[1v1] Keeping One's Word (Alex & Leo)

[Ephebe]

It had occurred to Leo sometime after her spar with the horseman that she'd actually promised her first spar to Alex, that first day in the library.

Which was a bit late now that she'd already sparred with two others, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't mind that. Still, she'd been doing a lot more training these days - it was practically all she did, training and studying - and they had talked about sparring before, so why not go for it? She always felt like she learnt more when facing an actual opponent than she did when she was by herself, training with a dummy.

So she'd texted the zomboil and asked if he wanted to have a friendly spar, and lo and behold, he did. She was pretty psyched, waiting in the gym for her friend to show up, bouncing a bit on her heels and smiling happily. She'd been so busy she hadn't really had much time for her friends lately, and this was a nice way to spend some time together and get something practical done. What more could you ask for?

She was waiting in the hallway outside of the sparring rooms, since they hadn't agreed on a room yet, and she figured it'd take more time for him to find her if she went into one. As she stood there, she contemplated that she ought to ask him if he wanted to do a Lair Task with her one of these days, as well. She couldn't quite classify the tasks as fun, but they were always educational - even if the only thing she learnt was more about her limits. And they did have a way of bringing people closer together, so she guessed it was pretty perfect for friends.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

A friendly spar? Sure, Alex could do that! He was a bit surprised to have received the text from Leo, though. He had thought that she was not really interested in this kind of thing. Alexander wasn't really into it either, but of course, he also couldn't think of any better way to get stronger. Also training with Yin always seemed to end badly, for one reason or another. Actually...training with anyone always seemed to end badly when the zomboil was involved. Of course, that couldn't have been his fault.

And so the zomboil arrived at the appointed place at the appointed time, offering Leo a large grin as he slowly approached her in the hallway. "Hey!" He greeted her, pulling one hand out of his pants pocket to wave as well. She looked rather excited, and while Alex himself was feeling the strain of his everyday unlife bearing down on his shoulders, he was pretty determined to try and make a fun time out of this. He was severely lacking in fun, lately.

"You ready to do this?" He asked, stopping once he was a few feet away from her.

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

"Definitely." She gave an answering grin to his wave, glad to see him. Her stringent schedule these days made meeting up with a friend even more precious than it used to be.

And they were going to spar, which was all around awesome, so she definitely had no complaints. Opening the door to the nearest sparring room, she turned her head back to look at him. "This one OK? I'm not choosy so we can use one of the others if you'd rather that." Although what one might have against a sparring room Leo wasn't entirely sure - memories of a bad loss, perhaps?

"Oh, and who gets the first blow?"

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

"Ya, sure." He shrugged, still smiling as he took a quick glance into the sparring room, not really even looking at it. One sparring room was much like another, really. "I'm sure it isn't going to make much difference which one we use." He added, as he shuffled forward, pausing just before the door to let her enter first.

"Wellll...." He thought about that for a time, remembering past fights and contemplating what he really needed to work on most.

"Maybe you should start. That way I can work more on blocks and defense to begin with before getting into the more heavy hitting stuff." Really he was oddly uncomfortable fighting with a ghoul, even if he had done so in the past. They were just so soft! And there was always the fear of accidentally punching them in the boob. Not that Alex would ever admit any of these things out loud.

"Oh um...I apologize in advance if I uh...accidentally bite you or something." He diverted his gaze away, now hurrying (as fast as he could go, which wasn't much), into the sparring room after her and taking up a position across from her so that they could begin.

Maybe she would just think the biting thing was a joke.

Ephebe

Got computer access again so I can tag more often! woo~Also feel free to start without the initiative roll

 

[Ephebe]

"My thoughts exactly but hey, better safe than sorry, right?" She threw a grin at him.

"Sure, that sounds good to me. Don't worry about holding back or anything like that - I know you're probably miles ahead of me in experience, but I'm going to do my best to give you a bit of competition, at least." Although how successful she'd be was anyone's guess; she still only knew how to punch and kick, and the more advanced forms of fighting eluding her.

But punching and kicking was the foundation, right? So she could still do well with just that. And she was jacked well going to try, at the very least.

"No worries, I'll deal. Worst case scenario, it's a trip to Nurse Cricket's, yeah?" She shrugged, grinning again.

"Alright then, here I go!" She charged forward to punch him in the stomach, before remembering that they'd completely forgotten to set the rules for this spar. The punch only grazed him, as result of her momentary distraction.

"Oh wait, we forgot to set rules! Fear or no Fear? Fragments?"

HP: 30/30
Dmg done: 0
Distortion: 1

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

He nodded along with her words to show that he understood. Still, he figured he could use the practice in defense.

"Um, ya, sure!" He agreed to the Nurse Crickets office thing. No need to alarm her by telling her that his bite was actually mildly infectious and could actually dull her thought processes. Well, he would just have to try super hard not to let his instincts take over this time.

That was often easier said then done, unfortunately.

"Just hit me with everything you've got!" He said, urging her to not hold back either, his grin hopefully reassuring her that he was able to take a hit. As she charged forward he moved an arm to attempt to block her arm to the side---except then she sort of seemed to get distracted and the punch barely even touched him.

"Do whatever you want! Throw it all at me, I can seriously take it!" One good thing about being a zombie, at least.

He set himself up to guard once more.

HP: 40
Damage:--
Defending self for: 4
FP/Distortion: 0

Ephebe--

 

[Ephebe]

"Right, OK." Leo nodded, readying her fists again and focusing the Fear in her fragment. Her punch went much better this time, although the added Fear from her personal fragment had a lot to do with that.

Or, well, she'd thought it went better this time, but as it happened, he managed to defend himself entirely from her attack. "You're pretty good at this defending thing!" She moved out of his personal space and grinned at him, quite impressed with his mastery. She'd never really tried defending as a tactic before, but maybe she ought to start using it - it was a good idea, and from what she'd seen here, quite effective as well.

HP: 30/30
Dmg done: 2 + 2 = 4 (nullified by defending)
Distortion: 0

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

"Really?" He asked, unable not to smile at Leo. Her enthusiasm was so contagious! It made him forget about everything else going on, so that he was no longer focused on the horrible and could just pretend that what they were doing here and now was all that really mattered. A friendly spar with somebody that he considered to be a friend. No drama involved, no hurt feelings, no pain. Just a chance to let loose a little and enjoy himself in ways that hadn't been possible for him recently.

"Okay lets try one more and then we can really get into action." While it was nice to be able to do something new, he also felt like they could be here all day if he kept at it for too long.

He took on a defensive stance once more, hopefully ready for whatever Leo threw at him next.

HP: 40
Damage:--
Defending self for: 4

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

"Well, I've never actually tried it myself, yeah, but I'd say you're doing great." Her grin took on a bit of a teasing edge. "Though I'm no expert by far."

Watching him take on a defensive stance, Leo slipped back into her 'about to punch things'-stance, courtesy of one were-mantis. She waited a heartbeat before charging ahead with her fist first, aiming for his collar bone. She did no damage though, as once again Alex's skills proved superior to hers.

"Yeah, you're definitely good at that." The grin was back, no less enthusiastic than it'd been before. So she wasn't exactly impressing anyone, no big deal. It was a spar after all, and she was here to learn, not fight for her life.

Although it was doubtful if she'd actually manage to do better when fighting for her life.

HP: 30/30
Dmg done: 1 = nullified by defending
Distortion: 1

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

There was something about the way Leo held herself, the way she moved and punched, that seemed awfully familiar to the zomboil. He couldn't quite place it, but the niggling feeling like he should know where he'd seen it before was still there. His arm easily blocked the blow that was directed for his collar bone, and he stepped forward to take a bit of a clumsy swing at the ghoul as well, only to find nothing but air.

"Well, I'm not much of an expert on fighting either, so we can both sort of try to figure this all out." No, all Alex really knew was his on brutal style of grappling, tearing at flesh with his fingers, biting, and pummeling. Yin had tried to teach him other things, but it always seemed to boil down to nothing more then brute strength for him.

HP:40
Damage: 0.00000
Distortion: 0

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

"Sounds like a plan." She went for a kick this time, charging the Fear from her fragment to accentuate the damage.

Well, not that there was much to accentuate - she was pretty sure all that made this attack passable was the Fear she'd used to boost it. Her kick hadn't gone the way she'd wanted it to, and instead of slamming into him, it landed pretty softly. Honestly, this fighting thing was a bit of a hit and miss - quite literally.

HP: 30/30
Dmg done: 0 + 2 = 2
Distortion: 0

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

The kick might not have hurt much, but at least it connected, giving Alex a sharp yet brief pain in his upper thigh. He automatically wanted to move backwards, away from the source of the attack, to give himself distance. But he knew that was not what he should do. Yin had at least taught him when it was more advantageous to attack, and that was when the opponents guard was still down. She was still righting herself after that kick, and so he lunged forward, shoving both hands towards her to hit her in the chest around her collar bone area in hopes of knocking her to the floor.

He hadn't actually meant to hit her so hard though.

"Ah, sorry!" He was quick to apologize. "I also need to work on learning how to hold back."

He felt bad, and hoped that he hadn't hurt her too badly.

HP: 38
Damage: 7 ;;
Distortion: 0

Ephebe

Bad Alex D:

 

[Ephebe]

"N-no -" she wheezed a bit, having all the air knocked out of her as she landed, "no problem." Rubbing her collarbone where he'd hit her (and hit her hard), she looked up to throw a grin at him. "C'mon, don't worry about it Alex, it's a spar! You're meant to knock me around, yeah?"

Taking a last deep breath, she got up from the floor, quite glad that he hadn't followed up on his attack. She was pretty sure it'd have been a loss for her, right there and then if he had.

Once she'd righted herself, she quickly went for a hard and fast kick, utilizing everything she'd been taught about fighting to the best of her abilities. It was a pretty damn good kick, if she had to say it herself. "See, I can bash you around a bit too, so don't beat yourself up about it." Her grin was teasing as she danced back out of his personal space. Fighting was fun she was learning, no matter if you were winning or losing.

HP: 23/30
Dmg done: 5
Distortion: 1

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Alex took the return kick in the ribs, belatedly remembering that he was in the middle of a spar and should probably keep on his guard. The kick itself was hard enough to make him stumble back a step or two, and while he initially looked a little shocked at the blow, his eyes then narrowed and he offered her a flash of teeth in a smile. That was going to be a bit sore later, for sure.

"Okay well, if you say so." He shrugged, looking as nonchalant and relaxed as he possibly could, though he was tempted to bring a hand up to rub at the part of his ribs that had been attacked. He then tried to remember something that Yin had taught him. A certain snapping kick that had caught him in the face once and had left him sprawled out on the ground. He hadn't been able to mimic the move back then, but he'd had plenty of experience in fighting since then. Kicking wasn't normally his style, but well...it would be better to do that then to take a chunk out of her flesh, he was sure.

So, utilizing what little skills he possessed, his relaxed pose shifted to a more ready stance before he copied the move Yin had taught him and sent his skeletal leg and foot snapping up towards Leo's face.


HP:33
Damage: 10 oh god Alex what are you doing???
Distortion:0

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

Leo went backwards in a most impressive style. She hadn't seen that kick coming at all, and although she'd said he needn't worry about letting loose, she hadn't quite anticipated that he'd be such a heavy hitter.

Or kicker, as it was. Lying dazed on the floor, it took a bit of time for the Mare to recuperate. Her jaw hurt, and she was very, very glad her Fear shield had taken most of the damage. She still had a sneaking feeling that she'd be walking around with a big bruise on her face for the next few days, though.

Finally getting up from the floor, Leo went straight to giving him a flowing punch. A bit too flowing, perhaps, because the damage it did was negligent and she was pretty sure it was only the Fear she'd used from her fragment that saved that attack. "Oh wow, a bit woozy. Just give me ten seconds, yeah?" It probably wasn't quite by the rules to ask your opponent to give you a little break, but Leo head was swimming all over the place and the dizziness would not help when he unleashed his next attack - no doubt as crippling as the last ones had been.

HP: 13/30
Dmg done: 1 + 2 = 3
Distortion: 0

Seussi

FRIEND ABUSE, I SAY