InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Everything's going to be fine."

zaria (bravely) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-08-22 09:49:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 12, faith lehane, gabrielle, katara, toph bei fong, xena

Day 12- Training in the Sunshine
Who: Xena, Gabrielle, Katara, Toph & Faith (posting order)
What: Weapons Training
When: Early Morning
Where: A grassy area outside the gardens
Rating: Depends, probably PG
Status: Complete

Xena pulled herself from sleep. Something was different. The familiar sound of breathing next to her wasn't it. It was the absence of wind and rain being slammed against their windows. It was quiet, almost too quiet. The knotted feeling in her stomach hadn't lessened while she slept, either. She groaned and sat up. The bard was still sleeping. Xena wanted to let her sleep, but she also wanted to take advantage of the sunshine that was streaming cheerily through their window.

She scooted out of bed and leaned over Gabrielle. Mindful of morning breath, she shook the blond. "Wake up!" She sing-songed at her. "Rise and shine, rise and shine!" She mimicked a line she'd heard from Joxer about a thousand times one morning as a day continually repeated itself. She smirked and watched the battling bard's eyes flutter before reluctantly opening. "We are going to work out today, out there, in the sunshine." She gestured toward the windows.

Grinning, she dressed in her leathers and pulled on her bronze armor. She pulled her hair back halfway, leaving the black fringe against her forehead. She'd once pulled it back, but she didn't like it that way much. She sat down and pulled some cheese and bread out of a bag. She tore off some of the bread and munched on it while Gabrielle got dressed. She ate some of the cheese as well and waited while the bard ate her share of breakfast, too.

"Ready? We've got some girls to train. Katara and her friend Toph. Katara is the one I've been training on the staff. I've never met her friend, but she wants to learn the sword." She opened the door and walked out, down the hall to the exit and over into the next loding unit, E. She headed to the first floor room she knew was Katara's and banged on it. "Katara, it's Xena. Time for some more training!" She grinned at Gabrielle, wondering if she'd woken the girl like she had a couple days ago.

When Katara and Toph were ready, Xena made her way out of the lodging units into the sunshine and headed for the gardens. She knew there were grassy areas where they would be able to train. And lo and behold, when they arrived, there was a rack of weapons waiting for them off to one side. Xena shook her head, mystified at the way this Planet worked. "Alright, ladies. Are we ready for a little hard work?"

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

bravely
2008-08-26 10:13 am UTC (link)

Her attention was no longer focused on Gabrielle or Katara. Faith and Toph were in her line of sight. She frowned slightly when it seemed Toph was going to throw a tantrum. She'd seen Katara waterbend, and though she hadn't seen Toph earthbend, she imagined that's what she'd done to conjur up the rock training dummy that loomed before her. Xena had to smirk. The girl was impossible. Maybe she ought to have met her before agreeing to train her.

She reminded her of a younger Gabrielle, a more naive one who wanted everything to go her way. She knew that Tophs blindness was going to make it difficult for her to 'watch' Faith and herself spar, but Katara said that she could see with vibrations and her hearing. If she could determine the moves Xena made in order to mimic them against the dummy, then she should be able to determine the moves of both women.

"Listen, Toph, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Katara when I began her training with the staff. You need to learn defense before you can learn offense. It will do you no good to go up against someone without being able to defend yourself, no matter how good your offensive attacks are. If you are going to be too impatient to learn the way I teach, then perhaps you need to find a different teacher."

Xena didn't need to teach anyone. She was perfectly fine keeping herself in shape and sparring with Gabrielle on ocassion. The main reason she wanted to get the spar with Faith out of the way was so that she could get the measure of her skill so she would know if she would be a help or hinder to the training of the teenager. But Faith was already giving her another nickname. Fine. That was just fine.

The thing about Xena was that she never underestimated an opponent. Just because this girl looked young and slight, didn't mean she wasn't very good with a sword. Gabrielle had attested to that skill, afterall. Xena looked slightly amused at the comment given just before Faith's first attacks came. She parried and doged the attacks easily, sweeping the other's sword to the side. She hadn't begun her own attacks yet, she wanted to find out what the girl was made of before she did that.

Gabrielle was right. The girl was good. But Xena still managed to block every single attack thrown at her, and she smiled lazily, almost like she was bored. She wasn't rude enough to put a hand to her mouth and yawn, though. She nodded her head as she continued to block the attacks. "Good."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

warriorsbard
2008-08-26 10:24 am UTC (link)

Gabrielle watched as the waterbender moved to block each of her on coming attacks. She was impressed that she could block them and that Xena had taut her so well. She remembered asking Xena to teach her some fighting technique once before. Xena as a teacher didn’t exactly go over so well so much of the skills she learned, she picked up from the Amazon’s or just watching her warrior fight.

She paused in sparring, listening as Katara told her what exactly Xena had taught her, slowly nodding. “You’re defensive stances are good and blocking is something you’ll always need to improve on and learn. Every person is different in the way they fight. You’ve got a basic idea of the blocking maneuvers though.” She said, flashing her a small smile.

The bard’s attention shifted as she heard Faith’s comments, her brow rising, not really understanding why the brunette was thrusting her ego around the place but she wasn’t going to question. She knew Xena could wipe the floor with her. She had watched the warrior take on some of the most ruthless warlords and they pretty much crumpled to the ground after a beating. She noticed the dummy that Toph had conjured up from the ground and looked on in amazement, seeing herself in the young girl.

Walking over to stand besides Katara, she brought her staff in close to her chest; she leaned against it, watching as Faith moved to attack Xena, her eyes on her lover, waiting anxiously to see what she would do. She watched Xena block the attacks and smiled a bit, watching her warrior fight. Right away she could tell Xena was bored and smirked, turning her attention back to Katara.

“I’ll show you some basic attacks then you can use them on me while I block. We’ll take it slow.” She said, taking her staff in hand, slowly walking her through ways to attack an opponent, making sure she understood them before allowing the girl to use the attacks on her, blocking them.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -