Fencing Club - The Salle, Monday After Classes

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"Apologies for the lack of meeting last week. I was called away." He fell down a well. It was embarrassing. "This week we're starting with actual blades. I know some of you have used them before. Please use that experience to be extra careful with the more inexperienced members of the group. I have a range of swords available for you to choose from. Zayne, your weapon of choice isn't exactly practical for this session so I've prepared something more suitable but a step up from the wood. Azula, I promised you an Arming sword lesson. The sword on the end is yours.

Pair up. Take your time, respect your opponent and if you're hurt, alert either myself or Captain Algren immediately. The point of sparring with live weapons isn't to hurt your opponent, it's to practice movements and control."

Comments

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne checked out his sword. It was basically just a weighted metal pole, but it felt pretty close to the real thing. Really, he just needed to adjust a little bit to the slight weight along the blade and it would be just like using a safe lightsaber.

Granted, it's not like Zayne was great with a lightsaber in the first place. Furthermore, he wasn't going to adjust that easily. But still, that was user error, not the fault of the blade. Really, Zayne was pretty happy.

And he was going to showcase that happiness by trying some katas with the sword until either he started to get a feel for it or somebody approached him.

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"How does it feel?" Edmund asked of the makeshift lightsaber.

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"It's about as close to the real thing as possible," Zayne said with a smile. "Good work."

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

Edmund nodded this thanks. "Do you get to spar with other lightsaber users much regularly?"

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"I have standing offers from Jaina and Tahiri to spar whenever, but I don't take them up on that as much as I should," Zayne said.

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"I don't know them well. Are they full knights or - what word do Jedi use for squires?" he asked apologetically.

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"We're called Padawans, but they're both Knights. So is Ben Skywalker," Zayne said. "I'm the only Padawan left around here, actually."

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

Edmund tried to commit the word 'Padawan' to memory. "And when you spar with them, they seem like they know every move and can do it as easily as breathing?" he guessed.

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"Most Padawans are like that compared to me," Zayne said half-jokingly.

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

Edmund shared a grin. "I used to feel the same way. Practising with people who are better than you at your style is a good way to improve, but it's also worth practising with people at your level or from another discipline. You'll see where they go wrong and how they do things differently, which you normally won't see with a master of your combat style."

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Considering who Zayne's Master was, that made a lot of sense. "Do you feel like practicing?" he asked, giving the sword a final twirl to figure out the balance.

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"Always," Edmund replied truthfully. "Do you want me to use one of yours or one of mine?" He totally wanted a real lightsaber of his own one day. Cursed influential Jedi and their cool toys.

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"Whichever you want," Zayne said. "I might have a little bit of an advantage if you go for one of mine."

Re: Sparring

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"That could be useful," Edmund suggested, then went to fetch one of the other practice lightsabers. He stretched it out in front of him, testing its length and weight, then swung it around as he would his own sword to make sure he wasn't about to clobber himself in the head. "When you're ready."

Re: Sparring

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

"I'm ready," Zayne said. After giving Edmund a moment to prepare himself, he stepped forward and slashed at Edmund's side. Zayne didn't go too fast. He wanted to make sure Edmund had the opportunity to get a feel for the weight.