Private Waters of Skill

[Jonyna Si]

Temple of Cathar​

TAG: Aris Noble

Jonyna had thought long and hard about finally opening the temple. With the Crusaders claiming Cathar as their own, it wasn't the simple task anymore as it was under the Protectors. Still, she couldn't let that dissuade her. Instead, she focused on preparing the temple for it's grand opening. Cathar's integration into the NJO's sphere. It all weighed on her mind as the Reaper landed on the pads that she had installed only a few months earlier, the master considering things as she led her padawan off the ramp, and towards the long trek down the stairs.

She had been brainstorming ideas of how to initiate Aris's trials a lot recently. Flesh and Courage were well covered by this point, the events on Iridionia being a far better test than she could ever have planned. Still, she wanted to boy to become a knight before things started getting serious. The war with the Sith, with the Dark Empire, it wasn't going to wait till Aris and this generation of Padawans was ready for it.

And so, she put on a smile, as they treaded through thick clouds. With how high up the temple was, it was nearly never not raining, even if it was a light drizzle currently. This only fed the stream that seemed to trickle across the rock at the bottom of the stairs. Jonyna gestured to it as they approached, smiling to the boy. "Drink up. You'll need it for what comes next."

She hadn't told him what was coming, only that they would be doing one of his trials today.

She hoped he'd be ready.

 

[Aris Noble]

The trials hadn't been on Aris's mind. Courage and Flesh, it felt odd to think he'd already completed those. Was he really courageous when fear was something he didn't really feel? Was it Flesh when so little could actually hurt him? His expression tightened as he looked at his face in the stream before he took a drink. No, there was no reason for him to feel any doubt.

He smiled soft as he looked up to Jonyna, giving his master a nod. Whatever was going to come next, he'd be ready. He was ready.

"When do we start?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

"Work hard, study well, and eat and sleep plenty. That is the Turtle School way."
~ Master Roshi​

TAG: Aris Noble

Jonyna chuckled, seeming to ignore Aris at first as she idly looked into the river. "Hmmmm....this one." She said after a moment of contemplation, picking a round stone out of the river. It was about the size of a hand grenade, and yet Jonyna idly scratched into it a small symbol. "A jedi should have all their senses sharpened to that of a spear. Yours eyes and ears, your nose and touch, even your sense of taste, all act as a tool against the darkness. To hone them, you must do what is deemed by others as impossible." She said without answering Aris's question, walking towards the end of the stream, closer and closer to the waterfall.

Aris could hear it, the crashing water, and as Jonyna looked over the edge, it became clear just how high the waterfall was. A full kilometer high, the water flowing in a perfect stream down the cliff despite the distance. Jonyna looked back to the boy with a smirk, then cocked her arm back and...

Threw the rock as hard as she could over the cliff.

"Now we start. Go get it back for me."

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris tilted his head a bit as the rock was carved and Jonyna explained. Then, sort of gave a soft smile. A sad one, at that, as he watched the rock sail off over the edge of the cliff. ".. Right. Impossible senses." He walked to the edge before just hopping off. This height, it wasn't a danger to him. In reality he hadn't found a height that was a danger to him, so he dropped to the water below like a stone, hitting with a dull floop as he dove right through. No splash, in part because of the waterfall itself.

It took him no time at all to find the rock. His eyes, how his senses worked, how his mind worked, he watched it land, skitter across the rocks of the far bank. He even heard it as it hit a bush to disappear in as he plucked it up. The Padawan idly tossed it in his grasp as he reached up to click off the Aural Dampener Zaiya Ceti had made him those years ago.

The rush of sound of everything around him wasn't overwhelming. He closed his eyes, letting his hearing be the only sense right now. The waterfall, of course, crashed down over the rocks and into the river. The rustle of the leaves in a breeze that went by. The birds above, as their wings flapped against gravity to have their feathers rustle. The wildlife close by, down river drinking from the stream some hundred feet away. Even the insects underground as they dug their holes. He could hear all of them.

He could process all of them.

Another click turned the dampener back on, letting his mind focus not on everything but on the few sounds he wanted to. He glanced to the rock in his hand, lifting it up to scratch his own little mark in it's surface. Rock mattered little to him, with even just his skin etching into the mineral. Then he turned, and chucked the rock right back up the waterfall. Right where it'd land right at Jonyna's feet before he turned to just walk down river.

Unnatural.

It was a simple mark, a simple word. It meant everything to him, though. This type of challenge, it wasn't at the end of the day. Zaiya, Braze Kai'el , Loomi , would it be for them? Was this why he could see Braze's fear in his eyes when they last sparred? They all thought of him as just another Padawan, like each other, maybe better in some ways but still the same. He wasn't. He'd never be able to lift a ship with his mind, or pull the air from someone's lungs, or stitch together someone's wound.

They wouldn't be able to hear the heartbeat of their Master at the top of a waterfall standing beside the bottom like he could.

So, he walked, hands behind his head as he looked up at the sky. Master Si didn't understand him. That reality, that fact, brought a weight he still wasn't sure what the name of the emotion was. Just that he needed to walk it off.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

As the rock came back up, landing at her feet, Jonyna looked down with an almost...disappointed look. Aris was different, and she struggled to figure out how to challenge him. A test of skill, it should be an impossible task. She had planned this test as such, but...

She always seemed to forgot Aris's own strengths. It didn't help that he actively hid them most of the time. Still, she needed to push him. She needed to make it so he could be more than he already was.

Rather than wait for him to join her, She leapt off the cliff herself, diving down headfirst, before suddenly flipping her legs down, and firing off a burst of pyrokinesis to bring herself to a stop. She'd need to think of something. The boy needed proof that she could push him.

"Good job." She said with a smile, though it wasn't hard to sense her own slight frustration in the moment. The gears were turning in her head, as she looked back up to the waterfall. "You're...not as simple as I thought you'd be when I took you on. I guess I just got used to Ko Vuto . When I took him in, he was practically already done with his training anyways, but..."

She pouted, letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry Aris, I didn't mean to underestimate you."

 

[Aris Noble]

"People are scared of me, you know. I get why, but, people are. What I can do, what I can hear, it's not normal. I know that. I just-" Aris frowned deeper as he glanced to Jonyna, then ahead as he continued to walk. He needed to to keep his head clear, maybe work out whatever this emotion was. "It's not that you underestimate me. It's like you don't understand me or what I can do. You bring me to a gun class even though I already know how to maintain and use those kinds of weapons. You have me run as if I'll get tired, but I already know I won't. I don't get why you're teaching me anything because all you're teaching me is things I've already learned. I can't feel the Force. I'm not going to have a sixth sense that Jedi seem to always have. You taught me how to control the electricity naturally in my body, but- it's really like you don't understand me at all."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

"I want to." Jonyna pouted, taking a seat at the edge of the river. She looked out on the river, trying to figure out her words. She was usually so good at finding them, but moments like this put her on the backfoot. "I want to figure out how to help you, but...You're different from what I'm used to. I'm a very...external person. With how I think, with how I fight, with how I use the Force. I feel outward, I think outward, I train outward. To be at one with nature, it'd part of who I am. You're...all internal. Part of me wishes Jasper Kai'el or Amani Serys were here. I don't...regret taking you as my padawan, but it's rough for me. I don't know how to challenge you." She paused, letting out a breath. "Well...I do know one way, but I don't know if you'd want to do that."

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris paused his walk, looking down the path he'd fully intended to walk down and then to Jonyna, who'd decided to sit on the river's edge. His brow furrowed greatly, if only because he really, really wanted to walk, not just sit down to talk this out or the like. "There's a lot to learn, I know that. But if you're going to train me, why not try asking me before just assuming it's not something I'll want to do?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

"...because I don't want you to get hurt. And I know, you're good at not getting hurt, but..." She slumped, hanging her head back to look at the sky. "...I'll admit, part of the reason I haven't been taking you on missions is just...I'm terrified of what would happen if you got hurt. Not just for my own conscience, but your parents. Your friends. It's one thing to train a padawan like Ko, where I could trust him to follow me into the battle against the Enclave. That was easy because we didn't have those attachments. But...with you..."

She thought about it. Maybe it hadn't been a conscious choice at first, but she knew what was coming. "...we're going up against the Sith now. Not just the Dark Empire, but the real Sith. People who...you're related to. I've...looked into it. When I took you on, I tried to do my research, but..."

She let out a sigh. "I fought your grandfather back on Echnos. I don't want to force you to fight him as well..."

Family was a touchy subject, especially to a Cathar. Even when a family member had turned, you treated them as such. You treated them with respect, with honor...

She knew she couldn't expect that from a sith. Not from the Monster.

Not from Darth Carnifex

 

[Aris Noble]

"I've fought Sith before. A lot of Sith now, actually. Including my grandfather. People target my family because of who my parents are. Vera was kidnapped when she was eight, by him no less. You're- Just-" This, was frustrating now. Actual frustration rippled through his mind. He'd fought Sith before. Been hurt by Sith before. He wasn't a temple bound Youngling. He was on the front lines, often by himself or just with other Padawans. But not his master.

"This is what I mean. You don't even know me."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

"I don't!" Jonyna admitted in her own bit of frustration, throwing her arms up and then slapping them down into the water below. "I haven't had the chance to! I've been so fucking busy, dealing with three wars, rebuilding Coruscant and every other fucking planet that the Imps, or the Sith, or the fucking Mandos blow up, trying to start a relationship, trying to keep a social life..." Jonyna letting a groan out as she buried her face in her now wet hands, splashing water onto herself as she brought them up. "...I want to Aris. I want to know you, I want to train you, but I just don't have the time. So I start making all these assumptions, and I'm doing so out of worry that you'll get hurt, and I'll get disowned by the only two jedi I have any meaningful relationships with, your mom and dad. So..."

She paused, looking back up to the boy. "...what if we just start over? I start taking you out on missions with me like I should've been, instead of trying to force trials on you, and...we can be friends, from square one. Okay?"

 

[Aris Noble]

Yeah that- did make sense. Aris frowned deeper as he sort of leaned from one foot to the other, still very clearly wanting to walk. Walking helped. He could hear new things, see new thins. Help his mind from hyper focusing too much. He took a breath after a moment longer though before he nodded once. "Okay. Yeah. That sounds good to me. I'd like tat, a lot."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

Jonyna's posture loosened at that, the woman smiling as she stood up. "Alright then. Well...if we're gonna start over, and we're gonna be friends, how bout I show you who I am. Not just as a Cathar, you've seen plenty of that, but..."

She took a moment to crack her back, before drawing her saber. "As a duelist. As a fighter. That's important to you, yeah? I don't want to make any more assumptions."

 

[Aris Noble]

"Mm. As an Epicanthix, and a Jedi. I can't do much else to help people, but I can fight to keep them safe. I will fight to keep them safe." Master Si brought out her lightsaber, but Aris lowered his stance, lifted his fists. He took a neutral form, drew in a breath, readied himself. She wanted to show who she was with her blade, and he would do the same with how he fought. Why he was so different. Wrong, to some. What made him strong.

And maybe let off a little steam.

Aris moved first, blitzing the distance to try and get right into Jonyna's guard. He was rushing, his mind already aware that surprise was the only chance he had against someone like his Master. She was skilled and powerful. So, a rapid punch right for her sternum, another for under her chin, her side, her kidney. Throat. Rapid quick jabs one after the other in an opening rush to try and overwhelm her.

It was the only chance he had.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

The blitz indeed took Jonyna by surprise, but her own lightning quick reflexes allowed her the chance to respond the only way she knew how. By going straight up. Her feet exploded with flame, a punch connecting with her right leg as she dodged most of his quick jabs, but throwing off her careful balance as she was forced to flip midair, her tail popping out of her coat suddenly and wrapping around his outstretched arm, attempting to drag him into a flipping rocket-powered suplex. With a boy like him, she knew her saber would only do so well.

He wanted to see how she fought? She'd show him the core of it. Unconventional tactics. Taking your opponent by surprise. He had already mastered the second, but her own surprises were varied. A jedi wasn't known for how they fought hand to hand, or in her case, hand to tail.

 

[Aris Noble]

Fire?

Aris blinked, but he didn't let the surprise fill his mind for long. He had to act, move. The tail that grabbed his arm was to be grabbed in turn as he was pulled up, his graze narrowing in focus as he sought to yank her with it. Even mid-air he was still unnaturally strong, so, this was the best he could do while removed from the ground.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

Being yanked by the tail was never a pleasant experience. But the pain would fade. The wounds would heal. She'd been impaled, shot, stabbed, and was a map of bruises, but her tail had been the one place she was markless. Too small a target, too quick a movement.

Still, she had control. Even being tugged on she rocketed upward with the boy, before flipping mid-air and bringing him with, before shooting right downward, intending to slam him into the ground.

If she wanted to teach him anything, it was how to think outside the box. A jedi without their saber, without weapons, without an extension of themselves, were still dangerous.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris hit the ground with a thud as Jonyna brought him down. But he hadn't tried to stop the fall. It didn't hurt him to. He pushed himself up then, dusting himself off some before he looked towards his Master, flexed his hands, lifted his fists as he waited for her to land. Then he was there again. Unarmed strikes, unarmed fighting, he knew very well how to fight without a weapon.

It was part of his culture, his people. He'd never needed a weapon, though. That's just how he was.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Aris Noble

Jonyna knew better than to trust one blow to take the boy down. She'd fought opponents like this before, mandalorians, wookies, mountains of meat that relied on outlasting opponents.

Before she could hit the ground, she suddenly burst with flame from her feet, and changed sudden direction, landing a few feet away from where Aris had. She knew lectures wouldn't work. She knew words could only convey so much.

She was a woman of action. As the boy charged her, she once more burst into the air, avoiding his reach. She was once upon a time, a brawler in her own right. She knew better though, knowing a brawl with the boy would only end with her flat on her ass. Instead, she kept her distance, launching a deafening roar at the boy, hoping to knock him off balance. Maybe teach him a technique he could adapt. A scream could be a weapon just as much as a punch.