It /started/ as a Boxing Match - LP 1/2/20

Ol'random · 2020-01-03 12:28:00 AM

Sgt. Felicity,
Sgt. Terrence,
and Cpl. Zolomon, hares.

For the third day in a row Terrence had arrived in the boxing ring before breakfast- the difference now being that the sergeant was in a lighter mood, and this is reflected in his paw-to-paw combat. Two out of three hares who had gone up against him lost, with the last only winning after several rounds of close fighting. So now Terrence stood, alone in the room and leaning against one of the ring pillars, his glasses off.

Zolomon enters the boxing area, a little tried but is awake enough to greet the Sergeant "Hallo...Sergeant" a salute is given as he walks closer.

"Zolomon." Terrence grunts in return, raising an eyebrow at what appears to him the corporal's fuzzy shape. "How're you'h paw fighting skills currently? I don't think I evah heard how well you are in that area."

Zolomon shrugs "They are...so so...I am a lot better with long distance weapons and can use a saber, very well use a saber now as..well before sort of lacked good blade skills...I mean others are better with the blade than me, no one is better at longbow...well least don't think so, someone is bally well close though"

Terrence nods, mulling the information over. "I see." Pushing himself off the pillar and stepping into the center of the ring, the sergeant waves Zolomon to enter. "You more than likely won't have a bow at paw in every fight, no'h even a blade at times." He takes a very basic stance, feet spaced evenly apart at nearly 90 degrees from the center for steadiness and paw raised with one to guard his head and the other his torso. "Best way to learn is to start trying. Feel up to it, corporal?"

Zolomon tilts his head as if wandering if the sergeant is up to something but he decides to get into the ring anyways and shrugs "Why not, knowing a little of everything is good correct?"

Felicity has been in the catacombs, making sure nobody was pestering Dom and leaving him a plate of breakfast. Now she silently slips into the boxing chamber, keeping in the shadows so she won't be noticed. She wants to see how this turns out before she agrees to some paw-to-paw training (which she honestly needs -- no-weapons-combat is not something she's necessarily good at).

"Yes..." Terrence replies, doing his best to eye the corporal over without his spectacles - and he certainly cannot see the newcomer. "Try to match my stance, if you'd like, and make sure you'h feet are fah enough apart so you won't be wobbly, but not too fah you that you end up in the splits!" Shifting his weight to his front foot and back again, the sergeant relaxes somewhat, rolling his shoulders. "And make sure to guard you'h face, not doing so is probably the most common mistake beasts make when it comes to paw-to-paw, wot."

Zolomon nods as he does match the stance he is shown, "But..when would a hare be without a bally weapon? I always have mine out and about"

Felicity watches quietly, smirking at Zolomon's question and thinking about how she had no weapons in the toad's cage until she managed to steal a spear. The memories fill her with dread and fear, but she focuses on Terrence's instructions, noting everything he's saying and doing. There are many ways to learn, after all. She fidgets with her belt, which has her sword hanging from it. Maybe she's gonna train Recruits later with the blade.

The look that is shot Zolomon's way is not one of amusement. "How 'bout I toss you in the old catacombs with Dom to give you an example?" Terrence mutters, annoyance creeping through, but he manages to control it enough to say, in a louder and more polite voice, "Many, many times, Zolomon. You can't evah be sure about what will happen on a battlefield, o'h in a camp, o'h whatevah. If luck has it you lose you'h weapon - which is easiah done than one would think - you need a back up. If you'h useless without a weapon you'h helpless, and that is the last thing a patrol hare should be." The sergeant readies himself again, paws once more guarding his head and chest. "Right then, would you mind throwing the first blow? I think it might be easiah to show how to block than say it."

Zolomon frowns "Umm...punching wouldn't work with him, he laugh it off...." He nods and looks for a good angle and then throws a punch towards the left.

Felicity still watches silently, but she moves closer on silent footpaws. After Zolomon gives his shot, she finally speaks up. "Y'should also be more aware o' y'surroundin's, even in th' Mountain. I 'ad no weapon when th'toads 'ad me until I finally managed t'steal a speah. This skill is lifesavin'." She knows this is probably gonna scare the crap out of the bucks, which she sees as a good thing. Keep them on their toes, so to speak.

Terrence quickly moves his left paw to push the punch ever so slightly off with the back of his paw and wrist, so that it misses his head by a few hairs. "Now you try." He follows this up by throwing a punch of his own (doing his best to keep it pulled), but he spares a glance towards the voice, which might not be for the best. "Felicity?!"

Zolomon nods as he closely watches Terrance every...move, then he huhs and asks "Feli...."And he doesn't even get a full name out before he feels that punch to his jaw, the cavern gets darker as he is knocked out cold and slumps to the floor. He will be fine and the jaw isn't broken, really bruised though...what is with his luck this week with beasts, like good grief.

Felicity starts to laugh at their reaction, but then she claps her paws to her face and darts forward. "Ohmigoodness....I didn't mean f'r that t' 'appen!" She gets into the ring and kneels to check on Zolomon. "Oh, deah....I'll go get a somebeast t'take 'im up t'th'Infirmary." She stands up and turns to go do that.

When Zolomon crumples to the floor, there's a pause as Terrence stares at his paw in surprise. He'd used far more force than he'd wanted, and poor Zolomon got a full punch to the jaw for his trouble. "I didn't mean fo'h that to happen eithah." With a sigh, the buck kneels down to check how bad the damage is for himself. "Corporal's still breathing, at least. Gonna have a nasty bruise though." He says, as she starts to leave.

Felicity nods. "I figured 'e'd prob'ly be fine. But still...." She leaves, then comes back with a Recruit, who is also having to endure a lecture about how 'this is why you should always pay attention to your surroundings'. The Recruit is flustered, which suggests that the Sergeant must've scared him, too. After the Recruit takes Zolomon to the Infirmary, Felicity just stands there sheepishly. "...oops." She gets back into the ring and takes off her belt, laying it on one of the ropes encompassing the ring.

While she's gone, Terrence square down next to the corporal, still quite taken aback that he'd managed to take Zolomon out in one go. "I daresay it seems every hare needs to work on paw-to-paw..." When Felicity returns with the recruit in tow he says nothing, and continues to do so until until she speaks. "Oops what? Frankly I'm the one who hit him hardah than I should've."

Felicity shrugs. "I didn't mean t'scare y'2 so badly. Although 'tis still a good lesson t'keep awahre o' y'surroundin's. M'patrol experiences 'ave taught me that." She starts rolling her shoulders and bouncing on her toes. "Y'still up f'r 'elping 'ares leahrn 'ow t'fight wi' no weapons? I could use some 'elp, m'self, t'be 'onest. I c'n kick quite 'ard, an' I've 'ad trainin' wi' that, but not wi' m'paws."

Blinking, Terrence nods, slowly. It's rather hard for him to pay attention to his surroundings when he can barely see five feet in front of him. "Ah, right. How long were you standing there watching us? O'h did you just come in? Eithah way," Rollings his shoulders and taking a ready stance once again, he dips his head to her. "I m up fo'h it, I suppose."

Felicity smiles. "I came in right as Zolomon was gettin' in th'ring. We need a magic wand t'fix y'eyes. Gives Zolomon no excuse, though." She gets in an at-ready stance, then feints to the right and punches with the left. She's pulling her punches, and she's obviously had SOME training, but she still needs help.

Terrence isn't completely blind, so he can make out the left punch enough to guard against it, much like how he did with Zolomon's try earlier. It also helps that the general placement of his paw is a good way to block incoming attacks. He follows up with a left punch himself, being extremely careful to make sure it's a light blow after what happened before.

Felicity blocks his punch by brushing his paw aside, much like he did hers. She punches again, resisting the urge to do a twirl kick. If this were a real fight, she would've done that by now. She feints an uppercut, blocking with her free paw any punch he aims at her as she looks for an opening.

Terrence steps back, letting the blows miss. He then moves to block the others - and of course, they're feints, so nothing comes of it. So he keeps his paws up defensively and begins to circle around her. Finally, he faints to the right and follows up with two quick light jabs with both paws one after the other to the left and center.

Felicity follows him, turning in a slight circle, keeping her paws up. She moves to block the feint, which of course is fruitless, and gets boffed by the left jab. Blocking the center jab, she steps in with a flurry of feints of jabs, keeping her paws up guarding her face. "Ha!" She decides to just go with it and kicks out at him. She pulls it, of course, so he won't get hurt, but it would wind him if it made contact.

Letting out a heavy grunt as the kick clips his side, Terrence leaps back, aiming to get some distance between him and Felicity so he can recover more easily. He continues to circle, steadying his breath and doing his best to keep it even. His stance has shifted to better protect against kicks, now, and he doesn't move to the offensive just yet.

Felicity smiles slightly. She stays where she is, continuing her slow spin to stay facing the buck. She keeps her breathing steady, not going on the offensive, either, just circling, ignoring the sore spot where she got clipped. Hey, she's learning.

A sudden lunge forward and Terrence is on the attack! The buck no longer tries feints, opting for making every one of his quick jabs count. A one-two hit repeated twice, jabbing at any opening he can see. The buck's goal is to drive Felicity backwards by this constant barrage, and maybe even overwhelm her.

Felicity's smile vanishes, and she is suddenly on the defensive, blocking as many as she can, clenching her jaw as she misses a few. She takes a step back, then another, then ducks and goes to tackle the buck to the floor! She uses her strong Runner's legs to shove off the floor, putting as much force into her move as possible.

"Bloody-" Terrence curses as she tackles him, but he just barely grabs on tight to her before being knocked to the ground. With that, he tries to twist so that they both hit the ground on their sides, with hopefully the impact being less severe for him.

They twist in the air, although not as far as the buck probably would've liked because the moment she feels him twisting, Felicity twists in the other direction. They hit the mat mostly on Terrence's back, but to his right side, so the Runner gets a bit of an impact, too. She releases him, goes to sock him in the ribs (still pulling her punches to try and avoid actually injuring him, although they both may have bruises at the end of this), and tries to roll away and roll back onto her feet.

Gritting his teeth through the pain of smacking the ground (no matter how padded it is), Terrence still tries to grab at Felicity - he's not going to let her get away easily, and more than likely the first hare to stand would end up winning in a real fight. So he attempts to keep her grounded while getting his feet back under himself, even when her jab hits its mark it. It seems the sergeant barely feels the blow, intent as he is on his opponent.

Oh, so that's the way he's gonna play, huh? Felicity, feeling herself being grabbed, changes tactics and grabs his waist, relaxing all but her arms and shoulders, becoming a dead weight. She throws herself forward to try and force him onto his back again, ignoring the pain and scraped knees, trying to get her opponent to the floor. No longer is she trying to stand -- just keep him down. If this were a real fight she would've bitten him on the ear by now, but she's not going to stoop that low when just practicing with a friend.

Terrence lets out a hiss of breath as he smacks the floor once again, but he quickly recovers - but doesn't try to rise. Instead, he holds on for dear life, the grip is becoming death-like, and he tries to use one leg to distract Felicity by light kicks and the other to keep himself from being caught under her. Not the most elegant or efficient of moves, but it functions for what it is

Well, Felicity HAD been trying to sit on him. That's obviously not going to work. So she changes tactics again by grabbing him and rolling, trying to get onto her back, ignoring his light kicks. As she does that, she shoves out with her legs, trying to kick him off of her! She's still trying to not hurt him, but he's making it harder as the match continues on. She's all sweaty and gross now, but even that is ignored as she tries to win this mock-fight.

As soon as she grabs him and tries rolling over Terrence does almost exactly what she did before - becoming a dead weight, allowing her to grab and move him for a moment or so. Then, he attempts something new: he throws himself in the direction she's trying to drag him, hoping to yank free of her grip so he can scramble to his feet.

Felicity still tries to kick him, even though the unexpected weight startles her. Grunting, she bares her clenched teeth and lets him go, giving him another kick for good measure and rolling away from him, trying to hop up to her feet. Her heart pounds in her chest, and she takes deep breaths to try and steady herself.

Once he stands, Terrence doesn't immediately leap into action - whither the reason is to be nice and let her get back up or just from outright exhaustion is hard to tell. His own breathing is hard, and he starts to circle around her, keeping his distance.

Felicity rolls her eyes. "Oh....come...on..." she manages to gasp out between breaths, moving away from him, but still facing him. She straightens her legs and puts a paw over her heart as she keeps a distance from him. "Don't...tell me....y'still....wanna....keep goin'..."

Looking confused for a moment, Terrence doesn't answer at first and keep his guard up. After taking several deep breaths however he does manage, "Suppose that's not the..." He inhales, "Best thing to do now." He exhales, relaxing and dropping his paws to his side. The buck isn't as winded as Felicity, but it's still enough to get to him.

Felicity has steadied her breathing pretty quickly, but she still looks a little winded. "...who d'y'think won? 'Cause I 'ave no idea. ...I also feel like I may not 'ave learned anythin', no offense." She slips of her long sleeve shirt, revealing that her short sleeved tunic is soaked all over the back and on her stomach. She drapes her overshirt on a rope and tugs her undershirt away from her stomach with a finger and a thumb, looking mildly disgusted.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to kick like you did." Terrence chuckles. He can't quite see what she's dong, but he can smell. Not that he's doing any better - he had stripped to his undershirt before he'd come in this morning, and it's in poor shape. "And, well, as fo'h who one," A cheeky smile appears on his face as he hops over the ring-rope to head towards the water barrel, "You are the one who said something first, eh?"

Felicity looks offended, which is totally wasted on him since he doesn't have his glasses on. "Whot's that s'possed t'mean?" She hops over the ropes and walks over to the barrel herself, suddenly realizing how thirsty she is. "An' I did tell y'I'm a Runnah. 'Course I got strong legs t'kick wi'. They're m'weapons when m'sword just ain't doin' th'trick."

"Indeed." Terrence mutters between gulps of water. "And well, as fo'h a winnah, well," He finishes off his water and goes to retrieve his spectacles from his coat pocket. "Frankly I don't think we have one, not with how it ended." Now able to see clearly, he turns back to face her- and is mildly surprised by just how sweaty she is. He doesn't comment though. "I thought you had wanted to end, but that's clearly not the case now..." With a shrug he adds, "I'm not really sure what that fight was. I'm glad you didn't break any of my bones, by the by."

Felicity gets a drink herself. "I didn't want t' 'urt you. Course I wouldn't break y'bones. I was 'onestly just tryin' t'leahrn somethin'. Guess maybe I'm bettah at weaponless fightin' than i thought." She turns to face him after refilling her cup and wipes her forehead on her sleeve.

"I was partially joking - and I appreciate that." Terrence mutters, dipping his head. "And I wasn't to hurt you eithah. You gave me a run fo'h my money, though!" He comes back over to the water to fill his glass up once again. "I think learning works best by doing, wot."

"So now y've learned t'nevah undahestimate a Runnah an' 'er kicks?" Felicity finishes her drink, looking like she could go another round in the ring. "Should we try wi' swords next, or are y'done? I still need some work wi' m'uncle's sabre."

"Well, if we use swords I'd suggest sticking to training weapons." Terrence sets his glass down and grabs his coat. "I'd rathah not be skewered by you or vice versa!"

Felicity laughs and grabs her overshirt and belt. "That may be a good idea, actually." She slips on her overshirt and buckles her belt on over it. "I can just see Varus and Jinora's faces if somebeast told 'em we'd stabbed each othah while trainin'." She touches her jaw where one of the buck's hits had actually made contact. "I think I might still need practice blockin', wot!"

Terrence just slings his jacket over one shoulder. "I can't imagine if we managed to kill each othah that way we'd evah heah the end of it in the dark forest fo'h the rest of eternity, eithah..." He trails off, noticing her touch her jaw. "Did I hurt you there? Sorry 'bout that... But it has been said the best way fo'h beast to start blocking is to repeatedly go fo'h the same spot til the message sinks in."

Felicity shrugs. "Oh, I've been 'urt worse, by creatahs that actually meant it. No biggie." She glances up at him, then looks down at the floor, smiling. "Yeah, I c'n just see m'parents an' brothah an' uncle." She drops her paw and looks him in the eyes, laughing as she puts words in the mouths of her dead family members. "'Whot d'y'mean y'got killed trainin'? Y'go back right now, an' make sure t'die in battle next time, wot!'"

"I'd just be following in my family's footsteps sadly, so they couldn't be too hard on me." Terrence snorts. "But even so, I don't think I could look any of my ancestors o'h the badgah lords of the past in the eye if that were to happen. Of course..." The sergeant says, quietly, and more seriously, "I don't think I intend to die in a battle, any time soon. I'd honestly much rathah die a natural death." The morbid humor soon returns, and he gives a light chuckle despite the topic. "To go when I'm absolutely ancient and too bloody senile to care, and leave my living family crying fo'h joy to be rid of me!"

Felicity rolls her eyes and goes to give him a shove on the shoulder. "Oh, please, y'not that annoyin'." She, too, grows serious, though. "I'd like t'die when 'M old, but I don't see that 'appenin'. As far as I c'n tell, the luck o' th'Patrol is that we'll die young, 'fore our leverets are old enough t'truly know us." She looks sad and angry about that, but what's a person to do? "I guess we need t'just keep livin' life t'th'fullest....an' practice so's t'keep the inevitable as fah away as possible." She turns to the door. "Y'comin'? Also, 'ave y'eaten breakfast yet? Y'might wanna do that 'fore we start bashin' eah othah wi' wodden swords."

"No..." Terrence replies, slowly. Though he couldn't quite tell if it was in response for breakfast or a rejection of what she said previously. "I've nevah been one fo'h traditions, o'h luck, so I'll do my best to buck that trend. Dying young and all that..." He coughs, then raises an eyebrow at her with a softer smile than before. "Maybe you want to join me trying that, eh? Whatevah the future holds, I suppose I am hungry here and now."

Felicity looks back at him, eyes hard and intense. After a moment, her face softens and she nods. "Aye. I ate breakfast 'fore I took Dom 'is, but I think I could use a second one. C'mon. I'm sure they 'ave somethin' left in the kitchens." She leads him out of the caverns of Salamandastron to the kitchens. She's smiling and laughing now, but that can't make the memory of the darkness go away. Has she given in to the apparent luck of the Patrol? It remains to be seen....

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#1 2020-01-03 12:28:00 AM

It /started/ as a Boxing Match - LP 1/2/20

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