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Post by Alex King on May 26, 2014 12:39:00 GMT -5
Alex scrabbled for another hand hold as he felt his grip begin to slip on the coarse bark, only to find he was just grabbing at thin air as he fell the ten feet to the solid earth below. He turned his landing into a roll and avoided the worst of it but he still felt his back and shoulder protest at the rough treatment.
Standing up, Alex wiped off his hands on his cargo trousers and turned to look at the new bane of his existence. At first he had had serious doubts about his father’s latest training regime; what this had to do with being a Meister he had no idea. But the man had never let him down in the past and he trusted his judgement, so, when his father brought him out to a seemingly random part of the forest, pointed to the tallest tree around and said, “Climb it”, climb it he did.
Or at least, tried to.
It was harder than it looked. Despite a rough surface and many branches all the way up its trunk the tree just didn’t seem to want to be climbed. He hands and feet slipped on its bark, the branches were too thin to hold his weight or too thick to properly hold or were too far apart and left him stranded.
His old man was more devilish than he thought.
He was also absent, having left after watching Alex’s first few attempts to leave him alone with his training. Most of the time his father was an attentive teacher and Alex would readily admit a good one as well but there were times like this when he would rather be alone, working himself to the bone to get something right without anyone watching over him.
Rolling his shoulders to work the pain out of them, Alex eyed up his approach and took a running start at the tree. He placed his first step carefully on a tree root, pushing off it and placing his second step in a little divot in the trunk that had been worn in by multiple such attempts. With his third step he pushed off hard, launching himself an extra couple of feet to put him within reach of the first branch.
Grabbing the branch with both hands he pulled himself up and then pushed himself further before planting a foot on the branch. Trying to keep the momentum he had built up going he kicked off again, aiming for another branch higher up.
Wrapping a hand around this branch as well he began to push himself up to repeat the process again, eyes locked on a third branch which acted as his marker so far for ‘highest reached without falling’. As he was lifting his leg though his right hand slipped and his left arm buckled under the sudden extra weight.
He fell, but kept his grip on the branch and ended up hanging lamely twenty, maybe twenty five feet in the air. All momentum lost he knew he wouldn’t be able to easily pull himself back up and with no branches below him there wasn’t an easy way down.
And the very easy way down didn’t bear thinking about.
Looking up, looking down, Alex considered his options and found none. There was only one thing to say.
“Yep… stuck.”
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on May 31, 2014 14:18:33 GMT -5
Irene found herself walking in the forest once again. Despite running into person after person, she found the place somewhat calming. It wasn’t the fault of the trees that people kept ending up around them. Or… falling out of them. A faint smile crept across her face at the thought of the blond who always seemed to be falling from the air when she saw him. The morning had moved fairly slowly, much as the other days after the incident with Nolan. It all was in slow motion and she had a feeling for everything. Feelings that for some reason needed to be expressed. It was beyond annoying, but she wasn’t quite sure how to rein it all back in. It was annoying, but freeing. Infuriating while also giving her a release. Irene was almost getting used to this. But…. she still didn’t want to appear different again to people. They would start believing something was wrong with her… changing personalities every year…? Morning was simple. Get up. Clothes on. Some training in at school, but nothing too major. Back for a shower and changing clothes. Now she was just on a walk. This time to try and better avoid people. Maybe. Or just to be out in a larger area of trees… less condensed with people… with people who weren’t interested in watching her. Whatever. Whatever would happen would happen. She just knew that she wanted to be outside. She wanted to be around trees, something strong and full of life giving power, yet still simple. This is where she wanted to be. If someone was around, so be it. If no one was, she got to enjoy the hot air, her thoughts, and the trees. A faint smile on her lips, hands hung loosely from her denim pockets, it was almost odd for her to be so… content. Everything seemed in place. Today just seemed to be working out well. Getting things accomplished, getting stronger, and not flipping out. Of course, something had to interrupt this serene state of mind. While it didn’t spark instant irritation, the weapon couldn’t say she was pleased to be distracted. Especially by a voice. Yep….. stuck. Two very simple words, but with Irene making no significant noise on her own, she heard them pretty clearly. From… above? Her mind picking up that someone got themselves stuck in a tree, her eyes instantly shifted upwards to find the guy who had spoken. It took a moment or two to locate him. A few trees forward in the direction she was heading. Hands still in her pockets, she took her time in approaching where the hanging man was. He wasn’t really… stuck. Just in a less that great situation. Her version of stuck got her to think of some body part being wedged between branches or something. He was just hanging. Approaching, she took this short amount of time to analyze the situation. Hanging from the tree. He seemed tall, though hanging in the air could be misleading. Safe guess? A little under six feet. Safe bet of how high that branch was… Glancing up the tree trunk, then to the branch, she decided to say about 25 feet. She was 5’8”. Do the math, from the bottom of his feet to the top of her head, there was about 13’ and 4”. If he stretched out his arms it could shorten that by maybe another foot. Not a huge drop… Sighing a bit, Irene glanced down at the hands that she had just removed from her pockets. Scabbed over hands and a bit of marred skin farther up her arms. But, it wasn’t too much to worry about. This might be painful, but probably wouldn’t break anything. Besides, it was better than climbing a tree. Stopping beneath him, Irene called up to the male. ”You’re going to stretch your arms out as far as possible, then you’re going to drop. Your feet will hit my arms, when that happens you need to make your knees give out to reduce the shock of impact. Then kick off to the side right away, because I would rather you not land flat on me. Or, you can stay stuck up there and figure it out yourself.”It was hard to pinpoint exactly how the female sounded. She didn’t really speak in a commanding tone, nor did it sound irritated, or concerned… She just spoke, more matter of fact like he wasn’t going to refuse her. After speaking, she readied herself if he would choose to listen to her. He’d drop. If he listened, he could lessen his rough landing. When he hit her, she give out her knees too. That way, he wouldn’t totally shatter her arms. Holding both arms up, she placed her forearms side by side, hands in fists but not linked. Not above her head, but still angled upwards, she wanted to catch any extra force with her chest instead of her head. If he could think of something else… or… ya know, not be a pansy and pull himself back up onto the branch, that’d be great.
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Post by Alex King on Jun 9, 2014 7:26:29 GMT -5
The soft sound of footsteps in the otherwise silent forest caught Alex’s attention, lifting his head he saw someone approaching directly ahead of him. It was a girl, or a young woman, clearly older than him and if he was honest with himself quite stunningly attractive. She didn’t say anything as she approached, just looking him over a she closed the distance between them, and Alex didn’t say anything either. What could he say in this situation anyway? The position she had found him in was compromised and just a little, well… embarrassing.
When she was standing almost directly under him she began to speak, laying out a plan for getting him down from where he was stuck hanging from this branch. No greetings, no asking if he needed help, just straight to business. And her tone; it wasn’t exactly commanding but he still felt like he was being commanded.
He watched as she got into a position where she would be able to catch his weight when he dropped onto her, and there was probably no doubt in her mind that he would drop down onto her after hearing her plan. But, unfortunately, he was going to have to turn her down.
“Sorry, but from up here you look a little small. I don’t want to hurt you, so I’m just going to find my own way down.”
Alex let go of the branch with one arm, using his free hand to scratch an itch on his side while hanging by one arm. Using the new freedom this gave him he turned his neck to look behind him; the branch he had used to spring up this high was still behind him and really it wasn’t too far back. He could make it.
He was planning on just dropping from where he was and taking the hit with the ground as best he could; he really wasn’t that high and he was resilient. But with the girl now underneath him he couldn’t do that so he was going to have to do something a bit fancier.
Placing two hands back on the branch he began to pull himself up and, when the branch before him was at chest height and his arms were pulled close to his torso, he pushed off, straightening his arms with as much force as he felt was necessary. He flew back from his perch towards the lower branch he had just seen; hopefully his push would be just enough to carry him back to that point, no more, no less.
“Thanks for the offer though.”
Despite his seeming confidence he felt no small amount of relief when he felt his feet touch down on the solid wood, absorbing just enough of his speed and momentum that he could give one more, small hop and leap off of that branch and fall the ten or so feet that remained to the ground. It had to happen that way, because there was no way he could expect to land on the branch solidly enough to stop there entirely.
When his feet touched the ground he bent his knees, like the girl said, to absorb the impact but he still felt the shock go through him and couldn’t help but stumble a little bit from the sudden landing. The ground at the base of the trees being uneven with tree roots didn’t help either and he was just glad he didn’t turn his ankle.
All in all, a better outcome than he expected.
Ignoring the slight twinge in his muscles and straightening his posture he looked over at the girl who was still standing under his former location. Now that he could see her on a more even footing he could see that he had underestimated her size; she was taller than he had given her credit for, and stronger looking too. The marks and cuts on her arms were a clear cut giveaway that she was more than just an average girl. A Meister or a Weapon but a student like him either way.
“I’m Alex.”
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on Jun 10, 2014 22:09:06 GMT -5
The woods had been doing her good, now she met this obstacle. Really, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. The kid would get down, maybe say a few words to her, then she’d be on her way. Roaming the woods and her mind.
Standing in position, she watched him and waited for him to let go of that branch. To do what she said. But it seemed that wasn’t coming. While she noticed the hesitance, she just figured his brain was having trouble keeping up with her. But… his answer irked her. He basically told her no. And the added ‘she looked a little small’ was an added insult to her. Looking small or not, she could have helped his ass. Hell, she offered to help him. And she was being turned down?
Irritation obvious on her face, Irene straightened up, still looking up towards the man, and shoved her hands angrily into her pockets, shredding open a few of the cuts in the process. She wanted to help. Felt it right to do, to get a kid out of an awkward spot. And this is what she got? Standing like an idiot and her telling her she wasn’t good enough? It aggravated her.
But, she still had to watch. Silently, she hoped he got injured merely because he had turned her down. He had wasted time and energy. He had spoken, stood there not following her orders, itched his side, and was now looking around. Idiot. That’s all she could think. All that wasted time and stress on the muscles. With the amount of energy used in hanging there he could have hoisted his ass back onto the limb.
Then he started to. ‘Started’ being the key word. Partially pulled up, he then pushed hard off the branch, sending him backwards. Hands still in her pockets, irritation on her face, the woman’s narrowed eyes followed his form as it moved through the air. Even while going through the air, the asshole had the gull to speak to her again. The glare setting firmer into her expression, she resisted the urge to ball her hands into fists in her pockets. That would open even more cuts.
His feet hit a branch, probably the one he was aiming for, then he utilized that momentum to jump for the ground. Making sure she was facing the male who just hit the ground, but also taking a few steps back, she kept a little distance between them. She should leave. That was her first thought. Just turn, keep walking. Irene knew she was irritated and in this new state of mind, she didn’t know where that would take her. But… she couldn’t bring herself to move. It was like running away from a problem. He had annoyed her and she wanted to deal with him. What made it worse was that he felt nothing for openly insulting her.
Landing securely, bending his knees for the impact as she had advised, though he still stumbled a bit. Not surprising. She kept her eyes on him. His build was what she had thought, nothing all that marred from distance and height. However, how tall he was she had underestimated. He was standing now, there was a slight upwards angle as her eyes moved to his face.
He then introduced himself. She found herself irritated even more. This was something she expected from Levi. Not the whole, damsel in distress and then let me get myself out of this mess because I was just being a drama queen for a second. But… the openly insulting and then introducing himself like he was important or something.
”I don’t give a shit.”
Irene bit back right away, that irritation in her expression spreading into tenseness throughout her whole body. People were getting off on her wrong foot a lot lately. These damn emotions and her inability to control herself. She was angry with him, angry with herself, and just angry in general. What a mix.
”Next time you get stuck in a tree, do me a favor and stay up there.”
The venom in her voice was beyond obvious, matching the rest of her quite nicely. Turning on her heel, the girl kept her hands in her pockets as she expected to leave him. That… was enough dealing with her issue, right? Maybe she should have beat the living shit out of him.
Nah… that was effort. And then she would have had to get closer and make sure she figured out a way to win. Such an inconvenience for stupid words.
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Post by Alex King on Jun 11, 2014 10:33:06 GMT -5
Alex didn’t know what he was expecting out of this situation, beyond getting out of the tree without either seriously hurting himself or looking like a complete fool he had no greater desires, but he certainly wasn’t expecting the venom directed his way when he tried to introduce himself.
She was angry, unreasonably pissed even, and Alex had no idea why. She didn’t have such a scowl on her face the last time he saw it, which was when he was still hanging around, so it was probably something he had done in between first seeing her and now; he didn’t see how she could take offense at the way he made it to the ground so it must have been something he said. Ok, maybe calling her small and saying he didn’t want to hurt her could be taken as an insult, now that he thought about it it did sound a little condescending, but when he was hanging directly above her she did look smaller than she actually was and saying that he thought dropping onto her head wasn’t the best way to get down from a tree wasn’t meant as an insult to her capabilities or whatever.
She turned away from him, about to leave. Maybe he should just let her, he didn’t know this girl, he hadn’t met her before, didn’t even know her name; he had no reason to pursue an argument, and it would be an argument he could tell, with this girl. But he was a little annoyed at being yelled at and while it might not be the sensible thing to do he said the first thing that came to mind.
“Hey, it’s impolite not to give your name when someone introduces themselves.”
First shots fired and returned. Let the war begin.
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on Jun 12, 2014 22:27:22 GMT -5
In her state of over dramatizing life, Irene didn’t quite catch the uncertain look on the male’s face. She was too caught up in her anger, in the irritation of being thought of less than she was, and her doubt in humanity as a whole. Once she turned away, she did notice the silence that followed after her. In a way, she welcomed it. Silence meant that she could continue on with her walk and sink into the silence of the world around her and the activity of her mind. Maybe… maybe she could settle the insanity that remained there.
This did not seem to be the case. Words from the male met her ears. While they had been delayed, it gave her a false hope. Now they were clear. Calling her impolite for not giving her name. Her footsteps halted instantly, though she didn’t move to turn around to look at him just yet. Really? Calling her impolite for not giving her name? She was going to let him drop on top of her for fuck’s sake. And she’s impolite for not wanting to give her name to an ungrateful prick?
Hands still in her pockets, though considerably more relaxed than just a few moments earlier, she turned her head over her right shoulder so she just barely could see him from the corner of her eye.
“I would also say it was impolite to insult someone’s abilities when they offer assistance.”
Her words… had a different tone than before. While a bit of negativity was obviously present, this time it was more mocking. Not in an amusing way. And the smile that accompanied the words was borderline vicious, however small the upturn of her lips might be.
Turning her body more fully to face the male, her movements were slow but with purpose. Stopping when she was facing him, her shoulders back but seemed relaxed. Weight shifted somewhat to her right hip, hands pulled forward slightly still in her pockets. This stance was obviously much different than before. With the tenseness gone, the anger was less apparent. The female looked almost calm, but the smile could be considered unnerving to the weak of heart.
“It’s idiotic to think I have to give my name just because you had to run your mouth and tell me yours. It’s even moronic if you actually believe I cared that I came off as impolite.”
Chuckling quietly, the female looked to the ground and shook her head. Laughing at his stupidity? That same smirk still across her face, she raised her eyes back to look at him.
“I stopped to help someone who gave every sign of needing assistance. Instead of gratefulness, I get put down so that some twit can show off. I don’t care if you can swing around the trees like a monkey.”
Her shoulders raised slightly as she ended her small set of sentences, closing her eyes and shrugging her head to the right side as well. The smile was easily dissolving away, her posture shifting back to the relaxed state it had been and her gaze soon returning to the man’s face.
“I suggest you keep your mouth shut. You never know who you’re trying to start shit with.”
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Post by Alex King on Jun 13, 2014 9:00:04 GMT -5
Alex regretted his words when the girl turned back to him. He wasn’t scared exactly, he was never scared of a potential fight, but something about the way the girl was acting was very disconcerting to him. He was ready for her anger, but the anger never came. She was too calm now, there was no anger there. The relaxed posture, the slight smile, the mocking tone; she had gone past anger to that cold place on the far side of rage.
He didn’t say anything as she spoke. He let her get it out, let her air her grievances against him so he knew what he was up against. He had insulted her by calling her small, even more so by turning down her offer of help and on top of that the way he had gotten down from the tree had apparently been showing off.
She might have had a point on that last one.
The not so subtle threat hung in the air between them. She was trying to make up for the perceived slight by implying that she was not someone that he wanted to get into a fight with; looks can be deceiving and all that. Bottom line, he had called her strength into question and now she was acting tough.
Alex looked again at the scars and scratches marring her arms, the obvious muscle tone underneath them and the look on her face that would send most lesser mortals running for the hills. Alex had to admit, it probably wasn’t an act.
And he was going to keep pushing her anyway.
Her threat sounded like a challenge and he had never been able to turn down a challenge.
He got the sense that this girl was strong; strong willed, strong minded and strong of body. He wanted to see what she could do. She thought she could catch him, someone considerably larger than herself, and was offended that he had doubted her, even going so far as to threaten him. This interested him.
Plus, she looked scrappy. She looked like the kind of person Alex liked to fight against. Even if it ended badly for him he was interested in seeing what a girl like this could do. He wanted to see what she was all about.
“I don’t know you. I’ve never seen what you can do and I’m supposed to trust you to catch me? What’s idiotic here is you thinking I’m going to risk hurting both of us by dropping out of a tree just on your say so.”
In contrast to Irene there was a hint of anger in his own voice, one drawn out of him by the sneering way she was speaking to him and the frankly unjustified anger he was being faced with. Plus she had called him a monkey and that was never nice.
“Maybe I was showing off a little. I was trying to save face after getting caught in an embarrassing situation. I’m an idiot; most guys are in that way.”
He stood with his weight centred and back straight; he wasn’t tense but he wasn’t relaxed like Irene either. He placed his hands in his pockets and walked forward, closing the distance between them but still stopping well short of the point where they could reach out and touch each other.
“If I was smart I would have taken your advice and kept my mouth shut. I’ve never been accused of being smart. You want to make a point about how tough you are? Don’t use words, or threats, hit me.”
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on Jun 28, 2014 18:12:36 GMT -5
The energy that rushed through her as she watched Alex’s reaction was… a little unknown to her. While she blamed it on the mix of emotions that she didn’t usually feel at this height, she found herself often surprised by the strength and variety of mental reactions she could have to things. Like now. Here a male stood, one that had irritated her, embarrassed and infuriated her, she wanted to leave and to hurt him, to destroy everything but also fade into nothing. Now it was too late to fade though, she was approaching him, reinviting herself to converse with him.
She caught him looking her over, he mind instantly moving to the thought that he was seizing her up. The right corner of her lips lifted slightly, the vague pleasure in the thought that he hadn’t really decided what he was going to do yet. If he still believed her weak, he would have shrugged her off again. On the other end, if he thought she was too powerful he would shrink away. The way he returned his gaze to her, Irene only was working with one assumption. He was the kind of kid who wanted to fight. The real question was, did he plan out all of this?
His words came next. He didn’t know her, didn’t know what she could do, didn’t trust her to listen. The slight upturn of the corner of her mouth remained still. While her irritation remained, she found herself amused. There was no way he could have planned this whole ordeal. He said he didn’t know her. This whole meeting had been nothing more than action or reaction. What was even funnier was that her anger seemed to have poisoned his demeanor. While she didn’t seem quite so mad in relaxed appearance, he had a hint of fury in his words. A bit of a bite to them.
The next few sentences she hadn’t expected. He admitted to showing off a bit but also calling himself an idiot. Her instant reaction was to widen her whole face into a light grin, no more a hint, her eyes widened just slightly for a brief moment, and she slipped her hands out of her pockets to rest on her hips. Her balance still somewhat to the side, she hadn’t really moved from her place, had no reason to. He seemed to have reason though. His posture was similar and yet different. His hands were in his pockets like hers had been, but he walked more at the ready then she was standing. Alex moved closer, not quite within reach, but close enough to have Irene ready and waiting for what he was going to say next.
Again he insulted his own intelligence. Her grin diminished from her face, not so much from anger but just her shifting reactions. Raising an eyebrow and tilting her head very slightly to the left, she straightened up her posture then leaned forward just slightly. Was he trying to help her feel at ease while challenging her? Was he some fight crazed guy who also had this weird sort of caring for his opponents? Whatever the case, she found it strange that he would call attention to his own idiocy, twice.
Remaining in her slightly leaning forward position for a moment or two longer as her mind went through the motions to what she thought he may mean or where his words came from, she eventually did settle back. Standing in a more steady way, holding her upper body easily over her lower body, letting her hands slide off her hips and not shifting her weight one way more than the other.
The grin settled on her face again, her eyes dead set on his, but her anger seemed to mostly have gone. Raising her hands in front of herself, she placed her right fist into her left hand. Cracked her knuckles. Switching hands, she cracked the knuckles on the opposite hand. Lacing her fingers together, palms facing one another with her fingers pointing straight, she shifted her hands, pointing her palms towards Alex in a stretching motion.
“I’m not quite sure what your whole game is, but if you’re trying to make me feel better, you need to knock it off.”
The grin still didn’t fade from her face as she spoke. Was she… teasing? After stretching her arms and hands, she separated her fingers and let her arms fall easily to her side again. Taking a few steps towards him, she moved slowly but not without purpose. Keeping her eyes on his face, she seemed almost amused. Not tense. Slight grin. When she got just within arm’s reach, she raised her right hand, balled in a loose fist.
“But, I’m sure the middle part of your game included a fight. For some reason.”
The same lightness accompanied these words. Odd to have such carelessness follow after the fury from earlier. Directly following her words, she brought the fist back somewhat, tightened her grip a bit, then took a punch for him. He had plenty of warning, she had been plenty obvious. If he remained unmoved, the punch was aimed at the dead center of his body.
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Post by Alex King on Jun 30, 2014 4:36:24 GMT -5
Her reactions, once again, was not what he had expected. He half expected rage, for her to charge at him and take a big swing at his jaw or something; he half expected her to snort derisively and walk away while calling him an idiot. What he hadn’t expected was the look of delight on her face when he called himself an idiot; he had expected the series of seemingly genuine grins and smiles after her barrage of sarcastic smirks.
He also hadn’t expected her to take his offer of a free shot so seriously. He had been trying to incite her to anger and rash decision making but her she was cracking her knuckles and stretching her arms out.
Ah, this was going to hurt wasn’t it?
“I’m not quite sure what your whole game is, but if you’re trying to make me feel better, you need to knock it off.”
Was it his imagination or was there a teasing tone to her voice? Not the mocking tone from earlier but a tone with a more playful – and unless he was completely delusional, flirty – quality to it. This girl could really change moods on a dime, that sort of instability was a little worrying but at least at the moment she wasn’t mad anymore and he intended to make the best of the current situation.
“Alright, point taken. I got you to smile at least; I know when to quit when I’m ahead.”
She stepped close to him, closing the distance to within arms reach. With the grin still in place she raised her right fist; he felt a sudden apprehension but he wasn’t about to back down now, for the sake of his pride at least.
“But, I’m sure the middle part of your game included a fight. For some reason.”
It was nice of her to think he had some greater plan to all of this but really he was just doing what he wanted in the moment. Not that he had much time to think about this because she soon as she had spoken she was pulling her fist back to punch him. She seemed to be aiming low, at his stomach, so he clenched his abdominal muscles together in preparation for the hit which was something he was glad for when he felt the hit.
“Hnnf.”
He felt the pain settle in deeply at the point of impact before radiating outwards to the rest of his abdomen. At least it didn’t shoot through him and into his more delicate insides, like it would have done if he hadn’t prepared himself.
As much as he wanted to try and look strong he couldn’t help but take a step back and hunch over slightly in an attempt to protect his stomach from any further assaults. He at least kept the pain off his face for the most part and he prevented the instinctive reaction to take his hands out of his pockets and cover himself up.
He took a couple of seconds to compose himself a take a few breaths – getting punched in the stomach was never a good feeling – before standing up straight and looking back at Irene. Now he took his hands out of his pockets and began a similar ritual to what Irene had done, bending back the fingers of each hand till he heard an audible crack.
“Not bad. But I’m not looking for a fight; we’re both Shibusen students right? So technically this would be a spar. If you’re up for it?”
He really hoped she would go for it, because he hadn’t met anyone this interesting in… well, ever.
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on Jul 3, 2014 0:02:42 GMT -5
So he was or wasn’t this man stupid?
Irene hadn’t quite come to a decision about this male. His actions didn’t always line up with how she thought things were going to go. When she couldn’t interpret the situation clearly, it was hard to pin down what she thought about the person. Too much was a mystery. She started wanting to help him, then she was furious with him, and now she was almost excited. It could be his fault, or she could be completely losing her mind. Either option seemed acceptable. But whatever it may be, she didn’t feel the need to get away now.
The man’s next words still caught her a bit off guard. While she wasn’t quite sure he had been trying to cheer her up, it seemed it had been a good guess. He ‘got her to smile.’ Is that something people try to do? While it never really occurred to her, it seems from time to time she tried to cheer people up, even ones she didn’t know. Huh. Interesting. She didn’t reply to this though, what was she supposed to say? She had no clue, so naturally nothing was her response. Besides, there was something much more pressing. He asked her to hit him.
The moments of her preparing to strike him seemed slow in her mind. Irene really hadn’t expected him to just take it. To block her or move or swing at her as well… She expected something more aggressive than this. That was why she had given him so much time. Granted, she wasn’t fast. But she could have carried through her hit much more efficiently. Irene had wanted to test the waters. See if he did actually want her to swing at him. Show him she was preparing, give him time to think it through, and be obvious about where she aimed. Still, she found no opposition to her attack. It was very odd.
Her hand sinking ever so slightly into his body, she felt the contact. A bit of flesh, but hitting solid muscle beneath. Smirk remaining on her face, she wasn’t sure if she should be impressed or not. He hadn’t moved, other than to prepare for the hit. Was that stupidity? Or bravery? Strength? Irene couldn’t quite place it, but she did find it somewhat amusing and possibly admirable. Possibly.
Though, it did feel good to cause a bit of damage. The kid wasn’t seriously hurt, but to make a more muscular male shift backwards and just barely, sort of double over… yea, that sent a little confidence burst her way. Bringing her fist back to her own body right away, she placed her knuckled in her left hand and pressed them together, always keeping her eye on Alex for what might happen next.
Thankfully, the man eventually straightened himself. It would have been a shame if her punch actually did cause internal damage or something difficult to recover from. He took his time getting there, but she couldn’t blame him. If he was gearing up for a fight, she couldn’t blame him for wanting time to recover from a free hit.
Now she found him preparing himself. Words came from his mouth again, he didn’t want to fight but he wanted to spar. Once again, she found him interesting. What was the difference? One seemed more acceptable? She couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t care. She struck him already.
“I’m not sure what the difference is, but I’m obviously not opposed.”
The words once again sounded mocking and were accompanied by a smirk across her lips. A confident one at that. This could be attributed to her multiple meaning that had been intended. She wasn’t opposed to them sparring. But she also hadn’t been opposed by him when taking the first hit. He could even draw farther into it to say that she was insulting him to the point that she didn’t count him as opposition at all. Whatever the case, Irene was amused.
But, he still hadn’t advanced. Was she really going to just stand there and wait for him to hit her? She thought not. He may let people hit him freely, but she wasn’t about to. No sooner had she answered his ‘question’ Irene stepped forward to close the distance that had been put between them when he backed off from her hit. She wasn’t going to give him as much reaction time this time.
Having her hands in front of her still, her right fist pushing against her left palm, she didn’t take the time to pull pack and punch forward. Instead, she just swung her right arm forward, the back of her hand going to make the most contact. Almost like a backhand, except her hand remained fisted. While she intended to hit him with the back of her right hand, her more focused attack came next. Using one last step to get uncomfortably close to him, she combined this with swinging her left hand forward, this one now fisted as well.
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Post by Alex King on Jul 3, 2014 7:02:24 GMT -5
She stood there after punching him, right hand knuckled into her left and with a satisfied little grin on her face. Yeah, he didn’t think he had to worry about her backing away from this fight, sorry, spar.
“Difference is a fight is between enemies and with a spar you all get to be friends afterwards.”
The double or even triple meaning of what she had said went over his head. He wasn’t quick enough to pick up on those sorts of things naturally; sure he could spot hidden meanings if he looked for them but he rarely did. Why over complicate a conversation by not saying what you really mean?
As far as he could tell she was simply agreeing to fight him and that was good enough for him. Why look for anything deeper?
In either case she didn’t give him much time to think about it. Almost as soon as she had spoken she had closed the distance between them and lashed out at him with the back of her hand. She had come at him quicker than he had expected but he was still prepared enough to dodge the swing, taking a step back and pulling his head away from her so that her fist sailed harmlessly in front of his face.
He hadn’t been expecting the almost immediate follow up from her left hand however and this one he had no choice but to accept. He was at least able to duck his head and raise his should so that her fist hit something a little softer and less yielding than his temple. The punch stung, but it was much preferable to seeing stars.
She had stepped in even closer for that last hit, putting them quite close together. Since he was the larger of the two with the longer reach, her being inside of his range was not a good thing and put him at a considerable disadvantage. It seemed like the key to this fight would be to open up some distance between them and them keep her at bay with his longer arms and legs.
That being said stepping back opened him up to another attack and pushing her back risked either pushing her too far and out of his reach, or her grabbing his arms.
From his current position, with his right shoulder hunched up and with his body slightly turned to the left there wasn’t much of anything he could do with his right arm. His left however was completely free to move and he made use of this by twisting his body sharply back to the right and firing a swift jab at her midsection with his left hand. He used the rotation of his hips to put some extra force behind the hit but with the short range he could only do so much damage with this kind of punch.
Regardless of whether he hit or not he then stepped back to get some distance. Either she would need to block and wouldn’t be able to retaliate as he stepped away, or she would be too busy dealing with the sudden pain to do anything for a brief moment.
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on Jul 15, 2014 17:08:46 GMT -5
Fight vs spar.
Irene heard Alex’s words but she couldn’t find herself caring. As much as she usually liked to point out the difference between definitions of words, this one she didn’t think he was actually correct. Even if he was, she wasn’t sure she liked the definition of spar. Friends afterwards? Did people usually try to make friends with people they just met? That whole human connection and need thing… maybe that was something she should focus more on…
Soon enough, this thought process was dropped. Her advance was already in progress. He wanted a fight/spar and she wasn’t going to wait any longer. First advance had been dodged. Irene knew she was slow, but he didn’t seem like a speed demon either. So he was testing and toying with her, or they shared a weakness. Even so, she hadn’t caught him off guard enough to land the first hit. This male merely didn’t want to approach her first. Interesting.
This man was prepared for her coming attack, but not for the follow-up. That was always a bit reassuring. Baiting her or he couldn’t think ahead. Little fights always took careful observation. In the instance that he was intelligent, he could be faking weaknesses to get her comfortable. Then strike. While that was always an unsettling thought, Irene kept an open eye. Take her observations with a grain of salt. For now, he might be slow and unable to plan through things.
Fist connected with shoulder. A pleased smirk on her face, she had long since given up looking merely at his face. Anything that would give her a clue to his next move. Naturally, she assumed he’d try to get away from her. He was taller, bigger, and being so close would be odd for him to try and get a good hit in. That being said, the right side of his body shifting quickly back wasn’t totally expected.
He was going to send an attack?
Right side of the body back meant something on the left was most likely coming, hard. Her eyes traveled over the man’s body. Shifting back, solid footing with a slight angle forward from his left side, chest and arm muscles activated… she knew before her eyes met the incoming attack. Left arm, most likely fist. Confirming her thought when her gaze settled on his fist, she attempted to judge his aim. Middle.
So far, his speed didn’t seem to greatly outweigh hers. Not that she had a hard time keeping up mentally, her thoughts flew by in half an instant. But… normally her movements weren’t able to keep up with her mind, let alone someone else’s movements. Still, he had the advantage of knowing what he was doing before her and being extremely close, thanks to her. Close meant he couldn’t swing as hard, but it also meant less time for her to react.
That faint smirk still not totally having left her face, she couldn’t help but be amused. Even her movements stood a chance against this man. His fist was still moving towards the middle of her body. She didn’t have enough time to shift her whole self, but she did indeed move. With both of her hands both having been more upward, she couldn’t make a sweeping motion to the side and redirect his punch. Her decision had been to swing her arm down and prevent him from escaping. Letting her knees give, she used what little distance she had to bring her right arm down as hard as she could. Hand fisted, forearm held horizontally, she made contact with his arm just as his fist hit into her abdomen.
“Damn it.”
The words were barely a whisper as a flinch crossed the woman’s face at the impact. It was a lot harder than she had expected with the limited distance and preparation time he had. She’d need to recalculate his strength. Thankfully, her arm hitting his allowed her to redirect some of the force when she straightened out her arm to shove some of his oncoming attack away. The diverting defense left her somewhat hunched over, having used her upper body to help with the downward swing of her arm.
But, she certainly wouldn’t forget the next step that would give him an advantage. This was the reason she hadn’t used both her right and left arm to defend herself. Taking an attack was worth it, as long as he didn’t get too far away. Her left hand, directly before his attack had met his shoulder. As she had brought her upper body downward with her right arm, her left hand had opened and also moved towards the ground. However, she kept her hand close to him. Her fingers just barely grazing over the cloth of his shirt, when his fist made contact she ensnared his clothing in her left fist.
Alex stepped back. His left hand away from her and he tried to escape as well. Not at this moment. She already had a Prince to deal with, she wasn’t about to let a King show her up. Tightening her grip on his shirt when she saw his steps move away, she used this grip to not only pull her along with him and possibly shorten his steps, but also pulled to straighten up her own posture again with minimal effort.
“Friends don’t run from one another.”
Irene mocked with a faint playful upward turn of her lips. Her abdomen throbbed lightly with pain, something she would deal with later. Having used her left arm to keep close to him, the left side of her body was further back to her advantage for the moment. Shifting the right side of her body forward, she aimed her right fist for the same place he had hit her. Midsection. Throwing her arm forward, shoulder swung with it, stepping with her foot, and twisting the hips. A hard hit if there would be one, but he had a few moments to think his next attack of defense through.
Always fond of the follow-up, she had pulled him somewhat towards her with his shirt when she threw the right fist towards him. After the bit of a pull towards herself, she instantly released his clothing and brought her left fist to her hip. The follow up was meant to be with her left fist, launching it upwards and under his jaw, straightening her arm and shifting her body upwards with the strike.
These attacks would be lovely if they hit, but she really needed a new plan. From her first hit, he recovered quickly. He was stronger than she had thought. So far, those were two things that she also had going for her. For now she needed to keep him close and she would constantly look for any weakness that might give her the upper hand.
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Post by Alex King on Jul 16, 2014 10:22:07 GMT -5
He felt his fist connect, but he also felt her hand come down on his arm at the same time which sapped a lot of power from the hit. Even so, he got a close up view of her flinching face and even thought it was barely a whisper his ear was close enough to her mouth to hear her curse.
He felt some satisfaction as he stepped back from Irene but was stopped, literally and metaphorically, when he felt a sudden increase in pressure which made it harder to pull away. He looked down and saw that Irene had grabbed his shirt at some point during the exchange and was forcing him to pull her along with him.
“Friends don’t run from one another.”
She was teasing him again, and he couldn’t begrudge her that. He hadn’t expected this, not at all. He would have thought it difficult to make a move like this during that brief exchange, not while she was also focusing on blocking him. She must have thought to grab his shirt even before he had begun to move away. She might even have let him hit her in order to do so, though he guessed she had expected she would be able to deflect his punch more than she had.
And now she had stopped his retreat, preventing him from getting more room and putting him in just as bad a situation as he was in before. Worse actually, since she had caught him flat footed while she knew exactly what was going to happen next.
He had to admit she had gotten the better of the exchange, but the fact he must have surprised her with how hard that punch was to make her curse was some consolation.
Alex stopped trying to back away and almost instantly felt himself beginning to move the opposite direction as Irene tugged on his shirt. She released her grip at the same moment as she threw her right first forward, swinging her shoulder and stepping into the hit at the same time; she was putting a lot of power into the hit, too much possibly. His father had always told him not to overcommit to any one attack unless you were certain it was going to hit. Admittedly this was advice Alex had never really followed, but he saw the sense; if you threw everything into a punch and you missed then you left yourself wide open for a counter attack.
Not that Irene was going to miss. Alex certainly wouldn’t be able to dodge, he was already moving forward and by the time he had halted his momentum and begin to reverse it he would already have her fist in his gut. He couldn’t block either, at least not successfully and not without suffering some damage to his arm in the process. All of these considerations happened in a flash, different solutions playing out rapidly in his mind and being discarded just as quickly while the first grew closer and closer.
In the end he was left with no other option. Rather than fight his forward momentum he embraced it and charged towards Irene; if you can’t retreat, why not attack? If he could get close enough that he was within the arc of her punch he could avoid it and also be close enough to prevent any follow-ups as well. But it wasn’t an easy task; for a smaller fighter this type of strategy was paramount against a larger opponent, moving so close to their body that they would struggle to hit you. For Irene, being the smaller of the two, it was a valid strategy. For Alex, it just made him a larger target.
It proved good enough in this situation however and Alex made it with barely a micrometre to spare. Irene’s fist grazed his side and slid across his back without imparting much, if any, force; if he had left his decision just a moment longer it would have stuck him squarely in the ribs.
His charge left him very close to Irene, close enough that she wouldn’t be able to throw another punch, thereby thwarting the uppercut he didn’t even know was coming. It also left him without many options himself however, their bodies being close enough that any form of strike was forbidden. That left either trying to get some distance again, which it had been proven Irene would not allow, and grappling.
Grappling wasn’t something Alex did often or was particularly good at, but he had a suspicion that the same could be said for Irene and in a fight between rank amateurs Alex’s size and weight should give him an advantage.
Alex reached up with both hands and grabbed Irene by the straps of her tank top; as his skin made direct contact with hers he couldn’t help but notice how close they were, closer than he’d ever been to someone else before and while it wasn’t appropriate to the situation he was getting a little embarrassed.
“Ok, no more running. Friend.”
With a toothy smile of his own to match her smirk Alex pressed one leg between hers and quickly hooked his right ankle behind her left. He then push and pulled with both hands around the straps of her top, pushed her back and pulled her to the left so that her left leg would be forced into his right, tripping her over. This movement lacked the subtly or finesse of something like a Judo throw and was more about his own strength than leverage. His aim with this was to drive her to the ground with him on top of her; what he would do if he achieved this was something he would figure out once they were down there.
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Irene Dixon
Weapon
Demon Corseque
Wake me up. I'm living a nightmare.
Posts: 108
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Post by Irene Dixon on Aug 1, 2014 17:35:53 GMT -5
Irene’s excitement for the continuation of the fight had certainly gotten the better of her. She should have thought more on how he might defend himself, on how she would be able to get out of any situation he would put her. This was her mistake. Putting all that force behind the one hit. It was careless and she was ready for victory way too soon. How could she have forgotten about his easy recovery so quickly? Or… was that why she was putting her all into that hit? The hope of actually causing more lasting damage.
What took place was still surprising. Personally, Irene hadn’t thought him smart enough to come up with this option. Charge her. Some may call it gutsy or stupid, but really… what option did he have? She was close and strong, the short distance would make it hard for a slow opponent to dodge, especially since she had thrown his balance more forward than anything else. Obviously he was at least intelligent enough to make a good decision in combat… Which was disheartening. If he could think through things as well as her, was strong, could endure hits… How was she supposed to win this? With every move, things got bleaker for her success. And that was infuriating.
Her fist just barely missed, not that she could have stopped or shifted its course… Feeling the taunting touch of her fist just barely sliding across his side, her expression shifted into a less playful and more angry look. Her jaw was tense, her eyes narrowed. He was close. Damn him. What were his choices now? Her first thought was that he would run again. But… she had misjudged his intelligence last time, maybe that wasn’t the option. A shift in movement from him, his hands coming up. She jerked her head back, not really sure he was going to hit her in the face, but not really wanting to take the chance. The movement was actually him grabbing her shirt? If he was going to throw her, he had another thing coming. The hand that had passed him in an angry punch, instead of shifting back to her side, took hold of the waist of his trousers. Not just that hand grabbing to him, but her left hand moved upwards as well, gripping around his wrist. His words echoed in her ears, no more running and her being a ‘friend.’ If she had been amused like before, she might have appreciated the grin. But… in her moments of worry over losing, she was more angry than anything. Being man-handled and smaller was not going over well for her.
More contact. Eyes glancing down quickly, then back up, she caught the movement of his leg. Felt his foot against her left leg. Realization. It was a trip, not a throw. Holding onto him wouldn’t help greatly with a trip… It would just provide a lesser option for throwing her. Searching her mind for another option, she found herself coming up with few options. Attacks were usually what she went for, but at the moment everyone’s hands were occupied. She could bring up her right knee, hope she made contact with sensitive areas before she was thrown, but she knew that wouldn’t occur. On one leg, he would trip her easier and faster. She’d have to try to take him down with her, hopefully her on top if possible. However slim those chances may be.
His actions proceeded mostly as she expected. He was forcing her body to the left, tripping her over his right leg. She never released either his trousers or his wrist, the only alteration is that she let her left leg give out a bit to give more weight to her right. Add to his momentum he was giving her, was the plan at least. As he pulled her, she kicked off the ground with her right foot. It was an awkward way to try and add momentum, so the effects were less than she had hoped for. He was intent on falling with her, gladly, so she had no real need of ALL the added momentum to bring the larger guy with her. But… it would have been nice to spin him.
The added momentum from her kick helped, as did her wrenching her right shoulder and arm backwards, therefore pulling harshly at the man’s trousers. They turned a bit, but not quite as much as she would have wanted. Not landing flat on her back was a plus, but… shit. The kid would land on her hand. Sideways, they both were gonna end up on their sides. And him on her hand. Releasing his clothing just before they hit the ground, with barely any moments to spare, his body shielded the faint light as her partial form took its place over her knuckles. A fisted hand, dark and dull metal over her knuckles. It was better than her getting broken thumbs or something… Still, him landing on her would cause pain. Bring at least a wince, depending exactly on how he had landed.
She didn’t have time to worry over that now. His hands in the position they were was not advantageous to her. She couldn’t get on top of him if her hand was pinned, she couldn’t get away. This was a losing battle even more now. On the ground with someone larger than her, hand pinned, him mostly in control of her upper body. Well… seemed like the cheap trick from before was the only thing she could think of.
Her thoughts had raced quickly, her mind consistently ahead of what was occurring. Barely half a second had they hit the ground that she wrenched her left knee and leg upwards. She couldn’t give him the time to block, she couldn’t wait to see how they hit, she needed some sort of attack now. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Seeing as she had kicked with her knee as well as her lower leg, if he was much too close, her kick wouldn’t cause as much damage as she hoped. Probably kicking a shin or kneecap… but if he was a bit farther…. there was the lovely possibility that she could kick something oh so much more sensitive. It aggravated her. The lack of control she had over this.
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Post by Alex King on Aug 5, 2014 15:46:50 GMT -5
Oh shi…
As he pushed Irene to the ground he felt her giving him a helping hand on the way down, pulling with both arms and pushing off with one leg, the extra momentum carrying them both further than he had intended on the way to the ground.
He hadn’t paid much attention to the hand on his wrist, or the pressure on his waistband which told him she had another grip there as well, thinking she was just trying to stop him without really knowing what he was planning to do; an instinctive, reactive defence. Turned out once again she could see through his intentions, or just had really good instincts, and threw a wrench into his plans just as they were getting put into motion. Instead of Irene landing on her back she landed on her side and instead of landing on top of her Alex landed next to her, also on his side. And on something solid.
He bit back a curse as he felt something hard dig roughly into his waist; that was going to leave a bruise. He wondered if he’d fallen on a rock, or a tree root, or possibly if Irene might be carrying something. He didn’t think that last possibility was likely though; she might have been angry at him earlier but he doubted she would pull out a weapon or anything just for that.
She didn’t exactly need to, to be honest. She was doing a pretty good job without one, hitting hard and often and usually in unexpected ways; so far he had managed to avoid the worst of it by making use of what he had been taught but the tricks beaten into him over the years by two previous generations of King’s was only going to take him so far.
Almost as soon as he felt the jab in his side, almost as if to prove his point about being unexpected, he felt Irene kick him hard in the shin, a sharp, lasting pain that would probably bother him for the rest of the fight.
He needed to get back the advantage in this fight. He had taken it to the ground for a reason, he was bigger and stronger than her and as long as he kept a grip on her and kept her on the ground she wouldn’t be able to get away and he should have the upper hand. Luckily he had managed to keep his hands tight around her shirt which prevented either of them from rolling too far away from each other when they hit the ground and also prevented her from getting away now if she felt inclined to do so.
Without letting go with either hand he tried to push against the ground with the arm under him, using the strength in his elbow and shoulder to raise himself up, at which point he was able to swing a leg over Irene and hauling himself into a sitting position. This also meant he was now straddling Irene which put him firmly in the seat of power as far as this fight went. At least until she started trying to thrown him off; that was when it got difficult.
He hated ground fighting. It was the worst. He kind of resented the girl for making him do it. Ground fighting was all closed fists, hard knees and elbows, desperate headbutts and occasionally teeth; it sucked and win or lose nobody got out of it unscathed.
Alex let go of Irene’s shirt with his right hand and pulled it back into a fist. His first instinct was to aim for her head, but tuition and experience had taught him that punching someone’s jaw was an easy way to break a finger so he aimed lower instead. When he threw the punch he directed it to the centre of Irene’s chest, at her sternum, with the intention of winding her and sapping her strength. He really didn’t want her fighting back.
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