Re: You're Hired (Briony and Tess)

by **Tess McCartney** Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:40 pm

Tess nodded.

"Yes that'd be fine Headmistress" she said softly.

At first she was surprised that she wanted to actually spar with her, but once she saw that she wasn't going to but rather a dummy, she felt a mix of relief and disappointment. She didn't want to comment on her developing bump that hid a bundle, well...it was no longer hiding it. She let out a small smile and nodded.

"May I ask which one would you find more fitting for me?" she asked.

by **Briony Romain** Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:59 am

Briony smiled lightly and she thought that it would be something to do in the future, to have a spar with her apprentice, although for now she was under strict orders by Lucia not to get into any fighting that might harm the baby, all it would take was one stray blow, even though she was sure that she could stop any advances that were made towards her, but she didn't want to underestimate Tess' skill with a blade.

Humming in thought for a moment, Briony pointed at the rapier, and then smirked lightly;

"The rapier seemed best for you, you were able to move it much more rapidly, and that's an important thing in a duel, because the dummy will not really give any second chances."

Taking her wand out, Briony activated another rune on the floor and out came a wooden marrionette, with a wooden sword in his hand, and she trained her wand on it, waiting for Tess to say that she was ready for her to let the dummy free from it's enchantments.

"Let me know when you're ready."

by **Tess McCartney** Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:09 am

Tess nodded and walked over to return to the sword to it's location. She then picked up the rapier and walked over towards the dueling area. She moved her rapier around trying to get the feel back to it and she smiled.

"I'm ready Headmistress"

She was nervous, very nervous, but excited to try and show how far she was willing to go and how successful she'd be.

by **Briony Romain** Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:16 pm

Briony saw that tess was ready to begin the duel and she smiled lightly, there was going to be a lot that she could tell about the girl from this first duel that she would have, not that it would matter, Briony could help her improve on anything she was weak on, and make her even stronger at the things that she did well.

"Very well then, let us begin."

Nodding, Briony released the dummy from it's charm and it immediately started towards Tess with the sword ready to strike a blow at her torso, a very wide area and easy to block if she managed to get her rapier to it in time. Wondering how Tess would fare in this duel, there was very little for Briony to do apart from watch and make sure that she wasn't harmed too badly if she got into trouble.

by **Tess McCartney** Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Tess jumped back as the dummy came to life, surprised at the level of movement. She took a few steps back in surprise, but immediately blocked the blow. She knew it was going easy on her, she trusted the fact that the Headmistress did not want her injured.

And while she was nervous she wanted to impress her and show her she had the capability of being a good apprentice. She tried to go in the offensive and made a push forward, making a stabbing motion towards the dummy in an attempt to push him back.

by **Briony Romain** Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:37 pm

Seeing that Tess had managed to block the attack on her that the dummy made, Briony nodded her head and she was glad that she was able to block things effectively, she would let her continue at this pace for a while longer before letting the dummy slowly get more and more animated to test her abilities.

"Well done." she said simply, thinking that it might be best to keep rewarding the girl so that she didn't become disheartened during the task.

Briony noted that she was making an attack at the dummy and a dull clunk could be heard when they made contact with each other, the wood and the rapier, hoping that it wouldn't have gotten stuck in the wood, Briony watched the dummy trying to make an attack in counter to Tess' by lifting his sword up high to try and strike her head.

by **Tess McCartney** Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:14 pm

She tried not to distract herself as she was being complimented but it was hard. She barely had time to duck and put her rapier up to protect her from the strike. Her hands shook as she felt the pressure and strength of the enchanted dummy. Honestly when was this going to end!

She placed her other hand up, at the sharper area of the rapier and carefully pushed up pushing the dummy off of her. She stumbled a bit as she did so, as she realized she needed to lighten up the aggressiveness once shew as free or else she'd inadvertently move forward. She decided to mimic his movements trying to learn more in the offensive sense.

by **Briony Romain** Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:16 pm

Briony could see from this interaction that stamina was going to be a problem for Tess, however, that was nothing that couldn't be fixed with simple exercises like this every session that they had together, luckily it was not putting too much of a dampener on her abilities just yet.

Deciding that she had better stay quiet lest she distract her more, Briony merely watched critically as she tried to adapt the offensive stance of the dummy, clicking her fingers the dummy stopped it's movements and was suspended in animation.

"So, tell me, what did you think of that? Was it challenging enough for you or shall I make the partner a little harder?"

by **Tess McCartney** Tue May 01, 2012 4:01 pm

Tess was in mid strike before the dummy fell to the floor, the enchantment over. Her heart was beating really fast, not from exertion, but from adrenaline and fear, mostly fear. She never knew what was to come and while thrilling also shook her a bit.

"It's fine" she said.

She didn't want to be arrogant, or state she wanted something harder. She realized that she needed to work on her upper strength which was lacking greatly.

"Whatever you think is best" she replied honestly. "I just know I need to become stronger"

by **Briony Romain** Tue May 01, 2012 6:30 pm

Briony smiled lightly when it seemed as if Tess was rather thrilled by the whole experience that they had just gone through, after all, it was no light feat to simply snap your fingers and become a great sword fighter, they would need to work at it.

When Tess said that she needed to become stronger, Briony nodded her head and she tapped her desk, a bottle of water appearing;

"This is for you, if you need it, one more activity and then we shall break for today is that acceptable?" she asked with a small smile.

Clicking her fingers, a punchbag came out of the wall in her office, and she gestured to Tess to come and use it, after all, for sword fighting upper strength was needed, and this was one way to get it.

"30 with each fist. Then you may go."

by **Tess McCartney** Wed May 02, 2012 6:12 am

She grabbed the water and murmured a thank you before taking a small sip. The water was refreshing, and as her body was cooling off, she felt herself relax a bit. She knew that she wasn't that strong physically, after all most of her training came from avoiding physicality between you and your partner. She knew she had some strength (gymnastics taught her that) but it was not the same in dueling. In dueling it was brutal strength and aggressiveness.

"That's fine" she replied.

Seeing the bag she nodded towards the Headmistress. She took a deep breath and began to punching the punching bag. She realized her punches weren't really that coordinated, she hit and retracted back the first few times. She then decided to use her body to make a difference. She scolded herself for thinking that this was too hard, it was much better than doing push ups (there was no hope there). She began to punch with a swing, and began to do the first thirty. She felt her body tensing, not just on her arm, but her abdomen and waist from the flexing. Being left handed, she felt more comfortable when she turned and began punching it. It seemed silly, but it made a big difference for her between fists.

Once she finished, she took a swing of the bottle and finished it. She definitely needed to work out more.

by **Briony Romain** Wed May 02, 2012 6:12 pm

Briony watched as Tess began to complete the task that she had set her to do, it was something that she hoped that she would be able to complete with little difficulty, although she saw that it took her a while o find the style of punching that she could use efficiently.

Perhaps this was her first time doing this sort of thing? She thought to herself, but then she continued to watch her to make sure that she was doing the activity correctly. Which she was. Breaking for water, Briony smiled lightly, she had certainly done a good job.

"Well done, you have worked hard today." Briony smiled "I will hold another session in a weeks time. I hope to see you there." she nodded towards Tess, waving her hand at the door so it opened, signalling that she was free to go.

by **Tess McCartney** Thu May 03, 2012 5:33 am

Tess smiled softly and if her cheeks were red already from the work, they were flushed by excitement and borderline exhaustion.

"Thank you Headmistress. I cannot wait" she said.

She picked up her things and rushed off, grateful for the first lesson. While it was going to be tough, and not to mention exhausting, she was going to be ready for the next lesson.

by **Briony Romain** Fri May 04, 2012 6:16 pm

Briony was very glad to see Tess' enthusiasm for her subject, and she was glad that she had managed to teach her something even in this very small space of time, of course it would be a lot of hard graft inot the seventh year until she was finished with her, but then, it would be worth it.

"Be safe." she called after Tess.

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