fandomhighdorms | The Salle; Monday Morning (after Workshops)

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The Salle; Monday Morning (after Workshops)

Hitting things with a meat tenderizing mallet had Sakurazaki in the mood to train. So she did a little stretching, a little meditation, and then retrieved Yuunagi from the weapon's locker. Not training wasn't going to prevent next week from happing.

//"Well, old girl,"// she told Yuunagi quietly as she set up her initial stanse, //"looks like it's just gonna be you and me next week. Hope you're ready."// Because she certainly didn't feel like she was.

[[ salle's open ]]

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Peter ran into the salle in the later afternoon after a lovely picnic and swim. He may have been slightly humming to himself as he entered. He nodded to Setsuna when he came in and went to get Rhindon for a minute while he waited for a break in her concentration.

Sakurazaki finished up a move, then tucked Yuunagi at her side as she returned Peter's nod stiffly. "I won't be disturbing you, would I, Peter?" she asked. Part of her hoped that she would be, so she'd have an excuse not to train. But it was relieving her stress a bit and, if she wasn't here, she'd just be moping more anyway. And that was never good.

"I was just hoping I wouldn't disturb you," Peter replied with a smile though he continued to wonder if she was quite well. "I told Pip I'd give him a sword lesson this afternoon, but we could certainly move up to the gym."

Sakurazaki shook her head, moving over a little to give the larger space to them. "That wouldn't be necissary. Plenty enough room for all of us; I'm not really working anything heavy right now, anyway."

"If you're sure," Peter said with a nod. "I appreciate it. I can't imagine we'll take up too much room. He's not worked with swords before so it shouldn't be anything too strenuous."

"You'll barely know I'm here," Sakurazaki said, returning to her forms. Because she was all ninja like that.

"Well, if we end up bothering you, tell me?" Peter asked. "Your practice is definitely more important."

"You won't," Sakurazaki called to him mid-swing, dismissively, bringing it back around through her defensive forms, showing just how little she could be disturbed at the moment. "Don't worry about it."

Peter nodded and watched her for a moment before turning to focus on his own warmup and begin some forms.

"So..." Pip said as he entered the salle. "If I recall, the pointy end goes into the other guy.

Peter finished his form and turned to grin at Pip. "By george, I think you've got it."

"First lesson Brian taught me," Pip said.

"Did he teach you the corollary that the other's man will be trying to stick his pointy end in you?" Peter asked. He considered for a moment. "And that did not come out quite the way I would have like."

Pip laughed. "Yes. He also mentioned that there might be several pointy things. Some of them could fly."

"I've heard that," Peter agreed, laughing. "It's so very unjust that people object to one's attempt to fight them."

"Seriously. Although I think I wouldn't get pad as much if it was that easy. And I like my money."

"It tends to be useful," Peter agreed with a nod. He sheathed his sword at his side and went to grab two practice blades. "Can you tell if a sword is off-balance?" he asked.

"I've worked with staves and tonfas before," Pip said. "I don't know if it extends to swords as well, though."

Peter nodded and handed Pip his least favourite - due to its lack of balance - blade of the lot. "The general idea is the same, I believe. What do you think?"

Pip frowned. "I'm going to guess that I should ask for another one? This feels wrong. I don't know why."

"It's utter crap is why," Peter agreed. "The blade's too heavy. You can't expect too much from practice blades, but that's just horrible." He shrugged. "Still, it's good for demonstrations." He offered to trade Pip for the other one he was holding. "You'll like this more, I think."

Pip took it and tossed it up in the air before catching it. "Yeah... this one feels better."

Peter wanted to wince at the treatment of the sword, practice blade though it was, but nodded instead. "It's much better." He set the offending blade back on the rack and grabbed another one. "Your ready position is going to be pretty close to a non-armed position." He dropped into it.

Pip mirroed him, then stood up straight. Then dropped into a position mirroring his again, trying to get the feel for it.

"Right," Peter said, not moving out of ready. "Be sure not to overcompensate for the weight of the sword. Many leaning swordsmen do it and then end up offbalance half the time."

Pip nodded and tried to shift his weight a bit. "Am I gripping it right?"

Peter moved over to Pip. "You want your wrist a bit more..." He held his sword next to Pip's for the comparison.

Pip shifted his grip. "Like this?"

"Exactly. It feels a bit more awkward at first, but it's mainly a matter of building up the particular strength in your wrist and forearm," Peter stepped back and glanced over Pip's form. "Looks good. Want to learn how to hit something with it?"

"That's the part I was looking forward to the most," Pip said, grinning.

"Colour me unsurprised," Peter said with an answering grin. He stepped back. "Very well. Basic movement is a parry then a strike." He demonstrated a mid-level parry, moving the sword almost horizontally across the body into a upwards diagonal slash.

Pip tried to copy it, but went through it rather slowly and deliberately.

Peter nodded. "It's rather nice not to have to tell somebody not to worry about speed right away. Try it again and keep in mind that they're actually two movements even if you're putting them together?"

Pip nodded and tried the first part of the movement, repeating it a couple of times, then moving onto the second movement. "Well, this isn't exactly the first fighting style I've learned."

"Of course not," Peter said with a grin. "But a person gets a sword in his hand and starts thinking he's Errol Flynn or something." Yes. His cultural reference is out of date.

"If I remember my movies right," Pip said. "That was a different kind of sword. And anyway, I learned a whiel ago that real fighting isn't nearly as glamorous as the movies."

"Yes to both," Peter replied. He nodded at Pip's strikes. "Looks good."

He moved opposite Pip though within range. "Try them again?" He started to attack, still slow in a way that would be perfectly blocked by the movement he'd just shown.

Pip nodded and blocked Peter's slow strike and followed it up with the attack he had shown him.

With a smile, Peter parried Pip's attack at the same speed but enough force that he was hopefully keeping a firm grip on his weapon.

A little unsure of his grip? Yes. Weak grip? No.

"Feels odd. You don't usually parry kinves with other knives."

"Be a bit silly to really," Peter agreed. "But with the sword, your sword's as big a part of your defence as your movement and footwork is."

"That's gonna take some getting used to," Pip said. "Goes against my instincts recarding edged weapons."

"You're of the move quickly enough to get out of the way school?" Peter asked.

"Yes. And the "shoot them or stab them before they gut much of a chance to hit me," school."

Peter nodded. "I do as much as possible with footwork - comes from training against creatures a thousand pounds heavier than me. But the other? I suppose it's just a different frame of mind."

Pip nodded. "Ideally, you don't have to block anything, right?"

"Ideally, yes, especially when it's so obvious one's opponent is stronger," Peter agreed. "But in regular swordwork, parrying is an integral part of the style." He nodded towards Sakurazaki's forms. "Hers and mine differ almost completely except in that."

Pip nodded. "Alright then, sensei. Teach on."

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The Salle; Monday Morning (after Workshops)

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