Welcome to Gaia! ::

Pygmi pounced on Dag's back, grinning like a teenager. It was fun, being with the people that meant the world to her. Just being with them without having to worry about someone dying.

"Yo!"

"Do you have a death wish?" she asked as her hair skimmed the water. "Not like I don''t like water but.... it''s a cat thing... "

Mae snickered, remembering what Dag was talking about, then turned back to Jule. "Yes, it looks like that. Or at least, something like that, you'll learn to adapt all these things to your own personal style. None the less, it's worth noting that the reason you'll use this guard for almost all situations. There are other guards you might use, but this is the first and most important guard. It's solid and good for defending. It allows you to hold your center line, which is one of the most important things. A good strong center line."

Mae smiled and rubbed Jule's head. "You're doing pretty good, for your first time. If I start to confuse you though, let me know, and I'll back up and explain. But if you think you have it, would you like to try a bit of actual practice?"

"Alright, before you learn to attack, you should have a solid concept of defense. However before you start learning to defend, it's good to know what you're defending against, which would mean a basic knowladge of attack. This is a paradox, and which you learn first is a good indicator of the type of school you're in. I learned how to attack first, so that's how I'll teach you. Before I start the drill, I'll show you a few different types of attacks, and then I'll have you defend against them." He changed the grip his sword to a proper fighting grip. "The most basic is tsuki, which is a simple thrust foward with the blade, you raise your arms and extend, and combine the movement with a step to close distance. The result is that you'll skewer your opponent's throught, that is if your opponent is completly inept, as it's rather easy to defend against. Here, I'll show you how one would do it." Mae said, just before bringing his blade into jodan and attacking the mast in a quick motion.

"I'm going to show you one more, than I'm going to ask you to try them. It's a basic overhead swing. It should look like this," Mae paused to demonstrate a quick overhead swing, shouting loudly as he hit the imaginary opponent. Pausing a second to return to the proper mindset, he continued. "For all strikes, it's important to have ki ken tai ichi, meaning you want to hit with the strike at the same time your body lands from the attack step, and at the same time as you give your shout. Try Tsuki now."

Mae nodded, impressed by her first attempt. "Good. Do it again, faster."