Lover's Spar

-1HP

John hissed in pain as Aeolia scored a hit on his knuckle with the stick she was using as a training blade. It was an odd situation, fighting an actual person as opposed to some conjured monster. His skill had left him with the innate understanding in how to wield his sword, but against someone with real skill, he felt like he was just flailing around like a kid pretending to be some hero on the playground.

“What did I do wrong this time?” he asked Aeolia as she rested her faux blade on her shoulder.

“You’re favoring your right side too much,” she informed him. “So when I feint to your left, you have to shift too much to react, leaving you open.”

“So I’ve got to keep myself more centered, huh?” John asked as he opened and closed his hand in quick bursts to clear the small amount of lingering pain. “It’s weird that I know how to hold a sword and swing it without toppling over but don’t know how to use it against a real opponent.”

“I mean, your skill is, like, level two, right?” Aeolia asked. “Not really all that high. Makes sense that someone with more experience in fighting would be able to outmaneuver you.”

John caught the hint of pride in her voice and he smirked. “Well, glad I have an expert to train me. Though I didn’t know you could sword fight.”

A sad smile worked its way to Aeolia’s face and she said, “Granddad trained me in the basics before I found my preferred weapon. And before he passed, he’d have me run though the basics every couple of months just to keep me sharp. I kept up the practice but there’s no way I’m anything but a novice with swords. Probably like a four or five using your level system.”

“So only around twice as good as I am?” John joked, bringing his stick back into a ready position. “Might as well see if I can close the gap a bit.”

“You’re lucky you don’t bruise,” Aeolia remarked as she shifted to match his stance. “Not sure if purple is your color.”

“I’d say purple fits Senka better, but in the context of bruises, I think that’d be in bad taste,” John said.

“Yeah, not sexy at all,” Aeolia agreed as the pair began to circle around each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. John had rushed in their first bout and was easily smacked about. Now he played it cautiously, hoping to catch some tell in Aeolia before she attacked.

“Everything is ok on that front, right? We kind of did jump into things without settling all the groundwork,” John asked, both curious about her thoughts on their changed relationship and to split her attention, hopefully making her more prone to a misplay.

Aeolia shrugged while a fond smile made its way to her lips. “If I had a real issue, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I was a bit apprehensive, mostly because of Vivian’s reaction. Did not want a repeat of the dancing fiasco.”

“Not your finest moment,” John said.

“Thanks for rubbing salt in that wound,” Aeolia shot back, her smile turning into a grin that promised retribution. “But yeah. Senka didn’t make it easy to say no. She can be frustratingly pragmatic.”

Aeolia leaned forward and began the spar in earnest, lashing at John with controlled, precise strikes. They weren’t beyond John’s ability to respond to and he either blocked or evaded her attacks.

“Pragmatic how?” John asked, through slightly labored breath as Aeolia’s flurry of blows abated and she backed off. Despite her recent exertion, Aeolia’s composure was unaffected and she stood waiting for his response as she began to answer his query.

“She was willing to drop the whole thing if any of us had issues,” Aeolia informed him. “Something about keeping the group whole over her wants.”

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one,” John quoted. “Guess she got that from my head. Wrath of Khan, great movie. And that would have sucked.”

“Had the same thought,” Aeolia said sadly. “A third wheel unable to walk her own path. I kind of hate that she put me in that position, honestly, but if she didn’t raise the question, she would have suffered anyway.”

“I think something would have happened at some point,” John confessed. “She, um, didn’t really hide that she found you and Vivian attractive. If she didn’t broach the topic with you, she might have talked to me about it.”

His piece said, John began his attack. He lunged towards Aeolia, mindful of the advice she had given him from their earlier bouts. He focused on keeping himself from favoring one side over the other. His blows, still hesitant as he amended his style, were easily blocked by Aeolia.

“That’s much better,” she praised as she sidestepped a downward swing. John managed to bring his weapon back up into a guard as she performed a counterattack. “Good recovery. You didn’t over commit there.”

“Probably a bit easier to do it with a stick over my actual sword,” John remarked.

“Duh,” Aeolia smirked. “But it lets you get used to the movements. Once that is locked in, it’ll be easy for you to use them with your sword after a little practice. How about we do one more clash? Both of us go in at the same time. Like a real fight.”

“I’m game,” John replied with a grin, doing his best to project confidence. As they squared off, he thought, ‘I’ve managed to block some of her attacks but I haven’t been able to deflect any. If I can do that, I might be able to tag her with a thrust.’

Plan made, John took a breath and asked, “So, count of three?”

Aeolia nodded and John began his count. On three, both of them surged forward, their faux swords meeting with a hearty twack that echoed around the room. They continued their bout, John finding no opening in Aeolia’s form but maintaining his own to deny his winged opponent the chance to hit him. The pattern repeated a few times and John began to grasp Aeolia’s rhythm.

He saw her shift back, twisting at the waist slightly. A tell that she was about to swing high, her attack intended to hit his shoulder. Aeolia’s move came as expected and John braced himself and swung his blade upward. The two sticks met, but unlike before, John’s had the power behind it to **** Aeolia’s back instead of tying once more.

Left open, Aeolia wasn’t able to stop John from bringing his ‘sword’ down on her shoulder. He managed to reduce its speed so it was more of a light tap than a hard hit.

Skill Level Up: Large Blade Proficiency Lv. 3. Damage Increased from 6% -> 7%. Skill Modifier ‘Second Wind’ unlocked.

“Level up and a new toy to play with,” Aoelia commented as John withdrew his weapon. “Figured this would be good for you.”

John shot her a smile. “It’s nice and all, but I’d do this even without the possibility of a reward. It’s nice spending time with you, though, maybe with a little less thwacking.”

“Can’t say there won’t be thwacking in the future,” Aeolia remarked with a sly grin. “I like to keep my skills sharp. But I can think of a way to take your mind off them.”

She sauntered over to him, letting her stick clatter to the floor before she looped her arms around John’s neck and leaned up towards his lips. John pitched forward to meet her, slipping his arms down her back, willing his stick into his Inventory. As their kiss deepened, John let his hands drift further south to grab her ass.

He kneaded Aeolia’s taut butt, drawing out a throaty moan from his winged lover as she pressed closer against him, her breasts squishing pleasantly across his chest. Far too soon for his liking, Aeolia pulled back, her breaths coming in light pants.

“As much as I want to, can’t really get into it right now,” Aeolia grumbled, pressing her forehead to John’s. “Not with a guest around and half of us missing, especially since things got cut off early.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” John said, doing his best to ignore his erection. “It would be pretty awkward to get caught a second time today.”

John caught Aeolia’s eyes shift where his skill level up display hovered between them. Then her eyes snapped back to meet his and she smirked.

“I know you’re dying to see what you got there,” she remarked. “How about we sit down and rest a bit so you can read it?”

“I could use a bit of a cooldown,” John said. Before he could start to move towards the chairs resting against the far wall, Aeolia tensed slightly and jumped. John reflexively threw his arms out to catch her falling body, her wings ticking his skin.

“What?” she asked with a teasing smirk when she caught his questioning eye. “We’re taking a rest, right? You’re not going to give your legs a break by standing around.”

John returned her grin, carried her to the chairs and sat down, letting Aeolia settle into his lap, one arm coiled around her waist.

“Better, yeah?” Aeolia asked as she leaned against his chest.

John nodded, liking how she felt nestled in his lap and pressed into his chest, and summoned the skill’s info sheet.

“It’s weird that this hasn’t increased the Craftsmanship cost reduction yet,” John groused. “Probably going to be a big jump when I hit level five. That’s how it works in some games. One buff is tied to specific levels.”

“Poor you,” Aeolia sighed sarcastically, patting his head. “Needing to grind a bit more.”

John pressed his hand into Aeolia’s side, causing her to squirm and let out a small squeal. Punishment dealt out, John pulled up the Skill Modifier’s info.

Second Wind: When you successfully deflect an enemy weapon attack, increase Agility by (Skill Level x 3) % for 10 seconds.

“Not a bad boost,” John muttered as he cleared away the display. “The bump of Agility should let me rush in while whatever I’m fighting is open and off balance.”

He leaned back and looked down at Aeolia and asked, “Mind if we make this break a long one? I’m rather comfortable.”

Aeolia laughed and snuggled deeper into John’s embrace.

“What a coincidence, so am I,” she cooed. “I think we can afford some more downtime.”

Drawing up the needed beacon arrays hadn’t taken Vivian long. Once an array was designed, it was a simple task to recreate it and even needing to draw six hadn’t taken more than twenty minutes. Her immediate task done, she moved to sketching possible improvements to the transmitter system.

Before she could make any real headway, she heard footsteps outside her door. With a frown, Vivian extended her senses, picking up on Beth’s wavering magical signature. She waited for the petite girl to knock but after several seconds of inaction, the redhead twisted in her chair and called out, “Door’s open!”

Tentatively, Beth pushed the door open, looking slightly nervous. Vivian smiled at her and asked, “Is something up?”

“Well, I was wondering if you’ve got the time to take another look at the safety net?” Beth asked, lifting up her right arm. “It’s not a big deal if you can’t. Just figured since we’ve got some time.”

“No, no, I’ve already written up the arrays we’ll need to make the beacons,” Vivian said, picking up the papers on her desk and moving them aside. “Actually, I did a little more work on the problem this morning, well, before…”

She trailed off, face growing red, and Beth caught what she was going to say and grinned.

“Before you encountered a trio of sexy distractions?” Beth guessed.

Vivian coughed and sputtered out, “Yes. Well, even with that I think I’ve got enough of a grasp on the outer portions to be able to get a better view on the whole structure. Actually, I think the scanning array we used yesterday will be useful in this.”

“I think my contribution to that was just holding things still for you,” Beth said, properly walking into Vivian’s office.

“I don’t think I could have made the array and scanned those golems if they were attacking me,” Vivian countered. “We were a team and it’s only fair for both of us to take the credit for clearing the path.”

“If you say so, boss,” Beth said with a grin. “So, where should I put my arm?”

“On the desk, please,” Vivian said, standing up and pushing her chair out of the way so she had more room to move about. “Just like the other day in the kitchen.”

As Beth laid her arm down, Vivian pulled out a bottle of Shine Dust and began to weave the array above it.

“You’re pretty quick with that,” Beth remarked as the dust settled into shape.

Vivian smiled softly. “It’s nothing that special. I just have a good amount of practice and a pretty good memory.”

“You sure it’s not like a photographic memory?” Beth asked with an amused lilt in her voice.

“Wouldn’t go that far,” Vivian answered with a good natured laugh. “If that was the case I could just read up on various methods and designs and go from there. I just have a method that helps me make memorization easy.”

“Oh? And what’s the great Vivian’s secret?” Beth asked teasingly.

Flushing slightly from the shorter girl’s ribbing, Vivian explained, “The secret, even though it really isn’t one, is to have a small number of base designs you can branch off from. Those become easy to write in a snap and then you just have to add layers as needed until it’s ready to go. And speaking of being ready, I’m good to take a look.”

“It’s not going to hurt, is it?” Beth asked in a joking tone.

“It shouldn’t,” Vivian answered, causing Beth’s smirk to fade slightly. “Really, it shouldn’t. The most you might feel is a little warm, like if you left your arm sitting out in the sun for a bit too long. Kind of a side effect of my mana probing you.”

“Just don’t make my wrist extra crispy. Kind of need it,” Beth remarked.

Vivian smiled reassuringly at her. “I promise, nothing’s going to hurt you.”

Despite her words, Beth’s expression soured for a second before she nodded slightly. While curious over Beth’s change in demeanor, Vivian chose to focus on the task at hand, feeling that if Beth wanted to talk about it, she would broach the topic.

“Ok, going to take that look now,” the redhead announced and began her probe. Above the array, spiraling patterns manifested, a visualization of the outer layer of the enchantment on Beth’s wrist. Vivian hummed as she worked to understand the magic at play.

“Yeah, this is pretty complex,” she muttered, jotting down notes as she surveyed the weave of the spell.

“No hope for a quick fix, huh?” Beth asked with a weak smile.

Vivian sadly shook her head. “No, but this works. All we need to do is glean as much from the outer layer as we can, then I can make a counter to it and hack deeper in. Once we can get past the outer layer, the rest should be easy to subvert.”

“So, how long do you think it’ll take to get everything you need?” Beth pressed.

Vivian ran her eyes over the projected image of waving patterns for a moment before answering.

“I doubt it’ll take longer than thirty minutes,” she estimated. “From just a rough glance, the outer layer is just the camouflage mechanism and security protocols preventing a deeper look. I can ignore the former since we know it’s there and can expose it.”

Beth was quiet for a moment, then said, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not so good with just sitting still for a half hour. So why don’t you explain just what you’re seeing.”

“Are you sure?” Vivian asked, a skeptical look on her face. “This stuff is rather dry.”

Beth shrugged her left shoulder, “I know I’m not the brainiest chick around, but who knows? Might pick something up. Hit me with the jargon.”

“Alright,” Vivian slowly said, then a smile replaced her doubting expression. “But I have a counter offer: You have to tell me how your ability works. Like how it feels to use. Maybe I can pick up something too.”

Beth shot the redhead a toothy grin. “Alright. So who’s going first?”