Planning ahead

Monience wandered into the Path Sensory. Multiple times has she come in here only to get turned away. She wanted out of that academy that was holding her back. Sure she was young but she could fight. Sort of. And she did save Keldrin by acting as a distraction. 'Yeah! They can't turn me away after that!!' She thought. She was confident she was going to make it. She just needed to be accepted. She has the basic training down. And she was certain the Academy didn't want her anymore. She walked right up to the front desk and announced "I'd like to see what my path should be please." with out hesitating.

The battle and age scarred Aranetil doesn't even glance up at Monience's announcement. "Go home little girl; you're too young to have your Path decided. If you're not out of the Academy yet, come back and see me when you are." she replied in a monotone, continuing to sort through the papers surrounding her.

Sensing the whine that was rising from the girl's throat at that very instance, having repeated the situation multiple times, the female sighs and looks up, staring firmly at Monience. "Why are you so eager? Enjoy your childhood, you only get one. Once you have your Path sensed and decided, there is no turning back."

Monience nodded. "I know all that. I can't stand the academy anymore. I learn nothing new. anything there is to learn I've already gone out and experienced it myself. Theres nothing to enjoy of my childhood, I'm ignored, left alone, live in a rundown home outside of town with no protection. I need to get stronger. I'm not leaving until my path is sensed and decided." She crossed her arms giving the Aranetil the same determined look she's always have. 'Every time, I get thrown out. This time I will get my path sensed.' She thought.

She had nothing else to live for than to get stronger.

"Well then, maybe you shouldn't have gone out and experienced all those things already." the Aranetil mumbled to herself, sighing harshly. "Why don't you move to inside the town then, hmm? Seems like a pretty sensible idea to me! Or, if you graduate instead of skipping all of the time, you could just like in the Apprentice Quarters. You won't suddenly get stronger after having your Path decided, you need to practice! Now leave before I call security." she grumbled, turning back to her papers.

Monience was getting edgy. She was barely living as it is. Moving wouldn't be an option for her until she did her path sensory. She refused to move from her spot. "Then you may as well call them now and save yourself some time. It goes the same why every time you know." her brow twitched. She had practiced moving fluently after the attack on the town to get stronger. She even practiced with both wooden swords, and bare hands just in case. This woman of all people should know Monience's determination when it comes to goals. If she had to fight she was ready.

The female sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Dear Xelveth, give me strength." she mumbled exasperatedly. Looking up, she folded her hands in front of herself and stared meaningfully at Monience, examining her. Eventually, she sighed again, getting up and leaving the room for a moment before returning with two, rather large males. She paused, crossing her arms and looking at Monience. "Come back when someone else is on shift and they may let you in. However, if it's me, you know your answer." she growled, waving a hand to signal the men to escort the young warrior out before returning to her desk.

Monience glanced up at the men. "Nice to see you again boys." She smiled. When they growled reaching for her she grabbed the hand of one running full force under the other causing him to roll over in surprise. She then got backed into a corner by the other one which tried to grab her again while his buddy got up. Monience jumped up and kicked off the wall and landed an ineffective kick on his neck. 'Thats right...they were trained for this.....crap.' She barely jumped away. Grinning slightly she quickly took stock of her options and went running further into the facility. Using her speed and small size to keep out of reach. 'I have to think fast. I don't think after that they'll be so nice now.' She thought quickly hiding in an open room once she was out of sight for more than 5 seconds. waiting for them to Pass she let out a sigh of relief taking stock of the room once it was safe to do so. 'It won't be long before they find me.' She thought.

Golden eyes narrowed as the security for the Path Sensory galloped past. Xen finished cleaning her teeth with her nail before standing and trodding after them slowly, her sword clanging againt her armor. A noise to her left made the female pause and turn. She glanced behind her once before shrugging and entering the room she had heard the sound come from.

Stepping inside, Xen paused, took a quick sweep of the area before her eyes caught on a young Drow, sitting against the wall by the doorway. The Aranetil cocked an eyebrow at the girl, corssing her arms over her chest with a slight clank of armor. "And what exactly is a brat like you doing in here?" she asked gruffly.

Monience blinked at the sudden appearance of the woman. She growled detesting being called a brat. "Who are you calling a brat!?" Clamping a hand over her mouth quickly realizing that if she continued to yell, the guards would come back sooner. She took a better look at the Aranetil woman. 'Looks like another warrior. I better be careful not to start a fight with her, she looks like she can beat me six ways to sunday and still leave me breathing for more.' She thought to herself. looking around she realized this woman was blocking her exit. 'I might as well bide my time since I have no other choice if I don't want to leave.' taking a few deep breaths she calmed herself down, keeping a neutral expression on her face. "I'm here to take my path sensory. Who are you?" she asked.

Xen scoffed, leaning against the doorway. "Don't you know it's rude to ask someone else's name before giving your own?" she sneered, glancing over her shoulder when she heard the guards coming back. Sighing, the Aranetil turned and put her back against the doorframe, sliding down it until she was sitting on the floor. The guards walked by without even glancing at her.

"So kid," she started, picking at her teeth with a nail again. "Why exactly are you in here, trying to get your Path sensed, when you don't even look like you should be out of the Academy?" she asked, turning her head to stare at Monience.

Monience nodded. "I'm Monience. I'm trying to get out of the Academy. It's just a waste of time now. I can't stand it there anymore. I'm just trying to make progress on my training." She repeated her story yet again. This Aranetil was earning her respect fast considering she just hid Monience from the guard. 'I may get lucky but I don't know. There's still the chance this one will turn around and throw me out.' She thought taking another look around in case she needed to make a quick exit. Her mind was working in over drive as she was constantly planning her next 10 moves in case she had to.

The warrior nodded at the information. "Xen." was all she said to introduce herself. "It's kind of stupid to be trying to get out of the Academ and get your Path sensed before you graduate. I mean, you may be top of your class, but that doesn't mean you're any match for whatever nasty crap it out there." she grunted, gesturing widely towards the entrance to the Path Sensory. "And I'm not just talking about whatever lurks on the Outer Edge; I'm also talking about the basterds that live in the city. You could easily be over-taken by a couple of 'em, as long as they know what they're doing."

Xen paused, glancing over at Monience. "Come on," she stated, pushing herself to stand. "I'll help ya out a bit. Not like I got anything better to do with the Watchers everywhere."

Monience nodded. "Nice to meet you Xen." She smiled. Finally she was making progress. She may have been too naive but she didn't care. She was happy just for the hope that she's making progress. "And thank you. Not a lot of people offer to help me out." She thought back to the attack the other day. 'Should I mention about how I was involved in it? Nah, that would seem like I'm gloating. I just got lucky.' She thought to herself. Still she was proud of herself for getting Keldrin out of danger. As much as the moon elf hated admitting it he was saved. Though as much as she was proud of it, she did cause it by asking to get a real weapon to protect herself. She shook her head. 'What's done is done Moni. Just keep moving forward and keep growing.' She followed Xen where ever she was being lead.

Leading the young Drow through the city, Xen nodded at several people as she passed them, shoving her way through a crowd that had formed, and enjoying pissing people off in said crowd. The warrior chuckled at the scathing remarks sent her way, completely ignoring them.

Soon enough, she and Monience emerged from the city, and Xen led them several meters away from the walls before turning back to face the younger female. "All right, show me your stance." she commanded, eyeing the other critically.

Monience nodded and pulled her weapons from her back getting into her modified stance. Putting one foot back at an angle and keeping majority of her weight on her front foot, she effectively planted her self on the spot. She kept a gentle bend all through out her body. This Gentle bend modification let her move more fluidly and kept her rooted in place. Her left blade was positioned in front of her body with a slight incline. With the way it was positioned allowed her to quickly block or dodge an attack followed by one of her own. Her right sword was pointed diagonally up so she could swing or stab with it once she opened her opponent up with her block.

She had long modified the usual shield and sword stance warriors tend to take when learning to fight. To her, the shield was too heavy and a second sword would allow her to fight with either her left or right hand. Her peers thought she was crazy to take on such a feat, but she was determined to fight as such. The teachers continued to teach her until she was training on her own and modifying her stance more and more until she was comfortable and could effectively fight. Her stance was as such she trained both right and left handed to keep it even that she was effective with blocking and attacking with either. She could even charge towards a foe and when she got close fall back into her stance landing on either foot. This let her maneuver effectively in a battle.

Tapping her chin thoughtfully, Xen slowly strode around Monience, examining her position from all angles and taking in the minor details that made it unique to her. Her eyes dropped to the positioning of the Drow's feet and frowned.

"Well, you're off to a pretty good start for a rookie. Your feet are too close together; it's too easy to throw you off with a good ram of a shield. Most of your weight is on your front foot, which is good for head-on combat, but what if someone comes up behind you? Or out of the ground? It would be too easy to make you lose your footing in those instances. Same with your weapons." she commented, grabbing her spare dagger and her sword and copying Monience's stance. "If you stand like this," she showed the other what she looked like. "then you are set to take on opponents in front of you, no problem. However, if you suddenly need to rotate," she paused, leaning on her front foot and turned on it slowly, stopping when both feet were planted on the ground. "You leave yourself exposed to your other opponent, which isn't good if you are going for dual-wielding. Not only that, but it's harder to keep your firm stance if the enemy from behind is already on top of you when you are done changing positions." she explained, showing the faults and consequences. "You could stand to lose an arm, or at least have it injured, especially if your enemy is coming out of the ground. They always come blade first." she grumbled, before standing back up. "This is how I stand when I'm using two blades."

Xen fell easily into her secondary stance; knees bent slight, weight evenly distributed to allow for quick turns at a moments notice, spread two feet apart to allow for a wider range of defense and attack. Her entire body, feet included,areturned slightly from the spot she is facing, for more maneuverability so that she can easily parry attacks from behind with the long dagger held against the back of her thigh, arm close to her side to prevent ground attacks from harming it. Her left hend in front of her, holding her sword up to block, parry, and attack.

Xen demonstrated the basic maneuvers for her position, before standing straight again. "Of course, that's different if you're using a shield instead of a dagger." she chuckled, slipping her back-up blade back into it's leather sheath.

Monience nodded and modified her stance to try and get comfortable with it. She performed her maneuvers to get comfortable falling into the stance Xen showed her. She had trouble at first due to her body wanting to fall into the original stance but she picked up on it after a few minutes of performing a few maneuvers and falling back into the stance. She smiled proudly up at Xen. "I think I got it." This was the first time in months she made any progress at all on her stances with anyone's help. It felt good to be moving forward again. and it showed in her attitude.

Xen chuckled, smiling at Monience. "Good job kiddo. Make sure you keep practicing so that one becomes just as natural as your original one, but make sure to keep the first as well. It'll work well for when you're sparring with other people. Now, I'm gussing that you've chosen dual-wielding to be your go-to, but it's always good to know how to use a shield." she stated, sitting cross-legged on the rough ground and gesturing for Monience to join her. "Especially during major battles. If you're by yourself, a shield is more handy than a dagger; it can be used to block, of course, but it also makes for a good weapon that can permanently cripple your opponent if you hit 'em correctly." Xen grinned, reminiscing of fights passed. "If you're up to it, you go get one for yourself and I'll teach you the basics. Who knows, we may even be able to convince that old crone to get your Path sensed early. How would ya like that?" she asked rhetorically, smile morphing into something that was almost taunting.

Monience's jaw dropped at what she heard. She's been fighting with that lady for quite some time now and never gave in. Now Xen is saying about letting her take the sensing early. was she serious? Monience tried for several moments to get words out of her mouth. When she failed she just gave up and nodded after making sure her mouth was shut. She took a few more moments to get thoughts moving again and finally responded. "That...would be great! Thank you Xen!" Monience was positively beaming at the thought.

Throwing her head back, the warrior laughed openly, patting Monience harshly on the back. "It's no problem, brat. Just make sure that I'm the one you choose to train under, yeah?" the sentence came out as more of an order than a question, but Xen figured that the girl would agree anyways. Turning, the Aranetil started back towards Nagreon, pace strong but slow so that the young Drow could keep up.

Monience heard the brat comment again but she didn't care. She was too happy to care. "With out a doubt Xen!" She was excited. A trainer. Monience had a big grin on her face. Nothing was going to ruin her day. She followed Xen happily. Monience was going to have to learn to control her emotions more now, but she had no doubt she could do it.

The warrior chuckled at Monience's giddiness. "You certainly seem excited. Have you really been trying for that long? Geez kid, you never give up, do you?" she asked rhetorically, hand resting on the hilt of her sword out of habit. "Doesn't mean I can guarantee anything; you'll probably still have ta wait until you're out of the Academy, but I can still give you outside training your a step ahead of the others when you to get out of the prison." she stated, nodding at the Watchers at the gate as the pair passed them to enter Nagreon.

Monience rubbed the back of her head grinning. "Heh, no I don't give up easily. Something I learned from my father before he passed. As for the academy I'll graduate as soon as possible to start my training under you." With her goal in reach she was excited and she knew it. Who else had this kind of edge in the Academy? No one as far as she knew. She made a mental note to find a way to keep both swords and a shield on her at all times so she'd never be caught with out one.

"Haha, excellent! All right, let's see if we can't find you a shield to start practicing with, mm?" she asked rhetorically, leading Monience to the part of the Marketplace where they sold armor and weapons.

When they had gotten to the correct part, Xen stopped and gestured widely to the entire area. "Goa head and pick. And maybe if you make a good choice, I'll buy ya some extra blades too, just in case. Or better ones, depending on the sentimental value of yours." she stated, trying to surpress her laugh unsuccessfully. "Ahaha, ah, sentimental value. yeah right." she chuckled.

Monience smirked. 'Xen sure likes making jokes.' She went in and studied each shield carefully. Looking for impurities, judging their weight. The shopkeep helped her by suggesting several shields and with his help narrowed down her choices to two. She slid on a shield that had was made out of a dense metal. Despite being so thin it was a tough shield with a spike sticking out the front of it. It had a light weight to it. so she could move it effectively in battle. The size of it would allow her to protect her body with little effort. She tested how it felt on her arm with movements being careful not to hit anything. and told the shop keep she'd take that one. The other shield was of heavier craftsmanship, it was a bit more durable, but it sacrificed a lot of speed for durability. Monience knew she could never control it this soon. Maybe when she was older but for now she was still a student. She quickly paid for it and walked back out to where Xen was.