Private Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

[Amani Serys]

“Again.”

Amani was growing impatient with physical therapy. Tython had pushed her, very literally, to her absolute limit. Not even she was stubborn enough to deny that truth. But this was simply how things were now. She needed to push forward. Shatter those limits. Become something better. There was no going back to a time before, but she could do everything in her power to keep it from happening again.

Not that such overzealous sentiment stopped the sparring droid from knocking her right back on her ass, “Again.”

All this rehabilitation was not what she had in mind. Impatience mutated into frustration.

“Again.”

After each set, the droid buzzed on about her latest progress. It didn’t think she was ready yet. She thought otherwise.

“Again.”

But she needed to prove it to herself. So Amani kept getting back up. Again and again and again until eventually the droid laid malfunctioning at her feet. “...Whoops.”

Not good enough. But given who just stepped into the training room, maybe she’d get the chance to prove it after all.

"You here to check up on me?"

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

"I am. I was concerned." Ran confirmed. "Someone told me you died in the battle. Clearly that is not the case." She barely managed an awkward smile because even though Amani was still alive there were still so many who had lost their lives on Tython.

"That said. You do not look much better than this one." Ran gestured in the direction of the malfunctioned sparring droid. "Why is that? Would you like to talk about it?" Ran questioned her cousin. Despite being in the middle of a training session, Ran hoped Amani would talk. Talking helped, if you were willing to do it. Although Ran found the galaxy a lot more silent after recent events.

"If not, I understand. We can do something else. I just want to make sure you are okay." Ran continued. She just wanted to be there for Amani. After all, they were the last surviving family either had. It was only right that they'd look out for each other.

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Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani snorted, "Technically, I did. Heart stopped, which is considered clinical death. Really it's the same thing as cardiac arrest, but-" She cut herself off before getting too in the weeds with medical jargon. "Just got lucky that medevac showed up when it did."

Her gaze followed Ran's down to the busted droid. Hopefully Amani wasn't going to have to pay for that. "I don't know. It's uh, a lot. Having your planet targeted as part of a ritual to try and destroy the entire galaxy? And also dying, I guess."

She huffed, and began to meander around the training mat. "I just want to… feel like I can do something. Sitting around, wallowing in self-pity isn't going to solve any problems." Amani idly stared across the room's sparse decorations, when she was struck with an idea. Her brows raised, and the corner of her lip raised in a cocky smirk; A stark contrast to the rest of her physical form, "Fight me."

"Training sabers, staves, hand-to-hand, take your pick. Fight me."

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran's face didn't say much, but her heart went out to Amani. Death, however temporary, was death. It was traumatizing in every way. And the recent events on Tython brought so much death and destruction to Amani's home world.

Ran had no true home world of her own but she imagined watching the place one was raised be destroyed was a more harrowing experience than most. The event seemed to leave her cousin with few words she felt like sharing. It seemed she wanted rehab, movement therapy, action to give her mind a break from the chaos while readying herself for it. Ran understood that.

"If you insist," Ran agreed to her cousin's choice of activity. "Unarmed first." She continued. "Give me a moment to prepare." Ran shuffled to the edge of the room. She dropped her battle jacket, unclipped her utility belt and holster, slipped off her platform boots, and tied her hair up and away from her face.

As she returned to the center of the training mat and stood in front of Amani, she cracked her neck, her knuckles, and many of the other joints that ran across her body. She threw a few limbering strikes and kicks before steadying herself. "Whenever you are ready." Ran invited.

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Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

"Perfect." Amani moved the busted droid to the side and cracked her knuckles, waiting for Ran to ready herself across the mat. She shined in hand-to-hand combat. Now she could really give her muscles the stress testing they needed.

"Ready." Amani took a back stance, and let the silence linger between them. Normally she remained on the defensive, but today she was feeling, unsurprisingly, a bit more fired up than usual. Her stance changed in an instant, and Amani launched towards Ran. Once the distance closed, she attempted to work in a standard combo; Nothing flashy, a kick toward the leg, and a few open-handed body strikes. Beginner moves, effectively her way of analyzing how her cousin responds and fights back.

"...Were you there?" She asked between strikes, regarding the battle at Tython.

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

A kick aimed at Ran's leg. She lifted her own to avoid a collision of shins. A series of open-handed body strikes followed. Ran pushed each strike aside with an open hand of her own. Despite a high level of martial skill she could tell her cousin wasn't trying to land the first strike. Instead Ran was being tested and studied.

She answered Amani's strikes with a volley of her own. Her fists were half-clenched. Her strikes were loose, and she used the ends of her knuckles like the end of a whip.

"I was," Ran confirmed before attempting to use her front leg like a hook against Amani's. She attempted to put her cousin off balance by pulling her forward and quickly shifting her to a lower yet uneven stance. "In the cockpit of a B-Wing in the battle above Tython. I almost crashed into the planet below, but I didn't." She explained.

"Who stopped your heart?" She asked.

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Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

"A Sith. We've fought a couple times now, actually. But come to think of it… I never learned her name." Surea continued to present a problem. And her currently unknown status only made the healer paranoid. If she was dead, that was one thing. But if she wasn't, patient zero was now free to roam the galaxy with the trail of clues essentially being reset. For now, anyway.

The pair traded swings back and forth. Ran followed up on the attack, and in turn Amani checked her blows, pushing them aside with forearms and palms. The low hook was expected, but it went for her weak leg, making it difficult to counter. She was pulled forward with a grunt, off balance.

"She has some kind… disease." In spite of the initial strain, Amani attempted to use the pull to her favor, moving with the attack to bring her in closer. Ran was notably taller than her younger cousin, and so crossing that reach advantage was Amani's best bet. She would actually attempt to keep their legs locked, and push forward to wrap her arms around Ran's waist, in an effort to trip and tackle them both to the ground, with Amani on top.

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

“Names are important, especially that of an enemy.” Ran chirped, as her focus on speaking waned and sparring waxed.

Ran had succeeded in pushing her cousin off balance, but the situation quickly went from a win to a loss as Amani’s arms wrapped around Ran’s waist. Amani’s unsteady footing became Ran’s and then they both tumbled to the ground in an awkward clinch.

Ran needed to counter and on the way down she saw an opportunity. Amani’s arms around her waist left Ran with almost full utility of her own arms, so she tried to capture the headlock and shift Amani off of her. It was either shift or choke, but Ran wanted to hear what her cousin had to say..

“What kind of disease?” Ran questioned. “Mind, body or soul?” She pushed.

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Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

The chance of a headlock was an unfortunate risk, and one that didn’t pay off for Amani. With the momentum gone, she scrambled to free herself as soon as the opportunity arose, springing back onto her feet and retaking a stance.

“...All of the above,” She panted, a hint of annoyance in her voice. Not at Ran, but herself. Amani's work was sloppy, and unrefined. She'd never be back on the field with efforts like that. This time she would wait for Ran to make a move instead. “Not anything I’ve seen before. It’s… unnatural.”

Ran Serys​