Closed [Tuvya Sasaran ]Of Fist and Fur[Souris]

[Rykanis Dakshata]

1 Summer 513 It was the first of summer, and still early in the day. The sun had not even risen yet, some might call it night still. But it was morning, and Rykanis was already awake and about for the day. What better way to start the season, than with a jog to the Sasaran, and a spar. Perhaps afterwards, he would visit the other Sasaran, and work on his weapons. But for his first fight of the season, he wanted to fight with his body, fight physically. To feel alive! It was a long route across town, from his home in the Kuahala Estates, over to the twin Sararan. He was dressed in his normal loose clothing, easier to run in, with his lakan strapped at his waist, each in a scabbard, and no other weapons. That would be enough for anything he might need to deal with today. And probably that would be to much. As he jogged, he did his best to keep his breathing steady and even. But admittedly, he was not the best runner even if he was in good shape. So soon enough his breathing was ragged, taken in deep lungfulls. It seemed like his chest was on fire, and his lungs just could not take in air. His pace was a fast one, but he was not quite sprinting. All that could be heard within the city that was mostly asleep, was the rhythmic slap of his feet on the ground. Left hitting. Right hitting. Back and force one after another, as he kept on at a steady pace. Finally the Sararan was within sight, and he put on a final burst of speed, at a full on sprint, he raced right past the door. Once he passed it, he slowly circled back around, now walking. He knew better than to abruptly stop, instead walking around slowly in a circle, his head tilted back looking at the sky, arms stretched out and clasped behind his neck. After a chime or two, his breathing had more or less returned to normal, and he headed in the door. Even though it was early, the room still had a good dozen Akalaks in it. He could feel two of them had marks from Akajia, just as he did. Not that they were of much use, it was far to dark for shadows to exist much. But soon the sun would be coming up, and it would be the perfect time to speak to shadows. Rykanis circled the room, once, twice, his heart almost returned to normal, no longer trying to jump through his chest. He looked about, inspecting the other Akalaks, wondering who he should face first, for his first spar of the season.

[Souris Blanche]

She had been following the Akalak while he ran.

It had been at a safe distance. She had just seen him while he exited Kuahala Estates, while she was walking around Riverfall-- and he seemed like someone she would like. Though this was only from observation. She had seen him around Riverfall here and there, and hadn't managed a hello just yet. She didn't think that often-- that she may like a person-- so she had waited for him to get a bit ahead of her before she started trailing behind.

It's not like she was following him. She wasn't. If anyone were to ask, she'd have told them, no. It was just coincidence for sure.

It wasn't a very fast pace for her. Well it wouldn't be, if they were perhaps the same size and took the same strides. But they didn't. She was a mouse, she was small, she was fast. But he was large. He was a big lumbering, purplish piece of Akalak. She eyed the lakan he weilded. She didn't think that he would be one to hold it against her if he knew she had followed. Then she realized what a dumb thought it was, to even think of that. Akalak weren't mean to the ladies.

She had to slow herself down numerous times, and readjust her weight. She didn't want to get noticed, until maybe later. That, and she was getting quite tired. It wasn't a totally exhausting kind of thing, but it did cause her to wonder where the hell he was going. Though he was a very fit man.

When she saw where he was headed, she slowed down to a jog and let herself get a little further behind than she already was. She bit her lip. Oh hey, you're way bigger than me, and you could kill me in a playful scuffle, but I was wondering if you were wanting to spar! yeah, it even sounded stupid in her head. Moreso when she emphasized it, though.

She watched him go in, and waited a few chimes. She continued to walk up to the entrance though. She didn't want him to realize how close behind him someone had been. It felt like forever. It was maybe, seven chimes? A little less? She gathered up her courage, and ran into the building in what she thought to be a confident posture.

She ran in, and almost as soon as she'd taken a few blind steps, she ran into a large man. She backed up a few steps, and doubled over, her head dizzy. It pounded almost as bad as a migraine. This lasted only a few ticks and when she looked up from her bent over position, she grinned at who she'd ran into. She pointed up at him from that stance and, laughing sheepishly she giggled, "You-- teach-- me-- to spar."

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rykanis had taken his time in entering, and before he even began to look for a sparring partner. So when he came to a stop finally, at rest, his heart even, he looked with fresh eyes upon the room. Sizing up the men one by one. As he was waiting though, he suddenly felt a body come crashing into him from behind. Almost by reflex, he executed one of the simplest of acrobatic maneuvers. One he had been training over and over, a forward roll. It would throw of an opponent, and give him a moment to recover before his foe came at him, along with allowing him to turn to face them with a slight twist. As he felt the body crash into him, he leaned forward, bringing his hands down to the ground beneath them of the training hall, allowing the force to carry him forward instead of fighting it. Then he dived forward, bending at the waist, and twisting his torso so that his right shoulder hit the ground, keeping his head and neck clear. Doing a roll on his neck would end very badly for him. Then his world turned end over end as he rolled, and then soon enough he landed smack on his feet in a crouch, a pace or two from his starting position, and likely clear of a second attack. He slid one foot a foot forward, and then swiveled his feet to make himself turn around, while also rising out of the crouch he had landed in. Such was about the limit of what his current skills in acrobatics training would allow. As he popped up to face his foe, bringing his hands up to chest level, ready to strike out at a foe, he was confused for a moment, as he saw no foe. He had to look down, to see just in front of him, a sprawled out and panting woman. He had been expecting an Akalak, one that had ambushed him, which was not unusual in the Sasaran... Instead, the current events had truly confused him for a moment, though he made sure to keep his face from showing it. It took him a moment to register the words in common, and another to lower his guard, and unclench his body, which had been readied to launch itself into a flurry of attacks. Rykanis looked down at the woman, and held out one hand, to pull her to her feet, before they began. "Sure, we could spar. And what is your name? I am Rykanis. Did you have anything in particular in mind, or did you just want to go at each other, and fight?"

[Souris Blanche]

"Souris Blanche," she mumbled, steadying herself and rubbing her temples. "Er, uh. What do you call that.. that you just did there... if, you actually did do what I think you just did. I'm kind of dizzy, so no clue if I'm seeing straight." she looked up at him and grinned. She was especially bashful.

"Rykanis?" she felt her face taut and starting to hurt. She knew she'd end up with those laugh lines when she was older, if not sooner rather than later. She let her face relax a little and she yawned. She should have been wide awake with all that running and catching up she did, but she wasn't.

It was still late for normal mice that weren't Kelvics, she knew. And she didn't often bear the waking schedule of the mouse, but the previously day she couldn't get to sleep and decided to stay up all night. She knew she'd probably pass out later on in the day, if not on her way home.

So technically, it was late for her. And she honestly had no idea what she thought she was doing, talking to this Akalak. Trying to spar with him for good grief. That's when she thought of something. It would probably be best.... if Souris clarified something, with the large man.

"Well, I kind of want you to teach me how to do it, yeah? I'm kind of flimsy and fragile girl." she almost said Kelvic, but resided to saying 'girl'. She was almost sure her large, deep eyes, and possibly her elongated claws would give it away. Probably not.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rykanis listened as she responded, speaking her name, one he had not heard before, Souris Blanche. His other side tucked the info away for later, while his side currently in control focused on the small girl, and on the fight at hand. He looked her up and down, noting the details, his other side once more tucking them away, as he took some time to just observe her before responding. Doing his best to pass it off like he was thinking of a good response. Her skin was a bit darker than average, certainly not as pale as most konti he had met who seemed to usually be pale skinned even when they spent a lot of time outside. Of course, they were half meant for the sea, so it was not to surprising. But compared to most humans, it was only slightly darker. Her eyes were green, with long lashes, that almost seemed able to bat him around if she chose to use them as weapons. The thought made a smile flicker on his face for a moment, silly as it was, and after a moment the same smile returned as he looked her in the eyes. He could not help but smile now. Besides being short, which was rather obvious, she was also of a slight build, not skin and bones and a konti, but not overly meaty. But also not flat. With blonde hair that almost would have fit onto a konti, but not quite. As he made a second look, he noticed her eyes were a bit larger than normal, a bit of an odd quality for a person, though not for some others. Perhaps it was some oddity of her, something she was born with? Or just an odd feature. She appeared human enough though. He finally responded, a questioning look coming over his face as he spoke, though without disturbing the smile on his face. "Teach you how to do what? You mean the roll? I don't think I am good enough at that, to teach anyone. I barely now how to do a few simple tumbles and such myself, and don't know enough to be teaching, for fear I will teach you something wrong. You would be better off finding another teacher for that. But if you simply want to learn a bit better how to spar, and fight, I could perhaps teach you that." "Of course, there are different styles of fighting with ones body, of which I only know some. But for starters, why don't you show me what you know? Come at me, try to hit me, and I will defend. Then I will come at you, and you will react. Perhaps once we have done that, I can gauge your skill, and better know what you know." Rykanis dropped into a ready stance, knees bent and ready for him to spring, arms in front of him, elbows tucked in close to his sides, hands curled but not balled yet into fists. Ready to fight, but not overly committing yet. Though even with his knees bent taking away a few inches of height, he still towered over the tiny girl with big eyes.

[Souris Blanche]

She liked watching the big man watch her. It was funny. He lingered on her hair and skin, on her eyes. She would have blushed if she hadn't been so damn naive. She wouldn't know for the better of her what it was he was taking in, that his alternative side was hiding it away for his pleasures. She just knew she was being observed. And like anyone being observed, she was a bit embarrassed. Was something out of place? Where there any eye boogies that needed removed from being sleepless? No, no. She mentally reassured herself that she was fine.

But he had smiled. Was there something wrong with how she looked? She almost frowned. Confidence, Souris. You're kind of cute. she told herself, and then she felt fine. She smiled back at him. His smile was contagious. She felt a tugging on her Kelvic heart and being. It was something she'd have to address later.

She watched him crouch, she'd listened to him speak. It seemed that he knew she didn't really want to be taught to roll-- or maybe he thought she did, but knew he could only teach her something else, so he just continued into a physical sparring.

What did she know? Oh right. Nothing. she bit her lip. She knew that punching his big muscly Akalak arms wouldn't do anything, so she just threw her hardest little punch at him, around his big muscly arms. She wondered what would happen if she did punch them. After her attempted punch that may or may not have done anything, which it probably wouldn't have, she tried out his muscly figure. She punched at his arms.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

A smile was a good way to put people at ease, to calm them, at to lighten the mood. It was a expression Rykanis used quite often, especially when he was enjoying himself in a spar. Or looking forward to one. Another part was that he easily found things funny, often trains of thought derived from some random detail he had noticed, which some other thought it caused was comical to Rykanis. To others it would appear like he was smiling or laughing for no reason, but usually he had one. He continued to smile as the fight began, and as Souris smiled back at him. He could tell right away she was inexperienced, as she clumsily sent out a punch at Rykanis with little to no force behind it. Even if it had struck, he doubted it would do much damage, or even cause much pain. Rykanis simply took a step back out of range of the blows, and let it wiz by without striking. Clearly he was going to need to start from the beginning. "Alright Souris, you need to put more force into it. Try again, but this time fully commit. Bring your hands up in a ready position in front of your, to block your front and to keep them close in case you need to protect something important, like your head." "Fully extend you arm into the punch, but make sure you keep your wrist locked when you strike, or else you might hurt it. Keep your wrist locked and straight in line with your arm. Also as you punch, rotate your hips along with the blow, so your entire body is behind it, not just your arm. So try again for another punch, right at my shoulder. A bit faster, so I can't dodge it so easily. Try several, in case the first one does not land. If you do it right, your entire body will hit me through your fist, instead of just your arm, or just your hand."

[Souris Blanche]

She felt inferior to the Akalak. But that was okay. He was teaching her, anyway. She was inferior.

She listen to him, her smile quickly fading on her lips into a pursed look of intense concentration. She listened and echoed into her own head, protect your head. she pulled her arms up almost shakily, and then she took the moment in between the sentences to remember how he had been standing.

She spread her feet a bit more than shoulder distance apart and crouched slightly. She got a bit caught up in his voice and nearly slapped herself whenever she realized some of his words had mended together into just a distant melody.

She cursed under her breath, and shifted her weight to get a good feel around. Not like she'd need a "good feel". It just felt right. Like it'd look right. She didn't want to look wrong.

The first punch she threw felt good. She'd rotated, felt her whole body thrown forward.. and then... she tried to throw another one. It failed. She couldn't rotate right, she couldn't put anything into it, it was like her first punches before she'd gotten the advise. She supposed that she wasn't going to be fantastic immediately anyway...

She tried about three more times, but she soon realized that she only did well when she could stop, break, and backpedal a little so she could swing again. She bit her lip. "This is hard."

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rykanis watched as Souris slowly shifted into a better position, listening to what he said, watching what he did, and trying to make a semblance of them in herself. Really, it just took practice, to get more skilled in the basics of unarmed fighting. And once you got those down, you could push on to more advanced things and sparring. "Just keep trying, till you get it. It is not about getting it right the first time, but testing and trying until you finally do so. Find what is comfortable and works for you. My style might not be it. In fact, I doubt it is it. We have different bodies, size, weight, so we will inevitably fight differently due to this. Just find something that works for you." Rykanis moved out of range, and let her attempt some punches, her success in them varying from better to worse. Rkyanis smiled once more as she commented, "This is hard!" "Of course it it, you are new to this. Now why don't you try some defending. I will come in at you, and you defend yourself. Either dodge, block, deflect, or find some way to take less damage or avoid the attack." Rykanis took a step in, and feinted like he was going to punch her in the chest. Instead he purposely missed, and then brought his palm out to try to slap her on her left side, right on the ribs. Then he would sweep his leg in from the left, which was on Souris right side, and tried to trip up her feet and take her down to the ground with a leg sweep.

[Souris Blanche]

Souris had already thought about the size difference between the two, but hadn't been able to think of how much it came into play when sparring. She had always been naive and thought that even the smallest person could beat a giant if they had the skill. But maybe it wasn't like that. Maybe size meant much more in sparring. Maybe...
Souris begun to think about what it would be like if Rykanis were do just slug her in the face. She imagined it, and found herself stifling a laugh. He would probably send her flying. What, with the strength in his arms and the size difference they had both apparently thought of.
She realized that, she didn't think of things the same as other people. Not like it was her fault or anything. Of course they both thought of the size difference, but in her circumstance it was a hilarious imagined stunt, and to him, it was how he could better teach her that wouldn't mean something different.
She blinked at him, suddenly confused. Her mind rambled too much. Mice just weren't supposed to fight, were they.
Souris went to jump out of the way, but was suddenly startled to feel a good thwap on her side. She was so startled that, she didn't get tipped over by his leg. Instead, when she saw it, a sharp squeak of shock escaped her throat, and she jumped again. Though she wasn't prepared for her not getting hit, and she landed awkwardly, and tipped over. She pouted, feeling something weird at her ankle, sitting on her butt, legs sprawled out, arms behind her holding her up.
"Rykanis," she squeaked quietly, "I think I hurt my ankle. I'm not meant for fighting."