One foot in front of the other

Keldava Wolfe-Denahlii · 06-14-2012, 07:12 AM

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Word Count → 304 :: OOC

For the most part it was a quiet and peaceful day. The birds were singing, the sun was shining and the residents of Cercatori D’Arte were either inactive or well away from the area Keldava was in. The only thing that spoiled the silence was the occasional loud yelp, coming from the small clearing that Keldava was in as the adolescent canine took another tumble to the ground.

Keldava growled angrily as she picked herself up off the ground. She had spent the morning so far trying to train her new body for fighting but she wasn;t making much progress. While she could walk fairly well now in Optime form and even run sometimes trying to learn to fight was a whole other beast, especially since all that Keldava could really do was try and emulate the few times she had seen her mother or another canine fighting in Optime. Consequently she had spent her time thus far doing less fighting and more either throwing sloppy, misaimed punches or not even managing that and simply falling to the floor in a heap. Her backside and muzzle were covered in bruises and her fur had a fair coating of dust and grass, in one case mud from when she had fallen face first into a puddle.

Her knives lay in a pile along with the leather used to hold them to her thighs at the side of the clearing. Keldava had – wisely – deduced that attempting to use the knives while she was in a state where she couldn’t even punch or kick very well would be an extremely bad idea.

With a heavy sigh Keldava moved herself back into rough approximation of a fighting stance and started again, moving slowly through a series of clumsy punches and trying not to trip herself up this time.

Jace Wolfe · 06-16-2012, 12:31 PM

+400

Almost two weeks had passed and yet she still limped, the jagged wound on her foot causing pain every time she set it down. Small growls came from the woman as she walked, anger in her stride. There was retribution though, she had made the ones who had caused it pay for their daring. Her daughter was home safe and her friend defended. Now she was trying to work out the answer to a different mystery, that had her tracking the sounds from quite a distance away. The yelps and yips that drew her in closer. she was curious to see what her youngest child was up to.

She had to stifle her laugh as Keldava once again ended up on her rump, having a hard time balancing in her optime form. Jace tsked quietly as she observed where her daughter was going wrong, holding herself at a strange angle and moving her legs incorrectly, it would be no surprise when she fell again as she attempted to make some kind of headway in her training. Without notice Jace submerged herself back into the underbrush and made it all the way to Thornberry, retrieving two long sticks from Temo's workshop before quickly heading back to Keldava's impromptu sparring grounds.

"Stop! If you carry on that way you're going to really hurt yourself." Jace lightly scolded as she limped out from the undergrowth with her two long sticks. For now the sticks she set on the ground and looked at Keldava. "For starters your stance is wrong. Widen your legs, and bring your center of balance lower, like this." Though it pained her with her injured rear paw Jace fell into the first and most simple stance that any warrior would know.

"The disadvantage is towards us in almost any fight. We are women, we are small and fragile." The words were bitter upon her tongue and a disgusted look came over her face, she found the stereotype very offensive, "But though they are a failing, your slight of size can be your greatest asset. Speed and lightness of the feet can overcome brute strength and brawn. A greater opponent can fall before you if you apply the right tactics, the correct attitude and mindset. Half the battle is within the mind, if you go into a fight thinking you will fail then you have already lost, do you understand me Keldava?"

Keldava Wolfe-Denahlii · 06-23-2012, 09:16 AM

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OOC STUFFS HERE!

Keldava's head jerked to face the trees as her ears caught the sound of somebody approaching, her nose picking up Mahnaya's scent a moment after. Confusingly her mother was carrying two sticks as she limped out of the undergrowth, though Keldava's attention was brought away from the sticks when Mahnaya started to talk about her attempts at a fighting stance.

Keldava's ears dropped and she whined in embarrassment when Mahnaya dropped into a stance, completely different from her own and a lot more stable looking as well. Awkwardly she tried to shift her own stance into something closer to Mahnaya's. Several minutes and two trips to the ground later she had somewhat succeeded in getting her stance better; she could at least shift her weight and throw a few clumsy punches without falling over standing like this, a huge improvement!

Keldava's attention was taken away from her balance, nearly causing her to fall a third time since Mahnaya had arrived, when Mahnaya started talking again, this time going off into a, slightly angry, speech about the difference in size between males and females. Keldava, who was already managing to outgrow her rather short mother, only just managed to bite back a cheeky remark about such, torn between respect for Mahnaya and happiness she was getting taught by her and Keldava's cheeky nature. She managed to keep quiet but the thought brought a small grin to her muzzle.

"Yes Mahnaya." Keldava nodded when she was asked if she understood Mahnaya's speech. The word had made sense but, and Keldava's ears lowered in frustration once more here, they didn’t seem to apply to her, "But, I can’t move fast. I just fall over." Shifting had been one disappointment after another for Keldava; first she had been weeks behind her siblings in actually getting her new forms and now she could barely use Optime form, while they moved about easily as though they had been walking on two feet their entire lives. She whined sadly at the thought, temporarily forgetting what she was doing.

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Jace Wolfe · 06-28-2012, 05:40 PM

Jace was a prideful woman and the idea that one of her children was unable to defend herself filled her with a burning fury to help Keldava until she could depend on herself like she had always done upon Jace. The arctic hybrid wouldn't always be around to save her from danger and fight off those who would harm her so she had to teach her what she could while she could. Still her child's embarrassment and disheartened look prompted her to reach out and rest a hand upon her shoulder,

"This will not come to you immediately, I had to train for weeks, months and years still before I became where I am today. I am always learning myself, if you master this correctly then you never stop learning and in one respect you're always an novice because there is always something new that you can dedicate yourself to learning. There are so many different styles and ways, this is just one of them, my style, your own may be completely different, exactly same or anywhere in between those two." Keldava finally got her stance close to correct after a few attempts, although it was clear she was no graceful pixie just yet.

"That's better." Her doubled over ears fell with her daughter's hopelessness before raising themselves back up again, showing that she would not let this disappointment get her down. "You can only do what you can which is practice and practice more. Ignore the others and what they are doing, you think too much of her sisters' and brother's successes and so sure of your own failure that your continued failure is practically assured. What did I just tell you? Half the battle is within the mind, if you go into a fight thinking you will fail then you have already lost." She quoted herself again, this exact phrase had been repeated to her so many times,

"Do you want to know how long it took me to become secure enough in my optime form to begin fighting, two months. Two months of training and learning to walk and move from dawn until dusk whilst my sister managed it straight away. I was so angry at her because of it but it wasn't her fault, just like it isn't yours either, some of us have to work harder to achieve our goals. And look at me now." To demonstrate her point Jace moved her body back and forth into a series of extremely complicated stances, kicks and punches that blurred in the air and showing off the dexterity she had worked so hard for, even injured it was not a displace to sniff at, and when she was finished the woman was not even breathing hard.

Keldava Wolfe-Denahlii · 07-06-2012, 02:08 PM

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OOC STUFFS HERE!

Keldava’s eyes were wide as she watched Mahnaya throw out a bewilderingly complex series of punches and kicks. Keldava hadn’t really been paying attention to her Mahnaya when they were fighting the kidnappers, she had been more focused on getting out of the way of their weapons, and seeing her Mahnaya in action for the first time brought hope to her heart that one day she would be able to move like that.

”Yes! I’ll work hard!” Keldava barked enthusiastically, nodding her head hard and nearly disorientating herself again. Grinning she tried to mimic what Mahnaya had just done, yelping as she lost her balance and had to windmill her arms and hop about in order to not fall over. Keldava managed to regain her balance and gave Mahnaya an embarrassed grin, ”Maybe easier stuff first though?” she asked; much as she wanted to do the stuff MAhnaya had just showed her she the last few hours had taught her that trying before she was ready would only result in her falling over more.

Keldava shook her head briefly, trying to clear away some of her disorientation before facing Mahnaya, determination in her eyes, ”What do I do?”

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Jace Wolfe · 07-14-2012, 01:40 PM

That enthusiasm was what she wanted to see, the spark that would smoulder until it burst into flames and consumed every inch of self doubt. She laughed as Keldava unwisely tried to attempt the stances she had just demonstrated and flapped her arm comically to stay standing. Her eyes crinkled with mirth, her sharp teeth glinting in the light. Now that they had gotten over the self confidence issue at least for now anyways Jace was ready to start instructing even though her foot protested its unwillingness to continue she mentally threw her leg the bird and stooped down picking up the two sticks she had brought with herself.

She handed one to Keldava and then stepped away from her so that their sticks would not strike each other,

"The key to everything is balance and poise. An opponent can be larger, stronger and have a better weapon but without balance you might as well just stab yourself through the heart and get the fight over with. There are many different ways to learn this balance. To some people it comes an naturally as though they were feline, but for others; you and me its harder." She was repeating herself a lot to make sure the message and lesson sunk in,

"The way I learned was through intense and trying battle where you hardly have time to raise your weapon and block never mind think in any reasoning manner. My teachers were the best of the best, if an arctic wolf ever offers to teach you martial arts or any kind of survival training, never say no, unless of course they ask for something in return that you cannot give them. I guarantee you a broken promise like that will result in your demise. Now.." Suddenly her whole demeanor changed, she became inconceivably cold and her voice was almost harsh as she barked out an order,

"Student! Defend yourself!" Without any other warning than that Jace lunged forwards, swinging around her staff at about half power.

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