Jack Puts Me Through My Paces [open post]

[summerdude]

"Señor, you really should practice more," Jack says, as Magnus rearranges his mental notes and sighs.

(Anyone else might think Magnus is just lying back on a bench on the grounds, staring at the sky, lost in thought. And technically, he is. But he's working hard!!! He's trying to sort out everyone he's encountered so far!!!)

"You're right," Magnus groans. Being in a weird Mansion with no way out, no established Battle Practice, and no pressing quests to go on is not an excuse to let his limited fighting skills fall by the wayside. He hauls himself upright and shoves his (still largely blank) notebook into his backpack.

Twenty minutes later, he's secured a practice sword from some random closet or another in the Mansion. It's dull steel, not sentient, and heavy in his hands.

"Perfect," Jack decides, so Magnus tramps back out to the spacious lawn, one sword in each hand. Checking to make sure no one is directly in harm's way, he releases Jack and brings the dull training sword up, ready to parry whatever attack Jack decides to throw at him.

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[summerdude]

Magnus blinks at Galahad, a little dazed. This guy is so cool???? "Do you have einherjar reflexes?" he asks, stretching a little before picking up his sword again. This time, he's going to let Galahad make the first move. Maybe that's the secret.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It's because I'm the Grail Knight." He pauses and frowns. "Was. I don't know why I still can."

He waits for a moment before realizing Magnus is waiting for him, and obligingly makes his own attack. The effect is more or less the same as the last two times. Perhaps the most notable thing is that he moves with none of Sagramore's grace; his actions are purposeful, a means to an end.

[summerdude]

[Magnus's typist would like to warn for light description of injuries including blood + loss of teeth in this tag]

Magnus watches Galahad as he approaches, trying to get a sense of how Galahad is so unfathomably good at this. Magnus isn't a genius at the sword, but he's also no slouch, at this point. He can modestly hold his own in most situations even without letting Jack take on most of the burden of the fight.

He can feel his training sword start to wrest itself from his grip. He has a fleeting thought: Aw, my new super cool friend is going to think I'm totally lame.

This time, when he summons the Peace of Frey, his cool alf seidr move that flings all weapons within a thirty foot radius outside of that zone, he doesn't mean to do it. He feels a burning need to do something to keep from losing immediately, and then the burning feeling is rushing outside of his body, enveloping him in heat and flowing outward. Twice in one day is a lot on a guy. His nose starts bleeding again, much more obviously than it did when he showed this neat trick off for Lan Wangji. One of his molars falls out, and his eardrum pops with the pressure coursing through him.

He spits his tooth onto the ground and wipes his nosebleed away again. Already he can feel his body sluggishly healing from the shockwave he just emitted: he'll have a new tooth by the morning, and his nose is recalibrating quickly. The scratch on the palm of his hand from the force with which his training sword jerked out of his own hand, too, is raw, new skin quickly.

"Shit, dude, I'm so sorry," Magnus says, once his ability to words returns to him. He glances around. His training sword seems to have glanced against one of the decorative rocks outside so hard that something got chipped. "I did not mean to pull that on you without warning."

[onthewillowsthere]

It's safe to say that wasn't what he expected. The Sword with the Red Hilt is -- somewhere, and his instinct is to look for it, it's important, but the blood on Magnus' face arrests him, and he closes the space between them.

"What happened?"

[summerdude]

"Peace of Frey," Magnus says, straightening up a little. "It... happens sometimes. Only occasionally on purpose. Stops the fighting for a little while." He tugs the hem of his shirt up and uses that to wipe his face, too, of the cold sweat that broke out in addition to any lingering blood.

[onthewillowsthere]

"By hurting you?"

[summerdude]

"Nah, I'm fine," Magnus says. "I did it for Lan Wangji earlier, on purpose, so the whole back-to-back shockwave thing was just a little intense. It's a lot more impressive in, like, pitched battle or whatever. Arrows flinging backward and dropping out of the sky, everyone loses all their weapons and has to scramble to retrieve them... really gives a guy some wiggle room to not die for a few minutes." He pauses, and listens to what he just said. "Um, or, I guess to not be disarmed in ten seconds flat for the third time in a row. Or whatever. Dude, you are so good at this." His tone is awed; it's clear he's not upset.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad stares at him for a moment, color rising in his face. "I-- really?"

[summerdude]

"Yes really," Magnus says. "Wait, which part? Wait. It doesn't matter. Yes really to all of it."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Oh." He's quiet for a moment; he's working through the fact that you are so good at this sounded like a genuine compliment, and not as though Magnus is planning to avoid him going forward.

[summerdude]

Magnus debates mentioning that surely Galahad still has the favor of his god, if he hasn't lost the skills that -- according to Magnus's shaky read of the situation, Galahad thinks are a mark of his god's favor. He decides against it, though -- seems like it might be a touchy subject. He makes a mental note of the fact, though, in case it's useful later. "Can you teach me that move?" he asks, instead. "I'd love to be able to disarm a specific person instead of blasting an entire battlefield."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad makes a face before he can stop himself. "I don't know how. It just happens."

[summerdude]

Magnus rolls back the mental tape on what happened. It's mostly a blur? Galahad was so fast. Without bothering to retrieve his practice sword, he tries to replicate the same body movements he can remember Galahad making: the footwork, the push-and-twist of his arm...

He's pretty sure he looks extremely stupid. Ah, well. "It seemed to be something like this," he says, trying the move again. "But it was so fast. Do you think you could go through the motions more slowly, or is it just a skill you have when you're in actual combat?" To an undead demigod with a magical sword, both of these seem like totally reasonable possibilities.

[onthewillowsthere]

"I have to have a sword. I don't know any hand to hand combat. I think I could try it with a practice sword." He is very incurious about this topic, very matter-of-fact.

[summerdude]

"Could you do it even if I wasn't holding a sword?" Magnus asks. "Like, could you do it to Jack so I can see how it goes? Um, unless you don't want to, of course. That's fine too."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I can try. You mean holding your sword?"

[summerdude]

"I mean, you holding your sword and attacking Jack," Magnus says. "Or holding this training sword. Either way. Jack, you're cool with that, right?"

"As long as you don't Peace of Frey me again today," Jack says, grumpily.

"I promise," Magnus laughs. He doesn't think he could pull another one so quickly even if he wanted to.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Oh. Yes. I can do that." He gets up and goes to find his sword, which is embedded in the grass a little ways away.

[summerdude]

Jack floats into position, and Magnus takes a few steps backward, trying to settle on the best angle to watch Galahad in action. He picks a spot, and waits.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad takes his stance, and starts them off. Since Magnus can watch now, it's perhaps more apparent that Galahad is doing actually very little: it's almost as if the sword leads and he follows, throwing his body behind it to give his strikes force but not making the actual choices that lead to things happening. He's swift and purposeful enough that it's not obvious but it's definitely happening.

[summerdude]

"I can see what you mean about having an enchanted sword," Magnus decides, after carefully observing Galahad's moves. He knows he's going to be practicing them for a while. Not that he really ever expects to be able to replicate that easy fluidity. That's okay though; he has other strengths.

"I think you mean enchanting," Jack says, hovering around Galahad's sword. "Baby, how about a date? I can show you a great time. Better than any other blade here."

Magnus closes his eyes for a long moment. He loves Jack, he really does. Jack is great. Jack has bailed him out of so many situations.

"Anyway," Magnus says, "Thanks for showing me."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad has been observing Jack with his usual stone-faced curiosity, and he says to Jack, "How would you do that? Take my sword somewhere? Would I have to hold it?" (Jack is not a person, and thus it is easier to ask him questions.)

[summerdude]

"Oh, I'd pick her up and treat her right" Jack says. "No einherjar -- or holy knights -- required."

"He's dated a few spears in Valhalla," Magnus tells Galahad. "I... don't know how. I haven't asked."

"I could tell you," Jack says.

"That's okay," Magnus says. "As long as you're having fun and, uh, not killing anyone."

[onthewillowsthere]

"But how? Can you take it now?" presenting the Sword to Jack.

[summerdude]

"I sure can," Jack says. He floats below the Sword with the Red Hilt, then raises up until he can prop up the entire weight of the sword with his own prodigious blade. "Let go, bro, I got her."

Magnus blinks at this in disbelief. "Sure," he murmurs to himself. "Why not?"