Sky Min (gotsomebite) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-08-01 06:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, juliette coulombe, sky min |
Who: Sky & Juliette
What: Sparring (mis)adventures!
Where: Shieldwyrm
When: This morning
Rating: PG because language
Status: Complete!
The twins had planned the day carefully, for this kind of switcharoo would be not as easy as it was back home. Bigger city, more people to possibly know even casually, and more rules to follow all around. It was far less simple, but Sky knew that he and Pyr both could manage. They always did.
And so it was to the guildhall Sky strolled off to at a stupid hour of the morning. The streets were only beginning to bustle about, and at least the sun was high enough in the sky that the shops and roads were all tinted gold, but really, right now Sky should only just be getting out of bed, or fighting with his alarm, or something, rather than fully dressed and heading off to do some training with the Fighter's Guild. But, he did want to get better at his daggers, and the Fighters Guild was the best place to get that training, even if Pyr warned him against using it in his bouts against the squire he was to face for the morning.
Fists only. Fine. His mother always told him never to strike a girl, but really, if she was in the Fighters Guild and sparring, she should, theoretically, be able to take it. Regardless, it should be an easy enough bout. So Sky walked in to see her, mildly aware that he was a few minutes late but not really caring, either. He fell into Pyr's usual mannerisms as he greeted her -- oh, shoot, what was her name again?
Juliette had to admit, that after two weeks of mishaps - first the attack outside the city, and then the riot and her unfortunate grounding - she was rather looking forward to her sparring match with Pyr. She still wasn't sure she liked him, or agreed with his... lackadaisical approach to rules set in place for their own safety, but she couldn't deny that she was improving from fighting him, too. He made her think on her feet. It was a skill she could certainly stand to develop. She had really come to realize in the recent months that this was a weakness that needed addressing.
Still, he received only a flat, very cool look as he entered the training yard, because he had been horrible at last week's breakfast and now he was late. That wasn't to say she didn't still feel the anticipation; the thought of punching him in the face appealed mightily after what he had done to her in front of Storm. She spared only a moment to wonder why he was coming from outside and not the guildhall barracks. Had he been out running, perhaps?
"Good morning," she greeted with a minute bow of her head, her tone icily polite. "Your turn to choose." They did not generally waste time on meaningless conversation, which she could appreciate, and she had made the choice of weapon last time.
"My turn?" Sky asked, tapping his finger to his chin in thought. It was mostly to humor her; on the one hand, while he was sure that he could beat her in hand-to-hand pretty readily, he was better at daggers. Would that even be fair, though, even to pass himself off as someone who belonged in the Fighters Guild like his brother? And it wasn't like Pyr hadn't tried to teach him hand-to-hand combat, either. Still, for the ruse, he had to use what he was better at, right?
He shrugged. "Daggers," he said, then he smirked, "if you think you can take it."
She raised both eyebrows at him, but did not comment. If she thought she could take it? She had beaten him in previous bouts, and daggers were her strongest weapon when she was forced to use one, though she was quickly growing more and more proficient with her shortsword under Theo's tutelage.
Saying nothing, she checked the weight of three pairs of practice daggers on the weapons rack before choosing those which most closely resembled her sharpened pair. She took her position in their habitual corner of the training yard then, waiting for him to select his weapons and stand opposite her.
Especially today, she did not intend to lose to him. She had been unable to say anything at breakfast, but her anger and embarrassment would find their outlet in the bout.
Sky nearly moaned petulantly when he saw the practice daggers, but he couldn't use his own here, that much he knew. He even held back a heavy sigh as he watched her carefully grab her pair. He, of course, went for the shiniest ones here, which weren't all that shiny at all. All of the available daggers were quite dull and unattractive, and probably made of inexpensive metal that not even the most desperate of streetrats would find worth snatching away. Well, again, he didn't have much option.
As they took their positions to face each other, Sky thought he saw a glimpse of familiarity in her face, but he couldn't damn well ask her about it. But he'd seen her before, he was sure of it. Oh, well.
He fell into the stance that Pyr had taught him to use, this time taking the time to make sure he did everything perfectly right. It felt awkward, and he wasn't completely sure if his foot placement or his balance was accurate enough, but oh well; she was a girl, this couldn't be so hard.
"Ready whenever you are," he said.
She did not waste time. Once he had assumed his stance and verbalized his agreement, she launched an offensive. Accustomed now to their rhythm, and still quite incensed, she did not take her time as she had previously done, swinging immediately into a quick series of jabs and slashes with the daggers, followed by a kick aimed directly at his chest.
She was fast.
Too fast, really, and he barely had time to move his daggers in place to defend himself. Before he knew it, her foot planted itself firmly into his chest and he crashed to the ground. He panted, eyes wild. Where did that come from?
But Sky Min refused to be so easily defeated, especially in the name of his brother. So he climbed back to his feet and countered with his own wild moves, one swing of a dagger after another.
He was haphazard. She hadn't expected it of him; after his first bout against her, she thought he had learned the lesson of taking her seriously, but today it was as though he was a different person. Granted, she had never seen him fight with daggers, and his movements had a sort of technique to them, but it wasn't the trained sort of technique she was used to, and he left openings in places squires were taught to guard. And he did not seem to be expecting her kick at all.
She countered his wild swings with precise, textbook blocks. One or two got past her guard, but they would have been grazes at best even had the weapons been sharpened.
Was he trying to trick her again?
Her eyes narrowed, and she switched forms before he could follow through on whatever plan he had constructed. She had gotten quite skilled at incorporating hand to hand forms into her weapons training; she dropped to jab low, sweeping her foot under his to send him sprawling again unless he managed to avoid it.
Sky did not manage to avoid the swipe of her foot, and once more he fell to the ground. This time, his face hit dirt. He spit the grains out and once more hobbled up to his feet, gritting his teeth.
Damn but she was--
No, he wouldn't think it. He would not think it. He wrinkled his nose and gripped the daggers again, wishing for his own pair so that he could maybe try to get her back somehow. Unfortunately, he didn't have any bright ideas, but she wasn't using the daggers exclusively and that grated on him. Well, fine, two could play at that game.
Once more, he thrust his daggers forward, hoping to catch her off guard as she tried to defend against it so that he could land his own kick onto her belly. He hoped it work; it wasn't something he ever tried before, either.
Whatever he was trying to do, it was a spectacular failure. In truth, it was almost distracting how badly he was faring. Was this lead-up to some clever trick she hadn't thought of? Surely it had to be.
Or... was he simply refusing to try against her? Was this how little he thought of her skill, really?
She had hoped to release her anger in a cathartic bout; instead, she felt it mounting until it was hard to think past the desire to just punch him in his smug face and be done with it. When he added insult to injury by attempting a jokingly weak, overbalanced kick, it was just... too much. She grabbed his ankle, the hilt of her dagger most likely digging painfully into his shin bone, and yanked. He went sprawling, and she pounced on top of him with her full weight, hands pinning his. "Stop wasting my time," she told him through gritted teeth.
"Oof!" Sky exclaimed when his back hit the ground and this girl (damn but what was her name again) fell on top of him, pinning him down.
He glared up at her. "Wasting your time?" he hissed. Then he decided to laugh, and it was not a good-natured one. "I'm only just getting warmed up. Now get off me."
She gave him a look of mixed incredulity and anger. "You are defeated," she told him flatly. "I will get off of you when I feel it appropriate - and by the way," she added, only more incensed by his laughter, "if that was your idea of a joke, it was not the least bit funny." Not that he generally was funny, really.
"You will have to complete your... warm-up with someone else," she said, disgusted, then heaved herself off of him and stalked over to the weapons rack to put away her daggers. "I would be better served practicing my katas." Or beating the stuffing out of a practice target until she calmed down.
When she finally got off of him, Sky sat up and winced from the pain that radiated throughout his entire front. "Ow," he complained. He shot her a nasty glare. He hadn't meant it as a joke at all, but if he couldn't get to her physically... "I thought it was hilarious. Not my fault you don't have a sense of humor."
He climbed up to his feet, daggers in hand, still not wanting to accept defeat. "You're afraid that I'm going to beat you, aren't you? I'm not done yet."
"If you are looking for someone to test your... attempts at comedy, might I suggest another," she told him, having already put her daggers onto the rack. "You may not be done, but I am." She doubted that he would push now that she was unarmed, but then, what did she know?
He was not a rational person.
Sky fidgeted with the daggers, thinking how idiotic it was that she had her back turned to him like this when he'd told her that he wasn't done fighting yet. He stepped forward to make an attack, but then the thought of he was supposed to be Pyr stopped him; and, more importantly, the pain in his chest tore at him, and he winced, choosing to scowl instead.
"Yeah, well, I'll just let you have this one for now," he said. "I'll get you next time." Because Pyr couldn't lose to a girl, after all. Revenge for the sake of his brother, that's how that fight would go down. Sky would just have to figure out how to get here without being seen.