Papa Don't Preach

[Amber Eyes]

This was all too real. Here she stood in a huge coliseum. People cheered her name from every angle and her heart swelled with pride.

Okay, so Kyla may have gone a bit overboard on the room selection in the Citadel. Sei had merely said for her to 'have fun' with her choice. She'd had to beg for the chance to fight her uncle, and could not see how she could fail to have fun. She'd made him swear to fight his hardest, and she hoped he'd be a man of his word. Kyla wasn't here to train. She wasn't even here to prove something. The young mystic simply wanted to know how far she had to go to be as great as her uncle Sei. The stone walls of the coliseum echoed the sounds of the fans around the room and she couldn't help but get a slight adrenaline rush from the cheers. As she practiced creating her new light shield, she listened carefully to the repetition of her name.

"ORLOUGE, ORLOUGE, ORLOUGE ...SEI ORLOUGE" The crowd cheered. Kyla turned at the new word, knowing that her infinitely more famous uncle must have made an appearance.

[Silence Sei]

There was nothing that a father would not do for his daughter. It could not be denied that when push came to shove, paternal instincts would always triumph over any logic that held water. That was the whole reason for Sei coming to the citadel now, agreeing to engage Kyla in combat. Though Sei did not have any love for the battle-laden building, he could not speak out against its usefulness in situations such as these. Kyla wanted to show how strong she had become to her adoptive father, and made Sei promise to go all out.

Sei was deeply regretting the moment he agreed to such a thing.

He could hear the cheers for him all across the arena. From the look on Kyla’s face, it seemed as though the girl thought they were cheering for her. The girl’s arrogance brought a smile across her uncle’s face. If she went out and did something great, perhaps her name would shadow even mine. The thought appealed to the mute, who never asked to be in the limelight anyways. Someone like Kyla could flourish and thrive under the constant viewing of others, something Sei was uncomfortable with, but had to force himself to get used to.
He stepped forward, his eyes darting above the two of them to view all of the imaginary spectators. Sei could have sworn he had seen several of his Ixian Knights in the crowd. Either the monks of the citadel were being very detailed with some aspects of the arena, or certain knights decided that watching this fight would be very entertaining. Either way, Sei was displeased with them being here. It was distasteful enough to find joy in the battles of others, but between a father and his daughter? Detestable.

Sei withdrew one of his chakrams, the one he had named Neosaim. He tossed the cake-enhanced chakram at Kyla’s feet. The girl loved that weapon; it seemed only fair that she should be able to wield the adamantine blade-ring. The mute took out his other chakram and held it in his left hand, raising his right. He moved his fingers back and forth towards his daughter, forcing a smile across his lips to pretend as if he was going to enjoy this.

“Bring it.”

[Amber Eyes]

Kyla looked at the chakram that now lay at her feet.

"And what the heck do you think I'm going to do with that?" She smiled at her 'father', noticing his smirk. Was that menace in his eyes? She picked the chakram up and held the cold metal in between her fingers. Suddenly she noticed that there was a birthday cake sitting in the bleachers. Some child was having his birthday party at the arena and the cake smelled delicious.

Kyla looked at Sei and pointed in the direction of the party. The moment the mute took his eyes off of the girl she dropped the chakram and ran towards him. Her sword formed quickly as she ran, a four-foot longsword held high above her head. The teen jumped as she reached striking distance and whispered to herself as she flew through the air. She brought the sword down with all her strength, hoping to catch him by suprise and end this fight quickly. The sword was directed at the mutes left shoulder. Kyla closed her eyes; afraid to see what came next.

[Silence Sei]

Sei's head turned to the birthday party, eyes widening at the type of sick parents who would let their kid have a celebration at a coliseum. Before he could debate whether or not the next party was going to be dangling above a shark tank, Kyla attacked. The girl had ferocity, that much was sure, and her blade came rather close to biting into the mystic's shoulder. Sei moved his blue orbs over to the shadow blade, shaking his head.

Kyla would know the sound that followed. Shattered glass hinting at the opening moves for Mystic Protection. Sei's eyes found themselves locked with Kyla's, a single finger rising between the two. Sei shook his finger towards the female mystic as if he were scolding her for not doing her homework correctly.

"Opening moves are very important, Kyla," Sei's 'voice' entered the head of his niece, "I had hoped you knew what I would do first. It's what I always do first. Perhaps allowing you to be sweet on Jensen was a mistake." Sei smiled, assuming he'd get a riled up Kyla from his words. Hopefully the girl would see right through the strategy, and not allow her rage at Sei's womanizing to overtake her.

Sei blinked as the glass shards that had formed around his body shot outwards. They would hopefully find themselves in the body of his daughter. This fight would end quickly, Sei could get Kyla healed, and the two of them would go out for ice cream later...

Or Kyla would spout the typical teenage 'I hate you!' speech. Either way was fine by Sei, really.

[Amber Eyes]

The glass shards moved towards the girl at an alarming rate and all Kyla could do was hope that her own protection spell had worked. She tensed her body for the impact, ready for the enormous amount of pain she knew was coming. The moment seemed to move very slowly and Kyla closed her eyes right as she heard the second glass shatter. Kyla's mystic protection was far from perfected, and the girl knew enough to duck. A glass ceiling formed over the arena, and it shattered. The sharp glass shards fell upon the girl and hopefully did some damage to her father as well. The pain was excruciating, but Kyla couldn't feel much through her anger.

"I'm never going to get that right!" She screamed as she stomped her foot to show her frustration. She looked up to find an amused grin of the face of her father. "It's not funny! I worked really hard on that!" She pulled her dagger from her pocket and gave a come-and-get me grin to her 'father'. This time, she was going to think before she acted.

[Silence Sei]

The second time the echo of glass breaking filled the arena, Sei was only slightly prepared. The mute quickly threw his large body-length cloth over himself as he watched Kyla hit the ground. In his haste to cover the more vital spots of his form, several pieces of raining doom found their way into Sei's calves. The mute clenched his teeth in pain as the blue liquid began to seep out of the gashes that were sporadically placed all along the lower half of his legs.

"I'm proud that you prepared yourself before attacking Kyla. Niche would be happy to see how quickly his little girl is maturing as a fighter." This time, Sei was not trying to goad the girl into an attack. The mute was actually praising his relative for not only thinking ahead, but by not being lured into a trap. The crowd began to cheer louder at the first attacks, especially since the latter one drew first blood. Now there were a few cheers for Kyla Orlouge resonating in the stadium.

Watching Kyla get ready for what her 'father' had thought up, Sei nodded. He was forced into a promise that he would not treat Kyla as family in this fight, but as a regular opponent. Looking down at his feet, Sei shot his head back up at Kyla rather quickly and ran straight for her. The shoes that the mystic was wearing carrying him at a more alarming rate than what one would have guessed, given the telepath's body size.

Within seconds, Sei was upon Kyla, jumping towards her and attempting to plant both of his knees into the face of the girl. Sei could feel the secondary effects of his mystical shoes starting to take effect. Within minutes the cuts Kyla had caused to her uncle would be no more. Such a thing would be disheartening to anybody, especially somebody in their first fight. Sei would have to end the battle quicker than expected now. He wanted Kyla to take pride that she had managed to damage the 'Avatar of Alerar'.

[Amber Eyes]

As Sei approached, Kyla's mind raced. The thoughts jumbled together and she didn't have a chance to react. She moved slightly to the right, and was only hit by one of the mute's knees.

The impact hurt and Kyla fell to the ground, but not before stabbing the dagger towards the mute's left thigh with all of her might. She hit the ground hard, tasting blood and dirt deep in her throat. Her jaw was sore from the impact and she had a couple of teeth loose, but she was conscious. She realized the dagger was no longer in her hand and could only hope that it had made it's mark.

It took her a while to make it to her feet, but Kyla stood. She looked to the crowd, searching for someone.

"Did you really just knee your daughter in the face?" Kyla couldn't help but laugh a bit at the thought of the famous 'hero of Radasanth' sending his kneecap into the face of his child. She turned slowly, unsure of what she would find behind her.

[Silence Sei]

Sei hit the ground with a loud thud comparable to a sack of potatoes being thrown. The mute had intended to land on his feet after the blow, but the dagger jutting out of his left thigh had other plans for the telepath. As if the pain from the initial makeshift stabbing wasn't enough, the second the telepath's legs made contact with the ground, he had collapsed. The stinging pain in his leg was going to make this fight so much more difficult than it had to be.

Pushing himself up from the ground, Sei noticed that his fall had caused a small dust cloud to rise up. The mute grabbed the hilt of the blade that had found its home in him, and pulled. He tried his best not to send out a telepathic scream to his 'daughter', because he didn't want to cause the girl to faint from the sound of her mind being pierced.

And partly because Sei did not want Kyla to know she was doing so damn well.

"I would lecture you about losing your weapon if you didn't have your shadow blade to fall back on," Sei spoke with a kind of hiss to his 'words'. "Always have at least one thing in your arsenal your opponent doesn't see coming. I had completely forgotten you had those daggers, and I paid for it." The mute attempted to stand up, finding the pain in his left leg unbearable for such an action. It seemed as though Kyla had hit just the right cluster of nerves to cripple the mute.

The dust cloud began to fade, and Sei knew that Kyla could see bits and pieces of the damage she had done. "Eww... there's blood on it now!" Kyla shouted, grossed out by the fact that her uncles azure life was coating the steel of her dagger. Sei forced a smirk across his lips. He was on his left knee with his right foot placed upright in a position that looked as if he was going to attempt standing once more.

"Then you can clean it off," Sei said, chunking the blade back at his little girl, aiming for her right thigh, "When you take it back!"

This fight had become a bit more interesting than Sei had thought.

[Amber Eyes]

Kyla could tell she had hurt Sei with her last blow. The mute was no longer standing, and his face showed lines of stress along the edges of his eyes. Kyla listened carefully to his instructions, but got a bit distracted watching the dust settle around her. The girl was not fully aware that Sei held her dagger in his hands, much less that he intended to send it flying back towards her.

Sei's voice in her mind changed pitch with his last sentence, and Kyla shot to attention, but it was too late for her to move. Her hand reached down just as the dagger plunged into her thigh, pinning her hand in place. Kyla pulled a smoke bomb from her bag and threw it directly in front of her to give herself a moment to figure out what to do. The pain was blinding, and she was not sure she had the strength to pull the dagger from her flesh. Blue covered the ground around her, bringing her mind to focus. She could not afford to lose much more blood. The effects of the bomb would wear off shortly and Kyla wasn't sure if the sight of her would make Sei finish her off or try to help her, so she had to act fast.

The mystic pulled the top of her shirt up and stuffed it in her mouth to bite onto. She put too much pressure onto her pulled teeth, and a couple of them came loose in her mouth. She spit out two teeth mixed with blood as she tugged on the dagger with all her strength. If the blade had hurt going in, Kyla could not remember it now. This was another level entirely. She could feel the blade slicing each nerve in her hand and knew it was useless. Her leg may be okay. Luckily, her hand had blocked the blade from going too deep and it was mostly just a surface wound on her thigh. Kyla wasn't sure how to proceed when she felt a hand upon her shoulder.

Kyla turned to find her 'sister'. "Need some help?" Anita asked with a grin.

"Now whatever gave you that idea?" Kyla smiled, though it looked more like a a grimace due to her growing pain level.

"I don't know, the fact that you’re getting your ass kicked? Well, that and me and Jensen were watching and he said if I didn't jump in, he would." Anita gave Kyla her hand and pulled her to her feet. As the dust settled both of Sei Orlouge's daughters stood before him, Anita's backpack hanging by her side.

"Hey Papa! I wanna play!" Anita cried gleefully.

[Silence Sei]

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

Sei rolled his eyes as Anita jumped into the fray. She was holding the backpack at her side, bouncing up and down like a boxer. It seemed as though when push came to shove, the sisters would look out for each other. Anita's blue dress whipped about as the girl jumped in place, prepared to duel her dad. It was at this point that Sei had enough. Fighting Kyla was proving to be entertaining, but not only was Anita fresh, she also knew almost all of Sei's moves. The girl had lived with him for ten years, after all.

Raising a hand towards the two, Sei closed his eyes. Two small cracks appeared on each side of both girls. Seaweed began to sprout from the cracks, two of them grabbing Kyla by each arm, and the other two taking Anita's backpack from her.

Anita's eyes widened as the seaweed began to retract with her only weapon. "No fair! I quit!" the girl shouted, throwing her hands up in surrender. Anita knew for a fact that Kyla was probably shooting daggers at her useless sister via her eyes right now. Sei smirked as Anita began to make her way back to the crowd, ducking her head behind her hand to avert herself from sissy's wrath.

Sei hobbled upwards, turning his back towards the girl. "You're not ready for this. Perhaps after a bit more training you'll be ready for me to use my own weapons against you." Sei was being harsh towards the girl, but he was shedding lights of truth upon her. People like Godhand Striker and Joshua Croen would not show the girl mercy. Though Sei promised to go all out as if he were fighting a real opponent, the mute knew he would not finish off a foe at Kyla's current power.

"This fight is over." Sei said matter-of-factly, limping his way out of the arena. Kyla had been taught her lesson. Despite her begging him not to, Papa had done too much preaching for one day...

[Amber Eyes]

Kyla followed Anita with her eyes all the way into the stands. There stood Jensen, who laughed a bit as he left the arena. Embarrassment flooded the girl's cheeks, and she ducked her head to avoid the spectators' eyes. She turned to watch Sei leave the arena, limping on his left leg as he did. Anger at being stuck in the grasp of a stupid weed filled the girl and she created a ball of light in her good hand and threw it at the mute's head with all her might. She watched with a grin as the ball sailed closer and closer towards him. At the perfect moment her 'father' turned around and caught the ball effortlessly before winking at her and leaving the arena. Kyla struggled against the plant. She would come back, and she would defeat her uncle Sei. Kyla would learn magic Sei had never dreamed of. The next time they faced each other, the outcome would be much different.

[Revenant]

Full rubric, no commentary requested. Amber Eyes score in red, Silence Sei score in blue.

STORY

Continuity (3/4)

Setting (3/2)

Pacing (3/3)

CHARACTER

Dialogue (4/4)

Action (5/6)

Persona (5/5)

WRITING STYLE

Technique (4/4)

Mechanics (5/5)

Clarity (5/5)

WILD CARD

Wild Card (3/3)

TOTAL: (35/41)

Silence Sei wins and receives 2600 exp and 65 gp.
Amber Eyes receives 875 exp and 65 gp.

[Taskmienster]

Exp and GP added.

Amber Eyes levels to 2!