Safe and Sound—Agito

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

“You know as well I do we don't have any neighbors on this floor...guess that means you’re thinking of having hot, wild sex with me. . . . It's okay I just naturally have that affect on women,” Agito responded with a smirk. Well he was modest, wasn’t he? Carmen just rolled her eyes and then grinned slyly, leaning over and draped her arms over his shoulders, practically sitting in his lap, their faces only a few inches apart from each other. “Oh yes, I just can’t stand it anymore. Take me. Take me hard,” she cooed, remaining like that for a few seconds. She followed his gaze to the sword and then started to pull away and gave him a dubious and amused look when he spoke. No point in sparring? Carmen chuckled to herself. “Aww, is Aggi-kun afraid to spar wittle Carmen-chan?” she teased lightly. “There’s not harm in a little friendly match to keep sharp! But we don’t have to.” She waved her hand errantly by her head. “You seem extremely tired anyway.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 176
---------MUSE Fine
---------CHATTER
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE the loft.
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

Agito quirked an eyebrow at Carmen on his lap. If she wanted to be a tease he wouldn't be at fault for taking it literally right? Was the thought that crossed his mind. followed by the thought of her getting pissed off and retaliating based on what he did. It would have been fool hardy with his sword so far away and her's so nearby. He could have kicked himself for another lost opportunity, but honestly freak sun related deaths aside they did have an eternity. "If you really want to be trounced tonight Carmen-chan I'm sure I can oblige you, though your first offer is a tad bit more inviting" he stated as he stood up and moved over the retrieve his sword. He pulled the blade slightly from the sheathe and examined it before Making his way to the door. "The dojo or the roof?" he asked solemnly as he stepped out into the hallway.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

“If you really want to be trounced tonight Carmen-chan I'm sure I can oblige you, though your first offer is a tad bit more inviting,” he said to her while he got up. Carmen moved over further and got to her feet as well. He went for his sword and Carmen wondered if he really did want to do a quick spar. She had just been brainstorming and her last comments had been teasing, but if he really did want to go, she didn’t mind. She didn’t really care either way. “The dojo or the roof?” Carmen furrowed her brow and frowned slightly. He sounded upset. She left her sword by the couch and started to walk toward him, but stopped. “What’s wrong? You know I was just playing,” she said, sounding a little irked. Was he upset with her? She had just been teasing! He didn’t have any reason to be upset with her. Hesitating for a minute, Carmen turned back and picked up her sword, looking a tad bit miffed. “I’d prefer the roof, but honestly if you really don’t want to I really don’t care.” It was very strange. Before meeting Agito, had she been having this conversation with someone else, she probably would have been completely unaware of the fact that someone was upset because she had been all about herself. That was all she’d had at the time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Posted
---------VOCAB 233
---------MUSE Meh
---------CHATTER
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE The loft
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

It wasn't that Agito was angry, or upset. He was simply serious when it came to using his blade. He always had been his blade was a tool for killing. It craved blood even more than he did. He made his way silently to the roof and drew his sword waiting for Carmen. He told her in the beginning every motion whether in training or in actually combat must be made with the intent to slay your opponent. She was good enough now that he no longer had to hold back, but what if she wasn't? He'd killed partners in spars before. He never felt one way or another about it. It was simply the way of things had they honed there skills better they'd have lived. He rotated his wrist slightly testing the weight of the sword. He had not had to draw it from it's sheath in quite a bit of time. America was making him soft. He trained daily for almost 300 years , then came here and got caught up with TV and...feelings. He hoped that Carmen remembered everything he taught her. If she slipped up she may die, but the same was true for him, she knew everything he knew. His only real advantage anymore was the experience of actually applying these skills in real combat situations.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

Carmen sighed and rolled her eyes. If he didn’t want to tell her, then that was perfectly fine with her. Sometimes the boy really irked her. Following after Agito, she stayed a few steps behind him and sulked angrily. The fresh air at the roof made her feel a bit better, and she slowly drew the weapon from the sheathe and held it in her other hand, her gaze darkening into a scowl as she faced Agito. He sparred like he fought, with the intent to kill, and she slipped into her old personality. She was aware he wasn’t going to go easy on her, so she wasn’t going to go easy on him, either. He would be fine on his own so she had no issue with coming at him with the attempt to kill. Normally someone who cared would be a little hesitant, but Carmen wasn’t afraid. She never was. Carmen held her arm a few inches away from her body, her sword up and in the ready. “Age before beauty,” she said coldly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Posted
---------VOCAB 176
---------MUSE Meh
---------CHATTER Short post is short.
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE The roof
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

Agito shifted his weight a bit, then dashed forward his eyes quickly examined Carmen and he closed the gap. A slight sneer crossed his face as he search was fruitless. "No openings" he stated as he let his arm fall to the side for a moment before swinging horizontally across her midsection. It was a basic attack and should be easily blocked since her stand was perfect and every much identical to his own. The only purpose of such an attack was to force the opponent to block or dodge and in the process create an opening where they hadn't been on before. Even if it was only for a second any opening could be exploited. Mid swing expecting the block Agito switched hands intending to twist the blade enough on point of contact that it uses the force of the swing to wrench her sword from her grasp. Short and sweet. That is how he's like it to go, but he doubted that it would be so easy.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

He didn’t argue with her when she so kindly told him to make the first move. That was how Carmen normally fought, anyway. . . waiting for them to attack so she had a reason to retaliate. He made a single sweeping gesture toward her midsection, and Carmen reacted by lifting her sword to parry his blow. Carmen was never much of a dodging girl, as she liked being close to her foe so she could strike him at any opportunity, even sacrificing her own body to make sure that she could hit the opponent. Injuries healed, no matter how bad they were, and now that she was a vampire she had become a little more reckless. She had known the limitations of her human body and hadn’t cared, and now that she didn’t know the limitation of this new body—though still technically the same one—she couldn’t have cared less .

Agito started to twist his blade though and Carmen felt her weapon start to wrench from her grasps. Frown deepening, Carmen twisted her arm to compensate and then started to turn her body in the direction that her arm moved. One would think that this was an odd maneuver, as it brought her back to him, but she continued to spin and her other arm came up and slashed with every intent to thump Agito with the sheathe she still had in her left hand. She figured that the sheathe would be fine, though whether or not that was actually the case was known to Carmen. If it did break, that just meant that she’d have a another jagged object to use against him. They could fix it later. She wasn’t afraid that it was going break, and she wasn’t afraid of Agito being irate with her, so there was nothing holding her back from using all her strength to crack him in the temple with her blunt object.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 322
---------MUSE Meh
---------CHATTER
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE The roof
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

The use of the sheath was within the limits limits of Agito's predictions. He always saw a battle from several moves ahead. He was certain Carmen saw it this way too, almost like a game a chess. They were anticipating each others moves and baiting for the moves that they had counters for. He knew she would attack with the sheath just as she knew he would duck and attempt to sweep her off of her feet. He ducked under the attack and shot a leg out as he spun in an attempt to at the least throw off her balance. She had managed to keep her sword in an interesting way to say the least. Not that he expected to defeat her so easily to begin with. Perhaps back when he first started training her, but at this point it was almost like facing himself. It was almost scary how perfectly her moves mirrored his, but then again he had hammered his teachings into her. How many long nights had they spent in the dojo working on things like stances and footwork, or the the correct way to swing a sword. She made him proud.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

Agito ducked under her attack and Carmen felt his sweep kick against her legs. Exaggerating the fall, she fell effortlessly and gracefully into a round off, sticking the landing and pushing off the ground into a sort of tackling move while Agito was still close enough. Her sword wasn’t poised to stab, but instead turned to the side across the chest. Carmen’s intentions were to slam into him, her blade meeting with his chest as she brought him to the ground. It might give him more of her sword to block with his, but it also enabled her to quickly respond to any counters that he might make, such as stab or slash at her. All she’d have to do is move her sword up or down and she could parry with ease. A stab to the chest might have been more devastating than the laceration he would get from Carmen’s sword in a horizontal position, but it was more practical than the stab, as it left a bigger area on her body open to a strike. Carmen always had a response to anything, her analytical mind was always buzzing with where the fight could go, what moves he might make. It was almost like speed chess, and chess was one of her favorite pass times.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Posted
---------VOCAB 216
---------MUSE Good
---------CHATTER
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE The roof
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

Agito knew he hadn't taught Carmen everything he knew. He taught her the was of the sword. It was a discipline that demanded honor and respect. Kenjutsu was perfect for her, but he also knew Ninjutsu. He had intended to teach her one day but he got side tracked. It was where he learned his little change hand trick during combat. It was effective because he could change the arc and swing of the sword in unexpected ways by simply changing hands. It was not a legitimate skill but it was his own and he excelled at it. As he fell backwards blocking Carmen's attack he switched hands again, and reached up to grip the back of her neck. If continued to fall back using the momentum of the fall to pull Carmen down with him. Then he placed a foot against her midsection and pushed as he rolled, flipping her over so that he was straddling her. He held the sword as if he were going to put it through her heart, then stood up and took a few steps back before assuming the ready position again.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

His katana came up to block her half-hearted attack and she felt his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her down with him as he fell backwards. She had expected to go down with him in the first place, so this was nothing surprising to her. Her natural reaction—or anyone’s, really—was to stop from falling on her face, so she brought a foot forward and planted it, using it to get a bit more control of her fall. She fell on top of Agito and was pushed onto her back, but not before she used Agito’s own weight as he settled atop her to bring her sheathe up and jam it into his kidney strong enough to possibly rupture the organ beyond repair had he been human. As she had fallen, her sword had been pulled from its original position. Now it was up and resting against Agito’s shoulder as if she had been ready to lop his head off. His sword was at her heart, and she just glared up at him, waiting for him to get off her and getting up once he did, waiting for a reaction.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATEDone
---------VOCAB 194
---------MUSE Fine
---------CHATTER
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE The roof
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

Agito bit his bottom lip and held his sword out to the side. He had not taken the sheath into consideration this time and he payed for it. It was a very human mistake for him to make. I dealt with it easily the first time, and deemed it insignificant enough to ignore. He spit out a bit of blood. It seemed he was bleeding internally but it wasn't serious He'd be able to move normally again in a few moments, but for now he was at a disadvantage. So rather than moving he'd just take up a defensive stand and guard his position until the pain subsided. He rotated his wrist slightly then slashed downwards suddenly stirring up a slight breeze. Agito smirked, from this stance he had the highest combination of swing speed, and power without favoring either one. He extended his sword arm to the side again and waited for Carmen to make her move.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

Carmen didn’t let it show that she feeling a little smug that she’d made Agito bleed before he made her bleed. She might have gone a little overboard with how hard she’d hit his kidney, but he would be fine. He was Agito, after all. He held his ground, obviously with little intent to attack, but just to maintain while he recovered from the blow she had just delivered. Carmen didn’t stop to let him rest. He always told her to attack without mercy or she would end up losing, and in a spar that was fine, but in a real fight you would most likely die. The saying was “practice like you play,” wasn’t it? Carmen ran at him and performed a rather simple back-slash at his midsection. She didn’t want to do anything too preemptive right then when making the first move, or else she could possibly open herself up to a devastating counter, and Carmen did so hate the idea of losing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 165
---------MUSE Fine
---------CHATTER
---------COSTAR Agito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGEThe roof
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones

[ryn]

Agito would normally simply dodge such an attack but he wasn't sure about how his body would respond while he had internal damage. So instead he set his feet and focused on her movement. Then he suddenly swung downwards in the same manner he had demonstrated just moments before. Sparks danced to the ground as the blade of her Katana connected with the broadside of his own sword. It was an impossible technique for a human perform simply because of the speed and small window of opportunity necessary. It was a balanced technique. not purely defensive even though he used it defensively he had also outright attacked her in the process Her attack was horizontal but his was vertical going down at her both to stop her blow and to deliver a blow of his own. After his downward swing assuming she was able to dodge Agito would thrust the sword forward in her direction. Targeting the legs as she'd be recovering her balance from dodging and they would be the most vulnerable spot.

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

the sun doesn't like you, you always get burned, stay in the shade
AND WATCH THE WORLD TURN. BETTER FIND A NEW PLACE TO LAY ON THE GROUND, CAN'T STAY
WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'RE GONNA BE FOUND. AND TIME WON'T PASS YOU BY, AND I WON'T TELL
YOU LIES. SO TONIGHT WE CAN BUILD A FIRE, ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------ BRING PART OF YOURSELF THAT YOU'LL LET ME KEEP.

Carmen had expected either a dodge or a block, and he moved to block with a downward stroke of his katana. However, Carmen still had the sheathe of her sword in her other hand, and in his movement she brought the blunt object up at a horizontal angle, using it to stop the swing mid-stroke, allowing her own sword to continue in the path it had been moving. Carmen had a knack for using random items as a weapon, and it probably wasn’t good for the sheathe, but Carmen wasn’t particularly worried about that. Any fight she was in was life or death, and the price of a sheathe was not higher than that of her life. Agito could possibly kill her on accident—as she could he—and she didn’t particularly feel like having that happen. Her forward moment would bring her to crash into Agito again, and she threw her knee up in an attempt to drive it into his already-injured side, pushing her sheathe up and out to keep his sword at bay for as long as she could.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 182
---------MUSE Fine
---------CHATTER
---------COSTARAgito
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE The roof
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Norah Jones