Kent and Hastur entered the tavern in Shrike. The two had somewhat made it a habit after their sessions where Hastur tried (almost in vain) to try to get Kent to learn martial arts. "Alright, I think I'm doing something wrong. So, WHY do I let them strike first, again? That seems counterproductive." He sat down on the bar and picked up an ale. "Honestly, first strike first hit."

Hastur shook his head and picked up a bottle of sake, taking a fairly long drink from it. "You don't have to let them strike first. I just think it's better to take a defensive stance so that you can take advantage of the opponent's momentum. If they put a lot into a punch, you can use that to put them off balance and counter. If you want to give them the chance to do that to you, then so be it."

Kent was obviously bad at this. "So, they throw a punch and I dodge it to use their momentum to... Unless they're throwing their face into my fist or something, I don't see how the hell their momentum helps anything at all. Besides, if you're stiff enough, balance should just come naturally. It's why trees don't bend." Kent took a swig from his ale. "It's just common sense."

"locking their arms? Oi." Kent shuddered. "I really hate being in grapples. Not much you can do in them. Hell, not much you can do when GIVING them." As he took his next drink, he looked deep in thought. He gave off an almost sadistic grin. "I suppose if I wanted a meat shield I could use a grapple. That seems useful enough."

Hastur sighs and nods. "Well, that's one way to do it... and you would be surprised on how much you can do with a grapple, if you're in control of it and have superior positioning."

Kent chuckled at the notion. "Superior positioning," he mused, "I suppose if neither of you can do anything, than any position is superior isn't it? I mean, the goal obviously isn't to win with something like... what did you say? Wing Chun? What's with all the bird refrences?" Kent was already halfway through his second mug, partially to numb the bruising he got from Hastur earlier that day.

Hastur groans and takes a loooong swig from his sake bottle. "You can have superior positioning, you just have to know how to spot it with the right kind of training. And the goal is to win with Wing Chun. It's not a bird referenc,e it's an old form of martial arts that is about overwhelming your foe quickly, never getting out of their face. You should realize that by now, seeing as to how you haven't one a sparring match with me yet." He chuckles and takes another drink.

Kent was offended. "Hey, just because I can't win a sparring match doesn't mean you're tougher than me." Third ale ordered. This was usually an indicator that it was going to be a long morning. "If you let me use my armor and my shield you wouldn't stand a chance." He sighed, as he knew that Hastur was well aware of his swordplay abilities, but the goal was to work unarmed, which would allow Kent a bit more versitility.

Hastur shrugged. "Perhaps. But if you used your armor while doing these martial arts, you'd probably pull or break something." Hastur would not give up on his student. "You'll get there eventually, ya just need a bit more practice and to open up to different practices when it comes to fighting.

Plenty of drinking and arguing later, Kent had gotten completely off topic and was muttering something about religion while Hastur was chuckling to himself. Hastur was a significantly less heavy drinker, and Kent was suffering from 'post-training with Hastur' syndrome, which had bruises and irratability as common side effects.

Hastur kept chuckling. "You're quite passionate about how you fight and your religion, aren't ya?"

"You bet your bottom cent I am!" Kent took a drink from... was that the beggining of his fifth? That can't be healthy. At all. "You know what they called me?" He said, looking sad, almost on the verge of tears, "They said 'KENT! Yer an exile for crimes against the lord!' Know what I was doing? Killing demons." His sad expression turned to one of disdain nearly instantly. "I got kicked out of the demon hunting order for hunting demons. Bleh."]

Hastur raised an eyebrow as he sipped his sake. His cheeks were getting a tad rosy, but he was far from being drunk. "There has to be more to it than that. Was he possessing someone and you killed that person too or something?"

"Well, technically..." Kent's voice trailed off, as he was trying to avoid saying it, "I didn't have orders to kill the demon, because the church didn't tell me to do it. Nothing wrong beyond that. I took the initiative." Kent was either feeling remorse or he was feeling pride,it was rather difficult to tell through his drunkeness.

Hastur sipped his sake again, then shrugged. "Ah, well. I don't see anything too wrong. If the demon was certainly evil and was going to do a lot of harm, I think you were in the right." He smiled at his student and patted his back.

Kent shrugged. "I certainly don't see what I did wrong. I just wish I could have been a better knight." meanwhile, he overheard a conversation next to them, two teenagers obviously having had even more to drink than Kent himself.

"Yeah, that's when they said that I shouldn't cast magic to light the candles during service. Hah! Fat chance." Oh. Magic teenagers. Kent looked over. One was an esper it seemed. Wonderful. Kent held his hand in front of his mouth and faked a cough. "HERETIC AAK AK!" The esper turned to him. "What did you just say?" Kent smiled at them, smartly, "I'm sorry, I coughed. I meant to say heretic."

The teenager was not amused and with a snap of their finger lit Kent's drink of fire. Kent, as a point of intemidation, took another sip of the ale, ignoring the fire completely. He turned to Hastur. "One moment. I think this is about to get udgly." "Come on, fire face! Bring it!" Oh. The other one."...Make that two moments."

Hastur raised an eyebrow at the events that played out before him. He then turned to Kent. "You gonna need some help with these two? You might be a little off, being inebriated and all."

Kent smiled, rubbing a bit of the ale off of his mouth. "We'll see, now won't we-" WHAM! The esper kid already walked over and threw a punch before Kent stood up. "Enough chat, old man, let's fight!" Kent got up on his feet and put up his fists, wobbling more than he should have been. The kid threw a punch, less of because Kent wanted to counter, but more of Kent couldn't quite see straight. Kent heard the kid yell in attack and moved to the side, his leg lagging behind where he tripped them. More or less by accident.

Hastur watches Kent begin combat with the esper, then reaches out and grabs the esper's friend, putting him into a head lock. "Hey, lemme go! Lemme go!" "Shush, now, I'm trying to watch a one-on-one fight, and we don't need you interrupting." He continues to watch the fight, unhindered by the teenager stuggling in the headlock.

Kent turned as the Esper got back up from the trip. Kent shook his head violently, trying to regain his senses, but, obviously, alchohol didn't work that way. Before he thought the deliquent had time to react, Kent threw a punch, only to be quickly dodged by the much more agile young man. "Going to need to hit faster than that, old man!" "I am not even an old man! I'm not even thirty!" Kent turned around and fell down to the floor from the dizzyness of the turn.

the Esper walked up and tried to throw down a kick on Kent's chest. Kent quickly put up his hand and pushed up against the incomming foot, knocking the kid off balance and onto the floor, enough time for Kent to get back up and put his hands up again. "Aha! Take that, you lightweight!"

Hastur takes note of Kent's movements, watching on with interest. The young man in the headlock still struggles, and tries to punch Hastur., As his fist weakly bounces off of Hastur's torso, Hastur simply noogies the young man. "Hey, I said stay still and quiet down there! Geez, no respect for people trying to watch a fight."

Kent waited in what almost resembled a fighting stance as the Esper got back up. The young mage obviously was getting tired of this, and decided to light his fist on fire before throwing another punch. Kent let it land right in his gut, and while his body winced, he used that movement to throw himself forward to have their heads meets, making an uncomfortable knocking sound before the kid was thrown back.

Kent brushed some of the singed cloth from his tunic and smiled at the esper, but gave a hiccup before speaking. A concussion, plus quick movements, plus intoxication didn't go well together.. "I don't like magic very... very much, and lets keep this fight fair eh? I think you *HIC* obviously can see fire isn't that useful here."

Hastur whistled as he saw Kent's counter. 'That was almost like... hmm, I think I should change what I teach him to a slightly different martial art.' He looked down at the young man in the headlock. "You gonna behave and let them work out their differences on their own?" The young man nodded weakly, obiously tired of being in the headlock and a bit hurt from the giganto's intense noogying. Hastur let him go and brushed the lad off a bit, then ordered him a drink so that they could both drink as they watched.

"Gramps, you got style. I gotta say."The esper kid obviously still wanted to fight, but Kent was getting tired. "I'm real sorry about this kid. You got spunk. Give up that magic shit and we'll see what we can do." "Fuck that." "Thought so."

Kent used his foot to kick a chair towards the kid, whi was trying to get back up, knocking what balance he had completely off and causing him to topple over. Kent picked up a heavy (and full) tankard and as he walked back towards Hastur, dropped it casually on the boy's nose. The esper grabbed his nose, shouted something, and stumbled to his feet and out of the bar.

Kent sat down where he previously was put down a pouch on the bar. "A good bit extra, for the damages. If you need anything repaired to made, come down to the forge here. I'll give you a discount." Kent smiled at Hastur, who just now noticed that Kent's eyes weren't focused. At all. "I think I did pretty *HIC* good for a newbie," he said, triumphantly.

Hastur smirked and turned to the other young man. "Might wanna go check on your friend." The young man nodded and ran out the door. Hastur then turned back to Kent. "Well, that was pretty good, I will admit that. And, after that little show, I think we shoudl change your training to Zui Quan, or Drunken Fist. I think you'll catch onto it a bit better."

Kent laughed, a bit too hard, and it ended with an uncomfortable cough. "I think I'll call it that fist thing, because I have no idea what you just said!" He giggled, then placed a hand on his forehead. "When did the lights in here get so... bright?" Kent fell pathetically face first on the floor, passed out from a painful mix of alchohol and a concusion.

Hastur sighed and turned to the bartender. "Sorry about all this. I'll pay for any damages that his payment doesn't cover." With that, he finishes off his sake, hefts Kent over his shoulder, and walks out of the bar.