Sixteenth Broken Fang

[taintedruby]

[As a forward note, this post is set in the afternoon of the 12th. So yeah.

At the barracks on this day there is a certain dynamic duo hard at work making sure that they skills are in order for things tomorrow. Namely, the long-time partners Jaffar and innocentemerald. The odd thing for Jaffar in the past (for their few battles together so far) has found

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[innocentemerald]

[And after one final well-timed Fire that literally blew the Head straight off of a dummy they placed outside the barracks for training, she sighs and relaxes a bit, looking back at him.]

Is something on your mind, Jaffar? [Yes, she can tell. ...Obviously, even. Tell her? :c]

[taintedruby]

[There is. He pauses before he nods. His position shifts a bit as he puts his daggers back in the sheath so he might re-draw them quickly but...] You have gotten... stronger. [Stronger than he probably expected; stronger than him, probably. Sonia did do well to pick Nino, he can't help but think, but she was a fool to disregard this girl. Her resolve might not have been what the Fang wanted in her callousness, but with this sort of power...]

I... [He wants to test it. He puts a hand on his daggers. Chances are she's probably never seen him spar, but he's not quite sure how to ask about that] want to practice.

[innocentemerald]

[She beams at that. Actually she can't even completely process the words, though she does accept it wholly because it's Jaffar.

A compliment. A praise. And even with her self-esteem she can take it in whole - because it's him. Nergal picked her, though. Sonia's loss. 8| The childish delight and the lighting up of her emerald eyes spoke volume, for the one time that she finds herself with no need for words.

...There might have been a light sound of happiness, though. And this chipper air does not leave even when he proposes to test it; she understands fully the meaning, and truly? This is an honor. She's watched him fight during every instance that she could, and no doubt, he did the same with her. Her Heal Staff was there, and they did bring Vulneraries for just in case. There was no reason whatsoever for her to hesitate.]

Y-yes! [She squeezes her tome a bit tighter.] I'll be- happy to. We can always get stronger, after all - for everyone's sake. How do you want to do this, Jaffar?

[taintedruby]

[He can't help but... well he doesn't smile, but his facial muscles briefly relax. To someone like Nino, this might as well be him putting on a big dopey grin. He's glad to see her so elated, even if he doesn't always understand her sense of inferior. After all, both of them were discarded in some form or another. ...Either way, he pauses before he eventually lets out the words-] ...A spar.

[The words sound alien from his lips, but he considers. And then he pops the Killing Edges out of his sheaths. This onto itself is an amazing show of trust from him, because he is briefly disarming himself. Instead, he goes to where he's set down his spare weapons for this show and takes up two iron daggers. This is less risk to Nino. Even if she was better, probably, and even if he was going to hold back, he didn't want to risk that the much sharper Killing Edges presented to her. He puts the tow iron blades in their holsters and then crouches into a battle position-]...We'll break after three hits. The first to score three wounds "