The start of a tale (Kaja)

[Lariat]

Revin worked smoothly through a routine before her as if it came naturally to him, his fists pumping the air and making jabs at some unseen opponent, but through it all he kept it slow for Kaja to see, and whenever he could he used his sharp points like his elbows and knees. The moves where basic training in a bit of combat, since she would need to know how to retaliate after her defense, and he always found attacking much easier to teach then defense as it was the more objective of disciplines especially since she would have no weapon to speak of. The simple routine wouldn't take that long, and after he had done it enough he decided to more elaborate on the defensive moves he was showing before, and he could sense that she was getting frustrated with the whole thing. He supposed he would be too if he was unused to being in his own body, but he couldn't really sympathize with her as that was a bit unimaginable for him. " I know it will be hard at first but trust me it will get easier with time, but as for your request of how to adapt a fighting style to your animal form as well, that ability escapes me. You have your own defenses with that form anyways " he said answering her question before going in deep to the defensive forms with her. He had never been a animal, so he spoke truly when he said he didn't know a style that would go well with both, and that he figured she would have to go elsewhere to use.

Seeing how she wasn't completely off with her movements he decided to divulge more into the basic strategy and holding his arms before him with only a brief window between them, he squared himself up with her and offered her a nod. " This is the pose is best to assume if someone comes at you with knife " he said holding the still posture and then clasping his arms together, and dragging them to the sides to demonstrate. " It's not the best pose but it's easy to manage and you protect yourself more " he said and he repeated the gesture a few times to more reinforce his point with her. The arms where not the preferred shield against a blade, but it was better than catching the blade with your chest or face, and would keep you alive longer during the fight than it would without such knowledge. " Holding your arms before you could have a possible chance of safely catching the opponents wrist, but more often than not it'll probably just shield you from getting stabbed in more vital areas while you prepare for a counter strike " he said as he would pull is arms together to mimic a grab, or brace them in a diagonal pose as if using his arms as a shield.

Of course all this demonstration would be moot point if they didn't practice it a little bit, and slowly putting his arms down, he unsheathed a dagger strapped at his hip, and tossed it from hand to hand as he stood straight before her. " Now, to really see if the lesson has sunk in let’s see what you learned " he said holding the dagger as if he might a sword, and then walking up to her made a slow, deliberate lunge for her. Depending on how she dodged, and or countered, he would react appropriately. If she moved to the left or right he would simply twist the blade toward the side following her, and prompting her to execute the blocking technique he showed her, and with any luck she would catch his wrist, if not he would stop the blade short of her and then tell her what she did wrong. If she did not move to the left or right and instead stood still or even moved up, he would jab the blade a bit faster at her midsection, and testing out how well she could block such a forward move, and if she by happened to step backwards he would simply continue the lunge after her, his blade darting after her in her wake, and he would spur her on to respond, to react, and show him that she could survive. If she failed to block properly to any of these slow movements, he would simply stop midstrike, and tap her with the flat of the blade before giving her a lecture on what she should have done.

[Kaja]

While Revin did some moves for Kaja slowly at first she watched and listened to his explanations of the entire moves offensive and defensive he was showing her. He did a routine for her of jabs, punches, and kicks. As he did so he also explained where to place the blows to best immobilize whatever opponent she would possibly encounter. She tried to take in all the information he was feeding her, concentrating, because this was important. He spoke about the jugular notch pressure point and where it was, and to take her fingers and jab them into the notch in order to create intense pain that causes the opponent to withdraw involuntarily. He also mentioned the radial nerve motor point and did a closed fisted hammer down motion explaining where it was, and that striking the radial nerve can be especially useful when disarming an opponent armed with a knife or other weapon. She nodded her head, starting to do some of the things he did now trying to link the motion with where she should use them and why and for what thing.

Revin then went back into doing more defensive moves for a while, speaking of the basic principals for unarmed combat such as physical balance, mental balance, position, timing, distance, momentum and leverage. Kaja listened as she watched his body positions as he went on to explain in more detail the different topics so she could understand the importance of it. He also mentioned that she had to become better skilled in moving her human form, as she started to understand that too. Now that she was in a group, maybe even the group that she wanted to stay with which meant she would be more in her human form and only in her animal form to do what she needed to do in that form. Where as before, when she was always in her animalt form when she was alone. It made since what he said, she would just have to adapt his teaching best she could to whenever she might be in her animal form if she needed it. However, he was right in saying that in her animal form she had her own defenses. It was true it was when she was in her human form she was most vulnerable. Quit whining, Kaja, things are different now adjust, and move on, she berated herself.

Kaja realized she was thinking while he was talking and asked him to repeat what he had just said. She listened this time as he re-explained what he had just said about physical balance. Physical balance refers to the ability to maintain equilibrium and to remain in a stable, upright position. An unarmed fighter must maintain their balance both to defend themselves and to launch an effective attack. Without balance, the fighter has no stability with which to defend themself nor do they have a base of power for an attack. The fighter must understand two aspects of balance in a struggle: One is how to move their body to keep or regain their own balance. How they do this is keeping their feet about shoulder-width apart and their knees flexed in this way they lower their center of gravity to increase stability. And, two how to exploit weaknesses in your opponent's balance, however this comes with a lot of experience in a sense of how to move one’s body in a fight to maintain your balance while exposing the enemy's weak points. He then went on with the next principles while showing her what he was talking about too.

As Kaja kept doing over and over the moves he showed her, she started to get more fluid, and she felt like she was commanding her body better. Maybe this was a good thing. She had started to doubt herself in her decision to do such a thing for training. However, now that she was practicing, watching, listening, and understanding some of the moves as he kept drilling her, correcting her on her stances, and movements, she was starting to feel less clumsy with them. She was starting to smile now, until he started for his dagger. Her eyes got wide when he did that and he effortlessly moved the knife back and forth in his hands. She swallowed hard, licked her lips, and went down into her balance position that he had just taught her. When he came at her she moved her body out of the line of attack of the weapon. Stepping off the line of attack and redirecting her body to keep his attacking weapon away from her so that it cleared her body.

The next strike he made at her she then became a little more alive as the shock of him actually coming at her with a dagger in this training wore off. Kaja then met and checked the movement with her left forearm bone, striking the inside forearm of Revin. Kaja's right hand immediately followed behind the strike to lift, redirect, and take control of Revin's knife arm as he had shown her. However because she was still not as fluid as she would like her hand missed allowing him to evade her. Her eyes went wide, but then a determination to master both Revin, and her lack of body control at the moment came upon her.

[Lariat]

Locked in combat with Kaja, Revin's thoughts spiraled elsewhere. She picks up teaching well was a thought that echoed through his mind, and he was glad the little teaching he had already revealed to her was already sinking in, and his time would not go to waste. He thought about teaching her the cross down, a movie that could easily block any forward strikes, or more even complex moves that would put any inexperienced person flat on their backside, but he decided that they needed to take it a bit slower if she was going to remember everything, and besides he had Tosun waiting for him at the tent for drinks, and such complex moves surely would take all night to comprehend and learn. Still she was a fast learner, and he thought she would do well among the drykas as long as she kept her goals as honest and open as she was doing. The way she moved with inexperience told him to be careful with her, but he was not lax with her, neither his nor her personality would allow such a thing to occur, taking it as a form of weakness more often than not. No, she would do well for herself in the Endrykas, and after their training today he could rest easy in his bed knowing another person was a bit safer within the tents, and to know that a person of such a good heart would be residing in its walls.

In either scenario he played in his head hoped to score a minor victory, but if she did something he did not expect he would be caught totally off his guard and look very foolish indeed. His skill with his dagger was not as great as his hand to hand but it got the job done, and he felt he was more than competent with it, though her ease in evading his moves, while slow, forced his hand into working faster, to provide a challenge for this woman who had come to him seeking training. After all what benefit could she derive if he was always easy on her for the course of the spar, better to learn by injury in a spar, than learn by injury in a real battle. People out there wouldn't go easy on her, and he wouldn't either, and with that thought his mind focused back in on the battle before him.

He smiled as her forearm knocked against his and spun it to the side, and silently he applauded her but when she missed the grabbing his arm with her right he decided to teach her through doing how important it was not to miss. After all if this was a life or death situation, and he was moving at normal speed, she would've been dead already or close to it, and he needed to teach her how to prevent that. As his arm passed over to the side, he quickly pulled it in close to his chest, and side stepped to Kaja's left before shooting his left hand out to grab at her wrist, and then stepping in close, placing his foot behind hers in a hopes that he could effectively trip her backwards with a simple push of his arm, but even while he was doing that, the dagger resting in his right hand darted out from its protective place by his side, pointing at her vulnerable side, and if she did not block that in time he would stop it just before it even nicked her fair skin, and would call a point on the near blow, before backing away. If he did miss though he would keep fighting, and try to go forward with his plan to push her on her backside, using his leading foot as leverage, and then try and tap her on the side or face in a expression of winning another point before similarly backing off of her.

[Kaja]

They say that the brain is not always where all the memories are stored. Kaja was just about to realize that as even if her mind couldn’t remember things her muscles did, and sometimes in certain situations they acted where your mind couldn’t. In this case her mind couldn’t remember past the fact that she had nine brothers, but her body that had a memory of there own even if we choose not to think of it as having such remembered all the numerous times that she had play fought with one of her many male siblings. Being the only girl if she remembered correctly, and if she ever did hopefully she would, she would remember as good as training as any even if it wasn’t formal but only playing around was still some training. Her brothers had semi trained her in combat by teaching her a few things maybe not by the book stuff like what she would be learning now but none the less street knowledge at times was just as good as formal even though it was rough and crude.

Her body the minute he grabbed her wrist went into some type of automatic pilot as his foot went around to trip her from behind her eyes narrowed she knew she was going down and she was getting even madder at herself. However her muscles and body were going to start a chain of events that were even going to leave her speechless and at awe at herself. Instead of trying to steady herself, her muscles in her legs, neck, arms, and her body went into a bending knee action to stable her center of gravity, her head moved forward to protect it and with a hard tug action with the wrist that he had caught she started to do exactly what he had planed for her to do, fall backward. However, with the hard yank of her hand away from her started a momentum that would either have him let go of her to prevent him from falling over with her, or falling to the side of her with her. In the case that he choose to let go of her breaking his hold on her and she would finish her practiced fall and end if he was still standing with a kick upward to him if he were close enough for her to reach.

In the end whichever way it went on the other side she would roll backwards as her buttocks made contact with the ground to absorb some of the momentum of the fall, cup her hands as she were falling, and slap the ground on either side of her to absorb the shock of impact and to stabilize her body. She also kept her chin tucked to her chest automatically making sure that no more damage then had already been down so long ago to her head wouldn’t occur again. The very last would be her legs coming down bent, and her arms automatically coming up to protect her face from blows that her mind might know won’t come but her muscles do it automatically. If he is still standing she can then kick out with her bent legs to attack him if he is at the right distance to do so.

When she came back to her senses she looked up from the ground with an astonished look. She lay there after it all for a good few seconds blinking trying to wrap her head around what she had just done, and why she had done it. She racked her brain and then slowly in a fuzzy sort of haze a memory came back to her. One of her brothers had been play sparring with her telling her excitedly what he had learned that day in his combat training lesson while others of her siblings were watching. Who had it been? She tried to look at the face get a closer look but it was still so fuzzy he had shown them all this fall using her as the guinea pig. It was a wonder why even though she looked fragile, weak, even delicate to the eye that she really was pretty hardy, with nine brothers she really couldn’t be that delicate.

“I… I remember! I remembered something!!” She exclaimed in still an awed voice over what just occured. She then smiled up at her instructor her eyes bright. It always seemed to fill her day with brightness on the few times something triggered a memory within her. What her mind couldn’t remember at first her muscles had, and in doing so it finally triggered a little memory flash in her brain. She rushed to her feet, a smile on her face, and dropped down again into the fighter stance that Revin had just taught her a moment ago. “Again?” She asked.

[Lariat]

He moved fluidly with Kaja, but as she pulled back roughly he recognized the ploy for what it was and let go of her wrist sending her sprawling backwards. Her moved surprised him since he hadn't taught her that one, but he didn't let his surprise control his reactions, and in a deft move, back flipped in a perfect arc and landed easy on his feet and took a few strides backwards to add even more distance between them. With the distance now safely separating them he could let the surprise and shock fully show on his face, and he stared towards her in an appreciation of her appropriate move, but never let his hand's grip loosen on the hilt of the dagger as he stared forward at her. " Nice move, where did you learn that one? " he asked while he kept his eyes on her, his arm already tensing up to launch the next wave of attacks against her. She seemed to do alright up close up and with that in mind it affirmed his decision to take it to the next level, and he took a step forward, putting most of his weight on his back foot, as he flipped the dagger in his hand and held it by the tip of its blade, his eyes locking on to hers.

" So you can handle yourself close up, but let's see how you improvise he said, raising his left hand up in an arch to try and draw her eye but even if it didn't it wouldn't matter as he pumped his arm, sending the blade end over end towards her in a lightning quick motion. The blade easily cut through the air, and propelled itself forward with deadly accuracy but luckily for Kaja the target was not her, but a trailing piece of the simple sift that covered her form. A thud sounded as the sharp edge pierced the cloth, and sunk deeply into a wooden support that held the tent up, and penned her clothing to it, and Revin leapt forward into a roll determined to get close to her and steal the advantage once more. He came up almost as quickly as he went, and before she could even try to grab and pull the dagger away, or likewise tear herself from it, he launched a flurry of strikes at her, the heels of his palms rushing towards hitting her shoulders, and hands if they came up to try and block him, but he kept the majority of the weight from his blows determined to just try and grab a free limb or hand and teach her a thing about pressure points from there on. If his hand locked around a hand of hers, he would gently supply pressure between her thumb and forefinger, separating the bones apart their temporarily, and if when executed properly, it would cause a immense amount of pain to radiate up her arm, but he would keep it in check to not cause her too much pain. If his hand wrapped around an arm, he would slightly twist it to the side and out while ducking under her upraised arm, and pulling it tightly behind her back, effectively pinning it there while he reached across and pulled his dagger from the wood. If his hands missed he would simply block any grabs she made for him to the sides, and try to grab her wrist again, and with that hold he would slide on the ground underneath her, and then pull up fast once he was on the other side causing her to front flip and land on her back. If none of those things then things would be squared off between the two once again.

[Kaja]

“I… I just remember a fuzzy memory of one of my brothers and I sparring with each other… He was excited or something about learning the move in his training.” It frustrated her because it was such a small blurb of the moment, and she couldn’t even remember which brother it was. It made her distracted, all of a sudden after he questioned her about it. However, she had been amazed at his skills at tumbling to get away from her. She blinked as she watched him move previously. Her mouth had gone slack at the sight. It really had looked graceful, and beautiful. She had stood up and said again. However she might not have been so ready to say that if she knew what was coming next.

While Revin had been impressed with her first to moves, she was still getting used to all of this. She had sparred with her brothers she know knew, though not a lot about it, but she did know that somewhere in her mind and body was locked the information to do this type of thing. She just needed a way to get to it like she had just a moment ago. However, she supposed that it was not really a trained combat form so maybe she needed to listen to her trainer. Her eyes grew wide when suddenly she realized that he was tossing his dagger at her. She went to duck but it was upon her and stuck into the pole behind her pinning her there before she could even move. In her animal form she would have been faster, but in her human form she just wasn’t as fast.

She was stuck there and before she knew it, it was like a blink of an eye he was upon her too and in her face raining blows on her and at her. All she could think in that minute was curl in a ball, and protect her face. She completely folded in the shock of it all of what was happening. She had never even begun to be treated like this not at least that she could remember. Not that she could remember much of it, but she had traveled there in animal form so was pretty much left alone or simply run off. “AHHH… NOOO... St-st-op…” She muttered out, not even paying attention what he was doing just sitting there taking it all. “Please…” She was hunched over and her hands held over her head completely not thinking of anything but how overwhelmed she was in the situation she was currently in.

[Lariat]

He kept his strikes on the woman soft slaps, merely tapping her in some spots and he was surprised at her reaction to his otherwise harmless hits. As she curled into a ball he immediately backed off and held his hands out before him wide, and bowed his head towards her. " I apologize, I didn't intend to harm you with the taps " he said in a quick apology, his cheeks flushing with vivid color at that awkward situation he found himself in. Perhaps he had gone too far, and she was still too inexperienced to understand what was happening. Reaching over slowly he grabbed the hilt of his dagger and after applying a measure of strength to it dislodged it from the wooden frame, and replaced it in the sheath at his hip before extending his arm downwards to help her up. " Are you alright? " he asked, his voice thick with concern, and sympathy etched on his features. He truly hoped he hadn't insulted or frightened the poor woman but he feared he may have scared her. Thinking hard he combed his mind to see how he might remedy the situation before him, and opened his mouth to clear the tension. " You did very well in your training today, you should be proud " he said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, and feeling quite out of place at the present.

The light outside was already beginning to darken as the day came to another close, and he sighed knowing Tosun would be expecting him any moment now. However he would simply have to be late for he wouldn't leave this woman till he knew that she would be completely alright, and fine for the rest of the night. Hopefully the damage was only emotional because he couldn't forgive himself if he had hurt her with any of his attacks, since they weren’t intended in the slightest to cause any damage. Looking squarely at Kaja, he waited to see what she would say.

[Kaja]

For Kaja it wasn’t that she was being hurt at all as much as that she was overwhelmed with the sudden onslaught. When he stopped and backed off, his face looking quite mortified that she would act in such a way. She then felt bad herself when she was finally freed from the dagger holding her clothing she bowed her head in shame. “I’m sorry. I just was overwhelmed. I didn’t know how to react with so much going on at once. Please kind master I want to be able to prove that I can do this. I just couldn’t put everything you taught me together fast enough to defend myself properly.” She finally looked up at him her delicate facial features looking quite shamed, and crushed. “Please continue to keep training me, I promise I won’t shame you again, as long as you go a bit slower.” She looked down again. “The next time I will be much better.”

She wasn’t sure what he would do. All she knew was that among these great people she didn’t seem to be putting such a good impression, and it aggravated her. How would she ever attain a master or a bond mate when she crumbled under any type of real pressure? Plus what would happen if someone did attack her in such a way she would be in a big trouble. She finally looked back up and she smiled, “You didn’t hurt me, I just didn’t know what to do.” She shrugged, and then continued to say, “Please don’t give up on me.” Big hazel eyes looked at him pleadingly to continue to train her at another day.

[Lariat]

A dead silence had filled the tent, and Revin looked down at Kaja with a mixture of emotions. He was relieved that he hadn't harmed her, but regretful that he caused her to break down, and he knew that their time training was over, perhaps for good. Revin wasn't a fit teacher, no schooling what so ever in such things, and he knew by continuing her training himself, he would deprive her of the help of far more capable trainers, and fulfilling friendships that he himself could offer her. " No apologies are necessary unless it’s me apologizing to you for taking your training to far, to fast " he said slowly, trying to soothe the woman who appeared distraught, and he crossed his arms, cradling his chin in his palm as he was thinking thoughtfully. " To keep training you would be a mistake on my part, I am not ready for such things, and you need to learn and associate with others of this city to find the companionship you seek as I make poor company " he said slowly, his voice clear and soft, and he moved to walk out of the tent with a departing pat on her shoulder. He looked over his shoulder to hear her final words, and waved his hand dismissively. " Go, learn to live in harmony with the city, and the people within, only then will you understand the lesson I have taught you today " he said before departing, disappearing on the winding avenues to find his friend Tosun, and greet him for a drink or two and forget all that had happened. Kaja would be left on her own then, with words to get to know more of the people that called this moving city home, to live, love, and survive as she saw fit.

-The end

[Lariat]

Kaja

Experience:
5: Unarmed
2: Observation
3: Rhetoric
3: Acrobatics
2: Begging


Lores:
Getting used to the locals
What not to suggest to trade to a drykas
How to take a rebuke from a drykas
Wanting a master in all the wrong places
Tosun (Basic)
Revin (Basic)
Drykas Laws
Yearning how to improve
Wanting to learn how to incorperate moves with her dog form
Overwhelmed by sparring
Rough parting
Thoughts: Really enjoyed doing this thread with you, hope you have good luck as you explore Endrykas. If you think I forgot anything just send me a pm.