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Wherein Karin makes friends with a young Akalak and the two fight for fun.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Knirin Gardens] The Boy and the Sword

Postby Karin on October 3rd, 2016, 5:55 pm

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15th Fall, 516 AV
Late afternoon/early evening

The young woman had finished work but half a bell ago, yet she had an intense want to be as far away from her room at Atri's Place as possible. With that in mind, she'd taken to wandering the city, as was becoming quite customary for her. She was often finding new things and new places for her to enjoy.

Today was no exception, as she walked slowly through the streets of Riverfall. On the horizon, the gleaming face of Syna was slowly starting to fade into sunset, and the air still clung to the warmth of Summer. She had walked all the way over the bridge, feeling the refreshing spray of water on her face from the waterfall, all the way down past the corner of Gideon Arena and the stables, before nipping down a small, winding alley past the School of Earth and Life Sciences that had caught her eye.

Following it through, Karin found herself stumbling upon a glorious sight (and smell), of flowers blossoming, and green vistas all around. Spotting a small sign, the young woman read with difficulty the words obscured by a flowering shrub: 'Knirin Gardens'. With a name to the place, she smiled contentedly and looked all around her. This, she thought, was the perfect place to spend an evening.

She didn't have much with her: rucksack, a small roll of bread, a lump of goat's cheese, her knife safely tucked in her belt as always and in her hand, her quarterstaff. She had the weapon as a kind of walking stick, although she didn't trail it along the ground, having been quite unwilling to damage or scratch it. In fact, she'd been carrying it around with her now for the past couple of days. Not because she felt threatened or anything like that, but because of a conversation she'd had with an Akalak colleague, who'd asked her if she was going to apply to become a Kuvan. He'd seemed pretty off-put when she had said she didn't even know what that was. After a brief explanation, she'd felt somewhat cowed but his fervent love of his city, but galvanised nonetheless.

However, this Knirin Garden, or park or whatever it was seemed the perfect place to train in her preferred craft. Already she'd seen tall, hulkingly dark Akalak men practising some kind of unarmed combat, a fighting style she'd never seen before. Of course, not that she'd seen many fights for that matter. In that regard, she was still as green as the grass she stood on. Yet the space was large enough that she felt comfortable showing and practising without anyone making fun of her lack of ability.

She paced around for a few chimes, trying to find the best place. Finally she picked a spot, a patch of grass shaded by small, flowering trees on three quarters of the sides, overlooking the Suvan. A handy stump was placed well in the centre, and with a hefty swing she took a hit at it.
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
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Karin
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[Knirin Gardens] The Boy and the Sword

Postby Karin on October 3rd, 2016, 6:55 pm

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In the quiet seclusion, the resounding thwack of wood on wood seemed to echo, and the woman grimaced and almost let go of the staff as the shockwaves rippled uncomfortably through her hands.

Resolutely deciding to never do that again, the young woman started taking more swings at the stump, alternating between the left and the right. As her arm muscles started to burn, she pushed through it. After all, being able to endure must be an important factor of a warrior's life, surely?

In all honesty, as the girl grappled with the staff and thunked the stump solidly on it's head, she knew nothing about fighting. She'd never had a teacher, at least not yet. Never been in a real fight, apart from with the undead horrors in Alvadas, three seasons ago. No, the only things she knew were from the few fights she'd seen on the streets of Alvadas, the undead, and that was about it.

She took a quick breather, and then fancied trying her hand at something different. There was one thing she'd seen a woman do, whilst fighting the war on the undead. One courageous woman who'd spun her weapon around her head before bringing it down with great success. The memory was fleeting, as Karin had only seen her for a fragment of time before she'd had to deal with her own problems. But perhaps it would be worth replicating...

It was more difficult than she realised. The spinning by itself was hard, as she soon discovered that her arms and hands were not made of ball bearings, and couldn't rotate endlessly. It required some kind of hand flick, she figured. A couple of tries later, and she thought she had it.

Only to find, that as she spun her quarterstaff above her head, her grip was a little too loose... and the weapon spun completely out of her hand and into the undergrowth. Karin let out a shout of surprise and immediately dived into the bushes in search of it.

It couldn't have gone too far, but the more she searched, the more she worried that she'd lost it for good. Karin was beginning to develop a bad mood, when from behind a thick tree trunk, a young lad stepped out with a mischievous grin on his face. It wasn't the smile she first noticed though, that was the quarterstaff, her quarterstaff that he held in his fist.
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
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Karin
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Posts: 568
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Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
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[Knirin Gardens] The Boy and the Sword

Postby Karin on October 3rd, 2016, 7:08 pm

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The boy said something in the language of the Akalak, and Karin gaped, agog and bewildered as the lad who could only be 10 at best stuck his tongue out at her.
"Uh, sorry, I can't speak your language. If you can speak or understand Common, could I have my quarterstaff back?"

Quickly, the young boy replied. "No, as you're the one who threw it at me in the first place!" Oh gods... She smiled and offered her hand forwards, a gesture of peace and apology. "I'm sorry, it was an accident. Now, the quarterstaff?"

But the boy apparently had other ideas. With a leap and a chuckle, he climbed into the tree, dragging her weapon with him. She didn't have the heart to antagonise him and grab the other end, but as he climbed higher and higher she felt sure he was playing with her. Determinedly, she grabbed the lower branch of the tree. If he wanted to play, then well... so would she.

"I'm coming to get it, whether you want to give it to me or not!" She proclaimed, her voice loud in the treetops. His singsong voice, in perfect Common floated back down from nearby, "You won't catch me!"

He'd see about that.

Or not, depending. The top of the tree was most certainly not designed for climbing, and the woman suddenly became aware of it as she took a look down to the floor below. The young lad seemed perfectly at home, even with her quarterstaff and a wooden sword tucked through his belt. She stopped climbing, and looked up through the branches, peering at the little petcher.

"It's not nice to take other people's property y'know." She tried to take on an authoritative tone, but the boy's natural superiority made her feel somewhat on edge, and so it came off as more apologetic than teacherly.

However, he seemed to listen, at least begrudgingly. "I can let you have it back lady if you fight me for it. You want to practice, no? Well, I'm bored, and I need to practice meself." That was a surprise. The boy wanted to practice, huh?

"Look, I can do that. But, we'll need to get down from this tree. Say, if I promise not to take it from you, and if you promise not to run away, then we can have a fight, okay?" The boy nodded, or at least that was what it looked like with his head in the foliage.
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
User avatar
Karin
Ocean gazing
 
Posts: 568
Words: 384298
Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
Location: Riverfall/Syka
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 2
Artist (1) Overlored (1)


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