Keeping The Edge

What a great find. The Training Floor is exactly what he needed today. He had been at the Sept for a few days now and he had not gotten quite the work out he needed. The few patrols had been uneventful, nothing to report. But now, now he had this Sai Sau Jong to train with. The wooden training dummy featured a spinning top arm with a heavy sandbag weight as well other 'limbs' for him to work around. It was going to be a good day. Tenzin took off his shirt and tossed it next to his water. He was going to train til it hurt and that's exactly what he wanted.

A deep breath, slowly breathing in through his nose and letting it escape from his mouth as his foot slid back into position. He lifted himself up onto the balls of his feet. Already his blood was beginning to race. Anticipation at it's finest. Phantom aches plagued each part of his toned frame as it awaited the command. Tenzin clenched his fists as he completed his stance and felt his chakras align. Oh the balance felt so wonderful. He struck.

The crack as his knuckled impacted wood both calmed and excited him. Another crack as his left came under for a blow to the "floating ribs". His opponent came in from above, he blocked it with his right forearm. It stung, barely. He struck out against the offending arm then quickly blocked the counter blow. High game was holding, now to move to low. He struck at the "knees" with quick kicks. That should be enough to weaken them. Spinning off of a round house to deliver a back kick to the diaphram. He landed back to face his opponent then rushed back in. The room echoed with the sound of wood being struck and dull thuds of sandbags being struck. He moved faster and faster. Trying to strike each 'opening' as it appeared. All the while, constantly having to protect his head and shoulders from the spinning top rod or else find himself struck.

Diana's arrival had gone unnoticed. In this place where it seemed like everything was being watched, he had grown used to the feeling of eyes on him. The Philodox's body was beginning to gleam as he sweat. The muscles were beginning to feel that burn. That burn that he had been craving for the last few days. The constant impacts would threaten to bruise his body if he had not been doing this so often since the change. This was how one kept sane in the still moments, kept sharp. Kept the edge and honed it to a razor. A Razor fine enough to be as precise as a scalpel but as deadly as any blade. Oh yes, this was it. His own personal Summer lands until apocalypse came or Gaia made the world anew.

Tenzin sprang back from the dummy before darting in. His right foot planted as his left leg came up, hooking over his foe's arm. Flying past just short of the eyes, a miss? No. His crescent kick planted just a within the opponent's guard and his spun into a back kick in the opening made by his crescent kick. Driving his heel into the diaphragm of his wooden foe. Results on human body, fractured ribs, air kicked from his foe, catching their breath would be difficult at best. On his wooden foe, slight crack. He jumped back.

Foe still standing, try another combo. He lunged in and did a quick punch just below the sternum. He left came up in an uppercut but shot to the side of his foes head. Another feint, his left hand hooked back and gripped. His fingers dug into the rope padding like it was hair as his legs sprang like over tensed springs. The sound of his knee slamming into the padding was louder than normal as the impact vibrated through the wood. A half second the sound of cracking followed as his full weight came down with the strength of his arm as he drove his elbow straight down onto the center of it's 'skull'. Tenzin again sprung back from his foe to quickly evaluate damage. Punch: air knocked, out, flying knee; shattered jaw and potential lack of consciousness, the elbow? Good night. A devious smile came to his lips as he looked at the split top and damaged center. Time to put this poor thing out of it's misery.

The final charge would be quick and possibly painless for this poor thing. Tenzin's stance changed and his eyes caught a dangerous gleam as he sized up this foe for it's last bout with him. Chest was weak, head was damaged already and just needed the final blow. This new stance was wider, more open and far more fluid. It was no stance seen in the world in humans. It was something far deadlier and and it took the blessing of Gaia herself to be able to have the shapes required to use it. Being Garou had it's benefits.

In Tenzin's mind the field was set.  The Dummy now took the shape of a foe he fought what seemed like not so long ago.  Black unkempt fur coated this fallen Garou's skin like a trashy black leather coat.  There was holes in his fur and the way it eyed him made his rage want to boil.  However his rage would remain tempered.  He would not let this double edged sword taste his blood this day.  They locked eyes and he could hear it's taunts.  

"Come little Cliath, it'll hurt for a minute I promise..." Tenzin's eyes narrowed.  Prideful monster.  It had lost all it's honor and was oddly smug to think that he could hold his own with one so weak to join the wyrm.  Oh this was going to be enjoyable.  Tenzin barely even noticed that he was speaking aloud as he responded to the fallen.

"Garou shall not mate with Garou..."  Tenzin started, ducking under the arm and delivering a punch to the kidney with a fallow up knee to the 'groin'.  He wasn't holding back now.  Black Spirals didn't deserve mercy.  Next blow was a spear hand to the diaphragm.  Then he threw his weight into an elbow strike to the same location.  Try to breath you wyrm tained sonuvabitch .

"Combat the Wyrm where it dwells and whenever it breeds."  He speed punched his way up the Spirals body. This thing was not going to enjoy it's last moments.  A strike to the chin to knock that ugly mug back and there was the opening.  A closed fist smashed into it's throat.  That should collapse it but Garou were always such hardy thing.  His arm bent and elbow smashed into the side of it's neck followed by a chop to the other side.  See how much he could weaken the neck.

"Resp~"  He began before a 'clawed hand' struck him across the temple.  Tenzin staggered back one step before snarling out the rest of the words.  The Philodox caught the offending claws with his own.  His body growing fur and his muscles beginning to bulge as he became the warrior Gaia bore him to be.  His fist drove through it's elbow, shattering it cleanly in two.  The appendage hung limply to it's owner.

"Accept an honorable Surrender."  Still holding his foes ruined arm, he kicked repeatedly into it's exposed side.  His feet ripping and rending as he drove the clawed nails into it.  The polish of the would ruined as more and more of it's interior grew exposed.

"Submission to those of higher station" In a quick motion he ripped what was left of the limb from it's owner and struck tossed it to the side.  The piece disappearing as it bounced across the room.  Tenzin kneed the sternum and then raked a clawed hand across it's head.   So much for that pretty face. .  He blocked the counter swing.  Then locked the limb.

"The first share of the kill for the greatest in station."  His muscles tensed as they strained for a moment before success echoed through the room with a crunch.  That was another arm the BSD would not be using for the rest of this fight.  His eyes, sparkling like the Northern Lights locked onto his rapidly disintegrating foe.

"Ye shall not eat the flesh of humans."  A punch to the jaw, followed by an elbow and finally claws.  The sound of wood splintering as another chunk of the dummy was detached from it's whole.  If the BSD was still fighting at this point it was only because it had raged back or some wyrm tainted talen had saved it.  However Tenzin did not seem to mind a tougher foe.

"Respect for those beneath ye: all are of Gaia."  Instead of punches or elbows, his blows had come in the form of 'knife hands'.  Using his claws like daggers on his hands.  Leaving slashes and rips across the dummy as he quickly struck it, dancing around his foe to exploit any weaknesses.

"The Veil shall not be lifted."  Tenzin continued on this way.  Reciting the Litany verse by verse while demolishing his opponent piece by piece.  Finally there was almost nothing left of the poor dummy.  With one finally lunge Tenzin drove his clawed hand straight through the dummy's center.  Clearly emerging on the opposite side.  He ripped his hand free then kicked it off of it's perch.  The broken thing hitting the ground before disappearing and another dummy emerging in place of the last one.   Tenzin chuckled and took a step back.  Wow, his body was sore but it felt amazing.  He chuckled then turned around to see Diana watching.  He froze, this was awkward.

Unless she spoke they would locked there in silence for a moment before he turned and walked to his shirt as though nothing had happened. Tenzin wouldn't let on how awkward it was to realize he had an audience to his training. How long had she been there anyway? By Gaia's Breath that was creepy. A towel, he had forgotten to bring one. That was disappointing. He scooped up his shirt and began to dry off with that instead after he had shifted down. Slowly the gleam on his skin dulled though he still continued to sweat lightly from the burn. Well at least the goal had been achieved. He shot her a look and then looked down to eye the pads and pencils she was putting away. Wait, had she been drawing him?!

"Um Diana... How long have you been sitting there?" He questioned. His gaze had not taken on it's interrogator gleam but he looked interested all the same. He eventually took a seat in the middle of the training mat and laid back. Letting his body cool down. It was short lived before he turned and reached out to his water to take a drink. Then he returned to his make shift "bed".

She had been there that long? Oh that's awkward. So the nerdy girl had decided to sneak in on him while he was working out. This was so high school drama it hurt. Well she was like sixteen so guess it was a thing right? Hormones and all that. Guess it wasn't technically a breach of the litany to look? Gaia knew who many Garou probably eyed each other and wondered how 'good' each other were. That thought didn't make his stomach turn a little. Well at least she wasn't acting like some sort of Fianna slut and was trying to sleep with him.

Propping up on his elbows so he could actually look at her, Tenzin took a closer look at her. Why was she blushing? Wow, she really was caught being a high school girl trying to sneak in on the older jock guys. He chuckled a bit and smirked.

"Soooo uh were you looking to ask me a question or something else?"

Tenzin watched her with an eye brow raised. She picked up her bag before he sat up with a grunt. The Stargazer chuckled at her and gestured for her to join him.

"Kind of too late to run off now. Take a seat and talk a bit. You've already gotten caught for crying out loud. Might as well as give me the luxury of company while I cool down from the first round of drills. So you normally sketch things or is the pad for notes?" He began to kind of push himself back against a beam so he had something lean on. The cool wood felt so good against his back.

"Sketching huh? May I see a few? I'm curious to see what you've drawn." His words were kind in nature and he was actually genuinely interested to see what she had drawn. Diana had always seemed to need to adjust her glasses to get a good bead on things. So it was curious to see how that changed the way she viewed things and what details she picked up on most.

There was also another topic that he was very interested in but he'd put it off a little bit longer. It was better to start with the present and find their way back to other topics. Tenzin eyed his own forearms and body as he awaited her response. There were marks here and there but they were already healing and fading away. Garou life was lovely for the ability to just dish out damage and receive it with very few consequences.

That was such an obvious dodge of topics. Had she forgot he was a Philodox and trained to interrogate people or maybe she was hoping it'd make him back off? He'd play nice this time but this little one was beginning to leave less questions answered than not. Tenzin sipped his water as he thought up an answer for her own little question.

"Well I can't lie. I do love to practice my arts of my people and it indeed does wonder for my temperament. Martial Arts at it's core is a way to find your center and build you up mentally, physically and spiritually. I think it is the ultimate way to find your true self. It'll help you break through your barriers and find which ones are worth breaking. Which ones that are better walking around or not worth your time. It's peace yet chaos, passion yet serenity, it's moving mediation. Don't judge it harshly for what you saw when I became the war form. I came here today to give myself a work out. I'm still not done. How about you? What's your mantra?"

"It's not the fighting. It's the focus on discipline and learning the forms. It's having the fusion of body, mind and spirit and how one affects the other two. It's having the confidence and full awareness of your own body. Through mastering your own self do you start to realize those around you work. That you can truthfully know your limitations and how to break through them. It's an art really." Tenzin explains hurriedly. The fighting was actually the side benefit to the balance, not the main purpose or so he had been taught.

"Anyway that wasn't the answer to your question so feel free to ask it. I'm generally an open book." The Philodox laughed

Tenzin laughed aloud and sighed when he thought about it. He looked at Diana with a big old grin before answering. It was a ridiculous dream.

"I wanted to be a Video Game Developer. Work for Sony or something. Make really cool games! Like I was hoping to make the next Elder Scrolls or C.O.D. or something. I just wanted to leave my mark on the gaming community because I loved playing games and the magic and the fantasy of it. Then I turned into a werewolf and I'm living it. To be fair. Now that I'm really living it I'd have to say that the games have forgotten about a lot of details. Apparently politics invades and corrupts everything."

"Yeah I wanted to design and make video games. Not test it. Let someone else realize they would hate their lives by constantly trying to glitch through walls and stupid crap. I wanted to build the epic environments and watch people get emerged into them as though they were practically living in that world. Now I know it's just some weird Weaver trap or so I've been told. So how about you Diana? What did you wanna do with your life before you grew two feet and fur?" Tenzin inquired curiously.

Well that's underwhelming. Tenzin stared at her for a moment longer while awaiting her to continue. She was going to continue right? That was it? Oh come on. She had to have some sort of goal. Maybe it was Nasa or something. Hopefully? Who knew besides her.

"That seems rather simple. Only two years to go I suppose?"

"I think you're forgetting that you're Garou.  You're apart of another family as well and we take care of our own.  Long as you're doing your duty, I see no reason why you can't be helped along.  Just repay your dues to the nation and the nation will gladly watch you grow as an individual as well as a warrior of Gaia."  Tenzin spoke.

Speaking of that, he needed to get a job.  He'd probably go to work teaching again.  It was easy enough though he was almost never taken too seriously because of his age.  That is until Tenzin taught some poor soul a lesson in My belt says jump.  You jump.