FE on the Forums: Scarlet Crown [IC]

[aliettite]

'Balls to fight back' or no, Rhian's fist comes back around at him faster than any witty response leaves his lips -- and this time, it does more than just unbalance him. The combination of his own recalculating weight shift, and the hard impact if her strike directly into his center of gravity knocks him right onto his knees with a cut-short yell. He doesn't loose grip of his sword during the fall, but the reverberation of the metal from its own swift connection with the hard-packed dirt of the training ground loosens his grasp. It clatters to out of his hand as Flynn doubles over, attempting to stifle the urge to dry-heave as he gasps for a breath. Feeling pinpricks of wetness in the corners of his eyes from the effort, he squeezes them shut as he tries to choke out words: "The sword--is-- extension-- of yourself--" Maybe though, in a situation like this, he shouldn't sully such a thing. A man's hands have to be strong enough to wild his sword, right? Then they'd be strong enough to fight without it too. He begins to try and push himself back up to his feet, not picking up his blade this time.

[Aurorix]

"Swear my sword? I never sweared my sword per-say, I just vowed to protect the people I care about and those who can't protect themselves. Though I suppose that is swearing your sword in a way." He chuckled to himself for a bit,  "As for a name, no. It took me forever to settle on Invoker of Mayhem and you don't want to see the list of the other possible names I've had. Even now I'm lukewarm about it and might change it when something better pops up. I couldn't even imagine coming up with a name for this guy." He holds the wooden blade out in-front of him, examining what wear it has taken. The chip in the wood, the scratches, and even the small singe marks left on it by that mage. How could he even come up with a name for a blade that'll synergize well with the journey it's taken.

[Sentient Bowtie]

“Then why do you use it to hunt animals? Should a real warrior take cowardly shots at game that can’t fight back?” Dulcie asks, without a hint of sarcasm. “You should take your sword instead, it sounds more honorable.”

 

“Fighting with a bow isn’t cowardly. You’re still close enough to the enemy to see them fall, and they’re still close enough to run over and ram a blade into your gut. In fact, I would say that using a sword and a bow in battle makes you a better warrior than if you just used a sword. It’s not everyone that can master more than one weapon and use them both effectively in the chaos of a real fight.”

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian grinned, a look equal parts predatory and smug on her face. She was almost disappointed he wasn't putting up more of a fight - though it seemed he was at least going to try now. 

"What? I couldn't hear you over your wheezing. Did a woman hitting you hurt that bad?" She neglected to continue her assault for a moment, giving the "warrior" a chance to catch his breath. "You gonna cry already? Come at me already." She gestured towards herself with the fingers of her left hand, in the classic come-get-some taunt. "Still waiting for you to teach me about how unfair this is. It's alright, I'll wait for the big strong man to catch his breath so he can put this outsider broad in her place already." True to her word, she did actually wait for him to ready himself, and start a swing. Once she did, she planned on ducking it, then driving her shoulder forwards and up into his chest to knock him over. If that worked, she'd immediately jump on him and give him a left hook for the jaw for good measure.

[ElfCollaborator]

Michi, for their part, deigns not to intervene. Normally, their code of honor would impugn them for not intervening when a clearly inferior fighter was being accosted by someone clearly superior, this was simply the code of chivalry Michi lived by. 

 

However, Flynn had completely and utterly earned this with their attitude towards women; after all, if women always needed their men to protect them, the logical solution ought to be that all men ought to stay with the women because then the women would not be able to protect themselves, would it not? Assuming, of course, that this thing was at all logical to begin with.

 

And in any case, they'd already irritated Michi just a little bit. So.....maybe wait for Rhian to teach Flynn exactly what a woman could do, and then intervene before he got beaten too badly.

 

They simply resume their imposing position, arms folded in wait.

[rokubiraijuu]

"That's completely different," Fless replies to Dulcibella with a perplexed look. "Hunting has nothing to do with being a warrior." 

 

"Sorry, miss, I don't want to be rude, but... it kind of sounds like you're trying to change my mind about something when you don't know much about us. Maybe I didn't say it right. I... I didn't mean to say you're a coward, or something like that, for using a bow. Maybe I'm just trying to say... it doesn't feel right for me. If you think that's wrong, then, um... I'm really sorry."

 

He scratches the back of his head, feeling awkward, before looking back to Argos.

 

"E-Either way... um, Mr. Invoker of Mayhem, sir, can I ask you something?" He turns the sword he's been holding in his hand and holds it to Argos, pommel out. "If you haven't named yours yet, then will you take this? I, um, know it isn't your sword, but I don't think I'm gonna use it much. And it's a good sword, so it's not fair to it and to our blacksmith for making it to just sit around collecting dust. I think you'll do it much more honor than I would."

[Sentient Bowtie]

Dulcie sighs and shuts her eyes.

“No, I don’t mean to change your mind about anything. Even though I sounded that way, I was trying to understand your viewpoint. I have... lots of trouble making it obvious about which one I’m doing. Among other things.”

 

“If it doesn’t feel right for you, then that’s that. I’m sorry about all the confusion... Could we just put it behind us, if you don’t mind?”

[aliettite]

It's pretty clear from his off-balance starting stance that he's not exactly trained to fight with just his fists -- the clumsy movements of his footwork and poor underestimated coordination of his intended strike make his opponent's own strategy practically fall into her hands. The blow from her shoulder manages to unbalance him further, and try as he might to grind his feet into the ground hard enough, the pain radiating from his abdomen from her first direct punch has him curling over more than he'd anticipated. And this woman was heavier than she looked -- especially on top of him in her armor and socking him in the face once more. The arm he raises to block her assault is simply knocked away by the force of the blow and he's left lying there bleeding and panting raggedly beneath her.

 

Flynn had been glad before that he was to be left alone at the training area, but now he was even more grateful to whatever gods decided to bless this place with solitude today. These outsiders may have witnessed this shameful display, but they'd be leaving soon anyways, so at least no one he cared about had to see it. Especially Fless. Especially any of the other boys about to leave on their journeys. Flynn, beaten silly like some dummy for target practice, by a woman. Over something so... Alright, well, maybe he'd gotten carried away when he'd called her 'outsider broad', but he could have apologized for that if she hadn't hit him! She was in the wrong here! Who was she to question the customs of his people like she knew something about anything? But now, honestly, he's not really sure how it could get worse beyond himself either crying or wetting his trousers. Outside of that, this was definitely as bad as it got. But he was't about to say he admitted defeat. She'd have to drag that from his cold, dead tongue. "...Just. Go."

[Aurorix]

"A-are you sure? I mean, I'm honored and I'd love to use that sword but it is yours after all. Would Flynn be okay with you just giving your blade away like" Argos was surprised to find the lad wanting to give his sword to him. Truth be told he REALLY wanted that sword. If not just to flip off the smith who said he wasn't worth his time. However, he couldn't just take the boy's sword unless he was absolutely certain about giving away.

[Swordstar]

Kerr frowned. Now that sight was a bit too familiar. He sighed. Fine, time to drop the act for a few minutes.

 

"Rhian, I think he learned the lesson. Here."

 

Walking over to the two, he offered a hand to Flynn.

 

"Mind if we talk for a bit? You should walk for a little if you can. Otherwise you'll end up in a bad state with those bruises you're going to have."

[ElfCollaborator]

Okay. Now was the time to intervene.

 

Michi immediately steps between Rhian and Flynn the moment Flynn was downed, to end the fight if nothing else; he was beaten, the lesson was learned, and there needn't be further annoyances and misunderstandings. They let Kerr do the helping, Kerr having got there first, and instead serve to keep Rhian away for the moment.

 

 "There is no shame in defeat. Only shame in not learning from your mistakes, comrade. If you fail to do that, you will not become the strong warrior your village asks of you. An outsider may not understand your customs, but they can understand what is needed to be a warrior worth being proud of."

[Chevaleresse]

"I'm sorry, did you say: 'Miss Jernigan, please hit me in the face again?' Because that's what it sounded like." She cocked her fist backward, but Kerr's intervention was enough to rescue Flynn's face from further redecorating. "Pah. Fine." She pushed herself up off of him roughly, shaking her hands a bit. She really needed to watch those hits to the face, they were hard on your knuckles. Rhian turned her back to walk towards her discarded gauntlets. "That metallic taste in your mouth is... honor, right? Yeah, all the honor of getting your ass folded in half by a woman. Ungrateful prick." The knight muttered something under her breath that was best left untranscribed before continuing at a more normal volume. "If it wasn't for us, this'd be a village of ghosts." 

[BlueCalibri]

Verden seems to have a small smile on his face after he sees that Rhian has ultimately triumphed, and quite handily too, but he forces that smile off his face as quickly as he can. After all, it would not do to appear to be taking delight in someone else's suffering. His eyes move to turn on Flynn, taking a moment to look him over and see how bad his injuries are. Ultimately, doing so wouldn't be necessary since his mind was already made up, but instinct called to tell him to evaluate when he should heal or when he should wait. After a moment, he steps forth to the injured fellow, concentrating a bit of healing through his staff to help the poor lads injuries.

 

"Apologies about the mess made of things. I hope you aren't too bothered by the events that transpired here."

 

He offers Flynn a faint smile, hopefully one that comes across as reassuring. If there's anything spoken to him on Flynn's part, he'll wait around - otherwise, Verden is quite fine with turning his attention to finding where he should go next.

[ElfCollaborator]

 

 "Enough, comrade. If you're not here to make friends, that's fine. But we aren't here to make enemies either, Rhian. You've proven your point."

[rokubiraijuu]

"I'm sure! Uhhh, well, I just won't tell my brother. It's okay."

 

He's sure Flynn'll probably say some things about a man of the Warriors Village giving away his sword, and maybe he shouldn't, but he feels like it's the right thing to do for the sword. He always feel bad... never using it.

 

"It doesn't have a name right now. But, you have to promise to give it one someday, okay? When you find someone worthy. Or, umm... I guess something. We always name our swords after our beloveds that we swear ourselves to, because the sword is the extension of the self." He nods. "But you can pick whatever you want. Just make sure it's something important."

 

Argos receives Unsigned Blade. (It's a Regal Sword.)

 

He turns then to Dulcibella with a big smile. "Yeah. No problem! I'm... sorry if I sounded rude. Sometimes people come here saying all kinds of stuff about how we're bad and wrong. I thought maybe you were some of those guys. But you're really nice."

[aliettite]

Flynn is stonily silent as he takes Kerr's hand to be pulled back to his unsteady feet, swaying slightly from the aching blood rush that accompanies it. Standing still with a tight-lipped expression and balled fists, he lets himself be looked over by the healer. Not too bothered? He'd almost scoff at those words if it didn't hurt so bad to breathe right now. He probably looked just about as crappy as he felt. Fantastic.

 

A mumbled "...thank you, sir" is all Verdan gets before the boy begins to turn away, making brief eye contact with Kerr and giving a nod before bending down with a wince to retrieve his sword and sheath it. He didn't feel very much for talking right now, but at this point he'd already made so much of a fool of himself, whatever may come later may as well just come now. If he was going to get another lecture from this guy, so be it. He starts to walk off away from the training area, following a trail that leads along the outskirts of the village. The fewer people to see him in this state, the better.

[Chevaleresse]

"Why heal the kid? Bruises are lessons, and he's not gonna learn his this way." She rolled her eyes at Michi's statement. "If that's the kind of thanks these people have to offer, I think I'd rather they were my enemies. Little bastard can't even admit how much of an ass he's being. 'Honor.' Well, he sure shit on mine when he tried to say I wasn't fit to fight." Rhian still felt her blood running hot at the implication. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. It didn't really work, but she tried. "Anyone else wanna try me? What's next; 'bows are a coward's weapon?' Heard that one before too, 'fore I made sure the guy couldn't say the word 'bow' right for a few weeks."

[Swordstar]

Walking along the path with the teenager, Kerr waited until they were a decent pace away before glancing over at him.

 

"She packs a punch, huh?"

 

Pulling out the water skin he had tied to his waist, he offered it to Flynn.

 

"Here, this should help a bit. I, ah, I get the sense that you all do things differently around here. But... Here's the thing. How can I say this best... See, all of us have our own realities. The thing we've always known to be true. And then something comes along that knocks us on our asses because it turns out we were only seeing part of the picture. Sometimes that's literal. Was for you. Sometimes it's less. It doesn't mean that your old reality is wrong exactly. It just means it's incomplete. And who you are as a person determines how you react to that new knowledge. ... I'm not making much sense, am I?"

[BlueCalibri]

When queried by Rhian about why he decided to heal Flynn, he just turns and smiles back at her fairly impassively before responding. He still seems a little amused, slightly more willing to show it now that the one on the receiving end is no longer quite as present. Since he doesn't want to anger Rhian even more, he also tries bringing back that usual effect he has around himself...

 

"I felt it would be improper, as a healer, to let someone leave with injured body. However, I believe you've hit him plenty hard enough to injure his pride. A bruise on the ego is as much a lesson as a bruise on the body - perhaps he will learn from it, or perhaps he will not. Either way, it will be interesting to see if this changes anything."

 

Another pause. Verden seems curious with his following inquiry, tilting his head just a little. And there's that other smile of his again - the one he had when he initially saw the fight breaking out.

 

"As for yourself, how are you feeling? I believe that one-sided clash has more than proven your ability to fight, but I do want to know if it helped your mood."

[Aurorix]

Argos took the blade by the hilt and took a couple steps back getting a safe distance back. He held it in both hands before giving two horizontal swings, having the last swing give him the momentum to do turn around downward slash and followed it which a war cry. Finally he spun it in a pinwheel motion on his left side and guided it to arc over his head and to his right side while it still spun. Halting it, the tip of the blade pointed away from his body towards the grassy ground, before doing one final spin as he locked it in place on his back.  "Who is the most important person or thing for me...?"

 

"Thanks guy, I can feel how good the craftsmanship is just from a couple swings. I'm truly honored. What's even more embarrassing is I still don't even know your name yet. So lets start over," Argos walked up to the lad and extended his hand out to him,  "The name is Argos, the Invoker of Mayhem and it's been a pleasure meeting you!" He said in a rather respectful tone without any yelling this time.

[rokubiraijuu]

Fless' eyes widen slightly as he watches Argos swing around his sword. Yeah, that definitely looks better when he does it. Whenever he tries to practice with it, he just ends up dropping it or otherwise making an idiot out of himself. By the end, he has a big grin on his face.

 

It only falters slightly when he's reminded he'd never even given his name. It's even worse when he recalls that Argos had asked earlier, too, and he'd never answered. "Oh! I'm sorry! Ahem." He straightens up a little and accepts the handshake. "I'm Flesselles, but just call me Fless. I hope my sword helps you protect some stuff, like you said you would! Maybe when Flynn and I go on his journey, we'll see each other again, and you can tell me what you named it. I'll tell everyone about the Invoker of Mayhem so you'll be famous too!"

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, I still want to beat the shit out of somebody, particularly whoever taught that kid that his cock automatically makes him better than half the people around, and there's nobody in sight to maintain my sparring routine with, so I'm doing just peachy." She huffed irritably. "And the seemingly only person around to fix that is talking to a face I didn't get to punch nearly enough times." The knight glanced around the range. "If you really wanted to help my mood, you'd drag someone in here to spar with me so I could polish up my axe skills. They're damn rusty." 

[BlueCalibri]

Verden continues smiling in the same way he was earlier, nodding at hearing Rhian's frustration with earlier company and her current frustration in lack of sparring partner. Then, given what she suggested to him, Verden soon closes his eyes and manually runs through the other members of the group internally in his mind. Who would be suitable... Admittedly, something tells him most of the group might already be busy with other matters, or might not particularly want to spar with the woman. He opens his eyes again, deciding that he might as well leave it up to Rhian herself. She'd probably know who best she'd like to fight, surely?

 

"I see. I'll try and take you up on your suggestion. Given the... attitudes of the locals, I suppose it's safest to keep them off the cards, so... Any member of the group you believe would suffice? Johanna? Argos? Ceridwen? Dulcibella?"

 

A thought comes to mind, one that is admittedly quite risky on his part, but one that he feels like might be worth trying just in case. He glances off to the side, a little embarrassed about what he's about to suggest, but he returns his attention to Rhian soon enough. His voice, while normally quite measured and calm, now seems a little hesitant and uncertain...

 

"Maybe... if everyone else is busy, maybe myself? I... As a priest, I doubt I can spar with you as well as a properly trained warrior could, but I know for certain I'd be willing to try."

[Powder Miner]

Ceridwen, being Ceridwen, didn't immediately take all of the reassurances to heart, but she couldn't exactly totally deny everything that Johanna was saying either. And it was nice to have Johanna dissipating some of her worries -- she'd feared that perhaps Johanna was furious with her, after that battle.

 

She still didn't exactly feel great, though. The guilt over the people that had been hurt and killed was still going to pick at the back of her mind, Ceridwen could tell... especially because she'd never been in a battle like it, and seen allies die like that. That and she still had the execution looming over her head. She was responsible for those deaths in large part too. Argos screaming about it, that cleric girl who didn't seem like she even understood what was happening. Oh, and now she was remembering the sight of the dead villager again. Dammit. Dammit. She really couldn't keep herself under control today, and she was right in front of her commanding officer. True, she didn't put that much stock in rank, but... still.

 

To Johanna's sight, this would mostly just manifest in Ceridwen lapsing into thought, her expression changing in increasingly distressed ways for a moment before sighing.

"It's just... I don't really... sometimes I kind of see stuff like that and think I'm only here instead of another Dragon Knight because of..." Ceridwen sighed. "I don't know. Maybe you don't want to hear all of this. You're my commanding officer, after all."

[Chevaleresse]

Rhian just sort of stared at him for a moment. She muttered under her breath again - something about masochists? - before replying to Verden's offer.

"I mean, if you want. I don't see you learning anything much and you're gonna want a practice shield and your own training weapon. Speaking of, they've gotta have those things around here, right?" She appreciated the offer, but couldn't keep the annoyance out of her voice at the thought of what was almost certainly going to end up trying to train the poor sod on how to defend himself just so she could have more challenge than a straw dummy in her sparring. "Might wanna start off doing something other than getting hit over the head a bunch of times by an angry soldier."