Closed The Divine & The Savage

[Halin'a & Ayatah]

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

The Divine & The Savage

Postby Ayatah on July 29th, 2014, 9:52 pm

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|| 8th Summer, 514AV || The Storm Shrine, Zeltiva || 10th Bell ||

It had come as a shock to Ayatah when she received a request from the Marital Association to assist in the training of someone else. It had only happened once before - when a timid little thing wanted to learn about dagger fighting - and the poor girl had run away sobbing mere chimes into the lesson. Ayatah hadn't even hit her that hard. Ridiculous!

She hoped that this new mystery person (her student? Could she really class herself as a teacher?) would fare better under her supervision. As long as she didn't shout too much, or hit too hard, they should both walk away unscathed and without too much emotional damage either.

Having lived in Zeltiva for an astonishing nearly two years now, Ayatah had realised that old habits did not, after all, die at all. Sure, she had... perhaps softened over time, in terms of how she socialised with other people and how she spoke. But when it came to sparring, Ayatah seemed to return to the heady jungle city of Taloba, becoming the fierce Myrian warrior she had been, once upon a long time ago.

Rather concerning, however, it was becoming more and more difficult for Ayatah to remember minor details of her jungle home. Whilst shopping in Zeltiva, she commonly discussed with the vendors about how much their wares would sell for in Taloba's market. Once, she had had an in depth conversation with a tradesman about Taloba's thriving market for fur coats. Oh, she had jabbed on and on about the latest fashions in Taloba, how his beautiful coats and scarves would sell for a small fortune in her home city. And she had truly believed it herself... Until she returned home that night and replayed the conversation in her mind. Only then did she remember: the weather in Taloba is too damning hot for fur coats. A person would die of heatstroke in less than a bell.

She should have laughed at her own stupidity, but instead Aya had sat on the corner of her bed, absolutely appalled. How could she have forgotten the climate of her homeland? Had it really been that long?!

In fact, she had felt so terrible about it all, she had had to gorge on chocolates and wine that evening to try and make herself feel better. Only to realise, in a truly bittersweet moment of drunken clarity, how very un-Myrian gorging on wine and chocolates actually was. Luckily by then, Ayatah had cared very little about anything at all, and had enjoyed the rest of her wine with great gusto.

So, given her current state of inner turmoil, it was a welcome relief (if an unexpected one) for Ayatah to be invited to spar. It would hopefully reawaken some memories of her jungle home, so she wouldn't feel quite so... un-Myrian all the time.

The Storm Shrine had remained largely unchanged in the years Ayatah had been in Zeltiva, and for that she was thankful. It was comforting to see her place of training in the city had not changed, even if she had. The more she thought about it, the more Ayatah realised that the Shrine was a strange location to train and spar at. But she came here more out of habit, having been bought here by her own Martial Association trainer Nuvro when she first moved into the city.

Oh how the tables have turned. Ayatah thought to herself, placing her satchel bag down. Inside it, she had bought the basic tools of a sparring session: wooden weapons that were designed to feel and carry like the real deal but were slightly less deadly, and a wooden shield. Also inside the bag were a few more obscure items, namely a wooden plank of wood and three juggling balls. The satchel had come from Nuvro himself, who had some... interesting teaching techniques to say the least.

She tied her hair up in a tradition Myrian bun (hey, she wasn't about to forget the important stuff like Myrian beauty regimes) and plucked a wooden double-bladed dagger out of her bag.

She was ready and raring to go.


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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Halin'a on July 29th, 2014, 10:25 pm

Halin'a didn't take long making his way to the Shrine, eager to get started-- he may be an Ethaefal, and he may suppose to be a more peaceful being, but he loved sparring, and he knew that the skills gained from sparring would come in handy, particularly in his profession. Sometimes a client got a bit too rough; Halin'a had been lucky, so far, in that the only one who'd gotten too rough and disrespectful had been small enough and drunk enough that Halin'a could overpower him by virtue of his superior size and sobriety. Still, Halin'a knew that he could not rely merely on luck and circumstance; he would need actual training.

Which led him rather neatly back to his current situation; entering the Shrine and making his way towards one of the few people there, a Myrian woman. "Hello," he said, inclining his head respectfully. "I am Halin'a. May I ask your name?" She looked confident, Halin'a noted. With the wooden weapons in her hand, the woman looked at home. Halin'a mused that he hoped one day he would be so at ease with a weapon in his hand, or even in his own body. Currently, he was in his weaker seeming-- his human seeming. Perhaps that would serve to his advantage, however; learning the strength of this body may help him better gauge the strength in his other.
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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Ayatah on July 30th, 2014, 11:54 am

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She did not know who she was meeting with - the letter inviting her to spar only mentioning the individual's name (Halin'a) and sex (male). There were only three other people at the Shrine, and one of those was the archaic old priest, who Ayatah assumed would turn into a cloud of dust should anyone even poke him. She eyed the other two people - a fisherman's wife and a young man.

The latter seemed to be making his way over to Aya, so she took a few steps towards him to meet him halfway. After he had greeted her, Ayatah stuck out her hand to introduce herself (a gesture she had not known existed until living in Zeltiva). "Hello Halin'a. I'm Ayatah. I believe you are the gentleman I am meeting with?

Such manners! Such formality! It was not uncommon for strangers to be obviously confused by Ayatah's language and manner. She was Myrian (or half-), and therefore she should surely lack even the basic etiquettes, right? Fortunately, she had swiftly learnt that simply starting a conversation with a stranger was not the done thing in Zeltiva. The people here seemed to like their formal, wordy introductions that still came forced from her.

"So," she said, nodding back to the satchel bag nearly overflowing with her equipment, "what are you hoping to learn today?" She was imitating the same questions her trainer Nuvro had asked her on their first meeting. He liked to know a little about his new students before teaching them, mainly to make sure they would not use the skills he taught to maim innocent individuals. That, and he was an incredibly nosy little man. "I have bought lots of equipment with me, so please feel free to have a look through."


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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Halin'a on July 30th, 2014, 12:06 pm

Halin'a nodded in answer to her query about his identity, and he thought over her second question, about what he wished to learn. "I wish to learn to use my body for something other than sex," he said finally, bluntly. He had no desire to beat around the bush today. "I wish to learn to defend myself, and to incapacitate someone who attacks me." He was under no illusion that they would take only one session, but he thought it would help Ayatah decide what and how to teach him.

He looked through the weapons, picking up and examining some. "I use a scimitar, if I use a weapon at all," he explained, testing the heft of a wooden sword. He wasn't an expert, but he thought it was okay. "But I cannot bring my weapon into Loveless; no one is allowed to. But some customers drink much before going upstairs, and they become rough, aggressive. Even prostitutes have rules about how they are to be treated. I have been lucky so far, but I know others who have not, who have had to call the security to remove clients."
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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Ayatah on July 30th, 2014, 2:36 pm

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The Myrian people were by no means conservative when it came to sex. Their raging tempers were second only to their raging libidos, but this had become yet another area of her life that Ayatah had detached herself from. The Zeltivan people were not quite so ready to discuss such matters, and of course, there was another reason entirely why Ayatah had had no sexual activity since she left her jungle home...

But the statement from Halin'a surprised her, and Ayatah could not stop her eyebrows shooting upwards, or her lips forming a surprised little 'oh' shape. She quickly gathered herself, replacing her shocked face with a neutral expression once again. "I imagine that in... your line of work, difficult customers are a common thing."

Her opinion on prostitution was still largely unformed; there was no such service in Taloba (people just... had sex, if they wanted to. No bikka needed to be swapped for such desires), so it was unfamiliar ground. But she wondered if this stranger in front of her took pleasure (not that kind) in his job. As a child, had he told his family that he wanted to be a prostitute when he grew up, as some children wish to be doctors or warriors? Ayatah doubted it.

Of what he wanted to learn, she smiled faintly. "I have no practise in the scimitar personally, but the logic behind its use is more familiar." She reached out, and ran a finger along the slight curve of the wooden blade he was holding. Had it been the real thing, her finger would have probably dropped off. "The hooked side of the blade is particularly useful for cutting out the bowel of an enemy." she had seen Myrian warriors do so plenty of times, "but as with all long blades, the trouble with the scimitar is when an enemy is up close." She demonstrated by taking a swift step towards Halin'a, bringing her dagger to his stomach, in a reverse grip. She stopped a mere hairs breath from his actual body, but remained in her taut, practised position. "But I can also show you how to keep an enemy from getting too close."

Although... given your job, that might be easier said than done.

Well aware of how close she was, and not wanting to terrify yet another person seeking her teching, Ayatah stepped away. "Does that sound a good plan? It will be exhausting work." She flashed a playful little smirk, "so I hope your up for it."


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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Halin'a on July 30th, 2014, 2:47 pm

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Halin'a's lips quirked in a wry smile. "Only when a client feels that they are entitled to something that they are not. Which often occurs when a new ship docks." In other words, yes, difficult clients were common. Gratefully, however, he turned his full attention to her next words. They made sense; while the scimitar would have its own intricacies, it was still a sword. He could not hide his flinch when she moved suddenly, and before he realized it, there was a blade at his stomach. Halin'a looked down at it in surprise, and then back up to Ayatah's face. He could see her point; this close, the only thing Halin'a could possibly hope to do would be to headbutt her, or maybe try to hit her in the gut with the butt of his sword.

Halin'a snorted once in amusement at her words about teaching him to keep someone from getting too close; while that may be useful elsewhere, inside Loveless, getting up close and personal was the name of the game. "I like this plan," he said finally. "I am only a beginner, but as I said-- I would like to learn." If he could learn to protect himself, maybe he could also learn to protect others, to help keep them from getting hurt by overzealous clients as well.
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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Ayatah on July 30th, 2014, 10:16 pm

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Ayatah gave a hearty laugh. She had little experience boatmen, other than those who had offered her passage from Falyndar to Riverfall. After a few days at sea, the crew had started to prowl around the ship like hungry tigers. More than once, Ayatah had noticed one or two of them looking at her for just a chime longer than was necessary. Back then, still in all her quick-to-anger Myrian glory, Ayatah had had no problem in making sure none of the men got the wrong idea about her. "I can imagine seamen are a constant problem for you." A chime later, her eyes went wide with embarrassment and she cleared her throat before making her point slightly clearer, "the... uh. Boat kind of seamen."

Eager to change the subject and to move onto their training, Ayatah stepped away from him and repositioned her body. With her right leg in front, knees kept flex, she held the dagger out in front of herself. "The first thing, is moving with your weapon." She demonstrated with a few jabs of the dagger, two with her arm swinging to the side and a third in a reverse-grip, arm angled higher and slashing slowly at a horizontal angle, as if she was slicing open the throat of an invisible enemy. "Not just moving your weapon-" she scooted backwards, then to the right, before half-squatting, half-dipping to the left, "but to move yourself as well without losing balance of your weapon." When she moved this time, it was to regain a more usual standing posture.

"Try standing sideways to me, with the scimatar in your dominant hand, which should be the one closest to me." She observed his movements carefully, "but don't force yourself to stand at so much of an angle that you end up twisting around to see me. You want to be comfortable in your stance."

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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Halin'a on July 30th, 2014, 11:47 pm

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Halin'a couldn't help but chuckle at Atayah's ill-timed pun, but he quickly refocused, following her instructions as best he could. It was a bit awkward, trying to move his body in the manner she described, but Halin'a thought he got reasonably close. His dominant hand was his left, and that was the one holding the scimitar and closer to Atayah. He shifted on his feet, adjusting his stance again so that he wasn't standing at quite such an angle from his instructor.

"How is this?" he queried, holding the pose so that Atayah could examine him.
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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Ayatah on July 31st, 2014, 10:56 am

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As Halin'a took his position, Ayatah walked around him a slow circle, eyeing the positioning of his feet, the straightness of his back. Once she was standing in front of him again, she nodded, "good. As long as you feel comfortable, this positioning is good."

She mimicked him, taking her up her sideways-on stance again, right arm extended with her wooden dagger at the end of it. "Now, I want you to come at me, with a basic forward jab." with her left hand, she patted her stomach, which was exposed in her traditional Myrian leather hunting gear. "Just shift yourself forward and aim to get the point of your blade into my stomach." She knew the easiest way of learning to spar was simply by practise, to get familiar with balancing the weight of a weapon and how that impacted on one's movement. "Go as quick, or as fast, as you like. Just be accurate. Once you've stabbed me, we'll try again and I'll block or dodge your attack."

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The Divine & The Savage

Postby Halin'a on July 31st, 2014, 1:42 pm

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OOC :
I'm not good at writing combat, so bear with me; this is as much a training thread for Halin'a as it is for me, haha


Halin'a smiled, pleased with Ayatah's praise. He listened carefully to her instructions, and then took his time, analyzing the weight and balance of the sword. He moved it forward and back, taking note of how, as he moved the sword, his balance shifted, making him move his feet to keep it. When he felt confident that he could keep his balance and actually maybe hit what he was aiming at, he attempted to stab Ayatah with the wooden sword; he missed, getting her instead in the ribs.

The Ethaefal flushed, but reset himself to his original position. He'd moved himself too much with the sword, he knew, and made sure with his second attempt to let the sword guide him as he guided it; this time, he managed to tap Ayatah in the stomach. He grinned, triumphant.
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