(D1, EA) Not Quite a Spear, Not Exactly Dancing

[Kuni Yasu]

This was slower, all right. She could see him coming, but was still far too slow to keep him from getting hold of her, at which point...well, that ankle wasn't holding her on its own, but she doubts she could have kept her feet anyway. It's obvious that she's not going anywhere, but she gets her palm against his chest and tries to push him off at least, and finds it's like trying to shift a boulder. Worse, really, she could probably convince the earth kami to just roll a boulder off of her.

Instead she catches her breath, acutely aware of Tanabe's weight at her shoulders, the way his knee pinned hers. "See. Told you that you were gonna knock me on my ass," she says, grinning. Then her eye is caught by the green pendent hanging between them. Her hand moves from the useless (but not unpleasant) task of trying to push him off to take the pendant between thumb and forefinger. "Jade?"

"And...now what? I'm pretty much stuck here. What happens when you're not holding back?" Her eyes meet his, curious.

___________
Fatigue: 6/10
Strife: 0/10
Initiative: 4

Turn 2
Immobilized: remains in Water stance, cannot take movement actions

Action Attack (attempt to push off): fail
D1 spar, unarmed martial arts (water) | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0


Action: Calming Breath -1 fatigue: 5/10

Incidental fluff to catch pendant. XD

[Susaki Tanabe]

his muscles were certainly unyielding against her touch and some of that focus and competition in his gaze gave way to amusement and a bit of warmth. As she grabbed the stone in the shape of a Badger's head that hung from his neck he nodded "Indeed, a gift from the Badger when I left the dojo to return to the river." he said looking down at her a small grin on his lips "I suppose you know I'm not tainted now, I heard you Kuni were especially prickly about that kind of thing."

when she asked his next question he thought for a moment "Well that depends do you mean during a sumai match or on the battlefield? If this were a sumai match I would have already scored we would reset and I would would win the round. Now if you were a drunk or intruder on the ferry I would throw you into the river. If this were a battlefield or fight to the death..." he shifted roiling and through some complicated movements she ended up on her back on top of him a thick arm loosely around her neck he face next to hers, his legs around her waist and between her own "Well from here you are helpless. can throw punches and elbows but if i can endure them for a few seconds you'd go unconscious." he explain calmly and reassuringly knowing how vulnerable the position was, the breath from his words tickling her ear. After a second he released her free to get up in her own time.

[Kuni Yasu]

"I think 'paranoid' is the word you want there," Yasu says with a small nod as her fingers run across the carving. "That's good to know though, honestly."

But she's meant to be learning something other than confirmation of Tanabe's purity and how much she doesn't entirely mind 'losing' in this fashion, so she listens carefully, and tries to grasp some sense of the shift of weight and grip that results in her being on top of the Otter...and yet still effectively the one pinned. Her hands reflexively reach for his arm across her throat, but simply rest there as it becomes obvious there's no pressure applied. She moves a bit, experimentally seeing what she *could* reach if she were actually trying to fight someone from this position, but he's right that she'd have trouble being terribly effective before losing too much air.

"Could probably break your nose with my skull from here, but I'm pretty sure that'd barely phase you, neh?" She stays for a moment after he releases her, then rolls off to the side and lies flat, resting her head on crossed arms to look at him. "Not that I've got plans to go messing up your face." In the scuffling, the paint on her cheek and forehead have gotten smudged a bit, so one or both of them are likely sporting a bit of white smeared on skin or clothing.

"How long were you practicing with the Badger?" She takes the moment to quietly run her sore ankle through its paces with no weight on it here.

[Susaki Tanabe]

He nodded "ay you could, wouldn't be the first to try it either. I'm lucky the Badger have a good Healer on hand or this nose would look a lot more busted up." He said smiling. He rolls onto his side to look at Yasu his head resting in his hand.

"Well I trained with them for about four years from my thirteenth year to my seventeenth been back with my clan for two years now. The Badger are nice and I loved living, breathing, and eating Sumai." His smile is softer "I did miss the Otter. But just practice for marriage I guess." He said in a slightly joking tone "I pretty much came in this thing prepared to leave my clan." He said honestly. He didn't seem sad or upset about it but rather accepting of the possible eventuality.

[Kuni Yasu]

"Hmm, yeah, professional sumai need their looks a bit more than the average bushi, hmm?" she teases, rolling up to a seat. "All the fans and everything gathering around after matches, recognizing you out in the market..."

As he talks about missing his family and clan, her smile grows softer, lifting with something hopeful for a moment, but only a moment. Bringing her knee to her chest, foot flat on the mat, she leans into it, testing the ankle without real weight, grounding her heart against the physical ache. "The Otter's a small clan. Can they really afford to lose too many? Seems they'd want you kept with them, let your fame bring them a bit more glory too. Might be the matchmakers think so too and you stay, yeah?"

She rises easily, then bends to offer Tanabe a hand up, weight solidly on the good leg.

[Susaki Tanabe]

Tanabe shrugs "we will see! Of course the clan will gain at least one member as whoever matches with Usogawa-sama will almost certainly join the Otter, as for me...well I guess I am more valuable than the average bushi but not so sure I am that important." He spoke with a good natured smile on his lips "but I guess only time will tell."

He takes her hand and uses it mostly to stabilize as he stands up. He notices her messing with her ankle a bunch and eyes her curiously for a second, his smile had faltered and fallen a bit and his eyes were apologetic "I am sorry Yasu-san, I got a little carried away it seems." He bows to her "I hope it heals quickly and causes little difficulty."

[Kuni Yasu]

"Nah, it'll be fine after some rest. Just strained a bit." If she hangs onto his hand a bit longer than necessary, who's going to notice? "Bumps and bruises happen. I'm just being extra careful since I don't know what our hosts have in store for us, neh? Don't want to be laid up and them setting us to some courtly dance to meet everyone or something." It's said with unfeigned good cheer. "Anyway, I told you not to hold back. Nothing to apologize for. I really enjoyed seeing what you can do, even if it's pretty obvious I need a lot more practice. Any good counters to that last throw? Or is that a Badger secret?"

At the familiar address, she smiles a bit, appearing about to say something. Whatever it is remains tucked away as she turns to the weapons rack, heading for the practice polearms, quietly hefting one, and then another, before handing onto the third. Stepping aside a bit so he can chose as he likes, she looks up with a bit more serious expression. "Being prepared to leave is one thing," she says slowly, picking her words carefully, "but it's not a small thing to ask someone to take up the duty of a Crab."

[Susaki Tanabe]

If she didn't let go he wasn't going to be the first to release their hands at least until it became unreasonable. He nodded though a touch of a shadow stayed on his expression "Hai if you want when we are done I can massage it some to help loosen the muscles." Training as he had muscle strains and pulls were common enough, he was no Healer but he had learned how to deal with them. "As for the throw, that particular one lowering your center of gravity can help, also if you can hook your leg to mine you might still fall but you won't go flying." He explained, his mood slowly returning to baseline happiness "Oh and remind me when we are done I can show you how to get someone off you when they have you like I did, before I rolled you."

He walked over and grabbed a practice weapon the largest they had thinking that made sense for the type of training they were doing. After he listened to her words carefully and nodded along with then his seriousness mirroring her own "Yes well that makes sense, the Crab have a really hard job." He looks thoughtful for a moment "but an important one, an honorable one protecting us all from the horrors to the south. I mean I've seen a goblin before but because of the Crab nothing much scarier gets past. If it came to it I would be proud to do what your clan does or to help in whatever way I can, though I would hope I could still pursue my career in sumai." He ended with a brighter smile

[Kuni Yasu]

Her smile returns in full "Not going to refuse a massage or that demonstration of breaking out of that last hold." Honestly, she wasn't blind to how eagerly she took every opportunity to interact. There was plenty of time to be fair and assess all of the candidates, she told herself. So that was ok. She could enjoy herself and still pay attention to her duty to find the match that would best benefit family and clan, right?

The smile grows more amused as the rather large Otter takes the largest practice weapon available. Placing a hand on his, where he grips the shaft, she says, "You might want to see if that's the best fit, particularly for learning. Bigger is heavier, and it can be easier learning with something that you can move more easily. Can focus on the movement and not just...fighting the weight wanting to fall.

"There are definitely Crab sumai. For some that's really the main thing they do. They're not rotating to fight on the Wall, since that's a whole different thing," she says, finding equilibrium in the pragmatic. A bit more quietly, she adds, "I'm...comforted, I guess, to know it wouldn't be unwelcome if the Deer made such a match for you."

[Susaki Tanabe]

He merely nods to her agreement albeit with a fond smile, if he is having more complex thoughts about possibilities and duty he doesn't show it, he seems to just be here present in this moment. As she cautions him about the practice weapon he hefts it he moves it around with ease as the weight is little to him, though he lacks the grace of training "Yasu-san you should know I'm quite able to handle a rather large weapon." He says with a touch of mischief to his otherwise plain tone.

His smile grew a touch as she explained the Crab Sumai stuff "Well thats good to hear, maybe I could learn new things from them. Every one trains different and knowing more is always helpful in the ring." He heard her tone quiet down a touch at the last and his own softened a little "I'd say so far it'd actually be pretty welcome."