((Carried over from the Halloween hangout thread. Under the spoiler cuts are the collection of the initial interaction posts.))
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
*grabs a seat and a drink and kicks back — until a challenger appears, at any rate* (because after all, smashing monsters is what Alvins do best!)
Hey guys, how's things? Still tired and under the weather, but I have a few minutes, so I thought I'd drop in.
"Why, hello there, Alvin. Good to see you on the right side. razz
It's been a grind, but mildly enjoyable. I took Evil's suggestion of smacking the baddies around with moneybags and I'm amused. Even if my gold tends to fly about everywhere...
What's got you under the weather, by the way? Would you like anything to soothe that tiredness? A refreshment, perhaps?"
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
Heh. I'm no angel, but I know where the money's good. The demons don't need my help. *excuses*
Gotta admit, the image of you whacking someone with a bag of gold is pretty funny, even if it is effective. *grins* I seem to do better with bladed weapons than blunt. Heh.
I'm just kinda run down — been really busy lately and overdid it in the colosseum yesterday. Hey, no comments about getting old. *mock-cranky-look, breaks into a smile* I could probably just use some R&R ... so yeah, some sort of refreshment sounds great. Thanks.
"I honestly do much better with fists and claws myself, but it tends to get monotonous, y'know? Changing up once in a while keeps things interesting. wink
I see, I see. Hee hee, don't sweat it, it happens to the best of us. *pats on the back* What's your cold drink of choice? Lemony iced tea? Punch? Coffee? Or simply water? *brings out a tray with all options*"
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
Heh, true enough. I'd get bored if I were stuck with just the sword or the gun. Let's not talk about that squid on a stick, though. <_<
Mm. Coffee. Sounds great, thanks. *takes a hearty swallow* So how's the fight been going so far? Had fun?
"Oh, you're a wielder of both? That's mighty interesting. Do you use both at the same time, sometimes? surprisedWait, squid on a stick...? XD
Heh heh...these Team Demon players are actually shorter work than they seem! In fact, I pick through them so fast that the Hell Warden—the only rock solid guy out of the lot in my opinion—sits in my way from time to time. It takes a while, but several smacks upside the head with a well-loaded moneybag makes him budge." xp
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
Both at the same time, with a little hand-to-hand thrown in when it's appropriate. The squid ... *sideways look* Let's just say the Xian Du colosseum's idea of "a weapon perfectly suited to your fighting style" is ... on the cheap side. Ah well. The bragging rights were worth it ... even if the kids did give me heck for going all-out on their duplicates for two days afterwards.
Heh, good to know. I might take a swing at a few of them later, if my schedule clears up a bit and any are left standing.
"I'd like to see that in action sometime. I've yet to see someone wield both a gun and a sword quite well. Zaul and I would like to try it ourselves sometime.
But seriously, I'm genuinely fascinated and curious as to how you managed with a squid on a stick. Is it one of those 'joke weapons', like Lloyd's paper fans and Kratos' baseball bat? Is it a giant squid on a stick? surprised
Oh, I'm sure there will be...from what I've seen, lots of players are inclined to join the ~dark~ and ~edgy~ side, so I'm sure there's no shortage of targets. mrgreen "
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
*offers a crooked, teasing smile, hands laced behind his head* So is that a challenge? I wouldn't mind some exercise. Sit around too long and I get rusty.
Yeah, it was a giant squid, and yeah, I guess you could call it a joke. They've got a funny sense of humor in Xian Du.
There are a lot of dark and edgy kids out there. Targets haven't been a problem. Balancing work and fun — that's been more of a problem. *shrugs broadly* Oh well.
*looks oblivious for a moment but grins as she gets it* "Aha! We're game if you're game. We've had our lazy days as of late, a little action would be good for us."
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
A broad grin spread across Alvin's face. "You're on, then." He set down his cup — now empty of iced coffee — and stretched widely. Anyone paying close attention might catch a soft pop from his left shoulder. "Probably best not inside, though." He turned to glance out the window. "Side street? There's more room out there."
Rising from her seat, still smiling, she cracks her knuckles. "Sure, sure. Wouldn't wanna end up smacking bystanders by accident, of course." While she casually makes her way out, she continues, "I kept implying a 'we', but a two-on-one wouldn't be fair now would it? Zaul will just be watching from the sidelines, then."
Zaul Oleander
Alvin Svent
"After you, then." Alvin let her lead with a just-slightly-exaggerated bow. He gave Zaul the once-over on as they passed outside, noting the pair of pistols he wore. "If I'm still standing after this, maybe you and I can have a little contest too, huh?"
He smirked and raised a hand to tap two fingers to his forehead and gave a playful salute. "Ah was kinda hopin' ya'd say somethin' like that. It'd suck ta let Azura have all th' fun, but since she's th' one who instigated th' whole thing, she gets first crack."
He would follow the two outside after Alvin exited. "If ya don't mind, Ah'd like ta watch. Ah know t' stay outta th' way."
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
The alleyway seemed clear of innocent bystanders (guilty bystanders and stray cats notwithstanding). "Rules? Fight 'til someone yields, no lethal damage, calling in backup or hurting anyone else is an automatic forfeit." He folded his arms, one eyebrow cocked, as if asking if she wanted to add anything.
She took her place opposite Alvin at a distance and faced him. After he laid down the conditions, she nodded. "Understood. Now, I know this bout is meant to be mostly physical, but by nature, I'm also a mage. Would it be unfair of me to use a little magic? Of course, I would narrow down my pool according to the conditions that have been set."
While she awaited the answer, she rolled up her sleeves, exposing icy blue gems set on the backs of her gloves, which glowed after she brushed her fingers on them. She held her hands slightly away from herself as her primary weapon, her ice gauntlets, materialized along them down to about half her forearms. Frosty cracking sounds with faint tinkling could be heard as the segmented ice claws formed over her fingers.
Azura Cantarella
Alvin Svent
"Sounds like a plan." Alvin gave Zaul a friendly clap on the back before stepping across from Azura. His eyes lowered thoughtfully. "Magic's fine with me, but it should be a fair fight. I probably should forewarn you that I've got one of these." He reached under his shirt and pulled out a Kronos charm* on a fine gold chain, side-by-side with his lilium orb. "Spent a month mucking out wyvern stables to afford it. Smelliest month of my life." It hadn't been a pretty job, but work was work, and the pay had been fantastic.
He watched as her gauntlets formed, and his own weapons materialized in kind — a massive greatsword slung over his right shoulder, and a heavy pistol in his left. His stance was loose and easy — deceptively casual, even. That thoughtful expression split into a wide grin, as another thought occurred to him at the mention of her magic. He had no idea what she could do, but he had a good idea of what he could do if he really let loose — and Alvin had no magical ability at all. "Oh, one more thing. We split the costs on collateral damage, in case we break anything in the neighborhood. Fifty-fifty. Only fair."
Azura squinted as she tried to discern the accessory Alvin was showing off. It took a few moments until it hit her, and she grinned at the realization. "Ah, I see. That bears similarities to the Krona Symbol that Zaul carries. Took him quite some work too. So you were prepared to have afflictions thrown at you! I actually refrain from those when it comes to a friendly spar...I mean, c'mon, poisoning someone when it's not life-or-death is kinda low."
Her brows raised as Alvin brought forth his own weapons, an admittance of her slight surprise at how bulky they seemed. She then smiled with intrigue at her thoughts. Oh goody, he's not about to pull any punches just because I'm a lady. Which was all well and good—she may appear to be a five-foot-even pipsqueak, but she's also a werewolf. She certainly packed more physical strength than she seemed to at a glance.
At his last comment, she offered, "I agree that needs to spoken for, but I'm willing to cover 75%. I don't mean to brag, but I'm rich blood. I can handle it." She sounded serious, meaning no mock pity behind her statements. Alvin sounded to be of the same general situation as Zaul; she understood how tough it could become for their sort to come across money to get by and wanted to lighten the burden on him a bit.
Zaul Oleander
Alvin Svent
"All right, sounds fair to me." Alvin wasn't above stunning someone in a friendly spar, but that was usually a side effect of the inherent strength he packed. He’d break to let his opponent recover, rather than keep beating on them. Unless he or his partner was practicing a tricky move, he didn't bother with deliberately inflicting extra pain in a practice match either.
He noticed her eyebrows lift, and just smiled. After all, "badass" and "capable" were two things he made a point of projecting. The attitude certainly helped bring in the jobs.
“Hey, if you’re offering, I’m not going to turn it down. Thanks.” Alvin wasn’t broke — but he certainly wasn’t on the wealthy side, regardless of his lineage. He’d told Jude the truth when he said he wasn’t going to try to reclaim his status. As a “feral dog”, as he’d once put it, he didn’t fit into the Svent clan, and hadn’t for years. “Hey, how about you give us a one-two-three-go count, Zaul?” He stayed loose and ready for the signal to begin.
"Sure thing, pardner." He smirked and drew one of his pistols from its holster, twirling it on a finger before pointing it skyward. "At th' sound o' my gun. One...two..."
At the pull of his trigger, an energy bullet that glowed white shot high into the air before bursting into particles like a tiny firework.
Azura Cantarella
At the sound of the bang that filled the air, Azura took off into a forward leaning dash, her icy claws out to her sides spread wide apart. Her mind swam with thoughts of the possible turns in this battle—with his heavy weaponry, would she have a speed advantage? Was he going to swing his blade first or shoot? Or shoot first and then try to close in while she was guarding?
As she approached, she kept an eye on which weapon he would move first; she mentally prepared to dodge should it be the gun. If not, she would go on to make a diagonal upward swipe at him with her right once she closed their distance.
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:18 pm
Alvin Svent
Azura would find that she had a speed advantage on the mercenary after a moment or two, though it wasn't immediately obvious, as Alvin deliberately took a moment to size her up as she closed. It was usually a good idea to shoot the fighting-types, and fight the shooting-types. Given her disclaimer about magic, he'd expected her to hold back and sling spells, not charge into the fray.
This was going to be interesting. Alvin usually wore a smile, but this one was more genuine than most, as a surge of adrenaline poured through him. He loved to fight.
He took several angled steps forward and to his left, both closing the distance and deliberately maneuvering around her charge. In almost perfect synchronization, he lifted the gun first with a casual sideways aim, and the sword in his other hand swept in for an arcing cut towards her midsection. The report of the pistol echoed, deliberately timed so that if her dodge was poor, it would roll her right into that massive blade.
Azura would have laughed if she had room to. A sort of pincer attack! That was very clever! By reflex, she couldn't help but sidestep her way right into the blade. However, she thought fast enough to turn and catch the edge with her palms so that it merely tapped her midsection. Her lightweight body had to go along with the force a bit, but she was able to plant her feet onto the ground and skid to a stop.
Immediately, she hugged the arm that was away from Alvin—her left—around the width of the blade, hooking her hand on the opposite edge. "HrrrrrrRRR..." teeth gritting, she made a low, wolfish growl as she tensed and gathered her strength while she held against the blade. Then, when she sharply pushed with her other shoulder and a kick forward of her right leg, "...RRRRAAAHH!!!" She swept Alvin off his feet as he remained holding tightly to his weapon, did a full counter-clockwise turn on the ball of her right foot after having stomped it down, and sent him sailing into the air.
At the peak of his trajectory, Azura sent toward him shots of darkness element energy in the shape of a small flock of ravens, their pointed beaks aimed at him.
((I will edit this if you're not cool with it. ^^;; ))
The "uh-oh" expression on Alvin's face was a priceless one, as he flipped over exactly as she intended. Mid-flip, though, he turned it into a roll, absorbing some of the damage by virtue of going with the flow, rather than resisting. He popped back to his feet in a move that was pretty deft for someone that sturdily-built.
"Heh. Not bad," he conceded with a grin, the dark-energy ravens barreling down on him full-tilt. No time to dodge. He braced for impact, and the mana spilled over and around the broad blade. Some of it deflected, some leaked through and crackled into the sleeves of his coat.
Not bothering to wait for the effects to fully wear off, he whipped the blade hard in her direction, a burst of golden energy following its arc. "Demon Fang!" As he pulled the sword back into a low guard, he followed up with the pistol in smooth succession. The round of suppressing gunfire covered his movement back into sword-reach.
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 9:25 pm
Zaul couldn't help but grin smugly at the look on Alvin's face. It was always amusing to watch people's reactions to finding out that Azura could be a powerhouse for such a small person.
Folding his arms then bringing a hand to his chin, he continued to watch the fight intently.
Azura can't cast her next intended attack spell in immediate succession because of it strength. On top of that, there was a cooldown to wait through; in this case, the darkness element in her Raven Gale needed to dissipate entirely. The tail end of the stream was broken up by Alvin's movements and Demon Fang.
"Tch...not bad yourself," she returned with a smirk. In defense, she threw her hands out before herself and put up an uncharged Improbability Sphere barrier, which appeared as a faint white force field around her. It would not deflect the arte and bullets at all, but it would at least soften their blows enough to keep them from breaking her concentration while she prepared her next spell.
After a couple more moments, it was ready. An arcane circle that glowed blue appeared beneath her feet while she made sweeping gestures of her hands at her side, then she pushed her palms forward along with a lunge. A small tidal wave appeared before her, churning in place for a second then sweeping across the battlefield toward Alvin.
((zOMG! may be gone, but its elements will still live on in my mind. xp I headcanon that the magically inclined of Gaia can eventually learn to cast a Ring effect without having to wear it, after using and keeping one on long enough. I think I kind of borrowed the concept out of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.))
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:02 pm
Azura Cantarella
Magical blue energy sparkled around Azura as her spell charged up, and Alvin's eyes narrowed. "Damn it, water magic," he murmured softly. He was not a fan, especially after seeing what Rowen could do with that stuff. He'd been intending to dish out some smackdown with his blade, but that would have to wait for the moment.
He shifted instead into a leap over the tidal wave, pulling the sword back to a ready guard and firing the gun at the same time. Instead of a bullet, this time it spat a roiling ball of purplish-black energy that seemed as if it were aimed on a guide wire towards Azura. Honestly, he didn't expect it to do much, given what he'd seen of her fighting style, and the Improbability Sphere she had up. But Homing Shot was just as useful as a maneuvering tool as it was for tracking down distant enemies. Alvin went with the recoil, using it to drift up further from the splash radius of the tidal wave. Now, how to come back down ... ?
Well, he had wanted to use that sword of his, and given that he was already airborne, that made the decision easy — and showy! — although fatiguing. He descended with a spiraling cut, fire blossoming from the edge of his blade.
As expected, the Homing Shot hardly fazed Azura; on top of being darkness-aligned, the presence of the force field made the blow feel like someone had merely lazily thrown a pillow at her chest. If it were something much more effective against her, she wouldn't have the room to react to the flaming strike he was attempting to bring down upon her now.
She turned and sidestepped so that she was right beneath Alvin rather than his sword, then swiftly backstepped a couple more times bringing her completely out from under him. She leaped into the air behind him, and at the peak of the jump was slightly above him. It would be worth noting that her Improbability Sphere force field had entirely dissipated by now—as it hadn't been given time to charge so that it would be more potent, it wouldn't last very long.
Raising a claw— "HYAAAHH!" —she brought it down in a forceful downward swipe in an attempt to slam him into the ground.
She knew full well that it would have been a better tactic to back up a lot more and continue with projectile attacks, but to play the keep-away game for the whole thing would be boring!
((Yeah, she could pretty much still be up in the air in your next post if that'll make things flow better. c: ))
Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:07 pm
Azura Cantarella
Azura was quick, Alvin would give her that — and the way she fought reminded him strongly of Jude. Whoa, whoa. Not thinking about fighting Jude right now. He shoved that uncomfortable thought away, his hands working automatically as she started to dive down on him. His left hand slid across his body, and he jammed the pistol into the clips on the hilt of the sword, almost without thinking about it.
The connection was made with a solid ka-CLAK and a shimmer of blue light. He reached for her incoming ice gauntlet with his now-free left hand, and pulled. The two of them tumbled end-over-end to the ground, with Alvin taking the brunt of the landing, and Azura piled on top of him.
He couldn't resist a low, wicked chuckle, bruised as he was. "Ooh. Someone's feeling feisty today. Gets me all charged up." He let that comment sink in for just a moment, that sly, teasing smile plastered across his face, then flipped the sword over in his hand, and rammed it into the ground. A sparkling runic circle spread from it, bathing the area in healing light and radiating light-magic at the same time.
(( Guardian Field / Guardian Grove does both healing to the party and damage and potential stun / confusion to any opponents in the radius. Yeah, he's doing this from his back, because he's like that. *facepalm*))
A faint gasp and widening of eyes could be heard and seen from Azura as Alvin managed to grab her wrist, then an "Oof!" as she hit the ground with him.
He had made his teasing remark while she was pushing herself up off him, and that coupled with the coincidentally awkward positioning got her turning a bit red and smiling coyly. "My my, someone's being a naughty boy~" she returned just as wickedly.
But in the time it took her to voice her retort, he had executed his light-imbued arte. "Aaugh!" The pulsing magic was like trickles of electricity all over her body and bursts of heat against it at the same time. Reflexively, she sprung to her feet and shielded her face with her arms, squeezing her eyes shut and stumbling several steps backward. She had nearly fallen on her bottom along the way because she also began to feel dizzied and disoriented, and sometimes even her joints felt like they were stiffening up. Lingering effects of the arte, she assumed.
Stopping a good distance away, she lowered her arms and cautiously opened her eyes, finding her sight distorted as if she were looking through a kaleidoscope. As she tried to look at Alvin, she found herself seeing five images of him rotating clockwise after each other. Her instincts turned to doing something, anything to defend herself, but the haze in her mind was about to make her play spell roulette.
She held her hands out before her, palms facing outward as she tried to muster some semblance of concentration. Another spell circle appeared beneath her, this one a lighter blue than the one that showed up during her tidal wave spell. The atmosphere began to feel colder as several tiny vortexes appeared at random points in the air, swirling with sparkling snowflakes that gradually clustered together into sizable snowballs. The snowballs stayed frozen in their places for a second before starting to drift around in different directions in light, fairy-like motions.
"That wasn't exactly what I was going for, but I'll run with it," Azura muttered under her breath with a puzzled expression.
((Ohh, so it has additional effects in Xillia. I'm familiar with Guardian Field because it's one of Kratos' artes too, but in Symphonia (Chronicles version, that is) it only goes as far as healing. O: ))
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:27 pm
An "oh snap" kind of look suddenly surfaced on Zaul's face as he found some of those snowballs materializing near his person. He assumed a defensive stance, preparing to cast Guardian in case one of them got too close for comfort. The calm movements of the snowballs might make them seem like they're not too much to worry about, but if he or Alvin were to make the mistake of bumping into one, it would explode in a frigid blast. The force of the blast is capable of dishing quite the knockback, making it a potential catalyst for setting off a chain reaction with the rest of the snowballs.
Yes, this effectively made the very air like a minefield.
Which is why Zaul would rather stay in place; it was more risky to try to maneuver around everything as the movements were hard to predict, and it might've counted as interfering with the fight if he tried to shoot them out.
"Lemme jus' say first that Ah think it should NOT count 'gainst Azura fer one ta hit me. Technic'ly, she's only hittin' herself!" Zaul quipped, recalling the conditions of the bout. Particularly that if either one should accidentally hit anyone else uninvolved in the fight, it was an automatic forfeit. If he could wink, he would have. "'Sides, Ah'd think it's kinda too soon ta end it jus' like that. This's gettin' real interestin'!"
Alvin shrugged, that lopsided smile never leaving his face, and rolled back up to his feet. "Heh. It's more fun being naughty." The smattering of bruises and cuts he'd taken had melted away under the effects of the circle, and he took the same moment that she staggered away to regroup slightly and feel out his own limitations. Tired, but not drained yet, he decided, though Azura seemed staggered. Chivalry dictated he pause, if only to ascertain that she was all right.
The spell circles flared around her, answering that question. Good, I didn't hit her too hard. He dropped back into a guard, unable to quickly identify this one other than blue means bad. Something new to him, that was for sure. As the points of glittering ice expanded into watermelon-sized snowballs, his expression grew more focused. "'kay," he agreed to Zaul's suggestion. It seemed fair enough, and he wasn't about to expend extra brain power right at the moment to argue.
Alvin decided almost immediately that he wasn't about to play dodgeball with these things, given the way they drifted unpredictably. One false step or a shift in direction and he'd be blindsided. He retrieved the pistol from the clips on the broadsword and swept it in an arc in front of him, flame blazing from the muzzle to catch three of the floating ice balls in its wake.
(( I leave this one up for you to interpret the results? I'm not at all sure how Arc Fire would interact with this spell, whether it would melt the snowballs or explode them -- this is totally okay with me -- or something else entirely. Arc Fire apparently is a fire arte for Alvin only, so far. Ludger gets it as a water arte, as does someone else in TotW, according to the wiki.))
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:19 pm
Alvin Svent
Sure, the logic was sound—fire is supposed to melt ice, right? But Snow Mines were still Snow Mines. As their name suggested, their function is to explode at the slightest disturbance.
And that they did, throwing about clumps of snow at high speed in multiple directions. Some might hit Alvin square in the face or other areas of his body. Even worse, they hit other Snow Mines, triggering a massive chain reaction. In a matter of seconds, clumps of snow hailed from the air as if a flash blizzard occurred.
"Guardian!" Zaul shouted, expertly timing a lightly glowing green spherical force field around him to this exact moment. The cold wouldn't really bother him; he had an alignment to the same elements Azura did. But the force of the explosions was still a thing.
The (fairly) good news is, the chain reaction cleared the air of Snow Mines entirely.
While that happened, a loud, metallic clattering could be heard from Azura's general area. A whirlwind of ethereal chains enveloped her while the image of an iron helmet encased over her head and a large hexagonal metal tile appeared beneath her feet. She had cast Iron Will, an effect that focused the mind to ward against status inflictions. And at Rage Rank 4 at that; there would be no more stun or delusion to be had for a good amount of time.
The imagery of chains and metal vanished in a couple more moments. "That wasn't what I was going for either, but I'll take it!" she exclaimed, mostly to herself, surprised at her luck. Now able to see clearly, she locked her sights on Alvin, who appeared open for attack. Grinning, she began to make a mad dash for him, her left forearm in a guarding position before her and her right hand clenched into a fist at her side.
During her run, a thick casing of ice formed around her fist. Once she closed the distance, she twisted her upper body to pull her guarding arm out of the way and used the momentum to swing, looking to clock a good one into Alvin's gut.
((Azura used Ice Punch! xd The ice casing isn't going to make any additional effects. It's just something she tries to make the hit harder.
Also, it's totally fine to manage blocking or dodging it somehow. I figure letting it land after all the Snow Mines exploded might be overkill. ))
Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 10:11 pm
Azura Cantarella
Zaul Oleander
Generally, it was bad news for Alvin all around. He reflexively buried his face in his left sleeve when the chain explosion started, twisting the sword over into an overhand, cross-body guard* that at least would make anyone charging need to circle around to actually land an easy hit. The concussive force buffeted him from all sides, and he was sufficiently bespattered with snow that at least to him, he felt like he'd been slogging for an hour in the Silea Tundra. He probably looked like it, too.
As the flurry of snow died down, he risked lifting his eyes from his sleeve, only to be rewarded with a face that looked like a raccoon mask (good thing he couldn't see himself), and a rapidly incoming fist from his dance partner. No time to dodge that punch — he took it with a grunt and held his ground— but Alvin always had a few tricks on him. He slammed the flat side of the pistol barrel into the back edge of the sword, which popped the blade up hard and fast towards Azura's face.**
(( * Picture holding a single-edged sword, like a katana, in your right hand. Now, imagine raising that hand overhead, with the edge turned outward, so that the blade runs from your right temple to your left knee. That's the guard.
** Edited to add, because I forgot to mention last night — this is a real swordfighting maneuver that dates back to the Italian master Marozzo. Usually it's done by smacking the back side of the blade with your buckler, but any off-hand weapon will work if you know what you're doing.))
Alvin's guard forced her to slow her punch down, as she needed to crane her neck back to avoid colliding with that sharp edge. She still made a fairly solid hit, but it wasn't the kind that would send him flying back like she intended.
However, her effort to save her face would be made moot as Alvin pulled that move of his. "Ow—!" she grunted, after the blade met it with a hard CHNK and made a cut that ran from beneath the corner of her eye to the corner of her jawline, just below the earlobe. She lightly winced from the sting while she took a few soft steps backward, bringing a hand close to her face, the tips of her ice claws hovering near the wound. She nearly touched it out of instinct, but fortunately remembered she still had her weapon on.
