Gatehouse of the Blades of the Red Heart
This is the Gatehouse for the Blades of the Red Heart. It is an ordinary wooden shack built into the side of the mountain here. The only thing that keeps people from entering are the big iron gates and the two guards keeping watch.
Eladria stands in the practice hall of the Blades of the Red Heart Tower. A couple practice dummies stand to the side, and a small rack of weapons is beside him, swords of different sizes. In addition, there are more exotic weapons, bola, for example.
Shiroi waved as she came in, still wearing the outfit that she's always seen in. "Yo, Eladria."
Eladria bows to Shiroi as she enters, half in respect, half to hide his blush blush. "Greetings, child."
Shiroi grins crookedly, no one can hide that sort of emotion from her. "The name's Shiroi, old man."
Eladria . o O ( She does it on purpose, to get a rise out of people. ).
Eladria asks: All right, Shiroi, are you prepared to train weapons form?
Shiroi shrugs, and twinkle in her eyes. "Wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
Eladria nods. "Right then. It is time to chose your weapon. We have several here, long, hard steel. Peruse the rack, find an impliment that suits your . . .style." He nods at the rack, and takes a step to the side to allow her access.
The rack holds daggers, shortswords, swords, longswords, hammers, axes,claws, whips, bows, staves, rods, and more exotic weaponry, bolas, chakram,throwing stars, and even a kama.
Shiroi gave the rack a glance, and shrugged. "Meh, they all look the same to me." Strolling over, she picked up a rod and spun it in one hand. "This looks to be as good as any."
Eladria coughs. "You wish to learn the way of the. . .rod. . .all right."
Shiroi turned, and grinned widely, her pearly white teeth gleaming in the light.
Eladria turns to the weapon rack, to select a weapon, and makes sure she can no longer see his face. . o O(She would laugh, if she saw me. She really would. If she didn't do the same, anyway.) He chuckles, and grabs a staff of solid oak.
Shiroi merely smirked, as it is, and waited, leaning on the rod she'd just picked up.
Eladria turns to face her. "The rod is an offensive weapon. You must not simply wait and accept the blows, but must go forth at strike at your opponent."
Shiroi nods, but does nothing otherwise.
Eladria strides up to her. "First, you have to hold it properly. If you mishold the rod, you'll either lose your grip, or it will fail you when you need it. Hold it tightly, but space your hands. You don't hold a baseball bat. Go on, pick it up."
Shiroi raised at eyebrow at the 'baseball bat' comment, but flicked the rod up to a horizontal position on her hands. Weighing out the rod, the actress positioned her hands according to what she felt would best benefit her in a fight, and held it firmly.
Eladria readies himself in a defensive stance, and nods at Shiroi. "Disarm me. If you can, that is." He grins.
Shiroi rubbed at her eyes with one hand, sighing. "Oooh... And I was hoping you'd ask me to wack some dummies instead... oh well..." And she sprints forward, and slams her rod down on Eladria's head, and lashes out with her right foot, aiming a powerful kick at the right side of his waist.
Eladria easily blocks the rod strike, but takes the kick to the side, and oofs. He doesn't move much, but swings out with the staff, trying to hit Shiroi in the side as well.
Shiroi swung her leg back down behind her, and reaches out with one free hand, grabbing the staff firmly as it hits her in the side, and slams the heavy end of her rod into Eladria's forehead with her other hand, all the while tugging ferociously back at the staff, trying to wretch it out of the dwarf's hands as best as she could.
Eladria reels back from the blow to his head, blood flowing freely. But he holds onto that staff, and practically pulls Shiroi for a ride as he does. "Gah!"
Shiroi braced her legs against the ground as Eladria tries to pull his staff back, still holding firmly onto the staff. And even as she continues to wretch at the staff, she cracks the rod down over Eladria's wrists, repeatedly, savagely. The impacts could be heard echoing in the room.
Eladria roars, releasing his left hand to grab the rod, using the other, and his leverage, to try to haul Shiroi about the room, whipping her toward a wall.
Shiroi's body jerked as it was thrown against the wall, but she kept her grip on both the weapons as tightly as ever. Quick as a flash a leg lashes out, and she rains kicks across Eladria's head, back and forth, relentlessly.
Eladria is struck, hard, blood clouding his eyes, and begins to spin. Figuring she's on the outside, she'll release first.
Shiroi was raised in a circus, please. She leaps on one leg as Eladria begins to spin, and drives her heel into Eladria's face, pounding him face first with her boot, as if trying to cave his face in. And as he spins faster, she changes her tactics, and her other leg flies up, and they curl themselves around his neck, and she twists with the momentum, dragging Eladria's neck down to the floor. And her leg tightens in their lock, strangling his airpipe and threatening to break his neck with each passing second. Her grip on the weapons never loosened.
Eladria continues to spin, steeling his neck against the grip of her legs, way too preoccupied to enjoy any view he may get. But the spin continues, faster and faster, before Eladria, blood covering his face, bites at the flesh of Shiroi's leg.
Shiroi is practically flying through air now, still holding on with her hands and legs. She grits her teeth as she felt Eladria's teeth bite into her skin, and she smirks, her face flushed with effort. Her legs merely lock in further and tighter around the dwarf's neck as the speed of the spin accelerates, wringing it, crushing his airpipe and blocking any chance of oxygen from reaching his lungs. Soon lack of oxygen will be the least of Eladria's problems, as Shiroi is perfectly capable of breaking off a person's head with her legs.
Eladria bites deeply, practically ripping off a hunk of Shiroi's leg, as he takes his left arm to pull away Shiroi's left leg, spinning until Shiroi is practically horizontal. . .and above ground.
Shiroi nothing can make Shiroi release the death lock she has on Eladria's neck now, thankes to the force of the spin. Her teeth clenches, and her eyes wides as she felt the piece of flesh tearing off from her leg. And the strength of the waist she'd demostrated the other day comes into play as she lost support on her right hand (as Eladria had released the rod). She pulls her torso up and practically /sits/ on Eladria's shoulder, adding the weight of her body into the force of her legs, and Eladria's neck starts caving in.
Ari enters.
The scene is something out of a BDSM flick, it would seem. Eladria spins,fast as he can, one hand on Shiroi's leg, trying to tear it from his neck.The other clenches around a simple wooden staff. Shiroi herself practicallysits on his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his neck in a death vice, asthey spin. In one hand, Shiroi grips the same wooden staff. In the other, asimple rod. Eladria's face is covered in blood, part from head injuriessustained, part from having literally ripped a chuck of her leg out withhis teeth.
Eladria can feel his air being cut off, so he does the only thing he could. He starts moving toward the wall, in clear hopes of smashing her into it as she spins.
Ari silently glides in from the forest outside the tower, her robe a little ragged and torn. Climbing trees in high winds doesn't exactly do anything beneficial for clothing -- rather, it tends to have the reverse effect. She had every intention of heading back to her room to change before lessons, but stops short upon seeing the two combatants. Training session or a duel gone wrong? She wonders.
Shiroi has the mind to snap Eladria's neck once and for all, but notes that it's probably not the best way to end a training session. So she merely ensures that Eladria knows that his neck is about to break, and that he cannot breath. She merely waits for him to spin himself out, and she jams the rod into Eladria's mouth, as to stop his chewing on her leg. Her left hand twists the staff violently, still trying to wretch it out of Eladria's hand. And she shoves the rod further into Eladria's mouth, to a rather lethal point...
Eladria is finally close enough to the wall. And rather than give, he whips his entire upper body, Shiroi attached, into the wall, hoping to dislodge her, finally. He does, at least, bite down on the rod, to prevent it's further progress.
Ari finally snaps herself awake enough to notice that they're both using blunt wooden weapons... perhaps this isn't as bad as it looks after all. However, it's a given that Eladria, at least, will need some attention of a medical kind after this. So thinking, she decides to stay around and watch. If nothing else, it would be entertaining.
Shiroi wasn't shaken (at least, not mentally) the last time she was thrown into the wall, and she isn't now. She twists the rod in her hand, and shoves it further in despite Eladria's biting. Her legs still applying enough force to effectively ensure that Eladria takes not a single breath, and her hold on his staff never relents, and one last time, she jerks the staff out of his hand.
Eladria finally releases the staff, and collapses, likely landing Shiroi on top of him.
Ari has somehow managed to doze off during the few minutes she was here (and presumably watching). So much for entertaining.
So the battle is ended. Eladria lies on the ground, out of breath, facecovered in blood, a rod in his. . .mouth, of all places. He's beaten,bruised. Shiroi is on top of him, legs wrapped around his neck, one hand onthe rod, the other on the staff. She looks a bit shaken, and a chunk of oneleg has been forcibly ripped out.
Shiroi's knee, at least one of them, cracks against the floor as Eladria collapses back on the floor, but she pays it no heed. Jumping up with rod in one hand, staff in the other, she started dancing around the room. "I won! I won! Heeeheehee!!!" She waves the weapons around in her hands, her leg bleeding.
Shiroi does her victory dance, which, in short, involves lots of hip thrusting. "YEAH!! Who's DA WOMAN?!? I'M DA WOMAN!!!"
Justin could really do without this sort of thing happening all the time. Kiran does, indeed, lie on the ground, in the middle of the gateyard, and Shiroi is, in fact, dancing for joy around him. He regards the scene with a blank, fatigued and exasperated look, and with an effort of will keeps his hands at his sides, away from his sword hilt. "Would...would you /please/ explain your actions? I should be quite happy to remove you from the premises otherwise, I believe."
Eladria groans loudly, and shakes his head, rolling onto his back, and looking up at Justin, speechless.
Shiroi turns her head, and her expression of joy dies down. "Urgh, the evil school master, dammit," she muttered, quite loudly, for all to hear. Clearing her throat, she shrugged and gave a slight wave with her weapons. "Training session. Weapon finesse was that it was, I believe. Eladria asked me to disarm him," and she gave another wave with the staff in her hand. "And so I did!" And she grinns widely.
Eladria is just bright red. Absolutely bright red, as he realizes just how bad this looks, shortly before his wedding. . ."Justin, I . . .can. . .explain. . .it was as the child says, a training session gone heated." He starts to scramble to his feet.
Eladria concentrates briefly, and his wounds start closing up.
Justin watches Eladria struggle to rise, with a rather pained expression. He sighs, heavily. "And...do tell me, /why/ were you conducting this...training session, here in front of the gatehouse, with live weapons, rather than in the Training Hall, with appropriate protective gear?"
Shiroi gives Eladria's face a glance, and looks down at her own bleeding leg, with a chunck of skin torn out of it. "Bleh..." She makes a face at it.
Eladria says: This area had a fairly large open area. And we weren't using live weapons at all, but a Staff and Rod. Blunt training weapons.
Eladria says: As far as gear goes. . .I'm in my gear, as is she. I've tried to get her to change, but she won't.
Shiroi shrugged. "What's wrong with my gear?" She regards her gloves, her leather vest, her black mini-black (smeared in Eladria's blood), and her boots (the bottom of which is also smeared with Eladria's blood).
Justin studiously ignores Eladria, now, turning... whatever emotional state he's in on Shiroi, instead. "The fact that it seems to have let you lose rather a bit of leg comes to mind."
Shiroi raised the knee on her injured leg, and looked down at her bloody wound. "Nay! 'Ts merely a flesh wound!" She exclaimed loudly, and started hopping around on one leg. "It shan't stop me!"
Eladria wipes the blood from his face. "The wound was my fault, Justin. I lost control of my more bestial side during practice. I take full responsibility."
Justin is not amused. "If you really think so, I suppose you're welcome to try. I think perhaps Kiran ought to be seen to, though." He turns to face him, now. "Mmm, to judge from your own condition I'd say it barely evens things out. Do stop by the medics, and soon. That all looks like it hurts."
Eladria nods at Justin.
Shiroi shrugged, and turned her head over to Eladria again. "So! What did I learn today??"
Eladria blushes. "First, you and I will need to go over how to use a weapon in a more standard manner. Had I been prepared, this might well have gone differently. Using the weapon in such a manner is surprising, and surprise is an ally. But if you always do so, it will cease to be a surprise." His manner is all business now. "Second, and I think Justin will agree with me, you need to be fitted for armor. At the LEAST, a suit and tabi-socks. Not all your foes will be honorable, or weak."
Shiroi doesn't seem to be listening at all, in fact. "Learned... Dwarfs can hold their breath and spin for a really long time, and," she looked over at Justin and made a face. "Evil school masters are WET NOODLES." And she nodded to herself, and, spinning on one leg, danced out of the hall, heading for the infirmary.
Justin nods, slowly. "Ultimately, it's your own hide you're risking, and really none of our business whether you want to protect it or not, but as a student here, even on a temporary basis, I would ask you to armor yourself suitably, lest," He pauses and mumbles something dark, as Shiroi delivers her insult and dances off down the hall. Perhaps she's right, perhaps he /is/ a wet noodle, but he certainly doesn't need to take that from the likes of her today. From somewhere about his person, he draws a small, white-gold-and-topaz throwing knife, regards it speculatively for several moments, and then sends it whistling up the hallway after her, hilt-first, aimed for somewhere around the back of her head.
Justin mutters, in Eladria's general direction, "Next time, I'll cover her weapons finesse lesson, hmm?"
Shiroi ducks her head just in the nick of time, and her hand flies up to catch the knife by the hilt. Turning back, Shiroi waves and pockets the knife. "THANKIES!!!" She shouts, and twirls, dancing onto the infirmary.
Eladria chuckles, and nods. "I should probably take some time off teaching, anyway. I'm being distracted by the upcoming event."
Eladria gets serious. "If that's all right, of course."
Shiroi hums to herself as she hops on. God knows how many pipes, rocks, bottles, and knifes have been tossed at her back in her life time.
Justin smiles, and executes phase two of his plan, a simple Heat Metal spell on the knife, which he now activates with a last word. That'll teach her. He resumes his usual gravity as he nods to Eladria. "I should be able to cover for you for the moment. It'll be no trouble. You ought for once not have to worry about getting tossed about, now of all times."
Eladria says: I just wish I knew everything. She's marrying me, but I don't even know who I really am.
Eladria spots Ari, and goes to wake her. "Hey, you there. Up and at them."
Ari jerks forward, eyes flashing open in an instant. "Huh? Uh..."
Justin contemplates Eladria's problem for several moments, while he waits for word from up the hall. Still, by himself he can't really see where the trouble is. Oh well. "You have rooms for that, you know. Unless you were another victim of Shiroi, or somesuch."
Shiroi, after a moment of frightening silence, appears back in the hall way again, walking, this time. And she comes at Justin, and throws a piece of badly burnt bra in his face. "That was my only BRA YOU BASTARD! Not even Lucifer burnt my bra! He only planted recording devices in them!!!" She waved the finger in Justin's face, and stormed out of the hall again.
Eladria asks: Don't you have a class, girl?
Ari nods, shyly. "Um, yes... thanks for waking me up, but I should get to it..." She bows clumsily to the dwarf, and then proceeds to scoot towards the tower proper.
Justin grins a highly unpleasant grin in her face, even as she storms in, flings the scorched cloth at him, and marches off. "Perhaps you shouldn't have put my knife there, then?" he asks her retreating back. Oh yes, we can just tell, they're going to have /such/ fun together, aren't they? "Well! You going to be along to the infirmary all right, or you want I should give you a hand?"
Eladria shrugs. "Unless you know how to restore my memory. . .I should be fine."
Shiroi's voice comes back from several halls down. " -t's your school!" Could be heard rather clearly at the end of her sentence, and there is no more.
Shiroi, of course, relays the tale of Justin and the destruction of her bra to all interested parties, which basically includes nearly the entire student body, just for the hell of it. Well, it's not like his reputation was hurt any further by it...
Justin nods solemnly. "All right, then. As you were. I suspect I had some business I was going to attend to, but I'm not quite certain I can recall it right now."
Eladria sighs and nods.
Eladria asks: Oh, Justin? One of these days, before the ceremony, when you get a second. . .if we could talk about me before?
Justin nods. "Any time. I'd be happy to help, if I can."
Eladria says: One of these days, indeed.
Eladria trails off, and heads for the top of the tower.