[Flashback]Early Morning Gymnastics and Martial Arts

[Guy Laliberte]

center]Day 19 of Spring of 488 AV[/center]

Guy lay on the floor, his face pushed up against the wooden boards. Snapping his eyes open, he sees the grains of the wood so close and nearly cries out. He attempts to move his arms, but can’t make them budge. They were, all night, laying beneath him, the blood circulation cut off and the appendages becoming nothing more than dead weight. No doubt they would need to be amputated, and then his career as a street performer would be over, and he would be left in rags, begging on the corner, using his feet to do everything.

Flipping over to his back, He moans and arches his back forwards, causing him to be supported by his feet and behind, his arms dangling uselessly beside him. He says calmly, already accepting his doomed future, “Father. I have lost the use of my arms.”

Jionn gets up slightly, looking over at his son, sitting on the floor. “Get off from the floor. And what are you talking about?” Smacking his lips, he pivots himself up and stands, stretching as he does so.

“My arms. I can’t feel them, or use them.” He heaves himself forward, getting on his knees, and then levers himself up, standing and staring at his father. Why does he seem so apathetic? Doesn’t he care about my well-being?

“Don’t be silly, boy. You fell of the bed and landed on your hands, cutting them off from your heart. They have no blood in them! Give it a couple of seconds, they’ll hurt real bad, but then you’ll be fine.”

“H-Hurt?” Guy looked down at his dangling arms, already able to feel the tingling sensation that precedes the needles-and-pins feeling when one regains the use of a limb. Sighing, he sits down, gyrating his chest and making his arms flap about, having fun with his useless arms before they became - gasp! - useful again.

Chuckling loudly, Jionn goes and gets a jar of butter and a loaf of bread from the pantry, placing both on a counter and slicing up their breakfast. The tingling has now progressed into pricking, and started to regain motion in his arms. He dutifully walks over and seats himself at the table, looking at the earthenware plate in front of him. His father slaps a slice of bread on the plate, followed by a glop of butter, salted for preservation, and smears that evenly across the surface of the bread. This he does for himself as well, then returns the loaf and the butter to the cabinet, coming back with a pitcher of water, which he pours into two clay cups, one for each of them, and returns this to the cabinet as well.

“Enjoy,” He said, grinning and chomping down on his bread. Guy did the same, and almost spat it back out.

“Blegh! This bread is stale!” He washed it down with some water.

“Well, it’s the best we could do in such short circumstances. Deal with it.”

[Guy Laliberte]

After the brief, and unpleasant breakfast, Guy was ushered out of the house by his father, and they stood on the porch, looking out at the barely-risen sun.

“Gymnastics.” Said Jionn.

“Gymnastics?” The reason for the word eluded him. Unless.... Oh, no...

“Yes. You will learn gymnastics.”

Groaning, guy slumps his shoulders. “Why? And this early? Can’t we-”

“Early morning air is best for full concentration. You are at your peak of attention and energy, just having had a full nights rest. Now, show me a cartwheel.”

Sighing, Guy paces in front of his father for a few seconds, before going a bit farther and, turning back, turns sideways and attempts to do a handstand. Inertia carries his weight through, and he hefts himself from his hands back onto his feet. “Happy?”

“No. That was sloppy. Do it again.”

Sighing once again, he turns back and repeats the process, this time noticing that indeed his form was sloppy. His feet splayed at odd angles before conjoining once more at the end of the cartwheel. This was, of course, so he could keep balance - had he held his feet straight, he would have toppled over. However, trying to explain this to his father proved to be a waste of time.

“It doesn’t matter if you fall over. You just get back up, and do it again. Eventually you’ll get it.” Guy was untrained, but he was determined, and talented. Takes after his father, thought Jionn, grinning.

Guy sighed and got ready once more to cartwheel on the cobbled road. He lined up his feet, threw himself over, felt the cool stones beneath his hands, and thought to himself, Straight legs, Guy, straight legs. You can do this. The street rushed up to meet his face, his feet slamming against the road. With an ‘Oomph’ and much groaning, he twirled to his knees and stood up, rubbing his face.

“Do we really need to do this on the street?” He asked, grimacing.

“Pain is necessary for progress, Guy. Deal with it.”

For about the umpteenth time, Guy sighed and got ready to do yet another cartwheel. Conscious that he not fall over again, Guy subconsciously bends his legs to keep his balance, which are immediately met by his fathers stern hands, pushing them back straight and holding them there. Guy noticed at once that this didn’t exactly help him with his balance, and voiced his opinions.

“No, but if you don’t move soon, all your blood will go to your head, and you’ll explode.”

“E-Explode?” Thoughts of his flesh and bones spewed about the road did not help Guy to concentrate. How could he get up? He could try to swing up and grab on to his father’s arms, but that seemed unlikely to happen, and he felt he did not have the upper-body strength to do so. Alright, so maybe he could try to swing on his feet, to make Jionn lose his balance. But that was even more unlikely, seeing as how Jionn had a very low center of gravity, and was almost impossible to topple over (He had tried numerous times in the past). There’s not much he could do...

In the middle of his thinking, he was suddenly thrown sideways. Jionn had let go and pushed to the right at the same time, causing Guy to shoot his leg out, and land on it, then his left leg, causing him to be once more standing up.

[Guy Laliberte]

I did it!” Exclaimed Guy.

“Once. And with my assistance. And very sloppily, I might add.”

“Yes, but I did it.”

Grinning, Jionn shakes his head. “That you did. Now, time for morning practice.”

“But we just did cartwheels!” Guy exclaimed. “I think that more than makes up for any martial arts practice. I mean, come on! Cartwheels!”

“There’s no nosing your way out of it this morn, Guy. Come on. Get in your stance.” Guy stood, feet roughly a foot-and-a-half apart, arms straight by his side. He tensed his hands in preparation, clenching and unclenching his fists. His father was in a similar position next to him.

[Guy Laliberte]

“Snake.” Jionn and Guy shift, placing one leg behind the other, facing their imaginary opponents with their left hands facing forwards, palm outward, fingers splayed, and their right hands the exact mirror of their left, creating a splayed hand shape, almost like a snake opening its mouth to lunge.

“Spring.” They move their right hands and arms, trailing along their left, until it is by their heads. Clenching closed the fists, they snap their left fingers together, their hands as if tied to a spring, ready to launch out and strike their opponents.

“Mirror.” Almost jumping up into the air, they face to the left, their right part of the body facing the opponent, their left perhaps turned to meet an attacker from the back. Both hand’s fingers are together and their palms open, arms outstretched as if to push the two enemies surrounding them away.

“Turtle.” Dropping down to one knee, both arms are extended up, protecting their faces, the back of their forearms facing out, fists clenched to prevent arm movement in case of a strike.

“Dove.” Almost majestically, gracefully, they spring up using only their legs that were planted on the ground just previously, moving their arms together and hands stacked, one palm to the back of the other hand, providing extra force for shoving the attacker away. Guy over-compensates for gravity and loses his balance. Staying with his arms in the air, feet planted on the ground, Jionn grins. Blushing, Guy stands himself up and returns to the original position, arms by his side.

“Hammer.” Displaying perhaps one of the most devastating attacks of the Laliberté martial arts style, Guy and Jionn (The latter does it proportionately more swiftly and professionally) yell in unison, grabbing their right hands with their left, and, almost as if their right arm was a lever, they seem to pull on their arm, jerking their elbows out with a ferocity usually seen in wild beasts. Any person in front of them would have had their nose broken, in Jionn’s case, or in the case of Guy, who was significantly shorter and weaker (not to mention, much younger), they might have cracked a rib or two, and would have had a nasty bruise.

“Twig.” An oddly-named move, it’s purpose is clear. Swinging out with their non-dominant foot, they would attempt to trip their imaginary opponents, their fists bashing into their skulls. Happy-go-lucky entertainers they may be, none can accuse the Laliberté family of being ill-trained and ill-prepared when it comes to combat.

Done with the seven steps for the morning, Guy and Jionn stand up, sweat glistening off their skin in the early morning sun.

[Guy Laliberte]

“Let’s ‘ave a match, dad,” Suggested Guy, grinning. The chances of him actually winning were slim, but it was always fun to test out his skills. He had been practicing by himself a lot lately, when his father was out doing his rounds (That’s what they called the family business of entertaining, as if it had something to do with protecting the city).

“What for?” Jionn replied, grinning. He knew this would annoy his son to no end.

“Well, so I can test out my skills!”

“What skills?” replied Jionn, grinning mischievously.

“W-What skills!?” Guy knew his father was joking, of course, but couldn’t resist the challenge. “You’re on.”

Taking up position, Guy stands in the fighting pose, a stance much different than those used to initiate the Kata. His feet are farther apart, in order to better accommodate his balance and strengthen his center of gravity. The Laliberté Hand-to-hand style of combat is very fluid when it comes to positioning. There are any number of ways to ready yourself, and all of them use the same basic moves.

Jionn adopts a more lithe fighting stance, circling around his son, obviously confident in his own abilities to overpower a mere child. His legs and feet weaved patterns in the stone, making a fabric of movements that ultimately ended with him lunging at his son. Then, just as quickly as he began the lunge, he backpedaled, and continued to circle around, waiting for an opening, or perhaps just toying with him.

Guy knew how proficient his father really was, and by no means underestimated his skills. In fact, it could be said that he was overestimating his skill, just to be on the safe side. Twisting around to meet his father head on as he circled, Guy braced his arms in a block, then readied himself again as he realized it was a feint.

“Are we going to circle like planets all morning? I need to get to work, y’know.” Jionn bantered, trying to provoke Guy into action.

“I have all day. If we take too long, you’ll have to give up!” He replied, sticking his tongue out. Jionn feinted a strike once more, making his son throw up his arms and hastily withdraw his tongue back into the safety of his mouth.

Enough funny business, Thought Guy. Let’s finish this. Apparently, his father was having the same thought, for before he knew it, Guy saw a foot approaching his face at quite a high speed. Ducking quickly, he pivoted on the balls of his heels until he was facing away from the origin of the kick, and reached up to grab the leg, which had reached the end of its trajectory in that direction. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was the leg to come crashing down on him. Gravity, and a bit of muscle movement by Jionn, proved to be his greatest enemy, and he was struck to the ground, but not so hard as to leave a bruise.

“Now, Guy, what happened there?” Asked Jionn, rather coyly. Guy mumbled something in response.

“What?”

“I didn’t think you would bother kicking down.”

“But, it should have been obvious. Even had I not moved a muscle, gravity would have done the work for me.”

“Right, but it was so obvious...”

“Beware of the obvious, Guy. That’s what we rarely think of noticing.”

With this life lesson, Jionn walked into their cabin to get into costume, leaving his son laying on the ground.

[Ataraxia]

Guy Laliburté XP Acrobatics +3, Unarmed Combat +3, Observation +1 Lore The pins and needles... they burn! | Being taunted by his father | Specific Form: Laliberté Style | The intricacies of a simple kick Comments Nicely done, the little kata session was kind of cool. I gave +3 to both unarmed and acrobatics despite it being a pretty short thread, seeing as you have very little to no XP in those skills and I feel gaining XP for a novice skill should be a bit easier. Observation was given for keeping an eye on his father and recognizing his feint attacks. If you have any questions, send me a PM and we will discuss it. Keep in mind, I usually discuss things with a baseball bat in hand. With nails in it. And barbed wire. Peace out! Just kidding about the bat thing. It doesn't really have barbed wire, just nails.