A Clash of Swords (Attn: Elan)

[Cat]

Johan

Johan froze, his eyes widening ever so slightly, the rest of his expression going completely blank. Learn to dance…? He blinked, feeling himself blush, more because the question had taken him by surprise. It was the last thing that he had been expecting. Him, dancing? Ha! The thought was as amusing as it was ridiculous. He couldn’t imagine himself even trying, and he certainly couldn’t think of an occasion where he would actually find himself using such skill.

Realising that he hadn’t moved for several moments, he blushed even more, the colour rising to his cheeks, and quickly coughed, trying for a smile in an attempt to hide how uncomfortable the question had made him. He wasn’t sure he was willing to humiliate himself, because he knew he would. Learning to fight was completely different; it wasn’t so intimate. There wasn’t that level of closeness that was needed when learning to dance. But then… he wasn’t sure that he could refuse the other man without seeming rude.

“I...” he finally said, stuttering and stumbling slightly over the word. “If you don’t mind me stepping on your feet, and if you promise we can do it under cover of darkness on some desert island, then sure. You can teach me.

“But,” and he straightened, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, “Swords. You could use it for both, yes, but a rapier wouldn’t be terribly effective for slashing, and a scimitar’s blade is curved so that stabbing would be more difficult, and there are some swords that have no edge, but,” he was still tripping over his words slightly, though he tried to ignore it, “what about the sword’s design makes you think both is a possibility? What features does it have?”

[Elan]

Jaren 'Totally an Expert' Marle

“I’m afraid I can’t promise you a deserted island,” Jaren replied, “but if a tavern floor is out of the question, I’m sure we can find an empty classroom.” He had enough sense of rhythm that he could dance passably without music if required, and certainly enough to teach somebody the steps. However, that was a matter for some other time; hopefully there would be such a time but now they were supposed to be focusing on swords.

He weighed the sword in his hand as he contemplated Johan’s question. “Well. It’s got an edge — or would have an edge if it wasn’t wood, you know, I’ve seen real swords like this and they had an edge — but it’s also got a pointy end.” And that right there was a succinct if rather imprecise description of half the swords in existence, he thought wryly. “I mean, the blade is straight and narrows towards the end to a sharp point,” he went on, feeling a little silly, “which makes stabbing viable.” He demonstrated by stabbing the air, well away from Johan just in case. “But the edge means it can also be used for—” He swung the sword in a slow arc, as if to slice at an opponent. “—cutting. Slashing. Whatever.”

[Cat]

Johan

It was surprising how many people came to the Tower not knowing which way ‘round to hold a sword. He’d always thought that those who came to the Warder Yards would be some of the best fighters in the world, because that was the first thing you thought of when you thought of Warders, but then, he thought, he had been accepted with little fuss. Maybe everyone wasn’t like that, but Johan had seen enough people try to hack someone to death with a rapier that some understanding of swords needed to be covered.

He grimaced a little before forcing himself to smile, focusing on the other subject first, knowing he couldn’t just leave it be without giving an answer. “If the tavern’s small, then that’d be fine. I’d rather be away from the Tower, I think. If someone catches us, I don’t really want to have to explain why we’re in an empty classroom together in each other’s arms.

“But,” he nodded back the sword, moving swiftly on, “I think it’s safe to say that you’re not going to treat it like it’s an axe and attempt to bash my brains out. Because that’s what I want you to do.” He grinned, far more comfortable with this subject. “Attack me, I mean. I’m not going to attack back. I just want to see what moves you already know, and what areas of my body you think are best to target, and then we can go from there.” He paused, grinning again. “Just… don’t forget your footwork, because then I might forget about the whole not attacking back.”

[Elan]

Jaren

Jaren grinned. “Fair enough,” he said. “That’s a deal, then.” He didn’t know many taverns in Hama Valon — he was presently not allowed to go out there, after all, but he was sure he could find a way as well as a tavern suitable for the purpose. Though that only made him think about what the explanation would be like if he got caught. ‘I’m deeply sorry, sir, for sneaking out to the city to teach Ji’val Johan to dance.’ He had to stifle a laugh. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. Besides, maybe he’d be called to take his Dedicated test soon and he wouldn’t have to sneak out.

One could always dream.

Now, however, there was a different kind of dance to perform, and one in which he was most definitely not the more experienced one. “Alright, footwork, I’ll keep that in mind…” He hoped he could keep it in his feet as well but that was another matter.

He took the ready stance, mindful of his feet, and swung the wooden sword in a graceful arc at the level of the younger man’s neck. As the blow was deflected, Jaren backed a step and brought the sword forward again for a thrust. This wasn’t terribly fast because he still had to keep some attention on his feet, but apparently he wasn’t failing completely because Johan seemed satisfied to deflect the blows without attacking himself. Back again, changing the lead foot, and another swing towards Johan’s stomach, after which Jaren stood back and looked at the Ji’val, feeling suddenly self-conscious. “So, what do you… think?” He forced a chuckle. “How bad was it? Something we can work with, I hope?”

[Cat]

Johan

Johan just smiled, though it was still somewhat awkward, and he couldn’t hide his discomfort. He didn’t always have the outward confidence that a lot of other people seemed to have, especially when the attention was on him. He much preferred to blend into the background. The deal was going to be one of those things that he pushed to the back of his mind and hoped never actually came to be. He simply couldn’t imagine himself doing it or ever actually utilising it. Not knowing how to dance was probably more of a positive than a negative. He much preferred the idea of sticking simply to fighting.

It was somewhat weird for him to actually not fight back. Every move that Jaren made brought an immediate counter to Johan’s mind, and he had to stop himself from reacting, from letting muscle memory guide him forward to do more than block the blow. He didn’t actually want to injure the other man.

When it was over, he smiled again, and this time it didn’t hold any of the previous awkwardness. Speaking about swords was a lot easier for him. At least he knew something of what he was talking about and didn’t have to worry so much about making a fool of himself.

“That was good,” he said, bringing his own sword up, “and now you can try defending.”

He didn’t wait for Jaren to be ready, but simply jumped forward. This time he made no effort to keep still, but moved around, striking first from one direction and then another. He thrust the sword towards Jaren’s neck in a feint, before quickly striking at his stomach. That was followed by a slashing, arcing blow towards his neck once more. He kept the moves flowing, not stopping.

An opponent wouldn’t wait for you to catch up.

[Elan]

Jaren

Jaren had been expecting something like this — it was a fairly natural direction for the lesson to progress — but still he was almost caught off guard by Johan’s attack. He couldn’t act on instinct and the first few seconds of the fight were a frantic scramble to get his bearings, and if Johan had been an actual enemy trying to kill him he would likely have been a dead man.

But somehow Jaren managed to catch up with the situation, body and mind, and as he found the rhythm of the fight — parry here, deflect and counter there, step to the side, dodge, turn to intercept the blow from the other side — he began to feel like he wasn’t completely hopeless at this. After all, it was very similar to dancing, and despite all the faults in his past training, something had stuck and had now been brought to the surface again over the course of the lesson.

He grinned at Johan, who returned the grin — and attacked faster. Jaren laughed, a little bewildered but determined to keep up for as long as he possibly could. And he did, for a while. He was even able to stop thinking about his feet and simply move, deflecting and dancing out of the way of incoming blows, for a while. But obviously it wasn’t going to last, not with the difference in their levels of training and experience, and when Johan eventually disarmed him it seemed almost embarrassingly easy.

Jaren was having too much fun to be particularly embarrassed, though. He shook his head, trying to catch his breath, and laughed again. “Well, that was fun.” He picked up the practice sword again; it wasn’t good manners to leave them lying about.

[Cat]

Johan

It was still something of a shock how easy the moves came to him now, how naturally he flowed from one to the other. It was a good kind of shock, though, the sort that came with knowing that he was actually progressing and wasn’t just stuck where he was. Maybe he really would be able to make something of himself, even if it was just going back home and keeping himself alive long enough to live a long life. That was definitely something in the Rahad; it didn’t happen off.

He grinned back at Jaren as he lowered his sword, brushing the hair from his eyes. He was breathing slightly heavier than normal, but certainly nothing like he would have been when he’d first come here. That was a good feeling, too. He was getting fitter and stronger, and he couldn’t help but feel a little pleased as well at the fact that his teaching hadn’t been completely awful. He could have said that they should go for another round, do other exercises, run rings around the Yards, but he didn’t want to push it too much. If Jaren wanted to learn more, he was more than welcome to come back.

He headed over to the rack and placed the practice sword back, before he turned to look at the Soldier once more. “You were pretty good. Just… don’t come and practice here too much. I don’t want to have to deal with even more competition, but, no… If you ever want to spar again just let me know. It helps also to practice whenever you can, even if it’s just in your room.”

“But,” and he sketched a bow, “thanks, too, for trusting me… and for offering to teach me to dance. I won’t let you forget.”

Fin