Fighting with Family

[Naiya]

Rue

6th Day of Summer, 513 AV, Early Morning

"Uncle!" She abandoned her stretches, springing to her feet as she ran out to meet the approaching man, "You're back! It's so good to see you." Rue's feet left the ground as he scooped her up in a hug, spinning her in a circle like he always had.

"Not so loud, girlie. You'll wake the others." Rue nodded quickly, she wouldn't spoil the morning by stirring the others. "You've kept to your routines? Haven't let your brothers leave you in the dust have you?" Rue had the presence of mind to keep her chiding in her hands, signing humor and scorn for believing for one second that she would let her body soften with disuse.

"You must be getting old to think such things, uncle." Rue chuckled softly and her uncle shared in her mirth.

"May I join you then? I was determined to make it here before daybreak, I skipped my own routine."

"Of course you can, I was just getting to stretching." Partner stretching was a lot different than regular stretching, it started with warming up your muscles like normal - One leg in the other straight out to reach and touch your toes, or your foot tucked under your butt as you lean back to stretch your upper thigh - and continued until your muscles were warmed, then you sit across from your partner, sitting foot to foot with your legs spread apart. You grab hands with your partner and pull away one at a time so your partner's body stretches out forward and towards the ground.

They stretched until muscles screamed that they hadn't been used that way since the last time uncle and niece had worked together.

"You've grown more flexible, Rue, that is good, it means you are working at it. Flexibility physically and mentally is important when you fight." Uncle often traveled to far away places to study martial arts, and when he returned he would teach Rue what he had learned - or as much as he could, her father often called his brother childish to think that his 'arts' could defeat the pure muscle he was so fond of. Her uncle would seek out teachers of his favorite martial art form which consisted of using your opponent's momentum against them. It used momentum and joint locks and pins to achieve their purpose.

That didn't mean that the two of them hadn't spent time throwing punches or trying to land a high kick, just that they didn't have to be bigger or stronger to win a fight.

"Have you been doing your wrist exercises?" He asked her, and she looked embarrassed. "Only sometimes, Uncle. It seems silly to do them alone."

He laughed then, "You would not say so if you needed to use them. It is best you practice them every day." Rue nodded solemnly, and he spoke again, "We will go easy today. You still remember your falls?"

Of course she remembered her falls, those she practiced everyday without fail, just as she had since she was a small child. Anyone who fought knew that sometimes taking a fall was a better -safer- choice than taking the full force of a hit or letting your opponent get behind you. She nodded at her uncle, and he smiled back at her.

"Lets begin then."

Nightsong

[Naiya]

Rue

"Drop your weight more. Yes like that, keep your hips forward. Good, now kick."

Rue followed his words, noticing how quickly she had lost the details of her form without her uncle there to instruct her. She shifted her weight onto her front leg so she could strike with her back, hips pivoting with the motion to give the move more power. When her foot came down, her hips were only slightly canted so she didn't have to adjust far to be ready once again.

"Again." Her uncle called, and she repeated the motion with her right leg. "Now front kick." She did, shifting her weight back this time. Knee up, then foot snaps out. She did the same again with her other leg. "Now I want you to try this." Her uncle stood in front of her in a ready stance, she watched as his weight shifted and he kicked up with his back leg, spinning around too far so he was not facing his opponent anymore, almost before his front leg landed his back leg came up in a sweeping backwards kick that had him facing front once again. "It's almost a hop." He explained to her when he saw her confused expression, "Watch again." He repeated the kick twice more for her before it was her turn.

A determined grimace crossed her face as she began, sweeping her back leg up in a round kick, spinning on her back foot to keep the movement strong then as her front foot hit the ground she pushed into the next kick. She knew as soon as her second foot left the ground that her balance was wrong and as her body spun with the force of her kick, her support foot slipped from under her.

She threw both of her arms, palms down, onto the ground in front of her before the rest of her body, spreading her impact across the space of her forearms and palms. The rest of her body followed quickly behind. It was never pleasant to fall, especially not when you did it wrong and caught the side of your hands instead of the palms, but it was way better than having the wind knocked out of you or falling and getting hurt so you couldn't fight on in a real fight. "Try again." With a soft grunt of acknowledgement she stood up to try again.

This time her kick was smoother, and she pushed off with her second leg harder, but this time she didn't get her foot under her at all and fell backwards. She turned to her side as she fell, slamming her arm on the ground before her side to absorb the impact, then rolling across her hips with the momentum her second arm hit the ground on the other side of her body to stop her motion. She sat up with an angry sound and climbed to her feet, ready to try again. "Lower your body more, you want to be parallel to the ground."

She did as he asked without success. Repeated twice more, and was ready to try a third when her uncle stopped her. "Here, stand like this." He put one foot under her, the other in the air above her and her body parallel with the ground. "This is how you should land. Hold this position."
Something like three chimes passed before she began to worry, and another two before her upper leg began to grow tired and shake. Three more chimes passed and she was about to give up when he told her to switch sides. He corrected her position and left her to stand once more. Eight chimes later he told her to sit and stretch the pain from her muscles.

Not too much later she stood, ready to try once again, but her uncle had other ideas. When Rue took a ready stance, he closed the distance between them throwing a punch to her head. Caught by surprise Rue threw her hands up to protect her face and took a step back and to the side, going just out of his arm range. She racked her mind for a plan but seconds passed too quickly and she was forced to act. Standing behind him she grabbed his far shoulder and the arm that had swung at her. She pulled his shoulder back against her chest, pressing out and behind her on his outstretched arm as she stepped in the direction of her force.

The swung around in a circle, her uncle bending low on the spin to keep from falling at her mercy. When he stood again she moved a step out and to the side, pulling his shoulder back and towards the ground as her arm moved to his chin, pushing towards the ground. He fell, breaking his fall easily and quickly gaining his feet. It was her turn to strike.

She aimed low, punching towards his gut, he blocked her punch with his arm, taking her wrist and pulling up as he spun around in place, wrenching her shoulder as he threw her to the ground, only releasing her after she had broken her fall with her free hand. She popped to her feet, ready for his next strike, when he did not come at her, she went to him, grabbing his wrist to hold him and prevent him from hitting her while she tried to hit him.

That line of thought was quickly abandoned as he ducked beneath the arm holding him and used it as leverage to throw her forward. She rolled as she fell, reaching out with her free arm and aiming far away from her uncle. Her arm acted as a guide as she landed, supporting her shoulder as her body rolled across her back and onto her hip. Still moving with the force of the roll she came to her feet spinning to face her uncle once again.

The back of her shoulder lodged a complaint, she had landed on it harder than she should have, something that spoke of her lack of recent practice. He was on her again just as quickly as she had risen, and she knew they would continue in this way until they were both worn out and bruised.

Nightsong

[Naiya]

Rue

Rue came up for a moment, rolling back and away from her uncle so she could catch her breath. A small crowd had gathered to watch the two, mostly family, but a few passerby as well. She only had a brief glance before her uncle closed the distance again, moving to grab her in a choke hold. She threw her arm up and out towards his head and he was forced to stop the blow. Seconds later she had the small of her back pressed flat against his hips, then with a shift of her weight and the use of his arm, she threw him over her hips and onto the ground in front of her.

He held tightly to her arm, using it and his other arm to break his fall. His weight on her made her shift her back leg to catch her balance, planting her weight into her heel there. It didn't matter because the next thing that happened was her uncle came to his knees, keeping his hand at Rue's wrist and planting the other in her elbow. He pushed her elbow down and behind her, taking her off her feet. Instead of falling, she tucked her head to the side and rolled backwards over her own arm only feeling the slightest twinge from the joint of her shoulder before she was on her feet once again.

Her arm was freed in her maneuver, her focus entirely on her uncle. She saw the moment his fighting style changed because he drew in his hands to a closer more powerful position. She matched his pose, circling as she waited for his next attack. She knew the stakes had been raised, now if she messed up she would have serious marks to show for it. Before he had only sparred this way with her brothers and her father. It was a sign both of his respect and of her improvement that he would face her in this way now.

Distracted by her thoughts she missed the beginning of his move, and he had closed the space between them as she began to track his movements, so she just barely had the time to step off the line of his blow and his punch glanced off her shoulder. On his side now she punched towards his ribs. It was a soft punch, just using the strength of her arm rather than throwing her weight into it.

Her blow connected to her surprise, and she found out why when he used that moment of recovery from her attack to throw his elbow into her exposed stomach. She bent with the blow to absorb some of the impact then used her crouched position to kick out with her front leg, her foot connecting with his left leg just below the hip. She was winded from his hit so she backtracked to the far side of their improvised sparring ring, he wasn't holding his blows so she would have to respond in kind.

After a moment for them both to recover from their last bout they closed again, Rue struck first with a second kick to his left leg, but he'd expected the attack and caught her leg, stepping to avoid most of the impact. He kept her foot on his hip as he swung at her.

Stuck for the moment the blow hit her ribs and she winced. He got her a second time before she managed to twist her trapped foot around enough to leap into a kick at his head with her captured foot acting as an anchor. It would have been a kick to his head if he hadn't released her foot, instead she dropped making contact with his shoulder as she spun. She landed on the ground face down, catching herself on her forearms and scrambling to her feet.

Or that was the plan, but before she was able to get her self up, Aldar followed her to the ground, pinning her in the grass with a well placed knee.

She tried to get up, pushed and squirmed, but after a moment she gave up, slapping the ground with her hand so he would let her stand.

Nightsong

[Naiya]

Rue

She waited a moment.
Then another.
Nothing happened.
He wasn't going to let her up! Her shock at the realization lasted only a moment before she began to plan. How could she get free with him pinning her like this? When her plan came to her, she knew it was playing dirty, but he'd started it by not letting her up.

Ready to act she pulled her arms in to her shoulders quickly, pressing against the ground and shoving herself and her uncle up off the ground. She was strong, there was little room to argue that, but she wasn't strong enough to hold herself and the weight of her uncle for more than a moment or two. So she fell, catching her own fall on her arms, but unable to do anything beyond allow her uncle's weight to come crashing down on her back. Her breath escaped in a pained sound and she couldn't gain it back, but it was a momentary thing and she would not let it lose her the advantage. The drop had knocked Aldar forward with the momentum and he fell forward, bracing himself with his arm.

Rue grabbed said appendage almost as soon as it touched down, holding his wrist in one hand she used the other to turn his elbow down and towards his head, breaking his balance further and causing him to fall. Keeping her grip on his arm she rolled up over her shoulder so she was sitting with her legs across his chest. She had to move quickly or he would move and they would start again, so she leaned forward, feeling the stretch in her legs as she did, and elbowed him in the stomach. While he was distracted she swung up and around his arm, falling to the ground on the other side of him and planting her feet on the far side of his chest. It was only a matter of seconds, but she knew she had won.

With his torso trapped beneath her legs and his arm against her hip, she had him pinned. They both knew it as soon as it happened, but he tried to get up anyway, and she arched her back, driving her feet into the ground and tightened up the arm bar until he smacked the ground in defeat. She released his arm and fell back, sucking in air in as she recovered. Her uncle stood up first, offering her a hand.

She took it, letting him pull her to her feet. "That was a dirty trick you pulled." He grumbled, and Rue laughed.

"You should have let me up when I tapped then, could have spared your arm." He grumled a bit, but then he laughed and patted her on the shoulder, then together they went to greet the family.

Nightsong

[Elysium]

Rue Nightsong

XP:
Unarmed +3
Body Building +2
Acrobatics +1
Rhetoric +1

Lore:
Aldar Nightsong, Unarmed Warrior
Unarmed: Front Kicks
Unarmed: How to Fall
Unarmed: Using Leverage and Momentum

Notes: This was a very detailed solo! Good work. I'd say to continue writing the trial-and-error; for example, I liked how Rue stumbled and fell a good few times before she got it right. Keep it up!

and so, the journey continues...