The Dragonbond Program discussion

Weiss was practicing his swordplay, his two blades flashing in a dance of steel and skin. His sleeveless vest was tailored for him to be able to move around in better. He was striking at nothing, but, of course, nothing was dying. Violaceus was gone at the moment, getting some much needed sleep. The dragon had had a busy week on orders.

"Interestingly enough, I don't think your brandished attacks towards that tree are going to make either you, feel any better.." An amused said, carrying across the clearing.
From her slouch against the tree, Aleyne cocked an eyebrow in the young mans direction. "Maybe if you were to try shouting at it, that might do everyone a lot of good."
Her silver hair twisted in the air as a soft breeze swept across them, the canopy ahead rustling in response.

"I don't believe I'm striking towards a tree, for your information. Or are you blind, perhaps?" Weiss replied, not looking towards the voice. However, the tip of one blade pointed directly towards her, in an unspoken threat. Keep your distance. "Maybe if you tried going somewhere else, it'd do you a lot of good," he said, finally turning to her.

Aleyne laughed mirthlessly, "we're in a forest. For your clarification, there are trees everywhere."
She shifted, brushing a hand against the tree as she pushed away from it. "Why, are you afraid without the silence?" An eyebrow cocked in a silent challenge, her eyes studying him meticulously. She made no move to run, or leave.

Whizz-Thud. Whizz-Thud. Whizz-Clatter-Curse.
The source of the sounds moved across a small clearing, cursing under her breath as she tucked a strand of her black hair back behind her ear, only to have it fall back in her face as she bent over to retrieve her throwing knife. She pulled the rest of them from the bullseyes on the trees, stepping from tree to tree. She blamed the voices for her single miss.
She could do fine with sounds, but sudden sounds breaking the silence broke her concentration. She slipped the knives back into the sheath under her leather jacket, over her black tanktop. She walked- or rather, stalked- over to the source of the sounds, an angry look on her beautiful face. She crossed her arms and leaned against a tree near them, glaring at the people. She didn't say a word.

"There isn't exactly a tree right where I stand, is there?" Weiss asked, eyes cold and calculating. He didn't care for her stance, tone, or existence. "No. I just don't enjoy listening to someone with an annoying voice, such as yourself," he said, completely serious. He hardly laughed about anything.

((Please, KT, ask to join before joining.))

((I've never had to before this group, so...... May I join?))

(( Maz warned you when you did it in chains :3))

((It's common courtesy. Sorry for the inconvenience. :) ))

Aleyne leaned in a little closer, her hair sliding from her shoulders and brushing against her face. "No, but there is one in the general vicinity." She noted, still smirking. "As for my voice, now there's a subject of great controversy...Yours isn't particularly great either..." She left the rest of the sentence unsaid, and waited for his reaction to her words.

((Ahh, darn it. Should I re-write that now?))

"I couldn't care less about my own voice. I'm saying that yours is irritating. Your thoughts on me mean nothing. However, irritating someone such as myself isn't good for your health, girl," Weiss said, his actually quite rich voice taking an edge. He had a balanced voice, perfect, if not for the harshness in his every syllable. If kinder words were there, they would be pleasing and nice to hear. He didn't care whether or not people enjoyed speaking to him, however.

((Ah. Wait-what?))

Aleyne brushed away his words without much thought for them, "healthy? Do I look particularly healthy to you?" An odd glint passed her eyes, the stormy blue hues within them seeming to darken as her mood visibly turned black.
Detaching herself from the tree, she approached him with a fiery pressure resonating from her posture. "Very well then, since you look pathetic waving that thing around at the trees, I challenge you to a duel. That will hopefully appease your distaste of both my presence and voice at the very least."

º°ℓүη∂sεү°º wrote: "((Ahh, darn it. Should I re-write that now?))"

((Only maybe add a sentence or two.
That is, if I'm accepted to the thread))

"If you duel me, you will be seriously injured, and perhaps killed. Do you accept this as a possibility?" Weiss asked, one of his two blades pointed directly at her. He was still as calm as ice. He had no time to deal with little girls, but one with spirit, he could fight. He also had no time for pride. He didn't possess it. He possessed skill, real and tangible. He would show no fear. He ignored the new arrival, as long as she said nothing.

((I will return after a shower. For a brief amount of time.))

"If I'm injured, it will only increase my desire to win." She replied, her tone flat. "I can only grow from defeat, so yes, I accept this. If you kill me, then it's on my head."
She swiftly withdrew duel blades from the sheaths at her sides, swishing them through the air experimentally. The air fizzed as they cut their way through it, as though reacting to the sharpened steel in protest.
Silently, she prayed to whichever gods were listening not to let her die. She believed what she had said about the growing part, but as her combat skills were actually pretty bad, death would not further her training. Part of her brain acknowledged that she probably should have not rushed into a duel without having all the cards, yet her stomach still lurched at the way he had almost responsively dismissed her because of her physical condition.
She would go down hard, that he could be sure of.

((Sounds good.
& KT, how about in a bit? Our characters are just getting acquainted.))

"Desire and ability are two different things," Weiss said, piercing white orbs gazing at her, analyzing her silently. She had no chance. She wasn't prepared at all for someone of his caliber and she probably knew it. He had trained for years on end, before the treaty even began, with Violaceus. He had bonded with him at the age of six, whereas now he was eighteen. He had been trained physically, mentally, and ability-wise for much longer than most at the academy. He dropped into a fighting stance. "Are you ready?" he asked, unconcerned. Maybe he'd try not to kill her. He wasn't heartless. He just was... complicated.

Alyene again saw the silent analysis in his eyes, and gripped her blades with more fervor than before. She was so tired of this, the assumption that she couldn't live anymore just because of what had been taken from her.
She felt herself sizzling back into a deep mode of calm preparation, had this ever been familiar to her? She angled her feet in a defensive stance, and angled her daggers in preparation, the sense of false calm overtaking her now.
She knew how to fight, yet she lacked the ability to back that up with any real power or strength. In that case, she would have to win through logic, if she could. If she could just figure out how to use his own strength against himself... It was something she had never been able to carry out, despite hours of practice and study.
The voice from long ago though, had said it could be done.

Weiss took her silence as an affirmative, and he instantly sprang into action. However, it quickly became apparent that his area of expertise was speed, not power. He danced around to her left with pace and grace unseen before then, slashing at her as he passed. However, he was striking with the flats of his blades. He was no murderer. He felt Violaceus stir, as the dragon noticed that its partner was in the midst of training, but Weiss sent soothing notions to him, not even breaking his stride. He took calculated measures, his eyes on her hands, watching for any preparatory motion. He could just as easily deflect as he could block. Also, he kept an eye on her legs, watching for kicks. Those were dangerous to a fighter like him. A trip could break his deadly dance, if he didn't see it coming.

((Night.))

Alyene took the opening attack with a fluid parry, and then next with a more complex dance of footwork and attacks. Her blood buzzed with the pound of sudden adrenaline, filling her limbs with a needed strength. She nearly faltered however, when Weiss unexpectedly revealed that speed was his focal skill. Her breath caught as he maneuvered around her, seeming immune to her coordinated strikes. Speed. She hadn't expected this at all, he looked much more prone to strength and power, which was what she had envisioned in her mind. Now, it seemed he was using the tactics she herself had been trying to master for the last few years, against her. If she weren't suddenly so off guard, she would be fully attentive to how he took his part in the duel.

(('Night!))

Weiss struck out unexpectedly, striking at her forearms and biceps, to smack precisely and mercilessly. He wanted to force her to release her weapons, to break her hand's lock on them. If he had been using the cutting edges of his swords, her arm could be seriously damaged. However, he was using the flat sides. He then drew back after his attack, dancing out of range of her daggers. He was a snake. He darted in to attack, then drew back, before getting ready to attack again.

Aleyne rolled back with the attacks, not breaking her stride. Internally, her inner voice was busy working up a storm of curses. Setting her blades together, she spun towards his left side and then changed course mid swing, instead aiming for his left. She let the power drain from the strike and instead used the moment of attention on her blades to strike out with her left leg.

Weiss was smarter than that, because he'd done that many times to others. He actually jumped, aiming his fall to actually stomp down on her leg. His left-handed sword blocked her intentionally weak strike as he did that. His other blade went for her throat, though it'd stop if he'd get through to it. That would be his victory sign, if so.

Aleyne blinked, forcefully driving her foot back away from his own leg. She spun, catching herself a few paces away from him.
Her breath game in ragged gasps, her arms feeling like heavy weights already. Brandishing her knives once more, she jumped back towards him spinning them in a back handed arc.

((You can wrap it up however you want, I already intended for Weiss to win.))

((Ah. I didn't want to power-play, so I was just sort of reacting.))

Weiss took a step back and simply slammed the hilts of his swords into her hands roughly, to force her to drop her weapons or to damage her hands. He wasn't about to cut her, since she was an ally. Again: not heartless, but simply... complicated.

((Oh no, it's fine!))

Aleyne felt her left knife twist from her hands, the tendons reacting to the blunt force of the blade. He could have easily taken off a hand, she was getting sloppy; he was merely playing with her at this point.
A small growl escaped her, half frustration with her self-half annoyance at his skill.
Gripping her remaining blade she continued battering down the attacks, feeling rather than seeing, the ground beneath them clouding up with the dust that rose from underneath their feet.

With the dust around him, Weiss felt even more at home. Stealth and speed were his brothers, and he knew them well. As his opponent became frenzied, desperate, he took the time to dance around her, darting to her back. He rammed his knee roughly into her spine, to end her pitiful resistance.

"You're weaker than I thought," Weiss said, sighing.

Aleyne crashed to the ground, slowly rolling over onto her back. "So I've heard," she responded despondently, her tone flat and lifeless. She gave herself a moment to let the fall sink in, then looked at him steadily, her calm aura returning despite her apparent disarray. "You didn't kill me." She said bluntly, her breathing all but returned to normal. "In fact, you went easy on me. I thought you didn't like me."

"I don't like you. You sicken me. I hate people who pretend to be stronger than they really are," Weiss spat, glaring at her coldly. He was a wall, nothing allowed in or out but rage. That's all he wanted. He wouldn't let anything influence him again.

"I didn't used to be like this." Aleyne said flatly, sitting up and pushing aside her hair. "In fact, I could have even be like you once." She continued her eye contact with him, "I'm not anymore, clearly. It doesn't mean I have to let people roll over me though, I don't expect to live my life as anything less than what it used to be."

"Maybe you should get out of the way and stop chasing after a pipe dream," Weiss said, turning away as he sheathed his blades. He didn't care about her old life in the slightest, even if he could feel her pain. No empathy would escape his bottle where he hid his emotion. Nothing at all.

Aleyne's eyes narrowed, and she got shakily to her feet. "For your sake, I hope that one day maybe you'll care about something else as much as you care about that massive ego of yours." She bit her lip, cutting off the rest of her thought. "Right now, I think that rock over there could understand more about me than you could. Not that I even want you to."

"It probably could. However, I doubt it would think you any less useless than I do," Weiss said, shrugging. He didn't have an ego, he just was a ball of hate. He didn't think himself any better than her, except in skill. He hated himself more than he did her. Though he hated her, too. That was a given.

"Your irrationality about life in general, is almost amusing." Aleyne said through gritted teeth, "if it weren't so downright irritating. How'd you ever make it so far without someone trying to kill you before now?"

"I haven't. I killed them first," Weiss replied, walking towards the edge of the clearing. He didn't wish to speak to her at all, much less any longer. "Maybe you should stop pitying yourself and start training more by yourself."

Aleyne rolled her eyes, bushing off her dark trousers and sheathing the sword in her hand. "Have fun moping around, bye yourself." She smirked at that, crossing to her other sword and plucking it up from the ground. Hopefully she wouldn't run into that sour personality again, though she had to admit, there was something invigorating about someone so grumpy. You didn't have to try and cover up anything to make them comfortable, they'd just dislike you whatever you did.

((Now what?))

((Not sure... Maybe, they bump into each other in class?))

((Which class?))

((General education, or arts/music? Aleyne is more likely to be in the arts, but I'm not sure if that's one of your characters focuses. So general would work for both, if that ones not like him.))

((Hmmm... Is there a cafeteria?))

((Yeah, we could do that. Ilsa's character and my other one are headed there as well. You want me to post first?))

((Ah. Um... maybe not. I wouldn't want to interrupt.))