Private Universal Language

[Kaila Irons]

Location: Jutrand, Eternalist graveyard
Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

The echani say you never truly know someone until you've fought.

Having loved one of their kind, Kaila had come to know the truth of their methods. She'd been troubled by the spirit of her lover's student, Brooklyn, who remained a stranger to the young Darth. But she knew her blood, knew The Zambrano to which she could likely be traced in some way. Would she take after the Butcher King and Black Iron Tyrant, or had He not infected her fate the way He had Kaila's?

It was time to test the girl.

And so she'd come here, to the old graveyard behind the Eternalist church where the Memoria festival was celebrated many months ago. She'd taught her own apprentice inside the shrine one night, shared a moonlight kiss with her darling princess outside it's doors another. Now she sat opposite from such lively activities, meditating before a tombstone some short distance from the graveyard gate, listening carefully to the lingering spirits. Not sith wraiths, but every day imperials and Eternalist faithful long departed. These were faint, barely clinging to this world, and connection to her own ur-spirit was not yet strong enough to commune with them.

Yet when the wind was at it's most silent, she swore that something had whispered.

Or perhaps those were merely the footsteps of the one she'd requested to meet here, crunching against the gravel and cobblestone.

"Do you feel it?" she asked mutedly as the breeze tugged strands of gold out from her hood.

"There are few places in this city so open, so full of nature, as to allow wind."

"Yet death too slumbers here, nurturing these grounds with dark energies. Perhaps that is why they built this church here."

Darth Anathemous regarded the young epicanthix with an inquisitive gaze over the shoulder, then reached down to unfurl the wrapped cloth she'd been sitting against. It clacked like timber as a total of four Bokken sabers rolled forth, two for each.

"A fine place to meditate on the blade, don't you think?"

The echani say you never truly know someone until you've fought, so Anathemous would ask her questions in their tongue.

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Graveyard

Tag | Kaila Irons

A place close to home, Jutrand is where she grew up after all.. Though she wasn't one to generally fall for religious nonsense she did find this spot rather peaceful, a far cry from the industrial brutality of the training rooms she was more accustomed to.

Many others might have seen this whole meeting in a different- Far more unfavorable light, guessing it nothing more than the traditional Sith way of making sure to put down whoever stood in your way or just simply who you didn't like.

To Brooklyn? She felt no such way, if anything the spot that was chosen only made the girl far more chipper. There was no surrounding audience to watch.. Well at least not a living one. This place was picked for the sole purpose of learning, as to why Kaila had taken an interest in Brooklyn was unknown to her.
​

"Do you feel it?"

"Huh?"

She asks while lowering her head to avoid some hanging charms that swayed within the wind.

"Not a fan of the brutalist style training rooms at the academy?"

Brooklyn says with an obvious healthy coat of sarcasm.

"Well.. It isn't an irritating sand planet or some twisted game on a storm planet, I would say this spot is pretty nice actually."

Her eyes take a glimpse at the training blades, perhaps the wood was a better choice. Not like she wanted to spar against a Darth using the vibro blades that were used for training...

"I don't mind a good spar, but I am curious why?"

She takes her pair of training blades, her hands seeming to naturally keep a nice grip.​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

"Hmh." she smirked faintly. It was good the Epicanthix had a sense of humor, unlike her progenitors.

"I come from a people quite attuned with nature, you see."

Kaila reached around to grab her imitation blades, the action drawing a circle around herself as she stood and turned towards the acolyte. Brooklyn's big hands held a firm but natural grip on her own, causing the young Darth to wonder how many fights she'd been in, or if they just drilled relentlessly at the academy.

"I don't mind a good spar, but I am curious why?"​

"My master was Epicanthix. I am curious to see how your battles differ."

"And how they don't."

Kaila took a few leisurely steps down the path, putting enough paces between them to comfortably begin a battle as they talked.

"Furthermore your interest in Tulak Hord speaks to traits worthy of my attention. Most acolytes with warlike interests are simple minded brutes without the patience required to research figures so lost to history as he."

"Perhaps then we are not too dissimilar, despite our looks."

Darth Anathemous cast her robes aside, muscles visibly tensing beneath her bodyglove as she turned to take her stance. Not unlike Brooklyn, her marble figure and deceptive strength belied an analytical and thought out approach that some may have unpredictable. Instead of relying on the augmented strength of Djem So or raw power of Juyo as so many sith did before her, Anathemous entered a stance of modified Niman, The Way of the Rancor, The Moderation form.

In this altered form, she held one blade between herself and Brooklyn in a defensive reverse grip, and the other behind her back in a more traditional grip which favored cuts and sweeping attacks. This was the opposite configuration of a traditional niman practitioner.

"What can you remember about fighting? I would see such knowledge put to the test as your first lesson, you may attack me with everything you have when you are prepared."

Anathemous took a deep, steadying breath, leather gloves audibly straining as she gripped the sabers a little tighter.

"When you are ready, attack me, and we shall begin. Hold nothing back, I want to see you at your best."

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Graveyard

Tag | Kaila Irons

"Hell, I can give it my all but I would pray for the will of Neaos that today won't be my best. I just hope I don't embarrass myself too hard, what would all the cute girls at the academy think of me then?"

The girl jests again with Kaila, breathing in as she both hoped her jokes and sarcasm would hide her anxiousness while she readied herself for the incoming bruises that would no doubt continue to pain her the day after.

She had fought many of her peers, even seen real battle and got blood on her hands. But this? It was new, but that was the beauty of it to her. Even knowing that soon she could take a wooden blade to her head, watching the Darth enter their stance made the young Epicanthix instantly brighten as if she had woken up.

Her eyes said it all to Kaila, she was already having fun. She sought to apply some pressure, using both weapons to strike at once. With her left handed weapon going for a poke that curved into a stab towards the lower gut, allowing her frame to send the right handed weapon downward while being aided by both the motion and her weight.

​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

"Just doing it to impress the girls, Hm?" Kaila chuckled.

It was rare for the inhumanly focused Darth to break concentration during the build up to a fight, but then, this wasn't truly a fight was it? Just a conversation, she reminded herself.

"Impress me first, and perhaps I'll give you some tips." she smirked.

There was a certain humility to this girl despite the nature of her jokes that the Dathomiri appreciated for it's rarity among sith. Yet they were here to do battle, casual at it may be, and so Anathemous was quick to take the reins again.

The flat of her foot gently scraped against the dirt as her knee bent, that look in her foe's eye telling her it was time. The epicanthix moved quick and her titanic size gave the girl a reach advantage that made Anathemous regret that these were not her tricksabers, unable to transform into a staff as she had learned to wield against such large foes, to pike them from a safe distance.

The attack came as a curving thrust from the her left, the Darth's right, forcing the warrior-witch to back pedal and quickly twist her wrist to narrowly deflect the blow with a loud ✱snap✱ of wood on wood from the shear speed behind her parry, and raw strength of Brooklyn's own, but not before the epicanthix' second blade thrust from the opposite direction, crossing the girl's arms.

The angle of these attacks were as unusual and ferocious, characteristics she would have associated with Juyo if not for the lack of learned refinement in Brooklyn's stance. Having thrown so much of her weight forward for such a blow, Anathemous wondered if that might prove a disadvantage for the girl, and so she turned to allow the titan's strike to pierce thin air, then spun to strike her in the back with the opposite saber as the girl passed by.

If she passed her by.

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Graveyard

Tag | Kaila Irons

The move had been a gambit, one that she had lost. Gritting her teeth as the wooden blade smacked into her back, the mark was to be a lesson she should learn from.

She had taken worse though, stumbling back a bit to regain posture.

"Oh of course! But I guess if I get enough bruises then old ma will take pity on me and give me some dumplings, at the cost of mothering over me."

Brooklyn jokes as she goes for a lower lunge, only using one hand as she begun to try and mimic the stance of the Darth. Her hope was to bait a parry so that she may use her free hand to slam down their guard, testing and gauging how to find cracks in the shell.

If things went to plan, her blade would slide up against the slammed down weapon, rising up to the lower neck so that either raising the slammed weapon would result in her own reaching up faster, or that the Darth would try to block the rising blade with their own free hand in an awkward pose to get them in an uncomfortable position.

​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

Anathemous had won the Acolyte's gambit.

It would have been satisfying were she not so preoccupied in her observations. It had shown her that the epicanthix was clever but lacked a degree of refinement and experience that one would have expected from a lightsaber duelist, but also that she had potential for her cleverness and desire to end this battle in one blow. Be it impatience or ferocity, the combination had given this first round to Anathemous.

"Do not gamble in battle, Acolyte. Fate is an enemy to ever resist, not your ally. Never your ally."

It was no shame against Brooklyn, in fact she'd kept the Darth on her toes.

"Old ma?" she replied curiously to the jest, even smiled.

The acolyte was quick to recover however, and Anathemous found herself leaping back a step, narrowly avoiding a strike meant for her leg. Or perhaps it wasn't, she'd learned whilst fending off assassins to avoid low blows rather than be baited to intercept, as such strikes were often false, a ruse to overextend her defense.

Anathemous narrowed her eyes.

She was quick to respond with a rising cut from her reversed saber that smoothly transitioned into a forceful thrust downward at the girl's chest as she stepped forward, all the while her second saber came from behind in a broad slash at her leg, retaliation for the false blow against Kaila's, though this one was very real, and could have severed limb from body were these true lightsabers.

The young Darth did not settle for little cuts and scratches, for a lightsaber could not bleed, only burn, and so it was better she aim to kill or disable outright rather than rely on fate and blood.

Fortunate then that these training sticks could only bruise, and that perhaps she could take the pain away when this was all over.

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Graveyard

Tag | Kaila Irons

Her commitment to the uppercut slash was still in motion, and with no resistance the blade would slide straight up to the Darth's jugular, the impact of this incoming strike only aided by them stepping forward to put their own weight and speed into the downward lunge aimed at the young acolyte's chest.

Her left handed weapon had not been parried nor occupied, leaving it open to rise up in a reaction speed only able to be done by the aid of the force. As their lower blades would intercept, her own blade smacking away the incoming leg strike to create an opening.

* WACK *

As the wood smacked together to form a thunderous clap, the acolyte would take a step back no matter if she had created an opening or landed her upward neck strike. Her hands shook as the potency within her blood left the girl with an awestruck yet blank expression.

She had been working on using the force, only using her own reactions and more human speeds. Brooklyn was unknowing of the parting gift her mother Joycelyn Zambrano had given her, but within this moment it had moved... Its slumber disturbed but for a moment.

"Y-ya.. Old ma.."

Her tone laced with confusion as she tried to speak, unsure what she had felt.

"Sort of a community nickname, one of our elders who runs a food stall I frequent."

Catching her breath she gazes over to Kaila before setting her training swords down for now, taking a more meditative seat down on the ground.

"Sorry I- System shock I guess!"

Brooklyn tries to play it off, cracking her shaking hands.

"Ugh.. I shouldn't have sat down, sorry." ​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

Overconfidence was her undoing.

Anathemous hadn't expected commitment to strike where before she'd faced an unrefined yet clever feint, and so the blade had entered her view faster than expected. The young Darth leaned all her weight back and away from the blow, twisting out of it's path, and yet it clipped her ear, harshly casting droplets of crimson on the cobblestone.

And as she backpedaled away from the fight, she lifted her blades to defend, only to see that one of them had been snapped in half by Epicanthix might, the very force itself rippling with dark potency as the blade's end was sent spinning through the leaves above, forever lost to nature.

It seemed she would leave this spar with a preference for training sabers over mere wood.

"Ohhohoh!" her lips pulled back in a gritted smile.

"Seems I need the practice, been too long since I fought epicanthix."

But as she stared down her foe, the molten flicker in her eye dimmed, and her heavy breaths began to slow, as Brooklyn's hand shook.

Her smile faded with genuine concern

"Sorry I- System shock I guess!"

She watched the girl sit, lowering her weapons, broken as they may be, before dropping them outright as she realized what was happening.

"You've never felt the force before, have you."

Kaila wandered closer, taking slow, calm steps as if she were approaching some forest animal who'd suffered wounds and not the bloody giant that was Brooklyn of Jutrand.

"Ugh.. I shouldn't have sat down, sorry."

"...that's quite alright."

"Just means we can speak at eyelevel." she chuckled softly and sat.

The epicanthix still had her by a few inches.

"Well... almost."

It felt so strange, to see one of His descendants so nerve wracked. It showed a level of innocence that had yet to be corrupted by the ill influence of the Kainate, and it made the girl seem almost peaceful by comparison. There was a potential in her, for both great and terrible things, one that could perhaps be guided by the correct hand so that she would never become Him. Kaila's hand, Quinn's, whoever it may be.

And so Kaila made a choice in that moment.

She could not take away the shock, but she could remove the pain for awhile, a token of good faith. The witch leaned forward, giving that strong shoulder a gentle squeeze. Her fingertips took on a soft, green glow, and soothing warmth spread from them like distant flame.

Brooklyn would no longer feel the bruise along her back, thought it required treatment still.

"I think I will grow to like you." she smiled softly.

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Graveyard

Tag | Kaila Irons

She continues to stay on the ground, picking up her own sword to examine it. The wood had snapped, the training tool split in twain. Brooklyn had only wished the thing could have been broken against the skulls of the shitheads in the more prestigious cohorts, still remembering the night they attacked the lower ranks to make some assertion of authority.

"Not in that way I haven't, normally it feels like a strained concentration ya know? When they make me try to cast those fancy spells, or when the droids shoot at me. But that felt different, it didn't really feel like I concentrated at all.. It just, happened?"

The girl sighs while idly moving the broken tip of the sword in the dirt.

"Just something to get used to I suppose, still beats Haiklet any day."

She says, providing no context.

"Grow to like me? You're already all touchy like old ma!"

Brooklyn starts to laugh, giving the Darth a playful shove that could end up rougher than intended thanks to her size.

"Speaking of.. How well do you enjoy spicy food? Normally non Epicanthix can't eat our food, the dumplings set their mouth on fire."

She takes a stand, giving her back a much needed pop before speaking more.

"My gods you always see something funny going on, some uptight ass clown visiting and deciding to try the food only to turn into a crying mess! Oh! Oh! Or there was one time this- Ok maybe not that one.. THAT one was gross."

The girl grimaces, clearly remembering some sort of incident.

"If we are done for now I could go for some food myself, but we also do still have at least one sword each left." ​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

"An eldest sibling's instincts, I suppose." Kaila chuckled even while shoved.

"I put an old Dathomiri spell on you, deprived you of your most distracting sense. Pinch yourself and you will see."

She sat back, idly rubbing her hand which still felt of a residual warmth left by the spirits. It was the only she as a darksider could use the force in any helpful way, for it did not rely on the light nor dark, but something in-between.

"Speaking of.. How well do you enjoy spicy food? Normally non Epicanthix can't eat our food, the dumplings set their mouth on fire."

She takes a stand, giving her back a much needed pop before speaking more.

The young Darth said nothing, simply listening to the excited stories told by the epicanthix with a faint but genuine smile. It reminded her of those few times when Tamsin Graves got to act her age, albeit in a larger, eight foot tall package. She wondered what would happen if she introduced them, whether they would become fast friends, or if little Tamsin would be disappointed having to strain her neck looking up at yet another giant around the house.

The thought made her chuckle, perhaps a little more deviously than it should.

"If we are done for now I could go for some food myself, but we also do still have at least one sword each left."

"Oh, perhaps not." she rubbed at her bleeding ear "I'd like to keep this attached, thank you."

"I am curious of your Epicanthix dishes. Both my parent cultures were infamous for their deadly food, perhaps I may last longer than most."

Kaila pushed herself off the ground with her remaining blade to go fetch her robe, a little tired of feeling like an ant whenever she looked up at Brooklyn.

"Besides, I am a sorceress much as a warrior. With a free hand to sling my "fancy spells" as you call them, I fear your brawn may meet it's match."

"Maybe Quinn and I might teach you some day." she smirked.

"Now tell me, what is a Haiklet?"

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Graveyard

Tag | Kaila Irons

"Haiklet, it is a storm planet. Me and other acolytes were put in a game, where only one could win. We only had scraps for supplies, needing to scavenge whatever we could to live. Similar to my time on Krayiss II, a desert planet with almost nothing of value on it. It was my first ever real trial I guess, dropped off with no supplies at all I had to find an old Sith library to learn from it and retrieve my warblade."

If it was anything she had been consistently doing, it was adapting and enduring to survive.

"What's more important though is that you wanna try some of old ma's dumplings! I'm telling you right now though that the quantity of spice we put in those things is meant to heat up our guts!"

She gestures to Kaila, her tone having the energy of a stern warning from a wise old master trying to teach young ones about some dreadful curse.
​

"Besides, I am a sorceress much as a warrior. With a free hand to sling my "fancy spells" as you call them, I fear your brawn may meet it's match."

"I can't seem to get those down, I try and try but the teachers say it is basic. But maybe I am just trying to learn the wrong thing, if I learn something to help me not get pushed around or anything.. I could close the distance."

Brooklyn thinks on it for a moment before deciding it was not important enough right now.

"What sorts of food do you like? We have noodles, dumplings, nice and hearty barbeque.. Mm.."

This was obviously the more important thing, nothing ever beat old ma's food to Brooklyn.

"You said you had a master that is an Epicanthix like me, did he show you our culture?"

Out of a collecting habit, Brooklyn snatches up her training swords before gesturing for Kaila to follow.​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

"Well, color me interested in Kraysis." she chuckled.

Brooklyn however seemed more interested in food than aged research and dusty tomes, unlike the young Darth who had to suppress the urge to enthusiastically interrogate the acolyte about every minute detail of this library.

Later perhaps.

"Very well, very well," she waved off the giant.

"People tell me this all the time and they're always surprised by my diet, but alright, I'll just try a little."

It reminded her some of a visit to Dreidi Xeraic 's home, long before she discovered her own connection to that red world. The food was exquisite, but what was it again? Had she forgotten the name?

"I can't seem to get those down, I try and try but the teachers say it is basic. But maybe I am just trying to learn the wrong thing, if I learn something to help me not get pushed around or anything.. I could close the distance."

"Hm? oh," she shook herself from the memory.

"I'd suggest focusing on Telekinetic disciplines. It is the most physical, and so the easiest to conceptualize as a warrior. The force is a thing of intent you see. Intent to crush, to grip, to root in place, it will come instinctually, such that you may yet master it's pull."

With the faintest, yet cheekiest of smiles, Kaila willed her robes and swords to levitate from the ground, holding her arms out so that the zeyd-cloth practically dressed her on it's own.

The sabers seemed to simply follow the pair, pointing the way.

"What sorts of food do you like? We have noodles, dumplings, nice and hearty barbeque.. Mm.."

"I seem to recall noodles being a favorite on my homeworld, actually. Served with rancor meat and broth red with spices. Where I grew up was a little different though, mostly spiced meats and dried fish. Even our drinks and cakes were spiced, yet sweet."

"Uj'alayi, they called it."

Whatever she said, it was spoken in a thick, but fluent accent.

"You said you had a master that is an Epicanthix like me, did he show you our culture?"

"No." she then replied.

"Well, some basics. I know yours to be a warrior culture, not unlike mine, to a degree."

The epicanthix drew her eye, taking up the training swords she'd leant for the spar.

"Do your people oft take trophies? He certainly did."

​

 

[Brooklyn Zambrano]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | In transit

Tag | Kaila Irons

"Uj- Ooj- Anyway, that sounds pretty good to me."

There was indeed an effort.
​

"Do your people oft take trophies? He certainly did."

"Personal thing, I am told by my teachers that having items you can channel emotion though is a good thing. Plus I.. Well I like to collect weapons anyway. Force aside it is just a nice feeling to see it grow, each and every one holding a memory."

The walk would be too long and tedious, so she hails a droid for taxi service, putting in the details of where to go.

"Just the basics? I think you might be in for a treat today then! There is a lot I can talk about, but getting into the fine details might be boring."

Their taxi was getting closer to their destination, Kaila getting to see the pyramid.

​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tag: Brooklyn Zambrano

"It's a tricky tongue, isn't it?" Kaila smiled at the attempt.

"oo-Jah-LAI-yee, It's a Mandalorian word originally, though smugglers carry the recipe sometimes."

She listened to the rest of Brooklyn's story whilst climbing in the back of a summoned airspeeder, the droid taxi driver preparing to send them into the main city. Kaila had always admired it from the outside, the great obsidian-black pyramid where in which the fates of trillions was decided each day. Just a shame there was no nature to meditate on inside, though she supposed the advancement of sentient life demanded sacrifice. Nor was it inherently the fault of sith, as the city-planet had once been ravaged by unchecked corporatism long ago.

In admittedly just a few ways, the sith had made some improvement.

"Your teachers are right to say such things. We give power to inanimate things and they in turn give it back, in fact there are cultures out there who've mastered these totemic practices, such that their creations lend power even to those who cannot feel the force as you and I."

"Variations of what we call Alchemy for example, and imbuing. I hope to become an enchantress of sorts myself."

"Just the basics? I think you might be in for a treat today then! There is a lot I can talk about, but getting into the fine details might be boring."

Their taxi was getting closer to their destination, Kaila getting to see the pyramid.

"Hmh." Kaila gave the girl a cheeky grin.

"You might be surprised what does and does not bore me. I was a seeker employed by the holy worlds, once. Somewhere between a wandering scholar, and tomb raider. I've grown used to sifting through even the most mundane research to find secrets and nuggets of wisdom hidden within."

"And I'd like to know more about my former master's people."

"Maybe I'd finally understand Him..." she sighed.

​