[Complete] An Education (Attn: Julio)

[Craig]

Ravak Darrow Ravak sat in the chair in his room, staring into the middle distance beyond the Avendesora patterns in the window of his quarters. His teeth gritted together as he applied the salves and liniments he had acquired from the infirmary to his various injuries. He didn't need to look to know where the bruises were, but once he was finished and dressed, there wouldn't be anything to see.

A few minutes later, and he was striding out of his quarters towards the Training Yard. He played with the ring on his finger without thinking about it. His mind was instead lost to thought, picturing his desk with the two swords lain across it. He knew that every aspiring Warder needed to learn how to fight unarmed, and he thought this was a good day to begin. He had already resolved to see about Healing after this, and that also played on his mind. He hadn't yet been touched by the One Power, and he wasn't sure how wary he should be of that forthcoming experience.

The air was crisp as he stepped out from the warmth of the foyer. He half moved to wrap an arm around his torso, before stopping himself. The cold wasn't actually too bad for the Borderlands, although it probably was out of the ordinary this far south. A grimace established itself on Rav's face, one that spoke of loss and misery. He moved with a slower gait towards the yard.

Time passed, and he had taken a seat without thinking, and realised he was sat on the perimeter of the yard. Other drin' and ji' were working out, some under the guidance of gaidin and gaidar, some not. A few were practicing by themselves, and others were stripped to the waist with sweat gleaming off their bodies. There were clearly others unused to such frosty conditions; he could hear chattering teeth from further down the bench. He smirked at that.

His eyes darted around the yard, looking for a distraction. He happened upon a man wearing the distinctive silver pin of a Dedicated. That in itself wasn't unusual; plenty of channellers worked with weapons. What was unusual is that Ravak couldn't place the man. He knew he wasn't well travelled by any stretch of the imagination, but he had read often enough, and he had met with traders from all parts, but none of that knowledge helped him with the Dedicated. He was of a decent height, which also didn't aid in identifying the man's origin. Brown hair was common anywhere and- Light, just ask the man.

Rav pulled himself to his feet, and picked his way across the yard. The other reason he had fixed upon the man is that he was practicing unarmed, striking blows that made Rav wince. He could half picture himself on the receiving end of those strikes.

Rav cleared his throat as he approached, making sure the Dedicated didn't hit him preemptively. "Apologies for the interruption, Dedicated. I see you are honing some unarmed forms, and I would appreciative of some education." He twisted the last word, letting it come across in two ways. He gave a slight bow now that he was safe from an errant strike.

[Julio]

Daelar shot his left leg out, bring his left arm up and through the middle, his fist ending parallel to his shoulder. He brought his back leg up, shooting his right arm downward. He switched his arms, blocking a hypothetical double attack. He turned, shooting his right leg out into a defensive stance. He blocked high and middle, then brought his arms together, striking to break his opponents arm. He struck out with his right arm, hitting at chest level. He brought his left leg forward, his right leg back, and snapped a kick out to his right, simultaneously striking with a back fist strike to the head.

He fell back into a defensive stance, snapping an open hand block to the front. He stepped forward, pressing down with his front hand and striking straight with the other. He came forward and spun, twisting his front arm behind his back, and landed in a side stance, striking chest level. He stepped forward and punched straight. He twisted forward, facing the way he came. He sprung off that right away, bringing his knee up to block. He twisted his hip, blocking with his elbow. His fist came over top, striking to the bridge of the nose. He stepped forward and punched twice. Another step, blocking high. He brought his back leg up and twisted, shooting out to the side and striking with an elbow to the front. He stepped back into his ready stance, and released the void. Whew! I need to practice that a lot more!

Daelar watched out of the corner of his eye as a Drin walked up to him. Daelar couldn't tell what country he was from, but he was the same height as Daelar. He had reddish hair, and didn't seem very happy to be there. Which was strange, as he had come of his own volition. From how he twisted the word education, it seemed that he was quite used to getting knocked about in the yards. I'm glad I wasn't forced to train out here! As it is, I could choose not to come out, and I still got plenty of bruises. Daelar was rather surprised when the man bowed. Who bows anymore?

"I would be more than happy to teach you how to fight without weapons. However, I would like to know what you know of unarmed fighting."

Daelar frowned. "I would also like to know you name. I am Dedicated Daelar Ralead."

[Craig]

Ravak Darrow Ravak's skin prickled in recognition. That cadence was distinct, even if he hadn't heard of it with his own ears before. He's Seanchan? The Light illumine me. Under that knowledge, and the Dedicated's frown, Rav grimaced.

He only had second- or third-hand knowledge of the Seanchan, and that information was scant. They were Artur Hawkwing's armies returned from across the Aryth Ocean; that was the most common explanation. There were more fanciful stories, including that Artur Hawkwing himself had returned to reclaim his empire. That was far fetched. He also knew that they used channellers in combat. There had been plenty of talk about fires starting without a source, or lightning streaking from the sky. A Tairen soldier claimed they could make the oceans boil, but even with the rest of the stories, that one was too fantastic to be believable.

Artur Hawkwing's armies returned. Who would have thought that possible, after a thousand years? Remembering where we was and who he was with, he bowed again, hand on heart, in introduction. "My name is Ravak Darrow of Fal Dara. Drin'far'ji." Does he even know where Fal Dara is? I don't even know where the Seanchan come from. "Dedicated, I have no training without weapons. We-" meaning Shienar "-don't train for fighting in that way." Who knew if the man, Dedicated Daelar Ralead of Seanchan, understood why that was the case. The answer was obvious, to those who knew of Trollocs and Fades and worse.

[Julio]

Ravak Darrow. Good to know. Yes, it makes sense that they don't focus on unarmed combat in the Borderlands. I'm surprised that they ignore it entirely, though. "In that case, I will start at the very beginning. It is a very good place to start."

Daelar beckoned for the Drin to follow him, and walked toward the center of the open space. He took a short stance, his right foot back about two feet, both pointing forward. His hips were turned out a little, his left arm relaxed up in front of his chest. His right was loosely on his hip, pointed straight at the Drin. "This is a mobile fighting stance. It is easy to do anything from here."

He shifted his weight onto his back foot, which he turned out at a ninety degree angle. "This is a strong defensive stance, though it is unlikely you will every stay here very long, as it is not very mobile."

He shifted his front foot back a foot, and turned his back foot inward a little. It was still pointed out to the right. His front heel was lifted slightly, only the ball of his foot still on the floor. "This is the more mobile defensive stance. It is however not very stable."

He sprung out long, keeping his back straight. His hips were turned straight forward, and his back leg was straight. His front leg was almost at ninety degrees. He snapped his right hand forward with his hip rotation, returning his left hand to his hip. It came up less than an inch short of the Drin. Mastery of distance was important. "This is the front stance that you will use only while punching or striking with your hands. It gives you power and stability. I only punched because it is foolish to use this long of a stance if you don't execute a technique."

He returned to his short stance, then stood up straight again. "I would like you to go through these stances. There are others, but these are the most important."

[Craig]

Ravak Darrow Ravak watched Daelar studiously, as he moved through the different stances. The second form, strong and defensive, looked a lot like a sword duelling pose. Daelar then adjusted, moving into the more defensive stance. Then there was a rush of movement, and a punch was thrown. Rav didn't have time to do anything but flinch from the blow, but it never landed. He gritted his teeth, but otherwise kept his composure.

"I would like you to go through these stances." Rav nodded in compliance.

He stepped into the open place, and started with his two feet together. He slid his right boot forward two feet, making sure they weren't quite in line, to establish a decent balance. He bent his knees slightly, as he had been taught to do with the sword, to further help with his balance. He bent both arms, keeping his hands level with his chest. His left elbow rested beside his belt, whilst his right hung a little away from his torso. "Mobile fighting," he stated plainly.

He moved easily into the next posture. His left foot turned to point outwards, and he shifted his weight back. If he had a sword in hand, instead of balled fists, he would have been ready to fight. "Strong and defensive," he said.

He slid his right boot backward, feeling the roughness of the ground underneath, hearing it crunch. He angled his left shoe forwards slightly. He raised his front heel, and adjusted his weight. He wasn't as comfortable like this has he had been, and understood the Dedicated's statement on how it was uneasy to hold. "Mobile and defensive." He held the stance for a few moments, then returned to standing, boots together.

He was faintly aware that what he had performed was a mirror image of Daelar, but he had done the same when trained in Shienar, mirroring his instructors' posture. Most men wielded their weapons in their right hand, but Ravak had always preferred his left. The thought flickered across his mind and vanished. If Daelar brought it up or thought it odd, he would just explain himself to the Dedicated.

"Was that acceptable, Dedicated?"

[Julio]

The Drin went through the stances, looking rather comfortable. Obviously stances were often practiced by Borderlanders. However, he had his right foot forward rather than his left. Ah. He is left handed. He ignored the attack stance, but otherwise was good. "You need to practice the stance I showed last. It is not often used by users of other weapons, so it is likely more unfamiliar. Other than that, your stances were decent."

After the Drin had practiced the stance for a moment, Daelar moved on to basic strikes. Borderlanders have to at least have some knowledge of this! He settled into his short attack stance, and spoke, looking for understanding between explanations. "First is a simple front punch. It comes from the hip to gain maximum velocity, which will give you all your power. It is different from a jab, which comes straight from the position you are in."

Daelar demonstrated both, the front punch from the long attack stance, hips squared forward. For the jab he came back to his mobile attack stance, twisting his hips outward slightly while he shot his left hand straight out from in front of his chest. "This jab is most effective when hitting your opponents nose. Their sight will go, giving you an opening to do something more serious. The third punch I'd like you to learn right now is the reverse punch. It is simply a straight punch, simply using your back hand. You may need to prepare less, and it can be much more powerful. Especially if you rotate your hip at the same time."

Daelar demonstrated the technique. While he did that, he thought of another important point. "If you return your other hand to your hip while you punch, your punch will be much stronger and faster."

Daelar paused for a moment, indecisive. He didn't like these next two punches, and thus didn't want to teach them. But they were important to know so you could counter them... He would demonstrate them. "There are two more. The hook punch and the uppercut. They are not as powerful, and are easy to block and counter. The hook punch comes from near the shoulder, coming around and hitting your opponent in the side of the head. The uppercut comes up under the chin. One thing you should bear in mind is that while punching at the head is tempting, everybody expects that. Punching the body and arms can be as effective, or even more effective."

"Now, practice the jab, front, and reverse punches. If you want to, you can try the hook and uppercut."

[Craig]

Ravak Darrow Starting with his feet together once more, Rav tried to recall that final position. He slid one leg back, until he was close to resting the majority of his weight on his left knee. His right foot turned outward as he stretched forward, preferring that to balancing on the ball on his foot. He felt that his balance was a little off, and he pushed his boot further out to the side, resting his weight on his ankles now. This isn’t quite right. He straightened hastily, trying to cover up the sloppiness in his posture.

He didn’t want to catch the look in Daelar’s eyes, so he kept his gaze on other things as the Dedicated explained some initial punches. Some of the words came out flat, like he had glanced over certain sounds when learning to talk, covering them instead with extended vowels. He watched the Seanchan move, still wondering how a Seanchan had come to be at the Tower. He thought he would do his own research on that, rather than ask straight out. Daelar moved through the jab and front, his right hand darting. He then performed the reverse punch with his other fist. The hook and uppercut didn’t seem like it had the same reach as the other attacks, and if people would expect facial impacts, he wanted to avoid them.

He positioned himself, a little better this time, in that leaning attack pose. He practiced some jabs, considering whether the power in the attack came from. His shoulders twisted as he moved, his torso turning right as his left arm extended. He bent slightly forward as well, his right leg becoming fully locked straight. He rested on the ball of his right foot now, the proper way.

Straightening, so that both legs were only slightly bent, he completed a few jabs. He forced himself not to lean in too heavily with his shoulder. That move seemed a bit trivial, but Rav was more confident about using it. It was the stance that made it feel substantial.

He dropped again into the attack pose. He clenched his right hand, feeling the disagreeable gap in that fist between middle and little finger. The distance of that thrust was the same, but he knew it was a weaker attack coming from him. His body twisted to add power, but he couldn’t lean forward as well to add that additional force. Recalling what had been said about pulling his other hand to his waist, he tried a couple more times. He couldn’t quite tell what benefit that was meant to be bring, but he did it regardless.

Straightening once more, feet together, he nodded at Daelar. “If you say that striking at the head is an obvious move, I’ll practice those other moves within my own time.”

OOC: Wow, this was tricky to write. I was prancing around, trying these moves beside my desk, in order to figure it all out. I feel like I learnt something, let alone Rav.

[Julio]

The Drin performed the techniques passably, though he turned from the shoulder when he should have turned from the hip, and leaned forward a bit too much. Well, he is rather new to unarmed combat. It is however interesting to note how experience with weapons translates to this.

Daelar moved on to blocks. "Your punches are decent. There are other strikes with the fist, as well as some with open hand. There are elbow strikes as well, but we won't worry about those today. What we will move onto is how to counter these strikes you just learned."

Daelar glanced to make sure the Drin was following what he was saying, then stepped into his stance. "The first we will cover is a block used to stop attacks straight to the face. It comes from the hip usually, though if necessary you can shoot it up straight from your fighting stance. Your hand moves up, in such a way that if you were doing two at once, your arms would cross in the middle. It stops just above the head, about a fist in front of your forehead."

He demonstrated slowly, his forearm crossing diagonally in front of his face, his arm angled slightly down near the elbow.

"Next is the outside middle block. This is for blocking strikes to your chest. Your hips play a big part in this block. You turn your hips in the direction you block, snapping your blocking arm toward the opposite side of your body."

Daelar exaggerated this block, starting with his elbow way out. It came in vertically, and he rotated to the opposite side of his blocking arm.

"The final simple block is the down block. This will be used against kicks, as well as punches at waist level. Your non-blocking arm starts pointed slightly downward. Your blocking arm is over it, elbows touching, and your fist almost touching your ear. You snap the blocking arm downward while returning the other arm. The block should be about parallel with your leg while you are in an attack stance. When you are in a fight, this block will likely be shortened. You should learn the full movement, though, so that you can learn to get good power with the smaller movement."

After demonstrating this block, he turned to blocking the hook and uppercut. He demonstrated both as he spoke. "Both the hook punch and the uppercut are easy to block. For the uppercut, you simply execute a down block, stopping with your hand about parallel to the ground, or horizontal. The hook is even simpler. You simply see which hand they are using, and move your hand from its defensive position up to where it blocks their swing. You try these five blocks, and then we'll finish with simple kicks, then a little light sparring."

[Craig]

Ravak Darrow Ravak understood the method and reasoning behind the Dedicated's first block. Push the fist outwards and away, but don't try to stop your opponent's attack. There was a similar parry he had learnt with his longsword. It required less effort than simply trying to block the blade and push it back, and it presented an opening if your opponent was caught off-balance. Ravak adopted the mobile fighting stance. He practiced, raising his arm in a diagonal sweep in a quick motion from his waist to his head. It required a few attempts before he got the distance between his arm and head right, a fist's width as Daelar had instructed. Rav continued to block under his gaze for a few more minutes.

Feeling satisfied that he had some understanding of the first block, he moved onto the second. Elbow back, arm bent so that it was perpendicular to the ground, he brought the arm forward in an arc. He stopped with his arm just front of his chest, his fist level with his nose. Repeating with his right arm, he put his shoulders into it, as he had with previous moves. He blocked again, his arm protecting his torso, knocking the imagined attack aside. He stepped forward with each block now, alternating between his dominant arm and his right, his forward leg alternating in step. After a gesture from Daelar, an indication about the free arm, Ravak recalled about pulling his other fist back to his waist at the same point as he blocked. Ah, that does actually add something to the block, and it just feels right.

The down block seemed a little foolish, at least initially. With his left fist by his right cheek, and his right hand tucked under his left armpit, he felt like he was cradling an invisible blanket to his chest. He started just with yanking his right hand back to his waist. Such a simple thing, pulling the fist back with a snap, but it did make sense. He moved with both arms next, right fist snapping into place as his left arm swept downwards, stopping as it came to his side. A slight frown crossed his face, as he wondered what to do with his shoulders. He didn't feel like he should move into the block, nor move away. But Daelar was silent, and Rav didn't wish to ask any questions of the Seanchan if he could avoid it.

The uppercut block started as before, but when he moved his left arm he struck straight out, more like an attack with the sword than a block to prevent them. He thought he would need to use that move in a spar, to see how this move was defensive unarmed, but offensive with a weapon. The hook block was what he had initially thought blocking was, before the start of this lesson. Alternating the foremost leg, he moved with the off-hand to a side-on attack. His fists remained clenched as he did this, breaking the imagined blows knuckles on knuckles.

After trying each move several times, he wanted to step through them all again. He did each block in order, almost as an example of what he had learnt. It was for his own benefit, just to ensure he had ingrained each action in his own mind, but it also provided Daelar with his own reminder on what the Shienaran had picked up. Rav finished with a slight inclination of his head towards his teacher.

[Julio]

Ravak went through his blocks, doing them decently. They could certainly be improved, but this was a good start. He still used his shoulders rather than his hips, but that could be fixed later. He had never been on the teaching end before, so this was an interesting experience. He didn't want to teach to much today...

"There are two kicks I will teach you today. They are the front kick and the round kick. First I'll show you the front kick. You have to bring the knee of the leg you are kicking with up to your chest. Then you snap it out straight, hitting with the ball of your foot. Your knee will drop a little; that is normal. If it didn't, you would be kicking upward, which would be ineffective. As soon as you hit, you snap your leg back, knee at your chest. If you don't, your leg will be captured by someone. This kick is most effective a little above the waist, below the elbow."

Daelar demonstrated. From his fighting stance he brought his knee up to his chest, then snapped it out and back, finally stepping forward. "Next is the round kick. This is much trickier. You point your knee at your opponent, both your foot and knee level. You snap it out and back, then put it back. It is useful because it comes from the side, unlike a lot of strikes. If your kick comes from the back, and you snap your hip around, it can be extremely powerful."

"Finally, it is necessary to learn to block these kicks. Naturally, the best way to stop any attack is to not be there. However, that is not always possible. The front kick is blocked by the down block that I already taught you. The round kick is blocked the same way as the hook punch; you make it run into your arm instead of your head. Similar to blocking a hook punch, though, you want to block it farther in. You want to block the kick near the knee, as there is not as much speed there, and you want to block the hook punch near the crease in the elbow."

"Now you practice these kicks. After that, we'll spar a little bit."