starsand | sparring with an audience

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank you. We both appreciate your help.

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

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

[that explains everything right]

But how did you get owl powers?

... 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...

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

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.]

Why did you do that?

[Not judging, just gently curious.]

The Goddess tasked me with that after she saved me.

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

[... 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.

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

... I wanted a just world. A world where people helped each other. Where good was rewarded and evil was punished.

She told me she would make that world. A perfect world. But we had to put her in charge of the world to make it happen.

That's a worthy goal to try for. ...Honestly, I know a lot of people who would have done the same thing as you.

Mm. But I knew what we were doing was wrong.

... But I was scared. If I didn't obey, I'd end up alone on the streets again. And this time, maybe monsters would be going after me.

I hurt all those other people because I was too scared of getting hurt myself.