First Class

[Guest]

Lukas had reached a few minutes early and there was no sign of Lehrer Drake to be seen. He had knocked a few times but not as much as an evil laughter was heard so he decided to lean against the wall and wait for her. He hoped she had not forgotten their lesson today.

He wanted to train under the best swordsman, swords-woman in this case, and become a First Class sword master himself one day.

[Raven 'The Sweeney' Drake]

Raven sighed, she had hoped eventually the boy would go away, she was really not in the mood to teach today and she needed to finish this potion, but the knocking getting worse and sounding more like ticking each second she growled and flicked her wand as a sign to open the door and let him in.

"Enter." she barked, slamming the door shut with a wave of her wand after him "Sit down."

[Guest]

She was ignoring me, Lukas thought, most interesting! He entered and sat as he was told to do. He didn't greet her or smiled today. It was safer to say only what was needed, especially because she didn't want him here.

He observed she was making something, he hoped she didn't make him drink something more deadlier this time around.

"I there anything I can assist with, Sweeney or shall we begin with my training?" no hint of excitement in his tone and no smile on his face. He didn't mind learning some advanced potions from her either. Swords and potions, what a deadly combination it makes if you have a brain, the selfish boy thought.

Anything the Sweeney teaches is going to be valuable, he believed.

[Raven 'The Sweeney' Drake]

Raven was glad that the boy seemed to be quiet now that he had learnt that she didn't like people who talked too much, the small collection of dried out tongues that she had nailed to the wall of her office was testament to this.

Sighing softly she tapped the cauldron with her wand, putting a statis charm on it so that she could come back to it later on once the training had been done.

"Get up then."

Without waiting for him to move Raven flicked her wand and the tables moved to the sides of the room with a horrible scraping noise, standing in the middle of the room Raven looked at the boy, Lukas, and smiled crookedly, she had never had an apprentice before.

"You're here for blade work yes? Well then I trust that you will have come prepared with your own blades, for you will touch none of my friends, especially not Belinda."

Unfolding from her pocket her new favourite razor, Belinda Raven polished her lovingly before her attention snapped back to the boy.

"What blade work do you want? Short or long?"

[Guest]

"Long" He answered.

What was she going to teach him? Any particular stances, or perhaps hitting the right nerves or body parts or maybe teach him how to dodge and defend with speed?

With the long sword in his hand, he waited for instructions.

[Raven 'The Sweeney' Drake]

Raven watched as Lukas grabbed the long sword and she sighed, he would pick that one wouldn't he, of course it had it's benefits but long range weapons were ones that were much more flashy than short range and often were overestimated when they were used.

"Right. Attack me."

Waiting, her arms open, Raven took out one of her razors and flicked it open, now one in each hand she circled the boy, waiting to see if he would in fact move to attack her, this was the only way to learn.

The way of pain. Pain is the best teacher.

[Guest]

Balance. Weight should be focused on the front leg when you attack and when you defend it should be on the back foot.

He did not have a shield so he had to make sure none of Sweeney's blade hit his left hand, hence he decided to keep it as away as possible and use it to balance his attacks.

Do not stay rooted at one place, keep on moving and don't give a chance to be hit on your legs. Move like you are dancing.

In one swift moment, he put his weight on the frontfoot, moving diagonally, opening up just enough for him to swing his arm properly. The blades were too small so the only way Sweeney could hit him right now would be to come in and hit him square in the chest but by then his sword would have cut into her arm and shoulder.

Most likely she would see it coming and move back, a swing and a miss.

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