[Training] they broke the wrong parts

MABEL

Mabel had no intentions of admitting she didn’t have many friends – because it sounded a bit pathetic, even to her ears and thoughts. While the rest of the Ascended seemed very capable of clustering together, she had somehow lost the ability, still inclined to traipse around the edges and hope no one noticed her. Not until it was too late.

The caution was there, but it also sounded like permission to the youth. To continue practicing as she had. And then finding someone, something, adequate to enhance the power and skirmishes. Her only indication of surprise at the following comment was a widening of her eyes, and then a nod of acceptance and compliance. “Okay,” she consented; before it all began again.

Expecting a block, a defense, something to sink her teeth into – there was naught but movement. A rush of air, a maneuver of evasion, before Aurelia came forth. Mabel could only become an echo, pivoting, twisting, turning in the shadows, in the moonlight, where speed could be her ally. A swiftness, inhuman and eldritch, clutched over her, and the dagger missed her shoulder by inches – so that she could resound forth, and try to angle hers towards the other woman’s hip.

Let's go to war to make peace
Let's be cold to create heat

Aurelia

hear those bells ring deep in the soul
chiming away for a moment

The girl's reaction to her swing is good, it's quick and lithe in all the ways it needs to be. She escapes the dig of Aurelia's dagger by leagues, and rather than be frustrated by it, Aurelia can't stop the grin that spreads. It's accompanied by a small, dark chuckle.

The dagger comes for her hip and her arm darts out to block the hit. Then, and this may really be unexpected, her leg kicks up in a movement that snaps for the girl's ribs. It's intended to push her off, force her back or at least force her away. It's difficult to focus on multiple things at once, and Aurelia hopes to use that against the girl - who is not as unskilled as she believes herself to be.

It's here that she'll stop, though, pausing as she spies the height of the moon from her peripheral; the paler brightness that bleeds across the sky. Sheathing her blade and stepping back so as to clearly avoid any further moves, she puts up her hands and says, "Alright, I think that's all we have time for. You probably... should stay out of the sun, right?"

But she does hesitate for a few moments and then finally says, "I live here in Torchline so, if you ever want to spar again, just ask around for 'Aurelia'." She offers a crooked half-smile at that, before making her way up the beach, heading back home.

---

fin~!

feel your breath course frankly below
see life as a worthy opponent