[Flashback]Sealing and Storing with Sigils[Bob]

[Clyde Sullins]

As Clyde had expected, Bob had tried to show him up, thinking that would impress him. But it was easy to do so when the other person had no knowledge at all. Of course he did not know what he was doing, he knew that from the start. And really Bob's style was more a combination of movement and sword usage. The same would be done with a sword skill, and learning acrobatics, two things which would be required to allow this to be either good, or to be used in combat. Having said that, it seemed Clyde's scholarly side had been awakened. And one thing that Clyde loved to do was to argue. He himself never took offense when arguing, and could argue a point till the end of time. He enjoyed it quite well actually. However often others never took such a perspective, and often in his haste to enjoy his arguing, he hurt the others feelings, or went to far. Most people did not take such a look on things as he did. "That may be true, but your theory is truly ineffective from the way I see it. For starters, you are learning a skill of sword dancing. To be effective with this, you would need skill both in using that specific sword, and possibly in acrobatics. That is if you want to be good at it." "Now while sword dancing might apply to any sword, when it comes to wielding a weapon in combat, each different weapon must be trained individually. For no two swords handle the same." "So if you think by using this blanket technique you can use it for any type of sword, you are fooling yourself. Now if you want we could practice using swords, but I just don't see the point in learning sword dancing when it both requires skills in using the sword to begin with, and also cannot truly be used in combat, except for that one weapon." "You might as well just train to make combat with that specific type of sword, and be the better off for it." All of this would be said without letting Bob speak. Once he had finished his entire long spiel he would leave room for Bob's rebuttal. But know the sun was truly getting low. The sky was starting to change color, as it got closer to setting. They really did need to get back. However Clyde was so absorbed in this academic debate, that he did not notice all of this in the sky above him.

[Bob Barton]

Again with the long explanations. "But Clyde, this is swordplay not magic!" Bob wanted to cry out. In the end, Bob decided that he would have to convince the boy properly but the decision to learn would still be his in the end anyway. Bob waved his fingers in front of Clyde. Left-right-left-right it went over and over again to tell Clyde that he is wrong. "Tsk, tsk, tsk Clyde. Like I said, its all about movement. If you can't move...then even with a sword you won't be able to defend yourself properly right?"

Despite all that Bob had just said, he kind of agreed with what Clyde was saying and picked up his sword on the ground as he headed for another tree. "But I guess I know what you mean by blanket technique. But I will also show you why what you just said is incorrect all the same." Bob took his hand and placed it on the flat of the sword, putting the hand again above the previous position of the hand. A few times Bob got the count of how many of his hands his sword was and then did the same to the thinnest tree branch he saw, until they reached the same length. Marking the spot on the branch, Bob lifted up the sword above his head and aimed a blow at the spot. Because he needed this particular length and the branch was a lot thicker than Clyde's, Bob did the motion of lifting and slashing down the sword again and again until the branch finally gave way and dropped on the ground.

He went down to a crouch, picking up the branch and dropping the sword on the ground at the same time. With the new branch he went up to Clyde with his arm extended outwards and stick pointing upwards, showing and comparing Clyde's and his branches for Clyde to see. "As you can see...I am a lot smaller than other people" Ohh how much Bob hated to admit that to anyone. Bob paused for a while to build the suspense and allow Clyde to figure out where he was going with this. "So to me, wielding a normal sized sword like you big people would require a lot more strength and concentration than I can allocate in a fight. Because of this I had to get my own sword made smaller instead of just getting it from the shops."

Bob twirled his stick a little and flailed it around him. Left, right, up and down in slashing motions to simulate a sword. "So yes, I am comfortable with this length and so I learnt your so called blanket technique. Yes its about movements but if you want, you can choose whatever weapon you want in it. Like I was trained in a sword for this you could take...lets say...daggers, maces or even shields if you like. Bob stopped twirling his stick around at this point and started to look seriously at Clyde "My teacher did not teach me how to fight or anything. She only taught me the basic stances and movements thats all. After that she just gave me a sword and asked me to do with it whatever felt right. Thats how I learnt to fight. I even had to get into random fights with a few other people just to see if I can win or if I had to tweak my own technique."

Now to explain about Clyde's acrobatic's theory. Bob moved up to the broad tree behind Clyde. "As for that little requirement about acrobatics, did you think I learnt that? That one is more for performances like my master, jumping around all the walls and diving all over the place like a monkey." Bob put his hand in front of his mouth when he accidentally said that. Lucky she wasn't around or she might run after him with the sword like a wildwoman for what he just said. "All I needed to learn is how to defend myself so thats what I only learnt and thats what you would learn if you want. If I knew acrobatics, I could do those funny moves like she did on the walls."

Then holding on to the stick, Bob tried to do some acrobatics with his sword like Clyde suggested. Remembering how he had seen his master doing it, Bob put a foot on the tree then used it to kick himself upwards. A little bit off the ground, Bob used the other foot to kick at the tree so that he can do a little backflip but since he had never done anything like this before, Bob ended up kicking the tree and sending himself flying backwards and fell on his back. Coughing, Bob tried to say "...See...?*cough* I don't...know acrobatics either. *cough*"

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde looked over at Bob. It seemed he was not really understanding what he said, since all the ways he tried to disprove him.... made no sense and had nothing to do with what he said. "I never said you had to have all of those skills, I said those other skills would be required to get really good. And skill in acrobatics also enhances your movement, it does not just mean jumping around." "Well I can see we both have differing views on this, and are not going to get across to the other. Perhaps we can talk about this later. I will try to borrow a practice wood sword to use, for when we meet, and we can decide what to do. Maybe you can get one to, so we don't bang them to bits." Clyde had just realized how late and dark it was getting. Gathering up anything he might have left, he started to walk to the city. He was late as it was.

[Bob Barton]

Bob sighed in disappointment hearing what Clyde had to say. The boy is not as open minded as he though he was. Nevertheless, Bob struggled to get himself up and started sitting on the ground. Bob shook a bit to regain his bearings after falling down and only then he attended to Clyde.

"But if you just want to learn to defend yourself...nevermind. Maybe for our next session we can see what you want to learn. Yes, you go get the wooden practice sword. If anything you can learn a bit through some sparring..." Bob started to think again, Clyde definitely is not interested in swordplay but magic..."I will think of something interesting we would be able to do for next time then. Don't back out!" Bob shouted behind Clyde as the boy began to leave his camp.

With Clyde gone, Bob had nothing else to do for the day. But Clyde has suggested to him something interesting. Bob ran through the words in his mind again "And skill in acrobatics also enhances your movement..." Yes movements were important for him. If only there was some way for him to learn or get better at acrobatics. Too bad his master didn't want to teach him the trade secret.

Bob went up to the tree to try that trick he flopped earlier. Starting by putting one foot on it, he pushed down as hard as possible to lift him up. However the snow stuck on the tree from his earlier attempt already melted a little so Bob's foot slipped and as that happened, he fell along with it. Head a little bit rattling, Bob went over to another "drier" tree. There he put his foot on it again this time making sure that there is some traction between the two so he won't slip again. Satisfied that its going to be as safe as it can get, Bob kicked again to lift himself up. In the air, Bob kicked at the tree again and again...he feel on his back to ground with a "Thud!" The pain, twice was unbearable and Bob just gave up saying "Maybe next time."

[Secret]

THREAD AWARDS Clyde Sullins   Skills Skill Gain Notes Teaching 4 Glyphing 2 Reimancy 2 Rhetoric 2 Drawing 1   Lores Reasoning Behind Sword Dancing Bob Is Not The Brightest   Injury Report Description Heal Time After Effect Moderately Diminished Eyesight Permanent* Poor Vision unless healed Moderately Diminished Hearing Permanent* Poor Hearing unless healed Whispers from Overgiving - - *Requires 3 Marked Healer to fix the after effect of Lightning in such close proximity to yourself. Be careful, lightning can stop people's hearts if it strikes within a mile of someone.   Notes Careful with lightning, who knows what the noise could attract next time. Bob Barton   Skills Skill Gain Notes Glyphing 3 Drawing 2 Reimancy 2 Acrobatics 2 Rhetoric 2 Running 1 Swimming 1 Storytelling 1 Weapon: Snowball 1 Weapon: Cane sword 1   Lores Lightning is Scary Mages Don't Always Like Blades   Injury Report Description Heal Time After Effect Bruised Hand 4 Days None Sprained Wrist 14 Days* Weakness in wrist if not healed Moderate Bruising (Back) 7 Days None *Needs a Mark 1 Healer to check it out.   Notes Decent thread, good job.