A Knight and Her Squire {for French Polynesia}

[CleverFox]

The little white haired squire looked at her as she sort of scolded him and then offered up a bribe of sorts. "Okay!" Castiel agreed immediately, the little one sort of bouncing around as he gazed up at his mistress. For the time being he was focused and ready to work but there was no guarantees on how long that was going to last.

[French Polynesia]

"Good." Eliza walked up to him and gave two big kisses on both his cheeks. This was her ritual- it meant that from now on, she was Lady Eliza, Imperial Knight and defender of the realm. Castiel had entered her sacred training grounds and she was a harsh taskmistress.

Eliza pointed at the training clothes before promptly stripping and puttin on hers, a sleeveless cotton tunic and knee length shorts. She also made a point to let him see her put on her thin leather belt- she had used it a couple of times on him when he was being especially naughty and hoped the sight of it would be enough to get him to raise up his game.

Eliza stretched and called him to her. "Alright, Cassie, I want you to start with the stretches you know the drill." She said, making him stretch and warm-up.

[CleverFox]

Castiel was pretty quick to change into his training clothes, the little one getting ready and then looking over at his mistress as she spoke to him. He sort of huffed when she told him to start with the stretches but he moved to obey since he didn't want to find trouble for himself already. And he knew that she wasn't going to put up with any slacking or nonsense from him. Things were very different between the two of them when it was time to train, that was something that Castiel had learned very early on in this endeavor.

Which wasn't to say that he didn't push while training but he was much more wary about doing such than he was when they weren't training.

[French Polynesia]

Eliza supervised his warm-up, going behind him and patting his bottom softly when he wasn't putting his all into it. Once she could see the perspiration form on his forehead, she stopped. "Okay Cassie, we are going over basic drills to get your blood pumping before we start defending against magic attacks." To emphasize this, she made a small fireball with her hand, lobbing it in his direction. She had it disappear just before reaching him, she was checking his response.

[CleverFox]

"I wanna do the exciting stuff, this is boring," the youth protested when Eliza said that they were going to go through basic drills. These were familiar to the young squire at this point and thus somewhat frustrating for Castiel when he was forced to do them. Of course he knew that it was something that was necessary and that he had to continue to practice them so that his skills did not become rusty but that didn't mean that they weren't boring.

Castiel was somewhat startled when his mistress tossed a small fireball at him, the youth sort of jumping out of the way. And then frowning slightly as he realized that it had disappeared. He turned his turquoise eyes to his mistress in a very disapproving manner... likely a look that he had gotten from her on multiple occasions.

[French Polynesia]

"Cassie, what is my rule about talking back during the drills?" She asked him pointedly. She knew how boring it was and her youth was filled with getting her bottom striped for slacking off basic training as much as Castiel. Eliza always felt a little guilty at admonishing him for saying the same words she used.

She threw the fireball to check his reflexes and was pleased when he dodged. "Very good, Cassie. Although you were slow- had I not pulled it back, your hair and eyebrows would have been singed."

She went over grab his twin daggers, the special ones which he was only allowed to use a few times. "These have a special magic dispelling rune." She pointed at the markings. "Used correctly, a single slash at a low level attack like a fireball just as it reaches you will make it disappear." Eliza closed her eyes and conjured six fireballs which floated over to different spots around the two. She flicked a hand and one fireball flew towards her which she dissapated with a well timed slash of the blade. She turned to Castiel for his reaction.

[CleverFox]

"I'm not allowed to do it," Castiel said somewhat sullenly when he was questioned about the knight's rules about back-talking during these boring drills. "...they are boring though," the little squire couldn't help but add in after giving the answer that his mistress was seeking. He knew the answer but that didn't really change his opinion on this whole matter.

The fireball that was sent in his direction caused the squire to be a bit disgruntled, a feeling that was only amplified when Eliza pointed out that he was slow. "...still dodged," he said in his own defense, huffing softly after he spoke the words.

His attention was captured fully when he watched what Eliza went to retrieve, Castiel watching what she was doing with rapt attention. This was more along the lines of what he actually wanted to do and after watching her little demonstration he sort of bounded over to her. "I can do that!" he announced with the arrogance that came hand in hand with youth. Castiel, like most boys his age and even older, was of the impression that he could do anything... at least until it was proven otherwise.

When he reached his mistress he held his hands out for the daggers.

[French Polynesia]

Eliza gave his comment a quick swat to the seat of his pants. "That was backtalk." She wagged her finger.

His comment about the fact that he still dodged caused her to chuckle. "Good. And I want you to have that instinct, kid. Trying to take on a quick magic attack may get you hurt. It's always better to dodge if you aren't quick enough.

She handed him one of the daggers, frowning a bit at his tone. "Okay then. Let's try, shall we? The dagger will let you know the precise time where you have to slash down on the attack."

She snapped her fingers and concentrated, turning the flames into balls of water. "Go for it. You miss, you get wet." She sent the first one slowly so he could get used to it.

[CleverFox]

The swat that was landed gained a yelp and a pout from Castiel. The little squire looked as if he wanted to say something in response but he seemed to think better of the idea, not quite willing to push his mistress right now.

After all she was always much stricter with him during training.

Castiel did of course have the arrogance of youth on his side and he boldly declared that he could do it, the child holding his hand out for the daggers. He made that graspy hands motion that was pretty universal for a child that wanted something, Castiel huffing softly when he was only given one of them. "Could do better with both," he declared though he focused a bit better when he saw the balls of water that were summoned.

Less dangerous than fire of course.

"Getting wet's not so bad," Castiel said with a shrug, the child holding up the dagger that he had been given. The little squire didn't really have much issue slashing at the slow balls of water though when things were sped up it became a bit more difficult. Which inevitably went against Castiel's arrogance and frustrated the boy as the difficulty level of the exercise increased.

[French Polynesia]

Eliza gradually increased the speed of the balls, knowing he wouldn't be able to defend all of them. "Dodge if it's too fast, Cassie." She said to him, conjuring more balls of water and sent it flying. She stopped at the level most of the attacks from the possible ambushers at the forest operated, which was quite rapid and would be flame or acid attacks. She would be defending those, Castiel was way too precious to her to be allowed to get hurt, but she wanted to let him understand what he'd be up against.