#rivervale_lodge

"Um..."

"I stretch, sometimes?"

"Ok." This, he knows how to do. He starts with ankles, legs and moves on up till he's rolling his neck.

Sam is NOT looking

well

not looking much.

She also stretches, crossing her arms over her chest and twisting, pulling up her knees...

"Ok!" Bouncing in place. "Should we do laps or something?"

"Laps?"

"Yeah, you know, sprints or ladders or something?"

"I never really do that, but I bet Siv would..."

"Bet she would." A thinking pause. "But, ya know, you're the teacher so.... ok, no laps. Now what?"

Brow furrow. Frown. "Well, I guess stances?"

"Like, if you just stand there, you can be knocked down..."

"Right, makes sense." He... wel, not quite strikes a pose; he's genuinely trying a stance, but....

"Hey, who's Olgar?"

"Sylvi's dad. And no... your knees are bad."

She gives his hip a push with the butt of the shaft, causing him to stagger. "See?"

"Yeah, ok, so.... like this?" He shifts.

"Yeah, or your knees lock up." Another push.

He shifts again.

"Feel the difference?"

He nods. "Ok, so stance I can see but I'm still just standing here. You know? I mean... like coach said, you gotta have a good foundation but there's footwork, too. Gotta move."

"I... don't, much?"

"Siv is the fast one, I usually just... well... hit stuff."

"Plant solid and go at."

Adam grins. "I can see that."

"The other thing is keeping folks from hitting you. So... so, like, it's like a circle... 1.. 2.. 3..." She demonstrates the guard positions in order.

He follows along with his stick.

1....2....3.

A grunt, and she makes corrections

He takes them! Maybe he IS good at basketball; he clearly listens to coaches, and accepts the advice.

"So they should flow from one to the next, try to get through all six.."

"Right." It's a bit stiff, but he's putting it together.

"Right. And then you try mixing it up - like, do the evens, then the odds. Be able to find them without thinking..."

"Your arms should know it, not your head. Your arms are faster than your head."

"Yeah, muscle memory." He repeats, and tries again.

"Uh-huh."

Dagmar is all-business while teaching - serious and earnest, if a bit taciturn.

A lot of her corrections are done with the staff... nudging Adam into position.

Adam falls into the mood, focusing on learning and improvement; much less of anything considered flirty.

He might pick up on the fine distinction between "grunt of criticism" and "grunt of approval" after a bit.

The grunts -do- take some work.

She makes him repeat the circle until he can do it at speed - stopping him when one is sloppy and making him go back to one. It takes WORK just to get through all six without being stopped.

A young voice pipes up, "I could do that too. I'm really good with sticks. If you throw 'em, I'll bring 'em back too!" Connor is seated cross-legged, watching the 'show'.

"Yup." Agreeably.

Adam snaps around. "Jeeze." Startled at the sudden appearance. "Hey there, uh, Connor. Right?"

The boy's tail wags - Yep, tail - and as clear to Adam's mortal eyes as anything else he can see. Same with the fluffy ears that perk from his shaggy hair - boy seems due for a haircut. "That's what some people call me, but my name is REALLY Buddy, you can tell because that's what's on my tags."

Another figure, older, but younger than Dagmar approaches. Dressed in black, she's as gothy as summer heat allows.

And definitely a troll.