Sleepless (Grey)

[Nanashi]

Nanashi couldn't sleep. He had slept in late that morning, and now he was regretting it. So, what was he going to do to help himself get to sleep? Exhaust himself, of course! And in his favorite place to do something like that: The training grounds.

That was where he had arrived just now. The training grounds were deserted, so he was alone. It was quite dark by this hour, the only light coming from one or two windows in the academy, the moon, and the stars. Nanashi drew his sword. Time to practice a few physical moves. However, Nanashi's swordplay was not what one would call orthodox, nor was his sword: It was actually two blades side by side to form one, and the handle, too, was split in half, held together only by three solid pegs of steel, none of which could be pulled out from the outside. So, what was the point? There would be none, if the sword's bearer didn't happen to practice metal elementalism.

"Break."

The two pegs nearest each end of the handle broke cleanly in the center, allowing the third to act as a hinge. Nanashi then rotated the sword 180^o, making one of the blades be on the other side of the handle. THIS was the point of the sword being that way.

"Lock."

The two sets of half-pegs that were now in alignment sealed together, locking the sword in place. Nanashi was now ready. He held the sword out in front of him vertically with his right hand. He then spun, turning the sword 90^o counterclockwise in the process, resulting in a thrust with the 'backhand' side of the sword toward an imaginary foe, impaling their shoulder. The imaginary foe dropped their weapon, knelt over and clutched the wound, making himself very much vulnerable to being beheaded by the other blade. Nanashi then turned 180^o, cleaving another ghost of his imagination in half with the backhand side, then leaped forward and impaled another with the other blade.

And so the little dance continued, devastatingly efficiently destroying as many foes as possible. After Nanashi had cut down around fifteen, however, he thought he saw something. He stopped, and looked more closely. There was someone there. Good thing he had noticed. Now this might be able to turn into a real training session. Nanashi's face donned a smirk.

"And who might you be?"

[Grey]

Grey had been watching the youth train, commanding metal and using his blade expertly, slicing the air with controlled force. Grey had been squatting on the nearest wall, oberserving with interest. The way the child commanded metal reminded Grey of the eartbending Lycanthrobed he had fought not many nights ago. Grey was all but surprised when the youth asked for to his presence and his identity.

"I've had far too many names through the ages" Grey said as he slided down the wall, using his clinging technique to slow his fall. "But these days people call me what I truly am, Grey" This was a thing people rarely understood and a thing that Grey explained even less often, it was simply not worth the effort. "And who, and what, may you be child?" Grey was old, experienced and hungry, but he would limit himself to slake his immortal thirst. He reserved the hunger for special occasions, and foes

[Nanashi]

"Stop calling me child. I'll have you know, I'm 18."

The smirk was gone, replaced by a flat mouth and slightly glaring eyes. When this "Grey" asked who Nanashi was, he hesitated a moment, deciding whether or not he should say. Grey had given him an answer, but it wasn't exactly a complete one. Nanashi had no incomplete answer he could give. He decided that he would: After all, he needed to match at least what he had received. It was only polite.

"You can call me Nanashi. Of course, I can't say that that's what I am."

This might be a little hard for Grey to understand if he did not know that Nanashi meant "Without name" in Japanese. It really made no sense, actually: if someone was named Nanashi, they had a name, but they're name meant they were nameless... Oh, well. Save the confusing logic for later.

"So, why would you be out here with only an hour left to the day?"

Fancy wording for 11:00 PM. But who cared? The message was clear. And who was Grey to be calling Nanashi a child when he sounded like he couldn't be much older than 25 or so?

[Grey]

Grey let his head fall backed and laughed, not a laughter of happiness or joy but one that rang with a dark hollowness. "Then you truly are a child, the majority of your lifespan is still in front of you" His cold tone did not match the apparant meaning of the words, although a faint tinge of bitterness could be heard.

"I couldn't help but noticing that you were practicing your sword arm" He remarked, intentionally avoiding the youth's question to his reason for being out in the night. "I look for practice as well, would you care to assist me?" By not resisting my fangs, He thought, but kept it like that. Grey was not stupid enoguh toconsider killing the lad, but he was thirsty and needed his nightly meal. "I always thoguh that one learns best by testing what one has learned. You wanna go?" Grey stood immoveable, but more than ready to switch to a combat stance within the second. "What do you say?" Grey asked, more than ready

[Nanashi]

"By your logic, that makes me a child until I am 40 or 50. And surely, you cannot be that old, meaning you are in no position to talk."

Nanashi's eyes narrowed a little more. There was definately something strange about this guy. Then Nanashi's smirk reappeared when he was directly challenged.

"You know, I was thinking the exact same thing."

Nanashi's left leg swung back, and his right arm swung forward, holding his sword horizontally in front of him. This put a decent barrier between him and Grey: If he tried a direct charge, it would almost certainly be thwarted.

"Challenger strikes first."

[Grey]

Grey leaned his head back laughed at the human's logic, the eerie, dark sound echoing around the area. "Too true, far too true, from your point of view that is. There are certain things that do not meet the eye, at first" Grey didn't feel like explaining what he meant just yet, there was simply no point. Maybe later.

"And I do agree, the challanger should indeed strike first. That has always been the custom from where I come." He began walking calmly towards his opponent, strolling slowly across the distance in between them. Grey was far from at his highest, the junkie like existence he had been living had deprived him of a great deal of strength. He was at the Arcane Academy for several reasons, but one of the main ones were to rebuild his power.

He began charging at the boy and quickly jumper sideways just to avoid the blade and then close on the boy with a pounce. Grey knew exactly how to twist out of the way if something should be thrown in to block his path, and he was sure it would

[Nanashi]

What. The. Hell. It sounded as if Grey was implying that he was indeed that old, but that would mean he would have had to age, well, without aging. And that was impossible. Or... was it?

Now was not the time for thinking about it. Grey was making a charge, straight forward. How foolish. Nanashi could deal with that without even using magic. But no, Grey wasn't quite THAT stupid. He had quickly moved to the side to avoid immediate contact with the sharp, pointy object. Still, It was a simple 90^o turn, and the sword was in his way again. And also, Grey had attacked with a very simple punch. Nanashi rotated his hand 180^o, pushing the punch off course with the flat of one blade, and then took another step, twisting the other blade into Grey's side.

Nanashi didn't drop his guard. Grey talked as if he had experience, and even though it was very possible he was bluffing, it couldn't hurt to assume that he wasn't giving his all yet. It could hurt to assume that he was.

[Grey]

Grey smiled as the sword pushed his hand off course, he had expected nothing else. But as soon as the blade had exited the space that he intended to use he used the momentum bestowed to him by the parry and spun around as he moved forwards, delivering a solid back hand blow aimed for the face of his opponent. Grey's bones were all but indestructable, and that always gave him an extra edge in combat, both in defense and offense

[Nanashi]

A spin. One of the classic things that you should NEVER do in combat, only seconded by the 'Fool's blow', a swing downward toward the top of the head. A spin left your back entirely unguarded, and also made the opponent leave view. It may work in the movies, but never in reality.

As soon as Grey's back was exposed, one of Nanashi's blades went to slash across his exposed back. It would not be pleasant, and it didn't leave Nanashi at all unguarded. And just before he did that, to punish Grey even more for his foolishness...

"Ignite."

Nanashi muttered the word, and the moment he did, the blade he was slashing with burst into flame. This was more deadly than Nanashi gave it credit for, because he had not yet realized that Grey was a vampire. But he would not be displeased to know that...

OOC:
Sword Rotation Parts 1 and 2: 1
Sword Ignition: 1
Total: 2
Remaining: 23

[Grey]

Grey realized his error and cursed the cloud his thirst always brought over his mind. Seeing no other choice than risking being cut in half, he channeled his chi into the skin on his back, hardening it to an almost steel-like degree. He could do nothing to stop the flames however. His fist should connect, but the mark on his back would leave him a reminder of his error. Only fit, He thought.

He would follow the backhand blow up with a either a sweeping kick or a pouncing leap, depending whether his opponent would stand or retreat. He was ready to change those moves, however, now that he had shoved his thirst out from his mind. There was no rom for such weakness, especially not in a fight

Spells used:
Chi of the forsaken: costs 1 chi

Chi remaining: 7

[Nanashi]

The blade did not bite the skin. Odd. However, the flames did bite. Important information for later. But even the burn did not stop the attack from the spin coming Nanashi's way: A backhand to the face. Nanashi shifted his head to the right, avoinding the attack.

Nanashi didn't see the sweep kick coming because of the poor lighting, and besides, it was out of his field of vision. He fell right over, but managed to roll and lessen the impact. It still stung, though. Also, not intending to repeat his enemie's mistake, he swiftly turned and faced Grey after getting up. So Grey was affected by fire, eh?

Nanashi pulled out one of his six scrolls from within his robe, and casually threw it in the air.

"Wrap."

After Nanashi muttered the word, the scroll flew towards Grey, unrolling the entire way, and then started making tight circles around him. Grey was still full of energy and mana, so before the scroll had finished securing itself around Grey like it would, Nanashi activated the scroll.

"Fire!"

The result would be the scroll bursting into flames, while about half an inch from Grey. Assuming he did nothing to retard the flames or stop the scroll, since he was a vampire, that would most likely be the end of him. It was doubtless, however, that the absolutely ideal circumstance happened, it never did...

OOC:
Wrap: 1
Scroll of Fire: 3
Total: 4
Remaining: 19
Status: None.

[Grey]

"Nice try" Grey mused. He had made a point of not striking his opponent while he was down, but what the youngster was doing now was... unkind, to say the least. That scroll, and the word that the child spoke when he threw it into the air where not among the things that Grey would want to experience.

He had a few opportunities to dodge it, having a feeling that whatever would follow would be painful, now that his foe knew his weakness for fire. Grey decided to run, not away from the fight, but he would try and get around the thing and get back to his foe. He leapt out of the circle, barely missing the scorching flames.

Being stronger than your opponent was always good but if you were faster, and you knew how to use it, then you had practically won in advance. Grey knew that it wasn't the case with this being though, but he knew all to well that his vampirism gave him a significiant advantage when it came to stamina, and if nothing else, he would wear the whelp down, spell by spell, until he could finish things off. This fight was going to be... interesting, to say the least. Grey was not sure that he would as that was far from guaranteed, but he enjoyed that, and he was going to remember this battle as a valuable lesson, regardles of the outcome

[Nanashi]

Well, that was unsuccessful. But now Grey was airborne, and it would be easy to tell where he was going to land...

Taking another scroll, and this time unrolling it manually, Nanashi placed it on the ground, and about a second before Grey landed, said the word.

"Wood."

Approximately the moment Grey's feet touched the ground, several wood root look-alikes came out directly around him and, if all went well, wrapped around him and held him in place. Grey may have had physical strength and endurance, but Nanashi had magical strength and endurance. And if this got him, nothing short of Hercules would be breaking those bonds.

OOC:
Scroll of Wood: 3
Total: 3
Remaining: 16
Status: None.

[Grey]

Although Grey had not expected a trick like that, it far from meant that he was unprepared for it. He heard the word being spoken, but he had no idea what the effect would be until his feet touched the ground. Reacting purely out of reflex, he unleashed his chi in a downward shockwave, sending him into the air once again. This was a dangerous juggle he knew, but until his feet managed to actually make solid contact with the ground, he had no other option. Or at least, that was what he hoped his opponent would think.

Spells used:
Chi of the forsaken: costs 1
6 chi left

[Nanashi]

Well, that was inconvenient. Grey had somehow mannaged to jump... In midair? Either that or Nanashi wasn't seeing things properly, perhaps because it was so dang dark out. Or it was magic. That was another possibility. Perhaps wind elementalism.

Regardless, Grey was now airborne again. Nanashi decided to deal with this more directly that before, and charged, jumping to intercept Grey in midair. It was a gamble, because Grey had much greater strength and was slightly faster, but Nanashi was armed, and had the advantage of fire.

"Ignite!"

Nanashi's sword burst into flame again, only this time it was both blades. Nanashi aimed with one blade for a thrust, and made sure he was ready with the other for a block or follow-up...