This is Lamia’s favorite place to which to invite someone to a fight. The lamp post shines its light over a wide alley where a growth of soft, bristly moss clings to the walls and carpets the ground in patches. It seems like a nice place to get knocked down, if there’s going to be any getting knocked down. Although, there’s always the possibility of broken bottle glass hiding in that moss.
Lamia approaches the alley in shirt sleeves and suspenders. The suspenders don’t seem to be for anything in particular, because they’re not holding up anything heavier than a pair of loose, comfortable trousers.
She’s surprised to find the alley already occupied. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s a scuffle or something more intimate going on, and after waiting politely for fifteen minutes, the matter doesn’t make itself any clearer. Finally, Lamia calls, "The constable is coming!" and the pair breaks up and scampers away, bouncing off walls and each other as they go.
Lamia takes her place at one end of the alley, and waits for Eglantine.
(OOC: This is a one-on-one fight, but other characters are welcome to watch. Anyone who tries to interfere with the fight will have their post disregarded.)
The Eglantine of Wolfstack Docks is not the Eglantine of Veilgarden or the Shuttered Palace. That Eglantine is a libertine with a merry laugh, dressed in fashionable attire, with seemingly no greater concerns than desire, socialising and their art.
This Eglantine is no such dainty flower.
No Eglantine at all, however, is anywhere to be seen, at least at first. On silent feet they creep across a roof, gazing down into the alley to get the measure of the space, and to check for traps or surprise ambushes.
(If this was not a friendly fight, it would be them doing the ambushing, with a rifle, from right here on the roof.)
They leap down, landing neatly, a figure in ratskin – practical, this, strong but easy to move in, and considerably more silent than the average grave around here.
"I do hope I’m on time." Their voice is soft, a light and lilting tone, filled with good humour, but their eyes are wary.
Elias and Ezekiel perch on a nearby rooftop but do not make their presences known. Eli pulls out a notebook. Ezekiel produces a pair of opera glasses.
The Curious Captain stops in street at the sight of Lamia. “Miss Lawless, Eglantine, I’d hoped I shouldn’t be late. Would you mind if I observe?”
Seriously, “I like to know my friends, and I’m of half a mind that either of you might someday become such.”
Then, with a wicked grin, and no seriousness at all, “Besides, everyone likes to watch.”
Lamia looks amused when Eglantine appears, not from the street, but from the sky. She’s bouncing on her heels a little, and seems to be in a good mood. "I have no complaints," she says. "So. A sparring match. Fists only? I like to kick, but I can control myself."
To the Captain, she adds, "Yes, you can watch."
(OOC: Everyone’s being so sneaky and serious, except for Absimiliard. And Eli is a big cheater.)
(OOC: Yeah, he’s breaking all of those rules that don’t exist. Haha, he’s always been crafty. Here’s hoping no-one notices him, that’d be embarrassing.)
Absimiliard grins quite wickedly and bows to Miss Lawless.
“Most kind, indeed.” From the way their grin extends up their cheeks you suspect their eyes must be crinkled up in laughter, but can’t tell behind their spectacles.
[ooc: Aww, I was too serious, for at least one sentence. It’s not really fair to expect more of me if my Abs isn’t off being heroic and self-sacrificing – at which point all serious is more my style.]
Lady Sapho L. Byron arrives with a bag of popcorn. Where in the Neath did she get real popcorn? “Blast. I was hoping to be fashionably late … but at least I’ll have a good seat!” She positions herself quite conspicuously and settles in to watch. And waves to Captain Absimiliard and Ms Lawless.
Lady V. raced into the alley, only to stop dead at the spectacle before her. She has abandoned her usual dresses and fineries for a coat that could have once been black, but has faded to a rather sullen grey. She’s soaking wet, and has a few strands of seaweed stuck in her lopsided bun.
Before V. could speak, footsteps were heard.
"Where did she go?!"
V. gave a start, alarmed, and briefly placed her finger on her lips before diving behind a crate of rotting potatoes.
(Basically what happened when I was forced to grind stats for Dangerous/Shadowy.)
“My, what an audience we have,” Eglantine observes, looking around. They wiggle their fingers impishly up at the roof to greet the pair of lurkers up there, who might indeed have gone unseen if Eglantine had not also chosen to access this place via the roofs. “One, two, three, four, five, and… six.” They glance toward the other roof, where a dark figure crouches, eyes like smouldering embers the only light about it. “I suppose I should have expected that.”
They return their attention once more to Lamia. “Fists, feet, anything but blades or firearms goes, I think.”
They take a few steps back, and sweep a showy bow toward her. “Shall we?”
Lamia follows Eglantine’s gaze, first to Elias and Ezekiel (possibly she can discern them by silhouette alone at this point) and then an unfamiliar figure with telltale glowing eyes.
"How rude," she says. "Why don’t you three come down and spectate like respectable people?"
She nods to Eglantine. "Right. It’s a friendly match. I don’t want to maim you."
She waves a finger, indicating ‘one moment,’ and stares pointedly at the lurkers.
Morkan arrives at the scene hot in pursuit. He doesn’t typically chase a lady who dropped her purse, but it is devoid of money and filled with odd memorabilia, and she is both wet and running when confronted with the return of the wallet. He is a little curious.
When he sees the fight (and more importantly, what seems to be a very very elegant lady spectating), he stops. "Guh, what a bother." He throws away the wallet carelessly into the crate of potatoes and join the audience instead.
[OoC: I know that is not your intent, but it sounded like you are bragging about your abs :), Liard.]
Absimiliard nods to Captain Kassington, “Hello Morkan. Good to see you again.”
[ooc: Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to step on your turf, bragging is really more your thing, I usually try to keep it quiet until I have to act. That said, you’re not wrong, my character has spectacular abs.]
The appearance and then “disappearance” of Lady V., whom she knows in passing, and the notice of a gem of a gentleman (who appears to be pursing Lady V. --for good or for ill–) is a delightful bit of pre-bout mysteriousness. She nods a pleasant smile at the gentleman and pretends that Lady V. has never appeared.
Eglantine smiles to themself. Perhaps, were this not a friendly match, the moment to strike at Lamia would have been while she was looking up at the figures perched above, but that would be decidedly ill-mannered under these circumstances. And so Eglantine waits, still smiling.
The shadows move. A devil slips down, obligingly, to watch from ground level.
Both participants are well-known to some members of the Brass Embassy, and devils can be cat-curious. It was probably inevitable for at least one to be in the audience.
Ezekiel can jump down from the roofs to the ground with no injury, whereas Eli needs to climb down so as not to shatter his knees.
“Discretion is the better part of valor.” Eli bows his head and apologizes.
V. flinched when something landed into the potato crate. Her purse! Did she drop it in her haste? She quickly snatched it off and retreated back behind the crates. Everything seemed to be accounted for, but the water had damaged her notes. Months of research wasted. She scowled to herself, and, checking to make sure the gentleman’s back is turned, slinked back out of the alley. A change of clothes was in order.
Morkan waves in response to the greetings and settle down to watch the brawl. He smiles when he notices from the shadow that someone has picked up the purse he threw and retreated. Such strange behaviors.
Lamia waits until Eli, Ezekiel, and the thus far unknown devil slip down to ground level. And then waits a little longer when a woman dashes by, with a man on her heels. It’s a good thing it’s such a broad alley, with plenty of room for a small crowd. Once there are no more distractions, she shifts into her fighting stance: Hips squared, legs apart and bent loosely at the knees, fists held high, close to her head.
She moves in with a kick- a feint that brings her within arm’s length of Eglantine, covering the entrance of two jabs towards the chin.
(OOC: For transparency purposes:
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I’m describing actions as being ‘towards’ or ‘aiming at’ or ‘trying to…’ so that leaves it up to Eglantine’s player to decide how their character would react.
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Posts get shorter because I cut down on description and focus on action, to lend a sense of immediacy to the writing.
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I’m avoiding elaborate, drawn-out actions that would force us to presume that her opponent is just sitting there watching while my character executes them. Combo attacks are good, but they’re a world apart from something like, ‘she jumped up onto the trash can, kicked three times, jumped down, ran to the back of the alley, threw some rocks, ran back, and headbutted her opponent.’ That’s not something I ever want to catch myself writing.
Also, Lamia is 5’0" (1.52 meters) and 160 pounds (about 72.5 kg, I think). She’s been trained in hand-to-hand combat since she was about thirteen (she’s 26 now) but the current style she’s using is something she’s only trained in for four years. She’s a Shattering Force who sometimes takes on pupils, and she spent less than a year under the tutelage of the Vake-hunting nuns. I’ll tell Eglantine’s player what her fighting style is, but in light of Eli’s attempt to take notes, I think it’d be more fun to let the spectators guess based on description. :P)
edited by Lamia Lawless on 7/8/2016
The kick is a feint, that much Eglantine can see. But they can also see the skill in the movements. Right. Time to get unorthodox. Lamia’s punches whistle through the air, missing Eglantine, who drops, quite suddenly, to their knees, practically falling forward to grab at Lamia’s legs. They will cling, there, if they can, use their body weight to shake her at the knees, where people tend to fold a bit if you get the right angles going on. It’s not stylish. It’s not elegant. But it’s probably something Lamia wasn’t expecting.
(OOC: Lamia definitely has the experience advantage here - Eglantine’s outclassed, hence the rather weird choice of attacks. They’re effectively playing off surprise factor since they can’t match her on skill.
Eglantine’s about 5’5", 130lbs, mostly wiry muscle, soooo… they are also outweighed by a bit. XD )