((For Jelani))

[1stmacleod]

After his last time in the Nexus, Connor's looking a little worse for wear again. After a brief respite, he's back to sleeping badly. Sometimes he dreams he can see a himself in happy family gatherings, but he's always standing outside the window, in the cold or worse. He usually wakes himself beating his fists against dream-glass.

He really doesn't have anywhere else to go, though, except here and back to his own world. So he lurks. He's found one of the edge places, where Nexus dissolves into a patch of wilderness. So he sits, and gives the crowds a brooding stare, watching from the outside yet again.

Comments

[jelani.livejournal.com]

Suddenly she finds herself on defense, working hard to parry and dodge. She's not used to the sword and the katas yet, and they hinder as much as they help her.

Well then, time to fight dirty again.

With her shinai held in one hand she blocks his strike, and in the same movement she steps in, reaching to grab Connor push him backwards while at the same time attempting to hook a leg behind his and trip him.

...too bad that move got her balance all kinds of messed up. This will never work, will it?

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Connor's footwork is a strong point and his weight shifts even as he sees the move coming, but now their legs are hooked, and he can feel she's off balance, so he turns the trick back and tries to knock her feet out from under her, and at the same time brings the butt-end of his sword down hard on the hand the holds the shinai.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

Yep, that ought to do it. Her expression is now equal parts irritation and frustration as she goes down, and gets the shinai knocked out off her hand. But again her previous training kicks in, and she gets her legs untangled and uses the momentum from her fall to roll backward over her shoulder, and further to get back up on her feet. But now she's unarmed. That doesn't mean it's all over, though, and now she's crouched in a different kind of stance. Until she manages to recover her shinai, she'll fall back on what she already knows. Unless Connor decides it is enough for now.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He doesn't look triumphant, or disappointed, and Connor keeps his guard up a little but goes to fetch her shinai. "I thought we were working on swords, but if you want, I can teach you how to do that one without throwing yourself off." He flips the shinai in his hand and offers it back to her, handle first, with his own katana held low and out in a non-threatening way.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

"I know that move, but I usually ain't tangled up with a sword when I do it." She straightens up out from her stance and accepts the shinai back. "So practice makes perfect, right?" That's a yes to going over that move some more.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"Practice makes better, anyway." He smirks a little, and draws back a step. "You shouldn't have grabbed me. If you block outward, that's enough to start the move. Grabbing your opponent will only compromise your own balance."

[jelani.livejournal.com]

"Huh." Her expression grows a bit distant as she's drawing up the move in her head, imagining the motions. "I'll keep that in mind fer later."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"Do you want to go another round, or learn more kata first?" He's looking a little winded, a little tired, but Connor is always willing to push himself harder than he pushes a student.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

If this had been two years ago, this is where Jelani would have made some snide comments about Connor being an old man without any stamina whatsoever. But while she could certainly go another round, and while Connor hardly looks like he's about to fall over, she decides on a different approach.

"I don't mind gettin' some more tools ta work with." So she comes to stand by his side, awaiting instructions.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He'd just roll his eyes if she did, but it's got nothing to do with age and everything to do with fifteen years worth of ruining his health. Connor knows he's not where he used to be, physically.

Nodding, he slides back into the first kata, standing where she can mirror him again. Once through, he gives her a handful of newer moves, then he repeats the old ones mixed with the new, taking her through a longer chain of poses now. Give him a little while of this, and he'll be ready for another fight.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

Again she tries to empty her head of distracting thoughts, and lets her body do the work. She follows the motions, some with ease and some not, some that needs correcting. Over and over, faster and faster, committing it to muscle memory.

A stray thought: it's like dancing. And she loves to dance. She smiles.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Connor's never been big on dancing, although he knows how. He's graceful though, flowing through the moves with practiced ease, fluid and almost relaxed. There's a definite precision to it, not an ounce of energy wasted. He corrects quietly when she needs it, and holds his tongue when he sees her correct herself. Her pace is matched, but he breathing stays controlled and easy. He seems meditative and much calmer than he was when she found him earlier.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

Another stray thought that mucks up her motions a bit - definitely overextended there, but she corrects it with a scowl on her face. This seems to be doing her teacher some good. At least at the moment he doesn't about look ready to crawl under a rock and die.

She knows she'd better start getting all this in and getting it to work even with distractions. So, why not an idle conversation? "So why a katana?" she asks, sliding from one pose to the next.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Connor's spent the last five years doing pretty much that, so this is a vast improvement. He looks meditative, calm and focused.

Conversation is allowed, though. "It belonged to my first teacher." That sword is older than Connor is. He keeps up the pattern of kata as he talks, then switches up the order of the poses, just to throw her off. "I started with a claymore, but... those are no good for close combat, or for anybody who isn't as strong as an ox." He smirks faintly. Ramirez had a hard time convincing him that his family sword wasn't a superior weapon, especially for a skinny nineteen-year-old.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

Connor does succeed in throwing Jelani off when he changes the order of poses. She frowns, and is for the moment silent and she focuses on following along. When she finally feels she doesn't have to focus all of her attention on him, she starts talking again.

"Would it be good fer someone who is strong as an ox, though?"

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He doesn't say anything while she catches up, letting her correct herself and redivide her attention. He will keep mixing up the order, though. There's no point in not giving her a challenge.

"Depends on the type of fighting. A claymore was really made to unseat somebody from horseback, or use from horseback. It's too long a blade to be practical for a one-on-one fight, on foot. There are some good broadswords, now, though. Some people like a weighted blade. It can add power to the swing. But the heavier a sword is, the longer the recovery time between each move. Split seconds count."

[jelani.livejournal.com]

She messes up here and there, and is slow to reply. But she's doing pretty good so far.

"Hmm, might be fun ta learn," she says. "Fighting from horseback. But then I guess I'd hafta learn how ta ride a horse, too."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"I've done more of my fighting on foot, but it used to be that anyone who could afford a horse, rode." That's not to say everyone could afford one, but he's done plenty of riding in his life.
"I miss having horses..."

[jelani.livejournal.com]

The movements flows from one to the other, from pose to pose with Jelani watching Connor from the corner of her eye.
"Any reason why ya shouldn't get horses again? Maybe yer next occupation oughta be as a rancher?"

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"...Just that I can't settle anywhere too long. People will notice I'm not aging, after a while. I have to keep moving..." He looks grim over that, but it doesn't break his concentration. To be fair, though, there's more muscle-memory in all this for him than there is for her.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

Quite a few more years of it, yes. However, this is where Jelani breaks off the kata. She sweeps both hand and shinai out, gesturing at their surroundings. "Look where ya are! Ya think anyone's gonna raise an eyebrow at th' fact that ya don't age here?"

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He straightens slowly, drawing up out of the last pose. "I can't... really live here..." Except there's a certain appeal to that. He's loathe to abandon Duncan, in his own world, completely, though.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

"Why not?" She puts the top of the shinai to the ground, and rests her hands over the hilt, looking at him with her head tilted a bit to the side. "If ya worry 'bout missin' yer old world, ain't nothin' saying ya can't go visit. Every damn day if ya want. I talked ta this guy a couple o' weeks ago, and he lives here but he's still got his old job back where he came from."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"Not... my world, but my kinsman. My old student." He frowns mildly, and looks the katana over as if for damage, but he keeps the sword in too good condition. Mostly he's looking for a distraction. "He... there's bad blood between us now, but I want to keep an eye out for him, still. I abandoned him once, for ten years, even if I didn't mean to. I won't abandon him again." Keeping an ear out for Duncan's safety is a trickier matter than a regular job.

[jelani.livejournal.com]

"Don't mean ya hafta stop doin' that, if ya start buildin' somethin' fer yerself. Look, I don't mean ta say I know what's happened to ya, an' I meant it when I said I won't pry. But I got eyes, an' I got me a fairly good brain up here." She taps a finger against he temple. "Ya ain't got much, do ya? If yer runnin' from something, or hidin' from something, I can't say. But what I can say is, that whatever it was ya did, punishin' yerself for it ain't gonna make it better."