Spare... sparingly.

Stand once more at the front deck of the ship; hook and blade in hand, I await Darrin's instruction to engage. He stands away, at the railing away from side of the deck, pointing his 'Foil' to the sky; holding it to his chest. My four companions had decided to seat themselves nearby to observe; and to provide medical attention should any accidents take place. Scott was interested as well it seems, as he suddenly appears with the click of a stopwatch.

I really should ask him about that.

"On guard." Declares Darrin; the cue to begin the spar.

He now stands as Fawks did in my dream; exactly so, ready to dance. I lower myself, as instructed by the training manual, turning my hook to so that the blunt end faced my sparring partner. Darrin begins to circle me, and I do the same. I attempt something from the booklet that I thought may through this Hoffman off his guard; pulling my arm back, and throwing my hook as hard as I can. He dashes out of the way as I pull my arm back, and so the mechanism strapping the chains to my arm suddenly pulls the chains back around my arm.

Along with the hook; which slams into my chest as I fail to catch it, knocking me to my ass.

"The throw was sloppy, telegraphed; and the catch was worse. I've seen gnomes do better getting things off high shelves." Taunts Darrin; which gets my blood boiling.

Raising to my feet, I move forward, making sure my chained left arm is the first thing within range of his foil.

"Good approach..."

My opponent then thrusts past me, before swiftly flicking the blade upward...

"AAARGH!" I scream in pain, my whole body racked with vibrations of suffering; what happened?!

"Oh calm down, I just nicked your ear." Darrin chides jokingly.

I fall to my knees, grasping the side of my head as Gabbie comes to provide healing. After her utterance, the pain subsides fully. Her spell's warmth over my right ear is... ecstasy...

"My ears are... extremely sensitive." I mutter; mostly to myself.

I need armor for these damn pointy things, or this is going to be a problem.

Now concerned, my sparring partner says. "I knew dragons have sensitive ears; fought one once, a Runacathy black-cloak... but he never had that much pain."

"I'm also part fae." I explain, getting to my feet after taking hold of my weapons; picking them up from the floorboards.

Darrin, now looking rather ashamed of himself, exclaims. "Really now? Damn! You should have said something, or I wouldn't have even tried that!"

Hearing all this, Priscilla chips in; in her usual way. "Fae have a sort of secondary connection to the cosmic vibrations; they can... hear it, in a way. While nowhere near the connection that one's heart and rhythm provide, this results in their ears being almost as sensitive as genitalia. Given that dragons and their kin have already sensitive ears; I'd say your ears are the most sensitive part of your body, Monster."

"You'd know..." Murmers Ashes, before getting a stern look from the hooded Ranger; whose cheeks are certainly matching said hood in hue at this moment.

"Noted." Says Darrin, stretching. "I'll avoid your ears like I would your meat and veg."

"My what?" I ask; I had fruits for breakfast, not meat, nor vegetables.

Rather than answer, my opponent resumes his stance; I follow suit. This time, he moves in first, swishing his foil upward towards my face, where I attempt to block with my hook. He then retreats a step backwards at my attempt to defend, ducking low, and swinging to my legs. I attempt to block this with my blade, driving down to stop his swing; only for the blasted thing to get stuck between two floorboards!

"Monster." Says Darrin; his tone akin to Cilla's when teaching me of the world. "You're on the defensive, but that's not the point of your hook. They are an offensive weapon, meant for overpowering physically weaker foes, disarming them, and carving them up like a platter of fish."

My instructor moves back to his position while I pull my shortsword from the floor.

"On guard!" He proclaims, circling me once more.

He said go in the offense... the booklet had a page about a certain advancing technique...

I charge at him, left arm forward; as though I were trying to bash him down with my shoulder. He attempts to slash at me while moving away, but I pivot in place, moving my left arm in the way of the defensive attack; and make a swing of my own with my blade. It barely misses, but it seems that Darrin had to actually focus on his defensive movement. Not letting up, I continue my advance, once more charging with my chained arm. Still recovering from his earlier dodge from my swing, my opponent takes the full brunt of my weight against him, tumbling down.

I stop my ****; and Darrin says. "Well done. That shoulder charge was the exact tactic used in the second day of the Siege of Krow. Damn hard to deal with... ow..."

Holding his side, he waves over to our Priestess, who approaches to provide and places her hand on his side.

"Thanks, Miss Gabriella." He says, bowing in appreciation for her miracle. "Monster, I think you've got the general idea for how to use the hooks properly. We'll keep this up for the remainder of your trip; but I think you're more than ready for most of the common rabble and monsters out there. Now, lets grab a drink, and then we get back to it, shall we?"

For the remainder of our trip... with the siren attack, our course changed. I've no clue how much longer we'll be on the Maiyo's Kiss.

Well, I've got a crew member right here; I ask. "How much longer is our trip, by the way?"

Darrin, now halfway to down the stairs from the front of the ship, says. "A day and a half; maybe more, maybe less!"

"I hope it's less..." Whispers the depressive looking tailor, who had been silent since his arrival to watch the spar; speaking to himself. "I haven't sated my curse this week, and the I'll be having a rather bad time if I don't by Cuko..."

"Cuko?" I ask aloud; not realizing that none other than me hear the words of Scott.

"Yeah, we'll for sure be docked by Cuko." Darrin replies.

The cursed sand-man looks pale as a ghost; seemingly realizing that he'd have to sleep with a crew member... wait a second...

I approach Scott, asking in a whisper. "Weren't you being held by a dungeon full of sirens? How did you not 'sate' your curse?"

Looking agitated, he responds with a stern whispered-shout. "It would have been sated; but then a dragon man showed up in their throne room! Agh... what am I going to do..."

As he said these words, he walked down the stairs to the main deck; only to stumble into one of Thrusk's crew, a female dwarf by the looks of it.

Scott, confused and a tad bit panicked, spouts out. "Oh! I am most sorry, Mam! I was busy thinking..."

The dwarf, however, wasn't having it; speaking with a tone I had only ever heard when Anaz was out and about. "Oh, I heard yah, lad... 'haven't been sated', all cooped up with those sirens for gods knows how long... come to my cabin tonight, handsome, and I'll be your little siren."

She gives him a wink, blows him a kiss, and walks away; into the captain's cabin.

"Well... I suppose that works."