Duncan Sythe
OOC: Timestamp is roughly second brightening of Kalendryas in winter due
to PC’ly affairs, if this is a problem for anyone please PM me.
Just post your entrance and we’ll go from there.
IC:
The date was set and they’d been informed, Duncan, no, Aaron Slone, had arranged
things with his fellow Constable a long time ago, he helped him with the
Stone Guard, they helped him train a larger number of recruits once he got
the Medonian Guard going, that was the premise at any rate.
He’d arrived early of course, under the guise of his Illusion of Constable
Aaron Wildar Duncan had made sure the items he’d ordered a while ago had
arrived and were in crates against one wall of the Stone Guard training centre;
two dozen weighted practice blades and an equal number of proper longswords
for later work.
The ‘tutor’ himself, after checking the equipment; dressed in old military
grays had brought out one of his own weapons, not actually a longsword but
an Aetherium Fallax Katana with its strangely golden hue, while waiting for
his pupils he went through a series of moves in the centre of the open training
area, sword movement smooth and refined, he did by no means count himself
an expert with a blade but he knew how to use one as well as most soldiers
if not slightly better, enough with his other abilities to ensure self defense
was a small problem to him against the casual bandit attack or more.
Today would not be like that though; today the brown haired, blue eyed man
who went by the name of Aaron Slone would be teaching some completely novices
how to wave a sharp metal object around without cutting their own feet off,
not how to fight four people at once.
Quix
Quix entered the training area that was set aside for the Stone Guard. It
looked like he was the first one there and he observed the man that was waiting
there for the rest of the group.
Quix did not say anything to the man who seemed like the trainer but mearly
took a seat and watched him.
Ffesshssia'ad
[ooc: Not quite sure what time of day exactly you wanted, but I'm going to
roleplay that my PC will behave the way a lizardman on his first day in a
city would do]
Ffesshssia'ad was not accustomed to keeping any time other than that of the
rhythms of sun and season. On a cool late-autumn day like this, he was usually
sluggish until after the sun had risen and warmed things up a bit. It took
nearly a full hour after sunrise before Ffesshssia'ad was fully roused and
ready to make his way to the training grounds.
The large grey-green saurid entered the training ground, initially standing
still as a statue near the wall a bit to the side of the door as he took
in the surroundings and saw who and what else was there. He watched the instructor
as he practiced with his katana; his motions were smooth and confident. Waiting
for a pause in the action, the Ffesshssia'ad moved into the middle of the
training ground and stood before Constable Slone. The lizardman greeted him:
"Ssserale, masster. I am Ffesshssia'ad, and am here to learn sswordsmanship."
Duncan Sythe
OOC: Will give it a day or two for anyone else.
Alexandra
OOC: Thank you for waiting for me... :)
It was the second brightening of Kalendryas when Alexandra walked to the
place where the Longsword's training were going to take place. The teacher
was in the center of the room, dressed in old military grays and doing some
moves with a sword-like weapon. She noticed that two of the pupils were there
already and quietly joined them. She took off her heavy cloak, reviling the
cloth that she wore. One of the pupils, an odd looking sea-elf, took a seat
and the other, a lizardman, greeted the teacher. He had a strange accence
and it was a little hard for the young human to understand what he said.
His name seemed to hard to pronounce as well, something like Ffesshssia'ad?...
She wasn't sure.
Rufus Dimane
Rufus, had been instructed by Epicurious to report here for his longsword
training. He had missed the initial sign up, but hoped that that wouldn't
cause much problems.
Rufus wore his training gear, a simple pair of black trousers and a simple
shirt, along with common black boots. Over this he wore his black cloak,
wich he removed after entering the training center. He carried with him an
elven long sword made of elven steel, on his belt. His hair was tied back,
revealing his ebony colored face and his glowing red eyes.
He looked around for the instructor and saw a group of three congregated
around the center of the room where another, obviously the instructor was
going through a series of maneuvers weilding an ornate katana. Rufus marveled
at the blade. He didn't know much about swords or forging but he knew a rare
item when he saw it. The blade was gold and obviously made of a rare metal,
for it did not shine like his elven steel or any normal alloy.
Drawing his attention to the other three he noticed that once again he was
at a slight disadvantage. The instructor was of a light race and the lizard
man aside so where the other students. He would have to work that much harder
to gain any sort of respect. Not that that was new to the vysstichi youth.
Rufus stepped into the room, his boots thumping against the floor. He looked
around, seeing an few open crates along one wall containing blades. Perhaps
he did not need to bring his blade after all. He stood in the cente of the
room in a relaxed pose, his hands on the hilt of his blade as he watched
the more experienced swordsman.
Duncan Sythe
OOC: Anyone for any more? Otherwise i'll begin this tomorrow.
Quix
Quix watched as the other newcomers came along. He noticed that same Vyssticci
from before. He knew that that would be a good sparring partner in this training
session. If not a parnter then a very sooon to be dead vyssticci.
Noone could change what the Vyssticci did to him and his family and Quix
would hate that kind for eternity.
Duncan Sythe
While making his movements around the largely empty training area Duncan
noted as people arrived, some sitting to watch, others paused and seemed
uncertain, yet another; confident about himself and armed, of course they’d
all be different, they all expected different things. As he paused and the
Saurid approached though Duncan waved to where the others were.
“A moment, I’ll just wait to see if any more arrive.”
During that moment of checking Duncan sheathed the Aetherium sword and went
over to the crates, gathering a handful of practice blades that he put in
a pile, retrieving one for himself before going to stand before his students.
“Some of you might know me as Constable Slone, an assistant to your guild
master in an official capacity.”
He began patiently, hefting the practice blade for balance.
“Out of that capacity I’m a former Imperial soldier who’s been through drill
instruction and given it before to raw recruits, I’m going to treat you all
with the same brush.”
Duncan paused to see if any questions would pop up before continuing, nudging
the practice blades with a foot.
“Since I’m treating you all like you’ve never used a sword in your lives
we’ll start with these, the worst you can therefore do is bruise your partner
or break a bone…or break your own leg if your really stupid, you.” Slone
nodded to Rufus. “I’ll have your weapons off you before we begin. That goes
for all of you, any weapons, even that boot knife you think is so useful,
off with them, I don’t want anyone loosing their temper and turning on anyone
else.”
Waiting for that request to be complied with Duncan then nodded to the pile
of weapons.
“Now, I want each of you to take a practice sword, anyone who thinks they
don’t need to start from the beginning at this point is quite able to step
forward and show me what they think they know, otherwise just go back to
where you were standing and wait for everyone else to get ready, are there
any questions?”
He asked, looking from face to face for a response, an emotion, what did
they think about all this? About the tutor? About what they were about to
learn, Duncan was sure most had no concept of the impact this could have
on them, however little training it was going to be.
Ffesshssia'ad
Ffesshssia'ad followed the motion that the swordsman made towards the area
near the entrance, and he saw that there were others waiting there. There
he saw an elf-looking creature that smelt vaguely of the sea, a young human
female, and a vysstichi.
“A moment, I’ll just wait to see if any more arrive,” the instructor said
to him.
The saurid went to join the others, greeting them with a brief "Ssssserale",
and then dropped on all fours, his legs splayed out and his belly resting
on the ground as he waited motionlessly. No others arrived, and so finally
the human who moved so smoothly with his sword addressed the class, requesting
that they remove any weapons they were currently carrying. Ffesshssia'ad
had only a knife, which he viewed as more a tool than a weapon, since he
had weapons at least as deadly at his finger- and toe-tips and in his mouth.
He left the knife lying in a corner of the large room, lying atop his cloak
which he now removed as well.
After doing this, the human swordsman told the class to pick up one of the
wooden swords that lay in a pile next to him. Ffesshssia'ad went forward
and simply picked the first one that came to hand. He rose back onto two
legs with the sword in both his front claws, then took the sword's grip by
one hand, holding it in imitation of what he had just seen Constable Slone
do with his sword before class. He hefted it, swung it about slowly a few
times, then switched the grip to his left hand and did the same thing.
Re-establishing some distance between himself and the others, as much to
avoid being hit by them as to avoid hitting them by accident, he attempted
a couple more vigorous swings, nearly overbalancing himself the first time
he did, since he had not adjusted his tail properly. A few more swings and
he at least got the hang of moving the sword about vigorously without falling
back onto all fours. Finally he turned back to the instructor and said: "I
am ready to ssstart at the beginning, Conssstable Sssslone."
Alexandra
Alexandra stood quietly with the others. Sometimes she was a social animal
but lately she wasn't. Since she left the Robinson's house, she felt more
scared and insecure then ever. It was hard to be on her own. She never was
alone before. At her parents's home, the serviens always took care of her
every need. In the Robinson's... Not many servicemen there but she was kept
worm and nicely all the same. Now she was on her own and the future seemed
uncertain. But it was her future to make and it felt good all the same.As
her teacher talked, Alexandra returned her thoughts back to the lesson. He
talked about the importances of practice swords and she agreed with him.
But accualy, she had snicked many times to the weapon trainer's room at her
parents's castle. She tried a few times to practice with his sword but had
a few cuts here and there. When her mother found out about it, she restricted
her to her rooms for a week. It would have been more, but she had to attend
a large boll and her father insisted that she would be there...
Alexandra returned her thoughts back to the teacher and to his request to
take a practice sword. Slowly, not wanting to push anybody else, the human
female went to the handful of practice blades that where put down in a pile
and took one. Alexandra didn't try to move the sword to impress anybody as
Ffesshssia'ad, or whatever his name was, did. Her face were emotionless as
she took her place between the others.
Quix
Quix stood up from where he had taken a seat and approached the pile of swords
that where there for practicing.
After picking up a few of the swords Quix found one that was good enough
for him.
He listened as Constable Slone spoke and instructed.
Quix nodded as he spoke "Lets us start at the begining."
Quix then stepped in line with all over the other Stone Guard members and
waited for Constable Slone's next instruction.
Rufus Dimane
The constable seemed to gather imediate respect. Rufus nodded in compliance
and removed his own blade, replacing it with one of the practice blades
He had no need to prove himself at this point for there was nothing that
he knew. He was sure that stepping forward would only result in some sort
of bout with their instructor so he quietly took his place, in line with
the others.
He took his blade and after getting used to its grip, he swung it about a
couple times before stretching and awaiting further instruction.
"No sir." He responded in a slightly militant voice.
Duncan Sythe
“Very good.” The tutor breathed as he stepped back so as to be easily visible
to all the students, glancing from one to the next, noting the attitude differences,
some nervous, some perhaps overconfident, all it seemed ‘ready’ to learn
how to kill, hardly, only a psychopath wouldn’t be nervous about killing
when it actually occurred, despite appearances he didn’t particularly like
it either, he just happened to know how it went.
“To begin.” Duncan/Slone said, turning side on to the group and extending
his right foot, his left about a shoulder’s width behind, front knee bent,
back knee straight. “We’ll look at how to stand and hold the sword. I want
you all simply to copy me and see if you can think of exactly why the stance
is good, I’ll then go around and make sure everyone has got it right.”
Next Aaron/Sythe held the longsword one handed in his right hand, his left
to his side, partially for balance perhaps, although mainly because having
an extra hand was useful in a fight, but that wasn’t basic stuff, basic was
how not to chop your own foot in half. The sword itself though was held in
the centre of the hilt with one hand, blade tilted so it was at a roughly
45 degree angle from a straight line going out from the body horizontally,
indistinct therefore, it could go anywhere easily and didn’t offer any openings.
He waited a moment, making sure everyone had seen what he was doing, then
relaxed into a walking stance, practice blade loose in his right hand as
he began to walk up and down the line of students, waiting for them to get
themselves comfortable in their approximations of his stance, he’d then go
about asking questions and correcting; but not until everyone was ready and
could hear the comments.
Ffesshssia'ad
Ffesshssia'ad watched Constable Slone's actions carefully. The old naturalist
who had raised his father had taught Ffahhss'k the discipline of careful
observation and attention to detail, and Ffesshssia'ad had inherited this
capacity for keen and accurate observation as well. He imitated the instructor's
stance, not only mimicking closely the end stance itself, but trying to reproduce
the motions the swordsman had used to reach it. Rather than try to puzzle
out consciously how to hold his tail -an added care the other students did
not have- the lizardman just decided to relax and let instinct and his natural
sense of balance take over.
Ffesshssia'ad saw several advantages to this stance, although some were probably
relevant only to him. Turning partly away from one's opponent reduced the
amount of body exposed at the front. The effect was even more dramatic for
the Ai'll'gai'tah saurid as his basically crocodillian torso was considerably
broader than it was thick. It also turned more of his scale-and-scute-armored
back towards an opponent and exposed less of his more vulnerable underbelly.
Because of the placement of his eyes, Ffesshssia'ad had something of a blind
spot directly above and below his snout, and extending perhaps an inch or
two beyond it. Trying to look at someone straight along his snout like humanoids
did made him go cross-eyed. So after trying the stance exactly as Constable
Slone showed it, Ffesshssia'ad almost reflexively varied from it slightly
by turning his head to an angle roughly parallel to that at which he was
holding his wooden sword. That way, anybody trying to get to his blind spot
would have to go around the tip of his blade before getting there.
Once he had adjusted his position to where he was comfortable, he simply
stood motionless and unblinking, waiting patiently for the instructor Slone
to continue.
Alexandra
Alexandra watched her teacher without a word. She sow many of the guards
in her father's Palace practice sword fighting so this stance was familiar
for her. She didn't practice it herself as her father thought that a young
lady shouldn't be learning fighting, but meaners and all those things. But
now she was on her own and she could do as she please with her life... Alexandra
stood with her right foot a little in front of the left one, with a shoulder's
width between them. Her front knee was bent a little and her back knee was
straight, while her left hand was at her side. She held the practice sword
in her right hand, the blade was at a roughly 45 degree angle from a straight
line going out from the body. The human female made sure the the handle was
comftable in her hand.
Vyoma
OOC: Sorry for the late entry. Real life problems.
IC:
Vyoma ran into the entrance and then cursed under his breath. All of them
had arrived and that meant he was late. Things were not happening as he had
wanted. definitely he was not riding the ebb of opportunity.
He looked around and saw all those who had signed up for the longsword training
there in front of a tutor. All of them were in a stance that he had not seen
much of earlier. He had not seen many fights in his short life. They were
holding their wooden swords, but by the stance they were standing in, it
gave them a stature, that Vyoma felt, in spite of their immaturity with the
sword, each one of them could knock him down a hundred times.
Vyoma walked to the tutor and bowed as low as any master would deserve. "I
am sorry master. I am late and I accept any punishment I deserve. But please
give me the training in the longsword along with the other, for which I had
enrolled at the Training Center."
Vyoma did not hope for no punishment for his late arrival, but he really
did not want to miss the training. Any form of knowledge is acceptable, though
his mind was more towards sorcery and druidism.
The man in front of him held all the charisma a master needed and he hoped
that he would be taken in as a student.
Duncan Sythe
OOC: No problem.
As the students were attempting to get their stance roughly approximating
to Duncan’s Vyoma made his appearance. Contrary to what those in the room
might think at Duncan’s displeased expression was not because of Vyoma’s
lateness, it was his attitude towards the ‘Constable’ that irritated the
Mystic who lay behind the illusionary Constable.
“That’ll be Aaron, or Constable, not Master nameless student.” Duncan muttered
as he turned away to the stack of swords, twirling one from the pile and
offering it hilt first to Vyoma, waving impatiently at the line with the
one he was holding in his right hand. “Go over there and try to copy them,
we’ve only just started with basic stances so you haven’t missed much.”
He accentuated the words with a jerk of his head, slowly returning to trawling
up and down the line.
Quix
Quix stood readily as he awaited Solan's directions.
Quix grasped his sword in his left hand tightly and began to mimic his instructor.
He held the sword in the middle of the hilt and held the sword at a 45 degree
angle from his nose but hel the sword so that the blade went diagonal across
his body. He knew this wasn't what his instructor was doing but it felt very
comfortable. After all, Quix was more use to using his turtle spear and thats
the same angle it was held at also.
Quix stood motionless as he watched the instructor. Quix occasanily looked
over at the Vysticci that wasnt to be trusted. He was just waiting for him
to betray the group.
Rufus Dimane
Rufus watched his instructor and tried to mimic the stance. It was different
from his normal fighting stance but he was sure that it served its purposes.
He opened his legs to about shoulder length, turning sideways. He kept his
back left leg straight and his front left slightly bent. The stance seemed
a bit silly to him, coming from a martial arts background.
He kept his practice blade in his right hand and his left in a loose fist
at his side. this was similar to what he was used to. He kept the blade at
a tilted angle, both vertically and horrizontally.
He tried not to pay much atention to the rest of the group. He noticed the
light elf walk in late, apologetically but did not acknowlege him. He kept
his eyes focused on his stance, adjusting slightly, to fit his personal preferences.
He bent his back leg slightly and offset it, so his feet weren't exactly
perpendicular to each other. He found that this gave him more balance. Also
the slightly bent back leg, he thought, gave him a bit more mobility. Both
balance and agility were important to the vysstichi in a fight. He viewed
the sword as an extension of his arm. With this mindset he hoped to achieve
a better grasp of improvisation, once he got the basics.
Vyoma
"Yes, Master Slone. It would be difficult for me though, to omit the word,
'Master'."
Vyoma did see the displeasure, but he took the sword by its hilt and continued,
"You are here to give the knowledge, and I am here to receive. In my knowledge
it would be a inefficient training, if I do not understand that in my heart,
and for that reason, you are my master... Master Slone if it has to be so."
Vyoma walked with the sword and stood next to Quix at the end of the line.
He looked over carefully at the others and saw that they were trying to mimic
a stance that had been originally the same, but all of them had adjusted
a bit, it may seem, but the result was there were a myriad of the basic stances
beside him.
Still he had to try. Vyoma moved his left leg back a bit and stepped his
right leg a bit front. He kept his left leg taut and for the balance, he
had to bend his right leg. He held the sword at an angle, that one would
throw a stone for it to reach the farthest distance. Vyoma could not figure
out why the sword had to be held that way, but he did realise that the state
of his legs gave him good grounding.
His left leg ploughed back, would absorb any forcefull blow made by the opponent
and he would not budge. But ofcourse, he would have to block it with his
sword, so as the impact would be absorbed harmlessly and would be transferred
to his left leg.
Vyoma waited motionlessly, not actually, but he was breathing very slowly
and trained his senses towards his master, Slone.
Duncan Sythe
Duncan looked at the collection before him and sighed, perhaps he ought to
have explained the reasoning first, perhaps not? Probably not, in Duncan’s
experience learning by mistakes worked better than learning by being told,
if you’d made the mistake it stuck with you, so, going along the line, he
didn’t treat anyone particularly different, just made them realise why their
‘modifications’ had in effect nullified the entire point of the stance.
He did not of course think that other stances were invalid, he merely knew
that when dealing with a sword there were certain things to be taken into
account about the way one stood, things that these untrained people did not
know, not that they should.
Quix came first, slipping into the stance he’d shown the Elf earlier Duncan’s
feet performed a swift movement of footwork as he stepped, bringing both
hands to the blade and slashing sideways on the inside of the diagonal, batting
the student’s blade away with his own and swinging back, stopping just before
the blade touched the Elf’s neck.
“I don’t know why you held the blade that way but you left your head and
neck too open, the reason the blade is held straight is that it doesn’t offer
the opposition one side or another to be less protected.”
That said he retrieved his blade and moved on to the next student, the Saurid.
Glancing at the male’s stance he nodded, Saurid’s had their own advantages
to contend with and, unlike the humanoids, he was not willing to try and
debate whether he was right or wrong, only time would tell how it functioned.
Now Alexandra, stepping forward, sword loose in his right hand, Duncan pushed
at the girl’s shoulder, a rough touch, but she’d have to get used to being
attacked and pushed if she were to use a sword, it was not an art for the
faint of heart. She didn’t shift too far though, a brief moment of uncertainty
but the stiff left leg held firm despite the shove.
This would not be the case for Rufus, Duncan moved quickly on to the Vysstichi,
his attitude no different than shown to the other students as he dropped
a slash on Rufus’s sword, he didn’t fall but he could feel his left leg bend
as Duncan locked his practice sword onto the student’s, he was forced backward,
the bending leg…bending further until it felt quite uncomfortable.
“If I pushed any further you’d go over backwards and it’d be simple to chop
your head off, I think I recognized an unarmed stance of some kind but you
need to learn that when your using a sword it produces leverage. Where you
can shift your feet without a weapon when your using one if you let one foot
up you’ll fall and you really don’t want to get into controlled weapon falls
at this level.”
That said Duncan released the pressure and moved onto Vyoma, having said
nothing to him after he’d spoken to the Elf last, as he’d done with Alexandra
upon seeing the stance successfully duplicated he simply shoved the man’s
shoulder, watching for the tensing of the leg at the back showing that the
pressure had been transferred there, the stance holding firm.
With each student individually dealt with Duncan moved back around so all
could see him, nodding to them as a group. It could have been far worse,
in the end he knew some of them wouldn’t use a sword for the right reasons
but he had to at least try and convey some kind of impact with his tutoring.
“Now you all understand why you need to follow my instructions as exactly
as is possible.” Duncan began, glancing to the Saurid who was the slight
exception. “We’ll begin with the basic principals, as you have seen the reason
you have your back leg straight, whether it be left or right, is because
if you don’t then you are liable to loose your balance.”
He paused, glancing from face to face.
“Keeping the front leg bent allows you to alter your centre of balance when
pressure is placed on your sword, holding it at an angle covers the maximum
amount of body space while stretching the tip of your sword, therefore your
area of control, to the limits of both without compromising one or the other.”
Duncan repeated that particular moment again, his arm outstretched, slightly
bent at the elbow, sword tilted upward at that 45 degree angle.
“To begin it’s important to realise that whenever you move you are both attacking
and defending, if you are not doing this, you are not going to survive very
long. The importance of each attack is to try and prevent an opponent from
being able to hurt you, ideally in the long term by incapacitating them.”
Duncan glanced at Alexandra, who he judged to be one of the more…hesitant
students. Did she really understand what this was all about?
“Or in the short term simply by preventing them from attacking you, either
by attacking or blocking an attack. At this level though we are not concerned
with the use of your body to help an attack, or in counter attacking, because
it’s important that you realise fighting against someone with even a little
more experience than yourself or who has been trained in these things will
result in you failing awfully if you attempt what you do not know.”
Duncan then twisted his wrist so that, as Quix had held the sword earlier
at a diagonal, the blade was tilted; he then swept it downwards, from left
shoulder to right hip, then bringing it around in an arc to sweep back from
right shoulder to left hip, a quick wrist movement returning to where he’d
begun.
“Two basic slashes and.”
Having returned to an on-guard position Duncan twisted the arm at the shoulder
so that the blade was horizontal, it’s point towards the students, he then
simply extended the arm forward.
“A thrust, I want you to repeat these movements for a bit, spread out and
try them on thin air to get used to the mechanism of executing an attack
and returning to a normal pose, it is important to understand how the attacks
function before you can block or parry against them.”
He explained, letting the sword once more fall to his side after he executed
one move smooth combination, slowed slightly from where he’d been doing such
moves in combination with the Fallax blade earlier at speed, right slash,
twist, left slash, twist and return, back to a thrust.
Ffesshssia'ad
Ffesshssia'ad had met Vyoma and was willing to like him, but the elf was
acting odd this brightening. This was sword-training, and he was being timid
and apologetic when he needed a confident and aggressive attitude, late or
no. The lizardman was also puzzled as to why Vyoma insisted on addressing
Constable Slone as "Master" after the instructor had asked him not to; obviously,
he was still flustered and confused from having come in so late. Ffesshssia'ad
would keep an eye on him to make sure he would settle down and be allright.
But now was time to refocus on the task at hand. The lizardman waited still
as a statue in his stance until the instructor had looked at it. The constable
looked his stance over and said nothing. He took that to mean that Slone
saw no immediate problems, so he did not adjust his stance.
As the instructor moved further down the line, the saurid realized he had
not paid much attention to what the other students were doing. He watched
the instructor push the vysstichi back. What had he done wrong that had enabled
Constable Slone to push him so far back? It had something to do with his
stance. Had he been more alert, he could have learned something of how to
spot and exploit such a weakness in an opponent. In the future, Ffesshssia'ad
would be more attentive to his classmates instead of relaxing too much when
the instructor was done with *him*. He could learn from their mistakes as
well as his own, and from how the instructor reacted to those mistakes.
Now Slone addressed the entire class again, and again the lizardman let his
predator's eyes carefully track the motions he made while he spoke. The swordsman
showed them the two slashes and the thrust, first slowly, then much faster,
and then told the students to space out and practice the swings themselves.
Ffesshssia'ad did not try the double-slash combination immediately. He broke
it down the first time or two, and after each slash he returned to the starting
stance, paying as much attention to his recovery from the attacks as to the
swings themselves. After a couple tries of this, he did the two slashes one
after the other, first slowly, then quickly, just like the constable did.
When he did this he realized something was wrong. Unlike some of the other
students, Ffesshssia'ad had not paid much attention to his hold on the sword,
and he had it in something of a death-grip, which made moving his wrist awkward.
He played with his grip a bit, trying to find one that held his sword firmly
while still allowing smooth movement. He also looked around at what the other
students were doing to see if he could figure out something. If he caught
the instructor's eye, he would make a point of doing the moves while he watched.
He would not only not try to conceal his predicament from the instructor,
he might even exaggerate it slightly to signal what he was having trouble
with.
Finally he came to the thrust. Again, he practiced not only the defensive
stance itself, but tried to mimic the motions the instructor had used to
get to it after recovering from his attack. Then he stuck his sword out tentatively
in a couple thrusts. Finally, he practiced the combination of all three attacks,
always followed by reverting to the defensive position a few times.
While doing all of this, he would look around from time to time to see what
the other students were doing. He would note anything that struck him as
odd or really good, then watch what if anything the instructor would do or
say in response when the time came.
Alexandra
Alexandra stayed at her stance as her teacher moved along them and check
the different stances. When he came to her, he pushed her. She hesitated
for just a split of a second before her left leg stoped the push and her
un-coming foll. She didn't say a word but focused her eyes on her teacher,
her face frozen. He continued his walking and fushed the Vysstichi elf who
was next in turn. A little smiled appeared at her face as he almost foll.
The smiled disappeared as the teacher finished his walk and addressed them
all “Now you all understand why you need to follow my instructions as exactly
as is possible. We’ll begin with the basic principals, as you have seen the
reason you have your back leg straight, whether it be left or right, is because
if you don’t then you are liable to loose your balance. Keeping the front
leg bent allows you to alter your centre of balance when pressure is placed
on your sword, holding it at an angle covers the maximum amount of body space
while stretching the tip of your sword, therefore your area of control, to
the limits of both without compromising one or the other.”
Alexandra nodded her head quietly as she let his words sink into her head
to be remembered. He continued to talk, glancing at her as he spook. His
glance made Alexandra a little uncomftable, but she kept her face frozen
and listened to his words To begin it’s important to realise that whenever
you move you are both attacking and defending, if you are not doing this,
you are not going to survive very long. The importance of each attack is
to try and prevent an opponent from being able to hurt you, ideally in the
long term by incapacitating them. Or in the short term simply by preventing
them from attacking you, either by attacking or blocking an attack. At this
level though we are not concerned with the use of your body to help an attack,
or in counter attacking, because it’s important that you realise fighting
against someone with even a little more experience than yourself or who has
been trained in these things will result in you failing awfully if you attempt
what you do not know.”
Then came the more practical part of the lesson, at least, to Alexandra it
was so. The teacher showed the two slashes and then a trust. After that he
said that they should repeat those movements for a bit. Alexandra stayed
at her basic stance and then twisted her wrist so that the blade was tilted.
This was step one. Now she swept it downwards from her left shoulder to her
right hip. Step two. Then she moved it and brought it around in an arc to
her right shoulder and moved it down to her left hip. Step three. Then she
twisted her wrist in a movement to return to where she had begun. Step four.
After that, the young human female moved back to her basic stance and twisted
her right arm at the shoulder, so that the blade's point was strait forwards
and extended her arm forward with speed. Step five. Then she moved her right
arm backwards until it rested to her side. Now faster! she thought and did
all the steps again, faster this time, and again and again...
Vyoma
Vyoma looked carefully at the swings that Slone did. He saw that his hands
had to grip the hilt of the sword firm enough that one could not knock it
out, and also, his wrist joint had to be very flexible for a smooth swing
of the sword.
Vyoma tried to replicate the slashes first before proceeding to do anything
else. He tried it in a slow move and it went fine until he had to bring it
back up to his right shoulder. It was not at all a perfect arc. But he continued
it and executed the left slash. This time when he brought it up, the arc
formed by the sword was less jagged. He then tilted the sword horizontally,
and as he did he felt a small tug at the tendons that connected his thumb
to the hand. Then he thrust it forward, bending his right leg a bit to reach
a wee bit farther. He brought back to the sword and stood in the stance.
Vyoma breathed slowly, replaying what he had done in his mind and overlaying
it with what his master had done. He noted that it was much different. He
tired the move again. This time the arcs were a little less perfect and he
could do it with more confidence. His mind noted all the places were it deviated
from Slone's move.
Vyoma continued doing it ritualistically until the two slashes and the thrust
became involuntary. It became something like his breathing. Controlled involuntary
move. His move even synced with his breathing. He did it till he thought
his move was similar to that of Slone and continued doing it. Soon he started
to feel the wooden sword as the extension of his arm. Vyoma sometimes thought
he felt the air as the sword cut through it.
Rufus Dimane
Rufus watched as thier instructor walked around and corrected each student
individually with the exception of the lizard. He took note of what was said.
Then when Duncan aproached him he was automatically corrected for his assumption
that the same stances that had worked with unarmed combat would work with
a weapon.
The vysstichi imediatly corrected his stance. He straightened his leg and,
noticing the corrections made to the other students' stances, he straightened
his blade. However he kept his legs a little offset, obviously that was the
reason he did not fall.
When it came to the different strikes, those where easy enough to accomplish.
He watched Slone and tried to notice enough to succesfully copy what he saw.
First the diagonal slash. He spread out from the others and taking his blade
at a diagonal he continued to slash from his left shoulder to his right hip,
just as his instructor had, then doing the opposite side.
Lastlt was the thrust. Rufus brought the blade back horizontally, holding
the hilt in his right hand.
The hilt of the blade came all the way back, until it rested on his hip.
Quickly, he brought his left hand over and guiding and stabalizing the blade
with his second hand he thrust it foreward with much power.
Quix
Quix quickly understood why his stance was wrong. He was so use to fighting
with a spear in "his" world that it was a bit odd to weild a weapon in such
a way. Quix fixed his stance
He held the blade in the center of the hilt at the angle that was correct
horizontally from his body and fixed his footwork.
Duncan Sythe
Now… on to defending. He had a feeling some of those involved would not be
partial to some of this, not seeing exactly how it worked, still, it did
and that was the important part. Stepping back away and moving back into
the ready stance again Duncan was side-on to the group, looking over at them.
“Now, on to parrying and defensive moves, this will be the last area of the
lesson before we go onto some exercises, although as I said, if we do any
sparring at the moment your just liable to get yourselves hurt. So far we’ve
all done this.”
The tutor said after a moment, running through the slash/slash/thrust combination
again, then looking for nods of confirmation or any questions.
“Now of course you want to know the use of it or how to defend against it,
in reality you’ll only make one of those moves at a time, otherwise you’ll
be predictable and get yourself hurt. So, either a slash.” Duncan drew the
sword down easily. “Or a thrust.” He drew it back and pushed the blade tip
forward. “However silly it seems the best defence against a slash is simply
to step back out of the way and let the opponent tire their arm out or tempt
them to a thrust, because trying to block a blade at this level is, again,
going to get you killed.”
There was not really much emotion in his terminology, just simple fact, he
knew from experience that fancy moves got you into trouble, luck and a little
bit of experience had helped him survive before but he had no faith in it
working for everyone, therefore he taught them what he knew, which was that
simplicity worked best – locked swords without knowing what to do was an
invitation to be kicked by the brighter opponent.
“So, if you’re slashed at then you simply step back, watch how this is done.”
Duncan lifted his back foot and stepped, then pulled the other foot with
him, therefore keeping his balance at all timed during the manoeuvre, he
did it again and again, gliding across the floor…not that the others would
manage this first time around, footwork was tricky.
“A simple step, then drag the trailing leg, the same thing works for when
you want to move forward in a fight, perhaps to try a thrust or a slash.”
This time Duncan/Slone did the same movement, different direction, different
foot. The leading foot stepped, the trailing foot was dragged, it was all
about economy of movement and keeping balance, nothing fancy.
“Again a step and a drag, I want you all to try this, moving forward and
backward, get used to moving forward a few steps, then retreating, then doing
the opposite, as if someone is slashing several times at you and then you
want to counter attack. Then.” Duncan dropped from the stance and waved to
the ground in front of him. “I need a volunteer.”
Alexandra
The exercise was tearing but Alexandra kept doing it until her teacher told
them to stop. She robed her right arm and let the sword's tip touch the ground
as she listened to him. “Now, on to parrying and defensive moves, this will
be the last area of the lesson before we go onto some exercises." At least
we are coming to the end of part one... thought the young female to herself.
It was easier to look at other people training then to do that herself. At
least she was in shape - that was the only good thing that she think about.
"However silly it seems, the best defence against a slash is simply to step
back out of the way and let the opponent tire their arm out or tempt them
to a thrust." said the teacher as he demonstrated them the slash and then
the thrust.
"watch how this is done." he added and show them what he meant. His movements
were quiet elegant. He lifted his back foot and stepped, then he pulled the
other foot with him. The way he kept his balance at all time was a pleasure
to the eyes, but Alexandra guessed that it would be hard to follow. Alexandra
tried it. At first it was hard. The back foot move nicely enough but pulling
the other foot was a little bit confusing. She tried it once more and it
had approved, a little... A step and a drag... A step and a drag... she murmured
softly to herself and she did it again. After a few times, she tried to do
it by moving forward a few steps and then retreating. Forward... And then
backward...
Vyoma
Slone just told them about how to dodge a attack. Vyoma did find sense in
it. Why waste energy by blocking the others sword? Just step out and let
the opponent drain himself. Then Slone showed them how it was done. He stepped
back many steps and few to the front. He seemed to hover over the ground,
a step at a time. And it seemed to take not any energy out of him at all.
Vyoma then tried it. He put back his left leg, and tried to drag the right.
But he could not. When he examined his posture, he saw that it was because,
he had moved back his left leg, more than a step. Vyoma came back to the
normal posture, holding the wooden sword upright and took the step again;
this time a bit smaller one. And he could easily drag the other leg. He tired
it again, and again until he thought he was not spending much energy.
Next, he concentrated on the attack step. This seemed a bit confusing to
him. His right foot seemed to be ploughed into the ground and it would be
difficult to just ease a step further. So he, eased the flexing of his thighs
a bit and put a step forward. Then dragging the bent left leg front was easy.
He did it couple of times.
Vyoma did it many times. He held the sword upright and moved back and forth,
concentrating on his balance, keeping his eyes focused past the sword, where
his imaginary opponent might be. His concentration seemed to draw the lines
of frown on his face. Vyoma realized that he was breathing faster and his
face was knotting.
Vyoma took a deep breath, relaxed his face and started doing the routine
calmly.
Lift your leg and put it down, Drag the other without a frown.
Vyoma moved forth and back, imagining a opponent who would dodge his attack
and then attack again.
Lift your leg and put it down, Drag the other without a frown.
Lift your leg and put it down, Drag the other without a frown.
"I need a volunteer." Master Slone's voice rang in his ears and shook him
out of the moves. He looked around and saw others practicing, some doing
much better than him.
Vyoma looked at Slone and walked up to him,
"Master Slone, I volunteer."
Ffesshssia'ad
Ffesshssia'ad was a little disappointed that they were skipping to footwork
when he still wasn't entirely sure he had his grip right. But perhaps the
instructor wanted to make sure he had a range of topics covered before they
started refining anything. When learning one had to be patient, with oneself,
with one's instructor, and with one's fellow students.
The Ai'll'gai'tah were not quite as fleet-footed on two legs as some of the
other Raptorian Saurids, but Ffesshssia'ad felt he could manage this easily
enough. He watched Slone's motions carefully as he explained how to step
back out of a slash. Keeping a little distance from one's foe until ready
to make one's own attack made sense to the lizardman.
When the instructor told them to try the move themselves, Ffesshssia'ad assumed
the stance, his head turned at an angle so that one eye faced forward. One
advantage that the saurid had here was that his other eye's field of vision
now extended behind him, so that he could actually see where he was going
as he backed up. He took a few steps back slowly, trying to get the motion
right, then forwards slowly. He figured out that it worked best if he kept
his tail in fairl close and shifted it in the direction of of the stepping
foot, helping him balance most of his weight on that leg quickly.
Once he had the basics of the motion, he decided to speed it up. Looking
around to make sure none of his classmates were too close, he made a couple
slashes, quickly as he imagined he might in an actual fight. This did two
things: it gave him one more attempt to test the sword grip he had finally
figured out, holding the sword firmly with the thumb and first two fingers,
while holding more lightly with the last two fingers; secondly, the slashes
gave him some idea of the tempo with which he would have to be able to execute
the steps he was now practising in an actual sword-fight.
The grip felt much better, and enabled him to flex his wrist naturally. He
was confident that he had that down at last. As for doing the steps at full-speed,
that was a different matter. His motions did not remain as smooth when he
tried to do them quickly. He found it hard to maintain his stance and sword-control
as he shuffled forwards and backwards rapidly; he would unconciously lower
or raise his sword and his tail would move in unwanted ways.
This difficulty gave him renewed respect for the dangers and demands of wielding
a sword. Everything looked simple until you had to do it at full speed under
battlefield conditions. Looking around he could see that most of the other
students were not trying to do the moves at the frantic pace he was, but
were moving more deliberately, trying to get their footing right. He decided
to slow down as well.
Finally the instructor called for everybody to stop and asked for a volunteer.
Ffesshssia'ad thought about volunteering, but Vyoma perked up first. He liked
the young elf's enthusiasm, although he was still addressing Constable Slone
as "Master" in spite of Slone's objections to this; if he were to calm down
and focus that energy, Vyoma could be quite formidable. As things were now,
he was a goofy casualty-to-be. As are you he reminded himself. With that
sobering thought, he lowered his sword and waited motionlessly for what would
happen next.
Rufus Dimane
Rufus watched with discontent. This defence was most obvious. He had done
this manuver, or manuvers very close to it a thousand times in the past.
So it would not take much for him to master the technique. Actually the step
seemed a bit clumsy to him. It was not at all gracefull or as quick as other
movements that he already knew. The dragging of the leading foot obviously
held some purpose when it came to balance, but only using the back leg, your
center of balance, ultimatly restricted one's movement. Rufus could easily
see that using a straight back leg while it a still, standing position would
be of some use. But he had to reach to try to find any justification behind
this technique. Perhaps simplicity was not always the best.
Althogh, as Rufus found before, his ideas and techniques that he had learned
from hand combat did not always translate as well as he thought they would.
After his initial instruction Slone called for a volunteer. Perhaps this
would shed some light on his doubts.
Duncan Sythe
OOC: Anyone for any more? otherwise i'll move this along a bit.
Duncan Sythe
OOC: And…a day or two later than promised, we’re nearly done now here to
be honest. Apologise for using your character Vyoma but provided you have
no objection we can cover one exchange between us in two posts, I do deplore
a post for the sake of a character doing ‘yes I did that’, since it serves
no real purpose.
IC:
Vyoma stepped forward but Duncan did not rise to his comments, instead gesturing
to a point just in front of him and nodding to the man to go there. Provided
he received Vyoma’s co-operation Duncan would proceed with the next stage
of the lesson, the first real experience the students with have ‘fighting’
against an opponent. True, it was just an exercise but exercises became reality
in combat and there was little difference in the technical aspect.
“Very well I have my volunteer, now.” Duncan moved into the ready stance,
sword up, held in his right hand alone. “He’s going to try and hit me, and
I’m going to demonstrate a simple defensive technique.”
Duncan shook his sword arm out and gestured again with the point of the practice
weapon.
“Stand just in front of me and execute a slash then a thrust as I showed
you earlier.”
The instructor requested. Provided Vyoma complied the class was treated to
a simple demonstration. As Vyoma executed the first slash Duncan moved backward,
Vyoma in turn lunging and thrusting forward afterwards. However where the
class may have expected the instructor to move back again he performed an
elegant but simple ‘parry’. Where his sword point tilted downward and the
Mystic effectively pushed Vyoma’s sword sideways before extending his own.
At this point he took a step forward, his blade sliding along his opponents,
on the inside of Vyoma’s guard, to disengage and then perform the same thrust
Vyoma had been attempting; only without a sword in the way. The tip of Duncan’s
blade tapped Vyoma’s chest before he disengaged and turned to the class.
“Now, this may seem stupidly simple but the entire process of practice and
repetition is important as it provokes muscle memory and therefore the ability
to react instinctively, something a good swordsman will do as easily as breathing,
it is what separates a professional from an amateur. At this point you are
all the latter but who is to say that in a fight against someone who thinks
you don’t know what you are doing a simple parry.”
Duncan mimed the movement he’d performed again, sword turning from guard
position to deflect an imaginary blade, then thrusting forward.
“And a thrust, or a riposte as it known, would not catch the opponent off
guard and slide into his ribs before he kicks you in the gut? Every little
trick helps. Now, I want you each to find a partner and take it in turns
performing that sequence.” He held up a cautionary hand. “For now keep to
the rhythm, one slash, a thrust and a parry and riposte from the defending
partner, later we might try randomizing it but the idea of this is to get
used to sword to sword contact and having a weapon right in your face when
you back away from it.”
He looked around for a reaction, knowing that this might seem trivial but
able to tell them from experience it was not so.
“The natural reaction is to raise your blade to defend yourself, this is
why I explained about footwork and evading, if you raise your blade and make
a mistake then there is nothing to prevent your death, however if you step
away it is your opponent who is at the disadvantage, if they expect a response
an do not receive one then they are off balance, that is why we begin so
simply. So, please.”
Duncan waved a hand and went back to watching.
“Begin.”
Vyoma
OOC: Hey! Thats OK. You did not kill him now, did you? :p
IC:
Vyoma had no problem in understanding the necessity of the routine that Slone
had told him. He had seen the practicality of the issue, and if it were not
a wooden sword, and if it were not a practice or demonstration, his chest
would have a wound that would take him out of this mortal plane.
He had observed now how to do the parry, and his head was filled with all
the possibilities of variations, using only the few simple moves they had
learnt. But as said by Slone, he made up his mind to practice just the move
showed by him.
Vyoma walked back to the group of students who had observed the act and tried
to figure out who would pair up with him for the practice. He just stood
invitingly, waiting for someone to ask.
If no one did, he would practice with the one who is left.
Ffesshssia'ad
Ffesshssia'ad observed the constable's demonstration carefully, concentrating
first on his words and his footwork and body movement. After Vyoma rejoined
the rest of the class, the instructor repeated the motions, and Ffesshssia'ad
was able to pay closer attention to what Slone did with his arm and hand.
It was good that he had taken a little extra effort to get his grip right;
trying to perform the parry maneuver with his sword in a death grip would
have been extremely awkward.
When Slone told the class to partner up, Ffesshssia'ad looked at Vyoma and
noted he was waiting, so he came forward. "I will be your partner, Vyoma."
In addition to being the one student he had met up until now, the elf was
the one on whom the technique they were about to practice had been demonstrated,
so he would be best able to convey what it looked and felt like.
"I will attack firsst", the saurid suggested as the pairs of students spaced
out about the training area and turned to face each other; he wanted to see
how Vyoma would execute the maneuver he had just experienced first-hand.
Assuming Vyoma had no argument, he raised his sword into his ready stance
and waited for the elf to do the same. As soon as he looked ready, the lizardman
performed a moderate-speed slash and parry. He wanted to take some pace off
so that he could actually see and feel what was happening before going up
to full speed. The elf moved nimbly and easily out of his slash, and Ffesshssia'ad
quickly appreciated the difficulty of having to lunge out to stick an opponent
with a thrust. The parry-and-riposte was not quite as smooth yet, and neither
was the lizardman's when Vyoma returned the attack. After a couple more passes
back and forth and both of their motions became smoother. Gradually they
increased their speed to something approaching actual fighting-pace.
"...practice and repetition is important as it provokes muscle memory and
therefore the ability to react instinctively..." the constable said. Muscle
memory indeed. The saurid let his mind relax, just concentrating on his senses
on the motions, both Vyoma's and his own. His muscles had no memory of having
handled a sword, and as his mind reached back across the generations of his
ancestors, he could detect no sign that any of them had, either. But as his
conscious mind drifted out of the room to another time and place, it formed
an image of an Ai'll'gai'tah like himself, facing off against a lizardman
of a different sub-race armed with a one-handed spear. The enemy thrashed
his tail angrily and bared its teeth, and with a snarling hiss slashed, then
thrust forward with his atlatl-like spear. The ancestor stepped back out
of the swing's reach, then waited as the enemy lunged forward. With a sideways
shove of his forearm the Ai'll'gai'tah parried the blow from the other saurid;
then, tail thrust out backwards for balance, he struck with his own lightning
riposte, goring the enemy on the tip of his spear.
An odd jarring sensation up his weapon arm brought Ffesshssia'ad back to
the present; there instead of a gored enemy lizardman stood Vyoma quite intact.
Unsure what exactly had happened, the lizardman stopped for a moment to calm
down, making an unconvincing attempt at a facial expression a softskin would
recognize as sheepish, then resumed his stance and took his turn attacking
and being riposted.
Rufus Dimane
Rufus watched with a keen eye as Slone and Vyoma demonstrated the technique
of parrying. This was simple but unlike the previous technique, seemed more
useful. With this technique came variation and adaptation. At least now Rufus
would know the basics and could easily learn from there, which he intended
to do.
He watched as Slone parried Vyoma's attack and countered it using a thrust
or in this case a technique known as a riposte.
Afterward they were told to break into partners and practice the technique.
Rufus decided to go with the first class mate he saw that did not already
have a partner. That person was Quix.
The vysstichi approached the watter elf. "Perhaps the two of us could practice.
Unless of course you have any objections." It wasn't hard to tell that the
sea elf had a disliking for Rufus from his body language. He gave odd glances
like he was suspicious, not unlike many lightborns. It is because of that
that he spoke with a challenging undertone.
Rufus from then on decided that in his current position it was better to
practice with someone who might very well be his enemy.
Alexandra
The constable and Vyoma started to demonstrate a few defensive technique
slowly and Alexandra paid them all of her attention. First, Vyoma made a
simple slash to Duncan, who moved backward. Then Vyoma thrusted forward and,
to Alexandra's surprise, her teacher performed a simple parry that pushed
Vyoma’s sword sideways. At this point, the instructor took a step forward
with his blade sliding inside Vyoma’s guard and tapped Vyoma’s chest before
he disengaged. His voice was loud and clear “Now, this may seem stupidly
simple, but the entire process of practice and repetition is important as
it provokes muscle memory and therefore the ability to react instinctively,
something a good swordsman will do as easily as breathing. It is what separates
a professional from an amateur. At this point you are all the latter, but
who is to say that in a fight against someone who thinks you don’t know what
you are doing a simple parry.”
With those words, Duncan did again the movement he’d performed before and
continued to talk “And a thrust would not catch the opponent off guard and
slide into his ribs before he kicks you in the gut? Every little trick helps.
Now, I want you each to find a partner and take it in turns performing that
sequence.” He repeated again that they should keep to one slash, a thrust,
a parry and riposte from the defending partner. Alexandra nodded her head
as if singling that all was understood and turned to find herself a partner.
Vyoma joined with Ffesshssia'ad and Rufus with Quix. She had stayed without
a partner. Maybe they are afraid to fight with a woman... she thought and
turned her eyes to Duncan. Maybe he will be her partner...
Duncan Sythe
OOC: Anyone else or next post?
Duncan Sythe
They paired up; Saurid and Elf, Rufus and Quix; young woman and old swordsman.
Duncan wasn’t exactly easy on Alexandra but he didn’t push her too hard either;
merely going through moves learned by wrote and letting her see how the moves
slowly sped up and how easy it was for someone who knew them to perform then.
But then to teach her a little more he let Alexandra step forward in the
riposte before sidestepping neatly and grabbing her wrist with his free hand;
using momentum by placing one leg behind hers and tipping her backwards he
lowered her slowly to the mat; off balance and disarmed by a painful pinch
of the nerve at the wrist that slowly died away as the man slowly helped
her up; gently but not overly carefully.
For there was no longing or vague attraction in his expression; merely business,
he held no time for young human women; she wanted to learn a sword, he was
here to teach it.
“Watch for the experienced opponent; they can lull you into a training pattern;
as good as it is you need to improvise upon occasion, especially in practice,
or you’ll never succeed.”
He explained as he moved back in front of the class after they’d gone through
the training moves.
“Very well; I believe that’s enough for this class; you all know how to swing
a sword without killing yourselves and how to stab and evade a sword move
basically speaking, that’s all a basic class is.”
Duncan gestured to the door.
“Off you go then.”
OOC: Awaiting approval by Aqua but it should be Basic Longsword for all of
you.
Quix
OOC: Sorry for the length it has taken me to post. Rl has been busy. School
started up again and some other matters had to be tend to.
IC: Quix watched as Duncan/Slone and Vyoma deonstrated the parrying move.
He watched and studied it closely, this was going to be something that will
soon save his life.
At seeing that Duncan wanted him and the Dark Elf to practice Quix obeyed.
He wasn't much up to fighting a lower species then himself but that was ok.
Quix would put his differences aside for the moment and maybe this vyssticci
could prove himself to be better then his kindred.
"I accept." Quix said as Rufus finished his sentence.
Quix then got into his fighting stance. his legs were shoulder lenght apart,
slighlty bent at the knees and he held his sword in his right hand so that
his sword crossed his body at a 45 degree angle.
Quix' left hand losely open with his fingers slightly bent as to deliver
a quick close punch to the head of his opponet if needed.
He was here to practice not to kill or harm his fellow guild.
Aqua
Basic Longsword: Quix, Vyoma, Rufus, Ffess, Alexandra.
Approved. |
