Training Day [IC]

[angrydurf]

Ace had been surprised when Taylor had called with this particular request, pleasantly surprised but surprised none the less. He had Easily shifted his schedual to make the afternoon available to her and Stesha and had the gym set up with some training dummies as well as mats and anything else they would need.

Stesha knew the way so he just made sure one of the staff was available to show them in and took care of his warm-ups before they arrived.

When they arrived the young ladies were greeted by two very different sights, Stesha could easily make out the long drive and artfully sculpted topiarys of the manor. Taylor merely saw an open lot and very nice view of the bay over the far off dunes though she could feel some sort of magic permeating the environs, the soft glimmer of the arcane limning the landscape.

[Electra]

Since they were staying together for the moment, it only made sense for Taylor and Stesha to travel together for this engagement, popping out of a secluded privet hedge one property down from Ace's front yard. Stesha confidently headed for the driveway before realizing that Taylor seemed to be having the same problem that she'd had the first time she'd come this way. "Don't worry," she said breezily, taking Taylor's hand to guide her. "It's this way, it's just hard to see at first. It's kind of cool, really."

[alderwitch]

Taylor let Stesha draw her along and simply close her eyes so that her second sight wouldn't make her quite so sick to her stomach, "Of course Ace would extrapolate his little mind tricks to cover a North Bay mansion. Maybe its dakanan?"

She mused aloud and gingerly opened one eye once the sound under her feet had changed from grasses to gravel.

[angrydurf]

The crunch of gravel underfoot was disconcerting certainly but there was a certainty settling upon Taylor as well that she was not supposed to be here. A person of weaker will would likely have felt too uncomfortable to remain. Standing upon a large rock Taylor caught site of a diminutive older gentleman in a well fitted suit topped with ornate tribal jewelry as she peeked, to Stesha the man was standing several steps up so as to be at eye level to the approaching ladies.

He offered a curt bow as they drew to a stop and beckoned Taylor closer leaning in and whispering something to her in a familiar tongue, she believed it to be an obscure dialect of Tibetan though translation was beyond her field of study.

As he withdrew it was as if Taylors eyes were opened anew. A vast manor stood before her where she stood at the foot of a sweeping stair up to the main entrance the beautifully manicured courtyard laid out around her.

With a nod their diminutive guide spoke in crisp english, "This way ladies the master of the house awaits." before showing them into the manor.

[Electra]

"Thank you," Stesha said politely, following the man up the broad steps of the mansion. "I almost left the first time I visited," she confided to Taylor, "I wandered around on the roadside for about five minutes, trying to figure out if I'd gotten the street wrong, or if it was some elaborate practical joke. I wonder how he ever gets his mail. Have you ever been here before? It's really neat."

[alderwitch]

"No, this my first trip to Danger Manor." Taylor admitted. Any offer to visit had been layden with enough innuendo that she'd demurred.

Taylor glanced back over her shoulder, rolling the phrase over in her thoughts. The familiarity of that was going to bug her all day.

[angrydurf]

The butler paused as they entered the spacious foyer, shutting the door behind them before offering a small selection of light hors'douvers, "Refreshment milady?" He asked each in turn.

The foyer itself was as Stesha remembered it festooned with the trophies of a thousand adventures around the globe and dominated by a large painting of the Jungle Patrol in its heyday hanging over the entrance to the remainder of the Manor.

Once the guests had taken their refreshment as desired the butler guided them down a long hall taking a left well before the atrium entrance Stesha remembered from her last visit. The hallway and the library that followed were both decorated in a classic english colonial style, dark woods and aged leather. The walls of the library were lined with books of all ages and several lay open on various lecturns or stacked neatly on nearby tables.

As they reached the far end of the library the Butler opened the door and ushered them down another long hall with what appeared to be guest rooms branching off of it.

[Electra]

Stesha dallied just a little, eating something delicious on a toast point and looking at the acres of memorabilia. "See, isn't it neat?" she asked Taylor as they walked. "It's just like a museum, except that all of it belongs to Ace, because he lived through all those crazy adventures. I told him he should write his memoirs, but he won't. Still, think of all the stories that never made it into the comic books or the cartoon show. And you should see his garden!" she added enthusiastically as they headed down the hallway.

[alderwitch]

Taylor glanced around and then obligingly began to fill in this story or that story. In addition to her own rather expansive historical studies, she appeared to have a rather encyclopediac knowledge of Ace's adventures. Before Stesha could question that, as Taylor hardly seemed to get along with the man half the time, she added "I grew up on my great uncle Huang's stories. He was one of the characters that the Jungle Patrol was based on. So this is all third hand knowledge, really."

[angrydurf]

The butler opened the door to one of the guest rooms and gestured for them to enter. Inside a young woman who even taylor stood head and shoulders over was waiting along with a variety of exercise garments, as well as martial arts uniforms, for the ladies to peruse.

The Butler nod with a warm smile to the young woman, "This is Sara," pronouncing the name with a long A, "She'll see to your needs and show you to the gym when you are prepared, is there anything else we can get you while you before I go?"

[Electra]

"Thank you, I think we'll be fine," Stesha told him, then stepped into the changing room. She gave the leotards and tights a very skeptical look before passing them over for a look at the martial arts uniforms. They were nice, sort of like pajamas, but she didn't know what belt one was supposed to use when one was merely pretending, and she didn't want to advertise any skill she absolutely didn't possess. She finally settled on a gray and pink workout outfit that, while stretchy, at least was looser than a swimsuit and nylons. She dressed quickly, then made Taylor and Sara wait for a few minutes while she redid her hair, braiding it into a tight spiral against her head that was unlikely to come loose even if she was getting thrown around like a cat toy. "Okay," she finally said with a deep breath, "We ready?"

[alderwitch]

Taylor looked around and simply marveled as she asked, "So, do you think he just keeps ladies clothing on hand or did he buy this all for the occasion?"

She rifled through the racks and found something that was as close to her usual work out clothes possible. Like Stesha, she skipped over the martial arts outfits and settled on a pair of loose runners shorts and a halter top and knotted her hair back in a quick pony tail. The only thing she did do that was more than you might put on for a jog, was wrap her hands and feet while Stesha braided her hair.

[angrydurf]

When they finished their preparations Sara smiled politely and aske, "Are you in need of anything more?" before showing them to the door and to the end of the hall which opened up into a spacious gym. The various peices of equipment had been cleared to the sides and the center was dominated by a large area of padded mats and a few other acoutrema of the martial arts.

Standing in the midst of the room was thier host. Ace had abandonned his trademark fedora and bomberjacket for a pair of loosefitting cotton pants and little else, though like Taylor it apeared his hands and feet were wrapped. Clearly he had already warmed up as the was a faint sheen of sweat on his chest as he walked toward his guests.

He nodded saying, "Thank you Sara." With a smile as he dismissed her and with a curtsy the small maid took her leave. He turned to his guests, "Welcome, I'm glad to see you found something comfortable. You need a drink or anything before we start?" He gestured to a table set with a fine caraf of icewater and a pitcher of some kind of fruit juice from all appearances.

[Electra]

"Hello, Ace," Stesha said with a smile, testing the mats with her feet as she stepped onto them. "Thanks for setting all of this up for us, it's really nice of you. I've never really done anything like this before, so I'll probably be hopeless to start. Taylor's good, though. Last time we did this, she dropped the guy she was fighting in three seconds flat." She stretched her arm over her head and grabbed her elbow, pulling on it to stretch the muscles out. "I'd better stretch a little, then I'll be ready to go."

[alderwitch]

Taylor shrugged and glanced away from Ace while she tried desperately not to blush. She should have expected that he'd leap at the opportunity to run around shirtless.

Once she had her expression under control she slanted a look back at Ace and added dryly, "Of course he was an untrained college student that wasn't expecting to have to dodge my elbow. I'm good to go. I'm used to a cold start."

[angrydurf]

"Right,lets start with stance then." Ace said snappily, "Stesha can watch while we get you started." he added with a grin to Taylor.

He stood loosely balanced on the balls of his feet hands hanging freely at his sides as he watched Taylor with an appraising eye.

[alderwitch]

Taylor uncrossed her folded arms and stepped out on the mat. Her posture didn't change drastically but Taylor always had a ready air to her. Her hands were loose and relaxed by her sides and her weight was well centered. Although she bemoaned her height, it did give her a lower center of gravity as she gave Ace a faint smile, "Sure, though I don't know any real style."

[Electra]

Stesha remained safely on the sidelines, hopping around on one foot with the other drawn up to her butt in a stretching style right out of high school P.E. It really seemed like a much better idea to watch Taylor and Ace take each other on and stay out of the way than to actually stand up there herself and try not to lose what small amount of dignity she'd have left by the time she finished stretching. And it would be much more fun to watch those two grapple, that was for sure.

[angrydurf]

Steshas hopes of seeing Ace and Taylor wrestel about on the mats it seemd was going to go unfulfilled at least for the moment. Ace took a quick set of steps and came up behind Taylor pulling her wrists up and tightening her fists within his own hands.

"Firt things first. You want to ensure you can protect your body and head at all times, keep your hands up and movign ready to block." To accent his point he slid his arms around her once more and moved her arms and hands through soem basic defensive manuvers.

Taking a step back he nudged her foot with his own, "You're center of gravity is low thats to your advantage but a wider stance is still going to be more stable." He flashed Stesha a wink, "I mean the last thing you ladies want is to end up flat on you back right?"

[alderwitch]

Taylor rolled her eyes at his last comment and dutifully let her hands get manipulated about, "If I widen my stance, I lose a few seconds of mobility by having my feet set. It's a bit of a trade off."

She shrugged, since he clearly wanted the 'punch you in the face' stance and scooted one foot out and raised her fists. Although it wasn't the classical boxers style or any form known to Ace, it was obvious she'd had some training as one fist came up slightly close to her body ready to block and the other hovered slightly further out. It was close to several of the various boxing forms but not really any one of them.

[Electra]

Stesha mimicked the stance from the sidelines, setting her feet and raising her guard like Taylor was doing. It felt kind of weird, like posing for a picture. "How do you know when to start doing the footing and hands thing?" she asked Ace. "You want to do it before the fight starts, right, but doesn't this make it look like you're looking for a fight?" She didn't look like much of a fight at the moment, really, but the basic stance was almost right.

[angrydurf]

Ace took a step back and made a few corections to Steshas stance as well. "You take up your stance as soon as you think you need to. If done right it will make you look like you are ready for a fight which is not exactly looking for one." He said simply.

He beconed Stesha over to where he stood, "Now then take a swing at me, don't worry about hurting me I assure you I've had worse." he said as he dropped once more into his loose stance but with arms raised this time.

They both had a passable idea of how to hold themselve now for some more intricate lessons.

[Electra]

It seemed to take Stesha a minute to nerve herself up enough to actually throw a punch. She really didn't want to miss, not when he was standing right there a foot away and she would look like a total moron, but at the same time, she didn't want to throw a punch at anybody, much less at a friend. But he was a hero, she rationalized, and had years and years of training, and nothing she did was actually going to hurt him. Blowing out a breath, she drew her arm back and imagined he was one of her big brothers back in high school, and aimed a punch straight for his stomach.

[angrydurf]

Her blow was surprisingly solid and direct catching him directly in the solarplexus, Luckily he managed to tighten up and was none the worse for wear but was clearly impressed as he took a step back.

"Good, good," He said with a small smile, "Just do that each time and you'll be fine." He added with a wink Steshas direction.

He took a quick step back ot the heavy punching bag hanging off to the side and beckoned the girls over. "So a little bit on basic form." He said having gotten a better measure of their relitive skills.

He squared his body to the bage so they had a good look at his profile, "Now there are several thoughts on how to throw a punch." He pivitoded at the hips as he slammed one fist into the bag with all his weight behind it. "If you use your whole body you can get quite alot of power but at the cost of accuracy and to a degree leaving yourself open if they are still standing afterwards." He explained.

"Now on the other hand speed will get past many defenses," He unleashed a rapid combonation of punches into the bag, "But will have less power." Ace elaborated.

Turning from the bag once more the long time hero smiled, "However, the key element to any solid hit is not to try and hit them but to hit a point behind them. The follow through. It seems that both of you have at least a cursory understanding of that already."

"So We'll do some basic tests of defenses," He said beckoning Taylor over, "Just to get a baseline of wht needs more work." He added with a wink.

[alderwitch]

"You haven't asked me to take a swing at you yet," Taylor pointed out dryly. She moved accross the mat to him, cautiously. Anytime someone said they were 'going to test your defenses', Taylor assume that testing would begin as soon as she was within range. So, as she walked to him, her gaze flicked over her his body in an effort to anticipate whatever test he had devised. "I assume you mean defenses other than turning intangible."