PM to join The Harvest Festival (Part 2)

[Saede Lare]

The bell sounded, signaling the beginning of the match. "Good luck Saede, I hope you win. He had said. What does that mean? Was he going to try to lose? They were in a competition after all. She did want to win, but not through him letting her by. She wished she could say the same in return to him, but she really did want to win. "Thanks, I hope I win too." Hoping she didn't sound too hostile, she followed Garlands circle around her. Acknowledging the time limit, she attempted a few quick jabs at him. She held her spear at the back to get the most range out of it, with her right hand. Her left slightly farther up, holding it with her underhand. This would create good control for thrusting as well as the a swoop attack that she could include at the end. She the first aimed around his waist, the second at his upper chest, and the third was a side strike to his arm. The first two were jabs, and on the third she would raise the spear above his head and come down as an arc into his right side. She tried to do them as quickly as she could. This was about speed and hitting, not power. Assuming that they all connected, each hit would be light and quick. Gaining her several points before he could react. On the side of caution, she planned to jump back after she made the attacks, or if two of three of them were intercepted. She didn't want him being able to rush in on her while her spear was overextended of course. She raised her spear about chest-height to prepare for the attacks, attempting to figure out how he would react from her attack. If she knew that, then the fight could be much easier.

[Garland]

He gave a small smile at her comment about winning herself, he really wanted to win, but not by much, he did not want a repeat of his earlier match. He blocked the first two jabs easily enough, but his not see the high swing and it caught him in the shoulder. He felt the hit, but then she jumped back before he was able to counter.

Staying on the outside would be very bad right now, she had the long reach of the spear on her side, sure he had a pretty long sword, but the spear was still longer, and for long range melee fights, she also had more control.

He needed to get close, he ducked down, staying close to the ground as he made a small dash towards Saede, quickly making her spear ineffective in their very close range fight. He could feel Saede's breath on him, but at this close both their weapons were ineffective... Well except for one, his shield. He was in the perfect position to strike with his shield. A strong powerful blow from his shield to her face would net him a lot of points, and if she fell down, it would given him more points for an early lead.

But he decided against it, he didn't want to hurt Saede too much, instead he pressed his shield against her chest, trying to push her down, that would give him a 4 point advantage instead of the 8 point one from his earlier plan, he wouldn't have mind losing to her, but like before, he will not go down without a fight.

[Sayana]

“You work with dead people? Eww,” Sayana replied without really thinking about her words. “I like people better when they are alive. They can talk and laugh…” She turned to watch the sparring contest and saw Saede take two strikes at Garland, both deflected, but the third arched beautifully and struck home. She’s got skill.

When Sayana turned back to Bakar and thought about what it would be like having to deal with dead bodies regularly. She grimaced but then a spark of curiosity came across her. “So if you work with the dead, does that mean you know about the soul and the gods? What do you know about Syna? My mother named me after her. Well not directly, it doesn’t sound quite the same, but she says it looks similar written down. I’ll take her word for it.”

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grinned slightly as she wandered through the city, enjoying the festival to the fullest. She had enjoyed slithering around Ahnatep when she was little during the holidays, the lavish parties the Eypharian's threw in celebration being so colorful and delightful. Here in Syliras it was perhaps more tame, but no less enjoyable. And besides, even if she had been feeling a little homesick, it seemed The Harvest Festival had a few things from her Ahnatep. Most of it was trinkets and the like, but her mood improved notably when she passed a stand selling Jackal Nuts, a favorite she had stumbled across shortly before leaving Ahnatep. Since she had enough for a treat, she bought a pound of the buttery flavored nuts and kept walking, quietly enjoying the carnival.

As the Dhani wandered around, she eventually stumbled across a sight that definitely caught her attention. A sparring match between two people, one of which she recognized. Garland seemed to be doing pretty well, though his opponent was definitely holding her own. After watching the match a bit, Suresslynn's gaze drifted past the sparring match to the pair watching it, one of which caught Suresslynn's attention immediately. "An Eypharian..." she muttered under her breath before walking around the sparring match to join the onlookers.

"Quite a match, isn't it?" she said as she walked up, waving slightly. To those who knew it, her accent, both the sibilant hissing noise on "S" sounds from her species and the way she said certain words from having learned common in Ahnatep, would mark her as being from the Eypharian home city, or at least the Dhani nest nearby. "Mind if I join you? It's been a while since I've gotten to watch a sparring match this interesting, and that aside, it's always nice to see someone else from Ahnatep this far from home." she said, grinning slightly, her green eyes bright with restrained curiosity as to what had brought the Eypharian so far from home.

[Saede Lare]

Garland had crouched down and made a dash towards her, where her range couldn't keep him at bay. Seeing this as it happened, she made to thrust her spear into his path, but it slid off the shield that was now coming towards her chest. She raised the now horizontal spear in an attempt to try and block it, and a clash sounded between them. Saede had to step back to keep her balance. The spear was now pressed against her chest, separating the shield from her body by only an inch. Very aware that his sword was still free, and that he could wrap around to hit her back, she tried to push him off. Unfortunately her strength was not that of Garland's. When she made her push she stepped forwards for extra force. Which was a mistake. Unbalancing her feet gave Garlands strength somewhere to push her, and she was pushed to the ground on her back. She gripped her spear as if it could keep her from falling, and tumbled to the ground on her back. The score was now 3-5 Garland. Upon falling onto her ground, she made a semi-desperate attempt to hit Garland's leg with the side of her spear, and back up at the same time. The attack would be more of a small swing, to his right leg. She didn't have time to make the hit gently though, but it wouldn't be a strong hit because it was from a weak angle. Maybe it'll catch him off guard if I'm lucky. After she did this, she scrambled onto one knee and brought the spear into a defensive stance in front of her, stalling for time. Falling was far from her best interest, and she was doing her best to recover. She hoped she'd have enough time to, as Garland could hesitate with the spear pointed at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that somebody new had sat with Sayana and Bakar. She didn't have time to notice any farther, she had a battle at hand. And she couldn't decide who was really winning.

[Garland]

The fight was heating up, he was entirely focused on the fight, he didn't know his Dhani friend had taken a seat next to the girl that he shared his first kiss with.

He saw the oddly angled attack to his leg, he was curious as to why she was doing this, but he didn't have much time to think about it, because he stumbled, managing to not trip, but stumble over Saede. He regained his balance, ready for the next attack.

She had pointed her spear at him, he hesitant to move, he needed to keep his eyes on her, but he needed his shield up in case she attacked his head and poked his eye out. He might need to do a bit of trickery if he wanted to win... Though he wasn't going to go that low to win.

He knocked away the spear with his shield, maybe it could slow her down, maybe unbalance her, but he highly doubted it, but it did buy him time. He hopped back, trying to avoid the spear of his friend and opponent.

[Sayana]

Sayana looked up in delight at the newcomer as she recognized some of the lilts and speech patterns of the Ahnatep accent. “Yes, do sit down,” she replied unable to keep the excitement from her voice and she patted the seat next to her. It had been a long time since she’d talked with someone from Ahnatep, or even Eyktol for that matter. The soft hissing in the woman’s voice suggested that she might be Dhani and Sayana couldn’t help but look into her brilliant green eyes.

Sayana shifted just enough to break contact with Bakar. Her thigh was already feeling numb and the Dhani now had most of her attention. “Our friends Garland and Saede are in the ring right now,” Sayana said with a gesture of her high hand towards the arena. “They’re pretty well matched, don’t you think? But Saede’s got some nice range with that spear of hers.”

It was about then that Saede went down. Sayana winced and wondered how she was going to get back up. It better not turn into a replay of what Garland had done to that other girl. Not wanting to take her eyes off too much from the battle, Sayana only glanced in Suresslynn’s direction. “Are you originally from Ahnatep? Or did you just live there for a good chunk of your life? And Dhani I take it, yes?”

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grinned at the excitement in the Eypharian's voice, then sat down next her and turned her attention back to the match. "Yes, they do seem evenly matched for the most part. The girl has a lot more reach, yeah, but I've seen Garland fight. He's clever enough that he can probably overcome her reach." she said, before wincing as the girl went down. "And I think that proves that point, doesn't it." she said, grimacing slightly.

At the Eypharian's question, the Dhani nodded and ate another Jackal Nut. "Yeah, I'm from Ahnatep, hatched and raised there. And yeah, I'm a viper, from the nest in Ahnatep." she said, grinning slightly before offering the Eypharian a nut. "Care for a Jackal Nut? I haven't seen any of these since I left home. Oh...my name is Suresslynn, by the way, but call me Lynn. It's my...given name I guess would be the term in common." she said, shrugging slightly as she tripped over her lack of mastery with the common language.

Letting out a sigh as Garland seemed to back up a bit, the viper tried to get a feel for who was winning. "I'm not sure who actually has an advantage here, to be honest. How about the two of you?" she asked, looking at the two people on the seat next to her.

[Bakar]

"N-no, sorry.. I don't know much about any Gods or Goddesses. But I do plan on learning. A lot a families or friends request that their deceased be buried with a symbol of a certain God, and I want to make sure I know what I'm doing.. Y-yeah.. Syna and Sayana do look pretty similar.. d-do you.. not read or write? S-sorry if that's a rude question.."

Just then, someone else came to the benches, paying more attention to Sayana than Bakar. She technically spoke to both of them, but he could tell her true conversation partner was Sayana. Bakar didn't mind, he had been talking quite a lot today about subjects that made him nervous. Sayana shifted away, leaving his leg without her heat, and he realized again how cold he was, not even thinking about how cold he much have made Sayana.

Garland and Saede were pretty evenly matched, but when Saede fell, Baker thought it was over. Until he remembered the first time he had met Garland, and they made their way to the fighting pits, where Bakar learned that just because you're losing or at a disadvantage, doesn't mean you've lost. He watched as Saede swung at Garland's legs, stumbling him, before they both recovered.

This new girl, Suresslynn she said her name was, seemed to be from Sayana's hometown of Ahnatep. He could hear the excitement in her voice, and couldn't help but feel envious. To live in a place that gave you joy to learn someone else had come from there. Being from Sunberth, when he heard someone was also from there, he felt sadness that they surely had been through troubling times, living in such a lawless city.

Dhani, the girl confirmed, but she called herself a viper. Bakar didn't know anything about them, but didn't feel comfortable asking just yet. Common didn't seem to be her first language either. She took her time finding some words, making sure they were right.

It took Bakar a minute to realized that he was now being asked a question.

"I'm not sure who actually has an advantage here, to be honest. How about the two of you?" The voice came from the Dhani, Suresslynn.

Bakar was unsure if he should even answer this question, not wanting to interupt the two's nostalgia of their hometown, but eventually decided to, when there was a silence. Bakar stumbled on his words, trying to explain himself. "O-oh, w-well, I don't know much about fighting, and have only seem the two fight once, in the opening rounds.. S-Saede does have a range advantage, but Garland has this p-pure force of will that keeps him fighting.. h-he's the one that told me that being at a disadvantage doesn't mean you've lost. I-I believe that this can go either way."

With that, he fell into silence, too nervous to say anymore for now. He held his head down, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes, hoping that they would continue the conversation without him, or even just not hear him. He lifted his head slightly, so he could continue watching the fight.

[Saede Lare]

Her opponent hopped back after hitting her spear aside, and combined with the hesitation he had provided earlier, she had enough time to get up. Now that they were back on equal footing, she couldn't let anything like that happen again. Else it could very well mean that she would lose the match. Attempting to think of a quick tactic to prevent such a thing from happening she thought of the sweeping strike she'd used to gain her earlier point, or just to back up. Backing up was far from ideal as she was near the line, so she decided to push it forwards a bit. Leaping to her left using her right leg, she attempted to made a diagonal strike on his right side- Where he didn't have a shield. He'd have a sword to potentially block the weapon, so she would hit hard. Assuming he blocked it, she could then dash in on his unbalanced weapon and hit him chest with the back of her spear. Otherwise.. No, she was confident that Garland would block it. It wasn't hard enough to break bones or anything. But it could definitely leave a bruise if it hit. The last thing she wanted was to enter an injury contest with him. A thought occurred to her. Are gnosis marks allowed? She hadn't used hers since she got it, but it could be very useful now. Probably not, this wouldn't be a fair way to use it. She'd just have to do without it. Either way, she hadn't tried using it and she wouldn't know if it would even work correctly. Confidence in her was visibly shaken in the crowd. After a show like that, people seemed kind of torn. The score was close, and Garland seemed to really know what he was doing. This was bound to be a good fight.