When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Will Appear

[Danni Kestral]

Dannika Kestral presented herself before the Sith, suppressing a giggle as she did so. Everyone seemed so dour and mean and angry. She could feel the power emanating from them like a wave of heat, but little joy in the power they possessed. Was this what it was like to be a Sith? Danni doubted it. Surely life was more than surliness and displays of power.

She bowed from the waist and spoke: "I'm Dannika Kestral. I was brought here from Coruscant by Sayal Min. Do you know her? I hope so, because otherwise this is one complicated practical joke. A good one, though. I mean, to bring me all this way, right? Woo!" She smiled at the Sith, then shrugged. "I need a teacher. A Master."

 

[Disciple]

Around her came the oppressive touch of an overwhelming powerful Force aura; terror flooded her senses, as icy tendrils of air traced their way along her blue skin. A haunting chuckle could be heard behind her before a man dressed as a Jester stepped around her. Standing at almost exactly six feet, the Jester wasn't particularly tall or imposing in presence; but the sheer madness that exuded from him likely more than made up from that.

The Sith in front of her faded into the darkness, specters that had never truly been in existence. "A sense of humor. Most curious. . . ", the figure observes in a vaguely sing-song lilt. "Master, you say? Oooh, do go on!"

Cackling, the Jester spins and hums to himself as he marches his way around her.

 

[Danni Kestral]

Danni was used to feeling oppressed. The weight of levels of Corscant above her, always taunting, the weight of those bigger and older than her growing up, all scrambling for their place atop the muck heap, the stares of those who watched her dancing on a grim neon stage, not caring about her age. Meat. That's all she was. Grist for life's mill, ready to be ground up and sprinkled. None of this went through her conscious mind, however. It was simply a part of her. She processed the feeling and let it surround her like a comfortable shirt.

"I've got stuff to learn," she finally said aloud, curling her legs under her to sit cross-legged on the floor. She scooted around on her backside to follow the curious man's movements. "Sayal said so. Said someone could teach me. About the Force, and how to use it to make things better. I like your outfit, by the way! Real out there!"

A Bothan messenger came in with a small package under one arm. "Make that guy explode!" she smiled, pointing.

 

[Disciple]

Disciple stopped as the package handler came into the room, and raised a slow brow beneath his clownish mask. Ephemeral eyes, wisps of smoke rising from them, trained themselves onto the Bothan.

Head cocking to the side, the Sith stepped over and took the package from him and simply shooed the xeno away. "Why would I do that, young one? Hrm? Because it seems fun? Hardly."

Turning to her, the rictus grin of his facial covering seemed to oddly convey the look he was giving her. "No, no. Everything with a purpose. A method to the madness."

 

[Danni Kestral]

"Yeah, really?" asked Danni. "Hunh. I thought Sith were all about, you know, the power trips and the 'You don't realize how powerful,' and the 'I am death' sort of thing. But if there's a purpose..." She left the thought unfinished as she rocked backwards on her behind, placed her palms on the floor behind her and executed an agile kip-up to stand in front of Desciple. "First lesson learned, Master," said she with an overly-dramatic bow. "Do I call you Master? Master...something? Or just Master?" The man was disconcerting, like he was in perfect control but on the verge of utter madness at the same time. She envied his balance and knew she'd come to the right place at the right time.

"Where do we start?"

 

[Disciple]

"Only those with insecurities, young one." The Jester says, crouching in front of her and tilting his head curiously to the side as he reaches out to take a grip on her cheeks and turn her head back and forth. "After all, if they already know you're Death, why remind them? Waste of time."

There it was, the Sith ego manifested within the Jester, finally. "Master. Disciple. I care not, so long as it's a suitable title."

Standing and leaving her face go, the man stands. "Have you received any training before? As in, trained yourself in any manner, or had someone help you even in passing?"

 

[Danni Kestral]

"Master Disciple?" said Danni. She arched an eyebrow, then smiled. "I like it. No, I've never had any training. I've been able to...do things before. Like shove people away from me without touching them. One time I was balancing on top of a ledge and I was sure I was going to fall and kill myself, but somehow I held on by the toes of one foot and was able to get my balance back. And I swear I know when Force users are nearby. Once when I was younger I knew a guy was a Jedi. Just knew it. No idea why he was traipsing around the skids of the Coruscant Underworld, but he was. And Sayal Min, the woman who brought me here. She's a Force user too."

 

[Disciple]

Slowly, very slowly, Disciple raised a gloved hand to cover his face. "Well, this is going to be a long road." Lowering the hand, he simply walks past her and out into a hallway. He needed to get her a training saber.

After all, can't learn to be a Sith if you don't know how to use the trademark tool. "Let's get you some training." A few minutes more and they're in a vacant training room, and Disciple is handing the small woman a training saber.

"Go nuts."

 

[Danni Kestral]

By the time the word "nuts" is out of Disciple's mouth, Danni has already snapped the practice blade up to strike Disciple across the face.

OOC: A brutally short post I know, but I wanted to see if she gets one shot in for free by catching him off-guard.

 

[Disciple]

The blade passed through the ephemeral silhouette that was Disciple as a wave of Force crashed into her from behind to toss her forward. Intentions could be sensed through the Force, and he'd read hers quite easily.

Either way, Disciple was a master of deception and guile.

 

[Danni Kestral]

"That was awesome," coughed Dannika from her knees, trying to catch her breath. Without looking, she blindly swung the practice blade behind her on the off-chance she might hit her new master. Getting up as quickly as she could, she held the blade again. "Okay Master, lesson learned: don't trust what I see. What's next?"

 

[Disciple]

Disciple didn't actually use sabers, as Dani found out a moment later as the training blade was turned aside by what amounted to a saber-shiv. He didn't move at all in parrying the blind strike, and shook his head. "Every move has to count. Don't waste energy if you aren't certain there's a good chance to hit."

 

[Danni Kestral]

Danni nodded. She made the same thrust again, and again, and again, watching as Disciple parried the incoming attack, learning the technique, separating her thought from her action. She tried a stop-cut, tried to bind under his parry, tried to riposte, all were deftly flicked aside, but each time the apprentice tuned her mind to the action and fought back her frustration.

"Okay Master, I can't get through. You're the Master, I'm the Apprentice. Can you, I don't know, maybe show me what I'm doing wrong? How to get past someone's defenses? I want to learn, honest I do, but HOW ABOUT ONE OF THESE?" Focusing her will, Danni thrust her palm outwards and Force-pushed as hard as she could, hoping to have some effect on the smiling Sith before her.

 

[Disciple]

"You aren't getting past because I'm playing to my strengths." Bracing one leg as the Force welled in her hand, he went skidding back several feet before coming to a stop and standing back up. "I'm a terrible saber duelist, and that's why I don't duel - at least not how most do."
With a grin, he swipes a hand down low as though swatting a low-flying fly from the air and a nearly visible wave of the Force flies across the ground. "Go out into the galaxy, find your strengths... then we shall duel sometime in the future. If I feel you've come far enough, I'll Knight you. If not, go and learn more and then come back."

The mask seems to glower at her. "I only train in trials by fire. And that is how you will learn."