𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅 - riven

OO6.

"I FIGURED OUT WHY YOU'RE MAD AT ME."

Rose glared at Riven, "Shut up."

Dodge, duck, kick twice, punch.

"Oh come on," Riven grinned, ducking beneath one of her kicks. "You can talk while you fight, you know that?"

"I was taught not to."

"Oh." Riven threw a punch which Rose easily deflected. "You're mad at me, yes. But not so mad to not talk to me. You're just stressed about seeing your mom, aren't you?"

Rose was caught off guard for a second, allowing one of Riven's hits to land. She regained her balance quickly, throwing two more punches his way, and jabbing him so hard he fell to his knees.

"I mean, she's the greatest assassin of all time," Riven commented. "When she retires Queen Luna's going to make her assassinmaster, a position that's only been given out twice in the last thousand years. I get why you're so stressed."

"You don't get anything," Rose grunted, pinning him down. "You don't know anything. We're here to fight, so let's do that."

Riven tapped out, forcing them to get ready for another bout.

"If you want, I can pretend to suck," Riven offered before Rose had a chance to attack. 

"Huh?"

"I can pretend like I'm really bad, and give you lots of openings," he explained. "That way you'll win for sure. And more easily."

Rose didn't answer immediately, choosing to attack him with a series of flips and twists only a trained acrobat would be able to perform flawlessly. She sent two punches his way, followed by a few more kicks, and dodges.

"She'll see right through it," Rose muttered in defeat, even though she was holding Riven in a headlock. "You can't fool her. She's trained longer than you've been alive. We fight like we've been doing, and hope it's enough for her to ignore me."

Riven looked like he was about to comment, but chose to tap out as Rose slightly increased the pressure around his neck.

He took a gulp of water before coming back to the center. "Well then, let's do it."

Rose felt the moment her mother entered the training field. The air around them seemed to turn serious. The Specialists felt it too, each of them fighting harder in the presence of Solaria's most gifted warrior.

"Focus on me," Riven threw a punch which she ducked from. "Focus on the fight. She'll watch you or she won't. But you need to win this fight. That's all that matters right now."

"I won't lose," she responded, throwing rapid punches towards his torso.

She ducked under his arm, jabbed upwards and twisted his arm behind back, before throwing him to the ground. She applied pressure on his arm, causing him to tap out a second later.

"Weapons?" Riven asked, groaning as she helped him up.

"Swords," Rose responded.

Riven nodded, walking off to get two swords for them. He threw the smaller one towards Rose, who caught in. They took a few practice swings, before lining up in front of one another.

"If you bruise the face, I will not be your friend anymore," Riven told her, narrowing his eyes.

"Thank you for finding me a way out of this horrid friendship," Rose gave him a lopsided grin.

"Isn't hurting me physically enough?" Riven groaned, getting into a defensive position as Rose attacked without warning. "Why must you also hurt me verbally?"