Watch It (open)

[morg]

All Morgan had to do to harness her gift was to simply watch things. Sometimes it almost felt unfair, how easy all of it came to her. If she saw someone complete a complex martial arts move, she could perfectly mimic it moments later. This carried over into gymnastics, dancing, heck, she'd even picked up a few interesting yoga positions.

In order for her to learn even more, she had to watch even more. So while some students used their powers in ostentatious manners, flinging fireballs or flying to the ceiling, Morgan watched.

Currently she watched two Fae sword-fight one another. The Fae constantly changed sizes, making the conflict quite interesting to view. Just when it looked like a hit might connect, the target would suddenly shift. From the looks of things, this tired them out quickly though. And apparently they had opted out of using glamors, or else Morgan couldn't see it.

Intrigued by what she viewed, and eager to try it for herself, Morgan scooped up a practice sword. One of the Fae moved into a defensive stance, and Morgan copied it. Soon she was shadowfighting perfectly, matching the movements of her Fae counterpart almost exactly. It thrilled her, and she grinned slightly even as she moved.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

OOC: Oh come on! This is just TOO easy!

IC: Karmine had been lucky to find such a sparring partner here. Another Fae, and one good with a sword at that?! Going to be a roaring good time! He had been sparring with this other man for a few moments before he noticed Morgan, taking his eyes off the fight for a moment. In that minute, he heard the wind screaming at him, as a sword cut through it. Turning his head back to the fight, he now wanted to wrap it up. Something about the quick glance he took from that girl seemed familiar, though he couldn't say for sure what.

So what do you do in a quick and serious fight to beat an opponent when you know each others moves? Simple, do something they don't expect!

The other Fae returned to his defensive stance, and Karmine did what he always did.

Whatever you weren't expecting.

With a flick of his wrist, he launched his hat at the opponent, who was momentarily distracted by the sudden attack of head ware. He moved to catch it with his off hand, and then was quite surprised to feel a sword touch his chin. The hat had, as Karmine expected, blocked his view of Karmine, and that was all he needed to finish it.

"Good match." Karmine said, shaking the other fae's hand. "I gotta relax for a bit, I'll take you on for another round again sometime, eh?"

The other fae said words of agreement, and walked off to relax himself. Karmine, however, walked towards the spectator he saw before.

"Well then, enjoy tha show there milady?" he asked with a grin. "Pleasure ta put on a performance for ya."

[morg]

Oddly enough, Morgan had been imitating the Fae who wound up being the loser in the fight. Odder yet, she'd taken a defensive position, and one that might have staved off Karmine's attack. Though she didn't have to deal with having a hat thrown at her, so she definitely had an advantage over the one she'd mimicked.

When the winner approached, Morgan turned to grin at him. "It's always interesting to watch Fae go at it. You guys fight totally different from humans."

Morgan tossed her sword back onto the practice rack, then took a few steps closer to Karmine.

"I can't help but wonder how that would've turned out in a real fight. You know," she wiggled her finger between Karmine and the Fae who'd just lost, "where both of you use your glamors and tricks as well. The smart money's still on you though; that was a pretty slick trick you pulled there."

She nodded to his hat. The hat seemed to remind her of something, and her smile slipped into a look of concentration. Had someone mentioned something about a Fae that wore a hat like that? Her brother had given her a quick briefing of the Academy tutors back when she'd visited, and now Morgan was wondering if one had worn a hat.

"Excuse me, but, what's your name?"

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Karmine nodded at her assessment of the fight, pretty spot on. "Glamors don't matter that much in a real fight." Karmine said. "Not between fae's at least. See, it's like...tying your little brothers shoe laces together or something. Sure if he ain't paying attention, he's gonna go flat on his face, but it's not that useful in a real situation, cept' rarely. That's what the glamors are between fae, cause we already know all about em, cause we've been using em on each other our whole lives. We can usually tell when somethins a glamor, when it just ain't right, well at least if we know there is a far there. It's something ya get used to. But the tricks, the elements and all that, yeah they can make fights damn fun, and pretty dangerous too. Saw a fire and earth fight once, it was really somethin else to watch."

So she wanted to know who he was eh? Well why not, he'd probably wind up teaching her in class anyway!

"Names Karmine...or rather, Professor de Arcadia I suppose, as we must keep these relations proper lest I get scolded." He pulled his hat and ducked down into a formal bow, still one of his old fashioned calling cards.

[morg]

The information about Fae fighting styles was stored away in Morgan's mind, as she never knew when she'd need something like that. Chances are she'd never do more than spar against a Fae, unless the Queen snapped and decided to declare war on the Gifted. Still, never smart to take chances.

As Karmine spoke his name, Morgan snapped her fingers, pointing at the tutor. "I remember now! You're the fighting tutor! Well, you were back when my brother was still studying instead of tutoring. He said you were particularly good at it, and had me all excited. Of course, they replaced you with one usually dips**t after another."

Morgan snorted, rolling her eyes, "Though the last one wasn't all that bad. Still didn't teach that well."

Morgan studied Karmine approvingly, noting the gesture. The little bit of charm went a long way with the pretty tomboy.

"Oh, yeah," Morgan extended a hand, grinning broadly, "Morgan Cavan, nice to meet you. And no, I'm not in House Cavan, so don't bother asking."

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Ok, a brother who was one of his students, that was now a teacher. It was a short list, and Karmine had the name just when she gave it.

"Kennedy's sister eh? Well a good thing you aren't in House Cavan, I've already had one brave and brash kid with a hero-complex and a famous last name, I think I'll pass on another for a little bit." He said with a smirk. "Kennedy's a decent kid, but I swear that kid managed to find more trouble then Rae did." He didn't bother explaining who 'Rae' was. If she spent any time with her brother, she probably already knew.

"Well I am sorry ya didn't get to study in my class, I guarantee it is something ya won't ever forget. And I do try hard to be 'unforgettable', ya know?"

Karmine felt his second wind, and with it stupid ideas entered his head. "Well then, on the matter of classes, how about a preliminary lesson then?" He said, gesturing to the weapons rack. "You game for a little spar?"

[morg]

"Huh, you pegged 'em both," Morgan agreed. She nodded and headed over to the weapons rack, scanning them over. "Rae looked for trouble, but Kennedy was the one who kept finding it. At least he's dating someone now, and she's keeping him out of the worst of it."

Morgan drew out a spear, remembering various fighting positions with them. Her brother had once used that weapon, before deciding to focus on utilizing his Gift better. Really, Morgan couldn't blame him. If she had his gift, she'd probably do that herself.

"I'd love to spar," she finally said, as if the weapons perusal hadn't been indication enough. She turned at Karmine, smirking and waving a hand at the weapons. "Why don't you go ahead and pick the weapons? That ought to make it more of a fair fight. That and the fact that you've probably got, what, a couple hundred years on me?"

Morgan was prideful, not stupid. There was a difference. You didn't last long as a fighter if you couldn't tell them apart, and Morgan had been fighting since she could convince her dad it was a good idea.

"I don't suppose you're the sort who'd go easy on a girl, would you?" she teased. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the practice rack, waiting for Karmine to select their weaponry.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

"He's dating Angela right? I heard about that one from a friend. Funny how that works, last time I saw them she was head over heels for a Tristran guy, and the closest Ken got to her was teaching her to fight a floating stick. I'm going to assume she hasn't gotten any better in that regard." He remarked stepping over to the rack.

"Hmmm, so how do you feel about a simply fencing match?" He remarked, whirling about and throwing a rapier off to her side. It wizzed past her at a fast speed and then stopped, suspended in mid air.

"Sorry." He said with a grin. "I like ta show off. And sorry I can't go easy on ya, my sister would have my head if she found out I went easy on someone just cause they were a girl. I won't use any transforming or any of that stuff though, just straight swordplay."

He stpped back and adopted a fencing position. "Engarde!"

[morg]

"Dating seems like an understatement. Those two are head over heels for each other, it's almost embarrassing to watch," Morgan replied. Her eyes followed the rapier as it came close, while her mind went over the various forms her body knew. That was always the tricky part: remembering and reacting appropriately. It sucked sometimes to have your body react reflexively while your mind tried to catch up to the situation.

"The Tristan thing's a bit of a sore spot though," she added, taking the rapier. "You'd have to ask Kennedy for the details though, I'm not inclined to talk about someone else's love life. Particularly when I'm related to them."

She flourished the rapier, taking a fencing position that would easily work against Karmine. Of course, her body had reacted before her mind. Stupid split-second delay. I really need to work on that.

"Just swordplay? You that eager to lose?" she teased. She tapped her rapier against his, nodding in his direction. Not sure whether to proceed yet or not, Morgan simply stood at the ready, eyes on Karmine.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

"Heh, well you trash talk like a pro, that's fer sure." He said with a smirk at her challenge. "Well then, let's see if you can follow five hundred years in five seconds then!" He announced, making a short thrusting motion at her lower chest.

If it was as he suspected, and she was a copier, which would make sense considering her brothers power, then this was a fight not of having ability, but of knowing how to use it best. And that was something only experience taught.

As he made the trust, keeping his off hand out for balance, he remarked casually. "So, having fun here at that Academy?"

[morg]

The parry came easily enough to Morgan, as she twisted her wrist to block his attack. She followed up by flicking again, attempting a feint to Karmine's left side. Her feet moved more or less on their own, performing admirable footwork. It looked for all the world like a master fencer, as opposed to a sixteen year old girl.

"Yeah, I have fun," Morgan agreed, grinning. "Plenty of friends and all that."

Assuming her feint worked, she'd follow up by quickly flicking her rapier either up or down, depending on how Karmine dodged or blocked. It was hard to predict exactly what he would do, and Morgan had to rely more on her body's natural reactions then her own knowledge. Which would probably be a huge disadvantage.

If she had any hope of winning, she'd just about have to cheat, utilizing a distinctly non-fencing skill. She had plenty of those though, so she wasn't all that concerned.

"Even have something resembling a boyfriend," she finished, smirking.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Karmine saw the feint coming, and allowed her to follow through with it. The funny thing about a fake is, if your opponent doesn't bite and block it, it's just a really weak strike. And indeed the 'feint' merely glanced off of Karmine's coat as he moved to the side, going for a horizontal swipe towards her.

"Oh really now? Isn't that sweet, sounds like something I'll have to meddle in. Ya know that's oneof my specialties, meddling that is. Ask Kenny if ya dun believe me, it's not like I spent 500 hyears drinking."

He blinked thoughtfully at that.

"Pretty damn close though, truth be told."

[morg]

"Wow, sounds like you'd get along great with our dad," Morgan joked, smirking. Indeed, Eoin and Karmine certainly acted similarly enough, from what Morgan could tell. Though she only had a few minutes, a few lines of dialogue, and what her brother told her about Karmine to go off of. Still, it won points in her eyes.

"Better watch it with the meddling though. I know how to avoid that," Morgan swished her rapier back, then sharply yanked it, aiming to slash at Karmine's wrist. "Comes from being the youngest of five siblings and having one of the worlds' biggest flirts for a father. Not to mention the fact that's he's a titantic worrywart and I'm a bit of a daddy's girl."

Again, she had to smirk at that. It probably went a long way toward explaining her tomboy nature. Then again, very few of the Cavan children really liked their mother.

If Morgan was able, she would then thrust her sword inward, aiming to tap Karmine's torso.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

"The Elder Cavan?" Karmine said. "Nah, never met em, sounds like my kinda guy though." he added, twisting his wrist around to move it from her slash.

"But don't underestimate mah meddling abilities, while I won't take full credit for it, I'd like to say I had a hand in Kennedy and gela's little...well whatever they are now." He smirked beating back her thrust. "I'm just disappointed I couldn't have been here when he was in his 'I hate everyone' drunken phase. Nothing I enjoy more then beating sense into a 'poor poor pitiful me.' guy." It was an odd sense of humor, but he'd seen it all.

He followed this conversation up with an odd combination, he ducked low and spun on one foot, quite graceful. Almost as if he had been a dancer at one time, but with Karmine you never knew. He slashed low with the spin, and then pulled himself up to his full height to do a second spin, this one aimed at her torso. It'd be interesting to see what she did to deal with such unusual fighting styles.

Of course Karmine knew he was fighting her gift, and not her. He'd beaten plenty of people with this gift before, they thought they were something special. Ability without the knowledge to use it is wasted though.

[morg]

"A lot of people have credit for the mess which is my brother and Angela," Morgan retorted. She noted her miss, mentally cursing herself. A Fae would be good at dodging, and someone like Karmine probably knew a good deal of tricks. Her best bet would be to try something unorthodox.

She jumped the low spin, then ducked low to try and dodge the second. This she managed, though barely. Even then, she was forced to perform the splits, thus conceding height advantage to Karmine.

"Feel free to meddle, I'd love to see how that turns out," Morgan added again. She then lashed out with both feet, hoping the completely unswordsman like behavior would catch Karmine by surprise. In an all-out fair fight, she had little chance. But her other known skills might work well, if she could figure out how to use them properly.

She still expected to be outsmarted and bested; in the end Karmine simply had more training. But she wasn't thinking like a defeatist, and certainly wanted to make him work for it.

OoC: gah, I feel like I'm repeating stuff, if it gets bad just tell me ><