Katen Tanek | Adam McMurran | Elijah McMurran | John Crowley | Demitrius Larson |
Katen: Stares at Adam industriously copying the letter "F" over and over and over again. Uppercase and lower case… Wouldn't you like to use your other hand?
Adam: Looks up. Stares. Looks down at his hand. …Why?
Katen: Never mind. Carry on. You're left-handed like your no-good father. Picks up his paper when he's through. …Be sure to connect all the lines. It looks sloppy otherwise. Also straight lines. These are all slanted… Do you need a ruler? Try again.
Adam: Sighs and gets back to work, trying harder this time.
Katen: What sound does 'F' make?
Adam: …Fff?
Katen: You sound like a fuse burning. Can you think of any words that start with that sound?
Adam: Fuse. Fffish, fffun… phase.
Katen: No. Phase starts with a "ph".
Adam: …You said P makes a 'puh' sound.
Katen: But when it's with H, it makes a "fuh" sound.
Adam: This is so confusing.
Katen: Of course, there is the word 'faze', which is spelled f-a-z-e, which means "to be disturbed", but that's probably not in your vocabulary yet, so you needn't worry about it.
Adam: …I'll never get all of this.
Katen: You'd better. Unless you want to be illiterate.
Adam: Whats "ee little writ"?
Katen: It means you can't read or write.
Adam: Then I already am ee little writ.
Katen: Well I would certainly just give up now because it was too hard. I'm not going to teach someone who's not dedicated to learning and who's going to stop just because things get a little difficult. Nothing that's worth having comes easy. Are you a quitter?
Adam: Nooo…
Katen: Good. Carry on then. We'll go for another hour. Seems to forget he's talking to children.
Adam: After the hour is over and his Fs are up to standard, trudges out of the room.
black_eyes_and_crimson_ties (Sat 07/12/2008 00:43:41 am) : (An hoouur writing one letter over and over would be awful)
Elijah: Hey Mr. John.
J.N: Hello Elijah.
Elijah: What's up?
J.N: Nothing. Yourself?
Elijah: Going to sword practice! Wanna come?!
J.N: Sure.
Elijah: I finally started sleeping again.
J.N: That's good to hear.
Elijah: Hugs J.N. quickly and walks down the hall. Seems happy.
J.N: Follows! Has to ask Katen something anyway.
Elijah: Enters the training area! Hey Demi.
Demi: Hey Elijah. Standing around. Katen's not here yet.
Elijah: 'm I training with you today?
Demi: Looks at J.N. with a face that says, "You're not going to make me fight him again, are you?"
Katen: Enters. Am I late?
Elijah: I think we're just early.
Katen: How unusual.
J.N: Stays out of the way and quiet.
Katen: Well, you'll be sparring with each other today.
Elijah: Gets into position and draws his sword. Looks nervous since Demi has a magic sword.
Demi: Gets into position and draws his sparkly diamond sword. Looks nervous since Elijah's the better swordsman.
Katen: I'd like to view each of your techniques as a bystander rather than an opponent and then work with you from there. Proceed. May the best man win.
Elijah & Demi: Bow to each other, then proceed to circle around one another, neither wanting to make the first strike.
J.N: Watches as well!
Elijah: Looks to see where Demi's leaving himself open. Takes a step towards him.
Demi: Defends and prepares to parry.
Elijah: Bluff! Goes for where Demi's leaving himself open.
Demi: Able to get his wits about him enough to dodge. Then it's on! Goes for Elijah's midsection!
Elijah: Goes for Demi's neck! Blades lock!
J.N: …Did he just try to cut his head off?
Elijah: Pulls his blade along Demi's and they are released from the lock. Swings upward!
Demi: Ducks and slashes.
Elijah: Parry, though knocked backwards a bit.
Demi: Closes the distance between them, taking advantage of Elijah coming off-balance. Strikes.
Elijah: Manages to parry again, though it's a bit weak. Gets a better grip on his sword and stays defensive. Takes advantage of the fact that Demi has a bigger sword and is slower until he's able to go back to being offensive!
Demi: If I keep going like this I'll lose… Waits until there's some distance between them, then hurls his sword at Elijah.
Elijah: Damn. Manages to dodge barely.
Demi: Catches his sword and does it again.
Elijah: Thankfully dodges, then closes the distance between them while Demi has no sword.
J.N: I know that trick.
Demi: Thankfully catches just in time to block Elijah's attack, down at his kneecap… so very open… Blocks again and strikes twice quickly.
Elijah: Knocked back a bit… I underestimated you, but not anymore… Switches his sword to his left hand and charges him.
Demi: Dodges!
Elijah: Expected that! Swings around now he has Demi's back.
Demi: Spins around in time to parry… This time is caught off-balance. Things are looking bad.
J.N: I'm silently rooting for Elijah anyways.
Elijah: Rapidly attacks Demi.
Demi: Having a difficult time keeping hold of his sword. Unfortunately unable to utilize any other magical sword attack because that would actually injure Elijah.
J.N: Can't really glean anything from this! Trying though!
Elijah: Breaks Demi's guard and before Demi can parry, has his sword at Demi's neck! Wins.
Demi: Pants. It's always hopeless for me when Elijah stops using his weaker arm.
Elijah: Lowers his blade and bows to Demi.
Demi: Bows.
Katen: Alright. You seem to be pretty evenly matched.
J.N: Glad to see that Elijah won.
Katen: Elijah, you need to not leave your lower half so open and work on your lower parries. Demi, you're too slow and you leave yourself open too much. You have a larger sword, so you can't be as fast as Elijah. You'll need to work on your defense. I'll work with you individually tomorrow. We'll try this again in another month or so, I suppose. I think it was a good exercise. You're both dismissed.
Elijah & Demi: Sheath their swords and bow to Katen.
J.N: I didn't even notice openings really.
Katen: Raises his brows at J.N. and walks away.
Demi: You beat me.
Elijah: Yep! You've gotten a lot better, though!
Demi: Four years of practice, I guess.
Elijah: Yeah, I had four years of not-practice.
Demi: And you still beat me.
Elijah: Been doing it longer.
Demi: Nods.
Elijah: Let's celebrate with ice cream!
J.N: …
Demi: …Did you win the lottery or something?
J.N: How is Nathaniel? Out of nowhere?!
Demi: Stares. He's alright. He's with Tyler right now. I should probably go get him.
J.N: Alright. Glad to hear he's doing well.
Demi: Stares at J.N. a bit more. Nods.
Elijah: C'mon… Nathan can eat ice cream, too. We never hang out anymore. If you keep on acting like an old man, you'll get gray hair.
J.N: You three have fun with that.
Elijah: You don't want to come, Mr. John? Frowns.
J.N: I do. But I have to talk with Katen. I'll catch up when I'm done.
Elijah: Alright. We'll be in town though, do you know where it is?
J.N: Vaguely. I'll get directions.
Elijah: Mmkay… See you soon, then. If you see Adam or anybody, bring them along too!
J.N: Alright. Scruffs up Elijah's hair!
Elijah: Grins.
Demi: Goes to get Nathan.
J.N: Goes to talk to Katen.