Experience Teaches (Physical Combat)

[Locke F. Herald]

OOC: By all means, continue. If I need to interrupt you two as Karmine, I will do so. But I am limited by the posting speed of my student.

IC:

Locke listened to the tutors instructions, and watched him as he demonstrated. Well, not exactly, he didn't see the person or the whip. What he focused his analytical gaze on was his arm.

Pull back, raise at 60 degree angle, hand approximately behind the head. Curve at the shoulder until the elbow points at the target. Lower elbow, straightening out the arm, when arm is at roughly 15 degree angle, jerk arm slightly and yank wrist backwards. Whip will crack.

Got it. He looked up at the instructor, waiting for more information. Instead he performed it again, and Locke observed exactly what he just did before. It seemed simple enough, though he doubted the combat effectiveness of such an old fashioned weapon.

"Yeah, I got it." Locke said somewhat irritated. He still hadn't forgiven the man for his cat joke. Locke raised his own arm, back to the starting position. He went through the instructions in his head one more time, and then he let the whip fly.

Now, observing and understanding it is one thing, being able to reproduce it is another. So it was only a surprise to Locke when the ship struck the ground with not a crack, but a 'fwump'. Frustrated he pulled the whip back, and tried again.

'Fwump.'

Now very annoyed he glared at the length of leather as if it was the one who had made the joke at his expense.

[ĸara вelova★]

Kara did as instructed, awkwardly holding the weapon aloft in an unnecessarily wide stance. She looked even more gawky and uncoordinated than she did normally. She supposed it could be worse though. Jessica could be in her class.

"You're not going to make us fight, are you?" Kara asked uncertainly, flinching as Locke tested out his whip. She cowered into a desk, and then looked down at her hands. They'd slipped past the blue lines, and her palms were stained an unfriendly cerulean. She took a deep breath to keep from shaking. She wasn't scared. She was simply inexperienced and anxious about stepping out of her comfort zone.

Kara inadvertantly used her gift to make the whole room as calm as she was, but when she realized that the calm was much heavier than it would be when only affecting herself, she reigned it in. A look of innocent confusion was automatically put on her face and she looked around as though in search of whatever could have made them all completely placid for a couple seconds. Hopefully it would just pass, they'd brush it aside and pretend it never happened, and ignore it.

She hated when she lost control like this.

At least you caught it, Kara reasoned with herself, although it did not make her feel any better.

_{{Ugh this is chit.}}

[morg]

Eve was good, that much was certain. then again, Morgan had known as much before she'd even started this fight. She grinned and started pulling back, trying to yank her staff up to deflect most of the serious blows. The last thing she wanted was to get all scarred up from sparring with someone, and Eve didn't strike her as being the sort to hold back for the sake of appearance.

"My tongue's plenty sharp enough," she retorted as she felt a powerful blow hit her weapon. The whole staff trembled, and Morgan thought for a second that she just might lose her grip. Her hands had momentarily gone numb, but she was dealing with it well enough.

"And my boyfriend has other positive traits," she quipped. Now she tried to dance backward, acting defensively, trying to use her staff to ward off attacks as opposed to attacking on her own.

"You ought to try and get a lover then. Work out some of those anger issues," gibed Morgan, winking. "Works wonders."

[doragon]

Doragon quietly entered the classroom and observed the teaching in progress. He wasn't sure where he'd wandered to, the school was still much too large for his tastes. It appeared he had come to a room for training with weapons. Doragon didn't like to use weapons, brute strength should determine victories. It would seem weird if he left the class, so he just stayed back and watched.

[Eve Stone]

An evil grin slipped over her face as she continued to force her strength on the girl. Now she wasn't just hacking away like a lumber jack, she was using smooth attacks only these attacks held more strength than faster ones.

"If you say so girlie." A flash of complete calm washed over her and she almost dropped her weapons. Her eyes darted around the room trying to find the source, but not wanting to lose her advantage she kept pressing on. Someone had done something, she didn't just randomly feel calm on a normal basis.

"Aww, positive traits like what? Cowing to your dominant personality?" Morgan wasn't attacking and though that was good it was also boring. "Or does he do your homework for you?"

Her lover comment made her eyes narrow and her next strike held more than just sparing strength but a short burst of anger. The kick of emotion had her swining even harder.

"Love only drags you down. Makes you blind. Better to live with a clear mind." She would not think of Rae, she would not think of Rae. Trying to not think of the lycan of course made her think of the blond girl. "Dammit."

The word was spoken under her breath as she tried out a fancy menuever to try to get closer to Morgan. If she could just get close enough to cut, just once, she would feel better.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

OOC: Oh wait, time for me to post. <_<

IC: Karmine observed Locke with a smile, the boy had imitated him in function, but not in style. And that was where the problem was from. He looked over to Kara, who looked ready to pass out.

"No no, no fightin' fer ya an little boy blue taday. Ya ar' still far too inexperienced, ya'd hurt ya self." He said with a wave of his hand.

This was relaxing for him, he loved teaching students with this, and on that note another entered the room. "Be wit ya in a sec!" Karmine shouted across the room. And then looked back to Kara.

"Girlee, you need ta relax. I am gonna leave ya here fer a bit, do what ya will, get comfortable with that stick ya holding. Find a way ya like holdin it, maybe swing it around a little slowly. I canna teach ya anything if ya aren't comfortable with ya weapon."

He looked to Locke next. "Good imitation, but ya lost a little somthin in translation. See, fightins complicated, ya watch 20 different people do tha same thing, they do it 20 different ways. You canna do it mah way, cause ya ain't me. Ya got tha basic understandin right, but you need ta find tha way that works fer ya, understand?"

He then waved the new arrival over, keeping his eyes on his two students.

"Ya got any experience? Like a certain weapon or anythin?"

[doragon]

"Me?" Doragon pointed at himself as the teacher called him out. "I haven't used a weapon before, my fists stop any of them cow tippers that go onto my parents' farm. One punch is enough to stop them from moving for awhile." Doragon thought about what he just said, he had no control whatsoever on his strength, maybe this teacher could help him tone down his power a bit. "I'm not exactly sure how powerful I am, I haven't really trained myself to fight, just farm like my Pop."

[ĸara вelova★]

Relax? The only thing that could make her more tense at this point would be if she were holding a loaded gun rather than a stick. How do you even begin to get comfortable with a stick? Kara calmed herself the only way she knew how; influencing her own emotions with her gift. It did help her relax a bit, and she waved the weapon out in front of her awkwardly. Baseball. Pretend it's baseball. Kara scoffed at this thought. She'd never been able to play baseball. She couldn't swing, she couldn't hit the ball, and she couldn't run without falling over herself. And all she really wanted to do right now was run.

Pulling the stick back by her ear, elbows raised the way she assumed the professionals did it, she tried whipping it horizontally. It smacked her in the back of her head, and she dropped it instantly, hands going up to cover the newly bruised spot on her skull. She made no noise to express her pain, but fuck did it ever smart!

Leaving the stick where it was, Kara walked out of the classroom. She wasn't one of those 'if at first you don't succeed' girls. This was a class she was not going to be strong in, and she accepted that. It was just that the rest of her classes wouldn't give her any unnecessary injuries. These were unnecessary to the highest degree. Kara hurt herself more than anyone at this school on a daily basis. This class was hazardous to her health and would only succeed in shortening her already very short life.

Kara loved learning, but not at the expense of her valuable ticking minutes.

[morg]

"He's sweet," snapped Morgan, jerking her weapon down and stepping backwards. She really wanted to be able to go on the offense now, but that didn't look like a likely possibility anytime soon. Unless she wanted Eve to cut her. Maybe they should consider switching to other, less skilled opponents, you know, teach them something.

"You know, if I didn't know any better," the staff jerked between them, and Morgan twirled around it, "I'd say you were thinking of someone. Does Eve have an Adam stashed away somewhere?"

The teasing was almost as much fun as the fighting, though it did seem to be angering Eve, which made Morgan slightly nervous. Didn't dragons turn when they got especially angry?

Morgan lifted her staff, and tried to slam the weighted end down on Eve's foot, though this left her more open than normal. But it should hurt, if it could connect.

[Eve Stone]

Her blades flashed, but no matter how hard she swung her sword, no matter how fast she attempted to move it still wasn't good enough. This girl was good. Eve knew it had something to do with her gift, but she was dragon for goodness sakes. She should be able to easily overpower some human! She'd trained her entire life and yet here she was being shown up by a girl most likely younger than she, and with a lot less training.

"Sweet? So are candies, flowers, and adorable little girls with pony tails." Eve grinned twirling her blades before lashing out once more.

"An Adam?" There was a cute red head that came to mind at the mention of boys, but it wasn't a boy her was playing with her emotions. "No, I prefer to fly solo if you know what I mean."

Remember, stay calm. This is just a classroom. A perfect place to learn to keep your peace. No one here is here to harm you or control you. Stay calm

As usual Eve had to keep a mantra in her mind to keep her dragon rage under control. If she got too worked up she would have to leave in order to keep people safe. She hated that she had so little control over her emotions, but at least she was trying to learn. Most war dragons never even saw the point in trying.

So focused on Morgan, and her moves Eve nearly got her foot stabbed with the staff end. It did catch her shoe however, and she thanked the stars for shoes a size too big. she jerked her shoe free using her other foot for balance while striking with her dual blades.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Karmine had been enjoying the fight between Eve and Morgan, but it seemed to be getting a little hot.

"Ok you two! Cool down for a moment, catch your breath. I'll be back to you in a minute!"

He then turned to Doragon. "So, a farm boy eh? I didn't think I'd see one of you here, but no matter. Let's see, you don't look like the graceful type, so any form of martial arts is our, I think a style for you would be..." He pondered, his chin in his hand. "Grappling. As a farm hand you are probably better at it then you think. It's all about the joints. You apply force, which you have plenty of, at a joint like someones elbow or knee or shoulder, and you can lock their body up, at which point you apply pressure until they either pass out or give up. It's not for everyone, but those with physical strength in abundance tend to like it. I think...it goes by another name this age...what do they call it?...Oh yeah, wrestling."

He paid no mind to Kara leaving, taking her staff and placing it back on the rack. "I told you when you came in, if you don't want to be here don't waste our time." He said to nobody in particular.

Locke had dutifully ignored Karmine and still sat there, increasingly frustrated, trying to crack the whip. Karmine just watched him and chuckled, he was too proud to accept any more help, he was going to have to figure it out on his own. As it was he was modifying how he used it slightly, so he might pick it up soon enough.

Karmine walked over to the two girls. "Excellent fight both. I see you have also learned the value of verbal warfare, good good. Take your opponents mind off of the fight, and you have an advantage that they might not be able to recover from."

He was aware that he had forgone his accent again, but for now he felt like being understood with a minimum of difficulty.

"Ok then, who feels like trying a wrestling match with the farm boy? After you catch your breath and all."

He then said to Doragon. "I'd watch those hands if I were you, most of the girls in my class seem to be natural born killers."

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion kept his face down, trying to dissapear among the much older and much taller students. Here he was, barely tall enough to reach the dummy, let alone hit it. He started with some unarmed combat. His fist flew out just as he had learned it should for a basic punch... and was promptly deflected. He tried it again with the same result. He steadied his breathing, closed his eyes, and punchd as hard as he could, his knuckles protesting in the most painful way.

Giving up on punching, he attepted to kick the dummy, and had better results. Kicking high enough to make contact with his short sleder legs proved tough, and tiring.

Garion looked towards a weapons rack, and decided to practice with those. He realised his age, and snatched a thin looking sword before anyone could confiscate it. The sword was heavier than it looked, and it was all Garion could do to pick it up a few inches from the floor.

He did not realise how utterly pathertic he looked.