Closed Working Closely (Nai'a)

[Erekez]

The blow to his neck forced him to tuck in closer to his legs to absorb some of the force. It would've hurt more had he remained rigid when taking the hit. Apparently, letting go of her wrist was not a good idea. Nai'a worked in the infirmary, it was probably safe to assume she knew a few things about the human body and its weak points. A handy bit of knowledge to have when you were fighting. More damage with minimal effort, though she was holding back. Forcing himself to straighten up after the blow, Erekez saw Nai'a had taken a few steps back. He wasn't sure if it was tactic or cockiness that stopped her from doing anything further. He wasn't about to miss his chance though, lifting himself off the floor quickly and resuming his stance. Although his stance was the same as before, it felt very uncomfortable. Erekez couldn't get his arms into a position that felt right. He couldn't understand why until he felt the dull ache of where Nai'a had hit him. It made him that spot feel heavy and unbalanced, and Erekez couldn't find a position that would compensate for this new feeling. It looked like he'd have to improvise for now until the ache dispersed. Nai'a was smiling at him again, making a comment about her breasts. It became clear where his hand had landed. Congrats, you have successfully groped her. You've only known her about a day. You work quickly. "As if I'd need an excuse." Taking deep breaths to try and ignore the ache, Erekez decided to go along with her teasing. If he were lucky, he'd be able to buy a little bit of time to give the ache time. Using an earlier action, Erekez fell into a mock bow as he had done before when teasing Nai'a, always keeping an eye on her. "My apologies, I could not help myself." His intention was to rush her when she next moved, whether to reply to his teasing or attack again. He'd need to watch out for her feet this time, but Erekez planned to grab at least one of her arms and twist it behind her back, applying a bit of pressure make them feel tired. It was a risky move, dropping his stance for such a feint, one that could go badly or not depending if Nai'a fell for it. It was only a slightly dirty trick, taking advantage of their interactions to make an opportunity, but it wasn't too serious. He also didn't feel bad about doing it to a woman, Nai'a had challenged him after all, so she should be able to handle it.

[Nai'a]

Nai’a was happy that he hit connected, but she was feeling a little guilty. She hoped that she did not hurt him with the blow. She backed away from the man, whom she was feeling really close too, so close so soon, it reminded her of something in her past, but she quickly abandoned that thought, she could not be so lucky for it to happen again.

Erekez was back up on his feet looking at her, by his body language she could tell that the place she hit was a little sore. Her heart ached at that, she did not mean to hurt him, it was just a little hit. Though she supposed being bruised in a spar was normal, she received plenty of those in the past learning how to defend herself.

Erekez spoke, and his words made her chuckle in humor as well as a little embarrassment. She kept her stance though, not letting his words get to her, although they kind of did and her face bloomed in a blush. ”Oh.. Uhmm.. Well…” Nai’a sputtered for a few seconds, not really knowing how to reply to such a teasing comment, if it was indeed a teasing comment. She was becoming flustered, something that could be costly if it were a real fight.

[Erekez]

Erekez noticed that she seemed concerned about something whilst he was talking back. IT wasn't clear what, but is looked to be distracting her somewhat to begin with. Had Erekez been fighting anyone else, he would've considered that a big mistake that could be exploited. A fight was not the time to start worrying about other things. As it was, Nai'a's face seemed to turn red at his reply. It seemed his feint worked quite well, Nai'a was unsure how to respond to it. Erekez knew what he needed to do, charging forwards to close the gap between them, hoping that it wasn't a feint of her own. Amazing how reckless you can get when you don't have to worry. Erekez grabbed a hold of her arm again, this time ducking underneath it and twisting it behind her back. He continued to hold her wrist firmly as he kept the pressure on it, trying to grab her other wrist from behind as well to stop its use. Erekez wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice either. Whether she'd be able to get him again or not, this time, Erekez was paying attention to what her feet were doing. As he managed to get behind her, he dug his feet into the ground, keeping his knees bent to try compensate for any movements that Nai'a might try. Erekez spoke into her ear. "It's almost like you're letting me get this close. Either you let your guard down, you're that confident, or you just enjoy my company so much." She started the teasing when he last tried to grab her. It was his turn this time.

[Nai'a]

Nai’a had become so flustered by Erekez comment, which she did not realize he was charging for her till it was too late. She let her guard slip a little during that moment, and he had a firm hold on her arm, twisting it behind her back. He held her wrist firmly, trying to grab her other wrist from behind. He succeeded in grabbing that wrist too, making it impossible for her to use her hands to get out of the hold. It made her arms feel slightly uncomfortable, since it was straining her arm muscles.

She couldn’t really use her feet to her advantage in this position. Which she could try, but would he fall for that trick again? No, Nai’a doubted that. He was a fast learner, observant. No she needed to do something different, but before she did his words near her ear made he chuckle lightly, ”Maybe you are right. Maybe I do like the feel of your body pressed up against mine.” Nai’a paused for a few seconds letting her words sink in, then she flung her head back, letting it connect with his nose and face, hoping that would relinquish his hold on her arms. After all, it was natural human reaction to raise your hands up to cover your nose after it being hit with something hard. And the bones of her skull were indeed hard. Though she did not do it with enough force to break his nose, it would hurt immensely, maybe even bleed a little.

Nai’a gave Erekez a small playful smile, ”Though I think it is obvious from your previous groping, that you are the one who wants to be close to me.” Nai’a gave Erekez a flirty wink, giggling slightly. She enjoyed this teasing, even though some of it was a little embarrassing, it did not make her overly uncomfortable. It felt natural.

[Erekez]

It wasn't the hit that caused Erekez to release his grip, it was the shock and surprise of the move. Erekez was only able to dip his head forward in time so the brunt of the force was distributed along the length of his nose, and not just on the tip. As he felt his head get knocked backwards, he reflexively let go of Nai'a and brought his hands up to his nose. "I thought you said no hits to the face!" His protest was muffled by his hands as he stepped backwards. It hurt, and it seemed to have caused more damage than it should've. Erekez's eyes started to water as he could feel blood flowing down his nose, but that wasn't the problem. He had suffered worse individual blows on his travels, but his head started feeling heavy and dizzy. It was difficult to focus on anything now, his eyes refused to clear of water, leaving things in a seeming mist. His neck suddenly felt as if it was burning. It seemed that jerking his head backwards so soon after Nai'a's first hit to the neck had done something. Erekez was truly unsure. It could be muscle or nerve related, or maybe that hit had rattled his head a lot more than Nai'a had probably intended. The reason was irrelevant for the time being. Erekez couldn't see, couldn't focus, and the ache in his neck was back with a vengeance preventing him from settling in a stance again. He tried at the very least. Something was better than nothing and he might get lucky. Erekez wasn't expecting much now, he had a fairly strong idea which way this fight had gone. I hate fighting fair!

[Nai'a]

Once Erekez released his hold on her, she spun around with a wide sneaky smile on her face, a laugh starting to bubble. But his words and appearance made the smile die, and the laugh turn into a gasp of shock. She did not mean to hurt Erekez, she thought she barely hit him with the back of her head. The pain on his face made her heart wrench in her chest, she felt horrible.

”Oh Kezzy! I am so very sorry!” Nai’a exclaimed these words as he tried to get back into a stance. Nai’a shook her head and rushed forward, placing her hands palms down on the sides of the man’s head. The warm, soothing, blue light radiated from her palms, entering Erekez, seeking out the pain, the hurt, and healing it.

Nai’a stepped back and looked him up and down, a sad look on her face, ”I am so sorry. That was sneaky and wrong of me to do. But I suppose you should never doubt your opponent in a fight…” Nai’a cleared her throat and looked to the side. ”So let us end this here, I was going to tell you what type of Kelvic I was either way.” Nai’a looked back to Erekez, and mumbled, ”I am a pink dolphin.”

[Erekez]

Everything looked like a blur of colours as the water in his eyes refused to leave. The only feature that stood out was a big pink streak through the centre of his vision, and the gasp that came from it. Apparently Erekez looked worse than he felt to get such a reaction, or maybe Nai'a was just concerned that much. He couldn't fight any more. He'd be fighting blind, but it didn't seem he needed to. The pink streak got bigger before he felt hands on the side of his head. There as a sudden warmth, combined with a blue glow over his head. The pain in his nose and the burning in his neck dissipated as the warmth spread over his head. His eyes cleared up to see Nai'a stood right in front of him. So this is the power of Rak'keli. She looked rather upset as Erekez focused on her. Nai'a apologised for the blow to his nose, but also raised a very valid point. Erekez had underestimated her, it was one more lesson to learn. He considered Nai'a a friend, which made it all the more difficult to fight her. If there would ever be a similar situation, he'd need to learn not to go easily for the sake of past relations, if the other had made the first act against him. But this was only a spar. Nothing to take seriously. You were still meant to be training in spars, and Erekez had learnt something from it. Erekez gave Nai'a a warm smile, "You don't have to worry Nai'a. Thanks to you, there is no damage left to be upset about. Besides, my belief is in a fight, you do whatever it takes to win, whether that is knocking someone in the nose or groping them halfway through the fight." He winked at her, as she so often did to him, keeping his smile until she smiled back. "You said it was only a spar, nothing serious, but there are still lessons to learn. And I learnt that I can be beaten when fighting fairly, so as the loser to the winner, I owe you something, especially since you've told me your Kelvic type." Erekez thought for a second. "Wait. Why did you ask me to fight you if you were going to tell me anyway?"

[Nai'a]

Nai’a was relieved to hear that he accepted her apology. This made her feel slightly better for the tricky blow she dealt him. She never intended on causing him that much pain, she supposed she did not understand the strength of the cranium bones, especially in the occipital part.

Then Erekez raised a good question. A question that made her chuckle softly, and a sly smile spread across her face. ”Kezzy… You of all people should know the question to that.” The kelvic brushed back her hair, and looked into those green and blue eyes she adored so much, ”Besides it being a fun past time of mine, I also like to observe different sides of people. And I learned much about your character in this little spar.” Nai’a walked over to Moonraker and started stroking the side of her face lovingly. ”You are a fighter. You are strong, strong-willed and you do not give up easily.”

Nai’a seemed to be liking Erekez more through every second they spent with each other. This feeling she felt deep in her soul frightened her, not only because it was so strong, because she knew what it meant. They were bonded, and she needed time to think on this. She needed time to form how she would approach Erekez with such a topic. She needed to know he would not reject her completely, and that he too felt it as strongly as she did. But she would wait another day for all this, today she would enjoy his company while she could, then she would sleep on it tonight.

Nai’a looked over at Erekez and gave him a bright warm smile. ”Why don’t we call it a day, I am feeling a little tired. Maybe we can meet again soon…?” She wondered if she sounded too hopeful in that question. She did indeed hope that they would be able to see each other again; she did not want to be apart from him for long periods of time. She supposed that was because of the bond, but also because she was beginning to truly care for him, in a way that was more than lovers, more than friends, something more that was hard to describe.

[Erekez]

Her methods for figuring people out are quite different to mine, but they appear to be effective nonetheless. He watched as Nai'a stroked Moon. Erekez was sure the Gilding was going to have fun teasing him later about his loss, but he'd need that tent back from her first to set up for the night. That might actually be interesting. She won't give it up easily. Erekez brushed the side of his nose. Any pain he felt in it was truly gone. He began pondering, he had seen what her gnosis mark was capable of, but Nai'a was still unaware of his. He had kept his gloves on since they had first met. Perhaps that would be a conversation topic the two could have at a later date. Erekez found himself wanting to know of Nai'a's encounter with her goddess. He only knew of Rak'keli what he had read. An account from someone who had spoken to her would be interesting. When Nai'a had said she was tired, Erekez couldn't help but feel a little upset. This had been a nice day for him, where he could relax and enjoy another's company, asides from the 'sparring'. He indeed di want to meet up again soon. Thinking back, he had an idea. "I've been meaning to go back down to the docks at some point, to watch the sunset from there. It's a sight I never got tired of. Would you care to join me tomorrow?" Erekez hoped her answer would be 'yes', but he understood that he would not be able to see her everyday. They both still had work, as well as their own things to do on some days. But it would be nice to see her again. After all, he still needed to find out more about this bonding that Lisaelis had spoken of. Erekez needed to find out if it was true.

[Nai'a]

Nai’a gave her friend a wide smile at his words. She did indeed want to meet him again tomorrow, and at sunset would be a perfect time for her. It would be about a bell after she got off at the Infirmary, giving her plenty of time to wash up a bit and make her way to the docks, and of course tend to Meka before he went completely insane. He really did not like being left alone, but with the conversation she intended to have with him, it was best he stayed behind.

”Yes, that sounds perfect Kezzy.” She gave Moonraker one last pat, hugged Erekez in a tight friendly hug. ”Until we meet again my friend.” She said in a soft voice after releasing the hug. She walked away from her new friend, her new bondmate, and his companion.

So many thoughts, questions, and feelings ran through her and a walk back to Zeltiva would be just the cure to clear her head a bit. At least she hoped the walk would help, though in the back of her mind she really doubted that the onslaught would stop, it would probably never stop. Her life had become a whirlwind of emotions, a storm brewing, waiting to get free.