Shortly after dinner, Noyiah found her way back to the offices of the rune knights, as she tried her usual office space, she found that someone had locked her out of it, with an arm load of paperwork and deteriorating patience.  Knocking loudly on the door, she paused to listen for any sound, it didn’t make much sense that the office space no one ever seemed to be in was suddenly locked, after all they were communal.  With no response she tried each other one, but similarly they too were locked and without a soul in sight, Noyiah sighed and thought about a good spot to set up a temporary office.

The training grounds weren’t too far off from the main building, and though Noyiah didn’t particularly like the idea of doing paperwork where other people sweat and bled. But with her lack of options she found her way there. Pushing open the heavy door with her shoulder she looked about the room, it seemed like there was no one there at this moment.  Nodding in approval of sanctuary she had found she sat down on a nearby bench and started to unpack the files she had been working on.  

Noyiah wore her usual rune knight cloths, a uniform of a grey dress buttoned up to the top,  a large black trench coat that seemed a little too big for her, and a pair of grey leggings that she wore under her dress, this paired up with the black combat boots she wore, a small sheath on the inner side of the right boot that held a single knife.

Noyiah started to process the pile of papers, most of which she fixed for small corrections to misfiled information. But it was enough to keep her focus until she heard the noise of someone else. Looking up she glanced at the main doors she had come in from in anticipation of someone entering.   Already slightly irritated, she wore an expression of aggravation.  Blowing her bangs out of her face she combed them with her fingers sweeping her bangs behind her left ear and waited in anticipation.

Outfit:

Her imagination played to its faults, as she quickly imagined a group of knights coming through all rambunctious and energetic, the very thought stressed her out, she didn’t really want to head home after walking all this way just to use the offices, that she happened to be locked out of.  Much to her dismay the door opened, but she was pleasantly surprised by who came through, she seemed almost out of place, but she was certainly dressed for the occasion, not so much for combat but more for a work out it seemed.   Instead of the rowdy bunch that she expected, a young pink haired woman entered.  If she was a knight, Noyiah hadn’t seen her around, though it wasn’t much of a shock there, Noyiah was still quite new herself.

Her voice seemed sweet and pleasant as she called out to Noyiah, it was enough for her to engage. Noyiah quickly switched from her previously aggravated expression to a warmer smile as her mood swayed. “ oh no! your good, I’m not where I should be,  but the offices were locked, and here was quiet enough to sneak a bit of work in.” She explained as she placed her pen down and realigned the papers against the side of the bench, placing the papers in a neat stack on top of the folder she had used to bring them that rested to her left.

She did her best to try not to discourage someone who wanted to better themselves, but before she could offer to leave, the woman before her made a humorous observation, the gravity of which wasn’t lost on Noyiah.  Her smile widened a bit as it became more genuine “both have their merits, but I think I prefer the paperwork.” Noyiah’s attempt at some casual small talk. She knew she could be far wittier then her remark but not wanting to make it awkward or misunderstood she kept it simple.

Standing up she would motion for her to come in “please, the room is yours if you’d like it, i can find somewhere else to work.” She offered out, but quickly drawing a conclusion of the dangers of being alone in the training grounds.  “well actually, id be happy to stay if you’re like a spotter, not that i don’t think you can’t handle yourself, its just good precautions.” She clarified.  

Noyiah naturally watched the stranger, she had an air to her, she seemed to hold herself with integrity, sincerity and restraint.  The way she talked seemed well educated and organized, unlike some of the other knights she had happened upon, the excitable dimwitted, can’t even file paperwork right knights that she had moments before dreaded meeting. Noyiah observed details about her and committed them to memory, something she was particularly good at, her few years as an investigator had provided her with a good sociable skill set and she utilized it quite often.  

It seemed a bit awkward with their happenstance encounter, realizing she might have been staring she picked up her papers, bag and pen, then tucking them under her arm. At this point she would venture closer, offering her free hand out, once she was close enough “Noyiah Dashi, it’s a pleasure” her voice trailing off a bit towards the end, upon coming closer, Noyiah noticed they were almost the same height and took note of it. She hadn’t met to many people who were around the same age and size. Her imagination went wild again, as she envisioned the idea of befriending this woman, the adventures and shopping spree’s they might have. The very idea excited Noyiah.

Noyiah after gathering her stuff looked over to the pink haired knight, she responded to Noyiah’s offer with a laugh. Noyiah’s eyebrows rose as she tried to piece together what was funny about her offered, she truly believed it was better to have a spotter, though she had no understanding of the magic abilities of the knight before her, or what her training would entail.  Ready to take her leave as she had originally offered after introducing herself but was stopped by the next thing said.  

Noyiah glanced back taking a deep breath, she clutched her papers a bit tighter and nodded. “well then i guess I’ll stay, at least for a bit.” She declared, her eyes looking over the young knight. Her next comment made sense, and Noyiah would nod in agreement,  it made sense in theory, but luckily she hadn’t had to deal with them yet,  between  Kazimir assisting her training and  training with the other recent recruits she didn’t have to luxury of a lot of alone time,  or at least not as much as she was used to. “i could see that” she agreed placing her books back down and then introducing herself.

Introductions took place and Noyiah vaguely remembered seeing the name Xandra before, but unable to immediately recall from where she had, she dismissed the thought and nodded once again, taking note of her elegance, the command of language and etiquette that a lot of knights lacked.  It was quite refreshing and Noyiah welcomed the change.   Already there was an admiration Noyiah held for Xandra, ~this was how a knight should act~, Noyiah found herself thinking. Now face to face with Xandra as she clasped her hands behind her back Noyiah’s hands made their way to her hips as placed them down firmly looking about, she wasn’t sure what was planned. So, she made sure to ask, “what were your workout goals today?” She asked casually letting her left hand slide down to her side, keeping her right hand still on her hip.  The grin was an interesting touch, it was enough for Noyiah to question it, but the subtlety of it seemed so natural.  Noyiah felt like this would be a person not easily talked into things, a similar personality to herself it seemed.

“ i should warn you i am not the most experienced when it comes to combat, though i am learning i fear that i will not be as beneficial for you as your advice might be to me.”
Noyiah shifted her weight from on foot to the next before crossing her arm out in front of her bracing it with her opposite arm and stretching as she pulled the elbow into her torso. Swapping over to stretch the opposite arm afterwards “ so if i am impeding your progress feel free to dismiss me, id rather be helpful than a hindrance.”

Her goals were reasonable and Noyiah nodded in agreement, they didn’t seem too specific, nor unreasonable, short sweet and to the point which Noyiah could appreciate.  Though throughout the encounter Noyiah had found herself to be tested, not that she minded but Xandra’s body language and demeaner seemed to be superior, the way she held herself, keeping some reserve of power behind her. She clearly knew how to handle herself and Noyiah had her doubts already about being able to keep up.  Though she didn’t seem to cocky, but there was enough of an indication that would make anyone she encountered think twice about their actions towards her.  

Noyiah thought about what it meant for endurance, strength and speed training, it was something you could work on with a simple run, or with repeatable exercises like pushups. But she was instore for more than she likely understood.

Noyiah gave warning about her inexperience as she started to stretch, Xandra moving away from her to a more open area started also to limber up.  Her response was reasonable, and Noyiah couldn’t dispute it, someone was for sure better than no one, even if they were there just to keep you focused.  Noyiah squeezed her hand into fists as tight as she could then let her fingers spread out repeatedly until they felt dexterous, taking a moment to look at the rope burns she had gotten across her palm from her last training session.  She had struggled to move through that exercise, she had enough common sense to work with the team, but she wasn’t anywhere near the skill level that Judina or Kazimir were and found herself to even hinder them the last time they fought alongside each other.  Noyiah dismissed the thought and focused back to Xandra.  Noyiah continued to idly stretch until Xandra announced ~hit me~

Panic set in first as Noyiah looked at the woman who was confident enough to just offer such a thing out, she wouldn’t have any indication of how strong Noyiah may or may not have been yet, was poised and ready for anything that could come her way. Noyiah stood there for a moment wide eyed, a bit taken back by the comment. It was so simple and revealed a lot about her, enough that if gave Noyiah some doubts as to what she had just gotten herself into, the knights around here varied so much from each other and they were all strong in different ways.  Noyiah paused for a moment as she analyzed the task at hand, unsure if to even take it seriously, there were no rules set up before hand, and if Noyiah used the one weapon on her it would be the one and only trick she really possessed.

She was already at a disadvantage looking at her own cloths and then back to Xandra’s.  Noyiah was not dressed for the occasion and had never really fought in a dress before, although she was confident in the materials quality to hold up in a friendly training session.  There was a realization that with the lack of weapons present that maybe Xandra was a hand to hand fighter, in which case Noyiah was surely outmatched.  Hesitation set in and instead of acting as told to, she questioned. “hit you?” She asked a bit in disbelief. “are you sure you want to spar with someone you just met?” She asked more so fishing for a possible way out.

But if she was stuck in this spar, she would try her best to at least make it amusing for her counterpart. Maybe it was possible to outthink her opponent if she was in fact locked into this fight

Her request at first unreasonable, seemed to make sense as she explained it more, it was still far bolder then Noyiah would risk, on the off chance she happened across someone that took it too seriously or was far weaker then Xandra judged them to be.

“ its hard to argue such logic, and I commend you for being so daring, but I think id rather assist in other ways, the last time I was injured in training I was out for a week, the captain was gracious enough to allow me to train in my own time until I caught up with the squads, but id rather be at my best encase something happens.” She reasoned, she wasn’t being unreasonable, she just felt that if there was an emergency she would need to be at her best, but in all honesty, it was likely a cowardly reason masked by reason.  

In truth she was intimidated by her presence, she had a way about her that made Noyiah doubt her abilities when she mentally comparing them, or at the very least Noyiah knew she had no advantage to a fight against her at this time.  

Shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to the other she looked about the room in attempts to find a way to weasel her way out of the offered spar, not that Xandra didn’t give her a way out when she made the clause allowing her to back out if she was uncomfortable, but far too proud to just outright say she was uncomfortable with it she pointed at a set of dummies In the back of the room. “Perhaps we can gauge strengths using the Combat dummies and reconvene another time for that spar when I am more qualified i am a only a page for a reason.” She explained, hoping that Xandra would just let her off the hook, but if push came to shove, she would go along with it.

“But I have wasted enough of your time, I can Leave you to your exercise, or I can help set the dummies up” she said look back to Xandra, it was so odd how she made Noyiah feel, it was rare to find someone so take charge and valiant, and it was quite daunting. Like if she made a mistake, she would lose her as a potential friend, a friend that she had envisioned the moment they had met.  It seemed to be all risk and no reward, or at least that’s how it felt.

Her chuckle was amusing, it made Noyiah feel instantly better, Relief flooded through her as Xandra agreed with her, she thought for sure she would be pushed and belittled for her wanting to stay in good health, but unwilling to better herself, it barely made sense to Noyiah, let along a Stanger.  “ I do plan on bettering myself, I just don’t want to push myself recklessly” she reinstated to clarify precisely why she was chickening out of the training. Her attention turning back to Xandra a bit more.

Noyiah shifted her eight to her left food again as she  met eye contact with Xandra, who at this time told her that she didn’t have to be nervous, which was understandable, it didn’t even really make sense to herself as to why she was so worried, maybe the cold was getting to her, maybe the sleep schedule of a sleepless detective was the issue, either way she quickly unclenched her jaw, finding that she had been  pushing teeth together. Tension between them seemed to fade, or at least the tension Noyiah thought was there seemed to diminish and she quickly returned her smile, making sure to smile properly and not smirk like usual. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me, I’m being foolish.” She stated aloud, it was something she didn’t like to admit, but there was no pulling the wool over Xandra’s eyes she seemed to keen to be tricked by words, no matter how pleasant they sounded.   And at this time, that was really all Noyiah had going for her, with her wits matched she really was just an overworked paper pusher in comparison.

Her offer to work with the dummies didn’t seem to be in vain, a first attempt to avoid fight entirely and it seemed to have paid off,   She had offered to help put out the dummies for her to work with, an offer that was politely rejected as she said she could handle it from there. Respecting her wishes she nodded sharply once. “Alright~, well it was great meting you, and ill try and find you again sometime, when I feel more confident in my own abilities.” She reasoned, wanting to get the message across that she was grateful for the opportunity but would rather do something less strenuous, she turned to get her bag looking back at Xandra before she started towards the door. “See you around” she called out, trying not to get in her way, “ and stay safe” she called out as she reached the door, turning back around to look at Xandra one more time.  It was so odd how vulnerable she had felt,  her words wouldn’t work on her and Noyiah had felt entirely disarmed, she would have to find a way to be more effective, she needed to be better, and if she wasn’t such a proud person she should have came back in and did the training with her. But Tried and defeated Noyiah disappeared out the door to head back to see if the offices where unlocked.  

The offices were still in fact locked when she got to them, shaking her head she returned home, a small thirty minute walk, down a nice hill, in the winter with the wind softly blowing, all in all a good day, even if she hadn’t accomplished what she set out to, meeting Xandra was most definitely a eye opening interaction that made her want to better herself, and if they never met again at least Noyiah would have her to thank for setting her on some new goals.

[EXIT]