closed.

[heorte]

WHO: ellis + athessa
WHAT: attempted stabbing
WHEN: right after the jungle, probably solace. whenever athessa's schedule allows.
WHERE: training yard
NOTES: n/a

Marcoulf has been a good teacher. Ellis cannot keep up with him, does not assume he ever will, but it doesn't mean Marcoulf hasn't taught him plenty of how to fight with a dagger.

It does mean that Ellis isn't entirely outmatched in the training yard when Athessa steps into the ring, but he can't keep up with her either. It's more difficult, in some ways. She's small and slight and quick. He'd fare better if this were the kind of fight where he was trying to hit her with a mace instead of counter her with a set of daggers but—

"Yield," he says, as Athessa's dagger whips towards his throat. "That's three times, I think you've sufficiently bested me."

It's good-humored. He's learning. And better to be bested in the training ring than on the field, where Athessa pulls her blows instead of pushing her dagger through his throat.

Comments

[heorte]

"You just trounced me three times, I think that gives you some authority to sum up my ability."

And she'd likely have outplayed him a fourth time, if they went again.

As he speaks, he sheathes the borrowed dagger. At some point, he should look into purchasing his own. It isn't as if he's doing much else with his stipend, after all.

[sulahnan]

"Your ability, sure, but not how you compare to an absolute novice in terms of learning speed," Her proposition of a fourth round officially denied, Athessa also stows her daggers. For fighting in the training yard, she uses a set that belong to the armory, rather than her own, in the interest of keeping hers battle-ready and limiting the wear on them. The other dagger that has been consistently strapped to her hip ever since their return from the jungle, seems purely decorative.

Back to the matter at hand. Athessa takes a moment after her rebuttal to actually consider the question, to appraise the Warden.

"You're a good fighter. You have training and experience and instincts that are already honed for a specific purpose. The Lady Barra doesn't. On the one hand, she doesn't have habits she has to unlearn, but she has fear to move past. In some ways that's gonna be a lot harder than you learning to use a different set of muscles than you're used to. But I don't think comparing yourself to a novice is really gonna help anyone."

[heorte]

It's a fair assessment. Ellis accepts it with a nod, setting the daggers down on the bench and then cracking his knuckles absently.

"The kidnapping is not going to be helpful to her in overcoming that."

The glimpse of what he'd seen in the Crossroads had needled at his own experiences, his own life. Fereldans all carry the Blight differently. Sonia seems to feel the weight of it acutely, more presently than Ellis.

[sulahnan]

"No," she agrees, "But there's not much we can do about it. She's either gotta learn to use the fear, or suppress it, and I don't know much of anything about how to teach that."

Kidnappings? In this organization? It's more likely than you think.

"I'd just like to stave off her having to learn the hard way, ya know?"

[heorte]

It's a sweet sentiment, and one Ellis doesn't really know what to do with. He doesn't believe it's possible, but is not what he tries often to accomplish with Wysteria?

"That is kind," he says, at last. "I hope you manage it."

He can be sincere, even if it feels hopeless.

"We can try this again next month, see if I can manage to land at least one blow."

[sulahnan]

"It's a date," she says, grinning so he knows she's joking. "But if you manage to beat me I'll foot the bill for your own set of daggers."

She thinks that'd be a more amenable prize than buying him a drink or dinner, even though it'll amount to more coin spent.