Beckham stood and watched Alianor jab at the dummy for a while, before eventually getting tired. She had seemed, at first glance, to be fairly fit and healthy, but her lack of stamina was disturbing to say the least. He motioned for her to move out of the way so that he could get a clear ring with the dummy, the nervous disposition fading slightly as he became more focused. Beckham was comfortable, fighting - this was what he excelled at. He demonstrated, first of all, how to stand - similar enough to Alianor's own stance, his feet were shoulder-width apart and he stood fairly straight, so that he would be balanced.

[b]"If you want to do more damage with less raw power, you have to understand momentum. Two forces travelling in opposite directions do not cancel out at the point of impact, the impact point has the combined force of both. You might not be able to throw a man far, or kick him hard, but if you put the two together..."[/b] Beckham demonstrated his point on the dummy - clasping his hands around the back of the dummy's head and thrusting it downwards, bringing his knee up at the same time to hit the thing with a loud 'thwack'. It fell backwards to the floor. [b]"...then the strike is stronger, without much more effort put in by you."[/b]

He stood back for a moment, and offered Alianor the chance to attempt this grab-and-strike technique. After watching, he nodded slightly and began to speak again. [b]"It's also worth bearing in mind the body's natural points of balance and movement. I don't recommend you try this sort of thing in the initiation... we'd rather avoid breakages... but it's important to understand the theory. Human joints are only supposed to move in certain directions, but they're not particularly strong when pushed. So, for instance, if you strike firmly at the side of the knee it's very possible to break the joint, and cripple your opponent."[/b] He demonstrated on the dummy, kicking it at the leg and watching it topple to the ground. [b]"See? Easy."[/b]

[b]"The Vigil, however, seeks to combine the two for the sake of combat. We call it 'redirection' - taking momentum and routing it to a particular place on the body. For instance, say this dummy tried grabbing me..."[/b] Beckham made the dummy lunge at him. He grabbed it by the arm, allowed it to continue the lunge for a while, then hooked his foot behind the dummy's leg and pulled its balance out from underneath it. The thing was turned over, but Beckham kept hold of its arm. As it faced the ground once more, he kicked hard with his other foot and drove its torso into the ground. The connections around the dummy's shoulder snapped, and the arm dislocated in a painful-looking position. Beckham looked very pleased with himself for a moment, before he dropped the thing and stood to one side again, feeling a little sheepish. He hoped that Alianor didn't catch his attempt to show off.

[b]"Show me what you can do, with that in mind. These are the basic principles behind it - the actual movements will vary a lot depending on the size of your opponent and the way of moving which is most comfortable to you."[/b] he said, mumbling slightly near the end of the sentence. He stood with his arms about him, a slight blush in his cheeks. [b]"I'm sure you'll get it quickly."[/b]