LESSON - Weapons Training

[Ulrika&Timber]

Ulrika had managed to push Fern over. She beamed she had managed to get through the taller girl's defenses, but at the same time she forgot to keep up her own. As her opponent got up she was forcefully shunted in return. Ulrika scrabbled to stay upright and balanced but it was no use and she too fell sprawling to the floor. The sword clattered to the side.

Propping herself up on her elbows, Ulrika glared at Fern, as the Chief asked to change partners. Her opponent gave a modest bow and scurried off, leaving Ulrika to get up on her own. Grumbling, she scooped up her sword. What just happened? She was doing so well! Did she just lose? Ulrika wasn't sure.

Rilkar called her over. She complied, wondering what he wanted. As soon as he told her to partner up with Grima, her arms flopped, her sword point falling to the ground expressively. "Grima?! Why him?!" She exclaimed in protest. "I hate him!" But there was no arguing with Rilkar, as much as she tried. Defeated once again, she trudged herself towards Grima.

"I can't believe I have to fight you of all people." She grumbled, kicking a small stone on the arena floor. "Stupid Rilkar..."

Grima obviously made to taunt her. She turned to glare at him, before scowling. "No..." She paused for a moment, trying to find a comeback, but none came. "I have a problem with your FACE!" She managed to say as a final retort.

It didn't appear to bother him, which infuriated her more. He span the sword in his hand. Ulrika tried to do the same, but she quickly lost the grip and it fell out of her hand, making an audible clattering on the stone floor. A red tinge appeared in her cheeks as she sheepishly scooped up her weapon, humilated.

She'd make him pay for that. She'd prove her worth, beat Grima and get respect from the class! Sonuded like a good plan for Ulrika. She leapt to slash at him. Unfortunately she forgot, or was ignorant that Grima was more skilled than her. She figured with enough force she could perhaps get past him and his tricky tricks...

He sidestepped a bit like Fern, but now in close quarters, and her sword out of the way, she instead brought her other arm forward with the intent of using it to smash into Grima. But he blocked with his own! Pushing her back, she felt obliged to reverse, and Grima did the same. Ulrika's footing wasn't as well placed as Grima's, and with the adequate distance between them, she didn't feel like she didn't need much guard.


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((haha sorry this might end up being super long, i figured this would be a good point to break up before it becoms a wall of text feel free to godmod ulrika, pimey, because we rp'd this and it might make things quicker heh))

[Jokul & Starkad]

Nothing will ever go my way, will it? The poor teen had missed his opponent while trying his hardest. His pride was hurt a bit when Grima started instructing him on what he was doing wrong, but he did pay attention. He made a mental list of mistakes and repeated them over in his head.

So make sure I'm not open. I can do that... right? Jokul straightened his helmet before returning to his previous battle stance, this time being a little more correct in his footing. "Block... yeah. Sure. Let's see what happens." He muttered to himself. I'll probably end up on the ground either way.

Grima seemed to show some sympathy for him and gave him and easy swing. Fortunately for Jokul, the chief made everyone stop the moment he intercepted the other teen's sword. If the fight had gone any further, he was certain he'd have done something embarrassing. 

That pessimism didn't exactly leave when he searched for a new partner. Everyone seemed to already paired with someone as if it was prearranged. The chief was the only other one left standing alone. Meaning... He let his shoulders sag with an annoyed sigh. Today's not my day at all. One of the gods must have it out for me.

"Thanks for the tips, by the way." He grumbled to Grima, trying not to sound envious. After sucking up the obvious disdain from his face, he broke apart from the group of teens and towards Halldor. "Sir." He started, "I think everyone's paired up without me." Just thinking about what the chief could do to him in a fight sent a pang of uneasiness through him. The grip on his sword faltered just for a second, but he tightened it after reminding himself that the older man would never dream of hurting his people.

Sitting by the sidelines, Starkad watched her rider with both interest and boredom. Almost every lesson was like this. She'd sit aside while he got to pretend to be tougher than he really is. On rare occasions the hobblegrunt might even badger him during a lecture when everyone was too quiet for her liking.

At the moment though, she was cautiously sniffing around Timber. It had only taken one time for Starkad to realize the black dragon didn't like to be touched, so she always stayed a terrible terror's length away. She wasn't trying to aggravate the elder dragon. She just wanted something to do, and the constant circling was bound to get Timber's attention.

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[OOC - The last two paragraphs can be deleted upon request.]

[Kizlec Dreki]

Kizlec walked into the Academy, she had just turned fifteen and it was time to train to have a dragon, even though the thought of certain dragons scared her, she still wanted one, a partner, a companion. It would be hard to train a dragon since she wanted a wild one, a rare one... maybe. She had heard of the rarest of the rare, the Night Fury. A dragon, black as night, faster than sound and pin-point accuracy. It amazed her, her mother had filled her mind with stories of a brave dragon rider that rode one of the beasts. She loved her mother... and her father, but her mother was killed and so was her father. She pushed the thought aside and walked in. Her foot steps were muffled by the sloshy snow that was pretty much melted. She looked around at everyone nervously."H-hi." she said with a slight wave and a nervous smile.

[Valgard & Stump]

    Valguard was pleased that the hit made contact, but he felt really clunky while doing it. The weapon was a little faster than he first thought, but it looks like he made a solid hit. Technically it was Spitnose's turn to take a swing at him, and he already had a feeling she had something cooked up in her mind. He tried to fix his already failing posture, but he couldn't adjust in time before she had made a move with her buckler. Naturally Valguard took a step to block it, but he caught the sight of the sword coming at him, and it was too late. She made a solid connection with the side of his kneecap. It throbbed with a mild and dull pain, but it was still there and it did not make him very happy.

    Rilkar gave the order to find another partner, and Valguard smiled. "T-thanks for the solid connection Spit. Good work today." He bowed in respect for his training partner, and turned his gaze elsewhere. He did not have any direct options to whom his next partner should be based on his skill level compared to everyone else. He noticed Jokul was approaching the Chief without a partner. He figured that now was a good time to do something other than stand around looking like a fool. "H-hey Jokul, I don't have a partner anymore. Care to spar?"

[Grima the Brash]

Just as Jokul blocked his swing, Halldor called for a change in partners. Grima smirked and stood up straight, hopefully he’ll be a bit more lucky next time. “No problem,” he said in response to his former partner’s thanks, though Grima could hear the self-hate and envy that the vit was trying to hide. He was about to look around for a new partner when heard Rilkar call Ulrika over to him. Grima wasn’t sure what to make of the outsider, he liked the man’s techneques and style, but he seemed to be acting weird to Ulrika.

He burst into laughter when the teacher told her to spar with him. This guy really didn’t know what he had just instigated. He was rather flattered that he’d been picked to ‘teach’ Ulrika though.

Grima stayed where he was and watched her walk to him, “Do you have a problem with fighting me?” he asked when she started to complain about having to fight him. There was a beautiful pause between her denial and her attempt at a retort, on which Grima really wished his hands were free cause he wanted to give it a slow clap. “So,” he started, giving his sword a minor twirl before getting into the stance, “Do you want to take the first attack or shall I?”

He snickered as she tried, and failed to duplicate his twirl and then scooped her sword back up. Without warning she lunged at Grima, but he was already prepared for such it, easily parrying the girl and side stepping. He felt his slight openness with both their swords in a bad position to riposte, and he instinctively covered the exact spot that Ulrika tried to smash her shield into an instant later. He pushed her back, forcing a few paces between the two of them.

He took a few steps back himself and got back into the pose. “You’re probably being a bit too wild for this style’s liking,” he commented, “maybe remembering you’re supposed to be trying to keep up a stance would be a good start.”

[assumes she does a similar retort to the one we pp’d]“Well then, shall I go now? If your technique is so good.” Grima analysed her pose and worked out where should be covered by the stance but wasn’t, and took a swipe, with the intent to immediately move the blade to the other side and hit her left arm with the flat of his blade if she did block the first attack.

[OOC: someone please remember to try and write in their response a response to Kizlec’s entrance. Only reason I didn’t was cause Grima really is not caring about anything outside Ulrika xD.][/i]

[Halldor Frodison]

Halldor watched with curiosity as Rilkar specifically pulled Ulrika from the group. From what he had observed, she had done rather well, especially against someone older than herself. Obviously, she still had much to learn, though. But that would come in time.

His curiosity dulled a little when Rilkar asked her to pair with Grima. His lips tweaked slightly. The Chief knew all about Ulrika and Grima's scuffles - the news of them fighting reached his ears frequently. He supposed Rilkar didn't know about their animosity.

When Ulrika left to pai up with Grima, he approached Rilkar and spoke in a hushed tone so the kids wouldn't overhear. "Rilkar. I reccomend being careful with pairing Ulrika with Grima - they're not particularly fond of each other. With these swords about, even if dull, I'm they wouldn't be afraid to try and seriously hurt each other."

The Chief looked at the duo, but his eyes were drawn as Jokul seemed to be making a beeline for him. He focused on the teen, who asked to spar with him. Halldor smiled. "Of course. I've been itching to try the stance for myself." But as soon as he had said that, Valguard had approached to ask Jokul to spar instead. It was ultimately the kid's lessons, so he figured they had priority. He didn't want any of them to miss out on training.

"...Or perhaps you two would fight together. I suggest fighting how Rilkar suggested, practicing the movements slow at first until you get the hang of it and then move faster when you're comfortable."

Halldor glanced over them to see Sundra skulking around the corners. Though she had the intention to observe, Halldor had the impression she was skiving. Perhaps being beat by Rilkar had dented her ego? He wasn't sure. Maybe he could fight with her instead? Halldor was new to this too and he still hadn't had a go yet.

But just as he was about to inquire about it, he noticed a latecomer enter the arena. It was Kizlec. She was newish, but Halldor frowned and approached. There was no excuse to being late. A lot of kids arrived late, but this was even more so.

He looked back to Jokul and Valguard. "Sorry boys, I need to go and talk to a latecomer. Have fun!" And with that he left that pair and headed straight to Kizlec. As he approached he put his chiefing face on.

"You're late." He said sternly. "As you can see, the lesson is very well under way." Perhaps he could hit two birds with one stone, but that meant he wouldn't be able to spar with anyone, and Rilkar had to supervise the lesson, especially Ulrika and Grima, which would most certainly be a potential disaster.

Halldor turned. "Sundra! Get over here. You can help Kizlec catch up with what she has missed so far. Consider it like a revision. I don't want you loitering during a lesson. We have so few decent ones as it is." He looked between the girls. "Well then? Get to it! Grab one of those swords and sheilds." He waved his hand to the swords and shields that lay scattered on the floor.

[Rilkar Olden & Sindyr]

  "Really?  Ulrika and Grima don't like each other?"  Honestly he never would have figured.  A lot of how they behaved together reminded him much of an old childhood rivalry he had in the order.  He thought back to the days he was a young squire.  There was always this older boy, years ahead of the class.  Nathaniel was his name.  He was eighteen and had been a squire since he was five, a long story resulting in his parents having to give him up to pay off debts owed to the city.  The child eventually found himself out of servitude and into knighthood as his ceremony was only months away.  The young Rilkar had always hated sparring against him, he almost never won.
  They would spar, and despite Rilkar getting better each time and learning from his previous mistakes, it just always seemed as though Nathaniel was always one move ahead of him.  Maybe that's why he was becoming a knight, and Rilkar was just a squire.  Someday he would surpass him.  Someday he will learn everything he needed to do in order to beat the lad.  Nathaniel's body lay broken at the bottom of the sea now though.  Being inside the castle when the kingdom fell into the sea almost guaranteed it.  Sometimes he couldn't help but envy the man.
  "We continue as planned.  The two need a bit of healthy competition to ensure they improve.  They need some sort of drive after all."  The tone of his voice was matter of factly, as if he had prior experience dealing with that kind of rivalry.  He smiled and turned to the rest of the class. 
  "Practice the low guard until you feel ready to move on, Raise the guard to your midsection like so."  He raised the blade to the same position as the low guard, except the blade was the same level as his Sternum and waved it around changing the sides of his guard.  "Its the mid guard, it operates much the same as the low guard.  Most foot-soldiers practice this religiously and it keeps them alive long enough to see another day."  He smiled widely and looked to the barrels of other weapons.
  "When all is said and done, I'll show off some of the guards for the larger weapons.  The claymore is one of my personal favorites, as is the Lance and Spear."

[Spitnose]

Showing some pride at her accomplishments as the students began to separate, she gave a small bow back to Valguard before wandering off to find a new partner of her own.
As Fern made her way over, the young ViT grinned wide. "Oh you bet!" By now, she actually had remembered to get into the stance the weird metal man had taught. "I'm ready!" She was beginning to get the feel for it, despite her muscles wanting to chop and gouge. She had never shown preference to any type of weapon before, but she was getting the feeling swords weren't her thing.

Rilkar had barely finished telling them what to do next when Fern had already taken a stab. But Spit had caught it just in time with her own blade. In an attempt to push Fern back she shoved with her shield and went in with an attack of her own only to be halted by the older students sword. She didn't quite hear what he was saying, something about practicing their guards? Well she was certainly going to give Fern a reason to practice her guards! She hardly felt the strain on her shoulder as she swung the sword low, aiming to mimic the move she had pulled on Valguard.

"Can't wait to try the other weapons!" She idly commented to her sparring partner, still only picking up bits and pieces of Rilkar's speech. At this point she didn't even notice what was going on with other students, or the dragons around the outside of the arena. It took all she had to even focus on the tasks at hand, processing everything else might have fried her brain.

[Sundra Svanhidlr]

Sundra was half paying attention at this point when she heard her name called out by her chief. She glanced over in the direction of the voice before hearing Halldor make comment about helping out the new comer with catching up in the lesson. He gave a small shrug of the shoulders before grabbing the shield she leaned up against the wall along with the sword and walked over to Kizlec. "Well don't just stand there like a bucket of bolts, grab a sword and a shield and lets get down to it."

Once the individual had managed a sword and shield in their hands and was standing in front of her once again, she gave her shield a smack with the sword as it made a loud clinking noise from the metal on metal sound. "Right. So, because you were late, which lets be honest isn't the best thing to do on a day where we have a guest teacher, I'll have to catch you up on what you have missed." She remarked as she brought her hand up and rubbed her nose a bit, "Pay attention to my motions and then repeat after me."

Raising her shield up, Sundra slowly began to go through the motions that Rilkar had shown them, and then personally her, earlier. She went through them at a slow to make sure that Kizlec was able to pick up on them. When she finished he had made a motion to Kizlec, "Lets see you do it now. And when you are ready, come at me and use those moves."

[Ulrika&Timber]

Ulrika glared at Grima as he commented about how the fighitng style was not compatible with her. She huffed at him. What did he even know, anyway? "Don't tell me what to do, I'm doing just fine!" She pointed the sword at him in a gesture, breaking her stance as she did so. Rilkar called for Ulrika to maintain her footwork. She readjusted, but it was sloppy.

"Well then, shall I go now? If your technique is so good.” He commented, analysing her position. Ulrika scowled.

"Whatever." With that, Grima lunged, trying to swipe her sword away from her. "Ah!" She cried slightly in surprise. She clumsily stepped backwards, only just managing to block the blade with her shield in time. But then Grima changed his direciton, and brought the sword in from the other side! Ulrika wasn't able to react in time, and he smacked her upper arm with the flat of the blade. Hard.

"OW! MY TATTOO! GRIMA IF YOU DARE TOUCH IT I WILL MURDER YOU RIGHT NOW!" She bellowed at him. Grima blinked in surprise at the outburst. "Erm, then keep it protected next time..." he muttered.

"Come on Ulrika, pay attention, be prepared for everything." Rilkar called out.

Mad that Grima had attempted to defile her precious tattoo, which had already recently aquired a nasty scar running through a bit of it, she charged at him. Wildly making some kind of attempt to whack Grima with her weapon with little to no tact what so ever.

"Dammit, Its a sword not a club, swing it properly!" he said, rubbing the crook of his eyes with his gauntleted sword hand. Grima easily knocked her blade away, and then quickly tapped her with his sword before taking a couple of steps back to regain distance.

Frustrated that she got hit again, Ulrika growled a little at Grima, circling him. Grima stayed on the spot, tracing her actions, ready for an oncoming attack. Thinking that she spotted an opening, she lunged forwards. Grima once again parried, but realised Ulrika wasn't stopping this time as she'd over shot her lunge. Instinctively he twisted his blade so it wasn't point at her just in time to save her from getting inpailed on his sword. Not having enough space to stop her charge, she crashed into Grima, sending them both flying, and their weapons clattered out of their hands.

Realsing what happened, and mad for Grima being so good at her, she scrabbled to get to him and sat on his chest. She made no hesitation to punch him in the face. Grima was too stunned by falling back to be able to react in time and was still trying to come to as she started to pummel him.

Rilkar's approval spurred her on, eager to deliver another blow. This time, she drew blood from Grima's nose, a mild spattering on her knuckle. She saw it and it made her hesitate slightly, recently blood seemed to make her a bit iffy, not that she complelety understood why. Her hesitation gave Grima a moment to get his barings, and proseeded to punch Ulrika in the face, as well as use his less restricted legs to knee her in the only place he could effectively a few times before trying to push her off him and rolling in the opersite direction, towards where his sword and shield were.

The punch made give no resitannce as she got pulled off of Grima. It was so sudden she took a moment to get her bearings before rolling onto her knees. Findinf her sword she crawled to it before slugglishly getting up. She gave a murderous glare at Grima, feeling something warm trickling over her lips. She instincitively wiped with her fleeve, revealing more blood. The sight shook her a little, but she looked back to Grima.

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OOC - this fight is scripted between Grima, Rilkar and Ulrika so all godmods are legal, lol