FE on the Forums: Scarlet Crown [IC]

[BlueCalibri]

Well, that certainly could have gone worse for him, so Verden internally feels a sense of relief that he wasn't judged too harshly for his suggestion. He then nods to Rhian, deciding to try and serious up a little and (try to) make sure she's not too upset if he doesn't hold up as well as he hopes. Given that he'd need to put the healing staff somewhere in order to use proper weaponry, he decides to put it down not too far away - close by enough that if someone tries to make off with it, he'd be able to see them pinching the staff. After that's sorted, he searches around until he's found a training shield, then it's time to decide on a weapon.

 

Hmm... Let me think. I haven't enough proficiency with a sword to even think of using one seriously... It should be something close-range...

 

After some deliberation over what to go with, Verden picks up a training mace, giving it a few swings to test the weighting of it. Also probably best to test how the shield feels, so he gives the shield a quick tap on the protective side of it with the same mace, continually tapping while adjusting his grip until he feels like it's comfortable in his hands. Now that he has a shield and a proper weapon, he turns to face Rhian with a fairly confident grin... the confidence fades pretty quickly once he remembers that he's going up against someone who has probably trained a lot more than he has.

 

"Here we are. I'll... uh... If this is everything I need, um. Whenever you're ready, I suppose?"

[Aurorix]

"Don't worry, I'll find a name for him, even if it kills me. Also, if I do find this Flik in my travels, I'll let him know to keep an eye out for Flynn and Fless."  He nods to Fless as their firm handshake ceases before turning back to Ducli,  "We should get going, still lots to do before we have to leave. We still need to get you a bow as well as begin to read up on the war. Which we'll probably have to find the village Library too." Argos turns back to  "Unless you wanna come with us for bow shopping or doing some book reading I think this is where we part ways for now. When I see you next, promise me you'll show me how much you've improved. In both your swordsmanship and your archery."

[aliettite]

Flynn takes a long, slow drink from the water skin, grimacing at the lingering soreness in his jaw as he does so. "You're making half sense," he croaks, lowering the skin as he tightens his grip on it absently. "...My knowledge isn't 'incomplete', sir. Outsiders-- er, people where you come from, and people where that woman comes from... you guys just do things differently. I wasn't trying to be rude to her by asking her to leave." He had been deliberately rude with the insult though, that much was true. "It's not like women are banned from the premises or something."

 

He takes another drink, frowning off into space over the lip of the water skin. "But, no man from my village is going to fight a woman with his sword. Like I tried to tell her, it's not done. Taboo. Cowardly. A true man should never willfully strikes a woman with his hand or his sword." Toeing at the dirt with the toe of his boot, he makes a sharp kick towards a small pebble, sending it skitter off a few feet away. "...I don't see why that's wrong. Do people like hitting and fighting women where you come from?" Flynn finally draws his gaze up at Kerr and tilts his head slightly, genuinely curious. "Outside of a battlefield, of course. Self-defense of yourself is different, if you haven't got the choice."

[krim]

Fallon entered the village a little while after the others. The discussions the night before had left him with a raging headache, and the source of his power could become a little...aggravated...when killing outside of battle took place. He could usually keep it under control, but with everyone so on edge, he felt it best to confine himself to the woods just outside for the night. Not like he wasn't used to that.

 

After making his way through the town and looking over each weapon stall, he stopped at the one selling tomes run by a girl that looked about Naomi's age. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about how these are made, would you?" he asked, thinking back to the book on runes he had finished just before the battle . He wasn't really expecting much magical theory in a village of warriors, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

[Chevaleresse]

"Sure. Just try to block." Rhian herself had taken the time to hunt down an axe blunted for training. It'd still probably hurt if she hit someone with it, but they were usually light enough that it would be hard to break anything on someone by accident, and this one didn't seem to be an exception. She started off with a slow, predictable swing towards Verden's shoulder. She made a face as the head of the weapon moved through the air; the arc was off, a bit crooked and not where she was aiming. Not that she expected the healer to be able to tell, but she could,

[Swordstar]

"Tsk, no need for sir. I'm Kerr, and I hardly deserve a sir."

 

He contemplated the response for a few moments, before continuing as best he could

 

"Mmm, perhaps incomplete wasn't the right word then. It's not about hitting women or not hitting women. Some people do like that, I'm sure, but they're viewed poorly. Same as anyone who would beat up any person just because they can. But that's not the situation you're in here. Rhian, and the other women in my squad, chose this life. They chose to be warriors, to fight for something. They have their honor just as you have your own. Tell me, if you had asked me to spar and I had refused because 'I don't fight children' or something similar, how would you feel? After all, what honor is there for me in beating up on someone weaker than me?"

 

He tilted his head, looking questioningly at the teenager.

 

"When you refuse to fight a trained warrior in a sparring match because of something that makes up who they are, you're insulting them. Women are just as capable of becoming fighters as men. By dismissing her on the basis of being a woman, you tell her that all her effort and training and years spent becoming the warrior she is are worthless. Is it any wonder that she was insulted by your words?"

[BlueCalibri]

Hearing Rhian speaking again, Verden nods, his eyes glancing towards the slow swing. After a quick check of whether the shield or mace would be more convenient, he decides to maneuver to meet the axe strike with the training mace. The slightly messed-up arc applies just enough of a slight misdirection that, should he manage to pull the parry, it's not going to be something he can necessarily follow up on yet. Well, not with the mace, at least - he probably could have followed up with the shield, if he'd had the mindset to do so. Instead, he just tries to sort out the matter of getting Rhian's axe swing away from him first. He seems at least a little aware that the axe swing was slightly off...

 

"Hm...? Um... Are you holding back? I appreciate the kind gesture, but... you don't need to."

 

He glances aside briefly to give himself a neutral view for thinking through his next movements, then returns his focus to Rhian and, if he doesn't need to worry about the axe strike anymore, tries a swing with the mace aimed center-mass against her. While his form appears to be fine, as though copied from better fighters than he himself could be, the actual force behind his actions is lacking simply due to not having as much strength to swing with without overexerting himself.

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian growled. She didn't come here to get lectured on her form by an untrained priest. . . even if she was holding back a bit. It looked like he'd at least seen someone swing a weapon before, but she could tell the practice was lacking. Looked fine at first, but the footwork was off, and she would be willing to guess his follow-through wasn't there, among other things. Not that her own was perfect, given how damned rusty she was.

 

The knight stepped backwards and in the direction of the swing, then used the momentum to swing a rather wild blow in Verden's direction. It was rather lacking in technique and didn't seem to be aimed anywhere in particular, but it made up for these deficiencies with speed and power.

[BlueCalibri]

Verden, seeing that Rhian has stepped back to avoid his attack, moves to try and stop the mace from connecting so he can have a better recovery. Something of a newbie's mistake, the kind usually made by someone who has seen someone use a mace but can't quite perfectly emulate the proper technique with it. He seems uncomfortable while pulling the mace back, a slightly stressed expression crossing his face momentarily and involuntarily until he's managed to get the mace under control again. By then, he's a bit too late to properly stop the wild blow, but he does make an effort nonetheless, swinging the shield around so that the blow crashes into the surface of the shield instead of a body part of his. The arm holding the shield shakes, Verden more used to using the sheet of metal under his robes to take hits as opposed to using a shield, as well as just plain not having as much arm muscle to handle the trading of blows.

 

Mf. Harder than I expected... Good thing this is just training.

 

His eyes dart to the shield, making a snap judgement of what he should do, and he moves to try and push back a little against the blow he was just dealt by Rhian's axe. He then moves his left foot back, crouches a little, and swings his body around while trying a low-to-upward diagonal strike with the mace again, this one still aimed center mass for the most part. While Verden himself doesn't quite understand why someone would do an upward strike, he's seen such a move being used before by other soldiers, and it worked well enough for them at the time.

[Chevaleresse]

Verden was getting a bit too adventurous. Probably not shocking; nobody had taught him any basics, so it looked like he'd just watched more experienced fighters go at it or something along those lines. Not a terrible way to learn, but eventually you had to learn why people did things - and why they didn't. She let herself be pushed backward by his shield; his glance at it had made it obvious he meant to do something with it, and the result let her handily evade the uppercut. Let's see if you paid any attention. Once the swing was safely past her, she charged in again, much like she'd done to Flynn, aiming to push him off balance with her shoulder and then follow up quickly with a "kill" chop (that she would stop dead well before it did any damage.)

[BlueCalibri]

Seeing as his attempt at the uppercut swing had missed, Verden realizes that the way he's positioned now means he can't move the shield around quickly enough to block properly. His arms would have to cross over and he'd have to somehow have his mace-wielding arm not get in the way of the shield. Internally, he curses at the realization - he's left himself wide open, even he can see that. At least it would be a learning experience for him. His fingers briefly loosen their grip on his mace, as though Verden considered dropping it, but a memory quickly runs through his mind. A memory of someone else trying the exact same tactic and coming off better in the engagement, only to be grilled by their instructor after they couldn't reclaim their weapon and lost the match.

 

This... has turned into a difficult situation. 

 

Another thought flashes through his mind. He shouldn't do the weapon dropping trick, but he does have potential for something else instead. He proceeds to act on his plan, stretching one of his legs and sweeping it forward in the hope he could trip Rhian up, show her that he's not going to fall for the same trick so easily. He then moves to push off the ground with his other leg, trying to move himself sideways out of the way and hoping that he can at least get enough distance to not fall victim to the attempted charge... It would be a great plan, if tripping people up stopped them cold, but momentum likely still exists and so it's entirely possible his footwork won't help at all. Better than just letting Rhian get in and pretty much automatically win, at least in his eyes.

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian saw him drop to go for the leg sweep. It wasn't a bad idea, but doing anything with your legs required fairly obvious and relatively slow weight shifts. She just kicked off the ground partway into her charge, throwing her entire weight into his chest at once. She belatedly realized that a pauldron to the jaw was a fair bit meaner than she'd intended, but by that point she was already mid-collision. The knight had also committed hard enough that when Verden went down, she went down on top of him, which hadn't entirely been her intention. Rhian rolled off to the side as quickly as she could manage, hugging her axe close to her body, and tried to regain her feet as soon as she could before going for her faux-execution once again.

[rustytengo]

Kris skipped and hummed her way through the village, not really caring about any looks she might get as she took in the sights and looked for a shop that sold healing items. She didn't manage to get procure enough money during the fight yesterday to liberate any cuties so she figured that would be the next best things she could use it on.  Upon finding such a shop skipped around it a few times to make sure nothing bad was around it and totally not out of the habit of trying to find alternate ways of entry into place she entered the and looked around a little before approaching the shopkeeper 

 

"Hey hey, do you have any of the stuff in small containers that smell funny but gets people up after they fall off of their horse after getting hits by people?" she asked said, shopkeeper.

[BlueCalibri]

Verden just watched as Rhian managed to evade his leg sweep, internally bracing himself for the impact just before it came - at least seeing it coming meant it didn't hurt quite as much as it could have. Still stung pretty bad, getting a pauldron in the face. He went down hard, collapsing on the floor in perhaps not the best way to land, feeling his breath leaving his body and a jolt of pain run through him just after the impact.

 

...That wasn't so bad. I-

 

...He promptly felt the knight landing on top of him, and immediately regretted thinking what he had just thought. If the first impact was bad enough, being sandwiched between someone in heavy armor and the floor of the training ground pretty much added a heavy dose of salt to the wound. Once he felt his breath coming back, Verden moved to stand, only to realize that Rhian got up faster and already completed a "kill" chop. Once he saw that, he knew he'd lost this round, remaining seated on the floor instead and exhaling. A pause, then mirthful chuckling of someone who knows he's pretty well outclassed here, and Verden feels ready to speak again, eyes focused mostly on Rhian for now.

 

"Heh... Round one to you, then. How about another?"

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian leaned over slightly and offered a hand to Verden, pulling him up a bit roughly if he took it. She looked at the priest with a bemused expression.

"I mean, I guess. You're not gonna impress me by letting me beat you until we need to get a second healer, though, and to be honest I don't think either one of us is getting a whole lot out of this." Men were strange. She usually didn't think about it much - and honestly she preferred it that way, it made her uncomfortable - but she couldn't help but wonder after the events of the last hour if this had something to do with her being a girl. She groaned internally. Weren't there enough girls in the Guard to lust after? Kerr was bad enough, Argos. . . She wasn't sure if the boy actually had the hots for her or a severe case of foot-in-mouth (or both,) but if he did, and so did Verden, that'd make three. "You'd be better off doing form drills for a while."

[BlueCalibri]

Verden just smiles a little, accepting the offer for a hand up and wincing faintly from the rough pull, but he overall seems fine. He closes his eyes, inhaling and exhaling for a few seconds to ready himself for another round, seeing as Rhian might be willing to go for it. He then opens his eyes again, managing to get back the same calm smile that most people who've seen him would recognize. Granted, he's aware that his first showing might not have gone quite as well as he'd been hoping, but it's worth another attempt, right?

 

"Mm... I should be fine. As long as I'm not dead or knocked out, I can still stand."

 

Truth be told, he's not entirely sure if he's being honest with himself despite now knowing what to expect from Rhian. His arms already feel a bit hotter and more strained than usual from carrying the training shield and mace - maybe he ought to have picked a slightly lighter weapon? He isn't sure, but as long as he looks confident, he's sure it'll be fine. Besides, this felt kind of fun, albeit a bit painful so far...

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, when you break something, don't cry at me about it." She wasn't gonna hurt the kid, but she wasn't going to slow herself down for his benefit, either. Especially not after he told her not to take it easy. Still. . . She srhugged, and took a step or two back before taking on a fighting stance. "I'll give you first crack at me this time." She stood, waiting expectantly, wondering why all the men around seemed to have a thing for getting their asses beat.

[BlueCalibri]

Good. Here goes another round, Verden thought to himself. It occurred to him that while he was on the defensive, it was easy to prepare potential counter attempts (even if they kept failing), but he would have little idea what to open with. Whatever he would do, Rhian might try and capitalize on it... He needed to think. What were his options with a mace? Swinging the mace worked well enough, he didn't know of anything else he could do... If only his brother were here. Maybe the more combat-oriented of the brothers would know what to do. Verden, if he focused particularly hard, could practically hear his brother's voice in his head, despite lack of presence... What would he be saying, if he were here for real?

 

Careful, Vee. She's faster than you, stronger than you, has better training, and has better armor. You can't beat her by assuming that the techniques of soldiers in training will be enough... Defensive strategy, harass from as far a distance as you can manage, try to find a way to draw out a disadvantage from her.

...What?

Fine. Step by step. Start with a jab with the mace, and get your shield ready.

 

Although Verden isn't entirely sure how accurate the information might be, given that he's just trying to imagine what his brother would say to him now, he nonetheless feels like it'd be good advice to follow. He nods at Rhian to indicate the start of the fight, then moves quickly, pushing forward with the training mace and aiming to have a good start to the fight, maybe throw Rhian into more of a defensive position. Regardless of what happens, he moves to get his shield ready as internally instructed, bracing himself and watching Rhian carefully to see what she does to meet him...

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian stepped backward to avoid the thrust; she hadn't expected him to immediately go on the offensive, and it thumped against the arm she brought up to defend lightly. He was hanging back a bit, probably a good move; reach was one of the few advantages he had on her. She circled him for a moment, pondering her next move. Suddenly, she made a quick step with her left foot, then changed directions and went for a hard swing from her right, using both hands to give her extra leverage on the swing. 

[BlueCalibri]

Internally, Verden felt a sense of accomplishment at having landed something that, at the very least, could count as a proper hit. Still, training fights weren't over with just one hit - time to figure out what other moves should be. Watching Rhian circle around him, he waited for her to act, then saw her step forward with her left foot. What would his brother say here...

 

You can usually tell what someone's about to do by their posture and footwork. See that step?

Yes... What does that mean?

Right-handed fighter, left foot forward, not attacking while moving forward. Prime position for a swing from her right - your left. Move with the blow and keep your shield in the way.

 

Verden briefly appears to nod to himself, as though listening to his own thoughts, then his eyes turn to the left to see if what he heard was correct. Looks legitimate enough... He himself steps to the right, raising his shield to intercept the attack and hoping it doesn't hurt too much, then he does something a bit extra on top of defense. Namely, he decides to take a simple quick swing at Rhian with his mace, fairly confident that he could get away with it while she's committed both hands to an attack against him.

[Chevaleresse]

Well, he seemed to be learning something, at least. Truth be told, she'd never been great at making convincing feints; if she swung, she meant it. The training axe crashed into Verden's shield with enough force to raise splinters. Rhian changed the position of her hands on the axe to shove Verden away from herself in an effort to throw his counterattack off, pressing inward again to get inside his effective range; his swing still connected in the technical sense, but it was a bit further down the length of the weapon than he'd want. She pushed off of him, using the action to move herself backward, and swung at him again, this time almost right at his weapon hand. She was aiming to make him overcompensate, try to defend and end up moving out of the way, or at least tie his weapon up in a situation that was advantageous to her.

[BlueCalibri]

Verden winced as he felt the hit against the shield, impact running through his arm as well as through the shield itself. He felt some sense of relief about going with the strike rather than against it - if it hurt to block an attack like that, who knows how much worse it could have been to meet it aggressively? The shove does stumble him backwards as expected, although he moves his feet back in a way to try and halt his stumbling, preparing the mace again. Just as he was about to prepare another swing, the axe met his mace before he could get any proper momentum into it, and his grip loosened - he almost cursed and almost dropped the mace outright, his fingers stinging from having to maintain his grip against the strike...

 

Don't worry about the mace. You have your other hand.

But I need something to hit her with if I'm going to fight back! That mace is all I have.

No. You have the shield too. It's not technically a weapon, but it works the same way.

 

...Verden internally feels a sense of frustration at not having figured that out earlier. Seeing as he can't do anything with the mace right now, he instead shifts back on his right foot a little more, crouching to prepare... He then moves to swing the shield around, trying to make it initially look like he'll be aiming to bring the rim of it against Rhian's body, then he shifts the shield around last-second and pushes his body forward into more of a shoving motion. Maybe he could knock her off-balance? Worth a shot, he reckons.

[Chevaleresse]

The shield bash nearly caught Rhian; as it were, she did a pretty decent job of throwing herself off balance trying to avoid it, jerking herself sideways and losing most of the advantage she'd just gained. Stumbling and a bit surprised, she did the first thing that came to mind: using the momentum she already had, she basically stumbled right into throwing a hook directly into Verden's jaw, weapon still held loosely in her left hand. As soon as the punch was thrown, she realized her mistake, and she tried to pull back before she did too much damage. . . but Rhian wasn't the type to commit halfway to a punch. She felt her gauntleted fist smash into him in a manner that wasn't likely to be too pleasant.

"Aw, shit! Are you okay? I kinda just, responded, sorry." 

[BlueCalibri]

At first, Verden felt a little proud of himself for managing to do something to catch Rhian off-guard, grinning faintly to himself. That grin didn't last long on account of how events happened next. He didn't see Rhian's thrown punch until it had already connected, and by then it was too late to really do anything about it aside from... you know. Be hit by it and feel pain. While not exactly a killer blow, it certainly felt bad enough to him as he stumbled with the punch a little, dropping the mace on the ground and moving his hand up to hold his jaw instead.

 

Ow! That one hurt...

 

...He couldn't hear anything in his brother's voice anymore, his concentration broken by the surprise gauntlet punch. Once he feels the pain dulling down again, he nods to Rhian in the hope it answers her question, then he gingerly moves his hand away from his face and crouches to retrieve the mace again. Once he's picked it up, he moves to rub his sleeve against his eyes, preemptively wiping away any chance of tears as he responds more verbally.

 

"That stung... I'll be fine, though. Not a dislocated jaw..."

 

A pause. Verden chuckles to himself, then continues with "At least I know you don't pull your punches," the smile on his face intending to make humor of the situation. Admittedly, he also said that to distract himself from how much the punch hurt. He couldn't quite remember where he first heard it before, but he distinctly recalled some statement he'd found amusing as a child - laughter is the best medicine.

[Chevaleresse]

"You sure?" She knew you didn't even have to hit that hard to do damage, though Verden was spared slightly by her gauntlets not being of a particularly heavy variety (unlike the rest of her armor.) "I said it once already, you're not gonna impress me by sitting here and letting me beat your ass. You should probably sit down for a second or three." She squinted at him, trying to assess the damage she'd done. "The captain will kill both of us if you get hurt any more, you know?"