A Finely Honed Point (Training/Open)

by **Jaelyn Baroth** on January 29th, 2011, 3:15 pm

Season of Winter, Day 12, 510 AV

It felt good to be covered again in the solid weight of plate armor again. When she had first become a squire the weight had seemed burdensome and awkward, and she would be left soaked with sweat and gasping after a short training exercise. Now, while she could still feel the weight, she knew how to move and correct for the weight.

Picking up the nearby spear she turned to face the training dummy set several paces away. She was not nearly as familiar with the spear as her sword, but that was the reason why she was practicing it. A Knight needed to know more than one way to fight, and the spear provided a nice counterpoint to her sword.

Shifting her hands to the ready position, right hand towards the head of the spear and lifted while her left was a little further back, she advanced towards the training dummy. From this position she could easily shift to most any other position she needed to attack or defend.

Taking a deep breath she took a step forward and brought her spear up and across, blocking an imaginary attack, and then brought the point of her spear around and down in a quick arc. She was aiming to slash across the dummy's chest with the edge of the spear tip, but came up short, the blow passing harmlessly in front of her target.

Giving a small shake of her head she took half a step back, fixing her gaze on the target, and then repeated the process. Spear up and ready to block, and then bringing it down and around for a quick slash. This time she was too close though, and the shaft of her weapon collided jarringly with the solid frame of the training dummy.

by **Lyia Gartas** on January 29th, 2011, 9:01 pm

How long had it been since she had been training? It must have been three days at the least, if not more. Either way, it had been way to long. Lyia decided that she should probably go train today.. but it was so much energy.. Oh it was rediculous how lazy she had gotten in the past few days. She spent way to much time relaxing. Alright lets go, up up up! ..Lyia jumped out of bed, there was no way she was just going to convince herself to do it.

After a few minutes of stretching, Lyia did her hair, teeth, and all the other womanly things she needed to do. On her way out the door, she grabbed her utility belt, kano daggers, doublesided daggers, and knucklebusters. She planned on training with each today. She sighed, and opened the door into the blistering cold of winter in Syliras.

As Lyia was walking to the training complex in Stormhold castle, she realized that she was actually looking forward to training today, afterall, it was fun, healthy, and warm! Why was it so cold out already? The tower had only flared blue a few days ago, it shouldn't be as cold as it was already my goodness. She started to jog, it was a good way to get loose, and she really didn't feel like being outside much longer, it might not have been so bad if she had worn something over her extremely short shorts, and tank top. Good thinking Lyia.

When she finally got to the castle, she headed straight for the training center, she knew full well that if she stopped to do anything else that she would get distracted and make an excuse to not train, and she needed to do it today. So she immediately headed there. Passing a few people that she actually wouldn't have minded talking to at the moment on the way, and passing it off with a nod of the head.

The training room was warm, and for that Lyia was thankful. She also noticed that there was only one other person there at the moment which was somewhat odd, normally the place was busting with people training. But at the moment she could only pick out one person, who appeared to be a female. Though it was hard to tell under the plate armor, the body type was quite feminine, but that never sets anything in stone. She walked over, and watched for a few second as the woman, she presumed, swung and missed with a spear. Then swung again, and his the shaft. Lyia giggled, not in a rude manor at all, because she knew very well that she would never be able to do anything in that heavy of armor, or with that heavy of a weapon.

Lyia decided that it'd be a good idea to get on with her own training, so she walked away to a wooden dummy on the other side of the room, and pulled out two double sided daggers from her utility belt.

She finally got to the dummy and got down into a defensive stance where she had one dagger out in front of her, and the other dagger behind her and slightly below the waist, while bending her knees, and getting her center of gravity very low. She waited for a few moments as if she was contemplating what her 'opponent' would do next.

After a few more seconds, she put all of her weight on the front foot, and whipped her body around, catching the wooden dummy on the side of the head with her back foot. She was proud of the accuracy of it, but didn't really think it the whole way through. The dummy, being wooden, didn't take the hit as though a human would, it kinda just stood there. Lyia had kicked, thinking that she could bring her foot down around the other side, however, the dummy didn't move, and she immediately lost her balance, and fell to the ground.

..Well thats embarrasing ..Lyia hoped that the woman that was training on the other side wasn't watching, it really wasn't how she normally fought! She hopped back onto her feet quickly, and got back into a fighting stance as if nothing happened. She shook off the previous failure, and got back into the defensive stance she was in.

This time Lyia would use her dagger. She took a swing forward with her back hand and hit the dummy with a slash across the bicep of the dummy, and onto the side of the stomach. Lyia tried to add to the combo by pushing forward in a stabbing motion towards the dummys neck, but ended up missing to the right. She pushed off backwards, and landed in front of the dummy about five feet back.

..Alright not bad..

by **Jaelyn Baroth** on February 2nd, 2011, 2:51 pm

Jaelyn was readying for another strike with the spear, sure she had the distance right this time, when she heard a giggle in the room. Turning her head she caught a glimpse of a shorter woman wearing shockingly little clothing. She could feel her cheeks flushing slightly at the amount of skin the woman was showing. Even during the hottest days during summer there was nothing that could convince Jaelyn to wear so little, and this woman was dressed like that during winter!

Finding herself now quite distracted Jaelyn’s eyes followed the woman as she walked over to another training dummy and pulled out some double bladed knives. After a moment of watching the scantily clad woman stand still Jaelyn turned her attention back to her own training. Bringing the spear down once more she was glad to see that she did have the distant right as the head sliced down the front of the target. Taking a step back she raised her spear to strike again, but paused when she heard the thud of a body falling to the ground. He eyes shifted back to the woman, who looked to have fallen.

Again curious, Jaelyn lowered her spear as she watched the woman get up, and then attack the dummy with her daggers. She was quick, and moved with a grace that was very different from what Jaelyn was used to seeing from the other Squires. The woman also seemed to be fairly skilled in combat, despite her shocking appearance. Perhaps she would be interested in sparring with Jaelyn? She’d always preferred sparing to simple practice against dummies. A real opponent wouldn’t sit there and wait to be hit.

Shifting her spear to one hand Jaelyn made her way over to where the woman was, stopping a respectable distance away, and bowed her head slightly, “Greetings, I am Jaelyn. You seem quite skilled with those daggers. Would you care to spar some, so we may both have a more lively practice?” she gave a small smile, hoping that the woman would accept her invitation.

by **Lyia Gartas** on February 2nd, 2011, 5:29 pm

Lyia was getting ready to strike again, when she heard footsteps approaching from behind. It could only have been the only person here, so she turned around smiling. She was unsuprised when it was who she had expected it to be. She was however suprised when the girl, Jaelyn, asked her to spar. It had been quite a while since she had actually sparred against another person. She put her hands on her hips and shifter her weight to her left leg.

"Of course! Its always fun to have a spar!"

Lyia giggled and held her hand out to shake the girls. Though on the inside she was thinking of a way to defeat her through all of the armor, she wasn't use to sparring with someone that wasn't just in a robe or leather. Battleplans raced through her mind, but she couldn't come up with anything. She'd have to rely on instict this time she supposed. She at least thought the most obvious answer would be to use her speed advantage, so instead of waiting around, she immediately jumped backwards and pulled her blades back out.

"Well then lets not waste any time, I've got places to go"

She winked, obviously in a joking manner. Then ran forward and to the right of her opponent, making almost a ninety degree difference, she stopped, and ran straight towards Jaelyn. She started at about fifty feet out, and continued to run until she was just out of striking distance from the spear that her opponent was holding, then jump stopped. Put a confused look on her face then laughed.

"Just kidding!"

She followed that by backpeddling a bit and standing still like a dummy. It was at this point that she had configured a plan, and had all intentions of it working, she knew that speed won over power everytime. At least in her mind that was. Lyia sat and waited patiently, still standing perfectly still waiting for the opponents move.

by **Jaelyn Baroth** on February 4th, 2011, 7:25 pm

Jaelyn shook the woman's hand, nodding politely in agreement. When the woman jumped back and pulled here daggers back out Jaelyn brought her spear back up and at the ready in both of her hands. The woman, who hadn't introduced herself, definitely had the advantage of speed on Jaelyn, and so she was going to start off fighting defensively. Her armor and reach should help her defend well until she found an opening to strike.

Jaelyn found it strange that the woman, who looked to be older than Jaelyn, was acting so... young. The way she giggled and joked as she ran about reminded Jaelyn of young children at play. She couldn't let that distract her though, and she carefully watched as the woman ran at her. Holding her spear at the ready to block she waited for the woman to close in to strike, but she never did. Instead she just jumped and stopped before looking confused and laughing.

A bit confused herself now Jaelyn watched in surprise as the woman backed away, and then froze. Was there something off in her head, or was she playing with Jaelyn? For the moment, Jaelyn believed it was the later. Seeing that her opponent wasn't going to move to make the first strike Jaelyn gave a nod of her head and cautiously advanced forward.

Keeping track of the distance between the two of them between each cautious and heavy step Jaelyn's grip tightened on her spear. She was a little nervous sparring with someone not in heavy armor, as that meant she had to be more careful not to cause harm, but it wasn't her first time. Stopping when the woman was just outside of her reach with the spear she paused a moment, and then quickly stepped forward to close the distance as she slashed sideways with her spear, aiming for the woman's thigh. It would most likely be easy for the woman to dodge, but Jaelyn did not want to take any risks yet. Once she was sure of the woman's combat skill then she could be more aggressive.

by **Lyia Gartas** on February 4th, 2011, 8:35 pm

Lyia noticed the look of confusion on her opponents face and smiled a crooked smile, it was always so much more fun when she had people under her spell. Then she noticed the girl starting to move forward a bit, and realized that this slow method might be her making her first move. Good. Lyia was fully prepared. She waited patiently, pretending she had no clue what was going on, and finally the girl struck. She slashed downwards with her spear, and Lyia noticed from the beginning that it was a very unmotivated shot.

She shot to her left, avoiding the bulky spear, and immediately shot towards Jaelyn with all intensive purposes of knocking her out. She got right up close, and brought her leg up with the intent of kicking the girl in the upper chest area. She then snuck around back, hoping that even if her kick hadn't hit it would disorient her, that along with the fact that since the spear hadn't hit her, it had to have hit the ground, which would be at least a bit stunning, and punched the back of head, aiming high. It wasn't a hard shot, just one that would be felt, if, again it had hit.

Lyia then jumped back, still one hundred and eighty degrees away from where she had stood previously. She would wait again. In her eyes, Lyia thought it was obvious that someone with heavier armour and a bigger weapon should never be the one to make the first move, or else, well, that would happen. She would like to see if the girl had learned her lesson, because even if none of her attacks had hit, the girl now knew that Lyia wasn't some off rate wanna-be. This wouldn't be easy for either of them.

Lyia giggled giddily. And put on a smile again..

"Isn't this so much fun?"

by **Jaelyn Baroth** on February 4th, 2011, 9:31 pm

Having expected the woman to dodge Jaelyn was ready for the frontal attack. At least, she had thought she was ready. Bringing her spear back up quickly from the slash she was ready to defend against the daggers, and so was caught off guard by the kick to her chest. Her sturdy armor absorbed most the blow thankfully, causing little more than a shift of her weight within her stance.

The surprise of the kick gone Jaelyn turned as the woman moved around her, and so saw the punch coming in time to jerk her head to the side and avoid it. As the woman jumped away Jaelyn finished turning and retook her stance, legs a little further apart now to provide her with a little better stability. When the woman giggled and asked her question Jaelyn replied with a small smile of her own, "Indeed, it is fun."

Shifting her grip down along the spear slightly to lengthen its reach slightly she took a step forward and started to slash again. The attack was just a feint though, meant to encourage the woman to close in and attack once more. Before completing the slash she reversed the direction of her strike, bringing the blunt end of the spear back around at waist height.

by **Lyia Gartas** on February 4th, 2011, 9:52 pm

Lyia waited patiently, she was pretty sure the girl was slightly shaken, though it was not a positive thing. Once again however, she was turned around and stepping forward. Lyia noticed movement at the girls hands, and saw she was moving her hands down the shaft of the spear more, maybe trying to draw more distance? She was going to attack again at least, Lyia knew that much.

She waited, and finally the girl slashed again. Aparently fools didn't learn. Lyia dodged again easily. A little to easily she thought for a half second before doing the same tactic. She jumped to the right, and ran towards her target. She was just about to thrust upwards again, when she was caught in the side with the hilt of the spear. Luckily she had moved quite a bit right, so it hit her on the extreme left of her body, though it still hurt quite a bit.

Lyia stood there for a second dazed, before shaking out of it, she jumped backwards, at a safe distance again, and stood favouring her left side. That was deffinately going to hinder movement speed for a little bit. Lyia's quick mind had already thought up another strategy though, so she ran in, a little slower then normal, fortunately though she was still able to move somewhat fast.

She got within striking distance of the spear, and quickly jumped to the right again, and closed the remained gap, swinging with her right hand towards the womans upper arm, followed by a slash with her right hand towards the womans leg. She then put her self right up next to the girl, nearly touching, and lifted her knee up attempting to knock the girl off balance. She was going to stay close the rest of this fight, that long spear could do no damage this close.

Lyia would follow the girl every time she would try to move away if she did, and she would continue to throw punches and kicks every couple seconds, hoping to tire the girl out. Lyia looked up into the girls eyes. It had been awhile since she had been physically hurt, and Lyia was pretty pissed off. She wanted to look into her eyes to send the next message, because she was afraid her mouth wouldn't be able to do it.

..I'm going to hurt you..

It wasn't Lyias normal peppy attitude sending this message, this was coming from deep within, this was returning Lyia back to when she got abused daily. One would think that just a simple blow to the waist wouldn't be that bad, but for Lyia, someone who hadn't taken a real blow in almost a year, she had not remembered the pain, and wasn't exactly stable in her mind set either. She was now angry.

by **Jaelyn Baroth** on February 7th, 2011, 6:03 pm

Jaelyn let out a slow breath as the woman jumped back from the blow to her side. While she was pleased she had managed to land a strike Jaelyn did feel a little guilty that she seemed to have hurt the woman. Wearing as little clothing as the woman was Jaelyn suspected that any strikes would hurt. She'd have to try to not be too aggressive.

Bringing her spear back up and at the ready, Jaelyn watched as the woman moved onto the offensive. Expecting another kick she was watching the woman's legs, and so she had practically forgotten about the knives the woman wielded. The first slash caught her arm, but the blade did little to her heavy armor. She brought the shaft of her spear around to try and block the next one while taking a step back, but she was a little too slow and the blade dragged along her chain mail. It didn't break through her armor, but the pain told her she would most likely have a bruise there later.

Taking an unsteady step back from the pressure exerted by the woman's knee as it came up Jaelyn struggled to regain her footing and stance. It was only made harder by the series of punches and kicks the woman kept throwing. Even with her armor several of them stung when Jaelyn couldn't manage to divert the blows from striking her chain mail.

Starting to sweat and breath a little heavy from attempting to defend against the blows Jaelyn glanced at her opponents face and was surprised at what she saw there. There was anger and violence in the woman's eyes, and the only thing Jaelyn could imagine was that it was directed at her. Eyes widening in surprise she brought her not inconsiderable strength to bear and shoved at the woman with the shaft of her spear, aiming to push her back and possibly knock her down.

"Perhaps... We should stop for a moment?" Jaelyn said as calmly as she could, though she kept her spear up and ready in case the woman attacked again, "You seem angry, and I would not want either of us to be hurt while sparring."

by **Lyia Gartas** on February 7th, 2011, 8:19 pm

Lyia continued to punch and kick, and got the feeling that it was working, the woman seemed to be getting out of breath, and Lyia knew that was what she was aiming for. She gradually started making the punches harder, and it was actually starting to hurt her fists, every once in awhile striking armour in the wrong spot. The girl eventually got the idea of what she was doing, and shoved her backwards with the end of her spear.

Lyia was hit with quite a large amount of force, and fell back on her butt. This enraged her, that her plan would fall apart like this, and she started to charge again, planning on slashing the girl a few more times, adding to the cuts she had already made on the armour. She didn't realize she was that successful until now. She was in the midst of getting up and running at her again, when she heard the girl say that they should stop. Lyia's rage was quieted, and her playful giddy side came back out. That happened alot when she was faced with serious situations, or, serious in her eyes.

"Oh! Sure! That wouldn't be good, I'm sorry if I was going a little rough, I really get into this kind of stuff!"

Lyia stood back up and smiled at Jaelyn, she was almost positive that the girl would be freaked by her change of presence. Lyia wasn't exactly a predictable person. The fact that she basically had a double personality could do that. While she waited for a bit for the girl to either be ready to spar again, or to do something else, Lyia bounced her weight from one leg to another.

She glanced around, and saw the practice field getting a bit more crowded, well, crowded wasn't the word. There were now three or four more people standing around doing things that in Lyia's mind were useless. There was a man doing jumping jacks. ..Why waste your time coming to the castle, for that? ..Lyia never understood some people. Even her, being as good at understanding them as she was, there seemed to be a lapse somewhere. It was then that Lyia realized the girl might have stopped the spar because she got hurt somewhere. She immediately spun back to the girl her eyes widened.

"I didn't hurt you did I? I'm extremely sorry if I did.."

Lyia's normally bubbly voice was now full of concern, she knew that it was well within her capabilities to succumb to the darkness of her mind. She knew that the side that rested within her was not a happygolucky side. Lyia was just hoping that she hadn't done anything to drastic while she had gone into what she liked to call one of her fits this time. She walked closer to the girl, putting her knives in her belt, to show peace, and inspected the areas she had slashed. She realized that the cuts were actually quite deep, and she took in a breath. She hadn't ment to hit this hard, it was only a spar. It was quite ridiculous the amount of pressure it took to turn into the monster that was inside her. Thought she knew there was nothing she'd ever be able to do. Containing it to the best of her abilities was just the best manigable.