Dual Wielding - Faust - Private

[Lichen]

Zackner sighed, shaking his right arm out. The teenage vysstichi had strained his bicep the day before in a practice session with his dad, and it was still bugging him a bit. Fortunately, the wooden weapons the basic students practiced weren't very heavy. He'd just have to take it a bit easier for a few days, or he'd injure himself further and would be set back for quite a while. He'd done it before, and hadn't enjoyed that at all... pulled muscles were definately not fun. But it was irritating. He wanted to push forward in his studies, but he kept getting injured.

The adolescent shook his head. Only his bangs, which were slighltly longer than the rest of his hair, moved with the motion. The rest of his inch-long hairs stood straight up. He'd gotten a head of thick hair from his dad, and his current haircut caused them to defy gravity.

Zackner was a fullblooded vysstichi, complete with silver hair, red eyes and black skin. There was no mistaking him for anything but a dark elf. He seemed to have the physical appearence of a human about 16 or 17 years old. He was shorter than his father, reaching only about 5'7" in height. He figured he'd grow taller as time went on, but for the moment he was way more flexible than his father. Weaker, but he could bend and he was far quicker.

Today, he was teaching a kid basic dual wielding. His father hadn't told him much, just mentioned his pupils youth and told him to contact Terren if he needed some help demonstrating. Zackner thought idly about doing so, not for help demonstrating, but it sounded like an excuse that would get her to come and visit. The older elf was, well... terribly, excrutiatingly attractive, and she wasn't stuck up about it at all. Sure, she had her faults -namely, falling for every new group that claimed to need help, and fighting to further their ridiculous causes- but she was still prettyand nice and kind and funny and... Zackner was completely infatuated with her. She was the only one, other than his father, that could beat him in dual wielding. He sighed again, this time reminissing about the last time they'd fought. She'd kicked his butt, but it had been so much closer than the last time she'd whupped him... he thought he might be improving.

OOC: Want dual wielding training? Sure seems to be popular as of late! Post here and pay a large amount of money to be paid by a daydreaming teen!

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The Vysstichi scurried into the petite training facility, keeping to the side of the entrance in hopes of not disturbing any current classes that might be going on. However, he was quite surprised to see that there were no others within sight save an apparently calm and complex dark elf. The teenager bore the usual resemblance to most of his kind, with long locks of silver hue and an ashen skin that boasted a proud heritage.

Faust’s lips curled into a light smile as he shuffled further into the room. He was quite thrilled with the idea of having one of his own (although Faust was still far younger) to instruct him. Particularly the idea of being close to one of his own Vysstichi brethren.

Inching closer to what might soon become a brotherly figure to him, Faust rather hurriedly made his way towards the center of the room. His eyes gleaming with a respectful gaze and his clenched fists crying out anxiously to learn.

“Serale sir. I am your new disciple, Faust.” The elf child’s head dipped low in a bow of reverence and respect for his soon to be master. Such a gesture was quite common in the culture of the Vysstichi Moriquendi, and although he was quite far from his home city of Hon’elgg, Faust was sure to keep his politeness and respect with him.

Nodding once more, the young Vysstichi went into a routine of stretches to get his small muscles prepared for a hard day’s work. Rotating his shoulders and neck out, Faust then bounced up and down on the balls of his feet for several moments as he awaited his first day of instruction.

[Lichen]

The kid was... well, a kid. Zackner had expected a teen or preteen, not... a child. Ahh well- he himself had been that young when he'd started to train.

"Hey. I'm Zackner." He was pleased to see that the kid either had a lot of energy, or he was attempting to warm up. He was bouncing around like a grasshopper. Despite this apparent abundance of energy, he was still very polite- far more polite than Zackner had been at his age.

"Well, first we're going to stretch out." Zackner said, sitting down on the cushiony mat that covered the training hall floor. He stuck his feet together, his knees out, and leaned forward, then stretched his legs out and touched his toes. His form shifted various times into different stretches untill the entirety of his body had been pulled and twisted and turned into a pretzel. After his first suggestion, he kept silent, expecting the kid to learn by example and not by command.

Once he was done, he got up and walked over to the black box of teaching supplies, gesturing with his hand for his pupil to follow. The box was filled with swords of all shapes and sizes, all of them made out of well-worn and long-used wood.

"Well, choose your weapons." The vysstichi said offhandedly. "Since you don't have any weapons already purchased, I don't know what you're looking for in size and shape for training." He stepped away from the box, wondering which two the kid would choose.

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The Vysstichi's face lit up brightly as he hurriedly darted towards where Zackner began a routine of stretches. Plopping down upon the mat the young elf observed his elder performing the proper movements for a regular stretch.

Spreaing his petite legs apart, Faust's fingers crept forward to grab at his toes several times and varied up the position of his legging, even going so far as to ball up and stretch whatever limb he could pull. With that concluded, he hurried up over towards where Zackner gestured towards a seemingly beautiful rack of weapons.

"Any of these?"

Quirking a brow lightly, the Vysstichi's eyes scanned along the various weaponry as he felt the hilts of each 'blade'. He particularly liked the elven long and shorter blade duo before him, which his hands gripped upon as soon as he saw them. He did not know by what power he had been drawn to the mixed ranged weapons. However, as he rummaged through the pile of blades his fingers searched about for the lightest of the blades available.

"I like these." Nodding once more, the Vysstichi gave a few practice swings of each blade as he hurried back into the center of the mat where he awaited more of Zackner's instruction.

[Lichen]

The little vysstichi pulled a wooden longsword and a wooden shortsword from the box, proclaiming them fit. It was an interesting combonation. Most didn't think of chosing one long and one short weapon, but prefered matching equipment. It was probably the result of some strange need to have everything equal and perfectly the same in every way, some strange way of expressing the inner sheep. Zackner personally preffered two different size swords as well, though he fought well with any shape and size combonation. He was well-versed in the fighting arts, and was continuing his education with his father.

As the kid hurried his way back to the mat, he swung the swords about wildly. Zackner smiled, remembering his own enthusiasm at the start. He still loved to fight. It was what he lived for. He pulled out a small, fat sword that was shorter than Fausts small one, and a skinny longer one that was about the size of Fausts long sword.

He turned with his weaponry and walked back to the kid. "Alright, lets see what you can do with those sticks." Zackner smiled and slipped into an easily defendable stance. "Attack me." It was a tradition established by his father that the begining of every lesson started with an attack on the teacher. That way, it was quickly established who was better, and Zackner could see where his pupil was going to have trouble and ease learning. They never won, of course. They had no training. But it was still a good learning tool. Application was better than simple instruction.

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The elfchild swung the wooden blades about rather ridculously, so delved in a mind of his own that for a moment he forgot where he was. He envisioned himself off in the Highlands, battling those wretched ogres and even a few of his lightborn cousins. Of course it was a childish moment, but soon Faust snapped out of the demeanor and hurried back to Zackner. He'd hate to upset his master so soon.

"Attack you?" Faust's little nose wrinkled as he ran the odd order through his mind. Was his master kidding? Even the Vysstichi knew that he wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance against one so formidable as Zackner. Henceforth, the little one was more than a little petrified to begin any offensive maneuver.

It took him awhile to realize what Zack had actually requested of him, finally understanding that he was being asked to demonstrate what skill he had.

Nodding in obeisance, Faust sloppily stepped forward swinging his longsword in a rather foolish manner overhead. Perhaps he could bop Zack in the head while he was at it. However, in the process he dived his shortsword in what appeared to be a horizontal strike towards the master's midsection.

It was a playful act of course, but then again Faust wasn't too experienced in the ways of combat.

[Lichen]

Zackner stopped both strikes simultaneously, moving his swords inches to deflect the childs blows. He did it without thinking- but he was quick enough to pull back any force in his blows, and his students blades were merely knocked to the side, not thrown out of his tiny grasp.

Zackner looked down, his swords holding his pupils arms in a spread-eagle. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He said, smiling down at the kid. "Keep attacking!" The dark elfs stomach was still wide open, if he could figure out how to get past the vysstichis lightning-fast reflexes.

[Faust D'Rinishad]

EDIT: Shoot, wrong post =D

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The elfchild's eyes widened in amazement. He was at the typical age where almost everything he ever saw was quite amusing, but this too was incredible! The speed by which Zackner moved couldn't have been more impressing to the young elf. And at the same time Faust couldn't help but admire his mentor, inwardly promising himself that he too would one day be like his young instructor.

As Faust's blades were nonchalantly deflected, he smiled lightly as Zack beckoned him to further his attack. Grinning at the idea of a playful challenge, the elfchild tried to pull back his sword arms to momentarily distract Zackner from his real objective. As he tugged backwards, Faust would then try to charge using the elf mentor's momentum and while running back into him the elfchild would attempt to fling his foot in a swinging motion towards Zack's 'seemingly' open stomach.

[Lichen]

The kid was quick. Zackner had manuvered him into a position where swords weren't the best choice, so he didn't use them. Others had assumed they were supposed to use the sword, as it was a training session specifically for them.

He wasn't caught off guard by the kids manuver, but he was impressed with it. He didn't follow the swords, but used his hilts to trap the boys foot, careful to not hurt him. Then, laughing, he used the boys foot to flip him over. He landed on his stomach, but somehow Zackner had tossed him in such a way that he wasn't injured in the slightest. Of course, the mat helped, but either way, there was no pain.

"Well done." Zackners voice was mildly pleased. "I was hoping you'd catch on. The swords are your main atttack, don't forget that. Sharp and pointy will cut off a foot any time. However, speed and surprise are critical. In a situation where your fastest attack may not be your swords, do it. Don't forget- there are main attacks, and there are backup attacks. Backup attacks exist for a reason. Use them."

Zackner backed up. "Alright, time to move on." Once his pupil had returned to his feet, Zackner continued. "This is a cross slash. It's a basic manuver, but an important one." He took his right blade, and, starting at his shoulder, came down towards his left hip. "It can also be reversed, of course." The blade crossed back up to his right shoulder. "Practice it."

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The child's ploy was quickly discovered and countered accordingly. As Faust delved in for a kick to the stomach he found his leg trapped within the foothold of Zackner's clever moving hilts. The Vysstichi boy frustratedly tried to free himself but he was far too inexperienced to do so. Henceforth, it was to Faust's surprise as he found himself whirling into the air and landing along the mat in a rather awkward manner. Zackner remained looming above him, laughing lightly.

"Ouch" Faust's landing was suppressed by the articulate skills of Zackner and the mat below. Hurriedly hopping back up to his feet, the elfchild's smile never wavered as he took in Zackner's compliment. It wasn't often that he received one, but now that he had, he was beginning to feel much better about the failed attack.

As time progressed, Zackner soon transitioned the session over into instruction over what was apparently called the 'cross-slash'. Faust kept close attention to his instructor's words, his eyes never leaving the master's motion of swords and his ears always attuned to the wise words of the still young swordmaster.

Anxiously readying himself to practice, Faust hopped in front of Zackner so that the lad might correct him in his form. First, the elfchild brought his longsword in a slow run through of the motion, sweeping the sword up towards the left and bringing it in a descending motion towards the bottom right (or where his hip was rather). Faust brought his leftward palm through the series of repeated motions as he tried to train his longsword arm to the best of his capabilities. Following the repitition of the longsword, Faust's right hand ran through a similar motion. First going slow as he ran his sword from up to down and across.

Wrinkling his nose in trepidation, Faust kept a glance on Zackner, his eyes pleading to the master to speak and help him if he was doing the motion incorrectly.

"Is this it Master?"

[Lichen]

Zackner smiled approvingly. Cute kid. I wonder if Terren and I will have kids like that? Nahh... ours will be cuter. Nonetheless, he was a very attent student. He reminded Zackner a lot of himself. "Yep, that's it. Try a few more swipes, and speed them up, then we'll move on."

Once he'd watched the swords move in the correct position a bit more, Zackner decided it was time to teach a new manuver. All the manuvers his pupil was going to learn were very simple, but extremely important. "Ok, two more that are so simple that they can get learned together. The horizontal slash," Zackner cut a line across an invisible midsection, "and the vertical slash." His sword went up and down. "If you get those three down, you have competed the basic slashes, and we can move onto poking, and then difficult stuff."

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The Vysstichi child welcomed the compliments openly and simply answered by clenching his fingers into a balled fist, as that same smile seemed to appear once again upon his lips.

“Really?! Yes!” Keeping the swords in practiced motions, Faust brought both blades in similar rotations. Being sure to keep his level of technique constant with each swipe. As a time progressed the elfchild brought his hands into a quicker actions, gradually speeding up the process by which he executed the cross slash. Following the repetitions Faust jumped up to land in front of Zackner, his eyes anxiously following the movements of the master’s swords.

“Horizontal and Vertical slash…” the Vysstichi’s head bobbed instinctively as he tried to register Zack’s instruction.

So the horizontal is across while the vertical is up and down! Got it!

Smiling lightly, Faust hurriedly stepped backwards and watched the movement of his blades. Bringing his leftward arm out first, he ran it across till he reached his right, and later did the same with the corresponding sword. He did this numerous times until he became fairly confident that he was executing the maneuvers correctly.

Nodding in silent contemplation, Faust then began the vertical slashes. The moves registered in his mind and he didn’t think he’d have too much of a problem with them.

First bringing his shortsword overhead, the elfchild brought it swiping downwards in a fluid motion many times. Then he followed with the longsword, however this time moving a little bit quicker to get a better feel of the motion. As usual, Faust focused entirely upon the moves at hand, following up with a small combination of vertical slash and with his other sword to a horizontal one.

Following the conclusion of the practice maneuvers, Faust glanced to Zackner out of the corner of his eye before he wildly began exchanging vertical/horizontal slashes against imaginary opponents. Although he was in a state of childplay, Faust made sure to keep his technique as toned as he could.

“Is this good?” the elfchild then abruptly came to a halt as he swung his swords rather reflexively into the air.

[Lichen]

The child appreciated the praise, that much was obvious. He didn't have the ego that caused him to realize when he was performing well and when he wasn't, but merely the childlike innocence that led to his performing the manuvers and simply hoping, not expecting, that they would be perfect. Zackner appreciated that. It was so different from the arrogance that often plagued his students. It was amazing how much of a difference a few years could make.

His swords slashed through the air as the kid concentrated on perfecting the strokes and memorizing them. He did very well for a beginner- it was probably because he had no previous experience with two blades and therefore did not need to relearn anything. No bad habits.

"Yes, very good." Zackner said with a smile. "And the more you practice, the more your muscles will strengthen, and the faster you'll be able to move those swords." The dark elf resisted the urge to mess up the kids hair in an affectionate gesture. After all, they'd only been teacher and student for about 15 minutes or so now.

"Now, lets move onto stabbing. It's pretty self-explanitory. You thrust-" Zackner preformed a stab with his weapon as he talked, "with the tip of your sword. It's generally a finishing move, as it can be difficult to free a sword after a stab. It's not a good idea to perform if there are other enemies around. You might get your sword stuck, and be left with only one." Zackner pulled his arm back, trying not to wince. His muscle was hurting far more than it would have if he'd just relaxed like he should've, and and if he stopped putting his all into these manuvers.

"Now, there is a right way to do this. First of all, it's a bad idea to stab directly in front of your shoulder, because if it doesn't penetrate because you, say, hit a shield instead, you have the risk of severely injuring your shoulder. It's better to aim so that it's not such a straight-on hit. Also, don't completely straighten your elbow, because that can lead to injury as well. Keep your wrist straight, because the opposite goes for that joint. If you hit with a bent wrist, you take the risk of bending it too far forwards or backwards and straining or spraining it. Alright- so, with stabs, across the shoulders slightly, no straight elbow, lock your wrist. Got it?"

[Faust D'Rinishad]

The elfchild smiled brightly as Zackner further praised him for his practiced works. He truly was starting to like his new master, and due to the fact that the elder male wasn't yet a fully grown adult, Faust was nearly looking to Zack as a brotherly figure.

Simply smiling and nothing more, Faust tightened his diminuative fingers around the hilts of his swords as he raised them up slightly in a gesture of success, "Yes! I got it!" Bouncing up and down excitedly, Faust quickly suppressed the urge for further celebration and scuffled quickly back towards Zackner, whose advice he stored to mind as q uickly as it was presented, "I'll practice everyday!"

I'm going to be a hero one day

A hesitant thought floated through the boy's mind as he nodded once more to Zackner and quickly hopped over towards the front of the Master for a better view of the Vysstichi's sword demonstration, "The Stab..."

The words rolled off of Faust's tongue as he intently watched Zackner flow through the proper motions of such an attack. The elfchild could only imagine what it must be like to actually perform such a devastating blow to an opponent, and frankly the thought nerved him somewhat. But nonetheless, his eyes followed onto zack's every movement but more importantly to the Vysstichi's verbal instructions.

Stepping into a corresponding line with Zackner, Faust lifted his leftward sword up rather slowly as he tried to follow through with Zack's words. "Like this?" Angling the longsword from home point of his shoulder, the elfchild focused sternly as he thrusted his hand forward (although hesitantly) to gain a feel for the motion. He did his best to keep his wrist straight as possible, afterall, he'd hate to sprain it in a real fight. Following a shortwhile of practice with his left, Faust brought up his right in a rather similiar motion, sword angled and low slightly as he ran it forward with as straight a wrist as he could muster.

Uneasily turning his gaze towards Zackner, the child wore a light smirk as he looked to the Vysstichi for advice or needed revisions in his technique. "Is this it Master?"