Whatever Happened to the Purity of Unarmed Combat? [Open to all]

[herhonorness]

At the Saganami Naval Academy on Gryphon, a younger Honor had utilized numerous in-depth, realistic tactical simulators in her training to be a starship commander, all of which frequently used intricate holographic projections to put one 'in the thick' of combat.

When compared to the Sensoriums of Transmigration 9, however, Saganami Academy was about as cutting edge as a puppet theater.

For a time Honor experimented with it, materializing random objects, calling to mind old locals and places, memories and scenarios: the windswept plains of Gryphon, the cliffs and jungles of Sphinx, the domes of Grayson.

In a fit of nostalgia, she briefly called up the bridge of HMS Troubador that she had so recently from her perspective been snatched, standing in that cramped space of holo-displays and controls as midshipmen and tac officers rushed about.

(http://th02.deviantart.net/fs44/PRE/f/2009/070/4/5/Goddess_of_Battle_by_wraith11.jpg)

Then she dismissed it, shaking her head.

"Time to get down to brass tacks." She says to Nimitz, summoning up a perch for him.

The treecat sits there contentedly, blissfully munching on some celery pinched from the gardens.

And Honor buckles down and throws herself into some hardcore combat training. Anyone can wander in and interrupt/train with her/learn from her/teach her.

Insert Power Rock Ballads at your leisure.

Comments

Re: .

[herhonorness]

Honor doesn't mind getting in close and personal. And that twirling hands displeases her. What, do you take her for a frog!

Honor blurs into motion, moving in close, her left fist driving towards Morgan's ribs.

She's faster than she should be!

As she angles her body to the right, right arm open and high, leaving an opening to the right side of her chest–

[morganknight]

But she wasn't as fast as his teacher. (If she had been, he probably would have walked right there and then. No hope in that contest.) He registered the opening and ignored it, instead reaching out to seize her arm with bot his hands -- the first part of a basic aikido throw. The next part was to yank her arm across their bodies, turn to bring his right arm up under her armpit and lift her off-balance, then throw her forwards. Simple but effective; he was judging her response to it more than anything.

[herhonorness]

Ironically enough, Honor was also attempting to go for an arm grab.

Morgan grabbing her first threw her off for a moment, but then she grinned.

More or less what I was looking for, she thinks.

She flows forward with Morgan slip his right arm under her armpit...then slams it closed with her shoulder and right eblow and traps it, stepping back and angling her body sideways so that his own arm is just as locked against her back as her arm is against her chests.

Her right foot moves forward to hook into Morgan's left, to bring him off balance so she could throw him herself.

She's a bit denser than average, so it comes down to who can uses the earth for leverage better to throw the other.

[morganknight]

Well now. He approved of this. And he was perfectly content to stand balanced in mutual struggle with her for a moment, particularly because it allowed for a witty comment. "I feel like I should have bought you dinner first," he said with a sly grin.

Then he sagged in her grip -- just for a fraction of a second, just long enough for her body to register it, so when she reflexively shifted to keep her grip, he could redirect her strength to pull her off balance. For all that they'd both gone for the throw, he still kept to his soft style to oppose her hard.

[herhonorness]

"Best not," Honor retorts. "I'm a big eater, and go for the seafood–Ooph!"

Honor is thrown off balance, and looses her footwork.

She still has Morgan's hand, and attempts to fall backwards, rolling back and throwing Morgan over her head.

[morganknight]

He made a note of that even as he went down with her, allowing her to roll with him. But he had no intention of flying far -- to the contrary, though his legs swung up and around over her, he twisted lithely to keep his upper body over hers, going for the submission pin.

[herhonorness]

Her legs are more or less free now.

Double kick push to send Morgan on his way!

[morganknight]

Reinforcing an eternal truth -- contrary to what movies would have one believe, an actual martial arts fight more often than not ends with the fighters on the ground.

The kick bought her a few inches of space and relief from his leverage, which of course might as well have been miles in this sort of fight. He swung his own legs back around to stretch them out, trying to pin her again before she could escape, even as he acknowledged that she probably would anyway.

[herhonorness]

[Want to end this in a tie of sorts?]

Indeed she does, rolling away and springing to her feet.

Grinning, she wades in with a series of fast, jabbing fists strikes, all aimed towards the soft vulnerable portions of his body.

She's trying to test his reflexes, his skill at being water to her rock, and attempting to take away his initiative.

Works for me!

[morganknight]

As soon as she broke free, he performed a lithe kippup, so when she engaged him once again he was ready and prepared. And his hands and arms flew in circles, knocking aside her jabs with feather-light touches and smooth redirects.

He was, he had to admit, actually exerting himself, and that made him grin even as he continued to deflect. He could, if he chose, take a hit properly in exchange for a counterattack, but in this spar not taking a hit had become a point of pride. So instead, he had no problem making this a challenge of endurance, because for all that he was quick and strong, stamina was his greatest physical asset.

Re: Works for me!

[herhonorness]

Honor's usual style was predicated on swift, violent ends to fights, as part of the solid military style the 'Coup de Vistesee' was based on: in a combat situation, things would get broken.

She's not aiming to bruise Morgan in any way, so victory will translate to pinning him and miming a killing stroke.

But his defense is top notch, not blocking with strength, but flowing like water.

Hmmm, she thinks, and starts advancing, pushing him backwards with a series of palm strikes and a sudden low sweeping kick.

[morganknight]

He refused to be pressed; she can advance all she like, but she'll be doing it into him, and rather than move backwards he simply began to circle around her slowly. When the sweep-kick came, he jerked his leg back and went down to a knee --

But that was a feint. Halfway there he rose back up, hand thrusting out flat and narrow and aimed directly for her throat. He'd never complete the blow, of course, but the move was so dramatic a shift in the style and tone he'd adopted this fight that he intended to catch her off-guard with a strike that would be, in a real combat, incapacitating at best.

[herhonorness]

Honor attempts to catch it midstrike with both hands.

If she does, she'll attempt to twist it and throw him to the side, the better to pin him in a submission hold.

[morganknight]

As soon as she caught it, he twisted to hammer the back of her legs with his own sweeping kick. So throwing him was the easy part; he went rolling to the side just as she'd hoped. But possibly she might not find herself in a position to follow it up.

[herhonorness]

Honor controls her fall, and falls forward...

And to her glee, gets to try out a very acrobatic move that usually would be very impractical, save under certain circumstances.

Her hands touch the ground of the practice mat, her arms spring inward, and she pushes...

And flips upward and over her back, feet diving, well, feet first toward's Morgan's rib section.

[morganknight]

That was impractical! But, he had time to ruefully reflect in the moment between her launch and impact, effective in the circumstances, and nothing he can dodge without calling on abilities that would be considered supernatural.

So he tightened his muscles, braced for impact -- and took the impact with much more force than he would have expected. He made a mental note to find some polite way to question her about her density even as he snapped his arms tight around her ankle, pinning in between his forearms. Twisting violently, he brought one long leg up to catch her in the side -- not to damage her directly, but to pivot her violently into the ground as he continued to roll with her pinned ankle.

[herhonorness]

Honor, unfortunately, doesn't have much leverage in this postion.

She crouches, bringing her body inward, and attempts to block the leg blow with her hand, which works...but still propels her firmly into the side of the ground.

She grunts from the force of the blow, and attempts to wrench her legs free, or into a better position to put Morgan into a lock.

[morganknight]

He wrapped one elbow around her ankle tightly, then brought his other arm to just over her knee -- just as her other leg snaked free, with more than ample access to deliver a blow he couldn't quite dodge or resist in this position.

Were this an actual combat, he'd yank her ankle up and slam his elbow down to shatter her kneecap and snap her leg -- ideally fast enough for the pain to cripple her before she could kick his neck. Frankly, he was surprised he'd actually put himself into this position in a spar. This sort of technique was one he ordinarily wouldn't even come close to threatening.

"Well," he said, then swallowed to moisten his throat. "Obviously, I'm not going to go through with this. That would be a terrible waste of a perfectly good leg. Not that I can see it to be certain, but I'd be damn surprised if it wasn't..."

[herhonorness]

She sees the opening and also mimes a crippling strike, a blow with her knee that could either fracture the neck or drive the cartilage of the nose upward into the brain.

Still, she's both mildy piqued and impressed at Morgan's skills. The Kung Fu is indeed strong in this one.

Honor rolls her eyes. "I think we'll keep that a mystery for now, Mr. Knight." She replies.

Then she raises a slightly annoyed yet respectful eyebrow.

"I am impressed: for a practitioner of a defensive soft art, you also seem to be adept at the lethal blows. What style was that?"

[morganknight]

"Well, my loss, then." He meant regarding the continuing mystery, not the spar. He lithely disengaged, freeing her leg as he sprang to his feet. As pitched as the conflict had gotten, he wasn't even breathing hard.

If she wanted a hand up, he'd gladly give her one, but he suspected he wouldn't even be in time to offer.

"I said I generally prefer soft styles," he said, grinning. "And if you'd given me the luxury of sticking to aikijujutsu, I would have. It doesn't really have a name. It's just my style, what I've developed over time."

The statement was essentially true, if guilty of numerous lies of omission -- though he immediately corrected the second-most-important neglected fact. "Well, that was my style barring the use of any technique that could be considered supernatural, anyway."

[herhonorness]

Honor pauses at the mention of 'supernatural techniques.

"Supernatural? Are you referring to 'Chi' manipulation, pressure points, yogic body manipulation, and the like?"

Nimitz comes bounding over to the two.

With illusionary towels.

[morganknight]

"In essence... well, it's complicated. Those are the forms I'm trained in, yes. By technical definitions, magick is just the ability to change the world by sheer strength of belief, and techniques such as those are what I believe in."

He accepted the towel with a "thank you", then casually began wiping himself down, still watching Honor as he did so. Not out of pure appreciation, though there was an element of that; he was curious about the anomalies he'd sensed during the spar, and wanted to see if he could figure them out without venturing into the potentially awkward territory of asking about them.

[herhonorness]

Honor also accepts the towel from Nimitz gracefully, wicking the sweat off of her body.

If you're one of those adepts that can sense the flow of Chi in people's bodies, you'll notice that the flow in Honor's body stop at her right arm from the elbow down.

"Much appreciated, Nimitz." Honor says, flushed as she cools down from the workout.

Suddenly she frowns. "Wait–what the heck are you planning to–"

But before she can finish that sentence, the Sensorium setting of a gym melts away and changes...

Into a jungle clearing, actually. The vegetation is unfamiliar and subtly distinct from anything terrestrial, but on the whole resembles something in-between the forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Forests of the Amazon. The trees have many branches, some interweaving around and into each other, making a perfect environment for aboreally inclined. Overhead, through the canopy, looms a rich blue sky with not a single moon in sight.

Oh, and the gravity is suddenly 1.7 Earth standard.

Nimitz bounds away cheerfully, and you may or may not have some answers to your internal questions.

"Stinker..." Honor growls between her teeth.

Then she stops and processes your explanation.

Magick. Magick. With an outright 'K'.

Well...Damn.

A thousand feelings run through Honor at this revelation, but she sorts through them, and finally says:

"Well...instinctively, I don't believe you. But I could change my mind is compelling evidence presented itself. Perhaps you could perform a Kata and incorporate overt supernatural powers?"

[morganknight]

Sure, Morgan could, if he so chose, easily read her body like an open book -- but there are certain issues of privacy and permission that come with that, along with respect. Curiosity didn't give him the right to pry.

Morgan gritted his teeth as the environment shifted, against the sudden substantial increase in weight. Ouch. Yes, if Honor was comfortable in this environment, that did explain a lot. He took a moment to make some adjustments to his body to compensate, smiling as she asked him to do something overt just as he finished doing something he considered pretty obvious indeed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to be bothered by that fact." Luckily, the prevailing consensus allowed for overt magic without penalty, even if she didn't believe.

He held up an open hand, head height and facing outwards, then abruptly twisted his wrist as he closed the fingers into a fist. Fire erupted outwards of his skin, so it seemed, though it didn't burn, just sheathed his hand and flickered upwards.

"Honestly, I've always found the real obvious stuff to be the least impressive."