Drejak’s mind blazed with disbelief as the young woman in front of him attempted to slip into the realm of incredibly super-natural speed. At this point, Drejak simply HAD to let his mind slip into another logical analysis of what was occurring:
Red had struck out with her knife in self-defense. He had moved to counter the knife strike from the still-mostly-crouched opponent with a vertical forearm block against a horizontal or diagonally positioned arm. So far, it was logically sound and a good reaction, but all good things must come to an end. It’s sad, but it’s true.
Somehow, in the middle of swinging her right arm (which she would HAVE to swing at full speed in order for her to have had ANY hope of the weapon intercepting his attacking left arm) Adaire had decided it was a good idea to attempt to bring her left arm forward to “check” Drejak's right arm,( And what was "checking" exactly; was she attempting to keep his arm from moving in the way of her swing? Doubtful, since she’d wind up cutting herself. Was she trying to move his arm out of the way? That seemed most likely.) so her swing could continue. How on earth Red figured she could move her left arm faster than her already accelerated and swinging right arm, Drejak had no idea.
On top of Drejak’s disbelief of the speed she was attempting to reach, her apparent misunderstanding of his physiology was astounding. Drejak, while bigger and stronger than Red, was not some lumbering giant she could just dance around. Rather, the difference in their speeds and strengths was simply more that Adaire was smaller than he, she was female and they were of two different races. Females, generally, are genetically weaker than males in physical considerations. Not to mention (because her author noted such)she was a mundane human. Drejak was a wolf in human form. His very existence was based on the deadly combination of predatory levels of strength and speed, combined and balanced at such a precise level to make him a living killing-machine. She was not outpacing him. She was, in fact, dealing with a creature with heightened strength, heightened speed, heightened reaction times, and heightened senses. His natural, predatory traits may have not achieved the level of super-human, but they were ALL beyond human standards of above-average.
Adaire also seemed to have an issue with trying to take Drejak’s balance as being something to toy with. True, in this current situation his balance wasn’t at its peak, but he would probably be on a MUCH more stable base than she currently was. She had dropped low and kicked. She had drawn her leg back, and apparently managed to put it back on the ground or something, but since Drejak had moved in time with her kick and not several seconds afterwards, she shouldn’t have had time to establish a firm base with her right foot. Considering how her weight was being supported primarily on her left side, how could she have done so any way? Now, she was apparently “bouncing” back up from the crouch, fueled by some combination of force from her left arm pushing off the ground and her left leg accompanying it. Simultaneously, she was slashing with the knife. To add to that, she was accelerating her left arm well beyond physical possibilities to move faster than her slashing right arm. So, it seemed, most of her weight was pivoting solely on her left leg as she was rising, slashing, “checking” Drejak’s blocking arm, and trying to re-establish footing with her right leg. So… how in the world could she possibly have anything even resembling balance during all of this? At least Drejak had a solid base to support his weight on. Both feet were firmly on the ground, he had a wide stance, and his tail was working overtime to make adjustments to keep his balance intact.
Drejak’s next topic of concern was the issue of their momentum. Drejak, a heavier fighter, was using descending momentum, which worked with the forces of gravity, to drop himself viciously upon Adaire in the form of a clawing strike. His upper body was moving forward and slightly downward since he was crouched now, but his overall momentum would still be descending due to the flow of his crouch that brought him to neutralize the advantage of her lowered position in the first place. Adaire’s momentum was based off her either just-above average or somehow otherwise limited human strength defying gravity, with a smaller mass to throw around. If she thought that her 114lb rising body would actually overpower Drejak’s descending 248lb frame (the size difference is astounding; he weighs OVER twice as much as she does. What were the judges thinking?), she must have swallowed too much salt water when she went skipping into the ocean after being introduced to his earth-manipulating capability.
It stood to reason with Drejak that there was indeed no way she could overpower his right arm in this scenario. He had a monumental advantage in momentum, an established base for balance, and superior strength. Adaire’s left arm wasn’t going to be “checking” anything. She might grab his wrist and let her fingers “close loosely” around it, but he would just power through that feeble attempt at defying physics and block her knife-wielding arm.
Drejak’s mind reeled as he completed his analysis within an elapsed time of less than a second. Whenever that happened, it was like everything slowed down around him, and then came rushing back all at once in a blur of action. Were he not already dedicated to blocking a knife and attempting an arm-lock, he would have instead taken his impressive strength and back-handed this woman for her foolishness. That might not be a bad idea, actually. Red’s head might snap to the side and score him a knockout. There was still that knife, though, and he had to deal with that first. Pity, really.
Drejak’s actions should have carried through as he originally intended. He would block her knife arm, with his forearm, and then through the laws of physics her left hand would then grab his wrist and attempt to move his arm out of the way, and possibly set her up for a second stab or slash attempt, if she was even willing to attempt that. He would fight against that pull, which would divert him from attempting the arm lock, and his left arm continued on its merry way to meet her lower back. Should she not grab his wrist and somehow redirect her actions within the time frame of a previous reaction(yet again), he would either adjust and attempt to defend against this new reaction or continue to try to achieve the arm lock against her right arm. He wouldn’t earn the pleasure of gaining control of her back by sinking his claws into her flesh around her spine, though.
This was due to the fact that when Red brought her left arm forward, the rest of her body would have turned slightly. What purchase this provided Drejak was his claws ripping through the side of her bathing suit and digging four trenches in her flesh below her ribs on her right side. She would bleed from the wound, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near fatal. Hell, he couldn’t even disembowel her with this swipe of his claws. How disappointing. There was a bright side, though. His left arm would be free to retract, which it did as part of the natural follow-through of the swipe anyway, instead of being committed to a loose hold of Red’s back.
So, when and if her kick came for his jaw, Drejak would elevate his left arm in front of his face to absorb and block the force of the strike. Her boot would meet his forearm, and with the strength that he clenched his fist, his tightened muscles would additionally protect his bones from the kick that wasn’t a “breaking kick” to begin with. Bruising would occur, at the most. He would then push his arm outward against her boot and try to force her leg to swing back down away from him.
Drejak’s right arm was not about to be controlled by her “loose” grasp. The wolf would tug against her grasp and attempt to twist his wrist to allow his fingers to wrap around her forearm. With the thickness of his muscle mass and the apparent looseness of her grasp, should she still decide to obtain and hold it, it would be easy for him to break free and make the attempt. His eyes reverted to watching the knife, either just after the kick issue was resolved or immediately after the block (depending on what reaction she carried through).
Drejak’s further actions would depend on what happened with Adaire’s current actions and the results thereof. With her recent attempt to defy logic, he very well couldn’t expect her to be predictable, and needed a couple fractions of a second to get his mind completely back on track. He was ready to actually DEAL SOME DAMAGE to Adaire, instead of playing cat and mouse with her. Perhaps wolf and hare would have been better to think of.
Should Drejak grasp her left forearm or wrist, pain would follow in one of many various ways. His left hand was readied as a defense against a follow-up from her bowie or perhaps another kick, or ready to strike out again should she open a door for him. With her seemingly as off balanced as she might have been with either an un-established base via her right foot, or her right foot swinging back from his block, and the potential of Drejak gaining some control of Red’s left arm, he could think of several things to do to her in that moment of recoil.
A couple of considerations floated through Drejak's mind. Obviously, Adaire had seen his previous fight, but she hadn’t really learned anything about fighting him, apparently. Sephiroth hadn’t had any luck at all in dealing with Drejak in the wolf’s primal combat range. What really made this woman, a foot shorter and less than half Drejak’s weight, think she had a chance where a man much closer to being on an even physical playing field with Drejak had failed? Her agility and balance were good, but perhaps she was the one being overly confident in her abilities. Next on his mind was her stubborn tactic of staying close to him and keeping herself in a dangerous place. She had scored the kick against his leg and weakened his knee, and thus his mobility. Why hadn’t she taken that and run with it? Literally. She could have avoided so much danger had she just retreated after landing the blow and hindering Drejak. Then she could have lured and zoned against him with her knife.
There were so many other ways this fight could have gone, and many of them worse for Drejak than the situation he was in, now. Dealing with melee weapons and trained fighters had been part of his life since he was seven human years old. He was twenty-two years into his life’s journey. She had caught him off guard a couple of times, but her capabilities and methods were far from new to Drejak. So, really, he was thankful for the way she was trying to fight him. It was bold, and courageous, if a bit unprecedented.
And Red might want to watch her footing.
She was still within the five foot circle of exposed stone. Chunks of wood that Drejak had deliberately cleared from that space floated in the water and littered the edges of the arena. His purpose for that effort had yet to be revealed, but the effort was not a waste. He could assure her of that.
You will not defeat me, woman. I will be victorious. I have to win, for Shadow.
Established Commune Level: Innate Ability Activated: None GCD: Waiting to be Triggered
