all honesty he could probably turn up the speed and maneuvering of the droid to give the Acolyte a better test later and he would still do pretty well. Of course he did notice how much useless and wasted movement was on display as well, but such things could and would be reduced in time. Experience was one of the best teachers, especially if that experience involved potential or actual injury.

Alisteri could offer pointers and try to correct the other Sith's form and movements that were too wide and big while he was still fighting off the blaster bolts, but he decided against it. Better to wait until he realized his own faults before offering advice. The hesitance to block with his left weapon was noted as well. When Lukas had finally gotten hit by a bolt he immediately tapped on the remote to stop the shooting and clicked his tongue. "I must say that I'm impressed. Were it not for your own exhaustion you may have blocked that last one as well."

Given the setting of the droid he doubted the wound left by the bolt would be anything more than a somewhat uncomfortable bruise. "You spend too much energy moving around and getting your weapons in position, keep your motion short and effective or else you'll tire out mid fight. And if you're going to use two blades then use them properly, only blocking with one or the other is a waste of time when you can use both." All in all those were his only serious critiques and he had no real reprimand for the Acolyte. He had done well in his eyes. "Now that I've seen what you can do with your weapons, tell me of your skills in the Force."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

The acolyte nodded slowly upon hearing the criticisms, glancing down at his left blade. “I should probably have done that, yes. In hindsight, perhaps two blades of the same, slightly shorter length might just be the way for me to go, as I didn’t think manoeuvring this to block would be as practical.” He raise the blade slightly, taking a slash through the air. “The length is a bit more useful for attacking though..” He trailed off, thinking to himself for a moment. He was sure he’d figure it out eventually, and find what works best for him. As for the wasted movements, that was also something he had some kind of awareness of, however now to the extent it had been. Perhaps he should just keep the blades raised at a higher level neutrally, it’d be less movement for him to block in any situation.

“The force?” He wondered aloud, walking over towards the weights, placing the two practice blades on the floor. “I think it’s a bit like how I am with lightsabers, mostly I just know it works in theory, and I can apply from that.” He squared himself off against the weights, in particular one of the lighter ones. He raised his palm almost lazily, the weight flying off the floor with ease, although noticeably some things around the initial spot had begun to lift slightly once again, demonstrating a lack of finesse and wasted energy. “Even then I don’t know the theory of much past just pushing and lifting, sadly.” He lowered the weight, before lifting a slightly heavier one, showcasing the same wasted energy, lifting up some of the surrounding objects ever so slightly.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Yet again Alisteri refrained from commenting on the Acolyte's response to his criticism, only offering nods of agreement. Choosing one's method of attack was a very careful and personal experience that he had little intention of interrupting. Firsthand combat experience and physical preference would decide such details in their own time. There was still so much more to be learned in the more martial of the Sith ways but he would move on for now and let the other Sith explore and train however he wanted later. He still had to see just how deep of a connection and stable control within the Force the Acolyte already possessed.

While the display of telekinesis was fairly minor, and notably with unintended targets, he was still satisfied to see that Lukas could manage to move the weights at all. It wasn't much, but it would do. "Again you lack focus and direction with your abilities." Alisteri strolled over to the Acolyte and stood in front of him, on the other side of the weights. "Your power is too spread out and relaxed. Before you can have ease using the Force you must learn how to use it in times of desperation and strife, for those are the most common in our order." As if to illustrate his point he held out his own hand and pulled the heavy weight that Lukas had lifted before right into his grasp like it weighed nothing at all. "Our most potent and dangerous abilities rely on emotion and raw power." He held out the weight as if offering it to the other Sith yet his grip was firm and unyielding. "I want you to try and pull this weight from my hand with nothing but the Force. Focus all your frustrations and anger into it and wrench it from my grasp however you can."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

Lukas nodded at the knight’s comments about a lack of control, glancing briefly down at one of the weights he had accidentally lifted, noting the slight change in position he had caused. He frowned slightly upon hearing about channelling his frustration, and emotions, he immediately began to try and recall any huge source of frustration. However, the Acolyte’s life had been fairly uneventful prior to being discovered as force sensitive, and he had no major source of tragedy to draw on. Ironically enough, this lack of source for any kind of emotion began to create one for him, as he became increasingly frustrated in trying to recall something. Instead, once he began to get frustrated, he realised more recently there was all that he needed. He was annoyed about his lack of control with the force, he was annoyed that he needed to be

While his hand had previously raised lazily, it was now tensed and almost seemed to be grasping at air, the single point of concentration being upon that weight, his gaze set firmly upon it. Lukas took a deep breath, drawing on those emotions he had just begun to feel, before the Knight would suddenly feel a harsh pull on the weight within his hands, very likely to leave his hands, should he do nothing to stop it from doing so.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

It took a moment of concentration, or what he assumed to be concentration by the look of it, for the Acolyte to try and pull the weight from his hand at all. He felt the harsh pull but kept his own grip tight and stopped the weight from flying out right at Lukas. That was exactly what he wanted to feel, a little bit of struggle against him. "Good, that's exactly what I want to see. Focusing all that you can muster and fueling yourself with your emotions, this is the way of the Sith." He unceremoniously let go of the weight and watched to see what would happen to it, curious to see if the Acolyte would realize that it was now free.

"But, one must not let that emotion cloud their mind and judgment. While our unleashed and unshackled minds and wills are dangerous to our foes they can just as easily harm ourselves as well." There was a balance to be learned with such matters, and each Sith had their own limits and barriers that came with it. Far too many of their order had fallen due to pride and arrogance or blind rage and anger, both their own and those of others, for such a lesson to be skipped over. "Being a frothing berserker or an arrogant warrior only helps our enemies succeed. For your own good you must learn the depths and sources of your most potent emotions and master them, lest they overtake you in a dire hour and leave you in a dangerous situation. You understand, yes?"

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

The acolytes' eyes widened slightly once the resistance on the block halted. “You’re strong.” He commented as the block flew towards him. Lukas relaxed his hand, the block slowing significantly after he did so, before easing into his hand. After having slowed it, and placed it back on the floor, his breathing returned to its usual tempo, as opposed to the slower and deeper breaths he had been taking moments ago. As his frustration and anger had came from a fairly shallow place, it passed over him just as quickly as it had sprung up, so when he responded to the knight, his voice was calm.

“I understand that, yes.” He nodded, very easily able to see how someone could easily spiral when focusing so heavily on emotions, and also on the source of those emotions. He leant down, retrieving the two practice blades he had placed down earlier, holding them idly by his side. “I suppose those in the heat of a fight, drawing on those emotions must come quite easily compared to just doing it for practice or whatever, as there’s some active source of that emotion. Is it worth always trying to utilise the force in that manner, or sometimes without relying on emotion?”

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

For a moment he had been concerned that Lukas may not have caught or slowed down the weight in time, but he was relieved to see that the Acolyte was quick to realize and adjust accordingly. Good reactions may come easy to the Force Sensitive but using them to their full extent was another skill to be learned in its entirety. The comment drew a small chuckle from the Knight as he watched the weight slow and land in the other Sith's hand. There were indeed many that would argue against such a thing, not that he was going to let anyone know that of course.

Alisteri seemed to consider the question for a moment, tilting his head slightly upward as he thought on his response. "I would say yes, very much so. Emotions are too powerful a boon to be sidelined, and mastering how they control your abilities masters your own emotional state as well. It isn't impossible to use the Force without focusing on emotion but such a thing is more reserved for Jedi." He idly gestured his hand in a dismissive wave as he spoke the word Jedi, much like how someone would swat away a flying pest. "Our emotions increase and fuel our powers, why bother restraining ourselves and trying to fight against them like they do? We are not chained by fear like our enemies young Acolyte, for where they fear lashing out and drifting to the Dark we embrace what we are and how we feel. 'Through passion we gain strength,' after all."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

Lukas grinned at the gesture and dismissal of the Jedi, before beginning to ponder what he had said. While it made sense to him that you may as well utilise all you have in order to be more powerful, it did seem almost limiting to him to rely and expect to have to draw upon those emotions. Would it not be more beneficial for him to train himself to be as strong without it, and only add on top of that with the force? As he continued down this train of thought, he reached his left hand back out towards the weight, figuring he may as well work on something until instructed otherwise.

“I’m not sure if I’m wording this right, but do all types of force or schools, whatever the terminology would be, require that emotion or are there some that need you to be more level headed and precise?” He tensed his hand once again, being sure that it was only the weight, this time a heavier one than he had been previously working with, that he was focused on. Remembering that same frustration he felt earlier, he briefly let that emotion back in, and the weight began to float once more. Instead of just letting it float back down towards the floor, the Acolyte instead began to manipulate it more around in the air, spinning it around or floating it around at varying speeds.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri watched the movement of the weight with a nod of approval, as if the toying was merely another part of the lesson he intended to impart. Curiosity and trial were the two best instructors in his mind so he had little reason to pause the Acolyte's experimentation. "Oh yes indeed there are. Telekinesis isn't too harmful by itself but there are plenty of other abilities that require proper focus and attention if you want to use them effectively." He idly raised a hand, small bolts of lightning sparking between his fingertips for a moment as he spoke. "Take the classic Force Lightning for instance. While it can be used in wrath, that is also when it is at its weakest. A wide blast of lightning is hardly useful for anything more than a distraction, but a focused strike can render an opponent dead upon contact if aimed correctly."

The Knight's hand slipped back to clasp his other behind his back as he continued. "In places of great turmoil and anger, such as a battlefield, the connection to our emotions can become diluted and blurred by the energy of all that surrounds us. If you can't center yourself in such a position then you can only rely on the skill of your arms, as using the Force with such interference may not work at all. Or backfire." He shrugged as if the implication wasn't grim or foreboding. "So yes, keeping a level head is key to mastering many aspects of the Force. The Jedi will always be attempting to keep their focus and emotions in check, to allow yourself to falter and lose concentration will only leave you open for attack."

Lukas

 

[Lukas]

Lukas’s attention drifted from the weight the moment he saw those sparks, he lowered the weight gently to the floor, his eyes fixed on the sparks while they remained. After a moment, his gaze rose back to the knight. “How does that work? I’ve heard of that, but it makes no sense to me.” He looked down to his own hand briefly, frowning. “It makes no sense to me how you can produce something that’s physical from the force. The only thing I can really think of is that you’d really condense and release it from a very narrow point, but I’m not sure if that even makes sense.”

The Acolyte then continued to listen to his words, listening to the Knights words, and nodding when it seemed appropriate for him to do so. It did make sense to him that emotions were such a source of power, but as the Knight continued to speak, he became increasingly aware of those risks. “Big pay off for a big risk then is the jist of it, I suppose. No way for me, or anyone, to really know how badly their emotions will run in a battle.”

Darth Strosius