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[Alexander Faircroft]

44th Spring 516AV
Anthonious Training grounds
9:33AM

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex stood in the training grounds again, full plate adorning his body as he squared off against the training dummy. His blades off to the side and away from him. He was attempting to simulate a battle against a person who’d knocked his blade from his hands and was still armed themselves. He was trying to do this in full plate too to give himself even more of a disadvantage that one being the excess weight. The Base stances he used was something he’d been spending some time practicing in.

Stepping into his Pulvia stance he threw out a series of punches each one aimed at the same spot but hitting slightly wide of it. One, two, three, four, five, six, punches a tick and a half overall. What made the style he used dangerous wasn’t the amount of power he put behind it but the speed he used. Six punches in a tick and a half. It was stressful on his shoulders and his overall body but combined with the weight of the armour it was somewhat devastating. The wood at the points of impact had begun to splinter and fragment. But beneath his gauntlets he could feel his hands stinging and throbbing with pain.

There had to be an easier way to do this than simply go in for the direct assault. Switching out stances he stepped into his Ictus stance, his left leg leading as he pulled his upper body weight back. Dropping low like he was avoiding an overhead swing he took a large arcing kick at the pole holding the dummy up. The moment his shin impacted the thick wood he fell onto his back clothing his shin through the steel. Even with that on, it wasn’t perhaps the best idea to kick a solid steel post with intent.

Damnit… Ow, ow, ow… I need a teacher for this but I refuse to ask Ball…He’d just throw me around like a rag doll and call it teaching. I can’t Ask Greyheart either as he’s more prone to just using brute force as opposed to finesse like this…I don’t really know anyone else who can fight without a weapon, except perhaps… A small bell rang in Alex’s head. Archie. The Squirrel pycon who’d done similar to ball but was more willing to teach him. Without turning him into mush. Despite the fact his words were often a little condescending he knew what he was talking about Alex couldn’t deny that. As he thought he spotted the Squirrel walking into the Training grounds. And immediately pulled himself up off of the ground heading over. It was at this point Alex realized he should be careful what he wished for.

“Archie, can I have A moment of your time, to help me learn something?”

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

This season marked a whole year since his training had first been brought to an unofficial halt. It'd been rather skewed from the start, it was true; there were few things that Iros could really teach Arch, simply because the Akalak wasn't versed in the things that a Pycon needed to know. He couldn't tell Arch how to ride a dog, or wield a Py-Pole, or dodge attacks. Neither could the Pycon lift heavy weights or wield a spear. He could only hope that pairings like these between squire and patron were few and far, because he never would wish the frustration and pain it brought to the pair of them. It felt like, after a very long time, they just drifted away. Iros had other things to focus on; mostly lifting weights, although other knightly duties occasionally reared their heads and he disappeared for days at a time with assignments that he was not allowed to speak of. Archailist was free to pursue his own course until then.

Being a squire, he was still limited.. but with apparent free reign from his patron, he was otherwise free within the constraints of his rank. He could run free around the woods as he'd done in his youth almost seven years ago, or wander around the castle helping with small odd-jobs that he could.. or, like today, he could decide to turn up at the Training Grounds to practice a little more with one of the few Pycon weapons he'd picked up on his way around. Of course, he could always return to the Fighting Pits and struggle through another brutal lesson with Hammer Fist.. but shyke, he was spending so much time down there, he was running out of money to pay for her lessons. Eager as he was, there was no sense in blowing all of his coin on the hobby.

Today, it was a Py-Whip pressed into his hip. One of the more complex weapons to handle, in his experience. He'd been racking his nexus over and over, trying to think of someone to practice with on the way up the stone steps... and practically the moment he set foot in the Grounds, there was someone asking for his time. Well, that wasn't hard, he thought quietly, looking up and recoiling a little. "Oh! Alex." Pleasant surprises were things that came too sparsely in his days. "Hah, of course." If there was anyone around that he actually wouldn't mind stepping out to offer advice to, it was the up-and-coming squire who seemed to appear everywhere.

Out of curiosity, he glanced around Alex's leg briefly to see where he'd come from.. a wooden training dummy. Weapon training? But he couldn't see a weapon anywhere on the lad, strapped to his back or at his hips.. not even leaning against a wall somewhere. Out of sight, perhaps? "What're you working on?" The little Pycon stepped out of the archway and walked back at Alex's side. "And how can I help? I hope it doesn't involve any heavy lifting."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Success, he’d garnered Archie’s help. The Squirrel was for lack of a better term, one of the best teachers Alex had ever had. Primarily because most of the Knights weren’t worth their salt. And those who were like his patron were often too busy to assist him in any real fashion. Alex beamed a large smile when Arch said he’d help and spoke.
“Sadly, No heavy lifting here. In fact no lifting of any kind today, I’m actually practicing how to handle myself when I find myself bereft of a weapon. I’ve actually left the pile of blades including the hidden ones I normally farry back in the barracks. Barring my bastard sword and shield which I’ve tucked away at the side of the training grounds.” Alex fidgeted where he stood.

“I’m actually hoping I can get a few pointers from you about fighting unarmed. Considering how easily you’ve knocked me on my arse many times in the past without even trying. Yet have given me advice on numerous occasions I was hoping I could glean a bit of that in the form of teaching rather than sparring?” Alex spoke with an honest tone to his light voice but there was a clear unease. He wasn’t used to directly asking for anything like this. Normally people just picked him out directly because of his size and his height. Primarily for spars. And if he asked for a spar it was normally against someone he thought was around the same level. Here despite the size difference it was like a sapling asking a mighty oak for advice on how to grow.

“If you’re not too busy that is?” He finally offered the last words in a passing plead for help. With what he’d said it wasn’t the whole truth. But it was the truth, he was looking for a way to fight unarmed, or at least practice it. However his real reason was that it would allow him to deal with people without having to draw his blade.

If Archie agreed fully to help Alex would head back towards the dummy and step into his Pulvia stance. Feet open and a part hands half curled into fists lined up in front of him.
“It’s a style I was taught by my parent a long while ago now…I’m afraid I’m pretty rust with it but it’s less of a “raw power” style and more of a speed and technique one.” To demonstrate this Alex took a half tick to centre himself and repeated the series of six punches in a tick and a half he’d done before. Not quite striking the same spot but not heavily powerful. Still the wood on the dummy had begun to splinter form the repeated impacts of his hands and gauntlets.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

If he had any eyebrows, he would have raised them. "Practicing without a weapon for when you're disarmed? Ha, how sensible." He'd love to see some of the knights like Ser Iros or Ser Ladis handle without their swords and shields; see how long they last. He knew for a fact that Iros wouldn't last; the man was so sure that he would never be disarmed in battle or caught off-guard, and that even through some miracle that did happen, his physical strength would mean he'd simply be able to overwhelm whatever opponent stood in his way regardless. Of course, it didn't matter how strong you were... a punch in the face from a legendary boxer was still going to knock you out-cold immediately, no matter how thick a metal helmet you wore.

After a moment of thought, sacrificing a little of his time was no loss; he was only here really because he had little better to do in the first place, so why not make his time worthwhile? "I'd be happy to give you some advice. To be honest, sparring would be a terrible idea anyway. You can't really practice the same things that I do, nor is it worth trying out moves on something that isn't anywhere near your size." Thank Sylir for training dummies though. Together they walked back and the Pycon nimbly climbed up one of the stone walls bordering with another arena, currently unused. He needed a good vantage point to look at the other squire's technique.. which was, at the moment, just a little confusing but he supposed this was a different branch of combat he'd rarely really paid attention to.

"Hmm, well." He wasn't really sure where to go. In his mind, it was a strange move in the first place to be focused more on speed than strength while wearing full plate armour. Maybe in leather or something else of the like, perhaps. But then again he'd also never had to deal with the disadvantages of different armour in first-hand anyway; he never wore any and he likely never would either. "Try it again, but this time, put some more movement into your hips. With every punch, I want you to swing your hips and give yourself some more momentum. Keep your legs the same distance apart, but move your... move your left forwards." One hand scratched around the Pycon's chin as he watched with careful eyes, trying to note anything to help improve the boy's technique.

The main problem was, as he went, little snippets appeared here and there in a rather unorganized fashion. It might not be simple for Alex to understand, but he couldn't help not remembering everything at that exact moment. He was only slightly less new to this than the other squire, after all. "Oh! Aim a little lower. Don't aim for around the chest, but not the lower abdomen either.. aim for right about here." He tapped the handle of his Py-Whip around where he could imagine the stomach would be. "Yeah, right around this area."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Perhaps that was a fair point, Alex couldn’t copy Archie’s moves any more than Archie could copy his really. Where the size difference set in was something that could be overcome by Archie’s experience. However after demonstrating the technique it became very clear that Archie had spotted a flaw or at least a varied way to improve it. To step in with his hips for every punch as opposed to just using his arms to generate the speed? Could that have perhaps worked? And step in with his left foot. Alright, why not.

Alex slipped his left foot forwards his right hand back lining up the left hand side of his body almost with the dummy his feet held firm in position. In a split tick his hands clamped into fists again and he began the rolling series of punches again, this time twisting his hips into each strike. The speed felt the same but the power he could feel was vastly improved. Rolling hand over hand and back again the attacks flowed through, each strike to the area Archie had prescribed, the midsection just below the ribs and just above the abdomen. Given the increased power and the sheer speed of the technique he could feel the momentum carrying through. He could also feel two more things, the wood of the dummy splintering beneath his gauntlets and the skin on his knuckles being slowly flayed from existence.

He finally stopped wincing and waving his hands back and forth. Speaking with a sharp exhale of breath he glanced at Archie.
“How was that?” An open ended question that left room for both improvement and praise should either be warranted. However now less focused on the dummy Alex could see why Archie had mentioned that particular area. Before he’d taken a Knee to his gut and that had severely hurt, but any higher and it could have been really bad news. Tapping his own fist against his torso in that spot he could feel that it was much tenderer than many other parts of the body.

“That’s not the only stance by the way. There are two others.” With a short shift of his standing and partially to give his hands time to recover he shifted to the Ictus stance. His right leg still back but more of his weight balanced on it His left one forwards, and his whole body much lower to the ground. “The Style I was taught has three forms only two I can really use against a dummy, the last needs an opponent as large or larger than me to be really fully useful but it can be used on people smaller, though not quite as small as pycons…” Alex gave a small smirk not of mockery but sincerity. With a short snap of his body trying his best to hold his balance on one leg he brought his rear right leg up and over to strike the dummy at the midsection. The same point where he’d struck multiple times with his hands just now. The shock wave from the impact sent ripples of pain up his shin but he could feel the solidity of the impact behind the steel. Even if he bruised like a peach after the fact.

“Anything you can see needing particular work there?” Another open question before he continued. “Thanks Archie by the way. I really appreciate the help, I know squires are supposed to train with blades of many forms and arrows but I can’t help feeling there’ll come a time when either I can’t draw my sword or any blade. Also I’m handicapping myself by wearing the armour, it’s… Heavily limiting my speed.” He wasn’t bragging nor was he even trying to big himself up but rather mentioning the small handicap was something that could make all the difference in allowing Archie to see where the true strength of this form and style came from. Momentum not raw burst.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He couldn't really tell whether there was more impact now, but the noise of splintering wood was much crisper than before so he'd take that for positive. "Much better I think, just work on pulling your hips into tighter turns, build more momentum into the punches. Ahh, and when you punch, pull the other hand back.. turns your shoulders and upper body too," he replied. These were small improvements though; the Pycon was nodding his head in approval. He was as impressed with Alex's style as he was that the boy was able to actually improve on Arch's rather lackluster teaching techniques. He supposed that if they remained on that stance for a little longer he'd probably find more improvements but soon it seemed like Alex was ready to move on.

Now he was trying kicks, side-on though. "These and a third are the only ones you know? One kind-of punch and one kick?" he asked curiously. Even knowing that there was probably a bit more to this whole technique, that was.. surprising. He could think of quite a few more.. although it wasn't exactly a style. It was just a way of fighting with what he had. These human techniques seemed much more flowery. "Well, look. Keep your fists closer to your chest. Should keep your centre of gravity a little more central. Aim to hit with the joint of your foot, not the shin." Once again, he could only think how much of a shame it was that he used platemail while doing this. For all the speed it was obvious he was trying to achieve, the constant heavy rattle of metal grating on metal made it all the more obvious how he was being slowed down tremendously.

Alex seemed to be fully aware of it, though. He supposed it did make sense, in the end, although it would make everything that much more difficult. It was Alex's body in the end; all he could do was advise, so advise he would. "Use your hips a little more as well. Turn them, just like with the punches, as you kick. Apart from that, looks pretty okay. I mean, it's good to know this stuff.. there's no doubt it'll be useful. Although punching and kicking really isn't enough. At all." One hand reached over his blank face and rubbed the spot of clay between his rounded ears in thought. "Look, let me try something. Go back to that first stance, whatever it was. The same position when you were punching. Arms the same, legs the same."

He waited for Alex to get into position and then copied it. "Now, what I want you to do is to snap your right leg up and kick out. Don't try to put any force into it, just snap the leg and bring it straight back down again. Like this." The Pycon's right leg lifted, his lower leg snapped quickly in the air, kicking out and then immediately recoiling back down. Afterwards, he pulled back into exactly the same position he started. "Do it on the dummy. Aim for the same position and try to hit the dummy with.. err, this point," he ordered, lifting up his own foot to try and show Alex what he meant. The ball of the foot, just underneath his toes. "Use the hips, keep your centre of gravity low, arms in the same position and don't focus on force, focus on using the speed that you lift your leg to give it impact."

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Tighter turns with his punches. Keeping his body together made sense. And perhaps being able to transfer these skills to a sword and a shield would be useful as well? Alex mused for a moment as he paused between motions. However Archie’s question was something that made Alex smile.
“These aren’t all I Know but it’s better to work on the foundations before moving onto something more technical don’t you think? One step at a time. After all “A more skilled and focused unit, can overcome a much larger one” Isn’t that what you told me a while ago?” Alex was literally learning how Archie had told him once many, many days ago and he was learning that to the very finest point. He was refining the very basics to their sharpest before he’d even attempt anything with a lot of technique or flash. As the fight with Ball had shown him, as much as flash and shock was effective it wasn’t useful against those who’d seen everything.

Alex had learned that much to his own detriment. Keep his hands closer to his chest and tighten up his form. Much like what he did with his sword and shield. And his centre of gravity? Ok. Alex lowered himself closer to the ground again bending his legs further hoping to tighten his form enough to hold a steady stance. However Punching and kicking wasn’t all there was. Alex knew this wasn’t was trying to refine upon something he’d been taught a while ago. It was just difficult to realize where he was going wrong without a fully trained master or at least expert teaching him the style. However Archie asked him to go back to the first stance again. Alex complied slowly shifting back, standing taller and raising his hands in front of him. Left foot and arm forwards, angled to face the dummy but instead of watching his fake opponent he was in fact watching Archie.

Snap his leg out how Archie had shown. But against the dummy where he’d been kicking. Alex nodded slowly lifting his positioning a little before lowering his stance more. Alex lifted his right leg and mirrored what Archie was doing. There was an awkward lack of balance too it added by the plate and his own unfamiliarity with the motion but never the less he managed to pull it off, if only just. He felt a twang in the back of his leg after pulling off the kick and hand to put his leg down fast. Keeping his weight off of it gingerly for a second he came to realize it was through use of muscles he really didn’t get a chance to flex too much. “Well that worked…Hurt though.” He smiled out wincing a little and still listening to Archie. His hips were what he needed to use for the strike. But he’d noticed when kicking if he didn’t angle his shoulders right he was liable to fall. Perhaps the Squirrel hadn’t taken that too much into consideration?

“Archie give me a second.” Alex spoke before Unhooking the plate male loosening the straps and watching the steel fall from his form allowing him to be much lighter. Same with the steel on his lower body, the chain and plate falling and making him significantly lighter and faster. Beneath it he stood now in darkened clothing and boots. The second time Archie would have ever seen him out of his steel outer shell. “That’s better.” Now Archie could possibly see the effort he was putting forth at this from the cracks and missing skin at the knuckles of his hands.

Flexing his fingers a little he took a moment to centre himself and then repeated the set of punches how Archie had suggested. His hands tucked closer into his chest as he fired off a waterfall of punches one after the other a full half tick faster than before. Exhaling a slow breath after he hadn’t hit the dummy so his stopping was a little shaky but his motions were significantly increased by both the lack of the steel and the adaptations Archie had suggested.
"Was that any improvement?"

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Knowing that Alex at least had more than absolute basics to work with brought much relief. "To be honest, this stuff is still pretty basic." In his mind at least, it would give Alex a little more variety to what he could use.. which of course would give him more options when it eventually came to actual practice using the techniques he was improving on today. "Of course we'll all take this slowly and thoroughly though." He had to admit, having those same words practically thrown back in his face did bring quite a beaming little smile to the mouth on his stomach. "I swear to Sylir you could disguise yourself as Eyris' champion and nobody would know better with that smarty-arse memory you've got packing between your ears." He almost wanted to hit the boy for it, but then the kicks started and it looked like he didn't have to. It was pretty obvious he'd never actually tried to kick from the front if it was already hurting after one or two kicks.

He was about to tell Alex to continue, but he stopped and waited for the boy to, at long damn last, unhook some of his plate. "Thank Sylir." Even if it was being done solely for the purposes of weight and protection to improve his endurance and probably some upper body strength, it was almost agonizing for the Pycon to see the squire flumping about like a great fish out of water behind walls of thick steel. When he'd finished disrobing the ridiculous chunks of metal and repeated the attacks like before, there was so much noticeable difference. "Much more improvement, yes. Keep your back straight though as you go, chin down, head straight, shoulders back, spine straight. Posture," he explained carefully. Now that he could actually see the boy's pose without the thick metal slinging around, he could actually make comments on other parts of the boy's workout.

"Oh, toes pointed forwards. Both of them. Knees only slightly bent; you want to bring your centre of gravity low, but not at the sacrifice of everything else. It's about balance.. finding the right position that works. It'll mean taking a lot more time using the stance, experimenting a little bit until you find the right balance, but you'll find it with more time and experience." It was probably a lot more obvious now that he was talking more along the lines of his acrobatics training than anything to do with combat.. but then again, he'd learned a lot more about jumping between trees before he even begun to think about applying it to punching, so that was pretty much second-nature. "Try running through all three, but this time, with the punches, aim for the head first, then the middle, then lower, towards the groin. Don't sacrifice posture, just bring your fist up or down. For the kicks, snap-kicks always in the middle, no point aiming higher or lower.. but for the side-kicks you were showing me, you could try them for the head as well, I think.. if you can raise your leg high enough that is. Depends on flexibility," he continued in a rather offhanded lecture.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

“Sadly it’s one of the only things I’ve going for me really Archie. That and the never give up attitude I’ve got.” He smiled with an open lightness. He couldn’t quite fully get the full sarcastic sentiments out of Archie’s voice, but still it was close enough to a compliment and he’d take it. The visible relief on Archie’s face was clear as crystal when Alex shed his steel cocoon. Though following Archie’s words was something that was starting to eat at him, not in a grating on his patience way but more eating at his stamina. However the words of improvement sat in his mind. Trying his hardest to adjust his own stance to what Archie was suggesting to improve. Feeling his back straighten out and hearing a pop come from his spine as he did so he shifted his shoulders back and kept his hands close to his chest. His left still leading, he lowered his chin but kept his eyes squarely forwards.

Straightening out his legs took a little more practice but he got there eventually lowering his centre of gravity as best he could before he felt himself start to sway through lack of stability. Punches to face, middle then lower body, kick to midsection snap type, and then arcing kick to the head. Alright a simple sequence but one he’d need to refine the very basics on. The head kick though with the arc might be a little difficult for him however Alex had a small idea of how to account for his lack of balance. He’d need to test it out first. Alex gave Archie a small nod and then began the rotation stepping in a little closer a half to full inch at most Alex began the punches: two to the face, two to sternum, and two to just above the belt line. Following up with the snap kick to the midsection he felt the momentum want to push him back and knock him off his feet on the loose sand then came the final kick, knowing he wasn’t quite fully flexible enough to bring his leg that height he shifted his whole body to the left is left hand flat against the ground as he use the momentum to carry up his foot to the side of the dummies head.

However as he did his hand slipped at the moment of impact letting him and his body collapse against the sand with an audible thud.
“Ow…” Alex just said that rolling on the sand to look skywards. “Remind me not to try that again.” He chuckled half in embarrassment half at the failure of his own actions, but at the very least he’d learnt to not try that again till he was better.
“Still this is a vast improvement from where I was the other day.” Taking a brief moment to close his eyes Alex laid on the sand for a second. Exhaling slowly he started to haul himself up from the ground. A slightly sluggish pace due to the harshness of the impact but again eh was back on his feet.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Alex's retort made the Pycon laugh out loud. "Don't forget the seemingly-infinite ability to put yourself down. Lighten up and speed up those punches." Alex's adjustments were slowly dragging him closer and closer to perfection in his eyes. By now improvements that he could see were only miniscule and mostly irrelevant. "Raise your shoulders just a little bit more. Little bit. Yeah, there you go." Fine-tuning was the word that sprung to mind. The rest of it was really up to Alex; practicing what he'd been given, of which Arch had no doubt the boy would be doing for quite some time, as well as applying it with other moves in actual combat. Which would require yet more practice.

Then Alex overdid himself. "You alright?" Thankfully it was just sand and he wasn't weighed down by that stupid heavy plate. Alex was laughing though so he sighed softly in relief and nodded his head in agreement, folding both arms over his chest. "Yeah, I think you can remind yourself. You need more flexibility training. Work on stretching limbs and keeping balance before you can start doing stuff like that." He wasn't chastising his fellow squire for it; after all he couldn't really think of anyone he knew who would be able to do it anyway. Something he might be able to teach as well.. although the Pycon wasn't limited by the same physical constraints as Alex was, so it might be a little more difficult to explain the whole process in more detail. All this nonsense with muscle and bone, burdensome and restrictive.

In no time at all Alex was back on his feet anyway. "There's that never-give-up attitude on display now," he quipped with a small smirk lining his stomach. "Yeah, aim for the midsection only with side-kicks. Other than that.. I'm seeing a lot of improvement now. Just needs a lot more practice.. so let's amp it up and give it about ten more punches to each section and twenty more kicks. Sounds good?" Alex might be moving like a snail but that didn't mean he was getting a break yet. After all, he'd put himself in the hot water for this treatment already. "You were restricting yourself on purpose by wearing the plate.. now it's off we have to compensate for all that weight lost on your body. Come on, keep going a little longer."