Hero's Might

[Riamah]

The former Sith Lord probably wasn't the best person to have training Padawans, but somehow she found herself doing just that. Maybe things would go well, but she doubted that. These were going to be kids she dealt with today. Hopefully they all knew the hilt from the blade. If not then, they had some learning to do and she would teach them. Come hell or high water, she would see this class through to the end. Children or not, these people would leave her class knowing how to fight.

In her mind, the only way to learn was with real weapons. Sadly the Silvers rather frowned on that. So any sparring that might happen would need to be done with training sabers. Making sure there were several different styles of saber, she now waited for the students to start trickling in.

She wore her red hair pulled back into a tail like she used to wear years ago. Her eyes glowed a natural and not evil yellow due to her race and nothing else. While she could easily tap into her emotions and use them for the Dark Side, she thought it was in her past and no longer a threat. Having always kept a tight rein on her emotions, it was probably one reason why she made such a poor sith. At least that is what she assumed. A failure as a Sith and not yet quite a Jedi. This training session would be as much for her as it was for the kids.

For a woman that had yet to take on a student in any official capacity, she was opening the door to many. Wearing clothes that were form fitting, she could still move freely in them. Colors were muted and rather earth tone than the black she would have picked at one point.

On the chance these kids brought their weapons, she wasn't without her own. A double-bladed lightsaber hilt hung at her hip, up her sleeves and hidden were two short saber hilts and two generic knives were secreted in her boots. Ra was far from helpless and prepared to fight for real of that was needed.

Stretching a little, she waited for what was called the Paddy Pack to start coming in...

 

[Vera Tosa]

Only hours after she had been given her bunk as a Padawan, Vera had already snuck away from her minder and was eagerly seeking the training halls. She'd only dropped off her meager belongings, and had not yet even changed into her Padawan's robes, which meant that the Togruta girl was an oddity among the multitude of robed younglings milling about the academy. Not that she minded. No matter what she looked like, she knew that as long as she looked like she knew where she was going nobody would think twice.

So the Padawan jogged through the main concourse, through buildings, and around large gardens, marveling at the sight of such a strange and magnificent campus in the middle of the otherwise vine-choked planet. Eventually she meandered her way to the training rooms, spotting an older woman who looked like she was waiting for someone. Immediately she decided to take the chance. If this was a class, she was absolutely going to attend.

Vera jogged in through the door and offered a clumsy bow to [member="Riamah"], managing to look embarrassed enough to pass for a proper student. "I'm sorry, Master. I hope I'm not late!"

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie came into the room wearing a white shirt, brown pants, and boots. The Padawan usually didn't wear his Jedi robes execpt on special occasions, so he usually never looked the part of a Jedi Padawan. He was carrying a metal staff and had a lightsaber resting on his belt. When he came in he heard [member="Vera Tosa"], a Padawan he's never seen before, apologizing to the instructor of the class. She reminded Reggie of when he had first became a Padawan, always running to his classes, worried that he'd be late.

Reggie waited for the [member="Riamah"] to respond to the other Padawan before bowing himself. "Greetings Master, it's nice to meet you. I look forward to learning under you today." As the Padawan examined their instructor, he noticed the double-bladed lightsaber that hung from her hip and also noticed the glow of yellow in her eyes. Reggie came here to train and also help if he needed to. Josh had taught him much since he was taken under the Jedi Master's wing and enjoyed training with his teacher. Even so, the Padwan still liked to attend other training classes if he could. It helped him learn different methods and perspectives that everyone had.

 

[Acaadi]

"Come ooon," Acaadi encouraged. He was walking backwards, using the Force to make sure he didn't embarrass himself by slamming into a wall.

Acaadi didn't know what the cause of the reluctance was on [member="Kyra Perl"] 's part. Perhaps she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Acaadi didn't understand her all that well. He was coming to realise that he wasn't that good at understanding what people were thinking.

No one had mentioned the master's past with the dark side or else he would have suspected that was the source of Kyra dragging her heels.

"Look, we'll go into town after. Remember I've got the airspeeder for a week? But no running off this time. I cannot explain how awkward it was trying to lie to your sister and her Jedi friends on Bespin!"

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Saber training was something Milla had been looking forward to for sometime. Sure she knew a little bit of saber combat from fighting training droids and by imitating Masters and Knights. Today was different, she'd be training in an actual class. A class she was eager to get to.

She wore brown cargo shorts and a black tshirt, since she found her padawan robes to annoying to wear most of the time. Small metal bands adorned both her horns and her tail. As per normal, shoes were ever absent.

Milla rounded a corner at high speed, bare feet sliding across the smooth floor, and almost straight into [member="Acaadi"]. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him, well his back anyway. Instinctively her tail swung to the side and she shifted her body to pivot the opposite direction. The small girl barely avoided the Mirilian before losing her footing. She landed on her butt and slide a few feet before coming to a stop.

She gave [member="Acaadi"] and [member="Kyra Perl"] a sheepish grin. "S...sorry."

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra shuffled her feet, Acaadi's hand draaaaagging her unwillingly forward.

"You're the one that didn't listen to instructions. I specifically told you to stay away from pink people." Lies. But that hardly mattered, he shoulda known better! Still, his bribes reached her. She eyed him, summing him up as her feet picking up off the ground a little more. "You'll really take me? For reals?"

She may or may not have scored an emergency credit card from her mother. Being a padawan with no funds was seriously detrimental. Especially when you were the only one around actually sticking to assigned padawan wear.

She yelped a little as she was bumped into, but quickly shook her head at Milla in dismissal. "Ahhh, see! Not even she's wearing her robes! Did you get those in town? We are so going into town. I can't walk in these!" She kicked her feet about dramatically as she walked, the robe catching inside her legs as she moved with them. "We don't need lessons, we need better clothing. Any sith will slaughter us silly if we go about tripping around them in these things," she declared, her voice ringing out as she walked into the classroom with the others.

Notably, Acaadi was no longer dragging her. But her hand self-consciously pulled the robe over her waistline, blocking view of the training saber beneath.

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura had followed behind [member="Reggie Faayare"] examining the new lightsaber that currently rested in her arm. Yeah, anything Lervonian seemed to be out of the ordinary. She quickly drew the saber back in when she noticed a new Padawan though, and slider herself to put Reggie between her and them. It wasn't that she somehow hated a Padawan she had never met, but she was just nervous around the newcomer. She looked over to the master teaching the lesson though, [member="Riamah"] , and quickly picked up on something. She didn't look like a Jedi, or at least most Jedi that Ura had seen. The Force around her was... different. She gave the Riamah a nod before looking at Reggie again quietly.

[member="Milla Caranthyr"] [member="Acaadi"] [member="Vera Tosa"]

 

[Acaadi]

"I don't really remember that warning. I do remember you vanishing into the crowd about three seconds after we arrived," he said with a grin. Even if he hadn't given the game away to her sister he wouldn't have held it against her. He had been desperately trying to tag along and Kyra had clearly needed to blow off steam.

Acaadi rolled his eyes when she returned to clothes. He deliberately turned his head so that the young girl who had slipped up did not think that it was aimed at her.

"Don't worry about it," he told Milla. He decided that by the time he walked up to offer a hand the agile young padawan would have already found her feet. "Quite an impressive slide."

He stepped into the training hall with Kyra seemingly given up on the fight. Having a rental airspeeder for the week meant that he could get from silver rest. It was quite a boon for his popularity too.

"You know it's a wookie city right? They all are. Won't have many clothes shops at all. Because..."

Didn't need to reiterate that wookies did not need clothing. Acaadi didn't recognise the teacher. A flame-haired woman wearing form-fitting clothes waited for them. That was his teacher crush for the term sorted out.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie looked [member="Ura Iolar"] who was behind him, smiling to reassure her. He used the force to speak to his friend, knowing that it was probably their preferred way of communicating. "No need to be nervous Ura, we're among our peers." The Padawan knew that him saying that probably wouldn't help, so he moved to change the subject in hopes of making his friend less nervous. "So how does it feel to have your very own lightsaber?"

The Padawan looked towards the entrance when [member="Acaadi"] appeared. "Acaadi! It's nice to see you my friend." It was good to see the other Padawan, especially since the last time they talked was when they were in a dire situation with the other Padawans. Reggie awaited for others to enter the room behind Acaadi, noticing that he was talking with someone else.

[member="Riamah"] | [member="Kyra Perl"] | [member="Milla Caranthyr"] | [member="Vera Tosa"]

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura looked over the [member="Reggie Faayare"] , a happiness bleeding off her when she heard him say she was among peers. It didn't help her nerves, but it was good to hear. Yes, she wanted to introduce herself to [member="Vera Tosa"] , but at the same time she was too nervous too. He then asked how the Lervon felt about her lightsaber. She lifted her right arm some, bringing the weapon to the surface of her arm. She looked at the weapon, nodding a little.

"It's great. Very... cool?" It was then the the Lervon noticed [member="Acaadi"] and [member="Kyra Perl"] walk in. If she could smile, she would, but she soon spoke up. "Hey Kyra. Hey Velsure" Ura chuckled just a little at calling Acaadi "Velsure," the closest she could get to the Lerdos word for "Twin" that a basic speaker could easily pronounce. Given their little misadventure, she just found it kind of funny to use as a nickname from time to time. She honestly didn't know if Acaadi found it funny or not, but he hadn't said anything yet. She then looked at Kyra, tilting her head.

"Why do you look like someone dragged you here?"

[member="Milla Caranthyr"] [member="Riamah"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra expression collapsed at the realization that wookies didn't wear clothing. They were essentially nude.

All the time.

She gave Ura the most forlorn glance as her friend greeted her. Why does it look like someone dragged her in here?

"Because someone did..."

The forlorn glance tore to Acaadi, the girl threatening immanent payback with merely a glance.

"Heeeey, Reggie," she cooed softly, her tone not yet recovered. She shuffled her feet, hopes dashed. Dreams scattered. Clothes unbought. Her gaze fell to their suspected teacher, who was also not wearing jedi robes. Kyra made a noise of distress, the force around the little empath growing stale and sad.

"Life is cruel."

 

[Riamah]

While it was far more common for Jedi to wear robes, it wasn't something Ra had ever done. Then again, this isn't what she started as. Come to think of it, she didn't even own a garment that was even remotely similar to what these people were expected to wear.

It wasn't very long since Ra opened the door that people started trickling in. The first was a Togruta girl, followed by a Human teen, then a Mirilian. The next wasn't any race she was familiar with, but she nodded to each of them as they entered. Not yet speaking as she heard more were on their way, she took a breath. This was going to be a lot more interesting than she had previously expected. Lastly came a Zeltron and another type of being she didn't recognize.

Once everybody was in the room, she started walking among them. Each of them was looked up and down and met in the eye, if they looked at her. Being pretty sure the sight of two glowing yellow eyes was going to throw them off, she felt that using a touch of intimidation would get this shindig started. Once she finished her rounds, she returned to her starting point and looked again across the teens.

"I am Ra'a'mah. Just call me Ra though. Makes things easier. No need for that master stuff."

She waited until the children stopped talking amongst each other before speaking. It didn't matter to her what the students were wearing.

"What do each of you know or not about lightsaber combat?"

[member="Kyra Perl"] [member="Ura Iolar"] [member="Reggie Faayare"] @Acaadi @Milla Caranthyr [member="Vera Tosa"]

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla gave a small sigh of relief. Not only was [member="Acaadi"] not upset with her, but he complemented her slide around the corner. Her smile widened as she thanked. Then, once again, she was on her feet and darting off to class. Scooting inside, she quickly found a place to sit.

Ra'a'mah, or Ra as she preferred to be called, made her rounds and introduced herself. The whole time Milla kept her eyes locked on Ra's yellow ones. When she asked what everyone knew or didn't know about lightsaber combat, Milla almost froze. There was a lot she didn't know and what she did was very little. She hesitated a little before throwing out something she once heard before. "It's almost as much luck as it is skill?"

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Acaadi]

"A year of studying the basics," he replied. It was an honest answer. He was actually one of the best in his class and had taken well to it. He just could not bear another eyeroll from Kyra for 'bragging'.

Acaadi wasn't used to the way she was running this class. The marching down the line and trying to stare into their souls was an intimidation tactic used more in the military. Or at least he assumed it was. He had always assumed the military was for people who didn't do well enough in their classes. However, having her stand up close and meet his gaze probably didn't have quite the effect she had intended.

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura seemed a bit worried as [member="Riamah"] began to circle her. Her nervousness may have gotten better over time, but this was way different. She was very nervous all this. Just how closely Ra was looking at her. Ura looked to [member="Reggie Faayare"] , [member="Kyra Perl"] , and [member="Acaadi"] , clearly trying to get a bit calmer. after watching Ra walk around, she finally spoke, and asked what kind of training everyone had. The Lervon thought back to what she knew, closing her eyes for a second. She then spoke with her monotone voice, but her nervousness could be felt.

"I have Yurbian militia training, but.... Very limited lightsaber training."

[member="Milla Caranthyr"] [member="Vera Tosa"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra held their new instructor's gaze, curiosity bubbling through a wall of confidence. Questions gathered in the corner of Kyra's lips, catching in the upward quirk that held them back.

Kyra might be brash, but she had enough sense not to steam wall a classroom with her antics just yet. Master Lex's class was a different story all together.

She shot Ura a cheery thumbs up once Ra walked past her, trying to sooth her friend's nerves when the owner of the yellow eyes was turned away. One by one her classmates were addressed. Then one by one they answered the simple question. Kyra conveniently bent down to retie her totally-not-as-cool-as-combat-boots shoes, dodging the question all together.

She stood up once it seemed the moment had moved on, the girl blowing a strand of hair from her face and occupying herself by trying to tuck it back into her braid. Master Yuroic would be disappointed to witness her lack of attention being paid to the class, but for the others, the girl seemed as spacey as ever. If not just a touch more quiet than they were use to. She frowned down at her robes, wooshing to see just what movements made them really catch between her legs.


[member="Reggie Faayare"] [member="Ura Iolar"] [member="Acaadi"] [member="Riamah"] [member="Milla Caranthyr"]

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie didn't avert his eyes from [member="Riamah"]'s, which allowed him to notice how unique her eyes were. Yellow eyes wasn't something you see everyday after all. The Padawan was also curious to see how the class would go considering how the instructor decided to start the class. This was an intimidation technique, or at least thats what he thought. What kind of background do you have to start out this way Ra? His curiosity was piqued and he looked forward to learning not just lightsaber combat, but also about the person teaching the Padawans.

Reggie took a few seconds to think on the question asked, deciding to speak after a few of the others gave their answer. "I know that there are different lightsaber forms that are efficient in different situations and that one form can suit a practitioner more than others. I also know that Lightsaber combat can be quick and deadly, one mistake easily deciding the outcome of a match."

[member="Kyra Perl"] | [member="Ura Iolar"] | [member="Milla Caranthyr"] | [member="Acaadi"] |[member="Riamah"] | [member="Vera Tosa"]

 

[Riamah]

The former Sith and not quite Jedi listened to the answer given to her by the students that had shown up.

"It can be luck as much as skill if you are not entirely familiar or confident in what you're doing. In learning about lightsaber combat, one must take into consideration what knowledge your opponent might have. Start with the basics, learn and understand the core of all the Forms and grow from there."

For the fist time in the short amount of time since the class began, Ra's tone and demeanour changed. No longer was she the intimidating fool trying to scare some sense into these kids. She had taken on the tone of a proper instructor and still walked about the room as she spoke.

When she came to a stop, it was next to one of the stands that held training sabers. Picking one of them up, she held onto it and took up what should be a familiar stance to these teens.

"We all start somewhere and now I have a better idea of where all of your skills rest, we can begin."

One girl had not answered and her standing up from tying her shoe, brought the attention of Ra to her. Pointing the tip of the saber at Kyra, there was a bit of a smile on her face.

"What do you know, young one?"

Apparently these children didn't learn at the same time or pace. This was something Ra would have to overcome and try to guide them all in a manner where each of them learned something new.


[member="Reggie Faayare"] [member="Kyra Perl"] [member="Ura Iolar"] [member="Acaadi"] [member="[member="Milla Caranthyr"]"] [member="Vera Tosa"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's gaze flickered up from her robes as she swooshed them around her feet, a tinge of red coloring her cheeks at the question. "...Shii-Cho," she mumbled, barely audible. It was the basic of basic forms-- the very core of building blocks for saber play. Kyra failed to hear everyone else confess they too had limited knowledge. Ria's reassurances that they all had to start from somewhere had fallen on deaf ears.

What did it matter what they said when she was behind.

She tried to cover the hilt of her training saber from view, her gaze falling to the tip of the saber Riamah held pointed at her.

"But I've been practicing all types for years! I'm not some newb!" ...Really not helping her case there. Kyra puffed her cheeks out at Riamah defiantly.

 

[Acaadi]

"Some newb?" Acaadi muttered as quietly as possible from beside her. "Tone it down Kyra..."

He had to overcome his nerves to just try and whisper to her. Their new teacher was downright intimidating. Also hot. The shift of her demeanour into more blunt and to the point took the edge off a little. He could deal with pragmatic.

Acaadi had come to the academy later than most students. His parents had a local Jedi spend some time with him before that once he had been found force sensitive. None of those lessons had involved the lightsaber.

He was focused and balanced with the saber. Or at least he had been. Having shot up in the last year he had become prone to tripping over his own limbs, which was remarkably frustrating.