Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Private Broad strokes - Form I - Way of the Sarlacc

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Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike


Pike and saber set were set aside for this training session.

In their stead, two simple, thin but sturdy sticks. Shii Cho was developed prior to widespread lightsaber conflict - as such, it overlapped significantly with ancient metal sword training.

It was the very basics. A guard stance, 6 target zones. The practice form Aadihr was exercising was meant for sparring, utilizing idealized horizontal and vertical strikes, at half speed.

It was somewhere to start. Every strike a slash, prioritizing unpredictability, best used against a group instead of of against a singular focused lightsaber proficient combatant.

"In lieu of a true Sun Djem, we'll be aiming for each other's hands, wrists, and fingers - so defend accordingly. Yes, it's simple, yes it's restrictive, but try to stick to the idealized angled slashes for this form, no thrusts or particularly fancy techniques here." A swat on the fingers would probably have the same effect on Aadihr anyway.

Aadihr twirled around the stick a bit, feeling it's weight. It has been a while since he fought with a regular lightsaber parallel.

"I'm aware you've had some exposure, so we'll jump straight into an evaluation. This may be harder to restrict yourself to the beginner movements. The core of Shii cho is instinctual movement and unpredictability, but until we have ingrained these basic motions, our instinctual response is not Shii Cho. Remember that the goal with this form is disarming rather than slaying - so despite the instinctual nature of it, we'll need to restrain ourselves from any unessecary bludgeoning."

Aadihr paused a moment as he remembered something else.

"And don't think I didn't catch you using brute strength during the tournament against Tigris Tigris in the tourney just because I was in my own duel. If the sticks meet consider the attack deflected. While you could cleave through an opponent's guard effectively with ancient swords and sabers alike, future techniques will build from this foundation, and developing the muscle memory of each motion to build upon and fall back to is the goal here."

Aadihr adopted a medium forward guard, stick forward - though an upright guard also was traditionally correct.

"Any questions? Otherwise, strike at me when you are ready."

 


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Aris stretched an arm across his chest, his brow furrowed in thought at he listened. Shii-Cho was the basics of all things Jedi learned. When they were first given lessons as younglings, all in preparation for holding their own lightsaber. It was one of the few things he could do amongst the others. There was no ability to touch on the Force, to use meditation to start lifting objects and the like.

And yet he'd disconnected with it at some point. The training of the styles, he knew on paper certainly. Could parrot as needed. As Aadihr spoke, it was clear to Aris that it wasn't just enough to parrot it. He'd started to rely more on his strength and speed than proper form. He could slash, but his strength would overwhelm easily, right?

He lifted the blade, the stick, holding it carefully in his hands. He could strike with it, breaking it if he wasn't careful enough. Was that part of why they were using them? He smiled briefly before readying his stance. Then stepped forward to strike. He went wide, arcing horizontally right for Aadihr's wrist. Then again. And again, weaving each strike one after the other to try and overwhelm.

Aadihr Lidos Aadihr Lidos
 
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Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Stick


The exercise started simply enough. To Aris's credit, he kept to the goal of disarming with almost single-minded determination. Seeing the large teenager treated the sticks like fragile implements was preferable considering Aadihr had 'seen' the boy punch through durasteel panelling like it was packing foam.

The drills were simple, beginning with called target areas and rapidly advancing to freeform sparring of a sort, slightly slower than full speed to allow for unnecessary impact - the back and forth slash, parry, and riposte emerging more like a dance. A practice of the motions - not dissimilar to how one would perform form drills. An accelerating exercise of conscious motion, focused intentional movements becoming natural once more until the horizontal and vertical attack angles and counterpart parry stances flowed smoothly, the muscle memories of both Jedi returning with practice.

While competition was not the point of this exercise, it only took a few drills until a successful swat stung the fingers on Aadihr's hand, leaving a stinging sensation on the knuckle without serious harm. Aadihr shook out the pain from his hand as the stick that had reflexively been dropped clattered on the pavestones.

"Well done," he said, instinctively putting the knuckle to his mouth to isolate the throbbing sting. "It is just the basics, after all. A simple drill flowing from each attack stance to each defensive stance as a warmup should be sufficient to keep the Shii-Cho baseline as well advance into the next forms."

Aadihr picked up the stick once more and returned to an upright guard.

 


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It was a challenge, and more of one than he thought it would be. Aris had spent much longer relying on his strength than he realized as of late, and each strike threatened to destroy the Bokken they were using if he didn't properly control it. Katherine Holt Katherine Holt had been showing him how control really worked, but he was still learning the nuance of it all.

He especially didn't want to break Aadihr's hand.

Slowly but surely he figured it out though. The flow state, weaving strike after strike like water. The basis had always been there, he just needed something more to focus on than the form itself. Hitting Aadihr's hands without breaking them? It was the ideal way. "Are we going through all the forms?"

Aris lowered his blade, head tilted faintly as Aadihr spoke again. From the way it sounded, that was indeed the plan.

Aadihr Lidos Aadihr Lidos
 
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Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike


"Are we going through all the forms?"

"That's the plan, more or less, though maybe not in one sitting. Would you like to continue on to Makashi today?"

Aadihr anticipated Aris being a quick study of the first few forms, and brought materials accordingly - though with the track record of lessons to date he had been mentally preparing to get as much learning in before something went catastrophic.

The relaxed pace and relative tranquility of the practice ground at this time seemed favorable.

"Form two is a natural evolution from form one when neither you nor your opponent have weapons that carry mass not need momentum for an effective hit. It's a very calculated form for duelists, whereas Shii-Cho is a good fallback when outnumbered or overwhelmed. If you're comfortable with form 1, I have training sabers set aside."

Aadihr walked over to his box of training materials, moving aside the small boxes used for training force senses/sight, and grabbed the practice sabers just in case.

They had covered Form 3 with Valery Noble Valery Noble and Azurine Varek Azurine Varek in the past, so jumping to form 4 onwards after 2 was what Aadihr had planned.

 


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"I don't mind going over all of them. My mind remembers things well, at least the facts behind them." The photographic memory he held was incredibly useful, he'd learned. Part of why he was top of his class despite being unable to use the Force was because of that memory. It didn't help with putting it in practice though, as he'd just learned with even the first form just now.

He relied on his strength. Too much so.

"I would like to learn more. I know Zaiya is being taught the form. I'd like to be able to spar her with it, without it being reliant on my strength over the actual form."

Aadihr Lidos Aadihr Lidos | Zaiya Ceti Zaiya Ceti
 
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Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Training Saber


"In that case, we'll switch from the bokken to the typical training saber."

Aadihr tossed one of the cheap, low powered training sabers to Aris, taking one himself. It would be good for Aadihr to practice on a traditional lightsaber again.

"Well, the theory is as I just covered - though let's try not to sun djem these sabers as they will break, even with the training crystal."

Aadihr adopted a fencer's pose while continuing.

"As the lightsaber is lightweight to the extreme, precise movements and timing. It is a direct counter to the movements of Shii-Cho for weapons that now no longer required a transfer of momentum to damage an opponent. Thus, the single biggest goal of Makashi is to prevent being disarmed an opponent, and to utilize the technological strengths of a lightsaber to the fullest potential against another lightsaber. Despite the theoretical advantage, it requires more focus and thought."

Aadihr demonstrated, motioning for Aris to take up form I defensive stances and demonstrating their respective counters, before alternating for Aris to to the same.

"Tip control and leverage are key," he continued as he demonstrated a semicircular parry to catch and deflect a thrust, before moving in to demonstrate sliding the saber along the blade into a thrust riposte, halting before the tip would make contact with Aris. "The entire length of your saber, while in this position, is deflected and controlled by leverage your opponent has with the stronger position nearer the hilt - not accounting for your particular strength. This was the reason for hilt guards on thinner blades - to bind the opponent's blade while maintaining a superior angle your tip to pierce."

Subsequently, Aadihr tought the response to a parry - a disengage, a simple counter spinwhile thrusting to maneuver the blade to be unimpeded by the block attempt, a precise reverse motion or simple dip of the blade tip.

"While I won't be covering Trakata today, the same effect is used in that form by precisely disabling the lightsaber to pass through the parry."

Once again, Aadihr drilled - lunge-parry-riposte-hit, then lunge-disengage-hit.

"Lastly, there is the one instance where your strength will play an advantage for the technique - and probably something you've used subconsciously. A beat - a literal beating of the opponent's blade out of the way, hitting the weaker leverage portion of the saber to throw off their guard and make an opening, which can be used both mid attack and as a defence. While a small motion is required most of the time for duelists, I imagine you could put that small motion to serious use."

Aadihr prepared to drill, a step-thrust-beat-lunge, but his curiousity got the better of him.

"Go ahead and use full strength when beating away the blade of my saber - it doesn't put me at risk nor am I that concerned if the training saber breaks. I'm curious to what extent your natural talents could work within the more technical and reserved flight saber form."

 


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He'd done the bare minimum of Makashi in some of his earlier training, but this was well beyond what he had. There was a faint smile on his face as he listened, mirrored Aadihr's stance to copy the motions, the forms. It was rigid, very much like a parrot copying something it heard over understanding what it heard, but he would understand it. Focus and intent was something he had in spades, after all.

And strength, which as it turned out could be quite the boon in this form.

So he struck. Full force, the small turn of his wrist in a flick. Hitting like a damn truck with the raw strength he carried.

Aadihr Lidos Aadihr Lidos
 
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Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike


The training saber spun out of Aadihr's grip, flinging with a crack as the hilt broke the sound barrier before smashing into a nearby tree, leaving the cheap metal bent and the crystal blessedly intact. If Aadihr had to turn his head to stare at the remains of the saber, he would've—instead he had an almost frozen posture as he tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, I'd say that created enough of an opening."

Aadihr accidentally snorted, which broke the seal, chortling a bit before composing himself.

" That is technically a basic Makashi move - let me grab a spare and we can run some drills. I've got something planned with Azzie and your mother for Soresu scheduled for tomorrow - and maybe I can find someone better skilled with Ataru to teach us, as that's always been a weak spot for me." Aadihr dug through his training materials.

"I imagine you've got the stamina and strength to mimic Ataru to some extent. Does your limitations impede things like inertia? We might be able to sort out some environmental tricks with that bracer-thing of yours to compensate and redirect your mid-air trajectory" Aadihr half asked, half speculated while transferring the training crystal to another hilt and returning to the fencing stance.

 


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"No, I can't alter my trajectory or the like for the most part. I can kind of control myself midair." Through sheer strength, anyway. If he twisted fast enough he could change where he'd land and the like. He was still looking at where the blade had been knocked away though, his eyes seeming to study it. His raw strength mixed with Makashi would certainly surprise a lot more people. Strength was the greatest weakness for Makashi after all.

He returned to his own fencing stance, eyes turning back to Aadihr as the man did the same. He nodded once.

" Ko Vuto Ko Vuto taught me some Ataru, or at least his own variation of it. When I was fighting Tigris I was using it. His was less about the jumping around and more about using your might in a single, powerful strike. The kind that you don't think of a follow up for, that's how dedicated you are to it."

Aadihr Lidos Aadihr Lidos
 

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