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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2013 21:30:39 GMT -5
There were few things Elayne loved more than a good morning workout. The sun had just come over the top of the hills and was warming the strawberry fields. Taking a towel from her belt, she wiped her forehead and leaned on her spear as she took a long drink from her water bottle.
Several straw dummies lay scattered around her, each looking more distraught than the previous. She didn't really care, defeated enemies were all the same. But she did want to try a little bit harder this summer, maybe not to get kicked out? So she collapsed her spear, touched her thumb to a small scroll engraved at the base of the metal, and threw the now lipstick container on top of her satchel.
A rake wasn't hard to find. Pretty soon she was busy bringing all of the straw and cloth together in a pile. She wasn't sure what she would do once she got them there, but she had always learned to clean up after herself.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2013 21:03:39 GMT -5
Dunstan didn't really like the arena. In fact, he rather hated the Arena. But his sister Emma had bet him that he wouldn't be able to beat her in a knife fight as so he decided that it was probably best to get some practice in before noon when they were supposed to meet. He was a little frightened to see a bunch of dead dummies around but he chose not to make a big deal out of it. He pulled out a knife a few yards away from the girl started to rake the pieces together. A bit of an odd thing to do, he raised an eyebrow at her from the distance.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2013 21:32:40 GMT -5
Once she finished raking up the dummies she frowned, someone was watching her. She looked up and saw a tall boy staring at her. She bristled. What was he doing staring at her?
She gritted her teeth. No need to start a fight over nothing. She didn't need to fight when there was no challenge made. She put the rake away and then glanced back at him. He had a knife in his hand, he held it in a way that made her think he might not use knives very often. Maybe she could make a friend? She rolled her eyes. No one wanted to be her friend. But the least she could do would be to help him know how to hold his knife correctly.
"You're holding it wrong." She called loud enough for him to hear, but not to alarm him. He still might turn out to be an opponent and she didn't want him frightened.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2013 21:45:57 GMT -5
He jumped a little. He was easily frightened. He put his hands behind his back, "Am I? You seem to..." He looked across the field of straw and then back at the girl, "you seem to know what you're doing when it comes to fighting, don't you?" He said awkwardly, shuffling his feet a little. He took a few steps toward her, hoping that she wouldn't start to challenge him. He was no where near ready for a fight and this girl looked a lot tougher than he could ever even want to fight against. He raised a hand in a small wave and smiled happily, "Dunstan, my name." He said quietly.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2013 21:54:21 GMT -5
This kid was scared of her. That made her relax. Only a little. If he was scared in general that could make him a tough opponent, but scared of her? Not so much.
"Dunstan. " she rolled the word around in her mind. "I'm Elayne." she went over to her bag and pulled out a mint canister.
"Mint?" she offered before closing it and rubbing her finger over the brand name and turning it into her dagger.
"If you put your thumb on it like this, you will have a better grip." she demonstrated with her own dagger. "You can also hold it this way." she tossed the dagger and gripped it so the blade pointed down. "This way you can swipe both ways." she demonstrated on a nearby dummy, slicing his head off.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2013 22:05:35 GMT -5
He felt bad that he was coming across as a scaredy cat. But that's kind of what he was all the time so this wasn't any different than normal. He was scared of everyone, especially people who hang out in the Arena. "Elayne. That's pretty." The last word caught in his throat and he stepped back again, but only one step. (MINT HAHAHAHA) He reached his hand out and stepped close enough to take one, accepting gifts was a good way to create comradeship.
He took one and then watched her demonstrate with the dagger, "K..." he muttered and followed what she was doing with his own dagger and switched back and forth. He faced the dummy and stared at it like it was a terrifying monster. "how...?" he stuttered.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2013 9:37:22 GMT -5
Maybe they could be friends? She stopped that train of thought. Any friends she had ever had didn't stay for long. She wasn't about I let herself get hurt again, let alone by this guy.
He was staring at her dagger like it was, well, a lethal weapon. Which it was. "A weapon demands respect, even a small one." She didn't like quoting her father but he was right. "It can kill me as easily as protect me." She demonstrated what she had done to the dummy in slow motion, "it's easy, just face the blade toward the throat and swipe both ways." She brushed her bangs back from her eyes, time for a haircut. She hoped he wasn't to scared that he couldn't learn.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2013 14:32:41 GMT -5
Dunstan nodded slowly. Respect was something that he understood completely. Respecting his cabin leader, respecting the Gods power, respecting fellow campers. He just never had demanded respect himself, let alone with a weapon. He lifted the knife again and watched her slowly, "Okay, I think that I can do that. It'll be slow though..." He stepped forward and repeated the motion with only a few minor differences, but it seemed to work out just fine. He turned to her with a smile, "How was that?" He started excitedly, he hoped that he was be able to perform the task correctly.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2013 10:59:09 GMT -5
Watching him slice at the dummy in slow motion was almost painful. While it was improvement from his first attempt, he obviously was not a natural with a knife.
Sighing, she took his hand in hers, moving his fingers to slightly different places on the knife.
"Try it again, slower, and with more focus. You want to keep the dagger parallel to the floor." He pretended to hodl a dagger and showed him again, squatting down and holding it close to her chin then swiping at the dummy.
"Your elbow should remain at a 90 degree angle and your shoulder is the only thing that moves." she instructed as she demonstrated once more.
"You try."
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2013 11:42:15 GMT -5
Dunstan frowned. He was no good at this. "I am so much better at being on the sidelines telling people where to go. It's like a God given gift!" He smirked at her, hoping for a laugh at his stupid joke. He made another go, keeping his elbow at the 90 degree angle and trying not to straighten in. That was the hardest part. He wanted to jab straightforward, but he could see how that wouldn't be a very good tactic. He kept his elbow at the angle and lunged his shoulder forward. He felt better about it. "You're a pretty good teacher. I mean, as far as I can tell..." he added awkwardly.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2013 12:06:10 GMT -5
She pulled out her own knife so she could correct without taking his knife from him.
She cracked a small smile at his joke, god given gift. The gods didn't give gifts lightly. She knew that much.
Dunstan kept his arm bent and tried the move a few times, he almost had it.
He adjusted the height of his arm as well as his grip a few times, but after a few repetitions she stepped back and watched.
"Or you are an excellent student, you learn very quickly. You've got it. A few hundred more repetitions and you will never forget it!" She smiled at him, in what she hoped was a warm way.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2013 13:07:39 GMT -5
He laughed. Her smile was a little strange and awkward, but the intention seemed somewhat friendly. He stabbed the knife in the dummies head and left it there. "Well, i'll just practice ten times a day for about thirty days and I should have it down all right. Three hundred should be enough I think." he contemplated.
Then a short awkward silence took place between them. Dunstan didn't mind silence but he wasn't sure how she felt about it. So he decided to pipe up with a random comment, "Well, i'm going hunting for diamonds in the caves later..." He muttered.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2013 15:48:42 GMT -5
Host people didn't have the patience to master a weapon quickly. While it is possible it takes hours of dedicated practice and concentrated focus. Dunstan obviously had more things to do in his time. She felt a tinge of regret as she wished she had some friends or other hobbies to fill her time. She pushed those thoughts away. No need to make herself sad.
"Diamonds... are you serious?" she asked, sometimes she had trouble deciphering sarcasm. Maybe because steel was never sarcastic, and she spend most of her time around steel. Maybe it was because she didn't care to know more about the interactions most people had. She didn't care... perhaps she did care.
"There is not a tone of precious stones in the caves... you should check around the Hades cabin."
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2013 11:21:53 GMT -5
Dunstan nodded and shrugged, "What? I'm a geologist. I love that crap." He said in a casual tone. He really did. Rocks and sedimentation were the closest thing to a love interest he had. (Much to Aphrodite's unamusement), more than once Aphrodite had sicked her children on him... it never ended well.
"The Hades cabins always throws fits when i'm over there because it's all 'cursed'." He rolled his eyes. "Dramatic. But the caves are always a good place to start..." He glanced over towards the forest, where he spent most of his time up in trees with giant books. He had even hid a few books in those trees. He knew Elayne was laughing at him, but he couldn't help but want to befriend her. "Come with me?" He asked, innocent eyelashes batting in mock flirtation. The worst she could do was kill him... right?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2013 11:56:01 GMT -5
Shrugging, Elayne pulled out a rag and started polishing her knife. He could like what ever he wanted. But maybe she wanted to know what was in the caves. She didn't want to know what went on in the Hades cabin, that was for sure. She checked the edge of her knife after she polished it. As it was not sharp enough, she pulled out a whetstone from her hip bag and ran the blade across it.
He spoke again, something about not going to Hades cabin. She really shouldn't tune out like that. She wanted to become a "people person", right? But his last question caught her off guard.
"Come with you?" She frowned as she thought of it. "Really?" she almost whispered. She had tried so many times to befriend people, but she never seemed to get very far. And never this far. He wanted to do something with her. She felt a smile push her cheek up.
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