[Verlyna's Emerald Pool]Picnic by a Pond[Eridanus]

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones almost smiled, hearing the man say he knew a little on swords... Bones himself knew it was not easy to deflect a blow, especially one coming from him with his inhuman strength... If he had tried to block it he would have most likely failed, but redirecting an attack, that was much easier to be successful... But much more difficult to do... No he was no novice to fighting with a blade... But he had already seen that, and one of them getting hacked apart would not be good for a friendly spar... No, better to fight without weapons... "It might be bessst to do it unarmed... Sssince we are not trying to maim each osser... I would not mind ssrowing a few punches, maybe wressstling a bit..." Bones made his odd grimace like smile, his attempt at a human expression, which seemed to show to much teeth... Like if a snake were to smile and show its fangs... "I find knowing more ssan one way of fighting... It makes you much better ssan anyone with a ssskill in one ssing... Ssat is why I practice different ways... Bonesss.... People call me Bonesss..." Saying that, he dropped his pack to the side, and began to unstrap his gladius... Best to keep hinder-some things out of the way...

[Eridanus]

He nodded, for they did not trust each other enough to spar with weapons. He had sparred with real blades with Zenai back in Sunberth, but they had the advantage of trust as well as knowing the limits of each other abilities to prevent maiming or accidentally killing each other. The gladiator and him were strangers and so it would be dangerous to either of them to immediately start with sharp weapons.

Bones gave an odd grimace as he did so, and Eri got the feeling that he was trying to portray a smile. If he were a kelvic he might possibly be one that was still trying to get used to the human ways of facial expressions.

"I agree, that. Adaptability is often more important than brute strength or pure proficiency with a single weapon," Eri agreed, which was why he trained his body in the martial arts as well so as not to completely rely on his blades.

He watched the stranger unload his pack, and he followed suit, unstrapping his weapon harness and placing his blades against the palm tree he was resting on earlier. He wanted to give the stranger a fair fight and so he followed suit, taking out the various trinkets and little things he carried around and placing them neatly beside the tree.

He would not naturally do so for there were always the possibility of thieves, but this place was quiet and empty enough for him to realize if someone else was approaching, and there were also two pairs of eyes looking out for each other's belongings.

He waited until the other was ready, and he bowed slightly to indicate his respect for his opponent before the commencement of their spar. Raising his arms slightly, he twisted his body slightly in an angle and his legs followed suit, easily dropping into a Sanctus Peccator stance as he awaited the gladiator.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Finished getting rid of his gear, Bones dropped his robes, and kicked off his sandals. Then he turned to the man, ready to fight. Facing him down and looking him in the eyes... He himself had a different style, one he had learned over time, and learned more by incorporating his animal styles, which carried over, though in a different way... Bones tried to imitate the odd dip that the human had did... But he was not really sure what it was supposed to mean, so he passed it off as another human quirk... He gazed deep into the mans eyes, looking into his soul, for that is were a fighter truly showed his moves, by his eyes... He watched as he took up his form, and was not surprised he did not know it... There were far to many styles to know them all... Bones kept himself light and loose, moving from side to side for a second, keeping limber. He tried to keep himself fluid, like a snake, constantly moving, twisting, grabbing, entangling, only hardening for the last moment, when the strike would hit... And if that failed, he would try his strength, or use leverage to throw his foe with a wrestling move... But he never knew, it all depended on the situation, to stay fluid he could not plan, but had to react... Moving his feet apart to give him a wide stance and a firm standing so he would be hard to push, he moved his own arms in front of him, one at waist height, the other at chin level, with both of his hands open showing there palms, certainly not in a fist... He waited a few seconds, which in battle was like hours, his blood pumping once more, he was getting into the battle mood, and his fiery spirit was rising... If Eridanus was looking at his aura now, he would likely see fury and power rising out of him, as he got himself wound up and charged to fight... He waited for the right moment, and moved forward, aiming at the mans chest for a punch, but expecting it to be blocked or deflected... Before it even came close to hitting he had his leg sliding back, trying to get behind one of Eridanus' feet, so that he could move forward and push him with his shoulder, possibly tripping him up and making him fall down, or grabbing him in a hold while he was close, trying to get him down to pin him... But who knew how that would work out, he was starting out going more for a wrestling style with a light bit of unarmed combat at the start to throw him off, he could switch things up later.

[Eridanus]

If Bones were to look into Eri's eyes he would see a bizarre confusion of colors changing from one spectrum to the next. The colors fluidly morph from one to the next, but if one were to stare too deeply it might have a debilitating or hypnotic effect. If Bones were a true combatant he would sense a deeper layer beyond that, that beyond the calm and carefree nature of Eri's vantha form lay the hidden ghost of a brutal killer, one who has slayed so many that he would have been driven mad when faced with all of his sins if aid had not been given at the last moment.

The vantha's eyes may have been lighthearted, but he was actually relaxing his vision so as to not focus too myopically on one spot. He allowed his vision to encompass the entirety of Bones' figure, and he kept his muscles and posture soft and light, but still immobile as he watched his opponent moving from side to side. It was a style of fighting that he was aware of but never a fan of, for he believed in movements with direct purpose. Moving about unnecessarily was a waste of energy.

A few seconds passed, but to both combatants who were carefully weighing up each other it felt like hours, and Eri observed how even in combat the gladiator's form seemed like a snake, moving and sliding fluidly.

Suddenly, his opponent rushed forward to deliver a punch to his chest. Eri was not interested in all else, only interested when the fist entered within range. Using the same side arm that the man used (ie. if Bones was using his left Eri would use his left), he raised his arm loosely such that the underside of his forearm was facing the man and was roughly parallel to the ground at his chest area. His palm was open and facing his opponent, and upon entering his range he would absorb the initial impact of the punch, himself moving to strafe his opponent while allowing the punch to continue on its original direction having dodged the blow yet redirecting it such that he protected his body.

It was a feint, and the man suddenly swung his leg probably attempting to destabilize the vantha. It was fine, for his reaction to the feint required almost no commitment at all, and so he raised the opposite leg (if Bones kicked with his left Eri would use his right) slightly outwards from his body as if to juggle a ball with his legs, but instead of kicking he simply placed his feet firmly where the man's shin would be when he kick, effectively intercepting that attempt. His body shifted slightly to maintain his balance as he did so.

After the interception, Eri would place his leg firmly down, and as it was slightly in front of him due to the previous placement he would shift his other leg forward, invading Bones' personal space if he did not retreat. As he did so, he would continue to keep both arms relaxed and open-palmed in front of him, one slightly more outstretched than the other, ready to deflect the inevitable attacks that would follow.

He did not attack yet, for it was essential to wait for the right window of opportunity and not overextend oneself unnecessarily. If Bones somehow did not react to his invasion he would cycle his punches from the elbow aiming at moderate height at Bones' chest, allowing him to unleash a series of lightning fast blows with a sharp but short burst power that only required minor investment as well as little maneuvering space as compared to the other more powerful punches but had a longer execution time but required more space.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones did indeed look into the mans eyes, and noticed the oddity of there changing color. However he was not looking to take in a description, he was looking at them to see a hint of what the man was going to do. Much of your motion was betrayed in your eyes, and sometimes this could be used to your own advantage in a fight. But not always. Of course if Bones had heard the other mans thoughts, he would agree on some parts. He also felt it was bad to waste movement, that you should only do so when needed, and in the minimum motion required to complete a goal. But this motion had a non-direct purpose. He was not moving to attack or maneuver, he was moving to get himself pumped up and into a fighting mood. So in this way there was purpose and a usefulness to what he did in moving to no direction at the start of his fight. Once he got limbered up and was in a raring to go mood, he stopped his jumping, to prepare to fight. The man did about as expected, avoiding and redirecting his first feint of a punch, he would have been dissatisfied with his foe if he had not. His reaction to his sliding kick was more to his way. For though he had not managed to trip him from behind, he had gotten pretty close to him. Now Bones took the initiative, and instead of swinging a punch, or kicking, or avoiding him, he came right at him. He charged a step forward, trying to bang his chest into the mans, and get into grappling range. This was another thing which was useful in his wrestling, but was not covered much in unarmed combat normally. There was straight up unarmed combat range, medium, were you punched and kicked and had room to swing your body and gain momentum to your strike. But grappling range was up against your foe, pressed on them, striking close bows and trying to trap them. And being a constrictor dhani, his arms especially were well suited for wrapping around someone and clamping down, pinning them. So Bones moved forward, almost tackling the other man, trying to wrap both arms around the man and grip him from behind, similar to what one might call a bear hug. If he was particularly successful he might manage to pin both of the mans arms under his own to the mans own sides, and then he could push and pin him down to the ground. Though if he missed one arm that one would be free to try and hit him, the only upside to the close proximity being that Eridanus would not be able to gather much momentum like in longer range combat, and so his punches would have little effect, it was almost impossible to gather much force when you only had a few inches to move before hitting something. Plus whichever arm had missed one of Eridanus' would be free to try and block a punch, or grab his hand at the wrist, or to try and maneuver so as to pin the arm down. Regardless all of the while, Bones would be pushing forward with his legs, trying to push Eridanus back so as to eventually mess with his footing, and to possibly get the upper hand and take him to the ground. Hopefully this strategy would be to his benefit, since it depended more or wrestling skills than unarmed combat, and few people trained in wrestling. Plus normal unarmed combat techniques would not be as effective, or possible in such close fighting.

[Eridanus]

Eri's opponent did the most surprising thing, he actually went straight ahead, probably in the hope of getting the vantha into a compromising wrestling position, but as he rushed forward the vantha released the aforementioned slew of punches straight at the man's head. Unlike what Bones thought, Eri's specialty in unarmed combat lay in extreme close-quarters combat, such as elbow to arm range.

His punches may be weaker than if he winded up to deliver them, but the technique of cycling them from the elbow was powerful enough to mildly damage someone, and the benefits of such a short execution time allowed him to deliver many more blows in the span of the time taken to deliver a traditional boxing hook.

As Bones' arms were open in a bear hug the distance between Eri's arms - which were already situated in front - to the man's head compared to the man's own arms to intercept Eri's arms was definitely shorter, and there was no doubt that as the man approached he would have let loose a good many punches and palm strikes into the man's face. The fact that he was rushing forward did not help him for he added momentum to Eri's benefit and actually further increased the power of his palm strikes.

When he realized that the man had no intention of defending himself, his strength faltered, and he cancelled the entire attack, holding back just enough for his palm push weakly against his opponent's forehead as he felt the man approach and tackle him.

Slammed backwards by the impact, he felt arms wrap around him, crushing his space and more or less disabling him from doing anything. It was fortunate that there was soft grass on the floor, as well as man's arms wrapped around him that cushioned some of the impact from the fall for his constricted form was unable to break the fall in any way.

Panting as the two of them lay in a somewhat homoerotic situation, the vantha cleared his throat to signal that he was a little uncomfortable at being so close to another man for any extended time.

"Good tackle there. Do you mind er, giving me a little space here" Eridanus remarked, deciding not to bring up the part about him withholding his strike. He probably could have broken the man's nose if he had continued, but it was an overreaction to react so violently in a friendly spar. They were there to exchange pointers, not to destroy each other.

[Ssafirsotibones]

It had all happened rather fast, considering he had only been a step or two away when he suddenly shifted his fighting style, and moved forward to take the man down. The man did not have much time to do anything, though he did palm strike once on his head, which he assumed was to signify that he could have gotten in a punch before his tackle landed. He probably would not have tried it in a real fight, as it had left him a bit open. But this was only a spar. Though he doubted a single punch would have incapacitated him, and then he still has his forward momentum, and would have still taken him down. Though in a real fight the man likely could have at least smashed his face pretty good, and done some decent damage... Once Bones had him down, he looked him in the eyes, as he said something to him, which did annoy him slightly. What did he think he was just going to lay there on him? That would be stupid. Of course he was going to get up, but he had not even given him a moment. Bones slid his arms open and out from under Eridanus, and rolled to the side off of him, landing on his back. One more roll landed him on all fours, letting him stand up quickly. Taking a few steps back, he looked over at Eri, feeling the grass brush on his bare feet. It was nice to feel so close to the earth, to embrace the life all around him... There was so much life here, even in these mountains... Not as much as were he had grown up in Falyndar... But still a goodly bit... He looked up at the tree near them, and said a quick thanks to Caiyha for the living things around him... Before stooping and pulling his gladius out of its sheeth... Turning back to Eri, he motioned for him to get his own weapon, and let out a deep breath. "Life... Isss ssso preciousss, isssn't it..." The irony of this statement was not lost on him, as both of them were warriors, who had likely each taken their fair share of life... But Bones had an interesting view of things, and often looked at the world in ways that most others would find contradictory... "But it isss the way of sse world I sssuppossse, ssat sssome must die, for ossers to live... Everyssing mussst take life, even the animalsss ssat eat plantsss, and we in turn eat ssem... And if we did not kill sssome, ssere would become to many... Ssey would run out of food, and ssen ssey all would ssstarve... It isss a bit funny ssat we mussst kill, in order to let ssem live..." Bones raised his gladius, holding it out between them, with a odd attempt of a smile on his face, waiting for Eridanus to make a move. "Come, let usss learn better how to take and sssave life..."

[Eridanus]

The gladiator pushed himself off Eri gracefully, landing away and recovering easily as he surveyed the area, muttering an appreciation of sorts. The vantha stood up as well, though not as gracefully as he used his palms to push himself up to a standing position.

"Indeed," He murmured in response, "Such is the cycle of life as it was intended to be. Dira and Kihala, both acting in unison, one taking over where the other left, and the other taking over where one stops."

Bones went to take his gladius, drawing it in front of him, and the vantha took it that he wanted to spar with weapons now. He followed in stride, though only he only took his main sword. He could use both, but oddly there was something honorable about this setting and this instance that made him felt that it was only appropriate to do what he did.

"And let us do so," He replied in acknowledgement.

Passing his left foot backwards, he assumed a stable stance with his legs, his sword held loosely in a two-handed fist grip at his waist-level, the point of the sword stretching out in front but facing the ground.

The Half Iron Door. An invitational guard that seemingly exposes his upper torso.

As Bones was the initiator, protocol generally dictated that the gladiator should go first. After that they would swap and take turns assuming the offensive and defensive role. Of course, in real combat there was no turns, there was no rules. However since they were sparring, by setting such a precedent they would be able to assess and understand their own and their opponent's mistakes better, and both combatants would be able to learn much more efficiently.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones gave off another of his attempts at a smile, looking his opponent over... He could feel once more his blood awakening, and that reptilian part of his mind sliding into action, taking over and moving his body almost of its own will, with little need for him to intercede... Perhaps it was just instinct, bore over the centuries and ingrained into his race... Or perhaps it was something unique to him... He did not really know, but simply relished in the dance of body and blades that was performed when combat came... Though he did have to stay in control here, could not let his body go completely free... For he knew what it craved, the sweat taste of blood, of flesh in his mouth... To devour his body... Bones started off simple, just a playful slash with his blade at his opponents, not even aiming at his body... He would surely react to it, and then Bones would allow him a attack in return... If it was similarly playful, he would deflect it, and then continue to fight.... "You are a worssy foe... And I do not sssay ssat often... I quite enjoy our little fun here..." After that the opening pleasantries would be over. Then he would be ready to get going, to dart in, and make a hard slash across his chest, though only using part strength, certainly not enough to cause issue, probably about the same force Eri could muster wielding his blade two handed. He was after all expecting for him to not be hit, to do something in response to stop him, unless he was suicidal...

[Eridanus]

He could see the gladiator darting here and there like an agile rabbit, sometimes with a playful strike, but he did not react. Like his unarmed style, Eridanus stood still and calm, not moving unless there was a need to. The way he kept his cool was simple, around him there was a strike-zone of sorts that he could tell from pure experience. There was the outer strike-zone that governs his reactions, and the inner strike-zones that may put him in danger if he did not parry an attack that reached there.

Bones' feints were not even within his outer strike-zone, and he raised a brow. The gladiator praised the vantha, and he nodded his head in acknowledgement, "Likewise, gladiator. Let us do our best to improve together."

From the tensed-up muscles, the leap, he could tell from combat experience and a rudimentary, instinctive understanding of physics that he was going to bound towards him. And this bound was going to bring him right into his strike-zone.

It was a matter of timing, and just before the gladiator's blade entered the outer reach of his own long-sword, he brought the sword up in a quick upwards strike, intercepting the blade even just as it entered the maximum reach radius of Eri's long sword.

This was the beauty of the Suvan-Denvali Swordsmanship. Relaxed, pragmatic but brutal.

It was a precise strike that expended no more energy needed and his blade stopped at the point just where it intercepted the blade. Rotating his blade such that it was on the Inside of the Sword while the gladiator's blade was on the Outside, he passed forward on his right foot, using the momentum from the step to deliver a sharp thrust from that same position. It was a measured strike, enough strength put in that if it hit would pierce a shallow wound into the gladiator's shoulder.