Rooftop Lessons

Fay energetically turned the corner of the sidewalk, hefting Riye's gym bag over one shoulder.  She slowed down, turning a little bit to look behind her and giving Riye a smile.  She was currently in what she would someday know as her gigai, necessary for breakfast, which had been excellent.  A hearty meal to get the energy going for a good day of training.  However, as opposed to usual, she wouldn't be the one training today.

"So... You ready?"  She asked back to Riye, as they came close to the building.  She glanced up uneasily.  "And um... sorry in advance... for how messy the place is."

The building was rather... ramshackle, clearly the cheapest place she could afford.  Litter coated outside staircases went up.  Fay could clear the stairs easy but took her time going up them with Riye till they got to the top floor.  It seemed like a lot of rooms were left vacant, which if the landlord didn't check them occasionally, Fay would have capitalized on.  Coming to her apartment, she pulled her key out.

"I have to go in to get training clothes... umm... I guess... You might as well see it sooner rather then later.."  She winced.  "Promise not to judge?"

"Mhmm." Riye nodded before shaking her head, "You don't need to apologize at all, my room was a mess last night before I rushed to pick everything up so...so we get to see each other's mess, so even!"

Hopefully, that offered Fay some reassurance as they walked. The building looked rather old, though most cheaper places tended to look rather worn, but she wasn't bothered by it; she still held that small smile on her face as they headed up the stairs.

"Hm, it's fine. I promise. No judging!"

Fay nodded. Yes. Be brave. No judging. Riye's room was messy too... It was just... nicer. She smiled, before opening the door. "Okay..." She said and flicked on the light. The dim lighting displayed a rather... small living situation. The first thing to notice was that the floor was barely visible. It seemed like 'hamper' was not in Fay's lexicon as dirty clothes were strewn about the floor, along with a (Thankfully) empty pizza box. Across from the door was a small unmade bed. At the foot of the bed was a shelf with a number of games, DVDs, graphic novels and the occasional figurine kept surprisingly nice compared to the rest of the room. Next to the shelf was a closed closet. Fay at least kept the place where her clean clothes went clean.

To the immediate left was an alcove with a chair, a hot plate and a small desk-table. facing a small flat screen hooked up to a few game systems. There was a door in the wall of the alcove cracked slightly to an alarmingly tiny bathroom. Fay dove over the mess and pushed that door shut quickly however. "Uhh... so... It's not much... but it's cozy... What do you think?"

Riye's smile remained as they stepped inside; her attention turned to Fay as she was asked what she thought of the place, and she gave a little thoughtful noise before she began speaking.

"It seems cozy, like you said. As long as it's able to be lived in, then I think it's a good home." Even if there wasn't much, what mattered is that it was a roof over one's head.

She rubbed one arm, giving an uneasy smile, before leading Riye in. "Um... If I'd had time... I would have cleaned up some.. at least picked up the floor and made my bed.." She sighed and walked over to her bed plopping down. "Uhh, feel free to look around at any of my games or stuff. You let me peruse your nerdy stuff so you are welcome to do the same! I'd like to get training but..." She gave a warm smile and gestured to the TV "You are welcome to play games as you please in the future."

She stood up and went over to her closet. "So, the roof can get warm... I'm going to change into some exercise clothes." She went over to her closet and opened the door, revealing a dark little space. "It was originally where the water heater was supposed to be but apparently they decided the apartment would sell better with a walk in closet and cold water." She said cheerily. "I can change in here if you prefer to have the rest of the apartment to do so?" She said, stepping into the open doorway.

She gave a polite smile, trying to be as good of a hostess as she could be, after Riye was such a lovely one to her.

Riye gave a nod, squatting down next to and looking down at the games Fay owned, "It's fine, no need to worry about cleaning." She smiled, looking up at the other woman, "We can start training whenever. I'm fine whenever you're ready."

When Fay mentioned changing, she gave a nod at her, almost ready to ask if she should wait in her bathroom or outside or something...but apparently she was fine changing in her closet.

"I can wait outside, or in your bathroom if you wanna change in here." Still, she offered those options anyway...

Fay was about to close the closet door when she leaned back out, giving a wry little smile to Riye that communicated more then words could that she was being silly. "I'll be fine." She said, shutting the door. She was actually used to changing in here, rather then bringing clean clothes out and setting them down anywhere in the apartment.

She went about changing in the dark, doing it rather deftly. It was a matter of practice with the occasional quick source of light made to look through things. She soon finished changing and gave a brief knock on the door before exiting the closet. She was in a pair of high top athletic shoes, exercise shorts and a lycra tank top. "So.. Ready to train?"

"'Kay!" Riye replied before Fay shut the door to the closet; she waited patiently while Fay changed, having changed herself back at her own apartment, and was dressed for training whenever Fay was ready to start!

At the knock, she gave a smile as the other woman emerged from the closet, now dressed for the training session herself. "Ready!"

She hoped things would...be alright. She was terrible at fighting, so she was a bit afraid of messing up a lot, but that was what training was for. She told herself that, and tried to reassure herself that early on it'd be alright to make mistakes. Still, it'd be a little embarrassing to do so...

Fay stepped out and gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yeah!" She said with a little fist bump. She stopped at the fridge on the way out the door and grabbed a number of cold bottles of water from inside, carrying them with her out the door. "C'mon!" She said, turning the corner and heading off. "Just shut the door behind you." She remembered to mention at the last moment.

She headed up the flight of stairs to the roof, which had a wooden fence around most of it. She pulled the fence open and stepped inside, waiting for Riye. Inside was a somewhat spacious contained space with a number of practice dummies, along with a small couch under a parasol. "Ta-da... Not bad for a rooftop, yeah?" She was clearly quite proud of the makeshift training ground.

As soon as Fay was ready, Riye went to follow, heading outside and up to the roof with her after closing the door to the apartment shut as asked. She held a smile on her face, and upon reaching their destination her smile brightened.

It was spacious, and Fay had it set up perfect for training, and set up for breaks when necessary. It was like her own little hideaway kind of!

"It's great!" She claimed. "This seems like a perfect spot for training, and when you take breaks there's no worrying about the sun in your eyes!"

Fay smiled and nodded. "Yes! You are perceptive, padawan." She clasped her hands and gave a little bow. "I've been thinking that we should do some tests to see just how combat useful your power is, offensively and defensively. So I want to teach you how to throw a punch and we can see how hard you can hit some of the training dummies. Then I want to see how well your shield holds out... I don't know exactly how we'll test that yet.." She frowned quizzically. She absolutely wasn't about to test the shield's durability at the expense of Riye's safety... Speaking of health and safety.

"Has my padawan has already stretched and warmed up?"

Her power? Her bother both offensively and defensively...

Her shield was good, she knew that; offense though...

Despite her concerns on her lack of skill in that area, Riye put on a determined face and gave Fay a nod. "Mm! I'll do my best!"

At the mention of having stretched, she gave the woman another nod, doing a little stepping jog in place to show it before coming to a stop. "I have! I'm definitely ready!" She answered with a grin.

She stared with a hard determined look at Riye. "G-Good!" She said with a firm, authority-filled voice. She maintained her iron like visage... for fear of immediately cooing and giving Riye a hug for that little jogging motion and how unbelievably cute it was.

"Okay... Hrm... Let's start... easy.." She walked up to Riye and held up her hand, her palm spread wide open. "I want you to punch my hand. Just... however hard or soft you want. Just... Go ahead and throw a punch." she gave an encouraging smile to Riye, prepared for essentially anything.

"U-Um, okay! Um..." Punch her hand...punch her hand...

Pulling her fist back, Riye closed her eyes, and attempted hit the palm of Fay's hand as hard as she could!

"Mmph!"

...

That...hadn't been that good.

Giving a small, sheepish laugh, Riye pulled her hand back and looked down at the ground as she attempted to hide her embarrassment. So...So she wasn't that good offensively...aha...

Fay braced herself, not wanting to underestimate Riye. She might just be able to swing surprisingly OH GOD. She tried to catch Riye as she fell, dropping to her knees, before realizing Riye wasn't going to outright hit the ground. She put her hands out to hold Riye's shoulders, giving them a slight rub. "It's okay... Are you alright?" She frowned, worried about Riye but trying to focus on training.

She helped the silver haired girl to her feet. "Okay.. Maybe this time.. try it with your eyes um... open? Just watch the palm of my hand." She said before stepping back and holding it out. "Um... knuckle on the outside." She wasn't sure if Riye had done that but.... she didn't want her thumb broken.

"R-Right." Riye gave another nod; eyes open. She needed to keep her eyes open, and punch properly!

Taking a breath, she kept her eyes on Fay's palm once again as she silently told herself not to close her eyes. If she closed her eyes, she'd most likely end up missing...

Pulling her fist back, must like the first time, with Fay's advice about her knuckle, before punching forward. She hit the woman's palm, though...

"Mmm...That wasn't a good one...was it?" It hadn't felt that hard anyway. Some force but...no where near enough.

Riye pulled back, focused, eyes on the prize. Fay braced herself, prepared for Riye to really sock her palm. And then...

pap.

She blinked once or twice, looking at the hand. "Um... Y.. Yes..." She said, keeping her face as calm and free of expression as possible. No laughing. No awwws.

"It was good. Maybe another. Maybe a little harder this time." Come on Riye. "Um... Try putting all of your weight into the punch and make sure to follow through. Try to punch PAST my hand.."

"Kay!" A little harder...She'd said that one had been alright, but Riye had her doubts on that...

She readied herself just like she had last time, getting into position to punch again as she pulled her fist back, and then, with another breath, she punched forward again. A little harder! Though...not by much. Still! It'd been...alright, so not that great...

She was flushing from embarrassment at this, her pathetic attempt at offensive moves; she could hardly even manage simple punching! Awahh....

Fay stared at the adorable little fist that collided with her hand. Collided in the same sense that a kitty might collide with a pillow. She pursed her lips, as determined to not smile as Riye had been to throw an accurate punch.

"Er.. No.. You need to... It's.." She kept trying to think of a way to explain it to her. She gave a frustrated little sigh before walking over to Riye. She stood behind her, trying to not... get too close... She reached forward, adjusting Riye's arm and stance to try and position her to punch properly. "Uh.. You just hold your stance like this.." She moved Riye, extending her arm. "And you punch um.. like this.."

"Ah..." Riye watched as Fay came around to correct her stance, blushing slightly as she was put in the correct position. She mentally shook her thoughts, putting her focus on what Fay was showing her. Stand like this, punch like this...

After a moment, she gave a small nod, "O-Okay. I think I got it."

Fay gave Riye a little shoulder rub with one hand. "O-okay then." She moved around in front and put her hand up. "Now... One more time... With everything you've got! No holding back, just like I showed you!" She exclaimed, trying to get Riye psyched up.

"Okay!" Riye gave off a determined aura once more, moving into the position Fay had shown her as she did as she'd been shown. Just one good punch...just one, she just wanted at least to start off with one good one so she wasn't a complete embarrassment!

Thinking that, with a small noise she punched forward, meeting Fay's palm again a bit harder than before, but overall...it was just past the borderline of average.

Fay watched her. Okay. Good form, kept her eyes open. She was swinging and... PAP. She stared at the fist... well... it... was better then before... Yes... Yes it WAS better. She smiled. "Improvement! Rome wasn't built in a day, after all!"

She took a step closer and took Riye's hand, looking it over for bruises or wounds. "Your hand doesn't hurt, does it?" She asked, wanting to make sure training wasn't too tough on the girl. She was doing this to protect her after all.

I-Improvement! Just...Just think that, yes! With more practice, she could at least become decent! It was best not to set the results bar too high anyway...

Riye gave a few quick shakes of her head in response to Fay, "N-No it doesn't hurt, I'm just fine. I can handle this much, definitely!"

To somehow prove her words, she opened and closed the hand she'd been using to punch, showing the other woman that it was perfectly fine as she gave a bright smile.

She twisted her mouth into a little dubious frown before letting go of the hand and crossing her arms. "Well. All right... Maybe... you're just not a puncher...hmm... I have an idea." She said, stepping back. She looked at Riye for a moment before holding her hand up, a little differently angled from before.

"I want you to kick my hand. Let's see if maybe you're better suited for that then punching." Ideally a fighter would be good at both but... She supposed if Riye could at least be good at one OR the other..