Feb 13 18:39:48 107 PA - Expanding on previous knife lessons
From Chronicles
Logfile from Rifts.
The current game time is: Mon Feb 13 18:39:48 107 PA. Kingsdale - Harry's Gym
The Sparring Ring of Harry's Gym is even more spartan than the rest of the facility. It is geared towards non and lightly augmented individuals as Harry's is by and large a family facility. Nonetheless, the walls here are chemically treated and renforced and many cameras keep a watchful eye on the goings on. The actual 'ring' is a boxing ring, complete with ropes and nearby is a large open area with mats to practice martial arts and other hand to hand techniques. Of real note is that there are two armed guards here at all times -- and the place seems to ALWAYS be in use -- and a nurse's office is located nearby in the case of injuries. Apparently, Harry takes the safety of the public quite seriously.
Players- Objects- Exits- Erica <O> Out
Erica walks into the sparring room with a big bag full of supplies. She walks over to a mat and starts unpacking. She removes a gauntlet with three wooden claws attached to it as well as a few wooden practice knives. After unpacking all that she runs over and gets one of the impact pads from against the wall.
Soon after, Sage arrives much like she did the other time. Having gone through some warming up exercises, she makes her way towards the sparring area of the gym as planned. She takes less time to zero-in on where they're gathering this time as she remembers they were over by the mats the last time. "Hey..." She greets simply.
Erica flashes Sage a warm smile as she gives the other woman a nod in greeting. "Ok so I made a something that will kind of resemble those vibro-claws of yours. It should help a little." She says as she gestures down to the gauntlet. "But I thought we could get started with some pad work and then move on to some parrying exercises." She picks up the impact pad off of the ground and looks up at Sage. "Sound good?"
A small smile comes to her lips, "Well, I imagine that might be nice to try out before we get to the point where we're swiping at each other in later lessons." She muses, before she nods faintly and pursing her lips. "Different drill than the stabbing and slashing from last time?" She asks, as she beginning to realizing there might be more to one of her new purchases than how simple the salesman made it sound. "Sure." She comments, as she waits for her instructions.
Erica shakes her head. "No lets do a repeat of those slashing and stabbing motions. I want you to get used to how to do them. Go ahead and mix up the motions as well." She picks up a wooden knife, made to replicate a tactical knife, and hands it over to Sage. "Let us make sure you remember how to do this then we can move on to the parrying exercises."
A faint smile comes to her lips, "Checking up on me, hm?" Sage asks with a faint tease as she figures this may just be a test of how well she's retained and practiced on their previous lessons. She takes the wooden knife from the other woman. Her grip on the hilt seems more sure than it has been in previous lessons. "Alright then." She replies, waiting for the other woman to get the pad in place.
Erica giggles softly as she nods her head slightly. "Well that is what a good teacher does isn't it? Checks up on their students?" She raises the impact pad up to her shoulder and braces herself to get ready to take any impacts. "Ok don't go easy on me and try to mix up the motions as much as you can alright? Also move around to. Don't stay in one place."
"Perhaps... perhaps..." Sage replies with a small smile as she considers the impact pad. "Hm... does that mean that you wont be upset if I decide to tackle the pad for my finishing move?" She asks with a little tease. She begins to move, but more like a boxer to start off with. The hopping motions of a boxer doesn't seem to lend well to stabbing and slashing she notices. Not having the knife-fighter swagger yet, she decides to move to more of a regular hand to hand sparring manner. With her feet more stable on the ground, she's able to generate a bit more power behind the stabs and the slashing becomes more steady instead of jerky.
Erica laughs in her little soft voice as she shakes her head slightly. "Well as long as you aren't upset if I thump you with the pad when you move to tackle me." She sticks out her tongue at Sage playfully as she laughs. Quickly though her expression turns to one of concentration instead of amusement as she moves to block Sage's stabs and slashes with the pad. She nods her head in encouragment as Sage's stance becomes better and the attacks come much smoother.
"A challenge then." Sage comments, as if the option hasn't been entirely ruled out. Yet, her own expression shifts to a more serious one as she begins to realize the drill isn't necessarily to stab the pad so much as try to score a hit on Erica. She keeps things basic enough to see if she can see a pattern in the other woman's defenses to exploit.
Erica a little smile curls her lips as she notices Sage trying to hit her with the knife. She starts dancing around trying to keep the pad defensively between Sage and herself. "Well you are doing much better then last time." She says as she ducks down a little to avoid a high thrust and moves the pad up to meet it. "Getting closer." She says with a little tease in her voice.
"I've been practicing..." Sage replies, as she realizes this part of the lesson is starting to turn into a bit of a dance. It seems to be more interesting than the stationary slashing and stabbing of the last lesson. While she does practice strikes against the actively blocking mat to get a sense of how the blade will move in her hand, she does begin to try and be a little sneaky at times. Sometimes even faking with her empty hand to see if she can sneak the true knife hand behind the blocking pad.
Erica nods her head slightly but doesn't say anything as she concentrates and focuses on moving and dodging the knife. She keeps her eyes on your waist, trying to to anticipate Sage's moves. She squeaks softly as she quickly dodges to the side after almost falling for Sage's feint. "Very good. You have been practicing. How do you feel about sparring a bit now?"
It is easy enough to be a little bold when you know you aren't going to be attacked in return. Sage's form isn't perfect, but basic moves are getting easier for her now that she is starting to get a grasp of the fundamentals. She chuckles faintly as she nearly gets the other woman with the only thing that came to mind at the time. She raises a brow to the question, "I guess we could try... but I thought you wanted to practice parrying a little bit first?"
Erica relaxes her stance as she smiles up at Sage. "Well it is going to be parrying practice. I just want to trade attacks that way you can see my parrying and I'll help you with yours." Erica says as she sets down the pad on the mat and picks up another replica of a wooden knife. Moving back into a ready stance she offers Sage an encouraging smile. "Ok give me an attack and I'll try to parry it." A t least since their first lesson, they've learned to wear a little basic padding to keep from bruising each other much. "Oh..." She replies, as the explanation is offered. "Alright." She replies, before considering the other woman. She considers the other woman before deciding on a stabbing motion. The motion is simply enough as she thrusts her pretend knife towards the other woman's gut.
Erica keeps her eyes on Sage's waist and hips as she trys to anticipate how the other woman is going to move. She has a look on concentration on her face as she waits for the attack. The thrust of the knife makes her swing her own knife down in an arc catching the other womans knife with her own and making the thrust go of target. "Very good."
While she can't keep track of everything the other woman does, Sage tries to watch how the other woman reacts to her own attack. It seems similar to hand to hand fighting, only with a more deadly potential. With her thrusting stab thwart enough, she moves to recover herself. She nods faintly before considering the other woman.
Erica licks her lips quickly as she moves to give a return attack to Sage. She waits for the other woman to ready herself before she decides to mimic Sage's attack. She thrusts with the practice knife in a stabbing motion at Sage's gut. She slows down her movement so that it isn't quite as fast as it might be, giving Sage more time to parry the attack..
Deciding on a general defensive pose, Sage considers the other woman further she waits for the attack. Not having quite the experience or confidence to simply parry, Sage shifts her body slightly to present a more angled target. She has to resist the urge to use her free hand as part of this exercise and simply tries to use her knife in a downward sweeping motion to push the woman's attack off to the side she's angled away. Her sense of timing in this type of fight likely isn't completely there making it as likely to hit to the woman's hand as hitting the blade itself.
Erica watches as Sage knocks away the attack with that downward sweeping motion. She nods her head as she feels the wooden blade get knocked away from its path, spoiling the attack. She brings her hand up to herself and rubs her fingers slightly. "Good. Good block. Ok your turn." She says as she moves back into a readied stance.
A mildly chagrin expression takes her features as Sage realizes she's given the other woman a knock on the fingers for her trouble. "Sorry." She murmurs, before realizing the other woman doesn't seem to be seriously hurt by her somewhat clumsy block. She nods faintly to the comment about resuming. Not feeling overly tricky at the moment, she decides to attack the mid-section once more. This time, its a slash-motion. Likely she's just trying to figure out the mechanics of this new drill.
Erica keeps her eyes open wide as she watches Sage and tries to keep anticipating what the other woman will do. As that slashing motion comes at her she quickly moves her practice kinfe up to block the incoming attack. She doesn't try to block it straight as deflect the force of the knife away from her body. She moves back a little as well so that the slash misses her completly. "Very good attack there Sage. See what I did? I tried to deflect the knife more then stop it completly." She mentions as she gets ready to make her own attack.
Once more, Sage can't really track everything the woman does to react to her attack but she's able to see most of the defense. When her blade is deflected away, she takes a moment to re-balance herself and bring her arm back towards her. She gives an unsure but game smile to the compliment regarding the attack. She nods faintly, "Looks a little trickier, though." She comments as she tries to set herself.
Erica nods her head as she agrees with Sage. "Yah it is a bit tricky that is for sure, but I'm sure you'll get it. Ok a slash this time." She waits until Sage has readied herself befor she moves in with a slashing motion across Sage's midsection. Again she slows down her movements just a tad so that the other woman has more time to block or deflect her attack.
Nodding faintly to her teacher, Sage settles into her best approximation of a defensive stance. She's determined not to overthink her movements as she likely did the first lesson. She does try to edge back a little before she brings her blade in to defend. However, she's only successful in deflecting the blade down some. There's a light scraping noise against the padding. Likely what would ultimately give one of those cinematic cut shirts and thin red line on unprotected flesh.
Erica gives Sage an encouraging smile as she takes a step back after the attack. "Well that was good. You didn't quite get it but you are learning fast. Try to remember that feeling of how the blade is deflected. Try to deflect it just a little more and you'll be safe." She says as she nods her head in approval. "Ok give me an attack this time try to attack twice in a row and lets see how that works out." Erica moves back into a defensive stance watching, and waiting for Sage's attacks.
Looking down at the noise, Sage realizes she wasn't quite as successful as her teacher. "That might leave a mark." She murmurs a little ruefully, before shrugging it off. She's generally been one to stay at a distance anyway, so she expects little setbacks to go along with the successes. She nods faintly with a thoughtful expression as she tries to run the moments through her head before deciding its likely something left to practice. She purses her lips as she considers a possible combination. She takes a breath before deciding on a course of action. She'll make a quick slashing motion, which she hopes to turn into a stab. Figuring the deflection will require her to change her momentum, she'll step forward and try to grasp the other woman with her arm as she shifts to the stab. In a true fighting scenario, she'd likely end up deflected and vulnerable... but it is a training scenario.
Erica trys to react quickly at the combination attack that Sage gives her. She moves her knife up quickly to block the slash and manages to deflect most of Sage's momentum of the inital attack, but the grab on her her arm surprises her and exposes her to the follow up stab. She only manages to move the other woman's knife down lower making the attack less the fatal but still a solid strike against her midsection. She grunts softly as she feels the practice knife impact on the padding she is wearing.
If her teacher is surprised, Sage is equally surprised when she feels her knife hit the other woman's padding. She supposes the act of grasping was an unexpected ad lib on her part. She pauses after the movement is complete as she isn't thinking of the exercise as a deadly fight. "I guess its true... knife fighting is like getting close enough to kiss." She comments, realizing how close she'd gotten to Erica. Then, smiling in a self-depracating manner, she moves to step away from the other woman. "Sorry, I cheated." She murmurs, "I just thought Tirzah might try to be bold like that." She adds before shrugging.
Erica giggles softly as she nods her head in agreement. "No you did great. That was a good attack you did, and there is really no such thing as cheating in a fight really." She shrugs her shoulders quickly as she reaches out and pats Sage affectionatly on the shoulder. "Yes knife fighting is very close and very dirty type of fighting, and you are learning quickly."
"If you say so." Sage replies, before getting a faintly amused smile. "Although, I imagine you could put me in my place easily enough." She adds, before nodding faintly. "I hope I don't have to be up close too many times, but it seems there've been times in the past where the enemies will do their best to get up close." She replies, "So... is it my turn to defend or is this the part where you tell me my homework for the next bit?" She asks.
Erica returns Sage's smile with a grin of her own. "Well next time we are going to try full on sparring I think. Well see how it goes, but I think it might be a good idea." She nods to the practice knife and gestures at them with her own fake knife. "I want you to practice your slashing and stabbing, and I also want you to work on your parrying. Work on how to deflect force with your knife. Yah enemies who are strong like to get in close to use their strength, so you need to learn how to deflect that strength."
"Alright..." Sage replies, "Just try not to beat me too badly..." She adds good-naturedly, before listening to the homework she's being assigned. She gives a thoughtful look as she considers the things she's noticed so far. "And some are creatures that have no ranged abilities to speak of." She adds with a nod, before she pauses. "Oh..." She comments before pulling out a piece of paper. "Here's a list of things that I may be able to train you in... not sure what you'd be interested in, though."
Erica raises her eyebrows in interest as she nods her head. "Oh yah I would love to learn some things from you. I've really been wanting to learn how to box, but so far I haven't gotten anyone to teach me. Maybe you could teach me how to ride animals or something." She shrugs her shoulders as she bends down to put away the practice equipment.
