Quest Best Hands In The World

[Accolade]

Dinah gave Orion a bemused glance, and brought a hand to her hip. Had she upset the good doctor? Were her manners and way of speaking offensive to him. She caught his gaze and offered the man an apologetic smile. But she was wary and she wasn't completely sure that his feelings were hurt at all. "Is there a certain amount that you would like? Tell me what it is and I will see that you get it, within reason Doctor?" She meant every word of what she said, and even if it left her at a disadvantage she would still pay him in full. Dinah believed in pay for hard work and something told her that he would find that in full the next day.

The Knight smiled and nodded as he resumed his joke and tale way of speaking an continued to walk along. She glanced towards him as he showed off his dagger and suddenly had an idea. "Come with me, I'd like to see something." she said as she quickly made a sharp turn and headed in the opposite direction. "It won't take us long and since you have time to follow me I assume that you aren't needed elsewhere."

Dinah led Orion into the Dyres District and headed towards the eastern part of the First Tier. It wasn't a very long walk from one place to the other, but the climb to the roof was another story. She wasn't silent the walk up, nor was she filled with questions. As it was, she was sure that most, if not everything he said was laced with a flirt. Once they reached the roof of the Dyres District, Dinah showed Orion to the Training grounds. It was rather late and no one else was around, but she had clearance and had decided to test Orion.

"Do you know where we are?" she asked and waited for a reply before continuing. "This is the training grounds for Knights. It's a place only known to those in the order...and now you." She gave him another glance, waiting for him to retort with another amusing joke, before she turned away and found the weapon's rack. The Captain looked it all over for a moment and then selected a long sword and a shield.

Turning back to face Orion, she held out the two items for him to take. "Let's give this a try, see if you can handle the simple weapons."

OOCSURPRISE!!

[Orion Michaels]

Orion His eyes burned with energy too rich for this late in the evening. A promise of any reasonable reward for his services. The things Orion could say. The inappropriate things Orion could say. "I trust I'll be fairly compensated. Otherwise I don't think I'll be able to leave you alone, Sera. Imagine seeing this rugged face. Won't that just make you throw piles of gold to make it stop?" He paused for a moment in mock contemplation. "Or really, I think I'd be paying you in that case. Maybe that doesn't work..." Anticipation built as the knight informed him there was something she'd like to see. "My god, Sera. I might have a bad reputation, but I assure you I'm not that easy. I didn't have nearly enough time to drink for you to get me out of my pants so soon. I suppose I can make an exception for you, though.." He rolled his eyes at his own words, almost choking on how over the top they were. "I'm all yours this evening. Or until we return from our adventure, really." They walked slowly, engaging in more small talk, more banter, more jokes, more flirtation. Well, at least on Orion's part. Regardless, they had quite the journey up. Flights of stairs felt like an eternity, his legs burning as step after step they traveled. "How the petch do you do this in that armor?" It was exhausting enough as it was. With full plate, it seemed near impossible. But there they were, what appeared to be a combat area. "I can venture a guess," he replied, his voice trailing off, almost awestruck. For once he had no jokes. What he did have, courtesy of Sera Dinah, was a sword and shield, something he'd never used, never held, not once in his life. "You're kidding me, right? I'm a doctor, not a warrior!" The blade dipped in his grasp as he awkwardly held the heavy shield by its strap. He looked at Dinah quizzically, but her expression was stern and serious. "I..guess you're not joking." He placed the blade by his feet so he could strap the shield to his arm. It was bulky and unwieldy, and it didn't take long before Orion felt like his arm was on fire. "I didn't realize you got off with sick kicks like this. I think I'm even more attracted to you." He flashed Dinah a grin as he picked the sword off the ground and removed it from its sheath, the long blade weighty in his grasp. "So what are we doing?"

[Accolade]

Dinah allowed a smirk to rise in her features and reached up, her un-gloved hand to gently press against his cheek for a tick, before digging her fingers to pinch his skin, then lightly releasing to slap his cheek. "If charm were a skill you'd be rather dangerous." He was tenacious for sure, and Dinah hoped that it was a quality that he held with more than just flirting.

Then he said it, something so shocking that Dinah froze for a moment, and even as she looked at him she was speechless. "Just how much did you have to drink?" she asked staring him down. The captain's gaze lingered on him for a moment and she started to worry. What were the chances that he spoke to all and any women as he did with her? She would be sure that many would fall for his charms, and if he had that sort of reputation, perhaps it wouldn't look good on her to have him around after all.

They headed to the Dyres District and ascended the gobble stone steps that led upward to the roof. Dinah glanced back at Orion with more than a bit of a smirk written across her lips. "Don't tell me that these few steps are a problem from a strong man like you?" She had to tease him, and he had it coming for a day of non stop flirting that he had enjoyed until just then. "You'll get used to it, it will surly strengthen your legs for sure."

Once they were at the top, and she had armed the man with a sword and shield, they were ready to begin. "I have to say, I'm surprised, I thought you would protest my little challenge..well more than you did." she added with a chuckle. Dinah watched Orion lift the shield and place it around his arm followed by the sword. The sight of the whole thing making her a little hot under the collar. "What we are doing Orion is...a practice round. I want to see how you can handle yourself with a blade. So then, if you'll humor my...sick kicks, we can begin." With that Dinah pulled her own sword from it's sheath and took a horizontal swing at the man.

OOCSorry, I suck at fight scenes

[Orion Michaels]

Orion Her hand wasn't nearly as soft as he was expecting, though really, he should have known better. She was one forged in battle on the strength of thousands of swings. It would take toll on anyone. More importantly, though, her playful contact only encouraged the doctor. She was warming up to him, clearly. "You don't consider charm a skill, my dear knight? I pray you don't come across one quite so irresistible as me who can actually handle a weapon. You won't know what hit you." He was persistent, if nothing else. "I barely had a sip before you were off and Murf was there. A reversal of fortune, if I do say so. One moment it's me and you an a waterfall of endless drink, and the next thing I'm off chasing after this beautiful woman who sees me as nothing more than a part of a super secret mission which I'm not to know about." While she wore her frown, he could do nothing but the opposite, a ridiculous grin painted upon his lips. "What? Does it surprise you so much that those words escaped me? Perhaps you didn't do quite enough homework on me, Sera." The steps, they weren't that big of a challenge. They weren't that tough. Yet if there was a way for him to avoid them, he'd have taken it. "Gods these are endless. I don't even have a witty remark." He shrugged and kept trudging along, step after step. "I imagine if you have to deal with these, it makes your heavy armor feel like nothing, hmm?" She brought up a good point. Orion hadn't argued, resisted, or anything really. He'd simply armed himself. Enough knights around the city used these two common tools that it wasn't horribly difficult for him to figure out how they were supposed to be held. Actually using them, was another story. "Maybe it's simply bred into me. What do you think, am I born to be a warrior? Lead Syliras into a new age?" Fat chance. His expression became slightly more troubled when she informed him of her purpose of bringing him here. To practice? For what? He was, as he'd said, a doctor. Before he could offer up his protest, her blade has slipped from its sheath and was being brought upon him. Cold steel flew through the air, whizzing towards a collision with Orion's ribs. He jerked the heavy shield up into position, deflecting the halfhearted blow with a loud clang. "You r-really weren't joking, were you?" He took a step back, partially lowering his shield. "Alright. I'm not going to hold back." Orion began circling the armored woman, reflecting on the bit of combat he'd done in his life. Most of it was training with his friend, Tourmal, but that was using the stave. Still, he contemplated, some of the lessons could surely transfer over. Taking advantage of reach. That's what he'd need to do. He stood taller than she, so given a blade of the same length, he'd have more natural length. Making sure to keep as must distance as possible while still being able to swing, Orion took a few feign swings at her, slicing left and then back right, he was simply feeling out the length of his weapon. Though they were easily deflected, now confident of his reach Orion stabbed forward with the blade, but quickly retracted it only to rear back and deliver a powerful (for Orion) overhead chop. The doctor was trying to transfer techniques from staff combat to blade, and he'd have to see how it went. As one uncomfortable and inexperienced with fighting, rather than react and attack, he would press forward with predetermined moves, hoping they would be enough.

[Accolade]

Dinah used her shield mostly, only countering Orion's wild blows in stead of reacting to them. She was curious if he had any supposed natural skill, and if he could put any strength behind a sword. He wasn't terrible and so far he hadn't manged to tangle up his arms which was a good thing. The Knight raised her shield to block the powerful Orion over handed blow and smiled. She was testing him and in her own way she was also getting to know him better.

Dinah continued to block Orion's shots with her shield before she stepped back to address him. "Not bad, I'd say you've been doing more strength training than that of your line of work, but no matter. Now this time I'm going to strike back."

She paused for a tick to watch his reaction, showing fear wasn't a good thing or was it to look cocky. But Orion seem find in the face of his opponent and was ready for her attack. She dashed forward swinging her blade outward first before dragging it back in to sweep across towards his blade. She didn't move back after her strike and instead used her shield to block any blow that Orion might think to try, before she swung her shield arm away and took another slash at him with her blade.

This time she did step back, if only to give Orion a chance to breathe if he needed it before they would continue. She was enjoying herself and it had been sometime since she had even spared with another and found his rather unquiet style of fighting to be cute if not refreshing. But their time would come to and end by a voice calling from the near distance. Dinah turned towards the exit where the stairs met with the rooftop to see a squire standing there who looked just as tired as Orion.

"Excuse me Sera, but Ser Rohan wishes to see you."

With that the young man bowed and turned and left as quickly as he had come. Dinah turned to Orion after taking a moment to share off into the night while shaking her head. It was obvious that the name held some kind of weight for her, but Orion would have to wait until another time to ask about it. "You should go on home, we'll get an early start tomorrow. You can borrow those weapons if you like. May come in handy tomorrow." And with those words, Dinah headed back down the steps and into the castle.

OOCI had planned to make this longer, but since we're trying to get this done in a timely manner, we can go on to the next day. Go on and have Orion do what he needs to in this post and I'll start us off in the next morning.

[Orion Michaels]

Orion As was expected, she blocked his attacks with ease. A doctor training with a smithy had been ridiculous enough. Doctor versus Syliran Knight? What made him so aggressive? Well, that was a stupid question. Anything he could do to impress this woman, hopefully without making a fool of himself, was what he would attempt. Each sloppy swing of his blade was rejected with skilled use of her shield, though a person who'd picked up one for the first time would have had little problem stopping each of his strikes. His breathing labored, Orion listened as Dinah spoke. He was in no condition to truly reply to her, so a forced 'yeah' was all he could muster. She was flattering him. Orion hadn't done any serious physical training since Spring. Since soon after the storms when he'd gotten this silly idea that he could stop something like that from happening again. He was so stupid sometimes. There was no time for introspection, however, as Dinah was kind enough to announce her intentions to attack. It may as well have been a lion stalking an unsuspecting gazelle, for Orion was grossly ineffective at dealing with Dinah's swings. His blade was knocked aside, and he barely managed to get the shield in front of her toned down attack. Stumbling back, he swung ineffectively at the knight, nearly tripping as he did so. The steel blade bounced off her shield once again, and another blow connected with Orion's shield, which he moved in place at the last second. Already off balance, he was sent tumbling to his rear, where he sat for a moment, giving Dinah a sheepish grin. "Will you be thinking about dominating me tonight, Sera?" Was that innuendo? Their fun was cut short by the appearance of a squire, and Dinah promptly dismissed Orion for the evening. The life of a knight, he supposed. "Yeah, it's late. I guess a good nights rest will do me good on our mystery adventure." He took a pause at mention of him needing the weapons. What the petch were they doing that she was arming a doctor? He wouldn't think twice about it, of course. If she thought he needed them, well, Dinah was the professional. Back on his feet, Orion said his goodbyes, offering an exaggerated bow, complete with a flourish of his arm. "Sleep well, Sera. Dream of me." With that Orion would make his way back to his room, ready to rest up and prepare for the unknown journey before him. They weren't going far, or so it seemed, so he wouldn't need too many supplies. His medical equipment, his borrowed arms, and his backpack of general travelling supplies. With all of it ready it would be time to catch a little shut eye, but Orion had this feeling sleep would elude him this night.

[Accolade]

Orion would be awakened at the first of dawn by a loud banging on his front door. When the doctor finally answered, he would be met at the door by a man a few inches shorter than he and dressed in full Knightly armor. The man was Eric Grey, a knight employed under Dinah's group and a rather grumpy fellow to boot. He was a pessimist in fact, and didn't enjoy any missions unless they really allowed him to act out on his own. He didn't like Orion either, and when Dinah had told him just how eak the man was, it only made him question his captain more.

However Eric was a loyal soldier and would follow Dinah to the end and do whatever task she gave him. Including making an early morning house call to wake up Orion. He wasn't the least bit happy about it but he did just job. However, that didn't mean that he had to be kind about it. Once he saw Orion, he turned up his lip and looked the man over. "All packed? Let's go, they're waiting for us." If Orion wasn't already packed with whatever he needed then Eric would be forced to wait for him, however he wouldn't be the least bit happy about it.

Once the good doctor was packed and ready to go, Eric lead him from his home and throw the city. It was a morning like most others and all the usual people were out dealing with their day to day lives and troubles. But for Orion, the might have seemed a bit different, maybe even surreal. It wasn't everyday that he was called upon by the Knights to accompany them on a mission, secret or otherwise.

Eric was quick on his feet and even in full armor he moved through the paths in the city quickly. Soon the men came to the gates of the city and standing just inside were Dinah and two other Knights. They all turned to greet Eric and Orion as they arrived and Dinah even cracked a smile. The Knight Captain gave a hardy pat to Eric's shoulder before she turned to face Orion.

"Welcome, I'm glad that you could make it. I trust our little exercise didn't leave you too sore and bruised?"

[Orion Michaels]

Orion Orion did manage to finally fall asleep, several bells past midnight. The pounding on his door came all too early, and for a moment he thought about just pretending like he wasn't there. Maybe the sounds would just go away and he could go back to sleep. It wasn't like the mission could be so important they couldn't spare Orion a few more hours of rest, right? But the pounding, it didn't stop, so finally Orion made his way out of the comforts of his bed to answer the door. "By the gods, Dinah, what happened?" Unsurprisingly, the knight before him found no humor in his joke. It was going to be a long trip. "Yeah, I'm ready. Just let me load my stuff up here and we can get on the road, Ser." At least Dinah pretended to be amused by him. This man gave him nothing. He took and strapped the longsword at his side, sure to draw a scoff from the knight as he waited impatiently. "I can just tell that we're going to be best friends, don't you think?" Silence. "Whatever, I'm ready." Orion pulled his pack up onto his shoulders, the shield strapped tightly its back. "Lead onward, good Ser Knight." He was quite surprised with how briskly the armored man could move. Like Dinah taking the stairs and evening before, this unnamed knight stalked off towards their destination, taking little care to see if Orion was behind him. Apparently he'd heard something about him. There was no reason to treat him so coldly. Maybe I got to a woman he was crushing on? Orion met Dinah's smile with a grin of his own. Now there was a sight for sore eyes. The beautiful Dinah. Whoever that other knight was, well, it didn't matter. He could put up with him to spend this adventure with her. "I slept like a newborn baby." There's only one other thing that puts me out like that. His eyes burned with that devious desire that Orion was so well known for, but even the good doctor could manage to hold his tongue once in a while. "Shall we go, Sera?"

[Accolade]

Dinah nodded to Orion and smiled, she was glad to see that he still had the flare from the day before because deep down something told her that he wouldn't after it was all said and done. But now wasn't the time to think on the worse, and after conversing with the others in the group, she led her team outside of the gates and to the stables to collect their horses. When they arrived there was an older man standing in front of the stables with a Tiaden Warhorse and two Wind runners. Dinah glanced towards Orion, noting that he was as always right next to her.

"This is Themara, she's a good and strong horse, very dependable. Do you own a horse?" she asked and waited for his answer. If the young doctor did not own one she would mount her steed and help him to climb onto it's back. Dinah looked around towards the other men as they all mounted their horses before starting off into a gallop. "Let's move."

Dinah clicked her heels and they were off, riding hard and fast down the path that led out of the city. They rode on for a time, pushing their horses to shorten their travel by covering as much ground as possible quickly. The small group had made their way into the bronze woods before they slowed to a trot.

It was at this time that Dinah decided to fill Orion in on what their mission actually was about. "What do you know about Ravok Orion?" She asked him and waited for a moment before continuing on. "Not many know about the city, but I have a contact who assures me that they are planning an attack on our city. That contact is who we are going to meet with. As you may have guessed, he is a Ravokian, a spy gone rogue."

She paused again, sharing a few glances with those riding along side them and also giving Orion a chance to ask anything that he needed to before she continued. "He's not very trusting as you can imagine, nor is he a fighter from what I hear. We are to meet him at the ruins close to the mountain side then escort him back to Syliras. I don't know how much you know about this part of the coast but it can be very dangerous and people have gone missing. But it's only a small chance that we will run into any major trouble, but that's why we have you here. Understand?"

OOCOk, things are going to heat up in my next post.

[Orion Michaels]

Orion Oh gods. Why hadn't he thought of this. A horse? Orion hadn't been on a horse but for a handful of times in his life, and none of them were pleasant. He could feel his legs tightening, remembering the soreness he dealt with for days after his last long ride. This couldn't possibly go any better. "I..don't have a horse," he said, frowning. That frown was quickly reversed, however, when he realized he wouldn't be given his own horse, but instead ride in tandem with Dinah. Fortunes reversed, oh happy day. With his arms resting around the Knight's waist, Orion was off on an adventure unlike anything he'd done before. Trips to Sunberth had been carefully controlled, slow moving, but well protected in a caravan. This was so very different. A small group, off the beaten path. They were all knights, save for Orion himself, so they should be capable of handling any danger the dangerous Bronze Woods or Wildlands may have to offer, but it didn't make him feel any less nervous about it. "Ya know, Dinah, every time I've come out in these woods, I've had something exciting happen. Redheads, bandits, even a Symenstra once. Let's see if we can break the chain?" He laughed nervously, and not to his surprise, didn't receive much laughter in reply. "Erg. Tough crowd." They rode hard and swift, the speed and impact of hooves making it too difficult for Orion to speak, so silent he did fall. The clickity clack of hooves against the ground and metal plates shifting around with each step were the only sounds he could percieved. Wind had blown his cloak back, and he stayed close against Dinah, using her as a wind break. Once the mounts were slowed, Sera Lorene began to actually explain why they were going out. "I've only heard of the city. Don't know anything about it." As she told him of a possible attack, his face twisted in some confusion. An attack? Why, the cities barely interacted from what he understood. Life was hard enough without needing to worry about another state exerting force on you. Quietly he listened, as a short tale of a Ravokian spy fell upon his ears. Something bothered him immensely about the story she told. "Why do we have to meet him all the way out here? If we're taking him to Syliras...why doesn't he just, well, come to Syliras? I don't mean to question your plan, but it just sounds so..odd." He let out a small sigh as he listened to her reply and as well as the conclusion of her explanation. "Hopefully I won't have to show off my crazy sword skills again, right? What? Nothing? Forget you guys." Was the situation so tense that his humor couldn't diffuse it? What have I gotten into? Ruins, disappearing people, and needing a civilian medic? A bad feeling was forming in his chest, but he hoped that was just a side effect of the harsh riding. The last time he'd been in a violent situation was with those bandits, and that led to him hiding behind a tree. And losing faith in the knights. Perhaps this trip would lead to redemption. Or maybe his death. Who knows?