Out of his Element [Ssafirsotibones]

by **Faval** on June 19th, 2012, 3:53 am

Summer 512, Day 52

As was seemingly a recurring theme for young Faval, his life was happening way too quickly. It had been almost a third of the season since his premature retirement from the Navy and Faval still hadn’t fully gotten his bearings. He was still exasperatingly tired, while being exasperatingly busy trying to scrape enough money together for him to exasperatingly eat his meals. Overall, there was a lot of exasperation in his life. Today was different though, today he actually had time to take advantage of membership to a Martial Association. For the longest time, Faval’s skill set in terms of combat was almost exclusively the bow. He knew enough hand to hand combat to avoid a potentially disastrous situation long enough to put more distance between him and his foe and go back to relying on his work with the long bow. This however was a flaw that Faval despised. The odds being against him every time someone got within seven feet was not at all acceptable and Faval was not going to let that deficiency fester if he had the opportunity to do something about it.

He had gotten a chance to learn from someone substantially more learned in the art than him and when he was given the appointment for that chance, Faval had jumped at the opportunity. His excitement was quite obvious as well, given that he had arrived an hour early just to be absolutely certain that he was as mentally prepared as possible. During his training for the navy, Faval had not excelled at any kind of close quarters combat and any kind of melee weapon was more likely to cause harm to its wielder in Faval’s hands than to anything else. Faval had no talent whatsoever for it and had only learned the extremely basic of basics at hand to hand through sheer determination and long nights alone. The boy was planning to approach this with the same sense of determination and allow dedication to success to compensate for the lack of actual talent. Or so he hoped and that was all he really had, hope. Well, hope and nerves, Faval had plenty of nerves at the moment. The boy was propped against a wall on the expansive, rectangular training ground that they had been slated to use that afternoon, resting in a crouched position as he anxiously rubbed his hands together. The anxiety was even higher than it would normally be as he had left his long bow at the apartment and he had not been parted with it in the longest of times. It was almost the time for his instructor to arrive and the waiting could finally end as Faval’s eyes scanned the entrances to the grounds, waiting to finally get going and let adrenaline replace the anxiety.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on June 19th, 2012, 10:40 pm

Bones had gotten up today, and stretched. He had just finished digesting a meal, and so was more or less sated. Which meant he was in about as good a mood as he got. Though he was still not one to mess with.

He had heard someone wanted a spar, or some training or something like that, at the martial association. He came by every so often anyways, to see if anyone did. It seemed it had ended up Bones turn to take this lesson. Which would not be so bad. It would give him a chance to work on fighting hand to hand, which he had not been using as much as he had in Alvadas. Though there was also less chance for hunting around here...

So he showed up, to see a man sitting and waiting for him. Though compared to Bones, he was little more than a child... Humans... They were so young, with such short lives... And multiplied like animals... Sheer numbers were there only edge against other races... He almost wished it had been another race, even one of the lesser ones, if it was not a human...

He walked up to the man, who he assumed he was working with...

"Ssso I sssuppossse I am teaching you today? Well, letsss get ssstarted, take your ready posssition, and come at me, try to ssstrike me. Let me sssee what you can do..."

Bones himself would get to the fighting area, and drop into a low stance, knees and elbows bent, hands up at chest level.

by **Faval** on June 19th, 2012, 11:20 pm

Even by human standards, Faval was little more than a child. At the age of nineteen, he was only three years removed from physical maturity and a good twenty years or so early for full mental maturity and Faval himself was no great beacon of human adulthood. He was uneducated, excitable, and naive and these traits showed themselves on countless occasions. His early life outside of the navy was chock full of scenarios where his naiveté quickly and readily got the best of him and compared to a longer lived species, it might even be considered a joke to regard him as more than an infant. He felt like an infant soon after seeing who his instructor would be. The man who strolled up was a broad shouldered and a sturdy looking giant with equally frighteningly strong looking arms and powerful leg muscles. Faval’s mouth hung open for a second at the sight while he compared it to the mental image of his rather lean and modestly muscled form and the aforementioned anxiety seemed to compound upon itself.

Moderately terrified and further perplexed by the behemoth’s odd manner of speech, Faval tenderly pushed himself up to his feet and glanced back at the man ahead of him as his brain slowly but steadily shifted in to a more appropriate, analytical mindset as his eyes scanned his opponent up and down. He would have absolutely no luck with any kind of grappling, Faval was small and his opponent was huge, no amount of technique would allow him to make up the weight difference, especially when Faval barely had any technique to speak of. No, he would need to try and hope he could be quicker than the larger man, which he probably wasn’t given that he was the student here. He also confirmed that he should stop having so many negative thoughts about the likelihood of his success. He would just have to do what he did best, slam his head off the wall until something broke. Hopefully it’d be the wall and not his head.

"Yes sir..."

Faval’s knees bent slightly before he tore off toward the man and consequently ignoring one of the more important lessons he had learned during training. Attacking hastily with no information was always a fool’s errand and all Faval knew at the moment was that the man got low, was covering his centerline, and that he was huge. Throwing the first punch for Faval was idiotic bordering on insane, but he didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter. Closing the distance, Faval pulled back his right arm until his hand was near his ear as his eyes zeroed in on his target. The boy’s left foot stomped to a stop a few inches away from his opponent’s base as his right hand rifled forward, aiming for his opponent’s sternum and hoping to be fast enough to slip in between the man’s arms and strike him on his centerline. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that it wasn’t going to work, but he didn’t have a better plan.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on June 23rd, 2012, 7:23 pm

Bones watched, and noted that the human took his time to evaluate the situation, or at least to give Bones a once over. That was usually a good sign, that he was not to rash, and did not just jump into a fight, but thought it out a bit. Bones tried to do that, though when he got fully into combat, his reasoning mind sometimes took a vacation, and his snake mind and instincts took over.

But that would not be happening today, no, that would be far to dangerous... Instead, he would keep in control, and control the fight, making sure no one got killed, but still learned a good bit.

Of course, all the info he could really take in was what his eyes showed... He had no deeper source, to know the abilities of his foe. Really, in such a situation, all you could do was try your best, perhaps feel the other person out a bit, and get a better grasp for what they could handle.

As the man came at him, trying a long ranged punch, Bones came to a quick decision, combining a wrestling maneuver, and using mainly his unarmed combat skill. He used the palm of his hand to push the mans strike wide so it would miss him, and then gripped his wrist. Then he dropped down onto his rear, planted one foot on his chest, and tried to use the humans forward momentum to throw the man right over him and through the air.

He wouldn't toss him as hard as he could, would not throw him into a wall, but if it did work, it would smart pretty good, and probably knock the wind out of him. Though if it worked, Bones would give him a chime or so to recover, before asking him what he had done wrong.

by **Faval** on June 23rd, 2012, 8:40 pm

Faval wasn’t good at much when it came to hand to hand combat. His attacks were slow, his defenses open, his moves predictable…but being bad at so many things had allowed him to get very very good at one. Faval was used to getting hit, beaten, bruised and relevant to this situation, thrown. Faval’s eyes watched closely as the man parried his fist before wrapping his hand around the boy’s wrist. Faval knew enough about the physics behind martial arts just by getting throw repeatedly that the wrist was a dangerous part of the body to give up. It gave your opponent almost free control over your arm, which gave them limited control over your momentum and the rest of your body. Dangerous only scratched the surface of the bad things that could happen from there, but thankfully it was a training session and his oddly spoken instructor wasn’t trying to hurt him, almost to the point of not really taking him seriously. As the man dropped his center of gravity toward the ground and thrust his leg up at Faval’s abdomen, the boy tightened his abdominal muscles, reducing as much impact of the foot on his stomach as possible before he was vaulted over the man.

He had a lot of practice at being thrown and his body reacted instinctively. As soon as he was pulled off his feet and vaulted through the air, Faval’s hands both shot out and his chin tucked hard in to his chest. The boy landed on his hands and cushioned his fall to the ground with a forward roll, his head never touching the ground as his legs flew forward and the back of his shoulders connected with the ground, rolling in to a crouched position and relatively unharmed.

Not relinquishing any potential surprise he might have had, as his purpose was still to strike the man, not wait for him to speak, Faval quickly jumped up and attacked once more, hopefully before the man could get fully ready after he was back on his feet. Faval pulled back his right arm slightly, his fist aligned with his sternum before completely closing the distance and loosely throwing his fist forward, aiming for his opponent’s sternum or spine, depending on how close he was to readying himself. Faval was going to win with persistence, it’s the only way he ever won.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on June 24th, 2012, 11:40 pm

Bones had moved in, and had actually managed his toss, a odd move he had picked up while practicing wrestling. Such things were more common in that type of fighting, than in what he usually did with his straight up unarmed.

A smirk came onto Bones face when he saw it had worked, a odd attempt at a smile which did not seem quite human. And indeed, it was not, a smile being one mannerism of humans Bones just could not get down.

In response though, the boy pulled off a roll, which helped to dispel the force of the collision with the unforgiving floor. This though did not upset the dhani, instead exciting him. He always loved a challenge, to let his blood go flowing, to rip, tear, taste the flesh...

"No..."

Bones spoke to himself, though out loud, having lost track a bit... He had gotten a bit to excited, and had started imagining the taste of the boy... Never a good sign... Suddenly though his stomach felt so empty, so ready to embrace this young flesh offered to him... With will alone he forced back his snake instincts telling him to kill and eat this boy, and took a step back.

Bones only just saw the incoming punch, but was so distracted by his inner battle, that he barely was able to respond. Instead of throwing up and arm to block or deflect the blow, he shifted a bit, taking the punch right in the shoulder, which was not to strong, but in his distracted state enough to knock him off his feet...

Bones slid off a bit, shaking his head, not even looking at the boy... Hunger in his eyes... He knew right now if he saw him, he would not stop until he was dead, nothing left but a squirming mass of living human being digested slowly inside him...

He shuddered, and held up one hand, still not looking at him... "Jussst... Jussst a moment..."

If the boy did not attack him, well then he would get up in a chime or two... Slowly he would bring his eyes to the boy, his bloodlust and hunger pushed down... But he would need to feed well tonight, before he did anything else, or met anymore fight partners...

"Ssat wasss good... Now... What do you know of punching? And what do you know of sse 3 main waysss to react to a ssstrike?"

This of course was no official 3 ways of reacting, just something Bones had decided upon, and which he felt all responses fitted into. So likely they would not match up to what the boy had heard of before.

by **Faval** on June 25th, 2012, 1:27 am

Faval had no hesitation in his movements, but it did not take a trained eye to see that his opponent was struggling to have such a conviction. He responded way too late to Faval’s attack and the boy did not know why. Faval wasn’t that fast or trained and given how fluidly he reacted before, it should not have been difficult to respond to the counter attack he was mustering yet the most response he could manage was a little shift in position and to be honest, that wasn’t an awful tactic for dealing with a centerline punch but it should have been accompanied with a block to further lock up their body. Faval did what he was trained to do and as his fist made contact, he allowed his momentum to carry him forward, his opposite leg planting down and dragging his body around, moving through his punch in a circular movement. Faval was intending to deliver the next strike in the sequence but the first punch had knocked the man over, something Faval did not expect to happen from his less than powerful punch. The boy, in response to the unknown, pushed off the ground with his left foot and hopped backward and away from the man a few steps.

Faval relaxed slightly, but didn’t fully leave his ready stance as the man threw his hand up to him to wait. When Faval was first learning, he had gotten hit in the face one too many a time with the lesson of “never drop your guard!” being the reason he took knuckles to the nose. Sufficed to say, he wasn’t interested in getting hit in the face for the same mistake he had repeatedly made. The boy stood relatively still as his instructor…caught his breath? Faval was honestly quite perplexed. He knew the man was skilled simply because of the maneuver he pulled on Faval earlier so there wasn’t any sort of mix up and he was given a tutor below his capabilities, but he shouldn’t need a break after one sequence and a soft punch to the shoulder either. As the man got to his feet, the look on his face was…unnerving. Faval couldn’t quite explain it, maybe it was because he had the same lisp that Kressha did and all his words were elongated or maybe because he was just really pissed that Faval connected a blow, but the man’s demeanor at the moment made Faval very nervous.

Faval listened intently as the man spoke to him and it took him a moment to translate what he was saying. Even with all the time he spent with Kressha, he still struggled to understand her and this man had the same speech impediment with an even deeper voice, making it all the more confusing. After a few moments of thinking, the boy spoke up with a fair bit of uncertainty in his voice, not because he couldn’t think of three ways to react to an incoming strike, he could, but because he could think of more than three. Instead, he went with the three Faval thought best fit the question.

“I’ve…never heard of them phrased as the three responses before, sir. But if I had to guess, I’d say intercepting, redirecting and avoiding. For intercepting, you strike out at your opponent’s attacks in order to fight offense with offense, using your own forward movement and power to stop your opponent’s strike. Redirecting would be like what you did to me, not block your opponent’s attack but take their energy and throw it off course and then use that energy against them. You could also avoid the attack by dodging it completely and not having any interaction with the oncoming force…if that’s what you meant, sir.”

by **Ssafirsotibones** on June 26th, 2012, 12:48 am

It had been a long time... A long time, since he had last gotten that close to losing it... He had almost lost control... Caiyha he had almost lost control... And Bones wass not like others... When he lost control, he could end up destroying half the city before he was stopped... No... He had to stay in control...

He cleared his mind, thinking of water... A waterfall... Crashing... Loud... Drowning out all sound. Everything else... He was a waterfall, pushing everything out, flowing onward, unaffected...

After a few chimes, when he was calm, he would get back up, to see his sparring partner... Well, he was not surprised he was confused, Bones had been acting a bit odd... All he could do was push on, and act like it had not happened...

"Not bad... Ssough your anssswer ssstatesss ssossse ssree waysss in a rasser limited manner... While in ssisss sssituation, ssossse ssree go into fighting wiss our fissstsss... Intercepting... Redirecting... Avoiding... Ssose sssame ssree waysss alssso carry over to almossst any fight. Fighting wiss a weapon... Fighting wiss wordsss... I even knew one man, who usssed ssossse sssame principlesss wiss hisss magic, and sssaid ssat ssey applied ssere. Almossst any fight, worksss by ssossse sssame ssree principlesss."

Bones looked the human over once more, wondering on him... It had been a bit limited, but spot on in its specifics.

"Ssso... I have a quessstion. Which isss bessst? Which isss sse mossst efficient? And when do you ussse each?"

He would give the man a moment to think, and answer, listening to his response. it also gave him a few more moments to calm his impulses, before he gave his input, and then they returned to the fight.

ooc :

by **Faval** on June 26th, 2012, 1:54 am

Faval took note of how the man’s demeanor was slowly changing back to one that was considerably more stoic and peaceful…and thankfully not nearly as frightening. Faval wasn’t going to let that go, it was far too abnormal and weird to the point that it had to be something magic related or something else that wasn’t human. He had never seen a non-magic addled man flip out like that at one of the lightest punches in the history of punches, earning that status probably because Faval threw it. Kressha was well traveled or at least the most traveled person Faval knew. Maybe she would know if what happened here would be a case of…what was the word…upgiving? Right, upgiving. He’d have to ask her about it later.

Faval did not respond right away to the man’s question and not just because he had to think about the answer. He was practiced talking to Kressha but there were so many s’s in the man’s sentence that Faval couldn’t hope to keep up with him speaking. Instead, Faval just replayed everything he said in his head and broke it down in fragments, translating a normal common dialect in place of all the elongated words. It took him a little while, he didn’t have access to a courtesy translation that a certain other lucky bastard got, so he was stuck trying to piece it together all on his lonesome. Even after he had translated the man’s speech, he wasn’t sure how to answer it. Was it a trick question? The only question that actually held merit was the final one. Faval blinked confusingly at the man as he was trying to figure out what answer he was actually looking for. He gave up on that venture soon after, he wouldn’t learn anything if he was trying to be anything other than himself, consequently he shouldn’t be answering like anyone but himself. That, and he got to use the only big word he knew.

“There…isn’t a best one, sir. In a wooden cutout situation where there were no factors whatsoever to throw the balance out of proportion and the fight was completely homogenized, then redirecting an opponent’s attack and diverting the energy instead of trying to dissipate or avoid it is the most efficient. But there’s never going to be a situation where it’s completely homogenized. Combat has too many variables to consider and there will never be a “most efficient” manner of combat that applies to every single fight. Everything comes down to fighting the right way depending on how your opponent is going to move.”

Faval stopped for a moment to take a breath. This had always been one of the areas he had excelled at when it comes to fighting. He was always incredibly knowledgeable about the theory of combat. You didn’t need much talent to understand it and hard work, studying, and being able to listen and watch were the only qualifications you needed. Faval did not have the talent that most did for fighting, but he would love to see someone find someone who tried harder than he did. Having successfully breathed, the boy continued to answer the man’s last question.

“It all depends on your opponent how best it is to approach a fight. If your opponent is small and weak, but quick and deadly, redirecting his strikes or even worse, trying to dodge them, isn’t going to end well. They’re never going to have enough momentum in their strikes for a redirect to work to its fullest and they’re light, so changing directions to chase you down if you try to dodge is a simple matter. The only time they’re vulnerable is when they’re attacking, not before, not after. So they best way to strike back at them is to attack their attack. No matter how quick or agile they are, there’s nothing they can do against overpowered force. You want all their progress to be backwards, you want to strike them hard and head on and force them to defend against you rather than the other way around. Blocking is the best way to fight against someone like that. Obviously a big person is different. They’re too heavy and strong to try and force them back with sheer muscle. You’re going to lose simply because he’s bigger than you and if he’s big enough, his attacks are going to have too much force behind them and it doesn’t matter how well you redirect it, you might not have enough force to divert their strike. The size and girth comes at a price though and they aren’t as maneuverable. The best way to try and fight an opponent like that is to never be hit, to duck around their attacks and to never put them in a position where they don’t need a major shift in momentum to chase you. The best time to try and redirect an opponent’s attack is…when they’re like me. I’m small enough to the point where it’s so easy to just completely overpower me, but I am small enough that it’s not difficult for me to change directions and stay mobile. So you want to try and use as much of my force against me as possible simply because the other options end up in a neutral exchange instead of a positive one for yourself.”

by **Ssafirsotibones** on June 26th, 2012, 2:31 am

Bones looked at him for a moment, taking it all in... At least he spoke straight common, so it was not so hard to get him... Not like the people with thick accents, and such... Though common itself was a second language for him... Not that many knew of his first...

Bones nodded at him after a bit, once he felt he had a good grasp on all that he had said.

"Not bad... You ssseem if nossing elssse to know sse sseory well. True, no one move isss bessst, it all dependsss on sse sssituation, and what isss going on. Being able to decide which fitsss bessst isss sse mark of a good fighter. Until you can judge well which to ussse, and which kind of opponent you are facing, you will have trouble."

"But ssen, sssome opponentsss can be deseiving. Ssey might not look to ssstrong, but turn out to be very ssstrong. And not everyone ssat hasss ssstrengss losssesss ssspeed for it, or hasss great ssspeed lacksss ssstrengss. Sssome have boss. Alwaysss expect sse unexpected, and don't make to many assssumptionsss or generalizationsss."

Having said his part, Bones was ready to fight once more, and dropped into a ready stance, a bit lower, one hand at his side, the other out in front of him.

"Now defend yourssself, and ussse what isss bessst in each sssituation."

Bones would launch in again, with a flurry of attacks. First he would do several quick light punches, more aimed at his extremities. Then he would follow up with a hard punch to his core, his chest, putting a bit extra strength in. Though still holding himself back, and not using his full dhani strength. But for a human, the last punch would seem like a strong one.

Then just to mix things up, he would finish off with a kick at the humans legs. Best to keep him on his toes, and now this fight was not only relegated to fists.

ooc :