Controling Flames (Open)

[Lydia]

So the new woman was the older sister they had spoken of… Bones. Lydia eyed the woman, appraising her cooly and carefully. She did not seem to be immediately aggressive to the Pupil, so she did not act to defend herself. She merely kept the peace, gazing at the group, including the newly arrived ‘soldier-for-hire,’ and thinking about how unlikely the circumstances must have been to bring them to meet for the first time. Indeed, even the circumstances that had brought her to meet this group were unusual. But that was beside the point.

“You seek to spar with me? I shall accept your offer of combat, and I also extend an invitation to you, Bones, and the three of you – Shu, Wu, and Wei. I would be most interested to see your techniques, and a chance to improve myself by training is always too good to pass up.”

Lydia smiled, with an oddly grim and macabre expression upon her face.

“I will use my full might; I know I am not yet powerful, but I will certainly bring all I can to bear upon you as my opponent. For a false fight does no good, and in fact is even more harmful than no fighting at all.”

The Pupil picked up a piece of ‘fish on a stick’ and nibbled at it, using her teeth to cleanly slice flakes of flesh off of the wooden skewer. The food was savory, if a little plain and unoriginal. However, it was certainly not bad, and much better than bread and fruit, her usual fare. Indeed, luxury for her was cheese, or a slice of dried meat. Wine was something to steal, to scrounge, to kill for, even, though she could not say she’d ever killed a man for wine. Sure, she had blasted one with Nether magic, but he lived to tell the tale.

[Bee]

Now things were getting both interesting and dangerous, thought Bee. On one hand she had a opportunity to face off against dark magic and test her metal. On the other hand her opponent was not somebody she wanted to kill, nor be killed by. The young pupil was planning on giving it her all. If Bee underestimated her she could end up feeding the darkness If she over estimated her Bee could end up cooking the young girl. At the same time however Bee had to wonder how powerful she truly was. So far Bee had only faced off against bandits, a few beast, and a anvil. She had not yest fought against another mage and that very fact could be crippling.

"Very Well", spoke Bee as she looked at Lydia. The maiden began to scarf down her piece of fish. Already Bee began to make plans on how she was going to do this fight. At this point however she had already decided to leave Volcanon out of it. The tome was powerful, a little too powerful. To much force is just as bad as having to little. Her goal was to improve her skill and reflexes, not to melt her partner into a smoldering pile of ash. Then Bee would need to chose a battlefield. For dueling purposes it would be better to fight on flat land, but this was also training. Both of them needed the experience in fighting in terrain they would often encounter in the real world. That meant that Bee would need a place with a change in elevation or some land structure that could affect the out come of the dual.

"Alright magical dual", spoke Wu.

"I wonder how mages fight", spoke Shu as he began to think on the process. A strange image of two robed men holding blades made up of light popped into his head. One talked about the power of the neither and the other spoke of nature The image however was quickly dissipated as he looked at Bee's spell tome hanging from her waist. They were mages not warriors. There battle would be one of words and spells.

"Probably going to be boring", spoke Wei picking up on Shu's line of thought.

"I don't think so", spoke Bones, the more experience fighter. "Mages can be interesting at times, especially the ones that use anture magic. Though Bee..."

"Only uses fire", spoke Wu with a perfect chime in. "That means we are only going to see flames and nothing special like flying."

"Wait mages can fly", shouted Wei!

"What! You did not know that", spoke Shu as he looked at Wei in disbelief. "Users of that wind tome ..."

"Excalibur", spoke Bones.

"That sounds like a sword", spoke Wu.

"It should be the name of a sword", spoke Shu.

"Well when we forge our masterpiece we will name it such", spoke Wu.

"Agreed", spoke Shu and Wei.

"Alright hurry up an finish your fish", spoke Bones. "I want to see this magical dual. It will be interesting to see your level of power", spoke Bones as she gave a wink at Bee. The maiden however ignored her and began to focus her mind on the fight ahead.

"You can chose the place for the session", spoke Bee toward Lydia. The maiden then got up out of now where and began to walk out the restaurant. "I need to take care of something real quick. So lets meet up in a hour and then get started", spoke the maiden. She waited around long enough to get the name of the place and then vanished into the streets. After being away from the group she rushed over to her room inside of this housing complex and popped open her chest. Inside Bee found a unmarked valve of material that smelled bad and looked even worse. A wicket smile crossed over her face as she opened it and began to make her preparations.

[Lydia]

"Very Well."

"Alright magical duel!"

"I wonder how mages fight?"

"Probably going to be boring."

"I don't think so. Mages can be interesting at times, especially the ones that use anture magic. Though Bee..."

"Only uses fire. That means we are only going to see flames and nothing special like flying."

"Wait mages can fly?!"

"What! You did not know that? Users of that wind tome ..." 

"Excalibur."

"That sounds like a sword."

"It should be the name of a sword."

"Well when we forge our masterpiece we will name it such."

"Agreed."

"Alright hurry up an finish your fish. I want to see this magical duel. It will be interesting to see your level of power."

"You can chose the place for the session."

While the conversation flowed around her, Lydia continued to eat slowly. She would need the energy. This would be a most interesting fight. A mage who only used fire magic, fighting her, a more inexperienced user of the arcane... She would need to choose the location carefully. Indeed, she had the perfect idea. If she could use terrain to her advantage, fighting on her terms, she might be able to outlast the mage. She would never be able to overpower her, what with the fact that she was still relatively weak, but she might be able to tire her opponent and force a draw or a surrender.

"I choose the abandoned marina at the edge of the lake!"

The abandoned marina was once a shipyard, but soft earth had caused small sinkholes and so the operation was moved. Now, only ships that were left to be scuttled sat in the docks, and the scaffolds and ropes were left unmanned. It would provide a unique location to do battle, that was for certain. Now all Lydia had to do was make sure she was prepared to fight - physically, mentally, spiritually.

After Bee left, Lydia turned to the others, an intrigued expression on her face.

"Tell me - how does Bee fight?"

This too would help her in figuring out a strategy; she would attempt to capitalize on Bee's weaknesses while protecting her own. That was, of course, only a start, but every little bit helped when you were up against a stronger opponent.

[Bee]

"How does Bee fight", spoke Bones as a wolfish grin crossed her face. She was starting to like this girl already. She was smart enough to not walk into this fight blindly and wise enough to chose a varied terrain. If only she had a few lads with a brain like hers. Maybe she would still have more of a gang left.

"With fire", shouted Wu!

"Overwhelming fire", added Wei.

"She really, really, loves fire", spoke Shu.

"Yeah, that is all she focuses on", spoke Wu.

"From what I have seen she prefers to let her opponents burn", spoke Bones.

"She will also set the area on fire", spoke Wei.

"She will also throw burning things at you", spoke Wu. "So you might want to be careful."

"Remember that time she threw oil all over that brigand", spoke Shu.

"He lit up like a candle stick", spoke Wei.

"Essentially be prepared for her to bring the heat", spoke Bones to the maiden. She was a bit uncomfortable about how they all gave up information about Bee so easily, but this was nothing serious. It was just a dual between mages for training. If Bee could not handle a single pupil well she would not stand much of a chance in any other fight anyway.
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Be arrived at the docks a little bit above scheduled. She wanted to check out the terrain before she would fight there. Information was everything in a fight. If Bee was walking into a trap she needed to know about it. The pink hair maiden walked around the area checking out the ground, the dryness of the lumber, and to see if there were any dangerous in the area. The last thing she wanted was to be in the middle of a fight and a wolf rushes out and attacks her.

"So far so good", spoke Bee as she made her observations. The maiden looked down into a pool of water and noticed her hair style. Standing up like a tower her hair took the form of the box style she used in the days of her own studies. She remembered vividly the trials she faced and the hardships that turned her into a mage. She knew of desperation and the unpredictable nature of a untrained mage. The only defense for that would be to prepare to be surprised.

"I wonder how well these ropes will burn", spoke Bee as she walked over to one of the ships. Her mind began to form a devastating plan, but the mage stopped mid way. This was not her purpose here. She was here to test her skills as a mage and to forward the development of another young mage. She needed first to show off magical skill and talent. After that she could worry about manipulating ones environment. Flaming death traps kill just as quickly as any spell, but they will not raise ones skill with magic. Only though hard work and study can one increase that power.

[Lydia]

"Essentially be prepared for her to bring the heat."

That was all Lydia needed to know. When she parted from the group, she headed around the city, walking without direction and simply focusing her mind. She then headed to the marina, walking through the deserted graveyard of ships to the edge of the lake. Then, she got into a rickety rowboat, pushing herself off and floating into the water. Closing her eyes, the Pupil rested. Shadows floated through her mind, strange trees warped and bent, and the fabric of reality ripped and shattered as the sleeping Lydia wandered through a dream world. All became clear to her, and she watched as red mixed with blue, and green with red, and then black overwhelmed all of the colors. Suddenly waking, the Pupil sat upright and gazed back at the marina. Her opponent had arrived. Using a firm stroke, Lydia rowed the boat back, stepping onto a dock from the craft and walking to the main area of the marina from the extended dock. Once she arrived, she faced Bee, looking at the other magic user from a long distance, too long for accurate and reliable combat. This way, they could speak before beginning the battle, and not fear being attacked as they talked.

"It is good to see you, Bee. I am prepared to fight... But Bones, Shu, Wu, and Wei have not yet arrived. Until they do, let us talk; I would like to thank you for being so generous to me. You and your friends took me in as a fellow, allowed me to eat with you, and conversed with me. You were friendly, and warm, and inviting. I thank you for that, as I do not have very many friends of my own.

And when we fight, I will fight with my mind, my body, and my spirit. We will clash in a battle of spells and skill, Bee. I've got a solid will and strong resolve. I will meet your power with mine!"

[Bee]

It seemed like they both where here. Bee had been waiting for a bit, but it seemed her opponent was already here to begin with. Still she was glad she had a opportunity to bring back her old hair style. There was just something about it that seemed right. She planned to bring it back when she faced off against her mortal enemy. Though she had no hatred for Lydia she thought it was operate to wear it. She was faceing off against dark magic after all. She needed to remember what lessons she would learn here today.

"Bah, don't worry about that", shouted Bee. "That is the way people are suppose to treat each other. Besides it is not every day that I get to meet another mage, and a pupil at that. I remember my first days when I started to study magic. Still, if you want to hang around be my guess", spoke the maiden as a smile crossed her face. She liked Lydia. She would not mind having her around.

With that Bee closed her eyes and began to focus her mind. Play time was over. It was now time for her to get serious. "Alright I hope you are ready", spoke Bee as she touched her trinity tome. She had told herself that she would not use Volcanon. The magic was too powerful and far to unpredictable. Well not completely true. The Truth was that Bee new she could not restrain herself if she used it. She would bring the fire and that was not the goal of today. She was here to not only make herself a more skilled mage, but also to improve Lydia's skill. If she started off shooting flames at the level of Volcanon there would be nothing left of the poor girl, but cinders. Not to mention she would have not have learned anything.

"We shall await there arrival", spoke Bee. The maiden was not bothered by it. It would be a good start point for the two of them.Though Bee wondered if they would actually show up. She was sure they would be excited to see who won, but she was sure they were probably wary of betting caught in cross fire between the two of them. Bee's worries however went out the window quickly. Only ten minutes later the gang showed up, though the Trio were in there blacksmiths gear. Clearly they expected her to bring the heat.

"Alright lets go", shouted Bee as she raised her hand. A small fire ball appeared above her as she shot a single red bolt toward her opponent. The ball of fire shot forward and sailed though the air. It's red glow pushed though the air with a arrow like motion. However as it neared the maiden the ball of fire began to wobble a bit. The air current moved it off course and caused the ball of fire to fly a good five feet away from her and smash into the mud. Bee now had her range and her drift, Now she was ready to fight.