You're Doing It Wrong [Wystern]

by **Edalene** on January 22nd, 2011, 3:41 am

Eda smiled gratefully at the man, glad he had consented to making the first move - though he did indeed look reluctant about it. She took a deep breath and watched him get ready to strike, drawing out his beautiful katana and getting into position.

It was only now that Edalene noticed that he was favouring his left leg over his right. The stance he took was uneasy, and the way he held his katana suggested that it was a way he had not become used to, and was not particularly happy with the change in his battle strategy. A feeling of guilt arose in her - should she really be fighting someone who was injured, or at a disadvantage? Though, to be fair - she told herself - he'll probably kick your ass anyway.

She watched as he took a step towards her, a slow one as if to gauge her reaction to the advancing warrior. She kept her eyes on him, narrowed slightly. She may have been distracted before, but now she was focused in on the suddenly swinging sword.

The man moved his sword in a horizontal fashion, sweeping it through the air from left to right, at an admittedly slow place. Edalene had to admit she was a little offended at the man, treating her as if she were about to faint, or break. To combat the man's evidently sexist beliefs, she swung her sword from waist height up, then quickly brought it down from where it was hovering in the air, down to the left to clash with the man's katana. With all her might, she attempted to push the katana down, where, if she was successful, she would put in place the second half of the technique.

by **Wystern** on January 22nd, 2011, 9:59 am

"Not bad," Wystern said, honestly surprised. Guess he really did go to easy, but the slow strikes have control. The blade swung down and Wys turned Ararna to meed the strike with the curve. Blade versus blade, the katana is generally sharper, but the long and broadswords are known for breaking things, not cutting them. So Wys could slowly dig into steel, but it was stupid to expose the blade to a potentially breaking strike. Never meet the focus of the force when defending, push the focus away and sway the blade along. On top of that, the girl really could go for a decapitation with his head exposed. Back to the embarrassment.

That speed was too easy for her, and and he had to stick with the broken Batto-style he was taught forever ago and it was as broken as his right leg. Usable, just uncomfortable, but still effective. So Wys moved the katana to meet the Drykas' sword sideways, proceeding to meeting the swords guard to guard and pressing into that push. There was no chance in hell Wys would survive the upcoming swing, not with the mobility he had now, not with underestimating the girl the way he did. He couldn't let the broadsword ascend, the katana could get damaged and there was no reason to be risking Ararna at all. He smiled and looked straight into the Drykas girl's eyes, thrilled with how she handled it.

"Very well, I must admit that I have taken you too lightly, and I am very impressed," he said beaming and taking a step back, lowering the Ararna passively. He really did have a true love for that piece of steel, as much as a man could love something inanimate. Wys took stance again and changed the hand position. Once a righty, or always a righty, possibly too late to change hand orientation.

"Alright let's try this again," he said with a smirk and threw a much quicker slash from the right. He twisted his grip and the blade was coming in at a deceiving angle, swooshing as it cut through the air with the point coming for the guard.

by **Edalene** on January 23rd, 2011, 6:30 am

Eda smiled at Wys' surprised expression. He really had underrated her. She was used to it, though, as depressing as it was. People saw the bumbling teenage girl, always dropping things and tripping over her own feet. They saw the sword, and laughed at her for thinking she could handle such a magnificent weapon.

People, however, rarely saw Eda use the blade - far from a natural, she was nonetheless talented with it and had certainly practiced long and hard to get to where she was today. She felt a smug pride at seeing Wys' confusion, and embarrassment. He wouldn't underestimate her again so soon.

She beamed brightly at the man as he took a step back from their clanging blades, her arms shaking just a little from the sudden lack of force pressing against her own sword. She laughed lightly at his praise, the adrenalin beginning to rush through her, loosening her up in the presence of the intimidating stranger.

"Yes, sir, I have to say you did underestimate me." She laughed as she saw him change hand positions, evidently going back to what he was comfortable with - he wouldn't be going easy on her again.

Her elation faded as a smirk grew on his face, and he quickly slashed his katana from her left across. Jumping back, her grip reaffirming itself on her blade, she dodged the fearsome swing of the sword in front of her, and quickly stepped forward again once it was clear of her face, catching it again on the upper side of her blade.

Again, she pushed the sword down with all her strength, hoping to catch Wys off balance, so that she might push off Wys' blade and swing upwards towards his exposed neck. She pushed off his katana and began to swing upwards, hoping to hit his neck - not really, because it would be messy if she really DID decapitate him in the middle of the War Pavillion.

by **Wystern** on January 23rd, 2011, 7:17 am

Wys let go of the handle with the left hand and threw it backwards as a counter balance. He felt great, he finally could get a little loose without killing somebody. Wystern only found a few people he could take seriously in Endrykas practice-wise, and for all purposes of irony, a girl was one of them. The Knights back at the castle will certainly find that amusing. Perhaps even the part that Wys almost got his head chopped off, all filled with the infinite wisdom - sarcastically speaking. Crow felt the breeze support him, the sun warm his shoulders, and the pain in the leg faltering his reactions. Something always had to rain on his parade, such is life, and yet, it was a miracle that Wys was standing here, actually sparring with Edalene. At least the storm didn't claim both of the Knight's legs.

The broadsword pushed the blade down, and had he not let go, Eda could have directed all the force into the ground, and Wys just didn't like that idea at all. Ararna got hit and the curve let is slide. The blades parted for a second and Edalene's sword came flying for what seemed like an eternity, everything felt in slow motion. Wys had so much adrenaline from the excitement of meeting someone worthwhile that even his own actions felt slow.

Wys grabbed the hilt with his left hand again and turned on a heel; he then flung the katana to his right shoulder striking one of the key guard stances,
he was taught to use with the blade. Then the swords collided again, and Wys pushed Ararna into it. Wys looked straight into Edalene's eyes, foretelling something uncomfortable happening. And now came the fun part. He turned his head, pushed harder, moved the blade to the left, and let the back of the katana touch his left shoulder, using it for leverage to pry the broadsword further away while he flung the left hand towards Edalene's neck.

The gloved hand found its was to the right of her neck, two fingers gripping the back and the thumb touching the windpipe, but applying no pressure. It was surprising, perhaps a little uncalled for, but this was the first lesson he was going to teach her. "Lesson number one. Recovery. How do we not reach this situation again, or escape it if we must. I can tell you the bad answer right here, you do not try to chop the hand off. What do you do?" he spoke to explain the confusion. His hand was still, not daring to move or even apply pressure. Messing with the neck is a very bad training exercise, but on the other hand, creating a scenario seemed like a great idea to him.

by **Edalene** on January 24th, 2011, 3:09 am

She smiled as Wys moved backwards, his left hand letting go of the blade and moving backwards for balance. She seriously enjoyed the slightly shocked look on his face, and could tell he was enjoying the spar as well. The adrenalin rushed through her. This was a fun spar.

As her sword swung upwards towards his face, Eda observed the change of stance before her. Wys' left hand came back to the blade, he twisted on his heel and moved the hilt of the katana so that it was resting in his right shoulder, perpendicular to his body. A guard stance. She began to feel uncomfortable, worried about what was going happen next.

Wys flung his katana back against her broadsword, and began pushing it aside, to the left. Eda exhausted all her physical strength in attempting to keep the broadsword steady, mind racing at how to regain the upper hand. Her strength failed however, when Wys changed the hilt from his right to his left shoulder, allowing him more strength in moving the sword. As he pushed her sword away, he flung out his hand, which found penchance on her throat.

Eda froze, his thumb on her windpipe, trying not to panic. How to get out of this, how to get out, before he choked her to death... Not that he would, but she was into this scenario. In a life or death fight, he would have no hesitation of squeezing her neck until her breath simply stopped. Think, she told herself. Wys had told her not to chop off the hand, and there must be another way out of this...

It came to her. It would be difficult, she had no skills in bodily fighting, but it had the element of surprise and Wys would be expected her to do something with her arms. "Well, sir, I supposed I would do THIS!" With a shout and an exclamation, on the last word of her sentence, she stomped down hard onto Wys' foot, attempting to crush the arch of his foot. Using his surprise and pain, she tumbled away, rolling to the ground, away from the fierce grip of his hand on her neck.

by **Wystern** on January 24th, 2011, 5:44 am

It had to be a kick, following an exclamation no less. There was no way she would be dumb enough to do something with the hands and it was plain difficult to just get out of the grip. She wouldn't chop off the hand. Wys would feel the blade move, especially by the vibration from his shoulder and the second he did, he would have retracted the hand and swung the broadsword aside using his own shoulder as leverage. From there, in a real fight, she would have been exposed from the front, sword possibly flying out, and he would have a springing lunge at the chest; but that wasn't the future she chose.

Now, letting go of her blade was the worst of all the aforementioned ideas, so it left only one way Edalene could have possibly gotten out of the choke - footwork. That was not the only correct answer over all, certain people could have just ripped Wystern's hand off their neck somehow, regardless of how much he trained after the atrophy, his muscle strength decreased a little. Unfortunately, he expected a kick straight to the back of the knee, that would have been the most efficient thing she could've done, but alas, that stomp rang straight for the arch of the foot. It didn't take long to remember that the Knight was completely armor-less, except for the reinforced boots, which were the only pair he had on him.

She made it obvious, easy to see the kick and its possible outcome; Crow immediately released his grip, and pushed Edalene away, as much as she already was going on her own accord. No time left, no choice, just reflex, Wys put the pressure on his right leg, aspedd at the pain, and twisted his left foot to meet the hit. He wasn't even sure if it would hurt more to get the foot crushed or putting the pressure on knee, either way, the adrenaline could only numb so much pain. The girl tumbled down, Wys descended to his left knee and sheathed his sword for a second just trying to catch his breath.

His ears were ringing and he was genuinely uncomfortable with the thought of receiving another injury that could hinder his mobility. Wys smiled, genuinely liking this girl as a student more and more. Maybe she would be worth showing to the Order, just out of the blue, and she surely could beat most of the squires they had right now. She's not trained, Edalene is just a damn prodigy; and she was simply losing because she was fighting a person with actual experience. Half a minute passed, the pain was going away, the ringing stopped. Just need to catch the breath, pace it, not expose the foot again. His foot was a little hurt, probably a bruise, no biggie.

"Not bad, not bad at all. Should have went a little higher, but definitely not bad," he said while getting up awkwardly and dusting off his pants.

by **Edalene** on January 24th, 2011, 7:19 am

She lay on the ground, breathing hard, smiling up at the man as he collapsed to his left knee. He was gasping for breath - that was good, she had made him work.

She was seriously proud of herself. She made a man, who was evidently quite skilled in the art of the blade collapse to the ground panting. There was hope for her yet in this world.

She smiled at him as he seemed to regain his breath. She sat up, wondering how she had done. She sincerely hoped she had done well, after all, it was the first true test in skills she had had for quite a while.

This man seemed to know what he was doing so she really wanted his approval. Sitting up, looking down on him, she anxiously waited for him to say something.

She smiled as he praised her, elation only dampened by the fact that he thought she should have aimed higher. But he thought she had done well! Yes! She felt like dancing around. Easily pushing her self up from the ground, she grasped her broadsword and held it carefully by the hilt, not yet sheathing it.

"Sir, then where should I have aimed? I just want to improve."

by **Wystern** on January 28th, 2011, 5:12 am

"Behind the knee. There's a pressure point there, ii you hit it, the opponent loses balance. It's difficult to miss, it's the whole damn back of the knee. You just need to put enough force to push the knee forward and press down when it does. That way, if you press hard enough, you can possibly crush the kneecap on top of getting the opponent down, and move behind the enemy while you're at it," Wys cited word for word from when he was learning the Syliran Knights' apprehension tactics. The case for when one can have the choice to turn an incident into one with a fatality. No going back from there on.

Wys smiled at how happy the girl was. He never seemed to be like that when he was a squire, just annoyed at how bad he did, not how far he moved, but she was just a little overjoyed. Truth be told, she had a reason to be, Wys made a mistake because of her, wrong application of pressure and he was gasping for air from the searing pain. Silly Wystern, fighting as if nothing has changed. Oh, so dumb indeed.

"Unfortunately, you can't use me as a practice dummy for that one," he said after a slight pause. "My first knee is fragile enough and the other is too much to risk. I could demonstrate on you, but it carries a certain risk factor; mainly the fact that I weigh at least sixty pounds more than you, so feel free to refuse that one. On a side note, what weaknesses does the broadsword possess? I already know, I just want to know what you do."

by **Edalene** on January 31st, 2011, 3:32 am

Note :

She shifted uneasily as he said that the move would involve risks. Shaking her head vigourously and moving away slightly, she made mulitple excuses as to why she couldn't try the move. "Um, thank you sir, but it's okay. I don't really want to get my knee bashed in, I'm kind of using it. It would hurt. I'm okay thanks."

Getting up from the ground she stretched her arms and legs, wriggling out the cramps the fight had given her. She jumped slightly when he put her on the spot. There were weaknesses to broadswords? Was that even possible? But the broadsword was so awesome! Maybe she would make some up as she got up.

Standing before Wys, she made some crap up as she rambled on. "Weaknesses of the broadsword. Weaknesses. Well, um," she began as she picked up her sword looking at it carefully. "It's heavy! And uh, made more for cutting than thrusting." Thinking hard, her face screwed up in concentration. "Oh wait! And it's more of an offensive weapon, rather than made for parrying. Am I right?"

Sighing, she looked up at the sun. Petch, was that the time?! Running to gather up her satchel, she looked back at the man. "Thank you, sir, for the sparring. It was good fun. I must run, I promised my cousin I would help him etch a design onto his sword." Yatree was still bitter about the last time she stuffed up his sword, and was making her do it for him. That man really could hold a grudge. Eda was seven at the time.

"Thank you sir. Have a great day and stay in Endrykas!" And with that, Eda dashed off, hoping that Yatree wouldn't kill her for being late... again.

by **Wystern** on February 3rd, 2011, 5:22 am

Wys nodded when Edalene was making excuses and throwing a remote tantrum. It was kind of amusing, in a way. Alas the girl wanted her knee safe and sound, and Wys would comply because it was perfectly understandable. Endrykas didn't need another cripple. It wouldn't hurt nearly as much as he had described, at least Wys hoped it wouldn't. He was not so proficient in that maneuver enough to not do any unnecessary damage; and in the current state, he would simply have to bring down his weight at the end because he can only hold balance for so long the way he is now.

The Knight crooked his brow in a slight confusion of rambling. Eda just seemed to blurt out stuff without giving it enough thought or maybe it was just the experience talking. Wys sheathed Ararna, shook his head, while quickly limping over to the girl with a blank expression on his face and stopped when there was about a foot of distance between them. "Watch," he whispered.

Wys thrust his right hand towards the broadsword, not the handle but the blade wrapping his fingers around it in a steely grip and then yanked it up so the tip would face the evening sky. Wystern smiled at Eda's expression, and how there was no blood present on his hand. "This, Edalene, should be one of your worst nightmares," Wys said with a grin. "Call it tug of war; if I won't release my grip, you won't cut me, and so you have to yank it away from me. The question in hand is will you take it away from me if I don't want you to have it?" he added while releasing the blade and letting the user sheath it. That really was a Knight's dread, and so it should be a food for thought for her.

That problem is unique to broadswords and longswords. They are meant to crush what they can't cut, and because of that, their edges simply lose the sharpness faster, just because they were more armor-oriented.The cardinal rule of weapons: what is meant to crush will have a thin middle, what is meant to crush will not. Longswords and broadsword could stab cut or crush, but because of that their edges were slightly inferior in Wystern's opinion. And then on the other hand, a katana could only cut and stab, and it was better at it; of course, Ararna couldn't crush, only a slap at best. The scales balanced themselves out.

"What you don't cut you crush. It isn't yours, it's too heavy for you. You should have it reforged so it would fit your body and..." Wys said before he got interrupted. And then Edalene ran off leaving a cloud of dust. The Knight smiled and waved her a goodbye.

Wys limped over to pick up his things and found a place to sit down on. He took out Ararna and just kept smiling while looking over the condition and thinking about the so-called prodigy he just met. Perhaps the Knighthood would have a use for her assuming she would join. It would be an interesting little task to take in his hands, Syliran Knights could always use some more people who knew how to handle a blade.

"Oh Edalene, oh Edalene, will you come to stay with us in Syliras..." Wystern sang quietly to himself.