Kyuden Shika

Since the Shika had left her with time enough to keep up with her training routine, she had no excuse not to do so.

She had attached her hair into a bun, slipped into ordinary Rokugan-style training clothes, and even removed her make-up. Barefoot on the tatami, she looked like any other samurai-ko, her foreign traits only noticeable on close inspection. A small, not particularly impressive samurai-ko to boot.

While the dojo was spear-themed, she had barely ever used a spear on foot, only from horseback (where it does a terrific job). To keep it in theme though, she decided to practice her knife kata dedicated to entering the guard of an opponent with better reach. If you can't join them, defeat them.

Another warrior in a pale green training uniform lowered his wooden sword and stopped to watch Mitsuki as she practiced her kata. His black hair was bound in a neat topknot, and he appeared to be solidly built and in his mid-20s.

"An interesting fighting style," he commented in a soft voice when Mitsuki reached the end of the second repetition of the sequence.

"Hello Dragon-sama. Does an uninteresting fighting style exist? If so, I would like to learn about it, as it seems it would be a great advantage in battles if your opponents would just lose interest in what you are doing."

She shifted the training wooden knife from one hand to the other.

"Joke aside, it's a style borrowed from the Burning Sands nomads. The idea is to use every part of your environment, the light and shadow of the sun, your and your opponent's clothes and bodies, some sand carried by the wind, to make your opponent lose sight of your small blade and strike from a blind spot. A dojo is not the best place to show off its efficiency, too clean, too steady in its light sources. But it's as good place as any to train in it."

Moto Mitsuki wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 02, 2021 5:13 pm

"Hello Dragon-sama. Does an uninteresting fighting style exist? If so, I would like to learn about it, as it seems it would be a great advantage in battles if your opponents would just lose interest in what you are doing."

The Dragon pondered this idea, as if giving it serious thought, before nodding as if coming to a decision. "You have the right of it," he said. "A person who does not take interest in their opponent's fighting style is likely soon dead."

"I am called Kitsuki Kiyonobu," he added, bowing politely.

"Joke aside, it's a style borrowed from the Burning Sands nomads. The idea is to use every part of your environment, the light and shadow of the sun, your and your opponent's clothes and bodies, some sand carried by the wind, to make your opponent lose sight of your small blade and strike from a blind spot. A dojo is not the best place to show off its efficiency, too clean, too steady in its light sources. But it's as good place as any to train in it."

"I like the principle you put forth, that studying the environment and all aspects of the fighting area is important," Kiyonobu commented, tapping his wooden sword against his side thoughtfully. "But does this not also run the risk of allowing oneself to become distracted from what the opponent is doing?"

Mitsuki returned the bow:

"The name's Moto Mitsuki, of the ten thousand blades of the Khan.

I would say it's no less or more flawed than any other technique in absolute. A novice will always focus too much on their own weapon whereas a master can devote their full attention to everything but themselves and their blade, because they already know perfectly where they stand at each instant.

However, I indeed wouldn't start someone's knife training with this one. Far too risky if you didn't previously honed your reflexes to avoid simple attacks on reflexes alone.

As a shoji master once told me, apropos their game but it's even truer on the battlefield: Before learning to win, you have to learn not to lose."

"Playing not to lose is good strategy," Kiyonobu agreed. "It must be difficult with daggers though, is it not? Such a close-in weapon requires a certain amount of aggression, I've found. A spear lets you stand off at a distance." He tilted his head toward the racks of practice spears favored by the Deer.

"Facing such a weapon, you are giving up a lance as a handicap," Kiyonobu suggested with a small smile as he referenced Mitsuki's shogi metaphor. "Is the Burning Sands style powerful enough to overcome that?"

"I usually fight with a shield strapped to my forearm, which changes the dynamic of range drastically. Having some kind of protection, even a simple buckler not even big enough to fully cover my chest, opens up a myriad of ways to parry or deflect an attack that would otherwise make for the end of the fight.

To be fair though, when I have full choice of my armament, I use a scimitar or a spear from horseback. Or even a bow and arrows. Why refuse the advantage of range indeed?

The knife tricks are more for case in which I have already lost said advantage due to unfortunate circumstances, and must risk a gambit to restore the odds in my favor."

"You must be a formidable opponent on horseback," Kiyonobu commented. "I should not like to be in the path of a Unicorn cavalry charge; they are famously powerful."

"My apologies for interrupting your practice," he said, bowing again. "I'll let you get back to it, if you wish?"

Hopefully he'd sleep peoperly tonight. He had meant to come early in the morning, but woke up late, the price paid for a good time.

Well, a proper time, he assumed. No, it wasn't proper. It was good, but it wasn't that kind of good time. Not that he expected it to be, he really had thought too much about playing music in the garden with Usogawa-san. A shake of the head, protocol observed with the dojo students present, Hikimasu found himself a bokken this time and took a deep breath to begin, only then really paying attention to the Dragon and Unicorn present. He bowed, but didn't seem to he looking to interrupt.

Kitsuki Kiyonobu wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:18 pm

"You must be a formidable opponent on horseback," Kiyonobu commented. "I should not like to be in the path of a Unicorn cavalry charge; they are famously powerful."

"My apologies for interrupting your practice," he said, bowing again. "I'll let you get back to it, if you wish?"

Shosuro Hikimasu wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:32 pm

Hopefully he'd sleep peoperly tonight. He had meant to come early in the morning, but woke up late, the price paid for a good time.

Well, a proper time, he assumed. No, it wasn't proper. It was good, but it wasn't that kind of good time. Not that he expected it to be, he really had thought too much about playing music in the garden with Usogawa-san. A shake of the head, protocol observed with the dojo students present, Hikimasu found himself a bokken this time and took a deep breath to begin, only then really paying attention to the Dragon and Unicorn present. He bowed, but didn't seem to he looking to interrupt.

"We could spare or exchange tips..."

With a sudden arm movement she made a second wooden dagger drop from her sleeve into her free hand:

"Because I'm pretty sure you have things to teach me. Using a second dagger at the same time it's definitely not a style I'm used to, even if I sometimes – rarely – do, when I need to double down on the gambit.

But that might depend on what Shosuro-sama here wants of us."