_____After a set of events Kaede felt slightly responsible for she decided some things would need to happen. Hands resting on the cold steel of her new Katana as she sat with crossed legs overlooking a small fenced in area roughly the size of a baseball field, but more so round then it was triangular. Around the area a number of small spots to hide or take cover behind, some even able for people to climb over to get high ground like the hill located in the center of the area. Said hill was Kaede’s choice location as she waited for others to arrive. _____She recently had encountered two newer, or thought to be new players while hunting some goblin and after watching them and working alongside them she had offered to try and spar training with them. Some might consider that a red flag, oftentimes more experienced players did not go around helping newer players but Kaede felt it was partly her job to train others so there was fewer deaths spreading around the game. While it did not sit well she was offering help to males and the chance they could use the training from today to force a girl down or the sort she was going out on a limb to help them and hoped she was not wrong about them. _____The two in question, @Emerath And @Rodger. Moving slowly to shift her weight and adjust her pant leg to reach her dress shoes as she waited without a plan for the day outside training them. It was a good change of pace, albit vastly different from her usual but something Kaede could use to help relax and figure out more for herself as to who she wanted to be. Although that was more her own personal reward for helping newer players she would not tell them such and left it up to them to take her offer and meet here here, or turn it down and train elsewhere without her help. _____Should the two arrive on time Kaede would smile gently and wave from them to hop over the basic fence around the area before she would rise to her feet. Left hand holding her weapon idol at her right side while the left waved around the area as if to show it off, or for them to pick a spot to start. From the past the two would have a rough guess Kaede was not someone who had a single ranged trick in her sleeves or hidden under her gloves, their previous time together not once would Kaede use her magic, and if possible she would prefer to keep such a card hidden in her deck for the time being. Moving her weapon slowly to between her legs she set the tip of the blade into the grass and spoke up calmly. ”While not all spots for fights will look like this, it is what today's will look like. We have two choices, the first you can both come at me and try to get me off this hill where the line of sand is. The second we can each accept a dual from another person and rotate around, winner fighting next person and so on. Doing it that way our HP won’t go below Ten percent, with the other king of the hill style we have to watch each other’s HP as to avoid killing each other, or rather you two killing me or me killing you.” _____Once they decided Kaede’s air would quickly change, her mood and expression setting to serious as she raised her weapon and watched their movements. Hopefully they picked both against her, considering the difference working as a pair would better help them, and in a one on one Kaede would have far too much experience and talents to exactly be a fair training partner even if she wanted to hold back to help them out. To anyone passing it seemed like a clearly unfair fight and hopefully those who passed would join to help them, Kaede slowly moving her focus to them both ready for whoever to make the first move against her, if they had questions or concerns she would reply to them as best she could during the training. @Corvella
Emerath had been surprised to have received an invite from Kaede in order to spar. Although, Emerath was generally surprised when someone such as him left a lasting impression on anyone, really. But, an opportunity to test his skills, as well as improve them, against people of greater experience than his own was not one easily passed up. He could learn some more tricks to put up his sleeves for any future battles. So, he agreed. He made his way to the field, and waved to Kaede from the distance as he closed the gap between them. She gave a wave back as the distance grew smaller and smaller, before motioning for Emerath to enter what appeared to be a small arena of sorts. He was definitely intrigued, as he folded his arms across his chest and considered what few strategic advantages such terrain offered. It was open, but had some opportunity to hide, with the only high ground being occupied by the woman who had sent the invitation. Idly, Emerath wondered how nice it would be to have a turret up there during a duel, and how advantageous it would be in combat. But he wouldn't really know until he tried it. Either way, it appeared that he was the first to show, as he stood awkwardly, unsure of what to really say to the woman. Social experiences were really not his forte. So he just waited, in silence. He really hoped he wasn't the only one. She'd probably demolish him if that were the case. But her silence on the matter seemed to indicate that he shouldn't be alone. @Rodger Clemens
Rodger wasn't really to sure why he was invited to spar. He hadn't done anything impressive, his skills weren't that great, and since his only available option for combat for now was archery, he was probably just going to shoot arrows the entire time. 'Well, I do need to work on my aim. Hopefully she doesn't expect a lot from me.' From what he saw from their last escapade, Kaede was kind of a monster. She was fast, had good swordsmanship, and seemed to have a mind for tactics. All the stuff to make a great warrior, in his opinion anyway. All the stuff he lacked. Well, maybe he was OK at the tactical stuff. He arrived and found a two familiar redheads waiting for him, Kaede atop a hill and, "Emerath? What are you doing here?" He asked the question, but immediately thought it rude and began to backtrack, "Not that its not good to see you! It is good to see you." There that made up for his blunder...right? Coughing he turned his attention to Kaede, "Hello again Kaede. Nice of you to invite me out." She greeted them both with a few options on how they could spar. They could either team up and attack her to bring her off the hill, or do some rotating one on ones. "Uhm, I don't know about Emerath, but I doubt i'd be much of a challenge in a one on one. Well, unless you guys want to see how you'd do trying to rush uphill against an archer. If we do the king of the hill thing, then I could get some practice firing around comrades and supporting others in a fight."
When Rodger arrived, Emerath was relieved to see a familiar face once again. It appeared that Rodger and Emerath were following similar paths in life, albeit unknowingly. Perhaps that boded well for whatever destiny lie before them. Emerath couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the thought. "I was invited," he replied, before smiling and giving a light bow to say, "It is good to see you as well, my friend." But their mini reunion was cut off by Kaede explaining the events for the day, and considered, "Honestly, it's no secret that Kaede has more experience than the both of us combined. But that's what the purpose of training is for, right? That, and we would need to be able to work in a team more fluidly for larger events. If we plan on doing anything past this at any point, which I'm sure is a great possibility, then the more we know each other's style, the easier it is to strategize for team efforts." If Emerath was being honest with himself, he felt like a nerd for everything he was saying, but this was a case of his mouth working faster than his mind could, and so there was no stopping the flow of jargon that came out. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck to say, "Simply put, I say Rodger and I work together against you Kaede." Upon saying this, Kaede shifted into a fighting stance, and Emerath was a bit nervous as he glanced to Rodger. "Should we just wing it, or do you actually want to strategize? She definitely seems ready for us, in any case. And if we just stand here talking, she might not give us the chance to make up our minds..." he commented, before at the very least taking a fighting stance, his iron knuckles glinting in the sunlight.
This is like the what, sixth time she had to go to Dormont. She was finished with her last job, protecting a caravan. She felt like she walked enough today and proceed to take a rest around the area. She began to close her eyes... Then she was woken up by voices, three people to be exact. One of them was Kaede, which she had seen in several occasion around Terrasphere, but the others didn't ring any bells at all. Apparently, they were talking something around sparring and training? The place looked like that it was built for that purpose; strategically placed pillars and obstacles, difference of height and number of ways the fight could go down. Might be interesting to watch whatever they are doing. Wiping off the dust on her pants, she got up and walked to the fence to get better view on them. Looking at the two unfamiliar faces, she wondered if they are newcomers. They don't look like fighters, but maybe they have something else up on their sleeves to beat Kaede's speed. One looked like a long-ranged archer, and the other one was well-equipped with machineries and pair of melee weapon around his hand. A battle tinker maybe? Would be an interesting match then, she thought as she sat in the sidelines. "I might learn a thing or two from this.."
Rodger's mind went a little numb,'Friend?' It was an interesting development, and a testament to just how little he knew about social concepts. Sure they had endured a few skirmishes together, and yeah there was some banter, but it wasn't like they sought each other out or anything. But despite not understanding the development, he was numb from the excitement that came from successfully making a social connection. Crap, he was doing that thing again. He tuned in again as his friend, god he was loving that, finished making their preference as two on one. King of the hill. When Kaede shifted into her stance, Rodger moved to take his bow into his hands. Arrow sliding into place soon after. Emerath was readying himself as well, and he shot him a question that made the archer smile, "Strategy? Maybe against some beasts but....actually," Rodger moved two fingers to his temple and activated his investigation mode. Sadly, there wasn't much to tell, a rough read of facts that she'd either done or said ability-wise but noting else,"Nope, I got nothing. I'll promise to keep you covered and not shoot you in the back, if you promise not to get sliced to ribbons and leave me to face her alone. No one wants to see that." With that said, Rodger was going to have a heck of a time trying to hit his mark, but at least he wasn't in it alone. He had a friend.
Emerath gave a heavy sigh, trying to steel himself for the idea of taking on a sword fighter with nothing but some metal plates on his knuckles, and his own wits besides. But he had solace in the fact that Rodger would be backing him up. He nodded to the man at his request, and said, "I think that's fair. At the very least, the point is not for her to kill us, so we'll see how it goes." Emerath had formed a few ideas in his head, as he considered how best to take out someone with the high ground in melee. The best option was usually to bring them down to his level. So that might be just what he had to do. But he already knew she wouldn't come down from that hill easily. Emerath didn't run. He started walking up the hill, keeping his fighting stance at the ready. It wasn't until about a third up the hill that Emerath started to jog, and quickly burst into a run, as Emerath raised his fist for a punch towards Kaede. But, this had been too obvious for Emerath to simply keep on with a straight frontal attack. Instead, knowing that Rodger would be at the ready with his bow, Emerath feinted the punch and ducked, using his forward momentum to dive for the woman's legs, hoping that Rodger's arrows would prove enough of a distraction for him to take her down at the knees and get her from the top of the hill.
______Kaede had a decent idea of how they fought, moving to hold her weapon with her left hand as she kept an open hand towards her enemies, namely Emerath who was approaching her. His actions was smart, if not for the fact he was not faster then Kaede, and was not setting himself up with a real back up it seemed. His attempted faint was caught in Kaede’s open hand, her muscles stinging before she turned her hand in an attempt to force Emerath to the ground by twisting his arm. Eyes moving slightly off the closer target towards the archer. ”In this case I could behead or take his arm.” _____Pushing her frame forward and letting her grip go quickly in an effort to push Emerath away so they could try again. The two would need to think, If they noticed Kaede was not trying to chase them around, and she herself already said she would lose should she be taken off the hill or leave it giving them all the time they would need to talk. Moving her weapon slowly to tap the ground, if she wanted she could cast a spell or two, shaking her head to dismiss the idea as she mumbled to herself. ’Don’t use that Kaede… You said you would train them yourself not beat them up… Relax… Some take time to learn, others need a helpful push but blasting them with magic ain’t needed…” _____Kaede would slowly sigh and move her free hand to rub her neck slightly. The palm still stung and trying to play it off as not was slightly working unless the looked closely to see her eyes showing slight pain as the clothed hand rubbed along the back of her neck. While if she did not do it she could hide it, this was her trying to give them something to focus on for attacking her. @Rodger Clemens
Rodger watched as Emerath approached their opponent, his arrow ready and waiting for an opportunity to fly. He had planned on backing Emerath up, maybe firing an arrow or two to create and opening for him to exploit, but he was not prepared for how fast the two moved once they were in striking distance from one another. Turns out trying not to hit an ally engaged in battle with the enemy was a lot harder than he previously thought. He hesitated for a moment, unable to setup a shot as they continued to clash, before flanking to the right in order to remedy the problem. Once he got clear of Emerath, he shot an arrow towards Kaede with a prayer on his lips, hoping that if it didn't do damage that it would at least force the two to break apart so they could regroup. They did eventually get a little space, but Rodger saw Kaede do something a bit strange. She looked like she was about to do something, but instead shook her head and started mumbling something. He was too far away to hear it clearly, and by the time he thought about activating investigation, the moment had passed. 'Does she have some ace up her sleeve? Maybe if we push her enough, she'll reveal it.' The archer didn't admit it often, but he was pretty competitive when he wanted to be, and finding out that she might be holding back was enough to get his motor running. "Emerath, let's try it again!" Rodger fired another arrow at Kaede, making sure to stay to Emerath's right instead of covering him from the back. It was a little risky, there was nothing but space between the swordswoman and the archer. But if she decided that he needed to be dealt with, then she would have to turn her back on Emerath. Rodger trusted that the brawler would't let that happen without consequence.
Analytical observation was very detailed in investigation mode — everything was crystal clear from movement, positioning, attacking opportunity, possible strikes and even strength analysis. Corvella hadn't been much of a strategist, so all this information might prove useful in later battles. She then examined every move launched by the skirmishers. The red-haired man is surprisingly a quite agile fighter, transitioning from a strike into an opening movement not unfamiliar for a tank like her. The move opened an opportunity for the archer to release an arrow from the right; a direction that Kaede might not anticipate. So far, the archer have managed to pressure Kaede with carefully planned arrow strike rather than rain of arrows, a really good call. But then the investigation mode picked up something else; Kaede was about to unleash some unknown magical energy. Corvella hadn't faced any magic that felt like the aura Kaede briefly emitted. Was it Astramancy? Corvella, realizing that she might have something left hidden on her sleeve that the battle might back hard into Kaede's favor, concluded that the battle would be completely one-sided should Kaede unleash her full power. Nevertheless, one does not train by holding back their power. She might use it sooner or later, depending how much they put the pressure. Interrupting someone in the middle of the training is rude, but Corvella herself is interested to see more of it. She got up from the sidelines and walked few feet toward the high ground Kaede was standing on. With the battle situation de-escalated after the last failed strike, she called @Kaede Hoshi "Kaede." Corvella gestured with her shield "Have more room for another challenger to even things out?" she implied a three-versus-one battle, where Kaede could use her magic fully and they have more strategical moves to expend against her.
Emerath's feint shouldn't have been caught. He was certain he had pulled his punch enough to give him the proper distance for the dive, but in the heat of the moment, especially in combat, these things always blurred together. But that was the point of training, wasn't it? Emerath made a mental note to try the feint again another time, but with more distance between them so his fist couldn't be caught. Unfortunately, these thoughts were farther away than he would have liked, as Kaede twisted his arm in her own fist. Emerath instinctively rolled into the twist, his shoulder hitting the dirt, the potential of his momentum both allowing him to dodge an attack, as well as bring Kaede with him into the roll for a grapple if she didn't let go. Not to Emerath's surprise, she ended up letting go of his fist as he created some distance between them. Much to Emerath's surprise, an attack from her sword never came. Instead she seemed to have paused to consider something, though with Emerath moving the way he was, everything was a blur. Emerath saw an arrow whiz by Kaede, and Emerath huffed. He would have to plan his timing with Rodger better for the next one. But if they came at her from opposite angles, she would have to face one of them. She wasn't going to leave the hill, so Rodger wasn't in any real danger. Emerath just had to act like good enough bait to make this work. His feet started up the hill once again, clearing the small gap between Kaede and himself, before he heard a foreign voice enter the space. His head snapped around to see another woman speaking to Kaede, and he instinctively paused, crouching down on the hill, so at least if this proved to be a distraction not in his favor, that he was a smaller target. But the woman wanted a three on one match. The thought was an interesting one, but Emerath wasn't certain going that far was that necessary. Though, it made Emerath wonder just how powerful this Kaede person was in Terrasphere, should they garner enough respect for such a handicap. Slowly he breathed, silently he waited for Kaede's response.
