Demons and Angels (Lastinginthenight X Eldarwen)

Selene nodded gratefully as Kono settled in front of the city walls and did not go in. As soon as the dragon had settled on the ground, she scrambled off of its back as quickly as possible, but very clumsily too, to stretch her muscles a little. “Oh, this hurts,” she grunted as she arched her back and straightened her legs out. “I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow,” Selene said, stating the obvious. She was not used to flying a dragon, let alone all day long, and it was definitely something her muscles would have to get used to if they were going to keep this up.

Silently, she nodded again at Kono’s statement, not wanting to move anymore anyway, not caring whether the night was dark or illuminated by a full moon and a sky full of brightly lit stars. All she wanted to do was rest and not be disturbed by any kind of vicious stranger or event. As soon as Kono was settled and seemed to offer his body and wing as a shelter to her, she sighed and gladly accepted, lying with her back to Kono’s body, enjoying the warmth he was providing. It was not long after she had settled in that she was already fast asleep.

The night was a quiet one, only rarely was the peace disturbed by the sounds of wild animals milling about or the few thugs and thieves closer to the city walls where Kono and Selene were resting, but the dragon and the girl themselves were not disturbed. Or rather, Selene wasn’t, because even if a tree had crashed down beside her, she might not even have noticed, she was sleeping so deeply.

~((Yay ^^ good to have you back))~

Kono sighed letting his eyes droop and fall into a light sleep only half stirring every once in a while to growl threateningly when a thief tried to reach the items tied to his back, to scare him away.

(I'm gonna bring in Akira and mizu soon if thats okay.)

A large bang and a plum of smoke from within the city awoke Kono with a start the next morning. He lifted his wing from over Selene looking toward the city curiously, "Time to get up Selene. Trouble woke up early this morning. Oh and don't forget to grab your sword."

Akira hooted and hollored as Mizu flew her out of the arena where the remains of an alchemic circle and the smoke from the flash bomb she had created. The bomb wasn't made to hurt anyone, she just wanted to cause a stir and feel the adrenaline rush.

Mizu snorted, "Your having way go much fun this morning." He flapped returning to the ground in an alleyway not far from the arena. Akira adjusted the strap holding her sword around her waist, loosening it so it was more comfortable to walk in,and Mizu folded his wings, grooming them just a bit so his feathers stayed in place. Akira shrugged, "Just finding something interesting to do." she responded brushing some dust off her metal arm.

The next morning, Selene woke with a start when Kono suddenly lifted his wing off of her and began talking to her. She hadn’t heard the commotion that was apparently going on within the city walls, or maybe she had unconsciously but she couldn’t remember having heard anything. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she slowly got up and grabbed around for the sword until her hands finally found the hilt. Still half asleep, she belted it and simply followed Kono. She hadn’t slept all too well and had trouble to fully wake up this morning, the exhaustion from the previous day still sitting in her bones. “What’s going on?” she finally asked the dragon, who seemingly knew more than she did, or at least had heard something.

There were already quite a lot of people about and once they were within the city walls, not too far from what had been the old arena, Selene felt a little overwhelmed by the rush of beings running towards them, and away from the arena. Staying close to Kono was getting harder the farther they went into the city, despite the fact that he was a rather large dragon, though apparently whatever had caused the people to run was scaring them enough that they didn’t even keep much of a distance to a dragon which could swallow them whole with one bite.

Kono spread his wings apart just a bit to protect Selene from being pulled away from him by the crowds of people.He looked to the sky to see a dragon drop down from the sky not far past the arena. He narrowed his eyes curiously. Why wasn't the dragon flying away like the others? He turned into the arena to check out the scene. He was relieved to see there was no blood or other casulties about just a mass of confusion and fear. His tense stance relaxed. "Seems someone has an interesting sense of humor." He remarked examining the chalk markings on the ground. He gave them a sniff to no avail. The smoke was slowly clearing away and the screams were slowly ebbing away. He took that as his queue to get out of such a popular area for now. "He turned around checking to make sure Selene was still nearby. "I saw a dragon land nearby, we should search for it. I think they might know who caused this." He had a hunch that the person who caused the commotion probably had a connection with the arena in the past. So even if they weren't adapt with a weapon they could lead them to someone who was.

Akira, followed by Mizu, made her way casually back out into the streets a confident swagger in her step. She knew this city like the back of her hand. And where the authorities that tried to keep the peace in the area would search for them first. So she new she had enough time to get back to her hideout before she was caught. That was until she saw the huge purple dragon walking into the arena. Then she lost all interest in running away. She had seen dragons before, but none that were so big. Quickly she hid in an alleyway across from the main entrance of the arena. Ignoring Mizu's protests that they should get out of the area before they were caught.

Mizu grumbled and sat next to Akira watching out for the authorities. The girl really was a child. She was impossible to reason with and when she saw something interesting she forgot nearly everything else. Even when she had just disturbed the peace of the entire city.

Selene quickly moved closer to Kono’s side as he spread his wings in a sort of protective manner to keep the people further away from her so they wouldn’t get split up in this rush. She was wondering though what had caused it. She couldn’t smell fire and there seemed to not have been murder or they’d be screaming and panicking even more, or so she guessed. This was confirmed as they entered the arena and neither of them could detect any blood anywhere. “Sense of humour? Causing a mass panic? That’s not really what I call humour,” Selene grumbled in response. A dragon? she thought surprised. She had not seen a dragon, which only went to show her lack in observational skills and she made a mental note to maybe start working on those. “Yeah alright,” Selene shrugged, “let’s go find that dragon then.” She didn’t know if she even wanted to know who had caused this, that person certainly must be somewhat special but it might prove useful. For what however, she did not know but she was up for a little side-adventure that was less scaring than hunting stories about a weird shadow creature.

She followed Kono around, keeping an eye out for anything that could remotely be dragonic, but didn’t see anything. There were people of all kinds and shapes bustling around, some still running away from whatever it was that had actually happened here in the arena, but others were already returning somewhat to normal it seemed. There were also quite a few different species around that were not human or even humanoid, making it all a somewhat strange mixture. As she was observing an especially strange looking anthro-being, trying to be discreet about it however, she suddenly felt a tingle creep up her back, as though she was being watched. Turning into the direction of where this feeling seemed to come from, she could feel eyes resting on her, but she couldn’t see anything or anyone in particular. “Kono…,” she whispered, trying to nudge the dragon in the side, “we’re being watched. But I can’t see who or what by.”

Kono chuckled, "wether you consider it a sense of humor or not I'm sure whoever set of the bomb thought it was quite thrilling." He looked for the dark wings he had seen on the dragon, amongst the crowd to no avail snorting in frustration. "If only I had seen where they landed." He grumbled.

As soon as Selene pointed out the feeling he tensed up ever so slightly the muscles in his legs rippling with caution. He slowly turned his head in a casual browsing fashion until he was looking behind Selene across the way from the arena entrance, thats when he thought he saw it, a flash of metal gleaming behind on of the kiosks. "6 o'clock." he grumbled hoping it was loud enough for Selene to hear. Act casual it could be nothing, but it could be them too."

Akira huddled closer to the kiosk watching the large purple beast parooze over the crowd examining the remains of her chalk circle. Mizu behind her had been flicking his tail and she wouldn't have noticed if the huge beasts head hadn't stopped moving when it was facing them. "...Mizu?....were you messing around?"

"yeah. why?" he asked dropping his tail curiously.

"You may have just gotten us caught." she answered tensing up getting prepared to sprint for it if they actually had been made.

Selene’s back was prickling and she stared at Kono as she told him. Seeing him tense up a little, she was surprised that it was even noticeable to her, she disliked the fact that he seemed to be preparing for… something, maybe an attack? Or maybe that was just typical instincts, and she shouldn’t worry too much about it, as she wouldn’t have reacted any differently were they in inversed positions. Though she still didn’t quite know who that dragon was he seemed to be looking for and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know if they were part of the ‘humourous’ happenings here.

Shivering slightly, Selene turned into the direction Kono suddenly indicated and squeezed her eyes to see if she could distinguish anything amongst the shadows around the kiosks. People slowly came floding back again after the first wave of the commotion seemed to have cooled down a little and it was getting harder to recognise anything. “Act casual,” Selene grumbled, “how can we act casual when everyone seems to be staring at you, wondering what the hell such a huge dragon is doing here.” Indeed, quite a few pairs of eyes had turned towards the dragon, inspecting it, possible awaiting yet another explosion or anything else along those lines, and Selene wasn’t sure whether she liked the attention they were getting at this moment in time. “But I still cannot see what you seem to have seen,” she whispered. “What is it?” She wasn’t sure if she should suggest going over to whatever it was Kono had seen or not. In a way, she wanted to know, but then again, maybe it was better if they didn’t find out what Kono had seen? Maybe she didn’t really want to know who was responsible for the explosion? Scolding herself for being such a cry-baby, Selene finally said: “Let’s just go over there and have a look, because I really can’t see anything.”

Kono chuckled and leaned his head down closer to hers, "just because their staring at me doesn't mean that you can't walk over there by yourself." He sighed with a smirk before returning to his normal stance, "Fine, fine. We'll go take a look together." Where some would have just walked straight he decided to turn as soon as he left the entrance flanking the kiosk so there was very few places to run. Figuring Selene woudl most likely follow him instead of walking straight towards the kiosk he spread his wings out slighty to block as many exits as possible, he could see the dragon now who was staring at him threateningly, but a slightly bemused expression crossed his face when he saw the small size of the girl next to him.

Akira backed up against the wall as the dragon approached blocking their one exit, besides scaling the wall of the alley behind them, or flying up (which kono could probably easily catch up to, given his size.) , she drew her sword defensivly but was suprised by the dragons cool expression and the saddle she now notices on his back. "Alright show yourself, i know your rider is here somewhere."

Mizu stood glaring at Kono spreading his own wings instictually making himself larger, though he still paled in comparison. "We didn't do anything to bother you. You weren't even here a few minutes ago." he growled

(bleh Ijust don't like the flow of this post but i can't think of how to make it better at the moment)

Selene glowered at Kono, wanting to tell him off for suggesting she was a wuss. She wouldn’t admit that she was one, but then again, she had good reason. Why would she go looking for trouble out of her own free will? If someone was observing them, they could come to Selene and Kono, she didn’t see why she had to go inspect things on her own. The dragon had already sent her off on her own quite a few times and she didn’t very much agree on his implications right just then. She was seriously considering just remaining where she was and letting him go check things out by himself. He wanted to know who had caused the commotion after all, and it had been his idea to come looking for them, why should she even move a finger. But she knew herself that she was being silly so she shot him another annoyed glance but didn’t say a word, silently tagging along.

Frowning, she wondered what the hell he was doing, why he was not walking straight to where it was he had seen something, and fell a few steps behind, observing his actions rather than simply following him blindly. When he began spreading his wings, she finally caught on why he had not gone straight to the alley and caught up the last few steps, just about at the right time to hear a female voice grunt at Kono and ask for his rider. Surprised, Selene realised she was meant by this, so she stepped around Kono, bracing herself for what was about to come. “He is neither my dragon, nor am I his rider,” she corrected, trying to remain calm and cool although her insides were churning with nerves. The sight presenting itself to her was a rather odd one, or at least to her. She wasn’t surprised to see the dragon, after all Kono had mentioned he had seen one, even if she had missed it, but the girl was quite a sight. Curiously, Selene let her eyes wonder over her, especially over the metallic arm or whatever it seemed to be and she wondered what on earth had happened to her, but she wasn’t about to ask this out loud, drawing her eyes back to the girl’s face, hoping she had not just brought a shower of insults down on herself for letting her eyes linger a little too long on the arm to still be considered polite.

~((Don't worry about it, having a little trouble myself atm with getting posts sound right so I know what you mean ^^))~

"If you weren't his rider than why would he be wearing a saddle?" she grunted in in response with a smirk across her face, turning her sword to face Selene, though that immediately received a growl from Kono. Though she couldn't help but give a suppressed laugh when she saw Selene's eye stop to stare at her arm before quickly moving away.

Kono curled his toes slightly against the ground, "We don't mean any harm. I just didn't want you running away. I figured you would know this town pretty well considering your efficient skills at avoiding the authorities. We are looking for an arena fighter who can train her with a sword." He motioned to Selene skillfully avoiding the topic of whether he considered her, his rider or not. (he never thought about it XD)

"Your lookin' at one." she said putting her sword away and flexing her metal arm. "You like it? Some old doctor made it for me when my arm got chopped off." She said a little too proudly.

Mizu relaxed ever so slightly refolding his wings though his stance was still defensive in case he needed to step in.

Briefly raising an eyebrow at the girl’s statement, she wondered whether it was really something to be proud of to have a metal arm attached to your shoulder, but then again, it might be better than not having one at all, so Selene quickly dismissed the thought again. At least the girl hadn’t gone off raging at her for staring. She wondered whether she should ask why she even had it, when the girl turned her attention back to the saddle on Kono’s back. Not quite knowing how to reply to it, not even knowing what Kono was to her now. Was it binding when you ride a dragon? Are you going to forever be their rider? Selene was quite confused as to this matter since she had no idea how a dragon-rider connection worked, how it happened, what it entailed and she didn’t know whether it if even was anything the two of them wanted. They had simply grouped up out of need really.

Relief washed over her as Kono skilfully avoided the topic and quite easily managed to divert the girl’s attention to something completely different. Meanwhile, Selene let her eyes wander to the dragon sitting behind the female, who had relaxed a little though he still seemed prepared to bolt any second. It was not a breed she had ever encountered, then again, she barely had encountered any different dragon breeds, so almost any kind would appear new and amazing to her. Again however, she didn’t let her gaze linger too long, just in case he would want to bite off her head.

Surprise flashed across the young woman’s face however as the other girl stated that she was an arena fighter or trainer or whatnot. It was also then that she seemed to open up slightly more and stated how she had gotten her arm. “So you got your arm chopped off in an arena fight?” Selene asked, the tone of her voice clearly stating that she didn’t really consider this an event to be proud of, but she was from a different environment so she guessed other people might think that was an honour or something along those lines. Though her curiosity won over and she asked: “And it works just like any normal arm would?”

Akira's smirk broadened in to a broad grin when Selene showed curiosity rather than disgust at the topic of her arm, "Yeah. You see arena matches were fights to the death." she explained punching the air in front of her to emphasize her point. "and I mean this guy was huge. Had to be seven foot tall and ripped." she said motioning well above her head. "SO I'm lucky to have just made it out of there without my arm. Course made me talk of the city for a while too." she finished with a prideful stance.

By this point Mizu just sighed and stood behind Akira with his arms crossed. He knew how unusually fond Akira was of her arm, of course the doctor that made it had been like surrogate father to her for a while too while she was getting used to her metal arm Though Mizu doubted she would ever tell anyone other than himself about it

"Yup, just like a regular arm, though I can't feel anything with it." She flexed it and swung it in a big circle to show Selene.

Kono refolded his wings but he still had business to take care of, "So can you train her?" he pushed. He was glad that the two weren't fighting, but he still had the thoughts of that shade on his mind and since the temperatures had been cooling off lately he figured much of the wildlife would be hiding out for the winter soon which meant that whatever the shade was attacking between humans would become scarcer and it would most likely start attacking people more often.

Akira sighed and nodded with a sigh, "Sure, never done it before but I'll give it a shot...as long as I get compensation." She added as an after thought. With that Kono hurred in thought. He hadn't thought about compensating anyone for teaching Selene but he wasn't sure if they could find another person as quickly. "I'll compensate you on a lesson by lesson basis. He teach her something and I will compensate you however I can afterwards."

Akira stared at Kono for a few seconds before shrugging, "Fine. You seem desperate enough." She folded her hands behind her head and looked up at Kono before staring back at Selene, "So when should we start. We've got a whole day ahead of us.

Selene couldn’t help to feel a little disgusted after all when the girl described the arena fight, even if she didn’t go into too much detail about how exactly the arm incident had occurred. It was enough for Selene’s imagination to run wild and she involuntarily shuddered at the thought of having her arm ripped off. Though her showing off her metal arm once more made her quickly lose focus on the gore and she concentrated back on the arm and everything else happening around her. The dragon behind the girl didn’t seem all too pleased at the current situation but kept surprisingly quiet despite the displeasure showing clearly in his face and posture.

Selene’s eyes quickly glanced over at Kono as he folded up his wings and again pushed for sword training. She wasn’t really sure whether she should add something or not, it seemed like he had it under control and her chipping something in might make them sound a little too desperate. Though the girl had caught on that soon enough anyways and Selene’s cheeks went a bright red at this. Payment of course, she had not thought about either, but she should have figured that it would be required. Nothing ever was free these days. Although… An idea popped into Selene’s head for compensation for this particular girl, and she wondered what Kono would think of it, though of course she didn’t know how she could tell him without the other two hearing. Maybe she could catch him later on for a bit and explain her idea. Maybe it would work as compensation?

As the girl turned towards her, Selene tried to get control over her face again, hesitating a little as she spoke: “Well, ahm, I don’t think we have anything planned?” A quick flicker towards Kono again, before Selene looked back at the girl in front of her. “I guess, if you have nothing else you want to get done, we could start now?” She wasn’t sure whether this was a good idea or not, but then again, if she didn’t force herself to start now, she might back out of it and not do it at all, and she knew herself that she needed to learn how to use a sword, if only the very basics of it. “My name is Selene, by the way,” she added, lightly inclining her to the girl and the dragon standing behind her, in a, what she hoped, polite manner.

Kono shook his head, "Not a thing. We came here to investigate the bomb you set off." he responded looking at Selene reassuringly before returning his gaze to the pair.

With that akira smiled and stuck her hands in her pockets, "It wasn't a bomb, just a transmuted flashbomb." Kono nodded ever so slightly now that the remaining chalk markings in the arena made sense. "Well then lets get started." SHe finished and climbed on Mizu's shoulders who gave a curt nod to Selene and Kono before spreading his wings and leaping into the air with a flap, "We''ll meet outside the cities walls." HE grunted back down before flapping and flying off.

"Well she seems excitable," Kono commented briefly with a sigh before crouching down. "At least we've got someone to help us train you since I obviously know nothing about swords." he chuckled briefly.

Once Selene was on he took off after Mizu flapping hard to get above the buildings weighing much more than the small swords dragon. He followed the pair until he saw them start to decend.

(blegh i don't seem to be doing a very good job tonight)

Frowning lightly, Selene wondered how a flashbomb would not be a bomb having the word even in it, but she didn’t ask about it, not really caring about such things anymore at this moment in time. Kono had found who had created the commotion and that was what they had come for, everything else was mostly a blur to the young woman. Neither did she really know what they were talking about neither did she even want to understand. It was not her world and might never be. All that scientific and alchemical experimenting wasn’t really something for her.

As the girl took off with her dragon after only a brief agreement on starting training immediately, Selene gulped at the prospect of actually having to go through with this, now, even though she knew it was for the best. She would have to learn how to defend herself with a weapon sooner or later, why not start immediately. Quickly, she followed the other pair’s example and clambered back up onto Kono’s back so the dragon could follow the other’s flight. “She does indeed. This will certainly prove to be interesting,” Selene chuckled in response, surprised herself at the girl’s enthusiasm to help a complete stranger simply because it seemed like an adventure, but that also confirmed her thought of a possible remuneration maybe even hitting home.

Thus, Selene grabbed this opportunity to tell Kono about her idea for remuneration, should it be a valid offer and should they not have anything else to pay them with. “Do you think taking them on an adventure or taking them along on this little quest of ours would be payment enough?” The question sounded oddly phrased and Selene wondered whether this was not a stupid idea after all, but she continued nevertheless: “I mean, without us they might not have come along this and they seem to be looking for something that will not bore them out of their minds, why else would they create explosions in the middle of a lively market?” Then she already saw the dragon in front of them beginning to lower himself towards the ground and her heartbeat started racing like crazy and her palms grew sweaty around the spike she was clutching. This was really going to be it, and it was only a bit of training she was nervous of, how would she react if she’d ever had to fight for real?!

Kono tilted his wings back as he started to circle down to the ground after Mizu. DIliberately going slowely so he had time to think in response to Selenes question. "I will offer it to them." He finally answered and finished decending to the ground with a few last powerful strokes. He looked back to see her deer in the headlights kind of look, "Relax. Freaking out now will not do any good." He layed down in teh grasss outside the city walls folding his wings loosly against his side, "You seem to be getting quite efficient at getting on and off my back." He commented absent mindedly as he watched the pair before them root around for twigs and other wood objects.

Akira shook her head when she saw her measly pile of wood. "Fine." she grumbled to herself grabbing a peice of chalk from a bag around Mizu's shoulders. She quickly drew a transmutation circle around the wood and another circle near one of the bushes growing through a small crack in the wall. Clapping her hands together she first touched the circle around the wood and with a flash the pile had turned into a sword shapped stick. she then moved and repeated the procces on the circle near the bush ending up with a similar if not slightly darker woodne sword. With a satisfied smile she grabbed to swords and tossed one in Selenes general direction, "We'll use these to start out with.

Mizu shifted his shoulders as Akira started to get in her groove, with a sigh he turned and walked away from the two (assuming Selene walked closer to akira XP) and stood by Kono, "The names Mizu." He grunted

"Kono, nice to meet you." Kono responded politely with a dip of his head. "She's quite energetic." Kono commented non-chalantely."
Mizu smirked, "Yeah, but once you get used to her she's good to be with. Your rider is much more subdued." Kono watched the two quietly clenching his jaw a bit, "I- I don't think she's my rider." Mizu nodded quietly turning to watch his rider a small knowing smile on his face.

AKira, "How did you meet your dragon?" She asked adjusting her grip on the wooden blade until it was comfortable, waiting for Selene to get ready.

“What?” Selene asked, surprised at Kono’s statement, and then slightly blushed. “Well, yes, we’ve been doing this for quite some time now, the getting up and down I mean.” Embarrassed, she lightly brushed off her clothes even though there was nothing on them, merely to hide her face a little and regain composure. She was not used to compliments in any kind of way and her stomach was threatening to twist itself upside down in the prospect of what was about to come next.

Though her mind was quickly onto something else again when she watched Akira draw circles on the floor, wondering what on earth it was she was going to have to do with those circles, and whether they were even going to be part of the training process. As she saw one of the wooden sticks, which had miraculously transformed into a sword, suddenly fly into her general direction, she instinctively moved to catch it and to her own surprise caught it perfectly in her right hand but that was where her skill ended. She simply stood there, wooden sword in her hand and looked at Akira for direction. Having observed sword fights before, she knew they often put their sword up in front of them but she had no idea how this was supposed to be done correctly. “I really do not know much about sword fighting, so you will most likely have to start from the very bottom of the beginning,” Selene explained grudgingly. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Well, he’s not really my dragon. We just sort of bumped into each other and .. yeah..” Frowning, Selene recalled the exact way in which it had happened they had decided to do this but was it really something she wanted to tell a complete stranger? Even though it was in essence what they wanted to offer Akira and Mizu as payment for training her. “We just heard rumours about something very nasty and evil roaming the forest where we were, so we decided a quick get-away would be best and that only worked for me by riding him, since I was on foot.” It sounded rather stupid when it was put this way but Selene didn’t really care all that much about that now, she had other things to worry about, namely the sword she was holding in her hand and which was making her rather uncomfortable. “What about you? How have you two met?”

akira sighed lowering the sword until it was hanging loosely in one hand. "we met in the desert after the caravan he had been traveling with was attacked." she answered as she walked over to stand next to Selene, "We got on each others nerves at first but we still loved hanging out so things went as things went." she shrugged then positioned her self right next to selene, "Copy me." she motioned spreading her feet apart slightly and grabbing her sword with both hands one hand squeezed very close to the other hand though the one on the bottom seemed to hang off slightly. "This sword is a hand and a half sword. It is usually made to be held with one hand hence why the other hangs off the end. We will start with this blade, since it is a standard sword made almost everywhere." she explained waiting for Selene to follow. "Why were you on foot, in the middle of no where?"

Kono huffed after a long silence, "Once you have finished training her we will be leaving to search for a shade that has beeen rumored to be rampaging the east. since We have no money to pay you with we we were wondering if you would like to come along."

Mizu cocked his head in thought, "i will have to run it by akira, but I have heard a few rumors about such a creature recently, from the travelers that come through here." He chuckled a little as he recalled a memory "there reaction was the best when I scorched a bale of hay last week."

Kono raised an eyebrow but shook his head after a few seconds deciding to ignore the statement all together.

Selene had to smile at Akira’s statement, somehow easily being able to imagine her and her dragon getting on each other’s nerves, wondering whether they didn’t still do that from time to time, even though they were very close. The proximity between them was undeniable but the relation seemed rather like one of beings that liked to tease each other no matter how fond they were of the other. It was rather amusing, the young woman had to admit, to observe Akira and Mizu together, which made her wonder if all dragon-rider relations were like that, though she quickly dismissed that thought again since it would probably depend on the personality of both parties involved.

As Akira stepped next to Selene and began to demonstrate and explain how to handle the sword, Selene did her best to copy the girl. So far it didn’t seem too hard. The stance she had already seen being used and she immediately spread her legs a little, bending her knees slightly to be free to move quicker. Holding the sword in the right angle however proved far more difficult than she’d thought, as even with just a wooden stick, it became quite a strain on the arms after only a short while and Selene was already beginning to feel her cheeks burning up a little from the effort.

Surprised at the sudden question, Selene had to chuckle. “I know, it sounds a little weird to be on foot in the middle of nowhere but.. I.. I just had to get away from a few things and so I just started walking and ended up somewhere in the greenery, deciding to go exploring for a bit since I had nothing else to do and didn’t really want to see anyone, at least not anyone I know.” It was easier to simply say it like this than Selene had thought, being rather private about mostly everything that involved her feelings but somehow, the whole adventure so far seemed to have eased that a little. Plus, knowing that Akira had told her and Kono quite a bit about herself probably helped Selene ease up a little.

She shortly glanced towards Kono who seemed to be in discussion with Mizu about something she couldn’t really make out, but at least he seemed comfortable enough so she focused back on the task at hand. “Is this even right?” Selene asked, looking at her hands and arms in a worried look, wondering whether she’d ever be able to properly hold a hand in her sword, but somehow it felt quite cool, unlike when her mother had forced her to hold a wooden spoon in the kitchen.

(hold a hand in her sword? lol... also I think we should figure out what the heck is involved if anything in becoming an official dragon rider pair.)

Akira nodded, "Your right. That does sound weird." she said with a chuckle "That will do for now. Every person has their own way of holding a sword once they get used to it, so we don't need to rely on specifics too much, just keep the point up for now. Don't let it drop." She demonstrated her meaning by letting the tip of her sword point downward. "Unless your hands are right this position is extremely disadvantageous because you can't slice as well because the swing would be weaker." Akira eased into a more comfortable one handed grip of her sword, "This is usually how you would hold this type of blade especially when you are maneuvering around and opponent. You hold it in your dominant hand and swing in arcs when you are fighting." She said swinging the sword in loose unspecific arcs.

Mizu sat down crossing his legs and shutting his eyes. Kono lowered his head until his chin was resting on the ground staring thoughtfully at Selene, his mind running around thinking about the expression Mizu had o his face after the response Kono had given. Were the two of them really a pair? Was there some special ritual to preform? Did Kono want to be bonded if thats what it involved?

~((lol.. didn’t even notice that when I reread ^^ Yeah we should probably, though we might be able to just come up with our own thing for that?))~

As Akira continued her instruction and Selene followed the movements as fluently as possible, the young woman realised that this was indeed quite a lot of fun and she wondered why she had not earlier thought of training in sword fighting, or maybe with other weapons? It was definitely something she was going to look into once this little adventure of theirs was over, seeing that the most important thing now was to only learn how to wield it and maybe use it for minor combat if necessary, but only so she had a means of defense in case they were attacked while hunting for the shade, or at least while they were trying to figure out how much of this was actually true and how dangerous this thing was. All thoughts of dragons and riders, pairing up the two or anything in the likes were completely forgotten and every trace of fear of the shade had completely dissipated in the time that was passing by with the sword training.

With a sword in her hand, swinging it around in loose arcs just as Akira was demonstrating, Selene suddenly felt as if the shade could not really be so harmful and she wondered why she had been so very afraid the day before. With more and more vigour, she followed Akira’s instructions, the pleasure of the moment clearly written on her face and she was eager to learn more, even though her arms were aching and she could feel the pain creeping into her shoulders and legs as well, which she stated at some point as well: “How long will it take for this not to be such a strain anymore? I’m slowly getting the impression that I cannot feel my arms anymore.” She didn’t want to whine but it was really becoming hard not to let the tip of the sword drop lower and lower every time she came back to her initial stance. “I don’t even know how long we’ve been at this, but you definitely make it entertaining,” she added, shooting a grateful smile at Akira. As weird as the girl had struck her at first, she quite enjoyed working with her.

(I was thinking we could come up with our own thing....do you want a ritual of some sort?)

Akira smiled,"You will definitely have to build up your muscles." She said looking Selene over as she stabbed her wooden sword in the ground. "Just wait till you have to work with the real thing. Metal is much heavier than wood." She stared into the sky as the sun began to ebb towards the horizon for a brief moment then smiled, "We will work with two handed blades tomorrow, then I think we will do my favorite type. The twin blades." She stretched out her back quickly then added, "Oh and keep that wooden sword with you, that is the material I will be transmuting for the other blades too."

Akira turned startled when a loud snort suddenly erupted from Kono's nose. as he shuffled around. Apparently they had been working long enough that both dragons had fallen asleep Mizu had been leaned up against Konos half folded wing when he was awoken by the other dragons loud snort.

“Oh no kidding,” Selene muttered in response to Akira’s muscle statement, as she too let go of the wooden sword, but rather just dropping it instead of properly setting it down into the ground. “There are places hurting where I didn’t even know I had muscles.” Rolling her eyes at the mention of the actual sword being even heavier, Selene’s excitement dropped a little. She knew she’d have to get used to the weight and build up some muscles and endurance but at this particular moment, she felt like she would never get there. Every single bit of her upper body, especially her arms and shoulders seemed to be in pain and she barely managed to stretch a little without groaning loudly.

When a loud snort suddenly pierced the air, Selene swirled around on her heels as well, suppressing a moan at the sudden movement and almost immediately started laughing when she caught a glimpse of the two dragons. Huddled up together in what seemed like a big dragon ball, they were both dozing away in what Selene could only guess were comfortable positions for them, wings spread out everywhere, legs in every direction and the now confused looks of dragons being woken up by their own loud sounds.

Still laughing, Selene stated: “Apparently, watching us was rather boring for them, but it is quite an achievement to produce a snort as loud. That almost deserves praise.” Her eyes were gleaming with mischievous pleasure at this and she could imagine teasing Kono for quite a while about this, especially in the probably likely case of it happening again. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Falling asleep while we’re working hard.” Her tone was scolding but the grin on her face betrayed her words.

~((I don't know? ^^ Could be an idea though. Any thoughts on what that ritual would be like? And what would special ‘powers’ be? Or would there be none?))~

Kono blinked blerily, "What else was I suppose to do? Dance?" He mumbled sarcastically shaking himself awake.

"Try not to snore so loud next time." Mizu grumbled stretching himself out. "You almost blew out my ear drums."

Kono huffed slightly embarassed, "It's not like I can help it." He stated defensively before standing up as well and stretching his wings with a yawn. "I'm going to guess you guys are done."

Akira shook her head, "Mizu you should know better than anyone not to fall asleep on the job." She smirked putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head. She tunred to akira, "I guess we will call this the end of the lesson." A mischevious look crossed her face, "So what is your guys proposal for payment?" She eyed Selene and then Kono playfully of course Mizu had to but in and ruin the moment by being serious, "They offered to take us with them on their 'adventure' What do you say?" he said with a serious look.
Akira gave him a pouty face before composing herself, "An adventure sounds interesting but I will have to think on this for tonight. Selene can find an inn in the city since she can blend in fine with the other people in the city but I think Kono should probably stay outside. He atttracts alot of attention of course unless you two want to stay together, in which case you should probably both stay out here. But I am going to find Mizu and I a place to stay inside the walls. I will see you here first thing in the morning tomarrow. Goodnight" With that she hopped on Mizu's shoulders and the pair flew back into the cities central area heading back towards teh arena.

Kono watched after the two, "There is still enough daylight left, we should probably get you some dinner somewhere....do you have any money on you?" He asked adjusting his shoulders so that the saddle sat more comfortably, though he had to admit he didn't quite like having the thing on twenty four seven, it made his scales feel dirty after a while.

(hmmmmmmmmm I'm starting to like the sound of there being a ritual...maybe something like the rider getting bathed in fire? (sounds really cliche and cheesy but the only other thing I can think of is drinking each others bllod but that almost sounds nasty....idk you have any ideas?) adn i guess if they received powers it would be something like Eragon where her life becomes extended so that it better matches Konos life span?)

Shaking her head at Kono, she couldn’t help but smile at the whole thing, even more so when Mizu complained about the actual volume of the sound. It sure had been impressive. The young woman was quite pleased to see however that the smaller dragon seemed quite open for their payment proposal of taking them along on an adventure. Otherwise they would have to find a way to make some money, quickly. She could always take on a job that wouldn’t pay all too badly, but it might bring more trouble than the whole thing was worth.

Akira and Mizu soon departed after this and bade them a good night, which made Selene slightly frown and stare at the sky. It was still quite light though much more time had passed than she had thought. She never could have imagined spending all her day at sword fighting without even seeing time go by and she was very definitely going to pay for this neglect, probably not going to be able to move a single muscle the next day.

As soon as Kono mentioned food however, Selene was distracted away from this as her stomach started to rumble. It had been a while since she’d eaten and the more she thought about it, she couldn’t remember if she had even eaten anything all day apart from the few berries she had picked up while bathing that morning. She had been so concentrated on Akira’s lesson that she had completely neglected all of her basic needs, and it was not only her stomach coming back to life but also her bladder making itself noticed.

“You know? A bit of food would exactly hit the spot right about now,” she replied, her forehead already creased in thought as she wondered where she could get something decent, though she hadn’t even been very far into the city so there was no way of knowing anything really. “I’m sure you can go hunt for something edible yourself while I venture into the city and see if I can find something for myself. I do have a bit of money on me yes, but it certainly isn’t a lot, but it will do for now.” Looking at Kono questioningly, wondering what he was thinking about the whole thing, she asked: “So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day apart from getting something to eat?” Seeing him shift around, she suddenly blushed: “I forgot to take the saddle off, I’m sorry.” With which she immediately went over to him in a gesture to remove it for his comfort.

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