Welcome to Gaia! ::

Vauxite felt an aura feather the edge of his senses, one that caused him to tense momentarily until he realized it was a friend, not foe. So far he had run into one knight and that was enough to make him wary especially when gathering energy for his quota.

From a short distance away he saw her wave and Vauxite’s shoulders relaxed a bit. “Evening,” he replied with a curt nod of his head. Outside of Rakovanite’s team, he hadn’t really spoken to any other officer. Then again he never actively looked for one of them either.

To satiate her curiosity, he summoned both weapons. Two plastic icicles about seven inches in length each, neither sharp enough to cause any real harm but could deal a bruising poke if he cared to fight with them. “I’ve mostly been looking to fill my quota; due to recent events I fell behind.”

“And you? What did they see fit to give you?” He asked now equally curious as she had been.

“I wouldn’t know,” He replied. “I haven’t attempted to use them for that purpose. They’re likely made of the same material as yours but thinner and more prone to breaking under enough pressure.” Thinking on it, Vauxite wondered if they could even break skin. After all, plastic could have sharp edges- but his were more like tree ornaments or the ones you’d hang off a gutter over Christmas. He was pretty certain that actual icicles were more deadly than these.

“You’re fortunate in that you already know how to properly use your weapon even if it isn’t quite what you’re used to.” For him, he had no recollection of ever using a knife for anything other than meal prepping, and the only time he’d ever touched a dagger was at a renaissance fair one year.

“Most of my combative practice is in parkour; so I’m decently good at evading or dodging.” His agility wasn’t something to turn a nose up at either but there was always room to improve. Most importantly though was that he knew how to tumble properly to avoid hurting himself if he fell either from stumbling over his own feet while fleeing or from a height that a normal person might injure themselves if they hit the ground.

He looked around to see if he could spot anything he could use for a demonstration; the side of a building, a retaining wall, a handrail, or even just lines in a sidewalk would do. “I used to teach Parkour at a gym for youth.” Vauxite turned his back towards her for a moment so she didn’t see how much it affected him that he had to leave the job he truly loved.

“But only recently have I had the need to utilize these skills for self-defense.” Ahead was a brick wall and he ran towards it. Without slowing down he ran three steps up the wall and could have easily reached the top of it but instead pushed off and twisted in the air. Shen he landed, Vauxite had his arms out, tucked his head to the side, and did a safety roll, from right shoulder to left hip. A method to keep from hitting his head on the concrete or rolling his spin along it.

For no reason other than to show off, when he stood upright, he finished off with a forward flip before turning towards Aegirine. “If there were handrails here I’d demonstrate safety vaulting and precision jumping.” The latter of which required a sizable amount of balance and good judgment of distance.

“With practice I could, I suppose.” By no means was he a Jacky Chan, but the agility and strength granted to him when powered was a decent benefit and made doing these moves simpler.

“Honestly, the best advice I can give is to work on your balance; you can use a curb at first or a retaining wall for raised yard or planter box.” The college he went to had several of these around campus. “If you have access to a balance beam that would be better, but one could probably be built out of some 2 x 4 pieces of wood. But eventually, work your way up to bars like handrails.”

“Baby steps, don’t just jump to the end because you think you’re ready.” An exercise they used to do was have a person stand on a beam while another nudged them in the shoulder, hip, or even behind the knee. A person would naturally try to counterbalance with bent knees or sticking their butt out and leaning forward to maintain its position but overcompensating would still cause someone to fall.

“If you do happen to fall, and there is room for it, do a safety roll- don’t summersault.” There was a difference. “In a roll, you tuck your head and go from shoulder to hip wherein a summersault we’re often taught as kids to put your head on the ground and yeah- a good way to not only hurt your head but also your spine.

“The other piece of advice I can give is to be aware of your environment. There is probably a way out of most situations if you keep calm and look around carefully.” A fire escape ladder or a low fence that could easily be cleared. Jump atop a roof and get away that way is always a viable option.

Aegirine was quick, but Vauxite could tell by her leading questions that she was about to do something even if she had not quite decided on what that something was yet.

She lunged, the tip of her sword pointed at him, and he stepped to the left then spun out of its path. It did, however, catch the inner lining of his coat but her weapon, like his own, was plastic and was not sharp enough to rip fabric.

In his hand he held fast to one of his icicles in such a way that the tip was pointed towards his elbow. His arm was stretched out at full length with the side of his weapon resting near the side of her throat.

Vauxite leveled the look in her direction,“Not always, no.” He sighed then relaxed his stance and dismissed his weapon. He wasn’t annoyed, not really; his sister, Jenna, used to do similar things to him when they were kids; test his awareness otherwise he’d soon find a cup of cold water thrown over the shower curtain if he forgot to lock the door to the restroom. Or a hip bump while walking to make him stumble off a curb or into someone.

It was all in good jest and was always gratifying when he saw it coming and stopped walking just to have her pass in front of him into a wall.

“I suppose you could say I have trust issues.” An understatement to say the least since at the moment the only one he fully trusted was Nataniel, his General, and Riley, his dog.

“Don’t worry about it, you’re fine.” He knew that there was no maliciousness behind the sneak attack. It wasn’t as if she was actually trying to hurt him. Now, if her sword was sharp enough to have stabbed through or cut his uniform or skin, then he might have been upset. But with her plastic weapon, Vauxite wasn’t too concerned.

“Gyms will generally cost a membership fee. I do think it would be beneficial to take at least a couple of classes because you’ll have someone there to watch your technique and offer suggestions.” Unfortunately due to his identity being compromised, he had to quit working at his last place of employment because of a motorcycle accident that took his life. A lie obviously but meant that he couldn’t offer her a better place to practice with foam pads to fall on instead of concrete.

“But, if you want a free place to practice, the best place would be at a skatepark. They have low rails and ramps as well as benches you can practice jumping over. We can meet up at one some point and I’ll help you with your balance.” Vauxite extended the offer since she truly seemed interested.