Mag Paget, Shotgun Knight (clippedwing) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-10-19 14:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, juliette coulombe, magnolia paget |
makes me that much stronger, makes me work a little bit harder...
Who: Mag Paget & Juliette Coulombe
What: Training the bb
Where: Bahamut Hall
When: This morning
Rating: PG
Status: Complete!
It boggled the mind that what had sounded like a perfect weekend getaway had turned into Aspel coming home in shambles, courtesy of a giant monster with terrible timing. The urge to facepalm at the whole thing was overwhelming. Couldn’t Aspel have had a vacation like regular people did? Didn’t she know there was a difference between getting laid, and getting laid up? Mag let out an exasperated sigh. The one good thing about it, as far as Mag could tell, was that Aspel’s doubts about Ari’s reaction to her being Fell had been cleared by the events of the trip; one thing less for her to worry about. In the spirit of taking as much of Aspel’s work as she could, Mag had messaged Juliette a couple of days ago. She knew the girl had defense training with Aspel every week, but with Aspel in her current condition, that was out of the question. So Mag had offered the squire a make-up session with her on Friday. Unsurprisingly, Juliette had accepted; Mag got the feeling the girl was too polite to ever turn down such an offer, even had she not been interested. However, she’d said yes, and so Mag made her way to Bahamut Hall that morning, with plenty of time to spare before the meeting time, as usual. When she arrived, she saw that, for once, she wasn’t the first. Juliette was already there, cross-legged on the ground, with her eyes closed—meditating, it seemed. It was still early, so Mag decided not to call attention to her presence. If meditating helped the girl concentrate, then let her meditate for as long as she needed; they could start when she was done. When she had lived with Lord and Lady Demiel, an early escape to the training yards had provided one of the few opportunities available for meditation. The estate had not provided her the required privacy, and even quiet could not be assured for all that the Lady had rarely risen before ten. Now, despite her tiny house, she had Countess Albrecht’s entire garden at her disposal, but old habits died hard, and an early arrival for meditation ensured she could not be late for training -- and that she would be as prepared as possible to accept instruction once the session began. She thus opened her eyes feeling refreshed and ready to learn five minutes before the scheduled session start -- just enough time for a few stretches -- to realize that her substitute instructor was already present. She rose to her feet and offered an inclination of head and shoulders in greeting. “Good morning, Sir Paget.” The last time they had met, both of them had not been doing particularly well, as she recalled, but the knight seemed in good spirits, and Juliette, too, felt quite a bit more positive this morning. “Thank you again for your offer to work with me today.” "No problem," Mag said with a smile. Juliette looked much more cheerful than she had when they'd met at The Roast. A good thing, not least because it was pointless to train with your mind clouded by other concerns. Juliette began to stretch, and Mag said decided to cut straight to the chase. "I've heard about your progress from Aspel, but I want to see for myself what level you're at right now." No better way to gauge the squire's skill than by putting it to the test. "We'll spar first. You don't have to win; you only have to stay standing for three minutes. No weapons, for now." Mag was no monk; her hand-to-hand fighting experience came from brawling in taverns. Yet, though her technique wasn't the best, her size alone would be an advantage, even if she pulled her punches. This was a defense class, though, and it was unlikely that Juliette would face many enemies smaller or weaker than her; she was still sixteen, after all, and quite slight of frame. Better to teach her to fight at a disadvantage. "One more thing. If you counterattack, I would recommend you try to knock me down. Trying to cause pain won't work. I can't feel pain, so it would be useless." She settled back into a stance and asked, "Ready?" No pain? The concept brought to mind half a dozen questions at least -- was it more useful? More dangerous? How? What did the knight use as as an alternative cue for threatening injuries? -- but she didn’t ask them, saying only, “I will endeavor to keep it in mind.” Her ability to knock down a fully trained fighter two decades her senior seemed unlikely, at best. But she was a knight, and Juliette was almost -- if not quite -- a monk. She was comfortable barehanded, and she sparred regularly with Councilor Liu, who was far more skilled than she, not to mention bigger than Sir Paget, and Lord Finch, who was big, strong, and utterly unforgiving of poor blocks. She did not think she would make an utter fool of herself, at least. So she settled into a guard stance, taking a deep breath and then releasing it. “Ready,” she confirmed, and waited to be attacked. There were no obvious openings in Juliette’s stance; only to be expected, Mag supposed, since she was aiming for monk. In fact, the squire’s stance was better than Mag’s own. Hand-to-hand wasn’t her speciality, not by far, but she was at an advantage, if only by virtue of her size and experience. And even if her stance wasn’t perfect, it didn’t matter; the point of the exercise was to evaluate Juliette’s defense, not her attack power. If the squire managed to fend Mag off long enough to land a hit, though, that would earn her quite a few bonus points. For the time being, Mag took a step closer to Juliette and began her attack. Nothing so fanciful as roundhouse kicks or the like; in brawls, it was better not to kick above the waist, lest someone get lucky, grab your leg and pull you off your feet. She threw a couple of punches aimed at destabilizing Juliette long enough to knock her to the ground, and the squire deflected them without too much effort. She was fast. That was probably her biggest help in combat; it didn’t matter how powerful an attack was, if she could dodge it. But if she couldn’t, then she had to know how to defend against it. Mag’s next punch was aimed at Juliette’s face. She was pulling her strength, of course, but hitting the girl wasn’t the point. Seeing that fist flying toward her face might trigger a flinch reflex—which would be a good chance for Mag to knock Juliette down. Sparring with a new partner was always stressful for the first few minutes. For all that Juliette moved quickly, she was still methodical in her thought processes; given the time to fully evaluate the style of her opponent, she grasped a significant advantage, but in the time it took to understand what she was up against,she could be defeated thrice over. She realized even now that while this made her particularly effective in spars against repeat opponents, it was a serious weakness in the real world, where one did not simply bow and walk away at the end of the spar, to come back and repeat it the next week. And so she attempted to adjust more quickly, blocking the first series of punches when they came, appreciating the glaring power differential (for all of her good form, she could not punch nearly this hard). The last blow, which had been aimed at her head, might have phased her a month or two ago; it seemed her lessons in unorthodox fighting had paid off to some degree, however, as this, too was blocked with arms raised quickly and crossed for additional strength. Even then, she found herself taking a necessary step back to keep her balance -- but at least she did not fall. There was the problem—strength. Juliette’s technique was wonderful. Hand-to-hand was her specialization, and it showed. But perfectly executed blocks would mean nothing if her opponent’s attacks managed to drive her back anyway. Mag was pulling her blows, and she was sure her stance left a few openings, but Juliette seemed to have her hands full just defending. Yet if Mag took it easy on her, she’d never learn—and so she continued her flurry of attacks, adding just a little more force behind her blows. Juliette continued to dodge and block, but she was giving ground with almost every attack now. Mag threw another punch, a little heavier this time, and as expected the squire blocked—and was thrown back onto the ground by the strength behind it. Well, lack of durability wasn’t something that could be fixed in a single training session, but at least she could give the girl some advice. Mag held out her hand and helped Juliette to her feet. "The best kind of defense is the kind that isn’t just defense. You can’t win if you only defend. All you do is get tired." Mag gave a wry smile. "The tricky part is learning how to alternate between attack and defense. As I expected, your form is wonderful. Your technique is much better than mine. You know how to parry—but unless you can put some strength behind your parries, brute force will be enough to knock you down." No doubt this wasn’t anything new to Juliette, and Mag would have been very surprised if Aspel hadn’t noticed that flaw and given her exercises to correct it. "When you’re at a disadvantage," which would be most of the time for the squire, "find weak spots. Find ways to diminish the threat." She walked over to the weapons rack and picked out a blunted spear. Though no blade was attached, she would still need to be careful; the point wasn’t the only danger a spear posed. Mag would prefer not to send Juliette home covered in bruises from head to toe, if she could help it. "Since you’re aiming for Monk, you’ll often fight armed opponents with your bare hands." Mag returned to her previous spot and twirled the spear a couple of times, testing its weight and balance. "Most of these opponents wouldn’t be your match in hand-to-hand. So if you can disarm them, or find the weaknesses of their weapon, you can bring the fight to familiar territory." She dropped into stance; this one, so familiar to her, did not have a single opening. “Your aim now is to disarm me. Spears are weak in close-quarters combat. Get past my guard, and knock the weapon out of my hands." She gave the squire a reassuring smile. "Let’s start." Juliette dropped her gaze so that her embarrassment could not be so easily seen. The best defense is a strong offense. It was a lesson she had learned -- theoretically - many years ago. But as expected, in the time she had spent analyzing Sir Paget’s movements, she had already been knocked off her feet. The worst of it was, she had blocked the blow. The strengthening exercises she was doing daily were not working as quickly as she would have liked. "Yes," she said, "thank you. I will attempt to incorporate your advice." It was better and more polite than saying, I know, I just can’t seem to do it. She brushed herself off as the spear was retrieved, though her troubled expression relaxed somewhat once she realized the next lesson. This, she could do. Sister Felicity had drilled this into her over the years, and her speed and small stature would actually assist her in this exercise, as long as she used what she had been taught effectively. She prepared herself for the second bout. She faced someone wielding her primary weapon now, and she knew there would be differences in the way she moved, but what she had noted in their first bout could still, perhaps, be used in this one, if only she could adjust… They began, attacks coming quick and confident from the older woman. Juliette dodged now instead of blocking, looking for an opening. There weren’t any obvious flaws, of course. But every weapon, she had been taught, had its shortcomings. In lieu of mistakes, she would have to find and exploit these, instead. As the next thrust came, she danced aside, using her speed to move out of the way at the last possible moment, her hands grabbing the spear shaft as she approached from the side, a tight kick aimed at her opponent’s midsection which would, hopefully, have her loosening or relinquishing her iron grip on the spear. The moment Juliette slipped past her point, Mag couldn’t help smiling. Against any other opponent, that kick would have worked—just the shock of it would have been enough for anyone else’s grip to slacken for a crucial half-second. The impact made Mag take half a step back, but her hands continued to grip the shaft. With all her strength, she pulled on the spear so Juliette’s hold would break first. It did, and Mag used that chance to put some distance between them, so she could still fight comfortably. "That’s the spirit," she said to Juliette, grinning now. "Next time, go for my joints. Your blows won’t hurt, but if you can strike at the right spot, you can numb my arm just long enough. Try it." A failure, but she was getting closer. That thought carried Juliette through the next set of dodges. She watched for the right moment, biding her time -- but not too long, else she would certainly wind up on the ground again -- before selecting her opponents right elbow for her next target. Sister Felicity had spent some time touting the value of precision strikes for a fighter who was neither large nor overly powerful. These lessons, which applied to her situation so exactly, Juliette had taken care to learn well. It took a few failed attempts to get in close enough again, but she managed it at last with a particularly clever feint and roll maneuver that had gotten her praise from Lord Finch just the week prior. She struck the elbow with all the strength she could muster at an angle, knowing that without pain, her success was less likely. But this time, when she yanked the spear with her other hand, it shifted towards her. Mag tried to maintain her hold, but Juliette had executed her advice perfectly. A slight spasm shook her arm when the squire’s blow connected, and before Mag could correct her grip, Juliette had pulled the weapon out of her hands. A low whistle. "Impressive," she said. The fun part about teaching was seeing the student succeed, and Juliette definitely had. "Congratulations, Juliette. That was really good." No wonder Aspel had taken a shine to this squire. She wasn’t particularly strong, or sturdy, but she knew how to fight with what she had—an invaluable skill in a fighter. Given a few years, she would be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. The thought made Mag grin. She was looking forward to that day. |