Private Way of the Sarlacc

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

He was a quick learner.

Valery smiled a little as he took the lesson to heart, but with Trakata covered, it was time to circle back around to Shii-Cho. She had taught him about its focus on simplicity and wider sweeping strikes. The idea to be more raw and wild, yet determined. Now, another core aspect of the Form would come to light — disarming.

During this portion of the spar, her focus was on trying to get him to disarm her. To figure out how difficult it is to hit such a small target, especially when it moved.

"We won't break them if they're at low power, and mine is fairly resistant to lightsabers in general. I won't be disarming you, though," Valery told him. "You're going to disarm me." She wasted no time, and came at him with a big, overhead sweep to keep her hilt moving fast, and to bring some strength into the mix as well.

 

[Aris Noble]

Oh.

Aris seemed visibly relieved. He didn't want to have his mother break the lightsaber he'd made from her original saber after all. Though, the task now was for him to disarm her, and he visibly changed his expression from relieved to intense. It was his task to try and disarm her? He lifted his blade up in both hands, readied himself.

Then grimaced as he barely managed to knock her blade away. She wasn't holding back like she had before. He gritted his teeth before swinging his blade back around towards her. Force some space so he could get ready for the next strike.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

There was that intense Noble look in his eyes.

Valery smirked when she saw it, but she wasn't making this easy on him. Telegraphed strikes and low speed or strength made it easy to focus on someone else's weapon and attempt a disarming slash. But to disarm a weapon that was moving quickly in unpredictable patterns — that was something only the better Jedi could manage.

Unless, of course, they were clever about it.

Aris just barely managed to deflect the strike she threw at him and swept his blade around in a wide arc to force distance. Valery went along with it by stepping back and keeping her blade up into a guard, "Very good, control distance." She wasn't giving tips for disarming just yet, and simply returned with another sweep, this time diagonally up from his left hip to right shoulder, before striking again with a more horizontal sweep to his right side.

"Keep at it, Aris."

 

[Aris Noble]

Control the distance.

They being the same height made it so neither at least had an advantage of reach, so he did have to be clever. He wasn't faster or stronger. Smarter. She came in, so he took a step back, letting his blade come up to take her strike and send it up and away. He didn't strike yet, though, instead stepping in while their blades were up.

To shoulder check Valery and try and knock her off balance.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

While she no longer showed in the focus of their spar, Valery felt quite proud to see him move. The step back maintained distance and kept her blade from reaching his body unless she were to overextend. The tip was then deflected up, and she expected a strike in retaliation, only for him to close the distance. Valery pulled her shoulder up and turned her body into it, but was knocked back a step regardless.

They were the same height, but he was starting to develop some muscle already and weight as a result. Within a few years, his natural strength was going to be greater than her own, but that had never held her back much. Still, she knew that he'd learn to make good use of it.

"Striking a weapon that moves is hard, right?" Valery asked. "This is part of the reason why we can't always disarm our enemies, even if we'd prefer that over causing them any harm. To focus on just my weapon means you're taking a risk, and out in the field, taking a risk means gambling the lives of the people you protect."

"I believe Jedi should always trust their own judgment, but I want you to know that there are times when you can't disarm someone like this. Does that mean you need to kill? No, but you have to be able to find other ways to neutralize the threat. Just like when you'll need to learn when your preferred Form might not be the most suitable for the situation."

 

[Aris Noble]

There were so many different things he'd have to pay attention to in order to disarm someone properly. He didn't like the idea that he might have to harm someone, maybe even kill them, but that was what he'd have to do to protect someone. That's what it meant to protect people. He nodded once in understanding as he readied his blade again.

"Okay."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

"You know what I said about blade locks earlier? They do have at least one purpose beyond a staredown," Valery said, right as she went back to pressuring her son with sweeping strikes. They weren't exactly threatening to him, and she mostly just went through the zones in random order with more disgonal attacks.

But there was one reason for it - her blade kept moving, and her hilt was a small, nearly impossible to hit target.

"Sure, you could disarm someone by taking their hand or entire arm too. Won't kill them but you do maim an opponent. If you want to hit a weapon, it's much easier if they hold it still." She winked and hoped he was catching on to what she was saying now.

"It's why blasters are easier to disarm. They have to keep them still to shoot."

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris understood immediately. A bladelock would freeze their weapons, make it easier to find a moment to strike. Grant it, breaking the block and then striking was it's own trouble. A blaster certainly was easier. If their sabers were locked together, how was he supposed to strike down at the hilt? His brow furrowed in thought before something else seemed to click.

He waited just for a moment, just as she struck out, then swung his blade to catch hers. Force the lock, if only for a moment. He put all his weight into it, as if he was going to try and overpower her.

Then he stepped to the side and let his saber shut off. Only for a brief moment, though, as he swiftly turned it on in her guard to swipe back at the hilt of her lightsaber while she was hopefully still moving forward.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

It wasn't hard to tell that something clicked in her son. She had long learned how to interpret his little smiles and various expressions, and a determined focus like this meant that he understood. That he was ready to give it his all. Valery swung her blade at him knowing this, and put energy into it as if she didn't. Just to test whether or not he'd be able to make it work despite the difference in strength.

First, he caught her blade, and Valery began to push to slowly drive him out of his balance. But as she did, the pressure suddenly vanished, and after a quick stumble forward, Aris' blade struck the weapon from her hand.

And hit her fingers just a little.

"Ow," she hissed, before she looked down at the weapon with a grin, "That was a clever way of doing it," she said with a warm smile turning to him. "Another option is to glide your blade down along the length of your opponent's. They can resist that, of course, but if you're fast..."

Reaching down, Valery picked up her lightsaber and looked at the hilt in her hand, "What do you think of the Form thus far?"

 

[Aris Noble]

It worked.

Aris wasn't listening at first. He just stared dumbly as he watched where Valery's saber had landed. Held his own. It had worked. Eventually it came about to a full on bright smile as he wiggled a little where he stood. He'd done it, and it worked! At least he didn't cheer for himself as he glanced finally towards his mom and listened to what she was saying.

"I really like it."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

"I can tell," Valery said with a chuckle once she picked up on her son's excitement. She wasn't going to point out just what she noticed, but seeing it made her feel so warm inside. This was important to him, but also important to her — she was sharing a very important part of herself and her past with him.

and he loved it.

"Back in my day, a lot of Jedi looked down on Shii-cho. They only ever learned the basics and saw no practical use in it unless they needed to swat down entire crowds of enemies." She paused for a moment and looked at him with a softer smile, "Shii-Cho is more than that. For disarming and a simpler, practical approach, it's very good. If nothing else works, Shii-Cho is often ideal to fall back on, too."

"Did you have any questions about it?"

 

[Aris Noble]

"Your day was open war with the Sith. I can see why they didn't like the form, given most of your foes would be wielding lightsabers."

That'd be the biggest threat for certain. From what he already understood of Shii-Cho, they'd be easily overwhelmed by a skilled duelist just because of the form alone. Even now there was still a lot of threat from lightsaber wielding foes.

"I don't have other questions, though. It feels.. Right. Like something familiar to fall back on."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

Valery nodded, "Shii-Cho being used to instruct younglings also doesn't help its reputation. Some can't look beyond the Ideal Form, even though that's hardly what the Form is about." A shame, really, because it was a very good Form to fall back on, or even Master for the sake of disarming opponents.

She then offered her son a smile and finally returned her lightsaber to her belt. But before her lips could part to speak, she blinked and seemed to notice something in the distance.

"Hey, look. Is that smoke?" Plumes were rising beyond the dunes, and she couldn't help but feel like something was up there.

 

[Aris Noble]

He tilted his head, having patiently waited curiously for what she was actually going to say. But something seemed to catch her attention. He looked over to where she spoke of, blinking slow as he tried to peer through the blinding sunlight of the desert.

".. Maybe? I'm not sure. Why? Should we investigate?"

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

Valery rubbed the back of her neck and sighed, "Well, it could mean trouble for someone out there." Tatooine was a dangerous planet. Sarlacc pits, Tusken Raiders, Jawa ambushes, Hutts and now Mandalorians, too. She had no idea what was out there, so she wasn't entirely sure about bringing her son along to confront anything. Even if he was more than capable of protecting himself. He was young, and she was his Mom.

Turning back to him, Valery walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"What do you think, Aris? Should we go check it out? We can take the ship and look from above, if we want to be careful." It'd also alert people to their presence, but that was the risk for this plan.

 

[Aris Noble]

"I think checking it out from the Bastion would be best. We are still close to Mandalorian space, and they did run this world for a while before their collapse."

History was important, and it was something he liked to read up on when he could. Especially the recent kind. There was no telling if they would always be safe, and he wanted to make sure nothing blindsided him or his fellow Padawan's if they did end up in trouble some time. Still, they couldn't ignore people in trouble either. If someone needed help, that was their duty.

And he was an official Padawan, braid and all.

"I'll be careful, Master Noble."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

Master Noble, huh?

Valery couldn't help but smile at the shift from Mom, to Master Noble. It was the most adorable thing to her, but she knew it was important to him to be serious about Jedi duty. So, rather than ruffle his hair and be playful, she dipped her head and offered an encouraging smile, "Let's get back to the Bastion then, Padawan Noble. You've already learned a lot, so from here, we will just regularly practice the Form." One lesson like this wouldn't make him a Master of the Form, after all.

Valery then turned to head back to the Bastion, and picked up the pace to get back into the cockpit, "Could you head down to the turret in our belly? You can see well from there, and...just in case we need protection."

 

[Aris Noble]

"Got it."

Aris nodded once before he made his way down to the belly turret and got himself into the control seat. He prepped up the guns, though he wasn't expecting to have to shoot. Just because he didn't though didn't mean there wouldn't be a threat he would have to handle. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

"Ready, Master."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Tatooine

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aris Noble

Master.

Valery snickered a little with the comms off and let out a happy little sigh. Vera would probably never call her that, knowing her. It was just Mom, exclaimed with a lot of excitement or perhaps anger, if she was told to clean up her room again. Aris was very different from her, but that made the family such a fun place to be.

They weren't all loud gremlins.

"Alright, eyes open, Padawan." Valery grinned and took off with the Bastion to follow the trail of smoke. It didn't take long to see the source — a Sail Barge was buried with its nose into the ground and burning, right next to another barge that was still intact. Some less than friendly people were trying to jump off of the burning one, and join the still functioning one.

Right in front of it, there were a few people on their knees, held at gunpoint by the people of the barge.

The people on their knees were Mandalorians, though with their helmets taken from them.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris frowned as he saw the scene. He made no move to do anything, though, and instead spoke up. "Mandalorians at gun point. It looks like a battle they lost." There was open war against the Mandalorians right now. A Jedi's duty was to peace, yes, but if these were rebels fighting against the Mandalorians, was that really something to intervene with?

"I'm not sure what to do here. They're not being killed, and it's clear they lost. Are Jedi supposed to do something here?"

Valery Noble