The Warrior of Arx Mortis [Astrian Callus]

[Nikolas Faselli]

Crystalsong
Arx Mortis Citadel
Training Hall
@[member="Astrian Callus"]

The Witch had sat on her throne for quite a while now. Most of her days were spent there, because she had nothing else to do. As she could be jokingly considered a 'Master of Thinking', she had quite a lot of ideas how to gain influence on the powerful planet of Crystalsong, making the citadel in which she stood more important than anything else on the world. The first step was becoming more powerful in the ways of the Force.

She had invited a person to train her. He was called Astrian Callus or something similar.

And now, the Witch waited in the training hall of her citadel, sitting on a random chair she had brought into the room. Typically, it was empty so that slaves could practise fighting over there, and it was empty now, the only object being the chair.

The hall was quite huge: about as big as an average house. The walls of it were all dark in colour, the ceiling was really dark brown and the floor - light gray. It was a strange combination, but Maria loved it.

She was ready to start training.

The slaves of her were supposed to lead the man through the dark citadel to the training halls.

She waited.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian had been invited by a "Maria Zambrano" to the Arx Mortis Citadel to train her. He had;conflicting feelings about training a relative of Kaine Zambrano. However, he was not one for putting the crimes of the father upon the child. Therefore, he would withhold judgement and any promises of training until he understood the length of the girls cruelty. This meeting could end with a blade in her stomach and with slaves escorting him, thus far things were not looking good for this "Maria Zambrano" as it was.
However, he would withhold any sentence until he was fully aware of her ability to be cruel. Until then he would remain a passive observer, then as if on que the doors of the training room opened, and before him stood Maria; she was small and curvaceous with a full chest and a pretty face and brunette hair. She didn't look like a fighter, maybe he could help her.

They would soon discover the answer to his questions.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"Ah, Master Callus! It is so good to meet you!" Maria said as she left her chair and started hurrying towards the man. Her voice sounded happy, mixed with playfulness. She wasn't too young, but she was still quite childish. Maybe it was due to her Epicanthix nature.

As she reached the man, she set her hand forwards, ready to shake hands with Astrian. She didn't know much about the man and definitely she didn't know anything about what he thinks about the Zambrano family. If she knew, she would have never invited him to train him. "I have heard, that you are some kind of good in some skills..." She was trying to sound as friendly as possible, using the happy tone in her voice, but her plans may have sounded through it.

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian accepted the handshake, but did not respond to her first comment. He took note of the false playful and happy tone, it was like looking through a glass wall; a little distorted but you could still see what hid beneath. Astrian wondered what she was thinking about, but before he could concentrate on her thoughts she spoke again. This time with a more friendly and less playful tone. Astrian took a moment to allow the handshake to end before placing his hands behind his back. His yellow eyes fell on her own eyes, and then he spoke. His tone however, held no sign of emotion. It was stoic and stern, and his face gave nothing away. Other than the fact he was observing, as he told himself he would. For now he remained, a passive observer.

"I can help you learn to control your abilities, that is correct." He responded, his tall form towering over the girl.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"Interesting... What would you be able to teach me?" she asked when taking back her arm and placing it on her side. She stood only some steps away from the man and it was a little bit strange. Nonetheless, she didn't move from her current position, but kept looking into the eyes of the man. He probably understood something, which was actually a bit good for her. If he knew what Maria is up to, she could help manipulate him to do something for her. Well, even if she wouldn't succeed at manipulation, she, however, was safe from all mind tricks.

A slave came into the room, a strange piece of metal around his arm, and walked directly to the Witch of Arx Mortis. He had something to tell her, but in order to do that, she had to wait for the man to finish talking. And probably for the woman to finish talking. The slave could only speak when the Witch wants him to. His muscular build was caused by the heavy training program Maria had set up for them. Since most of her slaves were men, she used them quite often, but she could never use anybody who is unfit, so she just had to start this program.

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

What can I teach her? He pondered on her question for a moment. He would have assumed she had already chosen what she wished to know and learn, but before Astrian could speak a slave entered the room. A male no doubt with a muscular build, most slaves did not have any sort of build. However he had seen quite a few muscular male slaves during his escort. Judging by what looked to be easy to take off clothing that Maria was wearing and the barely covered body of the slave. Astrian had a sickening gut feeling in regards to what they were used for, Astrian himself was in great shape. Many had told him his body was at the peak of human physicality and on and above with his augments and the extreme training he received when becoming an assassin.

But, now he had a lot more experience than he did training. His scars made that clear, however his mind vanquished such thoughts as he refocused on the present. "I can teach you what you need to survive and I can help you with more practical activities, if you deem it necessary." In his mind, that was an ordinary thing to say. But taking into account the possible activities Maria enjoyed with her slaves, she would likely have taken that in the wrong manner.

Astrian cursed himself in his mind as he awaited for the slave to speak, his massive brooding form hanging over both of them. The slave stared for a few moments. Had he never seen a man so large or was it the eyes? People always stared, it was fun figuring out why.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"I shall learn from you, then. Even though I do not know what you consider as... practical. Are you trying to teach me survival in a forest? Then no, thank you! I am a lady of this citadel and like you can see, even my slaves who are much stronger than me don't have the will to rebel. If you consider making food as practical, there is this one thing: I was raised by my father who was definitely not brilliant at making meals, so I took the responsibility from him and now I can consider myself as quite a goof chef." Her voice was not as playful as before, but even a bit furious. Just a bit.

She looked at the slave.

"Speak, my young minion."

"My lady Zambrano, I request your powerful willingness to let me be your training dummy to pay you back for what I have done," the slave spoke with a quite soft voice as he bowed before the lady. His voice shivered just like she was about to start crying. He wore only short trousers and the metal piece. His skin was tanned and his black hair was short, but not bald-ish.

He had done nothing bad to the lady, but he still felt like he owes her something.

"You have my acceptance."

She turned back to Astrian.

"I would like to learn Djem So and maybe some forms of movement."

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian listened intently to the girls tantrum, his expression uncaring throughout the entirety of it. It was clear how naive she was, she wasn't going to live here forever. He could sense the building anger in her voice and presence. As to why the Slave trembled before her, he would not know or care to comprehend. But, he wished to be her training dummy. That would not happen and it would not be necessary, however not to his surprise Maria gracefully accepted the man's, he almost twitched as furry stirred inside him. "Djem So, ah. This is the most aggressive and dominating of all of the forms." He spoke, taking two wooden swords from a nearby locker. They were large and heavy, for a small girl like Maria. The weapon looked like a slightly large dagger in Astrians hands, which he could work with. However he would not use it to its full potential. "But, with Djem So. There is a lot of mental stress involved with using such a form Maria." He explained, making his way towards her.

He watched her expressions carefully. His eye lingering on her, she looked incredibly healthy to his eye. She was plentiful in all the required areas and was otherwise not overweight or overly skinny. But, they needed to build up her muscle.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"I believe I am ready for such... mentality," Maria spoke. The slave walked away from the two and stopped when he reached the other side of the room. He would come back to them whenever it may be needed. Then the lady took the wooden sword from the hand of Astrian and just looked at it for a moment. It was different from a real lightsaber, so she wondered, if training with such a little piece of wood would be practical.

But her Master wanted her to use it, so she had to obey.

For the first time.

She had to obey.

"I have heard, that Djem So is a furious technique. How do I use this form? How does one move themselves?"

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian was surprised that the girl listened so obediently. A small smirk crossed his lips as he saw the girl stare aimlessly at the weapon, Astrian however was already busy taking off the long leather cloak he had worn on his way here. Then taking off a heavy blue linen garment he had worn for warmth. Underneath was a loose white shirt, its neck dipped down to his chest exposing little but enough to confirm his muscularity.

"You heard right, Djem So is a furious technique." He spoke, moving closer to her. But remaining more than the swords length away from her. "You move with passion, Djem So is all about enjoying the fight. It's all domination, your footwork is vital in this aspect. You must always be ahead of your opponent and on the offense. Never allow yourself to fall onto the defense, Djem So is primarily an offensive form, it is also a sub-form of Shien. Which can be used for defense to compensate for Djem So's lack of such." He explained, following up his words with a demonstration with the movement of the sword carefully and perfectly maneuvering around his body as he pressed towards Maria, stopping but a few inches away with the wooden blade looking up to her. "You must be in control, always. This is vital for any form, but more so Djem So than the others. You must control and enjoy the fight, do not let it control you."

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Maria turned to the man again and only then she noticed, that he had taken away most of her upper clothes and only a white shirt could be seen.

Hmm...

She was already a bit distracted from the training, but as soon a she turned away from watching the body of the man and concentrating on his face and his talking, she got back on track. So she had to be in control, had to enjoy fighting, and had to be ahead of his opponent, always attacking him. So Djem So was a form of offense. The wooden sword of his was already very close to Maria. It was strange, that she hadn't noticed that earlier.

She moved a bit away from the man and tried to match the movements. The point was, that she had missed the majority of them due to getting distracted a bit. Well, it was her on fault, even though she didn't want to admit it.

Maria had never used a sword before, so her movement was bold and clumsy. She could have been killed so easily.

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian stopped to watch the girl perform. It was not a pretty sight to behold, it almost made him grimace in disappointment. It looked like she was barely paying attention to his words and movements. Her movements were clumsy and her footwork was awkward, he could watch no more and simply intervened as she swinged the wooden sword in both of her hands. He caught her blade on the edge of his own with his left hand alone easily. Then used said surprise and strength to throw her backwards, "You're technique is clumsy. But, you will improve over time." He said, the girl even then seemed a little distant.

He tilted his head, as if he wasn't previously in her line of sight. "Are we listening and watching?" He asked, a raised eyebrow and a look of disappointment crossed his face again. He couldn't even see any raw talent.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Ugh...

She didn't like being interrupted, even though she acknowledged to herself, that her movement was even worse than terrible. It was horrific. She recovered from the attack of Astrian soon and looked at him, nodded, and watched as she showed her the movement again. Focusing mainly on feet, she prevented looking at the body of this man, even though even then, it was nearly impossible.

You come to my citadel and start bitching around like you were the owner of it.

Rude...

Now her thoughts started distracting her. Oh, Force, this girl just couldn't pay attention.

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian could sense that her thoughts were distracting her, he sighed under his breath. Looking at the girl, he walked towards her. Setting his own blade down and coming up behind her. "Alright, we can try this a different way." He was lucky to be so large, otherwise this would be incredibly awkward for them both. He held her hands in the grip of his own, his feet directly behind hers.

"Now, put your right foot forward and your left foot back up against mine." He had already taken the position around her, almost like a template. He could feel her against him, her body was moderately toned but his was taken to the extreme. Which, with her back against his chest he doubted that was hidden from her. "Now, move your body forward with your feet and bring the blade across like so.." He demonstrated with the movement of his own arms and legs.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Ooh...

She liked, that the man came to her, aiding her from the behind. She felt the muscular body of this huge man as he showed her what to do. Following the movements of the man and listening to his speech, she put your right foot forward and the left one behind.

I like it...

Even though he's still rude...

Then she moved again, matching her movements with the speech of his. Or at least trying to do that. And then the sword moved nearly automatically, though not as perfectly as it should have moved. She was either understanding the form or the man was doing something. Probably it was the former reason, though.

It was strange, that she hadn't spoken for a long time now.

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian moved gently with her, she was quickly following the footwork but her technique was still sloppy. "You have raw potential Maria." He spoke to her, he spoke in a lower tone. As he was so close to her, he could feel her up against him. As if she had intentionally pressed herself against him, his muscular arms hugged hers and his chest was rock solid against her shoulders, although he made a point of not pressing himself against any of her curvaceous body parts.

But, he needed to get in closer to her to perform more delicate movements. "Good, now bring your left foot across the ground towards your right and bring the upper half of your body downwards with your leg and bring the blade across diagonally." He spoke, this time allowing her to take the lead. But he would stop her if she did something out of place or wrong.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Maria smirked a bit.

Alright, I guess... Raw potential...

She felt the body of the man being really close to her. And as he spoke, she was sure she even felt the vibrations which were caused by talking. The body of him was something Maria would've loved to feel every day. It was not too soft, yet it was soft enough to enjoy it.

Maria, you're a pupil of him. Tame yourself!

As she stopped thinking about the chest of this man, she moved her left foot close to the right one, leaned downwards with her upper body (losing the contact with the body behind her which she had enjoyed so much). The blade moved diagonally in front of her and she saw how horrible her moves were. Well, at least she understood what to do...

She turned her head a bit backwards to see the expression of Astrian and then she noticed, how close he had actually been.

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrians expression was one of focus. He was watching her intensely, however he was aware of the contact between them two and by the looks of it the effect it had on the girls expression. However, she looked disappointed with her technique. "In time you will get better Maria, it always takes time. Especially for someone of your age to start as a beginner." He commented, "I myself was brought up being trained to fight. Yourself, not so much. Do not be hard on yourself." He commented, releasing his grip from her entirely. "Even at that, I can see your potential and not everyone has that. You may be better with the force or hand to hand combat." He offered the two up as choices, folding his arms and watching for the girls response.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"Thank you, I guess," Maria finally spoke, returning to the playful voice. "I would like to study some of the Force as I am currently the most skilled in that field, but maybe later we could try hand to hand combat, too."

She thought a bit.

"No, let's try hand to hand." She dropped the wooden sword and turned to the man.

Now my dreams can come true.

She was a strange woman. Some people would say, that she was addicted to using people. She denied it, even though she understood it's true. Being a Zambrano, it may have been in her blood to be weird. Her uncle and aunt had already been quite strange... getting a child together and stuff...

@[member="Astrian Callus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian was surprised by the sudden change of heart regarding training. But he would comply without hesitation. "When fighting in hand to hand combat, maneuverability is key." He explained, unbuttoning his white shirt and turning away from Maria to remove it, setting it down on a table. Then, turning back to Maria he flexed his body and rolled back his shoulders. Scars made their home all over his body, he closed his eyes and let out a low breath before looking back at Maria. "The art of movement is one of the finest methods of combat. However we will start with simple wrestling." He instructed, moving closer towards Maria. "If your current clothing is whatsoever restrictive. You may remove them." He ordered, folding his arms once again. Waiting for Maria to comply.

@[member="Maria Zambrano"]