The Force of Fear

[Hadrian Bjormund]

"No you really don't know Kay."

This was it? Mac was just supposed to let her up now after a second time? He felt that she wasn't treating this seriously. She gave up far to easily because she expected him to get up. He could see it as they locked eyes, [member="Lady Kay"] was clearly waiting impatiently for him to get up. Something about that just rubbed him the wrong way although he knew that it wasn't intentional. She wasn't fighting. Throwing a few kicks and punches wasn't fighting, more like playing a childish game. Fighting was raw and built off of emotion. Mac tried to show her that by threatening to dislocate her shoulder. It was personal and real. He gave her a second chance and she threw that away in some half assed attempt to get him on his back. No, this needed to change.

Mac let go of Kay's right arm and placed his hand around her neck. He could almost wrap his fingers around her neck completely, but he knew that he it wouldn't be necessary. He began to shift his weight forward onto her neck, his hand closing her windpipe.The worst thing that will happen will be that she passes out from lack of oxygen. Few people knew that you had to maintain pressure well after a person passes out to actually kill them, and Mac had no intention of doing that. But it certainly felt like dying. Mac's mind flashed back to when he was force choked on Fornow. Luckily for Mac, that Sith apprentice didn't know how to strangle properly either and he awoke minutes later. However, Mac still felt his organs shut down, his vision blur and slowly fade, and energy being sapped out. He imagines that Kay is feeling something similar.

Mac's arms were significantly longer than Kay's and so he held his head out of her reach, pressing her down into the stone floor. She began to choke and squirm underneath him, scratching at his arms and hands. Mac had purposefully left her a way out though. He allowed enough room for her to bring her knees up to her chest and place her feet on Mac's chest, giving her the leverage to push him off if she could figure it out. If she wasn't able to get him off well.... their practice might just be cut short for today. Suddenly a lingering sense of dread ambushed Mac as he pressed down on Kay's windpipe.

Or she could use the force.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay furrowed her brows. What [member="Macoda Haberon"] had said wasn't what she was expecting. Her eyes were locked with his as she tried to read his intention through them. Then he wrapped his fingers around her neck and started to apply pressure. She took in what breath she could before her windpipe was closed off.

What was he doing? Was this another trick of his? Did he change his mind about the bounty afterall?

She hit his arm, grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him off her throat, to ease the pressure even just a little bit, but Mac was too strong. Kay's heartbeat began to pound in her ears. Her legs were free, he wasn't laying on them, so she curled them up to her chest. However instead of just pushing him back, she kicked the bottom of his chin with one foot, and his left ear with the other.

Her instinct wasn't to use the Force, she still held back for the off chance that this was a practice. If it wasn't, if he had truly turned against her, then she would do what she always did in those situations; use the Force to aid her escape.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

The kick to the chin totally caught Mac off guard. He wasn't expecting [member="Lady Kay"] to aim for the face. He was proud of her. The kicks to the face left him disoriented and he relented his hold on Kay's neck. He rolled off of her and stood up with a grunt. Mac's head throbbed and he saw spots in his eyes. He felt warm blood trickle from his lip. Mac wiped it with his sleeve and couldn't help but smile a genuine bloody smile at Kay. He laughed and wagged a finger at Kay who was still clearly suspicious of Mac. Maybe even a little afraid? She certainly looked at him like he was crazy. Mac took the opportunity to diffuse the situation with an approving laugh.

"That's it! That's what I was looking for Kay! That's the look I want to see in your eyes!" Mac let off another laugh. What a rush! He wiped his lips with his sleeve again as he locked eyes with Kay who kept her distance. "I must admit that I doubted you for a while. But you must realize that fighting is really all in here." Mac tapped his temple with a finger. "Fear. Anger. Willpower." He paused, regaining his breath. "That's what wins fights." One can train for their entire life, throw a million punches and kicks, but in the end, fighting is won and lost in the mind.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay coughed and gasped as [member="Macoda Haberon"] let go of her throat. Her kicks had landed where she had wanted to and it was she that drew first blood. He wagged his finger at her and for a moment she still wasn't clear on where his loyalties lay.

That is until he started laughing. She rubbed her neck a bit as she sat up, her breathing still recovering while he spoke. So he wanted her to hurt him? Kay got to her feet slowly as she didn't want to get herself dizzy. "Can we try again? I think too much, strategize too much on the various probabilities of outcomes. It's the politician in me. I need to be able to push that aside when the situation calls for it." She had done so before, not thought things through fully and that had landed her in bad situations. The trick was to recognize when to just react with her emotions, and when to think things through.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

"Yeah you do. Let your body think Kay, not your head." Mac pointed to her head this time. "All that your mind is responsible for is willpower, let your body decide how best to carry out your will. It will come naturally if you let yourself feel it." He closed his eyes and smiled. "Just surrender yourself to yourself."

[member="Lady Kay"] probably thought that Mac was speaking in some sort of nonsense, but all of what he said is true, at least for him. His time as a slave in the fighting pits was one of the worst years of his life, yet he had learned so much about himself. Mac's thoughts drifted to the tattoo on his chest. Nothing says self discovery like desperate survival. He had come to recognize fighting as an art form, one of the purest and most raw things imaginable. It was difficult to describe, but Kay just had to understand. One has to be completely in tune with their body.

"Also, the goal is for you to not get caught. Remember this is self defense. You aren't going to be killing many bounty hunters, just defending yourself enough to get away. Don't sacrifice your mobility to one move like you did with that slide. Your speed is probably your only advantage. Hit without being hit should be the name of the game for you."

Mac allowed Kay to regain her breath. "Ready?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Surrender herself to herself. That sounded easier to say than to do. Kay was always stubborn, so it came to no surprise that her stubborness would work against her. Yet she had to be able to shut that off. It wasn't an issue when she was working on her release from captivity. Her captor made her fight other prisoners, and she could only use the Force to do it. Those that she killed put up no resistance. They wanted to die just as she did. So killing them was putting them out of their misery and setting them free.

[member="Macoda Haberon"] had gone through years of training. Just the look of him had shown her that. She listened to his advice. Hit without being hit. Try to keep from getting caught and enable herself to run away. Use her speed. Don't do anythung stupid.

Kay allowed herself to relax. She put one foot in front of the other, bent her knees a bit and put her fists up. She wasn't sure if she'd be punching him, but the wanted to be ready.

She was more than happy that Mac was on her side and not an enemy.

"Ready."

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

Mac quickly approached [member="Lady Kay"], his long muscled arms outstretched to try and prevent her from escaping his reach. Having learned his lesson, Mac made a point to keep his stance fairly wide, squatting down a little as if ready to pounce on Kay as she would make her move. He tried to play this a little more realistically. He wasn't going in for a strike as some bounty hunters would want Kay to be alive and relatively unscathed. Instead, Mac was aiming to grab onto whatever he can on Kay as he had done so before.

If he managed to grab a hold of her, he would make a point to lock her in either a bear hug or a choke hold. It would be a good learning experience after all. He suddenly pounced on Kay.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Without a word, [member="Macoda Haberon"] came after her. His arms were reaching out to her and she quickly stepped back. Given that her fists were already up, she punched at his hands to move them away from her body. However it wasn't the palms of his hands that she was aiming for. Instead she was aiming at the back of them. In her mind, it gave her less of a chance of having her fists caught in his hands like the last time.

She continued moving back, even turning on her steps slightly when she felt the wall behind her coming close. The last thing that she needed was to corner herself. It was much like trying to not get caught while they were on the Free Lady.

If she had a blaster, then she would have fired it on him. But this was hand to hand. She could only rely on herself.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

Mac's hands were batted away and he let her bat them. He was more patient then that. Mac was not as quick, at least not as quick as Kay. He had to rely on short bursts of speed like a predator in ambush. He had tried to back [member="Lady Kay"] into the wall but she was too aware of her surrounding to let herself get caught like that. Good. But he didn't need to back her into a wall, he just needed to close the distance just a little. Then he could close the distance with surprising quickness thanks to his reach and build. He just needed to get a little bit closer. His opportunity arose when Kay turned slightly on her step to avoid being cornered. Perhaps that minuscule distraction in avoiding the wall would allow Mac to catch her a little off guard. He sprang onto her and grabbed for her arm, clothing, anything that he could get his hands on.

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Macoda Haberon"] came at her, again and again. She kept her eyes on his as they moved. It wasn't as though he kept the same pace. Instead he used random bursts of speed to catch her off guard.

For the most part she was successful. That is until her pivot detracted from the distance that she tried to maintain. As he grabbed her right arm, she lifted it up to try to expose his ribcage more while she punched him with her free hand, aiming for the bottom of his sternum.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

He finally got a hand on [member="Lady Kay"] and wasted no time in pulling her close to him. However Kay managed to land a strike in the middle of his chest, right on his sternum. Though he maintained a firm grip on Lady Kay, Mac was surprised on how much that stung. Kay was certainly making use of every punch and kick.

That's definitely gonna bruise.

Mac reeled Kay in though she made Mac fight for every inch. Mac finally managed to wrenched her arm behind her back and stepped in close, wrapping his second arm around her her neck in a choke-hold from behind. However, unlike when he was pinning Kay down, he applied no pressure to her windpipe. That being said, Mac didn't think that she was going anywhere. He spoke from behind her. "I'll give you some hints, if you have an arm free, then drive a strong elbow into the hunter's stomach muscles. Should make him cramp up though you may have to do it repeatedly and it obviously won't work against armor. If your arms are pinned, a good stomp on the foot should loosen his grip, although there is no guarantee." Mac had learned that last move the hard way, when Ellie stomped so hard during their spare that he broke his foot.

Although that practice session ended horribly....

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay tried to push herself away from [member="Macoda Haberon"] as he brought her closer to him, but he was much stronger than she was. She listened to his hints. Was he telling her to try those techniques now? She had one hand free and both of her legs were free too. He gave no word that their spar was yet over, he didn't even move to release her from his hold.

So Kay delivered a swift kick to Mac's left knee cap. It would probably do far better for her than just stamping on his foot.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

Mac swore fiercely and let go of his grip on Kay as she delivered a powerful kick to his kneecap. Mac knelt down and his hands comforted his knee. He felt it with his hands, thankfully it wasn't dislocated, but his knee cap could've been fractured. Didn't [member="Lady Kay"] say that she could heal injuries? That might be useful after this spar. Still, Mac was pleasantly surprised by Kay's performance. He certainly felt her performance. Mac chuckled, still somewhat in pain. He stood up and tested out his knee.

"Nice Kay. Real nice."

Mac walked around in a circle, trying to walk off the pain. The blow to his knee would put Kay at an even higher advantage in speed. Still, an idea came to Mac and he decided to make the best of his injury. It was time for Kay to practice her speed in dodging attacks. He did not go after Kay, but rather walked over to the wall where he placed down his axes. He picked them up and looked over his shoulder at Kay as he began unwrapping the holster around the blades. He brandished the axes in each hand, twirling them with the casual skill of an expert. He was armed and evidently skilled, but he hoped that the added danger would drive Kay to be quicker than before. Besides, it shouldn't be too hard with Mac's slight limp. He looked at Kay as he held the axes.

"Do you trust me?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

As she expected, her kick to his knee did it's job. She was released and free to move about as [member="Macoda Haberon"] recovered. For a moment she was worried that she kicked him too hard, yet he seemed to be walking it off okay. For the most part. "Thanks..."

Kay moved herself further away ftom the wall as she didn't want to get cornered, or at least not right away. She raised a brow as Mac walked over to his axes and picked them up. For a second she thought that the spar was over. That is until he turned to face her, with both axes in hand.

Did she trust him? In many ways she did, yet if she wasn't in any disadvantage before, she certainly was now. But she had to remind herself that if he had wanted to kill her, he'd of done so already. She noddes her head a little. "Yes, Mac. But what are you going to do? Throw them at me?" Already she was thinking back on her days of captivity and being used for target practice. Yet this was different. She was free to move around, free to run.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

"I'm glad that you do Kay but that wasn't the answer that I was looking for."

Mac approached [member="Lady Kay"] with a somewhat mischievous smile and still with a slight limp. "Don't trust me to not hurt you. Trust in yourself to not get hurt by me." Hopefully that will light a spark under her. Nothing like the fear of your head being taken off with an ax to push yourself to the extreme. That was what Mac was aiming to do. He would push Kay like she would be fighting for her life, because she eventually will be. Better start practicing for it now. Besides, being armed would be more realistic too, as Kay would more than likely have to face that disadvantage.

Mac ignored her second question as he walked towards her, favoring his left leg. In truth, his axes were too long in the handle to be thrown effectively, such is the price of extra reach and power. No, Mac wasn't going to throw his axes. When he got within distance of Kay he smiled briefly at her and then suddenly swiped with his ax where her head should be. He struck with the blunt end of the ax as his weren't double sided. The worst thing that would happen if she didn't dodge it in time would be that she would get cold-cocked and wake up the next day with a killer headache. However Kay probably didn't see him turn the ax around in his hand at the last second, so Mac was going for decapitation for all she knew. Time to awaken her willpower.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was being honest. That's why she gave [member="Macoda Haberon"] the answer that she did. And it wasn't quite clear of just what answer he was looking for until he told her. Trust in herself. Trust in herself. Trust in herself. She said it over and over in her head like a mantra.

Mac approached her then, giving her a small smile. She knew that he was preparing, he was close to her. Kay just wasn't quite sure how he would move. And then quickly he did. She ducked the axe as it was swung towards her head, feeling the breeze it created through her hair. How sharp were they? She didn't know and didn't really want to find out first hand anyways.

Kay stepped back quickly. She had to give herself more distance this time as his reach was longer now. She couldn't kick him or hit him from the front. It'd increase the risk of having something chopped off. But at least she knew that she wasn't going to be grabbed again. Still, she needed to disarm him somehow and remove the threat that the axes posed.

The right opportunity would come if she was smart and quick enough.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

Mac's reach was improved by quite a bit now that he had his axes in his hands. It was clearly evident that [member="Lady Kay"] knew that too, as she inched backwards every time Mac took a step forward. Mac wasn't trying his hardest to hit Kay, but just enough to keep her on her toes. He could tell that the politician was thinking too much, he saw it in her eyes. She was too uptight, too stubborn to trust in her instincts. Instead she took matters into her own hands and tried to predict every swipe, or so that was the impression that Mac got. If that was the case, then she was just getting in the way of herself.

Mac continued to occasionly strike with his axes, each time at a different angle to see how Kay would react, just testing the waters. She wasn't dead yet, so that was good.

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Macoda Haberon"] kept swinging his axes at her, and she kept dodging, kept moving back. The fact that his technique didn't really change for a while didn't go unnoticed. Was he waiting for something? Waiting for her to do more than just avoid his axes?

Kay waited until he had done a big swing. After she dodged it, instead of stepping back, she rushed him and punched at his exposed side as hard as she could.

 

[Hadrian Bjormund]

Kay managed to land a hard strike against Mac's rib cage after an exaggerated swing left him exposed to her blow. Mac felt that the punch clearly bruised his skin and it irked him. He was going easy on [member="Lady Kay"] initially but after she managed to land a punch, Mac decided that he was going to step it up a notch. He twisted an ax around and swung at Kay's forward leg, hoping to hook her leg with the beard of his ax. Like with most people that Mac faced, if he could get Kay on her back then she'd be dead.

Just like the guard on the Free Lady...

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay's hand hurt after hitting [member="Macoda Haberon"] 's side. It wasn't so much that she punched incorrectly, it was moreso the fact that he was hard muscle and she had put all of her weight into it. But by utilizing Mac's exposed side, she left herself open too. His axe hooked her leg and she lost her balance, landing on her back with a grunt.

Instead of just laying there she acted quickly, brought her right knee up and kicked at Mac's knee. Hopefully it would give her the time needed to get back up again.