Looking for a Fight

[Aaron Belargic]

fsssh

The wooden pole cut the air loudly, as Aaron twisted it between his hands. He had been flicking it back and forth, stabbing and lunging at the air for almost a quarter of an arn. His face showed nothing but concentration- teeth gritted and brow furrowed as he pummeled his invisible opponent with the makeshift staff.

[James Prent]

She leaned quietly in the doorway, dressed in a short tunic and loose pants. The traditional obi outlined her trim waist as she folded her arms, tucking her hands into the loose sleeves. Aaron was concentrating so hard on his workout that he didn't notice her standing there watching him.

[Aaron Belargic]

He pivoted and twisted on his feet so fast that what was around him became a blur. All he saw with the movement of the staff and the target at which he was striking. All of his frustration poured out into the exercise and he lost himself so much in it that he stopped only when, upon lunging the stave outwards, he saw an unfamiliar shape in his surroundings. The tip of the wooden pole stopped short of the Padawan in the doorway.

Taking in a deep breath, he lowered the staff down to his side.

“… Hello.”

[James Prent]

She didn't flinch away from the pole, and smiled as he stood at ease. "Hello, yourself. Gettin' a bit of a workout?" James took a few steps inside the room and saw a second wooden pole leaning nonchalantly against the wall. The padawan looked sideways at him, and the smile turned a bit impish. "Mind if I join you?"

With a brief amount of concentration (she hardly had to close her eyes anymore even), the staff wiggled away from the wall and landed in her hand. James closed her fingers around it and gave it an experimental twirl in front of her. She'd been concentrating on her combat training for the last few months, but hadn't had a lot of one on one sparring other than with her master.

One more spin of the staff as she watched Aaron, and then she settled into a defensive position. James winked at him.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron stifled a laugh, which became just a sharp exhalation of breath. The Padawan took a few paces away from James and stopped. His left foot slid backwards as he tucked the staff beneath one arm, his elbow holding it on place as his hand directed the weapon. His free hand rose and arm extended, crooking a beckoning finger at James.

[James Prent]

Her face creased into a grin, and she rose to his challenge, slowly circling around him while closing the distance between them. James flicked the staff out towards him, testing him out, and he blocked easily, the wooden poles hitting with a loud clack.

The shorter padawan knew she was at a disadvantage because of her height, but knew when push came to shove...she'd always be short and so she just had to work around it. She spun around from his block, sweeping the staff as though it were an extension of her arm, and trying to knock his legs out from under him.

[Aaron Belargic]

There wasn’t much chance of blocking a low shot from the side without ending up in an awkward position, so he decided to jump. The staff drove against the ground as a means of stabilizing him, and he flicked into the air, hooking a kick out towards James and hoping that his ground was not knocked away.

[James Prent]

James continued smoothly with her sweep as he jumped away, and her staff caught his as he put his weight on it. She grunted as she knocked it out from under him, narrowly missing being kicked in the head as he lost his center of gravity.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron fell and landed in an awkward crouch, which gravity threatening to knock him backwards. Some how with the staff to counterbalance him he managed not to go backwards, but instead began to rock forwards. It was his turn to have a shot at James now, as he used his forward momentum to sweep out and very slightly upwards towards her.

[James Prent]

She reeled backwards from the near miss of his foot, and regained her balance just as he swung his staff around at her, his body following behind. James two handed her pole to the side, his staff whacking against it solidly and sending reverberations up and into her arms. Aaron's pole slid against hers and she grimaced, twisting her staff quickly and completely around, sending him back where he started.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron got to his feet rather unsteadily, having difficulty switching his center of gravity to accommodate for all the tumbling.

“You’ve been practicing.”

The staff jumped up in his hands, so that he had a-hold of it three quarters down its length, giving a great leverage and swing length. Like a saber, he flicked it outwards in a few short, sharp stabs.

[James Prent]

She spun away from his attacks, staff held tightly in both hands. James grinned, twirling her pole and whacking his away as he got closer. "I've spent a lot of time in the training rooms lately." Preparing.

The padawan lunged forward with one leg, bringing her staff down hard towards his shoulder with a shout. Shouting 'hah' tended to throw an opponent's concentration off. Plus, it helped her focus her energy in one direction.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron flicked the tip of the staff upwards and it connected with its counterpart with a thwack. A small shift of the tip switched its location from beneath James’ staff to above it, and the Padawan promptly drove downwards, aiming to create an opening for a shoulder barge.

[James Prent]

As he forced one end of her staff down, she shifted her stance to accomodate. Using her left arm she forced the other end of her staff into the air, aiming to whack Aaron in the forehead as he charged forward with his shoulder.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron’s eyes widened as he tried to rock his momentum and shift position, successfully managing to duck the shot. Instead of his shoulder hitting James it was his head now – rather awkward. The Hallaeran swerved himself to try and avoid the collision, resulting in the staff rather hap-handedly coming swinging up in a horizontal arc at James’ body.

[James Prent]

James reversed tack again, bringing her staff around to block his horizontal strike. Unfortunately she didn't catch it on the staff between her two hands, but right on the knuckles of her left hand. She sucked in her breath sharply, her left hand coming off the staff as she back pedaled.

[Aaron Belargic]

A retreat always meant a chance to drive in and seize victory. Aaron double-stepped forwards and, staff gripped at three quarters of its length, aimed to cast the pole right down out of James’ hands with a hard downward strike.

[James Prent]

James cursed as Aaron knocked her staff out of her right hand before she could grab it again with her left. Acting instinctively, she grabbed the end of his staff with both hands and threw her weight to the side, knocking him off balance.

[Aaron Belargic]

Caught a little off guard, Aaron’s grip slipped and he lost his hold on the staff, and it too looked as though it was going to fly aside and land with its counterpart – or send James spinning with its momentum.

[James Prent]

She inwardly cursed her small size as he let go, and she found herself spinning around. James kept her feet underneath her and completed a turn, the staff about to whack Aaron in the side as she tried to get a better hold on it and recover her balance.

[Aaron Belargic]

The staff that James’ had used slid up into Aaron grip but a moment too late. Air rushed up and out of his lungs, and he was forced to gasp to refill them. A few steps to the side, forced mostly by the impact, and he swept the (somewhat smaller) staff back up and out as though trying to impale James on the tip.

[James Prent]

James instinctively bent over backwards, the pole striking only air as she used the staff in her hand to steady herself against the ground. She moved so fast in response it was...almost precognition. Had she sensed it through the Force?

The smaller padawan kicked up with one foot, trying to catch Aaron's extended arm with the toe of her shoe.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron winced as the kick landed, but was totally determined to knock away James’ stack that he still managed to follow through. If the two poles connected, James’ would have no balance and Aaron would have a superb upperhand!

[James Prent]

James cried out as his powerful backslash connected with her staff, knocking it away and sending her to the ground, flat on her back. Her breath popped out of her lungs, but she managed to roll to the side, trying to grab her fallen staff even as she gasped for breath.