Cloth Wraps were common for the Outer Sect Disciples, but for Fu, they messed with her tactile sensitivity. She couldn’t feel the blow against the dummy as well when it was wrapped in bandages. Of course, the drawback to that was that it fucking hurt as she got into the training. Knuckles red raw, scrapped and angry from the rough rope that was reinforcing the hardwood dummy. Still, perseverance would apply dividends, so she toughed it out and just got her fists treated at the end of the day in the infirmary. 

The reason she needed all her sensitivity, was she felt she was getting somewhere with Xingtian. The first and arguably second level was easily grasped. Simple style, simple moves. But there was something about Rangou’s movements that felt like they fit with Xingtian, like the two were meant to go together. Though, also missing, like they were intended to fit together, but didn’t quite fit. And so she was barreling through each strike while using Rangou’s footwork to shift from strike to strike and dummy to dummy, trying to see what fit and what was missing. Of course, this was all very unstable and gut-based, so she wasn’t getting very far. She was doing a weird thing with her brain; like the dreams of Salmon’s carefree lips inspiring the Master’s brush, she was building upon things that she dreamed of the night before. Which did not have a lot of room for thought and introspection, given that she wasn’t understanding it well in the first place.

“Guy’s staff was really cool” Fu would mutter to herself in a none-sequitorial manner, taking a drink of water and staring at the training dummy and the others around the training dummy. Maybe she should take a break from trying to dig through pigcrap for the diamond, and work on the more base-level stuff that one needed to do when you were thinking of a farming metaphor. Would certainly give her knuckles a rest from the constant abuse she was putting them through. Get into Inner Sect, grab some support from there and all the cool shit, and then carry on work with Xingtian with this new base…

With that resolved, she would head over to the Martial Hall and buy herself a Staff manual; Dipping Honeybird. It was the one she was encouraged to pick up by the clerk because it was a basic style, but solid foundations and grew with the user, who could add some embellishments to what was initially given as they got better. Glad she had a diligent few weeks of work to build up a good stash of points, she would buy that and a basic quarterstaff to begin work.

Of course, Fu wanted to pull off the awesome “four staff strike” that Hong had saved her with, and so she slid into his stance, and then struck out. She had run that moment a hundred times in her head, and she could create a phantom of it around her that ran through the forms. Unfortunately, her body was not as good as the phantom, and while it managed all four strikes, Fu fumbled trying to strike twice in the same swing and nearly dropped the staff, having to jiggle with it to stop it clattering to the floor.

“Dumb” she muttered, scratching the back of her head and looking around. Nobody really noticed, which was good, so she would open Dipping Honeybird. It was nice, with well laid out moves and explanations, easy to follow but with room to do as you willed around it when you felt confident enough to do so. Just as the man had said. So, sliding into the starting stance, she’d run through the first three sets of moves, getting into their flow before sliding in the additions she had from her training and observation. It was doing pretty well, on a tactile and kinetic level, though there was clearly room for improvement.

As she was running through these moves, she was pulled out of her focus with a heady and loud thump of a person hitting the ground. Looking over, she would see a man had just tossed another over his hip with enough force to produce the noise. He looked a little abashed at the force at which he had done it, but otherwise proud the fight had gone in his direction. One big thing that stood out was the bright orange fox ears and tail that swished behind him. With a big smile, Fu would hurry over to the man.

“You’re a Blazetail!” she exclaimed. The man would give a coy laugh and help up her partner.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed” came the sarcastic reply. Fu would purse her lips and think for a moment. Makes sense he knew what he was, and that it was weird someone would just announce that.

“S…sorry. I just, have never seen one before” she replied, brushing a hand through her hair.

“It’s fine. I am used to people being surprised. We don’t come out of the South very often. Also, it’s Salamander, not Blazetail” he replied, straightening his uniform and returning to his spot.

“Wh….at’s the difference?” Fu asked, shuffling with him as he stood in the center of the map.

“Salamander is racial, Blazetail is specific. Sort of like Warrior and Swordsmen. A swordsman is a warrior, but a warrior is not necessarily a swordsman” he would explain, and then nod to her staff. “So, you wanna get some practice with that thing?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t that hurt you?” She asked him, to which she got a laugh.

“Probably, but who shys from knowledge because pain?” he replied, entering into his stance and letting Fu pull into her own. 

“I could use with some work on the defensive forms. It’s hard to practice defense without a partner” Fushaka would tell him, entering into a defensive stance as the book described.

The man was fast, and strong, and Fushaka felt on the back foot every move he made, but he was also able to keep her from feeling too far behind, and give her a very solid workout that went a long way to helping her grasp the basics of her style.

“You’re pretty good at this, huh?” He asked, after the spar was over and they were both on the stands. “I felt like you were adapting to my attacks as I was making them, which is an impressive feat for anyone”

Fu, not used to such praise and not sure what she was doing, just flushed and hid her face.

“I was just…doing what I normally do. I don’t need or want any specific praise for that” she’d reply, fiddling with the staff.

“Fair. Humility in the face of natural assets. A great personality to have, as any Kitsune will tell ya” he replied, taking a drink. 

“So…” she’d start, biting her lip. “What’s the difference between Salamanders and Kitsunes?” she asked, cautiously in case it was a touchy subject. It wasn’t, as she just got a casual shrug for her asking, but caution was always good.

“What’s the difference between you and me? I dunno, really. I am a Kitsune, but also, a Salamander. Like we are variants, or something like that. It all goes over my head, honestly” he’d explain, or at least try to. And then, rising from his seat, he went over to go fight a woman who was flagging him down. Man certainly had stamina for days, if nothing else….