|
Post by Noa on Oct 19, 2019 23:58:50 GMT -6
It had become such habit, associated with the very movement of going in for an opponent with his teeth, that he did it even knowing he wasn’t supposed to. He caught himself just in time… sort of. What he managed was to stifle it, but still a few sparks slipped out, and as his focus was split, he didn’t manage to leverage as much force as he had intended after all. It was unsatisfactory all across the board, in that sense.
“This will take some getting used to,” Rabbit said.
Rhys had the sense that she hadn’t known whether he would struggle with this, or at least maybe the degree to which he would, until after he had tried it the once. That comment was as much for herself as it was for him, it felt like.
Well, she wasn’t wrong though, and it wasn’t as though she was declaring him a lost cause or anything.
15
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 19, 2019 23:59:04 GMT -6
There was just more work ahead, and by this point he was hardly a stranger to that. {Let me try again,} he said. He wasn’t going to get better by standing around and doing nothing, that much was for sure.
“Bite,” said Rabbit, wasting no time in starting them up again. Rhys complied, aiming for the padding again. This time he was in a better frame of mind, and having experienced how it felt to stifle the light the first time, he was able to pull it off better this time around.
“Much better,” Rabbit declared.
Rhys had just a moment to feel proud of himself before Rabbit gave another command. “Bite,” she said. There was less warning this time, so Rhys had to think faster, but fortunately he didn’t have another light accident.
They practiced normal biting a few more times, to the point where Rhys felt more or less confident with it.
16
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 19, 2019 23:59:37 GMT -6
Then Rabbit changed things up, and asked him to do it with the light again. It caught Rhys off guard, and it took a moment longer to switch into the attack, but since it was something he had practiced so often, he did manage to perform it again in the end.
It was just switching back that presented a problem.
Thus, Rabbit began swapping between the two commands at random. By the time they ended that session, Rhys had the beginnings of a headache, and was very glad indeed to be tumbling into his bed that night. If Aster wondered what had him so exhausted, he didn’t ask, which was just as well. In his state, Rhys wasn’t sure he would have been able to come up with a convincing lie.
And then, the next day, they were back at it. Rabbit didn't take it any easier on him this session either.
17
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 0:03:44 GMT -6
Bite: End
But it was as though the night of sleep had consolidated his memory, and this time Rhys had a much better go at differentiating between the two attacks. He got it right most of the time, and he didn't hesitate for as long between switches either. By the end of the session, he felt that he might be able to do it with real confidence soon.
The second session went onto a third, and then a fourth. Rhys felt that he had been performing consistently by the third, but Rabbit pressed on. Only when the fourth session wrapped up did she finally seem satisfied.
{Why didn't we finish sooner?} Rhys asked her, when she called an end to it.
"You are doing well," Rabbit said. "There was nothing deficient with your performance last time. But there is a difference between practice and a real fight; I merely hope to prevent your lessons from deserting you when confronted with a real opponent."
18
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:01:59 GMT -6
Rhys subsided at Rabbit’s words, falling silent, his own thoughts turning inward once again. For once, it wasn’t an idea that hadn’t occurred to him before about combat. In fact, this particular issue had plagued him in the beginning, dogging his thoughts in idle moments when he doubted whether he had made the correct decision. What if he failed? What if, when the time came, his sense did abandon him in the face of an opponent, and he froze out there, unable to do anything, paralyzed by fear or just the inability to act against another creature facing him down? What then?
But it was better, he had reasoned, to get it out of the way in a controlled environment where the capacity of his foes were limited by their weight class and there were healers present--- and there were healers in the Pit, he knew that much.
19
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:02:23 GMT -6
He had done a little research, asked Aster how things were going with Grunty when the Thundergug had still been a participant in the free-for-all tournament. That was where he had hatched the idea, really.
And it stood to reason that if other creatures managed to do it, he could surely be no less capable. But Rabbit’s method, of taking precautions and drilling in what they practiced until he knew it by rote, was a different approach to the same problem that he had thus far only been contemplating more cerebral solutions for.
“Once the body knows something, it can act before the mind does,” Rabbit said. “If you do not trust yourself, then you may take advantage of this to ensure your performance, when the time comes.”
She was doing the best she could under the circumstances to ensure his success. All this despite her initial misgivings about this venture, and about whether she wished to help him put it into action.
20
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:03:00 GMT -6
Once again, Rhys felt a deep gratitude toward the TROD for doing all that she had for his sake. {Thank you,} he said, with feeling.
“There is no need to thank me. I am only performing the task given to me,” Rabbit replied.
Rhys wondered about this--- about the way she said this, and about her own thoughts, and--- but before he could let this line of thinking go any further, Rabbit was speaking again. “Our time is limited, and it is to my understanding that combat is not the role you were intended for, but there is one last means of attack I would beseech you to learn,” she said.
{Oh, what is it?} Rhys said. It couldn’t have been a new variant on biting, could it? He really hoped not; he’d had enough of the taste of that padding in his mouth to last him quite some time.
21
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:03:33 GMT -6
Wing Buff: Start
But he hadn’t forgotten that sense of gratitude, nor the sense of trust that he had developed toward Rabbit while they were practicing together, so for the most part he was merely genuinely curious.
“Have you ever attempted to strike anything with your wings?” said Rabbit.
Rhys blinked. {My wings?} he said. They twitched and fluttered as he thought about them, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit dubious after all. His wings were… Aster had called them delicate before. They held his weight, sure, but using them to hit an opponent? {Are you sure? I don’t think I’d be able to hit very hard with them,} Rhys said.
“Ah, it seems I have created a misunderstanding,” Rabbit said. “No, the key of this type of attack is the speed of the blows, and your ability to inflict many of them in quick succession, rather than the force behind one individual strike."
22
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:04:17 GMT -6
When Rhys did not seem to understand, Rabbit rephrased it for him. “Think of it as a flurry of smaller attacks, if this makes it easier.”
Rhys inclined his head. He was trying to imagine it, but it was a little hard to envision. He had never attempted anything of the sort, and while he was willing to try, he didn’t know if he would be able to achieve what she was going for.
“Hmm,” said Rabbit. “Very well, perhaps a demonstration is in order.”
{Huh?} At first Rhys was taken aback, wondering if she meant to demonstrate using herself as an example. After all, Rabbit did possess wings of her own… But would it even work like that? Her wings were even more strange looking than his, and come to think of it, what even was their range of movement? Were they substantial enough to do something like that?
23
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:04:44 GMT -6
But Rhys’s questions were all for naught. “I will attempt to convey the matter to you through a mental image,” said Rabbit, “as we do not have video players on the premises.”
{Oh,} said Rhys. Right, that made sense. Telepathy wasn’t just about words and thoughts, after all. As he settled down and opened his mind to Rabbit, he saw the image of a bird beating at a predator’s head with its wings to drive them off. Just as Rabbit said, it was a flurry of quick blows, batting the predator repeatedly instead of striking it singly with the wings.
When she was done, Rabbit said, “Do you feel capable of doing something like that?”
Rhys had to admit, now that he had seen it for himself, it didn’t look that likely to damage his wings. And it was true that he hadn’t tried it yet, so there was no knowing until he tried.
24
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:05:06 GMT -6
And since this was just a training session, there was no need for him to put much force into this. He could give it a nice tame test run, to see if he felt like he could actually pull it off the way Rabbit was suggesting.
{What should I aim for?} said Rhys. He would do it, but he had to be trying to hit something, right?
“I will set up a target for you,” said Rabbit. Rhys waited to see what she would come up with, but in the end she merely produced some rope and tied the padding she had been using previously to a branch, which she then struck into the ground.
Ah… The padding had appeared again. Rhys supposed it made sense, and it was certainly a softer surface for him to practice on, but…
Well, he wasn’t going to get anywhere just thinking about it.
25
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:05:20 GMT -6
{I’m ready when you are,} he said to Rabbit, who nodded.
“Very well. Wing buff, if you please,” she said, indicating the target.
Rhys advanced on it, and… tried to beat at it with his wings. It was… kind of uncomfortable, if he was being honest.
The problem was just that he wasn’t used to it, and as he closed in, he realized he didn’t know what kind of angle to use in order to achieve what he wanted. His wings were caable of coming all the way down and clapping themselves around something, the way that Rabbit had shown him, but he just wasn’t in the habit of aiming them for something that wasn’t flight. What he ended up doing, in the end, was mostly flailing.
{... I don’t think I’m doing this right,} Rhys said.
Rabbit didn’t contradict his assertion, which only confirmed that it was probably true.
26
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:06:06 GMT -6
Seeing it confirmed was a little disheartening.
“There is no need to rush into it. You may perform the required action slowly, to acclimate yourself to the movement, and attempt to speed up only when you are confident in doing so," Rabbit said.
{Start off slow, huh…} It was worth trying, anyway. It was a more dignified suggestion than what he had been thinking of, which was just to flail at the target until something clicked and he got it right. Practice had been the name of the game this whole time, so he had sort of expected that to be the next step, even when he couldn’t get it.
But that wouldn’t have been practicing smart, he supposed. Rabbit’s words had a certain logic to them.
He waited to see if Rabbit would give the command, but rather than doing that, she merely motioned to the target.
27
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:06:17 GMT -6
Rhys decided to focus there, and first positioned himself in a way where he thought he might be able to get his wings to move correctly relative to the target. From there, he began flapping his wings, not to generate force but slowly, to see where they could naturally reach if he did so from this position.
It wasn’t quite right, but at this speed, it didn’t take much for him to adjust himself. He did so until he found a position that worked well, and after a few test flaps of his wings, he began to beat at the target with them in earnest.
His attempt wasn’t as fast as Rabbit’s example, but it was a start. After doing so for a little while, he looked up at Rabbit to see her reaction.
“Good,” said Rabbit. “That is an admirable start.”
{Let me try a few more times,} Rhys said.
28
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:06:52 GMT -6
“Very well. Wing buff,” said Rabbit, giving him the signal to begin. Rhys tried again, this time concentrating on making his wingbeats faster, so that they buffeted the target in a way that was actually even a little bit threatening.
“Yes,” said Rabbit. “That is sufficient.”
Now it was just a matter of being able to find that position again. Rhys walked back from the target somewhat. The next time Rabbit gave him the signal, he rushed at it and assumed what he thought was the correct position, and beat his wings again.
It wasn’t quite right, but it was closer than his first attempt had been. Afterwards, he re-oriented himself until he had found the right angle again, and tried once more to commit it to memory.
“Wing buff,” said Rabbit. Rhys rushed at the target on her signal, and this time around, he was able to find the correct position.
29
|
|