Completed [Anthonius Fighter's Pit] A Promising Student

[Rachel Messer]

Anthonius Fighter's Pit, 7th of Bell, 2nd of Winter 513 A.V

It was another fine morning in the Fortress City, Syna was shining in the sky amids the cold winter winds. This didn't stop Rachel from doing her job as a weapon instructor in the Fighter's Pits. The blond-haired woman was in her usual attire, bun-styled hair, leather armor, and a blunted steel longsword on her back, she also carried a backpack filled with her waterskin, some bread, and a towel. She didn't bring her sharp longsword as for instructing, all instructors used blunted weapons available for use in the Fighter's Pits. The reason was obvious, to prevent injuries and accidental murder. Her feet trudged through the open-air fighter's pit, enjoying the cold winds. Opening her green eyes, she could see some fighters were already here and sparring, in the far corner was also Gerard Anthonius himself, overseeing the fighters.

Rachel walked to an empty spot, put down her backpack, and knelt down with her head slightly tilted down as she clasped her hands near her forehead. She was doing her routine pray to her patron goddess, Priskil. "Goddess Priskil, please watch over your companion today. Give me your guidance as I train the weak to be strong and the strong to be even stronger thus allowing them to fight back against evil. Thank you, my Goddess." She opened her eyes and stood up, brandishing her longsword as she approached a training dummy. To appear her best when a prospective student came, she needed to warm up her muscles.

[Rachel Messer]

Gripping the longsword with her hands, she tested the weight and gave a few practice swings. The blunted sword was obviously in a bad condition, but that was how she liked it, she didn't want to accidentally cut her students using a sharp weapon. A few bruises were fine, like what they said, no pain no gain. Facing the wooden dummy, Rachel started with a strike from her right side, making a motion to cut the inanimate target. "Ha!" The blunt edge clashed with wood, sending vibrations to her arms, Rachel kept her concentration as she followed up with a clockwise spin, gaining momentum to strike from her left side. She didn't stop there, after the blow connected, Rachel made a pulling motion along the dummy's torso as if cutting the wood, but of course with the blunted edge, it merely scraped against it.

Alright, now for powerful strikes! She had been doing swift strikes, they were effective against fast, unarmored, opponents, but if she was facing someone with metal armor, she needed to put more power behind her attacks. Gripping her longsword firmly, Rachel raised her longsword over her head, gathered power, and brought it down to strike at the dummy's right shoulder. The clashing force sent shudders along her wrists, arms, and shoulders. "Tch!" She needed to practice more, her powered strikes were still sloppy compared to her less powerful, agile, techniques. Rachel tried again, this time jumping back, positioned the sword's tip against the dummy's torso, and charged with all her might. If she was facing a normal human with her real sword, she would fatally stab the torso as the tip cut through flesh and muscles. In this particular case, the blunted edge struck the dummy hard, leaving a visible mark, adding the many scars it had on its wooden surface. "Huff..." The green-eyed woman eased herself, she had done enough warm-ups for the day.

[Rachel Messer]

A few chimes later, someone approached her, a young boy perhaps around his seventeen to eighteen with short dark brown hair and dark eyes, he was carrying a sword in similar size as Rachel's. "Uhm... are you an instructor?" The boy asked the woman, from that question alone, it was clear to Rachel he was a would-be student.

"Why, yes, Sir! I'm Rachel, may I know who you are?" The woman put on her gentle face, rather contrasting with the weapon she wielded and environment in general. She sheathed her sword while her green eyes examined the boy. From his posture and demeanor, he looked unfamiliar to the arts of combat, but if there was one thing she learned from her harsh life in Sunberth was that appearance often misguiding.

The boy fidgeted for a moment or two before extending his right hand to politely shake Rachel's. "My name is Jon, Madame Rachel, I uh... want to train with you." He tried to appear confident, but couldn't help but let his nervousness showed every now and then.

Hmmm... Priskil guide me. Seeing the boy's uneasiness, Rachel gently tapped the boy's shoulder with her right hand, her gnosis flaring with comforting yellow light. It worked as the boy's expression changed, his nervousness being replaced by courage. The instructor smiled as she retracted her hand. "So! If you are interested, I can teach you for the price of five gold mizas each session! You can pay me after a session is done." She wasn't a money-hoarder like Kale Belmont, but Rachel realized she needed money to live and provide herself with necessities. Money was not necessarily evil, it was neutral and could be used for both good and evil.

"Alright, Madame!" The boy looked far more confident than he was just ticks ago, he put down his backpack near his instructor eagerly and brandished his longsword, fumbling with it. After almost dropping his weapon, Jon got a grip, smiling widely at Rachel. "Let's begin now! I want to be the strongest warrior there is so I can become a knight!"

"Woah, easy there, Jon, take it easy." Rachel admired the boy's spirit, his goal was very noble too, he wanted to be a defender of justice, a knight. However, to achieve his goals, he needed the necessary skills. And that's why you are here, right? Such a brave boy you are. Some people may see an enthusiastic teenager like him to be annoying and stupid, but in Rachel's eyes, people like him were the key to fix this petched up world. If Mizahar was filled to the brim with cynics, there would be no hope left for mankind.

It was hope and bravery that allowed humans to survive the Valterrian, she experienced that from Priskil. "Alright, let's get you started, first, grips." A look of disappointment fell over the boy's face, she understood he wanted to 'go into action' as quickly as possible, but that wouldn't do. He needed to learn the very basic of handling a weapon first lest he cut himself wielding a real sharp sword. "Hold the sword with both of your hands, like... so, see?" Rachel demonstrated as she held her own sword, holding it firmly in front of her with her hands. "The longsword is a heavy, powerful, weapon. You need to put your muscle into it, it's not like wielding a small dagger."

"I see, Madame." The boy examined Rachel's stance and followed suit, giving it a few tries, but he still felt the weight of the sword uncomfortably resting on his body. "It's still heavy..."

"That is because your legs and torso aren't positioned properly, here, watch me." Rachel slightly spread her legs and hunched down her back, evenly distributing the sword's weight along her body. "Get a feel of the sword and tell me once you're ready for the next lesson. You can do it!" Everyone started as novices at first, except the Divines, so as an instructor. It's her utmost duty to be patient.

[Rachel Messer]

Jon followed what Rachel said, mimicking her stance, he fumbled at first, the weight of the sword flowing raggedly through his body. He groaned in annoyance. "This is hard..."

The instructor smiled at the boy, she approached him, sheathed her sword, and physically instructed the boy's position. She bent down and used her hands to slightly spread his legs apart. "Keep it like this." She moved to behind him and gently guided his arms. "Feel it? The sword shouldn't feel too heavy now." The boy nodded and he went silent as he concentrated fully on properly gripping the large blade. "Don't be so hard, firm, but gentle." The boy slightly relaxed. "Good, now, I want to see you swing it a couple of times." Rachel backed away, her green eyes examining the boy, she wanted to see if he had initial talent in wielding the sword.

Jon swallowed down his nervousness, it was just a training, but he couldn't help to feel his instructor's sharp eyes on her, those bright green eyes were mostly cheerful, but they held some kind of wisdom in it. He noticed Madame Rachel held some kind of aura that eased the people around her, what was it? Maybe it was just her disposition. With an assuring huff, he began. Gripping his sword, Jon tried what an energetic youth like him loved to do, a powerful overhead strike, he lifted his longsword upwards, groaning at the weight and force. His arms were trembling at the clumsy movement, then he made a mistake, he rigidly tried to bring the sword down without properly redirecting the force. As a result, he did a clumsy downwards strike. "Agh!" He groaned in pain as the sword contacted with the ground, sending vibrations throughout his arms.

The boy gritted his teeth, he didn't want to look bad in front of his teacher. Ignoring his aching arms, Jon lifted his sword again and brought it to his right side, preparing for a side sweep. "Ha!" He swung the sword from his right to his left, it was slow and clumsy, the mark of a novice. Using the momentum, he continued the combo by swinging it back to his right, but his grip faltered and the sword flung from his hand, falling onto the ground. "Petch this! I mean... gah, dang it!" The boy stomped the ground, a blush due to embarrassment creeping to his cheeks as he looked away from Rachel.

I see, he is still very much a greenie. "That's enough, Jon. I see." Rachel walked to the boy's sword, picked it up, and approached him. He still refused to look at her, she could understand him. Warm light emanated from her right hand as Rachel tapped his shoulder. "It's okay, Jon. You are here for a reason and that is to train, right? You are a beginner and mistakes are common, heck, even I still make mistakes here and there." It was true, the woman was nowhere being a master. Ser Wade and Sir Anthonius could trounce her before she could even react. Her words and Priskil's light eased the boy somewhat, at least he now had the courage to turn his head and look at her in the eye.

[Rachel Messer]

"Alright, Madame Rachel! I shall do my best!" The boy brightened up, he ran back to his longsword and picked it back up. He fumbled less now after knowing how a proper grip and stance looked like, he prepared himself to swing once more. The instructor crossed her left hand over her chest while her right hand rubbing her chin as she watched keenly. Jon dragged made a couple of motions, he swung sideways, stabbed, and did an overhead swing. Most of his 'techniques' were clumsy and improper, but Rachel saw he got talent. After about five chimes, the boy was breathing hard, he held down his sword on the ground like 'cane' to keep himself standing. "How did I do, Madame?" Beneath his gasps, the boy gave Rachel a wide grin, sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Hmmm, you're doing good, Jon, definite improvement from the first time, but still requires much training." Rachel smiled at him. "As your instructor, I'm obliged to tell your performance based on objective observation, if you're performing bad, I will tell you it's bad, if you're good, I will tell you it's good. Do you understand, Jon?" She warned him as a precaution to not take her criticism as insults and her praises as an excuse to slack. The boy nodded, a firm expression on his sweat-ridden face. The cold winter air really helped when one was doing intense physical training. "Good, now let us begin the next phase. I want you to train with a training dummy, I will show you some of my moves and you will try your best to mimic them, am I clear, Jon?" Now that warm-ups were over, it was time to crank it up a notch. The boy was more than happy to nod, he couldn't wait to learn some of his instructor's moves.

With the help of Jon, Rachel carried two wooden training dummies to their training spot, it was a rough humanoid shaped target without arms and legs held up by a pole. Both Rachel and Jon then planted two of them near each other, but far enough so they both could use one each without interfering with the other. Rachel stood before a dummy while Jon took his position in front of the other dummy. "Alright, ready? First, stances and grips." The instructor brandished her longsword then faced the dummy as if it was a live opponent, Jon did the same, trying his best to mimic Rachel's pose. "Now, let's try some basic side sweeps." She positioned the blade diagonally downward towards her right side, gripping the sword firmly, she swung it the blade from right to left, the blunt edge making contact with the dummy. "Go on, try it, grasp it firmly, then swing it! Also prepare for the impact." The boy nodded and did as he was told, the he did a slightly fumbling version of Rachel's strike, but it was better now he got guidance.

"Alright, let's do this again." The instructor and student continued their training, Rachel alternated between swinging her her blade from left to right and right to left. After some time, the instructor gestured for Jon to sop, they both sheated their swords, and sat down beside their backpacks. She used her towel to wipe her sweat and gulped down her waterskin, the boy did the same. Truly, it looked like Jon was training to be like her even in mundane things. "You did good, Jon, keep training and... you'll be a true swordsman one day." The instructor nodded at the boy. "So, since we are taking a break... tell me about yourself. If you're comfortable with it that is. It's fine if you want to keep our relationship strictly business."

[Rachel Messer]

Jon slightly shook his head. "No, Madame, you're a great teacher! Of course I'm willing, well you see, I want to be a knight as I already told you. My father is a retired caravan guard, he was very strong and I wanted to be like him, also, becoming a knight sounds really good, yes? You get to defend Syliras against evil!" The boy spoke with glee. His motives were simple, but they were no less noble. "Madame... I uh... can I tell you about this?" At these words, he became less cheerful, his tone serious.

Oh... Rachel noticed the young boy's shift of tone, what did he want to tell her? The woman nodded at the boy, staying silent to let him speak his mind.

"Well... My friends always tell me I can't be a Knight because I'm too weak... I'm too stupid, b-but... I know they are wrong! Father told me I can be strong and smart! Do you agree with me, Madame?" He gazed at his instructor, his eyes brimming with expectation.

"Hahaha, so that's what you mean." Rachel simply smiled, she extended her right hand to pat his shoulder, her gnosis shining to fill him with courage. "Of course you can be a knight, you can be strong and smart. Those 'friends'? They are not your friends, friends help each other, not hindering. You see, your instructor here have a very precious friend... she is a wonderful person that helped me ever since I was little. She always watch over me and I do my best to please her in return. This is how true friends relate." Of course, what she meant by 'friend' was actually Goddess Priskil. Rachel noticed a look of curiosity on Jon's face.

"I see, thank you, Madame. Uhm... who is your friend? I want to meet her." By what her instructor told him, this friend of hers sounded very kind, but odd, what kind of friend always 'watch' over someone? Looked creepy, but he didn't want to offend his instructor.

"Haha, well... her name is Priskil, Jon." Rachel said simply.

"Priskil?! The Goddess of Hope?" His eyes widened, Madame Rachel made friends with a goddess? Amazing. Priskil was obviously famous in Syliras, she, along with Yahal, Tyveth, and various others, were the Gods and Goddesses frequently worshipped in the Citadel. To know his own instructor was Priskil's friend. "H-how?" He must know.

"Hmmm see this?" Rachel took off the gauntlet on her right hand. A slightly glowing vortex-mark decorated her palm. "This is the mark of Priskil, she befriended me while I was... hmmm... a little girl." She felt her hand being grabbed by John's curious ones, the instructor giggled. "Hey, that tickles."

"Woah... so that light earlier?" Yes, the light that comforted him, the light that somehow filled his being with courage, replacing his fears. "Yes, it is Goddess Priskil's light, she's very kind isn't she?" To this statement, Jon couldn't help but to agree. They boy nodded, he examined Rachel's mark for about three chimes before she cleared her throat. "Alright now, enough resting, we should get back to training." Rachel pulled her right hand away and wore back her gauntlet.

"Alright, Madame!" Then the duo of instructor and student stood up, grabbed their swords, and continued their session.

[Rachel Messer]

Back in their positions, Rachel and Jon shifted into a ready stance. The instructor demonstrating then the student would follow. "Now, we will learn about the thrusts. It's a move useful in fighting against armored foes as the piercing force penetrates armor more effectively than slashes." She explained, glancing at Jon to see him nod in affirmation. "Alright, watch me, I shall do a basic thrust." Rachel stepped back one step, put her sword near her right side as she pointed the tip at the wooden dummy's torso. With a huff, Rachel moved forward with her left foot, planting it firmly on the ground as her arms moved forward along with her body. *THUD!* The sword contacted with the hard wooden surface, the blunt edge not allowing to penetrate. "Uh..." Rachel could feel vibrations flowing through her body. She glanced at Jon. "Now you try."

The boy tried his best to follow her, he stepped back, positioned his blade, and charged forward. Even though Rachel's own charge couldn't be called smooth, he was even worse. It was clumsy and veered off too much from the intended spot. The blunt tip merely grazed the wood instead, the force of the blow distributed, making the attack 'safe', which was bad if this was a really combat. Jon tried again though, he didn't want to give up. As the boy continued with his struggle, Rachel kept repeating the thrust as well to perfect her own technique, even the instructor still needed to learn. When one stopped learning, that was the point here one stopped growing, and stagnancy was not a good thing. Both the instructor and student continued for chimes before Rachel gestured for Jon to stop. "Alright... those are two basic attacks that I want you to practice. If I'm not here, you can practice them on your own. Once you got the hang of them, I will teach you a powerful strike I called the 'overhead strike', you do it by bringing your sword upwards then swing it down with all your might. It's a powerful, but rather slow attack. After that, we'll move on to live sparring."

Jon nodded on all of those, but he was slightly startled at the mention of 'live sparring'. "W-what do you mean, Madame?"

"Well, you are going to spar with me. We will use blunted weapons of course." The boy looked nervous, even though it's sparring, it was still 'live'... compared to beating around wooden dummies. Still, if he wanted to progress, he must swallow down his fears. He wanted to be a knight! Knights never fear anything. "Okay then! I'll go home and rest now, can I come back to you later in the afternoon, perhaps?"

"Of course, but like I said, if I'm not here, you can practice on your own or you can hire the other instructors." Rachel huffed as she walked to weapon stand and stored the borrowed blunt weapon. She turned back to find Jon shaking his head. "No, I want to train with you, Madame." His statement was firm, Rachel felt proud at that. This boy favored her, that meant she was a good instructor... well, still nothing compared to Gerard, but she'll get there someday. Jon walked to his backpack, picked up some mizas, and politely handled it to Rachel. "Here you go, Madame, five gold mizas for your troubles."

The woman smiled and accepted the mizas. "It's no trouble at all, Jon. Do take care of yourself now." She watched as the boy picked up his belongings and waved her good-bye. He was an energetic sort, that was for sure. If he wanted to come back this afternoon then... maybe she could do so as well. It was good to teach an active student.

[Orion Michaels]

ArturiaRachel
+1 Weapon: Longsword
+3 Teaching
+2 Observation

lore :

Basic Longsword Stance
The Soothing Power's of Priskil's Mark
Teaching Technique: Demonstrate and Perform
Jon: Aspires to be a Knight
Longsword: Two Handed Side Slash Technique
Longsword: Basic Thrust from Two Handed Grip

spoils :

+5 GM payment

Final Notes
Pretty straightforward thread. Since you were teaching a novice such basic strikes there wasn't much to give in the way of weapon. I'm interested to see if Rachel continues to help this enthusiastic little guy. Please edit your grade request to reflect the completed grade and as always, PM me with questions or comments.