[Flashback]Unexpected Teachers(Hex)

[Hatot]

Hatot spent the first part of Hex’s training sitting along the ground nearby, his legs folded over each other while his arms rested along his knees, his fingers gingerly touching the ground before him. He watched curiously as Hex danced, bobbing and weaving while throwing in a strike to the training doll after a particular movement. It was confusing to him at first, the movements that Hex made, his instructor would have called them wasteful movements, but he came to realize the difference in their forms. Hatot generally was rigid, standing strait and approached his opponents in a firm walk forward, only to have his more fluid movement come into play when they attacked. Hex was different though, nearly only half his size and less that half his weight. While most opponents would find Hatot’s figure imposing, they would only find Hex’s inviting. Her movements would pose a distraction to those who weren’t already at competent level or higher, they wouldn’t know which direction she would come from, and as such, which direction to firmly strike. Their attacks would have a slightest sign of hesitation from that, and it would be then that Hex would truly be able to exploit after evading the attack. Hatot slowly rose from his seated position, as he took to slowly circling around Hex as she practiced. His eyes studying her movements as the had been doing since the beginning. Every now and then, he would halt her training, pointing out other avenues of attacks that should could exploit after a certain movement and showing her the tips that would allow her to strike more powerfully such as twisting her whole body into the strike, rather than just thrusting her arm and hand forward. His gaze finally rose to the sky, noting the waning light of the sun as it began to drop towards the horizon, giving way to darker skies. “I think that is enough for today.” Hatot said simply, moving over towards the training doll. “Get some more food in you and make preparations for sleep. You may use the tent tonight if you wish. I’ll be up late tonight, heavy in my meditations and will not likely be using it myself.” Hatot then simply began fixing the training doll back to the neutral position of its legs strait and arms at it’s sides. A few moments were taken to throw the tarp over it before tying the bottom of it the tarp around the post using simple twine. Hotot stepped over towards the bag of rations he had brought, pulling out some dried beef and two apples from within before sitting in front of the fire.

[Hex]

Exhausted and streaked with sweat, dust and blood, Hex finished the move she was in the midst of practising, and then collapsed down onto her knees when Hatot called the training to a close. She hadn't thought about not training since she started, but when she felt her aching muscles relax against the tug of the earth, she had a new appreciation for moments that didn't involve violence. She had stumbled limply to the fire, not bothering to get cleaned off, and sat gazing silently into the flames until she had devoured some of what she had and what Hatot had brought himself. She wanted to conserve the rations reasonably, and did so by uprooting a pouch of dried nuts and berries she often refilled in her travels. To the offer of sleeping inside the tent Hex shook her head, the only place she was comfortable sleeping was on the ground, where she could feel more connected to the earth, and more aware of approaching movement. Even if she felt safe there with Hatot, she felt safer being in control and aware of her environment; ironically it helped her sleep better, to know that even the slightest of movement in the vicinity would alert her. She lightly scrubbed at her skin with a small towel to flake off dried bits of blood, and a massage for her feet was all she could manage to do before letting her head fall to a spot of grass and falling asleep. Her training was hard and little did she know that it would continue to increase in difficulty as the days passed. On the 10th day of training Hatot concluded his lessons with her, divulging techniques that could save her life and hone her skills. After their combat training had come to a close, Hex somehow felt as if their time together wasn't quite over yet...

[Gossamer]

. Character: Hatot Experience: 4 XP Unarmed Combat (Akalak Style), 5 XP Teaching, 1 XP Cooking, 1 XP Running Lore: Lore of Human Slavers, Lore of Rescuing Slaves, Lore of Facing Overwhelming Odds, Lore of Using Gauntlets to block, Lore of Killing By Crushing Windpipes, Lore of Using Pressure Points to Cause Pain, Lore of what Auristics Is. I felt Hex was a really great student. I wouldn't mind someday teaching her something myself. Character: Hex Experience: 1 XP Observation, 4 XP Unarmed Combat (Akalak Style), 1 XP Interrogation, 2 XP Meditation, 1 XP Running Lore: Lore of Akalak Battle Prowess, Lore of Knowing How to Ask for Help, Lore of Pressure Points, Lore of Vital Weakspots in the Human Body, Lore of Observing Corpses for Battle Damage, Lore of Fighting with Bound Hands, Lore of The Dual Nature of the Akalaks, Lore of Breath Control, Lore of Proper Stretching Additional Note: I really liked the way Hatot portrayed his race in the very first post – “An Akalak himself, is a weapon.” That stood out in my mind for the whole of the thread. In addition, unless Hatot took it back, Hex now has a small book with illustrations of pressure points in them. It would have been interesting to see Hex teach Hatot Auristics too. Maybe a future thread? .