Completed I Get Knocked down, and I get up again

Eleanor tried to see him as he struck out at her but the stupid rune made it impossible to see which one was real. She was able to block some of his attacks but a couple caught her in the arms and one hit her in on the right side of her ribs. She yelped and dropped her sword as she took a few steps back.

"Fuck," she said as she held her side. "We are sparing Alistair! No need to try and rip me in half. Fuck!"

It hurt but not as bad as she was playing it up to be. She did not let him see anything besides her doubled over and holding her side.
 
"Oh, come on. I'm not going to kill you. Hell, I wasn't even trying to maim you. It sounds like someone is being a little whiny."

He stopped his attack, and the images slowly faded as his body stopped moving. He stared at her for a moment before taking a step closer.

"Hey, did I really get you that good? I didn't break anything right?"

Alistair reached out his hand to help her up if she needed it with a worried expression on his face. Maybe he was to strong for his own good...or maybe Eleanor was just really bad. Strange, he had always thought she was rather strong.
 
A year ago, the proctors would have encouraged her to kill her fellow Initiate if he was stupid enough to try and be helpful. It was a different Academy now though. She would stop her attack and let the boy walk away relatively unharmed.

Eleanor grabbed his wrist and twisted with some help of her power. The move sent them both to the sandy ground and Eleanor straddled his chest before he could move. He had turned off his speed rune and she had caught him by surprise.

She sat there with sly smile on her face and her dagger to his throat. "Do you really think I whine? Really, Alistair?"
 
Oh, he was flying. Nope, just falling. The wind was knocked out of him as he suddenly found himself looking up at Eleanor's face with a dagger dangerously close to his neck. He groaned as he gulped for air for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nope, no whining at all."

The situation that he now found himself in threatened to make him blush, but that was quickly overcome by his worry that she might actually stab him.

"Curse my saint-like soul." He said jokingly in an attempt to show he had give up for this bout.
 
"The Proctors would have told me to kill you a year ago," Eleanor said as she stood and held out a hand for him. Alistair was impressive and he had earned some respect today. She had to resort to trickery to beat him with that damn rune on his sword.

"That last rune was pretty fucking cool, Alistair. It definitely messed with my head pretty good." Eleanor held out her hand and called her two throwing daggers to her before tucking them back into their pouch.
 
Alistair took the hand with a smirk and hoisted himself back onto his feet. "That's true, but they probably wouldn't have let me help you up in the first place. I would have just been whipped instead."

A brief frown appeared on his face. He was speaking from experience. "Still, times are changing, so we can too."
It was one of his father's new favorite phrases. Unfortunately, those changes had not meant his father lightened up on any of his abusive behaviors.

"Thanks, I think there are a few fine tunings I want to make for more efficient energy consumption. What about you? Want to try any runes? I could attempt to make one for you."
 
Eleanor looked at him as she stepped out of the training ring and sat down on a huge stone that was purposely moved here for spectators. She looked at Alistair with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"You can make runes for other people? I though it was just something you can use? You aren't trying to trick me into putting a rune somewhere that only you can control?"

The last question was a joke. Sort of.

Honesty, she had never given runes a thought before but she was sure that she could think of something if he was serious.
 
"Well, I don't think it can be too complicated, but runes can be used by anyone with magical talent. Most of the runes I make tend to be instinctively made to my magical signature, but if I made a basic one then I'm pretty sure I can fit it to your signature...It's more a matter of me getting the trigger right. Then you could use it. Although, since you don't have any skill in runic magic. The rune might only last for a few uses."

Alistair's longwinded information dump had slowly excited him the longer he talked and by the time he was done, he had a big grin on his face. If he could actually accomplish what he was suggesting then he could even sell this for a massive profit for his family.
 
Eleanor considered him with the huge smile across his face. He wanted to try it so bad and she knew that the majority of their peers would tell him to go fuck himself so she bit.

"Alright, let's see what you've got then. Speed is always a plus. I don't need aim because my magic handles that. I don't really know of what else could be of use to me."

She was sure there were other runes that would be useful but she was not used to thinking in that kind of mind space.
 
Alistair made his way over to his things that he had taken off to spar. In one of his bags was a notebook that he kept on him at all times. His face was scrunched up in thought as he flipped through a few pages and then looked back to Eleanor.

"Well, speed could be possible, but it would only be usable in very quick bursts, like maybe 3 or 4 seconds...I can maybe do something like a shield to help with fighting when someone gets too close. Although, it would have minimal uses. Shields are a very common form of magic and less dependent on specific signatures...It may take more energy though."

At some point in his explanation, he had started talking more to himself and less to Eleanor, but when he finally focused back in on what he was actually discussing, he turned to Eleanor, "Thoughts?"
 
Eleanor watched Alistair as he grabbed a notebook from his bag. Nerd, she thought. She was nerd too, though. She just kept that to herself. She did not need people knowing that she liked to do silly things like read.

Alistair seemed to drift off into a conversation with himself and Eleanor just watched with an amused smile on her face. He finally stopped talking and looked back at her. She was still smirking.

"Honestly, speed would be cool. 3 or 4 seconds in combat is a lot of time," she replied to his question.
 
Alistair nodded in agreement as he went back to writing in his notes. "Yes, good point. I'm not sure exactly what the timetable would look like, but I can definitely try a few things."

He looked her up and down trying to decide what clothing or weapon he would try to put the rune on. He then realized that his inspection might be seen as something else and blushed, before quickly hiding it as he buried his face back into his book.

"I think placing runes on your boots would be the best. Boots and speed runes tend to sync up well."
 
Eleanor noticed his blush and just smirked. She had not taken his checking her out as anything more than it was but she still thought it was cute. She was not about to comment on it though. Better for him if she pretended that she did not see anything. She had the ability to have some tact. Sometimes. Occasionally.

"Boots work for me...do you need them?" It sounded like the weirdest question. Did Alistair need her boots...yeah...most likely. Dumb question of the day.
 
"Uh, yeah, or any other pair that you preferred."

The material and canvas for the rune were arguably more important than the rune structure itself. He would need to perform a thorough analysis on the boots before he considered attempting to put a rune on them.

Otherwise, all Eleanor might have for his efforts was an extra crispy pair of boots, and Alistair would have an extra crispy room.

"I don't know how long this could take, so you will need another pair."
 
Eleanor had another pair of boots that she preferred so she would give him those. "Come on, let's go to my room and I will grab my other pair for you."

They had done what they had been instructed so she felt it was safe for them to leave the ring now. She did not have anymore classes for the day but she was not sure what Alistair's schedule was.

"If you have time, that is. We can meet up some other time if that is better," she offered. She didn't want to sound pushy even if she usually was. She smiled at him as she stood up from her makeshift seat.
 
"Oh, I can do it now. Most of my lessons are in the morning, that way I have independent study time later in the day." He probably did not need to add the second part. Sometimes he sounded like such a nerd.

He followed her but allowed himself to focus on his notebook once again. The rest of the world did not matter when he got lost in his work, which meant he could also avoid awkward situations. It was a win-win.

Alistair was not worried about the instructors anymore. High-intensity sparring could take a lot out of a person when magic was involved, so it was not uncommon to only get through one fight.
 
"Nerd," Eleanor said jokingly. She was a nerd too but she preferred to hide that from people. He would know soon enough though because her room was covered in books. She could hide her hobbies outside of her private space but not inside of it.

The two initiates walked in silence back to her room. During the day, the Proctors were less...strict...on making sure genders stayed away from each other. You know because nothing ever happened with teenagers in the middle of the day.

She waved her hand to unlock her door and stepped inside her room. It was the same setup as everyone else. Bed, dresser, closet, desk, and desk chair. Simple and clean. Her room was clean and everything had its place. Even her books were neatly stacked.
 
Alistair could not hold back a whistle of admiration as he stepped into Eleanor's room. Just a moment ago he had been self-conscious about her calling him a nerd, but the number of tomes in her room might even be more than his own.

"You called me the nerd? What is all of this own?"

His curiosity got the better of him and he proceeded to completely invade some of her privacy and read a couple of the titles on some of the books. He stopped himself after reading two of the titles, realizing that this was definitely rude.

Alistair waited for her to hand over her boots for his little experiment and tried not to focus his attention on any one specific part of the room.
 
"If you tell anyone, I will kill you," Eleanor was only half joking. She may not kill him but she would maim him a little. "My love of reading and history is a well guarded secret. I do not need anyone finding out that I am more than just a hardened killer." She winked at Alistair.

In reality, there were only a few people who knew because Eleanor did not have many friends. Certainly not many that had seen her room or seen her nerdiness in action. She walked over to the closet and pulled out a pair of well loved black leather boots. They were her favorite and they had seen her through a lot.

"If you hurt these boots, I will be very upset. It took me a long time to get them broken in perfectly."
 
Ah, she was one of them, a fellow nerd. It was rare to find them in the Academy, because, like Eleanor, they chose to hide it. Alistair was one of the few that it was common knowledge, around the school, about his nerdy hobbies. It was not hard to deduce when he nearly lived in the library.

He spotted a few books that he had even read before, maybe they could talk about them sometime. That was when Eleanor pulled out the boots and his mind was pulled back to the present. He inspected them quickly.

"Should work fine. They're a nice sturdy leather, so they should be able to handle the rune."
 
Eleanor smiled at Alistair and then sent him off with her beloved boots. She just hoped he was right and they were able to handle the rune.

She spent the rest of her day in peace doing homework, reading, and napping.
 
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