Closed Warrior's Pride (Gracen)

[Zarovin]

Time Stamp: 10th day of Winter, 512AV Location: Training Building at The Sickle and Arrow Who: Gracen Walking down the spiral stair case, Zarovin smiled to himself at the crowd in the main room. He figured the hunters just came back from patrol, so they were all recounting their heroic tales of death defying courage. Throughout the years, he been coming to this place to train or ask for advice about the Harvest. He noticed hunters tended to exaggerate everything if a hunter killed a five foot centipede, it was most likely only three feet long. It was a amusing habit of theirs, but when their stories become to unbelievable, he tried to hold his tongue not wanting to hurt the pride of his brethren. When he made it down the stairs, he noticed a new trophy was added to the wall. Walking to the wall, Zarovin got a better look at the set five foot pincers hanging on the wall. He not sure what type of insect had those pincer, but from the size of them, the insect must have been huge. Putting a finger to his chin, he wondered if the hunter actually went to the cavern floor to kill this beast. Suddenly, Zarovin thoughts are interrupted by a familiar voice behind him say, “Thinking of a career change, Zarovin Clementia?” Running a hand through his black hair, he turned around to see the familiar voice of Saara Orcid. This head strong woman enjoyed to tormenting him every time he walked into her territory as she called it. Koros flashes her a smile and said softly to her with a wink, “You don't need my help Saara. Unless you miss me than maybe I will join your ranks?” He crossed his arms waiting for a response from her. She narrowed her eyes at him and laughed out loud. She pointed a finger out at him and declared, “A hunter of my caliber doesn't need any help! Besides we don't need you in our ranks, Koros since we only recruit winners... Besides I am the best and everyone knows it.” Koros raised an eyebrow as she started to spout her bravado toward him. In truth, she was a extraordinary talented hunter, but Koros would never give her the satisfaction of telling her the truth. As he walked passed her, he said jokily to her, “Maybe if you yell it loud enough, Saara. Maybe someone in here would actually believe you.” As he walked away, he heard Saara yell at him from behind, “You infuriating man! Don't you dare walk away from me!” Koros weaved his way through the crowd until he made it the door to the training hall. He opened the door and noticed the bridge of thick silk fibers extending all the way to the across to the other building. He decided to take off his sandals and snugs them into his belt. Once he is finished, he walked out onto the thin bridge and made his way across to the large pear shaped building. When he made to the edge of the building, he secured his cane sword to his belt. He looked up towards the ceiling and noticed it wasn't too high up. He laid his bare hands on the somewhat smooth surface of the structure, and he pull himself up until his bare feet were secured on surface. He slowly started to climb the surface of the building towards the door. He took the climb slowly because he wasn't the best climber in Kalinor. He focused his skills in other areas other than climbing. Once he is at the entrance of the building, he noticed a strange sight a human. Well human weren't a rare sight, but seeing a human this far into the city made him wonder if he is a resident of Kalinor. He watched him for a moment and his eyes went straight for his sword. It was a beautifully crafted weapon. The blade was thin, but Koros had the feeling it was stronger than it looked. He watched the man and his moments and noticed the human was quite skill with the weapon, but by the way, he was struggling at his forms. He wondered if the man was in pain. Koros slowly climbed down the side of the building until he was safe enough to jump on the floor. He landed on the floor and walked over to the human warrior. He watched him for a moment, and he noticed the cast on his right arm and a limp whenever he moved. Koros frown to himself at the stupidity of this human for exerting himself in training while he was clearly hurt. Koros was assuming the human was a hunter of some kind because otherwise the other hunters wouldn't allow him in their sanctuary. Koros said to the human sternly in common, “You shouldn't be training on a hurt ankle, human. You could end up hurting yourself more and be completely useless to your comrades.” He shook his head and continued his scolding at the warrior, “You look like a competent warrior, human, but not a very smart one. I feel sorry for my brethren that have to hunt with you.” He wasn't trying to pick on the human, but he figured the warrior had a lot of pride, and he figured the only way to get through to him was to use the cold hard truth. Not his most ideal way of introducing himself to a stranger, but he figured if the human had any type of intelligence, he would eventually see the errors in his ways.

[Gracen]

Grace couldn't stand resting anymore. If he couldn't remember from whence came this drive, well, that only frustrated him the more. His ankles were sore and stiff, but he was told that gentle exercise would help them limber up, and that would help them heal completely. The cast was set to come off soon, and though his ribs were still bandaged and deep breathing could be uncomfortable, he was still here. It was his head that looked the worse, head shaved over a month ago, the hair was all tarnished gold bristles, but the wound was still visible. He had taken off the bandage, and would catch heat for it, but they would just put a new one on to speed the healing when he returned to the Purging. He had to get back into shape, begin hunting again. Not only did he have to eat, but he had to pay back his debt to the healers for all their work, for the weeks he had been inactive. But there was an old, practiced grace to his movements, using the shorter wakizashi because it wasn't quite so heavy in his shaking hands. Barefoot, it was easier to keep his footing and let his ankles bend. Shirtless, the bandages around his ribs were obvious, as was the muscle tone he was trying so hard not to lose. A weak warrior was a dead warrior. Parry, feint, thrust. Block, strike, disarm. He kept his weight under him, his steps small and sure. Gods, but this was more difficult than it ought to be. He was sweating when he ought not even be warmed up. At the sound of the voice, his shoulders hiked up. He ought to have heard someone coming. Had the blow to his head affected his hearing? No, Symenestra were just exceptional sneaks here in their own demesnes. He was the freak here, the burden. He rested the dull edge of the blade on his shoulder and turned, and then the Symenestra could see his head wound, could see how hard he was attempting to focus in those watery blue eyes. "They're both injured," he said in his strangely accented Common. He was trying to learn Symenos, but few were patient enough or generous enough to work with him. "But I'm supposed to work on them to get flexibility back. Care to see how injured I am, or are you worried you'll be shown up by an injured azo?" Well, he knew that word.

[Zarovin]

Zarovin nodded at the human challenge. He knew if he went easy on him. He would insult the warrior's pride even more, but he knew if he hit a injured part of his body. It could worsen his injuries even farther. Zarovin gave the human a toothy smile and lifted his cane to show him. Zarovin declared to his new opponent, “First of all human don't call yourself azo. You should have more dignity in yourself and your skills with your weapon. Also I will be using my cane as a weapon. ” He takes off his lash and gently tossed it on to the ground. When he was ready he pointed his cane at the human head and said softly, “Prepare yourself, human, I won't go easy on you.” Before the spar started, he looked over his opponent to take down all his weaknesses. He could obvious tell his head was injured, and he already confirmed both his ankles were hurt, and the bandages around confirmed his ribs were hurt too. Zarovin just shook his head and noticed their wasn't much areas on his body he could attack; however, if the human tested his patience, he will end the fight quickly and strike a injured area. Zarovin waited for him to get ready than he started to walk around him. He could tell his mobility is hampered by his hurt ankles, so the human reaction to his attack would be much slower. However, he had to give the human credit he had great form. If he was healthy, Zarovin would doubt he would be able to get the edge on him. He waited for a opening than he struck. Zarovin quickly thrust forward trying to jam the point of his cane into the shoulder of his sword arm. His attack was aimed to weaken his open dominate arm. Hopefully, the human wasn't ambidexterity otherwise his attack would be completely useless, but he was committed now and there was no going back on his move.

[Poison]

THREAD AWARD!

Zarovin:
Skills: Acrobatics 1, Climbing 1, Observation 1, Weapon: Cane 1
Lores: What Kind of Stories Hunters Tell, Acquaintance: Gracen

Notes: Since the thread ended so soon, I couldn’t give you more XP, Zarovin. Gracen, if you ever come back and would like to get XP for your post, let me know. As always, if there are any issues with the way I graded this thread, send me a PM!