Closed/ Rebooting

[Sai]

((HERE COMES THE SPAM! So since they're all near adults and there are much more classes than I thought, I organized them into a college-like schedule where you typically have the class once a week. If anyone sees a problem, well, say something.

 

Classes occur mon - fri. There is a five minute break between each class.

If you don't have a class during an hour, you have a free, blank hour.

 

MONDAY

 

Hour 1 (9:00am - 10:00am) - Swordplay

Hour 2 (10:05am - 11:05am) - Spear/Halberd Training

Hour 3 (11:10am - 12:10pm) - Practical Combat

ONE HOUR LUNCH BREAK

Hour 4 (1:10pm - 2:10pm) - Archery

 

TUESDAY

 

Hour 1 (9:00am - 10:00am) - Gym

Hour 2 (10:05am - 11:05am) - Mount-riding

Hour 3 (11:10am - 12:10pm) - Climbing

 

WEDNESDAY

 

Hour 1 (9:00am - 10:00am) - Magic

Hour 2 (10:05am - 11:05am) - World History

Hour 3 (11:10am - 12:10pm) - History of the Heavens

 

THURSDAY

 

Hour 1 (9:00am - 10:00am) - Alchemy

Hour 2 (10:05am - 11:05am) - Science

Hour 3 (11:10am - 12:10pm) - Herbology

ONE HOUR LUNCH BREAK

Hour 4 (1:10pm - 2:10pm) - Medical

 

FRIDAY

 

Hour 1 (9:00am - 10:00am) - Literature

Hour 2 (10:05am - 11:05am) - Cultural Studies

Hour 3 (11:10am - 12:10pm) - Music

ONE HOUR LUNCH BREAK

Hour 4 (1:10pm - 2:10pm) - Astronomy

 

SATURDAY

 

NO CLASSES

 

SUNDAY

 

NO CLASSES

))

Edited April 16, 2013 by Sai

[ValidEmotions]

[[Hehe so this changes Felic's and Soria's schedules a bit. Felic doesn't need to be in class for another couple of hours and Soria has all of Mondays and Tuesdays off.

 

Just for understanding's sake, all of the large-room classes are on the first floor while the smaller-room classes are on the fifth right? So, that would make Gym, Archery, Swordplay, Spear/Halberd Training, Practical Combat, Mount-riding and Climbing all first floor classes; the rest are fifth floor. Correct?]]

[Sai]

((Yes, though mount riding would actually be outside for obvious reasons ))

[Luckyclaw]

(Pulling Tatsuke out of the hold of Dain and Irweyn because they haven't posted in a while and Tatsuke is gonna hold up Swordplay class. Sin will eventually get there too, but since she's too proud to admit she has no idea what she's doing she'll most likely be late.)

 

Eventually Tatsuke got tired of harassment, resting his chin upon his hand and keeping an eye on the clock. He almost literally counted the seconds it took for breakfast to be over. When it was finally time to go, hastily his things were gathered up into his arms with an eager shimmy to his feet away from the lunch table. "I go! I go class, else I being late. Bye! Ja! I see everyone later!"

 

Stepping out of that cafeteria was like stepping off of the stairs to heaven. There was probably some pink sparkles going off in his brain from the bliss of being out of there. Finally! He was going back to something he was used to. Books and learning, writing and questions! Tatsuke was a creature of the mind, not of the body. Soon he would be stepping back into one familiar thing, one last anchor to sanity...

 

To confirm his joys, he quickly pulled the schedule out of his book. His almond-shaped dark-yellow eyes glanced over the first class on his roster... It was a very good thing no one else in the school knew any curses in Nihounese, because Tatsuke said every one he knew.

 

--

 

Swordplay! Swordplay swordplay swordplay! The boy was seething as he walked into the room, his eyes slammed shut and the inside of his lip being attacked by his teeth. Of course it was swordplay. Couldn't be magic to start off his day, or alchemy, or studies. Not even Astronomy! He would rather re-learn the names of all the stars in another language than do swordplay! He sighed to himself as he calmed himself down. His eyes came open again. Oh how he would have loved to have just skipped over this class, that he didn't have to sign up for it. After all, no one forced him to take this class. He had no grandfather who shoved him into the school by the ear, or some ancient race he was the only eligible representative of. What forced him to come to this class that he would dread every second leading up to was a promise. A promise with his family, that not only would he learn magic but that he would also keep the tradition of the family alive and take up the art of the blade.

 

If it would save his life one day, Tatsuke wouldn't know. But like any person who didn't want to do something, he didn't look at the bright sides but the bad sides. When a wardrobe opened and multiple blades were shown, Tatsuke ended up fixing his robe tighter to his body, pulled his hands into the just-too-big sleeves. He hoped they wouldn't make him take off his shirt because he sweated while swinging one of those monstrosities...

 

He kept to the side of the wardrobe, making sure not to get in the way of the Untamed or the Elemental. He was making sure to choose carefully, looking the blades up and down. In the end he chose a flat and long blade, tinted a blue-green from age. It was apparently made of bronze... a metal that Tatsuke just always associated with, for some reason. It was actually an act of rebellion against his dumb promise that he hadn't chosen a long and slim blade of iron like his homeland boasted proficiency in. Most of his life went to being a proud member of his homeland and the current son of the Kahnoda family, if he wanted the bronze one he was gonna have the bronze one, dang it!

[ValidEmotions]

She - Sin - was not offering to carry his bag; the female Azazel was demanding in the same instance as she was insulting him really. He wasn't that scrawny looking. Was he? Felic paused at the change from concern to forwardness, uncertain if he should take offense at her comment or not. She didn't seem to mean it negatively, not like a bully would. Also, his bag wasn't heavy in the least bit. Not to mention, Sin had her hands full like he did with her dragon egg. "My bag isn't an issue..." He didn't give her a straight answer off the bat, unsure of how she may react should he actually deny her.

 

Her next words puzzled him until the boy realized she was mistaken about his 'race.' "But I am human... I just have an ability..." Felic paused again, lightly pivoting his left foot in idle thought. "Do you know what class you have first?" He didn't recall seeing a time stamp for when each class was. However, there were room numbers and so he figured the time when a class was in session would be printed out by the door. Since he was already on the first floor, he was resolved to check the time set for Practical Combat first then head up to the fifth floor.

 

For a moment, he startled by a sense of anxiety and desperation, almost forgetting he had his egg craddled in his arm. When he registered the emotions coming from the curled up dragon within, he relaxed as best as the throbing sensations would let him. A few heartbeats passed before the anxiety faded and the desperation gave way to the familiar sorrow. Any faint scratching has ceased as well and Felic soothingly ran his free hand over the dark shell. The activity brought his gaze to Sin's egg and nodded once at it. "Your egg makes me believe your companion will be strong..."

 

[[Haha I figured that out when I'd made my last comment about the classes, Sai.

Anyways, we've got a few female dragons Almost feel a wee bit conformative to have Sorge as a female but Duordin will be male so it makes me feel better.]]

[En'K'Haral]

"Thanks." Jeth whispered to Jaden as he fixed the brand new dent in the floor. Jeth stepped into the wardrobe with Tatsuke and examined a number of very large greatswords. He picked up several and then set the back down dissatisfied. Elder Limestone had taught him the elemental's way of combat and although it was his weakest area Jeth had learned that he must wield the blade with both might and mind in his case mind was literal as he used his power to assist in manipulating it. Although tempted to just take a chunk of stone from the wall he restrained himself and plucked a steel greatblade from the closet and stepped out looking at the blade with a concerned frown. "I am here to learn about how other species do it. Using an earthen blade would defeat the point." He quietly reminded himself as he held the blade. Jeth gave the weapon a few test swings and found it amazingly light due to his own great strength. How do they do this without the ability to manipulate it? Edited April 17, 2013 by En'K'Haral

[Sai]

((Yeah Jaden's will be male X3))

 

Ms. Traydor looked up as another student entered, "Welcome, please take a sword if you do not have one" she smiled as Tatsuke pulled a bronze sword from the closet. Jaden glanced at Jeth. He thought the elemental had at least had time to make a sword for himself too. Jaden shifted in his spot, embarrassed, feeling his sheath rub on his back. "Do remember to find one suitable to you. Give it a swing. Each metal, length, and weight make the difference" the teacher reminded. Jaden unsheathed his black diamond katana and gave it another swing, "Still perfect" he grinned at Jeth.

 

Kira propped her head on her hands, which were laced together, "So you don't breath fire then? ... That was... darkness? Dark magic?" she asked. The hatchling nodded. "Strange, but I suppose I can make at least one friend here hmm?" she stroked Chobit's head. Chobit made a soft thrum. "Well I don't have a class for two hours so I suppose we have more time to get to know each other"

[Forsaken Rider of Dreams]

Dain looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was almost time for his first class, which was a bummer since he didn't have his sword with him. Dain shrugged and stood making his way past Kira and out the door. He noticed Kira's new pet and would have stopped to ask about it but he figured it would be best not to make the teacher mad on the first day. When Dain got to the class room, most if not all, of the students were already there and all with swords. He did, however, see one grab a sword from the closet, so in assumption, Dain made his way to it. He examined each sword carefully and thoroughly before finally coming to the conclusion of a Damascus Steel bladed katana. Katanas were similarly made as his sword which made the blade feel good in his hands. The only downside was the shorter length this katana was made to compared to his sword.

[Sai]

Ms. Traydor watched Dain come in next. "Well I'm sure everyone will be along shortly, but why don't we start? We'll start with the basics. Everyone get in a line please. We'll first practice a good, sturdy stance. Stand with your feet apart with knees slightly bent, hips pivoted, and your right foot forward. Keep your torso pointed to your enemy and keep most weight on the left leg. Like so" she demonstrated her posture. Jaden moved forward and dropped the stance with ease. Sword play was part of his culture after all. "Hold your sword with a loose grip at the top of the hilt. No deathgrips"

Edited April 17, 2013 by Sai

[En'K'Haral]

Jeth chuckled a little at Jaden's grin. On top of that he was glad to see Dain had the same class as him. Two friends in one class could it get any better? Jeth took up the stance that Ms. Traydor instructed them in. He had a little difficulty holding the blade since the elemental style only called for a very light grip due to controlling the blade with their power over earth. He also had a rather poor stance. There was too much weight on his front leg and his back leg was straight not to mention the fact that his two legs were in-line instead of staggered. Jeth did manage to at least keep his chest facing the right direction.

[Luckyclaw]

Sin was dancing around the question of what class she had, even though she knew getting it out was inevitable. She couldn't help it, she was just too proud to ask anyone directly and it wasn't her fault no one thought about the fact she'd never been in a formal school before shipping her off.

 

The offer/demand of carrying baggage was dropped when he said it was no issue. She didn't understand his reasoning too much, but it was his own choice. No, it wasn't that Azels were totally insensitive to brutally honest quips, or that Sin was totally oblivious herself, but when one grew up in a mostly closed-off town where most people knew everyone else and the majority of those people were hardened towards the world at large as well as the fact they themselves were imperfect, manners weren't held in as high respect as they were here. In a town where the common way of expressing you were angry was to growl, literally or metaphorically, calling someone 'scrawny', 'fat', 'hot-headed' or 'aggravating' had the taboo of saying someone had an obvious zit. A little awkward but not particularly offensive.

 

Social gaps aside, one thing she knew was that a strong egg was a compliment. "Thanks, I sure hope he's a strong dragon when he hatches. I mean, I'm not an animal and wouldn't I dare hurt him on purpose, but I'd be really worried about breaking him on accident. This egg is so small for something that can grow to be the size of a house, and they're usually more frail than the egg they come from at first." She sighed a little, becoming self-conscious of the egg in her arms once more and shifting them so that it was cradled more securely, if that was possible. That egg must have been getting really warm with the way she kept it so close. "It's no secret that I'm really rough and blunt, but I don't mean to be."

 

Baah, she was going off about herself again. Quick as that slipped open it was zippered shut. "Your egg looks like he'll be strong too, looking at the bright color of the shell." She knew nothing about eggs, but hey, couldn't hurt to pay a compliment back. "I think yours'll be a western, since it's rounder and thicker than this one. The biggest eggs tend to be western." At least that last bit wasn't just out of her sleeve. She heard that from a good friend of hers, someone she trusted. Though he probably knew as much as she did, her friends and family were some of the only things in the world she could trust. Not that she had some terrifyingly tragic past, but in a world where not even strong leadership could keep a world from fighting and the sky belched water and electricity for no apparent reason at points, what was constant in the universe?

 

~~~

 

Tatsuke bit his lower lip and focused hard on Ms. Traydor's stance. Huh... It was different from the shoddy stance he'd been taught when he was very young, but only slightly. He actually thought it would be much different, considering this land was a sea and half a continent away from home. He slid back onto a bent leg, closing his eyes and imagining he was in sandals and a looser robe on a wooden porch. His back leg, which held all of his weight, was bent. The front leg was stretched all the way out and was straight, the bronze weapon held in his hands like a baseball bat. At first his hands were strangling the life out of the blade, but he relaxed himself slowly while holding that pose.

 

It was a minute before he opened his eyes again and realized he not only wasn't striking the correct pose, but that he wasn't even perfectly in line. Whoops... As subtly as he could he slowly inched into the line, just on the end beside the vampire who scared the willy-nilly out of him earlier and caused him to go crashing to the floor in the cafeteria. 'Yet', he thought his name was? No matter now. Looking to save himself getting singled out, he started to try and adopt the teacher's pose the way she had her body struck. He ended up trading a decent pose that he was familiar and comfortable with for an awkward... god what even was that. He looked like he got caught in the middle of doing squats. His legs were too bent, sword held at his side aiming at the ground, body twisted to the side like he was going to crabwalk to Ms. Traydor.

 

He knew all too well he looked silly like this, but all he wanted to do was fit in with these kids, be part of this new culture. It was very hard to do when he'd all together learned a different way of moving than these kids had...

 

[Sai]

Ms. Traydor smiled as she looked around them. She moved over and tapped Tatsuke's limbs with a little push until she had fixed his posture. She moved on to Jeth and began to do the same, "I'm surprised you kept your balance like that" she chuckled. After fixing his posture, she stepped back, "Now when you take this posture, don't be stiff. You should be able to easily shift your weight from one foot to the other in an instant. Try it. Yes, it may look silly, but you'll find that all combat is like a dance. You must be quick on your toes and graceful" she spun in a little circle before dropping the pose again and bouncing back and forth, shifting her weight on her legs. Jaden followed next, teetering his weight from leg to leg. "This will also help you to learn your balance in this pose. Mind you, you're not a manikin, you will in fact be moving"

[En'K'Haral]

Jeth laughed sheepishly as Traydor corrected his stance. "Sorry Ms. Traydor." He said and fixed his stance. It was really really different from the loose freeform that his kin used. However, he could understand why the difference was needed. Unlike humans and other races Earth elementals used the powers to control themselves as well as other earth when fighting. He glanced over at Jayden and Tatsuke who seemed to have this down pretty quickly although Tatsuke seemed to also have a little trouble at first. Ugh...I think I know who picked this class for me. He thought to himself slight agitation.

[Luckyclaw]

Manikin? What was a manikin? Clueless, Tatsuke stared at the teacher, his jaw slightly slack under his lip. But thankfully, he understood everything else she was saying and he followed hers and Jaden's example. His weight shifted leg to leg, trying to get a feel for the odd new pose. He felt himself complaining in his mind a lot today, which in his homeland was unhealthy, but not nearly as unhealthy and dishonorable as griping and groaning with little reason. He knew that it was just the idea of deriding from what was comfortable that was bugging him and that eventually he would get used to it. It was a bad idea to open his trap here and make the other students see him as a whiny, spoiled little brat.

 

So he kept his eyes on the teacher, on the other students, and on his own feet. Through dark golden eyes he observed the others, keeping their faces and styles in mind as he kept himself in the new pose. He noticed that while the Catman seemed natural in this pose, the Stoneman was just as odd in the pose as he was and his face told that. That same sort of disappointed look that yearned for another style. Tatsuke responded to this realization with a blink, before redirecting his attention to the teacher before he was caught staring.

[Sai]

Ms. Traydor waited a few minutes to let everyone get loose, or at least used to it. "Well you all seem to at least understand the idea. Don't worry. We have lots of time to practice. Now when you are facing your opponent in battle, you will be a mirror image of them. That means that if they take a step one way, you step a mirror image the other. Always keep your knees bent when stepping, casually cross one leg over the other in a side step fashion. Circling is quite common in swordplay after all" she demonstrated the sidestepping movement as she spoke. She raised her sword, "Now, when you use your sword, don't be stiff. The sword and gravity will do a good amount of work on their own. Apply sturdy force behind blows as needed, but don't try to control it too hard. There are two basic attacks in sword play. Thrusts and cuts. A cut is a simple swing either vertically or horizontally. A thrust is as it sounds, an outward jabbing towards the opponent" she demonstrated again. Thrusts are more complex as they can end in you putting yourself horribly off balance if they are too forceful or you miss. Remember, the sword is an extension of your arm. Where the sword goes, your body follows" she moved back and clapped her hands. Wooden dummies rose from the ground, "We'll practice a simple horizontal cut. Aim just below the shoulder and give it a swing. Get a feel for how much force is needed to make a cut. Don't worry, the dummies are charmed to fix themselves"

[picknick10]

((I am simply the best. ))

 

 

Nick slipped through the hallways, a slip of paper with the room number scribbled down in his hand. Rein followed in tow, as always, keeping to his right side. As he neared class he could hear steel on steel. 'This must be it.' he thought poking his head into the room. "Hey, hope I'm not to late, I uhhh got lost"

 

(Oh wow that is a short post, but I got writers block >.>))

Edited April 18, 2013 by picknick10

[Sai]

((Lol what your first ticket?))

[picknick10]

((Twas scarey... I didn't know what to do, and it was a new car so I didn't know where our insurance information was X| ))

[Sai]

((D'aww, poor Nick I haven't gotten a ticket yet o3o

 

Btw Narvix. I feel the need to mention I have a statue on my dresser that is an exact match of Duordin. I mean, they must have made that pic in honor of the statue: LOOK AT IT))

Edited April 19, 2013 by Sai

[En'K'Haral]

Jeth followed along as Traydor explained the basics. The other races had swordsmanship down to an art. Footwork was never needed by Jeth's people and most didn't even use weapons. So for the elemental everything after 'hold your sword like so' was new. As he was practicing with the others he saw Nick the shapeshifter step into the class. Jeth didn't greet the boy because he was focused on practicing. Next up was practicing an attack on dummies. Calling them form the floor was quite impressive. Is this human magic or what they called technology? He wasn't left with a lot of time to think about it since they were instructed to try a horizontal swing on the dummy. Jeth took up stance holding the great blade with one hand after all to him it was really more like a longsword. Just beneath the shoulder. Jeth wound up and swung with the weapon cleaving clean through the dummies...head. He had failed to aim at the appropriate spot. The dummy repaired itself and Jeth continued trying to hit it correctly, sometimes he was too low but mostly too high.

[ValidEmotions]

((D'aww, poor Nick I haven't gotten a ticket yet o3o

 

Btw Narvix. I feel the need to mention I have a statue on my dresser that is an exact match of Duordin. I mean, they must have made that pic in honor of the statue: LOOK AT IT))

[[Actually, I think it's the same artist. NeonDragon had created the dragon image I used and she's a very popular dragon/fantasy artist so I wouldn't be surprised if there were figurines of her art.

 

Also, I've got a post partially typed up; might have to cut it shorter than I initially wanted since I've got an essay due in little over a week and I've got multiple reading assignments to finish in order to know what I'll be writing. Sorry for the delay. I'll also be slower about making posts since college finals are less than a month away for me.

 

Lucky, having announced this, you're free to separate Sin and Felic so that you can send Sin wherever she needs to go without me having to hold you up.]]

 

Sin was dancing around the question of what class she had, even though she knew getting it out was inevitable. She couldn't help it, she was just too proud to ask anyone directly and it wasn't her fault no one thought about the fact she'd never been in a formal school before shipping her off.

 

The offer/demand of carrying baggage was dropped when he said it was no issue. She didn't understand his reasoning too much, but it was his own choice. No, it wasn't that Azels were totally insensitive to brutally honest quips, or that Sin was totally oblivious herself, but when one grew up in a mostly closed-off town where most people knew everyone else and the majority of those people were hardened towards the world at large as well as the fact they themselves were imperfect, manners weren't held in as high respect as they were here. In a town where the common way of expressing you were angry was to growl, literally or metaphorically, calling someone 'scrawny', 'fat', 'hot-headed' or 'aggravating' had the taboo of saying someone had an obvious zit. A little awkward but not particularly offensive.

 

Social gaps aside, one thing she knew was that a strong egg was a compliment. "Thanks, I sure hope he's a strong dragon when he hatches. I mean, I'm not an animal and wouldn't I dare hurt him on purpose, but I'd be really worried about breaking him on accident. This egg is so small for something that can grow to be the size of a house, and they're usually more frail than the egg they come from at first." She sighed a little, becoming self-conscious of the egg in her arms once more and shifting them so that it was cradled more securely, if that was possible. That egg must have been getting really warm with the way she kept it so close.  "It's no secret that I'm really rough and blunt, but I don't mean to be."

 

Baah, she was going off about herself again. Quick as that slipped open it was zippered shut. "Your egg looks like he'll be strong too, looking at the bright color of the shell." She knew nothing about eggs, but hey, couldn't hurt to pay a compliment back. "I think yours'll be a western, since it's rounder and thicker than this one. The biggest eggs tend to be western." At least that last bit wasn't just out of her sleeve. She heard that from a good friend of hers, someone she trusted. Though he probably knew as much as she did, her friends and family were some of the only things in the world she could trust. Not that she had some terrifyingly tragic past, but in a world where not even strong leadership could keep a world from fighting and the sky belched water and electricity for no apparent reason at points, what was constant in the universe?

 

Felic tilted his head slightly, taking in Sin's words. He was beginning to relax as their initially awkward conversation dragged on. "The greatest things in life always start small..." When she guessed his dragon would be a Western, he wasn't certain. He'd seen one or two larger eggs in the room and his egg was of a dominantly black color with a strip of varying blue shades. The boy shook his head, deciding not to deny or correct Sin's opinion.

 

Shifting the egg slightly in his arm so that he could rub the back of his head with his free hand, the Empath faintly returned to what Sin had said about her being blunt. "It's okay. I sometimes rather prefer people to be blunt than to skirt around things." Felic shrugged, glancing down. He could understand Sin's fear of harming her dragon once it hatches and he wondered what could go wrong between him and his own hatchling.

 

[[Eww... >_< So short for me...]]

[Luckyclaw]

(We need something to happen, this is slowing. Sin will separate after I get one more reply, so I can fix the problem I set her up with.)

 

"Yeah, dancing around an issue is the worst way to solve it..." she was only now truly taking that to heart. Even though Felic didn't mean it, he probably just saved Sin from wandering around the halls like a stubborn ninny. It was time she swallowed her pride and asked for help, for that was what her grandfather asked her to do by sending her to this school. Show the world that she and her race weren't proud animals who would never admit they needed something. Time to show some humility to the gods above and the people around. "Would you mind helping me out this once...?" She reached in her binder and pulled out the only loose bit of paper- the illegible schedule. "I don't know how to read this. I can read words but only in sentences, and I can't tell what comes first or last or even when." She scratched the back of her head, looked down, silver eyes away from his. This was so much harder for her to ask than it looked. Every part of her wanted to just go on like nothing was wrong. She thought about explaining that she'd never been in a place like this before, that her hometown was small and had a lot of poverty, but that was personal and best kept to herself. Maybe one day, if this guy became an actual friend more than a person she knew for five minutes.

 

---

 

Tatsuke wasn't very strong at all, and that much was pitifully obvious by how much effort he was putting into swinging and how little he was getting in return. He rushed at the dummy, put his shoulders into the swipes, grunted aloud and the best he got were a few cuts in the chest of the dummy. It was only more aggravating when they closed up instantly. But he wasn't stopping. With every cut his grunts got a little louder, his gasps a little deeper, but his slashes never got too far. Eventually he stopped to look at his handiwork... only to see it shrivel up again as the dummy fixed itself. It wasn't even that far in and he was already breaking a sweat, panting deeply. For a minute he wondered if maybe taking his shirt off was a good idea, but that was quickly ruled out as he remembered he wasn't the Karate Kid here. He was an awkward foreign boy whose hands barely fit his wrists, let alone the rest of his oddly-shaped body. He wiped his forehead and placed the tip of the sword on the ground to lean on its handle, taking a quick breather to size up where he was going wrong. He wasn't strong... but he was smart.

Then it hit him. This whole sword fighting, it wasn't a game of strength. It was a puzzle with his body. If he had noodle arms it wouldn't be as easy, but he had enough strength to hold it and it was enough. If he didn't have the strength to make a cut with elbow grease alone... he would use the rest of his body! More than just the shoulders down! He lifted the sword again, like a baseball bat, his legs apart back in his original stance. Front leg was aimed all the way out and the back leg was bent, quick as he could he put his whole force into twisting his body and spinning at his target, using pent up momentum in his blade like a baseball player uses to hit a speeding ball. It landed this time with a loud KRA-THUNK into the dummy, a good portion of the blade horizontally embedded into its chest. He smiled in confidence, and pulled on the blade to get it out...

...Tug tug. Tug tug! He fixed both hands on the hilt, struggling with all he had to get the blade back out of the dummy. It was stuck, and it was stuck as good as Excalibur in the stone. Just super! He put one leg up against part of the dummy, still pulling on the hilt. He really hoped the dummies didn't heal while a blade was still in them, else it would be exactly like the Sword in the Stone. He could hear them calling him Arthur now...

 

((As I was typing that I thought it would be terrible if it turned out Tatsuke was practicing on Jeth. Thankfully he's not that big of a derp.))

[En'K'Haral]

((O.M.G! That would have been hilarious ))

 

Jeth continued to swing and cleave the dummy again and again with little improvement on his accuracy. He stopped to take a breather and think for a moment. There must be a trick to this aiming thing." He tried backswinging instead and cleft the dummy in two quite low. At least it was better than the neck or head. He started rotating his body and tried keeping the blade steadier. He was getting closer with each swing but the improvment was quite minimal.

[Sai]

((I think it is I love the figurine none the less))

 

Jaden had to swipe upward from his height, but made accurate cuts. Sword play was a forte for him. Ms. Traydor scanned the class as they practiced. She looked between Tatsuke and Jeth, "Remember, in a swing, just take a step forward and swing. The cut should land shortly before your foot hits the ground in front of you. Keep working on your aim" she moved closer to Tatsuke as she noticed him struggling, "No one begins an expert. Some have had previous experience here. Don't be put out if you can't do well like ones with more experience. I can tell you they weren't the best when they started either" she grinned. "Take breaks if you need it. Don't need anyone passing out on their own sword" she continued. Jaden started to heat up from the practice. He was used to practicing outside in the open wind. Inside it was so stuffy and hot as everyone started to sweat. And it only got hotter. Thankfully the open mid-drift in his shirt let some heat out.

 

Kira stood up and beckoned Chobit, "Well come on, let's take a walk. Don't have a class right now" she muttered. Faze jumped on the dragon's back as she trotted along side Kira. "Mmm, maybe we can practice your breath? You have a darkness power it seems..." Chobit nodded. Kira stopped in the hallway. No one seemed t be around, "Well go on then. Give it a go" she folded her arms. Chobit turned to the empty hallway and took a breath. A spurt of darkness came out again, always sparkling with purple. She coughed a few times before trying again. A few more spurts came out before a burst of it billowed from her mouth. The black, smoke-like darkness filled the hallway, cutting off all sight. Kira waved her hand around to disperse it. The darkness faded after a moment.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Sai

[Luckyclaw]

A few minutes passed with Tatsuke gaining no fruit for his efforts. The sword had only slightly budged and he was already tired from his previous slashing and swinging. So he decided this was the best chance he would get for a break. His butt hit the ground with an unceremonious whunk, resting his head back against the pole, taking breaths of sweet air. Though he had no prompt to say and would probably never know another felt this way, like Jaden he was wishing this was outside in the cool breeze.

 

He closed his eyes again, for a moment. Something he was doing a lot of lately. When people closed their eyes, it was like retreating. When you didn't see the world in front of you, sometimes you could just think that it didn't exist for a minute. When one had no sight to focus on, to be wary of, nothing to realize was actually there, another world could be created behind those closed eyelids. For, truly, Tatsuke didn't yet feel that there was much to be gained from the real world yet. What, a reality where he was an awkward kid who got his sword stuck in a dummy, no friends? Nah. It was much more relaxing to think about fields of rice paddies, and pretend he had a cup of warm ginger tea waiting on the table for him.

 

Thinking about tea made him thirsty. So he turned and took the small pack he was carrying and placed it on his lap. His hand darted in quickly, passing a pearl-shaped egg nestled between soft and warm cloth to retrieve a bottle of water. He shook the bottle and scowled, albeit lightly. It was lukewarm now, as it should be after sitting in his backpack next to a warm dragon egg 'nest', but it was drinkable and it would refresh him at least a little bit. He would probably be willing to share the water if asked nicely, but it looked like everyone else was still busy practicing. He would join them again soon, but teacher said it was okay to break and break he shall.