last_kallig | Leverage Cassian AU: Summer Trip

"Plenty of time for both," After dinner, he starts laying out all the maps so she can get a better idea of what's around them.

"This one looks good, pretty open. Looks like some big boulders too, useful." Her grin is mischievous. "Could swim after I do my demonstration? I'll be hot, most likely, been a while since I've done much of it."

"Of course, can cool down in the shallow water and you can get comfortable before doing more."

"Makes sense," Ibani replies. "Up here I can show you a few things that are hard on ceilings!"

The dishes don't take too very long, which is nice. It might be a quiet evening, unless Cassian has something else planned.

He doesn't have plans other than doing some reading before an early night so they can make the most of tomorrow and their time here.

Ibani is always up with the sun if not before, she was never ALLOWED to sleep later than that, and the habit has proven hard to shake.

She gets dressed, swimsuit under a t-shirt and jeans, and straps her warblade at her hip, the way she used to carry it.

Ash yawns hugely from his spot on her bed. (Ibani had nightmares last night. That's...not unusual.)

Cassian's always up early too and makes coffee and breakfast, they're not far enough north to get the full midnight sun effect but there isn't true sunrise and sunset in the same way there would in California.

"So strange to see the sun so different without leaving the planet," Ibani muses after hugging Cassian good morning.

"Did you sleep okay?"

"I did. That's one reason I like Alaska, there's a lot to see here," He had some nightmares but nothing too bad.

"Earth is really varied, more than any planet I've ever been on before."

She's already done her morning warmup routine, so as soon as breakfast is cleaned up, she's explaining to Ash why Ash needs to stay here. "It's going to be noisy, and I don't want you to get hurt," she explains to the dog.

"In the afternoon, we'll have a long hike with you, Ash," But for now, they'll head out on their own. Cassian packs up some water and snacks.

Ibani is not concealing how excited she is to show off for Cassian very well.

They reach the clearing they picked out the night before, a wide open place ringed by tall trees with a few very large boulders.

She unsheathes her sword and grins. "I've shown you the first two forms, but here I can show you a lot more than that."

Ibani shifts into the opening stance of the third form. Her right foot is placed back behind her and she holds her lightsaber back as well though the blade is angled forward. Her left arm is held parallel and the hand is held in a traditional challenge position.

"The third form is called Soresu, and it begins like this."

The first steps of Soresu are relatively short, sharp slashes, designed to both block blaster fire and direct it back at the attacker. "Designed for blocking blaster fire and sending it back, not very useful here."

Cassian tries to find a good spot to watch and nods as she goes through the form, "No, but I can see how it could work."

Ibani grins at his response, pleased. The rest of the form is quite defensive in nature, there's little in the way of attacks.

"The fourth form and higher require the kind of physical augmentation you need the Force for," Ibani tells him. Then, she LEAPS straight up, a good 20 feet from a standing start, onto an overhanging tree branch. "Because they presume you can do things like THIS!" she calls down, cheerful!

Cassian stares up at her, "That's useful."

Ibani grins down at him, meeting his stare. "The fourth form, Ataru, is known for its acrobatics and its spins. It's one of my favorites."

Ibani leaps down off the tree into a forward spin. Despite the size of the clearing, she's regularly covering the width of it in no more than two jumps. She spends at least half of her time in the air, and it's difficult for even Cassian's trained eye to follow her.

She's doing things the human body CAN'T do, not repeatedly and regularly. It's an able demonstration of just WHY Force users are so feared in combat.

He watches, following her in amazement, acrobatics are hard and this is even more than he knew was possible.

"The fifth form is a lot of counterattacks, hard to demonstrate that properly. But the sixth form, the Sorcerer's form, Niman, is my favorite!" The Jedi call it the diplomats form.

"There are those who argue it isn't a proper form at all, as it takes advantage of the environment, and Force powers more than the blade."

Ibani casually stretches a hand out toward a large boulder, one that must weigh at least as much as Cassian's truck. It shudders for a moment, then begins to lift straight up off the ground. Ibani is nowhere near it. "I could throw this, if I wanted to, fast enough that it would be hard to dodge. If it hits, well, you can imagine the results."

That's amazing and terrifying. Cassian nods and stares, "That looks fun."

"It is," Ibani replies. "Can make smaller ones orbit around me, like a tiny galaxy." She carefully lowers the big rock back down to the ground.

"Can grab people too, to move them to safety, restrain them, or hurt them. I've never torn anything alive apart, but I've seen it."

She sits closer to Cassian, and a bunch of small rocks rise up and start circling around her. "Believe it or not, this is trickier than picking up that big rock."

"No, it makes sense, more to keep track of," That fits with how Cassian deals with certain issues.

She lets the rocks drop. "Force lightning is one of the more infamous moves Sith can use. "Most of the time, you use it to deal damage, but if you're skilled enough you can use it to deal less damage and lock up people's skeletal muscles for a bit."

She frowns. "Or you can adjust it to cause less damage but more PAIN, which is more of an interrogation tool."

It's not hard to draw up the necessary anger, she just pictures one of the rocks as one of her former instructors. Purple electrical energy lashes out from Ibani's palm, crackling and scorching the surface of a rock.

"Not sure why mine is purple, it's usually bluish."

Cassian shivers as that's terrifying, "I wouldn't want to face that."

"Wise of you," Ibani replies. She leans against Cassian. "It's excruciating, makes it hard to move, to stay upright. You have to WANT to hurt something, to make it work."

"Was generally my instructor's favorite form of discipline," she adds, voice quiet.

He shifts over to give her a hug, "That's torture."

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