Dedication (Nina / BlueSlime)

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina's announcement about herself made Alrik laugh even as they prepared to duel. Looking at the girl when she gave the signal, the knight commented at her silly little intro. "I'm not sure if that would've passed at a bigger and more official duel, but it's a---" his words were cut off absurdly as Yura had closed the distance between them in a split-second, sending the man's blade twirling into the air with a harsh uppercut from her own blade. Before he could even realize it, the weapon master's katana was already poking at the flesh on his unarmoured throat. The cruel look on her face hardened even further as the woman slapped the man on his cheek with the side of the sword after withdrawing it. "You can't be serious.... I just lost any hope I had about you being any good a fight at all. You'd do well to pay attention to the battle. Had this been a more serious thing, you'd be bleeding to death on the dirt already. Pick up your sword, we'll do this again. I have that much mercy." Yura scolded him severely, backing away to her original position.

With a clatter, the sword had landed somewhere to the side. After fetching his sword, the once-shamed Alrik took up his position once more as well, both of them waiting for a new signal to start the duel proper.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina gave Alrik an sympathetic shrug as he stared about incredulously. She was surprised that the knight had taken the beginning of the match so lightly. He'd traveled all this way for a serious matter - honor, glory, and marriage were at stake! But he'd been distracted by her silly chattering. Well, he'd better try harder this time.

"Ready?" She looked at both of them, her gaze lingering longer on Alrik. "Okay, for real this time, begin!"

She raised her hand and then stepped back, hoping Alrik wouldn't be hurt too badly, or even outright killed.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Both competitors now fully paying attention, the contest of skill began as Nina gave them the go signal. With Alrik's focus on her, Yura was not so quick in pressing home the attack. She still moved with amazing speed, but this time the knight was prepared for her incoming one-handed sideswing, his shield swiftly intercepting the slash. This proved to not be the best approach one might have against the weapon master though, as her impossibly sharp blade sunk into the side of the shield, leaving a notch behind in the steel. Alrik swung his own blade from the other side, but it was blocked by a precise intervention from Yura's arm, the old manacle on her wrist stopping the blow dead. Quickly capitalizing on the younger man's surprise, the horned woman grappled his sword-arm, stepping inside his guard to deliver a brutal headbutt straight into his nose. Alrik staggered back, not doing the mistake of grabbing onto his bloodied nose, having just barely evaded a horn to the head. Still, the brief blunder was all that Yura needed, letting the man's wrist go as a two-handed blow followed seamlessly after the head smash. Again, the chivalrous male intercepted with his shield. It was not enough to fully stop the hammer of a swordstrike coming at him though, and the man's shield split in two, doing just enough to prevent his hand following after it as the blade stopped onto his armored forearm. Having executed her strike, the teacher stepped backwards, gathering herself into a stance of readiness now. Alrik discarded the remains of his former shield, gripping his longsword with both hands now, still not doing anything to staunch the blood flow from his nose.

From her stance, Yura still analyzed the opponent with a cold countenance, seemingly waiting for him to attack now. With what could be desperation coming to him, Alrik moved forward to strike at the woman once more. The weapon master was prepared though, easily catching the blade with her own. With a swift and brutal push, she threw up the man's sword, quickly tearing a gash into his chest armor with a horizontal follow-up. Twirling around, the horned woman did a stab under her own shoulder, piercing the armor again as she skewered the knight's shoulder and caused him to drop to a knee. Quickly doing a second spin, she was now at the side of the man, blade held high as if preparing to take his head off right then and there. A cruel grin was on the sensei's face, a low growl audible as her hands trembled. It looked like she was having a quick inner battle to decide on killing the man or not. But soon she calmed down visibly, instead just punting him down fully. "That's it."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"I agree. Yura is the winner. This duel is over."

Nina stepped into the ring. Already having a few bandages at the ready. Yura had suggested she take them with her at the last moment before they left the sensei's bedroom, and it had been a fortuitous decision, as Nina could tell that Alrik's shoulder would need some staunching and a few weeks to rest.

"I think we'll need to get that armor off you Alrik. Here now, just sit up and be still, I know how to remove it."

She undid the fastenings on the armor, not glancing at Yura, trusting her teacher to have come down off her battle high by now. She hoped that Alrik would not be taking this too badly. It sounded as if his teacher and father had met with the same fate. Perhaps it was simply a Whitehall tradition to get trounced by Yura.

Delicately removing the breast plate and the shoulder guard and the padded undershirt now turning crimson at his shoulder, Nina exposed the deep wound. She quickly pressed a bunch of bandages into it and told Alrik to press and maintain pressure. Then she cleaned the outside of the wound and prepared a larger wrap for the area, and then applied the dressing. Following that she secured the arm in place and then helped him up, finally addressing her sensei with a nod - if the horned woman was even still there.

"Thank you for the first lesson, sensei," she said. "If it is all right with you, I'll let Sir Alrik recover in a room nearby to mine. He will want to avoid immediate travel if he wants his shield arm to recover properly."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Hmph. This was easier than the fights with Alfred or Zandro were. No development in that keep it seems..." the horned woman expressed her disaproval about the knightly fellow, cleaning the blood from the tip of her blade with a random cloth she tugged out from the pocket of her pants. After a quick wipe, she did a final swish at the air with it before sheathing the blade.

With Nina's assistance, Alrik was soon back on his feet and patched up suitably well to prevent him from passing out or dying from blood loss. He was thankful enough about the help, showing due courtesy and co-operation whenever appropriate during the process. When asked about the recovery, Yura nodded back a her student despite not facing them anymore, already heading back towards her own quarters to rid herself of both armor and weapon. "It's perfectly alright with me if you want to help him. I'm not going to deny him the needed rest and healing, despite his utter incompetence. It would be bad for me as a host to do such a thing..." she replied to the maid-knight's inquiry, leaving the two of them to do as they saw fit.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Well then it's settled, come along Alrik..." Nina led the wounded knight back to a room adjacent to her own and while he sat nursing his wounds she set about preparing the room properly for him to be in while he stayed with them.

"So, was your heart really in it? Or was this just something expected of you?" Nina asked point blank of the knight. "If it were me, I would just as soon not get a free hole in my arm just to prove myself. Yura's one of the best fighters in the land, a legend. Why not learn from her if you want to be at her level one day? Instead of this... what's his name... Zandro?"

With a flourish, Nina laid out a blanket and let it settle over the bed mat. Then she pointed to it.

"Okay, it's ready, lie down and I'll see about making you some broth to settle your stomach. You'll need some nutrients to recover."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Waiting for Nina to prepare while leaning against the wall, Alrik got scolded even by the maid-knight as she went about with the bedmakery. "I was just wanting to succeed in something that father and master failed at. But looks like Yura is still as sharp and skilled as she was in her adventuring days. And I'm not going to ask anything like that from her, she'll likely just scold me more before ignoring the request. I'll just stick to further training with master Zandro. I should really be helping the people out anyways...." the knight replied, not seeming too willing about coming Yura's student. Once the girl had finished the bed, he went down on it without any unnecessary grumbles. "That sounds good. I've been riding throughout the days, hardly had anything to eat along the way..."

With that whole thing settled with, Nina was free to go about her self-assigned duties.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"I cannot say that helping the people out would be a bad thing. Though it will have to wait now while your arm heals. Please rest, and I will be back in a bit with some broth."

Nina left Alrik and headed back to the kitchen, deciding along the way that perhaps she could do a bit better than broth for the knight, even though she had sounded a bit scolding towards him. Really she supposed it was the bizarre idea that this knight, his father, and his master had all had in trying to win Yura like some prize. It was just so dumb to her mindset that she had perhaps treated him a bit roughly, and so she'd make it up to him with a proper soup.

She rummage around in the larder, finding some cabbages and potatoes and some extra seasoning, and set to making him something that would be palatable. While the soup was warming, she went and gathered some clean dressings for his arm, and heated some water and after some searching found a bottle of alcohol that could be used to splash clean his wound to ward away infection. She also gathered a solid set of needles and some thin thread.

When all was set she found a large tray and brought everything, along with some tea leaves and a kettle, back to Alrik's room.

"Okay," she said kneeling down beside his mat and setting the tray on the floor. "I'm going to redress that wound, so be still while I take off your shirt."

Carefully, one segment at a time, Nina worked away Alrik's shirt in a manner that did not require the movement of his arm. Then she undid the makeshift wrappings from earlier, and used some of the hot water and a cloth to clean way the seeping blood. She then splashed on some alcohol, dabbed the area dry with a cloth, and set to the task of stitching. She knew vaguely what she was supposed to do, and had seen it done before on one of her siblings by a friend in medical school. Also, Nina knew how to sew from way back when, so putting the two knowledge bases together, she was fairly confident that she could stitch this minor wound. Thankfully, Yura's blade was very fine, and the wound was straight and clean.

After she had tied off the thread, she redressed the wound with clean cloth. Only after this was done did she hand him his soup, spoon, and finished her caretaker performance off by pouring him some tea.

"Is there anything else you might require, Sir Alrik?" She asked the handsome knight. "If not, I will have a talk with my teacher, then I will retire to my room for the night, it will be just next door."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

The man nodded at Nina with a slight grunt, not feeling any desire to leave his recuperating spot while the girl went back to the kitchen to do some more food warrior heroics. After completing the simple food and finding the rest of her needed items, the green-haired girl returned to Alrik.

The knight followed Nina as she worked to replace the improvised bandages and properly seal up the wound. It almost looked like he was admiring her skill with the needle and thread, slowly closing it with her minor knowledge about first aid. He had been flinching throughout the entire deal, but otherwise did not hamper her work. Once the whole issue had been dealt with, he flopped down onto the matress again to see Nina set him up with the food and drink. "No, there is nothing further I desire. I'll call if something comes up."

As Nina was departing, she saw Alrik get up to a sitting position, taking up the food she had set next to him. Having taken care of the knight, she was now free to go and see Yura. Walking through the halls, she found the weapon master at her bed again, with the blade and armor casually discarded at the side.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Finding the weaponmaster in her room, Nina - still partially in maid mode - had to catch herself as she was about to walk over to the discarded weapon and armor and pick them up, only to realize that there wasn't an obvious place for them, and that it might be disconcerting to Yura for the new student to be picking up her stuff in front of her. So Nina held herself in check and tilted her head slightly as she cut to the point.

"Sensei, why have you issued such a challenge to people like Alrik? I don't understand what you hope to gain out of it."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Yura's eyes were on Nina as the maid-modeing girl made her way in, somehow noticing the slight lean as she almost went for the discarded weapons to get them orderly set into proper places. When faced with the blunt question, the warface returned to the horned woman's features. "What I gain from it is a relief to this monotonous existence, having something to do in this hermit lifestyle. When I pick up a weapon to face some eager would-be suitor, the feelings of old times and battles come back, and for those brief moments in combat are almost the sole times when I feel being alive these days..." she replied, picking up the armanents herself and setting them both inside one of the storage-closets. Out of her armor now, the master was back to her rather unique choice of underwear once more, and practically threw herself onto the bed. "That is why. To have battles and alleviate my boredom somehow."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Surely Sensei, there are other ways than battle to alleviate boredom? For instance, you could teach me how to fight - I'm sure you'd find a lot of humor in that."

The green haired, would-be knight flashed a smile. She sensed that underneath the bravado, poor Yura was a woman bordering on depression.

"Or you could try courting a real suitor - you know... someone you fancy for reasons other than how they wield a sword. If you only judge a person by how they stack up to you in your area of expertise, you're going to set yourself up for dissappointment time after time. Having a relationship isn't about having two identical persons - that would be boring and competitive. It's about finding a good match, two complimentary persons. Someone to fill the space that you don't fill up yourself."

Nina nodded, thinking of her relationship with Iliana - Mistress and servant. Warm fluttering feelings welled up in her chest when she did so.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Well that is true. But you'll leave eventually, like all the other people I've taken in to teach in the ways of war. It'll be a temporary respite, but I hope a good one." the teacher replied, fully aware of what she had promised to both this curious girl and to Rao himself by agreeing to his request.

"It's not as if I don't know that. But there is a reason for my approach to things. I need someone here who can stand in line with myself when it comes to wielding a blade or mace, not just someone who happens to like me and all. And before you ask, no, I can't leave this place. There is a task I have taken in here that requires my presence, and I'm not going to shirk on my oath-sworn duties because of some mere personal affection." Yura carried on with her answers, the serious look still staying on her beautiful yet deadly features. From within the confines of one pillow, she produced a straight, slim-bladed dagger which was slightly black-tinted as well. With a casual touch , she began to twirl it around in one hand, balancing it by the point on her finger afterwards. "So the bring on the battles, for that temporary respite. At times a wish some gang of bandits tried to attack this place, maybe I could fight them with a single small blade like this. Or something equally fun."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina nodded with comprehension. Her Sensei was a prisoner here, with her sense of duty and honor being the warden.

"I know a little about duty, Sensei. I respect you for staying here and upholding it. I will do my best to alleviate your boredom while I am here. Perhaps if there were more people around this place, you'd have more regular interaction - at the very least a sparring partner - to entertain you on a regular basis. You could even bring in a theater or musical troupe to use that stage area from time to time..."

Suddenly Nina's mind turned to other possibilities that could liven this dreary place up and make Yura's life more fun.

"Forgive me if I'm seeming silly to you, I know you're very serious about dedicating yourself to the arts of war, but I can't help but think that you can still do all that and find time for the occasional distraction. I'm sure Lord Rao wouldn't mind sending some staff up here for you, given all your history with him."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"That's good, but something I expected from a new student anyway. It's just... getting people to stay here on a dinky mountain compound. Not many are willing to live such an existence. Even the most dedicated and workaholic servants go out now and then in the cities. It's not so easy to get away from here." Yura gave her own two cents about the random ideas, though she was still in her serious mode during the conversation. "And I need absolute trust, otherwise there will be no need for a person. This place..." she stopped mid-sentence, as if having spoken too much.

A moment of silence followed, but eventually Yura flipped onto her back in the supersized bed, the slim dagger never leaving her hand. "Was there still something?" the weapon master asked.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Nothing other than to say that Sir Alrik's wounds have been attended to and he's been fed. I suppose on the morrow, if he's well enough to ride, he'll be on his way home. I've set him up in a side room near mine. And ah, just wanted to say that I'm looking forward to our training tomorrow and thank you again for taking me on. I'm very grateful."

Nina bowed and if Yura did not make any other comment or motion, Nina would about-face and leave the room. A sliver of doubt had wedged its way into the maid's thought process. She wondered if this warrior would translate into a good teacher. Yura seemed consumed by her own issues at the moment, and they were coming out as lethargy and nonchalance. Only when she had hopes of fighting a worthy opponent did Yura come alive and seem like the sort of competent person who would be worthy of the Blades legacy. It worried Nina to think that the woman was so caught up in one part of life - missing everything else along the way.

What Yura had said about the mountain's remoteness was true, there could be no denying it. But a community was made up by its people, not by its location. If enough souls were willing to call this place home, and they got along with one another, then this place would probably not seem so bad at all. After all, entire monasteries of Buddhist monks lived in remote mountain temples, so why not something like that here?

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Alright, good to know. Wouldn't want to send a bad image about myself back into the world." Yura replied from her bed, flicking around the dagger with one finger before taking a more proper grip on it and hiding it back into the folds of the pillow it had been concealed in. "And yes, the training. For once in a while I'll be occupied with something meaningful. It'll be fun...." she could be heard saying into another pillow which she had pressed her face into. Still, the weapon master quickly turned to a more sound position, given the fact that she had a pointy horn that could tear into the surrounding linen quite easy if waved the bony protrusion about too eagerly.

No further signals were given to the newbie student, so she could likely go and do things she wanted. The night was still relatively young and early, and as she looked outside, she could see the lanterns light up by themselves. They gave the whole area a nice outstanding look in the otherwise dark mountainside.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina left Yura and wandered about the grounds a bit more, enjoying the remoteness of the location and the serenity of the view that the mountain offered. She did not understand how the lanterns had lit themselves, so after enjoying their aesthetics for a few minutes she took a closer look at them, trying to see if there was something other than magic that would explain why they had done so. Did electricity exist in this world? It would be hard to imagine so, but anything was possible in an altered reality she supposed.

After investigating the lanterns, Nina decided to explore the grounds a bit more, and to see if there was anything else at all interesting in this complex. She figured that there must be something around here that was worth guarding if Yura was being held upon an oath to stay up on the mountain top. Nina wasn't interested in disturbing the sanctity of whatever it was being guarded, but she was curious.

And so the servant set out on a leisurely evening stroll, looking at all there was to see. She wasn't going to be upturning any stones or searching too hard, because she still had time ahead of her in this place and there was no rush. She also wanted to get a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow's training, so she was sure to limit her walk to only an hour or so before returning to her room for the night.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Having had her curiousity tickled by the workings of the lanterns, the maid/newbie knight/student of Yura/bodyguard to Iliana went up to one to see what was happening. As she had possibly expected, there were those same rocks she had seen before embedded into their inner parts, which somehow flipped around when darkness descended upon the surrounding area. Must be more of the advanced magic that were littered around the city and the carriage as well. These might be the reason for the warmth of the compound as well.

Nina walked around the new place to find out what there was to see in there. At the yet unexplored eastern wing, she found a sparsely-furnished room. But there was a definite key feature to the room, a large painting that spanned the entirety of one wall. It was a scene depicting a victory over some great beast by a group of warriors. Upon closer look, the girl recognised the majority of the people. It was a shot of the Blades, and the black-skinned creature they had toppled was no doubt the black desert tyrant Diablo. She could make out Yura standing on the creature's head, with the hammer seen earlier at the weapon master's room partially buried into the huge wyvern's skull. Rao and Akina were looking up at her from the ground, a white-armoured knight near them. It looked like Haku too was once a part of the Blades. The last two were not visible to her, wearing hoods and their backs were turned. But if Nina's judgement about bodyshapes was not completely wrong, they were a man and a woman respectively.

As she went across the courtyard once more, it seemed like there was an extremely faint sound of something moving. Once Nina went closer to the stage, she could make out a minor sloshing sound, as if something slimy was dragging itself around.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina found the painting of the victory over the great tyrant Diablo quite interesting, given that she doubted the artist was present at the time of the victory and all of this had to have been made from a description of the event. Why would the artist have chosen to hide several of the Blades' identities? Certainly it was a peculiar image because of this.

She walked on, and only stopped when she detected the odd sounds of movements - neither that of Yura or Alrik. And since no one else was meant to be here...

Nina looked around for a sword or similar weapon, as she hadn't brought her own with her on the walk. Fortunately, this place was littered with weapons, so it wasn't hard for Nina to arm herself quickly.

Creeping as quietly as possible Nina made her way towards the slimy sounds that were emanating from the moving figure.