Below are the basic rules battles go by. Aside from that, everyone's style of posting is different. My posts here will be as to-the-rules as possible, while still being the way that I like to post. I follow certain conventions when I post (how I quote my character, where I cite my skills, etc.), but you are in no way obligated to use them (though they are the best : P).

Always feel free to ask questions...I like answering them.

Somber, silent afternoon sunlight filtered through the fractal portraits of the stained glass windows which lined the walls of the empty cathedral. Dust sifted languidly in the colored shafts, but the air felt cool despite the warm feel of the atmosphere. The cathedral was made entirely of concrete masonry: large pillars rose up to meet the high, arched ceiling on either side of the long hall. Between them, long grey benches took the place of pews, with no backs to support the posture of followers long gone from this place. No red, plush carpet welcomed the penitent prayers of the living: the smooth granite floor seemed to do the exact opposite, challenging any who wished to bend the knee. The pews were divided into two columns by an aisle which ran between them, ending at a large, granite-carved podium. It stood a couple feet above the rest of the floor, elevating whoever spoke to contribute strength to both authority and acoustics to the deceased pastor of this place. Only one, large oak doorway allowed egress of persons, standing directly opposite the stoic pastor's pulpit.

Jaedin's footsteps echoed crisply as he followed in the footsteps of so many men who had led their long-dead congregation, arriving to stand at the base of the steps to the podium. He pondered the meaning of the church and its role in his life, but dismissed the thought quickly as he became aware of another's presence behind him. Heavy stone floors did not make one's approach very quiet [Sensory]. He turned to address the silhouette which stood in the doorway. Rimmed in a halo of golden light, her figure was featureless: Jaedin could only make out her gender by the general bend of her form.

"Greetings!"

The salutation echoed louder than he had expected. Despite the spartan, simple layout of the building, it was acoustically tuned to allow one's voice to carry. With a softer voice, which would sound more normal to his trainee, he spoke again:

"My name is Jaedin. I trust you are new to this place and have come here of your own accord...for your own benefit and survival."

He took several steps towards his visitor and stopped.

"Though formality is often dismissed in this world, I will ask nevertheless before we begin: what is your name?"

I've taken a look at other battles and was reading one of yours actually, and so I think i have a basic handle on the citations... But with my transformations, that counts as a special, right? And I'd have to citation that somewhere (most i have seen were cited at the end of the post, skill and brackets and how many uses, etc)

And so it's one attack, one defense per post, detail, the works essentially. Monologue apparently is favored amongst most of the less sane, or confident, or even the run of the mill mass murderer... so generally its free-reign as long as the rules are obeyed.

Plus I like the idea of the lack of non-avoidable attacks. People thought I was masochistic with my characters on other sites because I hated god-mod'ing, and actually let people hit me. Now it's looked upon as a good thing! Woot!

Nuncia had wandered the edge of forest after forest, never straying too far lest she be spotted, not fully aware as to why she wished to stay out of sight. It may be the distant guilt of her actions from her past, but that scar would never fade, so why cling to it? She flipped the whip of her hair over her shoulder again and continued her barefoot walk, fingering the hilt of her Kris absentmindedly.

Around the bend arose such a sight that she stopped to admire it a moment, having never seen a sight as this before. Made of what appeared to be a type of stone with colored glass windows with pictures in them, she walked closer to investigate, wondering why such a building would sit so lonely in this desolate place, why such a spectacle was not revered by the ones who made it. She walked around the great building until she found an opening, great doors spread wide, the setting sun casting rays into the aisle.

Entering, she stopped at the sight of the man in the aisle. The sight of a new creature, no doubt, but not of her own, though similar in humanoid appearance. He seemed adorned with black cloth, though why she had no idea. He hadn't seemed to notice her, until he turned and looked her way. She refused to move as he advanced. He stopped to acknowledge her, in what seemed a greeting of some sort. She stared at him, attempting to intimidate him with her hawk stare, but to no apparent avail.

"My name is Jaedin. I trust you are new to this place and have come here of your own accord...for your own benefit and survival."

After her silence at his first greeting, he continued to speak, and she continued to stare at him, not moving. She was evaluating his strengths, and his weapons, and possible threat levels when he interrupted her inner monologue with another question;

"Though formality is often dismissed in this world, I will ask nevertheless before we begin: what is your name?"

She decided now was a better time than any to give her name, since he had asked of it, but also so it would be remembered later, in the event she won -- or lost.

"I am Nuncia. Shall we begin, if it so be as you choose?" she readied herself in a standard fight pose; feet spread, hands at the ready, one near her belt and the other by her face, her form lowering to allow for easier movement, Kris still lodged in her belt until it was needed.

(Good first post. Many battles don't start with "I'm about to kill you!", but some do. Just not this one.)
(Note that my post said "afternoon" light, not "evening" light. Nevertheless, dusk sounds better, so we'll just roll with what you said.)
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Jaedin caught the higher, more elegant tones of a woman's voice in the short, to-the-point response. Even so, there was little else he could make out given the angle of the sunlight. Her hands shifted, revealing a worthwhile detail, for the odd mass at her hips would have to be some kind of weapon. A dagger of some sort? Regardless, Nuncia seemed willing to begin and, though formalities could be entertaining, Jaedin itched for activity. His temper was much abated of late, but the lure of honest combat tickled his nerves.

A chuckle escaped his throat, and a pair of words slipped across his lips:

"We shall..."

As an initial maneuver, Jaedin made himself air-born. With one step, he launched himself forward and to the right with his left foot, aiming his opposite leg for the nearest cement bench. With a firm plant on the corner of the seat, he pushed off it and propelled himself into the air, floating quietly above the aisle leading to Nuncia. He would return to earth in a moment, but this was all he needed. The jump was mostly for show, but made his movement more intriguing to execute.

With the practiced skill of many years, his free right hand brushed by his leg, surreptitiously loosing a single throwing star from its hidden sheathe. In the same motion, he loosed the article towards his trainee, aiming directly for her heart. He didn't put the sum of his strength into the attack, mostly because he didn't need to. But, there was more to it than lack of necessity. As the angle of light had shifted while he hopped about, details about Nuncia available. Part of his "reluctance" was out of shear shock.

He blinked several times before landing, unsure of whether the sun was playing tricks on his eyes. Was she...

Naked...?
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(Shurikens: 14 left)

**edited**

She watched him move with fair agility into a jump, glancing off of a bench to get further air, her eyes trained on the movement, she moved with a quick lunge to the right, away from him, yet caught a glancing slice as the thrown weapon skimmed her arm as her lunge took her past the trajectory a little closer than she thought. She felt it, but it felt disjointed for a moment, she had a hunt to finish, and this would be a good one...

Seeing the shock on his face and the hesitation in his throw she smiled -- something had unnerved him it seemed. What she couldn't fathom, but any advantage was a good one.

"Whats the matter, think to go easy on me?"
she asked, her tone rather abrasive, and yet a playful hint behind it as she held a place behind a bench, willing her animal side to aid her in this battle, since he had the upper hand on her agility and balance it seemed. She summoned the balance and agility of her leopard form, a less used form, but still a favored. Along the tail of her spine, a tail lengthened and grew to swing in the air behind her, the fur mottled with gray black stripes off set with the white pale base, furthering her balance as her hands elongated to fit the claws, fur extending from her hands to the mid of her forearm, the same colors of the tail of the wild cat.

In a deft movement she leaped off with her strong right leg onto the benches and swinging her tail to balance herself, ran with added agility for a more forward attack, aiming for his right arm with her claws, hoping to disable the accuracy of his throwing skills, since they seemed deadly as it was without the distraction she had unwittingly provided. She took the lunge towards him, pushing off of the side of the stone bench with her right foot, striking towards the opponent, the sun shining in from the doorway making long shadows all over the cathedral.

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Transformation (partial) leopard -- 1/4 posts

(Again, good. A little short, but that's alright. Your description of your "partial" transformation was helpful, but why did you do that? Why not transform fully? I'm not sure shape shifters have that as part of the arsenal by default.)
(Also, note that you just said you're attacking me...you didn't specify where. Are you trying to slash Jaedin's face? Open up his gut? I don't know. In confusion like this, an opponent will normally ask you to clarify. However, in this case, we'll just roll with it.)
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Still processing, Jaedin had to put his shock on the back burner, for he now witnessed something he had never seen before. Nuncia seemed to be changing into some kind of...animal? A black, striped tail grew from the small of her back, swishing back and forth as she lunged to add stability. Her outstretched hands sprouted fur as she leapt, and her hands morphed into clawed paws. The sight was very disconcerting to behold, made all the more awkward by the shadow Nuncia cast over Jaedin as she struck: her body blocked out the bright light of the setting sun and, given the closer proximity Jaedin had with her, he was able to very clearly make out..."details".

"I wouldn't go that far," he said, chuckling grimly as his body tensed in preparation for her attack. "It's just..."

But for the moment, he'd have to deal with the menacing claws set to rend his upper half to ribbons. He'd been attacked so directly countless times before, and one of numerous stratagems sprung into action before he had time to fully register what he was doing [Quick Trigger]. His mind focused on the task at hand, and his trainee's nudity became a simple fact for the moment.

[Ki Tendrils]

Kneeling on his left leg while twisting his upper body to the right, Jaedin leaned back to allow Nuncia's furry, flying form to rush above him with mere inches to spare. Simultaneously, he extended an open, left palm to face her bare underside. Dust caught shafts of golden light as Jaedin controlled the black, invisible tendrils around him, folding and pushing them with his mind. It swirled around his arm in a kind of golden column of light. Willing his telekinetic energy into action, he sent a powerful surge of Ki through his hand, equivalent to a tackle from a 300lb linemen; enough to sen this half-cat spinning into the air.

"Why are you naked?"

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(Ki Tendrils: 4x)

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She caught the blow in the midsection, the wind knocked out of her as she flew up into the air, tail swishing and her righting herself in mid air as she fell towards the wall, landing on all fours just short of the wall. She stared at him for a moment, looking rather confused. The light cast from the doorway seemed to show a shining glistening about his arm, but the force that came from it wasn't something that a normal creature could do-- unless they were very powerful foes to begin with.

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The sun set as she came back from the hunt with fowls and foxes under her arms, dropping the dead animals in front of the master hunter. He looked up, his hair tied in a similar way, only from the top of his head, his hair gray from the many years of battles and hunting he had seen, a large scar over his one eye. She had caught the largest of the pull this hunt, and was trying to show the hardened man that women could hunt just as well as the males in the tribe, and so far she had out hunted every male in the tribe.

He stood up and spat on the ground, a battle request in the tribe. She spat back, between the two of them accepting the battle-- she figured he was old, and frail, so shed have the advantage overall with her youth, flexibility, and cunning, as well as her strength and skill. But she had forgotten why he was the Master Hunter.

The battle started with them circling each other, all weapons discarded. She made a dash to him, meaning to attack right out, and he gave a kick to her mid section that made her reel back and cough, and while she was bending over catching her breath, he gave a sharp blow behind the head and she flattened to the ground, her ears ringing and her head foggy. He had made quite the show that night about her failure to win the battle.

She had spent the next few years waiting to get back at him, but Death beat her to him in the end. She never got to rematch him. She had spent the next few years training and hunting, building her skills, and in the end she never won...
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The flashback made her snarl slightly at the man in front of her, but only because he seemed the shadow of the man she felt inferior to. She also didn't like the idea that she had underestimated him, same as the Master. Never a good thing in the hunt.

Post analysis of his attack and the flashback made her rethink her attacking strategy, because it seemed the force that exuded from him in the way of very powerful tendrils that wrapped his arm made for a devastating blow. She took a moment on all fours to get her breath back as he exclaimed again about her dress,('What is with him and his talking about my dress? Why is he encumbering himself with so many clothes?'), or lack thereof;

"Why are you naked?"

She just gave a cough and stood to a crouch, flipping her hair over her shoulder, "What's it to you? Why are you not naked?"

She spoke with a flippant tone, clearly not seeing the problem with her dress. If anything it seemed like she didn't understand why he had so many clothes on. She wanted to catch her breath before attacking again, since his blows were tough to take, and painful to say the least. Talking in her short and to the point way seemed to ease the difficulty in her chest a little.

She knew she had to defend herself better, but defense wasn't exactly a leopard's strong point... this form had been chosen to combat his agility and power, but that didn't seem possible at this current point in time.

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Question: with a shapeshifter, is it one transformation a battle or can you shift into another one mid battle?

Why isn't he naked is an excellent question. ~Tengu

(Good point. My bad. However, the lesson still stands. : P)
(Also, unless I missed it, which wall did you land on? I'm assuming right-side relative to Jaedin, but it's always nice to know for sure.)
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Her question struck him as preposterous, yet Jaedin could not muster the words to combat her childish quip. Like a parent dumbfounded, his mind hit a wall and his expression went blank. For a moment, her question seemed reason. Why wasn't he naked. But the answer quickly became obvious. The shock of her naiivity was just so...shocking.

"Because it's...improper", was all he could manage at first. But those words didn't seem like the ones to move his trainee to accept his opinion. Doing his best to assess her form without groping her with his eyes, her character became more apparent to the wizened ninja. She carried a roughness in her presence: of a life filled with hard work, but not necessarily hard times. She would be accustomed to life in the wilderness. (No doubt, the same place where she had acquired this strange ability). If such were the case...

Function over formality...

After a pause, Jaedin rephrased himself:

"To be unclothed is disrespectful, both to your opponents and the everyday people around you. Though they are cumbersome, they are part of the life we live."

But that was enough of talking. Nuncia seemed vulnerable in this form, and it would be "educational" to press her now and force her to complete her transformation. Turning to face her crouched form, Jaedin jumped up to vault the first of the several benches separating them. He didn't really have a plan: there was too much jumping and maneuvering to be done for him to hope for a direct strike. But, he'd force Nuncia's hand a bit to see how well she held up under pressure.
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(Also, when will you be fully transformed? And as for your question, I believe Yoz already answered that in the Suggestions forum, yes?)

**edited**

She managed to catch her breath as he was speaking, and the look that crossed his face after what seemed like an internal revelation was amusing to her; it was as if he just figured out the meaning of life, and it was simple.

"Because it's...improper...... To be unclothed is disrespectful, both to your opponents and the everyday people around you. Though they are cumbersome, they are part of the life we live."

His words rendered her speechless for a moment. How could he speak of respect when he conceals his weapons and uses forces beyond natural ways to defeat enemies? At least she had the decency to show him herself. And what of this 'everyday people' he speaks of? He has been the first she has encountered since arriving in this realm from her own. How was she to know the norms of this realm if she was not originally from it? It was disrespectful entirely to dictate another person's beliefs, and to assume one's ways were in opposition to their own, and if she chose to 'disrespect' the entire realm because she felt it was against her ways to be so fully clothed that she would be at a disadvantage in a fight, than so be it. She would have to show him the true power of her forms, and why 'clothes' were only donned by people who can't protect themselves enough with their own skills to need it...

She gave a snort, straightening up a bit to be crouched on her back legs more so than on all fours. "My ways are my own. I have no need to respect those around me, if what you wear is what dictates that respect. I live the way I do, no matter what others say about it. And as for these other people... I don't see any around so what does it matter." She watched his expression some more, amused by the knowledge she seemed to bring him with her strange ways. He has become too used to this realm and its ways-- he needs to get out and see the different worlds some more.

Seeing the beginnings of his movements, she watched him vault the first of many pews, and so she ran along the right side wall, towards the dais, moving swiftly from a two legged run to a four in full leopard form, giving a snarl as she lashed the air with her tail. Fur lined her lithe body, thick white pelt with cream gray spots and the fire brand on her shoulder flank, ears swiveling around to listen for him as her padded feet hit the concrete silent as a ghost. She was only half way to the dais when she decided on her course, turning quickly to face her foe.

'Lets see how he fares against a wild animal'

Expectant of a good fight now that she had an understanding of his movements, she started her attack. He seemed to like to jump a lot, but given the clustered pews and blocked in areas, jumping was a must it seemed; she only took a moment to register her surroundings with her yellow orange hawk eyes and started off, leaping with a cat's grace on to the benches and up onto the ledges of the windows along the right side of the building, getting a good leap to the pillar closest, placing her clawed paws on it one by one turning her body from one direction to the other in mid air with a swing of her tail, and launching herself off that pillar with her hind legs, an extra speed boost from the momentum to knock him over, swiping at his chest and going in to bite his neck into what she would hope to be less armored than the rest of him.

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leopard 3/4 posts


right now, your along the top left of the diagram, and I'm running over the top windows on the diagram, towards you, and bouncing off the first top left hand pillar to launch myself neatly into your waiting arms, teeth and claws bared.... And yes, I drew this in paint... >.>

(Sorry for the delay. I've got a midterm tomorrow, so I figured I'd get this up now.)
(You won't always be able/willing to draw up a picture and post OOC about your location. Work that kind of information into your posts wherever possible. Resolve confusion via PM rather than large OOC talk.)
(Btw, you never did say when you were fully transformed. I may have missed it, but you only "described" being half-transformed. In the future, it'd be best to straight up transform to avoid the confusion in battle.)
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Her words touched fiery nerves in Jaedin's mind, and he felt a strong impulse to lash out strongly and teach this cat-thing a lesson. But he checked himself before he let his anger get the better of him. He was here to train Nuncia: she was bound to have some rough edges he'd have to smooth out. In fact, he'd get his chance to very soon. At least, if things played out in life as they did in his mind.

Nuncia's strange transformation seemed complete. Nothing of her original humanity existed: only the form and presence of a grey leopard. In the confusion, Jaedin wasn't sure if the girl had been speaking two him, or if this animal was capable of speech. Regardless, it seemed capable enough of attacking, which was Jaedin's biggest concern. With commendable agility, Nuncia leapt up onto one of the church pillars and propelled herself towards Jaedin, intending to maim his body and shred his neck while airborne.

Without solid ground to move out of the way, Jaedin had to twist his body terribly to manage his defence. As Nuncia flew towards Jaedin from his left side, the ninja tossed his sword to the right and drew his hookshot from its place at his hips. But rather than firing it, he quickly drew several feet of chain from the contraption with his right hand, holding both hands such that he made a "U" with chain and hookshot in his right and left hands, respectively. In the same motion, he twisted his hips and kicked his right leg out, moving his body into a more parallel position with the ground and rotating himself counterclockwise [Acrobatics]. While Nuncia had intended for Jaedin to be in front of her, all that remained were two parted arms and a string of chain. Holding the chain firmly in both hands, Jaedin would "close-line" his feline attacker across her neck, sending her into a backwards spin by doing so.

Jaedin was making a gamble with this move: he assumed that, whatever this animal/person/girl was, it represented a real leopard and didn't weigh as much as he did. In the net momentum of the encounter, his extra mass would give him the upper hand and keep Nuncia from dragging him along the ground. If the chain caught for whatever reason, he would release his right hand and allow the chain to go slack.

Landing on the ground proved less perfect than Jaedin would have hoped, but it was manageable. His left leg landed first, calf against the face of one of the stone benches. His inertia carried him backwards, giving him a small "hop" over the seat before landing with a thud on the ground. Such a landing was awkward to say the least: with his legs up on the chair, his butt on the ground, and his arms on the bench behind him, it was like shoving a small child butt-first into a small barrel.

His position was not advantageous, but he hoped he'd given Nuncia enough to work with that he'd have time enough to recover.
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(As always, PM with any questions.)

She had known her opponent had some serious skill in his arts, but how he managed to chain her path and fall over a bench was beyond her as her trajectory landed her against the chain, a quick lift of a paw stopping the chain from clothes lining her completely across the neck, yet it got caught under her arm and across her chest, stopping her in mid air with a firm tug on the chain, her trajectory and velocity more so than just a leap, throwing her entire weight into it-- weight as much as a leopard, with a little added density, so a little more so, adding to the speed at which she flipped over the taught chain.

She gave a snarl and as she flipped head down and tail over, swinging her tail around, managing to right herself a decent amount before she hit the ground in a low pounce, managing to swing herself in mid air to face him, turning to the side as she flipped tail over head, landing with a slight stumble on her feet, much like her cat form would do so.

Taking advantage of his current position was her priority if she were to get any headway in this fight; she gave a quick flick of her tail before pouncing over the chain towards him, jumping over the bench that his legs lay across, aiming for his neck and torso again as she snarled the entire time, her chest hurting more so than before now that she had been banged around, first with some kind of hidden power in his fists and now a chain attack. Her rear was planted firmly next to his legs as she slashed down at him, her weight on her back haunches as she dipped and dived for his neck, slashing with her claws like an angry cat out for blood-- she [b]was[/i] the angry cat in this case.

It had been a long time since she had had such a battle as this, where her opponent seemed to divine her movements and create impediments for her, so long so that she seemed rusty-- or he was just that good, more so than she could say for herself. Her transformation was wearing on her by this point in time, she could feel the strain of it as she clawed and bit the ninja, hoping that she could at least gain a hand at all before she was forced back into her elven form, reduced to a tired form with only a dagger to defend and attack with. She knew that would not be advantageous for her to say the least, yet it would be a good learning curve for her to rely less on her animal forms for everything, even if they were her main source of attack power, agility, balance, and defense...

(Thanks for the PM. When battling it's always nice to be explicit about the legalities of your "special" stuff, as it avoids tiresome debate later.)
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Unfortunately, Jaedin couldn't anticipate the state he was in now. Pinned awkwardly between two lengths of cold stone, he could do little to quickly right himself and escape Nuncia's menacing reach as she sailed towards him, sharpened claws ready to shred him to strings. His harsh landing had jarred his body, and his brain was sloshing about a bit, getting its bearings. His trainee's agility was commendable, for the time Jaedin thought she would need to recover seemed immeasurable: she was upon him almost as quickly as he had landed. Apparently cats did always land on their feet.

So Jaedin made what best he could out of what he had. Letting his hookshot lay on the ground, he brought both his arms up to bar the way to the bare flesh of his neck. The action was quick enough - and barely - to protect himself at the expense of his armor [Quick Trigger]. Sharp claws dugs into the black material and raked across the two false bones in each of the arms of his armor. However, Nuncia's claws ran parallel to those bones, rather than across. While the armor helped, her small daggers would find blood in the long, shallow scratches she cut into Jaedin's arms. But, his neck was un-maimed, and that was all he needed for motivation.

[Powder Ball]

Without moving, the ninja procured an odd silver sphere from thin air; roughly the side and weight of a small child's jawbreaker. He held the ball in his right hand for only a moment, letting the ball catch the light of the setting sun. Craning his neck above his protecting arms, Jaedin set his eyes on Nuncia's, those jade orbs looking for something. And then, he winked and turned his head to the left while extending his right hand to the right. The small orb exploded in a whoosh of dust and silt, laying claim to the nose, eyes, and throat. Sneezing was annoying, but a cloud of it in your body could be more than that.

Hopefully, it would be enough to get Nuncia's cat-form off of him, giving Jaedin his personal bubble.
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(Powder Ball: 2x)

(Understood, and yea, I'm sorry I wasn't descriptive enough, i will have to work on that aspect...)

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She felt her claws digging with satisfaction as she raked lines down his arms, hoping to get at his neck, the blood adding to her enjoyment of this hunt. She had finally caught the ninja that had not only tossed her into the air with one trick, but used another to stop her leap, and it seemed as if he always had another trick up his sleeve, or in those tons of clothing he wore. Either way, her satisfaction was more with the fact that he had no tricks for a cat on him, which made the slashes and blood even more enjoyable. It had been a long time since she had such a challenging hunt, she was almost going to be sad when it is over.

She knew he was pinned and on the defensive with little chance of escape that she could see--until he procured that ball out of nowhere. She saw it and instinct said Move! Now! but instinct was all good and well unless you knew why you had to move. She figured that the worst thing it could do was be thrown at her, and maybe hurt a bit, but it was the idea that it could explode that made her second guess her actions and move now, just as her instinct had said for her to do.

Needless to say that within moments of her mind making the decision to move the ball exploded, a cloud of what appeared to be dust everywhere. She inhaled a good amount of it as she leaped back away from the ninja, wiping her eyes with her now elven hands, her transformation having being spent and this jarring event moving her that much faster out of it. She coughed and gagged on the dust, backing up out of it, constantly wiping her eyes. She covered her mouth with one hand, trying to remember where her dagger could be..

She tried to recover a bit but her ribs were aching now and her chest felt bruised, as did the edge of her arm where she caught the chain. On her body were deep bruising on her abdomen and ribs from where the fist that had connected earlier with that strange tendril power, and another in a line across her chest and along her one forearm. She wiped her eyes and went to make a dash to the other side of the cathedral; however, the dust concealed her and her surroundings as well, and so it wasn't surprising that she hit the stone pew hard with her leg, making her snarl for a second as she felt her way over it, trying to get out of the cloud and to her dagger-- and to air not tainted with the dust.

She followed the pew along its long edge and found the wall, and now that she could breath a little better, (though it was still hard to do so,) she ran a bit towards her dagger which she saw was with her belt and cloth laying on the ground, where her full transformation had taken place. She had the belt fashioned that it fell off in a transformation, that way she could pick it up later, the cloth attached to the belts. She didn't bother reclaiming the cloth and belts, but did a quick roll near the dagger, which jarred her ribs more and made her gasp a little inside, to grab it in mid roll so when she righted herself she could face him on her feet and armed. She kicked the belts out of her foot space, so she could stand without a tripping hazard, feeling rather drained from the bruising and that transformations length-- she hadn't trained that one well enough it seemed. She'd have to work on that one.

"What is with you and your tricks? I fight as I am, why can you not?"
She asked into the cloud that was beginning to settle, where she expected him to be.

~I'm sick and tired of one trick after another-- it seemed anytime I think I got him, he slips from my grasp like a fish in oil. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to catch that slippery fish just so you can live another day. Makes it even more frustrating when it isn't as simple as a fish.~ she thought to herself as she readied herself against a possible ambush.

She kept her ears open to any sounds within and without the dust cloud, ready in case he decided to use the dust cloud as more than just a defensive measure against her, her dagger at the ready and her in a defensive stance.

As the dust from the explosion began to settle, Jaedin winced as the dull, distant thud of Nuncia's leg against the pew reached his ears. Though his tactic caused plenty of respiratory problems, he'd hardly ever used it to obscure visibility. She faced him now, though she gazed several feet to his left, obviously unsure of his exact location. But visibility was returning, and her lungs would soon breathe fresh air once again.

Anxious to get to his feet, Jaedin took this opportunity to do so, wiggling about to get his legs underneathe him. He laid hold of his hookshot and rewound its chain, hitching it back onto his felt when done. The slices in his armor were traced with a dark red liquid, and a single, tender drop of crimson blood fell from his wounds to mar the unremarkable stone floor. The sting of those gashes remained a constant reminder to Jaedin as he clenched and relaxed his hands.

"Tricks..."

Jaedin spoke the word slowly, as if he could taste it by rolling it off his tongue. He thought for a moment, grasping Nuncia's meaning so as to craft his response.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Tricks. But what are 'tricks' to you are merely my way of life: how I survive here in this world."

"I could ask the same of you. What 'trick' gives you the form of an animal? Certainly, I cannot do these things. Regardless, I do not hold my limitations against you. Why would you do so to me?"

Slowly, he brought his right hand up. The hand held a single, finely-polished throwing star. He showed it to Nuncia and turned his hand away, hiding it from her momentarily. When he turned his wrist to open his hand to her again, another small sphere had taken the place of the shuriken. He repeated the action again, revealing an innocent acorn. He tossed in the air idly, catching it in his left hand, which he then balled into a fist. A small chuckled escaped him, for he was fond of sleight-of-hand tricks. When he opened that same hand, the nut was gone without a trace.

Nuncia was more naked than when she started. If daggers weren't considered clothing, she was completely naked. The pain in his arms helped to keep Jaedin's mind from wandering, and he found himself naturally focused on the task at hand. Her nudity, while still improper, was no longer so shocking.

"I am not all I appear to be. Neither are you. We are not so different"

But Jaedin was now done w/ talking, whatever Nuncia's responses were. He would put her through a few more paces before releasing on the rest of DI.

"But enough of this. Let's see what else you can do!"
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[size=95](We'll go a few more posts, and then you should be good to go.)[/color]