Description: It's just not training unless it hurts. K' needs practice against psi users; Shurui, against chi users. The natural conclusion should shock no one.
The sun has just begun tinting the sky yellow and red as it dips into the horizon. A cold breeze throws the cloudy shadows of people's breath askew and reminds them that winter is about to arrive, bringing with it the need for parkas and scarves. Not a problem for someone with stolen fire flowing in their veins, but for everyone else? They've made sure to bundle themselves accordingly.
Including one Shurui Chiang. Exiting the bustle and crowded chaos of Chinatown, Shurui grumbles against the cold as she waits at a crossing, taking a moment to rewrap her secondhand scarf more securely around her neck and straighten out her knit cap, bringing a mop of grey hair into view just briefly before it's hidden away again, the bottom pale tips peeking out from underneath the cap. To think, just minutes ago, in the sweaty hot kitchen of Gen's resturant, she had to strip down to her pants and white tee to keep from dying a slow death amid the hot steam and the general rushing about of her schedule.
Muscles ache as she crosses the street to the opposite side, dully trudging towards a thankfully climate-controlled apartment. What to cook tonight? Something western, probably. If she sees another bit of tofu, she'll blow chunks.
It might be cold out, the first bite of winter baring its teeth in the form of a sharp wind, but K' doesn't seem touched at all by the chill. Dressed like he thinks it's still fall, in a thin shirt, leather jacket, jeans, and fingerless gloves, he seems to have willfully decided to defy the weather even further by making his perch on the tops of the low-slung buildings in this part of town.
Leaning over the edge of his current haunt, he watches Shurui as she heads on home, not seeming to feel any qualms at all about this blatant invasion of privacy. It's for her own good that he started to keep half an eye on her walk to and from her workplace, making time in his schedule to detour and follow her along. If Vega really has his eye on her, she'll need someone looking out for her.
But like most things K' undertakes, this habit benefits him personally as well. Tracking prey like this keeps his hunting instincts sharp. He doesn't have too many opportunities to keep the skill honed anymore, not since he left his job to be inherited by Kula Diamond, and while NESTS still exists he knows it's a skill he'll need.
Straightening to a stand, K' scales up onto the railing and balances like a hawk. Head tilting slightly, he considers her path as she crosses the street towards him and begins to proceed along the sidewalk. She's not paying attention to her surroundings-- he can tell even from this distance-- and the realization narrows his yellow eyes. Maybe she needs a little bit of a lesson in what happens when she doesn't pay heed to what's going on around her... and K' is probably the last person who'd ever shy from teaching something in the meanest way possible.
There is almost no warning. Nothing but the sudden appearance of a shadow that swallows Shurui's small figure, and the sound of disrupted air. K' descends soundlessly on her, and if she isn't quick to get out of the way or defend herself, he intends to have her flipped and pinned on the ground in the space of moments.
Indeed, why not kill two birds with one stone? Or yet, three birds? Watch your ward, hone your predatory skills, *and* teach said ward a lesson? There's a fountain of oppurtunity here!
Shurui may not be paying attention to her surroundings, but where K' excels in offense, Shurui excels in defense. Or, at least, she's halfway there, enough to at least react as soon as her senses pick up on some movement that exceeds the natural static of movement around her on a day to day basis. The shadow doesn't even need to fall upon her before she begins moving; in fact, her physical eyesight would have put her at a severe disadvantage if she depended on it.
It happens in a second- K' grasps air, and Shurui's on the ground about a meter or two away, having leapt away like a lucky rabbit from a descending hawk. "K'?!" she sputters aloud, eyes wide as she scrambles to her feet, scarf and hat askew. "What the hell was that for?"
.... With psuedo-family members like these, who needs enemies?
Grinning amusedly, his bared teeth a sharp crescent of white in his shadowed face, K' straightens as if nothing had just happened, sticks his hands in his pockets, and slouches into a bored, careless stance. The entire transition from predatory focus to an indolent lack of care calls to mind the image of a cat making a haughty recovery from a failed pounce. He meant for it all to go that way, his outward demeanor screams... and then, one notices the adrenaline still gleaming under his lashes.
"Good, you -were- paying attention." And with that dismissive evaluation, K' starts to walk on, past her, not even seeming to notice her flustering. "Just wanted to make sure."
But eventually, for whatever reason, he decides to elucidate just a little more. His pace slows a little as he slants a look over his shoulder at her. "Can't be too careful, what with the kind of people you seem to be meeting..." Some of that playfulness has gone out of his expression, his customary austerity returning now that his initial pounce is over. He aims a pointed look at her, and then he turns again as if to walk off.
The sense of overbearing entitlement is amazing. To scare her out of nowhere, and then simply walk away again? Doubtless Shurui's thinking he deserves a swift kick right about now.
Ah, there's that side of him again, the side that grinned when he grabbed Shurui and hurtled down the side of the apartment building. Or course, that time, it fell short, as the girl who never even experienced things like a roller coaster ride found herself laughing in terror at the very end. And here? Well, it's not as if K' was going easy on her.
"... H-hey...." Shurui's voice is overshadowed by the overall aura of smugness as K' passes by. Why the hell was he here? Was he following her? No, that couldn't be. Had to have been a chance meeting. But what about his job? ..... what, what was his job again?
The vagueness of K''s schedule is put aside as his next words reach Shurui, changing that shocked expression to one of slight anger. "The kind of people *I* seem to be meeting? That meeting with you-know-who was sure as hell not my fault! -ey! Don't walk away from me like that!" Usually, Shurui would be calm. She would have simply walked away, not desiring to produce anymore trouble for herself, no matter how gratifiying it would have been to fight back.
K''s a different matter, even if his fighting skills far exceed Shurui's own. The fact that she considers him a close person in her life makes it completely easy for the ex-assassin to access streams of emotions usually left unexplored in the short girl. Like anger. Or, perhaps, a slightly selfish desire for occasional violence. All the things K' himself doesn't seem to ever excuse himself from, as well as other emotions that he's barely managing to explore.
And thus, Shurui rushes towards him, fist bared in a, perhaps, stupidly obvious motion for an ex-NESTS operative.
Maybe, deep inside, she desires a bit of a fight herself.
That playful, capricious side to him is a very young part of K''s personality. After all up until very recently, K' hadn't really had all that much to be playful about. Finding his sister took a great weight off him, however, and not just because her mere existence rid him of much of his loneliness and reaffirmed that he'd once been-- and could possibly again be-- a normal person. She'd also done a lot for him. She'd helped him take off that glove.
But even for all she was able to do, she still wasn't able to rid her brother of his basic impulse to be an incredible bastard.
Stalking past her, K' doesn't even flick a lash to her sudden irritation and anger. He doesn't even turn back to look at her when she insists none of it was her fault-- and then expresses justified annoyance with his blase intention to simply walk on past and away. But he is paying rather careful attention, because he's started to detect something in her voice that is very familiar. It's the sort of anger he himself feels quite frequently. The anger that spurs people to do impulsive things.
He keeps going, but he's simultaneously waiting for her to drop her restraint and just do whatever it is she's planning to do.
At her first angry step, K''s head lifts. He turns swiftly when she strikes out, and in an instant he's got her striking hand caught up in his right palm. No longer barred from sensation by a heavy metal glove, K''s eyes flicker briefly to finally feel some pain that isn't the bite of fire. "I didn't say," he starts slowly, voice low with unspecified threat as his hand closes down around hers, "you went looking for him. I said people are looking for you. You need to be prepared. So I decided to see if you were."
The fist hits at K''s hand with a hard thwack; while it's not at her full strength, it seems she's been trying to take K''s advice from earlier. "..." Shurui's anger dissolves quickly, replaced by the sharp sting of embarrassment. She let herself get carried away, when she should have held back. ".... o-oh." She looks to the side. "... Yeah, when you put it that way..."
He wanted to test her. That's a good enough reason in itself.
It's a good thing that in the end, anger aside, that Shurui doesn't take it too personally. It's just K''s nature, just like Whip's nature is to give her insanely crushing hugs. In the end, they both mean the same thing, or else K' wouldn't have bothered with her at all. His actions had spoke louder than Igniz's sweet words; as harsh and selfish they were, she could always eventually find some reason behind most of them.
That is, once she calmed down.
Her eyes, lowered in their shame, naturally follow to K''s hand, clasping over her fist. "... Are... you doing okay with your fire and all?" She then smiles, slightly, regarding the fist. "It's looking better. Your aura, that is."
K''s grasp tightens briefly around Shurui's hand, the young man staring at her with his customary watchful coldness. He doesn't make much reply when she concedes his point; he simply releases her, and leans back on his heels.
If he notices that she's embarrassed, he doesn't seem to care. He just absently flexes his right hand as he pulls it back, cracking its knuckles. But when Shurui makes note of his gloveless hand and his calmed aura, he pauses: as if unpleasantly reminded.
Casting his own hand a tired sort of glance, he eventually lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "I fought Alma to see how well I could control it." He's silent a few moments more, and then he finishes, "Mostly, I'm fine against normal people. People with chi. Your type, though... think I'm still gonna have trouble."
He doesn't seem to realize it's probably offensive, the way he just spoke of psions.
As K''s hand tightens briefly around Shurui's, his stare austere, Shurui doesn't imediately pull her hand back, waiting until K' releases it before readjusting the scarf around her neck, her breath sending a warm cloth of smoke to the air. "Good." Shurui seems pleased, eyes closing like a content kitten and gloved hands tucked safe from the cold in the pockets of her warm parka. "Whatever happened, seems to have helped. Though, I don't think you needed me to confirm for you in the first place."
Her type. "Mn?" The sound comes out as a cloud through her scarf, Shurui's face calm and thoughtful. If it could be taken as offensive, she doesn't seem to be at all offended this time around. The point K' makes is a good one; she worried about both his and Whip's tolerance for such powers, after all. "... You should probably spar with me more," she finally replies. "I'm not as strong as Alma- you'll build a resistance to the sort of power both Alma n' I have more easily. It'll help me become stronger at the same time."
It won't help him if Vega came back, but, if someone who's not as strong came snooping around, it could only help. "If we do spar," she continues, "we do it indoors. I just found this parka two weeks ago. I don't wanna get it all scruffed up if I can help it." She makes a disgusted sound, making her complaint audible whether K' chooses to safely ignore her or not. "Really, stores throw out the weirdest things. Just had a rip on the inside; sewn up it was good as new." She walks. "You going home? You're going to freeze to death eventually dressed like that."
K' doesn't seem up to discussing exactly what happened. He simply shoves his hands in his pockets, slouching irritably as he ruminates privately upon it. The ultimate conclusion he reaches-- that psions simply interfere too much with his concentration-- is one he would not normally share, the young man not being keen on discussing weakness... but perhaps he's got an ulterior motive for telling her. A motive which she hits upon before he can bring it up.
He doesn't look at her... doesn't even really react. But his quiet is more the silence of an amenable consideration than anything particularly damning. "Couldn't hurt to practice," he finally concurs, turning and starting a slow walk off. "Now or later?"
When she chides him about how he's dressed, K' laughs: and not even in the nasty way he usually does. Any kind of laughter out of him is such a rarity out of him that at first, Shurui might not even register what it is. Freeze to death? "Trust me. I won't. But if you wanna fight, yeah, we'll get inside. Not a good idea for you not to wear anything you really like if you're gonna spar me. I can't make any promises what this fire is gonna do."
Were this anyone else talking, such a statement might be susceptible to a perverted interpretation. Being that this is K', however, there's about as much chance he's being risque as there is him freezing in these temperatures.
"...." It's not as if Shurui doesn't benefit from such sparring, even if she's bound to recieve it. But K''s admittance is a strategic one, one that she could possibly help. And so, Shurui stays quiet, respectful, even, compared to the implusive punch from before. "I see no real reason to save it for later, since we're both here," Shurui answers plainly, adding, "We could use the YFCC, if you want. Unless you know of someplace else."
The laughter shocks her, but it's a pleasant shock as she identifies it as much different from the laughs she's heard from him before. So much so that she can't help but give a repressed chortle herself, her shoulders shrugging at the realization of her folly. Well, the fact that his body houses a furnace of holy fire has to count for something, right? "... I'll take your word for it. And yeah, yeah. Same here, same here."
Adjusting her cap with a gloved hand, Shurui's brown eyes turn to K'. "So. Your choice." She stuffs her hands into her pockets. "I've got no preference, as long as I won't freeze."
Laughter from K' is a strange thing. It's still not quite the unburdened sound of actual joy that most people make, and it may never lose that cynical, sardonic quality... that edge that makes you wonder if he's laughing with you-- or at you. But the fact that K' is now actually capable of a sound that isn't outright, blatantly mocking is promising.
Still, it's short-lived. Whatever amusement he might have felt dies out of him with discouraging swiftness, that far more familiar burdened look reclaiming his features. When Shurui suggests the YFCC, the young man glances in the direction of the building: having come to know Southtown intimately in all the months he's been here. "...It's close by. Nobody'll care if we use a room."
He starts off instantly, not waiting to see if Shurui's following. As usual, he isn't being too accomodating in the swift, loping pace he sets, simply expecting that the girl will find a way to keep up. They're at the door of the center in short order, and a deep familiarity with the building leads K' swiftly to the out-of-the-way practice room he's come to favor. "It's mostly," he admits suddenly, even as he pushes the door open, "that what you do makes it so hard to think. Can't afford not to, now..."
And yet, though controlling the flames is much harder without the glove doing it all for him, he doesn't sound like he regrets the change in the slightest.
Such laughter, short-lived, sardonic, or no, is something Shurui will gladly accept, even if it's through an accidental slip of judgment. He may even be laughing at her. She doesn't care.
NESTS steals or misshapes a part of everyone it touches, leaving its victims with mental scars or auras that have forgone the normalcy of natural human development. The right to laugh? They all have the right to at least that much, if they can find it and claim it as theirs.
Shurui nods in agreement as K' selects a spot, a small puff of mist sifting through her scarf at her approval. Then, when K' walks, she follows behind, naturally increasing her speed to make up for the loping pace of K''s gait. It may be an odd sight to those who chance a look, to see a tall dark-skinned young man still dressed for fall walking in long-legged steps, being followed by a much shorter girl (or an unfortunate boy) dressed in winter gear scurrying behind.
The short girl seems glad to shed herself of her winter gear as they enter the room, K''s words just beginning to register in her ear as she unwraps the scarf from her neck. Her eyes lid in thought. "Yeah. I don't really understand it that much myself." She brings a hand to pull off her knit cap to free a flurry of grey hair, static crackling. "Neither of us can really afford to be stupid about it anymore, or we'll just be a danger to each other. And..." She pauses, taking off her parka and depositing it next to the wall. "Well, dunno about you, but I don't want that. I really like living with you and Whip."
Now down to her white tee and jeans, she turns to face him. "I won't hold back; I'll fling whatever bit of my power I've got at you."
K' simply huffs a noncommittal sound to Shurui's preliminary ramblings, tolerating her thoughts and admissions with the patience typical of someone who isn't precisely listening closely. It's pretty common for K' to be absent-minded about social interactions, however-- when he isn't being outright hostile about them-- so this isn't precisely shocking or-- to those who know and understand him-- even all that offensive.
Part of that might be because he is infallible about paying attention when it actually really matters. Like, for example, when Shurui finishes her prepping and turns to him. Not having bothered with much in the way of preparation himself-- or at least, not the outward sort of preparation one can see-- K' just lifts his head and turns his gaze when she announces readiness.
"You better," is his sole response as he turns infinitesimally: facing his right shoulder towards the girl. His stance doesn't look formal or even all that ready, but by now Shurui should recognize that K' is capable of total readiness even when he looks at rest. "'m here to get used to it."
He says nothing more for the moment. It's not immediately apparent, but close inspection will eventually reveal that he is in fact concentrating more heavily than he usually has to in order to keep the fire in him under control.
COMBATSYS: Shurui has started a fight here.
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Shurui 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: K' has joined the fight here.
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
Indeed, it's all just a part of the K' package. Hardly the most offensive thing he can do is be noncommittal in how he reacts to casual conversation, and, when placed within the context of how Shurui's grown to know him, it hardly registers as offensive at all.
Hey, if he wanted to be rude, he would have told her to shut up. Well, if it wasn't for a good reason, anyway.
Thankfully, Shurui's quick to prepare once she's taken off and discarded her winter gear, freeing her body temporarily of that extra weight. She shifts her position into a ready pose, feet apart, the hand farthest away from her loosely turning into an open fist with its thumb turned inwards. She doesn't make an immediate move; at first, it could look like she was waiting for some sort of sign from K' to begin. But, if he were to look at that face of hers, eyes twinkling with inner concentration, there's another reason. She's studying him.
He's here to get used to powers like hers, but he won't take her attacks willingly. She'll have to overcome that speed of his by focusing on her strength, even at the cost of her defense, possibly shortening the span of time she'll be able to fight.
COMBATSYS: Shurui focuses on her next action.
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
As he waits, K' lets his eyes drift closed. It's a trait of his that now finds itself expressed for various reasons. It used to be that its sole application was as a taunt: the sleepy, lazy way he shuts his eyes and ignores his opponent meant to belittle and sting them into attack. Now, however, it's a means by which he can shut out unnecessary distraction in order to focus solely on his opponent... and on the fire which he must now constantly think about in order to control.
Soon enough, he reaches some semblance of stability with his own power-- but in that time frame, he hasn't been attacked, as he anticipated he might be. Cracking one yellow eye open curiously, he watches Shurui as she studies him. For a few moments, he doesn't move.
When he attacks, there is almost no bridge between his stillness and his movement. As is customary, he snaps from inaction to assault in the space of instants. He takes one step forward, turns for momentum, and cracks a swinging kick around, heel-first, in a crossing swipe from high to low. It's not a particularly fancy movement, but as he sees it... there's no rush here, no need for undue aggression. While he certainly won't give her an easy time about it, this is still a fight in which it could only help for him to feel as much of her particular brand of power as possible.
COMBATSYS: Shurui dodges K''s Medium Kick.
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
It's rather quiet in the room now, a complete change compared to the one-sided conversation a few minutes before. Shurui's taking this as seriously as K' seems to be, burning the map of his aura into her mind as he takes his own time to concentrate. Then, he makes the first move.
He's fast. Shurui barely has time to duck to the side before that heel comes swinging down, her third sense barely providing any sort of warning before he begins to visually move. Continuing to hop backwards to gain as much distance as she can manage before K' launches into his next attack, Shurui gathers her arms next to her chest and flingings them outwards.
The power she promised is revealed, then, without much gusto, in the form of a shower of grey wispy bolts, issuing forth from the momentum gained from the action of flinging open her arms.
COMBATSYS: K' just-defends Shurui's Riot Act!
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K' 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shurui
Swiveling back around to land facing Shurui again, K' holds his ground as the girl hops backwards away in a bid to open space. Straightening back up into his customary stance, he flips through his options as Shurui gathers herself to retaliate. He could try to get out of the way... could try to crush the energy with his own flames. But the idea here is for him to feel the energy itself. It's at its most disruptive when it strikes him.
As the energy cuts towards him, K' abruptly steps forwards into them. The movement, along with the sudden fire-sheathed swipe of his arm straight across the array-- which largely swats the bolts into the far wall with a series of impacts-- is as might be expected from someone actively wanting to gauge their reaction to being struck.
And there is one. Though the particular angle of his strike glanced the energy enough that it could not burn through his flames, and his forward progress in fact gave him what is likely to be a bit of unexpected ground on her, it'll be plain to see that even that slight contact rattled his concentration. The fire stutters about his arm, K' visibly fighting to keep control. He eventually gives up, and lets the flames snuff so he can properly regather them.
Nonetheless, it's a marked improvement over how his flames reacted to Alma, a few days ago. Flexing his hand absently as he focuses back on her, he decides to test her in turn: lunging forwards swiftly and leaving the ground in an unelaborate kick thrown straight at the shoulder.
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Shurui with Minutes Spike.
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K' 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Shurui
Usually, an opponent would be disappointed to see an attack fail so. A small hint of teeth betray an open-mouthed smile on the girl's face as she sees K' repell her signature attack. Despite the ripples in his firey aura that her bolts left in their wake, he's shown a grand improvement over the last time they both had sparred.
Unfortunately, Shurui cannot claim any such improvement on her side.
The resulting sound of foot meeting shoulder would have been wince-inducing if there were any observers present. However, the pain only seems to visibly manifest in a telltale temporary limp of Shurui's arm, the girl pressing forward, quite unlike the prey that would usually hold back to lick their wounds. She got caught up in K''s progress. So much so that she forgot the simple fact that she was *fighting* an ex-NESTS operative. Any further break in her own concentration will only end in pain and tears; he's not here to hold back and kid around with her. Even if the ending will be her safe either in the infirmary or at the apartment, the underlying reasons for both them sparring are serious. She won't play defense here.
She just keeps going. "-Mf!" Leaning into K''s body while the distance between them is still slight, Shurui attempts to press her good fist into K''s abdomen, applying the one-inch punch technique with an extra blast of psycho power that would hopefully hit dead center both physically and aurally.
COMBATSYS: K' endures Shurui's Velvet Fist.
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K' 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Shurui
Unlike Shurui, who's had to balance work with school with training, K' has had all the time in the world to devote to the task of mastering how to use his own grafted power. That single-minded focus on doing this thing he should have done long ago-- /learning/ how to use the flames, instead of simply throwing the task off on a mechanized glove-- is perhaps why he's been able to show swift progress ever since that day, months ago now, when he first decided he'd had enough of wearing a NESTS shackle on his hand.
The fact that he drives himself hard, however, means he has pretty much zero sympathy for anyone else unless they're pushing themselves as well. Shurui doesn't disappoint in this regard. Though she takes the full force of his attack, she keeps on going, steeling her concentration and pressing onto the offensive: just as he's told her to do in the past.
He sees the attack coming, and the tell-tale flare of grey energy around it gives him pause. Instead of trying to avoid or mitigate it, he suddenly stops dead, taking the attack full-on. Even more troubling than the physical strike, the psionic energy jolts throughout him: zeroing straight in on his mind and will. Momentarily, his grasp on the fire breaks, control slipping away-- and then he grits his teeth and forces it back.
It's painful, but he manages it. His response time is slower than it would have been if the glove had been doing all the work controlling the flames for him, but his sheer proximity to Shurui-- and the unexpectedness of the attack-- should make up for the delay. K' abruptly turns on her, his right hand slinging an abrupt-- if somewhat scattered-- burst of flames straight for her.
COMBATSYS: Shurui slows Eins Trigger from K' with Quartz Shard.
Glancing Hit
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K' 0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1 Shurui
Fighting was neccessary, but not as neccessary as eating, surviving, staying warm, and, when times got better, going to school, learning, cooking. In other words, all those sweet and sour things NESTS 'spared' their operatives, for better or worse. So, while 'weak', she suffers less from the mental ramifications.
"..." Almost in slow-motion, Shurui can spot the distortion in K''s aura from the impact of her psycho-powered fist. She fumbles backwards as, just as slowly, that same fiery energy blooms in a path following K's right hand. Her body struggles to catch up, her own arm slinging upward to summon a curve of grey energy, dissolving some of the firey scattered onslaught.
It's not enough. Shurui is knocked back by the force of K''s flame, white shirt singed and garbled hiss of pain bleeding through her teeth as she falls back and attempts to regain her wits.
It's true K' was spared the worries that plagued most people: the multitude of concerns that attended simply staying alive and trying to make a path through life. But the cost of having all his basic needs cared for by the Cartel? His ability to develop as anything but a weapon-- a killing machine that only knew how to take life. He was capable of tracking blood for miles, capable of cornering and killing almost any mark he was put to. But when it came to doing just about anything else, he was at a loss.
Right now, however, even his killing ability isn't looking too sharply honed. Though his flames are enough to largely overwhelm Shurui's reprisal, it's chiefly by simple brute force and not any kind of finesse. The flames sputter and disperse as soon as K' loses even the slightest bit of concentration over them, the additional interference of her most recent psionic attack rendering them unstable. He steps back as the girl struggles to recover, expressionless and watchful.
He doesn't come after her again immediately. Instead, he takes the time to try to focus on his fire, coaxing the ruffled energy back to some semblance of cooperativeness like an owner trying to soothe an upset cat. It's coming a little more fluently, he can tell, but it's still not good enough. He knows he can't afford all these hesitations and delays.
Normally, when he concentrated and consolidated his energy in this way, there would be some display of it. But this time, his skin is entirely silent of flames, all his efforts transpiring internally rather than manifesting in any visible way.
COMBATSYS: K' gathers his will.
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K' 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Shurui
Life has a bittersweet taste for Shurui, complex and equal in tragedy and bounty. If she had to decide how life tasted to people like K'? It would be bitter. The sweet parts may only seem false to him, instead of part of a larger whole of chance, circumstance, and will. Whip? Well, while Shurui knows nothing about her past and how the Ikari act, they seem to have provided some semblance of a family for the calm soldier, much like a wrinkled old Chinese man, retired twice over the course of his life and fierce and loving in his discipline, provided an unlikely father figure for Shurui.
And now, there's unlikely brother figures and not-as-unlikely sister figures. And the circle keeps expanding with friends, allies, and associates. That wasn't all too bad, for a girl who had to start at ground zero so many times in her life when it came to family and friends. She at least, at some point in time, had them.
Shurui stumbles and straightens, using the percieved lull in battle for what it is- a chance to recover before continuing on. Her breathing is forced to calm and steady itself, her arm flexed as much as it dared to under the threat of immenient attack. Her opponent's unnervingly effective, controlled flame or no; would she have had the same amount of success if her powers were suddenly stashed away?
COMBATSYS: Shurui gains composure.
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K' 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Shurui
Where Shurui and Whip have had the support and love of comrades and family ever since they've escaped the Cartel, K' has only had the benefit of companionship. And the difference shows starkly. While Maxima was instrumental in bringing some semblance of humanity to a child who began as little more than a savage, indifferent killer, there were things which he could not provide. Things which Shurui has experienced.
It's perhaps why the girl finds it easier to integrate and interact with other people than K'-- distant, awkward, and harsh-- does.
Still, Maxima did his job well... that job being the instilling of a certain awareness that there are such things as right and wrong. And it's that flickering, nascent sense of morality that keeps him from pushing Shurui mercilessly now... attacking relentlessly until she could no longer stand against him. --well, that and his desire to learn to counter her energy.
So he gives her a moment. But it's only a moment. K' hasn't made all -that- much progress in not being merciless quite yet. Unlike other clone models NESTS has put out, K' is not in the least crippled in his ability to hurt by lack of access to chi... and so, though he doesn't feel ready to pull out his fire again quite so soon, that fact doesn't stop him from being able to aim a potentially-painful attack at the girl nonetheless: a swift, hooking strike at her shoulder, opposite the one he hit earlier.
COMBATSYS: Shurui blocks K''s Medium Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 1/-----==/=======|=======\=------\1 Shurui
And in turn, strangely enough, whether K' intended it, he, as well as Whip, gives Shurui things she's never experienced in her short time alive. Shurui finds him rude, selfish, and bitter, but alongside that, he's loyal, stubborn, and free in a way Shurui's not sure she could appreciate, having always taken such a status for granted. Perhaps that's the bittersweet way- reclaiming something you've lost, and holding so tightly and willingly to it that you don't let go.
He's still a douche, though. That's just part of the package.
But he isn't a douche to Shurui for the way he acts now. The lull is over, and Shurui's surprised K' haven't attacked sooner. She thought he would attack as soon as his flame was harnessed properly... No, she *expected* it. It's one of the reasons K' made for a good sparring partner in her mind: he pushed her to her limits.
She didn't mind that extra second, though. It was enough to regain some of the energy that was lost, though her fatigue still plagued her. K''s foot meets a braced arm, Shurui nudging its path past her good shoulder with a grunt of effort. "... I'm going to exhaust whatever I got on you," she starts as K''s leg is nudged aside. "Don't hold back until I fall!"
Then, using her closeness to K' to her advantage, Shurui throws a punch at the young man's chest, psycho power flaring out if it connects. It will then continue in a sharp spike out his back, locking him until she ends the attack with her opposing, if somewhat disabled, fist.
COMBATSYS: K' blocks Shurui's Subtle Knife.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
K' 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Shurui
COMBATSYS: K' has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Shurui 0/-------/------=|
Freedom was not a thing that came lightly or easily to K'. Most people were born, lived, and died never knowing what a total lack of free will, autonomy, and individuality was like; but in contrast, that sort of oppression is all K' has ever known. His memories of his early life erased, the only new ones he was permitted to form those of service to NESTS and Igniz, this short year in which he has been totally free has been a tumultuous and sometimes unnerving experience for him.
It's been hard, but the difficulty of each day only made the accomplishment of getting through it-- on his own-- all the more gratifying. Certainly, there were times he hated everything for not going his way... times he almost thought longingly of days he didn't have to worry about anything except whether his next kill would manage to kill -him- first. But K' was not a personality to be easily broken down by adversity. If he was, he wouldn't have run away in the first place.
That harsh approach to life isn't one he reserves only for himself, either. He expects it of everyone he meets as well, and he's quick to scorn if he perceives others to be dicking around with what it is they've been given. It's the reason he continues to press Shurui, and the reason she doesn't have to tell him twice not to hold back.
And when the girl throws another infused strike at him, again he doesn't even try to step out of the way. He lets the blow slam straight into his right arm instead of his chest, making the unique pain and mental disturbance of the psionic force a familiar feeling... trying to learn how it works so that he can control his own energy around the disorientation. The psycho power spikes through his arm, briefly disturbing the flames already trying to gather on it... but this time, the fire doesn't go out.
K' shoves back against his guard, trying to force Shurui back at the same time he takes a few steps back of his own to open space. Slinging the fire off his arm, he smacks a kick into the burning wreath, propelling it swiftly at the girl: though with less speed than he used to be able to muster. It's one of the more complex things he's been known to do with his flames... and as such, it's something he wants to try to pull off even while her psionic energies are still chewing at the corners of his mind.
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Shurui with Second Shoot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
K' 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Shurui
The attack hits Shurui head on, propelling her back until she finally hits the mat and rolls to a stop. Still again, she forces herself up, body quivering, mouth coughing bile, but her mind still pushing onward.
You don't get many chances to push yourself like this. Even if K' left her on the mat and walked off after they were done, she wouldn't have to face any consequences other than a sore back and a need to swear at the teen next time they met. Those are better than realizing that you could die, or worse, lose your memories. Wake up in a lab.
Thankfully for K', Shurui doesn't dick around. Much. It may be that she's slacking off right now, right in front of K', with the way she doesn't immediately come at him, but all is revealed when she raises her fist in the air and slams it into the ground. Her grey hair gets pushed back from the impact, psycho power leeching out from the fist throughout the mat before quickly dissipating. No, definitely not dicking around.
COMBATSYS: K' endures Shurui's Little Earthquake.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
K' 1/---====/=======|======-\-------\0 Shurui
K' just retracts out of his attack and watches Shurui as she tumbles, coughing, to a stop. There is no discernable remorse or concern in him as he watches her pull herself back up and together. Other people who'd like to attack the girl-- NESTS, Vega-- would be ten times as harsh with her; he can't afford to hold her hand in something which ultimately amounts to training.
And even if she didn't have people after her, he probably STILL would treat her just as roughly. It's just not in his nature to take it easy.
He's thankful she doesn't seem to be taking it easy, either... not judging from the way she throws all the psi she's got at him. And, as before, he lets the blast strike him... letting the energy wreak its full disruption on him as he attempts to measure and gauge his body's reaction. A slight sound of pain escapes him as it worries at his mind, loosening his grasp on his fire: shutting his eyes, he reasserts his control. It's barely there, a tenuous thing that would slip away if he held too tight, but it's enough.
A twitch of his hand sparks the flames, the fire scissoring erratically in the air. K' pushes forwards into the gathered energy, swiping a kick at Shurui through it... trying to drive both the attack and the flames into the girl. As before, it's not as fast as it normally would be... but then, 'not as fast' in K' terms is still pretty damned fast for just about anyone else.
COMBATSYS: K' successfully hits Shurui with Second Shell.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ]
K' 1/---====/=======|=======\===----\1 Shurui
At this point, the coughing and spitting are simply temporary means of asserting control of a body that wishes to quit its exhertion. Nor is there any concern over the man's lack of remorse. Yes, he's doing exactly as she wanted in not holding back. Shurui knows just as well as K' that that the advantages of such harsh training will ultimately lead to the girl's strength increasing, while at the same time helping with K''s resistance to psion power.
Her mouth, open in a brief cough, curls in a smile. No, she's not masochistic; far from it, really. It's more that she knows she's placed her all into this match so far, even if the span of time it's taking for him to beat down her defenses is turning out much shorter than she would have hoped. Then again, that leads her to believe further in the fact that he has, indeed, improved significantly since their last fight.
Even at his slower pace, Shurui can't react quickly enough to K''s next onslaught to take it on in a measured manner. Knocked back against the mat once more, Shurui persists in getting up, insistent on getting one last move out of her body before her body gives out on her. "Ngh." Steeling her sneakers against the mat, dark eyes coarse with determination, she comes at him, attempting to land a subtle jab of grey matter against K''s chest.
If it hits, of course, the jab is simply the beginning of an onslaught of psi-laced physically attacks, the first serving as a gateway for the others to follow. When it ends, she knocks the teen back with a one-inch punch, hand still encased in grey smoke, before collapsing to the ground, chest heaving.
COMBATSYS: Shurui can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 1/---====/=======|
COMBATSYS: K' endures Shurui's Shades of Grey.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
K' 1/-======/=======|
Standing down out of his attack, K' watches as Shurui gets right back up to attack him a last time. As before, he doesn't try to move: the young man seeming happy to stand and serve as a practice target. But of course, he isn't just sitting around while she attacks him. As she strikes, he's noting the way the energy attacks him... noting how his own flames react within him. His eyes half-lid with the concentration of it, even when her final strike knocks him skidding back several inches.
He remains where he is, straightening up slightly with a hitched sort of motion, as Shurui finally gives out. Crackling the knuckles of his right hand with a flex and rolling a shoulder, he focuses for a few moments on settling the fire which-- at Shurui's instigation-- had started up angrily inside him like a swarm of particularly angry bees.
One eye eventually cracks open. Regarding the girl on the ground quietly, K' gives it a moment before he asks, "...you OK?"
It's probably a question which would be fair to ask him as well, despite his outward aplomb.
For a moment she doesn't answer, but the gradually slowing breathing provides a temporary answer. She'll definitely survive; worse has happened. K''s seen her at her worst, so allowing him to look at her without any shred of a tough act seems alright. It allows her to devote more time to a more immediate recovery- ie, sitting up. Eventually, her body stirs as she grunts an affirmative to K''s question, arms lifting to press hands against the ground.
Body wobbling as she shifts her body upwards against her legs, Shurui's eyes focus on K''s aura. She straightens. "Are you? You took every one of my attacks." She strains to look up, one eye closing as she views the upper parts of K''s body. "Hey," she starts, her voice soft. "Sit down. Wanna look at you." A strange request, out of context- hell, she's *ordering* K' to do something.
Well, okay, it's not an order. K' could walk away as he pleased; however, telling him to sit down was a better than telling him his aura's wonky. Well, not utterly so; he's managed to quell it to managable levels, but it still makes Shurui worry.
Did he push himself too far?
K' grunts a vague sound of displeasure as Shurui starts to question whether he's okay. Still stubbornly standing, he shoves his hands in his pockets and tries to hide the strain pulling at the edges of his expression. But of course, he's aware that he can't precisely hide his aura from her, even if he banishes all the stress from his outward appearance. And he can feel what Shurui sees: the fact that his fire, having been strained perhaps one too many times, is twisting within him in a disordered fashion.
He's slowly getting it under control, but apparently that's not enough to quell her concerns. When she tells him to sit so she can get a closer look at him without him standing over her, he resists for a moment... and then, slowly, he complies.
"Just need to learn to get it calmed faster," he tries to shrug it off. "Be fine when I do." But it's clear that his attention isn't entirely on her anymore so much as it is the flames.
"Nn. You just asked me if I was okay," she says, one eye closing tiredly. "Got a right to be concerned too. If something happened, what would I tell Whip, eh?" Of course, it's highly likely nothing *would* happen; K''s proving himself fully capable of slowly subduing those flames now that the fight has ended.
And he would know if it was bad- her eyes would have enlargened to the size of saucers from shock. Instead, Shurui keeps quiet a bit, lidded eyes set on K''s form as her breathing continues to slow. Her chest hurts. Her shoulder hurts. Her whole body hurts. Yet she feels alive. She survived. It's over.
When K' finally sits down, resisting her command at first, Shurui steadies herself, peering at the young man's aura.... and then coughing into her hand. "... Mph. Good fight. Really pushed me. Hope I helped you too." She sits back, wiping the spit on the palm of her hand unceremiously against her shirt. "I don't wanna encourage you to rest on your laurels, but I'm seeing a difference." She thinks, head nodding down. "... Never realized how much that glove kept you back. It's almost like it was a barrier from keeping you from owning those powers. That's a lot different from always thinking it was a part of you."
It always seemed to be a part of her, these powers. And, in a way, perhaps they were, especially if she truly was something created by science, rather than augmented like K'. She still can't figure out what's more chilling a possibility- the idea that a family is out there, waiting for a daughter whose identity was snuffed out with the loss of those precious memories, or the idea that there is no family at all- just a cold laboratory and white coats, everything scientific and exact.
"K'," she begins off-handedly, the distant tone a change from the serious one from before, "can you remember? The first memory you ever had?"
Mention of Whip's name sobers K' swiftly; he glances at Shurui briefly, his expression unreadable, before he breathes out an airy sigh and finally seems to relax to Shurui's inspection. The argument goes out of him; he just shuts his eyes quietly, and leans his jaw against the back of his hand.
When the girl comments on the fight, he eases one eye open to regard her in a sleepy sort of way. "...it helped," he admits tersely. "Any kind of practice does. Gets me more used to not having something there, doing it all for me." But at the suggestion he could in any way get complacent, he laughs a little: the sound lacking its usual bite. "Don't think it's possible for me to ever feel that at ease. Not unless NESTS imploded tomorrow."
One can always dream.
As to the glove being a barrier to ownership of the fire? "Guess you could put it that way," he mulls absently. "Sure kept me from -learning- how to use them. Kinda counterproductive, that they put something on me that perpetuated what they threw me out for... but then. Science never did have all the answers." The scathing note is back in his voice... as it always is, whenever he talks about those hated scientists. He doesn't seem aware at all that, even as he says that, Shurui might be wondering if science is her sole progenitor.
The change of topic almost catches him by surprise. His eyes blink open, turning to level a rather unsettlingly-direct stare on her, when she asks him what could amount to a very personal question. He's quiet a few moments, and then he says, "It was of my sister." His heavy tone leaves it at that.
It's low, to use Whip's name, but it's a valid one. When something happens to either sibling and Shurui is involved, she would have to answer for it, naturally. K' confirming that the match did, indeed, help him makes Shurui smile slightly in spite of herself. "Good. Maybe I'll put up more of a fight next time. I exhausted myself more quickly than I thought I would- I'm not used to going all offense."
The subject of NESTS, coupled along with K''s laugh, makes Shurui laugh in turn, albiet underneath her breath. "Heh. You and everyone here. Igniz did a very stupid thing when he directly attacked this place- now, everyone hates him." One can certainly dream.
The short girl's gaze goes to K''s glove, the cheery mood dissipating gradually from her mood like air from a balloon, replaced with something more serious. "... They did a lot of stupid things," Shurui says, slowly nodding. "I'm too scared to say that I wished they never existed, though. I dunno if me being here was due entirely to them or not." Her head lifts to glance at K''s aura, her gaze dark and melancholy. "But you wouldn't have been separated from your sister, then."
She sighs and shakes her head. "It's stupid to think of things in that way, though. Doesn't change the present, or what we need to do to keep what we're managed to gain. I'm here, so you got an extra ally. That flame's yours, and with it, you'll stop them. Or do it without it. I'll help you. Whip'll help you. Alma'll help you."
And so, she finally asked a personal question about K''s past, as carelessly as it was thrown into the conversation. Shurui's eyes close, but still seem to take in that direct stare of his. She won't say she's sorry; she'll instead act on it by stopping there. ".... Keep sparring me," she finally says as the silence passes over, rubbing her shoulder. "It'll make us both get better. If you get too used to me, grab Alma. Or Rose."
"...nnh. You'll get a balance," K' replies quietly, his eyes still closed. "Know I told you not to hold back, but that doesn't mean burning out." He leans back a little, resting his back against the nearest wall with a sigh as he brings the last of his struggling energy back under control. He doesn't try to talk any further on the subject of Whip, instead simply saying, "There'll be a lot of chances for practice."
The words could almost be taken in an ominous way.
As for wishing that NESTS never existed? K''s expression doesn't change, save that his eyes darken. He can't say he hasn't wished for that, even if the result might be that Shurui and the others created by NESTS never would have existed then. Without NESTS, he would have had a normal life. His sister. His family. The 'benefit' he's received from their interference in his life-- an undeniable power-- pales in comparison to what he would have had without. What does power matter to the ambitionless, who have no taste to conquer or dominate, but who instead want only to be like other people?
K' just nods once when Shurui finally concludes there's nothing to be done. "No point thinking that way," he reiterates... though he seems uncomfortable when she claims the flame is his. It still doesn't quite feel like his. He still thinks of it as 'stolen,' in his mind.
Finally stable, he moves to get up. Stretching to a stand in the absent manner of a cat, he drops back into a lazy sort of slouch as he peers down at her. "...not gonna try to rely on that many people, -that- much," he says slowly. He hesitates... and an eloquent shrug encapsulates much of what he was going to say next far better than any words he could muster. It says that he's not really used to having people believe in him, and he's not certain if he really likes-- or can afford-- letting it happen.
COMBATSYS: K' has ended the fight here.
"I got to do that, though," Shurui says in quiet rebuttal. "My stamina won't get any better otherwise. I'm too careful, usually." She uses her good arm to itch through her hair, shaking it to and fro as she allows it to drop beside her. Her eyes close and her head is allowed to flop forward, continuing to relax every muscle by small movements, muscles burning and then releasing their hold, moving back into place.
Shurui can only hope there's more chances. At this stage, she couldn't stand a chance with any of the people standing in her way, but later? Maybe. Her curse is her boon; she hasn't excelled in the same number of years as people like Kula, K', and Whip did, but it came with the benefit of being mentally well-adjusted in comparison. While her psyche's unusual youth can easily be taken advantage of and is brought to the forefront in select cases, she can pass for a more or less normal girl.
Well, one with grey hair. But what's grey hair when people have their hair all sorts of weird colors nowadays?
"Yeah," Shurui audibly agrees once more, her head moving in a slow nod. "We can't really apply logic. Besides, I could be like you too. Maybe I have a family out there, somewhere." Her lips upturn in a slight smile. "It's a nice thought. Can't focus on it, though; have to focus on surviving." Her gaze follows upwards as K' stands and stretches, inspiring her to do the former.
Well, somewhat. Hardly as graceful, Shurui grunts in pain as she stands up, a hand shooting to her sore shoulder as it complains from the sudden movement. "... Nn. You count this as relying on people? Never said you had to have people do things for you. Sometimes it's just something like this- experience. You gave me some, and I gave you some."
K' lifts a shoulder in a shrug at her insistence. He won't argue with her if she feels she's too careful... in part because he thinks she is as well. However, he doesn't press her on the topic of being more aggressive. It could merely be a matter of stylistic differences between his own violent approach and Shurui's measured, cautious one; and moreover, he isn't really interested in turning the girl into a clone of his own fighting style.
As for the possibility of her having a family out there? "Don't put it out of your mind," he chides; though he knows she probably knows this, he's guilty of occasionally liking to hear himself talk about his own opinions. "Never know what you might find." But he talks from experience; he certainly wasn't expecting to find his sister when he did, and might have missed it entirely if he hadn't been paying attention.
He seems in a complacent-enough mood: perhaps a consequence of the satisfaction that comes of having put in some practice and made some visible progress towards a desired goal. At the least, his interactions seem to lack their usual edge and bite.
Evidence enough of that comes when Shurui has the audacity to correct him. He just slants an eye at her noncommittally, listening in silence. "...if you put it that way," K' finally says, a shocking lack of argument-- and perhaps, even a hint of amusement-- in his voice. And with that, he starts gathering himself to head out, shouldering his jacket back on... and subtly, without speaking, waiting slightly to see if Shurui's going to come along.
To adopt a style like K''s would be impossible for Shurui, in a way. It would go against everything she's hard-wired into her brain thus far: study your enemy, strike fast, and endure until you can run away. However, there's a difference between surviving on the streets, where you're just a face among millions, and surviving when you start noticing the gaze of people who are willing to invest a little more in chasing after you, if only because you no longer have as fool-proof an anonyminity.
To be just a tad bit more agressive wouldn't hurt. She's smart enough to figure out where and how to incorporate it.
The fact that K' is encouraging *anybody* is an odd one, but within the proper context, it makes a great amount of sense. He knows that special pain that Shurui vaguely references; perhaps, in definitely knowing that he had a sister and that she existed someplace, it was made worse than what Shurui feels. The saying 'it's better to have love and lost' can't account for people who have lost most of the memories of such love.
Shurui nods. "... Right." Today seems to be a marathon of such little surprises from K', though Shurui won't let the occasion to go to her head. This, too, is part of K''s package- these rare occurances of playfulness, blunt, but useful advice, and, well, consideration. The little things, which makes them all the more meaningful when they come.
She may not ever find her family, but she doesn't find herself lonely. Picking up her winter gear quickly as K' walks, she adds, "Sometimes answers lie in front of you."
Log created on 21:34:36 11/16/2008 by K', and last modified on 23:47:07 12/08/2008.