Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5583506-20190918134951/@comment-24530992-20190922021058

A clenched fist, her fingers curled into a tight ball with thick fabric tape extending from the middle of her forearm to her second knuckles on both hands. A strong right hook collided with a padded helmet, the unfortunate soul who took the blow falling onto a cold concrete floor and remaining motionless.

“Good, Valentina. Seems like the military has been training you at least half-decently, yeah?” A baritone voice quipped, echoing off the stone walls. Accompanying the voice was a large, muscular Redguard decorated in many tribal tattoos. His right arm was entirely robotic, and cybernetic nanowires emerged from the base of his neck and extended along his face and chest. Valentina wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand, flicking it away.

“I guess it has,” the Imperial responded. “Can’t get soft while on shore leave, now. Some poor sod who just got back from leave had his ankles blown off while trying to escape a pirate raid... couldn’t run fast enough.”

The Redguard had a hearty chuckle as he picked the practice bot from the ring floor, grabbing its chin and turning its head. After a few moments of inspection, he set it back down. “Well, I don’t think you’ll be getting soft anytime soon. Seems like you knocked a few wires loose with that last blow, not an easy thing to do with these hunks of metal.”

She laughed, pulling her arms across her chest and stretching her shoulders. “My brother taught me that move while giving me basic self-defense training. Keep your knuckles tight and put your weight into the blow, but make sure to keep your guard up. Isn’t that right, Issei?”

Issei nodded in approval. “Though your form is important too. Your feet can’t be too close or too far apart, otherwise you’ll either put too much weight into it and topple yourself, or put too little and do nothing. You’re doing well, kid. I’m glad that you haven’t gotten your ass handed to you too badly.”

“Of course, old friend. Thanks for letting me visit… it’s been a long time.”

“Any time, Valentina. You watch yourself out there.”

Valentina nodded, grabbing her bag of gear and pushing through a set of large steel doors. It was good to see Issei, one of the few she assisted on Tamriel, who now had his own martial arts company and gym. Though her time on Cyrodiil was limited as she was to return to duty within a week, she wanted to take things slow for a while.

She had a sinking feeling that things weren’t quite aligned within the galaxy, but it wasn’t a new feeling. It was time to wait.