Coon and friends. [Jokor]

[Markus Andres]

51st of Spring - A little over midday. Markus let the arrow go and it flew down the range before slamming against the target. A little down and left of the center. He shook his head and hated the poor shot. He fetched another arrow from the quiver and took careful aim. Let the arrow go. It smacked right into the center of the target. It was only 15 yards away. Well within Markus' capabilities. He reached up to get another arrow but felt nothing but air. Had he spent all his arrows. Again? He sighed and looked around, making sure no one was firing down range. When satisfied that he wasn't going to get shot in the back, he went down and got all his arrows back and trotted back to the position he had been in before. Only his rigorous discipline was keeping him there. He needed to get better with the bow and fast. But he had been there for all of the morning. Only getting a break from the constant shooting when he was out of arrows. He saw a newcomer enter the training grounds. Markus tilted his head as he looked at him. Looked like a page. Or a new squire. But his face looked quite hard. For some reason, Markus felt sad when looking at the boy. - He didn't feel like doing archery training anymore. He went to the place where he had stashed his stuff. He had only brought his sword and dagger that day. Left his shield in the dorm. He strapped both of them around him, the sword at his waist and the dagger a little further above. Constantly keeping an eye on the newcomer. Wondering what he was doing there.

[Jokor]

Jokor warily entered the training field that Jaelyn showed him a while back, a bit nervous with the fact that this time Jaelyn wasn't around this time and while she assured him non-squires where welcome here he still wasn't completely sure about it. When he was only a few steps in he noticed that one of the squires, at least he thought he was a squire, had stopped practicing with his bow and was now staring at him, as if he wasn't wanted here, well it wasn't that hard to see that he wasn't a squire or page, his well worn and a bit ragged clothes where enough evidence about that. Still Jokor wasn't just going to let one staring guy discourage him from his attempts at practice. Giving the man a stare back before turning away from him and walking towards the practice dummies. Pulling out one of his daggers jokor took a combative stance with it, or at least something that resembled it and stared at the straw dummy for a few seconds before quickly lashing out with a slash across the dummies chest, drawing a deep cut from the dummies left shoulder, that wound would probably have put most humans out of the fight, though inflicting it on a stationary dummy was probably easier then on a moving human. Quickly falling back after the blow before attackign once again, seeming intent on demolishing the dummy as soon as possible.

[Markus Andres]

Markus left his bow and arrows by the wall and looked at the boy wearing tattered clothes. Not really sure how he could have mistaken him for belonging to the Syliran Squires. Of course, he could have had a real rough first day of practice. Wouldn't explain why he was here then. The boy had seen him look and Markus just grinned. Not the least intimidated by him. Markus found a place where he could observe the boy practice on the doll. Watching his first attack. Wondering if he was even aiming or if he was just slashing wildly and the target. Markus looked down to his own dagger and wondered if he should try and help the boy. If he wasn't a part of the knights, then he could get in trouble for helping the boy... And he didn't exactly look like someone with a clear conscious. "Hey, sorry I interrupt your training, but I was just wondering if you are experienced with dagger fighting..." Markus was just wearing cloth that day, the only place 'armored' was the inside of his left arm, where the bowstring sometimes whipped against when the arrow was released. "And pardon my rudeness, I am Markus Andres, squire to Stern Mason. Pleased to meet you."

[Jokor]

When jokor heard somebody approach him from behind he quickly turned towards him the dagger still held in his fist. Instinctively his body tensed up, ready to either fight, a rather doomed path, or run, which with this amount of knights and squires around would probably end up getting dog piled by the overeager squires training here. So forcing himself to relax jokor listened to the squire that had approached him. Shaking his head at his question. “I know how to hold it and at what to swing it, but thats all. Nothing to fancy. So you can't really call me experienced.” Jokor shoved the dagger back into his belt. When the squire, markus andres if he heard it right, apologized for his rudeness, though what the squire was rude with he didn't know though. “You can call me Jokor. I ain't a squire but jaelyn is one and told me I could use the training grounds as long as I watched my mouth.” He shrugged at that before turning his attention back to markus. “So why did you ask if I was experienced with a dagger either way?”

[Markus Andres]

Markus noticed how jumpy the boy looked. He especially noticed the tensed up body and the defensive posture. Ready to defend himself. It seemed very odd for someone who lived in Syliras, such behavior could also be dangerous for civilians, or for the kid, should he ever raise the dagger against a knight. "Ah, yes, she told the truth." Markus looked away for a moment, wondering if anyone was giving the boy any strange looks. It wasn't ordinary for street urchins to come train in dagger. It was, actually, a bit suspicious. "I was just hoping you knew a trick or two you could show me. I recently started using the dagger for situations where I can't draw my sword quickly enough." Was he explaining a bit too much? Perhaps. But Markus liked to talk, so it didn't matter much. "Like in a situation like this, you're too clsoe for me to draw my sword in time" Markus reached down and pulled his blade a bit up. "You could have stabbed me several times before I could draw the blade fully.". It was something Pain had told him of, before she had knocked him out cold. He wondered what had happened to her, he had not seen her since their little spar on the beach.

[Jokor]

Jokor let out a sigh in relief when he told that jaelyn wasn't mistaken in her assumption that he was allowed to train here. When the man said that he hoped he could have learned a few tricks from him if he was fairly good with the dagger. Quickly following that sentence up with a lengthy explanation about why exactly he was taking up the dagger at the moment. When he mentioned him stabbing him a few times jokor couldn't help but nod in acknowledgment. “If you say so, though if you are facing somebody with a dagger he wouldn't go for your stomach if he is half decent with it, taking you down by stabbing your stomach takes a lot longer then shoving a dagger into your throat.” He pointed towards markus' throat with his right hand. Easily showing that even a shorty like him could get in him in that vulnerable spot. “Its quicker and seeing as knights are never alone it gives you more time for him to take care of your buddies or to leg it when your attacker thinks he can't win.” Jokor lowered his arm back to the side of his body still looking at the squire. “But if you really want to learn a few tricks I need a sparring partner, slashing at a dummy doesn't really help you that much with learning it.” He gave a cocky grin to markus, hoping he didn't see the last remains of his nervousness behind it. “Besides I think I can handle a beginner with a dagger, maybe Its my turn to pound a squire face first into the sand.”

[Markus Andres]

"Exactly. You could get my before I had my sword out, it is different with the dagger, there I might defend myself until my buddies could overpower the guy who is attacking me." Markus was pleased that Jokor was quick to understand what he was talking about. Also happy with his input that someone would go for his throat because of his status and the likelihood of him having backup ready. "Ah, but it is very dangerous for us to spar with these real dagger. Of course, we can spar with them sheathed. Same experience but it doesn't have the edges." Markus reached up and began to fumble with undoing the strappings that kept his dagger sheath attached to him. It was a simple leather sheath. "Come with me, we can train over there, there's a small sparring ring." Markus said making a nod in the direction of a training area and then started going there. Stopping by his bow and quiver to bring them with him.

[Jokor]

Jokor gave an eager grin when Markus took up his offer of a spar. Though the fact that he wanted to cover up the edges of his dagger was a bit of a surprise, though not really a bad one, getting cut up by accident wasn't high on his to do list either way. “Fine by me.” Jokor said as he followed Markus towards the ring fidgeting with the sheet of his dagger detaching the simple leather sheet from his belt. As soon as both him and Markus where on the opposite sides of the ring Joker shot into action, hoping to take advantage of surprise as he slashed to Markus's throat with his dagger. That obvious move however was just to distract Markus from jokor's left fist that was aimed to punch in the man's unguarded stomach.

[Markus Andres]

The boy certainly didn't wait around. Surprising Markus. His instincts kicked in and he raised his dagger to protect against the throat slash and push the dagger away from himself. That was when he heard his masters berating tone 'Always be prepared' go off in his head. A fist collided with his muscular stomach. Only his years of training stopped him from stumbling away from Jokor. The squire bit down the pain and jabbed his left hand at Jokor's face. A backbone reaction. He tried to remember what Pain had told him. His disciplined mind rapidly gave him the answers. Aggressive fighting. Keep your head guarded. Give them hell. Markus' dagger hand was holding the dagger in front of his head. Defending him from any sudden attacks from the rat.

[Jokor]

Jokor got a grin of satisfaction on his face as he felt his fist hit hit markus in the stomach. That grin was quickly whiped off his face when his opponent lashed out with his left fist, being so close to him didn't even attempt to dodge and just took the hit. Jokor's head was jarred to the side by the force of the hit, but jokor gritted his teeth and looked back towards his opponent, ramming his right knee upwards aimed right into the mans crotch. Not really caring that he might cut of the chance of him ever getting kids with that move. Quickly jumping backwards after his dirty trick to make sure that the man went down and also to avoid any enraged swings if he could stay on his two feet after getting a hit in the jewels or in case he missed that shot. Not wanting to give Markus any time to recover he quickly stepped in again and struck out with his dagger towards the squires chest, his left fist once again ready to follow up with a punch if there was an opening.