[1v1] A Civil Discussion [Shikeen]

[medigel]

There was only one way to break in the training facility, and that was the rough way.

Shik made a low whistle as he landed, gazing out over the stretch of open fields with an admiring eye. It was must better than the poor excuse they had at the reservation: here, he felt open as opposed to confined. And while with the new regime came odd little questions (such as having to re-prove his title), they paled in comparison to the bonuses and upgrades. Dummies were already lined up and ready to be torn asunder, but he already had a willing dummy partner.

One whom he faced with a large grin.

"Mounts or no mounts?"

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen had no qualms about getting down and dirty on their new and vastly improved training fields, following Shik to the expanse of land that was set up for them to improve on their battle skills. Eyes flicked over the rows of dummies that were set up, and roamed over stands of various weaponry to practice with, taking it all in, drinking in the sights that were so very much like that of the home they'd been forced to leave behind.

She knew she was going to just love it here.

Turning to face Shik with an equally large and vicious grin, and a wicked glint in her eyes, she responded, with no hesitation at all.

"We've still never settled the discussion of who's is better.....Though their forms are too difficult to maintain for an entire battle. I do think the use of mounts is acceptable, however, to be used at our own leisure and discretion." She would start without, however, her weapon quickly drawn as she pivoted on one foot and took a step back from him, readying herself.

"Shall we?"  

[medigel]

"'Leisure and discretion'," Shik echoed in an exaggerated accent, smirking. "You have been with Conquest too much. Very well."

He took a crouching stance, dagger summoned. "Mounts, but nothing else: no Fear attacks, no Insanity add ons, no distortion bonuses," he suggested. Just a good ol' brawl. He made a come hither gesture, bracing for impact.

xxSeussi

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen flipped him the bird at his comment, a decidedly un-conquest-like motion as her lips quirked up in a smirk. Was it her fault that his skull was so thick that his brain was too small for words that contained two or more syllables? Not bloody likely.

With his added "rules" she nodded her assent, though then cast him a sidelong glance. "No artifacts either?" She asked, with a note of mischief in her voice. She still hadn't really shown him what the sword she had appropriated could do, and actually, hadn't had a chance to test it out for herself yet, with everything else that had been going on.

Then, without further ado, she spun at him with a flare of her wings, her blade whistling through the air as it slashed towards one of his biceps, hoping to connect with a solid blow.

...Her depth perception might have been a little bit off.

HP: 50
Damage: 1

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

He clicked his tongue and stabbed at the offending limb as she attacked, as if to say naughty girl. "You and the damn artifact. If you're in a dire need to use it, go ahead," Shik said in an overly gracious tone, still smirking away in spite of his jealousy over the thing. "But I wouldn't concede any victory to you for such cheating. It's insulting enough that I have to re-apply for my title without you burning my a** playing with fire on top of that."

He flipped the dagger, switching to a backhand grip. "Fire is my domain anyway," Shik purred. He had shared with her his memories as the ancient and felt a small flare of pride just mentioning it. Destruction, fire, and now land of the gods were theirs.

Now if only he could just keep his damn executioner job. Hadn't he done enough?

HP: 49
Damage: 4
 

[Seussi]

"Fine." She shrugged her shoulders even as she attempted to dodge the blow, an impossibility as he struck at her too fast with a speed that she still could not match. With a small hiss of pain she spun away, creating some distance between them once more.

"You are not the only one who is being forced to re-apply." She reminded him, her facial expression turning to something quite sour as he brought up a subject that still remained quite touchy to Shaheen.

"I earned my position once before, and will now have to prove myself again. After everything I..." She paused. "We have done, it is ludicrous." Her teeth were bared now, but not in a smile, her eyes alight with the fires of her indignation. Still, it was hard too complain too much considering they had played a heavy hand in putting Medea in the seat of power.

Watching her opponent carefully as she began to circle him, Shaheen awaited a chance to strike, while suddenly taking on a thoughtful expression.

And then she darted in, not bothering to try for a quick slash and dash as she had done before but instead barreling into him head long while pushing her sword against him with a two handed grip, as though she hoped to break through his Fear shield by sheer force alone.

"So you would apply yourself to a life as an executioner once more?" She questioned, in a voice strained and spoke through gritted teeth. "No aspirations to become something...well..better?" She flashed him something more akin to a grin as her eyes lifted to his, the insinuation clear.

Or at least, she thought it was.

HP: 46
Damage: 11

ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

"Ludicrous, but necessary," he sighed, which quickly turned into a hiss as they clashed. His dagger came too slow to stop the brunt of the attack, but for a moment their weapons were locked.

Shaheen's question caught him off guard, though. His brows raised as he considered his answer. "Bah," Shik scoffed after a moment, twisting his dagger and pushing her away as he backpedalled. "That's all I've ever been, Sha. My sires had hopes for a very, very short while that, should you not have shown promise, they could cart me off in your stead among the dozens of others for chieftain--but we both know you're better suited for it."

But it was easy to see from the way his words lingered at the end that it was starting to become a little tempting. Power was and always had been his weakness, and while no rank was above the others, it had been something unspoken that the name chieftain had a ring to it that the other roles did not.

(And maybe stabbing Charon down had given him a little too much of a trip.)

HP: 38
Damage: 1

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

This wasn't the first time Shaheen had heard about why Shikoba had never taken the chance to elevate himself to chieftain instead of executioner, though it was still startling to hear that it directly involved her, a concept that she just could not fathom. If he had all of the qualifications and skills, why not go anyways? She would not have let anything stop her! Or...well, her parents wouldn't have allowed for it anyways.

The twist of his dagger caught her against her wrist, successfully prying her away before he shoved her back, her feet skidding against the ground.

She didn't even hesitate for a second, throwing herself at him again in an attack almost identical to her last. If she couldn't use Fear attacks and if she couldn't be quicker then him then she felt that she only really had the option of blunt force at her disposal. Pummeling her sword against him for a second time, she let her eyes find his, burning into him with a conviction that was laced in her words.

"You are just as suited to it as I, if not more."


HP: 45
Damage:10

ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Blunt force worked, but her words were far more successful. He stared into those burning eyes of hers even as her sword plunged into his shield, for a moment completely forgetting how to fight. It was one thing to say he could be a chieftain if he wanted and completely another to say he was more suitable.

"You must be joking." Nothing about Shaheen's stance suggested that in the slightest, but if it wasn't obvious yet, Shik was off his game today for more than one reason. He gave a light shove just to break their contact but didn't bother to back off this time. "Did you fall from the canopy in your sleep?"

HP: 28
Damage: nope

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen had thought about what she'd said before actually saying it, but it still somehow even managed to surprise herself that she would be willing to speak that which she had considered many times before today. She had become a chieftain, but often she had felt that it was more to the urging of the man and the woman who had raised her, who had made her train hard day in and day out, who had beaten it into her, quite literally, that she needed to be greater, better, more superior, just more then everyone else. Had they not interfered so heavily in her life, would things have turned out much differently? She had been happy in her position as a warrior, or at least, as happy as she ever let herself get.

This wasn't to say that she thought herself bad at being a chieftain. This was not to say that she was unhappy with it overall. This had more to do with trying to understand why. Why not him as well? Why would he sell himself so short when clearly his was a position that was meant to be an elevated one? As selfish and self serving and confident as she might have held herself over the many hundreds of years, it was always him that she had strived to be better then, and there had been a reason for that.

Still, at his words, she barked out a laugh, and before he could push her away completely, she pushed bag, driving her blade further against him, before swiftly switching tactics, the sword driving upwards against his shield in a smooth motion that ended with the hilt (and part of her fist) aimed to slam into his chin in a brutal type of uppercut.

"When have you ever known me to joke about matters such as these, Shikoba Len?" She spat at him, angry now, a hint of jealousy in her voice, something that she had always hidden so well but now in light of this near-argument could not hold back. "You. Are better. Then you believe."

ol-j-man

HP: 45
Damage: 13  

[medigel]

He howled as she dug her weapon in, instinctively grasping the short sword at its duller base to keep it from biting in further, and his nails dug into her hand. "Am I?" Shik grunted between breaths, losing his humor now that it was obvious that Shaheen would win, unless she did something inconsolable like grant him mercy. Or worse, a free shot. "From where I stand, I am not any better than I was before. Perhaps worse," he added with extra, forced cheek. "Normally our positions are reversed."

They had brought Medea to power, marked themselves for Destruction, and killed Charon. Death had been deposed and disposed of. He had felt a surge of pride upon first entering the tower, but being stripped of his title had been more of a blow than Shik had ever considered possible. Questioning it like this, when his very being craved more power but his mind had been so set in the past, made it difficult to navigate his thoughts, let alone win a fight.

He was so used to an imbalance: sanity versus insanity, chieftain and executioner. The way Shaheen spoke as if he did have more made him want to believe, but Shik was skeptical even when he knew she wouldn't say what she didn't mean. It was simply another imbalance, something familiar.

"I'd hear your reasons, then, as to why I should change my title."

HP: 15
Damage: 2

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

His words were like a slap to her face, for more then one reason though she doubted he could understand either. First of all, it was as if he was calling her wrong, as if her opinion meant nothing, despite how difficult it had been for her to admit. It was demeaning, as if her words held no value what so ever, and that combined with the fact that he had just basically said that because she was winning meant that he was somehow becoming worse instead of her better, just pissed her off.

With a growl tearing through her throat and out from between clenched teeth, she tore away from him, her sword held to one side and her arm held to the other.

"Is it that me believing it would be better for you, that it is a position you deserve, is not a good enough reason for you? Is the endorsement of another chieftain, she who has considered you her equal for quite some time now, not enough for you? Is it because I love you that you can no longer trust my word? Do you believe that I have become dull, or soft, because of my feelings for you?" It was quite possible that Shaheen was taking this completely the wrong way, her rage, as it so often did when faced with this particular man, spinning out of control, and as if to prove her point further, she punctuated the tirade with another swift blow of her sword, spinning into him while swinging it towards his midsection.

"There is seemingly nothing I can say, because there is nothing that you would believe, coming from me!" Angry, oh yes she was.

But really, what was new.

HP: 43
Damage: 5

ol-j-man

have an omg it's 1am what am I still doing awake I hope this tag makes sense tag

 

[medigel]

For once, he wasn't actually trying to make her angry. As far as Shik had been concerned, they were having an argument--and a strangely civil one at that even with the spar in the background. He hadn't realized what his words implied nor the edge accidentally placed there until it was too late.

Blindsided verbally, he chose to focus on the fight first, bracing her sword against one of his bracers and trading blows for a few rounds, all in an attempt to find his center again. Part of him still would rather just settle into the groove of fighting and forgo talking completely, but he knew better than to leave an angry Shaheen without an answer--even if the answer happened to be destined to just make her more irate.

"Do not put words in my mouth," he said, his brows falling. It lacked the bite of his usual retorts; he was still caught in some limbo of thought and action. "If your emotions could make you weak, we would have seen that long ago." The Insanity would have just warped her into some unknown creature he could never reach again; the streaks were there (would always be there, he knew), but they were as much a testament to Shaheen's strength as they were to her curse.

He gave a small, uncharacteristic sigh. "I trust your judgment. I do not trust mine." Perhaps that was the truly insane part.

HP: 10
Damage: 6

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Unlike her previous attacks, this time Shaheen had no intent on being shoved away, and fought to remain within quick striking distance, even if that meant taking several hits herself. There was something soothing about the ring of steel against steel, though her heart still ran with ire, her pride bruised by her life mates choice of words. For a few moments, she thought that he meant to not even respond to what she had to say, and that only spurned her anger further.

But then he finally did spoke, and her mouth, which had been opened as if she thought to continue on her own tirade, snapped closed as she began to concentrate both on what he had to say and on not getting to brutally lashed by his dagger, her own blade coming up to meet his in attempts made to keep it from biting into her own flesh, attempts that were failing, as pain blossomed in her shoulder, and then across her chest, pain that was sobering, and managed to cut through her anger enough that she caught the tone of his voice, realized it was devoid of it's usual sharpness, and then realized again that he sounded almost resigned.

She stepped back from him, breathing heavy, hair sticking to the sweat that had sprung up on her brow, spinning her sword in her hand, a sudden smile on her lips as she gave him a look that clearly said come at me, even while she spoke one single word.

"Why?"

HP: 37
Damage: 0

ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

He shrugged. "I lose myself in battle." That wasn't anything new, they both could really. Shik was struggling to find the right words to describe what he meant; the uncertainty was uncharacteristic, and it irritated him more than he let on. "Chieftain had never been part of my vision because of my upbringing; that was set by others, by my parents and by my mentor who did not see the potential in me. I am on my own path now, but it is hard to fight past that now that they have returned."

Gods, that sounded pathetic. This was the man who had stabbed Charon.

Grumbling to himself, he answered Shaheen's call with a lunge and a thrust of his dagger.

HP: 10
Damage: 4

Seussi