Rising up from the ground

Neela Garcia · 06-21-2012, 06:27 PM

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OOC Laughs

It had been a long time since Neela had last practised her fighting. For the last year fighting had been a taboo subject for the collie, something done only when there was no other choice and certainly not practised. Recent events however had shown Neela that this was wrong. She felt guilty about what had happened and probably would for the rest of her life but she hadn’t been the only one hurt by what had happened.

Kaer had hurt Tony. Pandora had been kidnapped and cut to lure her out. JAce, Keldava and Honrin all acquired their fair share of wounds fighting Marcas.

If Neela had been in fighting shape then likely none of those injuries would have happened. She had let her skills slide through purposeful disuse and as a result people had gotten hurt because she couldn't, or was too scared to, fight her own battles.

More than that she was ashamed at what the trauma had brought her to, cowering away from allies just because they were strangers, unable to leave the pack territory without looking over her shoulder every few minutes. Training herself to fight again wouldn’t be an instant solution, but hopefully by doing so she could regain her confidence, and get gain the ability to better protect her pack.

For the past few days Neela had been coming out to a quiet clearing she had found about half way between the fort and the edge of Casa's territory. A small stream ran through a patch of sandy ground just big enough to practise on. Also present in the clearing was an old, thick tree from which Neela had hung an old punching bag she had found in a corner of the Meria's hull, filled with sand and suspended from the thick rope she used onboard her boat.

Things had started slow but after a few days Neela found herself falling into old forms easier and easier, her punches and kicks gaining strength and her limbs regaining toughness lost to leisure. Slowly, bit by bit, the years of training she had been given out of misplaced fear about her mother returning was coming back to her, ready to be put to use for a better use, the defence of her pack and her family. Her new family.

Despite her progress Neela was still sticking with the basics for now, peppering the bag with basic punches and kicks, occasionally darting backwards to avoid or block imaginary blows. Neela's fighting style was one she had built over time and it was suited to her lithe form, focusing more on dodging and deflecting than straight out blocking. The collie moved in a circle around the bag, ducking and weaving, punching and kicking. Her mind and body both entirely focused on the task at hand.

Upwards strike where a muzzle would be, step back and duck, raising her hands to block any low blows to her head. Spin and strike with the back of her hand as she rose, then follow that up with a roundhouse kick before pivoting the other way, catching the bag in a hug and driving her knee where the groin would be. What had started at the clumsy motions of somebody who hadn’t fought regularly in over a year was slowly becoming the practised, fluid movements that Neela had once been used to.

Hopefully it would be enough; in the future she had no intention of watching her friends and family be hurt because she wasn't good enough to help them.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 06:47 AM

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Sorry this is so short

The giant was doing what he did best, patrolling Casa's territory. When he was not hunting, training or spending time with Juliet this was usually where he could be found to be. In effect he was looking for trouble, only so he could scare it off of course. Sometimes he roamed on his set patters, sometimes he stuck to the borders only and other times he wandered around, the path chosen by his feet random. He had ended up by the Crying Souls, the tree lakes that he had found before turning back on himself and heading past Fort Kingsbury.

He was somewhere beyond the Fort when he heard a strange noise. His eyebrows pulled together as he listened. It was a dull thumping but of a kind he had never heard before. Lorenzo had no knowledge of such things as punching bags. Setting off again the Knight male pushed aside the underbrush that was in his way, trying to come up with an explanation for this confusing sound. The male peered through the greenery and relaxed as he recognised the woman. It was Neela, his brother's girlfriend.

He pushed his way fully out into the clearing, looking at the large sack type thing that was hanging from the tree. Aye Neela. 'Tar yah doin'?

Stock image thanks to =DemoncherryStock

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Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 08:22 AM

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OOC Laughs

Slowly Neela started to increase the speed and complexity of her movements, bringing in several kicks aimed high at head height alongside the quicker punches. She had just delivered one strong roundhouse kick, rattling the bag against the tree, when Lorenzo’s voice sounded from fairly close besides her, starling the collie who hadn’t noticed him approaching.

Caught surprised and off balance Neela started to fall down towards the ground from her kick, her foot catching on the bag when she tried to bring it back down to the ground. Neela managed to throw her arms forwards and pushed off the bag, turning the fall into a roll that left her alongside Lorenzo. Neela muttered for a few seconds, rubbing her shoulder where she had first hit the floor, before tilting her head towards Lorenzo, offering her Soon-to-be-mate’s brother a small but friendly smile, ”Heya Lorenzo, ‘m practising.” she stated simply, stepping back and cocking her head at the large wolf, ”Want ta get back inta shape, want ta be able ta defend myself if someone attacks me again.” Neela’s tone was casual but a sudden, violent twitch of her ears showed the sudden burst of undirected anger that arose at her words, ”Don’ want anyone getting hurt tryin ta protect me, not again.” She added suddenly, feeling an unusual need to explain herself.

Neela fidgeted awkwardly for a moment before her eyes caught sight of a flash of bright colour on Lorenzo’s arm. She looked closer, picking out a bracelet nestled in his fur. The bracelet itself looked quite nice but the jewel set into it was a bright, gaudy purple and didn’t seem like the sort of thing he would wear. ”Interesting bracelet ya got there.” Neela said, nodding her head downwards gently towards the bracelet, her tone of voice communicating an unvoiced question as to what the unusual jewellery was about.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 10:59 AM

The dusty boy winced as Neela ploughed into the ground, an almost guilty expression on his face, if it had been another male he would have been rolling on his butt laughing but Lorenzo was generally less of an asshat about such things to women, at least the ones he knew and got on fairly well with. He did make some kind of attempt to catch her but his attempt fell so short of her he might as well not bothered. Still he had the grace to look at her guiltily.

"Ahh, sorry." The moves she had been using though were extraordinary, Lorenzo had always been under the impression that because he was large such maneuvers were off limits to him because of his weight and height, it would be physically impossible for him to perform then but maybe Neela knew a way he could practice. He felt a little uncomfortable at her angry explanation, he knew about the fight out in the forest, everyone did pretty much but he had not mentioned it, not wanting her to be embarrassed and now his ears laid back, displaying empathy for her instead of pity.

He blinked in surprise and looked down at his bracelet. "Aye, thes es mah Bratherhood token. Tha piece of fluorite marks me as ah member. Tha Mirino, ah trackar." He was quite obviously proud of his achievement, being the first of anyone except the leaders to have the lofty title placed upon his shoulder.

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 12:10 PM

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OOC Laughs

”Not yer fault, shoulda been paying attention.” Neela reassured Lorenzo when he apologised, brushing some dirt off the fur of her thigh as she spoke, tail waggily gently behind her. Solitude was all good and well for training herself up but Neela was a social dog at heart and she would rarely complain about taking a break to talk to somebody.

Neela didn’t know what exactly the Brotherhood was but it sounded important so she forced a smile back onto her face, ”Ah, congratulations then.” There was a few seconds of awkward silence, filled only with the soft sounds of Neela fidgeting, before she caved in bad bashfully asked ”Umm, what exactly is the Brotherhood?” she asked, hands coming together as she twiddled her fingers awkwardly, embarrassed by her ignorance. While Neela had tried to learn as much as she could about her new home when she had arrived at Casa between her withdrawal when the attacks started and the long hours at sea necessitated by her fishing to help support the pack, there were many things she had missed about the packs culture and this was apparently one of them.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 12:54 PM

insert scottish accent that i cant be bothered typing

Her words were met with an almost cheeky grin. She was a beautiful woman, he noticed that certainly, just because he was enamored with Juliet didn't mean he couldn't see the beauty in others. And Tony had caught himself a rare gem. But he didn't stare and make it obvious that he thought she was pretty, his face was relaxed into a friendly expression. It changed though and he blinked almost disbelieving what she had said, she didn't know what the brotherhood was? He remembered the way his father had put it,

"Ahh, Jazper sayhs, A circle ah like minded canines within tha pack who 'ave made an oath tah the leadership tah protect the pack, all those who need protection and tah 'elp those en need. Basically we defend everyone if tha is a need be reason. Yah 'ave tah display real skill to be accepted, yah have tah go on ah night of reflection near the hot springs. An these is whar you find yah Fluorite, it tells avryone yah ar part of that Brotherhood." He held up his bracelet closer so she could see it better,

"Yah can wear it wherever yah want s long as others can see it. Juliet made me ah bracelet for eet but yah could have a necklace or put it into ah sword of shield.."

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 01:31 PM

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OOC Laughs

Neela cocked her head as Lorenzo spoke, listening intently to his description of the brotherhood. A group of luperci, dedicate to protecting the pack and any who needed it. It sounded good, a noble goal, one that Neela could certainly dedicate herself to. Slowly the idea solidified itself inside Neela’s mind as she mulled it over; she wanted to join the brotherhood, dedicate herself to protecting the pack, to protecting her family.

There was a glint in her eyes as she turned back to Lorenzo, her earlier frustration driven away by happiness now that her directionless training had been turned into something with a goal. ”What ya say skill, exactly how good ya mean? I’m a fair hand at unarmed fighting, had quite a lot of training when I was young. Tis what I’ve been doing the past few days; shaking the rust off.” There was a hint of respect to Neela’s tone, engendered by her newfound understanding of what Lorenzo’s acceptance into the brotherhood actually meant coupled with a hint of determination. If her skills were enough she would get them recognised, if not then she would work and improve them until they were.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 04:08 PM

shitty filler post is shit

He could see the spark that grew in her eyes, the kindling for its fire coming from her determination, the same that he felt himself. The newly found respect with which she spoke to him didn't go amiss either. He cocked his head as he looked at her,

"Tha all depends on what yar planning to apply fer. Jazper is open tah new ideas. An ah don't theek there iis ah spot fer unarmed combat. Ahm a tracker, Mirino. Eff thars sambody lurking about then its mah job tah track em down and send em on thair way." Just like he had done with those two trouble makers who had trespassed.

"Can ah see some oh yer moves? Do ya theenk yah could show meh some of em?"

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 04:34 PM

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OOC Laughs

Neela didn’t reply with words, simply nodded and flashing Lorenzo a grin before turning back to the punching bag and settling into a fighting stace. She was still for a moment, closing her eyes and pretending that the bag was an actual enemy, like she had been doing earlier. Opening her eyes she charged forwards, spinning on the ball of her foot the second she got within range to deliver a roundhouse kick at thigh level to the bag, a loud thump echoing around the clearing as fur hit leather.

Neela made like she was going to switch sides and go for a punch but abruptly changed, snapping off what would be a light kick to the ribs before her leg had fully lowered and darting in that direction, twisting around and using that momentum to slam an elbow into the bag at groin height. Jumping back Neela switched into a more defensive stance, ducking and circling with her arms held up more like a traditional boxer, throwing quick punches coupled with what would be scratches and gouges with her claws in a real fight before she remembered that she was supposed to be showing off and launched several head height kicks at the bag, hex flexibility coming in handy here.

Abruptly she went for a killing blow, curling her hand into a flat fist and then slamming it into where the neck would be, uncurling her fingers as she drew the hand back in a motion that would cut a opponents already crushed throat to pieces if she extended her claws.

Dropping back into a neutral stance Neela started to pant, letting her body work out the heat she had just generated, and turned to Lorenzo, ”Well, what’ya think? ‘m good at grappling and stuff as well an knife work, but can’t really show ya those on a bag.” she said, tail wagging gently.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 04:40 PM

He was some kind of awestruck as he watched her demonstration, her moves were so fluid and graceful unlike his own style which was more brute strength and less finesse. He relied heavily on his mace as the main injury causer since getting too close to a smaller faster opponent would put himself at a disadvantage, his mace gave him reach to crush and hammer away as he liked and if he had a shield with him then the wall of battering muscle was practically unbreakable.

He even winced slightly at the elbow that would have been about groin height on a normal sized man and resisted the urge to cover his own family jewels with his hands, an instinctive reaction. Again he admired her without letting on that he was, her body bending into shapes that his own never could being so big and bulky as it was,

"Aye thas reall.. somethin. Haha. Yah fight like a hellion Neela, naht many coulda stood up tah that. Ow abouts you show me some oh those moves maybe, ah could use some new techniques to practice."

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 05:03 PM

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OOC Laughs

Neela smiled widely when Lorenzo praised her fighting, tail continuing to wag uninterrupted as he asked her to show him some of the moved in more detail. ”Thank you an yeah, can do.” she said brightly, moving back into position in-front of the bag. ”Roundhouse kicks are fairly simple to start with; you probably won’t be able to get one up to the head till you’ve done a lot of practise but someone your size could probably snap someone’s leg in half kicking to the thigh, even if you didn’t getting kicked there really hurts.” Neela settled deeply in her stance, bouncing to emphasise where her weight was placed, ”Ye want yer legs slightly bent and one in-front of the other like this. Most of yer weight should be on your front leg, though if you get hit like this move it onto your back leg to keep yer balance."

Neela stayed still a little longer to let Lorenzo see her stance before continuing, ”Your gonna do to actual kick with your back leg, try and aim to actually hit them with your shin and not your boot, though make sure they aren’t wearing any metal armour before you land the kick; even you ain;t got much muscle before getting to the bone there, that’s the point of using it for the kick.” Neela patted low on her shin for a moment, showing the area she was talking about before she slowly went through the motions of a kick, pausing with her leg in the air, ”Your front leg should never leave the ground while yer doing this, just rear up onto the ball of yer foot and spin. For this kick you want to aim about rib height but then drop the kik so you’re kicking downwards at the last moment, put some weight into it and hit into the meat of the thigh.”

Neela moved back into her ready stance and then went through a full speed kick, causing the bag to move and shake at the bottom where her foot had struck, ”Works better on luperci than it does bags, ‘ere stand still for a minute.” Neela moved over to Lorenzo and squared up, miming the kick slowly and ending up with her shin resting on his upper thigh, ”Ya want ta try and hit there. Hurts a lot, can numb their leg if ya do it hard enough.” Done instructing Neela backed off and smiled, gesturing to the bag, ”Want ta give it a go?

Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 05:15 PM

Once again he was five months old and sitting attentively whilst Jazper explained patiently about how to correctly swing a sword and use a shield to fight off an attacker's advancing blows. He was focused almost totally on the collie with a strange intensiveness that maybe she would find uncomfortable, he would have stopped it had he actually realised what he was doing. He copied her as she moved, following her advice and direction into the correct stance. The male's tail was held curved in the air behind him as he held his body rigid with the weight resting on his leading foot as directed.

He had never held his body in this way before and it felt bizarre, he was used to the concept of having one foot placed backwards for more balance but never had he put so much weight upon one leg before, it was almost painful, Lorenzo was a very heavy man and if he fell upon Neela could easily crush her spine or ribs, Tony would almost certainly hate him if he destroyed his bride to be. He watched as she demonstrated the kick upon the punching bag and then slower upon himself, showing where the lef was supposed to land and where it should turn.

Then it was his turn to practice this maneuver and he again fell into the stance, feeling the straight in his leading legs top muscles, eager to start Lorenzo started to move himself into the kick just like Neela had shown him. But the male was unused to being in such a position that coupled with a slightly off center of balance resulted in him instead of completing the kick instead overbalancing and ending up on his behind in the grass.

"Bugger."

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 05:36 PM

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OOC Laughs

Neela was oblivious to Lorenzo’s intense gaze, focused on her own movements as she was showing him the kick. When Lorenzo moved to try it she crouched down a few feet away from him, watching his movements intently. She winced slightly when he fell on his backside, knowing that the embarrassment would probably hurt more than the fall, before she set about correcting him. ”That wasn’t bad for a first attempt but you could improve your stance a fair bit. You put farm too much weight on your front leg and ya were too rigid, the stance should feel natural and just have you slightly heavier on your front, make sure to keep yer limbs nice and loose, here watch me.” Neela went back into the starting stance, jostling her lower body about to show how she kept her legs loose, ”Idea is you can move easily and recoil a bit to take the energy out of a frontal attack.” Neela gestured to him, ”Here push me, lightly mind ya, about the same amount of strength a smaller wolf would have.” Lorenzo did so and Neela caught the push with her forearms, sliding her back leg back an inch and bending her knees slightly to take the force but otherwise remaining stationary.

Neela spent several minutes with Lorenzo getting his stance right, poking and prodding him until he was positioned roughly right and then pushing him in the chest hard until he had managed to distribute his weight right and could keep his balance against her pushes. Satisfied she nodded happily before moving on, ”Your actual kick wasn’t too bad aside from yer lack of balance and keeping yerself too rigid, you tried to make too much of the force come from yer hips. Remember the power from this comes from the snapping of your leg and the movement of your hip working together, but your leg is gonna be doing most of the work.” To demonstrate Neela lifted her leg into the air and fired off three kicks without lowering it or moving anything below her knee, each kick being less powerful than a full roundhouse but still respectable. ”’ere, give it another go.” she said, moving to the side to leave the bag free for him.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 05:45 PM

He grimaced in paid, he had landed on his tail and stubbed the furred appendage but it was really mostly his pride that was bruised. He fisted a hand through his hair, pushing the dusty brown locks back from his face. He worked with Neela, letting her control his body and direct him as she saw fit, the stance became less and less strange to him the more he practiced it, it was still incredibly weird to have so much balance on one leg but he was beginning to get it down more stable after about fifteen minutes of constant correction.

He watched her second demonstration with a more reserved admiration, it was a lot lot harder than it looked, and his opinion and respect of the woman had gone up considerably in the last thirty minutes or so they had spent together. Finally he was ready to try it again, sliding into the now familiar set of motions, the Knight brought up his right leg, twisting and snapping his foot forwards, bending like Neela had shown him. He could still feel the wobbly tough in his stationary leg, as though it were threatening to give way below him. He staggered away as his kick hit and knocked him off balance, although this time he didn't fall over but it took some quick footwork to prevent that.

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 06:07 PM

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OOC Laughs

Neela leant her hands on her hips, watching intently as Lorenzo tried the kick again, doing better with this attempt but still not doing it at a level where it could be used in actual combat, ”You’re getting better. You’ll improve this as time goes on, just practising will improve your balance and you should probably try and work on increasing your leg strength, you’re really heavy; its muscle so its good weight but its still weight when yer balancing on one leg.” Neela paced around Lorenzo, ”One thing that would help yer is putting more force into it; you’re only half committing at the moment. The faster you’re moving the easier it is to keep your balance, think of walking; half the time you do that you’re on one leg but you don’t fall over, tis the same concept, its easier to keep your balance when kicking fast.”

Neela moved in-front of Lorenzo, casually raising herself onto one leg with her arms crossed, ”Standing on one leg is harder than it looks, specially when you can’t use her arms to balance as easily, I’ve been working on my balance for years, useful thing both with fighting and working on a boat.” Neela lowered herself back down onto both feet again, smiling encouragingly, ”Like ah said though, yer improving pretty quickly. One thing ya can do is make sure your arms are in a guard stance and as you kick, raise one to cover your head and tspread the other out a bit, it’s a little thing but it helps with balance and then as you improve you can start moving them to a more natural position.” Neela demonstrated the position she described, showing off a little and actually jumping about a foot into the air on one leg when she had her arms up, flashing Lorenzo a grin and a small mock bow as she gestured for him to try the kick again.

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Lorenzo Knight · 06-30-2012, 06:21 PM

Like all the times before he listened to advice and corrected himself where he went wrong and improved his failings when they fell short. He was no master but he was on the start of his journey to becoming one if he so wished to pursue it further. He went through the kick again and again, each time it got a little easier, the balance came quicker and he became more confident at it. In time almost two hours had passed since the start of their little teaching session and once again Lorenzo stood before the punching bag that was almost an enemy to him now.

He bunched in on himself and curled around, bringing up his right leg from the ground and using the force of it to swing his body forwards, using the strength of his leg rather than his hips. His foot extended outwards and time seemed to slip into slow motion for him and he twisted on the ball of his left foot. And then suddenly it was on fast forwards at twice its normal speed. His shin connected with the punching bag with as much force as he could muster and there was an almighty crack from the tree and the punching bag went sailing through the air and bouncing to a stop several feet away. A piece of the trees branch ripped away hung from its tattered ends.

Lorenzo blinked in stunned silence for a moment before laughter bubbled up his throat and the male doubled over trying to breath through his gasping guffaws.

Neela Garcia · 06-30-2012, 06:38 PM

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OOC Laughs

Neela blinked dumbly for a moment, standing there with her mouth half open as she tried to process what had just happened when Lorenzo tore the bag clean off of the tree before she joined the taller wolf and burst into laughter, almost bending over double with the force of it, ”Nice strong leather so it don’t break, strong rope I use for my fucking sails so that don’t break, didn’t manage to find a strong enough tree it seems.” she choked out around her laughter, moving over to inspect the bag. Aside from a chunk of tree now hanging from its rope it didn’t seem any worse for the wear; it had been made long ago by someone much better at leathercrafting than Neela herself. ”Ahh bloody hell, can’t believe ya broke the fucking bag,” Neela chuckled, using her foot to roll the bag into a bush at the edge of the clearing for now.

Neela paused for a moment, tilting her head to consider Lorenzo and think about what to do next before she grinned and approached him. She had initially felt the slightest bit awkward around Lorenzo, what with the bad blood between him and Tony and their sparse interaction thus far, but two hours of training had acted as a decent icebreaker and she was much more at ease now as she settled infront of him, holding herself loosely in one of her more advanced stances; left hand held half outstretched and right held low and close to her body, ”How about yer try out somma that stuff ah just showed ya?” she challenged playfully, beckoning to him with her left arm and bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, ”Watch it with the kicks though, solid contact is fine an all but no need ta go tearing my leg off.” Despite being a legitimate reminder her statement was also a joke to get things started and so Neela prepared herself, settling comfortably into her stance and watching Lorenzo for any signs of movement.

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