Training approach with care

Otania was out all by herself, doing her thing. She was training with the dummy she made that could take all the kicks and punches she could throw. Plus she could even use her knife on it and it did not do much damage.

As usual Ayana was to busy to join her. Ayana liked to train sometimes, and she was even better than Otania. All she could do was a few kicks. Ayana was better at kicks, punches, and she was better with a knife.

Otania hated Ayana sometimes, She was better at almost everything. Otania then put all that anger into her kicks. She then missed on the last kick and she went into punches. The knife that was always with her was more for Ayana then anything. She then kicked and missed and nearly hit the person who had just came to watch.

Malcolm had gotten the day off nurse duties so he was a bit lost as to what to do with himself. He decided to wander out of the volcano for a bit to see what he could see. It was a nice day, the weather was beautiful so a walk was in order. He loved his work and would miss it if he would happen to impress, but that was too big of an honor to pass up on.

As he was walking he came across a girl, practicing some fighting moves with what looked like a dummy. She seemed to be kicking it's ass, so he decided to go over and watch for a minute. It was always cool to see a fight, even if it was with a dummy.

The girl seemed to be really into it when he came up to her. So into in fact that the next kick she missed almost go him instead. Being a nurse and not some awesome athlete, he could manage to avoid all of the kick and her toes still managed to connect with his shin bone. Malcolm instantly fell grabbing his shin. "Man, that's some kick you have there." He said, laughing the pain away.

"Are you okay? Sorry I did not mean to hurt you." She said and she did not know what to do.

"You missed. Your knee was bent to much. You need to keep it straighter." Said Ayana as she showed up.

"Plus that kick is too hard for your level you know that. You could have broken your leg." Then a pufft of air could be felt as three firelizards appeared from between. A blue, then a brown and a green.

The green landed on Ayana's shoulder and the other two flew towards Otania.

"Sky and Earthquake are hungry and need oiling." Ayana said in a bored tone.

"What about Spring?" Otania asked.

"She has been pampered already but if you want you can take her with you," Spring then squeaked in protest. "Ok never mind about that but you should go and take care of your trouble makers I want to do some trainging now."

Sky, the blue, and Earthquake, the brown, chirped and started to send images to Otania of home.

"Okay, lets go boys." Otania was clearly talking to her flitts as she walked off, mumbling to her firelizards.

Ayana then looked at the boy and offered him her hand to help him up.

"Sorry about that. She is just started learning and she still needs practice." She said, sounding not as bored now.

Malcolm stayed on the ground as another girl approached followed by three firelizards. "Don't worry. I'll be okay, I've been hurt worse." He said to the first girl, then after that he managed to get back up. He waved bye to the first girl as she went off to take care of her flits. He wasn't angry, stuff happens sometimes.

About the time the other girl apologized his bronze, Juergy, popped in from between, worried about his owner. The bronze flew about excitedly, shrieking almost as he tried to find who had hurt his master. "Calm down there Juergy. I'm alright, it was just a little accident. Now come here." Malcolm said as he coaxed the bronze onto his shoulder. Juergy was a bit more calm, but was still agitated.

"Don't worry about it. I probably shouldn't have gotten so close. I thought she was doing a fine job." He said with a smile though his leg was still throbbing a bit. "My name's Malcolm. Nice to meet you."

Ayana smiled when she saw that he was okay.

"I am Ayana, it is a pleasure. If you think she was okay then wait till you see me. I am the one teaching her." She winked. Please go and sit somewhere else, I don't want you to get hurt.

Spring chirped and flew around till she found a nice perch on a rock nearby and whatched.

"See? Spring knows the safe distance. You well want to stay about that far away next time. Okay?" She asked politely "Would you care to watch me now? or do you have something else to do?"

Malcolm gave her a friendly, impressed smile. "Wow, if she's that good, then you have to be amazing." He absentminded stroked Juergy as she was speaking to him. Juergy of course was trying to catch the attention of the green flit by lightly chirping at her.

"Thanks. It's good to know what places are safe and what aren't." He said as he politely stepped over to where Spring went. "No, I'd love to stay around and watch you if that's okay. I was given the day off today, so I'm a bit bored." He answered her. After all Malcolm was a 19 year old boy, so of course he'd like to watch a hot girl showing off her fighting moves.

"Nothing to do? How fun." Ayana then made sure that her boots were tight and she took off her sweater. The hirt she was wearing showed a bit of her belly. Her jean like shorts and her dark blue t-shirt was something she usually wore when she was training.

Spring then looked at the bronze who was tryin to get her attention. She chirped at him and flew to get closer to him.

Ayana made sure she was ready. She took the knife from her belt, made sure it was sharp, then put it into her boot.

"Nice and sharp. You never know when you could get attacked." She then took a deep breath. She was not used to being watched by anyone but Otania and their firelizards.

She than decided to start with punches. She took out figerless gloves from her pocket and put them on. She then got started. She threw some punches that made a hallow thump when she hit then. Then after a few punches she twisted around in a circle and threw in a kick. All of her movements were percise and accurate, each one hitting where she wanted them too.

Then for the fun of it and for the look on Malcolm face she then put her hands on what would be her opponents shoulders and pushed off the ground with her feet. She went right over the dummies head and when she landed threw a kick that hit it's neck. Ayana was already panting slightly that move right there can take a lot out of a person. Having enough stregnth to lift all of your body weight over someone else was hard, and Ayana had perfected it.

"Eh, not really." He said, not realizing that she was being sarcastic thanks to the fact that her shirt showed some belly. Of course that was something he was going to notice. "I'm sure I'll be much more entertained now."

Juergy trilled happily as Spring came closer to her. Juergy was still a young thing and absolutely loved being the attention of any firelizard. Honestly he liked being the main attention of anyone period.

One of Malcolm's eye brows shot up as she got out her knife. "Apparently so. Can't say I carry one though. I'm more in the business of helping heal people, not hurt them." He commented as he ran a hand through his hair.

He watched closely as Ayana started her attack on the dummy. He was impressed, but the last move she did amazed the heck out of him. He couldn't help but clap enthusiastically for her. "Wow, that was awesome. Where did you learn to fight so well?"

"Would you be suprised if I told you that it was from my mother who did not fight?" She asked. She then stopped so that she could take a small breather, that one move can take a bit out of a person.

She then made the dummy spin and the makeshift arms and legs moved. All she did was jump to the side, ducked and blocked the arms and legs with kicks and her arms. Unfortunatly she sun it a bit to hard and when she blocked with her arms it hit her hard enough to leave a bruise.

Those well hurt later. By the time she noticed that it would leave a bruise she had already blocked with the same arm four times, all in the same area. The bruises were already starting to turn purple, and they hurt slightly.

Now here favorite part. She ducked to dodge an arm, rolled to avoid a leg and in a blink of an eye the knife from her boot was in her hand. She then used it to stop the dummy by stabbing it in the chest, which would have killed it. If it was not made of wood. Now Ayana was panting and sweating her hair sticking to her face and neck.

"Your mom had to be pretty awesome then." Malcolm said in admiration. His mom was a nurse as well and his dad was a surgeon, so he was kind of destined to be in the job he was in now. They had been thrilled though when he had been chose as a candidate and fervently hoped that he would impress.

He watched again in fascination as the dummy spun and she blocked it several times. A part of him wished he knew moves like that, but alas, he was too busy doing other things to take time to learn to fight. When she was done she looked very worn out and sweaty. That was when he noticed the bruises on her arm.

"You didn't hurt yourself too bad did you?" He asked concerned pointing towards her arm. "I can get you something from the sick bay if you need it." He suggested helpfully. He walked closer to her when it seemed like she wasn't going to start fighting the dummy again. "May I look at it?" He asked sweetly.

"Jeez, you got all that from dancing? That's very impressive, very impressive indeed. I wish I was that talented." Malcolm said in awe. "If I had the time, or the patience, I'd love to learn to fight like that. My job keeps me busy though, that is until the hatching. Then I may be busy with other things."

Malcolm cringed in sympathy when Spring landed on her bruised arm. "That had to hurt a bit. Silly little creatures aren't they?" He asked. At that comment Juergy hissed softly to him in disagreement. "Okay, you're not that silly." He ammended.

"You'd never be a bother for us." He said as he stepped closer to her. Gently he took a hold of her arm to look at it better. He gently ran a finger over the bruised spot. "Eh, I think you'll live, but look for it to get even darker. There's no bumps though, that's good." He gave her his diagnosis and then smiled at her.

Juergy liked Spring nuzzling against him and nuzzled back, trilling softly. So far the little bronze liked greens better than golds, they had been a whole lot nicer to him. To be fair though he hadn't met many golds.

"I know what you mean. I work in the sick bay and I absolutely hate going there myself." He agreed with her, taking a final look at her arm before letting her go. He didn't step back though, he figured if she didn't want him this close she'd move. Was that a bit bold? Yeah, but Malcolm was like that. "Needles aren't that bad, you get use to them after awhile."

Malcolm laughed at her humor. "I promise you will, I'd be sad if you died from such an injury as that." He joked back. He rolled his eyes at the thought of raising a firelizard. "Tell me about it. My little Juergy is still growing and he manages to hurt me at least once a week. He's is a lot of fun though." He sent Juergy some happy thoughts and the bronze chirped happily in response.

"That must be nice. Some times I'm a big baby when it comes to pain." He said blushing a bit at admitting it. Of course he wasn't that big of a baby, he just didn't have high pain tolerance either. "I'd love to spend more time with you, if I can find the time myself. Learning to at least take of myself in a fight would be nice, not that there are too many worries here on Pern. Besides thread of course."

Spring loved the attention Juergy was giving her, but she loved attention in general. She then chirped at Ayana trying to get her attention but it did not work. So she trilled at the bronze and continued to nuzzle him.

"Just be warned Thread is not the only monster here on Pern. Wherever people go a monster is always with them."

She then turned and pulled the knife from the dummy and put it in the hidden sheath in her boot.

"Well shall we get started now then since we have the time? Or would you rather do something else?" She asked.

Malcolm nodded in agreement. "Wise and she kicks ass. Anything you can't do?" He said jokingly, but half way meaning it. He wanted to know how he lucked out in meeting this girl.

He thought about it for a second. He wasn't sure if he wanted to spend his day off getting the crap beat out of him, but then again if he said no she'd probably not want to do anything else with him. So he decided to go for it.

"Sure, why not. It's not like I'm doing anything else and I've already been hit in the shin. Might as well add a couple more bruises to the mix." He said playfully. "Just let me get adjusted here." If he was going to be doing something that physical he wanted to be cool for it, so he too his shirt off and threw it to the side.

"Yeah, I can't cook believe it or not." She said. "And to let you know I am not rough on the first few days." She then looked away and blushed when he took off his shirt.

Was NOT expecting that! she thought.

"Well first of all lets see you punch Mr. Dummy." She indicated the dummy she had been beating up before then moved away into the safe zone. Her heart beating fast and not from the effort she put into training.

Calm down, he may be cute but not on the first day. She told herself, but no matter what her heart kept on beating fast.

"Alright." He said as he moved up to the dummy. Malcolm had been in a scrap or two, but those had been a no holds bar kind of fights. So he had no technique what so ever when it came to fighting. He readied himself and then hit the dummy with his fist, not as hard as he could, but hard enough.

"Take that Mr. Dummy." He said jokingly. ""Course that was probably a bug bite compared to what you just did to him." Malcolm had noticed the blush, he always noticed the blush, and he couldn't help but smile inwardly to himself. 'So, me being topless makes her blush. Not a bad sign.' He thought to himself. Malcolm wasn't really a lady killer, but he knew how to work it some.

"You can be honest with me. How bad of a punch was it?" He asked, a sad, puppy dog look on his face.

"Not that bad actually. Better than Otania, she doesn't punch at all." Ayana walked back up to him and took his clenched fist.

"But keep punching like that and you well break your thumb," She then uncurled his fingers in her hand, then curled them back up but with his thumb covering the small hole that his fist made. "Now like this you can't break your thumb, trust me you don't want to do that. It hurts, a lot." She then did the same thing to his other hand.

She tried to ignore the fact that he was topless as she looked up at his sad puppy dog face.

Malcolm exaggerated the loud sigh he gave as she told him it wasn't a bad punch. "Thank the void. I was worried there." He said with humor, though he was being serious too. He wanted to do good in her eyes. "Really? I can't imagine me being any kind of better compared to Otania. Hasn't she trained with you for awhile?"

He allowed her to put his hands the right way and enjoyed the feel of her hands on his. "Thanks, I really don't want to do that. Might make it hard for me to do my job." He said with a smile. Malcolm wasn't totally sure, but he thought that Ayana was being as coy with him as he was with her. So he decided to take a chance on it. "So, what are you doing after this?"

Ayana quickly thought. "Otania has but I warned her three times that punching like that would break her thumb. We well just say that she did not listen. All three times."

Ayana never really made plans, unless it was a lesson. She normally just did what she needed or wanted to do. Why did this have to happen to her? Why right now? Well that would explain why he was trying to be cool, and succeeding at that. He was trying to impress her.

How nice. she thought. What I thought was impossible is happening.

"I was planning on having a shower after training then getting something to eat." She said after a quick minute. She had just come up with this plan not even a second ago.

"Perhaps joining you for a shower would be moving a bit too fast, but the eating thing sounds like a winner." Malcolm was known for his humorous nature and it really showed when he was trying to impress a girl. Of course if he was told to tell the truth he wouldn't have minded a shower with the cute fighter.

"I promise you I learn a bit better than that. If you say 'don't do it that way' I won't." Something told him that there was a bit of tension between Ayana and Otania, but it wasn't really any of his business.

Ayana tried not to blush when he said would join her for dinner.

"Otania might be with me though since we live together." She admitted. "And that at least makes you." She then looked at her bruised arm.

"Well sadly it looks like I am done for the day. Have to be careful with this bruised thing of mine called an arm. We can contiue if you want? Or would you rather skip right to dinner?" She asked. Now what she just said sounded weird to herself. She had never actually met a guy she liked before.

"I probably shouldn't do too much right at first and truthfully I'm getting pretty hungry." He answered her. "That's fine for her to join us, the more the merrier right?"

Really he would've preferred just her and him eating together, but since Otania lived with her there wasn't much could be done about it. He'd just have to have her to himself again some other time. Besides it wasn't as if he'd never see her again.

Then before Ayana could say anything Sky came from between and sent her a menta image of Otania getting sick.

"I told her to be careful. Thank you Sky, now go back and help her if you can." Sky chirped and looked at Spring then vanished.

"She won't be eating for a while. She is not a pretty sight right now. So that means it is just you and me." he said with a smile "But before we go." She then moved away from Malcolm and did a spin kick and knocked them dummy down.

"Couldn't help it." She laughed and took the dummy apart. Spring then flew up to Ayana and grabbed an arm, then Sky and Earthquake came and started grabbing peices as well and All three lizards vanished between then reappeared and took some more peices between.

"Well time for a shower or bath then. See you later." She said as she started to walk towards the baths.