exsiliumlogs | stick them with the pointy end, right?

Entry tags:

stick them with the pointy end, right?

Date & Time: 8/5, lunch timeish.
Location: Hold's training room, wherever there are, like, training dummies.
Characters: Caesar & Sango
Summary: Caesar's trying out swords. Sango arrives just in time to confirm how incredibly bad he is with them. Why is he even trying?
Warnings: nada

[ A conversation and a lot of consideration later, once the issue of a certain missing person and whatever else had followed had finally settled, Caesar's crept down during an hour that most people won't be around. Lunch time seemed pretty much the same time for everyone, regardless of the world they were for, and so the training hall was mostly empty.

That's for the best, he's sure. Even after deciding to at least make a vague attempt at learning some way to defend himself, he still didn't want other people knowing about it.

This leaves him off in a corner with one of the training dummies and a sword. He had originally been trying out stabbing at it with a one-handed sword, but he's managed to get it stuck in the damnable thing...

More due to sheer accident then to strength, to boot, since he's struggling to even get it back out! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Early risers eat early lunches, so it wasn't long before Sango finished hers and made her way down to the training room. She spends so much time in the training rooms that they're almost like a second home to her; they're her own territory more than anywhere else in Exsilium.

And when somebody new ventures into your home territory, you notice.

Which is why Sango, trailed by Kirara as she always is and decked out in her fighting gear, walks quietly up behind Caesar with a curious tilt to her head. She recognizes him vaguely from the battle in Elmer's world, but she never got the impression he was much of a fighter.

Which he's making clear now, of course. Sango clears her throat.]

Good afternoon.

[ As busy as he is with trying to free the sword, he doesn't hear her approach, so when she clears her throat, well... ]

Gh!

[ He's a little startled. He turns his head sharply to look behind him, looking all as if he were a child caught making off with the whole cookie jar. As it turns out, though, it's someone he barely knows. Or, at least, only someone he's met in passing and not one of his friends who will make fun of him.

See, that's the important part! ]

Uh. Yeah. Good afternoon to you, too.

Do you need some help?

[The offer is genuine, and she's not about to start poking fun at him... well, at the moment, at least. Everyone starts somewhere, right?]

[ The offer leads to him looking between her and the stuck sword for a second, then he shrugs and steps aside. Pride is nice and all, but he would like the sword back. ]

I wouldn't mind it. I'm not sure how it got jammed in there so far.

[Sango steps forward, grips it by the handle, and does something to it halfway between a shimmy and a yank; the sword pulls free of the dummy with relative ease, and she hands it back to him hilt-first.]

It's harder to learn on your own, you know.

[ He frowns at the dummy as it so easily gives up the sword to Sango. What a rude thing! ]

I know that. [ Really. That's kind of a no-brainer right there. ] I was trying to figure out what kind of weapon I could even manage first, then maybe see if anyone was offering lessons... or something.

[ Not that he doesn't wish he could just learn on his own. Teachers were an ominous thought. ]

Well, I could teach you. I'm best with a sword but I've got training with other weapons as well...

[A frown.]

Most of which are a little... antique, for here, I'm afraid. Are you sure you wouldn't want to just learn how to use a gun instead?

Guns...

[ He shakes his head at the suggestion. ]

No. Those aren't something just anyone uses where I'm from, so I'd rather avoid them. Swords, though, I've seen just about anyone pick up and learn to use those.

[They're not something just anyone uses where Sango's from, either, but mostly due to lack of accessibility. So maybe for Caesar it's a cultural thing.]

Well, if you do want help?

[ Very cultural. Guns more or less means "this person is a scary assassin" in his! As only one particular guild had any idea how to make or use them. ]

Uh, well, I do, kind of. How did you get it back out so easily?

[Sango glances to the dummy.]

You have to sort of shimmy and pull at the same time. Takes some practice, and... well, probably a good deal of strength.

Shimmy and pull... [ The strength part, though. ] It's not like I don't have any arm strength, you know.

[ In case she thought that! ]

Just not the swordfighting... kind.

Ah, of course. Unfortunately that's precisely the kind you need.

Here. [She draws her own sword from the sash at her waist and falls back into a defensive stance.] Try me.

[ Oh, this won't end well.

He takes a few steps back and holds his own sword up, vaguely trying to mimic how she's holding it, buuut... ]

Are you sure you really want me to?

[ Less for the worry of hitting her, more for the worry of somehow getting hit himself. ]

What, you don't want to fight a girl?

[She's teasing, but still.]

More that I'm worried that I'll miss and end up hurting someone anyway.

[ In completely unexpected ways! But oh well. Here goes. He'll jab his sword towards her. It's kind of a half-hearted effort, really... ]

[Which is proven when Sango knocks it away with a flick.]

Come on, now, you have to actually try.

Fine...

[ At least the whole sword didn't go flying out of his hand at a flick. Okay, okay, here he comes again, this time he puts some effort and acceleration into the jab! ]

[Sango blocks it again, but the clang is louder when the metals clash.]

Better. Keep going.

That's all? Just keep trying to stab you?

[ Really. If that's the way it is, though, he'll more or less repeat his last action, jabbing forward at her once more. ]

No, I mean keep using the sword, but don't do the same thing over again.

[She's just going to knock it away again.]

Repetition is predictable.

[ Oh. ]

Y-yeah. I knew that.

[ Or he should have! That applies to stuff beyond just swords. He steps back again and this time he'll grasp the hilt with both hands and charge in swinging instead. It's not really meant to be a two-hander, buuuut his arms are getting a little tired, so...

Shh. ]

[Sango flings herself down to duck even as her sword flicks up again, the crash of metal-on-metal almost cacophonous. And while she's at it down there, she's going to fling a kick at his calves.]

[ Which is all something Caesar did not see coming. Troop tactics from afar, he can foresee those just fine, but this? Fighting one-on-one? Not even close. Sango's retaliation does two things.

Obviously the first is that his swing is deflected, but with that already throwing him off-balance, the kick to his legs sends him sprawling face first to the floor with a startled shout. ]

[Sango rises to her feet and extends an apologetic hand to help him up... once he recovers.]

Sorry, that probably wasn't very helpful.

Only if beating me up is part of the lesson somehow...

[ He'll gladly take the hand up once the immediate surprise of the fall wears off. It doesn't take too long, thankfully. ]

I'm sorry, I've just been doing too much sparring where I can't hold back.

[Which, on second thought, might be slightly insulting. Oops.]

I mean, not that... well, it's understandable if this is your first time with a sword.

[ Not as insulting as she may think. It's not like he could take anyone who wasn't holding back... ]

Well, I'm not a sparring partner, so if you plan on helping me out here, it might be best to start from the beginning.

Alright.

Like I said, don't get repetitive. But don't distract yourself with your own movements, either. It's all action and reaction--and you've always got a weak spot that you need to guard.

[She pauses.]

It's mostly logic. If it's a high strike, you need to go low to dodge. And when you're low, you can hit low. So if you're aiming high you need to expect reaction from below, and vice versa.

So if I'm coming high--

[She's making sure to give plenty of warning and physical cues here before she lifts her arm to slash downwards.]

[ If it's mostly logical... Logic shouldn't hurt this much!

He's trying to make sense of it when she makes her move. In some small way, he'd been expecting that when she suddenly stopped speaking. Speaking of logic, judging by what she just explained, he should be dropping to duck the swing and attack low.

However, even a slow sword swing coming down at him gets him to react the only way his body knows how: BLOCK! With his sword, thank goodness, rather than his arms, but even then, it's not a very good block. It's mostly just mimicking what he's seen others do before.

Though, once that's done, eh... ]

...wait, was I supposed to attack?

Blocking works too.

[To be honest she's pretty relieved he deflected it at all.]

But you should think about what you're going to do once you do block.

[She's still got her sword shoving against his, waiting to let him try a move.]

[ Only he doesn't move, somewhat due to over-thinking this.

Instead he keeps the blade up, for now. ]

But if I move it to do something else, your sword will come down on me.

So you've got to shove it off, and then preoccupy me.

Right...

[ He'll give it a try, suddenly shoving his blade up against the one she has against it, aiming to knock it aside rather than straight up again. If it only went back up, it'd be just as easy to bring it back down when he moves his own sword.

But that done, what is he supposed to do next?

Stab at her? That seems to be the easiest action to take immediately following, so he does that, moving in to attack head on. ]

[His 'deflection' is, at least, successful. Unfortunately, easy is also predictable. Sango opts to leap lightly backward, just out of reach of the sword, and brings her own back close to her body.]

That was good--but easy is obvious.

[ A miss. Well, he expected that anyhow, though now that he's thinking of it... ]

But it also takes the least amount of time. You can't possibly expect me to jump and roll around to attack from different angles.

[ Yet? Or at all! It'd look terrible! That isn't what's come to mind, however, so he adds: ]

Doesn't this place have training swords? Live steel is starting to feel like a poor decision.

Maybe not yet.

[That's all she'll say on the matter before agreeing to the second part and sheathing her sword in its scabbard at her side, eyeing the room.]

In the closet over there?

That one?

[ He looks the direction she looks, then shrugs and turns to go check. He does make a stop to hang the other sword up back on the weapons rack before heading there, though, but once he is and taking a look...

Let's see what's inside the closet! ]

There's--

[ Oh, it's a whole bunch of practice gear! Stuffed haphazardly in. As soon as Caesar opens the doors, out comes a landslide of armor, weapons, and who knows what else to bury him! ]

Oh c'mon!

[ Not fair! ]

[Sango's hand flies to her mouth in an almost comical expression of surprise... and, probably, amusement.]

Oh, my. Are you normally this clumsy?

[ He shoves some foam armor off of himself and sits back up. ]

No, but whoever put these away is an idiot...

[Well, he also managed to get a sword stuck in a mannequin. Sango nudges some debris out of the way with her foot.]

Or just lacking in thoroughness.

I don't see all that much difference between the two!

[ Huff. Whatever. He locates a practice sword, then another one, out of the pile and turns to show them off. ]

There. Two practice swords.

[ And no, he isn't putting this mess away! ]

[She reaches for one and hefts it in her hand; does a practice slash or two.]

Not bad. They'll do.

[ He gives his own a few experimental swings from side to side, then nods. ]

Alright. Let's take it from the top.

You want to start again?

Not really, but it's not as if I'm going to learn anything by finding these things and then not doing anything with them.

True. Your move first or mine?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

stick them with the pointy end, right?

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