Description: As the harsh battering of the summer sun finally fades and gives way to chillier times, the Zao Ski Resort it starting to ramp up for the season. As a combination match and advertisement, the elder Kaiwei seeks vengeance upon Reese for...for SOME reason that no one talking to him could really comprehend. Something about the devil's tail and a hand? Whatever. (Winner: Kaiwei)
Ah, it's really too bad! It's still too early in the season for the ski resort to really open up to the public. While the slops are starting to look a bit frosted in the higher elevations, there's still a lot of greenery about! Nonetheless, it's never too early to check all the machinery; lifts especially need to be tested and doublechecked, lest a stray bolt cause some unhappy accidents.
That doesn't, however, mean that some people still can't have fun. A veritable litter of children are running about on the slops, hiding between trees and overseen by their older siblings. Ah, but where is their mother? She, just today, has got a seat with the Saturday Night Fight film crew. A short, stout thing with wisps of grey in her bunned-up black hair, Kaiwei's wife sits when crossed arms, folded legs, and a disapproving frown on her face. "You'd better not mess it up this time!" she yells out to the older Chinese man off in the cleared-out, makeshift arena.
"Oh, be quiet, we'll be fine!" Kaiwei himself waves his bandaged hand off in the old crone's direction. It's the same one Reese had shot him in, but it seems that every week, the bandaging is thicker! There's a literal ball around his whole hand, coated in hard plaster that makes it look like some sort of cartoonish boxing glove. "You'll see! I'll cut the tail right off, you just watch!"
While the two go back and forth, the crew tries to finish setting up the flags and borders, everything adorned with a mix of SNF and resort logos.
An archaeologist from Australia at a ski resort in Japan? It just seems extremely odd for Reese Jones -- especially since she's never been skiing in her life, and has no desire to become a slope bunny.
Thankfully, she's not got to deal with snow, skis, or winter-wear just yet. The temperature isn't //that// chilly. The only extra thing she's keeping with her is her bomber jacket since there is a slight chill in the air.
It's the children running around that throw her from making an appropriately flashy entrance. Simply dropping off one of the lift chairs as it comes back down, she blinks. So. Many. Children.
"Cut the tail right off of what?"
And so it arrives. The moment that Reese arrives, there's a new chill in the air. Kaiwei and his dearest, both husband and wife immediately turn toward Ms. Jones with a snap. Their eyes are narrowed and their thin lips are pulled into deep frowns. As though sensing their mother's mood, the younger kids just stop their squealing and running around all at once and look at the source of the problem. Eighteen sets of eyes, all from one family, bear down on the newly-arrived woman. Not all of them bear hostility; it's mostly curiosity.
There's definitely some ire there, though.
"Why, your...!" Kaiwei points at Reese, then stops mid-sentence. His eyes narrow a little more as he looks her over time and again and again.
"I don't see any tail," the Missus says curtly.
"Maybe she's hiding it! I'm telling you, she tried to kill me with it last time!" He knocks two knuckles against his ball of plaster, indicating the injured hand. He knows what he saw! He saw a tail! And horns! And...he looks really confused that he's NOT seeing any of that today.
It's too bad that he actually got his medication today.
"Right then. That's a tad creepy," Reese mutters under her breath. Not that she's being stared at -- that's something she's quite used to. It's the fact that there are thirty-six eyes all bearing down on her at once that makes her think 'Children of the Corn'. It's a bit disconcerting.
"I'm not a bleeding kangaroo. I don't have a tail."
With that out of the way, she pushes her hat more tightly on her head and //tries// to focus. //Ignore the children//. Rolling her shoulders backward, she looks at the crazy old man and exhales a sigh. "Sorry 'bout the hand."
S...sorry? That single word causes most of the tension in Kaiwei's stance to evaporate. "Really? So, it wasn't a plot to keep me from going home?" Of course, how could Reese know anything about this? Was he wrong all this time? Should HE apologize?
"MAAAA KAAAAIWEEEEEI!"
The sudden shout comes from, of course, the little missus. "Remember what I told you! If you can't even beat this woman, don't bother trying to come home! Now go, I'm sure these people have better things to do than watch you wimp out!"
She has a point. Begrudgingly, he gives Reese a sigh and a meek shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry, but I've already been away for too long." With no other explanation of the insane situation, he bends at the knees a bit and just...vaults himself into the air in the most unusual way! He's tilted parallel to the ground, turning lengthwise while swinging out both his good arm and a leg out, like two scratchy branches jutting out of a log. A very...very crazy log.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei has started a fight here.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Reese has joined the fight here.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Reese
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei successfully hits Reese with Tooth and Nail.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Reese
Why wouldn't Reese be sorry? It's not as though she was trying to blow a hole through the poor man's hand. Especially not when he was a great help earlier in on the previous fight they had together. The shout gets her attention and she blinks at the woman.
"Why wouldn't he be able to come home?" This is probably one of the reasons she's afraid of the whole commitment thing. Being told you can't come home for losing a fight is just //nasty//.
"Been away from what for too l -- " Without any warning, she's being hit by a very crazy log of man. Staggering backward, she //glares// at him. Here she is, trying to make things right and there's all these creepy kids around, and an angry woman, and she's down already?
Unlatching the whip from her side, she snaps it twice and then narrows her eyes on the man. A quick snakekiller technique is lashed out at him, multiple times in rapid succession in order to try and bring him down to his knees.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei blocks Reese's Excavation.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Reese
It may have been a cheap hit, sure! But you know, for Kaiwei? This is worth it. For the past month, he hasn't been allowed to come home until he's proven that he didn't just run out on responsibiliy, that he ran out for a GOOD reason. Making money for his family? That's a good reason. Making an ass of himself on television? That's a bad reason. Until this point, he hadn't even SEEN his kids...nor had he gotten his medicine. Today, he has both! For some of the fight coordinators, it's kind of...odd to see him act relatively 'normal'.
"I'll explain everything afterwards," he offers, turning this way and that, trying to lessen the bite of the seemingly endless lashes. Some bounce off his new plaster shield, others will leave small welts under his clothes, but he's steadily making progress toward the eye of the storm. One foot, two feet... As soon as he thinks he's close enough to, he lurches forward and tries to snake his good arm into the fire, his hand bent at the wrist to try and jab the poor Reese's wrist; anything to keep her from flailing that whip around!
COMBATSYS: Reese counters Stealing Tiger's Meal from Kaiwei with Artifact Snare.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Reese
"Whatever ya say, mate." The Aussie really doesn't care //so// much about an explanation, but she's going to try not to lose //too// much face here. At least make the fight sporting and worth the effort of it all. She may not know all the background of it, but there's just something //wrong// with humiliating a man in front of his entire family. If this //is// his entire family.
She still can't shake the creepiness of eighteen pairs of eyes on her. Even if the majority of them //are// from children.
As the jab comes in, the whip lashes out. Part of it is instinctual, the other part is the fact that she's really not wanting to get the weapon knocked out of her hand. The end loops about Kaiwei's wrist before he can make contact. Then she quickly yanks upward to hoist the man off the ground. It takes a bit of effort to manage it, and she doesn't get him //that// far off the ground before she's tossing him toward the lift-chairs, rather than smashing him on his head in front of his children.
She's not //that// cruel.
Who's to say? If all sixteen of those boys and girls ARE his kids, perhaps there are more! Then again, it would seem a bit strange to bring four-squared kids and leave the rest at home... Maybe the bus was just full.
In any case! The woman before Kaiwei is far, far better with a whip than he had expected! As his plan to disarm her backfires, he lets out this high-pitched scream as he's slung and sent sailing! He lands right in one of those lift seats on its wire, which tugs and strains them nearly to the point of breaking. Surprisingly, it holds! Not only that, one of the commentators is quick to get his paycheck, telling the viewers at home just how safe those seats are. What a beating they take!
Still swaying as he stands up, Kaiwei holds onto the nearest wire as he shows astounding balance for a man his age. "Thank you!" For understanding? Eh!
In what appears to be an obvious mimicry of a monkey, the old geezer hops from his rocky footing, then kicks off the pillar, and from that off of a ladder below it, and from that, to the ground. Landing in a low crouch--so low that his chest and chin are very nearly touching the ground--he takes advantage of his low stands to take off like a rocket! Able to see Reese clearly for quite probably the first time ever, and without a voice whispering in his head to do otherwise, he moves in for an apparent kamikaze assault. Not having learned from the last attempt, he rushes in and...well. He stomps one foot and brings his hands forward with enough strength to send the woman flying backward down the hill, if she's not quick.
The moment may very well by ruined by his wife immediately yelling at him to stop groping other women on camera, however. Sigh.
COMBATSYS: Reese blocks Kaiwei's Pushing Hands.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Reese
Reese stands still just long enough to ensure he's not hanging himself on the wire of the chair lift, or knocked out on the chair itself. Then she's closing distance, preparing to... well take advantage of the fact that he's got to get off the chair and back on the ground before he can really attack (she hopes). The old man moves a //lot// faster than she's assumed he's going to, and she's not really got time to side-step out of his way and send him grappling at a tree.
She does stop herself from rolling down the hill like a gigantic human snow-ball though (which is great because there's not a WHOLE lot of snow on the mountain yet). The force sends her back, but she's able to catch her left foot on a rock and keep herself from careening all the way down.
With that sort of leverage, she swings her right foot around to crash it into his chest and send him down to the ground once more.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei dodges Reese's Medium Kick.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Reese
The man is just not stopping! Shouldn't a guy Kaiwei's age have to stop for prune juice or something now? His huge, dangling brows trail back above his ears as he continues to rush forward, not taking Reese's standing for an answer. He's unusually quiet compared to the last time; a fact that's got the announcer sort of scratching his head and looking at his cards. He'd prepared all sorts of witty dialogue revolving around a crazy old coot, but so far, he's just got an old coot with a lot of kids.
...He can work with that!
Still storming ahead, the elder fighter drops down on his ass, sliding down the grass slope and under the thief's leg. On his way past, his arm hooks out for her planted leg, apparently insistant on making the poor Aussie tumble down the slops one way or another.
"Will you stop playing around and HIT her already!?"
That...that was his wife, of course. He hasn't stopped nagging once since the fight started. This is what the old man wants to come home to?
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei successfully hits Reese with Improvised Throw.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Reese
The very last thing the Aussie wants to consider is that Kaiwei needs prune juice... or that he's //had// prune juice prior to the fight. That's even //more// creepy than all those kids staring at her. With the kick missing, and the old coot storming ahead, she actually //does// try to avoid the arm hooking out toward her leg.
It's as she shifts that he catches her body and down she tumbles.
Thankfully, Reese doesn't go sliding down the entire hill. Just far enough to get her pants stained with dirt, mud, and grass. Popping back up to her feet, she immediately snaps the whip toward the man in order to loop it about his throat. Then she's got every intention of choking him for a moment before using him as a paddleball with the ground.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei just-defends Reese's All About Me!
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Kaiwei 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Reese
That's what he'd been missing, you know. The support of a loved one, in whatever form, is an irreplacable pillar. It holds you up when you're feeling down and spurs you on when you're on your game.
Today, Kaiwei is obviously feeling the latter, even if, to everyone else, it just sounds like his wife is bitching him out. Strange love is still love!
"Right!"
Oh crap. Now he's hearing the voice again. It's just a little whisper, but all of this adrenaline has got his brain itching in all the wrong places. Then again, considering his actions following the word, maybe it's the right places? After having dug his heels into the soil, he'd leg his legs bunch up and used the tension to kick off into the air. Flying, falling, whatever you want to call it, he continues down the slope after Reese. He lands on one foot, bouncing off the ground as though it were the springiest marshmallow. At the same time, his arms lift up and sway to the side, one twirling at its wrist to catch? No, dissipate the force of the whip's bite. The whole length of (presumably) leather falls limp with that gentle touch as the opposing force counters it.
...And then, after that gorgeous display of finesse, he just barrels full-tilt into the woman. Body slam! Chest bump! You name it!
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei successfully hits Reese with Strong Throw.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Reese
Now isn't that just annoying? Right when Reese is //positive// she's got that attack in hand, he leaps right over it and crashes against her. How is that even remotely possible that the old man is moving like that? There's an annoying thought in the back of her head that maybe, just maybe he played up weaknesses in the previous fight, that //maybe// something about having a jillion creepy kids and a nagging wife around is actually //helping// him.
That //almost// irritates her more than knowing that Marius is going to see this fight and taunt her with it at a later date. That just //really// agitates her.
There's nothing fancy in the next move. Nothing at all exciting or flashy about it. When she's back on her feet, she kicks a pebble as she storms toward him, the handle of the whip quickly twisting toward him and angling in for a good, quick pop to his face.
COMBATSYS: Reese successfully hits Kaiwei with Jab Punch.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Reese
Music. There's beautiful, wonderful music playing. Where is it coming from? Who knows? No one can hear it but Kaiwei anyway. It's some wonderful string concerto, its volume rising with his elation. He hasn't felt this good in...in years! With a display like this, his wife will have nothing to complain about, and he'll be able to go back to his noisy household with the clambering kids and the glass-blowing shop that's been closed for a month and--
Cue the record scratch.
The whip's heel jabs into his face with a small pop, but the mental damage is far more scarring. His perfect zen moment is ruined as his foot slips out from under him, causing him to slide a few more feet down the slop. Both of his hands (yes, including the ball-hand) cover his nose, the thing searing with pain and a trickle of blood from one nostril. He stays down for a second, wide-eyed and not really comprehending what just happened. Why is he down? Why does he feel awful? "Where did the orchestra go?!" The sudden question is half-shrieked as he sits upright in a flash. "Bring them back! Bring them back bring them BACK!"
Great. She's flipped the crazy switch.
Now that he's back to 'normal', Kaiwei scrambles to his feet and rushes forth in a very messy fashion that kicks dirt and grass and pebbles out behind him. 'Running' on all fours until he's moving forward, he lets out this awful, warbling battle cry as his arms--both of them--swing out in overhead swings, his good hand hooked to swing like a scythe. The other hand? It's, uh. Just...it just tries to club the poor woman, unable to bend as he'd like it to.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei successfully hits Reese with Stealing Tiger's Meal.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Reese
There's a look of confusion on the Aussie's face when the man starts going on about the orchestra. Bring //who// back? There was something //here// to be brought back? Tipping her hat upward, she scratches her head and gives him an odd look.
Then she looks out at the children, and sighs. If it was just a shrill, nagging wife, she'd not have even humored the thought about what she's planning on doing. But those creepy eyeballs of those creepy kids watching her is just too much -- she can't dishonor the man with his entire brood watching.
So therefore, Reese just stands there as the attack comes in. Watching as the crazy old coot pretends he's an animal, and comes in to swing both arms at her. The bandaged 'club' hits her dead on, crushing her hat a little as she goes down.
And surprisingly, she's still standing.
Looping the whip about her arm, she reaches for one of the guns. Focusing on it, she makes a face and then fires off an energy-bullet in his general direction.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei fails to reflect Projectile Point from Reese with Rooster Tail Hides the Sun.
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Kaiwei 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Reese
"The orchestra! The strings, and the... The THINGS!" He's really getting worked up about it now. And why wouldn't he? An entire orchestra just disappearing would be weird, right? One APPEARING out of nowhere, however, is totally acceptable.
After raking and clubbing the crap out of the younger woman, Kaiwei settles in with his feet apart, standing sideways in comparison. His bad hand is lifted upward toward the top of the slope, the other drooping down low, nearly to his knees. It looks like he's ready to catch a giant beach ball or something, were his head not in the way. When she she's still UP, even he looks surprised.
"I thought for sure that would have done it, too," he says, gaze glancing to just to his side. Is it a tree? Is it a bush? Who knows what he's talking to? But sure enough, he IS talking where no one can be seen. "I think I said it last time, but you're really stuuuuOOOH GOD!" He tries, he really tries, to pull his hands together and face the danger head-on. Where a normal person would jump out of the way, he tries to enforce his crazy old man magics to turn the bullet AROUND. He fails spectacularly as the thing goes through his cast with an amazing shatter of powder and an immediate howl of sheer agony. God, it's just...god! Right through the hole! Really, how does that even happen?!
"Maybe I'm not //that// sorry," Reese mutters. Even so, she's left blinking at his antics as she holsters the gun again. "I've no clue what you're blathering on about, mate. There's no orchestra here."
She knows that she's in relatively bad shape. Still, she's pushing up onto shaking footing. For a second, she actually physically wobbles. Then she takes a deep breath and stares at him. "Would you stop that howling? It can't hurt //that// much."
To prove her point, Reese takes a step backward, and then lashes a foot forward at the hand. She may not be cruel, but she really doesn't have a whole lot of energy left to do much else.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei interrupts Light Kick from Reese with Pushing Hands.
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Kaiwei 1/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Reese
"Can't hurt?!" He just looks...he can't -believe- that she just said that! Kaiwei is just dumbfounded, flabberghasted, and all that crap, all at once! "I knew you'd bring your tail back out! I knew--"
But she's quick to try and capitalize on the opportunity! Kids or not, the old man is honest with whatever he's feeling, and right now, he's feeling pain. Also, indignation. It can't hurt that much? Does she KNOW how old bodies feel pain? Has SHE ever had a hole shot through her hand? Twice? "You can't take it baaaack!" Again, the warbling voice comes as he lurches forward. The kick smashes into his forearm, knocking the injured arm well to the side. The left hand, though? It finds solid purchase on the woman's stomach. For such a geezer, he sure can push. The imprint of his hand will be a red mark for at least a few hours as he, this time, sends her UP the slope from below!
"Devil! Stay down this time, and let me have my happiness!"
"OOOOOOUUUF."
Reese certainly feels the punch. It has her rolling //up// the slope now. At least a little way. Then she begins rolling back down. Tumbling past Kaiwei, she just makes a lot of 'ow' 'ouf' 'gah' noises until her body seems to crumple to a halt about ten feet away.
The Aussie is down for the count. At least for a moment.
Then her hands shakily set to her guns and she focuses //all// of her remaining energy and chi into them, causing them to glow a silvery blue before she angles them toward the other fighter.
There's still no orchestra for the woman, only the loud noises in her head -- the ones that are pounding on drums and whistling through a didgeridoo. Even then, she tries to focus on Kaiwei. Tries to fire off a barrage of chi at the man. Tiny little shapes at first that come together as a sort of 'super chi-bullet' to explode before she passes out and rolls the rest of the way down the hill.
COMBATSYS: Reese can no longer fight.
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Kaiwei 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei blocks Reese's Number One With a Bang!.
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Kaiwei 1/------=/=======|
It's kind of funny, actually, seeing Reese go up...then tumbling back down. He has the good sense to wince as she goes rolling like a tumbleweed, and when she seems to stay down, he extends his neck a little, looking over the downed combatant. Did she...did she listen to him? Is she down?
"I... I won? I won! I won!! Kids! Daddy won!!" Forgetting all about the pain in his hand, he starts running back up the slope toward his gathered family. Ah, but Reese, she's not QUITE done, it seems! A sneak attack (through no fault of her own, honestly) rings out. "What? What do you want? I'm --AAAAAAH!" Having had his attention directed behind him by the voices in his head, all he sees is one mass of SOMETHING coming at him. "The devil's vengeance! NOOO!!"
Crossing both arms before him, he catches the horribly, obviously-demonic assault square in the chest, weathered by the fact that his arms soak up a lot of the beating. It's still enough to send him up the slope and onto his butt, however...and...just like the thief herself, his panic makes him unable to stop himself from tumbling back down. Unlike her, Kaiwei doesn't stop nearby. There's a lot of yelling, a lot of pained noises, and a lot of an old fart in yellow and orange clothing making his way to the bottom of the slopes.
It's okay, though. SOMEONE will stop him. Maybe a wall.
COMBATSYS: Kaiwei has ended the fight here.
Log created on 15:37:15 10/16/2011 by Reese, and last modified on 09:35:32 10/17/2011.