clawandtail:

Of course things weren’t going to settle down. Nolun watched as the Redguard reached forwards, and was immediately driven back into the arms of the other mercenaries. The tiger let out a quiet, impressed hum, before pushing himself slowly away from the post he had been leaning on. For having been clearly inebriated moments ago, the Khajiit moved in quite a practiced, graceful manner. As he stepped into a more open area, and Savinna spoke to him -- though he got the feeling that the statement was partially meant as further provocation to the furious group -- Nolun gave an acknowledging nod.

“In that case, careful your confidence does not distract from your awareness,” he called back, eyeing the two who advanced on Savinna behind the Redguard’s renewed charge. The Ka’Po’Tun’s eyes snapped to the movement of three mercenaries starting towards him, apparently convinced that he was going to join the fight on Savinna’s side. They weren’t entirely wrong. He released his hands from their place clasped behind his back, the soft scrapes of his armor with the movement lost to the chaotic noise of the building scuffle. Letting his hands hang to the sides, he slid one foot slightly in front of the other, weight slightly forward in a prepared but seemingly casual stance as he watched the three, an Imperial and two Nords, close in.

“Do you intend to fight fairly?” Nolun asked as one Nord began to sprint to close the gap between them, though he was decently sure he knew the answer.

“No,” the Nord nearly spat, grinning as he pulled back and swung wide with the momentum of his run. Nolun remained still until the man was nearly on top of him, and then, unexpectedly, stepped forward and into the Nord’s path. He dropped into a deep stance, opposite hand flashing across to guide the wild swing past his head, while his other hand shot forward, palm driving through the man’s jaw. Though the Nord was heavily stunned by the attack, his momentum carried him into the tiger, who gripped the man by the side of the neck with his striking hand, and using his other elbow as leverage in the Nord’s solar plexus, twisted, using the man’s momentum to lift him from his feet and sling him past to the side.

The Ka’Po’Tun remained in his deep stance, resetting his hands to a ready position, eyeing the other two mercenaries as they slowed their approach towards him, apparently feeling more cautious after the example of their comrade.

clawandtail:

Feeling herself sobering up, though not quite acting like it just yet, wanting the mischievous group ahead to have no reason to fear her yet - not that it was hard to begin with, most people were often uncomfortable around Khajiit. But, appearing harmless had its advantages. Approaching slowly, she watched as a large Redguard was attempting to scoop one of the serving girls onto his lap, much to the girl’s horror.

“Savinna, it is good to meet you,” Nolun replied politely, with another slight bow of his head. That Savinna had been drinking was clear, though she didn’t seem to be at a complete loss for control. At the least, she didn’t seem near so inebriated that she wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation. Nolun clasped his hands in front of him on the table, and began to shift to face the other directly before his gaze was drawn towards the same ruckus that took Savinna’s attention. 

Such things going on at an inn were commonplace, sadly, however Nolun was usually disinclined to step in unless things got more dire, which wasn’t uncommon in itself. Savinna, however, didn’t seem to be of the same mind. Nolun raised an eyebrow as she stood, and began making her way over towards the group of mercenaries. Her lack of hesitation was admirable, however he questioned the wisdom in approaching so many potentially hostile individuals after drinking.

Still, it wasn’t as though he were going to sit by and watch, so the Ka’Po’Tun stood, pushing his chair back into place, then paced slowly around to stand near the opposite side of the group from Savinna. There, he stopped, crossing his arms, and leaned against one of the support columns, watching the exchange with mix of curiosity and irritation.

The Redguard showed no lack of aggression, and seeing as he seemed to be the lead of the group, Nolun assumed that if the growling man decided to swing, the rest of the mercenaries would follow suit. The tiger caught Savinna’s eyes, and he gave a quick expression questioning her resolve in the course she seemed to be pursuing.

“Such threats are uncalled for,” Nolun spoke up calmly to the Redguard, his voice raising easily above the noise of the tavern, which quieted quickly at the sound. “A leader should be able to show civility.” The other members of the mercenary group whirled around to look at the Ka’Po’Tun, tensing, and seeming to wait on the Redguard’s response.

Nolun had become accustomed to taking his own table at inns, as most of the patrons were either Nordic and wanted little to do with him, or otherwise found his armor and weapons off-putting enough to leave him alone. The bartenders didn’t seem to have a problem with him, seeing as he could pay for his drinks and food, and was very quiet, causing no trouble.

Thus, it was somewhat of a surprise when Nolun heard soft footsteps approaching his table. Looking up from his thoughts, the Ka’Po’Tun caught sight of... a Khajiit? He hadn’t seen a Khajiit with her appearance before, but it was all that he could think of. He gave a shallow bow of his head as she sat, and watched with unexpressed curiosity as she leaned forward.

“Nolun,” the tiger answered, his accent very obviously not Khajiiti, “if a name will do.” Her speech increased his confidence in his guess of a Khajiit. “And may I know your name, since I believe it is safe to assume that you are from Elsweyr?”

((OOC Headcanon - Feykro Ven))

Feykro Ven (”Forest Wind”) is the style of martial arts that Nolun practices, and the one that was predominant in the area he grew up in. It shares the same roots as almost all other styles in Ka’Po’Tun, a system developed thousands of years prior when the empire was first uniting. Like most disciplines in Ka’Po’Tun, students begin learning the basics around the age of four, taking time each day to practice proper breathing, and the deep stances that dominate the style. Once they reach the age of six, the students begin to learn techniques and forms. Feykro Ven can be described in both terms of its technical aspects, and its disciplinary aspects, both of which are crucial to both its intent and its application in Ka’Po’Tun culture.

Technical Aspects:

As mentioned before, most of the stances are deep, presenting a stable base for the practitioner, and an advantageous position for leverage if an opponent attempted to push them back. Primarily, these stances are side-stances or forward stances, as the Ka’Po’Tun prefer balance and aggression to defensive mentalities. Often, multiple strikes or blocks will be thrown from one position, where the practitioner is rooted in a stance. However, when movement is called for, quick, sliding steps are taken, keeping the center low.

At the same time that the legs are rooted in their stance, the upper body is usually in motion. Incoming blows are deflected using circular movements of the arms and hands and avoided using minimal twists and movements of the torso and head. The technique is used to minimize damage from attacks without expending much energy or losing ground to the attacker. While not as efficient at entirely avoiding blows as a more freely-moving style, it achieves its goals well, especially considering the brief nature of hand-to-hand fights using Feykro Ven.

The rooted stance, movement of the torso, and fast movement of the hands and arms could be seen to resemble a tree blowing in the wind, thus the name of the style.

The cyclical style of movement in Feykro Ven produces a rapid, seamless transition between blocks and attacks, and techniques often can function as both. The hands remain open, increasing area for the deflection of incoming blows, and providing devastatingly precise striking surfaces. Strikes with the blade of the hand, palm, and elbow primarily target joints, solar plexus, upper ribs, collarbones, side and front of the throat, jaw, temple, and face. Very nearly every offensive technique is aimed at to disable or dispose of the opponent quickly, there are very few if any ‘nice’ techniques in Feykro Ven.

The speed of execution for techniques varies depending on the situation. In practice without a sparring partner or training dummy, the techniques are executed very slowly, as the practitioner ensures that ever aspect of the technique is perfect. With a partner, the techniques are executed more quickly, often beginning slowly and increasing pace through the practice, however they are not executed at quite full speed, even during most sparring, as the focus is still more on the quality of execution. Against a training dummy (in the case of Feykro Ven, an uncushioned wooden dummy roughly the shape of a humanoid upper body) and in sparring as a test of skill, the techniques are executed at full speed, often reaching a blur.

As can be expected, with the rapidity of Feykro Ven’s techniques, the aggressive nature of the Ka’Po’Tun, and the life-or-death mentality of both the culture and martial arts style, full-out sparring lasts only a few second per bout, often ending with one of the participants going down to one knee or falling over completely.

Disciplinary Aspects:

Militaristic discipline is a central attribute of Ka’Po’Tun culture, and this shows especially in their martial arts. All able Ka’Po’Tun are trained in one style or another from a young age, as much to teach them discipline and self-control as to teach them to defend themselves. Ka’Po’Tun practice of their learned style is near-religious: practice isn’t expected, it’s assumed. Every day, the practitioner will go through a set of short forms as the bare minimum practice for the day, a routine ingrained in them at a young age. While these forms do reinforce the basic techniques of the style, they also serve another purpose: to reinforce the focus and discipline of the practitioner by having them focus on a lesson or theme for each form.

Feykro Ven has seven of these forms in a particular order, each focused on a lesson: patience (the form that takes the most time, unsurprisingly), focus, reservation, aggression, determination, willingness to kill, and willingness to die. The repetition of these forms, and the ideas that each is centered around, are believed to help sharpen and prepare a soldier at the beginning of each day, physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

In a manner of speaking, however nothing that requires my immediate attention. I have noticed that whenever you seem restless, you seek to spar, or fight, depending. If that is the case now, I would be happy to oblige, if not only to give Athis a break.

send me a heart to learn something about my muse!