Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-768817-20160530212729/@comment-5543592-20160603045252

It took some hours before Ielia finally managed to convince Vestulf to let her stay.

She'd done it not by appealing to his character, but his suspicion and feelings of caution. She had said that if he let her go, he'd be letting out an unknown element who knew the location of his hide-out. It had been Vestulf who had pointed out that the safest thing for him to do was kill her, which Ielia hadn't thought of, and looking back on it, realized that had probably been a rather large oversight.

The two stood now in front of Vestulf's impressive armory of Akaviri weapons.

"That's a lot of swords." Ielia muttered, to which Vestulf paid no attention.

The Nord crossed to one rack of weapons, and Ielia felt a bit hopeful as he passed a massive, thin-bladed sword, then her heart felt as she saw what he pulled from the weapon rack.

"A stick." She said flatly.

"You learn how to fight with a stick first.  Then a sword."

"Why don't I just hit the ground running? Why--"

"You're going to learn with the stick first.  You showed up in my sewer and made your case.  You're in.  Now you follow my orders." Vestulf said, in a tone that said 'I am not someone to be messed with.'  Ielia already knew that, but if she hadn't, it was definitely drilled into her mind now.

"Right." She said, holding her hands out for the stick.

Vestulf set the staff into her hands. "This is called a Jō.  It's a weapon.  Treat it like one."

He crossed back to where he had first grabbed the staff, and now pulled another loose of the rack, for himself this time. He motioned for her to back out, and guided her to the center of the main room, where they stood apart from each other in the open space.

"Now, try to attack me." Vestulf said. He was standing with one knee bent, leaning against his staff lazily.

Ielia cocked her head. "What?"

"Attack me." He said, this time with force.

Ielia nodded uncertainly, and then took a few hesitant steps forward, than chopped down at Vestulf, afraid she might accidently hurt him.

The Nord stepped aside before the she'd even committed to her hit and slammed the butt of his staff to her stomach.

Ielia's staff clattered to the ground, and so did she, as she held her abdomen and sucked wind.

"First lesson." Vestulf said, standing idly by as she recovered. "Never hesitate."

He kicked her fallen staff back towards her. "And never let go of your weapon."

Ielia took both statements in through ringing ears, blinking tears out of her eyes. After a few minutes, she struggled back onto her feet, and retrieved the staff, taking a defensive position. Vestulf nodded, then motioned for her to proceed. Ielia, balling up her anger at the day's events--getting lost in the sewers, almost fed to rats, and then finally getting the snot knocked out of her--yelled and charged Vestulf, staff held out.

The Blade looked like he wanted to sigh. He did two things when Ielia came with in reach. He grabbed the staff by the shaft and tugged it sharply, pulling her off balance, and tripped her across the ankles with his own Jō.

Ielia flew off her feet, got a solid second of air time, and then crashed into the ground, spread eagle. She pushed herself up slightly, and blew her hair out of her face. Her entire body ached from that one impact.

"Never charge." Vestulf said behind her. "It usually end up with you dead."

You're about to end up dead.  Ielia thought, swallowing it as a retort, and she shakily began to rise. She had a feeling it was going to be rough... forever, if she was serious about this apprenticeship.

And she was.

Ielia stood up, finding her balance, lifting her up. Vestulf faced her down, his face as impassive as ever.

"Begin."

Ielia hurt.

Every single muscle in her body felt like it had been run through a meat tenderizer, and there probably wasn't a bit of her that lacked a bruise.

She collapsed into a chair that left one wanting in the way of comfort, and took heavy breaths.

Vestulf came over with a glass of water for her, and she reached out to take it. Just as she was about to take it, Vestulf jerked his arm, moving as if to spill it on her.

Ielia just stared at him.

Vestulf smiled slightly, one corner of his mouth turning up. "Good.  You're not flinching anymore." He said with an emotion that sounded almost like pride, and pressed the cup into her hand.

"Get some rest." He told her, heading off into a different portion of the hide-out. "We'll start the second half of basics in an hour."

Ielia closed her eyes and sunk into the chair.