25th Teddy Bear [Voice/Action][TWO DAYS]

[asobouyo]

[[Nighttime; June 23rd]]

[Elicia had had a tough week.

Shuffle, shuffle—the sound of turning blankets and small feet moving back and forth through them. She's been rolling in her sleep for a few minutes now, flipping her hidden journal into a little book tepee, while it records the buzzing air and soft incoherent murmurings of a child dreaming. They're not happy dreams, after a while, and it takes but a moment before she's wide awake and horrified and crawling under her blankets with her mouth in a shaky near-crying line. The journal. That's right.

She reaches over and opens it up all the way, unable to see anything in the dark. Her voice is watery and lined with a sort of innocent, hurt desperation when she speaks.]

[Voice]

Please tell me a story. I wanna hear stories, if anyone... wants to talk... I like them a lot. I—I promise I'll go back to sleep, but I just wanna hear one...

[Pretty, pretty please...

But despite stories, sometime in the night, she rises up from her bed and patter-pitters quickly into her parents' room. Scary, they're too scary—and they could be real. Because she's seen scary real things like it before. And the last thing she wanted was a blue-eyed woman slowly creaking out of her closet, like she kept imagining, over and over and over again...]

[[Daytime; June 24th]]


[It was a cold snap, today. Elicia wore her poofy pink jacket for the occasion. Truth be told, she's had a very tiring night of trying to sleep, and she'd failed at it fairly well. There were a mesh-up of things. Scary things. She didn't want to draw any of them, so she decided on focusing her attention to playing. By the end of her short-lived playtime outside, she's laying on her arm on the front steps of her house, the fake pink sword Law gave her still clamped in her hand.

A good nap. There was nothing scary... Just good. That was important. It's a good thing children bounce back well enough, even if only for a while, because she's got a content air about her later on in the day. Anyone who wants to visit, now's a great time to; she'll be drawing funny circles all over the ground outside with a stick. Clapping her hands and smacking them. And nothing happens. :|

But she sure as hell is pretending something's happening.]



Bam!! Now you can't stand against my dirt alchemy!! [throws dirt up with her hands at her big teddy bear >:^(

HA, screw you, teddy, you've got dirt on your head!]

You'd better give up soon, or else I'll have to use my water attack next!!

[AND THEN YOU'LL BE MUDDY!!!]

((ooc: Just make it clear which day you're replying to and all that. I have faith in you. |Db))

Comments

[deathsdoctor]

[I wanna be stronger. Now how could any One Piece character refuse that?]

Train. Study. [A small smile.] And believe.

... and some pointers wouldn't hurt. Let me show you how to hold that sword.

[asobouyo]

[Ah! She holds up her sword, mouth an interested 'o' at the offer.]

You're really good at fighting with swords, arentcha', Uncle Law?

[deathsdoctor]

Yes. Really good. Not the best, but up there. [As far as things go in Luceti at least. He is nowhere close to Mihawk's level and he knows it.]

Alright. One hand up here, right up at the tsuba, [Or the guard as it's better known.] and one down here at the bottom of the tsuka. [Aka the hilt. And he'll guide her hands if she has trouble, like so..] They should never be together. Otherwise your wrists will hurt the more you practice and using the sword properly will be much harder.

[It produces a hacking motion with the hands together. It takes away the power of a slice and the range of movement. A sword is not an axe after all. But words won't get that across well with a five year old. It is better demonstrated so she can get a feel for how much easier the sword moves with the proper technique.]

[asobouyo]

Ruh—right!!

[Wrist hurting = bad. Good logic to live by.]

Why's it hurt your wrists if you hold it different?

[deathsdoctor]

Strain. When you swing a sword you have to flick your wrists in the process. Like in casting a fishing rod. [And he'll take a step back out of Elicia range to demonstrate. Then he moves his hands together and does it again, exaggerating the awkwardness.] Doesn't work right when you hold it wrong, does it? Kinda choppy. And since you have to work harder to make a cut and the cut's not smooth, [Putting down the sword, he never unsheathed it and touches the inside of his wrist.] everything in here gets all jerked around and stressed after a while.

Same when you block another sword. That sword will push your sword back, twisting it out of your grip. The more you hold it wrong, the more difficult it will be to hold on to your sword. And that will make your hands, and especially your wrists, smart.

[asobouyo]

Oooooh...!!

[She holds it precisely as demonstrated. Well, close enough, anyway.]

And then I hit--POW!!

[She slices forward at the air with her relatively harmless little sword, scowling like the good little actress she is.]

[deathsdoctor]

Very good!

[And once she stops swinging the sword, he'll just nudge her hands back into correct position again. It won't take very much of a nudge at all.]

Now copy how I stand [And he shifts into a balanced striking position] and let's try that again.

[And he'll demonstrate the swordstrike alongside her.]

[asobouyo]

[RIGHT.

She mimics his stance, and slices at the air as he does.]

Hiyah!!

[... her hand slips down just a teeny bit again.]

[deathsdoctor]

[She's just learning. It won't come immediately.]

Now let's try a block.

[Going into an overhead block slowly so she can follow along.]

[asobouyo]

A block! That's when you stop their sword, huh, Uncle Law?

[She quickly follows suit as she speaks, tongue out the corner of her mouth in focus.]

[deathsdoctor]

Yeah. We also call that parrying. [Going from that block into a diagonal slash.] But you have to be careful, because sometimes they try to trick you. [Now drawing back that sword for another strike at a copyable speed.] They want you to think they coming for you in one direction [Here starts the strike] when they're really going somewhere else. [And the sword direction and body positioning changes and the sword's moving somewhere else.]

We call that a feint.

1/2

[asobouyo]

A feint!

[...]

[asobouyo]

But I thought that was when you get all funny-headed and fall over when people feint?

[deathsdoctor]

[Chuckling. Oh god, his head. Ow. But totally not caring.]

That's a faint, then. [Grin.] Faint and feint are two different words. They just sound very much alike.

[asobouyo]

...Oh.

I didn't know words could be the same, but mean different stuff!

[deathsdoctor]

Oh yes, there's plenty like that. Meet and meat, wait and weight, pray and prey. They're just written out like that. You'll get to learn a lot of them in school.

[And we parry an invisible opponent with the sword again.]

[asobouyo]

[sdfdjsflkjlk PARRY!! She copies his moves, a little shakily, but still copying all the same.]

That's good! I like learning new stuff, and school always teaches me new stuff!

[deathsdoctor]

[He slows down and breaks down the movements a bit more visibly. This is lesson one after all - getting a feel for how a sword can move (and therefore demonstrating his point on why proper swordgrip is important).

Pretty good for a first time, you know, little shaky or not, especially since you're five. Some of these moves most kids have more trouble with - not developed enough muscle co-ordination or movement range.]

Oh? What's your favorite subject?

[Bringing back that sword to his right side, hilt just above waist height, sheathed blade straight out like the muzzle of a rifle, and drawing it back in preparation for a thrusting strike. The double handed grip only increased the power.

He could punch through steel in this pose if he was serious. But since he's not and he's just demonstating for teaching purposes...

Thrust.

It's not going to be punching through anything but air. But even slowed down, done by a five year old, and maybe a little off, there's still power to be felt in it.]

[asobouyo]

My favorite's art! Or maybe reading and writing! I think it's a tie!

[Forget that art was her favorite before, she tends to have mixed feelings. Give it a week and it'll be learning about animals, or something.

She mimics, and though the thrust isn't a straight line per say—left and right it tends to wander—it's still a strike through air nonetheless.]

[deathsdoctor]

[He's going to have to find you a swordsmaster, young one, if you keep this up. There's talent there.]

Really? I loved those subjects too when I was younger. [Some of his teachers... not so much at all, however.] And it's very important for a swordsman to be good in those things. Your skill with a pen or brush reflects your skill with a blade.

In the old days, a well accomplished swordsmaster wasn't only a fighter. He or she was an artist and a scholar as well.

[Those days are almost gone, though. He finds it sad.]

[asobouyo]

Really? Then I can be more than one?

[deathsdoctor]

That's right.

[asobouyo]

Which things are you, Uncle Law?

[deathsdoctor]

[Since this is a G rated thread, we'll leave out the pirating. For now.]

Well I'm a doctor, a swordsman, a Captain of a submarine and crew, a strategist, a shogi player...

What things do you want to be, Miss Elicia?

[And he'll start to lead you through the rest of the cuts you can do with a sword.]

[asobouyo]

Mmmm... I wanna be a doctor! And a pirate! And a sword fighter!!

[SWING!]