Completed To Teach Or Not To Teach (Stefan)

[Chandray]

Timestamp: Day 45 of Winter 514 AV Location: On the streets Chandray was going to train more seriously now and would go to Kendoka Sasaran this day. She took out her well used map over Riverfall and started to find her way in her usual way, taking care to compare the map with the real streets and buildings. This was how she nagivated in the city, all the time trying to improve her knowledge of the streets and places there. Looking at the map she could see that the training location was situated on the other side of the city, as far away as it came. It would be a pretty long walk from her home in Northwind Suites. Chandray donned her winter gear, took the rapier and went out. When she came out, she turned left, which meant walking up the stairs towards the Oathmasters Tower, a place she had heard about by now and wasn’t keen to visit. It was marked with yellow a yellow sign and a name tag on the map, and it was easy to see the tower in reality too. When she was nearing it she turned right and walked on. She recognized the Arma’Drex Smith on the right side of the street when she walked past it, and this confirmed to her that she was indeed on the main street leading to the Bluevein River. She walked on and passing by the Labor Aid it was confirmed once again. Satisfied with how she had started to learn to navigate and know some landmarks in the city she folded the map and put it in an inner pocket of the cloak. After walking on for a quite long time she passed by Zonghije Warren, yet another already visited and known place. There she stopped to buy a pair of good dark brown leather gloves for fencing, thin and soft, pefect for sparing her hands without making them clumsy. The price was 50 silver miza. As far she had seen on the map she just needed to walk to the very end of the long main street of the middle tier in the city and there he would find the training location. And finally she could see a large single story building with stone walls. She had found Kendoka Sasaran. Location: Kendoka Sasaran She went up the small steps, slid the door open to the side and stepped in, closing the door after her properly and without making any unessessary sounds that could disturb people that where training. A very tall akalak was approaching her … OOCLeather Gloves - 50 Silver Mizas

[Stefan]

Stefan finally was in front of the Kendoka Sasaran, after nearly one and a half Bells of getting lost on the streets again. He was getting better, he though, before he could have been lost for almost three hours. He smiled as he entered, even though there was a fairly recent gash on his left cheekbone, but he didn’t seem to care. It all began the day before. Stefan went out for a walk at noon, as he always did since he came to the city to familiarize himself with the streets. One of the things he noticed beside the fact that he still needed much time to learn to not to get lost, is that he needed some winter clothes. It wasn’t a really smart idea to come just with some clothes from the Suvan Sea... That line of thought was interrupted when he encountered someone he had met before. He didn’t know her name, but he recognized her long hazelnut hair. She was supposedly a musician that was about to play at Sybel’s bachelorette party some days ago, but sadly he wasn’t able to hear her music. Stefan smiled slightly when he saw her, and waved to her. She didn’t respond, and walked past him. It was probably just a misunderstanding, of course. She was probably busy, on a hurry or simply didn’t recognize him. Of course, that didn’t stopped Stefan to try to pickpocket her, just to mess with her. He didn’t go far, though. He walked silently behind her, almost sneaking, and got his hand closer... just to have the woman turn around, rapier in hand, and instead of getting some free mizas, he got a nice gash on his cheek. The surprise made him fall to the ground on his back. After the incident, the woman, whom Stefan learned her name was Chandray, helped him to get up. However, Stefan’s reaction to the attack was really unexpected: he was impressed by Chandray’s skill. They talked for a while on the street, with Stefan doing his best to not to bleed too much. Instead, he asked Chandray to teach him to fence, and even offered to pay. After a long discussion, Chandray declined. She was going to teach Stefan, but not for any pay. She also wanted to train and it seemed fun that another beginner fencer wanted to learn. Also, she wanted to improve her own skill, so they agreed to meet at the Kedoka Sasaran the next day. “Sorry for being late, Chandray”. He said with a smile “Glad to see you here!”

[Chandray]

The tall akalak greeted her. She looked up at him, because looking up was the only option, even for a quite tall woman like her. At a closer look, she guesses he must stand around eight feet high. He cut an extremely impressive figure. Feeling somewhat intimidated by the sheer size of the man she explained that she was going to practice rapier fencing with a friend. The akalak nodded and pointed at a training dummy at the other side of the big room. Right then Stefan arrived. “Stefan !” Chandray greeted her new trainee enthusiastically. “So you too found your way here ! “ She was as energetic and eager to start teaching as only first time trainers can be. Oh, she had great plans for Stefan! His relatively slender build was good for a rapier fencer, she thought. And he had shown great interest in learning, so far. The clash on the street hadn’t been pleasant at first, but after speaking with him for a while she had found she liked him well enough. When he asked her for fencing lessons she had felt flattered and jumped at the challenge. She had never been a teacher before. But now she was! She told Stefan to follow and they walked over to the training dummy they would use today. It was similar to the one she had seen in the Arma’Drex smithy, a vaguely humanoid form of cloth and straw. There she took off her dark brown winter cloak and hung it on a hook on the wall, the wool gloves in it’s pocket. The black wide brimmed wool hat followed. She was now dressed in shirt and pants, knee-high boots, and the striped scarf around her brow. Now … Yes … She searched another pocket in her cloak and found the new leather gloves and put them on. They were dark brown, soft and exactly what she needed. “I will soon show you the training plan I have made. But first of all I will show you what you will be able to do later on, as inspiration ! This is the very first lesson ! ” With this she drew her rapier and moved into en garde position : she put her feet shoulder-width apart, with the front foot pointed straight out. Her back foot pointed sideways. She held her right arm, with the rapier loosely held loosely in front of her, and she put her your other arm behind herself, at shoulder height, with her elbow out like a chicken wing. Then she bent her knees slightly, while she kept her upper body relaxed. She focused, similar to a small automatic meditation, and then she lunged forward in an explosive movement, arm before body. The tip of the rapier hit the cross on the dummy where the heart would have been on a human target. Chandray smiled brilliantly at Stefan and went to search her cloak pockets again. This time she pulled out the parchment where she had written down the training plan. “Put your rapier away Stefan, because you aren’t going to use it yet.” She showed the plan to him. The first point on it was : "Tell Stefan about fencing in general and what is part of the fencing". After this there were points like “Learn to know your weapon” and “Stances and Footwork” and “Basics about Mental Focus”. And finally “Breaks in between for rest and relaxation". “I have been adviced to prepare well, follow a detailed plan and teach very slowly, as I’m new at teaching” she said. “So we will work slowly, step by step, to ensure you get everything right from the start. Also, you must listen well and ask me many questions, as a new teacher can easily forget to mention important things. Some people are even of the opinion that the more communication there is between trainer and trainee, the better the result will be. So ask questions. And follow my instructions please. ” She made a pause, feeling it was best to stop there for now so it didn't become too much for Stefan. “There’s more, but I will tell you about it after the general information about fencing. Have you understood the plan now? Does it feel like this will work for you?” 00CMy first posts will be longer than I use to write, need it to start up. I will be back to normal post size soon.

[Stefan]

“So you too found your way here!” Chandray seemed really excited, even more than Stefan. Evidently, she really wanted to teach him, and was showing much passion for it. Smiling, and nodding at eh Akalak teacher, he followed Chandray, taking off a rapier from a weapon rack. Stefan took off his own cloak and hanged it on a hook along the one Chandray hug her cloak. Stefan was fairly poorly equipped compared to Chandray. He was just dressed in his green shirt, his white pants and his leather boots. Again, he remembered that he needed to buy some new clothes... “I will soon show you the training plan I have made. But first of all I will show you what you will be able to do later on, as inspiration! This is the very first lesson!” She said. It was going to be interesting, Stefan though. Truly exited, he saw Chandray take her position. Stefan was like a school boy at this point, wanting to learn, though it was rather difficult. His teacher was fairly attractive to begin with, and seeing her taking that deadly, yet elegant position really distracted him. On the other hand, he liked the part about being able to do it later on. That was indeed inspiring. He got closer to her, truly exited, rapier in hand. “Alright, let’s do it! He said generically, only to be stopped by her teacher, telling him that he needed to his rapier away. Immediately, she gave him a piece of parchment, and he began reading under his breath: "Tell Stefan about fencing in general and what is part of the fencing… Learn to know your weapon… Stances and Footwork… Basics about Mental Focus… Breaks in between for rest and relaxation… oh, come on Charaday…” he said to her. He understood that he needed first some training in theory, but he really wanted to start. In the end, he just nodded to her. “Alright, lass... you’re my teacher, after all...” He listened closely when Chandray told him about the training plan, the questions, and the training. He was honestly disappointed, but he just nodded “Understood, I’ll do what you say.” “There’s more, but I will tell you about it after the general information about fencing. Have you understood the plan now? Does it feel like this will work for you?” “Yes, I understand. And yes, that will work, Chandray. I just have a couple of questions, of course.” He questioned her about basic things, like if the rapier could be also used for slashing and not only for piercing, the best way to defend oneself with one, the necessary equipment, and in the end, “If somebody trains like you do, could they become at least half as attractive?” he said it half serious and half joking, laughing for himself.

[Chandray]

“Good Stefan.” Chandray smiled. As she was a very new teacher and had prepared to do things in a premade way, she started this way, althought she felt slightly stressed when he already had so many questions and she ought to quickly come to answering them. The conflict between her plan and the trainee’s eagerness made her feel somewhat confused and for a few chimes she didn’t know what to prioritize. “It’s hard for me to answer everything at same time” she said finally. “I will answer, but first …” She started to speak about fencing. “The first thing I was told when I was new to fencing was that it’s in a way similar to dancing. There’s a lot of footwork Stefan. And the footwork is really important.” Here she stopped and searched for what to say next. “Think of a fight. It’s important how you move, right? It’s not like you can expect to win it if all you do is hack and slash mindlessly. A good fencer is like a dancer with a sword, or an acrobat even. It’s important to attack the right way but also to defend oneself, dodge and parry.” “But we can come back to it. I will try to answer your questions now. She paused a bit and thought. “All weapons require training for a reason: the important thing is to use them efficiently, not at random. The best way to fight with a rapier is to thrust and try to pierce the adversary. It was made for that kind of fighting.” Again she paused and thought of the next question he asked. “The best way to defend yourself depends on what happens in the fight. There’s a number of different defensive things you can do, and it’s important to learn them. You will learn stances and you will learn to parry and dodge. But in a fight the best defense is actually high awareness and attention - to be very focused, and very observant on the adversary’s moves so you can counter.” Then it was the equipment question. It was of course good to have good equipment, she said, and as soon as she had more money she was going to buy chest armor. “I hope we can borrow some simple pieces of armor here, meanwhile. And perhaps wood swords for a start. “She paused to think again. “My trainers used to put something on the tips of the rapiers in order to make it less dangerous to practice. I guess we need to remember that.” His last question was definitely a bit flirty and it made her laugh aloud. “If somebody trains like I do they can become at least twice as attractive!” she joked back. Chandray was easygoing, had a cheery temperament and was easy to entertain, so if somebody joked with her she mostly responded the same way. Like many easygoing people she was however not particularly serious ...she just bantered back and joked and had a good time, but didn't mean anything more with it. She decided to try a new teaching idea that suddenly popped up in her brain. A bit unplanned, but hey, it could work. She explained to Stefan that she was going to let him try a stance in practice and explain things to him while they worked at it. With an encouraging smile she told him they were going to do a stance named “en garde”. She grabbed his right arm and pulled him forward a bit. “Stand with your feet at shoulder-width distance, and put your left arm behind your back” she said. Her instruction was a bit short but as she was a bit new at the teacher task, it didn’t occur to her that there were a few more things Stefan might need to know in order to do this right.

[Stefan]

Stefan heard Chandray, paying attention to the answers she gave him, all while trying to not to get distracted. He was still eager and exited, so this time, he tried to think his head, making mental notes while Chandray answered him. “Oh, dance and acrobatics!” he said joyfully when his teacher mentioned it. “That could work. I’m nimble on my feet, so it shouldn’t be that hard to learn... besides, if that’s an opportunity to dance with you...” he said without finishing the phrase, still listening to her. He couldn’t discuss her first answer: a rapier is meant to be accurate and agile, not for cutting, like a cutlass. One didn’t need to be especially strong to use a rapier, for its elegant style was made for thinking. The defence part was also really useful. She was right in that matter: the best defence was high awareness and attention, there was no doubt. Nevertheless, Stefan’s opinion was that the best way to avoid the hits of the enemy was to not be there in the first place... but of course, he kept that opinion to himself: his teacher was Chandray, after all, and he was supposed to learn how to defend himself. Still... he always liked the idea of dual-wielding with a parrying dagger. Someday, perhaps. Chandray gave him the idea to get leather armour, at least for the chest. That could always be useful, and also it could help him with the blasted cold. It has been a while since Stefan carried armour, but he still remembered how much he liked leather. However, the young man couldn’t help but laugh when Chandray mentioned the protection in the tips of the rapiers. “Don’t worry about that! I don’t mind another one, anyway...” he said jokingly, pointing at the gash in his cheekbone, and laughing. And so they both laughed at their jokes, when Chandray got the idea of the training. Stefan couldn’t help but smile eagerly when she mentioned the stance practice. It was a start, and a good one, actually. He did the “en garde” stance, trying to imitate his teacher, with a firm body, the feet at shoulder-width distance, the left arm behind his back and the right arm forming a slight curve. It looked like the basic position, but his feet were a little twisted on an incorrect position, his right arm was kind of loose and Stefan itself was a bit curved; beginner’s mistakes that Chandray corrected immediately. The position made him felt a bit rigid, even uncomfortable, but seeing the ease of Chandray’s position, he knew it was just a matter of practice. “Dear, I have another question...” He said in his rigid position “The left arm should always go that way? Or can I leave it somewhere else?” I fact, that question had a more sinister origin. Stefan once knew a swordsman that kept dirt in his pocket, so he could throw it at the face of the enemy while in combat. It was an useful technique indeed, so he wanted to know the best position of the left arm.

[Chandray]

Chandray focused on observing and following Stefan’s every move in detail, while he tried to follow her instructions and take the en garde stance. She was in no way a fencing master, but in practice she had trained the basic stances a lot and knew them quite well. Now she could see that although Stefan had understood what she meant he wasn't doing it totally right. His back foot didn't point the right way, he seemed tense, the way he held his arm behind his back looked slightly awkward and the way he held the sword was pretty good but could be improved. He seemed to remember how she had done it at the start of the attack she had shown him for inspiration. “I can see that you have paid attention Stefan” she said, feeling satisfied with her trainee for taking the studies seriously no matter he seemed to be a cheery chap. In Chandray’s opinion it didn’t hurt to have a fun time with jokes and banter while they were training. But she of course didn’t want the training to derail, so right now she was serious. “It is good, but in fencing you can always improve.” That was how Chandray’s own trainer had used to say when they were going to make corrections. She tried to do like they had done, and use their way of teaching as a model for her own teaching of Stefan. She was well aware that she wasn’t able to teach as well as her own teachers’ had done, far from that, but she remembered how they had done things and she would try to do it in a similar way as well as she could. “Stay in en garde. I will show you again. Watch me now, look at how I’m doing it, listen to what I’m saying and try to memorize it all. After that, improve the stance.” Chandray took the en garde position again, slowly, while simultaneously explaining every small thing. A more experienced teacher might have been quicker, but Chandray needed to think of every thing she did and said, so for her it took time. But the reason was that she wanted to give Stefan a good start and it wouldn’t do to let him develop bad habits that could make it harder for him later on. She stood with her feet at shoulder width, the front foot pointing straight forward, but the back foot turned out to the side. “This is the correct distance between the feet. You are doing it right. But as you can see, the back foot should point out to the side.” She kept her upper body relaxed. “I think you are perhaps a bit too tense, so try to relax in your upper body for a start. Now comes the arm, watch me now”. She put her left arm behind her back, the elbow pointing out a bit, like a chicken’s wing.” The arm is held this way in the start, because it adds to your balance. You can try that out and improve your feeling for the balance by moving the elbow and bit and feel how it affects you.” And finally she held her sword arm the right way, not tense, but sort of relaxed with accuracy. “Hold the sword in a relaxed yet prepared way” she tried to explain. “It’s not just hanging there like you don’t know what to do with it, but you aren’t attacking either. In this stance you are ready and aware, on alert but not doing anything yet.” She paused and thought about his question. “You put the arm this way when you take the stance. Not forever, all the time you are fencing. But right now you hold it there. Later you will combine the stances and movement and it goes without saying that a good fencer needs to do that in a flexible way, not stay stiffly in rigid positions." She waited for Stefan to carry out the corrections she had shown him. When he was done with it she would tell him it was good and go on to the next steps of the en garde stance, because they weren’t ready with it yet. The man seemed to be quite eager though, and Chandray was a bit worried he would become bored if she kept him to the basics all the time. So in order to give him something to hope for, she said: “I am new at teaching. This is one reason we are going very slowly. I want everything to be right from start. If you learn positions and movements the wrong way the memory of them can stay in your body and give you problems later. I am only used to think of my own fencing, so I need time to get this right for somebody else. You need to have patience to become a good fencer, and in particular if you want to train with me.“ She smiled when she saw the somewhat disappointed facial expression Stefan gave her while she said this.“I hope end this training session with teaching you how to attack the way I showed you for inspiration. But we aren’t there yet.” And with a laugh she added : “Dance and acrobatics ? That comes way later ! For a good fencer it’s like dance and acrobatic, but a novice that tries it without knowing the basics could easily come off as a clown instead. And I guess you aren’t aiming for that, eh ? "

[Stefan]

“A clown? If that makes you laugh, my dear, I’ll come with makeup and everything!” Stefan said jokingly as he kept the posture, now with his feet almost in the correct position, and his left arm like a chicken wing, just as his teacher said. Now, for some reason, he had the thought of him dancing with Chandray. Leaving those thoughts aside, Stefan remembered what she just said: he stretched a little bit to relax his body, and went back into the en garde posture. This time, his body was looser, but he still needed to correct that. It was without mention that his arm was getting tired, and could barely hold the rapier at that point. Stumbling in the position, Stefan hummed a melody under his breath to help him to focus. It was a song that he remembered about some duellist, and how they fought for honour, splendour, pleasure and their lives. The mental image of the song helped Stefan to focus, at least a bit. “Chanday, do you have any advice to relax the body? I feel like rigid like a board...” he said interrupting the song, all while keeping accommodating his feet and arms as much as he could. At least, he though, he could take advantage of his left hand... having dirt in the pockets sounds estrange, but it was in fact really practical. The words that Chandray said did make sense to him... he must be patient and with a clean mind. Breathing deep, Stefan looked forward, using the correct position. The eagerness could be seen in his eyes, the desire of handing a sword and fight like a professional... but of course, he must be patient. If that was the requirement, he would have to do it. He knew that he needed to improve, but again, that’s what the practice was for. However, in less than a minute of maintaining, he did a misstep and fell onto his back on the floor. Evidently, his head was not clear enough. Rubbing his back, he looked at Chandray, and after a couple of awkward and silent seconds, he busted in laughter at his own clumsiness. “...Shall we take a break?”

[Chandray]

Her trainee had lost balance totally and fallen on his back. Chandray watched him and recalled how her own trainers had sometimes laughed like they though she was joking and did it deliberately, in the time when she still had that kind of beginner accidents. Now when she was the teacher, she started to feel unsure if they had really believed she was joking. It had been so obvious that Stefan hadn’t done it deliberately. Her teachers must have seen it with her as well, mustn’t they? Perhaps they had just pretended to not understand, in order to make her feel comfortable? She couldn’t know. But this was how she decided to do now, with Stefan. She laughed and told him to stop kidding her. “You did that on purpose, you joker, don’t you think I understand that you just are lazy and want a break ?” She laughed like at a good joke. But she was also unsure. Was this a good time to take a break, or was it not? She tried to recall how it had been when she first started training. Had they taken breaks in the middle of learning a stance? She didn’t think so. To her it seemed better to complete the teaching of the stance first. Hadn’t her first fencing teacher said something about how it was important to not stop right when she had failed at something and it was better to try it again at once, in order to not become too affected by the mistake ? Also, it dawned on her that there was more to being a teacher than just teaching. Inexperienced as she was she had believed it was just about telling and showing how to do. But it wasn’t. It was about more. It was about planning the training session and it was about sticking to the plan and get it done. It was about coaching the trainee and take responsibility for the progress. It was about - leadership. She needed to lead the training, not just carry it out. And she realized that she could hardly lead the training and stick to the plan if she would let the trainee take over the planning and give in to his wish to take a break at a random point in the training. In particular as she was so new at teaching she feared it could make everything derail if she followed Stefan instead of the other way around. However, Stefan was a grown up man. He wasn’t like a subordinate that would accept to be given orders or so. Chandray didn’t have any power at all over Stefan, but she still needed to be a training leader. Then again, how would it be to have a break and just speak right after he had fallen on his back ? It could actually become awkward…she felt motivated to at least try to make them do things the way she had planned. After a few ticks of indecision she said: “You are doing well. But I believe it wouldn’t be good to stop right here. There is very little left until you know the full stance. I would like you to continue.” Here she felt that it might be best to give Stefan an extra incentive: “I’ll support you so you can try to do a full attack on the dummy. You are very near and it won’t take long time. After you have tried it we can take a break. Would you be alright with that?” Would he get irritated at her now? Chandray was nervous about how he would react and needed something to do in order to conceal that feeling. She decided to show the full attack again while Stefan made up his mind! Once again she stood with her feet shoulder-with apart, turned the back foot to point out to the side and put her left arm behind her back on the correct position. She held her upper body relaxed yet ready, the sword arm in the right position and the left arm behind her back. To Chandray it wasn ‘t hard in the least to stand like this and she didn’t get tired in her sword arm. She took time to answer the question he had asked her: “You can improve this stance by focusing your attention on your own body and feel the balance. Try to feel it from inside. That’s how I have learnt to do it. Try to feel one part of your body at the time. It can maybe help you to relax.” She had a feeling that was still really vague and she ought to explain better. But she couldn’t think of any better way. Not yet. “I will help you with it later. After the break.” Then she bent her knees slightly and smiled. “This is the next thing you will add, how to do with your knees. Bend your knees slightly, focus and attack. The arm goes first.” With this somewhat short explanation, also completely forgetting to mention the footwork, she focused and did a new lunge: She jumped forward explosively, with her arm first and the body following, taking care to not overextend the knee of the back leg. When she did it, Chandray combined it all into one smooth, well coordinated movement. She looked at Stefan. “Your turn” she said hopefully. “If you want to try it, that is.“

[Stefan]

"You did that on purpose, you joker, don’t you think I understand that you just are lazy and want a break?" Stefan heard, sitting on the ground, while Chandray laughed. He smiled too; her laugh was quite nice. “Oh, dear, your words hurt me...” he said jokingly, getting up again. Being completely honest, he did fell thanks to his clumsiness, but laughing at it didn’t hurt, as he always did. Even with the ridiculous he was making, he was glad, even exited. He managed to do the position, even for a few moments! And that indeed make him glad. He could already picture himself with a rapier, fighting like a professional. Of course, it was pure fantasy... and truth be told, he didn’t mind training until making it a reality; Most of the time, it was boring sometimes, even disappointing, but when he managed to do something good, he did got exited. That was more or less the reason he used a real sword instead of a safer one: that way, it wasn’t half as fun. Getting out of his fantasy, Stefan could see Chandray somewhat nervous. He didn’t know exactly why, but he managed to get an idea, based on what she told him some moments before: she was having doubts. Being a novice teacher, she wasn’t sure on how to continue, or at least that was Stefan was guessing. He just looked at her without interrupting, to let her think. Only when Chandray looked at Stefan, he smiled at her, touching her shoulder affectionately. “Come on, lass, you’re doing great. You’re teaching me well, and with a lot of patience, and that’s saying something. Besides, it’s quite nice to spend the time with you... and not just because you’re the most attractive fencer I’ve seen!” he said smiling, without breaking eye contact or touching her shoulder. He supposed that flirting would help her to relax. Or it could get her embarrassed or angry at him instead. There was only one way to find out, anyway. Of course, he showed his disappointment when she told him that he still needed to practice his postures... but he suddenly got better when his teacher told him that she would support him until he made the attack. He just nodded when he observed as her teacher made the en garde position again. Again, Stefan was marvelled when Chandray used the position and the attack; it was simply poetry in motion. Her fine body adopting the stance, the droplets of sweat in her forehead, the movement of her feet which only could belong to someone who spent a good portion of its life on the sea, the eagerness in her eyes, and finally, the deadly yet elegant thrust again the dummy. He could barely hear what she had said, as he was focused on her actions and posture instead. It wasn’t the right way to learn, but he didn’t complain. Finally, Stefan noticed that Chandray was looking at him. “Your turn, if you want to try, that’s it.” He nodded “Of course, my dear” taking the rapier and preparing in front of the dummy, he stood in en garde with the body as relaxed as he could, breathing deeply and humming his little tune. His feet and left arms where in the correct position; he got that part more or less figured. His right arm was in a awkward pose, but Chandray corrected that, along with his body. “Chandray, dear, I have a last question...” he said while accommodating his body “There is some trick you have for this? Any tip would be fine...” that was his last question, as he didn’t have anything more to say. For now. After that, he focused on the practice dummy; in the area where Chandray usually hit, to be more precise. She let Stefan loose, and he got into position, eye to eyes with the practice target, still humming, and with an explosive thrust and a somewhat dramatic grunt, he went, arm first, towards the dummy, just to have his swords slip against the practice mannequin and with Stefan falling with his face and chest against it. “That was... embarrassing...” Stefan murmured, feeling his face blushing. He didn’t even turned his head to see if Chandray was laughing. He stood up again, taking the rapier in his hand. “Alright, no issues, I am ready...” Taking another deep breath, Stefan took the position again. This time, he didn’t needed so much help to be in the correct stance. He was getting the hang on it, and that was good. With a firm body, the feet in position, and the right arm holding the sword, Stefan gave a grunt as he gave a hit at the dummy like Chandray did, just a bit clumsier. Stefan smiled widely as he holded the rapier, now stuck on the chest of the dummy, in the area where the sternum would be. “...I think I’m getting good at this.”