Completed (Antinous Training Grounds) Shield up!

[Orion Michaels]

3rd Day of Fall, 513 AV
Anthonius Training Ground
9th Bell

Sometimes Orion was positive that Dinah wanted him dead. She was creative with her training, but she was unyielding at the same time. Very rarely was there something he could consider an ‘easy day’. It had been but a few chimes before Orion was positive this wouldn’t be one of those coveted days. Even worst off, it was the day after a rather intense workout with weights. She pushed him until he couldn’t go anymore, and then she would drag him to the finish line if she had to. She’d make him into a knight whether he wanted it or not.

Even with all of that said, the plan for this training was insane.

”I only get what!?” Orion looked at Dinah, flabbergasted. How would he possibly stand a chance against her under that scenario?

”You heard me, Orion. I’ll be using this sword and you only get your shield. I’ve noticed your reliance on your weapon, to the point where you spar other squires without even using your defense. You’ve become too reliant on overpowering foes. What happens if you have to fight someone strategically? It would be foolish to only have one means of fighting.” Dinah tapped the wooden sword against his shield, smiling wickedly. ”Get that thing up. I’ll smack you if you don’t defend yourself properly.”

Orion sighed, facing Dinah while lifting his shield up to prepare for her assault. This was absurd. ”And don’t think I’m not expecting you to try and best me, either! Just because you don’t have a sword, you’d better take me down.”

That was it. Dinah was out of her mind.

The knight raised the sword and began their training with a horizontal backhand slash across Orion’s body. The blade clanked harmlessly off of the shield as Orion moved the heavy metal screen to guard. Before he could even begin to contemplate a counter she was upon him with a flurry of strikes, each one powerful and direct. Orion found himself quickly giving up ground as he shifted his weight and arm with each swing to try and stop himself from getting a nasty welt. Dinah refused him any armor in trainings where pain was the motivator. Back and forth came the swings, driving the squire further and further back. Each blow was a solid hit to his kite shield, but at least none of them were connecting with flesh.

”Are you just going to take this, Orion? If you don’t do something, I’m not gonna let up when I break through!”

Gritting his teeth Orion attempted to charge forward with his shield, using it as a ram, but Dinah easily sidestepped his unbalanced assault. Stubborn to the end, Orion wouldn’t let that deter him. He turned his body and raised his defenses in time for another strong swing to be absorbed by the heavy metal guard. As soon as the blow connected, Orion lowered his shoulder again and tried to drive his weight through Dinah, but once again, she avoided it easily.

”Come on, Orion! You’ll have to do better than that! It’s clear why I’m avoiding you so easily. Figure it out!”

[Orion Michaels]

Oh yeah, it's so clear. I'm a petching doctor and you're a Captain Knight! I don't have any clue what I'm doing? You're one of the most talented in the knighthood at swordplay? Yeah, there's a lot of reasons Dinah!

Orion was quickly becoming frustrated with the unorthodox training method. Everything he'd learned up to this point had him using the shield to rebuke attacks and strike with his blade. The use of shield alone was unfamiliar. He raised the shield again, absorbing another powerful strike from his patron. He stumbled back a couple feet from the unbalancing strike, but before he could orient himself again, she was upon him, lashing forth with swing after swing.

Orion was giving up ground left and right as Dinah attacked. It was exhausting, but with his complete focus on defense he was able to interpose the heavy steel between her weapon and his body. Still, his arm and shoulder were both taking quite a beating. Over and over again the wooden weapon crashed against his shield, and the longer it went on, the more he realized he'd not have an opening with which to strike. "Gods . . . this is stupid!" Orion ducked under a horizontal slash and raised his shield to once again try and use the heavy metal as a battering ram. Dinah evaded to her right and with an elegant spin and strike, tapped Orion on his shoulders with the flat of her blade.

"Orion, you're doing well to stop my attacks, but you're putting more effort into that than is required," Dinah said, lowering her weapon. For as smart as he could be, her squire was also a stubborn, stubborn man. He kept trying the same thing over and over and the results didn't change. For someone as learned as he, she couldn't help but feel some disappointment. "Using a shield is about more than just stopping your foe's attack. It can also be extremely effective in setting yourself up for a vicious strike of your own. See here.." Dinah motioned for Orion to give her the shield, and when he complied, she strapped it on her arm and offered the long sword to him. "What you're doing is taking a solid blow every time. Go ahead and take a swing at me."

Orion spun the blade in his hands getting a feel for the weight of it in his grasp. He was visibly frustrated, but there was nothing he could do besides comply. He gave a few practice swings and then looked at Dinah. She nodded for him to proceed. Orion squeezed the hilt, tendons tightening as he did so. While stepping forward he brought the wooden training weapon up and to the right before striking down diagonally. Dinah moved the shield to intercept, absorbing the blow fully. "When you block in this manner, you leave yourself no way to effectively counter. Perhaps you could wear down a foe in this manner, but if they know what they're doing, they'll tire you first. Strike at me again."

Orion wasted no time in obliging. He brought the weapon to the ready, grasping it with both hands. Sucking in a breath, Orion raised the blade skyward and brought it down, grunting as he did so. Dinah raised the shield and at the moment of impact, she shifted her weight. The blade hit the sloped portion of the shield and rather than reflect back she used Orion's momentum against him. Her defense acted less as a wall and more as a guide to push his strike aside.

Orion stood there, the tip of the blade pressed against the ground in an unexpected reversal. Squire and knight made eye contact and shared a moment of understanding. He was no less frustrated, but he'd realized the simplicity of her lesson and of the use of the shield. It was a battle to be fought in learning the proper technique and form, and it was a battle Orion intended to win.

[Orion Michaels]

After exchanging shield and and sword once again Dinah and her squire prepared to face off. Orion strapped the heavy shield to his arm and waited for Dinah to give him the go ahead. Mentally, he tried to envision the correct use of the shield. It was simple in his mind, but he doubted it would be that simple in practice. It was one thing to put his shield in the way. It was another thing to anticipate his opponent's strike and interpose the shield in such a manner to off balance them. It would take time before he'd even consider himself proficient in the task, if ever.

"Alright, let us resume. Prepare yourself." Dinah raised her weapon and began to advance on Orion. "Keep moving, you don't want to be caught flat footed. While you may be at an offensive disadvantage, you don't want to negate your defensive upper hand with bad footwork." Orion began to move around Dinah, circling his patron slowly, trying to guess where her attack would come from. She kept her blade changing levels and angles to give her squire a hard time.

Then, like a snake coiled to strike, she lunged forward. Dinah was a big fan of negative reinforcement. Sometimes it was effective with Orion, and at other times it would cause him to freeze her out. He seemed in mostly good spirits this day, so she would punish him for every error. He was moving, but he wasn't listening to something she'd told him time and time again.

"Don't cross your feet!" A two handed, backhand swing crashed into Orion's shield. He tried to angle it, tried to send the attack off to the side, but he was off balanced by his lapse in technique. It connected squarely with the center of the shield and sent him tumbling backwards end over end. Now lying face down on the ground, Orion remained motionless for a moment, frustrations nearly ready to boil over. He wondered if she treated all of her squires this way. Had she trained them all with such negativity?

"Come on, Orion. Get up. You know what you did wrong. Now do the things you're capable of. There's nothing to be gained by you sitting on the ground, wallowing in pity." She stood over him, weapon lowered to her side. If she was concerned about his well being, her expression gave no indication of such. "Get up, mind your form, and use that shield right!"She turned from the blue eyed man and stepped away to give him the space and time needed to prepare himself.

Orion clenched his unarmed fist, taking a deep breath to try and keep his emotions under control. He pushed off against the ground to help climb back to his feet. He was going to be quite sore the following day, and they weren't even done. The squire dusted himself off, looked up at Dinah, and motioned for her to come at him. With his shield at the ready, Orion began to move once again.

[Orion Michaels]

Orion took care to try and keep his feet from crossing up. It wasn't the first time she'd yelled at him for that mistake. While he was a lot better than when he first started, there was a ton he needed to learn. Fighting was more than just swinging an ax or putting on armor. Movement was just as, if not more important than knowing how to hit someone correctly. It tied into attacking, and it kept your head from being lopped clean off on the defensive side of things.

It took a fair amount of concentration not to cross his feet too much. Some amount of it was natural and impossible to avoid, but as he stepped side to side much focus was spent on not becoming unbalanced. His feet glided across the stone surface with no discernible amount of grace present. Still, he pushed off the balls of his feet, rather than stepping flat. Orion's fingers nervously released and again gripped the handle on his shield as he tried to gauge Dinah's movements, but she never betrayed her intentions.

Dinah feigned a couple of blows causing Orion to jerk his shield several times. By the fourth time she tricked him all he could do was give an annoyed smirk. It was ridiculous. What was this training going to teach him? If he was ever caught without a weapon in combat he was doomed, this was just reinforcing that fact.

Suddenly the knight lunged out, a wide forehand swing whizzing through the air at Orion's side. He shifted his weight to block with his shield, causing the strike to clang harmlessly off the metal guard. Dinah did not relent, following through the swing, building up for a backhand slash coming back at his other side. Orion twisted his upper body to again intercept the strike. All the while he tried to keep good form, his feet pattering and skidding across the ground of the training grounds. He couldn't split his attention between footwork and trying out the technique Dinah had given him.

Focus Orion! Come on!

Orion's shield arm was burning as they circled around their area in the training grounds, Dinah prodding and testing Orion's defenses. He was doing well enough at continuing to prevent her strikes from hitting but he was quickly growing tired and wasn't going to be able to counter if it kept up much longer.

Another high, arcing slash came crashing down on Orion. He was aware she wasn't giving her all at this point, in fact she was attacking in a fairly consistent pattern. Forearm slash, backhand slash, uppercut swing, downward slash. There was some variation, but the majority of her attacks followed that streak.

Orion shifted the angle of his shield to meet the expected front swing. Rather than a direct collision, he redirected the blade into a glancing blow. When Dinah returned with the reciprocal slash, Orion had adjusted his defenses to again send the swing bounding wildly off the shield. A grin spread across his lips as he tried to take advantage of the situation by pressing his own attack.

Orion stepped in and delivered a backhand swing with his shield. The heavy steel shield didn't exactly move with haste, allowing Dinah enough time to twist to the side and suffer only a brush against her shoulder. He'd struck too soon. While he'd managed to send her attacks off course, he'd not done so with enough precision, nor had he reacted with enough speed to go on the attack. Dinah pointed that out by poking his side the with the tip of her blade.

"You did well," she said quickly, trying to stave off any continued frustrations. "It'll take some time before you are used to it, I don't expect you to become a master of blade and shield overnight, but make sure you use the lessons you learn."

Orion unstrapped the shield and let it fall to the ground in reply. The metal guard clanked nosily against the ground, but much to Dinah's surprise he didn't make a scene or run away. Instead, he rubbed his arm and shoulder, rotating it in circles to try and loosen it up. Blue eyes glanced up at the redhead, a half smile touching his lips. "You're a wicked woman, Dinah."

"I know," she replied, chuckling softly. "Take a break, grab some lunch, we'll continue training this afternoon. Good job, Orion."

[Radiant]

Orion :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Weapon: Heavy Shield	+3 XP
Endurance	+1 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Shield: Proper Uses

Shield: Absorbing Impact

Shield: Redirecting Blows

Loots

+1 Shield Point

Notes :

Enjoy your grades! And I hope Ori didn't break any bones.

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.