Closed A Meal to Meddle: pt 2 [Moritz]

[Lance Windhelm]

15 Fall, 523

Lance went up to his room in The Drunken Fish and changed into his leather armor, put his sword and dagger on his belt, and made sure his other belongings were secured in his chest behind a lock. He kept the key on a long leather cord around his neck. If he took his shirt off the key would sit against his skin just below his chest line. Long enough that it wouldn't arbitrarily fall off and that added some stealth to its presence.

When he was finished changing he met Moritz out at the front of the Drunken Fish and they headed off to his place. The house was built on the outskirts of the city. It surprised Lance how fast they got there but he attributed it to the fact that Moritz knew where he was going and the fastest route to get there.

Lance wasn't wearing his backpack. He figured he would spend a few bells at his place training and they would part ways. Depending on how the session went would determine if he was going to come back. Lance was sure it wasn't going to be a cake walk, learning combat and getting his body in shape enough to actually be effecting in a fight. His mind was ready for a little bit of pain and discomfort, he tried to prepare himself for what was ahead.

To Lance's surprise they didn't run into any trouble on the way. Whether that was due to them looking like two men ready to do business or just because of Moritz. Lance was complaining and was actually happy about it. Too often does he run into trouble on the streets. It made him want to spend a lot more time with the man, he felt a sense of safety when he was about.

When they arrived they walked past a wooden fence that he assumed markes off the land the man owned. Moritz showed him around the building. Through the main doors was a small common space lined with benches for sitting and odd paintings hung on the walls. He wasn't sure if they were of Sunberth or somewhere else and he wondered how much he had spent on the things. There where also doors that he assumed led to bedrooms and living quarters. He followed the man through to the back door where a training areas was.

The training area was a room that had a few different kinds of dummies and other supplies lined the walls. The area led out onto a patio area. The ocean could be seen in the distance over the half walls. Birds chirped and Lance could swear he could hear the ocean and feel the salted breeze. Small benches lined the walls and simple chairs and tables sat around the space. It wasn't a bad spot at all, Lance felt a tinge of jealousy at the house. If he wasn't a wanderer, Lance could see himself owning something similar.

"This is it huh? It's not bad Moritz. Not bad at all." He smiled and looked around. "Are those paintings back there originals?" He asked, pointing back through the doors.

Lance would go to the center of the training room and clap his hands together lightly. "So, where do you want to begin?" He asked.

He hoped whatever it was, that it wasn't too painful. Praying that they would start off slow, maybe a warm up, or something similar. But he didn't know much about the combat arts, he was at the man's disposal.

WC: 591

[Moritz Craven]

15 Fall 523

Once their earlier discussion with done Lance headed up to his room to change and to prepare to leave the Drunken FIsh. Moritz meanwhile finished eating his food, and headed out front to wait for the man. Unlike the human the Kelvic did not really have much anything to do to get ready. He was already dressed, and was leaving work to head home, unlike Lance who was leaving home of sorts to go with Moritz to train.

While he waited he tried to clear his mind of unneeded things, focusing instead on what he would need to do to begin another new trainee. Thinking it over, he felt the most reasonable starting place was as always at the beginning. That meant how to properly throw a punch, and how to take a hit properly. If he had time he could show him some other things, but really that would be his main focus for a first lesson as he did not want to overburden the man right away. Too much and he would not retain it all, and the important things would be lost among the mass of topics. Focusing instead on just a few things, that seemed a much better idea.

Once Lance was ready they headed to Moritz home in short order, a trip which was oddly enough a quiet one to his home without any particular incident. The route was admittedly was a bit of a walk seeing as his home was barely within what would count as being in Sunberth. The outskirts or periphery of the city was putting it mildly. It did however mean plenty of space, not a lot of competition for said space, a good view down the cliffs to the ocean, and away from the worst of the sounds and smells of Sunberth. It also meant no particular group running the place, besides the nearby area which had a cemetery. Of course being raised by a Spiritist Moritz had no qualms with ghosts or the dead, and so being near that did not really count as a negative for the Kelvic.

Finally on his property, the pair passed the wooden fencing that did not deter anyone from entering who was persistent but did clearly mark the parcel of land that was Moritz. Sitting on such a large lot the house seemed almost small, at least until you drew close to it. Still most of the land was unused, and the current buildings took up a rather small area of its available space. Moritz did not mind this, as it gave him room to grow his home in the future, and meant he did not need to worry about neighbors getting close or other such problems. It also meant any trouble could likely be seen well before it arrived at his house, which was close to the back of the lot near the cliffs view.

In short order they passed across the land to enter his home, as usual entering through the front common area. He had not changed the room at all since purchasing it, and still was not sure who made those paintings or where they came from. On either side of the room was the door leading into a hallway which each led to a pair of bedrooms, amounting to four sleeping quarters total. Currently they sat unused, having only been used a few times by random guests such as when Caspian had taken a nap in one before.

Rather than taking either of those doors they headed into the door at the back of the common area which led into the training room. That room had further doors as well, but since one led outside, one led to the kitchen, and one led to his own cottage, he did not see much need to show the man further other than just a quick peek outside and such so he knew the other exit besides the front one they had come in. Not when their reason for coming was right there in the training room.

At his odd sudden question Moritz frowned, trying to think on what he meant, before recalling the common area they had just come from.

"Particularly for Sunberth. Honestly I feel like most people here consider a roof and four walls a luxury. Seeing as neither of us is from here, this place would probably seem decent but not amazing. To a Sunberther though, this is probably one of the nicer homes near the city. Though, its kind of a ways away, as you probably noticed. As for the paintings... I have no clue. They were already their when I took up residence just after they finished building it. I assume whoever built and furnished the place put them in. Maybe they would know. But I have no idea."

Once their chattering was over it seemed Lance was ready to begin, and so Moritz nodded and began motioning off to the side of the room where he began taking things off. His weapons, weapon harness, and boots. He still had on his one piece suit which showed his name, but other than that and other items he could not remove he was bare of possessions.

"First things first, lose the weapons and stuff. They will only get in the way. Besides, I have plenty of training weapons made of wood and other supplies over there. If you want you can also put on some of that padded armor of sorts, which will help soften hits a bit. Once you are ready, we can begin."

Looking over the man as he moved, he decided the first thing to do was some stretches.

"Alright first of all, let us begin with some stretches. Just follow my lead, and limber up."

Having said that, Moritz began with some simple stretching. First he did some toe touches, bending at the waist without bending his knees. Then he did some arm stretches, extending one while bending the other to grab and hold it in place, before reversing and doing the same with the other arm. Once it seemed Lance was limbered a bit Moritz would give his first command.

"Now, once you are ready, I need to see what you can do. So come at me, and try to hit me. Kick, punch, whatever. Just try to strike me. Once I know where you are starting, we can progress from there."

Moritz for his part would just stand there, not taking any kind of stance or ready posture, just eying the man and waiting to see what he would do.

WC: 1,100

[Lance Windhelm]

"Ah, you haven't had time to redecorate, huh?" Lance said. "When did you move in?" He was wondering why he'd keep up art that he knew nothing about, but Lance reasoned it out. It would be better to have something than nothing on the walls. Not to mention what it did for conversation. Looking at them he wondered if he could do better. He couldn't. Though some of it looked thrown on the canvas, Lance could almost sense the feelings behind each stroke.

The man was right, compared to houses from home, this was pretty basic. He's been in Sunberth too long. All of the buildings there were patchwork on patchwork. Supporting ruins with scrap peaces of woods and mending holes with mud or other scraps they could find laying around. Building built up from other buildings that had fallen down, and, because of the way they were "fixed up", they themselves started to fall down as well.

Lance took his weapons off and placed them by the wall. Then he worked on his leather armor, pulling at the cords and pulling it off his body peace by peace. He didn't need the type of protection it provided and thought it might start getting too hot while wearing it. He put it right next to his swords. When he was done he stepped towards the center of the training area followed Moritz instructions.

He bent down to touch his toes. The stretch was difficult, he wasn't able to get all the way down, not with his knees straight anyway. He bent them just a hair and was able to touch them no problem. Then he stretched his arms, bending them how Moritz did.

Lance decided against wearing the padded armor. He wasn't going to hurt him, right? He wrestled around in the dirt before, it couldn't be any worse than that, right?

"Now... don't go easy on me, yeah?" Lance said with a smile.

He readied himself for the fight. He put his feat at shoulder width apart and raised his arms. His fists were lose, his heart pumping, and his stomach twisted with nerves. He'd felt like this before, before his first sparring match with a knife. His stance was similar to then as well, though without any weapons in his hand. He tried to take deep breaths, but not deep enough to be obvious.

"Ready?" If so Lance swung his arms at the man haphazardly, like a mad man he swung them. He let out a low growl towards him. His attack was a large arc from the right with the right hand. If it was blocked Lance would throw a left haymaker, each towards Moritz face. His feet where keeping up, but his stance was wide and off balance. He threw them half force, but with little experience and control, he would probably hit the man hard if it did land, and it would probably hurt Lance more than it would hurt his opponent. Due to his fists not being properly made.

WC: 505

[Moritz Craven]

Shrugging Moritz looked around, not overly interested in what was on the walls.

"I mean, I do not really care that much about wall decorations. I did not have a reason to replace them, and they seemed fine as they were so... They were left. That is pretty much it. As for when we moved in, pretty recently. They just finished building and I moved in at the start of summer just past. So barely more than a season ago from today."

Once talk of decorations, which did not really interest Moritz, passed they moved on to more important things. Lance was quick to doff his gear that he would not need, and prepared for the training. He seemed eager if nothing else to get into things and to learn. This, Moritz felt, was a positive thing for a student to be.

Not quite getting the stretches right, it seemed close enough. And since the main point was to limber him up a bit before they began he was not overly worried about him doing things just perfectly right. Close enough was just that, close enough, and not a cause for concern overly if not done just right. When the man asked Moritz to not go easy on him Moritz simply smiled and looked back at him, not saying a word. After all, what good would going easy on him do? It would not make him learn any better, and if anything might make him learn worse, and so the Kelvic planned to go just as hard as was needed today. A few bruises after all was not the end of the world, and so long as he did not get seriously hurt and learned something he would consider it a good lesson.

Not wanting to poison the well so to speak Moritz himself kept a neutral position, wanting to see what Lance would do and where his understanding was starting at. This would give him a better idea on how to proceed with the lesson, and how many bad habits or lack of habits would need to be addressed. No habits in this case would be easier than bad ones, but if the man was truly new to fighting having no idea and just vaguely copying what he had seen seemed the most likely outcome.

If nothing else he seemed to space his legs decently, but almost everything else he did was wrong. His body tensing, his positioning, how he held his fist, how he moved his arm, how he breathed, how he moved to punch with said fist, how he faced towards Moritz.. In fact most anything he did was in some way wrong from Moritz perspective. With a mental sigh Moritz realized he really would be starting at step one, when the man launched himself at him and began wildly punching. Or at least, doing what he thought was a punch.

Rather than blocking or doing anything else, Moritz simply evaded, moving back out of range and keeping clear of any blows whizzing by. None came close, though he was fairly certain that if any had they would have hurt the man more than the Kelvic.

While the man moved from one punch to another, one arm to another, charging at Moritz, the Kelvic kept at out range until he sensed a lull in the motions of the man. Then once he did he would counter, suddenly moving towards the man and rather than punching he aimed a kick at the mans feet. If it hit and his footing was as off as he thought this would likely send Lance falling to the ground in a heap. If it did not it would still interrupt his actions and force him to stop.

Either way, once he regained his balance and stopped or when he picked himself up off the ground if he fell Moritz would begin speaking.

"Alright. So then we start at step one, because you are at zero. Everything you just did... Never do it again. We will start off simple. A simple starting stance, and how to make a proper punch. First things first, balance is key. If you are not balanced, you will not keep your footing. If you do not keep your footing, you will fall and be an easy target. Like if some random person walks up and kicks you in the middle of a bunch of arm moves. Do not forget, your legs are also to be used. But not just yet in your training, because the simplest place to start is with punching. So to begin with, follow after me, and mirror my actions."

Taking on a ready stance, Moritz faced off against Lance from a short distance away, and waited for him to copy his movements. His body was turned, with his left side pointing towards Lance. He had his legs spaced apart, about shoulder length. His knees were a bit bent, not locked in place but not too loose or crouched. One arm was tucked up at his side, elbow bent, fist just in front of his chest. His other arm was up in front of him, next to his head, with his arm and fist blocking any blows thrown at his head and neck and torso to a degree. His head was at an angle, facing over his should to look directly at Lance. His front leg, the one nearer to Lance, was out in front and pointed towards him, while his back leg was behind and pointed out.

With that Moritz paused, waiting for Lance to get into position. Once he did, Moritz would move over and try to physically adjust Lance's body to correct any issues with his stance. Once he had done this he would take on the stance again, give Lance another chance to see it, and then move back again to correct him.

"Balance is key. You want to be flexible, and ready to move, but not too much. Being too rigid, or locked into place, is also a problem. You should be ready to react to an attack, and now how to hop into this stance at will. It is not the only stance, but it is a good multi purpose stance that will fit many situations, and is a good simple starting one to use. So learn this, and you will be that much better off. If you know how to hold yourself, and know how to throw a proper punch, you will be better than any single ruffian foe who is just making it up as he goes along."

Pausing again, Moritz met Lance's eyes as he spoke, and slowly began to circle around him while keeping the shown stance, indicating for Lance to mirror him and to slowly rotate while keeping the stance to keep facing Moritz.

"Question. What all of your body specifically is used when you throw a punch."

WC: 1,154

[Lance Windhelm]

Lance’s gaze met the Moritz’. He was serious, or at least it looked like he was. Lance just hoped he wouldn’t get hurt too bad. After all, he needed his hands for work. If he broke anything he hoped it wouldn’t be them.

His swinges went wild. Aiming at the man’s head, but as he leaped forward Moritz moved out of the way with ease. Like a snake in the woods, Lance’s fists lumbered through the air as Moritz slithered past like he was born to it. A wild animal verses a tame human, who knew nothing of the wilderness, or a child running through a busy road compared to an adult, a master verse a student.

Lance’s fists went through the air one by one, and in a quick motion of Moritz’ leg, hitting Lance, he dropped to the ground in a heap. Lance didn’t even know what had happened. If he had asked him, he would have to ask Moritz to show him again. His ankle ached though. All Lance could do was wince and brush himself off. His arms where heavy when he stood back up, and his ego a bit bruised.

He was glad he didn’t want to fight again straight away. Lance wasn’t sure if he had another hit in him right then. But he did what the man asked. He stood a distance away and mirrored his actions. First his footing was shoulder width apart, like Moritz had said, the feet and body have to work together. He would try and keep his feet this length the whole next time they sparred. His knees bent slightly. Lance raised his arms to match, and his feet pointed in the same directions. Or at least he thought they were. He wouldn’t be surprised if a foot was off on an angel or if his arms weren’t up high enough.
Lance watched as the man came over and physically moved his body to match. He tried to memorize the position. Relaxed his body and tried again. Moving his foot back just a hairs with, his hand further up. His feet where off on the angles, before and he tired to place them where Moritz had before.

Again Moritz would come over and physically move his body back into the right position. Each time they did this Lance would try and sear it into his memory. “This is the right position.” He’d tell himself. Going in and out of it. Relaxing and throwing himself back into the position again. Just to have Moritz fix it again.

As the man came over and started to circle him, Lance tried to embody, “balance”. Keeping his form tight, but not too tight, staying lose enough to move, but still able to react and flex at a moments notice. He wasn’t sure if the man was going to attack him when he was walking around, but he wanted to be ready for anything. His front arm was tight, but lose enough to swiftly swat at an attack that came his way, if need be. But nothing happened.

The questions seemed like a stupid one.

“You use your arm…” He said in a mater of fact way. Apart of him had a feeling that it was wrong. When he really started to think about it, it was his whole body that laid behind a punch. Though how to combined them evaded his thoughts. Body mechanics were not his forte, he couldn’t even dance, let along put all of these things together again.

“That’s wrong isn’t it?” He said, his face turning a shade of red from embarrassment.
“The only stuff I know from fighting is from a quick class I took a couple weeks ago and maybe scruff or two when I was kid.” He smiled, trying to reason it way. But his ignorance was obvious. It would be nothing compared to what a grown man could accomplish, especially one that was trained.

Lance tried to humble himself. He knew he didn’t know everything about this, tried to keep an open mind and let the man work his magic at teaching him. If Lance could learn this stuff he would be a lot more happy, and a bit more safe when walking the streets of Sunberth.

“Sorry. I am at your mercy… teacher.” He said with a polite bow of his head. He emphasized teacher. He did it more for himself than he did Moritz, away to show the man a bit of respect, and to bring out words that would normally embarrass him, his face turned another shade of red as the words left his mouth.

WC: 774

[Moritz Craven]

As expected Moritz was able to dodge Lance's attacks relatively easily, his skills in being evasive along with his combat skills in unarmed fighting paired well and enhanced each other. For now he was just focusing on teaching Lance basic unarmed combat techniques, but if their lessons kept on the Kelvic considered adding in other things. Running. Acrobatics. Other weapons. A good mix of things was how Moritz had been taught and how he tended to teach others.

Along with that the Kelvic was a strong believer in synergies, and things working together to make one greater whole than someone just learning one or the other. Moritz for his part would perhaps be better served by focusing on one or two till he reached a greater level of mastery and then adding in new things, but as ever the Kelvic was impatient and not one to wait to try his hand at something new regarding combat.

In the end Moritz was never hit, and his counter attack of a kick against Lance's leg succeeded in destroying his footing and sending him falling. Luckily for him the ground in the training area was not too unforgiving, unlike stone or the streets where you had to worry about landing on your hands and cutting them on stones or broken glass or other detritus.

"Hmm... We may also want to teach you how to fall properly. But later for that. Just remind me on the next lesson if we do not get to it today. It is not quite as important as the other things, how to stand and how to punch, but I would say the next most important thing after that would be how to take a hit and how to fall. Even if it is just a simple combat roll, it can help a lot to practice it in advance."

Moritz explained this while waiting for Lance to regain his footing, not doing anything else until he got back up. As usual Moritz kept his neutral expression for the most part, not judging or eyeing the human overly much and just assessing him calmly as ever. He saw no shame in the man falling after all, no judgement, as he was here to learn and new to it and so not expected to be good just yet. Moritz had spent years, most of his life in truth, learning to fight. Lance on the other hand had no combat presence at all, and did not so much as know the right way to make a fist let alone anything else more complex.

While Lance was not a overly quick study on the topics he was putting in the effort, and making a true attempt to understand and learn what Moritz was teaching him. He kept at it, repeating the motions over and over and trying to get closer to what Moritz was trying to show him.

"Not quite like that... Move your hand more like this... Your one foot should be more... Over this way... And try to bend this elbow a bit more... Right. Not right. Okay. Almost. Try it again. Again. Over this way..."

Once he felt the man had it decently down Moritz moved on to his question. In the end he expected him to have the wrong answer, as he had not given it to him yet. Also the Kelvic knew from experience anyone without proper training would just do things at random, like the rough thugs on the street, and end up with half effective outcomes. Not punching right. Kicking when they should punch. Punching when they should kick. Attacking when they should retreat or even run. Even a small bit of basic instruction would bring Lance above these men who had no idea what they were doing. Of course that would not be enough, as others did have proper training, but it was still a start.

In the end he was not surprised, as the man had given a wrong answer which he had been expecting almost by rote. But then part of what he was doing here was trying to break down those simple thoughts, to make the main really think and consider things.

"No, you do not punch with just your arm. Try this. No stance. Just take a single step forward. Now, what all parts of your body just moved? Was it just your leg? Or did your other leg move. And your torso. Your arms may have swung. Many parts are involved in something as simple as a single step. Why then would it be any less true for a punch?"

Taking a stance in front of Lance just like the one he had shown him, Moritz paused for a moment, and then punched. However unlike Lance's idea of a punch, this punch used almost his entire body. His legs twisted. His torso rotated, with his arm extended out from this rotating torso. At the end of that arm was his fist, punching at an empty spot of air.

"Now you see. That is a proper, decent, basic, punch. What you described, using your arm, is no more than slinging your limb across its target with no more force than that arm holds. Imagine a loose rope, swatted across something. It would do little more than that. No more weight than that one limb. However the punch I just showed you used most of my body. The legs provide power. The torso provided rotation. The arm extends along with the motion and rotation. And the fist stands solid at the end. With that, the punch holds the force and weight of most of your body, not just that one little limb."

Pausing in his explanation Moritz took on the ready stance once more, before displaying another punch. Twisting his entire body into a rotation maneuver that used his legs and torso and arm to punch a empty spot of air.

"There is no shame in not knowing something. The shame is in thinking you do not need to know. Those thugs on the street with no idea how to wield their bodies, throwing them about with no finesse or know how. Expecting to be scary, to cow others who know even less than them. What about that is scary? When I see them I pity them. Not fear. You however, unlike them, accept you do not know something and are trying to remedy it. What is to feel shameful about that? I asked because I wanted you to think about it. Knowing the answer or not does not matter. Trying and learning, that is what matters."

Pausing for a moment, Moritz considered before moving on.

"And of course, it never hurts to training your stamina and running technique, to be able to make a run for it if you need to. Nothing wrong with that either. I have spent a good time on training my running technique as well, not as much as my fighting but a good bit all the same. All so that if I get into a fight I cannot win, I can run if I must. I see no shame in that. Dying because you are a fool seems much more shameful than running away from a fight you have no chance at winning."

With yet another pause for emphasis, a technique Moritz perhaps used a bit too much, he motioned at Lance again.

"Alright, so back into the ready stance. And I want you to punch just like you saw me. I want ten proper punches. And any improper ones do not count, got it? So keep it up till you have made ten proper ones."

Once more as Lance worked Moritz would slowly circle around him, inspecting him from each side. As he did he would call out comments, and at times come up beside or behind him and poke at the spots Lance was not moving correctly. He clearly took a very hands on method to teaching, and was not afraid to get up close and personal with his students.

WC: 1,346

[Lance Windhelm]

Lance stood there. Took a step and listened. Moritz was right, it wasn’t just his leg, his hips, his other foot flexed and bent. His arms sung forwards naturally. They were all connected. He instinctively went to a fighting stance and throw a punch at the air. His arm moved, his hips, and even his back foot would move or could move depending on the power he pushed through to his hand. Before he knew it his instructor was demonstrating, Lance dropped his form and watched his instructor.

He listened to his instructor talk about how his limb, or his arm in this case, wasn’t the only thing. If it was it wouldn’t do much damage at all. But once you added the whole body into the attack, it became something to be reckoned with.

Running technique. Lance hadn’t thought of that. If he got into a fight, he would do what he could, run or fight, but technique was something that hasn’t crossed his mind. He would have to have Moritz show him the proper way. A part of him knew that the man would show him if their classes continued. He looked like the kind of guy that would make sure he had the toughest of student.

Lance just worried too much about his hands. Not wanting to scratch them, or hurt them. Almost treating them like they were glass, afraid to curt or bruise them, and if he did that they would spontaneously shatter. But seeing this he would try his best to put the thoughts out of his mind. He just wouldn’t try to punch anything too hard is all.

Lance took up a position relative to his instructor and got into his fighting stance. He felt like his body was starting to memorize the position well, falling into place like a puzzle peace that fits just right. Then he would start to punch and count.

The first punch was not great at all. He quickly reset and threw another one. Then called out, “One!” Pulling it back to his ready position and threw another one. “Two!” Lance could feel how his body was moving. His fist fight like Moritz showed him. “Three.” He pulled back. His fist was off. Threw another one, “Three.” He reset. Each punch would go, and then he would reset.

Sometimes his instructor circled him and had to raise his hand here or there, or fix the rotation of his body. Then Lance would reset and call out the same number till he got it right. He had to of thrown five extra punches, bad ones, but still energy exerting. When they were done he could feel sweat on his brow.

He would switch sides and do the same thing for the other hand. Each time his instructor would give a command or fix something in his position he would start over. Throwing his punches into the air and waiting for the next thing.

“Maybe you can show me your running technique tomorrow morning.” He said in-between punches. “That seems like something useful to know.”

He was glad they weren’t sparing. His foot didn’t hurt anymore but he still didn’t want to get punched or kicked again for a while. Though a part of him said that was also going to be apart of his training. Taking a punch and knowing how not to break after a hit was an important thing to learn.

“Have you fallen a lot?” Thinking about how there was a specific technique behind it. “There are probably whole arts about falling and getting up and wrestling huh?” He thought out loud. By this time the throwing of punches was completed and he was waiting for the next subject.

WC: 622

[Moritz Craven]

Once more Moritz saw that Lance was nothing if not studious. He was no keen combatant, quick eyed and taking in every nuance the first time he saw it. But, to be fair Moritz thought, neither was he. But even if this was not true, Lance still was working hard and trying to learn while actively paying attention. That was all Moritz expected.

It also seemed Lance was getting a general grasp of the concept he was explaining to him, quickly having moved beyond his initial response of a punch only involving that one arm.

"Now, there are going to be weaker or stronger punches and the like. Though mainly that will only be an issue if you take on other more focused fighting styles like boxing which is all about punching. For you, to start with, this one sort of punch is probably enough. But this, basic unarmed fighting, is about everything. Moving. Kicking. Punching. Striking with and using your own body to fight or to defend. Once you learn the basics you can move on to other things, refine it, or find your own special focus or techniques. But for now you need to get these down before hoping to move on to other stuff."

Lance also seemed to have trouble with copying the punch he had seen Moritz make, but slowly over time he seemed to be grasping it better. Getting a bit closer to copying it correctly. Even after all ten counted out as right enough he was not quite there, but had gotten close enough with each that had been counted to count them. He was certainly doing much better than his earlier blows, which had been little more than wildly flailing around his limbs.

When the topic of running came back Moritz frowned and thought on how he would respond for a bit, before finally explaining as best he could.

"I can show you how I run, but like I said I have only practiced it so much. So while I am better than someone who has never tried refining their running, I am not much better than that. So bear that in mind. We can both run together though and work on improving things. Maybe on another day, once you have rested from your first lesson. If nothing else it will help you build up your stamina, so you can endure longer sessions if you go running. Its kind of a dual usage training, running. If nothing else just doing it will help you improve, as long as you focus on getting better and improving. And better to do it now, in training, rather than in a real fight, or in a live or die situation."

When the topic was shifted once more to other things, namely falling, Moritz grinned. This was something after all he had a good understanding on, much more than running or other weapons he had barely used. Falling, flipping, and the like, were things he knew as good as or better than he knew unarmed fighting.

"I have fallen tons. But I have also practiced the right way to fall. How to tumble. How to roll. How to flip. How to redirect force. Some of that is easier than others, but some can be quite hard. I still need to get a good moving start before I do a standing flip. Other ones are a bit easier to do from nothing, like rolls and dives."

Pausing again, Moritz stood before Lance, holding up a fist.

"For instance, someone is coming at you, and going to hit you. What are your options? In truth, there are many things you can do. The safest is to just not get hit. Like earlier, when I moved out of the way and dodged or got out of range of your blows. Another is to block. Using the strong parts of your arms or other parts of your body, and choosing to be hit there where you pick other than the place your opponent chooses. This is not as good as dodging, but if you have the option to choose where you are hit or to let your foe choose, you should always choose getting hit where you choose."

Pausing again, Moritz motioned making a few quick punches, before returning to a resting state with his body.

"Another question. What is the best thing to do if you get hit? To just stand there, and let yourself be hit? Or to say... Move with the punch. Both will hurt, and both are hits, but one minimizes the force as much as possible, and turns some of that impact into motion to move you. So two punches. One, you stand there and take it. The other, as you are hit or just before, you leap back and let the blow punch you away from your foe. Which is going to hurt worse? I do not expect you to become an acrobat, but learning some basics of acrobatics is a must for a proper combatant if you do not want to be hurt as much. Those are two simple scenarios and methods, but there are many other ways to react."

Pausing as he had done many other times Moritz met Lance's eyes, before grinning, and pointing at a spot just in front of him.

"So now, is the next step. I want you to make a real punch. Come at me, full force. Punching not against air, but something with some substance. Punching me. Give me a good punch, right at my torso. That way you can get a good feel for punching, how it feels to make one and actually hit something... And I can show you at the same time what to do if you do get punched. You do not want your first time to punch someone to be in a real fight. So just come on over, and give me one good punch to the chest or torso. And once you do, watch to see how I react."

Moritz for his part would stand there, waiting for Lance to approach. Once he did Moritz would wait, standing straight, not in a defensive stance. The intent was to show him someone being punched by surprise.

However once he was punched, Moritz would not just stand there. In truth he would be preparing, and readying himself to move. Just before the punch landed Moritz would begin to move backward and away from Lance. Then as the punch hit him he would push away and launch himself away from the man. There would still be some contact, some purchase with the blow, but Moritz motions would mean it would only be a minimal punch turned into a shove even if Lance managed to make a proper punch.

Once he was launched away by his own motions and Lance's blow Moritz would lean and tuck backward, pulling in his body and turning into a dive of sorts albeit a backward one. Once he was turned over his hands would hit the ground and he would bound over further, coming to a landing a good space away from Lance in a crouched position. Then with a pop Moritz would be standing, and at the ready again.

If the first punch was not a good one Moritz would make Lance go again, once more launching himself into a backward dive and roll to react to the blow, doing the same thing each time Lance tried to punch him until he got it right... At least unless he did it multiple times and still was not doing it right, as eventually Moritz would stop him. But several tries would be few enough he would not comment and just go through the motions and actions again and again over.

WC: 1,300