ic Present Arms

[alderwitch]

Talya had skirted the edge of the room as the magic weapon had appeared. It wasn't the blink-and-vanish but for the length of the discussion with Erik and Raina, the eye had largely slid over the blonde woman. Maybe she'd been off getting weapons? Or drinks? Talya knew magic weapons when she saw them and, until Erik was around to give his full attention to the woman with the fireweapon, Talya just wasn't all that apparent. She stepped forward once Erik's gaze flicked towards her  and it was rather like she'd never been gone, appearing easily and conversationally near the swordsman. 

 

It wasn't that Talya thought the teenager was likely to stab her but she'd rather not be in the line of fire in case magic exploded. Magic and Talya were a rather toxic mix. 

 

"I'd rather not rise from the ashes if we can avoid it this evening," Talya murmured and she patted Erik's shoulder as she went to step out of the center of the damage zone. Adding in response to the varied worries that flickered across his features, "It'll be fine. It's not only your burden to bear, remember."

 

Min might be rather phlegmatic about things like secret identities but Talya shared in the healthy paranoia of keeping multiple identities in the air. She crossed over to sit down next to Raina companionably. 

[April]

"Ah," Phaedra said, pausing mid stretch as she watched the blazing sword form.  "You're him.  Well, that's unexpected but it makes a certain amount of sense.  My uncle," she continued then hesitated a moment, as if considering the word choice, "may have mentioned you, and your sword."

 

The young half-breed gave Erik a fierce grin as she practically bounded into a position opposite of Erik and well enough away from the others that they were in the clear.  As she settled into a low guard though, all traces of mirth fled from her expression as she took on a look of intense concentration.  Black wings exploded out her back in a spray of blood that melted into curling wisps of black smoke, beat once and then stilled.

 

"Ready."

[Tiffany Korta]

Still in a little bit of shock at this whole turn of events Cathy moved to beside her friend, to give the two of them more room to fight. It had been quite a impressive trick that Phae had pulled, though Cathy was still trying to process the whole things.

 

"Well that hasn't happened to me before. I mean with the ice sword and all..." she mimed the whole act in case anyone was confused before lamely adding "And well... not the other stuff either, I mean I was just caught off guard and..." she stop feeling even more embarrassed than before.

 

Instead she just turned to watch the sparing, hoping that no one else would ever hear about this ever, though she rather doubt that that would happen.

[Gizmo]

"I am him. Who's you-- aw, not on the mats, come on!" Erik protested abruptly as Phaedra's wings burst messily from her back. When the blood dissipated before it could stain anything he instead considered the new appendages with an nonplussed expression. "Huh. Well, that answers the uncle thing. Raises a lot of, y'know, theological questions but I'm thinking we skim over that part." He'd run into Hayzel a couple of times over the years and couldn't begin to imagine what that family tree looked like.

 

Shaking his head a bit he resumed his ready pose. "Alright. That pigsticker gives you a lot of reach but does it weigh as much as a normal one? The wings probably give you mobility if you can swing your weapon fast enough to take advantage of it. For instance!" Without further warning the fencer had crossed the distance between them in a single bounding step, kicking off with his back foot and darting forward. His fiery rapier struck three rapid blows against her glaive, exerting just enough pressure to knock the longer weapon off balance and force the teenager to recover her stance. By the moment that took he was already back out of immediate striking range and circling casually to Phae's right side, one eyebrow raised expectantly.

[April]

Phaedra had brought her weapon up, using the haft to deflect and guide Erik's probing attacks to the side and away.  Small beats of her wings kept her steps light and obviously bolstered her mobility, confirming the swordsman's assertion without her having to say anything.  Despite that though, her movements seemed to be backing her up into a corner and it didn't seem that the half-breed knew that.

 

"This soulglaive is not a pigsticker," she said.  "It is an echo, a reflection, of the essence of Cathy and the strength of my bond with her.  It is beautiful and strong and to call it what you did was, frankly, insulting."

[alderwitch]

"The mats have seen worse," Talya commented from her perch with clear amusement, but did not offer further insight into what that 'worse' might have been. The Interceptors led exciting lives by and large. Swinging her legs free, she gave Raina a gentle tap on the shoulder to encourage her to join Talya back on the floor once the mystical blood spatter had vanished into the ether. She did not, however, offer further advice into the nature of Erik's banter. Phaedra wasn't her student at the moment. "Why don't you go join your friend's side, Raina? Might be good to marry some of what you've been working on here with your abilities."

 

And maybe Talya was also encouraging friendships? Maybe! "Three on two isn't terrible odds." The thief suggested to the teenagers even as a small movement dropped the baton into her hands. With a sudden and deceptively soft click click, the batons extended to their full length a split second before Talya vanished from senses both mystical and mundane. Raina, at least, would know that was almost certainly prelude to a light tap or touch on the shoulder, at least in a normal match.

[Gizmo]

"That's why I said it, Butterfly," Erik clarified with a smirk that had gotten a rise out of more composed targets than teenagers. If there was one thing he'd found to be true of both supernatural creatures and polearm wielders it was that they were a little too easy to goad into using raw brawn over finesse. "Points for working a little flirting with your gal pal in mid-fight, though."

 

He advanced on the winged girl, his body language relaxed but his steps quick and sure. Although they lent her some extra mobility in the closed space her wings presented a much bigger profile. She struck him as having her wits about her enough to know she was backing into a corner but he didn't see what gambit she might be planning by doing so. Guess I'll bite, he decided, keeping some of his attention on Raina and Cathy as Talya disappeared even to his enhanced senses.

[Electra]

"Ugh, do I have to?" Raina whined, even as Talya vanished from view. "They're doing fine! Getting extra points for style and everything!" Hunching her shoulders to avoid the light thwack from the baton, she reluctantly unfolded her legs and put her feet back on the ground. Merlin, at least, was willing to give her a commiserating look, though of course he wasn't about to help out with the fight. He assured her that he would assist by eating the remaining grapes before they had a chance to spoil. She rolled her eyes at him, then reluctantly hummed a little fireball into her hand and walked onto the edge of the mats. "Am I still in trouble if I set stuff on fire in here by accident?" she asked the thin air that presumably contained Talya somewhere. "Cause I'm not going into a superhuman swordfight with just my basic self-defense moves, no way." 

[April]

Phaedra still moved cautiously, keeping her glaive in a defensive posture.  She felt her wingtips brush the walls, and then she flashed Erik a fierce grin.  "I find there is time to work flirting with Cathy mid-anything," she said.

 

Then she stepped forward, planted the butt of the glaive into the floor and using it for leverage launched a kick at Erik's midsection only to vanish from in front of the swordsman and reappear behind him, the smell of ozone and suddenly shift in air pressure the only warnings.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Cathy might have been surprised but she had fairly good instincts when it came to such things, in very stark comparison to her reaction to social encounters. Her flesh took the clear ice form as the clothes she was wearing became covered in frost. She didn’t normally use weapons when fighting, finding her icy fists more than capable, but for the show of it she formed two ice batons and took up a fighting pose.

 

“I’m getting pretty good at keeping fires under control, had lot’s of practice recently.” a cheeky grin suggested it wasn’t a completely innocent “And sweetie the flirting nice but eye’s on the prize please.”

[alderwitch]

Rather than the rap of Talya's baton, her voice floated out, providing a momentary location for the blonde thief as she answered the question Raina directed at her, "No, we'll just charge the school for any damages," she offered cheerfully, as she flickered into existence several feet from where she vanished. "Though do try not to char things if you can avoid it. Smoke alarms wake up the babies."

 

Talya vanished once more, although they could faintly hear them blonde humming some sort of tune melodically, under the banter and the sounds of practice. While it gave the teenagers a much better shot at tagging the thief, it could also prove distracting as sound wasn't always the easiest to pin down. It was mostly to give Erik an idea of where in the dojo his partner might be at any point in time - which, at this particular moment was the ceiling as she took advantage of one of the ropes hanging to get up and out of the floor and over even Phae's wings. 

 

"Keep your.... stance wide. Keep your body lowered..." Children's shows had such catchy lyrics, but this song in particular seemed appropriate. 

 

As you're moving forward, balance is the key.

[Gizmo]

"Porting and wings?" Erik mused calmly as his body launched into the motion it had been beginning even as Phaedra launched her diversionary attack. "Kids these days." The redhead's kick missed connecting between his shoulder blades by a hair's breadth, the fencer's body rotating in the air while he tucked his knees up against his chest. While Phae's momentum took her into the now empty space her instructor's free hand shot upward and was caught by something invisible. A small, ladylike grunt of exertion accompanied a change in his arc as Talya swung him up and over, releasing him into an airborne summersault that saw him through two full rotations before he landed in a three point crouch between Cathy and Raina. "I was doing this for years before I even got a grappling gun, you know! Parkour builds character!" He straightened with exaggerated casualness and added to the blonde witch in a stage whisper, "Also good for flirting with cat burglars. Think fast, ladies!" He slid back a step, keeping all three of the teenagers in front of him, fiery sword once more at the ready.

[Electra]

"Ew, not listening!" Raina insisted, making an exaggerated face. "Old people flirting is not cool." With a faint smirk, she lobbed a fireball in Erik's direction, fully expecting him to parry it before it reached its destination. If she was lucky, one of her erstwhile teammates would take advantage of the distraction and move in, but otherwise it was at least sort of satisfying to get to throw a fireball at somebody. As soon as she released it, she prudently took a couple steps backwards, hiding behind Phae's broad wings. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

“I don’t know I think it’s kind of cute.” it reminded of how her parents would sometimes flirt with each other.

 

Whilst Cathy was a fairly competent fight, a result of her Norse ancestry her father liked to joke, she knew that she was completely outclassed by the elder heroes. So for now she was being fairly cautious on her approach, trying to shift around to maybe catch Erik off guard though she doubt that would really happen.

 

As she moved she twirled her ice club around her hand in a movement that she hoped made her look confident and ready for action.

[April]

Phaedra chuckled, and shook her head.  "Right, fight first, prize later."

 

Still keeping herself between Raina and Erik, Phaedra had no clue where the older woman was, the half-demon launched another series of attacks at the swordsman.  In her own estimation Phaedra knew her assault was unlikely to breach Erik's guard, he was too skilled for her, but she hoped that there left enough of an opening for Cathy to follow through.

Still, the hidden one bothered her.

 

"Raina, can you find the woman?"

[alderwitch]

After releasing Erik, Talya trusted that he would make himself the big flashy target as only Erik really could and dropped soundlessly from dangling from the ceiling behind Raina and Cathy. It wasn't one of the more complicated maneuvers but it wasn't the point. This exercise wasn't about earning points on three teenage girls, after all, it was about teaching them so they'd work better together in the future. Personally, Talya was pleased that they asked Raina - that was smart. Raina clearly had experience here in the dojo and undoubtedly of the three teenagers knew the most of what tricks her mentor had.

 

However, Talya wasn't about to wait for Raina's answer as she'd already gone over the best way to flush out Talya in earlier lessons... and had no desire to watch the girl set the entire dojo floor alight, as impressive as it likely would have been - Talya appeared closest to Cathy, crouched and striking out with one leg in a leg sweep. "Even when fully dressed, Erik is ALWAYS the distraction." Talya provided as she flipped backwards towards her feet, batons in hand and with the teenagers ostensibly surrounded. "Perks of being the leader - you get to do all the FUN things."

[Gizmo]

While Talya knocked Cathy off balance Erik deftly parried Phaedra's thrusts, letting each attack come within a handspan of landing before snapping his fiery blade up to block. "Hey, I'm not old!" he objected to Raina's complaint with exaggerated hurt, placing his free hand over his heart which had the side-effect of making it clear how little he was actually moving as he evaded the formidable assault of the winged teenager. "Talya and Min are totally robbing the cradle, you don't even know." He casually flicked his eyes between the three girls, staying on the defensive and gradually but deliberately opening up his right flank while keeping Phaedra's glaive occupied, continuing to muse aloud, "Although I though being the leader mostly meant I got shot the most? Women digging scars sounds like a cliché but..."

[Electra]

"Found her," Raina said drolly, spinning so her back was to Phaedra's back and her attention was on Talya. Erik was always more likely to pay attention to the foe with a sword in hand, so that seemed the safest course of action. "You just don't want me to have any fun," she accused Tayla, even as she flipped a small, well-controlled fireball in her mentor's direction. It poofed away into nothingness as soon as Talya dodged it, well before it could hit the wall. She could've used a lighter to reignite her flame but instead, curious, she reached out a hand for Erik's sword. The blade suddenly stretched mightily, extending in an arc over Phaedra and coming to Raina's hand. She nipped off a bit of it for a new fireball, then released the rest of it to snap back into place at the end of Erik's arm. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Whilst Cathy wasn't as skilled in combat as the grown up she was still had a little ability and was pretty light on her feet. She slightly stumbled at Tayla's attack but managed to recover pretty quickly.

 

"He seems very nice ma'am, but I don't think he's as much a distraction for myself." she was much more confident when fighting than dealing with people generally.

 

She took full advantage of Raina's distraction to try and use her powers to freeze Tayla to the floor with her ice powers.

[April]

Talya's attack against Cathy momentarily distracted Phaedra and despite her training she started to turn away from the swordsman to aggressively pursue the former thief.  This was the wrong move to take, of course, but the half-demon was about to fully commit to that course of action until two things happened.  Cathy recovered just fine, and Raina had opened up Erik's expert defense.

 

She added more momentum into her turn toward Talya, she was already fully committed to it, but she brought her glaive around in an arc before vanishing to appear behind Erik and placing him in her weapons path.

[Gizmo]

Erik squawked indignantly at his sword distorted itself into a loose ribbon, turning the intentional invitation to attack into a hole in his guard Phaedra could have driven a truck through. He got the impression he wouldn't have won in a tug-of-war with the young pyromancer but a small application of will restored the blade to shape as she turned her attention back to Talya. That concentration cost him, however as snapping the weapon up to block Phae's initial swing took him further still out of his stance, momentum sending him right toward the winged teenager's second attack after teleporting.

 

The fencer began twisting the moment Phae reappeared - before, she was certain, he could have actually seen her. Where his earlier dodging had been a graceful sort of dance, this time he hastily shifted his weight and kicked with one foot, sending himself into a low summersault. The roll took him onto the icy sheet Cathy had created over the training mats and he skidded awkwardly between her and Raina to end up on his backside near Talya's feet, where he immediately erupted in laughter.

 

"Haha, ow. I have to admit, that was a lot better than I was expecting," he told the young women as he let his sword flicker away to embers and raised his empty hands to indicate the exercise was finished for the time being. "Forgot you could do that, Dora. That was good teamwork all around. I'm beginning to think you've got a point about needing a more durable training space, cielo." He wasn't sure how the mats were going to hold up to defrosting and he definitely didn't want Raina tossing around any more fireballs just yet. They were also going to need more space to accommodate Phae's wings. Maybe somewhere in the forest for now, he considered.

[alderwitch]

Talya bent over to drape her arms over Erik's shoulders, her chin on the top of his head in a brief embrace before she offered her hands to him. Not that he needed any help kipping up, certainly, but the gesture had less to do with need and more to do with easy affection. "The true lesson is, I'm always right. Honestly, though, I can have it done in a week if I call in a few favors. Not to mention when the children start manifesting whatever random abilities they might have, our insurance premiums alone will sky rocket."

 

She straightened then to turn her attention back to the teenagers, "Indeed, though if you're going to be in a relationship with someone you fight alongside, you'll need all the more practice to know their skills as well as your own. You can't control the concern but it'll be much improved if you already know what they can and can't handle." Talya offered, giving her opinions on the brief lesson before she turned a smile of approval on Raina. "I approve of the control and the use of surprise. Well done. Very well done." 

[Electra]

Raina busied herself with her new ex-sword fireball, obviously trying not to show how pleased she was with Talya's compliment. It was the work of a few moments to turn the ribbon of flame into an intricate burning rose, complete with the faintest suggestion of a stem. Merlin, who had finished all of the grapes while she was distracted, called from his corner of the room that she had better keep her guard up even after the fight looked over, or eventually Talya and Erik would use that as a teaching opportunity as well. She rolled her eyes but munged the flower back up into its much more utilitarian ball form. "I think it's more time for snacks, and ice packs for old guys with bruised butts. Are the girls around?" Not that Raina would ever admit it at school, but a lot of her mentoring sessions seemed to end with fruit snacks and cartoons alongside Erik and Min and Talya's little girls. 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

With lots of practice, Cathy was pretty confident when fighting, though she was still a little intimidated sparing with such experienced fighters. Once back to the more social aspects she was a little less confident.

 

“Yeah sorry about that, it's just ice so it’ll melt after awhile.” she gestured slightly guiltily at the ice slick she’d created “Actually you might want to clean it up before it melts, I’m afraid I’m not much help in that department.”

 

With her apology given she blended back into the background, happy for her more outgoing friends to take the central stage.

[April]

Folding her wings in close, Phaedra accepted Talya's criticism with a nod.

 

The half-demon stepped closer to Cathy, their bodies lightly touching, and gave her girlfriend a shy smile while her fingers sought and found the ice maiden's.  She turned her smile back toward the adults and her face became carefully neutral.  "Fighting alongside Cathy something I am still relatively new to, but also something I look forward to more of in the future," she admitted.  "It is a change to what I am used to," she added, "where I come from allies are usually just adversaries whose interests momentarily align, but you need to always be wary of the knife."

 

She glanced toward the younger blond and gave her a brief smile and nod.  "But not having to worry about that from Raina or Cathy, to trust that they had my back?  It felt good, more than I can put into words."