Closed Answering That Bell // And I've made up my mind

Finn heads for the sawmill and meets Sophia

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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Answering That Bell // And I've made up my mind

Postby Finn Reefdiver on July 27th, 2019, 2:42 am

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“I’m thinking that the medicinal herbs might be just about as important as edible but who am I to say!” He responded to her as she seemed to note his own weakness in their practice.

“Guess I do, Camira and she found me when she was just a fledgling but has grown considerably now.” He wondered if he had seen her gull around and although possible he would have no way of knowing it anyway but as she continued and her smile faded away he couldn’t help wondering if she equated Svefra having to fish and not that he would turn anyone away but suspected she or they would at least have a good conversation if all else failed. He smiled widely as he answered “Your welcome to go out fishing with me whenever you want!”

Their rhythm of blows increased as Sophia caught and held both of his attacks off quite easily and without any hesitation it seemed which continued to put him at ease. Her blade moved effortlessly from side to side with his attacks, as she adjusted herself ever so slightly.

He tried to imagine where Sophia described on the beach of Syka, he had been past Uta’s place and few times and knew where the path to the tar pits were but he would have to try and look at some time as he passed by. “Have to watch out for all the large cats and snakes then and make sure they don’t they don’t come in the front door too!” He good naturedly teased just a little. “I have to go where the fish are regardless, but the casinor does make that easier wherever it is.”

He nodded as he agreed to Sophia’s suggestion of moving around, he remembered seeing something similiar done as he watched people practice in the pod. It seemed to only make sense that they kept adding to their little practice session and as she stepped forward with the swing of her cutlass, he brought his around as he took a step back as she had instructed moments before. The movement felt natural and right as he moved opposite the young woman.

He continued the rhythm that they had been building throughout the match, he didn’t try to speed it up or increase the speed or difficulty at all but simply kept it up. He reigned in his own stride to make sure he didn’t overstep into her, but he stepped forward with his left and lightly swung his cutlass at her left shoulder. A devilish grin crossed his face as he joked with Sophia “If you wanted a dance, you could of just asked you know!”.

He forced himself to stay serious and on the task at hand while lowered his blade and switched to his backhand, he brought the cutlass back at her right shoulder this time while he stepped forward a second time but with his right foot for this attack. After his own attack, as he brought his foot back he stepped slightly to his right to keep his own balance in the mix. “I hope that was something like you were meaning?” he asked.

He stood on his toes as he prepared for her counter attack, or at least hopefully prepared for whatever she decided to throw at him. “Do you grow your own plants or do you find them in the jungle and sea yourself? I know very little about plants myself, probably should add that to the list of things to learn here.” He really did have a lot to learn if he stayed in Syka he knew, he just hadn’t taken the time yet to get started on most of it. He supposed that today would count as a start though.
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Finn Reefdiver
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Answering That Bell // And I've made up my mind

Postby Sophia Sunshore on August 13th, 2019, 6:14 pm

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"Speech"


Sophia smiled at her fellow Svefra. “In a place like this, I think you’re completely right! Half the stuff here wants to harm you so I guess it’s important to have just as much to heal.” She nodded to show that she was listening as he spoke about his own gull. While gulls were often Tavan’s, the members of Sophia’s Pod seemed to have more of an affinity for bonding with sea dwelling creatures. While she adored Pearl, the little gull had on occasion made her feel even more like an odd part than she already was. It was nice to meet someone else who appeared to have a close bond with one of the birds.

The Svefra’s wide grin made her chuckle.
“Thank you! I definitely want to learn!” She appreciated his offer immensely. It wasn’t so much that she felt less of a Svefra, despite her jokes, but she wanted to make sure that she could fend for herself if she had to. Syka was not a place to take one’s survival lightly and she had yet to learn to hunt meat of any kind - sea or land dwelling. She chuckled again. “I hope the cats don’t decide to start exploring the beaches!”

As their cutlass blades met again, Sophia nodded inwardly. Moving the feet at the same time as the arms felt a lot more natural, and she felt like she had even more control over the weapon too. She noticed that Finn appeared to intercept her attack a little easier too. They were still moving fairly slowly, since it was of course only practice, but this extra movement seemed to put them into an easier rhythm.

Sophia kept her knees slightly bent and gave a little bounce on the balls of her feet at the pause between her attacks and Finn’s. He went for her left, and she took a light, quick step backwards while bringing her blade across her body to intercept. The corners of her mouth quirked up into a smile at his quip and she winked at him jokingly in response. It was almost like they were dancing and she supposed it made sense. Both dance and, apparently, sword fighting required fluid and precise movements.

This time he went for the right, and she stepped again to avoid the swing of the blade while bringing her cutlass up to meet his. She was a fraction slower this time, and the blades ended up a little closer to her body than they had been before, but she stopped the attack nevertheless. When she had watched more experienced people spar, their blades sometimes appeared to brush skin and hair of their opponents, so Sophia figured she would have to get used to seeing the sharp end of a sword up close.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant!” Sophia was smiling, happy at for the challenge the practice was proving to be. She centred herself again as Finn asked her another question, rotating the wrist of her blade-hand. “At the moment harvest them from the wild. But when my shop is running I’m hoping to be growing most of them myself. I think, as long as you know the basics for now, you’ll be alright. Even Uta doesn’t know about everything here!” She paused and considered where they could take the practice next.

“Since we seem to be getting into the swing of it,” Sophia grinned at her unintentional pun, “why don’t we do one go each? Me, you, me, you? See how long we can go?”

Sophia readied herself to move at Finn, and then stepped forward, bringing her blade in a sweep from her right. She held it firmly, but still with a slight looseness in her wrist - she didn’t want to jar it again like the first time. When their blades met, she would disengage quickly and step back to hopefully receive an immediate retaliation from Finn, her cutlass ready to come across defensively.

If he did come at her, when their blades crossed again, she would push lightly against his to help start her responsive motion forward and try to step quickly into a counter attack. If swordplay was like dance, they needed to be able to attack and counter without pausing too much like they had been.
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Sophia Sunshore
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Answering That Bell // And I've made up my mind

Postby Finn Reefdiver on August 14th, 2019, 6:30 pm

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The pair continued to spar back and forth, Finn was sure yet if he was getting better yet but it definitely seemed more comfortable to be sure and as they continued to speed and add things he started to pay closer attention to the slighter details of their match. Almost unconsciously did he lean back more on his feet as he watched her move so easily on her own and almost missed the wink she gave him.

He winced as she barely stopped his blow, “Sorry, am I striking too hard?” He apologized to her. He wasn’t sure if he was but it was really her opinion that mattered, although she didn’t look too concerned by the closeness of his blade either. Encouraged by Sophia’s approval on the sparring made him all the more intent on getting it correct.

He nodded as she explained her plans for her business, “Sounds like it will be convenient when you get it all set up!”. Although he kept it to himself at the moment, he figured Uta and quite possibly Sophia too had forgotten more about plants than he had ever known.

He relaxed his shoulders as he suddenly realized that he had been holding them up for some reason without even a clue on why he had done it, it wouldn’t do him any good in a real fight. He chuckled at her pun as he shook his arms slightly to get them to relax as she continued explaining. “Sounds perfect” he agreed as he put himself at a slight angle to her and brought his own cutlass up in front of him to what felt comfortable. He relaxed his arm to where his elbow was just in front of his body and the blade pointed up but slightly away from him while he waited.

She only took a couple of ticks to prepare before she stepped in with a quick strike at his left side, he deftly swung around and lowered himself to catch her blade on his near the hilt. The quiet and short ring of steel on steel lasted only a heartbeat as she started retreating back. “Just say if you would like to go faster or slower as you are feel?” he asked as he knew she wanted to speed up to a quicker pace and he agreed with that but felt it might be wise to have a safe limit too.

He hesitated only a tick to keep his own concentration, focused more on the fight over the conversation seemed to be prudent now of course as she defended herself. Finn stepped sideways before he swung at her blade, the strike was quick as Sophia grabbed it on her own cutlass and pushed it away. The push was slight but just enough to throw his return off slightly, he caught her next attack late as he felt the air move around the two blades. He told himself that was a mistake he wouldn’t allow again and even should try it himself.

Unfortunately their tap…..tap…...tap was now off but he wouldn’t let it stay that way for long. He collected himself again for just another tick before he started at her again. He stepped towards her to make a short swing just the right of her blade.

If they did continue their practice, Finn would fall back slightly to her right with his sword at the ready and follow with another short but slightly slower strike towards her legs so she would have time to move back or block his blade. His mother had once showed him how to protect his legs but also to go after an opponent's legs as well.
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Finn Reefdiver
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Answering That Bell // And I've made up my mind

Postby Sophia Sunshore on September 15th, 2019, 9:48 am

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"Speech"


Sophia’s ears were filled with only the rhythmic ringing of blade on blade as the pair quickened their practice. Going back and forth with only one attack each meant they had to concentrate more and their friendly conversation petered out. She shook her head once in response to Finn’s query. “I think we would be wise to keep it around this speed for now, I am sure it’ll be too easy to get ahead of ourselves otherwise!” While it might be fun to see how fast they could return blows, they were both still novices, and Sophia was very attached to her fingers.

Finn came around at Sophia from the right, and she had to move quickly to retaliate in time. She caught his blade and moved after him, noticing how her slight push on the cutlass had seemed to slow her fellow Svefra’s reactions. She added the information to her memory for later, as being able to throw an opponent off balance would be a useful tactic in a real fight. She didn’t have time however, to pull back on her attack, and as her cutlass came down she was relieved that Finn managed to bring his to meet it in time.

She twisted back to meet his quick, short swing from the right, her arm turning a little awkwardly to do so. She was starting to feel muscles she rarely used beginning to tire, and once again vowed to get herself stronger.
At their next exchange, Finn surprised her by aiming low towards her legs. She was thankful that he appeared to strike slower, allowing her time to step slightly back and to the side, twisting her wrist and bringing her arm down so that her blade just about came into contact with his. It had been a good move, one that she would definitely want to practice another time. Sophia imagined there were all sorts of tricks swordfighters used to sneak blows in or otherwise throw their opponents off.

Instead of moving back at Finn with a counter attack, she huffed out a chuckle.
“That was a good move!” Her cutlass was lowered at her side, and her breath came quickly from excitement and a little tiredness. Now she wasn’t concentrating on their sparring, she noticed that some of the Ashta had wandered a little closer to the pair, and she remembered that she had been here to arrange for the delivery of some wood.

“I hate to ruin our fun, but I think my arm has had enough for one day!” She could definitely feel where the muscles had been worked, and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to keep fending off Finn’s attacks sufficiently if they carried on for much longer. “I actually really enjoyed that, thank you for practising with me Finn!” Sophia smiled brightly at the Svefra and paused to listen for a tick before she spoke again. “It sounds like Lars is taking a break so I should probably go and find him.”

“You said you were thinking about setting up near the Tidepool right? That’s not too far from me so if you ever want a hand with anything feel free to come and find me!” She smiled again, the corners of her eyes crinkling. Syka was a community where everyone helped each other out, and she was always happy to lend a hand, especially to a fellow Svefra.

An Ashta nearby let out a trumpeting sound and she turned to look at it as she attached her cutlass back to her belt.
“I’ll leave you in peace again to watch these guys.” Sophia bade Finn a farewell, imploring him to come and find her for a fishing trip soon, and then meandered her way back up to the sawmill.
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Sophia Sunshore
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Answering That Bell // And I've made up my mind

Postby Madeira Dusk on January 18th, 2020, 1:40 am

Finn Reefdiver


Skills
  • Observation: 5xp
  • Socialization: 5xp
  • Planning: 1xp
  • Weapon- Cutlass: 5xp
  • Agility: 2xp
  • Tactics: 1xp

Lores
  • Ashta: peaceful creatures
  • Ashta: unthreatened by humans
  • People: Sophia Sunshore
  • Sophia: a Svefra
  • Sophia: pleasant company
  • Sophia: doesn't sleep on a ship
    [*[Weapon- Cutlass: blocking
  • Sophia: a herbalist
  • Weapon- Cutlass: low swing
  • Agility: moving target
  • Sophia: hopes to open a herbalist store



Sophia Sunshore


Skills
  • Observation: 5xp
  • Planning: 3xp
  • Weapon- Cutlass: 5xp
  • Socialization: 5xp
  • Agility: 3xp
  • Tactics: 2xp
  • Leadership: 1xp
  • Endurance: 1xp


Lores
  • Cutlass: a slashing weapon
  • People: Finn Reefdiver
  • Finn: A Svefra
  • Weapon- Cutlass: proper ready stance
  • Weapon- Cutlass: don't lock up the wrist
  • Agility: finding ones balance
  • Weapon- Cutlass: defending
  • Finn: A fisherman
  • Weapon- Cutlass: finding an opening
  • Finn: has a gull tavan
    [*[Weapon- Cutlass: blocking
  • Endurance: the after-practice burn


Notes

Excuse the rough code work. Miz is holding my beautiful grading template hostage at the moment.

This was some excellent skill building/bonding time. The image of these two having a completely normal conversation between the ring and whirl of edged weapons is a strangely charming one. Especially since both your characters are sunshine personified. Even now that they're 5xp deadlier I still think they're cutiepies. :p

As always, give me a poke if you have issues or questions with the grade. I'm always looking to improve!
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