Yotsu Kitiara vs Bookie

Yotsu Kitiara
The bushi took a deep breath as she walked into the large courtyard, feeling the soft wind on her face carrying the scent of cherry blossom from the large tree on the northeast corner of the open space. Slowly, she took off her kimono, exposing a bandaged chest, as her gaze went over the place, a large interior courtyard surrounded by a slightly elevated, waist high, stone pathway that surrounded the main square of raw earth and grass upon which the fight would happen. Looking high, she could almost be fooled she was really looking at a blue sky with slow clouds drifting through it and some light wind brushing on her face if it was not for the slight taste of cooling fluid in said air or the slightly wrong shadows cast by the hidden lighting system or the faint dead pixel right above her. They were inside a very well-made reproduction of what had once been the inner courtyard of a martial art school, but a reproduction nonetheless, with the Weaver's threads surrounding her, tying the world between its jaws and squeezing ever tighter. Using some long tissue wraps, she tightened the loose fabric of her pants around her lower legs, wrapping them tight. Her talents had always been to the blade and bow, but she had had some training with the elders of the Dragon clan. Many a days and night under the harsh gaze of venerable sensei who punished any deviation from the path with harsh lashes from a bamboo stick, until she knew the path so well, she could do the motion in her sleep. Only for the same masters to punish her just as hard for following the standard moves. Learn the way, then forget the way and find your own. Now ready, she stepped onto the artificial grass, giving a respectful bow to her opponent. "Thank you for allowing me to train with you." And with the words said, she dropped into a low stance, body tense and center of gravity low, hands coming up in an aggressive guard, right hand forward, elbow bent at something of a 45 degrees angle while the left hand is a bit more pulled back, fingers in the typical curled form of her style, Black Tiger Fist. She was going on that this was a friendly fight, so she kept the real claws sheathed for now.

Bookie
When offered a bow the drunkard held a hand over his mouth as if to mask a laugh that made no noise but the gesture was obvious with the feigned heaving of his chest. It had been some time since Bookie had the chance to fight someone so formal so he was certainly going to gain some sense of satisfaction from this bout even if it was not meant to be to the death. He didn't often take proper stance, but he decided he'd play along for now. Seeing as she wished to use some form mimicking fist he'd do the same, and draw his left leg to cross over his right slightly while allowing that foot to fall back so he could balance on the ball of his toes with that particular limb.. His arms drew in close to his chest briefly, only to be outstretched in her direction. The left with the palm facing the ground but angled up toward her whilst the right remained in close to the chest with the hand taking on the characteristics of a snake in it's motions.Given his drunken nature however, the boxer would wobble back and forth in his stance yet remain upon his feet decently enough to give the impression that he was capable of not immediately being taken out of the fight. However, he gave no pause. Once his stance was maintained Bookie dropped low and launched himself into a short sprint to close the distance for a strike.. Trying to come in under those sheathed claws just to ram his palm up against the underside of her chin. This was accomplished with surprising speed for a drunk, and even if she managed to dodge Yotsu would still feel the wind whip past her face from the force of the blow. This maneuver required him to plant his feet however, giving her an opening there if she so chose to take it.

Yotsu Kitiara
Snake then. Well, not as good as the nagas and she didn't have a dozen red-dots dancing over her chest, so he probably wasn't one. Unless he had poisoned the drinks earlier. Anyways, seems he was going for a more unstable stance to start on. She was just planning on shuffling forward when he suddenly moved on her. The man certainly had speed, but when nearly all your opponents were either blessed by the emerald mother or cursed by the yoma kings, being speedy took on another signification altogether. The fluid motion of the snake he had given at first completely disintegrated in his sprint, showing off something much less dexterous and precise in favor of something that looked much more southern in inspiration. North vs South then, the eternal debate of punches and kicks. Another style like crane or mantis might have gone for the dodge, but tiger was an external style and quite aggressive. As he advanced, so did she, feet advancing to her right to take her out of the center line of his attack while her right hand came in for the aggressive parry. Describing a sweeping motion, it went down, circling in a clockwise manner before coming back up and down again to pounce on his left arm, claw like fingers coming down on his wrist to push his arm down and away to her left, trying to snatch onto it and hold a grapple while her right hand punched right at his exposed left side, aiming for a knuckle fist rib shot to shake him. She felt the wind brushing against her left side as his strike went aside, well clearly she didn't need to hold back like she would against a regular human with him.

Bookie
The moment Yotsu grabbed his arm he simply offered a smirk in response and in allowing her to tug him about just to open him up he'd use that momentum to cartwheel himself over whilst using his left hand to in turn grab the arm holding him just to twist it as he rolled over to move out of the way of her blow with unexpected grace. She may have though that he lacked precision but what he didn't lack was a breadth of attack methods that countered his various issues with precision. Though once his feet hit the ground they were back to back only briefly before he began to stumble forward in an attempt to pull her off of her stance as if they were dancing yet this was undoubtedly an attempt at trying to open her up. She would find however that the hand holding onto her arm had postured it's fingers into an eagle claw formation which showed that he wasn't exactly sticking to anything directly north or south. He was semi=adequately mixing various bits in with his drunken boxing which was certainly still in play. If he managed to pull her off of her balance with this awkward move he'd bound into the air so that he could rotate backwards just to slam his left knee into the shoulder blade of the arm he was still holding.. Given his flexibility such strikes were a common thing for him even if it looked strange though if he didn't succeed he'd shoot for using a quick kick to the back of her legs to try and destabilize her further. As it seemed, grappling wasn't exactly the best option because being close made the drunkard much more dangerous.

Yotsu Kitiara
Not sticking to North or South? No, more like he lacked the skill to master a style and bounced between masters. His bobbing and stumbling might be good to fool the untrained or the inattentive, but tigers had hunted monkeys into their trees since times immemorial and it was time to remember them why they were the kings and queens and they the jesters. The cartwheel was met as it is, though she could certainly have gone for the drag and slam and send him crashing back on the ground. Holding on to her though was certainly a bad idea, a very bad idea against a tiger practitioner, no matter what he liked to think. Spinning to still be facing him as he landed, her low stance had left her quite stable on the ground, but it was time he learn it wasn't just for that tiger fighter used it. It almost made for some quite powerful aerial kicks. As he shuffled toward her, she pulled with her left arm, dragging him in before jumping up, her whole body uncoiling like the pouncing tiger as she rotated in the air to kick his head with her right foot, sending it to strike the back of his head as he was planning his attack still with the whole momentum and weight of her body behind her, twisting his left arm she still held on to at the same time. The kick to her legs would meet nothing but empty air as she was fully airborne for that move, right hand coming down to grab on his left, supporting herself on him as she struck with her foot. He would find that she was just as quick as him, Kami taught gifts and natural animalistic graces combining into a deadly pace.

Bookie
He'd allow the strike to connect though she'd find kicking him was not exactly a pleasant experience.. Like bringing her leg down upon a rod of iron and nearly enough to cause her kick to nearly bend her own knee out backwards. Though Bookie wouldn't simply tank the blow, It'd force him to the ground and seeing as Yotsu had decided to remain in the hold he was left only to stop himself from impacting too harshly by slapping his right palm to the ground just so that he could try to absorb some of the momentum and use it to whip his lower body around in an attempt to force himself upward into a heel kick with his right foot aimed at her jaw as she descended from her kick. The entire motion would be undertaken with a sickening crunch as Bookie had to twist his left arm out of it's shoulder socket just to achieve the blow. Even if the kick failed he was using that maneuver in an attempt to get his legs around her as if he were going to try to put her in a sleeper hold with his legs... Odd, but not entirely ineffective as at the very least it would leave him hanging from the woman in a silly way and while that might open him up to more attacks he was clearly having a blast as the smile hadn't left his face yet. Was he even being serious? It was hard to tell, especially with the fact that he was willing to inflict damage upon himself just to get the job done.

Yotsu Kitiara
She had punched armored dragons before, his toughness was just par for the course. He seemed to underestimate the toughness of a Khan. The kick had brought her fully down with him after all and so as she landed, her right foot was still against the back of his head and she would use his own left arm to reception the weight of the fall, left foot slightly lower on his back and pushing between his shoulder blades. She was nearly flat on the floor and if they had been up, he would have been considered at her feet, now this was just her being on top of him. So, really, if he was going for a heel kick to her jaw, she was pretty bemused as to how he was figuring this would work. Never mind that though, she had to focus on the fight. She wasn't even looking at his face, his expression hidden under her right leg to her, and concentrated on his heel kick. Her right foot took hold on the back of his head, putting pressure and keeping him down there, threatening to send his face burying into the ground if he let go with his right hand. Her left foot kicked, aiming to smash against the back of his knee with her shin to break the power of his blow, redirecting it away from her jaw and inflicting quite the damage on the vulnerable joint in the same motion. Had this been a more serious fight, she's have used that opportunity with his arm to completely shatter his shoulder, arching his limb backward over his back until nerves and muscles were torn, but she wasn't that serious yet.

Bookie
Once they finally both landed, he'd lift his right hand to tap her leg three times in concession. While he was enjoying the fight it would have to become much more serious for this point forward and that was not their agreed upon arrangement. He didn't mind taking the loss for the sake of showing some humility, Yotsu had him this time at least. Bookie had only just returned within the past week and wasn't exactly up to form with one on ones. This was clear in the way that he was too scattered, which she definitely picked up on. It wasn't a lack of skill but he wasn't focusing on just her and that was certainly a downfall for him. He'd have long since released any sort of purchase gained upon her with his attempt at holding just so that he could lay back on the ground to relax for a moment. After all the tap was a universal signal for concession and considering the fact that he couldn't talk it was the best he could offer.

Yotsu Kitiara
The moment she felt the tap, she released her grip on him too, shifting her weight away from him, limbs leaving his head and back while her hands let go. She quickly rolled off to the side, springing back into a proper low stance as she rose from the roll before dropping it and looking down at him, making sure he wasn't too wounded. She had heard the shoulder crack from before, but with him not tapping out right then, she had assumed it had just been some wooden stick that had found its way under them or something else entirely. She would ask if he was alright, but by her upbringing, such a question would have been an insult, as if she was bragging about her skill. So, the most etiquette allowed her was to give a nod and a light bow. "I thank you for this spar. You have challenged all my talents. May I ask for a rest, so I can recuperate." Humility in victory, it was a key of the way of Do. That and that was the only polite way she knew of saying time out, you look a bit hurt.

Bookie
Oddly Bookie didn't even appear to be winded, a little scuffed up and he had certainly lost his glasses which were laying on the ground somewhere behind him but he offered a smile before pressing the palm of his left hand into the ground before suddenly winding his body around in a one armed coffee grind maneuver which caused another loud pop to resound from his shoulder as he forced it back into place before taking position on his knees whilst facing her. There was the grimace of a slight wince from doing such a thing to himself which made it clear he could indeed feel the pain even if he appeared drunk though his right hand would take up the gourd hanging at his hip to remove the cap so that Bookie could pour a healthy portion of the wine into his waiting mouth.. Head tilted back, to greedily gulp away.

Yotsu Kitiara
She arched an eyebrow and tilted her head a bit, a singularly feline quick of curiosity at his action. Well, the popping back wasn't that odd, not when you were constantly surrounded by shen for who being shot and stab was just the daily routine. To go straight for the drink though, that was surprising. She'd take that as something of a nod or at least agreement. Giving another respectful bow, she pulled back. "I thank you for your time." And back to her clothes she went, dressing back up in the traditional clothes of the bushi warrior, sliding her daisho back in place.

Bookie
Once Yotsu decided to depart from him, without moving his left arm very much the boxer wiggled up onto his feet without interrupting the flow from that gourd of wine that appeared to be never ending. Eventually however he would take a moment to cork it up and tie it back to his hip before bounding out of the arena so that it would be cleared for other fighters.