Blisa-in-training or First day of weaponless combat training :)
RW Abbey: Western Rampart
The rampart is most certainly the place to be if you wanted to look over Mossflower and it's glory. The walls stand high above the ground, giving one the ability to look over whatever is present and beyond. The stones are smooth from the years the abbey has stood, a few darkened stains about could account for the wars that have taken place in the peacekeeping home. Spring has arrived, and the rampart, however removed, cannot escape from her gentle touch. Winter has retreated, and Mossflower is returning to her full clory. From up here, the view is spectacular. Lucious forest greens mingle with small bursts of vibrant colors-- crimsons, lavender, light pinks. It is only tainted with splotches of brown, signaling places where the battle between spring and winter is still being fought. Beasts are also below, scurrying about in their preparations for the summer-- one could almost look and look, and still be as blind as an old beast.
Exits: [S]outh, [N]orth, Climb [down] the stairs to the entry
Friends: A grumpy spoofed squirrel. Blisa the cat and Ferdinand the ferret. Nightbreath the ermine. Bastien the hare.
A shout rises from the ground, and Blisa comes dashing along the wall to hide behind the Seer. Ferdinand her ferret guard and a squirrel member of the Order of Redwall come dashing up, the squirrel yelling, "Dibbuns aren't allowed on the walls! Get back here!" and Ferdinand shouting, "Do you really want me to tell your father?" Great. The kitten has gotten herself in trouble...again.
"She has my sanction to be here," Nightbreath calls back, nodding to Bastien at the same time. "Wouldst thou defy a Seer's will?"
Bastien looks over at Blisa before answering Nightbreath" My advise to anyone...dont mess with a Seer it could be dangerous too." He looks the the kitten again "Just be carefull up here, you could fall and break something or fall and be a long way down.." He hmmms, he sounds like his father now as he sighs, "It would hurt like alot..."
Ferdinand grumbles something and the squirrel nods. "Alright, fine. If she gets hurt, it's your responsability." she turns and huffily goes back down the wallsteps. Blisa comes out from behind Nightbreath, politely nods at Bastien to let him nkow that she heard him, then tugs on the Seer's paw. "Can I start my training now? Please? Pleasepleaseplease?"
"Affirmative." Nightbreath pats Blisa on the ears fondly and nods. "Up on the wall is the best place for it. Stand before me."
Bastien nods "I can go elsewhere if needed, different part of the wall"
Ferdinand stares at the head guard. "Oh, pleathe don't. I'm gonna need all the help I can get to keep track of her now." Blisa hops to stand before the ermine, standing at her full height, which isn't as tall as your average almost-5-season-old, but it's a bit more than it was a while ago. She stares at him attentively, eagerly waiting for the first instruction.
"Close your eyes," Nightbreath says quietly. "Breathe deeply."
Bastien watches them. "O....kay, I'm going to go get some food now, and then I'll back to wall duty...on the OTHER side of the abbey" he walks off to go get food, quickly.
Ferdinand stifles a groan. Blisa closes her eyes, slowly brathes deeply in...and sneezes. Twice. "*Sniff* Sorry..." She repeats the actions, this time with no sneeze. Um, is she supposed to hold it in? Well, that's what she's doing...
"Let it out," Nightbreath says sharply. "Focus now on your environment, eyes still closed. You are the smoke on the water, the blade in the grass, the reaper of grain. You are unstoppable. On the count of three, open your eyes slowly and without giving yourself time to think, charge me and attack barepawed, letting your instincts do the work." One...two...three.
Blisa does as bid...one, two, three.....her eyes snap open and she charges, pummeling at his mdisection and, um, privates with her paws, stomping on his paws and kicking him in the shins. Ferdinand looks slightly sick. Great.
Nightbreath winces slightly and doubles over, almost, but otherwise remains a stone, and he lifts the karate cat off the rampart and holds her calmly over his head.
Blisa goes limp and smiles down at her teacher. "How was that?" Ferdinand has backed up a little and is leaning against the wall, his legs crossed nervously. She had better not practice with him...
The Seer offers a slight grin. "Good for a first try but you must have a bit more fluidity. You exposed your back too much with your posture. An assassin would take the opportunity to headlock you and finish it. Try again and this time have it be one comprehensive flow of attack."
Blisa wrinkles her nose. "Um, I'll try." When she is set down, she repeats the process, this time charging, pummeling his stomach (she noticed Ferdinand's backing up, and so decided that whacking people in the privates when not in a real fight might not be such a good idea) and stamping on his foot, then dashes behind the Seer and grabs his tail, putting all her weight into going backwards.
Nightbreath inhales swiftly just before the first blows land so that it is like punching iron, wincing as the footpaw stomp lands, then he uses his momentum as he staggers backwards from the tail-yank to sweep Blisa to the rampart's gritty surface with his right leg.
"Augh!" The kitten oofs as she lands on her back. Ferdinand pushes himself off the wall, then leans back on it again, remembering when he first started to learn how to fight. He still has scars. Blisa glares, then decides to not stop (which might not be such a good idea) and bites at Nightbreath's tail tip, then goes to leap up and sock the Seer as high up as she can...change that to scratch. Beware of the sharp little claws!
Nightbreath dodges back one step, ripping his tail free of Blisa's fangs with a tearing noise, then whirling around so that the back of his paw connects with her in mid-air, right in the face, quickly going to catch her in case she falls.
Blisa cries out and blindly grabs the ermines' arm, claws still extended, and spits out fur. "I gonna fall! Ferdy!" Ferdinand, who is still the first person the kitten usually thinks of when in trouble and in need of help, leaps over and soothingly says, "Don't worry, Blitha, Nightbreath hath you, you're alright." He holds out his paws for just in case the Seer needs a little help getting the kitten back on the wall.
Nightbreath heaves Blisa back over quickly, whispering soothingly, "Do not fear. I've got you, you're okay. I would never let you fall from this height unless I thought you could handle it, which unfortunately neither of us can."
Blisa nods and sniffs, hugging him around the neck. Ferdinand rubs her back, smiling softly. "I told you...we would never let you get hurt, thweetheart."
Pulling Blisa well away from the edge, Nightbreath returns the hug and whispers, "You are safe. But remember, in a real fight that's how you'd feel--afraid. Fear is fine, but being paralyzed by it is not, remember that."
Ferdinand goes back to where he had been as Blisa nods. "Ferdy said that courage isn't in not being scared, it's in doing what you need to even when you're really scared." She wipes her eyes and sniffs, then smiles. "How am I doing now?"
"Well said, Ferdinand," Nightbreath says, nodding. "Thou'rt doing well, but it's time to show you some more specific techniques. Stand well back," he warns, spreading his footpaws as he sets Blisa down.
Ferdinand flushes slightly. Blisa smiles and scoots far back, ready to watch and learn. "Don't fall!" she calls.
"Ready..." Nightbreath's eyes fog and he closes them, clenching his symbol-etched fangs. "GO!" His eyes snap open and he lunges with an elbow outstretched to smash like a battering ram into an imagined foe, whirling around to follow up with a punch to the face using his other paw, then lowering his head slightly and springing off his back footpaw to hurl his forehead into the enemy's face, ending it with a legsweep and a head kick as the enemy beast falls. The moves themselves are cool, but it's the speed and fluidity that's most impressive.
Both Ferdinand and Blisa are openmouthed, very much impressed, indeed. Blisa starts to jump up and down excitedly. "That was so cool! Can I do that? When can I learn to do that? That was awesome!" she starts dancing around, causing her bodyguard to chuckle a little.
"Now, if ye wish. And I thank ye," Nightbreath says with a grin. "It will be difficult without Seer's premonitionatory reflexes, but it is doable. Now stand before me and breathe deeply..." The sun begins setting on joyous shouts, the sound of bodies hitting the ramparts and scraping, scrambling back to stand on footpaws a bit unsteadily again, and constant instruction and praise and advice and criticism in equal measure...Ahhhh...learning.
Thanks for reading!
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