Experience Teaches (Physical Combat)

[Kirien Melantha]

Instead of moving out of the way, Kirien braced herself for Karmine's attack. With her feet firmly planted on the floor, she raised her weapon like a baseball bat, tilted it to the side so the slicing-end was pointed toward the floor, and swung. She aimed several inches below the tip of Karmine's weapon, hoping that her superior strength could knock his weapon from his grip. If he did manage to hit her, it would hurt, but with so many people in the room she could restore her legion fairly easily, if need be.

She relied on her emotion - her anger - to strengthen her in battle, but after her swing, her adrenaline level seemed to plummet. For a moment, it seemed that she was losing the will to fight, though she stubbornly stood her ground, clutching the handle of her axe until her knuckles turned white.

Did she really want to be fighting him? Well, yes, she did, but maybe not for this reason. Her audience might be disappointed by her hesitation. Maybe her fight with Karmine wouldn't be as dramatic or impressive as they were expecting. Maybe she wouldn't really show them what she was capable of. But this wasn't about the other students. She couldn't care less what they thought of her, or how she fought.

This was personal.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

You didn't take a personal student without learning a few things about how they operated. Karmine liked to think that he knew how Kirien would react.

Of course that was wishful thinking at it's best. He had a rough idea of how she fought, like a bull in a china shop, but that was unlikely to help him here. He twisted his own sword out of the way, which meant pulling back from his attack. He'd have other chances for an attack later, but it was more important to not get hit.

He seemed to sense her calming down, or perhaps that wasn't the best word, no it looked like she didn't want to squish him before she yelled at him. Yes, now THAT made sense for Kirien.

After her swing he touched down on the tip of her axe, his wings supporting him, but he liked the image of standing on someones weapon, even if there was no weight.

"So, it's been a while, how ya been Kirien?" He asked nonchalantly. "Sure didn't lose yer temper, that's fer sure, but I s'pose I should have expected that." He smiled now, feeling the blood moving through his veins. "Looks like yer a bit out of practice though, good thing I decided to open class again! What would you lot do without me!"

Karmine hopped down from the weapon. And addressed the class. "What you just saw was a perfect example of a surprise attack. But a good fighter must never lose their cool, even if they are subject to a situation they dun quite expect. Get into the fight, enjoy it, but remember not to be blinded by your emotions. Now, someone tell me what you'd have done differently were you me. Anyone?"

This was going to be an interesting class, that was for sure. Karmine still held his sword out, dangling it about dangerously.

[Ϛ Cylo]

Cylo raised his hand, but didn't wait to be acknowledged to speak up.

"Well, if you'll excuse a smarta** comment, I wouldn't have flown, because physically it's kind of impossible for me to."

Typical Cylo, the comment was, but it was also typical for him to take fighting at least somewhat seriously, and so he elaborated.

"So I would have had to find another way to avoid being cut in two by that lovely axe." He gave Kirien an exaggeratedly sweet smile at this. "I'm pretty quick, though, so I don't think I would have had too much trouble."

He said it like a fact, not a boast, and it pretty well was. He didn't think he'd have much trouble dodging anyone, but that's not of much help trying to actually hit someone wildly swinging an axe around. That required analytical thinking or predictability on the part of you opponent, neither of which seemed like much of an option with him and Kirien.

"But you know, I find that avoiding the first attack for the sake of saving your own life, and then refusing to fight, works pretty well with this particular fighter. It's no fun when they don't fight back, is it?" The last bit was, of course, directed toward Kirien.

[morg]

"Looks like you did well enough to me," admitted Morgan, shrugging. She glanced over at Cylo, smirking a little at his smarta** comment. She'd felt like responding in a similar way, but had just held back out of some small respect for the tutor.

"I probably would have pressed her disadvantages more," she added, nodding to Kieren. "She was clearly fighting solely on strength and emotion. Good for a big target, bad for a smaller one. Basically you'd have to keep moving and peck her down to size."

She then raised her eyebrows, looking to Karmine, "And she should've tried to overwhelm you. Use her strength to get inside your range and press the advantage she had. Not too dissimilar to what she did, but channeling the anger a little bit better."

Morgan shrugged, "But who knows, it's hard to say just by watching. Easier if you're actually in the fight."

[Eve Stone]

Eve stopped her training and turned listening to the teacher and the student's responses. The two given so far sounded well developed and intelligent. From the looks of the the girl fought a bit like herself. Lots of raw emotions and strong movements. But she also knew there were a lot of weaknesses in fighting solely on emotions.

"Since she looks like she's fighting on rage it would be easy to egg her on enough to make a stupid mistake." She eyed the girl boredly then turned back to her dummy. "I also agree with Morgan all you had to do was flit around like a hummingbird on crack. Wear her down then finish her. With that much emotion being spent into every single one of her swings it wouldn't take long."

Not knowing the race of the girl she just stated this in general for all races. Everyone wore out eventually and fighting burned enough energy alone without energy draining emotions such as rage added to the mix.

"But that's just my opinion..." Eve prodded her dummy dully wondering if she yet again said something retarded.

[Kirien Melantha]

Naturally, Kirien was disappointed that Karmine had ended their fight before she could really let him have it, but it was probably for the best. She couldn't even look at him straight-on for more than a few seconds. Too much emotion. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad or embarrassed or angry.

She tilted her head down and stared at the floor as if shamed, but stayed right where she was. The class wasn't interested in her...were they? And since when did she care what the class thought?

Cylo's smartass comments didn't phase her too much; he was just answering the question, in his own obnoxious way. She shot him a pleading 'Just shut up' look rather than her typical 'I'm going to rip your face off' when he brought up their last encounter. She didn't need him to convince the whole class to just sit there instead of fighting her. She didn't want to be made an example of. Who would?

She looked absolutely miserable. 'Just shut up, Cylo.' She seemed about ready to burst into tears. Kirien Melantha did not cry. Kirien Melantha did not cry.

Morgan's comments did little to calm her. Weren't they supposed to say what they would have done in Karmine's position, not sit there and talk about how much of a terrible fighter she was? Truthfully, her fellow Almasy's words weren't very harsh, and they didn't stray far beyond 'constructive,' but Kirien was far too overwhelmed to consider that.

Eve was the last straw. 'Wear her down and then finish?' 'Wouldn't take long?' Before the remaining students had a chance to mock her, she chucked her axe at Karmine, hoping the horrible faery would lose a limb, and stormed right out of the room. She swore she'd never met anyone as mean as Karmine in her whole life. And then he had to go and do that, on top of it all!

She'd realize that she forgot her cloak when the chill air bit her the next time she was wandering outside, but she wouldn't go back. She'd get it at the next class...or maybe she'd just find a new cloak.

Kirien Melantha did not cry.

[Ϛ Cylo]

Cylo was more than a little surprised by Kirien's reactions. He held no illusion of knowing the girl well in his mind, but he was still pretty sure this was drastically out of character. So he grabbed her cloak after she left and looked at Karmine.

"I'm going to go give this to her, unless you feel like ditching class to do it yourself."

He didn't really care which of them went after the girl, but someone should, if only to make sure she didn't decide to take out her feelings on someone or something that didn't deserve them and wasn't ready for it, unlike Cylo and Karmine.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Kirien had her feelings hurt? Was that even possible.

Masks are masks, shes still a young girl. Truth in and of itself.

He neglected to think of the fact that he had been almost decapitated by the axe that shattered half of the wall behind him, such things weren't important. Damage control was more important.

"Ok! First lesson! We have someone who clearly has a large deal of power in an emotionally unstable condition. Red hair, would you please go look after her? I'll consider this a pass if you can keep her from killing random people, and a failure if you yourself are killed. Good luck on your first test." He said with a smile.

Well, that had certainly set the tone for the class.

"All right now, maybe we should get to class eh? Might be worth it, good observations all, they were pretty much spot on. Sometimes even the greatest fighters need to be reminded of their weaknesses, and trust me when I say I have complete faith that she could have beaten anyone here in a fight, was she in a proper state. In any case..."

"Stop playing with dolls, or hiding under desks or ignoring me for a minute, it's time for an announcement. First things first, names. I like names, they are much more effective then 'Hey You!', so I'll start. I am Karmine, ya can call me Tutor de Arcadia if ya wish, but I can't promise I'll respond to it."

He smiled waiting to hear who these people were.

[morg]

The girl's reaction surprised Morgan. The Almasian hadn't expected such a tough chick to go running off and have a temper tantrum. Then again, Eve had done the same thing, and Morgan hadn't exactly expected that then.

Cylo's volunteering bought him points in Morgan's eyes, and she already had decided that he'd make fairly decent friend material. She'd have to remember to pay attention to how he fought and whatnot later. Definitely worth the watch.

Morgan took a few steps closer as Karmine began speaking, finding it amusing that Karmine of all people would begin instructing. Then again, it was much easier to get object lessons in something like physical combat than in some of the other subjects they taught here. Besides, he's probably give specialized instruction in a bit.

"Morgan Cavan," she offered, grinning, "House Almasy."

She left off the bit about her Gift, wanting to hold any potential advantage she might have.

[Ϛ Cylo]

Cylo wasn't around long enough to give the teacher his actual name; he was out the door with the cloak before Karmine had even fully spat out the word 'test'.

"Kirien," he called down the hall, his voice high in volume but low in urgency, or any other real emotion for that matter. He didn't sound like he was pleading, or consoling, or angry, he was just stating her name loud enough that she'd hear it. He figured that was probably the best way to go about the minefield of a situation.

He followed after her at a quick pace, waving the cloak slightly for a visual aid. His speed wasn't nearly as fast as he could go, however, and could probably only accurately be called a quick pace for a human, in hindsight. He was going to try this the easy way first, and would only resort to other methods if it looked like he'd have to.

Why waste the energy? It was likely he'd only end up getting hurt anyway.

[Eve Stone]

As the girl left in an unhappy state she felt a little bad for what she said. It wasn't all that constructive just criticism, but she didn't like that the teacher said that little child could beat her in a fight. Eve didn't know anything about the girl but she ceased to believe that she could be beaten by someone like her. Though the girl acted very much like herself in many aspects.

She watched Cylo with a slight grin. So he's not just a smart aleck, with a sense of humor. It was nice to see a guy who didn't mind being courteous even if it meant running out class. Eve stepped forward leaving her "doll" behind.

"Eve, house Almansy." After she spoke she turned to see if Locke had stuck around or not. The poor kid was probably terrified by the rampaging girl with the axe, but he kept a pretty cool head on her shoulders. He might end up surprsing her.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke supposed he was the one 'hiding under a desk' so that meant he should announce himself. Morgan was there, and so was Eve, so this wouldn't be so bad...

He hoped.

"Locke, House Enedgrowth." He said, standing up now, trying to regain some sense of dignity.

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen...why the hell was he here again?

...Right...bullies.

He sighed heavily, what a pathetic reason.

There was this insane teacher, that psycho axe girl who flung a full sized weapon like it was weightless, and then Eve.

He sort of wished he'd crawl back into his hole and pretend this didn't happen. He definitely did not belong here.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Ok, the people had introduced themselves, except for the one who seemed to be in 'Lala Land'. This was going to be...interesting. They would either surprise him, or this would suck. Of the current selection, Morgan was the only one he thought would be anything resembling a good student. He looked down at the ground with a grin.

"Of the four people in this room." Karmine announced. "2 don't want to be here and are probably here because they believe it is mandatory. Here's a hint, this class is not, so leave if you wish. One person thinks they know more then I can teach them, and they may very well be right, and one person is actually here to observe and learn, albeit for a different reason then most."

He looked up to observe their reactions, smiling. "None of you are bad students in this class yet, it depends on what you want. As you know this is more of a guided lesson, so if you have a question feel free to fire it my way. Not like I really have a plan here anyway." He added, broadening his smile.

"Pick a weapon, pick a partner, pick a fight. I'd like to see what some of you can do."

[morg]

"Right, c'mon Eve," Morgan waved at the war dragon. She headed over to the weapons election, picking through different possibilities. At last she selected a thin metal pole with two weighted ends. She gave it an experimental spin, then nodded, satisfied.

Turning back to Eve, she winked. "This ought to be fun."

Morgan moved away from the main group, locating what she thought would be a good area to spar. If there were specifically marked circles of some sort, that's where she would head. If not, well, Morgan knew enough about fighting to arrange things so that they wouldn't accidentally injure some bystander, as few of those as there appeared to be.

"Whenever you're ready, Eve," said Morgan. She nodded once to her opponent, spun the staff one last time and moved into a defensive stance, watching her opponent closely.

[Eve Stone]

She nodded and followed Morgan to the area of the classroom where the other girl had picked to spar. Eve knew the girl probably had memorized or whatever it was her pwoer did all of her moves. This would be interesting to see which one won, or if it would be some long lasting stale mate.

"Got it, but after a bit I'd like to spar with the little kid." Eve nodded toward Locke. "He doesn't look very happy to be here, poor tyke."

Readying herself she spun her two weapons creating a mantra to not let her emotions overcome her. This is class not a true battle. Stay calm don't let your emotions rattle. Eve was confident, not cocky, and she watched Morgan in all seriousness. This girl was an encyclopedia of every fighter she'd ever seen from what Eve understood of the girl's Gift. Eve only had herself, but no matter she could not lose, but she also didn't want to hurt anyone. Oh, the conflicts of being a war dragon.