Training with the best-Styrr

Sofie had another day of sleeping in. She had been up the night before working on the dress she was trying to make. Spending far to many hours trying to make each and every flower as perfect as she could. She was glad that Visna showed her how to make the flowers, but she found many nights she would get consumed with tying to make them in as many colors as she could. At least at this rate the dress really would be done and perfect by the time spring came around. The she could wear it on the anniversary of their fathers death. Something that as much as she hated, she wanted to honer him by making something wonderful for just him. Getting out of bed, Sofie quickly got dressed and made her way to the kitchen. Grabbing an apple she screamed a quick goodbye before running out the door and down toward the training grounds to hopefully catch the other women before they all left and went to do their own things. She hoped she would be more lucky this time, but as she got closer she could see that all the women were almost gone, and mostly the viking men were around.

These were her least favorite days to train. The men were way to rough with her, or they made dirty comments at her. Trying to make bets that if she lost she would kiss them, or sleep with them. Sure not every Viking man was like this. Henrik was nice to train with, he just clearly didn't like all her talking. Aros, he seemed to like to mess around a lot before they got into things, and sometimes that was too distracting for her. Haskell wouldn't train with her, as much as she liked him to at least give her a shot once or twice. So it really was a lot more fun to train with the other women and not the men, even if they did give her a far better work out. As she arrived in the area, Sofie looked around for someone to train with. Most of everyone had a partner already. This was what she got for not waking up on time. Letting out an huff, she made her way deeper into the are. Only to see a man she knew was names Styrr. He looked as scary as some of the rumors about him were. Sure she didn't know if they were all true, but there was always some truth in rumors.

Taking a deep breath Sofie slowly walked over to him"Umm, Hi I'm Sofie... I see you don't have a partner.." Sofie said to him first. She guessed he was less scary and more good looking up close, but honestly still a little scary. "I don't have one as well, and I would like to train with you." she said to him next. Making sure to sound far more confident then the last time. He would be a good match she was sure. If anything he would beat her ass, and give her a really good work out. Anything to help her get stronger and better right? "If you want to that is." she added lastly as she looked at him. Judging his face for his reaction.

Sofie was still feeling awkward in front of Styrr as she looked at him and waited to see what he was going to say to her in exchange. He looked like he was in a somewhat bad mood about something, and she hoped that asking him to train with her this way wasn't her asking to get hurt in some way or another. Sofie wasn't stupid, she knew that he was much stronger than she was. If Styrr wanted, he could probably break her in half with his arms alone. However he would be an amazing training partner for her in a lot of ways. He was strong so it was going to be a hard match. It would make her tired, but it would help her build her mussels a lot more and faster too. It these things turned out to be facts, then she would just start training with he men instead. That way she could get better and better, and not just go for the partners she knew that she would be able to defeat with easy like she found herself doing a lot lately. It was nice to win battles and show people she was strong, but she needed a real challenge if she was going to become a great and amazing Shield maiden someday like she wanted to become.

She watched as Styrr reaches behind himself and grabbed the sword off of his back. He played with it in his hands before saying "As you wish, Sofie Stafnsdóttir", to her in return. Adding "I will train with you, if you manage to draw first blood", to her shortly after. Sofie gave him the best smile she could give him and prayed to the gods that Styrr wouldn't cut her or hurt her in any way while they were training together. Sofie was happy however that he agreed to train with her. "I'll do my best!" Sofie tells him as she slowly backs away from him and stretches a little bit before getting into position. "Just please don't kill me!" she added in to him with a grin on her face. She had been trying to make a joke with him, but she hoped he also knew that she was serous with her words. Sofie wasn't in the mood to leave this training with a bandage, but she was going to just see how this all went. Whatever was going to happen, she just hoped that it was going to be fun in the very least. She watched as Styrr got ready, and once they were both done and into position the fighting could start. Thinking best of it, she decided to make the first move toward him. Trying to strike him from the side as fast as she could.

Sofie smiled at him when he repeated her words to her "I'll do my best", he said. Sofie got ready to attack and even tried to attack him from the side. thinking because she was smaller then he was, that she could also maybe be faster. However he was able to block her without any problems at all, and even pushed her back a little bit. He was so strong that her weapon almost came out of her hands even, but she made sure to hold on tighter and moved her weapon back toward herself. Styrr attacked her only seconds later, hitting her in the ribs with the pommel of his weapon."OW" Sofie let out before she could stop herself. It hurt, but at least it wasn't the sharp part. Sofie should have guessed he was even stronger then she had thought in the first place. He was much bigger then she was, and had many more years of fighting and raiding under his belt then she did. All Sofie had ever done was train with the other Frú and sometimes some of the other Vikings. This might have been a bad idea, if he was already going to be leaving bruises on her body this way. Sofie mentally told herself to shut up an got ready to attack once more.

Twisting to the side and just out of reach for him she looked at him for just a moment before Lifting her weapon and trying to attack him from the front instead of the side. She bent down just a bit, and shot her body in an upward striking motion at his body. Maybe in this way, she would be able to knock his own weapon from his hands like he had tried to do with her. If this didn't work, she was going to get knocked on her ass pretty hard, but the way she was moving, if she did it right she might be able to at least cut his arm just a bit, drawing the first blood like he had told her to do.

Sofie was surprised when he redirected her body and attack, but she smiled when she at least made contact with his shoulder. Even if it wasn't strong enough to cut through his thick clothes. In reality she really didn't want to hurt him, or make him bleed. His words had been until the first blood was drawn, but what if he really didn't mean that. She would feel horrible if she hurt him and he had meant it as a figure of speech. However, if he did mean it, and he cut her, then she was going to be annoyed that she didn't try harder, and attack him harder when she had the chance. ”Good”, she heard Styrr say to her first. He danced, and moved his body away from her. Sofie made sure to keep her eyes on his sword, and movements as he twirled it around in his hands the way he did. In case he was trying yo just distract her and hen attack her once more. ”Again”, he said next and Sofie gave him a big smile in return. So far she was quite liking training with him. He was twice her size, but he was slower then she was, at least she was beginning to see that. She was smaller, and her Axe weighted much less then his sword did.

Fighting with new people was helpful to her. Sofie was a watcher, she would watch everyone around the village when they fought. Seeing their moves, studying them so she could learn their weaknesses. She had never seen Styrr fight before, she wasn't sure why, most likely because she trained earlier in the day then he did. Or she needed to learn to pay more attention, which one it was, she wasn't sure. However, she was already learning a lot from him. He was a very focused fighter, and he was strong. The hit to her ribs had been more then enough for her to see that, and she was sure it was going to be black and blue later in the day. Nodding her head at him,to show him she heard his words she smiled. "Yes, again!" she said to him before getting right back into fighting."Until we have had enough" she adds with a smirk. Sofie raised her weapon and watched his moment for a second before charging at him one more. Deciding to attack him on the arm that was clearly not his dominant one. For it would be weaker, at least it should, then the arm he used more. She was pretty sure that was his left, from the way he held his sword, but she was sure she would find out if he was able to move quick enough to block attack to his left side.

Sofie was glad that her idea of training with someone like Sytrr was going to be a good idea. Sure starting into this she was mad she had over slept and missed training with the people she normally trained with, but now she was happy. For she had not felt this worked out and pushed in a while. Styrr was clearly stronger and more seasoned then she was by many years, and training with someone like him was just going to make her even better. For she could watch him, learn from him, and then use that knowledge against other people in the future. She could show them that she was far stronger and better because she was training with people who were going to kick her ass. It made her think that maybe she should train with people like him from now on. Stop training with people in the same rank as her, and start training with people who were going to make her sore for days like this fight surely was going to do. However now was not the time for thinking like this, she needed to keep her whole mind into fight him, or she was really going to get hurt as well as get her ass kicked.

She had tried to use her speed against him, and that fact that she had figured out his less dominate hand as well, but just like all her other attacks, Styrr was easily able to block her and attack her once more himself. It was like he was this unstoppable force and she was being pushed around a bit by it. Sure Sofie did her very best to hold her own against him, but blow after blow. She was just getting more and more tired and more and more frustrated too. He was just to much for her, and if she ran into someone like him on the battle field she would have been dead by now. Something that was just making her even more mad and upset about it all. That this was a clear sign that she still had a lot of work to do before she was going to be an amazing shield maiden. Styrr must have noticed she was getting upset for suddenly he was slowing done and ending the none stop attacks they were doing at each other. He hits her in the shoulder softy, but in a way it still hurts all the same.

Her whole body was how and wet with sweat and she looks at him as she tries to catch her breath. He looks like he is pleases with her, and Sofie is at least happy with that. ”You have been training hard, I see”, she hears him say to her next, and his words make her smile. Sofie nods he head at him once before taking a deep breath to talk to him. "Everyday, but weekends since I decided I wanted to be a shield maiden." she tells him first. Still trying to calm her heart and her frustration."But clearly I need more work, if we had been fighting for real you would have killed me a while ago and we both know it." she says to him next as she drops her weapon and rubs the sweat off her forehead. "but thank you for training with me. I'm sure I'll be sore for a while from this...you really are as strong as they all say you are." she says to him with a bright smile. She meant her words, that she had heard about him and it was clear he was a great warrior like people said about him.