Fate - First Reply Academy Training

[Aelita]

THE ACADEMY​

NOON​

Waiting is a part of military life.

And the Academy, especially in the last years of an Initiate’s tutelage, offers opportunities to learn that fact.

During one of those periods of downtime, Aelita would be found on the training grounds. She practiced maneuvers with her staff. Trusts, swings, blocks, and more.

A training dummy stood before her – offering her a target to give a few good whacks against.

The sparring grounds sat behind her unused. No classes or duels were scheduled for this day.

At that time, the sun rose high in the sky. Pneria could be seen as a daymoon setting on the horizon.

Aelita paused for a moment to wipe some sweat off her forehead. She took a sip from a bottle actually filled with water (e.g. not alcohol).

"Woo!" Aelita sighed as she then muttered to herself, "Surprised there's not more people here..."

 

[Ivan Skender]

Ivan rubbed his eyes lazily as he made his way through the somewhat deserted hallways. In a turn of events that came about roughly once in a lifetime, the stars had seemingly aligned to bless him with a schedule which, for this week at least, had been crafted in such a way as to grant him most of the day off. Predictably, he had spent the entire morning asleep, up until that moment, not too long ago, when some stupid bird had awoken him with its incessant, high-pitched chirping.

That being the case, and since he would only have any classes towards the end of the afternoon, he had decided to make something out of his free time and headed toward the sparring grounds.

As he got into the place, he heard the familiar whacking sound of a weapon being flung against a practice dummy. While it was not surprising that someone was using the practice fields, it was more so that he found only one other initiate doing so at the moment. Before making for the practice dummies, Ivan took a pike out of one of the racks at the far end of the grounds. While he could handle swords and axes with a proficient amount of dexterity, he had always been rather clumsy with longer, less manoeuvrable weapons such as halberds or pikes. As such, he had decided to use his spare time to the end of improving his skills.

“Morning, dearest colleague.” - He said cheerfully as he approached the other blonde initiate. He took a good look at her before he recognized Aelita. He noticed the bottle she was sipping out of. Wasn’t she the one that smuggled alcohol into the Academy? Rumours here were always plentiful, but it was difficult to know which ones were true. Taking into account they were at the practice grounds, that was probably water, but still…

“Already with the Diemut Red?” - He asked jokingly, although secretly hoping for a “yes” answer.​

Aelita

 

[Aelita]

Aelita looked over to see Ivan with a pike. Her at-first blank fast shifted into one with a smile at the sight of the comrade.

“Morning,” she replied as she lowered the bottle.

Then a quick “Hah!” followed as Ivan made a suggestion about the contents of her bottle.

“Ooooh, no. Not today,” Aelita began as she playfully added, “It’s a Cortosi Chianti!”

Another sip of her water followed.

Leaning on her staff, Aelita said to Ivan, “I don’t think I’ve seen you with a pole-arm before?”

 

[Ivan Skender]

“Oh, yeah. That’s because I never use them.” - He replied, examining his weapon at length. Though he knew the theory of how to hold it, his grip still felt rather awkward.

“Too… unwieldy.” - He said, pausing as he tried to find the right word. He then looked over the girl, and the staff she leant against. Interestingly, while not exactly a spear - let alone a pike - Aelita’s weapon, as far as Ivan understood it, should follow the same principles as these longer weapons. This not to mention he was pretty certain he’d seen her using the staff as a spear before.

“Honestly, I don’t know how you lot like them.” - He continued, pointing with his chin to the staff, as he reciprocated her smile.

Everyone knew swords were superior anyways.​

 

[Aelita]

“Hmm...”

Aelita looked the pike up and down.

“A pike? Yeah, a bit unwieldy in one-on-one,” Aelita began with a tilt of her head.

Then, Aelita pushed back from her staff – standing upright without using it as support. She kicked out the bottom and flipped it so that the bladed end pointed up. She performed this with just one hand on the two yard long staff.

“But a spear? What’s not to like?” Aelita continued with a slightly wider smile, “All equal in a duel between sword and spear, the spear wielder will live in most bouts.”

 

[Ivan Skender]

“Pfft, as if.” - He said smugly, his grin turning into a mischievous one.

As if to prove a point, he kicked the bottom of his pike, in a movement mimicking that of Aelita. While it started off well, the tip of the longer pole-arm hit one of the close-by practice dummies while in mid-air, making Ivan’s grip slip, and the weapon fall to the ground with a loud bang.

He just stared blankly at the grounded object, his smirk turned into a frown.

“You know what? I think that’s enough pikes for a day.” - Instead, he picked-up the weapon, walked over to a rack and took out a shorter spear, with a length about the same as that of Aelita’s staff.

He handled it better than the pike, that was for sure, but still felt as though a sword would be a much superior choice. He turned to Aelita again with a smile - “Why don’t you show me some moves?”
​

 

[Aelita]

Aelita watched Ivan’s attempt to wield the pike. She kept her smile as it fell to the ground.

“Yeaah.”

When Ivan declared that he was finished with pikes, Aelita replied with, “Unless you want to lead a pike square, probably for the best.”

Ivan then requested a demonstration of sorts from Aelita. She looked up and to the side for a moment in though.

Picking up her weapon, Aelita took a few steps toward Ivan. She took a stance and slowly extended the bladed part toward his face – the tip of which was still at least a yard away so she would not strike him.

“Imagine how you’d respond with a sword,” Aelita told Ivan.

Then, she pulled back. The blade retracted.

And then she moved.

A sharp, quick thrust low toward where the legs would be. She quickly retracted the spear.

But in the next moment, the spear tip met Ivan’s eye level once more after a second powerful jab.

A low-high combo. Aelita's hands hardly had to move in comparison to how one would while wielding a sword to parry.

“Your sword goes too low, it’s goodnight,” Aelita told Ivan with a faint smile.

Taking a step back, Aelita returned her staff into an upright position with the base planted on the ground.

“The guard learns this after the basics,” Aelita informed Ivan.

Basics being how one even holds or thrusts a spear in a straight line.

 

[Ivan Skender]

Ivan watched Aelita’s technique with a slightly forced smile. He knew the movement well. This was mostly because he had been on the receiving end of it during his earlier years at the Academy. When he was still refining his combat routine, the proctors had made sure his skills were honed to perfection, and against as varied opponents as possible. The low-high combo Aelita has shown him was one of the instructors’ favourites, exactly because of how difficult it was to parry properly. The fact that Ivan had been wielding a sword back then, meant he knew his comrade’s comment about holding the sword too low to be true. Too often had he been knocked off of his feet… only for whichever proctor that was tutoring him at the time to give him a beating for falling over.

Pushing all these recollections aside, he held the spear in his left hand, took a step backwards, and then mimicked Aelita’s technique. Unlike the previous time with the pike, his demonstration with the spear went smoothly. First, he swept downwards, then retracted his spear, and finally thrust it upwards, all in quick succession and almost without moving his hands.

“Huh, look at that. You’re a better teacher than proctor Gamble.”

He set the spear down again. -“Although you run the risk of being left exposed if your swordsman knows what he’s doing.” - The downwards sweep, despite being undoubtedly dangerous, was also comparatively slow. That had been how Ivan had stopped being beaten up when he’d been younger: by parrying the blow properly and then counterattacking before his instructor could react.​

 

[Aelita]

Aelita beamed once she heard the compliment about being a better teacher than Proctor Gamble.

With a gesture to herself, Aelita declared, “Of course!”

Then with a gesture toward Ivan, Aelita added, “Though, you’ll want to focus on just stabbing in the beginning.”

The move Aelita demonstrated was performed with just thrusts instead of sweeps or slashes.

With Ivan’s comment about being exposed to a swordsman, Aelita just learned on her staff once again.

“Exposed?” she questioned with a tilt of her head, “Again, all else equal. A sword parries? Possible, likely.”

Aelita took a step back and brought her staff back up. She took the same position as before – her blade-tip just a yard away from Ivan. She then pushed just her back hand forward as if shooting billiards with a cue. The spearhead moved forward to just a few inches away.

Again, it was a quick attack. Barely a moment.

“But how many additional high-low jabs could I make before a sword reaches me from there?” Aelita asked.

Disengaging once again, Aelita pulled her staff back and placed the base back on the ground.

"A shield is much better against beginner spear wielders," Aelita concluded.

 

[Ivan Skender]

“A shield? Right!” - He looked around, walked over to the same rack where he’d left the pike, and grabbed a small, wooden shield that lay against it. He looked at the protection, a bit unsure of himself.

Ivan’s combat style usually focused more on aggressive offense, rather than defense. As such, and as his preference oftentimes fell on two-handed weapons for a greater dealing of damage, he seldom even used shields anymore, finding them unnecessary over-encumbrances. Still, he took it anyways, wrapping its inner handle around his hand.

Returning to his original position, he tried Aelita’s technique against one of the practice dummies. Starting with a simple stab downwards, as opposed to a sweep, he moved the shield slightly each time he thrust, so as to smoothly allow his spear to find its target: first down towards the legs - or where the legs would be - and then upwards towards the dummy’s head.

“Listen…” - He said after a few stabs. - ”I’m not denying it’s efficient.”

He lifted the spear upright, while the shield descended, as he relaxed his right arm.

“But it feels like I’m knitting with grandma.” - He said with a smile.​

 

[Aelita]

A grimace formed on Aelita’s face as she watched Ivan grab a shield.

“I, um, meant a sword wielder would fare better with a shield...” she said with a slightly lowered, defeated voice.

But after Ivan’s comment about “knitting,” Aelita threw back her head with a loud, “Haha!”

With a gesture back to Ivan, Aelita told him, “You’ll have to go back to Gamble for knitting advice! I don’t really use spear-and-shield.”

Another sip of the bottle followed. The sun continued to blare down on the training grounds from overhead.

“For someone who doesn’t use spears, you’re getting the hand of it. Any plans on being a weapon master?”

 

[Ivan Skender]

“Being a spear master, you mean?” - He asked, with a furrowed brow. - “Pfft, I already am.” - He said, letting an expression of feigned smugness replace his raised eyebrow.

“But being serious? Though it doesn’t hurt to practice sometimes, it’s not my favourite weapon.” - He turned around to put both the spear and the shield away. - “So no, I don’t think I’ll become a master spearman anytime soon.” - Though he could certainly improve, and a spear was not as bad as all that, he still preferred weapons that played better to his more aggressive style of combat.

“What about you spear master? Do you use any other weapon apart from your staff?”​

 

[Aelita]

“Hah, being a master of a lot of weapons, I mean,” Aelita clarified after Ivan’s joke.

Aelita then placed her water bottle on the ground – a bit away from the training dummy. She leaned back to stretch - causing her back to give an audible crack.

“Spear master’s a bit of a strong word,” Aelita said as she eyed the training weapons rack.

“But I was trained with a sword, same as you,” she added.

Then lifting her hand, Aelita conjured a ball of light that rested on her fingertips.

“Spells are more my forte,” she claimed.

 

[Ivan Skender]

“Ah, got you.” - He raised his brow in a brooding expression, spending a few moments in silence as Aelita conjured her ball of light. - “I mean, yeah of course, becoming a weapon master would be something.” - He said with a shrug.

“Though I wouldn't do it at the expense of my magical skills.” - He concluded, somewhat transfixed in the ball of light that rested on his colleague's hand. In all fairness, he had never, up until that moment, given much thought to whether he wanted to specialize in any particular combat style at all, be it weapon combat, spell casting, alchemy, or whatever other killing disciplines were taught at the academy. This was mostly because he didn’t need to; he felt pretty comfortable with most weapons - safe for pikes and halberds, naturally - and could use his decay magic to very lethal effects, so why choose only one?

“Have you decided though” - He queried, pointing with his chin to Aelita’s orb of light. - “if you’ll want to put those magical skills of yours to use with the Guard, or if you’ll take the chance to leave and do something else?” - The last shreds of absent-mindedness had left him by this point, as he stared directly into Aelita’s eyes. - “After graduation, I mean.”​

 

[Aelita]

When asked about her plans post-graduation, Aelita extinguished the light ball. Her eyes wondered up – not returning the stare from Ivan. Her chin tilted as she placed a finger upon it. Her smile shifted into pursed lips as if in thought.

“Hmmm,” she hummed.

Then, Aelita flicked her finger away from her chin and toward Ivan’s direction. It was then that she finally locked eyes with her peer.

With confidence in her voice, Aelita declared, “I don’t know!”

 

[Ivan Skender]

"Fair enough." - He shrugged. In all truthfulness, Ivan didn't know what he wanted to do after graduation either.

"Though there are some things about this place that I'll miss, when it's over." - He took a seat on one of the wooden benches that faced the practice dummies. Using his arms as support, he let himself slump on the seat. - "Like Gamble. - He said, flashing a grin. -"I'll miss the old fucker." - He concluded, half-seriously, half-sarcastically.​

 

[Aelita]

“I’m sure he won’t miss a single one of us!” Aelita claimed with a beaming smile.

“I’d say congratulations, but I’m glad I’ll never have to see your faces again!” Aelita said in a low tone mocking Gamble’s voice.

Picking up her staff, Aelita continued with, “But, I definitely won’t miss any of the proctors, either.”

Stepping toward the training dummy, Aelita took her eyes off Ivan. She gave the dummy a few good, deliberate whacks as she shifted between several different stances.

“I’d rather give a good amount of them a kick in the head,” Aelita added.

 

[Ivan Skender]

He threw his head back, as he laughed at Aelita's impression of Gamble. - "Yup, that does sound like something he'd say." -

He got up from his seat and picked up the spear he’d been practicing with earlier. - "Most proctors are cunts, yeah." -

Walking over, he set himself facing off the practice dummy just next to the one Aelita had been whacking. - "Though if you choose to stay here, you’ll probably end up just like them." - He said, mulling over the question he had just posed about the plans for after graduation.

- "In any case," - He continued with a shrug. - "if you really want to punish them, you should aim a little lower." - He concluded with a sly smile.

Aiming the spear at the practice dummy, Ivan hurled it forward, as he would a javelin. The weapon scurried forth furiously through the air, hitting the practice dummy with so much force that it nearly knocked it over. It pierced the body just where the crotch would be.​

 

[Aelita]

“Bleh,” was Aelita’s response to the prospect of being an Academy proctor.

“Those that can’t do, teach,” Aelita added as Ivan walked over to grab a javelin.

As soon as she saw him aiming at the training dummy, Aelita’s eyes widened. She shuffled to the side before the missile left his hand.

WHACK

Upon seeing where the javelin pierced on the dummy, Aelita kicked her head back and gave a quick chuckle.

“Hey, look at that, another weapon you can master!” Aelita jested.

A couple seconds of thought followed before Aelita then said, “I sometimes wonder though... for the Proctors... what would happen if we were to set up a prank just before or after graduation...”

 

[Ivan Skender]

He walked over to the unfortunate practice dummy to retrieve his javelin. Using his foot as leverage, he pried the spear free from the mannequin, leaving behind a deep, and rather wide, opening on its lower body. That was when he heard Aelita's jest. He frowned, with his gaze alternating between the javelin and the dummy's crotch.

"another weapon you can master!"

Well, that was nonsense. Ivan knew for a fact that he could already handle both his spears masterfully, with many satisfied, living proofs of his ability to do so and--

Aelita's second remark pulled his attention back to her. Setting the javelin vertically against the mangled practice dummy, he offered Aelita a mischievous smile.

"What indeed..." - He mused in response, his brow furrowed and his features relaxed into an expression of amusement. - "What could we offer, you figure, as a parting gift to our good friend, Proctor Gamble?" - He asked folding his arms, as he faced Aelita.​

 

[Aelita]

Aelita scratched her chin as she looked to the side. A few moments of pondering followed.

Then, a grin just as mischievous as Ivan’s followed from Aelita.

“Why not give a gift to all of them?” Aelita asked.

Pointing in the general direction of the proctors’ quarters, Aelita continued with, “Something that’ll give them a headache long after we’re gone.”

“Though,” Aelita began as her eyes looked down, “What that gift is... I’m not quite sure what could get by them before our graduation...”

 

[Ivan Skender]

"Hmm..." - It was Ivan's turn to ponder. - "I suppose... anything lethal is off the table" - He grinned slyly. Though undoubtedly many initiates daydreamed about murdering some proctor or other, as far as Ivan was concerned, he did not fancy being jailed, nor executed, for the sake of one of them.

"Maybe something to make them sick at graduation?" - He continued, running his finger through his jawline, with a brooding expression. - "Like a lax--" - Suddenly his features lit up, his eyes widening as an idea dawned on him - "Wait, no! I got it!" - Without another word, he walked up to the weapons rack once again. From there he took out a small throwing knife.

He held the projectile. A black aura appeared around his hands. While at first very faint, it soon grew more and more pronounced, resembling some sort of dark mist that enveloped the knife as it twisted and turned around the object. He held this enchantment for a few moments, before the aura and the mists vanished as fast as they had appeared. Unlike most objects his magic touched though, the knife had remained intact, seemingly untouched.

An appearance that would soon be thwarted as he threw the knife.

It hit the practice dummy Aelita had been practicing with. As soon as it did though, the leather that made up the mannequin's cover started to darken, with countless, black veins radiating from the point of impact. It quickly became clear what these were doing to the body as, a few seconds after impact, the dummy collapsed in on itself, its "torso" corroded into oblivion.

With a self-satisfied smirk, he turned to Aelita.

"What about something like this?" - He asked. - "A weaker version of this charm on, say, a bottle of wine or a meal would cause some bowel issues for our beloved tutors when ingested." - He let his proposal sink in. - "We could make Proctor Gamble, and the whole lot of them shit themselves senseless during graduation; and for a few more weeks, for good measure." - It was not something for a very long time, but would certainly leave quite the mark.​

 

[Aelita]

Aelita watched Ivan’s attack with apparent interest.

Her smile widened as these words poured out.

“It shouldn’t be that weak,” she said as he described the effect of the prank to be like a laxative.

Then, Aelita’s eyes took on a somber look. Her smile faded for a moment.

“And, we won’t know when graduation will happen... or if we’d survive,” Aelita informed him.

The previous batch of Initiates to graduate suffered casualties upon that moment. This is known. Varried stories had spread among the younger Initiates from the survivors’ telling. Officials blamed the rebel Archon Gilram. Rumor blamed the bloodthirsty Academy Proctors.

“Is there a way for you to make something... happen? If you don’t put your magic into it after a while?” Aelita asked.

 

[Ivan Skender]

His gaze landed first on Aelita, and then on the remnants of the practice dummy that lay on the floor. By this point, nothing was remaining but some shreds of cracked, warn-out leather and a few splinters of rotten wood.

"Well, too much and they'll all end up like that." - He said, pointing with his chin to the tattered remains of the mannequin. - "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be hanged for Gamble's sake." -

Not only the fact whoever ingested whatever they'd serve would probably end up dead, but it would also be a rather gruesome death to boot, as they'd be rotted from the inside out. To Ivan, there was also the additional concern that - if he did get the intensity of the charm wrong - the traces his decay magic left would be pretty obvious to an outside observer. In other words, we would easily get caught.

A frown appeared on his face at Aelita's mention of death during graduation. Yes, the stories were well known, but realistically, what were the chances that a murderous Archon - or psychopathic recalcitrant Proctors, if the rumours were to be believed - would hijack graduation, for the second time in a row? Surely not even the Academy could mess up that badly.

"Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?" - He shrugged. - "I'm sure that we - unlike Gamble's latrine - will make it through graduation just fine." - A smile appeared on his face again for a few moments before his expression turned into a brooding one.

"But in theory, yes. I could enchant something, and leave the charm dormant." - He had done it before, but to keep whatever object they would decide on from corroding everything it touched, they would need a magically protected vessel to store it until it was ready to be used. During the time eclipsed between the enchantment and the usage, some of the magic's intensity would be lost, but he was fairly sure it would still work. - "How long would that 'while' be?"​

 

[Aelita]

“A while by I mean...” Aelita began before she paused with a scrunch of her face. As if she tried to form the words.

“Something that could discretely be maintained until we graduate and leave? Then the spell activates?” Aelita asked, describing something like a dead-man's switch.

Picking up her staff, Aelita then sling it over her back and strapped it to her armor.

“Oh well, something to think about,” Aelita continued, “We probably have about half a year until graduation.”

Tilting her head while looking at Ivan, Aelita claimed, “But we’re conspirators until then, right?”