Training by Maid

Even if he were to step over this, there's still something that he sought necessary to cover.

And that's the issue they had earlier. It can't go on if there's some sort of fire waiting to be ignited, can it? That much could actually lead to devastating, untimely results too.

"I'll be honest."

"You just appeared fairly cold and smug back then. If that's not what you intended to display back then, then I guess I saw it wrong."

A shrug. It's not exactly trying to bring up the issue, really - it's just him putting it out there, and explaining why exactly all of this was happening.

"And no, I don't intend to spar either."

As she moves, he moves along too, provided she doesn't actually tell him off.
(Nerin)

"Me? Cold and smug?" She walked in the front, so her face was probably hard to see as she spoke, but her tone did sound just a tad smug, despite its otherwise usual apathy. "Never."

But she shrugs it off as they move, and finally, they reach the training arena! Rather than go inside, though, she takes the pair to the side, where training dummies and wooden swords laid about the place.

"Sven. You wish to become a powerful wizard. So use your powerful magic to defend yourself."

She grabs a pair of wooden blades, handing one to the blonde while holding one herself.

"I'm going to swing this at you. Stop it."

And so she does! The motion is slow, quite a lot, actually, so even in his current state, Sven could probably just step away if he wanted.
(Evangeline)

The expression, the tone of her voice, the way that she hid it.. it's almost like she was unironically trying to hide it away from Nerin, for one reason or another; truth be told, even if she actually was cold and smug, that's not exactly his business. He just disliked it back then, and that's about it.

Nothing less, nothing more.

"If you say so." So in turn, he merely affirms to her words, unwilling to argue or even raise the subject in the slightest. Perhaps it's best left buried.

Instead, his gaze turns to watch her swing a wooden sword at him - so slow, so ridiculously slow that it looks like he wouldn't need any effort to dodge it. To that, he squints.. pondering whether Evangeline is deliberately babying Sven or if this is actually some legitimate training technique.

Can't be the latter. Right..?

"Um... I don't think that he's,uh-- going to learn much. Not like this." But she was the one teaching him, so he'd just leave it at that.

"Anyhow--"

"Do you happen to know anyone who might be knowledgeable with bone magic? Or are you willing to try and help me out a little?"

Help him out? How? That's not something he was actually sure about, even if someone agreed.
(Nerin)

An aura of misty mana surrounded the young magus, covering him like a strange smog. While they walked towards the dojo, Sven's magics worked slowly at reversing the damage that had been done to him. Thankfully, it was a long walk, so there was ample time to get his pain under control.

The battered mage stood before Evangeline with clenched teeth.

Stop it?

It was much less imposing than two serrated daggers swinging at him with the intent of creating mince-meat. He could focus.

He inhaled as he rose his hand, the fingers curling together into a fist. Temporal magics wrapped about the training sword to give it a strange weight. Evangeline would find it much harder to swing with it, as he had slowed the speed at which it passed.

Sven wasn't done, though- he was trying to completely immobilize the blade in place. To freeze it in time.
(Sven Svenson)

"A-Hah." She sounded pleased with what Sven was doing, feeling the energies swirling around her sword arm and making her slow motions even slower.

"He's a time mage, supposedly. I expected him to use his magic to stop me."

Eventually, she quits the attempt, and takes a step backwards.

"Now, Sven. Do it again."

The second swing, though, is far faster. Still not quite at the speed of a proper attack, but the boy's window to react before having the flat side of a wooden sword smacking him on the cheek would be far shorter.

Whatever was the result of that, she would then turn towards Nerin.

"I know that it exists, and that just picturing it could make a lesser person feel sick." Hazel eyes stare at Nerin, calm as ever, despite the fact she was swinging a sword at her so called friend.

"But I might be able to help, if you tell me what to do."
(Evangeline)

Sven was fairly easy to predict. There was certainly no way he would merely step to the side when he was training. There was only one thing he cared to train, and that certainly wasn't his agility.

He grinned proudly at the success.

The next blow, though, was quicker. It came close- very close to the side of his cheek before the tendrils of time forced the sparring weapon to a complete stop.

He exhaled. "That was close."
(Sven Svenson)

Oh, he knew that it could make people sick.

He imagines that one day, he would go as far as even try to manipulate the bones within the bodies of another, but.. that'd be a while until he actually manages to do so. As it stands, most of the training revolved around actually trying to draw his own bones out, to alter and shape them into something useful.

Well, more useful than supporting his body's structure.

"Ah. I see. A time mage.."

That's an interesting aspect. Surely many would aspire to this magic, considering the fact that the royal family themselves were famous practitioners of time magic to a very advanced degree. Perhaps the lot of the people had hopes to master it to their level, to push the boundary beyond what it is otherwise.

As for his bone magic?

"Well.. last time, I asked my friend to snap my bones, so I may reform them, but he couldn't. Instead, I attacked him to give his emotions stimuli- perhaps, to give his magic a boost that way, but.."

"It didn't work as I intended. I defeated him, and delivered a blow that cracked his ribcage, and also fractured my knuckles. I healed it all as part of the practice, forming my bones within better."

"It's all... shifty, like a worm underneath. It tickles too, so now, I wanted to try and draw a short blade out of my knuckles; maybe a wound is actually needed to make it easier. Piercing skin, otherwise, is going to really suck..."

And Evangeline had a blade, too. Maybe she could catch on with his train of thoughts.
(Nerin)

"Good work, Sven. You've heroically managed to stop a slow stick, and a slightly less slow stick." Sarcastic, perhaps unnecessarily so, but she was helping him nonetheless!

"Once more."

What came, though, was an actual strike. While nowhere close the blinding speeds of an Exarch Knight's attack, Evangeline did seem to be much faster than her unassuming appearance suggested, swinging the wooden blade at the same speed and intensity that one would expect from a trained soldier.

This time, though, she did intend to stop right before actually striking Sven, stopping, in the worst of cases, just as the wood made contact with his face, almost as if patting him playfully.

That done, she turned back towards Nerin.

"As Milord's personal maid, I am expected to be able to fight for his safety and need, so I do know how to snap a bone or two." She explains, swapping the wooden blade to her left hand in order to bring the right one to the hilt of the actual blade hanging from her waist.

"If it is a wound you want, I can handle that. I'm no surgeon, though, and it will most definitely hurt."
(Evangeline)

He figured that blade of hers wasn't for show.

Though, battlemaids? The lords and ladies of Esshar certainly had an odd taste in bodyguards.. he'd expect fully armored knights, or perhaps brutes of men defending them - but instead, it's women in maid uniforms. How bizarre.

Perhaps such odd tastes come with the status, and no matter how much he'd try to wrap his head around that, he wouldn't understand- though, so long as she's actually capable of that, then why not? He merely offers a shrug at her explanation, clearly surprised, but not enough to really dig into the topic.

"Snapping bones isn't what I want. Well, not at this point at least." He explains, extending his arm out- it's not too long before he points to the dried blood over the knuckles, briefly nodding after she says she's no surgeon.

"I know."

"I'm... okay, I'll just say this - I'm kind of scared to pierce it on my own from inside out. I feel I'll just stretch my skin and end up messing things up bad. I just... I don't know how it's done properly yet."

"So.. you could make a cut above the knuckles?"

Even as he says that, he seems a little shook. He tries to act hard, to tough it out, but it's clear he's a bit anxious before the idea of actually doing that. By the Stars, why exactly he picked such gruesome magic to practice with... couldn't he just have cute, nice crystals, or perhaps flowers?

No. He had to pick this. Ugh.

"Yes. That's.. that's what I want."
(Nerin)

His blue eyes glanced over to Nerin with a light frown. "How can you say all that so casually? That's pretty gross," he asked with a vague sickness in his stomach. Bones cracking and bending.. it brought back an awful memory.

Sven looked back to Evangeline. The sparring sword swung towards the side of his face brought a sudden jump to his heart. A real blow, much like the boar's own. He could feel the adrenaline of that battle pumping through his freshly wounded body, the image of the woman replaced with that of the dual-wielding outdoorsman.

Images played across the surface of Svenson's eyes, visible for Evangeline to see. It was a mirror of her actions, but one that was nearly a second in the future.

Chronomancy enhancing his eyes in this moment, he was able to just barely respond in time by preparing his temporal energies to catch the blade as it came. A zone of slowed time, in a sense- a net that would stop it.

He huffed. "Hu-huh.. you almost got me."
(Sven Svenson)

"My, you are doing better than I imagined you would do, Sven." She smirks, half smug, half honest, and always in contrast to the cold of her eyes. "As long as your reactions are quick enough, your magic should be a safe bet for most situations."

She then listens to Nerin, giving a little nod.

"If that is what you want, I guess I can do it.

Normal friends, when asked to hit you, would usually refuse, or ask for a good reason to do it. A real friend, though, like Evangeline, had a wholly different thing to say.

"How deep?"

Truly a joy of a maid.

Also! Out of nowhere, with her face still turned towards Nerin, her left arm swung the wooden blade towards Sven's face once more, without warning nor orders.

"We do have to maintain your reactions sharp and quick, too, Sven." Did her smirk widen for a moment? It was too brief to say…
(Evangeline)

How deep..?

That's a good question, then again, he probably wouldn't need it to be that deep, so long as he can clearly see the bones of his knuckles. Clearly nervous about the whole endeavour, but feeling like there's no real other way, he speaks out with a tiny, defeated sigh- clearly pensive over the fact that he's about to be hurt.

"Just... just enough to expose the bones of knuckles, I guess."

Any deeper than that would make a big mess, and that's not something that he needs. Surely, he could always just try and pierce it through on his own- he also imagines that as his mastery grows, his body will just adapt to retractable bones coming from within his body. As it stands, however? It has no such training, no such honing.

Everything is painful.
Everything is gruesome.

"This is gonna suck..."

A tiny mutter- whether overheard by others or not, that's entirely different story, but he doesn't really intend to hide it. He quietly gulps, holding his hand out to Evangeline; a hint of hesitation, and a stutter for perhaps the first time she could ever hear from him.

"I-I'm... ready when you are."
(Nerin)

He smugly grinned, evidently pleased by the praised. "Well, I've been practicing for a while, you know! I at least can do that much."

The blond turned his attention over to this strange teen, where he was requesting again for his body to be pierced. It was bizarre- but shock only overcame him when the woman agreed to go along with the odd experiment.

"What? Are you serious, Vang-?"

Sven held a latent gift for magic, but not certainly not reaction speed. Without the chance to prepare for the blow, he was just another kid. The blade bopped him on the nose without an ounce of magic entering it.

"Oww.." murmured the boy as he held his hands up to nurse this new bruise.
(Sven Svenson)

"That much is the very base you start from, Sven. If you could not do that, I'd be fairly disappointed. Quite a lot, in fact." She had no qualms saying that, no matter the hurting of feelings and whatnot.

The smacking with the wooden blade is met with a little chuckle, perhaps muffled by the sound of the strike itself and the boy's whining, but there nonetheless.

"Most people are not going to claim they are going to hit you, Sven. Keep that in mind."

And for the time being, she puts the wooden blade away, now unsheathing the real one. The weapon, while not ornate or particularly fancy, was a solid piece of smithing work, light and sharp, and just the right size for the young woman.

"Let's do it, then."

Before she even finished the sentence, she swung the blade in an horizontal motion, carrying the light blade along the boy's hand, over the knuckles. While the wound was clean and nor particularly deep, it would most likely hurt quite a lot, and she instantly took a step backwards once the task was done, as to avoid any blood on her clothes.

"What can you do, Nerin?" Muttering, she awaited expectantly.
(Evangeline)

Uneasy, slow breathing.

In anticipation of what's to come, he tried to steer his thoughts away from this. 'Just think of results in the future' was his motto when dealing with unpleasant situations such as this. Just keep breathing, just keep reminding yourself that this is all temporary, and all will be well... and so, when she exclaims about already doing it, he briefly nods.

And--

Wait. Hold on. Did she already quickly slash him? At first, there's no reaction, other than his eyes slowly widening- maybe it's because he kept distracting himself, or maybe because he just entered an adrenal shock and the pain didn't quite kick in yet; regardless the case, it comes with a slow realization, voiced in the most obvious ways possible.

"Fuck..."
"Fuck!"
"FUCK!!"

His breathing is almost thrown off, and so is his focus; the other hand that was gripping his arm almost instinctively tries to reach out to his wound to grip the wound, but he restrains himself, stopping right at the wrist. Beads of sweat begin to roll by the sides of his head, his jaw slightly drooping with the labored breath leaving past his lips.

He's almost losing it.

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.."

A repetitive word, one that escapes in ushered tone; hearing her declaration, a demand and question, his eyes briefly close to focus, with his teeth still gritting- something around the knuckles begins to stir, the exposed bone shifting about slightly.

Yet so little.
So not enough.
(Nerin)

He looked to the side with a pout of sorts. Was he really a disappointment? Sven pursed his lips as he took out from his pocket a small golden pocket watch. He flipped it open to read the engraving at the top. 'Time heals all wounds.' A phrase that gave him solace.

"Well.. you're right, so.. I'll just have to be able to know when they're going to do that! To know the future!" declared the boy. "That's what an arch-mage should be able to do, just like Mihail."
(Sven Svenson)

"Or, Sven. You could do what most people do, and work on your reaction speed. As soon as anyone is within range to strike you, you should be completely aware of them."

She spoke with calm normality, despite still looking at Nerin as he bled and swore in pain.

"Or for starters, remain aware of the people that have been hitting you for the past few minutes."

The blade swaps hands, and her now free right one grasps the wooden blade once more, her eyes very briefly shooting towards Sven, likely giving him the only warning he'd be receiving from now on.

But rather than swing at him, it is first extended towards Nerin, its tip poking his wounded knuckles, prodding him, seeking a reaction. "Go on, Nerin. Do you need me to cut again? Break a bone?"

Was she… Provoking him?

"Maybe give you Sven's treatment?" And as soon as she said that, she swung the blade toward the blonde boy again, this time aiming to bash him on the side, directly on the ribs.
(Evangeline)

The pained look was his make up that night.

Even now, with the crimson spilling to the sides of his hand, and then spilling onto ground, he can't help but heave a shaky breath and hold his arm out- the entirety of it seems to be responsive to the pain, and while the bone at the knuckles seems to stir, there's a certain lack of motivation present, almost as if he's afraid to hurt himself more.

"Fuck, fuck..."

The curses are blurted out one after another, clearly having a difficult time with the slash delivered earlier that exposed the bone of his knuckles- yet, when poked at by Evangeline, the entirety of him shudders as the pain pulses through. It feels almost as if he'd lose the grip on himself, or even worse, just entirely pass out.

Yet, at the same time, it motivates him further.

His teeth grit harder, doing his best to stay in his senses. At no cost he can just allow himself to fall or falter right now, for if that happens, it'd mean failure for him - and quite an embarrassment before everyone else. At last, the bones of his knuckles steer out, slowly drifting and extending out of his hand.

The first blades forming out of his bone.

They're tiny, still- just about two, then three, then four inches ahead, trying to extend just as far as they can, yet stopping all the same. It looks like the more he extends it out, the more his body tries to adapt - but at the same time, it hurts all the same.

"It's almost.."

Almost out? Is that his intent?
(Nerin)

"Fair." While she would have preferred him to use his power to stop her attack rather than dodge it, for the sake of improvement, she could not deny that Sven's sudden burst of speed was not a viable tactic in actual combat.

"Use whatever methods you have to win, as long as they're not pathetic or shameful." A middle point between the formalities of nobility and the pragmatic flexibility of common fighting, which also happened to be a good way to describe the maid's general method of work.

And again, she turned towards the suffering bonemancer in training.

"Almost? That's not good enough, is it?"

Lowering her head a bit, she blows air from her mouth in Nerin's direction. While too far to really reach his knuckles that way, a small gust of wind followed along her motion, giving a fresh, almost cold touch to the bleeding wound and growing bone.

"If you ask me, you either do something or not, 'almost' doing it is not quite an acceptable result."

She rises the wooden blade once more, not swinging it at any of the boys, but threatening both.
(Evangeline)

Sven pursed his lips as he looked to the boney teen. Although he loathed curses, he was making an exception in this case.
(Sven Svenson)

So close.
He almost feels like dying.

The tunnel vision took him entirely. He couldn't comprehend anything but the task before him to actually make a blade out of his bone, and constant words falling from Evangeline's lips; everything not relevant to the either was falling dark, falling onto deaf ears, and otherwise mostly ignored. Not because he had such predisposition..

But simply because the entirety of his body struggled with his, incapable of paying attention to anything else.

The blood spill was rich. With each poke and prod that Evangeline offered, be it a physical poke, or the blows of air coming his way, each caused him to shudder, visibly struggling against such endeavour. Why, of all things, it had to be the bone magic? Something to hurt him so much, alas... then again, he imagines there's a similarity to blood magic as well.

Just as gruesome.
Just as cruel.

Another surge of mana. Another push in which he forms the blade steadily, enough to solidify it while it's extended, and then suddenly push it forward- what was about four inches in length, suddenly, became double that; it turned out to be an extended blade coming right from his knuckles, something most fitting to his style of combat.

One with bare hands.

And at that point, he stops. His breathing heavy, the blood still trickling along his hand, and his eyes wide-eyed; the moment of clarity allows him to acknowledge his own accomplishment, and a mutter follows.

"...I did it?"
(Nerin)

While it was in her own, rather strange, maybe a bit too brutal way, Evangeline had helped! And as such, there is a widening smirk on her face once the blades finally form and come out, moment at which there would be no more wind, no more prods, no more provocations.

She had done most of what he had to, after all.

"Good." A single, blandly spoken word was all she gave at first, though, as she moved out of the way, leaving the two boys standing closer to each other than to her.

"Now, hit Sven with them. Sven, don't get hit with them."

A simple request, one that sounded more than a direction, though. She merely sheathed her blade and put the wooden one away, before resting her hands on her lap as their fingers laced together.

All the while she looked quite satisfied with herself and the results.
(Evangeline)

Blood was dripping from those newly spouted bones. The poor boy was on the verge of being queasy at the gruesome sight. His eyes couldn't turn away from the strange sight of their growth, though.

That is until a strange order ran through his mind.

"Eh?"

That man was going to stab him with bone claws? Evangeline didn't need to give the order; he certainly wouldn't let himself be touched by such a weird weapon. Temporal mana flickered across the surface of his eyes as he begun to prepare for the coming attack.
(Sven Svenson)

Despite the blood trickling down his hand, it didn't feel... bad anymore.

If anything, it felt like he was actually getting the hang of it. Of all things, why would he be able to hold down such magic, something so gruesome? Isn't it fairly unnatural, especially if he intends to affect the bones of others from within? Oh, how cruel that could become..

But such thoughts are steeled away. Instead, he glances over to Sven.

So it would turn into practice in which he's the one to attack. Using his second hand, he wipes the blood from it- and without much hesitation, he suddenly lunges at Sven, the bone blade directed right at him; it's clearly launched as if it were a hit, betraying the unarmed combatant in Nerin.

Perhaps, this is making him all more deadly, now that he can stab with his bare hands.

"Dodge!"

A mere word spoken, and already the attack is launched forward.
(Nerin)

Oh, gosh. If those things cut him, there wasn't a doubt in Sven's mind that he would contract some sort of disease. Maybe even a magic curse! No one had ever prepared him for being attacked by claws crafted of a man's own bone.

But he had ample time to prepare. The apprentice magus could see Nerin lunging forward before he took a step. The image raced across his mind over and over.

Sven could dodge away, but Evangeline's words were hanging heavily in the back of his mind. He had to use his power to block the blow, not to evade.

The chronomancer came to a decision in a millionth of a second that, to him, felt like a whole minute. Mana begun to gather in a single point just in front of Sven- the spot that Nerin was going to stab. It was a strange collection of nearly invisible magic.

If he were to hit, then it would be a matter of whether Nerin's attack was strong enough to break through this odd barrier. If he wasn't, though, then he would find himself reversing in time to return to the stance he held before lunging.
(Sven Svenson)

Just to think that he was fighting with his bare fists a moment ago.

But now? He was dangerously armed with appendage of bones serving as claws and blades protruding from his hand. He's more than certain that he could equip his legs like this, and even spread out the bone blades all over his body.. perhaps, effectively turning himself into a living weapon of sort that needs no real weapon. After all, that's what his fighting style focused on.

Being entirely self-sustainable without addition of anything at all.

That offered an edge in which one does not rely upon weaponry; yet, at the same time, his inner power dictated just how strong the piercing strike would be. Where Sven intended to put up a shield to defend himself, it temporarily stops the blade coming his way- yet he finds his defences cracking, soon the blade piercing.

Right into the flesh of his shoulder.

He wasn't aiming for vital areas, but this is most certainly not going to be pleasant. A cut that could go fairly deep, yet it stops after pushing through the skin and a tiny bit of flesh; already he returns the blade out, unwilling to hurt Sven much.

"...Damn."

"I'm uh... sorry."

But he should be fine, right? He's a time mage.. he can reverse this. Probably.
(Nerin)

Sven was apparently destined to be beat non-stop this day.

Despite his attempt at holding the bone-mage back, those strange claws pierced through his barrier after a moment of resistance. Nerin broke through to lunge the tips of those dagger-like bones into the boy's shoulder.

The boy's eyes went wide. This was horribly unsanitary- he definitely was going to catch some sort of disease.

In his panic, he pulled his magics back to try to reverse the wound. Return back to a time before the gross bone needles stabbed him. A thought, a prayer. His magics obliged for such a minor wound.

He panted, "it's.. okay, it's okay."
(Sven Svenson)

This was quite unexpected.

Of all things, he didn't intend to stab someone, even if it were on accident during training, but.. such accidents happen, don't they? He heaved a tiny sigh, and it's not too long before everything just got.. reversed when it comes to the wound, seeing it become healed in no time, as if it never happened. He could tell why exactly people fascinated themselves with time magic, really.. it certainly looked very useful.

Him, however? Nerin was always more on a gritty, physical side.

It's only then that he actually reaches up to the bone blade carefully, his hand wrapping around it in a clear grasp, if only to snap it away. With hand covered in his own blood, there's no doubt that it was actually crimson in nature, with blotches of red covering its surface occasionally.

Such magics can be disturbing at times.

It's followed with a sigh. So many things done today, so many things to yet to do.. and he couldn't help but wonder, when exactly he could get at least some rest? Perhaps, now that this practice is done, the chance was right around the corner for it. A small pause of silence lingers, before he speaks out towards Sven.

"Well, uh... good job?"

"I think I want to rest for a bit now... I'm kind of tired."

A clear desire for calling it a day shown. Maybe it's time to kick back and relax a little - after all, he's been working whole day.
(Nerin)