We Are Fighting Dreamers(Tanwen)

[Dragon]

(OOC: For this to make more sense, Kino and I have decided this is just before the feast, which means it's just before the hatching.)

It was how G'han usually operated. Actually, it was how he always operated. The bronzerider just wasn't himself if he didn't start his day with training. Train, eat, work, bathe, sleep. That was the usual schedule. It was odd how G'han worked. His weyr, and in plenty other areas of his life, he was quite sloppy. But there were just certain aspects, like how he ran his day, that had to be perfectly organized and he couldn't do it another way or else it threw him off.

G'han was out very early, as he always was. Only now that he was a wingleader, he made it even earlier. It meant less sleep, but more time to do what he needed. It was a hard adjustment, infact G'han had seen some very grumpy and bitter days because of it, but he was getting well adjusted now.

Today he walked out into the weyrbowl, no different than any other day. Little did G'han know, however, that he wasn't the only one out this early doing something similiar. G'han had never really run into people before, certainly not anyone working out. Certainly not anyone training. So he simply thought he was the only one. It was simple, right?

Today he would be proven wrong. As he walked out into the weyrbowl from his weyr, he noticed a girl. Who was she? As G'han looked closer at her, he began to recognize her. Wasn't that the weyrling chick? Tanwen? He thought that was her name. What was a weyrling doing out this early? G'han remembered his weyrling days. He remembered other weyrlings before Tanwen's group. Most of them enjoyed sleeping until the very last possible second. Being a weyrling was tough, afterall. It was a time in one's life when they had to adapt to being a dragonrider.

G'han waved wildly at her to get her attention. "Hey. Tanwen...is it? What are you doing out this early?", he asked her curiously. Perhaps she got up early for a snack? No, that couldn't be it. G'han wasn't quite sure. But he would find out!

[Kino]

For years since she'd met the oddly mysterious man called Mercer, Tanwen had also started her day with a daily training regime. When she was younger, all her life consisted of was avoiding everyone except her uncle (and her parents, if they cared to visit) and going through the taxing life of a glasscrafter apprentice - which, to be honest, she'd never really liked, even if she'd gotten fairly good at it. Apart from the limited interaction with her uncle, she had been alone, and she - as far as she was concerned - had liked it. The man known Mercer had approached her when she was around 13. She was young, but he'd told her that he thought she'd be good at what it was he wanted to train her with. He thought it might add something to her life, or some other such garble.

Whatever his reasons, Tanwen was grateful. She'd never seen the man again, but every day since her first lesson she'd continued to go out in the morning and move through one training sequence or another, or else just move through various steps in a 'sequence' of her own. At the Weyr she'd been getting up an hour or so before Rukbat rose so she wouldn't be late for her training. Now that she had Vessayith, she did the same thing; the green would often try and follow her at first, but Tanwen would get the dragonet back to sleep - she would need all she could, with how quickly she was growing.

She never thought it was odd that there wasn't anyone else out at such an early time; she figured they were all just sleeping or getting ready for their day. So today when she heard her name called out and she looked up to see one of the Wingleaders (she thought his name might be G'han, from the few times she'd seen him), there was a moment where she paused in her walk with a look of confusion. Tanwen shook it off and continued walked in his direction, considering he seemed to be going in the general way she was anyway.

"Oh, hi...G'han?" She asked, fishing to confirm the name. "Morning walk," she said. It wasn't entirely truthful, but she figured it was a safe enough explanation. Tanwen wasn't trying to hide the fact that she was training, but she didn't exactly want to be barraged with any questions that it might bring up. She wasn't looking to talk for too long, after all; once she reached the flat rocks, she was slipping into training mode.

[Dragon]

G'han grinned, for some odd reason. He thought it amusing that she didn't yet know his name. Atleast she wasn't sure of it. G'han knew he was recognizable enough. He was a wingleader, and he was usually amidst controversy. G'han was one of those people that liked to stir the pot, cause or start a little gossip. Shenanigans was his game and he had his partner in crime.

"Wingleader G'han of bronze Gerenanth. Now that we formally get to introduce one another", G'han introduced himself. But he was just as unsure about her name. "And you are Tanwen, correct? One of the weyrlings here?", G'han asked her.

They did seem to be going in the same general direction, for now. G'han had every intention of keeping his path to go where he wished to start his daily routine. "A walk is it? I suppose to each his own. I came out here for my usual training", G'han conversed with her. G'han rarely hid anything he did. The bronzerider was an open book, as most would confirm. Which meant he gave no thought to think before he spoke, but simply spoke his mind. He was quite blunt, which went hand in hand with speaking his mind. The bronzerider was quite a piece of work.

[Kino]

She hadn't realized that she'd neglected to actually tell the wingleader that he'd gotten her name right, and so nodded to his question. "Yeah, Tanwen of green Vessayith." She shrugged when he asked if she was indeed going on a walk, and looked over to him suddenly when he mentioned he was out for training.

"Really?" she said, sounding intrigued. "Well then I guess my walk isn't much different than what you're doing." It wasn't really that she'd been trying to hide the fact that she'd been training, at the time it just didn't seem super relevant to what she'd expected to be a random, short-lived conversation. Now, however, it was starting to sound a bit interesting. "Funny, I've never seen anyone else out training at this time of day."

[Dragon]

G'han nodded his head slowly, up and down. "Ah yes. I thought I had your name right the first time. A pleasure to meet you then, Tanwen of green Vessayith", he told her, now that he finally knew her name for sure. Strange how they seemed to run into one another without ever really knowing who the other was. But it was just a thing of "I recognize them because I see them in passing".

"Really", G'han reassured her with a smile. He listened to her as she continued on. So it was more than a walk then. How interesting that Tanwen trained as well. Was she a fighter then, like he was? He just had to ask. His interested had been stirred. "So you know how to fight then, I take it?", he asked her. G'han didn't run into too many people that were trained fighters. He had to stop himself from getting giddy with excitement. It wasn't often that he met others with the same interest as him.

"If that's so. Perhaps we should spar? I know it'd be a change of pace from my usual training, and I don't often run into someone who knows how to fight", G'han suggested to her. There was Andilay, and Rayn. But they knew how to use swords, and G'han didn't want to be cut unless it was absolutely necessary. There were others as well that he knew could fight, but he trained some of them himself. So G'han didn't really know many people with previous fighting experience. It was a treat for the oddball wingleader.

[Kino]

Tanwen nodded when he finished up the greeting. When he went on to ask the bit about if she fought, a quick grin twitched at the edge of her mouth. She nodded. "I know how to fight," she said. Maybe it was just the bit of excitement she could feel coming off the older rider, but she felt her muscles almost twitch. She'd only ever really been able to spar with Mercer - andthatoneotherkid who used to live at the weyr. It would be interesting to fight with someone who, very likely, fought in a different style.

It seemed G'han was thinking along the same lines, because he brought that very question up a moment later. "Perhaps," she said, stopping in her walk. Her usual training spot was on the large flat rocks on the outer edge of the bowl; that might not be the best spot for falling in a spar-fight. Tanwen looked around briefly, then rolled on the balls of her feet in a bounce. It looked like they'd even ended up in a spot with a bit of moss, along with the grass. "Here good?" she asked. More social or not, Tanwen still tended to be quite to the point.

[Dragon]

G'han grinned widely. So she was a fighter. That was very good. Anyone trained to fight got some sort of respect out of G'han. "Good, good", G'han responded positively to her when she said she could fight. Old habits made G'han want to twitch with anticipation. But he kept his cool. He had to in any situation. Whether a fight was real or not, he had to stay calm if he wanted to stay focused enough to fight at a level he wanted to. If it was anything G'han detested, it was sloppy fighting on his part. His father didn't train a dull fist or foot. It would dishonor his memory.

When she agreed, G'han laughed heartily. "It's been some time since I've sparred with someone I haven't trained to fight. This should prove interesting, and perhaps educational", G'han admitted. She said she could fight and G'han wasn't going to doubt her. Just because he knew how to fight didn't give him a right to degrade others and think himself better. Yet so many people did it. G'han admitted some of that typical bronzerider arrogance would get the better of him when it came to his own terf. But he'd keep a cool head about it. He was taught better than to underestimate someone he was fighting against.

When she asked if this was a good spot, G'han looked around him. Seemed good, and enough cushion to pad any falls. He knelt down briefly to pad the ground with his hand. He leaned back upright and looked at her. "Here's good", he agreed with her. She was straight to the point, and so would G'han.

Rather than saying a single word, G'han simply slipped into a normal posture of fighting stance. His feet were planted steadily, making it hard to unbalance him by his attackers. His arms were before him in a pattern to guard the rest of his body and block. One was slightly lower than the other, meaning G'han would be prepared if the initial attack was low.

G'han had learned not to be the aggressor over the turns. Infact, while he was training others, he often insisted they start off. But G'han demanded no such thing from Tanwen. She wasn't his student. G'han saw her as another fighter, an equal. This time his lack of aggression meant he was reading his opponent.

[Kino]

Tanwen nodded in agreement to his comment on it being educational. "Maybe," she said with the nod. She watched as he judged the surroundings and the ground in much the same way she had, though he used his hands instead of his feet. When he moved himself into a fight stance she felt her muscles tense and relax at the same time, strange combination though it might be.

Visibly, she didn't change her stance at all. The change was in her attention, perhaps a slight change in expression that G'han might have noticed. The spark of excitement was still there, but there was also focus. She was watching G'han closely as well, but her peripherals were instinctively open. Her breathing settled as well. It was steady. Not exactly slow, but it certainly hadn't sped up. She was breathing through her nose, as well. When he didn't move she inclined her head the slightest bit, flexing the ends of her fingers. "Well?" she said. "I hope you're not just going to stand there and look tough."

[Dragon]

G'han looked his sparring partner over. Her stance was steady, as was her breathing. She seemed quite focused, but he could tell she had the same sort of excitement he had. Her breathing, however, was not as slow as his. G'han had to wonder if age came into play, or the training styles themselves. G'han may have show excitement over getting to spar, but there was no tension or change in breath from him just having an everyday conversation with someone to him fighting. So G'han would have to guess he was a bit calmer than she was.

If that was true, then it was possible G'han had better reaction time than her. He wouldn't assume it was so, but he'd keep it in mind. It wouldn't take him long to figure out how they differed in each area. Though she was also smaller than he was. G'han wasn't a muscle bound hulk by any means. He had a pretty average build, it was just covered in muscle. Usually such a body type meant he would be the quicker opponent. But with Tanwen, he pegged her beating him in speed or agility, or both.

When she questioned him, he didn't change the way he looked at her. Usually when you talked to someone, you often focused on their face. G'han kept his eyes wide open so that he could still see Tanwen as a whole. Perhaps this was some way to throw him off, after all. "Oh, nothing. Just stopped to smell the flowers", G'han answered with a smile.

Well he'd figure these things out soon enough. She wasn't going to budge, and G'han didn't particularly care if he initiated the sparring, so long as he got to analyze the opponent first. Which he did. G'han suddenly leapt forward and then dropped to the ground in a low crouch so that he could sweep kick her legs out from beneath her.

Judging just from that bit he had gotten from Tanwen, he figured this would be the best way to start it out. She might expect an initial attack to be aimed higher up, and that would probably just work to her advantage if she was expecting it. For G'han to have the advantage, he'd try to throw her off with his very first attack. It wasn't often in any fight that an attacker started out with a low sweeping kick like G'han's, especially from a leap like that, which might indicate he would come crashing down with some sort of roundhouse kick or something.

[Kino]

When G'han leapt forward her initial thought was to leap back as well, but she waited a fraction of a second longer to judge where he was going. He did actually catch her off guard a bit when he suddenly dropped low, but she had enough reaction time to push quickly off the ground in a jump, tucking her legs up as she did so. When she pushed off the ground she pushed forward with her toes just enough to make it a forward jump.

With the forward momentum she ended up jumping in an arc over the crouched-low G'han. When she was over him she extended her legs to plant them in the center of his back, giving her a bit more forward momentum as well. It hadn't exactly been a kick, but she figured it might set him off balance for a second or two. Tanwen tucked her legs back up, and then extended them forward and towards the ground, landing in a crouch to take the impact. She was on her feet a moment later, turning around in the same movement to face G'han once more.

[Dragon]

It was no small effort to dodge G'han's initial attack like that. G'han had to commend her for it. Or he would have, had not Tanwen planted her feet in his back. G'han took the impact but rolled forward with it and turned at the same time Tanwen did so that they faced each other.

The bronzerider took the brief moment to place both hands into his back and lean back. His back made an audible cracking sound when he did so. One of the things he had just now taken into consideration was that he didn't get to stretch before the spar. Though G'han didn't often get to stretch before most fights, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Still, would have made things a tad easier.

Tanwen had caught him off guard. He expected that hit to...hit. It just made him respect her all that much more. Still, G'han was far from done. She was definently the more agile of the two. Dodging and attacking all in the same motion. Her movements were as fluid as water, G'han had to admit. Infact he didn't see that motion stop until she turned to face him.

He decided for a different tactic. G'han rushed Tanwen and aimed a right fist at her face. G'han had to remember not to hit too hard, since this was just a sparring match. Immediately as he went through with his punch, he brought his left knee up to knee her in the gut. He put enough force behind it to knock the wind out of her but not much else. Coming off of that was a left fist coming around to the left side of Tanwen's face.

The attacks were constant. G'han was pressing the attack, and he was using just about every limb to do it. She may have had greater speed, but G'han's attacks were still quick enough.

[Kino]

[My guess, this is the last post before he fully catches on to her style xD]

When the first flew forward towards her face, Tanwen turned just slightly so that her shoulder was facing G'han. In the same moment she reached up and grabbed his wrist, and the inside of his elbow. She continued turning at that point, so that by the time his knee came up her back was to him. She certainly felt the impact - the guy had a good deal more muscle in comparison; she was more toned for slim, quick movement.

She used the impact against her back and leaned forward, half crouching half bending. Tanwen pulled his arm forward and down at the same time, attempting to use the momentum and movement that he'd already created to roll him over her back, and flip him onto the ground, probably onto his back. Speaking in terms of brute strength, there was no way she'd have been able to lift him up, but she used the forward movement of his attack and redirected the energy. He was already moving forward, she was just directing him to move forward towards the ground. Once he was flipped she would let go, still facing him, and stand at the ready once again. This time she stood with her knees slightly bent, her arms still hanging loose but steady. If Tanwen had caught him that time, she had a feeling it wouldn't happen again. He'd likely catch on very quickly the way she'd been trained to move.

[Dragon]

G'han's last punch connected with her shoulder. Not the intended target he had been aiming at, but a hit was a hit. The girl was good, he'd give her props. By the time he caught on to how she was adapted to fighting, it was still a tad late though. She managed to flip him with his own motion.

It was a style G'han rarely fought against, but he knew of it and had faced it on more than one occassion. When G'han thought about it, it did make sense. Using her own opponent's moment against them. You might as well try fighting the ground if you didn't know any better. Hits alone weren't going to do it.

G'han didn't land on his back, but managed to roll forward and land in a kneeled position. He stood up again. Tanwen's way of fighting was becoming more and more familiar to him. G'han was no moron. His father taught him to be a quick study. He rushed Tanwen yet again.

He came through with a straight forward right punch to Tanwen's face again. He would make it look like he was trying for the same thing yet again, since last time he managed to get a hit or two in. But quickly with his left arm he grabbed her left arm and pulled her directly into his right knee to knee her in the gut again. When he went to grab her arm, he just as quickly pulled back with his right fist hoping she wouldn't grab his arm again. It was a feint, a fake out, and hopefully it worked this time.

After the knee to the gut, he went to throw Tanwen to his left. Just because he could hold her, didn't mean he should. He could risk her reversing his own hold against him if he lingered. And that throw? He half expected her to land gracefully out of it. It wasn't so much some sort of attack as it was a means to put distance between them.

[Kino]

[So I totally just realized, Tanwen's style of fighting is based like, entirely on reaction xD I mean I'm sure the style it's FROM has attacks too but...>_> I guess I'm a bit too lazy to look up what they are xD; I'll just go with, 'it's supposed to be for her defense, not to go beatin people up.' Yeah, that works.]

She had to give him props for landing on his feet; she hadn't doubted that he could, but to do so when being caught off guard definitely showed that he was good. When he ran at her a moment after she was hesitant to believe that he was going for the same attack. She turned to the side again to avoid the punch, intending to make some movement to go around him, but of course that's when he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her forward. She kicked off the ground with her toes when she was pulled forward, trying to turn the movement into a flip over him, but the knee came up in the same moment and met against her stomach.

It knocked the wind out of her a bit, but when he threw her to the side she managed to take a good breath in while she was mid-air. The throw ended up sending her head-first towards the ground, and she instinctively pushed her hands forward to meet it. When her palms met the ground she bent her elbows with the impact. She tucked her legs in briefly, then pushed off with her arms to reverse the motion and flip towards G'han. If she'd been closer she might've been able to turn that into a kick, but he'd been smart in putting the distance between them. She landed on her feet to face him again, taking a few more deep breaths before settling her breathing back to where it was. The landing had stopped the motion though, so she'd wait for him to move again and see where he would go.

[Dragon]

G'han watched Tanwen as she tried to flip over him when he grabbed her. It might have worked if he had went for any other attack, but she wasn't going to avoid his knee. To prove the point, the knee connected and knocked the wind out of her. Now to see how she faired with the throw.

She was going headfirst towards the ground. He wondered if Tanwen would flip out of it, or actually crash into the ground. From what he'd seen so far, he doubted it was the latter. Just as he thought, she flipped. But what really caught him off guard was her reversing the motion and coming towards him. That took skill to react as fast as that.

But in that moment, G'han saw an opening. Her path seemed to indicate a land over an attack before the land. He didn't seem to be the finish line of the path. G'han would gamble on it. He quickly jumped when she was finishing hers. The moment she touched ground, G'han was coming at her midsection with a roundhouse kick to the stomach.

[Kino]

[Unfortunately for Tanwen, I've been thinking of a post for awhile, and I still have not thought of a way she can dodge that without having superpowers - mainly, spideysense.]

When she'd turned to land she really hadn't expected G'han to already be there ready with a kick. It made contact, and the only thing she was able to think of within the reaction time she had was, while taking the impact, to wrap her arms around his leg. It didn't really do much during the kick, but once the round-house was done going round she had a split second or so to think.

Tanwen stretched her legs out - the'd curled up at the impact of the kick instinctively so she hadn't been dragging her legs all over the ground - and planted her feet on the ground. They were only planted for a brief moment though as she pushed off with both feet in a twirling direction, still holding onto his leg, and trying to take the twirl in the direction that his leg had already been moving. With any luck, the momentum from his kick would still be there, and he might get spun from his leg up to the rest of him. The ideal result was pictured in her mind quite clearly (he'd end up in something like what a figure-skater might do with a sideways-jumping-twirl-thing on Earth). If it didn't work out that way, then at the very least she might get him off balance.

[Dragon]

The kick had hit like G'han had hoped. Tanwen's movements were something to adapt to, but he was getting there. No aggressive movements, but she could counter pretty effortlessly. It forced G'han to think after the attack, as opposed to what attack he'd use.

In a fight, G'han was trained to react quickly and adapt as necessary. This time was no different. It started out with him feeling out how she would fight but now that G'han had more understanding of it, things were getting interesting. Case in point, Tanwen now had good hold of his leg. She took the hit, sure. But she now had a good grip on his leg. G'han figured what might come next. It was similiar to what he did to Tanwen earlier.

Judging by the way Tanwen fought, it'd make sense for her to use G'han's own momentum from his kick. So when she threw him, G'han went twirling about in the air. It looked like he might land hard. At the last second, however, he landed on his left foot and his right fell back behind his steady left foot to give him a nice steady posture. His knees bent more than he'd like and he felt a cramp may come on. But he managed to use his bent knees to go into a forward jump right at Tanwen again. His right hand came forward for a quick punch to her face.

[Kino]

[Sorry for the huge wait. Spring break was filled with business. I wasn't on the computer much except for homework and mid-term-essay stuff ^^; ]

At this point in the spar Tanwen was starting to think that it was only a matter of time before the older man won. She could fight pretty well, but he'd likely been fighting for way longer than she had, and that sort of time came with experience. Her attempt to turn him around did work somewhat, but he was fight on track with his own movements a moment later.

When he came at her to aim a punch to her face, she reacted instinctively into a backward flipping motion, bringing her face away from his fist and her feet up off the ground after she'd kicked into the flip. As her feet came up she aimed a kick at G'han. If she'd been in an actual fight she might have aimed for the chin, but she didn't want to break teeth or slice his lip open in a friendly spar, so she aimed the kick at his shoulder instead.

[Sorry for the sub-part post quality/length. Still in semi-burnout from the big projects that were due xD; ]