Shaking Off the Rust [O]

[Kieran]

This Carousel Spins Round and Round words: 786. tag: Open. notes: Kieran's a bit rusty It had been quite some time since Kieran last practiced the combat arts. For too long he had been absorbed in his mother's condition and neglected to continue his practice. The knights would travel to Plegia soon and Lord Dorian and Master Ydolus needed him sharp. That's why he stood here now, in the castle's training grounds. Most of the knights had endeavored to stay in town at the inn but Kieran was too restless to sleep. That was the other reason he was out here in the middle of the night. A beautiful crescent moon peaked through the clouds and cast a faint light on the otherwise darkened area. The castle training grounds was open air and located near the barracks. Kieran had made sure to inform the wandering patrols that he'd be using them. When questioned why he had managed to give them a coherent and honest answer. He was free to use the grounds as he saw fit but was told not to make too much noise. He briefly wondered if he could keep to that request but decided it was better to not dwell on that. He steeled himself and prepared. Kieran entered his mind, summoning up the images of all the times his father had taken him to the forest and trained him. He envisioned the training grounds as a dense forest. Before him stood his father, no, before him was his enemy. That was how it was when they had trained. He had been taught to see him as an enemy and not his teacher. The man charged him. Kieran brought his sword up to block. "Too slow!" the words echoed in his mind. He could almost feel the pain of having a wooden training sword slammed edge first into his gut. Kieran staggered but stood his ground. The illusion lashed out again. This time Kieran brought his sword up to block fast enough. He parried the blow and quickly retaliated by thrusting his blade at his target's abdomen. The illusion was faster still and used a brutal vertical slash to counter his thrust. This was followed up by a mighty rising slash that knocked the sword out of his hand. Outside of his mind Kieran dropped his blade and dashed backwards to avoid the third in a series of slashes. "Remember Kieran not every enemy you face will be restricted to just swords or axes. You will face those who can wield the arcane magics as well. Can you dodge this?" His father's words rang in his head as he envisioned the man withdrawing a lightning tome and casting the magic at him. Lightning magic, fast, good against dragons. Lightning magic was very direct. To hit with it you had to know where your foe will be not where they are. Kieran flipped narrowly avoiding the phantom bolt. Kieran quickly dashed and grabbed his blade once more before going back on the defensive. "Next, wind magic. Do you know how to avoid it my son?". Kieran stood his ground and waited. Wind magic was quicker still and good against those that soared through the air. Dodging it was hard but not impossible. The blades of wind came at him fast but Kieran changed his stance. He minimized how much of his body was exposed and weaved in place to avoid being sliced. He miscalculated by mere millimeters and heard the ting of the wind hitting the metal earring on his ear. Now it was his turn to go on the offensive. Kieran threw his blade at his father as a distraction and switched to his fire tome. Fire was a potent magic that all beasts feared. It was the magic he most had an affinity with next to, of course, his mother's dark magic but he had never been allowed to truly practice it. Flames gathered around his hand and he fired. The fireballs slammed into a nearby training dummy but in Kieran's mind the spell whiffed. Kieran surged forward slinging fireballs at the phantom image of his father until he closed the distance, grabbed this thrown sword, and slashed. The blade crushed into the man's side with an ugly thwack and he could hear the grunt of pain. Kieran dispelled his mental illusion and took a deep breath. Perhaps, for now, it was better to simply use the actual training dummies, one of which was now thoroughly singed, to hone his skills? Yes, he supposed that was a better idea than trying to picture training sessions past. His hand was shaking badly from it after all. Even now, more than a year later, the memory of his father's death still was fresh in his mind.

ⒶⓀⒾ

[Rain]

don't cry, destroy these imprisoned illusions. just once rise above your demise. Don't cry tranquility, let us end this by our own actions.

Kieran

Ah man, why did Rain get herself into these awkward positions? She had walked in during the evening, but the inn had been full of... people. She wasn't even sure who they were, but she had dipped out the moment she realized it had been full. So she had hunted around for a tavern, and then gotten a meal and had been doing dishes and cleaning to pay it off. At least she had told them of it before hand, making sure that there was a way, and she didn't eat too much so that she'd have to work for more then a day. Despite being well... stupid, Rain did have some intelligence in there somewhere. Mainly most of it was focused on the 'I'm worried I must find my sibling' track of mind.

But it was there. Despite it's existence, she had decided to go sleep in an area as a wolf, slipping into a place where no one had been guarding, and tucked herself in. She really needed to find someone that would give her a steady companionship soon, although she had all but ran from the knights earlier. Well the Taguel was comfortable, mainly because of the light wooded area - wait was this that same training ground? Well.. there /was/ a smudge on the ground but that didn't matter. She woke up to noises, namely the feel of magic and fire. As a Taguel, that's what hurt the most, and she was instantly awake, shifting into her form out of feeling threatened.

With a jump, she was out of the woods with a growl, her fur slightly spiked up. But the sounds had stopped, and then she sat on her haunches, looking confused at the young male that seemed to not pay attention to her. Carefully she approached the male, and then backed away a bit when he seemed to come back to awareness. The wolf just looked up at him and let out out a soft whine, as if trying to get the male's attention. She felt worry cling to her chest, but she didn't want to assume anything from it. She wanted to make sure the poor boy was alright, as her mothering and older sister nature certainly wanted to make sure he was fine.

But she couldn't help but think that maybe she wasn't the one he needed, but despite that she would try her best despite being in her shifted wolf form.

(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE