"Hey, I'm confident where I need to be." Tempe huffed in response, narrowing her eyes at him. "Oh, I'm preparing, for sure." She rolled her eyes, tilting her head at his wince. It seemed more at her words than her touch, so she simply glided her thumb back and forth a few times before she pulled her hand back to her side. She gave a light stretch and smiled at him. "Chiron is a prick." She said simply, hopping to her feet. "Oh, love, you're the one who should be ready. Not me." She teased, taking her place across the arena from him. She had a faint plan in her mind. She couldn't beat him with outright force, not to mention he had height and vantage on his side- so she would have to rely on being faster. And maybe, perhaps, pulling a dirty trick.

"Suuure. Believe in yourself and someday the world will believe in you." Zephyr teased with a sweet smile, combing his hair back with his fingers so he could, well, see properly. He NEEDED a haircut. The scissors were coming out after this. He then sucked in a breath and mentally prepared for one more. This was quite draining, if he had to admit. It was hard hauling that sword around and actually thinking. More mentally draining than physically draining, though. He was in prime physical condition, but his brain was like that one couch potato that got onto Wipeout. "Very funny. Keep telling yourself that. Maybe you'll distract yourself enough I won't have to do anything." Zeph chuckled, taking up position and lifting his sword, sinking into the sand slightly as he lowered his stance. He had the advantage of experience and skill. He could do this. Zephyr went in for the first move, faking left before striking right in an intricate spin, going for another strike at her back, though much more careful than he usually was as he quickly got out of her range of striking area. His dark eyes had grown steely with concentration.

Tempe didn't grace him with a response beyond a scoff as he continued, offering him a sweet smile as he got into his stance. She settled in the center of her feet, letting him take the first move. He did something too unexpected for her to counter, moving to block his left feint and instead getting a nice slice between two of her ribs. She let out a hiss between her teeth, spinning to smack his backward blow away with her blade in an ungraceful movement. She narrowed her eyes at him and took a rushed breath as she went in for a strike to his chest- only to lower her arms and make a shallow slash down the fabric of one of his pant legs. She made a point of drawing as little blood as she could manage, turning out of the way to get behind him.

Zephyr was slightly pleased that his maneuver had confused her- and even more pleased that was just one of many. He was quite skilled when it came to crazy moves no one could predict because he had made it up. As she went to strike at his chest he immediately went up with his sword, having anticipated she would feint up inside of down. Still, it just taught him more about his opponent. Well, okay, he should be thankful she didn't want to HURT him. Zeph blocked out the slight sting of pain from this new wound. Instead of jumping away as she got behind him, he darted towards her, ducking down at the last second and twisting behind her to neatly rip the back of her pants near her knees. Well enough, in fact, his sword didn't even touch her skin. Zephyr grinned- that was an accomplishment, in his eyes. He went straight into his next moves, his movements getting faster and even more unpredictable. He feinted left and right and left again before going straight in, then spinning backwards and twisting her sword in his, to HOPEFULLY unarm her- but it probably wouldn't work the way he wanted it to.

Tempe glared him down as he turned for her, just flinging her sword out in time enough to leave a graze on his thigh. She span as he went for her knees, taking in a wild breath and ignoring his first feint- then the next, since he wasn't committing his full weight to the lunge and gave away the fake move. She did the only thing she figured would guarantee a victory as she felt her sword hilt twist in her hand. With nothing between them, she practically jumped for him, abandoning her sword and tugging him into a kiss, one hand spearing through the hair at the nape of his neck. With the element of surprise, she wrested his sword from his hand in a firm yank, throwing herself out of the kiss and placing the tip of the blade at his chest, the sword firmly between them. She kicked the other sword out of reach and offered him a chaste smile.

(You're going to make poor Zephyr pass out! Take it easy XD)

-

Zephyr could feel some small grazes start to smart, but he ignored them- it was a little harder ignoring the wound on his leg from Jock. It hurt! However, he felt confident in this fight- he was getting close, he could tell. One more pull on the sword and he'd have it. As he went for the final tug Tempe- what? She abandoned all technique and stance and... his logical brain was still trying to figure out how she could ever think she could win like that. Was it a hail Mary effort? A second later he understood and didn't understand at the same time. His eyes shot so wide it was almost painful and his eyebrows just bout left the top of his head behind. He froze in absolute and utter shock- every. Single. Demigod. At. The. Flipping. Camp. Was staring. At them. And she was- he practically just melted into her touch. He couldn't help it. Tempe didn't even have to tug as his sword pretty much just fell from his hands, then he was pushed away and it was over. How. "That- this- you- th- n- u- a- you- you- that- that was most DEFINITELY 100 percent cheating and were you really that desperate to win!?!" He finally got out something that resembled words, blinking rapidly as if not able to believe his eyes and backing up to sit down on a bench. That was, for one, SO UNFAIR- but she had kissed him! HIM! Of all people! His brain had been sufficiently shattered.

Victory at all costs, right? XD))

Tempe held her chin high and let the slight grin tugging the corners of her lips up show through. She reached up with her free hand and gently massaged her neck, flushing. She giggled softly at his stuttering, glancing at all the demigods around. A few were whistling, some were clapping, and a fair amount were just slack jawed. She set her sword down and offered Zephyr a simple, shy smile as a satyr came over and declared her winner of the task. No one really bother with it after that, a couple people coming to smack her shoulder in congrats. She made her way to his bench and settled beside him, looking intently at the cut between her ribs. "In all fairness, there were no rules against distractions." She chimed softly, glancing at him hesitantly and grinding the heel if her shoe into the ground. Did he like it? Hate it? Hate her for doing it to win? Hate her for using winning as an excuse to kiss him?

Zephyr stared at the ground like he was trying to teach a ping pong ball with a brain the size of a gold fish's how to do advanced calculus. He glanced up one or twice to see the looks on the people's faces, but his gaze was glazed, like he really couldn't comprehend what had happened. He looked up in time to see her awarded the winning spot. A tiny part of him was the slightest bit annoyed- he had won for 8 years in a row until now. And she had won like that. If it had been anyone else he would've won fair and square. However, the rest of him was too flabbergasted to speak at the moment. As she sat down beside him he glanced at her, following her gaze to the cut. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to draw too much blood.. or any at all." He asked quietly, mostly out of instinct, his gaze returning to the ground as he thought some more. Her words didn't even bring a twitch to his face, but after a couple seconds he looked at her. "Did you kiss me to win or win to kiss me?" Zeph asked, then paused. "That made no sense. Did you actually mean it or were you just that hell bent on winning?" He retried, giving away no emotion yet.

Tempe blinked in surprise at his question. "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. Are you? I tried not to hurt you too badly." She answered, her voice laced with guilt. "Did I... embarrass you? I'm sorry if I did- I just- I dunno-" She faded into meek silence, twisting her fingers together anxiously as she watched him. She softened slightly at the question. "Of course I meant it. I just- I d- I don't know what came over me, but I just... did. I would do it again right now if I weren't so damn scared." She offered quietly.

Zephyr nodded slowly. "Good. And yeah, you didn't hurt me- I'm fine." He answered slowly, blinking as she spoke and looking slightly amused. "You worry quite a bit." He murmured before glancing at her. Tempe's conformation was all he needed. "You, scared? Funny. I hope I didn't accidentally smack you in the head." He smiled faintly, leaning in and gently kissing her again. "I'm glad you did. Even if you broke my 8 yesr streak of winning and my brain. Thankfully they have this day every week." Zephyr smiled wryly, his gaze slowly turning back to normal. Less glazed. Like his brain finally sorted it out. Of course he was having thousands of mental panic attacks, but some part of him just felt... right. "The next thing is starting any minute now. We should walk over." He commented before slightly tentatively taking her hand as he stood, starting to walk towards the course.