It's Called a Lance, Hello {Gawain}

[Lancelot du Lac]

Finally, finally Levi managed to get to the field. Arthur hadn't assigned Levi to work directly with the new recruits; that had been the task of some knight that Levi hadn't met before (a problem that he was literally in the process of remedying). No, Levi's duty had been to put the infirmary together. Short of actually training healers, he'd done so, and there were plenty of people capable of teaching what you needed to know. Plus, Levi had managed to get to some of the people he was most concerned about (mostly women) and had... conversations with them, mostly where Levi was told precisely where he could shove it.

Levi had never wanted more to get to a training ground.

The field had been turned over to training the new recruits, or at least, it was for this particular moment. Levi was pleasantly surprised to find that nearly all the recruits were lined up in nice, neat rows, all reasonably presentable. He followed their directions toward the knight in charge of the whole mess.

"Hey!" Levi called as he came closer, nodding. The young healer slash knight felt his sword bang against his side in a familiar manner, and the roughened padded armor he wore should give away his intentions easily enough. "I'm Sir Levain of Astolat, sworn knight of the Summer Country. I was hoping to get a few rounds in here, to keep my skills sharp..."

Who was this guy? Strange that Levi didn't immediately recognize him...

[Deleted]

Gawain had been a little downhearted to discover that he would not be working with Lancelot on the barricades and the front line of defence. He like fighting, it was right up there with sex and drinking and yet here he was left behind to train all the new recruits which were…lets face it, already a walking disaster. Dissatisfied he had located his cousin and yelled at him until he explained why Gawain was being held back and given such a menial task. Arthur had laughed, and said that since Gawain was so adept at handling his three younger Scottish brothers, teaching them how to fight, how to defend, that a few hundred new recruits would be no problem. His pride suitably inflated Gawain had returned to his task with a new vigour and thus far was proving that he was not the kind of drill sergeant you messed with.

“Wit the f*** are youse two doin’?” he yelled at a couple of recruits over in the corner, apparently deciding to take a break to top up their tans, “I said ye were tae run round this field ten times afore ye could even think aboot sitting doon. Git up before I come over there and rip yer-!”

“Yes sir,” said the two young men, jumping to their feet and running off.

Gawain turned back to his other recruits who all looked suitable afraid. Good. He was about to launch into his usual speech when someone decided to interrupt. There was a collective gasp from the recruits and Gawain glared at them. He held a hand up to silence Levi and facing the recruits he shouted, “Noo as I was sayin’, afore any of ye can even touch a sword tae clean it, I’ve got tae make sure ye can lift the damn thing. So ye see those logs over there.” The recruits turned and looked, internally groaning, some externally, guessing what was coming, “I want ye tae take them up and doon the field five times. Pit yourselves intae teams o’four. Fastest team gets a barrel of ale. GO!”

The recruits ran off and Gawain turned to face Levi, giving him the once over. “Aye, I ken who ye are,” he said, trying to sound stand offish and cold, but it was difficult for a man who wanted to get on with everyone, “Lance told me all aboot ye. Wit can a dae fer ye Sir Latrine.”

[Lancelot du Lac]

Levi had caught the tail end of Gawain's training regime, something about running, running for a barrel of ale. Well, it certainly sounded like the type of reward that ye average soldier would appreciate. The runners seemed at least a little encouraged. Levi watched them, his eyes slightly squinted against the sun, before looking back to Gawain.

Lance. Lance had told him all about... Levi had only really met Lancelot once, and had been doing his level best to avoid the other knight since. Despite the fact that Lancelot had done absolutely nothing to Levi, had, in fact, been as much a victim of circumstance as the healer had, Levi still couldn't bring himself to even be truly civil to the other knight. Even hearing his name made Levi bristle slightly, his stance shifting, his body tightening.

"It's Levain," he said, his voice taking on a slight edge, "and I'm here to train. I'm going to need to brush up on my skills if I'm going to be taking the field."

As if his appearance hadn't been enough of an indication of that.

[Deleted]

Gawain gave the man the once over, taking in everything about him. He tried to make the look full of judgement and scorn but it wasn’t really working, he just couldn’t do that. Unless it was someone he really hated and really he didn’t actually have any reason to dislike this guy other than the fact Lance had said that this guy didn’t like him very much. That was a really stupid reason not to like someone but Gawain was doing his best to hold up the bro code…

Of course…

Perhaps he could change that, maybe if he just talked about how awesome Lance was to this guy he would get the idea and stop hating him. He could use his powers of being able to make friends with anyone to his advantage. He could change the mind of this poor delusional lad that thought Lance wasn’t all that great.

Plan.

Grinning he said, “aye alright then. But I thought youse were in charge of all the sick folk, like? I dinne ken ye’d be fighting as well. Ach well, who kens wit goes through ma cousins thick skull.”

Crossing over to where there was a pile of 6ft wooden staffs he picked one up, motioning for Levain to do the same, “Ye wanna practice, lets practice.”

[Lancelot du Lac]

Levi nearly winced at that none too gentle reminder of his current position. "I'm the school's healer, yes," he admitted. He was already moving toward the weapons even as the words passed his lips. "But when things get started, I'll be heading to the field. We'll need more people on the front lines than in the back, and we've plenty of healers."

Levi began sorting through the staffs. None of them were any that he'd used in practice before. None felt familiar in his grip. Yet they were still familiar enough. It might have been some time since Levi had trained with weapons such as this, but he still remembered. His body certainly did. He drew out the weapon with obvious training, though the rust was also nearly as obvious in his movements.

"Yeah, this should work," he said. He took the staff into a fighter's grip, shifting his hands as he familiarized himself with the weapon. He looked to Gawain and nodded, clearly wanting to signal that he was ready whenever the other man was.

[Deleted]

The minute there was the chance of a decent fight happening, it was only natural that some of the others present began to gather round. Especially since this fight included the man that had been non stop shouting at them all week and working them till every muscle in their body was aching. Half of them wanted to see the Scot laid out on his back and very roughed up. The other half that was beginning to join wanted their teacher to teach the new young upstart a few lessons, have someone else be humiliated for a moment.

Gawain just wanted a decent fight. Winning and losing didn’t matter in this case because it was just practice, in practice it was all about the fight. If he won he would go back and think about what he did to help him win, so he would do it again, if he lost he would figure out what went wrong so he didn’t do it again.

Gripping the staff in two hands he said, “On ma count. Three…two…WAN!”

Gawain pushed the staff forward heading for the lower regions of Levain’s body.

[Lancelot du Lac]

Levi nearly asked what the hell a "wan" was. However, there was a stick being thrust toward him, which drove aside any paltry concerns such as linguistics. The knight's reflexes were rusty. He managed to move, jerking the staff down to stave off most of the blow, but it was less the practiced action he should be performing and more the reflex anyone with a decent body would be able to perform. Levi wanted to curse his own fortune, but elected instead to act.

He brought his own staff up, aiming for Gawain's face. He figured if nothing else, it would give him the space.