The Finer Points of Avoiding Self-Mutilation [Attn: Ravak Gaidin & Dedicated Phineas]

[Jon]

Phineas

The look on the Master of Trainees face was not one to really give Phineas much satisfaction, but he’d been through worse. Heck, his blacksmithing teacher hadn’t really shown him much praise either. It wasn’t until the oldest apprentice noticed Phineas’s skill that he realized what he was doing was better than most. Not that he had much skill with the sword. In all honesty, he felt much too big for the blade. He was way too bulky and didn’t have the speed. That would come with practice, but for now he just felt awkward. He just didn’t need his instructor’s approval after every step, not any more anyways. Ravak’s explanation about weak and strong lines made some sense to Phineas. He’d wrestled with the other apprentices as a kid, and he’d realized how easy he was to topple over if he put his feet in the wrong stance. This was just a more proper explanation of why that worked. What would probably be more difficult for him was the footwork. He wasn’t very nimble on his feet. He never had been. So to ask him to be conscious of which foot he was leading with was asking a lot. He started to practice Ravak’s instruction, and he would lead with the wrong foot whenever he wasn’t actively thinking about moving. Great, he thought to himself in a moment of doubt. He rallied his determination with a hearty: You can do this. The steps were slow. He was slow. He’d never been one to rush into things, really, unless he was carried away by emotion. Here, he was calm and collected, so the changes were hard to make. They would take practice. As he was working on his footwork, he noticed that Natlya was much more practiced with moving in a particular way. That only doubled his efforts to be better at the task before him. Phineas Rubinia was never a man who liked to be outdone, by anyone. ”Now, let’s see what you’ve learned.” The Master of Trainee’s voice struck Phineas like a hammer blow, yet he decided not to break under the force of the blow. Instead, he would let it mold him. His steps weren’t perfect, but he held his sword before him as he’d been instructed. Awkwardly, he found what he thought was a good stance, in which he thought his strong line was pointed properly. He moved with his lead foot forward, but he almost stepped back with his lead foot to. Catching himself mid-step, he completed the move properly.

[Craig]

Ravak

The Dedicated was slower to catch on, compared to the Drin, but that was almost to be expected. Not that Ravak thought any of this was difficult, but he had been playing with swords since a young age. How to move and attack with a sword was second nature to him.

"Let's talk about some basic strikes. You have probably heard of Blademasters and of different Forms they use. This is not what going to cover. Instead, we'll focus on the simplest moves. Simplest, but most commonly used."

Rav raised the bundle of lathes high above his head, then brought it swiftly down until the tip of the blade was at eye level. "The purpose of this strike is two-fold. Firstly, it intercepts an incoming thrust or cut. Secondly, it immediately threatens your opponent. You want your blade to come to a stop at your opponent's face - you do not follow through and attempt to strike at their torso as well. The head is the objective with this attack. Keep the grip of your sword centred as you attack, as that will keep your blade clearly pointed at your opponent."

Repositioning himself, Rav held the sword vertical at eye level, the grip of the blade just beside his head. From there, he made very little movement with his hands, transitioning the side of his head that he held the sword at, but the blade of the weapon made a tight, sharp arc at an imaginary opponent's head. "Once more, the target of this strike is your enemy's head. However, you can adjust the angle of your blade downwards to go for an arm or the torso, but if you do, remember to keep your grip held high by your head. You can use this to parry or block another high attack, including a mirror strike of this nature."

"I've now taught you the Strike of Wrath, and the Cross Strike, as we call them in Shienar. Now demonstrate."

Spoiler: show

OOC: We can wrap up after this, saying the word count has gone a little beyond the 600 words needed for one point in Swords...

[Bella]

This is easy. Just go ahead and attack the Master of Training. See how that turns out for you. The little voice that, on occasion, liked to pop into her mind did so now. It was thoroughly unhelpful and did nothing to strengthen her confidence. Natlya told herself that she just had to ignore it. He was here to teach her, and part of teaching was demonstration--on both sides.

She took her stance, at least flowing into that without too much trouble. She looked at her hands to assure her grip was proper. Time and practice would help her not have to do that, she knew, but for now she reminded herself that she was just learning. Once assuring herself of her feet and her hands, she moved into the motions.

The sword felt heavy to lift so high. And this one was only wood, imagine what it would be like when she had to use steel! She forced that thought from her mind. Raised up and then brought down. It was, ultimately, a move simply in and of itself. It would be difficult once she put it into practice, but for demonstration, it was easy to comprehend.

The second was not quite as simple to comprehend, but not too much more difficult when moving through it slowly as this. She pulled it up and then slowly swung it around in replication of the motion the Gaidin had demonstrated. In practice, she found she almost kind of liked this motion, though she had no idea why.

Having going through her demonstration of each move--albeit with slowness and caution--she felt like maybe she wouldn't be entirely terrible at this. With lots, and lots, and lots of work.

Always more work. Who would have guessed I'd look back on the days when picking a pocket was the easy job?

[Jon]

Phineas

Phineas watched as Ravak demonstrated the two different movements they would now practice with their wooden blades. He had seen these particular blows used in different spars that he’d watched since coming to the Grey Tower. Of course, when the two swordfighters were particularly good, these movements were part of the fluid dance the two danced together. The part of him that disparaged being able to become that good with a sword was fed into the Flame as he remained in the Void. He had no room for self doubt. Repeating the names of the two movements in his head to solidify them in his memory, Phineas first tried the Strike of Wrath. With his muscles developed because of hours spent hammering anvils in the forges, he did not struggle to keep the sword above his head. Instead, what Phineas struggled with most was the control of keeping the blade at his imaginary opponent’s eyeline. With a hammer blow, he didn’t need to control the wing. The anvil would deflect his blow. Now, however, he was being asked to stop himself mid-swing, which went against years of conditioning. He had to swing slowly at first before he had any amount of control with his blade. The Cross Strike was no more nor less of a challenge physically. It wasn’t exactly swinging a hammer, like the Strike of Wrath had somewhat been, but his muscles were used to hours at work. They were still somewhat fresh as he moved into practicing his Cross Strike, where he still needed work on his control. While slowly swinging his blade, Phineas realized how much the grip the thought he’d liked originally wore on him as he kept practicing. Switching to the other grip, the V-grip, he found that he liked it better for the movements. Returning to the Strike of Wrath with his new grip, Phineas moved through the motions one after the other. As he swung, he practiced also stepping with his leading foot—a feat that was becoming more natural as he repeated it. When it came his time to demonstrate, Phineas tried his best to show the force behind each blow that he could have while still maintaining control. Part of him wondered if his blows could be stronger in combat because he’d have his opponent’s blade to absorb some of the force of his swings. He had plenty more work to do to master the sword, and part of that work would be learning to control his movements. All in all, however, he was beginning to feel more competent.

[Craig]

Ravak

Ravak observed in silence. Natlya seemed to lack a little in confidence, but her movements were smooth enough, albeit slow. Both of those aspects would be shored up with time and further training - the Warder was hardly expecting miracles.

The Dedicated was maybe more sure of himself, but his sword dipped in the first stance. He had mastery over the ko'di, or the Flame and the Void as the Asha'man preferred to call it. That definitely helped with his forms and movement overall.

The Master of Training made a few notes, but they barely needed saying. Natlya was getting back into the swing of things in the Yard; Phineas had the muscles, but not the training of a Ji. Time and training.

"Good," Rav stated finally, "You have a good grasp of the workings of the sword. Now," and Rav grinned, "I want you to practice here, every day, for the next two weeks." The Gaidin stepped over, clasping them both on the shoulder with a hand each. "Two weeks, and then we'll see how you fare against one of the Tower guard, mm?" Rav barked a brief laugh at the looks on their faces. He was completely serious, but he wouldn't tell them that until the twentieth day had passed. "I'll have the Ji look over you, to help you with your footings and forms." Rav released his hold on them. "Now, there's some time before the next bell. You can continue to practice, or you can enjoy some free time, your choice." With that, the Master of Training turned away, collected his cloak and swords, and marched towards the Warder Hall without a look back. He didn't need to. When he got up to his office, he could look over the balcony to check they were both still practicing. With another brief bark of laughter, he refastened his shimmering fancloak.

OOC: Thread done, although Rav will have enacted that duel against one of the Tower guard for each of them!