Solo Lock, Pin, Fold, and Bend

[Reven Heath]

Day 69 of Spring, 514 A.V.

Lifting her leg up to kick the woman in the chest, Mos'rila simply slapped it to the side, moving in on her. Reven followed through, swinging her right arm forward to lay a blow to the combat instructor's cheek. Her right fist was deflected, wrist grabbed, and before she knew it, Reven was being lifted up. Within ticks, the Kelvic slammed into the floor, knocking the air out of her lungs.

“You're getting better, but you're still too slow.” The older woman breathed, wiping the sweat from her brow. “Come on Reven, get up.”

She growled, sliding to her feet and taking stance. 'One of these days...' The feline thought, 'One of these days I'm going to get her...'

Stepping closer, the two faced off, each analyzing the movements of the other, anticipating the attack. “Somedays I wonder if you enjoy this too much.” She quipped, her fists lifted just below her shoulder.

Mos'rila laughed, “As long as you learn something from it, that's all that matters.”

Her fist flew through the air, aimed at the Kelvic's face which she quickly deflected with her left arm, taking the woman's wrist and, in much the same fashion, turned her body around, pulled her by the arm, and lifted her up. Reven meant to flip her and drop her to the ground but Mos'rila swung her other arm around and proceeded to choke her.

“You run into situations too fast— You never stop to think!” The woman criticized, her teeth clenched as she held onto the girl tightly, "This is why you always end up in bad situations!

The feline's face was turning red, her breath cut short. Even so, she still retorted, “Tell that... to Van! I'm sure he'll... think differently— Ugh!” Stabbing her left elbow back into the woman's ribs, Reven continued striking Rila till her grip became lax. Quickly, with her left arm, Reven turned and roped it around both of Mos'rila's, leaving her left side open for attack. She was about to strike when the woman's knee came up and smashed into her pelvic region. The Kelvic flinched, the pain obvious, but it didn't hurt so bad. Then Mos'rila struck again, harder.

“Shyke!” Reven caved, leaning forward.

The instructor untangled the Kelvic's limbs, wrapped her arms yet again around Reven's neck and dragged her to the ground. Mos'rila was behind her now, the woman's leg snaked around her torso and squeezed. She had been placed in a lock.

“You came here because you wanted to learn to defend yourself..!” The teacher spoke, her grip tightening, “Witty comments about your lover are not appreciated!”

“And you think I appreciate this?!” Reven gritted out.

Her hand beat and tugged at Rila's arm as it constricted around her neck like a snake. Reven tucked her head in as much as she could before clamping her teeth down on the woman's forearm. Her Kelvic fangs sank into soft flesh, rousing pain from the teacher. It made her grip loosen. With that, the feline took the initiative to separate her arms, but Mos'rila was already working to correct the error.

In a mess of limbs, Rila moved to kneel over Reven but the Kelvic quickly pinned down the woman's left arm to the floor with her back. Both of the Cougar's legs clapped around Rila's right before Reven took her left arm, tucked her fingers tightly into the fabric of the woman's shirt, and pushed her with all the strength she had over onto her back.

Now the Kelvic was above her and this time, she wouldn't let the teacher escape. Her left forearm buried itself into Mos'rila's throat, pushing her jaw up as she kept the woman pinned. Reven blushed at her teacher's words. “Hush..!”

Mos'rila laughed. “Oh, Reven... You're... absolutely adorable when you blush...”

The palm of the woman's hand came up to Reven's nose, pushing painfully into it.

The Kelvic moved her head back, trying to bite Rila's hand but instead, earned her a smack on the cheek before her hair was yanked to the side, dragging her body with her. She huffed as her teacher was trying to put her into yet another lock. “Why does everyone feel morally obligated to analyze what we have, anyway? Frankly, it's none of their petching business..!”

Again, her leg clenched around the woman as they rolled. This time, Reven struggled to get her teacher's front to the ground and pin her arm behind her back. Reven had done this successfully but Mos'rila was already slipping out of her grasp. Why was it so hard to get this woman down!? A few chimes past and Reven was thrown from the woman by her legs, landing hard on the floor, gasping. Training was rough...

Mos'rila sat up, panting with her and brushed the strands of hair off her sweat covered brow. “What's so wrong with admitting you love someone? You should be proud, not many people get the opportunity to experience something like that.”

“Can we please not talk about this?” Her mood was turning foul.

Brow angled down, a frown on her features, Mos'rila pushed herself up and came at the Kelvic. Reven had already risen and was preparing herself. “For as long as I've known you, child, you've always had an open heart. What's changed?”

Rila jabbed her fist out, trying to sink in an upper cut. Reven blocked with her left arm once more, counter attacking with her fist. Mos'rila grabbed it and twisted, pulling her forward and using her body weight to drop the Kelvic to the ground, pinning her arm behind her back. Reven slapped at the ground, pain igniting from her right arm. Her teacher pushed down hard, "Tell me!"

"Nothing's changed!" Came her grunt, trying to wiggle out of the hold.

Rila released her abruptly, standing up and falling into stance once more. "Don't lie to me, Cat."

Rolling over, Reven rubbed her arm, baring her teeth toward her instructor. It was obvious Mos'rila was trying to lure her to open up. The Kelvic didn't want to take the bait but it was so tempting. Sitting up, Reven blew the few stands of hir from her eyes and sighed. "I... just..." She tried to get out, but it wasn't coming. "Wonder about some things."

"Like?"

Reven shook her head, standing. "Yes, Mos'rila... He means a lot to me, more than anyone will ever know, except Van... and I'm sure anyone can see that. Things have changed... and I would give my life to him if and when the time ever came, but... sometimes I wish I wasn't who I am... Some people may think that it doesn't matter, where you come from, but it weighs on my mind more than I care to admit... And... It scares me to wonder what he'll think when he finds out where I did come from..." A tick went by as the two sat in silence before Reven picked her eye up from the floor. "Don't say a word about this... Please."

[Reven Heath]

Reven could tell the woman wanted more answers, but she would not receive anymore. Mos'rila already knew more information than the feline's bondmate and that was saying a lot. She didn't understand why she opened up about it, scratching the surface of a deadly secret that threatened to crumble her core, but she did and in a way, it was nice to let some of the burden off of her heart. Van was the fire melting the cracks back together, but it only seemed like more would spring up and unfortunately, Reven couldn't explain to him why. It scared her... It made her sick with such a heavy fear that often times, she would be frozen to her spot, unable to move for quite some time.

So it was a blessing of luck that Mos'rila was able to know of such information and Reven prayed to the Gods the woman would not utter a word about it. With a nod from the instructor, the Kelvic sighed in relief. “When did you start carrying such secrets.” Mos'rila shook her head, the atmosphere tense for only a moment. “Have you even tried to talk to someone about these things?”

“No...”

Another sign of disapproval from the woman met Reven, “You've been keeping this from him?”

“I just...” The guilt was rushing into her, beginning to fill her up and drown her. “I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's just practice. Please? That's all I want...”

Forcefully, Mos'rila threw a hand at Reven, as if to brush her off while she turned her back to her and walked off. The teacher was obtaining something and Reven couldn't tell what it was till she came back with a pointed hunting knife. “Fine.” She voiced, approaching her. “We'll have it your way, Reven. But in time, remember that secrets are not your friends and they will come back to ruin you...”

Her words were haunting and dug a hollow hole into the cougar's heart, echoing fiercely, shaking her. Mos'rila was right, secrets were not her friends. But she would rather keep their company than risk her bond...

“I'll be teaching you how to disarm someone with a knife. First, I'll show you like this but then, I want you to practice in your other form, on a dummy.” Holding the edge of the blade steadily, Rila handed the hilt to Reven. “Now, what's the first thing you want to do when someone is coming at you with a weapon?”

Was it a rhetorical question? Her instructor appeared to be expecting an answer. “Remove it from them?”

“Yes, yes, of course. What are you going to do? Knock it out of their hands?” The Kelvic nodded to which her teacher retorted, ”Well, it's an effective idea but how are you going to do it? Slapping the weapon away won't disarm them and it will, almost always, leave you open for an attack. There is a proper way to disarm them and that's what I'll show you now, it's very easy. Jab at me.”

Gripping the hilt of the knife, her arm was bent, feeling the weight of the blade as it rested in her palm. Looking on at Mos'Rila with curious hazel eyes, Reven moved to her, extending the blade with her right wrist to attempt to jab at her. In mere ticks, Rila's hands rose to meet her wrist. Her right hand pushed into the inside of her wrist causing Reven to bend her hand inward, fingers loosening around the hilt of the blade. Then with her left hand, Rila slapped the cougar's right hand forward, causing the blade to fly out of her hand quickly. It clattered to the floor beneath them.

Rubbing her wrist, Reven nodded, “I can do that.”

“And you will.” Rila nodded, picking up the knife, “It's my turn, are you ready?”

Providing her affirmation, she watched her instructor step toward her though she was purposely slow. With Mos'Rila's right hand extended, Reven reached out, aiming for the joint between her teacher's forearm and hand, wanting to push it forward with her right hand and allow her left hand to slap the blade away. Instead, Reven ended up gripping Rila's hand with both of her's.

“No, no, Reven. You have to be faster. If you're not quick to disarm, you will get hurt. Try again.”

Frowning, the Kelvic did as she was told. Mos'Rila came at her once more and this time, Reven simply allowed her hands to be guided with haste. In the same manner, her right hand quickly slammed into Rila's wrist joint while the feline's left hand flew forward and smacked into her mentor's hand causing the blade to go flying. She smiled after a tick.

“Victory.” She cooed.

Mos'Rila aimed a wry grin at the woman before picking the blade up again. “Good, but I was going slow. Now lets see how you preform this in an actual fight.”

Raising a brow, Reven watched Rila take stance, “Wait, we're not really going to fight with weapons, are we?”

Only receiving a shrug from her teacher, Mos'Rila was quickly upon her, swinging the blade around wildly. Reven gasped and jerked back, trying to dodge the attacks. In an attempt to slash at her, Rila caught the edge of her arm, slicing it open as only a minor cut. “Hey!” Reven hissed, stumbling back, trying not to fall.

“Disarm me, Cat!” With foot forward, the mentor slammed her left shoulder into Reven, knocking her back onto the floor. The Kelvic fell with a thud, curses flew from her mouth. “Move, Reven!”

The sudden intensity of the combat session roused the cougar up within ticks, taking stance just moments after her instructor's aggression. Upon her once more, Reven lunged her hands forward and almost forcefully, with full strength, she clumsily slapped the blade from her teacher's hand using the technique she was just shown. Mos'Rila was not finished, however, and reached forward to grasp the feline's right arm with her left hand while Rila's right hand found her shoulder. A leg sprung up to knee her in the stomach but with left hand forward, bending back, Reven avoided it. She countered attacked, yanking her left hand up to chop at the woman's windpipe.

As if expecting it, the older woman fluttered away from her, a sudden distance forming between the two. Reven smiled, the same curve of her lips reflecting from Rila.

“Now you're getting it.” She praised, “Agility, that's what you need to focus on. Precision is your friend. Always move quickly, precisely, because in combat situations, no one is thinking of mercy, Reven. All anyone will want to do is incapacitate you in some form, so you need to be ready to meet that.”

“I don't think that's always true...” Was the Kelvic's mutter.

Memories of the first time she met Van flashed into her thoughts. Out hunting game, she chanced upon his scent and immediately went to investigate it. When she found view of him, under unfortunate circumstances, Reven had to defend himself and so did she but they never harmed each other. Sometimes the Kelvic wondered if their meeting had been fate, though that thought was quickly dismissed. Sighing softly, the Kelvic pondered if she could ever make it through a day where Vanator wasn't on her mind.

“Thinking like that will get you killed.” Mos'Rila pointed out, claiming the knife once more. “Don't ever assume you're safe, even if the company is nice. chances are if they look capable of doing harm, they most certainly have and they'll do it again. Never let your guard down, Reven. It'll keep you alive and someday, you'll thank me for that piece of advice.”

Staring at her instructor, Reven's eyes examined her for a moment, curious as to what Mos'Rila's story was and why she spoke of such things. Maybe Rila had been in such situations, the Kelvic assumed so. But what had happened to the woman to make her this way? Such a solid, built, tactically combative woman? Reven wondered if she'd ever learn the answers to those questions...