[Antinous Training Grounds] Proper Technique. (Garland)

[Alexander Faircroft]

38th Winter 515AV

1:09PM

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The snows had begun to fall a little harder today. Still soft and gentle but heavier. Alex’s patron had been doing him a favour again. He’d asked another knight sera Catherine Ashe if she was willing to loan out her squire. Knowing full well that this would help her squire just as much as it would help Alex. And so to this end Alex sat atop the roof of the anthonious training grounds. Full plate dented and rusted a little in places. His sword shield and bow on hand as instructed. The cold air whipping around him as he waited. The sounds of battle ringing out as other squires trained with the weapon masters and His training partner had as of yet to arrive. It wasn’t his fault though Alex had just been early as normal. Not having much else to do or at least the time to do much else between basic training and helping out his patron with the odd thing here and there.

Still he enjoyed the alone time. It was nice to just get away from things every so often. The sound of battle was a small price to pay whilst he awaited his training compatriot. He pulled the loop of Sigils free from the plate mail and as he always did he began to flow through them saying a small prayer to each mostly for thanks the occasional request not for material goods but for patience, diligence, faith, hope. Pausing at each of those gods in turn. Still looking down wasn’t the best thing he could do in this situation as a slip from one of the squires training nearby slipped and struck him solidly in the arm. Luckily he had the plate but it still hurt like a son of a. Asking if he was alright he simply waved them off with a weak smile apologizing on his part for not paying attention to what was going on around him. And pledging to be more observant in future.

Only then did he hear a voice calling out to him to get his attention. I’ve messed up before I’ve even started…What a great day this is going to turn out to be…

[Garland]

Garland had been too busy with his children to properly train on the grounds or anywhere else for that matter. Sera Catherine had been very lenient with him taking care of his children, but he was still a squire and needed to train.

Garland's skills with the sword and his fists were exceptional! He had learned quite a bit in just one year, he was still a bit shaky when he's riding horses, but he had gotten use to them, or at the very least, his favored mount has gotten use to the stocky squire.

Garland had left his two children in the care of the chaperons in the dorms, Garland didn't like leaving his children, but it was needed. He needed to train, it had been a week and a day since he had gotten the kids left in his room once night. His days had been filled taking care of the twins by day, patrols by night, with Elann helping taking care of the kids during the evenings, and trying to sleep.

It was pass noon now. He had a training schedule planned with another squire today, he hadn't met him yet, but he had heard his name was Alex, it could be his old friend Alexander Ross, but his patron knew that he was friends with the other squire.

Now that he thought about it, he hasn't seen the fedora-wearing squire in a long time.

Still, he needed to be on his guard, he remembered that one time she had a 'test' for him, dodging blunted arrows from all directions while he was being hunted by a whole squad of squires out to get him.

She says it's to keep him on his toes at all times, you never really know when a bandit might jump out from the woods and attack, or a Yukman stumble into you and rip off your face.

That was Sera Catherine's reasoning for why she kept up with these surprise tests she kept putting on Garland.

As he reached the grounds, he noticed someone getting hit by another squire by accident. It didn't look like a bad blow, but Garland was still a bit curious. Also, the man that was hit matched the description his patron had given him.

"Are you alright? You're Alex, right?" He asked looking up to the much taller man, in fact, comparing the two, Garland could be mistaken as a child, mostly because of his shaven face. "Where are our patrons? Didn't they say they would supervise us?"

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex glanced around the training area and caught sight of the source of the voice. A smaller man thick of trim and armour much like his own. Crude and dented in spots but the description he’d been given of him matched.
“Squire Garland.” Alex rose with a sharpness to him. And gave a small bow of respect. A twinge of a smile etched into the side of his face. And then came the realisation he’d asked if he was alright. He simply nodded and coughed lightly.

“Yeah I’m ok. I take worse blows than that on a regular basis.” He smiled a bit wider now flashing the silver of the two teeth behind his right canine. Though at the other squires question about the location of their patrons he sighed.
“Ser Greyheart, my patron is currently busy in dealing with his wing. He’s putting them through their paces daily as he’s been charged with. Apparently they’ve been slacking a little. As for your patron…I’ve not a clue." He spoke earnestly and honestly His tone light and airy, An almost unnatural softness to it. Yet it didn’t sound forced.

“My instructions, were to find you here and acquire your help in refining my bastard sword technique…It seems to be a little lacking and given my spar with Squire Ball…Well I’d rather not mention the events…” He simply grit his teeth feeling a burning rage and bottling it deep down. He’d been thrashed but he’d given Ball a good run for his money in the process.

“I was informed by my Patron, who was in turn informed by your patron that you had some skill in this area. And it was mentioned that i could perhaps assist you with the bow?” Alex spoke slowly rising from his seated position standing a little over a full head taller than the other man. Alex lifted his bow from over his shoulder, holding it in his right hand lifting his shield buckled left hand to his chest to fiddle with the loop of sigils around his neck again. Offering a small prayer to the gods again.

[Garland]

"You lost to a Pycon?" If this was anyone else saying this, it would most likely follow with mocking laughter, but instead Garland had a look of extreme sympathy for the tall man.

"I know how that feels, I think you've gotten one of the worst, if not the worst, Pycon as a sparring partner. Do you know Arch? Squirrel Pycon, I had a tough time with him when I was just starting out during my squirehood."

He gave a small sympathetic smile and just shook it off. "Anyway, my patron just said that I should train with you, to show me how much I've slacked off." He said, from looking at his face though, it would look like he had been working doubly hard.

His eyes had deep black bags under, his skin looked pale, in fact, he just looked tired, he looked as if he had already trained from daybreak to noon. "I should have gotten a coffee from The Bean before I came here."

He sighed, but nevertheless he had brought his own weapons with him. His bastard sword, a weapon he has had as far as he could remember, and a shortbow he had borrowed from the armory and he also had a metal heater shield with an insignia of the Windoak was strapped on his back.

"Where should we start? Maybe a bit of archery on the range? Or should we start with a few swings around the sparring area?" He asked, while rubbing his hands together, it was getting chilly. The snow from last night was still thick in some parts of the training grounds, but most of the more popular spots were neatly shoveled.

"The Pycons aren't really all that bad, they're... just... I don't know how to describe them really... They're skilled would be an understatement. I remember when Ball fought in the shield games a few years back, he was quite a contender. I met him a few days after that I think, and convinced me to join the squirehood. I was still somewhat on the fence about joining since... I've had a rather shoddy background and, back then, a very unfriendly relationship with most squires and knights."

He laughed a bit a the nostalgia of his younger days. "I was quite a prankster back then! Tell me about yourself, Alex. You must have a reason for joining the knighthood."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The words stung and hung in the air. He had indeed lost to a pycon, but where ridicule and scorn might lie he instead found a touch of understanding. He knew how it felt. And Yes Alex knew arch. Apparently the squire before him had tested himself against Arch too.

“Yeah I’ve actually challenged both of them. Sometimes it’s better to learn how to defend yourself against an odd opponent. Arch actually threw me several feet before being done with me. And Arch was actually the one who suggested I trained with ball…Much to my subsequent regret.” He sighed heavily. The man before him did have an air of exhaustion to him. Like he’d had a long and laboured night. Alex however looked tired too. But he’d only had a restless night, lack of dreams and the ones which did come were haunting and too difficult to allow the joy of sleep. Though at the other squires question of what to start with he simply chuckeld. “Let’s start with the bow. It’s the only area I feel particularly comfortable with.”

A short walk to the archery range followed as Garland continued about how to describe the pycons. Skilled if a bit mischievous. And apparently ball had fought in the shield games. Alex had heard about them and felt sorry for which ever poor sod got the worse end of the deal there. The squire could fully sympathise. As Garland continued saying that ball was the one who initially got him into the knights he nodded with him. A shoddy history with the knights and a blurred back ground. Perhaps He wasn’t so different from Alex after all. And then he asked what Alex was like wand his reason for joining up with the knights. Alex paused a moment thinking.

“I joined the knights partially as a promise. Partially as a stand point against a life I didn’t want to lead anymore.” He lifted his bow lightly and drew and arrow from his quiver lining up his shot with the target. “When I was younger…My father took me to travel around most of sylira. As such I’d visited most of the cities on this continent. And I didn’t think the life of a travelling vagabond was for me. So I took up my mother’s loop of gods and joined the knights." A slow breath escaped him as he lined up the shot and then let it fly. The arrow racing true to its course slamming just off to the right of the bull’s eye. Damn still need some practice.

[Garland]

When the two of them reached the range, Garland pulled out his bow and tested the string. He had not practiced his archery in a very long time.

He doesn't even rightly remember how to use a bow. What he did remember though was that he does remember is Oriah being far better than him with the bow. He looked on at Alex watching him pull back the string to his shoulder.

He let the bow loose and sent the arrow flying, it went straight as it could, hitting the target just a few centimeters from the bull's eye. "Wow! You're pretty good at archery, are you a hunter before perchance?" He asked as he walked up beside him.

He pulled out an arrow from his quiver and nocked it into his bow, he hoped he still remembered how to do this. He drew his arm back and felt his muscles tense and twitch, as the tension his string tighten and grow.

He was not use to this kind of combat, he never really had any reason to use a boy when he was growing up, he mostly got into street brawls, fist-to-fist, hand-to-hand and so on and so forth.

He had been holding the shot for too long, his arms were getting more and more shaky. Finally he let go, his arrow flew wild, completely missing the target, and instead hitting the ground behind the straw target.

"Ahh! You're much better than I am, Alex. I haven't had any training with a boy and arrow for a long time now" He said and nocked another arrow in his bow. He shad spread out his legs, trying to keep his balance as he got ready for his shot.

"As you can plainly see..." He released the string and sent the shot wild again, this time though, it went over the straw target and hit a wall. "... I'm not much of a shot myself."

He smiled. "Mind giving me the basics? It has been a long time, I can barely remember what I've been taught regarding bows... Now that I think about it Sera Catherine never really taught me how to use bows, she mostly focused on melee-combat.'

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

It felt odd to receive praise for something, since he’d joined up with the knights every single person he’d met had constantly been trying to tear his self-esteem down to let him attempt to build it afresh. Alex watched Garland try to repeat the shot Alex just pulled, a simple technique, nothing too wrong with his formation, but there was a kink. He held the shot for far too long and sure to this the arrow went off wide. Way too wide. Alex smirked a little as Garland began to ask for help…How long had it been since someone asked for help? He stepped up and took a similar stance to the one he had before.

“Right, I’m not the best teacher so I’m going to just show you again what the stance looks like, and then I’ll walk you through the steps.” He lifted his bow again, another arrow slipped from the quiver at his hip. He knocked the arrow again pausing with the bow undrawn. He let the winds blow a little attempting to gauge where to shoot. He hoisted the bow above his head pulling the string back whilst pushing the bow open at the same time. The easiest way to draw a bow of this size was this way. He held the shot for no longer than a second but twisted the angle of the bow ever so slightly into the wind. He released again sending the arrow racing down range and landing in the opposite side of the bullseye. Damn…Gotta work on the over correction for the wind.

“So Garland if you watched closely there. I lined up the shot with by body before ever even pulling the arrow back. When you do so point your feet at the target and turn your body to the side a little.” Alex mimicked what he was saying with his own bow shifting his weight around and keeping his feet pointing towards the bale. Drawing the string back to just in front of his ear he led the shot. “The longer you hold a shot the more likely you are to break the bow or have your hands shake like what happened before. So it should be, line up the shot with your body draw, pause a half tick to correct, fire.” He let the string go now that his arm was visibly shaking from holding the force back.

“Them’s the basics, try another shot like I;ve just described. And don’t worry I’ve not gotten any training on how to use a bow since I got here. It’s the one point where I’m not completely useless. Just a little lack lustre.” He shook his head a little. “And at least you’ve had a lot of time to train with Sera Catherine, I’ve rarely gotten an opportunity to practice with Ser Greyheart, he’s been continually working on getting his wing up to date and well skilled. He tries to make time but…I don’t blame him for not being able too.”

[Garland]

Garland watched Alex intently, watching his feet, how he aimed, his arms and just how he stood. He seemed t know what he was doing, he seemed very comfortable in this.

Did he say he was new here? Barely had any training? He seemed to well-versed in archery. The winds blew hard, just when Alex fired his arrow, the wind sent the projectile away from the bullseye.

Though without the wind, it looked like it would hit the target easily. "Don't worry about it! We can't control wind after all, we aren't mages." He said and pat Alex's back.

He took his stance on the range, looking at his target before knocking an arrow into his shortbow and mimicing Alex. He raised up his bow above his head and then lowered it as he pulled back his bowstring up to his shoulder.

He looked on, making sure he didn't hold his shot for too long. His hands tensed as he released the string, sending the arrow flying through the range, the arrow nicked the edge of the target, sending a few strands of hay to the wind.

"Ahh Shyke. Not yet there, but I think I'm getting closer huh?" He said and took a stance, looking at the target again. It seemed so far, it was at least 50 ft, he was somewhat impressed at how he even came close to hitting his target.

He knew that his hand-crossbow wouldn't be able to hit that target at this range. Though he thought that the crossbow is a much easier weapon to use rather than a bow.

"I'd much rather prefer a hand-crossbow, but they're not as useful at range. I remember trying to hunt with one before, we ended up catching a young buck, only because we had horses at the time." He tested the string absent-mindedly as he talked. Alex was using a longbow judging by the size while Garland was using a shortbow, he was surprised he was able to at least match Alex's range.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

As the arrow veered off course he sighed slightly and heard garland pipe up no chastising just a word of encouragement. He smiled lightly and looked down range. “It’s not a matter of controlling wind. An effective archer like my father would have been able to wait for a lull in the wind and fired then. I’ve still got a ways to go.” He let his shoulders droop a little. Stepping back he let Garland step up to the plate.

Alex examined his stance it was alright he could have done with a little bit of straightening on the feet but nothing major. He did however have one fatal error in his shot which Alex could see. He tried to line up his shot after pulling the string. And then the final nail in the coffin so to speak was the fact his back hand tensed as he released the string. “My father had a saying.” Alex began as the arrow skimmed the target. “Untrue by an inch, untrue by a mile.” His response to Garland saying it wasn’t a bad shot. “I used to wonder what exactly that meant and then recently it hit me. If you were untrue by an inch at one foot. You’d be untrue by a hundred feet at a thousand feet.”

Heaving out a sigh. He shone through a small smile though. “But your right, from how your aiming you’re getting better. When you want to shoot raise the bow first, and then draw don’t try and do my technique as it’s based on a much larger bow. Lot harder to pull too if you want to try.” Alex opened his hand to offer Garland a chance to draw his bow. The hundred and ten pound draw weight something he’d learnt to deal with over many years. He’d be surprised if garland could even budge the string without it biting into his fingers. And the truth was at a distance of fifty feet Alex was barely even pulling a half draw lest the arrow punch through the target and injure someone.

Alex listened to Garlands stance on the hand cross bow. A useful tool but even if it was small it was still a fairly bulky item. The design of the thing wasn’t as sleek nor straight forwards as his longbow. “The idea of a crossbow is good. I just prefer something I’m a little more used too.” He smirked a little.

“Just to ask if I may, what was the hold up with arriving this morning? I’m not complaining I’m simply curious.” A soft edge to his voice more inquisitive and soothing that aggressive and accusatory.

[Garland]

He took the larger bow and felt the weight. It was almost as tall as he is. He tried to pull back the bowstring, and he was a bit surprised to feel that it was quite hard to pull the string back.

He could probably pull the string back if he really wanted too, but the string was already digging into his fingers and he failed to see how he could possibly aim this giant piece of wood.

Besides, he wouldn't want to break the thing, just to see how good it was. "I'm impressed you can pull the string back and aim as well as you do." He handed the longbow back to Alex and picked up his bow.

"I might as well empty my quiver for practice. After that, I guess it's my turn to keep my end of the bargain. What sword do you use?" He asked while picking up an arrow. This time he aimed before he pulled back, he tried to keep a steady hand as he released the string and sent the arrow propelling forward.

This time it actually hit, though not near the bullseye, around the outer ring of the target is where Garland's arrow hit.

When Alex asked about why he was late, he couldn't help but smile a little. "Sorry about that. I've had a two babies to take care of. You must have heard them at least a few times now. Phobos and Aneeka, my double bundles of joy." He sighed and picked up another arrow. "And they are very loud. I apologize for them."

He then repeated the action from before, adjusting his aim to be closer to the bullseye. The arrow hit a little bit close to the target this time, but Garland needed to learn how to compensate and adjust better for his shots.

"I can tell you all about them later if you want. I have patrols later and I'll give them to a friend to baby sit. You can patrol with me if you don't have any other plans."