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Seren sighed and re-positioned herself to swing again, when Noemi's attack came at her. She leaned back, startled, as it swished by. The miss surprised her, and she moved in closer, eyes watching carefully in case another attack came on the back swing.

As she moved up on Noemi, she swung her sword as well. Unfortunately, it was another grazing hit.

Seren's eyes narrowed in frustration. Why was she having so much trouble today? She needed to work out how to fight against this style, she HAD to. What was causing her to be so bad today?

The question had Seren looking very confused, honestly. She'd never ended a fight before her shield had been knocked down, on her end. The sparring field had wards to prevent injuries, so she had never been worried about that, as an issue. "I mean, if you want to stop, we can?" Her tone sounded slightly confused by the question. "I usually fight to shield break, on my end, since the wards are here..."

She stepped back for a moment, and then swung, getting in a fairly good hit, her best this battle. She felt a little better, knowing that she hadn't lost EVERYTHING she'd been working on.

"It's ok! My boyfriend forgets about shields when I cook, half the time. He's sweet, but a bit protective, so when I am testing the heat of pans, and I use my favorite way to do it, he gets all worried." She watched the woman miss, and then gave her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about this... I need to get practice with my newer Charge..." She said, then the runes flashed BRIGHT and hard, and Seren swung, back and high, then coming in hard, almost like the sword had gained even more weight just for this attack.

Seren gave a bright grin, her eyes pleased with her hit, and her cheeks pink from the compliment. The next hit from the trident had her going 'OOf'! because she was now VERY low on her shield... but it wasn't down, not yet. She could still go.

"Nice hit, yourself! You've been doing very well, this whole battle!" She responded, and used the counter balance from her previous hit to swing again.

Seren fell back at the hit, with a loud 'OOF!' and just lay on the grass, for a very long moment. She took a few deep breaths, then turned her head to Noemi, a big grin on her face. "I am good, but thank you! That was one hell of a battle. I can't wait to talk to Rhys about it, he might have tips for me to improve, for the future."

She brushed her hair back and sighed, letting the sun wash over her for the moment. "You are good! How long have you been here? Did you mention?" She blinked, trying to recall the discussion at the beginning of the battle. "I've only been out of the Pods as of July, so I'm always happy when I do well against someone senior to me in experience."

Seren watched her move over, then she smiled, and accepted the smaller woman's hand, using it to help her get herself up. "Thank you, Noemi." She said, gratefully, and then dusted herself up as she listened to the other girl speak. The haunted look made Seren want to pull her into a hug, but she resisted, because Seren did not know her that well. "Outpost duty can be hard. Rhys was on Outpost Duty in Mexico for about a year, and had just gotten back right after I did."

Seren DID reach over to give the other girl a gentle shoulder squeeze, comfortingly, then her hand dropped and she considered the way the other girl reacted to Rhys' name. She blushed... Had Noemi had a crush on Rhys before? She hoped not, she'd hate to hurt the girl by making it clear how off limits Rhys now was. "Yes, Rhys Donovan... He's a Mist Intermediate, though he only promoted in September, so if you know him, he wouldn't have intermediate when you met... Is that a problem?"

Seren watched the other girl, and her expression was one of bafflement. She wasn't at ALL sure how to read it. The blush made her first thought seem likely, but the guilty look seemed less so.

"You... took care of it?" She scratched her head, the apology making it even MORE confusing... and then Seren remembered him telling her someone had tried to smother him for his snoring. Her brows flew straight up. "WAIT are you the one who tried to smother him for his snoring? Oh my gods... You tried to smother my boyfriend!" Her tone was more amused then accusatory... She knew better then anyone how much her boyfriend could snore. She was lucky, she found it comforting, not distracting, but she could easily see why someone might find it frustrating, or have it interfere with their sleep. However, Seren began to laugh so hard. "Oh man... I can't wait to see his face when I tell him I met you!"