Faction [TSC] Fight Dirty | Training Class | Sith Acolytes

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin's gaze flicked to the pale stranger picking the remains of his kill, listening to his assessment. An assessment of efficiency over brutality. Varin did not respond at first, instead opting to look down upon the strange man that seemed more metal than flesh at first glance.

Varin's gaze flicked to the pile of scrap before he finally spoke.

“An example.”

His voice was quiet though it carried.

"The amount of people that I have crushed with the same technique would still be sitting here screaming for assistance, for mercy and even death. War, battle and conquest is more than just merely killing and ceasing existence. You must demoralize.”

His eyes remained on the figure.

“I for one, know battle droids cannot be demoralized, but competition can be. But when it comes to observers like you there is a secondary method to it.”

His gaze remained cold, boring through the man before him.

“To underestimate.”

Varin flicked his finger towards him, a second battle droid behind the man sparked once more before a small pocket of flame erupted from its eye sockets, sparks flew once again and heated metal melted into singular heaps as wires fused into unrecognizable tangles. Limbs contorted until they snapped until finally they fell, nothing but a melted head and a ruined torso.

His gaze then turned to the new stranger that had approached. Varin said nothing, but noted the strange familiarity of him. Seeming to come out of the blue, he watched as he approached Arris, then his attention returned to the metal man.

“Overthinking how one should destroy their opponent or disassemble droids causes hesitation. Planning is one thing, but overthinking is another.”

Direct Tag: Drakul
Tags: Seris Velmora | Calyx Sundrift | Veyla Tass | Renji | Arris Windrun | Madrona A’Mia | Darth Strosius | Astra Sadow | Isobel Serraris | Vulcan Zambrano​

 

[Seris Velmora]

Tag: Arris Windrun | Calyx Sundrift | Veyla Tass

Seris tilted her head slightly at Calyx's response. "Dirty fighting?" The words rolled around in her head for a moment. Then she grinned. "Oh. Right." As though the concept had briefly escaped her. Which, honestly, it had.

She was much more interested in the fighting than the lesson. Crimson eyes tracked him as they circled. "I don't know. Maybe distracting somebody is dirty fighting." Her shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. "Maybe I'm just naturally talented." The grin widened.

Then Veyla launched herself through the window. Glass exploded everywhere. Seris blinked. Then hissed dramatically. "Oh come on."

She planted her hands on her hips and stared toward the barber shop. "He says I’m hot stuff." A piece of transparisteel clattered to the ground nearby. "Did a wink really scare you that much?" The accusation sounded genuinely disappointed.

Then again, Seris was often genuinely disappointed when people chose caution over excitement. The answer never came. Because beneath the sound of breaking glass, the fight finally started. Movement. Fast. Good.

Calyx surged forward. Seris reacted immediately. Her arm snapped upward to intercept the incoming jab. The punch never arrived. The feint registered instantly. Her grin only widened. "There you are."

The kick shot toward her shin. Seris shifted her weight and slid her leg back, letting the strike cut harmlessly through empty air. Not because she had predicted the exact attack. Because she expected deception. Expected aggression. Expected the fight to finally become interesting.

Calyx immediately retreated. Creating distance. Trying to reset. Trying to control the pace. Seris laughed. A sharp, excited sound. "No." The word escaped her almost instinctively.

Distance was boring. Waiting was boring. Thinking was often boring. Seris lunged with no intention of giving Calyx room to breathe. As she closed the distance, her lead hand snapped out in a quick punch toward his face—not necessarily to connect, but to draw his attention high. At the same time, her rear leg drove forward in a low kick aimed at his thigh or knee, testing his balance and forcing him to react to multiple threats at once. If he yielded ground again, she intended to keep crowding him, using her shoulder or forearm to shove him off-balance and deny him the space he seemed to prefer. The Force remained only a faint presence at the edge of her awareness, not a carefully crafted technique but an instinctive surge that sharpened her speed and aggression as she pressed forward. The objective was simple: keep Calyx defending, keep him moving backward, and make sure the fight happened at Seris' pace instead of his.

Veyla was forgotten for now. Seris rarely could keep track of what wasn't right in front of her.

​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Direct: Madrona A’Mia Darth Strosius Astra Sadow Isobel Serraris Vulcan Zambrano Renji
Others: Calyx Sundrift Seris Velmora Veyla Tass Drakul Varin Mortifer
​

Arris looked down from her small mountain, hand on her hip, as A'Mia introduced her companion.

"Darth Strosius?" She mulled the name.

Someone from the Blackwall - she remembered his name in passing when the Black Sun and Order planned their attack on Voss. Of course, the Covenant was there then, too, but more easily dismissed as rogues playing warlord.

Oddly diplomatic for the Neti's arm candy.

Once fear began to loosen its hold on her, she turned her back on the grounds and tried to slip back toward the mountain path, hoping to vanish unnoticed. . .

Their soil-drenched digits clawed and sought to fasten to the woman's lower leg and knees to trap her there is she did naught but allow it. Their mission wasn't to capture the hasty woman, but to startle back into the welcoming company of the Academy and its guests.

"Seems as though you've got a less than eager student there."

Her attention turned to see an unexpected sight. The Jedi saboteur from Coruscant?

Arris hopped down her pile of rubble and sauntered past A'Mia and the Sith Lord. "I'll just be a moment."

The cyborg walked closer to where Isobel was. "Fancy seeing you here, sweetheart. I expected you to be long gone after our little chat in my garage... I'm guessing you didn't come all this way to open me up again. So, tell me, are you here to learn?" She kicked at one of the limbs sent to terrify the poor girl.

Arris turned her gaze to see Vulcan Zambrano . "Just who the hell are you?" Her eyes drifted to him.

She smelled another rich acolyte come to join the Covenant. Only time would tell if he was at least the smart kind of that bunch.

Speaking of attention... Hers slipped past, over to another. "Well now..." She grinned at Renji. "You're very pretty."

His attempt to reach into her mind would be met with the grating, Dark Side static of her co-processor. An incoherent mess of primordial emotions. Fear and anger too raw to make sense of, and too overwhelming to see beyond. If it weren't for that, he'd have free rein at her thoughts - for Arris Windrun was ignorant of the mentalist arts, and devised no intentional methods to defend against them.

She looked back at Iso. "Why don't you and the pretty boy square up. Would that be okay, sweetheart?"

This time, the way she said it was clearly derogatory. A passive remark at their original encounter, where she declared her abstention from killing, even if it meant sparing the galaxy a mass-murdering Sith Lord. A sweet, naive heart. Or so Arris believed. If the Jedi truly wanted to stop the Covenant, then they had better start killing.

"You came to the right place, though... if you're looking to find an edge against us. I can teach you how to fight. How to protect yourself against stronger opponents. Not that pacifistic banthashit you brought with you last time."

Her eyes flicked back to Renji. "You're cool with that, yeah? You don't seem so good-natured as her..." Maybe it was his eyes. But Arris saw a quiet scumbag in him.

She looked over her shoulder for a moment, back at A'Mia as Strosius. "Why don't you two check in on the trio. Make it difficult for 'em... Please and thank you, we'll talk more soon."

 

[Veyla Tass]

Calyx Sundrift | Seris Velmora​

Calyx exploded forward, closing the distance with fluid grace in the span of a heartbeat. He threw a jab at her to test her guard. It was a feint, and his foot immediately shot out to kick at her shin before he backpedaled, attempting to keep at least two paces between them.

Seris lunged with no intention of giving Calyx room to breathe. As she closed the distance, her lead hand snapped out in a quick punch toward his face—not necessarily to connect, but to draw his attention high. At the same time, her rear leg drove forward in a low kick aimed at his thigh or knee, testing his balance and forcing him to react to multiple threats at once.

Wide, red eyes watched the back and forth, darting from one figure to another in the seconds before her inevitable descent into half-feral violence.

This had been the opportunity she was waiting for. Eyepatch had taken the initiative, started probing Pigtails' defenses, and in turn she seemed all thrust, no brakes, and not particularly aware of her surroundings. She watched, for a second, and then some invisible, internal, spiritual muscle flexed, and Veyla's prey-drive reared its houndish head, chase-pin-kill, chase-pin-kill, chase-pin-kill. Those instincts had kept her alive so far, and so she submitted to them.

She licked her teeth, and with anticipatory trembling she vaulted over her little windowsill cover, towards the action, towards her victim. In her wake, shards of broken glass and bits of duracrete rubble quivered, then rose, trailing behind and around her like shrapnel smog.

And then, in a few long, loping strides, she was within striking distance, so she lunged, teeth first, towards her victim's neck.

 

[Astra Sadow]

Shades deposited back upon her nose, Astra calmly tucked the cloth away once more. A deep breath was drawn in, and exhaled as she rose to her feet.

Arris was a busy beaver. Lots of people had companions to pass the time with. None of them seemed over eager to buy anything, and she wasn't the door-to-door salesman type. All of which left the leather-bound woman a copious amount of free time. And people knew what happened to ne'er-do gooders with too much time on their hands.

She'd considered paying a visit to one of the trio set to task for their collective amusement, and their edification, but Veyla emerged from the shadows without enticement. So, instead, Astra placed one hand atop the other and observed.

Calyx and Seris were having a time of it, and now Veyla wanted to strike from outside their tryst. Smart. Even brought along some of the environment with her as a weapon, cover, or both. Not a bad idea.

Only, all the shards of glass suddenly changed course and broke themselves upon the rubble Arris had been standing on earlier. Turned into so much infernal sand.

And three small chunks of duracrete that'd been trailing like lost puppies took on minds of their own as well. One for each gladiator. The rocks would sweep around and go for the back of a knee. Nothing like being forced to a knee in the middle of a fight -- if they didn't sense and defend against the attack, of course.

Arris Windrun | Calyx Sundrift | Seris Velmora | Veyla Tass
Drakul | Varin Mortifer | Madrona A’Mia | Darth Strosius | Isobel Serraris | Vulcan Zambrano | Renji​

 

[Drakul]

Tag: Renji Arris Windrun Calyx Sundrift Seris Velmora Vulcan Zambrano Veyla Tass Astra Sadow Madrona A’Mia Darth Strosius Isobel Serraris

The pale grin on Drakul's face grew as Varin Mortifer flexed his anger. The man was much larger than him, layers of muscle wrapped around a frame built for violence. Epicanthix, almost certainly, though not a pure specimen. Something else lurked within the bloodline, the proportions were wrong for that.

Crimson eyes swept over the larger Sith with clinical precision. Then something betrayed him.

It happened as Varin shifted his weight, barely noticeable. A slight hesitation through one hip, a fractional delay before the leg accepted the load. Most would have missed it entirely, but Drakul did not. Bodies adapted to injury, but they never truly forgot it. No matter how disciplined the mind, the flesh always remembered.

Rather than comment, the Arkanian merely tilted his head a few degrees. Curiosity flickered behind those crimson eyes, what else had the body been forced to adapt to?

"Demoralize," he repeated quietly, the gears in his jaw whirring louder than the word itself.

The hungry smile returned. Drakul watched as Varin flicked a finger toward him. The droid behind him erupted into sparks and flame, metal twisting inward as limbs contorted and collapsed into a ruined heap. The display itself held little interest- the movement that preceded it did.

His gaze followed the larger Sith's arm. The shoulder moved well, perhaps too well. Not the motion of an uninjured joint, but the practiced freedom of someone who had spent considerable time relearning how to use it. The surrounding musculature compensated subtly, carrying burdens the joint could not be trusted to bear on its own.

A severe shoulder injury. Recent enough to leave traces, old enough to have been worked through.

Drakul's smile widened. Bodies always told the truth eventually.

"Demoralization has its uses," he said at last. "The body responds predictably to fear. Elevated heart rate, impaired judgment, reduced fine motor control."

His crimson eyes drifted briefly toward the students scattered throughout the training ground. "Most beings begin defeating themselves long before they are actually defeated."

Only then did his attention return to Varin. "A surgeon who cuts without knowing anatomy is but a butcher. A warrior who acts before understanding his enemy is merely gambling." The Sith moved a step closer. Not enough to provoke violence, just enough to intrude.

"Both occasionally succeed."

The gears within his jaw clicked softly.

"Intelligence prefers certainty."

​

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

Darth Strosius | Arris Windrun | Calyx Sundrift | Seris Velmora | Veyla Tass
Vulcan Zambrano | Renji | Astra Sadow | Isobel Serraris​

Witnessing the exchanges between primary instructor, intended students, and those like herself who were deemed more like "interested third parties", the neti watched Arris work with curiosity. She smiled sidelong at Alisteri, finding his calm interest and subtle humility charming as ever.

Absently, the neti spun her parasol. Those large eyes taking in more data than even most top performing sentients, something about them enhanced preternaturally.

At the invitation to join the instruction though, A'Mia suddenly animated. Snapping her parasol shut, she leaned to kiss Alisteri on the masked cheek before turning to strike on athletic pose. Hoisting the closed umbrella like a javelin, she took a few loping steps and hurling it viciously at the side of Drakul ’s head.

What better lesson in street fighting than unprecedented chaos and unexpected aggressors attacking when one least expected?

Wasting no time to see if the throw connected, A'Mia was already moving at alarming speed toward the trio — taking a somewhat roundabout path so as to seek some cover.

"Whoever's last to get a student to submit has to cook our next meal!" She called over her shoulder to her companion before disappearing between two buildings near where three of the students fought on.

Alisteri knew A'Mia preferred to act as an ambush predator and was no doubt setting herself up to strike at the most opportune time.

 

[Calyx Sundrift]

Arris Windrun | Seris Velmora | Veyla Tass | Astra Sadow | Madrona A’Mia​

-

Seris tilted her head slightly at Calyx's response. "Dirty fighting?" The words rolled around in her head for a moment. Then she grinned. "Oh. Right." As though the concept had briefly escaped her. Which, honestly, it had.

She was much more interested in the fighting than the lesson. Crimson eyes tracked him as they circled. "I don't know. Maybe distracting somebody is dirty fighting." Her shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. "Maybe I'm just naturally talented." The grin widened.

Calyx laughed. "You could say that." He was poised, guard raised, legs bent, coiled with energy. "I just happen to be very susceptible to that kind of distraction."

Their back-and-forth erupted into a rapid storm of fists and feet. He'd taken the initiative, lashing out with a feint and an unbalancing strike that broke apart against her guard and footwork.

He retreated. She stepped in. His eye widened. She's fast! The Dark-side seemed to move with her. "You've heard of personal space, right?!" Calyx managed as a punch flew at his face.

He shifted his line, slapping the hand aside as he half-turned and sidestepped. The change of direction was the only reason the kick didn't catch him fully. It grazed his knee, far too close for comfort.

Then he spotted the wrist-biter closing in behind Seris. Clearly intending to bite — and not the woman's wrist.
His hand shot out to snatch one of her pigtails. But as he reached, something slammed into the back of his knee.

Calyx buckled.

The attacker was nowhere in sight. Not openly making themselves known. He hissed.

Of course. Playing us like pawns.

But he wasn't the only target, and Calyx made graceful use of that. From his low position he launched forward, driving straight into Seris in a tackle.

Completely oblivious to danger closing in from behind.

 

[Seris Velmora]

Tag: Arris Windrun | Calyx Sundrift | Veyla Tass | Astra Sadow

Calyx's admission drew a bright laugh from Seris. "Susceptible, huh?" That was useful. She tucked the information away for later. Not for now. Flirting was dangerous in its own way. Seris enjoyed it far too much and had an unfortunate tendency to get distracted when someone played along. There would be time to explore that weakness later.

Probably.

His question about personal space earned an even wider grin. "Not a fan." The answer came between exchanges as she continued to press forward.

The first rush hadn't achieved everything she'd wanted. Calyx was quicker than she'd expected and considerably harder to pin down. That didn't bother her. The fun part wasn't landing the first hit. The fun part was continuing.

Then things became strange. His hand reached toward one of her pigtails. Seris blinked. "What are you-"

The question never finished. Calyx suddenly folded. Her confusion doubled. Then pain exploded across the side of her neck.

"HSSSS!" The hiss tore from her throat as sharp teeth found flesh. At nearly the same moment something slammed into her thigh. The duracrete chunk struck hard enough to stagger her balance.

"Agh!"

Everything happened at once. The bite. The rock. The confusion. And then Calyx crashed into her. The tackle drove into her center mass before she could properly recover. Seris hit the ground hard. The breath left her lungs in a sharp grunt as momentum carried both of them down in a tangle of limbs.

For a moment she simply stared up at him. Then one hand rose to her neck. Her fingertips came away lightly smeared with blood. A giggle escaped her. "I think the feral minx who ran away from my wink bit me." The words came out in an oddly husky tone.

Then her eyes flicked back to Calyx. The grin returned immediately. "I thought you wanted space." Without further warning, Seris drove her bloodied fist toward his side in a sharp punch, aiming somewhere between ribs and kidney as she tried to make him regret being on top of her.

​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin did not respond at first, he simply stared down the individual. Wind blew past his head from the force of the throw from A'mia, his eyes looked towards the Neti as she ran for cover, speaking to Darth Strosius as she did.

“Normally I would hold conversation.”

His gaze looked back at the man that was part machine.

“But this class is not about theology or conversation.”

Varin's fingers curled into fists as he watched him. Something within his eyes changes like a strong storm of clouds that had blown up into something that promised destruction.

“A time to be a surgeon has passed. Right now we are butchers.”

His hands shot forth a blast of force energy rocketing towards the man's midsection as Varin stepped to the side.

The commotion of the fighting trio echoed nearby, but his attention stayed upon what was in front of him, though his senses carried around him. The force surged through his body hardening his flesh causing the tunic brands over his body to flash for a split moment.

Then rose his boot, a swift kick towards the man's sternum to either knock wind out of him or push him back.

Drakul | Madrona A’Mia | Darth Strosius | Vulcan Zambrano | Isobel Serraris | Astra Sadow | Veyla Tass | Arris Windrun | Seris Velmora | Renji​