[Fighter's Pit] A deciding Spar (Ball)

by **Tiath Othos** on April 3rd, 2015, 4:36 pm

14th of Spring, 515

The sky had overcast to it that day but that hadn't deterred the city of Sylira's even in the slightest. The citizens still went about their daily business, shop owners still trying to sell their wares and the knights of the city still patrolled it with a vigilance, protecting its citizens from the evils that they faced. The chance of rain didn't stop those who wanted a fight either as the training still had a number of people entering and leaving throughout the morning, amongst them were squire, non squires and even a few knights, all who were looking to either train or fight another.
The sounds of blunt blades hitting into each other and fists hitting flesh filled Tiath ears as he stood on the edges of the dirt arena, a blunted long sword in his hands as he went over a few stances.
He had only been back in Syilra for a single day of work before he had been told to take a day off to let himself recover, his hand absentmindedly moving to the bandage that covered the right side of his jaw, the hinting that it had been recently spit open again showing via a slight red tinge.

Even tho he had been told to take it easy and not to do much, he had ignored the advice and needed to do something, the only that could come to mind in that moment was to train. That had angered him slightly but he put it out of mind and headed towards the Pits, he had only been told about it from a few of the blacksmiths he worked with. He really didn't know what to expect but what he found was nothing that he had expected, it was less of an arena to him and more just a ruined building but it did have what he needed at that moment, people that were also training. Well at least I won’t get lonely when training. He wondered around for a while watching as other practiced strikes or sparred with an opponent.

Sitting against a wall he watched, watching as two went back and forth with each other, thinking of what he would do, just blocking himself out to anything else. "Block the blow, let the counter slide along the blade, strike back, and wait." He watched as the less experienced of the two was easily defeated. He smiled to himself and stood up walking over to where he had noticed the weapons for training were, while not many and definitely not well maintained they at least did have a small variety. He took a long sword for himself and swung it around a few times getting a feel for the weight of the sword before starting his own routine of practice strikes. He was mid-way through a pose when he was interrupted, the boy who had won the spare earlier had come over and had been watching him. "Hey, I know this is out of place but I was wondering if you would like to have a partner to practice against?" The boy asked as Tiath glanced over the other boy. He seems to be about my age, taller too... Maybe even a bit musclier then me. Nodding he moved away from the wall and to a more open spot of the arena, before he turned to the other boy. "I am Tiath, Blacksmith" He said bowing slightly, it seemed to catch the other off guard a little but he smiled and spoke in a friendly manner in return, "I am Matthew, a Squire"

Tiath's expression hardened upon hearing that, seeming to becoming lost in thought "Are you ready?" It seem to break through his sudden mental spiral he was having, he nodded. The boy rushed at him with an overhead strike, which he easily diverted by angling his own sword so it lanced off towards the ground with little effort. Stepping back a pace he waiting for the next blow and diverted it as well, along with the next three blows that came his way. The next strike the boy swung was another overhead one which he deflected again, which the boy followed up with a punch at his face. Tiath's hand went to his jaw as pain rippled from it, feeling that it had reopened. The boy smiled in triumphate, "Didn't expect that?" He mocked at him. Ok now he gets it. Beginning to push on the attack he started to press the boy back, regaining the ground he had lost, the sword moving in metallic spider web around the others, blow after blow landing, yelps coming from the boy before at last he swung hard from underneath, catching the cross guard and ripping the sword away from the other.

He lowered the blunted blade and looked around to find a few had been watching and gave him a slight round of applause while others came to their friend asking if he was ok before laughing at him. Matthew brushed them off before walking up to him. "Well, I wasn't expecting that" he said offering a handshake. Tiath smiled and took the hand, "It was close" he said with a slight nastiness before he turned and went back to the spot he had been in. He didn't feel satisfied from beating the boy, just anger now that refused to be vanquished. Annoyed with himself he sat down, feeling his tender jaw to make sure it was still properly covered.

by **Ball** on April 15th, 2015, 5:28 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball watched the squire and the civilian thrashing about with swords amongst the other onlookers, he was the smallest one there and so was hard to notice or pick out in a crowd. He was disappointed when the squire lost the fight, it seemed close though in terms of skill, but that didn’t bode well with the Pycon as he felt that the squire should’ve had the upper hand the whole spar. He is being trained to defend this city… And a civilian took him down with a flashing furry of haphazard sword play after being smacked in the face by a well-timed and effectively placed punch to an obvious weakspot. He frowned as the squire’s friends came and picked him up while laughing. Disgraceful. I see the humor, but a fallen brother is no laughing matter. He is that group’s weakest link. Ball shifted his body and stepped out from the applauding crowd.

“ You squire.” Ball called out as he started to walk away, “You need to learn to fight better. A flurry of haphazard sword swings shouldn’t have caught you off guard.” Ball nodded as the squire nodded in response, it was a known agreement in that comment that Ball was entirely correct. Looking back at the civilian sitting on the ground he looked at the bandage and frowned, it was clearly medically treated but he didn’t listen and now it was splitting open underneath.

“You overworked yourself. Stepped over boundaries, he sucker punched a wide opening in your defenses and took you down via a weakness you presented. But you don’t care, I understand that feeling.” Ball held up both hands to show he held no metal weapons. Ball took the time to take a few steps forward, “Better yet. I don’t care that you overworked yourself. You disgraced a squire. Take up your sword…” Ball pointed at the weapon and stared at the civilian, “Your name means nothing to me… I want you see if you can take on a second squire.”

The stance though Ball held showed nothing to the naked eye of his training, there was no weapon held amongst his tiny hands, truth telling though Ball needed no weapon… He was a weapon.

“I am going to defend the honor of the Order. His honor for your inability to stop a fight long before someone else gets hurt.” Ball stopped talking after that.

I know all about not stopping a fight. But I know when I should stop a fight… Let’s see if he does.

Credit :

by **Tiath Othos** on April 16th, 2015, 6:20 pm

Leaning back against the wall, Tiath forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to calm down as well as ignore the throbbing in his jaw. Nursing his wound he noticed an the squire that he had sparred with being confronted by new individual he hadn't seen, that wasn't saying much tho as the ... person, was about the size of his foot. Is it a person? Or is it a living doll? Whichever one it was, it obviously commanded the respect of the squires. Feeling guilty about the squire getting lectured Tiath sighed, beginning to doubt the actions he had taken, maybe fighting the squire had been a bad idea. Though it did feel good, admitting it to himself only made it worse tho.

The guilty feeling only continued to grow as the thing that had lectured the squire approached him, giving him a moment or two to take in what he was seeing which was hard for him in itself as he had been rather sheltered to anything that was less then natural, well natural to him and this was as the first time seeing anything like this. He flinched slightly as the thing begun to verbally pull his fight apart, not giving him a moment to respond in kind. He glanced at the sword as the thing ordered him to pick it up, opening his mouth to try and defend himself and maybe try diffuse this. He looked back at the thing to find its gaze unnerving as it spoke, his resolve shrinking more with each moment. He gave a slight nod before standing up and taking the weapon with him.

Slowly he moved back to the spot where he had taken on the previous man, glancing at the thing as it spoke one last time, his nervousness showing as he wiped each hand against his pants and watched it. The anger again flared in him as it spoke about the order and what he failed at, "Maybe he should have not asked for a spar" He spat childishly in anger before he raised his sword in front of him, taking up a defensive stance as he had before. He would wait for the attacks to come, aiming at deflecting them like he had done to the last squire and to wear down the thing. Can I even wear it down? Dose a thing like this even feel pain?
He could feel the panic begin to rise in him as he stared at the other, trying to read anything that came from its movements, however useless that would be for him.

by **Ball** on April 16th, 2015, 6:52 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

As soon as the civilian picked up the sword Ball gave no hesitation in his next move. He shifted hard to the right, dragging his full mass and body in a smoothly defined arch that would normally be Ball’s started collision mark to bring immense pain his enemy’s ankles, yet this time Ball dropped the forward moving tip of his arching body into the ground a hand pressing against the dirt and sweat that has accumulated from seasons, if not years, of combat training amongst people. As his hand planted firmly against the ground he grabbed a handful of the particles and ground it into his hand with little tentacles of clay unseen by Tiath or any other onlookers.

As the hand was gaining traction Ball shifted the rest of his mass over and around in a semi-circle before him from right to left before that side also formed a crude hand shape and came into contact with the dirt. A similar action as done by this hand to form a bit of traction for the small warrior before he dropped full bodily into the sand, rolled a few times and then stood back up. He probably looked foolish to his opponent and anyone with half a brain would realize that Ball was adding traction to allow him better chance to grip the ground or another surface that may need a firm hold upon it.

As Tiath spoke finally Ball just stepped forward, calmly and in control of the next set of plans he had processed, this was honor and honor was usually excessively perceived by the public as a good thing… Ball was about to show the more violent version of it afterwards.

“I hear you talking. Trying to make excuses for a spar that should’ve ended upon him slugging you…” Ball growled in response, he made no attempt to strike at Tiath’s ankle or foot, he could see the anger seething in his face and Ball wanted to see just how much of his opponent’s actions were being directed by emotions.

“You picked up the sword, now I want you to try and defend your last set of attacks against that other squire… If you can strike me down I will leave you be…” Not that Ball was expecting it to be that easy, in fact… Ball wasn’t planning on making it easy at all. He could feel that flowing force known as djed coursing through his body and he had the temptation of activating it. Just need one opening.

Credit :

by **Tiath Othos** on April 17th, 2015, 4:43 pm

Tiath had to take a moment as he watched the thing play in the dirt, trying to work out what in heavens was wrong with it. Maybe it broke? Or the user stuffed up? He had come to the idea that whatever the thing was that it wasn't actually alive or moving of its own accord, that it had to be controlled by someone or something nearby. He took a moment to glance around the pits looking for whatever could be the source behind it, letting it do its thing with the ground, a slight annoyance developing with whoever was wasting their time.

The things words had cut into him, lowering and turning his head slightly in an attempt to hide the bandage from the other, its words only adding to the guilt he felt from the previous spar as well as his anger leaving him confused. "He got me once! How does that decide an entire fight?" He demanded an answer, confusion clearly sounding in his voice as he gripped his sword slightly harder, "Why am I at fault if all I did was defend myself?" Fighting the urge to lash out at the thing as it rubbed his nerves raw, it reminded him of his father in its speech somehow, making him doubt every action he had taken and putting him on the defense.

I just need to strike it down for it to leave me alone... That could be impossible tho... He glanced past the thing to the previous squire that he had fought beforehand, who was watching them with his friends from the side lines with others who had gathered to watch what was going to take place. Little to no attention was being paid to him in comparison to his opponent, they all seemed to at least know what he was going up against and that worried him, It got to be well known at the least then. Bringing his full attention back to his little opponent, he raised his sword a Little before he spoke one last time. "How can I strike you down if you’re not even here" He said quietly it before he gave in to his anger, ready to attack it for everything the thing had come to represent for him.

He stepped forward and thrust forward with his sword, aiming towards its center, the strike itself was strange to him as he had never had to swing at something so small before. Tiath would then try to retreat to his original stance planning on trying to fend off anything that came back at him in retaliation.

by **Ball** on April 20th, 2015, 2:54 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Grinning Ball listened to the civilian speak, he was clearly unnerved and that anger was still seething. It was that ungodly anger that Ball provoked and prodded with mercilessly until the boy – man? – struck out at Ball with his sword. Normally this attack would become a death sentence for people, pycons especially but Ball was in a small exception to that matter and the master of pyken flicked his body out, bouncing out the flicking tentacle that extended from his body against the flat of the blade that was brought down at him. It wasn’t too difficult of a move to do, it was ballsy and outlandish, but the pycon’s tentacle was nothing more than well displaced mass of clay slapping away a momentum gathering bit of metal.

Momentum of the weapon was stopped momentarily and then with the first law of physics kicking into play. Unfortunately Ball has little momentum on his side, as he was standing still and the blade’s momentum only stopped at his initial stopping point. The wielder’s weight ratio took full effect and the pyken artist was forced to follow through or be cut into pieces, so Ball rolled along the edge of the blade so that the cutting edge was just a hair’s width from his body as he rolled over the blade and settled into place on the side of it.

Rolling over the blade’s edge was done quickly and nearly effortless for Ball, his right hand reached over the blade, shifting and contorting to a claw as his left hand came swinging around clay being displaced from his torso into his hand to form a crude ball shape almost akin to a mace head. As he cleared the cutting edge Ball’s right hand clamped over the blade and his left came swinging hard into the flat of the weapon, dull edge of one side secured below his hand and the other by the ground Ball was able to use his left arm’s heavy arching swing to not only bring his hand crashing into the flat of the blade but to pull his full body up against the blade where his feet splayed out forming a sturdy foundation for his body to rest gently against, the foot closest to the ground and thus the cutting edge on the side of the blade was forced to then out and hook around and clamp against the blade much like his hand did over the top.

He was balanced cautiously on the flat of the blade which was vertical to the ground and the cutting edge by hand and foot. Ball stared up at the civilian. “Rule number one. Your sword can kill you.”

Credit :

by **Tiath Othos** on April 20th, 2015, 6:06 pm

It was a struggle for Tiath to come to terms with what happened in front of him, as the thing managed to slap his blade to the side and bring it to a stop for a moment, if even if it was for just a moment for a moment. He had not considered that something that small would have that kind of strength to stop the blade in movement. He redoubled his efforts and pushed the blade further towards the opponent, no longer thinking of being on the defence at this point. It was at that point that the thing had decided to break his will further.

He could only watch in a mixture of awe and fear as whatever it was rolled over his blade and begin to seemingly wrap itself around his blade and hit heavily, the shock running into his hands. It took all of his willpower to not just drop the weapon in fear and confusion, How is able to do that? Panic was setting in heavily at this point as he tried to figure out what he could do to it, Its able to wrap itself around my sword, does that mean I can't cut it? It was staring at him when it spoke, taunting him about how a blade worked. His jaw ached in a reminder of what exactly a blade could do, "A blade can cut anyone, owner or foe alike" He said quietly before he looked up to meet its gaze as it hung of his blade.

He stared back at it for along as he could before it made him shiver slightly and break his gaze away, Why does it have to be so weird? While he couldn't meet its gaze he still watched it as it hung off his sword and slowly came up with an idea, "Are you trying to teach me a lesson? Or are you going to fight me?" He muttered angrily to himself as much as the thing, feeling like he was being played. He decided to give his plan an attempt, it was the only thing he could come up with on the fly and it was what he thought the best plan of attack. He stepped sidewards and swung his sword with him, turning it to the side as he aimed it at the ground, planning on trying to scrape it off the blade. He had come to the conclusion that either it would break it apart slightly or at the very least he had hoped that it would yank it from the blade

by **Ball** on May 27th, 2015, 12:17 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball hung on tightly as the boy started swiftly stepping and swinging the blade sideways as he moved, Ball could feel the buffering of the wind and the direction he was being pulled in, the second the blade shifted to flat and parallel Ball knew he had the boy in a place he was well accustomed to. Using the shifting momentum to propel him up around the blade to settle on the upper flat part with two feet Ball made quick steps to plant him on the cross guard on the boy’s weapon. A smirk rippled across his face as he wrapped his arms around the weapon’s guard, nodded in a salute sort of way. The smirk faded just as quickly as Ball dropped his full five pounds of weight off the cross guard. This wasn’t Ball’s first rodeo in this scenario.

The first time Ball did this a poor Akalak got smacked in the face with the flat of his own blade, the second time… Well, that didn’t end so well for him…Yet as fate would have it Ball was readjusting his weight so it was at his feet as much as possible as his body hung from the cross guard. It was only a matter of ticks before the weight distribution went wonky and the boy had to decide on his fate. Regardless of the outcome, Ball knew he was putting himself into a sitting duck position, so as soon as the blade started to react to the subtle change of weight and swing upwards Ball would go release and try his best to swing forward and land hard into the boy’s gut. This part was new to Ball, but he figured if he started rocking back and forth now, that when the blade shifted up he would be able to use the shifting of it to his advantage and release with enough momentum to go forward instead of straight down.

Credit :

by **Nivel** on October 14th, 2015, 6:23 pm

Ball :

Tiath :

Additional Comments: If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to message me.

Closed [Fighter's Pit] A deciding Spar (Ball)