gnossienne
n. the realisation that you didn't actually know someone as well as you thought you did
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'Look, I never wanted to be a half-blood.
Let's start from the top, shall we?
My name is Cassandra Jackson, but everyone usually calls me Ca...
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Thursday afternoon, we had our very first sword-fighting lesson which was lead by Luke. We started off with the basics: stabbing, blocking and some slashing on some dummies suited in Greek armour. Much to my surprise, my reflexes were good.
It seemed, however, that Percy and I struggled to find a sword that felt right. Some were too heavy or too light or too long. Luke tried to help us out, but even he agreed that none of them suited us correctly.
We moved on to duelling in pairs. A friendly girl, my age, bounced up to me, making her short curly brown hair bob up and down.
"I'm Lucy!" She chirped, beaming. "Want to be my partner?" I looked at Percy, not knowing whether he wanted me to partner up with him. Percy smiled, but nodded.
"Sure." I held out my hand, for her to shake it. "I'm Cassandra or Cassie." Lucy swatted away my hand and instead hugged me tightly.
"I love your name! It suits you so well." She gushed. I smiled.
Lucy was a strong component. It seemed to come natural to her, making it harder for me to disarm her.
"Remember to keep your guard up." Lucy kept throwing tips at me and helped to correct my stance. "A bit lower... that's it! Now, try again." I lunged, but she blocked it. Lucy went to swipe at me, but I jumped backwards avoiding her. "You're getting better." She praised. I dodged her again, but she attacked straight away, getting me.
Eventually, Luke seemed to call for a break. I fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Lucy giggled at me, throwing a water bottle at me. I caught it. Instead of taking a drink, I tipped it over me. Immediately, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms and I wasn't panting as hard now.
"Okay, everybody, circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you all a little demo." I saw that Percy did mind, but he didn't want to say anything. Luke told us all that he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist your enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that they would have no choice, but to drop there weapon.
"This is very difficult," Luke stressed. "I've had it used against me, so no laughing at Percy. It takes most swordsmen years to master this technique." First Luke showed the move in slow motion, and sure enough Percy's sword clattered to the ground. Once Percy picked it up and was ready, Luke showed us again, except this time in real time. Once more, Percy picked his up sword after it fell to the ground. "Now, we're going to keep sparring, until one of us manages to disarm the other by using this technique." Percy nodded and Luke charged. Percy managed to keep blocking him each time and eventually tried to thrust on his own, but Luke deflected it easily.
I could see Percy was getting tired and it wouldn't be long until Luke took him down. Percy's blade hit the base of Luke's. He twisted, putting all his weight into a download thrust.
