[D9LA] Wooden arguments (Expecting)

[Moto Mitsuki]

Damn, this was tiring. Mitsuki hadn't been impressed by the Shiba technique – not that she had let him many opportunities to show it off – but his endurance was the real deal.

"Wouldn't be the first nor the last tale of someone blatantly favored by one deity and mercilessly struck by another. To localize a joke from the other side of the world: 'In Rokugan, there are 1,000 Fortunes. If one likes you, that leaves 999 who may hate you.'

But indeed, if you lived to this day, there must be some luck permeating those bones. Battlefields are such a mess, there are so many random opportunities for things to go south, it's a wonder warriors like us see more than one of them. Even with all our training and experience."

[Shiba Raizo]

Yes, these damn things definitely work better in a formation...

In fact, if he didn't outmuscle her so heavily, he was pretty sure she'd have been able to stick to him and batter him down by now.

"No argument there. Every single fight I've ever been in has seen carefully crafted plans get lost in the mud and the blood... and that's just in the marching to find the enemy of the day..."

[Moto Mitsuki]

With an actual blade, the Shiba might have been bleeding dry for several falsely superficial cuts. Or not. Would depend on the armor, the exact angles of the strikes, lots of real life parameters a mock fight did a poor job at emulating.

With an exercise blade, Mitsuki was just poking at him with a stick, which was likely almost as unnerving for her than it was for him, but certainly not efficient.

"Marching forward an enemy whose exact position you don't know seems like quite a desperate tactic. In which circumstances had you to resort to it?"

[Shiba Raizo]

Might be I'd have bled to death by now. On the other hand, might be I'd have smashed her sideways into someone or something nasty and dropped her prone. Practice spars are so frustrating. She's definitely got more technique than I do, though.

"Bandit hunting. 'Oh they're out there somewhere, and you will crush them when you find them.' And then after marching around like idiots for what feels like a month, you finally talk your gunso into... not disobeying but modifying his understanding of his orders so you can do a proper scouting while everyone else sits tight..."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"It's a well-known fact than the further away from the order-giver you are, the better you understand what they meant to say.

If someone asks you to start a fire with a lighter, as long as the fire is eventually burning, they rarely care if you actually used a shiny rock, two sticks rubbed together or a lighting bolt strike. Doubly so if you did it twice as fast as expected."

A new inconclusive exchange of blows.

"Break? This sparring is just going nowhere. I think we need to rethink our approach."

[Shiba Raizo]

"Oh, I think I'd be bleeding more than you were in a real fight, so why don't we call you the victor and plan something different for the next round?"

[Moto Mitsuki]

"I think 8 days of Deer's trials have made me allergic to the concept of winning or losing an arbitrary exercise. I'm fine with a tie.

So, did your opinion on shields change, for the best or the worst?"

[Shiba Raizo]

"Oh, i already thought they made sense. Seeing one used so effectively in melee just confirmed it. Maybe revised it upwards, even."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"There are bigger models that are not really better for melee, but make quite the difference against projectiles. Not really something you can use on horseback though, so I've only seen them in action on the receiving end. They're heavier of course, but I'm under the idea that won't be a problem for you."

[Shiba Raizo]

"You see that prayer wheel I lugged here on my back? Yeah. I'm used to carrying a lot of heavy junk. Something that might actually save my life is worth the haul."

He frowned.

"Of course, almost every weapon I'm likely to use takes two hands..."