Kane and Shatterstar - Hand2Hand BACKDATED
Jun. 5th, 2024 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated to June 5 Shatterstar is frustrated with his slow progress but Kane assures him that it's normal.
Shatterstar watched the DR figures that tracked their movements play out the last few minutes of his lesson with Kane. It was so easy in retrospect to see where he made mistakes. He scowled. He felt like he wasn't making any progress. "I know what I should be doing better but I do not think during fights. How do you do it?"
"Repetition and, well, cheating. I have a bio-chip at the top of my spinal cord." He tapped the back of his neck. "It takes visual input in on who I'm fighting and helps transmit effective countermeasures to my nervous system. Short answer is that the more I fight you, the better I understand how to fight you. However, for those without a chip like this, it comes down to practice... over and over and over, until the movements and the reactions become second nature. Ironically, you'll see yourself getting better when you're not thinking about things like blocking a punch or shifting your angle of attack and can instead run that on instinct and focus on how best to take advantage of your opponent's moves and mistakes."
"My instincts are bad," Shatterstar grumbled, even though he had expected the answer of practice, practice, and more practice from Kane. His instincts couldn't seem to understand that they were no longer a teenager fighting for the amusement for the adults in charge of him.
"Even with instincts, you must not just blank out when fighting?"
"Your instincts are developing. Look, Shatterstar, hand to hand isn't easy. No one becomes an expert overnight. I was trained by people with decades on decades of experience doing it and even they still had things to learn. You're right in the sense that you don't have a lot of good habits. But you don't have a lot of bad habits either. Good habits I'll give you." Kane said, tapping the console with his finger. "The point is to get to a point where you are able to focus not just on the basic mechanical functions of the fight - block, parry, jab - but you can focus on a more strategic approach. What combinations to deploy. How your opponent is moving reveals a weakness or an opportunity."
Shatterstar nodded seriously. He wanted to learn these things, he really wanted to, but it was harder to pay attention that it was with a weapon in his hand. "I suppose maybe I am impatient," he admits.
"It is the privilege of youth. That and Tiktok, I'm told. I'm old enough that I think a Tiktok is something you take for bad breath, eh?" Kane smiled and clapped the younger man on the shoulder. "None of this comes easy, but that's how you tell that it is worth it. And if I didn't think you could get there, I wouldn't waste my time."
Something about Kane's assurance of his belief in him, even despite his own impatience that he had been beginning to suspect annoyed his teacher. His lips twitched upwards at Kane's bad Tiktok joke. "I will make this worth your time," he swore to him. Then, with a little more deference to the fact that Kane was taking time out of his day to go over these lessons with him. "Can we fight one more time today?"
"Like Ol' Judd always told me, there's always time for another punch to the face. Let's go."
Shatterstar watched the DR figures that tracked their movements play out the last few minutes of his lesson with Kane. It was so easy in retrospect to see where he made mistakes. He scowled. He felt like he wasn't making any progress. "I know what I should be doing better but I do not think during fights. How do you do it?"
"Repetition and, well, cheating. I have a bio-chip at the top of my spinal cord." He tapped the back of his neck. "It takes visual input in on who I'm fighting and helps transmit effective countermeasures to my nervous system. Short answer is that the more I fight you, the better I understand how to fight you. However, for those without a chip like this, it comes down to practice... over and over and over, until the movements and the reactions become second nature. Ironically, you'll see yourself getting better when you're not thinking about things like blocking a punch or shifting your angle of attack and can instead run that on instinct and focus on how best to take advantage of your opponent's moves and mistakes."
"My instincts are bad," Shatterstar grumbled, even though he had expected the answer of practice, practice, and more practice from Kane. His instincts couldn't seem to understand that they were no longer a teenager fighting for the amusement for the adults in charge of him.
"Even with instincts, you must not just blank out when fighting?"
"Your instincts are developing. Look, Shatterstar, hand to hand isn't easy. No one becomes an expert overnight. I was trained by people with decades on decades of experience doing it and even they still had things to learn. You're right in the sense that you don't have a lot of good habits. But you don't have a lot of bad habits either. Good habits I'll give you." Kane said, tapping the console with his finger. "The point is to get to a point where you are able to focus not just on the basic mechanical functions of the fight - block, parry, jab - but you can focus on a more strategic approach. What combinations to deploy. How your opponent is moving reveals a weakness or an opportunity."
Shatterstar nodded seriously. He wanted to learn these things, he really wanted to, but it was harder to pay attention that it was with a weapon in his hand. "I suppose maybe I am impatient," he admits.
"It is the privilege of youth. That and Tiktok, I'm told. I'm old enough that I think a Tiktok is something you take for bad breath, eh?" Kane smiled and clapped the younger man on the shoulder. "None of this comes easy, but that's how you tell that it is worth it. And if I didn't think you could get there, I wouldn't waste my time."
Something about Kane's assurance of his belief in him, even despite his own impatience that he had been beginning to suspect annoyed his teacher. His lips twitched upwards at Kane's bad Tiktok joke. "I will make this worth your time," he swore to him. Then, with a little more deference to the fact that Kane was taking time out of his day to go over these lessons with him. "Can we fight one more time today?"
"Like Ol' Judd always told me, there's always time for another punch to the face. Let's go."
