Closed Bastard Falls [Raien]

[Richard]

Winter 15 513

Just after Noon Nap

The Crystal City was under a grey blanket of rain, and snow mixed showers, many of the chimneys of the city bellowed smoke, a lighter shade of grey, that gently wilted into the sky. The city was slowly returning to life after its Noon rest, it seemed to take longer than usual, as the cold, and greyness seeped into everything. Richard was one of those people, and on days like these he felt just a little more lethargic than normal, but he still felt the pull to use magic, no matter his mood. He stood, and bundled up as best he could with the meager clothes he had, and he wrapped his sword around him. The size made him have to carry it at an odd place, on his back, half way between his shoulder and waist. But, he had never used it in anger, so the positioning didn’t have to be perfect.

He walked towards the Trail of Waterfalls, as soft grey drops of rain misted his face. The chill winter tempurture freshened the boy, and it felt good to get out of the bustle of the city, even if he was still staying under its watchful guard. He stepped onto the raised wooden path, and was out of view of the city. He began to grow excited, this was his one bell a day he got to cut lose. Under the various towers magic was well controlled and regulated to prevent overgiving, not that Richard minded, he understood the risks as much as any mage who practiced the art. But he didn’t like the constant feeling of being watched, the idea that the Shinya could swoop in at any moment and take him away.

The reimancer quickly walked the path for a mile, it didn’t take him too long, he was beginning to felt rushed, by the time he reached the Rainbow Falls, he fidgeting and itching. He looked around, he was more or less alone. But, he didn’t mind if people saw, he was registered after all, and magic was welcome in the city. He didn’t think he’d be able to burn the water down, either. He drew his sword, the long blade, and swung it, as the water pooled in the fuller. He closed his eyes, and dropped in to his stance for sword play. He concentrated harder, and drew res from his body, he had to stop himself from moaning in pleasure as the itching stopped. He opened his eyes, and focused on the fist sized ball of blue wipsing res floating in front of him. He swirled it around his blade as practiced moving back and forth in the soggy ground.

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

The trail of waterfalls, truly a sight worth the time of any man fit enough to travel its winding path. Walking through the seemingly never ending groves of trees that were replaced by clearings in alternating patterns, he took it all in.

And while he loved the both the beauty of then rain filled sky and cool shaded enclosing of trees, Raien found himself happiest in the places in between where the trees provided ample shade but still opened up to allow glances into the never ending expanse of clouds above. And if one the trail's signature waterfalls just happened to dot the landscape around such a place, then the scenery was all the better for it.

It was of those days when the Syna remained hidden but her light was not entirely lost for the day remained somewhat comfortably lite. Needless to say Raien loved it. He was able to get some exercise, relax on his way up, and then if the mood struck him he could practice his swordcraft, that is if he found a suitable clearing ahead.

It wasn't too long of a time later that he found such a place, it was ideal in fact. However it just so happened to already be occupied, apparently he wasn't the only one who set out with training in mind today.

The man really didn't seem to be doing anything than practicing stance, swinging his sword slowly. However, there was a certain liquid-like substance that he swirling around in? What was it? Raien could faintly recall something.. He knew there was a discipline of magic that utilized something like that.. But he had no idea for what or even it's name. Needless to say, Raien being the mage he is, was instantly intrigued.

Raien had paused on his path, he unsure as to just how polite approaching someone was. Or how safe it would be for that matter, especially since it looked as if this man was apparently a mage.

Nonetheless Raien's curiosity could truly be his flaw at times. And thus his pause was only momentary, setting a path for the warrior magus making sure to enter his line of sight slowly before speaking them.. So he didn't end up being ran through with the rather large sword in his hand.

"Hail, see yourself as a swordsman and magus do you friend?" Raien slowly closed most of the gap between them as his accent laced words left his lips, stopping at about arms length. Offering his hand to his fellow mage as a gesture of kindness.

"Raien's is my name, and I've come to practice similar things. Maybe we could help each other. I haven't spared in much too long." Her words were somewhat blunt. This was due to the fact that he lacked the enough knowledge in common to elaborate too much. And just his own personality didn't lend itself to rant-like introductions.

[Richard]

Richard’s eyes opened quickly, the words of this man send a sharp spike through his mind. His concentration wavered, and the blue gel quivered in the air, almost losing coherency. Richard’s heart sank at the feeling, his mind burned with desire to transmute the res, but what would be the point. He gulped deeply, trying desperately to get his composure in front of this man, this Raien. The man had his hand extended in introduction, but Richard was barely able to focus on such things, his res required too much attention for that. Richard closed his eyes, and fluttered them open, trying to push the res further from the front of his mind. The blue gel, kept quivering, with movements that were slightly erratic. ’Petch’, he thought, and took a deep breath, and let it out sharply, and loudly, finally calming the small fitful sphere.

Richard orbited the res further from the man, mostly out of courtesy, it was rude to wave your magic around in a person’s face unless you planned to use it on them. The mage niceties aside, Richard took the man’s hand, returning the gesture, but also cautious for any thing hidden under the man’s clothes- you couldn’t be too cautious, people’s intentions were never clear upon greeting. “People call me Richard.” Richard took this brief moment to study the man who accosted him. He didn’t look like a full human, some of his features were slightly different, let alone his arms and muscles. This was interesting indeed.

“A mage, huh?” Richard started, his voice shaky, and a little strained. The sphere shuddered as it hovered above the ground. He cleared his throat, trying to hide the shakiness and unsteadiness in his voice. The man came to him with an interesting proposal, one Richard thought about. He had never been in a real spar before. He had only practiced his swordplay as a way to meditate, and he had never used reimancy in anger before. The idea of a spar intrigued the young reimancer, and he tilted his head, and pursed his lips before speaking again, “I agree, Raien, it sounds like an interesting endeavor.” Richard let go of Raien’s hand, and took several steps back, and closed his eyes again, slowly reabsorbing the res he had manifested earlier. He shuddered in relief, before opening his eyes, and touching his forehead with his sword, in a polite salute.

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

For a moment it looked as the man was thoroughly distressed by Raien's introduction, his brow furrowing, body tensing, and eyes speaking of burden. This caused Raien to take a second take on his act of approaching a mysterious magic possessing stranger up high on top of a sparsely populated area of the mountain. Perhaps.. his excitement for seeing someone a fellow practitioner of blade and spell overwhelmed him a tad bit. After all not all mages were as friendly or as keen on meeting their counterparts as he was...

And as the man circled his gel-like magic around Raien's head, every muscle in his extremities quickly contracted with a rush of worry. Albeit it a short-lived rush at best, fading into a sugar high like feeling as Raien realized that the movement seemed to hold little to no malice in it. Still, he began to feel slightly awkward as his offer of a handshake was left hanging for only a few ticks too long. Considering withdrawing his own hand for but a moment before the odd fellow finally deemed it appropriate to reciprocate the gesture of good will by clasping his own hand into Raien's, this proved to calm the Half-Isur to an extent. And as the human Spellsword's lips began to string together words Raien's worrisome thoughts were, while still present far diminished compared to the previous moment's.

“People call me Richard.” Raien took in the simple introduction, noting and tucking away the man's name for future reference. To be honest however it was a simple name that belonged to a fairly obviously human, simple looking man. The only interesting points in this Richard's character consisted of the blue djed gel he manipulated, and the large sword he almost seemed to use to direct it. As Raien was measuring up this Richard he had no doubt that the human was doing the same to him, for his eyes darted quickly surveying the mixed blood before him, lingering on the obviously non-human areas of his anatomy. Before finishing his thoughts up verbally in an oddly strained voice.

“A mage, huh?” The man mused out loud, before clearing his throat and finishing up with just the words Raien had approached him in hope of hearing.

"I agree, Raien, it sounds like an interesting endeavor.” The human finished his words before quickly retreating a fair distance, and seemingly absorbing the pulsating ball back into him. Raien noted that Richard could manipulate the djed gel from a distance, and while he had no clear idea concerning it's combat use or effectiveness he took the ranged nature of it's control along with Richard's retreat to mean that this man was more comfortable at a distance. I may have to close the gap quickly, Raien thought to himself slightly worried concerning the nature of this new magic, and also very intrigued.

His worried strategy oriented thoughts were interrupted as a smile formed on his face at Richard's next actions, a mock salute, how jovial. It was just the thing that was needed to cut the tension and put Raien back into the mindset of a friendly spar. I just need to relax, he thought to himself, this was no real battle, and thus no real worry should accompany it. Drawing his sword and returning the salute Raien readied himself speaking polite words of warning before he began to close in on the man.

"Well, lets get to it then." By the time these words left his mouth, Raien was already quickly attempting to cross the gap between the two of them, knowing that his skills were much more geared towards a close quarters fight.

His approach began somewhat slowly, with sword out front ready to ward off his opponent in case the human decided to go against his previous retreat and to charge early. With each step of his approach Djed was slowly dripping into his legs. It was but a few ticks later, when all but half the distance between the two men had been covered. That Raien's walk broke into him hurling himself towards the man with a Flux powered jump, sword up high ready to crush down if he had the chance, albeit it a barely powered jump. Raien didn't want to risk overdoing it just yet, not to mention the fact that he faced a lot of strain in redirecting even a small amount of Djed. Actually he probably wouldn't have been capable of it in the first place if the spar had started in close quarter brawling, it was the slow walk that allowed him build up time. Regardless, the effectiveness of his attack was pinned on the surprise of his quick change of pace, and hopefully the man wouldn't retaliate too quickly or too strongly.

[Richard]

Richard was starting to feel excited, the idea of a spar was really starting to sound exhilarating. He felt a surge of eagerness as he watched the man start to close the gap. The elation started to boil in his blood slowly, building as the man drew closer- moved faster, and reached a reverberating crescendo as they were in striking distance of each other. Then, as Raien seemed to move just a little too fast, and brought his sword down a little harder than expected.

Richard barely had time to act, he was rather shocked at the power, and speed behind the charge. It was interesting, he seemed to move quicker than any one he had seen fight. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a noticeable difference. Richard couldn’t see any overt evidence of magic, but was there magic that allowed for that sort of energy? That kind of speed, and control? But, Richard didn’t have time to delve too deeply into this line of thought, he did still have a sword, whizzing towards his head, at a rather alarming speed.

The spellsword was quite inexperienced in the actual execution of sword techniques, but he had spent some time practicing, and he was fairly familiar with his sword’s weight, reach, and how he felt while moving, so Richard did the only thing that crossed his mind in those brief ticks. He stepped slightly to the left of the strike, then he brought his blade up, trying closing the right side of his body to an easy attack, and preparing to counter his foe.

Using the brief tick it would take for his foe to balance enough to strike again, Richard tried to figure out just what sort of magic that man was using. It wasn’t reimancy, Richard couldn’t see any scars for that. It was an interesting question that his foe posed. What was the secret to this magic that the man wielded. When Richard believed his foe had recovered enough, Richard thrust at Raien’s left arm, aiming to just nick the skin of it.

At the same time, Richard began to focus his Djed, trying to focus enough to manifest enough res for transmuting. It would take some of his focus off the actual swordplay, while he channeled his Djed, but he needed to counter his adversary’s magic, and try to negate any advantage it brings.

OOCRichard isn’t making res yet, it still takes almost a minute for him to be able to draw it out- if I understand right. In the mean time, his focus is split, so have fun!

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

Raien's mind was was assaulted with a type of primal euphoria as he got closer, closer, oh ever so closer to his sparring partner. It was something that was newer to him, for while he loved and reveled in combat, he had never been this exhilarated at the thought of hitting his opponent. Especially when his life didn't really bank on said contact. Still, the urge was there nonetheless calling to him, demanding to be satisfied. And he had to admit, it frightened him somewhat. Raien of course hadn't really caught on to the fact that it began right around the same time the Djed drip had originally started. Easily dismissing any notion relating the two, seeing as the fight itself started at that time as well.

With all the chemicals rushing through and around his nerve endings I imagine you can guess his response as his sword met nothing but air , signaled with an abounding silence, followed by the sliding of steel. Petch, why he won't stay still. The fact that he didn't really want to hurt the man would throw itself into his mind shortly after the first. Unfortunately it was clouded out by both the almost voice-like urging to do something to make sure Richard wouldn't move from his path again, and Richard's own retaliation. The combined failure of being hit by his opponent and missing him as well, irking him greatly. To be fair it was only a knick. But as anyone who's ever been cut by any type of blade knows, even a small cut stings more than most other injuries would that were of the same level of significance.

His response to the tearing away of his own flesh, however did bore some fruit. For his initial reaction was fueled by creeping rage.. And of course to Raien such feelings were at least somewhat uncharacteristic. This odd and now noticeable change in his thought process pressed him to once again grasp for his own calmness. Allowing him to push back the anger his magic so easily instilled into him.

By the time the battle magus had re-solidified his stake for his own mind he noticed that Richard appeared to be somewhat preoccupied with something aside from Raien and than using his blade. And while Raien definitely didn't know with what, nor did he think heavily on it for that matter. He did, at least on a subconscious level know that this was a perfect opportunity to strike, and possibly even cripple his bookish foe that was now presenting itself.

Steeping dangerously into his opponents own reach Raien was quick to act, intent on taking his chance. Attempting to swat Richard's sword into a position of uselessness with his own. He made another dangerous move, one that relied on the success of the first, but also couldn't be halted until said success was ensured. Stepping even closer as his own sword moved to hopefully soon meet Richard's, he swung somewhat wildly with his opposite arm balling his fist as it pounded through the otherwise still air, leaving only his other hand and arm to man his blade. He was hopping to knock the into the man's jaw. The tactic itself was rather risky, if Richard simply maneuvered his sword away from his own, then he could easily ward the man off.. In a real fight possibly even run him through. But Raien was banking on the fact that this was a spar, and that while his own actions were aggressive. That Richard wouldn't dish out anything of greater significance than he already had.

[Richard]

Even in a state only half aware of the sword fight, he couldn’t help but feel slightly sick as his sword bit into the flesh of his foe. The cut wasn’t very big, or very deep, but it looked like it hurt, and it certainly would bleed if even only a little bit. Richard had never even punched or hit another person, so inflicting pain was an entirely new experience for the boy. He couldn’t decide if he liked the feeling or not, as his mind turned back to trying to gather his res. He didn’t really know what to do after landing a blow, he left his stance more than a little sloppy, and open. He couldn’t feel bothered with that just now, the urge to draw out his djed was starting to itch the back of his nose, like a sneeze that just wouldn’t come.

Even with this sensation, he watched in painful slow motion as his opponent struck. Raien stepped in close, and as their blades met, Richard couldn’t do anything but keep his sword from being knocked aside, but Raien was stronger, much stronger. Richard’s sword was pushed out of the way rather easily, and his mind still focused on summoning res, he didn’t see the balled fist aimed at his jaw.

When the mass of Raien’s fist struck him just barely on the chin, Richard stumbled back, a flash of blue and red disoriented him briefly. He smiled involunairly, just as he had never hit anyone, he had never been punched either. It was an interesting, if painful experience for the spellsword. He retreated several steps out of sword range from the man, and opened his mouth, and stretched his jaw before dropping back into his stance.

He was still slightly dizzy, but with a little distance between them, Richard became to focus on his djed again, he held the sword close to him, and slowly pushed out his arms, his sword perpendicular to his body, he breathed in deeply, and out slowly, pushing his sword away from as he exhaled. He hoped to force some of his res out before Raien could close the gap.

[Brandon Blackwing]

XP Award!

Name: Raien Ironarm Pitrius

XP Award:

• Socialization +1
• Observation +2
• Flux +1
• Bastard Sword +2
• Tactics +1
• Unarmed Combat +1
  

Lore:

• Lhavit: The Trail Of Waterfalls
• Richard: Fascinating Sparring Partner
• Executing A Flux-powered Jumping Attack
• Even When Sparring, Tactics Are Needed
• How to Perform An Uppercut
  

Notes:
Richard, your grade is being withheld due to inactivity.
It was too bad it had to end so soon, I was wanting more, so much more… this thread had me excitedly reading through the posts, until I, much to my disappointment, saw my own. Too short, too short, I had liked to see the end of the spar, how Richard would retaliate after Raien’s brutal assault, if he could recover in time and such… I am ranting…. Anyways, I liked this thread, guys!

Please edit or delete your request in the request thread.
Comments, questions or concerns regarding your grade? Pm me.

Credit goes to Ollic