he grunts as he hits the floor, air driven from his lungs by the impact. he hadn't seen that blow coming -- thrawn proving, once again, that his fighting prowess surpasses jorj's own. still, jorj isn't the same young man thrawn had met in the unknown regions. "let's go again," he says with a grin, as he regains his breath & jumps back up. this time, he uses a little trick he learned from one of his new hires, a young woman who grew up in the alleys of volu on ni'rak. it works, to his amusement.
The eagerness expressed by Jorj was refreshing. It made for a much more engaging match then the silence and cold faces of his droids, and rather than become upset from being bested like the few officers who had been invited to spar with the grand admiral, he simply laughed it off and got back up again as he did now. Thrawn returned the grin with a smile of his own, fists raised and ready to deflect the next burst of incoming blows. “As you wish.”
For the first few seconds he defended himself easily, continuing to notice the many styles which the smuggler took influence from to create his own form of fighting. A Togorian-style strike here, a roundhouse kick favoured by Duros hunters there, each one followed or stopped by a natural response on his part. He felt so much more at ease sparring with Jorj, which was due in no small part to their history together. And even as they fought, it was a natural flow, the same as the progression of statement and response in their conversations, even when one of them overstepped or fell. They simply and quickly resumed the dance, both enjoying their own small moments of triumph and learning from the moments of defeat and, in some cases, humiliation.
Which was what Jorj seemed to have in mind for Thrawn, as the Chiss found a move implemented by his friend that he had never seen before and he was, clearly, not expecting. In a split second he found himself on the floor, looking up at the obviously pleased and self-satisfied expression of the other. His crimson eyes narrowed slightly, but he could not help the upturn of his lips and the softening of his frown. “I commend you on your continuous improvement,” he said as he stood up once more. “And bringing tactics I did not know of to my attention.” He wouldn’t admit that he hadn’t managed to properly observe Jorj as he’d came at him, and was currently unsure of how he might counter the strike if it was used against him again. Fortunately, he wasn’t giving up yet. “Of course, now that you have…” The only warning was the glittering of his eyes and widening of his smile. Then he was jumping right back into Jorj’s space, grappling with him, trying to deliver jabs and punches to any exposed areas, a silent cry of joy and exhilaration rising in his heart as he was able to forget about everything but the other man, and the longest and greatest friend he’d ever had.
