Gentlemen's duel (open challenge to a Dark Sider)

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust wanders through the streets of Coruscant, taking in the sights and sounds around him. He holds his hat in his right hand, letting the warm sun fall on his bald scalp. All his early life on his homeworld, he had longed to escape the incessant sun beating down upon him. Now, so long from home, he was beginning to miss the continual heat... but no matter. The new experiences he had partaken since arriving here had been well worth the trade off. So much to see! Not like the barren waste of his home.

So caught up in the simple pleasures of the day, he almost misses the small burst of Dark Side energy. Quickly replacing his hat, he turns in the direction of the disturbance. He rounds a corner and faces the source of this disturbance.

Why, what have we here?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan straightened up from his landing crouch, looking up at the balcony he'd leapt from three stories above.

"I was in a hurry."

He took a handful of steps, bringing him more or less nose-to-nose with the bald man. "That's what Jedi don't like about the Dark Side, isn't it; it's the 'quick and easy path'. Just now I needed quick, and I certainly wasn't about to say no to easy. Are you planning to have me arrested for crimes against civilization?"

[Mr Dust]

The gaunt Jedi backs away quickly with something akin to a disgusted look on his face.

Bad form, sir! A gentleman does not stand so close without being invited.

Dust shakes himself slightly, returning to his normal demeanor. The nerve of some people, utterly throwing good manners and decent civilized behavior to the wind like that!

As for your arrest, indeed I shall bring you to justice. Now, are you willing to join me quietly, or must we resort to violence?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Instantly, with no hint of subterfuge in face or Force-sense, Je'gan was contrite. He moved a respectful distance away.

"My humblest apologies, sir; bad form makes fools of us all on occasion.

"I believe that I shall come quietly."

[Mr Dust]

The man's sudden compliance is unexpected, but welcome none the less. His eyebrows raise momentarily, revealing his suprise.

Excellent. So good to find a proper gentleman amongst the tumult. If you would be so kind to walk ahead of me?
[i]
Mr. Dust gestures with his right hand that the man should leave. His guard relaxes slighty, but not too much. The suprise at finding such a... polite Dark Sider is enough suprise to throw him slightly, but not totally, off guard. He moves to follow the man from behind.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Of course," he replied with a bow.

"If you would be so kind, a matter-no, two matters, that perhaps you could enlighten me on.

"One, in which direction should I walk?

"And two, what precisely defines the charges you wish to lay against me?"

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust gives a small smile and bows, removing his hat with his right in the process.

I'm terribly sorry, sir. I believe you have me at a loss. Might I ask why you were leaping from said balcony, and why you happen to be in a hurry?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"For the sole reason that there's a public-transport seat to Corellia with my name on it, which leaves in about twenty minutes."

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust once more removes his hat, bowing deeply.

I must apologize profusely, sir. It appears I was in error. Now, if you will excuse me...

Mr. Dust begins to turn, continuing on his original path.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Your pardon, please." Je'gan's voice rang loud enough for the tall, bald man to hear him.

"Might I inquire as to why one would simply assume I was up to no good end, sir? One might see such an accusation as an insult."

[Mr Dust]

A half-smirk appears on the gaunt man's face.

Your Force signature resonates with the Dark Side. The Dark Side never leads anyone to a good end. One might as well expect a rancor to become a vegetarian.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Irritated by both smirk and tone, Je'gan took a step towards the bald man.

"And you, yourself, have walked the dark path?" he demanded, hand unobtrusively near the hilt of his lightsaber. "You possess such an intimate knowledge of the mind of a Darksider, that you can presume to make generalities on us? Fie, sir!"

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust's brow furrows slightly as the man begins advancing on him. As well, the man's accusatory attitude is most unwelcome.

I have not walked the path of Evil, nor shall I. As for my so-called "generalities" toward Dark Siders, I make my statements with a great deal of proof. I have yet to see... nay, yet to even hear of a Dark Sider who was not eventually destroyed by the Dark Side. One need not fall from a cliff to know that it would kill.

As the man's hand moves toward his saber, Mr. Dust touches his.

I would not reach for my weapon, were I you, unless I were wishing for a duel. Is that your wish?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Grievances or not," Je'gan replied, "only a fool in my position would pass up the chance to fence with one of a Jedi's caliber. So few nowadays understand the art of the blade." He assumed a classic en garde, lightsaber held in a rather weak but highly maneuverable fencing grip. It's blade, however, remained unignited.

"For both our dignities, sir."

OOC/ You got any actual fencing experience? ie; will I have to explain my moves?

[Mr Dust]

OOC: Not enough to know all the French. Explanation would be nice.

IC: Mr. Dust bows respectfully.

So be it.

Igniting his blue-white blade, Mr. Dust raises the saber in salute, then drops to a matching en garde. He holds his bowler in his right, behind him. The inside of the hat is lined with cortosis, but he will not use it against a saber. To do so would be dishonorable. The cortosis is solely for use against Lupines.

Shall we?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

OOC/ Understood. I'll do my best to explain the terms as they come up.

en garde = just a basic 'ready' stance. Facing forwards, but chest and hips are turned to the left to present a smaller target area. Left foot obviously back, also sticking out to the left. Left leg straight, right slightly bent with the toes pointing forward.

IC/ The lightsaber in his hand ignited a brilliant green. With a quick hop-skip (heretoafter referred to as a balestre), he closed the distance between them and lanced out a pair of quick stabs for throat and midriff.

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust parries both strikes, moving backwards in the process. He shuffles back an extra step, to give himself room.

Interesting... I had thought none still remembered the old style.

Dust rushes in quickly, slashing at his opponent's right wrist. Hopefully, his smaller and more manuverable saber should give him an advantage in the speed department.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"To the best of my knowledge"-step, slash, stabstab-"I'm the only Sith alive who does. Not that I'm terribly well-travelled, but"-stab-"it's not terribly common among those I've encountered. And that's because I've only recently"-stab lungestab-"begun to learn the ways of the Force. I was"-stab-"a fencer for about eight years."

[Mr Dust]

The spark and sizzle of lightsabers is heard as they counter back and forth, flowing so smoothly that they form a cadence of sorts.

Very intriguing indeed. My people have handed it down for centuries, back to the Old Republic era. I, and most Guardians like myself, train in this style as soon as we are of age to hold a saber.

Dust waits until Je'gan launches a high slash, and feints to block it. Instead, he sidesteps to the outside. He launches an overhand arc with his thin saber, aiming down at the man's shoulder.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I was ten when I began."

Je'gan twisted to the side, just slightly, and the saber hummed past. His own weapon, upside-down, met the Jedi's weapon hilt-to-hilt, and pushed it up and away. The emerald blade slid free and lanced out in a short-range slash for Dust's head.

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust arcs his body backward, toppling backwards to the ground. He slashes out with his sword at the man's ankles before rolling to the side.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He almost didn't notice the slash in time, and when he finally jumped the requisite six inches he could feel the heat of the passing blade through the soles of his boots. The tip of his saber caught the Jedi's and threw it farther along it's trajectory, and then he landed. Breathing slightly faster than normal, he backed a step away to give Dust time to get to his feet.

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust rolls, expecting a counter, but finds instead that his opponent has allowed him to rise.

Well played, sir, but unnecessary. I thank you for your courtesy, but it is not required. I have no qualms with letting the fight play itself out.

In fact... perhaps an escalation is in order...

Dust extinguishes his saber and concetrates. Within moments, his body appears to haze as shifts into his ethereal form.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Escalation?

"Certainly," he responded, slipping his dirk back to its sheath and extinguishing the lightsaber. He slid into a low, strong martial arts stance, set himself, raised his hands-

And in the blink of an eye his mind slammed into Dust's, a hailstorm of mental blades that carved fiercely into the older man's shields.

[Mr Dust]

Very abruptly, Dust drops into the material plane. His mental resistance is slightly above average, but not so much as to be able to hold the ethereal form while resisting the attack.

The mental barrage quickly begins to take its toll. Unable to hold against it for long, Dust is becoming overwhelmed by mental pain. Knowing that he can't hold this up forever, he makes a desparate attack to try to break the other man's concentration. Not even waiting to re-ignite his saber, Dust launches himself full on in a head-on dive to try to latch onto the man and take him down.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan's own concentration was so absorbed by the effort of attacking the Jedi mentally, that the tackle caught him completely off-guard. Not even the vestige of a proper martial-arts fall clung to his impact; his head rang and he felt his mind retreat from Dust's to physical reality.

And in the process, bring hard-earned Teras Kasi experience into play. He wasn't a master of it, not by a long shot, but all he had to do at this point was slam a reversed elbow to the chest of the fellow on top of him. The Jedi's not inconsiderable weight lifted a few centimetres, and Je'gan rolled to the side. Still on his back, he ignited his lightsaber and sent it scything downward at Dust.

Letting the man recover had been a mistake.

One he was not going to let happen again.

[Mr Dust]

The blow to the chest nearly knocks the wind out of him, but with the saber coming down towards him he doesn't have time to waste catching his breath. Instead of trying to roll out of the way, he rolls toward the man, trying to get under the arc of the saber.

He rolls in quickly, almost missing the blade. He is not quite fast enough as the blade sears his shoulder painfully. But he achieves his true objective none the less.

As soon as he gets in range, he reaches out and grabs the man's shoulder and immediately goes into ethereal mode. He won't be able to hold it for more than a couple seconds, especially bringing in a second body. However, going ethereal has some... interesting effects on ignited lightsabers. In going ethereal, he breaks the weak nuclear force with the Force itself. When a saber is ignited and phased this way, the magnetic field no longer functions, causing the saber to quickly drain itself. As soon as Je'gan's saber is empty, he begins to try to grab the man and press his attack.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Knowing that the bald man now possessed a great many advantages, Je'gan rolled over to face the ethereal Jedi, while replacing the lightsaber at his belt and stabbing out with the dirk.

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust sees the dirk coming and has two options. He could simply let the man go, and he would become solid while Dust would remain incorporeal. His other option is to try and fight. He choses to fight.

He catches the man's wrist with his left hand. The blade scrapes into his hand as he does so, but has little effect in this ghostly form. Knowing he can't hold this form for much longer, he pulls the man's hand, carrying it and his own hand into the ground beneath them. Then, bracing himself, he returns to solid form.

Solidifying inside an object is usually bad, but in this case it was necessary. As his hand (as his opponent's hand) return to normal, they are "shunted" into the nearest free space. It causes no physical damage, but the process of weak nuclear bonds re-forming is VERY painful when done inside an object. As a result, Dust's hand (and hopefully Je'gan's) is now useless for the rest of the fight. He rolls away, clutching his debilitated left hand.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan leapt to his feet and clutched his right hand to his chest. A horrid scream burst forth from shattering vocal cords, and in a blaze of hatred he directed a small tornado of blades on the mental plane at Dust's psyche. The attack didn't last long, however; still with the hand close in over his heart, he leapt and spun, hitting Dust with a flying kick to the chest.

[Mr Dust]

The mental barrage sends Dust reeling, leaving him totally open for the counter attack kick to the chest. He tries to draw his saber with his right hand, slowly reaching it. He is still down on his back, waving his now-ignited saber to hold off his attacker.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The saber was moving slowly...but Je'gan knew just how fast this man could be when he wanted to. He wasn't going anywhere near that, disarmed as he was.

A few steps back brought him to where they had fallen; his dirk's hilt protruded from the ground. With his left hand he yanked it free, and placing it in its sheath, scooped up the deactivated lightsaber as well.

He bowed, and ran.

[Mr Dust]

Mr. Dust watches the man retreat in both relief and suprise. For some reason, the man decided not to hit him with a mental attack or a physical Force push. Either would have finished him, more than likely. But, any fight that could be walked away from was a good one. He slowly returns to his feet, dusts himself off, and bows in the direction Je'gan ran toward. He speaks to no one in particular.

Well played sir... well played indeed.

He gathers his saber and hat and, massaging his numb left hand, heads off to get healing.