Exiles Recruitment: The Werewolf

[Blink]

The world spun around as pain surged through the temple of Blink. As soon as the handle of Astrid's spear connected with her head, she had been sent sideways and caused to flip forward onto her back to avoid landing face-first. For a moment, everything was blurry as she looked up into the roof of the Tangled Green; nothing but thin branches and thick layers of green canopy. She groaned as she recovered her wits and rolled onto her front, then raised up onto her knees. "Ugghhh," she complained, shaking her head so her dark locks came free from their bundle. She looked over at a grinning Astrid and glared at the Viking Shieldmaiden, who just stood there with her spear next to her, towering above her. "This is stupid."

"This is training," Astrid corrected through her smile. "You need it."

Blink let out another over-exaggerated groan as she summoned some of the emerald lights she could harness into the tips of her fingers. Both hands were suddenly holding green glowing daggers, made out of the same energy she used to create portals. "I can teleport," she reminded her companion. "I don't need this kind of training."

"Clearly, you do," Astrid responded again, just as quick and as accusingly. The blonde warrior spun her spear in front of her and then pointed it at the purple teleporter. "There will come a time where you won't be able to just teleport your way out of trouble. You have to be able to fight without it."

"Yea, we'll see, I guess." Blink said dismissively.

The two were in a clearing in the dense jungle that was The Tangled Greens. Astrid had her signature spear out while Blink was using her green energy daggers. Off to the side was the third member of their trio, Rufus, who was sitting in front of a campfire that he was tending to. The sun hadn't quite gone down yet, but was on it's way slowly but surely. The three were on the second day of their journey through the forest, towards the camps of orcs somewhere out in the wilderness. This training session wasn't a new thing, but it was the first time Astrid had talked Blink into not using her teleportation powers. Rufus was watching, fascinated as his feminine partners dueled.

With an emotional grunt, Blink jolted forward. She wasn't able to get very close to Astrid before the spear came into play, so she connected her sparking dagger with the blade of the long weapon. Blink was able to move swiftly and a bit unusually around the outside of Astrid's range, avoiding getting sliced with the long-arm with head movement and then quick flips. But for all of her great bouncing around, she couldn't get into the pocket with the shield maiden. Blink brought her daggers up to try and get the spear knocked sideways and give her an opening, but Astrid spun around swung at Blink with a powerful swing of the spear. Blink back-flipped to avoid it, showing her acrobat skills, but it only left her at a defensive disadvantage. Astrid moved forward to pursue the finish, which left Blink forced to back off even further, towards a thick tree.

Once at the tree, the fuschia woman turned and ran right at it, placing her lead foot on it and jumping up. Using a combination of skill and speed, she literally ran up the side of the wide oak above five steps before allowing gravity to set in. She spun around, one of her arms back behind her head as she looked intent on driving that dagger down into a waiting Astrid. For her part, the Shield Maiden turned her spear upwards to try and slice the acrobat in the air. Just as it appeared Blink would get hit or successfully dodge out of the way, she did what she did best: disappear.

On the ground behind Astrid, Blink appeared out of an invisible tear in the air and looked to catch the blonde woman off guard. Astrid spun around though, she if she had anticipated from the beginning, and once again connected the handle of her spear with the side of Blink's head, sending her falling sideways into the dirt. With a grunt, Blink rolled onto her back, right in front of where Rufus was watching the training contest.

"Dammit," she mumbled under her breath, moving to sit up.

Astrid stepped forward, using the handle of her spear as a sort of walking stick as she walked. "You cheated," she accused down at the pink fight.

"Duh," Blink responded, shrugging.

"Ya still lost," Rufus chimed in. Blink glared at him and he smirked in response. 

Blink moved to shift herself from the dirt to a stump near where Rufus was sitting. Astrid remained standing, but she did move to lean sideways against a tree near where they had set up camp. The warmth of the fire Rufus had been tending to was glowing brighter as it got darker around them. "You're still a good fighter," Astrid told her. It was clear that Blink was unhappy with her performance. "That hasn't changed. You just can't be a one-trick pony."

"Even if that trick is really, really cool," Rufus assured her.

Blink smirked at that, but nodded her head. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I appreciate the training. I do. And I want to be a better fighter. But I'm a teleporter and that's kinda how it is. I'm not a good fighter around that, I'm a good fighter because of it."

"That's not true. You've got excellent movement and obviously your speed is second to none," Astrid told her, listing off some compliments. Blink could tell a 'but' was coming. "But you only rely on one weapon, and that's your teleportation. You have to sharpen your other weapons or you'll end up with nothing."

The teleporter just nodded and smiled. "Thanks," she told her friend, and then leaned back against the tree she was situated in front of. She wanted to stop the conversation and just agree to disagree. She was the one who had asked to train with Astrid, but she mainly want to work on the different angles she needed when teleporting. Astrid wanted to teach her how to be a melee fighter. Blink resigned herself that she would need to learn some one on one combat anyway, and Astrid was the best teacher she  could find for it. But she still intended to use her best skill anyway, because she was confident that was the most important tool in her arsenal.

"We should be in orc territory tomorrow," Rufus said, changing the subject. "Then we can narrow it down and find our werewolf."

Blink nodded at him, acknowledging what he said. Her green eyes peered up at Astrid, who was looking around the tree she was leaning on. "You okay?" Blink asked. "You see someone out there?"

For a moment, Astrid seemed distracted. But then she smiled and turned back to the other two. "No, no. I'm good. Just being cautious is all."

Blink squinted a moment, fairly sure that Astrid was holding back information. She looked herself in the direction the blonde had been looking, but she didn't see anything. With a shrug, she dropped sideways and closed her eyes, thinking about the day ahead. Astrid finally sat down, and Rufus remained awake for the first watch. Blink considered the possibilities of what they might find tomorrow: aggressive orcs, a confused werewolf and definitely a lot of convincing. She thought briefly about whether or not it was worth the hassle, but pushed that thought aside. It was a good long term game. She had to suffer a bit of camping in the Tangled Green in the short term, but the team she was building would be worth it. She knew it would be. Hopefully.