A Reversal of Reticence [Milk]

@"King"

That was... suspiciously easy. He followed her through the woods, the adrenaline rush was wearing off from his fall and it left tiny trails of pain across his face. His hands were pretty messed up too but it wasn't anything he hadn't experienced a thousand times before. When they approached the boulder he scanned over its exterior, noting with a small amount of alarm the cracks and chunks taken out of it by some sort of small tool or hammer. This... this had to be a joke, surely she didn't expect him to... "Punch the rock." she had said. Oh... shit.

He watched her for a moment, some small part of him hoping she would add that she wasn't serious, but then he remembered that as far as he knew, Milk had no sense of sarcasm or guile. Murphy swallowed and looked up at the rock, well, he'd told her he'd do it, so he braced himself, wound up, and smashed his fist as hard as he could into the indent.

To his credit, he didn't yell, nor did he scream in pain as a sharp jolt of pain shot up his arm. Riding what little adrenaline his body had left he stepped back and swung with his other fist, teeth grinding to keep himself from biting his own tongue. Another glance was given to the woman before he wound up again for another blow. This is stupid, he thought, I'm going to do something that is going to permanently injure me over a girl I barely know just because I want to apologize... god damn it.

@"King"

Murphy didn't even process that Milk had said anything until she caught his fist. Just a few punches and he could already feel bruises developing around his knuckles, and all of his focus had been on just landing another hit. He unclenched his fists and sucked in a pained hiss of breath. Nothing felt broken, but he'd have a hard time typing for the next few days. He took a step back and watched Milk take her stance as she explained the technique to him, but he didn't quite understand. No matter how he tried to think about it, fist against rock fell in the rock's favor every time. Still, he did his best to mimic her, taking up what he thought was the same stance and mimicking her actions, minus the rock.

"How do... you move a rock that's so much bigger? So much harder than yourself?" he asked her, trying to distract himself from the stinging needling sensation in his hands. "Is it technique? Or merely innate ability?"

@"King"

Murphy tried to massage some feeling back into his knuckles as he watched Milk, but even lightly rubbing his fists was agonizing. He tried to wrap his head around her words, but as with almost everything else about her, the advice ran counter to what he'd been doing his entire life. He'd long since accepted the fact that he was weak, as every time he tried to improve something went horribly wrong. As such he'd learned to adjust; if conflict was imminent, alter the situation to work towards your strengths rather than your weaknesses. Milk, on the other hand, appeared to do the opposite.

Her choice of words were odd considering who they were coming from. she didn't usually speak in such a roundabout way, maybe she was reciting something she'd been taught? He stepped up beside Milk and tried to mimic her. He focused on the rock, and detaching himself from the pain and began to punch it again, starting slow to gather rhythm and then increasing the strength of each blow as he began to catch up. It still certainly hurt but... not as much?

@"King"

He took her corrections in stride, and in turn watched her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed completely focused on the task at hand, did she not wonder why he wanted to train with her? Had she just forgotten or didn't care about their last encounter? Perhaps he was the only one who still thought about that.

After several minutes he stopped, chest heaving with exertion. "Alright... I... I think I need to take... a moment... to rest." he managed, leaning against the chipped boulder for support. He hadn't made any real progress, but while his fists still hurt, the pain had become almost secondary to everything else, like he'd grown used to it. "Would it be alright for us to just... rest for a little bit?"

@"King"

He plopped himself down on a rock as soon as Milk agreed, instinctively reaching for a cigarette before stopping, and instead grabbing the small silver coin in his pocket, giving it a few experimental flips and noting their outcomes. Heads heads tails heads heads, odd. he thought before turning his attention back to his impromptu trainer. He had so many questions for her, but if he dug too deep too quickly it could trigger another bout of anger and get him abandoned in the woods to boot.

"How long have you been training?" he asked cautiously. "I mean, have you been doing this since childhood? You certainly seem like you've gotten the routine down to rote."