Del flusters a little at the offer and the compliment; to stay as long as she was welcome was a new experience, and one she was determined to relish. Making the place warmer... she wasn't sure about that herself, but Cyran's words left little room for disbelief. She gives him a small smile and finishes up her stew, very interested to hear how the three of them knew one another.

The story is not one Del expected; it's, frankly, harrowing. Gerhart's careful recounting of facts blends with Cirice's account of how she had fallen for Gerhart in those moments (there, Del grins, endeared by how enamored she was) but had felt otherwise powerless, and Cyran's own point of view, clipped and precise but Del knew him well enough to be able to catch the angle of his eyes and the tone of his voice that this was a deeper wound than he let on. She shifts her hand a little to cover his as he talks; she says nothing. She would ask further later, but in the moment, she simply wants to be here to listen to these three tell this incredible story that had impacted them all in such a variety of ways.

"I'm glad you were all able to be there for one another. It sounds like it was a difficult and terrifying run, but you all made it through and have made some incredible strides for yourselves since leaving it. You should be proud of that accomplishment." Del gives Gerhart and Cirice a look of proud admiration, while her hand squeezes Cyran's gently. She could almost feel the regret tickling the back of her mind, and does her best to alleviate it. "What's this about a sword?" She also looks between the other three at the table, interested. "I don't normally use weaponry, but I am a smith. I'd love to have a look as well."

"You see these two like to act like they were helpless, but Cyran's intuitiveness helped us through most of the puzzles, Cirice kept us both alive, both of them had to be my eyes half the time. I was basically just a kid with a sword who was too stubborn to die." He grinned, making sure to try and shift this into a positive light as was his modus operandi. "Silver linings and all, I learned a lot of my short comings in that dungeon. Hard to know where you really need to improve if you're never tested."

As tough as it was, it was clear Gerhart was far too resolved to ever let anything keep him down for too long. An unhealthy coping mechanism he has yet to properly address.

Gerhart laughs gently seeing everyone clamor to see Cirice's sword, "I think as the boyfriend and the resident swordsman, I should get first look. It's only fair right?" There's another gentle laugh and wide smile. He would not press any further if Cirice felt uncomfortable.

“Yes teach me! I wanna learn it all..” Cirice agrees. She’s glad they moved on from talking about the dungeon pretty quickly, Gerhart’s praise making her blush and his good natured self-depreciation makes her shoot him a look. She pokes his nose gently, “We all learned our shortcomings there and we’ll cover them together. You were incredible, don’t forget that.”

She giggles as he claims the rights to see her sword first. “Absolutely fair. I present to you, Crestfallen!” She summons the shortsword into her hand with a flourish of her wrist. Handing it carefully to Gerhart to let him inspect it.

“I know it doesn’t look like too much, but its really special. You turn this here and…” she turns the ring at the top of the hilt, letting the blade unfurl into a bladed whip. “Ta da! Its a whip too. Then you turn the ring again and it pulls things to you! Its pretty clever and I can cast magic through it! Its perfect for staying pretty far away if you need to.”

She looks between the three of them, suddenly nervous, “What do you think?”

“As much as I wish we had not been in such a situation, there’s nothing we can do about it now. What matters is we all survived, and what we learned from the experience.” Cyran said with a shrug. He didn’t really want to say much more and upset Cirice, not when she didn’t particularly like talking about it. Still, he felt a little surge of pride from the compliment, and grounded by Del holding tightly to his hand in reassurance. “It’s par the course for my line of work, but…” He sighed, before putting on a smile.

“But yes, please, let’s see your sword.”

He watched with rapt attention as Cirice summoned the blade into her hands, revealing its whipped component. It seemed an… awfully violent weapon, he thought with a touch of concern. But one that had range with it as well… he pursed his lips, silent, as Gerhart inspected the weapon before bending over to get a closer look at it.

It thrummed with power to the touch.

“It’s a versatile weapon.” Cyran praised, though he was still on the fence about it. It was unfair of him to feel such a way, he knew, but… something about the weapon unnerved him for reasons he couldn’t place. He wanted Cirice to be safe above all, though. He looked up at her before his gaze drifted to the training dummies. “Perhaps you’d be willing to give a demonstration? I’d love to see how far you-“ And he glanced at Gerhart as well- “How far the both of you - have progressed.”

"Very proud." Del repeats firmly, smiling gently. Her attention shifts as Cirice produces the weapon, allowing it first to touch Gerhart's hands so he could get a look and a swish. She watches raptly, especially as a twist of the ring at one end unravels the whip, and draws it back. It's a fascinating, well crafted weapon. And Del knew a thing or two about weapons.

And, to Del, with having no knowledge of Cirice whatsoever beyond this very first interaction and the fact that Cyran and Gerhart were both enthralled with her, this weapon looked like one of punishment.

"I have to say, I'm impressed," Del says after a few moments of careful thought, smiling at Cirice. "Flexible weapons are notoriously difficult to use, because they can be unpredictable, much less when they have blades affixed to them. The serrated components should help prevent it from getting caught, it would just tear right through. The ring component is a fascinating method of retraction as well." She coughs a little as she realizes she's been nattering on a technicial basis, a little sheepish. "I'd love to see how you both would use it as well. Particularly the magic component."

"Unpredictable for the enemy maybe, but that's the trick. You know exactly what's going to happen. Same thing when you're juggling knives, sure adding in other stuff seems dangerous, but you know what you're doing....Sure it takes a lot more finesse to do properly, but that's the fun."



As he talks, he carefully looks over the blade, checking the sharpness with a thumb, seeing the balance of it as he holds the hilt. Gerhart plays with the segmented part of it just a bit to see how that is constructed and how the segments lock in together.



"The nice thing about this too is, no offense Rice, but it doesn't take a whole lot of strength. The whole thing with whips is more in the wrists and such. You're not really trying to cleave a guy in half, you're letting the movement of the whip do all of that for you. It's a really good choice of weapon, especially if you can cast magic through it."



Gerhart smiles and offers the blade back to her with a kiss of the cheek before standing up to grab the newest of his blades, needing more practice with it anyways.



"If we're all good with dinner I can show off the new move." If everyone is agreeable, he will smile and head back to the training room.



Gerhart squares himself to a dummy, giving the blade a small flourish, "It's simple, should work with just about any blade...it's less about the weapon you are using and more about the movements themselves."



The ranger takes a small breath and takes a jab step forward and swing from right shoulder to left hip. Unlike the other shallow cuts that mark the dummy, this one leaves a deep scar in the wood nearly cutting it in two.



"Lots of people I've fought and even myself....you want to try and swing with every muscle in your arm right? Just hit the guy as hard as you can, seems like it makes sense...but the weight of the sword can do a lot of that work for you. It's a sword, not a hammer after all ya know? You shouldn't just bash someone, let the weight of the blade carry it down and step into it. Simple, but it took me awhile to get down and not just swing all out every time."

Cirice’s blush deepens at the attention and she nods, “Sure I can show you how I use it. You’re absolutely right Gerhart, Its good for me because it doesn’t take a ton of strength and I can use my speed and agility instead.”

She grins as he gives back the sword and gives her a little kiss on the cheek. The cheek kisses are so wonderful and gentle and she could melt from the sweet affection he gives her. “Yes show me your move! I bet its as awesome as you are!” She cries with delight, following after him with pep in her step.

Giving her full attention to her beloved and trying to listen and watch his movements she squeals in surprise as he nearly bisects the dummy so fluidly. He’s incredibly strong and cool and her heart does a little flip in her chest.

“Wow… You’re so skilled… That was beautiful!” She comes over and looks at the cut closely, “You make it look so easy… I don't know if I could do that with my sword, but I'd love to try!”

With dinner finished, the group moved to Gerhart’s training room to watch him show off some of the new tricks he’d picked up in the last couple of months. He could almost feel Del’s apprehension holding Cirice’s new weapon, something that didn’t seem to be shared by Gerhart - he seemed enthusiastic about it, as well as showing off his skills to the rest of them. He handed Crestfallen back to Cirice and retrieved one of his own blades.

Cyran listened and watched intently while he explained what to do, before delivering a devastating blow to the dummy, all raw power and strength. It was a powerful blow, Cyran had to admit.

He nodded, a proud smile on his face as Gerhart finished, turning back to them. “That’s a really impressive move.” He said, reaching for his pocket to retrieve a small bottle of blue liquid. He dumped it out onto his palm, waiting for the material to take the form of a dagger - near identical to the real thing, with the same weight, but without any real sharpness.^[1] Perfect for practice, and would not cause any injury to Gerhart’s dummies.

“Do you mind showing me, as well?” Gerhart’s and his own fighting styles weren’t exactly the same - the young fighter had a lot more strength than him, and preferred to cut deeper where Cyran preferred to cut efficiently. But if the tomb had taught him anything, it was that he could not allow himself to grow falsely confident with his own skills. He needed to keep learning. “They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but…” He shrugged.

He stepped in front of one of the dummies, attempting to mimic Gerhart’s posture the way he’d seen it. The stance was the easy part - but he wasn’t sure he could deliver so much power with a single blade slice. Let the blade carry the weight… he could try that.

---

1. Shaping Putty

Del moves her chair to watch, steepling her fingers together in a bridge under her chin as she watches the techniques, the movements. She watches Gerhart deal a heavy blow with the weapon-- it truly does look unweildly, but in the capable hands of Gerhart and Cirice, she has no doubt they would have no problem finding their mark. She gives Cyran a smile as he stands up, drawing his knife. She has no weapons of her own to speak of, but Del watches regardless.

The three of them have a lot of skill in the movement and motion of the body. Everyone moved differently, had different tools at their disposal. Her leg bounces for a few seconds before she can no longer help herself.

"Try stepping into the movement," Del comments, before standing herself. Weapons were simply extensions of the body, after all, and momentum was something she understood. Gerhart really had his power generation down pat, especially with how much upper body strength he had. When it came to Cyran, who was built more like a slender rapier, a different approach could be useful. She comes beside him to move his back foot back a little, to give him more space to step into. She tilts her head a little and then shifts behind him, to look at his arm. The blades themselves were just different. "Your knife would have more impact if the blow came in the diagonal from your hip up, to transfer power from your feet in the step to your hand."

Del puts her fingers on his hand to show him the motion she had in her mind, a swoop down and then an upward diagonal slash to cleave and gut. Realizing how close she's standing, she steps back to let him give it a shot, smiling sheepishly.

"Thank you." Cyran nods, electing not to think too hard about their proximity lest he combust. She's just showing him how to fix his posture... he shifts his stance and follows through on the motion as Del instructed, putting more power behind the swing than he might normally carry, letting his braced posture and gravity do most of the work. With the fake blade in his hands, he doesn't rip through the dummy, but the force from the blow knocks it back a little.

Del breaks into a laugh and claps her hands, delighted and impressed. That would be devastating if the blade was real. She looks to Gerhart. "What do you think? You're the one who developed the technique, how was that?" Her eyes slip past him to Cirice, "Perhaps you could give Cirice a little tutorial, too?"

"The end result comes down to the weapon really, a longsword is going to have a lot more weight to it, but the technique is still the same. It's not meant to really cut people in half, it's about how you swing and trusting your blade to work with you."

He couldn't help but grin watching Del and Cyran work together. It was hard not to dote on them as well, but he knew how that made him uncomforable at times with Cirice, so he dared not to put any undue pressure on that relationship. It was adorable to watch though. Del is much more intuitive a fighter than she looks.

Gerhart knew better than to underestimate someone just because they don't carry weapons, he knew who Zarius was after all. Still they both carried themselves so differently, Del was seemingly looser in her posture and style so it made her seem more relaxed as opposed to being on guard.

"The other thing to watch out for, especially with a smaller blade, is resisting the urge to pull back as you strike. If you're already backing away, then you're taking away some of that power in your swing and it will end up hitting a lot shallower than you expected....Though easy for me to say wearing armor."

He chuckles softly as he offers for Cirice to try. "If you want to take a swing Rice, go ahead."

Cirice watches Cyran as he tries the move and Del and Gerhart coach him on the movement and stance. She regards her sword hesitantly for just a moment and then takes a deep breath. Trying to imitate the movement and power they put into the blow. Her cut is so much more shallow than the cut Gerhart made, and not as powerful as poised as Cyran’s slash.

She huffs, running her finger along the shallow gash she made in the wood. Not good enough. Stepping back she tries again, but with much the same result. She shakes her head as the others start to give her advice, she wants to figure it out on her own, or at least try. What had Gerhart said? Its not about strength, but finesse. If she wants more finesse… She turns the ring on her hilt and the sword unfurls into a whip. She takes another deep breath and runs at the dummy once more, and jumps, letting the full length of the metal coil cut into the wood and wrap around it. The individual blades lodge themselves into the wood, leaving a devastating gash spread across the torso and the back.

“Like that?”

Del’s advice on his stance did the trick - the diagonal slash let Cyran put enough power behind the blade to rattle the dummy with his fake knife. He rubbed at the back of his neck, sheepish. It was embarrassing to admit, but there were times where his lack of formal training and any teacher shone through. It was easy to rely on his speed to make up for any shortcomings, but his footwork and stance were a glaring sign that all of his blade-knowledge was self taught. Information he’d picked up because it was do or die.

He nodded as Gerhart offered his own advice. It was difficult for him to comprehend not pulling back - it was safest for him to move in and out quickly, to overwhelm and confuse the enemy. But you never knew when a different style would be necessary. Perhaps there would come a day that would require Cyran to deliver powerful strikes, and use his body as a shield. Fight in the same kind of noble matter that Gerhart did.

… The thought of Cyran acting so heroic was laughable. But knowing the technique was good.

He stepped back while Cirice gave it a try. It was a good attempt, especially given her skill level. He could see the frustration simmering under the surface, though - Cyran stepped forward to remind her that it was okay to be patient, but before he could, Cirice twisted her ring and triggered the whip, driving Crestfallen into the dummy until it left horrible gashes along the dummy’s front and backside.

… Where had that sword come from?

Cyran gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs up as Cirice turned around, staring at them with wide, innocent eyes.

“That was perfect, sweetie.” He encouraged - and he meant it. Despite the way Crestfallen made him nervous for reasons he could not properly explain, he truly was happy to see her learning self defense so quickly. “You’re a fast learner. You’ll outpace this old man any day now.”

Though it would still ease his mind to teach her some tricks of his own - not just how to pack power in a punch, but how to escape when necessary.

Still smiling, Del steps back to watch, grinning her own excitement as the others took turns with the technique and the dummy. Cyran's blow impacted with an... impressive amount of force. As Cirice stepped forward to take her turn, she watches the first cursory attempt and leans forward, elbows braced on her knees. She watches the furrowed brow and renewed focus. As Cyran steps forward, a little tingle of comfort in the back of her mind, Cirice twists the ring on the hilt and leaps, full on, into the air, putting all of her weight into the strike. The bladed whip wraps around the back and front of the dummy, shredding it, tearing into the wood with a level of violence that... she expected, actually. A weapon like that was not meant for duels of fairness and honour, it was meant to rend and destroy.

Who had made such a thing, she wondered? And why was it in the hands of a sweet girl like Cirice?

"Well done, Cirice!" Del applauds, beaming. She steps forward toward the dummy, lifting it up off the ground to re-right it once again. She stands there for a moment, looking at the well beaten dummy, and, almost out of habit, taps it with her elbow and then a jab. It rocks back and forth once before coming to rest. "I think it can take a couple more of those, though probably not by much." Chuckling, she steps back to give Gerhart's technique her own try. She takes that little jab step forward, but instead of using her hand, she does a slow, controlled swing of her leg, twisting her body so her leg went up and around, where her heel would touch where the dummy's neck met its torso. "Good distance, the power feels right. Maybe..."

She resets. And then, like Cirice uncoiling her whip, like Cyran's incredible speed, and like Gerhart's downward strike, Del's body torques, lashing out with her leg in a back axe-kick that brings her heel down with a heavy crack into the juncture of neck and torso, sending the dummy crashing to the ground, the wood bouncing and clattering with her blow.

Del takes a little hop back and then relaxes her stance with a faint chuckle, reaching down to right the dummy again. "That is good. Well done, Gerhart, you've developed a fine technique." Del looks back to Cyran with a smile. "Did you mention you had one as well?"

"Just like that." He grins and gives Cirice a kiss on the cheek as a reward. "It'll take a bit to get the muscle memory down, but if you get it right that'll leave a pretty serious wound on a creature. Magical healing is good, but I've heard it has trouble if the wound is too large, that's kind of the idea."

"It is also a lot easier to do if you don't think about defense." He grins, picking up ever so slightly on how at odds his advice was with Cyran's modus operandi. "Keep this up and I'm going to have to start charging you all for breaking these dummies~"

As much as Gerhart would like to pretend he is tough and stern, it's hard to really sell it with such a boyish face and laugh. His ears perk up hearing Cyran has a technique of his own. It was his turn to be the student this night.

The kiss and the praise is enough to send Cirice’s cheeks into a deep purple blush. “I’ll pay of course, or just fix them for you. Thanks for teaching me. This is amazing, I can’t believe you created such cool technique! You guys were amazing, each of you have your own distinct style using the same move and it’s so wonderful. I don’t think I’ll ever outpace any of you!”

She leans into Gerhart’s side. “Yeah show us, Cyran! I want to learn too!”