Open [The Proving Grounds] Strike, Slash, Block

[Trynne]

25th Spring 520AV

The day was uncomfortable and Trynne was aware of the aura of Sunberth, distrustful as always but somewhat scared and concerned. A lot of people had been killed and a lot of people were doubting their skills. Trynne was one of those.

She knew she wasn’t good with a weapon, and in Sunberth she hadn’t managed to find someone that she could spar with and get to the point where she’d be capable of defending herself from some sort of threat, be it a beast or just one of the lowlife scum that made up most of the cities population.

Groaning to herself, she knew that she needed to visit somewhere to train, and the Proving Grounds seemed to be the only place to go to get weapons. She doubted her Bagh Nakh would do her much good in training, but she still slipped the weapon into her backpack in hopes that there was possibly somebody there that had something similar. If they were willing to spar with her that would be ideal to her. If not she’d have to hope that she could borrow a weapon.

Sighing she pulled on the rest of her clothes, her brown boots, brown pants and her usual cream shirt, as well as her belt and the pouch containing a few mizas that she could use to pay her way. Then she was ready. She slung her backpack over her arms and shoulder and began making her way to the Proving Grounds, aware that there seemed to be more people in the area that she’d expected.

“Aye, ‘alf price! Good deal ain’t it?” she overhead a conversation and a slight smile spread across her face as she made her way into the Proving Grounds, looking to see that a group session was about to start, one of the employees of the arena taking peoples money. The young man approached her and asked if she wanted to take part and she nodded.

“Well, it’s ‘alf price so it’ll be three gold and five silver. Twenty-five silver too if you need a practice weapon an’ you ain’t looking like you have a sword on you. So that’ll be… Six gold total.” the man said, leading her to a rack of weapons and thrusting a wooden short sword at her. “You can keep it after,” he said somewhat nonchalantly.

Trynne was decidedly bewildered by the speed at which he spoke and passed the wooden weapon to her, though wanting to take part, Trynne dug out enough mizas to be equivalent to the six gold he was asking for and the man nodded, counting them before ushering her to the rest of the group and going on his way to collect other peoples money.

Finally able to breathe without feeling so pressured by the man, Trynne took the time to look at the wooden practice sword, moving her hand to the hilt of the wooden sword. It was heavier than she’d expected it to be, then again it was wood and silently she chastised herself for thinking that it might be lighter, and she silently shook her head at herself before a woman came to lead to class.

The woman spoke loudly and clearly, and glad of that fact, Trynne moved slightly towards the back of the group, not wanting to be too visible to the other attendees of the class.

She listened carefully as the woman introduced herself as Iztel the Swift, and Trynne nodded as the woman said that this class would focus on swordsmanship, more specifically the use of shortswords, and it wasn’t long before she was instructing people to get into pairs.

LedgerPractice Short Sword and Discounted Lesson (Calendar Event) - 6 GM
Word Count608 Words

[Hannovi]

-This is Hannovi "This is other dialog" This is Hannovi's thoughts This is the voices Hannovi hears in his head "And what weapon will you be training with?" The man collecting payment asked the anxious Hannovi. -D-dagger sir. He stammered Holy shyke he was nervous. He didn't expect this many people to be here, and the gossip he heard about the ruling gang of this territory made him wary also. He clenched his cloak tighter, the hood brushing against his forehead causing sweat to fall into the dirt below. He was hot, and it was getting hotter. Winter was now departing and the hotter seasons were to come. He knew he wouldn't be able to function bundled in two cloaks for long. He couldn't avoid the inevitable. Eventually someone was going to figure out that he was an Eypharian and he'd need to be ready. That's why he was here. "Well, if you didn't know, it's community day. So that means that the fee is half priced today. So that's 3 gold rimmed miza and 5 silver rimmed miza for the training fee, and 5 silver rimmed miza for the practice weapon, making a total of 4 gold rimmed miza." Digging through his pouch he'd acquired the needed moneys and handed them to the man humbly. Following the trail of those before him, he found himself in an open space with the others awaiting further instruction. There were a mixture of man people of different sizes, race, and colors. It made him feel more comfortable at least, knowing that he wasn't the only 'out of ordinary' person here. And then he heard a voice that made his tattoo crawl. " Alright, welcome to the Proving Grounds. My name is Itzel, some call me Itzel the Swift, and everybody calls me ma'am. Today we are going to be doing exercises to tone and strengthen your bodies, and will be practicing swordsmanship, more specifically the short-sword. Those of you that have a practice sword should learn more than those of you that don't naturally, but don't let that stop you from gaining experience with whatever weapon you chose to practice with." Shyke Hannovi gripped the wooden handle of the practice dagger. It slightly disappointed him that today's lesson focused on swords, but still to be able to gain some experience was still nice. That and he was afraid to ask for his miza back. Itzel looked as if she had killed people before and he was not trying to find out first hand. He listened carefully to the instruction not wanted to waste any knowledge. Then the instructor had them separate and pair up. Unsure of what to do, Hannovi went to retreat to the back of the group to avoid having to be paired with the stronger of the masses. No need to bite of more than he could chew, especially when the lesson was already against his skill set. Before he'd known it, he felt a lump under his foot and an object at his back. Turning he came face to hair of a surprisingly short woman. Her hair tinted with the color of ash and tied back into a matted pony tail, she had caught him by surprise. Honestly he didn't see her. He pulled his cloak together whilst regaining his balance. She felt your arms Novi, she knows. She know Novi, what you are. You're caught. Caught. He blinked the voice away, not wanting to seem rude he presented his hand to introduce himself. -Hello, Novi. I'm sorry about that. I didn't see you there. Why was she here anyways? Then again she was quite small framed. Smaller than him even and he was homeless for the majority of his life. The Sunberthian seal of authenticity he guessed. Here eyes were rain clouds, grey, heavy, and void of color. She sported boots, pants, and a pretty decent shirt, all from the same shade of brown compared to his cloak and kilt. Her weapon of choice, a short sword. His luck. The other participants were almost done pairing up with one another. What was he to do? She clearly had one up on him by wielding that sword, but he did have a height advantage as well as natural strength and his extra appendages. Would he really take it that far though? Especially on someone so much smaller than he. She seemed skilled enough to know which weapon to pick. He was panicking. What if she kicked his ass. He had to be overthinking. This was a training session, they wouldn't let it go that far. Then again this was also Sunberth, and there was the chance he could wake up naked and broke. -D-do you care to spar? He asked. Hopefully she'd say no and save him from the unknown, and if she did happen to agree, he'd just play her skills by ear and run if need be.

[Trynne]

Trynne had been glancing around the area, not paying so much attention to her surroundings for as she waited for some sort of indication that the class was actually going to start. Frowning slightly she let her attention wander to the wooden practice sword, turning it over in her hands and looking over the weapon and checking to see what she could see on it. It looked pretty much like every sword she had seen before, not that she had seen any swords close up before, only this one was made of wood. The 'blade' and handle seemed to all have been carved from the same piece of wood. It was also fairly heavy, much heavier than her Bagh Nakh which was the only weapon she had handled before.

Sighing softly she glanced around the area, in Itzel's direction, alternating her attention between the intimidating woman and the sword.

She had not expected someone to walk backwards without looking, but then again she knew she had not been paying all that much attention to anything in the area, other than Itzel and the unfamiliar sword in her hand. When she looked up from the sword in time to see someone backing up without warning, she put her hand up to stop him, her hand pressing to his back as she felt him standing on her foot.

Thankfully not enough of his weight was on her foot, so it was more of a nuisance and a feeling of uncomfortableness at someone being so close to her. Feeling uneasiness she moved a hand away from his back, something about it felt off somehow but she could not quite put a finger on it. Then she watched as the man turned around and she spent a few moments looking him up and down for a few moments.

He was tall enough that she had to look up a decent amount to see his face. He was pretty, especially for someone in Sunberth, with hazel eyes and shaggy looking hair, and Trynne spent a few moments watching him and the way his face moved as he spoke. It took a short while before she realised he had actually said words and instantly she shook her head, glancing around the area.

"No, it's okay. I should pay more attention," she said calmly, looking back down to the short sword in her hand, trying to adjust her grip a few times, seeing if she could make it feel natural at all in her hand, before she looked back at the man, noticing his dagger and frowning slightly. The dagger looked like it would have been easier to use. It was smaller than the sword and looked as though it would be lighter and easier to work with, compared to the sword that felt as though it was too obvious for a place like Sunberth. Suddenly she offered a hand to him as a greeting. "Trynne, nice to meet you," she said slightly quieter than she had intended.

Then as the instruction to pair up came, Trynne glanced around, hoping that there might be someone not quite as tall as the man in front of her, though soon she realised everyone seemed to have paired up already and she exhaled slowly, hearing the mans words before looking up at him and smiling weakly.

"Alright, I'm not very good though... Sorry." she shrugged slightly, looking him up and down a few times again. The fact that he had chosen a weapon different from what was being focused was slightly worrying to her. It seemed that maybe he knew how to use a dagger, at least more than she knew how to use a sword.

"Make space between you all!" came the authoritative voice from Itzel and Trynne glanced around, making sure everyone was a reasonable distance away, before taking a step back, creating a little bit of space between herself and the tall man. She kept her eyes glancing around a few times, checking over the area before lingering on the tall man for a few moments. Then she turned her attention back to Itzel, noticing the sword in the woman's hand.

She squinted slightly watching the woman hand, trying to copy the way that she held the sword and hoping that it would eventually start to feel natural as she held the hilt of it.