The Start of a Beautiful Partnership (Ximal)

[Ana Sol Starris]

"Alright," Ana replied, a little unsure of a lack of speech for the demonstration- but she learned better through doing anyways. Trying to at least relax, just a smidge, she turned her head so it was looking in the direction in front of her but kept her eyes peering at the sides to watch him. Always glancing in between her stance, and his, taking note that her foot and hand were alligned if you were to put a stick straight up between the two. Though because of calming down, instead of her back being straight like his, it was slightly curved. Feeling slightly ridiculous in the stance, as if she were about to get ready to take a crap standing up. Even keeping the stance up was annoying, she could litterally feel her joints go 'creeek' as she moved a tad to keep balance better. Yet, his back was straight, hers was not- and as he did a demonstration- her eyes would pick up the movements he made. Reminding her of a labrorers work at the docks in Sunberth and Zeltiva, bending over, hefting heavy things on their shoulders and coming back, a chill of Sunberth riddled itself through her spine as well as raking pained pin pricks of a grudge not forgotten. Crawling up her body uncomfortably, she wished she could forget most of the anarchy city, and her home city- forever- especially when it came to certain.. things.. memories. Anas breath caught in her throat, eyes watering, she had to shake her head a little hard to clear her thoughts. Had she been being talked to? She couldn't tell. Everything that had been around her went right over her head much like a wisp of wind and along with it- her attention span. That had to stop, those moments, it made her look nuts, ditzy, stupid, worthless? Maybe. Inhaling, she placed into her mind the images of Ximal doing the technique, letting her body slowly go forwards, down, hands about to grab something- tightening on air and then bringing her body back up. Her form wasn't perfect, and she seemed rickety with her movements, but had she done it right? As if expecting an answer, she looked at Ximal.

[Ximal]

Xi watched her motions following her movements slowly with his eyes almost as if she was moving in slow motion. He'd given her the bare bones to a basic fighting style but still this wasn't working her back had crumbled into a bent slump, her legs were too far bend and her turn was lack lustre. His eyes hardened as he almost barked out his first word before settling into a low state of rhythm. "RIGHT. Your back is bent, keep it straight, it takes less energy to drop to he necessary heigh than to rise to it. rise your legs a little too, i want them bent not squatting. Your crouched not taking a shyke. so rise your self a little and put more effort into your turn as well. Use your pivot point, its the point where use your own body as a tripping point for your opponent." Xi fell into his stance again next to her, and then worked her through the motions step by step. back dead straight, arm right darts out grips firmly on the air, swing right foot directly beneath the right hand, and then haul with your back and leg muscles. Xi thanks to his knowledge of balance through fighting had learnt that this was an advantageous move against a moveing opponent. So he thought about a challenge. "Ana when i teach you this move i want you to try and throw me., i know i'm something close to double your weight, so this will be a good way of demonstrating how well this works on larger heavier foes."

[Ana Sol Starris]

Upon command, she rectifyed her mistakes; Ana straightened her back, and thankfully stood a little easier on her feet- bending that far was ridiculous in the first place. This time she studied Ximals own stance, carefuller, this time she did the same thing as him after he would do them; mimicking him, and his movements. When Ximal put his arms out, Ana did so as well; after he did the next few moves, she followed after as best she could. Slower than him of course, but she felt her body become less creaky in this stance. As if straightening ones back, and only having ones knees lightly bent made it easier; it seemed to release a sort of energy. Returning to that same position, even if he had not, she focused her eyes forwards now- in front of her; her face had turned to stone cold determination. Waiting for him to bark directions out again, instead he was offering something else to her- to throw him. Ana's immediate reaction was to look exhasperately at him, then disbelievingly "I can't throw you! Look at how small I am! If I could throw people, I wouldn't have been a thief in the first place in Sunberth!" Ana slapped her mouth shut, then looked around, terror seizing her; had she said that loud enough for anyone nearby (besides Ximal) to hear?! Across the area of the training field, of course there were others, not many of them, but they seemed to be far too engrossed in their own training to be aware of anything else. Ana could only hope. Huffing, she crossed her arms and hid her hands in her cloak, puffing her bottom lip out in a pout, dubious in her expressions "...if you think this will help...will you try not to squish me if I fail at doing this correctly? I may be looking healthier!...But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm stronger, kay?" Ana asked, and then stated.

[Ximal]

Xi watched ana's reaction to what he'd asked of her, and he was almost smiligng when she responded how she did but she was at least willing to give it a try and the stnace seemed to be working easier for her so Xi stepped a little closer. perhaps closer than seh would have liked but close enough to show her where she would have to be for the technique to work and more than any thing he was now highlighting the differences in their height. Reaching down to grab her small hands lightly he placed then at the front of his shirt and across the body pack strap he wore. Placing her hands there he looked her in the eye. and spoke. "Take some practice of grabbing here, where i've placed your hands. i Stand her you wont be able to throw me but this is just for you to get the bearings on where to grab. For the move to actually work you need the target to move so grab on where i've put your hands and attempt the basic movements, then we'll move up to you actually throwing me. It's a simple motion as i showed you and as it stand you wont need to drop at all to throw me as i've got he height advantage on you so practice. " The best practice was by doping and Xi whole heartedly believed this. Mostly since he'd only ever learnt by listening and doing. So now was a good time to reiterate what he'd learnt.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana's head was already craned upwards enough to look Ximal in the eye, a stubborn aura about her, but this was torture- when he stepped closer it was hard for her to look him in the eye. She knew he was tall to begin with, but at this proximity she felt dwarfed next to him- reminding her of her smallness, even more than before. Tensing as he uncrossed her arms, and then brought her hands to chest; giving him a 'what the petch do you think you're doing' look. Eyebrow raised, eyes wide, heck, she blushed harder than she ever had before at the touch; the eyebrow began to quiver as well as her lip, turning into a hard set frown. Even her hands seemed to shake in the grip, she was focusing hard on listening to what he was saying, and not on how close they were- his face was almost in hers. This was a bad position to be in, a very bad one... If Jakobi saw. Ana wasn't sure if she could explain fully to him, so she grit her teeth and looked away from his eyes to his chest. After a moments of forced calm she noticed with her hands that there was.. Items in the body pack. She feeled slightly around, her face redder than a cherry at the movements, but she was becoming ever more certain about what was in the body pack- money. Ana could feel her thievy instincts well up, and then be repressed just as quickly, it was a body pack and he was right there in front of her, attention fully on her. Stealing from him was a chance of 0%. Nodding her head, as if in confirmation to what he said- hopefully she did understand what he had explained, she felt sweat drip from the side of her head as her face and body heated up considerably alot. Where he had placed his hands, she held on hard there, and attempted to pull- he didn't budge. She was confused.. Again she tried, grunting. He still didn't budge. Ana wasn't sure how to go about this, but this time she bent a little downwards when she tried to pull, then straightened up- still didn't budge. "How am I suppose to do this?" Ana jested to him, staring at the ground.

[Ximal]

Xi watched ana's face and saw her cheeks flushing in colour beaming inn red possibly from just how close they were to each other, but at the moment Xi was trying to teach her so he let her attempt to do what he'd told her not to do. When she finally spoke he responded telling her what he had planned for her to do. "i leaned down like this to let your hands feel there they would need to griip to preform the throw. Not for you to actually throw me, for you to do that i would need to either be off balance or, running towards you. And your not swinging your foot in like i had you practice. to throw me you'll need to press your back into my chest and pull me over with your arms. You've got he basic grip now and i want you to just run through the motions again. From having your arms low to grabbing the spots where your hands are currently to shifting into the motions. When your ready and your face is a slightly less glaring shade of red i'll move back and take a run up. The you can try to throw me." Xi finished his words with a smile and shuffled his feet a bit more open for her to place her leg correctly with little practice after all, right now she's need all the help she could get. Then mreached to move her leg around to help her positioning.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana kept her eyes glued to the ground, avoiding his blue eyes, and instead just listened. Nodding her head at regular intervals, she had to remain calm, because she had never liked people being close in the first place. Being close could result in touch, it could result in death, maybe even pain, she knew all too well about the pain part of it. There was some touch that was good, but she was so distant to everyone, she rarely recieved any such thing- not like she minded. Ana would rather she was safe, than sorry for letting people close enough to try and slit her throat. Her face only seemed to turn brighter when he mentioned her blush, "fine, that seems reasonable" she fumed pridefully to him "I'm not blushing, I'm just...uh...Sick." Ana concluded, making all the shifty eyes, she wasn't really.. But she didn't want to admit she was embarressed over this. She was about to move her leg forwards when Ximal reached down to move forwards, this prompted her to let go of him and flail backwards, trying to hop away from that sort of grip on her leg. Falling on her back with a loud thud in a mess of her own limbs. The scene was quite comical really, but it didn't help her get rid of that blush- who knew she could have been that quick to react? In such a feat of poorly conducted acrobacy on her own part. "What'd you go and do that for?!" Ana demanded of him, still on the ground. Groaning, she got back up, without his help and dusted herself off grumpily.

[Ximal]

Xi winced slightly as he saw ana fall back and collapse on her self still mulling over what she'd said. She wasn't blushing she was just...Sick. And he wasn't a hulking man mountain. He sighed and awaited her to get back up as she clearly wasn't going to accept his help even if he tried to give it to her. Shaking his head lightly but lifting his eyebrow towards her. "Right well i'll back up a bit just get prepared and hold on cos i'm going to run at you and i'm not going to be slow. And try not to fall on your ass this time !" Xio smiled to himself and hoped that she would hear the light tone in his voice, he wasnt mocking her but trying to have a joke with her as he took paces away. Ten, twenty,thirty, forty. Forty paces was where he'd run from it wasn't a huge distance but it was far enough. Xi hunkered down a little and lined up his run to give her the best possible chance to throw him. he only hoped that she would remember what he told her. If she did then this would be quite painful for him and quite an achievement for her. "Right ana, get redy. HERE I COME!" Xi dug his heel into the ground and then began his rush towards her. His feet slamming into the slightly moist earth with every step as he barrelled towards her. Looking more like a charging bear than a man. His eye's locked on her hands to make sure that she did this right . His head though was focused on landing well and making sure that he didn't steam roll her.

[Ana Sol Starris]

"Hah," Ana replied lightly to him, still dusting herself off "I won't this time Ximal." Watching him, she hadn't fully connected the dots to what he had just said and so when he began backing up she gave him a quizical look until finally.... She realized. Panicking she assumed the position with her back straight, and knees slightly bent, preparing herself for the worse and making peace with herself mentally. Silently. Hoping that she didn't die in the next few chimes because of being crushed by one, huge, hulking guy trying to teach her unarmed techniques. That was a terrible demise to go through. Running, Ana knew what running was, but Ximal was CHARGING at her; to see something that large moving at such a fast pace coming at her. Well, how else would one react? She kept her hands out like he had shown her, but the closer he got, the more nerve wracked she was becoming until finally just as he came at her, her hands flailed pitifully to grab on, with her foot coming forwards and she turned to throw- she only felt herself collide with him. It was like getting hit by a... Big hulking mass of a man.

[Ximal]

As Xi drew close he gflet her hands catch hold of where he'd pointed out almost perfectly her turning and shifting of her weight was on the money and Xi felt his feet leave the ground as he sailed over her completely. Now he was slightly regretting that and the amount of speed he'd taken towards her as he saw the ground fly beneath him. This was going to hurt and hurt a lot. Tucking his arms in and rolling around slightly in mid-air he shifted his weight to help him land on his side and minimize the damage the impact would make but it was still going to knock the wind out of him. Bracing himself for his greeting with the sold ground he braced his arms and tensed his muscles before feeling his shoulder take the full force of his weight on the ground. As he connected he rolled his weight around and skidded to a halt. Taking a slow deep but very pained breath eh almost wheezed out the words towards ana. "Looks like...you succeeded. And Damn that hurts. I really should save that for people moving fast..." Pulling himself up off of the ground he coughed lightly but felt somewhat proud of ana. She'd finally learn how to fight if only barely without a weapon. In time if she wanted him too he could teach her more about how to fight without a weapon.