Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-25019125-20151207164822/@comment-24828824-20160106040227

Merel gave a nonchalant shrug to the suggestion of Jericho. She actually preferred to wait and see what he was up to. She took a seat next to Feacha, the Faunus. Merel had never really interacted much with Faunus people, so really she hadn’t made up her mind about them either way. Her father was more reserved in his dealings with them but also spoke highly of some specific Faunus he knew. Merel returned her attention to the sparring stage. Jericho had raised the ballistic shielding to prevent any stray shots to leave the combat area, although it was obvious from one partly hidden scorch mark and a small scattering of bullet holes on the wall opposite to her spoke of some interesting stories where these shields failed in their purpose.

With the two young men taking their places on the marked starting points of the stage Estevon gave Jericho the opening move. Jericho's smile grew into an eager grin "If you insist..." a flash of remembrance crossed Jericho's face and he quickly broke the stance he had almost subconsciously taken on to walk back to the edge of the platform "Wait, hang on! I forgot to take off my jacket!" he said with a half chuckle. With a quick movement of the arms and shoulder he took off the metal plated jacket and w nowhere to put hit he just dropped it near the edge of the stage out of the way because he had already raised the shield. He quickly got back to his marked spot and again he smoothly stepped into a typical fencer's stance; feet apart, right side facing Estevon and sword angled diagonally up and straight in front of him, He even put his left arm behind his back, which only made him look even more like an outdated stereotype from those old swashbuckling movies.

For a moment he stood perfectly still like that, as if waiting on Estevon to make the first move contrary to what he just said. Then with a subtle click and a snapping hiss his blade ignited and enveloped in a sheath of flames. With that Jericho made his first move, drawing his sword back with a twist of his wrist for a quick horizontal slash that sent a ribbon of fire hurtling towards Estevon. He took two steps forward after that, both with another swing to send a wave of fire at Estevon, and still he remained in that defensive pose. The die had been cast and now he waited for his opponent's response.