[1v1] Fangs of Friendship (Shik/Seng)

[medigel]

It had been a while since Shik had picked up something other than his natural dagger. The last time he had tried ranged reminded him exactly why he had chosen to become an executioner as a job - his clawed hands helped very little in the drawing of a bow. Even his hawkish eyes seemed to fail when it came to projectiles like spears and small polearms. Today's practice involved the short sword which, despite being only a little longer than his normal weapon, was still a bit of a challenge. Executioners were expected to be proficient in all manner of close range offense, but that wasn't to say Shik didn't sometimes get lazy and just gut things with his bare hands.

Or bear hands, as he soon hoped would come to pass.

He was training to meet with Medea despite being unsure whether his task would be physical or not. The exertion of slicing, parrying, and swiping at an invisible opponent was enough to focus his mind and clear it of odd, unsure thoughts that had begun to niggle at him as of late. Most of them were namely about Shaheen, which only made him want to behead the dummy he then moved onto even more. Others were about more nebulous topics, like his future, his plan, what to do about his sister . . .

Schick! The dummy's head came clean off.  

[keiifuu]

Senga was... bored.

It was a fascinatingly foreign concept to him, considering that the past month had been dedicated to many things, all of which had kept his attention wrapped up in events and misadventures and terrible happenings all in one. And suddenly they all came to a close. Everything halted abruptly. The world went on, but suddenly Senga was left with little to do. His entire body crept with irritation, restlessness welling in the base of his gut and infecting his veins. He was going to go mad stuck here, running circles inside of this cage.

Perhaps that was why he appeared at the training grounds that some lower-ranking parties had hastened to set up when they'd first arrived. His wings folded neatly, and he dropped to one of the branches arching over the dirt and the small field of training mannequins. And low behold, look who it was. Peering owlishly down at Shik from behind, Senga ruffled his feathers mildly, considering as the older Executioner sliced and parried around before slicing one of the mannequins heads clean off.

"You know," Senga hummed after a moment, crouching in his perch and tilting his head at the other, "your choice of opponents as of late is reprehensibly mundane."  

[medigel]

The head went bounce . . . bounce . . . rolllll . . . More fascinating would have been the blood that would have spurted out like a waterfall had it been a real opponent. Speaking of--

"And hello to you too," Shik grunted, straightening from his stance to look up at Senga. He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead and flicked sweat off. "Better than lounging around with a few choice words where swords cannot reach, I say. Have you been hanging around Conquest too much?" he asked with a little smirk, meant as a joke. He wasn't . . . great at keeping up social contact even in his own clan, preferring to be on his own most of the day. But for a few, including Senga, he would at least have the decency to ask after. That is, if he wasn't wrestling him to the eye rolls of others like before.

"Everything has turned a bit mundane since security decided to upgrade," he went on to say, tossing a look over his shoulder as if expecting to hear the swish of a boogeyman cloak. "I make do with what I can. Unless that's a challenge I hear in your tone?"  

[keiifuu]

Senga flicked a wing at Shikoba in mild amusement, his lips curling upwards at the edge. "Conquest? Not particularly." A dark look passed over his face, gold eyes pulsing a vivid glow before settling back down. "Unless they seek me out first. It is quite a fun time, seeing them get their robes all messy tripping and trying to keep up." Senga had never been one for conversational exploration. Sparring was usually enough to convey his emotions, and much simpler as well. "And you? Have you been hanging around inanimate opponents for so long now that you're starting to forget what it feels like to get blood on your hands?"

Leaping down to the ground, Senga righted himself and shook like a dog, settling down only long enough to raise his brows at the other. "Right, them." He scowled, but the expression quickly turned brighter, more vicious and intrigued than before. "I am always asking for a challenge." He curled his lips into a smirk.

"I might, however, be a little bit more exciting than your dummy. Think you can handle it?"  

[medigel]

He snickered, remembering how Lan had cursed him in her native tongue when he had ripped her top off. Good times. Good times.

Shik had never been particularly keen on the undercurrents of body language on most, but for his clan, for his fellow executioner, he was. Famine had their silly dances, Conquest had...deities only knew what happened when they preferred masks for faces and words for weapons, and Death he didn't know squat about. But for War, to the normally dense and brute-like Shik, a dark look was enough to tip him off that perhaps the pup had been up to more than he initially thought. Hats off to you, Shaheen, for conditioning Shik to begin bothering to notice the little things; it was the only way he could hope to keep up with her fluctuating moods.

"Shaheen comes in handy sometimes," he replied with a tiny shrug, trying to brush off just how little his social circle really was. "As does the occasional hunt in the forest. But I'm always happy to cut a friend down to size." His eyes slitted as he grinned, twirling the short sword once. "It's the best way to catch up, no? I have a feeling you've been putting your nose to some project since we last talked."  

[keiifuu]

"Down to size?" Senga raised his brows at Shikoba before the expression shifted into bemused suspicion. "I'm already short enough, thank you." He remarked, his tone dry and huffing. Next to Shikoba, Senga looked like a child, if even that. Then again, next to most people he looked exactly the same way. His wings flicked, a motion to shoo away the topic in favor of a new one. "Most likely." He grinned wolfishly at the other, shedding his pelt on a nearby dummy.

"I've been putting my nose somewhere, but I'm not sure you could call it a project." He rolled his shoulders back, considering the arrows that had been lodged in them just the other day, and the pain and pleasure of the fights with Mengyao only nights before. Exhaling, he rolled his eyes and fluttered his wings. "I have to - else I will become absolutely impossible to handle with all of the boredom that comes from being locked up."

Senga grinned then, a wry, small little smirk that seemed almost teasing and full of wolfish delight. He raised his hands gesturing at Shikoba to come at him if he dared.

"But words only get us so far. Let's start already."  

[medigel]

"Granted, size matters not." Yuzhi had defeated him in their first battle on the reservation, and she was shorter than Senga even. But he grinned nevertheless and rolled his head and shoulders around until they popped, taking his sweet time. Normally Shik would attempt to tie his hair back now that his hair had begun to grow out, but laziness struck. Or maybe that as the short sword.

. . . Nah, the short sword was striking.

"I like a good chat during a spar," he said congenially as he swept the weapon in a horizontal slash. "Tell me about this--whatever this is then. I've been bored out of my mind and want to hear something interesting outside of Shaheen's babble." He sounded almost affectionate mentioning her.

HP: 40
Damage: 8
Fear: Y2 The Chill

xkeiifuu