#rivervale_lodge

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Jaymes looks at Dagmar as they spar in the back yard, "Your foot work is getting better. You been practicing?"

"Yeah. With Siv, mostly." She adjusts her grip on the practice weapon - a wooden head, not steel - and drops into a crouch. "And sometimes Brekke and Olgar, when they have time. But I can't get a hit on them, usually."

"Well, they've only been fighting for years. " He nods, "And blocking and parrying is a useful skill even when you're stronger on offense."

"Sure. And somebody is gonna be stronger or faster than you."

"If not naturally, they'll have some belt of might or something." He nods "Everyone is looking for an edge. Of course, some aren't worth the price"

"Like Brekke's hand? I know Colton got his arm bit off...."

"YOu'll have to ask the Chief, but I've felt blows from her other hand and they felt just as strong but yeah, I' msure she'd prefer to have the old one" A testing jab , seeing if she's been learning her own parry

She reacts - seeing the jab, knowing to respond... but too much curve, too broad a sweep.

SHe gets thumped, he's not put too much force into it...still she would have got hit harder if she hadn't deflected a little of it "Okay, did you see what you did wrong there?"

"Too slow?"

"more like not tight enough, you wasted space like this..." He demonstrates "When it would be faster to block if you 'closed the circle' of the sweep like this" A tighter quicker move "It's hard to find the balance between keeping yourself covered all over and getting yourself covered in time, but as you saw, if you don't get it up in time it doesn't much matter"

"So..." A little frown - not upset, but her default look of concentration seems to be a furrow and a scowl. She slowly mimics Jaymes's circle block, testing it a few times at increasing speed.

"Yeah, like that... be glad you're not using a flail like that. You'd hit yourself in the head."

A faint snort but a smile. "Flails seem silly."

"Good for getting around shields though..I got smacked hard by one when I thought I had it covered. A true master can do even more."

"Well, hit hard enough, you could just break the shield." Matter-of-fact.

"Or not, or break your weapon, or break the shield but get your weapon caught in it . " A nod "Back to the subject- tighter looked good. Try that one more time, I'll test"

A nod. "Kay."

And he thrusts as before

She blocks again - tighter, this time, and catching up his weapon in the heel of her staff. She gives another wist, trying a move Olgar showed her - meant to disarm.

And it almost works, and but not quite. IT does open him up though

While she can't disarm him, his defenses now have a large gap "Good... if you were fighting with a partner I'd be dead"

"Well, YOU would be my partner, right?"

"In a real fight, I mean."

Jaymes nods , "You're damn right I would. "

Did he almost smile?

"Cool."

"Now you might some time find yourself when I'm not around, so you'll want to keep practicing with others. Learn their styles. You may have noticed a few differences between the chief and I fighting wise"

"Yeah. And Olgar. And Siv ain't like anyone else!"

"She's all... zip, zoom - fuckin' fast.."

"Siv is agile and quick for one of us, but not near as strong as her mom or dad. She could have a lot of problems against a properly armored warrior with stamina, wear her down by having her expend her energy."

"That's why you say don't just go all in all at once?"

"But fighting by your side? You could trust her to use the opening you made QUICK..." He says "Oh, I'm supposed to tell you to watch the language like 'fucking' even if I get you mean it as an adjective"

"one of the reasons, also easy to get pulled in, a feint. you know? Even tall people can over extend, and lose their balance"

"Why? I'm not at school. It's just a word, it ain't even a bad word like, I dunno - fag?"

"YOu're right, out of the two words, Fucking is a better word than the other thing, but I worry you're going to get in the habit and then slip while you're in school. "

"Right - and then leave my back exposed. Downside of a two-handed weapon..."

"Smart" At the way she picks up on the exposed back problem , a smile does escape

"I will try not to swear too much at school."

"Appreciate it," He says "You may find others don't like it either, for whatever reason. SOmetimes it's nice to curb it just so to appease. Like..well, if you like loud music but someone else doesn't you might turn it down when you're around them as a niceness"

"Okay..."

"You don't like it?"

"I'm more of a use it for the big things...the fucking dragon is eating the village, not 'I burned the fucking toast'. One's a bit more worth of the F bomb..."

"...hunh." She considers. "I've had some fosters that didn't like any swear words. Or even fake ones."

"Well, I'm not crazy about them, but I'm not as fussy as some. I do think it's a bit of a double standard. I'm a grown man, you're still young. It seems okay if I use it, it feels not so right when you do. Nevermind the whole girl boy thing. Not fair, but guys get away with cussing more." He says "But if you want to know who doesn't much like the cussing? I think neither Kerri or Tove are crazy about it. Notice Siv doesn't cuss lightly in front of the chief or her dad either?"

She bites on her lower lip. "Hunh."

"But they never said anything!"

"Well, maybe I'm wrong. Ask em. Tove cares alot about you, and she knows you prefer the truth. And Kerri? She can be polite, but she's not shy. But in the mean time, don't beat yourself up okay?"

"Well, I don't wanna drive Tove off."