Tumbling Lessons (Fade)

by **Kamrynn Sleightyr** on June 5th, 2010, 6:25 pm

Fade's riddle clanged around in Kamrynn's head while he pulled himself into a sitting position and somersaulted forward and backwards over his shoulders with ease. She had a point about the flips being useless, but he was more concerned with building agility and balance -he never intended to do back filp during combat... Well, maybe to show off, but that was another story...

"Is it... Is it because you only have one path to take? When you're walking on the ground you can go any way you want, but on a rope the choice is already made for you." He wondered if that was the answer she was looking for.

Was that a thought she had held close as a slave? It seemed a pretty apt metaphor for her life as a slave, he thought. She performed in a circus, hell, she probably even walked the tightrope there, but her path was never hers to choose. She just walked along that tightrope, spurred forward by her master, with no choice but to go forward or fall to her death.

He looked up at her, scrutinizing, trying to read her emotions - but reading people was something he had never been good at. "Was my answer close?"

by **Fade** on June 5th, 2010, 7:47 pm

She chuckled “It wasn’t a riddle it was a fact, and no, even though the metaphor is a good one, it’s not the answer. Think about how long it takes for a child to learn to walk, we do it instinctively but think about it carefully. Walking is incredibly unstable, we are used to it. That’s why sword fighting foot work exists, to make balance more stable: when handling a sword you can’t be unstable on your feet.
Tightrope ballerinas and even acrobats and gymnasts in their acts you can spot all the moves that help enhance their balance. In tightrope walking it’s impossible to fall for instance.
Why? Think about it in a scientific mathematical way”

She then thought about what he had said about paths and ropes, and understood the connection with her, she smiled kindly.

His somersaults were good she raised an eyebrow surprised. She then said
“Try running then do a handstand flip over and summersault in the air. Would you know, honestly, how to do that?”

by **Kamrynn Sleightyr** on June 6th, 2010, 10:57 pm

Kamrynn nodded at Fade's instruction. "You mean a handspring, right? I think I can manage that." He grinned. He'd seen a few performers do the trick, though it wasn't necessarily something he could do himself.

He squatted down to stretch his legs, then stood and surged forward at full speed. His hands hit the grass hard, his legs flailed briefly above his head, and he came down hard. His eager exertion was a bit much, and he over rotated, coming down on his chest.

He wouldn't be discouraged though; he hopped back to his feet, and tried again, this time slower. Keeping an image of the stunt he was trying in his head, he tried keeping his legs together on this attempt, and managed the trick rather handily -coming to a landing in a half standing position. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't bad either.

"There!" He chuckled. "I must be a natural or something, huh? Do you have any more challenges for me, Lady Fade?"

by **Fade** on June 7th, 2010, 1:11 pm

OOC :

She looked at him up and down “Please bend forwards as much as you can then come up slowly and bend backwards. We’ll see if you are a natural and if you are a back or front bender.” She was a back bender meaning that her spine bent easier backward than forwards.

Fade snorted “A challenge…” She thought and said “Run do and aerial cartwheel, land do a back walkover, do a back summersault and hold”

She shook her head and did it to show him, she hoped he knew what an aerial cartwheel and a back walkover were.
The were two variations of the cartwheel one consisting in doing it without hands and the other one finish the cartwheel with both feet and legs together not in the standard hand hand foot foot combination. It had taken ages for her to learn the cartwheel but after that everything became easy.

“Or “she said “just run do a hand spring and do two full twists, land and hold”

by **Kamrynn Sleightyr** on June 9th, 2010, 1:24 am

[[OOC: Don't sweat it. I actually had a similar problem while learning gymnastics, myself.]]

Kamrynn's eyes bugged at Fade's request. Requests. He bit his lower lip and got to his feet. "I'll start with the easiest, then..."

He bent forward, touching his toes, then leaned back as far as he could. He stumbled a bit, then fell over backwards, catching himself on his hands. "Ow." He muttered, she made back bends look so easily in her act. He struggled feebly a few times to walk his legs over, and though he came close, he was unable to do so.

Next.

A back somersault. Up. Down. Up and Around. He muttered his memory clue to himself. He lined his feet straight, facing Fade. He chose her eyes as a steady reference point on the horizon.

Up... He raised his arms high above his head.
Down... He bent his knees, squatting low and lowering his arms-
Up His straightened his legs hard, swung his arms forward and up and he surged into the air.
and Around He brought his knees to his chest and grabbed them tight with his arms.

It was only a moment that he was upside down, and soon he was releasing his legs and preparing for the landing. It was muscle memory from there. His feet touched down lightly, and he stuck his landing like a professional. Even he was impressed with his performance -the added stress of Fade's judging eyes helped him strive harder than normal.

"Piece of cake!" He said to Fade, smiling, but the other tasks would not prove so simple.

Kamrynn spent the rest of the afternoon jumping and flipping and turning. Twists gave him no end of trouble, it seemed he just couldn't figure them out. Fade was a stern but skillful teacher, and by the end of the day, Kamrynn had landed at least a few front and back handsprings and front and back flips, and even a few of the handless aerial cartwheels.

The lesson didn't come without it's price -Kamrynn now lay upon the grass after a particularly nasty fall, completely defeated. He had bruises across his entire body, the bones in his shins were screaming, most of his joints had suffered at least a minor sprain and the jury was still out on whether or not his ribs had broken.

"Fade." He coughed, trying to decide if he tasted blood. "I really can't go on. You're a slave driver..." He regretted the statement immediately, and cupped a hand over his mouth. That was in damn poor taste, Kam. He scolded himself.

by **Fade** on June 10th, 2010, 1:38 pm

She watched him and corrected him. He was clearly a front bender she sighed back benders were rare it being very unnatural…
He was good but she would scarcely voice her compliments there were few things worst than over confidence.
He understood things quickly and she was grateful of that, she didn’t have to explain everything because he already had a good notion of most things.

She watched him as he landed badly for the maybe hundredth time? She sighed and walked over to him as he didn’t get up.

“Slave driver “She frowned and she looked at him daggers in her eyes for a moment.
Then she looked away without a comment and looked at him again her expression perfectly normal again

She crouched beside him and asked. “You should have told me you were hurting so much!” She smiled kindly “Show me where are you hurt…”

by **Kamrynn Sleightyr** on June 14th, 2010, 1:48 am

"You mean, besides everywhere?" He joked, but he could tell she was sincere. Having gone through this before, she probably had a good idea of what the best course of treatment was for gymnastic induced injuries.

He struggled to his feet and took stock of his injuries. His ankles and knees were alright, they still (reluctantly) supported his weight, and he had twisted his wrists worse in sword practice. What really bothered him was his ribs.

"My ribs," He groaned, patting the area of his ribcage under his pectorals. He raked his fingers across them, wincing, but he couldn't really tell if they were damaged or not through his thick cotton shirt.

He laughed -painfully- and said. "I really think they might be broken, but how can you tell?" He pulled his shirt up a bit and leaned to the right to make the ribs on his left side more prominent. Then with his fingers he began prodding the length of each and every bone, not entirely sure what to look for.

by **Fade** on June 14th, 2010, 8:26 am

She frowned and said “A rib injury causes pain and tenderness over the place of injury. You may have pain when you breathe, move, laugh, or cough.” She frowned she didnt know much of healing though a performer had broken some ribs, she tried to remember what a healer had said, she thought.
Then she continued practically shouting “And don’t touch them! You might push them further into your lungs” She leaned closer her fingers just a hairline from his chest, she stood up “Even if they were broken or just bruised you just have to take it easy for some time”
She smiled “You should wrap your chest though, just in case they are broken to limit their movement”

She took a step back and said “I hope it’s not as bad as you make it, bruised ribs take 3 to 4 weeks to heal and broken ones take even more to heal.”

She was concerned in a way because he was a knight that meant three weeks rest was probably out of the question and then there was the second thing, in a way it was her fault.

by **Kamrynn Sleightyr** on June 16th, 2010, 1:21 am

"I hope it’s not as bad as you make it..." Fade stated.

"That makes two of us," Kamrynn sighed. As much as he wanted to prod at the pains in his sides, he decided it was best to take Fade's advice -poking them wasn't going to speed up the healing process.

"I'm afraid I won't get much time to let them heal, though. The guard is none to sympathetic to knights injured playing foolish games." He pondered for a bit, then continued. "I suppose the sooner I get to the medic's quarters the easier my healing process will be, so I should probably be on my way. My thanks for the lessons, Miss Fade, I hope to see you again."

He bowed deeply in gratitude, an act accompanied by a horrendous pain and a sharp groan. Kamrynn sunk to one knee, his hand shooting out to grasp his injured right side. "Ah...." He managed. "Ah... I'm OK. Really."

by **Fade** on June 16th, 2010, 7:55 am

She winced as he bowed clearly in pain she dashed forward to help him up by the shoulders. Then it was her turn to grimace slightly as her skin touched his, but she would have to learn to control her gift, she couldn’t just go round not having any physical contact.

She breathed out slowly stepping back. “You really should bind your chest with something…”

She paused and continued “Are you sure your ok, a broken rib takes at least 8 weeks to heal…” She looked at him “I fear your order will have something to say…”

She shook her head and said her farewell even though she wasn’t sure she should leave him “it was a pleasure meeting you to Kamrynn the Sylirian Knight”