[The Training Grounds] Overpowered (The other Pycon Squires)

by **Nivel** on January 7th, 2015, 7:19 am

10th day of Winter, 514 AV

Nivel had just finished the long and arduous process of getting registered as a magic user. They asked her so many silly questions and made her do ridiculous tasks to prove she was in fact a perfectly sane and capable mage. Nivel found the process fun at first but it quickly became a nightmare that she hoped she would never have to endure again. She wasn't sure if everyone was asked as many questions as her but if they were she can imagine there would be quite a few cranky mages in the city this season.

The Mage headed to the training grounds to meditate the negativity away and maybe blow off some steam by punching the shyte out of something. When she arrived it was just after the 11th bell, Nivel was an early riser and normally arrived around the 5th or 6th. being as early as she usually was made her used to the training ground being nearly empty and while the weather made most of it pretty barren the indoor portions were pretty crowded. Nivel wasn't about to meditate in the cold so she braved the more noisy but warmer areas. After searching the hallways and dodging the armoured feet of battling knights and squires she was able to find a small vacant room. There was a few training devices but it was otherwise empty.

She sat cross legged on the cold stone floor and tried to rid her mind of the noise going on outside and the frustration her day had brought her. She started with some basic breathing exercises, and then slowly focused on all of her individual ligaments with her nexus. She soon felt a great deal more relaxed after this and stated to day dream a bit. In her little day dream she was swimming deep into the ocean where it was quiet and mysterious. She uncovered a palace deep within the murky depths that was made entirely out of emeralds. She swam closer to the miraculous sight but was suddenly ambushed by a pack of vicious sea wolves. She battled the Nightmares with great and unparalleled skill but the creatures just kept coming. Even their master the Giant Sea wolf god came ready to avenge his fallen kin with his poisonous tentacles of doom.

That was when a sudden voice ripped her from her bizarre fantasy.
"huh..oh Yay it's you!" Nivel proclaimed happily at her surprise guest "I was just meditating before my magic training but you can use this room too if you want."

by **Ball** on January 7th, 2015, 4:04 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball was at the training grounds by the eleventh bell; his body was slick with the clay scented condensation he would consider as sweat. Rapier was held limp in his left hand as he rested against a wall, catching his breath that was hitching in gasps. “Petching Hai this is hard.” Lifting his blade up looking at the source of his out of breath state and complaints, unsure as to if he could continue trying to use the weapon anymore. Yet the squire knew he must continue to master his weapons. A knight isn’t cowed by his weapons, they are a tool to meet and end. His survival.

Yet he didn’t want to return outside in the snow, it was frigid out there and the pyken artist didn’t feel like losing what fluidity he had within his being for an open area to practice in, so he remained inside, cowed into a small section of the room where he could practice with his rapier and not worry about being squished into the ground by squires and knights. As his blade flashed through the air in what he hoped was a graceful set of arcs and slashes, these fluctuated with the occasional twisting jab or weak attempt at a florish.

As the morning moved steadily into the later portion of it and then onward towards after-twelfth bell the pycon squire found himself squeezed in more and more, until he was pushed into another room entirely. Holding sword up in an almost defensive position the pycon turned slowly around in a circle. The room was empty save for one other squire… Another pycon, this one though was sitting there, quietly… She looked familiar too, “You!” He about laughed.

Lowering his blade Ball smirked, “I believe we spoke before the games.”

Credit :

by **Archailist** on January 7th, 2015, 6:55 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Arch, as usual, had been dragged into the Training Grounds in the early bells of the morning. Six bells into the morning, Iros had slammed on the door and dragged the little squirrel from his cozy bed in favor of a few quick sparring lessons. By now, they'd begun work on alternate weapons. 'Knights must work with what they're given on the battlefield'. Never had such nonsense been spewed before, but Arch did what he was expected to do by now; swallow it up and wait for the knight to find better things to do with his day. That came somewhere between the tenth and the eleventh bell. "I think that'll do it for the day, Squire Archailist." That was about as much warning or leeway as the squirrel was going to get, so he took it.

That didn't mean that he was going to leave, though he did watch the hulking Akalak struggle to squeeze himself past a few other people trying to get in at the same time. It was comical how he struggled to push through the heavy tower shield almost as big as the other humans trying to fit inside, along with the spear and himself. Once he was gone, though, Arch suddenly realized that he didn't really have anyone else to spar or talk with. In fact, he had pretty much the rest of the day free unless he was called on again.. something that wasn't very likely these days. The fights were getting a little too frequent and having them on the battlefield or in the middle of dire situations was a risk that just wasn't worth taking, for themselves and those involved as well as the reputation of the Order as a whole.

Instead, he took to the nearest solace he could find. A small, unused grove of trees used for woodland combat that he slipped up inside to settle against one of the small nooks and watch the rest of the grounds continue obliviously. Knights battling with other knights, knights battling with squires, squires with squires and so on.. until something scurried just across his field of vision and slid inside one of the corridors and into the inside section. A few chimes later, a second similar one. Oh. Pycons. No need to even guess who the two were. Nivel and Ball, of course. Well, he just wouldn't be a squirrel unless he got a little bit intrigued. Are they both doing something in there? Together? Even he knew it was a pretty big conclusion to jump to, but that didn't stop his imagination from running wild in the few chimes that he remained poised on the edge of the branch, staring down at the corridors and the rooms beyond. Just a little peek, just a little one...

Mind made up, he hopped down from the trees and slipped quickly into the first corridor he could find. Strange, he'd been working and moving for bells on end.. it was only when he actually stepped into the comparable warmth of the inside that he found how cold he'd been before. Still mulling over that fact, he didn't notice Nivel sitting at the side and Ball standing right in front of him with the smaller Pycon's back turned until Archailist nearly walked straight into him. "Oh.. sorry, didn't mean to intrude", he mumbled instinctively while side-stepping Ball and moving off to one of the corners of the chamber. After making his apologies, though, he didn't actually move to leave.. just move away to a short distance away and listen in.

by **Nivel** on January 8th, 2015, 6:42 pm

"I hadn't seen you in a while Ball, what have you been up to?" Even though she felt a little off today seeing an old friend brought her back to her usual cheerful self. Although she hoped he wouldn't go on about the shield games too much since it wasn't a very fond memory for her. Her opponent was an arrogant mage squire who thought fighting a pycon was an insult. Nivel didn't pick up on this and thought she had done something to offend the Tall Folk, Sera Grey had done her best to explain the situation but it didn't help.

Before Ball could respond Archailist the mighty squirel graced their presence.
"Oh hey Arch!" Nivel blurted out "Don't worry about intruding, there's plenty of room in here." It was nice that all three Pycons were together, it hadn't happened since that time in that old bar a few seasons ago. She wondered why they hadn't been in each others company more, She had much to learn from the two.

"If you two want to do a bit of sparing I'd love to see you in action, I'm just going to do some light magic training so don't mind me."
Nivel was still a Novice in Pyken and wanted to see what a fight between two experts was like. She knew it would be a great distraction but the battle field was full of distractions so she would need to get used to these things.

by **Ball** on January 14th, 2015, 8:15 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball shook his head to Nivel when she asked to see the squirrel and him spar. “No, I think today we are here to learn from you. At least I am.” Ball nodded “We can only spar so much and the results will never change at this standpoint. The squirrel bounces too much and I tire too quickly. The victor will be him as I cannot bounce with as much endurance as he.” Petching squirrel.

“I assume though that you have been training in the stance that I have given you since the last day we met? Let’s see how well you have come along with it. Afterwards, I would like to know how you have made that punch you did that day. It has been bugging my nexus to know the source of that power.” Ball stopped rumbling words at the mage squire and allowed her to catch up to his speaking before allowing the squirrel to chime in and then he hoped that she would agree with the training of Ball in the ways of magic. He could careless as to whether Archie wanted training in it or not. The squirrel laughed at Ball during their pole session the day Ball purchased it. He still recalled that.

“Actually I tell you what. If Squirrel Pycon is willing to, after you teach us both of how to punch like you did that day, we shall give you a small spar.” That deal seemed fair enough to Ball in regards to training.

Credit :

by **Archailist** on January 16th, 2015, 5:54 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Well, this was certainly getting interesting. Though he was only there to really eavesdrop and be a snoopy little squirrel, it seemed like he was interrupting a training session; possibly being included in it. The squirrel was quick to raise his paws in a defensive manner, sliding along the edge of the wall while still facing the two. "Don't know what you're talking 'bout." He honestly didn't. Then again, what was Ball going to learn? As far as he knew, Nivel wasn't that specialized when it came to using her own two paws.. nor many weapons for that matter. She had her own ways of dealing with her opponents and if whatever she did led to an eventual knighthood then good for her; the squirrel wouldn't judge her. Ball, on the other hand, was obviously pretty ahead in terms of his combat and physical prowess. What did he hope to learn..

"Oh. Sparring, with Ball? Afraid he's got a point there." As much as he hated to admit it. Ball was still a fun spar when they rarely managed to find the time to actually get out a spar; not because they were both so busy, but because their fight would last so long. Neither of them had any intention of going into another one now, that was for certain. "We might end up here for the rest of the day if we got started now." Besides, he was more interested in this 'light magic training' that she was up to. Not that Arch found any interest in the magical arts.. he'd heard too many bad things. Far too many of them.

These thoughts only became more prevalent at this 'punch'. "I'd like to know as well, how you can throw these punches." If there was anything that could surprise Ball in combat, then Arch wanted to hear about it. Something related to the light magic training she'd talked about, perhaps? She did seem to show those odd little movements, in their last times together, that'd seemed a little too sudden or a little too fast for her body. It.. could be useful. Whether it was magic or not; the ability to move so suddenly, with such speed.. well, there'd be plenty of times that could come in useful. Not just in the battlefield...

"I'll do it, sure." He wasn't sure whether he was going to fight with Nivel or fight with Ball, not that it really mattered.. his attention was a little caught elsewhere for now. He wouldn't mind whether it was with either or both.

by **Nivel** on January 18th, 2015, 1:36 am

“learning from me?” Nivel replied in disbelief. She didn’t have the faintest idea what Ball thought he could learn from her. To her knowledge he and Arch out ranked all the squires in skill and even a few of the knights. It was a surprise they hadn’t been taken on there quest yet but with the catastrophe that happened early last season there was probably other things the knights had to concern themselves with.

“oh the stance..I’ve been practicing” In truth she had, just not very much. She had way to much magic training and other events to remember to practice the one move he had told her about seasons ago. When it came to defence she would rather just jump out of the way then try and withstand a blow. Although one never knew when the event might arise that such a move would be crucial to her survival. She got into the stance with little trouble, the effort she put forth into her pyken training was evident. It still wasn’t perfect however, but it would be enough to satisfy him at least a little. That is if he didn’t decide to be too nit picky. “did I do it right?” she inquired hesitantly.

“I forget what move you’re talking about but I’ve become pretty good at throwing punches” There was a bit of pride or even cockiness in her voice that seemed contrary to her nature but it was fairly clear she was trying to over compensate for her sudden nervousness. The mage squire didn’t know what they expected from her but she needed to impress them. Since she was going to practice magic anyway she decided it was best to add a touch of flux since it was something that the two weren’t very familiar with.

She started the channelling process by preforming her ritual of strange slow waves and quick spasms of her hands and tails. She had gotten better at her gestures since her time spent with the six armed dancer Sayana and so there was far more fluidity to her magical channeling dance. In a matter of moments she had distributed the energy form the top of her body to the bottom and focused on maintaining the proper level of energy displacement to preform what she needed. Nivel made a sudden piercing war cry as she lashed her tail so quickly it seemed to disappear. While doing this manoeuvre she let go of the fist at the end of the appendage and it rocketed to her left like a bullet. The flying fist shot into a wooden training dummy with a loud bang leaving a tiny hole in it's wake.

The force of her own attack threw her to the ground, and left her a little shaken up. Nivel had no idea she could do that, the last time she had tried a similar attack it hadn’t worked nearly as well. The effects of the flux hadn’t shown themselves as quickly as they normally did but they were sure to hit her soon enough, especially after losing some of her clay.

“See..I threw a punch”

Oocwas that too powerful for a novice in flux? I figure one of my attacks with flux has to do something impressive every now and then especially now that I'm competent with Pyken

by **Ball** on January 19th, 2015, 3:02 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball stumbled back as the punch the hyperactive pycon threw wildly into the air shot out. “Yeah yeah. That was the sort of punch I was implying.” He regained his positioning and nodded, “You need to work on your arms and feet placement still, but it is much better than when I showed it to you this past Summer.”

He nodded and smirked, “But yes. We want to know how you threw that punch. Even if you are better trained in the art of pyken, you had to have used some sort of… magic… To force that much into your tail to boost the speed and power.” Ball could tell with his trained eye that that was no normal thrown punch. He motioned towards the whole of her body, “You aren’t formed for standardized combat, so you use something more to augment your skill. Show us that.” Ball had no clue what she did, nor how to do it… yet he was sure would both Archie and himself benefit from the skill greatly.

After that he looked at the squirrel and shrugged, “Pyken only, and don’t go all bouncy on me ya hear? That’s totally unfair. I will even play down to your level of skill.” Ball grinned, it wasn’t easy playing down to other’s skill levels when it came to straight on punches, but Ball knew he could do it… Easily enough.

OOCI think it’s okay, I don’t understand flux too much.. And ack short post -.-

Credit :

by **Archailist** on January 19th, 2015, 5:58 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Once again Arch fell into silence; he didn't know anything about these 'stances' and other things that Ball did. In fact, he'd never gone into a real Py-Ken training session with the other fighting squire before, neither could he really see himself in one at any time in the future. He'd heard enough about the training methods to know that he wouldn't last very long.. not out of a lacking physical ability, perhaps, but more from the fact that he didn't like having punches thrown consistently at his body with little more instruction than 'stop getting in the way'. If Nivel could stomach such things then good for her. He could only hope and pray that she didn't take the same approach, otherwise this training session would be falling pretty short pretty fast.

That wasn't the important part, anyway. "Come on then, show us these punches." Through the turns of nerves and overconfidence, he tried his best to remain stoic and impartial. The last thing he wanted to do was to pander to her and seem overeager; neither was he going to stand around with a creased brow and a frown on his face all the time like Ser Iros. Goodness knew he never wanted to end up like the hulking knight without as much personality as a polished kitchen counter. His visage floundered rather early when.. instead of just throwing a punch, like any normal person.. she broke into spontaneous dance. It wasn't much of a dance, but it definitely was just that - dancing in front of them, waving hands about. ... Alright.

At least it didn't last very long. At least they were in a closed space where nobody else could see. Soon enough, the squirrel was left hopping back just like Ball, squinting and nearly raising a paw to cover his eyes as splinters flew in all directions. He was the first to jump forwards and inspect the damage. Not bad at all, that was for certain. "It looks like what you were using before." The thought had never risen until he'd seen it used again. The last patrol they'd gone through.. the one involving an unfortunate attack by mages.. Nivel had used something. She'd run faster than he'd ever seen her run before. "It helps your speed, this magic. Makes you faster and stronger. Doesn't it?"

It was a boon to be treasured. Something that he would need to know. If not from Nivel then from one of the other knights at the very least. Heck, even a squire. He didn't care. His nexus was pulsing and he waved off Ball's words half-heartedly. "Yeah, yeah.. I'll play down to yours too. Now, tell me about this magic. How you use it. How I can use it." Suddenly he was back up to his full few inches of height, stepping just a little too close to Nivel. His eyes were just a fraction larger than before; interest? "Oh, Ball too, sure."

by **Nivel** on January 20th, 2015, 9:07 am

Nivel was found out, she should have know the two pycons would be able to tell her moves were unnatural. She shouldn’t have put so much power behind the move, if only she had better control of her magic. Although it all worked out for the best since magic was what they wanted anyway and she had no idea how she would teach the move while also passing it off as a regular pycon attack. It did strike her as odd that they wanted to learn magic from her, especially the squirrel who seemed completely against the idea when she had told him about magic. Although both of the male pycons seemed driven towards power so it was only a matter of time before they craved the mysterious art.

“Thank you ball” Nivel said hesitantly “I’m glad that I’m at least improving on it, I wasn’t able to practice it as much as I would have liked” The mage was getting a bit nervous now, knowing that she was expected to teach these two something that she didn’t know very well herself.

She calmed herself with a quick inhale and exhale before she began to speak again.
“Ooookay…so you want to learn Magic…well let me first detail the dangers of this particular magic..because it’s pretty risky and I feel you should know.” The mage stumbled over her words a bit but was able to otherwise keep her composure. She was afraid if they knew all the dangers they’re opinion of her would drastically change. They might become afraid of her or think something was horribly wrong with her nexus. Although she was dead set on being a knight and Knights are never afraid of anything so she would just have to let it out.
“Well... with magic your using a part of yourself, the very thing that makes you you, this can be replenished but if you do it too fast with out rest horrible things can happen….Like damaging your body permanently or if you’re really not careful you could just blow up.” She made a motion with her hands that mimicked an explosion to drive the point across. “The effects show up pretty quickly when your first starting out in the form of head aches, drowsiness and body aches but as you get better at the skill the affects take longer to show up so you MUST promise if I teach you this magic that you will know not to do too much. If you start to hear whispers or you feel an unbelievable craving to do magic you have hit the point of no return and you need to stop right away.” She shocked herself with all that she had told them but it needed to be said. Her voice was dead serious through out her ominous warning, she didn't want them to think magic was a silly game.

If they weren’t frightened away and made her promise she would start the next step. “Okay..since you two are totally new to magic you need to first learn to discover your Djed, thats the stuff I was talking about earlier…its the stuff that makes everything what it is. The particular Djed you’ll want to focus on is the streams of energy that come from your nexus that allow you to move your body. Flux magic is about distorting this energy a bit to your advantage.” Nivel was slowly getting into her role as teacher by channeling her father who taught her everything she knew.

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