Closed [The Fighting Pit] Grit and Steel (Garland)

[Avrial Stalinsa]

3rd Of Spring 516AV

At the fighting pit Avrial practiced techniques in her rythm as she set purpose to her dual swords as they whirled around cleaving into the dummy with systematic spiraling blows. Avrial would step back and swing her kilij backwards as she bent at the knee attempting to use the inverted arc to snag a wooden leg so she could sweep her pseudo adversary off there feet.

Changing stance like the counter striking technician she was striving to become she focused a little more on her head movement and foot work trying to conceal a fast swipe at the dummy but was it a swipe or was it going to be a thrust was the real objective the kind of slick and subtle movements that kept a person thinking and not attacking.

The unranked knight was trying to erase her tells and give aways about what she was going to do. It was an unarmed tactic but she wanted to apply it to her swordsmanship to keep her opponent second guessing to spread seeds of doubt and vital hesitation in there actions as she tried to continue her distracting bobbing and weaving as she periodically lashed out with either a thrust or a slash from either hand as she tried to apply this aura of confusion with her movements.

The fighting pit was the perfect place to train and she happily obliged herself to continue this awkward waltz to open up imaginary angles for her swords as she began her sneaky slipping to and froe movements.

She had a taste for combat as her moved and she stepped forward at the dummy as if she were to run it through only to follow through with a snapping kick in between its legs and she lurched in and threw a left elbow towards it's jaw and

As she built up momentum she started transfer a little djed into the pathways that mapped and trailed across her body like nerves and veins and pushed it through her left arm and back and transmuted it into energy that flowed from her astral body into her muscle fibers in a sudden fast twitch burst as a magically augmented sword stroke that tore through the dummies throat with a deliberate intention as a lightning fast strike.


She waiting for someone to show up and continued to practice by herself

[Garland]

It was safe to say Garland was impressed with the speed he was seeing. He had been in the pits more often recently, since that fight with that adventurer a few weeks back. It seemed that more skill and talent showed up in the Fighter's Pit than the Training Grounds.

Though by the armor this person was wearing she wasn't some random fighter or traveler. By the looks of it, she was a knight!

It might be fun to have a spar with her if she would accept. Garland walked up towards her with a smile. He gave the Syliran salute as custom in the knights when addressing a higher rank than yours.

"Hello Sera. Squire Garland, Squire of Sera Catherine Ashe. I was hoping to spar with you, you seem very talented and I would love to test my skills againsts yours." Garland said, he wasn't always so courteous but the regular drilling of manners into his skull from his patron had started to show.

Garland was wearing his full-plate armor, and brought his sword and shield with him today, his hair was cut short and messy and his blue eyes shone with eagerness. Though he still had bags under his eyes from his children keeping him up at night and worrying about them now that they're under the care of the orphanage for the time being.

Garland's body was well-built but he wasn't hulking, in fact he was quite short, even shorter than the knight he was talking to, but he had fought much larger people than himself and height did not intimidate him.

[Avrial Stalinsa]

The unranked knight took a moment to stop her practicing at the cordial behavior of the squire. She smiled warmly, but her green eyes swept up and down his features as she tried to judge his character. He was a squire but she often wondered about the ones that came barreling over to spar with her, it was a constant struggle to be a knight without a rank as many an uppity squire will go out of there way to tear a chunk off of them to try and prove something to there patron in hopes for a pat on the head like a dog rather then learn the days lesson like a man. After all those with lofty positions and titles fall the hardest, after her experience with a squire named Alexander she'd had learned her lesson and become wiser. It turned into a pissing contest rather then a training session, and she ended up hurting herself trying to maintain control of the unruly squire. It was her fault for not keeping control, as soon as he feigned injury and threw a dagger at her the combat should have ceased and his reward would have been a grueling morning into afternoon physical training session.

Yes it's a pleasure, I am Sera Avrial Stalinsa
Hmmm yes, I'm sure you would.
Let's see your potential first, pick up your shield soldier and show me proper shield work...

Did I Stutter?

MOVE!

Are You Refusing Commands From A Sera!?!?!

She went from sweet and bubbly, into a frenzied drill instructor to shock his mind and body Avrial wanted to get his adrenaline pumping to get him to hustle and put him in that sweet spot so she could really start to tear into him and get him focused on training his skills.

Hold your shield proper, keep your arm up keep your feet spread and bend at the knees!

If Garland would follow Avrials lead he would find himself not only working on his shield form, but building his strength as his legs would be bearing the brunt of the weight of the plate armor and holding his shield out. She saw his potential it was obvious Avrial wanted to get him to a higher level as Garland was cusping competence in body building and Shield play. And she saw a path to strategically build him up.

It would take a few moments for him to start feeling it in his calves, quads and stomach.

[Garland]

Garland was surprised by the sudden outburst, though he should have expected this reaction, most knights were hard on the outside and soft on the inside during training usually.

"No Ma'am!" He replied, Sera Catherine had never liked being called ma'am, it made her feel old she said, so this wasn't really natural to Garland. Saying ma'am that is.

He got into position, his knees were bent and his shield was raised. His form with the shield wasn't perfect, but his experience made up for that. He had been in a few more skirmishes the average squire and lived to tell about it.

He felt his knees feel the weight of his body, he never usually held this position for long since he would usually counter-attack as soon as an opening appears. His arm on the other hand was feeling fine. He had gotten use to the abuse his shieldarm had gotten whenever he's sparing with anyone faster or stronger than him.

He frowned at this thought, he was overly reliant on his shield, he needed to be more flexible. His knees aching got him out of his thoughts. It had been getting hotter and hotter recently, and his armor had become more of an annoyance than anything else.

He felt the ache in his knees though only his face showed any signs of strain. He tried to hide it, but the sweat on his brow was a giveaway.

[Avrial Stalinsa]

Avrial could not call herself a teacher, she was a swordsman first and for most and relied heavily upon her sword skills to carry her. She had no clue really as to wielding a shield personally but it took a certain level of skill to do what she did that others lacked. However it meant just about 90% of the time a dueling squire was going to pick up a shield because it killed two birds with one stone. One they trained there defensive tool 2 they could put something in there off hand. Garland was very different then what she had come to find in a shield using squire, more often then not she was usually light years ahead of her opponent in terms of skill with her off hand.

Garlands posture was very much akin to a full blown knights he was really just that close, and the Stalinsa could tell as it was her goal to find chinks in there shield form and expose them.

Her swords gently tapped specific areas as she nonchalantly walked around his form, letting Garland know where bits and pieces of himself were exposed as she could visually see things in his form he could not unless looking into a mirror. It was up to him if he chose to listen to her and adjust his posture to better his deffensive form. Avrial could tell the guy had a fair bit of strength about him and wondered if he'd ever used the shield as an offensive weapon.

At ease...

....

....

Hmm

....

....

Tell me Garland have you ever used your shield as an offensive weapon? Do you have experience with anything akin to a short sword?

Quickly go to the weapon rack and choose one.

Avrial would inquistively ask him about his training, in her experience the very worst combination was facing off against a short sword wielding shield user. And she would show him why, it would ultimately be his choice to further his training like this but the insight should help him improve upon his shield work.

[Garland]

Garland had picked out a rather large blade, not as long as a longsword but not short either, a bastard sword! He gripped the blade rather confidently and gave it a few test swings in the air.

The weight was much lighter than his own blade, but then again his blade was an heirloom and possibly custom made. He looked over to Sera Avrial when she had asked about using a shield as a weapon.

"In truth, I use a shield as a weapon more than a sword. Sera Catherine had always said that if I had to make a choice between a sword or a shield I should always pick a shield. I used a shield to distract Squire Archailist during a spar once, gave him a good kick right after. Of course I still lost, Arch had years of experience and is used to fighting large opponents like me." Garland smiled and looked at Sera Avrial's weapons.

Two blades, it had been a long time since he had fought someone that uses two blades as weapons. Or more accurately four blades as weapons. He sure did miss that four-armed bastard.

"Back to topic, I use my sword to make and opening for a shield bash and then use that bash to finish off with my sword usually. If you're wondering about my experience in actual combat, I was involved with the attack during the second of Fall of 514, a bandit camp raid, a bandit ambush near Mithryn Outpost, One very bad assassination attempt on me though it was mostly because Sera Catherine jumped to my rescue, and... I think that's about it. Maybe a few more, though I can't recall on the top of my head." He said with a thoughtful look, he was sure he had done more. A few bar brawl here and there, chasing a thief down on horseback once too, but he failed to see how those events would relate to training.

Garland was more experienced than your average knight, even going so far as entering Aylasa's abyss and coming out alive, yet his knighting quest had not come up yet. He had no idea about the Windoak and thought that Loren Dykes or some other higher up gave the quests. He was getting a little bit impatient, he had more run-ins with bandits, Yukmen, and other such creatures, but other squires got their quests earlier than him.

Still he shouldn't complain, some squires have been squires for years, most notably Cameron. He was a nice man, showed the younger squires how things worked around here, but he wasn't cut out to be a knight himself. Maybe an instructor.

[Avrial Stalinsa]

There was something about Garland that made him stand out more then your typical squire. He had a certain level of grit and etiquette that put him several steps ahead of the rest. When he had raised his shield there was very little she could see from her offensive point of view. And Garland really did hold his shield almost as good as a genuine knight. When Garland spoke Avrial listened intently, the fact that he had been present during a few real skirmishes spoke volumes of his battle hardened prowess. He was a proud, capable warrior that had served the order rather then take from it.

There was an immediate air of respect for the man.

Ser Garland, has a nice ring to it
I can tell your going to go far, just hang on and good things will come.

If your ready to begin I'm ready also.

She took a moment and stepped forward adopting the left foot and hand forward opposed to the right. She tried to keep some head movement going with gentle bobs and weaves, keeping her hands a bit low to conserve precious energy in her plate armor. Every once in a while one of her hands may move to feint an attack. As she was watching him attentively like a hawk, with out a shield she needed to rely on foot work as her defense.

You may proceed

[Garland]

"Ser?" Garland thought about that a lot. He never really felt like Ser would fit him. All his life he was simply known as Garland, no last name, no title, just Garland.

Ser Garland the knight does sound good though, but he was still worried that he doesn't deserve that kind of title. He's got a long way to go before he could even think about a knighting quest.

He snapped back to reality and gave a small bow to Sera Stalinsa. "I'm ready to begin!" He said enthusiastically and quickly got into position across Sera Stalinsa.

She was moving around, testing his defenses. She probed him with a few feints, he reacted by raising his shield but not blocking his view. He never really saw the point of a helmet, he just thought it make it hard to move or see so he opted to fight without a helmet despite the lack of head protection.

He needed to check how fast she reacts, he wouldn't want to waste his stamina with a large attack and it simply missing. He gave a weak thrust, something anyone could easily dodge, he was planning on getting progressively faster with his attacks as the spar went on.

He eyed Sera Stalinsa cautiously. He would usually banter back and forth with his own patron when they're sparring, mostly trying to make the other drop their guard. Sera Stalinsa seemed more interested in testing skills with weapons rather than tactics with tongue.

[Avrial Stalinsa]

Her response was fast as she jumped at the oppurtunity to engage her sparring partner. Her left kilij facing his bastard sword that Garland held in the right created an awkward mirror image as Avrial didn't square up like a traditional right handed swordsman.

The unranked knight would seize the initiative and twist her left wrist as Garlands weak sword thrust propelled forward. The idea was to cross swords on the outside and parry his blade by slapping it off course with the with the flat of her sword and in the worst case scenerio pushing it off as Garlands blade would thread into her cross guard if it continued to press for ground.

Rather then dodge, Avrial had decided to counter strike. Garland hadn't gone full force, it seemed he was planning to drag the Stalinsa into a mud fight she couldn't afford. His attack came off as half hearted so the idea was to hit him hard and make him respect her before he realized he was a better swordsman.

Her secondary attack with her right hand had a nice fluid rythm as her rear right leg took a subtle step to the side to allow Avrials right Kilij maximum rotation from her hips and legs as her Kilij cut the air crisply in a powerful downward thrashing motion towards Garlands sword hand, from the outside below his own hand guard as his bastard sword would be locked in contention with Avrials other sword checking it in place. The top of the hand, fingers, the thumb his wrist. All were targeted as she was hoping to hit something anything in that vital area, the idea was to welt and bruise something behind the steel of his gauntlets to make holding his bastard sword extremely difficult. If Avrial was fortunate enough to make contact, she would hold back if she had made contact and hit him flush as she didn't have the intent to break bones.

That subtle step also did one last thing, it allowed Avrial to flank him as she was outside his extended sword arm. It would mean Garland needed to reposition himself to use his shield properly against her.

It was her best shot, as a she tried to surprise him.

[Garland]

He shouldn't have underestimated a knight! No matter how green a knight is, they are still knights. He may have more experience on the field but his training was lacking.

His patron knight wasn't the kind to sit idly, so from time to time she would be out on some sort of mission or other. Most of what he learned was through trial and error.

If his patron trained him more, he would be better at what he does most likely. The beauty of Garland's style of fighting was his unpredictability.

His attack was blocked easily, and before he could bring it back, for another strike Sera Stalinsa attacked with a downward slash, aiming for Garland's arm. It would have been ineffective and awkward to try and block with his shield.

Sera Stalinsa had his sword arm locked down, his sword was too long to draw back before Sera's blade struck Garland's arm. Any other knight would have tried to block or pull away.

Garland wasn't like that though, he was horrible at tactics, so that is why when in a heated fight he would let his instincts take hold of him. Most of the time his instincts led him into more danger, that made him more of a target rather than whatever he was protecting.

Garland dropped his blade and pulled back his hand before Sera Avrial's blade found it's mark.

The knight had taken a subtle step to Garland's left, trying to make use of the lack of sword reach most likely, but as stated before the fight Garland uses more than just his sword as a weapon.

The squire bashed his shield to the side, hoping to hit the knight and knock her back so he might have a chance to pick up his blade. He couldn't put a lot of force into his shield because of the angle and the lack of momentum, but he believed that if his attack hit, he would at least stagger Sera Avrial for a brief moment.