PM to join Recruits and Rumors (Zukai)

[Neras Frostfawn]

Time Stamp: 25th of Winter, 517AV Location: Proving Grounds Who: Neras and Zukai Neras learned early in his short career as apart of the Sun Birth gang. It was best not to goof off in the Proving Grounds while Iztel the Swift or Eleuia the Strong are present, but once again Neras was standing around with a bunch of other adolescent recruits hanging out and talking about the current happening around the city. The teens were a mix of Sunberth street punks from all over the city. Neras learned that they were a lot like him. They all joined the Sun Birth gang to escape the harsh reality of the city and the inhabitants, but being Sunberth kids, the military life of the Dragoons were hard to get used too. Organization, Discipline, and honor were concepts that Neras and everyone in the group had a hard time grasping, but they all half-arsed it for a meal and roof over their heads. The half-breed knew that he was higher rank than all of his peers since most of them were just raiders, or as the other guardian's called them, mage fodder. Regardless, Neras was half listening to the group of kids because he was practicing his over head swings with his wooden long sword at practice dummy while the other recruits were talking about about the Priest of Dira. Hearing the word priest, the bastard snarled to himself as he lifted the long sword over his head and swung at the head of the practice dummy. The sword missed the top of the head and went into the shoulder of the dummy. Swearing to himself, Neras knew that he missed the head of the dummy with the wooden long sword, but any priests of any gods left a bad taste in his month. The title of priest normally filled a listener with the thoughts of a man or woman who has great wisdom, compassionate, and disciplined However, for Neras, the title of priest invoke images of pain, suffering, intolerance, isolation, death, and abandonment. All these were brought on by the death of his mother. Being raised a devoted follower of Morwen, the small Frostfawn family was devastated when they hear Morwen abandoned the Vantha people to their cruel fate with their beloved goddess watching over them. His whole community of Vantha in Sunberth were literally hunted down one by one for the sake of greed and the god's decree allowing outright hunting and murder of innocent people. He might be angry at Morwen for leaving his mother and him to fate, but he hoped when she returned to Mizahar that she would bring a cold revenge against the people of this city. Raising the long sword over his head, Neras used his anger against the priest to fuel his power behind his strike against the dummy. He came down with a battle yell, and he struck the dummy in the top of the head. It caused a deep depression in the “skull" of the dummy. Suddenly, he heard one of the recruits yell over to him, “Jinx! Your making us look bad!” Neras looked over at the sixteen year old boy with pimples brewing on his forehead and said with a smirk, “You make yourself look bad, raider. Besides, I need to train, so I can keep all you mage-fodder alive.” The pimpled faced boy stuck up his middle finger and said with a chuckle, “Sit and spin, mother petcher!” “You would enjoy it way to much...” Neras said and takes his attention away from the dummy and walks over to the gang of teenagers, and said with a smile, “What am I missing you guys? Are we going to kick around some Night Eye punks or shyte in a Daggerhand well?” The pimple faced teenager said simple, “You heard of the creepy Priest of Dira walking around the city. Right?” Neras rubs his sword arm's shoulder and said with a nod, “No...I been busy with other things.” The kid continued with excitement in his eyes, “Supposedly, he carries of giant war scythe, and he been seen looking out at Lodestar Isle.” Neras eyes shine with interest, and he said, “Continue.” The pimpled faced boy said with a smile, “Rumor says that he looking for volunteers to join him on the Lodestar Isle on the 30th. I was thinking about going, but I don't want to risk going to far from Sun Birth territory.” The half breed smirked at his younger peer and said with a shake of his head, “You have to leave the safety of your mother's skirts someday, Kid.” The boy turned red with embarrassment and said nothing. However, Neras said with a smile, “Tell you what boys and girls. I will head there and tell you all about my adventure when I get back...for a price.” The pimple faced recruit said with a shake of his head, “What wait? We have to pay you for details?"

[Zukai]

Zukai got up and began to get dressed deciding not to wear her usual cloak. It was hot enough outside without the extra materials. Besides a day of training with the other raiders would prove to be an interesting experience. She liked to either train late at night when the girl did not have to hear their mouths, or get up early and split out before even Corine was awake to bother her. She was often times ridiculed by the other raiders for working so hard. The bothersome noise was not something, the girl enjoyed hearing from people who barely worked. Warmashal had already accused her of riding Corine's coat up the ranks, and that took a large hit to her pride.

“I will not let everyone keep thinking that I am riding his coat tails all the way up the ranks,” the girl growled.

Once dressed, she walked out of her room with her kukri strapped to her side. The higher ups were not impressed by her weapon choice in the slightest, but it would do while working up her strength. That had become a slow and very painful process. Yawning loudly, she did not bother going to get anything to eat fairly certain that the hall had closed. The last time, the girl had went to the Proving Grounds with just a piece of fruit on her stomach; it was not pretty. Everything came right back up only a few minutes into the training. From then on, she tried to keep her stomach as empty as possible. The less there was to come up, the less humiliating it was for everyone involved.

Keeping to herself, the girl listened to the groups of people talking and laughing. The other teenage raiders caused her to pause and glance over out of the corner of her eye. She had no desire to go over and socialize with them. They would only slow her down from getting where she needed to be. The group seemed to be giving a higher up a hard time for actually doing what was expected of them all. Rolling her eyes, the girl went to the weapon rack and grabbed a wooden sword. She had absolutely no skill what so ever with the weapon that was nearly twice her size. Taking a deep breath, the Myrian turned around and looked for a dummy that was not being used at the moment. Unfortunately, it seemed only one was open; the one right beside the group of raiders. Groaning, she contemplated just coming back later on in the day. Training in peace seemed like a wistful dream that would never come true.

Several of the male raiders whistled and called out to the girl. They all seemed to want the same thing, and that is what made her irritable. Popping her neck the woman rolled her eyes and kept moving. She took out her kopis and took a few swings at one of the test dummies. The girl half listened to the group of guys as they began badgering one of the guardians above them. Shaking her head, she did not understand why the boys wanted to pick and prod people who wanted to make a difference. Growling, the girl hit one good time in the side of the neck while glancing over. One of them called out to her trying to throw her off.

“Hey! Zuk, come on over here and let us protect you!” A young boy with acne all over his face called.

“Dude, she bites don't you remember watching her spar with Corine day one?” Another much thinner boy asked.

“So? I'm sure he has beaten that out of her,” he said and walked over to the girl puffing out his chest.

The myrian watched him from the corner of her eye while yanking her weapon free. Turning it over, she examined the blade making sure it had not chipped anywhere. The young boy growled and grabbed her arm not liking to be ignored. Her eyes cut to the side quickly before pulling her arm back making him lurch forward. She stopped just shy of putting her blade through his neck.

“I don't have time for little boys,” Zukai growled and forced him off her arm.

He glared and quickly scurried off promising to show her who he was. Rolling her eyes the girl turned back to the rest of the group and the guardian. She took in each person quietly figuring out what weaknesses could be found. Popping her neck once more, the girl sheathed her weapon and walked over to the group. The small thin one that seemed scared of her already moved behind a friend of his while watching her.

“Don't waste your time on these guys, Jinx. They are useless and don't care as long as they can get a free meal. Besides who says what they saw of the outsider was true?” Zukai asked looking over at him.

[Neras Frostfawn]

Suddenly, the greasy recruit turned his attention to someone out of his gaze, and Neras could tell by the longing stares the bastard was content on gawking at someone. Neras shifted slightly, so he could inconspicuously eye who the greasy teen was looking at, Zukai. He heard good things about the other Gaurdians that she had the drive to move up the ranks. She was dedicated warrior, and the rumor of her being a myrian women helped the prestige to her name. The rogue had to admit that she was attractive, but he wasn't stupid enough to hit on woman claiming to be a myrian. If he did, it would be respectful, so she wouldn't eat him. The pimpled face recruit elbowed one of his friends and said with smirk, “Do you think I have a chance with her?” Neras rolled his eyes, but he was curious if the greasy bastard had the balls to go for it. Looking at the greasy teen, he shook his head and said, “No, but if you have your...heart set on it. Go for it.” His friend shook his head and said quickly, “I heard myrians eat people, and she might cut off your sausage and eat it for lunch. I wouldn't even try...” The rogue could clearly tell the pimple faced boy had a crush on the myrian girl, but he thought to himself, 'Do it! Greasy do it!' Greasy's said to his friend with a chuckle, “She can eat me any day if you know what I mean...” The boys started laughing, and the other pair of female recruits rolled their eyes and walked to another part of the proving grounds in disgust. He started to call out to her with the sudden bout of courage. The greasy bastard started walking towards her, and Neras couldn't believe his eyes or ears if this was actually called flirting with her. It almost sounded like he was bullying her into paying attention to him. She was practicing with a real sword, and he had the brilliant idea of grabbing her. The half breed started to get annoyed with the bastard, so he was about to intervene, but she quickly put a stop to it. The rogue was impressed by her directness, and it blew the wind out of greasy teenagers sails. Zukai walked over to them, and he could noticed the ingrained confidence of warrior with each stride. Neras had to admit that he was eyeing her as she approached the other recruits, and he small smile appeared on his face when she knew his name. Looking at Zukai, he warned with smirk, “Don't get to close. You might get the slacker illness and become useless. Normally I don't waste my time with mage-fodder, but I decided to humor them today.” The rogue nodded a head over to pimple face boy, “Oh. Before Lover Boy failed miserably at flirting with you. He was watching you like a male cat in heat. I think you should give him a chance...” The half breed gave her a playful wink, “I am sure...he has some good qualities..” The greasy kid said with a snarl at Neras, “Screw you, Jinx. I don't like her...I am..I was just..” Neras watched the boy stammer and said to Zukai, “See he can't put his feeling into words...I think he is in love.” The greasy teenager was turning red as a apple, and he just whirled around and quickly walked away without saying a word. The rogue watched him leave, and he was quite satisfied that he humiliated him after he put his hands on Zukai. Regardless if she came from a warrior culture and probably could kick his arse from Sylira to Sunberth. She still was apart of the Sun Birth and should be treated with respect. He seen the ugliness behind the scenes of the gang, but these were all young recruits, and they were the new faces who will shape the Sun Birth in the future. Neras looked at Zukai and said with a nod, “I think I might look into the Priest of Dira rumor. Even if it just creepy guy in a robe, it will be interesting to meet him. If your interested, he looking for volunteers on Lodestar Isle. You should come. It could be fun.” One of the other boys said with a chuckle, “Jinx you asking her on a date...smooth.” Neras rolled his eyes at the blond and said with a smirk to her, “It would be a shytey date if I brought you to meet a Priest of Dira on our first date...” The Guardian said with a wink, “However, since your the capable warrior too, would you want to spar with these over-sized long swords? I am going to be terrible, but we can be terrible together..”

[Zukai]

Zukai chuckled at Jinx when he began to joke about being lazy. The girl did not know why the Sun Birth leaders were not harder on the young raiders. The girl pushed herself without any extra stress needed. She wanted to practice without the presence or bull shyke from the other raiders. Most of them seemed content being disposable grunts.

“Be careful that Jaran does not see you slumming it with us,” Zukai stated with a smirk looking at Nevas.

Corine had told her stories of the hours the male had spent training. If one believed the rumors within the barracks; Jinx never slept just trained. The dark skinned girl made no attempt to hide the fact that she was checking him out.

“I see the rumors about you are true,” Zukai stated and looked to the teen from before.

He was stuttering trying to argue with Jinx, but the boy was failing horribly. Taking one last look over him, she snorted with disgust. The boy looked like he barely bathed and brushed his teeth. Even if she did want someone in her bed, the under confident, greasy boy would never make it. She turned her attention back to Jinx with a smirk.

The Myrian born Sunberthian was as confident as her people seemed. She popped her knuckles and looked to the wooden weapon with a slight sneer. Zukai had been reluctant to practice with anything bigger than her kopis. Everything seemed much heavier than she was comfortable working with. Her mind drifted to the mark from her goddess Myri. Prowess seemed to help give her an enhanced ability, but the girl had never tried it on anything heavy.

“Well he can dream, but it would never happen. Firstly he would need to do nothing but bathe for seven days. Even then his smell would still be too strong to ignore. Secondly with the tightness of those pants. I am not impressed from what I can see of him,” Zukai stated and turned back to Jinx, “a deadly date sounds like fun to me. I am not good with anything heavier than my kopis at the moment. Hope that is not a disappointment to you.”

The girl winked and walked over to where the other wooden weapons were at. She knew there was nothing to do, but start working on her strength. The girl made a slight face picking up the heavier weapon that mirrored Jinx's own blade. Zukai would need a lot of coaching from the man.

[Neras Frostfawn]

When Zukai mentioned Jeran Joander, the immediate memories of Kelski attached to his name caused the guardian to sneer, and he said to Zukai with a flat look, “If the Marshal was on fire, I wouldn't piss on him to put it out.” Regaining his composure, he said quickly, “Forget what I said anything about the Marshal...” Neras tilted his head when she told him that the rumors were true. He joined in the beginning of winter, and he was already making a splash in the ranks of the lower ranks. Good, he wanted to stand out among them, and besides, he didn't want to stay on the bottom forever in the gang. If he was going to find his mother's killer, he needed the Sun Birth resources and intelligence, and he wouldn't get info at the bottom tiers of the organization. He would just have to suffer through the ranks like everyone else in the Sun Births. When they separated from the other raiders, Zukai was clearly not impressed with Greasy as she commented on his hygiene to his manhood. Neras said with laugh, “Ouch Zukai his manhood that was a cheap shot!” When Zukai mentioned that a deadly date would be fun, Neras said to her with a sweet smile, “I don't have a lot of money, but I could take you on one if you want to some night, Zukai. Maybe we could loosen up some pockets in the market before hand. Try to make it a little more dangerous.” Neras held the wooden long sword awkwardly in his hand, and he noticed the face Zukai made when she picked up the large weapon. The teenager knew from his mother's stories the long sword was a knights weapon, and it could be used for both stabbing and slashing. Holding the sword in his hand, the half breed said to her with a smile, “It is awkward for me too since I learned swordsmanship with a short sword, but the length of long sword makes it seem like a versatile weapon with both offense and defensive capabilities.” Walking over to her, he held it with one hand, and said simply, “I watched Eleuia the Strong use it without of shield. She was able to parry with ease and counter strike to beat her opponent in a tick. Her moments were fluid and graceful, and for a moment, I thought she was Knight of Syliras.” Giving her smirk, Neras said with a nod, “Make sure you use the wooden sword with the metal core, so you get used to the weight of the long sword. You might be sore tomorrow, but in a few days, your swings will be much stronger and the sword won't be as heavy. We can always spar with our normal weapons later, Zuk.” Walking over to the practice dummies, Neras put his left hand on the bottom of the pommel and his right hand was holding the hilt. The point of the sword was aimed up at the chest of the dummy. Since he lacked the strength, he thrust the sword with both hand at the chest of the dummy. The point of the wooden sword struck the arm pit of the dummy. It was not his intended target, but at least he didn't miss the dummy all together. That would be embarrassing for him since he was sort of trying to impress the young myrian woman. When it struck, he pulled back, brought the sword up and over his head, and he swung down in a diagonal slash down and across the body of the dummy. As the slash came down, he felt nothing, but air as he completely missed the stationary target. His face flushed for a moment, he laughed to himself, ran his through hair, and said to the pretty girl with a smile, “And don't miss the target that is very important...”