Heading Home [dead]

[Willow]

Willow had a moment to register the tiny film of blood on the edge of her blade before the impact between her shoulders struck.
She could have regained her balance easily, but decided to go with what would hopefully surprise her friendly opponent.
She let herself stumble, landing on all fours rather ungracefully, staggering limbs tossing sand up and away from her as she hit the ground.
The instant she did, however, she snapped her right leg up and back, striking at Aros’ chest. If it hit, it would almost certainly floor him – people weren’t built to take such a strike to the sternum and stay standing.

Regardless of it hitting or not, Willow flipped her already raised limb back over her head, easily twisting the rest of her body after it so that she did a sort of back flip to regain her feet.
She laughed briefly at Aros’ comment, a grin twisting her mouth. Anyone who knew her well would be running for it upon seeing that look – too often it was immediately followed by bruises being inflicted on them.

“Oh, I’m enjoying myself alright. But soon you mightn’t be,” She replied, still facing away from him after her flip.
She couldn’t see him, but she could pinpoint his location as if she had a second set of eyes in the back of her skull. Such was the advantage of knowing blindness well and learning how to fight around that disability.

They were a few yards apart, a distance Willow covered in a single powerful leap as she twisted to face him, shifting so slightly and quickly it was hardly visible; merging her human muscle with her wolf muscle to give her the strength for a near inhuman jump.
She came so close she could have landed on him if she wished; instead she sliced downwards with her knife towards his head. Had she been in a real fight, she would have instead tried to bury the dagger into his body and use her falling body weight to drive it home, then finish him off if that didn’t kill him. As it was, she just put all her boosted power behind a vicious slash instead.

[OOC: sorry if it's a bad post, it's quarter past one in the morning. Not the best time for writing haha]

[EternallyAlone]

On the winds of heaven
I will fly
and be free

Aros laughed as he was kicked, his risen arms blocked the most of the force from her kick. He used the remaining force as momentum to twist back and curl into a ball, spiraling through the air before he landed lightly on his feet. He kind of figured she'd do what was obvious to her frame. She hadn't seemed the kind to just topple over from a push like that.

Aros watched her come toward him, watched as she seemed to become more powerful and faster, he knew she must have used her animal abilities. So, he wuold, too.

You see, that was the greatest thing about his being a dragonfly. he wasn't afriad to tell others, and when he did, they laughed, he'd then offer them the chance to fight him, and tell him what they thought. This leading to them being in the hospital for a while, or a healer that was present fixing up broken limbs. The blonde man shifted his form laft way, using the wings that protruded groutescly form his back as a way to get from the slice, by taking to the air. "Haha! Not expecting that one, huh?" he said as he then swooped, moving fast and grasping the blade of the end and tugging, the movements all blured with speed so he managed to rip it free on the third tug, his hand left bleeding, which was healed once he shifted back to his full human form.

Aros then porceeded to launch the dagger as far into the water as he could, this being a distance enough that it was sinking to the bottom of the water.

OOC: It's perfectly fine! It's good1 Well, in my opinion, lol. ^^

[Willow]

Willow allowed a brief flicker of surprise to raise her eyebrows, then smiled, showing her teeth. It wasn’t a very reassuring expression.
“No, I didn’t. But now I know your animal form, and what you’re capable of, whereas you do not know mine. I’ve the advantage here,” She replied coolly, noting his cocky behaviour.
His move to grab her knife succeeded, but whilst he was trying to wrest it away from her he left himself wide open to attack.
Clinging onto her first blade stubbornly, Willow slipped a smaller, lighter weapon from her waist and pulled Aros closer by the dagger they both held; keeping her second blade hidden at her side until he was too near to easily avoid it. She lashed out with the lighter weapon at his right wings; a swift jab and downwards slash before retracting it across his arm back to her side; held away from him as she left the first knife go and backed away quickly; out of range.

“You do know arrogance is unbecoming, and likely to get you hurt, don't you?” Willow asked mildly; the loss of her dagger didn’t bother her too much. She could always go diving for it later...or make Aros do it. However, the moment he took to throw it gave her another opportunity, which she took.
Giving him little time to respond, she darted forwards and lashed out at his shoulder, the smaller blade whistling through the air with a slight, high ringing; again she went for a less vital area than she would have done in a real fight.
Continuing in a seamless display of movement, she spun behind him and slashed at his lower back, the blade grazing over the hilt of the hidden blade with an unmistakable noise; dislodging it slightly with the force behind the strike, though the hilt spared Aros any injury.
‘So I was right. He did have a weapon.’ The dark haired girl noted, pleased at her correct analysis. This guy didn’t seem to know that the point of a concealed weapon was to keep it a secret; not stand around with your hand on it half the fight, and as she twisted away Willow said as much.

“Hey, if you’re gonna hide a blade; don’t let your stance give away the weapon. Holding it isn’t a good idea if you don’t want to use it yet,” She coached; a slightly sarcastic, teasing note to her voice.

[EternallyAlone]

Aros grinned a little as he was attacked, letting her do him damaged before he kicked hi leg out once, a set of two daggers came from the pant leg. "Oh, really? Not evern if it's a decoy?" he asked this with a sneer as he rushed at her, his speed blurred a he moved with the wind, his wongs retracting into his skin.

Aros moved behind her, using the hilts of his daggers to knock her forward, then he moved to the front of her to knoch her back the other way, slashing a shallow mark into her arm, ata point that was bleed until properly bandaged. "..You might know my other half, but that doesn't mean you have an advantage, Miss Willow," he said this, a grin on his lips once more as he took on a relaxed stance, arms crossed over his chest, daggers held downward and at the ready.

((OOC: I'm feelin' lazy, not gonna do the orange this post..}}

[Willow]

Willow narrowed her eyes a fraction; Aros’ manner was starting to annoy her.
He was fast; probably an attribute from his shifted form, but Willow could match him had she wanted to. As it was, she started to turn; keeping her real speed hidden, letting his shove knock her forward as she tried to recover; her eyes flickering open in surprise as he appeared in front of her again.
With a turn of serious speed, though she still wasn’t at her fastest, she deflected his wounding blade slightly with her own; it still struck her arm but not at its intended point. With the blade now temporarily out of action, Willow left her blade locked with his and grabbed his arm at the elbow; catching his other arm at the wrist, her lean muscles bunching to stop his attack advancing any further. The whole manoeuvre lasted maybe two seconds, if that.

'Actually, knowing your shifted shape does give me an advantage,' Willow thought, contradicting him. Aloud, she merely growled out a few words; the effort of holding him in place barely registering in her voice. “That matter aside; I still have an advantage in you not knowing my form.” She snarled, her black eyes glinting with reflected moonlight and danger. ‘And you don’t know half of my skills, either.’ She added silently, her thought-voice just a touch scathing.
The only indication of her impending attack was a slight tightening of her grip, then she shoved their locked blades aside and pulled Aros down so they were on eye level; the blonde man stooped over slightly.
Then her bent knee slammed up towards his stomach, followed by her right hand releasing his arm to throw a punch at his face with enough force to have him staggering a few paces.

[EternallyAlone]

On the winds of heaven
I will fly
and be free

[/i] [/size]

Aros chuckled, with her holding his arms he shifted ins fett, mocing his heels beinhd hers and then jumping back, this taking half a second. Aros thrust his weight forward and knocking her off balance. A smirk took the blondes lips as he muttered into her ear "My dear, you're a wolf, the snarling you're doing is no hepl to hide that. At all." Aros rolled away and stood, moving to retreive his kinfe from the sand as he watched her, a small, joyous glint to his eyes.

Aros moved a little to the left, digging into the sand slighlty as he did this, not to do his first attack again, just becasue he enjoyed it. The blonde was calculating different possabilites in his mind as to how to attack or counter next. This was really becoming fun.

[Willow]

As her contact with the ground suddenly vanished, Willow shifted her grip on Aros slightly; moving to grip his shoulders and swiftly flipping herself over the top of his head; keeping hold of the material of his shirt as she landed on the sand; her feet sinking deeply as she rooted herself to the ground; using her momentum to pull Aros into the air after her; slinging him almost easily over her head and away from her; her opponent flipping end over end as he was forced to invert so that his shoulders were the closest thing to the slight young women who was currently tossing him like a ragdoll in a dog’s jaws.

As he reached the peak of the throw, Willow released him, sending him flying metres away across the beach. Willow was quite used to throwing people – it was a rather good surprise tactic – no one expected someone of her build to be able to toss a fully grown man over her shoulder or through a door, though it was actually fairly easy with the right momentum.

Willow waited for him to stand before answering him, a feral grin on her face.
“You’re wrong, actually,” The false words came smoothly to her; an expert by now. They sounded perfectly true. The more she kept him guessing, the easier beating him would be. And that was what Willow was aiming for – she tried to win every fight she could, be it training or not. “Wolves aren’t the only animals that snarl, after all,” She pointed out, the grin progressing to something resembling a smirk. After all, it wasn’t a usual conclusion to come to, that only wolves could growl and snarl. Compared to some creatures, they were actually rather quiet. Well, the normal ones were.

Without looking at it – not as comfortable as turning away from an opponent during a fight as Aros apparently was – Willow gently felt the slash in her arm that had been left when Aros’ knife had fallen from it during Willow’s aerial antics. It didn’t seem too worrying, and Aros’ blades had looked clean enough. She shouldn’t have to be overly concerned about infection.
Assessment over, she focussed fully on the man she was fighting, her thoughts running on a similar track to his, though Willow was starting to look to end the battle. She knew that once they started to get tired, Aros would have the advantage of sheer muscle mass. This was how many of Willow’s fights went – she enjoyed them for a while, then finished them quickly, if possible.

[EternallyAlone]

One the winds of heaven
I will fly
and be free

[/i] [/size]

Aros smiled as he stood up, he moved his shoulders some, making sure that they weren't injured too badly, "Bloddy brilliant!" he said this with a grin as he watched her, his eyes twinkling as he ploped himself once more to the sand and crossed his legs infront of him, seeming to be doing nothing.

"That was just amazing! You lie like a pro, and you threw me even farther then I would have imagined!" Aros crooned the words as he clapped, not noticing just hoe badly he had been struck with his own weapon, which was sitting aside him in the sand, he's have to clean it and soak it in clean water later. But that was then, this is now. Aros gazed up at her, his hait matted with sweat and with sand, his eyes glinting happily.

[Willow]

Willow raised her eyebrows, though her raised arms stayed put and her stance stayed wide to keep her steady, her face the only indicated she wasn’t buying Aros’ suddenly relaxed posture or compliments.

“Resorting to flattery to get me to drop my guard now, are we?” She asked rhetorically, sounding faintly amused though her humour didn’t weaken her defensive stance any. “Lie like a pro? Um...Aros? You are actually wrong this time,” She said with the hesitant, semi-embarrassed air of someone trying to point out something rather obvious without sounding conceited about it. She knew that neither her verbal nor body language had given her lie away, so Aros was probably trying to call her bluff – by saying he ‘knew’ she was lying, he might be trying to get her to admit it so he himself actually knew. It was confusing in theory, but that method was used often and worked most of the time.

Willow examined her peripheral vision for an opening, but didn’t see a way to attack without tipping Aros off and giving him time to dodge or block. Returning her focus to Aros himself, she decided to wait and see if an opportunity presented itself, whilst staying alert. She certainly didn’t trust Aros as far as she could throw him; that she’d tried and tested.

[OOC: Just asking, but does Aros have any reason to think Willow is a wolf beyond a doubt; that has been written in this thread, or is he just pursuing a hunch? Just to remind you that what you as the writer knows is not necessarily what the character knows. If it’s just something I’ve forgotten that happened earlier in the thread, tell me ]

[EternallyAlone]

On the winds of heaven
I will fly
and be free

[/i] [/size]

Aros smiled at her, his eyes trained on her as he spoke, joy in his voice, "I'm not trying to make you drop your gaurd. I've just heard quite a bit about you, and I was really goad I got the chance to fight you. This is really fun, but, if you throw like that, then I could have been dead long ago if you chose." Aros stood and began to dust off his clothing form the sand, his head bent, leaiving her the perfect time to attack him.

Aros moved his hands slowly, patting away the sand slowly as he seemed to keep his grin no matter. This was really starting to be fun. Yes, he knew that was wrong, to find so much joy in his fighting, or in his work in general, it was almost sick to most people.

[Willow]

Willow narrowed her eyes, watching him carefully as she determined whether to take his word about him hearing ‘quite a bit’ about her. It was possible, she supposed. She’d been travelling around for a while now in her search, and had made no big secret of it. People tended to notice the brash young woman with the swords on her back, especially after seeing her take on a man twice her size and dispatch him easily, the fact he was drunk at the time regardless. Willow had certainly left people talking in the places she’d visited, and in eighteen months that was a lot of towns and cities.

Finally deciding to believe that part of his tale, she nodded briefly, though her stance remained the same.
When she saw the exposed back of his neck, her first instinct was to leap forward and get a dagger to it; a single slash through the spinal column would kill, Willow was pretty sure they both knew that, so if she succeeded in placing a knife to his neck, she would win.

But seeing such an easy target made her pause. Aros had so far seemed a decent fighter; more than that, even. Baring his vulnerable neck was a rookie’s mistake – one Willow was sure he wouldn’t make. So, there was probably a ploy behind the blatant offer of a quick end to the battle.
Willow didn’t move, letting him complete the movement of dusting down his pants, though the speed at which he did so made her twitch in impatience. What was he, a dragonfly or a snail? Maybe she should attack the slow bugger anyway; at least it would make him move faster.

In order to refrain from marching over and dusting Aros’s trousers for him with her fists, she instead asked,
“So, are we continuing, or do you give in?” Upon asking it, she realised it was a genuine question, though her tone was lightly teasing – his manner would suggest he wasn’t about to fight, yet he hadn’t given any indication of wanting to finish either. Willow was having trouble reading him.

[EternallyAlone]

On the winds of Heaven
I will fly
and be free

[/right] [/i]

Aros smiled faintly once he looked back up at her, then knelt upon a single knee declaring in a pleased tone, "I am nothing but defeated in this battle. I forfeit before I loose me head." He then rose and turned on his heel to walk toward the water letting it wash over his feet as silence seemed to fill the salty air around them.

The man had his head trained downward, gazing at the shimmering black liquid around his feet, almost in awe, his mind clouded with thoughts and his eyes when distant, but he was stil alert and aware of himself and his surroundings. Aros began to crouch slowly, letting his pants get soaked in the water, seeming almost to relax as the water rushed over his being... he blamed it on being a dragonfly.

[Willow]

Willow waited a few beats, but it was only when Aros turned and walked away did she relax her stance.
“You’re a good fighter,” She finally replied, rolling her shoulders and taking in a deep breath of the tangy night air, noting ruefully the bruises starting to niggle at her awareness.
Nudging them back, she ignored them and followed Aros to the water’s edge, kneeling neatly next to him, staring out at the bay.
The surface of the water was almost still; wrinkled by the smallest breeze, though tiny waves still slipped across the sand.

Finally feeling like she could sleep, she was about to stand and take her leave when she remembered her knife lying in the sand in the bay.
She was going to have to have another shower after the fight anyway, but trying to wash sea salt out of her hair made the knee-length sheet even more of a bother.

Thankfully, there was another option.

“Aros, since you were the one who threw my dagger so far, you can get it. You don’t mind, do you?” Her question and smile were weighed down with false sweetness, but for all that her tone still brooked no argument. And if he tried to complain, she’d just throw him in the bay, and not let him out until he brought her knife back.
It occurred to her that he might just fly off. Considering this for a moment, Willow decided she’d react to that if it happened; either by catching him in mid air or collaring him at the inn.

[OOC: I'm so sorry this took so long! College has been kicking my butt lately; I've been run off my feet. I cannot wait for Easter break, and I've only been back from winter break for a few weeks!]