Missing the War [Eridanus]

[Nira'lia]

506 Winter 90th "Nira'lia, what are you doing?" "Ack..." Surprised, Nira'lia put on a sheepish smile and glanced at her mother. She had a book in her hands which she had conspicuously closed as soon as she realized her mother was around. The older konti raised her eyebrow in question as she stared at her daughter. "I was just reading... did you need me for something?" squeaked Nira'lia. "Yes, I've been calling you for the past minute. What are you even doing? Give me that," said her mother with irritation. Even before Nira'lia could react, the book was grabbed from her hands. The older konti looked at the cover with much scepticism. "Unarmed Combat Styles? What possible reason could you have for reading this?" "Well, uhm, I just thought it would be handy..." Lately, she had been getting herself into trouble, the kind of trouble that could endanger one's life. From the last incident, she had received an injury that wasn't even fully healed yet. The injury was now just a sore spot, but she could at least move around like she wanted to again. These incidents had led her to believe that she needed to start learning how to defend herself. "You're frail and weak, and you're relying on unarmed combat when you could fight with a weapon?" her mother muttered. Blinking, Nira'lia watched her mother retreat to a corner of the room and rummage in her belongings. She came back with something which was bound in cloth. Her mother unravelled it and showed Nira'lia a pair of three-pronged weapons with spiral handles. It was a pair of suvai – weapons which the konti race used. "Perhaps you should ask your ethaefal friend to teach you a thing or two about fighting? He seems to know what he's doing. No, no, don't take them both with you. I'm giving you the pair but learn how to fight with one before you put them together. Okay, now go look for your ethaefal friend." "...Okay," was all Nira'lia could respond. *** The last time Nira'lia decided to look for Eridanus, she had gone to random places in the University to find him. This time, she decided it would probably be more efficient to look in the dormitories first. It wasn't too difficult to find his room; all she had to ask for was 'that ethaefal'. The konti knocked on his door. She held a suvai in her hand. "Eridanus, are you there? I need a favour!" OOCYou pick the time of day

[Eridanus]

Early Morning
Eri's Dormitory Room, Student Residential Wing, University of Zeltiva

There was a knock on the vantha's door, and he heard a vague female voice calling his name. Yawning, he half-opened an eye, his sleep-blurred vision clouding his senses as he groped around for a cloak to cover his naked torso. Indeed, the weather was cooling enough for him to sleep without his top, though the room tended to be stifling at times to warrant such an action.

He was usually up, but the night before had been spent studying, since he did not have any classes scheduled for the day. He was kind of looking forward to waking up late, which he considered a treat for himself, but it seemed that fate would not allow it.

"Coming!" He called out in a monotone voice, putting the cloak over his top as he trudged to the door.

Opening it, the first thing he took in was the gleaming dagger, the pointy ends of the suvai triggering alarm senses in his passive battle-honed reflexes. Before he took in anything else, his body jumped backwards, his hands up to block any attacks while his subconscious began shrugging off his sleepiness with injections of adrenaline.

What in the...

As his mind cleared and his mind woke up gradually, he looked up from the weapon to see a familiar face.

"Nira'lia!" He exclaimed, stopping the urge to blush for his paranoid behaviour. "You... shouldn't really hold a weapon that way you know. What brings you here so early?"

[Nira'lia]

"Uh..." The Konti stared at him. She didn't move an inch throughout his entire reaction. Anybody else would probably have looked startled or puzzled at such a reaction, but Nira'lia found herself trying to bite back laughter. He looked so silly! "That's... I..." she started, grinning at him as she tried to compose herself. Nira'lia gave a slight chuckle to let her amusement out, and then she continued speaking. "I'm sorry. It's pretty early, now that I think about it." Judging from what she could see, he was not expecting this at all, and she felt embarrassed for disturbing him. However, now that she was here, it would be better to just get straight to the point and ask him for what she came for. She didn't even anticipate him to take her up on her request. Nira'lia held up the suvai to show it to him, even if it was obvious that he had already taken notice of the weapon. It probably wasn't smart to shove something so carelessly in front of her, but she had no idea how to handle a weapon. "I was given this," she said. "I just thought you could maybe teach me some things about fighting? You're the only one I know who can fight... I mean, you repeatedly defeated a group of thugs on your own..."

[Eridanus]

She wants to learn about combat!

That was why she brought that strange looking knife with her. He only knew of it as the 'suvai', something which uniquely belonged to the konti. He learned that while he was in Mura many years back, and it seemed that konti who ventured out of Mura still had these strange weapons.

"I can't teach you how to use those, though," He admitted, for there might be uses of the suvai which he was unaware of. He was also pretty unskilled at the use of dagger-like weapons anyway, though he was exceptional at longswords and passable at hand-to-hand.

She was not the only one who asked him to teach, and he generally rejected people for he was not the 'teaching kind'. However, he considered Nira'lia a closer friend than most, and perhaps her mother was somewhat right in saying that he was responsible for the troubles that her daughter had been embroiled in recently. Or at least, it was the fault of the fates for having their chavi tied together.

"Perhaps the basics..." He trailed off thoughtfully while gazing at Nira'lia.

"Give me a moment to wash up," He decided firmly. "Wait for me at the clearing of trees at the north corner of this building, maybe do some stretching."

With that, he closed his door again, gathering the necessities that he could use to wash and freshen up.

[Nira'lia]

Nira'lia was enthusiastic! It made sense to her that he wouldn't be able to teach her about the suvai in particular, but even just the basics of combat would be a lot of help. She nodded at him gratefully and walked off to find the spot he had mentioned. Considering the time of day, there weren't too many people walking around. However, just to be cautious, she held the suvai to her side in a careful manner. If she remembered correctly, it was poisonous for non-Konti, and she didn't want any accidents. She walked out of the building and circled around it, looking for the clearing he had mentioned. Nira'lia soon found it, and was relieved to see that there weren't any other people. The Konti stared. What was she supposed to do now? Oh, right, he told her to do some stretching. Nira'lia looked lost – she didn't really know exactly what to do. Anything athletic was not her forte. Swimming was probably her most sporty practice, though that came to her like second nature. Shrugging, she placed the suvai down on the ground and attempted to remember the basic stretches they asked some patients to do. She put her right hand over the opposite shoulder and stretched it for some seconds, and then did the same for the other arm. Nira'lia felt the strain on her muscles as energy was sent coursing through them, and she assumed she was doing the right thing. Afterwards, she bent her leg and put her foot up behind her and kept it there, stretching it with her hand. After repeating it with the other leg, she decided to sit down on the grass and bend upper body forward as she reached for her toes, which she was able to do without difficulty. While she wasn't into anything athletic, she was still flexible, which seemed to be a common trait amongst the Konti. As she continued to stretch, her mind started to drift away into daydreams. Stretching was a mundane task but it did seem helpful, and it kept her awake as she waited for the Vantha.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus quickly went through the standard morning procedure in cleaning himself up, then adjusting his appearance to be more presentable. When he was done, he took one of his long swords out with him, though keeping it safely in its sheath. Holding it casually in one hand, he strode out to the clearing, finding the konti just finishing her stretching.

He had already quickly warmed up his body after he closed his door earlier in order to save time, and so they were both finally ready to begin. However, there were certain issues he wanted to clarify first, to satiate his curiosity as well as to know what direction to take in their lesson.

"Do you know anything of this... Suvai, perhaps? Any properties, or any nuggets of knowledge you might possess about this weapon and its supposed fighting style?"

[Nira'lia]

Deep in thought, it took the Konti a couple of seconds before she finally replied. This weapon was meant to be used by only those of her race, and since she didn't grow up in Mura, she didn't have too much information about it. However, she did remember her mother speaking about it before, and she had also seen the memories that various people had about it. It was vague, but she had an idea. "If I remember correctly, it's mostly used as a defensive weapon... the prongs can be used to deflect attacks," she said. "The fighting style is refined and graceful... uhm, I'm sorry, training is usually in Mura and I've never actually been there, so I'm not too familiar with how it's done exactly." From the memories she had seen, she had noticed that the Konti had an elegant and fluid way of using the weapon – it reminded her of someone being underwater. She could even remember seeing a memory of an underwater Suvai duel. Realization hit Nira'lia. She had forgotten to share a very important piece of information, one that he should know. She added quickly, "Oh! And it's poisonous for non-Konti!" The Konti laughed sheepishly. That was all the information she could provide him with. She also noticed the long sword he had with him, and realized that fighting with a suvai was most probably very different from what his area of expertise.

[Eridanus]

"Poisonous?" Eridanus started in curiosity. "Is it an enchanted weapon, perhaps?"

Gently, he beckoned for the konti to pass over the weapon to him. Carefully handling to make sure that he only held the grip, he physically examined the weapon for any signs or markings that might show it to be a maledicted or glyphed weapon. Yet, he found nothing.

Undeterred, he dipped into the well of djed within him, whispering garbled incantations that meant nothing to others but helped to stabilize his minds and sight for the djed manipulation that he was about to perform. Bringing djed into his eyes, he focused on the aura of the weapon, seeking deep inside of its core - its very essence. The djed pathways of the weapon was natural, and had not been shifted at all which definitely ruled out magecraft.

However, there was something about the blade that fascinated him. He brought his focus closer to the sharp edges and the point of the three-pronged dagger, finding tangles in the aura that described something else entirely. Not magical, yet not mundane.

The tangles in the rich tapestry that described the weapon's power, history and usage proved to be difficult for him to understand, to analyze, for he was not of the level proficient enough to easily glean such information. Instead, he pushed more djed as he analyzed one single aspect of the weapon, and found sufficient information to prove her claim. That it was, somehow, indeed capable of inflicting more than physical harm when striking an attacker. That much was enough for him for the time being, and he withdrew from his djed usage.

"R-right. Apologies for the wait," He returned the oddly shaped weapon back to its rightful owner. He still loosely grasped his longsword, though he would not be using it for quite a while.

"Basics of combat first, before all else. Regardless of style, there is an innate optimality to combat that all styles must abide to, and it is this which I shall help you with. Settle yourself in a stance, or position, that you find yourself most comfortable in, but consider the position one of you about to attack or to defend yourself. A combat-neutral position, as it is."

Thinking about an incident not too long ago, he chuckled and added, "Imagine if you have to fight that young punk again. What stance would you go into?"

[Nira'lia]

oocI think you're forgetting that this is still in Zeltiva xD The thought of that young punk made her feel squeamish. She didn't want to see him again, and she hoped she never would. Sheepishly, she said, "...I'd run away." Nira'lia had to remind herself that the young punk was one of the major reasons she was even here. He had led her to believe that she needed to learn how to defend herself. Deciding to be serious, she reflected on Eridanus's words. A combat-neutral position? She had no idea what that would be. Any time she had to defend herself in the past, all she would do was cower behind her arms -- and that was because she didn't know what else to do. Now that she had a weapon, she supposed that should change. Embarrassed and conscious of his watchful eyes, she tried to remember how she had seen the weapon used before. The suvai's handle was shorter than a regular spear's and wasn't usually held by both hands. She stepped a foot forward and slightly bent her other leg's knee, grasping the weapon tightly with one hand and putting it to the side, away from him. She didn't even know what to do with her other hand, since commonly, a suvai would be held there as well and defending one's front side. It was an awkward effort, but she assumed that from that position she could swipe the suvai easily in front of her with as much force as possible. "Err... how's this?"

[Eridanus]

OOClmao right. Edited xD

The stance that the konti instinctively moved into was similar to one of the Guards that he learned back in Denval, though with a dagger instead. The way that she moved - cautiously, carefully - showed that she was trying to mimic a movement from her memory, which might probably explain her actions.

Shaking his head, he went to her side, raising the dagger from her side to place her arm in front of her.

"Your suvai has considerably shorter reach than even a short sword. That means two things. Firstly, you require a much smaller backswing, or momentum, to build up a decent force for a power attack. Secondly, its shorter reach means lesser defence for you - in terms of creating distance when parrying - and so you'd want it in front of you as much as possible to guard this weakness."

He adjusted her hands such that both are in front of her, with her master arm wielding the dagger at her upper torso area while her other arm remained relaxed but raised below.

"Wider stance," He muttered as he prodded her feet apart so that she would stand at least shoulder-length apart with both legs slightly bent instead of one.

"Any guess what your other arm is supposed to do?"