Spring 80, 124
Sjal was in her back yard practicing some acrobatic maneuvers. She was dressed in her regular armor and had sweat along her body that signified that she was working hard. That much would probably be obvious to anyone, even if they didn't know what hard work really looked like, since she was trying to do acrobatics with that much weight on her body.
Her flips were simple and not particularly flashy. They were simple rotations that usually ended with her trying to balance herself in mid-air before awkwardly landing. Without trying, she could typically pull a flip off by taking a running start. Jumping high enough to do a stationary front flip was too difficult for her because she didn't have the momentum from the run to help rotate her body.
With her training, however, she could move nimbly even with armor on. The difficulty wasn't so much achieving height or even rotating in the air. Rather, the difficulty stemmed from timing. Tucking and rotating too fast was a surefire way to flip too many times and land on her back. Additionally, a small error in her rotation would be amplified by her additional skills which could send her toppling to the side.
Her morning had already been filled with failures, none of them had injured her yet though, thankfully. She was half decent at acrobatic maneuvers which made it easy to fail correctly instead of breaking her neck. She was making notable progress by mid morning, able to pull off a simple front flip about half the time.
She pulled off her helmet and tossed it to the side when she started to get tired. She took a swig from her flask and appreciated the springtime breeze while she could. It wouldn't be long before doing anything in armor would become annoying due to the heat.
Sjal looked to see Garen approaching and smirked at him. "So, you finally decided to face me. It's about time! I thought you wouldn't show." She wouldn't have really cared if he had decided not to spar with a sword. She knew that he was the type who didn't like conflict and wouldn't fault him for that… even if she did think it made little sense to be a cowardly type. If anything, having a lot of strength should increase one's confidence, in her opinion.
She stretched out her arms a little before clearing away some things in the yard so that they would have enough space at the center to do combat. Once that was done, she would grab her scythe and hold it out in front of her.
"You don't mind if I use this, do you? I admittedly don't know how to use it very well, but if you're a novice with the blade then we might be evenly matched. I promise not to hit you with the blade… if I can help it."
She gave him a confident smile while adjusting her grip along the large polearm. When it looked like Garen was ready, she would take a step forward and bring the weapon down overhead, grunting even with the added mobility she had. It was a slow attack, awkward and obvious as would be expected by someone who hardly knew what she was doing. The other end of the Scythe had a spear tip, so either that or the pole itself was likely to make contact with Garen if he didn't dodge out of the way or try to block. Afterwards, she would try pulling the weapon back and thrusting it at him, though if he was in a vulnerable spot she would try not to actually hit him.
Sjal was impressed with Garen's ability to block her attack and even launch a counter attack. She debated twisting the scythe as he approached, thinking it might be able to hit him… but she decided against it. She lifted the entire weapon, intending to swing it at him, but she didn't have time. By the time she'd swung it back, Garen had already closed the distance and tapped her on the leg.
"Got me," she said, holding out a hand to show that she gave up. "This thing is just so big… it's going to be hard for me to use it if I can't keep people at bay."
She jumped back several feet, landing awkwardly due to the heaviness of the weapon. She had to wave her free hand and lean on her scythe to stop herself from falling over. "That's a lot easier to pull off when I'm using katana, I swear," she said with a giggle. "Again then?"
If Garen readied himself, Sjal would try twirling the scythe – badly. The sharp end would dig into the ground and require her to pull it back out. She sighed then said, "maybe you should come at me this time."
She tried to think logically. If she had such a large weapon then her only chance against a more agile opponent was to keep them at a distance. Garen had demonstrated just how easy it would be to slice open her tendons because she'd missed. Perhaps she needed to be a little more aggressive and wild with her swings so that there was no way he could safely approach? But that hardly seemed like the kind of thing she ought to be practicing against someone who wasn't even wearing armor. The last thing she needed was murder charges brought against her.
Sjal might not have been fully prepared, but it didn't take a genius to know that she needed to stop Garen's blade from slicing into her head. She held the scythe with both hands and lifted the weapon above her head to intercept the blow. The feeling was jarring as she'd extended her arms a bit too far. She winced and drew her arms back in, allowing the sword to drop a few inches.
She twisted her torso and tried to whack her opponent away with the butt of the scythe, but Garen had already lifted his foot at that point. She was kicked right in the stomach, pushing her away which also made her swing miss wildly. The polearm wielder spun twice before she dug the tip of the weapon into the ground to stop herself from moving.
"That can't be good for the edge," she said as she pulled the tip out of the ground. She looked over to Garen who had fallen which made a smile play at her lips. She thought it was funny how hilariously bad they both were at this. If her swordsmanship teacher had been here, he would have probably yelled at them both until they went deaf.
"Alright, one more round then," Sjal said as she slowly stepped towards him. She held the scythe a little more confidently this time, waiting until she got several paces away from him before considering how she wanted to attack. She twisted the weapon so that the blade was facing away from Garen then swung it low at his legs. If he was quick he would be able to jump over it, though she doubted blocking it would be an easy feat with the weight difference between their weaponry. Her intent wasn't to break his legs, rather to knock him over… though she couldn't guarantee that getting hit by it wouldn't have that effect.
Sjal was pleased to see that she had knocked him over, but she didn't like that he'd gotten hurt by the fall. Being somewhat used to combat, she knew how to fall without injuring herself more often than not. It didn't seem to be that way for Garen, however, who appeared so hurt that he couldn't continue practicing.
"Sorry about that," she said sheepishly, "learning as an adult can be difficult. I learned when I was young, when injuries weren't so tough to recover from. Actually… why don't you ask a druid to heal you a little? Or does that not work for this sort of injury?" That was the obvious answer to her, but she wasn't sure about the specifics of that magic's applications. His answer would help her learn one way or the other.
When her friend gave her some jumping advice, she tried it out. She hopped around and focused more on letting her legs bend a little more to soften the impact. The difference was quite notable and she grinned at him to show how pleased she was. The man couldn't fight with a weapon well but he clearly knew how to apply his muscles better.
When she got tired of hopping, she picked up her scythe again and started practicing basic swings. She had been getting better at it, to the point where she was fairly confident that she could seriously injure or kill someone who wasn't trained in combat. Though, it was somewhat tiring to use even with her training. She supposed she could always start increasing her strength building exercises, but she always liked to keep a good amount of physical energy available at all times in case she needed to switch things up.
"Want to go get a bite to eat?" She'd ask when she finally tired. This seemed like as good stopping point as any. "I know a good place down the street."
