Cooled down (for bladeinthecrowd)

[blindingtrust]

Ivy had a long day. Tests and final papers plagued her since the last time she had been here. The life of a student could be stressful which is why she was taking a much needed break. She was in her usual clothing which consisted of her long coat, which lay unbuttoned, a white collared shirt that had the top two buttons undone, and dark slacks.

But her shoes had been removed. As well as her socks. She had even seen fit to remove her sunglasses. She was just content to sit and let her mind unload all that information that kept spinning through her head.

She's not dozing off. Really. Her head dropping against her chest means nothing. It's just the tree she's under is so nice and the air is so warm. She can't help it if she's relaxing and just happens to find herself snoozing a bit.

Comments

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

Ivy just had a vauge feeling of him being abov her. She had no idea he was hanging upside down.

"I suppose I'll have to work on that, then." Though the last bit has her cheek twitch. Which is an odd reaction.

"What won't do?" She actually hasn't noticed she's bleeding. She thought it might be sweat anyways.

[bladeinthecrowd.livejournal.com]

Altaїr reaches down once more and dabs a finger in her blood. The feel of it is familiar--the sight of blood on his hands not new in the least. He stares idly at it, then turns a 'bored' look on her.

"Everything," he replies. "You're reaction, you're timing, you're lack of skill. And..." his sentence is punctuated by a grunt as he jumps off the branch, an interesting sight to see for those with sight. His legs push off the branch with some effort and he twists his body around like a cat mid-flight so that his feet hit the ground first. His knees bend on impact but he doesn't kneel or seem phased at all. He simply stands straight and crosses his arms over his chest.

He stares at her unblinkingly. "...this blood on your face. A foolish endeavor to run away. All you've managed to do is hurt herself."

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

She hadn't expected that. Of course now it starts to dawn on her. When she had run past a low branch and felt it scrape past her cheek...could she have scratched herself?

Oh. He decided to begin training her. That's what this is about. "Well. What can I do to...start changing what I did wrong?"

Now her hand goes to her cheek. "Oh. I...didn't notice that."

She flexes her toes then moves to get up. She’s not putting much weight down on her heels. Mostly to avoid them getting whacked on anything she doesn't notice on the forest floor.

[bladeinthecrowd.livejournal.com]

"Several things." He uncrosses his arms and lets them hang at his side. "Let's start with the basics first, since I don't think you've got even that." He shook his head and grew agitated when a low branch caught on his hood. He untangled the cloth and then waved back the way they had come.

"I take that back--let's start by leaving this area. We need space." He started making his way back towards the clearing.

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

Ivy moves to follow after him. She taps along to avoid tripping. After all that would be rather humilating. But she does reach the clearing. With a leaf caught in her hair but the wind tugs it out.

But before Altair can begin the lesson Ivy fetches her socks and shoes and pulls them on. She even undoes the buttons on her coat and lets it fall to the ground.

[bladeinthecrowd.livejournal.com]

Altaїr waits patiently for Ivy. He seems more interested in surveying their surroundings anyway. He grunts once, the sound indeterminable as either an approval or disapproval.

He glances back at Ivy just as she returns to him. The Assassin takes a lengthy look at her body. The way he looked at her brought no blush to his cheeks--he was all profession. His face was smooth and calm.

Altaїr shrugs his shoulders in a few circles to relax them. "Besides the fact that you obviously need to work out your body more often..." he starts, eying her ruthlessly. He knows she can't see it, but he's relying on the fact that she can feel it's intensity. "We also need to work on a few other basic concepts. Particularly balance."

He'd discuss the fact that he was very disappointed in her initial reaction (simply standing there, then the whole running away thing--and running away very badly, mind you) later. One step at a time...

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

Ivy doesn't feel any shame. It's been almost six months since she's workled out due to her health. Now that she's better she should start again.

Which means she'll hve to divde some part of the day to returning to the gym she used to frequent. Maybe doing some sit ups and push upss in the morning before class as well.

"That..makes sense," that's all she says on that.

She will likly not defend her actions though. To her they made sense. And what he was ding now also made sense. It also gave her a way out. If she could see him as her teacher it would let her emotionally distance herself so it wouldn't bother her when she wasn't around. This...was much more ideal. At least that's what she'll keep telling herself.

[bladeinthecrowd.livejournal.com]

Altaїr took one more quick look around his settings. Apparently spotting what he wants, he turns his attention back to Ivy again. "This way," he says as he grabs her by the wrist.

They don't walk very far before Altaїr stops and lets her go. He walks away briefly and the sound of heavy lifting and dragging can be heard. Then he walks back to her and takes one hand in his and places the other on her back. He guides her forward carefully. "Take a step up... here."

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

Ivy will never ever compare this to being led around like a pull toy. But in a tiny corner of her mind, this is nice. Justt a tiny part. Don't woory folks Ivy will not think on that for very long.

Though his hand on her back? That has her mentally do a cheer. But now orders are being given so she is going to follow them.

And she takes that first step. Is she on some kind of blance beam?

[bladeinthecrowd.livejournal.com]

Indeed Altaїr had managed to find a way to make a pseudo balance-beam out of a huge fallen log. No worries, he checked to make sure it wasn't rotten or anything beforehand.

"Walk in a straight line until I say 'stop'," he said as he let go of her carefully so as not to unbalance her. Yes, he was expecting her to trust completely in him to not let her fall or walk off the end of the log.

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

Good because Ivy is trusting him to not get her hurt. It would break that trust a bit if she fell through a rotting log.

Ivy nods and keeps her cane just in front of her. Then she steps so she's standing side ways. She moves very carefully so she's standing like normal after a few steps. She's mostly testing to see what works best for this. But she is moving at least. A few times she does stumble just a bit in the middle. But it does look like the center of her sense of blance is in the cane. Without it she's lost. They may want to work on that.

[bladeinthecrowd.livejournal.com]

Altaїr is actually already one step ahead of this; when he sees her relying heavily on the cane he swipes it from her rudely. He does, however, leave a hand at her elbow to make sure she doesn't fall when he does this.

"You'll never get anywhere relying on something other than yourself," he says without emotion. After a moment he removes his hand and waits for her to continue.

[blindingtrust.livejournal.com]

Ivy nearly fell. It was like being really blind. To not have that cane to give her a sense of where she was well it was very difficult for her to do anything but stand very still.
"Bu..." She stops speaking. Then focuses on just moving. She wobbles pretty badly at first. It takes her a few steps before she looks almost comfortable doing this. Or it could be she's good at hiding her facial expression.