Reyna (reynaway) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2017-01-10 06:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, kenny mccormick (mysterion), ~2017 january, ~25 points, ~~~reyna ramirez-arellano |
WHO: Reyna Ramirez-Arellano and Kenny McCormick
WHERE: In the woods
WHEN: Jan 10
WHAT: Kenny finds Reyna practicing
RATING: PG
STATUS: log; completed
Although Reyna was no longer fighting monsters on a daily basis, she liked to keep herself in shape. Sure, she was on all the sports teams at school that she could possibly fit into her schedule, but running around dribbling a ball or kicking it or volleying it really didn’t give her the kind of workout she needed. At the moment, she was doing swordwork. Although it wasn’t her own weapon - hers hadn’t made the trip to Madison Valley with her - she was wielding it as if it were. One of the perks of being a Daughter of Bellona meant that every weapon felt like her own in her hands. The sword was a blur in her hands as she went through a series of thrusts and evasions against an imaginary opponent. And then the rustle of leaves caught her attention, and out of reflex she whirled around, sword pointed at the intruder’s throat. *** Kenny had pretty much explored all of Madison Valley. He had been to almost every place in town. The only place he didn't go to yet was the forest, but he had a good reason for that. He didn't have a lot of good memories of the woods when he was younger. Sure, camping and roasting marshmallows with his friends wasn't so bad, but he also had been mauled by bears and other wildlife animals. He wasn't sure if there were any in these particular woods but he avoided it nonetheless. But he was bored and also curious, so he decided today to explore the forest. If he got killed by a bear, then so be it. It wouldn't be the first time and he'd just come back anyway. As he was walking, he heard some sounds coming from his right. He went to investigate and he came upon a girl practicing with a sword. Which was now suddenly pointed at him. He blinked in surprise. "Holy shit, you're fast," he commented, not at all bothered by the fact there was a sharp object at his throat. *** Realizing that the stranger wasn’t a threat, Reyna lowered her sword. She was breathing deeply from her exertions, but she wasn’t tired yet. “Sorry,” she said, lowering the sword. “I have a twitchy sword hand.” And way too many years of experience having to be quick on the draw with monsters. The young man in front of her looked very unmonsterlike, though, so she tried to relax and not look threatening herself. “I usually don’t see that many people out here this early.” *** "It's fine," Kenny waved her off. "I probably shouldn't have snuck up on someone with a sword." It was a bit reckless and stupid to do so, but he was just that sometimes. When you could come back after dying, you could afford to be a little careless. At least, Kenny was and he sometimes did crazy stunts just to see if he could do it. "Uh, yeah. I woke up earlier than I wanted. I couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to go exploring and ended up here," he shrugged. He was a little grumpy when he first got up. He usually was when he couldn't go back to sleep when he could've stayed in bed, which was the case today. But he was awake now and less upset. Instead, he was a bit curious. "So what are you doing out here with a sword?" he asked. He'd only seen a sword once or twice - one of those times, he'd been stabbed to death - but that was a long time ago. Was she training for something? If so, why? It wasn't like there was any monsters here to kill. As far as he knew, anyway. *** “Training,” Reyna said simply. “I don’t have a spear on me, so I’m using a sword.” It was a simple explanation, at least to a Roman legionnaire. She wasn’t sure if it would make sense to this stranger, who looked so comfortable around sharp objects and yet had been startled by her sword and made no moves to defend himself. There were all kinds in Madison Valley; she wasn’t sure which one this one was. *** "Training for what? It's not like there's any monsters here to kill." Well, there were werewolves and he was pretty sure there were vampires and others even though he never met any yet, but Kenny didn't really consider them monsters. If they went around killing people, then he might think twice but as far as he knew, they didn't do anything horrible. He nodded. "Yeah, spears are hard to come by." He replied so casually, as if he had this sort of problem. Of course, he didn't as he wasn't some type of warrior who fought with swords and spears. But it really wasn't very often that he'd come across a spear. He had died numerous deaths but he wasn't quite sure if he'd ever been impaled by one before. "Anyway, I don't know much about swordfighting but you seem pretty good." *** Pretty good? Reyna didn’t have much of an ego, but she did take pride in her skills, and she knew she was more that ‘pretty good’. She was excellent, in fact. Her mother was literally a warrior goddess. She smiled briefly, though, and took the compliment as it was intended. “Thank you. I am the Praetor of the the Twelfth Roman Legion. We train hard, even when there aren’t monsters. And I wouldn’t discount them not showing up here. We’ve already had evil vampires and dinosaurs.” *** "Cool," Kenny nodded, although he wasn't quite sure what she meant by Praetor and all that but it sure sounded cool. "Vampires can be evil. Good thing there isn't any right now, as far as I know. And really, dinosaurs? I never seen one before and I've seen some weird shit." He considered himself lucky since he'd probably get eaten by a tyrannosaurus rex or something. "So what was that move you were just doing before I came here?" he asked. He had observed her doing some awesome moves with her sword just before it was pointed at his throat. *** “Standard feint,” Reyna said with a shrug. She didn't get up to fancy moves; what made her so impressive was her deadly precision. As a fighter, Reyna was economical: she only did what she needed to be effective. She'd waste too much energy otherwise, and in a fight against a big monster, every ounce of energy was needed. “Do you fight?” She looked him over, suspecting she already knew the answer, but people here were weird. He might have powers that were more deadly than good swordwork. *** It may have been standard to her, but it looked pretty impressive to Kenny. Probably because he so rarely saw any type of sword before. Even more rarely did he see any swordfighting. He was pretty sure he never once saw that before. Well, other than in the videogames he played. The only thing he saw in real life was fencing on tv a few times, but he didn't really pay attention to it at the time. He shook his head. "No, but I kinda want to now." *** Reyna studied him for a moment. She didn’t know him at all, but she had to admire his sangfroid in the midst of being threatened by a sword. “I’ll teach you,” she finally offered. “But you’d have to be prepared to work hard.” *** "Really?" Kenny hadn't expected her to offer to teach him, but hey, he'll take it. He gave her a quick salute. "I will." He may come across an an easygoing guy who did drugs once in awhile, but he was a hard worker when he set his mind to it. And this was something he'd definitely wanted to do. Or try, at least. And speaking of work. "Maybe another time, though. My job starts soon so I really should get going," he told her. It was too bad because he wanted to learn soon. He turned to leave but stopped to ask her, "Do I need to get my own sword or something?" *** “I'll get you a practice sword to start,” Reyna said. “Just let me know when you're ready and we'll arrange something.” She'd leave the ball in his court. If he was really serious, he'd contact her quickly. If not...well, Reyna wasn't going to waste her time. *** "Alright." Practice sword was probably best. He wouldn't want to accidentally cut his arm off or something. "I'll see you soon." And with a little wave, he walked off and headed back into town. |