EP: Weapons Practice or Moving Meditation

[last_kallig]

Some days, the shadows of her past are closer to the surface than others. That's why Ibani gave up on sleep at 4 in the morning and went outside to train with her wooden practice blade. The sun is up now, but she's back at her training after a brief rest. The motions of the lightsaber forms are a kind of moving meditation for her, and proper practice never hurts.

Even so, she'd be glad of company that wants to talk, observe, or maybe even spar!

Comments

[childofrebellion]

When he enters today, Cassian's feeling better, the medics said his arm had healed enough to take the bacta off. He's still not allowed back on active duty and when he last saw Kay, he was arguing with astromechs so Milliways is a nice surprise.

Before going on out on a mission, he needs to get some target practice in and explore the outside. When he gets outside, he takes his time walking every path before spotting Ibani and watching quietly. Her fighting style is elegant and must be deadly.

[last_kallig]

Her fighting style is indeed elegant and deadly, though some of the moves might appear strange to Cassian. (They're maneuvers meant to deflect blaster bolts with a lightsaber.)

She completes the kata and turns to Cassian and waves. "Hello, feeling better?"

[childofrebellion]

"Yes, the bacta came off today and the medic only lectured me a little bit for doing much. Do you practice like this often?"

It seems odd to train with a wooden weapon if you don't have to.

[last_kallig]

"I'm glad to hear you're doing better."

"I don't usually practice with this, but the weight is about the same as the warblade I had when I was in training. I figure that strengthening my wrists during form practice can't hurt."

Plus, you can't spar with a real lightsaber. Well, you CAN, but it will end in severed limbs and sadness.

[childofrebellion]

"I am, not allowed on active duty yet, but I should be very soon. I decided to see if I could find the firing range. Warblade, how is that different from what you normally use?"

From what he's hearing around the base, his next job will be a solo one where he doesn't want to waste a shot.

[last_kallig]

"A warblade is a metal blade about this long," Ibani says, holding her hands apart about the length of a lightsaber. "Mullinine with a bit of cortosis alloy. It's the same length as what I usually use, but the weight and properties are different."

She decides to take a chance. (It's not exactly a secret around the Bar, after all.) "What I usually use is this." Ibani takes the lightsaber off her belt and hits the switch. The green blade springs into existence with a snap-hiss.

[childofrebellion]

His eyes go wide and he automatically steps back and reaches for the blaster at his hip,

"Kriff, that's a real lightsaber."

[last_kallig]

"It is," Ibani replies. Feeling his nerves, she deactivates the lightsaber. It's not like she strictly REQUIRES one to block blaster bolts if Cassian decides to fire that blaster.

"Is the fact that it is going to be a problem between us?"

[childofrebellion]

"No, not at all. There haven't been Jedi since the end of the Clone Wars. I've only known about lightsabers from old holovids or Clone Wars veterans' stories,"

He opens his hands, he's not scared of her, she's simply far more dangerous than he realized.

[last_kallig]

"I'm glad it's not a problem," Ibani says, smiling.

"It's hard for me to imagine that, I must admit. The idea of so much of what I've known just....disappearing."

[childofrebellion]

"I can barely remember what it was like before. During the Clone Wars, Jedi never made it out to where I was born and then they were gone and there was the Empire. I know that in some parts of the galaxy, what they did and believe in gives them hope. Some of the old temples still stand but they're complicated places,"

They can be useful as information passes by them but those involved have their own ideas of what the galaxy should be.

[last_kallig]

"The Jedi were complicated even in my time, and I imagine it only got worse," Ibani replies. "But I'm glad the memory of them can give some people hope, the galaxy needs it."

[childofrebellion]

"They do. I trust more in what I can see," To pin a rumor down into a fact that can be a mission.

[iprotectyou]

Baze is thoroughly pleased to see Ibani out and about, especially going through forms. He dips back into the bar to put his repeater cannon up in his room and acquire a bo staff--not to mention look for Chirrut, where the hell is he? Oh, well, he'll catch up later.

Baze approaches Ibani loudly, stomping in the squelching mud, six-foot staff slung over his shoulders. "Hoi, Ibani!" he says, announcing his presence when she looks up--not that he needs to, really, but it's just polite. "Working on lightsaber practice?"

[last_kallig]

"Hello, Baze!" Ibani calls out cheerfully. "I am working on lightsaber practice, though not with a saber. The Makashi form is the one I care for the least, but that's no reason to neglect it."

She glances at Baze's staff. "Force, what is that, a small tree?" she teases.

[iprotectyou]

Baze laughs. It's a great, booming belly laugh, suffused with joy, indicating he's pleased with her teasing and everything else. "It is a small tree! I'm here to challenge you, but not without Chirrut. He'll come eventually. I'm out of practice, you see, from hauling around guns rather than working with staves," he says, waggling his eyebrows. "Do you mind taking us both on at once? You'll have the advantage, of course, being a Force-user. I know nothing about forms. It might be an education!"

[last_kallig]

"Of course!" Ibani replies, grinning delightedly and bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. "I haven't been able to spar with anyone since the Academy, and I'm not sure the last few of those should count since my opponents were trying to maim me."


She chuckles. "I might have trouble remembering not to use Force Push, but luckily there's little chance of my using Force Lightning by accident."

[iprotectyou]

Baze beams at her enthusiasm. He can't feel her happiness through the Force, like Chirrut can, but he can see it in her bearing, hear it in her voice. He's inordinately pleased.

"I won't try to maim you, but watch out for Chirrut," he says, grinning toothily. "He fights dirty when he gets his blood up." Baze blinks, cocking his head. He looks very much like a giant, lost puppy. "I've never heard of Force lightning."

[last_kallig]

Ibani's grin is also toothy. "So do I, from time to time."

"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it, it's not a technique the Jedi would use."

Ibani brings her empty hand palm up to about the middle of her chest and concentrates for a moment. A tiny ball of what looks like purple lightning forms, hovering just a bit above her palm. "This is easy to create, a party trick. To get anything that does real damage though, you need negative emotions: anger, hate, grief, fear, pain."

"That's what the Dark Side comes from, negative emotions. It's how Sith are taught to access our power and the Jedi view it as evil."

[iprotectyou]

Bases attention sharpens at the scent of ozone in the air, sharpening even further at the appearance of the purple ball of light. He stares in wonder, flavors of awe and fear running through his emotions and screaming in the Force. "Oh, Ibani," he breathes, reaching out for it, and drawing back. "It's breathtaking."

He shakes his head, looking to her face. "Chirrut would be terrified. He hates thunderstorms', for the smells and sounds," Baze says, and gives her a searching look. "Your training must have been very harsh if you had to cultivate negative emotions. Don't worry about demonstrating more lightning if you have to call upon grief to do it."

[last_kallig]

Ibani smiles at Baze's awe and wonder, even though she wishes he wasn't also afraid. "I've always liked thunderstorms, but I'll remember that Chirrut doesn't." (Not that she'd planned on using force lightning around Chirrut in the first place, but she'll make even more of an effort not to now.)

Ibani's smile turns a little brittle and her gaze goes slightly distant. "Harsh is one word for it. The Sith Order takes children at a slightly older age than the Jedi prefer. I was eleven, which is a fairly typical age."

Anger leaks into her tone as she continues, despite her efforts to keep her tone even. "The training is designed to weed out candidates that are seen as weak, that fail to show they buy into the propaganda the Sith Order is trying to brain wash them into believing. There were always times of the year when disposing of the bodies of failed acolytes became more of an issue than usual."

Disposing of bodies, CHILDREN'S bodies.

"I was part of a cohort of 10 for my final trials to become an apprentice, and I was the only survivor."

[iprotectyou]

"They tortured children?" Base says, and his expression darkens like a thundercloud passing over the sun. He spits on the ground, swinging his staff off his shoulder and grounding the end of it in the dirt, as if he could stamp out his displeasure.

"That's wrong." And it's as simple as that.

He keeps an eye on the lightning as her anger shines through, marveling at her control even through her emotions. "But you survived, and I'm glad of it. Are you against the Order?"

[last_kallig]

"It's an abomination, obscene," Ibani agrees. "I survived, and most days I don't regret that, but the price of my survival was high."

"The Sith Academy on Korriban has become a place that takes children and makes monsters of some and corpses of the others. I am against the Sith Order as it is now, the Order that created that place and perpetuates that cycle. But if the Sith Order were simply destroyed it would, at best, result in the deaths of tens of trillions of Imperial citizens, my people."

"I am trying to walk a harder path, trying to find the knowledge and the power to reform the Empire, to break the cycle. The odds are high that I will fail and, if I am lucky, die horribly."

Ibani grins fiercly. "I don't intend to let that stop me."

[idontneedluck]

"Good!" Chirrut isn't pretending to use his staff as his walking stick, carrying it braced over his shoulders with both arms looped over top. His confidence in managing the terrain outside is growing.

"What isn't stopping you?" He just approves of her not stopping in general, but specifics are always good.

[iprotectyou]

Baze's mood was growing darker and darker, but with the appearance of his beloved friend, Baze lights up with a jovial smile again. "She's facing bad odds," he informs Chirrut, crossing to him and shaking Baze's free hand around his friend's waist. "She's trying to reform the Sith Order so they won't torture children anymore."

It's clear from his tone and what they can feel in the Force that Bazs approves of this course of action. "I've already challenged her to a spar. I have a staff, and we should both come at her at once because I'm out of practice and she uses the Force."