high_seas | 3rd wave | catchall for sword training

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3rd wave | catchall for sword training

Who: Korra and those ~~poor souls~~ who agreed to train her, plus anyone in the appropriate locations who would like to poke her
When: Various dates, mostly backdated, later dates may be added
Where: Isla Empieza and The Charming Murderess
What: Sword training in response to this
Warnings: none so far
Style: Prose, but feel free to switch.
Status: ongoing

Isla Empieza, afternoon of December 27
Shortly after Korra snapped her journal shut from her open request for a swordsmanship teacher, she retrieved her gift and made her way excitedly for the docks of Isla Empieza. It was barely mid-morning, but she was far too excited to care. She could wait. And... wait. When noon rolled around, she bought herself some sort of mystery meat (on a stick!) to tide her over through training.

She sat with her feet dangling over the edge of the docks, eyes peeled for Haytham and her swords sheathed at her side.

The Charming Murderess, the week of December 29 (note that Korra will return to the Spade Pirates as soon as this happens on January 3)
The trip through the Nav was no more difficult than stepping through a door, Korra quickly discovered. It was slightly disorienting, suddenly being on a ship, but little more.

The Murderess wasn't so different from the ship she was used to. Perhaps a little smaller, but that could have easily been because Ace's... erm. Loud personality wasn't ever-present.

"Sasuke?" She peered over the rail onto the main deck, taking a better look around.

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His arrival was quietly enough done. One moment Korra was sitting alone on the edge of the dock and in the next Haytham had slipped up behind her.

"Sorry for the delay."

He didn't bother to explain why the delay occurred only that he was sorry it had taken him so long to arrive.

"Are you ready to begin?"

Korra jumped to her feet, slightly startled when Haytham was suddenly just... there.

"No! It's no problem! I just got here early." Very early. She brushed off her clothes. "I'm more than ready, though." She slung the sheath over her shoulder.

The area around the docks was a bustling place with men and women rushing about, unloading freight or bartering for the best price on fish. It was an excellent location for these activities but a poor one for any kind of training.

"Excellent. Then shall we head to an area better suited?"

He lead the way to a small clearing near the woods. Here there were no people to accidentally get in the way and the only obstacles were a few downed trees at the far end of the field.

"This should do nicely."

Haytham walked in a small circle inspecting the area before coming round and facing Korra.

"Would you draw your blade?"

Korra brought herself to focus and slipped the twin swords from their sheath. She stared at them for a moment before looking up to Haytham.

"Should I start with both...? Or..."

He watched carefully as she drew the weapons, trying to note how easy the action proved for her, whether or not the weight of the swords would be a problem for her and which hand she favored.

"No, just the one for now. Once you become more adept with a sword then we can add the second."

Korra had trained rigorously in martial arts her entire life, so her strength was fairly balanced. Train your weak side harder, they always said. She was solid, especially for a woman. The weight of the blades proved no problem.

She nodded at his instruction and dropped one of the swords, letting the remaining blade hang comfortably in her dominant hand. This was probably for the best, eager as she was to get started.

"The way you stand during a sword fight is very important."

The Templar stepped forward, giving her stance a few verbal adjustments as he paced around her.

"Ideally you should aim to have your feet placed with a wide measure of distance between them, about the width of your shoulders. This helps to give you more balance."

By the time he is done her stance ends up looking a great deal like a fencing position. It was more the style Haytham himself used. It was an elegant method of battle but relied on speed and a agility to successfully master.

Then he took up a similiar position and drew his own sword.

"Now, would you like to attempt a lunge?"

Of course, she told herself, stance was always the first and more important aspect of anything. Yet getting too caught up in it led to disaster. She followed his direction perfectly, taking a balanced and focused pose.

"Step through and stab?" she offered, perhaps preemptively. Sounded like a lunge to her.

Link had been watching Korra's training the last couple days and felt he could help her out. So while she was alone, practicing forms others had shown her, he came up with his sword and shield out. He looked up at her with a smile, then pulled his arm back and a very serious expression came to his face. He was clearly challenging her.

Korra didn't even notice Link at first. She was completely focused on her forms, which were improving at a rate she was quite pleased with.

Way easier than airbending.

When she finally did realize that she was being challenged, she grinned, taking a readied stance opposite Link. Korra had trained frequently with Tenzin's kids, so sparring with someone significantly smaller than she wasn't a problem. She also knew better than to go easy.

Link hadn't yet fought anyone who used two swords at once, but it couldn't be that difficult. Especially against a new learner. The boy had enough confidence in himself to believe he could easily win the spar. Not that that was the point. The point was to give Korra an experienced fighter to face so she had practice in a real fight.

Link's face didn't change, that serious expression remaining as he began to circle Korra. Slow and to the left at first. Then a sudden hop to the right and he was rolling to get behind her and land a quick jab to her butt before she could get her guard up.

Sasuke spent as much time aloft in the rigging as he did on the actual deck of the ship, maximizing the physical space available to him as much as he possibly could -- there was something both claustrophobic and tedious about facing the same handful of people in close quarters day in and day out, and at least with most of their sails furled out of the wind, it wasn't difficult to keep an eye on the deck if needed.

As it turned out, it was needed today. He spotted the figure that emerged at the helm of the ship, dropping a few spars lower in curiosity before remember he'd invited the girl from the journals to train. From here, the swords she carried looked little like the straight-edged blade he was accustomed to, but weaponry was as much about improvisation as strict form (whatever his own sword master might have to say on the subject, which knowing the man was probably more than Sasuke cared to hear).

"I am Sasuke," he called out, moving smoothly through the ropes and masts until he landed on the spar closest to her. "You're Korra?"

"Precisely, but mind your step. Many are undone by forgetting to keep one boot on stable footing."

Haytham held his position, waiting for her to strike, personal experience was the most effective way of training. It was odd though. Following through the same motions, showing off the same stances that his Father had shown him so long ago.

He was quick. Korra yelped when Link's poke landed exactly as he intended. She whirled around, grasping the swords against her arms and keeping them in front of her in a defensive stance. She was anything but a natural; fourteen years of fighting empty handed was proving nearly impossible to relearn, and even if many of the forms and movements were familiar, it was just enough of a difference to throw her off.

She began to circle Link, waiting to see if he would make another move.

He'd given up saying anything how a woman was bad luck on the ship with so many aboard. What was one more at this rate? Still it was compounding the issue, so he would be occasionally glowering at her. Still it was impressive to watch her in motion, and not in a lecherous way. With all the fighting he'd seen, watching someone who could fight using the very elements was by far one of the more impressive thins he'd seen in a long while, and that was including a goddess.

Korra raised her eyebrows as he descended from the rigging. Sasuke was agile as an airbender, she quickly noted with, admittedly, a slight feeling of dread. This wasn't going to be more lessons in swirling and avoiding and... that stuff. Was it?

"Yup! You ready to start?"

And somehow, she knew that he would be completely deadpan.

So far, the instruction all made sense. Basic forms meant you keep yourself rooted to the ground as much as possible. You had to feel the earth before you could send it flying, that sort of thing.

Korra lunged, striking forward powerfully and exhaling as she did so. It wasn't as natural a motion as it would have been if she were bending. The movement itself was familiar to her, but she had never fought with anything in her hands before.

It was a good thing Gibbs had given up with that one, because Korra probably would have tried to air-launch him overboard.

She did catch him watching, though, on an occasion that she'd been firebending to relax on the upper deck. Training from the ground up on a completely new skill was exhausting, and Korra grew frustrated easily. She'd been through this before, though to a lesser extent, with airbending, so she knew what to do. Just relax with something she was good at.

Korra caught Gibbs' eye with a curious pout and paused her forms, finding a rather awkward, crooked smile and a wave for the old guy.

Because yeah, he was old.

Her blade was quite easily caught with his own and swept to the side. The extra power she placed behind the weapon would serve her well once she learned how to direct the sword, but for now it did little but make her stance uneven.

Haytham allowed her the chance to recover before directing a lunge of his own. It was weak strike and very slowly done to give her plenty of opportunity to react.

"Yes," he said, as deadpan as might be expected, though not without a certain amount of anticipation: anything to break the monotony of days and days of endless water. It was unexpected how much his birthplace told, here, but for all he'd lived a sea of trees, the actual ocean was a decided bore after long enough.

"Those are your weapons?" He asked, dropping down onto the deck in front of her without a sound.

He nodded his head at hier, which was about as much as he was going to do. HIs frown remained in place however. All her use with fire had him terrified she was going to burn the ship down, or blow it up if she somehow managed to light a powder keg on fire.

"You might be wanting to watch where that fire goes lass."

Korra stepped forward, regaining her balance and realizing that she was vulnerable. This was different. Very different.

She reacted well, though, fighting the urge to bend the air around her to improve her agility. Korra struck out at Haytham's blade and knocked it to the side, the motion having more force behind it than likely was necessary.

"Yeah." Korra reached around to her back and drew the blades. She held them easily, confidently.

Whether or not she could effectively use them... Eh. Details.

"I am!" As if on cue, a spark ignited on the rail, though only long enough for her to panic and bend a stream of water from the ocean to put it out. There. All better. She turned to face Gibbs nervously.

"That... won't happen again."

Since she had not been ready for his attack but had reacted so well a rare moment of praise seemed in order. Haytham stepped back and away, giving a pause to the small skirmish.

"Excellent, you adapt quickly. How long have you been training in your martial arts?"

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3rd wave | catchall for sword training

Isla Empieza, afternoon of December 27

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Murderess

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Murderess, 29th, I'M SO LATE SORRY

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Murderess (whoops this is late)

DON'T BE SORRY

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Not at all!

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