Control and mastery of one’s self…

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus simply shook her head. Of course finding it was never the true aim of the lesson - it the approach to finding it that mattered. She had warned him to bring his patient head with him hadn't she? Yes, she was sure of it.

"You'll find it soon enough," she offered and looked up at the sun's setting rays. Well, probably.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus lips grew thin in a bit of a grimace as he turned and flicked the rock back into the woods with and overhanded throw. He then stood there for a few moments, seething in his own, calm way as he raised his hands and placed them on his hips, sighing as he did. His patience was drawing scarce and his mind was about as scattered as the tiny little rocks that lined the forest floor. There was a limit to everyone's patience, even that of a Jedi, and that patience usually ran out when they were pushed to the brink and had no other choice but the hard ones. The ones easier made by Sith. The ones that forced them to take up their weapons and end lives, no matter how much they would prefer not to.

Choices that seemed easier for Varus...

The next moment, Varus reached out and swayed both hands left and then right, slowly drawing his open hands inwards to clasp together. As he did the rocks and the forest floor began to move, rocks rolling over one another and bouncing along the leaves and sticks of the floor of the wooded area. They gathered up into a mound at his feet, growing higher and higher until there was a mound of small stones of many different colors standing up to about his waist. As the last pebble rolled up to the top, he plucked it up, looked it once over and tossed it over his shoulder before grabbing the next, then the next, and then the next.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

His approach was...unique. And he wasn't using the Force to find the rock necessarily, so she let it go. In fact, the very nature of his way of solving the problem being different to hers was enlightening.

So she watched and learned and was patient alongside him.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus had sifted through more than half of the stones, tossing each one that just wasn't right over his shoulder into a growing pile behind him. Another hour had passed, and at this point his patience had not only been worn out, but his resolve exhausted. He'd been broken by the task at hand, and finally he was in a trance like state, looking for one, simple, tiny little rock that could make this all end if found. A rock he wasn't certain he would ever find at this pace, though now it didn't matter.

His interest had all but been suffocated and his stressful nature and short fuse had burned out long ago. Now his eyes were glazing over more and more as boredom set in, his heartbeat slowing and his mind wondering aimlessly with nothing else to challenge it or focus on. It was disheartening and annoying all the same, but finally he'd come across another stone of such similar likeness that he himself couldn't tell apart from the one that she had thrown. Something about it told him that it wasn't the one, but he couldn't be sure unless he asked the woman who had set him to the search herself.

Pushing himself up and walking out from the treeline, Varus stopped and looked on at Corvus with dulled, exhausted eyes, a look of indifference on his face as he raised his hand. He held out the stone in front of her for her to see and finally said, "This one?"

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus touched the stone. She nodded, "Yes that's the one." She took it from him.

“The next test is simple.”

She held the rock in her open hand.

“Take it from me.”

She’d physically exhausted him and mentally exhausted him. Now the training could begin proper. She smiled, spreading her weight evenly between her feet, her dominant leg back. The lesson here would be timing – another crucial factor in Teräs Käsi. She had yet to challenge him particularly, or show him the form, but he had to get the tenets down.

Patience, was a virtue. Patience was learnt. And she would continue to teach it. He'd have to wait for an opening, find a pattern that he could exploit in order to take the rock. How successful would he be? That all depended on how he went about it.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus' eyes looked a little dulled by the woman's comment as if he wasn't surprised by it at all. He was aware that all of this had been for something, and for the last hour or so he had been thinking that she'd been pushing him to his limit in order to exercise an advantage. That, however, was the way that he himself trained, and so he was used to exhaustion and pushing himself past a certain limit. This was nothing that he wasn't used to, of course, though he'd been pushed about as far as he'd ever been aside from a few times he'd ended up in the medical wing.

Shaking his head slightly, Varus watched the woman and replied in kind to her all too chipper tone of voice, realizing that she seemed a little proud of herself. "Of course you realize that this is how I train, right?"

He watched her for a few more moments, that same displeased, yet confident look upon his face as he finally glanced away from the woman. He sighed lightly and reached up with either hand to peel his sweat riddled shirt off of his back, pulling it over his head and bundling it up as he did. He then dabbed it across his face, making sure that there was no more remnants of moisture across his brow or the bridge of his nose. He then tossed the shirt a few feet away from them, let his hands fall to his side and bowed his head slightly, closing his eyes as he gathered his senses.

Taking the time to meditate before their little spar would begin was important, and Varus realized that he could use every second with which to expand his senses and further his grasp upon the force. About a minute later, though, Varus moved without warning, snapping into a style of martial arts that he hadn't employed since he'd begun his training as a Jedi. A common style he'd been using for years when he'd found himself lost to the underworld of Coruscant, fighting low life criminals and thieves, gamblers and drug dealers. That art was the art of boxing, and it seemed that quick hands were exactly why he was going to need.

Either hand snapped out in front of him, grabbing for either of the woman's wrists in an attempt to capture and ensnare her in but a moment...

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled when he confirmed this was how he trained. It should make teaching all the more easy she mused. Except, when she cast her mind back at how she’d been trained, she doubted all of the methods were employed by Varus – but time would tell.

She waited patiently as he removed his top and wiped the sweat away. She even let his use of the Force go – this was training in a non-Force discipline, so she’d have words later, just not now.

He moved without warning. He’d clearly had some martial arts training. She would have dismissed his efforts as poorly calculated – but then she’s asked him to take the stone, so what was he supposed to do? For Teräs Käsi taught you two key things. The first was an ability to develop extreme speed. The sort of speed someone who was not attuned to the Force would view simply as a blur. And the second? An aptitude for anticipating strikes. It was an art designed to combat clone assassins after all.

Of all the training she’d encountered, this was the closest to the style the Sith employed. They didn’t gradually develop you to a point where you were competent. Rather they threw you in at the deep end and let you sink or swim. And so it would be here. She’d borderline humiliate and frustrate him in his efforts to be trained. But it was necessary. It was how the Followers of Palawa taught it. It was how she was taught it.

She anticipated the hands snapping out and moved as he did – and she moved quicker. So by the time his hands had reached where her wrists would have been, she was already tossing the stone from one hand to the other, some fifteen centimetres below.

“Good, but not good enough.” She continued to toss the stone, keeping a smooth and monotonous rhythm going.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus watched the stone rise and fall in the woman's hand the first time, not a moment later, as the stone was rising and falling again he dashed forwards, not giving he the moment to mock him. He would give her no time to jest, no time to speak or taunt. Not even a moment to recover. For there was much resolve within Varus, which was why he'd trained every day from the moment he'd set foot in the temple. He'd put his body through hell, and it was training as strenuous and demanding as this where his speed and strength would pay off.

In a moment, Varus was upon her again, this time dropping and swinging his right leg in a sweep at Corvus, expecting her to leap up and backwards from him. Whether or not he was able to predict this of the woman was irrelevant, however, as when he reached his full rotation he would be in a low, coiled stance, ready to pounce forwards again, no matter where she ended up, and he would waste no time darting from the spot to pursue the woman, following her steps, one after the other, unwilling to bend and unwilling to break.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus laughed. Varus’ tenacity knew no bounds and she remembered her own training. This next few minutes would make or break Varus’ opportunity to learn Teräs Käsi.

He was very fit, strong and had some martial arts training. She was also very fit, faster and had Teräs Käsi training. She anticipated the sweep and jumped to avoid the leg. And he darted to follow her as she moved – the stone still being thrown from hand to hand.

He was relentless – as she had been – but he needed to slow down. To think.

She turned, twisting her hips, bringing her hand back, and punched Varus straight in the face. “Being dogged is a virtue but not the only one at your disposal. The threat of violence often increases the desire and need to complete the task. Find a pattern. Exploit a weakness. Think”

Did she feel uncomfortable at the strike? A little – but she’d pulled the punch and she needed to break up his rhythm. It was essential he thought of the problem from a different angle. Sometimes being relentless wasn’t enough.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus took the blow with ease and tumbled forwards, having missed his target. He rolled upright in one smooth motion, falling into stride and still pursuing the woman who was quite skilled at evasion it seemed. "You hit like a Jawa.", Varus taunted with a smirk. "And if I didn't know any better I'd say you like to be chased by strong boys."

No sooner had the words left his mouth was he again a blur, rushing the woman and appearing right in front of her, attempting to fake the woman out with a rush and change his approach the moment he was upon her. When he we was right in front of the woman his feet fell flat to the ground and he began an onslaught of punches at the woman's midsection, though every so often when he reached back to throw a punch he would open his hand and snatch for the rock that she was tossing repeatedly.

He aimed to mask his attacks with his attempts to snatch the rock from her, hoping to keep her mind on his punches to her body rather than the rock she was continuously tossing in the hopes that he would be able to snatch it away when she wasn't concentrating on it or at the very least force her to drop it.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Well that escalated quickly…

She shook her head. What was supposed to be a test of patience and persistence was rapidly descending into a wrestling match.

She could of course call the session over, or use the Force, but instead she simply rolled into a ball and allowed him to vent whatever it was he was venting. They could chat about it later.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

His progress was impeded by a wall that seemed to have been constructed by the woman training him herself. It had quickly become obvious to Varus that he wasn't performing the way that she had expected him to, or perhaps he wasn't conforming to the training in the way that she was intending for him to. Either way, Varus was quickly running out of patience with the woman and her frustrating way of teaching.

She was hard on him, as right she should have been, but even Varus had his limits, and he wasn't quite sure what else he was supposed to do in pursuit of a simple stone that had taken him hours to find in the first place. He wasn't allowed to use the force, which was a rule he'd yet to really break directly. She was much more nimble and much quicker than the man who was about twice her size, and so speed was not his ally. Knowing all of these things, Varus tried to use power to his advantage, pushing himself to his absolute limit as he tried to swat the fly that had been Corvus during this portion of training, and to no avail.

He snatched for her wrists and the rock, coming up empty handed, and furthermore he had attempted to tackle or throw the woman off balance, knowing that this wasn't the right approach either. He could actually see that unsatisfied look in the woman's eye. He could almost taste disappointment rolling off of her bare skin, which was driving him mad. What else was he supposed to do? Smooth talk the rock from her hands? Could it be so simple as to entrance the woman with boring conversation?

Of course not.

"What would you have me do?!", Varus yelled at the woman, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists in sheer frustration as he watched her, standing there taunting him with that dammed stone he didn't want to begin with. "I can tell I'm not meeting your expectations, but what I can't understand is how I'm supposed to when you give me nothing but disapproving glances and silence.", he explained as his chest heaved in great, deep breaths, more from anger than exhaustion.

"I might never be the Jedi I'm expected to be. I might never learn this form of martial art because I can't comply with these ridiculous methods, but I'll run myself ragged and not stomp until I break my bones if you're ready to go a couple days, because the one thing I do have is determination.", he said, eyes narrowing on the woman as he darted towards her, swinging an overhanded right at her and missing by a mile as his entire arm sank into the midsection of a tree, which snapped in half in one swing and toppled over into the forest.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

She had warned him to be patient. She had warned him some of the training methods were not standard-Jedi fare. But she had underestimated how frustrating the techniques she was employing were.

She allowed him to vent – she owed him that much. And when he’d finished, she gave a few seconds of silence the time to breathe before responding.

“Be patient. It’s essential as a Jedi and it’s essential for Teräs Käsi. You need to be tired and calm for this training to work properly. It’s a big ask I know, and you can’t use the Force to help you. There will be times when you can’t use the Force, you’ll be tired and up against a Sith. All that will keep you alive will be this martial art and a clear head. A calm head. A patient head. It’s designed to be used against Force Users. All that emotion and passion? A Sith would eat and drink it and use it against you. You know this to be true.”

“Forget the rock,” Corvus allowed it to drop to the ground, then bent down and picked it up again. She handed it to him. “Keep it, as a reminder. If you find your anger getting in the way, hold it in your hand.”

“Regardless, we are ready for your training to begin now. What has gone before was simply the warm-up – and don’t worry, no more games. From now on we focus on Teräs Käsi itself. Are you ready?”

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus narrowed his eyes on the woman as he watched her, standing there looking as confused as he ever had, trying to understand all of this. He watched her with those narrowed, icy was as he began to shake his head back and forth before finally saying, "What?"

It wasn't really a question that he meant to be answered. He didn't expect her to expound upon what had just happened or what she'd just tried to explain to him, but he couldn't withhold the word none the less. He was confused, and though he wanted to understand, he knew that if she tried to explain it he would only end up being driven further into confusion or simply become even more frustrated when he realized everything.

"What, for the sake of the force, have we even been doing?", he asked, this time not caring if she answered or not. "We're ready for the training to begin? You said that HOURS ago.", he said a little more forcefully, his eyes now beaming.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled. "For the training to be truly effective you need to be physically and mentally tired. That is the way of the training. It is a complex and detailed martial art - not a lesson in kick-boxing. Once you believe you are calm, we can proceed."

She walked over to a clearing as she spoke. Here various apparatus was set up, including mannequins and various contraptions, including parallel walls some six-feet high.

"OK, calm yourself and once ready, punch the dummy," she indicated the first of the mannequins.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus rolled his bottom lip into his mouth and bit down gently as the muscles in his jaw tightened and showed visible frustration. He had already reached his limit with Corvus, yet for some reason he hadn't exploded on her entirely and said or done something that he would regret. For the life of him he couldn't understand why or what was keeping him civil, but it didn't change the fact that he was outright exhausted of this so called training.

His clothing was soaked and his body was aching in ways that he hadn't ached since the first week he'd been at the academy and he put himself to work. He was tired and stressed out, and most of all, he had little patience left for all of this, but still he complied. In fact, he forced himself to comply with her wishes whether or not he wanted to yell or scream or beat the ground beneath his feet. After all, it would only do to drive him further from his task at hand.

Sighing as he let his head dip down for a moment, Varus finally turned and started off towards Corvus, meandering like a tired drunk, shoulders slumped as one of his hands raised up and began to rub his sore neck. When he reached the mannequin he stopped, rolled his shoulders back and pulled his head up. He then reached up and pulled the sopping wet shirt over his head and down either arm before bundling it up and tossing it aside. The soaking cloth clopped as it struck the ground, another sigh leaving the young Jedi Knight as he leaned back and pressed against his lower back, a few pops reverberating through his body before he straightened back up, raised either of his hands and threw his clutched right hand at the intended target.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus nodded at his first effort. With a move that most likely could not be seen by anyone not gifted with the Force, her right hand snaked out and punched through the dummy. Quite literally. There was a gaping hole now where the figure used to have a chest, approximately where the heart would be.

She showed him her hand. Her fingers were erect and straight, with the upper most knuckles curled. His palm was flat and protruding with her thumb in alignment with the other fingers.

"You hit anyone with this - I guarantee you that it will hurt them to the point that you will either break bones or take a life. Hit that dummy with a steel hand." She repeated her punch in slow motion. "Extend your arm out, and use your triceps and biceps to jolt your arm forward at the last moment, lunging your forearm and ultimately your palm forward. Smack them hard enough to break their bones. Now go hit the next dummy. And keep hitting it. For hours if you have to."

"It's about speed and power. Neither is more important. You need both."

Spoiler

LOL

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus watched the woman, eyes furrowing a bit as he watched her hand dart through the mannequin. He was surprised by the effectiveness of the strike, though from what he could see, this art relied much more on speed and technique than it did power. He also felt a little put off by her display, as if she were making light of his abilities, though in the back of his mind he knew that this was not her intention. Varus was hard headed and willingly blinded himself sometimes to brighter truths, the way most people seemed to when they had already made up their minds about something. It was just the way he was, and unfortunately it had been hard for him to make the adjustments necessary to become not only a better Jedi, but a better man.

Change was difficult for him, but he really was trying, yet it was moments like those that tended to set him back. He chose to make her demonstration out to be almost an insult in his mind, and instead of addressing such issues, he fired back like a kid who'd bee punched in the mouth. He didn't like being shown up or undermined, which was why when she stepped away from the mannequin and instructed him to move on to the next he stood firmly in his place, raised both arms and swung them at the head with open palms.

A massive crack, made louder by the clap of his hands connecting together, snapped through the air as splinters and shards of wood darted in all directions, his arms lowering to either side before turning and glancing over his shoulder at Corvus. "I break skulls, and no one lives through that.", he said, a smirk on his lips and a cock to his head as he turned and stepped over to the next mannequin. He stopped in front of it, glanced down at his open hand and curled the tips of his fingers in. He then carefully tucked his thumb in against his palm and took a stable stance, slowly raring back and using all of his speed and what technique he'd managed to absorb up to that point to strike it. It didn't feel very good against his knuckles, which weren't used to that kind of punishment, but on his first strike he noticed a crack.

He smiled lightly for but a moment, but then realized that it would take much longer for him to get from the chest to the back, and his hands weren't going to be the same when he was done...

Spoiler

-smirks-

Please...

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

This time there was no smile and Corvus stood there looking at the Jedi Knight. "Knight Shatterstar," she said, emphasising what she was thinking.

"Arguably our most advanced Knight. But yet a Knight. I'm...no, I'm not going to play a game where I ask you why you think that is and then later tell you what I think. I'll start by saying what's on my mind."

"Your abilities are not in question. Your bravery and selflessness are also, beyond reproach. What holds you back, what stops the Masters conferring on you that very title? The first line of the Code. Emotion, yet peace. And the third line too. Passion, yet serenity. I could go on but do not need to."

"You have it in you to be a Master. Tomorrow in fact - in my opinion. But these...displays? Do you really think I'm against you? Because that's how you make me feel. I am training you in something I have never shown anyone else. I believe in you."

"Perhaps you have to believe in yourself?" She stepped back and indicated the mannequin. "Carry on...Oh, and it's easier to duck than move your entire body..."

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus didn't turn around as Corvus spoke. He simply stood there in front of that faceless, over sized toy while she accurately picked him apart. It was hard to listen to, but what choice did he have? He was the student, after all. Not the teacher. Never the teacher, if he had been given the choice, but the young were bold and resilient. He'd been broken down by students that had either moved on or disappeared without another word. Such was the life of the selfish man doomed to be alone.

"I'm sorry.", he said as he reached out and rested one of his sore hands on the shoulder of the mannequin. "Of course I don't think that you are against me.", he further admitted as he dipped his head and sighed, tired eyes coming to a close as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose with his other hand. "...but... I didn't ask for this."

"A few years ago when Kian found a drunk kid on Coruscant nearing the end of corners he could hide in, I didn't ask to be saved or preserved for a different purpose. That was offered to me, and I accepted with promise that I could help people.", he told her, raising his head back up while his thumb and index finger separated from the bridge and began to rub against his still closed eyes.

"I might have made it a little longer on my own, or perhaps not, but becoming a Jedi was never a desire of mine. I didn't dream of it as a child. I didn't imagine myself layered in brown and black holding a lightsaber like I'm sure many children do. I just wanted... family. Something... rather than the great big nothing my parents left me." Finally he opened his eyes against and cast those always resilient blue eyes towards Corvus as he completed what he'd had to say.

"I never intended to become a Master, Corvus... I just figured I'd learn enough to save a few lives, and when the time was right, I'd die swinging a pair of blades into countless unnamed Sith. A Jedi time bomb...", he whispered, laughing under his breath at what seemed like a joke, despite it's melancholy undertone.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]