Completed [Antinous Training Grounds] Another Brick in the Wall

[Fallon]

52nd Spring 513AV
11th Bell

The training ground were in full swing, the clatter of wooden swords against each other, the ringing of metal as it struck against something, all with the underlying mutters of the squires as they received their bruises for the day. Fallon was no different and had herself paired up with one of the larger and stronger squires for a while. She stared up at the giant of a man, lip twitching as she felt herself being dwarfed. She gave a swallow, and looked about herself firstly at the small group of squires that watched and then back at the giant she was up against. She watched him rest the wooden long sword upon his shoulder as he looked down upon her, a bemused expression on his face.
“So why am I against the tiny one?” he gave a snort “Let’s get this over with.”

Wood struck against wood as Fallon brought the tulwar up to defend herself. It blocked the first attack that came arching down, but the second sweeping blow from the giant sent her backwards. She stared up at him as he brought the long sword round to cleave downwards. Instinct ruled for her to get out the way, and the girl wasted no time in rolling to the side hands scrabbling to push herself up as another swing raced over head. There were a couple of laughs from the observers as they watched her get out the path of the obviously more competent swordsman. She staggered and tried to stance herself firmly on the ground as another blow came swinging round.
Count it Fallon! Count the time! She brought the tulwar side onto her, knees bending as she rested on her toes. One, two, three, four, fi- the second blow cracked against her sword as she tried to block Four, I can count to four.

Gritting her teeth and readying herself, the girl brought in her shoulders as the giant advanced once more. Fallon sprung at him, eyes growing sharp as she made and aim upon him. He had no intent behind his blows; they were for fun not real damage. But here she was a walker of the wilds where every blow had to count. Not that any of them knew that.
Minimise the target, increase the speed, step into the blow. She thrusted the tip forward, into his stomach before slicing it upwards. She followed after it, hoping that quick feet would get her closer in range.

Not that it succeeded.

The next thing the squire knew was that she was looking up to the sky with the giant hovering over her once more and the tip of the wooden sword pressed against her forehead. Her head hurt from where she had a sweeping blow take her out across the back of the knees and sent her backwards and slamming into the floor behind her. The Tulwar was out of her grip having slid a few feet away and out of reach. He gave a laugh, and gave her a firm prod with it. Walking away the giant let out a laugh “I win this game. Come back when you’re stronger.”
Well Petch. Isn’t this a great start to the day.

[Orion Michaels]

Another day at the training grounds, and everything was in full tilt. It appeared that every single squire was training at the same time, or at least Orion thought so. It was a brutal day, as one of the weaponmasters decided to get involved. The name of the game was round-robin. Everyone was sparring everyone, regardless of skill, regardless of age. This would be confidence boosting for some, and would destroy the esteem of others. For some it would do both. Regardless, everyone seemed to want a shot at taking down one of the older squires. Orion got everyone’s best, and gods, it was horrible.

The kid had to be no older than fourteen. Worst off, he was kicking Orion’s ass. It was the difference between a child raised with a sword in hand and one raised to sew up a cut from the same vicious blade. The strikes came steadily, and with power which was deceiving considering the boy’s small frame. Orion was back on his heels the entire time, and Weaponmaster Knight Lucious Antonous VI, well, he was having a time of it. Words sharper than steel rang through the air as Orion struggled to hold on to his pride.

“Squire! ARE YOU PETCHING KIDDING ME? YOU CAN’T HANDLE A CHILD HALF YOUR AGE?” The powerful and skilled knight’s words sliced through the sounds of blades clashing as he tore into Orion. “You’re a disgrace! What are you even doing here? Is this the best you’ve got? I can’t wait to watch each of these children knock you on your rear again and again! Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic! Why did you even join up? What a waste of time.”

He had a way to really motivate people, didn’t he?

Orion gripped his weapon tightly in both hands, forgoing a shield for now, and boy had he regretted it. With a wooden sword and shield in his possession, the boy may as well have been encased in steel with spikes jetting forth from it. Orion held his weapon at a high guard, eyes studying his foe’s movements, but the boy enjoyed the counterattack. He would defend, block, and then leave a welt on Orion’s body. Every single time. The former doctor hadn’t figured out how to get through it, either.

Circling slowly, he sent a few probing thrusts at the squire, the clanking of wood on wood ringing out as each attempt was defended against with ease. Orion stepped forward, bringing his blade down on top of the boy. The attack was, of course, met with the shield. Orion allowed the training weapon to slide down the front of the shield, turning his body in a full circle to bring a powerful stroke against the side of the young teen. It was perfect.

Or maybe it was better to call it useless.

The weapon met the wooden wall he called a shield again, only this time Orion had left his entire back exposed. The short sword impacted with Orion’s ribs, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to a knee. Defeated again. By a petching fourteen year old.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” the weaponmaster began. “Can’t even…Usually a whipping boy is a boy, not a full grown man. Take a chime, and then get ready to fight again.” He motioned over to where a familiar face lay on the ground, recently defeated by a far superior foe. “Looks like you and her are about on par. At least you can flail about in ineptitude together. She’ll be your next sparring partner. Try not to poke out your own eyes.”

A vicious man with his words. A very vicious man.

Orion stood back up, rubbing his side as he walked over to his longtime friend, smiling sheepishly all the while. “Hey there, Fal. Nice to see you’re having as good of a go as I am.” He offered a hand to help her stand. He’d barely seen her this season, both of them extremely busy with their training regiments. It was good to see her, though by the way his training was going today, he figured she’d just get added to the list of people defeating him. “Ready for this?”

[Fallon]

She laid there for a while, letting herself cool down. Getting put on her backside within an instant had been disheartening to say the least, and more so when the previous squire humiliated her afterwards. But there was not a lot she could do at present, she was too weak to fight back properly and stand a chance against anything. So she had little choice but to accept a few hits before landing flat on the floor, and have the majority of her blows be avoided. Her head turned slightly when she heard the cry of a man, then the sigh of the weaponmaster as he gave out a new set of instructions to the defeated. There was of course the underlying dig at her about her own aptitude with fighting, but the squire did not bother herself too much with that. She knew she was bad already and did not need a reminder.

Fallon gave exhaled loudly, her eyes staring up at the skies as the shadow of Orion passed overhead. She gave a smile up at him as he pulled her up, giving him a quick once over as she did, “What can I say? Clown school didn’t want me so I have to make do with being a squire instead,” she stretched herself out, joints clicking as she limbered herself up, “I’m ready, I’m ready. But you look just as beaten as I do. So are you ready for this Doc?”
She gave a wink, followed by a quick smile before picking up the wooden Tulwar. A quick poke was given to him with the end of it, a brief element of playfulness in the movement, before she pulled herself away. Distance was made between them, but soon enough they would be at odds. In theory at least. She felt the weight of the wood in her hands, giving a few dramatic wild swishes with it to herself.

She still remembered the last time she went in a fight with a squire, the way the punches came arching round and left her frankly worse for wear. The girl swallowed, and gave her arm a final shake, ensuring that her grip on the blade was comfortable.

She had to get faster, she had to get swifter and she had to get stronger.

“Oh yeah, was that you letting out a squeal a few moments ago?” she stopped and turned sharply on her heel to face him with the point hovering in his general location before withdrawing it “When you are.”
Work on defending and blocking blows first, got to see how good he is and all. After that count the time in between, look for a gap then strike… Her once relaxed stance changed, her knees bending slightly as she turned sideways to him but her eyes ever focused upon her friend. The free hand hovered level with her elbow, fingers out and ready almost to swing out and grab.

“Wait… this is a sparring practice right?” Fallon peered over the tip of the blade at him with a cocked eyebrow.

[Orion Michaels]

“I’m always beaten up, Fal. Whether it’s you ‘correcting’ my ways, women angrily chasing me, or a whack from a heavy wooden weapon, I’ll have some bruising from anyone and everyone, don’t you think?” He rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen himself up for another beating. One of these days he would be the one dishing out the pain. One of these days he’d leave welts on others instead of getting wrecked every single time he went into combat with anyone. For now though, he’d have to take his lumps and remember that he was fighting people who’d been trained for more than half a season in the art of combat. He was just a newborn in the scheme of things.

“Yeah, that was me. Loud, old, and worthless with a blade. The Weaponmasters just have themselves a great time with me. I’m only a few years their junior in some cases, and they waste no time in reminding me of the disparity between our skills. I’m having a great time, believe you me.” He grinned, grasping his weapon in both hands and bending his knees slightly causing them to audibly pop as he limbered up to fight with Fallon. It wasn’t something they’d ever done in any sort of serious manner. Their fighting was done with words. Anything physical was likely to be a slap for Orion being just a little too gross for her tastes. He’d never struck at her, and although it was sparring, it was still something odd to think about.

He let out a chuckle at her inquiry. It was a silly question, indeed. “No, Fal! It’s a fight to the death!” He grinned and leaned forward, ready to strike. “Prepare yourself!”

Orion ran forward at her, bringing his blade off to his right side, the wooden long sword wagging wildly as he approached. With the distance between them closed, he brought the weapon parallel to the ground, slashing horizontally across her frame. It was a somewhat unnatural motion for him, and the power didn’t come from his arms alone, but from the combination of that and the momentum he carried. With the blade off to his left now he brought it up quickly as he could before bringing another strike her way, a diagonal downward slash coming from Fallon’s right shoulder to her left hip. He found himself unbalanced after the attack. Orion was leaning too far forward, and the tip of his weapon was nearly caressing the ground. He was in no position to truly defend himself, and had to hope that his blows had bought him the distance which he needed in order to recover.

[Fallon]

“Oh, ha-ha-ha-ha…”

Fallon watched the man charge at her, his chosen weapon being the wooden long sword. She remembered the reach it had from when she trained with it, that and how awkward it was for her to use. Still he seemed to be marginally better than her in using it; he did not fall over for one which was always a bonus. When the slash came however -with all its wonderful flailing and unnatural motions- it met the wood of the Tulwar, which in turn pushed back into herself. She felt the second come swooping round, her balance being thrown off centre as she was sent staggering back in order to stay upright. Her left arm shot out to her side, beating wildly as she threw her weight forward to counteract it.

Despite the distance between them Fallon did not waste any time in closing the gap whilst her sparing partner recovered. She held onto the Tulwar as tightly as she could, the tendons growing tight as she brought it swinging round across the horizontal. There was no real target made with that wild movement as it whipped at him. In honesty, fighting Orion was both unusual and nerve wracking for the squire. Her main fear was that she would do if she actually caused him harm or damage. And then there was the worry of receiving the same damage upon herself. After all, the worse she had ever done to him was given him a smack. Unless of course, little play bumps from her youngest of years counted. And generally a bit more mischievous in nature. After all, they were both younger and a lot more foolhardy then. Well, Fallon was at least.

“Hey! Orion!” she flashed a grin at him “let’s make this a bit more interesting.”
Once the blade had gone past him and her left side was brought round to face him because of the momentum did she jerked out her hand out of reaction almost as if to grab at him. The girl gave a wink, “How about this, if I win you have to do anything I want. And if you win well vice versa. Maybe it will give you some incentive to try harder old man!”
If she managed to grab at him and drag him in, it would shorten the range between them, bringing her tulwar easily within striking distance of him. But, vice versa he would be within striking distance of her.

[Orion Michaels]

Orion’s eyes widened as he nearly bit the ground, hopping on a single foot to keep his balance and not fall gracelessly to the floor beneath them. It was all so insane. He was fighting Fallon? Sure, it was for training, but he’d done little more than raise his voice at her. Now he was trying to hit her with a rather heavy wooden blade. He had no idea how he would react if he actually injured her. He had reach, he had height and likely strength on her, and so he couldn’t bring himself to commit entirely to any of his blows. Plus he really didn’t know how to fight yet, and he had no idea if she did, either. She was the one who’d run all over the petching world. What did he really know?

He couldn’t dally on anything though, because in a moment her weapon would be upon his midsection. The young woman advanced on him with surprising speed and he was barely able to maneuver his weapon to deflect her attack. He was left with his arms in a somewhat awkward position, the handle of his sword nearly up to his head while he had the actual blade angled down diagonally. He forced a half smile at her suggestion of raising the stakes. “Try harder? I wouldn’t want to humiliate you that bad, Fal!” Unable to avoid her grab, he instead stepped in close, giving neither of them room to utilize their weapons effectively. “You’re on! Though it’s pretty risky to play such a game with me, though.”

“Will you two stop dancing and fight, already!” The weapon master was watching his two rejects stand almost skin to skin as they jockeyed for position, and he was none to please with it. If they had any skill at fighting, both of them had been given ample opportunity to take out the other, but both warriors were far from actually being one that they flailed ineffectively at one another.

Orion looked at Fallon and shrugged, grinned, and shifted his weight towards her, exploding forth to try and use his size to overrun his sparring partner.

[Fallon]

With their weapons locked – or at least locked as two rather inept fighters could be – words were exchanged, and the challenge largely accepted, did the two of them get to work in overpowering the other. Fallon felt the weight of Orion come down upon her, using brute force and strength upon her. Something that Fallon had very little to resist against. The wood weapons pressed against each other, whilst Fallon herself was pushed into leaning ever further back. Her right foot went forward, her left bending beneath her as she tried to gain support. Further back she went, arms straining as the pressure from the upward force.
“You have a real thing for being on top when it comes to ladies don’t you?” her eyes narrowed, and her lip curled

Her leg gave way and she went backwards, right foot slipping out beneath her as she did. She hit the earth with a thud, eyes staring up at the wooden long sword that was still coming down at her. For a moment there was a look of panic upon her face, and her mind spurred her into action. She made herself move, flipping onto her front and jolting backwards between the gap in a flurry of hands and feet to get out of the way of the impending blade. She staggered back behind him, a momentary element of unsteadiness whilst looking dishevelled after her tumble on the floor.

Fingers loosely gripped the Tulwar, her shoulders hunching in as she gave a wince at the aching that begun to creep its way in. If seemed if it was not to be Orion dealing the damage, then it would be the floor instead. She huffed, her stance opening slightly, before making herself spring forward at him. Speed was first, the blade came second, before finally the loud announcement came forth from the girl as she leapt at him “Piggyback time!”

Of course, her moment of suspension in the air also left her open and vulnerable in this mock fight. Arms opened out to grab and lock onto him; knees raised and ready to exert the force of movement upon him. If it worked that was. She was far from paying attention, her real intent was to simply get back into range and defeat him. How was through any means necessary at present, and even if it meant making a complete fool of herself. After all, the stakes were now raised and the pair now had a target to work towards. But most importantly out of all this, it was the skill put in. Or more over the look it received and the disappointed head shake of the weapon master “Damned kids these days… Come on ladies! Move it! Move it! Stop pussy footing about!”

[Orion Michaels]

"Oh you have no idea, Fal," he managed through gritted teeth. Oh, she'd heard of his exploits. She'd berated him on his exploits. But she'd never been there. Nor had he tried particularly hard to put her there. Something about their friendship. Something about their relationship. And the fact that when he did things that made other woman swoon she just rolled her eyes and swatted him. "You interested in finding out what it's like?" Before she could answer, Fallon went tumbling down to the ground under the weight and strength advantage he held over her.

"Can't even contain yourself, huh?" He raised his blade to deliver the finishing blow but quickly was his longtime friend on the move, scurrying to safety between and out from under his legs. It was such a crazy move that it left Orion bewildered, if for a moment. What is this girl doing? As he heard her scramble to her feet and begin to rush at him, he tensed up, grasping the handle of his weapon tightly as he twisted his body first to the right, and then unleashed the torque in a (somewhat) powerful swing. It was only when he heard her yell what her intention was that he realized the collision which was about to occur. That coupled with the yelling of the weaponmasters, and well, there was little he could do.

He tried to check his swing, but there she was, airborne, and there he was, swinging as mightily as he could. This...wasn't going to end well, was it? He wasn't trying to kill the girl, or even injure her. He just couldn't lose after he agreed to that bet. He couldn't even imagine the horrible things she would inflict on him. None could be worse than what he was about to do to her, though...

[Fallon]

It may have only been a wood blade, but it still hurt.

The blade struck true, the mighty swing produced by Orion cracking against her side. She could not block, she could not dodge and had the blade been a live steel one her fate would of indeed been obvious. The blade that came from her right sent her off balance and to the left, swatted in that direction almost effortlessly. Her tulwar was in no position to strike back before he hit, and her grip was lost. A gasp escaped as she landed several feet away, back slamming against the ground with a mighty thud, followed by the definite clunk of her head hitting it. It impact was blinding, her focus and thoughts of combat and fighting scattered. Her mind was stunned, and it refused to stir even when the Tulwar clattered to the ground next to her.

Defeat would be the best way to describe the current state of Fallon. But even as she shakily came out of her stunned state and begun to push herself up did she once more turn her eyes to the Tulwar. She had to get up, she had to move.
“Move it! Move it! Move it!” came the cry of the weaponsmaster as Fallon staggered to her feet “That it? That all you’ve got squire?” She gave a cough and turned her eyes to Orion for a moment, then to the weaponsmaster before finally back again. Part of her wanted to get up and fight again, the spurring words of the other plus their bet encouraging her to leap up again. But the wind indeed had been taken out of her, along with a lot of her gusto. She could not even beat Orion in training, leaving her downhearted to say the least.

Still, she forced herself to graciously accept defeat to the partially better swordsman of the two. Fallon released a grunt and forced herself to rise, hunched over slightly as she rubbed at her side. She ached a lot, but now was not the time to investigate it. Not when the pair were being watched like hawks.
“I think… you won the bet,” she breathed before cracking a smile “That would of been a petching death blow if I’d know better,” She gave a nod, before bowing her head and gave him a wink, “Come, spell my fate oh might master of the sword.”
x

[Orion Michaels]

“Gods, Fal! What were you thinking jumping like that!?” It was one part shock, one part reprimand, and another several parts confusion. Orion was hardly a swordsman and he’d have cut her in half if it had been a real blade. It was probably a beautiful thing to watch, at least in his mind. Perfectly timed, perfectly executed, but the scenario shouldn’t have even presented itself between the two bumbling fools. “Are you okay?” He’d tossed his blade aside as soon as she yielded, rushing over to her side. She’d been fully exposed to a strike which was about as much as Orion could have mustered.

“Squire Michaels, would you really stop in combat to help someone you downed?” The weaponmaster’s powerful voice boomed in an attempt to remind Orion just what he was training for. It wasn’t for being kind. It was for protecting the interests of Syliras.

“I would if it were my friend,” he snapped back, his face flushed from adrenaline and the short lived combat. He’d rather end himself than have to ever actually face Fallon in combat. Training was nerve wracking enough. Real steel? She’d have more problems to deal with. And so would he. “Fal, can you breath okay?” He ignored her comments for now. He didn’t care about some stupid bet, not right now at least. There was time to petch with her later. “I hope I didn’t break a rib or anything. Let me check it out.” He walked over to her, uncaring of everyone around him, with the exception of Miss Skylar, of course. “What the petch are all you gawking at?” His inquiry was loud and cold, his face slightly twisted into a look of annoyance. “Don’t you have training to do?”

Turning his focus back to Fallon, he forced a half smile. “Let’s go somewhere we can be a little less open. Unless you want me playing doctor on you in front of everyone,” he half joked. The look in his eyes was one that Fallon had no doubt seen before, however. It wasn’t a joke, and Orion was shameless enough to do as he felt, regardless of who was present. “I’m waiting, Miss Skylar.” He began to walk off, taking it slow to make sure she could keep pace with him. If it were a broken rib, it would be near impossible for her to do so without excruciating amounts of pain. He’d carry the idiot out of the training area if he had to, but he didn’t want to add the additional ridicule which would come with it. Orion would already have a target on his back now, so what was the point of slapping one on her back as well?