A Jedi Padawan and a Young Assassin (Tag: Shane Coretin)

"He's not so bad really, once you get to know him," Shane shrugged. "But I suppose I can't blame him for what he is. Especially since he as regrets about it." He glanced at the still motionless bag, and deciding that he might as well quit while he was ahead with that exercise, returned to the weight-lifting bench and began removing the weights from the bar. "I mean, he wouldn't tell even me his past. I had to research it."

Shane paused for a moment as he considering a thought, then straightened, holding a fifteen pound weight in his hands. With a teasing twinkle in his eye he said, "I'm sure you're a big girl by now. Little girls don't usually make it through wars, from what I hear." He pushed the envelope one step further and gave Ahsoka a wink.

I'll be okay if she doesn't outright kill me.

“Ohhh, you’re askin’ for it, hotshot,” Ahsoka warned. Her eyes glinted challengingly as she planted her fists on her hips. “Them’s fightin’ words.”

Shane's face went completely expressionless at Ahsoka's response. "Are you sure about that?" He was nothing if not a master of his facial expressions, and a small twinkle returned to his eyes. If this was a really challenge, he flet more than up to it. If not, he could settle for a verbal spat.

Ahsoka arched an eyebrow, that feral grin returning to her face, slowly spreading across it. You asked for it. That was all the warning Shane got before, faster than eye could catch, her fist lashed out and impacted against his chest.

Wha-- "Oooff!!" Shane gasped, taking a couple of steps back as Ahsoka's fist impacted his chest. Fine then...I'll play A shadow flashed across his face, but a twisted grin remained as he dropped the fifteen pound weight he had been holding, picked up a small five pounder and threw it at Ahsoka's head.

Now try this one on for size. He grinned even broader as he reached out with a low swinging kick, taking out Ahsoka's legs at the knee. Almost immediately after the impat, he shifted and rose to his feet, at the ready. If she didn't fall, she at least stumbled.

Ahsoka ducked the weight and felt another warning flash from the Force, right before Shane brought his leg around to sweep her feet out from under her. She fell, but in the split-seconds of her descent, she threw her hands down, landed on them, and flipped heels over head towards Shane.

Impressive Shane mused, taking a half a step back as Ahsoka flipped toward him. He wanted to wait for her to land, but he knew that would be worse than counter-productive for his own end. Shifting his weight to his toes, he twisted his torso at the last moment, aiming his special left-sided spin kick at where Ahsoka's shoulder would be in the next half a second, at the same time cocking his right arm for the follow-up.

The sound of his leg making contact elicted to reactions from Shane, the first was satisfaction; the second was worry. He knew just how effective the move was when he put his weight behind it, and hoped that he hadn'd done so subconsciously just then.

With the Force, one can turn split-seconds into much longer… if you’re a Master. Knights can do it, too. Padawans, well… they can manage not to get as hurt.

Ahsoka managed to twist her body just enough that Shane’s foot didn’t fully impact against her shoulder. “Argh.” As she fell, her fist whipped out for his abdomen and connected. She hit the floor, rolled, and regained her footing.

Welp, no worries there. Shane clutched at his stomach and coughed, trying to get some of his wind back. And that's why...you tighten your muscles when...you see a hit coming. He straightened, retaking his stance, not really sure if he was enjoying himself or not. He had be trained to be invisible, not to beat the living daylights out of his opponent. But Ahsoka didn't need to know that. "You're pretty good...for a girl, I mean." That would make the blood boil, without a doubt.

Ahsoka laughed shortly. “Too good for you, apparently,” she shot back. She rotated her aching shoulder and fell into defensive position. If this fight was going to continue, she wanted to see how Soresu philosophy held up in hand-to-hand.

"Funny you should say that, considering you're the one who almost fell on their face," Shane smirked darkly. "Most would say I'm holding my own, having landed two blows on someone with real combat experience and special powers." He could do this all day. Even Warp was occastionally hard-pressed to produce a smart come-back.

But Ahsoka isn't Warp. Far from it actually. He tried his best to read Ahsoka's eyes, as he followed suit and took a defensive posture. It was not what he expected it to be. He couldn't read her intentions like he could with Warp and most other combatants he'd watched. He blinked, and a look of surprised flashed across his face, but then was gone.

Ahsoka smirked. “You’ve still had good training, and I’m still in training. Pretty fair match, considering that the only ‘special power’ I’m using is faster reflexes.”

"Why thank you." Shane nodded curtly. "I'd hope you had faster reflexes, since that's what you're trained for." His smirk became a straight line yet again. It was harder than he'd expected it to be, for him to read her. Maybe it was because he hadn't spent hours staring at her profile, or days following her around, memorizing her routines. Or maybe it was because it was something he usually right before pulling the trigger. Maybe he just didn't want to.

Ahsoka grinned and shook her head. “Quicker reflexes are just something I’m born with. I can’t turn them off any more than I can turn off any of my other functions.”

She rotated her sore shoulder again, groaning slightly. “Kriff… you’ve got a solid kick, there.” She rubbed at the shoulder with her other hand. “Maybe we should just forget the practice.” She laughed as if at a joke she had made. “Oh, what Anakin and Rex would’ve said about that!” She shook her head, grinning.

"I'm all for it." Shane smiled. Gingerly, he touched the spot on his abdomen where Ahsoka had hit him. "Your punches aren't so bad either. Yeah, let's call it even."

“Thanks,” Ahsoka smiled, holding out her hand to shake his.

"You're welcome. And thank you." Shane replied, taking the hand that was offered to him.

“No problem,” Ahsoka nodded. She idly twirled her Padawan braid, an idea forming in her mind. “Hey, um… you wanna go to the mess hall, or whatever it’s called? ‘Cause, frankly, I’m starting to get hungry.”

The mess hall? This place has a mess hall?

"Actually, food sounds really good right now." Shane's smile broadened ever so slightly. "I'd like to get my suit back on first, if you don't mind. So, um...mess hall in ten minutes?"

“Sure thing,” Ahsoka nodded, straightening out and stretching. She trotted to the gym door, paused, turned back. She smiled and gave a casual salute. “See you then.”

And she was gone.

Warp would have a fit if he knew. Shane grinned wickedly. His skill for moving around behind his mentor's back had quickly become a source of frustration to Warp, making it all the more entertaining for Shane. This just might mean another "simulated combat exersice", but Shane didn't care at this point.

After taking another moment to dab the small amount of accumulated sweat off his face, Shane exited the exersice room and trotted down the hallways to his quarters and from there to the mess hall.