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 Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:44 pm
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Twenty minutes walk from Crystal Academy, thoroughly out of Ari's way home, there's a gym. Not your usual 'aerobics classes and yuppies on treadmills' gym, this was one without trainers or supervision. You cam here if you knew what you were doing - or looking for someone who knew what they were doing. Staff was minimal and they left you alone (as long as you cleaned up after yourself - if not, consider yourself banned).
The people who used the workout equipment were serious about bodybuilding or bulking up. Off to one side of the equipment was a large mat-covered area, almost always in use by at least practitioner of a martial art. Several punching bags of various sizes hung from the ceiling. At one of those punching bags, Ariana Knight was hard at work.
Her parents had a strict curfew on her, but with the tiny white lie of wanting to join school clubs or go shopping with the other girls, Ari had enough time after classes to run to the gym, change out of her school uniform, and get in anywhere up to an hour's workout before quickly showering, changing and running home. Not every day, but often enough to keep her edge. So far her parents weren't suspicious, and the other gym regulars had accepted the presence of a schoolgirl in their gym after seeing how serious she was.
Hands protected by black kickboxing gloves punched out a complex sequence. One of the staff members braced the bag against her hits. She wore tight exercise shorts and an athletic crop top. As she moved, her red braid swung behind her like a snake waiting to strike. Sweating like a horse and grunting with the force of her heaviest punches and kicks, Ari was far from the reserved Crystal lady she was meant to be...
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:11 pm
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She had to do this.
Khalla stood outside a gym that she'd be recommended to after asking around at school. She was simply standing there, staring at the door as if it might open as a sign for her to come in. Passersby stared at her oddly - the girl standing in the middle of the sidewalk staring at nothing. At this point it had started to snow and her face was going numb from exposure to the cold, but still she could not make her legs move.
But she had to do this.
So what if it was full of muscled older men with sneers and the power to break her in two? She was a Senshi! She could.. well, she could do nothing, actually. That's why she was here.
With a deep breath that sent a cloud of air billowing away from her lips, Khalla reached out and grabbed the handle of the door with her gloved hand. Pushing it open, the unique smell of a gym hit her full force - sweat and must. Trying to ignore that, Khalla took a few steps inside and let her eyes sweep over everyone there. They seemed to be ignoring her for the most part, which wasn't exactly helpful. Her winter boots made a dull thud against the floor and the heat of the room already had her unbuttoning the long white, winter coat that had become a permanent fashion accessory. She'd thought to go to her dorm and change before she came, at least, because something about showing up to a gym full of men in her school uniform just seemed kind of creepy.
Speaking of school.. didn't she know that bright red braid from somewhere? Khalla's eyes were drawn to the mat at the side of the room where a girl about her age was doing some form of combat exercise. She didn't know exactly what it was to save her life, but she was drawn to it because this was exactly what she was here for. Making sure not to step on anything or bump into anyone, Khalla made her way across the gym and stopped near the mat, trying her best to ignore the few people that turned to stare at her. She had packed a gym bag but hadn't the faintest idea if she'd even have any luck here. Now that she was staring at this girl, she was hoping.. just maybe.
"Uh, excuse me?" She didn't really want to be rude and interrupt, but sometimes when something was important there was just nothing to be done. This, in her opinion, was one of those times. It was literally a matter of life and death.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:23 pm
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Ari had moved onto practicing her kicks when a soft, female voice spoke up behind her.
Eyebrows drawing together, Ari didn't break her rhythm. She certainly didn't turn around to see who was speaking. "There are still spare punching bags," she forced out between kicks, voice terse with the effort of continuing her set smoothly. "I don't care if this is your favourite, your usual, whatever. No reserves and I'm busy."
Ari finished her set with a few more kicks - and if there was a little extra force behind them due to the annoyance of being interrupted, the staff member holding the bag didn't complain so Ari didn't care. That set done, Ari paused and wiped the sweat off her brow.
The presence behind her hadn't left. Scowling, Ari turned around. "What?" she snapped. Then she took a good look at the girl. Young (no younger than you, something in her brain noted, but Ari waved it away), vulnerable, sweet. Not the sort of female who usually braved this place. The female fighters knew to stay out of each others' way, too.
"No shoes on the mat," she said, absently, while still studying the girl. There was something familiar about her. The winter clothes didn't tell her anything. A uniform would have given more away, but also would have earned the girl attention that she clearly wasn't able to fend off. (Ari'd had to punch more than one guy who thought her school uniform meant she was prey.) Crossing her arms over her chest, Ari eventually gave in. "Something I can help you with?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:46 pm
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Well, Khalla kind of expected this reaction. It was with that thought in mind that she simply frowned and tugged her gym bag up to her, waiting patiently for the girl to get finished with whatever she was doing. Sure, her response was a little rude, but Khalla had interrupted her first - it was earned.
"No, that's not what I -" she attempted, her words drowned out by the beating sound of the girl's limbs against the bag. She was being meek, which was unlike her, but this place was incredibly intimidating. She could just imagine Tanzanite standing at a punching bag, wailing on it herself. Alkaid shuddered at that thought and shook her head to try and clear the image away. Out of nervous habit, Khalla reached up to brush away her loose bangs, only to realize they weren't there. A moment was spared to curse Ursula, then she simply brushed her fingers over her foremost dreadlock in an attempt to not look quite so awkward about finding her own hair drastically different still.
She jumped a little as the girl snapped and whirled around, but said nothing. She'd been thoroughly shocked by it and seemed to be, for once, stunned into silence. She simply shuffled back a little to get her boots off the mat, standing instead on the floor right before it, then looked up at her helplessly as if to say 'is that alright?'. She was so terribly, terribly out of her element.
"Uhm, yes, actually?" Why was she phrasing this as a sentence? Khalla cursed herself inwardly but tightened her grip around the handle of her bag and pushed forward. "I was wondering if maybe you could teach me?" Khalla realized, straight away, that it was a bold request and took half a step forward with a hand held up to stop the girl from walking away. Then, of course, she remembered the rule about shoes and quickly corrected herself. "Just consider it, okay? I know it's.. it's an odd request, but I need this." There was a neediness in her voice at least, something close to desperation. If she couldn't find help in this, she might have to repeat her mistake with Tanzanite and next time that mistake could be fatal.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:56 pm
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Ari huffed and rubbed at her damp bangs. She studied Khalla, not really understanding what the girl wanted, which made it much harder to decide how Ari should respond. The dreadlocked blonde was a meek little thing, but Ari couldn't hold that against her - the redhead hadn't been at her most confident the first time she'd stepped in here, either. And Ari hadn't had to approach a total stranger and ask for help, either! So the blonde has some guts, anyway, coming in here and asking.
"I... Do you... even know what you're asking?" Ari asked, tone and expression skeptical. "You don't know me. Do you even know what I'm doing? What style I use?"
It wasn't that Ari didn't sympathise with a girl wanting to defend herself. It was a dangerous city, what with terrorist threats. Even before that, Ari wouldn't have faulted a girl for wanting to know how to defend herself for muggers or persistent guys. But surely there were better ways to go about it. "Shouldn't you... I dunno... sign up for classes or something? A dojo?"
Well, it was true that those were rather expensive. Ari knew - she'd looked into it. But classes needed money, and that meant letting your parents know what you were doing.
"Aaargh." Ari grabbed at the back of her head with both hands. She heaved a sigh and glanced at the blonde again. "Right, I can see how that could cause more problems. Can I ask why you think you need martial arts training? And... why me? It's not like I'm an instructor or anything."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:17 pm
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"No, I don't," she admitted, reaching up with one hand to stroke one of the dreads hanging over her shoulder. "I don't know anything about you, or your fighting style, but I don't know anyone else that fights or what styles they use either?" She had to start somewhere and that somewhere just happened to be here, all because one of the many acquaintances she had told her this place had people skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Said acquaintance had looked at Khalla the same way this girl was now - like she was kind of crazy.
"You're right, it would cause a few problems," like the fact that she didn't exactly have the money for it herself, and she didn't want to have to explain to her grandmother why she was signing up for it. Her cover story after the battle had simply been that she'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time, the unfortunate victim of an accident. If she took lessons for this on top of that, her grandmother would be suspicious. Gran wasn't a stupid lady.
She frowned slightly as the redheaded woman grabbed at her head, as if she were having some kind of mental war with herself. Was this really that much trouble? Khalla hadn't thought this would be easy, but she certainly didn't think she'd be giving anyone (other than herself) grief over it. "I got roughed up a few weeks ago," she stated it simply, her face betraying nothing. There were no details, just a simple statement. "I'm helpless, defenseless, and I was in pretty bad shape at the time. I'd really rather not be in a situation like that ever again." She shrugged her shoulders as if to say that was all, that was it. There was obviously more to the story, but this was as close to the truth as Khalla was going to get. At least she hadn't lied?
"And why not you? You're my age, and if I'm right you're from Crystal too, aren't you? You're someone I can relate to instead of," her gaze flickered out over the rest of the gym, glancing at intimidating man after intimidating man (though it was speckled with a few equally intimidating women), "well. People I don't relate to at all." She sounded confident, she was rationalizing her choices, but deep down this was terrifying. This girl was terrifying. What was the scariest thing of all, however, was the idea that if she didn't do this she might end up like that man on the street the night she'd met Tanzanite.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:25 pm
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At least Khalla was honest. Though it was depressing to realise how little the girl the knew and how much of a bind she was in. Ari still thought the girl should have sprung for real classes - especially considering she'd already been attacked once?! Geez, it really was getting dangerous out there.
"Fine, guess I can't turn you away with reasons like those," Ari sighed. She felt like she was only going to get one, or both, of them in trouble by teaching when she wasn't qualified, but to turn Khalla away would end in possibly an even worse scenario and leave Ari wracked with guilt over what fate might have befallen the blonde.
"Shoes off," she told the girl again. "If you brought other clothes, go get changed. They keep it warm enough for summer in here, and it'll only get worse as soon as you try anything."
Which would hopefully give Ari enough time to try and work out where to begin with a... beginner. She wondered if the girl was fit, and if she had any strength to put behind her hits. Well, things to find out, Ari told herself. All in good time.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:09 am
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Khalla's brows rose in surprise as the girl finally caved in. She was really going to teach her? Khalla had expected the need to grovel at least, which hadn't been a pleasing notion given her distaste for simply asking for help in the first place. She wasn't going to stand around dissecting the reasons why it had happened, though, not when she had finally found the answer to what she'd been looking for.
"Right," she dropped her bag onto the mat and leaned down to quickly unlace her boots (well, as quickly as one could unlace boots) and shuffle them off. It wasn't exactly graceful, but she didn't think this girl was going to tolerate her stepping on the mat one more time and she really didn't want to get off on the wrong foot here.
"I guess.. I'll go get changed then," she muttered, her voice unsure. She gathered her boots in one arm and held her bag in her other hand. It took just a second for her to locate the lockers and with a deep breath, she started marching off in that direction. This was possibly the craziest thing she had ever done, to be sure. You know, besides fighting evil doers at night in a magical sailor suit.
Khalla wearily slipped into the locker room (triple checking to make sure it was the female's) and began to change. Once she had stored her things in a locker, she paused at a mirror and attempted to tie back the frustrating dreads she had been tricked into sporting. It took a few tries, but she finally managed to pull them mostly away from her face to hang down her back instead. Once done, there was no more stalling, and she exited the locker room wearing considerably less clothing than she had walked in with. Her winter clothes had been traded for a simple tank and gym shorts, leaving most of her arms and legs bare. In fact, she was pretty sure her hair was probably now providing more coverage than anything else, or at least it felt that way. Khalla was typically a pretty modest girl.
She made her way back over to the mat she'd last seen the girl standing at, her arms crossed behind her back in a nervous gesture. She had been right about one thing though - it was pretty hot in the gym. Even if Khalla was no longer wearing her stifling coat, she was still plenty warm even with the little bit of clothing.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:44 am
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While Khalla left to get changed, Ari had a raging mental debate with herself. This was so unbelievably stupid. She wasn't a teacher, she wasn't qualified to pass anything along. Didn't most martial arts have a strict code that forbade students passing their knowledge to anyone else? Even worse than that, how in the world was she planning to teach something she didn't remember learning?
When Ari had woken in hospital, three years ago, she'd known how to walk and talk, even with all her memories gone. Her body had still known how to move - instinct, apparently, or what they called 'muscle memory'. It wasn't until later that she'd realised her body also remembered how to make a proper fist for punching, where to hold her hands for the best guard, and how to kick in ways that would rupture muscle or break certain bones. Ari didn't know what 'the basics' were. But here she was promising to teach them to someone else.
Was she meant to cover theory, she wondered. And if she was already breaking the unwritten rules by passing her knowledge along, should she still concern herself with teaching the other unwritten rules? Well, not that Khalla seemed the type to go beating others up just because she could.
Ari took a deep breath, holding it for a long moment. She slowly released it. She felt her shoulders drop and her mind quietened. By the time Khalla returned, Ari looked fairly calm and composed.
"First thing's first," she said, and extended her hand. "I'm Ari. We've got to call each other something besides 'hey you', don't we?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:48 pm
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Khalla crossed the mat slowly, her bare feet sticking to it slightly as she did so. She was a jumble of nerves - a feeling she was completely unused to. She was always ready and willing to do anything, confident and determined. This, though, this was something she'd never thought about doing and it being so new to her made her stomach try and twist itself into knots.
She paused before the red-haired girl, crossing her arms behind her back and tilting her chin up in an attempt to not look quite so meek. She paused to listen to her, trying her best not to fidget, and managed a small smile at the introduction.
"'Hey you' would get a little tiring, yes," she replied, then reached out to take her hand with her own, giving it a firm shake, "my name is Khalla." Well, at least the formalities were something she was used to. They were actually sort of comforting in a strange way, being that they were the only things in the entire gym that she did understand.
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:52 pm
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Ari wished she had a notebook and pen on her, rather than in her bag back in the locker room. Khalla was an unusual name. Hopefully Ari would remember it the next time she ran into the girl, but it was always better if she wrote things down just in case... Ari would just have to do her best until they finished up.
Ari stripped off her gloves, letting them fall to the mat. "Okay, Khalla, make a fist." She waited for the girl to do so before Ari clenched her own hand in demonstration. "No matter what you've seen on tv, always have your thumb on the outside. Otherwise you'll break it as soon as you put enough force into a hit."
Basics, basics... Ari quickly ran through all the information she thought she 'obvious'. That would be a good place to start.
"Also, always keep your knees and elbows slightly bent. Never extend them completely. If you do," Ari took careful hold of Khalla's arm and extended the arm completely it was completely straight, "your elbow will 'lock' - if you hit something while it's like that, it jars the elbow and can knock things out of place. Same thing with your leg when you're kicking, and also the leg you're using for support during a kick."
Releasing Khalla's arm, Ari very slowly demonstrated a punch with a loose elbow. Straightening up, she said, "Try that. Then put my gloves on and we'll see how you go hitting something other than air."
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 1:51 pm
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Khalla also wished she had a pen and notebook on her, but not for the same reason. She could already see that this was going to be quickly overwhelming. She was always an avid note taker in school and notes would have been really helpful about this time. Alas, it would have been awkward to pause every five minutes, she realized, just to jot things down. She'd just have to suffer through this on memory alone and maybe jot them down afterward.
Khalla copied everything she was told, first making her fist and holding her thumb on the outside just as Ari showed her. She actually didn't know that and was glad to be told - the last thing she needed was to break her thumb on some stupid youma.
It felt awkward standing there, watching Ari as she obviously tried to figure out just what to teach her. It was uncomfortable learning something so foreign to her to begin with, but to realize that her teacher had no idea how to teach.. well, that wasn't exactly helping. She had to trust her though because this had, thus far, turned out to be her only source for what she needed.
"Right, don't lock my joints," she nodded her head as she repeated it after Ari, letting the girl maneuver her arm however she wanted. It was odd trusting someone so quickly, very odd letting them into her 'personal bubble'.
She tried mimicking the stance Ari was in, finding yet again that it just felt.. strange. She was used to her grandmother fussing over straight backs and strict posture and this was a giant step in the other direction. At Ari's command, Khalla tried her best at imitating the punch. She tried again, just for good measure, with her face contorting in concentration. Well, it wasn't so hard, but it was just the beginning.
She straightened up a little and glanced down at the gloves, chewing a little on her lip. She stooped down to pick them up, stared at them for a moment, then began to pull them on, flexing her fingers once inside.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:19 pm
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"It's a lot to take in, I know," Ari shot Khalla a wry grin, acknowledging the awkwardness of the situation. "That's why people take weekly classes, or more than once a week in some cases. Otherwise you would forget everything pretty quickly."
Was that a roundabout offer to do this again, to get Khalla into proper shape and form? Maybe. At the very least, it might give Khalla the idea that Ari wasn't entirely opposed to continuing this. Food for thought.
"So, next." Ari lifted her hands up, palms outwards and facing Khalla, shoulder height though held out from her chest. "Normally I'd do this with pads for me, too, but I don't have that kind of equipment and I don't think you're about to break anything on me just yet." A gentle, teasing grin to show she wasn't picking on Khalla. "So, same punches you were doing just now, only hit my hands this time. We're starting off simple: your right hand hits my hand on your right, your left hand hits my hand on your left. We'll leave crossing over for later. Start off slow, work your way up at your own pace - I'll give pointers as we go, okay?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:35 pm
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Weekly lessons? Well, Khalla supposed she shouldn't have really been surprised. She couldn't come in here and expect to be an expert with one ill-planned lesson after all. Still, penciling in lessons into an already over-packed schedule was going to be a serious miracle.
"Right, lessons every week," she murmured after her but obviously more to herself than the red-haired girl that was teaching her. Where was she going to find time for this between patrols and homework?
"What?" she asked all of a sudden, drawn out of her contemplation. Her eyes blinked a bit rapidly as she tried to focus on what was at hand. Right, punching! This didn't really seem too hard. She tried to relax herself into the stance that she had shown her - knees and arms slightly bent. It was a bit more rigid than any fighter would ever be, that was for sure, because Khalla seemed to be having some issues letting go of years of posture lessons.
"Okay," she said uncertainly as she nodded her head, flexing her fingers inside the gloves. Then, with a deep breath in an attempt to boost her confidence, she reached out and aimed a punch with her left hand. She followed it with the right, a little cautiously, then slowly began to pick up pace until she had a rhythm going.
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