| An Old Life Anew; Open | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 5 2017, 03:09 AM (1,005 Views) | |
| bonniecanuck | Oct 16 2017, 11:53 AM Post #21 |
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Bonnie Bushi
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Edie took another quick step back as Kaede went for the other shoulder, and tilted the naginata the other way, inverse to the way it had been held not a moment earlier. However, she misjudged. This was something she hadn't been prepared for. Kaede's blade would go over where she had placed her block, so she wouldn't stop it. That being said, it should be noted that she wouldn't have been able to deal with it that well. Naginata was a highly ritual martial art that was focused on form, and like kendo was grounded in the ideas of basic attacks and blocks that were derived in striking at particular parts of the body - of which dealing with a head-on strike to the shoulder was not one. Without anything to stop it, Edie simply let herself receive, then performed the ayumi-ashi cross-steps backwards back to kamae, as they stood at the distance from which they started again. "Well, I suppose that there's a certain truth to that though. But the cat is perhaps more like a tiger, one that has been raised and trained in the circus. Though she has a survival instinct, she's had gaps in her program that has given her weak spots. But in her mind, the best defense is a good offense!" And with that, she launched a barrage of attacks. This was a normal ritual series of strikes, but she wanted to see how Kaede would deal with them. The same overhead strike to the head. "MEN!" A shift to the hasso diagonal ready position, followed by another overhead strike centred from the solar plexus, with the right shoulder and foot to the front. "MEN!" A repeat back with the left facing forward. "MEN!" Another hasso and a strike to the ankle. "SUNE!" The same. "SUNE!" A tsugi-ashi spring-step back to retreat, and then finally finishing with the same overhead strike. "MEN!" |
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| Corruption | Oct 16 2017, 07:20 PM Post #22 |
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Tony paid attention very well. Edie knew her style, but did to understand it's nature fully. She would be good in competitions against other people using her style, or even the same weapons, but it meant a lacking in over areas, and improvisation. They both seemed to be using their bodies as tools to use their weapons, instead of working in harmony with them. Another sign on being overly trained or relying on knowledge and not experiance. Kaede had an advantage with using a different style, robbing Edie of having the full benifiet of her training, and exposing weak spots. If Edie had instead of trying to block the last strike from Kaede, shifted her position and thus where her shoulder was, it may have made the naginata miss, giving her an opening. They were also both mostly acting and reacting, with only limited forward planning in their moves to set the other up to leave openings. To quote a webcomic "Three moves ahead." |
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| GrimRPer | Oct 17 2017, 03:03 AM Post #23 |
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Kaede had a smug for a moment, but soon that gave place for the most "oh crap" expression one could muster. Seeing Edie sudden shift to offensive was a surprise, and while she did dodge a hit and parried another, a third and more hit her ankles and lastly her shoulder. But her reaction was... Weird. The exclamation of "pain" didn't sound pained, but the polar opposite, which... Could freak out some that weren't expecting that. But holding Edie's naginata in place with a hand, the other brought her own naginata in a side swing to Edie's side. There was no sign she'd stop it at first, but dodged or not... She still stopped the "blade", a couple inches from an impact that could or not happen. |
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 18 2017, 11:33 AM Post #24 |
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Bonnie Bushi
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Edie had done her utmost to avoid hitting Kaede, but it seemed that she had gotten into the rhythm of the engi-based routine that she had failed to restrain herself sufficiently. When she was finished, she did a backwards okuri-ashi. Only she quickly realised that Kaede was actually holding her naginata in place and that she was now bringing her own naginata on the side. At this point, she put aside all that she had learned to do something different as her analytical pragmatic mindset kicked in. Keeping her left hand firmly on the shaft, she pivoted herself around to escape the reach of the swing. She was apprehensive about doing something so unorthodox and blatantly frowned upon, but it was the best that she might be able to do. No, it's not that bad, she told herself as she made her move. I'm sure you've done weirder and un-doctrinaire acts with your martial arts learning than this. |
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| Corruption | Oct 18 2017, 04:54 PM Post #25 |
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Hmm, Kaede reacted to pain just like Nova would. Edie was good to change tatics and go on the offensive suddenly. Kaede's gripping of the weapon was a smart move. However, now she only has one hand on the other, which meant less control and force applied. Edie seemed to not realise immediatly about her weapon being grabbed, but recovered well. If she keeps this up, she may be able to learn to develop her own style withing the school she had learned. Otherwise, she would have been stuck as only an immitator of what she had learned. A well trained one, but still just an immitator. Tony had stopped his warm-ups and was clearly watching now. |
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| GrimRPer | Oct 19 2017, 12:29 AM Post #26 |
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Laughing a little, even after her attack failed as Edie has yet found a way to avoid it successfully, Kaede let go of her opponent's naginata as soon as she was back in stance. "Did I freak you out a little? I know the idea of an opponent enjoying pain can be weird and all, so that is why I did it and... It did hurt a little. Might leave a bruise.", Nova pulled her own naginata close and, hugging it, she massaged the shoulder where she was hit with a grunt. "I'm kinda used to get hurt. From where I come from, we fight with staves.", Kaede actually lied, but refused to show a hint of lie in her expression, looking serious and a bit pained, "So this is nothing compared to getting poked a little too hard with a staff to the shoulder." |
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 19 2017, 07:41 AM Post #27 |
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"Yeah, I can deal with surprises but even that got me," said Edie as she straightened herself back into kamae. "Sorry if I got you busted up a bit, it really wasn't what I intended." She then shifted into shizentai and brought the naginata back vertically to her side, letting Kaede deal with her own pains. It served as an indication that she wasn't going to start attacking again - it just wasn't in her to do so with her opponent in such a condition anyway. "Staves, huh?" asked Edie. "It didn't look like that to me. Spears, more like, surely." At least, that was what she guessed it was from the way it looked. "Either way, those techniques really aren't something that I'm familiar with, so I suppose I'll leave it to you to use them." She looked more sympathetically at her as she saw her pain through her stoic expression. "Do you need to rest or some help?" She couldn't help but worry that she had some role in causing this and blamed herself for her carelessness. |
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| GrimRPer | Oct 20 2017, 04:41 AM Post #28 |
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"Know this: if your opponent can they might try and freak you out by a number of ways. Wounding themselves, enjoying the pain, intentionally letting themselves get hit, laughing, crying... If you hesitate when they do that, they might exploit a brief moment of weakness you exposed to take you down.", Kaede hissed a bit with the pain on her shoulder. Seems this body needed some more exercise before it were ready for combat. "More like spears. Except the tip was padded. Still hit like a truck, but now...", with a sigh, she went back to the side, seating against the wall, "Yeah, guess I'll take some rest... Hm... Maybe you could take on him while I rest my shoulder a bit? Or maybe gimme a massage." |
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 20 2017, 11:47 AM Post #29 |
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"I guess I'll do what I can to help you," said Edie as she admonished herself. "I guess I really let myself go too far with that one. For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I had to put you in this situation." She wasn't one to let her guard down too much, but even she could tell that Kaede was definitely hurting and would probably need tending to. First thing left was to end the match. She stepped back, still in shizentai, and gave one last bow to end it. "Arigatou gozaimashita." Done that, she dropped her naginata and made her way over to Kaede. "Please, try to relax," she said as empathetically she could. She started to give a light massage on her shoulders, around the area where she was indicating. "Is it any better now?" |
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| Corruption | Oct 20 2017, 07:20 PM Post #30 |
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Tony got closer to them, and said, "I think taking her shoes off will remove the pressure on her ankles that would stop any swelling. Still, they need to be checkedout. The two spots in the body with the most small and fragile bones are the hands and feet, including the wrists and ankles." Smiling a bit apologetically, "Forgive me for not helping out, but a strange guy offering to give a school girl a massage would rightfully be considered creepy. If you want help moving latter because of your ankles, I'll be willing to help ." He went over to the Naginatas and picked them up. No need to leave them laying around like that. Then he asked Kaede, "Would you like to just rest while we spar?" |
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| GrimRPer | Oct 21 2017, 02:37 AM Post #31 |
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"My ankles feels fine, don't worry. In fact, the only area I feel pain is the shoulder. And a bit at the arms, but that is just because of the exercise. It's okay if you didn't choose to help too, no need to apologies.", Kaede chuckled a bit to Tony, reassuringly moving her feet a bit to show no harm has been done. Letting Edie massage her shoulders, she instructed where the aching was and enjoyed every second of it. "You got a really good hand there, Edie. If you were a dentist, I bet you would be one of the best ones.", Kaede relaxed a little more, before listening to Tony's question and replying: "Ah, yes, I can just chill here for a moment while you two spar. It'd be no fair if you were left hanging." |
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 21 2017, 11:00 AM Post #32 |
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"Dentist?" chuckled Edie. "With these hands, surely my dad's teeth would be clean as a clean room. But I have no knowledge in dealing with teeth, so I can't profess that I'd be good, much less one of the best." The joking aside, Edie was glad that she had soothed Kaede as much as she did. She seemed to be very happy with the treatment, and if it brought comfort to her, then the regrets she had of striking her would be gone. In effect, it was an act of atonement that was hopefully enough to clear her mind and move her along. She gave a few last strokes before she gently let go, and said, "If you'd want us to spar, then I'll do it. Not that I'd want to walk away now at this time." She made her way to the centre of the dojo opposite Tony, hefting her naginata in shizentai, until she was directly facing him four metres away. She gave a bow just like the one she had given Kaede at the start and end. "Onegaishimasu." Then she put her left hand on the shaft, shifted her body sideways, and stood in chudan-no-kamae. She watched for Tony to do the same. |
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| Corruption | Oct 21 2017, 03:11 PM Post #33 |
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Tony bowed to her, but did not assume the normal stance. He held the naginata before him like a staff and started it spinning. It did not follow any set pattern, and even quickly went around him a few times, changing the direction of the spin. They took only half a second to occur. He did not stay still eighter, but shifting his weight, not allowing inertia to occure. Even he's feet moved a bit. Suddenly on one of the spins around his body, instead of it going back infront of him like a shield to deflect attacks, it instead went point first towards Edie's head, or more precisly, just to the side. Tony was holding the end of it when he pulled this move, and then pulled the shaft back to grab it halfway, and spinning once more. He moved to another position as soon as he started to pull back on the shaft. |
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| GrimRPer | Oct 21 2017, 04:04 PM Post #34 |
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"Well, you two have fun...", Kaede chuckled and gave them thumbs up, to allow their match to start while she were to rest a bit. This was also a great opportunity to study their fighting style and tactics, there was no knowing when and where those techniques would come handy for her. But what style should she pursue? What would fit her best? She was not sure yet, but seems spear isn't her type? Nor polearms? "Ah well, no point in overthinking this right now. But now, is this Tony who I think he is?", a thought came to her mind: was this James disguising again? Edited by GrimRPer, Oct 21 2017, 04:07 PM.
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 22 2017, 10:06 AM Post #35 |
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An advantage of being in chudan when on the defensive is that it gives you the distance and ability to move in accordance with how your opponents strike. As such, Edie was able to make a move to try to defend herself. She pivoted her body leftwards, using her right leg as the axis, now with her right shoulder facing Tony. The blade of the naginata passed directly in front of her face as she made that move. Even so, it was something that caught her completely off guard. This was probably the last way that she expected someone to make use of a naginata, as it certainly wasn't a weapon made for spinning in such a way, and it ignored the principles of striking in the art. If he was going to fight dirty like this, Edie felt it prudent to acknowledge that she would probably have to as well. But first... She launched into the same engi that she had performed against Kaede, such that she could create an opening for herself to land a strike. She would make use to the overhead strikes to draw Tony's attention up there, which hopefully would give her an opening to cut at the shin. Men wo ute. "MEN!" Sokumen wo ute. "MEN!" Sokumen wo ute. "MEN!" And finally, sune wo ute - hopefully the coup de grace to break through. "SUNE!" She brought the naginata as close as she could to Tony's shin without touching it - she didn't want to hurt him like she had done Kaede, but that didn't mean she was going to let up with her attack. Edited by bonniecanuck, Oct 22 2017, 10:06 AM.
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| Corruption | Oct 22 2017, 02:08 PM Post #36 |
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Tony's only change of expression at the attack was a raised eyebrow. Edie had made 2 major mistakes there. The first was treating him like he was using a naginata style fighting and going to try to block the attacks, while remaining mostly in place. That would be shown by his spinning naginata being used to knock the blows to the side, deflecting them, even as he stepped side to side, meaning the blows ended even further away from him. When the blow to his shin came, the other mistake came into play. He could have just knocked it aside, but instead he knew it was comming and had prepared to counter it. Thrusting down to block it with the blade of the naginata, Tony rushed forwards a few steps, bringing the blunt end of his naginata towards Edie's head. He figured she would raise her own to black it, would thus be ready to swing the bladed side up to come towards Edie's side, stopping just short. After that clash, however it turned out, Tony would break away and calmly say "You treat the naginata like a long sword. It, like battle spears, pikes and lances is also part staff. By keeping it still, you rob it of the momentium that increases the strength of it's blows and how fast it can respond. You need to master both it's aspects; staff and blade." |
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 23 2017, 11:40 AM Post #37 |
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Bonnie Bushi
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Edie was startled by the way he moved. Nothing could have prepared her for any of the motions or the strikes, and she struggled to keep up with them. Even with her expertise in the naginata, she couldn't be prepared for a method that would never come close to being considered true naginatajutsu. Who is this guy?! she asked herself. Coming to the end, she stood back to shizentai, but she was confused. Soon, that confusion turned to lividness as she listened to Tony lecture her. She was stunned. Who was he? Who was he to tell her what she was to do or not to do? But something about the way he spoke gave her pause and made her think. She was absolutely sure that she had heard that sort of tone from somewhere before, but she didn't know who exactly from. If she could only put her finger on it... She snapped out of her thoughts to get back into the situation facing her now. If fighting like in keiko wasn't going to suit her, she would have to take it up as far as she could. She switched back to chudan, then began launching a new fresh barrage of attacks. Unlike the slower, more ritual strikes that she had performed earlier, this was full-on free-form sparring that she had done at tournaments. While she wasn't the most used to doing so like this since she wasn't in bogu, it afforded her a unique mobility and ability to move herself and the naginata around in accordance to how she needed. Every fast-paced strike or jab was matched by equally fast forward steps and follow-throughs, as if her full potential had been unleashed by what was facing her. |
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| Corruption | Oct 23 2017, 04:21 PM Post #38 |
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Tony smiled. Edie was now much better! Instead of following patterns that limited her before, she now was going full out. Still, there were two problems. One was she seemed to be loosing control a bit, and the second being that he was having trouble keeping up. Tony stepped to the side of an overhead blow at the last moment and brought his Naginata down on hers hard, trying to slam it to the ground, they bring his up towards her. Few people expect their foes to try bringing their weapons closer to where they had been! Most people try to block or deflect! "Let anger be thy fuel, not thy master." He had noticed a few less things as well. Edited by Corruption, Oct 23 2017, 04:22 PM.
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| bonniecanuck | Oct 24 2017, 11:18 AM Post #39 |
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Directly facing the blade of her opponent's naginata, Edie stopped and checked herself for a moment. Looking back, it really did feel like she had lost control. She furiously cursed herself for that under her breath. She had let his words get too far under her skin for her own good, and by doing so undermined the philosophy of being a martial artist and to be collected and composed in the heat of the moment. With nothing else to it, she silently followed through with her strike and returned to chudan, then did a backwards ayumi-ashi until both of their habu were crossed again at length. "I think there's much that has to be said about what a naginata is and isn't for," she said quietly amidst unsteady breathing, "but you and I, we are not the same. You might be a fighter or a warrior, but you have no regard for what the naginata embodies beyond a weapon, a device meant to be used as a tool of combat, and nothing else. Can you feel the spirit or connection of holding it in your hands? The naginata is just as much an instrument of virtue, of harmony, of control, of the will. Can you claim to feel any of that when you perform what you do?" Neither her voice, her body language, nor her eyes betrayed anger or sorrow, only a steely suspense as she awaited a response. |
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| Corruption | Oct 24 2017, 02:13 PM Post #40 |
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Tony replied to that with sorrow in his voice and eyes. "I know where you are comming from, on a little bit more then an intellectual level. Naginatas were the weapons of women Samuri. Like the swords of the male ones, they were seen as symbols of Virtue, Honor, Justice, and Order. So much so that some believed when a Samuri focused their Chi through their weapon, it was as if blessed or enchanted for those things. "Those are the virtues that those who take up the way of the warrior should follow." A pause as if it meant a lot to him and he had to get back on track. "The weapons you use must never be seen as just weapons. They are the things that can take or save lives. You must use them as if part of yourself, but always remember the burden they carry." Standing up at parade rest, he stood with his Naginata to his side, not in a fighting position. "For you, it is the art that brings honor. For me, it is the result. When you fight in war, as weapons are designed for, if you die with honor, then whatever else you were fighting for shall be lost. I would rather people be able to consider me poorly, then both they and I dying because I did not give it my all." Edited by Corruption, Oct 24 2017, 02:13 PM.
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10:43 PM Jul 11



