A City of History [Private, Vivian and Emi]

"You should probably wait until you know people better before asking them. I don't think I know anyone who would be willing to enter any sort of pact with a person they just met." Emilia finished her drink and placed it on the table. She noticed Vi's annoyance, but didn't really care. "Oh right. I forgot about Nox Animus traveling. I don't know how the hell I'll get anything to you." She shrugged. "I'll probably figure something out, and who knows, I might join that pact later on, depending on how much I get to like you. Maybe sooner if you offer something in return." She chuckled and leaned back in her chair.

Vi chuckled as well, then shrugged at Emi's comment about Noximus moving. "Eh, it's pretty hard to miss Nox," she said lightly. "You could probably use a messenger bird or something, or just search out a Nox member and give it to him. It'll find it's way to me eventually, although I can't guarantee it won't be read beforehand if you use that latter method." She smiled at her last comment as she leaned back as well. "I'll appreciate it if you want to make a pact with me, regardless of when; I can always use more, after all. I'll also keep an eye out on my travels for any valuables or curiosities you might enjoy. Sound good?"

Emilia nodded. The whole pact thing at this point seemed like a win-win. Make a friend and someone to communicate with discreetly, and potential ally and link to Nox Animus if she ever wanted to leave Sabertooth to join up. Still, she wanted to wait. "Sounds good to me, still, I'd like to wait a bit, do some jobs with you maybe. Learn how you fight and generally know you better, that sort of stuff." She sighed. "Unfortunately, jobs are going to have to wait, though. I'm all booked for jobs for a bit. So, what are you planning on doing after lunch? I doubt you'd want to do the stuff Vivian came here for."

Vi nodded. "I can understand, kind of, wanting to take it slow, but I don't get why people are so apprehensive about the mind-link thing. Vi and I have no privacy between us; we can hear each other's thoughts loud and clear. Pacts are way less intrusive, and they tend to be more useful than Vivian and I's link." She shrugged and grinned. "I got you to say maybe, though, so I'll count that as a victory for now. I'll gladly do a job with you once you get some free spots; I haven't done an official mission yet, so maybe you'll be my first partner. As far as today goes, though, I'm not sure. I kind of want to break something, but I'm pretty sure that's not allowed. Do you have any ideas?"

"You and Vivian also share the same body. People don't like potentially revealing information about themselves that could be used against them. They want to make sure they can trust someone and they won't turn against them before they agree to that sort of thing." She shrugged. "Well, I'm not sure if we could do it here, but I do find it fun to go to bars and pick fights with the drunks. Not much challenge, but it is amusing. Sometimes I'll work as a bouncer if I need some extra money, too." She grinned, "Or, if you're up for it, we could find a place to spar with each other. Just fists though, I don't feel like using magic today."

"Ah, well," Vi said, "We'll see what happens once we get to know each other better. I may not look it, but I do tend to like my friends; if something happens to them, I don't hesitate to protect them." She straightened up in her chair, smiling. "I'm up for fighting some drunks if you are; granted, I don't know where there would be people drunk enough in the middle of the day like this. I did see a great sparring place while Vivian was walking into the town; it's right outside the town border, there's a warehouse or something similar that looked like nobody had touched it for a while. We could go there for some privacy and fight a little, but it's really up to you."

Emilia stood up. "Fighting drunks is too easy. I'm up for more of a challenge." She grinned at Vi, "That is, if you think you've got the skill." She had already paid for her drink, but had yet to eat lunch. "And lets make it a bit of a competition. Loser buys the winner's lunch." Emi wondered how good at fistfighting Vivian was. She herself was quite skilled at it, since, other than using Trauma, it was her favored way of fighting, which she did a lot.

Vi grinned right back at Emi. "Sounds interesting! You're on," she said, cracking her knuckles for emphasis. Vivian started saying something about needing their money, but Vi cut her off; what did she know, anyway? Vi liked to think she was a good fighter; while Emi looked like she could take care of herself, Vi was confident that she could beat her. She stood up and stretched. "The warehouse is right out of town, to the east," she explained as she picked up her satchel. "Wanna walk there together?"

Emilia nodded. "Sure." She stood up and walked out of the restaurant. She would let Vi lead the way from there. The girl seemed pretty confident, but Emilia doubted Vi had as much experience as her. For one, she looked much younger, and for another, Vi herself only came around after Vivian had started using her magic, and she doubted Vivian had any fighting experience. That left Emi with quite a few years more than Vi, especially since she had started fighting at a relatively young age, thanks to her father. She decided that she might not even cheat in this fight. Much of the time she could get away with using Redirection in these sorts of spars, since it didn't really have anything indicating that she had stored the force of an attack.

Vi led the way deftly, walking quickly and checking behind her every so often to see if Emi was following her. She was beginning to have doubts about this; Emi was older than her, and almost certainly more well-muscled. She probably had more experience, as well; while Vi had grown up fighting in the streets of her town, Emi likely had a lot more disciplined fighting techniques. Not to mention that she didn't know what kind of magic Emi had; it was entirely possible that it was a passive one that increased her hand-to-hand fighting. The more she thought about this fight, the worse of an idea it seemed; she didn't care, though. She made a bet, so she would win regardless. The warehouse began to appear, alongside a few other buildings that all seemed run-down. "There it is," she muttered, pointing towards the building.

Emilia grinned as she caught sight of the warehouse. "Seems like a great place to spar. So, how about some ground rules? I'm thinking hands only. I don't think we want to beat each other too badly, so it might be a good idea to avoid using elbows, legs, and headbutts. Throws and grapples would be okay, though." Not only had Emi brawled a lot growing up, usually with guys much larger than her, she had received formal training from her father as well, who was an experienced mercenary. She was confident that she could beat Vi. "That sound good to you? Oh and no magic. I don't think I'll even cheat this time." She said with a chuckle.

Vi grinned back at Emi, although she wasn't exactly feeling confident in her skills compared to the older girl. "Sure, we can go with those rules," she replied. "Hands, throws and grapples. Got it." She frowned slightly, however, when Emi brought up the magic. "No magic is good also, but where do you get off cheating with it? What kind of magic is it, anyway?" While she waited for a response, she turned her attention back to the warehouse, swinging the door open and beckoning Emi to follow her inside. The interior of the warehouse was mostly deserted, with a few stray boxes lying here and there; it would be an ideal open ground for fighting.

Emilia grinned back at Vi when asked about her magic. "Force magic. Basically I have this spell I could use that lets me take the force from one of your attacks so it doesn't hurt me and store it, then release it in one of my attacks. It doesn't give much of an indication when I'm using it, so it's easy to cheat in fights with." Emilia followed her inside, taking a look around as she did so. "This is a good place. Let's get out into the center, then we can start." She said as she walked into the warehouse. Once inside, she would turn and face Vi, dropping into a fighting stance. "Whenever you're ready to lose." She said with confident grin. While Emi certainly seemed overconfident and cocky, in fistfights she always tended to start off defensively to analyze her enemy's weak points so she could exploit them.

Vi made a curious face as she listened to Emi talk about her magic. "Force Magic, huh?" She said, going back to a smile. "Sounds interesting. I'd like to talk to you more about it, although Vivian would probably like to moreso." She chuckled a bit. "The girl loves to learn about different kinds of magic. She's pretty much a magic buff." Vi settled into a fighting position opposite of Emi, her grin fading slightly as she became more focused. "Sure thing," she said after Emi half-taunted her, lashing out with a left hook aimed at Emi's shoulder.

"We can talk after the fight." Emi responded to Vi's curiosity. Her grin didn't fade as the fight started. She was able to easily block Vi's hook using her right arm. She stepped forward as she blocked, and went to deliver a hard punch to Vi's gut with her left hand, using the momentum of her step and power of her legs to back the punch. She wasn't one to waste time going for her opponent's arms or legs. The gut was generally the best place to hit to wear them down.

Vi moved to block Emi's gut punch with her left arm, grunting in pain as the fist and forearm collided. Emi was not only more experienced, it seemed like she was stronger as well; it was seeming more and more likely that Vi was going to lose this. Still, that didn't mean she was going to go down without a fight. Pulling her right arm back, she aimed another punch, this one aimed at Emi's own gut. At the same time, she moved her left arm to intercept Emi's left hand, preventing her from moving it to block.

Emilia grinned as she saw Vivian pull her arm back. It gave her enough warning that the punch was coming to use her favorite technique. As a force mage, she had learned a lot about techniques used to use an enemy's momentum against them, even by mundane means. This was one such occasion where she could do that. She turned to avoid Vi's punch, grabbing at the woman's arm as she did so. Without stopping, she would continued with her turn, throwing Vi in the direction she punched, utilizing her own momentum against her to throw her more easily. It wasn't likely that Vi could do much against this, since it was a very fast maneuver, and Emi doubted she had ever fought against any technique like that before.

Vi was completely caught off-guard, unable to stop from crashing into one of the few large crates that were still around the warehouse. She fell to the floor, cursing herself for falling right into Emi's trap; she bet that she had done exactly what the Force Mage had wanted, in fact. Feeling her face, Vi realized that she had a nosebleed from crashing into the crate, and was bruised in several other places; still, she wasn't going to let the fight end in a measly ten seconds. Getting up, Vi staggered a bit before running at Emi again. Right before reaching her, however, Vi feinted, seemingly aiming for the gut when she was actually aiming for an uppercut.

Emilia found herself kind of wishing she hadn't restricted this to fists only. There had been a few opportunities for a good headbutt or kick already. Oh well. She readied herself to throw Vi again as she charged, but was caught somewhat by surprise with the uppercut. Still, she managed to lean back in time and roll with the punch to minimize the damage. She retaliated against Vi's attack with a haymaker aimed at Vi's jaw with her left hand, expecting her to try to dodge it. If she did dodge, though, Emi would feint into a quick jab to the kidneys with her right hand.

Vi grimaced as she watched Emi roll back; she was glad that she had connected, but she knew that it hadn't actually done much damage. Vivian was saying something, but it was drowned out in the adrenaline that Vi was feeling; she loved this feeling, the feeling of fighting. Granted, she wasn't enjoying the fact that she would almost certainly lose, but hey, she'd take what fighting she could get. She ducked out of the way of Emi's haymaker punch, only to be surprised when Emi launched as jab at where her kidneys had been; it struck her left upper arm, causing her to recoil a bit. Gritting her teeth to drown out the pain, she launched another punch at Emi's gut, aiming from her lower position so it was harder to block.

Emi's arm was already low from her jab, so she was able to block Vi's hit. It was still a good one, and smarted her arm quite a bit. Now she was beginning to regret saying fists only. She had already seen a few opportunities for knees, elbows, and headbutts. Still, she didn't feel like cheating against Vi, not today at least. With the hand she blocked with, she tried to go for another quick punch in the gut to distract her, and would immediately try to follow up by grabbing Vi's wrist with the other hand, hoping to take hold and try to get her into a submission hold.

Vi grinned as Emi moved to block her punch. Even though it was blocked, she knew that sh'ed done a decent amount of damage to the other girl; she might be losing, but she felt confident knowing that it wasn't a complete stomp. She was so caught up in patting herself on the back that she never saw the gut punch coming. Sent reeling by the punch, she wasn't able to dodge Emi grabbing her wrist either; as soon as it happened, however, the realization hit her: She'd lost. She struggled a bit, but it was half-hearted; she knew what was going to happen now.

Looks like someone got too proud of herself. Emilia thought to herself as she was easily able to grab Vi's wrist. She quickly went about pinning it behind her back. Should she try to struggle, Emi could cause quite a bit of pain very quickly, and could, if she really wanted to, break the girl's arm. She wouldn't do that though, since it was just a spar. "You've got a bit to learn, but you ain't half bad. So... do you give in?" She grinned, happy that she was going to be getting her free lunch.

Vi sighed, a smile on her face despite the fact that she had lost. "Yeah, I guess I lose," she said tiredly. "It was a fun fight, though. You deserve the lunch I'm about to treat you to." As the buzz of battle faded out, she could hear Vivian again, getting louder and louder. "I can't believe you did that!" She yelled. Vi sighed again; Vivian was actually mad now. That didn't usually happen. "We'll be fine," she told her more timid counterpart. "We'll just do a job or something. We'll get the money back fast." "Still!" Vivian shot back. "Offering up our money like that!" She sat there in their mindspace, a pouty look on her face. "I'm mad at you." Vi just rolled her eyes. "I got that. We'll deal with it later." she tuned back into reality, ignoring Vivian's further ranting. "So, uh, can you let go of me now?" She asked Emi. "I'll let you pick the restaurant, since you won and all."


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((OOC: I'm trying out a new speech method for these two. Bold is said out loud.))

Emilia grinned and let go of Vi. "It was fun. And I'm glad I don't have to pay." She said with a chuckle. She started to walk out of the warehouse and waved her hand for Vi to follow. "Sure, I'm just going to go with the one we met at. They seemed to have good food. They had good beer at least. And be glad, I don't think they're that expensive either. And who knows, I might even sign your pact while we're there."