RP:Pilar Fights a Four-Year-Old

Kelay Tavern

Pilar sat near the hearth, a cup of wine on the table nearby. Also on the table was a tiny human figure, dancing. It was female, with features not unlike Pilar's own. Her dark hair was in a bun and she wore a red dress of layered ruffles. Stomp, twirl, swish, stomp, twirl, swish, the little dancer pranced across the table. Pilar was staring at the figure intently, strain obvious on her face. Finally, with a groan, Pilar put her head in her hands and the little dancer vanished. Massaging her forehead, she reached for her wine.

Desparrow enters the tavern wrapped in bits and pieces of armor. A new piece he just acquired, a wicked looking piece on his arm wreaking of chaotic properties. However the energy from the piece has long since been drained leaving it little more than a heavily armored piece of equipment. His eyes dropped on Pilar and he immediately knew what must happen. "Fight me."

Pilar stared up at Desparrow, wine halfway to her mouth. "... What?" He couldn't be serious. He knew damn well that she wasn't a fighter at heart, or at least he should have suspected it, what with all the cowering she usually did in his presence. Plus, weren't they supposed to be on good terms now? Why did he want to fight her?

Desparrow didn't appear hostile, in fact he was more supportive at this moment. "You are too afraid. The best way to conquer fear is to acquire enough power that is has no hold over you. So I have for -you- a sparring partner.. My son. Now he is young, and I hope you aren't insulted but he is more gentle than I am."

Pilar continued to stare at him as he spoke. "Your... son... the little boy?" Desparrow wanted her to fight a four-year-old. Okay, then, she'd bite. "I... do not think I could fight a little boy. I would not want to hurt him." Even if the boy was... different. She hadn't paid much attention to him the last (and only) time she'd seen him, but she'd noticed something off about him. He was certainly not fully elven.

Desparrow chuckled, "My son is purebred vampire, not turned, he was born one. But is one hundred percent my son. He inherited a degree of my magical power, but his mother, his grandmother, and great grandfather are some of the most powerful witches and warlocks of the last decade in this land. He has power running through his veins. I've taught him to be polite however and isn't as brash as I am."

Pilar didn't know there was such a thing as born vampires. As Desparrow bragged about his son's magical prowess, she felt herself getting sicker and sicker. "In that case... I do not wish to BE hurt." She almost couldn't believe it. She was scared of a child! What would her friends say? Oh, she was going to regret this. She sucked down her wine in one shot. "O... Okay... where is he?"

Desparrow holds out his arm. His hand wreathed in magic before becoming as incorporeal as the air itself yet translucent. He sliced open a gate with his hand and through the haze his home's hall could vaguely be seen. "This way."

Pilar kind of wanted to get another cup of wine, but didn't want to hold things up. Taking a deep (unneeded) breath, she followed him through the portal.

Desparrow would go through the portal only to arrive at his home seconds after stepping through.

Ryder Sanctuary

Pilar stepped from the tavern into the main hall of the Ryder estate. The maids gave her a funny look, as the last time she was there she'd barged in and 'slandered' the man of the house. Pilar couldn't help but think about the last time she'd followed Des somewhere, and hoped things turned out better than then.

Desparrow lifted up his hands and the torches that were anchored into the walls gave off a brighter light. "Son!" the call was both demanding but gentle, the sternness of his fatherly presence mixed with love and pride for his son. Xander appeared shortly, dropping the ceiling in rather aristocratic clothing; a frilly collar, cape and buttoned up shirt and pants. "Yes father?" he said looking up at the lycanthrope with his blood red hues. "I have a lady here who needs training.. I am too rough, I'd hurt her but you. I think we should see what you can do as well and for a boy that has only trained by himself, another sounds like a good challenge. Are you up for it?" the child smiled widely, fangs quite visible, "yes father!"

Pilar really did not want to do this. She wasn't even dressed for it! She looked at her tiny would-be opponent. Now that she knew what he was, she recognized why she'd thought he was off. His scent, it wasn't living. She looked between Des and Xander, wondering how a man could profess to hate vampires when his own child was one? Pilar curtsied to the little vampire. "Hello, Sir Xander." Ooh, she'd started using Common honorifics instead of her native ones.

Desparrow :: Xander offered a bow to the lady, the one whom so rudely burst into the home of his father the last time. "Do not fret young lady, if father welcomes you here then your past transgressions are forgiven. Please; present your weapon." The child swept out an arm which held open his cloak where one could see an assortment of wands tied into the fabric. Sliding one out of its holster it glowed brightly with runes engraved across the entirety of the wood; each one giving off a faint blue light. "I will start with this, hopefully you can keep up. I want you to not hold back, don't just use magic, a fight is determined by your proficiency with natural powers and acquired ones."

Pilar twiddled her thumbs. "I... do not have a weapon. Only my magic... and my bare hands." As if she was gonna punch a toddler. Even if he was a pureblooded vampire. She eyed the wand nervously. What kinds of enchantments were woven into the wood, and what powers would it bestow upon the child? She didn't know much about magical tools, having only ever used a rune stone when she was learning to channel magic.

Desparrow :: Xander shrugged, "So be it then. En Garde!" He waved the wand about and one of the runes flashed, a bit of that specific rune's magic drained but not depleted. When he flicked the wand towards Pilar a mote of faint ghostly light was launched towards her. Not as fast as an arrow it certainly could be dodged though when it struck her she would feel a blow of pure force like a fist hit her but it wouldn't stop there; this force projectile would push her back a considerable distance, five, ten feet perhaps? Depended on the resistance she pushed back with.

Pilar scurried out of the way of the light. She didn't know what it did, but she did know she didn't want to be touched by it. She went through her woefully small arsenal of fight-worthy illusions and came up with very little that didn't include some of her more draining spells. She did have a trick, but gods knew if it would work more than once. She shut her eyes and clamped her hands over her ears, which might have seemed like an odd thing to do in the middle of a fight, but only a moment later, the reason was revealed: a blinding flash of light and a sharp bang erupted before Xander, hopefully stunning him.

Desparrow waited patiently on the sidelines, watching carefully both of their movements. Xander watched as the force projectile crashed against the wall with a bit of a bang. The child expected no less of Pilar, though it was a bit of a surprise for the light and sound to burst in front of him. It was hurtful to both his eyes and ears and took him moments to recover though if that was the best she could manage what good would she be in defense of herself. One would usually combine the stun with an escape tactic. When recovered he flicked his want and this time a four foot circular wall of force rushed towards her, barely perceptible except as a warping of light around it. It would slam into the girl and throw her back into whatever happened to be behind her which in this case was the wall.

Pilar's only escape tactic was running, and she'd done that, taking off as soon as the flashbang hit. She ran around Xander, still unwilling to get any closer in order to actually lay a hand on him, though she had gotten behind him when he circled around and sent the wall of force rushing her way. She barely saw it coming and was knocked off her feet and thrown into the wall. With a groan, she got up. Okay, she had literally one other useful illusion in her arsenal, and it took an awful lot out of her. But she didn't have the time to think of a use for little dancing women. Concentrating all of her energy, she began to fade from view, until she was completely invisible.

Xzavior tentatively made his way back to the dilapidated looking castle still curious about the lycan and his recent antics. It was a decent trip and Xzavior had no idea as to why he felt like making said trip but it was a slow day and he felt like something had to be done. He made his way to the doors about to give a knock before seeing a flash of light from beneath the door and a large boom from the other side. Quickly thrusting open the door he saw the last of Pilar disappear, a child and Desparrow. "For the second time walking through these doors I must ask, what is happening?!"

Desparrow :: Xander watched as the woman was struck, and then began to disappear. "Hm.." he pondered, she hadn't made any noise, and unless she was a very light walker she would when she moved, meaning she probably hasn't moved. The problem with invisibility was that the illusion needed to be altered to dampen all senses, including smell and sound. Looking down at his wand both the runes from the last two spells had faded just a bit. "Where did you go lady?" asked innocently, more of an honest curiosity than a taunting game. He sniffed the air, wondering if something was out of place. "No matter." he sighed and waved the wand around in a circle draining the entirety of its inherent magic which sent out a dome of force outwards crashing into everything even sending his father back against the wall.

Desparrow said to Xzavior, "A sparring bout!"

Pilar indeed had stayed still, as it took much of her concentration to keep herself invisible. She was trying to think of some way to go on the offensive, but nothing came to her. Not that it mattered, for soon she was thrown against the wall once more, and with her focus broken, she became visible again. She crumpled to the ground, her head pounding. Something then shifted within her; the potion from the other day, its side effects were kicking in. With uncharacteristic bravado, Pilar raced towards the child. Should she get close enough, she would grab the child in a headlock. Not roughly, of course, the potion's effects didn't make her aggressive.

Xzavior watched as the child waved the wand and created a dome of energy. Bracing against it he waited for it to pass before making his way over to Desparrow and crossing his arms as he watched the spar, "Against a kid?" It was more of a rhetorical question, it seemed he was pretty decent with holding his own. As Pilar hit the ground he frowned slightly until she got up and ran towards Xander which got him to grin, "I would say this is pretty intense for a spar, but then again I had one not too long ago that nearly burned down a section of the Sage Forest."

Desparrow was relieved when that pressure was off his body. All his boy's training was paying off, suffice to say that even he could take on a basic mage of Xalious and such a fact made the father, Des, beam with pride. "Yes. He has my blood and the blood of one of the most potent witch families running in his veins. The little tike has so much latent power I wouldn't be surprised if he makes archmage one day. Surpassing even me." Of course the child heard his father's praise and his face lit up, a mistake of getting distracted. Pilar was able to grapple him and get him in a lock. The wand dropped but due to the fact the child didn't need to breath he was in no worry of passing out. "Good job lady. However remember that this is a test of 'all' our powers." Xander smiled, not struggling one bit but instead his body had begun to evaporate until he had enshrouded the woman as a cloud of mist. It flowed up to the ceiling and reconstituted entirely as the boy standing upside down staring at her from above. "Show me something you can do."

Pilar stared up at the child. She didn't know vampires could do that! There were so many possibilities, and she wasn't aware of any of them. Standing there, in the middle of the room, her bravado ceased as quickly as it had come and she was suddenly feeling humiliated. Her face burned and tears came to her eyes. She wiped them away as they started to trickle down her cheeks. "That... that is all... I have only been a vampire for two years... I had no master to teach me, I..."

Xzavior nodded still keeping an eye on the spar, "Your kid huh. He looks like he has a lot of potential yes, it will be interesting to see him develop those skills." His eyes widened as he watched Xander turned to smoke then solidify on the ceiling. Now, he didn't know much about lycans but as far has he knew he didn't think they could turn to smoke. Perhaps he will ask about that later, but for now he was wondering exactly how Pilar would respond. Glancing down back at her he still wore his grin but slowly lost it as he saw a hand reach her face. Xzavior looked back at Desparrow for a moment and muttered aloud, "I think this fight is over." Without waiting he made his way over to Pilar and placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting smile, "Hey, from what I saw, you still did a hell of a job." With a small chuckle he added, "Every time I see you use your skills you seem to add something else to surprise me with."

Desparrow :: Xander simply dropped from the ceiling, the pure vampire stepping up to Pilar, "Your blood is milky, meaning impure but you still have some powers. With time they will grow. I have an advantage because I was born this way. You will learn. Don't cry just because you aren't a match. You need to have confidence." he stepped up to her to brush away tears with a cold finger. "You have skill, raw talent that needs to be honed. A tip. When you use an illusion like that, try to block all senses, cover all your bases.. and you could possibly be a good assassin. If you had perhaps turned invisible and came at me with say a dagger, you could have gotten a good wound in. Constructive criticism." he looked to his father with a smile, yes they were two opposite races that you'd see fighting than be father and son. "She did okay, for a noob to fighting. Perhaps she should work on basic melee combat and then work on her magic. Illusions after all aren't very offensive until they've attained a level you can perform father.. You could show her." he grinned wide, but Des looked to Pilar with somber expression. "My level of power would be too much, even a taste would probably put fear in her, though if she wanted a goal, I could train her."

Pilar certainly didn't feel like she'd done good job, or that she had skill or talent. She instead felt worthless, like a failure. In that moment, she didn't remember the savage men she had helped Daermon defeat. She didn't remember the pride with which he looked at her, nor the awe her friends held for her musical illusions. All she could think was that her teachers would surely be as disappointed in her as she was. She sniffled as she looked from the child to Xzavior to Desparrow. "I have teachers already... one for my magic, two for fighting... I am glad they are not here..." she murmured.

Xzavior looked down at Xander for a moment. He was blunt. And cocky, but he was just a kid after all and if what Des said was true he might be able to back it up. But in the current circumstance he would have tried to be a little more tactful, right as Xander was. Turning back to Pilar he turned her to face him placing both hands on her shoulders, "Listen, I can match Reginae with my own skills in magic and I am very great in fighting as well. I might not have been here long but I know that you did very well. I can only assume that this kid has been training since the day he could walk, you have been training to fight for a lot less than that. No one is expecting you to be a master already, hell it took me nearly 17 years to get where I'm at and that was an everyday thing. Look at the things you can do and smile, not at the things you can't, it helps a lot more when you train."

Desparrow stepped up to Pilar, his son backing away just a bit at his father's advance. "My son has been magical from the day of his birth, and he is a natural psychic magic user, though he is capable of using implements such as those wands and studies many forms of magic when I'm not around. I even don't have full knowledge of his capabilities. He made each of his wands and the most I've counted on his person is seven. Pilar. Look at me. Who is your magic teacher? I used to be a teacher, but I stopped when my last pupil ran me through with a sword giving me this scar." he tore open his shirt to reveal a thrust wound right over his heart, "Staked me right through the heart. Technically I was dead but the inherent magic power in me took over, sustained my life until I had completely healed over six months. Six months!" He sighed, looking at Xzavior, "I have trained for magic since I can remember, but the soul, the entity that is in this body, is far older than the flesh. It has an amassment of knowledge that precedes my birth. I know more about magic than I can even perform. Its just a matter of trained skill. Still" he looked to Pilar again, "Would you like me to show you a bit of my power? Nothing harmful, but seeing as you are an illusionist.. I will tell you that I practice all magic. I have exceeded a mastery of most artforms, including yours."

Pilar listened to Xzavior. If his words were making an impact, she wasn't showing it. She turned to look at Desparrow as he approached. "My teacher is Reginae. She has pushed me farther than I thought I could ever go..." she answered. She winced at the wound his last pupil had inflicted, and wondered why he would ever take on another one after that. He must have been confident that she would never grow powerful enough to take him on. And if half of what he said of himself was true, she probably never would. "I... No, it is okay..." She was really not in the mood to face whatever he could do. It would probably scare her, as he'd suggested.

Xzavior looked towards Des as he advanced then down at Xander as he mentioned him carrying around an arsenal of wands that would likely grow with time. Xzavior frowned at the sight of the scar and shook his head, "A rather interesting way to repay someone teaching you." As more was explained he could only raise a brow, "That sounds very impressive and rather bothersome, not being able to use magic that you know how. It seems magic gets more and more comlpex the more we understand it."

Desparrow nodded, "Reginae, not a name I recognize, however I will be sure to look into it." he looked to his son, a proud nod given to him. "Pilar, you may never approach my magical skill, one day you may be a greater user in your field than I am. I am a broad user, but how mine works is that I control the raw essence of magic, the ether, with my mind and it manifests on thought. If I want fire, it appears.. I alter pockets of reality to my will at the expense of my own safety. I've put myself in comas, made my brain literally bleed, and almost died from pushing too hard on reality. Though each time I get stronger and my enhanced regeneration has made me even more capable because I can handle more. What I envision is what I create. You may very well be the one that can learn from me, and take what I have to offer.. As for my apprentice," he looked to Xzavior, "He wasn't appreciative enough, thought he could outdo me, but I didn't have the heart at the time to fight back, and so I let it happen. Not a mistake I'd allow again." he sighed then, the lycanthrope stepping over to his vampire son to rub his head. "Perhaps an illusionist is just what may be able to work.. Though I'll be watching your progress Pilar.. Expect to be tested again." At that moment one of the many maids that roamed the grand manor had appeared to offer everyone tea as she curtsied in greetings.

Rhaoshin stops in his tracks, and finds his eyes transfixed on the doors that, as if in answer to his passing curiosity, move aside to give view of the house within. The ranger glances up and down the street, then takes a few cautious steps towards the threshold of the house. His mother had raved incessantly on the strange norms and practices of the folk in the cities... But an open door is a welcome, is it not? Only one way to find out. Feeling emboldened, Rhaoshin steps between the doors, and calls out as he moves into the house. "Hello?" his voice is deep, and has the sharp brogue of some foreign accent.

Pilar agreed with Xzavior's assessment of magic's complexity, which was only further justified by Desparrow's explanation of his own powers. She didn't exactly look forward to being tested again, but it didn't seem like something she could say no to. When the maid came to offer tea, she declined. "I... I am rather tired, and would like to just go home... Th-thank you for having me, Sir Desparrow. Goodbye, Sir Xander. I will see you back in Larket, Xzavior... Unless you want to come with me?"

Xzavior only frowned more as he went on explaining the full extent of his power, "It sounds as if you have powers equal to a gods. Though I can't really say anything, a man was made a deity just for stopping a race in time. in truth I'd feel more than grateful to be taught by someone with as much skill as you say, but I feel trying to learn more than one practice to be a bit tedious. Like I said it took me quite a time to learn cryomancy on my own." When the maid came with the offer of tea he raised a hand declining it, "I think I will be leaving with Pilar though. I only came feeling that I had free time. Thank you again for the hospitality."

Desparrow offered a bow to the both of them. "My power has been compared to quite a bit. I alter reality how I see fit, and am limited only by the physicality of my existence. If I had no body, and my concious was tied to this realm then I would truly be godly in my might, but right now I am quite mortal. Still it was a pleasure having you." he then turned to the door, a voice he didn't recognize calling in. "Come in! All are welcome here." Xander walked up to Pilar. "Here, have this. I made it when I was younger. this stone has the power to project three times a day a force presence, in the form of a projectile. As weak as pushing a door, or as strong as a sledgehammer blow swung by an adult. Have it. I have no need of it. Though once you expend the three charges it won't be until dawn the next day that you can use it again." He presented the hand carved runestone to Pilar, hoping she'd take it. "We are not your enemies, our words are of encouragement to desire to excel. Also you sir snake. Are welcome to train with us anytime."

Pilar took the runestone from Xander. "Th-thank you, sweet child." It would come in handy, she thought, more handy than her measly powers had. On the way out, she and Xzavior passed by Rhaoshin. She offered him a polite curtsy before they continued on their way.

Xzavior gave a slight bow before leaving, "I might have to take you up on your offer at some point. Never a bad choice to hone one's skills." as he passed by the man he gave a small wave before following Pilar out.