melodiesofeternity | what's puzzling you [CLOSED]

Entry tags:

what's puzzling you [CLOSED]

Who: Finn and Maul
When: after the holiday island stuff?
Where: Nakagawa, somewhere between Finn's place and the Swordmaster guild
What: Finn's gonna learn how to properly use a lightsaber
Warnings/Notes: other than probably being edgy af, n/a

No matter how useful it had been against Ramaa, Finn still didn't like Calamity Knight. No one could really blame him for disliking it, everyone probably knew why, but it had been useful. So even though he planned to never use it again, he didn't discard the asterisk from his slate either.

The threat wasn't over. They were all still on Vaikuntha, more people steadily arriving, and Ramaa had escaped. Even if she couldn't summon Bahamut again, something was going to happen that would likely be worse than before. They had to be ready for anything.

If he did have to use Calamity Knight again, he wanted to be able to use the lightsaber with it. It didn't need a ranged weapon, but a sword could cut down on the few openings he had while using the job. But he didn't like to train with the Calamity Knight active, though. Didn't like the way it made him feel, and he didn't want to start rumors if people saw him.

But the locals were used to him practicing forms while in his Summoner garb. So that's how he was, near the river dressed in sheer white robes, Skywalker's saber blurring through the air with a sharp hum. He was all right with it but not as good as he could be no matter what the weapon masters taught him about sword work, almost the same as what the Order had taught. He knew a lightsaber was different, but-... He missed Baiken. She would have known. Corrin, at least, was a massive help in his random bouts of training.

But now he was alone, just like he wanted to be.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For awhile, the only sound was the hum of the lightsaber as Finn went through the practice movements he'd learned. Focused as he is on the movements, Finn does not hear the soft approach, of grass shifting under foot.

Not until he hears the electric hum of a second lightsaber igniting behind him. Turning just in time he sees Maul standing behind him, stripped to the waist, showing off his impressive physique...and the lightsaber with an oddly-shaped blade of pure black energy gripped in his hand.

"Defend yourself."

And then he leaps forward with a snarl, closing the distance between the two of them incredibly quickly, his own black lightsaber hissing through the air as he attempts to cleave Finn.

Edited 2019-05-18 04:28 (UTC)

The sound of the lightsaber igniting was enough to toss Finn back to Starkiller in a rough shove that left him reeling. He hadn't expected Maul to wield such a weapon here, nor had he ever heard of one in black.

He only had a split second to raise his saber despite the warning. Though he'd managed to parry, the surprise of the attack sent him back a step, then two.

Surely, this was an exercise, but Maul hardly moved like this was practice. Finn was used to noting the difference. But he didn't take an offensive stance nor even attempt to use any other abilities in his Summoner job, much less consider switching jobs completely. He parried blow after blow, well aware that he was being driven back towards the river, debating with himself on how to act from here. Wasn't like there many subduing options with a weapon like this.

Maul lacks the overwhelming power of Kylo Ren; instead his attacks are faster, seemingly random, and far more graceful than grandson of Darth Vader; for one thing there's a lot more spinning with Maul, and his strikes with the black lightsaber are seemingly random.

All the while Maul takes stock of the man's skill. Not bad for a padawan; bladework shows promise, footwork needs polishing. "Good...good!" The Dathomirian grins savagely as he continues to force Finn back towards the river. "Your bladework shows promise, my young friend. But your footwork is careless...you do not mind your surroundings!" As he says this he manages to force Finn onto a muddy patch of dirt near the river Maul had surveyed before engaging, causing his footing to become even more unsure. "And you focus too much on my lightsaber, unaware that such focus blinds you!" To emphasize this point, Maul lets Finn parry his next strike, using the momentum to spin around and launch a roundhouse at Finn's head. Combined with the muddy ground, it will be a miracle if Finn manages to stay on his feet after this.

Finn had been used to a ruthless sort of training back in his younger years but he was strong and smart enough to usually win those bouts. He hadn't faced someone as skilled as Maul like this before. His words were right, though, but Finn was caught up on thinking about them and trying to correct himself when his foot sank in the mud. Between both of those, he only saw the kick at the last second.

His arm moved up to block but all it managed to do was muffle the blow to his head. He did fall but Finn was used to that, too. Rolling on impact, he managed to get one foot and a knee beneath him, the lightsaber raised with both hands.

But he paused, breathing hard. While not exactly open, he was far too easy of a target on the ground like this, but he dared not take the time to stagger to his feet. It was more than apparent to both of them that he was outmatched here even if he wouldn't be brought down that easily.

Maul idly spins the black-bladed lightsaber in his hand as he regards Finn come up into a somewhat defensive kneeling position. Some good instincts, and the boy clearly doesn't intend to go down without a fight, but lacking in long-term planning. Thinking on your feet and reacting on a move-by-move basis can only get you so far; a lesson that Maul himself had learned at great cost to himself.

"Back against the river, uneven footing, and a superior opponent. A dire situation indeed." He observes. "But when against the wall, what does a cornered creature do to survive at all costs?" But before he can give Finn a chance to ponder the answer, Maul leaps forward to attack again, a leaping attack to lock blades with Finn again, trying to force him down even further to the ground. "You have tools that you do not use!" He spits. "Do not hold back, or you will surely die as the Jedi died!"

He'd managed to get a shaky foot under him before Maul's attack, but his balance didn't last. He was already pushed back down on one knee again, the lightsaber getting closer just like Kylo Ren's had.

He should use Ruin or summon Ramuh or change to a job that had a ranged weapon. The only other asterisk he had that used the lightsaber was the one he didn't like using. But he did none of those, his mind imagining a threat on Rey's life when there wasn't one. The familiarity or his own helplessness or his anger- Something mixed with all that, maybe. He would think about it later.

"The Jedi aren't dead-!" He used Switch Job like it was second nature at this point, changing to the much darker robes and masked face of Calamity Knight. With his newfound strength and an angry cry, he pushed back against Maul.

Maul is momentarily taken aback by the change in Finn's job, and by the sudden surge of strength pushing him back. "Yes...there it is." He hisses as the Darksaber is pushed back. "Focus. Power. Good!" Maul knocks Finn's saber back with his own and then proceeds to backflip away, to create some space between them. He holds the Darksaber pointed blade-first at Finn, the look of savage glee on his face suggests that Finn did exactly what Maul wanted him to do. "Your passion gives you strength. Do not fear it; draw from it."

Finn's insistence that the Jedi are not dead causes Maul to bark with laughter, however. "Not dead, you say?" He asks. "The Temple on Coruscant is full of eager young Padawans learning from experienced Knights? Your hero Skywalker leads a new council of Masters? The Jedi once again roam the galaxy as the guardians of peace and freedom th-we always imagined ourselves to be? If they allowed this First Order you speak of to destroy the entire capital system of your New Republic, they must not be doing a very good job." After a moment, he shrugs. "Par for the course, really, considering we allowed the rise of the Empire to begin with."

He doesn't like using the asterisk but doesn't dare switch to something else yet or else let Maul gain ground on him again. Instead, he takes a proper stance, legs apart and saber near his head.

"They're not what they were. There's no council, no galactic mission. Just people trying to fix what the generations before us did wrong." If Maul finds a jab at him in all of that, so be it.

"Truly?" Maul asks, eyes narrowing. "I hope the people of the Hosnian system must have been grateful for their efforts, then!" And then he leaps forward to attack once more.

"Your newer, better Jedi did not prevent the rise of the First Order, and they could not stop the firing of the Starkiller weapon!" He snarls as he attacks, trying to force Finn back on the defensive. "I was a Jedi, Finn, and I have had fifteen years to dwell on their failures. The Order must be allowed to die. Search your feelings Finn, you know I speak true!"

Search his feelings. Pah.

Finn does take a defensive stance, not wanting to attack just yet, but he manages to meet Maul blow for blow. "There is no order! The Jedi failed. There's only one person left, and she's stuck cleaning their mess! Your mess!"

He uses Negative Aura, trying to weaken Maul.

Negative Aura
> Reduces stats of all targets by 30%.

Maul falls back with a weakness that is not nearly as feigned as it normally would be; Finn's attack saps him of a great deal of his strength, and with Finn's newfound burst of energy, it's suddenly Maul who finds himself on the defensive, being pushed back.

Fortunately, this was the outcome he had desired. And it required no subterfuge on his part, to achieve.

"You think...I do not know this?" He gasps between pants, his breath heavy with exertion as he falls back under Finn's assault, barely able to mount a defense. He plays the part of a shamed, anguished Jedi Knight to the hilt. "The Empire rose because we allowed it to! We...we saw the power Palpatine was gathering to himself, more and more bequeathed upon him by the Senate as the Clone War raged on across the galaxy, and what did we Jedi, we "guardians of peace and justice" do? We frowned disapprovingly but continued to be good, loyal soldiers of the Republic, even as it ceded more and more of its power to the office of the Supreme Chancellor. No, not the office...to the man. To a Sith Lord! The very person we were sworn to destroy made his unwitting servants! So when we finally did say "enough, we must stop this", it was too late! Palpatine had gathered all the power he needed to end the war and complete the goal he had been working towards all that time. When we finally came for him it was already too late! We had already lost...the war, the Republic, the Order itself, all of it! Augh!"

Maul "suddenly" trips, falling backwards, exhausted, defeated. The Darksaber falls from his grasp, the blade disengaging and the hilt landing next to him. Gasping for breath, Maul holds his hand up in a gesture of surrender. "In the end, the Jedi had become as weak and powerless as the Republic itself." He gasps. "Because we placed too much trust in the system, that it would right its course without requiring our aid. We should have acted decisively! We saw what Palpatine was doing and did nothing to stop it because we feared reprisals from the Senate-from corrupt politicians and feckless bureaucrats. Because that was not "our role". And now, decades later, the Galaxy still suffers from our inaction. Dead thirty years and still Darth Sidious casts a long shadow over known space." He hangs his head in a deviously-convincing appearance of shame. "Do you understand how greatly that knowledge haunts me?" He asks hoarsely, before looking back up at Finn.

"If there is only one lesson I can teach you Finn, it is this; you must not be like the Jedi, my young friend. Let the Order die...when you return you must convince your friend of this. The Jedi will never be the saviours you need them to be; you must be better than they were, willing to do the things they would not. It is the only chance you have of destroying Sidious' legacy, of truly freeing the Galaxy." And now he adopts an approving, if not exactly flattering, smile. "You are farther along this path than you realize...a Jedi would never accept the power of the Calamity Knight."

Edited 2019-06-03 00:39 (UTC)

Finn stands still once the monologue is done, eventually retracting the lightsaber and pulling off his helmet. Now that he's done much more in Calamity Knight, things that Maul or anyone else hadn't seen before, his eyes have taken on a purple hue while wearing the asterisk. He knows. He ignores it.

"Most people here don't accept it either," he says, looking down at the helmet before tossing it aside. Finn sits beside Maul, hoping their sparring is done.

A part of him, a new part, wants to tell Maul that he should feel shame for the rise of the Empire. "I'm sorry," he says instead, feeling sympathy much more. "We shouldn't hold on to old things. It happened, it's over. He's dead. My friend, Rey, I don't think she'll be like the Jedi from before. They've been gone so long now.

"And she doesn't do inaction, anyway. We both know how horrible the galaxy gets. Sometimes, you have to be the one that does something no one else is willing to do just so they never have to."

Maul lowers his arm and falls back onto the ground. "Death is not always the end, Finn." He says finally. "I know that better than most. Remember that, as a warning against complacency." Especially where Darth Sidious was concerned.

"Good." He says when Finn says the Jedi as Maul knew them were never coming back. "Their loss was mourned, but I know better now. The flame of the Jedi deserved to go out; it burned too long and became too weak and sputtering. All too easy to be snuffed out when the time came."

Finally, he sits up, resting his arms on his lap. "If only the Jedi could have learned so simple a lesson in the time it took you two, the Galaxy would indeed be a different place. A better place, perhaps; that never knew the Empire or its ghost, this First Order. If you know-if you truly know-what must be done, then you must never hesitate to act. Others may not understand, but you must not let that deter you. Do what must be done, no matter the cost. But you are well on your way, Finn. A powerful warrior, you will become. The First Order should be very afraid." He says with a smirk.

Finally, he picks up the discarded Darksaber, and offers it to Finn. "And thank you, my young friend, for the workout. It has been so long since I have been able to openly practice with my lightsaber. Once I recovered it from the Dream Width, I knew there was only one person capable of keeping up with me. What do you think of my Darksaber? Here, you may try it for yourself if you wish."

Death is not always the end. Finn doesn't respond to that, not even acknowledging he'd heard. His hooded eyes stared down at the ground, wishing it were true but... knowing it was.

As far as doing what must be done, no matter what others thought or the cost, he looked back to Maul. Again, he said nothing. The other was right, and Finn kind of hated it. He had to do whatever was necessary to save everyone. Even if he had to... do things he didn't want to do.

The offer to try Maul's weapon successfully distracted him. Finn picked it out his hand, testing the weight and balance. Maybe he was new to lightsabers, sure, but he'd held weapons in his hands for as long as he could remember.

Though, he smirks. "Thanks for having such confidence in me," he replied. Though he meant it, he didn't really see that kind of progress in himself. Maul seemed to be a master swordsman. Either way, he stood and ignited the saber. "I think it's incredible. I've never heard of black kyber crystals, much less a lightsaber like this." He tests it with a couple of swings, finding it faster than Skywalker's saber.

Maul can see the conflict playing out in Finn's face, and the turmoil pleases him. This one might do nicely, yes...

He watches with amused interest as Finn tries the borrowed lightsaber. "It is called the Darksaber." He explains. "The weapon of the first Mandalorian Jedi, Tarre Viszla, constructed over a thousand years ago. You can see the influence of his people in how he designed the blade. The Mandalorians were still warriors then, you know. Not the shadow of a people they became during the twilight days of the Republic when they embraced pacifism and neutrality, and exiled their warriors from Mandalore. After Viszla's death, the Darksaber was kept as a relic of the Order, passing from one Jedi to the next as a mark of prestige, and honour. The blade came into my possession late in the Clone Wars, when the previous owner fell in battle. With his dying breath, the Darksaber passed to me, and I endeavoured to keep it safe through the Dark Times." A heavy sigh. "Though after my death I shudder to think what must have become of it. Destroyed by the Empire, most likely. Such a waste...but, at least here I need not be concerned about such a fate. Perhaps when the time is right, I too shall pass the Darksaber on...to someone worthy of it." He's staring rather intently at Finn as he says this.

Edited 2019-06-19 02:29 (UTC)

Finn's not such a fool that he doesn't catch the meaning there. Skywalker's saber hangs heavy at his belt as he looks at this new blade, though. "I'm not worthy of the one I have," he answers pretty matter of factly.

Then he sheathes the saber and hands it back to Maul hilt first. "But if you see fit to pass it on to me someday, I'd be honored. I should get better at the art to give it justice, though."

Maul takes the hilt back, and then rises to his feet. "Then you must train. And fortunately for you, lightsaber combat was always my specialty." He holds up the hilt of the Darksaber to emphasize his point. "Lightsabers are unique weapons, my young friend. To treat them as you would any physical blade, even in training, will prevent you from making the fullest use of their potential." Which he could see in the way Finn used the blade during their fight, as though it was a normal sword. Was that of his own volition or had he sought teaching from some other swordmaster?

Hanging the hilt from his belt, he places his hands behind his back. "Tell me, what do you know of the seven forms of lightsaber combat?"

Edited 2019-06-22 02:51 (UTC)

Finn's brow furrowed at the explanation about bladed weapons. Maul did make a good point, as he and everyone else who had trained him with swords quickly realized just how different the lightsaber was. So he listened intently until the question was asked and he shook his head. "I never heard of them before."

Maul nods. The expected answer. "Fifty years on since the destruction of the Order, I am not surprised to hear that. There must be precious few people left in the Galaxy who know of the seven forms. I studied all of them, in my youth-" To familiarize himself with how his Jedi opponents would fight. "-But pursued true mastery only of the seventh form. Still, I can impart what I know, and if we work together, perhaps we can...reinvent them."

Maul begins to circle around Finn as he continues his explanation. "For now, you must be as a Padawan, and as such, it is with the first Form, Shii-Cho, we shall concern ourselves for the time being. Called the Way of the Sarlacc, or the Determination Form, it was the first developed lightsaber style, when the weapons were still new. As such, I think you shall find it easy to come to, as the earliest masters borrowed heavily from existing styles of swordplay. As it came into being before the schism between the early Jedi and those who would the Sith, it was not created with the idea of combat against other lightsabers in mind. So when the schism did occur and the Jedi found themselves fighting those who had formerly been among their number, the limitations of Shii-Cho became apparent, and spurred the creation of Form II...but we shall leave that aside for now. Still, Shii-Cho remained useful throughout the centuries as a training tool for new initiates. It encourages deliberate tactics, and continuous, step-by-step advancement, while cutting off your opponent's angles. Against multiple opponents, you will find its wide, sweeping motions most useful indeed."

Maul stops in front of Finn and once again unhooks the Darksaber from his belt. "Shall we begin your true training, my young friend?"

Edited 2019-06-24 03:13 (UTC)

You must be as a Padawan. All the rest nearly goes through one ear and right out the other, almost shocked to be related to the term. It's not like he has ever had an affinity for the Force, but he could be as a Padawan if Maul thought he could.

So, chest filled with pride, he listened to the instruction sharply. This Shii-Cho sounded like the perfect place for him to begin, having worked with other melee weapons for most of his life already. That, and there was only one other lightsaber wielder on the planet.

He unhooked Skywalker's- his own saber from his belt and activated the blue blade. "I'm ready." And immensely grateful.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

what's puzzling you [CLOSED]

A Man of Wealth and Taste

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

i liked how they used this at the anniversary event shhh dont look at me

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject