Private It's been too long, let's fight!

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

After checking out Zinder's summer event and getting unfortunately stood up by her date there. Lily had thrown herself more into sparring and training, figuring it was a sign of the galaxy to focus up and keep pushing herself to achieve Knighthood.

However, something lingered in her mind. She had seen Shan on the app. Which seemed strange since he had been in a seemingly committed relationship with Colette from what she saw at his Knighting ceremony. It had been sweet that her first two friends in the Jedi Order independently found each other and fell in love. But clearly something had happened. Which saddened Lily, and she realised how long it had been since she sat down and had food with Colette when they had both just started as Padawans. This solidified the issue in her mind.

She needed to catch up with Colette. And best way to catch up was to spar.

Sending an invite to Jakku and to spar with Lily, she hoped her old friend would take her up on the offer. Especially since she was keen to train and catch up with Colette. See what her friend was up to and how she was finding life as a Jedi Padawan much further down the line. She had also heard that Colette had been adopted by the Nobles which was significant as well. She hoped that things were going well for Colette and was curious if her friend would be close to becoming a Jedi Knight herself. There was a lot that Lily was interested in knowing but she didn't want to bombard Colette with questions so she decided to just focus on getting in the mindset for a spar.

Stretching her muscles and limbs deeply as she grunted, waiting to see if Colette would turn up.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

It was good to reconnect with the people she had lost touch with. Colette hadn't exactly meant to, but a life on the sidelines had a way of conditioning you to keep people at a distance. When the opportunity came up to see each other again there was a hint of guilt that then quickly faded into regret.

Oh well, it was a good thing then that they were meeting up again. Colette had also never been to Jakku which in itself made for a good time to head there. She had heard it was very similar to her home, but different.

And that was not an understatement. The warm desert wind brought a familiar breeze, the sweat that began to coat her skin almost immediately was enough to call forth a dozen different memories of evenings spent cooling down around the evening's campfire.

It… Took a while to find Lily. Not because of the actual layout of the facility but because of the lingering memories.

"Hey!" She called out and waved. "There you are."

"It's been a while, and when you called I figured… You know."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

As soon as she saw her friend, Lily rushed over and gave Colette a hug. So glad to see her friend again and excited for the chance to finally catch up properly.

"It has been too long! Gotta promise to not to wait so long to meet up again!" Lily stated firmly.

She took Colette's hand and led the way to the training rooms. "How have things been?" Lily held back mentioning anything about Shan, refusing to sour the mood that she had in seeing her friend. Turning around and walking backwards, looking over to Colette, "think you can keep up with me?" Lily asked with a confident tone to her voice.

She felt sure in her skills, she was a fighter by nature and since they last talked, Lily had spent it training, improving her skills, fitness and becoming the absolute strongest, best version of herself as a fighter.

Entering the training room, she pulled the wooden sword into her hand and twirling around, breathing in deeply. "First to 5 points?"

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

A small breath was knocked out of Colette's lungs as she caught the impact of the hug and slowly returned it albeit with far less enthusiasm. She wasn't a big hugger, and while she enjoyed being close to people it just didn't come naturally to her.

"They've been good…" She said through an awkward chuckle. "And I don't think I can keep up with you," A mischievous grin spread on her lips. "I know I can keep up with you."

Lily might have bulked up more than her, but Colette had most certainly not been particularly idle either. If more was more, then Colette was simply the classic 'less is more'. She focused on mobility and control more than anything: agility over sheer strength. If a fight was a war of attrition then she strove to be the most endurable that she could be.

The sword she put in her hand got no fancy twirl or fanciful gesture. Colette simply assumed the stance and looked over at her opponent with a courteous bow of her head.

"You aren't about to flip around, do some 'fourth form' moves, are you?" She chuckled. "Don't know how many times Valery has tried that by now."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

"Glad to hear it!" Lily mentioned earnestly, she was pleased to see that her friend was doing well. "Ooooo, fighting words. I am keen to see how far you have come along then!" Lily stated with a grin, she was always ready for a fight and she was always ready to demonstrate why she was aiming to become the greatest Jedi warrior of their generation.

Her eyes studied the way Colette's body sunk into the stance, in how it fell into place and what Lily needed to be cautious of. There was certainly power in Colette's body and she was definitely interested in seeing how Colette used that power now. She chuckled when Colette mentioned flipping around in Ataru tradition. "Not right off the bat." Hinting she still might use the Form later in the spar.

She was interested in how Colette would be since she trained under Valery, someone considered one of the best fighters in the Order, Lily was interested in seeing how her skills would compete against that training.

Shifting into her Djem So stance, she moved forward and started moving in with aggressive, strong slashes. Utilising her strength and power to overwhelm Colette.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Colette wasn't exactly striving to be a good fighter, but it would still seem that despite the fact that she had been adopted she was still her mother's daughter. Valery was a fighter and she had imparted much of the same mindset that she had on Colette.

Lily sprung into action and Colette responded. A few things would become apparent rather fast:
1. Colette moved around a lot but always kept her feet to the ground.
2. She only caught an attack when she had to. If their sabers locked, Lily would have a clear upper hand.
3. Her responses were very measured and succinct, if not outright nonexistent.

Was that a mental thing? Was that a principle thing? Lily was the one who was rather obviously the stronger of the two. A lot of the exercise that Colette focused her spare time on was about staying mobile or overcoming things in any given direction. Obstacle courses, climbing, or just straight up running laps around the temple when she got bored. She endured the attacks, because that was what she had taught herself.

Lily was the mountain, she was a climber.

"Not saying you were scrawny before, but…" Colette chuckled after a particularly intense set of attacks and refocused herself. "You've certainly come a long way since then."

Colette's turn to attack was a lot more about death from a thousand papercuts. She utilized fast, precise, and most importantly simple attacks that barely used any of her energy reserves.

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

Noting that Colette's feet never left the ground gave Lily an idea in how to truly test the defence of her friend. She was also acutely aware of the speed and nimbleness that her friend was displaying. Lily was raw power in a lot of ways and had bulked up a lot since she joined the Jedi, but she was deceptive quick and agile on her feet as well. Using her skills as an Echani, Lily was blocking the fast and sharp cuts that Colette attempted to strike her with.

Lily utilised Makashi, the duelling stance of the Jedi. Letting her blade guide her around and not wasting energy with hard blocks but using parries and counters to strike back at Colette. Her strikes would aim for the feet and legs, see how Colette would react to being attacked where she was grounding herself the most. It was likely a ploy, Lily would ensure her opponent saw what she assumed was a weakness and exploit the drawing in, but this was a spar for catching back up and she wasn't feeling the need to be as caution.

It would also inform Lily plenty on her friend. If the attacks worked, then Lily found a weakness, if it was a trick, then she figured out the deceptive moments of Colette to avoid it in the future.

"Train 6 hours a day, every day. A mixture of combat, survival and agility. Then I study in the library. After showering of course." Lily added the showering portion to avoid anyone suspecting her be a sweaty smelly mess in the library, she dreaded such an idea. "But you gotten stronger yourself. Impressive." She grinned, slightly flirty but also glad to see her friend growing in strength.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

It wasn't that Colette was or wasn't following a lightsaber stance as much as she liked to call herself formless on principle. Makashi, Ataru, were convenient things to broadcast what was on your mind and what you were planning. At a very crude level, a lightsaber was just a weapon — or tool, if you asked someone more pompous.

Lily would find that while Colette wasn't an expert in any one particular form she was familiar with most of them. Having a renowned fighter as master was, after all, bound to teach you a hard lesson or two. So when Lily went for agility, Colette switched over to bruteforce to strike as close to the base of her opponent's lightsaber as possible.

"Only six, huh?" She grinned and dodged an attack. "Thanks, but I think anything other than the skinny little girl on that bus we met on would have been an improvement."

Eventually Lily would land a lucky hit on Colette's midriff and she would give the echani a well-deserved bow of respect over it before they separated to catch their breaths. She withdrew the canteen that always clung to her belt and took a quick sip and a deep breath before she put it back again.

"I've been running errands for the Order while everyone else has been at the fronts." She said and stretched just a little more. "I'm not a killer, and someone needs to make sure everything at home is running safe and sound."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

The unique approach to Colette's fighting style was something that Lily could admire, there was something impressive about being fluid and not sticking to a single style or set of moves. Lily never saw the forms as something that had to be rigid or a strict routine. There was a lot of fluidity and style to them. To use the certain set of moves or style of fighting during certain points of a fight when you deem them needed. She tended to add Echani martial arts during fights. It was a way to test how strong a Jedi could fight and keep her connected to her culture.

"Do you train more than six?" Lily raised an eyebrow with a giggle, enjoying the flow of combat and moving around. When she landed her blow, Lily bowed in respect back to Colette, it was a good first round and it taught Lily plenty about what she needed to be on the look out for. She used the Force and pulled the water bottle she had on a bench into her hand, drinking from the bottle deeply. It had been a good fight and with the heat of Jakku, it was easy to work up a sweat.

Nodding her head, "we don't fight to be killers or to kill." Lily mentioned. She didn't think that Colette was calling them killers in a mean or cruel way, but Lily had never wanted to harm others, she fought to protect those who need her help. "For me, killing is a last resort. I disarm, I attempt to disable an opponent so that they cannot go on to cause harm."

Lily shrugged her shoulders, "but we do need people back. Keeping the peace and preserving the things we fight for." Lily mentioned, not admonishing the duties that Colette was taking on. They were equally just as impressive.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

They could tell themselves that they were practicing to disarm or disable, but at the end of the day a lightsaber was meant to cut and carve. When applied to something as weak as flesh or metal it mattered very little if that death was physical or metaphorical. In some cases death was even a more merciful fate than something such as losing a limb or usage of an organ.

"I'm just saying that maybe in battle, you know, it won't matter what your principles are if the easiest path to a goal is to go through someone else." Colette offered back with a shrug. "We have to keep our ideals, but… We also have to be real. We fight to be killers, but we are only killers when we have to be. There's nothing wrong with that."

And then they went back to sparring again. The wooden swords clunked and clanked at one another until eventually they reached another stalemate and Colette would bow out and get herself another sip of water.

"How are you doing with water?" Colette asked Lily and took another sip. "Can't imagine water is too common around here. Does the enclave have a moisture farm of its own around here somewhere?"

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

"Is an animal in the wild a killer when attacks those it deems threaten it's young? Are my people killers because we learn to fight to communicate?" Lily asked, there were differences and it was probably a poor argument from Lily but she was curious to learn more of Colette's views. "Killers is a charged word. A term used for people that end the lives of others without mercy, remorse or care." She felt the strength from the blows of Colette and the sharp movements that came from solid training.

When Colette bowed out during the stalemate, there was some frustration from Lily, she preferred having a win or lose result. But she accepted her friend wishing to stop and took another drink of her water to keep hydrated. She smiled over to Colette and nodded her head, "yeah, I've gotten used to figuring out how much more water I need to be drinking and making sure I am hydrated." Thinking on the moisture farm needs, Lily tilted her head, "I'm pretty sure there is one here. I know we have a healthy supply of water to ensure the enclave at maximum capacity would be supplied plenty."

It was something that was a little beyond her knowledge. She was a fighter through and through so attempting to learn about these other things was not always the easiest thing for her to do.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

"Yes, it's right there in the word." Colette shrugged, she seemed entirely unbothered by the 'charge' in the words. "No, to kill is to end a life. It's a simple thing. To have a whole group of people learn violence to 'speak' is still learning to kill. There's nothing bad about it. We sometimes kill to eat, to survive too. We just have the choice not to because our brains have taught us other ways to live off of the land."

Really, some parts of 'culture' was just overthinking it, which perhaps was what made it such a 'sapient' thing to do. An animal didn't consider the bigger picture. The question was never what to eat, but rather it was to consider if they can eat.

But, this discussion would lead nowhere. Colette was steadfast in her belief and nothing would really get her to change her mind on this. In many ways, just like an animal — or perhaps her adoptive mother — she too was as stubborn as a mule once she had set her mind on something.

"When I walked deserts like these, people would mark sources of water on maps. If anyone were heading that way they were obligated to bring equipment to install pumps, if they were available or take down those that had run dry." She smiled. "Used to be a struggle just to survive sometimes, but we knew those deserts like the back of our hands."

"Sometimes I feel like all of the galaxy would be better off if they got a chance to experience that struggle."

"You get over the petty bullshit real fast once you realize that your own survival depends on every single other person around you being in good spirits."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

Lily shook her head, disagreeing with Colette on this point, "it is a simplistic view, perhaps too simple. The galaxy is a place that lives in grey, stating things as you have, I fear that you are misunderstanding things. Especially when it comes to the Echani ways." While Echani knew how to kill, how to inflict lethal harm with their skills. The sparring and the moves she learned, they were not made to be lethal, they were not designed to inflict harm upon others. It was all about communication through body language, to speak and converse. Others saw it violently and aggressive but it was not.

"My people do not speak through violent acts, we speak in a manner that is just interpreted as violent by the rest of the galaxy. We spar, we duel but the intention is not to harm, it is to converse. However, our skills can be used for violence. But an Echani can live their lives on Eshan not saying a word of Basic, not having harmed a soul and yet you would label them a killer because they solely converse through sparring." The likelihood of it being the case was an extreme since most Echani had learned Basic but Lily wanted to point out that fighting and sparring in the manner she was raised in was not a path of violence or killers.

She chuckled deeply, "the desperate desires of survival can make people the most petty, the most violent towards one another. You can just as easily kill someone for the smallest slight against you whereas a life of comfort could make you more tolerant of such behaviours." Lily pointed out, there was no perfect way to live, at least in her mind. "No one deserves to be forced into hardships, we should all live lives we are comfortable and happy with. But the galaxy is no utopia and people will always suffer."

Setting her water bottle down once again, "though I am learning to adapt to rougher ways of living. Luxury is not something common at this enclave." Lily smirked, she was someone who came from great comforts and luxuries, Jakku was far from that. She twirled the sword in her hand once more and held a defensive stance, gesturing Colette to show Lily what she had.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

What was that saying, again? If everyone around you was the ones who misunderstood, then… ? To Colette it just seemed to be a big old case of that, mixed with a pessimistic view on how people would act in a dangerous situation. Lily was overthinking it all yet again and Colette had no real interest in waxing philosophy. It was a pointless waste of time in the end.

She had seen first hand what a society built on mutual survival meant, and all she had seen from the galaxy at large was a load of individualistic nonsense that encouraged people to put themselves above others with things such as money and favors. It made sense that Lily wouldn't see these things, she had grown up in that environment much like Colette had grown up in a society where ensuring your own survival over the group's survival was a good way to get yourself exiled into the wastes on your own.

There was never any importance in 'I', all that ever mattered was 'us'. But much like the pessimism that Colette would see in Lily, it would take a lot for Colette to realize that she held the exact same pessimism in reverse. Where she saw Lily as someone too blind to believe the objective truth that was Colette's way of life, Colette actively refused to believe in the galaxy that she had been forced to become part of ever since she had left.

All she saw was greed and lies. Two monumental pillars upon which a society of blind dreamers had been lulled to sleep by the false promise of one day being worthy of the clothes on their back.

But, that was not why they had met here today, and that was not why Lily entered a defensive stance at the end of both of their speeches. Colette assumed the role of aggressor and initiated a set of moves that targeted each of the Echani woman's limbs.

Colette had not let her opponent's previous frustration at the stalemate go unnoticed either. Lily wanted to win or lose, and Colette was more than willing to exploit that. This entire fight had become less about victory at this point and more about trying to see how far into Lily that she could push, and just how many stalemates that she could achieve before something either popped or cracked.

Something that was - rather obviously, and hopefully - not either of their bones.

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

It was clear that Colette was not seeking a change or willing to see the differing opinion that Lily was attempting to mention. She knew she was unlikely arguing her point the best, she was likely messing things up or not taking on board what Colette was stating. However, she didn't push her position, she had said the best she could to attempt to offer some insight that there is no perfect way of life. And that there were always going to be biases on the culture that raised us. Lily was bias to the fighting mentality and ways of life she knew on Eshan. So much so that she knew she always intended to raise her child purely Echani if she could.

Being the matriarch of the family was important to her.

When Colette decided to test how far Lily would push herself in order to win a fight, or at least avoid a stalemate, she would see that Lily had pushed her body to extremes. Her stamina was very high when it came to fighting, she adopted a blend of Soresu and Shii-Cho. The demonstration of defensive and disarming movements, ones that would not cause permanent or serious harm as strikes but would disable and ensure a duel between them would end in a victory. She was also focusing on purely Lightsaber techniques and demonstrating how versatile she had become, not using the Force yet. Partly because she favoured the physical elements of a duel but she also had the issue of use of the Force had not been something they agreed to use nor had they decided not to use it.

She did not wish to win with a dirty tactic. There was no honour in that and she would never guarantee that she could achieve a victory in a real fight through that method. It was better to stick to the sword and demonstrate her skills with that.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Honor was a fool's game. A fight was no less primal between two sapient creatures than it was between two wolves or two bears. It was a natural instinct that when suppressed marked the difference between someone who could think beyond their immediate needs and an animal. But, once things had reached the point where a fight was taking place there was no need to hold a single thing back or assume that the one you were fighting against would play to some kind of honor code.

Survival was all that mattered to Colette, and while this spar was far from as serious as the scenario she could be envisioning in her head, it would still ultimately serve to bolster the same impulse for her: to win, and in doing so; how to survive.

And no teacher was better for that than defeat.

"Ah!" Colette exclaimed and staggered back for a moment to grab at her nose. Whether by accident or purpose, a bad dodge on her end had let a firm strike with Lily's sword land at the very tip of her nose.

She wasn't even angry at it, but she did rub at it with a sullen frown. The kid had heard from others that she had a 'potent angry resting face'. Lily would catch a glimpse of it for a moment before Colette nodded her head again and gave Lily an impressed look.

"I'd say that's another win!" She said and smiled as a small drop of red emerged from her nose. "Dodging is fun, but there seems to be a time and place."

She limbered up again and got into stance.

"Again."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

For Lily, honour was everything. Fighting without it meant you were fighting for fighting sake. Ignoring the emotional dance that can connect two people within a sparring match. The intensity that lied there. Other sentient beings flirted, danced or talked while on romantic dates to build connections, Lily sparred, she gave her everything into a fight and she let the physical connection of a sparring match help engage the attraction between two people. She also felt it bonded people platonically as well.

When she was victorious again, she didn't show any obnoxious signs of her victory, just taking a drink of water. When Colette commented on dodging, "being mobile and knowing how to avoid strikes using the minimal amount of effort is key. Increases your stamina and ensures that you can survive a fight longer." For Lily, making sure one could outlast an opponent in a fight was massive, people tire and when they get tired, errors occur which gives you the advantage.

That was her belief at least.

It was time for Lily to demonstrate her true skills. Taking the stance of Vaapad, she breathed in deeply, taking in her emotions and shifted forward. Striking towards her opponent, Vaapad was her best Jedi combat form, she had taken the time to master it as much as she could as a Padawan. And she was going to demonstrate this to Colette, and see how Colette could handle that.

She was turning up the heat for sure.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Another step for step of dodges, ripostes and parries. Sometimes a mistake was just a mistake. There was something for Colette that made her feel like she was holding back but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. With Valery it was usually a lot more intense, but with this she was almost too relaxed. Did she not take it seriously?

That little trickle on Colette's nose continued as they fought, and at one point it was even wiped away without much of a comment after a dodge. Blood was blood, and this was hardly enough to warrant worry. A plug before the next round maybe, but not worth cancelling the round for.

Colette's attacks went for legs and arms, but eventually she changed her focus to striking the chest. There was a lot of different movements in there, never quite settling down on just the single one so that she could remain at least somewhat unpredictable.

The tally was, after all, not in Colette's favor.

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Jakku
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Wooden sword
Tag: Colette

Colette moved and Lily was reading every slight body language and movement, letting her body speak about her actions and where Colette was going to strike. There was only so many ways that the body could contort with the way that muscle and skin could stretch and twist, so where plenty of fighters would find Colette's attacks were unpredictable and formless, Lily found them creative and refreshing. It wasn't a bland, repetitive spar, there was emotion and story to the way that Colette was using her body to attack and strike.

Lily parried and countered, redirecting the energy that Colette was sending straight back to her, utilising the very best of Vaapad to ensure that her strikes and jabs the the chest were not connecting. "Got a focus on my chest, huh?" Lily chimed in a playful tone, just teasing her friend as they sparred. Allowing a levity to the spar since this wasn't meant to be super serious and Lily didn't want to gain a reputation for being overly extreme.

She started using kicks and trips to unsteady Colette on her feet.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

"It's a nice chest." Colette answered back with a grin. "Protects your heart."

Since that approach clearly didn't work, and since Lily seemed to start favoring kicks and trips, it was time to change up the strat. If Colette couldn't attack from the front she'd have to attack from the sides and the back. It'd be hard to trip anyone at that angle, much less kick unless you wanted to expose yourself to other attacks.

Which was not to mention that the kick itself made said leg an excellent target to strike at, and Colette would try to do just that with each kick sent her way. After all, the wooden swords were stand-ins for a lightsaber, and there were not many things that would have been able to stand up to a direct slash of a lightsaber at a fully exposed calf or thigh.