Fighting, training, and exercise oh my! (Martial Arts Club group thread)

It was still a new title to Tomomi. Club president of the Martial Arts group... If it was down to him, he wouldn't have taken the position, but, well... Circumstances sucked, and so here he was. Arriving at the Academy campus early, Tomomi had been spending the early hours of the morning preparing the hall the club had been assigned in order to get it ready for todays introductory session to Martial Arts. He had to get used to teaching this stuff, and he'd spent a lot of the prior night planning how to do this session. But putting it into practicality would be the difficult bit for sure.

Wearing his gii with a single brown belt wrapped around his waist, Tomomi stood barefoot on the safety mats that he had laid along the floor. He didn't expect people to come with a gii, so, when preparing the exercises he kept that in mind for todays session. Now he just had to wait for people to walk in, standing there awkwardly and ready to try and greet the people that walked in for the Martial Arts group. Hopefully people still wanted to show up anyways...

It wasn't like Isaac needed a reason to train. He trained all the time just to do it, to hone his skills, or just to keep them sharp. One day, he'd be able to lift the massive sword he carried around. What he did need was sparing partners. It was easy enough to stay in shape on your own - but sharpening your skills required experience that punching bags and wing chun dummies just couldn't account for.

So here he was, early as he was for everything, dressed in Loose training pants and one of his Favorite training tank-tops. His Huge sword was still slung over his shoulers, the leather strap that held it in place clung to his chest desperately against the weight, but it didn't seem to bother him too much.

As Isaac walked down and around into the room they'd been alotted for their club meetings, thumbs tucked into the waist of his pants, he saw a black-haired boy in a loose Gii standing barefoot on the mat. With a nod, the silver-haired boy addressed the other, bearing an upbeat smile befitting such a beautiful morning. "Hey, are you the president of the club...Tomomi, was it?" He grinned "Or should I say Tomomi-Sensei?"

((OOC: Didn't realise when making the thread that the others had spent their morning thread, so, this'll just turn into a social, and the actual thing will be the afternoon slot. So, boom))

At hearing someone walk in and refer to him as club president, Tomomi's initial reaction was to turn around and say "no". That was until he remembered that, a couple of days ago, he was made to be the new club president to avoid the club shutting down. The grinning face of the person that said such was an equally off putting sight - or rather, the lack of any other faces was. Instinctively, Tomomi waved a hand at the incoming person with a smile in greeting.

Then the gears started turning in his mind.

Tomomi went to say something, turned, looked at the clock, and then facepalmed with enough force that it led to an audible slap. "Bum..." The boy muttered beneath his breath and behind his hand. "Ah, yeah, um... I'm uh... Tomomi... Although I am definitely um, far from a sensei... And uh... I'm sorry... Bum... I got the times mixed up..."

Rubbing at the back of his neck, Tomomi shook his head. "I'm so sorry you got here early. It was supposed to originally be at this time, but, well... Looks like staff changed the time so that students didn't miss any lectures they might have had... Haha... Hahahaha..." A pained groan escaped the boys lips, before he shook his head. "But yeah um... Sorry. I guess I'm not much of a club president so, um, woops! If you um, want to come back at like, um, about 3PM, we should be good to go then! Um, so so sorry! Yikes... Frank would have been much better at this... Rest in piece Frank..."

At this, Tomomi fell silent.

Isaac's smile fell only a little bit as the Club Leader relayed the information. At least he knew about it. Isaac had completely missed that memo. A hand came up to the silver-haired boys forehead as well. Hand over one eye, he smiled ruefully "That's right. There was a really important Cadet Lecture this morning. I completely spaced it, since I'm not allowed to go to those yet." Putting his hands on his hips, the boy shrugged, "That's all good though. With nobody else here, I get to talk to the club prez one on one! Not a bad deal, as I see it." The grin was back, wider this time. Isaac unstrapped his sword, catching the handle before it hit the tiled floor, and leaned it against the wall nearest him. Despite the size of the weapon, Isaac didn't seem to have much trouble with the weapon.

"So how about it?" Isaac asked, kicking off his sandals and stepping barefoot onto the mat with Tomomi. "I'd be a shame to let this setup go to waste. The club might not be meeting, but it only takes two to spar." did this club have sparing gear? It wasn't super cheap, but the probably had atleast a couple sets...right?

Tomomi was caught off guard by multiple things that just happened. So, this person was a cadet in training? That was a big deal, right? Since they were essentially celebrities. Although Tomomi really had no idea about the Cadet Lecture, so it going on explained the need for a schedule change. Then the sudden optimism was equally off putting. Was this person like, Government sponsored positivity or something similar to that?

Then, before Tomomi could talk about anything, the boy left a big old sword against the wall, removed his sandals, and challenged Tomomi to a spar. A brief pause with an "uh" escaping from his lips was all the sign given that Tomomi was processing what was going on, before he shook his head. "Um, t-that's fine, but, uh, a bit before that, um... Well, besides the fact I don't actually know your name, I'll also need to know what martial art form you would like to spar in, and even beyond that, we'll need to do some warm up exercises and stretches before hand to avoid injury! So, um, yeah, uh, please introduce yourself first, then say what you want to do, and I'll run us through a warm up first, then we can um, you know, get into it! Or, um, whatever the term is?"

Isaac gave the other boy a repentant smile as he scratched the back of his neck. Right. Jumping in too fast again. Let's take a minute and do this right, eh? "Right. Sorry, my bad. I'm Isaac. Isaac Fairweather." He offered his hand to the other for a firm handshake. "I practice Jeet Kune do, primarily, though I know a bit of Tae kwon do and some Kung-fu." He replied, stepping back and dropping into a squat with one leg bent beneath him and one leg stretched to one side, then shifted over to the other, hands on his knees. Popping back up to a standing position and rolling his shoulders, he covered one closed fist with the opposite hand in salute to Tomomi and bowed his head. "I apologize for my brash entrance. It's been too long since I trained in an organized environment, I got ahead of myself. Which disciplines do you use?" When his head came back up, and he dropped his hands, he was smiling again.

"Oh! Um, no problem at all! I'm just, uh, kind of new to this is all..." The boy explained, rubbing at the back of his head awkwardly, before accepting Isaac's handshake with a gentle grip, stepping back as the other began to give some stretches, likely due to Tomomi's mention.

"Well, um, welcome regardless Isaac. Um... Well, I know a bit of a few things, enough to teach anyways... But, in regards to what I personally prefer? Um... Judo, Tae Kwon Do, and Jujitsu are probably my personal best... Things that aren't too reliant on strength like Karate or Boxing... So, um, anyways... I know you think that's enough, but, um, before stretches, we need to warm the body up... So!"

With a sudden burst of energy, Tomomi hopped up once. "If you're certain about doing this, prove it! Let's run laps, um, around the mat! That way we have our blood, um, well, you know, flowing! And then we'll do ten sit ups, and ten press ups, followed by jumping jacks, and THEN we will... Oh, uh, you know... Stretches." As he realised how excited he'd gotten, the boy grew sheepish, waiting for any sign that Isaac would follow instructions before setting off to the side of the mat, where red mats were laid out in a rectangle touching the blue matted interior, Tomomi running along the red at a steady pace.

Little did this guy know, Isaac had already run a lap around the school before he came in today. But that was fine! Who needed an excuse to limber up? Isaac was starting to get even more pumped for this club, even though this wasn't even an official meeting. Judo? Jujitsu? He'd be able to learn so many new forms and styles here. Maybe even teach a little JKD along the way. Awesome!

When Tomomi jumped up and got excited, Isaac followed his lead. "Yeah! That's the spirit!" he chimed with a little hop of his own, running at an even pace along side Tomomi. " So...Jujitsu...is there a dojo...you train at...around here?" he asked between even breaths. "Or are you...self taught?"

Truly, enthusiasm was contagious. Not to mention, well, exercise in general caused enthusiasm, with endorphins or however the science worked. Tomomi wasn't a scientist, so any fact checking was not to be taken for this internal thought process of a paragraph. Regardless, he did the few laps with Isaac, nodding in response to Isaac's questions while not responding verbally, before, with a brief pause, pointing to the center of the mats, then moving to take up a position in the center while gesturing for Isaac to follow with a wave and smile.

"Yeah, there's a dojo! It's over in Little Tokyo, and probably one of the largest in the world! If nothing else, the largest in Endymion, and definitely larger than the ones I saw back in, well, uh, Japan. Or at least the part of Japan I was from. So, um, yeah. It's called the um... What was it... Ori-Shiki Dojo, that was it! I've been going there for a few years, and have a basic membership, so, um, that's where I learned what I learn. I recommend it! I'm just doing this club because, well, as the club founder said, um, it was something along the lines of... 'Not everyone will go out of their way to look at a dojo, so show them at a place they know!'... Or uh, you know, I think it was something like that..."

With a rather exaggerated shrug, the boy dropped suddenly to all fours, before starting to do push ups. "Well, come on! Um, let's you know, do this thing! 10 push ups!"

Isaac listened with a grin. So he was Japanese. That made sense. And there was a Dojo. He'd have to make a point to drop by some time. For now, he dedicated himself to the stretches and exercises his president directed to him, falling into lone with an easy expression. This is how training worked afterall. If there was more than one person involved, one person always led. It was more efficient that way.

When their exercises and stretches were finished, Isaac stood, shook out his hands and bounced on his heels a few times to shake out his knees. "So, are we using pads or are we going full-contact? I'm fine either way. I won't hit you too hard, I promise." he joked with a laugh and an enthusiastic smile.

As the duo finished their set of exercises Tomomi sighed, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, rolling his shoulders as Isaac asked his question. At this, Tomomi shook his head. "Sorry, we don't actually have any padding stuff... Um, I'm pretty sure that stuff wasn't, well, in our budget? In fact, I don't actually know what is in our budget... Or what our budget is... I should probably ask that..."

Shaking his head, Tomomi adjusted his position, sweeping his right foot lightly over the mat to become shoulders width side ways, leaving his left leg roughly a shoulder width in front of him. His chest twisted ever so slightly to face with his left leg, and arms in front of him with the palms open in a slight curl. "How about these for some sparring rules, um, if they're okay with you... So, um, full contact, with no ground work and only standing techniques... Also we make sure that if at any point either of us is in pain, we cease... Oh, and, uh, use whatever martial art is comfortable with you, so long as it's a non-weapon based one, since, well... The kendo stuff is currently locked up... Wasn't part of my original plan for the lesson today and all that..."

"So, um, that sound good? And if so, ready?"

Isaac nodded, switching up his stance so that his feet were closer together and his right arm was leading. If any martial arts were on the table, then he'd go with his implement of choice. "Sounds good to me. Bring it on, Pres." he chided lightly, with a smile.

Tomomi couldn't help but tilt his head at the nickname "pres", not quite understanding it, before shrugging and deciding to think about it after the spar. First, he looked over Isaac's stance. Close together... If Tomomi had to guess, he was planning on doing quick strikes, leading with the right arm but using perhaps the left for a stronger strike after a right feint? To Tomomi, this meant that his first goal would be to grab Isaac's right arm with his left. The boy was certain that at this, the fight would be over. But how...

Sliding forward, feet barely leaving the floor, Tomomi moved in towards Isaac, aiming his right hand for Isaac's left while keeping his left arm back, palm open, feet keeping at the exact same distance and planted firmly, weight balanced neither on toes nor heel.

Isaac sprang forward in a series of quick hops, stance very similar to that of a Fencer, actually, and met Tomomi head-on. His stance was well-balanced as well as he allowed Tomomi to capture his left hand at the wrist. The strike, however, came in the form of a series of quick jabs from the closer right hand, the first couple intended to break Tomomi's guard, and followed with a couple other quick strikes.

Whether or not the successive strikes found their marks, Isaac would follow by wresting his way out of Tomomi's grip on his left hand using a twisting knife-hand break and close his fist for soft cross-punch to Tomomi's side.

He'd continue fighting in much the same way, keeping close, moving quickly and doing whatever he could to intercept Tomomi's attacks with quick repostes of his own. He wasn't really trying to best Tomomi, so much as he was trying to...communicate with him. After all, warriors communicate best with their fists.

As their sparring continued, Tomomi allowed a few of those strikes to purposefully land due to knowing the difference in speed between himself and Isaac, Isaac being the faster of the two. Rather than counter, Tomomi tried to continue his guard and focusing most of his attention on his grip on Isaacs wrist, trying his best to hold on, before eventually relenting and releasing his grip in order to properly block the incoming punch to the side. At this attack, Tomomi used both of his hands to catch the strike. If the catch didn't work, Tomomi would simply jump back, declaring that he had forfeited.

If it connected however, the boy would latch onto that connection with all his might, dropping suddenly onto his back while raising his right foot to Isaac's chest, just below the ribs. There, Tomomi used the strength in his leg to push Isaac above and over him in a sacrifice throwing technique, releasing his arm and hoping that Isaac knew how to break fall.