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 Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:46 am
Xaijin stomped along. She was irritated. She'd set out at the crack of dawn to go meet with a soquili she was going to train, but she couldn't find him. He supposedly was a white unicorn with a red mane. That didn't sound too hard to locate, and yet he was missing. She refused to think that he had forgotten or decided not to come. Instead, she stubbornly clung to the notion that he was still there somewhere, waiting for her, and yet she was just unable to find him. If he had missed their meeting, deliberately or not, it would be a massive insult to her. It was in his best interest that it was her fault for not being able to find him, not his.
Continuing on her stubborn search, she finally saw something that looked hopeful. It definitely was a stallion, though a somewhat more delicate-looking one than she had assumed. "Hey, you!" she shouted as she began to get closer. "Is this where you've been hiding?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 7:36 am
 Indri wasn't doing anything in particular. They were grazing, but it was the sort of grazing that happened when there was nothing else to do. They weren't particularly hungry, but chewing the grass provided a soothing sort of white noise to existing. They could have contentedly continued this for some time, if it wasn't for the sudden shout. Indri whirled around and spotted a yellow mare coming their way. Immediately, they were filled with anxiety and trepidation. The mare looked spoiling for a fight. Indri had never lifted a hoof against another soquili in their life and instinctively backed up out of fear. "S-sorry?" they asked nervously. "What's going on?" The mare definitely looked athletic and fit. Indri didn't know that they would be fast enough to escape her if she tried to turn it into a fight...
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 7:39 am
"What's wrong?" asked Xaijin as she approached. The kirin looked scared half to death. She assumed it was an overreaction from being chagrined over being late. "What's wrong is that you were supposed to meet me hours ago! I've been looking all over for you."
She stopped and glared fiercely at Indri. "We've lost valuable training time, but we can make up for it if you work twice as hard. Are you ready for that?" She slapped a paw down on the ground for emphasis.
... Had they just flinched? What sort of wimp was she dealing with here?
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 8:06 am
Indri had indeed flinched, and now they jumped, startled. The mare didn't seem about to attack them, but Indri still didn't enjoy being accosted like this. "I-I'm sorry," they said. "I think you have the wrong p-person?" They swallowed and took a deep breath, calming themself.
"My name is Indri, and I think you're looking for someone else." There, that sounded nice and reasonable. Indri calmed down a little. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anyone else nearby today." Indri had seen their brother, of course, but they were fairly certain that neither Syri nor his mate had any sort of meeting like this booked. Indri couldn't imagine Syri wanting any sort of training from such a combative mare.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:25 pm
"Indri, is that right?" Xaijin chewed her lip thoughtfully. It was time to finally admit that something had indeed gone wrong. She had no idea where her actual prospective pupil was and probably had been just wasting her time looking for him. Her ears twitched with irritation. That wasn't good. That wouldn't do at all. She had spent all this time, and she knew her time was valuable. She'd definitely have some words with that missing unicorn if she ever saw him again.
She scowled and saw Indri look nervous. Why were they upset? She hadn't done anything to them. She was the wronged one here. She had spent so much time, and had no pupil to show for it.... or did she?
She eyed Indri again, speculatively. They had a delicate build and were obviously skittish in personality, but she could tell that they took care of their body. There was potential there.
"You! Indri." Her scowl melted away, replaced by her usual competitive smirk. "You're right, you're not the person I'm looking for... but would you like to change that?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:37 pm
Indri still didn't know what to make of the bizarrely militant mare. They stared at her blankly for a moment, then gave their mane a slight shake, as if to clear their head. "What do you mean?" they asked, hoping that something would start making sense soon. "Do you need, uh, help with anything?"
What sort of training was she looking to give, anyways? It definitely wasn't singing lessons, though Indri knew that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:40 pm
"Yes!" barked Xaijin. "I need you to help me... to help you." She slammed down a paw dramatically in the dirt between them. "I am Xaijin! I'm a champion battler, and I'm going to teach you how to be..." She trailed off, then gave Indri a wink. "How to be better than you were yesterday."
She started to walk around Indri, making a show of examining this new recruit. "I can tell that you aren't someone who knows how to defend yourself, let alone how to make the first move in a fight. That's what we're going to change today."
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:46 pm
"You want to teach me how to fight?" Indri's head spun. This was absolutely not anything they expected to happen to them today. The mare wasn't threatening exactly, but that didn't make her any less intimidating. Indri tried to keep an eye on her, craning their head around to watch even as she passed behind. They struggled to find the words for a proper response.
"Well... ah... That's very kind of you, but I never really thought that I... I mean, I don't think I really need..." They trailed off, a memory popping unbidden into their mind. They hadn't been a foal, but hadn't been quite an adult yet either. It had been one of their first trips away from their ancestral kirin herd, and one of their first encounters with a soquili that hadn't known them since birth.
The stallions, also young, hadn't understood. They had mocked Indri and called them names. After that came the nipping teeth, the grazing kicks that struck a little too hard, the laughter. Indri burned with shame at the memory, but also burned with a little something else.
"You'll teach me how to defend myself?" they asked, finally squarely meeting Xaijin's eyes. "I'm ready to learn."
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 6:57 pm
Xaijin eyed Syri critically. There was clearly something going on there that she wasn't aware of. She was curious, but never one to pry. Their secrets were their secrets, and that didn't have any bearing on the training. "All right," she said, standing squarely in front of Indri.
"Before we get started, I have some ground rules. First- You will not whine, cry, or complain. Second!" With each new rule, she pounded her paw on the ground for emphasis. "You will address me respectfully. I don't have to do the same for you if you don't deserve respect." These were rules that she gave all trainees. Some handled them much better than others. "Third! If you give this your all, you will improve." She smirked then, and gave Indri a wink from behind her sunglasses.
"That is a guarantee."
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:10 pm
Indri stood up straighter, trying to mimic Xaijin's posture. As intimidating as Xaijin was, Indri had the feeling that they'd be treated fairly. She didn't seem mean-spirited, just stern and very confident. "I accept those rules and conditions," said Indri. Xaijin continued to stare at them, and Indri felt that they needed to say something more.
"I know that I'm not who you came here to train, but I'm grateful you chose me anyways." Indri then slammed their own hoof into the ground, trying to imitate Xaijin still. The gesture fell short and Indri felt a little foolish, but Xaijin's approving look stopped their blush. "So...." they continued sheepishly. "What do we do first?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:19 pm
"First, we start with stance." With her head held high, Xaijin went into lecturing mode. "It doesn't matter how good your attack is if you don't have a good stance. I've seen even seasoned battlers go down from an amateur's attack because their stance was weak. Weak stance equals a weak fighter. Most soquili start out with bad habits, and old bad habits are the hardest to get rid of."
She smirked at Indri. "Fortunately for us, you have no experience, so no bad habits. That will make this easier, trust me. Now, do what I do." She took on a stance for him to copy. This wasn't her own favorite stance, she had paws instead of hooves, after all. She fought differently than a hooved soquili, though understood the differences enough to teach. "Your back hooves shouldn't be lined up. Keep them a little offset so you have better balance."
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:30 pm
Self-consciously, Indri made the attempt. They weren't usually that conscious about where their hooves stood, and the extra scrutiny made them feel ungraceful. They arranged their hooves, reconsidered, and rearranged them again. They looked up at Xaijin to see her watching them, always critical. They wondered, was this really such a great idea? If they didn't learn fast enough, would Xaijin think it was a waste of time?
Nervously, they shifted their hooves a little more. Xaijin's scrutiny only intensified. Indri tried to look at her, but instead found themselves focusing on a pebble near her left front paw. They weren't used to seeing soquili with paws, though they understood that pawed soquili were not much different than hooved ones. Some skinwalkers had paws of course, but some skinwalkers had scales too. Indri deliberately distracted themself, knowing that it was a defense mechanism against worry, but indulging themself nonetheless.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:00 pm
And so it went. The training session wasn't like the sort that she usually had for new clients. Of course, Indri was somewhat different from her usual new client. Indri hadn't actually asked for help, and yet here she was training them anyways. It was an unusual situation, but Xaijin could manage unusual. It was no-shows and back-talking that she really had a problem with.
Not only that, but to the kirin's credit, they were a hard worker. Xaijin could tell that they weren't in shape, but they didn't whine about it either. Whiners were something else that Xaijin wasn't fond of. Indri didn't even whine when Xaijin caught them with a paw on a failed dodging exercise. It apparently was too early to try any sort of evasive maneuvering. By the end of it all, she found herself regarding Indri with the air that a master potter might have when looking at a lump of clay.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:04 pm
It was all new for Indri. They kept being scared that Xaijin would change her mind. They knew that they were no fighter, and was convinced that Xaijin would lash out once she finally absorbed the truth on her own.
That didn't happen. Instead, Xaijin kept on training them, even when Indri struggled to keep up. It was a little surreal. Getting fighting lessons from some fox-like pawed soquili wasn't something Indri ever expected to happen in their lifetime, let alone that day. By the end of it, Indri was sweating and exhausted. They were too tired to even feel self-conscious anymore. It was a sort of blessing. They knew that she stared once they had finished, but Indri couldn't even come up with a fretful explanation for it.
"Do you know where any water is around here?" they asked, breaking the tired silence.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:08 pm
"I do," said Xaijin, matter-of-factly. "If you go left around the briar patch and down the hill, you'll find a stream there." She saw that Indri was preparing to turn and made a split-second decision.
"And I expect to see you here again next week." She said it in the exact same tone as she'd used when directing them to water. She was certainly not going to make a big fuss about it, and hoped that they wouldn't either. "You should know that I don't tolerate lateness. If you aren't here in time I'll make you run laps."
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