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 Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:01 am
"Naaah, Vic! You gotta let me stay! He's teaching us throwing and stuff!" Riley called, countering Antony's mental wish unknowingly. She turned to look at her elder brother with pleading eyes. Well, Riley didn't really do pleading so it was more of an...expectant look. "You could teach us some stuff too! I know you guys do lots of cool things when you get called out," she said, as if offering him a spot in the teacher position made the decision final.
"Now now, don't be over eager, Ri," Victor said with a smile, putting a hand on her head before looking over at Shade. "Well...only if you don't want her. She seems to be having fun, but I'd hardly want to impose her spirit on the unwilling," he answered, his tone light, friendly, and full of good humor.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:07 am
"It's not a problem for me," Shade said with a slight grin. "I'm just showing my kid the basics. He's too darn skinny." He headed back for Antony, standing beside him. "We'll start with a kick. It's one of the dirtiest kicks around, but it comes in handy. bring your fists up at your sides, bend your right leg for support and raise your knee, flicking out with your foot when it's raised enough."
Antony did so, trying to ignore the fact that Riley and her dad? Brother? were sticking around.
"Bring your toes up so you're kicking with the ball of your foot," Shade instructed.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:17 am
"Well I wouldn't worry too much. Size isn't everything, after all," Victor said with a small smile before, ruffling Riley's hair and taking a step back. Instead of leaving he decided to monitor how his little sister faired. Simple strokes like these were ones he was quite familiar with.
Riley screwed up her face in concentration, furrowing her brows and biting her tongue. Over zealous, she tried to pull off the whole thing quickly first. Which didn't work. She lost her balance, falling back into the grass on her bum.
"Try getting the motions down first before actually executing it normally," Victor advised while helping her up. The girl quickly threw off her older brother's hold and tried again, this time simply doing the slow motion version just to get it in place.
"Lift you're leg higher," her sibling instructed, hardly hesitating to point out her faults.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:22 am
"Bend your support leg more," Shade ordered, tapping on Antony's right leg. "The more it's bent the better your balance will be. Keep your weight centered or you'll fall forward, or back."
Antony nodded, looking ever so serious as he started to get the hang of it. "Eyes forward," Shade said. "Don't ever look down or away from your opponent."
"There's no one there, Father," Antony said.
"Not now, maybe." He glanced at the other two, nodding slightly as he realized her guardian was helping her with it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:32 am
She was getting the hang of it too. Though getting her balance in this sort of kick was easier for her, since as a girl her center of gravity was lower to the ground. Sneaking a peek at Antony she grinned before snapping one of her eyes closed in a whince as she recieved a playful smack on the head. "Heey!" she frowned, looking at Victor.
He showed no signs of remorse for the affectionate gesture he punched his baseball mitt and then stood across from her, bending low. "Alright, why not try actually hitting something, hmm? Give it all you've got, right here. See if you're actually getting it."
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:56 am
Antony looked at Shade, expecting him to do the same, but he shook his head. "You're not bending your toes up enough. If you kicked something right now you'd wind up hurting yourself more than it."
It made Antony twitch, since it was obvious that Riley was getting it faster than he was.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:20 pm
Riley looked away from her instruction to glance over her shoulder at Antony. She grinned at him, waving her hand, "You can do it!" Of course, she didn't really realize that her encouragement was probably undesired. Her brother did, however, since he was far more aware then she. He gave her a smart smack on the head with the mitt. Which hurt no more then a pat on the head.
"Come on, Riley, show me what you've got," he said leaning back again and taking a stance so she could kick at the mitt. Riley offered a sour scowl in return. Fine, whatever! She did as he said, lashing out with her foot, "EEYA!" She was about a foot and a half too low to even nick the thing.
"Higher, Ri."
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:26 pm
Antony glared at her back, imagining he was kicking her and brought his toes back so it would hit with the ball of his foot.
"Better. Bend that knee again and keep your back straight," Shade said, tapping the places that needed work.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:36 pm
Riley continued to miss on her tries. Though after the 8th one she managed to hit the side of the mitt, if only barely. Despite all the work they were doing, she showed no signs of tiring. In fact, she seemed more and more energized as then went on, especially now that she had finally "hit" the thing. Of course, right after that she got a bit full of herself and missed completely.
"Don't get sloppy, straighten your leg out more or you won't reach. Come on," Victor scolded, urging her to continue. He watched Antony and Shade out of the corner of his eye, wanting to make sure this were going alright. He sensed something a bit off with Antony's mood, but because of the boy's composure he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. And Vic was pretty good at reading people, too.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:43 pm
"Do it once more," Antony ordered Shade, motioning for his father to repeat the process. Shade nodded, realizing once again that his son had a special gift. He kicked at a slower than usual pace, then stepped back to watch Antony try it.
The boy did it almost perfectly.
"Good," Shade said. "Now turn your shoulders more, bring your hands in here, and here, and do it again."
The kid could copy almost anything after seeing it visually. He just hadn't realized that extended to karate.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:49 pm
She had, once again, stopped to observe her companion. Victor had let her this time, watching himself. Well, that boy was a right good copy-cat! And that was a thought Vic held fondly. It was a very useful skill. He knew his sister was more of the hands-on type. She couldn't do anything without figuring it out for herself.
"YEAH!" Riley cried, pulling down her fist in a sharp gesture of triumph. "Knew you could do it!" Not only that, but he had done it better then her. Mm...she should probably get back to work then! She gave Victor a determined look, "Put the mitt back up!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:57 pm
"Now you can try kicking stuff," Shade said with a hint of satisfaction as he moved in front of the boy, holding up his hand. Antony didn't kick nearly high enough. "Bring your knee up higher before you let your leg kick out," Shade said, going back to picking on the poor kid.
He knew as well as Antony did that it irritated the boy to be criticized in front of the little bird girl, but it seemed to effectively motivate him, as well.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:07 pm
Determined to not fall behind Riley lashed out with another kick, "HEEEYA!" While it still wasn't quite high enough, it hit and it hit fairly hard. Victor had to pause and shake his hand a bit. "Better," he said with a nod, "Harder, though. Still harder and still higher. If you're going to kick you need to be able to kit the mark the first time. Come on." Well, at least Antony wasn't the only one getting criticized.
"Okay, okay, geeze," she grumbled, falling back in her stance to start again.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:09 pm
After a few kicks and Shade catching it, his hand was starting to sting just a bit. "Now, punches," he said as he straightened. "Spread your legs and bring your arms up like you did with the kicks."
"Show me," Antony demanded.
"Nope. You figure this one out yourself," Shade told him. "How's she doing?" he asked Victor.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:19 pm
"Not bad. She's got it down, she just needs more practice with height really," Victor said as he took a break again to sooth his hand and switch the glove around a bit. At least her form wasn't bad. Getting her kicks higher took time, since often it was a matter of stretching them a bit farther then they were used to.
"I want to try punches!" Riley exclaimed eagerly as Antony got to move along. Though they didn't look as fun as kicking, mind, but she wanted to know how to do everything.
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