LUKE...I am your kitten. Maybe.

[flickerflash]

Who: Katie and you!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: The horrible no good moon.  Probably close to the Vanquish
When: Today!

[By and large, Katie hates this moon.   It made her sick when she first got here and she's largely shunned it ever since.  Today marks the first day she's voluntarily gone out in it.  Why? 

Because she has a lightsaber.  And she wants to practice with it and swing it around and generally have fun with it and maybe cut down a few sickly dead branches.  And while she could do this in the cargo bay of the Vanquish easy enough, out here she has to wear a mask.

A mask and a lightsaber is just too much to pass up, oh my god.  She's found a black one, which in fact looks nothing like anything you might find in Star Wars, which is probably for the best all round, really.  But it's black, and it's the best she can do, and if you head into the gloom of the smog this fine day you might find a small child waving a pale white lightsaber around that makes all the appropriate lightsaber sounds and doing her best to make breathing sounds like Darth Vader because black mask, and to be honest if she's not quoting some part of some lightsaber battle when you wander past it'll be kind of surprising.

...unless you are of course recognisable as a Jedi and thus she'll choke on her breath pretty quickly and turn the saber off and look as innocent as she possibly can.

On the bright side, it's clear to anyone with any powers of observation she actually knows how to use a sword and is taking care not to cause any accidental damage with it.  So... bonus?  It's just a small child having fun.  Vmm vmm.]

Comments

[flickerflash]

[Katie's expression flashes through a range of emotions-- kind of fluttery panic to glee to attempting to look serious and failing to panic again-- before she abruptly puts the mask back on so she can at least pretend she's not fangirling (panicking) over the fact that Obi Wan Kenobi wants to see her sword skill.]

Okay! [Once he hands back her saber she'll back up a few steps and turn it on, wavering uncertainly before she assumes a guard position.]

[beardstrokes]

[ He swings it out lightly to see whether she can block it. Obi-Wan's style is Soresu - meant for an impenetrable defense. However, for Katie, he relaxes his guard. ]

[flickerflash]

[For now, all she'll do is block his strike; she's used to this kind of speed from Tully's initial gentle sparring, so it's as fluid as it is automatic.

Katie's reluctant to attack a Jedi with a sword that could do serious damage, even if she's pretty sure she'd never hit him. She's relieved, though, that her lightsaber is capable of actually clashing with a real one without breaking down.]

[beardstrokes]

Not bad.

[ He does a few more experimental strokes, but he telegraphs them clearly. ]

[flickerflash]

Thank you--

[Well, it's only polite. She meets them all, gaining confidence as she goes. She knows this game.]

[beardstrokes]

Remember to move with your blows. It'll make it easier to block.

[flickerflash]

[She can't help but feel defensive about that. She knows very well how to move. It's not her fault if you're intimidating!]

I haven't really needed to yet. Could we try a little faster?

[She's trained six months under Tully and six months under Mihawk. Obi Wan will find she's quite adept when she stops being so stilted and overthinking it.]

[beardstrokes]

[ Obi-Wan isn't sure, but he shrugs, accepting that. His defenses are rather strong. ]

All right.

[flickerflash]

[Katie gives him a little salute if only because he can't really see her smile under here, and carries on.

She'll pay attention to moving now. She has been trained, but that merely makes her reasonably skilled for a nine year old. No match for any adept adult, but somewhere in that vague bracket beneath.

The more they practice, the more natural her movements get as she pays less attention to the fame of who she's with and more to his skill with a sword.]

[beardstrokes]

[ Obi-Wan adds a bit more speed. A few more special moves. Soresu, thankfully, lends itself to minor variations without sacrificing defense or offense. From what he knows of Katie, she would enjoy a few flashy moves which Obi-Wan does with style. ]

[flickerflash]

[She absolutely adores them. Hopefully he won't mind if a few giggles escape from behind her mask as she tries to keep up; she doesn't find it funny, she's just really enjoying herself.

Her own style probably doesn't quite suit the lightness of a saber, but it's effective and blunt and not very stylish at all, something she's sorely disappointed over, really. But the faster Obi Wan attacks, the more she struggles to keep a proper guard. There's her limit.]

[beardstrokes]

[ Her laughter reminds him of the younglings at the Jedi Temple, how they laughed and cheered when a Master deigned to show off. Which was rare, considering it wasn't encouraged.

But Obi-Wan wasn't like the other Masters. He reveled in his saber skills. He loved it, loved the fight. But as Katie begins to falter, Obi-Wan starts slowing down. He waits for her to pause, though he might do it himself. ]

[flickerflash]

[She does pause, though not straight away as it takes time for her to notice he's slowing down. That's probably a decent cue, isn't it? Katie steps back, trying not to sound terribly hopeful.]

How was that?

[beardstrokes]

[ He deactivates his saber. ]

Most impressive. There are many padawans who would not have been able to keep up with this pace.

[flickerflash]

[OBI WAN CALLED HER IMPRESSIVE--]

I-I had lots of good teachers! [She's also rather glad she's wearing the mask again, actually.]

[beardstrokes]

Really?

[ He doesn't doubt that, but he'd be surprised. He hadn't seen a lot of sword fighters in the Fleet. ]

[flickerflash]

[He'd be correct. Her training all came pre-fleet, except for the first week she was here. Before Mihawk went home.]

Uh huh. One pretends he's a vampire and the other one is very short. But they were both very patient.

[beardstrokes]

That's rather impressive. We don't normally teach saber training this young.

[flickerflash]

Really? When do you normally start teaching?

[beardstrokes]

I must have been twelve when I started.

[flickerflash]

Really? [She's honestly surprised.] But that seems so old.

[beardstrokes]

We rarely start early without a good reason.

[flickerflash]

[Katie mulls that over. Most childlings can take on a squire's duties when they're ten, so she did start young. But not by much, and mostly because Tully personally knew her and she wouldn't stop pestering him.

...come to think of it, she kind of pestered Mihawk, too. But he wouldn't have taught her if she hadn't shown she already had experience.]

Perhaps my teachers had good reasons, too. Or I'm just very persuasive. You don't have to fight before you're twelve?

[beardstrokes]

Perhaps. At any rate, Jedi don't start saber training too early. It's not the most important part of our education.

[flickerflash]

It's not?

[But-- but lightsaber duels :c]