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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jul 21, 2012 16:04:40 GMT -8
Back in the day, construction sites were the staple of Delilah's workout regime. They provided a wide array of obstacles to overcome, dodge, and use to one's benefit.
They also provided a substantial risk for tetanus, but that was what conditioning was for: a state of body where the skin, nails, bone, and muscle had endured constant battering that would cause the body to grow harder muscles, thicker nails, tougher skin, and iron bones.
Hence the steady clang of bone on metal that rang through the ruins of what was once a sky scraper. Standing among a ring of rebar was Delilah kicking one particularly thick bundle with the shin of her leg.
-CLANG-
"ughh...One hundred thirty-four--"
-CLANG-
"Ffffff...One hundred thirty-five--"
-CLANG-
"MOTHEROF--...One...thirty...SIX."
The process however, was usually quite tedious--
-CLANG-
"DAMMITALLTOHELL--"
--and painful.
The only way to make conditioning (and often, training in general) tolerable, was to involve someone else in the endless torment.
BUT EVERYONE SHE KNEW WAS BUSY, SO HERE SHE WAS, BEATING HER FUCKING SHINS AGAINST IRON POLES, ALONE.
Anyway.
Despite the steady throb in her leg (and the warm feeling she was pretty sure was blood pooling under her jeans), she was feeling like she was accomplishing something. It had been a while since she had done something like this; glistening with sweat, breath coming in ragged gasps, limbs noodley with exhaustion. It felt good to get back in the swing of things in a big way.
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Post by Vetis on Jul 23, 2012 15:15:31 GMT -8
Ringing. It had echoed through the wind sure enough to pique the curiosity of one Vetis J. Sociopath. Perhaps it was the familiarty. The ringing wasn't familiar but the intervals were. The almost mechanical nature of it suggested someone was hitting something, in rhythm on purpose. Having recently come back he had not really had any fun. Someone hitting things tended to be fun, perhaps it was destined.
When he arrived at the source, nearly 2 blocks away he would see a young woman, or man with long hair kicking a girder. He himself preferred to kick trees but it was not something new to him. He could have made himself known but there was no point. If this person was a truely capable warrior they would have felt his precense by now.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jul 24, 2012 17:20:47 GMT -8
After a while, the steady hammer of bone on iron came to a halt. Delilah stopped mid-kick as the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up. Her muscles tensed, eyes widened, pulse quickened...It was almost as if her body reflexively registered the thought long before it reached her mind:
I'm being watched.[/i]
Slowly, Delilah lowered her leg and turned her body towards the source of energy that sent chills up and down her spine. Someways off, in the distance, she saw a vague shape of a human, muscular, most likely a man. She raised her hand in polite salute, as if to say 'nice of you to drop by mysterious stranger who just creeped me out of a good night's rest for the next week'.[/size]
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Post by Vetis on Jul 28, 2012 13:10:02 GMT -8
So she had noticed him. Perhaps he wasnt as stealthy as he could have been but then again he had not really been trying for stealthy. He was more curious which was why he had even bothered to observe. She didnt look like muhc. Not really a target to rob nor some sort of wiley seductress to at least illicit flirting. She waved to him a bit nervously. He took it as an invite.
The echo of metal had left the night wind since this little lady stopped her training. It was eerily quite. Even if it was him he realized this chick was no doubt totally skeeved out. He wasnt really sure what he had wanted to do with her at this point though nothing sinister had creeped into his wretched mind yet. She was also scared which took out any of the fun. It was the rude fiesty ones he preferred. They deserved the typical thrashing that they got. At about 6 feet away from her he stopped. He looked her up and down and stopped locking eyes with her before cracking a cocky smirk. He moved towards another girder. Placing himself into his Thai stance he would kick this girder holding back a substantial amount of force but enough to bend the metal into itself. Just enough to be impressive.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jul 28, 2012 16:39:17 GMT -8
She raised her eyebrows as he approched. He certainly was a hulk of a man, but less in his mass and more in the way he carried himself: a self assurance that was tangible and deadly in his knowledge of himself.
They eyed eachother as he closed the distance between them, her, somwhat warily, he, like a predator sizing up his prey. She wasn't afraid, not quite...just very very aware of the disparity between their strength, their ability. It radiated off him in waves, though she didn't truely sense any malevolence in the smirk gracing his face. She simply looked back up at him defiantly, though maintaining her silence.
Delilah watched as he walked towards a girder jutting out of the ground some distance off, and relaxed somewhat. Until, he kicked the girder and fucking dented it.
Who the hell is this guy? She wondered, the surprise clear on her face. She had observed enough of this muscled man to know that wasn't even a small amount of what he could do. With her Qi activated, she could do that easy. I mean, it would hurt, but she coud do it.
Him, though. That didn't even look like it bothered him any, much less caused him pain.
She eyed him again and nodded at his leg. "Seems I still have a long way to go," she commented, the corners of her mouth turning up ever so slightly. He wasn't trying to kill her and he wasn't trying to rob her (not that she had anything worth taking save for her knives). Ever the opportunist, she seized the chance to potentially learn something from this man. "Please, show me how to attain that."
It never hurt to be polite, even if it made you sound snivelling. Between that and being a bitch with a caved in skull, she took the lesser of the two evils.
((ooc: sorry for teh short post, posting at work. Typing SO FAST
OOC/Edit: I made it better.))
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Post by Vetis on Jul 30, 2012 14:57:28 GMT -8
She spoke. So a potential pupil, or perhaps in this case a one time tutelage. Letting to many people into his circle was something he had lived to regret from the catastrophe his former gang became without his leadership. He had left them with all the skills and tools they would need and they still fucked it up between either cowardice or greed. Still this one might be worth fighting one day if she was given a push in the right direction, as it was now she would have to be particularly crafty and rather resourceful to take him down a peg.
Not being one to talk, mostly because his vocal cords had atrophied from his neglect of using them at this point. He gave her a stern look his eyes not unlocking from her own before making a slight grunting noise. He got into his Muay Thai stance again. Right leg slightly behing the left both of his feet propped up by the soles of his feet so the heel wasnt touching the ground. His hands facing out straight slightly under eye level but tucked in close and tight sll the way down to his elbows. This time he wanted to show off a bit so he would actually kick hard still holding back as a mere piece of metal was undeserving of his full strength. Still what he would hold back in power he would make up for in speed. He wanted her to see how quickly and hard a Thai kick could be.
Pivoting his entire core as he kicked helped him bring in a surprisingly fast momentum. It was the secret to any strong kick. You never simply used your leg but your entire body. He let loose 6 lightning fast kicks using proper technique for all six but striking two high, two middle, and two low in no particular order. The clang of metal against his shins was incredibly loud and had he not been experienced he may have even hurt himself doing this. Still his shins were built up and hardened from years of training. Given what she was doing she might have been ready for this though only she would know that. As his final kick landed the metal gave way and fell. It was old and now dented heavily in 3 different spots. Unable to support its own weight it slumped over to the side with a loud tumble. Had he been so inclined he probably could have kicked it clear of its position in one fell swoop but there was no need to draw unwanted attention.
He looked over his shoulder to see her reaction hoping she was either impressed or underhanded enough to try and attack while his back was turned. Either would have been fine with him.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Sept 7, 2012 17:50:01 GMT -8
Her eyes connected with his as he looked her over again, and she tensed. The silence stretched out between them until he gave her his grunt of assent and turned back to the girder. She relaxed again and allowed herself a small smile of disbelief.
Christ, this guy is intense.
She watched carefully as he took up his stance: she recognized the Muay Thai positioning of his legs, noted the way he kept a close guard of his upper body: It wasn't unlike a knife fighters stance. Alright. At least there was something she could go off of.
Then he started firing off kick after kick. Each time the metal rang, Delilah's eyebrows traveled further up and up her brow as she tracked the movement as best as she could. He was pivoting not only with his planted foot, but with his core, launching his momentum from the ground and using his leg as a whip that lashed out from his hip. It was almost too fast to follow.
As the girder collapsed onto the ground and the man turned to look at her, Delilah's face split into a wide grin and she started to laugh. Not a derisive, mocking laugh, but rather the slightly maniacal one of delighted glee. That was one of the things about her that normally disconcerted people; ever since she had started martial arts, any time she had seen something good, or painful, or vicious, she could always see the practical application and how well it worked against the human body. That was what she was seeing now—the ruthless kicks gave the opponent much less of a chance for survival, let alone recovery, and were too fast to simply catch or avoid in rapid succession. Ideal for killing or injuring without drawing blood.
She clapped her calloused hands and rubbed them together, practically leering with excitement at the iron pole she had been battering relentlessly. “Might as well give it a go.” she took up a stance similar to his in front of the iron pole and shifted her weight to find her balance properly. Ensuring some of her energy was directed behind her to watch for any sudden movements from this man (call her cautious, but a man who could kick dents in a girder without so much as batting an eye was not to be trusted implicitly), Delilah started launching off her kicks.
She used the same swivel from her core as he had demonstrated, but she clearly lacked overall power: She could only produce a lesser effect on the metal before her as she lashed out with her leg, bending it inward at a much slighter angle than he had. On the last kick, she used all the power she could muster and the pole bent around her leg. The mechanic had managed to fire off six kicks, but it quickly left her with a throbbing pain in her leg. She pushed the pain aside and turned her body back to face him, an inquisitive eyebrow raised.
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