Ask Darkness of Greed

[Crix Aran]

Crix was mid-step when Hannibal countered with a small flick of his blade towards his chest. Not a strong attack, a reactionary one, but when you were fighting with lightsabers you didn't need to swing like you were trying to brain someone with a 2x4. Seeing the blade circling, he pulled back, flicking his wrist up to bring the tip of his own blade up to catch his Master's as it lashed out at his chest, catching it against his own tip.

There was a joke in there he would have made during a regular practice session but this wasn't one of those, was it?

The motion of blocking his Master's quick, probing, strikes became second nature to the Padawan and he almost felt himself falling into the rhythm that they so often fell into during extended practice sessions. He recognized it as a trap he was almost walking into when he moved his blade to block high and felt it as Hans' body moved. Crix had allowed himself to get suckered into familiar motions, familiar patterns, and Hannibal had been waiting for it.

Instinctively, Crix reacted as he had many times in the past and tried for a low kick that his Master often used to... his foot collided with Hannibal's own, clumsily, and Crix staggered forward slightly, doing his best to keep the blades locked above them as he pushed his body forward to stabilize himself from the way he had extended forward with the attempted kick. Why had he thought that kicking out would work? He'd learned that move from Hans for Gods' sake!

And now his ankle hurt - fantastic.

Still, with the two of them now closer, Crix pressed harder against Hannibal's blade with his own while he lashed out with his free hand, going for a punch to his Master's gut - one that he used to laugh a tightly coiled, but hastily concentrated, Push out ahead of his hand, aimed to hit Hans' in the gut before he the expected punch could land.

Misdirection for a blow to the midsection, maybe?

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal's kick met Crix's, the padawan's serving as an awkward but effective block, and the Master's leg reloaded upward. Close combat training was as much a part of their sparring as bladework. Ground fighting, grappling, and cheap shots to take any advantage one could get. It was also usually done with limited contact or droids, even if it was often rough, but that wasn't the point of today's test.

Crix punched forward and Hannibal's leg shot into the open space for a quick forward push-kick into the Zabrak's abdomen, their locked sabers preventing downward cuts. The Master's leaning backwards would've helped stifle the punch but the push came with it to knock him back. Hannibal sharply exhaled, curling and tensing his abdomen, skidding back from the blow and his kick. It was a good hit and kept Crix's opponent from dominating a close space.

His stance shifted to two-handed in a tight forward guard, tip diagonal at 45 degrees, a more traditional stance for a Jedi over his usual aggressive variation of Form X or Makashi. This was closer to Soresu.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Crix grunted and slid backward from Hannibal's push-kick to his gut. He tensed, of course, when the foot came up but that just meant he was able to slide rather than crumple - didn't did anything to stop it from hurting like a motherkarker. That he still managed to get a hit in with the Push was good, meant that he still had some idea how Hans actually fought despite his Master going more 'shadow-y' in recent months.

With their sabers now officially unlocked by the additional distance, Hans shifted his stance and Crix did the same. Rather than sticking with the Makashi style he had started out with, the Padawan took a deep, steadying, breath before taking his own lightsaber in both of his hands, raising them higher with the blade into a higher guard.

Letting out that same breath, he moved forward, swinging his blade downward in a strong slash as he approached. Both aiming at his master's right shoulder and being moved into a position to deflect or block Hannibal's own strike, should his Master attempt to intercept him in his attack.

He had... the very beginnings of a plan but he refused to call it that.

More of a vague idea - if he was too rigid, he might not be able to adapt it to fit his Master's own movements.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

In spite of his personality Hannibal's style of fighting had always been preeminently practical. Sneak attacks, tight cuts and thrusts, dirty tactics, unarmed strikes, risky maneuvers, and misdirection. His plan was always to win and sometimes that meant being a ruthless bastard in order to keep doing it.

Hannibal stepped left and forward, eyes quickly sighting his target. Sol's lightsaber came up and to his right as he pivoted. The silver blade would block to lock Crix's weapon up high. His left hand's palm thrust forward, the Force gathering within it, up toward the half-Zabrak's face as if to deliver a Force attack- and his now forward left foot delivered another push-kick straight toward the padawan's gut once again.

The hand instead retreated again as quickly as it'd come, that sense of focus vanishing. Feinting or baiting with the Force could be as important as with limb or blade and a trick he'd learned early on.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Their blades locked up again, Crix having pivoted slightly to account for Hans’ own movement, before Crix denied his Master the lock up. As soon as their blades connected, Crix was pushing back with the tips of his feet to make some distance and break the lock. The hand thrown up was a concern and he began to bring his saber down to his right while in motion, but tensing anyway.

That allowed him to be further surprised when the hand was shown to be a feint and the kick was heading his way – though not from as close as Hans likely intended.

Swinging his blade through from the right he would take the tip of his Master’s shoe to his gut – he would take the pain – to complete the sweeping motion with his saber coming up from below Han’s outstretched leg. With taking the hit, the idea was that he would be able to clip Han’s leg either when it was fully extended or when it was being withdrawn.

It left him slightly exposed to his Master’s own saber but not as much as it could have been, with Hannibal standing on one leg in the motion of a kick and one hand having just been thrust forward, even his balance should have suffered.

@Mr. Teatime