abyssdressing | (no subject)

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[ It appears someone has set up some training dummies on a certain couple's lawn. Who would do a thing like that? Why, Asch would, that's who. It would appear his intentions are to get some training in; far be it from him to let his fighting skills get rusty.

This means he is in plain sight of anyone who happens to have come out this way. Just be careful about sneaking up on him or anything like that. Why? Because apparently Asch doesn't practice with wooden swords; he's using a recently sharpened blade.

This said, he probably won't actually stab anyone even if they don't announce their presence. But he might come close to it.

Hey, it's not his fault he's not expecting any visitors. ]

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What? Ugh, what the hell would you know about what I've been looking into or not. [but the grumble is pretty half-hearted because it's true he hasn't been able to train properly, what with not being able to meet Master Van. He's looking over the training dummies with some interest now that he's not in immediate danger of losing a limb]

[ Asch notices his gaze wandering. ] ...

What, do you have a problem?

Your interest is rather obvious, Luke.

What? I'm not - ! I just - [well, Luke is tsun but he seldom outright lies] Ugh, whatever!

I believe we went over this once before, Luke. If you'd like some help, you should try asking. [ Asch may be a jerk - especially when it comes to teaching book knowledge - but he is pretty damn good as a swordsmanship teacher these days. ]

[here, have some flail] I didn't - ! I wasn't trying to - !

...

What, you would...?

[Asch being nice is still super-weird, sorry]

Hm. Well, I don't see why not. It's better than allowing you to run around defenseless and incapable; besides, you'll need some skill in fighting should you return. [ Maybe he can make this Luke a little less useless and infuriating after all~ ]

I'm not defenseless - [although he's not armed, so maybe he kind of is, but whatever :|]

I'd be surprised if Van provided you with ample training to be of use on the battlefield. If that assumption is correct, then you are defenseless, or at least you may as well be. To clarify, this assessment is not a reflection on your skill but rather your how your teacher has trained you. [ He won't explain that Van probably didn't see any reason to train Luke to be sufficiently prepared for an actual battlefield. ] Similarly, this also means that the situation can be rectified.

Hey, Master Van taught me fine! It's not his fault I haven't been able to continue training under him! And it's not like I haven't been doing anything myself -

...rectified?

[ He won't even bother dignifying the defense of Van with a response. Asch has absolutely no kind words for the man anymore. ]

Yes, rectified. Through training, specifically. [ There's almost an implied "proper" thrown in there between through and training. ]

[ ooc; I'm off to bed. :< I'll tag back in the morning~ ]

I've been training!

[Luke is torn, on one hand Asch is Asch and he was dissing on Master Van, on the other hand he really hasn't been able to train properly for a pretty long time]

...but I guess...

[ooc: night!]

Hm. [ He won't say it, but he's kind of proud of Luke making ~~the intelligent~~ that decision. Turning away from him, though, Asch goes to set his sword down. It turns out there are wooden swords there after all and he just chose not to use one himself ~~go figure~~ due to the difference in balance and not particularly feeling there was a need to for a private training session. However, he doesn't exactly trust Luke to train with a real sword at the moment, so... wooden swords it is. ]

Catch. [ That's all the warning Luke gets before Asch tosses one toward him. At least he's tossing it in a manner that's actually easy to catch. ]

[except Luke's still holding his book, so for a moment he's faced with either dropping it on his foot, or getting a wooden sword to the face. He manages to keep hold of both though, even if more than a little fumbling is involved]

[asjgfkjgk] --jerk!!

[yeah, still mumbling imprecations as he puts his stuff away :|]

[ Oh, but how he loves those replica reactions. That may or may not be exactly why he tossed the sword over while Luke was still holding his book. ] Problem? [ Oh but he sounds amused. ]

I don't know, why don't you tell me! ['you jerk' is left off the end of that sentence, but heavily implied as he heads back over, testing the heft of the sword as he goes]

[ Luke should consider it the first lesson. ] First rule of battle: you should always be prepared for unexpected circumstances. You cannot expect your enemies to wait for you to prepare yourself, so you should be alert at all times. That level of awareness should extend into training as well, from the moment a session begins - and ideally beforehand, as well.

[mostly he considers it Asch being as asshole, as per normal] I didn't know we were already - ! [which is kind of Asch's point, he supposes] Ugh, alright, I get it.

Good. [ Because, as an instructor, he doesn't accept arguments. He meets them with mockery. ]

Now, come at me. [ So he can assess your skill. ]

[Luke glances down at the sword, then levels Asch an extremely skeptical look, but he readies himself to attack.

He's more cautious than you might expect ~~if you didn't know that his Asch already kicked his ass once before~~ and at least he wasn't lying about keeping up with training, but he obviously hasn't had formal instruction for a while.

He's also picked up a couple of dirty tricks, probably from the same place he learned some of his more creative insults.]

[ Oh my. Is this something else he'd have to 'thank' some version of Jade for?

Asch parries Luke's attacks, although he does raise an eyebrow at some of them. Not to mention the fact... ]

You're holding back. There's a difference between attacking with the caution necessary to minimize risk to yourself and going forward with either the fear or expectation you will be knocked down. [ He's not really going to ask why Luke is showing this much caution, though. Now right now, anyway. He might pry into it later. ] The first would be advisable; the second is poor form and a liability.

[just blame Guy for letting him hang around the barracks without supervision]

I'm not afraid - ! [he doesn't say anything about the expectation part, though. His stamina is probably nothing to write home about either, his breathing is already starting to quicken]

[ Here he was almost hoping for something else to pin on Jade.

...Well that's problematic. Clearly, Luke's stamina is something they'll need to work on - probably one of the first things, really. But for now, he comes closer to him. ] You are, or at least your movements indicate fear. It's something you can work past. [ His tone really doesn't leave much room for argument or denial. On the other hand, he also doesn't really sound like he's placing the blame onto Luke himself.

Really, Asch could have sworn these were some of the basics for fighting. Had Luke's memory of his training simply lapsed, or had Van really not bothered to instill the basic knowledge into him? Part of him was almost afraid to discover the answer to that, if only because he has this sinking feeling it is largely the latter. ]

I told you, I - [Luke tenses when Asch approaches, but he relaxes consciously a moment later. At least he's paying attention; he's usually amenable enough to instruction if he doesn't feel judged or mocked, he got enough of that from teachers back at the manor, thanks.

He drops back into a ready stance, but just waits, this time]