~portum Arcanum

"Syndicate man eh? Just like me." Lilly says with a sad chuckle. "Putting all that stuff behind you, wasn't that what yo uwere saying? SO either get to teachign me or break out the bottle, because those are teh only two ways besides a bullet to the head."

Hey. Hey. HEY LISTEN! Have yo useen this unicorn? it has a detachabel horn. TOUCH TEH MAGICAL DILDO HORN!

 

OOT: Gonna pass on the magic dildo horn, thanks.


I walk over to Lilly and give her a very light chop to the forehead.
"Okay, first lesson. Don't talk to your sensei that way. Especially when class starts."
I give her a wry smile.
"Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get to the actual training. Follow my lead."
I step onto the training mat, bow and take a fighting stance. I move slowly to make sure she can watch and imitate what I'm doing. Right now, I'm assuming that she doesn't know much of anything as far as proper fighting techniques go, so I'll start right at the beginning with punches and kicks.
"And...one!"
I punch the air with my right fist.
"Two!"
I punch the air with my left fist.
"Three!"
I deliver a kick at torso height with my right foot.
"Now, pay close attention because I'm going to move faster this time."
I take a second to make sure Lilly's paying attention.
"And...one! Two! Three!"
I execute the same moves again in rapid succession. Then I turn to Lilly and motion for her to come onto the training mat.
"Your turn."

 

Lilly pantomimed Azel's movements. After sending out the kick, she turns her body, spinning around once and dropping low sweeping at the legs of the imaginary opponent before her. Coming back up she began a series of movements that were as much of dance as they were of combat. They were clunky and slightly inelegant, however, due mostly to the fact that the moves were designed with water resistance and a tail in mind. It translated over well enough. Coming to the end of the routine, breath coming a little heavily, Lilly stood back up and turned to look at Azel. The muscle memory had been too inviting to resist and she had allowed herself to be taken by the flow.

 

I give Lilly a short round of applause after that performance. Finally, this looks like something I can work with! I don't recognize the style exactly since there are just as many variations of hand-to-hand combat underwater as there are on the surface, but it looks like she's had some kind of training in proper combat. I can tell right away from the all-too-familiar hesitations I see in her movements, the same ones I dealt with when I first started learning how to fight on the surface. If she can dig deep and try to remember what she's learned, it'll make it that much easier to teach her how to fight. I give her a proud smile.
"Not bad! You've been holding back on me, haven't you?"
I walk over and give her a light pat on the shoulder.
"What you did just now...I'd like to see more of that. Did someone teach you that or is it a self-taught style? Either way, I think we might be able to work with it."
I step off of the mat and fold my arms.
"Show me your moves. Just do whatever comes to your mind first."

 

"It's one of my cove's techniques." She showed a few more kata, slowly getting used to not having the pressure of water.
"Of course I was holding back." She said calmly going slowly through the motions. "We weren't fighting for survival. I had no need to be precise."

 

I shake my head at Lilly.
"That's not what I meant. What I meant is, I had no idea that you took some kind of combat training! That should make things a little easier. Now we've got something to build off of."
I hesitate a little. I'm...not really comfortable asking this next question.
"Do you think you could put those techniques to use in a...non-lethal fashion? The students will be here soon, and I need to know if having them spar with you will be safe."

 

OOT: I dont have the energy to start in this rp right now but I might start later

 

"Sure." Lilly said. "It can't be too hard."

 

I smile back at her, but I can tell that it's probably showing a little bit of my nervousness.
"That's...not entirely reassuring, but it'll have to work."
I step back onto the training mat.
"We're almost out of time, so here's the plan. I think the best way to cram the most training into the shortest amount of time would be a little bit of sparring. While we're going at it, keep a close eye on what I'm doing and see how much of it you can pick up."
I take a fighting stance.
"Are you ready to begin?"

 

( ooc: I'm back from a long hiatus. It wasn't anticipated, but I wanted to continue on here so consider this as my return. )

Her time watching people in the library turned out to not be fruitful since no one seemed to want to help her due to the markings on her arms and face. She simply just wanted to find a place to sleep and perhaps a job. Walking around the town, she remembered something about Faolan's mother owning a bakery. Hopefully she could get a room and a job with her.
The introduction would be tough, though. How was Calliope going to explain how she knew Faolan? Walking around some more, the idea hit her. The ring and the picture of the two of them as well as the dress she was wearing. She had everything with her in the manila envelope that was left to her. The only thing she needed to do now was to find the old home and bakery that belonged to Faolan's family.
Not sure where to go, Calliope wandered around some more before coming across a dojo. Figuring they might know the area, she quietly opened the door and took a seat to not disturb the session taking place.

 

OOT: Gotta love writers block

Raleigh began looking around the library for a specific book. He managed to find it, and smiled when he saw it. It was one of the first books he read while he was training to be a body guard. It had filled him with many hopes of adventuring, which maybe someday he would be able to do again. He walked over to Nerissa, and showed her the book

“Sinbad, one of my favorite books. It tells the story of a sailor who was cursed by a sea goddess, and the many adventures he went on to break this curse. Imagine if some of the creatures in here were still around, then the seas would be very dangerous. Thankfully those creatures are long extinct. We merfolk are one of the few that still live in the water. But there are still other dangers that lurk here in the sea. Most of which I have tried to avoid.”

Just then, Raleigh felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, and noticed a message. It had only three letters, EAV, Enterum Arcanum Veritas. The truth has been found, and the royal kingdom has found out that Nerissa is missing. Raleigh sighed at this, and really didn’t want to think about what was going to happen next.

“Well Nerissa, seems that your family has found out that you are missing, and they are sending someone to come after you. My client hasn’t left any specific instructions regarding what to do, but since you seem like quite the charming person, I would be willing to offer you my help to keep you hidden, if you would be willing to help me find the compass.”

 

“I know just the way to help you stay out of sight for a while. On my journeys I have collected items from various lands. There is one that I have, a mirror that would supposedly allow the person who looks into it to change their appearance, although I’m not sure if that is just a myth or real. If it really does work, that would be able to conceal your appearance.”

“This is very weird for me to ask, but do you have a personal item that you have a lot of connection to? I have learned that folklore is very real within our kind, and an item that has a strong connection to a person will allow you to track them easily. This way I can help keep you safe and hidden, and you will know where I am if you need help.” Raleigh said, and then he brought out a small ocean blue box.

“In here are a pair of communicators. My client had originally provided me with them incase they needed to contact me, but our phones do a much better job with that. I have a feeling that the royal family would be able to tap into our phones, so I don’t feel like taking chances with that. These communicators have only one channel, which is heavily encrypted. It would be a secure line for us to communicate.”

“I’ll have to do some more research in order to find out exactly what the royal family is planning on doing. In the mean time, go about what you normally do, and I will be in touch with the info I find. If you have any concerns or just want to talk, the communicator is the best way. I’ll do my best to keep you hidden.” Raleigh then pulled her into a hug “I’m not sure what it is about you, but I just want to keep you smiling. Even being a mercenary, you seem to make it much better than my previous assignments. I’ll be in touch a bit later. Feel free to keep looking at these books, the adventures in them are wonderful” Raleigh said, and left to go and find more information.

 

He emerged from the hospital. He was covered in bandages. His eyes were dark and full of fire.
He had two guns. One was a water pistol. The other was a Walther PPK.
He set off down the street, making a note to drop in the shelter to check on that fox cub, ignoring the looks people gave him. It didn't matter.
She made my life hell. She has to die. She made my life hell. She has to die. It was a mantra, repeated over and over in his head.
SHE MADE MY LIFE HELL. SHE. HAS. TO. DIE.

 

The session seemed like it wasn't going to end, so she left as fast as she came and far more quieter too. Once she was back outside and heading in the general direction she was previous to stopping in the dojo, she pulled her sunhat down further in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with passersby going the opposite direction of her.
She walked past the beach again and stopped to look at the horizon. The sun warmed her skin as the gentle breeze blew her hair around occasionally tickling her cheeks. Even though Calliope had no idea where she was going and had no plans for what she wanted to do, she felt at ease just standing on the sidewalk staring at the water lap at the sand making a note that the tide was coming in. She was slowly drifting off into her own little world until she heard a couple of women passing by and saying something about someone who looked wounded walking down the street in their general direction. Curious, she looked to her left and saw exactly what the women were talking about; a figure off in the distance was staggering down the street.
Not sure about what she should do, she kind of just stood on the sidewalk and watched the body come closer hoping that if she saw what was going on, she would be able to figure out the best course of action. A few minutes passed before she could finally get a clear glimpse of the stranger. He was covered in bandages and had an expression on his face that seemed to be a mix of being lost in thought and being consumed by anger. It frightened her quite a bit, but something in the back of her mind coaxed her into wanting to go help the wounded man.
Pushing through her fear as best as she could, Calliope stepped into the street and walked towards the man.

 

His mind was full of blood, his heart a fiery tempest.
"She made my life hell, she has to die," he muttered. "She made my life hell, she has to-"
He became aware, suddenly, of a woman coming towards him. He straightened up, trying to look as little like a murderous avatar of merperson-slaying vengeance as he possibly could, and even managed a rather polite smile. "Hello," he said as brightly as he could manage. "Can I... help you?"

 

She stopped to look at him and in the softest voice she answered, "I'm okay. Please don't take this the wrong way, but is there any way I can help you? You just seem like you're really hurt."
She immediately looked at the ground trying to hide the markings on her face and continued talking with the stranger, "Actually, I am in need of some help. I'm trying to find this place as well as a place to stay. I actually just got to this town yesterday." She paused, "I do hope I'm not imposing on you, sir." She looked back up at him and smiled. "I'm willing to put my quest at hand on hold in order to help you with whatever you needed help with."
Minding to keep her voice low, she waited for an answer from the stranger and started to introduce herself, "My name is Callie, by the way."
She hoped that she was being polite enough to people. From what she could gather, manners on the surface where a bit different from the manners and such from the area of the ocean she was from so that made it a bit difficult for her to interact with people. Looking back on her choice to help the stranger, she wondered what came over her in the first place to even help him. If this was a situation under the surface rather than on top, Calliope would've kept to herself and taken a detour to avoid contact with just about anyone.

 

Actaeon looked at the woman before him and a basic spark of decency flowed through him just enough to make him straighten up.
"I'm fine. Just gotta...get my head clear. Where do you... need to go?"