LOG: KYLE AND WATARI
Log between Kyle and Watari
Watari and Kyle battle, as promise.
Watari: *going through a series of warm up movements with his sword in the field next to the dojo*
Kyle: *stretching his arms a bit as he walks to the field, dressed in his Queen's Knight armor. He's certain the ninja isn't about to screw around so armor seems best*
Watari: *pauses when he sees Kyle and sheaths his blade. he's dressed in his former Kage attire - weapons and all - even ones Kyle can't see* Good morning.
Kyle: Morning. *bounces on the balls of his feet; his sword is at his waist*
Watari: Do you want time to warm up, or did you do that on the way here?
Kyle: I got that covered already. *breathes in and out deeply* All right. I can't put this off any longer. So I have a question. If I feel the rip tide take me, should I coast it as long as I can and then let go of my sword or what?
Watari: My advice? Stop thinking of it as a rip tide, first off. You're making it into something you cannot control with that thinking.
Kyle: *that'd be because deep down he doesn't know if he can; it is a perfect metaphor to describe it, but maybe it gives it added power as well* I need to call it -something- but I see your point.
Watari: Think of it as a seal, or chains. Both can be broken, require a fight.
Kyle: *closes his eyes to better fix the imagery in his head and nods*
Watari: Right. Keep that in your mind. Turn the shadow into that, and if you feel yourself loosing - pull. Fight it. Even steel chains can be broken. Remember that. *unsheathes his sword* Whenever you are ready.
Kyle: *it's all water to him, so he carefully thinks of the rip tide as chains of water, bound in shape. Okay, this actually helps. The tide's bound in shape. If he loses control, it'll rush over. But if he keeps it bound, it means control*
Kyle: *draws out his katana and holds it in an usual stance, the blade held with both hands at eye level*
Watari: *slides down into position, right elbow back and high with his blade, left arm around in front, extended, both legs bent and is sideways to Kyle* Begin whenever you are ready.
Kyle: *so far so good; now to see if he could get the rust off his movements. He circles Watari carefully before flashing in quick with the blade at head level*
Watari: *follows him easily, warily, and meets the blade with a clang and swings his leg up for an outside kick to the arm*
Kyle: *not expecting that but Watari IS a ninja after all; he manages to turn aside so the kick glaces his arm. He's still re-learning his sword so he lets Watari get his guard up again before attacking, this time trying to snake around his guard in a figure 8 pattern*
Watari: *jumps back, moving his blade to intercept Kyle's, reaching down and drawing his sheath to form a two-sword style*
Kyle: *okay, color him impressed; it's only because he's naturally extremely agile for his size that he fends off the attacks with sword and sheath. But he's only able to defend and can't cut around the guard, which makes him frustrated*
Watari: *presses a relentless attack, trying to push Kyle's sword up so he can attack the opening with either sheath or sword*
Kyle: *Watari is a master of his craft as he can't find fault in the attack. So frustrating...he leaps to the side for safety and to regroup, feeling the hold on his temper fray*
Watari: *instantly follows to keep pressing, now adding in attacks with his leg to try and unbalance Kyle*
Kyle: *that's actually a specialty of Kyle's when using a glaive so he's savvy enough to guard (most of the time) against that; Watari is frankly a beast in combat, riling him pretty well. He quickly sidesteps and lashes with sword at the chest level and outer edge of his boot behind the ninja's knee*
Watari: *decides that the sword is a more a threat and blocks that, but takes the hit to the knee. he goes down, but lands on his forearm and uses the momentum of the fall to swing his hips in a pseudo- somersault kick away from Kyle*
Kyle: *finally sensing an advantage, he presses the attack. His eyes widen and change to an ice blue a moment later, emboldened by his charge*
Kyle: *his old skill seems to slowly return as he tries to hack in and around Watari's guard in a Z pattern*
Watari: *using the two sword style he manages to block the attacks. he pushed Kyle back and then suddenly does several back flips, letting fly a mix of kunai and shuriken as he puts distance*
Kyle: *through a combination of spot-on strikes and a hell of a lot of lucky dodging, manages not to be skewered by something pointy. A grin tugs at his lips until the Queen's Knight remembers he's supposed to be controlling this and stays his ground, sword rattling in his hands as he tries to focus his anger*
Watari: *suddenly sheathes his sword and goes for his kodaci and rushes in, activating his Skunk Rune as he moves to get inside Kyle's sword blade and get in close for hand-to-hand combat*
Kyle: *suddenly the phrase "straight-up cheating" comes to mind, but he's not fighting with a knight. He's fighting with a guy who doesn't eff around. The only thing he can do is slash repeatedly at something he hopes is solid and not a shadow*
Watari: *is sort of pissed at that, knocking aside Kyle's blade easily and getting inside his guard and ... SLAPS him. Doesn't punch, he SLAPS him, and then aims a kick at his stomach before putting distance between them and deactivating his Rune*
Kyle: *exhales sharply at the stomach kick, his face stinging at the slap. The more the ninja stands there, just waiting there for something to happen, the more his anger grows until the fine control on his temper snaps. Like gliding along the dark tide, he follows the deadly calm of his rage, eyes wide and a brittle ice blue.*
Kyle: *No hesitation, nothing but destruction, he hefts his katana up and whips it in a scissoring pattern as he sprints the distance between them*
Watari: *figures Kyle's in that dark place now and reaches back, for a minute time slowing as he regards the dark shadow. they stare at each other, and then he reaches out and releases all but one of its chains. the darkness surges forward, enfuses him with cold, the taste of iron, the scent of blood. His eyes narrow to deadly cold and he activates his rune again, meeting the attack*
Kyle: *the Queen's Knight has a natural affinity for agility but sunk into his rip tide, his ability to dodge and react borders on the insane. With every slash and sweep of his blade, it's met with just as speedy an attack or block*
Watari: *brings his sheath and katana back into play to attack and defend, adding in sweeps with his legs, or short spurts of distance flinging out shuriken and other projectiles, taking no mercy*
Watari: *gets on the inside of Kyle's blade again and swings up to crush his sheath against the side of Kyle's face* Is this all you've got for me? *icy cold voice, no regrets and no obvious sign of feeling the bruises and cuts he's gotten from Kyle*
Kyle: *it's a solid connection and it whirls him around on his feet; it also makes him dimly realize his mind's in a very bad place; his first instinct is to race forward for the kill, the hack, the slash. He takes two paces forward and then skids to a halt, body trembling* ....
Watari: *glares at him* Pathetic. *comes in a twin combo with his sword and sheath and a series of kicks and short lunges*
Kyle: *he's forced to rely on his rage enduced agility in order to not be skewered and stomped on. Which is then he realizes one thing; it's actually very useful to be this amped up. So is he -not- supposed to shove it away? Is he supposed to be like Watari? The ninja seems deadly earnest but in complete control.*
Watari: I hope you can do better than this, Knight. *spits the last word and begins a cycle of furious twin-sword style attacks before suddenly dropping and doing a low roundhouse at Kyle's legs*
Kyle: *The rip tide is water and water is his nature. It's the nature of water to flow and bend and flex. That's not a bad thing, he realizes. Go with the tide, but don't let it take you. He manages to block the sword style attacks but the kick knocks his legs under him at the ankles. Flowing like water, he arcs backward, turning the fall into a backflip to land back on his feet, sword in hand.*
Watari: *follows with a quick series of kicks and lunges, trying to keep on the inside of Kyle's blade*
Kyle: *he manages to block the kicks, only taking a few hits on his armor and spins around one kick to try an elbow to the nerves of his arm*
Watari: *flips his sheath up to block, but it throws him off his rhythm and still hurts like a bitch. he swings out with his sword and drops his sheath and grasps Kyle's leg*
Kyle: *aw crap, this can't be good. He tries to work with his rip tide, but he finds it getting harder to breathe, a warning sign he needs to stop* ...Watari...gotta end this now...can't breathe...
Watari: *regards him for a moment, as if he isn't going to listen, but inside his head he's snapped the chains back in place, watching as the darkness is dragged back screaming and howling. His eyes soften and he releases Kyle's leg*
Kyle: Okay...okay...I have to focus...*trembling with the effort; if his darkness is a rip tide, a rip tide being water. The opposite of motion is stillness. A still pond. He closes his eyes, willing the motion to still, to relax, to be calm.*
Watari: *still has his sword out, ready to disarm and wound him critically enough to end this if he has too*
Kyle: *the water doesn't want to but this is a test, dammit. There's no wind, it's a still pond. Nothing to flow. Still. Calm. Cool. He opens his eyes and they're his own again* ...damn.
Watari: *sheathes his blade, holding back a hiss as his numerous cuts sting at the movement* Good. *trying to keep from gulping air, which he knows his bad and trying to keep even breathes*
Kyle: Your methods are a lot more...physical. *chuckling and then grimaces at the fast forming swelling on his face*
Watari: Sometimes it takes a good smack to the head for a lesson to sink in, especially something like this. *digs in his shirt and pulls out a pouch* Sit. Let's take a look at that.
Kyle: *wheezing a little bit as he obeys* I think I started to catch on what you were doing. Oh, I've got healing runes if you need a healing.
Watari: I've done fine without it, and you are in no condition to use it. *unfolds the pouch and reveals a small emergency medical field supply kit*
Kyle: Point taken. I'm glad I don't fight ninja on a regular basis or I'd be skewered. *concentrates on evening his breathing*
Watari: *starts to tend Kyle's face and more obvious wounds* We usually don't fight so straight forward. We're more the ambushing type.
Kyle: *winces as his face is touched* I can see how that'd work. Glad I wore my armor.
Watari: *snorts* You weren't exactly a push over.
Kyle: That'd feel more like a compliment if I didn't hurt like hell. *laugh*
Watari: *little smile as he moves to work on Kyle's more obvious wounds on his arms* Get some bruising cream from the infirmary later. It'll help with your face and any places I landed kicks.
Kyle: Sir yes sir!
Kyle: So I take it this is going to be a regular thing? Until I got the control down?
Kyle: Can I heal and rest from this first before you gleefully beat me like a pinata next time?
Watari: I have my own healing to do. As I said, you aren't a pushover. And yes, I will spar again with you if you wish.
Kyle: Yeah. Either I'm turning into a masochist or that fight really helped me wrap my mind around my darkness.
Watari: It's good to think about it, understand it. But sometimes we must do things to get the real hang of it. Like when you first learned to use that sword. You could think and visualize all you want, but if you never picked that sword up and used it, you never got control of it.
Kyle: Got a point there. Maybe once I have a good grip on this, I'll give you a fight with my glaive. I'm actually a lot better with that, once I get the rust off my moves.
Watari: That could be interesting, and this will help me keep my skills sharp. I'm a fool to let them lax.
Kyle: Hey, I didn't win my fight either, so don't worry.
Watari: I wasn't speaking of my fight with Hervey and Jeremy.
Kyle: Oh...wait. You mean you can hit HARDER than that?! *jaw gapes*
Watari: Before I came here I hit to kill. *reminding him with an arched brow of what he was, could conceivably still be*
Kyle: *his face pales a bit* Quite an excellent point there.
Watari: *if he feels anything at the face paling, he doesn't say so, and shrugs instead* It's how I grew up.
Kyle: ...then can I say how happy I am to still -be- here after fighting you? *grin*
Watari: *gives him a look and smacks him upside the head*
Kyle: Ow, dammit!
Kyle: Man! Why do I hang out with people who can't appreciate a good joke. *tragic melodramatic sigh*
Watari: *rolls his eyes at Kyle* By the way, does Bernadette know you did this this morning?
Kyle: Does she know what I'm doing. No. *sighs* I'm not sure how I can explain what I'm doing because she's gonna get freaked and stop me.
Watari: Well, please keep me out of your explanation when she sees you rather beat up.
Kyle: *twitch* Sure thing, Watari.
Watari: Hey, she's your lady love, but I am not dealing with her anger over this. Heaven knows Kinnison might chew me out for it.
Kyle: So we're going to get bitched at on both ends? *chuckle* All right. I can see that happening. Well, I have to go wash some horses as part of my knight hazing. I'll just say one of them whacked me good in the face.
Watari: *gives him a long look* You do mean with a hoof, right?
Kyle: No with it's face. Yeah, with a hoof. I got kicked by a horse before; it feels about the same.
Watari: Just making sure. But if you want to continue these, we have to do them around this time.
Kyle: I do. I need all the help I can get. *stands up with a groan* Thanks a lot, Watari.
Watari: *rises with a bit more grace and bows* Of course. I'll see you in a few days then.
Kyle: Sadly, I'll be here for another beating.
Watari and Kyle battle, as promise.
Watari: *going through a series of warm up movements with his sword in the field next to the dojo*
Kyle: *stretching his arms a bit as he walks to the field, dressed in his Queen's Knight armor. He's certain the ninja isn't about to screw around so armor seems best*
Watari: *pauses when he sees Kyle and sheaths his blade. he's dressed in his former Kage attire - weapons and all - even ones Kyle can't see* Good morning.
Kyle: Morning. *bounces on the balls of his feet; his sword is at his waist*
Watari: Do you want time to warm up, or did you do that on the way here?
Kyle: I got that covered already. *breathes in and out deeply* All right. I can't put this off any longer. So I have a question. If I feel the rip tide take me, should I coast it as long as I can and then let go of my sword or what?
Watari: My advice? Stop thinking of it as a rip tide, first off. You're making it into something you cannot control with that thinking.
Kyle: *that'd be because deep down he doesn't know if he can; it is a perfect metaphor to describe it, but maybe it gives it added power as well* I need to call it -something- but I see your point.
Watari: Think of it as a seal, or chains. Both can be broken, require a fight.
Kyle: *closes his eyes to better fix the imagery in his head and nods*
Watari: Right. Keep that in your mind. Turn the shadow into that, and if you feel yourself loosing - pull. Fight it. Even steel chains can be broken. Remember that. *unsheathes his sword* Whenever you are ready.
Kyle: *it's all water to him, so he carefully thinks of the rip tide as chains of water, bound in shape. Okay, this actually helps. The tide's bound in shape. If he loses control, it'll rush over. But if he keeps it bound, it means control*
Kyle: *draws out his katana and holds it in an usual stance, the blade held with both hands at eye level*
Watari: *slides down into position, right elbow back and high with his blade, left arm around in front, extended, both legs bent and is sideways to Kyle* Begin whenever you are ready.
Kyle: *so far so good; now to see if he could get the rust off his movements. He circles Watari carefully before flashing in quick with the blade at head level*
Watari: *follows him easily, warily, and meets the blade with a clang and swings his leg up for an outside kick to the arm*
Kyle: *not expecting that but Watari IS a ninja after all; he manages to turn aside so the kick glaces his arm. He's still re-learning his sword so he lets Watari get his guard up again before attacking, this time trying to snake around his guard in a figure 8 pattern*
Watari: *jumps back, moving his blade to intercept Kyle's, reaching down and drawing his sheath to form a two-sword style*
Kyle: *okay, color him impressed; it's only because he's naturally extremely agile for his size that he fends off the attacks with sword and sheath. But he's only able to defend and can't cut around the guard, which makes him frustrated*
Watari: *presses a relentless attack, trying to push Kyle's sword up so he can attack the opening with either sheath or sword*
Kyle: *Watari is a master of his craft as he can't find fault in the attack. So frustrating...he leaps to the side for safety and to regroup, feeling the hold on his temper fray*
Watari: *instantly follows to keep pressing, now adding in attacks with his leg to try and unbalance Kyle*
Kyle: *that's actually a specialty of Kyle's when using a glaive so he's savvy enough to guard (most of the time) against that; Watari is frankly a beast in combat, riling him pretty well. He quickly sidesteps and lashes with sword at the chest level and outer edge of his boot behind the ninja's knee*
Watari: *decides that the sword is a more a threat and blocks that, but takes the hit to the knee. he goes down, but lands on his forearm and uses the momentum of the fall to swing his hips in a pseudo- somersault kick away from Kyle*
Kyle: *finally sensing an advantage, he presses the attack. His eyes widen and change to an ice blue a moment later, emboldened by his charge*
Kyle: *his old skill seems to slowly return as he tries to hack in and around Watari's guard in a Z pattern*
Watari: *using the two sword style he manages to block the attacks. he pushed Kyle back and then suddenly does several back flips, letting fly a mix of kunai and shuriken as he puts distance*
Kyle: *through a combination of spot-on strikes and a hell of a lot of lucky dodging, manages not to be skewered by something pointy. A grin tugs at his lips until the Queen's Knight remembers he's supposed to be controlling this and stays his ground, sword rattling in his hands as he tries to focus his anger*
Watari: *suddenly sheathes his sword and goes for his kodaci and rushes in, activating his Skunk Rune as he moves to get inside Kyle's sword blade and get in close for hand-to-hand combat*
Kyle: *suddenly the phrase "straight-up cheating" comes to mind, but he's not fighting with a knight. He's fighting with a guy who doesn't eff around. The only thing he can do is slash repeatedly at something he hopes is solid and not a shadow*
Watari: *is sort of pissed at that, knocking aside Kyle's blade easily and getting inside his guard and ... SLAPS him. Doesn't punch, he SLAPS him, and then aims a kick at his stomach before putting distance between them and deactivating his Rune*
Kyle: *exhales sharply at the stomach kick, his face stinging at the slap. The more the ninja stands there, just waiting there for something to happen, the more his anger grows until the fine control on his temper snaps. Like gliding along the dark tide, he follows the deadly calm of his rage, eyes wide and a brittle ice blue.*
Kyle: *No hesitation, nothing but destruction, he hefts his katana up and whips it in a scissoring pattern as he sprints the distance between them*
Watari: *figures Kyle's in that dark place now and reaches back, for a minute time slowing as he regards the dark shadow. they stare at each other, and then he reaches out and releases all but one of its chains. the darkness surges forward, enfuses him with cold, the taste of iron, the scent of blood. His eyes narrow to deadly cold and he activates his rune again, meeting the attack*
Kyle: *the Queen's Knight has a natural affinity for agility but sunk into his rip tide, his ability to dodge and react borders on the insane. With every slash and sweep of his blade, it's met with just as speedy an attack or block*
Watari: *brings his sheath and katana back into play to attack and defend, adding in sweeps with his legs, or short spurts of distance flinging out shuriken and other projectiles, taking no mercy*
Watari: *gets on the inside of Kyle's blade again and swings up to crush his sheath against the side of Kyle's face* Is this all you've got for me? *icy cold voice, no regrets and no obvious sign of feeling the bruises and cuts he's gotten from Kyle*
Kyle: *it's a solid connection and it whirls him around on his feet; it also makes him dimly realize his mind's in a very bad place; his first instinct is to race forward for the kill, the hack, the slash. He takes two paces forward and then skids to a halt, body trembling* ....
Watari: *glares at him* Pathetic. *comes in a twin combo with his sword and sheath and a series of kicks and short lunges*
Kyle: *he's forced to rely on his rage enduced agility in order to not be skewered and stomped on. Which is then he realizes one thing; it's actually very useful to be this amped up. So is he -not- supposed to shove it away? Is he supposed to be like Watari? The ninja seems deadly earnest but in complete control.*
Watari: I hope you can do better than this, Knight. *spits the last word and begins a cycle of furious twin-sword style attacks before suddenly dropping and doing a low roundhouse at Kyle's legs*
Kyle: *The rip tide is water and water is his nature. It's the nature of water to flow and bend and flex. That's not a bad thing, he realizes. Go with the tide, but don't let it take you. He manages to block the sword style attacks but the kick knocks his legs under him at the ankles. Flowing like water, he arcs backward, turning the fall into a backflip to land back on his feet, sword in hand.*
Watari: *follows with a quick series of kicks and lunges, trying to keep on the inside of Kyle's blade*
Kyle: *he manages to block the kicks, only taking a few hits on his armor and spins around one kick to try an elbow to the nerves of his arm*
Watari: *flips his sheath up to block, but it throws him off his rhythm and still hurts like a bitch. he swings out with his sword and drops his sheath and grasps Kyle's leg*
Kyle: *aw crap, this can't be good. He tries to work with his rip tide, but he finds it getting harder to breathe, a warning sign he needs to stop* ...Watari...gotta end this now...can't breathe...
Watari: *regards him for a moment, as if he isn't going to listen, but inside his head he's snapped the chains back in place, watching as the darkness is dragged back screaming and howling. His eyes soften and he releases Kyle's leg*
Kyle: Okay...okay...I have to focus...*trembling with the effort; if his darkness is a rip tide, a rip tide being water. The opposite of motion is stillness. A still pond. He closes his eyes, willing the motion to still, to relax, to be calm.*
Watari: *still has his sword out, ready to disarm and wound him critically enough to end this if he has too*
Kyle: *the water doesn't want to but this is a test, dammit. There's no wind, it's a still pond. Nothing to flow. Still. Calm. Cool. He opens his eyes and they're his own again* ...damn.
Watari: *sheathes his blade, holding back a hiss as his numerous cuts sting at the movement* Good. *trying to keep from gulping air, which he knows his bad and trying to keep even breathes*
Kyle: Your methods are a lot more...physical. *chuckling and then grimaces at the fast forming swelling on his face*
Watari: Sometimes it takes a good smack to the head for a lesson to sink in, especially something like this. *digs in his shirt and pulls out a pouch* Sit. Let's take a look at that.
Kyle: *wheezing a little bit as he obeys* I think I started to catch on what you were doing. Oh, I've got healing runes if you need a healing.
Watari: I've done fine without it, and you are in no condition to use it. *unfolds the pouch and reveals a small emergency medical field supply kit*
Kyle: Point taken. I'm glad I don't fight ninja on a regular basis or I'd be skewered. *concentrates on evening his breathing*
Watari: *starts to tend Kyle's face and more obvious wounds* We usually don't fight so straight forward. We're more the ambushing type.
Kyle: *winces as his face is touched* I can see how that'd work. Glad I wore my armor.
Watari: *snorts* You weren't exactly a push over.
Kyle: That'd feel more like a compliment if I didn't hurt like hell. *laugh*
Watari: *little smile as he moves to work on Kyle's more obvious wounds on his arms* Get some bruising cream from the infirmary later. It'll help with your face and any places I landed kicks.
Kyle: Sir yes sir!
Kyle: So I take it this is going to be a regular thing? Until I got the control down?
Kyle: Can I heal and rest from this first before you gleefully beat me like a pinata next time?
Watari: I have my own healing to do. As I said, you aren't a pushover. And yes, I will spar again with you if you wish.
Kyle: Yeah. Either I'm turning into a masochist or that fight really helped me wrap my mind around my darkness.
Watari: It's good to think about it, understand it. But sometimes we must do things to get the real hang of it. Like when you first learned to use that sword. You could think and visualize all you want, but if you never picked that sword up and used it, you never got control of it.
Kyle: Got a point there. Maybe once I have a good grip on this, I'll give you a fight with my glaive. I'm actually a lot better with that, once I get the rust off my moves.
Watari: That could be interesting, and this will help me keep my skills sharp. I'm a fool to let them lax.
Kyle: Hey, I didn't win my fight either, so don't worry.
Watari: I wasn't speaking of my fight with Hervey and Jeremy.
Kyle: Oh...wait. You mean you can hit HARDER than that?! *jaw gapes*
Watari: Before I came here I hit to kill. *reminding him with an arched brow of what he was, could conceivably still be*
Kyle: *his face pales a bit* Quite an excellent point there.
Watari: *if he feels anything at the face paling, he doesn't say so, and shrugs instead* It's how I grew up.
Kyle: ...then can I say how happy I am to still -be- here after fighting you? *grin*
Watari: *gives him a look and smacks him upside the head*
Kyle: Ow, dammit!
Kyle: Man! Why do I hang out with people who can't appreciate a good joke. *tragic melodramatic sigh*
Watari: *rolls his eyes at Kyle* By the way, does Bernadette know you did this this morning?
Kyle: Does she know what I'm doing. No. *sighs* I'm not sure how I can explain what I'm doing because she's gonna get freaked and stop me.
Watari: Well, please keep me out of your explanation when she sees you rather beat up.
Kyle: *twitch* Sure thing, Watari.
Watari: Hey, she's your lady love, but I am not dealing with her anger over this. Heaven knows Kinnison might chew me out for it.
Kyle: So we're going to get bitched at on both ends? *chuckle* All right. I can see that happening. Well, I have to go wash some horses as part of my knight hazing. I'll just say one of them whacked me good in the face.
Watari: *gives him a long look* You do mean with a hoof, right?
Kyle: No with it's face. Yeah, with a hoof. I got kicked by a horse before; it feels about the same.
Watari: Just making sure. But if you want to continue these, we have to do them around this time.
Kyle: I do. I need all the help I can get. *stands up with a groan* Thanks a lot, Watari.
Watari: *rises with a bit more grace and bows* Of course. I'll see you in a few days then.
Kyle: Sadly, I'll be here for another beating.