Completed [Anthonius Fighters' Pits] The Worst Kind.

[Medhozic]

Timestamp: 68th Day of Winter, 513AV. Seldom days now, could he break attention away from his hunting regime to find solace in the Fighters Pits - what little he could, anyway. Whenever he set foot inside, there was always the stink of sweat and metal. It vaguely resembled what he must have imagined many Kelvics talked about when he caught attention of them in the woods surrounding the city. And it made him want to retch. But he pulled through, held his breath, and calmly stepped through the small battling pairs to the usual spot that the Ethaefal took when he begun training. It was a small corner at the far end of the pits - a considerable distance from the entrance, and yet moderately close to one of the wheelable closets filled with arrangements of dulled and well-worn weapons, with blades speckled with dust and pieces of leather hanging loose from the handles. Still, it was better than what the Ethaefal had in his possession - which was, in fact, nothing at all. A courteous, but in no way friendly nod was passed to Gerard. It wasn't returned - the man seemed to have concentration elsewhere and that suited the Ethaefal more than fine. Though, when he approached his spot, there was something off. The blade that he took from its stand was surprisingly clean.. although the leather was worn, revealing its true age. Had the man actually taken the time to make his weapons look presentable? Well, it would have been something at least.. but when he took up his place to begin practicing his strikes and attacks in the air, there were still plenty of bloodstains beneath his feet. Not from fatal wounds.. most likely just close attacks and a few nosebleeds. Gerard apparently hadn't gone through that much trouble, then. But he wouldn't be complaining much. At least the place was relatively quiet, compared to most days. Back, forth, up down. He begun rolling through every combination of attacks that he had so far thought up. Stabs, slashes, combining the use of his free fist and the dagger's edge on invisible foes. It was good practice, even if there was nobody around to practice his reflexes with. It was always helpful to have someone else, to which he could deflect and defend. After all, defense was the best offense. One could be as fast, and as powerful in offensive attacks as they wished but if the other guy struck first then it would all be for absolutely shyke. And he kept that in mind all the time, keeping the blade and his free fist close to his body, moving quickly with his feet and hopping forwards and back, maintaining the same pose with both feet shoulder-length apart, and right foot forwards. He felt more like a boxer than an accomplished swordsman with the hunch, too.

[Sei Tendo]

Sei entered the Pit's as usual. Excited to start. He had wasted more time than usual getting here, but he was dressed for the occasion. Studded leather armor, dagger sheathed at the waist, and a shield covering his arm. His quiver and longbow strapped to his back, he had confidence overflowing from just his walk alone. He walked through the Pit's in search of a partner, hopping to find someone he could learn from. Sei walked to the far back of the Pit's before seeing a familiar face. He had only seen him once before, but the Kelvic had a good memory when it came to faces. Currently the person - whom he'd remembered as Medhozic - was swinging around a blade. He approached quietly and watched from the sidelines as Medhozic practiced his technique. Sei let out a loud growl without realizing it at the thought of their last encounter. Medhozic had insulted his work and pride as a hunter, but the Kelvic wasn't one to hold a grudge. Even so, the thought still upset him. He leaned on the walls of the Pit's, and managed to watch quietly. "Well, fancy meeting you here Medhozic."

[Medhozic]

He kept swinging, and punching at thin air for a few more moments after the call.. but eventually, he stopped and lowered the weapon to pass attention over to the Kelvic. He remembered the man.. from the incident with the pack of wolves. He'd acted cocky, laughing.. then tried to square off several wolves by himself in the middle of the Bronze Woods.. with a bow at close range. Yes, he remembered all too well. He had a mind to stab the Kelvic, if not for the fact that there was Gerard watching them a small distance away. Though, the man wasn't lying. It was a surprise.. but it shouldn't have been for Sei. It was for Medhozic. The last time they'd met had been in particularly uncomfortable situations after all. It should have been surprising that Sei had even survived the encounter.. and that he hadn't run off afterwards and got himself killed trying against a bear or something else completely ridiculous. He wouldn't put it past the man. Some people were smart - others just tried to get themselves killed. He may not have been the smartest around, but.. well, he certainly didn't try his luck against packs of wolves at a time. "Fancy indeed. You're still alive." Though his eyes still roamed up and down Sei's body for signs of mortal injury. That damn studded armour was in the way. "If you want something, state it and I'll consider. Otherwise, you're in my way." Sei wasn't actually, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the amount of weapons, and armor that the Kelvic had equipped.. it was quite startling. Although he had to conserve his emotions and show nothing.. a blank face of indifference as he watched, and waited for several long and empty moments. And then, out of nowhere, "That's a lot of equipment for a commoner." Then again, judging by what he'd seen earlier, he'd have to doubt that the Kelvic had enough brains to get on the good sides of many.. he'd certainly failed with Medhozic. Perhaps he'd managed to considerably annoy a particular group.. though that seemed unlikely. The fact that he was in the Fighting Pits should have made it obvious. The Kelvic was looking for a fight.. but garbed so, it'd probably make him slower than an Ethaefal in nothing but his normal shirt and trousers. And given the fact that he held a shield, and a longbow, and quiver.. he might as well hae worn full metal plates while holding a diminutive dagger, and that was almost humorous. He knew from personal experience.. it required speed to wield such a thing. If the Kelvic had worn a long-sword, or even a broad- or short-sword, he would have understood.. but a dagger? Well, he shouldn't have bee surprised. Not with what he'd seen so far.

[Sei Tendo]

Sei continued to watch Medhozic, but was a little annoyed by his response. The man was acting like the Kelvic was a waste of time. Who does he think he is? He grunted and gave off an annoyed expression. He had his weapons, but intimidation wasn't his goal at the time. He had his sights set on a sparring partner, and Medhozic fit the bill. He turned away, shrugging his shoulders as he went before stopping. "Same attitude as before, I see. Anyhow I'm here to train, but I can't seem to find a suitable partner." He said evenly. He took a glance over his shoulder, but Medhozic still wasn't paying much attention to him. He turned to face the others back, trying to bore holes into the back of Medhozic's skull before speaking again. "Interested?"

[Medhozic]

Well, he'd guessed correctly at least. Some small sense of satisfaction came from it, that drowned out the fact that the Kelvic seemed to be getting somewhat annoyed. No matter - it would just mean a better opponent when the time came. He certainly was interested, after all.. regardless of what the Kelvic was going to wear to this occasion, he was planning on taking great pride in showing the man what he had to offer besides simple hunting techniques. Something else was driving him now, to put him in the face of danger and face the consequences, just to take a moment to show that he wasn't weak, like he'd always assumed that Sei had thought he was. "Sure. Take your position." Nothing else really needed to be said. Actions spoke louder than words after all. And while Sei took place, so would the Ethaefal. One arm drawn free as usual, the other with the dagger, pointed towards his opponent. Right foot forwards, left foot back, both shoulder-length apart. One thing after another, he passed through a little mental checklist to make sure that he'd be prepared - after all, a spar could be won in the first few strikes if they were made in the right ways at the right time. That's what he told himself to show that he had at least some form of skill to bring to the field.. at least something that made him above everyone else. Even when it looked like there was nothing at all that held a difference between a Kelvic and an Ethaefal. "If you want a training partner, though, you should have found someone knowledgeable in teaching. Not just taken a commoner in the pits and tried there." It was a very hypocritical thing to say, since he had actually learned his dagger training from a squire working in the very same Pits, who had absolutely no knowledge in teaching.. they'd jus spent their time together practicing over and over against each-other and the wooden dummies, to perfect their work and to copy each-other. It was a close-knit friendship though. This was just a random encounter that had led to a bit of combat. There would be little to learn here other than how to defeat the opponent, and there'd be little to find that would be useful in the field unless one person had a significantly higher skill level than the other. He thought himself powerful, but others still found him weak. And the Kelvic.. well, he wore studded armor and carried heavy equipment while trying to fight with a small and lightweight weapon. Not hard to see that he didn't know what he was doing - at least, as much as Medhozic.

[Sei Tendo]

Sei was happy with the answer he received, mostly because he'd expected Medhozic to say 'no' along with some arrogant remark. He gave off a cheerful grin, and gravitated to Medhozic as he took his stance. From what Sei could tell, Medhozic wasn't planning to grab a shield anytime soon, so he removed his and tossed it to the side. He took up his own stance, proceeding to study his opponent as if trying to figure out his fighting style. He would let Medhozic make the first move. "Why not learn by trail and error in a spar? Shyke, it's better than listening to someone explain it step by step." He said with a bored tone. He didn't care much for lectures, but when it came to learning by living? Count Sei in. Sure he had the elder Kelvic teach him his hunting skills, but he was actually hunting in the process. Then again, even if I told him, Medhozic would probably never understand. He adjusted his hold on his dagger before speaking. "Ready when you are."

[Medhozic]

At least the squire was losing his shield. It'd make things a little more level, if he was going to lose some weight. There was still the studded armor, against the simple cloth that he wore. Small, minute changes.. that would be amplified tenfold. "Trial and error can only take you so far depending on the person that you work with." He'd learned that too. "If you train with someone below your level, you will learn little. If you do it with someone above, you will have to learn how to mimic them. If you do not mimic correctly, then your foundations will be for nothing. Everything will be for nothing." He spoke not just of dagger-training. But everything. All the work he'd done to learn what he had, in Ravok and in the journey to Syliras. Small journey's, that led to everlasting memories. Barely five seasons but more than enough. "You will watch what I do, and try to learn from it. And the more you learn, the more I will learn. If you are always following in their footsteps, how will you ever prove that you are better than them." All this time, he'd slowly begun to circle the man, glancing over him once and twice. And then he struck. Left foot forwards, left arm hanging back for balance while he lashed out with the dagger, trying to strike roughly around the chest. Not much strength behind the attack, but there didn't need to be much, in a fake battle. Clumsy and weak, but fast. Speed was always important with small weapons, he knew. Strength would be useless if there was no weight to put the strength behind. Talk was long forgotten.

[Sei Tendo]

Sei was talkative, but when Medhozic started to circle him, he was completely focused. His opponent was fast, but unskilled with the blade in his hands as was the Kelvic. He jumped back and sidestepped to the right before thrusting the blade forward. Unlike Medhozic, Sei didn't want to use all his speed in fear of losing to much stamina. So he instead went for a light, unstable shove aimed for the stomach. He the shifted his weight for a second strike. He then took a few steps back, trying to put a bit of distance between them. He knew Medhozic was fast, but he couldn't believe how true the statement was until he found a slight rip in his armour. He was awe-struck. Shyke! If I'm not careful he'll chop me into pieces!

[Medhozic]

After the tip of the blade barely kissed the Kelvic's studded armor, he took a step back to make sure that the counter-attack wouldn't land. But also.. to give some time to think. After all, he should have been paying close attention to the way that Sei did not step, but made a little jump back.. and then one to the side afterwards, as if the blade was much larger than it actually was. After all.. daggers were narrow, rather stout things.. for a short-sword or a long-sword, a simple step back would have barely been enough, but a dagger.. well, the man was just being a little too cautious. He could use that - if the Kelvic was going to go so far out of the way to avoid attack, then he could probably have the man jumping all over the place if he played his cards right. He wasn't trained enough, yet, to understand the postures of opponents and judge their attacks. Immediately after Sei took a few steps back, he took the exact same forwards to close the distance. He wasn't about to have the man try to consolidate himself - keep the action fast-paced and he'd be more than able to weary him in a matter of moments with a few small strikes. So, he lay down another. A mimic of the previous one - small, unbalanced but as rapid as possible. Then a step back immediately afterwards, always pivoting around his right foot for the best balance that he could hold. After all, it was just like all the practices that he'd put into the dummies around them. There wouldn't be a chance of intercepting attacks as there would be with larger weapons, so he'd just have to make sure that he kept just enough distance between them to ensure that he could strike quickly.. but at the same time, enough that Sei wouldn't be able to make a strike before he could notice it and step away again. And that wasn't going to come naturally. All the way through, he shuffled - left, right, forwards, back. Trying to find the right distance to place between them. Glancing down to the floor when he thought the Kelvic wasn't concentrating in the places that he should have been. After all.. placement and footwork would be everything. If he worked at it, he might even be able to try and kick the mans feet from underneath him. Though that'd be significantly harder than just beating him with the dagger.. since he was using it more like a bladed fist than a real weapon. Just.. punching at him. "You know that it is rude to not answer questions that are given. I can tell that you are concentrating on me because you haven't started bleeding yet. You have no excuse."

[Sei Tendo]

"Huh? Oh, you said something? I was to busy with the new hole in my armor to be concerned with you." He said with a bit of a cold tone. He observed his armor a bit more before turning back to Medhozic. He couldn't believe it. How am I gonna fix this hole?! Leave it to Sei to be more concerned about his armor than his life. He switched his dagger hand before speaking to Medhozic once more. "When it comes to training, I don't just mimic like a parrot, I find a way to counter the attack." He said arrogantly. He had crept forward a bit, all the while keeping an eye Medhozic. He raised dagger and stepped forward. Medhozic is a tough opponent, especially with all of his speed. The Kelvic needed a way to confuse the other, but he had no idea when he'd get a chance. He didn't need to go all out in a spar, but Medhozic was making it difficult not to. He charged forward, deciding to go all out. Sei twisted the blade in his hand the best he could to strike out with the pommel. He aimed the pommel for the joint between the shoulder and the upper arm of his opponents left arm. He withdrew the blade as fast as he could, and made a sloppy thrust at Medhozic's stomach before taking a step back. He would then shift into a defensive stance.