Lazarus Peirsaly

13. Learning to Live

Today, I am awoken by Synlie. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. The sun has barely come out yet, causing the light from my window to only slightly illuminate my room. I want to go back to sleep.

"What time is it..." I let out a yawn as I ask her.

"It is four thirty in the morning. As you have begun to become independent and wander out longer, I feel it necessary to teach you self defense. The chances of being attacked are low, but it is still a chance."

"I don't want to... Let me sleep..." I go to lay back down, but Synlie moves a hand to my back to prevent me from doing so.

"It may be an inconvenience now, but it is vital that you learn how to protect yourself. If something were to happen to you, it would hurt you physically and your friends emotionally."

"Yeah, but I don't care much." I yawn and get fully woken up.

"It may be so, yet what would your lover think? They would be heartbroken if the one whom they are devoted to were injured or slain." This is bad, she knows. How? Why?

"What makes you think I have one?"

"I have noticed a new scent from your clothing when you disappear into the night. I confided in Sally, and she said that the reasonable explanation would be that it is the perfume of another person. You would need to be quite close to get the smell of another onto you, so it can be assumed that you engaged in intimate acts that caused closeness for it to occur." That damn big mouthed bastard. I'll get her back someday.

"Don't sniff me. What are you, a dog?"

"As you can see, I do not possess any canine attributes at all, so I can only resemble a human. And I do not sniff you, I noticed it when doing your laundry." That explains it. I should've done my own.

"Then if that's true, do you know who it is that I am seeing?"

"I do not. If you had not told me and sneak off into the night to meet with them, then you want it to be a secret. It would be rude of me to pry."

"Appreciate it. But I still don't want to train. I work for twelve hours, I don't want to use anymore energy than I need to."

"Your stamina will improve as you do it more. Come along now. It is only two hours a day." She pulls me out of bed and starts dragging me outside. She's strong, so my fate is sealed.

Outside, the backyard a little lighter due to the sun not being blocked out by as much random clutter  compared to the angle it reaches my room window. I put on some shoes and walk forward.

"I believe I have suggested wielding a dagger in the past because of your build, so let us practice with that. Here you are."

Synlie hands me a dagger. It's slightly worn from her practicing with it in the past, but even something like this is enough to deter an attacker or cause harm with a thrust. She moves close to me and adjusts my posture and hold of it. My feet are shoulder-width apart, my knees are slightly bent and I hold it near my hip so that the blade is pointed to the side of me. One hand holds the hilt while the other is cupped around the back of the hilt. It feels a little uncomfortable. I've played my share of games back in my own world, so this does seem like a combat stance, but you can't really trust the accuracy of those.

"Is this how I should be standing? I'm not used to this."

"It is the ideal position for you. It may take a little getting used to, but it's results will speak volumes for what it may do. If you get into a situation where you must do so, that is."

"How so? Isn't it better to have the blade pointed up or towards my enemy?"

"If you plan to try and fight them head-on, that would be the case. For this position, it allows you to easily maneuver your weapon with your body, allowing you to use momentum for your swings. If you were to hold it with the blade pointed at your foe, you would need to rely on well-placed thrusts mixed with the usage of your other hand to punch and hit them. Go ahead and test the two styles against a dummy."