Snippet #1583305

Kali looked out over the assembled group and cringed inwardly. She would never externalize such an expression, of course, but just because she appeared unfazed by the monumental nature of the task before her did not mean that she was. She didn't question the Captain's judgement, but if she did, she'd be doing so right about now. Watching the loud one heft his axe around was almost enough to make her want to walk back into her tent and pretend they didn't exist. She was a soldier, not a babysitter. But then, it was for exactly that reason that she had to try and make them capable of defending themselves. No simple assignment.

"All right. You," she pointed at Sebastian. "You've only got a bow, so find a tree, make sure there's nobody in front of it, and get to practicing. We'll cover how to dodge and avoid melee combatants later." That left her with an odd number. Fantastic. She briefly entertained the idea of telling both men to go after Leander, but that wouldn't work out the way she wanted it to. There was a possibility that Flin would figure out how to use that thing he was waving around, and she highly doubted someone like Nox would agree to an unfair fight. It looked like she would have to participate rather than simply instruct from the side.

In a sense, this was much more palatable than standing back. She needed the workout, too, but the chances of any of these people providing her with a challenge was laughable at present. Though, there was one other way she could get the most out of this... Kali frowned, considering her decision for a moment. "You and you," she pointed at Leander and Flin. "Your opponents are each other for today." They both seemed to know their way around a fight, and though in some sense either one would have been more of a challenge than Nox, she was actually going for the opposite idea now.

"Nox, you're with me." Instead of drawing her sword, Kali dispensed with it and went straight for her ceramic knife. Nox had selected knives as well, which meant that he could benefit most directly from the knowledge she had. He was also least likely to have picked up any combat "habits" already, meaning that she was essentially working with a blank slate, something she found interesting.

---

"Are you kidding?" Leander countered, crossing her arms and fixing Kali with a disbelieving look. She pointed at Shades and his axe and raised an eyebrow. "If he manages to hit me with that thing, I'm dead. If I hit him in the wrong place, he's dead, too. I don't know anything about swords or any of that business, but I do know how to punch a guy and these-" she held up a reinforced gauntlet- "are more than enough to make a jab to the throat or something lethal."

Kali's eyes narrowed to slits, and she stared the other woman down. "Than you'd best not get hit. Aim elsewhere if you must, but do you think your enemies are going to use wooden weapons because you're new at this? That if you rationally explain you situation to them, they'll strike only nonlethal blows? Don't be naive." Still, she grudgingly supposed there was a point in there somewhere, and marched over to a pile of wood, grabbing a branch about the size and weight of Flin's axe. "Use this. As for you: if you don't think you're skilled enough not to break his neck, then fight him barehanded. You and I will still be using actual weapons, Nox."

With that, she turned to face the tall blond man, knife at the ready. "Come at me in any way you can think of. I guarantee you won't kill me, so don't hold anything back, or I'll make you pay for it."

---

Leander huffed, but did not don her gauntlets. This was practice; the idea was to improve, not kill anyone. "I'd recommend the stick," she told Shades flatly. Cracking her knuckles individually (a habit her mother had always hated), Leander settled into a low stance, resting on the balls of her feet and ready to move in any direction at the notice of a mere instant. Her art was by nature a more aggressive one, but not without defensive postures and forms. Taking a deep breath, she tried to remember all the things she'd learned as a teenager; it had been about a year since she'd even approached a dojo; this was going to take some oiling before the rust went away completely.

Her best bet was probably to goad Shades into doing something stupid. But how? A wry smile twisted her face. Maybe a better question would be which of several methods she should use. Cocking her head to one side, she extended an arm, palm up, fingers curled, and gestured him to come at her with the first two. That one had been in several action movies; he was bound to know it and heed its advice right? There was always the joke about that axe compensating for something, but she'd save that one for later, if she ever used it. She wasn't overly fond of innuendo-based humor, actually.

Without taking her attention off Shades, she glanced over at the confrontation between Kali and Nox. What was up with that, anyway? Did she have enough of a grudge against the guy that she wanted to slice him to ribbons, or was she just that insane? Considering the fact that Nox probably couldn't offend someone if he tried, she was leaning towards the latter. Unless he refused to fight her for gender reasons, he'd probably survive. Hell, every time some idiot tried that on her, she hit twice as hard on principle. If you were getting in a barfight in the first place, there was no way you were a gentleman, why pretend to be one then?

In retrospect, the Professor had probably done the smart thing by choosing a ranged weapon, though that promise of "dodging practice" did not sound like much fun.