Training in the Woods (Open)

[Bellona]

Bellona marched through the forest, she breathed in the fresh air. A smile spread across her face. Bellona had always loved the woods, this one reminded her of the forest she and her brother use to play in. She searched for a place to practice her technique. Many thought she was strange because there were actual training grounds she could use, but she did not like to use them. She prefers to train alone, no one would judge her or tease her. A memory of when she first used the training grounds. Many of the male soldiers whistled at her and made inappropriate comments. She shook her head, she hated those memories. Bellona continued to walk and found a small clearing. "This looks like a good spot..." She muttered.

Bellona practiced her jabs and thrusts with her Lance. She made a dummy out of wood and grass. She stabbed at the dummy's chest, jumped back and then repeated. It probably wasn't the most efficient training method, but it worked for Bellona. She pushed her sweaty, brown hair out of her eyes. She felt that she wasn't good enough, a dummy wasn't like a real enemy. It couldn't kill her. She sat down on a stump and adjusted her armor. Bellona wasn't in a good mood. She was almost killed in her last battle and her fellow soldiers teased her about for a week. She blamed her self for not sparring enough. She was to shy to ask because the other soldiers would either laugh at her and call her delicate, or they would refuse because they were "tired" from a battle or training.

Bellona sighed again, a dummy would have to do for now. She rose off the stump and began the same pattern again. Stab, jump back, repeat. She lost herself in her training.

[Isabel]

Six months had come and gone a long time ago. In fact, it had probably been closer to a year and a half since the sapphire-haired young woman had set out with the promise to return to her teacher, the kindly older man known as Daryl, in six months. But life on the road had turned out to be a good deal, well, more interesting than Isabel LeFury had anticipated. Danger had existed at every turn; danger in the form of weapons and those who knew how to wield them, nature itself, and the realization that she wasn't the prodigy she had fooled herself into thinking she was. Four months had been spent in the home of a man even older than Daryl, where the young shaman had spent most of her time sorting through the vast collection of books the man had collected over his long life - and, when the entire town was asleep, Izzy would steal out into the night, her black cat Solomon at her heels, and she practiced with her magic.

Elder magic was the only type that had ever come naturally to her, and yet... It was such unnatural magic. Isabel shifted the weight of her satchel over to the other shoulder; three heavy tomes, each carrying the necessary information to cast the spells Flux, Luna, and Ruin respectively, weighed the bag down more than any of the other supplies she carried. Not for the first time, the young shaman was glad that her cat had decided to actually take a walk instead of making her carry him in her bag... "It'd be even better if we could have gotten a horse, but noooooooo, you had to be a big butt and make all the cheap horses scared, didn't you?" Isabel called out to the lithe black shape moving a few feet ahead of her, hidden by the shade of the trees and reappearing wherever the sun managed to fall between the leaves. Time on the road had proven that the roads were often less safe than the harder paths, although Isabel did stick close to the roads. Her magic could handle bandits, but she still wasn't entirely confident about dealing with the more dangerous wildlife.

If her map-reading skills were to be believed, young Miss LeFury had crossed into Etruria - home - a week or so ago. Strangely... It didn't feel much like home. Home was large and grandiose, with a fantastic library and comfortable beds, after all, and life on the move tended to provide very few comforts. For the third time that day, Isabel debated turning her path back to that place, where her father and mother would undoubtedly be handling some sort of "magical business", whatever that was. One or the other was usually out of the house during her childhood, attending to some mysterious business that they would jokingly refer to as "magical business" when Izzy and her two siblings were younger. But no, that wasn't an option, not now; the last time Isabel had seen her family members was the day she had left to go study Elder magic with Daryl, and even little Elyse, her younger sister, had seemed almost disgusted by the fact that the sapphire-haired young girl was going off to study the "dark arts". Not a single member of her family had ever dabbled into something so vile, as Isabel had heard it described so many times; her father and mother specialized in Anima and Light magic, respectively, while she knew her brother Will had always had a special love for the Fire tome and her sister had shown great talent in the art of healing.

The sounds of mock combat broke Isabel's train of thought. The thunk of a weapon striking wood was still a little ways away... "Solomon, be quiet," the shaman said in a whisper. Solomon responded by sitting down and giving himself a quick bath. "Hm... Doesn't sound like enough action to be more than one person, and I certainly don't hear anyone else doing anything. What do you think?" The black cat stretched, sticking his butt up in the air as he scrunched his eyes shut. "Mm, yeah. That's what I was thinking," Isabel responded under her breath, nodding a little before returning to the act of moving forward.

As she drew closer, the blue-haired young woman was actually rather surprised to find that her initial assumption was correct - it was only one person, repeatedly stabbing at a wooden dummy with a lance. Axes were the weapon of choice for the average bandit, and bandits were only dangerous in numbers, so she was likely safe. However... Caution was the key to survival. After watching for a minute longer, Isabel saw that the woman who was practicing with the lance was clearly practicing some sort of drill; her motions were fluid, but always repeated. Stab, jump back, stab forward again, jump back again. Isabel raised an eyebrow at that, and then noticed that Solomon had already stepped out of the barrier of shade and plants that had separated them from the woman doing her drills. Ugh. I'm going to kill that cat one of these days...

Stepping out into the small clearing herself, Isabel cleared her throat and held her hands up, displaying her empty, albeit gloved, palms. "Hello there, miss. Did the dummy do something to deserve such treatment? Perhaps her gave you a splinter when you were setting him up?" It was rather early in this encounter for her tongue to start saying things before she could process and filter the words, but alas, her ever sharp wit was at it again. Hey, at least the girl wasn't practicing her archery; the sapphire shaman was fortunately out of range of the lances' jabs should the woman turn out to be a little bit... Aggressive.

[Bellona]

Bellona thought she was alone. She knew there were bandits in the woods, but they never bothered her before. She was focused on her training to notice anything out of the ordinary, she just looked at the wooden dummy flailing back and forth as Bellona stabbed it's body. However, something black walked out from the trees. Bellona turned and saw a cat walk out. Bellona was confused, she never expected a cat of all things to wander out of the forest. Another thing came out of the woods, a young girl with blue hair. She asked a question about what did the dummy do to deserve this. Bellona felt it was a silly question. She was surprised to see a girl walk out, she didn't look like a bandit. Bellona didn't want to take any chances. She looked directly into the girl's eyes.

"Citizen, you are interfering with my training. I suggest you leave" Bellona spoke. She cringed when she said that, her voice was too high pitched and elegant to sound intimidating. Still, she didn't back down. This girl could be dangerous, Bellona knew from first hand experience that looks can be deceiving. She looked down at the cat, who seemed unimpressed with Bellona. "Explain to me why are you here? The woods are not safe these days." Bellona said with concern. She had seen many people foolish enough to travel within the woods without proper training or weapon experience, she had seen many die from these actions. She was not going to be responsible for another death, she hated to see what these bandits were capable of.

[Isabel]

"Leave?" Isabel glanced down at Solomon, dropping her own hands down to her sides. "Fine by me, ma'am. I'm just passing on through." The sapphire shaman shrugged her shoulders up high and then let them drop emphatically. Someone was high-strung, and it certainly wasn't the tome-toter or the cool cat. If little miss blue and sarcastic had to take a guess, it was probably because the lance-jabbing woman in front of her was trying too hard to do... Something. Perhaps it was the extra strain in her voice, trying to sound more intimidating than she felt she was; regardless, Isabel wasn't going to stick around to poke fun of the woman with the pointy stick.

And she would have left then and there, except the woman asked her a question. Isabel tilted her head a little, debating for a moment whether or not to give the answer that would undoubtedly get her in trouble but would be extremely amusing, at least to her... "Oh, you know. Just traveling," the sapphire witch said after a moment had passed, moving to sit down on a stump a few feet to her left, "sticking near the roads, but not close enough to invite any of their dangers, but close enough to avoid most of the dangers in the woods." With that, the blue-clad woman shrugged again, swinging her satchel around onto her lap as she sat, rapping her fingers against the material of the bag - and the covers of the tomes within. "And you don't have to worry about me, ma'am. I'm... Well, let's just say I'm covered when it comes to danger. So long as I see them coming, I'm not too afraid of any weapon-swinging hooligans."

Isabel gave the drill-performing soldier in front of her her most disarming, charming smile as she finished speaking. Solomon silently padded his way towards the young shaman, brushing himself against the dark blue material of her pants, before making himself comfortable beside her. Both pairs of eyes - Solomon's bright emerald, Isabel's blue-green - were fixed on the woman who had been stabbing at the wooden dummy; despite her smile, Isabel's eyes were scanning the woman for any signs of potential aggression. She had come a little closer to be able to sit down on the stump, but the sapphire witch was pretty sure she was still safe at this distance.

"... Well, that's not all true. Archers can be a problem sometimes, but, eh. Just gotta be careful... Oh! Where are my manners... My name is Isabel, Izzy for short. A pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

[Bellona]

Bellona was surprised by the young girl. She sat down and introduced herself. The girl was either very brave or very foolish to sit down near an armed woman in the forest. She did explain that she was prepared in the event of a bandit attack. Bellona sighed and lowered her lance. "My apologies Miss, I thought you might have been a bandit or thief..." She muttered. She was quite embarrassed by the event. 'Really Bellona? Threatening women in the forest!' She thought. Bellona was also intrigued of the mention of travelling and being prepared for bandits. She shook her head and leaned against the tree. If Bellona couldn't be intimidating through her voice, she'll have to do it through body language. She gave the girl a very venomous look and a sly smile. "By the looks of your outfit, I'm assuming you're a mage of some sorts?" She asked. Bellona wanted to make sure the girl was a "good" magic user. She knew that some bandits practiced magic, but the girl didn't look like the type to slaughter villagers and loot their homes.

Bellona walked towards the young girl. A million questions circulated in her mind. She decided to introduce herself first, it was only fair since the other girl already had. "You told me your name...Isabel. So I guess I'll introduce myself. My name is Bellona, I'm a soldier if you hadn't already figured that out." Bellona chuckled. "However, most don't usually assume I apart of the military because of my appearance!" Bellona looked directly into the girl's blue eyes. Bellona wondered where the girl's family was. She hoped they hadn't met the same fate as her own.

Bellona went back towards the tree, and leaned up against it again. She studied the girl, looking for signs of attack. However, she was interrupted by the sound of movement. She quickly realized there were multiple beings within the forest. "If it's bandits, I swear..." She grabbed her spear and crept towards the sound.

[Isabel]

The shaman shrugged at the soldier's initial statement. "Better to stay cautious, so I can't really blame you." Isabel nodded solemnly, folding her hands over her leather bag. When her eyes darted back up, the woman was... Shooting daggers from her eyes at Izzy, puffing herself up and giving the young witch a wicked smile. It was almost reflex at that point; the sapphire girl's hands darted into her bag, wrapping her fingers around the spine of one of her tomes. The well-worn cover told her it was her trusted Flux tome, which would surely be more than enough to...

... Oh. "Well, yes, 'of some sort'. I'm not a mage in the sense that I sling fireballs and call down lightning or anything..." Isabel grinned, before tightening her grip on the Elder magic tome as the woman drew closer. The spell was familiar, but the shaman would still need it on hand to perform the magic with any sort of potency, and that lance was pointy... But instead of attacking her, the woman merely introduced herself, proclaiming to the young witch that she was a soldier - although few people seemed to believe her, from Bellona's words.

The Flux tome was drawn out from the bag with a flourish. The dark cover, decorated with an eldritch flourish, was given a quick rap from the shaman's fingers in an effort to draw Bellona's eyes to it. "See? I'm a mage - more or less. Don't judge a book by its cover! And, hey, don't let anyone judge you by your cover either. After all, you have an exceedingly pointy stick at your disposal, don't you?" Isabel shrugged. "You really don't have to try so hard to be scary or whatever. Just be you."

And then there was the icing on the cake. Solomon had heard the sounds of multiple somethings moving through the woods first, his ears moving so as to pick up the sound better, sitting stock still. The soldier woman heard the sounds second, leaving Isabel to make her best guess as to what was happening through context clues. Oh, and vocal clues, after Bellona mumbled something about bandits. The Flux tome was quickly exchanged for the Ruin tome; usually, she'd opt for the magic she was more familiar with, but the sapphire witch had a little bit of help with her in case whatever was coming closer turned out to be hostile. Stopping power would be better than speed. "Do you see anyone? ... It isn't a pack of wolves or anything, is it?"

[Bellona]

Bellona crouched and looked through some bushes. She saw three people, two burly men and an equally burly woman. Bellona silently cursed she headed back to Isabel. "It's the worst kind of wolf pack, a group of bandits!" Bellona whispered. She then placed a finger in front of her lips, silently telling Isabel to be quiet. "We must stay silent and make it back to the main road." She softly whispered. She motioned for Isabel to follow. Bellona crouched down and slowly walked, using the plant life to shield her movements. She smiled at Isabel, making sure that she wasn't freaking out. Most people would, but the girl was able to cast magic, she could probably take care of her self. Bellona looked back and saw the bandits walk into the clearing. She peered out of the brush. The biggest guy appeared to be the leader, he was asking his underlings where the people went. The other man shrugged and leaned against a tree, the woman seemed angry and swung her axe against Bellona's dummy, slicing it's head off. 'Ouch! Best to avoid her...' Bellona thought. She motioned Isabel to get out of here.

Bellona sneaked through the brush. Making sure to avoid twigs and such. It was hard to stay silent because she wasn't trained to sneak around. She was trained to stab things. "Isabel, can you prepare one of your tomes? Just in case." Bellona asked the girl. Isabel seemed stronger than her, but she was still worried. There could be more bandits in the woods, maybe an archer or two. She heard voices and stopped, the bandits began to walk by the two girls. She peered out from the bushes, trying to watch the group's movements. The woman glanced over and Bellona quickly hid and threw her arm in front of Isabel in attempt to stop her movement. The female bandit shrugged and continued her conversation with the other bandits. Bellona sighed with relief, she stayed perfectly still. She hoped she wouldn't attract any attention.

[Isabel]

Yup, it was bandits. It was always bandits. In all fairness, they were likely just doing the best they could to survive; it was their environment and competition and whatnot that made them so violent. If you were a self-proclaimed bandit and you weren't at least a little vicious, you weren't likely to last very long. That wouldn't stop Isabel from using lethal tactics against one of them if they came running at her with their weapon drawn, of course... She wasn't entirely sure why she allowed Bellona to lead her off, away from the clearing, in all honesty, but the shaman followed along anyway. Moving separately would likely have been the better idea, at least for the tome-toter; the soldier was clunky and may as well have been smashing two metal pans against each other in comparison to the soft footsteps of Isabel and Solomon.

Well, not Solomon. Isabel raised an eyebrow; the black cat always seemed to disappear right as trouble started to brew. Experience told her that he would return soon enough, no matter the distance or odds, but the sapphire girl couldn't help but worry about her companion. "Here's a fun fact for you, ma'am," Izzy whispered, quickening her pace to match Bellona's, "Elder magic is something strangely not of this world. My tomes allow me to tap into some ancient reservoir of power, to use for my own purposes..."

Now seemed as good a time as any. Isabel shied away from Bellona suddenly, moving along to stand behind a thick tree trunk. "It is easy to understand why it's considered 'evil' magic, but that doesn't mean everyone who can wield its might is evil, or even that mean." The stood up straight, fixing her headband in the shade of the tree, fixing her eyes on the three bandits. One of them caught the sudden flash of blue in his peripheral vision, but there was no way he would make it to the motion's source before Isabel got her own quick attack off. Cradling the heavy tome against her body with her left arm, Isabel lifted her right hand dramatically, her first two fingers sticking straight up in the air. "This is the power that ruins."

A series of lines appeared in the air above her fingers, glowing with an otherworldly light, before disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Two of the bandits rushed toward the shaman, axes at the ready, before two strangely fluid, purple tendrils knocked into their chests. The two bandits dropped like sacks of bricks, clearly not having expected such retaliation; the twin tendrils wrapped around them, pinning their arms against their torsos. The constriction didn't let up until the telltale crunch of broken bones could be heard, and then the tendrils flung their victims into the sky before dissipating. "The Elder tome Ruin. A nasty piece of work, of course, but its true power is in its versatility." Isabel turned to Bellona, grinning. "Come on, I'm sure a handful of bandits won't be too much trouble; just make sure you get them with the pointy end of your glorified stick!"

[Bellona]

Bellona was now officially terrified of Isabel, in a good way. She saw how quickly Isabel had disposed of two of the bandits. However, the female bandit still remained and she was angry. Of course, she chose Bellona as her target and charged. "Great..." She muttered as the burly woman ran towards her. She rolled out of the way and jabbed with her lance. She missed and in return, the bandit swung her axe at Bellona's chest. It barely grazed her armor. She rolled back, she was regretting coming out to the woods. "Alright you big brute! I'm a soldier of Etruria, and I'm about to end your miserable life!" Bellona snarled. The bandit charged again, her axe raised in the air. Bellona held her ground, waiting for her moment. As the bandit drew near, Bellona struck. She quickly ducked and stabbed at the bandits gut. She cried out fell to the ground, holding the wound. Bellona raised her lance above the bandit's head, she propelled her weapon down. Silence, the female bandit was motionless on the ground. Bellona never enjoyed killing anyone, even if they deserved it. She felt like a monster, like she was no longer human. She quickly got the thought out if her head. She walked towards Isabel. "Thanks for the help...Izzy!" She smiled at the young girl. She was also impressed by the great power she held. "I definitely see why your magic is considered 'evil', but I know that you are not." Not wanting to attract anymore attention, Bellona motioned for Isabel to follow, she wanted to stay close to a powerful person as she travelled through the woods.

Bellona walked along the path, she turned back and noticed something was off. "Where's your cat? Did he...?" Bellona asked hoping the girl's cat hadn't been killed by a bandit. She didn't really care for him, but she could tell he meant a real lot to Isabel. Bellona remembered her brother, he had meant so much to her. And then he was taken away, just like that! Bellona noticed her eyes became misty and quickly turned away from Isabel. 'You're a grown woman, don't you cry now!' She thought to herself.

[Isabel]

A brutal finish to a quick fight. Let's hope that, if they had buddies, they see that they should avoid us... Isabel thought, tugging at the bottom of her shirt and doing everything she could to avoid actually looking at the carnage. At least her magic, the way she had been using it thus far, didn't mutilate people... Although, Ruin could be used in a way very similar to a lance. Then Bellona was upon her again, doing her best to liven up the mood after that unfortunate bout of death.

"Hey, I appreciate the newfound trust in me, but you probably shouldn't lose that caution of your's so quick." The sapphire shaman frowned, holding the Elder tome up to her chest. It was the world they all lived in, it would appear; she would love to trust anyone and everyone, like her blond bard buddy did, but naivety in this environment could get you killed. "... But don't poke me with that stick of your's, alright? I like having all of my blood inside of me, thank you very much." The soldier woman had motioned for Izzy to follow... They were veering off the track Isabel had originally been following, but the young shaman doubted that it would take too much work to reorient herself and get back on her way, so what could following the soldier hurt?

... Well, no, it could hurt a lot. Isabel frowned once again, rapping her fingers across the cover of the tome she clutched against her chest. Bellona here had loudly proclaimed that she was a soldier of Etruria... But there was nothing to say that she wasn't just a well-outfitted bandit. Unlikely, but there was still that bit about caution... "My ca-? Oh! Solomon. Yeah, he's fine. He does this whenever something big is happening. He'll pop back up whenever he feels like it; it's totally fine." Isabel beamed, and then stopped walking forward. "Well... I'd love to continue on this way, but I'm afraid that I've actually got to get going. I have... And old friend waiting for me, and it's a long walk to get to him." The shaman shuffled her feet a little, looking down at the rather comfortable leather shoes, dyed purple to match her outfit. Purple was a fun color, and one that inspired thoughts of royalty in some people - probably because the traditional purple dye tended to be rather expensive. There were some alternatives, however, if you knew where to find them... Izzy's eyes darted back up, letting a smile light up her face once more. "It's been... It's been very interesting getting to meet you, Bellona! I wish you the best of luck in doing your soldier-y stuff."

[Bellona]

Bellona frowned, she actually enjoyed the girl's company. "Well, I know for a fact you can take care of yourself, so you should be fine!" Bellona smiled. She kind of wished they met somewhere more enjoyable and less chance of death around every corner. "It was to meet you, finally met someone who didn't Judge me on my looks!" Bellona bowed. "I wish you the best! And remember, I consider us allies now. Whether you like it or not!" Bellona waved to the girl and walked away, heading back to her unit. She now felt a little scared, she didn't have a bandit-crushing companion anymore. Bellona felt vulnerable. Those who travelled alone were the favourite victims of bandits and thugs. She listened for any movement, making sure an enemy didn't sneak up on her. She saw the exit to the woods up ahead, Bellona quickened her past. She wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. She expected bandits to jump out and slice her up, but no such thing happened. As she exited the woods, she began down a different trail, one that was much safer. Bellona finally arrived back and saw her unit. "Hey Bellona! Did you go looking for fashion tips?" One of the soldiers joked. "Ha ha, very funny! I went training in the woods." Bellona replied. Her unit responded with gasps and chastised her for being foolish. "I was ambushed by bandits, luckily a passerby helped me put them down." Bellona said with boredom. They had been questioning for over an hour now. They finally let her go after she explained what happened.

Bellona decided to head down to the marketplace. She wasn't wearing her armor anymore, but some casual clothing. She did keep her lance on her, in case some scumbag got the wrong idea. Bellona looked around for something, she was mainly browsing. She wondered what became of that girl. She hoped she was able to meet her friend. Bellona sighed, for an odd reason she actually had fun adventuring through the forest. She chuckled and headed back home.