Welcome to Gaia! ::

As luck would have it, she wasn't the only one looking to improve her combat skills. Rob sauntered into the practice room at the Armory, noticing only a couple others who were beating on the dummies with dummy weapons. Only one of them wasn't using a dummy weapon. The crack of a whip echoed through the room, catching Rob's attention, and he watched the girl who was wielding the weapon for a few minutes pull stuffing out of her practice dummy with the tip of the whip. From his vantage point, she looked… familiar, though he couldn't put a name to the curly mane or shapely form. Of course, he'd seen everyone at some point either in battle or around the Prytaneum, so it shouldn't have surprised him that he probably knew who she was.

Keeping well out of range of the whip, he circled around so he could get a better look at her and waited until there was a pause in the action. "Hallo," he said finally, with a wave of his hand and a friendly smile on his lips. "You're pretty good with that thing. You'll have to excuse me, but… have we met yet? I'm Rob. Dionysus scum," he added with a grin.

Now that he was getting a better look at her, he knew he had seen her around here before. Who was she? This was going to bother him.

Blinking in surprise, Rob took a better look at the girl. "Woad?... wait, you were at the party! You were the vampire! Stunning costume, that." He took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you again, Beth. Yeah, there was a lot going on, wasn't there?" He was quite frankly surprised that he remembered even half of it, what with getting fairly tipsy and the, ahem, other libation Asher had shared with him. But he remembered her, and that luscious red gown she'd been wearing, and he smiled at her. How could he forget the flirting they'd done? Even though it had gone nowhere, it had still been fun.

But this was a different scenario, and he didn't want to overstep his bounds (especially after watching her wield that whip). He had no idea whether or not she would be amenable to flirtations in a non-inebriated state. Still, he couldn't help himself. It was just how he rolled.

"So," he started, his smile turning lopsided and half into a grin, "I see you've been doin' a number on that practice dummy. Would you like something real to crack your whip at? I was comin' in here to practice meself anyway, so... " He shrugged. "Why not turn it into a full-on spar? I can get me dummy greatsword, and we can have a go at each other. Sounds like larks to me."

Rob had to agree, the William Wallace kilt-and-little-else costume was one of his best ideas, despite how cold he was wearing it. Granted, it warmed up considerably the more he drank… And he was kicking himself now that he'd gotten distracted from his flirtations with Beth. She was a pretty girl, and seemed like someone cut from much the same cloth as he was regarding flirting and such. They could have had rather a bit of fun at the party.

"No, gettin' a scar on me face wouldn't make me look dashing," Rob grinned as he followed her to the weapon rack and retrieved the practice greatsword. "That only happens in the movies. Neither would losing an eye -- I ain't no pirate." He strode back to the open space near the practice dummies and tested the heft of the dulled, foam-edged weapon. It was a little different than the real thing, and sometimes that was enough to throw him off in a fight. Still, practice made perfect -- he knew that as a working musician.

He swung the sword around slowly and waited for Beth. "Ready to go, love?"

Weapon: Greatsword
Init bonus: 0

Beth's crack of the whip was leisurely enough that Rob was able to spin mostly out of the way. Mostly. The tip caught him on the left arm, and even though it was cushioned slightly, it still stung. "Ow," he hissed, dropping his right hand from the hilt of the greatsword to rub the spot she'd hit. "Nice shot." That thing was hard to evade. He couldn't imagine going up against it in an actual combat situation. Not that he would, since she was on his side, but what if they came across someone -- or some thing -- that had a whip-like weapon. In this respect, it was doubly good; he was learning to defend against such a weapon.

Brandishing the dummy sword, he stalked around her, trying to figure how to get within the reach of that whip. He finally shrugged and decided to just go for it. As much as he wanted this to be a good sparring match, he definitely didn't want to hurt or bruise her, even though bruises were going to be something of an inevitability.

He swung, and the tip of the greatsword just brushed against her leg, lightly enough that it wouldn't have caused any damage at all. Damn, he clearly hadn't gotten close enough in to actually hit her. With a snorted sigh, he frowned a bit. He'd have to do better next time.

Weapon: Greatsword (heavy melee)
HP: 48/50
Dmg: 0

Frustrated with himself, Rob scowled and swung the greatsword around his head, getting a better feel for the practice weapon. No sooner were his arms up in the air than Beth teased him and cracked her whip again. This time the tip of the whip caught him on the side, actually tearing a hole in his t-shirt and leaving a wound behind. "Ow, s**t that hurts!" he yelped, recoiling from the sharp sting. He dabbed his fingers at the injury, eyes widening when they came away bloody. Looking up at Beth, he nodded. "I'm fine. Ow, that hurts. That was a very good shot." A wicked little grin crossed his lips. "Now it's my turn."

He wasted no time setting himself and swinging the greatsword, trying to take advantage of Beth's distraction. Clearly it took him getting upset for him to wield the sword effectively; he hit her this time, and hit her hard. Immediately he stopped, raising a hand to his mouth. "Oh god, are you alright? I didn't mean to hit you quite that hard, sorry…"

Weapon: Greatsword (heavy melee)
HP: 40/50
Dmg: 10

He hadn't meant to hit her so hard! He really hadn't meant to hurt her! Apparently his horrified apology had only served to fuel her attack. Rob tried to evade the force of the whip, but he just wasn't fast enough. The foam-wrapped weapon tangled like a snake around his leg, the tip smacking him hard on the rear; his balance thrown off, he tumbled to the ground, landing on his shoulder on the mat.

Pushing himself up on his elbow, he winced as he rubbed his backside. "Beth…" He looked up at her as sincerely as he could manage, brown eyes wide. "I honestly didn't mean to hit you so hard. And I know you didn't mean to cut me." With a chuckle, he shrugged. "Maybe we should have done this at like half-speed or something."

Rob worked his way to his feet, picking up his dummy greatsword from where he'd dropped it. Setting himself in his stance again, he half-heartedly swung the weapon at her, all the enthusiasm for the spar gone out of him.

Weapon: Greatsword (heavy melee)
HP: 32/50
Dmg: 5

Yeah, definitely not the best start. Rob watched Beth's face as his practice greatsword hit her shoulder with seemingly little effect, despite the solid reverberation in his hands. Oh well, at least he hadn't hurt her again, there was some small consolation in that. He hadn't meant to swing quite that slowly, though, even though he'd been talking about half-speed practice. Overcompensating, he supposed, for his prior overenthusiasm. Next time they'd start off at half speed and build up to actual sparring. If there was a next time. She might be too angry with him yet.

She cracked her whip, and caught him on the arm, the tip of the whip flicking around his back and catching him on the other arm. The blow was sharp and hard enough that it caused him to yelp and stumble slightly. He loosened his grip on the greatsword and dropped it, the dummy weapon falling with a thud onto the mat.

Rob looked down at the sword, then up at Beth, still wrapped as he was in the padded whip. "I, ermh, think we've had enough practice for today," he managed with a lopsided, apologetic grin. "I am willing to declare you the victor in this sparring match. Basically, you beat the snot out of me."

Weapon: Greatsword (heavy melee)
HP: 24/50