Re: Straight from the Source

[Fayte Scarlett]

Kotone was finally on the defensive, blocking attacks instead of hurling more magic. Fayte continued to press her advantage; now that it was within her grasp. She had to make the best of what she had quickly, before Kotone turned it around. She paused only when she sensed Kotone gathering more magic. Abruptly the dome covered the both of them, sealing off their space. Just like that, she'd been trapped in a smaller space. It was like Kotone had purposely lured Fayte into overcommitting. Speed wouldn't be much use without the proper area.

She saw the attack coming, but could do little against it. Kotone rebounded off the wall, quickly hurling against Fayte. She tried to twist away, but the dome limited her mobility. The claws struck her against the side. It would have been an extremely heavy blow without Kotone limiting her magic. It still hurt, but she wasn't in danger of bleeding out. The wind was knocked out of her; Fayte collapsed to one knee and panted. Her pride wanted to continue the fight... but she knew logically that she would be in far worse shape, if this wasn't a 'sparring' match. Besides, there was no reason to continue any further. She already had seen a good amount of Kotone's skills and powers.

"That's enough," Fayte conceded, voice surprisingly even despite her quiet panting. Her harpy form vanished, replaced with the same Fayte that Kotone had met earlier. In her normal human form, she couldn't use any spells - this was akin to her laying down her weapon. The fight was over. Because Fayte worked so hard to be strong, it was hard to admit defeat. Her pride insisted that she should win. But Master Xian Fei had taught her to remain humble, for that was the best way to grow. Recognizing that she had lost was a way to reflect on her mistakes, and train to become stronger. She rose to her feet. "Thank you, Kotone Hoshino. I am glad I could face you." Was she glad? She was fairly certain it was close to the truth.

[Kotone]

Kotone flourished her sword sheathing, standing up straight and letting out a breath she’d been holding while on the offensive. She wore an almost cocky grin, but she still held out a hand to Fayte when she admitted defeat. “It was a fun exercise,” Kotone agreed. It had actually not been easy. Speedy opponents never were, even ones weaker than Fayte. She was lucky that Tatsuma had given her so much practice in their two previous fights.

Kotone was even more stubborn than Fayte. Pride or no, admitting defeat was hard, and she knew it. “You know,” she comforted the young woman, “I’m pretty sure if my little trick hadn’t worked you would have had a pretty good chance.” Plus, she’d taught Kotone that such a tactic might work on a speedy wizard in the future. Every little bit of experience helped, right?

“Care to come back by my place? You might as well rest up a bit after that.” Kotone was panting too. She needed rest as badly as she expected Fayte did. Plus… she’d remembered she was actually quite hungry. “Also I haven’t had lunch. Want some noodles?” Even Kotone hated to eat alone when someone else was in her company.

[Fayte Scarlett]

Fayte shook her head when Kotone mentioned the trick. Combat was combat. It didn't matter what tactic it took to win, it was still a win. There was no excuse. ...But it had been a fun fight. It would have been more fun if Fayte had won, but the fight was still enjoyable. She stared at the offered hand, and hesitated. She knew what it meant; knew it was a gesture of goodwill. But something about taking the woman's hand made Fayte freeze up. It had nothing to do with their fight, or Fayte's feelings, it was just... Well if that wasn't it, why was she hesitating? Slowly her hand inched up to meet Kotone's. When she finally did grip her hand, Fayte's grasp was weak; unsure of itself. She dropped it as soon as she was able to.

She stared at Kotone when the dragon slayer offered her company. Rest? And lunch? It was hard to believe what she was hearing. Why would Kotone do that? Did she expect to get something? People didn't really do that for free, did they? Fayte was a little lost again. ...She wanted to think that Kotone was just being nice. Now that they had fought in a sparring match, perhaps they were a little closer. It was certainly an honest way of gauging each other. Well... as honest as one could be in Shadow Heart. Slowly Fayte nodded her head. "That sounds...... nice," she admitted, gaze suddenly too shy to meet Kotone. She wasn't sure why anyone would want to have her company; she wasn't exactly the best conversationalist. "If... you don't mind, that is..."

[Kotone]

Kotone raised an eyebrow at Fayte’s suddenly odd behavior. “Yeah, I know. It’s weird when someone does something nice for you. I thought so too. But look, you fought well, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re at the very least friendly acquaintances after a brawl like that.” Kotone wasn’t like that to the extent of someone like Atrum or some of the other people she’d met in the last year or so. But she did enjoy a good fight, and even if she didn’t like the person afterword, she at least gained a measure of respect for the people she’d had a good, friendly fight with.

She led Fayte back to the house, looking to the stove as she remembered she’d left out her food she had meant to be cooking. Ah well, it hadn’t been that long. It should be fine. “Make yourself at home,” Kotone told Fayte, picking up a stuffed animal she’d left somewhat too close to the stove and tossing it onto the couch so nothing bad would happen to it. She turned and gave Fayte a slightly fangy, but mostly friendly grin. “Now, I’ve proven I’m who I said I am and you’ve proven you’re more than a fainting stalker. Where are you from?” She decided to ask, practicing her idle conversation skills a bit. She didn’t usually do idle conversation all that much, so it was a struggle to figure out what to say.

[Fayte Scarlett]

Silently Fayte absorbed Kotone's explanation. It felt naive, but Fayte wanted to believe Kotone. They didn't need a specific reason to spend time together. They had simply gotten closer by fighting, and could now spend more time together. To what end? Fayte wasn't sure why she followed Kotone. Dealing with people was often very tiring. It was a constant battle of know what to say, or what not to say, but Kotone didn't seem to hold Fayte up to a particular expectation.

They reached the house again, taking up familiar positions, with Fayte on the couch. She jumped lightly when a stuffed cat was suddenly hurled next to her for companionship. Hesitantly Fayte peeked around at Kotone, who seemed preoccupied with making lunch. When Fayte was certain the other girl wasn't looking, Fayte re-arranged the plushie so that it was sitting up properly. Just in time, for Kotone had returned her attention to her guest quickly. "Where I'm from...." Fayte repeated. She figured there was no harm in answering such a question. There were a few people who might recognize her here, but mainly as a normal girl... not a dark mage. Those that were part of the dark guilds knew better than to share her cover. "Hosenka." As far as Fayte was concerned, her life began here. "I learned my takeover fighting from my Master Xian Fei. Have you always lived here? Were you taught by a... dragon?" She had heard the stories, but didn't know how much was fact or fiction. Fayte wasn't used to small talk either, but she was... trying.

[Kotone]

Unfortunately for Fayte, Kotone knew rather well that the animal hadn’t been sitting down when it landed, and when she turned around and spotted it, she looked from it to Fayte questioningly, before an amused grin crossed her face. Fayte was a confusing woman, but she didn’t seem like a bad one. Who could be bad if they treated stuffed animals so well, right? “I’ve lived here since I was twelve,” Kotone told Fayte in answer of her question. It was interesting that Fayte was actually from Hosenka. “The house technically belongs to my neighbor, but she gave it to me instead of selling it when her husband died.”

The fangs reappeared when the woman asked fi she was taught by a dragon. “Taught and Raised,” she answered with a nod and a grin. “Krendall the ice dragon was an amazing father and teacher, up until he left when I was eight.” A lot of people thought it was weird when she said she was raised by a dragon. She hadn’t thought of herself as a human exactly for a long time. She still kind of didn’t due to her upbringing. She was a dragon slayer – something more and something less. “Before I lived here I lived in the mountains with him, and in the woods below the mountain when I was on my own. I was an adorable little hermit child.”

[Fayte Scarlett]

Blankly Fayte returned Kotone's mischievous gaze. Although Fayte had seen Kotone look at the plushie, Fayte pretended not to know what the stare was about. Besides, there was a chance that Fayte was being paranoid. Few people thought someone like her actually liked cute things. Then again, she'd given Kotone more than one or two hints. She listened silently as Kotone talked more about her upbringing. It made sense that the dragon slayer hadn't been in Hosenka her whole life. If she was really raised by a dragon, the locals of Hosenka would have certainly been in quite the uproar. "I've only started to travel more recently. You and I... we were both living in Hosenka at the same time, then." More of a mental note to herself than anything else.

So it was the ice dragon, Krendall, who had taught Kotone. But only until she was eight. That was quite the young age, which meant Kotone must have continued her training solo. At least, as far as Fayte could gather. "A... hermit child..." She repeated. Somehow, Fayte got the image of Kotone wearing a hermit crab's shell. A cute little hermit crab, with a spiral shell and fierce looking pincers. The thought was strange, but cute. She blushed slightly at the thought, suddenly too shy to look Kotone directly in the eye. "You're very sociable for a hermit," Fayte struggled and changed the subject. Her tone far too flat for it to be a proper compliment. There were just so many ways that Kotone seemed outright better than Fayte. Maybe that wasn't the right way to think of it - just the goals that Fayte had, Kotone already possessed. She had never met someone so similar and yet so different.

[Kotone]

“It sounds like we lived here at the same time, yeah,” Kotone nodded, concentrating on the food again for the moment. She looked up at Fayte, a slight grin on her face. “You don’t remember the twelve year old that beat up a trouble making adult wizard?” she asked the other woman. This was probably the only place she’d never alienated herself from. It was partially because so little trouble actually went on that she never felt like she should stay here long. People usually came here to relax, not cause trouble. That meant dragon slayers with attitude problems were rarely needed to play hero here. “Because that was totally awesome and fun.”

Of course, Kotone traveling a lot had meant it would be easy to miss her, and who knew if someone Fayte’s age was paying attention to the stuff going on around her at that time? Teenagers were weird -especially ones that weren’t Kotone. She looked up in time to see Fayte blushing about something. The young woman seemed to have a lot going on in her head at any given time, and Kotone was never quite sure what was going on in Fayte’s head. “I haven’t been a proper hermit since about the time I moved here, you know.” She reminded Fayte with a raised eyebrow.

[Fayte Scarlett]

Fayte had heard of the story before. Troublemakers were somewhat rare in Hosenka, at least those who did so openly. Fayte recalled that her Master Xian Fei had talked about the girl that had beaten up a fully grown wizard. But, this was the first time Fayte heard about that girl being a dragon slayer. Then again, that fact just made the story make more sense. Quietly Fayte nodded her head, indicating that she recognized the story.

Silently Fayte wondered what she was doing here. She had already fulfilled her mission to Shadow Heart, so there wasn't much need to talk to Kotone any further. It was pure impulse, really, that she decided to take up Kotone's offer on lunch. Fayte stared at the food but had yet to touch it. This was hospitality that she didn't deserve... they were enemies, and Fayte had come to spy on her. She didn't regret it, but that meant she couldn't accept what Kotone was trying to do. Sure... Fayte initially had agreed, but now that she was here... she was having second thoughts. "I'm sorry," she apologized suddenly, mainly for wasting Kotone's time. "I should actually get going." She rose to her feet, staring at Kotone a little longer. In the future, would Kotone stay like this? Fayte wondered how the other would grow, and if their spirits would remain similar, or end up diverging. "Thank you again, Kotone Hoshino," for the food, for the fight, for the small talk. Small talk was hard for her, but she didn't particularly dislike it... not when it was with someone like Kotone. Hopefully they wouldn't meet again. Because if they did... Fayte had a feeling it would be as enemies.

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