Refining A Diamond

[Seth Calloway]

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Seth?"

"Of course it is. Have I ever steered us wrong before?"

"Good point."

Thrilled with his reasoning, Seth leaned back in the passenger side of the car, his head resting on his left hand while the right slowly dialed a number into his cell phone. Being 16, the leader of Revelation wasn't quite old enough to be able to drive, and instead had been forced to have the bartender from The Lion's Tooth drive him out to the forest, a place far from the usual prying eyes of the public. However, before he arrived, Seth wanted to make sure that the other required party would be heading out as well, as then he wouldn't need to wait too long for them to arrive. With the number dialed, Seth brought the phone up to his ear, talking as soon as he heard a voice on the other side.

"Hey, it's Seth. I heard you had a bit of a tussle not that long ago with someone looking for a fight... I'm sure you took care of yourself quite well, but I was wondering if you'd like to join me in the forest for some training of our own? I could teach you what I know, and I'm sure you've got things that you could teach me... Sounds great. I'll see you in a few minutes then, Mae-Lim."

Seth flicked the phone shut, stowing it back in his pocket as the car came to a halt. While he fully intended on simply sitting in silence while he waited for the Horseman of Death to show up, it seemed his comrade had other ideas.

"So what's this, then? Am I chaperoning a date, here?"

"Now, Derek, you know better than to assume I need supervision on a date. Besides, this is much more innocent than that, we're simply out here for some private sparring."

At Seth's words, the older man could only laugh out loud, unable to hold it in.

"Sure, sure, Seth. I know you better than that. I guess I'll just wait in the car 'till you're done, then?"

"I'd appreciate it."

With that, Seth would step outside of the car, walking a fair distance into the woods before finding a suitable clearing. One Mae-Lim arrived, Derek would point her in Seth's direction, where she would find the Sophomore sitting on a stump, a big fat grin on his face. Once she had shown up, Seth would greet her with a wave and a few words.

"Hey, Mae. Long time no see, my dear."

[Mae-Lim]

"Stop it Spongebob! We're not cave men...we have...TECHNOLOGY"
Mae-Lim's lips twisted into a grin as her glaring eyes watched the pink Starfish AKA Patrick from the children's cartoon smash at a dollar with a computer. She chuckled softly, the arm she was resting on the back of the couch leaning towards her head to allow her hands to play around in her hair. It was one of her guilty pleasures, and one she'd grown a tad obsessive over. She'd amassed quite the collection of stuffed things and plastic trinkets of the particular cartoon. She wasn't sure what was so intriguing about it. Something about the stupidity present in the cartoon never failed to make her feel all tingly inside. She supposed that deep down she was still a bit of a child.

Riiiiiing~

Her eyes shifted to the side, taking a look at the phone as it rang but ignoring it. Her eyes turned slowly back towards the T.V., expecting someone else to get it.
And then it rang again. And again.

With a groan, the girl finally leaned over with a couch-potato-y "gruh..." before picking up and answering.
"What?"
The voice she heard brought such joy to her heart, her right eye twitched and her lips curved into a distorted smile. Well if it wasn't El Capitain, The Horseman of Conquest, SETH. Regardless of what her mind yelled, she kept calm.

"Sure." she half-whispered, her eyes straying to look at the T.V. as she spoke, the cartoon's "Siren's Call" prodding her to watch them. Very much winning, too. 'Keh...removable by spit...?' she thought, watching Mr. Krab lick at the "prized dollar" to remove the paint. How silly...It was only then that Seth's final words had reached her fully and that the line was dead by now. She gave a few blink, putting the phone down and rolling her shoulders. "I guess I'm not going to be completely lazy today. I better put something on that's more practical..."

------

She handed the money to the Taxi driver, nodding a thanks to him before turning around and heading towards the forest. There she met Derek, who instructed her on Seth's whereabouts. The girl hadn't even given a thank you to him for his kindness, turning away from him almost as though he'd pissed her off and stomping away. As usual, the girl was dressed in white. A white long-sleeved shirt with a hood, rather plain. She decided to put on pants for once in her life, although her selection was limited and all she had in her inventory were plain white sweat-pants. Not glamorous, but she wasn't exactly going out to impress either. Overtop she had an unzipped coat and boots as footwear. All pratical for the weather, but easy to move in for the circumstances.

Seth caught sight of her then, greeting her in a most pleasant manner, only to get a dangerous glare and scowl in return from the Horse(wo)man of Death. By the way she stomped over to him, it was easy to tell she hadn't forgotten a certain thing a certain someone did.

"Oh yes. Long time indeed." she said through her teeth. No doubt, Seth would be amused at how ruffled her feathers were still, now. Mae-Lim held grudges, that was no lie, even if it was towards her "Leader". One thing was for sure, though and that was that at least this way, he would be sure that she wasn't going to hold back. Not one bit. Oh she realised it was simply a spar, but she still intended to use this an an opportunity for revenge on how he had humiliated her.
'I'll teach you something, alright' she thought to herself cocking her head to one side before tilting it the other way and then back to it's original position.

[Seth Calloway]

"Well, you seem fired up. That's good! It means we can get things started on the right foot."

With a quick pat on his knees of anticipation, Seth lifted himself to his feet, still smiling broadly. He knew full well why Mae-Lim was as upset as she was, and it amused him greatly, to the point where he didn't even want to try to hold it in. Without taking his eyes off of the female student, he took a few steps to his right, putting some distance between himself and the stump, in order to keep any unexpected difficulties from making themselves known.

"Alright. This should work out well. You will likely fight larger opponents most of the time, while I tend to be up against smaller foes. But the first thing we should focus on is where to strike."

Seth backed up a few steps, putting a small amount of distance between himself and Mae-Lim, due in no small part to her unpredictable nature. He let his hands at his sides, palms open and facing the girl, while his legs were placed shoulderwidth apart.

"Okay, my dear. Try not to hurt me too much, okay?"

[Mae-Lim]

'Now you KNOW I will'

Mae-Lim thought, watching him take a bit of distance but not taking any stance. She on the other hand placed her feet solidely, with her right foot leading and her hands held before her chest in loose fists. She needed to think back at some of the things she had learned...what was it Kyou would tell her way back when? "The simplest strategy for fighting an extreme opponent is to avoid direct contact, evade his power and attack his vital targets"....

'So me going first would be suicide.'

If Seth was going to expect her to go first, then he was dead wrong. There was very little the girl could accomplish by going first. She was outmatched by weight, height and the lenght of limbs. All of her strikes could be easily intercepted and with that knowledge, she decided that getting Seth to come to her gave her the best chance at success.

With a motion of her head, she seemed to prod him to come at her. She was shivering with anticipation and with her slightly surpressed anger.

'Here kitty kitty...'

[Seth Calloway]

Seth's happy mood never faltered as his mind worked on overdrive to take in details about his "opponent". The way she stood suggested Mae-Lim was more of a defensive fighter, or at least, taking a defensive strategy for this moment, as she hadn't taken Seth's invitation to have the first move. Instead, it seemed she had focused more on preparing herself for what he would do.

She's learned much already, I can already see the difference between when she fought Conner and now.

While he'd fully intended on testing Mae-Lim's offensive skills first, Seth wasn't opposed to working on defense as well. Unlike his female comrade, Seth had no desire for revenge or any real cause of anger stemming from Mae-Lim, though this wouldn't result in him taking her lightly by any means. Instead, it simply meant Seth would avoid unnecessary injury.

Slowly, he lifted his hands up to his chest, strangely similiar to how Mae-Lim had prepared herself, though Seth kept his hands open and relaxed. In a cautious, unhurried fashion, he began to walk closer, bringing himself within striking range of his fists, which would be out of Mae-Lim's own range, due to the difference in size. His left foot would pivot as he brought the right side of his body forward, his right leg snapping forward in a quick kick aimed at Mae-Lim's left outer thigh, intent on striking it with the top of his foot.

The plan was simple. If the attack landed, Mae-Lim's mobility would be impaired, hampering her speed advantage, and the strike had been aimed high enough that if Mae-Lim were to simply lift her leg to attempt to avoid the attack, she would be struck in the lower leg instead.

[Mae-Lim]

(-cough cough cough cough...- I don't think I need to list you my excuses as you've already heard them all on msn But here. It's lame. I may have messed up. I dunno! Tell me if I did. I'm vair tired and thinking clearly is...difficult. But at least I posted! XD )

So long as she tried her best to keep focused and calm, she was sure she wouldn't do too badly. After all, it was just a spar, right? This would help her learn about facing off against larger opponents. Of course, not everyone was as big as Seth, but if she could manage to do relatively well against him, then, she assumed she'd be ready for almost anything else. Almost.

She was still angry. Actually, she was still VERY angry, but she'd managed to "ignore" it for now. There was no point in staying angry as it would only keep her distracted. She knew this too well and if she planned on at least making Seth cringe, then she had to "forget" she was pissed for a while. Once this was all over, she could yell at him all she wanted. That was her mental deal with herself.

Seth made his way towards her slowly, Mae-Lim's eyes studying his movement carefully as she tried to figure out what kind of starting move he was planning. The closer he got, the tenser she became. She’d expected some form of punch (actually, now that she thought about it, she would have preferred it) however, with Seth’s distance and shift, she could see it would be something else. And what else could it be than a kick? Mae-Lim’s mind reacted as it usually did. Instincts kicked in and she would do whatever she could to protect herself. In this case, she was caught slightly off guard. So she’d grab his leg. It’s all she had time to think of.

She quickly slid her forward foot forward, allowing her to lower herself more solidly. As she did so, she’d lean forward and wrap her arms around his leg, exhaling sharply as the foot connected with her side. ‘Ow. Maybe this wasn’t the best course of action…’ she thought. ‘Too late now’. With Seth on only one leg, Mae-Lim would twist to her left, hoping to send him off balance and making him fall to the floor. What would happen next, she wasn’t too sure of yet…

[Seth Calloway]

(No worries, of course. As I've said before, I don't mind the wait.)

Seth's eyes widened ever-so-slightly in surprise as Mae-Lim lowered herself, catching the blow in the side in order to grab ahold of his leg. All things considered, Seth was fairly impressed at her determination, and the concept of controlling one of your opponent's legs was definitely a good one. After all, even the strongest of fighters could be overpowered with superior positioning and balance.

Not bad. Looks like I have less to teach than I thought.

As Mae-Lim turned to throw Seth further off balance, however, the larger male would simply move with the momentum. His left leg would push off the ground in a small hop, his upper body falling backwards and twisting to his right so that his right side was closest to the ground, while his right hand would stretch below him in order to cushion his fall. Perhaps more importantly, however, Seth's left foot would whip towards Mae-Lim's upper back, aided by the force of her twist, intending to send the young girl stumbling from such a powerful blow and giving the dark-haired male a chance to get back to his feet.

Should all go to plan, Seth would land in something similiar to a push-up position, and after looking over his shoulder to see the results of his kick, would stand back up on his feet and face Mae-Lim once more.

[Mae-Lim]

(Yeah, I'm alive. Back on track~)

There'd be an audible exhale that escaped Mae-Lim's lips as Seth's foot connected. Instinctively, Mae-Lim's grip on his leg would tighten as she'd let herself topple over. In a small way, it lessened the blow as she hadn't tried to fight against it, but it was no lie that it still did a good ammount of damage on the small girl.

As she fell, her grip on his leg would loosen a bit- though not voluntarily- so that she could land on the ground less awkwardly. Dazed by the impact of her back hitting the ground, Mae-Lim would slowly come to the realization that (assuming Seth hadn't taken this time to get his leg out of her unsteady grip) Seth's leg would be ontop of her, going down from her left shoulder, and her arms would be holding onto it in a sort of hug.

Mae-Lim would let go, pushing his leg off of her as she rolled toward the right and hurried to her feet; and taking a few steps back to recreate a good distance. Luckily, she could ignore her throbbing back, but Mae-Lim couldn't help but feel she probably wasn't at the top of her game.
'Damn it. I'm still too angry.' she thought to herself, looking towards Seth who had probably (most likely) got up to his feet again. 'Frustrating. Look at him. Everything about him is FRUSTRATING!'

She'd bite her lower lip, and the look in her eyes would be a clear indication that she'd gotten lost in thought. 'The things he says. The stuff he does. Those looks on his face. Frustrating.'
Her fists would clench, to the point where she'd begun to tremble. "..and that ki...-kurrg...." she couldn't even say it. Instead, she'd finished the word off with a groan, not realizing that her thoughts decided to escape their prison and dribble out of her mouth.

While she seemed distracted, Mae-Lim wasn't worried about Seth attacking her at the moment. She'd put a lot of that faith in the fact this was a spar, and that Seth could probably tell something was wrong with her. She still managed to be slightly alert, just in case, but she was much too busy complaining to herself. And she wasn't doing a good job of hiding her problem by the way she stared at Seth.
'Can I even hit him...?' she wondered, letting one of her legs slide back, almost indicating she was ready to get back to what this was about. While Mae-Lim's initial motivation was pay-back, now, she wanted to test herself.

And also get payback....


'He's so frustrating, I might not be able to land even one blow. Just to get me even more frustrated.' She stopped that thought. She was starting to sound crazy.

"I'm sorry, Seth." she'd finally say, carrying her usual calm, emotionless and low tone after snapping out of whatever had happened. "I was distracted by something. I should do better now."

She'd nod at him, something indicating that she would attempt the first move this time. She didn't have to say it, it was easy to see in her lack of defensive posture, and the slight determination in her eyes.

She'd quickly scan him over, a billion thoughts scrolling through that big computer of a brain, before she'd exhale slowly. Signs of agitation were still evident, but Mae-Lim kept to the right thoughts. With an action plan clear in her mind, she decided to set her plan in motion, pushing herself forward in a long first step. By the second step, Mae-Lim would toss herself forward into a sort of right-shoulder roll where she'd end, laying on her left hip, right leg extended to hit at Seth's left ankle. The whole thing was done rather suddenly and quickly. Her hands were pressed on the ground, already ready to help her pick herself up after the strike. If nothing would force her to change her plan, Mae-Lim would quickly pull her leg back in and push herself to her feet, whirling around to look back at her opponent.