Assassin's Creed: Chronos (Ezio x OC)

17 - Dog Days Are Over

She snorted, folded her arms, "Are you insinuating I'm a novice? Put him with Filippo or Carlo. They've only had a few weeks-they're perfect for him."

"You really think you can best me, don't you?" Ezio laughed, folding his arms right back, but Catherine ignored in favor of Ottavio, whose grin only widened.

"Not my orders, little one. Mario wants you to work with him."

"Mario said so?" she frowned, puzzled, but the Captain just nodded. She sighed with exasperation. "Fine, fine... but does he mean for sparring or the actually training or...?"

"The exercises he'll probably do with the more experienced as you do at first to learn faster, but Mario wants you to spar with him-he says it will do you both good. And don't bother asking me why. I just follow orders. Also, you both are the last for training and sparring. Again, his orders. He didn't say why... but I have an idea, which means you'll figure it out soon enough. You're clever like that, eh?"

"Well, more clever than most the boys here," the redhead smirked, glancing over to the other men and then at Ezio, whom gave her a huff in return.

"I imagine he wishes to discuss things as we train," the young man rumbled, but Ottavio only shrugged.

"Could be. Anyways, begin stretching and warm yourselves up. Catherine, you can show him the moves while I start the first groups."

"Yeah, yeah. Go on then, Captain," she rolled her eyes with a playful grin, which the man happily returned before he began to shout pairs of names and usher them into the ring. Ten men obeyed, vaulting over the rails of the training ring, and began to exchange jabs and dodges, working to improve themselves. Catherine, meanwhile, brought Ezio a bit further off to give them some room. There, she pulled her arm across her chest, locking it by bringing her other under and upwards, stretching the limb.

"Morning training is fairly boring-you're either sitting around stretching, cleaning your gear, or you're in the ring practicing. We would train outside it, but apparently too many men kept getting hurt on the stone and one almost apparently died when he hit his head too hard, so they stick to the dirt instead. Not really that much better, but... eh. Anyways, just go ahead and get stretched out-y'know, loose your limbs up like I'm doing, and then I can explain what everyone is doing."

"Where is Mario? Shouldn't he be doing what his... you called him 'Captain'?"

"Ottavio. He's Mario's Captain. Second-in-Command. Babysitter. Whatever nickname we make up. He's a nice guy, just don't piss him off. He's the Captain for a reason. And Mario isn't here because he goes to check on the nightly reports from the guard and see to some of the citizens. He makes sure they have what they need for the day. So, yeah. Ottavio handles the basic training and keeps us all in line and then Mario oversees the sparring so he can beat our mistakes out of us. It works out pretty well. You'll get used to it soon enough."

"You make it sounds so easy," Ezio chuckled.

Catherine shrugged, "It's not, but I've been at it six months. It's mostly just routine now. And hey-keep stretching. It's cold out, so you really need to stay loose and warm, and don't even make some lousy comment about that sentence."

"Well, I wasn't before, but now that you've mentioned it," the young man hummed, and chuckled when she smacked him lightly. He motioned to the men in the ring a moment later. "What are they doing right now?"

"Just basic punches and dodges. It's mostly to get warmed up, too, but also a chance to test out changes or make sure we have moves down. It's nothing fancy, and you won't be using a sword just yet, either. Novices only do hand-to-hand. Since you have experience, you should get to a sword in a month or so."