Closed [Kendoka Sasaran ]Bruises Healed are Bruises Earned[Nailah]

[Rykanis Dakshata]

5 Summer 513 Another day, another spar. Or so Rykanis felt. It was a rare day when he did not come to one of the Sasaran to practice his skill of arms or unarmed. He was an Akalak after all, fighting and training was bred into him, ingrained as much as breathing or blinking. Of course being a over seven foot tall purple giant, by comparison to most other races, also did not hurt. The raw force such a large body can muster was mighty indeed. But that did not mean Rykanis could let up, or fall back in his training. He had to keep himself honed, and ready. As he walked into the Sasaran, he headed as always straight for the racks of wooden weapons. He found his favorite pair of well used practice lakan, one for each hand, and headed out to the open floor of the fighting area. Now it was just left for him to wait, and to find someone to spar with. Who would it be, he wondered...

[Nailah]

Fighting was not an unknown to her. Many Konti were proficient in self-defense for a number of reasons though they rarely were forced to use it unless outside of the city and even then only as a final choice in any instance. The Konti were not ones to go looking for a fight, friendly or otherwise, it was quite different in Riverfall. Friendly sparring was a constant, and she was not sure if they would search for a fight, they were a polite people and she did not know enough to pass judgment. But in accordance with their laws Nailah found herself in the Kendoka Sasaran, though her Goddess would not frown on her defense she would not use her own hands as weapons. Upon entering she felt both out of place and nervous. There was few Konti in the building and all the Akalak were so tall. There was a steady beat of wooden weapons, her head turned this way and that until she found the weapons rack. She had no proficiency in any weapon but she found herself looking for something she was familiar with. An odd weapon labeled Tonfa’s reminded her of her homelands Suvai and she grasped one to start without any other thought. Once it was in her hands, she lifted and dropped her arm, testing the weight to see if she could lift it properly and turned her attention to the room to search for a free partner. If I am going to do this, I will be doing it right. It only took a chime of glancing at the weapons each pair or solo trainer had for her to find a suitable partner, and she approached the Akalak slowly, smiling with her eyes at his forehead. He was a deep purple and at least half a foot taller than her, and in his hand he held two sword-like wooden weapons. Nailah stopped directly in front of him, speaking just above a whisper, “…Hello…would you like to…train…I have no…past training but I will…try.”

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rykanis looked back at the konti, as she clearly was one, and smiled. It was not everyday he fought a Konti, that it was a rare enough thing that one even entered the Sasaran. Not that they were bad fighters, he had seen several Akalak, full grown ones, put onto their rear in a spar with one. But still, it was not a place the majority often visited. As she quietly asked him for a spar, Rykanis just nodded, a smile on his lips. "Sure. So this would be your first time then? I would be glad to introduce you to the finer points of combat. Though I am afraid most must be learned simply through doing, and fighting. Mind you, this is an armed training facility, but I myself, and many others, will still use our fists and bodies just as much." "It is simply the method most Akalaks fight, equally with body and blade. I am no different, with my lakan." His lakan in hand, a pair of curved wooden daggers which were a good facsimile of a lakan, but not the true thing. "So why don't we just jump into it? Come at me and try to attack, and I will react. Then I will attack you, and you react. Then we will comment and see how you did in each. That seems a good place to start." With that, Rykanis dropped into a ready stance a few paces away from the Konti, his knees slightly bent and ready for movement, his elbows tucked into his chest, arm bent with lakan up in front of his face. He was ready to move as needed, to attack, defend, or whatever.

[Nailah]

Nailah nodded as he spoke but fiddled with the tonfa, attempting to figure out which way to hold it. It didn’t work exactly like the Suvai she had seen her sisters’ use or the daggers that her sparring partner was using. Ultimately she held the handle of the tonfa with the top rested just above her hand. She tried to ready herself to attack in the same basic position as the Akalak, she bent her knees, tucked in her free arm to keep it away from herself then moved. The woman hesitated for just a moment, how do I attack him? She wanted to fight correctly but she had never risen her had against someone before, not even in her anger. It was not the idea itself that was strange but she had a task to accomplish, and I am wasting time. With that in mind she took another look at her opponent. He was larger than her even crouched, and her own mirroring of his stance only made her shorter. But she held the stance then finally moved forward. She did not rush but made more of a quick hop towards him, extended her arm to the fullest and aimed her swing for his right knee. The extension of her lunge had set her off balance. It forced her into a low head rush that left her closer to the Akalak and his wooden weapons than she had wanted to be. Flustered Nailah had straightened out without meaning too then jabbed her tonfa forward wildly at her opponent.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rykanis waited patiently, for the girl to attack, and for her to figure out her weapon. He fought a smile as she attempted to drop into the same ready stance as he used, for fear she would take it as a mocking thing. Though he smiled often enough, for little to no reason. This was just one such situation were it would not work well. Suddenly the girl came forward, a hop at him, and then sending out the tonfa aimed at his knee. However her own attack had set her off balance. Something usually reserved for the enemies attack. It resulted in her attack going wild, and being difficult for Rykanis to adequately respond to. Instead of matching blade to tonfa, he simply avoided it altogether. He dodged it, using a shoulder roll he had learned awhile ago practicing his acrobatics, and diving out of the way of the oncoming konti. He would roll off center, so that his shoulder hit the ground, instead of his neck or head, tucking his arms into his chest, and bringing his knees in. Once he had finished his 360 degree forward roll, he landed on his feet, a bit off center. One of his feet slipped, and he landed on his right side. But not wanting to be surprised in case the girl attacked while he was down, he tucked his arms in and rolled to the left a few revolutions, coming to stop facing the girl, lakan coming out, as he tried to get back to his feet before she attacked and took advantage of his position.

[Nailah]

Her partner moved quickly, ending up in front of her, and she spun awkwardly to face him again. Her arms slashing for his knees wildly, then stumbling back with her heart seeming to roar loud enough for the whole Kendoka hear. It was not a real fight but she felt excited. Panicked. Jumpy as if she escape from her skin.

After her swing she took a moment to catch her breath, not winded but trying to clamp down on her growing mania. But she didn’t want for much longer, she heard the hisses of pain from their adjacent partners and did not wish to be hit with his wooden weapons. Reassuming the position she had initially seen him in she did her jump again, and scuttled towards him like a crab.

Instead of swinging, this time she jabbed, trying to get through his through his defenses but pulled back at the last second and landed on her rear with her hands up. For a second she paused, her fear of hurting him stopped her but she felt her foot connect with something solid.

“...sorry.” she mumbled taking a moment to right herself again but tried to force from her mind anything else. The point is to hit. She chided herself mentally and swung to her left, keeping her free arm tucked up under her in order to keep from hitting herself.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

The next bit of the fight was a bit confusing, even to Rykanis. He had fallen, was rolling, trying to get clear, and she came at him. Struck out, fell, ended up on her own rear, just like Rykanis' failed attempt at an acrobatic maneuver. He had tried one to tough, and ended up failing because of it. She had simply been walking, and yet had failed and ended on her rear. Then she lashed out, and kicked his lakan right out of his hand. He had NOT been expecting that. It had caught him completely off guard. Perhaps partially because he had been underestimating the konti. Never a wise thing to do, his other side commented. From his place on the ground he rose up a few foot or so, then rolled backward sticking his long legs out far, and then using a forward rocking motion popped himself off the ground and to a crouching position, popping up to fully standing in another moment... And immediately took a weapon to the gut, as she struck out. Apparently he had taken to much time in his move, or had simply gotten distracted and forgot to pay attention to what she was doing. Either way, he had been struck, and let out a "Oomph" of pain. "Alright, hold on for a second. Nice hit by the way." Rykanis said the last bit, rubbing at his gut which was sore from the strike. "This may sound a bit odd, but I wanted to try something a bit different. Perhaps to sort of... Even the playing field so to say? And also... Well I have just been wanting to try it out." Rykanis would look the konti over, the grin still on his face. "If you are alright with it, I want to try fighting you without seeing. You will still see, but I will fight blind. Is that alright? I have heard of a few Akalak that are so good at it, that they can sense a opponent by hearing alone, and can even tell how they will attack without looking. I am not really sure how it works... But would you be okay with it?" It was an odd request to be certain, but Rykanis had to test it out eventually. Why not now?