Strong in the Real Way

Liun was excited to be sparring with Fweiu again. He had recently sparred with Thiul and that was pretty close but... Liun felt he could do better. Frankly, it had been a while since he just did general sparring. In the years since he left, he did sparring focused around specific styles without the use of powers and weapons. But now, he's back to using any fighting style he wants, mixing them together. Back to using his spear, and his armour.

That was actually a big reason why he tried so hard to get this day to be the day to spar with Fweiu. Seeing his family again, and seeing how each of them changed just made him feel underpowered. He had always fought more using his wit and strategy rather than raw strength, but it is definitely handy to be a bit stronger. He had been trying to summon individual pieces of his armour for years, but with limited success. He felt so close now, just using it a bit more and focusing it will get him there.

He knew how this would probably end regardless. Compared to his other cousins, there had only been less than a handful of times Liun has beaten Fweiu. Sure there's been plenty of close matches, but that's the same whenever he has sparred. He just hoped that it would be another close match, despite his rustiness.

He finally arrived where Fweiu told him to go. Seeing her grinning like that was a little unsettling to say the least. He spotted first aid kit. Oh boy. He wouldn't voice the vague emotions of anxiety, though. Obviously. He instead flashed a grin at Fweiu. "Well I've also learned a lot since we last sparred." He rolled his shoulders. "And Fweiu, you know I'm always warmed up." He kept up his air of confidence.

@Kait

Liun looked around the clearing, noting the size. He got the feeling Fweiu picked it out intentionally for if Liun decided to shift, but he kinda only shifted when he had to. He preferred to fight in human form. He walked over to a tree and placed down his bag, and removed some bandaging from it. He always brought the same stuff for sparring, even if it was with Fweiu. He wrapped it around his hands a few times before he put it away.

He moved back so he was more in the clearing and took the spear off of his back. He held it loosely with his right hand, then threw it to his left, then back again. He did this a couple of times before he opted to hold it loosely in his left hand. He held it so the spear tip was pointed to the ground. He finally grinned as he looked at Fweiu. "Ready."

He sure felt ready until Fweiu charged him like that. He was prepared for the fact that Fweiu would likely partially shift when he saw the size of the clearing. It was big enough for himself, but not Fweiu. So that left her partial shifting. But damn he wasn't quite ready for that. The grin didn't exactly help either.

First he summoned his armour. He started with the gauntlets, and promptly strengthened them as soon as they appeared. Next he switched his spear back to his right hand, bringing it towards the back as he moved his left hand to hold it closer to the front. He lowered and widened his stance to allow for a better attack. Unfortunately, he didn't quite realise Fweiu's plan. As soon as Fweiu was just out of his range, he lunged forward with the spear, aiming a jab at her side.

@Kait

Liun really should've expected that. The lunge was fairly bold against someone larger and physically stronger than him, but he felt it was a decent defensive action. But as he felt his balance start to tip, and Fweiu's tail coming to sweep him over, he decided to make a decision. He could hold onto his spear, risk being knocked over, but ultimately still have his weapon... or let go. He still had a high chance of being caught off balance, but he wouldn't be completely swept over. Obviously, he would lose his weapon.

Liun made his decision by letting go of the spear. The force that Fweiu had already applied to try and get him off balance did knock him a bit, and his sloppy jump over her tail resulted in an off balance stagger away from Fweiu. Now, all Liun had was his experience and armour. If Fweiu held onto the spear, this could be pretty rough for him. But if she decided to drop it...
He decided not to get hopeful, just focus on what was happening right now. He still hadn't quite caught his balance, meaning Fweiu could likely attack again and see Liun have only a rough defence.

Liun planted his feet into the ground and first noticed the attack coming down on his head. But he did notice Fweiu's footwork, and assessed the feint. She wasn't committing to such a blatant attack, she was aiming to punch him. He couldn't be entirely sure where, so he lowered his arms in a defensive stance over his chest, while channelling the strength in his gauntlets down to the armour covering his gut.

He had done that just in time too as he slid away from Fweiu from the force of the punch. It wasn't a massive distance, but he did leave a slide mark as a result. He looked down at his armour and found the spot that Fweiu had punched was dented. He put a hand out and attempted to call the spear back. Hopefully if Fweiu was off guard, it would either come back pretty easy, or could even get her a bit off balance from the sudden force.

Regardless, while still attempting to call the spear back, he sprinted at Fweiu and jumped. He was aiming to land a kick at her head, but it'd likely land more around her shoulder because Liun's fighting style really isn't polished for 9ft women.

The kick was a rather bold move. He knew it would leave him open afterwards, and he wasn't surprised when he found his judgement fell short with landing a kick on Fweiu's shoulder rather than her head. So he dispersed the armour strength to be equal across his entire body as he braced for whatever attack came next.

Unfortunately it was Fweiu just slamming him down. He didn't attempt any kicks so he could prepare himself more. He wasn't sure where he'd be slammed down, so he kept the armour strength equal across his entire body. As soon as he was slammed and freed, he pushed himself up as fast as he could.

As he turned to look at Fweiu, it was already too late for him to dodge entirely. Did he expect Fweiu to have ice breath in her partial form? No. Was he surprised? Also no. Was he annoyed? Absolutely. He strengthened his gauntlet strength to provide better insulation to his hands and put a hand out, once again attempting to call his spear back.