Scene #2221: Stand like this. Okay, try not to get hit.

Owner	Pose
Fayt Ravus	Learning to use a staff... Well alright, Fayt actually already knows how to use a staff, in so far as he fires spells through his. It's the hitting people with it part that escapes him. Valka offered to help with that, so here he is. Fayt might come off as a touch odd looking. short, scrawny and pale, with pale blue hair to match, he's very obviously more a mage than a physical fighter. "Erm... hello? Anyone here?"
Valka	Someone is here. In a clearing near enough to the warp gate to be easily found thanks to directions and a well-worn path is Valka, dressed in a simple shirt and pant combo, with her staff at the ready. She's sitting quietly on a well-worn rock at the edge of a ring normally used for battling with swords and the like. The woman straightens at the sound of approaching footsteps and, at the voice, smiles. "Fayt! Welcome." She says, rising to her feet and walking over. "I'll do what I can to help....please." She getstures to the battlefield. "Can you show me what you know so far, if anything? gives me a starting point."
Fayt Ravus	Fayt turns to face Valka as soon as he hears her, "Hmm? Ah, hello." as he makes his way into the ring, Fayt frowns slightly. "Well.... what I know is erm..." he reaches around ot pull his staf off of his back. It looks weird, the grain on the wood is messed up, some spots zig zag, others are dots, some make perfectly straight lines... "For me, fighting with this thing normally means well... this." He points the staff at a random rock, or an archery target if there happens to be one nearby, the staff starting to twist about in his hands as he says calmly. "Force bolt." A bolt of glowing energy suddenly fires from Fayt's staff, hitting it's target with a dull THUNK. Fayt meanwhile, calmly holds his staff upright as it settles down and stops twisting around. "like I said, I usually keep my distence when I can help it."
Valka	Magic, Valka has heard of, but actually witnessing it is something else. The woman leans on her staff, one braid falling over her shoulder as she watches the bolt of light impact the archery target, blowing a clean hole right through the center of it. She honestly expects it to be smoking at this point, and feels a bit saddened when it doesn't. Still, she nods, looking to the blue-haired mage. "Okay then - first question. Can that staff take a hit? Is it fragile in any way, basically? Does that twisting weaken it? I want to be sure that, if you get into a fight, the first time you parry or attack it doesn't snap in half from the strain. May I?" Valka leans her staff against a nearby post and moves closer to peer at the staff, with it's oddly-twisted grain. The fact that it was writhing like a living thing is....unsettling, but this is the multiverse.
Fayt Ravus	"Well..." Fayt replies as he holds the staff out for a closer look. "As far as I can tell, looks aside the staff is perfectly normal. it does tend ot move when I start putting pwoer through it, but as long as I'm not doing that, it's just a weird looking staff. He taps the end against the ground a couple of times, it sound solid enough and suprisingly looks unaffected by what just happened a few moments ago. "it should be ok."
Valka	"Just making sure." Valka says with a smile, stepping back and taking her staff. This one isn't the usual curved bone one, but a wooden one a little taller than she is, about as thick as a heavy broomstick, polished smooth from years of use. "So, first lesson. What is your plan if someone is attacking you? Assume I'm coming at you with a spear, like so." She holds the staff out like a spear in front of her and starts to move closer, kind of in a slow-motion run. "Without magic, mind you."
Fayt Ravus	Fayt, almost instinctively takes aim... right up untll the words 'without magic' get uttered. Instead he chages gears, starting to back up. "Well... if I have to, I generally try to get out of the way, if I REALLY had to I could probably try to use my staff to push the spear asside, though that's somewhat unlikely to work given my lack of strength..." his head starts to tilt from side to side as he considers things.
Valka	"Both good options." Valka says, stopping her approach and straightening. "First, avoid if possible. Attackers want to put their sharp bits in your tender ones, or bash your tender ones, or do things that are better left undone to anything tender or not-so-tender. Are you fast on your feet? If not, it might be something good to learn." Valka goes back into spear poking mode. "Okay, what's the first thing you see when you see me attacking you with this 'spear?'" She pauses but answers herself, since it's a rhetorical question. "The weapon coming at you, right? Thing is, swords, spears, staves - all have one weakness that's easily exploitable if you're ready to do so." She straightens and waves her hand. "Where they're attached to the attacker. Now, armor will probably change this, but the simple fact of the matter is, if your opponent is not holding the weapon, they probably won't attack you and are very easy to counter attack. Now look, hold your staff like this. Right handed?" A simple question as she shifts, the staff held out in front of her, right hand out in front, tip a little higher than her head, palms down but tight around the staff, butt end around her waist. "From this position, you can attack and defend fairly easily."
Fayt Ravus	Fayt nods slowly "I... well I'm not slow but I could probably be faster. Hmm? I'm right handed, yes." Carefully, he holds his staff out on front of him, trying to mimmick Valka's stance. "So... like this?"
Valka	"Almost." Valka replies moving alongside him, one foot nudging his heels in, left foot straight, weight on the right foot. IT's an odd position, but he should be able to feel how he's kind of balanced on his back leg, legs shoulder-width apart. "Okay, good. Now...right hand tight on the back, left hand loose. You're using your left hand to support the staff, your right hand to position the point. Like this." She moves his right hand up and down and the tip dutifully behaves, moving up and down...except backwards. Lright hand goes up, tip down, right hand goes down, tip goes up. "this allows a lot of thrusting and parrying. Just push your right hand forward...." She moves slowly, letting him see, her right hand loose. "And you thrust. IF you're attacked, you move your left hand out and move the staff in between the attacker and you, deflecting it." She moves, showing him a basic deflection. "I...I know I'm moving kind of fast. So...best to learn by doing." She moves away. "Come on then. Attack me with your staff. Slowly, so you can watch. Simple overhead swing to start." SHe demonstrates....there's a lot of demonstrating.
Fayt Ravus	Curiously, Fayt's first instinct to Valka approaching him is to start backing away again, though he quickly stops once he realizes what's going on. He pays close attention as Valka instructs him. "R-right, I see." As he's told to attack, he frowns slightly. "Ok..." Slowly, he approaches Valka bringing the staff up for an overhead swing, it's a bit awkward, partialyl becasue he's not used ot fighting this staff, partially because he's trying to make sure he's swinging slow enough. This is the part here he falls over, isn't it?
Valka	It's not the part where he falls over. As he attacks, Valka slides her left hand out and lifts the staff up in one smooth motion, blocking it, a sharp crack of wood meeting wood. The staff may vibrate a little, too, in Fayt's hands, but the warping of the wood may help with the sting. "Good first instincts, but eventually you'll run out of places to run. Backing away is good, but going sideways helps too. That was a block." Valka straightens and takes a step back. "Attack again." And when he does, she simply steps aside, the staff hittting the ground. "Again." When he attacks again she moves forward, into his personal space, the staff clattering harmlessly against her shoulder, Valka is a patient teacher - not a drill seargent or despot, but not easy either. She directs, drills, and makes Fayt do motions over and over again, blocking, parrying, and thrusting. Single, simple movements to start.
Fayt Ravus	Fayt is fortunatly a very cooperative student, he doesn't complain or anything, and follows instructions to the best of his ability. Surprisingly, he's good about not dropping his staff, though given what it does when he starts casting, he's probably used to keeping a death grip on it. The other thing of note is Fayt seems to REALLY take badly to people getting into his personal space, he tends to back off or at least lean away from Valka when she does that. Either Fayt's got the idea of keeping his distence REALLY drilled into his head, or he's just timid and doesn't like people near him. Could be both?
Valka	Could be. Could be. It only took a few dozen times for Fayt to start standing correctly. A few more to get him to keep his palms down. A few more still to get his hands sliding over the staff, holding it, but letting the staff move itself too. And Valka does press in close, from time to time, but not to get on Fayt's nerves, but to show him ways to block, ways to dodge, ways to get inside or out of combate quickly and easily. During a break, the pair sweating, Valka talks, offhandedly. "The fastest way to end a fight is to attack. Destroy that which is attacking you, make them drop their weapon, make them regret moving into your personal space. If you can use magic at the same time as you attack, it makes it that much more...interesting. That bolt - imagine striking someone in the stomach after deflecting their blow and using that? Or make them drop their sword then come back around with a powerful blow to knock them off of their feet." She offers some water, taking some for herself after a moment. "You will probably do best to focus on vital areas. Throat, hands, neck, eyes, joints. Places that don't require a lot of strength to cause damage,"
Fayt Ravus	Fayt lets out a pained groan as he takes the offerd water. The multiverse made him a bit tougher than one might expect, but he's still a mage. "t-thank you." he takes a drink, letting out a sigh. "I can actually makes shockwaves to try and get people to back away again. That's what I've been doing when people get to close, that and a few other spells I have." a pause then. "Thanks for the help."
Valka	"Shockwaves? How much can you move or, more specifically, deflect? Because if you can send a shockwave into the ground and send a wave of rock at them, or knock their legs out from under them and send them prone, leaving them helpless..." Valka's thinking with survival in mind. She shakes her head after a moment and smiles. "You're doing well, Fayt. And you're welcome."
Fayt Ravus	"I know I can knock over most people, assuming they don't simply back away themselves." Fayt replies. "If I timed it right I could probably stop arrows and the like." There's another pause as he tries to catch his breath. "like I said, I usuly fight at a distence, I'm not helpless up close, but most of what I know is based around making sure people eitehr can't get close, or don't stay close for too long, which is hard to do when your opponent is an overly energetic fox person."
Valka	"Is that why you needed some lessons with the staff? Overly energetic fox person going to cause you problems with a staff?" It's clearer now, why he's wanting lessons. "The trick for her, then, is to limit her mobility. Get her to charge you and then get out of the way. Taunt her. Use your magic to limit the battlefield. And hope you get lucky."