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Shephard has been taking two different kinds of lessons here at Milliways. The first set has been the more abstract set, namely, learning the parts of sailing a ship that aren't "Don't steer it into the rocks". This has been far more complicated than he would like to admit and he has generally been grumpy after these lessons through no fault of Bumi's.

Well, maybe through some fault of Bumi's. The man does occasionally like to mess with Shephard's head.

Anyway, that's lesson group one. That is not what Shephard is dealing with today. Today Shephard is going with practice material for lesson group two, namely, How To Properly Use Pointy Things. It's never sat well with Shephard that the Marines have a sword as part of their dress uniforms and only ever really get trained to use it ceremonially. If you have a weapon you should know how best to kill people with it, otherwise it's just an inconvenience, is his way of thinking.

(Shephard has never claimed to be a particularly reassuring sort of fellow.)

Bumi may or may not be here for lessons and practice today. Shephard doesn't know. He's just taking his sword out back for some of the basic forms practice at the moment, somewhere he won't be surrounded by recruits or Resistance people or eyeball dogs. If you want a look, you're welcome to it.

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Will enters today through the forest and there's rain on his cloak as he walks down the path.

When he spots Shephard, he steps a little harder to warn him of his approach.

Shephard pauses mid-stride, looks up, and lifts his left hand in greeting. "Hey there."

"Good day, didna wish to disturb yer practice,"

He pushes his hood back as he raises his hand in response, his sword is at his side.

"Naw, it's cool," says Shephard. "Only just got started. I got to keep up with things between lessons."

"Oh aye, do ye do much fightin' with a sword?"

"Nope," says Shephard. "But a sword's a part of the Marine Corps dress uniform, always has been, so I reckon it's on me to learn to use it proper even if I ain't gonna get much chance with it."

"Aye, what do ye know 'bout swords? I thought I'd seen ye with one 'fore."

"I been taught to handle one respectably'n use one in some ceremonial drills'n shit," Shephard says. "Bumi's been showin' me the basic differences between what you do with a saber'n what you do when you're usin' a long knife, since thats the only other blade I use much."

"Dinna know much 'bout sabers but done a lot o'fightin' with swords."

Shephard nods, and holds up his own blade; it's slightly curved and carefully worked. "Comes of us bein' meant for ship-to-ship actions originally," he says, "among other things. You c'n check it out closer if you like."

"I think I've seen that sort in Doc's time, looks like a fine blade."

"Better'n my original," Shephard admits. "The ones we had in the Corps, the one they gave my momma, those're stainless steel. Real shiny'n all but fuck if they don't shatter easy. This one, this is troll make. You know the trolls here at all?"

"Seen their notes, dinna think I've met 'em an aye, sword 'as to be strong if its gettin' used."

"Right," says Shephard. "They got a kind of alchemy where- aw, fuck if I cn explain it. All's I know is they took my sword'n they took a huge fuckin' basilisk fang I brought 'em and they made this sword by alchemizing the two together'n comin' up with somethin' a hell of a lot better'n either. It ain't too bad to use the stainless one for a little practice, but I'd just as soon use this on account of it bein' the one I'm gonna have to use down the line."

"The 'ell, ne'er 'eard o'makin' a sword like that."

Shephard shrugs. "It's a troll thing. They got a machine. If I was somebody else I reckon I'd think it was magic."

"Seems to 'ave made ye a good blade."

Edited 2013-12-07 23:58 (UTC)

"Sure did," says Shephard. "Ain't my usual weapon of preference, tell you the truth, but if I'm gonna use one itss gonna be a damn good one."

"Well, if ye e'er wish to spar, let me know."

"Wouldn't say no, long as it's perfectly clear I ain't real clued in on this," Shephard says. "How you been, anyways?"

"Good, tis a strange winter cause England's full o'rumors o'Richard 'avin' possibly returned."

"That so?" Shephard says. "Anything to back those rumors up?"

"The nobles are worried so aye, think there might be somethin'."

Shephard nods. "Hear it happened that way with Freeman comin' back in my world," he says, "so if it's true I surely do hope Richard's got good men around him to make sure he gits back to his throne alive."

"We'll try an aid 'em if we can."

Jay's been out exploring and happens to find a spot near when Shephard's working out. He sits to watch for a bit, making sure he's somewhere Shephard can see him.

It takes Shephard a bit to notice- he's kind of caught up in his practice at the moment- but when he does, he stops and waves. Not like Bumi's here to smack him or anything.

Jay waves back and comes over to join him. "How's it going?"

"Doin' all right." Shephard grins crookedly. "I got way too much shit to do at home before Christmas hits, so I reckoned I'd cheat a li'l bit'n come here for practice time. How 'bout yourself?"

"Being out of time has to have it's advantages somehow." He shrugs. "Yeah, just been out exploring. This place is interestingly weird."

He nods to the sword. "Blade practice? Mind if I join in?" He looks around for a branch or something the right weight and shape, pulling one of his own knives to clean the bark off.

"Been over the mountains yet? Fuckin' things only have one side," Shephard says. "Go over the top and you come back down where you started even if you know for sure you're walkin' a straight line."

He nods. "Sure, go ahead. Usin' my real blade, not the saber that came with the dress blues."

"Not yet. Still getting the hang of the garage. Freaky place bending it a bit much just yet."

Jay nods and hefts the branch. He starts with a couple of warm up kata with the wooden blade, moving through the blocks and strikes in slow motion. He smiles to himself, enjoying the feeling of his muscles remembering each stance.

[ooc: Sorry! Wrong account.]

"No kiddin'," Shephard says. "I been comin' here close to two years now and it's still freaky as shit."

It's entirely likely that Jay's warmup kata are more impressive than anything Shephard is doing, or at least more graceful. He's still at the stage of the game where he's regularly put though hideous amounts of repetition just to get the initial motions grooved in. Muscle memory takes work to acquire and he's still laying his down.

He'll get there someday.

"Can say that again but I'm starting to like it too. Meeting some pretty cool people lately."

Jay has muscle memory carved into grooves so deep he could do the first eight kata's in his sleep. And has more than once.

He grins and losses up, watching Shephard move. He grabs another branch, carving it very roughly into the right shape and balance for a military sabre. "If I had another sword I'd say we could spar but I can teach you a few tricks with these if you like?"

"Yeah?" says Shephard. "There's a lot of 'em here. All humans, or somethin' else too?"

He considers the offer, and then nods. "Sure," he says. "Might as well. Anything that gits me movin' in the right direction."

"Human looking as far as I know. Haven't really asked beyond that." Not his place to judge.

He nods and starts teaching Shephard the basic block and attack katas. "These help. If you do these over and over it builds up all the right muscle groups. I try to do these ones morning and night. Granted I've kinda sucked at that lately."

"Bumi said about the same thing," Shephard says as he moves to follow along. "He's the fella I'm takin' lessons from in the first place. Ain't from Earth, but a sword's a sword."

"My last teacher was a 3000 year old granny with quick temper and nasty left hook." Jay grins, enjoying the rhythm of the kata. "You take the teachers you can get."

He turns to watch, smiling and nodding as Shephard moves. "You've certainly got the upper body strength. I won't want to get in close quarters with you on a bad day."

"Sheeeeyit. I got maybe one person I ever met who's that old, 'n she's a dragon I met here," says Shephard. "Most of what I know's just plain ol' Parris Island'n Quantico instructors, when it ain't Bumi."

At the other comment he grins wryly. "I ain't a bodybuilder or shit like that, but I been doin' my runs'n pushups with a backpack fulla rocks a good little while now," he says. "Comes in mighty handy sometimes. Had to kill this big fuckin' pig with a short sword once. Wouldn't'a been able to pull it off without that kinda practice."

"An actual dragon?" That won't surprise him that much. "So what's Bumi like?"

Jason squares up and stretches. "Feel like a slow spar?"

"Yep. Changes shape sometimes, so you might see her 'round the place lookin' like a human woman, but Kreyu's a dragon the size of a fuckin' blue whale," Shephard says. "Old enough to remember the fuckin' Trojan war, but I ain't never asked just how old she is past that. Bumi, now, he's a human, he's... shit, I dunno, forty-five or somethin'. Ain't from Earth. Looks a little bit like Chinese, though, and the language they got in his world gits written like Chinese, too. He was in their navy long enough they're tryin' to git him to retire."

He nods. "Don't see why not."

"That's kinda... awesome." Jay smiles. "I've heard stories about dragons. I'd love to meet one."

"You can never retire a good drill sergeant. They have the power of the voice"

He squares up and bows, presenting a forward guard. "Ready when you are."

[ooc:let me know if you want to handwave the sparring sequence.]

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