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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/EighthMovement|Eighth Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]] |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == Angelic Training ==
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' They'd found a room for it, sparely furnished, probably used by some of the better guards for their own practice. No one was using it now...and Selina only found that they would use it tomorrow morning. Which made the evening a perfect time for her to test her curiosity.
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| − | "You know...I've always wondered how I'd fare against the Pale Angel with swords." She draws Dreamshard slowly, no coat on her frame, so as not to hinder her, looking across at her counterpart. "Probably not as good as you in a battle, no? But...in a duel. Hm."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "What are you talking about?" Vorpal snorts softly as she unclasps the royal cloak off her shoulders and proceeds to fold it up into a neat bundle. "You could have blown the entire company away with a snap of your fingers."
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| − | Vorpal deFay has always been a connoisseur of decent battles. There has always been something alluring in the smell of fear and blood that attracts her, but this sparring battle is not something she is looking forward to. She is not entirely certain why, but she feels ill at ease as she places her cloak down onto the floor in a corner.
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| − | ''Are you afraid she might win? ''
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| − | Turning to face her partner, she picks up her sword from where it has been leaning against the wall and gives it an experimental swing. Discplaced air creates a slight breeze that wafts across the room. Seemingly satisfied, Vorpal flips the sword to lean against her shoulder and places her other hand onto her hip. "Please", she says, poker-faced. "Be gentle."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "And if I did that enough, in a battle, I'd be out of my sweet sweet essence in no time." Selina responds, holding her blade out before her, sighting down its length. Good. Not that such weapons need much taking care of, but she does abuse the sword sometimes.
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| − | ''I should take better care of the house weapon... ''
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| − | She lowers it, looking to her counterpart. "Go ahead and use simple magic if you like...but we should keep it to simple magic of the sword. That is what we're playing at, afterall."
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| − | "And let's try not to beat each other into insensibility..." She trails off, moving into one of her stances, more suited for a single opponent.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "I don't like it when you call it 'simple magic', you know", Vorpal points out as she drops into a stance of her own, her legs slightly bent and in balance, her torso half-turned away from her foe. The sword is still resting on her shoulder, her other hand hanging freely by her side. "It has a degrading air about it. Now come and get me."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Simple can be good!" Selina says, then moves in, striking for Vorpal's open side with her flitting weapon, making sure not to make the strike lethal, and in fact trying to pull the blow from causing any damage at all as much as possible, while trying not to sacrifice effectiveness.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' ''Fast--''
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| − | Vorpal does not lift the sword from her shoulder. Instead, she twists her entire body around, so that the great blade scythes down to catch the attack, to trap the rapier between her armored back and the ''Betrayer'''s broad soulsteel flat.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina wonders just how much of that was simple magic...and how much was the Pale Angel's native skill.
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| − | ''As I expected, she may be better than me. ''
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| − | Moving back to defend as she waits for the inevitable strike which Vorpal will probably send at her, she keeps her eye on the weapon...not the arm wielding it. Even such a heavy and massive blade can be shifted.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' ...and into the offered gap the flickering rapier goes. Selina is still pushing her weight into the thrust when Vorpal slaps her palm against the flat of her sword. Moving alongside with the Dark Angel's momentum, the Pale Angel allows her knees to buckle and her back to bend. At the same time, she pulls at the ''Betrayer'''s handle and lifts the blade, using the entire weapon as a lever to - hopefully - yank the Dark Angel off her feet, over Vorpal's head and towards the hard floor...
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina's eyes go wide as her counterpart pulls ''that'' off. That utterly shatters her fencing paradigm, even her general swordfighting paradigm. And what she's learned about unorthodox manuevers and dirty fighting over the years doesn't have time to kick in before she's slammed down onto the padded mat at their feet.
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| − | "Is this how you taught the Prince?" She asks in a shaky voice, pulling her own weapon free, and scooting quickly away before getting to her feet again.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Vorpal blinks, half-surprised herself. The Dark Angel has always been so elusive and quick at her feet, how did she let that get through?
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| − | ''Is she trying to flatter me? ''
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| − | "A bit like it", she admits and flicks the sword back to her shoulder again. "Unusual maneuvers have their uses. I'd be skewered in a few seconds if I tried to fight your rapier the ordinary way." She tilts her head, as if attempting to remember something. "I think it was a Winlandian swordsmistress who summarized the basics of using a rapier against a heavier sword. '''Against large swords, you must stay to the off-hand side. Your opponent has '''one''' swing, then you've got an opening --'"''
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| − | She raises her eyebrows and casts an inquiring gaze at Selina. "Does it sound familiar to you?"
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "A bit." Selina admits, looking at the other woman warily. She had been expecting a more conventional fight, not so much something like this. "But I only received half of my training in Windia -- the rest was gutter learning and a lesson once in awhile. Enough for a foundation though. Come at me!" She finishes the last sentence, sliding into a more defensive stance this time. Perhaps a counter attack would be easier with this woman.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Vorpal cannot help but to smile at the Dark Ange's words. "''One'' swing", she repeats, sizing her foe's defensive stance up and down. "I'd better make it count, then."
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| − | Despite her apparent humor, the Pale Angel's inner thoughts remain sober. That's right, the Dark Angel learned to fight the hard way.
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| − | ''Let's see what you have in mind, then. ''
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| − | Dragging the sword behind her, Vorpal dashes at Selina. The Betrayer sweeps forth in a broad and flamboyant arch that is suddenly cut off by a yank of the Ghost-Blooded's hand. Pulling the sword back from her feint, Vorpal stomps her foot down and gives the Dark Angel a quick jab with the tip of her sword instead.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina sees the attack coming...and knows she can't block something like that normally. With a tinge of simple magic, her blade drifts up to block the slash, redirecting itself to parry the jab which her counterpart's attack turns into once it changes. The two weapons scrape against one-another, a few sparks flying off, soulsteel and jade with fae-entrapped meeting, producing an unholy moan and screech.
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| − | Grinding the blow down enough, Selina slips by and tries to move inside Vorpal's reach, lifting her own sword off of Vorpal's larger one, aiming to smack the flat of her blade against the left side of Vorpal's ribs.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Vorpal allows her feet to buckle against. Dropping herself to her knees, she allows the tip of her heavy sword to clash down onto the floor as she lifts the handle part above her head to catch the blow. Her weapon is broad and large enough for her to practically ''take shelter'' under it, and this is what she is doing.
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| − | Vorpal squeezes one eye reflexively shut as the blades strike sparks for a second time.
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| − | ''Of course, I'm on my knees while she's on her feet now... ''
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| − | It is a very dry thought.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina is already going down to her knees as her parry ends, though...although she doesn't quite intend to stay there. Just as soon as she is fully into her crouch, she springs up, up and over Vorpal, twisting in the air through use of her wings to position herself for an ideal attack before she rights herself and lands on her feet: the flat of her blade coming down across the Pale Angel's behind.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Vorpal cranes her neck and quickly turns her head, keeping the Dark Angel within her field of vision. Realizing what Selina is intending as she lands behind the Ghost-Blooded, Vorpal attempts to roll away. Unfortunately, even her powerful legs cannot produce the force necessary to launch her into motion quickly enough from a kneeing position.
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| − | She has barely managed to shift when the flat of the rapier clangs against her armor in that very embarrassing place.
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| − | Vorpal bites out a frustrated sigh. "See? One swing."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Aw, damnit." Selina says as she lands, moving away with a leap in case Vorpal would lash out in irritation at her. "If that'd done anything I could've kissed it to make it better."
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| − | Touching down lightly, Selina sinks down into a crouch again, then lunges at her counterpart a second time. This time aiming to make her blade come down across Vorpal's thighs, since she might be expecting Selina to hit higher, and shifting that huge sword might prove to be more difficult. "Kiss kiss~."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Selina's leap backwards gives Vorpal the moment she needs to prop one foot firmly against the floor. As the Dark Angel closes in for the second attack, the Pale Angel leaps upwards. She does not, however, push the sword up alongside with her, but rather uses the momentum to swing around the weapon's handle, the way an athlete might do with a pole.
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| − | For a tiny fraction of a second she is suspended in mid-air, standing on her hands from the Betrayer's handle. But then the gravity takes over again and the heavy weapon falls down onto the floor -- just when Selina's rapier it thrust under it.
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| − | Vorpal gasps for a second time as the rapier finds its mark. "You know", she states, allowing herself to tip down from the handstand. Her feet touch the floor and she straightens herself, pulling the sword back up as she does so. "You are destroying my credibility here."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Pffft," The Windian answers, drawing herself back up. "You just got unlucky, that's all. If there was more than one person involved in this exercise, I'd do even less well. I'm at my best in situations like this."
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| − | Then she looks at the slight redness on the front of Vorpal's thighs -- her liquid armor had covered it well enough that not much of Selina's blow had gotten through. "Besides, you already got me on my back once."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "It's not good enough." Vorpal grins ominously and lifts her sword towards the ceiling, her legs tensing. "I want to hear you ''whimper'' for this."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Oh my, so naughty!" Selina exclaims, walking forward with deceptively benign steps, then suddenly whipping the flat of her sword across Vorpal's midsection.
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| − | She follows that up with a lunge toward the other Deathknight, trying to get as far inside her reach as possible. At least, hopefully.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Again, Vorpal whips the sword down into the way of the incoming attack. The weapon is so large that by presenting the flat of the ''Betrayer'''s broad blade diagonally across her torso, she practically covers everything worth hitting there.
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| − | "See?" Vorpal grunts as yet another of Selina's strikes get through. Fortunately, it lands onto her midriff, which would be completely covered by her armor even without its liquidfying power. "Rapier always has the advantage, even when I fight in an unusual way. Imagine how easy it would be for your sword if I fought in the ''mundane ''way."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "With the magic you were dumping on that, maybe it was fate."
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| − | "So..." Selina asks uncertainly, still right up against Vorpal, not worrying about the sword as much since both of them are trapped between them. "Called on account of rotten luck?"
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "When it comes to situations like this", Vorpal responds, seemingly just as calm about the swords locked between them, "I don't believe in luck. When fate throws everything it has on you, you just need to carve your own luck."
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| − | For trapped though the swords might be, Vorpal has one advantage on her own side. This being, pure, raw, undiluted strength.
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| − | She considers using it.
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| − | She decides not to.
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| − | Relaxing, she takes a step backwards, soulsteel hissing against jade as she slowly withdraws her sword as well. "It galls me, but I'll let you have this match."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "You still fought more imaginatively than I." Selina says graciously, then sheathes her weapon. "Like I said, in another type of match, with two on two or more, you would have the advantage on me."
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| − | Then she looks down at Vorpal's legs and grimaces. People are going to see that. If Selina has a bruise on her back, her hair will cover it. "So..." She starts hesitantly.
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| − | "Can I kiss that better?"
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "No", Vorpal says bluntly and shakes her head. "I'll bear them."
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| − | Turning, she wanders over to the corner to pick up her cloak. "That's what you are supposed to do with wounds, isn't it?"
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| − | And somewhere, deep down, the little and honest part is laughing without mercy.
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| − | ''You did lose to her, after all. ''
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Oh poo." Selina says with not a little bit of disappointment. "I guess so. But that would've been fun."
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| − | Having not brought her coat with her, Selina doesn't have anything more to put on, and so waits for her counterpart to finish.
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| − | ''You just want to kneel in front of her like you did with Charmaine. ''
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| − | ''...shut up. ''
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| − | ''Yes, yes I do. ''
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| − | "Maybe next time then."
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| − | ----
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/EighthMovement|Eighth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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