Two Swords Meet (Steiner/Gin)

Steiner had taken many losses over the course of his life and his whole life had become devoted to training so that those losses were not as lopsided as they had once been. He had struggled and struggled, and now Steiner stood much stronger than he had when he had first stood at the door to power, but it was not enough. Too many people were dying, too many people he couldn't help were suffering, and now Steiner was stagnating with no way to improve on his own anymore. Ulv had condemned his self-training and had told him to find someone to train with, so maybe that was the path he needed to take? Perhaps someone with a great deal of knowledge in weapon skills would be useful and that was when his memory of the files on Stefan had come to the forefront of his mind. Stefan Soan was a monster, no doubt, a walking disaster that could destroy anyone of the feint of heart, but Steiner's mind was made up.

He needed to learn anything from this man that he could and to hell with the consequences or the risks.

There was no way to improve without taking risks at this point and the fact that he had stagnated for so long greatly effected his will to improve. It pushed him to do risky things to gain the power necessary to protect others in this time of great turmoil and though he doubted Stefan would accept just anyone, he would demand to be accepted. This was no time to look for the easy routes to power, this was the time to walk the difficult routes, and do your damnedest to survive the ride.

It wasn't hard to find Stefan: animals, Hollows, and even some people more attuned with nature refused to enter a certain part of the forest he now tread in. And he could tell why. There was a feeling that made him shiver down to his very core as it felt like something was targeting him like a predator circling its prey, but unlike most of the creatures in the woods, Steiner's willpower pushed him forward. He did feel uneasy and his steps were timid, but Steiner was not backing down he needed this training, he needed these lessons, and he would not allow this feeling to detract from that desire. Still, Steiner kept his hand clenched on the hilt of his sword on his right hip, and kept his awareness on high alert, though he doubted it would make a bit of difference if Soan assaulted him from any direction, at least he would go down swinging.

Steiner eventually reached an area of the forest that felt the most intense and then began to shout, not in an intimidating manner, but to draw Stefan's attention if he was in the area.

"Stefan Soan! I am Steiner Franz and I have come for a lesson in the way of the blade!"

If he ignored him, Steiner would go to option b, an assortment of weapons that were built by himself, and crafted with the utmost attention of detail. He didn't know if Stefan enjoyed smithing like he did, but he had spent a great deal of time on that island a while ago honing his black smithing skills, he hoped these would be a good payment in exchange for training.