thebastion | Day 246 [Open]

Entry tags:

zuko

Day 246 [Open]

Who: Zuko and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 246
Where: Around the Bastion
What: Daily Zuko stuffs
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor

Zuko keeps herself pretty busy around the Bastion. She likes to get involved in whatever's going on--not because she's a social butterfly, as anyone who talks to her can figure out, but because she feels it's important. Even if there isn't anything special going on, she's unlikely ever to be found lazing around. Her typical mornings have developed a certain routine to them.

A) Pool
This is one of the closest things Zuko has to a hobby, and she still approaches it entirely too seriously. Well, aside from the fact that she has yet to obtain a swimsuit and is in fact swimming laps in pants and a halter top. She's not remarkably fast or doing any fancy strokes, but she can make quite a few laps before stopping to rest, unless someone wants to interrupt her.

B) Training Building
Somehow, Zuko seems to keep picking up students. At the moment, it's just Rin and Rob whom she trains with any regularity, and she makes herself available at the training building for part of the morning if they or anyone else is interest in practice.

Personally, she prefers to train out of doors, so until anyone shows up, she can be found outside the building running through firebending forms (sans any actual fire).

C) Lake
Around midday, Zuko picks up some food from the distillery and makes her way over to the lake. There, she sits down crosslegged to eat, tossing crumbs of her bread out to the turtle ducks. It's about as relaxed and leisurely as Zuko gets doing anything, and a good time to grab her before she sets some other task for herself.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Rob's been coming by every morning for the past two weeks. Without being able to bury himself in games, books, or the internet he has a lot of time to fill with more productive things - his mornings with Zuko and his afternoons doing work. It could almost be said that the change is good for him, pushing him to accomplish more than he had been... except for the whole bit about his world being destroyed, a little detail that will have unpleasant consequences when it's proven to him that it's true.

In any case, it's been long enough that Zuko will probably have noticed all the previously-discussed details about him, as well as how quickly he burns through his endurance once he does anything much more intensive than forms. Also, he starts sweating at the slightest exertion. But he's begun to make some slight improvements and understand where he's making mistakes, even if he hasn't been able to fix his muscle memory yet.]

Break.

[Rob gasps the word softly and sheathes his sword. He sets down his shield and heads for the water on the bench. At least this break he's remembering to stay hydrated.]

[Zuko nods, only showing a fraction of the exertion as Rob, and slides her sword into its sheath with its mate. She might be more comfortable with her dual sword technique, but after a session or two with him, she quickly switched modes to give him a closer example to follow.

That's not to say he's a bad student, but it's clear he doesn't have a natural talent for this and his instincts are fighting him. Honestly it's been a little frustrating for her, but she remembers all the years she struggled with firebending and she tries not to let it show. Forget the 'vast ocean of chi,' what her uncle should have bragged about was his immense patience.]

That was better this time, but you're still closing your eyes.

[Rob pauses in his guzzling down water.]

Sorry.

[He sounds part embarrassed and part worried that he's adding to her frustration with his failure.]

I'm still trying not to, it's just... reflex, I guess.

I know. It's something you need to train yourself out of.

A master swordsman might be able to fight blind, but it's because he's completely focused on anything his senses are telling him. Flinching just shuts all that out.

While that'd be interesting to watch if it's actually possible, it's not something I'm looking to try myself anytime soon.

How do you override reflexes though? I mean, without focusing all your attention on them to the point where you can't do anything else at the same time?

It's possible. [Her old master could do it. And then there's Toph.]

It's going to take time, and practice. It should help to become more confident in your ability to block or counter. You're flinching because some part of you is convinced you're going to get hit. You need to be sure that you won't.

[Toph is Toph. Using her as an example puts the idea out of the reach of mere mortals.

Rob looks thoughtful as he resumes drinking. What Zuko's saying makes sense.]

You might be right. Easier said than done, though.

Most things are. Even masters still have to practice.

[Rob puts the water down and focuses on his breathing as he rests.]

And for someone who's not looking to be a master, practice'll be even more important, eh?

[Zuko nods.]

You probably want to be more than a novice. That way you won't have to deal with me anymore.

I think "competent" is a reasonable goal for me here. Anything more is prolly pushing it.

Anything more just takes time.

[He shifts a bit awkwardly.]

I'm not really planning on dedicating my life to training or anything. I don't think I could stand doing this for more than the morning.

[That said, he can't shake the mental image of himself as a mighty warrior kicking in doors and mowing down armies of monsters. The idea's cool and all, but he doesn't consider that to be at all realistic for him. The knowledge that him being him means that he can't reach that is slightly depressing.]

[Zuko scratches her head.] I guess not everyone's interested in being a warrior, just so long as you can protect yourself.

[She never really stopped to think about whether being a warrior was something she wanted for herself or not. It was expected of her, so she trained at it, and she wanted to prove that she could be good at it. By now it's part of who she is, but who knows? Maybe it didn't have to be.]

Being able to protect yourself and others is the important thing.

[Rob had never had any interest in joining the military, his only interest in physical activities as a kid had been as an ultimately futile attempt to "fit in" and have friends, and even the kung fu classes he had taken for a few months and enjoyed had been mainly a way to hang out more with his only friends. In his world there was no need for him to be a warrior, and no desire for him to be a soldier. He knew quite well that neither life was as glamorous as books and movies made them out to be, and he'd always been one for the more intellectual pursuits, so that was the end of that.

And yet...

The intellectual part of him knew it was ridiculous. The instinctual part of him knew that he didn't have the talent. And yet the emotional part of him still hesitantly reached for it, had, upon him arriving in the Bastion, pushed him to rationalize picking up a weapon and leaving a place of safety for a place where a mistake could cost him his life. Even after returning bruised and in pain, after fearing for his life, after every rational part of him had screamed that going out had been a terrible idea and he was lucky to have returned in as good of a condition as he had, that emotional part had pushed again. And again. And his instinctual part joined in and said "This is living."

He'd collected the shards and bought an endless source of lumber. That had been his goal when he'd first gone out. He could just sit back and try to become good enough at woodworking to be useful to the Bastion. There was no logical reason to go out and get hurt again. There was no instinctual need to go out and get hurt again. But the feeling was building again. Ideas for what to make for the Bastion were running through his head. He wasn't about to sit by the entrance and beg for shards. He'd hate himself even more if he just leached off of people here.

"A man can fight, can protect his loved ones, can hunt." Rob felt that that was true in a way that grew stronger whenever he thought about it. And his opinion of himself grew lower at the same time, because where did that leave him? A boy in a man's body? In a culture that told him that a man provides for his family by sitting at a desk and doing as he's told just like everyone else?

There's a reason why Rob has "orcs" in his journal name.

Rob places his thumb and index finger at the corners of his eyes and pulls them together, wiping away the beginnings of moisture and turning the action into pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment before looking up.]

Okay. Let's get going again.

[He moves to pick up his shield and draw his sword.]

It's important if you're going to insist on putting yourself in danger.

[Zuko has no problem with the Bastion residents who don't know how to fight at all, provided they recognize that and stay off the Skyway. It's the ones who can't handle themselves but want to go out anyway that concern her.

She's not perceptive enough, and Rob doesn't share enough of what's going on in his head, for her to make any judgment calls on why he wants to do this, though she certainly would if she knew. A lot of them feel the need to search for loved ones or get out of the Bastion or just do something. Zuko isn't going to tell them they can't; she's just going to make sure they aren't complete idiots about it.]

Leave the shield. I want you to try it without it this time.

["Complete idiot" pretty much sums up Rob's approach to this, though at least he was intelligent enough to stick close to the Bastion so he could get back quickly.

He freezes when Zuko gives that order, hand already on the shield. He wonders why she's saying something like that, considering that that shield is a major part of why he hasn't taken even more hits than he has been. He looks up at her, still bending over.]

Why?

It's keeping you on the defensive, and slowing you down. If you focus on countering instead of blocking all the time, you can move to the offensive. You'll take fewer hits and end the fight quicker so you don't wear yourself out.

[You know, as long as your opponent isn't Zuko because she has ridiculous endurance and determination.]

[On the defensive is a safe and comfortable place to be, hiding behind a barrier until the danger has passed.]

Okay...

[He sounds unsure, but Zuko is the one with experience here, so he'll at least try. He moves the shield out of the way and returns, drawing his sword and... okay what does he do with his left hand now? He can't just let it flail around. As he wonders what to do, he brings the sword up and his left hand moves to join his right on the hilt. The sword's not designed to be wielded with two hands, so this isn't exactly optimum, but his hands adjust almost on their own to find positions that work reasonably well. As this happens, his stance shifts slightly to compensate for the weight of the shield being gone, and he decides to stick with this until Zuko gives more specific pointers.]

Okay.

[It's not the perfect stance for two-handed wielding, but it's closer to the proper stance than the first shield-and-sword stance Zuko saw was. His body language also looks slightly more comfortable in that stance compared to the previous one, but then he tends to look more competent when he's not actually flailing around with a sword, so it's hard to say what that means.]

[If he wants to fight defensively, he shouldn't be learning from a firebender.

Zuko nods approvingly; he does look more at ease in that stance, even if he hasn't tried it before and doesn't have quite the right sword for the style. If it proves better for him, they'll have to pay a trip to the forge.

She steps closer to him, offering a few corrections on his stance--the placement of his feet and the distance of his arms from his body. Once she's satisfied, she steps back and draws one of her own swords. She shifts into a similar stance, again so he has something to mirror, although her left hand isn't gripping the hilt so much as hovering near it.]

All right. Now attack.

[Hey, she was the one who asked him.

Rob tenses slightly, obviously intending to spring forward, but he doesn't actually do so immediately, pausing for a moment instead. Then he moves in a burst of speed, sword rising slightly before coming in for a diagonal downward slash. Or a chop, really. It's about as well-performed a move as any of the others he's demonstrated to Zuko, and he's still pulling the blow slightly, but despite the lack of skill on display the actual motions look noticeably more natural than most of what's come before. Still not "weapon as extension of body" natural, but the difference is obvious. To Zuko, at least. Rob can't tell the difference.]

[Only because he was just going to flail around stubbornly on his own otherwise.

Zuko notices the difference; the move does come more readily to him, he just doesn't seem to trust himself to do it. Between the hesitation and the straightforwardness of the attack, she could still probably disarm him if she wanted to, but he's a student, not an opponent. Zuko blocks the attack with her sword and deflects it to the side.]

Better.

[And now she attacks herself. It's a much less heavy-handed swing than his, and if he were good enough at reading moves, he'd be able to tell that the tip of the blade wouldn't actually reach his body. She wants to see how he'll react without the shield.]

[Read... moves...? Rob only sees a sharp object coming at him. It isn't coming close enough to his face to make him flinch, fortunately, so he's able to respond better. He brings his blade up and twists it around as it rises to intercept the arc of Zuko's swing, grunting softly as the blades hit each other. The basic idea of blocking with the blade is something he's seen plenty of times in movies and games, and is simple enough that he can do it decently. What he never realized is that you don't block with the edge of the blade, because that dulls it and can cause damage. ...But hey, he blocked it!]

[Well, a) he didn't flinch and b) he did block it, so Zuko is calling that progress. She'll keep up with the relatively simple swings for a while to let him practice that. She'll also leave enough of an opening between them that he could immediately attack after blocking as long as he doesn't keep hesitating.

But if he doesn't take it, she's going to get frustrated.]

[The problem now is that Rob is aware that he doesn't have a shield and thus has to use the same object to both attack and defend, which requires a different kind of skill than before. As long as there's a large enough opening between two swings one can see the whole sequence repeating itself: block, see if there's an opening, confirm to self that the opening indeed exists, move to exploit opening, see next attack, abort movement to get the sword into position to block again. This is one area where double- and triple-checking isn't useful, and he isn't able to get in enough to force Zuko to block him. He also flinches at one point when one of Zuko's swings gets too close to his face, as usual, but that's more like icing on the problem.

There are two positive things here though. First, while ultimately not very effective, his motions have better flow now that he's not trying to maneuver both a sword and a shield at the same time. Second, judging by the slowly growing look of irritation on his face as he continually fails to exploit the openings, he's aware that there's a problem somewhere.]

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