Learning to wield the whip (repost 2) attn Alriand

[Liitha]

Liitha had learned litle on the whips it was her second weapon but she had focused a lot on her katana instead, she wanted to corect that and had wondered who to ask. Then a tingle in her head had had her go read through her mothers letters and came across that her first mentor had the whip as a weapon though her mother never had taken an intrest in it. However this ment Liitha could coordinate learning the whip with learning about her mother perhaps and she set out to seek the man with name Alriand. She asked some older Tower Guards and was pointed in the direction of the far corner of the yard. She saw a man practising sword forms and since no one else was around she setled on the ground waiting for him to finish. When he did she went over with a friendly smile on her face.

 

"Hi do you have a second, someone told me you where the person named Alriand and through a letter I know you has the whip as your weapon, I have chosen to learn it to but I am afraid I have neglected my learning some and wondered if you could teach me. My name is Liitha Dorje."

 

She descided to wait a bit before telling who her mother was unless, he asked about the letter or recognised her last name.

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The forms flowed through him without effort, as if his body knew exactly what to do. And it did. He’d been studying here since he was sixteen, and now he was fifty-three (though being bonded had kept his features young), so his forms should be a part of who he is by now.

 

Off to the side he noticed a young woman sitting, seemingly waiting for him. He’d seen her around the yards before, but he’d never known her name. Though he was a Grand Master, he did not take on many apprentices, like other Masters he knew.

 

After he finished the last form, the woman came to him and said in a friendly tone, "Hi do you have a second?†Alriand simply nodded, “Someone told me you were the person named Alriand and through a letter I know you has the whip as your weapon, I have chosen to learn it to but I am afraid I have neglected my learning some and wondered if you could teach me. My name is Liitha Dorje."

 

Alriand recognized the last name: Dorje. A student of his had that name many years ago. Tanitsja was her name. She was his student for a time, and then she was passed over to a new mentor, for Alriand had business outside the Tower. After that he did not hear much from her, except of her death. He was saddened by the thought. He felt it coming when he had been training her. Her life was destined to be short-lived.

 

After a moment, he answered her, “Well, neglecting your training is something you should avoid, Liitha. You’ll be of no use here in the Tower without good training.†Her eyes flicked down for a second in shame or embarrassment. Alriand continued, “I do not teach many people, but since you sought me out, I can help you. Whip, you say? That’s not an easy weapon to use. Good for you, though. Not afraid of a challenge.†Alriand sheathed his katana of his father, and then said, “Well, I guess we can start right now. Come, let me get my whips.â€

 

On the way back to the barracks he asked Liitha, “You learned of my name through letters of you mother, you say?†She nodded. He thought for a moment, and then asked slowly, “Your mother’s name was Tanitsja, wasn’t it?â€

 

~ Alriand

Bonded to Lwena

GM

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“Well, neglecting your training is something you should avoid, Liitha. You’ll be of no use here in the Tower without good training.†Her eyes wandered down she knew and that was she was here to corect wasnt it, and her katana had been in the focus it was her first weapon after all and when she was promoted, she shook her head to herself as she followed behind the man, there had just been so much.

 

You learned of my name through letters of you mother, you say?†Liitha nodded, “Your mother’s name was Tanitsja, wasn’t it?†Liitha smiled but a sad look pased over her eyes for a brief moment. "Yes, but I never had the honor to know her, she died when i was still just weeks old. She left me with my foster parents and from what I have figured out so far died on her way back to Tar Valon. I guess I will never know the full thruth, but I have been able to dig up bits and pieces who have given me some ideas on what happened."

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“Hmm.†Alriand thought for a moment and then said, “If I knew the full truth, I would tell you, but I do not.†Another minute of silence passed. It was broken by Alriand soft voice, “But, if I were you, I would focus on what she did in life, not how she died. She was my student of mine at one point. I lost a parent once. Long ago.†It had been many, many years since his father’s death, but he would never be fully rid of the guilt that lay with him. Something so tragic would not be easy to lose memory or feelings of.

 

After Alriand had run into the barracks and fetched two bullwhips from his room, he ran back out and he and Liitha moved to a wide, open space. They needed more room for whips than for any other weapon (except maybe the bow).

 

Alriand still had both whips, and he kept them coiled up. He started the lesson by showing her what a whip is and how it works. He sighed, setting himself in the right frame of mind for whip (it was a hard weapon and was not easy to learn), and then began.

 

“This is a bullwhip. It is made of many braided layers of leather, thinning out towards the end, and a solid handle underneath the thickest end, with a pommel on that end. At the thin end of the braid is this long, thin piece of leather called the fall. Tied to the end of that is a tightly twisted piece of strong thread called the popper or cracker.†He went on to tell her how the energy got more focused as it traveled the length of the whip because it got thinner, and by the time it reached the end of the whip, it traveled fast enough to cut off fingers.

 

“Now the first crack I’ll teach you is the vertical crack. This is the easiest and has all the basic principals of a crack in it, so once you have the knowledge in you, you can apply it to many situations.†Alriand uncoiled one black, tightly braided whip, and stepped back to show Liitha. Lowering his weight but still remaining mobile by keeping his feet light, he rolled the whip back straight out behind him on his right side (using his right arm), and he smoothly and slowly swung it up vertically, eventually getting his arm at a right angle bent at the elbow. When the whip had gone around in almost a full circle, he straightened his arm out again, and the whip rolled straight out very gracefully, creating a loop where the energy flowed down, and it cracked very precisely at the end.

 

“That is the vertical crack. It will take you a while to get, trust me. Many, many days of training are needed for whip. Even if you can’t crack it today, that’s okay. I’m not looking for sound. I want to see the best form you can get. “Here you go,†He handed her the other whip, which was dark reddish brown. “Just move the whip around for a bit. Get a feel for it. It will do EXACTLY what you tell it to do and multiply it’s power by twenty. Don’t TRY to make it crack: it knows how to do that on it’s own. Focus on the proper movement first.â€

 

OOC: By the way, these whips have an eight foot braid from handle to tip, and a three foot fall with a six inch popper. That means it’s 11.5 feet plus the length of your arm.

 

~ Alriand

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“If I knew the full truth, I would tell you, but I do not.†Liitha nodded quietly, she hadnt really expected it, probably she by now knew as much as she would ever about what happened, only thing left was to hear stories of what kind of person she was. “But, if I were you, I would focus on what she did in life, not how she died. She was my student of mine at one point. I lost a parent once. Long ago.†Liitha smiled for a moment. Alriand fetched whips from the barracs, most likely his own room while she was waiting outside.

 

He sowed her his whips explaining them and she paied close attention, then sighed under her breath, she was happy she hadnt bougth the whip she had been offered some days ago, it would never have done. Though these wherent as the ones she had seen before in the few lessons she had goten around geting as a trainee, and she started wondering if she maybe had waisted her time during those lessons. A thougth that soon enough was proved when Alriand started showing her how to wield the whip properly. Why hadnt she thougth or remebered this part of the letters earlier, she defenently could see the use. As he explained it much more so than she ever imadgined when she first picked it.

 

Then when it was her time she was handed one of the whips who was brown. She started by trying to get in the rigth standing position, thoough she could feel it wasnt entirely rigth. Alriand instructed and corected her some till she was standing about perfectly, she promised herself to train more on it before the next lesson as she perfectly understood if she couldnt stand properly then she wouldnt get the max effect.

 

Then she tried to start wielding thewhip in her hand, she made sure it laid as Alriands had when he started, just on her oposite side, she was left handed thoough it shouldnt really mather as she was trained in using both hands due to her Path. She copied the arm movement she had paid attention to and got it up in the air, thoug as she went to straigthen her arm it went sligthly to the rigth instead of rigth forward, and far from as gracefull as his had. Well at least it could have caused some damage, just not where she had aimed it and not as much as his would have in a batle, besides everything took practise.

 

She waited till he had expleined where she had gone wrong and then tried again, she had several tries before she got it more closefull to what her teacher had, and she could feel it sligthly in her arm, she was using muscles in a way she wasnt used to this would take time, but she had trained with the sword for almost 3 years and was still learning so nothing else could be expected about that either she had to admit to herself.

 

After geting dismissed she went to find her boyfriend and get him to help massage those muscles so she would be ready to train tomorow and the coming days till he had time giving her a new lesson. She had found it all really interesting, and looked forward to the next lesson, till that time she would work on the knowledge she had already been given.

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OOC: I’m sorry for putting this off for so long! Very sorry!

 

The next day Liitha and Alriand reviewed what she had learned: the vertical crack. She was getting the general movement, but not that crack. “The crack isn’t nearly as important as the movement of your body, because the whip will follow. Once you have your body doing the right thing, the crack will come.â€

 

She tried a few more times, but her feet were like boulders. “Un-weight your feet. You need to be able to pivot.†She did do and then kept trying. At last she got a small pop of sorts. “There! You’re starting to get it. Let’s continue.â€

 

Alriand showed her the rising vertical crack next. Again, it was laid to his side and he simply made it rise out and forward, palm up. The whip rolled out straight and cracked precisely at the end and then swung up limply and fell back down. He showed her a few more times and then let her try.

 

~ Alriand

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Liitha demonstrated her improvement and felt releaved by Alriands coment that the crack would come when she had the movement perfected, she just needed more training and she had never expected she would learn it over nigth, afterall she still learned the sword. For the first few hours he had her practise her footwork and at last she managed to get a small sound, Alriand then stoped her and moved to show her another lash.

 

This time the movement where difrent though the starting position was the same, this lash did not have the swing to it and Liitha had to start over a couple of times because she started wrong getting tracked into the swinging movement. Slowly though she managed to come out rigth so her arm moved the whip straigth forward, thoug still she didn’t get it to roll out like he had. Alriand corected the movement of her wrist and the roll out became more like his.

 

However she in consentration to get the movement rigth did not get enough force behind it so the speed of the whip did not become as great and it did not bunce up as much as his, but as she became more sure she put more force into it and the whip started reflecting to a limp upwards bounce after the main hit.

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IC: Alriand helped Liitha with her alignment for the vertical crack, as it was very important. One did not want to be hit in the back by the whip. After many more tries she was putting a little more force into it. “You don’t need more force, just proper movement.†Alriand instructed. “Relax with it.†Liitha seemed to be getting frustrated with it and added one more forceful fling of the whip just to get it to crack, and as it came forward the tip cut across the back of her calf. She flinched at the pain and gave a sharp yelp.

 

“Now, that is why we want to align our body and the whip. The extra force you added can easily work against you, as you so beautifully demonstrated.†Alriand gave an amused smile at the last comment. He kneeled down and looked at the welt left on her calf. “It’s not bad,†He assured her, “But it may sting for a while. I can make a quick poultice for it later, if you like. For now, we should continue.â€

 

They continued the rising crack until she was getting the motion properly, though there wasn’t really a crack yet. They moved on to the horizontal crack from the opposite side (since it was easier than the same side).

 

“Now, your alignment is still very important, but harder to do here.†He rolled the whip out on his left side, running parallel to his feet, as he had been teaching her. “My arm and hand are holding the whip out horizontally, parallel to the ground. It does not drop towards the end, nor does it rise. It must stay horizontal.†He then pivoted on the balls of his feet, turning to the front and extending his arm, and the whip extended to the front, unrolling and cracking horizontally across his invisible target. “Notice that I didn’t bring it up or down: it stayed horizontal. It’s harder than it looks. Give it a try.â€

 

~ Alriand

WHOO!

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“You don’t need more force, just proper movement.†Alriand instructed. “Relax with it.†She tried to clear her head again focusing on the void and finding calmness, sh consentrated on Alriands instructions and tried again, though ended up puting more force into it anyway and sudenly felt the tip cut into her calf as it came down.

 

 

“Now, that is why we want to align our body and the whip. The extra force you added can easily work against you, as you so beautifully demonstrated.†She shruged as Alriand amused looked at her calf, “It’s not bad,†she sighed it none the less bloody stung, but she wasnt about to admit that when it was her own impatient who had caused it to happen. “But it may sting for a while. I can make a quick poultice for it later, if you like. For now, we should continue.†she smiled and nodded well aware already before forming the void again and pushing the sting out of her mind.

 

When she calmed down things went a litle more easy and slowly she started to get how to do as he wanted. Then they moved on to a new crack.

 

 

“Now, your alignment is still very important, but harder to do here.†She watched him demonstrate. “My arm and hand are holding the whip out horizontally, parallel to the ground. It does not drop towards the end, nor does it rise. It must stay horizontal.†She noded as she watched “Notice that I didn’t bring it up or down: it stayed horizontal. It’s harder than it looks. Give it a try.â€

 

 

She hold her whip as he had when he started and tried to turn around but it didnt even come close to what he had done and she knew she hadnt managed to keep it horisontal but also that it was only part of it. The whole movement seemed strange to her...she tried over and over under his instructions trying to not end up stumbeling in her own legs...she felt the sun fry as the sweat rolled and soaked her.