My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts
11th of Spring, 516AV.
"Again." Howard swung his Py-Pole around towards Arch's midsection but a vertical sweep pushed the metal cap high over the squirrel Pycon's head, leaving his side vulnerable to a quick stab that would have dug deep into the clay under the lizard Pycon's armpit. Howard stepped back though, swinging the pole back down, catching Arch's pole and slamming the tip against the ground before driving forwards in a counter, aiming to stab through Arch's leg.. which also fell short thanks to a side-swipe. The two had been pushing back and forth for quite some time like this, focusing on short and quick jabs to whatever vulnerable areas they could find, struggling for every shallow scratch and minor prod. For the most part, they were evenly matched when it came to the springy weapons.. although the moment an offhand slip of the wrist caught Howard's fingers and detached them from the tree-sap handle, their game rapidly drew to a close.
The spiky lizard Pycon was anything but useless when it came to slipping out of a sticky situation, but against a two-footed kick to the head, he was floored within ticks. "Damnit!" Arch tried to stab the sharp metal cap into the ground next to Howard's head but the slippery lizard had rolled in the opposite direction, spun around on the spot, rose to his feet, swung back around to the side and hopped into the air faster than Arch could blink. He tried to imitate the same move, funnily enough - tipping his body backwards, bringing both legs up.. but the impact was poor and unlike Howard, all Arch had to do was give a swift punch to the backs of the other Pycon's knees and once again Howard was floored. This time, he wasn't escaping.
"You need to put more force behind your punches and kicks. But you've got the precision and the technique down," he complimented with a Py-Pole to his opponent's neck. "Try hardening the point of impact a little more.. you need to plan ahead, put a little more anticipation into your attacks. Know where you're going to hit." It was pretty obvious, after almost a couple of bells of work, that Howard was quite adept at 'rolling with the punches'.. essentially adapting constantly and just punching wherever he could find an opportunity, without taking any real strategy or plan into effect. His attacks were sporadic and each time they struck a different point. It wasn't a terrible approach. If anything it could be rather useful under certain circumstances. This just wasn't one of them.
"I'll try.. it's difficult though. You can get so many more hits in when you just flow with the punches and go wherever they send you," the lizard-Pycon sighed out as he rose back up to his feet and picked up his Py-Pole from the muddy ground.
"I know. But in the end, it doesn't matter how many hits you land on your opponent.. what matters is they're all in the right spots." A little bit of sagely advice, on the house for a good friend. "Anyway.. take a break? I could do with a drink or something before we start off again." Howard seemed to agree, stroking the spikes on the back of his head with one thickly-clawed hand and a sheepish smile on his face. The two had been going for some time, although thankfully there were few and far disturbances. The Bailey was pretty sparsely populated, with most of the knights busy tending to the Syliran Fields, assisting wherever necessary to get a good start on the year's crops.
For now, the only other knights were Ser Iros and Howard's patron, milling nearby at the edge of the grounds and chatting quietly while their squires continued with the lesson.
