Private Study Buddy

[Iris Arani]

It took a little bit for Iris to figure out how to get on the roof on her own. She didn't have the ability to extend her limbs to zip around the city planet like Arlo Renard could. When she did find the stairs that lead up though it was quite the joyous day. Ever since Kai first brought her here, she'd come back. After her lessons with her master Valery Noble she left to get onto this roof, to watch the sun set on the city, observe the colors. And focus on the Force.

She needed rest, is what her master had told her. Overworking wouldn't help her in the long run. But, she wasn't tired! Far from it really. Her eyes had been opened in a way she didn't know they could be. She could see the Force react to her pull, her guidance. Currently she sat cross legged on the spot she'd painted earlier in the week. Around her various canvasses covered in her abstract color art rested, a sign that she wasn't just focusing on her lessons.

Well, at first she wasn't. Now she was completely focused. Cross legged and calm, she floated a couple inches off the ground. Her spray cans, full or not, floated and circled around her. The colors swam, blending together, painting under her subtle guidance just how she did on those canvasses. It was beautiful, peaceful.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Swinging in a final high arc, Kai somersaulted through the air, landing on his feet upon the roof with a gymnast’s poise. The fleshy cord which had propelled him from one building to the next retracted, reabsorbing into his body.

He turned to find Iris already there. Her eyes closed in meditation, she and her paints were levitating, moved by the Force. Kai stood a few feet away, watching her a while. How did she get up here? Had she come for the view, or had she been hoping to see him?

Whatever her reasons, he wasn’t sure whether he ought to disturb her. Leaving her alone for now, the doppelganger hefted a duffel bag off his shoulder, setting it on the ground. Inside was food and drinks; he popped the tab on a can of soda and drank it down, sitting with his feet dangling over the edge of the roof.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

She felt him before she heard him. It was an odd sense to recognize the colors of someone else. She'd learned to pick up when the colors were similar enough to stand out. Her master was a prime example. With enough time she could easily pick her master out of a crowd. But this? Her new found skill in the Force had changed her perspective so much she could actually recognize someone?

Or was it just because she'd touched on Arlo Renard 's mind directly in the process of learning this new skill?

Iris didn't open her eyes, but her form and the spray cans would lower. <Hey. Wasn't sure if you'd be around here. .. Hope it's alright that I use here. I didn't think to ask.> Yeah that was something she needed to work on. Her eyes opened as she glanced nervously to Kai. Was she overstepping boundaries now that she was thinking about it? This was.. Well it wasn't his. Was it?

Actually, who's roof was this?

She drifted again, her eyes pulling away from his general location as she pondered the intricate system of home/apartment/building ownership.

 

[Arlo Renard]

<It’s okay,> Kai replied. <We’re on the roof of the Veshok Terrace Apartments. A friend of mine made a deal with the owner to let us hang out around here. I didn’t think that deal extended to graffiti.>

Of course, Iris was using canvases for her projects now, so it wasn’t really relevant anymore. Nor was he ready to tell her about his World Below, even if they were almost directly above the Reef.

Reaching in his bag, Kai took out another can of soda. <You want one of these?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

<One of what?> Iris pushed herself up from her little meditation circle, stepping over to plop down beside Arlo Renard and glance at the can curiously. Soda, huh? She shrugged before taking the can and cracking it open to take a sip. Hyper sugar. She grimaced a little, mostly cause it was sweeter than she'd like. No complain though as she continued to sip at it.

That was another handy thing with telepathy. She could keep eating and drinking or whatever else she was doing without needing to pause.

<Hey, you're good with a lightsaber, right?>

 

[Arlo Renard]

After handing her the can, Kai got himself another. Evidently he was quite the sugarholic.

<I’m better at it than I am at using the Force,> he said. Which was a lie—he tended to suppress his use of the Force out of fear that he would slip into the Dark Side. He already had an unnatural inclination toward it due to the corruption woven into his very cells.

<I don’t have a master to train with, so it’s just what I learned at the Temple and from… watching other people.>

Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a container holding an entire cooked chicken. He started eating it casually.

<Why do you ask?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

<I've started to learn more on saber combat, but I wanna get better at it. I can show you want I know if you're up for sparring and showing- Is that a chicken? - What you know?> Arlo Renard didn't have a master? But, he's been fighting against these Sithspawn. With more skill than she had with a master. She frowned slightly at the idea, forcing herself to take another drink. No, don't defeat yourself before you've even started.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai looked at the chicken. <Yes. Do you want some?>

He finished off a chicken leg, even eating the bone—though he at least tried to do that somewhat discreetly, quickly shoving it into his mouth and swallowing it while Iris was hopefully distracted.

<Ok good, ok fine,> he agreed. <Ready when you are.>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris just shrugged and took her own chicken leg. Casually eating it, though she wouldn't eat the bone herself. Her, distracted though? Yeah, she certainly didn't notice Arlo Renard munching away on some bones when she wasn't looking. She was about halfway through the leg as he agreed. A bright sort of smile formed as she nodded quick, now much more hastily digging into her food.

Without a sense of manners at all.

<Alright, lemmi finish this and we can start!>

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai had been willing to share, expecting she wouldn’t have as much of an appetite as him. Now, realizing he wasn’t going to be able to finish his meal before they started practicing—like many Doppelgangers, he ate voraciously, gorging himself on meat and other protein-rich foods—Kai turned his back on Iris and proceeded to swallow the rest of the chicken whole. Not his preferred way of doing things, but his body would digest it, bones and all.

He stood up, shedding the grease from his fingers with a flick of his wrists, and removed his lightsaber from his belt. The weapon was rather large for a saber, resembling a claymore in terms of length. He adjusted the intensity of the blade to the lowest possible setting, ensuring he wouldn't be lopping off any limbs during their sparring, then activated the weapon. The blade glowed with a crystalline quality, looking almost like it was made of glass and light.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris blinked as she watched Arlo Renard eat. Not that she was grossed out or anything. In fact, the moment he was done and she finished picking her own bone clean she offered it to him. He seemed far more hungry than she was. Though she was hungry. Hmm. She'd have to go find some place to eat after this. But.. She grinned. The idea of actually sparing someone again was a welcome one.

The last time she did, she was much, much more unskilled. Maybe she'd at least stand a chance this time. Her own lightsaber was pulled from her hip and ignited. The peculiar flat bladed saber danced between colors. It ignited pink, but ripples of blues, reds, oranges, all manner of colors from the rainbow pulsed along it. She blinked in surprise, then smiled. <Domxite is just as eager to test themselves out. Don't hold back, okay?>

Not that she was confident in her abilities. Iris had come a long way from where she started, yes, but she was still learning. Even as she lifted her blade in a simple, two handed grip it was the basic of basics.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai looked at her lightsaber. She had apparently named hers Domxite, and referred to it as if it were a living being. For all he knew, maybe it was. He was mainly interested in the mechanics of her blade—it was flat, like a traditional sword, which meant it could probably achieve greater aerodynamics when swung.

So what did he do?

He opened with a two-handed thrust aimed at her left shoulder.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

The style Iris employed wasn't the best for Lightsaber combat. That'd never been what she was training for, after all. But that's part of the reason she was here now, part of why she asked Arlo Renard to spar with her. She didn't want to be protected like she had been thus far. As he opened with a thrust, she ducked below. The flat of her blade flicked up, pressing against his own.

She was smaller, and she planned to use that to her advantage. Short of him having a strength beyond what he looked like she stepped forward to get under his guard and swipe her blade down the length of his own for his chest.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Her swiping blade might catch on the crossguard of his lightsaber, its descent slowed. Either way, he took a step back, evading the slash at his chest.

Closing the distance between them again, he feinted another thrust toward her right shoulder, instead turning it into a swing at her neck. He was moving a lot slower and with a lot less force than he could have, not sure if she could yet augment her body and mind the way he had seen Valery do during their battle with the Tyrant Orb. Jedi reflexes were fine and dandy, but the body could still only do so much.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

She hadn't learned anything on how to augment her body. That much was obvious as she similarly hopped back from Arlo Renard once her strike caught on his guard. Right. She wasn't the only one with an unusually shaped blade. He came again, with another thrust, and her inexperience truly shined. She did the same as before, lifting her blade to deflect the strike while she stepped forward, angling her own blade to get past Kai's guard.

Only to find the ground rushing to greet her as his blade whapped her on the side of her head. She winced as she caught herself on the ground, her blade disengaging as a slight headache started to form. "Oww..."

 

[Arlo Renard]

Really, it should’ve merely singed her hair and zapped her cheek at the most. Lightsaber blades had no weight to them. So had she fallen on the ground because of a clumsy misstep while trying to evade, or was she just being dramatic?

Probably the former, he thought as he reached out a hand to pull her to her feet again. She didn’t seem like the dramatic type.

<You okay?>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

More surprise from getting hit had her tumbling over herself. Iris frowned as she reached up to touch where she'd been hit. No pain, or at least not the dull thud like she was used to. Right. These weren't like training sabers. She frowned, but nodded as Arlo Renard reached out a hand to help her up. Then she stepped back, again lifting her blade with a less excited, but still determined smile. More like she was trying to control that emotion.

That was part of being a Jedi, staying in control.

<Again.> No sooner did she say it then she stepped forward, bringing her blade around in an overhead slash.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai parried her overhead slash, their lightsabers crashing together as they fell into a rhythm. Strike, parry, strike, parry. She was inexperienced, but not ignorant in how to fight.

Swinging toward her, their blades caught in a bind. Kai immediately reached around and struck the side of her head with an open palm—better than a closed fist—to stun or incapacitate her, then with a downward thrust he went in for the kill.

Metaphorically, of course.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Without the threat of death, this turned out to be a lot more fun than she thought it would. Fighting, it wasn't something she enjoyed on paper. Even when she had to fight for her life, she didn't enjoy it. This? She smiled and grinned, even as she was obviously getting tired. Seemed her blade felt the same. Joy sang from the sentient crystal within, brightening the colors of both what Iris could see and the blade itself to the purest pink.

She was learning, getting better, then.. She was struck. She blinked in surprise as she stumbled to the side from the hit. An actual hit? Before she had time to really grasp what was going on she felt the heat of his saber against her chest. Iris blinked again, glancing between the blade, then to Arlo Renard . Then laughed.

<Guess I lost, then.>

 

[Arlo Renard]

<Did you see what I did, though? It’s a good trick to know—you get caught in a bind, you can hold your lightsaber with one hand and reach around and clobber them in the head with your other fist.> He demonstrated the move against empty air. <I didn’t punch you, because I didn’t want to actually hurt you—but if you do, it should at least distract your opponent, or possibly even incapacitate them if you knock them on the head hard enough.>

He talked like he knew what he was doing, but truth be told he really didn’t. It was one of a handful of tricks (or “cheats” if you were feeling less generous) he had picked up along the way during his bare-minimum training thus far.

What was a little weird to him was how giggly Iris seemed. She fell down again after he sucker-slapped her upside the head, and yet here she was laughing like a child, her saber glowing pink.

<What’s so funny?> he asked, mirroring her smile.

Iris Arani​