Holosuite One at Quark's, Friday afternoon

[tigerundercover]

"Computer," Raven said, as she stepped into the empty, gridded space that was a deactivated holosuite. "Begin program 'Raven Three'." She looked back over her shoulder at Kanan as the holographic environment sprang to life around them. "I picked up the naming conventions from the previous owner. If you end up designing your own program, you can name it whatever you like, so long as there isn't already a file called that in the system."

'Raven Three' was a mid-20th-century-Earth simulation involving a provincial European town, complete with quaint stone-and-brick architecture and a central square built around an old cathedral. Simulated humans strolled past as they went about their imaginary daily business. A man rode by on a bicycle, its basket containing a single grocery bag with a bottle of wine and a long baguette sticking out. Birds sang, and a cool breeze blew through, ruffling everyone's hair and sending one young woman's bonnet fluttering away.

Everything would change when the Fire Nation holographic Klingons attacked. . . .

[For him as is mentioned in the narrative!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

"Quaint," Kanan noted, looking around at the scene thoughtfully. It was possible he was scoping out the area for any potentially useful landmarks. They had come here after a conversation about training simulations, after all. "So, what's the draw to this one, exactly?"

Oh, he was going to love this.

[tigerundercover]

"So this is a mix of a couple of programs Quark already had in the system," Raven explained. "Apparently people from his time have a real hard-on for the time I actually grew up in? Like, they're flying around through space on diplomatic missions of peace all over but they get nostalgic about Europe trying to blow itself up with world wars." She shook her head, tossing one of the passersby a friendly wave. "It's kind of hilarious. But while fighting Nazis was really satisfying for a little while, it got kind of boring, so I mixed in one of the Klingon war epics for spice."

As though on cue -- which it was -- a trio of Klingon warriors rounded the corner, sending the townspeople shrieking for cover.

[uncertain_dume]

"Huh," Kanan said, giving a thoughtful look to the trio of humanoid aliens that came around the corner. He reached to his belt for his lightsaber, watching the townspeople run. "Can I use this thing in here, or should I make do with what already comes in the holo?"

Because it would have a totally different feel to it, but he didn't exactly want to slice up the walls that he knew were... somewhere... around here.

[tigerundercover]

"You know, I'm not sure," Raven admitted. "I don't suppose it has a 'don't burn things' mode, does it." She tilted her head thoughtfully, then said. "Computer, can you duplicate the weapon in Kanan's hand?"

The computer responded in a warm, but matter-of-fact woman's voice. "Unable to comply. Please specify user 'Kanan'."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Computer, can you keep a live plasma sword from burning the holosuite walls?"

There was a pause, then an extra humming sound as something faintly glittery descended around them, fitting the holosuite dimensions. "Extra force fields erected to protect holosuite walls from plasma," the computer said. "Shield power is currently at 100%."

"There. That should do if you get too flaily," Raven said. "I mean, you can basically walk around in here for miles without hitting a wall, somehow, but extra precautions can't hurt, right?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan tilted his head, glancing around the room. Okay. So they were basically inside of some kind of droid with holo capabilities and shielding. That was good to know.

"I have no idea how that works," he mused, "but it seems pretty useful. And I'd rather have extra precautions in place than end up accidentally ruining your business before it even opens."

He ignited his lightsaber.

"You going to stick around to dance, too?"

[tigerundercover]

"You kidding?" Raven asked, shaking her head. "I'm not going to miss this. Dibs on the one on the left."

She'd stay out of the way of that blade, no problem, but hey, if he wanted a training drill, then making sure he wasn't going to hit his extremely acrobatic and flexible fighting partner was good practice, right?

[uncertain_dume]

It would be like old times fighting droids with his Master! But there were fewer Klingons than droids, and they weren't being shot at. Kanan turned a grin toward her.

"He's all yours," he replied. And then he crouched and sprang at the trio, clearing the distance between them all at once.

[tigerundercover]

Raven grinned wickedly in return and leaped into the fray as well. The klingons shouted something in their own language and charged back, one rushing to meet Kanan's attack with his bat'leth, the other swinging a mek'leth at Raven. The third stayed back; ganging up on an enemy was not fighting with honor.

[uncertain_dume]

And Kanan noticed that, too, giving a sort of confused if brief glance at the third Klingon as his lightsaber clashed against his opponent's bat'leth.

Well. Clashed against it. And then started to eat into it. Which was probably not the most appreciated situation, either.

"Hey, is there some way we can make their weapons more resilient, too?"

He wanted a challenge, here.

[tigerundercover]

Raven kicked the mek'leth aside with a shrug. "Tell the computer to make them plasma-proof," she said. "They're holograms, there's no reason for them to react like normal metal would."

[uncertain_dume]

"Uh, alright," Kanan said, yanking his lightsaber back and ignoring the stream of disgruntled Klingon in order to say, "Computer?"

He had to admit that the cheerful beeble sound it made was way more pleasant than the grunts and blats that Chopper made.

"Uh. Can you make the weapons in this holo impervious to plasma?"

[tigerundercover]

"Holographic weapons upgraded," the computer said. The bat'leth reformed in the klingon's hand, and he pressed forward with another attack, completely oblivious to what had just occurred.

"See?" Raven called, even as she scissor-kicked her opponent to the ground. "Customization is super easy!"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan's lightsaber clashed against the bat'leth, and the result was far more satisfyingly similar to the lightsaber sparring he'd grown up with, this time. Kanan grinned.

"Oh, I could get to like this," he decided, bringing his lightsaber back and then forward again, falling easily into old soresu forms. He couldn't help but wonder what this obvious warrior would think of a saber style that was mostly defensive and designed specifically to wear an opponent down. "Way easier to fine tune than a training remote."

[tigerundercover]

"And it feels totally real," Raven said. Her opponent had managed to get the upper hand briefly, and they were now grappling on the cobblestones, much to her apparent delight. "But you don't end up going home all bruised unless you turn off the safeties."

Kanan's opponent pressed forward again with a snarl. He was going to get frustrated with that defensive technique pretty fast, yeah. He shouted something that was clearly meant as an insult, making the third klingon laugh.

[uncertain_dume]

"And now I'm not sure if I want to ask the computer to get them to speak basic," Kanan laughed, shaking his head. "What do you think, does he not like the way I fight?"

Because really, he could do this all day, and while that was great experience with soresu, the point of this was to challenge himself.

[tigerundercover]

"I think he's talking about your mother," Raven decided. "Or possibly insulting your honor."

She'd turned off the default translator program after getting tired of hearing them talk about honor a few too many times.

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, he's welcome to say whatever he likes about my mother," Kanan snorted. It wasn't like he'd ever known her. "And my honor doesn't need any insulting. I know exactly what it's like, thank you."

He leaned back, shifted his stance, and grinned.

"Honor was giving him a fighting chance with that shiny blade of his in the first place." Never mind that he wasn't even real. "But if he wants me to go on the offensive, I can do that, too."

[tigerundercover]

"I know I'd like to see it," Raven said. "Whoever finishes theirs first is going to get to take on the third guy."

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, when you put it like that..." Kanan stepped in hard and brought the lightsaber down, fast, toward the Klingon, apparently done with playing the defensive in favor of pummelling his opponent with a flurry of fast, controlled strikes. Up, down, and then step back, surge forward again, aim to corral the Klingon back so that he'd have nowhere to go.

He had to give the holosuite credit where it was due, the Klingon was definitely putting up an impressive fight. He could have sworn it was learning his strategy in real time, limited only by physical constraints. His opponent was strong, and was fierce, and now Kanan was laughing from the sheer exhilaration of a good fight.

It had been years since he'd swung his lightsaber at something that could hold its own against it.

[tigerundercover]

"Sword guy's got moves," Raven told her opponent. The klingon growled at her in return, until she managed to roll him over and throw him into a wall, then jammed her foot into his neck, cutting off his air supply. "Better hurry up, though, I'm almost done with this one."

The klingon wrapped both his hands around her ankle and rolled, dragging her with him.

[uncertain_dume]

"True enough," Kanan mused. "Yours isn't half as flexible as you are."

Meanwhile, Kanan was pretty sure his own opponent was aiming to out-muscle him. And this? This was exactly why he preferred Form III combat. Well. That and experience. Not that he was exactly hurting for muscle, either.

He dropped down then, leaning backwards with a little help from the Force to help him keep his balance even as the bat'leth swung out and missed his face by a breath, and before that swing was through, the lightsaber had come up and cleaved one of the Klingon's hands clean off.

"Let's see how well he handles that thing now."

Yeah, Jedi had difficulty feeling guilt over dismembering people.

[tigerundercover]

Raven laughed delightedly. "That's the spirit! Show no mercy!"

[uncertain_dume]

That was a phrase that Kanan, that Caleb hadn't heard growing up. It was a phrase that hadn't been uttered in his presence until the war, intermingled with 'Roger, roger,' and the almost playful exhilaration that the clones had sometimes shared when a battle was going in their favor.

It was anathema to everything Caleb Dume had been raised to be, and something that, stepping into a rebellion against the Empire, Kanan Jarrus couldn't afford to ignore. The Klingon roared something furious in his face, trying his damnedest to wield his weapon with one hand, and Kanan simply straightened himself up and put his lightsaber through his enemy's chest.

"You finish yours off fast enough," he said, turning his attention toward the third, "and we can both dance with this one."

[tigerundercover]

Raven noticed the little shift in mood, and nodded. She stopped playing with her klingon, throwing him back to the ground and snapping his neck with a quick move. "You want more after this, or should we call it a day?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan considered that offer as he started to move toward the last of the Klingons.

"I can always use more," he noted, "but I might opt for a change in opponent, if that's doable."

Maybe they'd have troopers programmed in that they could cut down. Or droids.