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OUTSIDE THE WESTERN WALL - AFTERNOON
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Piper waits rather patiently, her eyes drifted half-closed while she basks belly-down on a patch of soft sand. The air is particularly still and dry, what little scrub and dwarfed trees are nearby remaining quiet save for the occasional chirrup of their tenants. She'd picked a nice spot a few minutes trek from the town, knowing Gareth's concerns regarding their discussion, with flat ground, if a bit soft underfoot, and directly West of the gate. Leaving these details in a curt letter at the Minnow, Piper has been clearing rocks and relaxing here since early morning, as her dusty clothes will show.
Gareth arrives around the time indicated, having spent part of the morning searching for Fiora to let her know about a friendly duel he'd be participating in against Piper, and seeing if she wanted to come along to watch. He spots Piper resting a ways out and calls out to her, waving to try and catch her attention at the same time. "Oi, Piper! We're here!"
Fiora is following after Gareth in her typical workout gear, although it is accentuated by bandages along her waist and chest, and her leg is still in a cast, forcing the giraffe to hobble along on crutches, at which she has gotten rather adept at least. Most of her other bangs and bruises have healed up now at least. "Wouldn't miss this for anything. I'm just sad I can't jump in."
Piper lets out a low rumbling groan, being rather dramatic about having to get up, sand spilling from the folds of her shirt. "Nmm? We?" She blinks a few times after turning to the approaching figures, nodding. "Ah, Fury! Pleasant surprise. Limping, though. Gareth," She looks to him on saying his name, "Didn't say you're hurt."
Fiora shrugs, "Eh, he just got back, after all. No worse for wear, as usual. I got to duel with one of the Saur Chosen or whatever they called themselves. Took a club tail to the knee." She points to Piper's tail. "Sorta like yours, but imagine strapping two hundred pounds of rocks to it."
Gareth shrugs and nods. "Aye, she got injured durin' a duel, but she gave as good as she got, I'd say. She's been wantin' to see ye in action, though, so injury or not, I figure she'd want to tag along."
Fiora nods proudly, "I still won, afterall."
Piper chuckles, looking under her arm at her tail, then nodding. "Considered tail weapons. As recent as in the baths." She casts a look in Gareth's direction, "Wrath had good ideas." She turns back to Fiora, then looks about for a second. With a grunt, she steps past the giraffe, rolling a small boulder with a good looking dip in it's shape over to the closest shaded spot to the makeshift arena. "Good to -nuff- hear! Shame about -unf there- the pain." She pats it twice before returning to the sandy area.
Gareth chuckles as he watches Piper rolling the boulder into a makeshift seat for Fiora. "I'm glad this is just a friendly match. I definitely wouldn't want to be on the receivin' end o' one o' those tail spikes we'd been talkin' about." He looks over at Fiora and gives her a solid pat on the arm, "Go on, lass, take a seat. We'll get started soon enough."
Fiora manuevers her crutches over towards the stone, Carefully lowering herself down and setting the crutches at her side. "Much obliged, Piper." She smirks, "As for ideas... Wrath has those sometimes. Sometimes they're even good ones."
Piper chuckles, nodding. "Will keep in mind." She gestures toward the roughly rectangular area of sand that's been cleared of all larger debris. "Pick starts, will be most fair." She looks to Fiora while starting to stretch out the nap she'd been on the edge of. "So saurs. Well done, saved many lives. Heard they're living near, now?"
Fiora shrugs, sitting back and setting her hands on the rock to keep the weight off of her leg. "Guess so? The little feathered ones turned traitor. Can't speak for the rest, since I got sent back with the folks in the mines due to the injury."
Gareth stretches a bit as he makes his way towards the sandy arena that Piper's cleared out for their match. He looks around a bit as he paces, noting that the positioning doesn't seem too much different at all on either end to start and that the sun is likewise positioned almost perfectly at one side, instead of in one or the other's face. Eventually, he decides and chooses a starting position. "Here seems good, though ye did a damn good job o' settin' up the arena to be fair."
Piper hums, nodding after a moment to Fiora as she squats down at the other side of the area from Gareth, noting he's opted to leave a little room behind either of them. She glances toward the sun, lighting them from her right. "Ay. Not saying you call foul, but..." She shrugs, grinning. "No excuses for either."
Gareth chuckles and grins in turn. "A fair fight's the best fer a friendly match, anyway. All skill and reactions, no tricks." He tilts his head at Piper, "So... did ye want to face me pistols or did ye want me to fight like I would without them?"
Fiora chuckles, settling in to watch the fight. "Well, fair warning, I'm watching both of you." She reaches up to tap her head, "Storing everything up here for later."
Piper chuckles her three notes, nodding. "Use if you like. Am refreshed and warm. Might want the advantage." She glances to Fiora, her grin widening. "Would expect no less from Fury. Did watch with the elephant."
Fiora smirks, "Then you know enough not to get between us."
Gareth hums thoughtfully and tilts his head. "Pistols aside... what are we fightin' with, anyway? We're not at the sparrin' grounds, so we don't have trainin' weapons, and I can't exactly grapple with someone twice me size and with three times me muscle."
Piper hums, nodding her head toward the shade a bit away from Fiora. "I brought two toys. From the arena." She reaches around her side, tugging two rudimentary sets of pads from the waist of her pants. She slips the straps around her palms, tying them tight so the pads are securely bound over her knuckles. "Got mine here, ay."
Gareth looks over at the two wooden swords, then nods as he heads over to the rock to remove some of his looser clothing, specifically his overcoat and any odds and ends that might be prime targets for a grapple. Once he's set his extraneous clothing aside, he picks up both swords and gives them a quick look over. After a moment, he pulls out his dagger and uses it one of the swords into a proper wooden replica. He smacks the finished piece against the rock Fiora's sitting on just to ensure sturdiness, then makes his way back to the arena, both practice weapons in hand. "There we go. Not quite what I'd actually be usin', but it'll do fer this."
Fiora watches Gareth work on the blade, smirking as he strikes the rock near her. "Just remember, the bigger they are, the harder they hit, Gareth."
Piper laughs at Fiora's words, having continued stretching in seemingly minor ways. Unlike Gareth, she can't really strip off the fitted clothes willy nilly, but doesn't feel she really needs to. She throws a few slow jabs at the air until Gareth starts making his way back into place. "Guards wont mind?"
Gareth gives Fiora a bit of a look, including a smirk. "I'm aware, lass. I spent how long fightin' next to ye? Piper's almost as tall as ye, after all." He nods at Piper's question, "They break enough o' these things durin' sparrin' matches at the trainin' grounds anyway. I'm sure they won't miss one."
Piper sets her feet in the sand, stretching her fingers, the pads giving protesting creaks. "Next bird call?"
Gareth wiggles his boots a bit to get a better positioning in the sand. He nods at Piper as he gives the wooden dagger a deft flip before settling into a prepared position. "Sounds good to me."
Fiora tenses, watching closely as her fighting mind works overtime at watching the pair's fighting style... and also resisting the urge to just fake a bird call to get them started.
Piper tenses as she hears the echoing call from the brush, her tail thumping the ground and kicking up a tiny puff of dust behind her as she... Takes steps toward Gareth. She's not walking, but the croc isn't exactly hauling ass as she closes the short distance between them, raising her fists.
Gareth braces when he hears the call from the nearby brush, only to get thrown off a bit by Piper's deliberate, and (to anyone else, probably) intimidating stride. He takes a moment to mentally reassess the situation, then starts to step back a bit slower than Piper's approaching, hopefully to bait her into an early swing, or else give himself an opening to slip by and attack her from an open angle.
Piper works the gap closed for a few moments, narrowing her eyes and thudding her tail a moment before thrusting herself forward to deliver a heavy left jab toward Gareth's shoulder level, following the momentum of that punch with a comparatively faster right.
Gareth sees the attack coming, having taken the smarter approach of letting Piper take the opening strike. Dancing back, he evades the first blow well enough, only to have to duck and hastily shift aside as the second, faster punch comes flying his way. Rather than risking an attack while off-balance, though, he instead backsteps and gives himself a bit of room to even himself up again.
Piper grunts when Gareth ducks, dropping her left arm to defend her midriff and stepping back to put him back in her full line of sight, grinning. "Heh, expected slash." She raises her fists again, continuing to press the wolf. Her tail thuds again, the same left-right punches following it, though hoping to make his abdomen instead.
Gareth grins a bit in response. "Slightly off-balance. Didn't want to risk it." He saves his breath after that, however, as the one-two punch's rhythm becomes a bit easier to time. This time around, he plants his feet and weaves around the two fists, ducking low again and using the momentum to aim a double slash across one of Piper's legs as he repositions a little ways behind her, out of reach of her tail.
Piper goes to step back from the duck again, but shortly finds herself on her knees with a grunt. She does indeed try to swing her tail at him in that moment between realizing he's moving past her and she receives the blows, putting her further off balance. Still, she chuckles her notes when she pushes up off the sand, staggering a little. "Good." Her grin deepens. "More."
Gareth patiently waits for Piper to stand back up, bouncing a little on his feet as he watches her pushing herself off of her knees. Once she's back up, he flashes a slightly cocky little grin. "Until one o' us yields, aye."
Piper chuckles, stepping toward Gareth again, working the stinging knot out of her thigh. "Ay. Until you do." Bold considering she'd not landed a single blow yet. She ducks her head a little, thumping her tail as she steps into another left jab, though she stops with a feint of her right fist.
Gareth laughs at the comment, but instead braces for another attack. He falls for the feint, but realizes his error mid-dodge. With decidedly less grace than the first couple of times, he rocks backwards and practically launches himself away from Piper into a rather ugly tuck and roll. His own tail swishes a little agitatedly from that maneuver. "Hm... good feint, there..."
Piper grins as she sees him start into the roll, her foot digs into the sand as she wordlessly uses the roll as an opportunity to close the distance quicker than before, somewhat clumsily swinging her right fist down in a hammer blow, aimed for where she expects Gareth's left shoulder will be.
Gareth rolls just a touch too slow for the hit to land, but he does end up effectively pinned anyway, with Piper looming over him. He grins a bit at the predicament. "Well, fancy that... Almost, lass." He angles his sword's point up as he holds Piper's gaze, then attempts to give her a quick jab to the chest, "Almost."
Piper throws her knee up to block the move toward her chest, her tail laying flat on the ground to balance her large frame as one half of the legs made for carrying it rotates out of the block into a flat pushing kick, hoping to to put space between herself and that stabbing motion.
Gareth catches the foot to the center of his torso, and he's sent skidding backwards a few yards before friction forces him to roll head over heels. The roll lets him get back onto his feet, however, and he takes a moment to dust himself before settling back into a ready stance. Without letting Piper have a chance to recover, he launches himself forward again and aims at that same leg that just kicked him, hoping to catch her while she's occupied adjusting her balance.
Piper sees what Gareth is intending, bringing her foot flat down to the sand in time to catch his wooden blades across that thigh now. He's tagged both, and she internally admits that with a steel blade he'd more or less already have the win. Well, she manages to admit this while staggering sideways. "Tch! Toys sting pretty good."
Gareth hums quietly as he repositions after the strike, not feeling like he should attempt a follow-up despite tagging both of Piper's legs at this point. "I'm surprised yer even able to feel them through those scales o' yers." He takes a careful step back, flourishing his sword for a moment on reflex. From the way he's holding himself, though, it's probably at least decently obvious he's stinging a bit from the kick across the arena.
Piper chuckles, rubbing the top of her leg for a few moments as she stands straight and settles into her boxing stance again. "Feel, ay. Twitch, too. You handle no different than steel. Impression of sharpness." She huffs, starting to circle him slowly, narrowing her eyes as she looks for an opening.
Gareth grins a little as he moves with Piper's slow, deliberate circling, making sure he's not giving her any obvious openings aside from any she can discern in his general stance. "No need fer me to change me grip just because the material's different. Makes me feel better knowin' I can at least make ye feel it through scales tough as those ye have."
Piper nods, grinning. "Ay, one difference. No edge to catch fists on." The croc chuckles her thr-two notes? She juts forward, the third laugh cut by a growling grunt and a thud of her tail, delivering the left jab, the right, and the left again, all aimed as close to center mass as she can manage.
Gareth brings his weapons up as Piper surges forward unexpectedly, the dagger and sword crossed in a makeshift shield. The wood doesn't do much to stop the punch, but it does at least serve to distribute the force of the hit across his abdomen, rather than his chest. He's sent reeling backwards, but manages to keep his footing even if he's lost a bit of ground. "Ghn...! That was a good feint..."
Piper lets a growl rumble deep in her throat in response to his qwip, not in rage, as the grin she's wearing shows, but in a bit of excitement. She presses the attack further, taking her momentum into a chest-height clothesline. Her follow-up, if she manages to land the blow or not, is swinging her tail around high, bringing it down to either strike Gareth if he's grounded, or provide a large puff of dust to obscure her movement for a few seconds.
Gareth shakes the tension from his arms during the precious few moments he has before Piper continues her charge. Bracing, he tries to sidestep but doesn't move fast enough. He catches her fist across a shoulder, spinning him around a bit and disorienting him for a few moments. By the time he gets his senses back, the dust cloud kicked up by Piper's tail has easily obscured her movements from him. He hastily steps away from the cloud, giving himself a bit of breathing room.
Piper steps away from the dust as well, taking a moment to have a breath, watching the dust settle and wondering if she'd landed more than a glancing punch. She spots his shadow through the dust, grunting. "Still standing! Impressive!" She waves her arm at the dust, scattering the cloud to nothing before stepping toward him.
Gareth rolls his shoulder and smiles. "Ye still caught me pretty good, there!" He pauses, then leans into a bit of a charge, pressing his own attack instead of reacting, this time, as he aims for Piper's left side.
Piper blinks once, grinning as Gareth leans forward into a charge, raising her arms and hunkering a little, defending her torso and leg as best she can.
Gareth notices Piper defending her side, but follows through on his attack anyway. This time around, however, while he lands a solid hit, the wooden blades glance aside with barely any impact. His follow-through is decent, at least, even if he didn't inflict any real damage that time. "Tch... good block."
Piper shrugs off the attack, shaking her left arm for the blow it just received. "Good swing. Didn't expect attack." She clenches her fists, turning to face Gareth. She crouches slightly, trying to dash toward him again, but her foot sinks a bit more in a soft spot of sand than she wanted, making the right overhand swing rather sloppy.
Gareth goes to block the hit, and while he's able to do so, the sand beneath his own feet gives way from the force of the hit, sending him sprawling onto the ground in a spray of dust and sand. He's unharmed, but he doesn't waste time in trying to scramble back from Piper before she can follow up.
Piper turns with the glancing blow, catching herself with that hand and a knee in the sand, grunting as she starts pushing up from the ground again and starts to adjust the pad on her right fist.
Gareth is back on his feet by the time Piper's started adjusting her glove, having recovered a fair bit more gracefully than her this time. He takes a moment or two to let Piper finish adjusting her gear, then dashes in for another attack attempt, not letting her get up from her position, even if he did let her ready up otherwise.
Piper cinches the strap tight again, catching Gareth's movement the moment she finishes. She turns to face him, swinging her arm in response to the sword, pushing back against the attack as she gets back up. "Good! Don't let me be lazy!"
Gareth 's sword smacks firmly against Piper's arm, stopping his attack cold. At the very least, it's occupied one of her arms, so she can't use it to leverage an attack, even if it does stop him from using his sword for the same exact reason. "Friendly match, but I figure keepin' ye on yer toes is a good thing!" He presses a little more firmly into the strike, ensuring she can't pull back without risking a sword hit, then attempts to draw his off-hand dagger across the underside of that same arm.
Piper grins as Gareth holds her arm back, her tail swishing rather happily through the sand behind her until she catches a glimpse of his movement, her free hand intercepting the swing. Piper's grin widens while she grips Gareth's dagger hand. "Sneaky, acceptable!"
Gareth blinks as he finds his dagger hand in Piper's grasp, his attack stopping just shy of his intended target. He grins a bit as he braces, his training blade still pressing against her glove, before he releases the lock and rapidly rotates around, using his trapped hand as a fulcrum to try and swing his free blade into Piper's back. "Got to keep meself flexible fer a reason, lass!"
Piper sighs very quietly to herself, the situation a bit familiar and the tactic that comes to mind being one that James never seemed to appreciate receiving, either. She twists her hips opposite to Gareth's movement, gripping his hand tighter as she wrenches downwards toward where Gareth had just been standing. She immediately releases her grip after the movement to avoid twisting anything too badly.
Gareth winds up missing the stab, his blade simply glancing off of Piper's thick scales as she twists away. Moments later, he feels his center of gravity going haywire as his dagger arm gets tugged towards the sand. Instead of resisting, however, even with his hand being released, he goes with the pull and lets his feet leave the ground with a lot more force than Piper likely intended as he almost acrobatically flips into an overhead kick aimed at Piper's shoulder. Hit or miss, he still winds up tumbling into the sand.
Piper lets Gareth know his supplemental attack connected quite readily with a rather muffled grunt, stumbling a step to her left where she pauses for a moment. She straightens up, eyes on Gareth while she massages the side of her jaw. "Didn't catch you with a tooth, ay?" She's not letting it on too much, but the surprise hit left a few spots dancing in her vision... And a bit of adrenaline pumping.
Gareth takes a moment to get his senses back, then slowly rolls over and back onto his feet. He shakes his head a bit. "Nah, didn't catch me with anythin'. Sorry fer the hit on the jaw, though; I was aimin' at yer shoulder. Ye alright?"
Piper huffs, her face feeling warm, not just from where he'd caught her. "Yes. You? Warmed up. Start now, hmm?" Her fingers make the straps of her fist pads creak as she settles into a more proper looking boxing stance, her tail thumping the ground occasionally as the croc seems to be well ready to continue.
Gareth chuckles as he rolls his shoulders and settles into a comfortable ready stance. "I'm ready fer more, if that's what yer askin', aye. Until one o' us yields, then?"
Piper chuckles her three notes, nodding as her tail drops one more thump. "Ay. Until you yield." Her claws dig into the ground, bulky legs sending the croc at Gareth with renewed vigor as she arches a right haymaker his way, her other arms tight to her body in preparation for a response.
Gareth braces for the attack, not even considering trying to block it this time. He attempts to sidestep, only for the sand to give way under his boots again as he moves. He grunts in annoyance as Piper's fist connects with his shoulder, sending him reeling back a bit and stopping any potential counterattack cold as he's forced to regain his balance and pull back in case of a follow-up.
Piper takes the backstep as an invitation, a low growl loose in her throat as she steps forward again, following the first punch with a left hook. She's aiming for his torso, subconsciously trying to avoid the shoulder he'd injured in the caravan attack. The swing of her tail behind her may indicate she's putting more into each thrown attack, testing Gareth's limit.
Gareth does indeed note that Piper's throwing more behind each strike, now, and decides to use that to his advantage. He takes another step back to brace, also ensuring his footing is solid this time, before he bobs to the side of the hook and swings his sword up towards Piper's armpit.
Piper catches the wooden blade under her arm, grunting a bit of pain as he manages to find a soft spot to hit, Piper wheeling around with a rather uncoordinated response, left arm returning from the missed punch to an attempted backhand.
Gareth is moving a bit too fast for the backhand to connect, but he does feel the draft as her fist passes just behind the back of his head. A bit startled, he ducks forward and spins around again, aiming a defensive swing where he thinks Piper's moving in order to deter any advances.
Piper winds up stepping directly into Gareth's attack as he'd planned, jabbing herself rather readily on the end of his weapon, grunting as the wind is poked out of her by the point jammed under her ribs. She takes a step back, coughing for a brief moment. "Nf! Right under them..."
Gareth gives his sword a little flourish again as he turns to better face Piper as she staggers back. Seeing an opening, he pushes forward again and aims a vicious slash across her chest.
Piper growls, watching Gareth's agile approach and doing what many assume she does best... Which she hasn't had much argument against in the past. Rather than dodge aside or back, Piper lunges forward toward the direction his swing is coming from, defending her torso with her folded arm while the other aims an open palm for Gareth's chest.
Gareth is nothing if not at least capable of anticipating counters from capable opponents. He sees what Piper's attempting to do and loosens up his wrist so when his blade makes impact, it jinks aside and scrapes along her scales instead of stopping cold. He does not, however, anticipate the open palm strike. He takes the blow to his shoulder and he goes sailing backwards into the sand a couple of meters from the force of the hit. "Aagh!"
Piper follows after Gareth, the dust he'd stirred swirling around her legs as she trots toward him, right fist raised until she drops it in a downward driving punch. She seems to only be ramping up in aggression as the fight draws on, adrenaline pumping through her body.
Gareth lands rather softly thanks to the sand, and he's able to recover quickly enough to roll to the side away from the punch. As he stands up again, he catches the flat of his sword in the sand and gives a mighty swing, throwing up a screen of sand and dust between himself and Piper.
Piper tracks Gareth's movement, growl rumbling in her throat at the impromptu smokescreen, but he can only move so far after trying it, as far as she's aware. Not giving the dust time to settle, she decides that an unknown target needs a massive projectile, as she barrels through the cloud with a rumbling shoulder charge.
Gareth tries to get himself a bit of space, but can't move before Piper decides to charge right through the screen. He's got maybe a moment or two to realize she's not distracted before she connects. Momentum, plus a really quick (and probably dumb) snap decision allows him to at least cling to her arm as she slams into him, though the move definitely leaves him hurting a fair bit.
Piper tries to reign her momentum in after she feels the hit connect, about to grin until she finds herself stumbling a couple steps past Gareth, his weight on her arm leaving the croc unbalanced in the moment. In trying to shake herself free of his grip, Piper finds herself on one knee and sporting half of a sleeve dangling on her left wrist.
Gareth doesn't waste time in trying to catch his breath at the moment as he feels his momentum bleeding off when Piper drops to a knee. As good an opportunity as he's seen thus far, he releases her arm and aims an uppercut of a swing for her chest, hoping to at least land a decisive blow, if not a match-ending one.
Piper feels the blade glance off her chest, catching her under the jaw with a pained grunt, muffled through clenched teeth. In a moment, her left hand is gripping around the blade, her right poised to return the favor with a fiery glare before she blinks at Gareth, chuckling her notes and lowering her fist. "Draw." She releases the practice sword and glances to her right, toward the area she'd spent time clearing for the match... Which they'd apparently left in favor of far more uncomfortable sand.
Gareth is about to wind up a stab with his off-hand dagger in response to Piper grabbing his sword, only to blink when she releases his blade, causing him to tilt his head. He looks over towards where Piper's directing his attention, then laughs quietly upon realizing they've left the arena well behind some time earlier in their match. "Heh, well, damn. Wasn't expectin' us both to step out o' the ring like that." He grins at Piper as he stacks both practice blades into one hand and holds out the other, "Great match, lass."
Piper grins, rubbing her jaw with her left hand and shaking Gareth's hand with the other. "Ay, you too. Good fight. No bones broken?"
Gareth shakes his head as he shakes Piper's hand. "Nah, no broken bones or anythin'. Probably got a lot o' bruisin', though, and maybe a strain or two." He tilts his head curiously, "How about ye?"
Piper flicks her thumb across her tingling chin, but looks down to her sleeve with a sigh. "Father'll be annoyed."
Gareth looks at Piper's sleeve, and his smile shifts to something a fair bit more sheepish. "...Ah, right... sorry about that, Piper. If ye want, I can pay fer the costs fer tailorin', since it's me fault it tore."
Piper grunts, shrugging a little though her expression's not exactly fully happy. "If you like. My fault. Did wear my 'worst'." She starts removing her fist pads, starting to head over to where Fiora is seated. "Need more room next time."
Fiora shakes her head, "That's just like Gareth. No respect for property." She smirks, knowing full well that the majority or property and collateral damage the duo is responsible for is entirely her fault.
Gareth nods as he walks with Piper over to the spot Fiora's resting at. "Aye, a bit more space would probably be a good idea, considerin'." He lightly cuffs Piper on the shoulder, smiling again, "And aye, once we get back, I'll cover the cost o' the tailorin'."
Piper chuckles her three notes, catching Fiora's joke with a nod. "Santa Dandy was Wrath? Tsk. Unfortunate. Beautiful ship." She glances toward Gareth. "Ay, thank you."
Gareth sighs a bit as he casts Fiora a short look. "I only broke a chair that one time up in Vamas, lass. Far less than what furniture ye've broken in yer gleeful rampage whenever the target fights back."
Fiora snorts. "It was in my way! And I'm just trying to teach our bounties not to fight back, or they're going to end up with a lot of broken furniture! And broken windows... and I broke that book shelf that one time... and, I'm gonna be honest Gareth. That time with the Chandelier? That was on purpose."
Piper hums, glancing at Fiora's injured leg but not making her observation of potential karma any more obvious than that.
Gareth rolls his eyes a bit. "I know. Ye peered over the bannister and bet me that ye could land the chandelier on those idiots." He smirks, "Probably best bet I ever lost, really."
Fiora laughs, slapping her knee, before cringing a bit at the hit, coughing a bit to recover, "Ugh. Good times. Good times..." She glances at Piper and nods, "I get the feeling a hell of a lot more than just furniture would get broken if anyone tried to take you seriously. That was a good match, you two."
Piper glances at Gareth again on Fiora's feeling, considerably less joy in that look than a few moments before. She clears her throat, nodding to Fiora. "Ay, thanks. Look forward to us. Heal up good, hm?"
Gareth smiles at Piper's glance. "Ye make fer a great trainin' partner, Piper. I'm lookin' forward to seein' how ye and Fiora match up once she heals."
Fiora reaches for her crutches and sets about the task of standing up again. "Maybe you'll break something of mine too. Seems like a trend since I got here."
Piper grins, shrugging. "Depends. Don't be frail." She laughs a bit, offering to take Gareth's practice weapons so she can return what's left of them to the training grounds, and he can help Fiora if she needs it.
Fiora sticks her tongue out at Piper, her voice going high-pitched in mockery, "~Don't be frail~. Or maybe just stop playing nice with folks who weight ten times what I do, hm?"
Piper nods, her grin widening. "Expected. No playing nice." She tilts her head towards Gareth. "He was nice. Draw. Fun, though."
Gareth passes Piper the two practice swords, with a nod. "Thanks, Piper. Feel free to tell them I was the one that carved the second one down to a dagger if they ask." He chuckles as he looks between Piper and Fiora, "Aye, it was good fun, and I'll try to play a bit more fiercely next time now that I know what ye can do."
Fiora stretches her neck as she gets back up, working out a kink and then settling her weight back down. "So what do you do to cool down after a fight, hm Piper? There's a few places giving out free food and drinks to the folks who went off to fight, so could get some food. I'll even offer to pay for yours, Piper, since your duel didn't have a loser to pin the bill on."
Piper nods, her grin coming down to a pleasant, if still toothy smile. "Ay, sure. Try to eat 'reasonable'. Usually bask, feast after fights. You?" She follows along with the others, presumably at a pace set by Fiora.
Gareth strides along at the pace set by Fiora. "Sounds like a good plan, aye. Nothin' quite like a hot meal after a good sparrin' match." He takes a moment to pat down one of his pant legs, a small cloud of dust puffing away as he does so, "Could probably do with a bath later, too, just to get all the dust out."
Piper hums. "Bath sounds good, too."
Fiora chuckles. "Yeah, that's the usual for us after a job. A good meal and a hot bath. When we're on the job, we usually don't get to rest until we turn in our mark with the Guild. The worst nights were always the ones we had to book it out of town after grabbing someone, but those were pretty rare."
Gareth nods. "Aye, not too often, but on the times it did happen, we weren't all too happy about luggin' around the mark until town cooled off."
Piper chuckles, listening to the two recount their tales as they all make their way back to town for the promised food and relaxation.