Description: Swimsuits! With ice skates! What's a tournament without a little fan service? The stunning Lili in a pearly white bikini, lovely Jira letting loose in a slinky one-piece, cutesy Munin dressed in a frilly two-piece, or Kula, who is too young to describe in a manner like that. Ahhh, the Gulf may be frozen over, but the sun is still hot, and there's still plenty to see as the pretty ladies of the Gaia Tournament... Have a good old fashioned BEATDOWN on the coastal shores of Malaysia. Bring some pillows for those buns, ladies, because the winner will be decided not by the victor, but by your match spectators! Points will be awarded based on a scale of one to ten, so skate well (or skate poorly if you're a rebel), fight better, and keep your swimsuits on, there's children watching.
The venue is the stage of untold economic and environmental disaster: the frozen Gulf of Thailand itself. So swift was the change in conditions, the surface of the once liquid ocean is far from smooth. From the ice blanketed coast, one can see the frozen undulations, waves turned to ice even as they swelled across the ocean. Ships, ports, boats, and debris all rest frozen where they were when the unrelenting permafrost surged across the region.
Like other events organized by the Gaia Tournament, a contest has been scheduled here, proceeds dedicated to the aid of ice-tormented residents of the neighboring countries. A section of the frozen sea has been smothed over by ice grinders and zambonis that had to be flown in during the hours leading up to the match, leaving a slick, glistening surface - currently pristine pending the match about to take place.
The severity of the crisis surrounding this region is entirely lost on one participant of the match - to her eyes, the gulf has become a marvelous winter wonderland in a time of year where such environments are typically only found at the poles. First up for consideration by the judges: Kula Diamond, recorded age of 15, clothed in a pink lace-trimmed one piece with a flowing, light skirt at her waist. On her hands are ill-matching but necessary yellow, leather gloves, that detract from the ensemble somewhat, and on her feet are white boots that don't initially appear to be skates. Starting from the shore, she takes to the ice as if she was born there, running and skipping over the crests of the frozen waves only to leap the final few yards onto the slick surface intended for the skating bout to take place.
She lands with an easy slide, blades made of ice every bit as solid as the rink appearing beneath her boots, she clasps her hands behind her back and skates around the outer circumference, achieving blistering speed as she wisks past the established judges booth (thankfully their chairs are on an elevated platform and not right on the ice itself), long, cerulean hair trailing behind her.
She's content to simply skate circles around the rink while waiting for the rest to enter, though there is a rare glimmer of excitement in her crimson eyes, her mouth curled just slightly at the edges. Unlike most of her assigned appearances, she seems to be having fun. That she is up against three other capable fighters in both combat and skating prowess speaks to the renown her track record holds - this young looking Ice Princess is not to be taken lightly!
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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|=------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Lili has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Lili 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Munin has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Munin 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Kula
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Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Jira has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Jira 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kula
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Munin 0/-------/-======|
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Lili 0/-------/-------|
Out of the frying pan, to the sassy brick oven, and now in the freezer. Jira was really caught off her balance with the recent multitude of travel lately- but atleast she got excellent service on her earpiece and lackeys! She's sitting on the beach with a pair of escorts flanking her in folding, plastic chairs. She herself is atop a 'Viva France' towel with designs of baguettes, berets, handlebar moustaches, mugs of steamy coffee, and mime masks scattered about it. And the Eiffel tower in multiple places. But none of those things are important, the important thing was the invitation she had received to meet at the gulf for a figure skating and swimsuit contest, and to wear a one-piece.
That was perhaps the only time she'd dipped into her sensei's favour, to get an appropriate outfit for this event- and she wasn't disappointed too greatly. She even arrived early to better familiarize herself and to center herself before starting
clad in only her one-piece sling bikini, Jira is the part of the opposing three against the Kula girl (as noted on her card). Her stillness fades when the talented skater gets to the ice she stands onto her feet with a flickering pink light covering said extremities and a brilliant glow from her eyes. She steps off the towel and lowers into a sprinting start- then takes off to the ice with a cloud of sand in her wake and an arm holding her chest steady.
As soon as she hits the waves she jumps upwards with a burst of precharged energy and clean on the cleared ring with a gloomy and tormented scream in the wake of her leap.
The flashing cover on her bare feet intensifies and her gun manifests itself in her left hand. She gives a wave to the judges' booth and suddenly tugs forward on the ice, gliding over it on a layer of psycho energy and propelled by her will in a buzzing hourglass while she waits for the rest.
Behind Jira, somewhat slowly, skates a very uncomfortable Munin. She's clad in a dark purple one-piece swimsuit, and her matching sunglasses (https://img0.etsystatic.com/027/1/9257047/il_340x270.591847604_4wki.jpg), along with a pair of rented ice-skates upon which she doesn't look entirely stable. She mentally kicks herself for having never been ice-skating before.
She sees Kula having her fun, and Jiras psi-fuelled display, and puts on her game face as best she can. Pushing off, she is able to work up some shakey speed. While she is able to figure out enough to manuever and get speed, there is no flash compared to the other twos displays. She continues to simply skate around normally, adjusting to the sensation as practice while waiting, a small violet glow enveloping her exposed arms and legs as she goes.
It's cold.
Ridiculously cold.
Prohibitively cold.
...Okay maybe it's not THAT cold.
The temperature aside, here they were, decked out in swimsuits and skates for what appeared to be the dumbest contest the platinum blonde haired girl had laid her eyes upon in quite a while. Thank the lord that wasn't too cold, or else she would have been giving the tournament committee an earful somehow, someway! Never underestimate Emilie De'Rochefort!
But no. Lili was a woman of poise and grace! No amount of cold would shake her image! And thus, here she stood, at the edge of the arena, decked out in a pure, white bikini. Her eyes followed the girl with the blue hair as she made the first foray into the arena. "Hmph, well, someone seems to be enjoying this." That made one of them so far. "Alas, in the end, all I must do is win. Hardly a problem."
Chuckling in a self confident manner, Lili made the first step onto the ice, pushing into a slide that began a graceful display of skating skill. Figures the rich girl would have had the time to learn something as random as this. "This is will be child's play, of course." Someone should talk to her about a little thing called teamwork though. She seems to have forgotten all about it.
But then, who was surprised by that really?
It was supposed to be a simple trip. Drop his cousin off at Thailand, see what was going on, and leave with Alma to explore Paris to investigate the commotion.. Jiro did not care too much for the cold, truth be told. On the other hand, it is even stranger Nevertheless, Jiro wanted to take a moment to appreciate the sight with his long-time friend Alma, and leave.
...Things did not work as intended.
Currently, Jiro is sitting at the judge's desk in the normal attire of his street clothes, glaring right at Alma. He is crossed, glaring daggers at Alma. How did they get rope into this again? Jiro reminences briefly..
CHIBI THEATER TIME
Chibi Host: *runs to Jiro and Alma* You two are fighters, right?! We need your help! The judges slipped on the ice and hit their heads!
Chibi Jiro: What a shame. We have to go--
Chibi Alma: Ah, we shall assist with judging, then.
Chibi Jiro: WHAT?! No! SCREW YOU! We have things to do!
Chibi Alma: There is nothing more important than bearing witness to the fighting spirit of those exerting themselves to the utmost... in bikinis.
Chibi Jiro: ....... skhfalhaljhsaljkdhasjkhdasjkdhasjdhajslhda Oh my god I hate you right now.
Reminiscing ending, Jiro is just glaring at Alma while tapping his fingers across the announcer table. "Some things never change..." Rolling his eyes, Jiro grumbles, "...Let's just get this shit over with. And why the hell is it not cold here?! Not that I am really complaining or anything." He plants his face against the table.
When Kula makes her way over towards the environmental sight, Jiro's eyes widen. "Ahh...." He furrows his eyebrow. "I..." Jiro looks uneasy, almost a smile forming while he straightens up. "...Well... she looks cute in the outfit at least."
And then enter Jira. There is a glance over towards her sling bikini attire. Jiro cringes. "...Seriously?" He lowers his head, burying his face into his hands.
Munin's entrance is given a once over, "Huh, not too bad, truth be told." He gives a thoughtful smile.
And then, the entrance of the rich girl, Emilie De'Rochefort makes her appearance. "...Heh. This is not too bad either." He looks more thoughtful, "I guess it's not -too- bad, overall."
Around and around Kula goes, hands clasped behind her back, moving easily over the ice at what would be reckless speeds if not for her self-evident skill in it. Being challenged to fight against numbers stacked against her is compatible with her combat programming, algorithms already spinning up as each entrant is observed, albeit only passively via occasional glances, the girl appearing to be too caught up in the liberating field of ice to pay too much attention to the rest.
It's only when all three have entered the rink that she starts to turn her focus to them in turn. Munin's somewhat aldroit entrance gets her deprioritized as a threat, either in combat or in the vastly more important battle of /skating/. Lili, on the other hand, appears to be a legitimate threat. Her poise. Her ease of movement across the ice. Her confidence. Her enviable physical form. The girl frowns a little, deciding she needs to up her show a little accordingly.
A kick into an aerial pirouette, her arms folding up over her head, a thousand shards of ice spiraling out from around her, glinting in the still warm sun overhead forms the prelude of her landing into an even faster dive, ice spraying up to the left as she cuts hard to the side, gouging a line in the smoothed surface, every movement executed with natural grace.
She's coming out of another spin on her toes when she finally sets eyes on Jira and takes the moment to study her. Crimson eyes blink, Kula coming to an abrupt stop, more ice sprayed as she digs in with the necessary friction, now openly staring at Jira. Eyes widen a little, hands coming up to cover her mouth, barely hiding the bemused smile breaking out from behind her fingers - a girlish snicker of barely restrained laughter escapes her lips.
"I'm sorry. But, what-... what happened to your swimsuit?"
The occupants of the judges booth are not identified as of yet, her focus is on those on the ice, her partners and opponents in this supposedly charitable event. Shaking her head, she turns her attention back to Lili. The judging by be in skating, but if her opponents can't move, she wins by default, right? That might be the cold rationalization behind her bolting toward the beautiful blond, kicking off the ice into a spin, right foot extended, bladed skate threatening to slash the other girl's thigh or side if she is unable to defend herself quickly enough. A high defense would need to be followed by escaping low as well, as Kula lands on her left foot and spins her right out one more time toward Lili's shins with surprising level of force brought by the momentum she carries.
"Did you say this was child's play?" the NESTS-bred weapon wonders out loud as she begins her assault, "I wish it could be..."
Alma, having reverted from chibi form, is now seated gracefully upon a judge's seat, his arms crossed before him, providing leverage to the one hand that cups his chin. Contemplatively he regards his surroundings, his gaze taking in the bizarre sight of a tropical beach with its waters frozen solid, of a struggling people gathered to watch an evidently pandering but undeniably entertaining display, and of the skaters themselves, who display their prowess for his discerning eyes.
"No, it's impossible to decide," at last he concludes. "I don't know which of their swimsuits would look best on me."
He turns to Jiro, whose mood appears to be brightening, and nods with satisfaction, glad at his old friend understands. "This is crucial reconnaissance," he reaffirms. "While here, we can study more of the afflicted areas." That he can do so while reveling in the competitive spirits of these warriors turned skating queens is all the better. His psychic senses are attuned to their varying levels of conviction, despondence, arrogance, and desire for ice cream. But what do his eyes see?
"Kula is a prodigy as ever," he remarks, "but Munin's honest effort will make her an appealing underdog in this confrontation." What is their judging rubric, exactly, anyway? The microphones are trained on them just as the cameras are trained on the fighters, and Alma speaks without hesitation. "Ms. de'Rochefort is well-suited for this battle, and I look forward to seeing her integration of combat and skating skill. But Jira--" He turns to Jiro, who is burying his head in his hands over his cousin, and nods. "I think we're all thinking the same thing here. That swimsuit--"
Alma frowns.
"--is structurally unsound."
Jira maintains her hard-angled hourglass slide over the ice, keeping her right hand open and near her left elbow at all times while she eyes all the entrants and spots familiar faces in the booths. None of them truly matter for the moment, she wasn't even thinking about skating to win. She absolutely had to get as much fight in as she could.
The remarks to her suit are largely ignored when the material lights up with detailed floral patterns, of a tangled mass of rosebuds caught in a web of thorns. All in pink. For her, the time passes uneventfully with a mental stillness akin to the frozen waves and simply stares at the aggressing girl. A cold, predatory gaze that doesn't shake from her form that is accompanied by a sharp, overt tremble convulsing through her form. She has found her target, picking up the speed of her sliding on the ice she builds up a bright and luminous glow around her form in preparation to strike. Soon, not yet.
COMBATSYS: Jira focuses on her next action.
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Jira 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
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Munin 0/-------/-======|
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Lili 0/-------/-------|
For all the objective of the match, Munin is, at heart, more focused on fighting than skating. As she skates around, her familiarity with the sensations and balance improve, though only in basic areas. Still, when Kula makes her move, everything fades from her mind other than three things: environmental advantages, her teammates, and most importantly, the target to defeat. Even the judges fade from Munins mind.
As she skates around, speed is built. She turns suddenly, one leg slipping slightly and almost sending her on her face as she moves in on Kulas side. Closing the distance quickly, she suddenly splits in two, one Munin going left and coming up in an upward kick with a violet-glowing ice-skate, while the other goes right with an equally-glowing palm strike!
"Don't let yourself get too distracted, pardner!"
That is the cry from the tall, thirty-something woman sitting beside him, on the side opposite of Alma. Slapping him on the shoulder, the freckled-face woman in full cowgirl regelia was smiling bright. Lightning Spangles was also invited as a judge. She lacks a chibi adventure on how it happened. But lets be honest. Does it surprise you that she didn't have a problem coming here? Already, she was throwing an arm over Jiro, smiling a full, toothy smile at the other judge as she leans in way too close. "Boy howdy, kid! Let me tell you, if you think they are pretty, well you should have seen me when I was your age. I used to model for everything that Disney owned! ESPN, ABC, I even did a cute number on an inset with Adventure comics! And let me tell you, boy, I could wear swimsuit better than all of those ladies, boys. Evne that saucy number from that Jira girl! Woo wee! I could imagine myself in a number like that one."
"Can you, pardner?"
There is a pause before Jezebel gives Jiro another slap on the shoulder "Hah hah hah! Woooo WEE! I'm just kidding pardner. I don't do that kind of stuff anymore. Whew! This is really something! Oh! Howdy folks!" Jezebel was suddenly looking forward, as if there was a camera. "I'm Lightning Spangles, the All-American Hero! And let me tell ya, I'm a judge for this skating competition! I'm not gonna do this alone, so let me show you my special helpers!"
She motions across the table.
"Now, right here are my deputies Alma and Jiro! Jiro here is just a kid, a hot-blooded teenager that's here to give us all a good rating on the prettyiness and outright sexiness of all these skaters!" She nudges Jiro, and gives him a wink. "Looks like he is already getting right on that! And over there, we got my good friend Alma! He's here to give commentary and rich analysis on the elegance of the fighters, outside of their fashion and appearance!"
"But wait a minute."
Jezebel grabs her hat, looking shocked.
"Where are your deputy badges!?!"
Gasping, Jezebel stands right up. "Well, pardners, this just won't do! If you are gonna be my Official Lightning Spangles Show Up Hoe Down Skating Deputy Judges, then you gotta have the Official Lightning Spangles Show Up Hoe Down Skating Deputy Badges! Fortunately, I got that all taken care of!" A balding man sneaks up by the table, and places two badges right by Lightning Spangles hands. She grabs them, and holds them up. "Now I got two right just here! So come on, pardners! Lets put them right on you, so you can properly judge all those beautiful ladies!"
She tosses the badges down the table, one stopping right in front of the two men.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Lili with Ray Spin.
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Jira 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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Munin 0/-------/-======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/---====|
Meanwhile, somewhere on the ice, an aging man with long hair, a headband, a moustache, and dress-like pants slides by on the ice in his... socks? He doesn't look too happy about this, but he slides by so fast that it's a blink-it-and-you-miss-it moment.
He's holding a paper up, but there doesn't appear to be anything on it. Is he holding it the wrong way? He seems to slide off and disappear almost as quickly as he appears...
As Lili skated her way through the arena, she could only smirk at the comments of the judges. Inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Right now, her sole priority would have to be her opponent. She was clearly far too skilled at this. As if she was in her element entirely. And it would seem that the other thought the same thing. Soon they were skating toward one another, intent to make contact.
Kula got the first strike. The blonde didn't panic however as the girl displayed her frightening skill. Instead, she only smiled and weaved through the show of force. And then--
--They stopped.
Lili, at the same time, took the moment to look at Jira as well. "....Oh my." She placed a hand upon her cheek, looking both amused and concerned at the same time. "If you require the funds to purchase a proper swimsuit, I have no qualms about providing just that." Her smile widened a bit at Jira's expense then.
And then it was back to business. Her eyes met Kula's and they were back at it. Watching the other girl leap into the air with a mystefying combo of kicks, Lili was rather caught off guard, taking the blow to her shins fully.
"Why you-!" She didn't fall onto the ice however. Lurching her body in mid-fall, the blonde did a quick handstand, and then used the momentum to flip forward, lashing out at Kula with a series of kicks in retaliation.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Munin's Mirror Image.
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Jira 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
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Munin 0/-------/-======|
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Lili 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Lili's Angel Knee Ascension.
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Jira 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/-======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/---====|
"I swear to God that I will deck you in the face, Alma." Jiro snaps at his MUCH older friend as he comments about the swim suits looking best on him, "That is the last reminder that I need. ... I think we get enough of people trying to ship us together." He places a hand to his forehead, rubbing it annoyedly.
While glancing back towards Munin, Jiro looks back at Alma with a thoughtful look, "You're right. I will admit..." With a flicker of his gaze, the eyes become wild-like; changing from normal blue eyes to green slits, "... I do appreciate the underdogs." The fanged smile forms from the man. The feral nature subsides at the remark on his cousin.
"....%$&@ my lif--RHGNK!!!"
What comes as a huge surprise is the appearance of Jezebel, who flings herself over to wrap an arm over the young man. He looks a bit whiplashed. While he is trying to recollect himself, his eyes wheel over towards the older woman before him. He furrows his eyebrows, but he falls silent a bit later. To be fair, she -does- look pleasant in the eyes.
"...Huh, is that so...?"
For a moment, Jiro looks pretty interested in hearing her tale. Younger days and being a model everywhere. At the comment about the sling bikini, however, Jiro is shuddering. "... I... I think any other bikini would work fine, real----OOF!"
Jiro's head smacks against the table. ...God. Why. What did he do to deserve this?
Once the camera pans over at him at the introduction of himself and Alma, he adopts a look that is similar to that of a deer in headlights. He doesn't move. He doesn't blink. Jiro is not quite fond of public speaking.
Wh--why not? He is going to entertain this. He slowly pins the badge on, still maintaining that deer in headlights look until the camera pulls away from him.
"Y--Yeah... let's just get back to the fight." Jiro looks more uneasy about his surroundings. Very self-conscious. "...And the fight begins." Move to topic of fight. Move to topic of fight.
Jira keeps her distance for now, leaving Kula to contend with the dual aggression of Munin and Lili. Her swift sweeping kicks manage to connect against the skilled skater; the instantaneous exchange between them feeding her combat programming with improved parameters of her opponent's capabilities and threat potential. The girl has to shake off the thoughts, however - this isn't a mission, this isn't even strictly a contest of fighting prowess so much as the match was explained to her ahead of time... she can't her ingrained instructions take over and spoil the potential entertainment this event affords.
She comes out of her spin kicks with another twirl on her toes, moving laterally across the ice before leaning into a swoop, arms out at her sides. It is in the midst of transitioning to this stance that she finds herself pressured by Lili's assault of kicks. Bringing her right arm up, Kula blunts the force of the powerful kicks with a combination of deflecting with her forearm and moving out of the path as to avoid harm, but the faint wince and shake of her right arm as she speeds off makes it clear she didn't escape that exchange without a scratch. She's missing her armored leather jacket all of the sudden.
The speed she moves at now does make her a hard target for Munin to connect with, even as the young woman visually splits into two. While the deception might work against some, the Ice-cream fueled Kula appears to see through it instantly, crimson eyes snapping to the real Munin just long enough to twist out of the palm strike and skate away backwards at significant speed, hands clasping behind her back. A faint smile is given the black haired young woman when suddenly Kula becomes aware of the voices from the judge's booth.
Eyes blink before she skates closer to the stand, giving it a curious look. Two of the voices are known of personally, the other is the famous celebrity herself, Lightning Spangles! Kula's expression brightens, a wave of her right gloved hand is offered, "I think they will make excellent deputies!" she remarks. "I want to be a deputy too!" she exclaims before moving out of range of the booth again.
Cold logic dictates Munin will be easy to eliminate, so she should be taken out to simplify matters. While Kula tries to fight back such ruthless instincts, she can't decide a better course of action. Thus it is that the mirage creating young woman will find the pre-teen speeding toward her, a bullet of blue, white, and pink. Her skate-clad feet are once again put to the task of inflicting harm on the ice, the girl leaning forward to skate on her bent left leg only to twist to the side, attempting to jam her chi-infused right foot directly into Munin's stomach, the impact backed not only by her momentum and precision striking technique, but a formidable amount of freezing cold energy as well!
Jira tunnel visions her stare on Kula's dance on the ice. Defending against the series of kicks from the girl she's scored a hit on and dodging the dual offensive from the other were duly noted. However, as Kula moves in for her next strike Jira's body is bathed in a tormented wail of psycho energy. Her sliding stops and her body dips into a low crouch, her right arm moves to her side and pours out a solid manifestation of energy that forms spikes out from her fingertips.
Then she rockets forward with less than a blur and a roaring scream of psycho power in her wake. Her right arm remains held out to sideswipe at Kula in a quick skate-by!
COMBATSYS: Munin fails to counter Medium Kick from Kula with Shadow Strike.
- Power fail! -
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Jira 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Kula
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Munin 1/-----==/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/---====|
As Kula dodges the strikes, the twin Munins intersect and combine back into one being rather seemlessly. She veers off and around to face back towards Kula, not daring to stop and lose her momentum. She turns around just in time, too!
Just in time to see Kula coming her way at top speed!
In response, Munin moves in rather than try to dodge, going low to keep center of gravity, readying to sidestep, unbalance, and counter-strike Kula!
That is, until one foot moves out of place and her legs go out from under her, prompting a full on faceplant onto the ice! She gets up just in time to take the brunt of Kulas attack head on, sending her sliding away and winded for a moment, shivering with the combined cold of the ice shes lying on and Kulas chilly chi!
Munin's slipup gave Lili pause for a moment. And she looked genuinely worried. But it was only a second. By then, her attention was back on Kula. "Quite the slippery one, are you not?" She commented, speeding up smoothly. Arms folded behind her to keep out of the way and increase speed, the blonde weaved through the ice, watching for the perfect opening to strike.
And soon, she found it. Following up on Jira's rather...loud display of aggression, Lili crouched low, and then launched herself into thee air gracefully. Spinning her body a few times for momentum, she used that same momentum to tuck into an axe kick from above, aiming to make contact with the top of the frosty girl's head, should she fail to properly defend in time.
"I believe it is about time you were knocked down a peg or two!" She wasn't trying to get revenge for that earlier shin assault. Of course not! There was no way Lili was /that/ petty!
....Pffft, it's impossible to keep a straight face while saying that. Nevermind.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Lili's Medium Kick.
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Jira 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Kula
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Munin 1/-----==/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Jira successfully hits Kula with Psycho Claw EX.
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Jira 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 1/-----==/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/---====|
Alma is distracted from his ruminations on the skaters before him by a jovial eruption on the part of the third judge. He turns to look at Jezebel attentively, his composure immaculate as she designates his role and then tosses him what appears to be a toy badge, like that a character in a Western film might wear. The psychic regards it philosophically.
"Mn."
With a nod of assent, he pins the deputy badge upon his breast.
"Yeehaw," he adds gamely.
Who is Alma to deny the Official Lightning Spangles Show Up Hoes Down Skating Show when it calls him to duty? He turns his mild smile to Jiro, who seems to have been mollified, as it were, by Jezzie's friendly embrace. "I shall endeavor to judge fairly and wisely. Partner." Oh, he mispronounced it. "Now, Jiro--"
The boy is looking at him with apparent desperation. Of course, he must be unnerved by the presence of the cameras and microphones. It's in times like this that Alma must rely upon his profound empathy and intimate understanding of Jiro's psychology to say exactly the right thing.
"These swimsuits are truly well-chosen."
You're welcome, old friend.
"Ms. De'Rochefort's suits her elegant movements. Even against Kula, a challenging adversary, she does not lose her cool. Kula's, of course, is endearing, though I fear to place a deputy's badge upon it would be favoritism. Don't you think, Jiro? Ha ha." Alma continues regardless of whether there's a response on not, pleased with his handling of the situation. "Munin's sunglasses and simple one-piece simultaneously express her inscrutible fighting techniques and her straightforward resolve on the ice. And Jira's--"
Alma's eyes suddenly widen in surprise.
"Amazing!"
He points as the Kasagi cousin moves in for a sideswipe, seizing the opportunity to strike the elusive Kula.
"It's staying on!"
The strike against Munin is solid - not only can Kula kick with unexpected force given her stature and the fact that she's on nigh-frictionless ice, but the unfortunate young woman is also having to struggle against that same lack of reliable footing. It's almost unfair to throw her into a match like this! But at least she isn't alone. Kula is forced to skip into a quick hop over the sliding Munin to avoid colliding with her in a more brutish tackle than her fighting style lends itself to.
But that correction has her landing hard, the girl immediately pressured by the combined talents of Lili and Jira. She turns on Miss Emilie, seeming to notice her while completely not reacting to the equally threatening Jira. "A peg or two? But I want to grow taller, not shorter!" she cries out with some dismay as she ducks down, weaving under the kick aimed for her head and spinning out to the side to escape it. Again that faint smile at her lips is offered Lili in passing when suddenly she notices the movement of the third challenger out of the corner of her eye.
Whirling on Jira, she seems surprised to find her so close - how did she not sense her approach? Of course, the noises should make it apparent, but she hadn't been relying on sound when her skills at aura sensing should have more than sufficed. "What-" she stammers, bringing her arm up, hoping to ward off the incoming strike but not really sure how to contend against it.
The claw of energy carves through her guard, however, eliciting a sharp cry of pain as Kula winces, pulling her arm back and hugging it against herself, skating backward quickly, clearly intent on escaping the Psycho Claw wielding girl. "Where did-... what is..." she pants, wincing again as she shakes her head, trying to ward off what appears to be a lingering effect from the contact she had with the energy claw. The quiet smile she bore before slips away, crimson hued eyes fixating on Jira and narrowing darkly as she pants for breath.
Something has clearly shifted in her demeanor and attitude about the whole thing. Teeth grit, the youth grinds to a stop, snapping her right arm out at her side, gloved hand clenched in a fist. Battle routines begin to take over, survival instincts kicking into overdrive at having been struck by energy so reminiscent of a monster who haunts her nightmares at night. A sheath of white energy surges up around the girl before channeling down her arm, collecting in a rapidly growing sphere of power around her fist.
And then she's on the offense, bolting directly for Jira, the magnitude of the energy gathered making it hard to pick the girl out from the power she's now channeling. Her left eye twitches as she struggles to stay focused on her target. "The cry of your energy... soon your own screams will join it!"
When she swings her right arm forward, the energy shifts rapidly from ambient energy, to crystal clear liquid, to suddenly surging into solid ice surging out from her palm as she aims to drive the weaponized water into Jira as three deadly spikes affixed to a hemisphere of ice around her gloved hand. Should there be an impact, the girl will be subjected to not just dangerously sharp ice skewers but an explosion of incredible chi that hints at the magnitude of power young Diamond is capable of bringing to bear!
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Jira with Critical Ice.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 1/-----==/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/---====|
Jira is disstracted by the man sliding past in his socks for a moment. Meanwhile, the four claws of energy she'd slashed across the girl linger just below the point of impact and violently leak out into the girl's form with low, pained moans. So distracted is Jira that she's knocked airborne and hit hard by that horrible, despicable energy of nature. Somewhere in the air she finds the coherency.. or as hinted by the motions, her weapon finds the time to spin her 'round and 'round in a rapid, continuous spin. Somewhere during the exchange her body changes and the gun is thrown rather lamely towards Kula.
Jira's mass increases, her body bulking up significantly in the air as the spinning stops. All the pink glow on her body and suit immediately bleed to whiteness and her eyes.. they are no longer that luminous, friendly pink and have turned to a flat, bright red. She hits the ice on all fours and jerks up into a stand as though her head was pulled up on its own.
"Such baneful power you wield, calling life to your aid. I will gladly add another voice to my collection, give me the violence I so crave. Entertain me, you queen of frost." she calls out to Kula, her voice is now of two. Jira's usual, light tone mixed with a darker, masculine voice that matches the unnatural increase of bulk in her body. A dark grin curves on her face before the pair add, "Give us a fight to remember."
It isn't long before Munin comes to her senses, and quickly plants a hand, spikes of chi jutting from her fingertips anchoring her. Using this as an axis point, she swings herself around and onto her feet, the propulsion sending her back once again towards the ongoing battle!
She can't help but wince at seeing Jira hit so hard as she approaches, the emotion quickly turning to concern as Jira seems to change drasticly in a visual manner, as well as potentially emotional one..... This entire situation COULD be to her advantage, however! As Jira and Lili make their moves against Kula, Munins body is enveloped in shadowy chi, and she gives a scream of her own as spears of solid shadowy chi, with razor-sharp tips, fire from her eyes, mouth, and hands. They arc in the air, bending strangely in an attempt to strike Kula from an odd angle!
Sigh. Close enough, Alma. Close enough. Jiro is not as mullfied as he was before.
"E---eh?"
When Kula seems to have some familiarity with him, Jiro gives her a very uneasy smile before he waves a hand her way. "... Thanks, Kula." The young man gives the girl a thoughtful look. He furrows his eyebrow and he turns to face Alma.
"... Why is it that you and Mimiru have gotten so old, but Kula barely looks like that she has aged." He furrows his eyebrows, looking a bit downcasted. "...I wonder how old Sakura and Hotaru are now.."
Pause.
"Nevermind. Nothing to worry about." He lifts his hand with a shrug. "Kula's technique is amazing." He remembers trying to ask out Kula a year back, but then Xiangfei got in the way of that. The interaction gave a sour atmosphere. That brief thought is pushed back in favor of, "She is pretty amazing. She managed to see through the illusion! It looks like Munin is ready to co-----oof." Jiro grimaces at the impact on Munin.
Looking back at Alma, Jiro snorts, "It would be, yeah. We have to remain impartial." He pauses, "...Maybe after the match." He adds. However, when Alma comments regarding Jira's outfit actually staying on
"...So there is a God after all."
Jiro still wishes she picked something... elegant? Flattering? Something. Jiro doesn't know.
The young fighter looks at the fight itself, "The fighters are performing exceptionally well. However, it looks like Kula has the upperhand on all of them right now."
He blinks at Jira's change in bodymass. Even worse, what it does to her sling bikini. There are many reactions that Jiro could have regarding the change. One reaction is a more wary look at his cousin, who has grown in body mass and has changed to a more deadly look on her face. There is something rather disturbing about the change. However, Jiro has a more (in)appropriate response:
"Oh, come on!!!" Jiro buries his face into his hands again.
There's that weird man again, sliding across the ice. Looks like this time he's holding the paper the right way, because those watching this entire mess - assuming they aren't taken aback that red-eyed... person, over there - seems to read in childish scrawl 'GLOBAL COOLING IS LIES.'
How did he even get on the ice largely undetected to begin with...?
Lili looked between Jira and Munin as she doubled backwards, casually skating along the ice with a hand against her cheek. "My, my...are you two incapable of fighting without screaming?" With a huff, she flipped her hair in a snobbish manner. "It is rather disgraceful, and you are ruining my glorious image!"
Priorities.
"But alas, I suppose I must show you what it means to fight with grace and beauty!" Smiling wide, Lili smoothly segued into a forward dash, gliding along the ice towards Kula. Once in range, she tucked forward into a flip, which then lead into a series of overhead kicks, one after the other in rapid fashion.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could swear she saw one of the strangest sights she'd been subjected to, to date.
But by the time she looked, whatever it was, was gone. Hrm. Well no matter. Kula was certainly a bigger priority than global cooling! "Want to grow taller, do you? Oh my, you'd better hurry up then. Once you go past twenty, you will stuck with your height for life!" And thus, casual conversation was had. In the middle of combat.
A stark contract to her two fierce teammates to be sure.
Lightning Spangle makes sure Jiro and Alma get their badges on, before she continues.
"Well, you sure are right, Jiro! This fight is just roaring along!" Lightning Spangles watches the match. "Kula really showing her strengths here. She is a natural ice skater, on top of the powerful ice attacks, so she really is in her element, both thematically and combatively! If she manages to finish this, and win the competition, I might have to treat her some ice cream! Deputy Jiro!" She exclaims, slapping Jiro in the shoulder
again. "What is your favorite ice cream?"
Looking back at the competition, she bounces in her seat. "But you can't discount Mizz Dee Rochefort either! While she is havin' just as much trouble as the other little ladies, she just looks so good while doing it! As they say, Tu es tres belle!" She suddenly loses the American accent, dipping into a pitch perfect creole, before looking down at Alma.
"Don't you agree, Alma?"
Glancing back, she kicks up her heels, as Jira suddenly changes. Figure. "Boy howdy! She can inflate! You know, Jiro, I have a huge cult following amongst the 18-35 year old male demographic! I once was googling my name, and wouldn't you know it, there was LOADS of artwork dedicated to me doing just that! In the same outfit too, wouldn't you know! Now, that girl's your cousin, right?" She stares at Jiro, smiling broadly, eyes bright.
She was waiting for the answer, Jiro.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Lili's Garland Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/-----==|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Munin's Iron Maiden.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Jira's Sudden Fling.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/----===|
"Yeah..." Jiro looks a bit more at ease as Jezebel remarks on Kula's skills. Jiro actually has to admire how well Kula performs in these types of matches. She is cute as a button in the outfit and she can definitely show her skills. "I will agree, she is in her element both literally and figuratively." He muses, "I think the others have a disadvantage because of the wintry atmosphere." And then another slap on the back, "OOF!" He grimaces, "Strawberry ice cream, actually."
What puts Jiro in the brink of extremely disturbed is the inflation conversation. His eyes snap open and he starts to look extremely sick. As Jezebel goes into the details of the cult behind the inflation and her escapades on Google, Jiro's frown grows immensely.
In the same outfit as his cousin is wearing.
Jiro looks all kinds of shades of green.
"Y--yeah, she is my cous---one moment."
Jiro sprints from the judges' table.
One can faintly hear the sound of 'BLURRRGHGHHHH!!!"
Why. Just. Why?
Lightning Spangles looks back to the camera, smiling brightly.
"Well, I guess he doesn't like ice cream!"
Kula draws her hand back after delivering the dangerous attack, crimson eyes fixed on Jira, though where a moment prior there was nothing shy of lethal intent, now flickers a glimmer of confusion at the change that comes over the woman. The frozen weapon over her right arm is shaken before it shatters, collapsing into crystals that clatter against the ice and mist that begins circulating about the girl in the form of fine mist, driven by air currents that seem local only to her.
Standing up straight, she stays perched on her skates, now sliding listlessly backward as she makes no effort to counter her present inertia. Something comes flying at her - a gun? That's not how you use those! She scoots to the side, allowing it to fly passed, glancing over her shoulder at its trajectory as if suspecting the flung weapon of attempting something else. The motion reminds her, however, that she has two other threats to contend with. Lili presses her aggressively, again with the kicks, and Kula responds by sweeping her left hand forward, creating a barrier of ice in Lili's path.
It proves strong enough that, coupled with the Ice Princess's evasiveness, Kula escapes without getting struck. The pressure diverts her focus from Jira for a moment, the girl starting to look a bit concerned as all three fighters pressure her at once. Munin's assault is detected early enough, however, the surge of chi resonating with the girl's aura strongly enough for her to be warned in time. Pivoting on her skates, she forces the frozen barrier into the path of Munin's energy spears, causing them to crash against it until at last the ice splinters, spraying fine white powder in all directions and leaving Kula to absorb the last of the energy as it collides with her directly.
Frozen breath escapes her lips as she notices Lili once more. Something about the girl's voice and words seem to distract her from her momentary bloodlost, her expression softening, eyes widening with a tinge of concern, "I want to be as tall as you at least!" The noted height envy doesn't conceal the danger of her next attack, however, right arm swinging back, a block of ice surging into form over her gloved fist, before she kicks off with her left foot and tries to spin into a very heavy, crushing blow, using her ice-covered hand like a crude mace.
Alma appears for the first time a little uneasy as Jiro begins hurling and Jezebel casually discusses the consequences of turning the Safesearch off. He must be concerned at the direction this conversation has taken. The fighters before them are engaged in displays of skating finesse and fighting skill, and their focus on Jira's physical transformation is distracting from that. "Partners," he says calmly, raising his hands palms-out toward the other two judges as though to gently restore order, "we have been called here for a purpose which we must fulfill. Let us address the primary issue at hand."
He clasps his hands before him.
"Global cooling."
He turns to face one of the cameras, a vision of reasonable concern.
"The scientific method and the consensus of its community must not be impugned by extraordinary events such as what has afflicted the Gulf of Thailand," he intones. "In these difficult times, we must not be swayed by alarmists who tell tales conducive to our unjustified assumptions and political proclivities. Let us all, regardless of affiliation, remain focused on the needs of the individuals who have suffered as a result of this catastrophe and do whatever works -- whatever is scientifically demonstrated to work -- in order to ensure a bright future for ourselves and our descendents."
He nods solemnly, turning to his fellow judges.
"But as you say, partner," he responds to Jezebel without batting an eye, "Ms. de'Rochefort's grace does cause her to stand out. But I sense something-- lacking, when contrasted with the resolve of her allies." He frowns slightly, contemplating this for a moment, examining the battle raging on the ice before them with a keen eye.
"Perhaps," he suggests, "if she screamed more."
The lack of of offense to Jira gives the now-possessed woman a chance to slide on the ice towards her comrade. Taking place directly behind Munin and speaks quietly.
"Do not hold back, take my gift and make use of it." they quietly murmur to Munin, then move to press her fingers rather lightly, unaggressively to her spine. A white aura swirls and dances around the shared space if Munin doesn't flee off and those fingers soothingly knead against flesh and bone with quiet whispers echoing in that small space. The energy focuses through Jira's hands and inject placidly through her fingertips into her teammate's body, offering an invigorating layer of energy that offers a sense of protection and giving an extra source to draw from.
"Let the violence continue." then they slide back a small distance and keep their eyes on Kula.
As her chi evaporates, Munin ughs..... "I really need to find a better way to do that.....". She is taken off-guard as Jira comes up and touches her back, suddenly making her feel much better! "I will do what i can. Thanks!" is her repsonse, as she cautiously turns one leg sideways so as to use it to kick off and glide on the other. Luckily, this works wonderfully, and she is off once again, albeit still with an unsteady footing on occasion. She begins to circle the battle, as her chi forms a shadowy orb in her hands, which she tosses at Kula as she circles out and around the girl, aiming for a blindspot!
COMBATSYS: Jira successfully aids Munin with Knit.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Lili with Fierce Punch.
Grazing Hit
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-======|
From somewhere far away, a bottle filled with water is flung out into the air, aiming to belt Alma upside the head.
That is likely coming from Jiro, who is emerging from the spot where he went to cleanse himself of all impurities. Only thing he was missing was bleach for his brain. However, he'll work with what little he has.
Jiro grumbles at both Alma and Jezebel.
"...Now, with that aside, I think the fight has been...." He looks over towards Jira and the others, "Interesting."
"Aw, poor baby~" Lili cooed in a rather mocking fashion, even as Kula wound up for that crushing blow of ice. The girl was set to evade, when a comment from the judge's area distracted her. Enough to cause the blow to graze by her side, rather than dodge it entirely. Disregarding Kula for just a moment, Lili glared off in the general direction of the judges, particularly Alma.
"Me? Scream? Hardly! A woman of my calibur has absolutely no need for such an ugly expression of emotion!"
Once again, Priorities.
Whirling around to Kula once again, Lili smirked and returned the attack in kind. Launching from the ice, the blonde let loose a flying knee, which was then followed up by a series of elegant kicks, ending in a forward flip into an axe kick from above. ...She loved her legs, didn't she?
"Though I can hardly blame you for being envious of my immaculate figure. Perhaps if you wish upon a star, you might be able to attain the same some day. .../Some day/."
COMBATSYS: Lili successfully hits Kula with Moonsault Alstroemeria.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Munin's Shadow Wave.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Jira 1/=======/=======|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-----==|
Snort. Jiro glances back at Alma with a bemused look on his face, "I see you made friends with one of the contestants already."
"Tell me about, Jiro!"
Lightning Spangles smiles so brightly, teeth gleaming. "While Munin is being mounted by your cousin, I can't help but wonder if she is a little too clumsy!" She states, tilting her head. "I don't feel that Munin quite has been reaching the top tiers of elegance. I mean, she is good, but is she Kula good? Of course, Lili has been performing amazing... except for one flaw." She nods towards Alma. "Took the words from my mouth, as you said pardner! She just won't scream!"
"That's why we are gonna have to help her, Jiro!"
Lightning Spangle's eyes tell Jiro everything he needs to know. That he made a mistake. And that mistake was coming back here. "Pardner, what we gotta do is teach Mizz Rochefort that's its okay for a lady to give a hootin' and a hollerin'! Now, Jiro, we are gonna have to show Lili. Now, I you to roleplay with me now, Jiro. It's just like playing pretend! I'm gonna pretend I'm Kula, and you are gonna pretend that you are Mizz Rochefort." Lightning Spangles stands on up, and moves behind Jiro. Grabbing his chair, she smiles brightly as she hovers over him. "Now Jiro, I need you to cooperate here."
"I'm gonna make you scream!"
There he is, that man with the moustache, who now waves both a fan bearing the Japanese flag on it in one hand, and a piece of paper on the other. He kneels as he slides rapidly across the ice, with this tidbit of information for all involved.
'GET THE FAX AT THE TODOH DOJO,' it says.
A moment later he leans in, as though aware of the existence of a still frame, and adds with this piece of paper for a second or two, 'SERIOUSLY, TAKE MY FAX MACHINE, IT SUCKS AND I DO NOT WANT IT ANY MORE'
He disappears again soon after.
Wait, what is Jira doing? Doesn't seem to be coming after her, so Kula disregards her for a moment on instinct alone, combat routines shifting constantly to adapt the situation. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she reminds herself that this was to be a skating contest with some blend of combat included, but she's having a hard time shaking the urge to go straight for the kill - sort and prioritize the targets, eliminate them quickly in order, reduce the numbers to manageable levels... her NESTS training has been full of learning how to deal with groups and it's not unusual for her to be in circumstances like she finds herself now.
But she's wary of what Munin and Jira are up to, which makes it possible for her to anticipate the attack from that direction, shifting to the side to avoid another energy assault sent her way. Her gifts in such matters are certainly giving her an edge there. But there's no denying the effectiveness of distraction, and even as she avoids Munin's attack, she finds herself on a trajectory for Lili's assault instead!
Once more, she brings her left hand forward, fingers splayed, wiping trails of energy in the air in front of her in one smooth motion - an instant later they solidify into another shield of ice that the wealthy child's heel has to break through before finally colliding with her target. The knee, dampened a little by the desperate ice barrier, catches the girl in the sternum, causing Kula to come to an abrupt stop on her skates.
Shaking her head, she tries to regain her senses in time to avoid the rest of the kicking combination, but strike after strike connect, in spite her late guards or attempts to weave away. The final axe kick to the head drives her down to her hands and toes, the girl pushing back and sliding on the ice, spinning somewhat haphazardly before finally pushing back up to her feet.
Lifting her hand to rub the top of her head, she pulls her fingers away to find frozen flecks of crimson there. Wincing, she gives Lili a wary look then. "Hmph. Is that how you got it? Lots of wishing? I was hoping it was from eating lots of ice cream!" She whirls back on Jira then, "Did you order up some more violence? This is supposed to be a skating contest!"
A shimmer of white energy washes over her figure, her right hand lifted, held just beneath her mouth, palm up, "But I think I can help." A quick inhale followed by a deep exhale over her imbued palm sends a billowing surge of wind-driven chi and razor sharp flecks of crystalized energy flying Jira's way. It might not look like more than some aggressive snow flakes from a distance, but it wouldn't be a good idea to get hit by this miniture storm!
COMBATSYS: Jira reflects Diamond Breath from Kula with Regnum Dei.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-----==|
Jira, possessed by the entity she calls her partner doesn't move until Kula offers assistance. At which point they move sharply to the side and away from Munin and Lily. The shimmering mass of chi is deemed as hostile, and then Jira's body glows incredibly bright and creating a dazzling sparkle and flash. Then that glow expands, rapidly, violently, encasing the space between herself and Kula withh a violent torrent of psycho energy. It shrieks into being and silently rages within the confines, bursting forth and catching the attack sent at Jira and stopping it flat out. Then invading it, fusing it with its own essence and sending it back, carving and shredding the ice in the way and ripping through the air with intent none other than to further the violence.
"I have no time for attacks that cannot persist in my realm, take it back and do better next time." they reply, unamused.
(Dammit) Is Munins thought as Kula ducks. She figured the other gal was good, but this is beyond what she expected....
Kula could prove useful to future plans.....
That, however, will be a story for another time. When Jira reflects the icy projectile Kula sent at her, Munin can't help but smile a bit, and with a quick burst of speed, manuevers around and aims to come at Kula from the side with a chi-enshrouded palm strike, hoping to strike her while she is distracted!
Alma turns his gaze to Lili as she takes a moment from the fight to argue with him, smiling slightly. "Mademoiselle, no emotion is ugly when it comes from a place of resolve. But perhaps pride can be its own form of passion. Wouldn't you agree, Jiro?"
A water bottle bounces off of Alma's head.
"Perhaps Munin has not displayed the elegance of her peers alone," he replies to Jezebel, literally as though nothing just happened, "but witness how her persistence highlights her teamwork with her allies." He gestures to the musclebound laying on of hands taking place. "Not only does she have the resolve to endure in this challenging battle for skating glory, she is willing to have her personal space invaded by a muscular woman in a sling bikini speaking in a man's voice." Alma smiles. "I think that speaks volumes."
About what is anyone's guess.
"Hmm, I see," he says as Jezebel explains the role-playing that she is about to engage in, before nodding to himself. "Very well. Then I--"
He rolls up the sleeves of his dress shirt, and flexes as hard as he absolutely can, hulking up as much as his lean body will allow.
"--shall adopt the role of Jira!"
Whereupon he places his hands on Jiro's chest.
"Don't let her win, teammate! Heal! Heal, heal, heal!"
Jiro has a very uneasy look on his face. You see, when Lightning Spangles locks her gaze at him, Jiro is starting to shake visibly. At first? Jiro thought she was a very attractive, older lady that as a rich amount of history. Jiro would had liked to hear her tales a little more.
...Now, he is regretting that desire.
Even worse is that he is selected to be her assistant on a matter.
"... What?"
He stares at Lightning Spangles with a horrified look, "Wait... wait." He holds his hands out in front of him, "That won't be necessary! Really!"
She is behind him.
A look of horror comes from Jiro, "Wait.. Alma! Help!" Oh my god help.
And then Alma joins in taking the role of Jira, "...YOU ARE NOT HELPING!"
"........."
After landing from her assault on Kula, Lili couldn't help but stare incredulously off at the judges, who were now in the middle of...roleplay? Seriously. "For one; how dare you use scruffy boy to represent /me/! If you plan to act out your fantasies, then at least find the good taste to see to attaining a proper stand in! Not that inadequate looking thug!"
Those priorities just keep piling up.
Huffing, the blonde turned her attention back to the bout, having been casually gliding along all the while. Kula's question earned her a smirk. "Me? Wished for this? Ahaha!" A brief laugh escaped from the girl and then she replied. "Of course not! You see, the gods saw fit to gift all of this-"
She spread her arms, in a grand gesture of herself. '-To me as tribute to my own sheer greatness! They were blinded! Smitten! There was no way such a radiant, flawless soul could have come into existence! We simply must encase it in the most beautiful form we can imagine."
The delusions were getting stronger.
"And the result stands here before you right now! I am literally perfect in every way!" To top that speech off, Lili brought a hand to the side of her face and laughed. Obnoxiously. "Ohohohoho~"
...Well then.
COMBATSYS: Lili gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Jira's Reflected Diamond Breath.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Munin's Aggressive Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
Kula's eyes widen as her attack is handled, well, handily by whatever energy is coursing through Jira now. Eyes narrow at first, then widen, her psycho-infused snowstorm sent blasting back at her with incredible speed. Another barrier of ice is woven, the girl bracing, digging in her skates to avoid getting knocked back too far, as the noxious mixture of energy crashes into her forearms, eliciting a soft exhale from her lips. Lowering her arms, she shakes them a little, once again missing her jacket. Swimsuit fighting is a horrible idea, she's come to realize.
"Very well. I will attend to you in a moment." She skips backward, just in time to avoid Munin's well angled palm strike. Kula gives the young woman a faint smile then, "I'm not sure what the judges are talking about. I think it's grown up stuff." she remarks with a grin before finally spinning around to notice Lili lost in the act of delusional grandstanding.
"Um..." She breaths in a little, skating forward to put distance between herself, Jira, and Munin, "You should pay attention..." she cautions Lili as shimmering white energy begins to build around her again, the girl leaning forward to press her palms against the ice, "Or this is really going to hurt bad..." Her arms serve as conduits, energy funneled into the ground. The ice itself serves as the perfect bridge as Lili will find herself suddenly having to contend with surging spikes of shimmering ice energy all trying to smash into the preening blonde!
Jira sighs and eyes Kula's reaction to the reflected assault, giving an affirmative nod and centering herself. Both her arms wind and move through the air, building up more and more energy. Then they stop, being held out paralell to the ice. Jira takes a short forward dash and thrusts both palms forward, sending fourth a large shockwave of psycho energy out towards Kula that seems to be getting faster and faster.. With Jira right in its wake, sliding forwards along the ice by jets of energy propelling her forward. She changes course to end up behind Kula while her attack takes another angle!
As Jira approaches Kula, Munin skates around behind, and as the enlarged fighter hits head on, Munin leaps up and over her, flips in the air, and comes down in an overhead strike with her fist!
Of course, after the strike, she forgot to account as much for the landing being on ice, and despite her best efforts, her legs scoot out from under her, and she drops to the ground chin-first, regardless of whether she hits Kula or misses her!
COMBATSYS: Lili dodges Kula's Diamond Edge.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
Lightning Spangles shakes her head, putting her hands on Jiro's shoulder.
"No, No, Jira loves her cousin, and respects him." She explains, rubbing Jiro firmly. "Therefore, he would call him 'Jiro-kun.' And make sure you give the big adorable eyes!" Lightning Spangles nods sternly. "And if my experience and wisdom has taught me anything, you ALSO must give a proper 'uguu.'
"Now, 'Jira', lets work on 'Lili."
She tightens her grip ominiously "Now Lili, I'm gonna be frank with you. Kula is a dangerous ice mistress, and sometimes, you have to learn to be comfortable with your body and position in life, and just give a yee-haw like a real cowgirl. You understand that, right 'Lili?'" She coos, slowly sliding her hands down on Jiro's arms. She leans in further to Jiro's ear, voice growing much more... robust. She whispers in his ear. "And you know what you can do for me, Lili, to earn all the points?"
And with that, she lifts up Jiro's arms up high.
"Jira! Tickle him until he screams!"
"Ohohoho--Eh?"
Suddenly ice.
Kicking off from the side and sailing through the air briefly, Lili managed to avoid the sudden assault entirely. Upon landing, she glared at Kula. "Excuse me? How dare you attack me when I am in the middle of a glorious speech! Were you raised in a barn!?"
Obnoxious, haughty speeches were serious business.
The judges were given a withering look before Lili shook her head and went back into the competition. Dashing forward, Lili gracefully glided along the surface of the ice, smirking in a confident manner. Once she was in range of the fray, she crouched low and then propelled herself forward the rest of the short distance. In the process, she aimed to grab Kula by the arm, forcing her to the ice in an abrupt throw.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Jira's Orchid Breach.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Lili successfully hits Kula with Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|>>>>>>>\>>>>---\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Munin 0/-------/----===|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kula interrupts Strong Punch from Munin with Freeze Execution+.
+ Epic Hit! +
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\ <
Munin 1/-----==/=======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
Pushing herself off the ice back into a slow skate forward, Kula watches as Lili manages a masterful dodge of her attack, escaping what would undoubtedly been a really bad situation had she not so elegantly handled it. The girl frowns slightly, determining that what this situation needs is even /more/ ice. Planting her feet, Kula bows her head, hands clenched at her sides. A current whips around her, tousling her hair and driving the ever-present snowflakes that orbit her to swirl into a flurry. Breathing in, she lifts her eyes, focusing on Lili. She'll get her for that!!
But Jira isn't going to let her focus for as long as she would like, sending another one of those dangerous energy blasts her way. While she can't sense its trajectory, she hasn't ceased being wary of what the distressingly masculine sounding woman is up to, so weaving out of the way of the next attack coming her way proves to be manageable.
Now she's focused back on Lili, extending her arms out at her sides, slowly lifting them over head as her manifested power builds. What began as a flurry is rapidly escalating into a violent storm of swirling energy, hurricane-wind driven blades of ice and razor edged crystaline shards. And all of it is meant for Lili.
Unfortunately for Munin, she choses a sub-optimal moment to attack. Just as Kula slams her hands down, unleashing the fury of winter with one honey-blonde haired girl in mind... Young Diamond releases a grunt as she finds herself struck with a fist while her attention was elsewhere. The next instant has Munin receiving the full brunt of the Ice Princess's wrath. Oops!
Kula blinks as she lowers her arms, not entirely sure what just happened. This lets Lili skate right on up and, well, toss her to the ground, leaving the NESTS project sliding on the ice on her back with a mildly bewildered expression. "Owwie." Sucking in her breath, she kicks back up to her feet. It takes a bit more effort to reform her skates this time - the battle is begining to take its toll on the amount of energy she can channel. Breathing in, she exhales, before resuming her skating circles. Since she doesn't go after anyone immediately, it might be that she's just content to skate now?
Jira takes this moment to give a wince and swears.. or, it sounds like a swear in whatever language they call it out in. Another glow of white energy covers her form before her hands rest on her stomach and on her chest, kneading in incredibly deep with small circles, focusing the energy through her hands and injecting the energy back into herself. She takes the moment to work on herself on the ice.
*THUMP! Munin hits the ice chin-first as her legs go out from under her after her previous strike. She starts to get up just in time to see Kula turn and start towards her! Her eyes blaze with violet chi from behind her shades as the attack goes off!
Munin suddenly appears behind Kula, sending a glowing spike of chi from her hand at the small of her back! Of course, this is just a chi-echo of what Munin WANTED to do, but composed of enough chi to actually do damage if it strikes!
Meanwhile, the REAL Munin is send FLYING back at high speed, where she collides with the judges platform with a loud *CRACK!*. If she wasn't already unconscious, she DEFINATELY is now......
COMBATSYS: Munin can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
Wow, did it suddenly get cold in here. Lili was painfully aware of that fearsome ice storm about to bear down on her. ...And then Munin heroically got into the way. ...Okay, more like unintentionally, and stupidly, but Lili wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Alas, we will never forget who you were." She mumbled to herself, in rememberance of the fallen.
And then she met Kula's gaze, smiling calmly and perhaps infuriatingly as well. "My, that was quite a temper tantrum, perhaps you /were/ raised in a barn after all." A sly chuckle followed that statement as the blonde made her way through the arena on skates. What course of action should she take now, though.
...Realistically speaking, Kula was stronger than all three of them. And now one of them just got wiped out. Would they be able to take her down? "A worthy challenge." The prospect of it all gave Lili goosebumps. The excitement was almost tangible. "Very well, shall we continue our little dance?" She called out to the girl, proceeding to close the distance once again.
Once in range, Lili dipped low, and lashed out with a sweep kick, aiming to throw Kula off balance yet again.
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Munin's Double Vision.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Lili successfully hits Kula with Medium Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/------=|
Unfortunately for Munin, her deceptive assault is lost somewhere in the midst of attacks being exchanged. By the time Kula is back on her feet after being flung by Lili, she's off on the move again and manages, in the course of said movement, to avoid the last fateful attack meant to hit her in the back.
Spinning to a stop a moment later, kicking up another spray of ice, Kula takes in the sight of Lili and Jira. The two of them still present a significant challenge at this point. "I don't think so," she replies to Lili, seeming nonflustered at the barn comments, "There weren't any horses." She stretches her arms out for a bit, flexes her fingers, creates a weave of ice around her right arm to make sure that she still has enough strength to keep fighting, albeit it at a bit more patient pace now.
But now she finds herself being pressured, the girl trying to skate backwards away from Lili while also attempting to avoid her attacks. It isn't effective, and in the end, the kick connects against her shin hard - perhaps payback for earlier - and topples the girl over entirely! A timely handstand keeps her from crashing to the ice before she flips to her feet again, exhaling softly as she whirls around on Lili. "In a moment - I promised I would get back to /that/ one," she murmurs, turning to bolt for Jira instead.
That same bright white energy surges to her fingertips as she skates aggressively for the girl trying to mend some of her battle-inflicted damage. Half crouching as she skates in closer, she reaches out, attempting to grasp a tight, chi-infused hold of Jira's arm, twisting her own body in an attempt to whip the larger woman to the ice hard, probably face first if she doesn't catch herself in time. "I haven't forgotten you!"
An extraordinary performance is taking place here. The cameras are trained upon it. The microphones are primed to hear it all. And the audience back home watches with bated breath.
"Jiro-kun~"
For Alma is getting into character.
"I'm just so glad to see you alive and well, Jiro-kun!"
Jezebel, or rather 'Kula', is correct. Before Alma can adequately envision Jiro as 'Lili' and the tickling training can commence, he must become 'Jira' entirely. And so it is that Alma has sidled over and perched himself on Jiro's lap, batting his eyelashes down at the shorter boy, all while continuing to flex as powerfully as he possibly can, which must take real breath control.
"To be honest, I--" Alma flushes faintly, lifting a hand to his cheeks. "I wore this swimsuit to impress you, Jiro-kun. I know we never knew each other well as cousins, but I still remember the promise we made, so long ago." He lowers his hand to clasp Jiro's own. "Do you? It was a silly, childish thing, but it meant so much to me then, and it remained within my heart, and grew and grew, those feelings inflating like my body."
His hand rises to gently brush Jiro's cheek.
"The fact is, even though we're cousins, I--"
Alma's eyes widen, soft and yearning.
"I love you."
A sparkling luminescence surrounds them as a brief silence descends.
"Uguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~"
"Look, lady, do you think that I want to represent a prissy twit?!" Jiro snaps at Lili as she calls him an inadequate looking thug. The young man is offended as much as the woman! However, this does not excuse the fact that Jiro is in a mess right now.
Jiro is going to make Alma pay. He doesn't know how yet. However, Alma will pay dearly for this.
"Well, she does call me that, but---" Pause. "...'uguu'?" His eyes turn towards Alma with a /glare/. He will definitely end Alma later for this.
However, when Jezebel speaks again, the boy visibly shakes, "I... I... what do you mean..?" He looks very nervous at this point. As she whispers in his ear, "Wh---what do I have to do?"
Arms are risen.
"Don't you dare!!---ahahahahahhahahaa damn you I will hahahahaaha--"
He looks in horror at Alma as he is caught within the tickle training. Once he settles onto his lap, the boy just stares in mute horror as Alma settles in and flutters those eye lashes.
Jiro just looks horrified. Just imagining the swim suit again makes him shudder. Somewhere, deep inside, Jiro is dying. There is the part of Jiro that withers away into nothing. It is uncertainty if that was his dignity or his will left to live.
And the hand moves to his cheek. He stares in horror at Alma. There is great disbelief over what he has witnessed. This is like a moment that will scar his youth for eternity.
"... Oh my god, I want to strangle you right now."
COMBATSYS: Jira successfully aids herself with Knit.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Jira 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Jira counters Power Throw from Kula with Flashpunch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/------=|
Jira's attention is mostly spent inwardly, shivering and twitching as it all sits in. She sees Kula moving in and a gleam shines from her smile. When Kula moves to grab her, she steps to the side and her body suddenly twists to the right in a spin. For a brief moment, a visible flash of pure light and shockwave of white psycho energy erupt outwards. The sensation of Jira's punch wouldn't be felt for a few seconds, fast enough to push light itself out of the way and also knock her out of the way from that grab.
"Stick to the girl with the nice legs, she's the one threatening you in this match. She knows how to skate -and- commit beautiful acts of war in a freezing dance worthy of nobility." they state to Kula and slide backwards and again start that hourglass pattern.
"Excuse me, you lowborn, shaggy looking, inbred, foul mouthed, unwashed, filthy, barbaric ape!" Lili rounded on the judges, specifically Jiro, after Kula had skated off after Jira. "I will have you know that you and I are leagues apart! To even think that you, of all the worthless trash to have come into existence were chosen to represent /me/ is both an honor, and a horrid insult to the De'Rochefort name!"
As if seriously, emotionally grieved by this situation, Lili brought the back of one of her hands to her forehead. "Oh, I can see it now! Generations upon generations of De'Rocheforts rolling in their graves! Their spirits crying out at this injustice! To think that their good name would be sullied in such a manner! I......I cannot!"
Such drama.
So much so that she missed Jira and Kula's exchance entirely.
COMBATSYS: Lili gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /// ]
Jira 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
Finally, the moustached man shows up behind the judges, crossing his arms and looking particularly unhappy. (To wit, he almost never seems terribly pleased.) He does nothing to announce his presence to those there, other than simply... be.
At which point he holds up one last, final piece of paper with something scrawled upon it. Who he's even hoping to have for an audience? Who's even here to see him...?
The paper reads, 'WHY THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE TURNING DOWN A FREE FAX MACHINE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU'
Her attempt to get a hold of Jira is rebuffed with sudden, decisive force, causing Kula to come to a sudden stop before being knocked back away. Already having been running on fumes after her previous exchanges with Munin and Lili, the girl just sort've slides backward over the ice, staring at Jira a bit glassy eyed as she loses her focus on the event itself.
Momentum takes her so far before she actually falls backward into a seated position, not seeming to mind the ice at all as she leans back against her hands. A breath in then she exhales. Shaking her head, she glances toward the judges stand to see that complete chaos has errupted there. A couple of blinks are followed by another shaking of her head before she lays down flat against the ice in snow-angel pose, "Skate fighting is kind of dumb." she declares after a moment of thoughtful contemplation. Skating is fun. Fighting isn't. Why mix the two?! Said observation is probably entirely missed by the complete pandemonium that has broken out around the ice rink and judges booth, however!
COMBATSYS: Kula takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jira 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kula can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Jira 0/-------/---====|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Lili 0/-------/-------|
The possessed Jira silently hover/slides over to Kula and kneels down next to her, on one knee. "Are you alright?" they ask, eyes locked onto Kula's and, for the time being, ignoring the booth. But, flashing a brief glance and thumbs up at the mysterious fax salesman as an affirmative. Their attention then returns to Kula. "Thank you for the match, you truly are deserving of the title: "Queen of Frost." And should you wish for anything of myself, or Jira, there are a number of places in this particular country that are atleast somewhat familiar of her name." then looks with disappointment at the judges' booth and Lili.
"They've gotten so wrapped up in their own world, they could not appreciate the beauty of your form. A gift I will not soon forget."
"Great job, 'Jira!'"
Lightning Spangles praises Alma, for acting perfectly in character. At the end of it, however, she purses her lips. "But cousins don't normally act so romantic to other cousins! Well, except in Alabama!" She adds. "But that's because of America!" She furrows her brow hard, though, as Jiro insults Lili. "Well gosh darn it, 'Lili!' Why are you making fun of Lili! You can't be rude like that! This is a tournament fight! You can't have shadow archetypes deconstructing people like that!" She shakes Jiro like a baby for a moment... as the strange, Mustached man appears behind him.
She does not notice.
What does notice, however, is that Kula goes down. She gasps, stretching Jiro's arms even harder behind his head. "Well, slap me silly and call me Sally! The fight's over! Well, we gotta make a right judgement! But I was so busy helping Lili learn how to scream, that I forgot to give an honest, objective judging! And folks, I don't think my two deputies are in the right state to give the same!" She considers a moment, thinking HARD with her face. And then, an idea pops into her head. She looks towards Alma, nodding along with a big, toothy smile.
"How about we give the highest score to whoever can make Jiro scream the loudest?"
Canting her head to the side, Kula stays laying on the ice as the person introduced as Jira addresses her. A smile forms at the edge of her lips, though she has the faint expression of one struggling to make sense of something not quite right as well. "Thank you." She's never really had anyone compliment her after a fight in such a way before. "You're kind of strange, aren't you." she adds helpfully after another moment of trying to figure out what is going on with the dual-natured individual as she pushes herself up into a half seated position. She forwns a little as she thinks back on the fight, "Sorry I got mad at you earlier on," she continues, lifting her hand to rub at the side of her head.
She hears the call made by the esteemed Lightning Spangles to provoke sreaming from hapless Jiros and offers Jira a grin, "Ah, um, maybe you should go give that a try, I think you might be well suited to it." And with that, she contentedly goes back to laying flat on the unnaturally frozen gulf of Thailand and staring up at the sky.
To the old man who came in at the midst of the chaos, "I'm getting molested right now, what do you think?!" Jiro glares at the old man who is shouting at them about the free fax.
In the midst of Alma acting like Jira, the words of Lili rings in his mind. The young man turns his head towards her and he growls, "You insufferable, spoiled, piece of..." He growls at the contestent, "For someone who is supposed to be a pretty lady, you have a very annoying attitude! You better be aware that the ranking is based on attitude as well!" He growls.
And then Lightning Spangles grabs Jiro and shakes him like a baby. Why. Why why. The eyes are rolling to the back of his head as he is dizzied. And his arms are stretched. "Raaagggghhhh!"
....
There is a look of pure fright as he looks at Lili, Kula, and Jira. Then back at Jezebel. He is shaking his head ferverishly.
"No! I don't like this idea at all! This is a bad idea! Bad idea!"
"Kula, you performed admirably!" He calls out towards Kula as she departs. ...Hoping that she'd come back. Maybe save him. ...Yeah, not going to happen.
Sigh. "...I hate this day."
The moustached man recoils, points a finger at Jiro as he seethes, tilting his head slowly and dramatically as though to say to Jiro - or Jira?, 'you will regret this,' or maybe this is part of some hilarious youtube video prank not yet disclosed, visibly and loudly stomps off muttering.
...Why did he get so worked up all of a sudden?
We'll never know, whoever that man was.
"Hah?"
Lili looked away from the judge's and over to Kula and Jira. "...Oh." Kula lost? KULA LOST!? Somehow, Lili looked incredibly disappointed. "What a shame. And I was hoping for more..." She could feel the previous combat adrenaline slowly draining from her, leaving a vaguely empty fatigue. Sigh.
She looked back to the judges just in time to hear 'Lightning Spangles' mention who they basically missed most everything and that there would be a new form of judging. Lili blinked slowly, first eyeing the old man who came out of nowhere. She could swear she saw him at several points throughout the match, but...not once could she sense him. That called into question the true extent of his abilities. ...Oh well. Onto more important things!
"I demand to know where the tournament committee is! This whole thing has been unprofessional and ridiculous!" She rested one hand upon her hip, pointing indignantly at the judges with the other while taking steps towards them. "Now we must make this unwashed ape scream in order to determine our scores? That invalidates everything we did before this!"
With a brief nod Jira stands and flicks a small pellet of energy into the air as parting. It hovers about ten meters up then rains... or rather, snows down small flakes of the healing energy she used earlier on herself and Munin, whom is given a glance as she slides up to the Judges' booth. She turns her head up and a 'path' of white preceeds her up and next to Jiro, where Jira jumps up and 'slides' along the path into standing. Then they eye Jiro and offers him a hand. "Let's get lunch." they state simply, ignoring Jeze and Alma entirely when their head turns to Kula. "You can join us, or myself, my treat." they call out to Kula, for whom they'd made a small 'snow'flurry over.
Alma is silent, brow furrowed.
He has taken all of his duties seriously today. He has seen the situation in Thailand for himself. He has performed as Jira with all of his heart. And he has been judging the battle before him.
Oh, yes. The display of skating and fighting puissance has not been forgotten. On the contrary, crossing his arms, he regards the finished battle before him like a general overseeing his troops. And then--
'--you lowborn, shaggy looking, inbred, foul mouthed, unwashed, filthy, barbaric ape--'
Alma begins nodding slowly.
'--of all the worthless trash to have come into existence were chosen to represent /me/--'
"Yes," he murmurs to himself, "yes, I see."
'--this unwashed ape--'
"Superb!" Alma suddenly exclaims, and without warning he draws out a sign and thrusts it in Lili's direction. It is a sign labeled '10'. "Your grace! Your fighting ability! And most of all, your unflinching pride! I underestimated your resolve, Ms. De'Rochefort! It is you I judge the champion today!"
And with that, he smiles.
He also remains sitting on Jiro's lap the whole time.
"... I hate you all."
Jiro hangs his head low, looking over towards some form of getting some way out of the situation.
What does Jiro do?
He bashes his head right on the table...
And knocks himself unconscious.
...This is his escape. Nothing can go wrong from here.
"Well, I never!"
The tall Lightning Spangles looks at Lili indignantly. Releasing Jiro, just in time for him to bash his own brains in. Putting her hands on her hips, she scolds Lili. "This man was insulting you, and not only that, he was working hard to help you understand it is okay to scream! Maybe if you were a little more grateful, I might give you the full points! No, I won't be giving you full points! I will be giving JIRA a 10! For Jiro's sake!" She clutches Jiro and...
"Well tie me up, and call me Susie Q!"
"He's fallen asleep!" She declares. "Well this is a real medical emergency!" She exclaims, jaw slack. "This is one of our judges, and he can't be judging!" She looks actually concerned, a hand over her mouth. "Well, lawdy lawdy, what can we do? Alma, can you perform CPR while on his lap? Well, no, no that wouldn't wake him up."
And she snaps her fingers.
"Don't worry folks, I got a plan!" She exclaims, clapping her hands. Shaking a finger, she squints an eye. "I used to play a nurse, in the high quality motion picture, 'High Kicking Night Nurses,' where I played a martial artist by day, nightshift nurse by, erm, night!" She nods firmly. "And if that role taught me anything, there are certain things you can do to help revive an unconscious man! Don't worry about him a bit, Alma, I'll take care of him! And once I revive him, we can get the final judge score!" She begins to heave Jiro over her shoulder, and salutes.
"What's the worst that can happen?"
Log created on 19:43:13 08/24/2014 by Kula, and last modified on 03:57:24 08/25/2014.