To Duel and Defend [Max]

[Max Kameren]

"I can think of several things we could work on..." Max smiled crookedly and bowed his head, quietly hating himself for how well her biting her lip always worked on him. "...But! I want to duel again. With shields this time. Same rules as before, but with shields? That ok?"

“You’ve got it.” Max nodded as he prepared spells in his head for dueling. He was about to throw up a shield spell of his own when Rowena cut him off for a quick peck before returning to her spot.

"And you go first this time"

He groaned. “Fine, I’ll start.” He rolled his head around his shoulders as he waited for her to get into position, pulling out his wand. “Ready?” He fired three expelliarmus spells to her center, left and right, adding two jelly-legs hexes aimed straight for her knees for good measure. Surely she’d have to shield one of them.

[Rowena Jones]

Rowena grinned at Max's reluctance, amber gaze narrowing as she watched for the first attack. Her shield was up in seconds it took for the spells to reach her, covering her right side. She stepped around it as two of Max's spells hit the barrier, causing her to wince as it dissipated under the strength of Max's casting even as she cast her own Expulso towards his chest followed by two Stupefys on either side of him. But it had done it's job, negating his magic so that she had survived his first attack. He was stronger than she'd thought though and she mentally adjusted her tactics.

Defence Against the Dark Arts may not have been her strongest class, she had had a Healer mentality even back then, but Shields had come a lot easier than Curses. In essence they relied on the strength and determination of the caster, both of which Rowena had in spades. You couldn't levitate a man several stories high if you didn't have strong magic after all. As Max had shown, there was also a certain amount of creativity involved in order to make it more advanced, but Rowena was hoping that in the end, her magical strength would prove to be just high enough to defeat Max.

She quickly replaced her fallen shield with a stronger one that should reflect Max's spell back at him.

[Max Kameren]

Max cringed as he watched her spell crack under the weight of his barrage; the way she used shields made him nervous. If anything Max was trying to take it a bit easier on Rowena this round, feeling a bit guilty about how quickly he'd taken her out earlier. Whatever this presence was stalking her though wouldn't carry that same guilt-laden affection, and she needed to be ready.

Ro returned fire with three spells. Max stood his ground, expanding out a protego spell from his chest to absorb her reducto and dissipating just as quickly so he could move without it.

He countered with two stunning spells: one to the front of her and one in a circle to come around behind her. To his surprise his first spell reflected back at him with the same fury off of her shield.

"Ha! That's perfect." He grinned as he lunged to the side to avoid his own stupefy. He countered with another barrage of binding spells, hoping the fireworks show in front of her would distract from the second stupefy right behind her.

[Rowena Jones]

There'd been two stunning spells, Rowena was sure of it! One had hit her shield, she'd felt the impact even as it rebounded right back at Max. The other... suddenly there were several binding spells heading her way and there was no more time to think so instead she flung up a shield all around her just in time to feel the stunning spell hit behind her, quickly followed by his other spells. Tricksy, sly Max. Trying to distract her so he could hit her in the back. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's dirty Max! Trying to get me in the back like that."

She'd survived that onslaught but shielding against that many spells at once had cost her more energy than she liked. Obviously stamina was going to be another thing she'd have to add to the list of things to work on. But if Max wanted to play dirty then fine. She could play dirty too.

"Avis! Oppugno! Lumos Maxima! Bombarda! Reducto! Bombarda!" Rowena cast quickly. The birds flew quickly to attack Max, followed by a blinding light that caused her to squint even as she threw it in her boyfriend's direction. The last three were distractions, explosive spells sent to test Max's shield even as Rowena quietly cast a final binding spell to come from above.

[Max Kameren]

-Ro dirty quote-

"What? I'm teaching!" Max said defensively, but his mischievous grin gave his innocence away. "Attackers don't fight fair!"

To prove his point he fired off two more binding spells, but to his surprise they were quickly overwhelmed by the torrent of spells leveled at him by his girlfriend. He managed to get a globe-shaped shield up around him at the last second, sustaining only a few pecks from her flock of birds before he was able to protect himself.

Max went off the attack, instead focusing his energy on strengthening his shield from her barrage. He was surprised to see a crack in the foundation as the explosions hit and he was tempted to reinforce his defense with wandless magic; he'd already been busted once for cheating though, so he instead pushed the shield up to ricochet her bombarda back at her.

When he moved he weakened the top and back sections of his shield spell to reflect her, leaving him open for her final binding spell to break through his shield. With quick reflexes he was luckily able to sidestep it.

He looked up from the spell to his girlfriend with a boyish grin, ecstatic with her offensive. "That was amazing! Giving me a run for my money here!"

With that same smile he summoned his own attack: with his wand he wove together five rotating disarming spells, moving in unison to surround and enclose on Rowena. His smile twinged with nerves as he watched them assemble. He was confident she could defend herself from most of them, but was worried if more than one hit that he would hurt her. He kept his wand at the ready in case he needed to step in, biting his lip as the spells closed in.

[Rowena Jones]

Rowena swore as she threw up a hasty shield to block her own reflected spell, wincing as she felt a twinge of exhaustion. She frowned. As much as she probably needed to work on her stamina, she shouldn't be tired after only a few spells.

"That was amazing! Giving me a run for my money here!"

She smiled wryly back at him, pleased that she'd at least managed to impress him somewhat. Amazing maybe but he'd gotten through it and now it was his turn to go on the offensive. Creativity flew out the window on her part as she was surrounded. She hoped she had enough power to protect herself, that earlier twinge had her concerned. Rowena flung up a shield all around her, close to her body, feeding in a stream of magical energy, strengthening it. At the last second, just as Max's attack was about to hit, she pushed her shield outwards sending the offensive spells ricocheting back.

Her next step had been to go immediately on the attack; she'd noted her boyfriend's concern and slight hesitation and planned to take advantage of it. She prepared a new barrage of spells, but as she sent her first Reducto, her head spun and the spell flew off target. Rowena tried again, pretending that hadn't just happened. Her Stupefy flew straight this time but she faltered with her next binding spell. 

"Fuck!" she swore, stomping her foot in annoyance. 

[Max Kameren]

Max's worried frown faded into an easy grin as he watched Rowena successfully repel his spells. It was short-lived, though, and turned to a grimace as she she sent his spells back out at him. He threw up a quick shield that immediately shattered on the impact of his disarming spells, but thankfully did the job he'd intended and neutralized them. 

A second shield went up in preparation for Rowena's parry, but he faltered in surprise as her first spell went wide left. He felt a sputter of frustration and exhaustion overtake his girlfriend's aura; he let his shields die down, sidestepping her stunning spell and watching on with concern. "Everything alright?"

"Fuck!" she swore, stomping her foot in annoyance.

He closed the space between them, stopping in front of Rowena and looking her over for whatever was getting to her. Her aura seemed to be the problem in his head; he felt her exhaustion wash over him and compound his own staved-off tiredness. "What's up? You alright?" He put his hands on her shoulders as he looked her up and down for injuries, just in case.

"Here," he pulled the PepperUp vials out of his pocket and handed her one, uncorking the other for himself. "It's been a bit of a week, I think we can call it tonight." He grinned. "I'll concede."

[Rowena Jones]

Max sidestepped her attack easily and moved towards her. "What's up? You alright?" He put his hands on her shoulders as he looked her up and down for injuries, just in case. Rowena huffed.

"Yeah, just tired?" She shrugged still concerned over how quickly her energy had run out.

"Here," he pulled the PepperUp vials out of his pocket and handed her one which she downed quickly. "It's been a bit of a week, I think we can call it tonight." Max grinned. "I'll concede."

"One day, I'm going to beat you fair and square," she grumbled still sulking a little. He was right though. It had been a long week and she'd just come off a long shift and had another one coming. She'd been tired before coming here. She just needed a good night's sleep in her boyfriend's arms and she'd be right as rain in the morning.  

Rowena shook her head to chase away the last feelings of dizziness and glanced up at Max, finally returning his smile and leaning up for a brief snog. "I did ok until that last bit though right?" she asked when she pulled away from him. "How about we go back to mine to get celebratory 'Rowena can make a decent shield' dinner and then do some of that other suggestion we were both thinking about earlier?" she said, smirking at her boyfriend teasingly. 

[Max Kameren]

"It's been a bit of a week, I think we can call it tonight." Max grinned. "I'll concede."

"One day, I'm going to beat you fair and square," she grumbled still sulking a little.

"I believe one day you will." He smiled warmly, closing the few inches of space between them and wrapping his arms around her waist. He leaned down to meet her kiss, missing their fleeting snog immediately as she pulled away.

"I did ok until that last bit though right?"

"You did great. Should've known you'd be a quick study." He smiled, nudging her forehead lightly with his and leaning in for another long kiss. This dueling pitch was likely all the privacy they'd get tonight, unfortunately. As much as he would love to follow Rowena to her place an continue their evening, he had work to do.

"How about we go back to mine to get celebratory 'Rowena can make a decent shield' dinner and then do some of that other suggestion we were both thinking about earlier?"

He leaned his head back with a resigned sigh, kissing her one last time before he let her go. "You're killing me. I would love to, but I can't. I need to help Alex with something. Family business, sorry." It was in a way: tonight the Watch was meeting, and Max planned to attend and contribute his skills. He would attend the meeting to reunite, and scope it out for how it could help his girlfriend with her own problems. Whatever was happening at the hospital, it was about Rowena. The Watch would want to know, but Max didn't know if Rowena was ready. Until she was, he would watch over her.

Max opened the door for his girlfriend and watched her file out. He followed up behind her and kissed her on the neck from behind, smiling as he felt the warmth of her skin under his lips. "Might be a short meeting, though. I'll keep you posted, maybe we can pick back up later..."

[Rowena Jones]

Max leaned his head back with a resigned sigh, kissing her one last time before he let her go. "You're killing me. I would love to, but I can't. I need to help Alex with something. Family business, sorry." Rowena laughed at his reaction even as she felt the small twinge of sadness that their time together was already over.  She was a little disappointed to be parting from him already, though she could use the time to catch up on some reading. Between hectic shifts and spending time with Max, she wasn't doing as much of it as she used to. Plus, the cats were over due some proper cuddle time.

She left the room, stopping outside to wait for Max wanting just a few more seconds with him before they said goodbye. She sighed happily when she felt his lips press against her neck. He sure knew how to make goodbyes harder.

"Might be a short meeting, though. I'll keep you posted, maybe we can pick back up later..."

Rowena turned to look at him, grinning at him. "Come to mine whenever you're finished and we'll definitely pick back up." she promised, reaching up for one more goodbye kiss. " I don't care what time it ends up being as long as I see you," she said before finally pulling herself away from his embrace.

"Now shoo. Go do your secret business." Rowena laughed even as she apparated home with a sharp pop.