It's Just Dirt [Orion || The Pit]

by **Septimus** on June 13th, 2013, 6:33 pm

23rd Day of Summer, 513AV

Training had been kicked Septimus in the butt and on the side, she had also been patrolling. Rest had been hard to come by, but she had been eating like, well, a horse to compensate for energy over these past few weeks. She had also become very observant of her surroundings lately.

Equine instincts were battling against what this human side was telling her and she was beginning to try and tame both to work in unison. She was going to try and use my sensitive ears to my advantage to pick up anything that she might otherwise miss. Tips of hot training spots, good eating spots, and possibly even a tip or two about something happening.

Not only was Septimus working on that, but she was also working on my own fighting skills with her broadsword and her shield. That's why she was also where she was at now. This place was beginning to grow on her and with that, Septimus was beginning to use it more. She came in search of being paired up with another sparring partner again to work with her weapons. Septimus was growing more used to them and using them as sort of an extended part of her arm.

Septimus walked in, looking at the semi-familiar racks of dulled weapons. Before doing anything, however, she would wait for instruction from one of the Weaponmasters. When she spotted a hand wave beckoning her over from the Weaponmaster, Septimus walked over to him with a slight smile on her face. "And who might you be?"

"Septimus. Squire of the Syliran Knights. I came in search of a spar, today. Perhaps you may know of how that can happen?"

Another man walked in the location's boundaries and her sapphire eyes darted to him, then back to the Weaponmaster. Never had Septimus' eyes ever been laid upon him until this point.

by **Orion Michaels** on June 14th, 2013, 3:08 am

Orion walked into the training grounds silently, immediately grabbing a training longsword from a rack. No time for talking. It was time to just blow off some steam.

He needed to get his mind off of the last few days. It was horrible. So very horrible. Seeing that body...seeing all that blood. It had shaken him quite a bit that someone could be murdered so brutally in Syliras. Had it really been that long since Lyla died that he'd forgotten it was so very real? Seeing Knight Captain Lorene break down like she had was even worse. Dinah had always been able to balance her tough and soft side, but to see her in such a vulnerable state, well, he guessed everyone had that part of them.

"Petch!" He could feel tendons tighten as he grasped the training weapon in both his hands, his anger starting to boil over. Dinah was inconsolable. She wasn't interested in training him right now. Did they have a history or something? Was he so important that she'd neglect her hand picked squire? "I'm so petching selfish." He raised the weapon over his head and slammed it down on the top of a training dummy, the metal core weapon bouncing harmlessly off the human sized item.

"Squire Michaels," yelled the weaponmaster. "Why don't you stop wasting your time with that dummy and get some live practice in. Get over here."

Orion turned to glance back at the weapon master, pink lips nearly furled into a snarl. If they didn't have the ultimate authority here...

Taking a deep breath, he lowered the blade and slowly walked over, paying little mind to the weaponmaster himself or the woman who was with him. None of it mattered terribly to him right now.

"Good, here's your sparring partner," he said as Orion stepped up infront of the older man and the blonde woman. "He's nothing much, but should be good warmup for you, right?" Orion glanced at the weaponmaster, shaking his head. He'd been riding him every since he'd began training. Something amused him so much about a squire in his mid twenties, and he wasn't scared to let Orion hear about it.

With a soft sigh, piercing blue eyes finally regarded his to be sparring partner, and even in his sour mood, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in interest. "I guess he's introduced us, huh?" Orion extended his hand in greeting, forcing a false smile to his lips. "Orion Michaels. Old man squire. Whatever you wanna call me. Just, try not to beat me up too badly." Probably too much to ask. Like most of the other squires, they'd been training for much longer than he. The beautiful blonde was likely to put him on his rear, like nearly every other time he'd sparred someone. "Shall we?"

by **Septimus** on June 14th, 2013, 3:03 pm

The male's uproar was apparent as he took his anger out on one of the practice dummies. Septimus' gaze was fixed on him as his outburst continued, apparently having no clue as to what had triggered the explosion. Her jaw was halfway open, going to say something. The thing was, she couldn't. She simply shut it quickly to keep herself from looking like a lost five year old. Her eyes darted to the Weaponmaster when he called the raging man over. "I'm here to spar, not get my ass kicked by a guy whose anger could chop off my hand!" Her mind flashed back to Razkar for a split second. "I'll have to deal with it sometime, but just not yet!"

The man so called Orion looked at the Weaponmaster with lips curled back and Septimus took a step back, placing a finger on her own broadsword's hilt. It lingered for a second unnoticeably, but then she dropped it once more. He quickly approached and the Weaponmaster then spoke to Septimu, explaining he was nothing much. Septimus nodded her head and forced a smile to her lips, beginning to find it a bit amusing, slightly.

Orion put his hand out and Septimus, of course, shook it. "Some introduction, indeed, I suppose. Septimus. Squire, as well." As for the rest of his comment, Septimus chuckled, unsure whether or not he was kidding or joking. "No promises." She winked with her smile still there, it now turning more real with the fact that she no longer thought he would strangle her. She examined him unoticeably and glanced at his scar only to smile again "Yes we shall."

Septimus walked over to the wall of weapons and dropped her own broadsword and shield some ways away from it (she never left her quarters without them). Septimus then grabbed the broadsword from the weapons rack that she had used before, examining it of any new dents that may have occurred only to find none. She did the same for the shield that resembled hers slightly. Of course, they both were much less upkept and much more dull.

She took the lead and walked over to the dusty ground designated as the sparring area. With that, she put down her weapons and began stretching her limbs. After she was done with that, she took a few deep breaths then picked her weapons up again, getting into place.

"Ready when you are." Her sapphire blue eyes were locked onto Orion and was analyzing his body trying to pick out weaknesses and advantages.

"Talk"

by **Orion Michaels** on June 18th, 2013, 3:49 am

Orion nodded to his new sparring partner to let her know he too was prepared for their match. Sometimes it felt like this was all he did anymore, but after how it went a few days ago, he'd take it. The bruises were much better than the memories of that horrible event.

The first move was his. Widening his stance somewhat, he placed feet at shoulder width, his left foot somewhat forward of his right.

It was hard to concentrate on the fight at hand. He was questioning everything, and he wasn't nearly skilled enough to not have his full focus on any sort of combat. What would any of this training accomplish if a knight could be murdered in cold blood in the middle of the city? Was their any purpose in any of this?

Shifting his weight forward, Orion grasped the handle tightly and brought it up over his right shoulder. He'd refrained from using a shield, favoring the power he could get using the weapon in both hands.

Squire Septimus. He'd never met her before. There were a lot of squires, so it was to be expected, but he had a keen eye. Still, it was so very hard to focus. Blonde hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes. The young woman may as well have been a shadow to the troubled man. His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to maintain his readiness for their combat as well as the pains which tormented his thoughts.

Downward, diagonally downward, right to left. A basic strike, but a powerful one. It used both his own momentum moving forward, and a combination of gravity, his strength, and the weapon's mass to generate a fair amount of force.

It would be better to get this over quickly, wouldn't it? It wasn't fair to him. It most certainly wasn't fair to the woman who defended herself from him.

Everything about the way he fought was sloppy. His patron had worked diligently and did what she could in just a season, but he was green at best. His weight was improperly distributed. He was leaning too far forward. He'd overextended himself, leaving himself vulnerable. What exactly was a doctor doing here?

by **Septimus** on June 22nd, 2013, 1:38 am

oocFor some reason, whenever someone replies to certain threads for me, it takes a while to show up even after I press F5. Apologies for the wait on this!

While waiting, Septimus was preparing herself mentally. She was clearing her mind of everything going on and everything she was thinking of. She was clearing her mind of everything she was planning on and all of the information she had gathered on Orion while watching him. She found peace within herself and with that she calmed her breathing and her heart rate. She would need to stay calm and she would need to think everything through. These were real weapons and not wooden practice ones.

As he got into his stance, Septimus' mind instantly cracked the whip on itself. Instantly in a whim, everything came back to her. The weaknesses she had pinpointed as well as the advantages would come to her aid now. Her mind had been cleared of everything unimportant to her as of right now. She would be able to think her actions through all the while planning what to do next and right then. Septimus got into the familiar Triangle Stance and slid her feet into the appropriate position and angled her weapons in their appropriate angles quickly and appropriately.

As a hard and full impact hit came down upon her shield, Septimus used this to her advantage. He was using both hands and was failing to keep his arms in a close radius to his body. Thus, leaving him open and prone to attacks. Septimus bent down and came under, kind of like a hook, and pushed up with her shield, not only sending the attack elsewhere, but defending herself and screening him from seeing where her attacks would be coming from. The element of surprise was her friend as they couldn't possibly know where to appropriately defend themselves and she could go from there.

With this, Septimus used her broadsword's hilt to aim to hit him in the side of the abdomen. She wouldn't dare hit a fellow Knight in the kidney like she had been hit. Pain was a quick and easy thing to teach someone with, but that had petching hurt. Septimus was unsure if the attack hit or not seeing as how she was picking up an adrenaline rush, slightly. She pulled back from the attack, being sure to keep her heart rate down and her breathing under control. She also needed to assess the damage she had done if any.

She added this new discovery to the list of things she could take in against him. He was slightly inexperienced and slightly fueled by anger. If he continued to put himself out there like that, he would continue to become easily hit. This wasn't some random person she was sparring with, but rather a fellow brethren of the Knighthood. If she told him, he could correct it. She would rather him be told now when she actually cared enough to speak rather than with someone else who would beat his ass.

"Don't put you're body out there like that. You're just asking for strikes to your legs and abdomen. And always keep you're attacks within a close radius to you're body." She sighed then continued "You also might want to try clearing your mind a bit." She raised an eyebrow with a slight nod then got back into position.

"Talk"

by **Orion Michaels** on August 10th, 2013, 10:05 pm

He'd yet to learn how to effectively fight someone skilled with a shield. His wide, powerful swings could overwhelm someone of lesser skill with a blade or mace, but a shield would just be used to deflect each of his strikes. It only pissed him off more. It only fueled that fury. The pain she would inflict would, however, dampen the anger quite effectively. The smooth movements she made, absorbing the blow and sending it off to the side, they were nearly impossible for him to defend. Add in the veil it acted as, and he was as good as done. One attack and that was that.

"Shyke!" He exclaimed, taking a few steps back, lowering his blade to his side, releasing the handle with his right hand. That hand quickly found its way to where she'd connected with a stout blow to his midsection. Pain flowed from the point of impact. It was always a pleasant reminder of failure. Was she just toying with him? A hilt to the midsection, and then she stopped her assault. “You could have ended this thing,” he spat. She was trying to instruct him on how to fight while handily defeating him? How insulting. “Like you’re some master of the blade. Last I checked, you’re just a squire like me.” It was uncalled for, to lash out at her like that, but Orion wasn’t here to make nice. He wasn’t here to make friends. He was just going to take out some frustrations, swing a blade around, and try and break a training dummy in half.

It just so happened that the weaponmaster decided to turn that dummy into a beautiful blonde woman. Oh how wrong Orion turned out to be about this all.

“Let’s just fight. The welts you leave on me will be lesson enough!” Orion sneered at his sparring partner, spurning her advice as he brought the metal core weapon back up into the ready. What was it about squires which bred arrogance? Orion was no exception. Whether it was fighting, running, doing pushups, or even having a good lay, so many of those brats he’d met thought they were the best Syliras had to offer.

If they’d accept him, they hardly had an exhaustive selection process.

He spun the blade in his hand once, twice, three times; his blue eyes danced up and down her body, though not in the appreciative matter he would normally afford. He had to find a weakness. There just had to be vulnerability in her fighting style. The problem was, Orion couldn’t spot it. He could notice movements, irregularities, and problems with the best of them. He just wasn’t near that level in combat. He couldn’t make the translation, and, therefore, he struggled mightily with recognizing combat.

Gritting his teeth, he moved back into the same combat stance, bringing his blade back into a high guard. He began to circle Septimus, slowly, and quite sloppily. His footwork was an absolute mess. Still, when she didn’t attack, he again pressed the action.

Taking a step forward, he dropped the weapon down to his side. This time he’d do another simple strike, coming horizontally across her body. The weapon whizzed through the air, wood on a contact course with his partner. He wasn’t holding back like she seemed to be. He was ready for it to be over.

by **Septimus** on August 19th, 2013, 7:30 pm

Septimus' eyes narrowed at the shorter man's outburst and she heaved a great sigh from deep within her chest, much like a weaker roll of thunder. She understood that the man was angry but was it really necessary? She didn't understand it now and probably never would. She wouldn't understand men now and probably never would. She supposed it was likewise vice versa for the other gender as well.

"Well excuse me for trying to give some tips to a fellow Squire. You run off anger like that in combat, you're gonna get yourself killed." His words basically rolled off her shoulders like rain droplets. Am I being a bit too impudent? A small dent in her spirit, yet she wouldn't let it stop her.

A fighting chance was a fighting chance and Septimus respected that. However, in the midst of a spar, Septimus would always try to prolong it as best as she could for the simple aspects of training and knowledge. On the contrary, if she was going down, she was going down fighting until she had to give in to the opposing force.

And when he stepped forward to take that swing, all of Septimus' emotions were flushed from her face. Serious, cautious, and timid instantly filled the empty space now left. With that, Septimus instantly brought up her sword and lunged at Orion, only to rapidly bring her shield up and block it, once more angling it upwards and sideways to deflect some of the power from the blow. With that, she also lunged forward again and barreled forward with her shield to try and land a broad but hard hit.

"Talk"

by **Orion Michaels** on August 21st, 2013, 3:18 am

Her words washed off him. He didn't care if he was wrong, he didn't care if she had something to improve his form. He just wanted it over. "What do you know," he spat back through gritted teeth. "Have you been there? Fueled by anger in the heat of life or death?" She was just a squire like him. Her experiences couldn't be much more than his own. He'd survived his own endeavors without the aid of another soul. What could she really have to share?

Orion's swing was again deflected, his fellow squire using the same up and sideways swing to send his strike awry. This time he went with the change in momentum, spinning around as quickly as he could to meet the lunging blonde with another huge blow to her shield. The reverberations would shake through to his bones as he struggled to steady himself, lining up with Septimus for another go. He wasn't interested in this fight in the least, but he had no authority to turn down a weaponmaster.

"Let's just get this over with! I've had enough!"

Lashing out, Orion slashed back and forth, using the power the two handed grip offered him to try and drive her back. He was reckless. He was far too reckless, but a successful hit would leave a mark, maybe even score a knockout. Not that it really mattered.

by **Radiant** on October 10th, 2013, 9:46 pm

Septimus :

Orion :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+1 XP
Weapon: Broadsword	+1 XP
Weapon: Shield	+1 XP
Teaching	+1 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Weapon: Longsword	+1 XP
Endurance	+1 XP

Completed It's Just Dirt [Orion || The Pit]