Buckeye and the Hawk (Test Thread)

[quarterback_of_steel]

 Nathaniel Heywood is many things, but "ungrateful" is not one of them. As he walked down the corridor of the JSA Brownstone, hearing the new metal tiles underfoot and their crunch, he looks to the kitchen. He remembers when he had to eat. It's odd now. He picks up the apple and looks at it. He has to watch his strength with it, but he can't feel how much pressure he's using. Hell, with the suit he still can occasionally be too strong. Not enough to break bone unless he tries, but enough-

splat!

to break an apple in his hands. He feels bad about that and quickly wipes the remains off of him before continuing down the hallway. In the study waits the man he was looking for. Though the man was just visiting today, Nate wanted to talk to him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hall? Do you have a second?"

Comments

Re: The Next Morning

[notcommander.livejournal.com]

Steel thinks. "Not much in the way of real training, but I did play football for a few years. So I can tackle or take one pretty well." Nate hopes that's enough for Carter, though he knows he needs more fighting training than that.

Re: The Next Morning

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

"Honesty, good policy. Ok, I've seen a few of the real jocks in the field. Remember the first advice I'm going to bet your coach told you on tackling... keep your head up. Be aware of what's around you. Some other things you can take from that... remember tackling stance? Set your feet, wide base, arms up?"

Re: The Next Morning

[notcommander.livejournal.com]

Nate nods and assumes the tackling position. "Yep."

Re: The Next Morning

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

"Good, strong base, hard to take you down - but when you're not just attacking, but being attacked, its too broad a profile. From that stance, shift your left leg back about a foot behind your right, out at a 45 degree angle, turn your body with it - it'll keep your stability, you keep your weight on the balls of your feet for quick action and reaction, the same way, but you provide a narrower attack profile and are more stable against frontal assault - the most common. Then bring your right hand up to just under your chin level, keep your left hand down."

Re: The Next Morning

[notcommander.livejournal.com]

Nate does exactly as Carter says. The end result feels different, yet still somehow comfortable to him, familiar.

Re: The Next Morning

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

Carter shifts into the same stance, demonstrating how easy and quick it is to move forward, back or side to side from the position. "Ok, now, basic combinations - from this, you can work out others, but anyone can throw a punch - the real trick is setting yourself up for openings. swivel your hips into a feint with the left, in the process, bring your left hand up to guard your face while you snap punch with your right, like this..."

Re: The Next Morning

[notcommander.livejournal.com]

Nate tries the same maneuver, mimicing Carter's every move, though well out of each other's reaches.

Re: The Next Morning

[abluntobject.livejournal.com]

"Good, now add an extra maneuver - feint, snap jab, then go for the uppercut with the left, each punch needs to set up the next, and you always have whichever hand isn't attacking defending your face." he instructs, demonstrating the simple combo.

Re: The Next Morning

[notcommander.livejournal.com]

Nate tries this as well. His actions are a little slower than he'd like. He's paying extra attention to where he steps. One feint and his foot hits a sprinkler. Putting roughly a ton onto a single sprinkler head only results in a big hole and the beginning of a flood.

"Whoops." Nate looks at Carter sheepishly, and if his blood was still red, he'd be blushing. Instead, he simply becomes a little shinier.