fandomhigh | Hitting Things With Big, Sharp Sticks; Friday, Third Period [07/26].

Gladio had spent the previous day enjoying soaking in a Cup Noodle^TM hot tub, and so it probably went without saying that he seemed to be a in a pretty good mood today. Did that mean he was going to go easy on the class? Well, he sort of thought he was already pretty easy on them, so, no, not really!

He did briefly consider bringing Cup Noodle^TM into the lesson somehow, but....nah. He'd just save it for a treat for himself after a successful lesson, because there were important things to go over today.

"So," he began, "last week, we did a little partner work, and today, we're going to focus on solo techniques to help improve your overall swordwork. For the rest of the class, these are going to be drills we'll be starting every lesson with, so pay attention, learn them well, we're going to spend most of the time today honing and perfecting them as well as we can in the span of time we have, so take some time to stretch out and get ready if you haven't already while I go over them. We'll also set aside a little bit of time at the end to partner up again and see what you remember from last week. Maybe not the most exciting thing in the world, but it's training, it's all about repetition and consistency and building up both muscle and muscle memory. Alright, so...."

And from there, he plucked up his own massive sword, giving it a twirl to settle it into position, and started going through explaining the drills.

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Nell carefully moved into the attack Gladio had shown them - not too fast and making sure to telegraph everything she was doing.

Jon met it with only a brief readjustment of his hands, his breathing less a concerted effort of being athletic and more a sigh of relief. Then he stepped back and readied for the next strike.

Nell switched to the next strike, again carefully telegraphing her move. "You're doing great," she said with a smile.

"I appreciate your dishonesty," Jon said with a laugh. "I'm doing well to hold this thing." He moved to block the strike; his sword was in the right position, but his hands were off, and he hastily moved to place them better.

"Hey, you're here and trying, right?" Nell said. "That's great in and of itself."

Jon nodded. "I'm admittedly mostly here because Gladio is a friend, but I will absolutely do my best. It's just that I'm not exactly an athlete."

He shook out and stretched his scarred hand. "Anything I can learn is more than I had," he noted in a rare bout of optimism.

"Very true," Nell said. "And you never know when something you learn may come in handy."

"Honestly I hope it never will," Jon said. "But given my life so far, I had better prepare."

"I'm not sure swordplay would have helped me back home," Nell said, "but the confidence that learning to fight has given me certainly would have."

Jon nodded. He understood that, even if he had his doubts he'd get good enough for it to help him.

"I'm glad it helped."

Hitting Things With Big, Sharp Sticks; Friday, Third Period [07/26].

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.

Re: Class Activity: Partner Work - Big Sharp Sticks, 07/26.