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Tweak says, "Hey pretty bird!"

zaria (bravely) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-07-04 10:30:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 6, katara, xena

Day 6
Who: Xena & Katara
What: Training
When: Morning
Where: Training Room
Rating: PG
Status: Complete

Xena had risen early, as was her habit. She showered and dressed, grabbed some light breakfast from the kitchen and headed for a room she had seen during her exploration of the resort. It was a big room, with several weapons on racks along the walls. There was a thick pad on the floor, and she assumed it was for sparring. If someone fell, they wouldn't get hurt too badly.

She entered the room and shut the door behind her. It was mirrored, as well, so that you could watch yourself as you trained. She looked around her for a moment, noting that the room was void of any other persons. She unstrapped her scabbard from her back and leaned her sword against the wall. She also unhooked her whip and chakram and set them next to the sword on the ground. She wanted to warm up before she started practicing with her sword.

While she and Gabrielle had been in India, they had discovered yoga. Gabrielle had been more into it than Xena had been, but Xena still did it sometimes to appease her friend. She was doing it now because some of the positions were good stretches and she had to admit, however reluctantly, that it was kind of relaxing.

She went through a few positions, watching herself in the mirrors. She'd grown used to mirrors. They hadn't existed in her time. The only thing she could rely on for a good reflection was some highly polished metal, or a still pond. When she felt sufficiently loose, she returned to the wall and pulled her sword from its scabbard. She turned and found a sparring dummy in the middle of the room. It hadn't been there before and it was slightly eerie. But, since no one else was still in the room, and she would know if there was, she chalked it up to a quirk of the planet.

She began her dance, because that's what it was. It was an elegant display of her skill. She slammed her sword into the dummy time and time again, stabbing and sweeping the blade through the air. The dummy never seemed to display any damage, but a thin red line would appear each time she struck it somewhere. By the time she finished, she was slightly out of breath and the dummy was covered in thin red lines.

She smiled, satisfied. But her smile vanished when she heard the door creak open.

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k_waterbender
2008-07-05 06:52 pm UTC (link)

Xena… That was an interesting name. She’d never heard one quite like it from her home world. However, it seemed to fit the woman perfectly. It was a strong, confident sort of name. She wondered if it meant anything near what it sounded like. Perhaps it meant something like a saber-tooth lion. They were strong and confident.

Nine days seemed like a long time to have been stuck here. Sapphire eyes looked at the test dummy and noticed the red lines covering it. Perhaps Xena was letting her aggressions out on the Planet’s things. Katara knew she wouldn’t have minded showing the rock her wrath, even if it wasn’t in any way actually harmful to the Planet.

The Water Tribe femme’s brows furrowed when Xena addressed her question, but understanding hit her when she remembered she was holding a staff. Katara looked down at the long, smooth surface of the weapon and blushed lightly. “Uh, no. Not really. I’ve only ever seen others use them. I never really needed to learn how to use a weapon like this.”

The young woman watched in awe as the warrior- for it was obvious now that that was what this woman’s profession, or at least hobby, was- lifted a similar staff and revealed some of her prowess with it. This woman seemed to be highly skilled with more than one weapon. She’d seen how Xena carried her sword, and now this staff. Perhaps the older woman was skilled with more than even those two weapons. After all, it wasn’t impossible. The warriors of her tribe were skilled in various weaponry. “My friend, Aang, used to use a staff, too.” It wasn’t really a staff, but a glider that folded up in such a way that it could be used as a staff, but that wasn’t really important. It was nice to have some common ground with this woman who she hardly knew. Each having a friend who had favored a staff was a shaky, but good start.

Katara watched as the warrior woman twirled the staff again. The movements she used with it were similar to Aang’s, but the girl also saw potential for it to be used with the same kind of battle art she favored. Perhaps learning how to use a weapon like this could be very beneficial in a plethora of ways. Small sparring matches could even be held if she learned how to use something like it because it wouldn‘t be such an unfair match if she didn‘t use her waterbending.

“You seem to be experienced with this. Do you think you could teach me how to use it?” The waterbender asked. “That is, if you really want to. I don’t want to you to put yourself out or anything on my account.”

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bravely
2008-07-05 09:53 pm UTC (link)

Xena stopped twirling the staff and rested the butt end on the mat, she nodded when the girl said she hadn't had any training with the staff. "Do you have experience using any kind of weapon?" It was sometimes easier to teach someone to use a particular type of weapon when they were already used to using another one.

She nodded again to the mention of her friend using the staff for a weapon. "It's Gabrielle you want teaching you, not me. But, since she's not here at the moment, I suppose I will have to do." She smiled slightly and gestured her onto the mat. "Sure, I could probably teach you a thing or two. C'mon, it's no trouble at all." She stepped back as she stepped forward.

"First thing's first. You'll want to be able to hold it properly, as well as get the stance down. It's no use if you get your staff knocked out of your hands, or get knocked over yourself." She put one hand on one end of the staff almost a foot from the end, and her other hand closer to the middle. "This is how you'll want to hold it. This gives you the space to use the open end for defending yourself, or for disabling your opponent, and still keep a good grip on it. It also keeps your opponents a good distance away."

She stepped forward slightly and whipped the staff down, causing it to waver, and make a whipping sound in the air. "Do you see how flexible it is? This is not a weapon generally used to kill. But it hurts if you're struck by it." She swung it down and slammed it on the mat to demonstrate. It made a loud thwack and a temporary dent in the soft mat.

She stepped back. Holding the smaller end with her left hand, the middle of the staff with her right. She put her right leg forward. Her foot pointed forward, along with her torso. Her left leg was back, foot pointed away from her body. "This is how you'll want to stand, at least, when you can. It keeps you balanced, centered. It is harder to knock someone over when they are standing this way." She then moved to put both feet together, facing forward. "As opposed to this way. Got it?"

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