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 Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:15 pm
With a little grit and control, Katya had managed to control her breathing- shallow breaths still, but slower and more constant. She did her best to pay attention to Lailah's sudden desire to teach- figured that it would be on the subject of physical combat- although she stayed on the ground, continuing to cradle her midsection. That meant that her neck was craned backwards as she looked up at the victorious angel. Take a hit to land a hit? A big one? True, she was familiar with the concept, but she'd always been far too concerned with not getting demolished in a fight to actually be game to try it. What the other squires might have deemed an acceptable amount of damage to absorb in order to counter could easily flatten the lighter, frailer demon. "Point noted Lailah, but that's easier for you big girls to do than for me." Never mind that Lailah was still quite slender compared to some of the others.
There was something about the way the taller squire checked herself over that almost drew a grim smile out of the crouching demon. Was she... hurting? Though Katya dared not mention it, the placement of the hand, the ginger touch and discreet burst of healing magic were all right where she'd hit her bigger opponent. No, she wasn't reveling in a moment of triumph at her opponent's pain, just inwardly pleased that she had managed to make an impression. She cared more about her comrades than the simple need to succeed.
Right?
Katya listened to Lailah go on about the wonderful things she could do were hate truly a factor, and she wasn't surprised. Perhaps she had just overstated her point earlier, what being in blinding pain at the time. Of course Lailah didn't hate her, but Katya was still wondering what had brought on that particularly heavy hit.
Although she felt a swell of pride at her much more skilled opponent counting off the things she had done right, she felt a rising sense of incredulity at the reasoning behind her opponent's devastating blow. "I... earned that hit?" She broke eye contact and looked at the ground with a mix of confusion and exasperation in her expression. "Well, thanks, I think?" As Katya suspected, Lailah was holding back. It seemed as though by pushing her a little, she'd earned a smackdown just to remind her of her place.
Lailah's next question had her head tilting back up, surprised. Round two? The demon stared at her opponent for a second, disbelief on her features. Her reply came not in the form of a spoken word, but with her whole body flopping down onto its side with a feeble moan.
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:11 am
Rolling her eyes, Lailah leaned forward, propping up one elbow on a raised knee. "Alright, more general terms then. Sometimes you gotta' weigh the odds, then take a risk to sacrifice something if it's worth the goal you have in mind. You might lose something, but you stand to gain something more."
She'd fallen quiet for a bit before Katya responded to her explanation behind the forceful final kick. The incredulity and confusion were plain in her voice, though the demon's expression was turned towards the ground. It actually brought a smirk to the angel's face, though she didn't go as far as to laugh again. "You're welcome," she shot back, reaching out to pat Katya on the head. "I don't give compliments freely either, so don't get used to it. Just cause you rose above my expectations the first time doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you in later lessons." Yes, later lessons. If they couldn't continue today, she'd just have to find another day...
Lailah blinked repeatedly at the response she received instead. "...so that's a 'no,' I suppose," she commented dryly, rolling her eyes. She stared at the prone demon, curled into the fetal position. After a moment, she leaned back on her hands, poking at the other with the toes of her foot. That bad, eh? She supposed she had hit the little one pretty hard there at the end. She'd just gotten wrapped up in the thrill of the fight...
After some hesitation, she shifted towards Katya, sitting on her knees. "...fine, we'll call it a day then. Can't have them all thinking I really tried to kill you..." She held her hand out towards the demon's torso, just over her ribs on her side. It took more effort than before, but after a moment a soft golden light bathed her side. Lailah was frowning deeply, eyes closed in concentration. She shouldn't have had any real damage done, but it would at least reduce the pain a bit so that she could move. They still had to fly home yet, after all.
Concentration wavering, the light dimmed and went out. Lailah opened her eyes and withdrew her hand, swiftly noting, "Eh, good enough...a little pain is a good teacher," she offered as explanation for why she hadn't done more, pulling her feet under her to stand. She turned away, heading to pick up the discarded bow and target. "Come on, time to go home."
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Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:43 pm
With her cheek planted firmly on the grass, Katya was staring at Lailah's left foot, listening to the angel's explanation of her words and actions. She had figured the angel's meaning out before she said it, but felt that bringing that up now wouldn't serve much of a purpose anyway. And her compliments had caught her off guard more than the hits did- she didn't expect to hear too many of those anyway, so she simply reflected on the prospect of more lessons with a gloomy expression on her face and a shrug of her shoulders. Perhaps she thought of future encounters as being a mere extension of the beatings she was receiving in fighting class, or perhaps she was just so wrecked that there wasn't much that could make her feel worse at this point- either way, the reaction to Lailah's planned instruction was rather nonplussed.
"I think every one of our friends knows that if you really did try to kill me, you would have succeeded. And then found some way to make it look like someone else did it." The demon quipped. Although Katya didn't feel seriously hurt (just seriously hurting), she let her angel comrade go ahead and begin to treat her ribs with her healing magic. If she'd had her fighting training, then she figured Lailah would have to go ahead and practice her healing a bit, since that seemed to be one of her weakest subjects. It belatedly occurred to Katya that if the vicious angel was as bad at healing as she herself was at fighting, then she would probably get her ribs rearranged in even more catastrophic fashion than any sort of combat injury. She silently mused over whether that could be weaponised somehow.
Although still wincing from the pain of drawing breath, Katya had to admit that the ache had lessened somewhat, and she could at least breathe in a normal rhythm now. No real harm done then. She sat up and looked Lailah in the eye, a hint of caution in her voice as she quietly thanked the angel for healing her. Right after flattening her. Still seated on the ground, she stretched her wings out to their full span experimentally, and was relieved to find that the muscles which wrapped around her ribs that controlled her wings were unaffected by the fight. She slowly stood, her hand still cradling her stomach, and walked as quickly and steadily as she could past Lailah, gingerly bending over to reclaim her bow and practice target. "I've got it." She mumbled, trying to show that she wasn't totally incapacitated. "You're right, it is past time we left this place. Although I'll need the Guardians' help to hold my dinner in." Nice as her little cliffside was, it wasn't safe anymore. Katya pondered switching to a different 'secret training ground', but no doubt she'd just get followed again. She spread her wings wide again, this time in preparation for takeoff.
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:05 pm
Lailah took the comment about her likely success at a true assassination attempt as a complement, though she didn't say anything further on the matter. The Guardians had blessed her with natural fighting skills and the instinct to use them. She just had other skills that required more work.
Like healing.
Which she wasn't doing now for complements; she'd rather those for her fighting ability thanks. She answered Katya's thanks with only a wordless grunt in reply before turning to go. She'd actually been about to retrieve the demon's belongings when she'd pushed past Lailah to grab them herself. The angel raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. Guess she wasn't too bad off after all. Or she was stubborn. Either was encouraging.
"Eh, you'll be fine," she said with a dismissive air, spreading her own wings with a feathery rustle. "If I can chew, you can keep dinner down," she sent back as a parting shot, smirking, then pumping her wings to get airborne.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:34 pm
Katya followed her into the sky, reflecting on every strike, given and taken, in the moments just beforehand. As much as she hated to admit it, her angel comrade had made a very clear point- there might come a time in the future when she might have to stand and fight. Whether it was because of being forced to ground, or if she might find herself in a position to have to defend someone, and in her present condition, she would be woefully inadequate against even an average opponent in single combat. As had just been brutally demonstrated, one solid blow would be enough to incapacitate her, and she was trying to become a knight, for the Guardian's sakes.
Perhaps the time had come to quit avoiding these painful little encounters and to grow a spine. And perhaps some bone strength and muscles too. Although she could have overtaken the angel and whipped back to the city no time flat, she trailed at a distance, silently building the motivation to actively seek out more training like she'd just had, or perhaps at least if not that, to stop actively avoiding it anyway.
As Telrunya City loomed before them, she swept left toward the windward side of the walls, catching the updraft breaking before them and rode them high and fast to the Castle's spires, catching one more rush of exhilaration before calling it a day.
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