Good start. The most important thing is you want to make sure you're not tucking your thumb into your palm because you're just as likely to break it as you are to make contact with your target. Keep it on the outside right along your index finger. When you're striking, you want to drive most of your force into the two bigger knuckles on your hand. Make sense?
Right, like that. Remember the placement of your feet, too. You're gonna wanna pivot your entire body from the side to the front to follow through with the punch. And keep your elbow up close to your body before extending. Never let that drop.
[ they take a few steps back, adjusting their stance before demonstrating with a swift, fast punch to the air. ]
It's all power-driven. [ and they approach again, holding out their hands. ]
[ Experimentally, Koharu goes through the motions in slow-mo, settling on what feels right according to what she's been told. Then: ]
Okay, got it. Then...
[ She gets into stance, eyes between her fist and their hands, and throws her first swing. Her form is passable as she goes through it with more of her might, landing a hit that goes about as hard as regularass-teenager-landing-a-punch would. ]
[ and they are watching her go through the motions, assessing her movements and waiting patiently for her to be ready.
their eyes drop to check her stance before they're back up and they lean on their back foot to ground themselves for that swing. the hit connects, and it doesn't hurt because she's a regular teenager who is doing this for the first time, but they seem pleased. ]
Good. That was a good first attempt. Don't think too much about getting the set-up perfect because you'll lose time in a real fight, but as long as you know how to position your hand and where to concentrate your strength you'll land a solid hit. You can apply the same idea for an uppercut, too.
[ they demonstrate as well, motions slow and clear so she can see. ]
Right. Not that I want you to have a reason to have to do it enough times, but right. It's a good skill to have, one quick strike is enough to get yourself out of trouble to run if you have to.
[ her specifically. gabriel would stick around and keep throwing punches, but that is neither here nor there. ]
I'd say even if I hope to avoid any trouble while I'm here... I think I'm going to end up in more fights once I'm back home anyway, so I need to learn eventually.
Aren't you a cupid? [ they are continuing to go through the motions of showing her different kinds of strikes, slow and easy to follow. ] Or is this fights with your supervisors or whatever?
Mm, we do choose our targets from a—task board, you could call it, but it doesn't exactly mean we get dibs. So if another cupid is going for the same person as you...
It becomes a race to see who actually gets the target. Yeah, I can see where you'd have to fight to stake your claim. But that also means you can pass on whatever targets you want, right?
That's... kind of nice. You have a job you don't mind doing, but you still get a choice in the people you work on. You've probably seen some really interesting people.
It's a nice thought. [ they sound like they don't entirely agree. ] I think being new makes it even more likely. It means everything's different from what you knew before.
All the more reason to buff up your skills and prepare for going back. There're worse reasons for wanting to go home. I don't think wanting to get better at your job is one of them.
Anytime. I don't mind running drills to teach you whatever I can. It's important to know, even if you weren't gonna have to fight people for your jobs.
And he's right. It's a lot easier to learn when you're still young anyway. Your reflexes are faster and it's easier to build up that muscle memory before something does happen.
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Good start. The most important thing is you want to make sure you're not tucking your thumb into your palm because you're just as likely to break it as you are to make contact with your target. Keep it on the outside right along your index finger. When you're striking, you want to drive most of your force into the two bigger knuckles on your hand. Make sense?
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With a nod, she adjusts her thumb, then tilts her hand until her knuckles and pointing forward. ]
So I'd hit them right with these—like this?
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[ they take a few steps back, adjusting their stance before demonstrating with a swift, fast punch to the air. ]
It's all power-driven. [ and they approach again, holding out their hands. ]
Give it a shot. [ punch their palms. ]
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Okay, got it. Then...
[ She gets into stance, eyes between her fist and their hands, and throws her first swing. Her form is passable as she goes through it with more of her might, landing a hit that goes about as hard as regularass-teenager-landing-a-punch would. ]
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their eyes drop to check her stance before they're back up and they lean on their back foot to ground themselves for that swing. the hit connects, and it doesn't hurt because she's a regular teenager who is doing this for the first time, but they seem pleased. ]
Good. That was a good first attempt. Don't think too much about getting the set-up perfect because you'll lose time in a real fight, but as long as you know how to position your hand and where to concentrate your strength you'll land a solid hit. You can apply the same idea for an uppercut, too.
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[ Again, she motions through it slowly against an imaginary opponent, lifting her fist upward. ]
Then it just has to become second nature, so long as I do it enough times.
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Right. Not that I want you to have a reason to have to do it enough times, but right. It's a good skill to have, one quick strike is enough to get yourself out of trouble to run if you have to.
[ her specifically. gabriel would stick around and keep throwing punches, but that is neither here nor there. ]
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Well... Apparently it's pretty common for cupids to get into fights over targets.
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So tell me more about how that whole thing works. I'm curious. Do you, like, have a hit list and you just go down the line to set these people up?
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Mm, we do choose our targets from a—task board, you could call it, but it doesn't exactly mean we get dibs. So if another cupid is going for the same person as you...
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