From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Ah, it seems her luck has run out. Evie is far from vexed by the failure, and though her arms hold strong the rest of her body exhibits small aches from not being used in this particular manner at length. Not to mention the mental burden of focusing so intently on each move, each weapon. The intimidation of wanting to prove herself to those around her, to Deimos, to herself most of all. The break is a welcome thing, and she takes a moment alone to merely sit and breathe with her eyes closed before slowly following the instructions to stretch and loosen her joints back up.
The respite is appreciated, but the warmup more so. It gives her a chance to see the motions a second time around, slower this time. Once more she returns to her station, eyeing her immobile opponent, before she firms her stance and slips into the motions Deimos has shown them. Returning to the task with a renewed vigor.
She’s really not this strong, yet somehow the staff gets stuck in the ground. Seriously, what the fuck? This isn’t a case of her underestimating her strength. She can hold her own well enough, but she’s small and it’s not like she can lift anything bigger than herself. How she can keep getting weapons stuck is beyond her. Honestly, as they all seem to fail, all she can do is chuckle and shake her head.
Deimos gives them a break, and she goes to enjoy some water and to sit for a moment. As he brings them back, he leads them through warmups, and she follows along. The movement is nice, even if she’s plenty warm from all the work they have already done. Still, it gives her time to get the feel of the staff, it’s weight and balance vastly different from her own weapon.
Then, they try again. She does her best, lessening the strength behind the movement and trying to get it right.
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
The bad luck charm that Oliver had suddenly adorned finally burst- spreading onto every single person in attendance. It seemed that not a single one of them managed to succeed- which honestly seemed like a slim fucking chance. Oliver couldn't really believe that Jigano of all people did about as equal to him with a weapon. Wasn't Jigano like, a super smart mage with super amazing weapons capabilities? Whatever. Whatever
Pushing aside those thoughts, Oliver didn't feel as embarrassed now... he was still embarrassed, absolutely, but it was nearly as bad now. It would be a major help that Deimos had decided it was time for a break. With a break granted, Oliver chose a unique approach to hopefully allow himself to calm down. Oliver would begin to stretch, really doing his own stretches. He'd try and bend down to touch his toes, make sure his arms were okay, and then move down onto the grass in order to stretch out his legs some more. Once everyone seemed to be done, Oliver stood back up, dusted himself off, and felt cooled down enough to get back into work.
Deimos would go on to demonstrate some warm ups, which Oliver would continue. There wasn't any harm in doing some more and he could really use these techniques to help him out.
Once Oliver had warmed up: it was time to try again. Trying as hard as he could, Oliver would attempt to do the maneuver once more, praying to Safrin that he'd be able to show that he was good at something. That he could be trained.
Oliver uses his break to do some stretching! Then he tries his best C:
i just want my existance to be
more than trembling
Perhaps the break and stretching served them well. He watched again, sinuously winding his way through their target ranges and staff motions, catching the executed movements, the better designed tactics.
Jigano’s strawman didn’t stand a chance this time, and under the Sage’s careful, more controlled, accuracy, tufts of the target lost themselves entirely (a stray arm colliding with the ground), inspiring the lightest of chuckles from the General. “Much better,” and his eyes traveled back down to the dummy, preferring to leave it there instead of stuffing it back in. A sense and mark of accomplishment perhaps, after the long hours they’d spent heralding wisdom and sagacity from munitions.
Evie’s earlier luck and precision seemed to have waned as she held the staff, whiffing away at air once more, almost knocking herself entirely forward. He tilted his head, studying her movements, before trying to adjust. “Perhaps less power?” If she was coming through the maneuvers with too much force, she was hurtling herself over on the other side.
Weaver finally managed to garner her old strength back, knocking the munition directly into the target’s abdomen area. Nothing was stuck in the ground. Nothing was shot near her foot. Marked well in her slam, as straw flew in bunches. A satisfactory nod bombarded his motions, silent approval as an earnest smile dragged along his mouth, before moving on to Oliver.
Oliver’s confidence issues might’ve been some cause towards previous efforts – fumbling around in apprehension could implement a number of errors. Maybe the opportunity to refresh, coerce his thoughts into something besides consternation and worry, helped in his process. As soon as the Sword came around, he witnessed the youth bombard the dummy with ample ability, brushing the sides and leaving a mark within the straw. “There. See, you are entirely capable.” He arched a brow and moved on.
Back towards the ramparts, figuring it was time to at least start finalizing and finishing up on their day. One last round to ascertain some proclivity and predilection. “We will pair up again, to try and disarm one another.” He showed them the same maneuver as before, the unleashing of a strike downward, only this time, he bent the staff back up, to demonstrate an opportunity to rend the staff out of their opponent’s hands. “Jigano and Oliver, Evie and Weaver.” So they wouldn’t have to fight the same person – all of them seemingly around the same level with the staff anyway.
--
Jigano, Weaver, and Oliver rolled hits! Evie missed again.
Pair up and try to disarm one another! Jigano and Oliver are paired, and Evie and Weaver are paired.
Straw tore and billowed in a manner most satisfying, and Jigano felt pleased indeed at the success of his strike. He glanced over to the chuckle behind him, a sly grin on his features as he tilted his head in acknowledgment that his previous attempt had held more enthusiasm than grace, but glad that he'd been able to reassert his more usual panache in the end. A little water, a little stretching, a clearer head, and the results spoke for themselves.
He nodded in admiration of Weaver's return to lethal form, and offered Evie a sympathetic wince as the staff proved an unwieldy weapon for the normally-agile apothecary. Oliver's sudden success earned a quirk of a smile and a nod of agreement with Deimos's instruction and praise, but he stayed quiet to let the General lead the exercise.
For a moment he thought that they were done, targets successfully disarmed and staves more or less held well in hand. Deimos had one more challenge in store for them, however, and Jigano arched a brow at the next lesson and the partners chosen. Oliver had acquitted himself well, though, and they were both equally matched as far as one bad strike and one good one, so the bard nodded affably and took up position across from the young man. "When you're ready," he said, same as he had to Weaver, and once Oliver had taken his stance the bard stepped forward to push, shift aside, strike down--
And then twist his staff up, trying to catch the other man's stave and send it flying.
It goes far better this round, and she catches Jigano’s eye as he offers a nod of approval. She returns the gesture, feeling vaguely foolish for sucking with any weapon when she carried one as lethal as she did. At least she hadn’t been the only one struggling to figure out the staff. She gave Melita a bit more credit for choosing that as her weapon, finding that sharp pointy things were vastly more preferable.
Then they are moving on again, this time Weaver finding herself paired with Evie. She gives the other woman a nod and a smile, something conspiratory in the look, as if there is something that can only be shared between women with weapons. ”Let me know when,” she says, giving Evie the chance to set up and the benefit of going second and learning from Weaver’s mistakes.
Then she does as Deimos had shown them, trying to repeat the movements successfully. The first bit seems easy enough, having done it a number of times now, but getting the last bit right would be tricky. Still, she twists the staff back up, attempting to catch Evie’s and send it flying.
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
04-19-2020, 12:52 AM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2020, 12:53 AM by Evie.)
EVIE
Well. Okay so her luck has apparently floundered totally, but Evie doesn't let it get to her just yet. Certainly if she keeps failing she'll probably start exhibiting the same frustration that Weaver had, but for now she merely grits her teeth and huffs a little to herself. All the same she soaks in Deimos' advice and gives a curt nod, trying to refocus her efforts once more.
She gives a smile at Weaver as they are paired up, the woman's conspiratorial look flaming the embers back up in Evie's breast. "I'm ready," she alerts when she's adequately prepared, as Weaver had graciously allowed. The change in direction at the end of the practiced movement is new, and she's not quite sure how to defend against it, but Evie does her damnedest to be successful. They are the only two women here, and she wants to end on a good note if possible.
That break was absolutely what Oliver needed, both mentally and physically. There was such a massive change in how his attack worked that Oliver thought it was a fluke. Maybe something possessed him or something. This didn't go unnoticed and soon, Deimos was appearing out of nowhere and complimenting him? Or it kind of sounded like a compliment. It certainly earned a light blush on Oliver's cheeks. "Thank you?" Hopefully it meant that Deimos still thought he had potential- he could serve the Hollowed Ground well.
It seemed Deimos hadn't quite learned his lesson and once more, they were paired off. Fantastic. Though, not with Evie this time. Thankfully, or maybe not, Oliver was paired with Jigano. On one side, Oliver knew him so it wouldn't be too awkward. On the other... Jigano could kick his ass with a blindfold on.
Readying himself, Jigano was quick to move. Oliver tried his best to block off the first swing at his staff before trying to fight against his attempt to twist the staff. If Oliver were successful, he'd attempt to wack at Jigano's ankles, hoping to knock him off his balance.
Oliver tries to defend himself against Jigano! He tries to push against the staff and fight against the attempt to twist his staff. As well, if he succeeds to do that, he will try to hit Jigano's ankles to knock him off his balance!
i just want my existance to be
more than trembling
It was an intriguing battle of skills: because none of them seemed quite as adept with the staff as the other weapons, but showcased some snagged experience in the interim. Deimos stopped to watch at Oliver and Jigano’s centralized area first, quietly observing the task at hand. With Jigano’s sagacity and Oliver’s newfound confidence, the general was half-inclined to witness based on curiosity alone: the Sage’s staff twisted up, knocking into Oliver’s, but the other man’s act of pushing meant despite their mutual hits and assaults, neither lost their weapon; an even match. “Very nice,” he extended to both. Even if they hadn’t thrown their adversary’s munitions into the dirt, the fact that both successfully blocked meant they’d be able to keep their arms, a necessity within munitions. It was interesting to see Oliver thinking on his own for the intended assault, something he ought to embody a lot more often.
Then he maneuvered in the same pattern as before, marching over across the grounds to witness how Evie and Weaver handled their task. Perhaps in the way Evie defended herself, or Weaver’s misfortune during some of these rounds kept carrying over, but the latter’s wooden pole went sailing off into the distance. This would’ve been a great opportunity for Evie to strike, especially after disarming her opponent, but Weaver was likely light of foot, and the staff simply grazed off of clothing. He turned towards them both, picking up Weaver’s weapon to return it to her. “Recall grounding yourself. Weight into your feet, hips straight. This will help in balancing your strength and grappling with opponents.”
Thereafter though, they were done, finished, their rounds completed, their practice in assaults and munitions ceased. The Sword marched back to the forefront, nodding, proffering, and extending what he could. “Well done to all of you. You should be proud of what you accomplished today.” Not a lie or a half-truth; the General didn’t posture or propose words without meaning. “If you wish to continue practicing, the grounds are open to you anytime.” As well as the weapons themselves, wooden or steel, stored in the armory for anyone’s use. “I hope this training assisted you in some capacity.” That they’d gained something from it, even with trials, errors, and tribulations (because it was a noteworthy capacity of how individuals learned. They would never be perfect every time. But when it mattered, when it counted, he wanted them there, willing, ready, and able to defend themselves or someone else. “Please let me know if you have any questions.” He nodded again to all of them, and while they returned armaments, he settled into maneuvering the targets and dummies back to their proper place.
He wasn't able to pull Oliver's staff away, but the young man's tenacity was a pleasant change of pace and as they broke apart he gave the blond an admiring nod. "Nicely done, blocking the attack," he acknowledged with a smile. Deimos's praise was always welcome; never profligate with it, the bard knew that every word mattered to the General, and smiled in satisfaction at his own performance, glad he had managed to hold his own amongst the weapons and wiles of his fellow classmates.
As they gathered at the end he looked around, glad to see old friends and new forging a bond of shared training and trust, Outlanders and Naturals, Grounders and Halovians, and though he was feeling the burn of muscles used in uncommon ways he also felt inspired by the efforts of those around him. "I'd like to keep training with the staff, if anyone wants to join me," he offered. He'd tried to give Quanil a few pointers before, but if they were serious about their weapon of choice he should polish his own skills to provide them a worthy training partner in the future.
Taking his staff he headed off to the side. If no one joined him, he would work on the practice dummy a while longer, settling the new motions into muscle memory for future encounters.
It does not go all that well. Weaver loses the staff, and it’s only years of practice that allow her to dance out of the way of Evie’s blow. So today was not her day, and the staff was definitely not her weapon. This is why she’s not a soldier. Rules and form are not Weaver’s strong suit; she tends to fight with a rather reckless instinct more than anything else, taking foolish but sometimes worthwhile gambles, particularly when her life is not actually at stake. You never know what might work until you try it.
”Well done,” Weaver says with a rueful smile toward Evie, who, though she’d missed smacking Weaver, had managed to keep the staff in her hands. Weaver wanders off to go fetch her weapon, and when Deimos says they are done, she puts it away and collects her scythe. Though it is tempting to stay and practice some more as Jigano offers, Weaver needs to start heading back to the portal if she’s going to get home tonight. It would be too cold and too dark if she waited any longer.
”Thanks for the instruction,” she says to Deimos, giving the others in the group a wave as she turns and makes her way for home.
***
Weaver out!
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
