Training Grounds.

[Ramir]

"Friend, I think it's highly advisable that you take a walk."

There was no mistaking the seriousness in those words. Red wasn't the only person to visit Neko, or rather, he hadn't noticed someone else keeping watch over her.

[Redblade]

Waiting on Neko's response, Redblade hears someone speaking nearby. His head turns to notice this man looking at him. He had not seen him before, so why did he call him "friend"? Maybe he was speaking to someone else, but he had to ask.

Excuse me?... Are you talking to me?

[Deleted]

With a spin of her blade, Dionne entered the Training grounds. She has healed now, and from her last fight she knew - it was time to train, and train hard unless she wanted to feel all that pain again.

Once on the sands, Dionne starts her practice, away from any commontion. She had to focus and improve.

[Neko]

::She shied away from the hug, clearly giving the signal that she did not want to be touched. She wiped away the tears from her eyes with the heels of her hands as she listened and nodded. Yes, they would try to find him. She was greatful for that, but fearful as well. Piper had beaten her...what could he do to them?

When Redblade reached for her chin, she almost grabbed him to send him the rest of the way to the ground, and that too scared her. She was fragile and broken in ways that no Healing could fix and she needed to regain some control over herself.

So she rose and turned away from Redblade, her eyes down on the remains of the practice dummy she had torn to pieces. With a deep breath she looked up, expecting to see no one but instead finding some strange man with a blue cloth tied about his head watching her. Had she been more clear of thought, she may have wondered about the color choice, but she was not. She also saw Dionne standing further back, getting ready to practice herself.

Suddenly she felt very exposed...so very very small...

She was ashamed of her outburst enough to begin with, but now it seemed she had had an audience...::

[Redblade]

As he had tried to hug Neko, it was clear that she did not want to be touched. They had only seen each other a few times, and maybe she did not trust him as much as he'd like her to or even consider him a friend for that matter. He understood tho, especially when he tried to lift her chin up and she jumped a little in fear it had seemed. Seeing her turnaway from him, he nodded and got to his feet.

Very well... If you ever need to talk about anything to anybody, I want you to know that I will be here for you... Please be safe... Neko. 

Redblade turned to face the dark haired man.  He speaks to him in a low voice.

I hope you are a friend of hers... She will need you more now then ever.

With that, he walks away and exits the arena. He had a mission to complete.

[Ramir]

(Alright, this is getting messy with Neko here and there and so on, so will focus on her home thread ignore the very fabric of space and time tearing apart!)

"Yeah, with friends like you, right?"

Ramir dismissed Red. He thought him too mouthy and really, what was with the mask gimmick? The guy was plain odd and had strange written all over him. Ramir wasn't here to set him straight though, he was simply seeing to the task assigned to him.

He walked closer to Neko, taking something out his pocket.

"A friend said I should give you these."

Ramir gently dropped a handful of small rocks in the dirt. They looked about right for throwing.

[Neko]

::She looked bewildered from the stones in the dirt to the man who had dropped them. She knelt down and picked them up, one by one, as memories came back of training with her Cousin.

A smile crept to her lips as she suddenly wished there were some trees about.

Looking back up at the man, she was surprised she hadn't noticed before...the head band...

She gestured to it with a questioning look...::

[Ramir]

"That? Oh, I got that from another friend."

Ramir winked at Neko then and a smile crept onto his own face, partly because she was piecing things together, but more because she was no longer upset. He looked about and confirmed that they weren't alone, so this wasn't the place to talk.

"How about you head home? I'll come by later."

[Neko]

::-Uh huh...-

Seems that their may be more to this man than she had thought when she had lept over him in this very arena. She wanted to stay and "talk" to him more. However, she realized she a public venue may not be the best place for such. Well, that and it may be easier for her to "talk" at home if that headband was what she thought it was...

So with a heavy sigh, and still feeling ashamed of her outburst, she collects her things with great care. Almost as if apologizing to her weapons for how she had used them. She gave a nod to Ramir, and headed home.

She wanted to get out her gift from her uncle anyway, to see if the colors matched like she thought they would...::

[Ramir]

Ramir looked about the grounds as he took his time leaving, but was gone soon enough.


(I'll tie this altogether in your home thread, will figure it out )

[Argent]

On his exploration of Wistvale, Argent finds something he has never recalled seeing before.  At least in a town this small.

A public training area.

Deciding it would be good to keep his skills up while waiting for new work, and the small chance that someone might obsevre him and give him said work, he enters the arena.

There is not much that could be done without a live opponent to face, but still.  So he prepares his shield on his left arm, while hefting his spear on the right.  Facing one of the training dummies, he begins circling to the left.  Keeping his shield up and between him and his "opponent", he thrusts out with quick light jabs as if testing the capabilities of the stuff bit of burlap.  He keeps the haft of his spear resting on the edge of his shield between thrusts to ease the weight on his arm until needed and to offer a bit of a guideline.  This was a familiar practice to him, and the worn edge of his shield showed such.

Thrust.  Thrust.

Sidestep to the left.

Thrust.  Thrust.

Sidestep to the left.

On and on he practiced, steadily moving towards more targeted strikes. 

Face.

Neck.

Sidestep.

Groin.

Knee.

Sidestep.

[Ramir]

Ramir had once again found his way to the arena, if for no reason than it was a quiet enough area to clear his mind and take his time to eat some lunch he'd bought from the market. Being that TV hadn't been invented as yet, watching others train had a certain entertainment value tat often drew spectators.

The demon with the spear was interesting. He smacked of wardfare and whilst he was taking the time to train, his form seemed very basic. Ramir knew nothing of the spear, but he understood the value of practicing the basics, always.

Smacking his lips and putting down a choice... whatever it was on a stick, he took a drink from a bottle he'd procured and decided that for once, he'd have something to say in such an instance. He was sitting ringside, not twenty feet from where Argent now stood.

"You look ready to kill, friend."

[Argent]

He never noticed the man watching him until his circling route brought him into view.  Once he did, he stopped and leaned the spear to rest against the practice dummy as he removed his helm to let the light breeze cool his head.

He was not a grim man, despite his appearance.  He had seen death in his time.  Had even come close to meeting his own more once.  And what that had taught him was to enjoy life while he had it.  This was reflected in the smile he gave his observer.

"Aye, when I have to.  No sense practicing in less then what you plan on wearing when the foe is real. 

May be more comfortable, but it will throw you off when the flarb hits the fan."

He took a few steps closer and offered his hand to the man.

"Name's Argent."

[Ramir]

Ramir looked rather uneqquiped to shake hands, which he demonstrated by showing them, covered in some sort of sauce which also smothered the strange meat-on-a-stick treats he'd brought with him. He thought about wiping them on his coat, but had a better idea and picked up the bag to offer to Argent.

"Vandal" he said, with a mouth still mostly full. He swallowed with some effort and smiled, rather than chewed.

"Help yourself Argent, I have plenty."

[Argent]

A lopsided smile appeared on his face as he shifted his extended hand to take some of the food offered with a nod of thanks.

"Vandal...

Would that be your name, profession, or both?"

He made his way to find a seat near Vandal to take the load from his armor off his legs for a time.