[LEA] Blitz' Training

OoC: So, it begins again. ^_^ This should be eventful... Be sure to have a little fun yourself, milady.

IC:

Dreary; melancholy; drab; somewhat anxious. It was as though the Dome’s infinite halls and corridors changed to reflect one’s mood as well as their footsteps. A dank, heady scent filled Blitz’ nostrils as he strolled through a narrow, restricting passageway of interlocking, gray stones. Coal-hewn candelabras were hung along the length of the ceiling, faintly illuminating his footfalls every step of the way. Yet, doubting his incorporeal captor would deliberately allow him to suffer harm for no particular reason, the swordsman watched his feet absently.

At the moment, his thoughts were on his student, Usaka, whom he hadn’t spoken to once. According to medical staff, the healing techniques used in the Dome were supposedly instantaneous. But Usaka had been in the medical lab for days now. He must be faking it, thought Blitz grudgingly. A dull, rusty thud echoed in his ears but, like the quiet rustling of the Supernova sheathed at his waist, it was not enough to bring the teacher-assistant out of his musings. Of course, he could not be angry with his student after seeing the condition he was in. Battered and bloodied, run through with a sword; not at all a pleasant experience, Blitz was certain. That he survived whatever brutal battle befell him before help arrived was a miracle.

“Oof!” said two surprised voices at once. Stumbling backwards after the impact, but managing to catch his balance, the swordsman looked up and raised his hands to apologize to whomever he had bumped into. “I’m really sorry, I wasn’t watching where I—” But immediately after seeing who stood before him, Blitz stopped.

A silver-haired, sharp-eared, female elf met his eyes, reflecting the very same surprise that he felt. “S-Sileya?” he stammered in disbelief.

“…Blitz?” Her emerald eyes grew as she spoke the name, jaw hanging open.

Hearing his own name cleared the vapors from Blitz’ head and he quickly relaxed, though still surprised to see his former teacher. “You’re here? I thought you left the Dome…didn’t you?”

Apparently, the Dome must have sensed this inevitable occurrence and shifted its mood once more. Now the candelabras were pearly white, and the walls had turned to ash-stained marble. A thick, plush carpet ran beneath their feet, broadening the hallway to a more comfortable width. The scene was much more uplifting and calming than previously.

The wide-eyed elf came to her senses as well, hesitating to speak. “…Yes, I did leave the Dome for a time.” She seemed oddly apprehensive, but hid it well with a feathery chuckle. “But I guess I just couldn’t stay away for too long.”

Blitz smiled, grateful to see the teacher he hardly knew once again. From the moment he first laid eyes upon her, he had sensed they would become good friends. Sileya had left so unexpectedly; her final words to him had been a simple note via domerii, which seemed hurtfully impersonal. Then again, the fire innate was never the type to hold a grudge. Feeling quite comfortable, he offered a hand to the elf. “It’s good to see you again, Sileya.”

Smiling, she accepted his outstretched hand, giving a firm shake. “You, too.” Though Sileya did not appear strong at first glance, a closer inspection of the blade of her broadsword would prove otherwise. Blitz had learned that the hard way, but back then he was without the use of his preferred fire elemental techniques. Elements were so intrinsic to his combat style that warding her off without their aid proved quite a task, especially once she’d summoned Shilera.

A thought struck him then, as she firmly gripped his hand and smiled. Combating the elven swordswoman had been a very educational experience, though Blitz had previously considered it little more than life-threatening—she had nearly impaled them both, after all. Perhaps there was more she could teach him.

“Sileya,” he said, speaking slowly at first as he considered how best to word his thoughts, “what would you say if I asked to be your student again?”

Her ears twitched in that manner Blitz found so charming among elves, and the smile turned into one of calculation rather than familiarity. After gently tapping her chin and letting out a long “Hmmm,” she seemed to reach a conclusion. Emerald eyes fell upon his sword in thought; perhaps she was gauging him?

Feeling somewhat anxious under the elf's studious gaze, he shifted his weight to one leg. “…Well?”

She beamed now, appearing almost excited. “I would say yes.”

Blitz matched her broad grin with one of his own, though he secretly wondered what sort of assignments she would have for him. In truth, his role as a student in the Dome had been brief and confusing. The only thing he’d done that might be considered a lesson was that trek with Aurora’s other advancies, but the Ominae had retired in the middle of it. Worst of all, no one ever told him why they were there in the first place. After being dropped by two teachers, Blitz found himself working in the Dome as a teacher’s assistant.

“Oh, that reminds me!” he thought aloud, focus suddenly returning to his newly regained teacher. The grin turned to one of amusement. “I’m a TA, now.”

Sileya lilted her head for a moment, then laughed softly, realizing the irony. “You’re a student and a teacher? That’s unusual. Who is your student?”

“Someone by the name of Usaka. Big, burly guy, but I found him unconscious in a puddle of his own blood. Med staff took care of it, though.”

Sileya nodded, concealing whatever concern she might have felt, but a downward flick of her ears gave away the hidden sentiment. “I see. That’s good. And who are you teaching under?”

Blitz furrowed his brow in thought. “I don’t know much about him, really. For some reason, he always stays in the shadows and hardly says a word. Very shady. If I didn’t know better I would say he has evil on the brain, but something tells me otherwise.” He deliberately neglected to mention his twin, though not entirely sure why. Drake was an introvert by nature and would never open up to but a small handful of people. Blitz, of course, was one; Amy was another; the rest would remain nameless.

“He seems charming,” replied Sileya, eking a chuckle from the taller swordsman. Then, clearing her throat, the elf changed her expression to a more serious one. “So, has anything else happened since I left? Anything important?”

Thinking back across the past few weeks he had attended the Dome, Blitz recalled every instance of considerable importance, from minor to life-altering, until he could think of no others. “Nope. Not a thing.”

Not willing to let the conversation scramble downhill, the elf blinked in dismissal and turned to walk down the cheery corridor. Tossing her head over her shoulder, silver-streaked hair gleaming in the candle light, she spoke. “Well, if you’re going to be my student again, we might as well get started.” She motioned for him to follow.

Both intrigued and somewhat apprehensive, Blitz started wordlessly after her, wondering what sort of rigorous training his teacher would offer this time. After all, so far he’d had only a taste of what Sileya could do.

As Sileya led Blitz down the plush-carpeted hallway, she couldn’t help but recall the one and only training session she had subjected him to. She allowed an amused chuckle to escape her lips at the memory, which elicited a raised eyebrow from her newly reacquired student. Turning her sparkling emerald eyes upon the fire elemental, the Elf responded with a cheerful grin.

“Oh, nothing. I was just remembering old times.”

“Heh. Oh, really? It wouldn’t have anything to do with my training under you, would it?”

Sileya’s grin widened. “It might… You didn’t fare so well last time, did you?”

“Hey, now. I didn’t have the use of my element then. I think I did fairly well.”

A mischievous look played over the Elf’s face. “You don’t happen to have your element now, do you?”

Blitz seemed to catch on to what Sileya was hinting at and arched an eyebrow. “You want to start my training right away, then? Well, I suppose I don’t have any issues with that. What would you have me do?”

The Elf beckoned him onward, further into the mysterious Dome. “Follow me. I think I still remember my way around this place. And hopefully, the Dome will be in a cooperative mood today.”

The Favored of the Ancient Dragons stopped in front of a door just as those words had left her mouth. Running her fingers along the smooth, plain, wooden surface, the Elf’s touch seemed to activate some hidden device for opening the door, and with an excited grin, she pushed it open, motioning wordlessly for Blitz to follow. The swordsman complied and gasped as the contents of the room came into view. The two were standing atop a breathtakingly gorgeous snowcapped mountain, the tallest one in the middle of a vast mountain range that sprawled as far as the eye could see. Nothing else living seemed to be nearby—no animals, no plant-life, nothing except himself and his teacher. He was suddenly hit by a snowball, and he quickly glanced in Sileya’s direction. The Elf already had another snowball in hand, which she chucked rather hard in his direction.

“Hey!” Blitz exclaimed right before engulfing the snowy projectile in a stream of flames from his palm.

Sileya’s eyes lit up. “So, you do have all your elemental abilities intact. Excellent. That’ll make things loads more interesting than last time.”

“…than last time?” The fire innate shifted his feet in puzzlement, and then it suddenly dawned on him when Sileya drew forth Drageziel from its sheath and fixed a focused stare upon him.

“Let’s go, Wielder of the Sword.”

Heehee...I'm only allowed to do this because we're friends, but...

Originally Posted by LadyElvenarcher

The Favored of the Ancient Dragons stopped in front of door just as those words had left her mouth.

^___^ Seems odd for the student to help the teacher along, but we do that for each other anyway. Just thought I would point it out. I'm already in the middle of my post, by the way. Those last words from Sileya really got my CJ's rollin', and I just couldn't resist. It's coming along well, too.

IC:

The Gates of Hell themselves could not have prevented a wild grin from crossing the swordsman’s face. Brief memories fluttered up, sketching the course of his previous bout with the elven warrior-summoner, as his sword filtered into his right hand. The motion was seamless as water flowing through a crack in the ground, bringing with it an exuberant exhilaration that flooded his body with adrenaline. Laughing softly, he said, “It would be my pleasure.”

Sileya seemed just as excited about what was to occur as the Tear, and she spared not a moment in expressing this sentiment as she bolted forward. Feet mimicking his teacher’s dash, the snow melting beneath his travel boots, the soldier flew at her with the Supernova outstretched. CLANG! Not a second into the fight, and both were already locking swords tightly, giving one another stern but amused glares as their blades grated together quietly.

“You’re better than last time,” she complimented through strained teeth, something unseen flickering behind those ancient, emerald eyes.

“Heh…thanks.” Blitz held his guard, forcing the Supernova against Drageziel with all his might. Though this time he was physically stronger, thanks to the reactivation of his ESECs, the elf’s strength and the size of her broadsword still proved too much for him. Fortunately, the Keir had a special, favored technique that he saved for just such occasions. Yet, that knowing look in her radiant orbs alerted him to something; another memory flitted across the backdrop of his mind.

Blitz oomphed as he fell forward to the ground, but not wanting to leave himself open yet again, he gracefully used his forward momentum to flip his body around and lash out at Sileya with his blade. The surprise was clearly evident on his teacher's face, and to Blitz's great relief, Sileya was only able to partially block his strike and sustained a slash wound to her upper arm, which gave Blitz enough time to regain stable footing and reorient himself. Sileya wasted no time in placing two fingers on the wound. She sung a snippet of an Elvish healing song, and the flesh knit itself back together right before Blitz's astonished eyes.

She already knew what he was going to do. In fact, the dragon summoner could very well have his entire fighting style mapped out. Simple speed and manipulation, turning the opponent’s own strikes against them whenever possible. But could she block it? Blitz had only ever met one being capable of deflecting his favorite swordlock technique, but such prowess only came naturally with omnipotence. Kyros is an exception to everything, thought the swordsman grudgingly. Still, he intended to see if Sileya could repel his technique.

“But don’t expect me to hold back just because we’re friends!” he bluffed with a confident smirk. The Supernova dropped and Drageziel came down where he should have been; the fire innate had already dodged aside, and the Supernova came up in a lightning-quick slash to Sileya’s shoulder. For anyone else, the following would have been simply impossible. The legendary broadsword bore around, arcing gracefully to Sileya’s side, deflecting the enemy blade to Blitz’ absolute shock. Crunch! His stomach groaned as Drageziel slammed into it, and then a foot to his chest sent the Keir flailing backward, landing face-down in the snow.

A few moments passed before Blitz caught his second wind, and he raised his head out of the biting whiteness, spitting a wad of snowflakes from his mouth. The elven teacher stood over him, letting Drageziel slack at her side, and laughed playfully. Blitz couldn’t take offense, of course; it was he who held back, not the summoner. Chuckling at his own incompetence, he accepted a helping hand from Sileya. “Okay, I guess I walked into that.”

“Yes, you most certainly did. Don’t you hold back again, or Drageziel will make mince-meat out of you.” She winked to let him know she was only kidding, but he had guessed as much for himself.

“Alright, alright,” he muttered. “I won’t hold back. But I don’t want to hurt you, so make sure you don’t hold back either.”

It hadn’t been meant condescendingly, but Blitz could sense that his words had struck an unpleasant chord in his teacher. She said nothing, however, and the fire innate decided it best not to offer a response.

Instead, he donned his favorite confident smirk, which he reserved only for sparring between friends. “Let’s get started, shall we?” Thrusting his blade out to his right, Blitz called forth a wreath of flames to swirl around his arm, traveling across the limb and converging around the Supernova. Sileya bounced back, bringing Drageziel up in defense as a brilliant light emanated from the swordsman's weapon, and it appeared to melt as it began to change shape. Thinning out and lengthening to just over four feet, the blade became a most exquisite katana. As the white light faded, a red edge was revealed to the warrior-summoner.

Releasing a small, mildly impressed breath, she observed the magnificent katana with dancing eyes. “Nice sword.”

“Thanks. You, too.” And with that, the Wielder of the Sword plunged into battle once more.

OoC: ^^; My apologies. I believe my crazy mood infected the post before, and I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. But I've gone through and fixed everything you pointed out. I have a better grasp on Sileya than was portrayed here, and 'tis my own fault for not paying better attention to what I was writing. *Bows humbly* It shan't happen again, Milady.

Ah, and I modified Sileya's taunt as such because a taunt at that point in time was appropriate; something more light-hearted than "I'll crush your puny little head" was called for, however. *Stuffs homocidal tendencies into a small pouch* Again, my apologies. I shall do better from now on, that I may honor your technique as well as your teaching.

Hehe. Thanks. You know I sometimes need a proofreader for myself. Glad to hear that I sparked some CJ flow in you.

OoC: Okay, a couple grammatical/typo things before we start.

Exhibit A:

Brief memories fluttered up, sketching the course of his previous bout with the elven warrior-summoner, as his sword filtered into his right hand with.

You either need to finish that sentence or take off "with".

Exhibit B:

Yet that knowing look in her radiant orbs alerted him to something...

If I'm not mistaken, you need a comma after "yet".

Exhibit C:

The elven teacher stood over him, letting Drageziel slack at her side, and laughing playfully.

The sentence should be: "The elven teacher stood over him, letting Drageziel slack at her side, and laughed playfully."

Exhibit D:

Sileya bounced back, bringing the Drageziel up in defense as a brilliant light emanated from the weapon, and it appeared to melt as it began to change shape.

Take out "the" right before "Drageziel". Also...you need to clarify that the Supernova is the weapon that's changing shape. This sentence makes it sounds like Drageziel is changing shape, and I thought that's what you had said the first time I read over it.

Okay, enough of the grammtical/typo stuff. Now, I'm going to address some character portrayal issues. You did fine writing Sileya until the latter portion of the post. The first line that made me wince was this one:

“Yes, you most certainly did. Don’t you hold back again, or I’ll crush your puny little head.”

Most of that was okay up until "I'll crush your puny little head." That's a not a very Sileya-esque line of dialogue. She would probably have just left it at "Don't you hold back again." The winking thing...I didn't particularly like, either. Sileya doesn't really wink. Or kid around a whole lot, for that matter, especially in the middle of a fight. She's got a temper, yes, but she's usually not a joker. And then this whole group of lines really grated on me:

It hadn’t been meant condescendingly, but Sileya displayed an offended expression so convincing that Blitz couldn’t tell whether she was simply faking or not. Then a playful pout confirmed his suspicion. “That wasn’t a very nice thing to say.”

*points to the above explanation of Sileya's disposition*

And, finally...

“Ooo…” she crooned, observing the magnificent katana with dancing eyes. “Nice sword.”

Yet another example of a not very Sileya-esque line. She wouldn't "croon" over a sword like that. And there would definitely be no "Ooo..." in there, either. Sileya's a touch more serious than you're making her out to be.

Once I've gotten a post written, I'll edit it into this post. In the meanwhile, you can fix some of the things I pointed out. The reason I'm being so picky is because you're an Advanced student, so I expect as close to perfection as humanly possible out of you.

EDIT: OoC: Okay, here's that IC post I promised you. For your next post, I want you to try what we talked about last night. In fact, I'll probably make you do it right now...

IC:

Sileya saw Blitz’ charge a split second before he actually executed the action. A slight shift in his weight distribution alerted her to the inevitable movement, and she easily sidestepped, while knocking his newly-formed katana upward and slamming a knee into his now-unprotected stomach. She held her knee in his stomach for a few moments before letting him slide to the snow-laden ground.

“You’re going to have to be a bit faster than that to catch me off guard.”

Before the words had finished leaving her mouth, Blitz had leapt to his feet, aiming a slash at Sileya’s midsection. The Elf allowed the slight surprise to flash in her eyes for a moment before knocking away the katana with Drageziel. Blitz wasted no time in darting to the left and attempting a stab into Sileya’s left shoulder. The Dragons’ Favored grinned and bent her body backward to narrowly avoid the slash, simultaneously throwing Blitz off-balance. As his weapon sliced through the air over her shoulder, his body fell forward toward hers and was abruptly stopped by Drageziel’s pommel. He took the blow right to his chest, and emitted a wheezing cough.

“Having a little trouble breathing there, are we?”

Sileya chuckled and stepped back, allowing Blitz time to catch the breath that had so suddenly been forced from his lungs. Her eyes sparkled as the swordsman shook his head and looked at her.

“You know, I don’t particularly like having the wind knocked out of me twice in a matter of five minutes.”

Sileya’s grin widened. “I told you. You need to be faster before you can even think of beating me.”

Blitz opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off as Sileya conjured a grapefruit-sized chunk of shimmering ice in her palm. Taking a few wary steps away from the Elf, the Wielder of the Sword eyed the ice element, memories from his previous training session with Sileya surfacing almost reflexively in his brain. As if she could sense this, Sileya laughed.

“You remember my ice magic, do you? Well, don’t worry. This little orb won’t track you like the last one did.”

Blitz seemed to relax a bit at this statement. “But it does something else, right?”

For her answer, Sileya chose not to verbally respond and instead launched the ice orb in his direction. The swordsman moved to dodge, but took the element straight on his wrist. Instead of the energy simply dispersing, it remained solid and somehow pulled his wrist downward and stuck to the snowy ground like a magnet, effectively attaching Blitz’ wrist to the ground. His eyes widened as he struggled fruitlessly to dislodge himself. Sileya chuckled and formed an identical ice orb.

“This one’s headed for your other wrist, Blitz, so you’d better think fast.”