Flesh and steel (or wood, in this case.){flashback}

[Ero]

Winter 15, 508 AV A young Ero howled into the dirt of her friend’s training hall at the burning pain of her shoulder being twisted and locked up. The young man who gripped her arm grinned, and continued building pressure. She writhed and struggled, doing her best to buck him off, but he was too big, to heavy for her. What was truly humiliating was that he only needed one hand to hold her down like this, leaving his other hand free to wander. Despite her struggling, she knew there was nothing she could do, but continued to push against him until she couldn’t take it anymore. Ero frantically slapped her hand against the hard ground beneath her. With the tiniest of extra pushes, the boy released her arm, and stood up off of her. She grunted at the pain, but didn’t say anything. The small sadistic side he displayed was a small price to pay for his company. Regardless, there was one thing that annoyed her. “Getting a little fresh there aren‘t you? ” She stood up and dusted herself off, and rolled her still burning shoulder. She reached down and adjusted her clothes before the leering Jacques could get more of an eyeful that he already had. “Hah! You know how to get out of a hold like that, and as for getting fresh…” he just grinned at her. “I was trying to get out, but your fat ass is too heavy, and I couldn‘t get any leverage.” She grimaced at the last bit of fading pain. Despite her annoyance that he seemed to be unable to keep his mind on sparring, there was some color high in her cheeks, courtesy of her quickly beating heart that had little to do with physical exertion. She looked away and walked over to where their outer clothes and other things lay on the ground, swaying her hips a little more than was strictly necessary. She bent over and retrieved one, taking a long drink, savoring the taste. She shot her sparring partner a glance over her shoulder. “Work before play, boyo.” she said with a coy little smile. She walked back to where he stood and dropped into a crouched, loose limbed fighting stance. “I want to try it one more time, then do some armed sparring.” she said, and gestured for him to ready himself. He mirrored her stance, flexing slightly to show off the attractive muscles in his bare chest. It was just enough to distract her for the mere half second it took for him to cross the space between them and grab her wrist with one hand, and twist behind her, attempting to put her in the exact same lock as moments before. With a snarl, she twisted and threw her elbow at his face, but didn’t quite connect. It was more than enough to throw off Jacque, and give her space to turn and knee him in the stomach. He bent over, and let out a hacking cough. She immediately followed up with a flying tackle, making sure he would off balance. Unfortunately for her, Jacque was shamming. He flipped her over his back and slammed her onto the ground. She wheezed and desperately tried to push herself up, or even just get some air into her lungs. Before she could get up, he was already on her, twisting her limbs, completely immobilizing her with embarrassing ease in an embarrassing position. She struggled and tried to kick a leg loose, or even just open her mouth so that she could sink her teeth into the arm that was tightening across her nose and mouth, but there was no chance of that. She tried to slap her hand on something to show she was conceding, but there was nothing nearby and she was just waving her hand in the air. She tried to cry out, but there was no air left in her lungs, and walls of darkness quickly began to close in on her vision. Her struggles grew weaker until she agonizingly lost consciousness. The next thing she knew, she felt air force its way down her throat and fill her lungs. She stirred weakly, then opened her eyes. Inches away were Jacques concerned eyes, and she realized his mouth was sealed against hers, like some sort of terrible kiss. He began to breath air into her once again, but she turned and coughed, pushing him away. She tried to sit up, but a hand she hadn’t realized rested on her chest held her down. She looked up at him questioningly, and he blushed slightly and removed his hand. “Sorry, but you probably shouldn’t get up yet. You seemed to have forgotten how to tap out. What were you trying to do? Get yourself killed?” He seemed annoyed, even angry for some reason. “What do you think happened? You cut off my air and were choking me, and all I could do was wave my hand in the air, there was nothing to hit it on.” she said angrily. He was acting like she wasn’t the one who had just been strangled. She pushed him away and dusted herself off, only stumbling a little bit. He sniffed and looked away, as though refusing to acknowledge her statement. They rested for a little time, not saying much, and Ero cooled off a little. After a few minutes she stood and walked to where Jacque sat, facing away from her. She bumped him gently with her knee. “Hey, don’t worry. It was an accident, and I’m fine.” She smiled sweetly at him as he looked up at her. “Lets finish up, with some weapon sparring, then we can relax for a little bit.” She pulled out her Suvai, and Jacques retrieved a long fighting dagger from his belt. They faced each other and bowed slightly. They drew their weapons, then dropped into opposing stances, Jacques with his blade across his body, and Ero with her suvai pulled back and ready to attack. They held the position for a few breaths, relaxing into the positions. The two then shifted almost precisely at the same time, Jaqcues stepping to the side and angling his blade down, and Ero stepping forward and bringing her suvai nearly into contact with the man’s knife. Again, they settled for a few moments then shifted again. Jacques pivoting forward and bringing his knife even to where the back of Ero’s neck would be, and Ero stepped into the spot he had just vacated, bringing her arm back where it would intercept the knife were it to continue forward. They continued this way for a few more stances, then Jacques grinned and stood just as Ero pursed her lips and straightened up. They nodded to each other, then again took up the stances, only this time Ero was on the defensive. She held her suvai thrust out in front of her, as if to catch the thrust of Jacques weapon, and he held his dagger over his head, parallel to his spine. As they shifted this time, he brought down his arm for what would be a devastating slash, and Ero stepped forward into it, nestling her body intimately with his as she stepped beneath his reach and twisted her suvai around his wrist. She grinned at the intimate position she had him in, and when they shifted again, She drew the suvai up to where it would impale his neck, while Jaqcues was unable to do anything to prevent it. They nodded at each other again, and once more took up the beginning stances, Jacques on the defensive, and Ero on the offence. They continued this way for nearly an hour in slow, switching stances each time to work on both attack and defense. This was non contact sparring, a way in which they could be working on form and precision, as well as strategy. At the final exchange, Ero smiled happily at her victory, then switched out her weapon for a training suvai, a wrapped hardwood weapon shaped like the real one given to her by her mother, and Jacques stood up and retrieved a similar wooden dagger from a rack on the wall. Then they began to truly spar. Once more they took up similar fighting stances, and began circling each other. Jacques made a few quick jabs and cuts, all of which were either caught in the tines of Ero‘s weapon, or knocked aside. As they continued sparring, it became quite clear that Ero, while obviously inferior in hand to hand combat, was far more skilled in armed combat than he. After a while, Ero tired of working her defensive drill, and went on the offensive. She swept her weapon to the right, then switched and twisted her wrist in a quick circle, tearing the knife from Jacques’ hand. It flipped through the air, and somehow landed point first in the dirt. Ero smiled and nodded her head for the man to retrieve his weapon. He grinned sheepishly, then picked it up. With a quick whirl, he leapt towards her, and whipped the dagger in an arc that would have terminated in her throat if she hadn’t been ready and deflected the attack, following the block with a brutal punch to the solar plexus. Jaqcues stumbled back and wheezed. Ero stayed back this time, and cocked her head to one side, not falling for the same trick time. She put her hands on her hips and smiled as he recovered himself, obviously not shamming. She asked him if he was ready, then they continued to spar like this for some time. Nearly an hour later, they were both soaked with sweat, and breathing hard. After a few more exchanges, Jacques raised his hand, “I’m ready to call it quits for tonight…at least as far as the training goes.” He winked winningly and picked up the various bits of training equipment that lay strewn about the floor of the training room. Ero stooped and helped the attractive man pick up everything and put it all in it’s correct place. After all that was done, Ero retrieved her clothes and was about to set off to her own place with her uncle, when the man asked her, “It's cold out, why don’t you clean up and rest here tonight?” he asked slyly. She grinned, and followed him deeper into his house. She wound up getting very little rest that night.

[Baku]

Thou has written, and thou has completed, so I award thee the following.... Ero: +2 Unarmed, +2 Suvai, +1 Seduction, +2 Rhetoric Lore: Getting Groped While Sparring, Being Choked Out, The Difficulties of Escaping a Hold, Movements of a Fight, Knowing When to Take a Break, A Good Day of Training Additional Notes: A nice short thread, good description, and a solid relationship is seen between Ero and Jacques. It would be nice to see a little more. My only small request is that the background or text color be a little more opposite of each other. Might be just my eyes but the text color tends to blend in a bit with the background, making it a tad difficult to read. Keep up the interesting development of Ero’s past.