Closed Training in Tandem [Adara]

[Daniel Connor]

50th, 513 av Crack! Once again, Daniel slammed his palm into the wooden dummy’s chest, flowing up with a complex series of jabs and punches along its stubby arms. The wood was very dense, shiney from the polish formed by the oils from his hands. He stopped to wipe the sweat off his brow, panting to regain his breath lost in the effort. He cursed, his movements were not fluid enough, too blocky. They would work, but they were not as adaptable as they could be. All he could do was practice. After a brief rest, he continued on with his routine training. Setting up a set of 8 homemade, padded dummies (tree branches lashed together with twine, covered in cloth) arranged in a ring, with him as the center. He pulled his hood over his eyes, now blind. Recalling where they were, he lunged and punched the first, pivoting and kicking a target behind him. Much to his dismay, he scraped the third target, not hitting it right on. He considered that a defeat, but continued on, proceeding to decimate it with two quick, yet powerful, blows of his fists. Soon all of the targets had been in someway been incapacitated by him. He took of his hood and smiled at all of the large sticks and twine that littered the ground. The entire exercise had taken less than ten seconds. He had practiced this for many moons, and was now getting good at it, if he did say so himself. Daniel’s head whipped around towards the front of the alley. It had sounded like the scuff of a shoe on the ground. Someone was watching him. “I know you’re there, come out!” he called, his brow furrowed. If this person was looking for a fight, he would give it to them. He mentally calmed himself, so if he needed to, it would be easy to alter his Djed flow through Flux. There he stood, covered in sweat, waiting for the unnamed to reveal themselves.

[Adara Meadows]

Adara Meadows ---- Sometimes life in this city was so dull. She worked, ate, slept, shopped, worked some more and repeat. So boring! She was going to go raving mad in this place for certain. Walking the same paths home and then back and then going again. Seeing the same people. Doing the same things. Saying the same things. Were was the spice in her life? She wanted to see a boxing match. Meet a traveler with tales from the edge of the world; flirt with a stranger; she wanted anything more then what she had as of late. The tall mixed blood was walking through some of the castle hallways with her cloak wrapped around her body and hood hiding her abundance of hair. There was a small basket in the grips of her hands as she was going to do some shopping today. Adara had been holding back from it for a while now, disliking the task of haggling, or rather fighting over outrageous prices and having people try and take advantage of her hard earned living. It irked her so much some times she wanted to just punch the greedy vendors. She was deciding to take a different root to the market then usual, finding herself in parts of the city castle she had not been in a long time. It was the sound of wood being smashed that caught her attention. Stopping for a moment her head turned with a small frown showing on her brow. Head tilting a little to the side her curiosity was drawn as she heard the harsh sound of labored breaths and grunts. It was a fight? Finally! Some excitement. Sure, if it was a fight she should have probably called the knights, but she wanted to get a look first. Following the sounds Adara spotted the man fighting his many wooden figures. Her curiosity was certainly peeked as she watched the many complex moves he used to take on his wooden foes. How interesting. And then he was snapping at her to come out! Letting out a gasp she flinched instinctively not realizing he had probably heard her. Damn it! Adara had the sudden thought of turning and just running away. When was the last time she ran from anything? No, That is not how this one did things. So straightening up she stepped out of the shadows to show herself. "I did not mean to disturb your training sir." She said softly, pulling back the cloak and letting her abundance of black locks to flow forward as she watched him with equally dark eyes. "I was simply curious. I mean no harm." ----   Skills Skill EXP Total Proficiency Cooking 5 SP 5 Novice Dance 9 SP 9 Novice Medicine 10 SP 10 Novice Seduction 5 SP 5 Novice Tattooing 5 SP 5 Novice Boxing 10RB, 16SP 26 Competent [/tab]

[Daniel Connor]

A figure stepped out of the shadows, standing tall. She pulled off the hood of her cloak, flicking her head so that her long, black hair was put into a more manageable state. Her words made Daniel grin, and his eyes softened, literally; they melded into a deep blue. Looking her up and down, he found that she was quite attractive, skin appearing to be the color of honey. He found that strange, as most people in Syliras had fair skin. It was a castle after all . “Disturbing me you are not. Curious, eh? Why would a beauty like you be interested in my training?” he asked, starting to set up a few more wooden targets, “Unless you also practice some sort of combat. If so, feel free to come and take a swing at one of these vile dummies. I am sure they deserve it!” He winked slyly, and motioned for her to attack the nearest target. Daniel would enjoy seeing what this woman could do. He might have found someone to make the long nights of training a little less lonely, and, while his heart was hardened, he still disliked spending many hours alone. He straightened himself, his eyes turning a royal purple, a very prideful color. He watched her move to strike the target.

[Adara Meadows]

Adara Meadows ---- Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side as she watched him look her over. Her own dark orbs met his evenly as a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “Disturbing me you are not. Curious, eh? Why would a beauty like you be interested in my training?” It used to anger her when she was younger. How just because she was a girl everyone seemed to think she was good for nothing physical, except perhaps the bed. Now of course it meant she could be a little secret weapon. Now she could let them think she was no threat until they were too close. Now it was her advantage how narrow their minds were. This man though seemed to be rather intelligent, or so his next words showed. “Unless you also practice some sort of combat. If so, feel free to come and take a swing at one of these vile dummies. I am sure they deserve it!” Moving a little closer she reached out with one of her hands to simply stroke the wooden targets made for practicing with. "Ah, clever of you to think so. I box a little." Adara answered in a sweet tone her gaze shifting from the targets to the man. "This is rather clever of you to think of. Do you not like training in the pit?" Adara herself did not like to train there. The men often gave her vile or hungry looks. She just couldn't stomach it all the time. ----

[Daniel Connor]

Daniel thought about it for a second. His real reason would be looked upon with fear, but she did not look like she would run to a guard or anything. “I am a practitioner of Flux, something that people around the pit do not approve of,” he said finally, carefully looking at her face, judging her reaction. The praise of being intelligent made him half smile, as it was something he did not get called every day, not that he had many people to talk to. A boxer, eh? Hmm, he did not know how to box, maybe it was somewhat like the martial arts that he did. “Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a go!” he watched eagerly, his eyes turning a butter yellow, this would be cool to watch.

OOCI would recommend not copy-pasting quotes from other people. An admin reprimanded me on that. Just put it into context, like I did in my first paragraph.

[Adara Meadows]

Adara Meadows ---- Flux? One of her eyebrows went up a little as she heard his answer towards her question. "Well, in my experience the people of this city do not approve of anything that is fun. Don't let their nasty looks stop you from where ever you want to be." Adara said with a cold laugh as she moved closer to the targets. “Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a go!” She gave him a sideways glace, a wry smile placed on her mouth with a wicked twinkle in her eye. Her fingers clenched tightly into a ball. Bracing her legs she took a step forward and swung for the dummy hitting it in he side, coming right away with her left arm and swinging again. The mass of twigs and rope went swinging around, away from it's attacker, moved by the force of her hit. Rubbing her knuckles Adara stood over, watching the contraption. "I must say, I rather like it." She whispered turning back to Daniel with her smile having grown. "I am Adara by the way." She said offering her hand. ----

[Daniel Connor]

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Daniel nodded at the woman’s philosophical advice, elaborating, “And by disapprove, I mean lock me up or kick me out of the city. I have heard of it happening.” He feared a cold cell, with nothing but the walls to keep him company. He shuddered involuntarily, his eyes turning an icy blue.

He returned her sly smile with a grin of his own, his eyes sparking in excitement. It was a heavy blow, knocking the target back, but it was a boxing punch. Heavy handed, powerful. He would not want to be hit by it, and if he was, he would be having a bad day. But, it was very committal, she probably could not have stopped it if she had wanted to once she had started it. He practiced mostly martial arts with non committal moves, punches that could be blocks and visa versa. But, to each his own.

“Very nice, Adara,” he praised, his accent very prominent and his speech lyrical, “That would hurt!” He took her hand and shook it firmly. His mentor had always said that you could tell a lot about a person from their handshake, he had never really possessed that gift though. Maybe it would come in time.

“Now then, how about you teach me how to do a bit of this boxing thing of yours and I’ll teach you my style?” he asked, grin still plastered on his face. His were a royal purple, ready to train and to be trained.

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[Adara Meadows]

Adara Meadows ---- A handshake did indeed tell a lot; especially for fighters. A firm squeeze of the hand tended to portray confidence or strength. Keeping a steady gaze into ones eyes tended to express a lack of fear, or observation on the others part. Giving his hand a firm squeeze she broke away. "Gah, they can only do so much. Taking your freedom away might as well be as bad as being in a cell." She scoffed with a simple wave of her hand. "Thank you," She said, offering a small smile. "But there is not a lot of thought into boxing really. You hit. Hit hard, and over and over until they don't get up; pretty easy. The best part of it though is the dancing in the beginning. Both of you circling, twirling, and leaping out of the way of the other until one of you gets the upper hand." Her body swayed from side to side a little as she thought of the movements. "Oh?" Her head tilted to the side at his offer. "I don't see why not? If you have something to learn I would love to have you teach me. And I will try my best to show you how to hit hard." Adara teased lightly, with a small shrug of her shoulders. ----

[Daniel Connor]

Daniel concentrated and slammed his fist into the target, causing the branches to explode out of the back with the force. He had used a bit of Flux, but she did not need to know that. “Hard enough? Okay, I am going to teach out how to hit without being hit back. Come, stand in front of me,” he instructed, pointing to a spot on the ground. He had her assume a combat stance, her fists in front of her, the pinky side facing the attacker. “The most important thing to learn is how to block a punch, or just make it not hit you. If they waste all their energy trying to punch you, how are they going to fight? Her, I will demonstrate. Take a swing at me! Go on,” he started, assuming a stance of his own. Adara’s right punch came fast and hard, maybe not as hard as she had done to the target, but still, hard. With his right hand, he nudged her’s across her body, towards her left arm. This left her in an awkward position to be attacking from, and many vulnerable parts facing him. “You see? Now you can not attack me, and I am free to deal with you as I see fit. Why don’t you try it.” He then had her do the same with his slow motion punches, making comments to fit the proper form that he had been taught. He then had her turn the block into a punch, and back again. This versatility was why her preferred noncommittal punches and kicks. She learned well, seeming to absorb the information he was throwing at her quite well. “Once you punch your attacker with a good, solid hit, the fight is over for them. Watch me do it on this dummy.” Daniel blocked and hit the dummy’s arms, then after a few seconds of the mock fight, punched its ‘head’ sharply. He then went to where a person’s hanging ribs would be and rapidly hit them with both fists. It was more than ten hits per second for 3 seconds. Had it been a man, and not padded wood, there would have been blood pooling on the floor and many broken ribs.

[Adara Meadows]

Adara Meadows ---- Her eyes darted to the branches that now protruded from the back of the dummy, her head tilted to the side slightly. "Not being hit? In boxing you just learn to toughen up so you can take most of what is given to you." Dropping the cloak draped over her shoulders Adara stood where he instructed taking her stance. Legs locked firmly in place on placed slightly in front of the other and both spread apart. It felt weird to have her palms open as she faced an opponent, they were normally closed for emphasis. A small smile crossed her lips when he instructed her to go for a punch at him. Hey, he asked for it. Squeezing her right hand shut she launched out with it aiming right for his side.The next thing she knew her arm was going towards her left. Her feet slide forward in an awkward attempt to balance herself out. A frown distorted her face as she looked up at Daniel. What had he done? “You see? Now you can not attack me, and I am free to deal with you as I see fit. Why don’t you try it.” Stepping away from the man Adara rubbed at her right had as if it was sore, watching her new teacher with a careful gaze. It took only a moment for her to resume fighter stance as she prepared for his own attack. Sure, his punches came slow; but at first it was awkward and unsettling. It felt strange and new to her body, directing his punches elsewhere. It felt more familiar to her when she was turning to blocks into punches as instructed. She could feel the muscles in both her hands and shoulders flexing with use of the movements. It was actually kind of cool watching her arms tangle with his in a slower motion. Her chest was heaving a little as her breath quickened when she stepped back from Daniel so he could demonstrate. Her dark orbs tried their best to take in the fast movements of his hands as they pummeled the wood. "Very impressive I must say." The fact that he could move so fast and precise was both awe inspiring and unsettling. Looks like she would be trying her best to stay on Daniel's good side. ----