Practice, practice, practice (Lilu/Open)

[Rowana]

Merridan didn't like doing nothing. Not that she'd ever supported the war. Most everyone could agree that life was much better with peace. Still, at least during the war, Mer knew she had something important to do. These days she had little to occupy her time except training to keep herself fit. It was the nervous tensions she really didn't like. Turns later, it still felt like the world was just waiting for an excuse to go to war all over again.

To keep herself from being too idle, Mer had gotten the idea to train for the Weyrleader trials. She knew she was young, but she wanted to help and do what she could. Chaoth was a strong brown and level headed and Mer had been working hard to get ready herself.

Today she was doing sword training. She danced around a practice dummy she'd set up, doing a series of patterns to keep herself in shape. Just because they had peace now, didn't mean she should let her skills slacken. Chaoth watched from a sunny spot nearby. I think the wooden man has had enough, he commented with a chuckle, as Mer's blade nearly cut its arm off. Mer blew back a tuft of hair from her eyes and picked up a waterskin for a drink. "You think so? I was hoping to at least get a couple more hits out of him," she grinned back.

[Aftershock]

Merridan was not the only woman practicing in the Weyrbowl that morning... Lilu was present, as well, doing her morning jog around the Weyrbowl lake while Venideth was retrieving his breakfast over at the feeding grounds. She wore a thin cotton top and a pair of very high-cut linen shorts... holdovers from the days when her memory was affected, clothing that she would not be caught dead in normally, but that served well as exercise clothing. Her bare feet slapped the ground, her red hair dancing behind her in a runnertail as she kept a good pace around the shoreline of the underground lake at the center of the Weyr.

Lilu had been keeping an eye on the brownrider as she practiced her bladework, the younger bluerider unable to help but watch the woman's technique and critique it in her mind. Finally, she could stand it no longer, and broke away from the circuit she had been following to head towards the small, neat pile she had left her gear in... a small towel for the wiping of sweat, a waterskin (which she picked up and took a couple of swigs from after reaching the pile), and her weapons... a pair of deadly daggers, always kept razor-sharp and in perfect condition, and always kept around her just in case, even during times such as this. Stepping from foot to foot, swinging her arms slightly to keep her muscles from cramping up due to inactivity after her run, she took another drink from her waterskin, then put it carefully back down and picked up her blades, jogging over to where Merridan was practicing on the target dummy.

"Hello, there," Lilu said as she approached, giving the older woman a curt nod in greeting. Unsheathing her blades, depositing the scabbards carefully on the ground, she spun the blades in her grip as she asked, "May I join you?"

[Rowana]

Merridan glanced at Lilu as she approached. Her dragon was younger than Chaoth, as Mer recalled, though that was true of many. It was sad to think that the war had left few dragons or riders above a certain age left. It was nice to think that young riders had more to look forward too now than violence and death.

Mer smiled at Lilu's and waved at the practice dummy. "Of course. Take a whack at it." She checked over her short dirk with a critical eye and started to clean a corner with a clothe. "Unless you'd like to try something more exciting?" she added with a raised eyebrow. Practice against a real person was always better and she was fairly sure the two of them could keep from doing any real damage to each other. Lilu had to be skilled, by the way she held her daggers already.

[Aftershock]

Lilu smiled predatorily as Merridan offered the practice dummy, and began to circle it carefully, eyeing it for weaknesses. Noting the already-abused dummy had a number of fractures around its neck, the bluerider quickly made some mental calculations in her mind, then struck out with her left hand, the blade hitting the dummy soundly in the neck and causing one of the fractures to open into a full-on crack. Her first strike was fluidly followed by a second from her right-hand dagger, an upward strike at the "chin" of the dummy's head, the force of the blow pushing the crack beyond its breaking point and sending the dummy's head arcing into the air. Moving her right-hand dagger over to share her left hand with it's twin, Lilu smoothly caught the head as it fell towards the ground in her now-free right hand, her pleased smirk seeming to mock the painted scowl on the hollowed gourd that served as the dummy's cranium.

Turning towards Merridan as she made her offer of something more interesting, Lilu dropped the head onto the ground with a hollow thunk and transferred her right-hand dagger back into her hand as her smirk morphed into an interested smile. "If you're offering to spar me, I will gladly accept... it's been much too long since I've found someone willing to cross blades with me, and practice dummies and weapons drills can only do so much to keep your skills sharp."

Dropping into a fighting stance, dancing lightly on the balls of her feet as she began to cut the air with her daggers to loosen her limbs and prepare herself, she said, "Since you are the one who offered, I will let you decide the rules of engagement."

[Rowana]

Chaoth came over when Lilu was done to inspect the decapitated dummy. Poor man, he commented in a mournful tone. He never had a chance. He shook his great head and returned to his sunning spot with a stretch. Ah well. A short life and a merry one. Merridan couldn't help but chuckle at her dragons comments, before turning her attention back to Lilu. She was definitely skilled, there was no denying it. It would be a good match and Mer wouldn't even be surprised if Lilu could beat her. Not that Mer would let her without a fight though.

"True enough," Mer agreed with a nod. "I'm starting to think I'm getting too rusty myself with too few people to practice with." She moved into her own fighting stance, adjusting her grip on the long blade. She paused to consider rules. Not that real fights would have them, but even practice fights couldn't really mimic that most of the time. After all, she didn't actually want to hurt Lilu though accidents were inevitable in fighting practice. "Best out of five," she suggested. "First to get three strikes through the others defenses wins, or if the other yields." She grinned, knowing that neither of them were likely the 'yielding' type. "Try not to draw blood or big heart over there," she waved at Chaoth, "will probably mourn every drop we loose the mood he's in."

Drawing herself up, Merridan readied herself for Lilu's first move.

[Aftershock]

Lilu listened, nodding to her rules, though she added, "If we're going to try to avoid drawing blood, but are scoring on strikes that get through the opponent's defenses, we should specify that said strikes need to be those that would obviously be killing blows... when such a blow is struck, obviously pulled short before it strikes home, the spar will pause, we shall record the strike, and then reset to our original positions. Agreed?"

If Lilu's addendum was agreed to, she would nod once more, cross her blades to signal the initiation of combat, then quickly step forward, attempting to feint to the left with her offhand dagger while ducking slightly and striking for Merridan's midsection with her right dagger. She didn't expect the maneuver to work, but the first few moments of a fight were less about attacking to wound and more testing your opponent's defenses... the brownrider was more muscular, and had a heavier blade, so Lilu would need to take advantage of the speed of her lighter frame and her lighter weapons if she were to come out on top, assuming the woman had equivalent skill.

[Rowana]

Merridan nodded in affirmation of Lilu's suggestion. "Agreed!" After all, she'd known many skilled fighters who could keep going with non fatal wounds. Mer raised her short sword in a salute, her mind already set on the fight. Lilu had two blades and by her size, would be a quick opponent. Mer knew she would have a longer reach, but would probably have trouble defending from two blades. Her best strategy was to try and keep Lilu at a distance or force a contest of strength rather than speed.

The fight began quickly. Mer detected Lilu's feint in time to strike her right dagger away to the side. Then she brought her sword around in a slash for Lilu's chest. Like her opponent, Mer wasn't aiming for success so soon. She was watching for Lilu's reactions and styles.

[Aftershock]

Lilu, expecting her strike to be parried, moved her blade along with Merridan's as she knocked Lilu's blade aside, keeping the dagger more in Lilu's control and lessening the force of the impact upon both her weapon and her hand and arm. She then saw the strike to her chest coming, and knowing a single one of her blades with her strength would not be enough to deflect a blow from Merridan's heavier blade and stronger arm, she instead slapped her heels to the ground and leaned back at the waist, the short sword's blade whistling mere centimeters from Lilu's breasts.

Tightening her abdominal muscles as she dodged back from the blow, Lilu waited until the blade had just passed her torso, then used the tension in her abdominals to shoot her upper body forward, bringing both her daggers to bear simultaneously. One dagger was aimed directly for Merridan's neck, the other poised to slip between her ribs and into her left lung.