Closed [East of the Vineyards] Don't 'Fall' (Septimus)

[Xalet]

Riding in this fashion felt far different from anything Xuphim was used to. Of course it was to be expected, going from riding with a full tack and harness to essentially nothing. As the pace enhanced from a well controlled walk toward a more punishing canter, the Akalak could clearly feel the various stabilizer muscles throughout his body pushing and pulling. It was a back and forth struggle to keep himself upright and centered. Slowly he would start to slide backward, to which he would have to reply quickly by adjusting his seat. Slowly he would begin to learn to far into or against a turn, to which he would have to reply by working his body's core strongly in order to regain appropriate form without putting too much pressure on Septimus' sides. It was a constant struggle not to unintentionally give out movement orders with his body that the Kelvic below him would have understood as signals to turn or speed up. "It's slightly more difficult then I thought, but ain't nothing I can't handle." he decided, his thoughts moving quickly, following the clamoring of the hooves beneath him heavily cutting into the ground. Given the combined weight of the over sized horse carrying an over sized rider, a collision with a more willowy boned beast would probably end up putting the opposition straight onto the ground. As he came out of a seemingly well rounded turn, things seemed to be progressing nicely. Sure some parts of their unified riding experience were a little sloppy, but overall if he was still upright Xuphim considered it a victory overall. They continued for a while, and while it could have been considered a struggle here and there, Xuphim felt the necessary familiarity starting to come to him, but there was still much more to understand. "I need to feel what it's like at a full gallop. Ah shyke I'm gonna end up freakin' killin myself. Gotta know though. Can't continue as a Knight without furthering my ridin' experiences." he decided, his tongue pressing quite firmly now against the roof of his mouth, a bit of a nervous habit he had. "Alright, give me everything! I need to feel the gallop! C'mon, hyah!" he shouted, his nerves were as ready as they could have been. The jarring sensation of both thighs clenching tightly into her side would have been the only thing the Kelvic would feel from her Patron, the silvery eyes of the Akalak trying desperately to gauge the incline or decline of the landscape. He had to make sure he accounted for any sudden changes in trajectory, possibly caused by dips or knolls. This was what Xuphim wanted. The full power of the gallop. The chaos and the thunder of the quartet of legs beneath him working. The way the sound of the impact drowned out just about everything else. The pummeling his back and rear was taking every time he failed to exhibit proper form. That was how one progressed. "This is it! This is the feeling! I've got it! I've got it...I'm losing it...I don't got it, oh fu--" real words immediately began to interrupt his internal dialog as a particular recoiling motion almost sent him up and off sideways, "Slow slow! Slow it up!"

[Septimus]

He was uneasy at a canter, and he wanted it at a gallop? Whatever happened to one step at a time? Alright, Xuphim. Whatever you say! Her large body frame moving slowly in unison responded to his words almost right after the large purple hued man upon her back had said them. Zulrav, please help us! Septimus gave it everything she had, going her top speed. The hooves beneath her sounded like the familiar thunder that followed after the lightening during a storm. However, this thunder was constant rather than the break intervals between the sound during a storm. Another difference was that this thunder was coming from the large and hardened hooves of a horse rather than the lightening that streaked and ran across the sky from time to time. However, it almost gave someone who didn't know what was coming a pang of anxiety and fear. It was eerie to hear something that loud coming from one animal. Needless to say, it drowned out almost every other sound nearby for when the large black and white horse's hooves cut into the ground, her body weight was soon to follow with each step. It felt amazing, with the wind blowing through her mane and her tail billowing behind her like a banner. She hadn't moved at this speed in a while, mostly because she had not gotten the chance nor time. She needed to do this more often, to just get out and gallop and work on her speed even more than now. If that wasn't the full gallop for him, Septimus didn't know what exactly was. After being steady for some time, and Septimus actually believing he was stable and all good, she felt him slipping somewhat. His weight moved from this way to that way. Damn it! Here we petching go! The grip around her mane was tightened as the man tried to keep his body from falling into the claws of the dirt who would then shred part of his pride possibly. It would probably hurt pretty petching bad as well, falling from 6 feet high on possibly on your tail bone. Septimus didn't know for she had never fell from a horse herself. His loud and abrupt commands telling her to slow down caused her to gradually slow for if she would've instantly stopped, there was a high possibility of him flying forward or hitting her neck. A lose lose for the both of them. Septimus turned her head, directly looking back at him with a snort. Sir, are you okay back there? This made Septimus chuckle slightly but in her horse form it merely sounded like a suppressed snicker. Bit a bit more off than you could chew.

[Xalet]

Taking in a few deep breaths, Xuphim watched the scenery start to slow. The control started to come back, and the ease of hanging out without losing himself was becoming greater. Good thing she was listening up. With a quick adjustment from his hips the over-sized Knight was back in the middle of his seat, instead of his previous position nearly hanging to the side for dear life. He could only focus now on keeping his hips rolling with the movement, trying to ensure his spine was flexible to allow his body to absorb any shock from the movement of the horse Kelvic below him. His hand he had to force to relax, so as not to tear out a handful of mane, a bodily response that took conscious effort to relieve. "Not bad..." he mentioned, of course 'not bad' was just a nonchalant way of recognizing he had met his limit. A big horse like her had some big strides, no doubt about that. "...alright, we're heading back to your stuff, we'll go over some things there." With that, Xuphim laid on the familiar pressure on one side to make a u-turn and retrace the steps they had taken. Once the familiar starting place appeared before his eyes, the Akalak blocked out the rays of the sun with the back of his hand finally spotting Septimus' wardrobe. As they came up to her carefully folded things, Xuphim leaned back in the saddle and pulled slightly upward her mane to the rear, signalling to slow and eventually to stop. Xuphim moved to dismount from his equine partner, but completely forgot the lack of not only a horn, but also a stirrup to aid in his trek from Septimus' back to the ground. That as it was, the muscular purple-skinned Akalak promptly slipped and went straight to the ground, landing with a resounding thud. With not even so much as a groan, Xuphim climbed back to his feet and utilized only a very brief moment to dust himself off, almost as if he was trying to appear as if nothing happened. "Gonna feel that tomorrow..." "That went alright for your first time, Squire. Get changed back to the blondie form and get dressed. The way I see it that went well enough for a first go, but there's plenty more we gotta work on. We'll get a few more riding sessions in, with saddle and tack and work on what you'll need in combat. When we're out on the field, the thing to remember is you're probably the biggest damn thing out there. That means when you hit stuff, it's gonna move, and that's the power of a warhorse. Horses control the flow and direction of battle, that's something you learn from tactics and all that crap. When a person sees a horse, they gotta back away, cause they know they ain't gonna knock the horse down. Forcing that movement controls the direction of battle, see?" even Xuphim, while no where near a scholar, had a few keen tidbits of battle strategy locked up in his head. Most of it was learned from Xalet, of course, but the dark soul knew well enough how to take advantage of them when he could. "I got a few techniques I'll share with you when we do all that, assuming you can put them to good use. Any questions Squire?" Xuphim took a moment to bow his hips out as his hands moved down to his lower back, arching it to the rear and feeling a relieving pop once he had found the sweet spot of his bend. "How you feelin'? Tired at all, eh?" he prodded her shoulder once she was dressed with his finger. All the while he thought to himself, was this how a Knight was meant to teach? Had he learned it all through his own encounters with the various Knights that had been instructing him?

[Septimus]

As the Akalak's hand relaxed and let go of his death grip on her mane, he simply shrugged off the fact that he had almost hit the dirt and Septimus respected this for she probably would have been a bit embarrassed and blushing big time. Not bad? Yeah right, you about fell! Xuphim ignored what had just happened anyways, and applied that familiar pressure indicating a turn. After that pressure was there for a while, Septimus decided he wanted a u-turn especially to go along with his previous words. On the way back to the starting place, the Kelvic went a lot slower than their previous run or quick paced gallop. The sun was beaming in her eyes but she lowered her head somewhat and tucked her head closer to her chest to help block out the sun. Her black surrounding eyecolor acted like an eyeliner that some used, helping as well to keep the rays of the ball of light from hitting her eyes too much. The previous thundering sound that had just erupted from her hooves below was soon very small compared to just minutes ago. Soon, her clothes came into view, and with this recognition Septimus put out a short and happy snicker. After all, she supposed it was something to celebrate about, wasn't it? It was her first ride ever in her life, and it gone good. No injuries, no falls, everything had gone close to perfectly, right? Boy, was she wrong. As the Kelvic neared her clothing, she gradually and slowly came to a stop with a good radius, allowing Xuphim to dismount. I might can kneel if it would be easier for y- The Akalak had already begun his descent when he grabbed air and soon fell to the ground. The Kelvic, lowered her head for a short second. However, he got back up quickly and soon finished the encouraging pep talk. After he was finished, Septimus added this battle tactic into her list of mental notes then shifted. Blondie form, eh? A black mane in exchange for golden hair, hooves to hands and feet, and a jet black coat for practically hairless skin. The breeze of the cool autumn air hit her bare skin as she soon got her clothes on to continue their training further as Xuphim had explained. "Thanks, not so bad yourself." Was that what she was suppose to say to her Patron? She hoped he didn't take it the wrong way considering he just kind of did fall. "And again, thank you. No questions so far, sir." Septimus said this with a smile, watched as he popped his back, then did something similar, only popping her neck. "I'm feeling amazing. I seriously haven't ran like that in while and it feels pretty damn good... Sir." Septimus sighed then rolled her shoulders "And surprisingly, I'm not as drained as I thought I would be. I mean, shifting twice has kind of drained me a bit, but I'm good." The Kelvic shook her hand, releasing a pop of relief from her wrist as well with a subtle smile.

[Gossamer]

Character: Xalet
Experience: + 4 Leadership, +4 Teaching, +4 Riding
Lore: Instructing Squires. Adapting Human Training to Kelvics. Being Conscious of Body changes in weight training. Teaching pressure cues. Teaching leg cues, balancing on a horse,

Character: Septimus
Experience: + 2 Interrogation, +4 body building, +1 Running, +1 Endurance,
Lore: Move conserving energy. The importance of stretching. Knowing the right questions to ask. Resisting Instinct. Carrying a Rider. Taking Leg Cues, Balancing A Rider, Listening To A Rider’s Cues


Additional Notes: HI guys. Great thread. I gave Sept the bodybuilding for carrying a rider around. It builds strength in her muscles. Xalet, you did excellent teaching and learning both in this thread. I’d like to use this thread as a great example of teaching if you two don’t mind.