[Training] (SE) eyes like anvils and storms for lungs

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

She slips the second arrow into the bow, pulling back against the string and allows her focus to overtake entirely on the target as Deimos moves it, unleashing the arrow as she watches it hit the target in the arm. A Cheshire grin spreads across her face as she looks back at him with an almost cocky and confident look, knowing just how rusty she is.

As for Dygra, Kiada starts to pull another arrow from the quiver to place into the bow. “I haven’t either.. I haven’t exactly sought out any opinions, though.” She admits – perhaps he might understand given the information and distaste for the Voice before she’d Ascended, and simultaneously after she’d come back as one. When it comes to asking, though, she tilts her head slightly as she considers it. “I was considering seeing if she’d be able to make this jacket work for Halo conditions. So I could visit more without as much worry…” A sidelong glance toward him is given before she unleashes the second arrow, aiming for the target’s chest.

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

The makeshift, billowing snow arm made a great show of falling to pieces as the arrow hit it, going limp and ultimately falling into powder and decay across the bone bridge’s adornments. Raising his brow at her sudden bout of confidence, he took it as a moment and hint to amplify proceedings, ensuring the rest of the target was faster and unpredictable. It moved much like prey, erratic and fleeting, bounding and leaping in different directions, persisting in challenging angles while granting him an instant to stretch enchantment muscles.

He did understand the lack of going directly to the source – and if only because of the past. But the Voice, given the nature of her actions and some of her followers, had left them with a feeling of distrust for a long while, and well before war had become a harsh whisper. “Fair enough,” he insisted, the brief shrug of shoulders reassuring she’d get no judgement from him on the matter. Though his glance did go back her way at the notions of the jacket. “If she cannot, or will not, I can always upgrade it for you.” A promise that she’d be able to access them whenever she wanted.

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

As usual, her cockiness will be the death of her – because as she gains confidence from hitting the target’s shoulder, he ups the ante, and she nocks another arrow into the bow that she tries to focus on predicting the target’s next movement. And when she releases it, she launches it far and wide, off into the abyss of the misty Bone Bridge’s underbelly, and simultaneously snaps the bowstring on her finger at the same time. A sharp “ouch!” hisses out of her, annoyance flaring momentarily as she lowers the bow and looks back to Deimos as she listens, exhaling a sigh of her frustrations to focus on the answer.

It's sweet, though, that he’s willing to offer it, and it breaks through her with a soft smile. “I’ll see what she can do, if anything, and then if not I’m sure we can figure something out.” She offers with that same soft smile. Because while she believes he’s capable of fixing it to a point where she could use it more easily in the frozen wonderland she’d called home before, perhaps a godly intervention from the very same that had made her who she is would be best suited to fixing a garment to make it possible for her to not just survive the encounter, but thrive.

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

Under normal circumstances, he would’ve laughed, especially as the arrow went wide, and then simultaneously disappeared off into the abyss, had she not hissed. Instead, his attention went to her potential wounds, though without Zuriel here, he wouldn’t have much but consolation and questioning rumble. “You all right?” From there though, the incantations still propelled wildly, as if egged on by the potential of the Harpy flickering beneath the set challenge; whirling around in its residual speed, waiting to be struck.

Thereafter though, he could only nod at the other insinuations. Considering very few seemed to know or fathom what Dygra was capable of, Deimos thought it prudent and wise to offer a backup – eternally prepared in one way or another.

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

“Just fine,” she responds in a hint of remaining frustration, inspecting her thumb only to find it tender with the splotching of a bruise starting. All in all, it was a better result than she had thought when she’d released the last arrow, so she nocks another into the bow as she looks back at Deimos to pay further attention to his reaction when she speaks of Dygra.

There isn’t anything else to be read, though, so she lets that arrow go to nick the edge of the moving target’s ’chest.’ It’s a much better result and certainly boosts her ego a fraction but she doesn’t let it show. At least she won’t die trying to hunt for food, and ultimately that’s the important thing. “There we go.” She breathes a bit easier, lowering the bow to look back at Deimos and offer a soft “Needed some warming up. Thank you.” Warming up and getting used to a new weapon.

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

Apt to watch and wait, in many situations, his brow arched as she inspected the newfound, but seemingly ineffectual, wound. With nothing more, and no segments of pain (perhaps better, that she could feel any at all now) escalating, the Sword let it be, stringing his attention back to the weaponry and movement of the targets.

The chest proportion was eventually struck and snagged, and much like some felled deer, the makeshift effigy stalled, trailing, dwindling from the ‘exertion’. It gained a second wind (his incantations and mischief) a moment later, as if seized by the instant and needing to dash blindly along, surging ahead to bounce and alter back and forth between arches of bridges or stonework. “You are welcome,” he nodded and encouraged, persisting in the volley of magic with the upturned juncture of his snicker.

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

It’s superficial at best, perhaps maybe a bruise that she might find a few days from now once she forgets about the embarrassment of snapping the string against her finger. But at the very least, it’s a distraction enough to get her to land an arrow into the target, her confidence rising again now that she’s growing a bit more limber from the chill in the air and being delicately aware of how similarly sluggish it was as when she was Ascended and needed fluid – something she’d consistently put off for as long as she could feasibly get away with.

She’s nearly done, before she realizes that he’s upped the ante, and she nocks another arrow into the bow, pulling it from the quiver in haste as she goes into full practice mode, iceberg eyes focused intensely on the target and predicting its movements. She launches the arrow not shortly after, watching as it sinks into the target’s little makeshift arm, causing the Harpy to grin a toothy and proud one back toward Deimos.

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

They were alike in the ways they were spurned on; challenges for challenges sake, eager to feed into the frenzy and potential of rising to higher stakes. Sometimes it was juvenile, sometimes it was restlessness, and sometimes it was simply easier to understand and fathom – to merely become better in the grand scheme of things.

He smirked as the arm was consequently sunken; the follied target made an abrupt maneuver, not unlike a stag again, faltering in its display. Purposeful and tactful, he arched a brow, manifesting another leg to take its place, watching to gauge and see her reaction. Maybe dismay. Maybe irritation. But enough to appease and ensure her skills were still up to par, even after years.

It loped towards her now, somewhat defiant in its prey manner – before launching overhead, intending to soar above the Ancient.

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

The pride doesn’t last as long as she hopes it does – not as she watches the crafted stag falter, as its leg disappears only to be remade with a new one. And with it, watching as it starts to run toward her, the Harpy immediately begins to reach for another arrow, nocking it back into the bow on gut instinct, drawing it back in a swift motion – as quick of one as she can make given the sluggishness from the cold getting to her.

Luckily for her, it doesn’t have any disastrous effects when the stag runs toward her and launches itself up and over her. She ducks, the jacket flaring out as she does so, and she launches the arrow directly above her and watches as it sinks into the training target’s flank from beneath. Another grin spreads across her face as she straightens up and looks to Deimos with an amused gleam in her gaze. “Not too bad, huh?”

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

The beast quelled; had it been alive, there would have been noises of pain and torment. Instead, under the Sword’s impeccable control, it wobbled from the hit, until eventually legs were flailing, akimbo, and it fell into the banister portion of the bone bridge, crashing headfirst. “Not bad at all,” he assured with his deep rumble, an affectionate smirk. “Might as well finish it off,” with a dutiful nod of his head – for while it wasn’t quite alive, born of snow and his fickle, juvenile amusements, the Harpy could still bear to practice the entire act of mauling amidst the hunt.

Out of curiosity, and because he didn’t have much else to do as she went to seize and assault, his inquiry lingered along the puffs of warm air. “Will you be staying in the Grounds all season?”

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

Deimos’ assurance sparks an even brighter grin from her as she watches it flail somewhat realistically from the sharp hit that Kiada had sunk into it, she hums a note of agreement as she turns and nocks another arrow into the bow, smoothing her breathing before she launches it and watches it sink into the creature’s throat, ending it once and for all (even if it hadn’t truly been alive to begin with).

As for the rest, she slings the bow up onto her shoulder alongside the quiver as she walks over to retrieve some of the arrows from where she could find them, nodding her head in response to his question before looking up at him to verbally give it too. “I think so. There are some things here that I want to stick around and find out more about.” She rolls a shoulder lightly, the bow and quiver shifting with the movement as she wanders back to his side.

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

It would’ve been somewhat amusing on his part to let it rise back from a certain grave, but the eventuality didn’t need to be extended, not when Kiada had already bested it. So as her arrow sunk in, the snow figure dissipated completely in a torrent of dramatic flakes, streamlined into the wind to curl and contort for a few seconds more. Snorting, he turned back to her, lifting his brow in its residual, usual facet of intrigue and curiosity, though he figured the response might align more towards Fox.

“Like what?” rumbled along, with his keen, fatherly gaze – though he could be simply presuming on the latter. Maybe she wanted to be part of the band of Ancients striving to the forefront of the Grounds, likely, gradually, making it their own.

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same

when you learn that the road to hell
is paved with more than just good intentions;

She loosens a breath of relief when the snow dissipates into a dramatic fade of flurrying snowflakes, her bones already growing sore from how much she’d used them in ways she hadn’t done it in so long. Settling the bow back over her shoulder alongside the quiver, she can’t hide the slight shiver that occurs when she sees the rest of the snowflakes dwindle off, turning her attention back fully onto Deimos with a soft tinged smile.

“Well, it sounds like the Grounds is going to be shifting toward being more Ancient friendly.” She pauses, shifting so that she can tighten the coat around her to keep the warmth in easier. “And I want to get to know the people around here a bit more.” Her iceberg gaze lifts to his face, almost as if subconsciously proving to him that yes, Fox is a factor for her staying here.

KIADA

you are not heads or tails;
you are the coin

DEIMOS

ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood

The soft smile given in return ensured his presumptions lingered – eyes narrowing only in mild, feigned suspicion, before his own mouth curled into something fond and amused. The Grounds moving forward, rather than a listlessness borne from the war, was enough – the second response prompting a loud snort from the Sword, but he didn’t snag at the dangling threads. “Makes sense,” he gave instead, the arched brow remaining. “I should return home, but I can find you after LongNight,” by which he’d have news to share of his own.

After hugs and a minor sharing of more snacks from his pockets, the Warden departed as promised, far more content than the initial outset of the journey.

{FIN <3}

watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same