Audrey's Training day

[MappleMan7]

Oscar smiled as he let go of Audrey, waiting for her to return to a standing position before responding to her question.

"Yeah! You want your legs slung over their shoulders with their faces looking at you stomach. Just instead of falling back, you tighten you legs around your opponents head and twist you hips. It's all in the lower body- and easy to do if you have some momentum behind it. Try again- hit me with your best huricanara! Don't worry, I can take it!"

Oscar gave Audry an encouraging smile as he motioned her to come at him again- shaking himself loose as he anticipated Audrey's attack!

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

Audrey nearly stumbled as she dropped onto her hands and allowed gravity to pull her feet back to the ground, righting her body in the process. Thankfully, this wasn't a real match, and Oscar simply let her catch herself. She fought back a blush of embarrassment at her failed maneuver, instead focusing on his words of advice as she walked backwards away from him to reset her position.

She wasn't sure how she felt about intentionally positioning her opponent's head so far between her legs, however temporary it would be... but Oscar wasn't the type to purposely take advantage of her. If he said that was what she needed to do to improve her leverage, then she'd give it a shot.

"Oh, I have no doubt you can take it," she replied with a sheepish grin. "I guess it's more about if I can dish it. So... let's find out. Here I come!"

Her expression had shifted, no grin nor frown, neutral but determined, quickly re-calculating the distance between them as she took off at a run. As she got near, she repeated her original move - tumbling forwards into a handstand. Except this time, when her legs wrapped around his neck, she pushed off the ground with her palms, giving her enough momentum to try to fight off gravity. She had a mental image of herself doing sit-ups while hanging off Oscar's neck - which was probably not far off of what it actually looked like she was attempting to do at the moment.

The extra spring had worked, allowing her to get a better grip around his head, and she found herself looking down at the top of his head, balancing on his shoulders. She took perhaps a moment longer than she should have to simply sit there and stare, astounded that she'd gotten this far. But she also realized she wouldn't have time to simply sit and enjoy the view in the heat of the moment during a match, so she forced herself to continue.

Audrey leaned backwards, letting gravity reclaim her. But this time, as she fell with her palms aimed at the floor, she did her best to perform the actions she'd been told - her legs tightened, and she jerked and twisted her hips...

[MappleMan7]

Oscar simply stood his ground, waiting with a confident look in his eye. Not for himself, but for Audrey. As the fellow redhead lept up at him and once more snared her legs around his neck- Oscar noticed the delay in her execution of the move. However, he did nothing to stop it- instead standing there before Audrey swung her weight around to throw Oscar into the canvas with a BANG! A small yip escaped Oscar before he could be heard laughing!

"Ha ha ha! Alright, there were go! Great job for your first go, Audrey! Try to be faster on your execution next time- but that was clean!"

Oscar reached his hand out, offering Audrey a high-five!

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

The motion was unfamiliar to Audrey. Sure, she'd executed this move a few times on training dummies, but never, apparently, with the correct form. It threw her off mentally for a moment, the way her body twisted as she flipped back, but instinct thankfully took over and allowed her to land on her palms and flip herself back into a crouching position - where she could look around and see Oscar on the ground! She did it!

Unless he just took a dive. But no, he'd already shown he could freeze her mid-move if he'd wanted to; he wouldn't deliberately screw with her result. Slowly but surely, Audrey was coming to terms with the unusual feeling of trusting someone. Even when he started laughing, it didn't even cross her mind that he was laughing at her.

Her shocked expression morphed into a a wide-eyed grin, making her look like a kid in a candy store. "I... I did- I mean, I know I hesitated, but I wasn't sure... I don't believe it!"

Oscar's hand was out, and Audrey returned his high-five before it even registered what she was doing. She bounced lightly on her feet for a few seconds, suddenly full of excess energy, before reaching for her drink again, if only to help calm herself down. "That was... exhilarating!"

[MappleMan7]

Audreys' rather wholesome and adorable reaction to the successful execution of the move brought out another happy laugh from Oscar. It felt so, incredibly good to see Audrey confident in herself like this. Moments like this were why Oscar loved his job so much- being able to help people find their spark, to believe in themselves. It warmed the Barbarian Prince's heart.

"I know, right? That feeling of learning a new move and pulling it off never gets old. And y'know what? It only gets better from here. For now, I'd recommend you continue practicing with that move until you got it down. You understand it now- you just need to do it until it feels like second nature"

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

"You bet!" Audrey replied, grin still plastered to her face. Having a guide to confirm she was on the right track felt far better than the uncertainty that came with training alone. "It'll be similar enough with the training dummy, now that I know what I'm doing."

The thought of practicing brought another thought to her mind. But this time when she asked her question, her tone of voice had shifted, with less hesitation and more curiosity and genuine enthusiasm. "Say, uh... how would you recommend setting that move up? I get the feeling most opponents aren't going to just stand there and let me run at them, y'know? So like... what's a good way to stun them?" She looked down at her fist, her fingers curling and opening again. "I'm not sure I have the power for a solid punch to the face."

[MappleMan7]

"Hm... that's a good question"

Oscar hummed as he scratched his cheek in wonder. He was thrilled to see Audrey bear more confidence than before, but he genuinely needed a moment to think of an answer to that.

"Well... you have pretty strong kegs, for starters. Kicks to the stomach or head can stun/ wind somebody pretty good. The element of surprise would be your best bet though. If you're opponent looks ready, either skip them or slide under their kegs. Then rebound off the ropes and catch them with the move while they're turning around"

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

Audrey tilted her head lightly like a curious puppy; her question seemed to give Oscar pause, and she wasn't sure how to take that. Had she like, actually stumped him? Or was he simply considering the best method for her smaller size, or something to that effect? Either way, she found she was eager to hear what he came up with, the anticipation building in her chest. She paused to take another drink to keep herself from trying to spur him on.

And she wasn't disappointed. "Oh, I have tried that before, sliding under their legs! I... wasn't quick enough," she said with sheepish embarrassment, subconsciously running a hand through her hair, but quickly recovered. "But I guess I never tried to just kick or stun someone that way, I've always just tried to rebound and like... launch myself at them." She shrugged. "Doesn't tend to work when they're twice my size, I've discovered." She'd try that angle next, then; it sounded promising, and she knew despite her size she could aim a kick pretty high... and even if she couldn't reach the face, there were plenty of targets that were available.

Audrey took a moment to look around before changing the subject. "So, um, what about submissions? I've had difficulty locking them in against larger opponents. I'm not sure if it's purely a strength issue, or I'm just not positioning myself right, or... something else. Any thoughts? I know you've got more muscle than me, obviously, but surely you've fought someone even bigger than yourself before...?"

[MappleMan7]

"Truth be told, it's rare for me to fight anyone bigger than six foot five. Even then, they only tend to be a few inches taller. The majority of the time it tends to be dudes heavier than me"

Oscar let out a small chuckle as Audrey next inquired about submissions on bigger opponents, making him think about how uncommon it was for him to fight giants. The Barbarian Prince soon shifted focus back on to Audrey, though. This was about her, after all.

"Truthfully, submissions on opponents bigger than you are a risk factor. I remember you locking in a great hold on me during our match in the tournament, but I also recall that I got out of said hold be carrying you like Yoda into a ring post. I suspect nine times out ten, bigger opponents with just try to overpower you if you try to lock in a hold. It's like riding a bull- their first instinct, if they know that they're doing, is to thrash and throw you off. I've been beaten by smaller foes with submissions in the past, though- and those folks often wait to Tucker me out before trying to knock me out. It really just boils down to staying agile- peppering you opponent with hits and avoiding getting caught before going in for the kill. If you practice your strikes, I'm confident you'll be able to be more effective against those bigger guys and girls out there"

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

"Yeah, I remember that... my spine hurts just thinking about it," she joked with a chuckle in her voice, making a show of reaching behind her to rub at the spot on her lower back.

Her expression fell, just a bit. The answer Audrey got wasn't quite what she'd been hoping for, but then, she wasn't entirely sure what she'd been expecting. It made sense that she wasn't likely to be able to just catch an opponent off-guard and hold them like that for long, at least not without tiring them out first. There really were no shortcuts, but she had been hoping for some kind of secret method, some trick to making her holds more effective.

Even so, she'd learned a lot already, and was finding it easier to pepper Oscar with questions than she originally anticipated. She tried to keep her voice light and her attitude positive in her reply. "Well, if there's one part of my game that I can say I have confidence in, it's my agility." Not that she'd done a very good job of proving that. Speed meant little when her timing was off. She gave another shrug. "My strikes, though... well, it usually feels like I'd have better success kicking a brick wall, and getting less bruised that way, too. I've tried making up for that with more aerial stuff, y'know?" She stretched her arms out to the sides as if trying to mime performing a flying crossbody. "Figured gravity would work in my favor. But it just doesn't seem to make up enough. So how can I like... not break my own knuckles when I go to punch someone in the chin?"