After our breakfast was earned over in the church from some swift and fulfilling manual labor, the kid and I made our way towards one of the quieter spots of the city, located deep inside the back alleys but still nearby a route that led towards the main road, making it an interesting little spot to be in.
For me, it was too close to some of the people that were either terrible citizens or people I suspected had a connection to the gangs in one way or another, meaning sleeping here would be a bad move.
But training for maybe a dozen minutes or so to see what I was working with?
We should be good, and even if we aren't I now have a proper weapon in my arsenal to utilize however I please.
So I led my interesting neighbor over towards the place I had found before stopping inside the clearing, nodding to myself at the quiet atmosphere and turning to stare at them, meeting those ruby eyes that were honestly too mature and hard for a child.
Eyes that I had only seen amongst those that had been through something traumatizing or had seen something heavy happen in front of them... and eyes that were almost universal amongst those that grew up and lived inside the slums.
Thankfully I was here to teach them how to fight, not how to deal with their feelings, so I just took a deep breath and said "Throw a punch."
Setting my feet, I raised my hands and gestured towards my opened palms, adding "Aim for the palms, and show me how you would punch someone. I want to see where you're at."
Was this a... 'bad' idea?
Kinda.
I mean, I don't have access to lots of mana at the moment, but the amount that I can siphon from the air around me is enough to deal with some brui-
"Goddd..! Fuuu..!"
Hiss slightly, I shook my hand out before chuckling wryly, muttering "Of course it's still going to hurt, dumbass..."
Shaking my hand once more, I nodded as I raised it up and said "Again!", mentally preparing myself as I idly noted that my neighbor never once asked me if I was sure with what I was doing...
They took a step forwards and threw out their arm, their fist balled up and smacking solidly against my palm, but...
"Plant your feet and use your body instead for now; don't step into it, just twist your body into the punch itself, alright?"
They nodded, planting their feet and taking a deep breath before staring at my palm again, which was stinging a bit from being hit twice.
I should get some cloth soon for us both...
Like I had instructed, they kept their feet secured to the ground and instead twisted their waist along with the momentum of their arm flying out, resulting in a meatier sounding hit when they hit my palm.
With that I noted that their fingers were arranged correctly and that their arm was positioned correctly as well, making me ask "How often have you punched? Did you practice yourself or..?"
Rubbing their knuckles, they pursed their lips before shrugging, replying "Both. Sometimes the other kids would try and steal my stuff or try and antagonize me, so I learned to punch people. After the first time I lost a fight, I decided to understand more on how to hit them back, so..."
I nodded, before raising my hands once more as I began to nitpick their stance, correcting what I could reasonably correct inside a kid's stance as we spent a few minutes with that, before I decided to take a break and instead gestured towards the wall, where I sat down.
My hand was aching already, but the pain was manageable as I asked "What exactly did you want to learn? How to fight, or how to use your surroundings to your advantage?"
"Both. Whatever you can teach me to make me stronger. So that I... So that I never have to feel helpless like that again."
I sighed as I rested my head against the stone bricks behind me, staring up at the sun for a brief moment before looking back towards the small square we were in, investigating what was around us.
"Get that wooden board over there, and set it up against the wall. Then gather some of the rocks around here, alright? I know you have a good throwing arm, so let's look at that first, fix what we can."
Watching as they stood up and went to do as I asked, I thought over some more training methods before getting up and going over some of the basics of throwing stones with accuracy; not the deadliest weapons, but they were good openers and distractions for street fights, so I placed a little priority on teaching them how to throw more accurately.
The sounds of the rocks slamming against the board echoed around the alleyways, until eventually I decided that we had done enough for now, in this location at least.
There were things that this neighbor - and now lackey - could do to improve more and more, but they weren't things that would be solved by only technique and muscle memory.
We actually needed to build some muscle to get to the point that we could utilize what we learned here and put it to actual use against others to better defend ourselves.
If we were faced with the guards, for example, I wouldn't want to do anything besides run in this current state, since the chances of me winning that fight weren't the highest right now.
So as we began to make our way back towards the shallow side of the slums to search for some more things and maybe some work, I was beginning to devise a training strategy in my mind, only to be rudely interrupted by the sight of some youngsters beating on an elderly man in an alleyway.
~~~
Hey... wait, that guy's familiar isn't he?
I... think?
Eh, who cares~!
The way Tiberius threw those rocks~!
Who knew that could be so dreamy...
~~~