Matchboxes and Mind Tricks (Yurza Magus)

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"No, I don't care, Alghieri. I really couldn't give a flying-"

On impulse, the young man stalking the suspended patio paused and let the other participant in the conversation get a word in edgewise. His gaze flicked wildly about, and whoever he glanced at suddenly felt very, very ill.

"Yes, I know you're busy," he continued loudly, "but you owe me. I took out Aztaroth for you, and if you think that kind of op is easy, you've messed with the wrong garcon. Comprenez-vous, Alghieri?"

The crime lord, being Varundana and thus francophone like the young man on the café patio, understood perfectly. This didn't stop Je'gan from raving for another two-and-one-half minutes, just to make sure the dirty orc actually got the point. At long last, he sat down and ordered a cup of hot chocolate. Volubly. Coruscantan waiters didn't have ears.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza was back on Coruscant, doing a small task when he suddenly felt very ill. He looked around wondering what could make him feel this way. One minute he was fine and the next he wasn't. He looked upwards, towards the balconies when his eyes fell upon a man looking at him. When he happened to turn away though, Yurza felt fine. Finally he realized that it was a Force trick, and he had been unpreared for anything. Well he would have to deal with that later. For now however, he would deal with the person.

Who does he think he is? Yurza thought as he made his way up the stairs to the second level of the small cafe. When he was up there, his eyes scanned the room for the man. When he found him, he took a chair on the opposite side of the patio. He ordered a small mocha latte. While he waited on his order, the blonde Sith opened his mind and senses to the Force.

Slowly he reached out to the man, casting the same illusion he had. It wouldn't be as strong, but he would definitely notice the change in his stomach.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Even on standby, Je'gan's mental defences were formidable...but he still noted the change. A prompt self-evaluation told him what was happening, if not who was casting the illusion. He was facing mostly away from the main part of the patio: thus, he couldn't really see if anyone had arrived recently, or if anyone had looked at him with more than passing interest.

Subtly, he infiltrated the mind of an old man sitting nearby. The fellow's memories opened like a book. Someone new had indeed arrived, mere seconds ago, and had looked like he was searching for someone. The new arrival's gaze had settled on Je'gan.

A waiter approached the unknown Forcewielder from the rear left, bearing a steaming cup. Je'gan felt a surge of irritation that his earlier order for hot chocolate hadn't been filled as abruptly as this newcomer's. On impulse, he dropped the mindtap and crafted a real Illusion: the waiter's arm held slightly differently, and the cup easily five inches below its actual position. He had to make the real forearm and cup invisible, but that was doable even if he wasn't looking in that direction. When the newcomer - undoubtedly someone affected by his earlier spate of anger - went to take the cup, the now-mindfogged waiter would release it, and the cup would drop.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza reached out for the cup, but when he touched it, it wasn't there. It wasn't until it was falling, that he noticed. He tried to reach out and catch it with telekinesis, but he only managed to catch the cup as the hot liquid hit the ground.

He glanced over at the man, but his back was turned. He still knew it was him. He stood up, annoyed with this guy and walked over to his table. He layed his hands down on the table. "What do you think the big deal is?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Unblinking black eyes stared up at Yurza. One hand, absent, reached out to the side to take a mug of hot chocolate from a very, very late waiter who scurried away as fast as humanly possible.

Je'gan sipped the drink and finally blinked as he put the cup down on the table.

"Let's see. I don't recall aiming for you on purpose. On the other hand, you came up into this establishment with the direct intention of striking against me. Opening salvo, taken. Nicely done for a student. Point to you."

He took one more sip, almost absently.

"So I return a minor inconvenience for a minor inconvenience."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"And it becomes your turn. Would you like to attempt a major inconvenience?"

[Yurza Magus]

He made a sour face. He hadn't had much practice with his new mental abilities, but he would definitely try to give this guy a run for his credits.

He looked in Je'gan's eyes and gave a small smile. He reached out to the his mind trying to conect with it as he had the Jedi he had practiced on, but he could tell this man was stronger than the Padawans. To try and lower his defenses though, he cast a simple illusion of Je'gan's cup spilling as he set it down. Hopefully he would be occupied with that, not to notice Yurza's presence entering his mind, trying to slip past the defenses he sensed there.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

When Yurza said nothing, it became obvious that his challenge had been accepted. Now it was only a matter of time until whatever happened, happened.

The illusion worked, but Je'gan still noticed the infiltration attempt. Shield extrusion - protecting parts of his mind that would otherwise be vulnerable - was something he had a decent skill in. The normal avenues of mental infiltration were blocked. This gave him a spare moment in which to strike.

He 'grabbed' Yurza's probe all along its length, back to the blonde Darksider's mind, and began pulling that mind towards him, striking against the connections between Yurza's psyche and body. If Yurza wasn't successful in countering...

He'd get his mind ripped out.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza winced as Je'gan grabbed his probe, but he wasn't slightly worried about it. He could defend against it almost effortlessly. His master Dalethria had taught him to do so after nearly killing him in many training execises.

As the Sith got deeper into his mind, trying to sever his connection with his mind, Yurza let loose a pyschic bolt at what would have been considered point blank range if he had shot him with a blaster. He knew it was weak, but the closeness and proximity of it should make up for that.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

It did.

The bolt took Je'gan square-on, smashing against the outer layers of his excellent mental shields. It broke enough of his concentration that he was forced to pull out of his opponent's mind.

But he had a name now: Yurza Magus.

He retaliated with Force Blindness.

[Yurza Magus]

Darkness shrouded Yurza's vision and it took a moment for him to regain his composure. He couldn't physically see anything or anyone, but he could see Je'gan through the Force. He could also feel that his attack had worked.

Well if he wants to play at it like this, he thought as he sent a wave of Force Confusion through his mind.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Projective telepathy; Je'gan's voice in Yurza's head.

Now that's upping the ante, Magus.

He stood by pure feel and stepped away from the table to put a little distance between himself and Yurza. His shields blunted the assault only partially, leaving colours, shapes, smells and suchlike dancing through his mind. Focus, though, was something he was infamous for - counter to his unexceptional power level. The Blindness eased, as if the Confusion was working properly-

Only to be replaced by an attack of Confusion easily the equal of Yurza's own.

[Yurza Magus]

This time Yurza was prepared for the Sith's attack, and though he wasn't able to deflect it all, it still was able to deflect enough of the assault so that he could respond to his comment, but it took a long moment to reorient himself as the colors flew before his eyes and the smells were inhaled through his nose.

It seems you have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I do not know yours, Yurza sent into Je'gan's head. As he sent the thought, he also sent another psychic bolt at his new opponent's mind.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

One of the middle levels of his shield, an amorphous one, extended a pseudopod and caught the bolt, immobilizing and then dissipating it. The pseudopod lashed out, taking on the form of a many-bladed whip. The Confusion continued.

Olra'en.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smiled slightly as the pseudopod lashed out. Yurza wasn't without his own mental defenses. He was used to having these battles with his Master, so when called his mental 'lightsaber' sprang forth to bat the whip to the side.

He heard the name and his smile grew, though he couldn't really tell if he was really facing anyone. As he bid his time, he had gathered enough erergy for another attack. This time he sent forth a wave of Malacia, along with boosting his own Confusion just ever so slightly.

The work that was needed to keep up this things at once was tiring, but he rarely had a chance to go up against anyone new and this thought alone gave him strength.

Well Olra'en, it seems as if it is your move.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Physical affects: dizziness, nausea. We're talking Malacia here. Now that's something I've got to learn to do properly.

If you prefer...a few have called me Darth Shule.

He hadn't expected such a simplistic attack to work, of course, but it was a good index of how Yurza defended his mind. Almost instantly, the Confusion still blaring his his senses - and likewise in Yurza's - he replaced the pseudopod with a more...refined technique.

A stream of small triangular blades sprang forth. The stream didn't end; once a blade had bitten in Yurza's mindshields, it disappeared and another took its place back where the stream began. The effect, he'd heard on occasion, was not unlike being sandblasted.

Square in the face.

With knives.

Needless to say, it hurt.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smiled through the pain. He was determined not to show how much that last attack had hurt him. His mental lightsaber began to swing and spin, deflecting a few and sending others back at Je'gan. He drew on the Force for strength as he increased each of his attacks slightly, while holding back just a little energy as if trying to build up for a momentous attack.

Well which do you prefer?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Each blade was under conscious control, an element which made the attack not only difficult but potent. He had no issues with causing a few deflected blades to lose cohesion. None of the redirected blades touched him.

The stream split into three curving arcs, each a viable mental attack in its own right. One slashed from above; the other two, from lower left and lower right. His voice echoed dryly from the mental background.

That would depend on how mad you get me.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza couldn't defend against all three attacks so he chose the one in the middle, relying more on luck that the two on the sides he could withstand for a few more moments, as some of his stored up energy went into putting up weak shields on both side. Neither would last more than a few minutes, five at the most, but it could be long enough for him to release one more attack.

And how mad would that have to be?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A whole lot madder than Malacia and Force Confusion can do. Unless you're confusing anger with simple irritation.

Maintaining the Confusion and the three blade-attacks required easily as much division of focus as mind-controlling four people at once. Je'gan knew he wouldn't be able to last more than a few minutes before he'd have to stop one or more of those attacks.

But in those few minutes...

A shadowy red beam flashed between the two Darksiders' minds, striking at the centrepoint of the three ongoing bladestreams.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza took an involuntary step backwards as the red beam hit him. He would not be defeated by a beam of light. He checked his shields, and grimaced they were about to come down, but he had stored enough energy for this last attack. He had read about it before and even attempted it in small doses, but he had never attempted a full force blast of Waves of Darkness. Now would be the time to see if it would get Je'gan to lower his defenses or lay off the attacks long enough for him to start his barage of psychic bolts.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Nodding respect, he settled down to dealing with the Waves. Extensive reading had left him reasonably familiar with the technique, and he'd even been a recipient for something very similar not too long ago. Then, he'd worked on absorbing it, channeling the negative emotions involved into his own psyche. Now, he did the same.

The hatebeam and the bladestreams lashed out again after a second's pause. The Confusion, which had slackened during his absorption of the Waves of Darkness, intensified.

Congratulations, Magus. You got me mad.

[Yurza Magus]

His smile grew as he dropped to a knee, under the pressure of the attacks. He was through, but he would not give the Sith the satisfaction of seeing his pain.

It would seem you are the better mentalist, but I wonder how much longer you can send this barage of attack and how much most I can take.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The mental image of a huge grin flashed across Yurza's mind. In an instant, several things happened.

The attacks ceased.

Je'gan's Force signature began to fade, a process that would take several seconds.

And calling on Illusion, he made himself invisible.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza stood up almost at once, as he felt the attacks stop. It was as if a huge burden had been lifted off of his shoulders. When he reached out for Je'gan however, he could sense him getting smaller and smaller.

So you have a new trick?

He sent the thought out openly, just hoping it would reach Je'gan since he could no longer pinpoint the man.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan's voice, his real voice, hissed out of nowhere as the last of what made his Force signature noticeable disappeared. He moved silently, several steps back and away. People were deserting the patio; he stayed clear of them.

"Old, old trick, Magus. You learned it as an infant. Peek-a-boo. I see you."

[Yurza Magus]

"So now we are to reduce to childish games?" He asked noticing Je'gan's signature disappear completely. "What is to be accomplished by this?"

His hand strayed towards his lightsaber slightly, incase the Sith would like to make this a physical battle.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Isn't it obvious?"

In an instant, the Illusion disappeared, leaving the Sith Knight visible and his Force signature distinguishable.

"To provoke you. To manipulate you. You have a good grasp of what it is to act like a mentalist, Yurza Magus...but do you understand a mentalist's soul?"

[Yurza Magus]

"And what are souls really, but more than fairy tales to keep little children from misbehaving?" The young Sith asked as he took a small step back, surprised by Je'gan's remergance.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"A soul is something more fundamental to who you are than your mind. I know minds...all I know of souls is that they exist.

"And if you haven't progressed that far in your understanding of this field...then I can have no fear of anything you might try."

[Yurza Magus]

"Maybe...or it could be that your thoughts would be your undoing. A faith in something other than the Force might prove to be deadly."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"What's to have faith in? I know it exists, same as I know this table-" tap "-exists. It's just another fact, possibly useful, mostly not. In any case...the next move is yours. Go on." He smiled grimly. "Show me you think and feel like a mentalist."

[Yurza Magus]

"I'll show you something," he said as two arms raised from his side. Then two more sets of hand rose and two more Yurza's walked from behind him. "But the question is how many of me can you handle?"

All three of them smiled menacingly and when one spoke they all spoke. "Will you make the right choice?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

At a certain level, he supposed, banter in a fight became as irrelevant as in any other circumstance. This was probably that time.

He appeared to hesitate, even though his danger-sense told him loud and clear which Yurzas were illusionary. At last he appeared to choose one of the illusions, stepped toward it, reached down to the lightsaber at his belt with his right hand...

Snapped up his left and blasted the real Yurza with a forty-five-degree cone of sizzling Shadow that burnt whatever soul it touched. The stuff was visible only by Force-senses.

The blades of solid Shadow, however, that swarmed within that cone, were very, very tangible. They came from the reservoir he wore about his left wrist, and they duplicated in reality the bladestream attack he'd only recently used by imagination. The difference being that these blades didn't dissipate. They'd disappear on a lightsaber, true...but that wouldn't save Yurza from the sheer scope of the attack, let alone the incorporeal Shadow that surrounded the blades.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza saw the attack and felt it through the Force, or thought he felt it. He was only focused on the visible and tangible attack. He swung his lightsaber around twice and they were gone.

"Is that all yo...ugh..."

Yurza hit his knees and the other two of him disappeared. The pain he felt now was unbearable. He had in no way prepared for this kind of attack and now he was suffering for his lack of disciplne.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

OOC/ It would take considerably more than two swipes...those blades take up a lot of space...but whatever.

IC/

"Like that?"

He couldn't keep a bare hint of gloating from his voice, and on second thought, he hadn't really tried anyways. The stream went on and on, until he snapped his fingers and it disappeared.

"That's Shadow," he said, emphasizing the capital. "It can't kill you unless it's formed with you in mind-" which this was; it didn't take long at all to summon incorporeal Shadow "-but with enough exposure...well..."

You'd wish you were dead went unspoken.

Je'gan cocked his head. "Your turn."

[Yurza Magus]

OOC: Sorry about that, I was thinking of them as a kind of small cone because of the wrist thing.

IC:
Yurza stood up panting. He already knew this Je'gan was his better and he would probably end up dying long before he managed to really hurt him, but did he really have to let him know that? Of course not. If you were to be an illusionist, you hade to be one in every aspect, and that also meant being a good actor.

He lifted his hand and wiped his brow. When he brought it back donw, his breathing had returned to normal and he was barely sweating anymore. He looked at Je'gan and smiled.

"If that is the best you could do then you're in real trouble..."

He though for a moment before realizing that he had used up all of his tricks. There wasn't anything else he could do. He didn't have any more tricks up his sleeve expect to use smll illusions and many at once. They wouldn't be exceptional, but they would be there atleast.

"How about this?" As he asked a wave of Force blindness was sent out to Je'gan, as well as the feeling of live heat on his body. He couldn't produce the actual image of a fire, but the effects should do if the blindness worked.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Levels again...

The level, this time, at which a Sith Knight should demonstrate that he was more than the sum of his component parts - the parts in question being Force tricks. Even as the lowly Darth Shule, Je'gan Olra'en still maintained that responsibility.

That duty.

That utter, unmitigated pleasure.

He threw his arms wide, bringing to effective transparency two patches on his mental shielding. The darkness and pain washed over him uninhibited. He couldn't see, and the pain was enough to paralyze.

But then something that perhaps only he had expected to happen, happened.

He began, tangibly and openly, to feed off the pain.

And grew stronger.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smiled. His simple trick was actually working. He stoof up and walked over to Je'gan, smiling. "Ahh...how sweet this moment is..."

He was about to say something else when he noticed something. Je'gan wasn't hurting. If anything he was getting strnger, but how? The only thing he could think of was that the Sith was feeding off of the energy or perhaps the pain, but how could someone do that?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

It took the very literal blink of an eye for Je'gan to move, but when he did, he didn't telegraph at all. And since he hadn't used physical enhancement, the ex-Teras Kasi champion's movement didn't stand out in the Force.

He hit Yurza with a reverse punch in the solar plexus.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza gasped for air as he dropped to one knee. It wasn't that he was in extreme pain or anything, but he had been so suprised of what Je'gan was doing that when he started walking over to him and swung at Yurza he had forgot to prepare himself.

He stood up slowly and stared at the Sith, his knees slowly stopping wobbling. "So when did this become a physical thing?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"When you let yourself get too close for mentalics to be truly useful," Je'gan retorted, backing away as he circled to put himself in the middle of the patio. "You of all people should know that mind tricks aren't close-combat techniques."

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza snatched his lightsaber up, holding the double ended hilt in his right hand. "Then I guess it is a good thing that isn't my strong area...yet"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He quirked an eyebrow and flipped Azubah between his fingers. The lightsaber's curved hilt was almost hidden behind a bowl-guard of jet black alloy that was capable of slowing a saber's blade.

"You want to take a lightstaff up against a Form Two Master? If close combat's what you consider your strong area..."

He trailed off, igniting the sky-blue blade. If Yurza attempted to use both blades, this would be a short and ruinous duel. Lightstaffs simply didn't work against lone fencers.

If the blond Sith Acolyte only used one of the blades, however, things could get interesting fast.

Je'gan lashed out with a psychic bladestream.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza had defended against this attack before and did so again. Only this time he also stepped forward and swung his lightsaber hilt downwards, igniting the blade closest to Je'gan only at the last possible second. The red blade shot forward and came down towards the Sith's right shoulder.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

His block took Yurza's saber close to the hilt, hitting the extending blade in a sharp blow that sent a shiver down the blond mentalist's arm. A flick of the wrist sent the tip of his blade towards Yurza's saber hand.

[Yurza Magus]

The blade hit home, but just barely left a cut. Yurza did nothing. He could take the pain from a tiny scratch.

He twisted his hilt around, activating the second blade and deactivating the first. He came in low and to the left with a strike to Je'gan's waist.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Taking a firm, two-handed grip on Azubah, he slashed down in a counterclockwise loop that stopped the cut handily, blades sizzling near their respective hilts. From there, his left hand slammed down and to the right, to bring the now-horizontal blade towards Yurza's left hip.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza took a step back, barely avoiding the on coming weapon. Yurza then brought his own weapon up and swung,slashing at the left and then the right. The attack coming down fast and relentless.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Wrists crossed and blade pointed left, he stabbed under the cut and in a split second flipped it up past his head, then reversed his wrists, stabbed right, and did the same to the second attack. His arms rose slightly, and his blade hit Yurza's again, imparting more diagonal momentum and jerking Yurza's arms and weapon up before bouncing down and slashing at the left side of Yurza's waist with a flick of the wrist.

[Yurza Magus]

Sweat dripped down Yuza's face as he moved away from Je'gan. The mental battle had severely fatiguedhim and now the physical battle was taking its toll on him. He could feel the air on his flesh as well as on the wound that the Sith's blade had put there. He shifted his weight slightly to ease the amount being put on his left hip.

The wound wasn't fatal, but it could be if they kept this up for long and he kept loosing blood. He had to try and get away now without taking anymore damage, but until then he would fight on. He stepped around with his right side and swung his weapon towards Je'gan's right arm.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Beads of sweat began to pop out on the Knight's forehead as he raised his arms and slashed down to take Yurza's blade at a seriously obtuse angle. The duration and intensity of the confrontation had so far not exhausted his strength; in fact, by his best estimate, he was just passing the peak of his efficiency. He could go on for as long again as he'd already fought before Bad Things started to happen.

His wrists scythed in horizontally to the centre line, bladetip dipping to threated Yurza's chest before looping back up and slashing down at Yurza's head from a low hand-base.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza couldn't take anymore. He ignited both ends of his lightsaber and blocked the attack to his head. Before he could twirl his weapon around to attack though, he dropped to a knee and grunted. He had just torn his wound open more.

He tried to stand up and back away at the same time, stumbling as he went back. He couldn't go on the offensive anymore. Now he was purely defensive

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Stepping back, Je'gan doused his lightsaber and stretched out his left hand towards Yurza. Tendrils of the solid black stuff that the earlier blades had been made of, the Shadow, blasted out at the younger Sith and wrapped around him. Shadowlightning wasn't quite as painful as Force Lightning due to Je'gan's limited rank and experience, but it sufficed. It could be burnt into nothingness by contact with a lightsaber, but it was above all a physical construct. It could, too, be cut, but it would continue to burn and even to adhere.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza lifted his lightstaff and swung at the oncoming shadow, but only managed to block it partially as some of it ahered to him and burnt through his clothes and flesh.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He exhaled slowly, then dropped his hand and called the Shadowlightning back.

"Well, you did fairly well, I have to say. Who trained you, boy?"

To him, as always, the fact that Yurza was likely older than he was irrelevant.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza forced himself to his feet. His energy was drained and it took everything just for this simple act. He faced Je'gan, with hatred in his eyes.

"Dalethria Mal Pannis."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The burn of anger slowed and stabilized. Je'gan nodded, flicking his 'saber up in brief salute before deactivating it. It remained, however, as if by chance, in his hand.

"A powerful name," he mused. "Master, in fact, to the Sith Lord who instructs me. She's got a good pupil in you, Yurza Magus."

[Yurza Magus]

"Prehaps, but only time will tell that," he replied as his hand covered his wound on his left hip. "Then we would have to test our abilities again wouldn't we?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"That would probably be the case," he agreed with relative equanimity. "I'm holding you to that. There aren't many mentalists out there; I need good sparring partners."

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smiled at this. "I know the feeling. How are we to get better if there is no challenge or change?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Bad things, Je'gan noted absently, were starting to happen. Troops of some sort had been mobilized and over forty disciplined minds were closing on their position. He walked over to the edge of the balcony.

"Unless you're as good at mind control as I am," he commented drily, "we're about to be overwhelmed. Controlling twenty men at once is a little beyond me. So I'll be going now, Magus. Have a nice day." He paused for a moment...

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza did a quick scan with the Force. Indeed there was a mounting of troops somewhere. He stood to his full height. He may have lost, but he would still face it as a man. "You are correct. I'm not as good as you...yet. Prehaps later in the future we will meet again on more equal terms. Until then good bye."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He flicked two fingers of his left hand to his temple in a half-salute, nod-bowed, and stepped off the balcony. Several troops chased after him, firing. They didn't even come close to hitting him; within minutes, he was gone.