fandomhighdorms | Salle, Sunday Evening

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Salle, Sunday Evening

Ella was not nervous; in fact, she was rather excited that Aravis had ~~handwavily~~ agreed to show her some swordplay. She found some modern clothes that seemed like they'd make sense for such training, then got to the salle early and started to stretch out, eyeing the weapons as she worked.

She wondered if picturing Hattie would help improve her accuracy.

[OOC: Mostly for Aravis but open.]

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Aravis showed up promptly in some of her more comfortable, loose-fitting pants, since she'd learned the hard way that sparring in gowns didn't work so well. She was carrying a pair of large, wooden practice swords, and at her waist was a much heavier, sheathed scimitar, swinging slightly as she walked.

She'd never taught anyone but herself, but she felt confident enough. "Evening."

"Hello," Ella returned, rising from her stretch with a smile on her face. "Thank you for doing this. It seems a bit silly, that there are monsters at home and no one bothered to show me how to use weapons."

There was, of course, the chance she'd be ordered to cut her own head off, but there were easier ways to exploit the curse.

"No one taught me, either," Aravis told her, dropping the practice swords and stretching lightly. "I trained myself, after I had access to swords. But I managed to overpower two grown men -- bodyguards, actually -- last summer. So I'm not too awful, in spite of that. Don't worry."

"I won't, as long as we start with the wood," Ella said, clearly impressed. "How did you train yourself?"

She started copying Aravis' stretches as she spoke.

"Stole my brother's scimitar," which she patted lightly, "mimicked what he'd done in front of me," she said, shrugging as she stretched her arm up behind her back. "He was a soldier. But Tarkheenas aren't exactly allowed to fight, so this was all done in secret, until I left. What sort of monsters have you got at home? We've really just got the human sort where I'm from, and then animals, of course."

"Mostly ogres," Ella said, pulling an ankle up behind herself to stretch the hamstring. "They're dreadful. They can talk in a way that makes you do what they want -- and what they want is mostly to kill and eat you. I talked my way into staying alive around them before, but killing the things myself would be easier. Save the knights the bother."

"What's a tarkheena?"

Aravis smiled slightly. "Noblewoman's title. I'm Aravis Tarkheena, or I was. I go by Lady Aravis more these days, since it's my adoptive title now. The men are Tarkaans." She flexed her foot, stretching towards it as she considered. "We don't have ogres at home, that I know of. Talking Animals and magic and witches, in Narnia anyway, but not ogres. They sound dreadful."

"My mother was a Lady, but I've no title as of ye," Ella nodded, then sighed.
"Ogres are mostly in the country, thank goodness. They aren't pleasant. And we don't have talking animals, or magic, really. Fairies have it but almost none of them will use it."

"Overrated in my opinion, anyway," Aravis said, picking up the practice swords and offering one to Ella. "The only real magic I know of at home, aside from what Aslan can do, resulted in a winter that lasted in Narnia for a hundred years."

"Why would anyone want that? Winter's bad enough at three months," Ella observed, reaching to take the sword and testing its weight in her hand. "It's heavier than I had expected."

"It's lighter than the real thing, still," Aravis said, raising a brow. "Get used to it. Find your center of balance, though. Stand with your feet apart so you won't knock yourself over or anything."

Ella shifted easily into a wider stance, holding the sword straight up and down with both hands on the hilt. "This feels more comfortable," she noted.

Aravis watched her. "Well, yes, it would. But it's not the best position for fighting. It's a bit...well, you look like a girl who doesn't know what to do with a sword. Keep both hands on it, though. You'll probably drop it if you try to do anything one-handed yet."

She easily swung her own sword up so that her pose mimicked Ella's, and then tilted the sword forward, her stance steady. "The advantage is that you can go just about anywhere from here, though. Are you thinking more about defense, or offense?"

"I don't know what to do with it yet, so that would make sense," Ella half-laughed, then tilted the sword, following Aravis. "Defense, I suppose. I'm not planning on attacking anything that doesn't attack me first."

Aravis swung her sword and tilted it so it stretched diagonally across her torso. "Then keep it at an angle like this. They can't get to you without getting past the blade."

Ella shifted the sword, trying to mirror the exact way Aravis held it. "So a good stance might even discourage someone from attacking, if he or she thought you weren't worth the trouble."

Aravis nodded. "Don't let them know you're new," she said sternly. "They don't have to know you might be uncertain, or that the sword feels too heavy, or even if you can't remember how to swing it. They don't have to know any of it. If you look like you know what you're doing, they'll take you much more seriously and consider their options."

Ella thought about that. "So confidence is as important as anything else." She set her face, trying to look as if she were born with a sword in one hand, and shifted the sword just slightly, hoping her grip seemed more knowing. "How's this?"

"Better. Try swinging it." Aravis brought the sword out away from her, sweeping quickly before bringing it back close, in the same stance she'd had before. "Easy and smooth as you can."

Ella swung the sword away from herself. She did this as slowly as her muscles would let her move; it probably looked as though she was swinging it through molasses.

"You're not battling moths," Aravis said impatiently. "It's a wood sword. You won't hurt anything right now, so there's no need for caution. Put some force behind it."

"Right, of course," Ella said sheepishly. The next time she swung the sword, it was a harsher blow -- not smooth, exactly, but definitely strong enough.

"Much better," Aravis said appraisingly. "You need to get strong on the wood, because the real thing is much heavier, and much more dangerous if you're uncertain with it."

Ella swung it again, gaining confidence. "How should I practice?" she asked. "Are there dummies, or figures I should do?

"There are dummies in the gym," she said, watching her. "And practice weapons there, but I've never used any of that, myself, since I rarely use the wooden swords. Otherwise, you can always find a sparring partner. Makes it a bit easier. Try working on this in practice." She elaborated the form they'd been using a bit, adding a jab into the sweep across the body. "It's the easiest way to blend offense and defense."

Ella stepped back to give herself more room, then aped the form -- slowly once, then more quickly. "When do you normally spar? If a beginner isn't too much trouble, I mean."

"When I remember," Aravis admitted. "I should start practicing more. And you're new blood to practice against. Doesn't matter if you're a beginner, and I can assure you that I am very unlikely to go easy on you, anyway. Doesn't help anyone to learn that way."

"Not at all," Ella readily agreed. "If I go home and meet a highwayman, he won't say, 'oh, poor girl, you get a 10-second head start.' I'll watch for you in the gym, and practice on my own when you aren't there."

"Would you like to hold the real thing?" she asked, and frowned a little at how that had come out. "Just to learn the weight? I can't bring it to the gym."

Ella all but bounced. She liked that idea a lot. "May I? I won't swing it anywhere near you, or anything else that could get hurt."

Aravis drew her sword easily, and laid it flat across her palms to pass it over to Ella. It was a beautiful, ornate scimitar, jeweled along the hilt, and quite heavy. "As far as I can tell, my scimitar isn't like most of the swords from this world, so you might be used to something different. But it's not too drastically changed from most of the blades here."

Ella examined it closely. "The curve and jewels are a change, but I haven't held one before," she noted.

She lofted the scimitar into the form Aravis had shown her. "It's heavier, and the balance is different, but I see how this world work."

"You get used to the weight," she assured her. "And it helps swing it. I'm not sure what use the curve serves, really, but it's how the blades are all made in Calormen."

"It makes it look serious," Ella said, running a finger lightly down the blade's sharp edge. "It seems like it would be more deadly, somehow? I've no idea if that's true or not, but it's how it feels."

"My brother could've told you, but I've never used anything else for comparison," she admitted. "My friends at home use straight blades and they seem to do the same with it."

"Then I've no idea," Ella shrugged. She still thought the curved blade looked cool.

After a few more passes through the air, she held it to give back to Aravis. "Here. It's wonderful."

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Salle, Sunday Evening

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