A Blade's One Weakness [Brandon Blackwing]

by **Ai Shou** on December 30th, 2013, 1:51 pm

Timestamp: Winter 84, 513AV

Morning had passed into evening in the Misty Peaks. It had been a long day of training for Ai Shou, who had finally given up her seclusion in the hopes that training would help her overcome her fears. She stood beside the Amaranthine Falls, in a clearing at the top of the water's spout.

The location was perfect, calm and still. A line of trees cut off passage from the clearing besides the small trail that led back to the city proper. The clearing was free of debris, allowing those who came to slip off the hard soles of their shoes and embrace the gently swaying grass. A rock face popped out of the center of the clearing, perfectly flat at the top, with three footholes that allowed those who climbed it to get on top easily. The rock itself was about as wide as an arena, spanning at least fifteen feet in either direction. It was an ample place to practice sparring.

Ai stood atop the rock, with her blade held out before her. It had been a long while since she used the blade, and the last time the blade saw the light of day, Ai's past returned in frightening flashbacks. But this time, no flashbacks came. Ai's heart had stilled with the calming sounds of the running water nearby.

The wind kicked up a little as Ai took her first step forward, planting her feet and lifting the blade above her head before bringing the blade straight down. "Gi!" Ai chirped loudly as the blade cut through the air and stopped at a full extension. The motion had been slightly flawed by the placement of her feet, so she tried again, raising the blade above her head and bring it down again with another step forward. "Gi!" She cried again, as the wind kicked up and blew in a quick burst, almost topping her over.

Ai had no choice but to frown at her incompetence. Had her old teacher been here watching her, she would have recieved a lashing with the stick that he always carried with him, either at the ankles to straighten out her bad footing or at the hands to correct the poise of the blade.

Sweat dribbled down the side of her face in a thin bead, caressing her lightly tanned skin and wiping clean the grudge that had begun to form on her skin from the practicing. Ai lowered her blade, using her off-hand to run the sleeve of her white tunic across her brow. The day had been long and hard, even for Ai's standards.

Still, she was determined to correct her errors as she lifted the sword before her again, a frown crossing her lips as the blade raised. "Gi!"

by **Brandon Blackwing** on December 30th, 2013, 3:35 pm

x

It was getting rather late as the bat clad in black was still out in the Misty peaks for an all day long stroll. The weather had been perfect for it, sunny though cold and a clear sky. Admitted, the cold wasn’t so pleasant, but it was better suited for a walk than burning heat. The thief was waiting for the moment that Leth could take over the heavens and Syna retired for a brief night. Like always in winter, she seemed to be closer to the surface of the earth than in Summer, and brighter as well, rending the bat unable to open his eyes more than a small gap.

Per usual, the bat hadn’t been paying attention where he had been going, and neither had he bothered to have a particular destination in mind. He had been walking aimlessly, lost in thought and tired from his insomnia getting the better of him. If there was one thing he couldn’t quite get used to, it was sleeping at night, or even taking short naps during the rests like the other citizens of Lhavit did. But hey, he was nocturnal for a reason, the rhythm that dictated his level of tiredness was something hard to change. It was genetic and nothing could change it.

Rumbles filled his ears, the air becoming more moist, he felt small droplets clinging in his hair, not enough to soak him, or even make him slightly wet, just … less dry. The rushing of the water crashing down below was strangely calming. Extremely loud, yet soothing; easy to forget it was there and taking all annoying thoughts with it. A nice place to relax, or train as well. Someone else must have followed the same line of thoughts since some shouts, short but powerful, came his way. Other than that he heard nothing, the sound of the waterfall was drowning everything more silent that itself.

Soon, the thief’s feet found their way into the clearing, grass forming a soft green carpet kind to bare feet. Bran didn’t have the immediate urge to take of his boots though, as soft and relieving it might be, he liked having his hands free and he didn’t want to leave anything he owned behind, unprotected. The middle of the clearing was dominated by a rock, quite high and large, with a person on top of it.

Her back was turned, the soft grass muted his footsteps and the noise of the water rushing down in the background did so as well, so the bat snuck closer slowly. Why he was acting so sneaky he didn’t quite know for sure, but he guessed he wanted to see what she was doing. With the sun blazing her rays right into his black orbs, he couldn’t see a thing, except for the dark silhouette she provided and something reflecting even more sunlight in her hands. Carefully he drew closer, though that only made him having to look up in a wider angle, so in the end he couldn’t see what actions she was performing that made her yell from time to time.

Curious he placed his foot in one of the conveniently placed footholds in the rock’s body and climbed up as quiet as he could manage. The footholds formed a ladder of sorts, making it very easy for anyone to get to the top of the rock with relative ease. Before he even thought about getting there, he had already reached it, raising himself to a stand behind the female. Apparently she was tired from whatever she had been doing and wiped off her brow with a sleeve of her white tunic, holding a sword in her other hand. “What are you doing?” he asked curiously. A stupid question he didn’t expect to be answered, since it was quite obvious she had been training.

x

credit goes to Euthisa

by **Ai Shou** on December 31st, 2013, 1:04 pm

It was all Ai could do to stifle the meek squeal of surprise that arose when Brandon spoke from behind her, out of no where. Ai turned on a dime and took a few steps back, leveling her sword in a threatening manner, but her eyes showed nothing more than fear and surprise.
"Where'd you come from?!"She blurted out, her eyes changing from a dull grey to virulent blue and then to a light pink-ish, the nature of her eyes like skyglass in the sun. She watched Brandon with the slightly slanted eyes of a Vantha, one that gave her a very cat-like appearance.

When she had come out here to train, she had assumed she would be alone, but apparently she had been followed into the Calming Glade, as she called it, by the newcomer. It wouldn't be much of a problem if he hadn't snuck up on her and scared the bajeezus out of her. He was as quiet as a rogue in the shadows, and he even dressed like one, too!"Sp-speak quickly!"She stammered, attempting to look menacing and defiant, but managing only a scared visage.

by **Brandon Blackwing** on January 1st, 2014, 12:54 am

x

Startled by his voice coming from behind, she jumped and turned to face him, a squeak of surprise leaving her throat while doing so. A safe distance was taken, a sword raised to protect her from him, assuming she needed it anyway, it wasn’t like he was a dangerous person. The point of the slim and curved edge of the blade was pointed threateningly in his direction, as a warning not to come any closer. However, warnings never really got through to him, uttered as a thread or out of worry, he paid them no heed most of the time.

Satisfying his curiosity was far more important, and danger was quite appealing for the adrenaline junkie he was. As a result, the bat decided to take a couple of steps forward, pushing the flat of the sword out of his body’s way with his index finger, while running his prying eyes over the blade. It was a strange weapon, he’d rarely seen one, actually, he’d never seen a sword like this before. It was more beautiful than a regular sword, and probably lighter as well. The blade curved slightly upwards, a blunt edge on the upside, a sharp one on the downside, he noticed that the hilt was long enough for two hands to hold it. Seeing as the girl held it with two hands, he guessed it required two hands to wield it properly as well.

Done with the study of the blade, he focussed his attention and gaze on the girl’s face. Surprise but also fear lingered in her dull grey orbs, but as she asked where he came from, the colour of said eyes changed multiple times. First to a deep malicious blue, the same colour the mask of the man form his dream had been, the man that had killed him twice. Evil, villainous and a silver tongue; that pretty much summed him up. Brandon especially didn’t like last part, he’d lost in the joust of words, the man’s taunts had enraged him and that hadn’t ended well for the bat.

After the blue came pink, and with that strange colour of eyes she stared at him, trying her best to look as threatening as possible, even ordering him to speak quickly, implying that he wouldn’t have enough time to answer since he’d be … well, dead. A bluff of course, he read her fear in her now pink orbs, it was there as clearly as the sun in the sky, everyone could see it if they tried.

“Me?” he queried as if there was someone else beside him she could have meant with ‘you’. “I just came from there?” the bat spoke as he pointed his thumb to the landscape behind him. “Oh, by the way, you’re not really convincing,” he mocked with a grin and then proceeded to show how it was done. He changed little to his current expression, just his eyebrows, making them point down where they reached out to each other, giving himself quite a mean look while he slowly reduced the distance between the two of them, still keeping the girl’s blade away from his body.

OOCYou wanted a creepy thief, right? Well, here you have one!

You are not obliged to be nice to him

x

credit goes to Euthisa

by **Ai Shou** on January 4th, 2014, 12:39 am

At first, Ai's fear was from his sudden appearance, but when he approached closer to her and began to study her weapon, she realized that he wasn't threatened by her. Her fear bubbled and churned within her, her stomach twisted and crawled up to her throat. She was quite stunned with fear, and it was written in the dark pupils of her eyes.

Still, he answered her question quite thoroughly, but dodged the original meaning of her asking. And he was looking quite interested in her weapon, as if he was not afraid of Ai using it. Ai swallowed lightly when he informed her that she wasn't convincing.

"Stay back, I say!" She cried, willing her body to move as her blade was drawn back from him and quickly sheathed in a fluid motion before she reached out and pressed her palms into his chest. He would feel a surge of energy from the strike as she pushed him away, before stepping back herself. Her eyes went silvered and her expression changed. She now looked ready to fight someone, and maybe even kill.

"You will stay back, sir. I don't know you and I would hate to have to harm you." She stated, her expression gone from fear and replaced with a stern expression of a guardswoman who was not kidding around. Her brows leaned inward in a scowl. "Explain yourself." She stated, frowning at him. She wanted to know why he was getting so close to her, but he could decide what part of him being here he would explain.

by **Brandon Blackwing** on January 5th, 2014, 9:10 pm

x

Two palms were pressed on his chest and he stumbled backwards, the energy created form it surging through his body like a gust of wind blowing him almost off his feet. He hadn’t seen it coming, if she would attack, he had expected to be with her sword. But no, she had sheathed it in a fluid motion and pushed him away in the same moment. The girl had used this move to create some distance between the two of them. The thief was scaring her, he could see it, everyone could and hear it too. She had cried and her eyes had widened and then put some space between him and herself. That meant fear, the bat knew, just the first two reaction were enough to tell him that.

However, that was before, now she looked way different: silver eyes and a stern expression, focussed and controlled. Ready to take him on if she had to. He’d like to see what she could do, but he didn’t quite see a reason for engaging in hostilities. Plus, it would cause him more trouble than he wanted, possibly Shinya attention for harassment or some other stupid act he didn’t commit. It could be fun though, getting some exercise, some adrenaline. The idea was very appealing, very tempting.

Just when he –reluctantly- made an attempt to leave, slightly moving his foot backwards, she spoke and he changed his mind. Hate to harm him? Harm him? “I’d like to see you try. I bet you can’t do it.” he spoke swiftly, totally ignoring her demand. His expression had changed as well, from surprise to a smug grin spreading over his lips. “Do you want me to leave? Fine, you can argue and threaten me to do it, which would be pretty boring and I would probably leave after a while. Or,” He spoke slower, and almost in a whisper but still perfectly audible, his tone one filled with playful attitude and mocking her serious look.

“We could deal with it the short way. Fight for it. If I lose, I’ll leave you alone, if I win however, I’ll do as I please.” His grin widened with his last words, his eyes were fixed on her face, awaiting her answer, though since she didn’t like his presence, the bat doubted she would wait for him to get bored. The grin turned a little mean and his expression was smug. He had just created a win- win situation, she could only make him leave by fighting him, and fighting him meant amusing him, though if she chose to wait, well then she’d get bored as well, and might eventually end up battling the bat anyway.

As he stood there, the bat dropped his hips a bit by bending through his knees, his feet on shoulder width. His chest was turned a little, his left shoulder slightly pointing forward, while the opposite was true for the right one. His arms were held up, hands at eye level, fingers slightly bent inwards. He was ready, whenever she was, if she would attack him, the fun could start.

But why bother waiting for her to strike? If he'd charge first, he wouldn't have to practice patience, wasting time before having a blast. No, though the situation played in his advantage whatever option she'd pick, there was a chance she'd go for the boring one and boredom was what he didn't like. He threw off his vest, only momentarily lowering his guard to do so, keeping an eye on her all the while as it was the perfect opportunity to attack and slowly stalked closer. He'd go for a feint attack, two in fact, a punch going for her stomach changed into a chop to the neck. But before it made contact, he jumped back. This combo of teasing assaults was just meant to gauge her reaction speed after all.

x

credit goes to Euthisa

by **Ai Shou** on February 13th, 2014, 12:18 am

Ai really didn't want to fight the man who stood before him, her blade remained sheathed while he spoke of a wager. If she won, he would leave and if he came out the victor, he'd do as he wanted. It was a good deal, even if she didn't really like the thought of him hanging around if she lost.

She gave him a defiant look before muttering something along the lines of an agreement. Still, she kept her blade sheathed. He wanted to fight her, not the other way around. Sure enough, as soon as her thoughts were cleared on that, he had already ditched his cloak and closed in. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the first punch incoming, her hands flying down to block the punch. Before their hands even made contact, he had drawn his attack back and redirected it towards her neck. She was too slow to stop the attack, but he withdrew that one too. Was he toying with her?

Her cheeks flared a virulent shade of pink as she looked at him, embarrassed as how fast the man was and how easily he had managed to feint her twice. Her sky-glass eyes shifted colors again, from the complacent silver-grey to a fiery, angry red hue. Her lips curled down as she let out her own barrage, three strikes this time. The first was aimed for the gut, a close-fisted punch that would allow her advancing motion to knock him back even more.

The second was a kick aimed for his head. She withdrew from her strike and swung her leg out and up, careening it towards his head at quite a quick pace. Before he would have time to react to that, though, the leg spun around as she bent her other leg, falling to the ground on hands and knees before swiping her leg beneath his feet and uprooting him. The perpetual motion caused Ai to spin in a circle before she stopped, a leg outstretched to her right. She crouched there for a moment, her breath coming in short gasps, a wisp of her hair falling from her bangs and over her eyes.

"Don't mock me!"She cried out, her voice cracking like that of a small child, yet with the stubbornness of a well-tempered warrior. Slowly, she got to her feet and eyed the man, hands held before her defensively to block the next body shot that he would aim at her.

by **Brandon Blackwing** on February 14th, 2014, 4:06 pm

x

First impression: she was a bit on the slow side, his punch could have landed though it might have been blocked…barely. However, it was a feint and a successful one at that, distracting and confusing her, so her reaction to stop his chop were in vain. Fortunately for the girl though, that attack had been a feint as well, else he could have ended the fight already. A smirk spread over his lips as her cheeks showed a blush. It disappeared as quickly as it had come, when her eyes shifted to red and her face looked quite angry. It seemed to him that taunts would be very effective against this sword wielding female, well, if he used the right ones.

Her lips curled up as if she were a wolf baring it’s fangs, a gesture of intimidation and a thread, the bat knew. Those eyes … blood-red in colour caught his focus, they were intriguing, the way they shifted, replacing one hue for another on random moments it seemed. Yet the bat somehow felt there had to be a system behind it, something that made sense and would make her easier to read than now. Then a fist made it’s way through towards his gut, one he could only barely dodge by stepping back hastily. Only his reflexes had been in between the attack and himself, his guard had been lowered, something he realised too late with a surprised look on his features. Those eyes were too distracting!

A feet cut through the wind, his head blocking its trajectory, an arm shot up to defend his skull, a grimace now decorating his formerly relaxed face. It was too fast, he wouldn’t make it, hell, he wouldn’t even have the time to tension his muscles in his neck to defend. However, nothing hit him, maybe his instinctive guess of the time of impact had been wrong? No, it was a feint! As the realisation hit him, so did the woman’s leg, kicking his calves and feet from under his body, his upper body raced to the floor. No way! This wasn’t going to be the end! Though it would be if his head would crash into the rocky underground.

Fortunately, the sweep kick was one of Brandon’s and his mother’s favourite moves, one she’d always use when the two of them were sparring. As such, he had learned the means to defend against it. One was to lower your center of gravity by bending enough through your knees, another was to take a step back or jump over it. If you were hit though, than you’d had to make sure not to fall down, because if you were down, you were helpless. Kind of. Having been hit by his mother’s sweep kicks multiple times, naturally he’d also learned how to pull something like that off.

As his sideways falling body was hurled to the floor, Bran positioned one of his palms near his head, the other on the ground. The muscles in his grounded arm pushed his body more vertically, his legs helped by swinging to the side and he managed to cartwheel instead of crashing. Very elegant.

Back on his feet, the bat wasn’t too happy with himself. He should have controlled himself instead of letting his hubris take over, see where this had gotten him, he’d nearly lost and things hadn’t even started yet. “Never underestimate your opponent, no matter how much of a novice they may seem to be, no matter the speed of their reactions.” True words, his mother clearly had clearly known what she was talking about. Now he knew that he should indeed take this girl seriously, a grin spread over his entertained visage. “Not bad.”

She shrieked in response, taking on a defensive stance, her hands held in front of her body, legs spread. Not taking initiative huh? Didn’t matter, the bat didn’t mind attacking. The distance between them was too large to cross with a simple punch or kick, though the thief didn’t want to charge at her, that wouldn’t end well. No, he should slowly stalk closer, staying in his fighting stance and circle around her, slowly closing in, taking in the tid-bits of information she gave away with her body language. That, he did. Assuming a defensive pose as well, hands held slightly above shoulder height with the fingers curling to his palms but not making fists -just holding them in a relaxed state- one leg crossed the other as he came into motion. Controlled this time; calm, analytic and observant. And patient, patience was important in this situation, waiting for the right time to strike, whether it was to counter attack or just taking the initiative himself, patience was required. Unarmed combat wasn’t just a style of physical battle, no, it was also a battle of the mind. The mind ruled the body and for that, the strongest mind would win.

x

credit goes to Euthisa

by **Catastrophe** on April 27th, 2014, 3:38 am

Brandon Blackwing :

Ai Shou :

Notes :

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