(Untitled)

[duelking]

WHO: glorious_mercy and duelking
LOCATION: Port Royal
TIME: Today-ish?
WHAT: Zell's finally feeling better and decided to go seek out Sephiroth to thank him personally for saving his life.
RATING: PG-13 at most?

Comments

[glorious_mercy]

Indeed, the tall general with silver-hair stood out like a sore-thumb in this world, no matter where he might be. Despite the coarseness of the world, he accepted the challenge it presented since the largest body of it's population was rather lawless. Those that weren't however were easy enough to deal with though.

He'd heard Zell's arrival via the sound of it, but continued reading the piece of paper he currently held even as he spoke up toward the blond. "Welcome to Port Royal, Zell. What brings you here?"

[glorious_mercy]

Sephiroth allowed one pale eyebrow to raise slightly as Zell's punch impacted against the canon. "Not as easy as it looks is it?" The question was more a statement of fact than an actual question however, so he continued onward to further explain to the boy. "There are times on the field where the situation can change in an instant...and turn an attack you have already launched into something which needs to not go through or land on it's target. Those who fight at range can not do anything but pray things will not go too badly...but those like us who fight in the front lines; we can stop our attacks from connecting if we have enough control over our bodies. Our bodies are our own weapons after all. Would you send someone out to fight with a weapon they have no idea how to control?"

He paused then and his voice lost some of its cool aloofness as he spoke again. "Who taught you how to fight, if I might ask? Did you have a teacher or are you self-taught?"

[duelking]

Zell shook his head in spite of the question being rhetorical, sheepish and rubbing the back of his neck. Once Sephiroth actually started to explain the reasoning behind the exercise, however, the pieces all started falling in place and it clicked. Sephiroth instantaneously scored a hundred extra cool points with Zell. It really made sense, when he put it that way. Power doesn't mean anything if you can't control it.

"Uh... Well, see-- I went to a military school when I was thirteen. They taught us basic combat and strategy and stuff like that, but I was pretty much the only martial arts specialist in school. So... No one really taught me, no."

Normally, he would have been proud that he was self-taught, but he was suddenly realizing how much he missed out on not having someone teach him properly.

[glorious_mercy]

Well, at least the boy understood the basics and could learn. The potential was there, it just needed to be tended to and allowed to grow. He wouldn't be able to actually teach the boy actual martial arts moves, but he could help him with control and once he was able to actually control his body better, no doubt his prowess as a martial artist would increase as well in response.

"Not bad for self-taught. I can't teach you martial arts, but I can help you with learning how to make your body work for you instead of against you. As I stated earlier though, it'll take time to master this control."

[duelking]

"Hey, I'm SeeD, you know!" Zell pointed out, nevermind the fact that no one seemed to know what the hell that was. His usual brag that he'd taken on and killed a Weapon single-heartedly died on his tongue, because he had a feeling it wouldn't matter. He had a subsequent feeling that Sephiroth was less of the type to lecture and more of the time to kick your ass.

So, Zell shut his mouth and nodded quickly a few times.

"Ahem... I got time. Patrols can be pretty borin' and practicin' this would give me somethin' to do when it's slow. I mean-- that'd assumin' you trust me to do this on my own, eh?"

[glorious_mercy]

Zell would be correct in his feeling about the Weapon, no matter that the general would have no idea what a Weapon was. Taking things down was easy enough done for anyone with enough power to do so. Also the SeeD remark was also largely ignored because he had no idea what it meant, beyond a vague idea it might have to do with that military school that the blond had spoken of earlier. And yes, he rather thought actions spoke louder than words at times.

"I imagine you could practice on your own if you wanted to, and then when you think you have made progress or want a want a larger challenge; you can come see me here again. For now, you can practice what I've shown you tonight. Once you can actually pull your punches even after they've already been thrown, then come see me again."