Don't give me Lip (Zora)

[Gabrielle]

"Do you really think she's ready for this?"
Gabrielle held up her staff, the signature weapon that she had used in the beginning of her journey with Xena. The Warrior Princess' spirit standing beside her watching over while she looked the staff over. Remembering all the battles she experienced with this as her only weapon and taking a second one from the wall Kain had provided for her. He allowed her to use the armory for training. Though Zora frowned upon what she called 'muggle weapons' she was going to have to learn to adapt since there were enemies that could render her spells useless like in the last battle. Such a restricted style could only lead to trouble down the line if she wasn't present.

"The girl has spunk. I'm sure she can handle it."
Gabrielle walked over to the center of the room with both staffs in her hands waiting for the arrival of Zora who she told to meet her here.
"It's strange. Seeing you with the sidekick for a change."
"Yeah. A sidekick with a mouth on her."
"You weren't all bed and roses yourself."
Xena's eyes wandered away from Gabrielle as the Battling Bard simply smiled and patted Xena on the shoulder.
"Love you too."

[Ayen]

Zora, ever reluctant, strolled down the hall and towards the armory where Gabrielle had said to meet her. She couldn't see the events to come being a present experience at all. It was bad enough she had to put up being around muggles 24/7 but now she was expected to learn to fight like one? It's not like the muggle way of fighting was even more effective against the Empress of Jherrazad or her armies than her magic was. At least in her mind it wasn't. But here she was inside the armory now standing across from Gabrielle and winkling her nose at the sight of the staffs in her hands.

“You don't really expect me to use that, do you?”

[Gabrielle]

In response Gabrielle tossed the other staff at Zora and replied, "Yes I do." Gabrielle started walking around her, allowing the child to get used to the feel of the weapon in her hands while explaining something. "There's nothing wrong with your style, Zora. But not every enemy you face is going to fall the same way as the last one did. Good warriors know how to adapt, to expand their styles for different tactics and situations. If all you do is a disarming spell followed up with a full body bind curse then sooner or later someone is going to come along who knows how to counter you."

Gabrielle came around her in full and now showed the witch how to properly hold her staff. Bringing one hand at the butt of it and the other around a shoulder width above. Her thumb side of each hand on the inside and allowed her arms to hang naturally as she held it. As if doing weight lifting with the staff. "You with me so far?"

[Ayen]

"Yes I do."

Zora caught the staff and looked at it awkwardly. It was smaller than the one Gabrielle's held, an obvious choice considering she was also shorter than Gabrielle too. Her first thought was to hold it like a cane in her right hand as she listened to Gabrielle.

"There's nothing wrong with your style, Zora. But not every enemy you face is going to fall the same way as the last one did. Good warriors know how to adapt, to expand their styles for different tactics and situations. If all you do is a disarming spell followed up with a full body bind curse then sooner or later someone is going to come along who knows how to counter you."

“I'd like to see them try without magic. The only reason that woman got the drop on me was because her weapon could absorb my spells. Otherwise I would have easily done what you just described.”

"You with me so far?"

No. Zora kept the staff held upright in her right hand as she looked at Gabrielle with a mocking expression on her face.

“You look ridiculous.”

[Gabrielle]

'You weren't kidding about the spunk.'
Seeing that this lesson would be going nowhere fast Gabrielle took the staff from Zora's hand and placed it down on the nearby table before parting the difference between them by a reasonable amount and facing Zora with her staff at the ready.
"All right. Take out your wand and try to disarm me."

[Ayen]

"All right. Take out your wand and try to disarm me."

“They'll be no try involved.”

Now this was more like it. That crumbly old staff in her hand just didn't feel right. It was like something you'd use if you couldn't walk on both feet or was too lazy to get out of your chair to reach an object and you needed something to cover the distance. The witch drew her wand and aimed the tip of it as sparks flew from the end.

“EXPELLIARMUS!”

In the next instant Gabrielle's staff would go flying out of her hand leaving her vulnerable for the following charm they've been talking about.

“PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!”

[Gabrielle]

As anticipated Gabrielle's staff indeed went flying from her hand but what Zora failed to notice was Gabrielle not holding the staff properly. Instead of using both hands as shown earlier she held it in much the same way Zora did back when she was mocking her. Single-handedly in her right hand between her fingers. Meanwhile her other hand was inside her dark blue Japanese robes and pulled out the Super Chakram sending it directly into the path of the second spell knocking it back towards Zora and then splitting in two to ensure it didn't hit the child dead on and reconnecting after it passed Zora.

The child would have no time to react as her own spell froze her up and caused her to go limp against the ground while the Chakram bounced off the walls and the weapons in the armory before coming back into Gabrielle's hand and being tucked away inside her robes again. Picking up the fallen staff, Gabrielle walked over to Zora's side and looked down at the witch.
"Now. Ready to do things my way?"

[Ayen]

Gotcha!

Or so she thought. Before Zora knew what hit her that chakram had came out of nowhere and her body fell limp to the floor below her. The only part of her body she could move were her eyes as she looked around in a panicked desperately, and futilely trying to move where she couldn't as Gabrielle now stood over her.

"Now. Ready to do things my way?"

Muffled sounds was all the Battling Bard of Potidaea would hear in response as the Witch with a Mouth was unable to use the most active part of her body.

[Gabrielle]

She took the muffled sounds to be a yes and called in one of the spellcasters from Utopia who reversed the binding curse and left while Gabrielle helped Zora back up to her feet and handed her the second staff again.
"The advantages and disadvantages with your current weapon are the same. The speed in which your spells travel gives your opponent little time to react as it covers distance so quickly, but at the same time it gives you just as much time if someone manages to rebound your spell on you as I have demonstrated. Another weakness is the fact you have to speak what you're doing before you can do it. Making it easier for your enemy to anticipate when an attack will come or interrupt you mid-sentence."

Gabrielle showed Zora how to hold the staff again before moving on to straight moves, explaining while demonstrating.
"Raise the staff up to shoulder level, then above your head. Drop it back down to shoulder level, then thrust your arms out in front of you, like this, as though you're doing push ups on your feet. After which bring it back down to your shoulders and let it drop below your waist. These are called "straight moves" as you raise your staff or push it away you can knock an attack off target or strike your enemy. Likewise for the downward moves."

[Ayen]

As soon as Zora was able to use her mouth she exercised it freely once Gabrielle had pulled her back to her feet.

“What the bloody hell was that? There's no way that weapon of yours should have been able to redirect my spell. You're cheating!”

"The advantages and disadvantages with your current weapon are the same. The speed in which your spells travel gives your opponent little time to react as it covers distance so quickly, but at the same time it gives you just as much time if someone manages to rebound your spell on you as I have demonstrated. Another weakness is the fact you have to speak what you're doing before you can do it. Making it easier for your enemy to anticipate when an attack will come or interrupt you mid-sentence."

“Very few people can rebound my spells and fewer can interrupt me mid-sentence. Just what were you trying to prove earlier anyway? I disarmed your staff.”

"Raise the staff up to shoulder level, then above your head. Drop it back down to shoulder level, then thrust your arms out in front of you, like this, as though you're doing push ups on your feet. After which bring it back down to your shoulders and let it drop below your waist. These are called "straight moves" as you raise your staff or push it away you can knock an attack off target or strike your enemy. Likewise for the downward moves."

Reluctantly, Zora repeated what Gabrielle showed her on how to hold the staff and once she got down started with raising above her head and dropping down for a bit before moving on to the rest.

What am I doing?

Zora thrust her arms, repeatedly until accidentally dropping it on the ground and hitting her foot.

“Bugger.”

[Gabrielle]

"You disarmed my staff. You didn't hit me with Petrificus Totalus. You were so focused on my staff it never occurred to you that I might have a secondary weapon ready to counter the follow-up attack. Had this been a real fight I could have easily killed or captured you once you were limp on the ground."
Gabrielle watched now as Zora repeated what she had shown her. Noticing how uncomfortable she looked. It was to be expected when was one learning how to wield a new weapon but Gabrielle was certain another part had to do with her prejudice against the non-magical. Something she would have to get over sooner or later. For her own sake. But it looked like her parents did a real number on her in that regard.
"Pick it up and try again. Once you have the straight moves down we'll move on to pivots."

[Ayen]

"You disarmed my staff. You didn't hit me with Petrificus Totalus. You were so focused on my staff it never occurred to you that I might have a secondary weapon ready to counter the follow-up attack. Had this been a real fight I could have easily killed or captured you once you were limp on the ground."

“And had this been a fair fight it'd be you limp on the floor unable to form sentences!”

Zora protested, missing the point completely and instead just taking out her anger on Gabrielle for her own lack of experience on the matter.

"Pick it up and try again. Once you have the straight moves down we'll move on to pivots."

“No. I-I can't. If my father was here...”

[Gabrielle]

"Your enemies aren't always going to fight fair."
Not to mention she didn't see how she could claim the moral high ground when she had magic on her side and Gabrielle, with the obvious exception of the chakram, didn't. But that was a discussion for another time. Seeing that Zora was still struggling accepting a muggle weapon Gabrielle knew this was something they would have to address now if they wanted to get any further in her training.
"What, Zora? What would your father say if he was here now?"

[Ayen]

"Your enemies aren't always going to fight fair."

“So you're saying I should sink to their level?”

"What, Zora? What would your father say if he was here now?"

“Disgrace.”

That would be the word he'd use to describe this display. Converting with muggles and agreeing to hold one of their weapons. Zora knew her father would disown her on sight if he was here in person.

“I come from a noble pure-blooded wizard family. If they knew I was mingling with muggles. If they knew I was wielding a muggle weapon. There'd be no going home.”

[Gabrielle]

"I'm saying you need to better anticipate your opponent's next move before they anticipate yours."
Gabrielle listened as Zora talked about her family. Confirming thoughts she already had in her mind from how she behaved since the moment they met. It made her that more thankful for her own family.
"There's nothing noble about teaching hate and intolerance, Zora. If your family truly love you then they won't kick you out because you did something that didn't meet up to their ideals."