Rescue Me! (from a journalist) OPEN

[splendid_roman]

Who| Ian and open
What| Ian wakes up after his death in the arena and is reminded of what he did there
Where| Training centre - central commons
When| During the last week of the arena
Warnings/Notes| None so far

Ian woke up, which was a surprise in itself. An assessment of his injuries revealed he had none, which was the second surprise. After lying in bed for a while, looking up at the ceiling, he could only conclude that he'd been taken out of the arena before he died from blood loss. Either the technology here was very good or he'd been kept asleep for a long time. He hoped it wasn't the latter and was curious about the former.

He ventured out, feeling tired, but not feeling any of his former injuries. The central commons, it turned out, wasn't the best place to choose. He'd barely got through the door when a journalist shoved a microphone and camera in his face and asked, "We loved your sword fighting. Can you tell us where you learned it?"

A screen nearby was showing one of Ian's fights. One where he killed someone. He'd fought before and he killed before, but for good reason - generally because his or someone else's life was in danger. But there were people he'd killed in the arena for no good reason. There had felt like one at the time, but now those reasons seemed petty.

He went pale and shook his head, looking around in the hopes of seeing someone who could rescue him from this interview.

Comments

[splendid_roman]

"It's a useful skill wherever you are," he agreed. "I had to use it many times on my travels. Unfortunately."

[morethathityou]

"Where have you traveled? Was it with the Doctor?"

[splendid_roman]

He nodded. "We went to a few different places where there were people trying to kill us, one way or another." Now they were in the training centre he looked around. "I'm good at hand to hand combat and sword fighting, but the rest I've never really tried."

[morethathityou]

"That sounds a little like being a Jedi Knight," she pointed out with a bit of humor.

[splendid_roman]

He chuckled. "It is a bit like being a knight, whether an ordinary one or a Jedi one. How about some archery instead?"

[morethathityou]

"Not that, I admit, is a skill I'm afraid I have not been fully trained in."

[splendid_roman]

"So now's a good time to start." He took her arm to pull her over to the archery stand.

[morethathityou]

She let him pull her, smiling a bit. It was going to be weird to learn a new skill when she didn't have the Force to guide her, but she thought it might end up being an interesting exercise if nothing else.

"I take it that means that you are an archer?"

[splendid_roman]

"No," he said cheerfully, "but I've played darts and it can't be that different."

Although first he had to work out how to fit the arrow on the bow - he was tempted just to throw the arrow for a moment, since it would have been quicker. But when he did manage it, and worked out and let it loose the arrow dropped in front of the target to the right of the one he'd been aiming at.

"Perhaps I need some practise," he concluded.

[morethathityou]

She laughed just a bit, but it was good natured and not at all at his expense. She had very limited experience with such ancient weaponry, so when she tried she didn't fare much better, and that made he laugh again. The sound of it was almost musical, a nice break from feeling so tense.

"I should be taking this seriously, shouldn't I?" she asked, as soon as she got a hold of herself. It was more like this was comical and nice break from feeling unsettled and outraged.

[splendid_roman]

He laughed too - at least he wasn't the only one who was terrible at this. "We can take it seriously in the arena." Assuming they had the opportunity to do any archery there. But for now it was nice to just relax and not worry that their lack of skills was going to get them killed.

He tried another arrow and although this one managed the right range, it fell to the left of the target. "If there were a group of people I'd probably have hit one of them by now."

[morethathityou]

She nodded, encouraging him. "Oh yes," she said. "Though... They would probably be moving?"

She focused on lining up her own arrow and let go. She just barely grazed the target.

[splendid_roman]

"I suppose they would," he said a bit despondently. He decided to try throwing the arrow instead. It was more accurate - it was heading straight towards the centre of the target until he fell well short.

"We'd be fine as long as it was a group of people not moving and standing close to us," he concluded.

[morethathityou]

She picked up an arrow as well and tried to see if she could get hers closer to the target. It didn't really, but she wasn't too disappointed.

"A Jedi's relationship with the Force usually makes these things easier to learn."

[splendid_roman]

He paused, having fitted another arrow to the bow. "How does that work?" He still didn't really understand this Force thing.

[morethathityou]

She thought for a moment. "The basic idea is that because everything is connected by the Force, you can move objects by connecting to it. Your mind can touch it, feel it, and you know that the arrow is just an extension of your arm, which means you can guide it as easily as you can raise your hand."

[splendid_roman]

"That's interesting. It sounds a little like an electromagnetic force at the quantum level," he mused. Perhaps the people where she was from were more sensitive to these things somehow.