Graceling Academy discussion

Any graced fighters, or anything of the sort can come here to practice

Hestia walked into the combat area and watched as graced fighters dueled. All the while her mind memorized and took apart each step. Making so she knew exactly how to exicute it.
The information kept flowing in and she wished that somehowshe could block it.

Katsa walked around the combat area. Giving information where needed. Then she saw a girl standing alone. She gave a look to Po who was also teaching and walked up to her. "You are the only one in this room who looks as if they are actually learning something" she says to the girl.

Hestia sighed, looking at Kasta. "How could you tell?" She asked in a small voice. But of course she already knew.

"It's in the eyes. It also helps that I've been noticing it for a number of years on others. What are you here for?" Katsa says. She wasn't a fighter, maybe knowledge.

Hestia smiled an unhappy smile, "I'm here because of pure knowledge. As you were guessing." she replied. She pushed some of her brown hair behind her ear.

Clio crunched on her apple and hung in the doorway. A tune popped into her head and, despite her efforts not to, she began to sing quietly.

Hannah wrote: "Hestia smiled an unhappy smile, "I'm here because of pure knowledge. As you were guessing." she replied. She pushed some of her brown hair behind her ear."

"Hestia, you will not learn to defend yourself by observing. If you wish to learn then I will teach you. If you wish not then the library is an excellent place to start off mastering your grace" Katsa smiled at her kindly. She eyed Po who was sparring with another student. He was clearly winning and the kid looked scared. "Po", she called. "Let's not put the fear of god in them. Only teach it" Po smiled at her and went back to fighting.

Hestia cocked her head to the side. "Ok then... I'll show you what I just learned by observing then." she said. Pushing off the wall. She walked over and grabbed a sword off the wall.
She then glanced a girl with an apple in the doorway and then back at Kasta.

"Alright, do remember that this is my grace." Katsa unsheathed her own sword. "Ok"

Hestia sighed, and brought her sword into a ready stance. Not going for the first move. But kept the sword out of the way so Kasta could not knock it out of her grasp at first blow.

((so can Hestia go good and smooth for a while but then at the end Kasta gets her?))

Katsa swings and Hestia blocks. She twists around and stabs lower.

Hestia easily stops the lower and twists Kasta's sword. Putting it off target and giving her room to advance. She had Kasta backing up a little.

Katsa takes a step back and picks up her speed. She swings rapidly, Hestias next moves predicted in her mind. She swings one last time and hears the clash of the swords. Then she takes a step forward closer to the girl, Hestia swings and katsa uses this to her advantage she ducks under the sword and grabs Hestias waist, stepping behind her. Katsa put the sword near her neck and then dropped it.

Hestia laughed, "Survival over knowledge then." she admitted in defeat, "At least in combat." she smiled happily for what seemed like the first time in ages.

"Hestia, why don't you start off controlling your grace with practicing taking in information and processing it quicker and better. Tell me something that you are interested in learning?"

"I already studied most everything... But I would like to learn more about outer space," Hestia admitted lamely.

Katsa smiled, Darius would have a wonderful time teaching about the unknown world outside of us. "Come with me to the library, I have someone you'd like to meet"

Hestia put down the sword and smiled at Kasta, "Right behind you." she said, following Kasta out.

Thom came into the combat area after spending twenty minutes looking for it. There were a fair amount of people there and he was not sure who to ask to find Po. Keeping to the side of the fighting he headed for a man who was not fighting. Thom felt a dull pain in his side as someone scored a hit on someone else. He felt several more before finally reaching the man but they were not hard hits so he ignored them. "Suc me." he said

Thom winced as someone got hit in the head. Why had he come to the combat area, that was stupid, this was stupid he should leave, but he did really want to find Po. "Please, I'm looking for Po." He almost shouted and a few more blows hit his arms and sides.

Po ran to the boy that called him. He smiled but saw he was in pain. He rushed him out of the building. "Hi, I'm Po. Welcome!" he smiled warmly.

Thomus felt the relief as soon as he left the room. He let out a deep breath. "Thanks." HE cracked a smile. "I'm Thom, I was told to come and find you by a man in the library." He exsplained a litte, he didn't want to say to much until he found out if he got the right person.

"Ah Darius sent you! Rat of a man that one! But smart so we keep him around" he laughed slightly. "I take I'm the one desired to help you mater your grace?"

Thom laughed at the discription, "I don't know, but he didn't seem to like me very much." Thom shrugged "Not that I blame him, apperently I remind him of someone unpleasant."

"He doesn't like anyone. Tell me your grace, and then I can tell you who this unpleasant person you remind him of is" Po looked at this boy Thom. He looked almost scared. He knew he wasn't but that was what his grace was doing to him.

Thom took a deep breath, it seemed wierd to talk about what he did in the open, to a complete stranger, but again this was what he was here for. "I feel the pain of other people." He said at last. "I just have to look at them and if they are hurting in anyway it comes across to me." He lifter his arm and puled up the black sleve covering it up to his shoulder. There were two bright red marks on his arm and another one spreading across his temple near his right eye. "From the fighting inside. Someone needs a better defense." He said with a smile. They didn't hurt very much but th red marks always made them look worse.

"Then let's get you away from here." Po led him away further from the building. Helplessness. That's what Thomas felt. He didn't know it yet, but he felt helplessness. "I will teach you to fight. You will be my new fighter. I can teach you to be a graced fighter and that will start the road to may seeing your grace" he smiled.

"Fight?" A stab of fear went through him. He had been in fights before of course, but he had soon learned to stay away from them. Every time hit someone it was like smaking himself, he could not imagine learning to wield a knife or sword much less harm someone with them. He had a secret fear that if he actually ever killed someone he would somehow kill himself. Thom jerked away shaking his head, "No...no, I could never harm someone else."

"Do you want to know why? Why I want to teach you to fight?" Po knows Thom is relectant. "Tell me what you feel. Other that pain. Tell me your real feeling about this grace. You feel pain all the time an it's not yours. Tell me your real feelings"

Thom had to think about that. "Sometimes I can help. The pain alerts me to there being something wrong and I....me...I can help them." He liked to help people, to make some of the pain in the world go away. "But on the other hand, it restricts me, where I go, who I can be with. My father and I once got lost at sea. We were picked up by a warship. The next day we came upon pirates. Of course the warship attact...." He remembered that day so clearly, the pain, the blood and screaming. "I passed out after a few second. That was the first seriouse reaction I had ever had. And the thought that that could happened again of I got around real fighting" He shook his head. "It terrifies me."

"You felt helpless. At that moment when you yourself were hurting. In your own pain with nothing to do about it. I am almost indestructible. I spar with Katsa all the time, I won't feel it, I give you my word. I will teach you to inflict pain and deal with the feeling. Then, after you learn that skill will I teach you to help. Thom, you have to live with this grace. There's no way to get out of it. So learn to live with it and then I will do everything in my power to teach you to help victims"

It sounded hard, a lot of work. And how did Thom know Po would come through, what if all he did was teach Thom how to better hurt people. But funnily enough Thom did trust Po. "Okay, I promise I will learn all you have to teach, and trust you know what you are doing, but if I may ask a question?"

"I do know what I'm doing. You can trust me" Po looked at him. He would make sure this boy learned how to be extrordinary. "Sure! Ask me anything"

"Who is Kasta?" Thom kept a straight face until after the question was out, "Cause I realy have no idea who you are talking about."

"She made this academy. Graced with survival. She is my wife. Katsa made all of this possible. I will ask her later in your training to help with training. Why do you ask?"

"It's just, if you fight her, and her gift is survival, wouldn't that make her hard to beat? SO is you gift resestant to pain?" Thom was curious by nature.

"No my grace is feeling things around me. So I can almost feel my opponents next move. I know that the person behind me is throwing a left hook, now an undercut. I know where Katsa is right now. She's walkin from the library to here. People think my grace is fighting but it isn't. My real grace just enhances my ability to fight" Po explained.

"Oh" Thom said. "That must be useful." He pondered how much nicer it would be to have that grace rather than his own. "Can someone change their grace?" he asked. He was pretty sure it was a no but he thought he might as well check.

"No. You just have to live with it. Graces are gifts. You need to think of it as an amazing thing that was given to you and now you need to embrace it"

"How do you embrace pain?" Thom said sharply. "It's not like...." He made a frustrated face and threw his hands in the air in a silent scream. He took a deep breath and calmed himself "But you said you were going to help me with that, when do we start?"

"Whenever you like. I want to start somewhere private. I will talk to Katsa about going to the dueling circle privately. She's on her way now. We can start as early as tomorrow morning as I have things to attend to tonight."

"Okay,... and" Thom looked up "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow morning then." Thom felt he should leave now but didn't know where to go, so he stey and waited for Po to walk off first.

Po felt Katsa getting closer. He smiled warmly at Thom and turned to go. He only had to walk a little ways before Katsa appeared. "I have a student that feels other peoples pain. I have an education plan but I will need the dueling circle privately. Is that ok?" he asks her. She was as beautiful as ever.

"Of course. Darius has a student that I'm sure will surpass him soon and I believ Giddon has been getting along well also!" Katsa smiled and kissed Po as she walked outside

Thom owndered away to go and find something interesting to do. He thought about going back to the library for his book but decided against it.

((I commented on the cafe(; I you have time I'm on for a while:))

Thom stopped just outside the door. He listened for sounds of fightin gbut it was pretty quiet inside. Taking a deep breath Thom opened the door and went inside. He couldn't see nayone so, leaving the door open, he went in further and found a place to sit.

Po walked in. "Good morning Thom! Follow me. We're going to the dueling circle" he smiled warmly and led Thom out.

"Morning." Thom jumped up and followed Po quickly and quietly. He was naturally quiet so it wasn't hard for him. "What am I suppose to be doing today?" He asked fully of excitment and curiosty to know how Po was going to help him.

"Your going to hit me" he said plainly. "To master your grace you need to be twice as strong as everybody else. You need to be twice the man everybody else is. So hit me"

((switch to dueling circle))