Stylish(?) Girl (Layla)

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka had dropped by a small dojo that was free to use located in the market district. The girl had been carrying a rather large object that was wrapped up, preventing anyone from actually seeing what was inside. The object wasn't too heavy for Luka which really said something considering how little upper body strength the girl even possessed. In fact, the object seemed nearly weightless to a normal person. It wasn't until the girl was inside the dojo that she finally unwrapped the package revealing a very large, ominous looking weapon.

Lifting it up longways, the naginata as it could be categorized, was about six feet in total length. About four feet of it was the grip with an additional two feet of blade. The entirety of the weapon seemed like something not normally found in any store. In fact, it seemed more on the decorative side. Yet, this weapon was clearly made for serious use. With a curious look, the girl began to fiddle around with different poses for holding the things. To be quite honest, she wasn't even sure how to use a weapon like this. The last time she tried, she nearly impaled herself. Nevertheless, the girl began to attempt a few different "poses" to use it effectively. Most looked either ridiculous or extremely dangerous. It was very clear that the girl had no clue as to what she was doing. An accident waiting to happen; or so Murphy would call it.

[Layla Amare]

Layla had made a habit of dropping by a small dojo not too far away from where she lived as often as possible. It was no kalari, of course. For the most part, it served her purpose, but the floor was a far cry from the red clay floors she was used to. Still, she was far enough along and had learned to fall well enough that she could make do with it. So, over the last few months the place had become her main practice venue. Occasionally, other people would drop by, but most of the time when Layla was there she was alone. Today seemed like it would be one of those days. Layla had brought quite a few of her training weapons with her this time. She carried a small shield, her remaining training otta (she didn't take the steel-tipped one anywhere unless she was planning on fighting shadows there), a couple of other short stick weaponss, a longer staff weapon of around her height, a blunt short sword and katar, and a dull edged urumi (because Vayavastra would have brought the whole building down) in total. The stick weapons were the most noticeable, even in their various carrying bags. The streets leading there weren't particularly crowded, and from outside it had looked empty at a glance. It was only when she stepped inside that she saw anyone else there.

Immediately, she recognized the girl. Luka was her name, or so Layla was reasonably sure. The girl from the mission with the massive colossus shadow. She hadn't seemed like a weapon user, but here she was, carrying an unusually fancy-looking blade on a stick, and...oh no. What was she doing. Layla knew an impending weapon accident when she saw one. She used an urumi, after all. And what Luka was doing qualified in so many ways she didn't even know where to begin.

No wait, she did. Who tried to use a naginata one-handed?!

"Hey, Luka?" Layla said, gently enough that she hoped that she wouldn't surprise Luka and cause an accident. "Put that down for a minute. You're going to hurt yourself like that."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka was focusing as she held onto the weapon. She was still trying to find a comfortable stance to use it yet was still having quite a bit of trouble. Finally settling on a single stance, the girl was about to attempt a "swipe" with it. Of course, before anything dangerous like that happened, she heard a voice call out to her. It didn't seem particularly familiar, but recognizable enough that Luka felt that she heard it before. Unfortunately, this was the worst possible time to grab her attention. Hearing the voice, Luka jerked her head to the side allowing the weapon to lag behind before turning as well. The weight shifted causing Luka to lose balance a bit as she hopped on one foot for a moment. A small voice escaped her as she struggled trying to regain her balance.

Finally planting both feet and her weapon on the ground, the girl sighed then looked to the girl that called out to her once more. She certainly recognized the girl now. Ah, Layla? She had seen this girl quite a number of times during those big boss battles. Aside from that, they also happened to take a mission together. It was a little odd to see her here in the normalcy of the city.

Now that she was focused though, didn't Layla say something about putting the weapon down? Was it really that obvious that she didn't know how to use the weapon properly? Sorry. Was it really that bad? My technique, that is. The girl frowned, then scratched her cheek as she looked at the dark-skinned girl.

[Layla Amare]

Nope. 'Gently' didn't work. Luka had still managed to be surprised by Layla's voice anyway, and nearly fell over from losing her balance. Fortunately, she managed to right herself without falling or hurting herself. Layla sighed with relief, although it just further cemented in her mind the fact that Luka had no idea what she was doing. As if her completely improper means of just holding it wasn't enough of an indicator.

But, she did manage to get Luka's attention, at least, and she soon asked if her technique was really that bad. There was...no nice way to answer that. It was the kind of 'technique' that someone who had never seen the weapon before would use. She'd definitely never seen it, or probably even a polearm, in use before. Layla had two options, and chances were that neither one of them would be pleasant. One, she could discourage Luka from trying to use the weapon, or two, she could try to correct her on what all she was doing wrong. Depending on how readily Luka would admit to not knowing what she was doing, though, that could take anywhere from a few hours to a few years.

"Luka, I'll be blunt with you," Layla finally answered. Whatever she ended up doing, this needed to be said. "There was no technique whatsoever in what you just did, bad or otherwise."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka had a feeling she knew what Layla was thinking after seeing that display of weapon use. The real question was how she would respond after seeing that display. With a nervous laugh, Luka simply looked at the girl who had brought quite a few practice weapons of her own. Compared to those weapons, hers was clearly not something made to be practiced with.

And then, the girl decided to be blunt with her. Admittedly, that was probably for the best. Luka didn't have any idea as to what she was doing. Au. Her head drooped slightly as she heard the words comes from Layla. You're right. I honestly have no idea how to use this thing. She looked at the weapon she was holding. It really was a monster of a weapon. I can't bring myself to sell it, yet I don't want it to simply lay in my apartment collecting dust. Truly, the girl was utterly torn on what to do with it. I know I'm terrible with it, but I need to at least try to make use of it! She finally answered the girl the best way she could.

[Layla Amare]

Luka freely admitted to having no idea what she was doing. That was a good first step. Layla nodded and, content that the girl probably wouldn't try swinging it around more at the moment, approached her. She looked over the weapon again. It was certainly much more ornate than an ordinary naginata. Not the kind of thing that should have been left sitting around. Not when someone else might get the idea to sell it. But she couldn't tell at a glance if it was really just decorative, or if there was something else to it. For all she knew, it could be just like Vayavastra.

"Hm...I may be able to give you a few pointers on it," Layla said. "I don't have any experience with naginatas, but I've used staff weapons plenty of times. That would at least give you a start, and get you away from trying to hold it like a sword." It would be better than leaving Luka to her own devices, at least. At the rate she was going, she wouldn't be learning anything on her own. "Where did you get this, anyway? I can't imagine you just going out and buying something like this."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Really? Luka blinked, somewhat surprised that she might actually be getting some help with her weapon training. She blushed a bit when she heard the comment about holding it like a sword. Was that not how to hold it properly? Very well. I'll accept your help. She was honestly quite grateful despite sounding a bit against the idea. Truthfully, she just felt silly being taught because she was likely deemed a threat to herself.

But before they could begin, a question was posed as to where the girl found the weapon. Ah. . . I found it inside that really deep chasm in the outer parts of the city. Its name is "Ama no Hoko." This was of course, the legendary spear that Izanagi used to cause land masses to rise from the sea. Truly, a legendary weapon. Yet its wielder was someone who was clearly not qualified to wield a normal naginata let alone one of legendary status. But can you really teach me using staff weapon knowledge? The girl was more curious than she was questioning. Honestly, she was quite intrigued by the whole premise. Could this be her chance to finally put some use to this weapon?

[Layla Amare]

"Yeah, of course," Layla said. Even if Luka wasn't so obviously a threat to herself, Layla probably would have done it if she got asked to. It wasn't like she wasn't getting anything out of it. 'Learn to teach, teach to learn' as it were. This would be her first time really teaching someone, not to mention that it was a weapon she didn't actually know, and was just adapting what she did know. But she was confident enough with that that she could make it work.

But as it was, this was something that definitely needed to be done. Layla's eyes widened at the name of the weapon and where it came from. Location aside, that sounded a lot like how she had come across Vayavastra. And the name...'heavenly spear'...it rang familiar. It had to be a legendary weapon of some sort. That kind of thing definitely couldn't be left to someone who had no idea what they were doing. "Yeah, I can teach you," Layla finally said to Luka's question. "They're different weapons, but they share a lot of the same principles. Of course, anything I teach you will be general knowledge. The specifics will be different, but they'll be much easier to figure out once you have an actual knowledge base."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Ah. . . Thank you, then. It seems Layla really was willing to teach her to use the naginata. It seemed that she didn't actually know much about the naginata specifically, but seemed confident enough about what she did know to properly teach her. At this point, Luka was willing to believe anybody was good enough to teach her. Either that, or have someone simply deem the weapon too dangerous for her own good.

What they were going to work on wasn't anything too complicated. They were just going to do some basics. Quite honestly, that was probably the best thing for her at current time. Posture, technique and so forth seemed to be key for her not completely screw up, let alone improve. Luka was going to start small. Was it too cocky of her to hope that she could one day use the weapon proficiently? Only time could tell. I suppose we'll start with basics then.

[Layla Amare]

"We'll start with getting you something other than that thing to train with. I don't know what that weapon is capable of, but I have something of a similar caliber and it could bring down this whole building. Plus, you're still liable to hurt yourself at this stage." She looked around the dojo for anything that might look like a closet for training weapons. Her own kalari had plenty of weapons, training and otherwise, and for awhile Layla was using them rather than having a set of her own. Hopefully this place would have a bo or something...

Ah. There it was. Layla spotted a door, walked over, and opened it. And sure enough, she found exactly what she was looking for. She pulled out a bo staff and brought it back over to hand to Luka. Then she went back to her own bags and pulled out a staff weapon of her own, a shariravadi. Although they weren't exactly the same weapon, the main difference was the type of wood. Nothing that would prevent Layla from teaching with it.

"Okay, from what I saw, the first and most important thing is going to be how to hold the weapon." Layla took her staff in both hands and demonstrated, holding it near the center of the shaft, leaving about a foot and a half between her hands. "Like so. For your purposes, you would hold it with your rear hand on top, forward hand underneath. Each hand should be about a third of the way from the tip."

[Luka Kurokawa]

The first thing that they decided to do was get something other than her naginata to train with. That was probably for the best if she was going to be seriously swinging it around. Luka watched the other girl open a door and pull out what looked like a large pole. It had no blade, no large blunt end, no spikes; just a pole. Luka could at least no longer be worried about heavy injury if she messed up. At worst? A bump on her head or a bruise somewhere else on her body. that was much better than the possibilities that the alternative could bring.

Taking the pole with one hand, the girl examined it a bit. It was much heavier than her naginata, that much was evident. Hopefully she wouldn't fall over while twirling it. With weapon in hand, Luka mimicked Layla's instruction on how to hold the weapon. It was simple enough even though the girl had never thought to hold the weapon in such a manner.

Now in the correct posture and holding the weapon correctly, Luka moved around a bit to get a better feel for the large heavy pole. She made sure she had a firm grip on it to prevent her from making any mistakes. Moving her hand up and down the shaft to find the perfect spot, the girl made a troubled look. I think this feels good. No, it feels right. She nodded before wagging her weapon around a bit to test it out.

[Layla Amare]

"Good, good. That looks right, too," Layla said, watching Luka adjust her grip until she remarked that it felt right. "You may have to adjust it a bit once you move on to your naginata, but the idea is the same. You keep enough space between your hands so that you can put strength into your swings, but not so much that you're overreaching." Layla demonstrated what she meant by sliding her hands in towards the center and swinging for a fast but weak strike, then spreading her hands out to the point where her arms couldn't reach all the way around her next swing.

Once her explanation of hand position was finished, Layla gave a few test swings to make sure she had it right. With her own style, she usually used the staff with both hands on top, but that wouldn't help Luka at all. After a few swings, however, she figured out a good method. "Now, you swing the weapon with a push-pull motion, like so," she said, demonstrating a couple more swings. First, an overhead swing where she pushed her front hand forward as though casting a fishing line and pulled her back hand back towards her chest. Then, a sideways swing where she snapped her front hand forward and brought her back hand up towards her shoulder, but keeping it on the outside of her arm. "You can stop it there like this for a stop strike, or turn into it to go all the way through. Try that."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka watched Layla preform a quick strike with the weapon that she was holding. She preformed a few more strikes after that which Luka took great care in analyzing. She was able to grasp a good idea of the types of swinging motions that she should be making. There seemed to be quite a few attack types that were possible, likely for any situation that deemed it necessary. Ooooh. I see. I'll give it a try then.

Next up, it was Luka's turn to take a literal swing at things. With a deep breath, the girl made one strong swing with the weapon. It was a start, at least. It was correct too. Again, the girl made a quick motion with her hands, causing the pole to swipe through the air. Again, she seemed correct. With a slight smile, the girl decided to go for one more swing. The swing was very long in terms of its arc. In fact, it seemed almost reckless; and reckless it was. The girl swiped horizontally which covered a large arc of about three feet forward. However, as the swing came to its end, the back of the weapon smacked Luka in the back of the head. Au. . . . and then she pushed her hands forward out of instinct causing the pole to catch on the ground where she lost her balance and fell over; pole dropping onto her head. Auu. She just stayed therefor a moment before getting back up. She wasn't about to quit. She needed to learn! P-Pretty good right? Wide-eyed with a forced smile, the girl turned back to Layla while leaning on her pole weapon.

[Layla Amare]

Oof. That hadn't gone quite so well. Layla couldn't help but wince a bit at the end result. Luka did a couple of swings that worked well, but then with the third one she went recklessly wide again, pushing it to the point where she ended up pulling the back end of the staff right into the back of her head. Immediately afterward, she pushed it forward and into the ground, causing it to throw her off balance and onto the ground.

But despite that, she got back up soon after. "It's a good start," Layla said. Yeah, Luka had messed up at the end, but she was starting to get the right idea, so Layla wasn't going to discourage her. "When you swing though, you don't want to overreach like that. If you need to do a wide swing like you were, try turning into it. And keep the back end down so that if it hits you it hits your arm, not your head. Like this." She settled herself into a wide stance, brought her own staff over her head, then swung it back down into a horizontal strike. But this time, as she reached the end of the swing she pivoted on the balls of her feet, allowing the weapon to come to a stop with the back end against her arm and the front in a couple feet farther through the arc than where it would have stopped if she hadn't turned. "You'll also get more power out of your swings that way."