"An accident... several accidents," he amended with a grimace. "At the meeting we talked a little about the sickness in the Woods, yes? Well, I had taken Rory out to see it, to see if he recognized it, as a farmer used to the kinds of diseases and problems we get inside the barrier. And I guess Amalia had also gone into the woods to talk to Delah about the same thing. I honestly have no idea what Are was doing there... but Delah didn't take kindly to our presence." The bard had the grace to look a little sheepish as he gave a slight shrug. "She was escorting us out of the Woods when we were passing by that lake, and the ground dropped away beneath us, tumbling us into that little cave." He tilted his head at the big man curiously. "What about you and the others?" Remi, he thought, had been the one to argue most staunchly about going into the woods in the first place.
Odd, how that nightmarish day now seemed almost bright in comparison to their more recent problems. Perhaps because those problems were closer to home, not on some distant ground. Danger when you went exploring was to be expected, but danger that crept through your streets and threatened your loved ones with sharp smiles and iron cages was another thing entirely, and the bard had never wished to face the latter again.
The last time had cost him his parents and the last vestiges of any home for the past six years, after all. Time had softened the edges of that loss somewhat, but guilt still bit deep for his lack of power to save those who he had loved. As with Deimos, the passage to Caido had cost him dearly in strength and effectiveness in a fight... and that was all the more reason for the two of them to work together to try and regain some of what they had lost.
And the broken arm wasn't helping. Deimos's words made sense, even if retraining and muscle memory required time he wasn't sure they had. Still, it was a place to start and he nodded, steadying himself with a deep breath. "Only way to get the muscle memory is to practice," he agreed ruefully, wondering if perhaps he should sleep in the Glade for the next few nights to spare Rory the sight of the bruises he was going to be accumulating. "The rapier is more about speed and subtlety... I'm not used to putting as much muscle behind it as I think I need to with this type of sword," he admitted. Mostly because he wasn't used to having much muscle to put behind it! But maybe all that work he'd been doing at the farm would have an upside beside his partner's grateful smile...
There was no time left for daydreaming as Deimos stepped forward again, his motions confident and steady, efficient and smooth, even slowed down so Jigano could see the play of muscles beneath his shirt and the bared skin of his arms. If he thought of it as just another kind of dance, maybe that would help... He still stepped back with his left leg, pulling his injured side away from the incoming danger, but this time when he moved to block he managed to get his shoulder behind the motion, muscles bunching and wrist straightening in line with the rest of his forearm, a stronger position to meet the incoming blow with. The slower speed allowed him to better judge where along Deimos's sword to aim his block, too. Rather than blocking closer to the guard, the strongest part of his opponent's blade, he aimed for the middle - and with the middle of his own sword as well, rather than closer to the weaker tip as he had before. Slowly, matching Deimos's speed, he managed to knock the incoming blow just far enough to the side to avoid catching his body this time, though the larger wooden sword was in no position for the riposte he would have tried with his rapier.
"This... is going to take some getting used to," he admitted ruefully. "But it will hopefully get us close enough to the head of a snake. Now, hypothetically, if our opponent was a mage... do you have any ideas for countering their magic so we could get close enough to use these swords?" he asked, stepping back to reset their positions before taking his turn at mimicking the blow Deimos had just aimed at him. Still moving at half-speed, he stepped to his left and swung for the big man's shoulder. The general posture of the strike was right, but there was no question that he lacked Deimos's bulk to make the swing as difficult to parry as he had found it to be.
Odd, how that nightmarish day now seemed almost bright in comparison to their more recent problems. Perhaps because those problems were closer to home, not on some distant ground. Danger when you went exploring was to be expected, but danger that crept through your streets and threatened your loved ones with sharp smiles and iron cages was another thing entirely, and the bard had never wished to face the latter again.
The last time had cost him his parents and the last vestiges of any home for the past six years, after all. Time had softened the edges of that loss somewhat, but guilt still bit deep for his lack of power to save those who he had loved. As with Deimos, the passage to Caido had cost him dearly in strength and effectiveness in a fight... and that was all the more reason for the two of them to work together to try and regain some of what they had lost.
And the broken arm wasn't helping. Deimos's words made sense, even if retraining and muscle memory required time he wasn't sure they had. Still, it was a place to start and he nodded, steadying himself with a deep breath. "Only way to get the muscle memory is to practice," he agreed ruefully, wondering if perhaps he should sleep in the Glade for the next few nights to spare Rory the sight of the bruises he was going to be accumulating. "The rapier is more about speed and subtlety... I'm not used to putting as much muscle behind it as I think I need to with this type of sword," he admitted. Mostly because he wasn't used to having much muscle to put behind it! But maybe all that work he'd been doing at the farm would have an upside beside his partner's grateful smile...
There was no time left for daydreaming as Deimos stepped forward again, his motions confident and steady, efficient and smooth, even slowed down so Jigano could see the play of muscles beneath his shirt and the bared skin of his arms. If he thought of it as just another kind of dance, maybe that would help... He still stepped back with his left leg, pulling his injured side away from the incoming danger, but this time when he moved to block he managed to get his shoulder behind the motion, muscles bunching and wrist straightening in line with the rest of his forearm, a stronger position to meet the incoming blow with. The slower speed allowed him to better judge where along Deimos's sword to aim his block, too. Rather than blocking closer to the guard, the strongest part of his opponent's blade, he aimed for the middle - and with the middle of his own sword as well, rather than closer to the weaker tip as he had before. Slowly, matching Deimos's speed, he managed to knock the incoming blow just far enough to the side to avoid catching his body this time, though the larger wooden sword was in no position for the riposte he would have tried with his rapier.
"This... is going to take some getting used to," he admitted ruefully. "But it will hopefully get us close enough to the head of a snake. Now, hypothetically, if our opponent was a mage... do you have any ideas for countering their magic so we could get close enough to use these swords?" he asked, stepping back to reset their positions before taking his turn at mimicking the blow Deimos had just aimed at him. Still moving at half-speed, he stepped to his left and swung for the big man's shoulder. The general posture of the strike was right, but there was no question that he lacked Deimos's bulk to make the swing as difficult to parry as he had found it to be.
