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

[tigerpoet]

[He gives the address for a small cafe, known for having very cute pastries.

He's waiting outside when she arrives, and waves with a smile.]

Good to see you.

[nightwild]

... Hey.

[She's just, shifting around awkwardly. Notably, she's back to her old outfit, too- a giant, ill-fitting t-shirt worn as a dress.]

What's this place?

[tigerpoet]

It's just a cafe I like. They have really good strawberry muffins.

[Holds open the door for her automatically.]

[nightwild]

I've never been here.

[She has, at least, by this point gotten her transformation under control, so she's not got any stray armor parts as she enters.]

[tigerpoet]

I'm happy to introduce you then.

[They get a table and some menus, etc. etc. we're not here for thrilling lunch order roleplay.]

Thank you for spending time with my other half. He doesn't socialize much, so I worry sometimes that he might be lonely.

[nightwild]

Oh... It was fun. He's nice.

I'm a little worried about him, though. Shouldn't he have his own name?

[tigerpoet]

We've both been thinking hard about that. It's... Well, it's compliated.

Neither of us is really 'the original Atsushi'. We became like this when we were summoned as a spirit - the kind of spirit we are is influenced by our books and what impact we've left on our weaders. It's why the children's book authors were summoned as children. We're summoned from the memories attached to our books, and that doesn't make us perfect copies of the human who lived decades ago.

...But he's always put me first, for as long as we've existed like this. He doesn't usually take over except to fight, or if we're hurt badly he'll stay in control afterward to spare me the pain. So he doesn't do much socializing, and I guess he never felt like he needed his own name.

[nightwild]

That's...

[She sighs.]

Most of that went over my head. But that's too sad.

[tigerpoet]

It really is. I keep telling him he should take more time for himself.

[nightwild]

[There's a pause, as she thinks.]

... "Kotaro".

[tigerpoet]

Kotaro? It's a nice name, but why that one?

[nightwild]

He said to call him "the tiger" or something.

So, "ko" from the kanji for tiger. It's not creative, but...

[tigerpoet]

...I can't quite tell, but he seems happy, so maybe he'll use it.

[nightwild]

I- I'm glad. He doesn't have to, but, if he likes it, then...

[tigerpoet]

Thank you. We both appreciate your help.

How did you learn how to fly? He seemed jealous when he was telling me about it.

[nightwild]

Huh? Oh, one of my powers is an owl. So I can fly with it.

[that explains everything right]

[tigerpoet]

But how did you get owl powers?

[nightwild]

... Sometimes, if I defeat a monster, I can get their Seed of Power back. And if I do, I can transform it into a disc to use in my Changer.

The guy was less an owl and more a freaky ninja. I guess the owl part came from me, but... He kept throwing knives everywhere, and vanishing, and making clones...

[tigerpoet]

That sounds like a pain to fight. Is the Seed of Power what makes them monsters?

[nightwild]

It was, but now I can do that.

Yeah. I... It used to be one of my jobs to help spread them.

[She did used to be a villain, after all.]

[tigerpoet]

Why did you do that?

[Not judging, just gently curious.]

[nightwild]

The Goddess tasked me with that after she saved me.

[tigerpoet]

I see. ...I can understand that, at least. People will do a lot of things out of gratitude.

[nightwild]

[... She snorts derisively.]

I wonder if it was gratitude. She told me the world I wanted wasn't possible... unless we destroyed everything. And put her in charge of the world.

Maybe I was just selfishly pursuing my ideal.

[tigerpoet]

...Just because you were going about it the wrong way doesn't mean the ideal itself is a bad thing.