Rusty Hinges

[Nicair Claden]

Nicair was impressed. For someone as driven and goal oriented as Wayne was, it wouldn't have been surprising if he had wanted to skip out entirely on one of the most vital yet tedious parts of training. So many martial artist, fighters, and athletes get tunnel vision when it comes to their training. They push without pulling, take ground without giving. There isn't a body in the galaxy that does suffer wear and tear with time, those who put themselves through serious training often suffer it faster and to a greater extent. Which is why so many "old dogs" can't learn new tricks because their knees are shot or their ankles snap to say nothing of the simple fact that they might not even be able to continue training.

While he wasn't as extreme as those who say that for every hour someone trains they should also stretch the same amount of time, he definitely saw the benefit of doing so. So many don't train for hours and hours a day because of time constraints, which for all intents and purposes they can't avoid or get around. But that wasn't so out here. The only thing that they needed to worry about was eating, cleaning, and sleeping. The truly fastest way to learn a skill was to immerse oneself in it. Thankfully, out here they had time, simplicity, and smart training. Nicair wasn't in the business of burning his trainees out within the first week. Does it show grit and willpower? Of course, but it isn't efficient. And he figured it wasn't the man Wayne was. If he wanted to go somewhere and train to be angry and viciously violent he could, and without the proper training he'd get hurt.

The true test of a warrior wasn't how savage they could be, it was whether they could control it enough to turn it off when needed. If Nicair defends himself or if he's in war. The savagery can be released and those that have seen him fight have attested to his style. He doesn't play with his food unless he's feeling particularly cruel that day. Every step is measure and planned to get to the final result as efficiently as possible. Because in war, one needs all the energy they have. Why waste it toying with someone?

In a sense this is the path they were on. He could talk about the art form of different styles, but in the grand scheme of things they were training to practice violence, to be violent, and to get results with violence. A particular phrase he greatly enjoyed went along the lines of "Civilize the mind but make savage the body." It is when a style forgets what it is intended to do, that is: break you opponent physically and mentally, that they delve into the realm of inefficiency and outright danger to the practitioner.

He made sure to throw in particular details about specific techniques that can be thrown from the base stance in an attempt to keep Wayne's mind and body engaged on the relatively same task. He was trying to plant the seeds of imagery in his pupil's mind. With anything martial art or combat sport related, an opponent was needed. Nicair himself got down in his own modified stance and stood across from Wayne. If he moved Nicair moved in kind.

"Envision in your mind where you can move from here. See how I react, feel how you respond. Focus on your sense. The ache in your body, the wood beneath your feet. Bring all of them together until they are all at your attention yet held off to the side. Your sense are in a compartment in your mind where they can give you what you need without distracting you."

[member="Judas Wayne"]

 

[Judas Wayne]

Judas came to appreciate Nicair's single-minded efficiency when it came to the execution of the combat maneuvers. By his observation too many so-called "masters" treated martial arts as just that- an art. The original purpose of these forms of combat had been to defend oneself against a hostile attack. The objective was to disable an enemy as quickly as possible and separate from the situation immediately afterwards. Nowadays, martial arts seemed to contain an unnecessary amount of fancy and flourish. Sure, maybe it would impress some random onlooker, but it also might get you killed. Nicair skipped such formalities and cut straight to what really mattered, something Judas was able to appreciate a great deal.​

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He sunk into the stance he had learned the day previous, Nicair making the occasional correction as he subconsciously relaxed his form from time to time. He listened to what his mentor was telling him, incorporating everything about his environment into his style. He felt the planks of weathered wood creaking beneath his feet, breathed in the scent of musty air drafting in from the aged beams holding the training hall up above them. He watched how Nicair moved with grace across the floor, like a beast stalking its soon-to-be-prey.​

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Judas did his best to follow Nicair's instruction. He probed the older man's defenses with a few light kicks and similar movements Nicair had taught him. It seemed that the purpose of the exercise wasn't so much full-force combat as it was about learning your opponent. He threw his best attempt at a feint every now and then to gauge the Mandalorian's reaction times and general combat form. He pulled what he could from these reactions, but it would undoubtedly take practice to really be able to draw concrete conclusions about his opponent from this sort of routine.​

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[member="Nicair Claden"]​

 

[Nicair Claden]

There was a rule his adoptive father had taught him, and many martial artists in the galaxy follow. The good ones at least. It's that when sparring or drilling, offense shouldn't be full power but defense training can be full force. It was fairly common among the professional fighters or the galaxy. They didn't get paid to lose brain cells in training, they got paid to lose them under the lights or in the arena. Defensive moved like blocks, parries, slips, and dodges don't hurt your opponent and can be done with full focus and intent. There were certain methods that could certainly injure the attacker if done correctly and with malice, but Wayne wasn't wearing shin guards or headgear and it took Nicair a conscious effort not to check even the light kicks that he was throwing.

The check was one of his favorite techniques but seeing as a good number in the galaxy didn't immediately attempt to throw a leg kick in combat or war was disappointing. It was a punishing defensive technique. His adoptive father often said it was a move that "tells your enemy to stop kicking you" and more often than not, they did. The common fighter doesn't want to break their shin on someone else's. Compounding how conditioned Nicair's shins were already with the beskar shin plates on his armor and breaking someone's leg with one check was something he'd done a few times before. Naturally, the first kick Wayne threw that could be checked it was more instinct than anything and probably hit with more of the actual bone than Nicair had intended. He made sure to give a small apology and made sure to check any other kick possible with the calf rather than the bone itself.

With time Wayne's shins, fists, elbows, knees, and pretty much every other striking implement he had would become calloused and conditioned. But, like with everything else there is an intelligent and there is a stupid way of training. Wayne could go Nicair's path and spend a good portion of his time striking what amounts to metal plates to harden the bones, a few times his adoptive father forced him too. While that could certainly be efficient, it wasn't overall intelligent and Nicair had often had to rub a plant based extract on his shins for weeks after to makes sure he could keep training. It was better to throw power strikes on a heavy bag or some of Nicair's more archaic implements in the training hall than to go out and break one's hands on the side of a building.

It pleased him that Wayne was beginning to take some chances, he was actually attempting to strike a moving target. Though they may not be strikes that are coming towards Nicair with much strength or "heat" behind them, very few even attempt it on their second day. He gave a nod of approval and allowed the smallest squint-smile in his eyes at the first feint Wayne attempted. The only way to learn is to try things and in this light drill, he referred to it as a flow-spar, there was room for experimentation and time to learn the behaviors of your opponent. Many grappling schools have ten or so minute rounds with one partner, with a lighter intensity of course. These rounds were so long in order to give both partners time to learn the style of the other and attempt to find opportunities or openings. Wayne was going to have plenty of time to start to detect the openings Nicair was feeding him. They would start out relatively obvious, which of course wasn't to say that Nicair was simply giving them to the younger man. They were bait, a test to see what the man could notice, how good he was at reading body language. Granted, it was just the second day, it had taken Nicair awhile to be able to piece apart his adoptive father's style. But then again, he hadn't fed Nicair anything, his stance and techniques were combat ready.

[member="Judas Wayne"]

 

[Judas Wayne]

The two men continued their dance for some time. The training itself was rather cyclical in nature; Damien would probe for weaknesses, detect one, and make a light strike at what he believed was a vulnerable point. Of course, the young man was new to this sort of thing and because of it only picked up around seventy percent of the openings Nicair gave him. He didn't fully realize his mentor was purposefully leaving him these windows of opportunity, though he did have his suspicions. Still, he treated this exercise with all the seriousness and concentration of a real combat scenario as a gesture to let Nicair know he took his training seriously.​

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The strikes he took at the openings he detected were more so of an indicator to let Nicair know he found the opening than they were actual attacks meant to do damage. Judas was smart enough to know that if the older man wanted to he would lay Judas on his ass within a second or so. Still, he was learning through this exercise. After some time he would begin to find it a small bit easier to locate such openings in Nicair's defense. It would take time to hone this skill, but he speculated that once he mastered it it would become a sort of second nature to him.​

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Fascinating.​

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On one particular kick he executed Nicair blocked it with his battle-hardened shin, causing the younger man to recoil in pain. His mentor offered a brief apology to which Judas replied with a curt nod. He grimaced as he slowly put weight on the injured leg. Nothing was broken, but there would surely be a sizable lump appearing there in the next day or so. Still, everything they did served as a lesson to some extent. He now knew to be careful throwing kicks and other blows so carelessly, especially against a much more skilled opponent. If his mentor was actually trying to do him serious harm he could have easily done much worse than a mere bruised shin. Thought it took a bit of pain to get the message across, he was sure it was a lesson that would save his skin more than once in the months and years to come.​

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[member="Nicair Claden"]​

 

[Nicair Claden]

The check did its job whether it was what Nicair intended or not. Both the grimace on Wayne's face and the broken stance immediately following told him as much. His adoptive father had done something similar, only, he had told Nicair to keep kicking. Striking with a different part of the shin, of course, the man wasn't entirely abusive in his training. That, and Nicair needed the discipline at that age, his survival required him to grow stronger. Wayne's first test was coming up, and it wasn't even a full week yet.

"Put the shin guards on, in the corner next to the gloves." He didn't often choose to do this, and to be fair he wasn't going to push as hard as he could, but there was a level of pain that must be fought through in combat. And if he was reading the younger man correctly, he was going to put himself in situations that required more pain to be pushed passed than most normal individuals ever needed to. The shin guards were just to make sure nothing completely broke, they'd protect what would probably become a fairly sizable hematoma. He wasn't going to kick at that leg forcing Wayne to check with it. But the uninjured one, most likely his lead leg, was going to be the one that checked most often.

Normally Nicair didn't encounter anyone that used leg kicks as strikes in combat, this didn't mean that leg and even body checks weren't useful in combat or warfare. They even became an incredibly effective defensive tool when someone had armored beskar shin plates. The higher the leg has to travel in the check, however, the faster it has to be brought back to the ground making body checks riskier, but punishing if someone attempts a takedown.

Once they both put on their shin guards he went about showing Wayne the proper technique for checks.

"Right before they make contact thrust with your hip into it. Just because it's defensive doesn't mean you can't attack with it. Shin strong, toes flexed. I'll start low and work my way up to see how high you can get your leg. Check hard, bring it back down faster than you brought it up."

Even with the shin guards there would be bruises later, particularly once Wayne started to get the technique down and Nicair started throwing with a little more authority.

[member="Judas Wayne"]