[1 vs. 1] An Open Warm Up

[Raven]

(I fear our skills have atrophied o'er the break. Perhaps some straightening up is in order.)

Raiden strolled around the inside of a wooden sparring room. It had everything one could hope for to practice, besides a sparring partner. In short, it had absolutely nothing. 'Twas quite the spacious room, though, although the all-wood motif was a little bit tiring. "I feel like it's been months since I've had a decent bout..." Bored, he conjured up a wisp of fire and a block of ice and resumed his favorite thumb-twiddling hobby of attempting to encase a live fire inside a block of ice.

[Latte]

Adara entered the sparring room, looking around curiously. "Hmm." She noticed Raiden and nodded to him a little. "You're up for a match?

[Raven]

Raiden smiled at the voice. "Again with you? Are you looking for another victory to solidify the first...? A'ight, so be it." He tapped his sword once and it set on fire. "Let's have at it then." He outstretched both hands, even the one holding the sword, in an inviting stance...then stopped. "Oi, hold up." With a quick breath the Magus extinguished the flame. "Can't have this in a wooden room...let's start over, eh?" He began walking very casually toward Adara while spinning his sword.

[Latte]

Adara chuckled. "Last time was fun." She eyed his sword, then after a second of consideration, decided to drop her flail by the wall. It was probably too dangerous to try using it. Instead, she drew her dagger, watching his advance and settling into a defensive posture, waiting. Let's see, what was his reach again...?

[Raven]

Raiden stopped advancing forward, eying the dagger cautiously. "Oh, that'll be giving me some trouble..." He fast his wooden sword back onto his waist and withdrew from the other side a bag of marbles, which he began to sift through slowly.

[Latte]

Adara watched him cautiously. She remembered the marbles - it had been a day or two before the last mark they'd left healed. The naga adjusted her grip on the dagger a little, waiting.

[Raven]

Raiden smiled a little at her reaction, and then put away the marbles. "Hm...I don't suppose I've done my usual thing in quite some time. These marbles are, after all, child's play..." He took up his wooden sword again, and breathed across the blade. As he did, ice began to form over the blade, hardening it. "Take this!" He lunged forward in a flying leap, bits of snow and ice flying off his sword in powder.

[Latte]

Adara swung up her dagger to parry the sword. Oh good. Ice. My favorite thing in the world. She braced herself, then lunged at Raiden.

[Raven]

The lunge sent him flying somehow, despite the fact that it was a knife lunge. He landed on the other side of the room, and grasped the place where the knife had struck. Meanwhile, the marbles he had had in his pouch landed all over the floor where he had been. Raiden coughed for a moment, continuing to grab his chest. "Ow, what the hell!" He lifted his hand away to reveal...no cut. "That could've killed me!" He set more ice upon his sword and then threw it at Adara, spinning like a shuriken.

[Latte]

Adara hadn't expected the thrown sword, and it slammed into her, knocking her back too with a grunt of pain. The sword landed across her. Cold, cold - she quickly knocked it away, looking annoyed. "Not when I'm keeping the blade away from you. Do you think I'm stupid? Or just a killer?"

[Raven]

Raiden gave a churlish grin. "Nah, I was just messing with ya." The ice from the sword promptly melted when outside Raiden's effective range, soaking the sword entirely. "Uh..." His eyes darted from Adara to the sword, and he decided to make a dash for it.

[Latte]

Adara snickered slightly, but let him grab the sword, although she edged out of reach. "Swords aren't ranged weapons, by the way," she commented dryly.

[Raven]

Raiden gave a similar snicker, if not slightly more sinister. "Oh, aren't they?" As he spoke, little flakes of wood came off the sword, dried up, and began burning. Around a dozen of them surrounded him like will-o-the-wisps, as he began to chant ominously. Then he stopped, and pondered something for a moment, before recalling, "Oh, wait, the ominous Latin chanting was /optional/. My bad." He then lunged at Adara.

[Latte]

"No. They're not." Adara brought up her weapon to parry and swung her tail, trying to knock him down, or at least make him stumble. "First ice, then fire. Make up your mind, will you?"

[Raven]

The tail sweep caught him straight below his center of gravity, causing him to fall forward. The embers scattered wildly, mostly in the direction of Adara. "Oof...that was painful." He stood up, and flickered a small flame in his palm. "Fine. Here's my final decision." Suddenly, a block of ice appeared over the ember. Raiden threw the mixture at Adara, where it dissolved into a steamy smokescreen.