Training Room

[Kenni]

The wry smile warmed a little at her next defense.
”Better, better! But not best. Mouichido! (Once again!)” This time however, he hopped from foot to foot, before finally breathing and composing himself.
Raven was improving slowly, so he had to get rid of any potentially scathing commentary that was wrestling to let loose on the poor trainee about her wobbly form, her yet imperfect movements. She was doing pretty well for a pure beginner.
He was just sore about his wrists getting sore. About time for an instructive approach in words, not just action; Speedy was learning how to teach as he went along, instead of just brag and show-off.
”You can twist and redirect anything I throw atcha under the sun, as long as that motion starts with your OWN limbs. Here, allow me, if I may.”
He didn’t wait for permission.
Stopping the hopping now, he slid over to Raven, standing beside her and literally twisting her arms through the blocks again slowly, looking at her pointedly after each, wondering if she noted how her limbs were twisting into each ending position, into each new block, and into and out of each attack he threw her arms through, next her legs and feet, guiding them at the invisible enemy.
”Saa! (C’mon!)” He let her legs be, not having made a single quip as he guided her through the motions in a rather commanding manner, then beckoned her forward with four fingers, palm extended from his profiled stance.

[Bry]

Raven offered but a hint of an upturned smile at his half-praises. Better, not best, and some random Japanese dialect that she couldn't make heads nor tails of. Stepping forward and still hopping like a wordless bunny, Speedy finally broke the silence and began explaining how to twist her limbs, all the while giving her a visual reference with her own arms, her own wrists, and hands, and legs, and feet.

They moved through the blocks once again, and darnnit, why hadn't she noticed the twisting feel of them before? Most likely cause she'd been falling asleep, but that was neither here nor there. What mattered was that now she felt it, now she knew what he meant, and now she'd be even more accountable the next time she screwed it up.

Yay.

Barking something else that could have been either more Japanese or a random battle call, Speedy backed away from her, urging her forward in what could've been taken as a challenging flick of his fingers. Raven once again lowered herself, settling around her center, her arms hovering up and in front of her face. She glued her eyes to Speedy's, waiting, watching to see if he'd make the next move. But she decided to be bold.

With a little hop of her forward foot, her left one, and a muffled sliding screech of her feet on the mats, Raven swung her right hand in a fist towards Speedy, shoulders and hips swiveling around in turn, aiming to connect with his jaw and knowing full well that he'd probably block her easily. But she wasn't aiming to kill this time, instead was hoping for a demonstration of her own lesson from her teacher.

[Kenni]

OoC; <’D Bunny.|
”--!!!”
He had expected her to make good on his summons to counter-attack, but to attempt a roundhouse like that in return was a little unexpected. Her torque was impressive; Raven connected with the overconfident boy’s jaw, who immediately recovered by taking the direction of the blow and moving with it, then ducking and swiping at her quite grounded legs with a low spin-kick, rubbing his jaw from the initial force released upon it in the process. ”M-Majikai..” he mumbled in awe, a sheepish little tug at the corners of his lips rising slowly into a full grin. He was more impressed than annoyed she’d landed sort of a hit, but had his blackbelt reputation to uphold, so a snarky comment or three would have to mask his blunder for now.
“Su~geezou..and here I thought I’d need to get you some written textbook examples, Reader Rabbit. Guess you pick things up fast even out of print. That..was pretty amazing..!” breathed the red-head, right before the low spin-kick started. He was prepared to spin once again towards her middle with palms pushing off the ground should she try to avoid his spinning in the air with her levitation, or even jump back or up.

[Bry]

She'd hit him.

A small part of her felt guilty, but the rest of her was mentally laughing in maniacal pride. She paid careful attention as Speedy rolled with her hit, twisting and redirecting like the best of them, and then he was ducking down and her eyes were following.

He was saying something, something that sounded like praise, and Raven opened her mouth to retort, but Roy wasn't taking any breaks for this chat, instead shooting comebacks at the same time that he spun his leg out, aiming for hers. She was much too close to him after the punch to retreat, but she saw the move milliseconds before it happened. Her still-open retortless mouth ended up sucking in a startled breath and she jumped both of her feet off the ground, struggling not to reflexively hover there like a bird.

Unfortunately for her, Speedy was ready for that move too, and she went down with his second attack. Falling onto her side, she rolled over sideways, forsaking grace in her effort to get back to her feet. Once there, her fists hovered in front of her face, and she hesitated, now a few feet of relative safety between herself and her teacher.

She didn't hesitate for long though. Waiting for Speedy to catch his breath would lose her the fight, if it wasn't doomed to begin with, so she jumped forward yet again, this time aiming a foot for somewhere around his ribs as he righted himself.

[Kenni]

There were times to talk with your mouth and times to talk with your members.
Harper's limbs, conditioned to battle, allowed his mouth no quarter. They warred on in silence, ever assessing and testing his lovely if not slightly sweaty pupil.

Speedy was pleased Raven was taking a much more proactive attack pattern lately. If he'd been able to hear inside her head and overhear a passing feeling of urgency stemming from the desire not to 'let him catch his breath', he would have scoffed something fierce; as if this little demo was leaving him breathless!
...
...but wasn't it, in a way?
Raven learned so fast.

She was exquisite.

Roy caught his sparring partner's little foot one-handed, easily, then used his other palm to grip her shin and do a lot more twisting and redirecting, as the now unspoken yet running theme called for. If she couldn't stop or aright herself on the way down, she would likely land face-first belly-flop on the gym floor, if not face-up skull-knocked facing him.

However, that was assuming she couldn't--again--redirect her projected 50/50 doomed, 100% painful dismount, into giving herself a completely different vantage point of attack against him.

[Bry]

All banter was gone now, and the only sounds between them came from the scuffing of feet on mats, of huffing breaths and little yelps of surprise or pain or both together on Raven's part, and the more competent sounds of a fighter from Speedy.

Instead of going down, Roy caught her foot.... Of course he did! Raven's kick was turned against her, and now she retained her momentum and had nowhere to land it. Speedy held her foot, and so reflexively she chose the only other obvious option as she went down face first. She landed on her hands, in a sort of bizarre handstand-meets-push-ups stance, her other foot hovering awkwardly to the side before she reigned it back in, so as not to throw her balance off
completely. Her nose, inches from the ground, was mercifully unbroken.

A short yipe of surprise escaped before she clamped her teeth down on it; it wasn't everyday she landed in a handstand-of-sorts like this, and less often that she did without meaning to, and the shock of her hands meeting the mat so suddenly didn't leave a pleasant feeling running up her arms.

But now what to do? Her hands were out of commission, and her foot-- Wait a second....

Opting for unorthodox, Raven bent her elbows, ripping her ankle from Speedy's control though it remained in his hands, then pushed off with them, aiming her foot at his chest, hoping to kick him away from her while also landing in a position worthy of either a Crouching Tiger or a Hidden Dragon.

[Kenni]

This time, Speedy gripped Raven's attacking ankle, but only in reflex.
This time, he couldn't hold on for long.

He found himself winded, finally, and embarrassed, definitely, a few feet further than he ever thought he wind up being pushed away from his pupil. Speedy looked up, patting the area over his right lung as he reset his breathing. All this distance between them was unnerving for the fact that it had been perpetrated by the student he purported to teach, one with 'a long way to go'.

She'd just gotten lucky, he told himself, but had to commend her efforts as soon as he regained his breath.

Maybe the praise and change of subject matter would gloss over his being bested just then...

"Iiyo! Yosh, soredeii. (Great! Alright, that's good for now.)" he gasped, voice cracking at the end, and throat clearing at the beginning of his English.

"That last move...wasn't bad! You redirected your doom into retaliation. I like it...and I think it's time to move on..."
Swiftly, he was shooting for a takedown with a diagonal trip against her landing position of dubious fighting-animal formation. If successful, he would have her pinned to the mat, his elbow over her throat, left knee bent over, and nudged somewhat uncomfortable into the girl's ribcage to keep her down.
If he wasn't, he would have a very achy elbow.

"...to some Judo!"

[Bry]

Raven straightened up as he recovered, her eyes alight with pride at his praise, though the rest of her countenance still held a slightly defensive posture. She had a hard time coming out of the fighting mentality, and even though her mentor sounded perfectly friendly again, she still watched him like a hawk.

Or like a raven, as it were.

Redirecting doom into retaliation? Well. Wasn't that the story of her life. Still, it meant a great deal to her, especially being the novice she obviously was, to hear that she wasn't completely hopeless.

The sentiment would have held a bit longer if she'd stayed on her feet for more than a minute.

But Speedy was true to his name, and he was tricky as well. Even in the middle of his sentence, he was charging, darting towards her so fast that she had only a moment to raise her arms in front of her face and take a step before she landed on her back, somewhat unsure even then as to how it happened.

Roy Harper hovered above her, bringing an embarrassing bit of colour her face and eliciting a small cough with his elbow under her chin, his knee securely holding her ribs to the ground. She was pinned and her eyes lit up in an instant, both in surprise and instinct.

"Fine, fine," she choked out around his elbow. "Now get off of me." She brought both of her hands up to latch onto him, one around his wrist, one on the other side of his bicep, and she wriggled, putting as much power into rolling herself over as she could.

Which was to say, not a whole lot. But she'd been overcome by surprise this time, and she was a little dizzy from saying such a quick hello to the mat beneath her. It was a noble effort, and an interesting welcome into Judo.

[Kenni]

As quickly as he had welcomed her into that world, he decided an exodus was in order. They had been going non-stop a good hour now, and try as he might to posture that was still good for another round, it was a different matter when considering the heavy throwing and hearty grappling Judo called for.

"You want me tooo...get off...your back, right? Not until you get off your's." he grinned, playing his wordgames and mercifully allowing her to breathe, now squatting over her torso without impeding her throat OR ribs, before she wriggled her way into a roll away from him.

An entire 10 centimetres.

He merely side-stepped in his crouch to stop her progress, got to his knees above her, stooped forward, and stole a quick, very salty kiss from his pupil, HIS pupils twinkling behind their mask.

Speedy bit his tongue to hide the laughter threatening to spill from his masked eyes; he knew she could sense his mirth even if his face was obscured, but that was alright.
He hoped she could also sense the overwhelming pride he had in her, for tiring him out after only an hour.
Because he wasn't about to say it out loud. That was enough praise for one day.

...that didn't mean there wasn't room for a practice-reward for the day, though.

"Race you to the fridge for an ice-water break?"
With that, the ginger-sensei rolled himself over and over and over for the door, meaning to mimic the pathetic strugglettempts of his raven-student.

OoC; Aaaand cue exit-post! ^-^ Fun fight we drew out over moooonths, luff. x') S'been a treat!|