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Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:43 pm
by Karl the Mad
At first, Marius contented himself with batting aside the demon's testing jabs, moving a shade faster than would be normal. Superior eyesight and reflexes meant he could economize his movements, so what seemed like a narrow evasion was, from his perspective, dodging a slow-motion punch or kick. Not that Al was moving in slow motion here, of course. But playing at a slap fight wasn't what he needed!

Fortunately the demon seemed to sense that, as he increased the pressure on the old vamp with some more exotic moves. Marius recognized many of them from his duel with Grishnakhal, and responded accordingly, stepping up his own game in reply by moving fasting, swinging harder. He recalled how he had countered Grish at first, and did the same here. Minus the time stopping and pimp slapping, of course.

Not being as highly trained in melee as the others he opted not to join the banter, although he kept track of it. Al would learn quick that Marius tended to rely on strength and speed to just straight-up overwhelm his opponents, when he didn't simply pimp-slap them through a wall or whatever. And he certainly had plenty of both! What looked like a regular straight-arm punch easily had enough force behind it to knock down this entire tower, delivered at a speed that would probably leave the others blinking after-images from their eyes.

Not bad for a scrawny old dude, one might say.

Eventually he got bored, rushed in to knock Al off balance, then blinked out of sight. Al would have barely a moment to react to the elbow drop from the rafters that was coming down towards him, as Marius escalated things yet again!

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:31 am
by IamLEAM1983
The dragon's elbow and knee came up on command, blocking Miranda's attempted hits without the full breadth of grace Joyful Death had imparted her. Shen Long was competent and obviously knew how to affect poise and flow even without the enchanted sword in hand, but he still fundamentally was an injured old man. He was rigid by just this much, off his mark by just the tiniest of margins - and Miranda would know that her combatant of a mother could've prospectively advised her to capitalize on it, if the dragon had been the type to deserve it.

The strikes he threw in return were lacking in Marius' need to push or otherwise show tactical dominance, instead depicting how carefully Long was following his pupil's own attempts to score points. If Miranda overextended her reach, a palm heel pushed her back. If her approach was too forward-facing, a foot or a hand flashed forward with a whisper of fabric and nary a tap against her; carefully restrained punches and kicks doled out to show her where her weak spots were, but not to dispense pain. In the earlier sessions, it might've seemed odd for the girl to be tapped on the shoulder with someone's toes, but this was a common occurrence by now. Shen Long's contacts straightened her posture, poked out points of coiled stress and lightly brought her out of tunnel vision, if and when it engulfed her.

Constant and serene awareness, a relaxed sense of focus dwelling on the immediate moment and a consistently-maintained sense of physical freedom, unshackling her from the preconceived notions so many fighters tended to carry. These were the attributes he was working to bring out in her. Consciously trying to guard herself would have been mentally taxing and physically demanding, so he sought to teach her to simply remain aware of all the angles he could choose to strike from.

Unlike Marius, he also had a bit of a twinkle in his eye. Martial arts might've been an aesthetic pursuit for him, but they also had roots in rather simple notions. Play was chief among them. That, he knew, was something Allocer keenly grasped in his own way. Shen Long was glad to put Miranda's mettle to the test and hoped she found some measure of amusement in seeing just how more limber she was becoming! He'd never brought his suspicions forward out of politeness, but he assumed Miranda now was a more resilient and capable distance runner than her own mother. She had the cardio for it, that much was obvious, plus the advantages of youth and of a complete lack of martial preconceptions. Aspasia ran like she'd always run track back on Paradise; Miranda could still afford childlike dead sprints for the sheer fun of it.

As for Allocer, he'd taken the offered opportunity to show one of the few crucial details about burly fellows such as himself. To most people, he still was the weirdo Pride Knight with the photo booth-ready chompers and exactingly personable facial wrinkles, the only distant relative of Paimon or Grishnakhal who could manage a good-natured grin without it looking murderous or cartoonish. Consequently, people expected him to be slow, as far as physical displays were concerned. Part of that stemmed out of his status as a prisoner under surveillance as well as his desire to earn and maintain his assigned guards' trust, so he only ever ran or walked as fast as the two angels that shadowed him would have. As agreed upon with Chimera Row's evaluation board, however, he was kept on a slightly looser leash in Shen Long's dojo. What followed wouldn't have been a surprise for Marius, but it caught Shen Long's occasional focus completely off-guard, giving Miranda another striking or disabling opportunity.

The former usurper of City Hall simply wasn't on the floor anymore, by the time Marius' elbow came down. He'd never be able to be as fast as Vlastos, of course - but like all large men with a set of generously and naturally-toned muscles, he controlled them with surprising acuity. Opting to use Marius' own downwards momentum against him, he simply spun himself off to the side and avoided the initial contact, made as if to vault over Marius' form and instead briefly perched himself atop the vampire's back for a fraction of a second. His knees then came down hard on Vlastos' back, his arm pushing against the back of Vlastos' neck; and Allocer's entire approach attempting to turn an elbow drop into either a self-directed punch to the face or just an uncomfortably-placed limb the old librarian wouldn't like to be pinned against.

"You're good," panted the former Duke, "probably the best opponent I've had in years - but you're not mud-wrestled six incubi under Pride's training orders good! I hope for your sake that you never are, either!"

Allocer's laugh wasn't one of challenge, but one of obvious enjoyment. "You're trying to stay on your feet and actually are keeping tactics in mind, and you've got six clay-covered sybarites drooling over themselves with how they're planning to keep you pinned down! Imagine that! I'm Pride; I'm sure you can figure out how embarrassed I was!"

He then rolled off of Marius, coming to his feet and extending a hand in the same gesture, a congenial smirk on his ochre-colored mien.

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:17 pm
by TennyoCeres84
Given Shen Long's reciprocation, Miranda's attacks were fully embracing the more youthful side of martial prowess. Additionally, she seemed to be learning to vary her hits. Understanding that the elderly dragon was of no actual threat, she kept her blows from causing him harm and more to playfully test his own weaknesses.

Sometimes, the teenager would try to extend her reach just so slightly to catch him up when he might have been distracted by Allocer and Marius. In other moments, the younger satyress would feign left or right mischievously, echoing her older ancestors' penchant for harmless trickery. She now knew to expect the occasional odd placement of a foot grazing her shoulder to bring it forward or to straighten it. Her physique had gained significantly in flexibility and grace.

Her focus was one that strayed from rigid structure and more for keen-minded litheness. Her mental capacity for this style of fighting expanded and adapted, likely in the very ways Shen Long hoped to bring out in the girl. Her mother's background would always likely been influenced by her days in Elysium and Paradise, whereas hers were carefree and joyful, less planned.

It was clear she was enjoying herself, evidenced by the occasional chuckle or grin. The sprints she would need to close the distance between herself and the elder had an appropriate juvenile quality to them. She was purposeful, but never constrained, energetic, yet never wasted in how she used her limbs and torso. Miranda wasn't perfection in her training, but she was embodying the aspect of poetry in motion.

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 6:18 pm
by Karl the Mad
He knew he shouldn't have been surprised that Al could move like that, yet somehow he was. And that left him open for being pinned down and nearly impaled on his own hand! How embarrassing. "No, I doubt I want to be that good, either," he replied conversationally, although he struggled to keep some shred of dignity in this awkward spot by not falling on his own punch.

Awkward or not, he was having a little fun. More importantly he was putting the Noise off, exerting himself and working through the day's bullshit through pure physical effort. He knew it wouldn't last and he'd have to learn more enduring techniques, but for now, this was working just fine.

Al got off and offered a hand, and Marius took it, but halfway through standing up he yanked on the arm instead, pulling himself up and over Al's entire body to latch onto his shoulders and wrap an arm around his neck! "I'm as good as I need to be," he grinned in Al's ear, doing his best to strangle the demon. It didn't matter how wide or bulky Al was, a person's neck was still a soft spot to be exploited!

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:38 pm
by IamLEAM1983
Shen Long knew perfection was subjective, and that perfect acuity could only be brought out of Miranda at a pace that suited the girl. He adjusted his own approach, realizing how the forward-facing momentum of most of his assumed stances was a detriment to his defensive capabilities against the Fauness' size, speed and ability to vary her angles of attack. It felt like a pleasant refresher course, in some sense, as he was brought out of the sort of monolithic tendencies most immortal mêlée combatants tended to assume with time. Most dragons typically held their ground and pelted their target with magic, and some vampires relied so heavily on their own gifts that they'd lose the value of proper positioning - and of maintained perspective.

So, in order to quickly and briefly bring his mind back to Marius and Allocer, he pushed closer to Miranda for a moment, forcing her into punching range, and then blocked her limbs against her own chest, hands closed around her wrist. He was tense for just a moment, then relaxing his hold slightly. With the girl temporarily immobilized, he looked over to the demon and vampire. Allocer didn't look too worried as he knew Marius wouldn't actually choke him out, but he still looked fairly concerned. Tactically, his options were limited. He tried for repeated elbow jabs in Vlastos' chest, trying to hit either the liver or vagus nerve, and was visibly having a hard time of it thanks to their difference in size. Allocer's width made it difficult to reach a small point in Vlastos' comparatively narrow chest.

Seeing this, Shen Long addressed the vampire.

"You wouldn't be here if you were, Marius. I, myself am older than Chinese civilization and I still find avenues of improvement. In my stance, my balance, my tactical awareness - or my willingness to offer an open palm over a closed fist. What you are doing is tactically sound - if submission mattered. In my dojo, it does not."

He then focused on Allocer. "If you would, Your Grace - bring your feet closer to Marius, tuck your head in as much as you can and use his arms for support. You can flip him off of you. If this were a real bout, I would insist on the importance of keeping your neck tendons as taut as you can. In increasing your neck's rigidity in the moment of contact, you are offering yourself more amplitude to breathe and turn, once allowed to relax."

Allocer's eyes locked on Shen Long, a strained chuckle escaping him as he placed his feet in as close to a corresponding position as he could, considering how Vlastos now knew of the dragon's suggested strategy, and opted for something a little different. Pushing hard on his own feet and crunching his abdominals, he brought his legs up, putting all of his weight against Marius' point of balance, and then swung them back behind him and to the right as hard as he could, forcing Marius to follow along by flipping over. It was more of a modified judo throw than a Pride Knight move, granted, but Allocer's own ego was more than malleable enough to accept outside influences. Once he was flat on his chest and Vlastos, in front of him and on his back, he quickly scuttled forward and placed Vlastos in a mostly symbolic floor-based chokehold, grinning tightly as he did.

"If you're alive," he said, panting, "then you can improve. You're only as good as you'll ever be once you die, Marius. Lots of my colleagues from Pride learned that the hard way. You've got too much potential to waste on self-delusion. You've got instincts pushing you and for once, that's one aspect where common sense and your inner white noise meet up."

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:09 am
by TennyoCeres84
Miranda was initially confused by Shen Long's moves to temporarily stop her from responding to his attacks. Given that he wasn't applying much pressure to her arms, she remained still as the dragon addressed the vampire. She happened to notice her mother stop her stretches and watch the scene from the side.

Aspasia couldn't help but smile wryly at Allocer's statements, hands resting on her hips. "Doubly so for the undead in general, I'd imagine. You have the experiences from your past life, but you have that much more time to add more experiences to your repertoire, on top of what your instincts and your inner white noise are telling you."

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 3:29 am
by Karl the Mad
Marius was confused at Long's intervention, and would have let go of Al readily enough so he could apologize and sort out where he'd gone wrong, but apparently the fight was still going? So he kept bearing down as best he could, and then he was thrown to the floor, and Al had him in a headlock before he could react to that.

"Potential, sure," he replied, but his eyes were on Long as he tapped against Al's elbow, in a 'tapping out' gesture. "Er, sorry, did... did I do something wrong, just now?" He stood up once Al let him go, and turned to offer that one a hand. "I apologize if I did. I guess I got caught up in the fight, or... yeah, I'm..."

This was awkward. He was sure he'd made some mistake, but he wasn't quite clear where it was. He'd thought the point of fighting with Al was so he could go all out for a few moments, really push himself and the demon to their limits. But apparently he had exceeded one of those limits?

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:17 pm
by IamLEAM1983
Shen Long let go of Miranda, nodding to her as he did so. "Consider this a hint on how to control the battlefield," he told her. "If you can close in and immobilize a target, you'll find yourself mentally and tactically freed for other angles of approach. I simply used the fact that I'd pinned you in place to address Marius."

He looked back to Vlastos. "As I've said, you did nothing wrong from a martial standpoint. However, you came here to acquaint yourself with yourself, as it were - to take a few steps towards a measure of control. Your form was perfect and so was your stance, but your approach was one designed to ensure submission."

Shen Long walked in closer and helped Allocer to his feet. "There are no winners or losers, here. No warriors with egoes to shield. No pride at risk of wounding."

He also extended a hand to Marius. "Only knowledge. Knowledge and wisdom. Only pin an adversary down if it is to offer yourself more tactical manoeuverability. Victory, Marius, can only truly be won against yourself - and you have been quite transparent to me. The question is, however, if you've been as limpid towards yourself."

Allocer worked his neck for a second or two, lightly grimaced, and glanced back at his Celestial keepers. "I'm familiar with your type, Marius," he said. "You've used power for so long you think it's all you have to offer. It was all over you, while we were fighting. Use the Noise, the Dragon's old urges. Dominate the battlefield, crush your enemy. So on and so forth," he said, rolling a wrist. "I've been there, too. Thinking I knew what was best for everyone, having my hopes and dreams betrayed... Even Nami and Lucifer opening my eyes was particularly painful. I wanted to reject their truth so badly, at first. I'd been appointed to bring order to Hope, after all - why was I even listening to those two?!"

He sighed as he sat back down at the bistro table. "It took me weeks to figure out that my pride wasn't entirely mine. Like all Knights, like Grishnakhal, I was tethered to the Goat. When we defeated him, we freed my ego and everyone else's in Pride from his. In the days after his capture, I felt weak and vulnerable and I couldn't figure out why. All I knew was that Paimon and Wormsworth were as crabby as I was and nobody knew why. Everything got on our nerves, everything felt raw and unfiltered and every shred of criticism anyone landed my way left me wanting to either recoil or lash out. I still was living out the ersatz of a civilian life before the country's courts got their act together enough to convict me that I figured it out: I was, figuratively speaking, naked for the first time. Everyone in Pride was, too. It's led to as many success stories as terrible mistakes. You've read papers, so I'll assume you know what I'm talking about."

Allocer glanced back up at Marius. "The difference is you've been given a chance at vulnerability. Nobody took your gifts away, nobody ripped Lilith's curse from you and left the centuries catch up. You're still the same man you were before Shield realized you'd spent a fortune putting together a desperate cry for help in the shape of a doomsday ploy, with the crucial difference being that nobody's after you, now. People can know you, after thousands of years of that stupid curse, and you deserve people knowing you for the best that you can be. An engineer, a designer, a former librarian, maybe even an educator - but not some superpowered goon with a chip on their shoulder needing to plow through friendly competition and opposition alike."

Valtiel spoke up from the sides. "I know resisting the urge can be hard, mister Vlastos. It's in you, as deep as any natural instinct - and that's by design. Lilith allowed the Ordo Dracul to come into being so that out of all of their numbers, just a handful would crop up that would've learned to take those possessive and paranoid instincts and turn them into a protective drive. Aldergard Kuhn loved Katherine Starr dearly and he'd twisted the word mine into a marker of affection. Katherine Starr was so much his that he would've let her go out of love, all the while trusting that she wouldn't - that she'd stay by his side. He'd taken his paranoia and used it to erect walls around the mortal financial system, protecting the little guy from people who've had it much, much worse than you."

He lifted a hand. "This isn't about showboating, and you and I both know there's no such thing as burning through your Noise. You can't obliterate half of what you are and nobody wants you to - but there's a balancing act you have to become accustomed with. Listen to it and to your human heart, and find the points where things conjoin. If you can do that, you'll take to this dojo knowing your skills are respected and that you really have no need to push either yourself or others."

Shen Long nodded. "Therein lies the circle. The torture of it all, I'm sure, but also the unbridled potential waiting to be unlocked. You are not your urges, Marius. You are not your curse. You are not your past. You are Marius Vlastos, as he stands before me, in this instant - and no-one else. Your urges, your strength and speed - they are but tools waiting for your expert hand."

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:04 am
by TennyoCeres84
Miranda nodded as Shen Long explained why he had kept her briefly restrained. While the elderly dragon spoke with Vlastos, she tucked the technique in with the rest of the training she had received so far. She and Aspasia listened in as Valtiel and Allocer also addressed the vampire, waiting to see how he might grow from their explanations.

Re: The Zen and Fury in Healing

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:16 am
by Karl the Mad
Words. So many words. He blinked a bit as he tried to process them. "So... you're telling me to... slow down?" he asked, reaching for the bottle of water and sipping from it. "I still don't understand. When I was on Mars the Noise never said a word. Hell, even before that, while I was caught up in my schemes, the Noise was never more than a buzzing annoyance. But it wasn't until I came back, until I started helping out, that it grew to become intolerable again..."

He took a seat across from Al. "I'm sorry, again, I feel like I've fallen behind... I'm still trying to figure out why it left me alone for so long only to return then. Why then? And why now? As old as I am, this is something I should have learned for myself hundreds of years ago!"

But he shook his head and tried to focus. "Perhaps I was in too many places at once, earlier. Fighting you, ignoring the Noise, thinking about my past. I need to focus, yes? Focus on the here and now, work on everything else later."

It sounded too simple to him, though. And the Noise agreed. It was still insisting this was a waste of time and he had to get back to his work. He bit back a sigh, and wondered how the hell other Ordo Dracul learned to deal with it.