2018-10-19: No Extreme Routine
- Log: No Extreme Routine
- Cast: Lan Lilac, Loren Voss
- Where: Outside Adlehyde
- Date: October 19th 2018
- Summary: Lan asks Loren for some hand-to-hand combat practice; he obliges. Lan discusses THRILLING ADVENTURE. Loren makes a peace offering of his own.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
The lights of town aren't that far away. Lan and Loren won't have any trouble finding the place again, even so long after dark. She'd given some thought to the three-part spear folded up and secreted away in her things, but... honestly, Lan just doesn't feel ready to use it yet. Not against someone she doesn't want to harm.
It's easy to be gentle with a bare hand! But spears... hell, weapons in general aren't made to be anything but hurtful.
Lan doesn't bother stretching too much beforehand - just one or two repetitions of a leg lifted high over her head to loosen up her hip joints before she's ready to go. "Thanks for agreeing to practice with me," the shaman tells her companion, all smiles now that they're out of the 'inn'. "Do you need time to warm up? And how hard do you want to go? Like, magic? Or just regular fighting?" She's seen him use that 'Ether' stuff.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
As he had thought, back then, practice sparring might not be a bad idea, even against a Lamb. It's better than remaining idle, better than losing what skills he had picked up in Jugend. There hasn't been much cause for hand-to-hand, he's found, outside a few select incidents; at times the ability to use Ether effortlessly (or nearly so, most of the time) can be a hindrance when it comes to developing other skills.
And she had her own reasons, and so here they are.
Loren's ditched his coat, in fact done away with his longsleeved shirt, trading that for something a bit tighter and nearly sleeveless.
He might be the bookish type, he might not be a match for the physique of, say, the commander, but he's still a soldier and with his arms bared, it shows.
And speaking of bookish, he's ditched the glasses, too.
"Yeah," he answers her, a nod on the subject of 'does he want to warm up'. "You should, too. It's not good for your body. And no magic. You can't always rely on it."
He knows he shouldn't be relying on it so much.
It's no extreme routine. He just goes through a short series of stretches, all the while thinking of what Cassidy had put him through, back when he'd been under her tutelage on Lunar.
No one to spar with now. You're really on your own for that.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
When you have a personality like Lan's, hand-to-hand fights don't happen often - and there's always some other way to get through ruins, like a puzzle or a leap of faith. If she doesn't practice, her body might begin to forget how to move in a fight!
Huh, he's pretty buff for a nerd!
"I use my legs too much in a fight to overstretch them beforehand," Lan counters, though she does deign to touch her toes a couple of times, then leans forward further to plant her palms flat on the ground between her toes with a soft grunt. "Hmmf. I guess you're right, though. I can still stretch my arms and back. I wish we got time to stretch out before a real fight. If we had time for that, we could probably resolve more problems while everybody was getting ready."
Lan checks her ribbon out of pure habit. "Are you gonna use your sword?" she asks, casting a curious gaze his way as she falls into a comfortable stance, left foot forward, weight even across both feet, and knees gently bent.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Despite Loren's personality, even he hasn't been in many hand-to-hand fights off the field of combat (or where has become a field of combat).
(He has been punched a few times though; it doesn't count if you don't hit back.)
And there's a large difference between the sort of exertions a body undergoes while exploring a ruin, and the sort of exertions a body undergoes when fighting another person without a weapon or spell between you.
"Then don't stretch your legs," he says, as if it were a simple prescription.
For him, it's the opposite. He's a little smaller (though still quite average, thank you, as he'd be quick to insist if it came up) than some of his countrymen, so a key point for him in combat is to close in and lock someone down -- kicks are better for those that have longer legs.
"That's why it's important to practice," he says, rolling his shoulders. "To get to the point where your body reacts without you needing to think about it."
And then he faces her. ...Only to pause for a moment. "Of course not. That would defeat the purpose if I cut you up."
Silence, then. 'Demonstrate leadership', huh...
"Come on and hit me," he tells her, readying himself for a hit. "I want to see what you can do."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"That's what I said," Lan agrees reasonably with him. "You have to make it muscle memory. You have to be able to rely on your body to react without you, because it might save you one day!"
She stays in that same loose position while he finishes, hands slightly in front of herself, held at waist level. She's just waiting. For Lan, this is just a friendly practice match between friends. She won't take it hard if she 'loses'.
Come on and hit me, he says?
"Okay!" Lan nods, lavender eyes watching his own. "Here I come."
She's barely taken a breath before Lan is moving, closing the distance between them at a sprint. Her right arm trails behind, and she uses the snap of a sudden stop to transfer all her forward momentum into a palm strike aimed for the center of his solar plexus. "HA!"
It's only a quick strike, without a lot of power behind it, but it'll let her see him try to defend a head-on attack...!
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Loren Voss with Akashic Arts! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Lan Lilac's Akashic Arts for 57 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Lan Lilac!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
That's what makes the matter of sword-fighting so perilous for him. He needs to practice as much as he can, but he's compromised by the sheer fact that no one on his side seems to think it's what he ought to be doing with his time.
Or at least, he's pretty certain that's about how it's likely to go.
He's a medic, he's not supposed to...
And yet, he's only putting everyone in danger the more he uses a sword without baking the knowledge of it into his bones and sinew.
Thus runs the circuit of his thoughts, round and round. At least thanks to Cassidy of all people he has some understanding, but...
He takes a breath, as if to steady himself, and urges Lan on.
She'll take a swing at him, probably, he thinks, watching her as she runs up--
She comes to an abrupt unexpected stop and slams a palm into him with more force than he'd been anticipating.
Right into his solar plexus in fact.
Which is never a great place to get hit, even if you know how to handle it and are preparing for it.
He's got less than one of the two, and thus this is the story of how Lan lays him out across the dirt in one shot.
Once he can breathe again he sits up and gasps out, "Lucky shot."
Then hauling himself up onto his feet, he, with a grimace, looks her over.
"How familiar are you with throws?" he then asks, promptly two seconds before he steps into her personal space, reaches for her right upper arm and shirt front, and, should she not break his grip, rolls forward to use her arm as a pivot to flip her right into the air and onto her back.
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Meteor Break! GS: Loren Voss has gained 1 Combo! GS: Loren Voss has completed his action. GS: Lan Lilac has activated a Force Action! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Loren Voss has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Lan Lilac completely evades Meteor Break from Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
...Eep. She didn't mean to hit him that hard. Oh no, is Loren actually made of glass or something?! She didn't know!!
Then he gets up and is appropriately grumpy, so Lan feels a lot better about it. Clearly he wasn't hurt that badly.
She does at least have the common courtesy to not mock him, or even really laugh about it beyond a quiet, 'ah!' of surprise. "You weren't expecting it," she reminds him. "Did you think I was a punchy kind of girl?" Lan's actually a little curious about how he sees her! "I guess we really haven't done a whole lot of fighting together, even on expeditions..."
Once he's back on his feet, he asks her about throws--
Lan lets him get ahold of her arm, and it looks for a moment like he's caught her!! ...Before she leads him in tossing her away, letting Lan control her own direction. She somersaults like it's easy, landing gracefully on her feet and shoving off of the ground back in his direction, leading with a rabbit jab for his cheek. "A little bit," she grins. "Are you forgetting to not underestimate me, again...?"
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Loren Voss with Double Weave! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Loren Voss critically Guards a hit from Lan Lilac's Double Weave for 25 hit points! GS: Loren Voss has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I wasn't," he agrees, though he's clearly far from happy about it to judge from his tone of voice and expression. "I haven't seen you fight before, outside that goofy... whatever you call that combat style," he reminds her in turn, aiming for full on sour.
Just in expeditions, just against monsters. Not against people.
Still, she had survived, somehow, against Azazel. He should have known better, a realization that only fuels the flame in him further.
And further yet, when his attempt to flip her onto her back goes rather south.
No sooner has he flung her up does she twist her body in the air like a cat and land without further incident.
If his face says anything, it says something along the lines of, 'seriously?'
Particularly when she slides back into his personal space and pops him one on the cheek.
He doesn't even flinch. Mostly, he manages to just look aggrieved.
"Is that how you learned how to punch? Don't bend your wrists so much," he criticizes. "And punching someone in the face is just a bad idea."
Whereupon he demonstrates, perhaps, a better place to hit someone by balling his left fist and delivering a quick hook for her gut.
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Astral Hammer! GS: Loren Voss has completed his action. GS: Lan Lilac guards a hit from Loren Voss's Astral Hammer for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"I just call it fighting," Lan smiles back at him. That swift punch may have tagged him, but driving her knuckles into a bony surface is just as unpleasant as she remembers. "But did I look like a punchy kind of girl?" she asks him again. "Like someone from the cover of one of those pulp magazines?!"
That sounds kind of cool...!
He uses her close proximity to return her punch with one of his own. His knuckles find one of her palms, but the force of his frustration still sends her skipping back a few paces, palm over her navel. "Oof! Hey, good one!" She looks genuinely happy, especially when she drops to the ground.
Lan gets both hands planted on the dry dirt and lunges, long legs shrinking the distance between the two of them as she goes for a leg sweep. "How's your center of balance? Low enough?"
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Loren Voss with Move Like Water! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Loren Voss takes a solid hit from Lan Lilac's Move Like Water for 102 hit points! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Lan Lilac!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He, as if put upon, sighs. And then says: "How should I know? Most people go for their fists first in a fight, but they usually don't do it properly." He's at this point more or less quoting his old hand-to-hand instructor, who had of course drilled such knowledge into him.
A lot of bruises had been required.
There is a pause.
"What do you mean, pulp magazine?"
Someone either has not been partaking in a certain aspect of surfacer culture or is attempting to deflect that he has.
Rather than her gut (or her liver, which was about where he was aiming) she instead handily catches his fist with her hand, though he can possibly glean some satisfaction from the fact that it hit her hard enough to send her skipping back a step or three.
And then drops low.
He remembers a moment too late something she'd said to him earlier about her legs.
And apparently, his center of balance is not quite low enough as he stumbles sidelong before simply crashing to the ground.
Don't worry, only his ego has been bruised; he's back up on his feet again without further delay, though that expression on his face has only worsened.
"Hmph. Is that how you usually fight? You'll need to make sure you have enough space if you're going for kicks."
He rarely bothers, himself; most of his targets are -- sigh -- taller than him or close enough in height that he really doesn't gain much by kicking them.
He assumes a guarded stance, as if to goad her into trying to take a hit at him again.
And once she's close enough--
Snaps out with his right this time, in another quick jab for her ribcage.
GS: Loren Voss enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Starfall Aegis! GS: Loren Voss has completed his action. GS: Lan Lilac takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Starfall Aegis for 86 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"You know, those magazines about 'thrilling adventures' and 'true stories from beyond the Badlands'! That kind of thing!" While printed material is common enough in cities, a town with no printing press might have to wait for news and books to come in with a shipment of goods from other places. Little Firelight had been no exception - magazines and books weren't treated as disposable, even if they weren't quite sacred either. She'd loved that one issue in particular, 'The Thousand Serpents of Wutai'...!
Loren tumbles and Lan does a quick kippup, sandals scuffing in the dry dirt beneath them. "You know you don't need to teach me how to fight, right?" she reminds him curiously. "We don't even have the same style. Isn't it okay just to fight because we want to?"
He assumes a guarded stance, and Lan's pretty sure he's trying to provoke her but... well, this is part of dancing too. One partner leads. The other follows. Everything has a rhythm.
He's faster than her, even if she expected a blow - he jabs at her ribcage, knuckles scraping past her side (she's gonna have a hell of a bruise later) and Lan responds by slapping him upside the head.
That is, she goes for a fairly gentle ear-slap with a cupped hand. If he can't dodge it, the sudden increase of pressure in the ear is usually disorienting.
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Loren Voss with Subdue the Serpent! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Lan Lilac's Subdue the Serpent for 120 hit points! GS: Entangle! Statuses applied to Loren Voss! GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Lan Lilac!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Thrilling... adventures."
Fleetingly, Loren has visions of a cover of a cheap-looking magazine for sale in November City with the text: Fraulosses Ripped My Flesh!
Oh no. So that's what that was all about. He pulls a face that is certainly one for the ages.
Before she manages to school him a bit with a well-placed legsweep.
"I know that," he grouses, furrowing his brow as if in irritation. "But don't you want to get better? Are you really satisfied with yourself as you are?"
It won't matter in a few months either way, a part of his mind chimes in. Who cares if she improves or not?
...Shut up, he thinks furiously back at those thoughts in turn. Just shut up.
"If you don't want to, then fine. Then I'll just show you what I've got."
Something's put a bee in his bonnet -- that much is clear just looking at him. But from the outside, it's simply impossible to tell what that something is.
But he still maintains enough sense about him not to come out swinging. Instead, he moves to bait her in, and once she's close--
There's perhaps a moment of satisfaction.
Before she follows that jab of his with a clapping strike of her own. For a moment, he's left rattled, gaze unfixed as if he's taken a more direct blow to the head than this.
Which is perhaps why he doesn't so much as take a swing for her as grab for her, attempting to pin her arms and, if she's so caught, roll forward a step and use the momentum there to flip her over his shoulder with a wordless yell.
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Astral Hammer! GS: Loren Voss has gained 2 Combo! GS: Loren Voss has completed his action. GS: Lan Lilac has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Lan Lilac takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Astral Hammer for 189 hit points! GS: Mute! Statuses applied to Lan Lilac! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Doesn't she want to improve?
"Of course I do," she blinks at him as he recovers his bearings. It's taking him longer than she thought it would. "But this is friendly, right? We're learning each other's attack styles and patterns. In time we could even become a good combat team, maybe... It'd be fun to fight beside someone else for a while."
And then he recovers, and scoops her up like a sack of potatoes as Lan lets out an embarrassing squeal. (For a second, she wonders why he's hugging her.)
A particularly soft part of her is mashed against his shoulderblades, the solid warmth of her hip's pressing against his jaw. She's a solid weight, warm skin against his hands, another human being in his personal space - even if she is a Lamb.
Her voice peals out in a laugh from behind his back, and he'll feel her arch her back to raise herself up. "Don't get upset," she grins, white teeth against the back of his shirt, before she makes a pair of fists and drives her knuckles into his kidneys, then uses his back as a springboard to somersault back to the ground. "You actually really surprised me!"
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Loren Voss with Dancing Dagger! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Lan Lilac's Dancing Dagger for 108 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Lan Lilac!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Friendly? Is this friendly?
Well, it's certainly not hostile. It's more that he just... didn't think too much about it, either way.
"...That's still improvement," he says as if pointing something out, "We're able to get stronger this way, aren't we? And if I can show you where the gaps are in your approach, isn't that for the better?"
Is this friendly?
He throws that thought aside too, lunging for her and hoisting her up; in a normal situation he would have then responded by flipping her over his back onto the ground but he's instead struck for a moment how...
Close her body is to his now.
How warm her body is.
Precisely how long it's been since he's touched someone else at all -- for more reason than work or necessity.
It takes his breath away, more-primal circuits overriding for a moment more rational thought.
It's a state that Lan is well able to exploit. Agony blooms somewhere in the middle of his back and realization of what she's done comes flooding in. He lets out a pained yelp.
She handily springs right off his back as he falls to his knees, stunned for more reason than the strike she's just delivered.
What's wrong with you, she's a Lamb!, the thought runs angrily at a close second. With effort, he staggers to his feet.
Slower than before.
But he's still, apparently, not ready to call it quits.
With a yell, he charges for her again, sweeping in a leg to forestall any funny business from her.
And more importantly, as a pivot.
In the same moment Loren grabs at her -- again -- and attempts to haul her against and over his leg as he kicks inwards.
And, again, try to drop her earthwards.
GS: Loren Voss has spent 2 Combo on Smite, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Meteor Break! GS: Loren Voss has completed his action. GS: Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Loren Voss's Meteor Break for 59 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
He's off-step, Lan realizes. Did she hit him that hard? It was a dirty move, maybe, but he picked her up first!
--No, that's it, she realizes. Because he picked her up. Or, because they were so close?
She's still figuring it all out when he turns back towards her, reaches for her. Lan feels the legsweep coming more than she sees it, there in a tilt of his spine and the slide of his foot in the dirt.
He grabs her again, this time by the shoulder, and sweeps her legs; Lan tumbles with the motion, throwing herself into the momentum and a rough cartwheel that takes her about fifteen paces away from him and gives her a sore arm. "But if I gave you a suggestion about your form, right now, would you believe me?" she asks, instead of what she really wants to know.
Because even Lan knows Loren well enough to not ask if he's lonely.
Planting her feet in the dry dirt, Lan crouches low, muscles coiling...
...and launches herself, springing forward then up for a palm thrust to Loren's chin. "HA!"
GS: Lan Lilac has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Lan Lilac enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Loren Voss with Akashic Arts! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Lan Lilac's Akashic Arts for 50 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Lan Lilac!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He doesn't want to think about. He doesn't want to think about it.
How far gone, how pathetic would that be?
He comes in with about as much subtlety as an afternoon thunderstorm, announcing its passage for miles.
Her comment alone provokes him to pause a moment, to regard her again. "What's wrong with my form?" It's only half an honest question.
The other half is entirely defensive.
She doesn't wait. As he draws up into a defensive stance, in preparation for the strike he thinks is coming, she comes in from a different direction.
From below.
On anyone else, that strike -- from that angle -- could have possibly knocked them out. As it is, it sends Loren reeling back, stars dancing before his eyes. For a moment he staggers, drops down to a knee. Takes one single deep sharp breath.
She's got him on the ropes, and he knows it.
Another breath. As deep and steadying as he can manage.
And with a roar, he surges to his feet, lunging right at her in what's halfway a tackle and halfway a bodyslam.
GS: Loren Voss has spent 2 Combo on Gatling, including 1 on Gatling! GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Celestial Strike! GS: Loren Voss has completed his action. GS: Lan Lilac critically Guards a hit from Loren Voss's Celestial Strike for 11 hit points! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Loren Voss has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Whew. They're both tired. Even if they said it was just practice, they've both ended up using some pretty committed moves.
"You've got a solid foundation," she tells him, because after all... he'd asked. Even if he doesn't take her advice, he'd at least acknowledged that she might have something to teach him. "But you're too stiff."
He takes a breath and lunges for her, and Lan... doesn't even try to get out of his way. She just brings her arms up to protect her torso and lets him slam into her, sending them back careening ass over teakettle across the ground and the sun-scorched grass. "OOF!"
They come to a stop with Lan sprawled out on her back in the grass, Loren half on top of her, and Lan doesn't dare move.
Is this the only way he knows to ask for something that ought to be simple? Or did she really just make him that upset?
She tried to stifle a snort of laughter and fails. "If you wanted to touch me again, you know you just need to ask, right?" Lan laughs, and pushes herself out from beneath him, up onto her feet.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Lan tells him.
He did ask.
"You need tae be more bloody flexible."
He outright glowers at Lan, as if she'd somehow touched a nerve. "Too stiff, huh..."
Before she makes a demonstration of it, just about, and slams a hand into his chin with stunning force. The rest after that's more reaction than planned action: in short undermining almost everything he'd learned about self-defense in Jugend.
Was that really for her or is she just another convenient scapegoat?
Because he can't reach what he wants to strike down?
He slams her into the ground, toppling with her; he ends up with his face smashed in somewhere about halfway down her torso.
Which, at least, spares him a more awkward if somewhat more cushioned landing.
He rises up onto his hands quickly, hovering over her.
Which is when she says that.
He blinks, and probably for the first time, a pale pink colors his face. He rises to his feet quickly after that. "A-absolutely not! What are you even talking about?!"
He about-faces from there rather hastily, hunching his shoulders.
What is wrong with you, he thinks accusationally, and not for the first time.
"...You made your point," he mutters a moment later. "I was too locked up. I wasn't fluid enough."
Silence trails out.
"I'll remember that, next time."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
He reacts as she thought he might, and Lan just keeps chuckling. Not at him. Just... well, maybe it's been a while since she touched anybody, either. It feels pretty good to laugh, even if she's feeling a little beat up by now.
"I'm talking about if you wanted human contact but were too shy, you could've asked me!" she tells his back. "Do you wanna hold my hand on the way back to the inn?"
Okay, maybe now she's just teasing him...
"Right, right," Lan continues, as if she doesn't want to give him enough time to truly get upset. "Come on. Since you indulged me, I'll buy you another round at the inn before bed. That's fair, right?" She offers him her hand despite knowing he won't take it. But it's a peace offering, from her to him.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Somehow, from behind, Loren gives the impression of a cat with its fur on end.
"We were practicing, remember?" he mutters, shoulders still hunched. "You're reading too much into it. ...Ugh."
Of course she's teasing him. Even if he knows that, it doesn't seem to make him any less inclined to play along.
"..."
She makes a peace offering, of a sort. He remains for a moment more with his back to her.
And then at length, he glances back over his shoulder. "...Fine. I've had enough of this for today anyway."
He walks over to collect his things, slinging his coat over a shoulder. "Since you offered," Loren agrees, apparently taking her up on the offer of a drink.
Non-alcoholic, of course.
She offers him a hand.
He glances down at it.
True to form, he doesn't take it, opting to walk on ahead instead.
Still, while he's still obviously a damn awkward mess... him even accepting that offer of a drink is pretty much as good as she might get -- as close as possible to a peace offering of his own -- for a boy as cagey as he is.
Little steps, maybe...