Temper is a Weapon We Hold By the Blade

by **Kaveh** on April 28th, 2015, 9:02 pm

3rd of Spring 515 AV

For the moment, he stood, his eyes glancing around the large, open room at the mess of fighters. Upon closer inspection, it seemed as though there was some order to the chaos of sparring, sweating bodies with vague borders between each group divided by weapon choice. Many students were bare chested or wore less clothing, likely in an attempt to deal with the heat of the space, and bore a multitude of bruises and scratches from their practice battles. Kaveh wasn't too worried about the marks however, but did wonder how much of a killing he would make if he were to treat all these fighters for their temporary injuries. At the very least, it would enable them to train more often, which according to the busy school seemed to be the main goal of these students.

A shadow then loomed over him, breaking him from his thoughts to look up at the beast of an Akalak. He had seen large Akalaks before, but none so tall, fit and in such close proximity to him. His dark blue eyes were an uncommon sight to the Chaktawe, who was used to the icy gaze of other Akalaks, and so he was thrown even more off guard. He recovered quick however, when the warrior spoke in a tone more jovial than his presence would suggest. "Greetings, I'm Mizra, are you interested in weapons training?"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Kaveh replied, his tone sharper than intended, likely as a result of his intimidating company. The grand master smiled nonetheless, perhaps more excited by the prospect of another student than to focus on his rude response. "I see you carry a scimitar. We have a group training on similar curve swords in that corner." He gestured with a point, to which the Chaktawe followed with a look. "Arkin is the instructor there, the one speaking to that Akalak there. You can speak to him about your training here." And with that, Mizra slowly departed, drifting over to a pair of students, observing their sparring match with an expert eye. Left with only one place to go, he made his way over to his instructor.

Much like Mizra, it seemed as though Arkin was also the friendly type. As Kaveh approached, the Akalak flashed a white smile in his direction, moving past his students to greet the newcomer with a shake of the hand. The Chaktawe attempted a strong grip as a show of strength, but was easily bested by Arkin's casual hold. Whether it was unnoticed or not, his instructor showed little change in his expression. "I saw you speaking with Mizra, could I assume you're a new student then?" He nodded as confirmation, touching the scimitar hanging by his hip with one hand. "Scimitar." Kaveh added, to which Arkin seemed to glow with excitement. "Great choice, I too chose the scimitar in my youth." Makutsi help me... He cringed mentally, his excitement going the complete opposite way of Arkin's. "Well let me introduce you to Ignis, he's the student you'll be working with to learn the basics." And with a wave of a hand, a smaller Akalak approached with a rounded, wooden practice sword in hand. Thankfully, Ignis seemed a bit less cheery compared to Arkin, but already Kaveh could tell he wasn't happy to be here helping out a newbie. Arkin however, seemed blissfully unaware of his student's irritation.

"This is..." "Kaveh" He answered. "Kaveh, right. Could you go over some of the basic stances and swings with Kaveh here? Let me know when you're finished and I can go over them in depth if needed." And with that, Arkin left as quickly as he came, leaving behind the two. Both eyed each other for the moment, but Ignis broke his contact first, walking toward the weapons rack instead. Grabbing a practice sword similar to his own, the Akalak handed it to him handle first before taking a few steps backward.

by **Kaveh** on April 28th, 2015, 10:03 pm

Ignis shifted into a stance wordlessly, as though he were challenging Kaveh to a match already. For a moment, Kaveh grew nervous, particularly in watching two nearby Akalak enter a spontaneous battle upon bumping into each other. One held a curved training sword like his own, the other a wooden spear. He would have continued to watch the two if it were not for the sound of his partner's throat being cleared, his expression looking more irritated than just chimes before. "Copy my stance." He ordered, to which Kaveh begrudgingly followed, removing the scimitar from his hip and setting it behind the weapon's rack before returning to their limited space of the Sasaran. If Ignis wanted to get this over with quick, the Chaktawe would be more than glad to help him with it.

He traced each section of the Akalak's body, placing his own feet shoulder apart like his with his right foot slightly forward. He sunk into his legs a bit, bending them slightly as he raised his wooden sword to point upwards, the blade hiding his right shoulder from view. "Don't move." Ignis continued to order, releasing himself from his position to move toward Kaveh, tapping the Chaktawe's feet further apart, his elbows higher and right hand further from his body with the tip of the wooden sword. Kaveh didn't take well to being prodded and poked, but suppressed his irritation for the moment as he suspected these taps would be quite a bit softer if he had been paying attention earlier. It would be easy for Ignis to beat him to a pulp and justify it as necessary for his training, or so he imagined, thus he took the next few breaths a bit more deeply in an attempt to calm himself.

Finding the stance satisfactory, Ignis explained a few basics, but failed to release Kaveh from his current position. "Your body is in a basic sword stance position, with your feet almost squared on to your opponent with your leading foot on the same side as your sword holding hand." The Chaktawe was beginning to get a bit uncomfortable in this position, but was quick to be reminded to hold the pose when Ignis tapped a drooping elbow with his sword. "Your weight should be on the balls of your feet." To which the Chaktawe shifted his weight. "And the bent knees of this position keeps you balanced when moving and especially if you wear heavy armour, but most scimitar wielders rely more on speed or are on horseback, so we usually wear light armour instead." Kaveh was starting to sweat now, the heat of the room only amplified by his frozen pose. "You're holding your sword in the on guard position, with your blade guarding the shoulder of your sword arm. It's easy to both defend and return from defences to this position. Your other arm usually holds a buckler or a scabbard used to defend yourself with." Then, he stopped for the moment, silent as he looked right at the Chaktawe. "...Really now?" He asked with some exasperation, wondering if the Akalak was going to keep him like this forever. Rather than answer, Ignis shifted back into on guard position and then swung from the top of his head downwards. "Try that swing."

Thankful for at least a change in position, Kaveh copied the swing but inadvertently raised his body up, straightening his legs. "Keep them bent, and return to on guard." Ignis reminded, to which the Chaktawe muffled a groan. "Preferably you want to swing downwards to avoid bouncing or have the blade be deflected back up to your face. Try from your shoulder now, on a diagonal." Releasing himself from on guard once more, he swung, but failed to extend his arm like before as he had no reference to copy this time. "Extend your arm more, use more than just your wrist to swing so that it will be more powerful." Well if you demonstrated I would've known that... On the surface however, he did as he was told, releasing his anger internally instead. "And from the gut, then the leg." Ignis seemed to be speeding up now, likely becoming increasing fed up with having to deal with a newbie rather than focusing on his own training. The Chaktawe followed through, swinging from his gut region and then from his leg, but all from the right side of his body as he wasn't sure how to do so from the left. "How do I swing from the other side?" He asked, but Ignis didn't look like he felt like answering, his lip taut in a straight, unbudging line. Kaveh supposed he'll simply have to ask someone else later, or Arkin. Gods, he was beginning to miss the sunny fellow.

by **Kaveh** on April 28th, 2015, 11:24 pm

"Normally you don't thrust with a scimitar, it's mainly slashing attacks, but you can if need be." Ignis then demonstrated quickly, faster than Kaveh was expecting. "Your turn." When asked to repeat the motion, obviously the Chaktawe was confused, mimicking what he could see of the thrust. The Akalak sighed, which nearly set the fired up healer off. Was he really going to sound tired with him when he was the one doing a sloppy job? Unknowingly, his grip on the hilt grew tighter, knuckles whitening. "Like this." He elongated the last word as if he was speaking to a child, thrusting once more but slower. A sharp exhale escaped the Chaktawe, a feeble attempt to cool his anger as he eased himself back into position. He angled the blade across his body this time, then swung, remembering to extend his arm this time. Still Ignis did not look happy, then again, when did he ever in the short chimes they 'got to know each other'.

"Aim with the sharp edge near the tip, not with the actual tip." He added plainly, but Kaveh did not really understand what he meant. Those sound like nearly the same spot on the blade, what was the difference? He filed the question away along with the others that nagged at him, deciding to only take what Ignis would offer and nothing more. He was just about done with this Akalak.

Continuing on his rapid pace, Ignis pulled himself into a pose to which Kaveh copied nearly immediately, familiar with his way of teaching now. With the blade parallel to the ground and above his head with his elbow raised, he explained. "This would be the position to guard your head with, if your blade was more in front." Now you're was going to teach and critique at the same time, how efficient of you. He mentally spat, finding the insult less cathartic than his usual flat out cursing. Then into another pose, this time with his elbow down and forearm across his torso and the sword up, similar to the on guard position but now blocking his left shoulder from view. "This is to guard your left shoulder. Don't block your shoulders with the tip down, it'll be more dangerous to others around you and to your fingers." Kaveh followed along, his sword now pointing down and hilt by the left side of his gut. "Your gut." Then lower, shielding more of the left leg now. "And your leg. For your gut, keep your hand higher to avoid getting hit in the fingers with a direct attack." The information was coming rapidfire at Kaveh, but he didn't mind it so much. He was used to learning quickly and from bad teachers as his father was similar, though Argar was like an Alvina of patience compared to this one.

"But blocking with a scimitar is sort of useless." The Chaktawe didn't bother with the on guard position anymore, standing up with slight irritation. "What was the point of learning all those positions then?" He finally spoke, forgetting his promise to not bother with asking in his annoyance. This time, the Akalak apparently felt like answering. "The scimitar is too thin for it, but even wider swords don't always block. Usually attacks are parried so the force has somewhere to go. It also reduces damage to the sword to not hit them together directly." The answer was good enough, at least, much more than Kaveh expected of him. This in itself, shut him up for the time being and thankfully, the small outburst also helped to calm his mind.

by **Kaveh** on April 29th, 2015, 12:11 am

"Footwork is straightforward, you just withdraw the foot that is on the same side as an incoming attack unless it's already withdrawn." Kaveh nodded, trying out the steps from the on guard position. He imagined the sharp blade edge coming toward him, the metal shining under the hot sun. He withdrew his right foot as it was already slightly ahead, then left. Once more, he withdrew the right but this time, he added his previously acquired knowledge and turned the sword tip down to block an attack to the gut, crunching in the elbow so he could hold the hilt high enough to avoid damage to his fingers. Through this, Ignis was silent, his expression unchanging as Kaveh tried out a few more defensive maneuvers. Withdrawing again, this time from the left, he imagined the blade now came from above and raised his hand above his head with the blade straight across. Reminded now of the direct hit of sword against sword, the Chaktawe could almost the hear the clang of metal and feel the reverberations through to his arm. Although Kaveh was curious of parrying, and a great deal of other questions Ignis decided were not worth answering, he left it alone in favour of more practise. When he looked to Ignis once more, he found that the Akalak was missing, quick to engage in sparring with another.

After a few more combinations with footwork and defending, Kaveh attempted his attack swings once more. Now he advanced, naturally moving the same leg forward as the side he attacked from, though he wasn't sure if this was the right way to go about it. He swung from each point from the right side first, beginning from the top to the bottom. First head, the shoulder, gut and leg, with the latter two confusing him as they were at nearly the same angle. Perhaps they were meant to be similar since there wasn't much room to swing near the bottom? He then wondered about his left side, how exposed it was as he was swinging from the right. Likely this was due to the fact that he didn't have an object to shield himself with in the other hand. Although he wasn't taught this specifically, the Chaktawe also attempted swings from the left side, mirroring the right handed swings but found them feeling unnatural due to the use of his right sword hand. They were weak as well, but Kaveh was not sure why when it was the same arm swinging. He tried all the right swings, then all the left once more, trying to figure out the reason. When his muscles began to tire, he found it easier to pinpoint the reason, guided as he was by the gentle throbbing of his muscles. It seemed that when he swung from the left, he was using more of his triceps to move the arm, whereas from the right he could feel the use of the bicep. Naturally, he deduced his triceps were simply weaker and would need to be worked on if he wanted to have swings from both sides to be equally effective.

Finding himself tired quickly, likely due to a lifestyle of little physical work, Kaveh decided to call it a day. He returned the now sweaty, practice sword to the rack and proceeded to hook the scimitar back to his hip which was significantly harder than it should have been. His fingers shook a bit with the sudden extraneous activity on his body, making knot typing a bit frustrating. When completed, he left the Sasarn without a word to Ignis (as if) or Arkin, too tired to entertain latter.

by **Timothy Mered** on May 10th, 2015, 7:33 pm

Your Righteous Reward!

Kaveh

XP :

Lores :

Note: Most of your reward has gone into your Scimitar XP. Since you were quite detailed about the movements and poses I've given you the maximum 5xp in Weapon Skill: Scimitar.

If you have any questions, concerns, remarks, or comments regarding the grade, please send me a PM and we can work something out.

Solo Temper is a Weapon We Hold By the Blade