And so it begins...

Posted on Thu Jan 25th, 2018 @ 5:54pm by Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori & Lieutenant JG Siobahn Fallon

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Marine Training Area

Siobahn was nothing short of nervous as she sat on the sidelines, watching Ami do drills with the rest of the marines. She kept playing anxiously with the hem of her jacket, then changing to fiddle with her long hair which was braided down her back, then moving back to her hem again. She was tired, there was no doubt about that. She had stayed up late to see Hailey, then gotten up early and still gone for their usual run, then a long shift in sickbay, and now here she was... waiting for, as Hailey had put it, for someone to 'beat the crap out of her'.

She reached for her water bottle, taking a nervous sip before setting it aside again, almost knocking it over in the process. 'Stop it!' she silently scolded herself. 'Stop being ridiculous, how hard can it be?'

Looking up again, Siobahn noticed that the marines were dispersing and Ami was on a direct path to her, smiling, really more like grinning... manically... swallowing hard, Siobahn scolded herself again for her overactive imagination and forced a smile on her face. "Well, here I am," she said with forced brightness. "Ready and... well... I'm here!"

The last ten minutes had been what seemed to be a standard wnd-of-day dismissal, then Ami had endes up in between three of the marines, Lita, another Corporal and a Sergeant who appeared to have been around the block a few times. Then, with a brief bow in general for all of them, the three others had begun to attack Ami. Standing as if in line for a movie, Ami had spent the next five minutes avoiding the attacks, here and there deflecting a particularly well-thrown or coordinated attack, having to outright block a handful, but never moving more than a couple of feet from her original spot even while the others moved freely.

Then in a span of about twenty seconds, she'd moved and the other three were down. First had come the nameless Corporal, who'd had her knee taken out drom under her with a gentle toe kick, a knife hand stopping under a centimeter from her neck. In the same motion, a roundhouse kick took Lita across the face, throwing her to the ground for a few seconds. Ami took a step forward and after a flash, a palm strike to the attacking Sergeant's chest far gentler than it could have been, sent him onto the floor. Finally, Ami rolled backwards and ended up kneeling over Lita's chest, one hand reaching down. And it had been over.

And then she had just walked over, smile on her face and plopped down in front of the Ensign as if in front of a kid sister, not even having broken a sweat, "Indeed you are!" She reaponded cheerfully.

The fact that Ami had just laid three people out flat and hadn’t even broke a sweat made Siobahn even more anxious. “Damn...” she muttered quietly before forcing another smile. “So where do we start?” She asked with a nervous laugh. “Because, if we don’t get started soon I am goin' to change my mind and run away.”

"We start just by chatting, to relax you a bit." Ami said soothingly, "Today? I'm not attacking you, you're not attacking me. We are actually going to practice the single most important aspect of all: Control. Control of yourself means you can do what you need to do. That in turn takes control out of your opponent's hands, because then they have to change their tactics to conform to yours. That allows you to dictate their moves until you decide to strike."

Siobahn nodded slightly, still fiddling with the bottom of the zip on her jacket. “Okay...” she drew in a deep breath and stopped fiddling with her jacket, instead reaching up and grabbing the end of her braid, pulling the elastic out and then immediately tying it again. “So how does chattin' help practice control?” She finally asked quietly.

"You have to control your breathing, the words, oh and your reactions." Ami chuckled, "So, how did you meet Hailey?" Ami watched for every detail on Siobahn's face and body.

Dropping her braid and resting her hands in her lap, Siobahn hesitated for a moment before answering. Finally she looked across at Ami with a small smile. "A friend needed medical attention, I was in sickbay at the time and we ended up talkin' for a bit." Instinctively she reached for her braid again, wrapping the end around her finger for a moment before she realised what she was doing and dropped the braid, once again returning her hands to her lap.

"How fast was it, when she first met you, before you fell in love with her?" Ami noticed the full body flush, then smiled broadly, "Come on, now, after six hundred years, if I couldn't tell, something would be wrong. Don't worry, I won't tell her, but i suspect she might have an idea, but how long?"

Siobahn remained silent for a long moment, well aware of the fact that she was blushing. She sighed softly, and looked across at Ami, a small smile dancing on her lips. "Honestly?" she asked quietly. "Coincidences just mean that we were meant to be together." she quoted, "She said it on our first date, and that was when I knew I wanted to be with her. But it was after our third date... sittin' on the floor in my quarters... there was no one thing she said, but a look on her face and that was it... I just knew."

"Good. Take that memory, that feeling. That is your centering point. When something changes that's what you go back to." Ami smiled softly, "No panic, no second guessing.Will there be fear? Of course. Fear is what lets people be brave, does that make sense?"

It would be easy to hold onto that memory, it was one that was almost always in her mind. Siobahn nodded slowly in response. "It makes sense," she replied quietly. Not panicking was easy, not second guessing, well, that was a little harder... but fear was a very different beast. She could easily jump off a cliff or go ziplining, or any number of other adrenalin raising things and not feel fear, yet the thought of being in a fight with someone was definitely something that still incited fear.

The tremble was ever so slight, but Ami saw it even so, "I know you don't want to be here." She said simply, "It scares you to learn how to defend yourself, because you tell yourself that to do it, you HAVE to hurt someone else and you instinctively don't want to do that. You know, she won't think any less of you if you choose to stop now, or a day from now, a week, whenever."

"I know," Siobahn said softly. "But I won't quit," her voice was a little firmer than she had intended, but she was determined that she was not going to walk away. "I need to do this, not for Hailey, but for myself."

"Good." Ami was quiet, "And I can teach you what you need to know. But, again, first comes a history lesson." She chuckled, "Jin Kee, the basics of which I'll start you off with, is a rather ancient Trill martial arts form. About four hundred eighty years ago, it was declared illegal to practice and those who did were mostly hunted. It is called the 'perfect defense' form, because that is the focus. In fact, until someone reaches the rank of Journeyman Second Rank, they aren't even taught any counterattacks. There are four ranks, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert and Master, each with four levels each. After it was legalized again forty years ago, laws were specifically drafted for it. Once someone reaches the rank of Expert Second, if they kill someone in self defense, even if their attacker has a deadly weapon, they can and likely will be charged with murder, even if acquitted. That right there is the level of control we are expected, and tend to, have."

Siobahn's eyes widened slightly as she listened to Ami recount the history of the art. "Wow..." she breathed softly. "So what level are you?"

A sly smile, "Master Fourth Rank. In fact, the highest ranked of the Fourth Rank. I've been practicing this form for about five hundred and fifty years, so..." Ami had to think about dates for a moment, "The middle of the Nineteenth Century on Earth. The biggest challenge is whenever the turd in me has to switch bodies, they have to re-learn all of the muscle-memory motions, but they typically pick up quickly, like myself. Rori always chooses someone who intends to go into the military, best way to help the Trill people. But he's getting old, very old."

Laughing softly, Siobahn watched Ami as she spoke. "Well, at least I'm learnin' from the best." She paused for a moment before asking again. "How long did it take you to control your own fear?"

Ami leaned in conspiratorially, "I don't" She laughed as she sat back again, "People say you need to, but it gives the fear that much more control, because you have to think about it. Don't try to control your fear, just don't let it control you. Everyone had their own way, mine is to focus on my opponents, it's the preferred technique of the art. If you aren't thinking about it, it almost doesn't exist. But, why do you think Fleet uniforms are black and our combat fatigues are so dark? So that when we piss ourselves out of fear, it's a lot harder to notice."

Siobahn laughed openly at the remarks. "Well, that is both gross yet oddly encouraging," she replied easily, relaxing visibly. "So, basically, use your safe place to centre you and focus on what they are doin' instead?"

"Bingo." Ami smiled, "Your strongest reason to win, and it'll keep you from doing stupid shit that'll get your ass lunched, while giving you the reason to keep going. It's not how Hailey does thing, but she's a gunbunny, not a real hand-to-hander."

"That actually makes sense," Siobahn said, surprise clear in her voice. "I guess, after that it's just a fact of not gettin' beat on?"

"Yup, and thus ends the lesson for the day." Ami grinned, "I was really hard on you, wasn't I?"

With another laugh and a shake of her head, Siobahn reached for her braid and flicked it over her shoulder. "Well, you haven't made me not want to come back," she said easily, "and I'm not completely terrified of the concept of learning more."

"I can't promise you that you'll beat my recent record streak of six hundred forty-two match wins, which I guess Nyx just broke the other day, but give me a few weeks and I'll put you on the mat with Rozheva or Callen and let you wear them out for a bit." Ami smiled brightly.

"A few weeks?" Siobahn asked incredulously. "That's a bit soon isn't it?" She bit down on her bottom lip. "A few years maybe..."

"I mean a few weeks. I'm not saying you'll beat them, but if you work on it the way I want you to, you won't lose either. I'd call the round before you got hurt, don't worry." Ami glanced over to the barracks, "Might even use you as an object lesson for Callen, if you wouldn't mind?"

"An object lesson?" Siobahn looked thoroughly confused, but still she shrugged anyway. "I guess..." she replied. "So long as it doesn't involve pain and hurt.. because, I meant it when I said I was a sook, I have zero pain tolerance threshold and I'm REALLY not afraid to show it!"

"I'm not saying much pain, and we'll build it up slowly, but you have one more mission from me tonight, okay?" Ami's eyes glittered, "Go to your quarters, take a nice long shower, then complain to Hailey how I worked you really, really hard and that I'm a cruel taskmaster and make her fawn all over you?"

Siobahn laughed openly. "Now that is something I can definitely get on board with," she said lightly, "But I can't guarantee the lie will have any merit, she has a way of getting to the truth without a great deal of effort."

"Give it a try," Ami insisted, "Get her to rub your feet, give you a backrub, something like that. I don't think she'll give you too much trouble about it. It'll get her mind off of duty and I think that'll help. She's got too much going on right now, but you... Her eyes brighten when she sees you, if you couldn't tell."

With a smile, Siobahn shook her head quickly. "She works too hard, but you know what she's like... duty first." she sighed briefly. "I'll do what I can, I always do."

"She is, has been since I've known her." Ami got to her feet and reached down a hand in an offer, "Hell, if it weren't for her, they were going to put me on the Presidential Guard. Good job, but dull as all hell."

Taking Ami's hand, Siobahn pulled herself to her feet and laughed. "Instead you're all the way out here trying to teach airheads like me how to not get killed."

"And I couldn't be happier!" Ami smiled, then laughed, "You know what they said when they recruit Marines? 'Join the Marines, see the galaxy, meet exotic people, and kill them."

"Seriously?" Siobahn raised one eyebrow questioningly then shook her head. "Yes, well, with a recruiting spiel like that I can see how you get the quality, stable individuals you get..."

"It's more an institutional joke than anything, but some think it's true." Ami patted Siobahn on the shoulder, "When did you want to partake of the second lesson?"

"Maybe the day after tomorrow?" Siobahn offered. "I finish in sickbay early but Hailey has bridge duty so if you have the time then that could work? Otherwise when ever suits you best."

"Day after tomorrow sounds good to me." Ami agreed, "It's another tough lesson though..." She grinned maniacally, "Standing."

"So, what I hear you saying is I need to make sure I'm wearing really comfortable shoes," Siobahn replied with a laugh.

"You don't HAVE to, but I'd recommend it"

"Thankfully my boots are well worn in from hours on my feet in sickbay," Siobahn replied easily. "So comfy shoes isn't a problem at all."

"Good." Ami smiled, "i'll see you then."

With a smile and a quick wave, Siobahn turned on her heel, heading out into the corridor.

OFF:
Ensign Siobahn Fallon
Medical Officer
USS Wellington

Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori
Marine
USS Wellington