fandomhigh | Basic Sword Skills [Thursday, Period Three]

Max had reviewed the class roster and was oddly relieved that he didn't have any repeat students. It saved him the time it would take to break a bunch of bad habits. Because while Slacking had been a relatively relaxed class, even though he took the subject seriously, Max had a very different approach to teaching the blade. The relatively small class size was also likely to give him more time to spend one-on-one with his students, and he was hoping that turned out to be more of an advantage than not.

As the students arrived at the Danger Shop ~~where they had handwavily been told to meet~~ the first thing they were likely to notice was the ridiculously extensive collection of blades. Max apparently had everything from Swiss stilettos to Japanese naganaki to Javanese kris. The second thing they might notice was that their instructor was wearing Roman-style legionary armor. A steel breastplate, a studded leather armored skirt, and steel greaves and bracers. He also had a short sword strapped to his waist. Max didn't wait for any stragglers, as soon as class was scheduled to begin he started.

"All right, listen up!" he barked. "You are here because you wanted to learn about swords, someone else wanted you to learn about swords, or the universe itself conspired to make you learn about swords. I don't care what your reasons are because regardless you're going to learn about swords." He looked around to see if anyone had any problems with that. And if they did he planned to ignore them. "All sorts of people draw distinctions between swords and other weapons in all sorts of places, but for the purposes of this course we will consider a sword to be any hand weapon which is a blade for more than half its length." He nodded at the rack to illustrate.

"We've only got seven weeks and there's a lot for you to learn, so we're going to get straight into it. Each of you will step up to the front and select a weapon, or two if you prefer. You will then explain to the class why you selected the one you did. There is no wrong reason to select a blade. If it looks pretty, that's fine. If it feels good in your hand, that's fine. If you're familiar with it already, that's fine. Once you've made your selection we'll do a quick practice match in which you'll, hopefully, learn some of the strengths and weaknesses of your selected weapon."

His eyes narrowed suddenly. "The safety systems here will not allow any injuries today, but don't even think about using that as an excuse to be sloppy. Treat every potential hit as a real one, and don't take a strike just because it won't leave you bleeding."

"You!" Max snapped as he pointed to a random student. "You're first!"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

With something sharp.

Max expects to be listened to intently. He'll yell at you if he catches you doing anything else.

Totally moddable stabby and slicy weapons. Pick whatever you want. Max is going to be pushing people pretty hard to get a feel for what they know already.

In case all his yelling and criticism weren't enough for you.

If someone strikes Max as skilled enough he might ask them to TA. There is no penalty for saying no other than being deprived of Max's company. So I guess there's a huge penalty.

Karla ~~Sharp wits, tongue, and dressing skills, what?~~

Gabrielle ~~for whom this is only gonna end in tears, man~~

Karla looked around, examining the choices. There were an awful lot of swords to choose from. She picked up a few, testing how they lay in her hands, the strain they exerted on her muscles, they way her fingers felt wrapped around the hilt. Being a Healer helped a lot with the selection. Eventually she settled on a Cinquedea.

Gabrielle recognized the Roman style of armor right away, and would have been more curious about it -- the barking didn't phase her -- if not for the fact that she was stuck going, pretty much, UM BUH WHAT SWORD ME WHY DO NOT WANT NO.

. . . this, had she realized it, would be an object lesson in Why We Do Not Handle Our New Term Course Schedules With Inky Fingers. She'd thought it had been a vocabulary class.

She was listening, but oh, the internal flail. And confusion. There was no way Xena could have possibly signed her up for this class.

Serena van der Woodsen ~~who will try to be coordinated~~

Serena went toward the blades she recognised. Not that she'd ever done any real fencing, but they'd spent a week in phys ed working with various types. She picked up a sabre (http://www.thesteelsource.com/html/sh2199.htm), pleased with how it felt and its weight.

Jack Priest ~~who has sharp eyes~~

Jack inspected the swords for several moments, testing their weight against his palm, before settling on a simple, fairly light, rapier. He'd been taught enough fencing to have a feel for the skill, but not enough to be entirely comfortable with it.

Max considered her choice critically. "Explain your choice," he demanded.

It was odd, Max mused, not getting distracted by the femaleness of his students when he was teaching them about things that could very well get them killed. He nodded minutely before leaning slightly forward. "Explain your choice."

Max had been doing this long enough to get a general feel for Jack's experience level just from the way the blade was held. "Explain your choice."

If Max turned a little more of his attention to Garbrielle than the other students, that was probably just because he sensed she was a little less calm than hse might try to appear.

Hopefully that wouldn't be a liability.

Oh, the power of Gabrielle's flail was pretty impressive, actually. Just put a staff in her hands.

A sword, on the other hand . . . ack.

Max ~~would totally put a staff in her hands~~ hoped that by the end of the course she'd at least be able to avoid cutting her own leg off or doing something equally embarrassing and inconvenient.

"It's a solid fencing blade," Jack answered, shifting the sword's handle in his hand to emphasize his point. "Not flashy, but I think I could handle it. It won't overwhelm me."

He was short and slight; a large sword would put him at a disadvantage if he didn't have perfect control.

Edited 2009-07-09 14:47 (UTC)

"I like it," Karla replied coolly, not particularly phased by his tone. He reminded her of her mother's old Master of the Guard, actually. "It's just a little bigger than my hunting knife, so it doesn't feel quite so foreign as some of the longer, heavier blades. It sits well in my hand and I doubt I'll strain or pull anything wielding it."

There was a wooden practice bokken (http://kingfisherwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=kf&Product_Code=030) in the selection somewhere, and Gabrielle went for that one like a starving person for food, wondering if she could get away with it . . . hey, at least it had no sharp edges.

She still didn't know how to hold a sword, and that much was obvious.

"Good reasons, all." Max reached down and slowly drew his blade. "Hold it like I'm about to attack you."

"Fair enough." Max drew his own blade, which was shorter even than Jack's rapier. "Attack me."

Max had seen too many people who knew how to use a staff to criticize the choice. At least for the moment. So he simply growled at her. "Explain your choice." Even if at least part of the reasoning was a bit obvious.

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Basic Sword Skills [Thursday, Period Three]

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During the lecture

Grab a blade

Talk to Max

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