Match of the Millennium

Description: In Round 3 of Ristar 2022, Amandine Karnstein squares off against Minal "Mint" Panesh in a battle of petite pugilists! Miniature maulers! Bite-sized brawlers! Who will come out on top?

[MINT]
Minal Panesh had been to Europe before. But she had not been to Berlin. And so there is a good moment, upon her arrival at the Brandenburg Gate, that she takes the time to gawk like a tourist as she walks around the Pariser Platz. With the sun having set roughly an hour prior, the gate is lit from below by high-intensity floodlights, making it seem ethereal and almost -floating- in the calm night sky.

Even though she's only four foot nine, she's easy to spot -- not many people want to crowd around the pint-sized pugilist and her comically oversized gauntlets. For some reason!

While many would just see her pacing around the gate as something 'every tourist' would do -- the fact of the matter is that she's gaining crucial intelligence on her fight surroundings. Never want to step into combat without surveying the battlefield first. And this soldier's uniform is par for the course, considering her fights as of late: a shiny and bright white-and-green jersey with a mint leaf logo, and long, baggy pants of a similarly shiny polyester. Targeted to appeal to a youthful audience, without being so dressy as to win instant acclaim at the Met Gala or anything.

The dark-skinned South Asian smiles, as she squeezes the throttle on her arm-mounted turbines. Gotta keep those engines hot. Another reason the tourists and audience are giving her wide berth.

[AMANDINE]
The illustrious Amandine Karnstein, that beacon of grace, beauty, poise, and class has been to Europe before as well! She's FROM Europe, in fact! (Romania, to be specific.) Ah, in the days of her youth---not that long ago, mind you---she visited Germany on a skiing trip. It was a time when everyone she met marveled at how such a regal creature could grace the earth with her presence and envied the fact she was not one of their own.

***

YEARS EARLIER

"Oh my G--Cozonac, get your sister out of the chocolate fountain. Amandine is making a --- COZONAC, not you too!"

Ah, the Karnstein sisters were truly majestic.

***

NOW

Amandine, also a tourist, is appropriately on her phone.

"Oh, Coz Coz! You should see it. Brandenberry--yes, I know it's BrandenBURG, I was just playing a trick on you DEAR sister. What? What do you mean we saw it when we were last here? OH. That was the day we went to the CAKE SHOP. Of COURSE --- UGH, wish me luck. Wait, no, I don't need LUC--stop wishing me luck, you fat-bottomed cow! UGH, fine, I'll wave if I see you." Amandine grumpily hangs up the phone with a pointed tap of her finger just in time to look and see Minal Pinesh. Those giant gauntlets. That posh wardrobe. The--

The fact that, for once her in life, Amandine has a minute height advantage (in heels). She looks like she's going to faint as she clutches her chest.

"WHY HELLO," Amandine says, "YOU must be MINAL. Oh, what a PLEASURE. I am AMANDINE KARNSTEIN, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Amandine stands up straight to make sure she is, in fact, taller than Mint.

[MINT]
Mint was smiling. And loud. But now she's facing someone who's smiling more and even louder. And that makes her blanch in wide-eyed horror at how -loud- this little devil in a lolita dress is booming at her.

Luckily, Mint is a Marine. And she can take people booming at her in perfect stride. She does so, by first snapping her heels together and standing at full attention, staring forward with suddenly dead eyes and no actual eye contact.e

"YES, MISS KARNSTEIN, MA'AM! CORPORAL MINAL PANESH of the UNITED STATES MARINES, MA'AM!"

She holds the pose for a good three seconds before turning her eyes over to actually -observe- the response she's earned.

"... I mean... "

Her stance slackens. And she flashes a much, -much- more genuine grin. "/Hi./"

And then she takes note of the fact that she's looking Amandine right in the eye, now. She peers down to her feet -- yep. Heels.

She looks back up with an even broader grin. "It's nice to meet someone else who..." Deliberate pause, as a red tinge comes across her cheeks. "... likes to carry a lot of metal around."

She takes a hop backwards, raising her big ol' metal gauntlets up to shoulder height. "So're you ready to throw down, Miss Karnstein?"

[AMANDINE]
Amandine's eyes widen as Mint responses at attention. She blinks several times, opens her mouth, then closes it.

"WELL." Amandine puts her hands on her hips. "I am IMPRESSED at your DISCIPLINE, Miss Panesh." For a change, she does seem to mean it.

But in the next instant, Amandine's eyes narrow. She waits for what Mint might say. She smacks her lips lightly as though they're just a bit too dry and then...

"...oh. Why, OF COURSE! Thank you for noticing MY Tantalus!" She jingles the chain, which looks a bit more like it belongs on a boat than a person. "I like your...gauntlets!" At least Amandine is trying.

"Oh, if you're so READY to go!" Amandine steps back with much less finesse and takes her chain in hand.

"You can come at me ANYTIME!"

COMBATSYS: Amandine has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Amandine         0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Mint has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Mint             0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0         Amandine

[MINT]
For a fleeting moment, Minal had pondered the idea of completely overdoing the 'loud' bit in her response. But then she'd have ruined the joke. And the shouting is kind of fun.

Amandine's response is worth it. Girl is so extra. Mint just flashes a big toothy grin. They might be opponents, but they don't have to be -enemies-. Her forethought -- rare as it may be -- also comes in hand as she pointedly avoids the obvious short joke. It's... nice to not have -that- to worry about.

It also helps that Amandine is quick to offer compliments about her gauntlets. "Why, thank you! Kinda my pride and joy and all." She lifts her fist, splaying her fingers out by way of example.

"Mmm-hm!" But now, with the pleasantries exchanged, Mint takes a quick hop backwards, balling her mecha-hands into mecha-fists, and glancing towards the fight official.

The signal is given.

Mint squeezes her fists. "Alright, then! Hope you're ready for it!" The jet turbines respond with a throaty burst of thrust. And in the next split-second, Mint surges forward with a cross punch, aimed at shaking things up before laying down the big guns! "OOORAAAAH!"

COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Mint's Medium Punch.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Mint             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
Decisions like "overstatement" and "understatement" seem lost on the illustrious Miss Karnstein, who instead takes things at face value.

"Good! I mean, someone should take PRIDE in their w--" Amandine furrows her brow. "Wait, are you some kind of military engineer? Oh my GOD, I hope you're not like that b--"

Statements about coworkers are left unsaid as Mint's metallic gaunlet slams against the palm of the tiny terror--which holds up surprisingly well, all things consider, the little chef trembling but standing fast she her heels slide a few inches back from the force.

"Ohhh ho ho, straightforward! POWERFUL! I LIKE IT!"

Amandine steps forward and suddenly throws herself at Mint hip-first, performing a short hop to try and pull her in and bonk her with...whatever figure is under all those layers of dress.

COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Mint with Tuxedo Bombe.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Mint             0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0         Amandine

[MINT]
"Not like -what?-" Mint demands, in the brief space between her metallic fist getting caught and Amandine's expressed appreciation. The dark-skinned Marine isn't really -upset- by the would-be snide comment -- it's more of an amused smirk as she tries to get some further insight into just what Amandine feels about combat engineers in general.

"Well, yeah, it ain't meant as a love tap..."

She doesn't get much further though. Because beneath all those frills, Amandine has hips of iron. Somehow. Maybe that's just hardened bone, who knows? All Mint knows is that she wasn't quite ready for a hip bump at that height. It's honestly not something she's ever had to deal with before.

"Ugh, wow..." replies Mint, rubbing a metal hand over her abdomen as she takes some wary steps backward. "That was unexpected..."

But after a moment to collect herself, the pint-sized pugilist zigs left, zags right, and eventually charges in directly, using her gauntlet-mounted turbines to bring her in close! She'd seek to latch one metal meathook around Amandine's shoulder, gripping tight and hauling her up into the air, while her other hand pistons away with one punch after another! "OORAH OORAH OORAAAAH!"

COMBATSYS: Amandine endures Mint's STOL.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Mint             0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
"Oh, there's this one woman I work with, and she's DREADFUL." Amandine dusts her hip off with a distinct lack of grace or poise. She runs a hand through her massive mane of raven hair and flips it back behind her.

That uppity Shi--hey WAIT."Amandine is caught off guard as the turbines kick it up a notch, hammering away at her only a moment after Mint grabs hold. "Ow! Ow! OW!!"

But now that they're both in the air, Amandine goes on the offensive again, trying to grab back hold of Mint and bring her back down into the ground with a dramatic slam that explodes into a shockwave of fiery chi!

"Hey, I can GRAPPLE too!!!"

COMBATSYS: Mint blocks Amandine's Daily Special.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Mint             0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0         Amandine

[MINT]
Mint stares back at Amandine with incredulity. She keeps feeling like her fight opponent is -about- to make some grandiose and/or laughable statement, and yet, she never actually gets the gratification of hearing it! But that's a matter she'll have to ask about -after- letting go of her prey. Or dealing with ... this dramati slam!

"H-hey!" contests Mint, fighting back against the weight Amandine is tossing about to steer the pair into the ground! By modulating her thrust, she's able to keep all but her shoulder and hip from being on the receiving end of that chi shockwave -- but even then, "-- ow!"

Mint releases her grip on Amandine, but doesn't stray far -- in fact, as soon as she's able to put her boots on the ground, she's coming right back at Amandine with a good ol' reliable hook punch, aimed at spinning the NOL cook around with such force to make her dizzy!

"Are you ever gonna, like, /finish/ a statement?"

COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Mint's Hook Punch.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Mint             1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
"I'll finish when I GET TO IT!" Amandine says, just in time for Mint to come up with a strong hook. The miniature menace brings her arm up and slams her forward against the gauntlet, partly redirecting it in a show of force. For a sassy gothic lolita lady, Amandine seems to be built like a brickhouse. Just...a very small one.

She wings back around with a strong right of her own, trying to punch Mint back in the nose!

"So ANYWAY. Are you some kind of COOL ENGINEER or something? I mean, those are pretty high tech, RIGHT?" The chain rattles as Amandine pulls forward. "--what do you want, Tantalus? I'm TRYING TO BE POLITE."

COMBATSYS: Mint fails to interrupt Medium Strike from Amandine with Attack of Opportunity.
- Power fail! -

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0         Amandine

[MINT]
Mint wasn't used to seeing people eye-to-eye. She's -really- not used to people taking a punch without getting slammed backwards! It's a bit thrilling, if her wide-eyed grin is any indication.

"Wow, you're really stacked!" she exclaims without any further preface or alarm. Sometimes the Marine just switches her filters off, and this is one of them.

Miss Panesh sees the punch coming, and her excitement gets the better of her. Punching a boxer? That's just something that demands a proper reaction! Mint brings both fists up high and swings her upper body to the right, and all -starts- to feel normal...

But then a -chill- runs down her spine. And, more particularly: her -hands-. For the turbines have dropped to idle, and the intakes -- right next to the metal hands -- are -ice cold-.

"The hell...?"

And -that- is when she gets popped in the nose, and demonstrates just how hard -Amandine- can hit, as she finds herself reeling backwards fifteen steps or so! "Whoa, holy.... what the hell just..."

She drives her heel into the ground, braking herself to a stop. Panting in a mix of panic, fear, and exhilaration, she stares back at Amandine. Dumbfounded, she just lets her jaw do the jabbering: "... Y-yeah. Cool engineer, that's me...!"

She grits her teeth, as the realization strikes. And she decides to fix this littler problem ... by running her engines full blast, letting the thrust thunder her boots right into the ground. Stupid -ice!-

[AMANDINE]
If Amandine had a drink, she would spew it out like a miniature fountain. "S-stacked?" Her face turns bright red. "Ha ha ha ha! OF COURSE I AM! I am ABSOLUTELY st--" Amandine seems a surprised as Mint when she pops the Marine in the kisser despite Mint's clear advantage in boxing skill. Sure, the tiny terror has a lot of power and durability, but her finesse, is, well...

"H-huh. You have ICE powers too? It sounds like YOU'RE stacked." Amandine dusts her dress off and adjusts her corset, attempting to puff out her chest, if not very well. As she does, Amandine briefly stops to shake her arm several times, as if she just realized the numbness of taking one of Mint's monster punches head-on. When there's a moment's reprieve, however, Amandine suddenly tugs the mighty cookpot over into closer range. "A-ah, YEAH. While you get warmed up, I'll just--"

She tilts the thing over, digging around, half disappearing into the cauldron as she does. "Where did I PUT--oh, HERE." She pops back out as Tantalus rolls around on his edge, Amandine, meanwhile, holding a glass bottle. She flicks the top off with her thumb, despite it being a twist cap, before she starts guzzling it down before tossing the bottle haphazardly into a nearby bin.

"HA HA! SCORE!" Amandine says, but then, pauses. "Er..."

The miniature menace suddenly belches a roughly Amandine-sized fireball toward Mint.

COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Mint with Aperitif.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Mint             1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1         Amandine

[MINT]
Mint stares back at Amandine as she lets go of the throttle. Hard to hear otherwise. "... Well, I wouldn't call it a -power-. Kinda more like a weird allergy." She raises a hand to cover her mouth, deadpanning, "Achoo, achoo!"

Shaking some sensation back into her re-warmed hands, she brings her guard up again. She can tell Amandine is cooking up -something-, but whatever she thought it was going to be, she sure didn't expect it to be a fireball. Eyes wide, she starts to leap out of the way, but not before getting singed by the appetizer! "Yeowch!"

Mint staggers backward, patting down her face. It is not a good day for the smoky eye look, that's for sure. "Ugh... so you're like a -cook- or something? I coulda sworn there was like, a -movie- about chefs in combat or somethin'..." Probably a Cage flick.

"... But yeah. Wanna know our motto?" She slams her fists together, and then revs her throttle again.

"'High speed, low drag!'"

And like a flash, she's off to the races! She starts off low with a low, underhand punch meant to slam into Amandine's abdomen. "OOOO RAH!!"

- - And then, with -insane- speed, she's suddenly leaping up into the air, bringing both fists down from above -- and letting the pneumatic recoil system fire, slamming her fists forward for an extra inch of high-pressure damage! *k-CHAK!*

COMBATSYS: Mint blitzes into action and acts again!

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Mint             1/---====/=======|=======\-------\1         Amandine

COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Mint's Heavy Punch.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Mint             1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1         Amandine

COMBATSYS: Amandine fails to interrupt BFH from Mint with Order Up!.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////                ]
Mint             1/-======/=======|=======\=------\1         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
"OH!" Amandine suddenly seems to realize something. "You do...the THING! With the CHI? I guess it's CHI, I mean. I'm no ... expert, or anything." Amandine gets quieter on that part. "ANYWAY."

Amandine gasps. "Why YES! I am THE BEST CHEF, and you probably just don't KNOW that you've HEARD of me. After all." Amandine thumps her chest. "I was IRON CHEF ROMANIA!" Is there an Iron Chef Romania? Does anyone watch it?

But as Mint charges in, Amandine can't explain further for having to intercept. She blocks with both arms against the weighty punch, pressing against Mint as the turbines spin. As she does, the ground actually starts to crack, then splinter from the force Amandine leverages to stop Mint's forward momentum. "Ha ha! And now, TANTALU--"

"Oh." Amandine blinks several times. "Where did you goooooOH SHIT."

There's an echoing boom as Mint slams down upon Amandine, planting her into an Amandine shaped crater on the sidewalk. She doesn't get up right away, but does manage to grumble and groan. After another moment, she climbs up, then spits out sidewalk as she starts dusting herself off. "BLECH."

[MINT]
No, Mint is no expert on chi. Her boyfriend is no expert on chi. The Librarium supposedly is. But not her. So when Amandine makes a show of insisting, Mint just slowly just shakes her head from side to side, with a sheepish grin.

That sheepish grin stays plasted to her face as Iron Chef Romania is mentioned. "Aheh, really?"

One beat.
Crickets chirp.

"Has everyone ever asked you to give it a Bucha-rest?"

But that was then. We're here now, with Amandine dusting herself off as she exits a crater. Mint slings her right fist back, resetting the counterweight mechanism with a loud k-klack! "Hope you're okay with what -I've- been cookin. I mean, y'know." She flashes a smug grin, raising both her hands into proper boxing stance. "'Cause that was just a lightly-dusted appetizer. I'm about to serve up the maaaain course!"

Her turbines spin up yet again. Blue smoke spits out the back of her right gauntlet, as the engine pitch grows to a merciless whine. Birds, having parked their feathers atop the Brandenburg Gate, suddenly get the bright idea to take off. Children cry, tugging on their parents' sleeves.

And in the very next moment, Minal "Mint" Panel takes off like a rocket, her metal fist a heat-seeking rocket streaking straight towards Amandine!

COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Amandine with MOAB.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Mint             0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
"W-what." Amandine blinks. "Was that a PUN?" she objects, grossly offended. Her eye twitches, her jaw clenches, and she looks ready to scream, to lash out, to EXPLODE.

And she's abruptly cut off as Mint smashes through her guard, colliding with her midsection with a rocket-powered fist and doubling her over as she physically carries Amandine for several feet before launching her into a head-over-heels roll away. She finally comes to a stop, flopping onto her back this time. "WAUGH."

It takes her a moment to climb to her feet again, digging in her heels. Stomping twice, Amandine yanks the cauldron toward herself and grabs it by the brim, and takes a swig. Slamming it back down, she rolls her neck with a crack.

"WELL," Amandine says, "I GUESS the KIDS' GLOVES ARE OFF!" Beat. "Well, FOR ME!"

She swings the cookpot around like a flail, building up momentum steadily. Once she does, she smashes the pot downward with a two-handed swing. She snaps the chain tightly, brings it back up, then smashes it again with an explosion of chi power!

COMBATSYS: Mint dodges Amandine's Get Out of My Kitchen.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Mint             0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0         Amandine

[MINT]
Yes. It was a pun. Mint is quick to register her disappointment when she hears Amandine give the visual representation of a groan.

But that's when the knuckles hit her. So yeah.

"Man, we were getting along so well, too..." she laments, pulling her gauntlet back as the nozzles drop back to idle thrust. But, luckily, she doesn't need to wait long before Amandine is offering some wordplay of her own. And Mint raises her finger, with her expression lighting up tremendously. "Aha! I -knew- it!" Beaming, she even hops back and forth from one foot to another in her glee. ... Boy, if that was an -unintentional- pun from Amandine, there's gonna be some hurt feelings...

Her victory dance is short-lived, though, as Amandine makes a show of swinging the cookpot around. Mint backs up, gunning her nozzles to half throttle in preparation... And when the cookpot swings downward, Mint raises her fists, bursting herself into the air with controlled vector thrust, the steel toes of her boots narrowly avoiding a mid-air collision with the cookpot!

"Hey, don't stew in your anger down there, I'm comin' right back!" she calls back, hovering from a dozen feet in the air. "So let's kick it up a notch, Emeril!"

Abruptly, she swivels her hands forward, aiming her nozzles back. And then she makes for a dive bomb -- swinging her left fist, then her right, "walking" her knuckles onto Amandine in four rapid aerial strikes! "BAM!"

COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Mint's Ground Pounder EX.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Mint             0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
"Tch! WELL, I mean, while I CAN acknowledge some WIT..." Amandine's wheels start turning. Did she make a pun? Did she say something dumb again? She looks out into the crowd, and in that moment, she sees her. She sees her sitting up in a chair on a nearby balcony set aside for fight viewing. Those oversized military boots. That long, pretentious cape. That officer's cap perched gauntily atop her perfect hair. Her legs are crossed, the toes of her boot bobbing boredly. Her elbow is on the edge of the armrest, and the chin rests firmly in her open palm, two fingers extended along the side of her face. Her red eyes sink with boredom, framed by her raven hair, and her whole portrait is framed in the shadow of an oversized sun umbrella.

***

"Oh my God, Amandine," Cozonac looks ready to cry---from laughter. "Don't you know what that means? Are you that DENSE, dear sister?"

"What? NO! Of course not, I am a REFINED INTELLECTUAL. I choose all my words PRECISELY from my vast, multilingual---" Amandine struggles to find the right word. She stomps her foot and makes the windows shake slightly, but Cozonac seems unfazed. Amandine bites her lip in consternation. "Wait, what DOES it mean Coz Coz? Are you--are you making FUN of me?! ME? Your own SISTER?" Amandine's expression is a mixture of rage and disappointment.

"Amandine, dearest sister. Precious, sweet, Amandine, whom I love." Cozonac's smile cracks just a little.

***

"What did I say--OH NO NOT AGAIN." Amandine gets bonked on the head several times like a jackhammer, and the resistance provided by Amandine exceeds that of the street, driving her heels down into the pavement as it spiderwebs underneath her. When Mint clears the jump, she flounders, trying to pull herself back free of the street.

"D-damn it. DAMN IT. Why did Coz Coz actually show up THIS time?" Amandine yoinks Tantalus back to herself and hefts it one handed again, then takes it with both hands, tilting the cauldron bigger than her and steadily chugging from it for several moments.

[MINT]
Mint doesn't think much about the ramifactions of her attack -- everyone she's been pitted in sanctioned combat against has been more than hardy enough to take the punishment. It isn't until Mint lands, and whirls around to face Amandine again, that she happens to novice the spiderwebbed pavement beneath her.

"... ulp." She looks back to Amandine with newfound respect. After all -- not only is she strong enough to sling Tantalus around, but she's -still standing-...

Drawing her breath through her teeth, she raises her fists back to shoulder height, parallel to the ground. "Hey, you aren't supposed to be drinking! There could be kids watching!" She pauses a beat, and adds with a grin: "-Other- kids watching."

The pint-sized pugilist gives no further clarification. For her next motion is to stride in forward and take a left jab -- and then twist a right hook punch afterwards. "Oo-rah oo-rah oo-RAAAAH!" A heavy corkscrew punch finishes off the combination, as if to kiss the chef goodnight!

COMBATSYS: Amandine endures Mint's Knuckle Dragger EX.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Mint             0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0         Amandine

COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully aids herself with Soup du Jour.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Mint             0/-------/-======|=======\-------\0         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
Amandine is dirtied and bloodied, despite previous demonstrations of durability. She is far from invincible, but the sheer absurdity of how dense this loud little chef is staggering, no matter which definition of dense one takes. She continues drinking whatever arcane brew is in the massive pot, steadily chugging from it whether it to be beverage of stew. When Mint speaks up, Amandine slams it down and gets ready to retort.

That is, until Mint slams into her with a left jab, then a right hook, and finally a dramatic corkscrew uppercut that carries the bratty baker up into the air. The whole thing looks downright comical as Amandine has no retort, her cheeks instead filled like a chipmunk from whatever she was getting out of Tantalus. Meanwhile, the woman in the stands uncrosses her legs, sighs deeply, and crosses them the other way. She also makes a pointed shift to resting her cheek on the other hand.

***

"I can't BELIEVE you!" Amandine sounds ready to turn on the waterworks. "My sister! My best friend! Making fun of ME! I mean, doesn't EVERYONE make a teensy, little gaffe sometime? What did I EVER do to you, Coz Coz?"

Cozonac's face flattens, her mouth slowly curling down. "Amandine, dear sister. Did you forget last week? When you 'helped' me with that gift to Colonel Mitsuki? What about the week before, when you were definitely didn't eat that pear and brie tart I was saving? Or also last week when you were CERTAIN that I could fit in that---"

"OKAY FINE COZ COZ, I GET IT." Amandine folded her arms and puffed out her cheeks. "You WILL attend my next Rising Star match though, RIGHT? You never come see me do things!"

***

Cozonac pulls out her phone and snaps a picture of Amandine sprawled out, dress a mess, her cheeks still swollen with soup. She may or may not be posting on social media.

And then, Amandine audibly swallows. There's another moment before she thrashes her feet around in a miniature tantrum. "Oh, you! YOU! Was that a joke about ME?!" Amandine blinks. "Or wait. Was that self-depreciating?! I don't know anymore! UGH!"

Amandine snaps the cauldron and swings it around several times in an arc. "I can't tell if I like you or NOT!" She hurls the cauldron with such force that she kicks up and drags behind it like a missile, using the pot's weight to pull her along like a comet with a very loud, very floofily dressed tail.

COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Mint with Bon Appetit!.
- Power hit! -

[                         \\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1         Amandine

[MINT]
Mint is no stranger to sibling rivalry. It's just that all of the decades of scattered incidents have congealed into a more-or-less homogenous mass of character-building trauma that has yet to be mined for lulz or specific quotes. And as a certain Katashi Tairyu has found out... excavating can be a little fun.

But we won't get into that here, because Amandine isn't sharing! All Mint sees is the chibi chef having a meltdown while random people in the audience take photos. Pretty normal stuff, really!

"What? Me?!" calls back the New Jersey native with a smug grin. "We're just throwing down, don't put so much -thought- into it, geez!" Panesh looks like she's about to break in half from keeping her laughter in.

And then, a moment later, she looks like she's about to break in half from a -cauldron- being slammed into her.

She had tried to use her gauntlets' jet boost to help her. But Amandine's spin was such that it was affecting local air currents -- those same air currents Mint was counting on to aid her escape. Drawn into the pull of the whirling vortex, Mint's feet get caught first -- and then the cauldron itself clangs against her gauntlet, slamming her to the ground and bouncing her at -least- four times.

Mint sits up from the damaged palazzo a moment later, her side smeared with a sticky, ruddy liquid -- which she just assumes to be whatever concoction Amandine was guzzling. No time to check! "Ugh! Yeah, well, don't get hung up on -that- either..."

Shaking herself off, she smacks her fists together with a not-as-loud *clang!* "Now let's finish this!"

Mint drops lower. ... She's -definitely- unsteady with this motion, wobbling with signs of dizziness and/or possible concussions. But when she lights her turbines to 75% speed, it would seem the calibrated thrust corrects for any anomalies -- as Mint rushes forward at high speed, firing off a hard uppercut to knock Amandine into the sky! And should that land, she'd fire off six rapid-fire punches, before whipping around into a backhand blow that would bat the baker back down to the ground! "OOORAAAAH!"

COMBATSYS: Amandine just-defends Mint's Charlie Foxtrot!

[                          \\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Mint             0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1         Amandine

[AMANDINE]
Amandine rides the cookpot forward like a missile before crashing into Mint and landing far less than gracefully behind it. As she Tantalus clangs and clatters to a stop he seems to be practically -dripping- with energy, a thick, blood-red aura that rolls off the chain and to Amandine as well. Does she look...fangier than usual? Perhaps a little?

"OH! You! YOU!" Amandine stomps a foot. "You're so WITTY. AUGH." She sticks out her tongue for a raspberry, only for her to realize that now Mint is barreling back after her again, because you can't keep this soldier down, apparently! She stomps back with a clatter of heels--one apparently cracked now--just in time to be in position to receive Mint's incoming charge.

There's a rattle of chains and Amandine yanks Tantalus back to her, catching the cookpot and interposing it in between herself and Mint. There's a heavy clang as giant metal fists repeatedly bang against the bottom of Tantalus, denting the cauldron in with a strange groaning in addition the clangs. On the last hit, the cookpot goes flying--but it's given Amandine the moment she needs to ready a counterattack.

"Ohhh ho ho ho!" That blood-red aura swirls, fire seeming to build up in the back of Amandine's throat. "Let's go out with a BANG, huh?!"

She breathes a great gout of flame from her mouth. Well, breathes is a bit of a misstatement. The sound Amandine makes is definitely a belch, instead.

Meanwhile, in the stands, Cozonac rolls her eyes.

COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Mint with Tarte Flambe.

[                                < >  ///////////                   ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0         Amandine

[MINT]
Mint grimaces as Tantalus greets her fists with each and every blow. It isn't just a blow to her pride; cast iron is painful to punch! And as Mint realizes this, she stops throwing punches -- but that doesn't stop the pain of her vibrating arms and elbows for the next few seconds...

Though, as she makes a strategic withdrawal, she learns two things.

One: She's -really- tired. Gunning her throttle against Tantalus' vacuum pressure took a lot out of her, as did the fancy footwork required to stay close to Amandine while trying to -avoid- Amandine.

Two: Has... Amandine -always- had such a sanguinary expression about her? Mint pales as much as someone of her skin tone can, as she draws back.

Fatigue has a way of forcing certain undesirable things to happen. One -- with as tired as she's gotten, she can't keep her hands up. Which means the main thrust nozzles can't be aimed downward. Which means that when Amandine literally -breathes fire-, there's not only no gauntlets raised to defend against it, there's also no thrust on hand to get her out of harm's way.

Which means the Marine who likes her food flaming hot is now, herself, flaming hot. And the South Asian -shrieks- with pain, dropping to her knees, as the flames light her up!

But all good things come to an end, and thankfully the bad ones too. In this case, firing the engines for a moment is enough to suck the oxygen away from the flames... Mint slumps forward, firing her pneumatic impact cylinders to get her knuckles popping -- which is enough to boost the mini-Marine back to her feet. "Ugh... ugh... I like it hot, but not like -that!-" she calls out!

But when she rises -- it's only to slug one lethargic heavy punch Amandine's way. She expects Tantalus to get in the way -- but that's just something for Amandine to deal with!

"Y-Yeah! BANG!" Pro commentary, all the way.

COMBATSYS: Mint can no longer fight.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Amandine         0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Mint's Fierce Punch.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Amandine         0/-------/------=|

[AMANDINE]
After Amandine finishes belching flame her sanguine look starts to gradually disipate. She fans a hand in front of her mouth as the smoke clears only to stagger with a little less of Amandine's usual swagger. Truthfully, she has much less. Hands go to her hips as she gets ready to look -extremely- smug about her victory, but Mint's final blow abruptly cuts the tiny terror's gloating short. Instead, she has to cross both hands and intercept the heavy blow, which nearly bowls her over with Amandine's limited pool of remaining stamina. When Mint runs out of gas, however, Amandine steps in as a bag of hot-air.

"WELL," Amandine says. "I have to say---that was." She looks at Mint. She considers. "That was TOUGH. I mean, to give ME, AMANDINE KARNSTEIN, a workout is a badge of HONOR, you should know." Amandine nods firmly, confidently at Mint. "It MIGHT even be one," Amandine waggles a finger, "that merits AT LEAST a three-course meal prepared by YOURS TRULY. HONESTLY, you'll want to join the NOL when you know what we're eating."

Amandine tromps over toward Mint. "So once you've had a breather to feel better---and I've path--cleaned myself up, we'll DEFINITELY have to set a date. For now, though, I have SOMEONE I must speak to. Ciaooooo~!" It almost sounds friendly, if it weren't so grating.

But Amandine hasn't left the stage yet.

"Oh, COZ COZ! Did you SEE me? Isn't your older sister THE GREATEST?"

"I think you mean the grossest, dear sister!" Cozonac Karnstein shouts back, putting a foot on the railing. Insufferable smugness apparently is a family trait. "I mean, it seems you've weaponized your vulgarity down there! I'd have passed out too from that last one!"

"NNGH! You're one to TALK Coz Coz! Don't think -I- don't know about your BAD HABITS!"

This is likely to continue for some time. It's probably best to leave them.

COMBATSYS: Amandine has ended the fight here.

Log created on 21:53:33 05/24/2022 by Amandine, and last modified on 06:19:09 05/31/2022.