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Seren was thinking that she needed to get some more sparring in, and that it would be good for her to find more people she had not yet worked with. She was not going to seek out any of the trainees she knew, because it did not feel right to be going after them now that she was an intermediate. If one of them ASKED her, or ran into her on the sparring field, she would definitely battle with them, but she was not going to be the one to initiate things. She had her honor, and beating up on those who were not at her level seemed to be dishonorable.

Suddenly a smile crossed her face as she thought of someone she had not sparred with before, but she was pretty sure was an intermediate like herself, and she tugged her phone out, to send a text.



She ran to change into the outfit she preferred to wear when working out or sparring, which consisted of a high backed tank and leggings in her favorite starry patterns, then headed to the actual field at a jog, to get her leg muscles warmed up, stretching her arms out as she went. She had a big grin on her face the whole time, hoping that the answer would be a yes.

Seren grinned, seeing Oliver, and trotted over, a happy look on her blue eyed face. "Hey! It has been a bit too long, Oliver. We need to hang out more, outside of duty stuff like this." She gave him a quick hug of greeting, and gave him a quick look over, to see how he was doing. She decided he looked well enough, and happy enough, which made her feel good. She shrugged her new coat off, still bemused by the updates to it, and hung it on a nearby dummy, so it would be out of her way when they got the battle going.

"What have you been up to, dude? Anything fun?" She paused, and in a very GENTLY teasing tone, added "Met anyone interrrrrrrrrrresting?" She liked Oliver, and thought he deserved a cute boyfriend or girlfriend... whichever it was the adorable guy was into. Or both, if that was his thing too. "Or made any new friends?" That would be a good thing, too, in her mind. The more friends one had, the more support one had in this world, and in Deus, she was quite convinced everyone needed all the support they can find, with how things kept happening around here.

It certainly had helped her, she was a happier, stronger person since Joy and Rhys came into her life, and she knew it. She watched her friend, studying his expression, now that she had asked, while she summoned Di, stepping back into position. "Lemme know when you're ready, too. Don't wanna come at you when you're not."

She found herself glad to see his smile, because it was always nice to see a genuinely friendly face, and in this place, sometimes, she wondered how genuine anything of that nature was, especially lately... But Oliver and his smile rang one hundred percent true, to her, and it felt wonderful to see.

Her brows rose at his words, as she realized he was not picking up on her gently teasing hint. She considered this, and what it might mean in regards to Oliver, before deciding how to respond to that. "Weird hours must be hard on you... Makes it hard to meet new people, and that must be really lonely sometimes." She paused, shifting her stance so she could get Diwata into a good position to swing from. "And I bet it makes it really hard to date, if you have anyone you're interested in dating." She gave a shrug, after that. "Assuming that's what you want, of course."

His ax showing up got a response out of her, one she was more used to others giving her at the sight of Diwata. "DAMN that is one cool mother ******** of an ax!" She blurted out, not even thinking about how her language might sound to Oliver. She was staring at the ax, eyes glittering at the sight. "REALLY cool."

And then she nodded when he said he was ready, and came in with a low swing.

Seren found her brows coming together at his answer regarding being lonely. That did not sound right to HER. She often got lonely, back home, even when she was focused on work, and surviving, or when she had still been trying to get to college, before that stopped being an option. Lonely was not that easy to escape, she had found. "Well, note to self, then. Send Oliver texts to hang out more often, and check on you, too. You should spend more time out of the lab, being ALL about work for days on end is not healthy, my friend! You need to take breaks, and take care of yourself." Her tone was one of caring, not lecturing, though.

She frowned, however, at his comment about being an awful date, as his ax hit. "Oof..." She said, as she considered, then moved to come in a little closer for the return swing. "I really do not believe you would be an awful date. You are a really freaking nice guy. You are sweet, you care about people, you share... I really have trouble seeing you as a bad date. Heck, when we met, you were a good date, despite not knowing it WAS a date."

She stepped to the side, after finishing that statement, and pulled her sword up and into a curving arc, aiming for his side, her eyes serious as she did so. She liked Oliver, as a person, a lot, but she was not going to let that get in the way of her training.

Seren gave him an amused look, glancing at the thinner frame the young man had, and just said "I have trouble imagining you as a marshmallow, even if you were trying to GO that route, dude. You do not have that kind of body type, far as I can see. Now me, I might have to worry about that, if I was not so busy training a lot of the time, between spars and the gym... Rhys helps me stay fit, he is very good at giving me workouts that will help me stay on track, and not have to worry about it."

"You are fine the way you are. If there is someone who likes you, they will see past that lack of confidence and the lack of experience to the kind, sweet man inside. You deserve someone who can see that." She considered his words, and added "You totally into girls, then?" In a tone that sounded innocently curious, but in her head, she was calculating details, and pondering things. "And you make an amazing friend. It is part of why I think some girl or dude, or whatever, in the future will be lucky as ******** to see past the confidence and realize what a treasure you are."

His next attack hit decently hard, and threw her off balance enough that she was having trouble trying to make her next swing. "Ahhh fark, the new size of this sword is a CHALLENGE!" She said, as the blade made a wobbly curve that went nowhere near Oliver.

"Hey, no apologies necessary, unless you actually somehow hurt me... And that would be why we got wards, right?" She said, as she regained her balance, and she gathered her feet back under her to make sure she was in a more stable position, all the better to withstand whatever blow he threw at her next. "It was a damn fine hit, and you should be proud of yourself! That is the kind of thing we need when out in the field, right?" She gave him a bright, encouraging grin, trying to make him feel good about himself, because he seemed a little off kilter at the moment.

Her brows rose a little at how red he had turned. It was an interesting response to such a comparatively innocent question, and she wondered what could have triggered it. She watched him, how nervous he looked, and how his concentration had been effected too, and made several mental notes. His next hit barely even registered, but his words did. Interesting responses, all around, and she would have to take it into consideration. He was such a sweet guy, though, so she had no desire to force him into something if he was TRULY unhappy or uncomfortable with it. Or, well, force him at all. Force had no place in stuff like this.

"Depends on who the guy is, I suppose." Was all she said, as she swung her blade in towards Oliver. "But hey, whatever makes you happy is all that matters, my friend."

She took the hit, and then took a deep breath, shifting her stance so that she could swing her blade again. She came in hard, on the right, her eyes focused on her friend as she aimed her attack.

"Like I said, whatever makes you happy... But I bet there are girls and guys out there that would be into doing that WITH you. Still." She gave him a warm, friendly smile. "Your life, you live it how you want."

"Oliver, I don't know why you think that." She took his hit, with a small grunt, and moved so he could see that she was serious about what she was saying. "You're a sweet person, and you are kind, and you care. Why would you think there are 'better' people?"

She moved closer to her friend, and swung her sword. "You're just as good as anyone on this island, possibly better then some. If you don't want to date because you would be happier, that's fine. But if it's because you think you're not good enough, that's not true."