Tangled Hands

[Lamper]

RODIA
Matza, Rodia

06:07_ South Exit, South-East Jungle
[closed]​

Cappi leisurely strolled along a street of bronze factories, kicking a pebble with every other step. Rust stained counterweights churned massive swings, blocks pulled by gears pushing into slots in sequence towards the outskirts of industry. He yawned as the squeals of turning metal played an illusion of keys falling on the heels of his sluggish footsteps, threatening any lapse of pace. He kicked the pebble forward. He wouldn't be crushed. It just looked that way from profile. From his view the dusty street was wide, almost endless. He couldn't see the illusion of imminent danger. He wouldn't wake up to that way of life. He just heard the scuff of his footsteps and watched his toes kick the pebble a few paces ahead.

Grey sweatshirt hoodie over head, sleepy-eyed, one hand cozy as a clam in the belly pocket and the other twirling a lightsaber hilt like a pencil between fingers, olive cargo pant-legs swishing together over tan boots, Cappi finally made it to the south exit. The clear dome where the pressurized safety protocols were in place looked like a plastic box. He walked in, got a mild blast of air overhead, then walked out. And suddenly he'd traded a bronze background for an emerald one, forests and jungles ahead. He kicked the pebble one last time with all he had. Then looked up.

"Big tree. Check. Now where's this Cotan?"

 

[Elijah Brockway]

"Perhaps you'd know if you were being more mindful of the Force, my fellow Padawan," Cappi would hear a voice say, before a loud thump as somebody landed just behind him. When he turned around, he'd see Cotan just behind him, shimmering back into view. The Padawan had been practicing his Force Cloak abilities for a while, after his quite odd first usage of the skill with his own Jedi Master. The green-robed Padawan from Naboo was smiling merrily, as well, something that would hopefully show Cappi that he was only teasing with his initial comment.

The lightsaber he had finished constructing shortly before was nowhere to be found on his person, but he did have his silver-bladed training saber at his belt, in preparation for the sparring that was soon to occur. He straightened himself, standing upright and looking Cappi in the eyes. "Finding Rodia to your liking so far?"

 

[Lamper]

Cappi lazily shuffled about-face, a mask of bliss with a raised expression provided in response. His lips haphazardly pinched a subtly pleasant curl for but a moment before retracting into a more full bodied endeavor. Hands turned out, grin given new meaning, Cappi acknowledged his the padawan with warmth.

"Well aren't you cute."

Sarcasm. The only way to fly. He tucked away his lightsaber into his sweatshirt pocket, saving time by not clipping it back to his belt for now, so that he might offer a proper handshake before the opportunity passed. And so he did, extending one right hand. But if and when Cotan reached for it, Cappi'd pulled away, posing to push back the hood from off his head.

"Ah. You'da seen that coming if you were being more mindful of the Force, my fellow Padawan."
Cappi winked, a harmless rebuttal to Cotan's jest.

"I'm finding Rodia to be like some gigantic pinball machine. You dock in this plastic bubble. Then you shoot over to that plastic bubble. You spend some time rackin' up points in the jungle. Then it's back to the paddles. I don't know whether to like it or to stick a token in it. I mean what d'you do with this place? Only thing to do is swing from vines. Anything back in there and you're just in the way."
Motioning up to Cotan's tree perch, he commended the only thing that made sense on this planet before thumbing a gesture back over his shoulder to the clockwork of industry behind him in the dome.

Cappi'd come from Nar Shaddaa, where everything begged everyone's interest and welcomed a hands on approach. A do as you like kind of clutter that just made sense to him. Whereas this, this bubble-wrapped symmetry confused him; coming across as self-deprivating and in direct contrast with what life was all about. But even he had to admit the flora was nice.

"Got a place picked out or should we just explore?"

 

[Elijah Brockway]

Cotan reached out to shake Cappi's hand, before chuckling slightly when Cappi withdrew the hand almost immediately in the universally-recognized 'psych!' maneuver. Then he let Cappi go on answering his earlier question, while he focused somewhat more on something else entirely. Earlier, he'd watched Cappi kick a pebble somewhere off into the forest near them, and he'd paid careful attention to said pebble. Why, no real reason; it was something different to watch was all.

"There's more to this place than just the domed cities and the jungle," Cotan said in quiet reply, before grasping onto the pebble with the Force, upon locating the only non-living object within a space full of living things where it had been kicked. It was a small usage of the Force, one that he doubted Cappi would notice at all. "There's all sorts of emptiness around where you can just go and think, and watch the world go by around you. It's a beautiful void."

The pebble slowly floated its way on back, unnoticed by Cappi. "Anyways, no, I haven't really thought of any specific place to train at all. I think a little bit of exploration would prove a wonderful method for finding our location." Then, after a moment, Cappi was lightly tapped on the back of his head a couple times by the pebble.

Cotan grinned.

"Something, something, mindful of the Force, noticing that, fellow padawan, et cetera et cetera."

 

[Lamper]

Cappi seized and looked back, the head-tapping pebble startling him. He quickly realized what had happened and rolled his neck out, turning back to Cotan with a buster's mug; accepting a mixed expression of frustration and felicity.

"Alright. Alright. That's fine. You'll regret that though. But that's fine."
Cappi smiled back, nodding his head as he started walking out towards their path. Cotan might not realize he was actually relaxing some of Cappi's tension below the surface. He harbored no resentment. But he didn't like to lose either. And as he hid his hands back into his sweatshirt pockets, back to Cotan, he followed suit; playing the game that'd already started.

Cappi suddenly snapped his head to the right, and a small branch from the tree flew through the vacancy at Cotan. Cappi didn't hesitate to take off, dashing into the jungle. The branch was only a distraction. Cappi ran completely devoid of the Force, however, relying only on physical agility for now. Still, he was sprinting.

"Show me what'chu got," he called back over his shoulder with a smile.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

Cotan raised an eyebrow, quickly dropping to the ground and letting the branch pass by right above him. As soon as he came back up on his feet, Cappi was getting further and further away from him, calling out a challenge over his shoulder. The Padawan from Naboo smiled, before setting off after Cappi in a light jog. There'd be no way he could win the race - certainly not with the head start Cappi had, anyways - so he wasn't going to waste his energy trying. Instead, he'd just placidly follow behind Cappi, keeping his focus on other things.

Such as a vine hanging loosely off a tree that Cappi was soon to pass. Cotan smiled where Cappi couldn't see him, before the vine - grasped and encouraged the Force - lifted itself from the tree and shot out to catch Cappi by the ankle, all in the space of just a few heartbeats.

As Cotan continued placidly jogging on forwards.

 

[Lamper]

His running urged the swing of his arms. So, without the willingness to tangle himself up by trying to clip his saber to his belt or the faith that it wouldn't rattle out of his sweatshirt pocket, he kept it in hand and pumped his arms in opposition with his legs. He looked forward, not sensing a fluctuation from behind him. Grinning giddy. Didn't seem like Cotan was gonna try the straight forward approach of playing catch-up. Something about this kid was different, sneaky. That didn't impart any insight on Cappi's behalf, however, when a vine suddenly lifted itself from a tree he was passing and then shot out like a viper.

The yellow beam snapped afire and lopped off its head, Cappi stumbling after retracting a leg despite his pace. He'd recoiled his foot like a boy fearful of a snake's bite and sacrificed his footing for an awkward wobbling. He almost fell. Had the vine not first lifted before striking, Cappi might not have noticed its imminent attack in time. He recaptured his footing but slowed his pacing considerably.

"Ha. Try again," he challenged.

He began to distort his steps into freeform twisting and twirling, whirling his saber through broken sections of sword forms pieced together abruptly with the glue of acrobatics both low and high. He sensed all around him, secretly favoring enhanced hearing for an early warning system against incoming obstacles. He cartwheeled an areal, hands free. Turned a pivot. Lunged. Sidestepped. Crossed back. And carried on in different directions, ultimately still traveling in the same direction he'd earlier been sprinting.

Cappi wanted to see if he could counter these hazards. Just a game.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

Spoiler: OOC

I'm running under the assumption that Cappi is attacking Cotan here.

Cotan chuckled, watching Cappi's quick attempt to deal with the vine - So he does have good reflexes, at least - his jogging carrying him quite a bit closer to the other Padawan. Then his training saber flashed into his hand, silvery blade igniting in the blink of an eye, just before Cappi started his acrobatics. Through the process of it all Cotan barely moved, his blade doing most of the work as it twirled around him and caught Cappi's blade whenever it came near, or Cotan's small leanings in any one direction serving as dodges from other attacks. His feet never once moved from their current position.

One of the fun parts of Makashi was how the earliest exercises of the Form were based entirely around defense from other blades, crafting a defense against that specifically comparable to Soresu's. Defense came quite easily to any devoted practitioner of either Form. Then, after a moment, Cappi was gone again, running further through the jungle.

Cotan chuckled, and followed after him. It'd be up to Cappi to initiate the attack this time, rather than retaliating to something else as he just had.

 

[Lamper]

Cotan had engaged him. And he stood there like a punching bag, deflecting each of Cappi's swings; though not intended to strike so much as follow form. But it added to what Cappi was doing, complimenting his actions like a properly choreographed duel.

Cappi then jogged a little further, turned back around to face Cotan, and extended a hand to the dirt path between them. A shallow breeze at first swept up the dust. Then a puff of dirt popped from a spasm of lightly applied energy. And again, a film lifted into the air; just enough to cover around Cotan's person. Obstructing his view, even mildly threatening his breath, and obviously afflicting his comfort a little too, the sand kind of swarmed him. It was the most subtle application of the Force Cappi had managed thus far, and he hadn't even thought about it before trying.

"All is grist that comes to the mill, my friend."

Like a little prison of dust, Cotan would be pressed; almost like a riddle, following him and asking him to solve it.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

Aren't you cute.

Cotan had taken in a deep breath prior to the dust and dirt surrounding him, and squinted eyes coupled with a set of long eyelashes helped to keep all the irritants out of his eyes. The only problem now was that he was trapped in the dust. Still, he wouldn't be too hard pressed to get out of it. After all, two could play the telekinetics game.

Cotan reached out with the Force, into the sand and dust surrounding him. A strong enough omni-directional wave of energy would be more than enough to clear the air...but he had a more fun idea in mind. A small ripple of telekinetic energy flowed through the cloud, drawing all the sand and dust and dirt along with it, almost like a wave moving through water. The shroud quickly began to diminish as more and more of what was in the air clumped together, until after a moment all that was left of it was a small, dense sphere, held together by Cotan's mind alone, that was accumulating the very last of the dust.

Cotan then smiled winningly at Cappi, before sending the dense little ball flying towards Cappi, augmented by a Force Push, almost like a cannon ball.

 

[Lamper]

Cappi watched as his light application of the Force morphed into Cotan's more compressed expression by counter. There was plenty of time for Cappi to prepare now, almost like a wind-up before the pitch.

He squinted, stepped back, raised out an open left palm, crossed the yellow beam of his saber over his left shoulder, and readied his connection to life around him.

When the little canon ball shot towards him, Cappi lunged right to dodge it. Just barely. It passed between his arms just over his left shoulder, seared by the yellow plasma, and what little remained that wasn't instantly disintegrated dispersed with a puff of chalk behind his head. The accompanying residual energy, initially used to further propel the ball, was however caught by Cappi's hands and swallowed by his form. He struggled with its transfer and redistribution like balancing a bucket on his head overflowing with water. His arms bent in, expressing the process he worked to transform within, doubling the energy with his own, then sent it back with extending arms as a strong wave rushing towards Cotan.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

"Oh, I know I'm going to like you," Cotan half-happily muttered to himself, watching Cappi's momentary struggle, before the other Padawan sent a blast of Force energy back to Cotan in return, redirecting and doubling his own earlier Force Push. Rather than attempting to catch and return the blast a second time, though, Cotan had something different in mind. He knelt down on one knee, lightsaber deactivated and both hands in front of him, as the Force gathered within him again.

Imagine it like water freezing, forming a protective barrier for yourself.

Cotan was happy he had learned the Force Barrier power. It was a useful one, even with how little he ever actually found reason to use it. He did make sure to try and keep up some practice with it, however, and hopefully that would enable him to do what he wanted to here. Just before the wave hit him a shimmering, transparent green barrier came into existence, covering his person in the direction of Cappi's wave. The energy that wasn't stopped there continued on through the trees past Cotan, off to either side; the energy that hit the barrier head-on, meanwhile, dissipated and cancelled out against the energy Cotan put into that barrier. The barrier cancelled out as well, the energy that Cotan had put into it flowing out into the world around.

He then stood up, taking a couple deep breaths, while smiling at Cappi. "Pretty nice job you did right there," he said, complimenting the other man's redirection. Then he activated his blade, his smile turning into an evil grin. "Now let's see how good you really are with a blade!" Assisted by the Force he leaped forwards, his silver training saber coming down on Cappi in a hard overhead slash.

 

[Lamper]

Cappi's mouth fell open in awe, then curled into a smile. This guy was good. This must be what it looks like when you train for real, Cappi realized; reflecting on his half-assed tenure as a padawan.

"Na man, THAT, what you did, was awesome."

But the time to pat each other's backs was very short lived. Though, again, Cappi had time to prepare. To think. Cotan had leapt into the air, and poised an overhand strike. Cappi discerned which hand Cotan favored on his lightsaber and which leg would lead into his landing. And with that knowledge, Cappi leaned forward to narrow his target zones, and briskly walked past the side that would best position Cappi behind Cotan and his swing after he landed. To do so, Cappi raised his saber to clash across Cotan's; then, twisting back, slashed his saber back across what would presumably be Cotan's back.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

Cotan's lightsaber was deflected as soon as he landed, Cappi's blade quickly passing off of it. Cotan quickly pivoted around on his right foot, his lightsaber twirling in a short flourish as he did before it caught Cappi's counterattack. Cotan, meanwhile, looked almost completely unperturbed, with his left hand on his hip, almost all of his weight on his left foot now in the back, the only part of his right foot currently touching the ground being the ball of his foot.

"Perhaps I can teach it to you later," he said, in response to Cappi's compliment. Then he took a cue from the "Teräs Käsi School of Dirty Tricks" and executing a fast kick with his right leg, aimed for Cappi's solar plexus - while their blades were still locked, Cotan being especially careful to angle his blade in such a way that it would prevent any attempt of Cappi's to just slice his foot off.

 

[Lamper]

There came a curl to the corner of his mouth. Cappi never stopped moving, bending his wrist and sliding his saber off Cotan's, stepping away and letting Cotan's kick miss just to the right side as well as giving space for Cotan's saber should it fall without the expected pressure to hold it in place. Cappi stepped to his left, continuing to circle Cotan, and slashed his saber down across a diagonal to the left.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

While Cotan's kick met nothing but thin air, that didn't mean that the momentum used in it had to go to waste. He turned the kick into a step forwards, letting his foot fall and then kicking off with his left foot, turning quickly - while he used the momentum of his to bring it around in his turn, deftly catching and turning Cappi's blade aside, although Cotan didn't execute any attack this time.

"You know, you're rather good with that," Cotan complimented. "How long've you been training?"

 

[Lamper]

"Why thank you, sir." Cappi couldn't help but sneak some disguised satire into his genuine appreciation. Cotan may or may not pick up on it, but Cappi found the use of words like 'rather' in specific circumstances to be a bit ostentatious. He kind of popped up on his toes to deliver the 'gee golly' reply. A character flaw to be sure. But quickly thereafter he was back to normal.

"Ah, well, about ten years almost. I mean, not with this." He waved the saber as the subject of attention. "But just about. How 'bout you? It was like you weren't even phased by my skills. You kept cool. That'd piss me off if I were a Sith. I couldn't even answer you before you kicked. I thought somethin', but then I was like, go, and I couldn't speak."

 

[Elijah Brockway]

"Don't make fun of me, sir, I'm from Naboo," Cotan replied in a huff, although the smile on his face would betray the fact that he wasn't serious at all. "Even our lower classes sound like they're upper class." He chuckled for a moment and then listened to Cappi, shrugging a little self-deprecatingly.

"Believe it or not, I learned how to keep my head cool primarily from a Sith," he said after a moment. He thought of Lord Weiss, and how that gentleman wouldn't let anything phase him in his tone of voice - and he kept his face hidden no matter what, anyways. It certainly made Cotan annoyed and threw him off. Useful tactic to take. "And I've been training with the blade since I joined the Jedi when I was fourteen. Twenty-eight now. I just...ramped it up a bit after the Sith captured me and stole my lightsaber and attacked Anoth and everything. I don't want to let them manage anything like that again."

 

[Lamper]

"Heard about that. Seems I've missed just about every major skirmish so far. Some by as close as a day. Always take every opportunity to go check up on home. Just so happens to be one of the best places to hide once you get word to lay low. Nar Shaddaa's a maze of misfits. Though I'm sure I won't be able to avoid 'em much longer. Don't get me wrong. I've helped with some evacs and had to haul ass through a perimeter of a battle. But. I'm sure I'll have to get involved sometime."

His happy go lucky cheer trickled off in the end. Maybe a little ashamed for not having been there. Maybe a little depressed that he'd have to take a stand at some point. But he was being watched, so he had to put on a good front.

"Wait. Did you say you learned from a Sith? Like. Did he teach you? Or did you just pick up stuff?"

He was genuinely interested to learn about the Sith. He didn't know much about them first hand, and wanted to understand what they were really about. Not what rumors say or what legends boast, but really what they're like.

 

[Elijah Brockway]

"Yeah, I haven't been around for any of the battles. I've been...otherwise indisposed. Such as by being captured by the Sith." Cotan still felt a little sheepish, sometimes, involving what had happened. He still didn't remember who it was that had returned him to Murielle - perhaps he should ask her - but he did remember that it had been Lord Weiss who had captured him at first. And tortured him. And gotten the locations of the temples - Anoth and Arbra - from him.

"And yeah, I mainly just picked it up. The Sith certainly didn't mean to teach it to me, I just watched him and thought about how he acted around me and decided I'd try and use that same sort of calmness myself. It will, at least, throw my opponents off a little bit."