[Syliras] New Beginnings [Complete][Awarded]

[Maya]

Maya quickly swung her arm up, bringing her own blade up to meet Kane's. The force of the swing, though obviously he was keeping his strength in reserve, was enough to push her slender frame backwards, and knocking her hand backwards and behind her. She quickly brought her arm back in front of her body, wary of another strike.

[Kane Roth]

As her blade met his own, he disengaged his own, bringing it over his shoulders as she recoiled from his previous strike, taking advantage of her distraction, and bringing his blade down, over his head, to bear on her arm. Stopping shortly before contacting her forearm, the momentum of the swing being a difficult thing to cease, though he managed to do so. Exhaling deeply as the blade ceased its motion, he offered a brief smile before speaking,

"Bit hard to fight with only one hand."

[Maya]

Her sword clinked with Kane's. Unfortunately, it was on the wrong side, which brought her forearm in contact with the Longsword. Maya sighed and maneuvered out of the swords way. "Bit hard to fight with only one hand." He taunted.

"Not if you don't need both hands," was her retort, albeit not a strong one. "Alright, you won this one." The sweat had darkened the blue/black fabric of her Vinati, darkening the watermark feathers. She silently walks over to the table near the door, letting her Talon Sword clatter to the floor. She opened the waterskin and took a swig, then holds it out, offering it to Kane.

[Kane Roth]

As the fight came to a close, Kane sheathed his blade, choosing to catch his breath with the respite given. Circling around a point on the floor slowly, Kane opted to think on how longer to spar with Maya before returning to his own apartment, and as he thought she proceeded to refresh herself, and almost not noticing offered the skin to him, though he politely declined, his hand softly resting in the air, palm showing.

"No thank you, I'm fine." Looking to her, he inquired through a heavy breath, his chest rising and falling every other second, the sweat-soaked clothing now beginning to form to him, "Want another round, or should I take my leave?"

[Maya]

She takes another draft from the waterskin after Kane refuses, placing the cork to once more close the small leather bag. "Want another round, or should I take my leave?" Leave, leave, leave, leave, leave!

Maya pants, and says, "One more round. That last one was finished too soon."

She bends over and picks up her Talon Sword, then gets once more into position, holding her sword in front of her. This time, however, she tried a different strategy, holding th sword straight out in front f her, the tip pointed at Kane's chest.

[Kane Roth]

"One more round. The last one was finished too soon." Kane brooded over the thought, No fight can be finished too soon... watching as she wielded her sword now in front of her, somewhat level, the point aimed directly for his heart. Already he was slightly nervous to be handling real weapons in such dangerous situations, though a sharp weapon pointed for his breast sent a slight chill down his spine, a chill only amplified by his perspiration, and soon Kane readied himself, blade drawn, starting with no delay. His first act was to bring a hard swing onto the blade from his right, her left, and knock it aside, and with a slight whine his longsword cut through the air, striking home against metal, all the power he could muster behind it, though whether Maya recovered from the blow in time to counterattack was entirely up to how she'd decided to handle herself. Kane on the other hand, was preparing to sally forth, hoping to 'finish' the fight by a clean cleave to the gut, once he'd recovered from the swing.

[Maya]

Maya was expecting something a bit more reserved, so held the blade loosely so she could more easily use the momentum of the strike. However, this worked to her disadvantage at the powerful blow, which forced the blade right our of her grasp, impaling it into the door.

"Well..." She gasped, stepping backwards, glancing sideways at her Talon Sword embedded in the entrance of the apartment.. "You win that one..."

[Kane Roth]

The brash move had earned him another victory, if not at overdoing it, it still counted as a win though... perhaps Maya would garner something from it. The Talon Blade had made its way into the door somehow, having wedged itself into the wood from the blow, Kane's eyes wide from the surprise he looked to Maya momentarily, his face drawn long in reaction, "I suppose I did..." Sheathing his sword slowly, Kane looked to the blade in the door, put in not but barely enough to hold it, "I'll-uh, get it." Moving to the door, Kane took the blade by the hilt, his own resting contently in its scabbard, and with two stout heaves managed to remove it from its hold, a slight gap still evident in the door from where it had bitten into the wood. Feeling the weapon in his hand, Kane took a moment with it, the Talon Blade being quite different from his own much more hefty longsword. After having his fun with it for a second or two, Kane turned the blade about, so it faced himself, and offered the hilt to Maya. "A quality blade. I'd keep an eye on it, if I were you."

[Maya]

She watched without protest as Kane pulled the sword from the door, knowing she would probably have much more trouble with it. He seemed to be examining it, taking the few moments he had with it to feel its' weight and size. Then, he turned it towards himself and offered her the hilt. "A quality blade. I'd keep an eye on it, if I were you."

Maya blushed from the exertion of the sparring session, and from her quite embarrassing loss. At least nobody was watching... She thought, triggering her doom-saying conscience yet again. Nobody to watch you get murdered, you mean.

Grasping the hilt of the Talon Sword, she walks to the bed and sheathes it into its' scabbard, returning it to its simple-yet-appealing black leather abode. Thinking this somewhat poetic thought, she looks around at her temporary home. "Well, we didn't break too much" She says. "I'm sure someone will complain of that door." She wipes her forehead once more with the back of her hand, feeling the grit left over from evaporation, and feeling in dire need of a bath.

[Kane Roth]

"Well, we didn't break too much," speaking as she returned her Talon back to it's sheath, "I'm sure someone will complain of that door." Smiling at the mention of the accident, Kane thought to speak, though he held back the quip concerning the quality of life in the place, and what lavish qualities they'd to live in, despite a relatively small nick on an already sturdy door. Though Maya had finished, Kane exhaled, waiting a moment before speaking, deciding that it might prove time to take his leave, turning to his belongings in the floor, crouching as he did such, slinging the bota's leather strap across his neck so that it lay on his right side,

"Well, I'll take my leave, if you don't mind..." Taking up his knife, he slid it between his belt and his shirt, finally slinging his cloak over his shoulders, fastening the brooch before rising, turning to face her once again. Offering a curt nod before taking his leave, he wished her a good night before turning to the door, his body bleeding into the city after he'd stepped out, returning to his own abode, room 428.

Entering the spartan quarters quietly, allowing the door to close slowly behind him, though he made sure his cloak managed not to be caught in by it. First to go was the cloak, despite the chilled air of the night he was burning up, the brooch quickly finding itself undone and the olive cloak tossed onto the table, providing a much more attractive tablecloth than the table did a table. Next came the bota, though it wasn't tossed aside so quickly, the skin being drained eagerly, only two or three breaks for breath breaking the act, and finally his belt, the two blades, knife and sword, being carefully placed on top of the cloak. The candles that'd been left to burn for most of the day having eroded greatly with time, now only a fraction of their original size, though they still bathed half the room with their light yellow glow, and Kane soon extinguished them, not eager to pay for new ones, darkness stealing away the last of the light. "Hmm..." Should've thought about that first... Stepping by memory where he believed nothing lay, Kane made his way back to the table, where he'd left the chair last, though he failed to make it there before his left shin had found his bed, striking the frame with moderate force, sending, as we all know, a unique brand of pain back up his leg. Though he soon enough found the chair, removing his boots and footwraps soon after. Once done he leaned back in the sturdy yet utilitarian seat, sighing as he did, thinking on the day. Had he accomplished something, or rather anything? Was Maya any better off? These were questions that he couldn't honestly answer, though he knew one thing he'd learnt today, perhaps even two; the first being that fighting defensively without some kind of shield isn't a fun thing, and second being that one should never put all their weight behind a swing when the opponent is much more agile than oneself... the results prove to be unfavorable. Though, by the time he'd finished thinking, he'd already begun to drift off to sleep, the line separating the haze of reality and that of dream waning rapidly. There was however, one thing that rang out in his mind, a voice dreadfully familiar, yet had laid imprisoned in his mind for ages,

"I know what you're here for, bastard."

With a start he awoke, his head scanning the room, shooting about from side to side, though nothing lay disturbed, no trace of movement present. Blinking several times, allowing the glaze of sleep to wear off, Kane's discovery of, well, nothing lead to alarm him even more than the voice. After sitting and watching for a few moments, his eyes beginning to adjust to the darkness, he came to think that it was only his mind playing tricks, the onset of a dream, and that he should just get to sleep. It'd been a long day, and a long rest wouldn't hurt either. So, with several shuffling steps, Kane took use of his bed, lying down facing the door, and allowed sleep to take him once again. This time relatively undisturbed, much to his satisfaction.