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 Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:34 pm
Who: Weiyuan & Alex
When: Midday
Where: The Gym
Why: Because we can.
Once upon a time, Alex was happy, and that time was not now. The woman was in a stinker of a foul mood, and had been for some time. She'd made the mistake, during one of those happy times, of offering to tutor her brothers in the fighting department so that Greg wouldn't have to worry about hurting them. Now, in the face of a scheduled class session with Weiyuan, it hadn't been the brightest suggestion she'd made. Granted, she'd made a few less than stellar decisions, but this one involved family.
She hissed a sigh between her teeth, seated on a bench far too early. If she knew Weiyuan - and she liked to think she did to a degree - he'd be early himself. Her boxing gloves were by her side, her own hands wrapped and padded with a thinner version. Alex knew the boy was versed in the way of martial arts to some degree, but that was not what she was going to teach him. That was not her style, although admittedly, the woman didn't have a style to speak of. It was kill or be killed, and since she wasn't dead yet, she figured she was doing something right.
Alex wore her standard black sports bra and grey sweat pants, most of her scars on display, her hair pulled into a lazy ponytail. She needed all her hair out of her face when sparring, and the clip didn't always do the job. It actually made the young woman look older, and more severe, as her bangs were wrapped and drapped by her shoulders, the rest spiked and flowing to her midback. Without her jovial smile and mischevious gleam in her eyes, she actually looked quite...serious.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:43 pm
In fact he was early. He had been there fore at least an hour, testing out the equipment for future workouts. He believed some areas needed toning. He had showered before coming into the area Alex and told him to come to.
He hadn't sparred with anyone for awhile and of course he had already seen her fight. This...would be interesting. As soon as he saw her he knew this was going to be a lot more than he asked her. She wasn't quite focused on the sparring, he could tell. This would either work for him or against him. He figured against him. He was clothed on in his workout pants, hands and feet wrapped in his traditional martial arts style.
He looked at her again. She was not his style of fighting. He never had problems with learning new ways to defend himself.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:57 pm
Alex glanced up as she became aware of someone else in the room. "Oh. Hey. Didn't hear you come in." She offered a smile, but it was only half-way there and somewhat lopsided. The woman stood, grabbing the thin but sturdy gloves and tossing them at the older of her two brothers, trying to be impartial. She had to teach a student. A student. Not her brother. Not little Weiyuan who had so disdained her in China, but who grew to accept her...
"Now," she started briskly, giving a stretch before putting her hands on her scarred hips, "I know you can defend yourself. You're a smart kid. However, if you were against someone with a balls-out style like me, you might have some trouble." Alex winked, a genuine grin forming. As if she wasn't a handful enough, now she was going to heckle the poor guy. Ah well, so she wasn't so good at seperating business and personal.
Motioning to the gloves she gave him and the ones she wore, her arms shot out fast and measured jabs as she spoke, swaying and bouncing on her heels as if in a dance, her voice not once wavering, "I am by no means a skilled fighter, but my job here is to teach you a style you may not be familiar with so you can identify it and react appropriately." She cocked her head to the side, looking at Wei --
-- images of demons attacking her, attacking Kenth, throwing herself in the way, trying to keep the boys safe and --
she stopped her movement, stiffening, smiling tightly. "Make sense?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:12 pm
Wei caught the gloves effortlessly, slipping them on as if he'd done so thousands of times before. He faced her, falling into the Wei that tolerated Alex because she was family. He wasn't quite yet into his fighting self. It wasn't his way and thus would take awhile longer to get. Though he had a feeling that he might have too...just in case her emotions got too far involved with her hits.
He could sense the changes, the mental changes, in her jabs. Off focus. He avoided wanting to say anything, he wasn't the type to egg on a fight just to satisfy his need to fight. Light on his feet, strong in his punches. Momentum was from toe tip to fist. It all made sense in his mind. He mimicked her foot movement before punching the air.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:21 pm
"The important part is being able to watch without looking away." Alex moved to stand in front of him, crossing her arms as she took a moment to watch his form. Too light; yes, boxing was about being light of foot, but it was also about putting all your weight into what you aimed at. Weiyuan was too...restrained. In more ways than one.
She waved and hand and then put both of hers up, palms facing Wei. "Hold your hands like this." Green eyes regarded the boy carefully, thoughtfully. "You're going to need to forget balance in this type of thing, because we aren't going to actually box. What you need to recognize is strength distribution." While she waited for Weiyuan to comply, she walked to the punching bag swinging not that far away. "If you're too busy watching where you think the hit is coming from, you'll end up on your backside."
Another brief demonstration. She struck out, harder than she intended to, but it felt good. Her fists, while not tightly balled, struck the same point on the bag deftly, swinging her weight into each punch. Without warning or change in her position, she leapt straight into the air, her heel connecting soundly below where her fists had been striking, sending the bag spinning. She used the momentum to do a bit of a flip, landing on her feet and grabbing the bag before it could swing away a second time. Had the bag been a person, her strikes would have been to the head, but her kick would have broken the person's sternum. While her punches had been in earnest and strong, it wasn't where she had placed her strength; without careful evaluation, one could very well miss the distribution of her weight and movements.
She held onto it so Weiyuan would not attempt to follow her lead. She wanted him to understand the idea before the method. "Still following me?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:31 pm
Forget...balance. Right. Forget years of how he had trained. As much as he could mentally, his body still would. Breaking his body of it was the hardest part. Wei merely grunted a yes. His inner fighter was looking at Alex as if she was nothing more than a blasphemous being. But he could always apply this things to his style. And if his family asked he could blame it on his American side.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:37 pm
The Italian knew full well what she was asking of Weiyuan, and that it wasn't fair. "Put your weight into your hands. I wont knock you off your feet, but if you recoil each time I do this, you're gonna bruise."
Alex tapped the inner part of his palm with her finger, indicating where she was going to strike. "I need you to focus here. So I can see what it is you're doing with your body that isn't perfect balance and poise." She winked - yes, she was egging him on already - before putting up her hands into loose fists. With a 'here I go' look, she struck out, albeit carefully at first, letting him get used to her movement.
While she used the gloves as striking pads, her eyes weren't on his own grey orbs. For the most part, they rested almost through him, as if she was looking at his spine. Indeed, she was watching his weight movement, even though her strikes never wavered or struck untrue; she was 'fighting' without paying attention, one of her unpleasant specialties.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:51 pm
Wei focused, put his weight into his hands? No Wei, calm...clear. Strength. It was silly, completely not character for Wei, but in his mind he pictured wolves tattooed on the back of his hand and he focused on them. But he could feel it in her punches. The emotions. Emotions brought you down in a fight. The lack of focus. It pissed him off! "Shouldn't you be concentrating on teaching me and not of Kenth?" He gritted his teeth and if it wasn't for the fact that she was still punching his palms he would've dropped them right there and done a swipe. He did not and could not stand unfocused people.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:57 pm
Her strikes had been steadily getting harder, watching. His weight was moving...strangely. It wasn't a methodical or fight-stance that he was moving in. Alex couldn't pin it, but it didn't seem like the youth was quite paying attention to what she had said.
And it would figure that the time she finally was concentrating at what was at hand, Weiyaun would go and say his name.
He could have said Kenth eats pie. He could have said Kenth was running around outside naked, and she wouldn't have heard him. All she heard was the name, and her attention slipped. It shouldn't have been anything, but after her last encounter with the cold doctor, it prickled rage along her skin. The rage that had made her throw everything around her as far away as possible...and then chase those things and throw them again.
That rage slipped, missing Weiyuan's hand, and landing squarely on his face.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:03 pm
Wei grimaced, using the momentum to flip. He stood dizzily for a moment before going down into a kneel, hand on his face. He pulled the glove away and could see the dark blots of liquid. Damn that was a hard punch. Though he guessed he should only worry if his pupils were a different size compared to each other. Then she'd have to take him to the clinic...and thus would have the face the cause of his bloody nose. Maybe. He grunted, pulling off the glove and tilted his head back, closing his nose with his hand. "Yoo hab a pight wi' Kenph o' waht?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:11 pm
Perfect horror rippled across that dark face, her eyes too wide and her mouth ajar. "Oh sh...WEI!" She practically ran at him, gathering the boy into a worried embrace, searching his eyes and face for signs of anything beyond a mere missed hit. Alex bit her lip, lifting one hand to touch the boy's face tenderly...not feeling a break, but, maybe, should she...
"What?" she mumbled, distracted, not quite hearing or understanding what Weiyuan said. "Is there any pressure by your eyes? Don't swallow too much blood...oh god, I think we should take you to..."
Great. She couldn't even say 'doctor' anymore without a bitter taste of bile in her mouth. It tasted like defeat, and she hated it. "...the doctor's office. Just to make sure." Alex fretted over Weiyuan, grabbing a handful of towels, using one to staunch what blood had escaped his fingers. "Wei, I'm sorry..." She looked downright crestfallen, as if he'd just suffered the loss of his left arm rather than a bloody nose.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:23 pm
Wei slapped her hand away, her coddling wasn't helping really. In fact it was making the growing headache worse. He's had worse before...like 3 people punching his face at the same time but that was different. "Ids jusd a no'bweed. Dahm. Awr mah bupils dah dhame dhisse?" If his pupils were the same size, no concussion. If they weren't, then she was allowed to mother him. But gods that look on her face was horrible. This! This is why he chose men. "Sdop 'ookin' ah meh li' dahd!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:30 pm
Alex looked unsurprised as her hand was slapped away, staring at the boy. She listened as well as she could, and then did the worst thing she likely could have in that situation.
She started to laugh.
It was the full-throated, rich laughter that she hadn't uttered in far too long. It doubled her over so that she had to sit, burying her face in her hands, trying to control it so she didn't go into hysterics. There was too much going on in that head of hers, and poor Weiyuan was just stuck in the middle. She didn't want that for him.
After she managed to get her laughter into a chuckling snort, she stood again, retorting sharply, "And if it was anyone but me, you wouldn't be so offended. Calm down Wei, I'm allowed to care about you, okay? You're as bad as that damned doctor is, you know that?" Her eyes were a little brighter as she looked into his, giving a little shake of her head, "You're fine. If that type of hit was enough to scramble your upstairs, I'd have to be the one in training."
Back to joking. She couldn't help it. It was easier than dealing with the encroaching sense of sadness that was threatening to crawl into her throat. Alex hadn't seen RuiZhi for a long time; Kenth was ice to her fire; and now, as to be expected, Weiyuan. The Italian wouldn't admit it, but she suddenly felt very lonely.
"I guess that means we're done today. You should rest a little." She paused, adding, "And learn not to pick on the person swinging their fists." A small smile accompanied her words, only partially joking.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:43 pm
WEi rolled his eyes at her, wiping his nose of the dry blood. Gods blood going down your throat is annoying. He looked at her before laying down fully on the mat. He softened a bit. Things made sense. Just a little bit now.
"You really did have a fight with him didn't you?" Grey eyes trailed to the female, watching her carefully. "I saw him, well, I had to deliver a package to him. It was on his face too, for a moment." He hoped that she could understand what he meant.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:51 pm
She was peaceful enough until the youth started talking about the white-haired man again. Alex looked away at first, not sure what to say, or if there was anything to say. Her back stiffened at his last comment, and it took a moment for her to formulate a reply. She wasn't sure Weiyuan would understand, and on some level, she hoped he never would. Experience was the only thing that lead to grasping such things, and she never wanted him to have to suffer that.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said breezily, even though she knew her body language was screaming otherwise. "The good doctor and I have never got along well enough to constitute anything as a fight or otherwise."
Saying it out loud hurt, it hurt a lot more than she expected it to. It didn't show on her face - only her eyes - that she was resigning herself to the idea that he WAS ice...and she fire...and that they'd only ever irritate each other. Alex had to remind herself that this was not the time to be thinking such things, not around her far-too-perceptive adopted brother.
"You can't get along with everyone," she said solemnly, "and expect everyone to get along. You just have to keep trying and hope it's enough to teach someone something worthwhile." Whether she was referring to the icy doctor or giving another lesson in fighting, well...Weiyuan could desipher it anyway he saw fit.
Not that he wouldn't anyway.
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