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 Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:25 pm
"Pah row," Eunmi said, nodding her head for Henrietta to shift back to a ready stance. In this stance, Henrietta was allowed to place her hands at her hips rather than her front - in fact, she should. Eunmi turned to the side and walked around the girl.
"Your stance needs work. You have to learn to shift back into the proper L stance between kicks. As for the kicks..."
The korean tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips.
"You lack flexibility, and so the kicks don't hit high. You also don't have much control, so they aren't strong," Eunmi frowned. "But improving your muscle memory, balance and flexibility will change that. Therefore...
"As a beginner, you are not bad," Eunmi said, having completed a full circle around Henrietta. She stared directly at her for a moment and then said, "Sit ups, twenty five. Now."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:30 pm
Sit ups? She remembered them from gym class. She had to do them now? Henrietta hesitated a moment as she asked herself this. However, the fear of Eunmi shouting in her face some more outweighed any more hesitation she might have had. That said, Henrietta, legs sore from kicking so much, lowered herself down. Once in a proper sit up position, she'd go for it.
Up went her upper body. Her feet followed. She, as one might be able to observe, had no skill in keeping her feet down while she tried to pull herself up.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:46 pm
A nice Eunmi would have helped Henrietta complete her sit-ups properly, but instructor-Eunmi was not as kind. She stood, again just observing, and when Henrietta completed her twenty-five sit ups, Eunmi would nod for her to stand.
"When you complete any task that requires you to fix your uniform, you turn 180 degrees," Eunmi said. "This is the only exception to showing your back to your instructor. It is rude to adjust your belt or do bak while facing me."
Eunmi explained this and then ran her fingers through her bangs to brush them out of her face. She sounded calm, but her tone was still strict.
"Say Jak," she said, stepping back into the L stance, now next to Henrietta.
"The next kick is the side turning kick," Eunmi replied. "Here, you lift the back leg while pivoting the front. You aim as high as you can, do not bend the knee."
Eunmi performed the kick, raising her leg slow enough for Henrietta to see and turning and her front foot facing about 45 degrees from where it had been straight out. Her leg extended, long, straight and high - higher than one would expect it to. Her foot was straight, the toes not peeled back like in the snap kick. She had her arms pulled towards her, elbows guarding her ribs, fists raised to about the chin level. She dropped the kick and returned to the L stance.
"You must keep your hands up, or else you'll develop a bad habit," Eunmi explained, but Henrietta would find it would be harder to do once Eunmi started counting again. It was instinct to throw your hands out to keep balance.
"Alright? Got it...? Hana!" She would start counting again, and thus this was how it went. A set of side turning kicks, then push ups. After that, Eunmi would explain the regular turning kick, which was the same but you start from the lead leg (the front leg) rather than turning to use the back. Then another set of sit ups. After that? The front rising kick, where you kick up the back leg straight up, no knee bending involved, toes peeled back to kick with the bottom of the foot. Then, another set of push ups.
Each time, Eunmi performed the kicks slowly and expertly for Henrietta to see, but of course at a height that Henrietta was likely unable to reach, and not just because of her size.
Henrietta might be exhausted, but she was lucky Eunmi didn't do a torture lesson. Those suck.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:57 pm
Henrietta was unable to do even one push up. She complained about how it hurt too much and it was too hard to lift herself and she was too heavy. Likely, she'd be scolded for it.
Try and easier one. We shall dub these, girly push ups. (google it). Which she also failed at.
The end result was that Henrietta would do her push ups in an up dog yoga stance. Which still hurt, but at least she could somewhat do those.
As for the rest of the kicks and the sit ups, she got the idea of it, but she had loads of practice ahead of her before she could effectively use anything in combat.
So, at the end of it, she finished the last set of push ups and collapsed. She savored for few moments, the one or two seconds before Eunmi would shout for her to get up. The dirt and grass in her face, the sweat on her forehead cool in the air as the sun began to set in the distance. Or had it already set? No, it was definitely night, or just about night.
It had become really late, huh? Between training Dali and being trained herself, three or four hours had passed.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:07 pm
A set of ten kicks each side for four different types of kicks usually took about 15-20 minutes tops in Eunmi's Taekwon-do club. Somehow, Henrietta managed to make it a lot longer than that. Eunmi wasn't sure how long it had been. But when Henrietta finished, Eunmi sat down, cross legged, in front of her.
"Shee yoe," Eunmi said, which meant 'rest', but Eunmi didn't explain this, instead just nodding her head for Henrietta to mimic her.
"Normally, I would have you go over the other stance necessary to do forward punches and blocks, but..." Eunmi smiled weakly. "I think you're already going to be sore over this with your legs.
"It would be better to wait, I think," Eunmi replied. Usually a class went as follows: Warm up, foot techniques, hand techniques, patterns, and then a session of self defense.
In Henrietta's case? Eunmi figured it would be better to forego the pattern exercises and bring a focus to sparring by combining the self defense lessons in them. But for now, Eunmi decided it was enough. Henrietta wouldn't last much longer. For the korean girl, there was a sort of reason to why she had pushed for everything so quickly - if Henrietta could not endure a stressful lesson, then she would give up. If she gave up the taekwon-do lesson, then surely she would give up trying to keep fighting.
In short, Eunmi wanted to push Henrietta to make sure the shorter girl knew what she was getting herself into.
"I ignored your complaints, but for this lesson only," Eunmi said, her tone a little softer now. "It will only get harder from here. Are you sure you want to do this?"
That was only half true. Once your body was adjusted to the constant strain, learning new techniques got easier. But for the first few weeks or classes, yes, it would hurt more and more.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:22 pm
Sitting up was horrible. You see, sit ups and push ups strained the stomach and the arms, because of where they were building.(the chest too, actually). The kicks strained her legs. All in all, Henrietta ached all over.
So, she sat up painfully and looked over at Eunmi. She'd whined about the push ups, and she hated the ache of it, but all in all she wasn't going to give up. So when the conversation seemed to get deep there was a sort of quiet determination from Henrietta.
She straightened her back and looked up at Eunmi, barely avoiding meeting her eyes(staring at her forehead). "I have to."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:43 pm
"Courtesy. Integrity. Perseverance. Self-Control. Indomitable Spirit."
Eunmi stared directly at Henrietta with a gaze that looked like it could not be wavered.
"These are the five tenants of Taekwondo," Eunmi explained. The teenager had spent a large portion of her life dedicated to taekwondo and therefore these things were extremely important to her. For Eunmi, however, her life had shifted away from these things.
She had lost her self control. For that, she didn't feel she was adequate to continue her taekwondo club. Her decisions in her last year of high school, her indulgences in the fashionista lifestyle - it created a downward spiral in her way of life. From that, she had failed in almost all five areas.
Sam had been right - they could have fought the schools decisions to force her to qive up the club. In fact, had Eunmi been adamant enough, she could have probably tried to retake her final exams.
In truth, Eunmi was very depressed her last semester of High School. She had applied for the Castelia Institute of Art - they had taken one look at her transcripts and dismissed her. She never even got a portfolio review, and never felt confident enough to ask her art teacher for a recommendation.
It was only after breaking up with Sam and taking initiative to leave Nuvema that she had found some of her starlight again.
But Eunmi was a great liar.
"Taekwondo can be broken into three words. Do - the art or way. Tae - to strike or break with the foot. Kwon - to strike or break with the hand.
"It is an art that incorporates the full body but utilizes no weaponry," Eunmi explained. "This is not Kendo."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:51 pm
Henrietta nodded her head at Eunmi's words. "I understand," she said. Even so, even if it was a long road of hellish training on the poor, fragile looking girl, she had to keep going. Still, there was one depressing part to all of this that couldn't be overlooked. Henrietta realized this when she'd bowed her head in the nod.
Grasping the front of her shirt, she tugged to see it better as she looked down. Then, she said, "grass stains."
Dammit.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:54 pm
Eunmi couldn't help but laugh. She stifled it, but she still broke her straight face. She pushed off the ground, lifting a knee and pushed off the ground to stand.
"Next time, I suppose a proper training facility would be better," Eunmi said, extending her hand.
"And I can get the stains out," Eunmi chuckled. "I can't do anything for your stockings from earlier though.
"Leggings I can fix, but stockings you might as well just replace," the teenager laughed.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:58 pm
Henrietta nodded. She lightly brushed her cheek to get the mud odd that'd been there from her push ups and also laying in the grass between Eunmi shouting at her to stand.
Henrietta would then take the hand to be pulled up, assuming that's what it was extended for. Once on her feet, Henrietta would then brush off her clothing. Stop, remember what Eunmi had said and turn in order to do it respectfully.
"Was this right?" she asked herself as she stood in a sideways stance. She couldn't remember.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:05 pm
"Yes," Eunmi nodded, but then let out a small chuckle. "But we're not doing a lesson anymore, so you don't have to follow any of the rules
"I can't say I have a dojang for you to be in," Eunmi said, raising her arms and looking around at the trees around them.
"But if we were in one, then those sort of things would need to be enforced," Eunmi said. She turned and picked up her bag.
"...I am probably not the best instructor," Eunmi said. "But I tried very hard."
((I wonder who Eunmi's instructor was. Hmm...))
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:11 pm
"Hum, that means," Henrietta began as she turned to get her bag. "I can turn my back on you," she teased. Henrietta wasn't one to tease, mind you, but she needed a distraction from the horrible pain that was her entire body. Besides that, she'd, despite the intimidating of Eunmi's shouting, grown more comfortable. Enough to joke, something she couldn't recall doing. Ever.
So, she'd pick up her bag and sling it over her shoulder, realizing that it felt heavier for some reason. Or were her arms really that tired?
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:14 pm
"Don't strain yourself," Eunmi said, more observant than she appeared as she snatched Henrietta's bag before she could sling it over a shoulder. The teenager grinned, gently bumping into Henrietta playfully, careful not to actually knock her over.
"You'd leave me?" Eunmi asked, mockingly. She was grinning, and obviously teasing back. "Don't you like me?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:17 pm
Henrietta was surprised when her bag was quickly taken away. She looked over at Eunmi. "N-no, I meant I can turn around on you, b-because you said that was disrespectful, b-but I don't have to follow the rules," Henrietta said. Explaining the joke seemed weird, but she didn't want Eunmi to get the wrong idea.
So, she said, "I-i would never leave you," she blushed, "b-because we're friends." Her eyes diverted off to some distant place, the trees, tilt her head, the stars, just visible on the edge of her vision from this position.
"O-of course I like you."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:24 pm
Eunmi nodded, thinking it was funny but cute that Henrietta had to explain her joke. Of course Eunmi got it, but it wasn't that good a joke to begin with - Eunmi just played off it.
"I was just teasing you," Eunmi replied. "Though I'm not sure you'd tell me if you didn't like me.
"Even people that aren't shy have a hard time saying something like that," Eunmi said, also looking up. "It's nice to have company, though.
"Getting to Castelia by myself... Heh, I know I can probably make it on my own, but it's nice to have people to share experiences with."
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