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[Alexander Faircroft]

47th Spring 516AV

A cool morning wind skirted across the open training grounds. As much as Alex wanted to just start hacking away at the dummy and get busy on his training he’d promised his patron he would be here without armour today. Meaning he was going to have to practice his unarmed techniques today. Since the events on the forty-second Alex had been beating himself up about a lot of things. Difficulties and issues with allowing points of his past to go. Instead of simply entering the training grounds proper Alex sat in the small area just before it.

He leant back against the wall his eyes closed as he pondered things. Trying to get a handle on things. Still he couldn’t. And the chat with Archie didn’t make things any easier. The feeling of knowing that the nightmares the darkness forever tugging at his ankles wanting to drag him into the mirth would never leave him be. He needed something the help him cement himself on the light. Friends? Of those he didn’t know how many he truly had. Nivel, Ball, Archie, Garland, Numia, Greyheart. He’d noticed that most of the “friends” he considered to have were oddly enough Pycons. Small people made of clay.

Some how he felt like a small child playing with dolls. Or toys. It felt weird that the people he knew the most were sentient statues more or less. Exhaling slowly he could still hear the faint ring in his ears now. The sullen silence reeling like a light ringing of a bell next to his ear. Shaking his head he started to shift, moving to rise and head towards the training grounds. Sadly he’d have to test himself alone. That was what he thought until he heard the voice of a familiar Pycon looming ever closer.

[Numia]

The morning was ripe and new, and Numia knew yet another long day was ahead of her. She held her fiddle with pride as she played the strings, cheerful notes cascading across the halls. As if by an eclipse, her mind shifted and went to a darker place when she thought of Alexander, and so did her music. The note were longer, more drawn out now. She opened her mouth to sing, and the words of the only song she knew poured from her and echoed through the halls.

“These are the monsters that mar my soul.

They make me fail to lift away,

The madness that consumes my core

Oh the monsters that mar my soul,

I abhor what they’ve done with me

Where have you gone with my soul?

I wish it hadn’t grown so old,

In your grasp it withers I’m told

Please, monsters, go away.”

She was getting close to the training grounds, and as much as she liked to play her music she had to be careful. It was tactically sound for her to walk along the edge of the walls for her in Syliras, but she could probably survive being stepped on again. She would be placed in a sorry mood if her instrument was stepped on, however. The open door of the training grounds neared, but a familiar face was already standing there as she slung her instrument over her back.

“Alex!” she shouted.

Numia ran over to greet him. “Are you here to train today? I’m here to practice my fighting!” A Pycon had taught her a drill recently. She had been meaning to put it to use and learn to fight for real with her clay body. Numia congealed her hands into clay spheres like gloves, stretching her arms back and whipping them forward one after the other like a proper Pycon punch. She knew these things naturally all along, it seemed, she just needed a little motivation to give it a try.

Numia followed Alex out to a training ring and set her gear aside, getting into the rough of things with him.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Alex flicked his eyes over to see Numia running up to meet him. A small friend he’d earned whilst saving or at least attempting to save two children. Despite the solemnity upon which they’d met things hadn’t held such a heavy tone. Apparently she was here for the same reason he was. Attempting to improve her fighting skills. Perhaps it would be good training against her instead of the dummy? After all it took more skill to hit something that small even with a weapon let alone without.

“Well Numia if you’d be up to giving me a hand I’ve actually got to practice some unarmed techniques today.” Alex spoke with a small smile though one look at his hands would tell you that they were still damaged beneath the light wrappings of bandages, where he’d split his knuckles open a prior day with Archie. Pushing himself to the point where they split. There wasn’t enough hours in the day for him to get in all the training he needed to get stronger. To get faster. To get smarter. Even now the dark thoughts still licked at the back of his mind.

Shrugging it off he headed up to the training grounds lagging lightly behind Numia. Stepping into the cool air the sand shifted beneath his feet. He still recalled his first real training bout. His first moment against another squire. And how Ball had tossed him about like he was a bag of dirty laundry. Alex rolled his hands and turned them into right fists, using the refined positions Archi had taught him the prior day. A tightly compacted Pulvia stance. Low and his hands in tight. He spoke again his words much harder now. “So Numia I know you’re a dab hand with magic. But how’s your hand to hand skill.” Trying to bait her in was his tactic. Unbeknownst to her Alex had by this juncture a wealth of experience fighting the Pycons that littered the order. And as such he was banking on giving her the first strike and then returning it with a full motion. Focused on speed over power, what was the point hitting something that small with power? Speed was the core component of what was needed. And Alex knew it. Speed and a keen eye. He’d have to keep track of something small travelling through the air, at high speed.

[Numia]

Numia kicked at the dirt, trying to rile herself up. She always kept herself so calm and collected, as if soothing herself every single day. It was probably why she could handle things so much better than Alex, and she knew he worked hard to make himself better. The tattered knuckles he possessed were a testament to that fact.

The small Pycon cocked her head at the squire as he changed into a stance. She copied him, falling into the same stance although far more weak, trying to fake him out. "Not very good, I guess we will see how far I've come. I think I can take it, so don't worry about me." Honestly she wasn't quite sure, her heart told her it was right but her mind warned her that she could get seriously hurt. She put away these warnings into the back of her mind.

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, but from what she knew so far she had a feeling he was trying to make the first move go to her. He was playing it defensive, should she be aggressive to break his stance? Her hands balled into fists, and they congealed into a solid mass as she ducked her head and began to run forward with her cloak flaying out.

Numia dashed as fast as she could, extending her legs out to catch as much air as possible and pushing her legs hard against the ground. There would be no magic here today, but her hearing was something natural that she could not help but used. She listened to him, jumping to the side when she got close before rushing for not his first shin, but the second at an odd angle so he would lose his footing. Numia coiled her arms back and snapped her clay fist out like a spear, but if the hit connected it would have been a glancing blow at best. She listened to his clothing, to his body as it moved through the air as she prepared to jump away. She couldn't believe she was actually fighting, and she was doing so with confidence. Or was she full of herself?

[Alexander Faircroft]

He exhaled slowly his eyes now focued on her smaller form. Unlike the first time he’d ever fought the pycons, Ball and Archie here as she moved off darting left and right, even attempting to copy his own stance he could see her. He could track her. Unlike prior when they bounced around at ludicrous speed. Now his eyes had become accustomed to that. Even with her sharp motions he could see her. And if he could track her. He could avoid her, but she rushed him. Closing the distance quickly as Pycons were want to do. She rushed past his first shin aiming at his rear leg. Interesting and dangerous.

Alex noted the sudden change in tactics. Instead of just hanging about still awaiting the punch he put his eight on his forward leg and spring boarded off of it. Leaping forwards to gain some distance. A hard landing in the soft sand followed. His whole body weight catching on his shoulder blade as he rolled through the air. That was going to smart in the morning but still it was something. He’d made some distance. But given that his Acrobatic skill was somewhat lacking he landed roughly and didn’t travel too far. Still that was all the better for him.

Instead of going for a strike like he’d planned he went for a sweep. Landing and scrambling up into some sort of positioning he swept his left leg out towards Numia, the back of it attempting to hook and throw her with the force. A technique he’d been working on with Archie and something that he felt relatively comfortable using. Even though he still felt vastly at a disadvantage fighting Pycons. Their small size and speedy nature meant two things. If they got into range, it was over. And if you could handle them in range, then they were holding back.

[Numia]

Alex surprised her when he jumped forward and practically over her rather than resuming a defensive position. It seemed like a wise move, and she skidded in the gravel to change direction towards the sound of him moving in the wind. It was followed by a heavier motion, and he was trying to right himself for some sort of attack although Numia didn't recognize any fighting positions. She sprinted forward again, her feet slapping the ground as best she could as she breathed hard to fill herself with air. She opened holes in her back and shut them, making herself more hollow for her to better jump. If she went for his legs again, she thought he might just jump away to wear her out. Her strides were so much shorter than his.

Then the leg came. It swept over like an arc, it wasn't going that fast so she thought she could dodge it. She spring-boarded from the dirt, jettisoning herself opposite the oncoming blow into the air with her legs only to be caught mid-torso by the leg. I should have ducked ... I'm an idiot! But strangely, while pain filled her from her clay compacting and pops riddled from her like steam she was mostly unharmed. She thought quickly, and then she jabbed her arm spikes into the clothing. To Alex, it would have felt like a slight pinch but she managed to clutch to the material he was holding. When the kick petered off, she felt like she was going to slip off but she held on just long enough to peter out the force, stretching in the other direction slightly. Numia opened one of her fists up into a claw and shifted her weight to grab ahold of Alex, anchoring her knee spikes into him this time instead of her elbow spikes. She grappled him and with her spare arm she threw her arm back before letting it snap forward like a rubber band onto his tender flesh.

There simply wasn't enough force in his kick to knock her away given her small size and light weight, and she exploited this as best she could.

[Alexander Faircroft]

The strike was enough to catch her but the recurring impact of it wasn’t as strong as he would have liked. He’d miscalculated how much he thought she weight. Making contact with her was like hitting several bags of sand. He impacted and instead of shaking her off and flinging her like a ball she slammed the spines of her form into his leg. A sharp scratch at the impact of one of her arms and then both of her knees. Like three simultaneous injections within inches of each other. As he scrambled to pull his leg in she struck his calf. The impact wasn’t hard, or at least as hard as it could have been still it felt like a wasp had stung him.

Alex brought his hand down from above now, if she was determined to hang on he’d strike her square on, a much hard and sharper blow this time aiming to slam her into the ground. However if she instead to choose to jump off and spare some distance between them even for a second Alex would capitalize on it, darting back and away with three well placed steps trying not to slip on the sand. He didn’t have his armour to grant him firmer footing so he was relying on his acrobatic prowess to hold him up. Sadly again he lacked.

Whether she was on or off he’d try to stand, and standing was possibly the best thing his mind could think to allow him to do. How did one fight a Pycon!? Too small, too fast, too light, too varied. What worked against one wouldn’t work against another. What one could do another had a different approach to? Nothing was ever the same against them!? Alex In his thought took another step away and slipped. Falling in the air another familiar thing against the Pycons. He braced himself for an impact, having learnt how to fall well by this point he rolled at the point of impact with the ground taking the brunt on his shoulder he rolled around trying to find some way to get an equal standing against Numia. “I hate fighting Pycons. It’s so unfair. Every advantage is on your side.” Less a complaint more a compliment.

[Numia]

As Numia connected with Alex, she flinched at the feel of herself striking him. It was hard for her to commit violence when she herself was such a calm individual. When she heard Alex bending over to strike her, she looked up to see the shadow of his fist looming overhead. In the classic tale of a novice unwitting, she froze and simply looked at it. In the split second, she let go to get away but the fist caught her as she rolled against it. She twisted, spinning herself by pushing her elbow spike into his hand but it carried her all the way to the ground where her body smashed against the dirt. Numia felt her elbow spike get smashed by his fist, but Alex retreated away as the searing pain filled her to the brim. Why does everything have to hurt so much!

Her elbow spike hung, bent to the side and cracked as the very tip of it fell to the ground. She tried reforming it, but wounded clay was much harder for her to reform. The pain, she didn’t let it get to her. She got to her feet and ran towards Alex, who in his haste had somehow found a mistake of his own to fall into. She watched him fall over, and she knew then that he wasn’t as skilled as she was beginning to think. At first, she thought she had just managed to surprise him with the unique qualities of the Pycon, but when he rolled around and remarked about Pycons having an unfair advantage Numia could scarcely believe herself. She couldn’t tell by the tone of his voice what he meant, but she didn’t spend much time deciphering it either as she was caught up in the heat of battle. She was too caught up in things to give him a break.

With him so close to the ground, Numia decided the fine sand on the arena floor was potentially useful. She took in a sharp breath as she ran, shifting her torso down and bending her good arm to the ground to slash sand up at him like a shovel. A hail of arena dirt showered up a good foot, but more importantly it temporarily shielded her movements from view. Numia listened to his movements, honing in on the closest point of contact she could find and arching herself to throw a strike with all of her body weight. She slammed her feet into the ground as hard as she could to propel herself forward, pivoting back her hips this time and throwing a much more solid punch than she thought possible while not fearing for the consequences.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Despite the sharp relief that things had shown him Alex knew well that he was already in a bad spot. As he spoke there was a minute almost completely miss able pause in her actions. Alex took a half second to stand back up onto one knee getting ready for the follow up. Though the moment the sand cloud appeared Alex knew three things were in action. First off it was a distraction. Secondly he’d seen Ball pull of something similar and then manage to get behind Alex with ease. Third it blinded her as much as it did him. So instead of meeting her in the plume of falling sand, Alex fell backwards allowing his body’s momentum to carry himself out of her range.

Shifting around the ground he swept his fore arm across the sand using the cloud of distraction she’d created to his advantage. Taking a small wave of and with his arm as he did so. A wide arc scanning through the ground, though he’d learnt of the spikes on her body weren’t just for show. She used them to attack herself to him. At the same time from the opposite direction he brought his other arm swinging together hoping to catch her in a crushing vice between his arms. Attempting to catch her and end the bout. If it worked then success! If not then she’d have a clan line to strike him in the chest or jaw.

Still though Alex was prone to taking big risks and big gambles as they often proved to his benefit. The god of luck seemed to take a small shine to him, even with that though against a Pycon he was risking more than he was likely to gain. After all he’d never really fought a Pycon on even remotely close to such equal footing and from the lack of impact against her he’d felt in prior strikes he began to wonder if the clay was actively protecting them from harm too?

[Numia]

Everything was euphoric, her mind pounded and raced in a feeling that felt darkly familiar, harkening back to a certain monster. To her, each movement had with it a musical note, if a very small one that was only audible to her. It helped her to fight, it helped her to be aware. More importantly, it made her slip into what she was doing more easily.

Numia could hear Alex shifting back, and she could hear his arm as it swished above her. It was a lot of extra movement in so little time when she was already so close to him. Her distraction seemed to be working, and while she was visible she had already managed to get almost between his knees by the time his follow-up strike had landed. She landed her feet just below his wrists and ducked, abandoning her punch as she felt his rough skin brush upon her cloak, so very close to pinching her despite his small size. Underneath his wrists, she gulped air as she continued to move from her back to make it easier for her to jump and after a few small strides she kicked off dead ahead with her last bit of strength to propel her into the air.

The cloud of dust parted, giving her a clear shot ... to his groin. There was nothing else available, and he had already moved back and thrown his weight forward, already well past his elbows. Numia shifted her weight and timed the snap of her arm to fit into the soaring punch so it would connect on time as best she could. It was now or never, this was her last resort!