Post by Alina Rybalka on Apr 28, 2021 14:04:54 GMT -5
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[break][attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE
[break][attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY
[attr="class","nikki109"]At the end of the day, once all the bravado and fanciness around fighting was stripped away, the only thing one could rely on when your back was against the wall was yourself. The quality of that self would be the thing that determined life and death, and that quality was determined by talent, yes, but also training. The ability to not panic in the face of danger, and the muscle memory to do the right thing at the right time. [break][break]
The Iron Wolves had a mandatory training regimen, and others were allowed to join at will so long as they started at the same time that day. The majority of that was delegated to others, since Alina didn’t have time to really be the one training the recruits at this point. The people Alina dealt with were the higher tier of fighters for the most part, those who could actually benefit from interacting with her over others. Those that were too good to be challenged by the general population were given to Alina some days to help take the next step and be able to go all out without having to worry about injuring the other party. [break][break]
Marion was her main sparring partner this day, though others may come at a later time. The blonde was an interesting character, and over the past year Alina had grown comfortable around her. They weren’t friends, really, but they did recognize that their relationship was mutually beneficial and that they worked well together. The blonde had natural leadership abilities that Alina took advantage of, eventually promoting her into the position of Hetman Osaul which essentially made the former bandit leader Alina’s personal assistant. The original emotional distance between them was never fully bridged, but it was obvious by this point that the former soldier valued Marion and that showed in the amount of attention that the leader of the Revolutionary League invested into the woman since she was elevated into this position. [break][break]
Part of that, though, was actually unlocking whatever potential rested inside of her so she could survive long enough in this conflict to hold that position for the long term. Clashes with Huntsmen were infrequent, but eventually they would come for them. The Revolutionary League would die on that day if they were not prepared, and Alina’s work this past year was setting the stage and the players she anticipated being on that stage in such a way that they survived. Part of that survival was ensuring that leaders confident enough to make snap decisions were put into positions of power, and that they were able to survive long enough to be useful with that decisiveness. [break][break]
Her subordinate was good enough to routinely beat the general rabble and clearly had some level of professional training before this, but it wasn’t enough. Not at this stage. It wasn’t fine tuned enough, and she wasn’t putting enough effort into improving… so Alina started these weekly sessions where they went until Marion fell over from exhaustion limit testing. They had just finished round three, and each bout went roughly the same. [break][break]
Marion was much faster than Alina, and was able to control the terms of engagement. However, Alina was extremely agile and usually dodged the daggers thrown with little difficulty. The blonde did manage to get hits in occasionally, though, and they did little enough damage that aiming for vitals wasn’t a concern. For her part the former soldier simply used a wooden sword and slowly advanced until Marion tired herself out enough for Alina to catch up and finish the bout. Marion’s aura had broken by the end of the first round and was working without it since, but the wolf faunus wasn’t looking to injure her personal aide and often didn’t even connect a hit to end the bouts. She simply swung at the neck or thrust to a vital organ and stopped most of the momentum until the impact was little more than a poke before saying the word “Dead” and calling for a break to regain their breath. [break][break]
The blonde had shown improvement, though perhaps a bit too little for Alina’s liking so far. ”You’re going to be caught out at some point by somebody, we all are. You don’t necessarily have to win, but you do have to stall for long enough to make a difference. Use the environment more. Your stamina sucks, so you’ll need to find opportunities to get a breather for a few seconds to prevent falling over. Obstacles. Leg attacks. Distractions. Elevation. I’m not around all the time for everyone to tunnel vision on, and if you’re the highest one up you’ll be the target. Not much use if you immediately get rocked. For this next one try to drag it out as long as possible.” [break][break]
She switched the conditions of the match, as she did most times, to something different than the previous round. The previous round’s instruction was to inflict as much damage as possible to Alina’s aura by any means necessary, and that let Marion practice going all out and trying out some tricks. The poor woman was still struggling to catch her breath, face reddened from the previous bout so the former soldier gave her some more time. ”We can start whenever you can breathe.” Her tone rarely shifted away from calm and vaguely friendly when talking to her subordinate, even when her facial expression stayed blank. That outsized friendliness from their first meeting didn’t really return very often, and Marion would have realized long ago that that exaggerated friendliness was something she did as a replacement for when others might use screaming and yelling. It was a warning more than anything, one that was the last olive branch before declaring a situation or person a lost cause. [break][break]
She was one of the few that knew quite intimately that Alina’s exaggerated smiles were much more dangerous than her extremely rare flashes of anger, because the smiles were premeditated. The smiles meant that there was a checklist of options that she would run down to, and she was nearly at the end. It wasn’t friendliness, but anticipation of what happened next to someone who she was on the verge of considering unsavable.
[break]The Iron Wolves had a mandatory training regimen, and others were allowed to join at will so long as they started at the same time that day. The majority of that was delegated to others, since Alina didn’t have time to really be the one training the recruits at this point. The people Alina dealt with were the higher tier of fighters for the most part, those who could actually benefit from interacting with her over others. Those that were too good to be challenged by the general population were given to Alina some days to help take the next step and be able to go all out without having to worry about injuring the other party. [break][break]
Marion was her main sparring partner this day, though others may come at a later time. The blonde was an interesting character, and over the past year Alina had grown comfortable around her. They weren’t friends, really, but they did recognize that their relationship was mutually beneficial and that they worked well together. The blonde had natural leadership abilities that Alina took advantage of, eventually promoting her into the position of Hetman Osaul which essentially made the former bandit leader Alina’s personal assistant. The original emotional distance between them was never fully bridged, but it was obvious by this point that the former soldier valued Marion and that showed in the amount of attention that the leader of the Revolutionary League invested into the woman since she was elevated into this position. [break][break]
Part of that, though, was actually unlocking whatever potential rested inside of her so she could survive long enough in this conflict to hold that position for the long term. Clashes with Huntsmen were infrequent, but eventually they would come for them. The Revolutionary League would die on that day if they were not prepared, and Alina’s work this past year was setting the stage and the players she anticipated being on that stage in such a way that they survived. Part of that survival was ensuring that leaders confident enough to make snap decisions were put into positions of power, and that they were able to survive long enough to be useful with that decisiveness. [break][break]
Her subordinate was good enough to routinely beat the general rabble and clearly had some level of professional training before this, but it wasn’t enough. Not at this stage. It wasn’t fine tuned enough, and she wasn’t putting enough effort into improving… so Alina started these weekly sessions where they went until Marion fell over from exhaustion limit testing. They had just finished round three, and each bout went roughly the same. [break][break]
Marion was much faster than Alina, and was able to control the terms of engagement. However, Alina was extremely agile and usually dodged the daggers thrown with little difficulty. The blonde did manage to get hits in occasionally, though, and they did little enough damage that aiming for vitals wasn’t a concern. For her part the former soldier simply used a wooden sword and slowly advanced until Marion tired herself out enough for Alina to catch up and finish the bout. Marion’s aura had broken by the end of the first round and was working without it since, but the wolf faunus wasn’t looking to injure her personal aide and often didn’t even connect a hit to end the bouts. She simply swung at the neck or thrust to a vital organ and stopped most of the momentum until the impact was little more than a poke before saying the word “Dead” and calling for a break to regain their breath. [break][break]
The blonde had shown improvement, though perhaps a bit too little for Alina’s liking so far. ”You’re going to be caught out at some point by somebody, we all are. You don’t necessarily have to win, but you do have to stall for long enough to make a difference. Use the environment more. Your stamina sucks, so you’ll need to find opportunities to get a breather for a few seconds to prevent falling over. Obstacles. Leg attacks. Distractions. Elevation. I’m not around all the time for everyone to tunnel vision on, and if you’re the highest one up you’ll be the target. Not much use if you immediately get rocked. For this next one try to drag it out as long as possible.” [break][break]
She switched the conditions of the match, as she did most times, to something different than the previous round. The previous round’s instruction was to inflict as much damage as possible to Alina’s aura by any means necessary, and that let Marion practice going all out and trying out some tricks. The poor woman was still struggling to catch her breath, face reddened from the previous bout so the former soldier gave her some more time. ”We can start whenever you can breathe.” Her tone rarely shifted away from calm and vaguely friendly when talking to her subordinate, even when her facial expression stayed blank. That outsized friendliness from their first meeting didn’t really return very often, and Marion would have realized long ago that that exaggerated friendliness was something she did as a replacement for when others might use screaming and yelling. It was a warning more than anything, one that was the last olive branch before declaring a situation or person a lost cause. [break][break]
She was one of the few that knew quite intimately that Alina’s exaggerated smiles were much more dangerous than her extremely rare flashes of anger, because the smiles were premeditated. The smiles meant that there was a checklist of options that she would run down to, and she was nearly at the end. It wasn’t friendliness, but anticipation of what happened next to someone who she was on the verge of considering unsavable.
[attr="class","nikki103"]1043 words | [attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS | [attr="class","nikki103"]1043 TOTAL WORDS |
NOTES
A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, B Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D ExhaustionPHARAOH LEAP CREATES
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