immamartillo | 5th Hat Flip [Voice/Action]

Entry tags:

ic,
luceti

5th Hat Flip [Voice/Action]

[Voice]

[It's early in the morning-after a night of much boredom and little sleep- when Firo opens his journal.]

I've been wonderin': what kinda weapons do people use back where you guys come from? Where I live, people'll fight with anything from fists to tommy guns, but I figure everywhere's gotta have somethin' different.

[Action]

[Later that morning, Firo sets off running for the Battle Dome. He hasn't been too pleased with himself lately: he failed to be effective against the droids that attacked a few weeks ago, and then he couldn't even protect his friend from being mallynapped. Actually, ever since Ennis was kidnapped before his arrival in Luceti he's felt nagging feelings of uselessness. They've only been intensified by recent events.

He has to get stronger. The capos of his Family would be disappointed if they saw him like this. In the back of his mind Firo can practically hear Yaguruma berating him.

He spends most of the day at the Battle Dome, focusing on training until he's ready to drop (though feel free to interrupt him). Maybe trying to go so long without a break isn't a good idea, but that doesn't matter to Firo at this point. When nightfall comes, he wanders outside and slumps by the door, exhausted.

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[ Her movements continue to obscure into afterimages. She stops suddenly, right in front of Firo, and moves her knives in an x-formation. By now, Firo can see that while she moves at high speeds, she certainly can't attack at high speeds. ]

[Attacking from the front? Firo doesn't know if that's her strategy or if she's just being nice, but he's grateful for it all the same.

Is that formation a defensive move? Firo can't tell. Best to play it relatively safe; he feints toward her face and then quickly switches to slice at her arm. He doubts it'll make contact, but he needs to gauge her reaction to an attack.]

[ Tenten's reaction skills are definitely above average. She moves her arm quickly to counter him and watches her sword buck against his. She readies the sword in her other hand, although she doesn't strike with it. She's mostly focused on defending rather than attacking. ]

[When she moves the blade in her other hand, Firo swipes his knife across to be ready to block it in the event of an attack. Since she hasn't attacked yet, he takes the opportunity to retreat a few more steps; hopefully he can get some space. He's thinking that getting in close might not be a solid strategy in this battle.]

[ She lets him take a couple of steps back and instead readies a position. She watches his position carefully, and loosens her grip on the knife in her right hand. ]

[Firo sinks a little deeper into his stance and relaxes his hold on his blade, ready to spring in case she charges.

For a moment he wonders if he should try countering a future attack by slipping in some of the leg sweeps Yaguruma taught him. He decides against it- for now- he only asked her about her knifework, it'd be almost unfair to slip in anything else. ]

[ She stares at Firo for a bit before tossing a knife at him. Her accuracy is very sharp and precise, but, she merely aims for a simple graze along the arm. Firo can evade if he moves out of the way, or, if worse comes to worse, duck. Her facial expression remains firm and concentrated on his next movements. ]

[He moves to the side, but not quickly enough and the knife hits. Now that she's down one knife, though, Firo decides to make his move. He darts forward, aiming to land a cut on her arm similar to the one on his. He's fast, but nowhere near as fast as Tenten, so she can probably avoid the strike.

As he's coming at her, Tenten might notice the blood very slowly making its way back into the cut, which then closes itself.]

[ Tenten readies herself to evade Firo's onslaught. But, at the last moment, something catches her eye. His regeneration. That concept was unheard of and impossible from her home down. It makes her freeze entirely as she focuses on his healing wounds

By the time she regains focus, it's too late. The knife slides into her and crates a wounds mildly deeper than the shallow cut she gave Firo. ]

Argh-! Damn it! [ she readies the knife and feigns a strike to get him to retreat. ]

[Just as he's about to pat himself on the back for actually delivering a hit, memory of his immortality- and his decision to keep it on the down low- strikes him. He's been in so few fights recently that he hasn't been thinking about it often. But she doesn't seem to be reacting too much. At least, she's not screaming or calling him a monster like most people do, so maybe it was something else that made her slip up. Firo hopes so, he's been warned about flaunting his immortality too much, even if Luceti has watered it down.

Her feint works and Firo practically stumbles back a few paces. His clumsiness shows that he's not as confident in this fight as he usually is.]

[ Tenten decides a more aggressive approach is needed. She flashes herself over to where her other knife is and picks it up as Firo stumbles. Then, she makes her move. While she shouts in a classic shonen fashion, she charges towards Firo quickly. Firo should be able to hear and react to her presence since it's loud, noticeable and she's quite a distance away. ]

Whoa-!

[How does she do that? He's going to have to grill her on her technique after this.

He whirls around and raises his knife to prepare to block the strike when it comes. He's going to have to stop retreating sooner or later; why not now?

Edited 2012-06-13 02:49 (UTC)

[ Tenten releases a series of aggressive strikes. With her more dominant hand, she applies pressure to the sword, while her weaker hand attempts to strike along the outskirts of his clothing and skin. Firo is relatively in the same strength tier as Tenten and has a much more compact blade, so it wouldn't be out there for him to be able to fend off both parts of the attack. Tenten does want to see if he really does regenerate, or if she was just seeing something, but, at the same time, she doesn't want to sever something in case he doesn't regenerate. ]

[Even if they have similar strength, speed is still an issue. She's the fastest person he's seen since Maiza, and Firo's not accustomed to going against people faster than himself. He manages partial success in blocking, but he can't stop every hit. The strikes that do make contact should give Tenten ample proof of his regeneration; each cut formed slowly pulls itself back together.

Firo's not sure how she'll react to that, so he lashes out with the hilt of his knife at her face. It's a distraction, not a strike; he's sure she'll be able to fend it off and hopes that in doing so she'll back off a bit.]

[ As every slice starts to slowly reform, Tenten's assault wanes. Eventually, it's light, shallow cuts that are easily fended off.

Tenten's focus starts to redirect itself at his arm, and, by the time she notices the hilt, it's already slammed into her forehead. ]

Ah! [ She hastily takes a step back and readies her knife. ] Just what was that? [ she's referring to the regeneration, but, a context can be taken as a reference to the hilt strike. ]

[The lessening intensity of Tenten's assault is a relief to Firo, and when she moves back he relaxes slightly.

He's pretty sure that she's referring to the cuts regenerating, but decides he'll play dumb. Forcing a chuckle, he shrugs and swipes the back of his sleeve across his forehead.]

What's what? That's strategy.

No, not the strategy. That [ She points to his arm. ] It's like, any damage you take immediately disappears. [ She's all right with explaining and being specific. She has to do it all the time for her teammates. ]

[He wonders if it's worth it trying to keep up the pretense of having no idea what she's talking about; it's not. She's made it clear she saw him regenerate, and even then he can't regenerate his clothes, so evidence that he's been cut and left with no wounds remains.

He fidgets with one of his sleeves, as if tugging on it will erase that evidence. He scratches his head and shrugs.]

Oh. That. It's... kind of a long story.

I have the time. [ She watches him tug at the sleeves. Her reaction doesn't change. It seems fairly neutral, yet, it's still oddly focused. ]

[Maybe if he abbreviates the story he can make it sound unrealistic enough that she'll dismiss it.

Much as he likes telling it, he's not completely sure if she's trustworthy. Plus, there's always the risk she'll want to test just how immortal he is, and that's no fun for him.]

...Fine. I drank the elixir of life and now I'm immortal. Happy?

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5th Hat Flip [Voice/Action]

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