The Nephilim discussion

((The training center. Please remember this is roleplay only.))

Sasha spent most of the day in the training room. The Institute was quiet- for some reason few Shadowhunters were spending their time her recently. It was mostly just her and a few other adults and teenagers that she tended to avoid.

Today she was working on her balance. She was up in the rafters, without a harness, leaping from beam to beam and trying not to look down. She wasn't afraid she was going to fall but that didn't mean she wanted to.

Wayde entered the training room and walked over to the weapons rack. Taking out his favourite, a sword thats blade is Sereph, made especially for him when he was first enrolles at the institute. Walking over to an open space on the mat, he started moving slowly through some of the movements, gradually gaining speed, until his sword was a white blur flashing all around him.

Sasha watched the boy below her with interest. He seemed oblivious to her presence, so far above him. She sat down, letting her feet hang over the sides of one of the beams, and observed him practice.

"He's good," she thought, with grudging respect.

Wayde stopped dead in the last movement, his breathing a little rugged. Straightening, he went back to the rack and put the sword away. Without turning around, he said.

"How long have you been watching me?"

Sasha sighed and, bracing herself, dropped from her spot on the rafters to land in an easy crouch. Straightening she replied, "The whole time. I've been here all day."

He nodded and turned to face her, two short swords in his hands.
"Wanna spar?" He asks, throwing her one of them.

She caught it easily, turning it over in her hands. She'd just seen what this boy could do with a blade, and he was probably better than she was.

But it had been a long time since she'd had a sparring partner. "Why not?" she replied easily, leading the way back to the mat, not betraying a flicker of her nervous energy.

He followed her and settled into an easy stance across from her, his sword at his side, waiting for her to make the first move.

Sasha cocked her head to the side, studying him. She hefted her sword. With a small sigh, recognizing he wouldn't move until she did, Sasha swung.

He didnt move until her blade was within an inch of his head until he flashed to the side like lightning his sword coming down and up, parrying the blow and lifting her sword at the same time. He swept his leg out, using her momentum to carry her forward.

Sasha rolled with the hit, anticipating it, and popped immediately back to her feet to face him again, sword held ready. She lunged again, matching him swing for swing.

He was smiling now. She was better than he had anticipated. His sword flashed in and out, matching her pace.

She narrowed her eyes in concentration, looking for an opening. She was tiring fast- it had been a while since she'd done anything like this. She was out of practice, but her opponent clearly wasn't.

He traded a few more blows with her, before fenting left and at the last second, crouched down, causing her to trip over him, As she tumbled, he, as quick as lightning, stood over her, with the sword tip at her throat, a grin on his face.

Sasha scowled half-heartedly up at him from her position on her back. "Touche," she murmured, only partly for his benefit. She thought about reaching for her own sword where it had fallen just inches from her hand so she could knock his away, but she thought better of it.

He chuckled. Noticing her glance at her fallen sword, he nudged it away from her with the tip of his boot. Sheathing his own sword, he bent down and offered her a hand up.

Sasha knocked his hand away, pushing herself off the floor. He'd already beaten her in a swordfight, she didn't want him to think she was completely incapable. She saw the laughter in his eyes. As she retrieved her fallen sword she asked the boy: "Where'd you learn to fight?"

Shaking his head at her he walked back to the sword rack, placing his sword amongst its companions. "Uh, I lived in Rome with my parents for a few years before I came here. My intsructor over there, Grigori taught me."

"Why'd you leave Rome?" Sasha wasn't usually one for prying, but she hadn't talked to anyone in a long time and she couldn't seem to let the conversation end. She twisted her black hair into a knot at the base of her neck while she waited for an answer.

"Well, I was born here, but my parents and my little brother and I moved there to run an institute. When I turned 14 I came back here." He said, working a knot out of his hand.

"Okay then," Sasha presses. "Why did you come back? Why didn't they?"

"I had to complete my training here. And, obviously they couldn't just leave the institute, so I came back by myself." He shrugged.

Sasha gazed at him for a long moment. "You're awfully vague," she notes. "Not one to hand out life details to just anybody, are you?"

"How very observative of you." He said, a wry smile playing on his lips. "And you? You haven't said much about yourself either you know."

"What do you want to know?" she said, smiling humorlessly, opening her arms wide. "I'm an open book."

He laughed. "Sure you are." Thinking a momentm he crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, I think the most obvious question here would be whats your name?"

She mirrored his pose. I can answer that one, she decided. "Sasha," she told him. "My name is Sasha Blackstar. What's yours?" she fires back.

"Wayde Carter." He said, sticking out his hand towards her.

She took it, shook once, briefly, then withdrew her hand from his rough, warm grip.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "Something wrong? Run out of questions?"

"Not at all." He took a deep breath. "Wher are you from? Any siblings? Parents? How old are you? Any pets? Favourite High School Teacher? Favourite colour? Favourite Season?"

The side of Sasha's mouth quirked. She reeled off: "Don't know, don't know, don't now, I think 16, don't know, don't remember... autumn."

He looked at her incredolously. "You think you're 16?" He said, putting empathise on the 'think'.

"Yes," she replied, daring him to challenge her. "I think."

He raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you think you're 16? Or that you don't know what your favourite colour is."

"Well I've thought that since I can remember. Which clearly isn't very long, if you must know." Sasha didn't want to delve into her past with anyone. He probably doesn't care that much anyway, she thought. She returned her sword to the rack, brushing past him to do so. "That all?"

"You are very frustrating and make absolutely no sense, by the way." He said, turning around to dace her again.

She sighed. "Look, I don't know, okay? I don't know who I am, where I'm from, anything. I just don't know."

"As to being frustrating?" She flashed a small smile. "That's a gift."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Sadly, thats the first time you've smiled in the last two hours." He crossed his arms over his muscled chest. "As to how you cant remember, do you know why you cant? Remember that is."

Sasha noticed the way crossing his arms made his shirt tighten around his arms, plainly defining the muscle there, and she suspected he knew it. "No," she told him honestly. "All I know is when I woke up all I knew was my name. And my age, roughly."

He nodded slightly. "Huh. Well, that must suck."

Sasha frowns and turns away. "Gosh, thanks for being so understanding," she says coolly. She begins to make her way to the door. "Now if that's all..."

He snorted. She was very touchy, wasn't she. "Wow, you really want to get away from me, don't you?"

She paused, hand on the doorknob. "Because you've been so enjoying the pleasure of my company you can't stand to see me leave?" she said without turning around.

He laughed. "Oh yes, thats it." He said sarcasticly.

"So what's it to you if I leave or stay?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you care about my opnion?"

"I don't," she said shortly. She hesitated before adding: "But you're the first person I've talked since I've arrived, and, no matter how annoying you may be, I don't want you completely mad at me."

She said all this without meeting his eyes, but now she looked up. "I'm going to the library," she told him, unsure as to why she felt he should know.
Then she left.