Description: Athena may not have seen Kyo in a long time, but that doesn't mean the Kusanagi scion has changed in the slightest. When she runs into him in the park, it's to find him hucking snowballs at small children. VIOLENCE ENSUES. and maybe a date
So, it's the dying days of December; the year 2008 is drawing to a close. Christmas, which Southtown's fusion of Japan and America turns into possibly /the/ most commercialised day in the history of anything ever (beating out even the 'buy our tacky crap' day celebrated by the ancient Mesopotamians) is past... And New Years is right around the corner. That, at least, has some significance in Japan.
Uh, to most people, anyway.
Kyo Kusanagi, of course, couldn't care less. The heir of the Kusanagi clan, upholder of the traditions of Kusanagi-ryuu Kobojutsu, and inheritor of the divine Ever Burning Flames... Is throwing snowballs at a bunch of kids.
Yes, that's right. Kyo is dressed a bit warmly, with a dark winter jacket, and a woolen scarf that looks to have been knitted by somebody (probably the Kushinada, seeing as how she's the only person who can put up with him aside from his mother) is tossing snowballs at some kids. Of course, the kids are clearly enjoying it, because he's a celebrity, and hey, they're throwing snowballs back at him...
But he's not even /letting/ them actually hit. He's throwing snowballs /for keeps/. This is probably why he's never part of those youth outreach celebrity things. No no, it's always Terry /Bogard/ who's good with the kids. Whatever.
Well, it sure has significance to Athena, even if it doesn't to Kyo! The young woman, finally having gotten some time to herself considering the holidays, is spending her free time doing a little discreet shopping-- or trying to, in the midst of being accosted by people who recognize her in the street. She'd been gracious with the first few dozen, but after a while even she had started to feel a need for a little time to herself.
Resorting to hiding in a bathroom for a spell, she hastily bound up her distinct violet hair and gathered it up under her paperboy hat: which she pulled just a little lower over her face. Straightening out her skirt, pulling her coat a little tighter around herself, she heaves a little sigh and inspects her reflection. Well, good enough-- hiding the hair is half the battle.
Thusly armed, the girl shoulders back out into the cold, heading on down the street past the park... and then noticing that the park isn't empty. Pausing a moment to smile at the sight of what looks like a good snowball fight, she stands thoughtfully to one side watching. And then she realizes it's not really a good snowball fight.
A few moments later, Kyo might notice a slight, hatted figure picking her way gamely closer through the snow, only the skirt really identifying it as female. Well, the skirt, and the gentle voice; which lifts a few moments later to inquire with a patient amusedment, "Do you think that's entirely fair, Kyo?"
Whatever, it's totally a proper snowball fight. Kyo is just giving the kids an object lesson in how the real world works, free of charge.
After all, providing him with some petty amusement can hardly be called 'payment'.
"What--" Kyo starts to ask, looking over in the direction of the figure who spoke up and addressed him by his first name, which is approximately when one of the kids seizes the moment, and the Kusanagi heir gets a faceful of icy snow. It makes a quiet 'paff' noise as it breaks against his mighty head, a head of legend and myth, soaking his knitted scarf and his hair.
This is totally Athena's fault.
As Kyo brushes ice out of his hair, the kids make a quick escape, knowing well the dangers of provoking the ire of an adult - especially an adult who can summon forth flames from nothing at all. But really, he's pretty much forgotten about the loveable scamps. "Nice timing," Kyo says, more than a little sarcastically. "What, didn't you have anybody else's fun to ruin?"
Yeah, he can tell who it is. Such disguises aren't enough to fool the likes of Kyo Kusanagi. Besides, he recognised the voice.
Athena stifles a smile. She doesn't seem repentant to have gotten Kyo pegged... in fact, from the way things were going, the hit was pretty much long-overdue. Finally lifting her head to meet Kyo's gaze, the young woman pauses, and blushes a little-- the precursor to her lifting a little off her heels to reach up and brush some lingering snow off his scarf.
With great patience and the sort of beneficience only a truly mighty being can muster, Kyo graciously allows Athena to dust snow off of his scarf. Of course, he doesn't really deign to notice that there might be anything weird with the singer's behaviour. Instead, he lets out a faint, dismissive 'pff' at Athena's remark about the kids' one moment of satisfaction.
There's more of Kyo's supreme lack of anything resembling awkwardness to form a nice contrast with Athena's sudden grooming and shyness, the World Warrior instead blowing a nice frosty breath into the air as he regards the singer. She hasn't /seen/ him for a while?
"Yeah, well, I'm sure you've been busy, right? I mean you've got your--" Kyo gestures vaguely "--music career, and probably training with that nutso old drunk. Besides, don't you guys like... Fight crime or something?" Naturally, such things are generally beneath Kyo, except when he's bored or his vestigial need to 'do the right thing' is provoked. IT HAPPENS. "And, y'know, I've been beating up whatever losers they try to send after my title belt, and stuff." Stuff like 'not going to class', that's for sure. "So it's mostly your own fault."
And this is why the ladies love Kyo Kusanagi.
A shining example of the age-old incomprehensible /mystery/ that is female attraction, Athena just blushes a little more as Kyo affects his attitude of confident, disdaining lack of care. Patiently, she weathers everything Kyo has to throw-- calling her sifu a nutso old drunk, for example, and the belittling 'fight crime' bit, and even the moment when Kyo slaps the blame right smack back on her. And, bewilderingly enough, she just smiles even -more- patiently after that.
Truly a Chun-Li in miniature... the one type of person Kyo never did quite manage to come up with any way of coping with. Not yet, anyway.
"Yeah, I guess I have been busy," she admits, twining a strand of violet hair around a finger in a gesture that might almost be nervous. "Though I kind of toned back my singing for a while to focus on school and training." It's not like Athena needs the revenue from her music career to survive, anyhow. "Though I figured you were busy too..." A vaguely suspicious look crosses her face briefly at the mention of 'school,' and she starts to squint at little at Kyo as if wanting to ask the dreaded question... but in the next moment, she lets it drop.
It's his mention of fighting crime that keeps nagging at her, though, dispelling her earlier cheerful mood. There -have- been strange things going on lately. Strange feelings in the air. She frowns, as she recalls the headlines of the past few days. Murder is nothing unusual in Southtown, but this recent pattern of it has troubled her on more than one level. It's time she begin to get back into top condition. The holidays and pre-holiday season had been a blur devoted to her musical career. She'd been out of fighting so long she felt creaky when she did her kata.
"Well, my fault or not, you're here now. And I'm glad you are." Her head lifts, some of her trademark determination starting to show under the perpetual gentleness of her eyes. "There's something wrong in the city. I can feel it. So I want to be prepared." And with that, with some effort, Athena overcomes her previous shyness and blurts, "Would you spar with me? I've been practicing, but I need a real challenge." A distinct pause. "...and it would probably help if you were alert, too."
Of course, young women like Athena and Chun-Li should probably be /grateful/ that Kyo finds them so difficult to deal with on an interpersonal level; it means he can't just file them away in some prepackaged 'bothersome person' category and spend all his time belittling them and otherwise being kind of a jerk.
That said, Chun-Li sets herself up for a /lot/ of jokes at her expense. The problem comes in where they just roll off of her back.
Kyo's expression, after assigning all the blame to Athena herself, turns somewhat bewildered indeed, as the Kusanagi heir returns to an age-old conclusion, one that has provided generations of men with, if not understanding, at least some sort of reassurance of the constancy of the most incomprehensible part of the universe: Girls are /weird/. "Maybe you just had a bad burrito," Kyo suggests, on the topic of there being something 'wrong' in the city.
The /last/ thing Kyo wants is for something to stir up his often-dormant better nature, forcing him to get off of his duff and go do the /right thing/. Ugh, that's just not his style at all.
But, the blurting? "Hey, if you're that rusty, maybe you oughta try something in a slower speed," Kyo suggests, somewhere concerned and completely goddamn confused. He's pretty sure, though, that the psychic idol isn't about to go and change her mind, so whether or not she's about to reverse on her request after his somewhat dismissive response, Kyo reaches into his back pocket to fetch out his Kusanagi gloves, slipping them on. "Try to keep it interesting, at least... Maybe you can make up for chasing off the kids I was throwing snowballs at."
See? Kyo is gruff. He is not friendly. Grrr.
COMBATSYS: Kyo has started a fight here.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Athena has joined the fight here.
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Athena
"No, there's definitely something wrong," Athena insists. Persistent psionic malaises can't really be confused for anything systemic. "I don't know what. But it's coincided with all those murders in the news." Which Kyo probably didn't read about. But she seems reluctant to expound on the nature of it while she's still not certain herself what's going on. If she figures out more, it might be time then to jump out of nowhere, grab Kyo by the scruff, and herd him off to go do heroic things.
Isn't he glad Athena has decided to be around more often?
He's probably glad too that she seems entirely unfazed by his reaction to her request. In reality, she's mostly just too pleasantly surprised by the unexpected note of actual concern to notice all the glaring dismissiveness around it. "I don't get to pick what speed to go at in a real match, or in a real situation. This'll push me harder than if I just chose something easy," she replies patiently, taking a few circling steps back as she unwinds her scarf and hat and carefully hangs them up on a tree branch. "Besides, I've warmed up enough from all my walking."
Shaking out her hair and limbering up a little bit, she slowly drops herself into her balanced stance with a glimmer of overcharged energy, waiting for him to get his gloves on. His final injunction to make it interesting, to make up for her interruption of his child-tormenting? "I wouldn't dare waste your time," she replies, though by the laughing note in her voice she's obviously making fun of him.
Kyo may be able to take his own medicine pretty well, though, which means he might not be distracted enough by her teasing to be unprepared when she abruptly flicks her hands up and snaps her wrists, discharging a glittering sphere of psionic force straight for him.
COMBATSYS: Kyo overcomes Psycho Ball from Athena with Yami Barai.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
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Kyo 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Athena
Oh sure, Athena has to go and be all sensible and logical about things. Fine, if she wants to play that game!
Kyo, of course, is as dismissive as ever, and it's entirely possible that he's completely ignoring further talk about the murders and stuff. He's not quite plugging his ears with his fingers and shouting 'lalalalalala', but he might not be that far off from it.
Besides, he wasn't /tormenting/ those kids, he was showing them the most amazing time of their sad little mundane lives. Gosh.
As that sphere of psychic force comes tearing towards him, Kyo tilts his head to one side, considering. "You sure about that?" is the World Warrior's measured, level response to Athena's cheerful taunt, and he swings his right hand forward, blurring fast, unleashing a seed of flame from his fingertips. The flames rocket through the air, crashing through Athena's sphere of force, devouring it, before impacting with the snowy ground and blossoming into a streak of fire, leaving a trail of melt behind him as it continues towards Athena. "I'm already getting bored!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Athena with Yami Barai.
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Athena
Her energy countered, Athena takes one step back and braces for the impact. Perhaps misjudging how much of its kinetic force was shaved off by her own psi, the girl gets struck harder than she thought, her body folding low as she skids back through the snow. A little dazed, she shakes off the initial stun, blinking... and her violet eyes turn back towards Kyo as he makes his response.
"Bored already? It's only been two minutes," Athena eventually replies without rancor, shaking off the last of those flames with a rustling of her hair. Her patient smile never ebbs. One might expect the expression to grow taunting teeth, it seems such an unnatural response to being struck; but no, it stays perfectly guileless, perfectly without ulterior meaning. "Do you always lose steam so fast?" ...Or maybe it doesn't.
Standing straighter with a slight sigh, the girl, infuriatingly enough, simply watches Kyo. The look on her face is one of infinite calm, a slight smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "Patience."
COMBATSYS: Athena focuses on her next action.
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Kyo 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Athena
"Aren't you supposed to be a role model for the kids? Sayin' things like that." Kyo can't decide if he's appalled or proud. Maybe it's a little bit of both.
Of course, he was expecting the girl to come charging at him after something like that, rather than simply stand there and smile at him. It's a little unnerving. It's kind of weirding him out.
Right hand still aflame, Kyo raises it above his head, focusing there. Drawing on the power he's inherited, passed down from thousands of years of Kusanagi clan members. It might not be quite like Athena's Psycho Power - not even compatible - but it's a strange and mysterious power in its own right. "Sure thing, patience. Just give me enough time to crush you straight out, right?"
A smile plays over Kyo's lips, as his power builds, the snow around his feet melting visibly, forming a growing circle of thaw. "Hey, I wonder if they'd have a benefit concert for you, if I beat you down badly enough."
COMBATSYS: Kyo gathers his will.
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Kyo 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Athena
"Like what?" The look on Athena's face is one of patented innocence, but it might or might not be a front. Hey, the girl's eighteen, and she's not ALWAYS surrounded by kids...
Still watching Kyo carefully, even as he gathers all that Kusanagi flame, the girl slowly begins a measured pace towards the young heir, even as he spams his taunt button. Incongruously, Athena... laughs. "If you need that much time, go for it." She leans forward a little, hands hooking behind her back, and sways thoughtfully. "As for a concert, no need. I'll throw one for YOU anytime whenever you get beat up."
On the heels of her words, she sprints forward into a sudden attack. Lunging into the air, her slight frame wreathing abruptly in psionic flame, she twists midair and arrows back down again at an angle, aiming to slam into Kyo primarily with the force of her Psycho Power.
COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Kyo with Phoenix Arrow.
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Kyo 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Athena
What--?! Where did Athena find such hardcore sass? It might be that more than anything that puts Kyo off of his game, given that he has a relatively advantageous position, here; he doesn't have to move much to get his guard in the way, but before he can really put together a proper block, Athena and her Psycho Power crash right through it, with enough force to drive Kyo back and off of his feet...
But, at least, before he can fall to the ground, he catches himself, turning his fall into a backwards cartwheel, his scarf trailing.
"Not bad, I guess," Kyo allows. "But you're never gonna need to have a concert for me if /that's/ all you got." Naturally, Kyo is not content to simply taunt, oh no. Instead, he throws himself forward, closing with Athena at top speed, lashing out with his right fist in a hooking punch, trailing flames; an explosive eruption of orange-crimson fire is born at the point of impact, if any... And, of course, Kyo has a followup to the first attack.
Stepping in, Kyo brings up his left arm, aiming to smash his elbow down hard on top of the pop idol's pretty purple head, with another burst of Kusanagi fire; if he manages /that/, then Kyo follows her towards the ground, right fist pistoning out in a savage jab, with a third and final eruption of sacred flames. "Kch-!!"
COMBATSYS: Athena fails to reflect Aragami from Kyo with Shield Psycho Reflector EX.
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Kyo 1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1 Athena
Probably via osmosis from being in close proximity to Kyo. The girl has a very sweet face, and her kindness is undeniable, but when pressed with sassy taunts... she can usually hold her own even with the likes of Kyo. She might be a role model, but then again she's not interested in conveying the image of a girl who meekly takes everything that's thrown at her!
That's probably why, instead of trying to escape Kyo's attack, she attempts to counter it directly. A flash of psionic energy bursting to life around her hands, she starts to open the gathered force in the form of a defensive shield-- but she's a couple instants too slow. Kyo powers through her defense, catching the fragile girl with his first attack. The subsequent ones just crumples her further, knocking her prone.
Winded, the girl twists back to her feet, watching Kyo carefully through a fall of violet hair. "Quick as always," she comments, throwing her hair back over her shoulder with a toss and straightening up. "Congratulations on the title belt, by the way. You've clearly been doing a lot of fighting defending it." For a few moments, Athena almost regrets having spent such time on her music as to let her ability atrophy like this... but the feeling is evanescent.
"At least /somebody/ appreciates that fact," Kyo says. "Usually it's just a bunch of sad-sack whining about how I don't 'deserve' it." Had Kyo any real musical talent, he'd probably play a nice, tiny violin for those complainers... But alas. Mostly he just punches them in the face instead.
Recovering as Athena gets her footing back under herself again, Kyo of course meets that look from the singer with an extremely self-satisfied smirk. Isn't he a charmer?
"C'mon, this is no time to be sitting around, /Athena/!" Kyo crows, lunging at the singer. It's possible that he's getting overconfident, here. He might even make... A terrible mistake? He tries to catch the psychic idol long enough to pull her off balance, before twisting and slamming his shoulder into her, a powerful strike that would certainly be enough to send the petite girl a-flyin', if everything goes according to plan. "Hua-!!"
COMBATSYS: Athena dodges Kyo's Hatsugane.
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Kyo 1/------=/=======|=======\===----\1 Athena
"If you get it legitimately," is Athena's pragmatic declaration on the matter, "you deserve it." And that's all she has to say on that, though for a moment her expression seems stern.
No time to be sitting around, Kyo tells her. The girl, in response, just smiles obliquely. When he lunges at her, her smile widens slightly-- and then, in the next instant, she's not there anymore. The psion turns and seems to fold away in a flicker of light, winking out of sight in one last line of color.
There's barely a trail to mark where it is she's gone... up until a glitter of energy from right behind Kyo marks Athena's re-emergence. "...So let's move," she offers, nearly at his ear, as she steps fully out of her teleport... and then she leans forward, even closer. Her slight figure limns itself, in one blazing rush, in psychic flames.
The energy coalesces quickly, gathering together into whipping crystals of force that surge around her. They attempt to batter into Kyo where he stands, their psionic trails whipping through the air. They try to drive him away, herding him back with the ferocity of their assault.
COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Kyo with Shining Crystal Bit.
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Kyo 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Athena
Today, it seems, karma has it in for Kyo Kusanagi. His attempt to grab the psionic girl is fruitless, completely without fruit, as Athena vanishes before he can get a hand on her. "That must come in handy with overzealous fans," the World Warrior decides aloud, as he stumbles to regain his balance; seldom without some sort of remark to make, is Kyo Kusanagi.
Also what's up with talking right by his ear? Stalker!!
There's no time for Kyo to do much, but he tries, whirling and bringing his arms up... But even that is no match for the Psycho Power assault launched by Athena, the rushing force, the crystals of power, blasting Kyo right off of his feet, and this time he has neither the ability to catch himself, nor a suitable quip. That... That /hurt/.
For a moment, Kyo relclines in the snow, staring up at the sky. He says something, but it comes out mostly as 'burble', before he manages to rein in his faculties, and start to push himself up to his feet. "I guess that wasn't half bad," he remarks, pushing his hair back out of his face, and settling into his casual Kusanagi-ryuu stance, feet apart, fists raised loosely in front of him.
Kyo doesn't go charging after Athena, though. Maybe he's learning some of that 'patience' stuff.
COMBATSYS: Kyo focuses on his next action.
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Kyo 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Athena
It sure does. But Athena doesn't really have time to tell Kyo as much. Instead, she's busy trying to close in full the gap between them... and as Kyo can testify by the closeness of her reply, she's quite willing to sacrifice some defense in getting close enough to drastically reduce any chance of lessening or avoiding her assault.
Drifting back swiftly in the wake of her attack-- the lingering energy around her still buoying her slightly above the ground-- Athena soon finds that her wary defense is for naught. The Kusanagi heir doesn't get up quite so quickly after that one. But when he does, he makes what is-- for him-- a very large concession. He tells her it wasn't bad.
Athena smiles slightly at that-- and then a little more, to see him exercising a little of that patience they discussed earlier. The fact that this patience is probably the precursor to /horrible death/ doesn't seem to faze her, even though she's nearing the end of her rope in feasible options. Instead, she just prepares for whatever it is that's coming.
She digs in her heels, and starts watching him. Very closely.
COMBATSYS: Athena focuses on her next action.
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Kyo 1/---====/=======|-------\-------\0 Athena
"The 'monkey see, monkey do' approach to fighting, huh?" Kyo wonders; while he might find it difficult to deal with earnestly goodhearted women like Athena to the point where he can't simply brush off everything she says the way he could with other people, his ability to find something taunting to say shouldn't be underestimated.
His first words were trash talk.
Smirking, Kyo tilts his head as he regards Athena, with a slight, rueful shrug. "I guess it's /sort/ of like tactics," he decides. Of course, whether or not Athena's current approach is a viable option or not has nothing to do with it; it's whether or not he can put her off of her game. So far, no such luck. "But hey, if you like watching me so much..." Kyo breaks into a run towards Athena, kicking up a spray of white snow, his scarf trailing behind him as he leaps up off the ground, swinging one foot up in a kick aimed at the underside of the singer's jaw, strong enough to knock her up into the air... Right in time for Kyo to twist, swinging his other leg up in turn, with every intention of striking Athena a second time and driving her away. "...WATCH THIS!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Athena with 75 Shiki Kai.
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Kyo 1/--=====/=======|====---\-------\0 Athena
Where Kyo has a preternatural ability to say something about everything, Athena seems to have an equally abnormal ability to let it all roll right off her back. "Yeah... why not? You know," she replies, leaning forwards a little in an inquisitive sort of way, "monkeys DO come up with some good stuff every once in a while."
There are obviously several factors playing into this unusual exchange: the fact that there are no impressionable minds around, and the fact that Kyo also has a supernatural ability to bring out just about -anybody's- inherent sassiness. A thing not even Athena appears to be immune to... though from the good-natured, gentled look still residing in her eyes, and the amusement in her tone, she's hardly being serious or malicious about her teasing.
What she's more interested in, especially in the next second, is trying to guard against Kyo's attack: something which inherently fails once his superior strength gets pitted against her own. Her defense smashed through again, Athena has about one second to notice where she should be applying her training before the subsequent attack knocks her spinning. But she doesn't stay stunned for quite as long as Kyo might like. After a few moments, she twists in midair... and ports again abruptly, crossing the distance again and trying to close with Kyo.
A sharp forwards motion of her hand darts towards his chest, and en route it abruptly blossoms with a surge of psionic energy. And if Kyo doesn't move or else do something about it, Athena is going to attempt to open a surging shield of psionic force right IN his torso, the disc of energy whirling with circling crystals of force.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Athena's Round Psycho Reflector.
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Kyo 1/-======/=======|=====--\-------\0 Athena
Few things are quite as satisfying as kicking somebody in the head, unless maybe it's kicking them in the head /twice/. Kyo lands easily after the paired kicks, though he's not given quite as much breathing room as he would've preferred, as Athena gets right back on the ball; quick as a wink, the psychic songstress teleports across the intervening space, trying to batter him once more with her potent Psycho Power, but...
But this time, Kyo's ready.
The disc of energy and whirling crystals of force impact against Kyo's forearms rather than getting inside of him or anything otherwise extremely painful, enough residual impact to send searing pain up his arms and drive the World Warrior back, but... It's not enough to finish the job.
It does make Kyo catch on fire though.
Orange-crimson energy, divine flame, envelops Kyo's form, causing another melt of the snow beneath his feet. Heat rises off of him, with tendrils of power, and the flames concentrate in Kyo's upraised right hand. "THIS IS--" Kyo starts to bellow, his voice oddly modulated by the power emanating from him, ancient and terrifying; he sweeps his right hand out, unleashing a wave of Kusanagi flame, the fire on him peeling off to join it, to bolster it, a torrent of fire that rushes outwards like a storm, seeking to consume Athena utterly. "--THE FINISH!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Athena with Orochinagi+.
+ Epic Hit! +
> Determined Hit! <
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|=======\======-\1 Athena
Overextended, the girl is given approximately two seconds to contemplate a possible reaction. She quickly takes the only one that seems to make any sense: to get out of the way. A flicker of energy even rises around her as she tenses to flit clear, but none of it works exactly as planned. The sacred flames slam into her, her inadequate defenses against the energy-- as well as her fragile form-- easily crushed by the mere force of impact.
The rush of fire slams her clear back against a nearby tree, simultaneously sparing her from being knocked even farther back-- and nearly breaking her against the trunk. The Kusanagi flames rush onwards and past once they've expended their force upon her frame, the living fire burning with a literal fervor no chi construct could match: it blackens the bark around her, scorching at her clothes.
Dropping a bit limply, the girl falls limply to the ground. The snow has long since burnt away, meaning there's nothing to catch her when she hits. She doesn't stir for a little while... but when she does, the first expression to cross her face is that same damned smile. Her gentle face looks as if it has had something confirmed-- and also, a little bit rueful. "And people still tell you... you don't deserve it...?"
With a last flicker of energy, she draws in close-- though now, her teleport is slow enough it seems more like a glide. Without the strength to do anything particularly fancy-- with barely the strength to execute this move as she usually would-- she simply attempts to reach up to him... and then to inject Psycho Power straight into most of his major pressure points in one quick shot.
COMBATSYS: Athena can no longer fight.
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Kyo 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Athena's Super Psychic Throw.
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Kyo 0/-------/---====|
Flame still rages in the palm of Kyo's right hand as he surveys the damage done by the passing Orochinagi, and it certainly shows that he means what he says, about that being the finish. The spar is decided, as far as he's concerned, but it seems that Athena has other ideas. The World Warrior doesn't move as the songstress flits through the air towards him, applying her own mysterious power with the last of her strength, reaching out towards him... He can feel that power, one he doesn't really understand, reaching for him, and his right hand sweeps down, bringing that sacred flame into the path of the Psycho Soldier's energy.
Some gets through, sure, hitting against his arm and chest, but the Kusanagi fire devours most of the rest, leaving Kyo standing mostly unaffected by Athena's final assault. Clenching his fist, Kyo snuffs out the raging flames, scrubbing a hand through his hair as he sighs ruefully.
"Honestly, you really went all out there, didn't you?" Kyo says, mostly rhetorically. "Still wasn't good enough, but I guess it's better than you holding back and wimping out like a girl."
Sighing out a last weary breath as Kyo stops her last attack, Athena sags a bit, backs up a step, and surveys the damage. Her clothes are terribly scorched, and the sight brings a slight frown to her mouth. The look is almost unnatural on her face: a countenance built to smile. She brushes some of the ash from her skirt, a little disgruntled, and then looks for her hat and scarf to see if they've blown away.
"Of course I did," she replies absently, not really looking at Kyo as she lifts up on her toes to retrieve the hat and scarf from their branch. "I told you I wanted a challenge, didn't I? I didn't figure you'd give me one if I didn't put out the effort." When she turns around, that gentled smile is firmly back in place, the girl looking on Kyo with a distinct fondness despite her battered condition. "I'm just hoping now that you weren't TOO bored."
The girl steps daintily back towards Kyo through the snow, coming closer and closer, somehow managing to look shy and mischievous at the same time as she clasps her hands behind her back and tilts her head to peer up into his face. She's still... smiling. It might be a good time to run away. "Were you?"
Girls are weird.
Even Kyo, who is quite often an enormous jerk to virtually everyone he meets from day to day, can tell that 'frowning' is not something that looks right on the visage of Athena Asamiya, his mouth pulling into a broad, flat line and his expression turning dubious, hands settling into the pockets of his jacket after he removes the Kusanagi gloves he wears to fight. But, of course, the normally upbeat girl turns away, and by the time she's looking back at Kyo again, she looks... Back to normal?
Well, as normal as it gets considering he /set her on fire/.
"Mmph," is Kyo's noncommittal response, to Athena's questions as to his boredom. That's about all she's liable to get out of him on the subject, especially as he looks away, even as Athena peers up at his face; he's not about to get suckered in by that act. No ma'am. "I'm gonna go get a hot chocolate," Kyo declares abruptly, turning and starting to walk out of the park, obviously headed to the nearest convenient coffee shop or whatever. He doesn't get that far, though, before he sighs, and stops, and looks back over his shoulder. "You comin', or what?"
Don't think he's paying for Ms. Pop Idol, though. In fact, he might stick her with the check if he can get away with it.
Athena didn't look like she expected much of a response. It's the way of boys to be stoic and dumb about things, after all. Admitting anything to a girl-- particularly the fact that she could have been a challenge-- is anathema to them. That and he's probably at least fluent enough in how women are to know that if he looks at her right now, he'll probably doom himself.
And so, when Kyo turns away, Athena doesn't try to stop him. She just smiles to herself, a little mysteriously, and pulls her scarf a little more securely around her throat. About to walk off herself, she seems content to let Kyo find his hot chocolate in peace. But then, Kyo stops. He turns back.
The rhetorical question is unexpected enough Athena just blinks at him a few moments. The surprise doesn't last long, however, before a glad amusement crosses her gentle face. "Of course," she replies, and quickly hurries to catch up with him.
The two of them-- burnt, bloodied, bruised, and battered-- must make for quite a sight, trudging along together through the drifts of snow. But any thought that this might be anything out of the ordinary would soon be dispelled once an onlooker recognized who they were.
Log created on 17:36:05 12/28/2008 by Athena, and last modified on 16:02:07 01/04/2009.