Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Summer Soiree: Exercise Body & Mind (Closed)

Once Kys was satisfied, they returned to their original position. "Cyr, keep your pace," Kys requested. "Siie... follow the beat as I clap my hands."

Kys began clapping their lower hands. Their own beat wasn't regular, but rather paced specifically to get Siie into sync with Cyr. Their sense of hearing was acute enough to make out the expected sounds and vibrations of each step, particularly given it was a sequence they knew and one they had listened to the girls perform for long enough to match the sounds with the specific movements. Once the synchronisation was as close as it seemed capable of getting, Kys spoke again. "Pay close attention."

They began narrating the dance, not quite using the same words each time, but narrating the actions accurately. After a few more repeats, they squeezed a "ready?" between narrations, then added a "right" in place of a left. A few more steps later, a "pull" instead of a push. As time progressed, the changes became more frequent and more divergent. Steps replaced arm swings. New moves were introduced. But the difficulty of said individual moves never ramped up, and always the commands still let the movement flow. The rhythm remained. It was as though Kys was conductor of a two-girl orchestra of dance.

“Wait….wait a second,” Siie claimed suddenly before things could take off, stopping and moving her head back and forth as if she were looking around. “We cannot be dancing like this Cyr, Tyrss will stop-“

“We are not dancing, sister, we are training remember?” Cyr said happily, completely disregarding any similarity it had to Voldarian religion.

“A-are you sure?” Siie inquired with obvious distress in her voice, “Cuz I don’t wanna-“

“Yes, Siie….trust me, I wouldn’t risk your religion,” Cyr claimed, accidently slipping up and calling it Siie’s religion rather than claiming it as her own as well.

Siie began slowly working her way back into the movements, listening to the clapping and falling into a synchronization relatively easily despite her previous difficulties of being blindfolded. Her heart fluttered hearing Kys’ instructions, and when they finally said, ‘ready,’ her nerves began bothering her. Suddenly Kys called out, ‘right,’ and in response, Siie squeaked, ducking and covering her head a moment in a clear expectation she was going to be struck. When she realized she wasn’t, she stood up, looking back and forth as if that was somehow helpful to her, and tried to ease herself back into the rhythm once again. Cyr, on the other hand, stumbled and stalled for a split second hearing the first command, not expecting a change to the routine and likely expecting some kind of physical contact instead.

The next couple of commands Cyr attempted to correct her action to accommodate the new command. One thing possibly noticeable, was that some of the moves were far easier for her to pick up than others. Larger movements which took more physical movement were something she seemed to pick up on even as they were happening, while smaller movements which weren’t obviously noticeable were something she struggled catching on to.

Siie, unfortunately, seemed to struggle with about every change, even to the point of loosing track of and forgetting what the original ‘dance’ was particularly seeing as the originality of it was quickly being replaced. It wasn’t long before Siie wasn’t apparently doing to the same ‘dance’ as Kys and Cyr were, though any observer could see she was clearly trying very hard. Should the original dance not change very drastically, it was likely she could regulate back to the original, however, if it continued to fluidly change, she would soon find herself lost.

Noticing Siie was having difficulty, Kys repeated the original sequence twice. "Cyr, continue," they followed up with to leave her in the sequence so as to keep it fresh in her mind for when the second step was tried again.

In the mean time, Kys approached Siie. If Siie had not stopped at that point, Kys would gently guide her to a halt. "We'll try again," they said gently. "I don't expect anyone to get it first time. Your sister is doing well, but I would not expect anything less from her. Normally I would have a student doing this part for a few days before going any further, but we will probably have to move on at some point for this to be any use to you without my future guidance. At that point, you will be able to practice with your sister at home to improve your reflexes and reactions without relying on sight. This is probably not what you expected from my training, but in my experience, reacting to a situation quickly and correctly can often be more useful than actual combat technique. What do you think? You up for trying again?"

Cyr readily continued the motions, and as Kys approached Siie, she had continued trying to keep up desperately, though without much success. She felt Kys touch her and didn't negatively react, only slowing to a stop and dropping her gaze as she listened to them. Her posture slumped, and her arms fell while she nearly stomped a single foot, though her hands attempted to remain in contact with Kys' fur, petting through it with her fingers as she spoke.

"Of course she's doing well.....Cyr always does well. She's popular, pretty, skilled....I mean I love my sister a lot....and she is very good to me, but sometimes I just wish...." Siie blurted out carelessly in a whisper meant very obviously for only Kys' ears, though one could also say it was meant only not for Cyr's ears as well.

Siie paused suddenly, closing her eyes tightly and shaking her head. She knew she had her own skills and benefits, but while useful for society's advancement, it wasn't as often recognized by even her Humarian peers.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she continued to per across Kys' fur, so long as they allowed it. "Yeah..." she said quietly, looking up to Kys, "I'll try again. Sorry I'm not as good as Cyr and sorry that I.....complained...."

Siie only released Kys' fur when they pulled away, taking a position to prepare once again for the motions Kys once showed her. Something about rubbing their fur was comforting, and wasn't something Siie could fully explain. While Siie was undoubtedly tense when she was attempting the dance, rubbing Kys' fur calmed her, easing her heartrate and breathing.

"You're doing great," Kys softly assured. They then returned to their earlier position. "Ready...? And..."

Listening out for the tell-tale sound of Cyr reaching the starting point of the loop, Kys began narrating again. They gave enough repeats to ensure Siie was back on track, then a couple of extra to try to get her comfortable. Then for one loop, they started clapping again so that they could speak. "Here we go again..." they said. "I'll ramp it up slower this time..."

And once again, Kys started changing the sequence up once more. As promised, it was indeed ramped up slower. But even so, this time Kys decided to reset the sequence entirely every so often and ramp up from the very beginning again. That way, if Siie would begin to mess up to an extent that had her out of sequence entirely, she had a chance to reset again.

Siie's face flushed, glistening a light teal color. 'You're doing great', it was the same response she always received when she voiced her concerns, and she felt a wave of embarrassment as it occurred again. She regretted saying anything now, and her spirit lowered somewhat as she shook her head a little.

Kys moved to help her further, and while Cyr had at this point had the movements nailed and was adding a little of her own flare to the movements, Siie again began with some issues. She eventually was able to reach a point she was reliably performing the routine, but her embarrassment effected her performance to begin with. It would take some time, and slow transitions at first, but eventually Siie would be able to keep a decent pace. It certainly wasn't the graceful performance her sister portrayed, but once the feeling of humiliation at her outburst had more or less passed, she was at least able to repeat what Kys was showing them.

"All right, stop for a bit now," Kys finally said. "Now that you've practised reacting to sound, lets work on something a little more relevant to combat." They walked up behind Cyr. "This time, you will be repeating the original sequence without changes, but instead, every so often, I will be calling out an imaginary attack from a random direction. This time, I want you to react to it, and then smoothly return to the sequence. I will be adding in calls for attacking back later, but for now, you only need to get used to blocking."

Kys gently positioned Cyr's right arm into a blocking position with the forearm in a rightward direction. "Block right," they said. Then did the same thing to the left arm. "Block left." They then crossed Cyr's arms in front of her. "Block front." Then they gently took hold of her ankle with their foot, moved her leg back into a supportive stance, then twisted her torso to face backward and crossed her arms again. "Block back."

Kys then went over to Siie and taught her the same instructions, before returning to their frontal position. "Ready?"

The pair both stopped as instructed, and while Cyr remained staring forward, Siie turned her head to naturally look in Kys' direction. Despite the fact she couldn't see, it was a natural reaction when they began to speak.

Cyr felt a little guilty hearing Kys mention they had been reacting to sound. They couldn't have guessed, but it wasn't what either one of them had been doing, and Cyr wondered if she should speak up on the subject. Siie, on the other hand, either failed to make the connection or didn't fully realize the difference. That or perhaps it lacked relevance in a subject she lacked much interest in despite being half Voldarian.

Cyr waited until Kys was mostly through showing her the motions in which she would likely soon be blocking incoming attacks, she presumed verbally before anything else, then spoke softly when they were just about finished.

"I haven't been using sound to track you....is that important?" Cyr asked softly, sounding almost bashful in her question. The truth was she now felt a little ashamed at not having said something sooner.

Siie would move through the motions as well, though unlike her sister who anticipated the movements and spoke along with Kys as they explained them, she moved slower and didn't anticipate. Rather than the firm feel of Cyr's block, Siie held her arms up a little looser, whispering to herself the words Kys said after they said them...."block left....block right...."

"Sure you have..." Kys said, confused. "My voice has been giving you commands, and you have been reacting to them. Unless you have some other means of keeping track of my intentions," they added. "In which case, all the same, you have been reacting to non-visual stimuli..."

"Oh..." Cyr said, more than a little surprised at her own oversight. The embarrassment caused her face to glisten slightly pink as her blood moved into her face.

"Not your intentions," Siie said sounding as though she had had an epiphany at what Cyr had said. "Just your movement," she exclaimed almost excitedly. She hadn't realized she was subconsciously doing so naturally, and the idea placed in her head by Cyr made things more comfortable for her, and thus improved her mood causing a smile to appear on her face.

"S-sorry...I just...I felt like I was cheating...." Cyr said with a slightly shaky voice. After a moment of mentally composing herself, she said more firmly, and confidently, "What's next?"

"Let's start the sequence again," Kys said, before giving a quick countdown, and then clapping the rhythm. "be ready to block when I tell you..."

The sequence went through a couple of times before Kys shouted out "Block left!" And then a few seconds later, "Block back!". The first few orders to block were generally made at times where it was easier to transition to and then return to the sequence. But as before, the difficulty with this stage also ramped up over time. Block orders increased in frequency, were called out at increasingly awkward times and Kys even began to increase the tempo of the clapping to speed up the movement sequence. Kys kept a keen ear open for sounds of Siie breaking rhythm in particular, though just in case, they also kept track of Cyr. Any sign of difficulty becoming too much, and they started things again and progressed more slowly, until they found the upper limit either girl - most like Siie - could take within the limited time they had for training.

Both girls started off their blocking routines relatively simply, though while Siie was methodical and clearly put thought and effort into getting the right block in at the right time, Cyr added the blocks in with initial flare, appearing as though to incorporate the movements into the routine in a kind of dance that was almost hypnotic to watch. As the speed and difficulty increased, Cyr, at first, had no trouble incorporating the new blocks in at varying moments. Siie didn't seem to struggle a lot at first, either, though that was soon to change.

The speed increased, and Siie stumbled a little at first. By the time she was falling out of the rhythm and needed to be retracted was almost always the moment Cyr began to start truly trying rather than appearing to simply create her own defensive dance routine.

Eventually the routine would level off relatively quickly, with Siie putting all of her might into proceeding successfully, with Cyr dancing away with a somewhat serious expression on her face despite the half smile yet existing, if only to further imply her determination in the sequence.

Kys eventually returned to just clapping as they explained the next step. "Now I'm going to add strike commands," they said. "There's not a specific motion involved in this, as in real combat, you must strike in whatever is the most efficient manner for the circumstance. So if the position the command in the sequence means you would prefer to kick, then kick. Or if you would more easily punch, then punch. Elbows, knees, even forehead... it is fair game. Just... try not to over-complicate things. Especially with backward strikes. I don't want either of you to injure yourselves. Alright... get ready..."

And Kys continued as before, only mixed in with the "block" commands were "strike" commands, each set in one of the four established directions.

The suggestion that they not overcomplicate their procedure immediately gave Cyr a bit of a smirk. In her mind there was no way she would hurt herself in such a simple exercise, and so she inwardly decided to show off a little. Siie, on the other hand, took Kys' warning to heart(s), and made a mental note not to be flamboyant in any of her movements, even nodding to herself as they explained this.

Once again, Cyr made a hypnotic routine of the scene, dancing about with more and more artistic movements in her strikes and even blocks now as they continued on. Siie was again methodical, "taking her time" as it were to pull off what was expected of her and concentrating solely on the task at hand without adding any fluff to her demonstration. Her face remained a reflection of this sterness, clearly thinking out her moves, while Cyr had a smile on her face as she moved about in her almost attempt to kind of show off her ability.

"And rest," Kys eventually ordered. "Now wait a moment."

With that, they disappeared into one of the tents and re-emerged once again. They were careful not to give away the squeaky ball they held in one hand and rubber chicken in the other through accidental squeezing, and from sound alone, it was impossible to work out just what they had disappeared for. They also had a metronome in a third hand, which they placed in their previous standing position and set swinging.

"This time," Kys said almost smugly. "I will not be telling you the direction to block and strike. Instead, I will be moving around you, and you must block or strike in my direction. You will know when you have failed, trust me."

Kys started walking in an arch-shaped path just out of reach of the girls. "When I say start, resume the sequence to the time of the metronome. Ready? Start."

And Kys began, walking in seemingly random directions and calling out "Block!" or "Strike!". Whenever Siie failed, they squeezed the ball, letting out a high-pitched squeak. Whenever Cyr failed, instead the rubber chicken was squeezed, letting out an undignified honk. This time, increasing difficulty came from Kys's movements, often changing in speed or stealthiness, to the extent where they could swiftly move across the mat in near-silence.

Though aware of the possibility for fatigue, Kys knew that they only had a limited amount of time to impart enough of their training techniques to make the exercise actually worthwhile and practicable without their presence, thus they pressed on. Thankfully, there were only a couple more steps left in their itinerary.

The pair glanced at each other in separate times of the lull before beginning again, with any signs of being fatigued not visible if they, in fact, felt any so far. Tracking each other was easy, it was nearly impossible for either of them to be unaware of each other’s presence. Tracking Kys wasn’t terribly difficult either, though could be overlooked if not paying attention, like a sound or motion gone unheard or unseen respectively. Tracking what they were holding, on the other hand, would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

It was so when the routine began again, easily falling in step with the metronome, that they had no idea what they were in for having not removed their blindfolds. As Kys moved, each of them was aware of their direction, and at first they held up well. Cyr in particular made her ‘blind’ moves look quite easy, though hearing was not what she used.

Siie was the first to make a mistake, tossing a block out in the direction of Kys instead of the requested strike. The ball squeaked suddenly, and loudly, and was the last thing Siie expected to happen. She immediately dropped the routine and held her hands up in front of her as if to guard her midsection and screamed girlishly at the top of her lungs, backing up a few shuffled steps as she did.

“Siie? Are you okay?” Cyr asked as she slowed her motions, ready to tear off her blindfold and come to her sisters defense if necessary.

“I-I’m fine…..he just…they just….,” Siie responded nervously, then giggling nervously and lightly as she returned to her position and began again.

Cyr returned to her routine as well, and wouldn’t make her own mistake until several more were made by Siie first. The high pitched squeak gave Siie a jump every time it occurred, and caused her to faulter each time if even in the slightest. Cyr, on the other hand, had the benefit of hearing it happen to her sister before the honking came at her. While she was surprised at the different noise, she didn’t faulter or frighten, and only responded with a light giggle and a, “What was that?”

Eventually, this section too came to an end, and Kys stopped the metronome. "Do be sure to practice in your own time," they said. "The movement sequence itself is not important, it is simply a distraction to test your multi-tasking and simulate the nature of combat. The final step is something you will probably be practising most if you decide to maintain this discipline. As it applies the principles practically. We will only be going gentle here, but at home, if you choose to ramp up toward fully-fledged sparring, that is perfectly fine - and expected. Just do not do so before all participants are ready. There is no point risking pain or injury when you are not ready to learn from it."

After putting the squeaky toys and metronome back, Kys approached Cyr and led her to the centre of the mat, then did the same to Siie and faced them toward each either, both within arms reach of one-another. "There are two ways of doing this exercise," Kys explained. "With and without verbal accompaniment. We will include it, but again, when you are ready, you can go without at home. The exercise is simple - at any time, one of you may reach to touch the other. The other must block you before you can do so. For now, you may only use one hand at a time until you have fully withdrawn your chosen limb. You may be swift, so long as you do not apply enough force to injure the other. Try to catch each other off guard whilst keeping your senses open to the incoming strike of the other. State clearly either 'left' or 'right', depending on which arm you are using, when you begin your strike. Whenever you are ready, you may begin. I will remain close in case of... misjudgements."

The pair stood there several moments when told to begin, having allowed Kys to explain and lead them to the ready positions willingly. Neither were completely sure how to begin, and both felt this exercise in particular would probably be less beneficial than intended. While it came as something of a relief for Siie, Cyr found she would have much rather practiced this with Kys rather than Siie. It wasn’t anything against Siie either, it was simply her energy content.

For either one of them, the other was very easily felt through their energy sense. They glowed like a neon Christmas tree that was hard to miss. The difference was, Kys appeared very different through the same sense, because they were feeling the lack of energy their presence caused, a kind of shadow they detected rather than an easily noticeable object like another being coursing with the same source within them.

With that being, it really came down to misinterpretations. Siie was the first to make a strike, and calling it out, Cyr was easily able to feel and hear the incoming attack and block it as gently as it was thrown. After a few more of these, Cyr attempted to catch her sister off guard, but found the easiest way to do so after a couple of tries. It was calling out ‘left’ and swinging with her left that confused Siie, and immediately she attempted to block left, only to be struck by Cyr because she had moved the wrong direction. Cyr took advantage of this tactic only a few times before stopping, not wanting to prey on something that might break her sister’s spirit. This was, after all, something she truly wanted her sister to continue with, and making her feel bad about her performance would likely chase her off of it right away. Cyr knew for certain already, though, blind energy detection in sparring matches was something she was going to start adding to her personal studies.

Satisfied that the girls had been given a starting point to practising non-visual combat, Kys finally stopped them and allowed them to take off their blindfolds. They directed the girls to the refreshment stand, which though somewhat bland in its array of options, had a good selection of refreshing and nutritious beverages and snacks. Undistracting yet fulfilling, without being heavy on the digestive system. Kys offered the girls access to the mats for any further practice or meditation, but themselves took a meditative position on the mat closest to the path, in case they needed to deal with other visitors.

That was not to say Kys would remain detached toward the girls for as long as they remained, willing to answer questions that might have been asked of them. And when came time for goodbyes, they stood up for the occasion, offering wholesome words, respectful bows... and being more than willing to reciprocate any potential friendly hugs, should such an action be taken.

And then, once the girls had collected their things and gone, Kys was back in their sitting position, waiting patiently. Though on this particular day, their set-up sat in lonely silence, Kys was satisfied in the knowledge of having provided enlightenment to two young wanderers on the road of life.

“What kind of planet doesn’t have Dr. Pepper?” Siie grumbled silently as she looked through the available refreshments, eventually reaching out and taking the nearest looking drink to her coveted soft drink from her homeworld.

“Siie….” Cyr sighed out in defeat as she reached out and grabbed whatever her hand fell on first. After all, it was hard to say what was healthy and what wasn’t for a Humarian having only existed a total of 16 years at this point. With such contradictory biology, it was a wonder they existed at all, and so whatever there was would be a good enough guess for Cyr. Siie, on the other hand, was as hung up on taste as nearly any human was.

“I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy yourself, I just thought that-“

“Who said I didn’t enjoy myself?” Siie interrupted her sisters question, to which her pink eyes stared confused at Siie. She shrugged largely and dropped her eyes from Cyr, “It’s kinda nice learning combat from someone who isn’t Voldarian. They’re so hung up on competition, pride, and stuff….and Kys doesn’t seem to be like that at all,” she said silently as she looked over toward the eyeless instructor sitting in the distance. Their volume and distance was cause for them to believe Kys wouldn’t be able to hear them, though they didn’t realize the full extent of their auditory sensitivity.

Cyr smiled at her sister as she fumbled with opening her drink as she continued speaking. “I guess it’s nice to know there’s people out there who see things more like I do,” she said finishing opening her drink, then smiling coyly and moving her eyes up to her sister, “Especially when they can flip your skirt!”

“Flipped it bigger than sh** didn’t he?” Cyr said with a laugh, and Siie quickly joined in laughing with her sister who referred only to Kys victory over her in combat using a Voldarian saying.

“They,” Siie corrected, and Cyr reached out and pulled her sister close, kissing her softly on the lips.

“They,” Cyr confirmed.

-

Several moments later with the refreshments gone, the girls stood nearby to Kys, saying their final words before departing in what was essentially small talk made by what most would consider to be overly mature teenagers with a strong hint of silly rooted deep within each of them, though expressed vastly differently.

“The next time we meet, I will destroy you,” Cyr said with a big smile and clear jovial character in her voice. It wasn’t a serious threat, very obviously it was instead a silly joke made in good humor, at least for her own intent. She didn’t offer the friendly hug, though if it were offered to her she would likely accept.

Siie, on the other hand, took a more serious approach in her farewell. Stepping forward she unclipped a small cloudy gem from her wrist and placed it in Kys’ hand, explaining scanning it with a very particular frequency with a narrow band scanning device would reveal the information needed to contact her directly on her personal handheld computer device.

“You said you wanted to meet Lucas…so whenever you’re ready….” Siie rationalized, then shrugging largely again. “Or if you want to do more training or something….or even just say hi,” she said with her eyes on the floor and her left hand holding her right wrist in front of her. It didn’t seem to matter that Kys lacked eyes, she still couldn’t make face view of them, where she would ordinarily find eye contact. Several stalled seconds went by before she would step forward and offer her own friendly hug to Kys, again petting and grasping at their fur, though if in any way she felt them pull away or decline she would immediately pull back herself. At the last of it, she offered a look up at their face and a wave out of instinct before promptly turning about and walking briskly to her sister.

“Thank you ,Kys’Jarok,” Cyr said, pulling Siie closer by her bicep, then turning and beginning to make her way out of the area, looking and conversing with Siie about the trivialities of being a teenager, and what the next day of that life would lead them towards.