Move Like A Phantom

[Lavana Tharn]

11th Of Z'ida 717

She stood there in her room on her day off, she began taking time to do some light stretching. Bending down and touching her toes and twisting her hips to keep herself nice and loose. Nothing was worse then pulling or tearing a muscle and before a good heavy work out it was optimal to stretch to keep full range of movement. But today it was about practicing agile foot work she assumed her combat stance from her days of old. Basic unarmed combat was one of her favorites.

Especially since she had those bronze gauntlets, they were dense and heavier than wrought iron but she figured that was the point to turn her hands into deadly weapons. And she envisioned her Jab being turned into an instrument of carnage when she hammered away with hands akin to a battering ram. Just the thought tickled her fancy, but she had to keep that kind of behaviour and line of thinking in check even when she felt compelled to act on it. But still she envisioned that crunch that feel of bronze knuckles crushing and boring through bone, it was a pleasant sweet little nothing that she let dance around in her mind. Lavana was constantly at war with herself, as she tried to deny the indulgence of her very nature. Truly she didnt aspire to do evil deeds, its just the deeds seemed to aspire to her like lulled whispers that sunk its sinister venom into her veins that slowly trickled as a chill down her spine. Something wanted and felt on a deeper level acknowledged in the mind scape but couldnt be acted upon, like the the romance of a lovers friend it was forbidden.

She started to let her imagination run wild as she envisioned an adversary before her. Lavana was quick to pump out the jab at this imaginary foe in succesion as her hand fluttered out peppering her adversary as he manuvered briskly. Shed feel him out just jaming that arm punch at his face. He was blocking now while moving, she waited as her hand kept a steady pace attempting to touch him. She envisioned her fist adorned in her gauntlet hitting him like a mace with total disregard as she pictured his face being pulped to hamburger.

All of a sudden her imaginary foe sprang out of his defensive position and started attacking her with a barrage of punches. She practiced slipping them like a boxer, with joystick like body movements jigging herself to appear within range while not being in range. Moving side to side swaying but twisting into pivots until out of frustratio threw his wild hay maker punch the kind of telegraphed hands down punch youd expect from a novice that jab would hit much more robustly as her adversary coming in would be hit in a collision rather then an impact.

She practiced the movements with her centerline, this the distance of her own head and center by bending her knees and leaning in or out with her posturing if she leaned in it gave the appearance she was closer, if she arced back a bit she was further away shed practice this concept a bit swaying forward and reeling back, leaning in and reeling back and repeating these illusive set up movements designed to make over eager combatants over extend and throw themselves off balance while being able to stay in balance and throw counters with power.

That was the most important concept her to move fluidly but with balance to strike back with stability while her adversary was uprooted and off center in combat. As she kept using her jab as her staple punch, the bread and butter in her close quarter combat arsenal as she floated with basic foot work learning various combinations of steps and angles to cut the room off or place herself in advantageous positions the real trick to this was keeping herself balanced.

And while the knowledge was there, even if it was really epic in her mind it didnt translate into an actual fight.
Shed learn the hard way about fantasizing and reality, it was nice to work on a foundation and technique and while make believe practice sessions was no cure all to live sparring it did however help build her up some confidence and coordination with her foot work, to help her transition from make believe shadow boxing into the real thing. Those that make the right preperations and adjustments are the ones that do better.

She practiced timing big telegraphed punches, countering with her Jab. It was faster, closer, and could catch her adversary far quicker then the big ole cross as it traveled less distance but packed a little less pepper. Every time she felt hed throw his big bomb of a punch, she exercised precision by firing off a jab to catch him as he opened up. She envisioned teeth busting punches as her knuckles rotated with a subtle snap as her bronze gauntlet did the rest, that was the beauty of the jab it was the most important punch in her unarmed arsenal.

Her feet moved nimbly, evasively in side steps and back steps. Forcing her adversary to follow her in frustration, letting him get mad and open up so she could zap him with her jab as she danced around him. It had a way of disheartening people withering the machismo out of there cahonas as each imaginary jab made contact putting him in deep mental water with thoughts of defeat and self doubt that lingered in the veins like venom slowly crippling a fighter as they become stun locked in adrenaline and that fight or flight response. It was only when they lost heart theyd be mentally broke submitting to defeat with no answers to a repetitive flurry nothing was scarrier then knowing you can be hit at any time but you keep missing it was a primal sense of hopelessness that corrosively ate away at the fighting spirit. As she wore her pretend adversary down with stinging pot shots. She liked to flutter, stepping in twisting off to the side like a matador keeping that jab pumping as he turned into angles from her torso slipping punches angling off to force him to feast upon her jab over and over again and over again.

She started using the round house low kick, whipping it at her adversaries knee the tendons above the knee and sweeping it to collide shin to shin. Shed measure the distance hed punch and shed catch him with the low round house kick. Shed step in and off to the side and whip the quick with her hip or throw that Jab. It was all about timing and fluid movement and staying out of the pocket.

With her plate Sabatons those low whipping round house kicks could become a serious problem if she made shin to shin contact and her foe did not wear armor, like a metal bat ready to shatter a shin. But before that she needed to practice that technique, the kick itself came from the hips, not the legs and it was a difficult technique to truly master in fact it was one of those things you could work on a life time and still find out you still had a ways to go.

Easier in theory then it was in practice, but maybe it wouldnt be a life time wasted becoming more aware and intune with herself as she practiced her low round kicks. Which admittedly she was not, she didnt know anything about herself but shed forget about that and push it aside as she practiced the fundamentals of this intricate technique so simple but so complicated.

After the kick her back leg became her front leg. And she started pumping out a more robust right handed jab, moving and weaving and stepping out to blast him with Jabs in relative comfort. Shed angle out, readjust and just keep working on those low round house kicks and catching her imaginary foe with more jabbing punches and low kicks. Until it was time to finish him with her infamous groin kick that shot upwards between his legs, the trick was to drive the kick through like trying to cut through the adversary an upward arcing slice with her shin that hit like a merciless club.

She found the brutal kick tastefully delightful most would say it wasnt right, but if she made the commitments to hurt them shed hurt the real good..

The imaginary foe in her room had been felled.

Lavana felt great it brought her back to a simpler time, when she was a cadet learning unarmed combat with her father. She enjoyed those golden moments, she could almost bring herself back to those simple moments. What the meadow looked like, the sun the smells the sounds. It was a nice memory, and she felt at peace with the fact shed outlasted everyone in her life there was a sense of security in knowing her little inn room wasnt going to be besieged by men at arms looking for her.

But something was amiss, as she took a moment to rest.

[Sephira]

Lavana

Overview

A solid combat practice solo. I appreciate the detail you put into this, outlining exactly the areas Lavana is targeting. Good job.

PS: I made an edit to your Unarmed knowledge. It was previously listed as "Thai Roundhouse Kick", I've renamed it "Roundhouse Kick" to better suit the world of Idalos. Also, you probably need to declare what type of Unarmed combat she is using. By reading this thread I would say it should be Unarmed(Boxing), or maybe brawling if you think that would better suit Lavana. I am calling it Boxing for now until you tell me otherwise.

Points

XP:10
This cannot be used for magic.

Renown

N/A

Loot

None

Knowledge

Acrobatics: Attacking While Moving
Acrobatics: Slipping Imaginary Attacks
Acrobatics: Using the center-line to bait attacks.
Acrobatics: Using Foot Work To Stay Balanced In The Flow.
Acrobatics: Using Foot Work To Shift Stances, and open new angles of attack
Unarmed(Boxing): Roundhouse Kick

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Sephira

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