TONK TONK BUZZ TONK TONK

TONK TONK BUZZ TONK TONK

Thudding noises could be heard echoing down one hallway of the Palace as the woman moved through the motions of practice fighting. From the door of the room if one were to step in to see what was going on the sight before them would be most curious if they were not familiar with the one practicing.

Four wooden dummies were set up each of them weighted down so they wouldn’t tip over, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t trying to do just that. The noises were coming from the when the two tonfas the figure was wielding would strike against the dummies, cracking against it but only marring the hard wood and not doing any lasting damage. She was moving between the four of them quickly, either striking in the chest or the head before moving to the next. Two dummies were on one side of the room and the other two were set up about twenty feet across from them.

What allowed for her speed from getting from one pair to the other was what was making that buzzing noise now then. A set of wings caught the light as they sprang to life with that buzzing noise as she used them to dash from one set to the other and back again. She would strike each dummy twice before dashing back to the other set. Her arms moved with easy muscle memory as the nearly six-and-a-half-foot tall woman went through her warmup and practice motions.

With obsidian black skin and golden hued soft down fur she was a striking figure, because she was in fact an Amhara from Onnen. Better known as Wasps to those that didn’t speak the native language of Onnen. As she, though with no outward sexual characteristics it was nearly impossible to tell if she was male or female, dashed between the dummies again she did something a bit different. As her upper arms held the beetle horn tonfas her lower arms reached for something else at her sides. She twisted in the air for a brief moment to look in the direction of the dummies she was moving from and her lower arms shot out and two shruiken spun through the air and they struck true, digging into the chest of each dummy.

The Wasp was already turned back in the air before the throwing stars hit their marks and she started to strike the dummies, spinning her tonfas around and clocking them in turn. She hit them both hard in the head one last time before discarding her tonfas to either side and grabbed the dummies by the head in one smoothing motion. It was impossible to tell but she was using her innate ability to make it painful to touch her, but also electricity sparked up her arms before she let out a small grunt as lightning cracked across her arms and into the dummies.

Breathing heavily she released the dummies and drank some water from a canteen that was close by. She wasn’t giving herself much rest, however, as she used a foot to kick the tonfas away further and then removed the stars from the dummies and replaced them in their pouches. Next to where she had her water on the bench lay more weapons, two sapphire sword, two rapiers crafted from an oversized wasp stinger and a small buckler style shield. She took one last drink of water before grabbing the sword, all four of them. She held a sapphire sword in her primary right upper hand and a rapier in her upper left, while her lower left held a sapphire sword and her lower right held a rapier.

She stood, back to the door, and was taking a few deep breaths before she started moving again.

It was days like this that Xeik would normally find himself the busiest. Lady Angela, in her usual way, had gone out on some sort of urgent business, leaving Xeik to more or less babysit Raine and Mia both. There was, however, a twist of luck with the day, and Mia went to spend time with Simone. Their sessions lately had been frustrating Mia, but the lycan was determined to get her letters right, and Simone was equally determined to teach. That left Raine. One was easier to deal with, but another lucky break; on a bird brained whim, she decided to head to the Bastion for Maalik.

That left surprisingly little for him to do, and after he made his usual rounds, found himself wandering the temple in Elysia. Ever since Mia had more or less confessed, the rest of the followers in the temple backed off on trying to sleep with him, which made exploring the temple rather easy now, save for the few who still gave him the occasional wink in hopes.

“We have a training room?” Xeik asked as he stared at a sign. Of course we do. This is Angela we’re talking about…I’m sure she has everything in the temple. It might be a good idea to use it to try and stay in shape. With all of this work I have to do, I’m not really active enough. He started towards it, walking down the hallway. Sounds of its use echoed through. “Uh oh, sounds like it might be full.”

As he walked through the doorway, he looked around to see a mostly empty room. There was only one person, a rather large and imposing figure that, at first glance, appeared in a shroud as they moved. It was hard to tell, but could it have been armor of some kind?. They had just finished up a routine, taking a quick break before getting back to it.

I wasn’t aware Ang opened up the temple like this to strangers. He wasn’t entirely sure how to get the person’s attention, but their movements were graceful and impressive to watch, even if the intent was to kill. Respectfully, he waited for the routine to end, and once he knew he was safe to interrupt, held up his hand.

“Morning!” Xeik called out. “That’s a mighty impressive training routine you have there.”

Sharifa took a last deep breath as she readied her swords when the voice called out to her. She had been so focused on her routine that she hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t alone anymore. ~Oh goody.~ Shar thought to herself as she turned around, all four hands holding her swords still as she eyed the young man. ”Hello, and thank you.” Shar replied as politely as she could. She didn’t know this young man, hadn’t met him before or saw him around here, but then again she hadn’t been in here in a while. Shar had been operating in Onnen a lot more lately for Ang so it had been a while since Shar had been back to the Palace so many he was new here?

”I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here before, is there something I can help you with? Is there someone you’re looking for?” Shar asked as she felt her heart rate starting to come down, well, so much for the rest of this exercise it seemed. ”I’m Sharifa, by the way. So, is there something I can help you with?” The wasp asked as she settled her weapons back on the bench again before turning back to him and settling her weight on one leg and crossing her lower arms. Solid black eyes stared back at Xeik as she waited for a response from him. Hopefully he wasn’t just some dumb young kid that wondered into the Palace somehow, and he didn’t look like any of Angela’s rather extended family.

Xeik was more than happy to wait, and it paid off. Surprisingly, the person, Sharifa she later introduced herself as, seemed polite enough. Though, as she spoke with the Divine Mender, he realized that her tone was probing, if anything, as to why he was here. It was easy to mistake, as most of the clergy for Lady Angela were women. If anything, he was the odd one out, so it was understandable that he was mistaken for someone who didn’t belong in the temple.

“It’s a pleasure, Sharifa. My name is Xeik Eraphim. I live here, on the other side of the temple. As long as I’ve been here, though, I haven’t actually had the time to explore. I had no idea there was a training room like this.” Xeik smiled. He didn’t really feel like giving his title at the moment. Usually when he went about with it, he was hounded for meetings with the goddess herself, or miracles. It was exhausting, and today he just wanted to relax. Besides, if there really was any issue, he was ready and available as a world class healer.

“Your skills,” Xeik said, thinking aloud more than anything. “They remind me of a friend of mine, an assassin by the name of Lewis Te-, Dusk. Have you heard of him? I don’t know if there are circles or anything like that…” It was an odd question, but Xeik felt awkward just standing there. At least some conversation had to be made. He felt almost obligated.

Xeik? Why did that name sound familiar to her? He also said he lived here, but Sharifa had not seen him before, so he must have only recently moved in, which he did confirm. ”Mostly because this room was put in here for me when I moved in.” Sharifa replied, still trying to suss some more information out of him, but that was her spy training at work, she was always looking for more information. Xeik then commented on her skills and the wasp shrugged. ”That name isn’t one I am familiar with, I don’t tend to run in those circles, I keep to myself and work alone.” She explained in short.

After a moment passed Sharifa decided to just a more blunt question of him, if he wasn’t lying that he lived here now then he must be here for a reason. But why was his name familiar to her? She had been away from here for too long it seemed, things had changed. ”So, Xeik, tell me, what has brought you to the Palace and made you start living here? Are you another stray that has been taken in, like I was after the insect invasion?” She questioned, giving only a little bit about herself and hoping that would make him open up some more and say more about himself than she had of herself.