Offer Him a Hand Up
He smiles as he takes your hand. His grip is strong and firm as you help haul him up, getting some of the mud his gloves have collected on you as you do.
“Thank you. And apologies for soiling your armor.” He says as he tries to knock some of the mud off his own body. His fur pattern is that of a calico cat, mostly white with some orange and black patches throughout(at least where it’s not brown with mud). Removing a small clump from his face, he does his best to avoid his slitted blue eyes as he cleans himself.
“The name is Alistar. Again, thank you for your help.” Despite his failures he seems upbeat, chuckling slightly as he looks back at his mechanical opponent. “They told me I would be going up against a dummy, but I’m starting to think perhaps I’m the real dummy with my failure.”
You can’t help but smile a little and admit that you had your own troubles during your practice session. Alistar smiles, perhaps a little relieved he’s not the only one struggling. He asks if you could observe him in his next bout and perhaps offer some insight into what he’s doing wrong. It’s not like he could do any worse than he is now, after all.
He gets into position as the dummy starts its routine. The first pair of hits he blocks easily enough, but the third, random hit catches him off guard. You didn’t see anything obviously wrong at first, so he tries again. The same thing occurs the next time, though maybe you caught something this time. When you were practicing against your own dummy, it took you a couple of tries to learn that you had to keep your stance loose and wait until the dummy made its move before you reacted. Alistar seems to be trying to predict where the strike is going to come from as soon as he blocks the second strike and guarding there, but the strike always comes from somewhere else.
“I always was a better learner than a fighter, as my sister used to tell me.” Alistar says when you offer your observation as you help haul him up from another failed block. “Perhaps you’re right; every time I think I know where it’s going to come from I end up getting knocked off my feet. Mayhap I need to focus on simply reacting instead of predicting.”
You nod and step back as Alistar prepares once again to put the dummy through its paces. First comes the easy strike, then the other… you see Alistar starting to tense up trying to predict again for a split second, but he seems to catch himself just as the dummy is starting to swing, barely able to bring his shield up into the right place at the last second. The block is none too clean or pretty, but at least he manages to keep his feet.
It seems to be just what the doctor ordered; for the next few minutes Alistar can keep pace with the striking dummy, even when it starts making random strikes in a more frequent pattern. The trainer comes over, looking mildly impressed after he’s made several solid strikes against his automated opponent while blocking each one in kind.
“Seems like you two work well together.” She rubs her muzzle thoughtfully for a moment as Alistar cleans himself off, then motions for both of you to follow her. “Come along; I’ve got a special assignment that I think would be just perfect for the two of you.”
Neither you or Alistar seems know what she has in mind, but you follow as instructed.
Written by LunaMoonstone on 07 October 2017
The end (for now)