The importance of preparation

It wasn’t that she was afraid of the dummies so to speak. It was the threshold that she had been standing at, looking through an open door of opportunity that she had never considered stepping through before … or at least, not until now. Everything up until now had always been talk, but as they grew closer and closer to execution, it was hard for her not to balk a little. But rather than try to explain her feelings at the moment, she offered her father a light grin in acknowledgment of his reassurance that the dummies were harmless. While she suddenly felt unprepared, she quickly recognized that she would likely never be prepared. But the only possible way to progress was forward.

Her conclusion that the preemptively marked locations on the dummies were points of vulnerability was correct. Of course, through context and logic, there wasn’t much surprise there. Though the lesson as to why these locations were considered weaknesses was interesting. All of which made clear and concise sense to her, just topics she had never previously given much thought to. Talyssa watched as her father moved around the training dummies until he came to a stance at the head of one- indicating towards its eyes. Of course, her mind immediately went to what damaging someone’s eyes could possibly mean. Did she have it in her to blind someone? The idea of the act alone was so unforgiving. Though, if it were her life or someone’s eyes … she would have to.

Vitals were easy- something that she wasn’t completely unfamiliar with. While she wasn’t an apt huntress by nature. If left to her own devices, she could care for herself, and could certainly help support others. When her father said it was the most obvious, she had to agree. Though again, the discussion of theory was all fine and dandy- it was something that she enjoyed and was always invested in. However, the follow-through- the practical application, was something else entirely. When her father’s attention lowered to the dummy's legs, as did her’s. When he explained that it had potential to be a difficult maneuver, but could also be an effective measure at buying her space- the girl couldn’t help but perk up a bit. It still sounded harsh in practice, but didn’t seem to have the severity that she felt some of the other targets had. When he pointed out that it was most easily practiced by an individual who had a more agile body type- specifically someone like her. She was immediately flooded with recognition and a flicker of confidence in the subject. Taly was a lot of things, and fairly quick on her paws happened to be one of them- or so she believed.

The last potential target was given with an anecdote- and an amusing one at that. She had only met her maternal grandfather a couple of times in her lifetime. The brute was massive, imposing, and seemed fairly stoic. So it was very difficult for her to imagine the encounter that was described to her. Though, paired with the brazen grin from her father as the story was delivered- she couldn’t help the quiet chuckle that escaped her lips. Talyssa lightly capped the end of her muzzle with the back of her paw, pale gaze twinkling with hilarity.

As the Aegis finished his tour around their practice targets, he prompted her with another question. How could some of these techniques be implemented? Another critical thinking question- that shouldn’t be too difficult. After a few moments of hesitance, Talyssa finished closing in the distance between her and the largest dummy. She looked it over, before settling on the indicated spot over its eyes. Toe to toe with it, it stood a good bit taller than herself. But this was self-defense. That would imply it was doing the attacking of her. “If it tried to grab me … almost anywhere really but my back, that would bring its face within my reach. I could get its eyes then? Right?” She asked, with a clear tone of question in her voice- looking back to him for direction. Again, theorizing what could happen was the easy part. Could she physically do it was something entirely different. But then another thought came to mind. “Or if someone was trying to force me to the ground, would that be a good time to go for a joint in their leg? I mean, obviously, the ground is not where I want to be. But maybe if I could at least set them off balance …” Lys trailed off as she looked back at the training dummies standing before her. In the end, she supposed it would just depend on how she was being wrestled to the ground …

"Talyssa Carpathius"