Forging a Secret Weapon

[CaptainL]

From the moment Mina took Clara's hands, she could already tell that her suspicions were right - she wasn't fine. She could feel the wavering in her body, the unsteadiness in her stance; she could even feel how much her hands were trembling from where they linked. Clara might have been fearless in their match, but now, she was terrified. She knew her mother wasn't going to like that. She also knew that if she was to exert even the slightest bit of force in the lockup, with Clara as shaky as she was, it would've sent her right back down. Cynara wouldn't like that, either - how could she tolerate a potential new enforcer who couldn't even take a lockup?

Mina bit her lip and looked down, thinking about the thoughts going through her head. This didn't seem like her - was she actually getting soft? Was she letting her guard down around an opponent? But then, Clara wasn't an opponent. Clara was someone who had been brought into the family; someone who had nowhere else to go, and someone who Mina was supposed to be helping right now. If she was just going to embarrass herself and disappoint Cynara, that would do her no favors. Mina wasn't sure why she was thinking what she was, but...she couldn't let that happen.

Mina gave Clara a little time to steady herself, though she still watched her closely for any sudden motions or any movements that might tell her what she was about to do. She could see as the white-haired girl pulled her arms to the side, as though trying to bowl her over. Clara was still wary, and when she was only barely trying, it wouldn't be enough to take Mina off her feet. But Mina wouldn't let her know that. For now, she thought, she could play along - if just to help Clara build up her confidence.

As Clara pulled her over, Mina let herself drop to the side, kicking off the mats and falling to the ground with a thud. Maybe, she hoped, if she could make Clara feel like she was doing something, it would make Clara feel a little bit better about herself. And maybe that would get her to step up her game - and hopefully, keep her out of trouble. For what it was worth, Cynara had definitely noticed - and when she saw that Clara had apparently taken her daughter off her feet, she at first sat up a little straighter with a wide-eyed look of surprise, but then, her lips curled into a smile.

"...Well done. Well done indeed," Cynara mused. "Well, Clara, it looks like you've managed to take her down. Tell me, what are you going to do now?"

[FreshBritishSalmon]

When Clara went for Mina, and this time, seemingly succeeded in taking down her partner, she was a little surprised. She slowly walked over the floored Mina, and began to think of her next move. She had not thought she could have taken down her opponent that quickly, and she was blissfully unaware that Mina was on her side.

She decided to kneel on her opponents stomach, rendering her immobile, at least temporarily. She then sent a solitary left handed slap to Mina's face, and a stronger right handed slap to her breasts. She then did the same, but with punches instead. She still seemed very nervy, and the attacks were not even remotely like what Mina had faced before, but they were a small step up from the lockup just moments ago.

[CaptainL]

Mina grit her teeth as she let herself fall to the mat. It wasn't something she was used to doing - she was supposed to be proud and confident; the kind of person who rolled over for no one. She was a second-generation champion, after all; the daughter of a generation-defining talent. Long had she held that fact close to her heart, and here she was throwing the match? But whether she understood it or not...Mina knew in her heart that it was right. She'd have to swallow her pride just this once, for Clara's sake. For now, she looked back up at the white-haired girl, who her mother watched just as closely - now, everyone was waiting to see what Clara would do next.

Clara dropped down, and the blonde winced as she felt her opponent's weight coming down on her midsection - and when she slapped her in the face, she hissed under her breath as her head cracked to the side. And she would only turn back the other way as Clara slapped her in her breasts instead, sending a stinging pain through her body. Cynara was watching carefully the whole way through, taking note of Clara's form, and the tactics she chose. She had seen a good grip on the basics from Clara so far - she had to know what she was doing if she was keeping the pressure on Mina, at least. Clara clearly had a long way to go before she could be called a trained fighter, but she had a good start. It was all a matter of focusing in on those talents and honing them, and she would have something useful to her purposes.

"Not a bad start in keeping her down, Clara," the veteran explained, "but you can do better than that! Try picking up the pace; see if you can keep her stunned!"

[FreshBritishSalmon]

Now that Clara was on top, and had the ability to do some actual attacks to her opponent, she had calmed herself a little. She tried her best to forget that her opponent was someone she knew and had previously been defeated by, though the thought still lingered deep in her mind. She had to focus now, no more letting her fears take control. That can be a later thing that she discusses.

For now, she had to focus on showing what she can do. She decided to turn her slaps into punched, curling her fists and sending relatively strong punches to Mina's covered breasts and face, but restraining herself a little to not cause actual damage to Mina.

[CaptainL]

Now that Clara had taken the mounted position over Mina, Cynara watched closely to see what she would do with it. The next few moments could make all the difference. Sure, Clara had been able to take Mina down, but would she have the drive in her to press that advantage, and keep Mina there? She knew Clara could be bold. What she needed now was for her to be ruthless - and how she handled this would hinge on if she had that capacity in her.

She was off to a good start, at least, with how she rained punches down over the blonde, striking her again and again and knocking her from side to side. Maybe she was a little hesitant at first, but it didn't take her long to snap out of that - and when she did, she was laying into Mina with the sort of aggression Cynara wanted to see. But she was still pulling her punches. No matter how hard Clara might've tried to hide that, Cynara had been in enough matches to know what a pulled punch looked like. And to her, that was an opening.

Without a word, Cynara looked down at Mina as her daughter glanced back in her direction, and she gave her a wink. That was a signal for Mina to take advantage of the opening Clara was leaving her. For a moment, the blonde took a pause. Was it worth it? She knew that Clara was trying to go easy on her out of respect for her, and she knew they would have plenty to talk through after this. But if her mother knew the opening was there, then she couldn't let it slip her by. Cynara would've wanted her to be giving Clara no mercy - and if she found out that she wasn't, then surely there would be hell to pay. She sucked in a breath as she turned back to face Clara, but for now, she'd have to make concessions to their agreement.

As Clara swung her fist toward her again, Mina's hands shot out, going to grab the white-haired girl by the wrist to intercept her shot. There, once she'd stopped her punch from reaching her, she would roll her weight to the side and buck with her hips and legs, trying to toss Clara off of her!

"Not a bad start, Clara," Cynara cautioned, "but you mustn't leave your opponent any openings! Or else you'll soon regret it..."

[FreshBritishSalmon]

Clara was swung off Mina with ease, landing with a somewhat heavy thud which caused Clara to flinch. She got a few hits off, and Mina was half agreeing that going all out wasn't the way to go in training, a fact that Cynara was clearly oblivious to. Thankfully, Mina didn't cause any damage to the white haired girl, though she still had to continue to fight in order to make Cynara think she was worth investing into. Her doubts had now somewhat cleared, as she realised that Mina was as much on her side as she was Cynara's. With a brief smirk of agreement, she attempted to wrestle her arm free of Mina, before scuttling away to regroup.

Her wrists were burning a little, both from the punching that she was doing to Mina, as well as the grip that Mina had done in order to eject her from her position. "Hmm. Not sure how I go on the offensive without being weak defensively, but sure" Clara said, openly doubting Cynara

[CaptainL]

Mina had been able to knock Clara off of her, and that brought a momentary pause to the action, giving both girls a chance to scramble away from each other and get their bearings. Mina slowly pushed herself up onto her knees, rubbing at her face to dull whatever lingering soreness was there from Clara's punches - at least, that was what she'd claim. Clara had taken care not to hit her too hard, and she was barely even all that sore. But as long as she could make her wounds look worse than they actually were, Cynara would have reason to believe that Clara was doing well - and she would throw off any suspicion that the two might have been colluding behind the scenes.

Slowly, Mina stood back up, and she lowered her hands from her face to look Clara in the eye. She bent forward at the knee, prepared to enter the fray once more - and it was just then that Clara said something that took Cynara by surprise. At once, the veteran's head turned to look at Clara, and her eyebrow rose. There was something about her statement that seemed all too deliberate, and Cynara had taken notice. When she described going on the offensive over defending onesself, and questioned the validity of the tactic, she could well have been describing what Mina herself had made her strategy. In doing so, was she calling Cynara's credentials as a trainer into question - given that she'd trained Mina, and the lessons she was imparting to Clara seemed to get at something similar?

Her brow furrowed for a moment at the thought, and her body stiffened as she crossed her arms. Cynara was nothing if not proud, and to have Clara so openly questioning her felt like a personal slight - a slight she couldn't tolerate. Nevertheless, she kept her composure about her. Just a moment later, she cleared her throat, and the calm look returned to her face as though nothing had happened. "My dear," she began, "yes, that's a perfectly valid observation. But you'll find that if you strike hard enough and fast enough, your opponents won't be prepared for you at all - and there, you won't even need to defend yourself. But don't think that's the only thing you need to learn. It's just as important to keep an eye on your opponent, and to be ready for them! Why, we can hone your defensive skills just as well. Mina will be happy to help you with that, won't you?"

Mina looked back at her mother, noting how she was once again volunteered for the task without much of a say. Still, even if she grumbled under her breath, she still turned to face Clara, cracking her knuckles. She looked the white-haired girl in the eye, trying to signal to her to be ready - and then, Mina suddenly took off in a charge, raising her hands toward Clara's shoulders to shove her to the ground as she came close with all her momentum behind her. Cynara would be watching to see if Clara could act fast enough to defend herself. And Mina could only hope Clara would get the idea.

[FreshBritishSalmon]

Something about Cynara was starting to rub Clara the wrong way. She might have been homeless, but that doesn't mean she was unable to stand her own ground. She slowly arose to her feet after a decent break to recover her breath and collect her thoughts. She looked at Mina, before she heard what Cynara had planned to do next.

When Cynara said that she wanted to hone Clara's defensive skills, she stalled again. Clara never really knew what defense was. She just accepted any punishment that came her way. As such, when Mina dashed up to her with speed, she had no clue what to do, and the two girls smashed into each other with force, before Clara's legs buckled, and once again she was on the floor, with Mina on top of her.

At this point, Clara was starting to sweat profusely. Not from the fact they were fighting, but more nerves. She just hoped that Mina would realise.

[CaptainL]

Cynara had been hoping that Clara would have some instinct to protect herself when she saw Mina coming charging toward her. She wanted the girl to at least give her an idea of how she'd react in such a situation, so she would know what the building blocks of her defense were and how she could build on them. So she wasn't expecting to see the white-haired girl fall flat as soon as her daughter pushed her weight up against her. Cynara let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping as she crossed her arms. Hadn't they already been over this? If Clara wasn't going to start taking notes soon, her career would surely be over before it started. Her aggression meant nothing if she couldn't back herself up when the punches started to fly.

"...Clara. Hon. Come on, now. We've talked about this - I know you're better than this," Cynara explained. "You really think your opponents are going to stop for you if you fall over for them? You might as well be asking for the pin-!"

Continuing on the momentum of her charge, Mina had let herself crash headlong into Clara, and she dropped down to settle her weight over her foe. She was just about to take advantage of the position when she heard her mother speak up...and at that, she paused a moment longer. Normally, in a situation like this, she would have no hesitation about beating her opponent's face into the dirt, but that didn't seem right. If Clara wasn't fighting back, it just seemed unfair. And surely, if her mother was this disappointed in her progress so far, she wouldn't be happy. Cynara had been patient thus far, but if her patience wore thin...Mina was sure it wouldn't be pretty for Clara.

At that point, the blonde looked back to Clara. She leaned forward, her hands moving toward Clara's shoulders to pin them down. As far as any onlookers would see it, it looked like Mina was getting into place for a pinfall...but when she brought her face up to Clara's level, she whispered a few words, just loud enough for her to hear.

"...Get your hands up. Push me off," she whispered. If Cynara was just going to wait for Clara to make her moves on her own, the least Mina could do was give her a little advice.

[FreshBritishSalmon]

Clara could sense that Cynara was starting to get a little agitated, despite Cynara trying to act motherly towards her. She knew that building her defense up was a decent idea, but she had no clue how to. In addition, Mina was being quite generous with her, and she felt like it would be rude if she ended up hurting her, even if it was an accident. To her surprise, she could feel herself warming up to the girl that was so cold to her initially, and not her teacher. But the last thing she wanted to do was make it so that it was obvious.

When she heard Cynara's instructions to act defensively to get out of the pinfall, a word that only drew a blank expression from Clara, with her never watching a proper wrestling match, let alone partaking in one, she was relieved when her newly found partner gave her the advice she so desperately needed. She gave a discreet smile to Mina, before putting both hands onto Mina's shoulders, and pushing her to the side to oust her from her dominant position.