@[member="Ayden Cater"]
Focus without tension. Fluidity without lassitude. Awareness without distraction.
To unleash a basic cross-cut before he'd fully landed was to expose himself twofold. It meant he still had just a bit farther to go as he dealt with his impressive forward momentum -- a bit farther into range of her weapon. An inch, maybe two, no more, but enough. The second matter was one of connection to the ground. The most powerful strikes, the most substantial blows with the best follow-through, stemmed from a powerful anchor -- an anchor which Ayden hadn't secured before launching his attack. An opening of only heartbeats.
Heartbeats and inches. Enough time and space to set her stance, back leg nearly straight, right knee over her foot, hips and shoulders square to the degree of his charge. It was not an exceedingly mobile stance; in fact, it was a transitional stance, despite its solidity. But more important than the precision of angles and tensions that defined the stance was the timing of the moment she fell into it. All the best and most substantial motions of Shii-Cho -- the basic Form of which she was the galaxy's unquestioned Master -- stemmed from contact, preferably with the ground. So as she settled into that stance, Winterlight half-raised in a two-handed grip, she was simultaneously leaping forward to meet him and creating a solid wall of forestalled, controlled momentum, all in a few inches of movement.
His cross-slash was a very safe move if one felt like jumping forward into the teeth of an enemy. It didn't lend itself to massive holes in one's defense - but it didn't make for an especially strong defense, either. As his blades skirled and whined against her alchemical sword, Ashin stepped in and shoved before his precipitous touchdown could fully transition into a solid stance. Her ground-rooted step was a pile-driver of a thing, back foot circling in to brush the other before thrusting out again to mirror her previous front-heavy stance. Her head never rose or fell an inch, all momentum conserved for the singular task of meeting Ayden's momentum and then breaking it, forcing the renegotiation of his balance before it could fully establish itself.
The careful approach, in her experience, was the best one. It had been years since she'd jumped at anyone, at least not without setting her feet before striking at maximum blade range. But was this a mistake on his part, or great comfort with very close range and the adaptive balance which that required?
Only time would tell. Focus without tension. Fluidity without lassitude. Awareness without distraction.
Elapsed time: Two heartbeats.
