You've come a long way. [Valcrist/Clair]

[Clair Feldsky]

OoC: Takes place during a stop on the way out of Illia

BiC:

The powder snow was settling where Corona had just landed, the Illian breeze causing it to be swept away before it could settle on Clair or her great pegasus. She'd just landed from moving across the army. It was so much quicker to fly, than to have to weave back and forth on the ground, and with so little air traffic, she didn't have to worry about an accidental collision. Normally, an army frowned on sky hopping around the army, but as she was possibly the most knowledgeable about aerial cavalry habits in this army, and since she didn't have a problem with it, she'd let it slide. There hadn't been any uproars yet. She was careful where and when she landed.... And the others were too, to her knowledge.

Ahead, she noticed the new blacksmith, Valcrist Terris setting up his forge stall. Or was it already set up? To be honest, the pegasus knight knew precious little about what it took to be a smith. That was why he was the smith, and not her. She had the time now. She ought to go over and see what he was capable of....

She rode over, and dismounted from Corona's back. He was so big that you could almost call it falling off, actually, but Clair had been doing it a long time, and somehow managed to make it look graceful these days.

"Greetings, Valcrist. I trust you've got everything you need?"

[Valcrist]

Val was finally done setting up, and right about now the blond haired boy was knee deep in iron and steel. He didn't have any orders as of yet, probably because he had just finished setting up in the last hour, he was sure Farlus was going to head over any time and tell him what needed repairs and what needed replacing. Until then there was no point in just idling around, so he was wearing his leather apron and his face stained with a blackened soot. In one hand he had a pair of tongs, the other held his hammer.

He was busy pounding the steel into shape. It wasn't anything more impressive then just a horseshoe, but those were still very necessary things that needed to be made. After a few moments of pounding it into the traditional U shape, he heard someone come up to his forge. Though he couldn't turn away at the exact moment, he hurried and finished with what he was doing. He could finish the rest of it up later, it didn't take too long.

With his hair tied back into a tail, so it stays out of his workspace, he went to see who it was. It was Ms. Feldsky! Was... was this an inspection? Well hopefully she wouldn't be disappointed... Or maybe this was about the weapon she said she wanted to have made? Well, whatever it was, it was terribly rude of him to make her wait while he bickered internally. "Ms. Feldsky, a pleasure." He felt a bit embarrassed, he was probably all sweaty and greasy looking. "Yeah, I got just about everything I need." He added with a sheepish grin. "It's a shame that Mavick isn't around, I never thanked him." He stood there for a second before remembering his manners. "Oh, um, was there something you needed?"

[Clair Feldsky]

"I... saw you had set up, and thought I'd step in to check on you. I guess I'd like to talk to you about something I was wondering if you could make too.... I could come by later if you're busy at the moment."

Clair looked around the shop at all the foreign tools. He'd been doing something when she came up, as well. That spoke well of him. She wondered what he meant about thanking Mavick though. "Was Mavick the one who recruited you, then?"

[Valcrist]

"No, don't worry about it. I don't have any orders yet, just a bit of initiative. And testing things out I suppose." He wiped from sweat from his brow, which was almost hilarious considering how cold it is. If there's anything that can warm you up, it was the heat of a forge. Setting his hammer down, alongside his other forging tools, he walked a bit closer. It wasn't as robust as a blacksmith's workshop, but it was plenty capable for what it was.

"Yeah, more or less." He shrugged. "Back when everyone was busy with whatever you guys were busy with, official Illian business I understand I'm not supposed to know. Well anyways, he just basically asked if I wanted to come along and I agreed, so he put in an order for a forge. It's a better existence then wandering through the snow all alone. I get fed too, and make some coin. So I am a bit sad I never got a chance to thank him for it." This wasn't the first time he's traveled with a company as a blacksmith, though the last time the group was on a peace mission so he didn't get much work outside of fixing deteriorated weapons. Even then there was another smith working there too, so he only did half the work.

He looked at her mount, a nervous smile crept up on his face. He'd never seen a pegasus up this close. They don't like men, if he remembered right. He saw a few in Ilia as he was traveling, mostly in the sky flying to and fro. They were... pretty. "What did you want? A new spear?"

[Clair Feldsky]

She wasn't sure what to make of his comment about "official Illian business I understand I'm not supposed to know", but when he said that Mavick had just asked if Valcrist had wanted to come, she knew what to think.

She smiled, a bit perplexed. "That sounds unusually charitable for him.... I bet he thought he was getting the better end of the deal when he asked you to come." Clair would be the first to admit that she was no expert on the inner workings of their former tactician, but she just had a hard time picturing him offering to drag along an extra body unless it would be useful.

"Well, whatever the case, he's proven reliable in the past." Things were going to be different without that little guy's shouts ringing all over the camp.

"Yes. A spear, but something a bit different than the norm." the pegasus knight pulled something like her worn old slim lance from a rack near the smith's stall, and held it out for inspection.

"In my last sparring match, my opponent nearly was able to get inside my guard by using his arm to reach past the tip, and knock the shaft aside." Her opponent had actually been Richter, and only a quick reverse swing had kept him from taking the advantage right there. "I thought that an extended spear point which had been sharpened like a blade would be able discourage some of that. It would also make it into a more effective cutting weapon, if it could retain enough durability."

[Valcrist]

He had a goofy smile as she spoke, indirectly complimenting him even if she didn't realize. Saying Mavick got the better end of the deal was similar to saying he was worth it, and that wasn't something he was used to hearing. He averted his gaze, not wanting to look right into Clair's eye, especially when he was grinning like an idiot. When she started speaking of weapons however he perked right back up and out of his stupor.

"Hrm, a long bladed pole weapon? I've seen a few designs for weapons like that in some books..." He muttered, getting into his pack and pulling out a sketchpad and his personal favorite writing utensil. He sat it down on one of the little stands he had, and thought for a second. "Well don't worry, I like experiment with new ideas." He grinned.

"So, let's get down to business... What kind of shape are you thinking? How long do you wish the blade to be and the length of the overall weapon?" He began to ask, making a few marks on his page to start with. He was working on an image in his head already, but it would be up to her to pound it into shape. Right now they were working on the basic shape of it all, the specifics can come later.

[Clair Feldsky]

The blond haired officer was glad that the smith seemed ready to give her idea a try. taking a moment, to size up the weapon she was holding in her hands, she listed off comparisons in her mind.

The slim lance she'd used until it broke was near six and a half feet in length. Small enough to make it easily usable while keeping it just long enough to be useful while mounted. She'd gotten better at handling her weapon since she'd started though, so more could likely be added.

"I think it could be bumped up to seven or seven-and-a-half feet in length. For the blade, I'd like it to keep it's thrusting orientation, so a double edged straight blade..." Clair stopped for a moment, considering an issue that she'd just realized was presenting itself.

"But then, if the blade is too long, then it might get stuck in an enemy when I stab them. I could lose my weapon." No sense getting squeamish. A lance was a lance was a lance was for stabbing things. Of course, that was why many lance weapons had crossguards at the base of the tip: to keep it from going too far in. A long blade would create a difficult problem to circumvent though. Clair frowned in thought, trying to come up with an effective way around.

[Valcrist]

"Hrm... We have a special term for the kind of weapon you want to make." Val had a small smirk on his face, setting his hand down and looking up at her. "It's called a 'sword on a stick'. By trying to add the advantages of a sword to a polearm you sacrifice the primary points of a lance. If you go too far, you end up with a weapon that doesn't do either job very well." He began to doodle something else.

"The trick is to finding a good balance, but from the sounds of it what you want isn't a spear it's a sword. You're realizing the shortcomings of using a longer range weapon when it comes to short range skirmishes. The trick isn't to make the blade longer, as while that will help it won't solve your problem." He began muttering, loudly enough to be heard but not loud enough to suggestion he was doing anything more then just rambling off the top of his head. "I'm not exactly sure what a pegasus rider is doing fighting at such close a range, but perhaps you should try to pick up a back up blade? A lot of fighters have one, that way if they are caught in a short range skirmish they aren't left defenseless."

His hands worked rapidly as he began to sketch up a weapon. A sword, in particular. It was designed to be easy to handle and just the right length to assist a spearman. Or, rather, spearwoman. Suddenly his mind caught up with his... mind. It seriously seemed like he had two minds sometimes. "Oh, erm." He began to slow down. "This... wasn't what you were asking for. Was it?" Feeling sheepish, he tried to save face with a small laugh. "I get kinda carried away sometimes..."

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair's frown grew as she realized he was right on all points. Well, almost all points.

I'm never defenseless.... It was rather petty, but she didn't try and stop the thought.

A slight grimace stuck to her face as she considered. She'd been intending to learn the sword for quite a while now, but she still didn't want to drop that other idea. The "sword on a stick". He was probably right though. A sword would serve her better. At least, until she could come up with a better design. Or, order the smith to. That was an idea.

There was a reluctance in her voice as she spoke. "No. It's not what I was asking for, but it's probably the best thing for the moment." Clair circled around, trying to get a view at what he was sketching.

"As to why I'd be at close range, I don't limit myself to the air. I'm actually about as experienced on the ground as I am in the sky. More so, perhaps." She'd spent a large portion of her time with Richter fighting from the ground. In fact, Corona, unlike many smaller winged horses, was trained to fight alongside her when grounded, though she normally didn't risk him in situations like that.

"I like to be equipped for all circumstances, so I'd rather have a straight up sword, than some kind of back up weapon." Why did she suddenly feel like she was having to fight a battle to get what she wanted? He wasn't actually being difficult. He was just pointing out issues, and doing his best find the right equipment....

"Not a very traditional pegasus knight, I guess." Hmm... Falcoknight, rather. I guess I should start making a conscious effort to use the right term....

[Valcrist]

She was frowning, the reluctance in her voice was palpable, her discomfort with the entire situation was completely obvious. Even someone as blind to what people are thinking as Val could see that. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean back up weapon with any disrespect. I meant it in a way that..." He didn't even know why he was continuing. "It's not your preferred weapon, and you're probably not as... proficient... Look it's alright. I'll just, I'll just make your spear. The design you're asking for lends itself more to slashing then to stabbing, because of problems you've already noted but I'll make it work somehow..." His smile had faltered, instead his brow was knitted in a look of concern and perhaps embarrassment. Futilely he tried to raise a corner of his mouth, but it wasn't much more then an awkward looking twitch.

The boy took a deep breath, to calm his self. Clearing his mind and not letting his fair-weather thoughts interfere with what will help in the long run. "No." He muttered quietly. "I think a sword will really benefit you. I'll work on a design for your other weapon to work properly, but it might take a while. I'd need to make a few designs and do a few tests to find the right balance, but until then..." He was relit with a new fire of determination. He went into his little shop for a moment, returning with several different kinds of swords. All in different lengths and styles and shapes, each one reflecting the culture they come from. From the thin and agile Lycian swords that nobles wield, to the stout and broad blades the Bernese swing.

"The thing about swords is, there's no two that are the same. Even if everyone gets the standard issue military weapons, ones that look identical, none of them are the same." He was finally smiling again, calm. "Of course, some are more different then others, but my point is we have to find the right one for you."

"I wouldn't recommend anything more then an iron or lighter blade for a beginner, trying to much at one time will leave you unable to use the blade you have for combat. Even inhibiting you. You need to start from the bottom and work up, but I believe in you." He believed in her? He barely knew her. Still the words out of his mouth didn't feel like lies, why was this? He felt a bit embarrassed, but continued with what he had to say. "Once you found one you like, we can head to the next point and design your weapon specifically."

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair looked over the weapons Valcrist brought out as she listened to him. He sounded a bit hopeless about the sword-on-a-stick project, to be honest, but she was glad he was willing to look into it. Maybe she could come up with some ideas too. She was very familiar with her weapon nowadays.

The swords he brought out were of all sorts. Some were heavier, and shorter, others were longer and thinner. Even more were longer and heavier, and a couple were shorter and thinner. It all looked like a bunch of death trap steel scrap to Clair. Why would you want to use something so small when you could stab them from several arm lengths away with a spear? Then again, the Commander fought quite effectively with his sword. What was it about this tool that was so much above the other weapons?

She started off gravitating towards a heavier and longer weapon.

With this, I could reach them and still be able to - oof... That's a heavy one. She quickly set that one back on the table. that one would probably drag her right out of Corona's saddle. No. Best to look at the others.

The next blade she touched was a rapier: a long thin sword used almost exclusively for thrusting. She was immediately charmed by it's style of use, recognizing it as the sword equivalent of her own weapon of choice, but soon realized that it was far too light and flimsy to be used in the way she would have to use it. Stabbing an enemy with a sword while flying past would either leave her weapon in the enemy's chest, or leave her with a snapped off blade. Not good.

She continued hunting and pecking, eventually gathering a number of weapons as her favored choices. The ones she picked were consistently double-edged, one handed, of middling length, and with sturdy conservative, yet protective hand guards. The felt as if they'd be able to take a blow without being completely knocked aside, while still being light enough to be maneuvered in intricate patterns.

"These designs will probably meet my needs, but I honestly don't know how to go about picking one. I don't know what sort of balance I need, and don't have any idea how to use one well enough to decide.... Valcrist, I'd appreciate if you kept my... inexperience... quiet." Clair knew that she wasn't really expected to excel in everything without a proper amount of training, but the soldiers in this troop had practically forgotten the pathetic novice of a spear woman she'd been when she started, and she had no desire to recall those memories to the men's minds. Her own mind either, actually, but she would LEARN the sword.

At least he was being gentle about her ineptitude at swordcraft. If he'd come out and just told her that she was clueless about swordsmanship, then she probably would have decided to just quit her attempts for the next few months.

[Valcrist]

"Hrm..." Val lightly rubbed his chin, giving the weapons she choose a look over. Turning his head slightly to give them another check at another angle before finally nodding. "Alright then." He added with a grin. "I got an idea now, you seem to want a more conservative design. A good balance between sturdiness and agility, which makes sense. If it was too heavy you'd be unable to swing it quickly enough to make use of hit and run tactics, but meanwhile you want it sturdy enough that it won't go flying out of your hand after you attack. A good weapon for close range combat, also a good length seeing as you have a spear for more long ranged skirmishes."

He began to go off again, picking up a few of the weapons she chose and turning them in his hand. Appraising each one individually, an intense look of concentration was on his face as his mouth continued to ramble on. "This is a more common design that many infantrymen use, it serves well in many situations being of a balanced and versatile make. It doesn't have a particular origin, because so many different countries use it, but this one in particular looks... Bernese." He muttered, setting one of the weapons down.

His mind slowly drifted back to him as he had a sudden idea. "Don't worry, I wouldn't dare mention it." He waved off the thought as if it was polluting his thinking space. It was embarrassing to start from the ground up, especially when what you think you are doing right is suddenly correctly by someone who actually knows what they're doing. She was also a commander... or something. She'd probably be embarrassed by it, and Val knew all too well about embarrassment. "Hrm..." He refined his thoughts a bit, thinking it over carefully.

"Alright. Here Ms. Feldsky, hold this." He put a weapon quite like the one she was desiring into her hands. Taking a test weapon for his self, one of Nabatan design, thin and agile. "I need to see just how well you can swing that sword before we move on." It was useful to note her personal mannerisms and way she held and swung her weapon if he truly wanted to make it custom tailored for her alone. He smiled a toothy grin, that wasn't the only reason he wanted to practice with her. He also wanted to... erm... help her. He started from the absolute bottom, unaware of what he was doing with that piece of metal. It wasn't until he was told of all the dumb and stupid things he was doing that he was ever able to get any better. If he could help her get past the horrible self-taught phase of ignorance, then this would be great.

"Now I want you to come at me and try to attack me." If she was using her spear, he might of been afraid. She'd probably mop the floor with him, but he was atleast a little confident that in swordplay she couldn't best him just yet.

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair wasn't quite sure about how she felt when she heard that the weapon she was looking at was Bernese, but she didn't have to think about that long, as the nabatan soon replaced it with something different.

As the smith handed her the weapon, the only feeling she got from it was that of being all wrong. It felt wrong to be using only one hand. It felt difficult to control the tip with only one hand to steady it. The balance and weighting felt completely off.... And it was too short. She wondered if maybe she ought to stop right here, and go get Commander Richter to teach her.... Probably, but he was probably busy with other things. Taking reports from the other officers, or other jobs of the sort. Learning from Valcrist, at least the basics, seemed like a good idea for now.

She tried to think of how Richter held his sword when they sparred, and tried to imitate that. It looked slightly better than a butcher gripping a cleaver. Even someone as inexperienced with the blade as she knew that was wrong. She loosened her grip and tried again, thinking harder about the angle that Richter held his weapon, as well as how she held her lance when she needed to maneuver it efficiently, and tried to come up with something. It was only a trifle more comfortable.

"Alright. I'm going to attack you now." Clair only hoped that she didn't somehow injure their new smith through some fluke accident caused by flailing limbs. It was clear from the ease of his movements that she wouldn't be hitting him with skill.

She got ready to attack and led in with her right foot, bringing the blade around in her right hand in an arcing right to left slash towards her trainer. Scales! The balance! How did Richter do this?!

[Valcrist]

Alright there we... no. Not like that. Hold it... No, not like that either. Wow she really has no idea how to do this does she? He almost felt like laughing, imagining this is how he must of looked to Yaen so long ago. It wasn't that she was all together bad... ok she was. She was really bad. It made sense though, to go from lance to sword is a big change. Those who train on horses seem to train in both, but it's much harder when those horses happen to be flying. When in the air you desperately need the range of a lance, atleast until you get good enough to fly close enough to sweep with a sword without falling off your mount.

So she was basically starting from nowhere, and starting is always the hardest part. Anyone can swing a sword and say they're 'using it' but it was difficult to learn a new weapon. So much so that he refrained from ever attempting such a thing, he knew how they worked in words and technicality. He could probably swing a lance better then a complete novice, but he dared not even pretend he could fight with it. Axes were just too heavy, it'd be like trying to use his smithing hammer for combat. A bow... He couldn't bring his self to use a bow for different reasons. It was hard enough to keep up with his blacksmithing, sword training, and art. He didn't need to add another category into the mix.

Alright, there she goes. It was... It was still really bad, but atleast it looked... erm... comfortable? Val couldn't take it, he had to help her. In a single swift movement he brought his blade up and caught hers easily, parrying the blow and guiding it to the earth and letting her momentum carry her through. "Alright, not that bad." He lied. Truth was it wasn't that bad for a starting point, she had a lot of natural combat experience. "However..." He began. "What I gave you was a sword, but you're trying to use it like a spear." The real issue was going to be her muscle memory, after handling a polearm for so long it will be hard not to use every weapon she hold like one. Still, he was smiling as he talked. It was kind of fun teaching someone something.

"You're holding it in some weird cross of a spear and something else. Are you trying to emulate someone else?" He asked quite frankly. "It's not wrong, but it's not right either." He took a step back and dusted off his leather apron. It looked like she was trying to hold the sword in a certain style, but had no idea what that style was. It'd be like an aspiring painter trying to copy a more famous artist's work, only not to understanding HOW to paint like that and ending up with an imitation that wasn't quite right. It lacked the construction, that was it.

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair wasn't exactly sure how he went about it, but the smith quickly redirected her fake-teuristic blade work into the ground. Something about his movements sparked a degree of attention to his style though. His attacks seemed... smoother than her Commander's. It was like a was a flowing, liquid dance when compared to Richter's brutal, direct assault.

Even with her mind studying Valcrist's movements, Clair still had plenty presence of mind to be dissatisfied with her own performance. Actually, the majority of her thoughts were something along the lines of: Gah! Why can't I manage that?!

She appreciated his attempts to make her feel less inept, but she'd rather just be doing good at it.

Sighing as she recovered herself, she rested the point of the sword on the ground, to the side, and leaned over it a bit.

"Commander Richter. I was trying to imitate his grips and movements. Swords.... With a lance, you can grip wider or narrower along the haft, which helps control where the point goes more efficiently. Swords don't have that option...." The Falcoknight furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure how something could be "not wrong" and "not right" at the same time, but she'd act like she understood what he meant anyway.

"I guess I'd better be ready to start from scratch for this...." Clair was annoyed with this, but determined.

"So how did you learn, Valcrist?"