Nov 07 17:15:07 109 PA - Basic Training with Knives

From Chronicles

Nov 07 17:15:07 109 PA.

HARRY'S GYM

It's a nice afternoon, but some people are indoors anyway. Harry's Gym is doing good business today, with a busy Thursday leading in to the coming winter. People come and go, with the pool being a particularly popular destination right now. Some of the clientele showing somewhat less shame than the others. Gabriel is dressed in some normal clothing, speaking to one of the women behind the counter about renting the sparring ring for a few hours.

Nice weather is nice, but it isn't everything. Sure, Jac'lyn could go to Moe's or some of the other dives to go and hit something, but this is easier. She's got her usual business casual on. It works as athletic wear, too. She aims for the counter to drop cred to renew her monthly membership.

Gabriel can't help but notice the unfortunately homely and possibly dangerously crazy woman as she approaches. He rolls his hips sideways so that they rest against the counter. "Hello, Jac'lyn! Still running off dinosaur money? Come here to beat some sense into people? You don't really seem like the 'flaunt in a swimsuit' type," he offers jokingly, nodding backward to the pool's entry.

"Hey there," Jac'lyn looks over at the old man and smirks. "Still doing good from the last payday, even after some shopping." She drops the cash for renewing her membership without looking at the counter much. "Came her for some practice, but I swim, too. And what's wrong with me in a suit?"

"Nothing's wrong with you in a suit, you have fine physique. I might be wrong, I just didn't take your personality to necessarily be one to walk around in a two piece for the pleasure of the young men," Gabriel says with a light laugh. "Shopping, huh? Find something good? I haven't actually done anything with mine yet... but I guess old people have a tendency to just stuff it under the mattress, right?"

Gabriel and a short woman, both clad in casual workout clothes are currently conversing over by the counter. The gym is fairly busy today, with many people coming and going from the pool area. The sparring room looks to be largely open.

Jac'lyn switches to a grin, or something more like one. "Those are for showing off, not swimming. If I'm going to train, I'll put on my wetsuit," she pats the duffel she carries, "Or go in in armor. Don't find a lot of changing rooms in the field." A nod comes. "I picked up some new toys, and one for really reaching out and touching someone. Always on the lookout for more, though."

Another individual is present. This would be Bob. He is currently shirtless as well, as much to fit in with the rest of everyone as anything else. This gives . . a very strange view. He is clearly alien, his mirror-reflective silver skin showing that off clearly. But what is interesting is that he is actually fairly well sculpted in both pectoral and abdominal musculature. Not a bodybuilder, but certainly fit. On his hands are a pair of Kevlar knife-fighting gloves on along with camouflage pants. His face though is cheerful, eyes luminescent as he reflects the faces of many off of his body while he pushes towards the crowd -- approaching Gabriel and the other. "One always has to love high powered, long range weaponry. Tell this man to buy a railgun for his company." He says this to the woman who he doesn't know, a half grin on his face. "Gabriel." He says to him, by way of greeting. "I'm sorry if I'm late."

Gabriel turns to look to his... not exactly employee. A hand is raised as he kicks off the counter with a push of his hips. "Hello, Bob. Jac'lyn, this is Bob. Bob, Jac'lyn. The lady here is a fantastic driver. Never seen anything like it before." He looks on to the mirrored shirtless torso, then looks to the man's hands without comment. With a nudge of his chin toward the gloves, he says, "Unless you're suddenly worried about getting hurt, you need to ditch the gloves today. Jac'lyn, you want to watch me teach, or are you off to swim around and make the young guys try to imagine what's under the wetsuit?"

The new guy and his shiny self gets eyed. "Bob, huh?" Jac'lyn looks back at Gabriel. "You should listen to him. A nice big rifle or heavy is always a good idea." Both brows pop up. "What're you teaching? If it'll be a good show, I'll watch. Can always do twenty or thirty laps later." Her smirk comes back. "If I was looking to find me a piece, I'd go to a bar, not the gym."

The silvery-skinned man considers this. "If you're certain." He says. "I thought it might be better to train with appropriate handgear initially." He then just smiles at Gabriel. "Besides, that would have prevented me from using an unfair advantage." Whatever does he mean by that? Either way, he strips off the gloves and tosses them at Jac'lyn -- more just to see if she's paying attention than anything else. "I'll never understand the human preference for constant sexuality. Doesn't the pursuit of it get old sometimes?" This is a general question to both. " . . and I like this one, she has a good head on her shoulders." He nods, sagely. "Now, buy a railgun." He's kidding though, his voice shows it. You paged Bob with 'Bob will have to deal with the pose, change as needed. ;)'

Gabriel moves to slap his mirrored friend's shoulder, looking to Jac'lyn. "Knives. Not the dinner kind." That said, he moves toward the sparring room so that things can actually start to happen, making no comment on sex. Anyone seen his old family picture? Guess not. Nothing about railguns, either. "You can put on the gloves later if you want, but it's important to leave them off first." Zip! He's into the room.

"Oh, I've got to see this," Jac'lyn starts after the old man. "I'll even bring the bandages." She unsheathes the blade on her left hip and is idly handled on the way. Since it fits the topic of the minute.

Bob follows along after Gabriel thoughtfully. "Speaking of which, there is a proposal that I need to run by you once we're done here. And no, not for a rail gun. Close enough, but." He glances over his shoulder at Jac'lyn, though he doesn't comment on the blade. "I've been doing a bit of reading on the subject." He offers to Gabriel as he approaches -- balanced lightly on his feet. "I'm fairly proficient in hand to hand, but my usual weapon is a spear. The techniques are . . different, and the same at the same time. Left hand is kept open to grapple, right hand has the weapon. It's going to be difficult for me to remember that I can slash with it as well, instead of just stabbing."

HARRY'S GYM - SPARRING ROOM

Gabriel gives Bob a nod as the trio continues on into the sparring room. "Well, there aren't a lot of spears around here, not that I've seen. Heard of some weird types using them, but haven't actually seen 'em. But, those are spears, not knives. Very different." He makes his way over to where some of the free equipment is ready, pulling out a light suit of padded sparring armor to protect himself from the dangers of a mirrored punch. Or at the very least to make Bob feel better. Just a few Velcro straps are quite sufficient. "Okay, Bob, up into the ring. Jac'lyn? I dunno, entertain yourself." He flashes a grin, then starts to move to another part of the room.

Jac'lyn nods, "Sure. I'll just call out any tips that come to mind." She walks over to find herself a seat with a view. The knife also works as a personal grooming appliance. It cleans under nails, too.

Bob curiously enough, doesn't put any armor on at all. He looks around, and instead reaches to where the practice weapons are -- taking a metal knife with a dulled blade, plastic around the edges for safety anyway. "I spent some time with a . . " He purses his lips, trying to remember the word. "A Native American tribe. One of their warriors taught me to use a spear in exchange for a favor." He flips the knife in his hand, at least demonstrating good agility. Then, he places the weapon and his hand behind his back as he walks towards the center of the ring. "I'm sure we'll provide quite enough entertainment." He then adopts a basic hand to hand fighting stance and when the weapon is offered, Gabriel might notice something strange. His hand isn't just closed around it. The weapon has become part of the mirrored man's body. It is impossible to tell where his fingers end and the weapon itself begins. He waits for his bit of instruction.

Gabriel watches, but perhaps because of what he saw some days earlier, doesn't seem bothered. Just grabs the three wooden knives that he'd intended to use, then climb under the ropes. One of the eight-inch blades is tossed at Bob's feet. "Pick that up, put the other one in a corner. That's a basic stand in for your generic knife. Drop point, guard, hilt, straight edge, no curve. There are more styles and types of knife than there are people around to use them - so for now, we're using general items." As he gets to his feet, he takes one of the wooden knives in his own hand and kicks the other neatly to a corner. "Wood knife, Bob."

Bob has to emit a bit of a laugh. "What?" He says. "I thought that was why you were wearing body armor." Obviously, he seems to have figured that Gabriel wasn't going to let him get away with it. It takes a little bit of concentration but eventually Bob's fingers reappear -- disengaging from the metallic weapon and letting him place it down where it belongs. "I understand that much from my reading." He offers. "There have been debates as to the best way to build a knife for a thousand years. I think it probably comes down to preference." He takes the wooden weapon, and flips it through his fingers -- adopting the stance again though he doesn't try to merge with this one.

Laughter? No. Not anymore. Gabriel is definitely in complete and professional teaching mode now. Even to the point of being brusque. "This is not a game. People die and people kill, people survive or not based on whether or not they take what I have to say seriously. This is not fun, and it shouldn't be." He allows for a brief pause, then resumes the lesson, using his empty hand to gesture toward Bob's. "Now, look at what you're holding it. If someone was standing in front of you, what would you do, right now with that grip either kill him, or protect yourself?"

"I understand the basic fundamentals of hand to hand." Bob repeats, in regards to the first statement. "I wouldn't have gotten this far if I didn't take it seriously -- fear not." He considers Gabriel's question for a moment. "Well." He says. "In theory, I have several options. If he were to lunge at me and stab at me, I could use my other hand to grab him or grab the weapon. I figured holding it this way was the best start because it feels like it has a lot of options?" He demonstrates. "I could slash, stab, or even punch him with that hand and it'd still work. I'm just guessing though, based on what I read. Where am I off?"

Gabriel moves forward, approaching Bob - lighter, but still professional and serious. "If you were just a guy caught with a knife that you didn't know how to use, yeah, that's what you'd do. And though you may be able to catch things with your hands and live, I guarantee a blade will still take off your thumb in the process. Also?" He takes the other man's hand and wrist gently in his. "The thrust or stab that you've mentioned? Look at what an inefficient and awkward motion that would have been." Pulling and pushing where appropriate, he moves Bob's hand and arm forward - past his own body to an invisible foe. "Feel how your wrist has to rotate through practically a right-angle to get in a position to stab?"

Bob resists the temptation to say 'not mine' -- but as it is not really relevant or conducive to the training, he shuts up and doesn't say that all. "Hmm." He offers as Gabriel repositions his hand. "It leaves the wrist weak to do it that way, too. Feels like if someone made a good parry I could drop it." He steps back then, holding his hand out with the knife laying in it. "So, show me then."

Gabriel steps forward, back to Bob's hand. "No, no showing. You have to start with the grip, or else nothing else that I teach will matter." He opens his palm, gesturing for Bob to do so as well. "You're doing what's called a 'hammer grip.' Basic. Default for people who don't know what they're doing. Sure, it has its place as everything does, but it's not very useful most of the time. Inefficient, wastes energy and motion. It's not about the pain in your wrist or leaving it open to attack, it's about the entire arm." His hand flops open again, and the blade spins along its long axis like a trapeze artist before settling back down. It lays generally along the axis of his palm, the blade exiting forward and slightly up, between thumb and forefinger, the hilt running directly back out to lay neatly at the edge of his wrist. Holding it steady, he states, "Like that. Then *gently* wrap your fingers around it. Like you're trying to hold a baby's arm. Put your thumb facing the long axis, toward the blade, and obviously under the guard."

Bob listens, and watches -- moving carefully to copy the other. "I have to wonder if my ability to merge with melee weapons will be somewhat less useful than nominal, here. It would seem to me that much motion is required of the weapon, rather than having it fixed. Do you use this grip all the time, or change it as is needed?" He does a fairly acceptable job of copying Gabriel. "What should I do with my free hand?" Bob listens, and watches -- moving carefully to copy the other. "I have to wonder if my ability to merge with melee weapons will be somewhat less useful than nominal, here. It would seem to me that much motion is required of the weapon, rather than having it fixed. Do you use this grip all the time, or change it as is needed?" He does a fairly acceptable job of copying Gabriel. "What should I do with my free hand?"

"If you don't know what to do with your free hand, you should just leave it out of the way until you're within the other man's reach, so that he can't cut you. Then you can try to grab his neck, or what have you. For now, just hold it loosely at your side and back," Gabriel replies in a form of answer. "And yes, it's true that this is not the same as punching someone in the face - exactly why I gave you the wooden knife. Because from this grip, which is generally the best 'all purpose' grip, you can very quickly move from a position of quick stabs and slashes -" which he demonstrates in slow motion "- and nearly instantly into a very useful parry or gut thrust." This time the blade comes back up into what vaguely resembles Bob's basic grip, but clearly more elegant as he proceeds through the slow motion parry before his face, then a low arcing pierce with the blade coming from below. Then, with another quick flip of his wrist, it's pointing down. "They call this the 'icepick' grip, and it's very dangerous. Just try those motions. You will not get them right. I don't expect you to. Just see what they look like, in a vague sense."

"It's not that I don't know what to do with it." Bob counters. "More that I was wondering if there was a special stance for it, specific to knife fighting." He raises his hand at chest level, held as though to protect his body. "If I were using my spear, this is what I would do. It would let me grab a wrist, or clothes and the like." For now though, he does as instructed. As Gabriel continues to instruct, he works through the various maneuvers with him. "I'm going to need to spend some time training on my own, for this." He comments, lightly. "When I was being instructed to use a spear, there were a few basic moves that had to be drilled into my head to repeat, over and over again until I got those right."

Gabriel nods lightly, but not to anything really in particular. "Keep your hand down. Use it for balance, that's it. Maybe you *can* just thrust your hand out and grab a sharpened vibro-knife. Most people can't. So when I'm satisfied that you've learned, you can figure out your particulars. For now? Balance and keep it out of the way unless it is absolutely the last thing that he can do to protect yourself." Despite the fact that he looked to have been moving to something else as a grouping, he directs his focus back to Bob's hand. "Drop the knife to the floor. Then pick it up, and see if you can hold it right." He holds his own blade in an obviously useless - to most people - hold so that it can't be visually copied.

"Not to argue, but just to ask a question: No, you couldn't grab a sharpened vibro-knife, but what about the wrist that holds it? Or some other part of the enemy?" There is a moment of pause, and he drops the knife -- picking it back up. His memory is quite good, and after a few seconds of thinking he is holding it a little tightly perhaps but in a relatively good approximation of what Gabriel had showed him. "So?" He asks.

"Drop it again," Gabriel says after a quick examination. "If you can't grab the sharp blade intentionally, do you want to take the chance of getting your hand close enough for him to do it for you? Of course not. Later, when we get into more advanced things, you'll learn more. For now? Keep your fingers safe and out of the way. This is knife fighting, not wrist grabbing."

And so, Bob drops it -- picking it up again. "Very well." He says. This time, he has a little bit tighter of a grip. It's right, the way he was shown at the very least. "How is it, this time?" He asks, demonstrating his hold.

"Hold it more loosely, and put your thumb in better alignment, but with a slight bend." Gabriel reaches out and taps the other man's wooden practice blade with his empty hand. "If you don't hold it loosely, then you'll just have a death grip on it, which means you won't be able to flick between the three proper holds that you'll need to get through most situations." Indeed, from his own light grip the little wooden blade seems to flicker around like a hummingbird doing a magic trick.

Bob nods once and silently; shifting the weapon in his hand to do essentially as directed. He's fairly dexterous though, and actually manages to flip between the three different holds quite well -- until he drops it going to the first again. Muttering a curse in a language or something that sounds like a bear squealing, he picks it up and runs through the three grips again. This time he manages to do it right, even if he isn't -nearly- as fast as the other. But all three grips work.

Gabriel's brow perks, but not necessarily for good or bad being obvious, as he watches the flipping. "Yeah. Don't do that right now. Just give it the modified saber grip base. So, a little bit of motion." He turns and steps back a few paces so that he can look at Bob without needing to yank his neck upward. "This is not swordplay. Nobody's fencing. It's not pretty. The advantage is being fast, and being close. But now, I'll get to a little reason why you should *not* be doing anything fancy with the other hand. Look at what I'm doing." He drops into a stance with a good grip on his blade in the right hand, floating just loosely at the end of his arm. His other hand is up, moving in various distracting motions.

Bob drops into a defensive crouch to match what Gabriel is doing, his own hand upraised in a similar matter. "That makes good sense, and it's what I usually do when working with a spear. So, I understand that pretty well. It's kind of what I was getting at when I was suggesting that I could better use this hand. That's just good hand to hand fighting." He gestures with the weapon. "What would you use the different grips for? Which is best for parrying?"

Gabriel laughs? Not exactly. A smirk maybe as he straighteners back up. The wooden blade in his hand points to Bob's maneuvering empty one. "So what are you thinking, really, with that hand up?"

Bob seems mildly taken aback by the question. "Well, as you pointed out, a distraction. Also seems to help with balance a bit. It just makes no sense to me why it'd work during one sort of weapon fighting and not for the other. It bothers me to have a useless hand, if you will."

Gabriel offers a knowing nod. "I didn't actually mention a distraction, did I? I just set the stance, and you assumed the distraction. If you're thinking about distracting someone and being cute, then you are not in the battle. Your brain and reflexes are not there, and the best thing for you to do is turn, run and hope that if the other guy throws his blade, his aim is off. None of this." He lifts his hand to wave it around randomly in the air like clearing smoke. "Unless the other man is a completely uneducated idiot, a professional is not going to buy into the danger of an unarmed hand. Because the dangerous part is the knife. So just stop worrying about it." He points to the blade in the man's hand again. "Take it up, hold it, balance yourself with the other hand. That's its only job. Now, let's say that we're this far apart -" about ten feet separate them "- and I'm just standing here like this. What would your instinct be?"

"I suppose." Bob says. It's hard to tell if he actually agrees with Gabriel or not, but he is putting his best foot forward to listen to what the other actually has to say. He backs out, adopting the stance that he was told to as he regards the other. "I'd probably wait for you to come to me, really. With a short weapon, I think the defender is at a certain advantage. So, I'd probably drop to a defensive crouch and let you come and counter."

"Sound reasoning. Not necessarily true. But for now we'll say good enough. What if I'm actually standing here as a sentry? A sentry obviously aware of your presence?" Gabriel looks at Bob's stance, observing, "I can see that you'll develop your own unique form later, and that's fine. But for now, accept the basics as I have them to teach."

"I'm not arguing with you." Bob points out, in a conversational tone. "You asked me what I'd do, and I told you." He then considers. "Let's see. If you were a sentry and I had to step in, and I didn't have a gun -- I'd probably turn to the left and use my shoulder and my free arm to keep my blade somewhat hidden from you so you couldn't see what I was doing and be ready to once again, counter your own attack. But I'd come in from the side, like .. " He turns partially sideways and lowers his shoulder a small amount; stepping towards Gabriel -- stabbing straight across his body towards the other's center of mass.

Gabriel shakes his head and moves toward Bob again. He's not upset, just professional. "I'll have to be less toying. Just hold that stance you were coming at me with." When Bob takes the appropriate position, he continues. "What you're doing, is putting your head and neck closer to me. Head and neck need to stay out of the fight. Your heart - or mine - is surprisingly well protected by the rib cage and your arms. But your neck and head? Very vulnerable, particularly as it's the instinct of those who haven't been doing this very long to flinch when an attack or feigned attack is made at their face - if you had eyes, they would blink. Now, I said that I saw you, and if I'm on sentry duty, I probably know what I'm doing. I might even have a sidearm, and I'm definitely going to try to raise the alarm. So you need speed, period. Not being cute, no one experienced in this is going to get distracted by a hidden blade behind an arm any more than a moving hand. So. Advance forward as fast as you can. Do not try to offer a slim profile - it's just not that much slimmer, and it takes part of your arms out of the fight. Follow my hand motion." He moves forward at a walk, then when within range of Bob's theoretically moving blade, the saber grip turns into the ice pick grip he'd shown a while back. The blade sweeps up, cutting at Bob's exposed forearm, then his shoulder rotates so that in a back-swing motion, the drop point touches the side of the metallic man's neck. All in one deadly but beautifully smooth motion. "See, no need to be cute."

Bob listens; watching Gabriel's every move to take all of this in. "Point well taken." He says. "However, if you will permit me a question?" He reaches out -- meaning to grasp the other's hand and place it roughly at the midpoint of the attack. So assuming I'm in the proper stance this time -- he leans his head and upper body a little bit back, adopting a decent hand to hand stance this time. "That puts my neck out of range, so at worst you've just grazed my forearm. That makes good sense. I need to stop trusting in my physical body to protect me as well. The more I learn about this place, the more I learn there is lots that can hurt even me in close range. So, it's good that I learn the fundamentals of avoidance. A man with a vibro-knife might not bother me that much, but a demon with some magic dagger is entirely a different story and the motions are the same."

"True," Gabriel admits. But then - not quickly, but decisively - demonstrates in a nearly identical and beautiful motion that leaning back does not put one's gut or testicles any farther away. "You might not be immediately dead, but you're hurt enough that your neck will come down and just a quick flick of the wrist to the previous hammer grip -" demonstrated, point ending in the right place "- I can either thrust this up right through a man's chin, or into his neck. The head and neck are the ideal targets, then the heart, because they can be considered instant kills. But there are many other 'secondary' targets, if you will, that eventually lead to the same conclusion. Notice how as soon as I had passed his blade, there was no need for me to grab, punch, pull.. it was all with the knife. You see?" He steps back to provide room once more.

Bob nods as he has been the entire time at what Gabriel says, then nods more readily. "One of the things that I was taught was that if you couldn't go for an instant kill, still take whatever opportunities you can. Even if it isn't instantly lethal, it'll still hurt, and if he's bleeding he'll weaken." He considers for a moment. "So, let's try the opposite then, maybe? If you were defending against someone coming in, what would you do?"

Gabriel flicks his wooden blade into an ice pick hold, but looser so that it lays against his forearm. It is extended, the blade just above the horizontal, parallel with the ground, his elbow bent slightly. "First, show him your weapon. He knows it's there, so no sense in not proving it. Now, this is more of advanced training, but this is easier to parry just about any incoming blow, with your arm before you for some protection. Plus, most of us are stronger pushing out than pulling in. This hold uses more of the push than a pull. Plus, when you maneuver to parry? Your body is covered by your arm the whole time by default. Not a perfect defense, but a good one. If you thrust, I get out of the way. If you slash, I parry. Either way, once you've moved, your body is now open. You step forward -" as he demonstrates "- and as speed is a necessity, you use your own momentum to rotate your body so that you're pushing the point of the blade back behind you and into his gut. At which point you turn to finish the job." He stands and shrugs. "It's not as easy as having any one maneuver for every situation. But that is another basic. You turn a defense into an attack."

Bob listens some more; watching intently as Gabriel demonstrates. "That would seem to make sense, and be easier at that." He spends some time going over the basic grips, motions and the like with Gabriel again -- rather unhurried as he aims for maximum retention. By the end of it, probably at least a few hours in, he's got the basic motions down -- though there is still a lot to learn, clearly.

Gabriel watches along. It's going to be a long day of training. But at least the man's got a little talent.