Private Local Legends

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin still felt like he had no idea what he was doing with this whole teaching gig, but Eli seemed to be following along, thankfully. He wondered if Syd had ever felt this way. The answer was almost certainly yes, though to her credit, Starlin couldn’t recall ever sensing her self-doubt. She had always appeared to be confident in her abilities, at least, and that projection of assuredness had made him trust her.

Even if it could be argued, with the benefit of the doubt, that his trust had been misplaced. A real mindscrew, that.

Val stood by and watched as master and apprentice began to spar. Starlin fought fair, giving Eli a chance to learn the ropes. “Good,” he commended the boy, a bit surprised at how well his student was doing. No balance issues, no flailing around, no panicking or uncertainty. In some ways, Eli seemed more grounded than him when it came to dueling; in truth, Starlin relied heavily on unpredictability to make up for his lack of finesse.

Motherfether could probably surpass me with the lightsaber in just a few years, he thought bemusedly. Well, that was quite a legacy, so nothing to be ashamed of. But Starlin was getting ahead of himself.

“You’re following the moves, that’s good. But you want to increase your reaction time and speed.” Hopefully Eli knew what was coming next, after having been instructed in Jedi meditation. “Open yourself up to the Force. Let go of your other senses, let them recede for now, and just let the Force guide you.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas could only attribute most of what he knew to his upbringing. Though he was pulling upon the information Starlin had provided him with for the specifics, a lot of his actions were set on instinct. A reminder of the duels he'd engaged during his youth. They were no more serious than this was now, of course, meant to test his wits and will, and give him something productive to focus his energy on. Something to wick away at any negative emotions a growing boy might have felt.​

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Yeah, it was instinct, but obviously he was far from perfect. A foot wrongly placed here, a poorly angled slash there, and as Starlin would soon come to remind him he wasn't necessarily the fastest where reaction time was concerned either. It would come back to him in time, at least he hoped it would. For now though all he could do was keep pushing himself. Keep trying to get better.​

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And Starlin wanted the same.​

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His Master suggested that he open himself to the Force, and allow it to act as an extra set of senses for him. To use it to dictate his reactions. Though he had meditated before, this concept was entirely new to him and his expression revealed as much. "I don't think I understand," he responded, before shaking his head. Well, he understood in some capacity, open himself up to the Force, but outside of the express Telepathy lessons he'd received from Kal actually harnessing the Force was entirely new to the boy.​

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Where did he even begin with it?​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Well, a Jedi should be able to feel the Force… flowing through him.” He made a gesture with his hand for emphasis. “And, uh… in a way, it controls your actions, but only partially. It also obeys your commands. So you gotta find like a—a balance there.”

This was proving a lot harder to explain than he thought it would be. He thought back to his own training, but couldn’t recall Syd ever having to step in and tell him how to feel the Force. He’d started doing it on his own, acting on a kind of instinct, out of desperation and necessity. But Starlin wasn’t about to throw Eli into a nest of cultists—at least, not today—so an explanation or demonstration of some kind would have to suffice.

“Uh…” He looked around, and saw a pilot’s helmet conveniently sitting on a nearby table. Walking over to it, he pulled the blast shield down, then grinned. “Put this on.” He tossed the helmet to Eli. “Keep the blast shield down, and try to block my attacks without seeing them.”

That probably sounded patently insane to Eli, but with their lightsabers on low intensity, it wasn’t like he could be seriously hurt. Why not try it?

Lief​

 

[Lief]

It was difficult to speak on something to esoteric and metaphysical, something which for many came naturally or not at all. Deep down Eliphas knew that he could probably grasp at it, and attempt what Starlin was asking of him, though the prospect of doing so under duress, mid duel, was a little frightening. All the same the more his Master spoke on it, the more he seemed to nod in understanding.​

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Sort of.​

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Okay so maybe not all that much. But that was fine. Not least because Starlin came up with some other idea to try and help him build up his trust and reliance upon the Force, and to remove his preexisting reliance upon his physical senses.​

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It came in the form of a helmet with a blast shield. A blast shield which he couldn't peer through.​

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Ever one to follow instructions, he put it on and pulled down the shield. Great. Now he couldn't see, in fact he could barely hear either. He reignited his blade, having temporarily disignited it while they spoke, and practiced some of the breathing exercises they'd been taught during meditation. The ones meant to center them, while also learning to feel the Force. To know where it lay.​

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He'd reached out with it before, where Telepathy was concerned. In fact just earlier that same day he'd drawn upon it in a high stakes situation, to keep the Maw men at bay. He could do this, right..?​

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So why did he feel so nervous?​

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Eliphas held his blade in something of an opening stance, though it was not inherently Shii-Cho in nature, and waited for Starlin to make the first move. After all right now he was hoping to sense where the attacks were coming from, he was hoping to defend against them...​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

With the blast shield down over Eliphas’ eyes, Starlin hesitated. His gaze wandered over to meet Val’s, and he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows and jerking his head toward Eli.

Val blinked, then his mouth made an O shape as understanding dawned upon him. He started to move forward, ready to deliver one of his sudden surprise kicks to Eli’s stomach—

Only to be stopped by Starlin’s emphatic gesturing and panicked expression. Starlin waved his lightsaber, clearly meaning that he should take a swing at Eli with it.

Nodding, Val approached the boy and took a swipe at him, his blade aiming for Eli’s left shoulder, then followed it up with a criss-crossing slash across his torso and a thrust toward his legs. He moved fast, a lot faster than Starlin, but with any luck, Eli should be able to sense it and react accordingly. After all, he couldn’t tell visually who he was fighting.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

There was a lingering static in the air as he waited for something, anything, to happen.​

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Had something happened? Was something wrong? Why wasn't Starlin slashing at him? Was--- He heard the thrum of the lightsaber before he felt its presence sinking down toward him. Though he'd never really understood it for what it was before, Eliphas had actually been blessed with an innate sense of precognition from a very young age, it had kept him out of danger on more than one occasion.​

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This time, mixed with his lack of sight and the way in which he was actively calling upon the Force, he used all of these factors to bring his blade up and angle it across in defense of his shoulder. He took a slight step back in surprise at how fast it had come, and in doing so was met with the tip of the lightsaber against his chest in the first half of its criss-cross. He grit his teeth, and pulled the blade back across to deflect the second half of it.​

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With so much focus on trying to sense what was coming, and not doing the best job at it in truth, his actual bladework became utterly sloppy. It looked like he was some sort of squid flailing around out of water, fighting to keep up with his Master. At least he believed it to be his Master.​

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The sting of the blade on his torso had threatened to snap him back to reality, but he forced himself back into the throws of the Force regardless. His senses spiked, only this time it was more than just a general notification of impending doom and something more... Something far more precise lingered beneath the surface.​

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Eliphas jumped when the opposing blade was aimed toward his legs, then this time brought his own saber out to try and wildly slash at 'Starlin' in his first blind attempt at fighting back. Given how quick all of this was happening though, he did not doubt their ability to deflect or avoid it entirely.​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Val simply stepped aside as Eli struck out blindly, pushing the boy’s blade aside as if it were a child’s toy.

His violet lightsaber crashed against Eli’s amber, deliberately catching it in a bind before he shoved him backwards. There was no unbalancing the dancer; Eli could either roll with it or dodge the locking of blades entirely. Either way, Val wasn’t going to give him a break, coming in with a thrust toward his chest and a downward crashing blow upon his helmeted head.

Starlin watched Eli’s bladework grow sloppy, his apprentice flailing around. And yet, he sensed the Padawan was starting to get the hang of it. The Force hummed around him, drawn in and out. Flowing through him, if you will. He was close.

Come on, kid. I know you can do it.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Whoever was on the other side was unrelenting.​

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As he delved deeper into the Force, and truly opened himself up to it, he grew more and more aware of the fact that it might not have been Starlin at all. There was something different about whomever it was, about the way in which they struck, and the way in which they moved, and the way in which their blade came out to meet his.​

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Still he had no reason to doubt it was his Master. And doubting had no place in what was presently happening.​

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The more he succumbed to the Force and relied upon it as a new sense to hone, the more he began to restrengthen his grip of the blade. It took a little while longer, but soon it was not quite so sloppy, soon he was remembering his form. And then, all at once, and yet not in a way he inherently noticed it happening, Eliphas was acting on pure impulse. In conjunction with the Force without wholly acknowledging as much.​

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When their blades locked, Eliphas took it for what it was and for a moment there held his own. That was until he was pressed back and the lock was broken. ​

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His life slimmed down to nothing more than reactions. A block here, a parry there, an overhead motion to keep the blade from collapsing down upon his helmeted head. Naturally there were strikes which got through, which stung his arms or legs or whatever, that was inevitable given his inexperience with it all, but he was getting closer to blocking each that slipped through each time it happened.​

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The boy's breathing began to grow a little heavier under the strain of it all, perspiration pooling over his skin, especially his covered head. The interior of the helmet was far warmer than he'd been expecting... Far, far warmer. And it had been quite some time since he'd last put his all into a combat situation like this. Not since Alderaan, he reckoned... There'd been moments since then, of course, but he'd had a blaster, not a blade.​

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There was something so much more exhausting about wielding a blade, even one as lightweight as a lightsaber.​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Eli worked through a chain of moves Val threw his way, acting on pure instinct. He was getting the hang of it. Starlin resisted the urge to scream and jump up and down like a lunatic, knowing it might ruin the spell.

The clash of lightsabers—that sound which Starlin loved—rang out through the hangar a few more times before Val stepped away, out of range of the panting, sweat-covered Padawan.

“He knows that I’m not you,” Val said, the proximity of his voice no doubt tipping Eli off. “He can feel it. He’s got it.”

"YES!" Starlin pumped his fists in the air. “Okay, you can take the helmet off now, Eli. GOOD JOB!”

Eli would likely raise the blast shield to find Starlin doing some kind of weird victory dance in front of him, while Val stepped back and deactivated his blade.

“Welcome back, Padawan! You alright? How did it feel?” Hopefully he wasn't pissed about thinking he was fighting Starlin, when he was really fighting Val.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Just as Eliphas truly came into his stride, as fewer and fewer strikes landed upon his skin, it was over.​

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He felt the waning presence of the one he'd been fighting, the one he'd come to understand as being Val, and held his blade in a defensive position until words drifted out within the hangar once again. First the soft voice of the dancer, and then the loud whooping of his Master.​

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As tired as he was feeling, a smile pulled at his lips. A smile which swiftly formed into a grin. He lifted up the visor, then went so far as to take off the helmet entirely. He leant down, setting it by his feet, though not before disigniting his blade. Should he return it to its natural intensity? What if more of those Maw fiends turned up..?​

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Before he could make any decisions on that a series of questions were sent his way.​

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"It was... weird. Difficult at first, honestly." He turned his gaze over to the other man. Somehow the blush didn't show itself this time. "You're a formidable opponent, Mister Val."​

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Gaze lingered a moment more, before he gave Starlin his full attention once more. "It felt all the more pressing with the visor. Good call, I'd say..."​

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Of course it was a good call, that was why Starlin was the Master after all.​

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Starlin Rand ​