Thought and Thinking Through (Bones)

by **Naia Whitewater** on January 8th, 2014, 12:59 pm

Naia's Speech | Thoughts | Other's Speech | 37 Winter, 513 AV

"Out the gates and to the North - West of the Quarries," she murmured to herself, flashing a short smile towards the Monks who guarded the gates. She'd passed through enough times for her face to be of some familiarity, and though she detested most monks with every fibre of her being, she wasn't about to put herself in an unfavorable position by acting too coolly.

There was also the thought that the shape that she'd return in would not be as well kept as when she she left. Looking quite severe one bell, and disheveled the next, was not something that she took liking liking to.

A solid breath left her as she drew near where she was told that she needed to go, hoping for the life of her that she'd chosen the right people to ask for directions, feeling at least some confidence as all three parties pointed her in the same direction. Iron Fist School, a prime example of a place that Naia had heard of but hadn't held a prior care to investigate, and had her now bitterly regretting her own indifference.

"Is that..." she trailed, words soft and to herself, eyes falling on the form of what she assumed to be the school. It was, to her own relief, quite exactly what she was expecting of the place, taking further note of how remarkably unremarkable the structure was she drew near. If nothing else, her nerves were at least settled by it, with little more than a curious edge to her otherwise stoic expression as she entered the School, not bothering to feign an air that would give the appearance that she had any idea what she was doing.

She wandered rather aimlessly for a moment, seeking someone to give her a moment of her time, feeling the slightest inkling of guilt when she happened across a somewhat reluctant student. The questions she was keen to ask were answered sooner than they were formed upon her lips, with the student in particular dismissing themselves after a lengthy spout of information, and a gesture towards the 'training room,' before Naia could quite grasp what in Laviku's name had just happened.

Right, an admittance test? For unarmed combat, 'Bones' was mentioned. And there was also the current headmistress, and a formal sign up? Revy Hiroe? Naia gave several steady breaths as she mulled the thought over, a slow nod soon following after. Suddenly, she was quite glad at her own choice of attire, if only worn in the first place because she had little knowledge in terms of what to expect. Loose clothing and a chest binder - she'd have to ensure she bought more clothing, if she passed, that was.

She sighed and started in the direction that she was pointed in. At least, the direction that she thought that she had been pointed in. One of the few times when a keen memory would have been put to good use, and she'd managed to let her mind slip. Great.

She ensured not to forget her manners as she entered the room, though neither did she clear her expression of all confusion and uncertainty. She cleared her throat and knocked on the door frame thrice, before pressing her lips and speaking. "Sorry to interrupt, I'm looking for-" she trailed slightly, finding it more than strange using a name that sounded like a nickname of a sort towards someone she'd never met. "-Bones?" There was a short moment before she decided to speak on, supposing that if the person before her wasn't who she was looking for, it'd do well to explain the situation before it was asked of her. "My name is Naia - I was wondering if I could become a student? Of unarmed combat, that is."

by **Ssafirsotibones** on January 12th, 2014, 2:40 am

The cold did not settle well with Bones. He did not like it, found it unfitting weather for a living thing to be about in. Plus it made him sleepy, which dulled his razor honed reflexes to something like... Like a knife dulled by being scraped on a rock for bells. The fact of how bad that analogy was, as it was spoken in Bones head, was lost on him. His mind was far to muddled by the cold that he had woken into.

Even sleeping wrapped in his winter blanket, with his bedroll wrapped around him also like some odd cocoon, with his normal blanket thrown over the mess of cloth, he still felt cold. Still felt dull.

He could do something about this in one of two ways. Eat something, or someone, and be warmed as his body went into high gear digesting the mass of meat... Or move. Be active. Train. He was tempted to do the first, if not for the fact it would mean changing into his snake form, which was not as suited to be in the cold as his human form was.

Which meant he was to get out of bed, and head off to the training room, hoping to warm his body by crossing fists or steel with another.

It took Bones a good 5 chimes to extricate himself from his nest, and another few chimes to get dressed, throwing on his robes which did little to keep out the cold. Finally, he decided to keep his winter blanket with him, and to make a run for the training room, huffing as he went, the cold air biting at his lungs, a stream of visible breath exiting when he exhaled, striking the cooler air outside of his body.

He did his best to move as fast as he could, sliding along his left foot in front of his right, and switching, gaining up some momentum as he ran. A tricky thing to do since he could not really use his arms, with his upper body wrapped in the blanket.

Finally he made it to the door, and burst inside, slamming it behind him loudly.

But before he could totally get his bearings, he noticed someone before him, who appeared to have just spoken. Across the room there was another someone, some vague student or other he recalled having met before. Some vague citizen of Nyka, who wanted to be a monk, but did not quite meet the standards, and thought learning to fight would better his chances... And... A woman... Possibly?

Bones puzzled on this for a moment, whether this was a woman or not, before speaking. Even living amongst humans as long as he had, decades, he still sometimes had trouble telling apart the females from the males. Something to do with fleshy bits. Of course, the cold might also have been hampering his ability to discern gender.

"What? Who are you looking for? I am Bonesss... What did you want? To fight? To be a ssstudent? Ssstudent of what?"

As he asked this, the other student repeated what the new human had said, saying she... "She," meaning it was a female... Saying she had said she wanted him, Bones, and wanted to learn unarmed combat. To be a student.

Bones looked at the female for a few moments, giving her a once over, before responding directly to her.

"What kind of unarmed combat? Fisssty Bocks-sing? Bar brawling? Wressstling? Or jussst ssstandard unarmed combat?"

All the while he said all this, Bones was still wrapped in his winter blanket. In fact, he seemed to have completely forgotten the fact he was wearing it, as he began to talk to the human.

speech :

by **Naia Whitewater** on January 12th, 2014, 11:28 am

Speech | Thoughts

It was strange having another speak for her when she was very well fit to do so herself. Even more so when the other person looked like he had needed someone to push him out of bed that morning, and even then only found the motivation to pull himself off the floor in being allowed to take half of the bed with him.

A smile took to Naia's lips at the thought, and a hand was quickly placed over her mouth, shortly turning to a grin before she pushed the thought from her mind returned her hand to her side. She swallowed hard as she hoped the man - Bones himself, as he had announced - had been too focused on the middle person to take much notice of the little act, the thought of that alone enough to cool any prior amusement she took of the playful thoughts.

Based on past experiences, people didn't like to be laughed at, nor did they take kindly to someone they'd never met grinning in their direction - her little act of resolving to physically hiding her smile got her out of a lot of trouble as a teenager. Of course, then she only got in more for 'mumbling.' Old habits died hard, it seemed. There was also the case of his then discovered lisp, and he had quite a snake-like one at that, and the possibility of her smile taken as insult.

When the question finally came as to what kind of unarmed combat she leaned towards, she gave herself the shortest of moment to mediate before her response. "General unarmed combat," she gave a slight tilt of her head, expression considerate. "To begin with, at least. I'll most likely want to deviate at some point - is that is alright?" She was really out of her depth, and she felt it in her favour to freely let that little expression show through on her face. "If only to try a different style or two to see what works, that is." She ran the other possibilities over in her mind.

Although she valued hard work and determination, and believed that putting effort into pretty well any discipline was required to thrive, she knew just as well as many that sometimes a certain style or practice came easier. Be it because of build or disposition, some people had the power and will to bludgeon another with chair, some had the strength but not the stomach, and vice versa.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on January 13th, 2014, 3:17 pm

Bones watched as the human made one of those odd grimaces he could never quite get right, which was meant to signify friendliness. He spent a moment puzzling through her actions. Oddly enough though, she covered up said expression, using her hand like a mouth shield. Perhaps she had something in her teeth? Bones recalled one time he had tried to make that expression, forgetting he had just ate some true meat... Needless to say that conversation had not gone well.

However once she stopped shielding her mouth with her hand, the grimace expression of friendliness was gone. Was she now unhappy? Or was she turning from a friendly greeting, to the more serious business and was showing this in her face?

Bones spent a few silent moments flexing his face muscles, trying to get his mouth to work as hers had, not getting it right, and finally giving up and responding to her words.

"General unarmed combat, to begin with, at least. I'll most likely want to deviate at some point - is that is alright? If only to try a different style or two to see what works, that is."

"General unarmed isss my ssspecialty, but I am alssso ssskilled in wressstling and sse lessss refined brawling, to a lesssser eggs-tent. But for ssstartersss, sssome basssic unarmed isss likely bessst. Come, hit me."

With that, Bones was done talking, and ready for the female human to come at him. He made a gesture at himself, for her to come at him, and then stood there before her, casually standing there. He had one arm draped in front of him, the other scratching the side of his head. Not exactly a intimidating stance, nor one implying he was overly prepared for a fight.

speech :

by **Naia Whitewater** on January 14th, 2014, 12:05 pm

Speech | Thoughts

It was harder to understand Bones the second time around, with Naia quick to realise that she’d need to keep her mind from wandering too far in an effort to make out the odd sibilant articulation with little lag; at least until she was well enough in the swing of things that little thought was needed. ‘He’s not- Surely he can’t be?- Well, it’s not unheard of. But…’ She caught his last few words with a frown. One tick he was talking about unarmed combat, mentioning another two disciplines and his own skills with them – next she was being asked to hit him.

“Ok,” she began, incredibly unsure of herself. She fought the odd little fight as a teenager, more so in her first few years of living in Nyka, but that was simply it. A teenager. She’d given several playful jabs in the last few years, but nothing in the way of a fully fledged fight. ‘Well, this is going to be fun.’ She shot a glance towards Bones, deciding to do away worry with looking like a fool, and shrugging off her coat as she took a short, almost pained look at him. Even when she told herself not worry about looking like an idiot, she knew she’d need to take a good hit or fall for the feeling to sink in.

It was never quite a good sign when someone who asks you to hit them doesn’t seem to need any preparation to handle it. If anything, he seemed perhaps a slight bit disinterested. "Just..." She trailed, not all too sure about the relaxed stance she took, feeling misplaced next to Bones, "Don't expect much." She gave light exhale and got on with what needed to be throwing a rather crude punch, too much attention paid on speed and force, and too little spent on form.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on January 20th, 2014, 6:56 pm

Bones watched as Naia took off her warmer clothing which likely would have limited her movement, and agreed to attack him. This was the first show, the first test, even if the girl did not know it.

"Just... Don't expect much."

Bones shrugged in response to her statement, rather noncommittally, and waited... Waited... Waited for a move, for an attack, for some ferocity. For some sign the girl had what it took to be more than a failure.

Eventually she did, a long time later, at least as time in a fight was measured. In normal time this amounted to a few ticks. But then, it was foolish to measure time normally in a fight, when so much could happen in the span of a breath.

Bones inhaled, and watched the girl come at him, aiming a weak punch at him, or at least in his general direction.

As she did so, he brought up his right palm, the one that had been scratching at his head, and casually pushed at the females wrist with a gentle but sustained force. The punch went wide, not even touching him.

A straightforward redirection Bones had learned a long time ago, that if executed properly used a minimum of effort to guard from an attack.

With that Bones took a step back, and looked at her, returning his right hand to in front of him, this time at least holding it up in front of him.

"I sssaid attack me. I don't have all day for you to sssit around and mussster up sse courage. Come on now."

speech :

by **Naia Whitewater** on January 22nd, 2014, 2:17 pm

Speech | Thoughts | oocRight, I'm going to smash out a training flashback so she isn't too tragically pathetic.

The movement that shortly followed the initiation of Naia's first little punch was one that she hadn't expected, if only due to the relaxed stance that the man had stood so casually in, and the speed in which he reacted. She couldn't help her momentary stall, jolting slightly when he shifted back.

"I sssaid attack me."
'I'm fairly confident that you said hit-'
"I don't have all day for you to sssit around and mussster up sse courage. Come on now."
'That's a different story.'

She shook off her hand and nodded shortly. "I hear you," it wasn't much, but it was a response, and she used the few ticks she had to give herself a final shake off for her shame and worries.

She did her best to correct her stance slightly and quickly, never having learned a proper one in the first place, before trying for a kick, testing the waters to see how the teacher would take it. A fight for her was a game of wits as much as it was brawn, and given her obvious lack of talent in terms of unarmed combat - as Bones called what it was they were doing - Naia figured that she had little going for her.

She poised herself for the kick in the most relaxed way he could have managed, a pivot on her front left foot and a rather strong - for herself - swing with her right.

However the simple little movement panned out in terms of Bones' response mattered little to her, with her next movement and counter already fresh to mind. She'd hopefully be able to use the deflection - Gods, she hoped he would choose deflection - to adjust her stance slightly, and get in a quick jab with her left. After that? She had no idea.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on January 25th, 2014, 2:45 pm

Bones of course knew that the girl had attacked him, or tried to. His words were more of a effort to elicit some emotion in her, perhaps anger, or fury, which might fuel her actions. Or perhaps throw them off, as such emotions did for some people.

But often anger and fury could add to ones ferocity, and at times strength. So long as that anger did not get out of control... Bones knew that all to well, knew what happened when one completely gave into such fury, and devolved into ones animal mind.

"I hear you."

Bones gave the girl her time, as she readied herself, shook and stretched out, preparing herself for the attack surely to come. Would it be one of ferocity? One that would put fear into him? One that would break his bones and bruise his flesh?

Or would the girl remain timid and not unleash her anger and fury on him?

Perhaps she needed more prodding to enter into such a state.

Finally she acted, using her left foot as a lever, and swinging her right leg at him.

Unlike the last time, Bones did not just stand there and take it. Instead, he reacted, reacted as only bells upon bells of training could instill, almost instinctively preparing himself and reacting to the blow without thinking. Not fighting his bodies instincts, but guiding and enforcing them to the best possible end.

As the kick swung at him, Bones bent his knees and ducked low, and brought both hands up to meet the kick. One hand aimed at the calf of her leg, the other aimed at her ankle. He was attempting a double handed grab, in order to take control of her leg, both hands sweeping upward from below to allow her to carry on with her momentum forward in the swing. Not fighting it, but adding a new direction.

If his aim was good, and the grab worked, Bones would then make a twisting motion, and attempt to yank the human clean off her feet, throwing her to the ground in the same direction that her leg had been swinging. Attempting to keep the motion and the energy she poured into it, and simply enforcing it to cause her to lose her footing, and be sent sprawling.

If it worked.

If it did, Bones would give the human time to recover, and would not attack her while she was down... But neither would he assist her.

by **Naia Whitewater** on January 27th, 2014, 1:29 pm

Speech | Thoughts

Naia almost regretted her quiet desire for a 'good' fall or hit, finding the world to suddenly slip from beneath her shortly after her target fell out of view.

She hadn't had enough time to recover, almost hunkering down and falling herself in her own little display of defiance, before she paid more mind to the nature of the fight and her own health. She wouldn't harm herself by doing something out of her own depth, nor had she any intention of reacting to violently and trying to twist out, yet another little road to disaster and injury. Her tongue went to the roof of her mouth, a little habit that came of constant bumps and bitten tongues.

She had been too far into her own kick when she realised the gist of Bones' manoeuvre, figuring that perhaps if she'd had good balance then the scene would play out different.

Even then, it wasn't until she'd hit the floor that she quite processed the throw, eyes flitting immediately to the instructor as she tried to take in as much information as she could from his form. Everything was wildly different to the unrefined little scuffles she'd so often seen and engaged in. There was form and finesse, moves and manoeuvres and a sort of art and game to it; in Layman’s terms, it was fun.

Naia wasn't sure if she was to expect anything while she was down, gaze narrowing as she pulled herself up with haste and a slight sway, taking note of the dulling pain near her tailbone, and that which inflamed the lower shoulder that hit in connection. It wasn't much at all for the manner in which she hit the ground, floundering and all over the place, though she figured that several more slams in kind could amount to be quite painful.

A punch got a deflection, a kick something somewhat similar. She did her best to be quick about her movements, lightening herself on her feet as she weighed up her next action for a half tick before attempting a solid right punch to Bones' chest. It was a somewhat awkward movement, unsure of a stance (Or any at all, for that matter) that would fit her next little chain of thought.

Balance didn't favor her, and her form was rigid as she took an early novice attempt at working around the height difference, her knees not nearly as bent as she'd seen on most taking part in a fight.

Action and reaction. Naia endeavoured poorly to smother any look of giddy anticipation as she followed through with her strike, more care taken to form than speed the second time around, her resulting hit slightly improved in direction, but lacking ever more so in force. Would he deflect? Catch? Something new and all the more riveting?

Should it be either of the former two, she’d try her luck with her left, aiming lower, focus then placed on dealing the blow rather than any structure or form to it. Should the former be something thrown at her? Then she’d have to think on her feet and peel out. Re-evaluate and rethink, likely hit the ground again as mind would no doubt stall, thoughts not used to working quick and calculated in a forum such as a fight.

by **Ssafirsotibones** on January 31st, 2014, 3:46 pm

Bones attempt at a toss worked quite well, and it took the human female a time to gather herself back to her feet. More or less as he had planned. Of course such a move was unexpected, less unarmed combat than wrestling, but still using his skills from both types of fighting. It was interesting what one was capable of, when they mixed various fighting forms into a cohesive style of combat. Especially when fighting someone using only one or the other of his fighting forms.

"Never sssacrifice your footing in hopesss of a gain by a sssingle blow. TSse risssk far eggs-seeds sse reward of a sssuccessss. Footing isss everyssing, and if you give it up, your foe isss in control, not you. Ssat isss what you did, gave me control of your leg. And once I controlled it... You were at my mercy."

Leverage was more an issue in wrestling than unarmed combat, but as a tenet not giving it up was still a good idea. Especially in the fast paced combat so common to a live or die scrum. There was little time to think, and even less time for making mistakes.

When the human finally did attack, it was with another punch, this one aimed at his chest, one of the most obvious targets to aim at, being so big, and not easy to move out of harms way. Unlike limbs and head which were smaller targets and harder to hit. However while being a obvious place to strike at made it no less of a good target... But then the torso also tended to be tougher, and less likely to take a crippling blow.

This time when Bones saw the fist coming at him, he turned, turned to the left so that he was at odds with the human, and so that the blow coming at his torso from at the left hand side of his body, from the humans right fist, would instead glance by. There was a small sting of pain from the impact, but nothing big, as it was only a glancing blow, and much of the force of the blow was dispelled past Bones, instead of into him.

But Bones did not stop there, and turned his turn into a spin, spinning his body to the left after the right handed punch scraped by his side with minimal impact, and also bringing up his right elbow. As he spun he came in closer to Naia, and tried to bring his elbow striking into her left side. His elbow did not move, it stayed at the same level and position. Instead he used the motion of his spin as the force of the blow that he was sending at her left side.

The trick here was to bring things in close, far closer than normal unarmed combat was done. Normally it was done at arms length, where one could cock their arms, ready a punch, a kick, some blows. Gather momentum. This odd spin elbow move however was in grappling range, a range either used in wrestling for take downs or clinches, or for brawling to throw of those who used a more refined art of unarmed combat.

After making the attack, Bones would speak to the human once more, asking her a question.

"Ssere are ssree waysss to defensssively deal wiss being attacked. Do you know what ssey are?"

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