Indoor Gym

Two hours, huh... two hours was a long time, what was he going to-

"Operatives Maia Jäckel and Benjamin Daniels, report to the briefing room at once. I repeat, Operatives Jäckel and Daniels to the briefing room.

Well, that took care of itself... he and Maia? What a funny coincidence that was.
Sounds like he was called out for a mission... a real, very deadly mission. Or at least it would be deadly if he wasn´t careful.
Well, there was no way around it. He went to the briefing room, gearing up before he did, to hear the details about the mission.

---------> Sam´s mission

Maia entered the gym sipping a small carton of blood as she heard the call to the briefing room; she gave a little frown as she heard the rookie would be partnering her. It was no matter; he would do ok of that she was sure. She whistled a little tune from her childhood, she was feeling good about this mission.

--->Sam’s Mission

The Jewish lady stepped in and began to stretch, no-one was around and they were alone for the most part. It was time to put her protégé to the test, she took a training knife out and threw the other to Ben, and she made sure it was blunted before making a move.
“Are you going to make the first move, remember to do it smooth and to have a good grip my friend. Hold it like you’d hold a woman, you’ll be fine anyway” she grinned, awaiting his response, awaiting him to make the first move.

"I wouldn´t hold a woman like a weapon, but i know what you mean- not too tight, but not too loosely either."
Ben responded, catching the knife she tossed in midair. It was blunt, yet he took care to catch it on the hilt, not wanting to hurt his fingers before the fight even started.
"So, then... lets do this."
He walked up to her, knife in hand, raising it to the level of his head for a stabbing attack. She´d block it, he was sure of that, but he was just pulling her leg anyway.
As he went for the stab, he fooled it for the most part- until his left arm suddenly went down to grab her leg and pull it up, attempting to make her fall to the ground without her footing.
"Heads up, Maia!" He chuckled, while changing his angle to a diagononal slash.

“You tricky piece of shit, how about we make this a little more interesting” she jumped back away from him and held her knife ready. She kept on her toes, ready for the first proper round of combat “how about the loser owes the winner a good bottle of wine? And maybe some company to drink it with, if you're lucky” She winked at him, Maia was half joking, but she’d gauge his reaction and if he agreed she’d agree as well. She had a few decent bottles squirreled away; it would be good to get one out.
She charged towards him, her foot came around to sweep out his legs from underneath him. She followed through with a quick thrust towards his right arm, trying to metaphorically hamstring him.

"I`d have to be very lucky to have company. Especially in the way you´re suggesting." He admitted, turning and facing her again, twisting the knife in his hands to a reverse grip.
"And i doubt i can afford the wine you drink, but okay."
Like he could say no to her after she asked so nicely. Instead, he tried something different- using his speed for once. He knew his body was capable of superhuman speeds, he tried it before, but he had been reluctant in using it when fighting her... now that the stakes were set this high, he had to use it if he didn´t want to lose.
So, darting towards her, he feinted another low stab, but instead flipped over her, pressing the blade against her neck from behind her- a motion which took maybe a full second to complete.
"Thats one kill for me."
He grinned, gazing down on her but- gulped as he saw how little her tank top was actually hiding from this perspective. He could peek into it and see her clevage, and her sports bra didn´t hide her chest all that much either. With the added muscle, it looked darn inpressive from the way he was looking.

“Best of three then?” she said with a slightly injured tone, he was getting good at using his strength and speed. She had to pull out all the stops if she didn’t want to lose, she liked talking to him and drinking with him would be fun. But he would have to work for her company. It was then she looked up and realsied where he was looking, she grinned widely.

“If I wasn’t so flattered by a young man looking at an older lady like me in that way I’d call you a perv, best keep your eyes on the prize though”
She twisted around; her knee came up and went to his stomach. Catching him her knife came around and tapped the side of his neck, it was a soft blow and she gave a grin as she felt herself warm up. “One all my friend, if we’re going to talk more about things over a bottle of wine you’re going to have to up your game a little bit Ben.” She jumped back and assumed her starting stance, this was exciting and the prospect of losing emboldened her. She felt herself grow giddy for a second; he was a good looking man. If it wasn’t for the fact she hated losing she wouldn’t mind letting him win, nonetheless he would have to work for her friendship.

"You... you don`t look like that old to me..." He muttered, bringing himself up from the ground. "One one. Better watch yourself, Maia. I´m not holding back."
Mentally acessing his strategies, he decided that he should not go back to anything she´d seen from him before- instead he should keep coming up with new stuff.
Concentration was required, and he steeled his mind for the next turn. He started to move, then run, using his vampireic speed to dash forward and fell to the ground, sliding across it- rather than kicking her legs like last time though, he slid past her, turning rapidly and coming to his feet in an instant, stabbing her in the back where her heart would be while his left clentched the wrist of her knife hand to keep it away.
"Strike two for me."

“oh! Not bad at all, I suppose you win then, and since I’m nice I think I might as well drink with you dearie. And I do thank you for the compliment by the way” she winked at him and went to go and get the booze, it was in her room just down the hall and within a few minutes she was back with two glasses and the wine. She approached him with a wry smile and gave him his prize, Maia then promptly sat down. “There’s your prize, are you going to share it with me then or are you going to keep it all to yourself?” she said playfully.

Ben had slurped onto a bench near the door, relaxing from the quick, but exhausting spar session... only for Maia to return to him.
"Why on earth would i be the only one drinking? I`d just make a fool of myself." He answered, smiling lightly, taking the bottle from her to uncork it with one of his fangs. Those things did come in handy sometimes.
With that done, he spit out the cork and poured some into both glasses, taking one to briefly clash it with hers.
"You fought well, Maia. Cheers."

“I fought ok, you fought well, and you won so don’t dispute me. I have room for improvement like a lot of people, age won’t change that.” She grinned at him at that, taking her glass she clinked it against his in a toast.
The wine was well aged, the vintage she’d forgotten but it was one of the better ones in her collection. It was fun hanging around with him, she couldn’t explain why but it made the wine taste better and made her feel almost alive. Maia placed her free hand on his shoulder as she went to sit next to him; it was fun being here without anyone else around. “So now you’ve beaten my bitch ass I imagine you’ve lost interest in sparring or hanging around with me Ben? Didn’t take you too long at any rate…”

Ben blinked, hearing that, and nearly spit out the wine he was drinking.
"What? Don`t be silly, Maia. Just because you didn´t beat me doesn`t mean i don´t like... you."
He stumbled in mid sentence as he became aware of his own words, but chose not to change them or take them back. "Besides, the match was unfair in its shortness. I`m sure in a match lasting 25 rounds you would`ve beaten me easily."
He took another sip of his wine, patting her shoulder with a smile. "Don`t get all worked up about it, Maia. It takes a lot more to get rid of me than a simple slip up in training."

"I'm not worked up Ben, just being critical, if I start taking ti easy on myself I'm going to slip and that'll mean to me dying, or even you...." her voice trailed off at the end as she sipped her drink. "And it's good to hear you're going to carry on putting up with me, but lets not carry on like this, we should learn more about each other I guess. I know how you became a Vampire but little else, tell me more about yourself, I really would like...." she stopped herself, "what I mean is that I li-" she cut herself off again, going red as she tried to figure out what to say.

The moment that happened, the door opened again and a sighing, black haired girl walked in, letting the door fall shut behind her- she was dressed in a black tank top and black jogging pants, as well as a scabbard with a sword in it, holstered on her back... nothing else.
"Heya, guys. Did i miss a party or something?" She asked, just for good measure rather than anything else, and stretched her muscles prior to an excersize. "Nevermind if i did. I´m not in the mood for wine."


Ben was just about to respond to her in a manner that might`ve been too straight forward when Mato came into the room and his face flared up red, he retreated his glass from her and blinked a bit.
"Uh... hi, Mato. How was France..? Had a good trip?"

The half japanese looked back at him with a scowl. "It was a complete waste of time, but apperantly, it was necessary."

Jumping up with an almost guilty look on her face, the Vampire sat down when she realised who it was. It was just Mato, she was ok and chances are wouldn’t say anything about them drinking wine or assume things. She sighed and took another sip.
So much for talking time…
“Don’t get too miffed about it all Mato, anyway I never knew you two knew one another?”

Maia inquired innocently; her face grew slightly red as she considered the implications. But keeping quiet she awaited what was going to be said, it would prove awkward if they were an item but hopefully that wouldn't be the case…
Wait, why am I even worried about his relationships, nothing to do with me and I don't care…agh she thought, trying to convince herself more than anything.

Mato looked back at her, half surprised that she didn´t know, half surprised by how close they apperantly were.
"I was with him when Seras picked him up from a pile of blood. So, if she adopted him like a mother... i suppose i`m his father, or something. Besides.... since when do -you- two know each other? I´ve never seen Ben drink wine with a girl before."

This made the boy go into and even deeper shade of red and wheep. "I... uh... a.. a lot has happened... in the meantime, you know... ah... what... what are you going to do with that sword?"

Mato looked back at him, crossing her arms. "Still thinking about it. Smashing something or cutting something up sounds fun."

“Ah, we just finished sparring, Ben managed to beat me and now I owe him the wine. But luckily he’s kind enough to share” she chuckled a little then sat down again next to him. She finished her glass; handing it back over to Ben she gave a little stretch. The fact that the two had adopted him was cute, but feeling a little protectiveness of her own the Vampire looked at Mato once more.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid and get either of us killed. And though he still has room for improvement he’s good, I’d say he’s making good progress” she said this with a slightly higher tone than what she normally used, she ruffled his hair then drew her hand back, unsure as to why she made the gesture.

"Sure- i wouldn´t be surprised if Ben ends up babysitting you, though. The boy´s got talent, he`s just lacking the balls to use it."
Going through the various tools and training obstacles, she discovered the training weapons Ben had played around a while ago, and picked one of the crude, stainless steel swords out.
"Hey, Maia... if you really think he needs to improve, maybe he should just watch a real battle for once. How about it?"

“Babysit me? I think not girl, I’ve fought some tough fights in my time you know…” Maia flexed and prepared to fight, she felt slightly giddy due to the alcohol but overall she felt fine. She grinned as she picked up a sturdy looking sword, unused to the weight she cut figures of eight in the air to loosen her wrist with a small grunt. One hand was used to get a good grip on it; two hands reduced the maneuverability of a weapon.

“I’m not too used to a sword, though my Vampiric speed and strength should more than make up for my lack of familiarity hopefully…” her voice trailed off at the end as she awaited Mato’s opening gambit, she added a quick jokey comment towards Ben “laugh at me and I swear I will beat you to death” her nervous grin took the venom away though. She took a stance, and awaited the fight to begin.

Drawing her own sword, Mato circled it around her hand once, then twice, but backwards that time, slashing two figures of eight into the air and raising her sword to eye level, gripping the hilt with both hands- the lower one being at the absolute end of it while the upper one, the right one, was directly at the crossguard. She lowered it a bit, pointing it at Maia while her face went blank.
(http://static3.depositphotos.com/1002914/177/i/950/depositphotos_1773059-MARTIAL-ARTS---KENDO.jpg like this)

She stared into her eyes for a moment, realizing that she was waiting for an attack- something that had to be punished. If she would defend, she would throw away her chance to attack... which was the heart and soul of this fighting technique.
Two powerful steps foward and a precise, angled cut towards her neck followed.
"Ya!"
Following this, she added pressure to the blade to push it sideways, away from her, as her leg reached out to push hers off of the ground.

Maia grinned, her blade went around to knock the girl’s blade aside, her free left hand went to quickly pull up Mato’s leg in an attempt to try and make her fall down. She felt uncomfortable, using a sword was strange and feeling Ben watching the two of them made it all the worse. She couldn’t lose twice, that would just be embarrassing and a sure sign of weakness, who would speak to someone who lost as easily as she was doing? No-one. The thought made her anger stir, she wasn’t sure why but she wasn’t going to let herself lose with Ben of all people watching her.

While she couldn`t tell herself to tell it to Maia, Mato was holding back, and handicapping herself by using both hands instead of just one like she usually did. It resulted in more powerful strikes, but since she was reserving her power, they weren´t all that powerful to begin with. Plus, she was announcing her strikes to make her react easier.
After hearing that she lost to Ben, and seeing how close they were, she wanted to make her feel a little bit better- but she wasn`t going to just give this victory to her, either. That wouldn´t be satisfying to either of them.

While she did fall, she rolled backwards in a flud motion and got back onto her naked feet, once more holding out her sword to her before making two long reaching steps towards her, a powerful slice coming up from below her, aiming to end at her shoulder.
"To!" After executing the move, she backed away suddenly, holding her blade lightly tilted to the side for a defensive stance.

Maia blocked the strike as it came up, her own blade licking around to try and get her opponent in the upper arm. She felt her anger lessen as she started getting results, this was a little better and made sure she didn’t look as foolish before Ben. She jumped back after her own move was complete, aware to an extent that Mato wasn’t throwing herself into this.
Nonetheless the Vampire wasn’t going to back down, she grinned sadistically as she prepared for the next round of blades and stabs. “This is pretty fun, though I am nearly useless with a blade when it comes down to it.”

Mato grinned in return, forming a silent "I noticed" with her lips so that Ben wouldn´t hear it.
She was getting cocky, and Mato wasn´t going to allow that.... so with another battlecry similar to the other two, she dashed forward, sword leaned over her shoulder for a full powered hit- but instead, when she passed her opponent by, all she did was graze her, Mato doubted she even felt the sword as it slid across her tank top.
As she passed her by, she screeched to a halt and turned around, bending her knees a bit and getting into another defensive state.
"Try to get a bit more agressive. Stop thinking this is a sparring match and think of it as a fight. I`m your opponent."

Maia felt the sword go across her tank top; she felt the material cut and a gash open up. Exposing a big line of her red bra, the woman went red in the face. She felt like she could die of shame right now, it wasn’t proper, but at the same time it made her want to giggle at the silliness of it all.
The woman charged Mato, her sword going up to strike across her stomach while her other hand went to pull her leg up again. It wasn’t hard for her to be aggressive, and she jumped back into it all with a snarl. "What was the point in exposing me like that eh!?"

She had to block the strike of the sword, even dull, those blades could hurt like hell- however as her leg was pulled up she had to fall to the ground once more, rolling over and flipping back onto her feet.
"Well you know. He`s watching. Might as well give him a reason to pay attention."
With that said, she didn`t announce her next strike as she went dashed across, her sword barely touching her pant leg, still grazing it nearly the whole way from top to bottom- Mato didn´t clash with the wall though, instead she tried something she learned from that Eko Fresh game- a parkour trick, running up the wall and changing course in mid direction, flipping over to face Maia again, a light smirk on her face.

Ben, in the meantime, was indeed watching with peaked interest- and he was covering his mouth while his cheeks were cherry red.

Maia grew even redder as her trouser came open; it flopped around and exposed matching underwear to the room. She felt her mouth drop open; she wasn’t sure what to say. Trying to cover up was pointless, but what hit her most was Ben’s staring and Mato’s smirk. She didn’t know what to do, so she attacked again. Her blade all but forgotten her still clothed leg went up, Maia was going to try and sweep mato’s legs out from underneath her. It was a long shot, but it was better than risking her other leg getting fully exposed to the man in the room. "And what about the one watching? Why will this make him look even more, it's just me for fuck sake"

This time she was going to dodge- just for the stupidity of the comment she had just given her.
Mato jumped over the weak attempt of a legsweep, stepped on her shoulder, and landed behind her, twirling her sword a couple of times before grazing the shoulder she´d stepped on for a second.
"Thats your problem... you don´t get it, do you? Its just you... it IS you, thats the thing. He`s looking at you. He`s looking at you in that certain way you just don`t look at ordinary people. He`s acting embarressed when i point that out... still not seeing where i´m going with that?"
In a lightning fast action, the tip of her sword came out of the front of Maia`s top- but rather than stained in blood, it was clean, and one of her bra`s straps slipped off of her shoulders, reduced to a simple strand of clothes.
"He... wants, to see you. He wants to see more, and he´s too afraid to ask it."

The cherry that went tomato on the bench whimpered a bit and refused to answer, though it was certain he wasn´t looking away even for a microsecond. He knew it was wrong to stare, but Mato had a point- he wanted to see how far they´d go, he wanted to see more of Maia`s body, the brief bits he´d seen so far making him curious.
He tried to bring up the force necessary to get them to stop, but despite his best efforts, he couldn´t get it to work.

Maia seemed to go pure red at that, she knew that deep down but she tried denying it. She didn’t feel love and she didn’t know anything about it, emotion made her weak didn’t it...No, it wasn’t a bad thing, it had the potential to make her stronger than anything else. She looked at Ben, half her clothes cut to ribbons, or hanging off in the case of her bra.
“I…is what she says true Ben? I don’t know what to say,” her blade was forgotten again as she took a step closer to him. Her body was flushed, she couldn’t carry on fighting or she’d be naked, and if anyone walked in on her like this… “Why didn’t you say something before this?” Her voice was shaky, it was only made worse as she tried repressing her embarrassment.

Having reached somewhat of a conclusion, Mato withdrew her blade and sheathed it, bowing to her opponent- despite this being anything but an honorable match.

Ben, forced to speak up, swallowed a rock in his throat and looked into her face.
"Its... its not as extreme as she says it... you´re just... very good looking..." He brought out, then had to swallow a few more stones on the way there. "Be...besides, how in the world would i ask something like that...? From you of all people...? You´d just laugh or beat me up."

Mato silently agreed to that later bit. She, for one, would do that if someone casually asked her to strip.

Maia looked down at her feet, she took a gulp and went and sat next to the agent. She put a hand on his shoulder and waited for a second to speak, “I don’t mean ask me to strip dumbass, but I would’ve beaten you up if you had, but why not tell me you had feelings for me? I’m definitely surprised to hear it from you though; surely you have a good shot with better girls than me? I do thank you for the compliment though...”
She spoke quietly, the rush of it all made her feel weak need. She wasn’t able to express feelings easily, and finding out someone had feelings for her was strange.

Ben sighed, deeply and wholeheartedly, exhaling his entire lung capacity at once before standing up to face her, to look her in the eyes.... and failing miserably at that, as he looked to the side instead.
"We´ve been to hell and back earlier, Maia... relying on each other, fearing for the worst, fearing for the sake of the other- how... can there not be something coming up? ...besides, no matter what you keep insisting on, you`re an amazing woman through and through. ... just... just try not to judge me, okay...? I guess you could say i just like the outgoing, straightforward type..."

Mato chuckled in response and gave them both a pat on the shoulder, showing a rare smile.
"I`ll let you two work that out.. as for now, thanks, Maia. That worked off a lot of stress right there. I´ll see you two some other time."
With that she walked out, stretching a bit with a yawn. "Time for a shower~"

Maia stood up to face him as well; she couldn’t bring herself to though and ended up gazing at the floor. She sighed gently as he spoke, he truly believed what he was saying and it was endearing in a way.
She nodded at Mato as she left…
Rubbing her face she saw the truth in the man’s eyes, it wasn’t possible to back down now. Not now she was able to get it all out, she licked her lips and looked in his eye finally. “I’ve already judged you, I think you’re brave, I think you’re…that you’re handsome. And lastly, I think that you might be good partner material if you would be willing to put up with me through the ages...” Her voice trailed off at the end, with her resolve gone tears started to fall while she wrapped her arms around him. It was strange, but felt right in a way…

Ben couldn´t really respond, but instead wrapped his arms around her as well, stroking her back a bit.
"'If you`re willing to put up with me through the ages'... you`re making it sound like its a bad thing. I don`t think its bad at all... i look forward to it."
Once again when their chests touched and the distance between their hearts came to a minimum, that cold vampire he was hugging had a certain warmth that closed the distance entirely.
It was then that he began to realize that his body was aching for more as he caught himself fantasizeing about what her skin, her lips would taste like. But he just couldn´t do that. He learned that from visual novels, you had to wait and get the girl to know you better, get her to like you before you could cross social boundaries like that... he hated that concept but he took it for granted, for an unspoken law.
A couple of words rested on his tongue, but he daren´t speak them, Instead, what he said was-
"Come on, Maia. Lets catch a shower too.... n-n.not together of course, you know what i mean.... right?"

The woman sighed, hearing his words she was content for the time being, it was strangely contenting and exciting to be found desirable by someone. She calmed down and awaited for the right moment to pull away, she grinned at him “if you are looking forward to it then that’s a start, I am too.” She found herself imagining a little, thinking about what would happen if she took it further now, what would it be like? But she knew that over eagerness just wrecked it and took away from the whole experience, plus she didn’t want to scare him off…

“Yeah I know what you mean you idiot, but afterwards we’re going to have some more wine ok? I have a lot more to talk about with you…” She said with a wink, moving away from him she was going to get dressed into something modest that would at the very least flatter her figure. Her womanly sense of fashion wasn’t great, but she knew sort of what to do from here. Things were looking up now, humming a tune as she stepped along the German woman was getting ideas.

Ben sighed a bit, seeing her walk away- it felt like he didn´t want her to leave at all. She did seem interested... but what are the odds of this actually working out? One in twenty million, at best.
Still, who knew, maybe... it`d be a first for him, having a girlfriend that wasn´t going to kill him.
...or was she?
Regardless, he went to the showers a little while later, after staring at the door she just left through, and took the shower he needed.

-------> Exit