Fight:Burning Off Energy Too Literally
Part of the The Most Dangerous Game Arc
Ancient Snow-Covered Gates
Svilfon is sitting on the sign, showing complete disregard for its ominous warning. One of his hands rests comfortably on the old wood, but the other is before his face; dancing between his elogant fingers a small flickering of yellow flame. Before he sees anyone, he speaks into the cold air; his voice easily carrying past the roar of the wind and the torrents of sleet beating down on his robed body. "You know... part of being a wizard is knowing when you're being watched..." With that, and a quiet snicker, he waits...
Satoshi appears at the base of the sign, flickering into view with the passing of a sleet-heavy gust. Without looking toward the wizard, she leans back against the sign, shoulder resting beside his dangling feet. "Y'know, part of being the Lady of Frostmaw, is to watch everyone~," she quips in return. Although Satoshi hadn't been spying on Svilfon, she had stopped in her usual patrolling of the area to regard him, his mocking of the sign so alike to Kasyr's usual abuse toward it that it made her do a double-take. And clearly, Svilfon had caught her, ruining the ghostly illusion the eidolon was going for. Sven's balls, that sharp bastard.
Svilfon is caught entirely unaware, despite his words, when Satoshi appears before the sign and so casually leans against it. So that's what it's like when he teleports his way to people who are unexpecting! He finds it most amusing, to be sure, despite the fact his heart would be racing if it bothered even to beat an undead rhythm. He recovers his surprise, though, and replies in turn, "Perhaps it is lucky, then, that I oft' choose to bathe in Cenril rather than here." He snickers again, before clenching tight his fist and snuffing out the dancing flame. He leans his elbows on his knees, before looking down at Satie with a crooked grin on his face. "How goes it, queen of snow and ice?"
Satoshi, when she turns her face up to look at Svilfon, wears a horrified expression. Clearly she involuntarily imagined the Cenril bathing house. In a moment, the look shifts into a grin as equally uneven as Svilfon's, full of fangs and predatorial glee. "It goes very well. I've managed to find the area where our prey is lurking. Another day or two, and the storm will have it thoroughly pinned down. Like proper rabbits, they're dug in well, it seems, but they're getting anxious. Anxious enough to be stupid." Satoshi looks pointedly up at the sky then, where the occasional wyvern or drake can be glimpsed frolicking in the storm clouds. A veritable feast to poachers, and one they can't justify passing up despite the risks. "I'll know when they decide to try. We'll pounce then, hm?"
Svilfon doesn't bother to hide the feral light which glows in the depths of his pale gaze; the blue almost shifting in the white storm to take on the colour of the surging skies above. "It was in part the reason I am out here, lady icicle... to ensure - redundantly it seems with your own prowling - that none of them come into the city and seek to hide there within." He nods his head as another crooked smile is given birth. "But if you're sure they are pinned down, and confident you'll know when they try to break free of their holes, then I will not worry too much about it." He tips his hat with the final words, before he pushes his hands against the sign and spring-boards himself off, over Satie's head. It would appear somewhat graceful, until his boots hit the icy ground and he spends a moment or two sliding about. But he rights himself soon enough, and turns to once again face Satoshi. "It is a lot of waiting, though... inactivity never suited me much when action is needed. I grow... agitated."
Satoshi politely closes her eyes when Svilfon's boots hit the ground, so that the image she has in her head of his graceful leap is not interrupted by slipping and sliding. When she opens them again, the amber flecks are ablaze with a similar feral light to the wizard's, washing out the azure background. She doesn't need to say that she understands his words, her gaze speaks for itself. Between the waiting and stalking of their elusive prey, and the building of the Winter storm above, Satoshi's wound herself into a bundle of electric energy that begs to be unleashed. It's evident in every inch of the eidolon's form, from ears standing tall and alert, fanged smirk, quivering whiskers, tensed shoulders, writhing tails, and feet poised perpetually on toes, just waiting for a chance to move. All that's kept Satoshi from ripping up her surroundings in a wild temper has been the blade at her hip. Ko'tar's song ever soothing and calming, lulling her into inactivity despite her spirit howling for the opposite. It's this blade she draws now, slowly so as to allow its hum to mingle with the scrape of ice leaving its metal sheathe. The bell dangling from Ko'tar's hilt jangles loudly in the winds as Satoshi levels the swordpoint at Svilfon and simply smirks. "Dance with me, then, wizard~."
Svilfon would be sure to thank Satoshi for her eloquence in keeping real his illusion of elegance, but not now. He is perceptive, more so than most, and he knows Satoshi as well as he does himself. He can see in her the same feelings which reside in him; that feral urge for violence, the tense way in which she rests, and that smirk... he'd missed the rippling feelings of terror and joy that smile brings when it's sent in his direction. As her altruistic sword is drawn, its tip pointed at him, the wizard nods and takes half a step back. "As you wish." He pulls from within his robes his own sword. One emblazened with the symbol of the Knights of Frostmaw. He lifts this to Satoshi in salute, before speaking again. "Though, I've not spent the last twenty years studying swordplay - more persued than studied - I nevertheless remember my Capa Ferro and Thibault." He almost adds in that Satoshi seems a decent fellow and he'd hate to kill her, but restraining the strange urge he instead lunges forth in a basic thrust, taught to him long ago by Cornelius Von Penzance, before twisting the attack with his wrist into a swipe up at Satoshi's neck. Brutal, perhaps, but these two never did learn how to play nicely.
Satoshi is, unlike most Spaniards and dread pirates, actually left-handed. And that left hand is quick when it's wielding a blade forged of ice, a substance that might as well be weightless to the magus. Thus when Svilfon's thrust and swipe come, with Ko'tar already having been leveled earlier, Satoshi's in a position to swipe her own blade with a harsh wrist flick so that it strikes against the side of Svilfon's blade and sends it skittering sideways out of reach of the kit's neck. ...She'll ignore the lock of hair the deflected sword has sheered off, for the sake of not dissolving into a berserking rage-beast. Humming from the sword-on-sword contact, Ko'tar is brought closer to Satoshi's body as she begins to prowl to the right with slow, wide steps, intent upon circling the knight-wizard, knowing he's likely to follow to avoid exposing his back to her. And that's when she strikes, during that moment where one of the wizard's feet are lifted, Ko'tar darting in low with a snaking bite toward his far shin. A feint, in truth, although thrust far enough to draw blood if Svilfon misses it entirely. It's the follow-up that's Satoshi true intent, her hand deftly reversing its grip on Ko'tar's hilt so that as she's pulling her arm back and up in retreat, the sword's edge follows to trace a line from wizard's shin to collarbone. Just as quickly as she and her blade move in, Satoshi moves to dance back out of reach before even taking proper time to inspect her work. Training with Kasyr has instilled a strong aversion to keeping close to her opponent when swords are involved. She'll sting and peck instead.
Svilfon isn't all that surprised when Satoshi so easily deflects his attack. He knew she trained with the kensai, as fine a training partner as one could desire in swordplay, so such a simple attack wouldn't fool her. Yet, he doesn't give in. As she prowls around, he does indeed follow her motions, lifting his leg to give life to her odious attack. The vampire's back shin is struck by her quick attack, though it helps save him from the truth of her onslought. For he immediately slides his foot back, too far in the ice, and in an attempt to over-right himself, he pulls his body out of range of her swipe. But no quick counter comes from the wizard-knight. He is impressed at her skill, and instead decides to take a different route. Like she did, he begins to circle, leaving a sanguine foot-print from the blood pouring out of his leg. "Lady icicle," his tones are entirely conversational, "you are..." He doesn't finish the sentence, instead he acts like he's going to thrust again, before releasing his grip on the sword. It flies at her stomach, its sharp edge seeking flesh, while in the background Svil whispers a series of words. In the wake of the sword, a weaving of force washes out, before rushing back towards Satoshi. It's power alone isn't enough to harm her, yet what it does is collect the many icicles falling from the skies above, turning them into spike-like daggers which hurl at the queen... attacking her with snow and ice... Svil wonders if anyone's been clever (read:stupid) enough to try it before...
Satoshi should have expected a sword to be thrown. It's what she resorts to nine times out of ten. The only fortunate fact is that she's moved back and Ko'tar has recoiled into its place before her, a stance that has the blade and arm lowered in front of her abdomen. Where her stomach should be, a barrier in the form of Satoshi's bracer stands instead, taking the brunt of the force and causing her to jut a foot out behind to keep from stumbling. "Ha! That never works like you ho-" Satoshi's taunt cuts off as whiskers go rigid upon detecting the arcane signature of spellwork. Over wind and distance even Satoshi's keen ears can't pick up the words and thus she's offered no forewarning save for the influx of magic. All she can do is draw inward, instinctively hunkering down behind her blade to provide as small a target as possible... for as much good that does in stopping the hailstorm of... ice? Did he really just hurl -ice- at her? The incredulity alone is enough to override the pain of gashes and stabs as the eidolon stands up straight, sword hanging limp at her side. She bears numerous cuts as is made obvious by the crimson slashes scattered across her form, although they aren't nearly as plentiful or deep as they should be, much of the barrage missing her withdrawn shape, and the ice naturally reluctant to embed itself in Satoshi's flesh. And strangely, her injuries spill little blood, and what does escape is sluggish, as if half-frozen. "Oh ho ho~. You did -not- just do that." A smirk spreads wide across Satoshi's face, a look that's approving of Svilfon's method. And just a hint vengeful, for with her words follows a brief melody thickly woven with magic, a spell to draw out the ice buried in her flesh to be hurled right back at Svilfon alongside the still-falling sleet. It's a mirror of his attack with one additional twist, the returned ice is covered in her blood and thus infested with that insidious tendency to spill debilitating cold into one's system upon contact.
Svilfon smiles a dark grin at Satoshi through the winds and snow which wash about them both, causing their battle to appear almost as if two shadows are fighting; mere silhouettes beneath the arch of the ancient gates. "You've dealt with everything else, had to try something..." His words stop as he frowns, realzing her talk has done nothing but grant her more time. Time used wisely, it appears, as the ice is sent surging back at him, tipped at its ends with her scarlet blood. He knew well the insidious nature of her attack, but he hasn't the time to form proper defences. So instead he merely weaves the last of his earlier spell, the remnants of the force created, into an ineffective shield in front of him. It catches some of the ice, though more slices through and drives into his robes. He feels it at once; that cold flowing through his undead body, freezing in its wake blood that flows by curse alone. Deadly it would be, he knew, had he a life to lose. But even still he cannot take it too long. His own wounds barely bleed; blood frozen the moment it tries to spill forth, but this soon changes as Svil draws upon the fires within him. Warming his body with the arcane power, fighting agianst the insidious ice, until he stands no longer in a storm of snow, but instead in a warming rain as all hail-stones which seek him melt. This goes on for a long moment, before Svil suddenly drops to his knees, with his head bowed like he were defeated. A deception only, though, as is made clear when he puts his hands into the slushy snow where he stood, and drives forth his power into it. It travels rapidly through the snow, before Svil finally gives it full life. Causing beneath Satoshi an explosion of fire strong enough to melt the ice on which she stands, and hopefully engulf her in a prison of burning searingly hot steam...
Satoshi isn't foolish enough to fall for Svilfon's drop to his knees. She knows his limits as well as she knows her own, and she's far from pushed him to that point. And so, she can only assume he's plotting something worse than surrender. There it is, seconds later, coursing through her beloved snows, the telltale fiery essence of the wizard's magic, and it's making straight for her. Unlike his prior spell, this one does not catch Satoshi off guard. Attuned to Frostmaw's snows grants her that sense of the approaching spell, coupled with her familiarity of Svilfon, she knows more than likely that an equivalent to Ilgy's dragon wrath is about to strike. Still, there is no proper time to produce a defensive spell, not with the speed Svilfon's sent his work, leaving Satoshi to scramble for a handful of words while tightening her grasp on Ko'tar. The sword is twisted in her grip before it's thrust point-first into the ground following the end of the magus' words. It's not quick enough however, nor as thorough as she could want, for when Svilfon's fire erupts beneath her feet, Satoshi is monetarily engulfed. Steam and flame mask the foxkin from view, leaving only its roar and the scream of shattering glass as an indication of what's happening. Within the heated mixture Satoshi stands, head bowed and eyes closed in her focus to thrust her arctic will upon Ko'tar and outward in a blooming aura of Winter. Only through cracks in the emanation does Svilfon's fire and steam manage to lick at Satoshi, inflicting burns in haphazard locations, only to have the damage frosted over a second later--sluggish cuts likewise are sealed, a small blessing. The heated droplets find themselves rapidly cooled and left to hang in the hyper-chilled air around Satoshi when the fires finally settle. She's singed, soot-stained, and scowling, but far from roasted as she shakes off the glistening layer of frost coating her. And she's all too eager to once more send Svilfon's spell back at him, this time in the form of the crystallized droplets. Harmless in appearance, yet the shells of ice have been so swiftly created that inside they still carry the steam that spawned them, all of which are now being thrown the wizard's way in a glassy rain of frost and burning. And right behind it is the kit herself, having taken up Ko'tar once more and charged full-tilt at Svilfon in hopes of catching him unprepared for a return of the up-close-and-personal approach, where she'll strive to run him through with the sword.
Svilfon lets a dark, and altogether sadistic smile form on his lips. He could sense within the steam his magic waning beneath her icy onslought, but he knew it was having at least in part its desired effect. His fire is strong, very strong, but in Frostmaw and against its queen, he knows it would never be strong enough. So, after pulling himself back to his feet, he spends just a moment staring at the cloud which envelopes Satoshi, before he begins to chant again. The words are guttural and harsh; a perfect compliment to the savage sounds of a storm unleashed. He carries on with this, even as his eyes focus on the the snow queen standing still, singed but not seared, and in the midst of sending a vicious spell his way. Another dark grin is born on his face, before he whispers the last word of his spell. The air around him ripples with enough power to stop the steam from striking his body, but not enough to wrestle away her control of the ice. That savagely strikes his body again, tearing through robes which are quick becoming rags, and lacerating his flesh within its torrent. But he ignores the pain, as he does with his other wounds, and instead waits until she gets close with her altruistic blade, before releasing his own counter attack. He leaps back a step, out of Ko'tar's reach. before lifting his hands and from the palms emitting a torrent of electricity into the steam. Its intent is never to strike Satoshi herself, but instead to infuse the cloud with a shocking surprise. The added benefit that the steam again becomes searingly hot is lost to Svil, he instead watches intently to see how Satoshi will evade the trap he set...
Markos shouted, "*The sky above Frostmaw was suddenly lit for a brief moment by a brilliant orange flash of light born from above the arena found nestled in the mountainside. With it, came a loud hiss and a series of small noisy crackling explosions. As quickly as it started though, the display was just as swiftly over and the night sky returned to darkness."
Satoshi is charging straight into the trap when the clouded sky is abruptly turned orange and begins crackling like an enraged hornet's nest. The suddenness of the aerial explosion is enough to make even the frost mage lose her footing on the ice and send her skating forward far faster than she'd intended... and clean through the electrified field of steam. For a brief moment Satoshi finds herself assaulted by the agony of lightning and heat, but just as swiftly she's through the zone and skidding onwards... and straight for Svilfon. Satoshi's a little bundle of flailing katana and electrified fur, on a crash course for the wizard. To make matters worse, the instant she realizes her mishap has turned blessing, Satoshi whistles a single sharp note to flash-freeze the clinging steam droplets into a coat of icy needles, making herself not just a cannonball of lightning, but a porcupine as well, far too close for comfort. Shouldn't have only taken a single step backwards, Svilfon~.
Svilfon has his intense concentration broken by the light display. Foolishly, so foolishly, he snaps his gaze up to see what it was. His worry for Frostmaw taking precedence over his worry for himself, a mistake that proves costly. For soon enough there's a bundle of electrified, katana-weilding, porcupine-like Satoshi very close to him. "By the balls of Sven himself!" Is all that comes from Svil, before she strikes him. His already ruined robes are stabbed again, his bleeding flesh once more made whore to the woman's deadly shards of ice. And had he any hair, it'd be standing on end. His arms instinctively wrap around her, before he falls back, dragging her down, though leaving her on top of him - rather reminscent of what happened during their race. With a grunt, Svil speaks, "Enough... enough..." He attempts a bloody grin at Satoshi, "I have a tournament to enter and poachers to slay... if you carry on, there won't me anything left of me!" That's as close to conceding a fight as Svil will ever do, though he knows it could have been much worse... fighting Satoshi in Frostmaw is never going to be good for your health.
Satoshi manages a sooty cough before she heaves herself off the flattened wizard to sprawl in the snow beside him. "Truce~," she croaks weakly, eyes closed for fear of seeing a spinning world. Ko'tar lies somewhere near her, she can feel and hear the damned thing, but for the moment Satoshi doesn't need the blade. Between the hailstorm, fire volcano, and lightning bath Svilfon's given her, Satoshi is quite thoroughly out of excess energy. That isn't enough to stop her from commenting, though, "I am -so- learning a fire spell just to get you back for that! You watch! ...Oh hellfire, I feel like a mammoth ran over me~."
Svilfon laughs loud, the sound rich with amusement that once again flows so easily from the wizard. "Believe me, lady icicle... trying to harm you with snow is something I'll only ever try once!" His laughter quietens into a snicker, before he relaxes back, letting the snow build around him. She may feel like a mammoth stampeded over her, but he felt like he'd gotten into a snow fight with -Satoshi- in Frostmaw... something far worse, he's sure. He feels content enough to relax there, knowing Satoshi would let him know if anything changed from the poachers, and needing more than anything rest after expending so much energy. Though, he does remember to say, rather quietly, "Thanks for letting me keep my illusion of gracefulness." He remembered.
Satoshi retorts with, "Well, you lost your looks, so I got to let you keep -something-~." And with that, she falls quiet, just as much needing time to rest. You think a snowball fight with Satoshi is bad? Try having Svilfon set you on fire. Then electrocute you. It's going to take ages to brush her coat back into its former shiny glory, thanks!