Closed [Canopy Training Area] Weapons, Weapons, Weapons (Ana, Xi)

[Zandelia]

Winter 26th, 512 AV – Canopy Training Area

Another brisk afternoon found Zandelia sitting in the rest area of what had become affectionately known as “The Canopies’, the name designating the general are the training grounds were part of but also its own walls. It was the more popular spot in the Spires these days, outsiders and citizens alike flocking to watch, learn and take up arms in the pursuit of further integration. She had never really imagined that controlled sparring could bring a community together, that violence could be used for positive ends as well as negative ones. Living in Sunberth had not afforded her such a luxury, you either fought or you died there – there was no middle ground. The Spires however held a different philosophy – that of inclusion. It was heart-warming, ever so slightly.

It won’t last though, things such as this never seem to. Something will come and disrupt it, corrupt it, destroy it. Not even a thousand Akalak warriors can defend against the insidiousness of time he mused, her thoughts decidedly darker now, they had been developing over the last few days.

Time flowed onwards, the great river stopping for nothing as the priest of Tanroa often stated between meditations. It had been seven days since that fateful meeting with Ana, seven slow days as her mind began to truly grapple with the realizations it had brought her. They were leaving the oasis that was the Spires, the pool of tranquility and peace, in favor of somewhere that fashioned itself as the beacon of civilization. If there was truth to that claim she expected it would be far more actively destructive than her current location. She looked around, at the people and the trees, and wondered how they managed to keep it the way it was. No, it would not last. Eventually chaos would come and it would devour the heart of the Spires. She did not know why, but sorrow filled her heart fort a few minutes at that inevitability.

“Even now they begin to play politics and position for singular positions of authority. Marn is the best of them perhaps, but he is an old Jamoura in a new Jamoura’s world. He won’t last forever” she sighed as she tested the tension of the bowstring with a few soft, gentle pulls.

That realization was the main reason behind why she had invited Ximal and Ana to ‘The Canopies’, to train and begin the foundations of a team that could survive the harsh wilderness together. They would be travelling hard, fast and as quietly as possible. They would need every edge that they could get and an improved ability with weapons seemed an apt place to begin. Of course, Ana would know her motives well enough, as she would know there were other developments they had planned – but those were for another day. Today was about focus, discipline and preparation.

So she waited for them to arrive in silence, fiddling with her composite short bow idly as she felt the chimes pass by. The river was moving and she only hoped that they would be able to sail it without sinking.

Where are they?! she thought with mild irritation.

[Ximal]

The last time Xi'sd been to this place he'd been attacked by an akalak with a ego problem . Xi smiled as he remembered the incident. If people took the piss out of him then he would teach them a lesson, if they sucker punched him, wll they could look forwards to a reply of a strong arm themselves. Xi walked slowly into the clearing of the canopy training area heading towards the rest area and the medics room. Spotting zand outside of it didnt take a lot of work. At least in a place filled weith monkeys and blue people.... Xi sighed. things were never going to be as easy as they were here. He'd agreed to go with them mostly because he was bored of the stagnation, he needed new things the place of the spires whilst beautiful was...to be frank...Boring. The jamoura often had a distaste towards him, and the akalak's annoyed him. to be honest the ony things that he didn't mind so much were the myrians which occasionally wandered around and the kelvics. lumbering over to zand Xi plopped down next to her before speaking. "Sorry for making you wait. Just making sure the three akalak's i put in the medical ward yesterday aren't here looking for revenge." Xi sucked down a slow breath and hunched over his hands on his knees and his head hanging low as eh glanced around. He was supposed to me meeting both ana AND zand here. "Any ideas where miss sticky fingers is ? After all it's been a while since i've seen her."

[Ana Sol Starris]

Slinking about, the little thief made her way towards the canopy training area in hopes of meeting up with Zand (being completely oblivious to the fact that there may be others.) She moved about the petals and their walk ways as quietly as she could, sliding past people, and working her way slowly upwards to where Syna could be seen shining behind the misty grey cloud cover of a Winters day. Ana had never been to this place before, and found the directions to be troubling, where would she have to go through to get into the canopy area? Petch, I need a map.. The lost thief thought to herself somewhat annoyedly, Spires was a huge place compared to the winding, twisting alleys of Sunberth and the simplistic streets of Zeltiva. Once or twice she had to bug someone for directions, and would eventually land herself there to emerge into the grounds. Looking around she noticed there were alot of Akalaks, and alot of Konti's as well as citizens and the occassional traveller or two. The place was ginormus compared to the training grounds on the ground floor, it was much more lively, and she found herself wishing the meeting should have been there and instead of here. Ana slunk along the walls, slightly bent over as she made herself as unnoticiable as possible glancing about for Zandelia. There seemed to be a certain vibe resonating through the grounds.. Of what, Ana just couldn't put her finger on it. So far it seemed as if nothing had spotted her as of yet, but she had spyed a Zandelia grazing in the wild and next to her... Next to her. Ana stopped her gait, to frown somewhat distastefully at the two. Why was a Ximal beast resting next to the wild Zandelia? The scene was so absurd, one giant man sitting next to a taller, more intimidating woman; was it coincidence? Or planned? Hah! Most likely planned, Ana most likely would have not of come to the canopy training grounds if she knew Ximal would be there. As great as a friend and teacher as he was, Ana wasn't sure if she wanted to share Zandelia as a sparring partner with him. Sauntering her way up to them from behind; she said in a clear voice to Zand, and then to Ximal as she wound her arm to wrap about Zandelias waist from behind, leaning somewhat into the older womans side and making it into an awkward hug "why, you didn't tell me Ximal would be here Zand, are we all sparring today?" In a teasing manner, she moved to be in front of the two but not before plucking the coin purse off the older woman, waving her other hand about in front of them to distract the two as best as she could. Perhaps this would be a lesson learned, as the thief slipped her thieving hand back behind the curtains of her black cloak. Of course Ana meant well and would return said belongings to Zandelia, she just wanted to see who would notice first, and how long it would possibly take. Ana just needed to practice, she felt as if her pickpocketing skills and sleight of hand were becoming far too rusty. If they were to go to Syliras.. Well, Ana was certain there were many pockets to pick, but she didn't know the area and so she wanted to be prepared skill-wise. Beforehand, Ana had tried her best to remember the techniques of which she used back in Sunberth, the ones she used from her book. Then she had tried to remember the ones of which her brothers former partner had done.. To say the least, she would need a lot of practice to be really good. "Whats better to use? Our own weapons, or perhaps the ones provided?" Ana rhetorically asked in such a manner, that made her seem she was hiding something. She pulled her cloaks hood down, smiling brightly at the two because of her small rush of adrenaline. oocI hope this was okay. >.> I was just guessing where the purse was. Or if you think she took something else that was towards Zands hip/belt, then thats cool, no biggie. I also don't expect to succeed at this. @_@

[Zandelia]

Zandelia watched as Ximal approached her, he was hard to miss and she had seen him enough times recently to recognize him from a distance. He moved differently to the denizens of the Spires, even the human ones. Those who lived in the city were far more casual, strolling rather than walking purposefully. Their lifestyles were easy enough and they devoted much of their time to pleasure and reflective thought. Warriors, true warriors, such as Ximal stood out from hundreds of yards. They were quick of pace, sharp of focus and often disregarded those around them in favor of completion of their set tasks. As he bent over he made a comment about Akalaks that she found difficult to believe, she had seen many at work recently and they were more than a match for him in strength and stamina.

“The day I see you put three healthy Akalak’s into the hospital is the day I buy myself a dress” she told him with a nod and a small smile, “as for Ana, I expect she will be along shortly. Knowing her she is already here, just taking her time slinking about” she told him, a knowing look in her single, emerald green eye.

The chill was not as bad this day, the white of the snows scarce in occurrence – swept away by the workers. There were few places to hide but she fancied that she had noticed a small figure clothed in black that could have been Ana, some number of chimes ago. She had not told Ana Ximal would be here, she had deemed it better for the woman to come into the situation with no way of turning on her heel to leave – short of rudeness. It was not manipulation, not as such, in her mind it was a binding together. Neilles and Zandelia had made their plans, or the skeletons of them, and Zandelia knew they would stand a better chance on the roads with Ximal accompanying them. The other woman would not like dancing to Zandelia’s tune, but dance she would if it meant they survived.

“Because, if I told everyone everything I know it would often land them in trouble. I have learnt to be…selective. Besides, he can help us both if you’ve a mind to let him,” she responded in good humor, “and I find that using our own talents is the best, it’s the only advantage we have over others. It even gives us certain advantages to help friends with hmm?” she posed the last portion as a thoughtful question, wondering if Neilles would pick up on the subtle subtext of the words.

Ana had stolen from her, a small pouch of coins in fact, as she had hugged her. It was strange to behold, a usually reticent woman giving her a full embrace whilst waving her hand in the air – her technique for distraction would need work indeed. Her deft fingers for pick pocketing, however, were very much able and nimble – there had been barely a brush of cloth to give her away. If Zandelia hadn’t conditioned herself for years in the art of observation she may not have noticed. Still, she put her arm around the other woman in companionship and squeezed her ribs a little. She was a slip of a thing but she had a knack for lifting her mood of late.

“I thought today that we could practice weapons with all sorts of activities. Sparring is important of course, but I asked you both to meet me here for two very important reasons. Firstly, there are skilled tutors here to help us when needed. Secondly, they have free to use practice weapons, dummies, targets and various other practical items,” she told them, looking from one to the other and pleased to see they had not ran in opposite directions yet, they were not the best of friends she knew, “and if we are to leave the Spires soon then we will need all the edge we can get. I figured we should learn whilst getting used to each other’s company. It will be a long journey after all” she finished, awaiting their answers and sweeping her hand across the floors of The Canopies.

“I’d suggest we start with practice weapon drills on dummies to warm up before doing any kinds of sparring. And to concentrate on learning technique and sharing our wisdom than who wins or loses. Our competition should be against the wilderness, not each other” she finally finished, her palms facing outwards at them so they would take it as a polite suggestion rather than the attempt at direction that was concealed within her words.

People respond better when they come to their own conclusions and assume it was their idea all along. If their own idea happens to also be like mine then all the better she thought to herself as she hoped they would go along with the plan of the day rather than walk away.


oocXimal, seeing as you are next feel free to agree/comment/etc and then move on to whatever activity you wish. Same for you Ana. We can then get past the whole 'meeting' phase and get right into the nitty gritty - if you would like that option of course

[Ximal]

Xi smirked at Zan's retort to his comment about the akalak's and her in a dress. Though the idea was quite amusing in his head it was also strangely fitting at least from how much of her frame he'd seen the other day in the spar. Shaking his head he snapped that image out of his head, a small tint of red which would look vaguely like the cold hat gotten to him. "Y'know i'm gonna hold you to that Zand. I look forwards too it." A smirking grin upon his face, he kept his hunched position. He'd brought all his weapons with him today but not the extra equipment in his backpacks. hunched over he listened to what Zand had to say about the sticky fingered individual. She was already here ? Well Xi flicked his gaze up from the ground and his contemplation of what to work on first, but not wanting to hurt either zand or the little monkey. The appearance of the tiny thief was more like that of a magician appearing from the fog, though having said that Xi really hadn't been paying much attention. Still whilst Zand and Ana had their little chat Xi noticed the little thief pull off a minor move, her hands shifted before slipping back behind the large black curtain of her cloak. Zand had to be " selective " in her choice of the information she gave out ? Was Xi really told anything ever then? Judging by Zand's next choice of words she'd noticed what Xi'd noticed. The Sticky little fingers of the money had pilfered a bag of goodies. So today was a weapons day ? Xi closed his eyes and rolled back into his seat. A yawn escaping him, not through boredom but lack of sleep as of late. Work combined with Liro taunting was taking it's toll on his head. Still they had practice weapons here as Zand and Ana both mentioned, which meant he wouldn't have to train with them using his real ones. That might have done some serious damage if they connected. Start practising without doing any sparring? Well if that was the case then Xi'd need to do some form of warming up. So Xi suggested as much. "Well Zand and Ana why don't we actually start with a warm up first ? A quick run around the canopies before some actually warming up of the upper body. Then we should start on the actual weapons training after all starting with the weapons off the bat isn't exactly the best thing to do. Still It's your choice you two." Xi sprang out of his seat and onto his feet before starting his run around the canopies area. A simple run around the outside of the training rings would be better than leaping the gates and fences into the training rings. Xi started from the centre down to the entrance then around each of the fences sticking to them tightly his slow but heavy plodding was what he used to carry him around the area, swinging his arms in time with his steps but keeping his arms up almost like a boxing pose for his movement. Jogging with his plodding speed around the outside of the canopies training areas before he finally drew along side the weapons arena and vaulted the fence to enter the weapons store before pulling out a wooden battle axe and a hand axe. Good they had what he was used too, axes, of course though he did have his oversized jutte at his hip which would be a useful weapon in and of itself. However right now he needed to train in a bladed weapon more than anything else. Still reaching down to his hip he fingered the throwing axe there lightly before sliding it out and tossing it end over end into the target bales. Though he only threw two axes the gap between them was heavily notice able but his first axe went high and his second axe went quite low however both landed upon the same diagonal angle. Burying all three of their blades inches into the archery target. both were very wide and high/low of the bullseye. Still for two fast and snappingly sharp axe tosses that was good enough for him. Before retrieving them from the bale h moved onto one of the open training dummies before starting with some simple battle axe strokes on the target, a hrizontal slash into a pointed thrust of the head. A pull back to the right and a welt of the heel of the axe into the dummies gut.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Zandelia had seemed to not notice Ana had taken the coin purse from her person, this caused the small thief to regard the both of them suspiciously, but kept her smile on, it cracked only slightly as she spoke. "Well excuse me for wanting to hog the both of you seperately to myself," she joked, and somewhat goaded at the two to expose her of theft. Certainly she was not that great still at being subtle in her pickpocketing ways? Tightly clenching the purse to keep it from jingling and making noise, she shoved it into her sleeve to conceal its presence, all at the same time of removing her cloak. Using the cloaks presence, and the movements of her hands and arms to give reason as to why she was moving about so much. Finally draping a folded cloak over her arm. Shivering, her teeth began to chatter in the cold air as goosebumps travelled their way up her skin. Nodding to Ximal's suggestion to warm up first via exercise, the idea sounded lovely now considering she didn't have her cloak around her body now. "I'll take you up on that Ximal," Ana stated lightly, rubbing her hands together quickly while gently lowering her arms, feeling the purse inbetween the sleeve and her skin- to her it was all about keeping any jingles quiet "lets not race though.. I don't think I'd be able to keep up with you two. Care to join us then Zand?" The suggestion was simple enough, as well as a bit playful, her reasoning for no racing had been to keep the jingle jingle of the miza's down but to disclude Zand from running with them? Well, what if that raised suspicion? It was a risky gamble, if the small thief was found out she would simply give the purse back; it wasn't as if she would keep it. Ana had morals, and a code of her own honor and one of those little values she held close to her heart was to not steal from her friends and allies. Taking a deep breath and then letting it out, she held onto her cloak close to her body which had the purse concealed in the sleeve. Hopefully that would stop most noise pollution the coin purse could have made, after all, Ana was waiting to see how long it would take Zand to notice. She would give it back after the training session though, not wanting to risk being accused as a liar or a traitor to the older woman. Would the older woman notice at all? Or would she have to toss her the bag at the end of this.. The jog was nice, she held her arms close to her chest with hands fisted and upwards whilst her legs cycled lightly across the ground. Running was something the thief was quite familliar with, having of chosen to flee a situation rather than face it head on; being a coward most of her time in Sunberth had been a very big reason why she was still alive now. The thief ran, her footsteps light next to the thunderous ones next to her, and the others as light as well next to her, they were no more than a half way around the canopy that Ana felt warm and fuzzy. But pained. The muscles in her legs began to sting ever so lightly, which spurred her on to run faster, and harder to keep up with Ximal. In turn her heart rate sped up incredibly. The weight of her weapons and buckler on her person were strapped tightly to her body. Pulsating in her chest, Ana could feel the beat resonate itself through her body, urging her to go faster the farther she went, turning her upper body side to side in tempo to the rythem of her feet, and the churning of her legs. Pushing her legs out further to cover more ground, she ran as fast as she could, but slowed down once she had seen Ximal vault over the fence. Staring at him, and feeling the blood rush through her body, her breath a heavy sound to the air as she dragged her feet across the ground. There was no way she could jump over the fence and expect to land masterfully, so she placed her hands on it, swung a leg over and pulled herself up and down to the other side painstakingly slow. Not following after Ximal to the weapon shed, she went straight for the dummies they were to be training with. Ana had brought her wooden buckler, and her own training sword with the metal core, as well as the real shortsword at her hip, and the dagger, which she had recently purchased a few days ago, with her now. Why use practice weapons provided when you had your own weapons to use? Now if it were against another person, and they were using practice weapons, it would have been fair if the other would use said practice weapons as well if they only had real ones on them. Ana had learned that the hard way many, many days ago. The thief stared at the dummy for awhile, blinking, and then realizing she still had her cloak with her. Setting it down near the fence, she returned to the dummy and this time she held her training sword out, with her buckler on her arm. Assuming the stance that she had been taught in Sunberth, and then turning her body so the buckler would shield her body and the sword arm would strike in from behind the front of herself, it was just a tad out of place, but nothing a little drilling couldn't fix. Right?

[Zandelia]

“I’m going to have to keep them both on a leash if I’m going to use persuasion over directives, I swear” she muttered to herself, a small frown giving way to a shake of the head as she watched them both take off without her.

They were becoming their own now, the Spires had taught them the importance of individuality if nothing else – though she planned on having the Spires teach them both much more than that. In some ways she lamented her ability to merely order them around but in other ways she was intensely proud of them. She could not take all of the credit, that was abundantly clear, however she liked to think she was at least partially responsible – especially in the case of Neilles. As for Ximal, he was a troubled individual she knew now and she would do her best to help give him direction. She had warned him about becoming a shield for others but she was never one able to follow her own advice.

They have more to live for than I. I have not youth, nor happiness. They have both, after a fashion…or could at least she told herself as she stretched out her back and shoulder muscles, still far too sore for her liking.

She set off after them both, her pace measured and gentle. She could have raced after them and beat them to the finish line but today was not about competition. Her strides were long, her heels hitting the floor first before rolling her weight onto the balls of her feet, using the Achilles tendons to spring herself forwards with momentum rather than force. She was still weighed down by her clothing, armor, robes and weaponry though she was beginning to get used to their combined weight again after her period of inactivity. The robes were a difficulty in terms of restricting her movements but today the winds were in her favor, pulling them out of the way of her thighs.

Her arms pumped slowly at her sides, alternating so as to help improve her speed and working the circulation of her blood with the movements. Turning a corner she slid a little before grinding the toes into the dirt and using the foothold to spring into the right direction. She tried to keep her breathing slow and consistent, in through her nose and out of her mouth as she had learnt was the best method, but after the second edge it began to become a little ragged around the edges. Sweat began to prickle her skin slightly as she kept up her pace, increasing the speed of her strides slightly now. It was a wise move as it allowed her to vault the railing when she approached it, her left hand coming to rest upon the top as her legs pushed off from the ground at the same time, body angling so as to sweep herself over the top at a horizontal level.

This is harder than I remember she cursed herself for not staying in shape, those seasons at Tua’s Establishment having been wasted it seemed.

She pushed onwards still as her leather armor began to feel restrictive to her ribcage and not for the first time she vowed to replace her old garments at the first opportunity. Her feet had landed well, allowing her to roll upon landing to cushion the impact and train her tumbling skills, and she came back to her feet once more and alternated the pounding of her legs once more. Breathing was becoming more ragged than measured now as she came down the last stretch, sweat now definitely dripping down her temples and hair beginning to become tacky and adhere to her forehead. She finished at last, pausing for a few chimes to get her breath back and tug at her clothing.

“I need to run more I think, to get back to my old level of fitness. I’m not getting any younger” she muttered as she made her way towards the training dummies area where the other two now took up their respective tasks.

She found her own dummy now and pulled out her cold iron tonfa from the right side of her weapon’s harness. She hefted them in her hands, feeling the rough handles in her grip and wrapping her fingers around them neatly. She would need to replace the grip soon, she noted, it was becoming worn and needed new strips of leather to remain completely effective. Still they would be sufficient for the day’s venture. She let them align up the back of her forearms in their correct beginning position, the butt of the weapons projecting out beyond her knuckle s a good hand’s span. She span them around her forearms experimentally, letting the rhythm return to her muscles, memory replacing thought.

The dummy resounded with the clacks of her impacts, one after the other and in rapid succession – she was beginning to get quicker and more integrate with her dual wielding motions. Her right tonfa lashed out at the ribs of the dummy before being retracted back, just in time for her left tonfa to smash across its jaws, follow through and then do so again in the opposite direction and back towards its beginning position. Thighs, ankles, shoulders and forearms were struck in the same whirling manner, all the while each weapon returning to her torso to protect against imaginary assaults.

“One! Two! Three! Four!” she repeated to herself as she set into a repetitive series of drilling strikes at the dummy.

[Ximal]

Xi held this wooden battleaxe across his front blade extended out of his right hand and the heel of it in his left. Xi brought the blade across with his right hand whilst turning his body into the strike. He was applying what he knew about unarmed fighting into this combat style he was now developing with his axe. Then he brought the heel opf the axe around to the stomach of the dummy before bringing the very heel to the face in the thrusting manner. Pulling the axe back a little he brought the face of the axe's edge down on to the dummy's head with full force. hard enough to hear a slight creek in this extremely hard wood. Xi smirked lightly before ramming the top of the blade into the dummy's gut. Xi fell back into a reset position before starting the cycle again just makng sure to be able to get out this series of hits as fast as he possibly could, because if he could master each one of these moves then a lot more of the technical ones would open up to him. Though looking next to him he spotted ana in her stance. Xi shook his head before almost barking out to her. "Ana, that's not the form i had you practising. Use that one, it's more suited to your speed, your not the strongest so i had you working on avoiding the blows and blocking them as a last resort. If you use that stance with either me or zand then your in the weeds before you start. Zand'll clobber ya and i'll send you flying. so work on dodges it might look a little embarrassing but work weaves and stepping into your stance. Zand'll back me up what you lack in strength you can make up with speed and sharp eyes, don't just stand there taking the hits like me, nor wait for an opening like Zand, dodge and weave to MAKE an opening." Xi as if to emphasize his point brought the axe up from below the dummy and hoisted the dummy into the air with a lartched strike between the dummy's legs lifting it like a sack of potatoes. high into the air before letting it fall back to the earth with a heavy bott to it's cest sending it swinging on it's chain.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana had barely started to do anything, having her energy sapped from that run and then some, she had to take a moment and just analyze the training dummy. It was of natural matierial, go figure, honey glue and vined to hold together an effective effigy of a humanoid. The metal cored practice shortsword held a weight on it, and if it had been in any others hands it might have actually looked 'short' on them and instead it seemed to fit Ana's own small size perfectly. Then there was the small wooden buckler, with straps around her forearm and a metal handle for her to hold; it was more than less for show, and an item to keep her free hand not distracted. Past training sessions without the buckler had Ana realize that she felt lost on what to do without the small shield, her free hand had no purpose, and though it could have been used for grappling onto people when would that ever happen? She was a small girl, and she recently was being trained by Ximal to avoid, rather than take an opponent head on and getting close. Ana 'laxed into her stance, holding the wooden weapon in her hand loosely but firm enough to make sure it wouldn't go flying off into the distance if she were to strike something. She could hear Zandelias hits to her own training dummy, and the hits which Ximal was afflicting to his own. Ximal's voice rang in her ears before she could even begin her exercise, she had been trying to let her mind fall into rhythem with their echoing hits, and now her concentration broke. Idiot! Ana seethed inwardly, feeling caught off gaurd. "I haven't even started! Cut me some slack you... you..you..." Ana could feel her annoyance, and in turn her anger rise at him for having of lectured her. She wanted to say as many nasty things to him as she could, but reason told her that he was just interjecting his advice to help her, so she just couldn't let her mouth fly as much as she had wanted to. Ana grumped at him, gritting her teeth as she turned to look at the dummy again, her knees bending ever so slightly so she could move more deftly. This would have been so much easier if she had an actual target that was moving with her, instead of just standing there, her cheeks burned with the indignity she felt. Taking a deep breath, she began to move around the training dummy, steeling herself for a moment to strike and then moving to the side again. The buckler was there to keep her focused for the most part, since it was with this buckler that she first learned how to use the shortsword, it moved to defend her from above, to the side, and then lowering it further still as if the dummy had imaginarily flanked her side. Ana's movements were slow as she was trying to coordinate them apropriately, thrusting her weapon to hit the dummy as she lowered her buckler hand, jumping away and moving her feet about to get away from the dummy. Ana shuffled her feet about, taking slow steps as she turned her lower body to move left and right; her upper body remaining stationary, with back straight, and shoulders slightly raised as she moved in close to the dummy again. Striking, and then retreating, circling around it until she would move back in to strike, block, and then flee again. Ana was trying to imagine it as thus: someone was moving forwards at her, and with her dancing about on her feet in slow motion, she went to his sides, saw he turned around, went to the other side as she circled about, and when he looked the other way expecting her to make a full circle she struck at him and hit the dummy where her opponents ribs would be. The longer she worked at it, the quicker she felt herself become and started to work out of her rythem to be more sporadic with her repition. Taking blocks, and parrys, she bashed the dummy once or twice with her buckler, feeling as if her imaginary target had gotten too close and her feet wouldn't respond so she steeled herself and pressed the shield up and over with her targets own force of momentum. Something akin to what Ximal had done when he taught her how to throw him behind herself, his weight, and his speed working against him to send him flying over her shoulder. Of course, since this was an imaginary fight, Ana felt as if she was being a little silly with her movements. Accounting for the weight of the buckler, and the metal core practice sword, she could feel the strenous pull on her muscles and joints from the amount of moving and weaving she was performing. Her buckler arm felt it the worst though, since it weighed a little more than her weapon did, and had more of an area to hold up, and throw about, she felt that thin arm begin to droop downwards a bit from the weight.

[Zandelia]

Zandelia heard Ximal’s voice boom out from the direction of his own practise dummy, distracting her mind from its free flowing rhythm of assault upon her own. Frowning slightly and making a dark sound in the back of her throat she turned her neck to see what he was lecturing upon. He was commenting upon Neilles’ technique and admonishing her for not following his advice. She was not sure how she felt about that, Ximal planting his footing squarely in what Zandelia assumed was her own domain – she had worked hard to forge bonds between them pair of them and she disliked others having sway upon her relationships, a fact she knew she would have to bear if she liked the concept of reality. She smiled when Ximal received a retort though, it showed just how far Neilles had come recently – her ability to fight back was developing.

I hope she doesn’t start getting a mouth like mine or I’ll have to find a way to stuff it she amused herself with that notion for a few moments, frown turning to thoughtfully pursed lips and considering raised eyebrow.

“Ximal speaks sense Ana, but I’d take it at your own pace. Better to learn the basics first and then adapt them than to try and advance too quickly and get struck down with inherent weaknesses. I don’t fancy having to bury you” she snorted, returning her attention to her practise dummy once more.

She sighed and hefted her weapons in her hands, rolling her wrists to get them to spin in figure-eight patterns, both moving at the same time out in front of her as she teased out the correct rhythm once more, trying to gauge the use of both weapons at once in ways that she could manage – her abilities were far from perfected in that regard. She could wield each tonfa individually to a high degree of effectiveness but when using both at the same time her efficiency was reduced. She frowned and decided to try and do something about that immediately. From her casual figure-eight motions she brought her tonfa around simultaneously, raising them and then sinking them in a downwards assault, both hitting the dummy’s upper arms at once. She reversed the action to smash both into the underside of her enemy’s arms for a double-blow.

Much better…keep it up! she ordered herself.

She brought her weapons around to either side, arms fully extended so as to give her next assaults more impact, crashing back and sinning the shaft of both weapons into the ribs of the dummy with enough force to dent it slightly. Following through with her weapons she found her arms crossed in front of her, muscles straining as she stopped their momentum and tried to channel it into the backhands she now delivered to the throat – tonfa ending in crossed in front of her around the neck of the dummy. Her breathing was harder with the required effort. She danced back and repeated the scissor-like double attacks upon the knees of the dummy in turn. That done, her routine established, she set about repeating all four moves until sweat began to stain her skin and her breathing became laboured.

“Right, much harder but a bit better at using both at the same time now” she sighed as she stepped back to take a short breaks.

She cast her gaze about to watch Ana and Ximal at work as she rested, watching Ximal’s dummy seem to rupture at his powerful axe blows. Neilles was more canny in her weaponry use, seemingly lost in her fantasy as she bashed the dummy intermittently between attacks, swords darting out at various places upon her dummy’s body. Neither of them seemed overly practised with their weapons compared to the Akalak’s and Konti surrounding them but they were good enough for now. Improvement would come.

As will my own, I hope she prayed to herself seriously.

“Bit longer and then I think I’ll get on to some ranged practise” she called to the other two before turning back to her dummy.

She set about completing further double attacks to try and develop her dual coordination. She was finding it difficult to move her arms simultaneously whilst not knocking them together but she was more than willing to suffer a few bruises for improvement.