Private Tales Flicker Flame

[Blake]

"Oof!"

Blake felt the wind get knocked out of her as her back collided with the ground. A pained laugh escaped her, a combination of genuine amusement and muzzled frustration. She lay on her back, staring skyward within one of the many sparring courtyards within the Academy, watching the clouds gently drift over on this sunny winter day. Dust settled all around her, her body warm and her muscles burning despite the frigid air around them.

After a moment a familiar face peaked into view: the redheaded visage of Catrina Bletzin, her most consistent sparring partner.
"You good down there?" the other girl asked with a smirk.

Blake laughed again, though the laugh quickly became a pained cough, however briefly.
"Yeah! Yep! I'm good!" she groaned, her ribs feeling tight against her lungs. "That was a hell of a throw!"

"Well your footing was wide open, so I couldn't not take advantage," Catrina joked. "Want some help up?"

Blake shook her head, panting and, arms splayed wide across the dusty ground of the fighting ring.
"Nah...think I'll just...rest here a minute. Really helps me absorb my mistakes, ya know?"

Catrina chuckled.
"Yeah, alright, Girl. I'm gonna hit the showers for today, alright? Same time Thursday?"

Blake raised a thumb skyward.
"Sounds good. Catch ya later, Cat!"

Catrina sauntered off after that, leaving Blake to lie there as requested. A couple of other initiates eyes fell upon her curiously, wondering just how long she might remain sprawled out. Blake, for her part, remained unbothered, a dazed smile on her face as she slowly regained her breath.

 

[Lux]

The dirt crunched under boots, and suddenly someone took a seat just shy of Blake's head.

"You know, that is a compromising position to be in. Then I keep thinking, and I certainly do not want to fall prey to your foot kicking me in the crown jewels if I attempted to take that bait."

Lux leaned to the side, a hand propping him up as he now became visible to Blake if she were to look upwards behind her head. The boy was eating a large sandwich, and ate it in plain sight despite the rules of keeping food away from the training areas. "Fuck, this is a good sandwich. I leave the Academy for two weeks and look at this! Two new cooks in the kitchens and suddenly the food has flavour."

He had another one ready for Blake, stashed away into his bag, but he did not immediately bring it to her attention.

 

[Blake]

Blake craned her neck from her position on the ground, just to put a face to the ever familiar voice. She gave the boy a big, friendly grin, forgoing any kind of traditional greeting in favor of,
"You're damn right about that!"

She didn't rise just yet, instead staring long and hungrily at the sandwich Lux had brought along. The raven-haired girl stretched her taut arms out towards him, fingers splayed, and made a grabbing motion at him.
"Gimme! Gimmeeee. Give," she demanded playfully.

 

[Lux]

"Ah, ah, ah! No! I learned from last time, multiple times, you do not just take a bite!" He swatted away her hands like the fiend she was when it came to good food, and moved to reach across to his bag and pull out the paper wrapped sandwich he got for this reason. "There, have your own. How can I put on muscle when you're eating all of my food?"

But he grinned, knowing that Blake was not to blame for his build. It was the common thing for his family to begin bulking up rapidly and becoming formidable amongst the Guard. That was where Lux was headed after graduation. Blake even helped him with the work outs to keep his muscles strengthening. "Now that I have paid the toll to speak to my bestest friend, what do you think are the chances of me chatting up Catrina? Is she a sandwich girl too?" In fact, Lux was bored.

 

[Blake]

Her lip stuck out in a pout at first as Lux denied her a tasty bite, but her frown quickly turned upside down when an entire sandwich got tossed into her hands.
"Ehehe!" Blake giggled to herself smugly. She placed the wrapped treat between her teeth, rolled onto her upper back as her legs came up over her shoulders, then flipped her whole body forward to land on her feet; a perfect, well practiced kip up.

She then marched over to where Lux was sat and plopped onto her butt next to him. The sandwich was unwrapped and a bite shoved into her mouth before she bothered a reply.
"Hmmm..." she hummed as she munched. "I mean you can try. It'll be fun watching her put someone else in the dirt for once."

Blake swallowed, and her expression shifted to a more smug one.
"More of a taco girl, if memory serves."

 

[Lux]

He knew what she was doing when her legs came up. Lux scrambled away from her, giving her space not to inadvertently kick his face or his sandwich, and grinned up at Blake as she towered above him as he still sat on the ground, enjoying the tasty treat.

"Well fuck. She sounds high maintenance." He laughed. "Tacos? That's the thing we ate in Vel Lameus on that mission? You made me eat that really spicy sauce that I had to buy two pints of milk. The barkeep was fucking howlin' all night..."

Traitorous, but Lux looked up at Blake still with a cheeky smirk. "Perhaps it is best to keeps things between myself and Catrina on the mat."

 

[Blake]

"I didn't actually mean food, you dork," she snorted, lightly shoving her fist against Lux's shoulder. "But yes, I remember that. The aftercare was so not worth the prank itself. You're lucky I was willing to hold your hair back..."

"Perhaps it is best to keeps things between myself and Catrina on the mat."

Blake shot Lux a scowl at this.
"Hey, nuh uh, off limits. Try to get in her pants all you want, she's mine in the sparring ring," she huffed.

 

[Lux]

Lux gave her an equally foul scowl. "Yes, but it's hard to branch out with hand to hand combat. The fun of getting King D'Amour of all people flustered when it comes to sword play has begun to lose interest in me. He is the best swordsman in our class. Then look at the magic component." He began to rise, towering over Blake as if his latest growth spurt hadn't stopped.

"Vittoria is fun to play against, I have never seen her look annoyed before in my life, and even that exchange ain't worth it. And I don't actually want to hop into Catrina's bed. I just want to see how someone else fights when they have been sparring with you the most." Like Lux. He was curious to see how other's went about fighting against the teachings and moves that were all done under Blake's guidance. "You know me, I love a good wrestle."

But his grin gave him away, as did the waggling of his brows.

 

[Blake]

Blake's eyes followed Lux upwards as she took another bite of her sandwich. And upwards. And upwards. Fuck, he was getting tall lately. Her munching continued.

"Wait, wiff King are we ftill makin' innuendohf?" she asked, mouth stuffed full. She swallowed and laughed. The eyebrow wiggle always did her in. "Alright fiiine all talk to her, see if she might wanna go a round or two. Variety is the spice of--blah blah blah."

She wrapped the remainder of her sandwich back up and jumped back to her feet, hands on her hips and staring up at Lux.
"Just make sure to at least let me watch, huh? Or, ya know...gimme a turn."

Blake stuck her tongue out at him, then began collecting her things into her satchel.

 

[Lux]

He quirked a brow, giving her a smile that bordered on dangerous. "I'm sure you would, Farand."

It was the type of smile he gave others, mainly the girls falling for his bait. But despite his wants for company in bed, Lux wasn't the openly talkative type. Hells, he wasn't good friends with Blake until two years ago, when he realised she wasn't half bad.

"Just keep the coaching until after the sparring. If I don't convince her for Round Two."

Gods, he was in a terrible mood. "But no rush. I rather we go for a wander. They say a walk is good for the mind."

 

[Blake]

Blake knew that smile all too well, and she knew Lux's usual game. She'd never fallen for it...unintentionally, at least.

Having gotten all of her things together she stood in front of Lux, reached up, and ruffled his hair a bit.
"Fine, fine, I'll keep my big mouth shut during," she chuckled. "Got somewhere in mind? Ooo, ooo, are you gonna try freerunning with me this time?"

 

[Lux]

His hand was quick, gripping her wrist to stop her from messing his hair anymore than he intentionally mussed it up to be deemed adorable. The dark gold waves on his head was supposed to look slightly messy, so that it tempted his bedmates to wanting to run their fingers through it.

"You're not going to quit, are you?" He drawled, releasing her and going to smooth his hair somewhat. "I mean, with the free running thing... because you promised we would go to the training course up in the forest near here." There were all sorts of training courses up that way, and the higher you went, the longer you hiked, the more challenging the courses would be. It was to train magic, strength, and determination, but he had watched Blake go about a couple of courses in a way not at all designed for what they were going to do.

"Practice run, and then we shall see if I don't fall flat onto my face."

 

[Blake]

Her brows raised in meager surprise as Lux stopped her from giving him a good ruffle. She loved giving him a good ruffle.
"Spoilsport..." she muttered.

Blake shoved her hands into her pockets as she traipsed alongside the boy.
"Have you ever known me to be a quitter? Freerunning is fun! Freeing, you could say..." she said casually, shrugging her shoulders. She glanced out towards the horizon, visible at the edge of the courtyard, staring out towards the forest below. "You know, there's literally nothing stopping us from doing both. I can keep my parkour and keep my promise."


She looked back at Lux and booped him on the nose.
"And you can keep your precious, pretty face!"

 

[Lux]

Kress. He often wondered how he got stuck being Blake's friend, until the moments that indeed reminded him how worth it is was to be considered a close connection. It was the way she knew how to get that serious look off his face, to create ripples in his still water of an expression that seemed to stay in an unfathomable scowl.

Just one finger booping the top of his nose made him flinch, blink, and stare after her.

"Great. I was beginning to wonder if no one here thought I was pretty anymore. Almost convinced myself that I have some hideous scar on my face or something." But he began to smile, sighing as he fell into step beside Blake.

"Here. You can finish off my sandwich. Suddenly the nerves for what I am about to do has put me off." He grimaced, handing over his wrapped sandwich that was half eaten.

 

[Blake]

Blake spun on her heel and walked backwards in front of Lux.
"Oh, yeah, Lux Blodwyn, notoriously ugly initiate. We all whisper about it behind your back, you know," she said with a knowing smirk. "Weren't you just turning that Avery girl into a blushing mess like...two days ago?"

A sudden gasp ripped through the air as Lux handed off his sandwich. Blake immediately squirrelled it away into her bag before taking a bite out of her own.
"Y'know...noh take backf on da fandwidge, but you could juff like..." Swallow. "Jog. You don't have to do all the cool stuff I'm gonna be doing if ya think it'll be that intimidating."

 

[Lux]

Lux smirked.

It wasn't particularly hard to have Cathaior blush or become awkward. She slinked in shadows and kept to the edges, the moment anyone made a point to acknowledge her pretty looks was enough to make her a blushing mess.

"You're doing it again." He groaned lightly, giving her a overly narrow eyed look. "Intimidating? Trying to get me to participate by challenge..." He watched her carefully, waiting to see if she fessed up. "Hate to say it, but that's some King and Vittoria level tactics."

And it worked half the time on him.

 

[Blake]

Blake stopped short, directly in front of Lux. She wore an expression like he'd just kicked a puppy.
"Ew...don't compare me to those jerks. I was being genuine!...That time."

 

[Lux]

He loosed a heavy sigh, already regretting using those words to compare her to them. It had been a cheap shot.

"No, you're right." Lux slung an arm over the back of her shoulders, hand dangling over one shoulder. He pulled her in, putting a foot before her own in an attempt to trip her, but it was a move she would know well. After all, she taught it to him after using it against him. Now? It served the purpose of getting her to retaliate and forget he had said something so uncalled for.

 

[Blake]

There was a brief moment where Blake forgot what Lux might've been up to, her eyes widening ever so slightly at the perceived advance. Then he swept the leg.

"Wuh--shit!"

Blake flailed her arms as she fell, but caught herself palms first as she landed. In one swift movement from prone, she wrapped her legs around Lux's ankles and twisted her body, attempting to take him to the ground as well.

"You're a dick, you know that?" she asked, laughing.

 

[Lux]

Lux laughed, heartily at that, and chuckled his way through some wheezing after he came to fall from Blake's ability to take him down. "Thank Kress you remembered that I am."

He sighed, a large smile on his face as he effortlessly brought his torso up to tap twice on Blake's boot to release him.

"Although I think you need to wisen up, Farand. Almost got you there, and even that was a surprise for me." Lux knew his mistakes, the telltale signs he was going to do what he had done. Blake was the one that taught him to point out such signs, and not just in himself. Ways to pinpoint an opponent had definitely kept him sharp in training lessons.

 

[Blake]

Blake loosed the boy from between her calves and pulled herself back to a standing position.
"Yeah, yeah..." she drawled with a roll of her eyes. She reached a hand down to offer to help him back to his feet as well.

"What can I say, Blodwyn? I'm a sucker for long lashes and a nice smile."

Lux had a way of getting around her guard like no one else did. Unlike so much of life at the Academy, he helped her feel normal...like they weren't being prepped to be living weapons. Nobody else could make Blake feel like a hypocrite and a fool quite like Lux. And yet, she didn't really mind it.

"Let's get moving, huh? We're gonna burn the whole day doing nothing, at this rate."

 

[Lux]

Lux breathed another laugh before taking her offered hand. Once he was standing, he didn't let go of Blake's wrist. Instead, he used it to pull them closer together.

"Oh, but I could get used to a whole day of you being a sucker for my long lashes and nice smile." Of which was now on full display. He even went as far as to lean his head down, but seconds later dropped all pretenses and her arm and moved past to continue on their walk towards the circuit they were to free fun.

He looked back at her over his shoulder, winking at her before turning to face forward. "Come on, Blake! The day is burning!"

Lux knew it had been too close to play at such games like that, but flirting with Blake always was easy. She didn't get all moon eyed like the other girls or boys, and she definitely didn't get mad if he tossed them aside for someone new. In fact, the times he and Blake... got comfortable with one another, he had to find someone else quickly and try to cease thinking about her.

 

[Blake]

Blake offered Lux a playful squint and a bite of her lip when he pulled her close. Just as soon as the moment began, it was over, and things were back to being tension-free as smoothly as warm butter across hot bread. That was just how things had been between them, ever since...well. "Discovery," she liked to phrase it.

The flirting and playing came naturally, but ever making things more serious than the occasional "stress reliever" never seemed in the cards for either of them. And to Blake, that felt good.

"Hey! I said it first!" she called as she jogged after him, towards whatever lay ahead in their day.

 

[Lux]

The circuit they were to run was intimidating a first for Lux. He was lanky despite the muscle he was working on, but his own lack of confidence in even thinking of achieving anything here would have him hesitating to even take another step forward.

"Alright then, what we doing first?"

He sighed, unable to mask his worry from his face. Lux turned to see Blake, grimacing at her. "You're going to have to hold my hand through this a little but I'd hate to slow you down too."

This was Blake's domain. Lux would be more sure footed if it were his magic carrying it all, but relying on himself without it? That was enough cause for concern. But he would not struggle in front of others, not when he trusted Blake to show him the way and was unafraid to make him see his mistakes.

 

[Blake]

Blake laughed, as carefree as ever. Lux could be such a worrywart sometimes.
"See, that's the neat thing about freerunning, Luxy: ya start wherever ya want. We're headed up to the training course in the forest, right?"

She pointed in the direction they were to be headed as they stepped out the doors of the Academy and into the world, the forests of great oaks and firs lying beneath them.

"I'm gonna start running that way, and as I see interesting stuff, I'm gonna interact with it. Fallen log? Run across it. Big rock? Flip off it. That kinda thing. We can both make our own trail as we go, too. If something I do looks suicidal, do something different."

As she finished her explanation she turned back towards Lux, a big smile on her mien.

"Simple enough, right? If ya mess up I'll tell ya how to fix it, but it's pretty hard to mess up."