[Flashback] Growth of a Hatchling (Rhuryc)

[Jahssasyuri]

15 Autumn, 506AV

It was now close to evening, maybe three or so hours away before the dark veil known as night would sweep over the old, ruined mining city. Looking behind her once or twice, or using any type of item that reflected things behind her, Yuri checked for followers or any shady types of the sort as she left the Pig's Foot Tavern after just simply watching the customers and gathering any rumors and intel she overheard.

The same day, she had gotten in a scuffle while meeting Rhuryc, her soon-to-be trainer in the art of Swordsmanship and general combat. They agreed to meet at an unoccupied warehouse that was owned by no one of importance, or dangerous anyway. Going through the waning traffic of Castle Commons, the snake arrived at the section of the city that was filled with many store houses and the like.

Eyes intercepting any type of sudden movements or strange occurences, Yuri continued to the arranged location between the two, checking once more for followers but not in an obvious way, or else then she'd really grab people's attention. Opening the door, she walked to see Rhuryc busy. "Hello, Ssssir," she said, a simple acknowledgement of existence and a friendly wave.

[Rhuryc]

He heard her enter. Without so much as a glance Rhuryc acknowledge her presence. Involved as he was in the coming activity, his had done little else for the past few hours. Dedicated was hardly the word. Before him, beneath the two story open expanse of the warehouse, was a mess of hay and blankets. Around them were empty boxes and near the wall sat several dummies constructed from the same material that Rhuryc was now fluffing. It was an arena of sorts. One where falling down might hurt just that much less. The only light they had streamed in from the the holes in the roof and single, open window above the main entrance. Other than what Rhuryc had already set up there wasn't much to look at. Satisfied, the man turned about and set his gaze on Jah - the name he had assigned her in his own mind. The rest of it was a mouthful. He tossed a thin, dull blade in her direction - it appeared unfinished, but still well enough to simulate a weapon, and for himself he pulled out a mockery of his own sword. The real thing remained sheathed at his side. "You don't have much in the way of size. That'll do you better than a large weapon; utilize what you do have. Speed." Rhuryc unconsciously flurried his blade, circling it about in his right hand. "The fundamentals for any weapon are the same. Footwork, blocking, striking. If you have those elements mastered you can beat anything. And, of course. Conditioning. Test the blade, feel it's weight. Play around with it. Once you're satisfied, come over here and we'll get started."

[Jahssasyuri]

Yuri looked at the sword as it twirled horizontally in the air, hilt towards her body so she wouldn't be injured in case of not catching it. Her hand made the motion to palm it in mid-air, but it hit the center of her palm and fumbled to the floor into a stack of hay. For a slight moment, a signal of disappointment appeared on the snake's face before it being concealed again, behind a veil of stoic facial expressions. Bending it over to pick it up, it felt a little weird at the beginning as she grabbed it with two hands and pointing it forward.

Looking down the middle of the slender edge, the single sword didn't feel complete to her, and it apparently was too long for her tastes. But nonetheless, Yuri slowly put her left foot down and then pivoted to the left as her right foot swung around, as the blade flurried vertically about five times before a horizontal slash and downward left combo ended her little test drive.

Perched lips and a simple nod signaled satisfaction, now placing the sword to her side as if she was about to fence.

"I am ready when you are, letsss begin."

[Rhuryc]

"Ah," Rhuryc muttered and quirked a brow to the side. "That's. Well. A start." He unconsciously twirled his own blade again and made his way to Jah's side, standing just off to the woman's right and eyeing her lower body. Despite what he saw, the man did a fine job of never lingering too long in one spot; they were training, after all. "Bend your knees." He lightly tapped the back of her legs with the flat of his blade. "Keep them that way. If they ache that means you're doing it right." He spoke as he circled the woman, watching, his tone lacking any sort of mockery. "Back straight." His words were punctuated by a slight tap on the small of the woman's back. Despite the serious atmosphere he was gentle in his demeanor. "Keep your elbows tucked it, and hold the blade here." Rhuryc extended his own arm and shored up on his grip, allowing for her to get a good look at it. "You can't do much of anything until you learn to block. Watch." Rhuryc fell into his own stance; similar to how the woman stood, his feet were set at a forty-five degree with his back set horizontal and the front vertical, neither more than a shoulder's length apart. "One." He started low with his weapon and swept it up, the blade leaning inside, until it raised to the right of his sternum, the blade itself kept at straight angle. "Two." He repeated the motion only now he swayed to the opposite side. There were eight motions in all, the second two coming from the shoulder, the next from below and ending above the head, and the last from high to low, each designed for the obvious purpose of defending the torso. When he was finished, Rhuryc glanced over at Jah. "Do that as many times as you can. When you can no longer hold the sword, we'll know you're done."

[Jahssasyuri]

Yuri eyed Rhuryc carefully as he made strides to get closer to her, getting closer to her and then was moving his eyes all over her lower body. Nothing new, but she made no note of it as she assumed it was a requirement for training to work properly. Slightly bending her knees, the aching pain did not show itself until a few minutes later, signs of correct posture. Yuri's back became straighter with that slight tap. Then watching Rhuryc once more, she tucked in her elbows and practiced the motions he showed her.

She began to copy the movements slowly first, blade-edge inside as she maneuvered her blade upwards up to the waist area, except the blade wasn't really that straight as Rhuryc's was. Repeating it again with the opposite side yielding about the same amount of failures, the other motions went through the same as it looked all sloppy. If anything, drills that are based on repetitious movement would not aid Yuri whatsoever. Boredom soon set in along with her arms beginning to ache and about half an hour in, she simply stopped.

"You don't have any other method of teaching, that'd be more, I guess, proactive and exciting? Swinging a sword around by myself doesn't exactly apply theory to practice," remarked Yuri, not meaning to criticize the man's teaching skills, but all students prefer different ways of teaching, and hands-on experience was a little more in her comfort zone if you want to call it that.

[Rhuryc]

Rhuryc quirked a brow. Proactive and exciting? It never occurred to him that anyone would get bored with training. During his own he had always been motivated, ready to take orders and carry them out. How odd. What did he expect? Sunberth was not known for its patient citizens. He considered for a moment. After a few too many marks of silence Rhuryc pushed himself from his perch - he had been watching, making sure the woman's technique was correct (it wasn't, but it was close enough) - and made his way over. He paused an arm's length away and held his own, dulled weapon at his side. His stance was neutral. "You don't learn as much without the repetition. The idea is to train your body to react, so that when someone does strike you, you naturally defend yourself. But." He shrugged and glanced down at her blade. "I suppose if you want a demonstration." Rhuryc moved with expertise. He did not so much as bother to drop into a stance; instead, he lashed out from his right with the practice weapon, its dulled edge tilted upward in an effort to spare the woman any real harm. The movement was quick. Practiced. In the breadth of the moment they went from an ease of conversation to the heat of battle - and Rhuryc was not holding back. Fortunately, the flat of the weapon would not not cause any permanent damage. Maybe.

[Jahssasyuri]

Her iris dilating between becoming slightly more circular and the sharp slit common among reptiles. She eyed his breathing, flickering her tongue for a second to feel a sudden change come about him. Yuri could not foretell what it was exactly, but her own instincts made her tense up, gripping the wooden hilt with primal strength. The feel of the area wasn't pleasant to her, it felt like a war-zone. The muscles in her body were gearing up to move, as she wasn't even that trusting of this human. Once Rhuryc began to move towards her, she tilted the blade slightly in a more comfortable position, for quicker reaction.

She recognized that her own skills were elementary to his, witnessing his combat prowess just earlier in the day. So it would be fool-hardy to try out the new parries and blocks now, although that is what a practice spar is for. Yuri wasn't going to subject herself to humiliation like that, she had her own pride to maintain. Her ear twitched to what he said,

"You don't learn as much without the repetition. The idea is to train your body to react, so that when someone does strike you, you naturally defend yourself. But, I suppose if you want a demonstration."

Keeping her eye on his entire body until the last sentence, where Rhuryc was looking gave off a signal to her. It was like her very soul told her to move or else Yuri would regret it. Sudden strike, the blade's angle and trajectory within vision, the corner of her eye catching the movement. There was no thinking, she used the genes of the Viper Dhani to their fullest capabilities. Ducking her head so that her chin was hugging her torso, she dropped her body to the floor as fast as she could at a unnatural speed, landing in a vertical split. But the man was a warrior no doubt, maneuvering the blade slightly to still hit her, getting knocked on the back of her hair. It hit a bed of hair, but that did nothing to lessen the blow.

The pain was horrible, like a dagger was stuck there and wasn't planned to be taken out anytime soon. She rolled over, her left hand pushing off the ground to help her up. The right hand gripped where she had been hit, rubbing it furiously as a minor headache set in almost immediately. It would of been a whole lot worse for a human, Yuri was happy to escape major injury.

"Well that is a way to do it, I see the point of repetition. My instinct is to dodge, not to block," she noted, sword in her palm still as she put up a guard. No more surprises for her, the Dhani was on high alert.

[Rhuryc]

Rhuryc quirked a brow. When Jahs dropped to the floor he made a conscious effort to keep his knee out of her face. She was not accustom to close combat. That much was obvious. The sword still made impact, despite the movement, though he eased on the blow on the new target. The head was dangerous. Even a light mistake could end the session early. He let her deal with the initial pain and stepped back, the dull blade held aloft while he waited for her to recover. She wasn't condition enough yet for him to be comfortable going any farther. "Don't, ah, put a better target in the way of a strike. If you're going to get hit it's best to minimize the strike not... make it kill you." He blinked. Why drop? There was something different about Jahs that gave him pause. "Getting out of the way is essential. If you can move, then move, your footwork is just as important as the blade - but the idea is to do both. Deflect and doge. Killing is easy. Your job is to make it difficult."He raised his blade and poised himself close enough to strike once more. "If I strike high you block high, low and you block low. Easy concept. More difficult than you'd like to admit in the execution." He locked his eyes on her own. No hints. He stepped forward and scythed the sword over his head, once more assailing the woman with the flat of the blade.

[Jahssasyuri]

Yuri listened to Rhuryc with his rather obvious "observations" of how she responded to the attack. Whilst most of what he said was true, the fact of her own ulterior motives was completely left out. To the average eye, she would of been vulnerable in that lowered position. But then again, so is her combatant. How easy would of it been for her to slash at his legs and cut tendons, or aim at his entrails on the way down ? Although in order for her to learn anything, the teacher would need to be unharmed and alive, so she thought that idea through reasonably well. She understood much of what he said though, mindset changing to blocking until her own opportunity came to strike. Yuri's style was more suited to counter while the opponent was in mid-swing, but since that is not the exercise, she wouldn't try it.

Her blade held by two hands, she stepped forward a moment after Rhuryc did, her focus heightened. She watched his foot-work, his breathing as she flicked her tongue out instinctively and then the trajectory of his blade. He wasn't really fast as was he strong, compared to a Dhani anyway. Yuri rose up the blade horizontally above her head, high enough that when the blade hit, it wouldn't of gained full momentum to have much power behind it. About three or so feet away from Rhuryc, the blades clanged together. The recoil resonated in her arms and down to her stomach, but she held steadfast. It slowed her down slightly, Yuri then went from her defensive position, to bringing the blade diagonally across Rhuryc's chest, hitting his right shoulder before coming across the rest of his body. She made sure to use the blunt side, as well.