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Post by Marcus Prasad on Sept 28, 2013 2:43:57 GMT -8
She was right, that WAS simple enough. Marcus went through it with her step by step, letting out a sharp grunt as the blade poked his torso yet again. He counted three he owed her then and suppressed a smile at the thought of getting her back for it.
'NOT what you are here for man! Cool your tits already.'
He reminded himself, releasing a slow deep breath through his nostrils as he listened to Del Describe all the nice juicy spots to stick a knife into. Knowledge was indeed power and knowing WHERE to strike for best effect was important.
"I do have a question. You know I'm a grappler at heart. Is there at least a disarm move from where you push the hand aside? I keep imagining giving the limb a sharp twist to break the elbow or dislocate the shoulder. I'd love for there to be some way to incorporate my greatest strength into a style that requires THAT kind of close proximity. Other than that I'm Ready for another round or two."
Marcus was a glutton for punishment. He knew this was gonna be painful, but then again that's how you learn right? Leon himself had been a harsh master to work under and Marcus could have sworn he his very life had been in danger all those years ago.
'But it made me what I am now. I will not shrink away.'
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Sept 29, 2013 0:48:12 GMT -8
"I do have a question. You know I'm a grappler at heart. Is there at least a disarm move from where you push the hand aside? I keep imagining giving the limb a sharp twist to break the elbow or dislocate the shoulder. I'd love for there to be some way to incorporate my greatest strength into a style that requires THAT kind of close proximity. Other than that I'm Ready for another round or two."
Delilah blinked, the question having taken her off guard. In a good way.
"Of course there is!" she nodded vehemently. "Empty hand versus weapon is the basis of many techniques. But that is essentially just for empty hand; there's no point in dragging out a fight with any weapon uneccesarily. You don't engage like that until you're ready to wrap it up, anyway. Breaking a limb is almost the same as stabbing him in the gut, but one is going to be more lethal than the other, now isn't it?
"Also...those kinds of disarms won't work against trained knife fighters like myself. We keep the blade too close, and when you're fighting someone with a knife, the key is distance. We know what the tricks are, and we know how to counter them. That's how this," she flipped the blade over in her hand to a reverse grip, "--Was made. You grab my wrist or elbow to break it, fine, but I'm going to slice your ulnar artery while you do it. All I need is to twirl my fingers. Or, what if I have two knives?
"In the long run, it's best to just make it short and sweet with a knife fighter. Prolonged contact, like grappling, can be a death sentence. Though there are things you can do. I'll show you them when it's your turn. she flipped her knife back into a sabre grip, settling herself back into a stance.
"Round two."
Delilah--just stood there. Not even twitching from her position, bright blue eyes wide and slightly out of focus as she watched everything with her peripheral vision.
A minute would pass. Then another.
Without warning, she would strike, aiming a downward diagonal cut from his left shoulder to his right hip as her lead foot slid inwards. Similarly,the cut came from her right shoulder, the path of the knife following to her left hip. Her guard hand was kept close to her neck.
Ichi <one>
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Sept 29, 2013 2:18:12 GMT -8
Marcus mentally consumed everything Delilah said like a hungry shark, nodding his head in understanding. It was the difference between Fighting for sport and Fighting for real. When it was time for work you drop the other guy immediately and the way she talked, Grappling didn't quite facilitate this process as readily as he hoped. He would have to experiment on that most definitely in small measures.
"I think I getcha. Don't get Fancy, stick with what works, huh. Makes sense."
So now for round two.
Like Delilah, Marcus knew to watch while watching, creating a mental box around Delilah to keep his focus on instead of individual parts of her like her knife or her arm or legs. It was much like trying to look at the hidden picture in those pages where you had to unfocus your eyes to see it.
Marcus would hold his ground this time as Delilah closed in and as she struck, he would use his free hand to deflect her arm just as she showed him, consciously resisting the urge to grip her wrist as he swung his arm like a pendulum while reversing his grip so as to send the knife point into the inner thigh of her lead foot. If the strike connected he would immediately disengage lest he be caught with her counter attack.
And god knows a woman like her would have one lined up just for him.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 3, 2013 21:44:18 GMT -8
It happened quickly; he stopped her hand and pushed it up before her slash could arch away from her body and came in for a stab to her thigh.
The problem with this particular situation is that it left both of them wide open in their midsection, involved Marcus dropping down to a lower height to stab her in the thigh (considering the differences in their heights) and, of course, the fact that both his hands were occupied and one of hers wasn't.
As he leaned in, her guard hand came up to pop him in the jaw. If she had a second knife on her, it would have gone right into his heart. Of course, the knife he was holding probably at least grazed her leg, sending it into spasms, if he was close enough by the time he recovered from her jab.
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 4, 2013 12:03:31 GMT -8
The man jerked back in surprise at the sudden tap to his jaw, realizing immediatly where he went wrong, causing his cheeks to flush in shame as he sighed in frustration.
"Leon wouldn't have been so nice."
He said with a half hearted smirk, trying to cover up his growing exasperation. It felt like he was trying to play cards with half a deck here. No fault to Delilah though, she WAS showing him where he was going wrong.
'Impatience. My old nemissis.'
Too eager, too fixated on the knife in her hand. The truth was Marcus had a subconcious fear of being cut. Broken bones and bruises he could heal easily. But he had come far too close to bleeding out in some allyway all because of a little knife.
'It's just a thing. A tool. An object.
"When I was training under Leon directly."
He spoke while slipping back into the stance Del had shown him.
"He spent the first month beating every bad habit I had out of me until I learned better. Came home a damn mess more than once."
'Breath. Focus. Breath. Focus. Chill. Patience.'
"Feels like history is gonna repeat itself I guess."
He said with a genuine smirk before nodding his head that he was ready.
He hoped......
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Oct 7, 2013 14:03:45 GMT -8
"Leon wouldn't have been so nice. When I was training under Leon directly. He spent the first month beating every bad habit I had out of me until I learned better. Came home a damn mess more than once."
Delilah nodded with a smile of her own. "That was how my sensei taught me, too. Most of my scars are from him. I wanted to be taught the fast way, because I wanted to be better sooner. He warned me that it meant I would be taught the hard way.
"I don't have the luxury of teaching the way he did. Supplies are short and able bodies are a non-negotiable. I can't afford to mess you up like the old-ways did, not to mention that I don't actually want to. Besides, it's the best way to teach patience, which is a must for a knife fighter."
Too often, especially in Long Beach, people were way to eager to get into a fight that could potentially kill them, to challenge their strength and skill. Not too many people fought with a weapon other than their hands or their Qi, so when they were confronted with someone who was skilled in using their weapon not just as a tool, but as an extension of the self...well. Several Dragons were attacked by assassins, and seriously harmed.
"Now, what you did wasn't bad, but the problem was that you came in too low. If you would kindly do the same cut to me, I'll show you what might have worked better."
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Oct 15, 2013 21:43:58 GMT -8
Oh good Point, VERY good point!
Even Marcus was careful not to actually break anything when he trained the men and women under him. Anaheim was understaffed as it was, he could NOT afford someone off the line for 6 months tending a broken everything.
The man nodded his agreement.
"Patience and I never really did get along."
Marcus said with that tell tale smile when he was about to unleash something maybe witty.
"Messy Breakup you see. We might be able to still be friends though."
Comedy was how Marcus dealt with Stress, Nerves, awkward situations and pretty much everything else life threw at him. It wasn't that he didn't take the lessons seriously, after all, Only a fool would fail to give the First thier full attention when being taught something as life and death dealing as Knife fighting.
Speaking of....
Second Verse, Same as the first.
Marcus sighed and nodded that he was ready, darting forward, his right foot in the lead, weight evenly balanced as he readied his free hand to ward off any blows as his knife hand swung down. If Delilah moved to stop him, he would offer no resistance.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Nov 11, 2013 20:52:46 GMT -8
As Marcus made the arcing diagonal cut, Delilah's guard hand moved to catch his wrist as she leaned backward and give a quick tug, pulling him towards her and off balance, her knife flipped to reverse grip. The edge of her knife, while not actually touching him, would slide up his arm; if this was a real knife, this would effectively flay the skin on his arm. As she reached his shoulder, she would pivot so that she was just slightly behind him, the edge of her knife hovering at his jugular.
She would step away, "The only thing that didn't work about what you did was that you aimed too low for the stab or cut, based on my height. Anywhere upwards of the lower ribs is ideal, but you can also jam the knife up under my breast bone; hits the heart, both lungs and the diaphragm; pretty lethal. You might not get the knife back though."
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Post by Marcus Prasad on Dec 6, 2013 14:58:41 GMT -8
Delilah Black ladies and gentlemen. Fast, fluid and deadly.
Marcus felt chills run up his spine as he registered the tip of the knife hovering just over his throat. Now THAT'S scary! If she had meant to kill him, he would have been bleeding out on the ground instead of standing there with his hands raised slowly in supplication until the woman released him.
He could still feel the phantom sensation of the knife at his throat as he turned to face his friend and ally, prompting him to rub the spot nervously. Embaressing aye, but informative. Marcus broke the move down into stages.
Catch, unbalance, Strike, pivot, coup de gras, continue.
Now that he had experianced it first hand, Delilah would find herself hard put to execute that combo a second time.
That was what it was all about wasn't it though, right? Experiance.
And a killers instinct.
The chill hit the mans spine a second time as Delilah explained and instructed. Here was a woman who was taught to kill, where Marcus was taught to fight. There was a difference. A VERY big 500lbs elephant in the room Difference between them.
And despite having taken life before in self defence, Marcus didn't know if he was comfortable with the knowledge that circumstances were forcing him down that path as well.
At the very least, he could ask for no better guide than her.
"That or I do, along with ten pounds of meat and bone to go with it."
He responded grimly. A very real possibility considering his strength and the fact that his fang was serrated.
"I think now is a good time for a pop quiz though. How's about first to three touches wins. Winner can get the loser to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. Whatchu say?"
Marcus hoped that such a challenge would light the fire of competition in Del, ensuring she would keep her move set to mid and mabey even high tier.
All the better for him to learn. Despite the dangers, Marcus was NEVER one for the easy path.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Dec 6, 2013 20:32:14 GMT -8
Delilah tilted her head to the side, watching him closely as the reality of the techniques came into his mind: Not fighting, but killing. The reality was that nearly every situation was life or death in this day and age; you couldn't afford to 'go easy'. Everyone who raised a hand against you that you left alive was likely to come back and get you.
And then you had to extrapolate the use of hand-to-hand to knife, to stick, to gun to sword. Everything was interlocked and related to one another. The movements were still the same, the application slightly different. 'Technically, this move calls for a kick to the outside of the knee, but there's no reason you can't use a pipe'. Knife work did not just apply to knives; it applied to everything budo.
"I think now is a good time for a pop quiz though. How's about first to three touches wins. Winner can get the loser to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. Whatchu say?"
She processed the idea in her mind before cracking a wide, challenging grin. "Alright; three touches with the knife."
She shifted backwards, settling into the stance she had showed him before, a little devilish gleam in the mechanic's blue eyes.
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