EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth brought herself up to her hands and knees, but did not even attempt to stand. Ra'kalesh stood close, waiting for her to do something. It seemed he was not interested in kicking her while she was down, literally or metaphorically. He just stood, waiting to see if she would continue to resist. With how many attempts she had given, however, Kaleeth felt it was hopeless. He was trained in a way of fighting that she had never even seen before, and she had no clue how to effectively resist.

Kaleeth coughed a few times as she looked up to Ra'kalesh. "I give up. I can't do it; I can't fight anymore." She announced in resignation. With the end of the fight, there was a combination of cheers and groans from the crowd, depending on whom they had placed their bets. Ra'kalesh helped Kaleeth up to her feet and gave an encouraging smile.

"You show great promise, Kaleeth-Rei. You just need guidance in some areas you have not yet addressed." Ra'kalesh said.

Kaleeth still seemed to have some shame from her defeat, but she nodded nevertheless. "Thank you. I...need to sit down."

While Ra'kalesh went to collect his winnings, Kaleeth walked over to the railing near Janius and Fendros and sat down, holding her hand over her side.

After he stopped laughing, Peiter looked around the bottom deck at the other members of their packs, and a few from the pride, who were still very much present. He did not move immediately, but he did reluctantly stop kissing Sabine. Instead, he pressed his forehead against hers as he stared into her eyes. "This isn't very...private, is it? There has to be somewhere quiet on this ship, though."

"no, Rhazii, get off of him! You're too big for that." Ahnasha exclaimed. She was on the bottom deck, sitting in her hammock with her legs hanging off the side while she watched over Newt and Rhazii. They had a tendency to start roughhousing when they played together, as was to be expected from young boys. Unfortunately, the older Cathay was too much for Rhazii, so she had to keep him under control when he became too rough. She heard her voice called out from the other side of the room, though she had been too distracted to tell at first who had shouted it. "What? Yes, I'm here." She answered.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hello." Peiter repeated. He was not sure if Ciinriel was still paying attention, but at the moment, his own attention had been taken elsewhere. He smiled and brought one hand up to her cheek. "I always love...falling into the arms of a beautiful woman." He said before giving her a kiss, properly this time. Of course, as the bottom deck was quite open, other members of their packs were still around, but Peiter had forgotten about that detail for the moment.

For Kaleeth, it was one thing to know how Ra'kalesh fought, but another entirely to actually counter it. She simply couldn't seem to hit him; he was just too quick. Her powerful strikes were either knocked away, or dodged entirely. The crowd, having seen Kaleeth fight previously, were on the edge of their proverbial seats watching Ra'kalesh. Although, thanks to Kaleeth's prior performance, many of them had placed their bets on her.

When swordfighting, much of her strategy revolved around overpowering her foe. If her opponent had a strong defense, she would use her shield to break it. She did not have her shield here, but she could try something along the same lines. She could run at him with her guard raised and try to knock him over and get him into a grapple. Even with his training, she might still be able to overpower him if she could just get a hold of him.

Kaleeth charged with her arms raised to protect her head and upper torso. She saw him start to move to the side, so she corrected her course, but much to her surprise, he was actually able to dash back in the other direction far quicker than she could correct. As she was running past, Ra'kalesh quickly grabbed one of her arms, put his other hand on her shoulder, then used her own momentum to bend back her arm. He was careful not to bend it to the point of breaking, but she did scream out in pain. Knowing that he could not hold her in one place for long, Ra'kalesh followed up by delivering an open-palmed strike to the center of her back while sweeping her legs with his, knocking her flat onto the deck. He intended to keep her down, but since he could not do it by grabbing her, he stood close and, when she tried to stand, struck her down once more.

Kaleeth was not going to be knocked out of the fight by a grab like her opponents, but at this point, she could not even stand to fight without being knocked back down. Her body ached, but she did not know if she should give up.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

That's alright.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ciinriel quickly shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine. I'm fine." She began as she slowly started to lift herself up off the ground. Shakily, she brought herself to her feet with her arms held out wide to help steady herself. She struggled to walk with the movements of the ship, but did manage to make it over to her hammock nearby. However, actually sitting down in it was another matter entirely. She tried unsuccessfully to steady it with her arms as she tried to sit down, so the moment she lifted her feet off of the floor, she accidentally ended up spinning the hammock and falling onto the floor underneath it. Her pillow fell on top of her, which she promptly grabbed and placed under her head. "That was...intentional." She said.

Peiter did not attempt to get back up and instead simply remained right where he was, wrapping his arms around Sabine. With Ciinriel's display, he simply could not stop himself from laughing.

Just like the previous fights, Kaleeth and Ra'kalesh took their positions, then the word was given to begin. Much like the Suthay-raht crew member, Ra'kalesh did not attack first. Instead, he slowly stepped forward while eyeing down Kaleeth. He did not have the same kind of obvious overconfidence as her previous opponent. In fact, it was hard to judge how he felt at all. He was like Meesei in his unemotional approach to combat.

Kaleeth was the first to attempt to strike, but Ra'kalesh's reversal was quick and precise. She punched toward his jaw, prompting him not to block, but to knock her arm to the side with his own forearm, as if he were parrying a blade. With his other hand, he delivered a strike quicker than any the Altmer had attempted. He struck at her ribs on the same side of her body which she was using to punch, making it all the more difficult for her to block. He landed an open-palmed strike exactly on one of her pressure points, causing her to yell as she was pushed back.

Ra'kalesh did not stop once he had the momentum. Kaleeth did manage to raise her guard to protect herself, but her opponent knew precisely how to bypass it. He swung wide to hit her slightly from the side, chopping his hand down on the inside of her elbow. This caused her arm to curl up reflexively, allowing him to land a clean punch on her snout. Kaleeth, in addition to her strength, had an abundance of endurance, so she charged forward swinging, intent on breaking his guard through sheer force. Unfortunately, Ra'kalesh was just as agile on defense as offense. His footwork was impeccable, and with how much she was telegraphing her strikes, he could easily move his upper body out of the way so that her punches hit nothing but air. Whenever she would miss a swing, he would take the opportunity to land another blow, usually on a pressure point. What Kaleeth did not know was that the Whispering Fang was a martial arts style, and Ra'kalesh had trained in it for years. His abilities served to highlight what was perhaps Kaleeth's greatest weakness in combat: agility.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I'm nervous? No, you're the nervous one." Peiter responded, chuckling. "Everything I did was just a, uh, cunning plan. To get you to realize how much you liked me. There's no fear here."

While Peiter was looking at Sabine with a prideful smile, Ciinriel put on a mischievous one. From where she was laying nearby, she was able to give Peiter a light kick to his side. While not particularly painful, it startled him enough to cause him to jump and fall onto Sabine. Ciinriel raised her head slightly to look at the others and started to laugh. "You're a...fearless knight, Peiter. An inspiration." She said sarcastically.

"I don't think it's competitiveness, really." Kaleeth mused. "It's...something else."

Kaleeth looked over towards the crowd at Ra'kalesh, as if to size him up. As a werelion, he would probably be stronger than her last opponent, but he still wouldn't be able to challenge her directly in a contest of strength. However, she knew little else about him, or what he could do. She remembered that he used to be a monk, though she had no real idea of who the "Whispering Fang" actually were. "I don't know much of what he can do really, but I think I'll be fine. If I have trouble, I can just grab him like the others."

Soon enough, the current fight ended, and while the bets were being paid out, Ra'kalesh walked back over to Janius and Kaleeth. "Ra'kalesh asked the one in charge, and he agreed to allow us to fight. No one from our group will be allowed to bet on the fight, however. This one believes he fears that one of us could throw the fight for easy coin. Regardless, we are next."

Kaleeth stood up and smiled as she looked to Janius. "Wish me luck."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When the others returned, Ciinriel was still laying on the floor on her back. She had her eyes closed, but was still perfectly awake. Lightly, she shook her head in response. "No, no, everything is fine...here. How are you?"

Peiter smiled and tightened his grip on Sabine, allowing his head to rest against hers. "Fine too. Actually, better than fine. Great." He answered as he slowly brought himself down to sit with his back to the wall along with Sabine. Standing had been taking far too much conscious effort from him, so he could relax more completely once seated.

"Hmm, so how long have you to been all...loving to each other and everything. Together, how long've you been together?" Ciinriel asked.

Kaleeth paused. It took some effort for her to think of how to describe how she was feeling; it was more complicated than just excitement at being victorious. "Well, it's...hard for me to put into words. You know the, uh..." She began, glancing around at the others on the relatively crowded deck. "...other part of me likes combat. It's excited by it much more than just training. But, I don't like to kill people if I don't have to. It's not something I would do if I didn't have to. But training and sparring isn't as serious as a real fight. There aren't as many injuries, not as much...energy. This was something in between. They weren't fighting for their lives, but they were fighting for their money. It made them try harder, which made me try harder. The other part of me really liked that. But, there is a bit more, from me. Back in the village, I never really won anything. There was always someone better than me at everything. Or a lot of people better than me. I know a lot of people are better at fighting than me, but being better than all of them was different for me."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

After the bottle was finally empty, Tzirret left up the stairs, and quickly. Sabine started after him, and naturally, Peiter got up to follow. He fell back down once and nearly dragged Sabine with him, but both of them managed to walk up to the deck above them without falling back down the stairs, not that he didn't have a few close calls. Even though the waters were rather calm at the moment, the constant swaying of the ship served to exacerbate his balance issues. Nevertheless, both he and Sabine managed to catch up to Tzirret. Meanwhile, Ciinriel stayed back on bottom deck, once again laying on her back. She intended to join up with them shortly, but needed a few moments to try and collect herself.

Peiter was confused at first regarding what he should do about Tzirret. At the very least, he did manage to keep himself from laughing. Sabine was grabbing his shirt to keep him from falling out, so Peiter reasoned he could help with that. Although, he wasn't as close as Sabine was, so he ended up grabbing onto his tail instead. "I don't think it was too strong...really. It just...took a lot less to be way too much."

Kaleeth enthusiastically returned Janius' hug. It was obvious that she was excited and prideful in her victory, as these were a different kind of fight from what she was used to. With sparring and other kinds of training, the focus was always on learning. They did not tend to fight as hard as this, when gold was on the line. Even though Kaleeth didn't care about the reward, the fact that her opponent did meant that he was fighting as hard as he could. The intensity of it excited her beast spirit much like actual combat, but was not nearly as distasteful as killing another person. It was a mix between training and fighting that she had not known she would enjoy.

Ra'kalesh spoke up once Kaleeth and Janius separated. "You do seem to be doing well. Perhaps, if they allow it, you would want to fight this one? Ra'kalesh is adept in unarmed fighting." He requested.

Kaleeth had to think only for a moment before nodding to him. Even with the wounds she had sustained so far, she was willing to keep going. "Oh, sure. I just need a moment to rest; I went through two fights one after another. Maybe after this next fight?" Kaleeth answered. Two of the crew were already getting ready to fight one another, so they could watch the fight while Kaleeth was resting.

Kaleeth sat herself down along the side of the ship and leaned herself up against the railing, motioning for Janius to join her. "Have you ever fought like this before? It's different from what I expected."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

No problem, I'll be able to relax my mind. I'm going to try to install those PC parts I bought this weekend. I would have tried before, but my desktop was the only computer I had that could run some applications I needed for my classes.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I took another test today. Exhausted again, but at least it was the last one.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter nearly fell over trying to give Sabine another kiss once she started to pull away. Regardless, he went back to dealing the cards, albeit while smiling widely at Sabine. Ciinriel groaned as she brought herself back up into a sitting position to actually look at her own cards. She chuckled at Tzirret while she tried to remember if she actually had a hand. "You won't see the stars...it's daytime...probably."

The four continued to play, and continued to drink. At first, there had been a clear trend of who was winning more games, but by this point, they were all so intoxicated that the winner essentially came down to random chance. As the bottle grew lighter and lighter, Peiter was taking less interest in the game, and more in conversation with his friends, as incoherent as it was. Eventually, there was only enough remaining for each of them to have one good swig. It was Peiter's turn to deal, but instead, he put down the cards, picked up the bottle, and raised it up as he moved over and put one arm around Sabine's shoulder. "Not much...left now. How 'bout one last drink...for us all." He suggested, giving a laugh for no particular reason. He took his drink, then offered it to Sabine.

Kaleeth was back on the Khajiit, this time holding him face down. She locked her arm around his throat and started to squeeze. He had to be careful not to constrict his neck to tightly to avoid any permanent damage, but he could not draw breath while she had him in her grasp. His hands were free, so he started to reach back and hit her as hard as he could in the side. Unfortunately for him, she could stand that pain for longer than he could go without air. Eventually, he stopped resisting and started slamming his hand down on the deck to signify his surrender. Kaleeth released him and allowed him to gasp for air as she brought herself triumphantly back up to her feet. She now had a few more bruises, but nevertheless felt invigorated by the fight.

Much of the crowd had placed their bets on the Khajiit, as they could not imagine her being able to overpower him. However, there were some who had enough confidence in the Argonian challenger to place a bet on her, so the split was not as drastic as last time. Nevertheless, Janius, Fendro, and particularly Colors all made a good profit. In all of this, Ra'kalesh seemed curious. He had no interest in gambling, but he could hear a few whispers among the crowd wondering at how she could accomplish such feats. It was the kind of question that it was best they not have, and he had an idea of how to distract from that issue. "Do you think that, perhaps, Kaleeth would be interested in a fight with Ra'kalesh?" He asked.