"Sparring" [Private topic]

Subject: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/8/2013, 9:16 pm

Li-Mei arrived at the arena earlier that expected. About ten minutes early to be exact. She hadn't expected to get there before that one guy, considering that she'd had to make detours instead of coming straight to this location. She rubbed her slightly sore arm and looked around, wondering if he was hiding behind a dummy or some weird sneaky shit like that. Might as well punch something to pass the time until he got there. She took her celestial bronze knuckles out of her pocket, snagging a couple threads on the hooked protrusions of the knuckles as she did so. Damn, that was annoying. She needed something better to stash them in when she wasn't using them than a pocket. Whatever. She slipped them on over her fingers and turned to the closest dummy, and casually punched it. It fell over, and the razor-sharp hooks on the knuckles slashed four clean tears its burlap skin. Those things needed to be rooted to the ground more effectively.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/8/2013, 11:54 pm

Keslier took hsi time going towards the Arena , thinking on all that he knew of the Shaolin. It was, unfortunately, not that nuch. There were a lot of different forms and practices they went through, and they repeated them untik they could do them in their sleep (which was potentially possible, knowing the Shoalin). This girl would have tough skin that would be rubber against his blows, and her strength would probably surpass his own. She would have no more muscle than was actually necessary, making her highly efficient. This would be difficult in hand-to-hand combat, but less efficient if Kelsier started using his powers. He mulled all this over on his half-hour walk, not really minding if the girl was early or late. A demi-titan always arrived precisely when he intends to.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 12:07 am

Wait, shit, did campers get in trouble for damaging the dummies? That wasn't very likely, but Li-Mei doubted that whoever was in charge of overseeing the arena would be too happy that she'd knocked a pole over. She bent down and picked up the dummy and pole, which were tied together pretty strongly. How was she going to do this, push the pole back into the hole it had sprung out of? That seemed like a good idea. She tried that, but the pole sort of leaned to the side once she let go. Oh, well, close enough.
Now, if she couldn't warm up using the dummies, she might as well stretch. She had to do something, or else she'd pull a muscle later. She clasped her hands behind her back and leaned backwards, carefully keeping her balance, until her head nearly touched the ground, and held that position for nearly twenty seconds before straightening back up. A fundamental part of Shaolin training was holding dynamic positions for extended periods of time. Twenty seconds was enough for now, as she didn't have time to do it for two hours. Then she bent over forwards, hands grasping her ankles, and straightened up again. How long was she going to be doing stretches? That loser had better hurry u- wait, was someone entering the arena now? Or was there just a convenient breeze making footstep noises?

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 12:15 am

Kelsier arrived early enough to see the extreme poses that the girl could put herself into. She was a bit too compotent, he decided. He would, rather than kill her, make her suffer. A leg and an arm missing from each side of her body would probably be sufficient to make her have to train extensively all over again, and she woukd never be able to fight to her past potential. However, that would not remove her as a threat. When she was back to a good level of fighting ability, he would have to come back into her life to end it, right asshe was starting to muster some hope. With this thought concluded,he said, "Hello. My name is Kelsier."

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 12:35 am

Li-Mei turned towards the noise that said its name was something weird and difficult to pronounce. Oh, it was that guy. "Li-Mei," she replied simply. "So, uh... I'm not exactly a teacher, but is there anything in particular you want to hear about and learn or just... basic stuff?" Actually, basic stuff was for six year olds, and she wasn't sure this dude was capable of doing anything basic. It was actually pretty difficult stuff.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 12:44 am

"I don't have any specific questions, as I don't know quite enough to be able to determine what to ask. I figured, instead, that I would begin a fight or propose hypothetical quandries and ask you, based on a given attack, what your reaction would be and how you trained for whatever action that was." Kelsier explained, and walked up towards the girl- Li-Mei- and then stood a few feet away from her. He tried to judge how she thought of him. While he may not be as skilled a fighter as she, he was no novice. There were many people he could defeat without the use of a weapon, and his powers made him a cut above. Of course, she could not yet know what his powers were. There weren't enough Oceanus spawn for there to be any significant characteristics, and he'd given no hint to what he was yet

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 12:56 am

"That works," Li-Mei agreed, and changed her stance. Her feet were spread further than shoulder width apart, knees bent slightly, one arm partially outstretched, but bent, towards Kelsier, both hands closed into fists. It was a difficult position to hold while remaining relaxed, especially for novices. She scanned her opponent from head to toe, trying to figure out how he would attack, and looking for giveaway muscle movements. He might be used to brute force attacks, given how big he was, but that seemed too simple for someone who sounded so smart. "Alright, attack me or something. I'm ready."

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 1:09 am

Now, what woukd she be expecting? Kelsier was trying to decide on this. He was rather large, so maybe some kind of charge? That wouldn't be very smart; she could get out of the way and use his momentum against him. But anything slow would be too easy to predict and counter. He had to be fast and controlled. He could be, but it was always so much easier to just outsmart someone. When someone's brain was hard-wired to fighting, there was no outsmarting them, but rather outlasting and outperforming. He had to have more endurance and place more decisive blows. This would all be very difficult, and the first move could dictate the outcome of the entire fight.

Kelsier approached Li-Mei slowly, making sure to use only the muscles for walking; he could not betray his first move by preparedly flexing any muscles. This was one thing he had worked on, as many people thought it was impulsive; when he learned to control it, he outsmarted many people very quickly. So, when he went to punch with his right arm, he prepared the muscles in his left arm first, planting his footing as if the punch were coming from that direction. It was a simple guise, but it worked on many people. He felt the punch would not connect, but if it did it would hit Li-Mei in the left upper arm.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 1:26 am

Li-Mei waited in the same position as Kelsier walked, and didn't move save for carefully controlled breathing until his left arm twitched. She swayed to the side slightly in preparation to avoid the attack, but the punch came from the other side. Smart. No one had ever actually used a feint like that against her before, but she'd been trained not to completely dodge an attack unless it was definitely happening. All the same, now that she was leaning that way, and Kelsier's fist was traveling at speed towards her upper arm, dodging wasn't the best option. So she quickly brought her left arm up as if she was using a shield, and the punch connected squarely with the center of her forearm. The impact would have hurt if she wasn't used to things like this.
For her follow-up attack, she shifted weight to her left foot, the one nearer to Kelsier, and initiated a high kick ('high' pretty much meant 'reaches slightly over Li-Mei's head') that would catch him near the collarbone or somewhere in that general neck/chest/shoulder area if it connected. It wouldn't hurt very much, but it might be slightly shocking.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 1:48 am

After his fist connected with Li-Mei's arm, Kaladin was watching carefully and quickly for her next move. He saw her foot just in time. He thought of her height and her limitations on reach, and ducked down accordingly, putting his shoulder at a height right beneath where her foot ended up, where his clavicle had been. He then quicjly stood uo, hoping to catch her foot as he stood and thus knock her off balance.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 2:03 am

Oo, that was new, too. This had not been something she'd trained against, which was a highly unusual occurrence, so she was unsure of how to react for a moment. She let herself fall backwards, thinking on the way down. There were a couple of things she could do, like lash out with her other foot and kick him in the lower abdomen, which would hurt badly. She could kick him in an even worse place, too. But this wasn't a real fight, and she didn't intend to injure her opponent. Too much. So when she hit the dirt (which didn't hurt either, breaking a fall was easy) she did a backwards somersault that immediately put her back in a standing position, sturdy stance. Without pause, she threw out an open-palmed strike at the center of Kelsier's chest. It was a very, very predictable action, but she wanted to see how he would react. Would he dodge? Would he block it? Would he let her hit him? Would he grab her arm, pull her in while punching with the other hand or throwing in a knee? This was immensely fun for her, to actually be challenged.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 2:42 am

Kelsier did not have enough time to react to her flipping and somersaulting to be abke to stop her; she just moved too quickly. However, her first move when standing up again was very noticable. Kaladin feared it might even be a trap, that it was so obvious. He figured he'd thus do the least predictable move. The first thing he thought of was to duck under her outstretched arm and go for a tackle-type move. He dug his feet into the ground and aimed his right shoulder directly at her stomach. Hehad a feeling there wasn't any Shaolin training against this, but would be pleased to be proven wrong, should it teach him something.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 2:49 am

How unconventional. This was getting more and more interesting. Were all westerners so creative with their techniques? In any case, this one wasn't very effective, as she could just completely jump over him. Li-Mei jumped very quickly (again, there was a specific skill devoted to increasing jump speed), throwing her weight forwards and turning the jump into a frontflip of sorts. There wasn't quite enough room to land, though, since Kelsier was right there, so she ended up sort of landing on him and rolling off of his back. The second she hit ground, she spun around, a nice sweeping kick aimed at his arse. Again, shouldn't hurt, but it would be rather embarrassing to get kicked in the ass and fall face first in the dirt.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 3:04 am

Kelsier was finding that this was much like a chess game. When he played chess, he had his own strategy, but was awful at predicting the other person's next move. So, instead, he would react based on the other person's movements. He hadn't know that Li-Mei was going to jump over him, but once she had, he started trying to determine what her next move would be. He figured she woukd either kick off of him forcefully or spin around and attack him. He fought the urge to propel himself out of her reach with a quick gust of water, but he wanted to keep his powers secret until he ended her. Instead, he hit the ground and rolled, and her kick grazed his ankle that he didn't tuck in well enough. He stood quickly and faced Li-Mei again, ready for her next attack. If there was any pain in his ankle, he didn't notice it over his concentration and adrenaline.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 3:12 am

Li-Mei maintained a ready stance, waiting for Kelsier to attack. Even though he was waiting for her to attack, she was staying on the defensive here. If she became too enthusiastic and went on the attack, she might forget to soften her blows, and might break a bone or two or three. And she had a tendency to forget to breathe evenly when she got too excited -- it had always been a problem for her, even since the early days of tóngzigōng, children's training. And breathing at the right time was essential for any good offensive or defensive maneuver. Now that she was paying attention to herself again, she noticed that she was grinning like a fool. Definitely enjoying this far too much.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 3:46 am

Kelsier thought of all kinds of lude acts he could do to taunt Li-Mei, but figured he didn't want to provoke her, especially after what he'd seen happen to the prettyboy. He maintained eye contact, but couldn't help observing her with his periphery vision. She was small and agile, and he could only imagine what she could in bed. Hmm... maybe he could prolong killing her until he didn't have to imagine. She seemed pretty naive about relationships, so it wouldn't be too difficult, right? I mean, look at her now. She was grinning like a fool. She was happy to meet a challenger. And she was waiting for him. This might be too easy.

Kelsier sat down on the floor, wondering how she would react to his movement. He had no plan of attack, but he figured she might think this was some clever preperation she didn't know of. So, in essence, he was palying mind games.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 3:51 am

"Done already?" Li-Mei asked, suddenly very disappointed. It was easy to forget how quickly most people tired, but she was sure he hadn't used enough energy to be too tired to continue already. Was he just trying to trick her into lowering her guard? She lowered her arms and stood normally, but remained alert in case this was a ruse.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 4:02 am

"Of course not. I just wanted to talk." Kelsier said, improvising. He had forgotten that she could talk. Most of what he knew about her was through her fighting. Obviously, if he was going to sleep with her, he'd have to act interested in her life and personality and all that shit. Kelsier made a gestured to invite her to sit, not knowing if she would accept or not.He started talking regardless. "I was wondering what of your training you have used so far." Kelsier said, raising an eyebrow to indicate that it was a statement being proposed as a question.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 4:16 am

Should she sit down? It'd be a bit strange to talk to someone who was sitting down while standing up, and it might be considered rude to decline. Besides, it wasn't like she couldn't just do a quick somersault and be on her feet again in a fraction of a second. So she sat cross-legged in the dirt a few feet from Kelsier, and thought about the question. "In the fight just now? Uh... I guess I mostly used -- this is going to sound really stupid in English, but -- a couple of the seventy-two skills Shaolin practitioners train to master. Like shéxíng shù when I jumped over you, which I guess translates to... snake movement? That sounds really stupid. This language sucks." Wow, she was talking a lot all of a sudden. Almost rambling, actually.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 4:27 am

Keslier smiled cordially while she talked, and had to keep composure when she started rambling. Was she nervous about this? That'd be quite interesting. "The translation error aside, how did you train in the... snake movement?" Kelsier asked, not wanting to sound unintelligent by mispronouncing the Chinese version, but still sounding at least a bit idiotic by refering to it as 'the snake movement.' He was also curious about the fact that there were 72 skills. That was quite a lot, and he wondered if Li-Mei knew all of them. He assumed so were more mastery status, and involved much more training than she coukd have already done, but she must know wuite a bit already.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 4:33 am

"You start out doing regular push-ups," she began to explain, holding up a hand, open, palm facing outwards. "After you can do push-ups perfectly, you have to do them on closed fists," she closed her hand to demonstrate. "And then, later, using three fingers." Three fingers. Then one. "When you can do push-ups using one finger, you've mastered the skill." Li-Mei would say that she could do the one-finger push-ups just fine, but that felt like showing off, and that wouldn't be very... what was the word she was looking for? Socially acceptable?

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 4:43 am

Keslier started to nod, but then thought about it for a second. Weren't they talking about her jumping? "You mean you jumped using your fingers?" He asked. His ignorance in this subject made him feel unintelligent, and he hoped he wasn't perceiged as being such. He wasn't diminishing the incredulity of being able to do a push-uo using one finger; that was quite impressive. He just didn't see the connection between that and being able to jump higher, or the title of being like a snake. Snakes couldn't really jump at all.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 4:50 am

"No, see, the trick isn't making your hands strong, even though they do get stronger. The trick is to put your weight on your feet and make them stronger, and then it makes it so that you jump faster and better." This was just going to be confusing to explain if he didn't get it, so Li-Mei decided to try to explain a different technique. "And there's, it's still going to sound stupid, gold bell shield, jīn zhōng zhào. You hit yourself with a soft mallet as hard as you can for an hour or so for many days, and then move on to a wooden mallet, and then an iron one. In the end, punches and kicks and maybe even spear blades will have no effect on you." She knew that one too. So self-satisfied.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 5:03 am

Kelsier nodded. He wondered who had thought of that training for that particular skill, but could see the logic in it. Then, Li-Mei explaine dthe Golden Bell to him. That would be why his puncheswould have no effect on her, and he woyld have to thrust very hard with any weapon. Her skin had taken a beating all over to prepare for this kind of thing. Itwas tough. Kelsier had been thinking on the concepts so much he'd stopped paying attention to where his eyes were going, and found them staring directly into Li-Mei's eyes. He figured fhat might seem a bit presumptuous or rude and lrt his eyes drift to her face as a whole. She seemed to look a little smug, and Jelsier realized she was very proud of all of this. It almost seemed like she was feeling superior for knowing all of this. "You can resist a hit anywhere?" He asked, wondering about weak points: eyes,nose, ears, groin, breasts. He wasn't going to ask of the last one, as most girls took it to be offensive if a guy mentioned that part of their anatomy, but he might ask about the others if her answer wasn't thorough.

Subject: Re: "Sparring" [Private topic] 9/9/2013, 5:12 am

"Mostly, but there are a few places you can't exactly hit with a mallet without permanently damaging yourself, like the eyes." She'd noticed that Kelsier had been looking her directly in the eye a minute ago, but now sort of... wasn't. What did that mean in this part of the world? In China, it'd be socially damaging for him to pull something like that, since it was generally the women who were supposed to defer and avoid looking men in the eye. But America was supposed to be less sexist. Maybe she just scared him?

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