NationStates Jolt Archive

Hesione’s black eyes scanned the Advanced Combat room. Nagi had been the instructor last year, and they weren’t too welcome about having a demon on campus. Her wavy red hair was pulled back in a clip, and she carried a Bo staff in her hand. She was very strong, her figure athletic and capable to take on any challenge presented. She had full lips with a husky tone to her voice. She silently wondered if the students would be able to handle this class, as many injuries were expected. She would go right into the advanced techniques. She really had no time for anything else. This was an advanced class.

The room was rectangle and large, with weapons lined along the back wall. There was punching bags and a clear area for sparring. The whole area was lined with Shoji window panes. The light in the room was not bright, but rather just enough to see the features and colors of everything forty feet in front of you.

John Moroka entered the room, looked around and without pause, walked towards Hesione, grinning at her. His strange four upper fang like teeth glinting. "I suppose I'm early..." he said, deep and gravelly voice carrying across the room easily.

He paid the walls of weapons little heed. He'd allready been in here and looked around, finding one weapon that was surprising. "So, tell me something. How did your academy come into possesion of Goor's hunting scimitar?" he asked, pointing at one, well worn but still deadly, weapon in particular.

Michael arrived early for his first lesson wearing an eager smile and his standard dark green Iuthian military fatigues which he had gotten used to training in back home. He was a fairly tall lad, compared to Joanna small 5 feet Michael was easily just shy of 6 feet tall, his physique clearly in good shape for a man of his age, but hardly the body builder has the Iuthian military favored something a little quicker and on the mark.

Like he had done on the first day, Michael nodded to the veteran already in the room and left the man to question the teacher about the weapon he had noticed the other day... Michael instead just started his stretches in preparation for the lesson ahead, hoping that the little extra training he had done before the class would help him to some extent.

As many professional soldiers in the Iuthian Military (that it to say, everyone who joined the military proper and not the complusory years service), Michael had learned the Iuthian varient on close quarters combat, like the original which was developed from a martial art used by the the Shanghai Municipal Police and changed in order to provide military fighting system that allows the practitioner to engage an enemy and subdue him with lethal force if necessary, unlike the original however, Iuthian CQC was built from slightly different martial arts more common in the Urbanites continent... the overall effect was basically the same. Michael wasn't quite an expert as others probably would be, but he reasonable enough and was fairly confident that he was ready for most things.


Joanna, on the other hand, arrived a little later, the events of the day not really affecting her as much as they did the other students. She was fairly confident that the teachers had this "phantom" business well under control and even if they didn't there wouldn't be anything that she could really do about it... instead she remained calm and went about her business. Unlike Michael, Joanna seemed much more petit in her stature, being an Iuthian elf she was only 5ft tall and seemingly more delicate then the other classmates. That said however, she still had a sporting figure even for her size and could be easily mistaken for an arcobat.

She clearly had more imagination then Michael and she was wearing a white sports bra and shorts, not the standard IDC clothing, but she wanted to seperate herself from the IDC these days. While she was aware of the Iuthian military close quarters training (having learned a little about it herself) the IDC was much different, having much better funding and some very interesting ideas they had been working towards.

As she entered the room, she left the others to their business for the moment and started to do her own stretches, like Michael.

Nicole entered the combat room shortly after Joanna. The young vampire wore tight black pants and t-shirt. She gave a low whistle as she saw the rows upon rows of different weapons on the wall. She slowly walked up and down, her eyes traveling slowly over them. Stephen had taught her some hand to hand fighting, but she was more comfortable with firearms. Her eyes saw everything in the darker corners of the room, her excellent night vision will be an obvious advantage if they preform any moves in the dark.

Deciding on a brief warm up, the vampire jumped to the ceiling and clung on by her finger tips. She preformed ten modified pull ups before dropping down to the ground and started with sit ups.

Hesione looked at the first student as he entered, sizing him up. “Goor went to this academy. He was rather good friends with Ravelyn Shentavo, if I have been told correctly. It was sent here after his death.” She paused slightly. “I do suppose you are from Crimmond.” She turned her head away as a few more students entered.

“All right, bloodsucker. That’s enough of that,” she said in response to her trip to the ceiling. She did not like the fact that a vampire would be taking her class. Always they thought themselves superior. A vampire's pride was not something to be questioned. She saw it in Alira and the ones before her.


She motioned around the room. “Everyone, pick one weapon of choice. One by one I will test you. I will only be using this bow staff. Choose wisely.”

Michael was, of course, a soldier at heart, much of his training had gone towards the purpose of teaching him to react quickly without hesitation, commonly using an Assault Rifle and not a melee weapon, which was reserved for close quarters. That said, he had attended parts of the previous years advanced combat classes and had learnt a few things; mostly that others were supernatually faster and stronger then he was. Looking at the weapons on the wall, he decided against firearms and instead equipped himself with a survival knife and spent a moment concidering how he would deal with the bo-staff.

The biggest issue Michael could see with the bo-staff was that it provided the undoubtably highly skilled tutor with a superiour reach which would be hard to bypass. The bo-staff itself used properly would increase the force delivered in the strike through leverage while also being capable of delivering fast moves though minor movements of the other end of the staff... all in all it was a solid weapon in the hands of someone trained in it. The biggest problem was quite simply that Michael hadn't been tought to use reach weapons as the assumption was that any target not close enough to disable in close quarters combat would be shot.

So for a moment, Michael stuck with his knife, slotting it into a suitable sheath and then spent a while concidering his options.


Joanna was also at a bit of a loss on which weapon to take, as much of her training was based around the idea that she wouldn't have any weapons available, the Iuthian Diplomatic Corps not being a military force. However, she had been taught a few things about many various forms of improvised weaponry as well as basic training with firearms and a few special devices...

Unlike Michael, she didn't pick a knife but instead got her own bo-staff, testing the weight for the first time, she held it a little funny, clearly not used to the weapon itself, but she was getting a feel for the weapon and testing to see if it would be good enough for the intended use she took it for.

John nodded. "Yes, I am... hopefully I live longer than the rest of the students from Crimmond." he smirked and walked up to the wall of blades and considered.

After a few moments, he took down Goor's scimitar and hefted it, smirking to himself about something. He removed his jacket, shirt and shoes, leaving him in only light pants, leting his numerous scars and burns be seen. His gun was left on top of the clothing.

Stepping forward, he scanned the room carefully. Demon teacher, a couple humans, a Blood. Not a bad mix. "Who goes first?"

Joshua entered the room only a second after Hesione had told everyone to grab a weapon.
He had orginaly been alittle busy working up the nerve to renter the room that he ahd almost died in and the memories wern't helping much. He could be seen visably shuddering slightly as his eyes fell on a long sword on the wall. If one looked close they could see a faint few spekles of rusty red, Joshua's blood.
He tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind as forcefuly as possible but the fear in his eyes remained.
He slowly stepped in and apologized for being late and began to look over the weapons racks and shakely reached for the same longsword that had nearly killed him.

Trevor walked into the room almost immediately after Joshua. He saw that all of the other students had armed themselves with a weapon from the walls. He stepped over to the nearest wall and let his eyes play over the various weapons there. The variety was really astonishing, there was everything from firearms of all types, to lethal looking swords and knives and simple staves and practice swords. After spending several seconds just standing and looking, he selected a bokken hanging at head level. He took it down and tested its balance. After taking a few practice jabs and twirling the blade once or twice, he stood still and face Hesione.

He took this time to look around at the other students. Two had selected swords, a scimitar and a longsword. It'll be interesting to see how she handles those with just a bo-staff. Another student had a bo-staff, a safe choice of weapon, but the fourth, this one was gutsy. How does he expect to be able to even get close to her with a knife? There's no way she'll let him that far inside her range. He continued to stand and wait for further instruction.


OOC: a bokken is a wooden kendo sword.

Already Michael could see he was at a disadvantage as he wouldn't be much better with a reach weapon as a thug would be with a club... his inexperience in the weapon would probably be just as bad as his knife, however, Joanna seemed to think it was a better idea, even though she looked uncomfortable with the staff.

Michael shrugged, he was here to learn and he was taught to adapt. Perhaps if I was quick enough... he thought. Another problem was simply that he probably wouldn't be able to disarm her easily either, the fact it was a two-handed weapon would make it much more harder. Still, regardless of the odds stacked against him, he could only try his best.

Nicole didn't like being called 'bloodsucker' one bit. It felt degrading, though she was not one to act like vampires were number one, Stephen had warned her that some trainers are hard on students. He had told her when he was in the military, drill seargents screamed in his face on a regular basis. He also said even as an officer, Seargent Majors had thier fun beating the green lieutenants into shape. Nicole had taken this into account and did not snarl or bare her fangs at Hesione; it was also completely against her far more human nature.

Nicole was somewhat sadden that Hesione had pointed out she was a vampire. She knew many humans were terrified of her kind and some hunted her kind. She did not want to lay in bed worry about if someone would come bursting through with a silver blade.

She walked to the wall and picked out a very odd choice for herself. A British 1796 heavy calvary sword. The long, straight and heavy blade had been quiet effective at cutting up French soldiers during the Napoleanic Wars. Nicole's sire owned one and had trained her how to use it, though he said he'd rather her use firearms.

She did a pratice swing with the sword and smiled, it would do. She could weild it effectivly and without having the massive weapon tumble around.

Nicole turned and watched as her fellow students picked thier weapons and waited for her teacher to pick who would go first.

“I’ll be starting by the order you came in, Moroka, you are first. Just give me one moment,” Hesione switched her staff to her left hand, and rotated it around her back, and held it in that position. She was apt with a good amount of the weapons in the room, and this had been one of her favorites. She would like to use her axe, but new students may be decapitated at her quickness in wielding it. She closed her eyes, and dark arcane symbols appeared on her left side. Her eyes flitted open, entirely black. She smiled lightly, and beckoned the first forward.

Shall we begin? she said silently, just as Xavier did. There were many things left secret that had not been told about the demon on the day of orientation. The first being that she had been very high up in the heirarchy, the second...well...

John bowed his head for a second in assent. He watched her closely and backed up and around, circling her. His eyes glowed with a seemingly inner light as he moved, but it was a harsh, unnatural glow.

He lunged at her, swinging the long bladed sword up, stepping in and spinning to place the back of his hand at the left side of her head, then, leaving his unprotected back to her as little as possible, spun again and brought the scimitar around in a downward hook.

A simple and risky technique, but the worst he could get is a very sore back, not be decapitated.

Hesione did not hesitate in arching her foot and bringing her body in a catlike arch to avoid the first swipe. She blocked his hand with her bo-staff, swapping him rather hard on his knuckles, and bringing her free hand to his exposed back, her claws digging into his flesh before releasing. She saw a bit of blood splatter. He turned again to bring down the Simitar in a downwards hook. Rather than bringing the bo staff fully around, which would have been impossible given his speed, she shifted it in the angle it landed, to her other hand, the scimitar hitting the bo-staff close to her neck. Her demonic eyes told nothing of her thoughts as the professor observed him. She turned from him and took a few steps back. This was, after all…just the assessment.

Michael, she said calmly, dropping her bo-staff. He had chosen a knife. He should have chosen something that would be possible to get in close to her with. She, in turn, chose not to use a weapon. Her long, sharp, marble- like claws were now visible. One could say she wasn’t completely defenseless. What good would a professor be if she was defeated by her students on the first day?

John stepped back and out of the way without a word, nodding to her. He felt the stinging in the center of his back, but fflexed the muscles there and realized she hadn't gone deep enough to do any lasting damage. Just another set of scars for his collection. So he just stood there, to watch the others.

Watching the two, Michael could see it wasn't going to be easy, the veteran himself had made quite a valiant effort to hit the teacher, unfortunately she moved like a demon...

But nevermind, Michael thought. I knew I'd be one of the few normal people here. For a moment he turned to Joanna, who was seemingly like him. Michael knew she was from the IDC, which made her one of them, not different in the same way the others in the class were, but just... odd. Still, she was Iuthian through and through.

Joanna on the other hand was getting a little worried. She had expected the tutor to be hard, but she couldn't read her movements, so alien they were to her. She had been taught to watch her opponents to read their body language, even if the skill was more for getting their mood then their future actions. Joanna herself was taught to move differently as well, but she didn't recognise the patterns she had been taught either... Hesione just didn't seem natural. It would be like fighting blind.


The first fight ended almost as fast as it had started, the tutor quickly dealing with the student before finally turning to Michael, disarming her bo-staff. Even Michael could see what would be said, he had expected it.

Getting into the centre of the floor, Michael bowed in order to properly show respect before just making a quick statement. "Had this been a life or death thing, I would have prefered to have a sidearm instead, but I would rather not shoot my tutor on my first lesson of the year... even if it probably wouldn't have worked."

He reckoned he probably could have hit her that way (for what ever good it would do) but it just seemed cheap and he was here to learn how to fight, not how to shoot. He could have attempted to shoot her bo-staff into pieces for a disarmament... eitherway, that wasn't going to happen as she had respectfully disarmed the biggest concern.

Once the fight started proper, Michael started to circle, looking for an opening to strike on, her claws looked fairly sharp and had drew blood with the last guy... he knew she was fast and would probably counter on any lunge attempt, so instead Michael figured he would attempt to counter, continuing to circle looking for a weakness which wasn't going to come.

Hesione observed Michael carefully. He was a returning student, however he was human. She returned a respectful bow to Michael, a smile on her face, for he was the only student who had shown respect since entering the room. He did not move toward her, he moved around her to counter. This was very clever. Hesione was better at countering, because she could sense what was to come, but to wait for her to attack left her seconds to decide. Still, she would be able to teach him well. Now she was weaponless facing a knife. It wouldn’t be too hard. She just needed to put him where she needed him.

She stepped toward him in a crescent, and through a light palm toward his face. All she needed to do was manipulate him, and the technique would fall into place. San-chi-na had always been a favorite technique. Seize and control.

The knife was, more or less, there to compliment his close quarters training, it wasn't essential as he was trained to incapacitate his opponent by any means necessary in the fastest most efficient way, the knife simply added lethality to the mix and made things easier and much faster... usually.

Moving quickly, Hesione sped towards him in moving to the side slightly; were it not for his quick thinking working out that she was probably (well, hopefully) still coming at him straight, he wouldn't have dodged the lunge, still she was damn fast.

Michael ducked to the side rapidly to avoid the inevitable swing, not sure he would make it. It was his intention to simply dodge as best he could the first attack and then counter by triping and throwing her on her own speed and bringing the blade down to her throat... one way or another this would be quick, as if he didn't suceed her speed would end it for him.

Michael dodged the blade completely. Her eyes then caught it. He muscles tensed as he took a shot toward her neck with the knife. Both of her hands came around, her left resting under the side of the palm which held the knife, while her other came down in a blade to crush the joint of the thumb simultaneously. This technique was a seize and control technique. This locked the hand in place while occasionally breaking the thumb all together. The knife clattered from his hand on impact. Now she had his hand, and it was hers. She was face to face with him, and stepped to his outside, turning her blade to grip around his hand as well. She brought her left elbow underneath his own, straightening his arm forcefully, which exerted the muscles and ligaments, and could snap the elbow if she would apply more pressure. With the pain in his hand, she did not want to exert him any farther for his first day. She brought her same elbow that was underneath his straightened arm (which she now claimed as ‘hers’), and jabbed it into his side, just enough to make him back up. He was fast, and promising.

She took a few steps back, but did not resume her bo-staff. “Joanna…”

With hindsight being the 20/20, Michael was released from the hold knowing fully well what he had done wrong and that in truth there wasn't really much he could have done more to prepare himself other then train harder, simply put the teacher was faster and more skilled then he was, hell, if the fight had been under different circumstances he would probably go on to find she was stronger too... she had controlled the fight from the start, while it had been a reasonable enough idea to let her initiate combat, Michael had lost the intiative and she had herded him into where she wanted him... maybe if he was faster and more observant he could have avoided it, but the fact remained that she was unnaturally faster then he was. It would be a up hill struggle to ever get himself to the point where he could win in a fair fight, but at least it was a lesson learned.

Joanna stepped forward, her name now being called out as the next one on the list. Watching Michael's counter fall apart was a little worrying, though not as worrying as the fact she couldn't properly predict the womans intentions as her kinesics were totally out of place. She moved like a human casually, but during combat she moved in unnatural ways which were hard to properly judge.

Like Michael, Joanna bowed before disarming her bo-staff. It seemed only fair that she had done the same for Michael and in anycase Joanna wasn't really all that proficient in it's use, she was better unarmed as would be expected of her in a foriegn country as a diplomat. Her low bow complete and the bo-staff now lying on the ground, Joanna assumed her almost casual stance... it seemed as though Joanna wasn't even preparing for the inevitable attack as she simple walked left, studying her usual opponent.

The keen observer, however, would have noticed she had prepared and that while she walked almost casually her muscles were ready for a quick dodge. Like Michael, the idea of lunging at her seemed suicidal at best... if she was proficient with a sword perhaps it would be better to attack first and take the intitative, but Joanna felt that in this circumstance the intitative would have to be taken during the counter, unlike Michael, Joanna was a fair bit quicker and much more observant... perhaps she would spot the weakness inherent in the opening unlike Michael who fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Hesione shook her head. “This is an assessment of your fighting techniques. There should be no reason I come to you…” she began with a sly tone in her voice. “You show me what you all know,” she directed toward the students who remained. “so I can teach you where you are lacking. With Michael, it was different…I’m looking for both your strengths and weaknesses. Believe me, if you are one of the ones that I wish to attack, I would have done so already. Show me what you know, and what you don’t.”

She eyed Joanna carefully. Suprisingly, she found more promise in Michael.

Nicole watched the fights intensly, hoping to learn some of Hesione's moves so that she could block them more effectivly when her turn came. She also studied the movements of her classmates. Quess I will have to be going on the offensive. I wonder if she would mind me doing a few cieling crawls and wall jumps.

Nicole looked at her other classmates before turning back to her teacher and waited.

Joanna shrugged, the only real difference between her and Michael was the way they were trained... Iuthian studies had already proven that elves were not inherently superiour to humans and despite the mild advantages they got with improved dexterity, their bodies were more fragile and their stamina wasn't quite as good as that of tougher races (such as dwarves). Iuthia's no-nonesense approach to the training of all metahumans meant that these weaknesses had to be overcome to keep up with their aspirations... special exceptions were not made because someone was Elven, Dwarven or even Clanger.

Nevermind, if the teacher was going to make an exception for just one student and not the rest then she will just have to work with it. Still, she felt something had to be said, just like Michael had explained himself. "Then let the accessment know that my techniques are inherently focused towards self-defence, as would be expected from someone who undergone training as a diplomat and not a soldier." she glanced, if only for a micro-second a Michael, who was still rubbing his arm after the last encounter.

"But I suppose this isn't about the ideal circumstances, but my ability as a warrior and my weaknesses." before she had quite finished, Joanna lunged forward taking a very direct approach towards her teacher... getting as close as she dared this was going to be the intention up until the last second, a slight feint in itself, where she would dodge to the side and focus her effort in moving around her so she could properly disable her from a flanking position. Joanna was surprisingly flexible and her confident charge would hopefully give the impression of a direct assault; looking completely different from her defencive stance before which was designed to look innocent. She was a confident girl, confidence was needed in such a bold attempt, but deep down she knew the odds were stacked against her... like Michael she would just have to try her best and hope that it was enough.

Hesione chuckled. “I don’t make exceptions…” she said softly. Indeed she didn’t. It depended on the mind, it always did. Hesione’s vision moved in slow motion, observing the form of Joanna. She was direct, and had a strong spirit. Hesione sidestepped with Joanna, squaring her shoulders directly to her. She carefully observed her eyes, and paused to further observer her movements. Hesione flipped backward feet kicking up one after the other at Joanna’s upper body with quite a bit of force. She landed on her feet, one arm guarding her ribs, the other waiting to strike further as she focused upon Joanna to see the result. Time for her flowed like syrup. This made her one of the best teachers in the nation in perfecting techniques. She would teach them well.

John looked at Micheal and smirked. "This is gonna be a fun class." he syas, grinning those weird teeth again. He chuckled and looked back at the two women, eyes narrowing as he studied them. The teacher moved faster than anyone he had seen, save two. The being Delta and the Brute Goor.

Of course, Joanna's speed and agilty were limited by her physical body, the IDC had done their best to teacher her how to push her physical limits even to an unsafe point. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to keep up with the instant change in stance and the counter... it was like the tutor could see into the future, even though Joanna had made a point of masking her intentions the best she could.

Hesione struck her mark, Joanna being completely unable to make use of the opening presented by such a flamboyant maneuver, normally one would just side step or step back and then push forward as the opponent was still mid-air and unable to do anything about it, in this case however it was simply to fast and to much of a surprise to notice. Joanna was thrown back several metres, her small form being perhaps the lightest in the group.

*Thud* Joanna had landed fairly rough, it had happened so fast she wasn't really able to sort out her landing either. Her chest felt sore as the impact was fairly solid, like being punched by her old endurance tutor... god, he was a jerk. Nothing seemed to be broken at least, but she felt sore. Slowly, Joanna got back up and concidered her options. Clearly this woman could and would best her in pretty much all phyical aspects, being older and a combat teacher she would definately have much more experience in this and frankly she seemed able to see into the future, either that or she made very good guesses.

But before she could press forward to continue, the teacher called for the next student. Apparently done with her and dismissing her without so much as a word. Joanna bowed as low as she could without feeling too hurt.

Michael was already a little embarrassed before John smirked at him. Michael may not be the best when it comes to reading inbetween the lines, as he was a fairly simple up front kinda guy, but even he could see that there was a little friction over the exception the teacher had seemed to make for him. Was he supposed to be weaker or something? Afterall, the reason he didn't attack was because it seemed sensible not to, though looking back on it there wasn't really any difference, he would have got his ass kicked either way... but why take a different tone with Joanna? Surely she had seen his mistakes and sought to improve upon them, it wasn't cheating, it was adaption. Eitherway it made him feel a silly.

John made a remark about how interesting this would be, he hadn't quite noticed exactly what he said as Michael thought about other things. "Yeah, I'm sure it will." he said, half-heartedly.

Nicole, she began. She had only seen two promising students so far. This one was as showy as ever, and would be very easy for her. She had a lot to learn. Hesione had nothing against vampires, only against their attitudes. She would like Xavier to take over for Alira, however she kept her opinions silent. She stepped toward Nicole, and eyed her. begin…

Nicole smiled at Hesione and made one last look at her sword, making sure it was okay. She shook her head and her whole body gave two hard shakes to loosen herself up. The young vampire could only quess at the outcome of her fight with her instructor. Her sire had taught her to display a very different appearance to her actual fighting form. She had learned during her first spar with him that he had mastered the art and she had lost the fight within a few minutes. Now, Nicole gently twirled the sword once before moving forward.

She knew her instructor probably had a low opinion of her skills. Nicole moved slowly around Hesione, carefully watching as her teacher's eyes followed her, and keeping a good amount of ground between them. Nicole made a brief lunge with an apparent swing of the meatcleaver sword, but after only moving a few feet, her foot moved in front of her and she jumped backward.

Nicole moved back barely a foot before launching herself to Hesione's left flank with all the speed her vampiric legs could muster.

Nicole then swung the blade at Hesione, hoping she didn't hurt her teacher if the blade found its mark.

Hesione watched her as she moved. Good agility, though she relies on speed rather than technique. She stepped to the side, as she did before, squaring her shoulders to avoid the flank. She moved her forearm up to block the hand coming down with the sword. She hit the girl’s forearm as well, and having succeeded in blocking, she took two quick hits to Nicole’s abdomen with her free hand, for the girl left that part of her exposed. Hesione pushed her back with the ball of her foot, and drew away. She assessed Nicole momentarily, and exhaled.

“Joshua,” she says softly. “I’ve heard great rumor of you. You are Ravelyn’s son, aren’t you? Not of flesh but of blood…”

"It may be and may be not," he said quietly as he stood up, "However it's not something I'd boast about. She had her eneimes."
He already knew he would have to hold back if he wanted to still seem normal because suddenly exibiting the strength and speed of an angelic vampire dosn't realy help ones cause to fit in.
He walked over and nodded before he lunged forth sword held low, almost dragging it across the ground though not quite. He knew he was already going to get hit by doing this so when he was close enough to strike he dashed to the left and quickly shifted the swords blade so it was flat and swung it as he dashed.
At this time he was already preparing to have to block though not knowing where so he prepared to ether stop the blow with one of his forearms or take it and continue the "attack".
As of now the students that didn't pick up on what and who he was would know.

One by one, Trevor watched as the instructor easily handled the other students. He had watched the first four students try various tactics without success. Hesione was just too fast, it seemed like she could see what each student was planning in their head. Could that be it? Is she using telepathy to see our intentions? He shook his head lightly, if she was, there wasn't much he could do about it. Trevor wasn't good enough to block that kind of thing yet. The idea of facing Hesione was starting to make him a little nervous, he hadn't seen any sort of weakness that he could try to exploit. This is going to be hard, I don't think there's any way I can even touch her.

Hesione avoided him altogether, not striking him. She shook her head, backing away slightly. The two had not even touched. Until you learn not to hold back, as I see it in those cold eyes of yours, then this class will teach you nothing. I can already see that you could ‘opt’ out of this class if you wanted to, as you have never missed a year, and those bloodlines of yours are adding to your manipulated body. If you wish to do so, see me at the end of class for one on one. I believe I have assessed you thoroughly already…. It was strange to the other students to see the teacher dismiss without a hit so quickly.

“Trevor…” she began, turning away from Joshua. The demon had only two minutes until she would not be able to continue.

Joshua smirked and responded, If you wanted for me to not hold back then I doubt that I could controll the force that I'd release. The fact I might turn into that monster that Qui was is enough to make me want to keep my abilities in check, though if I ever see him again no force, not even heavon or hell, will stop me from exacting my revenge. Hesione could probably feel the raw anger that acidentaly came with the last part of the response as Joshua felt the rage bubble up once more and fought to controll it.
He backed against a wall, set the blade down, and slowly eased himself down as he fought with his rage.
He had quickly regained controll and had already started wondering when the others would start seeking for answers to the one question he always prefered to dodge, who he was.

Nicole cursed herself as her teacher easily beat her. It definatly confirmed that Hesione was not human. When Hesione pushed her away, Nicole went back wondering if her teacher thought she was a worthless little girl. The young vampire didn't pay much attention to what her teacher said to the student named Joshua. Though, she did pick up 'Ravelyn’s son, aren’t you? Not of flesh but of blood...' and she moved her eyes towards Joshua. Another vampire here? She wondered.

Nicole watched as Joshua moved and Hesione retreated. She shrugged and turned to look at Joshua as he slid down the wall to the floor. She walked over and knelt down.

"Are you alright?"

Joshua looked at Nicole and sighed quietly. After only a few seconds he responded, "I've seen better days here." He sighed quietly as he rubbed a spot on his chest where the long sword he was holding had once been forced through him.
"Though I'm sure you want to ask something else? Like what are you?" he said as he stood up, "I'm sure alot of people are going to want to know the answer to that." He muttered the last bit.

Nicole looked at Joshua. She knew he wasn't human, unless he had been kidnapped by his goverment and experimented on. She shrugged.

"I wasn't going to ask you that. If you don't want people to know what you are...that is fine with me. Heck, I have the same idea for right now."

Nicole grinned and her fangs came down half way from the her upper row of teeth before she retracted them. "You're not the only one with a few things up the sleeve."

After a few last practice jabs, Trevor stepped forward to face Hesione. He wached her carefully, taking up a defensive stance. He circled slowly to his right, then feinted left and charged forward. He pulled up just short of striking range, ready to parry a strike from her bo-staff. He took a quick step back, preparing to sweep his bokken across from left to right.

Hesione, in not having her Bo staff flipped, backwards to avoid the attack, though this time she did not use her hands and landed on her feet. It was simply to create distance. The demon’s eyes flickered, and she raced towards Trevor, seemingly laughing internally in her expression. She brought her right leg to kick toward his mid section, but did not drop it. Hook kick to the side, roundhouse to the other, hook kick back, center, and stance. She seemed to execute it effortlessly, but time was flowing at a different rate for her.

After watching Trevor get beaten Joshua turned his attention back to Nicole. "True I do have several ace up my sleaves but then again I probably have the whole deck and then some hidden in them. Though I prefer to not show the world," he said as he let his fangs show slightly before hiding them once more.
"Those fangs arn't the only things I have," he said quiet enough for only Nicole to hear.

Nicole blinked when she saw Joshua's fangs. She had not expected him to be a vampire, but she felt slightly better knowning that she was not the only 'bloodsucker' in the academy. She knew that this was something that Joshua probably didn't want anyone else to know. Before she spoke, Nicole remembered what Hesione said about Joshua possibly being Ravelyn’s son. She wondered if this made him an angelic vampire; though Nicole would not press the issue with Joshua. If he wanted anyone to know, he would tell and it was obvious he wanted to keep whatever secrets he had private.

Nicole spoke low enough for only him to hear.

"I won't tell anyone about your fangs...I promise."

Sitting on the side benches, the two Iuthians were together for the first time in the academy, each watching the fights and wondering how they did as they concidered how to do better in the future. At first the two didn't speak for several minutes, just observing the other fights the teacher seemingly just being faster then the rest of the students at this point then actually using technique.

After Joshua was called up to fight the unnaturally fast teacher, Michael turned to Joanna and concidered her for a moment, starting the conversation in a rather forward manner not normally heard from the respectful Iuthian.

"So, you're the one they sent then, from the IDC?" His tone clearly indicated a certain prejudice Joanna had come to learn to expect from those in the Iuthian Military... a certain amount of rivalry existed between the two, like many of her bothers and sisters, the Iuthian Military were seen as being very direct, old fashioned and blunt, meanwhile the military themselves looked upon the IDC as being subtle, two-faced and devious. They clearly needed one another as the IDC was the voice of Iuthia and the military was the muscle of Iuthia, but still the friction existed, more among the lower level then the higher level, who understood the need for co-operation.

Joanna nodded, at least she couldn't hear a trace of anger in his voice, Michael didn't seem the type. "Joanna Fie'lorn, I imagine they told you I would be coming this year then?" Her reply was soft so not to sound arrogant.

"Yeah, something about seeing if it's just me who can't get a grasp of this whole magic thing." Michael's voice was lower, clearly he wasn't happy that he didn't get it.

"It's certainly not easy, thats for sure, and it doesn't help that everyone else has got more experience to start off with. As I understand it you need concentration and understanding to even get the basics..."

"Personally I got the impression I wasn't being told everything, I mean, 'just think about it' doesn't really explain much. But meh, I'm happier now that I don't have to worry about keeping up with something I'm not cut out for... not that I didn't try."

Joanna nodded again, looking sincere. She really could beleive that Michael tried, if there was something both the IDC and the military had in common it was determination, the poor bastard probably tried his very hardest and just got a headache. A bit like me... though I got past my barrier.

"Nevermind, if it makes you feel any better I think you did pretty damn well at guessing the teachers movements... she's too fast for me, I don't think I could have been sure she where she was attacking." Joanna complemented him, to improve his mood a little.

"Part experience and part luck I would think... you'll get used to facing the supernatural here; for the most part it just means you are surrounded by people who are just faster, stronger and much older then you." Michael sighed a little, Joanna didn't seem so bad, he expected someone a bit more arrogant. "The only real concern I have is that these people don't respect my privacy, I can't read peoples minds and I don't even know how to protect myself from those who can... I've not got anything to hide but there are some things I would like to keep to myself. I have to trust everyone else ulimately as there isn't really much I can do about it."

Joanna nodded, she understood this too well... even she had secrets, hell, everyone did. Even though Joanna was fairly good at spotting a lie and judging someones body language to the point where she could understand their feelings (providing they are metahuman) she couldn't pluck secrets out from peoples heads... she simply didn't possess that power, she was just damn observant. "I would think that if these people have lived with telepathy all their lives they would understand that their powers are sometimes... unwelcome, people have secrets and they like to think those secrets are their own, they don't like the idea that someone with improper morals could pick out their inner-most thoughts."

"Yeah well, at least as far as I know no one has made the effort, it just gives me the creeps..."

"Me too... it's hard not to feel a bit exposed."

Trevor picked himself up off the floor. The series of kicks had come too fast to be avoided, and he had gone down pretty hard, landing flat on his back. He quickly got back to his feet and stepped back away from the middle of the room. That wasn't so bad, he thought, It's not as if I was expecting to be better than the teacher on my first day.

Watching the others get beaten gave him an idea of how hard they would be to beat. He held no small pride that he had done better than most of them. Probably because of his... unusual approach. But, as he stood there, blood drying on his back, he was more interested in the demoness.

"To have mercy on an enemy..." he muttered to himself... chuckling. He knew this course would be fun. He was looking forward to it.

“Very well,” Hesione sighed, drawing her red hair back from her face. Her black eyes returned to their normal deep brown state. Even the white had returned. The symbols on her left side had disappeared. “As a demon, I have been given the opportunity to slow down my view of time a bit. It is rare, but I am not exactly what is an ‘ordinary’ demon. I had been a warlord previously, so you realize I have a good amount of experience in combat. That is what I will say to you, and there will be no questions on my past or how I came to be here, as I will ask nothing of yours.

“I have picked weaknesses in every one of you, and your strengths, and will be pairing you off accordingly so you can practice throughout the week.” She looked at them carefully. “It is as follows: Joanna and Nicole, Trevor and Joshua, Michael and John.” She bowed to them. “No weapons should be used. I want to see spars between each of you next week. Work off of each other. I’ve matched you for a reason.”

Nicole straightened and looked over at Joanna. Joanna was shorter than Nicole, but as the vampire continued to study her partner; it became obvious she also was not human, that would definatly make things more interesting. Deciding she would not need her sword, Nicole put it back in its spot and walked over to Joanna.

"Joanna, since we are suppose to be practicing together...I wonder when the best time for you is."

GM: all practicing with your partners can be done here so as not to confuse the other threads, same with telekenetics and any other class. If no one has further commentary, class dismissed