Completed Some Tips and Trips.

[Medhozic]

Time Stamp: 91st Day, Fall 513AV. "Ow." He couldn't feel the sting that he'd been warned about from the flat edge of the steel dagger, but he still made the noise to satisfy the female knight that'd managed to strike him on the arm. She had a small frown of something between disappointment and some other unreadable emotion over her face, but he didn't look at it for long enough to really study it and she soon backed away regardless. "You need to focus yourself. Use the dagger as an extension of your arm." The knight, Natasha if he remembered correctly, reeled the small dagger back and sent a sharp jab for his ribcage - thankfully he was able to lean to the side just before it struck, or it might have left an ugly gash - but the following swipe to the side meant that he had no room in the mere inches between the edge and his chest before its slender edge struck him again with a lot less force, but he knew regardless that it would have caused significant damage if the knight didn't have enough competence around the weapon to turn it just before it struck, meaning that instead of one of the sharpened edges, he got the flat between them. Not to mention for the fact that they were going at quite a slow pace; he may not be proficient, but he could see how she slowed before each attack, giving him time to move aside before it connected. Still it struck; it shouldn't have, but it did. They kept going and she wheeled around to bring a strike against his back, which he barely had enough time to step away from; he brought it up soon afterwards with an attempt to slam into her chin, but she stepped back and the blade swung high into the air with the amount of force that he'd thrown into it. He felt vulnerable; for good reason, because two more light jabs landed on either side of his ribcage and a third, harder, over his stomach before he was able to bring it down and defend himself again. He could tell the third one was actually supposed to hurt - if only he could feel them. There'd be bruises in the morning and the spots would most likely remain tender for another few days after those had faded, but apart from that, they wouldn't affect him. Apart from the knowledge that had that been a real battle, he'd be bleeding profusely for a few minutes and then he'd be dead, if he even had a few minutes.. then the black would come, and the silence, and the-- She was looking at him funny. Oh, right. "Ow." She pulled back from the stance that she'd held; one arm drawn back, and her entire body leaning forwards with her legs spread, in order to grab the sword, her spare dagger that she'd given him for the purposes of a friendly training session, from between his fingers and wave it in front of his face. She could see it - he wasn't using the sword. He didn't have a clue how to; she could block his attacks in mid-air, he couldn't even see them coming before they hit. It was all too fast for him, the changes in stance.. "What's the good in having a sword if you don't use it?" "What's the good in trying to use a sword if I cannot use it well." "You won't learn how to use it well if you don't try." She had a point, as much as he hated it, so he snatched the handle back from her and made a few small practice swings, though the stance that she'd taken wouldn't escape his mind. A glance in the knights direction confirmed that she was watching him, and he knew that he couldn't start showing an attempt to copy it, or she'd be able to counter the stance through the obvious weakness - while her legs were open, it would be more difficult to move to evade another strike, especially since they weren't using shields - only the tiny metal daggers that had barely any reach on them, and the other hand was free to wave around. Even with the lack of weight or size of the sword, he'd been balancing with his other arm. If he could land a single hit on this knight, he'd be happy, although he knew that she was much better in the capability of her blade, there were still little mistakes that even the best of the warriors made. She was still watching, so he began to practice the different moves one at a time - the foot stance, spread out fairly wide, and then with his arm stretching forwards with that same sharp stabbing motion, and finally the other arm being held back for stability. Each step he made kicked up a little dirt in their make-shift arena - it wasn't exactly Stormhold.. but it wasn't the Bronze Woods. Somewhere between the two, on the edge of the two, in a small clearing that hung beside the entrance to the Castle that he'd managed to find the female knight. A few small words and a bit of begging on his part had given enough reason for her to try out her skills against him - though upon realising that he had absolutely no skill with a blade, a bit more pleading had led to her giving him a few pointers. He repeated each move over and over, trying to find an equal balance in the three different sets - though soon enough, he was back into the actual fighting, and she swung the dagger once around her side with nimble fingers nearly blurring in their competent speed. "Come on then, once more and then we'll try it with a shield. You can borrow one of mine. Hopefully you'll last longer this time, but if not, we can always come back to it." She didn't wait much longer before getting back into position, the dagger held in one hand with the other pulled back as she swung for his shoulder. Once again, he ducked under it and she only reversed it and came back from the opposite side, although now he was already prepared. Remembering the same move that she'd pulled before, the blade struck him but he pushed back with both hands gripping the handle as, immediately, he struck for her chest, feet spread apart and leaning forwards to increase the reach and compensate for the daggers meagre size... and it missed, as Natasha had already stepped to the side. However, she looked.. somewhat surprised. Like a small child had shown her a finger-painting and for once, it looked like something other than a big smudge over the paper. "Not bad. Even though you still got hit. But you need to lower your arm a little.." As she spoke, she gently gripped his wrist and drew it down so that it eased his weight and helped him look a bit less like an idiot with no clue what he was actually attempting. Though, a few more practices made it a little easier. When he looked back to the female knight she was smiling a little - he didn't return it, but he felt a little better. Even though he'd simply picked her out at random and asked if she could show him some moves in using swords, she'd managed to make a good impression so far. Perhaps he'd ask her for future sessions. As it was, it'd been difficult to find a knight willing for a small session of fighting with some unknown addition to the Castle. "Let's try it with the shields now, shall we?

[Medhozic]

A steel dagger in his right hand; a buckler strapped to his left forearm and his hand balled up into a fist. They'd been going non-stop for a while now.. back and forth, with Natasha handing out snippets of advice every now and then, and the occasional word of praise when he successfully blocked an attack, though at the same time, he knew that there would be much more to do, with practice. A swipe came up from the side suddenly, and it was all he could do to throw his right arm out and hope that the blade was caught on the shield, but the position meant that she could a second one just underneath, and he had to block it again before he could then throw a jab for her chest; which of course was flung wide by the side of her shield nudging the flat of the tiny blade, and a final stab against his chest while his arm hung out in the air, like some mockery of a statue while imaginary blood gushed from wounds in his mind. "You need to practice. You still don't flow - your swings are wooden and you need to work on reaction speed. It'll come with time, and more work." He didn't believe her - he didn't want to do it again, even though he knew that he would have to. Reluctantly, he nodded an affirmation and she nodded as a signal to start again. "This time." A sharp jab to her chest, stretching his reach to try and get an early hit but it swept out wide and she was able to step behind him and slip one foot behind his left leg, sweeping it out from underneath and causing him to fall over onto his side from a lack of balance, and kicking up a bit of dust around them both. "Shyke." Even with the anger that he felt, his voice sounded dull and monotonous to his own ears - one of the first times he'd actually managed to realize how little emotion he portrayed, even when he wanted to. "You're being too impatient." "That's because I want to win." "You won't win if you're impatient." Once he was up, she didn't hesitate to strike a second time and this time, the buckler went from his side up past his chest and flung the dagger into the air purely out of reflex, like swatting a fly out of ones face. Immediately, he took the opportunity and took a step forwards with the blade thrust for her stomach, but she took a step back at the same time and it came short; though now she wasn't about to make the same mistake, and he had to watch for any surprises that could be used to his advantage. No such luck. The dagger swung around suddenly, and this time when he came up to block with the buckler, she kept pushing and forced it back with a relative ease, before throwing a quick strike for his opposite side during the recovery. She obviously wasn't fooling around anymore - the last strike could have easily caused some damage, and she'd turned from her normal teacher-attitude into a real knight, and obviously he stood no chance. One, two, three, four relatively light hits landed on his side around his hip and ribcage before she pulled back and nodded a few times. "You need to keep working at it. Maybe you should fight a little more with some of the others - there are plenty of squires that are always fighting around the grounds. And although none of them have as lacking experience in blades as you, I'm sure you'll be able to put up a good fight and get some training in." Oh, how he loathed the very idea of going up against one of those squires.. the ones that weren't around for simply helping him learn to fight - the ones that actually wanted to win against him.. which was most likely what Natasha had been gunning for in the first place. "Perhaps." "Well, I think we can try a few more times and then call it a day. I can't spend all day here, you know." "I know." He didn't mention anything else - only raised the buckler again and readied the little miniature-sword at his side. He'd show her.. even if it took all night - even if he ended up going to that pit and finding someone there to go against, he'd find a way to show them all. But here she came again...

[Medhozic]

Later that day... They met again, only this time in the edges of the Bronze Woods. It was obvious just how quickly the Fall was fading to make way for Winter; the great bronze and brown foliage that had adorned the trees was fading away, left underfoot that made every step sound echo several times over. And by the way Natasha focused on the horns trailing down the sides of his head, he could tell that he was in late Fall bloom, which was only accentuated by the trees that he stood amongst. His hair had lightened, somewhere on the edge of a shade of pale auburn, and his horns hung beneath them in a spiraling blend of gold and dark forest-green that couldn't decide if it was blending with the curtain, or creating a broad contrast to it in its marble glow. There'd been other business to attend to, both with the Ethaefal in terms of searching around for more places to explore, and the Knight to attend other 'Knightly' duties, and so they'd agreed for a later time in the same day. Natasha held no weapons this time - neither did he. This was all about working with the hands and the feet, before they could hold swords. Though it was something else, too. He'd been leaning against one of the trees with his arms folded over his chest, but he lifted himself off and greeted her with a curt nod. "So, why did you even want me to do this with you?" she asked abruptly, before throwing a swing straight for the side of his head. It was cushioned as she slowed it just before the connection, but it was unneeded - he couldn't feel any pain from it, anyway. The question had just thrown him off-guard enough. Not to mention the complete surprise of having an attack off-the-bat, without as much as a preparing stance. "Because I'm weak." In a counter-attack, he sent a fist straight for her chest, but she pushed it aside with one hand and gripped tightly around the wrist, jerking him forwards and into a second strike into his stomach. It succeeded in forcing the wind from his lungs, but nothing more. "You're not weak." "Then why are you hitting me." "Because I'm a knight and I've been doing this for a long time." She lifted her left knee to strike against the same spot that her fist had, but he barely manged to step aside. While she was balanced on her right foot, his left swung for her ankle and tried to throw her backwards in something similar to how one might kick a stone than any known martial art that she was throwing at him - but since her grip was still on his wrist, even though he managed to catch her unaware, she remained upright. Perhaps she knew and just wanted to show it to him. "That doesn't particularly matter." He tugged his fist back, and she relented and released his wrist. "I want to be able to survive." "But you're an Ethaefal." "That's a sore reason." "It's still one. I must admit, I'm looking forward to bragging about training with an Ethaefal." He could tell that she was being serious, which just confused him even more. "I mean, it's not every-day that you see one." "That's true." They'd apparently completely forgotten about the off-hand training for now, and were just going on about each-other and the reasons for even fighting in the first place. He didn't want to stop training though - so he threw a punch for her face, straight and true, which was easily pushed aside by Natasha with the back of her hand, and a counter-strike against his chest struck home without much of a problem. She's too fast. I need to work on my reaction times. Like she said.. unfortunately. "Most of the creatures I see are human. Then again, I haven't spent much time in other areas." "How old are you, really? Sorry, but I need to know." He raised an eyebrow, and struck again for her chest at the same time as he responded. "One." The strike hit, for exactly the same reason as the first one - she was standing with her mouth nearly wide open, complete disbelief evident, apparently not noticing or caring for the punch. It just showed how weak he really was - the one punch he actually manages to land on a knight, and she barely flinches. He stared back with the same blank face that he always wore - it took several moments for one of them to break the silence. Although it wasn't much of a breaking - more of a complete shattering. "ONE? You mean to tell me, you're only one year old? Four seasons?" "Yes." He blinked a few times; hadn't she heard of Ethaefal and their origins before, how they fell as fully-formed creatures? "Shall we continue now." "Yes, right.. of course." She seemed slower, as if distracted by now. A punch flew for his head, but this time he was able to lean to the right and let it swing past, before throwing one of his own for the left side of her ribcage in a hook - which she managed to block with the side of her forearm, though she didn't anticipate the immediate follow-up with his right hand slamming palm-first against her stomach, pushing her forcefully back rather than inflicting any damage, and leaving her the perfect distance to lift his right foot in a kick for her chest. Which she caught by the ankle and span around until he was twisted into a very uncomfortable angle, and fell over onto the floor shortly afterwards. Even in his dazed state, he could tell that she'd practically let him land the hits. "Ow." "I think we should call that a day. But I'll tell you what." She offered him a hand, and he took it to slowly rise back to his feet and brush a hand down his shirt to rid it of the dirt. "I'll ask one of the squires if they'd be interested - I'm sure they would be - to have a small session with you. Archery, unarmed combat, whatever." "Thank you." "It's no problem. You've got a good grasp; I think you'll be able to survive just fine." As she turned and began to walk back through the filter of foliage, he wondered if she knew just how much those words meant to him. Survive.. yes. I will.

[Radiant]

Medhozic :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+2 XP
Rhetoric	+1 XP
Weapon: Dagger	+2 XP
Weapon: Shield	+1 XP
Unarmed Combat	+1 XP
Acrobatics	+1 XP
Endurance	+2 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Dagger: Basic Stances And Grips

Natasha: Syliran Knight

Impatience Leads To Defeat

Loots

Notes :

Grade added!

I'd like to see more of Med's struggles in the future!

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.