Seifer's 'Jobs' [Pryth]

[mrcrazycakes]

Seifer Almasy was, for the moment, alone in the Struggle arena, which had cleared out some time earlier. His wooden bat was tapping somewhat impatiently on his shoulder, his replica sword hooked to his belt in a position it wouldn't be in the way. Seifer had thought about it, and he'd decided Malthus's job would be something to benefit him in the long run; combat training. Malthus was used to this sort of thing, and who better to practice his combat skills against? The major reason Seifer had chosen this was because it would benefit himself and the other kid, and that it effectively filled the qualification of 'Job' to fulfill his end of the bargain.

"This ought to be useful," He said to himself, the wooden bat tapping against his shoulder. A little combat training, maybe pick up a few new moves, too... if Malthus decided to show up, that is. He was about five minutes late as it was. Of course, Seifer was a little more patient than he made himself out to be; he could wait.

[prythian]

The homeless, no-longer-thief landed in front of Seifer, clutching the bat Seifer had given him the other day. "So, aside from just random practice, what all are we doing again?" Malthus inquired, tapping the bat on the side of his leg. He was mainly curious if there were any rules that needed explaining, and also only a bit curious as to whether this was going to be any good for Seifer; Malthus fought unarmed or with his knives, not usually with a bat.

[mrcrazycakes]

"You're going to be dodging and blocking like I was actually trying to kill you, like I said. I need to get in practice against someone before I get into any REAL fights," Seifer explained, removing his hat and sticking it into his pocket, showing his blond hair as he switched his wooden bat into his other hand, then noticing Malthus had showed up with the foam bat. That wouldn't really cut it for defending against a wooden club.

"Eh... You have any OTHER weapons? That foam bat isn't going to stop a wood one. You're free to use about anything; you'll just be on defense. Use those knives of yours if you want," He said, nodding once and tapping his bat against his shoulder. "Basically, just block and dodge what I throw at you. I guess we'll keep it up 'till I hit something that isn't air or your knives."

[prythian]

"Heh heh heh." Malthus leaned down and set down the bat on the ground. Then, with a flash, he drew his daggers. "Perfect." His restraints had been lifted so far as weapons were concerned, and he wasn't going to have to use a bat to defend with. "I'd advise you to try very hard; you're going to need it." The only reason he'd lost their match the other day was that he'd been trying not to harm Seifer, so stuck with his punches. Had he pulled out his daggers or throwing knives, he'd have been able to hit him five times easily.

[mrcrazycakes]

"I don't expect you to make it easy, you know," Seifer retorted, assuming a different combat stance this time; both hands on the wooden bat, pointed down and to the side. He charged forward and swung upwards at Malthus, half expecting the boy to jump out of the way with one of those super jumps he did, but following up with a spinning blow afterwords anyways.. "And remember; it's me trying to score one hit on you, not your block."

[Recap; Attack x Attack]

[prythian]

Despite Seifer's expectations, Malthus didn't jump out of the way, using his knives to block the bat's first strike, and Dodge Rolling under the second. "Oh, yes, I'm aware. Less talk, more striking. You won't hit me like that." Malthus retorted, spinning to face him again, his knives at the ready for the next attack. While Seifer was using him for training, Malthus was using Seifer for the same thing. He may be skilled in avoiding being hit, but actually blocking was something he wasn't used to. In fact, daggers weren't very good for that sort of thing against larger weapons.

[hp=1/1]

[mrcrazycakes]

"Don't act so smug," Seifer shot back, pulling a complete shift in stance to mirror the first one he had taken when initiating the first strike, transferring the momentum into an upward and downward swing, then a spinning attack aimed at him. "This is practice; let's just hope you don't have to use the experience with anything!" He finished, flipping his stance back around and facing Malthus. Seifer was at least sincere about the last part; if anyone around here was going to need the combat experience, it was him, because he was going to be hero of this town one day.

[Recap; Attack x Attack x Attack]

[prythian]

"Heh, you're telling me to act less smug?" Malthus quipped, once again using both of his knives to block the first swing. "Pot calling the kettle black a bit, aren't you?" Another Dodge Roll got him past the second attack, and he turned around just in time to block the third. The funny part is, he was both enjoying this and not thinking about what he was saying. Part of his fighting strategy had always been to taunt the opponent in some manner, usually enraging them and resulting in them making mistakes.

He HAD noticed, however, that he required both daggers to block the attacks, jumping back a bit to open up a little bit more distance, though not much.

[mrcrazycakes]

"I think we're about even with the ego, o' lonesome rogue," Seifer replied tauntingly, charging forward and letting loose two diagonal blows from separate angles, then a horizontal swipe. Seifer's temper was strangely absent when he was fighting. Perhaps that was because the effort of fighting took away more anger than insults would stir up. Whatever the reason, he seemed to stay collected and confident during fights, both real and otherwise. "So, looks like you finally stopped acting like an idiot. I didn't think offering to help and fighting you in a struggle match would convince you to stop acting like a knothead."

[Recap; Attack x Attack x Attack]

[prythian]

"Eh, I never act stupid in a fight. Waste of my time." Malthus replied, blocking the first attack, once again Dodge Rolling the second, and finally, flipping over Seifer's third attack and doing another acrobatic flip, landing himself right behind Seifer. "That said, now that I no longer need to manipulate people, why would I need to play dumb? Also a waste of my time, and incidentally my intelligence. Though, I have to admit... except for you, it worked like a charm on everyone else. You may just be too paranoid for your own good."

(Dodge Roll, Can't Catch Me)

[hp=1/1]

[mrcrazycakes]

"Nah, I can just see through a ruse better than most folks," Seifer replied, pulling a similar switcharound as before... but this time, he initiated the turn with a spin attack, following up with two more blows, both of them horizontal swings, this time aimed in different places; one for the legs, the second for the chest. "If I hadn't seen through your little trick, we wouldn't be doing this, now would we?"


[Recap; Attack x Attack x Attack]

[prythian]

"Please, I think it's less you being able to see better and more not being able to believe anyone could be dumber than Rai." Malthus countered, blocking the first attack, though the force sent him back some. He almost didn't have enough time to block the second one, only getting one knife down there. He had to hop over it, bringing his knives to bear in time to block the follow up. He pushed the bat back. "Your bat is getting a little damaged, by the way. Metal versus wood doesn't always work out so well."

[hp=1/1]

[mrcrazycakes]

"Would you like it more if I use the sword that can cut you when your block is down? I didn't think so," Seifer retorted, quickly recovering from being pushed back, using the momentum to retaliate with a vertical attack, advancing and preforming two diagonal swipes, the first aimed to angle across the neck and shoulders, the second aimed for the knees. Seifer was getting serious now, not that he hadn't been before.

[Recap; Attack x Attack x Attack]

[prythian]

"Heh, if you were using a sword, I wouldn't be holding back on my dodging in the first place!" Malthus chuckled, Dodge Rolling out of the way of the first strike. A quick hope and flip resulted in an Aerial Dodge of the second one, leaving him in place to use his daggers to block the third as he came back down, temporarily pinning it against the ground, and flipping behind Seifer again. "While this may be bragging, I think you Can't Catch Me!"

[hp=1/1]

[mrcrazycakes]

"You can't dodge forever, ya human frog," Seifer said in response, pulling an entirely different chain of strikes; a downward spin strike, aimed for the knees, a horizontal strike aimed for the chest, and a strong vertical swipe to finish it off. "And if I was using the sword, I would be trying to kill you. Not exactly the same situation, is it?"

[Recap; Attack x Attack x Attack]