The Gentle Hand and the Raging Fist [Ayameko Please]

[Vanderlou]

Timestamp:
Late Immanis, in the Season of Winter, Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum.

From a distance the lone figure of a man dressed in nothing but white moves through the boardwalks of the Laroo River Park in footsteps that appear to be as light as they are rigid. He takes a step forward and with a snap of his hips and a turning of the torso he sends his body spinning in a revolution that sends two feet striking the air in quick succession. In any other place he would have been thought of as a madman to be practicing in the snow at such a dangerous place, on a boardwalk at the edge of a frozen river, but this was Zinn'Sunn and people here devoted their lives to perfection - such religious devotion to training could only make Torek smile, and so nobody bothered the foreigner, instead the few who passed by only bowed respectfully at him and he too as well.

[Ayameko Gicha]

Ayameko often frequented the boardwalks that edged the Laroo River in Laroo River Park, and she often frequented it during all seasons and during all times of day, and this brightening was no exception. She was walking the boardwalks dressed in her loose-fitting, white linen garb which allowed her limbs more movement and less restriction than her pink, cotton kimono.

As she was walking her mind was mentally going through the training she had received in Ataa, her mental warm-up for her practice she was about to go through, practicing each well rehearsed move carefully. As she was walking down the boardwalk she saw a man performing a double kick in the air, precariously placed on the edge of the boardwalk, clearly a man who was comfortable in his skills and not easily scared. Ayameko stopped not too far from him, just out of this fighting range, and watched him practice, it wa very enjoyable to watch. She would have spoken to him but she did not want to disturb him.

[Vanderlou]

Immediately upon noticing the woman who had just stepped dangerously close to his striking distance the zinn'ka artist stopped dead in his tracks, arms and feet fully relaxing as he recovered from the strain of continuous practice. He turned towards this newcomer, hands coming together as he bowed low in her direction fully expecting the beautiful woman to return the gesture. Why she had been staring at him that long Vanderlou didn't know, if it was a young boy he might have understood but women in this city were so much reserved that he hadn't even entertained the notion that there might be a few who had an interest in Zinn'ka.

"Good Morning Honorable Lady," he said in his best but broken zinnsunnesse. "Are you lost? Do you need assistance? An escort perhaps?" it was just like him to offer a total stranger help and he couldn't really think of any reason why she would watch him, it wasn't as if he was that good with the arts nor did he think he was attractive - even if this was the truth to some degree.

[Ayameko Gicha]

Ayameko mentally kicked herself for disturbing the man, she had just meant to watch him for a time then pass along, back to her own business, but now she had been blatantly rude to someone, and rudeness should never be tolerated. The man gave her a very low bow, though he seemed to just be polite rather than recognize her for her social position, she liked this and wanted to keep it that way, the constraints of life are much fewer if one is of a lesser class, she felt. So she matched his bow, hands brought together.

When the man spoke she realized he was not from around here, his speech a little broken and accented, but his grammar seemed just fine so it not really matter. She directed her dark, brown almond eyes into his when she replied, "Good morning to you too sir. I am truly sorry for disturbing you and disrupting your practice." Here she gave a tiny bow of apology before looking back into his eyes and continuing, "But I was admiring your practices, its not common to see people training on the Laroo River Boardwalk, especially in winter, because it is such a precarious place to train. Also I enjoy watching people who also train in the various arts of Zinn'ka, which I grant you, there are many here. Sorry for disturbing you, I shall be on my way and let you continue of course!" Here once again Ayameko bowed to the strange, but polite, man. But she did not leave yet, she hesitated, waiting for what the man would say next.

[Vanderlou]

"I have to admit, this isn't one of the best places to train in the city but the place is quiet and the ambiance helps me concentrate. Sill... its a bit slippery though," he slid the top of his toe across a single plank of would, tapping the creaking wood to make an emphasis on his statement. "...you have to be extra careful about the placement of your foot too, if you don't want to lose your balance that is."

"I haven't seen the most of the other Zinn'ka styles firsthand but I've heard about most of them - or at least the theories behind the more popular ones... Oh I apologize, I've been holding you up, please take care on your way - to wherever you're headed."

He had fully expected the girl to simply leave after those bows and a brief exchange of pleasantries but instead there she was, still standing at the same spot with an expectant look on her face.

"You have the look of someone who's waiting for something, is there something else you wish to talk about?"

[Ayameko Gicha]

Ayameko nodded along with what the man was saying, she fully understood what he was getting at, this place, despite its slipperiness WAS quiet and quite a good place to get away from people. The Laroo River Park may be popular but it was hardly ever crowded and must people walked through it in a hushed way, so one was never disturbed here.

Ayameko had been about to walk away but she had hesitated, she was intrigued, "You know you say you are not familiar with all the forms of Zinn'ka, correct? Well I am not really familiar with them all either, but I am working on training in Ataa. Are you familiar with it? It is a graceful and fluid form, the best comparison it could be made to would be water. What is your preferred form that you were practicing?"

A mischievous glint flashed through Ayameko's eyes as she paused, and she looked up at the man again and flashed a little half smile, "Well I guess I hesitated because I am a bit rusty with my Ataa, and you were practicing, so I guess a silly thought flashed through my mind... Its ridiculous I am sure you will not go for it." She glanced down then glanced up at him again, looking playfully innocent, "I guess to not beat around the bush I was wondering if you wanted to have a friendly, little duel. Nothing serious just to get some practice, you were already practicing and I really need to. Of course assuming you do not mind sparring a woman?" At this Ayameko flashed a full smile, her lithe and delicate frame could be quite deceiving. "Two people are always more effective than one," she added.

[Vanderlou]

This woman, she had spunk. It was a quality Vanderlou has slowly began to admire, no small surprise considering that he now lived under the same roof as someone who was practically spunk incarnate. Amelia, despite her prim and proper appearance was edgy and this was a charm that had grown on him.

How could he not entertain the request of a woman.

Especially that of a beautiful one?

"It would be my honor," he bowed, his voiced laced with excitement at finding out just what her brand of Zinn'ka could do. "Not to worry, I've been around enough women to know that it is never ever wise to underestimate your sex. If anything the most dangerous individuals I've come across in my travels were all... women." the thought made him smile and looking back he couldn't deny the truth in his statement. From the legendary bone-woman of Secyclion, that hot-headed warrior Jade and finally Amelia, his master - all of them were dangerous.

"By the way, I am Vanderlou, a wanderer from the South," he took a few steps backwards and once he had created enough distance between them he shifted his feet slowly so that his side would be facing the kemite woman in a side-stance. "I'd like to have your name before we begin this duel lady...?"

[Ayameko Gicha]

Ayameko smiled, the man called Vanderlou seemed quite sincere when he said that the most dangerous people he had encountered were women, she wondered who they were and how strong they had been. She was merely basic at Ataa and no where near where she wanted to be in her training, but she was getting there.

"My name is Ayameko Gicha, of Zinn'Sunn only," she smiled after she said this, depending on how well this Vanderlou knew of the clans of Zinn'Sunn he would recognize her name instantly as related to the leader of the Dragon clan, to what degree he may not know, but if it did not ring any bells then it did not matter to Ayameko, being anonymous was always to her liking, sometimes social rank got in the way of... well encounters like this.

"And I assure you the pleasure of this duel is all mine," after saying this she assumed her starting pose. First she went to the the rest position, standing straight and still getting a hold of her deep breathes. Then she stepped her left leg out to the left then forward the same distance, then she lifted bother of her arms up and faced her palms towards her face, each resting over her cheekbones and kept her elbows tucked in, and then she waited... Ataa was not about attacking it was using minimal effort and acting a lot on the defense as well.

[Vanderlou]

"Ataa, a zinn'ka art focusing on subtle redirection, perfect absorption and minimal exertion of force. I've read about it but I've been itching to see how it fares in practical application." maybe it would come off as a bit of a surprise to Ayameko that the half-elf actually knew more about the other zinn'ka forms that he'd initially let on. Still, it was only common sense that he should at the very least familiarize himself with the common variants of zinn'ka if he wanted to be able to deal with them when the time came.

Not that it mattered much if he knew the basic premise behind the Ataa style, it wasn't as if he could suddenly drastically change his style based on the situation and unfortunately in this instance his style was exactly the kind Ataa had been designed against. Of course if he could come in quickly enough and deliver powerful blows it would still cause damage to some degree and he was going to bank on that belief.

"Shall we start?" he voiced out the question knowing that an answer wouldn't even be necessary.

Clearly the woman wanted him to attack first so without further Vanderlou sprinted towards the girl before stopping abruptly to plant one foot on the ground so that he could pivot on it to deliver a simple but powerful straight-kick - one borrowing most of its momentum from his starting dash.

Obviously the Gicha woman would be able to deal with that blow, or in the worst case scenario reduce the force of the impact with her technique but it wouldn't be over with just a single attack. His style after all was famous for its aggressive stance on unarmed combat.

If he could recover his balance he would start attacking the girl with a sustained barrage of weak but well-formed hook-punches. The angles would make intercepting the blows difficult with a simple sweeping motion, and despite his claims of wanting to go out on this beautiful but deadly flower he was curious to see what measures Ayameko would take against this kind of continuous attacks and so he would wait, controlling the amount of force in every punch until she showed him something new.

OOCIf there's something wrong with the way I'm writing this encounter just tell me, I'm not sure if you actually want me to steer the fight or if you want to have a chance at winning.

[Ayameko Gicha]

Ayameko was expecting the first attack, she of course had plenty of time to anticipate it, seeing as she chose a defensive position first and watched him run at her, then plant his foot and send a flying kick at her. This attack was simple and she had plenty of time to anticipate it so she used a forearm block, waving her arm so that the kick hit her forearm , but she kept her arm in motion so that the force of the attack was absorbed and did not hurt as much as if she had held her arm still.

Ayameko was not as lucky when it came to the next round of attacks which was a barrage of hook-punches, which although did not hurt very much, clearly Vanderlou was holding back, but were placed well enough that they were hard to block from her current position, so she stepped to the side, keeping her arms up, so that the hook punches were no longer aimed at both of her sides but one came directly at her and the other hit her side. She used the simple forearm block to block the one hand and used the more complicated wrist block to block the other hand, this caused pain for her, but the bones in her wrist would also hurt him, and only more so if he increased his force.

Absorbing the punching for a little bit longer, Ayameko thought quickly about her next move, she needed to get him off of her. She decided the next thing to do was to do the push technique, very basic but usually very effective, and she already had her step forward. So after blocking two more punches she straightened out her arms while stepping forward quickly, pressing her forward facing palms into Vanderlou, although this apperas weak there is a bit of power in it, but she was not sure if it was enough to knock him off his feet, but it should be enough to at least push him back a bit.

In the interlude, Ayameko adjusted to the left Southstance, her hips and torso rotated 45 degrees, and hunched in the defensive position so as to minimize her body area open to attack, and then she waited again for Vanderlou's next attack, Ataa was not a Zinn'ka of open force or brutality but rather one of defense and patience, she had to let him keep attacking.

(OoC: How you are going fine, but that does not mean I want you to get a guaranteed victory, you can keep leading and I will respond, but most likely you will win in the end because basic Ataa is mostly defensive. But lets RP it out, maybe we will just end in a draw, this was just a friendly duel haha! Also I hope how I am posting is alright)

[Vanderlou]

While Ayameko's attack didn't exactly catch the half-elf completely off-guard he hadn't expected a full-frontal counter-attack from a style that was famous for passive offense. The flowing strike connected and had there been more power into that attack Vanderlou would have probably been thrown into the ground instead of being sent retreating awkwardly a few meters back as he was.

The girl was learned, that much was evident in her attacks though it also showed that she was definitely as rusty as she claimed. The mere fact that she couldn't take advantage of the opening in his defense the moment she pushed him back was all the confirmation Vanderlou needed to determine her caliber as a Zinn'ka artist.

Still, the Gicha girl had potential and as one artist to another he wanted to bring out what dormant talent there was in the girl to surface. Ataa was a beautiful art and at this moment he wanted to see the style in full-motion, and so he moved towards her again, this time weaving left and right in a bee-line pattern to confuse the girl and once he was close enough he would begin a renewed assault of jabs, only instead of a closed fist he would be striking with a closed palm with his digits rigid and fully extended.

With the knife-hand form his attacks would do greater internal damage though at the cost of a loss in power in every blow. Of course normally this wouldn't have been a suitable trick to use in practical combat but when dealing with an Ataa artist who could easily deflect his blows, piercing attacks were bound to be the most damaging of all.

[Ayameko Gicha]

Ayameko had expected a frontal attack, though due to the half-elf's approach she had not anticipated where the first blows were going to come, so her first attempted block missed, allowing his rigid fingers to strike her, luckily due to her angle there was not a lot of surface area to strike, but when he made contact it sure did hurt. A few more jabs hit her, but her stance did help her, allowing some to miss. Judging from his confusing approach and his great control and precision she could tell she was dealing with a man with great skill, but she had known that from the beginning.

But as he continued she regained her ability to block, and she did, once again, use the forearm block which did nothing harmful to Vanderlou but just let him continue attacking without doing an damage to her. The art of this block was to block the attacker with wasting as little energy on her part as possible, which was fairly easy to do, due to the low skill level of the block. But she wanted to be able to get some damage done to him through her blocks, and since he was using his fingers, and they were locked and stiff, she decided that contact to her bony wrist would be painful to him, and allow her to transition to a different attack.

After blocking, and missing a few more, using her right arm, she did another wrist block. Bt before letting him retract the hand she made a grab for his exposed wrist using her right hand, and if she got a hold of his wrist she would quickly use the whip hand technique with her left hand, swatting him hard across the chest. This attack was good as a defensive move because it usually caught the attacker off guard, lowering his defense. Using that window she would release his left hand and deliver a swift closed-fist punch, aiming at his shoulder. Also due to the angle of her hips and body she would be able to twist into the punch, giving it a bit more force and momentum. This could hopefully neutralize his strength, the goal of Ataa offensive attacls. The punch would leave her one-side exposed until she had a chance to twist back and resume her defensive position.

[Vanderlou]

The whip-handed strike had caught him unprepared and that was soon followed by something that resembled a jab aimed at his shoulders. The successive attacks were enough to cause some degree of pain, not enough to actually disable him. However for the first time since the fight began Vanderlou was having second thoughts about holding back from this sparring practice. Ayameko was fast becoming a threat and he would be forced to put more of his tricks into play if he wanted to pressure her like he was before.

He would slip away from the girl's grip and his feet would arrange themselves in a vertical pattern wherein like her, he would have only one side of his body exposed allowing him to take advantage of his reach and well-practiced jabs.

It was more or less a safe strategy. It was simple, yes, but especially effective. In this stance counter-attacks would be downright impossible to deliver unless the girl stepped into his range - where she would be subject to the deadliest of his attacks or she would try to get around him - at which case he could deliver a vicious, and unexpected back-hook kick.

[Ayameko Gicha]

For the first time in during their duel, Vanderlou had not led into an assault, usually it was Ayameko on the defense and responding to the attacks brought on by this half-elf. But now things had changed, maybe this meant he was nervous of her, or that she had finally stepped it up to a level he found somewhat threatening. Ayameko had no idea.

But now that Vanderlou was on the defense, either they were both going to have to just stand there in their defensive positions or Ayameko would have to make a move, and she chose the latter option. But this was going to be awkward, as a student of the Ataa Zinn'ka art form direct, offensive attacks were not typically taught, emphasis lying more on the passive, offensive attacks and neutralizing the enemy, it was mainly defense based.

Ayameko had to make a decision, so she decided to step forward and a little to the side, so he only had one side facing her, but from this angle she had more reach to make contact with him. But she had definitely stepped into his range, but not wanting to waste time worrying about that she she moved on, she had stepped into her left southstance still, so she also had one side facing into the fight. From this position she raised her fists and twisted her body thrusting her left fist forward, and right before it made contact she twisted her fist so it faced down, letting the knuckles make contact with any part of his body she could hit, and when she retracted her left arm she trusted her right arm forward for the same type of punch.

As she brought her right arm back, she was very exposed because she was in an offensive position and not a defensive position, and she quickly tried to resume her defensive position, but she was not sure if she had started fast enough.

[Vanderlou]

The girl definitely had spirit and her left-handed jab bit into his side with enough force to leave a bit of a bruise, though to her dismay the punch wouldn't really cause any serious damage, Ataa was first and foremost made for defense and so at her level there were only so many attacks that could be executed from that stance. The following right jab of the Gicha woman while every bit as vicious as her last was a tad bit predictable, Ayameko it seemed delivered attacks in pairs and so by the time the girl threw her next punch Vanderlou was able to anticipate the course of her blow and avoid it with a simple side-step.

True to the Ataa style the girl was already on the retreat by the time she launched he strike though Vanderlou wasn't going to let her slip away from his range without putting in one of his own attacks to intimidate her. Taking advantage of the momentary opening in her right side he twisted hips in that direction and in doing so launched a brutal but slow turning kick.

If the hit smashed into her side there was no doubt that Ayameko would be spent sprawling down to the ground with the sheer force of the attack, though if grazed her she would still feel the power in that strike and that in itself would definitely be a cause for concern.