Solo [Antinous Training Grounds] Finding Thorn in a Haystack

[Ball]

9th of Summer 513AV

Ball had taken the time several bells ago to position a small bale of hay that he managed to drag from the stables to the training grounds, it was rather an odd sight seeing as his dog was no help whatsoever, so Ball had to drag it up by his own strength and skills. The funniest part about it was that Ball was dwarfed by the half a foot cube of hay.

That was done though and now Ball was sitting on his trusty dog, even if it was a useless in getting the heavy work done at this point. Pointing the sliver of metal he gained from Imass last year at the mini bale Ball had to steady his small tentacles with a second one, trying with all his might to keep it straight in line with the bale of hay. This was not a simple task at all; the point kept wobbling up and down, left and right. Hell, a few times it even swirled around in a small circular formation until Ball had it once again under control.

It took several minutes before Ball felt he had enough control of Thorn to take on the challenge he had placed before him. Imass would’ve used a stone, but Ball had no way to prop a stone up, yet alone drag one up into position as he did with the hay bale.

Now was the moment of truth, Ball knew what he had to do… He knew what he had to do, and yet he could feel his poor dog whimpering and trying to get out from under the Patron-less squire’s underside. Wrapping a pair of tentacles into his dog’s fur he managed to stay in place, much to the dog’s dismay.

This small upset forced Ball to take the time he needed to re-align Thorn with the hay bale again. Once that was completed Ball nudged his dog with one of the tentacles he had used to cling to the dog with. The dog started off with a slow trot, only to be nudged again until he was barreling full force towards the hay bale. With each bouncing push-off of the dog’s little legs Ball was having more and more trouble keeping Thorn in line…

[Ball]

… With each bouncing push off the ground from his mount Ball could feel Thorn’s accuracy diminishing rapidly, it wasn’t until he realized that he had passed his makeshift target having missed it completely and had to tug at the dog’s lengthy coat to turn it around whilst in mid-gallop. The dog whirled around, his head reaching backwards to try and nip at the offensive tug but failed in reaching his rider’s tentacle.

Forced to return his gaze in the direction he was going, the dog didn’t slow as he once more barreled towards the hay bale, this time though Ball could see he wasn’t going to hit his target like he ought to, the dog was running straight for the target! Try as he might to correct the dog’s current path Ball just wasn’t quick enough and the dog leapt high over the block of animal feed.

The dog’s leaping over the block forced Ball to do the one thing his body and Thorn would allow, dropping the tip downwards unintentionally the tip snagged on one of the top pieces of twine that held the bale together in it’s cube form and this ripped Ball unceremoniously off the back of his furry companion’s back. Unfortunately for the dog it also removed a quarter sized patch of fur along with Ball, thus leaving a bald spot on its back.

Landing hard on his ‘back’ Ball let out a groan as he dropped Thorn without a second thought and immediately rolled over to his side, gasping for precious oxygen before actually pushing himself right side up and turn to look at his mount.

The damnable dog was several meters away, panting heavily and giving Ball a face that showed mixed feelings of hurt, anger, sorrow, pain and lastly confusion. Dropping off the bale Ball ignored Thorn for now and slowly approached his puppy dog, trying his best to sound soothing and calm.

“I. Sow.Wee. We.Ter.Eye.A.Gen?” [‘I sorry. We try again?’] The dog seemed to ignore Ball’s words, instead he licked at his newly acquired bald spot, as if such a loud and slobbery action would magically grow back his hair.

[Ball]

Ball could tell his dog was ignoring his words and mostly likely his master as he licked away at himself. This caused Ball zero satisfaction in his actions or what he was about to do. Being stealthy was not in his repertoire of skills, so trying to do so was like giving a bull free reign in a china shop; completely disastrous. Rattling stones and small pieces of dirt around the Pycon’s slithering tentacles moved his whole mass with a large amount of rumbling. The dog though cared nothing for the sound, obviously still ignoring his master’s movements.

It was with this horrible attempt at being stealthy that Ball had actually got close to his mount and managed to get it to stand back up as he tried to lift himself into place on the poor dog’s back, being as careful as he possibly could to not add insult to injury. This was not a graceful move by Ball, as the dog shifted its body to try and keep Ball off him the pycon had actually misplaced a tentacle and ended up landing face first into the side of his Lhasa Apso’s furry body. This would’ve been amusing to someone else had they actually been there to watch, but Ball was lucky to have the place to himself, or at least a small spot to himself so he could train in peace of mind.

Using his current face-first position to his advantage Ball twined in several small tendrils of his body into the fur of the dog and rolled his body upwards in an awkward tuck-and-roll motion that landed him a prime location on the dog’s back. Once in place, the dog whined in protest but did nothing to try and unseat his rider. Ball then nudged the dog’s side with a tentacle and the dog trotted slowly in the direction of the bale, Ball had to lean to the side and scoop up his miniature lance from off the ground before sliding back up in a rather heavy ended push-pull combination from both sides of his body. This motion was required for him to get both his body and Thorn back up into place on the dog’s back.

Trotting past the cube of hay Ball allowed his dog to go several yards away before he had it turn a hundred and eighty degrees to once more face one of the sides of the bale. This time he didn’t change the dog’s speed, just took careful aim with Thorn at the bale at their currently leisurely pace that had been set.

The tip of Thorn wavered and wobbled as the pair trotted their way towards the bale, but luckily for Ball the corrections weren’t as severe as they were when galloping, but by gods the damn lance was heavy!

Ball watched as the point embedded itself in the bale’s face as the pair trotted past it, the squired pycon had to release his grip on Thorn unless he wanted to tear himself from the dog’s back once again and thus rewarding the dog with another bald patch for its good behave. Luckily though Ball did release the lance and both rider and mount trotted past the bale and after several seconds turned back around, Ball couldn’t see Thorn from his position, but he was still pretty sure he managed to hit his target.

[Ball]

Making his way around the bale of hay Ball could see the thicker end of the metal sliver sticking upward towards the heavens at an angle it was a good sign. Keeping an eye on the slant of the lance the squire continued rounding his makeshift jousting target. It dawned on Ball then that the slant was too steep to have made his attempt worthy to call it a hit. Taking the last corner with a half-hearted movement Ball found the results were definitely not knight material…

Thorn’s point was embedded at a nearly vertical slant going into the last sixth of the bale’s lower edge. The lance was probably only standing up like it was because he managed to actually stick a crack between the cobblestones. Grabbing it and trying to yank it out Ball realized it was indeed stuck in a crack. Wedged quite thoroughly and Ball grimaced as he tried to pull it out with all his clay might. Still it didn’t budge yet the pycon didn’t falter or give up. This was HIS LANCE and he was going to get it back.

Jumping up Ball wrapped himself around the fat end of it and pushed down on it with all his weight, he could feel the slightest quivering of the full lance as it shifted down every so slightly. Shifting his body so he was underneath it Ball pushed up on the lance, his whole body quivered and shook as he strained to budge the beastly lance upward. Ball did manage to move it slightly, and thus he pulled himself back to the top and repeated the process of pushing down on it again.

A chime later Ball found himself pushing down on Thorn, it was wiggling quite well now but Ball still couldn’t pull it from the crack hidden under the bale of hay. It was now that his lance slipped free of the crack… This sent pycon and lance tumbling away from the hay bale in a chaotic jumble of clay and steel.

Ball laid there on the ground, huffing and puffing before he pushed Thorn from his body and regained sure tentacle-footing underneath him. Looking at Thorn the Pycon started from the thicker end and went down it’s length, the lance looked all fine and dandy until the very end… It was the tip that looked messed up…

It was! Ball could see that the tip was bent and not just minutely but noticeably bent. There were faint white marks on the outer part of the bend showing that Ball had to physical force the cold steel into the position, thus weakening the tip and stretching out the material… A hard task to do, but it was doable. After all, Thorn wasn’t very thick of a weapon, especially at the tip.

Created goes to Arandolya

[Perplexity]

Riddled With Rewards Ball Experience Skill XP Earned Riding + 1 EXP Weapon: Thorn + 2 EXP Stealth +1 EXP Animal Husbandry +1 EXP Lores • Lore Earned • Jousting, Ball Style • Riding: Mounted Thorn-Fighting • The Difficulties of A Tiny Lance • Dog: Hesitant Mount Notes : PM me if you’ve questions regarding your grade.