Private Violence of Action

[Beltor "Bell" Cyrus]

Beltor Cyrus
Dantoonie.
Braze
Training Dojo.

He had donned his robes again, complete with both sabers, though with out the armor plate. He was in the process of going through his regular movements and katas that made up his typical form of meditation.

The day was old, the sun setting, and the windows of the Dojo open to allow in the warm breeze.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

Braze engaged a low power training setting still the sort that could singe and hurt if touched.

"What form shall we be practicing today my dear student ?" Braze asked as he idly toyed with the hilt in his hand.

 

[Beltor "Bell" Cyrus]

He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes.

He thumbed his own saber, settling on his knees in a traditional kneeling position. "We have a principle in the military circles that has been around since the first wars long since lost to the sands of history. Violence of Action is a sudden, overwhelming, and uncompromising application of maximum force and controlled aggression to neutralize a threat. Its core purpose is to shatter an adversary's decision-making ability through immediate, decisive dominance rather than reckless fury."

He paused. "In Jedi Circles its best shown through the styles of Juyo and Vapad. I would like to know these styles. I have found my training has become more of a working on my self in a manner. I am an older man, Braze, with more years around the block and more then my fair share of blood on my hands. I understand I am a flawed man, with my own failures, and have found a surprising level of strength, fortitude, and self sharpening. When I began my training under you I asked you work my self as a lump of raw iron in to a blade of steel."

"I think, I hope, learning to weave my control of these emotions in to my saber work would help me advanced further."

 

[Braze]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

Braze studied Bell for a time, curiously watching him…

"Form Seven, the Way of the Vornskr… the Ferocity Form…

To embrace the storm is to risk being consumed by it.
Yet in the storm's eye, one finds the truest test of will…

That is a dangerous thing to ask for," he said at last, softly. "Those are more dangerous sorts of saber practice, and they will leave you more open and exposed in more ways than physical. They lead away from Jedi teachings as well…"

He did not sound offended; if anything, the small Jedi seemed almost saddened by the honesty of it.

"Juyo asks questions of the person holding the blade, and challenges them. It asks what you hate, what you fear, what you still want to punish. And if you do not answer truthfully, it answers for you," he said, recalling the sessions of 'training' he had from Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax , Darth Carnifex , and Dillon Kai'el in the form.

"I will not teach you how to feed your anger into a blade… but I will teach you how to hold it without letting it take hold of you. I will teach you how to move with pain in your chest and still choose mercy. I will teach you how to strike decisively without becoming hungry for the attack."

Braze turned the hilt over once between his fingers, then lowered it.

"Violence of Action may win battles and save lives when there is no other road left. But a Jedi does not seek dominance. We seek an end to harm where possible, and preserve life and the living Force… There is a difference," he mused aloud, trailing briefly.

"Stay on your knees… Name that which you have brought with you into this room, be it anger, guilt, grief, pride, fear, or whatever it is clinging to your thoughts and strung through your heart. Then stand, ignite your blade, and picture the source of this feeling. Superimpose it upon me and make one single cut. Just one. Perfectly controlled. Then stop."

A faint, almost rueful smile touched his mouth.

"If you cannot stop after one, you are not ready for Form Seven… A blade of steel cannot be tempered by giving the fire command of the forge."

 

[Beltor "Bell" Cyrus]

​

"If you cannot stop after one, you are not ready for Form Seven… A blade of steel cannot be tempered by giving the fire command of the forge."

[/div][/div]

He tilted his head. It was an odd thing to ask, though he found its meaning easy enough.

He let his mind wonder, let the quietness of the room fill his ears and drown out his mind. The image came to mind as a shadow at first. Slowly, as the rage, the anger, the grief, the disappointment boiled in him. That form eventually took shape. A dark mirror, a blackened husk of a man that wore his skin, amid dark, profane corruption of the robes he had taken to wear...as the labored, vox coded breathing filled his ears.

He looked at his mentor as his features morphed in to that dark brother of his, that monster that dwelled at the back of his mind came alive to the flesh.

His legs tensed, his back coiled, his hand twitched for his belt. He looked at where the eyes, black, soulless pits filled with only pin pricks of light shown.

"My self." The words left his lips at barely a whisper.

Beltor exploded forward in movement, becoming a blur for the split second it took to cross the room. He only took three steps. His saber was in his hand on the first. The flicker of violet light appeared on the second. The third saw him close to striking range as he brought the blade down in a classical killing strike that would cut this dark apparition down from shoulder to pelvis. A part of his mind, the cold, unfeeling machine of a military man that had been forged in the Academy on Anaxes noted that it was perhaps the single best opening strike he had ever made.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

Braze extinguished his hilts and clipped them to the ventral mounts of his belt.

He stood his ground with an unwavering disposition, though small and slight beneath the weight of the attack. His hands rose as his body answered in tandem calling upon Force speed to sharpen motion, Force Body to drive strength through sinew and bone, and the old discipline of the Matukai shaped that raw power in to the principle of Soft to Solid, guiding the action of Tutaminis that gathered at his hands in a brilliant display of light.

Braze had aimed to catch Beltor "Bell" Cyrus 's blade between his palms, clasping down near the very tip before the weapon could finish its path, the act revealing a careful culmination of adept Force control, discipline, and hard-earned restraint.

 

[Beltor "Bell" Cyrus]

Braze had aimed to catch Beltor "Bell" Cyrus 's blade between his palms, clasping down near the very tip before the weapon could finish its path, the act revealing a careful culmination of adept Force control, discipline, and hard-earned restraint.

[/div][/div]

He carried the strike with all his might.

Yet. It did not fallow through. It stopped, in a flickering ball of light at the palms of the man who had asked him to summon his daemon and strike it down. Still riding the high of adrenaline, the swell of emotions, all of it. Beltor froze. In truth it was more due to the sudden stoppage then anything. A mind such as his was used to calculating and collating data at surprising speed. The strike should have gone through, the strike should have been a killing one.

And yet it did neither. Bell kept staring in to those soulless pits that where once his eyes, hate, anger, and rage marking his own. For a long moment he kept the pose. Then Reverence went quiet. The saber blinking out of life with a single, now well practiced and smooth thought command.

The apparition of his mind bled out of existence, replaced with the svelte form of the young man he had grown to see as a friend, a teacher, a nephew of sorts. The realization hit him instantly. He had nearly killed him, or would have had the little man not been so quick on the defense.

He dropped his saber and wrapped the younger man in a bear hug, lifting him clear off his feet by 5 inches and holding him. "Oh stars."

 

[Braze]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

Braze shook out his hands like some one who had slapped them far too hard together trying to shake away the sting once the blade finally relented. He blinked noticing a little too late that Bells had closed in to his person and squeaked as he was cooped up and coughed at being hugged so tightly. " Hey hey hey... let me go... I'm fine okay. " He fussed squirming slightly.

"You do not master violence by loving it. You master it by refusing to be ruled by it... The first enemy is not the person across from you.... It is the part of you that moves to action before you choose to do so.... Never let the blade arrive before your judgment... If you cannot stop the strike, you were never in control of it... do you think you're ready to hear some rules for Juyo?"

 

[Beltor "Bell" Cyrus]

do you think you're ready to hear some rules for Juyo?"[/div][/div]

He held him for a moment longer, then set the lad down, realizing the size disparity between them.

He took a moment and breathed. Doing his best to calm the emotions that had swelled with in him.

"Honestly? I don't know. I didn't think I was ready for any of this and I think that'd half the reason why I've gotten this far." He sat down. "This, all of this I mean, had been an experience unlike really other, and I have found strength I didn't know I have, but also willpower, control, patience."

"I think, I have thought for some while, what marks me as a bit different then most of the youngins you take in as learners is that I have already killed, Braze. I know what that does, I know what I am capable off when the need arise. It is why I have thrown my self in to this with as much will and control I have, because a part of me is cautious, perhaps a little afraid of what I might do if I had discovered this power with out a legitimate teacher, like you."

"I asked for this not because I thought my self fully ready for it, Stars know I'm not that arrogant, but because I thought, I know that learning to control these abilities in a manner like how you are teaching means I can use them for good, genuine good. It is why I meditate as I do, to learn control, patience, and when to turn it off. When to stop."

He chuckled, recalling the words of an officer-instructor from all those years ago. "A real officer knows when to command with an iron will, and a real officer knows when to turn it off and let their men rest."

"To actually answer your question? I don't know. But I am willing to try, and try my hardest. I can't give you an absolute, only Sith deal in absolutes Braze. But I am willing to give it my best, and only hope I'm not found wanting."

 

[Braze]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

"Well… you can use them for good," Braze offered softly. "But learning to use the Force is a burden. Because we are different, we have to live with more restraint than most. More control over ourselves, our emotions, our actions… because a mistake from us can hurt someone before we ever mean it to." He paused, allowing the words room to breathe.

"It can take a lifetime to master a single form of saber combat. It is all right to take it slowly." Braze's hands folded loosely before him.

"Juyo is considered forbidden for a reason. But I have never liked being told something is not allowed and being expected to accept that as the final answer. I think understanding why matters. I think it helps us respect the rule instead of merely fearing it." His gaze lifted again looking to Bells.

"When you tell a student no and leave it there, you close the door. You build resentment. I would rather teach the reasons behind the restraint. I would rather give my students awareness, understanding, and the tools to become better than they were yesterday."His expression remained gentled as he continued

"So you realizing that you are not ready… isn't a failure. That is wisdom in realization of what just transpired... It is hard to look inward and truly measure yourself; to see what you need, where you are lacking, and where you still have room to grow... And having killed someone before... can certainly change one's outlook on life... for better and for worse... but. That just means you have a more intimate and real understanding as to the permanency of such actions. "

 

[Beltor "Bell" Cyrus]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

"Well… you can use them for good," Braze offered softly. "But learning to use the Force is a burden. Because we are different, we have to live with more restraint than most. More control over ourselves, our emotions, our actions… because a mistake from us can hurt someone before we ever mean it to." He paused, allowing the words room to breathe.

"It can take a lifetime to master a single form of saber combat. It is all right to take it slowly." Braze's hands folded loosely before him.

"Juyo is considered forbidden for a reason. But I have never liked being told something is not allowed and being expected to accept that as the final answer. I think understanding why matters. I think it helps us respect the rule instead of merely fearing it." His gaze lifted again looking to Bells.

"When you tell a student no and leave it there, you close the door. You build resentment. I would rather teach the reasons behind the restraint. I would rather give my students awareness, understanding, and the tools to become better than they were yesterday."His expression remained gentled as he continued

"So you realizing that you are not ready… isn't a failure. That is wisdom in realization of what just transpired... It is hard to look inward and truly measure yourself; to see what you need, where you are lacking, and where you still have room to grow... And having killed someone before... can certainly change one's outlook on life... for better and for worse... but. That just means you have a more intimate and real understanding as to the permanency of such actions. "

He sat for a long, long moment. Emotions leveled, the mind tempered. He closed his eyes and took in a deep, deep breath. Getting to his feet he stood before him.

Shoulders squared, breathing evened. He opened his eye with a new gleam in it. "I...am ready, as ready as I'll ever be. I think...this particular situation shook me more then I thought it would have. I understand if you think otherwise, and I won't go against your judgement call on it, but if your willing to teach me, I will learn."

 

[Braze]

Tags: Beltor "Bell" Cyrus ​

"I will teach you what I know... but there needs to be some ground rules for this," Braze stated simply, before raising a finger.

"No training while angry.

Name the emotion before sparring.

No using Juyo to punish, scare, or dominate.

You must be able to stop mid-strike.

Every attack needs a way to retreat or disengage.

Protect something during drills; do not just win.

No live blades until control is proven.

Training ends if you begin to enjoy fear, pain, or helplessness.

Meditation after every session.

Juyo serves peace, not pride."

He took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh, his hand lowering at last.

"Does that all sound like something you can agree to?"