Have you ever believed in a mirage?

[quickdrawlatino]

[Its bleeding early in the morning - the sun is but  short while away from rising. And where is Sam at this time? Training intensely! But not with his sword surprisingly - though it lies close by. Sam's on the deck of the ship - letting loose with a series of punches and kicks. What kind of style is he using? Its difficult to place - there's plenty of capoeira and judo peppered in - especially with how he's tossing around the dummies he's set up pretty darned hard. As in more than one. It seems he likes to practice on multiple targets at once.]

Mmmh... nothing like a good morning warm up...

[He rolls his neck in a relaxed manner as he flicks his sheathed sword up from the ground with his foot and snatches it out of the air as it dropped - resting it along his shoulders as he watched the sun rise. He pauses to look over at you with a raised eyebrow.]

I didn't think anyone else would bother waking up this early.

Comments

[paladin_robot]

Oh yeah... because every novice can pull that off from the start...

[Richard's a little unstable as he uses the wooden sword to get back up on his feet, before taking a few moments to just... figure out how he should hold it.]

Uh... in my machine, I have a giant shield on the left arm, so... not sure if I should be one handed... or both...

[quickdrawlatino]

Yes. I remember that as well. The next time we practice you may wish to get something to stand in for it... but in the mean time - let us just assume you lost it somehow.

[He's now considering things, thinking back to the fight and what he saw of Ideigi.]

Considering the size of your sword, learning to use two handed swings would be best. That both sides of your weapon are deadly rather than just one you can get a little more creative.

And given the design of the hilt... perhaps you can take advantage of it. It looks as if it can catch your opponent's weapon if you're lucky. With the right sort of movement you can rip it out of their hands

[He nods to himself and looks at the blade.]

We may need something a bit weightier and a bit wider than that.

Hold up the sword.

[paladin_robot]

Well... I can lose it in the fight, so thats fair...

[Richard takes a hold of the wooden blade with both hands, keeping the flat edge close to his body, and the weapon held at an angle in front of him. He listens intently, slightly confused, but also slightly intrigued.]

I hadn't considered that with the hilt...

[Yeah, those bits on the guard could hook stuff, thinking on it. Could possibly follow up with a blunt strike...]

R-right!

[And so he stands with the sword held up, slightly further from his body now, and a foot half off the ground. Didn't want to necessarily be caught out again...]

[quickdrawlatino]

[Sam's going to tap lightly at the blade before suddenly slashing at it. Hard. It was mostly to test if Richard knew exactly HOW to hold his sword. Even if its out of a fight.]

[paladin_robot]

[There! He'd been expecting something like this!

He stumbles a bit, but Richard manages to just about block this one with a quick movement of the blade to try and deflect the blade downwards, and give him a chance to move away. Trying to outright halt this guy would be crazy.]

[quickdrawlatino]

Oh? A fast learner? Good. Maybe you might live long enough to get good with a sword.

But lets see how fast you can get once we get something more your speed than these.

[paladin_robot]

Gotta start somewhere, right?

[There's a little aggression - though more in the competitive sense - in Richard's voice as he makes a counterattack. The first strike, a simple sideways slash, is a feint however. The blade would be pulled back quickly after combat, and then suddenly shifted for a lower attack.]

[quickdrawlatino]

[Sam of course could spot the tell tale signs of a feint - still why not humor the rookie swordsman. As he saw the low strike coming he sidestepped from the blow - grabbed Richard by his extended arm and sent him to the ground!]

Another lesson that you should learn... make use of everything. Your sword isn't your only weapon. Your fists and your feet can make things even worse for your opponent if you know what to do...

And that shield of yours can be used for so much more than just fending off attacks.

[paladin_robot]

[Richard's face kinda went skidding across the surface of the deck there, and he winces several times in pain as he stands up.]

S-Should have seen that one coming...

[He swiftly turns, holding his sword defensively.]

I've thrown it a few times, but really if I need to protect someone and I'm not fast enough on foot.

[Richard chuckles slightly.]

Trying to work on better using the magic too...

[quickdrawlatino]

Interesting... I hear a lot about magic. I thought it would be far rarer... and if you don't have your shield try to push the offensive. You aren't as well protected and your defense would take timing you haven't learned yet.

[And to illustrate the point Sam is going to rush forward and let loose a at blinding speeds - several rapid slashes from a multitude of arcs were launched at Richard. If this were his sword - there's no doubt the frenchman would be in ribbons.]

[But how well does Richard fare from defending himself from this attack?]

[paladin_robot]

Well, right now, its kinda limited to my machine...

[Richard sighs a bit... before his eyes widen as the sudden series of attacks come. Unfortunately, this where the gap in experience really shows, as for every hit that Richard can barely block, there's at least two more - often closer to three - that slip past.

Realising he's failing at the defensive though, Richard sees if he can at least mitigate things by going on the offensive instead - stabbing forward even whilst he's pretty sure he'll need to go to the infirmary for bruises.]

[quickdrawlatino]

[To which Sam ceases his attack and backs off. Why? Because you actually landed a hit on him! Just one though. But it was still a hit and that was what counts.]

You know how to take risks. Good. With how much armor your machine has you can probably afford such gambles... but the question is, can you do that if the stakes are your life?

[paladin_robot]

Better to risk my life than the world. And given the kinds of things we run up against, I wouldn't be surprised if my time came at some point. Already has for others...

Though, it'd certainly be inconvenient, so hopefully my options will stay open. I don't wanna leave my parents with nothing, and... some here have already lost too many allies, too many friends.

[quickdrawlatino]

Loss is easy to inflict, but always difficult to deal with... I never was much of a team player. It made things easy. Just you against the world, being able to live free of regrets.

[Sam turned his back to Richard to look out at the view.]

There's always options in battle. Sometimes they are just hard to spot... but they are there. Keep that in mind.