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 Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:54 pm
Ari watched Khalla move with a practised eye. She was used to seeing how other fighters moved, trying to anticipate attacks or blocks, or just watching other displays to pick up new ideas. She could see Khalla had confidence, even if she was finding it hard to relax. That was fine. Ari'd seen much worse on a first try, or even after enough lessons for the person to think they were some badass punk who could come in here and pick a fight.
"Not bad," she told Khalla. "Start putting your shoulder behind the punch, give it a bit more power. Your hips shouldn't move for this, but you should end up twisting your upper half - just a little," she cautioned, not wanting Khalla to overdo the movement.
Later on, she'd try Khalla on a punching bag and this would be a lead-into stepping forward on the stronger punch after a few jabs, to put her whole weight behind a punch. But for now, small steps.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:17 pm
Khalla wished she could have spared a smile of gratitude for the praise, but she was too busy concentrating. Then again, that wasn't exactly the type of praise one smiled about. This was a gym, this was a learning experience.
There weren't even words to be expressed. She just gave a swift nod and planted her feet more firmly into the mat, concentrating on not twisting them with her punches. Her face had contorted into one of determination and concentration and as her pace began again, she attempted to throw her shoulders into it instead of using her whole body in the swing.
Despite the fact that she wasn't saying much, she could understand the pointers she was being given and how to adjust herself to them even if she was still no expert. Maybe she wasn't hopeless, she could still learn.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:25 pm
Khalla's behaviour was actually impressing Ari a lot. The blonde was quick to adjust herself, didn't complain, and even if she had trouble getting the moves exactly right, she had the base down quite nicely. Practice would improve the rest. Ari was starting to feel like teaching Khalla wasn't going to be a futile endeavour. Perhaps everyone just needed to have a life-threatening reason to learn new things? Hmm, perhaps not.
"Alright, I want you to try crossing over. Hit the opposite pad with each punch," Ari suggested. They didn't need to get anything perfect today and Ari was by now very interested in seeing how much Khalla could pick up. "You'll swing your upper body a bit more from the hips this way. Don't force it though, just move as much as feels natural."
It wasn't that Khalla was a 'natural', Ari decided. Khalla had the wrong build and wrong posture for that. But she was coming across as a quick learner and a serious student. Ari thought she'd pick those traits over a 'natural' any day.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:40 pm
Khalla was pleased that the irritated tone had seemingly altogether melted out of her new teacher's voice. Whatever she was doing she must have been doing right and that thought was comforting as she stood here, an amateur in an expert gym. Not even good enough to be an amateur, really.
Chalk it up to the laughable training session with Castor, her Senshi reflexes carrying over into her daily life, or maybe just the fact that she had always been a good student willing to learn, but Alkaid was picking this up. It wasn't as fast as she would have liked (she would really have appreciated being able to walk out of the gym and know she could break Tanzanite's nose) but it was a start. A start to something that would be useful, really useful instead of just glittery and pretty.
"Cross-over," she repeated it after the girl training her as if that would help her understand it better. Whether it did or not, she shifted her weight from foot to foot for the span of a few heartbeats before following through and doing exactly as she was told (at least to the best of her ability). She began crossing her right to the left, then reversing. She was concentrating a little more than she should have been on her torso twisting, but she was managing.
If she could just manage to learn this, not even master it but become passable, life was going to get a lot better. No more broken noses.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:15 am
Ari watched with a sharp eye, seeing the places Khalla had problems with, but overall pleased. A sudden gleam appeared in her eyes. It should have been a warning sign.
"Alright, we should definitely get you on a punching bag," Ari decided. She began steering Khalla over, talking quickly as they moved. "We need to get you working on sequences - jab, jab, punch! I'll show you how to put your full weight behind that last punch. And I didn't want to say anything before, but was your nose broken recently? Hmm, we'll have to work on your guard, too..."
On fire with all the things she planned to impart, Ari moved Khalla about however she felt she needed to. Apparently a serious-teacherAri was a scary Ari. Too bad for Khalla, who may only just now have realised what she was in for...
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:06 pm
Khalla didn't miss the sudden change in Ari's demeanor. In a way it gave her an overwhelming sense of pride to know that she had done that, she had taken this unwilling participant and made her into a willing teacher.
Then of course, as she was being led away to some other unknown destination, Ari had to make a comment about her nose. Amidst all of Ari's babbling (she was listening, she was!) Khalla brought up one gloved hand and tried touching her nose. It was still a little tender, but she hadn't thought it had been noticeable. Was it noticeable? On top of trying to remember everything spouting from Ari's mouth, now Khalla was worrying over the fact that her nose might be crooked. She wasn't exactly vain, but being disfigured was an unsettling thought.
Khalla only came back to her senses as she was brought face-to-face with punching bags and felt Ari's hands grabbing at her arms to position her. She had no time to think about broken noses anymore. She fell into step as she was told, forced herself to break down and pay attention. Ari had gone from an unwilling participant to a proud teacher to something like a slave driver at this point. All Khalla could do was remind herself that she needed to learn, she needed to do this, and persevere.
It was going to be a long day.
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