Eye of the Storm (Aerious/Nayru)

[Aerious]

It had been quite an eventful day. The meeting and fight at Salvation Point, the confrontation with Richter earlier in the evening, and now the midnight visit back to the fort. There were still foes left there, of course, and Aerious would do his part for eliminating them in a way the humans were not capable of. But first he needed to find his 'student'.

Didn't feel quite right calling her that. She was less experienced in combat, sure. But she had some wisdom beyond her years, he would not count himself her complete superior. Never-the-less, the time had come to work on fixing some of her combat styles. It was jagged, imperfect. She needed a little help before she moved into a style all her own. For one, he'd noticed that she hadn't gotten the hang of controlling the power around her human form quite yet. It was an easy thing to do if you were focusing on it, but in combat with such dangerous foes your attention needed to be in many different places, and that kept it difficult to do.

He stared out over the fortress as the stars illuminated the green fields below them. He and Nayru did seem to enjoy meeting at night, less prying eyes anyway. He could see fine in the dark, so it also meant they had the advantage. He took a deep breath and took in the surroundings. Smell of death, ok that was normal, humans...three of them over the hill. Right that was Clair, Richter and Elly. And then, the scent he was looking for, a faint trail of ozone with a all too familiar human trace to it, approaching him. He smiled, though he did not turn to address her.

[red]"Good evening, are you rested?"[/red]

Simple and too the point. The fine art of small talk seemed to be lost on him.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

She nodded silently, secretly disappointed at not having been able to sneak up on him, but quashed the immature urge immediately. All that time spent around Elly was wearing off on her. Nayru found that she did not like where that particular train of thought was going - at this rate, she would soon develop a fanatical love of pegasi, a total inability to string more than two words together without pronouncing one wrong or using entirely the wrong word for the task, and watching her hair turn pink.

Somehow, the idea of having pink hair scared her more than the first two combined.

Then she remembered that super smell or no, Aerious probably wasn't going to see her nodding if he wasn't looking. Feeling somewhat less intelligent already - Elly was wearing off on her! - she cleared her throat quietly, speaking as she came up alongside her fellow dragon. More than merely a member of the same species - a friend. "In better shape than I was earlier, at any rate. Dealing with an awakened Elly turned out to be harder than the tide of spiders combined." What a catastrophe that had been. "...I never expected such monstrosities inside of the fortress, nor such ferocity. It was made luridly clear to me why our kind have always stood guard against their incursion; humanity, divided and weak as they are now, could never hold them off alone."

Not that she was in much of a position to talk, given her own poor showing. All that talk about training Elly and saving humanity and races as equal guardians of the world, and she had very nearly gotten herself killed fighting off a couple bugs. She continued a few moments later, more subdued, her words more desperate than usual. "-And in the process, realized my own weakness. It seems so odd to a human perspective to be complaining about such a thing, as much as I have cultivated that viewpoint, and yet I cannot escape that truth. It was only through your intervention that I yet draw breath, and even then only barely. So long spent amongst humans was as much an excuse to hide from my own weakness as any hunt for knowledge."

[Aerious]

Aerious let her talk, she did seem to have a gift with being quite verbose. And self depreciation as well, that was a human trait she'd picked up, he'd never known a dragon to speak down of their own ability. But still, here they were.

[red]"It is not lack of strength that saps your potential, it is lack of use. A sword left forgotten on a shelf for five hundred years cracks and breaks. In truth this is the first time I have fought such things, and fighting natural creatures that can injure me is slightly concerning. However, we are also forced to fight them in a weaker state. Were we in our true forms, they would have been annihilated...which is going to be part of our training for tonight..."[/red] He said, turning to face her for the first time. [red]"You know how to draw out your power, but you are slow with it. That comes from not needing to use it, you are not yet experienced with it. When one has time to focus, it is a simple thing to control. But in combat...real combat where danger is real, there are many things you must take into account. Keep the power up constantly, and you will tire easily. But if you lapse it at the wrong time, you could be seriously injured. The trick, as it were, is being able to adjust it in a split second."[/red]

He punctuated his point by sending an empowered punch towards the younger dragon's face. Even if he did slip past her defenses, he would stop an inch before contact. The point was not to beat her down, but to test her reflexes. If she couldn't draw up the power quickly, her martial prowess would not be able to stop or deflect the attack any more then they could move a boulder.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"Wha-" And then everything else ceased to matter, blown away by the realization that after a speech like that, Aerious was probably not punching with purely human strength. More than one not particularly genteel phrase came to mind, but pragmatism won out over surprise and fear; even knowing that the other dragon was - probably - not trying to kill her, Nayru had the sudden sinking sensation that his training was going to be draconian. ...That had been either a very poor choice of words, or an amazing one. She was too busy trying to react to worry too much about which was more accurate.

Redirecting the flow of energy through her was - not exactly second nature, not with how little she had been forced to use her abilities over the centuries, but simple enough. Focus on the task, envision the current coalescing at a concrete point, out-push anything. Nayru had never been good at drawing a consistent flow of energy from the stone, so redirection was something she had been forced to practice often enough while dealing with bandits.

Bandits didn't hit with what could charitably be referred to as a degree of force similar to the Bael from earlier. She made a valiant showing of managing to bring her arms up in time, but the sudden burst of power she was so used to being more than enough to punch through things was barely enough to slow down Aerious's fist for an instant, and unlike her, he certainly had the power to keep it up. Even with both arms crossed to try to absorb the strike, she was still sent skidding backwards, dropping to one knee almost instantly. "Father Sky you hit like the bloody spider!" It came out before she could temper it with her usual dignity and calmness. As much as Nayru wanted to pin the blame solely on her poor condition after the fight from earlier, and to be fair she might have been able to hold off the punch for an entire extra quarter of a second if at her peak, the difference in power was far too blatant to be ignored or written off.

Not a fan of groveling in the dirt, she rose with as much grace as she could muster, feeling her breath come harder than usual. Completely unprepared was the nicest way she could rate her performance and condition. The younger dragon was wary of another strike, but she hoped that Aerious decided the point had been made, and she was curious to hear his thoughts on the matter. "I - did not expect that." Which had been made abundantly obvious without her stating the obvious, she was quite aware. "I apologize. I should have been better prepared."

[Aerious]

Aerious saw her block it head on, and was worried for a moment. If she didn't get her reinforcement up properly in time...

But his fear was unfounded, as she slid back and shook out her hand, cursing in a rather undignified manner. Aerious arched an eyebrow and chuckled slightly at her attempt to restore some grace to her words. [red]"Excellent. You have good reflexes, and you didn't break your arm. I'm actually quite surprised with how quickly you adapted to that."[/red] He added, moving closer to her and running a single finger along her arm when he'd struck. [red]"Sudden bursts of power to a focused location, that's good. The problem with things like that, is that they tend to fade quickly, as you saw. You stopped me initially, but you couldn't keep it up."[/red] He pulled back, continuing his explanation. [red]"That is not a bad thing, it stops enough of the force to prevent serious damage, but it leaves you unable to counter attack. You'll always be playing defensive...that is if you block head on."[/red]

He cupped his chin thoughtfully. [red]"You use a human form of fighting, if my memory serves it specializes in deflection. And that is how your power has adapted to be used as well. I fill my whole being with it, uniform and sturdy, you use small bursts in precise locations. You cannot stop a strike like I can, you should be trying to move it away."[/red]

He took a defensive stance for a moment, to illustrate his point. [red]"When you blocked, the power was all in your arms, at the point of contact. As you saw, that isn't good enough. The power has to go somewhere, so it moves through you, like your weakened body and legs. I can block like that because that is how I use my strength. You cannot stand and weather the blows, you need to move them so you aren't taking the brunt of the force."[/red]

Aerious looked to her for a moment, realizing he had been prattling on a bit. [red]"Tell me, what do you think?"[/red] He asked simply, trying to gauge what Nayru thought of her own power. [red]"And please, no need to put yourself down. I am simply more experienced, that is to be expected."[/red]

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"Mmh. I seem to be determined to break something today." Nayru twisted her wrist experimentally as she spoke, ignoring the cracking - that would be the bones complaining about how she had been treating them. She considered being embarassed, but realized that at this point she couldn't reall get any less imposing and collected if she tried, so screw it. Might as well just focus on learning what she could and worry about assuaging her bruised ego later. And learn she would, whether or not she wanted to.

Aerious was surprisingly in-depth in his assessment, listing off strengths and weaknesses of both approaches entirely offhand. She simply listened, willing to shut her mouth for a bit to learn from someone who definitely knew this better than she did, and found herself nodding occasionally. It made sense; she had never even considered thinking about her approach that way, having simply passively seen it as her natural style. "Yes, you are correct. Both of the martial arts styles I am familiar with focus more on deflection and disarming opponents rather than necessarily meeting them head-on." Something clicked as she said it, a sudden realization. "It has simply been so easy to rely on draconic strength that I have admittedly been - indolent in applying those principles. Blocking the knife of a drunk, would-be thief is simple enough, but if I am to consider legitimate threats..."

And she would, Nayru knew. Even if she continued trying to avoid conflict, it was inevitable that in attempting to change the world, she would run into those who would not share her dream, who would try to stop her by any means possible. It behooved her to be at her best when the issue arose; had she actually prepared properly before the incident at Salvation Point, she might have come out of it much better off. "I believe you are entirely correct. I have been marrying two incompatible approaches into one, leaving the whole as less than the sum of its parts." If only it was as simple as realizing that to suddenly become proficient at doing things the right way!

Aerious's approach intrigued her, though. She didn't think that she could actually use it wholesale, but the younger dragon was starting to think that it might be useful to apply some of the principles. "How - exactly do you regulate the flow of power from your stone? Merely experience, or is there a method to the madness? I may not be able to borrow your approach wholesale, but being able to better regulate the flow could prove useful."

Yes, and then he would say that there was an easy trick to it, and she would immediately ascend to perfection. Nayru would consider herself fortunate if he answered with more than a single word - practice - and a shrug.

[Aerious]

Her question entertained Aerious, and a smile did break his features as he laughed slightly. [red]"It's...complicated really. It's not so much a conscious choice, as it is in how you fight. I fight, as many have said, like I am in a brawl. If I used my stone like you did, bursts of power, but over the whole of my body like I do, I'd be exhausted far too easily. Since I am very used to...er...I suppose brawls will work, my style of drawing power seemed to gravitate towards what is best to those ends. Constant and uniform power, using any part of the body as a weapon or a shield at any time. It allows me to focus on the fight completely, since I do not have to alter my power flow once I have started."[/red] He said, finding that he was the one being quite verbose tonight.

[red]"Even though you may be using those forms incorrectly, your power is responding to what you are attempting to do. If my knowledge on such styles is true, they are designed to use minimal strength, but your power has let you muscle through it with an incomplete style. This is all merely conjecture, I am no master on those ways of fighting."[/red]

He paused for a moment, and then it seemed that a light went on in his head. An idea that, though unorthodox, might work. [red]"In order for you to learn how to fight better with your power, I think you need to learn your human style better. And to do that, you need to fight without your power. Theoretically..."[/red] He paced back and forth. [red]"The same concepts humans use for it should work when fighting stronger things. But in order for them to work, one needs to learn the right way to do them. And that would be easiest to do when you do not rely on your power as a crutch. If you can learn to fight without it, then adding it will become seamless."[/red]

He cracked his right knuckle once as he looked back to her. [red]"So then...are you ready for a more...tame fight?"[/red]

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"Very... used... to brawls." Nayru drew out each word, unable to hold back an amused smile. It sounded completely ridiculous for a millennia-old superhuman being to be talking about brawls as though he were some common hooligan with a penchant for getting into fights... the latter part of which she could actually see happening very easily. The smile disappeared in short order, a combination of an attempt to restore self-control as well as the memory of his "brawling" style being headbutting things into a crater in the ground. It was still an oddly fitting descriptor, though.

It made her feel a little embarassed that Aerious was willing to put so much thought into helping her improve, to be quite blunt with herself. She appreciated the help, certainly, but Nayru couldn't help but feel a little awkward standing there while he thought and spoke, unable to really contribute as much to his conclusions as she would have liked. Thus, she was both elated and worried when he suggested a proper sparring match; it offered something for her to do to improve herself, always a plus, but the idea of actually fighting Aerious was - not on her list of ways to die. Nonlethal practice or no, it felt very much like walking naked and unprotected into a Bael nest and expecting them to want to cuddle.

Still. The younger dragon knew that she couldn't afford to turn down the offer, regardless of her unreasonable concerns. And she knew that they were completely unfounded - if Aerious wanted her dead, she would have been long ago. He knew what he was doing, and if he wanted to practice some unpowered sparring... she could only comply. Didn't make her feel a lot more sanguine about being punched around, but Nayru supposed that just added some extra incentive to focus on the deflecting side of things more than usual. "...I understand." She sunk closer to the ground, spreading her feet apart as she turned sideways, her head still facing Aerious as arms went up. If he wanted to take this seriously, so would she. She owed it to herself as well as him. "Ready."

[Aerious]

Nayru's smile at his fighting style brought a chuckle from the elder dragon as well. [red]"When one lives among humans for so long, fighting like a human tends to become second nature. Also, no better way to let off aggression then beating up a few drunkards. Who is going to believe their claims that someone broke a table over their head?"[/red] He smiled mischievously as he said it, raising his fists as she assumed her stance and placed herself ready for battle.

[red]"Hmmm, and here I thought you were the loquacious one."[/red] He remarked oddly, deciding to start out things rather slow. He made to move forward, looking to land a solid punch towards her gut as he did so. It wasn't particularly difficult or subtle, just a way to start things out. As he did though, he aimed to test her focus as well as her body.

[red]"So, enjoy your bath with Clair? You two seemed to be hitting it off rather well."[/red] He stated as he launched the attack, wondering just how much of this strange art of hers she had perfected without her strength. This would be interesting, that was for sure.

And he still had to see how she could fight in dragon form too, and he had the perfect idea for that. But later.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"There is nothing wrong with loquacity," Nayru responded reflexively, long before she had time to filter the thought. Almost defensively, in retrospect. Eager to continue before Aerious had time to respond, as well as busy herself to avoid thinking more on that note, she continued speaking as he approached. "Ideas cannot easily be boiled down to a few words lest they lose some of the value that made them worth reciting in the first place. ...And I find that verbally arraying some of my thoughts helps me think through the subject in the meantime."

Maybe a little more defensively than necessary, but ever after the last time someone had accused her of just liking to hear herself speak, Nayru had been a little on edge on the matter. She didn't like admitting that she couldn't figure out everything in her head; thinking quickly was not always her strongest suit, and her deliberate manner of speaking was as much cultured caution as a definite need to gather up information from the vast morass inside her head. Knowing too much could be as much a curse as knowing too little, but she couldn't very well just - stop learning. Focus. "Clair is an interesting human. Quite personable. Very intelligent." The younger dragon faltered for a moment, not certain whether or not to admit to Aerious that the human woman had seen through the disguise like a... she couldn't remember how the simile went, but quite easily.

Aerious made the decision for her by launching a punch, and her mind blanked for a moment as she was forced to remember her training. What had been at first a hope to display a more elegant style evaporated in the wake of the fight earlier; Nayru reflexively called upon the style that was only useful for combat, dropping like a rock, using the rotational momentum to herr advantage as she aimed to hook Aerious's legs out from under him in one vicious movement.

[Aerious]

Nayru had gotten quite defensive on his comment, and that made Aerious grin again. [red]"You don't need to defend yourself against me, verbally at least. Your life is your own, you live it as you see fit."[/red] He said, seeing her dodge under the strike. She went to kick out his leg, and his reflex said to jump back, but he didn't. He knew how these arts were supposed to work, but he had a theory about Nayru.

Instead of moving, he planted his foot. And when Nayru's leg connected, he shook, but he didn't fall. He likely would have if she'd struck the right place, but she'd been using her strength to power through her own imperfections for so long that she didn't actually hit the proper area. [red]"Nice attempt, but it seems this practice was good for you."[/red] He said, moving to step forward with a downward angled punch. Not exactly the most graceful or subtle attack, but it did tend to catch people off guard with it's audacity. [red]"Elly seems like she'll be all right, even after all that fighting today. We got to the wound before it could fester, so she'll probably be up and running around tomorrow."[/red] He continued the casual conversation as if they were just sitting around a fire.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Momentary hesitation - krav maga was for killing, not for sparring, but it was hard enough facing someone she knew to be that much more powerful without her metaphorical hackles rising. The hook faltered for an instant, the younger dragon unsure of whether or not it had been the right move, but that very hesitation rendered it useless. Aerious felt as though he had sprouted roots and simply become one with the earth, a subtle reminder that she wasn't going to accomplish goddamn well anything with half-hearted attempts. Aerious was not Elly, fragile and weak and - breakable.

Unfortunately, her failed attempt left her quite open to a counterstrike; Aerious's fist came down in short order, forcing a block. In an attempt to make the best of a bad situation, Nayru rolled with the punch, detaching herself from the scuffle as expeditioussly as possible. Not that anything about an awkward roll powered primarily by the force of his blow was particularly graceful, but it served to create an opening between the two of them to allow her to regain her feet. "Too much time with Elly. Too used to relying on power. ...This is an interesting exercise."

Nayru spoke matter-of-factly, not interested in attempting to convey sarcasm. Fighting while completely throttling the flow of energy from her dragonstone wasn't technically harder, in that she wasn't limited to fewer strikes or anything of the sort, but the chaotic, pulsing flow was second nature to her. Now she felt as though the body was alien to her, a curious combination of familiarity and awkwardness that boded ill for her chances in the fight. Not that she was expecting to win anyways. "I am glad that she is well." Maybe it was time to go on the offense herself, rather than merely responding in kind. "...You seem fond of her." Other than staying alert, Nayru waited a moment to see how Aerious responded - in more ways than one.

[Aerious]

Aerious watched Nayru's movements, she was being cautious. Understandable, she didn't want to risk getting too close, she was afraid...no, not afraid. She was aware of his strength, her discretion was wise. Nayru made her comment on Elly, fully expecting Aerious to renew the assault, but he did not. Instead he dropped his hands and relaxed his stance.

[red]"There is no need to continue. You learned the lesson you needed to, there would be no point in us further fighting here."[/red] Might be hard for some people to believe, but Aerious did not tend to enjoy violence for it's own sake. He sat back, looking over the fort. [red]"It was an interesting day, those creatures were quite powerful. One can only imagine how terrible things will get as time goes on. The source must be stopped, wherever it may be."[/red] If he was talking to Nayru, or speaking to himself, was not very apparent.

[red]"Though I would think there is some reason these creatures gathered here, and not simply because it is a fort. Also...wait..."[/red] He paused, thinking. [red]"There were no bodies in the fort...no skeletons, bits of flesh...nothing. I suppose it is possible that the spiders ate them, bones and all, but what if they didn't? What if the humans that were killed there were corrupted, and became something else?"[/red] He eyes Nayru, wondering if she made the connection he did. [red]"Perhaps all this power does is change what already exists. Taking normal creatures, like spiders, and changing them to be better killing creatures. Taking a form that suits their needs, and changing it into something not human, but still similar to one?"[/red]

It was an interesting theory, but the existence of the spiders already supported that. Corrupted and empowered by this darkness, who was to say the same didn't happen to humans?

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Well, that made two people with a talent for keeping her off guard. Nayru wasn't entirely certain whether to be amused or worried that it already felt familiar, but dealing with people had a tendency to leave her somewhat flummoxed, so perhaps it was best that she take it in stride. The attempt felt awkward, consciously lowering her guard after being forced into it, but the adrenaline flow was already slowing. The experience had been - enlightening, though the younger dragon wasn't certain exactly what Aerious had been trying to really teach her. Energy flow, yes, but looking beneath words for true intentions would leave her plenty to meditate on in the coming days.

And whether or not he had intended it, Nayru haad been made quite aware that her form was - not quite as polished as she had liked to think. Without draconic strength she was so much less; even acts that required no strength still felt awkward without the calming flow, or rather the calming effect of focusing on controlling the flow. Not entirely sure what to do, she cautiously followed Aerious's lead, sitting shortly after he did, massaging her shoulder absentmindedly. It didn't really hurt but the reinforcement was still in bad shape from the spider issue, and the contact helped her focus on repairing that while doing other things.

Nayru replied contemplatively while working her way through Aerious's train of logic, testing it for weaknesses, for flaws that she could fine. There weren't many. "...The gargoyles did have humanoid musculature, at any rate. It is possible that any dead on the premises were simply buried, but - your theory is disquieting. Change on that magnitude... what volume of magic could even enable such a feat?" She was no mage, but it sounded like something truly powerful would be necessary to induce such change when human mages struggled to even create coherent balls of fire, and only rare examples even managed to step up to stronger elemental discharges. "Altering a structure as complex as a human being on such a fundamental level, so dramatically and irreversibly?"

Well that certainly made their job so much easier! "Imagine the price of our failure if humanity was overwhelmed by the shadow, then. We would emerge from the ruins not to an empty world, but a sea of creatures a thousand times more terrible than the foes of the Scouring, and we so much fewer in number than we were then." It was a sobering thought; if they lost, if they failed, there was no option of simply laying low and peeking out of the wreckage after it was all over to take control again. That would be the end of - everything, frankly. Culture, society, even life.

Nayru's lips curled upwards into a half-smile, part amused, and part grim. "Incentive to not fail, hmm?"

[Aerious]

When Nayru question the magic Aerious laughed, it wasn't mocking her, it just reminded him of an old story. [red]"I am sorry, but you just reminded me of a old fable children are often taught. I believe it is something to the effect of 'The best place to hide something is in plain sight.' And it would seem that is the case here. You've already seen magic that powerful and ancient, that can alter someones form on such a basic level. Older magics were quite powerful, much more-so then they are now."[/red] He said, rapping her earring. He, of course, knew what it was.

[red]"The human form is not the most natural, or even the most effective. So if something takes it's form, then it is likely doing it for a reason. Either for disguise, like us, or because it is difficult to move that far from the base, as with the dark souls. The hounds people have seen are likely corrupted wolves, coyotes and other canine creatures. The spiders are likely similar to that. But those flying things, they were too close to a human form to be anything else. Nothing else in this world moves like that."[/red]

Aerious imagined her scenario. Something seemed off about it. [red]"That is just it though. These dark souls, as the legends say, could control living people themselves when they were strong enough. I had to chase one out of Richter earlier, he wound up absorbing one with that sword of his. It has the ability to absorb life force, and one of those dark souls went along for the ride. But they are not beings of magic...not in the same way at least. The 'Ending Winter' weakened all magic on Elibe, but these creatures have all the powers they used to. They don't seem to be as effected as we were, as the mortal magics were."[/red]

He mused, though it came out as more of an annoyed grumble. [red]"Too many questions, and too few that could know the answers."[/red] He spoke, more to himself then anyone else.

But Nayru was right. [red]"I suppose we will learn more as things unfold then, for we cannot allow this to pass. It might not be the end of everything, but I suspect it will have it's own repercussions."[/red]