Re: Hidden Copse (Private)

[Anei]

Anei nodded tussling her hair happily.

"Alright then, you'll be my unofficial student for a while. You already know the basics of the style. The objective is to avoid directly matching strength to strength. There are no standard blocks. We won't ever be directly blocking an opponents attack. This style is all about moving around the opponent, which you are naturally skilled at, and using their strength against them. You will 'slither' around the opponent."

As he spoke Anei removed his trenchcoat, draping it with care over a tree branch. She would be able to see exactly how his body moved without that getting in the way, his shirt only loos around the chest, his arms now completely bare from the shoulders down, his tight leather pants definitely going to be easy to see. He walked towards her, the snake like sway in his movement seemingly amplified by the long slender form of his body, now apparent without the long coat in the way.

[Paksennarion]

Paks nodded, the concept was simple. But she knew, from all the time spent watching snakes, that it would not be so simple to replicate.

"Okay Amimono-san." She would be ready, and she would learn this. Amimono-san would not be wasting time on her. Paks watched him carefully.

[Anei]

"It could be said that a tree is strong. Hard to move, very sturdy. Strong. This is because it digs its roots deep into the ground, stands straight forward and tall, very direct and straightforward. The principle of my fighting style also makes sense in this way. A snake is not considered strong, but fast and hard to predict. It all but glides over the ground, very lightly, twisting and turning naturally. As such the stances for this style are very light, as opposed to a well grounded stance of other fighting styles. We don't WANT secure footing. We want footing easily moved, easily shifted and hard to predict."

Anei shifted into his basic stance, right foot in front of the left and turned inward, feet spread apart. His right knee was slightly bent, standing on the balls of his feet.

"This stance, staying on the balls of your feet makes it easier to push off in any direction depending on the attack you face. The right foot is ideally placed for a forward movement, the back placed to be ready to launch backwards if needed. It is also easy to shift one's body to the left or right in this stance, provided you lift the leg opposite of the direction your going to counter the balance."

Anei leaned to his right, lifting his left leg off the ground to demonstrate, pushing it outward a bit. To further demonstrate the extremity of the style he continued to move outward until he was getting close to being parallel to the ground, leg held straight out.

[Paksennarion]

Paks nodded, and shifted her feet. Sliding the right foot infront of her left, and then tilting them inward, emulating his stance. She bend her right knee slightly. Concentrating on the feel of the stance. She glanced up at Amimono-san to see if she was doing it correctly.

[Anei]

Anei watched her and moved over to make a couple adjustments, gently prodding her with his pale hands. He moved her legs a little farther apart side to side and turned her left foot so it was straight ahead, t hen nodded.

"It'll feel really awkward at first but once you start learning how to move around with the stance, it begins to flow much easier."

He stood in the stance with her, side by side, then showed her the arm position. His left arm's elbow was by his side, the arm bent in front of his stomach, hand bent at the wrist slightly so his fingers pointed down his right leg. His right arm's elbow also close to his side, but the arm angle up in front of his chest, wrist bent back so that his fingers pointed out past the right side of his neck.

"It's a rather complex set of stances, but hopefully once you get the hang of it, it will be easier. I tried to design it to be very intuitive, flowing and easy to move through after the initial phase."

[Paksennarion]

Paks didn't react when he changed her position except to move where he moved her. She lifted her feet and then placed them back in the correct positions to make sure that her body was following. Then she lifted up her left arm, keeping her elbow by her side, twisting so that her arm was in front of her stomach and her hand was pointing downwards, the fingers parallel to her right leg. She checked his right arm, and then moved her right arm higher, her elbow close to her side and her arm up at an angle in front of her chest. She flattened her palm and moved her hand so that her fingers were sticking past the right side of her neck. She looked over to see if she was copying correctly.

He was right, this stance was uncomfortable at the moment. But she had seen earlier how much it helped him in battle. Paks could ignore the slight discomfort anyway.

[Anei]

Anei smiled at her, nodding. Her arms looked perfect. He moved to stand in front of her and continue to explain.

"As I said, the stance is very uncomfortable in the very beginning, but as soon as you begin to move, it feels like your moving through water, very smooth and fluid. I suppose I can teach you a few of the basic defenses of this stance. Rather than guarding or blocking a strike like normal, this stance specializes in pushing them away with their own momentum, rather than relying on strength to stop their momentum."

Anei crossed his arms in front of his face to demonstrate a very common guarding tactic, demonstrating the wrong way to block.

"If someone were to be punching straight at my face, I would only have to move my right arm up a few inches, hitting the bottom of their arm or hand with my palm. Since this hand is at an angle, that will push their strike up and to the side, and with my palm on their arm, I only have to close my fingers to grab them. If they punch with the other arm, so their arm is at my knuckles rather than my palm, I move my hand up and towards their arm and push their punch to the side, also catching it in the bend at my wrist, giving me a sort of hook to keep moving their arm. Basically, the right arm can defend punches to the upper and middle body, while also grabbing or further controlling the attacking limb as you see fit."

[Paksennarion]

Paks nodded. Slowly moving her right arm as if someone was attacking her, and then moving it back into position. She repeated this a few times, until she didn't feel as akward with it.

"I think I understand Amimono-san."

[Anei]

He nods and moves closer to her to begin demonstrating.
"You'll understand better if you see it in action. Just in slow motion throw a few punches to anywhere above my waist, I'll show you what works best. Then I'll have you try."

Anei hit the stance in front of her, bending his knees a bit more to get closer to her level, since they were focusing on upper body.

[Paksennarion]

Paks lowered her right arm, and curled her fingers into a fist. She threw out her arm, punching straight forward, towards Amimono-san's stomach.

[Anei]

Anei simply moved his elbow from his right arm inwards, effectively pushing the strike to the side so that her fist just slid past his left arm, and by merely unbending his elbow at that point his palm was aimed directly at Paks' neck.

"Very simple movements for a block and counter. Could have unbent my elbow even as i moved it and landed the strike while your strike was still moving. Try another one."

He smiled a little and got back into his stance, waiting.

[Paksennarion]

Paks nodded. This time she punched a little higher and off to the left.

[Anei]

Anei grinned, the placement of this punch being more in an open spot, harder to deflect. nonetheless he acted smoothly, bending his wrist downward with his right hand, curing it around her arm and unbent his elbow, rolling it out and to his right side, so that in the end his right arm was fully extended to his right, elbow and palm up, essentially having thrown her punch aside.

"At this point I would probably counter strike with my left arm to your stomach."

He returned to the stance and smiled at her warmly, though he shivered again, noticing that time from the contact with his hands that his gloves were still off. Human contact felt more strange that it rightfully should, it seems.

[Paksennarion]

Paks watched him, trying to commit his counters and blocks to memory.

She retracted her fist, and this time when she attacked she aimed lower than before and to the right.

[Anei]

Anei watched her concentrating and smiled.

"Of course these are all examples, and not the only options available. Its an art more than a science and in time I expect you to put your own personal style into it."

As he said this he moved his right arm down, bringing his elbow down on her fist, so that her reach was wasted moving downwards as well, and the strike failed to hit. He then extended his elbow throwing a sort of spear hand strike to her throat, not hitting of course, just to demonstrate.

[Paksennarion]

Paks twisted her right arm so that her palm was sideways instead of horizontal. She drew her right arm back, shortening the space so that she could block his attack with her open palm. She tilted her palm slightly, the fingers in closer to her neck, to see if his attack would glance off to the side.

[Anei]

Anei felt his wrist hit her palm, angling it off just a little so that his pinky just barely slid over her neck, and he shivered a little, closing his eyes. If he was done with the senbon he should put his gloves back on, he told himself. He wasn't used to such sensation in his arms it was unsettling. He smiled as she seemed to grasp the concept.

"Pretty good, you get the general idea. Be sure not to move too early though. I almost ended up just spearing your hand instead, make sure your not taking any direct force, just pushing mine away."

[Paksennarion]

Paks nodded slowly.

"Okay Amimono-san." She carefully returned her hands to their previous positions.

[Anei]

Anei nodded at her and flexed his fingers a little, before curling them into a fist and launching a slow punch at her stomach.

[Paksennarion]

Paks remembered his movements from earlier and tried to copy them. This time she tried to wait until he was closer to hitting her before moving.

She moved her right elbow in, so that his fist slid past her left arm, and then she unbent her elbow and straightened her right arm so that her palm could hit his neck if she pressed forward with it.

[Anei]

Anei smiled watching her.
"Very good Paks-chan, I expected no less from you."
He pulled back his punch and then threw another one towards her face.

[Paksennarion]

Paks struggled to remember what he said about attacks aimed for the face quick enough. She was pretty sure she remembered correctly as she lifted her right arm up towards his incoming fist, striking the bottom of his fist so as to push it up. She kept her palm at the angle it was supposed to be at so as to continued pushing his fist off to the side. As his fist passed by she closed her palm around his wrist and then let go, stepping back.

[Anei]

Anei nodded at her again.

"Very good. I could teach you a few combos or more advanced techniques but we'll just cover the basics for today. It's clear you have the general idea for upper body defense, practice will help you learn more about it. Now for lower body, the kicks. You'll use your legs and left arm for those. One of the most basic kicks you will encounter is a snap kick, straight up the center of you, for your inner thighs or higher to hit your stomach. Normally with our left hand the way it is you would try to stop the kick with a straight downward palm. But we don't have the strength for that. Thats why your fingers are angled the way they are. As their kick nears your palm you must rotate your hips and move your left arm out, so that you end up with your arm sort of straight out, elbow bent facing straight down, their leg will be on the outside, against your palm, which is facing out. Just keep pushing until your arm fully extends, their kick will still move up but you'll have pushed it to the side without resisting their force, which is almost exclusively upward and towards you. No resistance side to side."

[Paksennarion]

Paks nodded slowly.

"Would you demonstrate first?"

[Anei]

Anei nodded and slid into his stance again.

"Certainly. Start with that simple kick, and then try out a few more on me. Kicks are a little different so pay attention."

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