The Hard Way.

[Vega]

5th Cylus, 717

"Come on then, you. Time to learn stuff." Vega said, with a grin to Arlo once they had finished breakfast. "It's Ti'niva's turn to clean up and I've got exciting stuff for you." She'd been up before dawn, which didn't actually happen and it was just constantly dark anyhow, but she'd left the camp and come back a break later, as dawn would have been happening had there been any light. "Bring a blanket, maybe a towel. We're going to do this properly." Which meant, probably, that he was going to hate her she considered, but that was fine. "You might want a change of clothes, too." In this almost darkness, Vega's eyes seemed more silver almost all the time. She shot him a grin and grabbed the pile of her own things which included everything of hers which she'd instructed him to bring.

Strapping on her sword and slinging her bow, Vega wandered amiably out of the camp with Arlo. She was entirely relaxed as she glanced at him. "My father taught me how to fight with a sword. I'm not great with it, and there are things that I think you can teach me. About balance and flexibility if fighting that critter is anything to go by." If he was any judge of character it was fairly obvious that Vega was pleased and excited about the long sword training about to happen. "I only know one way to teach you, and that's the way that I was taught. Hope that's ok."

She led him into the woods to an area where there was a river running through the trees. It was wide enough that it would be difficult to cross and deep enough that, should they choose to lie down, they would be submerged in freezing water. Through the middle of it, balanced between stones which were dotted around, were two lines of sticks. They could be used to walk on, but to use them as a path would require balance.

"My father taught me to fight with a sword standing on the rails on the ship. I fell off more times than I can tell you, Arlo, but my technique is better for it." So was her resistance to freezing water, come to that. "So, we're going to get the stance right first. Not with swords, though, in case we fall in and skewer ourselves or each other. I fetched those." She motioned to where there were two long sticks, roughly the right length and weight for them.

"So, we're going to stand on the branches over the stream and we're going to just practice basic hit and basic block. We're not going to get hit and we're not going to get wet. Deal?" It was probably best, the water was freezing. Vega gave him a grin and added. "If you do fall in, I brought some whiskey to warm us, too." After hanging her coat on a tree, Vega stepped on to the branches and moved on to the rocks in the middle of the stream, she stood with her stick and looked at him. "Basic stance. Like this. See what I do, and do the same." It appeared that, when given the choice between the easy way and the hard way, Vega knew only one option.

[Arlo Creede]

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"It's too early," Arlo had grumbled drowsily when Vega grabbed his sleeve and suggested they go out and learn something. "Only madmen...women are out and about doing anything in this dark and this weather." In reality, it wasn't quite as early as he'd made it out to be. But the constant dark was playing havoc on his inner timekeeper, and there hadn't been time to adjust, just yet.

He'd begrudgingly complied though, and abandoned his spot by the fire while questioning the need to take things like blankets and extra clothing along with them. But the young man had agreed to her teaching him on her terms, so once he'd gathered what he could, he was trudging through the forest after her, in light more suitable for midnight and not early morning.

He had no objections to her teaching methods, and told her so, so long as they weren't so extraordinary that madness might be an apter description. Arlo had felt the condition was a necessary one...Just in case. She'd gotten his interest though when she talked about her father and his methods. And frowning curiously, he asked, "Was there a net on the side of the ship to catch you if you fell off?" If not, it was an awfully steep learning curve she'd been subjected to.

Still, he appreciated the sticks that would play the part of blades. What he didn't tell her was that he had a knack for balance, for tumbling, for acrobatic things. But even with all the confidence that a seventeen arc old boy could hold inside him, and it was a lot, the addition of a live blade tended to add a bit of danger to the mix when he wasn't trained to use it just yet.

So maybe it came as some surprise, or given the ego of youth, maybe it didn't. But Arlo didn't balk, not a bit, at the extra challenge of sparring while balancing over an ice cold stream. "Deal." He was grinning when he said that, and as soon as he'd put his belongings down and picked up his stick, he hopped up onto the branches, centered himself and strolled on out to the middle of the stream.

Only a trill or two pause for adjusting, since while the stick in his hand didn't weigh much, the holding of it tended to change the center of balance just slightly. Of course the stance she took wasn't one he was used to adopting while scrambling through trees or across any given obstacle. But he was nothing if not flexible, adaptable, and took up the proper stance as asked. "Like so?" he wondered.

[Vega]

"Better that than too late, wouldn't you say?" Vega returned promptly when he grumbled about the time. "And as for those mad men and women, we can at least say we're in good company and they can add mad boys to their list too. Quit lollygagging." She grinned at him and picked up her own bundle of things. As for the net on the side of the ship, Vega nodded. "Yeah, but usually when I fell off, I jumped in anyhow. Depending, of course. Plus, the rails of ships are pretty wide you know. I didn't fall off that much."

His response, though, was at once the brash confidence of youth and very typical of the young chap she was coming to know better. He was nimble on his feet, there was no doubting it and he had the wherewithall to get his balance. Vega watched him as he did and she nodded. "Good. Yes, like that. What you're aiming for, so my father told me, was to have to move as little as possible, because fighting is tiring and so that energy must be conserved." She lifted herself up on to the balls of her feet, still in stance so that she could emphasise where her feet were.

"If you were hitting me and I have to move my feet to get out of the way, then I've used more energy than if I can lean forward or back, left or right. Relaxed, flexible, responsive." That was one of her father's mantras for sure. "It's why we've got the sticks. Need to get used to the feel of the weight. It changes how you move."

Looking at him, Vega gave a smile. "My father taught me with lots of things to remember. Relaxed, flexible, responsive was one. Another one was hips. Always in the hips. You strike from the hips, you block from the hips, you move from them." She twisted, demonstrating what she meant. "Ok, so I'm going to strike you, straight down the middle from the top of your hat. I'm going to do it slowly and I'd like you to get used to just moving your upper body to get out of the way. I'll tell you which way to go. There'll be other instructions, too, so keep attention."

Which was what she did, leaning her weight forward, she sliced down at him. Each time she did, she gave him a direction, be it left, right, back or even forward. Every now and then, as she did, she said things like "stand on one leg" or "lean to the right" and so on. Basically, from the outset she wanted to make sure that he was not falling into the trap of being rooted to the spot or of being heavy-footed. Balance was vital and she'd be doing him no favours should she ignore that.

"Right, so you use a dagger, yes? Tell me about how you block with that? If I was making this move and you had a dagger in your hand," she repeated the slice down to the crown of his hat, "how would you block it?"

[Arlo Creede]

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"Makes sense," Arlo agreed once they were both on the branch and each holding their balance. It was the same for firing a bow, but arguably to a greater extent. And even brawling where too much bouncing about was just wasted energy and showing off.

Not that it was unheard of for Arlo to show off on occasion. But when it came to firing a bow or brawling, which he'd done a time or three. too much of it ran contrary to success. And more conducive to missing a shot or getting pummeled with fists or feet. When Vega lifted herself up on the balls of her feet, as if to demonstrate, he bounced a little on his. In part to show her he'd got it. And in larger part, because he could.

So relaxed, flexible, responsive. Right. "The same might be said of acrobatics," he observed. After all, if any of those went missing, even a mild tumble down a hill could cause more injury than necessary. "It does," he agreed, when she mentioned the stick and how it changed things. And he grinned a little as he considered what she'd told him already about movement. "As you know, I spend a great deal of time, up in trees."

But from the hips? The young man really hadn't thought of it. He'd have assumed that because women tended to be more bottom heavy and men, heavier in the chest area, that it might differ between the sexes. No matter though. From the hips then. And as she struck at him with her stick, instead of attempting to block her with his own, he took her advice as she gave it and twisted or turned his body, leaned in or away, even ducked at times without moving his feet overly much. Only so much as he felt was necessary to avoid her blows.

She'd land a few, it was almost inevitable. But he learned quickly and adapted, so they'd become fewer and fewer as time went on. "I don't," he said when she asked, how did he use a dagger in combat. "I mean I'm no more experienced in knife fighting than with a longer blade. I use it for any number of things, cleaning game and so on. But not for fighting. I'd assume, up against a sword, I'd start out at a disadvantage by needing to get inside my enemy's reach."

He'd assume, was he to need to block a strike from a longer reaching weapon, like a sword, the trick would be to block close the grip. "I've hunted with a bow, fought with my fists and feet," Arlo added. Pausing then, he explained. "I've always been flexible though. Climbing up into places when I was very young that I oughtn't have been going. Tumbling, flips and the like." And then he grinned a little as a memory from his childhood arose.

"We had a barn on the farm, and it had a high loft where my stepfather stored bales of hay, and you could only get up there by way of a ladder," he told her. "I was young, but always wanting to go up there and my stepfather worried I'd fall. So he made up a story of a creature that lived there. Skeeterwampulus. He even made up a poem about it to scare me."

Arlo hadn't believed it though, he'd told Vega. Or maybe he did and thought he could confront the beast. So one trial when his stepfather didn't see, he'd climbed up on that loft. Sure enough, there was no monster there. But then he'd got it in his head that he wanted to leap off that loft, into a large mound of hay sitting on the floor beneath him.

But he'd calculated wrong and when he'd jumped, the belt of his trousers had caught on the ladder and left him dangling upside down, head yards from the ground. "I couldn't yell for help, you see. My stepfather would have walloped me, so the only way I could get loose was to unhook my belt and slip out of my trousers, and then fall into that pile of hay."

He'd still gotten a thrashing when his mother discovered his damaged clothing and what he'd done to cause it. But the point was, "I learned a bit of acrobatics the hard way, but maybe it was the better way," he suggested. But anyhow, the point was that some things were better perfected by learning. Flexibility, responsiveness...and improvisation resulting in the most favorable outcome, if not the most perfect one. Arlo grinned and took up the appropriate stance. "That's how I always learned my lessons. By doing. And that's how I lost my pants."

[Vega]

"You're an unutterable show off you know" Vega responded as he bounced on his feet. Truth was, though, he had skills of balance which she really didn't and she wasn't above asking, "Will you teach me tumbling and stuff? We're going to be bored all of Cylus and it looks like a good way to pass the time. Once I run out of whiskey, anyhow." She grinned at him, probably mostly teasing. Probably. Mostly. "I don't need to learn how to swing my legs and look like I'm twelve though. I've got that down pat. From a distance, anyhow. Close up, I'm too crone like." Once it snowed properly, Vega determined that she was going to shove a bunch of the stuff down his back for the crone comment.

If it did matter about where one distributed their weight, where the power should come from, then unfortunately Vega didn't know. Her father had taught her that it came from the hips, and so she taught him. He was flexible and his movements quickly got better than she'd thought they would. She asked him about using his knife and he told her he didn't. That surprised her, in truth, but there it was and then he was telling her a story about a... "A skeeterwampulus? That's awesome." She listened to the tale of how the young boy, even younger then, had ended up hanging upside down and Vega shook her head. "Were you born getting into trouble?" Her eyes were vivid violet and her smile was genuine.

"Point taken, alright. Enough talking. Nearly. Hold your stick in a horizontal line over your head to block me," she instructed and moved his arm around a bit once he did. Then, she struck and it would have, undoubtedly, hit him on the head had she done so with any force at all. "Now, angle it in the direction you want my sword to go." When he did that, her stick slid away and it was much easier.

"Alright, lets stop risking getting soaked, and lets get on dry ground and hit each other a bit?" She gave him a challenging and yet amused look. "I'm going to hit you with my stick, slowly at first, then more quickly. You block, we'll stop after every five and talk about any issues or stuff, alright?" She did, just that, after showing him how to hold the sword. That she did by showing him with the sword. When they practised, however, it was with the sticks. If his grip moved, she hit him on it. "Hold it properly or you'll lose it in a fight." After five attacks, each from a different direction, she stopped. "How're your arms feeling? We can finish for the trial if you want." If he wanted to, of course. If not, she was more than willing to keep going. Next, he'd be hitting her.

[Arlo Creede]

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"Am I?" Arlo asked, the very picture of innocence as he bounced once, then twice on the branch, causing it to dip and rise to his weight beneath her feet. Show off? No, not him. But then he wobbled a bit, and stopped before he undid himself. She'd never let him hear the end of it if he did.

He would though, he told her when she asked would he teach her a little in return. "You've already got a good start. Your sense of balance is better than most." And then he grinned and shrugged, as she seemed hardly impressed by the story from his childhood.

"It might not sound like much of a monster now," Arlo admitted. "But when I was little with an imagination bigger than was, it might as well have been a fire breathing dragon."

But so long as he could remember, he'd had a way of finding trouble, or it finding him, and wasn't slow to admitting it. So back on solid ground again, it was also back to business. And for all of Arlo's banter and teasing, he did take the lesson seriously.

His bow was fine, his knack for climbing and tumbling and somersaulting out of the way also useful. But it would only serve him well to be able to handle a blade. He noted how to best hold the blade, and how and when to block, or alternately twist or turn his body out of the way.

"Hey!" he exclaimed but once, when she whacked his knuckles with the stick. But it was an interesting way to learn. It encouraged him to improve, and quicker still. "My arms are just fine," he told her when she asked. And he was happy to change roles as a result. He doubted he'd get the better of her well enough to return the favor in regards to her hands. But he did his best with a mind for his position and grip, and alternated between thrusts and slices at her, with stick in hand.

[Vega]

She grinned when he said that her sense of balance was better than most and shrugged slightly. "Raised on a boat, something must have rubbed off, I guess. Maybe. Probably not, actually." Vega really didn't do well on the boat so she couldn't really think that it was what was helping her. But if her sense of balance was better than mosts already, well that was just fine with her.

Still, she was pleased that he thought her balance was good. Because his was undoubtedly better. She was also pleased when he didn't push it in terms of the bouncing around before he tipped himself into the water. Back on dry land, though, she gave a cheeky grin when he exclaimed at her hitting his hand. "You're the one that said you learn better through experience. Sort it out." She didn't know a lot about the sword, she'd only just begun learning after all, as far as her father was concerned but, what she knew she knew well.

"You should think about warming up before practice, really. Your arms might well ache tomorrow. Nice warm bath would do them wonders." Come to that, it would do her wonders too. "But the thing to remember, so my father says, is that you've got to get to the point that your body moves before your brain. It's easier for me, my brain isn't the fastest, but instinct's what you're trying to build up. Repetition is the only way to do that, so no bad habits."

Bad habits and repetition, after all, were not a good thing. "Right. Switch roles then. You be the graceful, beautiful and skilled one. I'll be you." She stood in a basic defensive stance, positioning her sword, pointing up and parallel to her body and nodded. After a few blows, she nodded. "You're good, and you learn quick. Try not to stare are where you're going to hit though, if you can help it. It's kind of the opposite of the bow that way." She understood, entirely, for she experienced the same thing.

"With a bow, you aim by looking. You do wish a sword too, of course, but your opponent is watching you back. So, try to give as few tells as you can about where you're going to hit. Hit my left from your right and your left and above and straight, you know? We'll go another round with me attacking, then you can try again." Repetition did seem to be the way to go and so she would attack him again, trying to give him less clues about where she was aiming, so that he could see before they swapped back again.

[Arlo Creede]

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"I think you're probably right about that," Arlo considered when she talked about balance and life on the sea. "It ought to have come naturally without thinking. If you're not sitting idle on still and glassy waters, then a moving deck requires more adjusting in order to stay upright." Or so the young man thought anyway. He hadn't spent much time on the sea after all.

"I'll do some stretching next time," he promised when Vega advised warming up before any future practice. But he couldn't resist adding, "And maybe some flips, somersaults and walking on my hands while I'm at it."

He was a challenge to keep on task, she'd discover. But he wasn't so unlike anyone else his age. "So body before brain. It's what...your muscles doing the remembering for you?" he asked. That too made sense. He didn't think through the twists and turns or flips before he did them. He just did.

But this was swordplay and not acrobatics. "If you're going to be me you'd do better with a hat," he told her, getting into position once again. "But you can't borrow mine. I've spent arcs getting it shaped just right." So taking her advice that he ought not look where he meant to strike, and risk giving the game away, he traded roles with her, striking from his right or his left, above or straight on.

And afterwards he'd take the defensive role again until they'd filled their time and decided that a good meal back at camp would do them both good. Next time, he promised her as they gathered their things for the short walk back, he'd warm and stretch a little before practice.

[Ent]

Name: Vega

Knowledge:
Arlo: Seems cocky
Arlo: Learns quick
Arlo: Spends a lot of time in trees
Storytelling: Using a story from the past to assist in teaching
Teaching: Using past experiences and stories as assistance
Teaching: Using yourself as an example
Acrobatics: Balancing on branches
skeeterwampulus: The made up monster from Arlo's home
Bladed Combat (longswords): Remain relaxed, flexible and responsive
Bladed Combat (longswords): Fight from the hips
Bladed Combat (longswords): Leaning/ducking to avoid attacks
Bladed Combat (longswords): Warming up is important and should be done before fighting

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: +1, general good deed (teaching Arlo sword play)
Devotion: N/A

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
Magic: N/A
Name: Arlo

Knowledge:
Vega: Taught you how to fight with a sword
Vega: Learned to fight on a boat
skeeterwampulus: The made up monster from your home
Storytelling: Using a story to explain certain things about you
Acrobatics: Centering your weight
Acrobatics: Re centering balance due to extra mass
Bladed Combat (longswords): Basic Stance
Bladed Combat (longswords): Remain relaxed, flexible and responsive
Bladed Combat (longswords): Leaning/ducking to avoid attacks
Bladed Combat (longswords): Holding a sword
Bladed Combat (longswords): Warming up is important and should be done before fighting

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
Magic: N/A

Comment: Not usual for me to put all the comments together but for this thread I am. This was a nice little thread and as always there were no issues with story collaboration or structure. Enjoyable thread I can see it was very learning orientated so if I missed anything please tell me. When I was writing this review I felt like I might have missed something important, if I did please let me know. Otherwise I enjoyed this little training thread enjoy your rewards. I still love the dynamic between your characters it is just great, keep up the good work I really like your writing together!

If you have any issues or questions with this review please feel free to let me know in a PM and I will try and work something out.