Closed RP - More than one way to spar

[maid_brienne]

It was late afternoon when Brienne made her way out to the forest, Oathkeeper strapped to her hip, having spent the better part of the last couple of days cleaning everything--it turned out butter and salt were hard to get out of boiled leather. Who knew? (It occurred to Brienne that maybe there was some sort of cleansing spell that would have

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[last_akkadian]

Mathayus was on his way back from the stables, where he had been insuring Camel's comfort with a few rubies and some stern words with the house elves. He'd satisfied himself that she would have everything she needed - even gruff as he'd been, it was clear to him that the house-elves were both kind and skilled, if a bit timid. He grinned to himself. Camel was smart - she'd soon have those elves trained to perfection. Look how well she'd trained that thief, Arpid.

His ears pricked up as he passed the forest: someone was having a combat session. Instinctively he changed his walk, shifting his weight to the flats of his feet to move silently, squinting through the lowering dusk and the underbrush to see who it was.

Her identity brought another grin: it was Prickly. Mathayus watched her for a moment or two, assessing her skill, and it rapidly became clear her skill was considerable. But nobody ever learned anything worth knowing by sparring alone.

He shucked his winter robes, ignoring the air's chill against his skin, making sure the heavy furs went to the forest floor without a sound. He glanced around, scanned overhead, then lifted his considerable bulk into a nearby tree, climbing up and over until he was roughly above the clearing where Prickly was practicing. When her attention was otherwise occupied Mathayus dropped lightly to the ground in front of her, enormous sword at the ready, gleaming in the last rays of the sun. "How about that spar?" he said with a grin.

[maid_brienne]

For such a big man, he managed to move silently, and Brienne actually took a step back, biting back the rather unknightly startled cry she wanted to let out. She also tried hard to ignore the fact that he wasn't wearing much in the way of clothing, which, for a modest girl raised in Westeros was a difficult prospect.

Jaw tightening, she nodded. "It seems you're ready to spar," she said, moving to a defensive stance, sword at the ready.

[last_akkadian]

He twirled his sword in his hand. "Come on, then. Let's see you use that thing." With a speed belied by his sheer size, Mathayus attacked.

((We... should maybe work the details out beforehand? :) ))

[maid_brienne]

((Probably a good idea. Are you on IM right now? I can get that way, or I'm in IRC.))

[maid_brienne]

Brienne's blade came up barely in time to parry the attack, which came at her with less warning than she'd been expecting. Then she used her momentum to move into an offensive attack of her own, hoping he wasn't aware of how rusty she was feeling.

[last_akkadian]

Spar-type contact agreed upon by Brienne-mun and me!))

Not bad. More instinctive than instructed, and that was good, in Mathayus' experience. He blocked her sword, knocking the blade to one side, leaving an opening which he filled with his enormous fist. He did not strike her, however; he had no intention of actually hurting her. Instead he used his fisted knuckles to push her off-side shoulder, hard.

A lesser warrior would have lost balance and fallen backwards; that Brienne did not earned Mathayus' approval, manifested in a single raised eyebrow. "Gotta keep your guard up, Prickly," was all he said.

[maid_brienne]

Brienne reluctantly had to admire the man's swordwork. He was definitely as good as any knight she'd ever seen, and he wore less clothes. (Although she quickly banished that thought as she regained her balance.)

"My name," she said tightly, finding a slip in his own guard and going for it, "is Brienne." She wondered if she was going to have to go through this all the time with every arrogant man she ever met.

[last_akkadian]

He twisted out of her way, but only just. Mathayus grinned ferally, meeting her blade in a close parry, his face inches from hers. "Earn it," he said, and shoved her away.

[maid_brienne]

Brienne's scowl, if possible, deepened. Mathayus, it seemed, was preternaturally aware of where her buttons were and how to push them. (Then again, it could be argued that if you spent more than five minutes in the maid of Tarth's company, you could figure those buttons out pretty easily.)

She recovered her balance, and with a speed mostly spurred on by anger--not really anger at Mathayus specificially, but more anger at all the men she had faced, from Ser Ronnet to Jaime, who would throw who and what she was back in her face--she came at him, intending to slip under his own guard and drive him back.

[last_akkadian]

Mathayus fell back, surprised. Where had this come from? "Not bad... Prickly," he said between clenched teeth, dodging a particularly adept blow. So, he thought, she was an emotional fighter. Well then. He brought his sword up to block an overhead stroke, then half-spun and tagged her with the flat of his blade on her behind, a cocky grin spreading across his face. "Nope, not bad at all. For a girl."

[maid_brienne]

Naturally, Brienne failed to take those comments in the spirit in which they were intended. She spun to face him, aiming her blade for a low strike. She was determined to make him take those words back... so much so that she was beginning to focus more on her anger than what she was actually doing.

[last_akkadian]

Mathayus leapt back, grin never faltering. Brienne was good, all right - she probably didn't know how good she was - but losing her temper wasn't going to help her, not in the long run. He feinted right and spun in left, shouldering her in the chest, hard enough to wind.

She staggered back but stayed up. Damn, thought Mathayus. She still had too much self-control.

He never did know when to leave well enough alone. "That the best you've got, Prickly? Maybe you should leave fighting to the real warriors. I'm sure they have knitting or something you can do back at the castle."

[runaway_stark]

That did it. "Women can fight just as well as men!" she yelled down from her vantage point in a nearby tree. While she had never really warmed to Brienne, Arya couldn't help but feel that by insulting the other woman in that way, this man (was he a Dothraki? He looked a little like one) was somehow insulting Arya's abilities as well. Girl power, yo.

[last_akkadian]

"What the hell?" Mathayus whirled, instinctively going from spar mode into attack stance. He glanced into the branches overhead and ran toward the tree where Arya sat, sword up, voice harsh. "Get down here, you little -- "

[maid_brienne]

Brienne, who was equally startled by Arya's presence in the tree, came charging after Mathayus, looking even fiercer than usual. "Don't touch her!" It came out a bellow, just seconds before she moved in for another attack. Her blade scored along his arm, and only when she saw the drops of red welling there did she stop, frozen, the anger gone and replaced by alarm.

[runaway_stark]

Arya had frozen in the tree for a second--more because of Brienne's bellow than fear of being attacked. "He can't touch me, I'm up a tree!" she yelled down. Still, she held Needle, ready to swipe at the first arm that tried to grab at her.