Sparring
Posted on Tue Apr 25th, 2023 @ 4:38pm by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya
Mission:
Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: SS Mary Rose - Gym
Timeline: MD-05
3050 words - 6.1 OF Standard Post Measure
Jake's interactions with Kali had been, to his own fault, somewhat limited since they'd previously had a sit-down conversation. Things had been busy with the refit and everything else - especially wanting to spend more time with Cassie. But there was something that had been creeping into the back of his mind a lot more of late. And actually, a physical restlessness had set-in. It wasn't a Jake Ford thing; it was more likely a subconscious post-Liha thing: a need to satisfy certain instinctive urges, with someone who was able to satisfy them.
"Come on in," he waved as she arrived. "Thanks for agreeing to come down. I really needed someone I knew wouldn't have a problem with something like this."
"A problem in general? Definitely not." Kali grinned, and it was the sort of expression one would expect to find on a predator contemplating the thrill of the hunt. "Though, I am a little hesitant to do this here the way I did it with people during my couple years in the Republic, for example." She set down a couple of bundles of varying lengths off to one side, wrapped to conceal the variety of objects she'd retrieved from the armory beforehand, just in case.
"If you want to spar with weapons, traditionally we'd use real ones; and half the point of things is to demonstrate your respective levels of mastery and control specifically by avoiding doing one other another any serious damage in the fight. Which usually ends after some agreed upon number of hits on someone, or at first blood, or at any hit that would, if it had been followed through on, been serious. There's a couple ways to work it rules wise. And not so serious damage dealt out is basically both allowed and pretty much expected even. Buuuut." Kali paused awkwardly for a moment. "Those rules assume everyone involved is proficient. It get dangerous fast if they aren't. Younger learners would fight with training weapons, or with something over the other ones to blunt them, so we could do that. Or, I mean, there's always unarmed combat - " Kali flexed her spine and shoulders " - though I'd kinda have to ask again first with that, what's your proficiency level and training?" He'd graduated the Academy, which meant he'd undoubtedly had some martial arts or self-defense skills of some kind...but that had been awhile ago; and the exact details and skill levels varied widely even then.
Jake scratched his head. That was a bit of an information download, considering all he was expecting was some light introductory sparring. Then again, this was Kali, and no doubt she took this sort of thing incredibly seriously. "I used to toss drunk people out of bars. Uh...you ever see that old movie Roadhouse?" he asked. There was an outside - if unlikely chance - that Kali would have found some time to pick up on older classics. "Assume I'm...comparatively a novice," he added, motioning to her. He had little doubt that the diminutive Romulan would be putting him firmly on his ass at least once in the next thirty minutes.
"That's a no on having seen the movie." Kali chided herself silently inside her own head for getting her hopes up enough to actually retrieve all the stuff she'd laid to one side; almost undoubtedly if she wanted someone on board to go up against like that with weapons, she'd have to pair off against Liha...only in that case, she could almost guarantee it would be herself getting judged a relative novice: She'd had nowhere near the level of or caliber of instruction or instructors that someone raised in the Empire would have. "But - " She set aside any disappointment with a grin " - I've seen plenty of people tossed out of bars and casinos the last ten years or so, and uhh, occasionally been one of them, though generally for reasons other than being drunk."
"I'm pretty sure if I'd tried to toss you out things wouldn't have gone all that well for me," he admitted. "I've been feeling antsy for a few days now, like I need to work some things out of my system. Some movements...feel like they're in the back of my mind. I'm pretty sure Liha would go tell me to toss myself out of an airlock if I asked, so here's me coming to the next best thing." He gave an open-palmed shrug. "If that means I get my ass kicked for an hour, I guess that's what we're doing."
Maybe, maybe not, Kali thought at the airlock comment, considering that it might've also turned out with the other Romulan actually relishing the chance to pummel Jake into the ground, if he'd asked Liha. She shoved the bundles of weapons a bit further out of the way, though; not just on account of the earlier statements of being a relative beginner, but perhaps even moreso with the comment about 'some moves feel like they're in the back of my mind': Her father had opinions - ones he had never been shy about sharing - that the only thing more dangerous and unpredictable in their control than a total beginner was a beginner who knew a little but not well. Not anything she wanted to get near holding a blade near her.
"Alright." Kali nodded and motioned to the outline of the ring drawn on the floor nearby, stretching her shoulders and arms a bit, bare-handed. "Let's see how it goes bouncer-style, then: First one who hits the ground three times outside the ring loses."
Feeling a little trepidation, Jake just nodded along and shook out his arms a little. Stretching was probably a good idea, but he figured he wouldn't be on his feet for more than a few seconds so there was unlikely to be a need for it.
"Try not to embarrass me..." he noted, starting with a fairly standard casual pose.
"Oh, no, you misunderstood. Since you said you had experience chucking people out of bars, you can make the first move." Kali grinned, and the sort of inhuman predator edge to the expression was entirely at odds with the casual, university-kid phrasing she used next. "Or as an old Academy classmate of mine would've put it: 'Come at me, bro.' "
Unconvinced, but still resigned to trying this anyway, Jake moved like he was going to circle and test her footwork, only to lead with a low attempt at a grab, trying to keep his center of gravity down and his leg stance wide. He had a size and reach advantage, but knew that she likely had the ability to move faster and with more agility than he did. Getting her on the ground first was the main objective, where his weight was more of a deciding factor.
Kali darted out of the way of the grab attempt and kept moving, unpredictably here and there like a hummingbird on caffeine, her objective pretty much the opposite of Jake's: Avoid him getting her on the ground; and if possible, find an opening to use his own greater weight and size as leverage against him. For now though she studied him and his style and movements as she darted around; looking for more data nearly as much as she was looking for an opening.
"Keep...still..." he huffed, landing hands but no grips on her much smaller frame. She was frustrating him as well as examining technique. Encouraging more reckless and emotional attempts instead of staying calm and controlled. But that wasn't easy when it felt like his blood was boiling at points. So much for patience. He made the wrong move earlier than he should have; going for her shoulder when he should have gone lower. He felt Kali slip under his grip and before he realised what that meant he was already tumbling onto the mat. The air felt like it practically burst out of his chest. "Nice throw..." he groaned, taking a half-second to catch that lost breath before rolling himself up to standing again.
"What can I say; I got some practice when I was chucking holograms off the platform in the core room defending Burnie when he blew the Holoworld core." Kali let him catch his breath and such while outside the ring, but started moving again the moment he stepped by into it. When her luck finally ran short a few minutes later on avoiding him getting a solid grip on her, she went with what she figured would be least expected, and didn't try to get out of it away from him but instead suddenly moved towards him and leaned into the grab in the opposite of one's natural instincts, hoping to get him off balance again in this instance by making a motion she'd found a majority of opponents weren't expecting and so weren't ready for. It was something of a surprise, then, when she ended up on the ground still, instead.
Jake was surprised himself. The movement had been instinctive; rolling back with the motion, taking her down to the ground with a slam that was firm but not brutal. He blinked, momentarily confused, then offered her a hand to help her stand. "That was...sorry, I don't know what sort of move that was."
Kali's head tipped back ever-so-slightly to laugh; though once she was on her feet, she sprung away from Jake and started in on the hummingbird imitation again. "It's the counter to what I did. Well. One of them, anyways. Probably didn't reach your knee yet the first time my parents demonstrated it for me. Honestly wouldn't have expected you to know it, though."
"I don't," Jake admitted. "Another one of those things." He tapped his temple, as though that might explain. Somehow he doubted he might be able to pull off the same move twice. "Again?"
One eyebrow pulled up a bit on Kali's face: She'd have thought the mere fact she was moving out of his reach again signaled the 'again'; but then, humans were often explicit enough in their consents to things or requests for such to make even her look subtle (which she was well aware basically any other Romulan did not consider her to be). "Yeah. That's one for me, and one for you. We keep going till someone's hit the ground three times."
By this point in an extended match or fight with her own kind, Kali knew she would have been at a serious disadvantage; her less-than-normal endurance beginning to wane and peter out in comparison to her opponent. It was a nice bonus of facing off against humans that whatever was happening to her, though, was happening even more to the other guy; both Kali and Jake slightly winded and clothes rumpled as they circled around, each looking to find the advantage to make the final score, one way or the other.
"Considering I used to run the security team on board, you're remarkably overqualified to just be the ship's navigator," he said, between deep breaths. A developing bruise on his upper ribs urged him to reconsider continuing, but he circled to match her. "Never thought about it? Might do Leiddem some good to have a tighter hand on the reins."
"If you put Leiddem and I together we'd probably just devise a plan to beat up half the petty goons in the sector to take their best booze; since most of my real hand-to-hand experience all comes from beating up cheating Ferengi or ducking angry Nausicaans." Kali laughed, her own chest heaving more than usual breathing hard in between. "And exactly no one would consider me a tight hand on the reins. More like an overload waiting to happen, if you ask a few admirals." It was possible Kali had made a great pilot and a fine junior officer because she had to focus to survive, and was given hard guidelines and structure by those above her; and without either the hard limit of 'pay attention to your instruments and the other guy or you'll die in the next 30 seconds' or of 'department head says to do this and do it this way', had floundered in controlling herself as a senior officer and a desk-based intelligence officer, undone by a combination of personality, natural intensity, and perhaps mostly by sheer lack of maturity from plain and simple lack of age.
"Can't be any worse than what Delaney gets up to," Jake mused. "But the point is taken. This might..." he grunted between comments, favouring his ribs a moment. "This might put me off sparring with you again any time soon. Think Evelyn is probably going to whack me upside the head for putting my body through a Romulan-style workout."
"Whack you upside the head? Nah, more likely me." Kali wasn't entirely sure about whether or not the doctor was still likely or not to be as nervous or touchy or closed off around her as she'd started out when they'd met in the mess hall or not; but since Evelyn and Jake were apparently old friends, she also wasn't about to voice that concern to him, beyond the barest of hints at most. "But come on, we're orbiting a planet where people hang out around literal dragons. We probably can deflect a lot of judgement by pointing out someone else's various boneheaded behavior. Just pick someone and point." Kali's aborted chuff of a laugh was paired with a deeper, hard breath set as she bounced around circling Jake then darting away, and now it seemed like the hummingbird from earlier had been crossed with a velociraptor.
"Good point," he acknowledged. "After Burnie and Delaney got themselves arrested for almost stealing a dragon, I think we might be able to get away with the odd scrape." Re-setting himself for another skirmish, he found that it was getting a little easier to predict Kali's movements; not that she was predictable in itself, but more than he was adapting to the mentality required. As though there were a philosophy at play that he wasn't aware of before. When she stepped to test his stance he changed it; like their movements were a carefully coordinated conversation. "I think I'm starting to understand how this works," he admitted. "The style, the form. Strange how it's not something I would have noticed before," he explained.
"Not being something people notice or piece together well is kinda part of the point." Kali laughed breathlessly, then suddenly moved out of nowhere and didn't stop or hesitate this time, twisting enough to avoid a grip on her before she managed to leverage Jake's greater weight through the air and onto the ground again, grinning as she straightened up. "Though that last part wasn't part of it. I mix in other stuff sometimes too, like human moves, or in that case, Andorian ones. Like to think that makes me a bit harder to predict."
"Oh yeah..." he grunted, staying down this time. After a few seconds to catch his breath yet again, he rolled slowly to a kneeling position and made a 'T' sign with his hands. "I think that's me well and truly schooled. Not that I'm at all surprised that you're still standing." He grabbed for a towel from nearby to douse the sweat. "But thank you. I mean that - I think I actually learned something. More than just how not to land, I mean."
"Oh?" Kali was still breathing harder than usual; but relaxed a bit now, settling into a stance to let her focus more of getting air and less on attack or defense. An especially astute observer might have noted though that for all the other tells of exertion, hints of her ancestors having evolved to conserve water showed in that she didn't seem to be sweating much.
"The language of the contest," he explained. It was a revelation in his own mind that their sparring session was akin to a conversation, a dance and a strange poetic duality all combined. He'd heard of alien races speaking in different languages, using different idioms and cultural references. For a species like the Romulans, to have an almost common frame of reference to assess a potential foe simply by this small interaction spoke volumes. "I think I need some ice and some ale after this one, though..."
"Ice is plentiful in space, thankfully. What is it one of the Academy profs said Chang said to Kirk, in the Khitomer fight - 'in space all warriors are cold warriors' or something like that?" Kali shrugged, seemingly entirely unconcerned with conflating her metaphors or ice pack availability not necessarily having been Chang's main point with the phrase. "And yeah, ale would be kinda traditional; but in your case I might suggest something more like some of the local beer...less likely to add to the headache tomorrow."
"The Hysperian stuff?" Jake made a face. He'd had his fill of the local brew; a novelty at first, but certainly not worth comparing to some of the offerings on board the ship. "I think I'd rather have the headache." He shook his head. "So, same time next week? I might have recovered from this one by then."
One eyebrow pulled up somewhat on Kali's face, somewhat surprised after the results today that he'd want a rematch: It was pretty much what she'd expect in another Romulan - social aspects of the contest and the exchange aside, you'd also never improve if you avoided better opponents - but wasn't exactly what she was used to from a lot of humans. Though it wasn't an attitude she'd never encountered, either; plenty of people back in her Starfleet days wouldn't have shied away from wanting a rematch "Sure. Might as well."
