Completed The Harvest Festival (Part 1)

[Saede Lare]

The shock from the 'event' had faded from her. "Right, lets go sign up. I wouldn't want to get there and find that I'm too late to join." Saede walked over to the fighting area with the group, but split with Garland to go sign up for the tournament that was about to start. While Bakar and Sayana found a seat to watch, she had approached the judge and asked if she could join. "Hey, do you still have room for new contestants?" "You'd bet we do," He replied. "Sign up sheet's over there, but I'll explain the rules here. So first, the time limit. You have Three minutes to spar with your opponent, and you will be graded accordingly." He points to a scoreboard containing how to gain points, and continues to describe the duel. "Punches and kicks are not permitted. For reasons of safety, direct targeting to the hands or feet are not permitted either. Hand parries will count as a point to the attacking fencer, as if they had been struck in the arm. And finally, hand Covering – deliberately covering a target to stop an attack with the hand, as an attempt to protect a blow from scoring on a particular area will result in full points being awarded to the attacking fighter, and a warning from the judge." Secret : Hit Points Head 4 Body 3 Leg 2 Arm 1 Takedown 5 Ring out 1 "Ah, right." The scorekeeper had sped through the rules, and Saede only caught one or two of them. No punching or kicking, and stay away from the opponents hand. She reviewed the points board as she wrote her name into a bracket. Nobody had said anything about armor, so she assumed that you could wear whatever armor you wanted. However, she did notice the blunted weapon counterparts over on a rack. There were plenty of them, all different kinds. Saede waited in anticipation for her name to be called. This could be very exciting, and very challenging. She hoped she didn't do too poorly.

[Garland]

Garland shook off the blush as much as he could. He followed Saede to the sign up. He tried to get the 6 armed girl out of his mind, but it wasn't working. He quickly wrote down his name, picked up a blunt bastard sword and sat down beside Saede.

He sat silently beside Saede, still shocked at what just happened to him on the bench, he was told to always be focused during a fight, and he's probably going to be distracted even though he's trying his best to block out the image and the sensation. Her soft lips on his own, how she carried herself, how she kissed...

He started blushing again, and looked at Saede. "W-we still have some time to talk about ... Other stuff... Like how you met Baker etcetera..."

[Sayana]

Sayana followed Saede’s lead towards the sparring contest. A couple times she glanced in Garland’s direction and the young squire appeared to be trying very hard to regain his composure. She suddenly wondered if he had ever had many dealings with women. But surely he had been around, a well looking man like him.

The space allocated for the contests of skill were by no means the grand tournament arenas told in stories. It was a little more haphazard in how they were arranged but each of the spaces was roughly enclosed and had seating and standing room to watch. There were no more than a few different types of contests, the main ones being sparring, archery, and something to do with horses.

As they reached the sparring ring Sayana gave a brief wave as Garland headed off with Saede to sign up. She then took a seat next to Bakar. She was rather glad she hadn’t scared him away. Though at times he had looked like he just wanted to disappear into thin air. “So the shadowed man removes his hood,” she teased and looked up into his young face. His earlier mention of “fifty years” still nagged at her mind but she suspected he’d either run off or be evasive if she tried to interrogate him about it.

Instead, she switched the focus. “So you said you’ve met Garland before? Or that you know him? What’s he like?” She knew a little about the squire, but not all that much to be honest. And much less than most people would know before kissing a person. However, her intent had not been love or any of that sappy stuff. Her actions had predominantly been a threat and a display of power with the blade, but quickly followed by an invitation. Whether she had gotten that impression off correctly, it didn’t matter too much. As long as Garland, and others for that matter, knew she wouldn’t accept being toyed with.

Sayana curled her legs underneath her and angled her body towards Bakar. Her eyes seemed to study his facial features that he had kept hidden for so long.

[Bakar]

So the shadowed man removes his hood," Sayana teased, and Bakar realized that he had. He really didn't think about it, and was only hiding it because she had been so insistent on seeing him. "Too late now.."He whispered to himself. She quickly changed the the subject, however.

“So you said you’ve met Garland before? Or that you know him? What’s he like?”

"O-oh, well I haven't seen him too often. I ran into him while on a trip to the Bazaar. He was the first person I'd really talked to in years. People were giving me some looks, he made sure there was no trouble. He took me to the fighting pits next. We made a bet on who would win. I lost. I don't know a whole lot about fighting, he told me a bit about fighting. He enjoys fighting, I'm actually curious how it'll turn out." Bakar explained. "He's a nice kid. I didn't expect him to be the timid type, but he can seem to be quite nervous when talking of certain subjects." He shifted in his seat. "Sorry, I don't mean to talk too much.."

"S-so! H-how did you meet him? D-did you know him before tonight? A-and Saede?" Bakar questioned, curious if she had met them tonight or earlier in the season. And maybe also hoping to get her talking, so he wouldn't have to. He shifted again. She seemed like a good person, but her actions earlier still made Bakar a little nervous, and it showed.

[Saede Lare]

Saede had sat down alongside Garland, waiting for the tournament to start. She watched some of the contestants practicing and noted that most of them were novices. The most common weapon used seemed to be a sword, but there were many others as well. She noticed a few fighters who seemed to outpace the rest by quite a bit. No doubt they'd be getting to the finals. Or near it anyways. The first round consisted of one of these stronger opponents (A well muscled Akalak) versus a defensive man who managed to block most of the attacks with his sword and shield. Most. In the end, the strong Akalak wielding a greataxe won the fight with some clever fakes, hits and parries. The match was over quickly, being only three minutes. And now it was her turn. "Next up, Saede and -------!" Saede grabbed a spear from the side, it's tip was wooden instead of steel. But it would still do fine for just a sparring match. She advanced onto the ring, and awaited her opponent. There were a decent amount of onlookers, but not too many. She felt terribly nervous, but excited at the same time. She hoped she would win, she had people to impress. Didn't she promise Garlen that she'd tell him about Sunberth? This is not the time. She told herself. Now, I need to focus.

[Sayana]

NPC: Vladimir

"Next up, Saede and Vladimir!"

The young squire picked up a thin fencing blade with a wooden cap over its point. He nimbly jumped over the low barrier that surrounded the ring and twirled the blade in a finesse. It was his first time competing in a contest like this and he couldn’t help but show off a little to his friends who were watching.

A bell rang and the fight began. For the first couple of blows he tried to side step them or dodge them completely. Then, after getting a sense of Saede’s style he used his thin light blade to dart in quickly with repetitive strokes alternating between aiming for her torso and whichever arm was most open. He tended to face with only his right side exposed, but should she get around quick enough, his left side would be quite vulnerable.

OOCThere's my quick little blurb.

[Saede Lare]

The younger boy, Vladamir was his name. At the the start, Saede did a few jabs which he managed to dodge to the side for the most part. He faced her at a side stance for the most part, his blade extended. He started leaping in and attempting to get quick hits on her. The first time he caught her off guard, hitting her in the wrist. "One point!" The judge had yelled. Enough of this. Saede contemplated reaching for the back of her neck to use the power. No, it wouldn't be fair. Saede raised her spear up, positioning one hand near the back of the spear handle in a fist, and the other hand a bit farther up but holding the spear with her fist facing down. This created a square with her elbow, and with her spear training she knew that if he got close she could either pivot forwards or back, and smack him multiple times with the spearhead- Hopefully in the heal or arms. And that's exactly what she intended to do. If he kept his short engages up, she'd step back and let a rain of quick spear hits about the head at him. If he hesitated because she changed forms, she'd lunge forwards and do the same. Hoping her strategy would work, she got into position to perform said task. OOCNote that my position right now would be something like holding the spear vertically, with my left hand up in a box-like position while my right hand stays down to control it. They're both fairly high up, around head and chest height. Just in case my description was unclear, which I think it was.

[Sayana]

NPC: Vladimir

Vladimir smiled at the point that was scored. But his moment’s hesitation was enough for Saede to lunge forward and rain hits towards his head. The first one he parried, only just barely, and the second one caught him on the cheek drawing some blood. He was slightly winded by the blow but darted quickly to the side to avoid another thrust.

“Four points to Saede!” The judge yelled out.

Thinking he’d be able to catch her off guard he went in again, this time faking an attack on her leg and instead thrusting up towards her stomach. However, he hadn’t learned from the last encounter and had left his head exposed again.

OOCLet’s finish this up with Saede’s next post. Feel free to make any reasonable assumptions in the fight.

[Saede Lare]

After she had hit Vladimir in the head, she stepped back. She had drawn blood. Was that allowed? Nobody had called it. The boy lunged in at him again, going for a low hit to her leg. She instinctively lowered lowered her spear to meet his head, forgetting her previous dilemma of drawing blood. Even though he managed to his his torso, she got two hits to hit head and made the match unrecoverable for him, and the three minutes were up. "Finish! Saede wins- 12-4" Saede let out a sigh of relief, she'd won. She relaxed her spear, and went to shake the opponents hand. She looked around, grinning. Yeah! She'd won! Maybe she'd get farther in the tournament. Damn, she hoped so. Although, he was bleeding now. Not badly of course, but still.. "Good fight." She said to her opponent, trying to determine if he was okay or not. That ending hit on her chest was going to leave a bruise, but other than that she felt great. "Next Group, Garland Versus -------!" She jogged out of the ring and through the small crowd that had gathered around. She could hear some bets being made between some of the viewers and was content to hear that some of them expected her to win. She climbed up the steps to Sayana and Bakar and exclaimed, "Hey, I did it! I'm progressing." She sat down beside them, and grinned at them. Nothing satisfied her like winning, but she learned a while ago that gloating after a fight only made enemies. "I hope Garland does well, he's up next," She stated, changing the subject away from her. Sure she liked winning, but she didn't want to seem self-centered. Especially not to people she hoped to become friends with.

[Sayana]

“Oh so that’s what her name is. I must have missed it when the introductions were happening.” She repeated to herself trying to commit it to memory, “Saede.”

“No, I didn’t know Saede or Garland before today. For the first little while I kept to myself – as surprising as that might sound. I had… some things to sort out. But I was glad to have gotten a place to live so quickly. He seems like a nice fellow though. Garland I mean.” She kind of left it hanging and she seemed immersed in her own thoughts. But as the fighting started she perked up and watched intently as the two darted in and out, landing both hits and misses.

“So have you ever learned any sort of fighting skills?” Sayana asked as she nodded towards the sparring arena. “For me, I just have my daggers to protect myself.” She paused at her minor slip-up. She only actually had only one dagger now, but she didn’t make the effort to correct herself. “And the way I fight, well it’s hardly fitting for a sparring arena. It’s more like using surprise, subtly, and sometimes a bit of trickery.” For a moment she looked a little self-conscious and almost guilty as she realized she had been describing the earlier encounter with Garland. “I didn’t mean to scare you back there,” she apologized. She was about to reach out instinctively with one of her hands to place comfortingly on his arm, but in mid-reach she decided that he probably wouldn’t appreciate it. She pulled it back and made sure that the rest of her arms were at her sides or her hands in her lap.

“My auntie always told me to keep them guessing,” she began to explain. “And to never let them think they might have their way with me. Not without my permission.” She paused, wanting to say more but also not wanting to scare him. “She was also the one who gave me this.” With exaggerated slowness she pulled her dagger from its sheath and held it up, flat on the palms of her mid hands.

The dagger was about a foot in length and the hilt was adorned with a golden cobra’s head at the end. If you looked closely there were even two small rubies for eyes. It looked to be made a little smaller, as if for a woman’s hand, but the blade was surely no less deadly.

But as Saede approached, Sayana quickly put the blade away. She didn't feel like explaining why she had it out again, nor did she feel that she really knew Saede. Or at least not yet.

OOCI PM'ed everyone about the post order. After Garland's fight, I think things will be able to return to the original post order.
EditOoops, posted before I realized that Saede had come to join us. Added the last paragraph to make it appropriate.