Open A Plain Day

[Telk]

59th Day, Fall of 512 A.V. He stared. A lingering stare. Steel flashed and rung out as it hit other pieces of steel, the duels were going on and on, nobody had tired. Telk missed the duels though, he was staring at something else entirely, or nothing it should be said. He was remembering the outside, he hadn't been to The Unforgiving since Summer, it was a barren, waste of land, it he found himself missing it. Unlike Wind Reach society, the Unforgiving accepted you if you could prove you were worthy to live. The call rang out as a duel ended, Telk grunted as he stood up, his turn was next, in his last duel he was chastised for almost killing his opponent with his shield, Telk had merely commented "You City-Dwellers are like women, no sense of a real fight". This had irked both his opponent and anyone listening, the current duel referee especially, so his next fight was up against a man similar to Telk, he was abnormally large for an Inarta, standing at 6'0", his muscles were large and covered in scars too, with a healthy tan, again abnormal for an Inarta. This man had clearly travelled, but soon Telk realised by his stance and his eyes, this man was once perfectly like him, a chiet who spent the majority of his time outside Wind-Reach usually in the mountains. This fight was to be tougher than expected. Telk sized the man up guessed strength was his most able attribute, putting his shield on the sidelines, he didn't notice the terrifying speed with which his opponent ran at him, he cursed as he rolled sideways, the first rule of the Unforgiving, is never turn your back to an active enemy. Unsheathing his sword Telk performed a counter charge, the two men meeting in the middle and clashing sword in deadlock, the duel had begun with ferocity and was sure to end in this way. Some other duellers had even stopped to observe despite the Wind-Reach duelling competition being in a few days time. The two men battled on in staunch defiance of each other, both trying to prove their personal dominance until the referee called the fight off citing bloodthirsty as a bad trait. Telk, forced to shake the hand of the man he had just duelled sighed longingly as he trudged back to his seat, he missed the action and the fun of the Unforgiving, he missed it all too much, returning to his standard stare as he waited for someone else to practice duelling with.

[Oitera]

When she walked by the open area where they were practicing Oitera could't resist a glace at those who was fighting. It wasn't the right place for her since she never faught with a sword but it still seemed interesting. She walked closer to be able to see more, the call surprised her when it stopped the battle near her. She saw two men stand up and walk onto the fighting area, she didn't like it but could't resist to stay and look at the fight. She saw one of them charge at the other who rolled away, stand up and charge at the first man. She flinched a bit when they meet and was glad that she wasn't one of them.

When the call forced them to stop fighting, Oitera studied the two men when they shaked hand with each other. She watched the man who had rolled away from the first attack as he went back to his seat, he almost looked bored.

[Telk]

59th Day, Fall of 512 A.V. The fights were continuining, Telk had since sat down but was still pumped with adrenaline. The duelists were all tiring slowly, but were still going, they couldn't stop, it was like a reaction rather than a choice. Telk had unbuckled his sword, placing it next to his shield, both of which were kept in a pristine fashion. It was common for those waiting to duel to sharpen, polish or even mend their weapons. Telk chose not to during this rest period, instead he was looking at the woman nearby. He'd noticed her briefly during his duel when he had respite from the flurry of attacks his opponent laid on him. It wasn't common for people to watch these duels, people came and had a quick look at their friends duels, or sometimes a team came to watch to find new talent, but generally it was uncommon for visitors. Something even more uncommon, was to have a female observer, but there happened to be one now, she had observed his duel and watched him when he sat back down. He looked over to her and in a friendly tone spoke "Not often we have female observers down here, we do some dangerous fighting, even for the Endal Hunters to participate in."

[Oitera]

Drifting away in her thoughts, Oitera did not notice that the man looked at her.
"Not often we have female observers down here, we do some dangerous fighting, even for the Endal Hunters to participate in"
She twitched a little and noticed that he was looking at her. Her look got a little colder as she answered. "Well, I hope it doesn't disturb you and I'm not planing to fight, I'm more of a bow girl." She didn't like to talk to him but it was against her way not to answer when someone talked to her.

[Telk]

59th Day, Fall of 512 A.V. "Well, I hope it doesn't disturb you" It was another large warrior who interjected at this point, by barging into Telk accidentally during the duel, he didn't stay, but instead jumped up, apologized and rushed back into his duel. Telk brushed himself down and looked at the woman, his eyes giving away easily that he was checking to see if she was alright or harmed by the brute who came barging in. "and I'm not planing to fight, I'm more of a bow girl." A snigger came from a nearby bench, but a glare from Telk silenced the man who had done so, he looked the girl over, not in a sexual manner, but sizing her up, judging to see if she was good at Archery or not. Her stance showed that she was uncomfortable however, he didn't blame her, this wasn't the nicest or cleanest place of the city, in fighting and in hygiene. Telk stood, gathering his bearings, feeling a little lightheaded. Shaking it off he put out his hand to shake hers, smiling at her profusely. "If I may, I am Telk, I am also quite interested in how skilled you are with your bow, if you would not mind showing me?"

[Oitera]

One of the men that was fighting was, in the middle of Oiteras sentence, accidentely barging into the man in front of her. But he just got up on his feet, said something that Oitera didn't hear and jumped back into his fight. Well, what else should he do? But couldn't they keep inside the fighting area? Oitera thought to herself, it was kind of disturbing, even though she wasn't the one he bumped into, to being cut of midsentence. One of the men on a bench not far away was sniggering - probably at me, Oitera thought - but the man in front of her silenced him by a glare in his direction. This could be a nice gesture and anyone else would have thought so, but Oitera was far from convinced about the mans kindness. The man that she was talking to now streached his hand out as if he wanted to shake hers and told her his name and that he wanted to watch her shoot. For a breif moment Oitera considered to refuse to shake his hand and tell him no, but she changed her mind since that could just cause more trouble and shaked his hand as quickly as possible before letting go of it again. "I'm Oitera. If you want to I can show you, but then we have to go to a better place cause I don't think these guys would appreciate me shooting in here. And I've to get my bow." With those words she turned around to go to her room and get the bow and her arrows. She didn't look back since she'd rather just leave him here with the fighting, she didn't like men, especially those who was muscular and tough. As she saw it, those was the men most likely to be the once who asked or forced women into becoming "bedwarmers".

[Telk]

59th Day, Fall of 512 A.V. She'd taken his hand quickly, shook it vigorously before releasing it just as quickly, it bothered Telk for a moment but he let it go as nerves. "I'm Oitera." An odd name Telk thought, difficult to pronounce if he wasn't told it by her mouth, his mind wrestled with remembering its pronunciation as she continued speaking. "If you want to I can show you, but then we have to go to a better place cause I don't think these guys would appreciate me shooting in here. And I've to get my bow." He shook himself out of his name-induced stupor and looked up at her, she'd already started walking off, he'd assumed he was to wait here, with nothing more to do, he polished his sword, waiting and wondering.

[Oitera]

As she walked to her room, Oitera noticed that the man - was it Telk? - hadn't followed her as she thought he would. First she thought that he had changed his mind and didn't want to come to see her shoot and was secretly happy over that. But as she reached her home she thought that he maybe just waited for her to come back, so she picked her bow and quiver up and turned around to walk back. But now she was armed at least, it felt better even if she wasn't sure she would be able to hit a man running at her. She hadn't practiced shooting at moving targets half as much as still targets, plus the fact that she would be much more stressed if someone was trying to hurt her and that way she could miss, which wouldn't be very good. When she came back into the room with the fighting men, this time carrying her bow in her hand and her quiver over her shoulder and back, she felt more relaxed than before as she looked around for the man. She saw him at the same place as before and moved over to him. "You're ready?" she asked him at the same time as looking around at the men around them, she didn't exactly like this place. But would anyone try to attack her, he would get an arrow in his body and that made her visibly more relaxed and calm. She looked back at the man and thought through her chances to get out and shoot an arrow before he could reach her, she didn't think she would manage that. But the arrows could probably be used to stab him as well.

[Telk]

59th Day, Fall of 512 A.V. Sniffling, constant damn sniffling. It was getting cold, winter would be here soon. Telk sighed as he waited, his shield felt heavier today, but he was able to carry it and wield it like it was a stuffed teddy regardless. He stood and picked up his equipment, nodding to the other duelists in respect, looking to the distance waiting for his new friend to return. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, it had been a little while since he slept, but he would be okay for now, adrenaline kept him going. He did wonder if she was going to return, or if she had just run off, it wasn't usual for archers and warriors to mix and when they did it wasn't pretty, it was even more unusual for a male warrior and female archer to mix, Telk didn't care, he had the muscle and the skill to challenge anyone who spoke out. She'd returned finally, a decently crafted bow in her hand and quiver on her back, she was ready and waiting, her posture was uneasy, as if she was anticipating attack, but Telk could tell that somewhere inside she relished the chance to show off to those who had experiance. ""You're ready?" Telk smiled and put out his hand gesturing in the direction she came "Lead the way Miss Oitera"

[Oitera]

She got a bit surprised by Telk behaving, but didn't show it and as usual it rather caused her to get more suspicious than calmer. After looking around again Oiter turned away from the man and walked out of the room, towards the room where she usually practiced. It would probably be quite many others there, but she hopped to find a target that had either none or a few people shooting at it. Then this would go fast and she would be able to dump this Telk man. When she entred the room, she looked around to see if any target's free and luckily the one furthest away was free. She walked over there before looking back at Telk to see how close he was and if he had even followed her or just stopped somewhere. If he had, she could practise anyway so that wouldn't be a problem.