Closed Flashing Blades and Passing Pains (Alipheese)

[Dexius]

81st of Summer, 516 AV

The sun shone down brightly on the Symenestra's pale skin when he finally exited his home on a hot summer day. Dex covered his face for a moment, the sun's gaze blinding him for a few moments as his extra sensitive eyes took longer to adjust to the new lighting. He merely sighed to himself, it had been more than a few bells since he rose from what little slumber his body would allow him. "Probably close to mid day already...and just getting out now, way to go Dex, way to go." The ashen skinned humanoid murmured to himself, a commonplace habit to any who got to know him.

Before heading off, he remembered but barely, to lock the door of his still newly acquired home. It had been quite a few days since he had arrived in Alvadas, more than a few in fact it was close to an entire season at this point. While returning the necklace to it's place around his neck he decided to begin moving forward at his fairly meager speed. Left? Right? He shrugged and turned left down the street intersection towards whatever destination the city had in mind for him today. After pulling his long jet black hair through the chain of the necklace his hands returned to their practiced locations on his body. Left hand resting on the scabbard of his basket rapier, nonsensically fidgeting the blade up and down slightly. His right hand was simply resting inside the pocket of his cloth pants while fiddling with a miza or two.

What was he going to do today, or rather, what was the city going to do with him? Shuffling forward he began to think about what he had learned since arriving in the strange city. Alvadas was going to do with you what it wanted, nothing less and nothing more. Continuing on though, the street looked as thought it was a calm stream. A funny thing about the illusions in the city, they usually matched the feeling of the city itself. Apparently, the people of the city might be drowning perhaps in fear, or maybe this one was just for him. After all, it could be said that he was mentally drowning in his own dreams.

But that was why he was out on this abnormally sunny day. He had to distract himself from the things that scratched at his head. Those monsters could not be fought with sword in hand while asleep but during the daylight hours he would be more than happen to challenge them to a duel. Now approaching the end of the stream-road he found his battleground. A small grassy meadow was tucked in between two fairly large buildings, their shadows cast down to cover the small park. Settling on a spot near the center of the green landscape he decided this is where practice would be today. A family of rabbits, assumably illusions leap away as the pale skinned warrior neared their spot in the grass.

Exhaling, Dex settled down into a basic combat stance for fighting with a rapier such as his. Foot of his sword arm planted in front of him facing straight ahead towards his invisible opponent. Swiveling his torso to the left he took his other foot and placed it so that it was perpendicular to the other. Looking forward in the direction of his leading leg, his right shoulder lined up perfectly above it. Any onlooker may think this a ridiculous looking dance of some sort but Dex knew that form was everything to a swordsman. This stance allowed a wide range of mobility, which in turn would allow a wide range of strategic movement and striking locations. Flicking the basket hilt of his rapier up and out of it's scabbard slightly with his left thumb allowed a slightly quicker draw time. Luckily for him this action was now second nature from his daily walks around the city. Quickly bringing his right hand around he drew his weapon out in a little more than a tick. Now he was prepared to begin his usual training regiment.

[Alipheese Nightshade]

Alipheese Nightshade As Alipheese’s mind began to claw its way from the depths of slumber a single thought occurred to her I’m no longer in Sunberth it was a common thought she’d had for the better part of a year since she’d left the dilapidated town, but today was somewhat special for the young woman, as it marked the third anniversary since she had killed her father in a duel to the death. As she went through her daily routine of getting up, getting dressed, checking her rapier for any signs of rust or damage, a single tear formed in her eye, she brushed it away, but another replaced it, and another after she brushed the new one away, pretty soon there was a slight waterfall cascading down her face as she remembered the last words of her father before he died “I’m proud of you…” It was the first time he’d ever said anything of praise towards her, most of the time he’d been disrespectful and abusive, but in his final moments it had been nothing of the sort, she’d actually been praised, which made her all the more guilty for having killed him instead of sparing him. After a couple of minutes of crying as she remembered what she had done, and tried so hard to forget, Alipheese looked up and wiped away the last of her tears, eyes now slightly red from the crying, and went about the remainder of her morning rituals, eating as per usual, though the meal was no different from what she’d been eating over the last few days, it tasted like nothing, as though her tastebuds had ceased to work, for this morning at the very least. After her morning meal, Alipheese donned her armour and decided she would train to try to forget the events from three years ago, making her way outside of the Temple, she immediately got lost within the City of Illusions like she normally did, the ever changing scenery getting the best of her, however today she wasn’t trying to find anything within the city itself, she just wanted to get out. After wandering about for a while, and feeling as though she had made no progress, Alipheese decided to abandon trying to get out of the city, and instead look for a relatively quiet are within to practice her swordsmanship, thinking to herself as she meandered her way down more streets I… really… need to learn the layout of this place… it’s so confusing… but probably pointless to learn because everything is always changing… ugh… where am I now?! Having been too lost in thought to really pay attention to her surroundings, Alipheese found herself in what appeared to be a small meadow of some sort, still lost in thought she absentmindedly found herself a spot which she thought was uninhabited before she drew her rapier and assumed her ready stance. Alipheese’s ready stance was more or less standard, or what she thought was standard, she held her rapier out and down at a slight angle, with a majority of her weight on her back leg to allow her some extra mobility or springiness if she was to jump back. It was at this point some movement caught her scattered attention, pausing for a moment to try to figure out what it may have been, Alipheese began with some rudimentary exercises, namely thrusts and parrying imagined strikes. After a couple of thrusts, Alipheese overstepped on one, causing her to lose her footing slightly, making her stumble forward a couple of steps, looking up and around after her blunder, Alipheese noticed something which made her freeze… there was someone else within the meadow, and the other person was also carrying what appeared to be a rapier. Getting a better look at the person, the first thing Alipheese noticed was how tall the stranger looked, then she noticed something which she thought of as odd… the fact that his arms and hands were disproportionate to his body, other than that and the pale skin, he looked more or less human. Wondering why he was in that meadow at that particular place made Alipheese speak aloud, if only softly, her tone full of curiosity, and a little sadness “Ah… I appear to have intruded… Sorry about that, might I ask why you’re here... and why you look as you do, I’ve not seen anyone like you before.” Alipheese stood up straight, and sheathed her rapier so as to appear less threatening than if she was holding it out, while she waited for an answer if it was to come, tears beginning to come biting back at her eyes once more as she began to remember what she’d come here to forget.

[Dexius]

Focus. Right foot forward, bring your hand to your chest. Step forward to strike in one fluid motion together, a simple attack. Dex had done these movements a hundred times in his life and under the scrutiny of his father he made sure not to falter in his step. But his father was not here to punish his failure in form and the fact that he wasn't expecting a voice just a short distance away broke his concentration. Half his body turned to look towards the direction of the strange voice, the other half unfortunately continued his forward attack.

His two feet now no longer in sync he stumbled back and fell, luckily on his rear before flopping all the way onto his back. What was he doing letting himself get distracted so easily? Now he was laying in the grass, his left leg still bent at the knee, foot planted in the grass as if mocking his failure to maintain composure. Dex brought his left hand up to cover his face for a few moments, sighing into his palm before letting it drop back into the soft grass. Right hand still grasping his rapier he brought it forward and clumsily thrust it towards the sky. "I was never this clumsy back home.."

Lifting his head to look at the person who had so rudely interrupted him caused another longer sigh to escape him. "Great, another woman with dark hair in black armor. At least this one carries a sword, I could deal with that.""Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on somebody with their back turned? I was trying to get some training in before the day was over but maybe Alvadas decided otherwise." Dex laid his head back down in the grass, eyes staring up at the clear bright sky. "I'm a Symenestra, and all my people look a lot like this. There are a few of us here in the city, but you must be pretty new to have not picked one out yet." He noted that the weapon she carried was also a rapier, one of fairly similar style to his. "A swords-woman huh? Well this is going to be interesting. Perhaps my training for the day was not over just yet."

Sitting up, now cross legged in the grass Dex noticed a slight redness to her face but it was mostly focused around her eyes. Had he made her cry or something? She had just arrived and he barely got more than a few words out, so no, he supposed it wasn't anything that he did. But what would a woman be doing out here in the small field sword in hand and crying? Alvadas never seemed to disappoint and this day would not be any different.

[Alipheese Nightshade]

Alipheese Nightshade When Alipheese called out, she had done so quietly, but it was apparently more than enough to distract the man from his training, upon her calling out, the man had been lunging, much like she had been before she stumbled, but the results of the distraction had made him half turn out from the lunge, making the poor man trip on his own feet onto his behind. After the man had landed on his rear, Alipheese let out a giggle, but felt the sting of the tears return after a moment, blinking a couple of times to try to be rid of them while thinking to herself Stupid tears… why now? While she had been blinking to rid herself of her tears, Alipheese had bowed apologetically to the poor man, who had somehow ended up sprawled on his back, thrusting his rapier towards the sky before sighing and lowering his weapon to the ground. After holding her bow for a good few moments and listening to the man chastise her, Alipheese spoke, her tone apologetic, yet laced with sadness “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were so into training…” Trailing off as the tears returned, she lowered her bow as if trying to hide her face from the man I don’t know who he is… but I can’t let anyone see me cry, I refuse… I… Alipheese’s train of thought was interrupted when the man spoke once more, telling her that he was a Symenestra, whatever that was, but being as distracted as she was with her own thoughts about everything which had happened within the last three years of her life she elected to say nothing at that point. If she had, Alipheese was sure he would see her cry harder than she had at any point in the last three years. With her emotions doing several remarkable acrobatic feats within her mind, Alipheese was at a loss for how to act given the current situation… I should introduce myself, but I fear I’ll… breakdown… Taking a couple of deep breaths, the young human steeled her resolve, wiping her sleeve on her face to remove the tears, she released herself from the bow which she had been maintaining the whole time. When she looked down at the man, she noticed he was sitting and… looking at her, but that couldn’t really be helped, given she’d interrupted him and caused the whole situation before them, but to Alipheese, the look was more of assessment rather than any actual interest, or so she thought, but she wouldn’t know unless she asked. “My name is Alipheese, but please, call me Alice… Might I know your name? To answer your statement before, yes I'm new to this city, I've barely been here six days...” Her tone was friendly, almost every trace of sadness gone, as she offered the man a hand up thinking to herself I wonder… I came here to train, however, so did he, and we were both interrupted… perhaps we could spar to make up for lost time? But I don’t know whether I am up to it… emotionally… but there’s no better way to distract myself from the thoughts I am having, but I have heard that alcohol does as good a job… Based on what the Symenestra did, Alipheese would offer the sparring match or simply go on her own way to possibly try drink to forget what she’d done three years ago to the day… killing her father.

[Dexius]

"Bowing? Well you don't see that every day." Dex was more than a little surprised when the sword wielding woman bent her body towards the ground in his direction. The tone of the woman's voice seemed sincere as she apologized but it also had a hint of a familiar emotion as well. He raised his hand in protest to her small plea. "No need to be sorry...I shouldn't be so rash. Perhaps I should apologize to you as well. I just didn't expect anybody else to be in here right now."

Dex chuckled to himself for a moment as he returned his rapier to it's scabbard. "I had expected to train here by myself today, but by the look of it perhaps we can work in together? That is if that sword of yours isn't just for show little lady." The girl wiped her sleeve to her face, she really must be crying. Hopefully he hadn't hurt her feelings too much, friends were a rare commodity these days and if she could wield that sword it would be all the better. Dex smiled at her new resolve as she lifted herself from her bow, his large canines poking out from the rest of his teeth slightly.

He took her hand when it was offered and lifted himself up from the ground. Now that they were face to face the previous tears in her eyes were obvious, the redness in her face wouldn't disappear as quick as she would like. Feeling bad for the girl he took a step back and bowed to her in return. "Alipheese huh? A very interesting name, but Alice then? I go by Dexius but people usually just call me Dex for short." Raising himself from his bow he locked eyes with the strange woman for a moment, his blue rimmed amethyst eyes looking for weakness in her new found friendliness.

He simply smiled again after a few ticks. "Only six days huh? I thought I was green. I've been here since the ninth of this season and it's been an interesting ride so far, to say the least." Patting her shoulder for a moment with his pale, black nail clad hand Dex laughed for a few moments. "I bet you have gotten so lost in this place. Trust me, it doesn't get any better, but that is half the fun here." He pushed his long jet black hair behind him before offering his hand towards the field's center. "If you're here for practice, then shall we? Unless you're not prepared." A small chuckled escaped his lips as he stared the woman down once more, awaiting her response.