[Training] nature offers a violence

Deimos

before bones, before dirt, before even light
this is who we were

With no argument or dispute, they could move on into the beginning of the lesson, with one sentiment already complete. She needn’t carve herself into a martyr to carry a blade; he, and so many others, certainly never had.

He was a formidable and experienced instructor, and as he scrutinized, walking around her to ensure the stance was complete, he picked apart the faultiness that would already give her a disadvantage well before she ever swung the weapon. “Your balance and weight in your feet is fine, however, you need to straighten through your shoulders and your back. Otherwise, you are already losing power and movement.” Sometimes it came from a lack of core, or perhaps even nerves itself, for his brow arched at the downward angle. It would all come from time, practice, and composition, but he wasn’t going to set her upon the path of dissolution and rampaging immediately either.

So he drew alongside her, positioning himself exactly as he would in any other fight – but turned his armament so that he was ready for any motion coming his way. Second nature and muscle memory, from years upon years, since he was young and gangly. “Try this,” encouraging her to mirror the sentiments.

this untamable expanse
churning proof that we have always been deep, restless souls