Tal wasn't great at reading other people. In fact, he was generally pretty bad at it in most cases. When it came to his friends, however, he made a bit more of a conscious effort to pay attention, and he started to notice the little winces and hesitations in Zavien's movements that hadn't been there before. The courier frowned, teetering dangerously on the edge of a scowl. Before he could say anything, however, the sword was arcing in at him once more and he had to move or take a nasty slice - or, worse, shock Zavien on accident when the blade hit his armor!
The Dragoon was moving more quickly and Tal had to scramble to get his shield into position. Third time was the charm, however, as he took the lessons from the last two successful blocks - and the first catastrophic miss - and kept his weight back on his heel to help ground his hips and, through them, the shield. He twisted with his whole body instead of just his arms and this time the shield slid smoothly into position to take the sword and deflect it back as the courier stepped into his friend's guard, using the shield to slide up the blade until he was chest to chest with his friend.
"Right, I think I got it. An' you prob'ly need a break, too. How about y'show me what's goin' on an' let's see if my Ring can help at all."
The Dragoon was moving more quickly and Tal had to scramble to get his shield into position. Third time was the charm, however, as he took the lessons from the last two successful blocks - and the first catastrophic miss - and kept his weight back on his heel to help ground his hips and, through them, the shield. He twisted with his whole body instead of just his arms and this time the shield slid smoothly into position to take the sword and deflect it back as the courier stepped into his friend's guard, using the shield to slide up the blade until he was chest to chest with his friend.
"Right, I think I got it. An' you prob'ly need a break, too. How about y'show me what's goin' on an' let's see if my Ring can help at all."
