[Moritz Residence] The Training Room [Moritz]

[Caspian]

“Don’t worry about it,” Caspian wheezed out, waving off Moritz’s apology. Once he was back on his feet, with the world grounded beneath him, his situation felt more stable. But petch did getting up and getting there hurt. It’s been worse, though, he told himself – remembering, chiefly, that one time he had been climbing a rusty gate somewhere in town around age 13, only for said gate to come careening down, resulting in him landing also ribs-first onto that central screw thing where the spokes of a wagon wheel all connect. Why the wagon wheel had been left loose and alone in the middle of the street ,he had no clue; why he decided to climb the only part of the gate obviously next to abandoned debris was also beyond him.

“Wait, maybe we could – “ he called after Moritz, but that Kelvic was already speeding away. If not for his stature, Caspian might have blithely declared him a Rabbit. The moment of respite he got wasn’t quite nearly enough – he had half a mind to lie down again – but the sight of the training throwing daggers piqued his interest.

“Weird. They’re so light. Like I’m holding tree branches.” Caspian said, testing the weight of the pair he’d been offered. The differences in weight – between Obfuscate and the previous training dagger, and now between that one and this pair – threw him. It gave him the sensation he could swing harder, faster – that he himself was stronger and swifter. But he knew this was simply an illusion, and that in a few minutes his body would readjust again.

“So, is this – “ Caspian tried his best to remember Moritz’s stance as he’d thrown the training daggers. Moritz’s attempts had landed – barely, but they had – and he had no confidence he could do the same. “Okay, so you stand sideways, like – “ Awkwardly, he put his right foot forward, turned his body sideways in relation to the target. The heft of the training dagger in his right hand hadn’t quite harmonized with him yet. The idea of keeping himself sideways he perhaps took too fully, for he realized he also kept his head sideways, and was looking at the target out of the corner of his eye. But where his head was turned probably shouldn’t matter, right? So keeping his body in the same position, he turned just his face towards the target. “Well, here goes nothing.” If it were a real enemy, where would he want this strike to land? Stick ‘em in the eye – nope, that was his stepmother’s voice there, reedy and viciously unhelpful. The sensible answer was right in the chest, he supposed. He aimed there, visualized it sinking in, right into the heart. He sighed – then threw, feeling at all stages of the motion as ungainly as a newborn foal.

Unsurprisingly, it missed completely, striking the opposite wall but not sticking, and skidding across the floor.

“Well, if he’d bought a friend along, that friend would certainly be dead,” he said jovially, trying not to let his embarrassment show. “You go again. I’ll try and take better notes this time.”

[Moritz Craven]

A bit disappointed in his own work, Moritz inspected the target again while rechecking the distance between the starting point and the target. Unsure what he was missing, Moritz went over it in his mind, but figured the only way to improve was to keep trying. And, he thought to himself, he knew he had already improved since first trying back in Syka... When he had managed to miss an entire tree.

When it was Caspian's chance to inspect the weaponry both training and live Moritz listened and watched closely. He was a bit confused by the man compared things to a branch since other than being made of wood it did not seem to have much in common. All the same Moritz watched, hoping the man would have better luck than his own first try. Using a dagger for throwing versus melee was pretty different, but he was sure if the man tried he would figure it out.

"Yeah, like I said the throwing daggers are made for throwing, so they are made different from the normal melee style daggers. The same applies to the training versions. Both are much lighter, and shaped a bit different for throwing purposes. They are better than nothing in a pinch, but I'd certainly want a proper heftier melee dagger in a close up fight over a throwing one..."

While lighter they were easier to throw and with greater force, though the lost weight was not entirely made up for by this. Still, Moritz reasoned, if he could use a few of those from afar before closing and using a normal one he would be much better off than someone only using one or the other.

Watching silently Moritz tried to see what Caspian was doing well or not, but he himself had a rather limited ability in using daggers. In truth he had only had one full session of using them before, and so his own ability was rather limited and based on trial and error. Once Caspian was finally ready he prepared himself, held his body at an angle... And then without properly looking, tossed and missed entirely.

Frowning the Kelvic went and fetched the thrown weapon, returning once more carrying the two live weapons.

"Yeah... I will be the first to admit, my own knowledge is pretty limited. I am no expert with daggers, thrown or not. But... Uh, should you not actually look at what you are aiming for?"

Confusion clear in his words and tone the Kelvic questioned the human, before readying himself for another attempt. Trying to recall what he had done before Moritz twisted his body again, one foot forward and one bag with his leading foots side pointed towards his target. His head was turned sideways, facing his target directly and giving him a proper line of sight. Readying his throwing arm, his right, he held this arm out and higher, while his other arm holding the other blade was tucked in a bit and lower. He hoped this would help his balance, and finding himself in this position felt it was more balanced than his earlier gait. Hoping this would work the Kelvic readied himself again.

Hefting the blade back in his throwing arm he held it up higher, and then thrust his arm downward and out. As it reached chest height the Kelvic released the weapon and let it fly, aiming at the center of the target,, A moment later it struck, this time hitting the target... However it was once more on the edge of the target, somehow on the opposite edge from the blade he had thrown before.

Not one to give up Moritz traded the second blade to his throwing arm, and spent a few moments calming his breathing and loosening his body. Once more he held himself upright, eyeing his target, and hefted the blade up and back. This time he went a bit higher, holding it by his head, before launching it in a single motion of swinging his arm downward. Once more he released at chest height, when his arm was almost straight, and sent it launching forward.

Once more the weapon flew through the air, landing a moment later. With a small smile the Kelvic looked at his hit. This time the blade hand landed about a third of the way in from the outer edge of the target. While still on the outer side of the target, it was actually properly on the target, and had actually sunk in on landing. Even if that was only the farthest third of the rings from the center most bullseye, he felt this was an improvement.

"Alright, why don't you try once more, and then perhaps we should take a break. Don't want to try too many new things at once, or you won't remember them all."

With that said Moritz trotted over and gathered the two metal throwing daggers, and offered them to Caspian on his return to try his own two throws.

WC: 837