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. Exits: northeast and west.

Eladria stands out by the fields around the Blades of the Red Heart tower. A rough path has been set up, and it looks like it's been run on by a lot of people. He's got a pocketwatch, and is prepared to do a couple other tests, with a bar running between two trees.

Shiroi shows up, strolling along side of the path. Whistling an elaborate tune, she comes up to Eladria and does a little salute. "Good morning, Eladria, wonderful day, isn't it?" She greeted, in a almost sing-songy tone.

Eladria raises an eyebrow. "Maybe where you come from, that's appropriate for . . . activity, but I assure you, you'll wish you had at least worn leggings." He shrugs and sighs. "But I'm not the dress code supervisor. I'm here to make sure you meet the physical requirements for the classes here at the tower. First, a brief run through the woods, here."

Shiroi smirks, her trademark crooked grin. "I'll survive" was her only reply. Looking over at the path, she asks: "Just run it? Is this a test of speed? Endurance? What?"

Eladria chuckles. "Just run it. Record for the 4 mile here is 13 minutes. It's a cross country course. There are bumps, hills, mud, and the occassional raccoon." He looks a bit chagrined. "I have the unfortunate duty to run it with you, and ensure that you don't cut corners."

Shiroi looks rather mornful, upon hearing that. Clutching at her heart with one hand and stretching out with the other, she cried: "Sad is the one who is doubted without cause!" and pretends to stiffle a sob. Dropping her hand and her act, she smirked again. "So, shall we start?"

Eladria rolls his eyes. . o O(This will be a joy, I can tell.) "Are you going to get in a ready position, stretch, prepare at ALL for these tests?"

Shiroi shrugged. "Why bother?" she asked. "I, personally, don't see a need to."

Eladria sighs. "Ready then?" He walks up right next to her.

Shiroi nods. "Right behind you!" the actress exclaimed cheefully.

Eladria chuckles. "I don't think so, missy. You need to be in front, where I can keep my eye on you."

Shiroi asks: Uhmmm.... right beside you then?

Eladria nods. "Begin." He sets a decent pace. He's as fast as a dwarf gets.

Shiroi puts her hands behind her back and... prances. You swear she must be going out of her way to be annoying. She's keeping up rather well with Eladria, though, and is whistling that same elaborate tune once more.

Eladria . o O ( This is exactly why I don't run. I hate kids. ).

Eladria sighs in exasperation, but is determined not to acknowledge just how annoying she's being.

Shiroi seems to sense Eladria's... less than happy state, and turns her hand to him, still prancing with her hands behind her back, however. "Why, whatever's the matter, honorable instructor?"

Eladria looks at Shiroi.

A girl who appears to be in her late teens smirks crookedly at you with her pungent mid-night colored eyes. A pair of silver cross earrings dangles from her ears, accenting the glimmer in her eyes. Thick, wavy raven black hair reaches her waist, quite a decent length. Thin lips, with firm eyebrows that adds to her determined look.rmined look. Charismatic, She seem to radiate a rather attractive temperament. Woo, those are some nice legs. Her dress are as follows: a white leather vest, with a silvery zipper that goes down to the bust. A glossy hip-hugging black mini-skirt with a hint of a slit on the left side, and a white leather glove much like her vest covers her arms from mid-upper arm to the knuckle of her middle finger. You also spot a silver chain that goes around her neck and down inside her vest... must be some necklace. Her heeled black knee-high boots looks sharp on her.

Eladria chuckles. "Well, despite your cavalier attitude, we're coming up on a waterlogged part of the course, and I worry that you'll be coated in MUD."

Shiroi prances on with ZEAL. "MUD! Whoohoo! We're going to be covered in MUD!" the performer threw her head back and cackled, most distrubingly.

Eladria purses his lips. "Right. Well, it's up to you, but don't expect me to clean you off when you're dirty, understand?"

Shiroi grined, and she threw a leering gaze at Eladria. "You know you want to!"

Eladria blushes, not admitting that at all. "I don't think you understand, I am in love with someone else, child."

Shiroi uses the 'big, teary, innocent eyes attack'!!! "What is it? It's my age, isn't it? I know it's hard for you to see me as anything but a little child, but don't you know that LOVE CAN OVERCOME?!?!?" and she cackles again, as disturbingly as before.

Eladria does a long blink, and starts sloshing through the thigh high mud (For the dwarf, anyway. Probably about knee height for a human) as it comes upon them.

Shiroi , some how, some way, continues to prance. Through water. In fact, she seems to be trying her best to kick up water. The muddy water flies up around them, something that Shiroi seems to be throughly enjoying.

Eladria is struck by mud on his face, and he grimaces, trying to resist the urge to splash her deliberately.

Eladria resists no longer, and flicks his arm out, sending a bit of mud at Shiroi. He doesn't even seem to notice.

Shiroi whistles the song still, and lashes her right leg out in Eladria's direction. A small tidal wave of mud splashs the dwarf over his shoulders.

Eladria coughs, and splashes back, with a strong dwarven arm, making a large wave of his own.

Shiroi screams in laughter as mud splashs against her white leather vest, and she re-doubles her efforts in creating splashes as she jumps through them. A little wave generator, she seems like.

Eladria is coated in mud by now, and resists the urge to just knock her down into the water in the next few seconds, since the water section, and the course itself, are almost done.

Shiroi has her hands behind her back this entire time, and she prances on, and pouts as she notices that the water level's getting lower and lower. "Awww... almost gone..." and she leaps, and creates a giantic splash before they leave the water course.

Eladria wipes the mud from his eyes, and finishes the course in fine time, though he's a bit wet, and his armor is covered in mud.

Shiroi resumes whistling again, still prancing along side of Eladria.

Eladria stops the watch. "Not too bad, 24 minutes. We've got too much to do, so you'll just have to shower when we're done. Now then," he winces a bit. "Do you know how to do a push up?"

Shiroi stares at Eladria, her face blank. "You mean, do I know how to do a push up on a single pinky, and juggle at the same time, that's what you meant, right?"

Eladria rolls his eyes. "I mean, you need to give me fifty pushups. If you can."

Shiroi stares at Eladria again. "... do I know how to do push ups... pfffft..." she mumbled to herself, then shrugged. Dropping down to the ground, she did fifty push ups, on her hands, and did nothing fancy, other than the fact that she completed fifty push ups, in the most perfect pose, under half a minute. And she stood up, and crossed her arms, staring at Eladria as if she's saying 'anything /else/?'.

Eladria claps a golf clap. "Very good. How about some chin-ups? On the bar yonder?" He points to the bar between a pair of trees. "Say, I don't know, 45?"

Shiroi almost laughs. Chin-ups. "How's if I do 200 sit ups with my legs hooked over that bar and my hands tied behind my back? Would that convince you to save us some time?"

Eladria shrugs. "If that's how you'd rather do it, then so be it."

Eladria says: It would eliminate the situps portion of the exam.

Eladria says: Look, I just need to ensure you get placed properly, so I have to finish these physical tests.

Shiroi whistles and strolls over to the bar, reachs up and seems to raise her legs up in front of herself while leaning back, hooking her legs over the bar. Really, she does things like these regularly back when she was still attending St. Temp. It's the only way to stay as the top performer of all sorts in there. And she keeps her hands behind her back, as she had done before, and starts doing the excersize, her shoulder touching the knee on its adjacent side each time. And she does 200 of them under a minute, keeping her breathing even as she flipped backwards down, when she finished, though her face is a bit crimson. She hears Eladria, and nods. "Fair enough," she rolled her eyes.

Eladria nods. "All right, you seem to be in fair physical condition. But how do you handle a weapon?"

Shiroi shrugged, tilting her head a bit. "I'm no weapon specialist, but hand me something and I'll show you how I can beat someone black and blue with it."

Eladria says: All right little girl, if you can handle a sword, I'll clear you.

Eladria grabs an iron shortsword, and tosses it at her feet, and picks one up himself.

Shiroi kick the sword up with a flick of her foot, and catchs it in one hand. She raises an eyebrow at Eladria's, however.

Eladria raises his own eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

Shiroi shrugged again. "Oh, nothing, absolutely nothing. Just wondering how badly you'll beat me with that thing."

Eladria chuckles. "If you're worried about your tender skin, don't be. I have no intention of marring a student."

Shiroi chuckles as well. "My skin are anything but tender, worry not."

Eladria nods, and moves toward her, sword in hand.

Shiroi steps back, her back arching a bit as she backs carefully away, ready to spring at a moment's notice.

Eladria continues to press, driving her toward the water, swinging his sword a bit.

Shiroi lowers, and seems to tense for a brief second, like a spring being pressed, and leaps over Eladria's head in a flash, whirling around to face him again, still high on her guard.

Eladria nods approvingly, spinning to face her, and advances, again.

Shiroi's eyes flashes over Eladria's suit of armor, his stance, and his weapon. She keeps on backing away, defensive, knowing that she's facing a superior in the ways of a sword.

Eladria keeps pressing. He isn't about to betray his speed bursts quite yet.

Shiroi sets her foot down carefully, her body in a heightened sense of alertness. The only time she'd seem Eladria fight was when he was beside himself with fury, and bare handed, which doesn't help her much in this situation. No matter, she'll adept.

Eladria continues to press her backward, trying to subtly close the gap between them.

Shiroi is of the mind to keep that gap, to give herself that fraction of a second in her reaction time. She suspects that the dwarf can close the gap, if he wants to...

Eladria is mindful of another gap, as well. The gap between Shiroi's back and the Tower proper. He knows she can leap, but he hopes she will.

Eladria swings his sword again, moving just a bit faster now.

Shiroi sweeps to the side, still facing Eladria, backing away from him in a circle.

Eladria takes the opportunity to lunge forward, closing the gap to almost nil in a matter of a moment.

Shiroi's eyes widens, but not in surprise. Her pupils seems to shrink as she suddenly ducks under the swing of Eladria's sword, grabs his arm, and twists it behind him as she passes him in her dart.

Eladria feels his arm go behind him, and almost smiles. "Good. But never underestimate your opponent's strength." He moves his arm back, pulling with extraordinary force.

Shiroi releases the arm as soon as it whips itself back, and took this opportunity to slam the handle of her sword into the head of Eladria's head, with the overwhelming force that no one would've expected of a girl of her size.

Eladria is struck, staggers forward a bit. "Excellent. You have a decent grasp of the basics. He turns back to her, and tosses his sword away. "I suppose all you really need is instruction for how to use a sword properly. You improvise well."

Shiroi drops her sword as well, releasing a heavy breath that she'd been holding. "Indeed. I haven't had much experience fighting with a sword. I always improvise with one thing or another."

Eladria nods.

Shiroi says: It's far more reliable, really. You can't always be sure to have a sword around.

Eladria asks: We'll get you proper instruction. Do you prefer another weapon, perhaps?

Shiroi shrugs. "I have no preferrances over weapons."

Eladria says: All right. Then I suppose we're done with the exam. You can go clean yourself up, if you like.

Shiroi covers her mud-stained face with her similarly soiled hands, and pulls some lines of mud streaks over her face. "...fear me...!" was one of the things that could be heard from her rambling as she headed back to the tower.

Eladria shakes his head. "If she'd ever be serious, she could be a formidable opponent. Especially considering her other skills. . ."