I really suck at this [Day 7, Early Evening, Open]

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"I do not often have a chance to benefit from a demonstration in my calling," she admitted quietly, sitting in a comfortable posture as she watched. "If -sama does not mind, I will observe."

If you weren't an Agasha, they definitely didn't spend lots of time teaching swordplay when people trained to be shugenja. It never hurt...

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

With a faint shrug, Chihaya took the weapon, testing the weight and heft, giving it a few experimental swings, to make sure it was still good.

Then she gently bopped Degarashi on the top of his head.

"First teaching - don't waste a perfectly good bokken. They're annoying enough to make, and some student would likely be tasked with fixing it."

Glancing at the others, she added, "Second lesson, if you ever do find yourself in battle, keep your guard up, even when no threat seems imminent... and especially for those of you who are non-combatants by trade, look about, find how you might escape from danger. If you can reach aid, you are more likely to survive, and also more likely to capture or defeat your assailant. Your Lord went to some expense to train you - it is important to keep yourself alive so that you may repay him with your service."

With a faint smile, she added, "Now, were I to attempt to kill the three of you now, how would you escape such a thing?"

Kasuga Seitouna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 8:37 pm

"From you, specifically, Suzume-shoi? I would try to get away from where you can see."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

Chihaya glanced to her left.

A wall.

"And when I turn my head?" Striding to the tortoise, she gently bopped him on the head with the bokken. "Be more specific. Would you exit through that door behind me? Would you push a weapon rack into my path? Draw your weapon and leap upon me?"

She let her gaze pass over all three.

"I am not asking this lightly - some day you may find someone, perhaps for no reason you can gather, wishes to kill you. When that time comes, it is imperative you respond appropriately, so that you may live to continue to serve your lord. Your life is not your own, to throw away on a whim."

Glancing back at the ronin, she nodded, "Save yours - but I imagine you aren't too eager to depart this realm, ronin-san."

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

She listened to the Suzume, her face taking a bit of a wry twist to it at the comment about the expense of one's lord. Given her current standing, that was kind of a humorous notion. The question, though, drew a small nod. "I would likely, if you were a serious threat, beseech the the earth kami to hold you still long enough for Osano Wo to send you to Meido, -sama." She saw little reason to conceal such simple, sacred spells. They were common enough in common. "And with the storm outside? I hazard that the great thunderer would be more gleeful than usual to lend his aid."

She nodded afterwards. "I am in no hurry to face my eternal reward for this life. No. There is yet a life to be lived, and people in need of my gifts."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

Chihaya nodded, and then reached over and gently bopped the ronin with the bokken.

"Unless your prayers are faster than this bokken, you may find that a challenge - but it is good to have such a plan, should I not be so close to you."

Turning she strode back to Degarashi, and looked to all three.

"The first lesson I teach in my Dojo is simple - listen to your gut instinct, that first hint of danger. Cultivate that sense so that when danger comes you can feel it, and respond quickly and without hesitation."

A faint smile. "That response will vary, based on our skills. Perhaps Bayushi-san would escape out into the crowd and attempt to hide himself with his acting prowess, until he found allies, or perhaps the kami could be called to impair me, or perhaps a firm defense with blade in hand, while calling for aid, might suffice."

"The next thing I teach a bushi is how to parry a blow - you cannot win a battle if you are struck down the moment it begins. Once you know how to avoid dying immediately, you may learn to attack."

Drawing her wakizashi, she tossed the bokken gently to Degarashi, adding, "Luckily, this can be done with a variety of blades and tools - some use fans for this purpose."

Holding the blade with both hands, center lined with her body, feet spread, she inquired, "Have any of you been taught a basic defensive stance?"

Kasuga Seitouna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 8:54 pm

Seitouna accepts the correction and says "Thank you, Suzume-shoi."

He considers the prompt, looks around the room.

"Perhaps the practice knife thrown as a distraction, covering an attempt at withdrawal to the door. Or through one of the paper panels, were it needed.

"And to the last question, Suzume-shoi, I have, though only the basics."

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

She rubbed her forehead, stifling a chuckle. Part of her thought she liked this little sparrow. There was something distantly familiar to the way that she spoke. A reminder that not all samurai were quite so stiff and formal by nature.

"In truth. One of the most powerful tools is memory for that," she admitted. Memory that left one hand free to wield the wakizashi and neither to use the scroll. Far faster when you learned your spells and mastered them. "But I have been trained in the basics of defensive stances. One cannot call on the kami in every fight. They get ... testy if you can't defend yourself."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

"A good start - but better still to knock an entire weapon display into my path, to slow me." She answered Seitouna.

She nodded to Mari, and then added;

"Now then, I shall refresh you on the basic stance, and the basic blocks, which you can achieve with a wakizashi."

Moving through a series of guards, starting high and ending low, she demonstrated in simple movements and words how one might go about deflecting attacks from the most common angles.

When she had finished, she added, "Such movements will not be comfortable without several days of practice, but if you let them become second nature, you might even be able to fend off assaults with spell scroll or fans in hand - sometimes you only need lessen a blow slightly to mean the difference between life and death. Again, the most important lesson I can teach in a short time is simply to be mindful of the space you occupy, to see how you might attack, defend, or escape, as need be. If you are drawn into combat, always be careful - while you are fighting me, Bayushi-san might have been my ally this entire time, and might strike you once you least expect. The situation can change quickly, and without warning."

Taking in all three, she added, "If you wish, I can display a kata that incorporates both basic attack and defense - it is a good study of fundamentals, making a motion feel natural to your body."

Kasuga Seitouna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:04 pm

"If Suzume-shoi would be so kind."

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Where the techniques of true bushi would always elude her, no matter how much she might have studied because she was not a kami herself, a kata was another matter. Those, at least some of those, were within the grasps of even shugenja with the right sort of training. She bowed her head and nodded. "I would appreciate that, actually."

One could never have too many tricks in their arsenal.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Degarashi stood absorbing Chihaya's words, nodding every so often, and using what measure of acting prowess he felt was helpful to imitate the Sparrow's movements. She was quite right, none of these movements would seem natural without extensive practice. The Scorpion would need to be dedicated to get any use out of it.

Between his imitations, token responses, and nods, Degarashi appeared thoughtful. When he finally spoke, it was with a steady, quiet calm. "Were I to assume you an attacker, Suzume-shoi, I would get closer to you, not further away. Many would assume your handicap first and move into your presumed blind spot, then die to the experience you've built up against such tactics. In such close quarters, I would need your field of vision smaller, rather than wider." He inclined his head casually. "Fundamentally my knife would have the advantage up close, but that matter is irrelevant. It isn't what it could do against your weapon but my knowledge of what to do with it that matters. After crowding into your reach I would drop down and attempt to take you at the knee or calf, twist the blade, then flee..."

He seemed almost unaware that he'd spoken at all.

Kasuga Seitouna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:35 pm

Seitouna blinks a couple of times in surprise.

Ruthless for an actor...right. Scorpion, he thinks. Still admirably effective ideas, though, and what works is good enough.

For a Tortoise view, anyway.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"Fitting." There was no real criticism in her tone as she said it. A Bayushi was a Bayushi was a Bayushi. There was a level way in which she spoke about what Degarashi said that sort of hinted that, like most ronin, she really didn't give two figs about how honorable a cut was. Dead was dead. She liked Suzume's approach better than she would have a Crane or Lion's.

"If you do enough harm to an opponent, they usually can't quite bring their full weight too bear on their reprisal. That alone is its own sort of defense."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

Chihaya nodded in approval. "A quick response, and if your opponent was overconfident or careless, one which might even work. Risky, but sometimes one must take a risk."

Holding her Wakizashi steady, she spread her feet into a balanced stance, and then raise the blade so it was over head.

"This is first kata I teach to my students, and one of my favorites - it will walk through the basics of attack, stance, and defense, and is easy to remember with practice."

Then she began, at a slowed pace, pausing between motions so they could see and follow along if they wished.

The Dance of the First Sparrow, her master had called it, and it wove together two fundamental techniques - the 8 angular cuts of rudimentary attack, and the 4 guard positions and their accompanying parries.

Chihaya settled into a familiar pattern. Her blade flicking forward, then returning into a defensive sweep, then out again, over and over, each time slightly different. Each time precisely employing a different angle of attack and parry, handling each segment of the body - high left, and then high right, above, to the side, down, to the other side, low left, and low right... and then back to the start.

It even incorporated simple switches of stance to accommodate attacking and defending from different approaches.

It was nothing complicated or secret, simply a way to practice in order without leaving anything out.

Kasuga Seitouna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:46 pm

Seitouna watches the motions and realizes I have no idea how even to do that with a wakizashi. A knife, yes, but not a sword.

Still, he mimics as he can.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Mari, again, showed acceptable but not impressive competence as she was going through the motions of following the kata. Its forms weren't necessarily ones that she needed, but she had yet to refine her Air element enough to justify the study of a style of combat that would best fit what she did and how she operated. Regardless, she seemed capable of producing the motions in the basic sense.

Her eyes were on the Suzume as she worked, nodding once or twice. She continued in attempting a repetition of it afterwards. "I've been told that the muscles can remember, if taught enough."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

"Hai, they can."

She repeated the kata three times, and then sheathed her blade.

"If you wish to try, I can correct your motions."

Kasuga Seitouna · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:02 pm

"How would it work with a knife, Suzume-shoi? Perhaps a jitte."

Seitouna is clearly, clearly uncomfortable with drawing his wakizashi.

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

She considered that. "Largely the same, though the motions on attack would be less applicable.

Miming the gestures in a rapid flurry, she seemed to be running an inventory of the motions, and then said, "I would replace each cardinal slice with a stabbing motion - one should not perform a wide strike with such a short blade."

I really suck at this [Day 7, Early Evening, Open]

Who is online