Closed A New Look At The Knights

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grimaced as Garlands horse pitched him off and stepped on his back, then stepped to the side and let Catherine pet her horse for a minute before handing over the reigns. "Feel free. He's a troublesome bugger to be sure, but I think he likes you, so you might have an easier time of it than I do." she said, before taking her horse's head in her hands and looking him in the eyes. "You behave, you hear me? Or no apples for you." she said in a mock-serious voice.

As Garland asked for help, she walked over to the squire and his horse and stopped right behind them. Cupping her hand over her mouth, she made a sharp hissing noise to startle the horse, the sound as close to an actual snake as a human mouth could make.

[Garland]

Garland and his horse were surprised to say the least. Tryn was apparently very terrified of snakes and other venomous/poisonous creatures, needless to say, he panicked. He was about to start trampling on the ground where Garland is.

Garland quickly rolled to the side and stood up. He quickly climbed on his horse and pulled the reigns hard. It didn't seem like this was going to work.

Tryn whinnyed loudly and started galloping around in a circle. The sound of crackling leaves and hooves resonated through the forest. Garland wrapped his left arm around Tryn's neck while his other hand went behind his right ear.

Tryn started calming down and slowing to a stop near Suresslynn. Tryn was still confused and worried about the snake he had heard. Garland knew that that Lynn was a Dhani from a friend. He had heard that there was a Dhani girl working in Stormhold Salves and Lynn was the only girl he knew that worked there, he assumed that she was the girl.

Catherine on the other hand had climbed on to Lynn's horse. She gave a small pat on the back of his neck. She didn't talk, but gave only physical cues, she gave a small nudge and steered cleared of Garland and Tryn that were rampaging. She couldn't see anything wrong with her horse, maybe he just likes messing with Lynn. She steered her horse towards the two younger people in the clearing. It seemed fine, but things could change any minute.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn jumped in surprise as Tryn panicked, nearly trampling Garland before taking off. When the squire got his horse under control, Lynn walked up to them with a nervous look on her face. "Sorry, I didn't think he'd panic like that. I'd gotten so used to my own horse, he doesn't panic about snakes at all anymore, that I forgot that most horses got kinda freaked out by them." she said, looking incredibly embarrassed and more than a little worried.

After a moment, she looked over at Catherine and her horse, then let out a small, irritated sigh at the sight of her troublesome mount behaving like a perfect, four hooved angel for the knight. At least, that's what he seemed to be doing until whatever mad impulse usually seized him hold of the horses mind again and he started trying to buck the knight off. "Uh...petch. Um, Catherine, do you need help with him?" she said, starting to walk towards her horse.

[Garland]

Catherine gave a small smile, and held on to Lynn's mount. "It's fine, Suresslynn, I can handle it." Catherine, held on loosely, scratching the mount behind the ear and other good areas.

Garland took it upon himself to get Tryn to calm down a bit more, hopefully without trampling him. He brushed his hair, with a soft touch, which helped the usually wild horse.

Catherine was still trying to calm Lynn's horse, she honestly didn't know what was wrong with him, maybe he just doesn't like riders, or maybe it has something to do with the reigns, she didn't know, but hopefully she could calm the wild horse down fast enough not to cause any damage, or hurt Lynn and Garland.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn nodded at Catherine and acknowledged her confident, stepping back to stand next to Garland. "She's good, a lot better than the only other patron I've met. But then maybe it's part of being an Akalak, all brawn and no brains..." she muttered in irritation, remembering her encounter with Iros. "Though...Iros was skilled at combat." she said, musingly before turning her attention back to Catherine and her horse, who had stopped bucking and was now running around the clearing, all speed and no control. After a bit of this, he finally came up to stop by Suresslynn and Garland and started mumbing the Dhani's hair. "What, did she wear you out? Being all wild and crazy like a sandstorm will do that too you, huh?" she said to her horse, pushing his head away. "You okay, Catherine?" she said, looking up at the knight.

[Garland]

Garland looked at Lynn's horse, ruffling his rider's hair. "That looks sorta fun..." He said before swatting a few hairs on Suresslynn's head. "This is awesome." Garland smiled and brushed Lynn's hair.

Catherine sighed and got off Lynn's horse. "I don't know what's wrong with him, we can go see Gunther at the stables later if you want. Garland, stop bothering Suresslynn." Catherine slapped Garland's hand away from Lynn.

"Ow." He said, blowing in his hand. "Oh, that reminds me, weren't we suppose to do some sort of training? Hand-to-hand combat right?" Garland said with a smile. He knows Suresslynn was a good boxer, maybe they could spar together.

Catherine nodded. "Right, so Lynn, I heard you are a pretty good boxer, do you mind if you could spar with Garland." She said with a somewhat serious smile. She wanted to see how well Garland learned how to fight during his time in the orphanage.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn sighed as Garland started to ruffle her hair, then gave the squire a rather flat look and pushed his hand away from her head before turning to face Catherine. "If you think it might help, I suppose so. Honestly though, I think he just likes to mess, otherwise, why would he keep coming back?" she said, shrugging slightly as she patted her horses neck.

At the mention of them doing some hand to hand training, Suresslynn suddenly gave the two a rather interested look before having the grace to blush slightly at Catherine's praise. "I'm not great, I mean, yeah, I've got some training, but I've got a long ways to go." she said rapidly before pausing and looking Garland over. "Um...yeah, I can spar with him, but I won't be much help to him if he's wearing that armor. I mean, I know you guys use that heavy stuff all the time for...protection I guess, but it's not like I'll be using weapons in a mock boxing match." she said, looking Garland's armor over with something close to confusion.

[Garland]

"Right, even though unarmed combat isn't part of the regular knights' training regiment, I believe that in a some instances you might be left without a weapon and just your fists. So it would be good to have any skill you can master to be prepared for every contingency." Catherine said, grabbing the horses' leads and tying them to a tree. Catherine went to the center of their little clearing, motioning for the two to come close.

"I brought my regular clothes along with me." He went over to Tryn and opened up the saddle bag attached to the horse's gear, taking out a pair of loose-fitting pants and a sleeve-less shirt. "Excuse me for a moment." He went behind a tree and took off his armor, and then quickly put on his clothes. He enjoyed the cold breeze, it woke up his senses, and he loved the feeling of being able to move unhindered.

He carried his gear towards the horses, and placed them down near them. "I'm ready."

Catherine nodded, and crossed her arms. "Right, any style is allowed. No weapons are going to be used here, anything metallic is strictly prohibited. Lynn, Garland, I want a clean fight. Whenever you two are ready to start." Catherine said and backed off towards the sides of the clearing.

Garland raised his fists and put one foot forward and one back. He was doing small hops to keep his body limber. "Ready."

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn nodded at the comment about no metal being allowed, then walked over to her horse and put her knuckle dusters in her saddle bags before walking back over to the center of the clearing. "I hope my coat won't be a problem...I have trouble with the cold." she said as Garland emerged back into the clearing and took up his stance. She did the same, her stance low and her arms held to guard her face, her hands not quite balled into fists.

After Catherine told the to fight fair and Garland signaled his readiness, Suresslynn chose not to speak, simply grinning at Garland before she rushed him at her top speed, hoping to use the speed advantage of the vipers to get an early upper hand. "Don't say you're ready, just be ready." she said, her voice carrying an oddly exhilarated note as she closed the distance and swung, a wild grin lighting up her features.

Leading with a right straight at Garland's right shoulder, Suresslynn didn't hesitate in following up with a hook at the left side of the squire's torso. Friends, or close to it, they might be, but the Dhani didn't believe in taking it easy on her sparring partners, if they did, then neither of them would ever learn properly. "Come on, Garland, let's see how well you handle yourself!" she said, her voice no longer as calm as it had been since the two members of the knighthood had arrived.

[Garland]

He was ready for almost any attack she would throw at him... sadly almost doesn't everything. Her speed was almost unbelievable, he barely had time to block the first hit, but he did, but the next attacks weren't so lucky.

He stumbled back, grinning as Lynn's attacks connected. "You're fast..." He said and then rushed at her with a strong right hook, hoping to connect to Lynn's left shoulder, and maybe even knocking her off balance at least for a short while.

He then followed with a sharp kick aiming for the stomach, and then went in close to avoid Lynn countering and attacking him back.

With his right arm going around her waist and his left leg aiming to sweep her off her feet and hit the ground. This was a slightly more advanced move he saw, which was most of how he learned how to fight, by observation. Since this move was a bit more advanced, his footwork was off and a simple push on the chest could knocked him back and even send him to the ground if Lynn is fast enough, which she demonstrated earlier that she is well fast enough.