Closed Stick Fight

[Rion Pendleton]

One of the best parts about staying with Grandpa Monty was getting to visit Brightstone Village, or more specifically, getting to visit Honeyduke's, Gambol and Jape's (or Gamble and Jake's, as Rion called it), and Tākarokaro Park. With her pockets full of jelly slugs and fizzing whizbees, Rion careered around the playground, weaving through the colourful equipment and banging on things with a big stick. It was an excellent stick. It had taken a lot of bashing so far. Contemplating the limit of its durability, Rion took it over to the metal fence and began dragging it along the bars at a run. When she had completed a full lap, she examined the stick and was impressed (and a little disappointed) to see that she had barely made a scrape on the bark.

She looked around for Ainmere. A stick as strong as this was worth showing off. But Ainmere was showing Grandpa Monty something she'd bought in Gamble and Jake's, and probably wouldn't appreciate her magnificent stick, so instead Rion headed for a girl playing nearby and brandished it like a weapon. "Let's have a sword fight!"

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley had liked coming to the park. The place had so many fun things to do. She was happy when Killian had allowed her to spend time at the park. The young girl had been sitting on the swing in an awkward position, hanging upside down slightly, when she noticed a girl coming towards her, which made Marley smile. She was always happy to make friends and have fun adventures with! She giggled and sat upright so she could see the girl properly. She looked around her surroundings, hoping to find a good stick to play with. Marley smiled and picked up a stick, waving it around like she was prepared to fight. "Bring it on!" Marley said with a giggle, as she joked and played along.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion grinned, waving her stick around as the girl selected one for herself. It was a solid choice, but with a few hard whacks Rion was sure hers would turn it into splinters. "Wait. Rules!" she said, planting the end into the ground for a moment. Rules were important. "Uhhh... this-" she indicated to a circle that had handily been drawn on the ground nearby- "is the safe zone. If you stand in there, you can't get hit. No hitting each other. Only our sticks. And the winner is... whoever's stick doesn't break for the longest. Sword. Whoever's sword doesn't break for the longest. OK?"

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley immediately stopped, her eyes slightly wide thinking she had done something wrong. The young girl followed with what the other girl did, by planting one of the ends of her stick to the ground. Marley watched as the other girl pointed to a somewhat circle on the ground. She nodded quickly as she then explained the rules. "Sir, yes sir," Marley says playfully and giggled a little, as she saluted, to show she understood the rules. "Wait, what's your name?"

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion saluted back very seriously, then grinned and leaned on her stick. "Rion," she said. "But it's spelt R-I-O-N. Like Orion, without the O. What's yours?"

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley giggled, pleased that she found out the name of her possible friend. "It's nice to meet you my lady," Marley says, faking a terrible posh accent as she gives Rion a bow. "My name is Marley!" Marley says cheerfully and a giggle. She then positioned her stick and body into a sword fighting pose. "Now, shall we begin?"

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Marley was so cool. And to think, if Rion hadn't found her incredibly strong stick, they would never have become friends! She mirrored Marley's pose and readied her weapon. "Ready.... steady... FIGHT!" On the final word she swung as hard as she could, bracing for the impact.

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley giggled as Rion started the countdown for their small stick fight. The young girl missed hitting the other girls stick a couple of times, she moved around a little, hoping that moving around a little would be a little fun. Marley giggled the whole entire time. She felt like she was a pirate and was having a wee bit of fun. She was surprised that her stick hadn't broken yet.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion swung her stick again - and gasped as it snapped clean in half, the top portion somersaulting to the ground. "Whaaat?" she said, staring at the stump in her hands. That wasn't supposed to happen! Her stick was the strongest! "That's OK, I don't need a sword, because I've got.... a wand!" She waved the remainder of her stick and stamped her foot. "Droppus Swordius!"

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley gasped dramatically as Rion's stick broke, not expecting it to break so soon into their sword match. "Oh no!" Marley says sadly. She then giggled when Rion had decided that her stick was now a wand. The young girl was about to cheer and think that she had an advantage when suddenly she had put a spell on her, and all of a sudden Marley dropped her sword. "Oh no my sword!" Marley said with a giggle. Marley pretended to try and grab her sword and pretended it was hard to get. "What did you doooo" Marley says dramatically with a whole heap of giggles.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion made a dive for the sword and sprung back up. "Hah! What are you going to do now?" she asked, waggling both pieces of wood. "Do you surrender?"

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley gasped dramatically when Rion had taken her sword. Surprised by the sudden move that she wasn't expecting. She looked around her eyes wide, thinking of what to do next. When she noticed the other half of Rion's broken sword. She grabbed it and positioned her body in a fighting pose, wand in hand. "I now have a wand! I challenge you to a wand fight!"

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion remembered too late the other half of her stick that had gone flying to the ground. "No, you dropped your sword, so I already won," she said. Actually, according to the rules she'd made up five minutes ago, she'd already lost, but that was irrelevant. She hadn't expected to lose. If she'd thought her stick would break first, she'd have made that the victory condition instead. "Let's do something else - you choose."

 

[Marley Owens-Lee]

Marley frowned a little when Rion had explained that she had won. Maybe she hadn't really listened to the rules properly. But she guessed if that was the rules, then that was the rules. She thought for a moment about what they could possibly do next as she looked around the park. "I dunno," Marley says with a shrug, before looking at the playground. "Maybe we could do some sort of competition on the playground?"

 

[Rion Pendleton]

"What, like a race?" Rion said, looking at the playground for inspiration. "Oh, wait, I know - we could see who can hang from the monkey bars for the longest without falling. Do you want to do that?"