Final Fantasy XIV: Ashen Dawn

Coiled Pasts

25th Sun
Third Umbral Moon
2:20 PM
Carteneau Flats

The rain hadn't stopped, and the bracket for the tournament had been made. Eniro was being let on last for the first set of matches that would take place, with everybody else who had signed up being given a number and a spot in the bracket above him.

The mission?

Let Eniro win, get that Gil, and get Dillon to tell them everything he knows about Black Rose without letting him know that they're letting him win.

The problem?

Every contestant that wasn't Y'shtola had to fight each other to get there, and even if Y'shtola was going to be one of the only four people who would have had to fight him, there was only one way to find out what condition everybody would be in after all of this was over. It didn't help that all of them were tighter knit than a blanket, so if they got into the fight, they got into the fight. This…was gonna take some time, evident by the fact that the first match in the entire tournament was putting the Warrior of Light against Cyprus Constantine. Dariya was no stranger to how Cyprus fought, no, but the constant dread of her attacks bouncing off of a shield and Stryker whooping and hollering from afar was constantly throwing her off. It wasn't a bad fight; mainly built off of Dariya trying to keep her space from the man while Cyprus defended against her ranged attacks and closed the gap every couple of seconds. As a Dancer, though, she was limited, and didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the entire Eorzean Alliance despite this while Cyprus had an answer for just about everything.

Attacking from range? He puts up his shield.

Attacking close up? Passage of Arms.

Anything defensive? Rushes her down and closes the gap.

To say that this random Paladin from Ala Mhigo had better fighting ability than Eorzea's savior was something that nobody wanted to admit, but before long, the crowd of soldiers that had come with their respective company to Carteneau were split down the middle.

"Dariya!"

"Let's go, Cyprus!"

"DARIYA!"

"LET'S GO, CYPRUS!"

…Well, almost split down the middle. Stryker was there too.

"Beat–aye–AYE! BEAT HER--AYE–BEAT HER ASS, BRO!"

"STRYKER! SHUT. THE FUCK-"

BINK!

Cyprus's shield went straight across her face and back around, the Au Ra catching it as perfectly as he threw it and standing there while the Warrior of Light bled from her bottom lip. He gave a glare to Stryker that made him actually shut up, and even moreso, Dariya had a reason to stop treating this like it was just a mission now.

"Are you gonna focus on the fight now or let my brother keep distracting you?"

"I'm gonna start trying."

"Good. I was starting to get bored."

Now the fight was serious. Everybody was on their feet, the ground was shaking from their shared excitement, and both combatants were giving blood, sweat, and tears to prove nothing but that one of them was the better fighter than the other. Okay, well, It wasn't that serious, but Dariya and Cyprus were too fired up now to treat it as anything but. That smack with the shield offended the Viera so badly that she completely forgot about her crush on the guy–now, this was a war, and even Eniro found himself enthralled by their viciousness until he was pulled out of the immersion by an approaching Dillon.