I'm better at thrusting than you are! (Private, Tarfuss)

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

Timestamp: 32nd of Melora, Spring of Era XIV PF

In the middle of the training fields he stood alone; a low ranking officer with a spear. Slowly he was executing several different moves that seemed somewhat unorthodox; at least when compared with what the recruits would likely have learned in their training. Gye'ron hadn't trained in the Legions; though he was on par with his skills he hadn't developed the same style of combat as his comrades had. It wouldn't take long to watch him and see that.

His cloak and Imperial longsword were off to the side; he was simply wearing the standard black shirt and trousers. While he didn't mind practicing alone, he was, in truth, hoping to have a chance to spar with somebody else. He had always found that facing the unknown and presenting some risk to a situation was the best way to truly learn and gain experience.

If another soldier were to come by Gye'ron would stop and point his spear, "You, soldier, do you want to spar?"

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss was walking through the Military District, on his way back to the Barracks after a shift patrolling. It had been uneventful and boring. He was bored. He saw a man practicing with a spear. He thought he recognized him. As he got closer he realized that he did recognize him, but he'd never seen him in a uniform. He hadn't known he was in the Legion, much less a Sword Deakin, as indicated by his collar Device. What the feth? He thought to himself. Like any good Legionnaire Tarfuss came to attention and saluted, although his confusion was evident. "Good Afternoon Sir. The Senior Legionnaire was not aware the Sword Deakin was in the Legion at our last meeting. The Senior Legionnaire apologizes for any disrespect the mistake may have caused." Tarfuss held the salute, waiting for it to be returned.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

He recognized the man before him, his name was Tarfuss if memory served correctly. Gye'ron had met him on his way to the moutains...that had been an interesting journey to say the least. The beginning of the journey had been fraught with internal conflict, part of which had to do with Gye'ron indirectly threatening to kill Tarfuss. Those were times past however, and more important things had happened since.

Gye'ron returned the salute, and momentarily considered chewing out Tarfuss for what he considered poor military etiquette. The salute was good, the posture was good, feet together, but how he addressed his superior left a bit to be lacked. At least he was polite. Most NCOs he would have started beating now, but he needed the man intact for their sparring.

"At ease Senior Legionnaire. I was on extended leave, no harm done. But," Gye'ron looked hard at Tarfuss, "from now on you begin and end your sentences with sir when you're addressing an officer. I don't know who taught you new recruits your military etiquette."

Gye'ron kicked up an extra practice spear that he had got his hands on and tossed it toward Tarfuss. "Alright Senior Legionnaire, let's spar."

The Sword Daekin assumed the basic stance he had learned in his spear training. His right hand was a quarter of the way up from the butt of the spear and his left a quarter of the way down from the tip. He held the spear forward at a forty-five degree angles. Gye'ron would let the Senior Legionnaire attack first.

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss completed his salute. Now the Sword wanted to spar? Mentally he shrugged. He could always use the practice, and there was little he enjoyed more than fighting. He smiled only slightly as he said, "Sir, yes Sir!"

Tarfuss Had caught the spear that was thrown to him and quickly got himself into position with both hands on the shaft, the weapon at a 45 degree angle. He began to carefully circle the Sword Deakin in a counter clockwise fashion, careful not to cross his feet. He was looking for a weak spot in the man's defenses. He could feel the flush of adrenaline flowing into his body. He made himself regulate his breathing, not letting his excitement get away with him. He circled. Tarfuss made a sudden thrust forward extending his leg and jabbing quickly toward the Sword Deakin's left thigh.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

Interestingly enough, the Senior Legionnaire set up just about exactly as Gye'ron had, but would the moves be the same? It was an interesting experiment in the quality of the training that the soldiers of the Jade legion underwent. It was really the purpose of the spar for Gye'ron. He wanted to know if the recruits were trained well enough. If not, he would take it upon himself to make sure they received better training. That could mean a lot of trouble for him, but it would be worth it. Men's lives depended on it. The survival of the Empire depended on it.

His eyes were cold and calculating, it was through long, hard experience that Gye'ron had learned to take emotion complete out of the equation when it came to combat. You had to be ruthless to survive.

He barely moved as Tarfuss circled around him, only adjusting his position slightly to keep the Senior Legionnaire 90 degrees to his left. He was like a predator, luring his prey into a trap. There was one thing he was betting on, that he was fighting a soldier and not a warrior. There was a very distinct difference in his mind.

As the spear came toward him he shifted his own, bringing his right arm up as he bent his left elbow back. He just managed to catch Tarfuss' spear and pushed it away as he pivoted simultaneously toward the soldier, and brought the butt of his shaft down toward Tarfuss' shoulder left shoulder.

As the counterattack came he solidly placed his right foot on the ground and bent his knee to reestablish a strong base, while his left leg was straight. His abdomen was turned just slightly toward Tarfuss, but essentially the Senior Legionnaire was not to his right.

[Tarfuss]

Defend and attack - the Sword's movements were fluid and well thought out. Tarfuss disengaged his spear and pivoted his shoulder out of the way of the man's attack, for a large man he moved quickly. He brought his own spear in with a slashing movement at Gye'ron's stomach, a feral grin stretched on his face. He watched the man's movements searching for clues for his next move.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

The Senior Legionnaire was quick, adaptive. Defend and counterstrike, and if possible avoid making weapons contact with your opponent. The soldier did it all, and that spoke to his training. If the soldier could keep it up for a lengthly amount of time then Gye'ron would know that he had been trained well. But did they give their soldiers the killer instinct?

For a moment it looked as though Tarfuss was going to hit Gye'ron, but just at that last crucial second the Kemite brought the shaft of his spear up and bent his body back a bit to safely push the Senior's spear tip up and off to the left. As soon as the spears were no longer touching, the very moment, he brought the butt of his spear down toward Tarfuss' lower hand to break the soldier's fingers away from his handle on his weapon.

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss felt his spear be deflected by the agile Sword Deakin who had evaded the slash very neatly. His economy of motion was admirable. Then, as before the spear butt came in for an attack. Tarfuss was barely able to avoid having his hand smashed, moving it and launching into another attack, his teeth bared in a hungry grin. His spear jabbed forward, aimed at the Sword's head, but taking a page from the officer's book, just as he was nearing the point of contact he brought his left hand up, raising the head of the spear and driving the butt forward and around, applying power with his right arm and a twist of his torso. His objective was to smash the butt into the ribs of the Sword Deakin.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

To avoid the jab to his head Gye'ron simply moved his head to the side as it came so that it would simply pass by, simultaneously stepping away, straight into the butt of Tarfuss' spear. It hit his ribs and Gye'ron winced and grunted in pain. His side was going to be badly bruised. Good, not only had the soldier showed a bit of the killer instinct he'd also showed that he could be cunning and adaptive.

Gye'ron quickly responded to the tricky attack. He pushed forward, using his spear shaft to send a hard check toward Tarfuss, while simultaneously kicking out with his leg toward the side of the NCO's knee. The combo of attacks would end with his spear butt jabbing down toward Tarfuss' shoulder. It was a combo that would have to be executed quickly, and one that he would forge on with despite any earlier parts of it being foiled. Could the Senior handle the flurry of attacks?

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss felt the impact in his own body as the spear butt made contact with the Officer. Just as suddenly however, the man attacked again. The shaft of the spear and the man's body locked with his and he felt the contact at the same time that he felt a strike on his knee. It hurt. He realized that the butt of his opponent's spear was the next element of this multi-pronged attack. He pivoted his body along the path of least resistance while attempting to get his spear behind the Swords back in order to push him, hopefully sending him off balance and to the ground while the spear was attempting the complex attack.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

Two out of three wasn't bad, and he had succeeded in his momentary objective - he'd stymied the offensive opportunity that his opponent had momentarily held. Everything from there was gravy.

With the spear shaft on his back and a strong push Gye'ron was sent forward and into the ground. As he'd done so many times in combat when going to the ground Gye'ron angled in on his shoulder and met the ground, rolling and springing back to his feet just out of range of Tarfuss' spear. As he was coming up he swipped his spear to the left and then to the right to ward off any attack that the Senior might try to make.

Rather haphazardly he gained his feet underneath himself, almost tripping up on himself. Normally it would have been no problem but the added defensive swipes made it a bit more difficult. He took back his basic stance and nodded at Tarfussswiped, "You've proved your training. Shall we continue or call it a day Senior Legionnaire?"

[Tarfuss]

Spinning away Tarfuss saw the Sword Deakin hit the ground and make a few peremptory defensive moves to protect himself as he recoved. As he got to his feat Val Oriden offered an end to the spar. Breathing a bit more heavily than usual from the exertion Tarfuss smiled at the Sword Deakin. "Sir, your method of wielding the spear is interesting. I'd never considered using it much like one would a staff. I'd go a few more rounds if you would." He knew he needed the practice and the Sword Deakin had turned out to be a good sparring partner. He held his spear at the ready, there was always the possibility that the Sword had taken the moment to speak simply to put Tarfuss off his guard.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

"The blade is only one part of the spear, Senior Legionnaire." It was something Tristan had told him in the course of their lessons, and it was an important thing to remember about any weapon. Even a sword had a handle that could be bashed into somebody.

Gye'ron considered thrusting his spear, but Tarfuss' position would easily allow for it to be blocked. He needed something more radical. He had always hated fighting one on one for this very reason - the opponent was always more difficult to beat.

At the moment, however, he couldn't think of anything worth the risk. Thus, Gye'ron settled for stepping forward and thrusting his spear toward Tafuss' head.

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss nodded at the Sword. He was used to using all of the sword as a weapon, but he was much more accustomed to the sword and relatively new to the spear. As the main weapon of the Legions he intended on becoming much better with it. After Sword Deakin Val Oriden finished speaking he made a thrust toward Tarfuss' head. Tarfuss raised his spear and met the Sword's at a 90 degree angle, shoving it upward. As soon as he was safe from being impaled on it, Tarfuss lashed out with a booted foot, aimed at the Sword's abdomen.

[Gye'ron Val Oriden]

Gye'ron took the boot to the gut and stepped back a bit. That was always the problem with taking the first strike, you always left yourself vulnerable to the counterattack. He had yet to figure out how to avoid that with a spear. He slid his spear off of Tarfuss' and tried to bring it down in a short slash along the inside of the Senior's thigh while he still had his leg extended.