#having a little fun! ^_^

[karoiseka]

20) Duel

((Second of the night, this takes place before 5.3, just for a little fun! ^_^))

Steel clashed together, as Karo desperately crossed her daggers to block the overhead move, before lightly feeling the flat of Thancred’s second blade tap her hip.  Scowling, she took the two steps back, panting from the excretion.

“I’m never going to get the hang of fighting in melee range,” Karo lamented, panting with the excretion.  

“Well, not like that you aren’t,” he grinned in response, taking a stride forward and placing a kiss on her forehead.  “You’ve been doing well with the sword and shield, and despite your opinion, you’ve been doing quite well with the daggers,” He eyed the long knives held loosely in her hands.

“You said Jacke got you started with those, right?”  Karo sheathed the blades, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat away, while nodding.

“Yeah, during one of my longer stays in Limsa,” she smiled thinking of the rogues, and their surprise that she knew Thancred.  Of course, she couldn’t find him at the time since Lahabrea had his talons in him, but after the Praetorium, the mutual friends had come up in conversation, and they had shared stories.  Thancred had handed over the blades he had been using back to their actual owner, Ryne, who had been watching the pair spar.

“I think it’s your turn to go,” he mused her red hair affectionately with a grin.  “Duel it out to see who is better with those.”  Karo’s heart sank.  In most forms of combat, she could easily trounce Ryne, but with the twin daggers?  The girl was a natural, and despite the daggers feeling at home in her hands, Karo still had a few movement problems with guarding while pressing an attack.  Masking her dismay, she stretched in place before striding out to the center of little clearing they had claimed in Lakeland to make a practice arena.  Ryne grinned, drawing her own daggers (that fit much better in her hands than in Thancred’s large ones) as Karo dropped into a mirrored fighting stance, ready to let the duel begin.

It started with basic circling, Ryne testing her reach that was almost as long as Karo’s.  Easily parried, Karo’s tail swayed behind her, aiding in last minute balance adjustments, her ears twitching lightly as she listened for the slight change in breathing or the minute stance shift that would indicate an attack was imminent.  Blows were traded evenly, slowly at first, but gaining speed as Ryne warmed up.  Karo was playing defense more often than not, luckily able to keep her footing due to how much she usually moved while using her bow, but it didn’t help her from having to backpedal and fend off furious flurries of blows from the younger girl time and again.

Finally, Ryne pulled away minutely before leaping up, and surprising not only Karo but Thancred who was still watching as she leapt over Karo’s head, twisting, and tossing out several small throwing knives before landing, and springing at the Warrior, knife at her throat, neatly ending the bout.  It had been Thancred’s signature move when he still fought with two knives instead of a gunblade, and she had carried it out perfectly.

“When did you learn that move?” Karo had held up her hands in surrender as Ryne preened under the praise.

“Well, I didn’t teach it to her, if that’s what you’re asking!” Thancred had joined them in the clearing, staring down in awe at his adopted daughter.

“You used it several times when hunting when we were traveling together and you didn’t want to use the longer blade,” Ryne explained.  “I’ve been trying to work on it for a long time, but I wasn’t sure if I could jump over you.  Karo’s shorter, so I figured it would be a good time to test it against a real person.”

“Well, as you know, that move only works once on someone,” Karo grinned.  “I’ll be watching for it next time!” Ryne smiled sweetly in return, delivering the final killing blow to Karo’s ego.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll never surpass me with these, I’ll have a new trick next time we duel!”

[kenapiece-main]

Can you believe I'm having to make this meme even after successfully finishing up taxes and applying to job

[vamprisms]

i feel like a lot of the 'i hate kids' crowd would be more tolerant if they understood that due to a kid's limited experience of the world that 4 hour flight might just be the longest they've ever had to sit still for or that trapped finger might literally be the most pain they've ever felt in their short life or they might not have ever seen a person with pink hair ever so of course they want to touch it or nobody's told them yet that they can't run around the museum and they only just learned cheetahs are the fastest animals so of course they want to put that to the test. how were they supposed to know etc etc.

[badolmen]

WARNING 18+

19

[inkskinned]

she's singing in another room and my dog is asleep at my feet. my grandma asked me why i haven't found a man yet and i laughed. oh, you know. i like my house clean.

my girlfriend is also my man is also "my partner" if i'm in a professional setting. yesterday we went to a ren faire and a man mimed at me - you're together? and at my delighted nod, his baffled, you're gay? made me laugh. a woman with rainbow hair said i love the two of you together. you're both so beautiful it's absurd.

my dad introduced my partner as my "..... friend. or whatever" the other day. he knows we're dating. in the same way, i was never able to get my sister's husband to stop saying that's gay like it's 2008. he still uses the word fa***t, and my sister's defense of him has always been well, he's just kidding.

my lover and i dance to old music in a tiny kitchen. we judge new music together and take food critique very seriously. we watch love is blind before we fall asleep and agree that if they had a queer season, it would be bloody but also make for excellent tv. of fucking course queer people would know someone for only 2 weeks and agree to get married. what are you saying.

at a bar with friends, a man puts his hand on my wrist. got a boyfriend? and yes, i do have a boyfriend, she's amazing. i am texting her while i wander around a gas station named after geese. i am visiting a swing state for a wedding. in the candy aisle i overhear: she's actually like a lesbian it's disgusting. two teenage girls with packaged sandwiches in their hands, giggling. no literally, like. i'm not, like. okay with her being there while we're all, like, naked and changing.

my girlfriend and i tailgate, drink gin and cider out of cups. from the frat group beside us, a man corrects himself with one of his friends: bro, i mean, nonbinary entity, and it makes everyone around him laugh, myself included. he razzes his friend the same way i would have killed for at 19 years old - like nothing happened, he continues: you apply sunscreen like an alien. he does a little sassy (and fairly accurate) dance interpretation of the motion. his friend is laughing so hard they're crying.

i am lucky, i live in a safe neighborhood in a safe state. my masc passenger princess comes up from DC. i drive her for an hour to where all the leaves are a violent arrangement of color. we walk along the trails, letting autumn into our blood. in this part of the state, there's a lot of pickup trucks and trump signs. when we chastely kiss before getting into the car, i accidentally make eye contact with a woman holding her child's wrist. she looks disgusted. she looks fucking pissed.

two hours later my girl and i are eating dinner on a patio, soaking in the last warmth of new england sun before the chill of winter sets in. we are giggling and trying to talk through plastic vampire teeth. at another table, i see a young woman sit up straighter. i watch her watch us. she blushes and takes her partner's hand from across the table. shy, like the taste of evening has just become something deeper.

it's worth it for this moment, i think. my lover is still humming the same song she's been singing for four days straight and i don't want to kill her for it. her guitar is beside my bed. her toothbrush is in my bathroom. in a few moments i will make us lunch. we are lucky enough to have found each other. it is lucky enough to be in love.

[housederiva]

Gaby Soto is a gift

Edit: I missed one!

[hinamie]

trick or treat!

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

whens megatron coming back

[cashmere-caveman]

today it rained for the first time in ages and ive got my window tilted to let in the cool air and i just heard a woman's voice say "hey i found another puddle!" followed by a little child's happy shriek followed by a big splash sound i absolutely love being alive i hope that kid has so much fun bc i am already thriving just listening to it all

[ciderbird]

academic bias is so funny because you’ll be reading about the same historical event and one person is like “Despite the troubles that befell his homeland and near constant criticism of the court King Blorbo remained strong in the face of adversity” and the other one is like “after letting his people carry the brunt of his cringefail decisions Blorbo the Shitface refused to listen to any reason and continued to be a warmongering piece of shit. Also he was ugly.”

[verflares]

just how long is forever? // not long enough, with you

pssst. check this out on inprnt :]

[qiinamii]

we'll do fine.

[coffeenonsense]

"astarion is a traumatized abuse victim who deserves kindness" and "astarion is a mean rat bastard man who would rip out your throat for a corn chip if he felt like it" are two statements that can and should coexist

[noxious-fennec]

Tunisian miku 🇹🇳👍

[artist-rat]

fine dining at the blushing mermaid. with the boogieboys