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]

Once outside, Magnus grips his training sword firmly in hand. He's starting to get a little tired, even with the energy bars he snacked on between earlier bouts, so he doesn't do anything flashy with it, like try to start with his non-dominant right hand or anything.

He takes a swig of water from his bottle and then straightens to face Galahad. "How do you want to do this?" he asks. "Just... go for it, or...?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He hesitates, halfway through putting the scabbard aside. He doesn't, actually, know how he does this. He never trains. It's a gift from God, this ability, and it comes to him like breathing -- his body knows what to do to and he just is.

"I think," he says cautiously, "you could start, and I'll follow."

[summerdude]

"Till one of us says uncle, or till first blood, or...?"

(Magnus should have, perhaps, asked the others this question, too. But Galahad looks to be closer in age to Magnus, and has the vibe of someone who will take the bout more seriously, rather than -- potentially -- thinking of it as a fun little round with a guy who looks, comparatively, like a kid. Plus, since Magnus is getting tired, it's a good reminder to himself that he's working to a particular end rather than going all-out.)

[onthewillowsthere]

"Till disarm?" he suggests.

[summerdude]

"Perfect," Magnus says, and immediately attacks. It's the same careful opening he's made a few times now, a way to gauge how his partner will respond so he can get a sense of how hard to counter after their opening play.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad disarms him. It's over-simple because it's over-simple: the sword is his body and he knows how to act in the same way he knows to use his hands to pick something up.

[summerdude]

"What the eff," Magnus breathes. He shakes his arm out and goes to retrieve his sword. Somehow, his exhaustion has vanished^*. "Gods. Wow. Okay. That was so cool. Best two out thr-- no, you'll win that immediately for sure, too. Three out of five?"

*It's the adrenaline.

[onthewillowsthere]

He nods again. The thing is, it's so easy to do this, even if it's something he's never really cared about very much. It's easy and he always knows when he's done it right; there's no guesswork. There are no questions, and no talking. It's the easiest thing he can do with another person.

He takes his stance, waiting.

[summerdude]

Magnus glances around the environment for a long moment, sizing up his options as he adjusts his grip on his sword to something a little firmer. He's pretty sure he'll have to take a creative approach to have a chance at winning -- while he'd given Galahad an easy opening, he's never been beaten that quickly before. There's not a... lot he can use? But he does still have all his einherji abilities.

"Here goes nothin'," he mutters, and backs away from Galahad a few paces. Then, he summons all his strength and takes a running leap... over Galahad's head. Maybe with the element of surprise and attacking from behind, he can turn the tide in his favor.

He lands squarely on his feet. Twisting mid-air got him angled more toward Galahad than when he started his jump, but he's still not looking directly at the other guy, so he spins on his heels, shifting into an attack stance as he does so. He lunges, as quickly and quietly as he can.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad turns to meet him, and efficiently disarms him again.

[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."