sparring with an audience

[tigerpoet]

[If you're passing by the detective agency's office today, you might get to see a fight. Fauna, a familiar sight to most around Starsand, and Atsushi - no, the other one. The other other one.

Atsushi's grinning as they battle, so there's probably no bad blood involved… then again, with these two, it's hard to tell, especially with Fauna's mask covering any expression she might make.

Atsushi is a straightforward fighter, and his strikes with his sword are powerful. He doesn't dodge much, but he takes Fauna's fire and ice attacks head-on and keeps going strong. His attacks are almost reckless, the aggressive style of someone who knows he can tank any hit his opponent deals him and can fix any injuries later, trading openings in his own form for damage dealt to his opponent.

Fauna's fighting style, in contrast to her normal, headstrong nature, is quite methodical- First, blasts of fire and ice, scarring the battlefield to restrict her opponent's movements. Then a form change to her owl form, a bombardment of high-speed knives as she flies around to create openings. Then, when she's finally restricted and worn her opponent down, she strikes- Her lion form comes in swinging, intending to end it in a single, electric blow.

The battle ends in a draw, with Atsushi's sword at Fauna's neck and Fauna's sword at his heart. There's plenty of time afterwards to catch either of the two in conversation, if you've stuck around to watch.]

Comments

THE FIGHT

[tigerpoet]

[When Atsushi arrives, he looks somewhat different than the last time Fauna saw his other half. His hair is pushed up and he's missing his glasses, to say nothing of his expression being something that would look entirely out of place on that Atsushi.

Notably, he has a book in his hand rather than a sword.]

Hope I didn't keep you waiting.

[nightwild]

Hey. Not really, I had to throw Dazai's phone out a window, so I was busy.

[context? no. you get none.]

Before we start, there's something I wanted to ask you, though.

[tigerpoet]

[Context: it's Dazai.]

What is it?

TALK TO ATSUSHI

[tigerpoet]

[After the fight, Atsushi - Atsuthree - can be found leaning against the agency building, digging through his pockets for... something. Probably something to fix all those burns he has.]

[stavros]

Well done. You clearly put effort in.

[tigerpoet]

It'd be an insult not to. [And both Atsushis like Fauna, so they couldn't do that.]

[cottoncandydisaster]

[ He was mostly hanging back. He wasn't really watching but he figured that they might need a helping hand after the fact with whatever injuries they sustained. So when he sees Atsushi seemingly looking for something, he comes walking up. ]

Did'ja need healing or something? I have healing magic.

[tigerpoet]

I can heal myself, but the method isn't pleasant. Yours is probably better.

[He's 100% ready to take magical healing that doesn't taste awful.]

[mothornly]

--that was really amazing! I suppose you could even say 'out of this world', even!

[tigerpoet]

Thanks. It's been a while since I've been that closely matched with anyone.

[Of course he'd be happy to win, but fighting someone your equal and reaching a draw is its own kind of enjoyable, too.]

TALK TO FAUNA

[nightwild]

[After the fight, Fauna is breathing heavily, but looking remarkably refreshed and pleased with herself. She's leaning against a nearby railing, trying to catch her breath.]

That was a good workout.

Re: TALK TO FAUNA

[marshmallowpurgatory]

... A very different style of fighting. It'd be interesting to spar against you properly at some point, honestly, but... Maybe not right after one that looked that intense.

[Pidonus Marasia, of course, had practically shown up the instant she heard about this. Teleportation was nice like that.]

Any real injuries you want healed up quickly?

[fallmushrooms]

Is this like... duel club or something?

[luminarian]

It sure looked like it!

[ Of course Kaito would be drawn in by the sounds of a fight. ]

Hey, you’ve gotta tell me what kinda training you do to get that good!

[ He’s gotta start looking for a new group of workout buddies now that he’s… here. ]

[bluemackerel]

[Cue the slow clap as Dazai....slowly....walks....forward.]

Admirable show, Fauna.

I trust you'll ask next time before you start a brawl outside our offices where there could easily be collateral damage?

[mothornly]

That was a workout?

[ She's shocked by the choice of words. Even as an assassin, she feels so out of her element. ]

[loveedition]

[ No, no, that was absolutely a lot more than a workout...! ]

That was... something, alright.

[ A brief pause... ] Honestly, I was getting nervous. I thought you two were actually fighting for real.

clean up crew

[melancholie]

[Dimitri will be undoing any damage done during the fight: Turning back time on some things, fixing structures, reshaping broken or misshapen parts of the landscape... It doesn't take him more than a few minutes with his fingers tied up in spacial strings.

He's making more of a show of being annoyed than he is of his power.]

[cottoncandydisaster]

[ He's "helping" with clean up. Meaning that Dimitri is doing most of it with his powers while Ceto does some light stuff even though he doesn't really need to. Dimitri seems annoyed that he got stuck doing it, so... it's the thought that counts, right? ]

Your powers are so pretty, you know.

[ Of course that catches his eye. At least he's not one of the people he's annoyed with... or he thinks he's not. ]

[nightwild]

[At the very least, Fauna's letting her ice vanish when she releases her transformation.]

Thanks for the help.

SOME TIME LATER

[nightwild]

[After her... confrontation with Pidonus, Fauna's stormed off. She's now stomping around the town, looking furious, trying to calm herself down, looking for a place to vent or at least relax. But she can't seem to find anything... not until she makes it down to the lowest level, where everyone fought the tree.

Due to her emotions causing her powers to go haywire, though, she remains in a half-transformed state, parts of her body transformed into her scarred, gray armor, and half of it normal. What parts of her are transformed, though, seem to be shifting, changing, as her emotions swirl around in a mess.

Wherever you approach you, if she spots you coming, she's just going to turn around to face you and snap:]

What do you want?

EVEN LATER, LIKE A COUPLE DAYS LATER

[tigerpoet]

tigerpoet: Fauna, are you busy?

[Atsushi's heard the report from his other half. Giving her some time to calm down is important, but he doesn't want to just leave it alone forever.]

[bluemackerel]

Do you want the answer that seems tailored to your current mood, or the honest answer?

[Dazai, of course, looks wholly unphased. That might be because he's confident in the fact that if he's actually attacked he can nullify the ability, but it's also because he's confident he has nothing to fear with Fauna.]

I'll go ahead and say the honest answer, since I'm not a fan of skirting around the point in these types of situations, and I don't want to talk down to you. You're not stupid, you can probably guess.

[He has his hands in his pockets, his expression firmed, but concerned.]

I saw what happened, and I wanted to check on you. See if there was anything I could do.

[It isn't the first time he's stopped Fauna from running away and isolating herself, after all.]

[spacialeyes]

[Yuuto is keeping his distance, actually. He's sunk his hands into the strings around the tree and begun weaving a more private space around Fauna and the tree. He flinches when called out and takes an extra step back, strings shimmering around his fingers.]

Sorry. It looked like you might want to cool down..?

Do you want to hit me instead?

[unquestioned_loyalty]

[ He raises a brow at the snap, noting the bad mood alongside the odd appearance. Not one to mince words, he merely points at one of the half transformed parts ]

To know what happened to you, mainly, and if you need help.

[ he tilts his head slightly ]

Though given that response It's probably not something you want to discuss.