Lessons in fighting

[mindofathief]

Who: Duster, Open
What: Duster is giving out hand-to-hand combat training
Where: Aqures Ixen, Hero Training Facility
When: June 16
Warnings: None for now

[Duster wakes up surprisingly early this morning. The recent battles he went on and the news yesterday about the murders must have messed up his sleep cycle, and now he's waking up in the morning like a normal person. Huh. He finds that his shoulders are too tense and his mind unfocused to go out and earn money through battles, so today has to be a resting day. For a moment, he thinks of practicing the double bass all day, but a letter he forgot to clean off of his desk grabs his attention.

Ah. That's right. He promised Chrom to teach some lessons at the training center. Now that's something he can focus on instead.

Anyone arriving at the training center will find a handwritten sign by the entrance, words written neatly and spaced out like a poem:]

Self Defense Classes
Learn martial arts from Duster
Taught here all day today.

[There's an extra syllable at the end, but no one on the Nowhere Islands can write a proper haiku.

Duster can be found in one corner of the grounds, kicking a leather dummy. Each of his strikes hits the target in a regular, focused fashion, as if Duster is making sure he keeps a steady beat.]

Comments

[mindofathief]

[Better a weirdo than a moron. Duster smiles and stifles a laugh.]

Sure, we can work on blocking. [He turns to face Aoi, right foot in front of his left and arms held to his waist.] Punch me, and I'll show you how it's done.

[21stcenturyguy]

Oh, you will, huh?

[He may not be good at actually fighting, but Aoi's fast, just like he warned Duster. He ducks and darts to the left, lashing out with a punch that had more enthusiasm than power behind it. He doesn't wanna hurt Duster, just poke at him and see what reactions he gets.]

[mindofathief]

[Duster was trained to have fast reflexes. Better to get the first hit on the enemy rather than let them get a surprise back attack. Wess made sure to drill that into his young mind. He shoots his arm up and knocks Aoi's fist to the side.]

Yup.

[21stcenturyguy]

[Oh. Well, that was...smooth. Competent. Kinda hot. Duster's such a dork, with his weird colored clothes and his eternal good cheer, it takes moments like these for it to actually occur to Aoi what's hiding beneath. Duster's tall, and tough, fast, and strong. He could be deadly, if he wasn't so damn nice all the time.]

[Aoi's throat has gone a little dry, and he gulps before he tries to speak.]

Um, nice. That was good. [He doesn't know if he should keep sparring or run for his life before he does something stupid.]

[mindofathief]

[Duster must have surprised Aoi, because he's awfully nervous and quiet. He wants to ask what's wrong, if he's too afraid to continue on with the lesson.

...Then he realizes that the expected answer to that would be a scowl and denial, then a demand to continue so he can show off how cool he is. ]

I can show you how to do it. [He speaks in a smoother, quieter tone to calm down Aoi.] See, as long as you hold your forearms up during a fight, you'll be able to react fast enough to block it.

Like this. Hold them up.

[He puts his fists closer to his face.]

[21stcenturyguy]

[Shiiiiit, that voice is new. Duster's gone into teacher mode, and 'complicated' doesn't begin to touch on Aoi's issues with authority. He's torn between asking Duster to position him again, or disobeying to see if he can get scolded in that same quiet but authoritative voice.]

[But he's still got his pride, damn it, so he huffs out a little breath and holds his arms up to put a barrier between him and this goddamn bassist. If his cheeks are a little pink, Duster'll probably chalk it up to physical exertion.]

'Kay. Hit me with your best shot.

[mindofathief]

[ Very pink. Totally due to all of the exercise and focus on fighting. Duster can be dense at things like this.

He juts his arm out, not to got Aoi, but planning to pull back just as it nears his body. Kicks are more of his forte, so the punch isn't as perfect as he would like it to be, but it's straightforward and easy for Aoi to push aside. ]

[21stcenturyguy]

[At least that weak-ass punch is something to draw his attention away from...whatever it is about Duster that's got him so on edge. He uses his arm to block the punch, scowling as he does it.]

Your best shot sucks. [He points out flatly.]

[mindofathief]

Want me to go harder?

[Without a warming, Duster feints another punch, this one quicker and lower.]

[21stcenturyguy]

[If he's doing this on purpose, Aoi swears he's gonna strangle Duster.]

[But he did grow up with Akane, the queen of unintentional innuendo, so there's a chance that he's just talking about fighting. Which is almost worse.]

Shit! [He has to move quickly to block the second jab. Now that Duster's really going, he can't afford to be distracted.]

[mindofathief]

[Considering how introverted Duster is, it could be all on accident. Or it could be all on purpose. Aoi will never tell.

Just like he'll never see this gut punch coming. Don't worry, it's not hard enough to make him keel over, but he will feel something.]

[21stcenturyguy]

Ffffff- [The punch itself is not that bad, but it brings back the memory of a much harder punch. This is what Duster's supposed to be showing him how to prevent!]

Asshole! [He forgets about blocking and pushes his arms out to shove him instead. Not really the point of the exercise, but if he's gonna be a maybe-flirty asshole, then Santa's not playing by the rules either.]

[mindofathief]

Hey! [Duster takes a step back and quickly readies himself. Fortunately for Aoi, Duster doesn't fight back.

...He rubs his shoulder and squints.]

Let's try that again. Slower, so you can see how I move.

[Ugh. Was that even necessary? Duster's pretty upset now, despite how much he tries to hide it when he stands in front of Aoi again.]

[21stcenturyguy]

[He frowns at Duster, but it softens a little when he resumes instructor mode. He didn't drive him away with the asshole act, huh?]

Ok, just...not there. [He doesn't wanna associate Duster with anything that Ace...Hongou...did.]

[He might activate his Illusionist's Imitation skill to help him mimic the move. It's probably not cheating.]

[mindofathief]

[Still irritated, Duster feints another punch at Santa's chest, expecting him to block it like before.

He doesn't expect Santa to strike immediately afterwards with the same punch. He hops backward as he knocks his arm away.]

Woah! I guess you're learning fast! [Sweet, innocent Duster. He doesn't know about the power of an Illusionist.]

[21stcenturyguy]

[Aoi lets out a slow breath, and then drops the Imitation. It's not gonna help him in the long run, and Duster is so trusting it hurts. He feels a little better, now that he's gotten a hit in, so it wasn't a complete waste.]

Ok. Show me the block, but slow. [He does a slower version of the punch he just copied, attention focused on Duster's forearms not his stupid hands, damn it.]

[mindofathief]

[Duster nods. It's nice to see Aoi when he's calmer and cooperative. He kind of wishes he were like this more often, even if just around Duster.

He keeps his hands curled into loose fists as he moves his forearm from the outside and connects with Aoi's. Instead of the quick shove, he presses his arm against his downwards and away, directing the punch away from his body.]

Like that. Jumping back is optional.

[21stcenturyguy]

[Aoi mimics the motion, intent on learning the move. He's capable of dropping the punk act when he's got something more important to do.]

Ok, you do me. [He's ready to give it a try in slow motion.]

...The jump thing...does it look dumb, or is it, like, badass? [Duster's answer may or may not determine whether or not Aoi tries to incorporate the jump into the move.]

[mindofathief]

That's- [Is he seriously deciding on self defense maneuvers based on how cool they look? That's the worst philosophy to have.] It makes you look like you know what you're doing.

Blocking's the more important part. Do that first without jumping, then we can incorporate that.

[He moves a bit faster than Santa, but his punch is moving slowly, giving Santa a few seconds to figure out how to block it.]

[21stcenturyguy]

Ok. [He'll give it a try once he's got the block down, then.]

[He does the forearm move and sweeps Duster's punch to the side. It's pretty easy, at this speed.]

Alright, do it faster now.

[mindofathief]

[Aoi wishes Duster could do it faster.

That first punch was just a test, and Aoi passed. Now, it's serious. Duster speeds up with each attack, still going more slowly than he would do in a normal fight so Aoi can get used to the speed. He's a quick learner, and after a few successful blocks, Duster decides to change it up.]

Watch your shoulder!

[A punch aimed higher! Still blockable, if Aoi is paying attention.]

[21stcenturyguy]

[Duster can do it whatever speed he wants. Aoi's not complaining.]

[His satisfied smile drops into a look of concentration as he tries to keep up with Duster's increasing speed. Duster's actually a decent teacher, so he's able to keep doing the blocks even as it gets faster, despite his lack of physical attack oriented job skills.]

Ok. [He's panting a little, but with the warning, he's able to block the high punch, too. He bets that if anyone was watching, they'd think the two of them looked hot, sparring like this. Because he was sure they totally did.]

Well, Teach, how was that?

[mindofathief]

Pretty good. I'll start mixing it up a little.

[Duster's starting to sweat from the warmup and the sparring. He's not tired, but he does breath out in audible bursts when striking. There's nothing like a good practice fight with someone who's just as focused as he his, even if Duster isn't putting too much effort. Aoi is pretty strong, but he shouldn't have been surprised from those muscles.

...He does catch himself glancing at those biceps while doing some mindless punches.

Happy with their progress, Duster throws one final punch - an attempted hook, but sloppy. He mentally curses at his bad job, but it should be above Aoi's level.]

Looks like you got the hang of it. We can move onto lower punches unless you need a break, of course.

[He's fine, but he's pretty sure most people need a sip of water after a bit of training. And Aoi's not going to rest if he doesn't look cool doing it...]

There's a water pump just outside this room. [Tilts his head towards the door before turning away. He's got to be proactive to make sure his pupil doesn't dehydrate.] Say, do you work out a lot?

[21stcenturyguy]

[Yeah, a break sounds great, but not when Duster phrases it like that. He's maybe getting a little sloppy with the exertion. That final punch glanced him as he moved to block it.]

I'm *huff* fine. Unless you're *huff* sayin' you wanna take me out for a drink. [He winks at his instructor.]

Yeah, I *huff* work out some. Gotta keep toned. [He's pleased that Duster is finally noticing that.]

[mindofathief]

[Yeah, that sounds like he needs a break. He can't let Aoi collapse from exhaustion just yet; they have more to do.

That wink gets barely a response. Typical Aoi, joking around at every opportune moment. Duster leads him to the pump outside, which has a set of ladles and mugs hanging on the rack for the people working out there. He takes one off the handle and tosses it to Aoi before grabbing one for himself.]

Catch. [It's just a few inches to toss it.] I was wondering about that. Most people I know don't get like that unless they do manual labor every day.