[Training] Looking for a Fight (open)

Arrows were his first and best defense against trouble...

And completely useless in the city. There had been enough barroom brawls that he'd barely avoided and attempted muggings that he'd only outrun by luck, that Kel had come to the decision that he needed to get better at protecting himself, and swiftly. Whatever strength and skill he'd had on his world was mostly gone on this one, his muscles weakened and his grace lost in the transition.

The boxing ring had garnered some gossip in the wake of the eruption, its owner hailed as one of the heroes of Kaiholo, though Kel hadn't learned of it until later, when the ashfall had driven him to shelter in the town rather than the jungle.

That had led to those incidents he was eager not to repeat, or at least to be able to end swiftly when they happened. He had walked past the door more than once, hesitating over whether to enter, but today he had finally pulled together his courage and slipped inside, looking around for anyone to give guidance or show him what to do.

Alina had continued her reconnaissance of Torchline. Indeed, she had redoubled her efforts after seeing the message that the Voice was encroaching on this land as well. Luckily, even in this land of shady dealings and nefarious goings-on, people rarely had the wisdom to simply look up.

So she'd heard all sorts of juicy tidbits. Including one about a boxing ring where people had fairly regular fights. Interest more than a bit piqued, she'd flown there, glad to have the opportunity to see some of Torchline's finest in action.

And perhaps test herself against them.

When she arrived, there was a tall man there (granted, everyone was taller than the Fae). She gave him a challenging look, setting her spear to lean against the wall and flitting over to the ring. "You gonna stand there looking pretty or show me what you've got?" There was an almost mocking tone to her voice, since this fellow didn't look like a fighter in her eyes. Too pretty.

There hadn't been anyone else inside, much to his chagrin, but he had wandered in anyways and set his bow and quiver aside, examining the ring and considering how strange it would be to stand there and slug at each other, rather than slipping away to snipe from a distance as he preferred. He almost missed the entrance of the petite winged woman, but her challenge was impossible to ignore and he faced her with surprise - and a flicker of recognition in his eyes at her size and wings.

"Lady Fae," he murmured with a bow. A little awkward, but respect given to one of this world's Sidhe. He raised his head, flustered at being called 'pretty,' but he gave a tentative nod and slipped into the marked ring. "I came here to learn. I didn't... didn't know there were Fae among the instructors. I'd be honored to be your student today, though." This was a far tougher looking woman than Jiao, hard-muscled and predator-eyed, but they shared the same pride.

Willingly he took a defensive stance, both hands raised as he'd seen the tavern brawlers do, to protect his face and ribs though...

He was at a bit of a loss as to how to fight someone so much shorter than him.

As the unknown man bowed to Alina, her eyes narrowed. Then she scowled and scoffed. "Ain't no lady." There was a rough edge to her voice, and indeed her demeanor was more that of a thug than a prim and proper princess. "Nor am I an instructor." Then she smirked. "You might just learn a few things though."

With that, she flitted into the ring, not bothering to duck under the ropes and just flying over them instead. She lighted down on the ground for the briefest of moments. Then she sprang into the air again. Flipping upside down with a fancy movement of her wings, hovering just above him, she hammered a punch towards the man's right cheek.

Apparently he was wrong about the 'lady' part, but she was definitely a Fae, from her haughty pride to her shimmering wings. She was also, very clearly, a fighter, and one who lacked both hesitation and mercy. Her entrance to the ring solved the height problem that Kel had been worried about, and he was glad he had his hands up as he ducked his head behind them, her blow glancing off his forearm with enough force to leave a bruise behind. His eyes widened in surprise; she hadn't been kidding about not being an instructor, that strike had been meant to hurt!

Luckily, Kel had grown up surrounded by women, many of whom were tough as nails and perfectly capable of holding their own in a fight or a hunt. Many of his dryad cousins could both throw a punch and take one, and he'd learned early on not to hold back or he'd end up on his backside in the mud.

Something that usually happened anyways; he was an archer, not a brawler. Still, he lashed out with a wild swing, hoping to get lucky and connect with the acrobatic Alina as she hovered and darted around him.

Unfortunately, Alina was not quite agile enough to dodge the man's blow. His punch landed on her right side, with enough force to bruise her ribs. Letting out a hiss as the pain bloomed, she let the force from his strike and her own wings carry her out of the way of another potential attack from him.

Then she continued moving. Spinning neatly in midair, she tried to use the speed of the turn to snap a kick out towards him. She didn't have any particular target, though his head was tempting. All she was hoping to do was cause him to duck or back off, which would allow her to press the attack.

Kel was a bit surprised when his blow landed on the fierce warrior, and he popped his head up to look at her in shock, failing to follow up on the successful attack for a crucial moment. That moment was all the Fae needed to put space between them, her darting flight swift and sure and hard for him to predict.

He really shouldn't have let his guard down. Before he could quite get his hand back up to defend himself her snapping quick connected, glancing from his fist to his head so that he yelped and retreated, lashing out again with a swift but wild punch towards where he'd seen her last to try and buy himself a chance to recover and regain his defensive stance.

Smirking as her kick landed, Alina was perhaps a little too smug. Whatever the reason, she didn't disengage as quickly or as smoothly as she should have. That was why the man's counter hammered into her thigh. Groaning with annoyance, she darted back.

Then her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed with concentration. Tapping into her glamour, she tried to make a loud sound ring in her opponent's right ear. Darting to his left, she flew low and swept out towards his ankles with her uninjured leg. Her goal was to knock him off his feet, or at the very least leave him dangerously off balance.

Wild though it was, Kel's strike connected and bought him the time he needed to recover from the previous blow to his head. Shaking off the momentary dizziness he set himself more warily, hands back up in guard and watching his Fae opponent with wary amber eyes.

He wasn't prepared for a magical assault. The young hunter didn't even realize it was magic at first, worried that her kick had done more damage than he realized as a ringing suddenly erupted in his ear. He wasn't seasoned enough to shrug it off, instead tilting his head to the right and pressing his hand to it with a wince.

But his opponent was already in motion, not pausing in her assault. With her wings he'd expected her to stay high, and was unprepared for her going low. Her sweep connected and the shock ran up his legs, buckling him at the knees as he yelped again and windmilled to try and catch his balance. He fell but rolled, tucking his shoulder and popping up to a half-kneeling position as he lashed out with his own wind magic - a blustery little breeze that would puff some of the grit from the ring's floor towards Alina's eyes if she got too close.

Luckily, Alina's glamour was enough to distract the man for a crucial few seconds. Her strike even worked as intended, leaving him off balance. However, she hadn't been counting on him to retaliate in kind.

As the wind tossed sand and dirt into her eyes, she blinked them rapidly. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to clear them. Growling, she flew up and away as quickly as she could manage. As she beat a hasty retreat, she kicked for the blurry figure that was her opponent. She wasn't really aiming for anywhere or anything in particular, just trying to ward him off.

Once she was at what she hoped was a safe distance, she would halt in midair, hovering. Scrubbing angrily at her eyes, she'd glare down at the man.

He almost got away unscathed. A pity they weren't playing horseshoes or throwing hand grenades, or that 'almost' might have been good enough. Instead, even as he tried to stand and dodge, her parting kick connected with his face, a lucky strike that battered his nose and split his lip, leaving him swallowing blood in surprise as he raised a hand to catch the dripping crimson and try to staunch the flow.

Wounded amber eyes looked up at Alina as he held up his other hand, palm out. "I yield," he said, though the words were a little muffled. "You win!" Not the most dignified of concessions, but he didn't want to be bleeding all over a stranger's business, even if that business was violence. He kept a wary eye on Alina as he stood, trying to keep the blood flow contained as he gave her a nod of respect that had nothing to do with her race and everything to do with her skill.

"Th-thank you. For the fight," he added dutifully, because he had learned something today.

He'd learned he needed a lot more practice.

For the moment, though, if she let him he'd try to leave the ring and start poking around for something to use as a compress against his lip.

As her opponent yielded, Alina grinned in triumph. She began to descend, pulling out a handkerchief as she did. "Here take this." She didn't even bother acknowledging his words, since the outcome had never really been in doubt in her mind.

Her eyes flicked to his injuries, and then to the blood trail he was leaving on the floor. Hand creeping towards her pocket, she pulled out another cloth. "So you're an Abandoned, then? It wasn't actually a question, even if it had been phrased as one. Indeed, her voice sounded quite certain, and she wasn't exactly being friendly or polite with her inquiry.

He accepted the handkerchief gratefully, holding it in place and tilting his head back to help slow the blood. A few drops had spattered around the ring and he knew he'd have to clean them up before he left, but not until he'd gotten the source under control. "Thank you," he mumbled through the fabric, trying not to speak too much while the wound clotted.

He stood at the corner of the ring, leaning against one of the supports as he waited, but her question earned a flicker of a frown that barely began before he winced and went back to trying to keep his face still. "Not exactly. Though I guess... that's what I'm most similar to on this world?" He spoke cautiously, both because of his injury and because of what he'd picked up from listening to people around town. No one had ever really explained the differences between humans with abilities to him, so he wasn't entirely clear on the details. "My mother is a spirit of a wind."

Nodding at his thanks, Alina lighted down. Kneeling she started wiping the droplets of blood from the floor. When she finished, she tucked the cloth in a pocket.

Straightening up, she grimaced as he spoke. "So you're an Abandoned and an Outlander then?" Once more, it wasn't a question. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite keep the distaste from her voice or from her expression. Then again, she wasn't trying that hard.

Narrowing her eyes at his response, she frowned. Heading over to where she had stashed her spear, she jumped over the outside of the ring. "What do you mean she was a spirit of wind? And what about your father?" Picking up her spear, she turned and gave him an inspection, as if she could spot the inhuman aspects just by looking.