tampered | Log: On-Going

Roy wasn't entirely sure what he should be preparing himself for. He was dressed in his military uniform, as usual, and he usually wore his gloves anywhere he went anyway, so there was nothing unusual about his attire as he made his way out of the building he lived in.

His hands were in his pockets, and his expression was neutral when he left the building through the front door. He didn't know what this Elena looked like, nor did he know what techniques she used. He did have a plan in mind though.

Sidestepping the doorway, he stood simply looking for any particular signs that the girl he had arranged to meet was here. Others were wandering around of course, and he wasn't one to make a show of himself anyway.

If the man standing in front of that building was the Colonel she was looking for, Elena would eat her tie. Grinning a little wider, Elena walked right over to where Roy was standing and tapped him on the shoulder. Granted, she had to reach upwards a bit, but she couldn't help her size. She adapted to it well enough anyway. Besides, it often gave her an advantage in fights, though it ticked her off at the same time. People tended to underestimate her because of her size.

"I'm going to presume that you're Colonel Roy?" Elena greeted with a smirk, offering her hand out to shake, the bangle she wore, clinking slightly at the movement.

Roy turned his head slowly to look round at Elena, a little surprised by her small stature. Apparently, he attracted short people. He pulled his hands from his pockets and turned to face her, nodding once as she spoke.

"and you are Elena." He offered a small smile in return, before taking the offered hand with a gloved one, and shaking. "Pleased to meet you." He nodded once more as if to confirm his own words, before letting go of the hand, and replacing them both into his pockets.

"Did you have anywhere in mind?"

"Pleasure," she returned with a smirk. Crossing her arms lightly, more that she was holding the elbow of one arm than anything really, Elena nodded. The fire comment had kind eliminated a few possibilities if they didn't want to do too much property damage. Best choice would be away from others, or at least somewhere that it took a bit of effort to get to.

"We could either go to the forest or the roofs, depending on how much you want to travel," Elena suggested. "I'm thinking you'd rather not burn down too many buildings with that fire of yours, in case we get out of hand?"

Elena didn't really plan for things to get out of hand, but there was the chance of it happening.

He obviously took note of her posture, looking out over the area around them as she spoke. Neither the forest, nor the rooves sounded like a particularly good idea. If he burnt buildings, it would be awful, and in the forest he was surrounded by wood, which he knew from experience burnt well.

"I wandered around the city for a while during my first few days here. There's a clearing not so far away from here that will prove to be perfect for us." He wasn't sure about things getting out of hand, though. If his battle with Edward were anything to go by.

"I believe it was this way..." He added, pointing in a general direction before walking away from Elena.

"Lead the way then," Elena replied with a casual shrug. Ah well, there went that course of action down the drain. Guess the flames weren't exactly what Elena was thinking of. She was more used to fire spells that quickly burned and snapped, but if the spell wasn't altered or held in any sort of way, the same fire would quickly die out. Roy's alchemy fire must have been more like a natural fire than one that magically created.

While they were walking, rather than trying to make any sort of casual conversation, Elena took the time to study Roy's profile. He did walk like the military men she was used to. A proud confident gait that spoke of being constrained by rules and regulations. But at the same time, there was a subtle note of something else. Probably due to the missing eye. One that must have been recent if Elena had to go by comments alone.

Still, Elena had been around military and their like for a great deal of her life. And with only a few exceptions, there were traits and behaviors that most picked up, without their knowing or realization. These traits, almost always, bled into their fighting styles.

The blonde Turk grinned a little wider and maybe just a touch more smug. She could take him. Showing him a new style of fighting or just a spar, she could take him and take him down.

Roy did just that, his hands found their way back into his pockets, and he found himself walking as if magnetised to the place he had told Elena about. He hadn't thought much about how he was actually going to tackle this sparring match. He hadn't used his alchemy since that day. It didn't phase him so much, but he did wonder whether to try it out before leaping into something quite like this.

His fists balled up in his pockets, and remained that way until they reached their destination, a large clearing he'd stumbled upon close to the edge of the forest around the outskirts of town. The floor was dusty, probably from lack of growth of grass.

When he'd arrived pretty much in the middle of the area he'd chosen, he stopped, turning to face Elena again.

"Good enough for you? I thought perhaps we could take places and on a count, begin?" Yes Yes, that would be the best option for him.

"Works well enough for me," Elena agreed. She took a few steps back, for courtesy sake rather than truly needing the room to prepare herself. While it was mostly Reno and Rude who handled the hand-to-hand combat, and herself and Tseng who had taken the long ranged shots with their better accuracy, it wasn't to say that any of them couldn't switch styles if necessary. And Elena had been getting a lot more training with her own close combat style, given the lack of anything else to do sometimes.

Shifting her weight without showing any visible signs of the action, Elena reached into her pockets to pull out a pair of black leather gloves as well. They were slimmer and thinner than a pair made for someone who used their fist often, but they would still offer her a measure of protection. And best still, she could handle her guns, which she had left home, and the knives she had tucked into wrist sheaths with the same amount of efficiency that she always had.

"You can start the count," She offered with a grin, pulling on the gloves and dropping her arms to hang loosely by her sides.

[ooc: You can just continue the comments in a new comment if you like. To keep the threads neater and all that.

Oh! And so that I'm not pulling things out of my ass or called for cheating later, Elena's weapons are two throwing knives strapped to her wrist, and a Minerva band with Ice, Bolt, and Barrier. She left the grenades at home with her guns. XP]

Roy grinned when Elena accepted the idea, stepping back slightly to gain some more distance between them. He had to analyse the situation thoroughly. She had gloves on, did that mean she expected to throw punches at him? He was leaping into this blindly, and that meant he had to act quickly, just like with a certain other battle.

He kept his hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead at Elena with his usual composure. A almost straight face, save for the slight smirk that was usually present when he thought he had an upper hand.

"Okay, on three then." He confirmed. "One, Two... Three." His smile widened when his count finished, and instantly one hand was out of his pocket, and his forefinger and thumb together in a clicking motion, sending a spark of fire towards Elena. His face contorted slightly, how could that be? Immediately both his hands were thrust out so that he could examine them, almost all thought of the sparring match leaving his head. He'd done everything like he'd always done before, right?

Elena had automatically tensed as soon as the count of 'two' had passed and when 'three' came and went, with Roy thrusting out his hands, the blonde had already reacted. With her weight shifted to the balls of her feet, Elena used that weight to jump to the side and flick out her wrist, palming one of her knives.

When she landed though, Elena couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Roy. By all accounts, it looked like Roy had completely forgotten about their little match. If she had been a less nicer person, Elena would have taken advantage of that fact and cast something nasty at Roy, ending the spar early.

Pity she wasn't.

Instead, Elena decided to take a running charge at Roy, slipping her knife back into its sheath, and holding back her full speed, saving her energy for anything else that might occur. She got close enough to aim a punch at Roy's face, before quickly dropping down. Using her hands to brace her weight, Elena bent one knee while the other swung outwards, intending to knock Roy off his feet.

[ooc: <3 Just checking beforehand and all that jazz. And done with the attack. XD ]

His hands didn't tell him anything about why he had only produced a spark of fire instead of a mass of the stuff. In fact, they didn't tell him anything at all, unfortunately. His brain told him something however, a foot was coming towards him.

He felt the connection painfully, and as was obviously intended, he was knocked clean off his feet, and thrown back a few feet from the impact and his unreadiness. The shock pulled him back to reality, and he looked up, like a startled child ar Elena for a brief second. He would wallow in self pity for weeks if his flame didn't come through for him now. It would be... awful.

He visibly shook his head gently, before pushing his weight up and landing flat footed. He was still calm though, the knock had done nothing more than push him back. He tried with his flame again, clicking harder this time, the flame lastest about 2 seconds longer than the last one, but it hadn't been enough to get anywhere. A grunt of discomfort escaped him, he needed time.

What he felt at the moment was complete disorientation. His eyes were on Elena's movements, planning on evading her attacks this time. His mind however, was stuck on thinking about why his trademark attack wasn't working.

She had to jump back and dodge the flames when Roy snapped his fingers again. Small as they were, Elena still rather not get brunt by anything unnecessary and have to deal with the smell of charred clothing. But the flames had Elena changing her plans slightly from merely giving Roy a butt-whooping with her fist, to actually having to use a weapon in all possibly.

She had to take out his hands, or at the very least, his fingers. That much was obvious from the fact that Roy had to snap before he could start a fire attack. But she really didn't want to injury Roy... Too much anyway. So rather than launching another attack right away, Elena simply crouched down, fingers brushing the top of the ground, and mentally reached for the materia on her band, feeling the orbs slotted in there glow and respond, but not quite launching into a spell just yet.

Just giving them a little nudge awake rather than a full shaking.

[ooc: :3 that's fine with me and uh... sorry that took so long to do ^^;;]

This is stupid. She isn't moving, and my attack just isn't working. his gaze dropped slightly to look at the offending gloves on his hands, what was different now from then? Was it the air pressure? Was he not thinking properly?

Roy suddenly smirked, looking up at Elena before pulling his hand closer to him, and flicking it back in Elena's direction, letting his thumb and forefinger extend towards his opponent as he did so. When flames leapt outwards from his hand, his smirk grew wider, and he clicked again.

If she couldn't get close to him, he'd win this fair and square. Although his mind wasn't entirely on the spar now, his ego had been aleviated by the success of his flame! He just had to stop thinking about how much he missed -- whoa. Take it back, take it back.

So it looked like Roy had gotten his fight back. Good. That meant that Elena didn't have to continue dancing around, wondering when she'd get something of a challenge. And if the Colonel thought he had the upper hand with his flame, keeping Elena at a distance, he was overestimating himself.

Spring boarding herself out of the crouch, and instead of trying dodging the fire completely, Elena moved forwards, towards the source, rather than away from it. Keeping a small mental touch on the materia energy, least it should fade and go back into its dormant state, Elena clenched her right fist and then swung when she felt her momentum would carry her close enough to land a punch on Roy's face.

He was still buzzing from the fact that he'd conquered his flame, his grin was wide, and his senses were heightened from the adrenaline. He hadn't expected Elena to spring towards him. Looked like he'd have to show her what else his flames could do.

His tensed up posture allowed him to move slightly to enable him to grasp hold of Elena's wrist as her fist came towards him. It was only to push her away from him, as he did so, he let his hand follow, and a small click was all he needed, the purpose was to force the flames against the ground so that it would in effect explode beneath her.

As soon as she had seen the hand move, Elena had reached for the materia that was humming and quickly cast Barrier, directing most of the spell at her feet. Even warmed up, it wouldn't finish casting to block all of the attack, whatever it might be, but it would certainly be enough so that Elena wouldn't be slowed down or suffer any real damage from what Roy was intending to do. The materia glowed and flashed in the time it took for the ground to erupt at her feet and send Elena backwards.

Barrier did deflect the worst of the blast, but it still knocked her back from her target. Twisting her body in mid-air though, Elena slipped a knife back out from its sheath and threw it directly at Roy, aiming for a vital point in his blind spot. Her accuracy wouldn't miss hitting him. Even if he dodge, she'd at least be able to knick him somewhere.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, Elena pulled at her materia again, this time deciding to fight fire with ice. And without even pausing for a moment's breath, she had started charging Roy again.

Roy spun round to attempt to keep his eye on Elena, stunned by the speed at which she had recovered. What had that flash been? His expression faded into a frown, and he took some steps back away from his opponent. He figured he needed as much distance as he could manage.

In the process of doing so, he felt the side of his cheek burn suddenly, an investigation told him she'd thrown something at him, and he was bleeding. Red never looked good on those gloves...

Elena obviously meant serious business though, if she was going to start throwing things at him. If he hadn't moved back that could have been a lot more serious. His frown turned serious. He'd have to give as good as she.

He looked down at the ground, and was suddenly glad that he had chosen a place where the dust could be manipulated. He put that to the back of his mind momentarily, and brought his hands up, clicking madly in Elena's direction so that she was shrouded in flame.

Elena didn't even register the fires, having gotten used to sparring with Reno and his EMR, only showing that she noticed it by immediately casting Ice 1 where the heat felt the worse, but she pulled the materia rapidly afterwards, not giving it a cool-down. The rest of the fire was meaningless, as they didn't do anything but try to block her path towards Roy. Reno's EMR had been more dangerous to deal with as it was possible for the other Turk to paralyze with his electrical shocks.

What she wanted to hit was the one causing the fires. And with that in mind, as soon as she was able, Elena cast another ice spell. This one however, wasn't a simple Ice 1, nor was it aimed anywhere at the fires surrounding her. It was cast ahead, where the clicking was coming from. And the spell was Ice 3.

It was with a grin that Elena let the spell go, though she still hadn't stopped moving forward the entire time.

His flames were dying much quicker than he imagined they should have done, and so it was obvious that Elena was up to something over there. He still continued his barrage, in the hopes that perhaps something might come of the action, however, when he felt the chill of ice, he realised how she must have been evading his attacks. Luckily for him, both the elementals worked parallel to each other. He engulfed his form in flame using the same clicks of his fingers that had been aimed at Elena, and managed to protect himself from the potentially harmful ice attack she had conjured.

It was obviously time for something different. He dropped to kneel, aware that Elena herself was making steady progress in his direction. As she arrived in front of him, he moved swiftly to the side, using one hand to support him in his lowered position, whilst the other worked quickly to draw a transmutation circle in the dirt they fought on. Although it had been a long time since he'd drawn one, the process took barely seconds.

He pressed his hand against the complete circle, and the ground sparked blue, before the ground beneath Elena's current position exploded and earth shot up, as if growing taller from underneath her.

Much like the fires that has surrounded her, Elena only adjusted and changed her movement slightly in accordance to Roy's attack, rather than become hindered by the new change in elevation and the ground erupting around her. One difference between how she fought and how Roy seemed to fight was that she could let mild injuries or blows slide, so long as she could still reach her one goal.

Because of that, Elena was able to finally close the distance between the two of them to engage Roy in hand to hand. Or, foot to stomach, as the case might be since as soon as she was able, she executed a mid-waist roundhouse kick at Roy's stomach.

The materia on her wrist hummed and thrummed, having been warmed up and awakened completely during the spar. Bolt was getting impatient while Ice hummed in her ears. And Barrier just made its presence known to her.

[ooc: New thread, yes?]

His expression hadn't changed from that of one who was concentrating. He'd realised how little his attacks effected Elena, and as a result knew he had to stay completely focussed on managing to attack her in such a way that she would fall back. Then he could go for the 'kill'.

He saw the foot come towards his chest at a speed he was used to. A blue spark erupted from his hand still perched at the edge of his transmutation circle in the dust just as the foot collided with his chest. His intention was carried out however, and a sharp spike of earth followed the two of them as Elena's attack threw him backwards.

The blow winded him slightly, but he managed to grab Elena's foot as it began moving out of range. the action was intended so that Elena would be caught by the propelled earth rising behind the two of them. He realised however, that although he wished to defeat Elena, he wanted to do so in a way that wouldn't end up with her dead - and if he wanted that, surely he'd have to settle for hand to hand combat. He was never any good at that, all his alchemic ability was intended to injure to the point of hospitalisation, or death. The thought made him queasy. Memories never left, did they?

While Roy might have been concentrating seriously on the fight, Elena was quite throughly enjoying herself, playing around rather than taking things seriously. This was the reason why she'd left her guns at home rather than bring them along to add to her arsenal. It always brought a rush and a smile to her face at the chance to get a decent spar in, regardless of the conditions. And it had been far too long since she'd gotten one.

Having one foot disabled didn't bother Elena. It was actually a benefit, as with her foot held in place, it meant that Roy wasn't going anywhere and was effectively trapped within easy range.

Bending the knee of the leg that wasn't trapped, she pulled it close to her chest before quickly kicking upwards in a tight scissor kick, bending her back in an arch and reaching out with her hands to catch herself. The shifting ground was something different, but it only took her a moment to center her weight before thrusting her hand out to cast a close range ice spell at Roy's feet and legs.

Roy released Elena's leg when he realised just what she was planning, of course it was too late for him to evade the counter-attack, as the moment he let go, and she twisted, he felt coldness below his knees. It didn't take long for him to react with fire, in an attempt to douse the effects of the ice spell, but the low temperature caused a sharp shiver to run up his body. Shaking himself free of the stiffness that cold caused, he stumbled back a few steps, reaching down once more to draw a hasty transmutation circle.

his fingertips barely touched the edges of the circle, but a steady stream of blue flashes erupted from his fingertips within barely seconds of each other. The ground beneath Elena's current position rumbled with the mass of upturning it was recieving. His idea was to completely unbalance her. He'd already thought up a way to engage her in close hand-to-hand combat, and the result of his thoughts came with the last blue flash from his hand.

He drew from the ground an average sized sword made from the materials the earth beneath them offered, and hoping that perhaps he'd gained a few moments from the erupting earth, he jumped into a sprint towards Elena, sword held ready to strike.

The momentum of her kick, not to mention the added swing of her arm, let Elena land on her feet, albeit she had to take a small step to shift her balance around so that she wouldn't fall on her ass if she tripped. The shaking ground did bother her, but it would have been worse had there been cracks and upturned earth rather than just a general rumble everywhere.

The grin on Elena's face, the one that had been present during the entire spar so far, turned predatory at the sight of the sword as it came up from the very ground itself. All this trouble for her? How sweet. Must not let all that effort go to waste.

She could have chosen to pull up Wall and let Roy's attack bounce harmlessly off the invisible shield, but instead Elena chose not to. Rather than reach for the patient and docile Barrier materia, Elena reached for the impatient Bolt, that sent a mild feeling of glee at the prospect of finally getting used.

Holding the spell, giving it a bit of time to charge as she was best with ice and not electricity, Elena slipped out her other throwing knife, twisting her hand back so as not to let the flash of mental show just yet, wanting for Roy to come as close as possible before reacting. Her posture was falsely tense and wary, and she constantly shifted her feet, making it seem that she was unbalanced from the last move they both made.

[ooc: Heheh. That's fine with me. Sorry Roy, but you are going to get your butt kicked and very much throughly by this little lady right here. :3]

Roy hoped Elena's eyes were on his newly made-sword. Although he was charging at her, he intended to stop.. just here. The abrupt braking of speed caused the dust around him to fly up suddenly, and he dropped to kneel once more, drawing another transmutation circle on the ground. The sword lay discarded, where the dust had already settled once more, and the free hand allowed him to distract Elena with flames. He clicked three times, creating huge masses of flame which caused the ground to rumble once again, and when he clicked a fourth time, the sand beneath Elena's feet began to burn.

"Just so you know, if you get the temperature and the compound just right, you can turn earth into an oil." He remarked, before pressing his fingertips down on the edge of the transmutation circle. A mass of blue emitted from the circle, and underneath the ground the earth shifted. As if a meteor had crashed into the ground, except somehow upwards a huge emptiness was created underneath Elena, and it was only seconds before the Earth on top caved in on itself, and with the surface heating to incredible temperatures, it was acting as a kind of lubricant, meaning that gaining a grip of anything would prove terribly difficult. Apparently, his brain had begun to work again.

If she got out of that, he'd be impressed.

Even though Elena was caught in the little surprised Roy had cooked up for her, it didn't mean she lost her attack either, as Elena didn't stay on the ground long enough to let Roy catch her completely in his trap. She'd tensed her legs and pushed, jumping the moment she heard the first click. She wasn't able to cast an ice spell if she was still holding onto Bolt, but she could do enough to avoid getting overly brunt, sheathing her knife as quickly as she drawn it out.

"That's very nice to know. Maybe if you tried that in the beginning, I'll take you seriously next time," Elena quipped back at the height of her jump. As she was descending, seemingly about to fall back into the pit that Roy had set up for her, the blonde demonstrated how skilled she was with magic.

Releasing Bolt 3, giving it a wider attack area than simply where Roy was at the moment, though he certainly was her primary target and the focal point of the spell, Elena quickly took a breath, cast first Wall, another breath, then Ice 2, using the first to protect herself from the worst of the flames, she really didn't feel up to clothes shopping at the moment, and the second centered also around one area so as to give her feet somewhere to land.

Elena only needed for the bare balls of her feet to touch the ground before she has kicked off and towards Roy once more, a little less controlled, but not enough to hinder her. Making a fist, as if she was going to aim at punch at Roy's face, Elena reached out at the last moment to grab at his shoulder instead and used both Roy and her own momentum to flip herself over and behind him.

[ooc: :x Is okay move?]

He was shocked, no, stunned to see her make it out alive. How had she managed to accumulate jump so high with such a short ammount of notice? He stood and watched as Elena came down on him, putting his arm up against the spells she sent his way, the other hand firing flames underneath the 'protection' he'd covered himself with.

He continued his barrage intended only to protect himself, up until the point when he was face to face with Elena. His unpatched eye widened as he felt her hand grip his shoulder, freezing up as she flipped over him.

"I dislike not being taken seriously." He muttered over his shoulder, looking behind at her dormantly.

Chuckling, Elena just crossed her arms at the elbows, as she began flipping her remaining knife nonchalantly, having drawn it without much notice or aplomb. Smirking, Elena casually caught the knife and with a small bit of showy smugness, sheath the thing with a flick of her wrist.

"Oh so sorry," Elena teased with a smug grin, brushing back a lock of her hair. "I'll take you seriously if we ever do this again and bring my guns along."

A simple little statement, but it said quite a lot about how she had regarded the whole affair. T

He sighed, letting his head drop slightly as he turned, looking up at Elena and raising a hand.

"..." he just made it more obvious that he wished to shake her hand. It wasn't often he found himself speechless, but his mind was awash with other thoughts.

"I'll bring my secret weapon." He whispered, a half-smile at his mouth.

Elena wasn't quite one to shake hands too often, but she had gotten something of a decent workout, so a handshake wasn't out of the question. Elena hadn't removed her gloves, but she took the time to do so now before shaking hands.

"Oh? Does that mean I should I should bring along the other weapons I have as well?"

He stared at her ungloved hand for a brief moment, before shaking it briefly and shoving both his hands in his pockets. His mood had soured considerably, and he wasn't up to making any decisions whatsoever.

"The next time we do this, you will be fighting a completely different man." He assured.

Such a sourpuss Elena though as she couldn't help snicker. Ah well. Men did get like that sometimes when they lost to a woman.

Grinning and pocketing her own hands, Elena didn't waste time being worried or scared. "I'll have to look forward to that then. Though..." And here, she couldn't help but toss in a wink with a smirk. "It couldn't hurt any to meet outside of a fight, right?"

His eyes closed for a while. Trying to evade the thoughts bombarding his head. Sparring with a woman, when was the last time he'd done that? Everything pointed back to her.

His eyes opened when Elena spoke, and he arched an eyebrow at her proposal. "Friends, then?" He said bluntly.

"Sounds good to me," Elena agreed. It wasn't to say that she actually regard Roy as a friend, given that it took more than that for Elena to regard someone as such, but the words would be easy enough to say. And even then, there was a sort of pleasure in calling someone a friend.

"We should meet up for drinks sometime," Elena said with a wave of her hand and a smile, turning around and intending to leave.

He nodded once in acceptance of her decision, turning his gaze away from her to look at the damage their sparring had caused. Kneeling, he began to draw a new transmutation circle just in front of his feet.

"Drinks sound good to me. Drop me a message some time." He said blandly, taking his time about the circle he was drawing. There was always something therapeutic about seeing the lines come together.

Once he was finished, he pressed his fingertips into the dirt, and with a blue flash, he worked the ground back to a state that might have been considered 'normal'.

Log: On-Going

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Let the Sparring begin.

This will be fun~<3

In which Roy fails.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject