Grey Eyed Hero
Trials and Tràkata
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
"Run it again."
The sound of locked blades sizzling and sparking against one another faintly echoed through the halls of the Jedi Temple, reverberating out from one of the many sparring halls. The hall in question was almost completely empty, with only Jasper and a single training droid inhabiting the space. The padawan had his training blade locked with the droid's, pushing against the mechanical sparing partner. Then, with little warning, Jasper turned off his blade, diving to the side. The droid's training saber hit his shoulder, rocking the padawan's balance ever so slightly, but he managed to move around and kick the back of the droid's legs to knock it over. He had taken down his opponent, but not without making contact with it's saber. As far as Jasper was concerned, he would be dead in a real duel.
Jasper had been running this same training program for the past few hours. It was day when he started. Now, as the sun began to set, the evening began to take hold of the planetary city beyond the balcony of the training hall. The twilight hour would be short lived, as the night would not be long behind it. Soon, the padawan would have to return to his ship. Jasper didn't want to. He needed to figure this out today, or he had at least convinced himself that he needed to do so. The duelist helped get the droid up to it's feet before briefly stepping away to contemplate the last few sessions. What was it that he had been missing? No matter how close he got to successfully pulling off the maneuver, something always seemed to trip him up in the end. Jasper would duck out of the way and move in to complete the move only to be hit by his opponent's weapon or stumble at the finish line. Back when he had first attempted Tràkata at the padawan sparring session, the same thing had happened in his duel against Silas Westgard . He was certainly inexperienced then, but even now Jasper couldn't help but feel that there was still something that he was failing to grasp. It was frustrating to get so close to what he wanted to achieve only to miss the mark.
The padawan continued to rack his brain for solutions, hoping that somewhere in his head there was a way to finally pull it off. He didn't think for long. Jasper knew all to well that, in the end of the day, repetition was what would help him learn. Time spent thinking was time he had to practice that he was wasting, and there wasn't much time left in the day. He stepped back to the droid, raising his lightsaber in a Makashi opening.
"Run it again."