diatu | Swords and Sorcery

Swords and Sorcery

Who: Dust and OPEN
Where: Somewhere on one of Diatu's convenient open spaces.
When: After afternoon classes.
What: Dust is practicing magic, and swordplay, at the same time!
Warnings: Violence.

The sight of Dust out practicing after class, with the blade that is his and the blade that is his familiar, is not unusual. Wielding just Ahrah came instinctively to him, but add Furae in to the mix and he had a lot to learn and relearn. No, the unusual part came in how he was training: to wit, adding in broad sweeping motions with his blades that didn't seem to have an apparent purpose... until he spat a few words in that language Discovery paired with its glyphs, and the track of his swords glowed in midair to show the rune he'd drawn with their motions. A jet of fire shot forward as Dust swept both his weapons back, holding his position for the moment to assess how he'd managed to cast the spell.

"Mmm. That was all right, but it could have been better."

"The rune was sloppy." The red runes on the sword in his left hand flickered in time with the syllable, spoken with a harsh female voice. "But you got the fire anyway."

"Then I guess I should be glad it worked better than it should have." Straightening, Dust drew up his shoulders, inhaled a deep breath, then let it out as he sank back into a slight crouch. "Remind me to ask someone to watch from the outside sometime..."

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Sunset's out for one of her evening strolls when she spots Dust hard at work, taking a big step back when she sees the fire. She's a little impressed...as that tiny smile suggests.

"Whoa. Please tell me we're not being tested on that, I'm so not ready."

"No, this is a little extracurricular," Dust said, straightening up and lowering both his swords to reverse-grips in at his sides. Sunset got a smile as he turned to her. "I figured, why not draw runes and make gestures with my swords? That's a lot easier than stopping a fight to pull out a wand or something."

"Mm, you're probably right."

Sunset nodded, already impressed. "Would any weapon or tool work, do you think, or do they have to be magically forged?"

"It's just drawing them. I'd think anything would work." Both of the draw-in-midair Curricula could use a bunch of different tools for the purpose, so why not weapons? "The real challenge is to do it at speed as part of attacking."

Sunset let out a hum of approval.

"Mm, I can see that. So it's all in keeping your wrist loose, right? As long as you can keep your hand steady. I saw a wobbly sigil the other day and the explosion was not pretty."

She grins. He's got it down fairly well so far.

"Show me again?"

"That's a specific part of the general, which is that it's harder to draw runes at speed and have them be quite as perfect as magic likes. Thaumaturgy is easier and harder at the same time..."

Dust dropped back into his ready stance, then whirled into motion again. His style naturally lent itself to huge sweeping motions that were attack and defense all at once, so while the strokes he made with his blades in midair might not be focused and directed towards a foe, they also served to keep an enemy well at bay lest they be sliced to bits. The oversized Osmarius rune took shape in several quick motions, and he shouted the words on the last one, sending forth a flame that looked a bit too yellow.

"Wow..."

Sunset jotted a few notes on her small notepad as he worked, grinning as the fire whizzed past.

"Very nice. But is that your personal color? I expected more orange...or maybe blue..."

Dust frowned down at the swords in his hands. "No, I messed it up again." Where had it been, though? Maybe his angles were too loopy -- that seemed likely.

"It's okay! I know you can get it. Just relax, and give it another try. Breathe."

She wasn't good at the relaxing herself, but she sure could try to recommend it.

"I'm sure I can, but it'd help if I knew just what was going on. You didn't see anything, did you?" An outside observer might be able to spot what he, so far, couldn't.

"Um...well..."

Sunset tipped her head to the side, considering what she'd seen.

"Maybe it was a little wobbly? Sharper angles might do it. Wrist loose, fist steady."

"Sharper angles." Dust frowned, fingers tightening and loosening on the sword hilts. That made sense. His style lead to shifts of momentum and great sweeping gestures, not pinpoint changes. "Hmm. That makes sense."

Hendrik was on his way to go check on the Luminary to see if he was up for a spar when he came across Dust. He'd paused long enough to hear the harshness and shook his head. He didn't believe that he would have the temperament to deal with something like that, though he had put up with a lot of verbal beratings from both Jasper and Don Rodrigo.

However, those two stopped after awhile or he could leave their side. That wouldn't be true if the words came straight from one of his swords.

Hearing the words spoken, he nodded. "I can certainly assist you in that." And if this one was working on dual wielding, the knight might have to go get a different sword and get his shield.

"That'd help me a lot." Dust turned to Hendrik with a smile, relaxing slightly instead of launching into another performance. "It's hard to tell just where I'm miswriting the runes. If you could watch my form for errors..."

Ever the serious one especially when it came to training, the knight nodded. He could help because this was something he could definitely understand.

"When you are ready to begin, let me know."

Dust nodded, though his combat stance was completely obvious; he led with his left foot, Ahrah and Furae both in reverse grips, the latter behind him and the other held against his forearm as he crossed it in front of his neck.

"Ready."

Hendrik folded his arms across his chest. Silently he was impressed and knew that if this boy could go to his own lands, many knights might reconsider tussling with this foe.

"Begin."

Dust spun into action immediately. His style incorporated massive slashes as both attack and defense, punctuated by acrobatic maneuvers to keep an opponent off-guard and the onslaught ongoing -- so working the carving of a rune into his routine was not disadvantageous. It sacrificed some direct offense, but anything within range would either retreat or get cut down in the course of it.

The main problem was drawing angles at curves rather than sharp junctions, and because of that, when he spoke the Osmarian word to complete the spell, a flame more yellow than orange shot forth.

The boy really was truly impressive to watch as he maneuvered around and went about his training. His eyes tried to capture everything that was going on, especially the part about the magic being brought forth.

He too had noticed the colour of the flame but he wasn't understanding why it was that colour. Still, magic during combat for him was healing and buffs, it wasn't offensive. That had been Jasper's specialty not his, and he'd been hit many times with it, with the last time protecting the Luminary from a spell that probably would've killed the boy.

For now though, he stood and watched and waited.

Edited 2019-08-30 03:00 (UTC)

Dust finished his routine quickly -- the followups generally needed an actual target to really be worth practicing -- and in a whirl of cloak and blades turned to face Hendrik.

"Didn't go off right again this time. Any ideas from the outside?"

The knight shook his head. "Do that one more time and then I will come in and see what defense you have."

He could understand offense, but defense was more what he himself was skilled in as well. So Hendrik figured he might be able to find more flaws and offer far more instruction if he was actually there to see how the mechanics worked for himself.

"Mmm, all right."

Dust brought his left arm up and his right back, then blurred into motion again, repeating the same pattern.

Patiently he waited, seeing the same things going on with the same effect.

And after Dust was done, the knight shook his head.

"Tell me, when was the last time you tested these moves against someone?"

"I've done some sparring since I came here." Though Hendrik could hear in his voice, quite clearly, that Dust didn't consider that really 'testing' his moves. Sparring meant holding back a great number of things.

He could hear what sounded like irritation in the others tone. "Then if testing against others will not work, I suggest you keep practicing."

Hendrik wasn't sure how to assist at this point if he couldn't get in himself and help figure things out.

Edited 2019-09-08 01:00 (UTC)

"That isn't what I'm saying. It probably will. I'm just not sure what I'm doing wrong." At least sparring would let him see if this whole strategy was at all viable.

Hendrik sighed and folded his arms across his chest.

"Then before I get in there with you, tell me why you think you are not performing at complete capacity."

"Well, look."

Dust lifted Ahrah, spinning the sword into a foregrip as he did, then twiddled out a far smaller version of the rune he'd described with his sword slashes. When he spoke the same word, a far brighter burst of flame lashed out, more focused and hotter than the other.

"I can cast that spell better than I have been."

Magic wasn't the knight's strength and his back stiffened at hearing the part about the flame. This was something Jasper would definitely be better at. But he could ask a few questions to try and get a better take.

"How many times have you cast it"

It wasn't Dust's strength either, but he was trying to learn.

"Half a dozen, so far. All of them with about the same results."

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Swords and Sorcery

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