Stabbing with the sharp end [Private]

It was a week or so since Tim arrived at camp. And was it a long week indeed. His first meeting with Mr. D went as well as expected but fortunately, it seemed like his cabinmates were mostly nice people. The training was killing him though. Before coming to camp he barely even held a sword yet here everyone expected him to be able to use it. Just yesterday he got his behind kicked some fierce by an Ares camper. He got some healing from his half-siblings but he still had the bruises. At least he finally learned how to hold the oversized greek toothpick...

Fauna was coming over to the arena, looking lovely in a shiny red dress, fishnet stockings and red and black high heels. She saw Timothy in the arena, practicing and came down the steps and down into the arena itself.

"Hey sweetheart, how are you? it's been a little while since I last saw you, how have you been settling in with your half brothers and sisters?" She asked, smiling as warmly as the sun above them.

Tim was wearing the traditional orange camper shirt since he had very little other clothes. He wasn't really keen on the color since it weirdly clashed with his hair. Not that it was a real problem but he wasn't exactly thrilled. But things were bringing up a little when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello. I am... uhm... still alive?" he shrugged.
"They are nice, really. But this isn't." he waved with the sword he was wielding.
"I really can't use this, seems like I have zero talent for it."

"That's good to hear, sweetheart and I see; although as a natural archer, swords like that won't suit you. Here, try this" She smiles at him before going to the weapons rack and takes out a small dagger and comes over to him.

"You may prefer to use this; I hear a lot of the apollo kids tend to use small close range weapons in case they get jumped, so you might be more comfortable using this. If you want, we can spar if you want and see how you feel about it?" She said, her smile never waving for a moment.

"I was thinking about it but I like having range. And well even this toothpick is quite small. I worry about using something even smaller." he was uncomfortable going at really close range. His mentality was shaped by his archery skills so he felt better not having enemies close to him. Using knives or daggers felt too much like letting enemies close. Too close.
"But I think I can give it a try." he tried the dagger.
"I would appreciate the help but only if you have the time," he said

"Of course, honey and it's not necessarily to encourage you to go close up to enemies, its more in case a enemy gets close and you can't shoot at them, you need something to attack, just in case" She explained to him, hoping it would ease his mind. She smiled again.

"Of course, I'd be happy to help you, sweetheart" She said to him, smiling warmly as she stood confidently in the arena.

"Let's do this: use your bow and fire at me and try to keep me as far away as you as possible, but you need to be ready to get your dagger in case I get close, sound good to you, honey?"

"Even when the enemy might reach me I like to have some reach... and I just feel like the sword is giving me a better one. But I'll believe you and try the dagger," he said and put the sword away. The dagger was even a smaller toothpick but at least it was lighter.
"Hey hey hey hey... slow down! I won't shoot at you! Yeah, I know you are great and all but what if something goes wrong? Or I accidentally activate the sun arrow thing and injure you? Or worse..." he never ever shot against another person. Well he did dust the two harpies but they were monsters!

"Honey, it's ok, I can handle myself or you could go against Leo if you really that worried about little old me?" She said softly.

"I saw you fighting I know you can take care of yourself and me at the same time. I still won't shoot at you. I will never shoot at a living person. I'll admit I felt a bit bad shooting at the harpies, but people here said that they will just reform given enough time so... not feeling that bad anymore." he said.
During his training, he often listened to speeches about not shooting in the direction of people and it got stuck quite deep.

The prospect of fighting the space lion wasn't exactly a pleasant thought either.
"Won't he just tear me apart? Or chew me like a dog's toy? I know you probably wouldn't suggest that if it wasn't safe but... I saw him clawing at the harpy and... well it was something I wasn't exactly envious off." he stated.
"Suddenly I don't look like I want to train, do I?" he chuckled.

"Of course he won't; he'll obey my instructions and this is just practice, his main goal will be like mine will be; avoid your arrows and get in close so you will need to use your dagger if he gets in close" She explains as she comes over to him and puts her soft hand on his shoulder.

"I know its scary, but it's something your gonna have to learn to do and I'd rather do it in the safety of the camp then having to learn it in the moment, you understand, honey?" She explained, showing genuine concern for him.

"But I don't know how to use it. Yes, I can stab with it or slash in the air but there is no mastery in it." he explained. Since he was here he got his ass kicked a few times but he learned extremely little.
"If I don't count getting beaten by an Ares kid or hitting a training figurine with a sword I really didn't have any training yet." he added some details. So far he didn't consider this place "safe".

She sighed soft and stroked his cheek gently.

"I understand, sweetheart; do you want me to go over some basic forms with the dagger then? no fighting, just showing, sound good?"

"I think I would like to learn that before I will try to use it in a fight. Even just a friendly one." he said. He wasn't afraid about getting hurt since he had a cabin full of healers but he didn't want to hurt anyone else. He could stand look at his blood but he couldn't stomach looking at someone else bleeding. That wasn't a good trait for a warrior... but he never really expected to become one so it wasn't an issue until now. So far the worse injury he's seen was a bloody knee from a football match.

"Alright then" She goes and gets a dagger herself, holding it in her right hand.

"Ok, first thing first, there are two main ways of having the dagger; the stabby way and the guard way" She holds the dagger with the point towards the sky, "This is the stabby way since from this position, its easier to thrust upwards and easier to maneuver" She then flips her grip so the dagger's blade was to the side instead of straight up, "This is the guard position; you could slash with this, but this way, it's easier to guard against blows as you can put two hands behind it. Plus the benefit of a dagger is that you can switch the position of the dagger very quickly when you have to react quickly, say for instance, someone got within range of you when you can't fire your bow and have to get something to defend yourself"

"Stabby way and guard way... that I do understand." he actually gave a little chuckle. He knew nothing about weapons or fencing but simple small words were helping.
He tried the change the position of the dagger in his hand and it went pretty smoothly.
"I think I can do this! It still feels small but that's the point, right?" he said but for the first time, he felt like he might be able to get some progress done! And perhaps even become skilled one day!

She smiled warmly as he got to the simple positions of the dagger and nodded.

"that's good and indeed; its not what you could call a frontline weapon like a sword or spear, it suits a more swift and tactical fighting style that is more for sneak attacks, quick defense and swift strikes instead of frontline fighting that swords and spears are for. As a archer, your not a frontline fighter, more a support, so a dagger would suit that sort of role. Now, do you want to try some of those strikes on me?" She explains, taking her dagger and showing him a thrust in what she called the stabby position and then left and right slashes in the guard position. Of course, she went over the stab when the dagger was positioned towards the earth. She then stood back a little.

"Don't worry, you won't hurt me at all, I simply want you to get used to the methods of attack and defense that a dagger has" She said as she dropped the dagger and placed her hands on the ground.

"Kardiá tis Gis, Gántia tis Gaías" She would speak in ancient greek, which he would understand as, "Heart of the Earth, Gauntlets of Gaia" She said as mountain rock and vines crawled up her arms, forming into mountain rock armoured gloves and thicker mountain rock, shaped like a oval shaped piece of armour around her lower arms; the vines interwoven into the fingers, allowing her to move her fingers normally. Timothy would probably recognized them as the lower arm armour section of her full plate ability.

"Now, strike my gauntlets with what I showed you so far, ok? don't worry, your weapon won't be able to piece my gauntlets, so I'll be fine. So just try them out for me, ok honey?"

Tim was thinking about it for a moment and she was right! He wasn't a frontline fighter. He was an archer and fairly good one too! The dagger was only if everything else failed!
"I think you're right. And I will try it but don't expect anything... well anything." he warned her. With that, he tried to attack her gloves. If something he was attacking quickly but there was no technique just instinctive stabbing and slashing. And it seemed like he was holding back a bit. Perhaps he was still worried he could harm her?

"Don't worry, honey; the idea is just to get you used to it; isn't it the saying that Rome wasn't built in a day? don't expect to become a expert in daggers in the span of a afternoon, this is just basics and work our way up" She explains softly. His stabs against her gauntlets did nothing but make some tiny scratches onto the thick mountain rock.

"See, it's fine; just calm down and try the techniques we went over, ok?" She told him, both trying to reassure him as well as get him to think properly and do the techniques they went over.

He tried to implement something he learned today but it was difficult. I wasn't something he was used to but he felt like he was making advances albeit slowly. But the more he attacked the more he was trying. Seeing as he was doing no damage to Fauna's gloves he grew a bit bolder.
"If my mum saw me now she would be really mad. She wasn't a fan of me playing with sharp things..." he said as he made another shallow dent into her gloves.
"What are these made of? I know I am not exactly strong but... I am doing nothing." he asked.

She smiled softly at him as he practiced on her gauntlets.

"I understand, honey; it's normally not recommended, but these are not exactly normal times, so I think she would understand if it meant you were protected. After all, any mother would want her child to be safe more then anything" She said, letting him practice on the gauntlets some more. He asked her what her gauntlets were made from.

"Well, they are made from thick mountain rock; some of the densest rock in the world. Mountains is one of the domains my mother reigns over, hence why I can do this. It's why I told you earlier that you shouldn't worry about hurting me"

"I think she knew it will happen when she sent me here. Or at least expected, probably," thinking about mum made him a bit sad. He was missing her a lot. But now there was no time for it.
"Yeah... but when shooting I can sometimes summon the sun arrow or... whatever it is. I can't really control it and it might injure you even through your armor. I am not willing to risk that. But I can't do that with a dagger so this is fine." he admitted.

"I understand, sweetheart; although I'm sure I can block it if it came to that" She said as she brought one of her thick armoured gauntlets up.

"Anyway, let's try you guarding against my attack, so get ready, honey" She said softly as she stood up, pulling her arm back before throwing at punch at Tommy; the force enhanced by the weight of the gauntlet itself.

"Well, it dusted the harpy pretty well so nope, not going to shoot other people. At least not until I learn to control it." he was adamant about it.
Tim wasn't very happy about blocking hits like that with a tiny dagger. One thing was to attack but blocking seemed foolish. How would you block a heavy gauntlet with dagger anyway? When the punch was coming he dodged it.
"I can't do this... "