Solo [Anthonius Fighter's Pit] To dance with a blade.

[M'Wanii]

The 24th day of Winter, 513AV The man in front of her was confident. So much so, that it was to the point of arrogance. He strutted around like he owned the place, which he did, eyeing her up. Pondering where he should begin with this abnormal student, all the while with a bearded smirk smeared across his face like a bad stain. The man was Gerard Athonius, owner of the Anthonius Fighter's Pit. He appeared to M'wanii as a leather bound sack of muscle and ego, reeking of sweat and violent intent. She had had paid the cost of his lessons up front; he had been very insistent on this point she noted. Now she stood in the centre of the pit; in only tunic, blouse and trousers; freezing her fins off. “Cold are we, Madam Fish?” The words flowed out his mouth like honey, another thing the amphibian despised about him. She had already informed the man many times that her race, although fish like in appear, were in fact amphibians. Yet he continued referring to her as 'Madame Fish' and other such titles. It irked her greatly. Finally ceasing his pacing Gerard turned towards the rack of blunt weapons, showing off his hairy back. Rubbing his scruffy bearded chin he stood there running his eyes over the collection. Appearing to have made up his mind the ex-knight strode forward removing a pair of Swords from the wall, before turning back to the Charoda. Sauntering forward; he stopped a short distance away from her. “So you wish to know how to fight, little miss flippers? The lesson today should at least give you a feel for the basics. I have chosen for you the short sword to master given that, with your build, anything larger would be to heavy. First things come first, Catch!” With that he threw one of the pair of swords at the amphibian, who missed catching it entirely. Scrambling to go retrieve the weapon, M'wanii's webbed hands closed around the leather bound handle and with little effort lofted the thing off the ground. It wasn't overly, but still held some weight to it. Following the motions from Gerard, the Charoda found she could in fact hold it in one hand although it seemed to sway slightly with each slight movement she made. “You want to have the smallest attackable space possible so turn so the side of your hips face your opponent, with your weapon in your right hand.” The amphibian quickly swapped hands, then turned her body away from her instructor's, turning her head to face him side on. Briefly glancing at the weapon in her hand, M'wanii noted the difference in length between it and the swords she had seen the guards wield. The master of the pit took this opportunity to close the gap between them and swing at her. The strike was aimed to hit her upheld blade and pushed her away a far distance. This left M'wanii flat on the ground of the pit, sword still in hand. “Pay attention to your opponent, also keep your feet about shoulder width apart. If you can't allow yourself to be off balance when fighting, understand?” “Yes.” “Good now, get up and come at me, Fin head.” Stumbling to her feet, M'wanii ran at him. A few strides away, she lofted her sword using both hands and swung it down on the Syliran. He blocked effortlessly, using the momentum of her own swing to send her to the ground again. Angrily she kicked at his ankle fruitlessly. “Don't get angry with me. You're the one who can't even land a hit properly here, O Lady of the sea. Now focus and try to hit me. That is, if you can."

[M'Wanii]

Retrieving her sword and stumbling back to her feet, the amphibian adopted the stance Gerard had told her to previously. Springing from this position, she swung horizontally at his chest. The owner of the pit block once again, allowing the blunt blade to bounce of his and soar a few strides away. Huffing the amphibian went to pick it up again, only to have her wrist grabbed by the owner of the pit. “Hold you weapon tighter, dearie. Unarmed is not what you want to be in a fight.” The Charoda didn't even bother hiding her disgust with the man invading her personal little bubble of space. Quickly slamming her shoulder in to his arm, she turned to face him, returning to stance again. Gerard rubbed slightly where her shoulder had rammed is upper arm, then cocked his head sideways showing of his teeth. The female's sword was blocked again before it could break his hair covered head in half. Pushing off his student's attack easily, the former knight motioned for her to try again. She did only to be blocked again, and again and again. After many chimes, the pit's owner stood leaning on his practice sword as the Charoda lay panting on the ground. His smirk wasn't on his face though, instead he appeared to be thinking. The girl's form was off, her mind knew what she was trying to do but her arm was reacting to slowly making her swings even more futile than one would expect. One could put it down to maybe a biological problem with her race, but Gerard didn't think it was that. What was it then? An idea occurred to him. Quickly he dropped his sword and went over to where the grounds were more rocky, retrieving a sizeable rock. Returning to his student he began his little test. “Get up. Leave your sword on the ground. I want to test something out.” The sea dweller quickly obeyed. “I'm going to throw this rock at you and I want you to catch it. But you may only use one hand. Got it?” “Is there a point to this?” “Yes there is, Girly gills. Now catch.” The throw was nice a slow making the rock easier to catch and catch the Charoda did, with her left hand. Getting the rock back, the pit master tried again. Same result caught with the left hand. The next try got the same result again. The girl was catching it in her left hand each time. Smiling to himself, Gerard sent the rock hurtling back to near where he had picked it up, for which the amphibian gave him a doubting look like he was just wasting time. “Pick up you sword.” The instruction were followed again, M'wanii hold the sword tightly in her right hand. “Now switch hands.” “But you said-” “Switch hands.” M'wanii quickly switched hands, changing her stance so that her sword arm faced her tutor. Picking up his sword again, Gerard motioned for her to attack. The swings now were better, still lacking in skill but better than before. After a few more chimes of this, the bell long lesson was over. As the pit master and his watery student, returned the weapons to the wall rack and collected their belongings, Gerard instructed her to use her left hand to wield from now on, as it appeared that was her stronger arm. Taking his advice on board, M'wanii left as fast as she could.

[Orion Michaels]

Madame Fish +2 Shortsword +1 Observation +1 Brawling lore : Stance: Hip first Shortsword: Horizontal slash Gerard is a rude man I'm Left Handed? results : -5 gm for the training session. I notice you took out 1 for it but the location page lists personal lessons at 5. If you arranged this lower price outside of this thread, then don't worry about it. Notes Nice little training thread and pretty straight forward. Let me know if you have any questions and please edit your post in the grade queue to reflect this grade.