Het Leven (Spar)

[Valencia Donahue]

Valencia forgot to dye her hair blonde today and although the portions that were still blonde were visible for anyone who bothered to notice, it didn’t bother her in the slightest. She didn’t tie it up nor did she care to hide it in any sort of way. If anything, she felt very refreshed to have it flowing loosely in the breeze, unfettered by the weight of gold no longer weighing her spirits down. In the middle of a crowd crossing a street, her lively eyes would’ve been unmistakable to those who recognized her and to those who didn’t, she just stood out… Maybe as much as she stood out other times, but in a different way. Within the monotony of steps, Valencia skipped forward every time a wave of feet receded.

The sun was rising and her silver eyes hovered upon a group of seagulls that were bathing in the fountain, obviously getting ready to loot anyone silly enough to misplace their lunch. Valencia stared at them until they stared back, then took off in a flurry of feathers and wild crying. During that scramble for the air, Valencia was already jogging to her first period classroom to put her belongings where her seat was. She was really early, but she had no real reason to carry her stuff around like a security blanket… At least, not today. Besides, it wasn’t as though people cared enough to take her materials.

Valencia meandered about she found a vacant hallway and without a second thought, she ran and performed a cartwheel, causing teachers to look up from the papers they were grading as a pair of jean-ed legs and sneakers flashed by their window. Eventually, the Asian made it to the roof where a murder of ravens was staring at the sunrise as if it was the ascension of a god. The Vietnamese lady didn’t seem to disturb them at all. If anything, they welcomed her by moving aside when she walked past them, then going back to the way they were to keep watching the sun. The senior allowed her white windbreaker to dangle unzipped while the sea breeze reminded her of how alive she was.

“I wonder how many people actually realize how great the view is up here in the morning… And how many more take it for granted…”

The door to the roof was open and a smile was on Valencia’s face as she stared in the same direction as the black birds were. Maybe people trained up here on the mornings where she actually remembers to dye her hair? There was plenty of room and it wasn’t a remote possibility. If that was the case and such a person came up to exercise, they’d find someone very fresh to take on instead of the air or some training dummy.

((OOC: Yes, I want a fight, dadgumit.))

[Kyousuke]

OOC: I'll be coming in to actually spar this time around. I apologize for wasting the last thread, but this one works more smoothly with Kyousuke. Good luck to ya.

Kyousuke opened the roofs door, his head turning to look behind him as he heard a voice raise up the stairwell. "Hey, shit for brains, the least you could do is not stare off into space!" He didn't really understand the phrase, but he could only assume it was because someone was clumsy. He had no idea that in his distracted, sleepy, state he had wandered past a student carrying several library books, and knocked them down when he bumped into him with his gym bag. Nor did he realize from the way the words echoed up the stairwell just when he opened the door that it could be assumed it came from him.

The first thing he did was begin to pull off his fading green pullover, which still held two streaks of blood stained onto his left shoulder, as he turned back toward the rooftop. He hadn't noticed the familiar figure of Valencia there, otherwise he would have been more self conscious when static caused his white collared shirt to be pulled up to his collar bone before it fell back down to his hips. All the same he would drop the gym bag and the pullover onto the roof without much thought. "Yuuyou hitonemuri." He spoke aloud to himself, something that would also freeze his blood if he realized he had an audience.

Kyousuke, if left unhindered, would turn himself back toward the door, and begin a small traiditional exercise. The movements would be fast, linear, and his leg made a point to make a hooking motion just toward the end of his steps. "Forward one step, bring the other leg back up to it, step left. Forward, bring back to it, left again." As he moved through the training he thoughtfully moved into his limbs, he had come full circle.

From a few feet away he ended up staring straight toward Valencia just as he shot a punch forward, and hooked his forearm back into his bicep, and let his elbow point toward her. However, this time around, there was a good distance between the two. "Morning Viberance." He would greet before continuing, this time around he would want a bit more training and less talk. He had wasted time this morning thanks to the girls day off. she loved to wake him up early, and this was the best way for him to wake up.

[Valencia Donahue]

As soon as she heard footsteps coming up from below, Valencia had a feeling that she’d be having some human company soon. This notion was confirmed the moment she heard a voice screaming up from the stairs. She realized that there was little odds of enjoying the sunrise any longer with her feathered friends in silence, so she turned in full around to see a rather familiar face. This was the only possible way Kyousuke could recognize her, with her hair a different hue and the sun illuminating her outline. Well, he could’ve identified her by her windbreaker, but that’s beside the point. When he finally greeted her, Valencia didn’t say a word. Her attention would be the only thing returning his greeting, her smile not included. Her eyes scanned his body until they landed on his face, then she stretched a little to ensure that she had plenty of time to warm up on her way here already.

Valencia’s fists were brought up to her chin with her arms tucked in while her legs were firmly planted with each step she made in her advance. She didn’t know what kind of fighter Kyousuke was and in spite of their last meeting, she had little intention of underestimating anyone. In spars, she found cowards who weren’t daring enough to strike first and in the case of self-defense, she found morons who dared to strike first. She didn’t tarry at all in getting this fight started and it showed in the way she rushed three steps forward. The ravens, now agitated, made a big show in taking off by flying every which way to the tops of the fences, leaving behind black feathers (among other things) between Kyousuke and Valencia. You can say that she used this as a way to conceal her initial strike, for her right fist was already sailing (hook) towards Kyousuke’s ribcage on the right side, exposed when he pointed his elbow at her.

((OOC: Using assumptions again, since most leading arms are right. Let me know if anything needs to be fixed.))

[Kyousuke]

Kyousuke, still distracted by his exercise and not expecting to find aggression in Valencia, had continued. He had noticed it was here due to facial expression and the fact she was wearing the same wind breaker, too oblivious to realize her hair was a different color. He was aware of rushed footsteps, but just vaguely, as the ravens that had been gathered in a murder on the roof had began to fly off the top of the fences. This gave him pause in mid movement, his legs together as he was just about to step to the right again, and his head turned to look at them in confusion.

"I was making that much noise?" His eyes were turned away from Valencia, and it seemed she used this moment, because he felt a dull thud in his right side. After the initial shock of taking a hit he had not expected Kyousuke realized his body already was reacting, had stepped forward and to the right, and pushed backward, sending his left forearm into the general direction of Valencia's body. The strike had a low probability of being successful, but he would still continue through so his body turned to face her, plant both feet and push off again, sending knife fist at a diagonal left angle with his right hand that he had over his chest. Easy enough to block, but it would have the power of his right foot pushing off behind him, which could push her back away from him.

[Valencia Donahue]

Though Valencia had pretty good footing with her left foot behind and all, it wasn’t as if she was going to let Kyousuke dominate by moving in before she did. We’re talking about a ballroom dancer here, so no way was she going to let herself fall back unless she wants to. With her right bicep preoccupied and Kyousuke’s right coming in for a chop-like maneuver, Valencia pushed forward with her body, the right side in particular to counterbalance the push he was giving. Thank gawd for their difference in height and weight not being that large. With that going on, Valencia’s left fist was already in a prime position to slam into his right shoulder from the inside of his knife fist (counter), her body moved forward in full to give it momentum and balance, and although she had a distinct feeling that her visual receptors would go down the drain for a couple vital moments, she did it anyway. Continuing her assault into Kyousuke, she rammed her head into his with the intent of this being the move that knocks him off-balance. If all this was carried through, odds were that Valencia would be a li’l dazed, but her legs would still be keeping her up and proof that she didn’t back down an inch, pressing onward the whole time.

[Kyousuke]

Kyousuke was showing a lack of attention as Valencia pushed forward with her body, counterbalancing his forward shift of weight. It was a two edged sword, if he struck it would do less damage because she closed the distance, but it would still have her forward momentum. While less damaging, it wasn't neutralizing his blow entirely. But then came something he entirely wasn't expecting, a head but. As their skulls cracked together, his back foot wavered and then set balance after a six inch drop.

The chop with the edge of his hand going higher as his body dropped down and back, most likely about to catch Valencia in the side of the neck with only the strength of his arm and the snap bellow his elbow to deliver it. As pain flooded his mind his vision began to brighten sharply, and a dull growl of frustration escaped him as he flicked his eyes down to his bag. If he had the opportunity he'd pull it open and pull out the sunglasses. The pair his attacker actually had given him, ironically enough.

His forehead still throbbing in random, painful, intervals Kyousuke would push off his back foot again, and turn himself so his left shoulder would be driven into the central mass of the blurry figure. Although he did not expect this to make all the room he needed to rush over to his gym bag, the swinging of his left arm that would jab into her side with his elbow surely would, assuming she was as stunned as he was blind at this point.

[Valencia Donahue]

Visual absolute threshold status: Unstable.
Visual receptors buffering…
Buffering…
Buffering…
Buffering failed.
Visual receptors offline.
Visual absolute threshold status: Dependant on equilibrioception factors and point of reference.
Point of reference: Unestablished.
Searching for alternate receptors…
Tactile receptors available. Audio receptors available.
Integration of receptors: Failed.
Synthesis of receptors: Downloading…
Point of reference: Searching…

In a crazy flash, this and more was what Valencia’s brain went through after and maybe even during that headbutt. Summed up to trim down the robo-talk, yup, she’s dazed and even a li’l dizzy. Thank gawd the forehead is the sturdiest part of the skull or they’d both be in trouble. How long this was going to last was a mystery to her, but it seriously shouldn’t last THAT long. Whatever the case, it wasn’t as though Kyousuke was going to wait until it ended, so she had to keep going. Now, with her brain out of whack, Valencia assembled her priorities to be centralized around finding a point of reference and since this was a spar and all, that point of reference would happen to be her opponent, Kyousuke. As long as she knew where he was, she was fine and dandy, even though it did smart in both of the places he struck her.

She was resilient in closing the gap as much as she could since the very beginning and though blinded, she wasn’t going to lose sight of that goal too soon. Valencia finally established a lock on Kyousuke after he got her. Following the strike on the neck, her left fist that connected into his shoulder slipped over and as much as she could around Kyousuke’s neck as her other arm followed suit after he nailed her in the side. In other words, she was squeezing his neck in a tight hug and burying his face into her shoulder. Though her arms were long, it wasn’t as though she had the muscles and length of a constrictor to suffocate Kyousuke. Exposed? Dadgum it, of course Valencia is wide open! And he got her where he could, too! But that’ll be up to Kyousuke if he can even find a way to pry this currently-brunette Asian off of him before he turns blue in the face.

[Kyousuke]

Kyousuke felt the same hand that had struck his shoulder shifted over and hooked around his neck, the previous two blows having struck but not creating the space that he needed. And whats worse, he now had himself in a headlock. Although that was probably one of the worst things she could do at the moment, as Kyousuke was now not only willing to fight her. But was quite angry that she had triggered his cornea displacement, which wouldn't wear off until sometime around lunch, if it kept to it's normal schedule. These thoughts preoccupied him as he decided if he was willing to pound her diaphragm to get her to let go of his neck.

Despite the thoughts of the fastest and most direct ways to release himself from the hold, he decided for the more honorable rout. Which of course meant that he was going to hurt her until she decided trying to perform an air choke wasn't such a great idea after all. One torque of his arm, one punch into her solar plexus. A second, third, fourth. He would simply continue throwing them until he needed to resort to something more direct, or she backed away. In either case, despite the headlock, he was fairly sure he had the advantage. Although he didn't necessarily like pounding a womans stomach into her rib cage very much.

[Valencia Donahue]

If Valencia had the intent to take this beyond a spar, she would’ve done more than put Kyousuke’s noggin into a mere headlock. With Kyousuke slamming his fist into her gut, she had little other choice than to let go instead of letting him do more damage than she’d want him to. She let her grip slip off of her opponent’s neck after the second or third blow and shoved Kyousuke away from her. Valencia was still regaining her senses, but they were gradually returning with the mental lock on her opponent still intact. In a sense, wherever he landed, the idea was to have him land heavily and give them some elbow space to begin again, should Kyousuke choose to. Why? ‘Cause Valencia’s vision was adjusting to the increase of sunlight falling upon the roof through the fences’ links and a mite fuzzy, audio cues would help her find Kyousuke quicker (in the event he manages to escape detection and get out of her “lock-on”; can’t be too careful), and quite frankly, she was getting tired of going on the offense and wanted a change of roles. His turn to attack now and Valencia chose to resume the same posture she had at the beginning of this morning spar.

[Kyousuke]

Kyousuke didn't resist the firm shove Valencia had given him after releasing the head lock. He had given a few half-decent blows before he was pushed away, and therefor he wouldn't even try to continue the assault. Instead he was going to use the opportunity to wander over to the bag, duck down, and quickly pull the sunglasses out of his gym bag. It was toward the top, they were something he knew he would need quick access too, and he placed them on before standing up and looking toward Valencia, who had taken up a sloppy looking stance.

Seeing as it was now his turn to go on the offensive. He would take full use of it and not underestimate her, find out just how well Valencia fought, despite her earlier mistake. Kyousuke would move forward in a fast, but controlled pace, and slide his right foot toward her right, stop away from it, but so their knees were almost touching. His left foot became his back foot. Both hands would come up and grasp her right wrist, the grip tight, and pull it down and to the her left.

When going down the twisting motion would keep his grip stable with only his left hand, and his right would move back to prepare a strike. His left would continue the circular motion, after pulling forward and down, and push it back to her rite. Her body would more than likely be leaning forward toward him at this point, but it didn't need to be to be affective. While he had created the circular movement his right foot had hooked behind hers, which meant the coming strike would be likely to take her off her feet.

In either cause Kyousuke could thrust the heel of his palm into either her chin or forehead, depending on how far forward she had ended up going, and thrust his arm almost straight out but with enough angle to push her off balance and not simply trip her. However, he didn't want to do any permanent damage he would instead aim his attack, with the aid of his shoulder and hips torquing with it, into either her left shoulder or just above her bust.

OOC: Wow, that was awkward to write... So, it's bullet point time!

• Kyousuke would move forward in a fast, but controlled pace.
  
• His knee would stop just in front of Valencia's, so their knees were almost touching.
  
• Both hands would come up and grasp her outside hand just as he stopped.
  
• The hands would grasp at the wrist, and push it toward her other shoulder, and half circle down.
  
• When the arm had a twisting strain one hand would release, his foot would hook behind.
  
• The half circle of Valencia's arm would be completed with the one hand.
  
• Kyousuke would torque his shoulders and hips into a heel palm thrust, aimed at the shoulder or chest area.
  

[Valencia Donahue]

With her fists up where they ought to be, Valencia directed her attention where Kyousuke landed on his feet and headed off instead of towards her. Still recuperating, but knows better than to let it hinder her. At this point, she can see outlines at least. She heard the sound of rushed zipping and to her, that registered as Kyousuke getting something. Inhaler, mouth guard, weapon, what have you, he got his something and chose to continue the fray and Valenica decided to disregard it until it directly bothers her. The problem with this was that if your opponent expects you to be the attacker and you spend your time on other things instead of attacking (like circling or performing footwork, for instance), the element of surprise gets smaller and smaller. Kyousuke made it even easier for Valencia to estimate how long it’d take for him to come back by the way he measured his pace and when he launched his attack, she was more than prepared.

More or less, of course, since she didn’t know the change in his foot placement especially near the end. The only thing she really thought about was how he grabbed her right arm with both hands and began to pull it down. Valencia simply did what instinct commanded her and threw her left arm around the back of Kyousuke’s neck, wrap it, and squeeze. She put him into another headlock and she was going to use him partially for balance, judging by the way she’s continually shuffling her feet to her left.

One of these days, I’ll ask those contortionists to join me in some more flexibility training. Thank gawd my years of experience didn’t leave me a brittle stick.

In other words, her arms twisting everywhere still ain’t comfortable, even with her experience and her resisting his pull. So Valencia was aiming to get into a more workable position for her left arm and to get her right arm out of Kyousuke’s… Whatever-the-hell-circular-motion he’s pulling. His neck may be hurt if she gets a good grip on him, but that’s his problem for assuming that she’d just gonna stand there and get hurt.

((OOC: Confusion ensues. Didn’t bother calculating through the rest of your attack (halfway through paragraph 3 and beyond) since it may be altered or cancelled after what Valencia did and Kyousuke’s attacks seems dependent on her being stationary and/or moving forward. Let me know if anything needs clarifying ‘cause I’m going off of what you’re clearing up and what you’ve said over MSN.))

[Kyousuke]

Kyousuke brittled as he felt her arm wrap around his neck a second time, and heat spread down his spine for more than one reason. Firstly he didn't much like the first head lock. Secondly, this one left him with the distinct pressure that meant she had placed it more affectively, and was slowing (not stopping) blood flow to his brain. But since her first head lock didn't do so well for her, he somewhat doubted it was on purpose. All the same he had pressure on that part of his neck, and his anger was overriding his good judgment as blood was no longer feeding it. He had little choice but to shift right with her to assure her not getting behind him easily.

Kyousuke would still thrust his hand out out, but he no longer had the same target in mind. Without the ability to easily strike to the shoulder he decided something a bit more painful. Or, more precisely, he decided not to use a blood choke in return to get her to let go. Striking instead to her armpit, with his index and middle fingers knuckles, hoping to jab into the axillary nerve. With this attack aimed at the same arm that had him around the neck it had a decent chance to weaken the hold long enough for him to pry himself away, after releasing her right hand.

[Valencia Donahue]

You know those li’l tricks on how to deal with an animal that has the capability to kill you in some shape or form? Stuff like punching a shark to the nose to fend it off, knowing that a croc’s jaw muscles are strong on the bite but weak in the open, and those color rhymes that don’t always work with snakes? In Kyousuke’s case, he decided to further discourage Valencia from constricting him by hitting her again, this time in the underarm area instead of in the gut. She didn’t know much about pinpoint accuracy in jabbing nerves, but knew better than to keep going when Kyousuke gave his equivalent of a “you can stop hurting me now” pat that people give in martial arts gyms when their partner is on the verge of injuring them. Valencia slackened her grip and backed off as soon as Kyousuke released her other arm, not requiring the brunette to give her version of the “you can stop hurting me now” pat.

Once Valencia was a few feet away, she didn’t get into a stance or anything. Her vision completed its slow recovery and she realized that though they were still early, it was still some tens of minutes left until school started. The Vietnamese brunette looked to the sun and flexed her arm, a little amused with the tingling sensation her “funky” nerve was giving off due to Kyousuke’s jab. The blackbirds obviously weren’t around for the entire ordeal between she and Kyousuke, proof enough that the time for class was approaching. The birds had better things to do, after all. Valencia saw no point to continue and nodded towards Kyousuke before quietly heading for the stairs, leaving him to his training should he choose to. It was an alright spar, she figured. Didn’t put her into the state of fear she was hoping for in order to integrate her senses, but it was enough to make her feel pretty lively.

[Kyousuke]

Kyousuke blinked slowly as he felt the grip slacken. Getting the distinct feeling that she wasn't quite as agressive as she had been a moment earlier his face flushed in anger. No, he wouldn't be letting go of her arm. He tightened his grip on it firmly and jerked his eyes sharply onto hers through the sunglasses. "Do you normally make a habit of attacking your acquaintances without warning?" Kyousuke asked through grit teeth, making it come out in a violent hiss. Anger, a familiar emotion. It fueled him when things like this happened. And he could hardly bring himself to not twist the arm out of it's socket. Although, that level of rage was only momentarily.

He quickly jerked the arm upward and pulled her forward, closer to him, so he could at least partially sate his anger in the satisfaction of being taller than her. A minor victory at best. He'd realize his foolishness later. "I don't make a habit to give lectures, so this will be short," he didn't take much pause, although he took a purposeful one while he weakened the previously increasing pressure on her wrist. "If you ever decide you want to find out my reaction time to a blind side attack," his voice dripped with anger at the word attack. "Don't hit my damn skull." Probably not the reaction she was expecting. 'Don't do it at all' was probably what she had been expecting at this point. But he was more concerned with his eyes than the temporary pain in his neck. Figuratively and literally.

Kyousuke would release her arm, glare at her a moment longer, and wander off to his gym bag. He' had his fill of Valencia for the day. He could handle her attitude easily enough. He had dealt with worse women. But the last two times he bumped into her he ended having been half-blinded by her. "And you need to lay off the neck. Your obviously open to attacks." He randomly blurted out in his last remaining shred of anger as he swung the stairwell door open, and headed down with his gym bag resting over his shoulder.

[Valencia Donahue]

Well, that’s one way to throw a wrench into the works. Before Valencia could make her smooth getaway, Kyousuke pulled her close to him and gave her the pointblank stare down. If he wasn’t wearing her dark glasses, she would’ve looked away in an instant, but with those glasses and the added surprise as a factor, he got her attention and the only sign she gave of this was silence and her eyes looking back… Well, as close as it could get to Kyousuke’s eyes, anyways. You can says that aside from shock, she behaved like most children would when scolded as she stood there in Kyousuke’s grip and inches shorter than him. Most children aren’t the sort to give such people the satisfaction of being belittled and may even tune things out if it’s the same tune, different verse. In this case, Valencia was waaaaaay too used to people not liking how she does things, so she didn’t say much in her defense.

You’re lucky I got your neck. Gives you something to think about. If that’s your weakness, that’s the first thing most people will go for.

…And this, this, that. That’s the trick to ignoring people. Go to your own world and rant there. Valencia brushed herself off and nonchalantly shrugged as Kyousuke made his exit. Leaves her open, eh? What if she meant to do that? Pheh… Random dude telling a guerilla fighter to cover themselves while they’re the sort to hit-‘n’-run instead. That’s a good one. Whatever the case, it’s something to think about should she choke people out in the open again. Valencia… You DO realize that the only reason why you’re acting like this is because of your mood, right? I mean, wouldn’t you usually apologize or something like that, especially when you did do something particularly questionable?

Nyeh. I got bored and got my li’l spar to keep me awake. Life is short. That guy needs to get a clue and understand that people aren’t made to function in one set way. Lighten up.

If narrators could hurt the characters they’re dictating, this one would. But not just because she could’ve gotten on better terms with Kyousuke… But because she thought of something that’d probably help her a lot more than it would’ve to the person she mentally back-talked.