New Roads to Travel (attn Petra and D'Ashan)

[DarkHallow]

Arturus was finally getting to the actual training to be a warder. He was trying new exercises and for where he was lacking and even a routine of flexibility exercises. Today on the yards he would be sparring with others on the yard who were his equal in training. Some were better than him and some were worse.

 

He chose a weighted lathe to represent the bastard sword he usually used and had a leather gauntlet on his left hand to represent the thick plated gauntlet of a duelist. He had dulled and blunted throwing daggers on his person for when the opportunity struck and it had struck many times so far. The sun blazed over heard and only a cool breeze that passed over the river made training possible today at all. He had been assigned to Petra who was going to observe his matches with the others and give pointers to the students at the end of each match before they were all paired up again.

 

Arturus grinned in a friendly way to the next trainee he was to face. He had never seen the student before and figured he must be new to the yards. The student wielded two lathes and seemed as comfortable with using his off hand as Arturus was at throwing daggers with his. Arturus inspected the trainee as he took his first stance. Doubtless the trainee was inspecting him as well as Arturus took a stance with his weapon in a sheathed position. At Petra's nod the two students engaged. Arturus did not use half his strength but half his strength was still stronger than most trainees at their level. The trainee's dual lathes were perfect for blocking such a move that had ended duels before. Arturus was glad to learn that.

 

Grinning Arturus re-engaged the student and a flash of quick strikes ensued. Arturus was fast and strong, the other student fluid and graceful. Arturus used a bastard sword and the other trainee dual blades. They were opposites and the perfect match all at once. Arturus then decided to test how well the student took surprises. Drawing the lathe back and lightly gliding the surface of the sand with the  tip should have been a critical error in a duel. But not when the sand was the true strike. Arturus brought the sand up to the trainees eyes and blinded him, then with all his strength and speed struck him as hard as he could. The lathe landed with a solid "Clack!" and the wound began to bleed. Only Petra's voice saying "Point." broke the silence as the trainee engaged Arturus with new ferocity.

 

OOC D'Ashan feel free to strike Arturus for a point of your own. Using whatever you feel would be D'Ashan's greatest strength against him. The strike Arturus landed was by using a dirty trick. He is not afraid to fight dirty and while he struck D'Ashan as hard as he could to help D'Ashan get used to pain it could be seen as a dirty trick used to get a point then an over used of force like a bully would do.

 

 

[Shaneevae]

Leaning against the wall with her long legs crossed at the ankles and her arms crossed across her chest, Petra’s green eyes squinted up at the sun. It was proving to be another hot one, so she pushed off the wall with a grunt and started braiding her blond hair haphazardly in an effort to keep it from sticking to her face when the noon day heat really took hold. She despised training. She despised teaching, but she had relented to judging spars just to get the powers that be off her back. It was certainly the lesser of two evils.

 

Finishing the braid, she tossed it back over her shoulder and strutted over to the trainees. They were young, but neither held that wide eyed innocence she so often saw in new Yard boys.  There was a hardened look to each whether it had been put there before they arrived in Tar Valon or after mattered little. It would be a fair match as long as they held their tempers.

 

Stretching, long, lean muscle nonchalantly, she put on her best bored expression and looked down at the young men. It was a rare occurrence that she ever had to look up. “I’m Petra, gaidar to Tayline Sedai and I expect you to go at this hard. No pussyfooting around, do you hear?” Slapping her hands against her leather breeches, she added, “Pussyfoot and I’ll wear you both out like a couple of girls, got it?”

 

With their nod, she went back to her post at the wall. Giving them the signal, she slid to the ground watching with only mild interest. When the dark haired youth flicked dirt into the others eyes and then drawing blood, Petra couldn’t help, but smile.  He fought dirty, not that she approved of that sort of thing, but it did get the job done. “Point.”

 

Petra Mirabal

Green Gaidar

[TaiDashan]

OOC: Sorry if I don't do this well, never RP'ed a fight before  :-\

 

IC:

 

D'Ashan slowly hefted the practice lathes in his hands. They were about the right weight but the curve was lacking. He shrugged it off mentally and turned his focus to his opponent. Never taking his eyes off him, D'Ashan stripped off his shirt to free up mobility. When his opponent took a stance with his weapon sheathed, D'Ashan took a mental note of it. Nodding to himself as Petra signaled to begin, he engaged his opponent. His opponent was fast. Some of the others had seemed almost clumsy and their matches were ended quickly. This one was fast and strong. Repeatedly, D'Ashan found himself flowing from stance to stance, position to position, just to avoid a nasty bruise.

 

There was a brief pause, almost a hesitation as the other trainee's lips twitched, almost as if to grin. This was all the warning D'Ashan had as the blade tip that had been lowered before shot up to fill his face with sand. Luckily he had seen something coming, what he did not know, and had only been partially blinded. Nevertheless he felt the sharp pain of the all to solid lathe hitting him in the ribs. Light it hurt! Blinking the sand from his eyes, D'Ashan quickly came back to a ready stance. So this was how he wanted it eh? D'Ashan was reminded of the kids he hated so furiously back home, teasing him relentlessly. So cruel, so pompous and full of themselves, so sure that he was inferior. Well he would show this man that he was a fool!

 

His senses focused, the world slowed and he renewed his attack with a new vigor. Constantly focusing on every ounce of give he waited for the slightest weakness. It was hard. This trainee was good, very good. D'Ashan swung low and wide with his right lathe baiting his opponent. Taking the bait, his opponent stepped forward to strike. This was the moment to show his speed! Gathering every last ounce of speed he had, D'Ashan spun quickly and caught his opponents weighted lathe with his right, trapping it to the ground. His opponents lathe was trapped just long enough for D'Ashan to land  a solid blow loudly along side the other man's head before stepping back to a ready stance once more.

 

Petra called out 'Point' as the other man shook his head to clear the pain. D'Ashan grinned. Maybe that would teach the man to underestimate him just because he wasn't the strongest or dirtiest fighter in the yard!

 

OOC: Any good? let me know I can edit  :D

[DarkHallow]

OOC No its fine. We are trainees and are likely to be caught in all sorts of bad situations in sparring.

 

Arturus rubbed his ear furiously. (In the ear?! Light why the ear?!)Arturus gave D'Ashan a squinted glance before taking up his weighted lathe again. The ear shot was a taunt he wagered. So there was another who wasnt afraid to learn a few tricks was there? Arturus nodded, mostly to himself. He learned dirty tricks because there is no such thing as honor when defending your life. If someone is trying to kill you, you must be willing to use every trick you can to survive. No one would call it dishonorable when a trolloc had dirt flung in his eyes after all.

 

Arturus re engaged D'Ashan using all his strength now since D'Ashan felt that blow and knew he had been holding back for an advantage. It made the sparring a little more difficult and both began to sweat with the effort. Arturus swung many times and many times D'Ashan would twist and move and not be there. Both trainees began to gather welts but none could get a strike that would be a killing blow. Then came another strategy to Arturus's mind. D'Ashan liked to use two weapons, Arturus decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. Using a strong cross body shot that required D'Ashan to use both lathes to block Arturus pushed off the lathes, pushing D'Ashan back as well. His left hand had palmed two throwing daggers before the strike was even in motion and as D'Ashan stumbled back both training daggers went sailing towards him. D'Ashan looked up in time to see them strike his chest with a solid "Thud!"

 

Petra called out "Point." as the two trainees glared at each other. Arturus could tell D'Ashan was not happy with him. Arturus himself admitted that he had not had too many challengers as good as D'Ashan and it was likely D'Ashan felt the same. Arturus summed it up to D'Ashan not liking to have his match met. Arturus was joyful that he had found a good challenge, but his glare at D'Ashan said otherwise.

 

OOC I hope this is ok. Let me know if it needs editing.

[TaiDashan]

OOC: Hey man sorry this took so long  :-\

 

Light this man was frustrating! And throwing daggers?! When did that come into play? D'Ashan was fast and knew it but this man was tricky. On top of that he was good and D'Ashan had to give it his all just to keep up!

 

"Point!" Petra called out as the daggers struck home.

 

"Blood and ashes." D'Ashan murmured. He wasn't one to curse but this man had gotten under his skin. D'Ashan had worked hard to gain the skill he had and this man, a cheater, was matching him movement for movement. Just when he would find a weakness his opponent would make it a strength and find a weakness of his own! It just wasn't right. In the back of his mind though, D'Ashan had to admit that he liked the challenge.

 

As the sweat rolled down their skin, they locked gazes and swung the lathes again and again. A strange, Dislike/Admiration was building in D'Ashan and he could tell the other man felt similarly. The man had shown D'Ashan how two blades could be a distraction. Now he would teach the man the self-same lesson. Stepping up the speed a notch, D'Ashan wove flashing trails of light through the air as he danced to the blistering tempo of battle. Going through what his friend had called the "Aqua Ribbon" forms he spun, ducked, swung and slashed. Just as water, D'Ashan increased the pressure, speed and intensity of his attack, constantly pressing in at any opening and flowing back at any pressure. Two more training daggers flew and barely missed his head. He had been watching the man's subtle hand movements, but even so had all but missed it. Light he was good!

 

Petra called for a break before D'Ashan was able to score another point on the man. This infuriated D'Ashan to no end and made him only resolve to do better.

 

OOC: Feel free to NPC D'Ashan scoring a point if you want. Or not...  ;D

[Shaneevae]

Calling break, Petra leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes letting the sun beat down on her upturned face. Opening her eyes, she used her peripheral vision and watched the two young men head to the water bucket. Neither spoke nor looked at one another as each got their water.  It was as if they were making a concentrated effort to keep their focus intact or was that their anger.

 

She suspected that neither had learned to control the anger than rose in a fight even between friendly combatants.  The anger was flared even brighter between enemies and practically burned hotter than the sun between two when personal issues were involved.  Shaking her head, she got to her feet and dusted off her breeches.  How could two this young within such a short duration already have personal issues? Petra wouldn’t stop it.  It would be a valuable lesson to learn in the safety of the Yard because learning it elsewhere could get you killed.

 

She took each young man aside giving him specific advice and pointing at the weakness of their opponent.  They seemed to listen and heed what she said, but one could never be for certain.  Some young men had difficulty with being trained by a woman.  Honestly, she could care less.  They would either learn or die.  The choice was theirs.

 

Petra clapped her hands and raised her voice, “Let’s go boys!  Times a wasting.”

 

Petra

[DarkHallow]

As the two took a break Arturus's dislike for D'Ashan came flooding out. He wasnt sure who started it but even as they walked to the water bucket it became a race. When they reached it with D'Ashan in the lead it became a contest to see who could drink the most water. Arturus was determined to wipe the smug grin off of D'Ashan's face for beating him to the water bucket. The two were almost bursting when D'Ashan set his cup down. Unable to go on. Arturus took the trophy smug grin then. D'Ashan just looked at him with a blank look on his face then turned away towards where another duel was going. As Arturus started to walk to some shady trees near by D'Ashan put one hand on the back of the lathe hanging on his side which raised the blade end of it in between Arturus's legs, tangling him up in it and sending him to the ground. D'Ashan turned and started to draw on Arturus. The duel was back on.

 

Arturus was faster and he wasnt about to let D'Ashan gloat on an easy victory. He didnt bother going to a block. A quick swing of his own lathe behind D'Ashan's knees and he was soon on the ground with Arturus. Both rose at the same time and D'Ashan finished pulling his lathe and had his second out just as fast. (Racing to a water bucket and a water drinking contest are one thing but this... oh well, he just had a trick of his own.)

 

Lathes met as both were dancing. Arturus had to admit that it was the best he had ever done before but D'Ashan was still meeting his skill. Arturus was a little disapointed he had not collected his throwing daggers when the two pushed back. D'Ashan  gave a swift kick to the water bucket sending the bucket at Arturus and the water contents of it at Petra who had ran up behind them. Arturus responded by swatting the two dozen or so iron cups at D'Ashan with his lathe and he did not understand a word D'Ashan was shouting over the "Ping!" of iron cups hitting him. A few however D'Ashan swatted back with his own lathes, although somewhat blindly and Arturus was curious why he heard the same "Ping!" noise behind him and a woman's cursing, not to mention louder cursing as a cup suddenly came up from the ground from  the female slipping on it slinging mud at D'Ashan as well as hitting him with the cup.

 

When Arturus ran out of cups. The two stared at each other murderously.

 

OOC I hope this is ok with you D'Ashan. I dont think your character tripped Arturus on purpose or with the intention of playing a dirty trick to restart the duel but it would seem natural for them to think the worst of each other. D'Ashan would not have drawn on Arturus when he was on the ground either but he would try to say get his lathe untangled from Arturus's pant leg or something which would not be noticed. I love how small things can be misconceived.

[TaiDashan]

D'Ashan had drank so much water he thought he would burst. Not so much as to hinder his fighting though. He would allow Arturus (as Petra had called him,) to win this silly battle if it meant a disadvantage in the duel. D'Ashan turned to watch another duel in the yard while they took a break. Hopefully he could learn something from the two fighting across the yard. D'Ashan bent down absentmindedly to pick up his second lathe and return it to the twin on his back. His attention was brought very quickly back as he felt Arturus grabbing at his lathe. Light! the fool thought to take advantage of every little thing didn't he? D'Ashan thought as rage surfaced and was shoved into the Void. He spun drawing his lathe roughly from Arturus' grip to find the man on the ground. Surprise was incinerated in the flame of his fury edging just outside the Void. Arturus quickly pressed his advantage and swung his lathe sending D'Ashan to the ground. They both rose to their feet.

 

"You disgust me!" he shouted. "You and everything you stand for!" D'Ashan fed his hate into the flame and leapt at Arturus. Finally the dam had broken, the man had pushed him past his limit.

 

Everything snapped into place and he became one with his lathes. Keeping Arturus on the defense he pressed ruthlessly for an opening. Arturus moved quickly and almost got another healthy smack to the head, making D'Ashan step forward unexpectedly. His foot hit the water bucked and the contents went flying towards Arturus. 'Great!' D'Ashan thought, 'Something else the weasel can use to his advantage.' Petra had run up to them no doubt shouting for them to stop but D'Ashan had no chance to listen to what she was saying. Sure enough, Arturus was using his lathe to pitch the iron cups at him almost faster than D'Ashan could swing. Shouting curses at Arturus that would have made his mother blush, D'Ashan swung blindly. Suddenly the last cup had been deflected and to D'Ashan's horror he realized where it had flown. Standing there glaring at them Petra wiped mud from her face and took a menacing step towards them. Her foot slipped in the mud and she fell on her backside sending the cup at D'Ashan's head, not to mention a healthy dose of mud. D'Ashan stifled a grin, but quickly all mirth left him as he caught sight of Arturus glaring at him. This man had no sense of right or wrong, for a moment D'Ashan wondered if he was a friend of the dark. If so, his service to the Dark One would end at his hands. He swore this to himself silently puting his hatred for the Dark into his glare.

 

OOC: fixed the lathe part, D'Ashan wears them on his back not at his side ;) This is goin well eh? Once again sorry it took so long.  :-[

[Shaneevae]

Hands on her hips, Petra ran her foot through the dirt upon the ground counting down the minutes until she was free of this enforced slavery. If the two pups would get a move on they could get this over with and she could do something more to her liking, like giving birth to trolloc spawn, but they were dawdling.  Prepared to give them a swift kick in the pants, she turned to make her way to the water bucket when a tin cup went flying through the air.  She didn’t know which one of the heathens made the first angry gesture, but before she could blink tin cups and swear words were being hurled with the greatest of ease.

 

Shaking her head, she blew out a gust of air and marched toward the tiff ready to chew some backside.  “Mother’s milk in a flaming cup! What the….” Ping. Petra rubbed her head where the tin cup had bounced and then she dropped her hand, placed both squarely on her hips and narrowed her gaze at the two offending gnats. “You two little…”  Charging after her…..charges, Petra didn’t notice the mucky mire on the ground and with one wrong step her feet flew out from under her and she landed with a solid thump upon her pretty backside.

 

Oh they would die. She would kill them both with her bare hands when she got hold of them. Climbing to her feet, she slipped a couple of more times before she got them both by the ear and drug them far enough away from the water bucket. 

 

“Now,” She said, twisting each ear a little harder. “Since you two can’t behave like adults, you don’t get to play with swords like adults.  I will make you regret the day you couldn’t hold your tempers.  You’ll look back and quake with remembered fear upon this day because I am going to make you both more miserable than you ever dreamed possible.  Give me your weapons.” Petra released them and held out her hands.  Each young man gave up his weapon grudgingly and looked properly chastised, but Petra wasn’t satisfied.  She was rarely satisfied.

 

“First you’ll clean up the mess you’ve made here and then you’ll run laps until you both vomit.”  Petra smiled with a touch of satisfaction.  “After that we’ll move onto the really bad part of the punishment.”  An evil grin spread across her face and she shouted, “NOW GO!”  As the boys started scrambling around picking up cups, she smiled. This training stuff might not be so bad after all.

 

 

Petra

 

[DarkHallow]

Arturus was not concerned at all with competing with D'Ashan as Petra screamed at them. This of course was D'Ashan's fault. (There is a time and place for training but he just took it too far.) Arturus thought. After the cups were collected the two started at a run. Arturus noticed that they both ran at the same pace and were running side by side. He frowned that they had done a complete lap and both seemed strangely comfortable with it. It was a fast pace they were moving at so Arturus rethought it out. (Hes competing with me again...Cant this guy ever stop?)

 

The two rounded their second lap and Arturus was tired of running beside him. He thought about tripping him on the run but didnt want to sink to D'Ashan's level. The sun was blazing over them still and Arturus was glad he had nearly drunk water until he was sick. The sun was taking it out of them both quickly. It would not be long before someone was losing their breakfast. Arturus grudgingly put up with D'Ashan running next to him. Ten laps became twenty and twenty became thirty before Arturus stopped counting. Finally Arturus turned towards D'Ashan. "Your not impressing anyone by trying to keep up with my running pace. So why dont you fall behind like all the others before you pass out. I will slow down so you dont fall too far behind if you wish."

 

Arturus was only surprised for a second when D'Ashan quickened his pace. The competition was back on.