Description: A poor old man unwittingly hopped up on the crazy sauce proves to be too much for Ingrid to handle. Most anticlimactic SNF, EVER! (Winner: Kaiwei)
Long before Kaiwei arrives at the actual shrine, Howard people have been around. Some, arguing with people exactly how far away from the shrine itself the fight should take place. 'The stairs are too close', or 'no one lives here anyway, screw the shrine', or 'stuff it, let's all just go get some sushi.' In the end, the starting points are decided to be the bottom of the stairs, with the shrine still in view. It's a good photo spot, you know. There are some people around, brave souls hoping that the chatter about spirits and demons are true, hoping to spot some themselves. The presence of prayer beads and the like are far more common today than at most matches!
Kaiwei ends up being...well, a little late. When he's finally spotted by some of the taglongs, he's walking, almost tiptoeing, making his way cautiously along the cobble path. Some stones looks safe; those, he steps on. Others are--god knows what. Once in a while, his foot will lower down to one before jerking back, a little, frightful sound coming from the older man.
Ever see that part in The Temple of Doom where Indy has to walk across Jehovah's name? That's what this is. And nobody else has any freaking clue about it.
As usual for her Ingrid arrived perfectly on time, and upon finding Kaiwei not present she began amiably chatting with the Howard Enterprise people while she waits for him. The chat ends up being a fair bit longer than intended, but she doesn't seem to fear that the old man is going to fail to show up; showing up late seems to be a trend. One might find it interesting if someone were to write down how often contenders show up late.
As might be expected Kaiwei does eventually show, though he seems to be a little slow in making his way down the path. She peers at him curiously with the crew, and then decides to simply walk out to meet him. Of course she's completely oblivious to and stones that shouldn't be stepped on, simply treading up to the old man over this stone, that stone, and a large variety of cracks between stones.
Once a decent distance away from him she lowers herself in a smooth curtsy, "Good afternoon, Mr. Kaiwei. I'm Ingrid Holmann, your opponent for today; pleased to meet you." Once again, her tone is genial and friendly, and she idly twirls a few locks of hair on her finger while awaiting a reply.
"Not now, not now," Kaiwei answers rather curtly, standing in place on his one 'safe' stone. His arms are extended out on either side of him, head stuck downward with jittery eye movements. "Can't touch the wrong one, the bear's embrace awaits the foolish man, can't touch, can't touch..." He takes one more step, the new stone only a few inches away from the last. As he looks for the next one, he realizes...that there's something in the way. "Will you get out of my way!" he snaps, standing up fully. That lasts for...about a second before he slouches, shoulders hitched up nearly to his ears.
"I don't know where it is, but that's a nice-looking pretzel you have there..." His voice trails off as he moves around Ingrid, his steps having changed from cautious brushes with death to...little hops, as if bounding from lily pad to lily pad.
Meet Ma Kaiwei. Meet the drugged-up old man you'll be beating up.
Ingrid seems rather amused when her polite greeting and introduction are shunted aside for more important matters. Given the chance she might have done exactly what he wished and moved out of the way, but before she can even reply he's moving around her. "Pretzel?" She smiles to herself and then simply turns on her heel and follows him, once again walking normally on the stones a fair bit behind him as he hops over.
Eventually she'll make it back to the bottom of the stairs, silently contemplating the old man, wondering how he'll stack up in the fight that's about to commence. Looks can be deceiving, as she well knows, she's been underestimated several times and has taken advantage of it well. Even if he seems to be befuddled and confused, counting him out would likely be a large mistake.
The old man's trip down the stairs is relatively painless. Stairs are stairs, after all! His head still hangs low, but his hand is covering up most of his face. He speaks, but it's a constant stream of slurs and mumbling. He actually walks PAST the starting point, but a Howard official is quick to grab the disoriented old man by the shoulders, turn him around, and lead him to the spot he's supposed to wait for the signal at. "--didn't know you could find purple fur--" is all that anyone can make out, but the elder has calmed down. He stands with his hands together in front of his stomach, starting to sway back and forth.
When the swaying stops, he looks up, around, then forward, eyes narrowing, then widening, then narrowing again as he tries to focus on what he's seeing. "You. What are--what are you there, answer me." He says this looking directly at Ingrid herself. "Why are you over there? Get out of the way, I'm fighting someone there. Shoo! Get out!"
Watching the old man descend the stairs, Kaiwei's opponent can only raise her eyebrows at his mumblings, which to her sound like the utterances of someone completely out of touch of reality. She seems contemplative when he's ushered to the correct footing, and seems to take him in as a whole. If Ingrid were not herself she might believe this all an act to throw her off, but as it is she has an advantage over the crew, able to reach out and feel the emotions coming from him. And that, there, is enough to tell her that fighting a confused old man is not what she had in mind when she signed up. It could be dangerous for both of them, and it's taking advantage of him in any case.
And so when he narrows his eyes towards her and says to get out of the way, she simply play acts surprise, "Oh, you mean something important is happening here? Excuse me then, I'll just be on my way." Those words spoken she turns to leave, intending to just leave the old man there with a confused crew.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei has started a fight here.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ingrid has joined the fight here.
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Ingrid 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kaiwei
Such a reaction would, on any normal day, confuse the hell out of Kaiwei. Someone leaving, when he told them to, when they're supposed to be here? Perhaps if he were talking to his children (not that he would EVER talk to them in such a tone,) but not someone he's supposed to fight! He at least knows that much: here's here for a reason. He's here for money, money to spend on the little ones and his lovely, patient wife. But in all of his years, he never expected to face who he's seeing now.
"W...wait! Where are you going!" He stands up straight, his brows furrowed but still framing his eyes. His head cants slightly to the side, a hand coming up to roll around the little black cap on his head. No, it's not one of those little Jewish skullcaps. But now, there's no need to make a signal for the start of this match! The old man rushes up, hand balled up in a little fist of ANGER! A fist that, ethics be damned, is thrown toward the back of Ingrid's head!
"Answer me!"
COMBATSYS: Ingrid fails to counter Quick Punch from Kaiwei with Sun Upper EX.
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Ingrid 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kaiwei
It shouldn't be too surprising that a confused old man might decide to attack someone turning their back on them when they know there's supposed to be some sort of fighting going on. And Ingrid had thought of that. She also has a bit of an edge knowing when she's about to be attacked, so she tries to set her plan into motion. Her intention is to catch his fist on a disk of energy, fling him up into the air, and then make a break for it, assuming she can outrun him, especially with a head start.
That plan, however, comes to a crashing halt when Kaiwei's fist smashes into the center of her face upon turning around, the aforementioned disk never even getting a chance to form. She stumbles backwards and lets out a surprised gasp of pain, now facing the fact that an easy escape isn't going to be forthcoming.
If nothing else, the crowd seems happy enough that violence has started! What poor, miserable people to enjoy seeing a man punch a girl in the face! Thankfully, Kaiwei doesn't even realize that he's punched a girl. He'd be more reserved about it, perhaps. At least, so long as the girl was nice. Rude or depraved, people, however? Well.
After the man's fist collides with face, he just...he does the strangest damned thing. He turns and hops away, making a full circle as he starts shaking that hand franticly. "Aah! Get it off! What did you do?!" He starts to cradle his fist, cupping it in his hand as if halting runaway ice cream on a hot summer's day.
Or maybe it's the fact that his fingernails look like they've started to crumble. His expression is nothing short of panicked, at least until he looks oer at Ingrid again. "What is this! What are--you! YOU! Shut up! Shut up shut up!!" He's so excitable when he's on the drugs! He makes another spin, flailing at god knows what with his good hand. "I'm busy! It's--" Pause. Blink. STARE. He looks at the girl again, eyes narrowing. "They're with you, aren't they?! Don't lie!"
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei focuses on his next action.
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Ingrid 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kaiwei
Ingrid doesn't seem amused when the old man begins acting like she'd done something weird to his hand? She can't know that he's been drugged up, intentionally or otherwise, but she can at least tell that there's something very wrong with him, and due to that she wants nothing of the fight that seems to have broken out despite her attempts to the contrary.
She can't simply walk away, that's already proven a failure, and she doesn't want to fight him, but there doesn't seem to be very much of a choice, since she doesn't want to simply stand around and take a beating, either. She simply ignores his ravings as he points at her and accuses her of conspiring with non-entities, trying to figure out her best course of action, and little else.
COMBATSYS: Ingrid takes no action.
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Ingrid 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kaiwei
So...the Lord of the Demons wants to sit still and await his doom! Very well!
"Why are...stop laughing!" By now, the crowd is getting a little less cheery, and a little more...uneasy. Nobody's laughing, here. Nobody else is seeing any ghosts, no one else can appreciate the fact that, to Kaiwei, his fingernails have un-crumbled, restored in reverse even, and that he doesn't remember the sky ever being red. Pink, sure, but sanguine? Nooo, no. A far cry from what he likes to think he is: centered, or at the very least wobbling from one side of the fence to the other, he's angry. Furious, even! What's worse is that he can't even tell that he should not be seeing skeletons dancing in a circle about their horrible master. Horrible in...his/her inaction, perhaps. Ingrid honestly hasn't DONE anything...but don't tell the loopy man that.
Whether she attacks or not, however, is irrelevant. Kaiwei clenches a fist and bends at the knees, almost literally pouncing at his opponent. When his foot touches the corpse-soiled ground again, it's not another punch. This time, his arm extends, hand flattening with his palm jutting out toward Ingrid, and then, it's...it's like a little explosion! An omnidirectional (in the sense of omnidirectional just being 'away from Kaiwei and his palm') burst of orange chi flares out in a violent, but utterly short-lived blast; take THAT, Sir Reaper!
COMBATSYS: Ingrid dodges Kaiwei's Black Tiger's Savagery.
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Ingrid 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kaiwei
If Ingrid knew what he was seeing, it would only reinforce her decision to hold back unless it means an easy way to end the fight harmlessly, such as her previous attempt to fling him and escape. However, even if she's decided there is no fight, Kaiwei is rushing forward to attack. Punch or no punch, in the end it doesn't make a difference, only the fact that Kaiwei has committed himself to an attack. Ingrid waits for him to get somewhat close, and then plants her foot hard, turns, and begins running at full speed, the burst of energy moving outward from Kaiwei ending before it reaches her in her flight.
This move probably isn't going to win her any love from the SNF people, or the fans, for that matter, but this setup was a complete farce, from her point of view. It's obvious that Kaiwei can definitely fight, and fight well, but in the condition he's in he might not know when to stop if he won, and if she won she'd simply be beating up a drugged old man.
COMBATSYS: Ingrid takes no action.
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Ingrid 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kaiwei
There's no way for Kaiwei, as he is, to start hauling ass after ...whatever it is that Ingrid's supposed to look like at whatever given moment. He's more concerned about the fact that he just fired SNAKES from his HAND. Just like the punch earlier, he starts shaking his hand, turning it over and back, over and over again, checking for any more weird things that shouldn't be there. Once it's noted that the other opponent is not only gone, but WAY THE HELL gone, officials come in to try and calm Kaiwei down...or at the very least, direct him off toward a van that looks suspiciously weighed down with a stretcher, complete with straps! Well, if anyone were really looking in there, anyway.
And true, the fans, they...they just don't know WHAT happened. For the truly depraved, this will be good entertainment! For most...hell, for most decent people, they won't know what the hell to think.
In any case, Kaiwei gets paid either way.
COMBATSYS: Ingrid has left the fight here.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei has ended the fight here.
Log created on 14:59:26 06/24/2007 by Kaiwei, and last modified on 10:47:54 06/30/2007.