Tai held out a hand to Michael, “I’m Tai by the way.”

Michael took his hand and gave it a firm, well practiced shake. “Michael.”

“American?”

“Yes. I miss cheeseburgers and big sugary drinks.”

Tai chuckled. “Me too.”

“What about you?”

“Japanese. I miss drinking ten cold beers after working a long hard day.”

“Now you skip the work part,” muttered his twin with a raised eyebrow, before returning to the quiet conversation he was having with Lys.

"What about your brother?" asked Michael.

"Finn is Swandian through and through."

That made sense, the names were about as far apart as possible. Still if it hadn't been for all the pop-culture references Michael would've guessed Finn to be the Taker of the two given his more reserved nature. Then again, Michael was used to being around Ollie, so maybe he should've anticipated the opposite.

Tai moved on to Marcus who was next to him and held out a hand.

“I’m Tai,” he said.

Marcus chuckled and shook his hand. “I figured that out. I’m Marcus.”

“You’re the dragoon?”

“Was it the rifle on my back that gave me away?”

“Didn’t even notice it. Your forefingers seemed to have a bit of extra strength to them is all.”

“He’s lying, he saw the damn rifle,” said Finnegan, breaking away from his conversation with Lys again. He seemed very comfortable holding a conversation while firing the occasional stray at his brother.

“He can’t prove that,” said Tai with a wink before moving over to Pyotr.

“I’m Tai,” he said, holding out a hand.

“Pyotr,” he said, giving a firm shake.

“Pee-yo-tor, I really like how that sounds. Really rolls around the mouth nicely when you say it too.”

“I’ve always thought so,” said Pyotr. “I especially like it when I can get a woman with a pretty voice to say it.”

“A man after my own heart.” Tai moved over to Ollie.

“I’m Tai,” he said, holding out a hand.

“Thai? I thought you said you were Japanese?”

Tai shook his bald head. “No, no, no. We’re the ones that get the respectable sex tourism.”

He laughed. “I’m Ollie. You know, your man Devahn gave us all a very similar tit for tat.”

“He would steal my thunder, the bastard.” He clapped his hands and rolled his neck before moving over to Davi.

“I’m Tai,” he said, holding out a hand.

Davi took it and gave it a firm shake.

“Davi, good to meet you, sir.”

“Sir? Oh no, looks like we’ve got another one like you, Finn.”

“Thank the divine,” said his twin, giving a short nod to Davi.

Michael didn’t think that was entirely a fair impression of Davi. He certainly knew how to cut loose, but he buttoned up a bit more whenever he was near perceived authority.

“So!” said Tai, clapping his hands together. “Whose up for a quick spar? I need to get an idea of what you’re all about… Ollie and Marcus are exempt though. I can’t really compete with bullets and bolts of lightning.”

Michael, Pyotr, and Davi exchanged a glance.

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“I think we’re all up for that, as long as you are.”

Tai nodded. “Excellent.” He looked up at Finn. “I take first, you take second, I take third?” he asked.

Finn sighed and nodded. “May as well get an idea of what we’re paying for.”

They all went outside to the small area where they’d seen some of the other mercs training on their way in. As they walked they drew a number of nods and waves, and when they actually arrived with Finn and Tai, a small crowd started gathering.

“Oi! You testing out the fresh meat!?” hollered Devahn, with a small group of men and women gathered around him.

“I wouldn’t call it a test, maybe an active assessment,” Tai said with a smile as they were all taken to a rack of practice weapons.

"That's what a test is," muttered Finn.

Michael took his usual shortsword and shield, Davi his bastard sword, and Pyotr opted for only a single longsword. Since they’d been away from Stent they’d all started to specialize a bit, though Pyotr and Davi still carried their shields more often than not, they had started to favor fighting without them.

Tai had grabbed a single longsword as well, and moved to a corner of the arena.

“How about you first big fella,” he said pointing his sword at Davi.

Davi nodded, and went to the opposite side as him where he held his bastard sword carefully as he kept his eyes on Tai.

“Alright” said Finn as he took a place at the edge of the makeshift practice area. “When I say, start, you start. Got that, Tai? Or is it too complicated?”

“Got it,” he said, smiling.

“Start!”

Davi and Tai lunged forward at the same time, but Davi was forced to rapidly shift his strike into a parry as Tai crossed two thirds of the space between them in an instant. While Davi avoided the first blow, Tai followed up with two more strikes that Michael could barely track, one hitting Davi in the gut and the other in the back of the neck. He fell to one knee.

“Wow, that was really good. Most people can’t block my first strike,” said Tai, spinning the practice sword in one hand.

Michael stared openly with his mouth open. He closed it as he began to focus on divining Tai.

Titles:

Tai Ito

Firstborn Secondborn

First Striker

Deeds:

Arrow Cutter

Count Counterer

One Strike Slayer: Cockatrice

One Strike Slayer: Ogre

One Strike Slayer: Minotaur

One Strike Slayer-

“I told you it’s rude to do that without asking,” said Lys.

“All of his Titles and Deeds are about striking first it seems like.”

“He has a few that are more utilitarian, but yes, he’s very much focused on getting his opponent down quickly and effectively. Apparently he had some martial training in his old life that contributes to it.”

Michael nodded, “The only skill I brought with me was the ability to do paperwork well.”

Lys’s eyes seemed to twinkle a little. “Oh, you didn’t mention that.”

That wasn’t good, but before he could respond he saw that Pyotr and Finn were about to fight. Unlike his brother, Finn had a shield and a club and took a medium stance, not unlike the one Michal favored.

“Start!” yelled Tai.

Pyotr leapt forward and unleashed a flurry of strikes.

Finn responded to them calmly, his shield moving to block Pyotr’s longsword even before he’d begun each of his strikes, as if he was predicting them.

Pyotr began to move faster, spinning like a top as he unleashed dozens of strikes, all of which Finn managed to block or swat away with his club. Finn wasn’t as fast, but his defense seemed unbreakable, and whenever Pyotr would seem to have the edge, Finn would somehow manage to narrowly avoid the blow. He had no wasted motions, which contrasted sharply to Pyotr who fought as if he was dancing.

“A bad matchup,” said Lys.

“Davi and Tai were a bad matchup too,” said Marcus. “Almost like someone who's seen all of us spar over the last few days gave them a heads up.”

Lys smiled. “Of course I did. Bad for morale if it was too close. It wouldn’t have mattered though.”

As if to punctuate the statement, Finn smashed his shield forward to meet one of Pyotr’s strikes and when Pyotr was sent reeling he sent out a series of strikes with nearly the same speed as his brother had.

Pyotr dodged two of them, but the third one hit his shoulder and he stumbled to one knee.

Michael shook his head, he didn’t like to see his friends lose. Finn seemed to have the opposite set of abilities as his brother, focused on defense and deeds that activated the longer the fight went on. They seemed to complement one another perfectly, and their skills made it clear how they could lead the group.

“My turn”, he said, rolling his shoulders as he moved, fist bumping Pyotr as he took his place and dropped into his favorite stance.

Tai groaned. “This is going to be like fighting Finn isn’t it?”

Michael shrugged.

Tai’s humorous expression became serious as he took his own stance with his sword in front of himself in two hands and one leg forward and slightly bent.

Michael forced himself to keep his eyes open. Davi and Pyotr were both better fighters than him, they had to be. He had other abilities to lean on if he needed and his healing if he fucked up too badly. The one area in which he’d always exceeded them, was in the use of his shield.

“Start,” said Finn.

The twin rushed forward and Michael met the charge head on. He caught the first strike on his shield, the second he parried with his sword, and the third he managed to rob of its momentum with his sword hilt, before catching the rest on the edge of his shield.

Tai didn’t stop attacking, his momentum not slowing as he struck out again and again and again. Michael blocked all of them. Every single one was a close thing, but he was blocking them all.

Tai let out a yell, and his hits sped up a bit. One of them hit with enough force to bash away Michael’s parry, and Tai slammed the edge of his practice sword onto Michael’s side. The sword cracked as it hit him and he let out a sharp exhalation of breath.

They both stood there for a few moments and Tai dropped the remains of his sword and started to shake his hands out.

“God damn man, how many titles and deeds do you have that grant you durability? Like hitting a fucking brick wall.”

Michael raised a hand and healed his cracked rib along with Tai’s splintered and rough hands.

“Darn, I was hoping to be compared to a steel beam,” he managed, through a wheeze as he tried to refill his lungs.