Closed Training The Horse Rider (Ashryn)

[Garland]

Date: 19th of Winter

The cold there, the winds that chilled were there, the snow was there, and everything that pointed to winter was there. The Fighter's Pit was covered in snow and slush, a few of the fighters there decided to try and shovel up the snow so others could at least have a decent training session. Garland was one of the fighters helping with the clean up.

It has been very hectic these last few days, since the storm and taking care of Sayana, he had little time to relax. Even now that he wanted to get some training done with his weapons, the snow had built up in the Fighter's Pit, and now he's trying to get rid of it.

He loved the snow, but sometimes it could be a huge nuisance, he had invited Ashryn to join him today, though he would understand if she wanted to stay inside with the cold and snow taking over Syliras.

Then again, the warm torches and a large fire pit did look quite inviting, and the entertainment of fighters challenging each other was plenty of fun for non-fighters to watch and enjoy. He was assigned to patrol around the area of the Fighter's Pit, but with the snow, and the cold, you must either be crazy, or doing something important.

After the attack last fall, things were still pretty tight around the city of peace, everyone was on edge, but worrying about something all the time was not healthy. The area seemed clear of passersby due to the cold, but a few people with large coats seem to be making their way through the streets. They didn't seem like a threat to security, but still, one must be careful. Garland kept an eye on the large coated men.

After a while, they went up to Garland, who was leaning by the entrance of the Fighter's Pit with a shovel and a large pile of snow to the side.

"Excuse me, Ser. But do you know the way to the Herald's Arms? We seem to have wandered a bit." The large coated man said with a cold breath. "We're new to the city, you see."

Garland was still suspicious of the man, since the Herald's Arms were fairly close to the gates, but it was still possible to get lost. "Well, it's over to the left... that way. Then you head another left, and you should see the gate, it's fairly close there."

He said and the man thanked him and walked away. Garland nodded and went back to shoveling snow.

[Ashryn]

A bit nervous was an understatement. Ashryn had never fought before in her whole life. In fact she was instructed to do the exact opposite. Her father always told her about the Sylirian Knights and how they were there to protect her. There was never a need for Ashryn to turn to violence as long as they Knights watched over her. So when Garland offered to teach Ashryn about fighting last season after their horse race, the humble herbalist never even considered that she would ever take the young Squire up on his overture.

Recently though, Ashryn's father, Daryl's, paranoia about the safety of Syliras was growing. The terrorist attack early Fall was the start of his ramblings. They continued with every little dangerous event happening anywhere, and ended with Ashryn getting lost in the woods earlier this Winter. That was when Daryl decided to put his foot down and demanded that Ashryn begin to learn how to defend herself. It was something the girl had never expected to hear her father say, and, although the man was a bit mad with fear for his daughter, Ashryn would never dare to let him down. The old Knight meant the world to the girl, and if he wished it, she would abide.

Since then Ashryn has been scouring the Squires and Knights she sees around Syliras for the familiar chubby face and tousled brown hair of the teenager. When she finally spotted him a few days ago she greeted him and hoped he would remember the girl that stood before him. Thankfully, he did, and they set up a meeting to start her training. The thought of a weapon frightened Ashryn beyond what she could handle. So the boy suggested starting with the skill of Unarmed Combat. The herbalist would end up with more scrapes and bruises, but even her father assured her it was a good place to begin.

So after a few days the meeting had arrived. Ashryn was currently heading to the Fighter's Pit, a place she had never before frequented, to meet her Squire acquaintance. Because it was an entirely new place to the girl she had to stop and ask a couple of wandering Knights for directions. They kindly pointed her in the right direction, mostly with a strange look on their face as they did so. She understood their looks, she was almost as confused as they were as to why a girl such as her was headed to such a dastardly place such as that.

After a bit she finally found the Pit, it was actually outside of the citadel, which was surprising. Very few places were located inside the gates, but exposed to fresh air. She happened to live in such a place, the Traveler's Row, so she was glad this location was here too. The Fighter's Pit looked like a ruined building, and if not for the grunts and slaps of men and flesh Ashryn would have been worried she had come to the wrong place. Moving behind a wall she saw the pit. It was a large dirt courtyard with stands filled with shining weapons and fierce-looking men throwing said weapons around like child's play.

After standing frozen and admiring the place in a frightened awe, Ashryn came back to and remembered she was meeting her teenage Squire here. Looking around she saw him talking to two rather large, mean looking men. She waited until they left before she approached the boy. With a meager smile she greeted him, continuing to dart her eyes around the pit. Nervousness was radiating from her mostly fake smile and twitching hands.

"Well, this is... different." She said to the boy, looking at him and his surroundings with a skittish demeanor.

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[Garland]

He looked to his side, seeing Ashryn there, she must have seen the two large, heavy coated men. "Glad to see you've taken up my offer." He said and shook her hand. "Come on, we should get warmed up by the fire before we start." He said and placed the shovel by the wall.

"Anyway, it should be fine to do a few stretches before we start giving you the basics. As much as people would like to say that fighting is all physical, a smart fighter will last longer in the ring than a dumb fighter." He led the way to the large fire where some of the fighters were taking a short breather from the fighting.

Garland took off his large and not to mention heavy plate armor, he had clothes underneath his armor, mostly just a large coat, and under that coat he was wearing was another warm leather jacket. He smiled and warmed his hands up near the fire.

"Though... Keep in mind, Ashryn... I'm no professional nor am I a specialist in one type of fighting, I dabble in what I see. I mostly learned from practice and observation in the pits. So my explanations might be a little lacking in some areas, but I hope I could give you want you need." He said, cracking his fingers and shaking them loose.

"And if you thought we were going to spar or whatever, I won't even think about that even before you learn the basics, so you won't have to worry about that."

With that he pointed to a slightly more walled area where they could train some basic forms and do some stretching without any disturbances. "Whenever you're ready."

[Ashryn]

The fire was very welcoming. The walk over had been long and got colder with each step. The men around the pit were strangers to the girl, and since she was not dressed in armor like Garland, they looked at her strangely, as if she was out of place. Which of course, she was. She had never been here. She had no muscle or skill in this field. She was exactly what someone would call 'beginner'. The poor girl was extremely nervous. Although most would simply think she was shaking from the cold, she actually had the jitters. Saying so, Ashryn was super relieved when Garland said they wouldn't be sparring.

They had not even started and the horse rider was already impressed with her young Squire/Knight friend. He explained the her that they should stretch before doing any physical labor in the combat department, and of course learn the basics before anything else. She nodded her head silently, contemplatively, in agreement with the tousled hair boy.

The fire they sat by was large, though the look of it reminded her of her hearth back home in Traveler's Row it was much larger, brighter, blue in the center. It gave off a lovely amount of warmth and Ashryn gladly snuggled into the cloud of heat, warming her fingers and telling herself she really needs to buy a pair of winter gloves. The men around the fire eventually stopped staring at the girl, deciding they didn't care enough to dwell on it any longer and returned to their conversations or thoughts. Ashryn began to relax a little and felt the fire warm her insides. Her fingers no longer ached and her back slouched a bit, previously straight from straining against the cold and shivers and jitters.

"I think you are exactly what I need here, Garland." Ashryn assured as the boy explained that he was no expert. The herbalist believed it too. She didn't require any fancy teacher or master. She just needed someone who knew more than her, even if it was just a little. As long as they knew something more than she, the girl had something to learn. And seeing how Ashryn had no skill in this combat style, or any combat style, Garland could teach her much.

The girl took a few more minutes of enjoying the fire and building up her confidence before she finally broke and told the Squire/Knight she was ready. The got up and walked over to the area where Garland had pointed and waited on him to follow. Looking around the area was just cold, frozen dirt floor that happened to be near a wall. It was in view and had a view of the rest of the Pit. But yet secluded enough to tell people to stay away, this spot is being occupied.

After she arrived at the spot she stood rather still, awkward. She had no idea what to do next. Did she need to take off her cloak? Put up her hair? Was she allowed to put her gloves back on? She assumed the boy would tell her everything she needed, so she waited expectantly on him word.

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[Garland]

"It's cold, you should keep your clothes on. Anyway, just a few basic stretches would be good, to loosen the joints and muscles. It would be good to keep moving right now because of the cold." He said and cracked his knuckles, and stretched his legs. "Anyway..." He said, as he stretched his limbs. "In a real fight, you wouldn't have time to stretch, it would be best to finish it quickly." He started running in place. "Strength isn't the only factor in a fight, there's speed and skill. There are soft spots in everyone's body." He stopped and waited for Ashryn to finish up herself.

After that he pointed under his chin. "This is a soft spot, one can attack here to make your opponent stumble." He then pointed to his neck. "This is also a good place to punch... Though there is a chance you could break his windpipe and effectively choke him to death... So I suggest you avoid punching the neck unless you really have to." He then pointed to his private area, a bit embarrassed, but Ashryn needed to know the best places to attack. "Well... It's a dirty move, but it is effective..." He coughed and decided to move the lesson along.

"There are different types of punches, a slow but strong hook and a fast but weak jab. If you're fighting someone fast, try to attack with a feint, and hit him hard. A feint is a fake-out attack, a sort of... diversion from the real attack. If you're fighting a big, slow person, it would be best to go for quick, cheap shots." He demonstrated the slow hook, aiming for the face of their imaginary opponent, it would seem fast to the untrained eye, but it was slow compared to the jab, which he then showed Ashryn how to do it.

"In a few cases, a jab or hook is impossible to do, if the enemy is too close or if got you in a hold. If you have your hands free, you can attack the temples, at the same time. It hurts like Hai and it will probably make whoever was holding you, let you go so they can hold their head. Another way to get out of a situation like that is to kick. The legs are one of the strongest muscles in our body, it has supported us since we were babies, so it has been training to carry a large heavy amount. I wound't recommend using kicks too much, because if someone were to catch you by the leg, it would be easy pickings after that."

He said and showed off a few kicks. He went over to one of the sides and grabbed a bunch of cloth, it seemed to have just been discarded, he wrapped them around his hands, and raised them to his face. "Try to punch these things on my hands. Pretend they're bandits or something, don't hold back."

[Ashryn]

Ashryn knew about stretching before doing a strenuous physical activity. She had seen her father and Acton stretch before training together numerous times. Yet, she still felt a little awkward running in place. Perhaps it was just her female mind over-thinking things, like the fact that she was a small, frail-looking girl in a fighters pit. She was afraid that everyone else was still staring at her. In truth no one was actually paying attention to her besides her trainer.

After running in place, and surprisingly, warming up a bit to the cold, Ashryn asked garland if there were any other stretches besides running. She was sure there was, she had seen them actually, but she wasn't sure how to do them properly and wanted the boy to teach her them. She didn't want to end up with a sprained muscle or anything that prevented her from moving as fluidly as she could.

As the Squire/Knight began to tell the herbalist about 'soft spots' Ashryn had to flinch a little. Who would hit someone in their throat? Or their groin? That was cruel. She began to wonder if she was truly cut out for this, which of course, she really wasn't. She was only here on her fathers request. The boy was right though. Kneeing a man in his soft spot would surely buckle him, and provide a moment or two for escape if it came to that. Th girl had never run into that kind of trouble in Sylias though. The Knights held a tight grip on crime and it was not tolerated in the slightest. It kept small women like her safe. And she appreciated that. But with her father doubting the Order's grip, Ashryn had to heed that and take up some defense - just in case.

As she listened to her teacher Ashryn touched her throat as he mentioned it, feeling around for her windpipe. She needed to practice on herself to know exactly where to hit on someone else. Maybe she should pick up some anatomy, she thought, that would help her in her medicine practices too. She shook her head slightly, stopping her mind from wandering too far and focused yet again on the boy. She smiled a tiny bit, seeing the boy stumbling, embarrassed, over his words as he mentioned the groin. She was proud of him in a way. At least he was mature enough to know it was an important detail, but still young enough to be ashamed of mentioning it in front of a woman.

The poor girl got a little lost when Garland began to talk about different punches and body types and speeds. She liked it when he was talking about soft spots. It was all on point and clear. But know she felt like he was jumping all over the place, she tried to rein herself into the conversation but to be completely honest, Ashryn didn't catch most of what the Squire/Knight said. She had to clarify.

"I'm sorry... I don't understand. You lost me a little." She said in a small voice. She was very confused and a bit embarrassed of that fact. "So can you explain these 'different types of punches' more?" She noticed his demonstrations, but was unsure how to preform them. "Where am I supposed to hit besides the neck, and how hard? Is my fist supposed to be at a certain angle or my fingers in a certain position?" She tried to slow herself down, she didn't want to overwhelm the boy as he did her, but she had so many questions. She let out one final question for the moment, "Will it hurt?"

She held off punching the boy clothed hands until he answered her questions. She did, however, examine them. Just simply with her eyes, the cloth was dirty and old and Ashryn wondered if she really wanted to touch them.

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[Garland]

"So can you explain these 'different types of punches' more?"

He had to admit he was going a bit too fast now that she mentions it. "Anyway... Ahem... Well... for example, there's a drunk trying to pick a fight with you and there aren't any knights around to protect you. He moves pretty fast for a drunk and can dodge slow punches easily. A jab is a straight and quick punch, usually used for fast opponents that are able to dodge well. A jab isn't a strong punch, but like I said before, placing it on the right spots can be just as effective as a strong punch to the face." He paused, trying to think of what he would do in that scenario. "The man was drunk and he's trying to pick a fight, he can move fast despite being drunk and dodge slow attacks, a jab can disorient him long enough so you can follow up with a stronger or more accurate attack. A quick jab to the face, can surprise your enemy and stun him so you can follow up with a better attack, one to the throat or something, then you can either run to get help and knock him out."

He said in a lengthy explanation about the first type of punching. He again gave a quick demonstration of the jab, he attacked the air with quick punches, following a combination of attacks and then ending with a slightly stronger attack. "Before I forget, you should try to string along combos to keep your opponent on edge, don't string it for too long or you might risk being countered and tiring yourself out."

Next he showed her the hook and uppercut. "The hook is a much slower attack but is a lot stronger, usually it should be used when you're enemy is stunned, usually it should be how you finish your combo, while the enemy is stunned with your quick attacks, but sometimes your jabs won't effect larger and more resistant people, it would be best to use speed and if you can find a blind spot, set up a strong attack. A hook is slow along with an uppercut, more experienced fighters could easily dodge or block it, it would be best to use if you're sure it would hit. If you're not sure... Try to stay on the defensive."

There was a lot more he could teach, but he didn't have time to teach her all of his tricks, just the basics.

"Where am I supposed to hit besides the neck, and how hard? Is my fist supposed to be at a certain angle or my fingers in a certain position?"

He thought for a moment, the best places to hit would be either the face or the body itself. "Well, it all depends on how you attack. The face and body are good places to attack, a body attack can knocked the wind out of your opponent, and could tire them out much more easily. The face can cause a lot more damage, a black eye could love his perception, it could mean he could be easier to deal with later on. If you want to be more precise with your attacks, try the joints if you feel like you're strong enough, breaking a joint could effectively end the fight there and then, but the joints are hard so you got to attack hard." He said, pointing to his knee and elbows. "The elbows are hard joints with little fat, meaning it would hurt a lot if you can properly use it in a fight... Sadly I still haven't perfected using my elbow in fighting." He said flexing his arm a bit. "Oh and before I forget, the best way to break a knee is to attack it from the side instead of the front. I learned this after a fight with a Yukman recently."

"Will it hurt?"

"If you punch wrong and hard, then of course it would hurt. This is why you should stay on the defensive early on, tire out your opponent then attack with quick punches in the soft parts I said earlier."

[Orin Fenix]

Grades are Served

 

Garland

Skill	XP
Observation	1
Body-Building	2
Teaching	3
Socialization	1
Unarmed Combat	2
Tactics	2

Lores

• Warm-ups Are Advisable Before Combat
• Teaching: Start with the Basics
• Unarmed Combat: Vulnerable Spots on the Body
• Unarmed Combat: Hooks
• Unarmed Combat: Jabs

Shield Points

Assisting a Citizen	4
Patrolling	2

Extras :

It was a really good thread and I'm sorry it had to get discontinued.

Don't forget to edit or delete your grade request in the grade request thread.

If you have any questions or concerns about your grade please feel free to send me a message.