"Dodging. Then parrying. Then countering. Let's build this house from the bottom up." Pansy crouches a little lower and raises the wooden stick. "Okay, dodging."
Pansy didn't have formal fighting training before Finchwood. But she'd always been physical in the way she'd lived. She'd score against taller basketball players by leveraging her balance and weight to create space, put her defenders on their heels, disrupt their timing. After years of learning by doing, she'd mastered how to position her body and anicipate other's movements. But it's one thing to understand these things and another to teach them.
"When you're in a melee fight," Pansy begins to circle, "look straight ahead. But don't focus on any one thing." Another sideways step, one foot crossing in front of the other. "It's kind of like driving a car. You look forward and you take everything in: the other cars, the street signs, the lane lines. But if you focus in on one thing -- 'Huh, is there a Q in that license plate?' -- you crash. Don't focus on your opponent's eyes. Or their shoulders. Or their smile." She smiles. "Just look straight ahead and take it all in. You'll see - and sense - so much more--"
Without warning, Pansy swings the wooden sword down at half speed.
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Pansy and Monet
Date: 2019-04-23 07:23 am (UTC)Pansy didn't have formal fighting training before Finchwood. But she'd always been physical in the way she'd lived. She'd score against taller basketball players by leveraging her balance and weight to create space, put her defenders on their heels, disrupt their timing. After years of learning by doing, she'd mastered how to position her body and anicipate other's movements. But it's one thing to understand these things and another to teach them.
"When you're in a melee fight," Pansy begins to circle, "look straight ahead. But don't focus on any one thing." Another sideways step, one foot crossing in front of the other. "It's kind of like driving a car. You look forward and you take everything in: the other cars, the street signs, the lane lines. But if you focus in on one thing -- 'Huh, is there a Q in that license plate?' -- you crash. Don't focus on your opponent's eyes. Or their shoulders. Or their smile." She smiles. "Just look straight ahead and take it all in. You'll see - and sense - so much more--"
Without warning, Pansy swings the wooden sword down at half speed.