Duel Toss A Fist To Your Jedi

[Calix of Thyrsus]

The boy was pitching everything he had into another attack...

...when he just stopped.

"Calix. Calm down. Breath."

The boy's head snapped up, his struggles starting to wane as he did as he was told.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

By the time he'd relaxed, his eyes shone blue again. And the boy seemed a bit perplexed as to how he'd wound up there. Like he'd lost track of a step or two in their match.

"I'm sorry. Did I space out?" the Thyrsian asked.

Kahlil Noble​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"You don't remember?"

Kahlil blinked slowly before lowering his hand to let Calix go. And.. Frowned. If he didn't remember, that- He just let out a sigh as he rubbed at the back of his neck. Tried to think it through. Something through.

"You gave into your frustration, your rage. You really don't remember it?"

Calix of Thyrsus

 

[Calix of Thyrsus]

"I remember feeling frustrated," the boy offered with a wry grin.

It was meant to be a joke. He tried to play it off as such, but Kahlil didn't seem to be in a joking mood.

Letting the attempt at humor drop, Calix seemed to sway from side to side, as though trying to find words. Or the right words. Or any words that might connect how he felt."It's been that way ever since Master Harand died," he admitted finally. "When we got ambushed, I got hit and then just... blank. I woke up in the escape pod on Praesitlyn."

Not exactly the most glamorous start of a Jedi career.

"Ever since then, I just sort of space out." With a shrug, the boy added, "It seems to happen when I connect to the Force, so I've been trying to avoid using it."

Kahlil Noble​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

There it was. Kahlil nodded his head slowly before taking position back in the dueling ring. Calix had already said he wasn't the best at talking. Better at fists. The struggle he could see for Calix to find the words, well.

"You don't space out. You fall, to the Dark. Your emotions are being buried and ignored, aren't they?" Kahlil let out a breath before lifting his hands, taking his stance all over again. Let his calm smile fade into one of concentration.

"If you can't express your feelings with your words, do so with your fists. Let yourself feel them, all of them. And this time, be aware that you are."

Calix of Thyrsus

 

[Calix of Thyrsus]

[ armor ] [ light armor ] [ attire ] [ lightsaber ] [ blaster ] [ wristlink ]

That was a lot to process.

So Calix was glad when Kahlil led them back into the duel circle. The boy lapsed into the familiar, letting muscle memory take over as he tried to think through what the master had told him.

He didn't feel like he'd fallen to the Dark Side. He didn't feel any different at all.

"Your emotions are being buried and ignored, aren't they?"

"But... I thought a Jedi wasn't supposed to have emotion," the Thyrsian said. He threw out a punch that served as more of a counter-balance for the roundhouse kick that followed with the rotation and shift in momentum.

"There is no emotion. There is peace," Calix recited.

No, it didn't make sense. But it was what the Jedi Code said.

Not that he thought he understood it. With that in mind, he asked, "How can I allow myself to feel something that shouldn't be there?"

Kahlil Noble​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"That's not quite what it's supposed to mean, I feel."

Kahlil moved with him this time, bringing up a hand to deflect the punch. Then his arm, braced by that same hand, to catch the kick on his forearm. Then brought up a knee to try and catch Calix in the gut, force him back a step.

"Everyone feels something. There is no emotion, there is peace. It doesn't mean Jedi don't feel. It means that no matter what we feel, we strive for peace. That we don't let our emotions control us. Instead, we work alongside our emotions, and sometimes despite them, so long as it means we strive for peace."

Calix of Thyrsus

 

[Calix of Thyrsus]

"Instead, we work alongside our emotions, and sometimes despite them, so long as it means we strive for peace."

The knee caught the boy, staggering him back a step. Catching his breath, the youth adopted the familiar Echani opening stance again as he started to circle off to one side.

"But... isn't peace a lie?"

No, he didn't know the Sith Code.

But it was a hell of a coincidence. Once that might resonate for its familiarity with Kahlil Noble

"That's not the right word," the Thyrsian mused, more to himself than to Kahlil. He sent a couple of jabs at the man. Exercises that helped him to think. "Peace is violent. The Sith attack and we defend. Then we attack the Sith. We do it for peace, but its a..." the afro-headed youth remarked, pausing there as he came up struggling to finish the sentence.

Kahlil might well see smoke coming out of the boy's ears. This was more thinking than he did in any of his Jedi Academy classes.

"...a cycle," the boy decided finally, finishing the thought.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"But... isn't peace a lie?"

Kahlil stuttered out a sound between surprise, concern, and humor at the question. The kind that had him miss a block and take a full punch from the Thyrsian right in the gut. He sputtered out a laugh as he stumbled back a half step to catch himself, then brought his arm around for his own quick jab to put Calix back. "For the Epicanthix, some of them anyway, true strength means peace. Not because you enforce it on others against their will, but because when it's threatened, you have the strength to protect it." He swung again, this time with a single, stronger punch. With the speed behind it, no less.

"The cycle will always exist. No matter how peaceful the Galaxy might be, all it takes is one person, someone who suffered, someone who tries to fulfil their greed, someone who just wants to see the Galaxy burn, and that peace will be threatened. We can't stop that. We can't be everywhere at once."

As he spoke, he moved. Gone was the passive defense, now an all out assault to try and not just force Calix back but outright take him down. He seemed to think better in a fight, so Kahlil was happy to oblige.

"But sometimes that person is that way because they don't see any other path. Because the darkness around them has clouded everything. There are people we must stop, because they will kill if we don't. But no one said you have to kill them to do so. Sometimes, all they need is someone to show them the light."

Calix of Thyrsus