The Harlequin

[font=gothic][color=indigo]The literal translation of Tae Kwon Do is "Hand Foot Way". Did I say that earlier, or in the other thread? I did the same kind of thing, with a speed ball on the end of a three foot string tied to the roof. Doesn't sound to hard to avoid, but when you're trying to [I]kick[/i] it at head height at best...You quite often end up looking like a fool just waving your leg around in the air.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo][I]Qyain sat down, Miles taking a seat across from him. They were in a deserted part of the immense library, not surprising in these days. People were far too concerned with other matters, assuming they were alive. Which was somewhat of a broad assumption these days. Ah well. [/I] Miles: Just how much do you know about what the hell is going on, and more to the point, how do you know? Qyrain: Well, I ran into a lone Vahnati on the surface, just outside Corus, Miles: Isn't it in ruins? Qyrain: Yes, but I didn't know that at the time. Anyway, I was greeted by a fireball, and a few metres away, an area of building seemed to suddenly cease to exist. Miles: Exactly. We've been having areas of nullification appear within the proximity of magic for a few weeks now, without explanation. And it doesn't seem to matter who's magic either, so it's not likely to be some kind of attack. Qyrain: It isn't. Miles: How do you know? [I]Qyrain related the story of his existance, along with his earlier conclusions, to the stunned Miles. The retelling took quite a long time. Afterwards, Miles leant back in his chair, shaking his head. Sometime during the tale, a servant had crept in and lit the rather large fireplace. Qyrain took further note of his surroundings. What he'd earlier perceived as a deserted corner turned out to be a private room lined with shelves. They say in comfortable armchairs, and the room was richly decorated. Miles's private study. An area few got to see of the vaunted mage. Qyrain looked back to Miles, who stilled seemed to be trying to absorb it all, and smiled softly.[/font][/color][/I]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Pachebel's Canon in D, and Midnight Sonata. And one Slavic Dance piece, or something like that. I can't quite remember the name of it.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]It doesn't Dbzanimegirl. These kinds of posts are most easily dealt with using the report posts to moderator button. Especially when you consider you didn't actually answer the question correctly. If you're after some kind of combat, than the area you should look in is the Battle Arena. Read a few threads there to get the basic idea.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Yeah, I personally believe using most weapons is actually disadvantaging yourself, unless its something like a kama or tonfa, you know, a weapon designed to be used in conjunction with martial arts. The difference in most martial arts is fairly minimal, excepting the body parts focused on. Tae Kwon Do is eighty percent lower body work, twenty percent upper. Karate is basically the reverse. Judo is throws and falling. Some martial arts are pressure points. There are a lot of philosophical differences in the beliefs involved with each, mainly due to the difference in the founders of each martial art, but movement wise, its all focus.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Tw34ky, I'm afraid that posts that short are considered spam in this forum. So please put a little more effort it.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Alright, that's enough of that people. If this doesn't go anyway, it's because you're not posting. Don't sit there and complain about it dying. Especially when it is spam.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo][I]Kynjaka looked thoughtfully at Vondeux. There was a slight narrowing of the eyes, showing she hadn't taken the offense all that well. Kynjaka drained the glass, and sat there twirling the stem between his fingers a moment. Kynjaka let his gaze drift back to the now empty arena, the defiant gladiator now invisible. The crowd, however, was still cheering their appreciation of both the tactics and the antics. Kynjaka made a snap decision, and turned, motioning a servant up. He kept motioning until the unfortunate male was quite close, until he was leaning over, his head between Kynjaka and Vondeux. Kynjaka abruptly broke the wine glass over the man's head, spraying blood and shards all over Vondeux. He shoved the man onto her, and sprang forward, decimating the box, and giving the crowd their second view of a strange flying creature. He landed on the sand easily, ignoring the catcalls, and walked in through the heavy door the gladiator had been dragged in. He followed a straight hallway, and was nearly run into by an infuriated looking drow. He started to swear at Kynjaka, then realised he was talking to a rather large demon. Kynjaka smiled banefully at him, recognising him as the man involved in dragging the gladiator off. He stepped aside, and walked through the door. The gladiator lay on a bed. Kynjaka turned, and sealed the door behind him.[/font][/color][/I]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]OOC: I want that spell... IC: [i]Kattarin scrambled, rather than climbed, down the side of the mountain, the veritable escarpment not helped by the sheer amount of scree dislodged with each desperate flailing. The rather sharp pieces a long way below her didn't do a lot for her confidence. Nor did Ayrael, who climbed easily without a care in the world, letting go of the rock and balancing on merely her feet on several occasions. She shuddered each time, her grip tightening on the rock, often to the detriment of her handhold. The first time she cracked the rock she held, she nearly fell, and was saved only by the fact that, at the last moment, she realised she was still attached with her other hand. In the fright of the moment, you tend to forget important details like that.... Normally to the detriment of your survival.... Kattarin, of course, was then stuck contemplating just how detrimental everything was to everything else, and wondered just how this constant entropy allowed existance to continue at all. She decided, as yet another piece of stone collapsed under her feet, that she should concentrate on climbing down, and worry about philosophies that might annoy some higher power later. About ten minutes later, they reached a wide ledge, complete with rather welcoming looking cave. Kattarin immediately walked towards it, not stopping to consider the liklihood that some kind of crag dwelling creature had made it a rather convenient home. Of course, she was unpleasantly surprised. The chitinous exoskeleton rattled at her, giving her her first warning. Vaguely humanoid in shape, it waved a vicious looking claw at her a moment, then sidled forward. Kattarin's instincts and training took over, and she stepped forward, skipping off her left foot and bringing her right crashing around with an inner crescent. She continued with the movement, into a left-leg spinning back kick. The first move knocked the claw out of the way, and with a loud scraping noise appeared to do some damage, for the limb hung limp at an odd angle, but the second kick did nothing but strike solid exoskeleton. Kattarin was staggered away, and she fought to regain equilibrium before the creature could pounce on her. Ayrael stepped forward, and stabbed the thing in one of its glinting eyes with a small blade. It squawked, and danced madly around, until Ayrael gave it a solid shove, upon which it careened off the cliff face. Kattarin gave her a look of gratitude, Ayrael rolled her eyes.[/I] Ayrael: I suppose we'd better rest here for an hour or so. Kattarin: How about a day? Ayrael: Depends on how much I feel like humouring you. And, that last stunt considered, just how much I'll have to explain to you.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]There's nothing really wrong with a good knife fight, and if you train for it, you can treat the knife like a disadvantage anyway. Let's face it, you can block a knife with the ridge of your forearm with a much smaller amount of force than is required to deflect a solid punch. I'll give you the point of guns though...I personally detest them. But what would make for an interesting time is if instead of knives everyone carried kamas...That way, everything would be martial arts, and they'd be legal for me to buy....Damn Australia. I can dream damn it....[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Actually, you'd be fairly surprised at how adapting things to your own advantage can work quite well. The first night I started my Tae Kwon Do classes, my Instructor started to show me some stuff, I demonstrated that and more, and he realised I was pretty good. So, when the sparring came up, I was against a red belt named Wade. He'd done, along with Zenith Tae Kwon Do, another style of Tae Kwon Do and a similar style of karate, but due to my "customisation" of techniques, I had him off guard for a good ten minutes before a lot of extra practice finally gave him the advantage. It doesn't really matter how long you've been doing martial arts for, provided you understand the principles involved to the movements, you can personalise everything to the point where it basically is your own style.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Well, I have two theories on this movie. The first is that it was simply a vehicle for the Gary Jules version of Mad World, an old Tear For Fears song... The second one... I believe that Frank, rather than a hallucination, or being himself and trying to apologise, was Donnie's way of escaping. Donnie used Frank to try and understand his "condition", and explain some of his actions, out of a desire to be truly able to live his life. And when he found that out, he ued Frank as an excuse to escape that incomprehensible life. As for the temporal fluidity thing, I'm of the opinion that Donnie was interested in it because he regretted some of the things he did, such as waking up and leaving the house. It's rather interesting, because that teacher (I can't quite remember his name), mentions that you need a vehicle among other things for the travel to occur, but Donnie never actually enters any kind of vehicle. It may just be a fallacy on my part, or a script error that wasn't really addressed though. Another idea I had for a while, though I don't really believe it now I'll throw it into the ring anyway, was that Frank was a form of premonition for Donnie, given in a form that Donnie would come to understand as events unfolded for him. Donnie never understood why Frank appeared to him until the car accident, and upon this point, Donnie realised that it was his influence, and his decision to get up that night, that lead to the accident in the first place. So Donnie chose, to avert the tragedy and to quiet his own problems, to heed the given advice, and transmuted the ideas into time travel, to explain them to himself. All pretty farfetched, and it's been quite a while since I actually viewed the movie, but I'll stick by my opinions.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]If you people want to take a bash at each other, can you use the designated forum? And can random questions like that be kept to PMs? Thanks.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]You know Raiha, a lot of your posts aren't that "auspicious" for you either. There's a report to moderators button, use it, and don't post. And as for our new ...acquaintance, if you want to advertise your rping abilities, use your signature.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]That's basically what I mean. Using the basic precepts of the knifehands, backfists and palmstrikes, refined by the karate experience I've had, basically rounds off upper body techniques quite well. The finesse of Tae Kwon Do's upper body movements with the power of karate's, is what I'm trying to say. As for the fancy footwork thing...While I have no objection to avoiding a blow if neccessary, normally something like a side kick or other powerful and fast kick, I've always found it preferable to redirect the move's momentum into your advantage, or simply block and counter. Say if they throw your typical barroom brawl style hook punch, you perform an inner-crescent block with the right hand, catching the outside of the wrist, twist it around, and force their hand down against their wrist with your left. This, to me, seems far preferable to trusting oneself to a possibly unstable footing or ground. I've also had quite a bit of experience fighting multiple opponents, and in those situations, you don't have the space to move around, so if you can't retain a measure of equilibrium, you go down. Hard...[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Also, I'd like to point out that many of your major martial arts were created as excersises or [i]discipline building[/i] activities. Judo, for example. If you've ever seen any footage of the guy who started it (who is truly amazing. There's this one shot where he simply sidles up to the guy, very slowly, and all of a sudden the guy has been thrown several feet away, simply through a redirection of momentum, which from a slow walk is pretty good), you'd realise that injuring people wasn't even intended. And both martial arts I've participated in had codes to them. Sure, at the lower levels they seem like rules you have to obey, but reading over the grading forms for black belt gradings at any level above sixth dan, most of it is philosophical, with very few physical requirements at all. Trying to overcome your physical imperfections and limitations is all well and good, but can only taken to a certain point. For the true movements of martial arts, you need to be doing what comes naturally, what flows, so attempting to force your body to perform feats it is not really suited to (like your two foot tall gnome-related person trying to kick a six foot person in the head) eventually fails the point of martial arts. You could learn to do it, but you would learn it as a form of doing damage than as part of what martial arts are truly about. Make no mistake, I have a lot of respect for Bruce Lee and his philosophies, but I believe that certain elements of them are suited more to a fully combat oriented mind rather than a martial artist.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo][I]Kynjaka looked down at her, his pulse still high. He suddenly turned away, keeping her in her arms.[/I] Kynjaka: Whetting bloodlust is normally not a good idea when you have other ideas. Vondeux: Not enough blood for you? Kynjaka: Not enough death... Vondeux: We could bring in a slave. Kynjaka: How complacent. No, that's not what I want. I want a real fight. Pure adrenalin based, fear pulsing death. Vondeux: There are gladiator fights... Kynjaka: That'll do. [I]Kynjaka, looking more angry than normal, flexing his fingers as if he wanted to evicerate someone with them. He stalked out, leaving Vondeux to follow as she would. Hopefully, someone interesting would be in the bouts.[/font][/color][/I]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Double_B_Daigo [/i] [B]I do Tae Kwon Do (i'm a green belt currently). But i also use the philosphy of Jeet Kune Do (the Way of the Intercepting Fist) in which you use what is usefull and reject what is useless. You become formless and you don't attack with a routine. I also add boxing foot work, dodging and some punches, and Tae Kwon Do kicks and blocks. I'm thinking of doing Wing Chun, so i can learn better punches and the infamous "one-inch punch" . SO i would say Jeet Kune Do is my "style". [/B][/QUOTE] [font=gothic][color=indigo]Well, I do Zenith Tae Kwon Do, and one of the things we practice extensively is knifehand/palmstrike styled techniques. Mainly because they require a lot more finesse than simple punching. And because I've done Zen Do Kai karate, I've never had a problem with a lack of hand techniques. I've always preferred knifehands anyway. And I've never considered Tae Kwon Do as being too much form, because asiding the patterns, everything does flow quite well. You can do twenty kicks in a row, without restarting your motion. Personally, I think that's pretty open ended.[/font][/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Double_B_Daigo [/i] [B] And in martial arts. Traditional martial arts are today too flowerey and overly complex. There are opnly three martial arts that truly show nothing other than combat: Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee's ,martial art), Tae Kwon Do, and Muay Thai. Every thing elser is almost alwyas too complex. Fighting with them in a true street fight, is like fighting a routine against broken rythm, which doesn't work. This is another one of my thoughts. [/B][/QUOTE] [font=gothic][color=indigo]Excepting Ishiryoku Jutsu, Wing Chun, and the countless other ones that are based on combat.... Most people just don't know about them. Street fighters go down against martial artists....decent ones anyway. The style doesn't really matter. As for philosophies...I'm an athiestic existentialist, and I'm also a nihilist (I don't believe there is such a thing as a fundamental morality), so my philosophies tend to be based on the notion that no matter what anyone else thinks, what I believe is the best bet for me...Doesn't go down well with most people.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo][I]Kattarin was awoken in the morning by a rambunctious bustle that seemed completely out of character for someone who had made basically no noise all night. She sat up, feeling more at peace with the truths she had been gifted, though her faith in her desire to return was not yet shaken. She was, however, open to the idea that it may be possible for her to be so, and that the...Qyrain, may not be the person she knew so well. He was ever enigmatic, despite his apparently honest heart, and she never really felt she knew him that well. Her eyes focused on Ayrael, who was crashing around somewhere, obscured by long grass, mixed in with the splashing of water. Kattarin rose slowly, walking through the grass, attempting to track Ayrael through the sound of her voice... Calling it difficult would have been a lie. Ayrael knelt beside a small stream, washing cooking utensils, with little success and little grace. Obviously never a domestic...Despite having had more than a score of servants assigned to her personally, it had still been insisted that Kattarin learn domestic duties, to aid her relationship with her future husband. She knelt down beside Ayrael, and took the items from her, giving them a much more thorough and quick clean.[/I] Ayrael: I never did get the knack of that. Kattarin: The trick is to scrub only the stuff that needs scrubbing, and simply rinse the rest. It's not the best way of doing it, but it is actually more efficient. [I]Ayrael sniffed, obviously unconcerned with the intricacies of a common woman's life. She reclaimed her pan, pots, etc, and placed them in her pack. Kattarin noted she seemed ready to leave. She took it as a hint, and returned to her campsite, replacing her blanket in her pack, as that was the only thing she'd removed. Ayrael stood unconceredly behind her, examing something in the distance.[/I] Ayrael: I assume you're coming? Kattarin: Where are you going? Ayrael: I have no idea. But neither do you. And I've had enough of this desert of grass. A more civilised clime seems interesting enough, provided we can avoid whatever war the lowlanders have cooked up. Kattarin: Lowlanders? Ayrael: In case you haven't noticed, which you probably didn't or simply fail to remember, this plain is actually an isolated plateau. Kattarin: Then why are there peaks surrounding us? Ayrael: Because this was one of those peaks, that for some reason had the top taken off it. Kattarin: Which is why it took me so long to breath properly... Ayrael: Basically. We'd better hurry, we've got a steep climb down. Kattarin: I was unconscious for most of it... Altitude sickness. Ayrael: Well, you're in for a surprise. [I]That ominous opinion uttered, Ayrael started off, letting her erstwhile companion follow at her leisure. Kattarin did so immediately.[/font][/color][/I]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Nah, MPD doesn't really have a lot to do with it. It's not really a viewpoint kind of thing, or religous/social commentary even...Just an excuse to use the phrase "minimalist sense of advertising"....[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo][I]Kynjaka was about to complete the final phase of the dance, perhaps death, when he was somewhat rudely interrupted. The door..well, not crashed open. But it wasn't exactly opened politely. Kynjaka rose to his feet, less than happy with the intrusion. His claws slid out fully, Vondeux's blood staining his hands and face. Already a fearsome sight, the life fluid that highlighted his body in striated smears left him a psychopathic killer.....Normally, it didn't show. His ire was somewhat dented when he saw the intruder. A skinny, pasty white elf. Still, he had a knife in hand, and considering that it did come from a drow household, it was probably enchanted enough to pierce skin. He stopped only a second, his eyes flickering in surprise, before he launched himself at Kynjaka. A brave, futile gesture. Kynjaka's hands shot out, grabbing the knife hand with one, deflecting the body with the other. Almost contemptuously, he redirected the elf's momentum into a wall. He held out his hand, and closed his eyes a moment. The air shimmered, and his flamberge glittering in his grip.[/I] Kynjaka: I need to enspell the scabbard for the same thing.... [I]He turned to the white elf, who still lay against the wall, blade rising. Vondeux stepped in between them, imperious despite her shakiness raising her hand.[/I] Vondeux: You will not harm him. Kynjaka: You aren't in a position to object right now. Vondeux: No, but I will be later. Kynjaka: You make an interesting point. However, if this fool attacks me again, I'll do you a favour and feed him to you.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]This ain't going anywhere...Mainly because the creator seems to have run off.[/font][/color]

[font=gothic][color=indigo]Kattarin's walk was unhurried, a part of her never wanted to leave this sea of grass, a comforting eternity that left her so irrelevant, so free of all else, that it could be nothing other than total freedom. But her wishes went unheeded, and the softly swaying vegetation gave way to a wide, paved road, though it started again on the other side. But that rent in the immensity...Left her aching with some vast, inexpressible melancholy. She sighed in sweet regret, her emotions clouding her mind, how strange that she abandoned years of discipline so easily. But this was life...emotion was part of it. She turned away from her thoughts, and started along the road, again going south. The sky was still dark, the clouds overhead the huge, billowing masses that stretched away to forever. Kattarin smiled at the sky, revelling in her unique lonliness, the knowledge that she was truly free still. Her walk took only half an hour before darkness fell truly. She continued along heedless, her destination a newly found light somewhere along the path. Most likely some other erstwhile traveller, perhaps one to share a campsite with for a night. She debated the intelligence of walking into a stranger's arms at night without any prior knowledge, and decided that a little risk would be if not precedented, all things considered, at least understandable. About fifty metres away from the flickering light, she stepped off the road, crawling through the grass until she could see the campsite's occupant. A single woman reclined beside a low fire, her face luminous in the flames. Her expression was rather wistful, as if some long-treasured but sad memory crossed her mind at the moment. She dressed in leathers, and her long, almost white hair cascaded over her shoulders. Kattarin sidled back, retracing her path until she was again on the road. Boldly, she strode along, entering the radius of light without slowing her pace. The woman, startled, looked up, hands flashing down to a weapon belt Kattarin had missed in her observation. She relaxed instantly however, apparently unconcerned by a single unarmed female. She rose to her feet, crossing around the firepit slowly. Kattarin, despite her unthreatening stance and actions, kept herself tense, noting her trained reactions. The woman stopped a pace away, examing Kattarin closely. Kattarin lifted her chin, unwilling to let herself seem weak this first day of freedom. The woman smiled slightly, and gestured to the flames behind her.[/I] "Sit down. You won't get much further this night, not in this cold." [I]Shocked by this hospitality, though half-hoping for it, she did so. Looking at her "host". The woman returned to her former position, eyeing Kattarin in what appeared to be amusement.[/I] "You haven't been doing this long, have you?" Kattarin: I've been in a monastery the past few years. Before that..I was a socialite's daughter. "Sheltered child, walking around these grasslands at night." Kattarin: You live here? "Every now and then. It suits me. But why do you come here?" Kattarin: My name is Kattarin Quisanth. I'm here because my monastery is north of here, and I leave for a journey that will prepare me for the final initation rites. "Ah. You're with the Fades." [I]It was said with almost venom.[/I] Kattarin: You know them? "Know them? I was one of them. I left on my journey, as did you, and found that I didn't want to return. They dragged me back, basically. I lasted a year before I escaped." [I]Kattarin, shocked at both the information, and that her order would do such a thing, took a while to associate the information with a story she'd heard in early training, in those whispers that travelled after dark, away from authority.[/I] Kattarin: You...you're the Night Hunter! "You say it like it's an accusation. But yes, I believe they called me that. You, however, can call me Ayrael." Kattarin: But...why? Why did you leave? Ayrael: You haven't experienced true freedom yet girl. Give it a few months, and you'll understand. I somehow doubt you'll go back either. Kattarin: But I..have someone waiting for me...The Wyvern. Ayrael: Qyrain? You have [I]Qyrain[/I] waiting for you? Kattarin: You know...what wrong with...that's his name? Ayrael: Confused, aren't we. I know him, he's my brother. Yes, that is his name. As for what is wrong with him....Don't ask. Just let me say my opinion of him, always low, wasn't even lowered by the fact that it was him that dragged me back. [I]She seemed likely to say more, but Kattarin motioned her to silence, shaking her head, trying to absorb all this information, the shock recognition from a complete, chance-met stranger. At last, she lay back, completely confused. Ayrael chucked metallically, and absently threw some more wood on the fire.[/I] Ayrael: Sleep it off girl. It'll make more sense in the morning. [i]Kattarin sat up, nodded, and pulled her bedroll out of her pack, and lay down, close to the fire. She closed her eyes, determinedly ignoring everything she'd heard. Was she really ready for this world, when one day out all her perceptions were being challenged?[/font][/color][/I]

[font=gothic][color=indigo][I]Kynjaka let the blood run off his tongue down her throat, clearing his airway more than anything. Still, the purpose was served, and she obviously liked it. He at last pulled his head back, looking at her eager eyes. He snarled at her, a low rumbling in his throat. He placed a heavy paw on her chest, holding her down. He reopened the wound on her stomach, intent this time to do what he'd meant to the first time. After all, he was all a creature of pleasures, and there was little that was more pleasurable than recreating what mortals used for pleasure, and combining it with pain.[/font][/color][/I]