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Post by lilywilde on Sept 27, 2016 18:19:04 GMT -6
Lily had spent the last few days replaying the fight with Aegle, and thinking about the various ways in which she'd struck the girl. She'd been busy, with the princess, with her studies, and her own training... she hadn't been given the opportunity to follow up with her orange friend.
She got dressed that morning with these thoughts heavy in her mind. She picked out an outfit that was graciously paid for by Amber. It was a simple dress, a white top with a black bow across the chest, followed by a simple black pleated skirt, long white leggings, and a pair of black shoes with buckles instead of laces. It may have seemed simple to most, but for Lily it was the height of fashion. She was uncomfortable in a lot of ways. The bra for instance was not a pleasant addition to her wardrobe, but Amber has insisted that it wasn't proper for a young lady to go without. The shoes were also uncomfortable. She wasn't used to her feet being constricted in any way, and they made it much harder to walk quietly, but she would adjust eventually.
The stares that she got in the halls like this were... different. She was still avoided by everybody. Very few students would meet her gaze or regard her with anything other than revulsion...but a few looked at her with a different set of eyes. Nervous, but intent on something. These students made her nervous in turn. They stared at her for much longer than she was used to or comfortable with. In class, there were students who would steal glances at her when they thought she wasn't looking. She hated it, and much preferred being invisible as she normally had been. She sat in the back mostly because she didn't want the attention. She walked quickly through the halls after class, which, for her, meant that she was practically jogging compared to the standards set by most pedestrians. She went through her whole day like that. A couple of times some young men had tried to approach her, but she was quick, and escaped before they were close enough to speak. Her heart was racing, and she felt somehow more vulnerable now than she had in the days prior. She darted from class to class in this fashion, trying her best to avoid the attention a select group of her peers were now showing her, but inevitably drawing more in her haste.
Halfway through her day, she ran into Aegle, and her thoughts from that morning had crept back in. A welcome problem, that she already thought she knew how to deal with. The girl had been open to every single attack and feint that Lily had thrown, and if she'd been using her claws, she was afraid she might have ended Aegle's life in that fight. She couldn't believe someone who was such a capable fighter when she was actually landing punches would leave themselves so open to the easiest of feints to avoid. She wanted to see if she couldn't help Aegle to gain a sense of suspicion on the combat field, and maybe allow her friend to be more successful in future bouts. The Vytal Festival was coming up afterall, and Aegle would need to be at her best if she wanted to do well. She jogged forward, her shoes making a 'clack clack clack' sound as she moved in order to catch up with the girl. Back pack slung over one shoulder lazily, she tapped Aegle on the shoulder and squeaked in her ear "Hey there friend! I'm glad to see you, got a second?"
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Post by Aegle Vitus on Sept 27, 2016 21:50:32 GMT -6
Creature of habit that she was, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to anyone when Aegle was seen leaving her afternoon classes in the same hoodie and cargo pants she seemingly wore every other day of her life. The small girl had thought very little of her fight with Lily, save in fond remembrance for a battle well fought, which had ended on terms about as amicable as possible. Aegle, stunned as she had been at the last blow Lily landed, couldn't even remember precisely how the match had concluded. Even that final blow was a mystery to her memory, though it remained fresh in the mind of most of those who'd been present for the contest. Thus, Aegle did not recall the sinking disappointment which had assailed her when it became evident to her bruised mind that she could no longer continue the fight. Also, being that Lily had not seen fit to comment on the match to her, Aegle could only assume her raven haired friend had been satisfied with the bout. Without anything to cast a pall over what she could remember, Aegle had determined her fight with Lily to be a fight well done and set its occurrence behind her in her mind.
She had gone back to her active but predictable routine, in spite of her injuries. The final tally had been two broken ribs, one black eye, a split lip, a mild concussion and more scrapes, bruises and contusions than could be accurately counted. While some might have counted such perseverance as remarkable and such dedication admirable, those who knew Aegle well knew she had suffered far worse and still not relaxed her training regime. She had recovered quite quickly too, even without easing up on her training. Less than half a week later, even her ribs had creaked and crackled back into place. In fact, her mind couldn't have been further from the fight with Lily and the injuries accrued there upon. This was mainly because she was too distracted by thoughts of history. Specifically, Remnant History. Though it was a fact she had long resigned herself to, Vytal's requirement that huntresses in training also keep up with their academic studies was remained vexing to her. That was how, at the exact moment that Lily tapped Aegle on the shoulder, the small girl in question was trying to remember precisely when something called 'The Fall' had occurred.
"Hey there friend! I'm glad to see you, got a second?" Lily asked, snapping Aegle from her Sisyphean reverie.
"Oh-Hey~" The smaller girl answered in greeting. She wore an expression at once delighted and friendly in answer to her friend's question. "Yeah sure, whatcha need?"
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Post by lilywilde on Sept 28, 2016 21:44:13 GMT -6
Seeming to have jarred her out of some thought or another, Lily felt a little rude for having interrupted, but her annoyance with her friend overrode that.
"What exactly was that in the fight the other day? I... I learned a whole lot, and I owe you a TON for all the things you taught me in that fight, but honestly... You left yourself open so many times, and fell for every single feint I used on you. I want you to come down to the training field and work on some skills with me. If you're gonna survive the Grimm, you can't let every single hit land like that. It's dangerous, and.. well... I don't want you getting killed for something stupid." While her rant had started off a bit aggressive, all of that seeped out of her voice as the worry crept in during that final sentence.
"I like you Aegle, you're the best friend I've got here at the school... If I can help you even a little, then I really want to, y'know?"
She appraised her friend. She was worried that she'd spoken too much all at once again. She had a bad habit of doing that, and Aegle had a lot of difficulty processing large strings of new information. Still she desperately wanted to impress upon Aegle the importance of this. If she couldn't read a little deception, if she couldn't prepare herself against her opponents motives, then how could she fight? Lily didn't quite understand that not everyone fought like she did, nor did she fully grasp that her fighting style was not by default, the only way to go about things. She did however know that certain disciplines of her combat method would be beneficial to anyone no matter what their style was. Even Aegle, who relied primarily on counterattacking.
She hadn't truly considered exactly how she would tutor Aegle. She didn't know how the girl learned, or what method of practice would be effective, but she did know that she wanted to do something for her.
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Post by Aegle Vitus on Sept 29, 2016 23:04:28 GMT -6
When Aegle had given her almost automatic acquiescence, she hadn't really expected that, whatever Lily wanted to discuss, she'd choose to do it in the middle of the hall. Not that airing their laundry, dirty or otherwise, in sight of the other students really bothered Aegle. For one thing, she looked at privacy and discretion as things which happened, exclusively, to other people. For another, she didn't so much as suspect that what Lily had to say would demand any pronounced reaction from herself. Perhaps that was why the sudden surge of obstinance she felt surprised her so, which was to say nothing of where she directed it. Slowly, a grin stretched itself broadly across the smaller girl's lips, a grin which showed entirely too many teeth. Perhaps it was the aggressive approach which the taller faunus had first assumed, which had done well in setting the tone for a confrontation between the pair. Perhaps it was the fact that Aegle, challenged as she was to keep her attention on many things at once, had latched onto the most readily apparent aspect of Lily's rant. Read: The faunus girl's challenge to her skills in combat. Maybe it was as simple as Aegle being surprised and blindsided by criticism she honestly hadn't expected. Whatever the reason, Aegle fixed her friend with an emerald stare of such intensity as she had not shown outside of their fight. The smaller girl's face held no secrets from the outside world. It was a countenance of such energetic expressions that no emotion Aegle felt was too complicated to broadcast clearly upon it. And the expression she wore right then, as she stared down Lily, was one of astounded incredulity, tinged ever so softly by a hint of amusement.
"I have survived Grimm." She told Lily pointedly, with as much terseness as humor in her shrill and carrying voice. There was no essay to accompany her comment, which was evidently offered in the pure interest of contradicting Lily. Aegle made as much quite clear when uncertainty flickered across her honest face less than a moment after the final word passed her lips. She rallied quickly though, and that look of dangerous stubbornness reasserted itself a moment later.
"Come on Lily. Y'give me a couple of love taps and y'think I can't defend myself?" Aegle, unlike her friend, made no effort to keep her volume low or their conversation private. Unsurprisingly, the piercing nature of her voice caught the attention of the students passing by and, even if only briefly, made either of them the center of attention.
"I gave as good as I got in our fight, ya know?" The smaller girl said, shaking a finger at her friend, a bit of hardness hiding behind her jovial tone. One might had been able to argue the truth in her words though, for she certainly hadn't hit nearly so hard as the super sonic faunus. Her blows had been quick and surprisingly precise, given the frenetic nature of their fight, but Lily had still been favored to win.
"Wasn't one of your fake punches which got me anyway."
Aegle's expression softened at that, and she reached up to pat Lily fondly, if somewhat patronizingly, upon the head.
"Come on, Lily. I told you not to worry so much."
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Post by lilywilde on Sept 30, 2016 13:18:50 GMT -6
Lily was a little surprised that Aegle had in fact, dealt with Grimm. It was not something that should have surprised her, but it did. In her own mind, there weren't other people her own age who'd dealt with the nastiness of the outside world. That was of course, a total fallacy. She had even seen other students out in Setek helping to destroy the monstrously large grimm that had attacked. Still. She looked bashful, and almost apologetic when she regarded her friend once more.
"I know that you're more than capable of defending yourself. Trust me. You can do quite well for yourself in combat. I... I'm sorry if I came off as disrespectful of your abilities." Her ears flattened slightly in shame. Still, she had a point to make and wanted to see it through. "But y'know, the argument could be made that my 'fake' punches let me land hits on you that contributed to your eventual fall... I just... I like you alright? I don't want you to lose a fight you shouldn't lose just 'caus you took a few too many hits you could have avoided. I learned a ton about fighting from you in our match, I wanna return the favor by teaching you what I can. Would you please at least let me try?"
She realized that she'd spoken a lot, but had kept the concepts pretty simple, and she hoped Aegle would be able to process all of that without one of her smoke-coming-out-the-ears moments of struggling to puzzle out the meaning of Lily's words. She found herself staring intently at the orange girls face, the fact that there was a small crowd of people now taking time out of their days to watch this unfold didn't concern Lily at all. Some of them were probably present during their fight, but the majority of them were just eager to see what they believed to be a confrontation between two students. She couldn't truly blame them, she would watch too. More because she would be curious to see any sources of conflict in her general area so she'd know where a source of potential danger might emanate from.
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Post by Aegle Vitus on Sept 30, 2016 18:04:26 GMT -6
Aegle wasn't a fan of Lily's insinuation that it might have been her failure at recognizing the fake punches which contributed her defeat by knock out, and she wore as much plainly upon her face. So far as she was concerned, no single one of the faunus girl's blows had been sufficient to keep her down, all on their own, and that counted for more than simply being able to tell which ones she needn't bother blocking. In Aegle's mind, she had done everything she could have done during their fight; She had fought to the utmost of her ability, after all. Still, if there was any single way to appeal to Aegle's sensibilities, it was by the suggestion of another friendly bout in the training yard. That went a long way towards weedling around her initially obstinate reaction.
With a cocky grin, Aegle moved her hands behind her head and shrugged her twisted shoulders.
"I mean, heck... If ya just wanted another match, you coulda just said so." She said amicably enough, with the last shreds of hardness in her tone and expression finally making themselves scarce. From the way she held herself, it was clear that her confidence had not been injured by her prior defeat.
"I got some time now, if ya want?" Aegle didn't wait for Lily's answer, and instead swung carelessly around and limped her way to the door. Just like that, she had gone from stubborn and defensive back to her usual careless and irreverent self.
"Come on~" the smaller girl called back loudly, "I can't take too long. Gotta exercise before supper too, ya know?"
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Post by lilywilde on Sept 30, 2016 18:54:47 GMT -6
Lily nodded, she hadn't fully intended to turn this into another spar, but she figured she could get the same results this way.
"Okay, another spar is simple enough. Here's the thing though. For every one of my attacks, I'm going to throw two to four fake punches your way. I want you to at least try to figure out where the true strikes are going to land and counter me before I manage to get the real hits in alright? That's the challenge of this fight. If you win, I'll treat you to some curry. You lose if I land six hits on you without you predicting correctly when the real one was going to land. Deal?"
It was a rule set that she'd literally thrown together on the spot, but it seemed like a pretty good set of rules to get the practice she wanted in.
"And if you lose, you have to meet me in the training field every day until you finally figure out how to spot them right. Sound good?"
Lily wasn't expecting Aegle to win on the first day, though it was possible. However, Lily was faster, and her fighting style more unpredictable than most. Even a seasoned fighter like Aegle might have difficulties spotting the nuances of Lily's quick and deceptive fighting style. Though, a part of her wanted to lose just so she'd have an excuse to go eat some curry.
Maybe I'll treat her to curry either way. That sounds yummy.
She was shaken from her thoughts as they made their way towards the training grounds. She continued to notice people were staring at her in weird ways. Ways which she'd previously never been looked at. It was starting to make her skin crawl. She wasn't used to this kind of attention, and a part of her was desperately wanting to return to the status quo of being nearly ignored. She was on edge. The fact that she actually looked rather stunning in her new clothes hadn't dawned on her as the reason for the newfound attentions paid to her by the opposite sex, and certain members of the same sex as well.
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Post by Aegle Vitus on Oct 3, 2016 21:27:08 GMT -6
"I dunno why ya gotta go complicatin' something good like a fight with a whole bunch of rules..." Aegle remarked as the pair of them approached the training fields. A fair few more bodies were cluttered around the outdoor sparring area than there had been the day of their last match, a fact easily attributed to the earliness of the afternoon. In a school made up mostly of high-strung and well trained fighters, more than one academic argument found its resolution upon the training field's well tended turf. Such was apparently the case as Aegle and Lily arrived, just in time to watch the final blows of what must have been an especially fast paced fight.
"Heads up!" Someone from the gathered crowd shouted, right before a large and pointy piece of metal, recently relieved from its owner's grasp, came sailing towards them. Aegle, for her part, let out a quiet yip in surprise and side stepped the careening piece detritus as it impaled the very spot where she'd been standing.
"Woah!" She cried, a smile stretched broadly across her face, as her eyes flicked between the smoking hunk of metal and where it had come from. One crumpled figure, presumably the escaped weapon's owner, was picking herself off the ground with the help of her opponent. Neither one looked to be especially badly hurt, but a glance could have identified either as running low on aura. A cheer of mixed enthusiasm rose up among the spectators as the two combatants alighted from the field, only for their place to be promptly taken up by another pair of would-be foes.
"Just in time for the daily fights." Aegle observed, still grinning as if a mangled spear hadn't nearly taken her in the stomach. Without another word, she picked her way among the throngs of students, gathered to watch the inevitable procession of matches, towards a reasonably clear patch of earth just a little ways past the largest grouping of spectators.
Much as she had before the prior match, Aegle reached down the back of her hoodie and dialed up the strength of her brace, affecting an immediate change in her posture and movements. While Aegle never seemed to move with undue difficulty, there were certain limitations which even her obstinate nature need respect. Those limitations were considerably thwarted when the brace was dialed up to its utmost capacity however, which raised the question of why she ever dialed it down. Rolling her shoulders, the orange haired girl gave a cursory stretch and tested the muscles hours in class had rendered indolent and lazy. Seemingly satisfied, Aegle next turned to face her friend and soon to be opponent, and regarded Lily with her usual cavalier smile.
"So, I just wanna make sure before we fight..." She said with the utmost sincerity and gravity in her tone, despite the broadness of her smile, "That you can actually afford t'buy me dinner." A loud cracking sound from Aegle's knuckles punctuated her words. "Cause if I'm gonna play along, it ought to be big enough to fill me, yeah?"
Bringing her hands up into half-guard, Aegle clenched her fists and produced another succession of crackling-pops through the bandage wraps that covered her hands. Her cocksure grin never faltered, as if she saw not even the slightest chance that she wasn't up to Lily's challenge.
"And dessert too."
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Post by lilywilde on Oct 4, 2016 12:51:00 GMT -6
As Lily and Aegle arrived at the training grounds, Lily found herself eagerly digesting each new fight with wide open eyes. Studying the moves and powers of those fighting with a studious intent. She even went so far as to take out her notebook and began scrawling some quick yet tidy notes in the looping forest lettering that she was most used to. She was so distracted, she almost missed Aegle who was finding themselves a small plot of the training ground to hold their own practice bout in. She rushed over to her friend leaving the last few notes about a girl who was wielding a gigantic set of shears which had the capability to transform into a railgun unfinished. She grinned, when she had learned about how money worked from Amber, she had discovered that she did in fact have some of that money. The thin plastic card that the Huntress who'd given her Mr. Flufflestiltskin and her backpack was loaded with stuff. She rarely ever used it, preferring to just live simply as she had been.
"I've got some, yeah! I'm pretty sure that I could manage a few meals." She said with a grin.
She paused after that, letting the carefree attitude drain from her as the spirit of the fight took hold. She took on a defensive stance, watching her soon to be opponent with studious eyes. She let out a long breath of air. She'd replayed their previous fight several times in her head since then. She would not let herself be caught off guard in so many counter strikes this time. If she led her punches right, she could make sure she was striking from difficult to counter positions, or disengaging from her opponent before a counter could land. She might have to sacrifice some force behind her punches in order to get the speed up to snuff, but it was doable. She wasn't aiming for a knockout this time afterall. The punches landing is what counted. Her aura began to faintly glow as she prepared mentally. The sense of peace and power that she exuded was a testament to how confident she felt in this battle.
"Remember, you have to block at least one out of six moves correctly. I will not be going easy on you." She said as she squared away, finally saying "Ready when you are."
The students who were making room for the new fight that was about to spring up did not bother Lily in the slightest. Even if some wore the same strange expressions that she'd been getting ever since her shopping trip with Amber. No, she was totally focused on Aegle and the fight ahead of her. Even the other fights going on around them were barely registering a blip on Lily's radar. Only the most sufficiently loud clashes even drew so much as a twitch from her ears. Should she hear anything like shattering metal once again though, she might react a bit more. That spear that nearly impaled Aegle hadn't quite caught the faunus off guard. She had been prepared to snatch it out of the air and send it safely jangling away where no students were standing. Aegle's reflexes were fine though, and she didn't need to waste the aura.
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Post by Aegle Vitus on Oct 4, 2016 22:57:28 GMT -6
For the barest second, Aegle flashed her friend her most irrepressible smile, which served as much to warn Lily of the impending violence as anything else. The faunus girl had barely so much as allowed that she was ready to begin before Aegle shot towards her in a full out sprint, without even the slightest consideration to her personal defense. It was as though, in the instant that battle began, all thoughts of Lily's conditions and the little game they were meant to be playing had flown straight out of Aegle's head. Really that wasn't so far from the truth. For while, on some academic level, Aegle understood that her friend had wanted to work on how she dealt with feints, she was a prisoner to her impulses and instincts. Among an entire academy of hunters in training, the orange haired huntress was apart in her single minded approach to fighting. Neither risk of defeat nor fear of physical harm held her back, nor was she able to fight in any way other than how she'd fought Lily during there first match. For, while Aegle may have been quite proficient in her chosen method of violence, it was also the other method she knew. To her, there was no other way to attack a foe but head on, for she had neither the tools, training nor the inclination to attack in any other way.
Getting into range rapidly, Aegle lashed out boldly with the back of her lead hand in seemingly perfect imitation of a shield bash, sans shield, which she followed up immediately with a lightning quick jab. The two attacks fell with such rapidity as to be near simultaneous, with the former concealing the telegraph of the latter till the penultimate moment. With a flashing grin that showed far too many teeth, Aegle brought her lead hand, fresh from its backhanded swipe, back around in a sweeping cross. It was a startlingly quick combination, though not especially remarkable given Aegle's previously displayed proficiency. What made it impressive was the fact that she held onto every little bit of momentum as she moved. Both backhand and jab had been thrown with the full strength of her charge, whose inertia was then transferred into the subsequent cross. From the ease with which she performed such a technical maneuver, it was plain that Aegle had spent many hours practicing that exact combination. Still, nothing could make up for her inherent lack of physical strength, and neither back hand nor punch landed with force much greater than one thrown by a regular hunter, standing still.
Weaving around Lily with the motion of her swings, Aegle charged her next punch with the momentum of its predecessor, and swung offhanded at Lily's jaw. She didn't back off or make room for her swings, and instead stayed in as close as she could, never surrendering so much as an inch to her foe. It was only through quick, plainly well practiced and instinctive footwork that she kept so close without hampering herself.
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