Man versus Pigs ((Open to One))

[Leaf]

OOC: Leaf is bored and wants to fight. First come, first served. Pleasssseeee someone, please. xx

Edit: 03/06. Two people (Muri and Alyssa Snow) originally replied so we made the "other" fight, using a similar starter post. Find it here. (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?27559-Man-versus-Pigs-%28%28Version-Two%29%29)

Closed to Leaf and The Muri

By Drys he had not been comfortable in any way as she shoved him up the path.

"If you are going to be useful in anyway, I need a brother who can fight. Radasanth isn't Paradisia, Leaf, its not that perfect place you've known all your life. Its a city of drunkards and wretches, cheats and murderers. You are lucky you even got through the Gate!"

"That was only because I bribed him with a solid fifty grams of burgundy truffle," he muttered to himself, anxiously fingering his sickle. "Would be worth a good few months at an inn."

The path had been long and cobbled and tiresome, outside the main walls of the city. It led to the collosal towers of the grand citadel, a place of myth as far as he was concerned. Something out of a fairy tale, with monks defending its halls. Maybe a faun princess was somewhere up there, waiting for a knight to come by, and there would be a dragon to slay. Or maybe there would just be more truffles to find and harvest.

Now that would be a better situation. A much better way to spend a day. Not being forced to come to a fighting arena thing and be faced with the prospect of - what was it? Oh yes, dying.

"If you're not going to do any selling in this town, you might as well learn how to go to war. Your pig things can help. They seem more adept than you anyway at defending themselves." Her high-strung voice laughed. "Especially the fat one with those mega teeth."

"His name is Thor," he had reminded her, "And its muscle, not fat."

But she had hardly listened.

And now - why now he was standing in the middle of a hall, sandstone and glass galore. It was roughly circular in shape, like the central dome of a cathedral, and had pillars holding up a fractaled ceiling. One moment he had been awkwardly paddling his hooves as Philomel argued with one of the monks the next he had been here ... in this room ... with only his sickle and his pigs. She had even given him money to get a slightly better blade than he had previously. Although, of course he had stressed.

"My sickle is for farming, you do realise? I don't need it to be tough or slice people in half."

Thor, however, seemed perfectly euphoric about the thought of battle. He ran around in circles at Leaf's feet, squealing in his baritone way.

Cookie and Popsy sat to either side, patiently waiting like Leaf. He could sense that, likewise also, they were very uncertain about all this. Only the brute miniature boar was excited in the four of the family.

Unconciously Leaf re-ran his finger down the sharpened edge of the blade. It bit into his finger, causing him to bleed.

"Ouch," he cussed, "Stupid idiot."

Cookie agreed with an affirmative grunt.

[The Muri]

A cathedral, how quaint.

I smirked as I laid one of my hands on my hand-held, repeating crossbow. I had once again entered the citadel to some entertainment... in battle. Now, look, I'm not the cruel kind of person who likes to kill people and shed blood. I just like my duels. It gives me something to do...

I looked across the large, dome shaped arena. The floor seemed smooth, and the walls were fancy. The glass particularly dazzled in my eyes, it seemed. I sighed, I would be enjoying this place... if it weren't for that oinking!

Three pigs were scuffling across the large room from me. Their oinking annoyed me for reasons I myself could not understand. Maybe it disturbed the peace? Who knew? With these three little piggies was a male faun. He looked like the typical faun, human upper-body and goat legs. I kinda smiled, despite her displeasure, and called out to him, "Hiya, I'm Kaida. Wanna duel?" I lifted my both hands away from my small bow and placed them on the hilt of my bulky sword Calcator, which hung on my back. Quite obviously, I was ready to fight!

[Leaf]

A voice like his sister's made him jump. He almost expected the eldest one - Marigold - to strut into the room, head held high, dragging a sheaf of wheat. Instead he was faced with a human, which was good. Humans were better than elves, elves were better than demons. Dwarves had big bones, mystics some scary magic and all others ... well Leaf had not met them to decide. He was stuck with this woman, and that made him somewhat feel more comfortable with the idea of being cut.

"Greetings," he said, as Thor came to a squealing stop. Placing his hands, with sickle within them, behind his back Leaf bowed. "I am Leaf van der Terra. My half-sister thought it would be entertaining if I came here to try my luck."

He straightened, looking at the woman. She had a sword strapped to her back, and a small crossbow in hand. By the looks of it, and by the brief weaponry lessons Philomel had given him, it was one of the uglier kind - a repeating crossbow. Which meant it fired at high velocity, and a surprising amount of bolts per round. Each one could embedden itself into a gut with the sting of a wasp from a hundred metres away.

"Can we please stick to blades," he said, with an uneager look on his face, "I don't ... well the thing is not very fair is it?"

Cookie let out a high squeal of irritation. Through his insanely sensitive eyes the weapons she carried were quickly assessed. Leaf counted no less than five hilts of throwing knives and as the ginger pig scuttled to the side he could perceive a clearer view of the blade of hers he saw something ... other. Something not within Philomel's teachings, not a sword or a knife but a thing seemingly futuristic, of a bizarre other life, with buttons and no sheath and ... Leaf had no idea. He only knew to stay well away from its edge.

Careful of her weapons, he told the three pigs via their immortal mental connection, Careful of her.

Unsteadily he raised his sickle blade, trying to swallow his fear. After all fear would be the enemy here, wouldn't it?

Please, oh great Drys, don't let me die in this horrible way.

[The Muri]

I watched the creature in front of me, quite curios. This faun didn't look much like a fighter, he looked more like a farmer than a fighter. I couldn't help but tit my head, my suspicions being confirmed a tad bit further when he asked that I'd not use my knives on him. What did I do? Well, I smirked in my teenage ways and chuckled, "But why not use the knives?" I asked innocently, "It's fun to throw them, after all." I pulled my hands to my handheld, repeatable crossbow though and aimed at him, "Might as well use this instead!" I called out to him in a voice of amusement. I had to admit, I was truly naive. I was one who appeared to be too young and spunky to be on the battlefield at all. However. I just happened to be a fighter. The movements I made on the battlefield just came naturally. I moved like water somehow, excellent at both hitting a dodging. Where I received such traits from I did not know though. It was odd, but I consider it awesome, that I even know how to hold my heavy sword Calcator correctly and even swing it without too much or too little force.

Now, I aimed my black missile weapon at the faun. I had it in her mind to take care of him quickly before getting to the pigs. It was obvious to me that the pigs could be used for combat. Before becoming outnumbered and worrying about either of them, I knew that if I took out their owner the battle would be so much easier. Observation and battle tactics, once again, was an unnamed gift I have no idea about... yet I was perfect at it. My smirk stayed where it was as I decided to move things along. "Ready?" I called out. Before he could reply though, I continued on, "One, two,"

"Three. - GO!"

And I pulled the trigger to my cross-pistol, letting the first bolt shoot out at him. The cross-pistol's ammo could not travel nearly as fast as an actual pistol - however I wasn't even worried about it. If this man could not fight, he would get plucked with the arrow anyhow. Maybe I was underestimating him, but the way he reacted to the bolt would only prove it.

[Leaf]

When she refused to be a gentlewoman and rely on swordplay, Leaf felt disappointed. When she started counting without warning and with no regard for welfare, Leaf was warned. When the subtle movements of her finger pressed down upon the - the thing that made it go bamm, Leaf quickly ducked, remembering his brief lessons.

"Anything that fires - just get away from it. Dodge, duck, hide, any tactic is fine. Who gives a shit about how you look in the heat of battle - its the bloody heat of battle! So get out of the way of crossbows and bang-pistols, brother, and beat your opponent to a pulp."

He was a little unsure of the idea of "beating her to a pulp" but nevertheless Leaf was suddenly determined to not let his pigs come to any harm. As he slammed himself to the rocky ground of the high, fluted chamber he sent out a general caution to his commrades-in-mind. Not in arms, because, after all, the pigs had no arms. Only teeth and trotters.

The three of them scattered, like leaves to the wind. Cookie sent out a squealing order that he expected his siblings to follow to the crescendo. Thor, gnashing his mighty tusks, took a daring tactic and actually moved back before darting around the perimeter of the stone room. The last, Popsy, fled behind Leaf's back temporarily as the bolt-thing flew over his body and thudded against the rock of the floor behind him.

"Seriously?!" he found himself roaring, "I offer to play fair and you - you act on nothing but primal dirt. What is it with humans?"

He locked his mind feverishly with Cookie's. Together the two of them were the brains of the group, the strategists. Thor was the heavy tank, Popsy the sneak attack that could sniff out a strawberry from a whole field of raspberries. As Leaf prepared himself to roll out of the way of another bolt, or stand, depending on what their assailant did next, Cookie struck out and bounded straight forwards, oinking to high heaven, his jaws open and his intention set.

[The Muri]

I frowned because of two things. One: I didn't hit him. Two: he called me "dirt"! That of course, sent me off like a cannon. Also, he proved to be a better combatant than I thought by dodging the bolt. It angered me that I had underestimated him so much. But once again, people considered me a weakling as well... maybe this was fate's payback for this.

"'Dirt', eh? Hey!" I growled, "What's wrong with having a little fun?? Besides, my sword hurts much more than my pistol!!" Indeed, My sword Calcator, when put on the 'chainsaw' setting, could literally rip skin and draw a lot of blood. This coward should be happy I chose to go with missile attacks.

My purple eyes narrowed, as one of the pigs raced towards me. I cocked my cross-pistol again and prepared to shoot again. Meanwhile, I drew one of my jagged throwing knives out of my pocket. I aimed and shot my hand-held bow again then turned to see where the other pigs were at. One of them was... FREAKING RIGHT BEHIND ME!

My eyes widened, my brainwaves scattering - but it was too late. The pig already had whammed into me with his tusks and caused me to fall over. Thanks to my iron plates, the tusks weren't able to dig into my lower legs. However, I knew that having any part of your body other than your feet on the ground was extremely bad in a battle. I clenched my spiked throwing knife in anger and tossed it at the pig which had followed me, then in my quick speed which earned me the nickname 'Jet', I jumped onto my feet again.

I had to prepare myself. These annoying pigs easily outnumbered me. And what if their leader joined into the battle? WHat special powers did he have? This looked bad, very bad...

[Leaf]

Thor twisted at the last moment, coming back and sharply close behind the woman instead of running the full circuit of the perimeter.

Leaf felt wild, suddenly, as if loosened into life. His eyes were wide, sharp and attentive, and he watched in strange interest as the pigs operated themselves, more or less without his help. He sent a suggestion - move - and they conducted themselves as if they were individual minds, and not those of a family unit that were in harmony. Despite the agreement to settle down and strategise, Cookie more or less took his own intiative control. Leaf complained somewhat, letting out a bleat but not before the woman tripped up and Thor came scattering through her legs, a sort of miniature serated knife bounding behind him.

"I am here - ouchie!" he screeched, coming to a stop. His tiny trotters lost contact with the floor as the steel aimed at him bounced once and then lodged, blade down, into his backside.

Sharp intake of breath. Popsy was still behind him, Thor was bleeding before him, Cookie was acting on his own. The pain lacerated through mind to mind and erupted into Leaf's epitomically and sent him reeling to the earth.

"Why?" he yelled, falling to bended knee, "Why must you ..."

Cookie was flying now, enraged. The human being was readjusting herself, coming back from her fall from glory to shoot again. The bold boar Thor's blood seeped out as a pool, contrasting to the light wood of the cathedral floor. It was almost blashemy, soaking such a holy place with this pawnish waste, but what else could be done? There was only the upper hand to be gained as Leaf tried to deal with the agony of watching his friend being downed and out. With eyes of intense burning and sensitvity the King of Boars, Cookie, finished his bound and aimed right at the human's wrist, jaws apart and ready to strike. Leaf hissed through his teeth, weakened but not yet spent, his damascus sickle lying as yet unused in his hand.