Break Time (Open/T-63 Charas)

[Katsu]

"Don't just think of it as a sword. It's part of you, just as your arms are."

Katsu shakes his head.

"If you swing it like a club, it'll be as effective as a club. Now think. When you use a sword, what is your first plan of action?"

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

The cogs could be seen clicking and whirling behind her eyes. Suppose the number of answers she could give and which answer was the right one got her to second guess all her options. So she tried to think and give it a guess...

"To... Land the first blow?" her voice trailed into an octave higher as she questioned the answer she'd chose.

[Katsu]

"Exactly."

Katsu smiles at her.

"And that's the key. You want to land the first blow. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to attack first. And that also means that if you do attack, you don't want to leave yourself open."

He holds his two-by-four in front of him, in a similar fashion to how Lucky was wielding the sword.

"When initially attacking, you want to get a feel for your opponent. Small, concise movements that keep you from being exposed are what you're looking for."

He gives a quick thrust towards her, stopping before coming too close.

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

Instinctively she covered her gut and hopped back a step before she realized his expert calculations. But something did strike her in another way. His words made sense and she absorbed them.

The light in her eye perk up having understood what he meant she gave him a nod. "Alright."

As a mechanic she mostly saw men and woman swinging blades and punches she hardly noticed what articulation they actually had to bring into natural muscle memory to create every swing and blow with the right recipe to maximize the effect they desired.

[Katsu]

"Much of it, you'll learn from actually performing the techniques, as you might expect."

Katsu swipes the wood up in two quick diagonal slashes, forming an "X" pattern, though he grimaces while doing so.

"And the faster you can perform the techniques, the less of an opening you leave while you do them."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

"Alright, what techniques would you show me first off?"

[Katsu]

"I'll show you one of the simplest techniques first."

Katsu holds his wood at the ready.

"First, I'll take a swing at you, and you block it, alright? I'll go slow."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

"Uh-oh" she grinned jokingly-not-jokingly. Thank goodness she had the sword instead. She searched her memory banks on how fighters would have blocked oncoming various attacks. She nodded when she got a comfortable grip on the hilt of the blade and signified that ahe was ready.

[Katsu]

"You'll be fine. Trust me."

He winks.

Katsu slowly swipes horizontally at her, as if he were aiming to cut her in half!

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

She dropped the blade downward and did a little dance to get her lower half hopefully out of its way her eyes were a bit wide.

When the metal clattered with the wood she twitched her lip surprised to feel a twinge of pain. She hoped it went unnoticed. She didn't want to stop.

[Katsu]

"Good, good..."

Katsu nods. If he notices her pain, he doesn't show it. He's being gentle, after all.

"So, when you're stuck like this, it's like a deadlock, right? Sometimes, you'll find that you're fairly evenly matched, in terms of strength. That's when you have to fight in a not-so-straightforward manner."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

"And in what manner is that?" she would ask.

[Katsu]

"There's two simple ways to do it, from here."

He slides closer to her, so he's shoulder to shoulder.

"First, you can shoulder check them, like so. You can knock them off balance and strike them while they're vulnerable. Or..."

He steps back, then lets go with his closest hand to her, miming a slow backhand towards Lucky.

"You can strike them, like so. They may fall off balance from the sudden lack of resistance when you release your grip with one hand, but make sure you hold on with your other hand so you don't lose your weapon."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

"I can see myself doing both for sure..." she had a thoughts. "The body force of each of those blows... That's fighting a little dirty isn't it?"

[Katsu]

"That depends."

He says with a smile.

"The backhand would be frowned upon in an honorable duel, but if you were to take part in a war, like the one that came to our homeland that short time ago... well, then everything is fair game."