Description: Objective: Afternoon training. Obsticale: Another hidden weapons maven. Alias: None. Summary: It seems Ayame has competition in the concealed weapons shtick. At least, at first glance. When push comes to shove, however, it appears that the threat of competition is just an illusion. At least for now.
When you don't attend a dojo... or a school with a dojo... or really train with anyone else at all... you tend to have to make due with your own training grounds. The forests outside of Southtown have really low rent on space, which is to say the pricetag of 'free' works out well enough for Ayame's variable budget. With the collapse of Blackjack, the young street rogue seems to be back up to her usual antics. Messing around during the day and getting into trouble mugging anyone so dumb as to be out on the streets at night.
Part of that messing around is playing with some of the toys she's not had the chance to put to use much lately. A pair of trees has a rope tied across their length. Dangling from the rope are four four by four blocks of wood, roughly a foot apart each. And standing about ten feet away from the setup is Ayame herself.
The strawberry-blonde has a few yards of nearly wire thin cable strewn about her on the ground, with objects of various weights and shapes attached to the ends via small clips of her own engineering. Some of the weights are small, narrow - rope darts. Swift, light weight, they have red cloths tied on them about a foot away from the weight itself. The weight serves to distract the eye of someone trying to react to the metal projectiles. Other weights are heavier, rounded - meteor hammers made of remarkably dense tungsten, giving them far more mass than one would expect simply by looking at them. Designed to crush bone, they make for deadly weapons when used correctly.
Ayame is rarely holding still, a blur of motion as she spins, whirls, and kicks the rope dart she is working with right now out toward the boards, plucking them each in turn with minimal downtime between swings. At times she controls the trajectory well enough to knock them into each other as well. Both the rope projectile and the girl herself are constantly in motion as Ayame works on sharpening her accuracy and speed.
Actually, another person has decided to use the surrounding area for the exact same reason; After the battle with Gato, where it took every ounce of his skill to pull off a partial win – with useless aid, regardless – Roland has taken the time to hone his own skills. Yet his discipline is somewhat lacking compared to some of his inferior rivals; tucked under one arm is a crumpled paper bag, the other holding an oozing slice of pizza he is in the process of finishing, grabbed on the hike up through the trees. He had scouted out a good empty space a few days prior, but has gotten lost and disoriented in the growing shade of the forest without realizing it. Hearing forests, his attention is drawn towards the weapon-based girl, although his approach is hardly mute. Branches snap and crackle, one muffled curse sharply rising in the air, before the trenchcoated figure all but stumbles into view, covered in briars and trying to yank a coil of thorns from his arm.
Pricking himself a few times in the process, he scans the area. And blanks upon it settling on Ayame, appearing absolutely surprised by the present coincidence. "The hell are you doing in my spot?!" is asked, outraged. Before trying to figure out what exactly she's doing. This is somewhat muffled by the end of the pizza clamped in his teeth, readjusting his bag which rustles ominously with grating metal. Eyes shift suspiciously, tearing off a piece of his meal and slowly swallowing it while going over the training area. "So this is where you waste your hours, huh..? Tch." He seems rather unimpressed, in a blatantly lying way that doesn't mask his curiosity. He's never seen another person's training regiment, and she's grudgingly similar in her chosen style.
Nothing about him is nearly confrontational, however. Arrogant curiosity is a good word for it, if more then a little bit suspicious.
A few smacks with the rope dart before the girl pauses, catching her breath and crouching down to fish up the wire attached to the meteor hammer instead. A couple of swift spins over her head and then she launches the heavy weight at one of the boards, shattering a portion of it with the power behind the impact before she draws it back in around her. A second board is smacked hard as well, a deep dent in its surface, before the hammer is drawn back and spun over her head.
Focused on training, she isn't oblivious. She has a fair number of enemies and getting lost in her own little world just isn't her style. Doesn't help keep her ahead of her, ah, 'fans' anyway. As Roland comes out of the treeline, brown eyes shift to focus on him. Of course she recognizes him immediately. She may not be dressed up as Batgirl today, but he still looks much like she remembers him. "Well, well, if it isn't Wonder Boy." she grins, still whirling the hammer over her head. "Looks like the forest roughed you up pretty bad there. Might want to keep your distance from the trees. I hear they like picking on scrubs like you." The hammer is slammed out again, smashing another board from ten feet away before being drawn back into a lazy spin over her head once more.
"Anyway, I was here first. So you're just going to have to go elsewhere." she continues, her tone becoming a bit more guarded, as if she is trying to suggest he shouldn't really try to force the issue.
"Course I'd remember that face." is cooed in a manner more teasing then anything, purposefully bringing up his lone true flirt near the end of the battle with Gato. Of course, his smirk belies anything else, arms crossing before his chest as best he can without dropping his miscellaneous bag of items. She's... using that weapon rather well. And there's a lot of them, with a lot of broken boards. His expression is somewhat difficult to read, thinking to what he had intended this morning. An hour of target practice. ... Was that it? Maybe less, he wanted to get a drink before it was too late to get back to the city. "Well, when not tackling villains, it's Roland. Whoever you might be, useless girl..." No hint of actually asking, of course. He only smirks at the following insult, eyes making a barrel roll in the socket. "Is that so?" is concluded, to one or both of her statements. "You call this a workout regiment?" Hiding his genuine curiosity, "How long you been at this? Twenty minutes? Thirty? Probably go out once a week, if you're as lazy as I think..." He leans against a tree, nursing his pizza in a way that probably heralds him not immediately going away, barring many sharp things thrown in his general vicinity. He's quite good at being a distraction.
"Roland, eh." the girl remarks, drawing the weapon back and slamming it forward again, rendering the first board to mere splinters at the shattering impact, brown eyes only glancing toward him now and then, as if half hoping he'd be /gone/ by now. "Ayame." she adds after a moment, drawing the hammer back before stepping forward into a second snapping crash against the third board, throwing her whole body into the motion to generate crushing momentum.
"It's training... Based on your skills, you've probably never heard of the word," she continues as she draws out of her spin and regains control over the deadly hammer. "Should look it up." A hop backward while simultaneously flinging the weapon out again has it hitting both the third and fourth boards in more of a sweeping motion, sending them twirling by their ropes.
"Oh yeah, one more thing." The hammer comes flying for Roland next. Just above head level, aiming to crater the trunk of the tree with a violent impact just a foot or so shy of being in any danger of actually /hitting him/. "Call me useless again, and I'm going to feed this thing to you." she states, pulling on the cable to whip the hammer back toward her, finishing with a glare leveled directly at Roland. "You should scram unless you're not concerned about your teeth."
"Ayame, eh?" is offered. Hmm. Swinging a weapon around on a thin chain. He's going to steal that idea, probably... it's something he could easily hide within his trenchcoat. Why did he never think of it before? Bah, he would of eventually, she just got lucky grabbing it first. The technique is observed with a discerning eye. Although he tenses as she shifts in his direction, and flickers green; he snaps to the side well before the hammer crashes into the tree, afterimage rippling away a half second later. A peculiar technique, he had intermittently displayed during the battle. "My my. You're a feisty girl, aren't you Ayame. Abrasive and confrontational. Don't put up with anything from anybody..." This is mulled in a deep, gloomy voice, pulling down the front of his cowboy hat to cast his face in shadows. His body grows tense, stance slightly spreading.
Then he pops back up, grinning widely with an expressive thumb's up. "I like you!" is offered, right out of the blue. "Since I'm the exact same way! Could almost call us soul mates..." A dreamy sigh, reaching into his bag for a few moments and digging out three slender blades. "Responding to your hurtful remarks, I did come out here to train." The blades fold between his fingers, but he's holding them wrong. It's obviously something he's improvised. It would waste power, and drain inertia. "But don't underestimate me!"
He shoots out his hand, and... somehow, all three crack into one board, sending it spinning lazily. It's not dead center, but the speed was actually quite nice. And against all odds, it worked. "So maybe I'm a bit curious. You've got a pretty refined technique, there..." His head cants to the side, brows lifting as he scratches with his newly freed hand across the light stubble of his chin. "...For an amateur." is added, of course.
She's glad he moved out of the way even if she wasn't /quite/ aiming to clock him with it. It showed her that he can move fast in a pinch, but it also showed her that he either didn't have a good eye for predicting the hammer's trajectory or he's just not someone who's willing to take chances. All details she tucks away in the back of her head, her mental filing cabinet on everyone she's ever fought.
The hammer is whirled around over her head before she finally slows its momentum and allows it to drop into the palm of her hand. Tossing it up a little and catching it idly, she rests her other hand at her waist as she listens to Roland. She's glaring, tense, seemingly ready for a foray into exchanging barbs until one of them gets tired and leaves. What she doesn't expect is the sudden outburst of expressed appreciation for how she is. "What?" she replies dully, the meteor hammer weight dropping onto the dirt at her feet with a heavy thud as she completely failed to catch it on that toss.
"We're huh?" Soul mates? No way! She watches him draw the knives, eyes narrowing again, studying everything about how he handles the blades. Oh, yeah, right, there's no way that's going to work- Thunk. The blades all stick in place, in spite her expectations, the board swinging for a moment from the impact. Frowning faintly, disappointed in his success, Ayame squints for a moment as if trying to figure out just how he got that lucky.
Her next motion is a blur, her right hand slipping beneath her left handguard before she flings something out. A small throwing knife on target for the same board. The point lands dead center with enough force to vibrate the board, one of Roland's knives falling to the dirt as a result. "Hn," the girl remarks, shifting back toward Roland, looking at him skeptically, "You just must be really lucky." She hmphs, lowering both of her hands to her waist now, "Dumb luck. See how far that gets you."
"I'm self taught! Don't mock me! I do the best I can." Roland muses, seeming to be rather sensitive to such things. It probably doesn't help that he immediately reveals that glaring weakness to Ayame, but he does note her own thrown weapon. He watched her quite closely, and digs another knife from his bag. Somewhat subtle, he tries to grip it in the same way she did – it's still a bit off, he didn't get a full view – before easing into another toss. It's actually significantly more forceful and a bit more accurate, cracking loudly into the board. "...Huh." is mused to himself, but he waves it away. Ayame can probably tell exactly what Roland is. Someone with a lot of wasted talent. Enough to manage to do things he really shouldn't, and having at least some strokes of genius. "Lucky, eh? I've had a lot of things happen, but damned if it was anything lucky." He pulls out yet another knife, tossing it up in a gentle spiral. From his intent look he meant to catch and throw it, but he slips and cuts his hand with a curse. "..." Reaching down and grabbing it, trying to ignore the awkward lack of badass, a second fling is done. Once more there's a swish of green aura, and it's significantly more powerful and precise. Plus he's still trying to half-steal her throwing technique. "You used to it?" is finally asked, grinning once more with a mischievous look thrown Ayame's way. "Someone not immediately barking at you like an angry dog? Maybe I'm not just since I know it's what you expect." There's no small amount of smugness to this.
He defends himself with the claim of being self taught and Ayame frowns a little. It's a claim she can sorta relate to... in some ways. He goes on to make another attempt at the knife throwing and the girl narrows her eyes even further, catching hints of the green chi used when directing the blade. Hn. A trick she hasn't got down, herself, though she won't admit it. Using energy to propel or correct the course of her thrown weapons... it's something she's considered before, but maintaining any kind of link with the chi after something's left her hands just hasn't worked out at all.
He bemoans his luck a little, correcting her assertion that he's just scraped by on fortune's good will. He would beg to differ it would seem. He cuts himself with the second thrown knife, and Ayame laughs a little, though not quite so obnoxiously as to be exaggerated about it, so she might actually be just genuinely amused by the slipup.
He twists the conversation back on her in ways she doesn't expect though with his sudden question, the girl looking caught off guard with the way she tenses up a little. She's relaxed when she's in control of a dialog, bending the other to her whims, but to have someone provide such a slippery counterpart to her lines isn't something she's entirely comfortable with.
"Oh, so you think you've got me all figured out, is that it?" the long haired rogue asks back, leaning her head to the side just a little. "You don't know anything about me or what I'm used to." she protests, trying to keep him from thinking he's gotten an edge on her just in the course of talking with her. Idly she rubs her thumb over the fingers of her right hand, a nervous little twitch, an urge to go for one of her knives...
"You know, you have an interesting hat..." she remarks, taking a couple of deliberate steps toward Roland. "I saw what you made it do during that fight..." Her right hand comes up, flipping some of her long hair back over her shoulder as she continues to approach, "I can't help but think... how neat it would be..." Another few steps, "... to take it home and see how it works..."
A glower is offered at the laugh from his haphazard use of knives. Normally he's got excellent sleight of hand, but sadly juggling blades is not something he ever bothered to sit down and go over. Which quickly blooms into a smug little grin when he yet again slithers around her guard, adjusting his collar with his free hand in a somewhat fastidious manner. "You seem pretty cliche." he offers, unabashed. Nor lacking much fear for her seeming itchiness to throw something his way. But at her approach, it's obviously not something that throws him off at the onset. A mild turn to guard, hand reaching up to lightly grasp the brim. "Is that an offer, or a threat?" he asks, with a bit of a smirk. Seeming to anticipate some manner of charade on her part, watching closely for any sign of attack. Really, this just means that he's preparing to react to something unknown on raw reflex, as his actual psychological skills are too impulsive and subconscious for a girl with such slippery motives and ample masks. Mostly passive, for the time being; trying to get a better read on Ayame before playing any more of his own hand. "Your staff's kinda neat, too. More complicated then anything I put together. I focus on surprise... not that knowin' will help you a lot."
"Definitely a threat," Ayame replies to Roland as he grips the brim of his hat perhaps a bit defensively, the girl advancing at a slow, but constant pace. "Best to not interpret it as anything otherwise." She wants to put him on the defensive, wants to keep him guessing. The more she makes him react the better she can read him. "You must think you're pretty clever. Got some tricks, I'll give you that."
He remarks on her staff and Ayame leans her head to the side a little bit as she continues to advance. "Yeah, it's pretty advanced. You wouldn't get it. You, though, I'm sure I can figure you out in no time at all." She comes to a stop a couple yards away, eying the young'ish man thoughtfully.
"You like surprises, do you. Hm... So do I. Tell you what," she continues, hand coming up to rest at her cheek thoughtfully. "I'd rather take a swing at a moving target than some dangling boards. And you, well, you could use the practice. I'll take you on right here and now. The loser has to teach the winner a new trick. I know you've got your fair share of hidden weapons and I do too. But I'm open to new things I haven't seen before. If you even have anything of the sort."
The girl brushes her hair back over her ear again, revealing a couple of silver cross earings. "What'cha think. Or is that too much training in one day for you? I understand if you're scared..."
"It's your job to give me something to interpret. You can't pick how I do. Maybe I just so happen to be a masochist who gets a kick out of being beaten by cute girls. What then?" Of course from the expression that follows this is just another of his loaded statements meant to slither under her skin, observing the staff without overly reacting. "Tch. I'd learn it in five minutes. Don't get cheeky. You've got a skirt full of tools, but I've got a whole trenchcoat and hat." The following stuff is responded by procuring a cigarette, sticking it in his mouth, and lighting it with a disturbingly intricate golden dragon; the mouth spurts out flames, eyes glowing red. He drops his bag of miscellaneous tools; simple throwing instruments he has gathered, non-uniform and rather useless for long term training.
"Alright. I'm willin' to show ya a thing or two..." he offers, breathing in deep with his cigarette. He eyes the glowing ember, before suddenly flicking it right towards Ayame. A moment later it detonates in a crack, small cloud of acrid smoke obscuring his vicious advance; A gleam of steel as he snaps out his foot, trying to kick her in the stomach with a blade sprouted from his boot. This rather blatant ambush, of course, doesn't seem to be a factor he's guilty about. Rule #1: Surprise! Rule #2: Act first! He can't lose with this golden combination!!
COMBATSYS: Roland has started a fight here.
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Roland 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ayame has joined the fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Roland
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Roland's Light Kick.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Roland
"If that's your kink it's not my problem," Ayame replies back, seemingly nonplussed by the masochist reference. "Everyone's got their thing, I guess." she grins, hand slipping down to rest against one of her belts, clearly ready to reach for one of her toys there. "That why you wear that coat? Haven't figured out a better way to hide stuff? Isn't it awkward in the summer?"
Of course talking and paying attention aren't mutually exclusive to the girl. Words are a weapon for her as much as any other object she has at her disposal. Though Roland has proven to be one of the most immune to her verbal provocations she's met... He flicks the cigarette out and the air is filled with a mildly irritating smoke. Okay, she /didn't/ see that one coming. Not that she's going to grant him that.
A hop backward puts her just out of range of the bladed shoe aimed for her stomach. Her left hand slips down to run across her slightly bare midriff to make sure that she really did escape being slashed. Yeah, clean break that time. The air has only barely begun to clear, brown eyes never moving away from the direction she knows the hat bearing fighter to be. "Haha, guess you don't like to wait for answers do you. That's all right, that's how I play too."
Leaning forward a little, the girl's hand at her belt finally draws the folded up butterfly knife hidden in a sheath there, flicking it open in the process of removing it. "Here, catch," she remarks, tossing the weapon toward Roland, underhandedly, in a lazy arc.
In an instant, she's darting forward after it, however, drawing a second knife with her left hand. A leap forward has her spinning once, attempting to slash Roland across the chest with her left hand. Her right hand, meanwhile, snatches her thrown knife out of the air as she lands into a whirl, bringing it down in for a second, more angled slash from high to low across him. This fight is already showing a high probability of blood with a good chance of clothing damage!
COMBATSYS: Roland fails to interrupt Medium Strike from Ayame with Blackjack.
-* CRITICAL FAIL! *-
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Ayame 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Roland
"Are you asking about my kinks?" Roland immediately responds, looking to almost perk as if he's eager for the opportunity. "What's yours?" Of course, this jibe is countered by her following comment on the need for his baggy ensemble, glancing down over the tan expanse with a smirk. "More the merrier. I get by." Of course, two people who use the exact same manner of verbal taunting are going to be mostly immune to each other. That's usually his own good weapon; he can poke her now and then with a carefully applied barb, but she can do the same. He's a lot more sensitive and simple, after all. But he grimaces as he only manages to swoosh through the air, wobbling slightly as he shifts his stance upon the ground. "Goddamnit." is offered, genuinely seeming annoyed that the first hit isn't his. "Told you we're the same!" ...mostly.
She might be disappointed to see his eyes lifted up to follow the thrown knife, actually beginning to raise a hand as if intending to catch it. This is interrupted by a sudden view of the girl lunging at him. He has a split second to react, instinct triggering a rush of green aura, muscles going taut with the flowing power. He grips his hat. He yanks it off; Ayame would see as the inches vanish between that he had enough time to fling it. She would also see a gleam of silver wire around his throat, attached to it. As his arm snaps out, he immediately strangles himself; he fucked up the retrieval method, hat limply dropping from his hand as his tongue lulls out.
The blades parts his shirt, splatter of crimson coming forth. His stumble backwards catches a branch and he goes down hard, crashing upon a briar bush and writhing to untangle himself from his signature trick. "Gyack... blorgh...!! Son of a–" is hissed out, doubling over and placing it back on his head. The cold feeling upon his chest incites a curious touch of a gloved hand, before he looks at the slick red. "...!! Damn... you're playin' hardball, huh?! Fine with me!"
Her feint with the tossed knife seems to have paid off, leaving Roland fumbling for his hat weaponry a bit too hastily... and the outcome is, well, disasterous. The girl's two slashes land as intended, but Roland is busy choking himself with the wire on his hat as well. For perhaps the first time in all her fighting career, Ayame actually winces at what happens to someone else. Cringing as Roland crashes into the bushes, Ayame opens her eyes a moment later to stare at the fallen young man.
"Uh... so... not so much practice with that one, eh?" she remarks, her grin working its way back to her face. "I don't think I want to learn that one, it looks like it's only good for self-asphyxiation. Show me something else, smart guy." Hey, it's hard to get entertainment like that! Flicking her knives closed, Ayame slides them back into the sheaths in her belt before hopping backward, feet slipping over the grass until she comes to a rest next to the cable that she had dropped earlier.
Crouching down to pick up the wire thin cabling, the girl drapes it over her shoulders, the meteor hammer dangling down on one side, the rope dart on the other. She's got time to prepare. Roland's got a bush to get himself out of after all. "Hope you're ready..." comes the warning, though her tone suggests she... really doesn't care.
Hand gripping the rope dart, Ayame tosses the small, pointed weight up into the air before kicking out, her foot connecting with the dart and sending it hurtling back in Roland's direction. The rope is too thin to follow, and about a foot from the dart itself is a red cloth, intended to distract the eyes off from the real danger. Though the weight is pointed, the damage it'll likely deal is more blunt than the two sharp knives she carved his shirt up with!
COMBATSYS: Roland dodges Ayame's Medium Fling.
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Ayame 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Roland
"Shut the hell up! I've never fought someone like me before! It's pretty goddamn confusing." He's managed to scramble to his feet, even if he inwardly realizes the chance of any meaningful success is pretty much nil at this point. Goddamnit. Well, he can at least hurt her, or blow up her skirt or something. The sky's the limit, after all. "Don't underestimate my hat." Brushing himself off, his reaction actually works well; completely ignoring her attack period, there's nothing to distract given his dive out of the way, trunk of the tree impacted instead. Landing in a barrel roll, with a loud grunt he flows a bit too fast to his feet and almost falls right back over. "Hah! Nice try! I'll show you my newest technique!!" She's seen it once before, but he'll oblige her yet again.
Leaping forward, both hands land upon the ground, before he pulls himself inwards, twisting with his knees to his chest. Muscles go taut, his physical ability shown as he unleashes a mad spiral, launching straight upwards in a more or less blatant and sloppy copy of Terry's Rising Taco. "ROLAND ROCKET~~" is roared out; he's got enough strength to get significantly airborne, and the laughable strike is quite painful if not taken TOO seriously. He's got a few aces up his sleeves... this is more an attempt to think it over further then anything else.
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Roland's Heavy Kick.
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Ayame 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Roland
If Ayame had half an idea of what Roland was thinking, she'd probably be rethinking this whole bet she's wagered with the strange fighter. She seems to have gotten him to yell though, so that's a start, his shout provoking a teethy green from the teen fighter. He warns her to not underestimate the hat and Ayame shrugs, "Sorry if I hurt its feelings." comes the obviously insincere apology.
The rope dart thunks into the tree trunk instead of Roland's chest, which results in her frowning faintly. He HAS demonstrated occasional bursts of speed that she's observed, so she shouldn't be too surprised. Maybe it's that he was able gauge the trajectory in spite the distracting red cloth that has her beginning to rethink how good the seemingly clumsy guy really is.
"All right," Ayame replies as he promises to show her something new. He comes charging at her, but his own trajectory is fairly readable. He's going for punishing damage, not finese it would seem, but Ayame is able to respond to those kinds of attacks fairly well, /typically/. A minimal step to the side keeps her from losing ground, and up goes Roland past her...
"Needs work," she critiques idly. Is the poor guy going to get any break at all?? Her hand comes up to her neck, slipping off a loop of chain dangling there. A small silver cross swings from one end, but there's nothing religious about what she's about to do... "Seems to leave you open for..." Waiting for Roland to land, Ayame attempts to loop the chain up and over his neck, "Something like this." Then it's time to try finishing the job his HAT started by drawing the chain tight and choking him from behind!
COMBATSYS: Roland fails to interrupt Armed and Dangerous from Ayame with Cha-Ching.
- Power fail! -
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Ayame 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Roland
"Haw, haw." Roland offers in a way that's just as humorless as she is. Given his own smirk it's obvious the psychological effect is still minimal, but that doesn't make his laughable style any less easy to be countered. She has finesse and precision; that's two things that this man lacks all over. He's pushed himself too airborne; that's troublesome to say the very least, trying to twist enough to prevent it from being capitalized. Again, he's got a good shot at it, but he's over exerting himself on the offense instead of maintaining a defense. "Tch–!!" His long blade erupts from his forearm, twisting around and lashing through the air in a ripple of afterimages; it might be close enough to her to shave a hair from her head, but not sufficient to land the blow. Of course, this turned his capability to defend from ‘minimal' to ‘zero'. He's taken from behind, letting out a muffled "Gack!" as it digs in. Allowing his hidden weapon to submerge anew, pristinely trimmed fingernails are unable to grasp her offense; and the weight of his heavy ass finally thudding upon the ground only adds additional strain, kicking out a moment before gathering up his legs and trying to heave himself away... causing a white-hot surge of pain, but hopefully breaking free. He'd probably say something if less out of breath and red-faced.
The hidden longblade gets close, a couple strands of hair drifting to the ground in the instant Ayame gets her chain around his neck. Drawing in close, she has him tight, drawing the chain, constricting his ability to breath. It might even call to question her intent for a moment. Does she know what the limit is or will she go too far? "I'm curious," she states, her breath brushing against his ear, "Did you make these things all yourself... or did you steal them and are still trying to figure out what to do with them?"
The simple assassination technique has Roland held for a good while, but when he drops and kicks with his legs, Ayame is faced with letting him go or trying to enter a test of brute strength to keep him from escaping.
The girl settles on the former, releasing the chain, letting it go with Roland as the man is given time to claw it off from around his neck. "I've noticed you can control chi," she remarks. Right now is her time to talk, he's probably busy enjoying the opportunity he has to breath again. "Was that trained or did you just figure stuff out? I'm not sure what to make of you." she states rather bluntly. Is he a fraud of a fighter? He /did/ land his hits on Gato, but that might've been sheer luck in the midst of confusion of a handicapped fight and nothing more...
The girl decides to demonstrate some of her own chi control, breathing in softly and beginning to draw energy up from the world around her. In a forest like this, surrounded by life, it's so much easier. Green whisps of visible chi build up around her feet, swirling up around her whole body, becoming a sky blue up near the level of her shoulders. Her hands clenched, her teeth gritted, it's clear that the chi gathering technique is a fairly difficult endeavor for the girl, something she's still getting the hang of. "Maybe you could learn to do something like this," she remarks, her voice a little strained as the spiraling energy whips at loose bits of clothing and plays with her hair.
COMBATSYS: Ayame gathers her will.
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Roland
"Gck... I made'm..." is responded once Roland is able, not in any real hurry to continue after that somewhat pathetic display. He's doing awful. This is a hell of a lot out of depth for him, compared to what he's used for; she's much better at manipulating the flow of combat, and that's just absolutely unacceptable for him. So this is the kind of level he needs to raise to!! Rubbing at the angry red line on his neck, he spits to the side while his chest continues to expand and contract in deep, gasping breathes. "I told you already! I'm self taught! Every shift and move!" Cracking his neck sharply, seeming to only cause more pain the any relief, he forsakes continuing the offensive in a desperate bid to instead gather up himself, and recover some of the dignity he just let fall a number of stories. Lacking any ability to sense energy flows, he actually has no clue what she's doing, and doesn't care to reveal that by asking. "Uh." He remains doubled over. He's going to draw blood on her before this is over. That'll make him happy. And conducive to such, he slips forward; one hand goes forward, trying to catch her by the tie. In order to violently yank down, and double her over; what would follow, were it to work sufficiently, is the base of her shirt being hefted up to completely cover he head, before a brutal kick to the ass is aimed to send her swandiving into a tree. Take that!
COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Roland's Las Vegas Strip.
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Ayame 0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0 Roland
"'Taught' might be putting it too strongly," Ayame replies with regards to him insisting that he's self taught. "What about the toys, you really did make them?" she queries, one thin eyebrow raised slightly, "They're not bad." As he remains doubled over during her little chi gathering demonstration, she's a little caught off guard by the attack as Roland makes a grab for her red necktie.
"Ack!" Ayame gasps as she's pulled forward by his hard yank... but there's something wrong, as during that yank, something comes loose in his hand. The tie itself, slipping off from around Ayame's neck, the tricky girl standing back up swiftly, barely phased at all, once again grinning broadly, "It's a trick knot," she states with a nod toward the tie in his grip.
That doesn't mean she's going to give him a break though, right hand reaching up to the top of her blouse, fingers slipping down into it just enough to close on the top of a sheathed fan. The small iron fan is drawn swiftly, flicked open in the same gesture. An old fashioned, war fan, the outter edge is bladed, making it a lot more deadly than your standard issue wind blowing fans by a large stretch. "You've got to get your head out of the clouds and fight more seriously," she remarks. "You seem like the kind've guy to draw a lot of trouble to himself. If you don't get better, it's going to catch up with you..."
And with that, Ayame steps forward, swinging out as if intending to slash at Roland with the bladed fan. But the swings are just out of reach as she deliberately draws it back... before twisting into a second step, her left hand slamming forward, palm first, as Ayame attempts to simply blast Roland with a sudden surge of bright, flashy red chi at just shy of point blank range.
COMBATSYS: Roland blocks Ayame's Midsummer Fantasy.
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Ayame 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Roland
"Shut up! The only senseis I had were when I was a quarter your age. And they didn't stick around long." Defensive, but in a snappy way of quick burned anger. Not the smoldering furnace of reckless actions and manipulations many have; all of his emotions are similar to this, actually. Like lit fireworks, popping quickly with a remarkably short fuse. Of course, finding himself with a tie, he looks at it a moment before sticking it in his pocket. Seems like he's stealing it. "Thanks." As she slips forward through, he actually manages to stretch up one foot; the steel bottom of his boot was poised to catch her arc, until she instead shifts into the masterful feint. This time, that awareness he's had is matched by proper reaction, bringing up his forearms and being blown backwards a solid meter. When they duck, his unmarred features look mildly insulted, shaking his smoking sleeves. "I'm always fighting seriously!!" is his only rejoinder. "I'll give you a taste of one of my real techniques..." Spreading his legs, he twists so his side faces Ayame, before suddenly planting one hand and vaulting over it. But he flows into green chi, giving him a mild boost of speed that makes this a far cry above Roland Rocket, or any of his other ‘tricks'; this is a true technique he's mastered, and it does show. The heel of his boot arcs in a pendulum overhead, before dropping down with the weighted heel trying to crash right atop her head with catastrophic force, not only applying gravity but all the energy of him jerking it down with a snarl. "TAKE THAT!" is called out, far too proud.
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Gold Rush from Roland with Random Strike.
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Ayame 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Roland
He pockets her tie and Ayame frowns, looking a little annoyed about that. "Hey, that's mine." she snaps, lowering the fan to her side for a moment, her left hand resting against her hip. He doesn't look interested in chatting about it though as he decides to show her just how serious he is about his techniques. What comes next is... a bit of a surprise to the girl, not expecting him to demonstrate quite that degree of dexterity after the lackluster showing he's been making so far.
He vaults into a cartwheel, his boot coming down toward the top of her head. Mistakening the impact as being merely a fancy kick, Ayame decides to contend with the strike, bringing her fan up with the intent to stop the attack short and dig the bladed edge into the back of his shin for his trouble. But the weighted heel packs a lot more punch than she had mentally calculated, leaving Ayame woefully unprepared for the force behind it.
Struck in the head, she's dropped to her hands and knees for a moment, the metal fan landing off to the side, catching herself just shy of what would have been a face plant into the dirt. "Che," she growls, pausing for a moment, deciding to forgo chasing down the fan. She's got /more/ stuff than just that, after all.
Her hand coming up to rub against the top of her head, Ayame rises to standing slowly, looking a bit more wary now.
"You happy now, you little masochist?" Roland states with a bit of a laugh, dancing backwards after his clean blow and boxing the air. He's far too satisfied for someone who has a single clean blow in a fight where he's already received a pair of crippling ones himself, especially when he has almost no chance of bridging the gap under his own power. "I've got a couple things left I can show you... They aren't too special, but..." Having reached up to touch the brim of his hat, suddenly he's lunging forward with it in tow; having sprouted out the bladed ring, and swinging down across her shirt with a grunt of exertion. A followup swing is further done, trying to rake across her in the other direction, the intent to pressure her with the small distance. "C'mon, c'mon!!" He's breathing rather hard, she'd note. He's out of his ability to summon helpful boosts of energy, but hopefully not of his capacity to put up a decent fight.
COMBATSYS: Ayame interrupts Power Strike from Roland with Dream Crushing.
- Power hit! -
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Ayame 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Roland
By the time Ayame is standing again, she has an almost... goofy grin on her face, her hand resting against the top of her head as she studies Roland for a moment, "You get one lucky hit and you think you're hot stuff, do you? I'm barely getting warmed up here. How about you? Look at you, which of us here must be the masochist, huh?" She laughs lightly, having decided she finds Roland very amusing.
"Nah, that's all right," Ayame remarks as he speaks of a a few extra things to show her. "I think I've seen enough really. I don't think there's any trick you could teach me... though... I am curious about what you did to your shoes, I suppose." He slips off his hat though, revealign the bladed ring she knew to be there from the fight with Gato. In he comes swinging, going for a slash across her shirt, but Ayame is turning to the side at the same time, resulting in his hat digging into her left shoulder rather than cleaving her blouse open. "Please, we don't know each other well enough for that," she remarks.
"Here's one you might be familiar with," the girl smirks, seemingly not too bothered by the bleeding gash in her bare skin. Her right arm draws back in that instant, and from beneath the black armband covering her forearm, a narrow blade of two feet in length springs out. Crackling with white, violent chi, Ayame drives her right arm down and forward, stabbing into Roland ruthlessly before bringing her foot up and kicking him backward, off of her weapon.
Flinging her arm out at the side to flick some of the blood off the concealed shortsword, Ayame leans her head to the side slightly as the weapon retracts into its hidden sleeve. "Hm, hm. You really need some work," the girl observes with an idle shrug.
Oh. Ow. His pride. That's what is hurting most at the moment, finding him to not only miss the mark, but be torn into like so many turkeys. Another wound mixes up nicely with those already upon his torso, shirt mere blood-soaked tatters as his stumble backwards causes him to loose his footing, landing straight on his ass. He hacks and coughs, doubling inwards and clinging to his stomach, now panting like a dog as sweat slithers along his pale face. He's lost a lot of blood, and were he to be anywhere sane he'd call it now, or at the very least have the good sense to fall unconscious. But his iron, stubborn will isn't faltering an inch. "Shut up! My tricks work fine most of the time!" He coughs, spasming and finding blood running down the corner of his mouth. "But there's still at least one thing I can do to get somethin' outta this train wreck..." Pushing himself to his feet, he wobbles dangerously before brushing at the thighs of his pants. Eyes close, before he erupts into green energy for potentially the final time. Forward he surges, distinct emerald-colored copies following behind. Both arms straighten at his side, popping out long blades in distinctive rasps before he tries to plunge them in tandem within Ayame's solar plexus; burning green chi conduited through, expression an unrepentant grin as he'd then try to brutally kick her backwards while lashing out in a slash. It's be a hundred miles from beating her... but that was obviously not the point!!
COMBATSYS: Ayame parries Roland's Jackpot!!
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Ayame 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Roland
"Is there now," she remarks in reply to there being one more trick to show. "Really should just call it quits right now," she advices, idly brushing the backs of her left hand's fingers against her blouse as if feeling woefully unthreatened. Forward he comes again, preparing the two hidden blades from his sleeve, clearly intending to skewer the girl with them and maybe take another desperate jab at her shirt while he's at it.
But the girl isn't out of counters to his assaults yet, and while he's slowing down a bit, she seems to be going fairly strong still. Her right hand slips down to her waist, clicking a buckle of one of her multiple belts... And as Roland stabs out, the girl pulls the belt off, revealing it to be a yard and a half long cable whip. The weapon coils around Roland's arms as he brings them together to plunge into her, at the same time she steps to the side, giving him a light kick to the behind to send him staggering just a little as she draws her whip back...
"And now for one of mine," the girl remarks, lashing out with the whip a second time, going for the neck again. She has a thing with strangulation, it would seem, with the way she tries to ensnare Roland and pull him back toward her. The girl will charge in and dish out a solid kick to his stomach if she's got him before backing up pulling her knee up into his stomach for a second hit, trying to behind him forward and flipping him over her knee in the end and drop him onto his back on the ground, retracting the whip when it's all send and done and letting its end rest against the ground at her side.
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Roland with Manslaughter EX.
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Ayame 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Roland
...Ah? This is a first. This move is little more then an upgraded Monte; his strongest trick – completely failed? This trump more then any other compensated for his lack of style, his lack of attention, his laziness. Seeing now that such simply won't cut it is a hard blow for him, and he truly does little of note to her follow-up assault. Doubling over the kick, ravaging his already bloodied wounds. The second incites a more loud hack, finding himself deposited in a disorganized heap on the ground. He pushes himself up, using too much raw strength without compensating for the disorientation it causes. Immediately he starts to fall again, twisting about and landing his back upon a tree. ...ah. That's all he's got. Anything more at this point is useless. For him to realize this is a true measure higher then Ayame had probably hoped. He's lost... and almost as bad as he did struggling against Dorado. "Interesting..." he grumbles, patting his hat while cupping his arm before his chest. "You've got a few moves of your own... I might just bother taking..." He could keep up with her speed, by watching her; and his sheer physical ability wasn't a totally different tier either. It's the skill. The skill! He'll catch up with her by next time, god damnit!
COMBATSYS: Roland takes no action.
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Ayame 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Roland can no longer fight.
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Ayame 0/-------/-----==|
Ayame slowly returns the whip to her waist, wrapping it around a couple of times before clicking the buckle closed. Slowly she walks over to retrieve her dropped fan, flicking it closed and sliding it back into a sheath hidden in her blouse, brown eyes on Roland the whole time as he finally ends up stumbling into the tree, propping himself up with his back.
"So what's your deal?" the girl remarks as she strides over to collect the rope dart/meteor hammer combination she dropped earlier, unclipping the weights and sliding them into a pouch affixed to one of her belts. "You don't seem like the kind of guy to make an honest living... and you don't strike me as someone who's made a lot of money fighting..."
Coiling up the cable she slides it into the pouch next, finishing her cleaning up. Fishing out a white cloth, the girl presses it against her shoulder, where he did manage to at least gouge her with that hat of his. Wincing just a little, she continues, "So you must be some kind of crook, or con man, or something of the sort." Walking back toward Roland, she stops a few feet away, her left hand resting at her hip, her right hand still holding the cloth against her cut shoulder. "I want my tie back." she notes with sudden impatience.
The remnants of Roland's shirt are torn open, as he pulls out a rather simple canister that is a bit bigger then a standard tin of tobacco. Yanking it open with his teeth, once he wipes away the stream of blood he applies a heavy salve; this seems to be coagulating it rapidly, or at the very least preventing him from horribly dying. He's deathly pale after all, and sweating a bit much. However, he doesn't show even the slightest hint of being worried or concerned for his own well being. "I'm a con artist by trade. Fighting is usually easy money. Usually!! Most people I only need one goddamn trick, maybe two. I'm not meant for fights where there's room in between..." After all, having absolutely no martial art style to pad it makes such more difficult. "Is everyone in this damn town this difficult? Jesus." At her demand for the tie, he doesn't immediately move to pull it out. "But you'll leave me here to die afterwards! So heartless." He digs within his pocket and pulls it out, dangling it from his hand. Of course, if she tried to grab it, he'd attempt to snap his hand away each time...
"Oh, there's plenty of hopeless fighters here. Just have to find 'em. Pick your fights. You start nosing around into some of the fighting pits around town and you can probably find some pretty easy pickings. Hell knows it works for me." She pauses for a moment, taking mental inventory of the many types and calibers of fighters she's encountered one way or another.
"Thing is, there's a lot that are real tough too. And you can't tell just by looking, either. I've run into high school kids that would roll the likes of you and not even skip a beat in chewing their bubblegum on their way to class." She laughs lightly at a thought of Roland trying to contend with the likes of that little monster she had the misfortune of running into at Gedo once. "Just gotta be careful."
And then out comes the tie and Ayame's left hand comes up for it before Roland snaps it just out of reach. The girl smirks back, an expression that suggests 'Yeah, not cute, but I'll let that one slide.' Thinking it was a one time thing, she reaches again, only for him to snap it out of reach again. This time she looks a lot less interested in feigning amusement, "At this rate I won't be /leaving/ you to die..." the strawberry-blonde growls.
And then she steps back, fingers coming up to rub her forehead idly. "Tell you what. You hang onto that. Think of it as a souvenir of the beatdown I gave you, ne?" Another step back is taken, the girl looking him over more carefully. He's not looking quite so bad with the salv it seems, but he's frightfully pale and she did kinda cut on him a lot. "Uh... it's a long walk back to town. You want me to call you a cab or something to pick you up off the highway?"
"Is that so." Roland takes a mental note of that; it's good advice, really. Gato was a rather menacing figure, the type of person he'd of skipped over even trying to scam, but the knowledge even high school kids might be able to absolutely punk him... well, it probably won't matter much to him in the end. He's never been one to pick his battles, only to flee when they get too intense. "If I'm gonna die, might as well be to you~" is offered, although he does blink his eyes before glowering. "Oh no! I'll give it back to you once I beat /you/ down! Don't be gettin' all complacent since you smacked me down when I was off my footin'..." It's stuffed back into a pocket, resolve firming up his features. Pushing down his hat, arms cross before his chest, which has sluggishly begun to stop bleeding. "I don't need your pity. I ain't gonna die so easy. You just be happy, Ayame... this is the only time I'll ever be this pathetic!" He doesn't get up, however; he's liable to spend the night here, but doesn't care too much. Half the time he can't afford a hotel in the first place!
"Hah," Ayame laughs as he says he'll give her the tie back when he beats her. "Guess it's a good thing I've got spares. I'll never see /that/ one again," she declares, taking another step back.
"All right, Roland. Well, in that case, I concede this high end training ground to you so you can get ready for your next loss." She waves at the clearing with a sweep of her arm before finally turning her back to the admitted con and waving over her shoulder, "Don't die here, I don't want this place to be closed off for investigation when I come back to practice again."
And with that, the girl heads for the trees, back to town, training for today well and truly concluded.
Log created on 23:30:58 04/16/2008 by Ayame, and last modified on 22:43:34 04/20/2008.