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gatecoeur · 5 years

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Reasons Behind Arrie’s Martial Arts Styles, Part 2...ish

Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m back on my martial arts bs.

As I keep emphasizing, there’s a specific reason I chose each martial arts style that Arelette knows. This is kind of a TL;DR of that. KIND OF. It’s gonna dive more into the individual characteristics of each style tho, rather than connecting them to Arelette’s life story. If you wanna read into that, here’s the link for it.

The link kind of does touch some of the things I’m gonna talk about, so if you’ve read it already, expect some repetition. Tbh I just wanted to write it all out in detail in case people wanted to know more. And because I love talking about this shit.

Tai Chi

On the surface level, it’s pretty obvious that Tai Chi is pretty damn ideal for anyone dealing with chronic pain; it’s slow, meditative, and keeps the person moving. However, it also teaches something that I think (at least in my experience) other marital arts styles kind of gloss over; breathing technique. You think it’d be such a simple thing to do, but you honestly have no idea how much energy you can lose just by not having control over your breathing.

Also, if you read the backstory, you’ll know that I added in this nice lil moment where Arelette is shown that Tai Chi is just as valid as any other martial arts style. This is a PIVOTAL moment in Arelette’s life, because she realizes that after what she’s been through so far, that she WANTS to learn self defence, and later on, that she wants to defend others who can’t do so themselves. It really is that starting point for her passion in martial arts.

Kyokushin Karate

I realize that this one was an interesting choice. A martial arts style that focuses on full-contact sparring? Why in the hell would I chose that for a kid in chronic pain? Well, first of all, I really wanted a style that got Arelette acquainted with the pain of actual fighting.

Secondly, if you think you’re gonna be sparring immediately after you start a new martial arts style, you’re dead wrong. I can’t speak for all Shifus and Senseis obviously, but in my experience, if you’re not doing a self defence class, you need AT LEAST 1 year to learn the basic forms (if you’re having lessons once or twice a week, anyways) before you can move onto sparring, and even then, sparring begins in a VERY controlled structure before you start to see more and more of the all-out improvised stuff that you typically see in television and movies. By the time Arelette would’ve been full-out sparring, her chronic pain obviously decreased to the point where she could handle being in such an environment.

So yeah, don’t @ me

Wing Chun

I think after Tai Chi, my choice in Wing Chun should be very obvious, and not just because of the anti-high kick rant I went on.

Wing Chun was SPECIFICALLY designed as a self-defence martial arts style. The goal in Wing Chun essentially is to incapacitate your enemy as quickly as possible and fucking run. It’s part of the reason why it’s actually fairly easy to learn the basics of Wing Chun; a few sources even cite Shifus saying that someone can have all the basics down to a T within 6 months with just weekly training if they practice outside of class, which trust me, is EXTREMELY fast.

Also, you gotta consider that the average human cannot engage in combat for more than 15 consecutive minutes, and for every minute that you’re in a fight, you’re getting more and more tired, so time is of the essence in a self-defence situation.

Xiang Xing Quan

The Eagle Claw and Tiger Claw styles I chose because both target the joints, specifically to lock them. This is EXTREMELY useful in a fight because it basically hinders an opponent’s ability to fight, and thus helps end the fight quicker, which again, is definitely a goal of a vigilante should have when they’re outnumbered.

As I also mentioned before, both styles a very claw-friendly, since as you can imagine, it is not ideal to use fists when you have razor sharp claws at the ends of your finger tips

As for the Snake Style Wushu, it focuses on striking human weak points like the eyes, joints, and various pressure points of the body. Again, extremely useful in a fight as it weakens your opponent. Additionally, it’s fairly common to train with a sword or a spear once you’re proficient enough in the style. This is where Arrie got the majority of her weapons training. She personally prefers polearms due to their reach, but again, she can wield a sword if she has to.

Boxing

I kind of explained this one already, in a way. Because boxing and kickboxing are so prevalent, I thought it would be advantageous for Arrie to learn boxing, if only to understand how a lot of her enemies are likely to attack her.

Additionally, she got to fully understand and witness in person why boxers will often target each other’s livers. She knew it was a weak point before, but she didn’t target it nearly as much as a typical boxer. She still doesn’t, if she’s not up against someone she’s willing to kill, because a well-placed punch to the liver can cause it to rupture, and the person on the receiving end of that could die if they don’t seek medical attention immediately.

Also, getting hit in the liver is the human equivalent of hitting a restart button, I swear

Pencak Silat

Silat’s kind of one that’s only recently come up on my radar admittedly, but the sheer speed and power of some of the variants of silat is what drew me into thinking that it’d be worthwhile for Arrie to learn. Silat is an umbrella of fighting styles that originated in Southeast Asia, so considering that Arrie spent a significant amount of time in that region, it’s not unreasonable for her to have come across it, especially during her time in Madripoor.

I have it headcanoned that Madripoor has its own style of silat due to the fact that it “historically” was a pirate nation, meaning that a lot of cultures would’ve definitely mixed and mingled there, including martial arts cultures. Arrie would’ve likely encountered it whilst fighting off the local bounty hunters, as well as watching and/or participating in the underground fighting rings (because surely those exist in Madripoor of all places)

Also, a lot of silat styles notably have a focus on elbow strikes, which for those who don’t know, are easily the most effective and painful attacks you can use in a fight, since not only is your elbow incredibly strong, but it’s even sharp enough to break skin.

Silat also does use some grapples and offers weapon training, so Arrie would’ve expanded on both of those notably weaker points of her own fighting style whilst learning Madripoorian silat.

Jeet Kune Do

Jeet Kune Do kind of falls into the same reason of choice as Wing Chun. Its goal is to help fighters end a fight as quickly as possible by making their strikes powerful whilst also conserving as much energy as possible. Bruce Lee literally designed the style for realistic combat, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Arrie has dedicated herself to learning it rn.

Also, I wasn’t kidding when I said Jeet Kune Do was mathematical by principle. Kyle Hill on the Because Science YouTube show does a fantastic job explaining the physics behind the one-inch punch, which I highly recommend you watch if that kinda thing interests you.

#;hc #;long post #(( highkey thinking about making a whole series about this kinda stuff??? ))#(( cuz I feel like the Marvel and DC rpc especially should at least be aware of this stuff ))#(( but then again my combat experience is MINIMAL ))#(( if you want a REALLY good source for how to write fighting go follow howtofightwrite ))#(( their shit is fucking amazing ))#(( anyways ))#(( if there's any fighters out there that see anything wrong with what I've said hmu asap please!!! ))

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