PM to join [Riverside Isle Park] Fight Fire with Fire. (Deltan Colari)

[Firenze]

71 Fall 514 AV

As she stood there watching him, she noticed his face had begun to flush with red, she brushed it off as caused by part of the work out. As she watched, he asked, "So... How do you know so much about bare-hand fighting? I thought a hunter relied on surprise. Can't see you sneaking up on a deer." Panic flashed over her for a moment, she didn't know what to tell him. Her head rushing she tried to come up with something she could say.

"I.. um. Well. I'm not very good at hunting," Firenze laughed nervously, "I haven't really tried to catc...erm hunt any dear yet, so... I guess I'm not very sneaky!" She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to work out the building tension, hoping he wouldn't notice how the topic had made her uncomfortable. Firenze was not a big fan of letting people know who she really was, lest they try to kidnap her and sell her into slavery... or keep her as a slave for themselves.

She felt that she was rather comfortable with Deltan, but she still didn't know him well enough to let him know who... or rather what she was. She hoped that her response to his question was sufficient enough. Would he continue his questioning? Or would he be satisfied with what she had offered as her answer?

Shifting from foot to foot, her hands still on her hips, trying to regulate her breathing from the workout, small beads of sweat dampening the small wisps of hair that surrounded her face. Wiping the back of her hand against her brow, "Do you want to continue with kicking, or do you feel confident with what we have done so far? If you'd like we could work on something else."

Trying to keep her mind off the question that he'd ask, she began to think of other moves that they might be able to do, "Honestly, I would say if you're really in dire straights, and I apologize if this might offend you, but just aim for their... groin. Or at least their head, if you can't get to their groin. If you can try to get them off balance... I don't know about you but being hit in the head generally doesn't feel very good and makes me dizzy." The thought of it making her cringe at the times that she'd smacked her head on a shelf or ... ran into trees.

Fire tried not to chuckle at the thought of Deltan getting into an altercation and having to knee or kick someone in a spot that he himself would be sensitive. "Speaking of hitting someone... there, something that we could practice would be using our knees. We wouldn't hit each other hard, but we could use each other to balance and practice as if we were in a situation? Take turns holding on to each others necks and seeing how high we could lift our knees. We may need to stretch out first... actually I should've thought of that and had us do some kind of stretching before we started. I have a feeling you and I are going to be rather sore in the morning."

As an after thought, she began stretching, her legs left spread she reached down, letting her arms dangle. She couldn't really reach the ground, not even her toes, but she hoped it helped in some way. After reaching between her legs, she lifted her torso back up and leaned to the right, her hands on her hips still. She could feel the pull and stretch of her muscles on her left side, hoping that was a good sign and that she wasn't messing things up and making it worse.

After leaning to the right, she moved to her left copying the same action she had just done, on the opposite side. The pulling and tugging of her muscles giving her an almost relaxed feeling, she could feel herself loosening up. She moved her torso back straight and lifting her knees quickly, did a small little jog in place, shaking her head, arms, hands and shoulders. It felt as she did when she would shake her fur into place, making her feel more comfortable and less wound up.

OOC InfoWord Count = 710

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

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[Deltan Colari]

Deltan looked at Firenze oddly as she evaded his question, laughing it off with a deprecating remark. The young man definitely did notice the awkward tension in the air, though he tried not to let on. He smiled at her, chuckling along with her laughter politely. He wouldn't press matters; in Deltan's opinion, whatever made her tense was her business. He had enough to get nervous about, himself, and he'd appreciate the same treatment in return. "I'm sure you're a great huntress, Firenze," he answered with a smile, trying to relax her. The young man raked one hand through his sweat-damp hair to brush it out of his eyes, face flushed with exertion. He noted that Firenze seemed similarly weary, though looking not nearly as unpleasantly sweaty as he did. Rather, he thought she just looked better in general than he did, regardless of how sweaty she was. Of course, he would think that, since she was a pretty woman. He wanted to suggest a break, but his pride kept him from it. Deltan found that he cared about Firenze's opinion of him, and didn't want her to think him weak. Firenze's question had Deltan smirking; he definitely didn't feel comfortable with kicking, but he doubted he'd be able to even reach the woman with a kick. It was good enough that he could block kicks with a little skill. "Let's try something else," he said with a soft chuckle. As Firenze went on to talk about aiming "below the belt," Deltan had a hard time not laughing. "Firenze, I'm a bodyguard. I'll hit wherever I can in a fight, no matter where it is. As long as I win, it doesn't matter." The mention of aiming for the head made him nod in agreement, and he added, "Aiming for the knees is good, too. Get them on the ground, and they're done for." Of course, he'd not actually done it, but that was a minor detail. His instructor was usually right about such things. "Using our knees?" Deltan asked somewhat worriedly when Firenze suggested it, "I'm more vulnerable than you are, Firenze, so be gentle," The young man grinned, hoping she wasn't planning to practice those strikes on him at full strength. Owing her or not, he wasn't going to let her do that. The suggestion of stretching made Deltan chuckle wryly, rubbing the back of his neck. Of course... Fools they were. He nodded his agreement at the mention of soreness, rolling his shoulders as though he could already feel the knots forming in his muscles. Doubtless, they both would really feel it later. The young man joined Firenze in stretching, first raising his left arm and pulling it behind his head and to the side with his right hand, then repeating the exercise with his other arm. Then he began imitating Firenze, taking side glances at her to ensure he was doing it correctly. Unfortunately, he was even less limber than his friend, and grunted a few times when he pressed himself too far. Deltan didn't follow along with the little shaking exercise Firenze did, though. He just watched her curiously, uncertain exactly how that was supposed to help. When they were done, Deltan approached Firenze, allowing her to go first as usual. He stood with legs planted shoulder-width apart, arms spread as though he was about to grapple with her. He'd let her lead, though. This wasn't the same as sparring; it was a learning exercise. "Ladies first," he said with a smile, shaking his head a bit to air out his hair. He didn't know how women did it, with longer hair. His own was heavy enough; he'd considered having it shaved, but he thought he'd look completely ridiculous. Like if he were to try growing a long beard, though perhaps even worse. OOCSorry for the delay, been traveling back home for the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving, Firenze!

[Firenze]

71 Fall 514 AV

"I promise I won't hurt you," Firenze chuckled at Deltan's remark for her to be careful, "We don't need to actually hit each other, just do more of... trying to figure out how to get away from each other and some knee lifts, while we hold onto each other." She finished her stretching and watched as he approached, "Ladies first," he smiled at her and shook his head.

"Alright, I'm going to put my hands on you, we'll almost put our heads on each others shoulders, I'll wrap my hands around the back of your neck and you'll do the same. We're not going to choke each other, although I'm sure if you were in a sticky situation that could come in useful." She laughed softly at her own joke.

As he spread his legs out she moved closer to him, he had his arms readied but she would fix that as they wouldn't need to have their hands in the ready position. "This is going to be more useful if you're already in the pinned position," She convey what was going on in her mind, unsure of how to explain it to him. She thought she might be able to show him easier than it would be to explain it.

"Okay so I'm going to move your arms around my neck," she explained as she moved closer to him so that they were only about a foot apart, Fire grabbed his hands in hers, she placed them around the back of her neck and interlocked his fingers. After securing his fingers in place around the back of her head and neck she reached up and did the same. Her fingers sliding along the back of his slick neck, interlocking them so that she had a good grip. Placing her head next to his, she tried to show what they would do, "Ok so we will not actually try to hurt each other, but if it happens.. it happens. We'll just do a few knee lifts to get the feel of things, repetitiveness helps when you're in a situation that you can't think so that you can just react. Then, while we're still holding on to each other I'd like to work on trying to break each others hold."

Lifting her knee between them, she could feel the pull on her rear and the back of her thigh, she did this a few times and then changed legs, doing the same motion. Fire knocked him in the knee with her foot a couple times by accident but over all the process went rather smooth. She asked him to practice a couple times and then afterward had them move on to breaking each other's hold.

"Ok, so what I want you to do is this... I'll keep my hands locked and you'll take yours, bring them under my arms, put your hands together and bring them up between my arms. You'll use the force of your elbows down on the crease of my arms." While he still had his hands around her neck, she showed the moves to him and then asked him to mimic it as she put interlocked her fingers back around him.

OOC InfoWord Count = 534

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[Deltan Colari]

Deltan was relieved by Firenze's comment, glad she didn't plan on any actual fighting while they were grappling. He felt he had a distinct disadvantage, anatomically speaking. Firenze's further instructions were met with a nod of assent and a smile, and he allowed her to position him as she needed. After a few moments, his hands were behind her neck and hers behind his. Deltan winced the first couple times that Firenze practiced bringing her knee up between his legs, once nearly stumbling when she knocked his foot aside harder than he'd anticipated. Once it was clear she had no intention of actually hurting him, he relaxed just a bit. He held firm, though, grinning at her in relief when she was through. He rather disliked having a woman's knee quite that close to certain important, vulnerable places. When it was his turn, Deltan returned the favor, bringing his knee up between her smaller legs, slowly at first though with increasing speed and accuracy. He was careful to stop before hitting her, though; he suspected she'd dislike being kneed in the groin, too. Deltan didn't miss often, though his trouble was that when he did miss, he ended up knocking his knee against hers quite hard. Whenever he did it, he just gave an apologetic smile and a murmured apology. Deltan seemed surprised as Firenze demonstrated how to quickly and easily break the hold he had on her. Blue eyes widened as he regarded her, startled. That was very impressive, and he said as much. "Where did you learn to do that, Firenze?" he asked, once more realizing that this light woman could very likely have him on the ground. Deltan supposed it had much to do with body dynamics, like the Flux. If he could learn to be as fluid as Firenze--minus missing her punches!--then he'd be a formidable opponent indeed. As instructed, Deltan tried to break her hold on him. It took a few tries and some assistance getting the positioning right, but once he did it correctly the first time, the next two or three were easy enough. By the end of it, the young man was grinning and obviously pleased with himself. He thought it was rather interesting, how she used little tricks like that instead of brute strength. Considering Deltan wasn't always (or even usually) the strongest man in the room, he supposed that would come in handy. "What next?" Deltan asked once he felt he'd mastered the trick, his hands still clasped together and keeping hers off of his neck. Then, somewhat sheepishly, he added "Thank you for doing this, Firenze. You're teaching me a lot." It felt odd admitting that to someone his own age, but he supposed everyone had different upbringings and talents. His own just involved more sharp metal, it seemed.

[Firenze]

71 Fall 514 AV

Although Deltan had knocked into her a few times while he was practicing, and it did sting a little, they seemed to finally be getting the hang of working together on the training. She stepped back after they worked on trying to break their hold on each other. He appeared to be in a fascinated state when she had shown him how to break the hold he had around her neck, asking how she'd learned how to do that move. As his eyes widened, she noticed how blue they truly were, it reminded her of the sky when there were no clouds. She cocked her head slightly and a smile crept across her face as she recalled the reason why she'd needed to practice the move, "There were some boys in the orphanage that liked to be particularly rough, I kind of had to learn how to keep them away from me."

Her hand resting on her hip as she swayed slightly, the energy from working out pulsing under her skin unknowingly making her move, trying to release itself. He inquired as to what their next activity would be and she thought for a moment. Glancing up at the sky she realized that they had been going at their practice a lot longer than she'd thought. Syna's light floated down onto their skin warming it from the 4 o'clock position in the sky.

Sweat trickled slowly from her temple as she reached up and swept a piece of damp hair that was floating in front of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Fire tried to think about any other moves that they could practice, unsure of what to do next, her skills limited as they were. She didn't want to let him know that, feeling the pride swell in her chest at being able to be teacher instead of pupil for once. Embarrassment followed the pride, stifling it for a moment at not being able to think of any other techniques that they could work on, until he spoke again, distracting her.

He was thanking her? She didn't really feel like she'd taught him that much, although what she did know had helped in the past to get her out of some rather sticky situations. A blush swept across her cheeks adding to the already pink tinge from the exertion of the exercises. She averted her gaze from his, not used to someone actually thanking her, when she was the one usually doing the thanking.

"Well, we could call it an evening for today, the sun is already becoming low in the sky. Maybe we can practice some more another day. If you ever want, I'm over in the cheap side, you can come find me and we can work some more," she leaned over and grabbed her dagger off the ground. While she secured the scabbard she continued with her line of thought, "I really enjoyed today."

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

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[Alea Davenport]

Thread Award! Firenze: Skills: Planning +1 Unarmed Combat +4 Teaching +4 Subterfuge +1 Lores: Proper Form for a Kick Notes: Please remember to edit your request to show that it was graded. Deltan Colari: Please PM me after you update your ledger to reflect living expenses, and I will post your grade If you have any questions about the grade, please feel free to PM me and we can discuss it.