faderift | A kick in the teeth is good for some [Closed]

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A kick in the teeth is good for some [Closed]

WHO: Kylo Ren and Rey
WHAT: Just a sparring match between two Force users
WHEN: Early Solace
WHERE: Gallows Courtyard
NOTES: Violence - these two don't hold back much

With their warm up routine finally done, Ben found himself breathless as he stretched and watched Rey as she did the same. It had become a routine for them, when time permitted, to spend time together like this. He liked the feeling of adrenaline that made his lungs expand and contract, his limbs burning lightly as he stretched them post-jog. They ended up in the Gallows' training yard where all the swords and shields and other tools were kept.

He enjoyed coming here to quietly go through his training or to meditate with Rey. It allowed them a minute to turn their thoughts off, to just feel one another's presence, and those around them, within the Force. He was never more at peace than when they meditated. Yet, he finds himself wanting to do something different. He straightens from stretching down to his feet to look at Rey, his brown eyes full of purpose.

"Spar with me. Your choice of weapon." Not that they didn't both carry their light sabers, of course. There were plenty of metal or wooden weapons here too. He gestures silently with an outstretched hand for her to come at him, once their weapons had been decided.

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Working out is something that Rey has done nearly every day since she was old enough to remember. The amount of training she does can vary from day to day, but she knows that if she doesn't keep herself in decent condition that could be the difference between life and death.

Going through the motions with Ben is a nice change, when she'd been so used to training in solitary, once. Having him by her side as they jogged through the Gallows made it more enjoyable and less like something necessary to keep in shape.

When he asks her to spar, and offers her choice of weapon there's some hesitation there, as she tries to decide. She wants to practice with their lightsabers, but she knows his doesn't have a safety on it like hers and Obi-Wan's. Given the way the both of them fight, that could end badly. Eventually she settles on staves, curious to see how Ben would adapt to fighting with a weapon longer even than the impressive blade of his cross-guard saber.

Plus the quarterstaff is a weapon she is intensely comfortable with, and she still regularly uses her own. She holds the practice staff with an experienced hand, twirling it slowly with her hands and adjusting for weight and balance, before she lunges for Ben, aiming low, below his center of balance.

He wasn't entirely used to staves, but he knew enough about them to know how to fight with one. When she chooses them, he can't help but note to himself that she would have the clear advantage. Yet what he lacked with comfort in the weapon of choice, he made up for with his size and quick mind.

He twirls the weapon experimentally in his hands before pointing one end of it at her, waiting for her to move in on him. When he does, he twists the stave in his hands to parry her attempt to catch him off guard at a low point. His size meant that he left himself open from a lower height, his long legs leaving him awkward and unbalanced if he so much as stepped a toe wrong.

He parries, driving her weapon upwards and away from his feet as he hastily took a step back to avoid her tripping him up completely. He lunges forward, swinging one side of the weapon forward and then rotating his lunge to swing with the other side of it as well, like one long oar. He repeats the motion before twirling his weapon to aim a blow at her midsection to push her back.

"Is that the best you can do?" He taunts, knowing that it's far from the truth. She had beaten him once before with a weapon she barely knew how to use, siphoning his skills from him as they fought.

She is quick to correct when he drives her weapon up and away, her weight shifting along with the staff in a fluid motion so by the time he's swinging at her side she isn't there anymore. She knows that if she tried to block him with anything less than a firm grip that would be a mistake because he's physically stronger than she is. She's faster, though, and that's a large advantage she has, especially when he's so obvious with his movements that she really wouldn't even need to tap into their connection to see them coming.

"I've barely started," she replies to his taunting with a smile, standing back from him this time waiting for him to advance on her.

Instinctively, his teeth grind together in frustration when she manages to evade him. Even so, he reminds himself not to get too carried away. It's just a sparring match and he doesn't actually want to do real damage. Besides that point, she's smiling and that in itself is enough to ease whatever frustrations he has. He tries again, swinging in wide motions as he's seen her do dozens of times before.

He tries to connect their weapons, hoping to use a little more force in his blows to force hers from her grasp. He knows that she would have to plan for him using his weight against her. It was the only way for him to slow her down.

Avoiding his blows isn't entirely possible but she does well deflecting the brunt of his force in one direction or the other, the smile on her face fading into a look of concentration as his blows come at her.

She feeds off his energy, though, and as his blows come stronger her parries get more creative, aiming not just to knock him off his feet but get him to swing harder, expend more energy. She's not running from him like the first time they fought, but she is working to wear him down.

Ducking under one of his swings she brings her staff around in a tight arch, aiming again to knock his legs out from under him.

The stronger she gets in fighting him back, the more determined he gets to get her to loosen her grip on the weapon. He drives his staff harder against hers, the noise of the wood smacking together making his ears ring. His frustration is more obvious as his lips part and he makes a low growl between his teeth.

He almost doesn't catch that she's going for his feet again and she manages to connect with one of his shins, prompting him to stumble away from the blow with a gasp. He manages to recover his footing, though it's with all the grace of an AT-AT nearly toppling over.

The fight was only fueling that deep well of anger he had been avoiding for months, only to peak out intermittently and never directed at her. He swings for her midsection again, hoping to find an opening should she shift her arms higher. His swing shifts to connect their weapons again, driving his into hers with as much force as he can muster.

It wasn't the same as a lightsaber fight but still he could feel their connection humming between them, the Force rising up around them and seemingly electrifying the exchange. His gaze burned into hers as he came at her blow for blow, eyes dark with determination and a darker energy within himself that he fed upon in battle.

Rey can feel the anger in him rising up, and feel it in each blow that connects. Her arms are starting to ache from fending off his advances, and when he aims for her side he manages to tag her when she is trying to get some distance between them. She lets out a yelp but otherwise doesn't react to the sting in her side, taking a moment to readjust her footing and focus.

She turns aside his blows, trying to catch him off balance again, use his weight and height to her advantage. That he throws so much of himself into each blow is no less intense than their fight in the forest, but this time she knows what to expect. When she turns aside one of his blows she twists the staff in her hand, using the momentum to push him past her. If she manages to knock him off balance she'll launch herself onto his back and hook her staff under his chin.

Her strategy manages to work. He becomes so focused on attacking instead of defending that she catches him off guard. He stumbles forward as she evades him by turning aside his blows and twisting the staff to push him past her. It culminates into her climbing on his back.

He's thunderstruck for a moment as he comes back to himself, feeling her weapon pressed loosely beneath his chin. He debates just throwing her off but that was excessive for what should be a friendly spar. He didn't want to hurt her.

"Alright- you win." he breathes out, straightening his weapon at his side and reaching for one of her wrists. He hadn't realized how much energy he was truly expending until he tried to speak. His breaths were labored and his hands were stiff from gripping the staff.

She grins as he admits defeat, breathing heavy herself as she relaxes her grip on her staff, letting his chin free. Rather than sliding off his back she wraps her arms around his neck, pressing a kiss to his ear.

"You put too much energy into your swings. You're gonna lose every time if you don't learn how to pace yourself."

"Mm. Obi-Wan has said that too. I don't really think about it when I get into the moment, though. I just react." His anger fueled a lot of those heavy swings. The angrier he got the harder he hit. Usually all it took to defeat an opponent would be a quick use of the Force and then overpowering them. Most normal men didn't pose a challenge.

He drops his weapon, bringing both hands to her legs to secure them around his waist. Already he felt slightly exhausted by their exchange, though he couldn't deny having her for an opponent had excited him. It wasn't with lightsabers, but it had still been a nice fight.

"Did I hurt you when I swung in to your side?" He'd heard the yelp, but hadn't sensed anything beyond discomfort. If she was in pain she wouldn't have tried to climb on him, he reasoned.

Rey drops her weapon too once he drops his, adjusting her hold as he secures her legs, and she rests her chin against his shoulder. It's probably not the most comfortable way to stand after such physical exertions, but he's not knocking her off his back so for the moment she isn't going anywhere. At his question she hums as she considers the level of pain in her side.

"It might bruise, but I've had worse injuries. How's your shin?"

He hums in agreement to her words. If she wasn't injured he wouldn't lose sleep over it. However, if she thought he was uncomfortable holding her on his back, she was wrong. Even if she had become more nourished in Thedas, she was still light.

"Same. It might bruise but otherwise still attached." He's joking, of course. As an afterthought, he adds, "If you had a saber fashioned into a staff, I'd say your skills would be even greater than mine."

Edited 2018-07-15 02:15 (UTC)

She smiles as she adjusts her arms so they're hooked more over his shoulders holding her close to his back than clinging. She's weirdly comfortable like this, even though anyone passing by would probably think they were both crazy.

"The thought crossed my mind. When I was using Obi-Wan's lightsaber and my own, I'd considered a few mechanisms to turn them into one, but the concept of a saber and a staff are different. The staff is mostly a defensive weapon. Even the way I use it." Granted she is much more offensive with her staff than many others. "Obi-Wan came back before I could try it out, anyway. Which is probably for the best, I was only starting to get the hang of dual wielding."

"It could be done. Using it defensively could still give you an offensive edge, depending how it's done." It's on the tip of his tongue to tell her about the Sith having one such weilder, but he doubts she'd enjoy hearing it. He adjusts her weight against his back, letting out a breath. She was pressed up against him and that wasn't exactly uncomfortable either.

"Should we keep going? Or did you want to finish for today?" Not that he wants her to leave where she is, perched on his back with her limbs wrapped around him.

"Oh, I know. Which is why I was considering it." If her lightsaber had ended up damaged she might have played with the idea, might still, in their own world. It's hard for her to know, what might happen there, versus what will happen here.

His question breaks her out of her thoughts before she can slip too deeply down that path of uncertainty and she smiles, shifting enough so she can lean her forehead against the side of his head.

"I could keep going. But given how much energy you put out trying to hit me, it might be better if we stopped."

"I didn't think you would appreciate it if I held back. I wouldn't have seriously hurt you." He speaks with such certainty he sounds almost too serious about it. As she shifts, his hands slide up her outer thighs, holding fast to her.

"If you want to keep going, we could." He may have threatened to kill her a few times since their meeting, but now that was such a far away thought in his head that it may as well not have been there at all.

Her heart rate feels like it's about dropped back to normal, and she adjusts as his hands move, her hold on him not loosening.

"I'd like to train with our lightsabers, but I know that isn't an option." Either they'd be holding back so much that it wouldn't be much of a fight, or someone would end up hurt. They might be good at meeting in the middle with a lot of things, but in the heat of it that's more of a struggle.

"Because mine doesn't have the adjustment settings like yours." It used to have it, but after turning he hadn't bothered to modify one in again after the crystal had cracked. It seemed too unstable for any attempts to try.

"We could try staves again, or something else." He sucks in a breath, chewing on his lip as he thinks over their options. "Or you could stay on top of me all day if you like."

He teases, squeezing her thigh lightly in his hand. He certainly had nothing to complain about. She was still holding onto him and he wasn't pulling her off. Anyone coming by must think they're weird, standing in the court yard with her on his back.

She ducks her head against his neck as she lets out a laugh, her mind momentarily going to dirtier places that she knows he likely intended with that phrasing. There's a pause before she clears her throat and raises her head up again, cheeks flushed.

"I kind of like it up here. You're so tall, I feel like I have a good vantage point, here."

"You say that now but you've never had to duck to avoid hitting your head on things." He's flushed too, the both of them on the same page over his awful wording.

"So. Round two?" He holds her steady, coaxing her off of his back at last. When he can stand to his full height without her weight on him his muscles relax again.

"I certainly have. I'm tall too, you're just a giant," she replies lightly, smile still tugging at her lips. There's some reluctance as she slides off his back, because she's sort of enjoying being held up in this way. But as soon as her feet hit the ground she rolls her shoulders back, stretching her arms as she shakes the stiffness from them after their brief rest.

"Sure, round two. Maybe you'll last longer this time." She smirks, holding her hand out so that the staff flies into her palm.

"I'm not that tall." He sounds almost put out, but it's said with a light smile. He calls his own staff to his hands without effort, turning the wood over in his hands and shifting his feet into a stance. He looks at her like a beast stalking prey and when she looks to be ready he moves in, swinging his stave between his hands as he aims his first blow.

"I think I'll be just fine." He aims a second blow to her staff, preparing the same tactic as before - to slow her down and try to make her drop the weapon.

He may look like a beast stalking his prey, but she doesn't look like prey, more like a jungle cat ready to pounce. When he comes at her she spins her staff, deflecting the force of his blow as she pivots around him. She swings her staff away from his blow, before bringing it back in and swinging it towards his hand.

"You're still making your moves too obvious."

He parries the move easily, ignoring the sting in his fingers as she nearly strikes them. He could feed off of the ache, feed off of the pain. He takes a breath, steadying himself as he lunges forward, sweeping his weapon behind her knees with one hand and grabbing her weapon with the other.

"Am I? I would think no matter what I do it's known to you." Their connection within the Force made each other's movements like a dance of blocks and parries, being able to see what was coming as it happened.

He had her in a box so she takes the blow to the backs of her knees, but before she can fall she reaches out and grabs his shirt. Using his larger mass to keep from hitting the dirt she doesn't let go of her staff, but for the moment he's got her pretty well trapped.

"Maybe not everything you do is known to me."

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