We're all gonna get in a fight! [EVENT: FITE NITE][Warning: Violence and Blood]

[smartass_captain]

People have been disappearing in the Nexus.

Going missing from work, from their homes, from the Plaza.

Locals are staying in their homes, shutting their doors. Even the more shut-in of Nexus goers will be able to tell that something is amiss around here. The Plaza is strangely sparse as far as foot traffic; many of the shops downtown are closing early.

Word is spreading in the Industrial District of an anomaly in the anti-violence field. Easy money for betting in cage fighting. Less easy money but larger amounts for competing in said cage matches. One on one, matches with and without weapons. Rounds go until someone surrenders, is knocked out, or dies. Who would set up such a thing? It's becoming very popular and many a coin is being generated. Are so many people really signing up for this?

Some are. Others are captured and drugged, thrown into the ring against their will with the ultimatum: Fight and get free, or die.

What do you do?

Are you looking to bet your wages? Sign up for a chance at riches? Are you one of the unwilling laying in a dark room?

Or.

Are you going to stand for this if not?

((Please view this OOC post to chat with other players before you jump into a fight! All fights must be agreed upon by participants ahead of time for severity of injuries. Outcomes can be agreed upon or will be decided by a coinflip by myself. Please do not come into this expecting to clean sweep someone without sustaining injuries unless you and your fight partner have agreed ahead of time that would be hilarious. If there are questins, concerns, or complaints PM me. TL:DR Have fun and don't be a dick!))

Comments

[red_room]

They only serve to buy her time to close the gap without having magic flung her way. She has no way of knowing what Vanyels reserves or stamina are and no way of knowing what she should and shouldn't be wary of. Better to be cautious of everything.

She feels her legs burn slightly when she leaps into the air and twists to throw a kick at the dragonborn. His dodge makes her plant her hands on his shoulder and vault behind him so as not to leave herself completely open.

This isn't at all the longest fight she's been in but the strain is starting to get to her, too. She lands on her hands and flips out of the way, dancing around Vanyel as though they were doing a synchronized dance rather than a fight. She tries to grab for him again and gets nothing but air.

Eventually one of them is going to land a hit. Natasha can't keep up this level of dexterity and constant close combat for unlimited amounts of time. She feints on her next swing before closing the distance and shoving her hand up and trying to slam Vanyel square on the underside of his jaw.

[drehnifusbahi]

Magical exhaustion doesn't quite translate to physical exhaustion, thankfully - but it does bring with it a certain degree of mental fatigue. And that is slowing him down, if only a bit.

Still, he follows as she circles and darts around him, not willing to let her out of his sight for even a moment. He'd rather not give her the opportunity to do something... sneaky.

But he can't keep dodging forever, and he does still have just enough magicka to keep up Oakflesh - so when he realizes that first swing was a feint and sees that next blow aimed at his jaw...

He lets her get in close enough to land it -her hand will hit that spell-barrier first, which might just shatter under the impact- so that he, in turn, can aim a punch at her stomach.

[red_room]

Natasha isn't prepared for the magical shield to still be in effect. Her palm connects with something before it should be that shatters and sends a jolt down her arm, turning what should have been a knockout blow into a glancing push against his jaw.

She'd been certain of the attack. It's why she'd risked leaving herself open for that fraction of a second....long enough for Vanyel's fist to connect with her stomach and have her doubling over as she stumbles back.

Her glare is venomous when she gazes upward through her hair. She's sweating and pretty sure she's just earned herself at least one bruised rib. She has to keep moving, keep dodging, but the air had been forced out of her lungs with the blow and she's slowed by the need to breathe.

[drehnifusbahi]

No worse than her planned knock-out blow would have been for him, he's sure, but even so he has to master the urge to wince. He's been in enough fights and knows just enough battlefield medicine to know what sort of complications can arise from a simple fist to the stomach.

If they've no healers on staff, he'll certainly offer once the fight's over - well, and once he's had the chance to down a magicka potion or two. But for the moment, he takes advantage of the pause to try another sweep. If he can get her to ground...

He's recovered a little magicka already, but not enough to do anything useful with - which means no recasting Oakflesh. So if he can't end this soon, he'll have to fight a lot more defensively than he has been...

[red_room]

The sweep connects.

Natasha grabs for the Drgaonborn as she falls in a last ditch attempt to drag him down with her. If she connects he'll feel something connect with his chest armor and dig in, the tip just barely piercing skin on the other side. The added grip just helps Natasha pull him down.

Either way, she's hitting the ground on her side, knife in her hand if it's not in Vanyel's armor.

[drehnifusbahi]

He sees the swing -and the knife- coming, but he can't afford to dodge. Can't afford to give her that moment to get back on her feet, lest this fight drag out even longer. So he takes the hit, starts to go down with her.

And then, he summons up every dreg of magicka he's managed to recover and summons up his familiar one more time. The wolf tackles Natasha, and despite its ethereal appearance it isn't actually much lighter than a flesh-and-blood wolf of the same size would be.

That means the knife tears out of flesh and armor rather more violently than it went in, and he lets out a pained hiss, one hand reflexively covering the wound.

[red_room]

That.

Natasha was not expecting that. Her eyes go wide when the knife rips free and then she's solidly on her stomach struggling under the weight of Vanyel's wolf deliberately trying to keep her down.

She doesn't want to thrash--the wolf might latch onto her to try and keep her down if she does and Natasha isn't committed enough to winning this to deal with that. She also doesn't want to severely hurt Vanyel in a way that would be hard to recover from. The spy doesn't see a way for this fight to continue without doing potentially both of these things. And even then, she's not convinced she could even win.

Instead, Natasha raises her hand and calls out in a clear voice.

"The match is yours!" The crowd erupts in glee at the outcome, and already there's a succubus-maid strutting out to escort Vanyel off to be treated for his more major injuries. Natasha gets up once the wolf is off of her and gives Vanyel a nod before she turns and heads back to her own door. 'Good match' her gaze says. She'll catch up with him later to chat and trade pointers. He's taught her a lot.

[drehnifusbahi]

He lets the familiar vanish just a moment after she says it -he wouldn't have had enough magicka to keep it around for much longer anyhow- and lets himself be led off, giving her a nod in return before the doors shut behind him.

It was a good match, and he considers himself lucky to have scraped a win.