Partners in Crime (Richard)

[Phae]

It was early morning yet and the sun had barely just finished rising above the forest that bordered the edges of this particular area of the courtyard. In the soft orange light of the early morning a young girl was seen running laps around the courtyard. Six miles worth of laps before she would call it done.

She loved doing this in the early morning when it was still cool drops of dew glistened on the grass in the area. It was truly beautiful here and it was quiet something she enjoyed sometimes. Her long red hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a skin tight blue tank top and track pants made of a light sky blue color with white trim.

She stopped running by a duffel bag that lay on the ground her sword laying on the top of it. It was time to begin the real work out now that she had warmed up sufficiently. She bent down and took a sip of her water before she sat it down again. Picking up her belt the sword attached she looped it around her waist keeping it loose over her hips her blade hanging just right on her left hip.

She stepped away from her things and unsheathed her blade. With the tell tale *shink* sound it sung out in the arena and she moved with expert grace and much skill showing her years of practice around through the intricate dance. It was too early for a lot of students to be about which allowed her to practice in the courtyard instead of going all the way to the training grounds.

[Price]

Meanwhile, another figure, up early as well, happened to be striding through the courtyard on his way to the training grounds. Interestingly enough, however, he seemed to find himself upon someone else's personal training grounds, instead. Cocking his head, Richard suppressed a grin when he saw the girl running laps around the courtyard, opting instead to stop and watch. Six passings of the girl across his vision later, she stopped, still seemingly unaware of, or simply uninterested in, his presence. Reaching to a duffel bag, she then strapped on a slightly short sword and drew it from its sheath, going through what seemed to be a predisposed pattern of movements designed for aerobics and muscle memory. A kata, or form, if you will. This brought a true smirk to his face.

He watched the girl go through the sword-dance. She was graceful and elegant, this much was certain, but the question burned in Richard's mind. Was she practical? Sure, the sword looked pretty flashing through the air in the light of dawn, but how did the girl fare against a real opponent, with a real blade? The competitive nature in him spoke up, breaking through the silence with his usual, rather cocky tone.

"You sure do look pretty out here swinging the sword around, girl, but any swordsman knows the only way to practice is to practice with a partner."

Stepping forward and into her range of sight and just a few feet out of her range of attack, Richard threw off his overcoat, tossing it over to the benches that sat nearby. This act revealed his taut, toned muscles under a tight black tanktop and loose black jeans, as well as the katana strapped to his back with a black studded belt. His right hand extended over behind his head, holding the katana's grip loosely as he issued forth the more formal challenge.

"Of course, it's also better to practice with one of equal skill as yourself, a point that I'm sure I surpassed years ago."

He smirked once more, his brown eyes looking up into her blue ones as he awaited her reaction to this latest brash intrusion.

[Phae]

She had always been taught not to disturb someone when they were in the middle of training for anything. Especially a weapon. Yet, here this man a new student she had yet to meet had the gall to just walk up and openly challenge her. His words forced her to stop her movements only half way through the dance she had been working with.

As she listened to, His Cockiness, she walked to her duffel and grabbed a towel. He called her pretty. Well that was a plus considering she was sweaty and probably smelled like sweat even from where he was standing yet she had only begun her workout she still hand hours yet to go. But this boy was definatly sparking her interest with his words.

She smirked at his last comment. She wiped off her face and threw the towel down as she turned her toned body towards the man and let her blade fall to her side still clasped in her right hand. She didn't want him to think this was a challenge. Yet.

"Then by all means, show us your incredible skill. Unless .. you're chicken." she said a bit cocky herself as she moved back into the clearing of the courtyard and stood at the ready. "Bring .. it.. on."

[Price]

Price, upon hearing the girl's own words of reply, could not help but to laugh. Him? Richard Price? The one who's beaten hundreds of people both older, stronger, and faster than he? CHICKEN? Richard actually threw back his head to laugh out loud, a loud, mocking laughter that could pierce straight to the heart of almost any person. No one liked to be laughed at, ever, especially not in such a fashion as this.

"You've obviously got no idea what you're getting into, lady," he said as his fingers tightened around his katana's grip, pulling it up and unsheathing it from its scabbard. "You don't even know who I am, do you? They must keep you kids up here completely sheltered from the goings-on down below, heh..."

Stepping up to the plate himself, he held his katana in the usual fighting stance, arms outstretched, right hand near the hilt, left hand near the pommel. The sword itself was pointing from his hip to the girl's face.

"You'll be eating your words in no less than three minutes, I'll wager," he said, smirking viciously as he stepped in towards the girl, opening with a simple raise of his sword overhead, followed quickly thereafter by a straight vertical slash down towards his new opponent.

[Phae]

Was that bastard laughing at her? Oh, he was so going down. She hadn't studied her swordsplay for years to be laughed at. She chuckled at him when he asked if she knew who he was. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Probably some nobody with a bad attitude." she shot back as he took his stance in front of her.

He brought his sword down and she smiled for a second and then blocked. Using a horizontal slash she came up and blocked his sword pushing it down with her strength so it slid off her blade with a grin on her face. She decided on her own attack and still down on her right side she pulled her sword back up with her right hand aiming towards his right shoulder to slice across his chest.

"I'll wager you're buying me lunch for being an ass." she said with a grin as she concentrated on him.

[Price]

She deftly and rather skillfully parried Price's initial swing, much to the boy's dismay. Had he possibly underestimated her? Mentally shaking it off, he forgot about it, as he had absolutely no time to think about other things, especially in the middle of a sword fight. Maybe this one was more interesting than he initially had given her credit for...

The swing, a generic horizontal slash, came in quickly across from Price's left shoulder. He stepped back, allowing some distance between the two fighters and giving him room to breathe and to execute this next technique. He held his sword pointing diagonally up and to his right, and when the girl's own sword came in, he pushed straight up, deflecting the sword upwards, as well as putting his own sword in position for a crossing slash, which would start at his right shoulder and go down and across to the girl's right side while her sword had been knocked into the air uselessly.

"Maybe, but only if you can beat me!" he said bitingly to her in response to her last words.

[Phae]

This was turning out to be a fight not only of swords but of wit. She liked him already and she didn't even know his name. Then again she pretty much liked anyone and could find something good in everyone if only she tried hard enough. But this guy was constantly making her want to laugh and that was a good thing so she thought.

His attack sent her blade up and she smiled knowing exactly what to do. She spun on her heal taking her one hundred and eighty degrees her arms moving over her head as she did so. The blade now over her shoulder she blocked his next attack by stepping into it and smiling. She gave him a wink as she stepped away from him and turned to face him once more.

"If? Oh no, my dear friend. When." she said with a smile and a chuckle. This time she didn't make a move she was waiting for him to do so. This was much much too fun and she just couldn't believe she had found someone that not only would fight with her but was as good as her too.

[Price]

"Oh, so we're friends now, eh?" Price replied derisively as she stepped back, expertly blocking his strike, even when he had thought the bout was already over. The girl was impressing him, and it was becoming harder and harder with each passing second to mean all the biting little remarks he was giving her. In all honesty, Price was already starting to like this girl, she was definitely a fresh change from the stiffs he used to deal with in all the tournaments back home.

She stepped back, opening the floor for Price to take the initiative.

"Well, IF you say so," Price said, exaggerating the word he had used earlier to drive home his point even further, smirking and stepping forward, raising his katana once more. Straightening it out, however, he opened the next flurry of attacks with a straight, stabbing attack, the point of his blade directed toward the girl's stomach.

[Phae]

She chuckled again. The smile never leaving her face. Not only was he a good fighter but his wit was charming though some would say he was cocky Phae found it great. She loved the way he made her laugh even when he was trying to get beneath her skin. What he didn't realize was it was very hard to get there. Not much phased Phae she was just that kind of girl which indeed helped her in battle.

"I do. IF you don't mind." she chuckled as she began dodging his attack.

Twisting her wrist to the side she swung her arm out to the side parrying his attack as she twisted her body to avoid it as well. Her hand now on the right side of her body she had the upper hand and wasn't going to let it go. With a quick movement of her arm and a flick of her wrist the edge of her blade was pressed gently against his neck.

"Check mate." she said with a wink.

[Price]

"Hah, well, fair enough for me, I suppose..." he trailed off as his attack was blocked, an eyebrow raising as he realized his mistake. Oh, starting off with a stab, terrible choice, terrible, terrible choice. All one had to do was some quick wrist motions and...

Fuck.

"Fu-" Price started to say in conjunction with his thoughts as the sword knocked his away, and all too quickly, whizzed back up and laid to rest on his shoulder, millimeters away from his neck. This effectively silenced him, partly in an impressed shock, and partly from fear that another word would cause his neck to expand that tiny distance and get a nick from the blade's sharp edge. His eyebrows raised, and the smirk grew even wider as he stood there, completely still, not moving the tiniest muscle. If one were to notice this, they would see how much physical self-control the youngster had to be able to do so. Finally relaxing, Price let out a sigh, shaking his head and reaching across with his index finger of his left hand, releasing its grip on the sword and lightly pushing the sword off of its dangerous perch by the flat of the blade.

"Nice... very nice. Lucky, mostly. But nice." Price laughed cockily and sheathed his sword once more. "Well now that that's over, I should be leaving... I'm sure you've got things to be doing, right, Lucky? Anyway, I'll see you around."

Price winked at her and turned on his heel, heading over to grab his coat and make his way back to the Academy.

[Phae]

Well she had won and she couldn't have been happier. It had been a long time since she had been in a real challenging fight and this had been it. She smiled up at him as he said she was lucky but they both knew it had nothing to do with luck. She resheathed her blade as she looked up she saw him walking away.

"Oh no you don't. You owe me lunch." she chuckled as she grabbed his hand.

She pulled on his hand and spun him back to face her. In an impulse and to catch him off guard again. She stood on her tiptoes and let her lips touch his. She kissed him gently but for a moment until she broke it and winked at him.

"How about that lunch." she chuckled as she stepped away. "I haven't had an opponent like that in some time aside from my sister but she works the rapier so our styles are different." she said with a shrug.

"I'm Phae by the way." she said happily as she stuck out her hand to shake his. "Nice to meet you."

[Price]

"Lunch? Do you usually have lunch this-" Price spoke, not turning around to face her, however, until his hand was grabbed, silencing him. She tried to pull him around, and he obliged, turning around, mouth opening to utter yet another sardonic remark. However, he was beaten to the punch, silenced yet again, but this time by... by her lips meeting his? Unthinking, his lips closed around hers as well, returning the kiss until, a short time later, it was suddenly broken, and the world returned to Price.

What in the hell was going on?

His face showed his confusion as she pulled away, winking up at him rather coyly, and again asked for lunch, also giving her name. In a very un-Price-like move, he sat there silently for a moment, still looking confused, as if he didn't know what to say or do about what had just happened. Snapping back to attention, however, Price, naturally, had another quick line to give.

"Well, remind me to let you win the next time we fight, too," he said, smirking. He turned back to grab his trenchcoat and slung it over his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder back to Phae, he grinned and extended his free hand out to her.

"As I was saying... do all Arcane Academy students eat lunch at the crack of dawn? Come on, Lucky. I'll buy you breakfast, how 'bout that? We'll talk about lunch when it gets closer to that time."

His hand was extended for Phae, or as he seemed to decide she would be known as, Lucky, to either take, or to lead the way. In all honesty, he wouldn't have minded the latter, as he had just gotten to the school himself, and didn't exactly know his way around.

[Phae]

Phae knew by his silence and the look on his face that he was indeed put off by the kiss and she couldn't help but smile. She loved that she could catch him off guard and she enjoyed the fact that he recovered quickly. She giggled at his comment and nodded to the fact that he would indeed have to let her win more often. But she could handle herself well as he had seen.

She chuckled at his next comment. And the nickname. She liked it. She had never been given a nickname aside from using Phae instead of Phaedra and somehow it kinda touched her in a way. She took his hand gently in hers.

"No, I suppose they don't. It was just what we had bet on. Yet, breakfast now that works." she said with a grin. She picked up her duffel and didn't drop his hand as she threw it over one shoulder.

"Now, do you want to go to the cafeteria and do to true student fashion eat a mediocre meal from magical origins. Or would you rather venture forth into the great city of Babylos and find a suitable establishment?" she asked with a smile. "You're choice, Blacky."

[Price]

"Blacky? So I'm a dog now? Woof woof," Price replied drily, but his smirk belied any bitterness that the dryness of the words may have inadvertantly conveyed. Her hand met his, and his fingers gently closed around her palm, softening his smirk into a genuine smile, but only for the slightest of moments before his regular cocky grin was right back up.

"Well, when you put it that way, it looks like accessibility versus taste... and I've got a few hours to kill anyway. After all, it is DAWN. Normal people, I don't think, would be up this early, much less running around and swinging swords."

He spoke this mock-derisively to Phae, however, Price was fully aware of the hypocrisy that the statement was heavily steeped in.

"Lead the way, Lucky. Maybe we can find a diner or some joint open twenty four hours out in the town, eh?" He grinned and winked at her, waiting for her to lead him out of the Academy and somewhere where they could eat. His stomach gave a low, quick rumble, apparently agreeing with this particular course of action.

"Heh, seems like breakfast is definitely in order about now..."

[Phae]

Phae laughed whole heartedly as she shook her head at his comment. It was cute. He was cute. They seemed to click their personalities similiar. She looked up at him and nodded.

"Oh and Lucky isn't a dog name. Please. That's SO original." she laughed as squeezed his hand gently.

She was about to start leading the way when his stomach rumbled and she chuckled. She looked up at him and couldn't help but smile. This was indeed going to be a fun day.

"Come on Blacky, lets get you some grub." she chuckled as she began to lead the way.

She let her hand stay in his. It was comfortable her callouses and his mingling and his hand was so large it was really warm. Okay.. Phae you have a boyfriend.. down girl. Great now I'm treating myself like a dog.

She led him towards the city down the front steps of Arcane and into the normally busy streets of Babylos. She looked both directions. What the hell left looked good. She led him that way and the streets were virtually empty.

"So Blacky, how long have you been here?" she asked looking up at him with a grin.