[Mentor/Amu Tsukiyomi] Battle training

[Amu Tsukiyomi]

Having wandered about Old Londonium for a while, Amu found herself walking along what she could only assume was the Thames River.  Just like the actual Thames River, it wasn't a terribly clean or pretty looking river, but she supposed it was safe enough.  Not that she was really willing to test that theory out, computer game world or not.  She certainly enjoyed the much more peaceful atmosphere of the area, as opposed to the constant hustle and bustle of the more central parts of the city.  It's not that she particularly disliked busy places, but...she also wasn't particularly a an of them either.  They had their uses and as long as people didn't hound her or cause her a problem, she was fine.  For the most part.  Pulling herself back to where she actually was, Amu looked around the Thames River once more.

"Maybe I should've chosen fishing as a sub-class....then I could just sit on the bank and fish for food..... Nah. Blacksmith is way more useful."

Looking around and noticing that there really wasn't anyone around, she decided that maybe practicing some swordsman ship would be a good idea.  Around here, there really wasn't anyone she could hurt if for some reason the sword should go flying out of her hands. "Though I suppose the risk of them flying into the river is one I should be a bit more concerned about... Perhaps I'll just walk over here to prevent that. Yeah, that's a good idea...."

Still thinking out loud, though mainly under her breath, Amu began going through the motions she remembered from the one fencing class she'd taken in college for fun.  Quickly figuring out that fencing moves did not work particularly well with a katana, she switched to thinking of the sword as more of a quarterstaff than a weapon designed for jabbing people. 

(WORD COUNT: 310)



Saber

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

The sound of water flowing through the river was calming and soothing. So much so that time seemed to pass by in a lull. The night had come quick, the sun setting rather fast compared to most evenings, and the morning dawn had come even faster. It was a good choice to settle in beside the water, and Saber was no regretting his decision. After battling in the region for two days and a full night, the Assassin had gathered up all of the materials he required to refill his crafting needs. The requests he had for a few players were large, and the anonymous crafter had to keep up with them. Doing so without getting busted at the crafter who owned the Funeral Parlor was quite difficult. He hid all of his classes except for Assassin, went through several different procedures to lose anyone who could have been potentially tailing him, and even made sure to make himself as hard to find a possible when he was in the mines. However, he knew full well that his crafting class would probably be well known eventually.

There were plenty of times Saber had forgotten to hide his class after switching to it from Alchemist. He didn’t doubt that someone, somewhere, had noticed that he was a blacksmith. He personally didn’t care for that as much as he did the Funeral Parlor. He had many clients and he knew many of them didn’t exactly agree with the way he played, nor did they have a fondness for him in general. Should they discover who he was, they would find business elsewhere. He did not actually mind that so much now as he did before, though. Now, Saber had enough materials and funds to supply himself consistently for a long time. If someone decided to stop going to him for crafts, that would be up to them. He wasn’t so needy anymore.

As he lay down by the water, his body flat, the fire beside him, and his eyes closed, the Assassin only chuckled. If he had time to worry about his shop’s owner being discovered, than he truly did have a lot more time on his hands. Before, hiding who he was came as second nature and he had never questioned it. The Funeral Parlor was his baby and it was a well-oiled machine now that he could perform a multitude of crafts. It also gave him a reason to keep playing. Now that he was level ninety, Saber had no real reason to leave London. There wasn’t much of anything that he could benefit from when it came to randomly grinding and killing hundreds of monsters like he used to. No matter how many things he killed, the experience bar beneath his name remained steady. It did not move or even flicker. It simply kept its solid yellow glow, as if taunting Saber with the idea that it may one day jump. Of course he knew that would not happen. If the bar was going to jump, it would have already, especially after his battle with the raid boss, Albion.

“I should finish that book…” Saber let out a sigh as he watched the beautiful blue sky above his head drift lazily by. The clouds were grey, like they usually were, but they were much more spread out than on the darker days. It brought a smirk to the man’s face. It would have been a great day to read under the sun, or at least sleep. He had been doing a lot more of that. Or… or… Saber could sit and watch a lovely view…

The Assassin rolled onto his left side and looked down the river towards London a little ways, a smirk crossing his face. A decent distance from where he was, the man could see another player striding along the same side of the river he was on. What made things even better was the fact that it was a woman, and a level one. It seemed as though she wanted some alone time of sorts, so Saber didn’t jump out of his place and simply watched. Women made him feel uncomfortable anyways so interacting with them was something he hoped to avoid as much as possible, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself. This was one of those times as the woman began to practice something he knew well; sword skills

Right off the bat, Saber could see she had some kind of experience. It wasn’t much but she seemed to at least understand the concept of holding a sword. Her stance seemed a little more diginified and a lot more like something that would make sense. Saber’s, on the other hand, was probably the complete opposite. He fought to kill, not to play. Then again; he hadn’t exactly looked at his own stance in the mirror. He never took any kind of sword lessons and simply taught himself how to fight. Learn to wield a sword or die; those were his options. This woman, unlike Saber, seemed to actually be practicing, but on air instead of monsters. It wasn’t a bad idea, but Saber never really understood it. He got bored too quickly so fighting and potentially dying always proved to make him a better fighter. He understood why she may be shadow-fighting; everyone learned differently, Saber simply chose to force himself to win, or face death. Thankfully, he had escaped death so far.

“To move… or not to move… that is the question…” Saber let out a light yawn and stared at the distant female player, his eyes blinking a few times as he watched. Finally though, after about a minute of staring, the man let out a groan and sat up. He had to move, whether he liked it or not. If he didn’t, he would have stayed put all day long. That was a no go for him. Wasting time wasn’t of his nature and there was someone who could probably use some help. With that in mind, the Assassin stood up and gathered up his equipment; his swords on his hips, his daggers on his lower back, throwing knives on his thighs, cloak over his shoulders, scarf tucked around his face, and his hood up.

The man took in a deep, filtered breath through his scarf and leaned back, cracking his spine in a few places before standing upright. He pushed his nose against his scarf and the man’s eyes hardened. The grogginess of his prior sleep washed away in a flash, his tiredness vanished, and his mind cleared. The player kicked out his fire into the river with his boot and let the ashes spray out into the air. Then, he headed downstream towards London, and towards the woman. He didn’t try to hide himself like he usually did, as that took too much energy. The man didn’t try to avoid her either. Instead, Saber pulled his cloak around himself and pretty much walked right up to where she was practicing. The man didn’t say anything, nothing at all. He simply stopped a short distance away, his hands tucked into his cloak’s inner pockets, and watched.

: Post Title :
-The Passerby-

: Word Count :
1196

: Skills Used :
N/A

: Tagged :
Saber, Amu Tsukiyomi

: Notes :
Saber bein' a creep. Enjoy.

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[Amu Tsukiyomi]

While she had been practicing using her katanas, Amu hadn't been paying quite as much attention as she normally would have to her surroundings.  It was probably the combination between the seemingly peaceful nature of the area and her desire to get at least a little bit better with her blades before she decided to try going after any monsters.  Sure, she would have preferred to be learning by fighting against a real target, but she was not so negligent as to risk 'dying'.  Re-spawning was not something she really had any desire to learn what that felt like.  It had been more than okay when she was on the other side and not actually in the game, but it was different now.

Hacking away at the imaginary foe she was mentally picturing before her, the pair of ears atop her head flicked about still paying attention to the sounds around her.  Having Fox ears was definitely something she had to get used to, as well as having a tail.  "Well, at least I can say I know what it's like to have animal features...the only question is whether or not I find them to be more trouble than they're worth.  Hm?"  Pausing slightly in mid-swing, she swore she heard some kind of unusual rustling coming from near-by, but all she heard was the rustling of the grass from a slight breeze.  Barely shaking her head to help regain her disturbed focus, she caught sight of something, more like a someone, out of the corner of her eye just standing there doing nothing.

Trying her hardest to quell her initial fight or flight instinct, the two of which both equally wanted her to listen to them, she ended up failing spectacularly.  She ended up half-brandishing her sword and half-falling to the ground in surprise.  What made matters worse what that the other adventurer had half of their face covered, were now towering over her, and the worst part, they were a level 90 Adventurer.  Scrambling to stand up and regain some semblance of composure, she managed to do so surprisingly gracefully. "Damnit, I knew I should have been paying more attention.  Are they hostile?  Gah, I can't tell.  I so hate it when people manage to surprise me like that.  Screws up so much and makes nearly everything impossible.  Guess I should have stuck to practicing in an inn."  She had been so surprised that she forgot to look past the 'level 90' to figure out their name.

Taking a few moments to assess the level 90 Adventurer's appearance, she noticed the cloak and thought she was the glint of weapons, which was hardly surprising.  They did seem to be much smaller than she would have expected, which led her to believe they were throwing weapons of some nature.  The more she observed the other adventurer, the more uneasy she felt, mainly because they'd surprised the living daylights out of her and massively triggered fight or flight due to her lowered guard.

"Who....who are you. And...what do you want."

Subtly bracing herself, she tried her best to calm down so that if need be, she could attempt to flee.

(WORD COUNT: 529)

Saber

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

The sound of the wind whistling above his head caused the Saber’s attention to divert from the woman practicing in front of him, and his eyes locked themselves to the sky above once more. He could hear her sword still whipping at the air, chopping and slicing at it, but the Assassin simply let his mind wander. Each sound of the sword being swung pasted another picture into his mind, illustrating various different fights of his own. One slash straight across, stab to the chest, spin and strike at the back, and then remove the beast’s head to finish it. That was his general attack pattern, and it was extremely effective for the man. Targeting the neck usually ended with his opponent being eliminated, usually. However, the female player’s hacking, stabbing, and slashing also reminded Saber of his engagements with fellow players. None of them ended as nicely as combat with monsters, and the remembrance of those fights made his eyes close.

And that was when it stopped.

It was a sudden cut off, the noise of the female practicing vanishing, and Saber’s ears opened up. His ears didn’t move, but his sense heightened and he listened intently as the sound of footsteps rang in the air. The simple sound of shift feet, the whooshing of grass, and then the sound of a thud, all made the Assassin rumble lightly within his throat for a few seconds; he wished she had just kept swinging. Seeing as that wasn’t going to happen now, he opened his eyes and looked down to see the woman scrambling up to her feet. It seemed that the revelation of his existence had frightened her in some way, and she didn’t exactly seem content with his presence, let alone him being so close. Saber had kept his distance, mainly for his own safety just in case if she for some reason became hostile, but it must not have been enough. Then again, he hadn’t exactly made his appearance public. Announcing himself wasn’t a trait he really had.

However, her decision to turn and face him probably wasn’t much of a smart one. In addition, she had verbally engaged him. She didn’t know who he was or what he wanted, which was quite obvious as he had never met the female before. Though, if he was someone who was seeking to cause her harm; he probably wouldn’t have remained standing in one spot. The sound of someone trying so hard and the sight of a woman making herself stronger was enough to make anyone curious. Doing so by the water’s edge may not have been the best place for that, but that was just Saber; someone who did what he wanted in the first place.

“If you’re going to point a weapon at someone…” Saber’s nose wiggled beneath his scarf and then he gently pressed his nose against the cloth object. His eyes narrowed as he took a short look at the woman’s stance, eyeing her head to toe as he took in the brief sight. He was no master at swordsmanship, nor was he some kind of teacher so he wouldn’t tell her how to stand. Though, he could already see a few holes in how she was positioned. With that in mind, he decided to lend her a hand…

“…then you should do so with the intent of killing them.” Saber’s left hand slid to his left hip, his fingers threading around the hilt of his blade. He squeezed it and then pulled, sliding it from it’s sheathe and out from beneath his cloak. As the tip came free from its housing, the man flicked the blade out in front of him. Then, he pointed it towards the woman. The blade shimmered in the light and its reforge effect caused the weapon to glow slightly around its edge. The man smirked beneath his scarf and then lowered his blade to his waist. He took a few steps toward the woman and twirled his weapon around in his hand, spinning it once before clutching its comfortable hilt again. When he was a few steps away from the woman, the Assassin raised his sword back up and placed it against the side of the female’s weapon. At the connection of the blades, he added some pressure, pushing against her sword slightly.

“Call me curious, but I wish to propose a little challenge to you.” The Assassin’s eyes narrowed a little more and his sight hardened. He added more pressure to his blade.

“If you can strike me once in sixty seconds, I will give you some tips on how to fight and how to survive… If you fail, I will leave and allow you to continue to practice.” A smirk crossed the covered face of the player and his fingers tensed up on his blade.

“If you agree, feel free to begin whenever you are ready… If not, I will leave you be and let you continue without a hitch.” Saber enjoyed giving his little tests to the lower level players. Many of them ran from him, frightened by his level, but a handful fought back. Those who sought knowledge in the strange world around them approached him much more often now than they did before. However, what would this one do, he wondered. She had jumped away from him, flustered by his appearance. Her determination to practice had led her here, but would she chase the golden apple held out before her? Or would she smack the hand away…? The thought made Saber’s lips pull further into a smile. Oh how he loved doing this…

: Post Title :
-The Meddling Man-

: Word Count :
939

: Skills Used :
N/A

: Tagged :
Saber, Amu Tsukiyomi

: Notes :
If you say no, Saber will leave~

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[Amu Tsukiyomi]

“...then you should do so with the intent of killing them.”

Her posture, which had relaxed very slightly, began to stiffen once more. Certainly the initial reaction had been borne from surprise more than anything else, but now she could feel her hackles rising at the possibly dangerous statement. It was fairly obvious that if the other adventurer wanted to, he could have already dispatched her. As if a level one could really do much against someone so many levels above them. Subtly switching her grip on the sword to be one that was significantly better than the harried freak out induced grasp she had, Amu paid close attention to the other adventurer's actions. The seemingly flashy, though rather short, display they were putting on felt as if is was more meant as a scare tactic. "I'm not about to let someone scare me with a glowing blade and-"

Involuntarily she ended up leaning slightly away at their approach, unwilling to actually move, but unable to keep herself completely still. While they might not have slain or attacked her in any manner as of yet, she had no idea what they were up to. There was no way she would be so stupid as to over or under analyze their actions. Both could have very dire consequences were she to guess wrongly, so she instead chose to be prepared to act, but wait and see what they did. When they placed their blade against hers and exerted pressure against it, instinctively she pressed back, though only just enough to show that she was not going to be easily made to run away with her tail between her legs. She might not be stupid or have a death wish, but she was still extremely stubborn and right about now, she was feeling a bit miffed from having been surprised.

“Call me curious, but I wish to propose a little challenge to you.”

As they increased the pressure on her blade, she too increased hers. However, she made sure to not put too much force into it and put herself at a possible disadvantage.

“If you can strike me once in sixty seconds, I will give you some tips on how to fight and how to survive… If you fail, I will leave and allow you to continue to practice. If you agree, feel free to begin whenever you are ready… If not, I will leave you be and let you continue without a hitch.”

Now she was definitely miffed. The only outward display of the full ignition of her very stubborn streak was the defiant look on her face and the manner in which her whole body seemed to coil like a spring and lean in towards the touching blades. Even her tail had tensed up and was waving back and forth in a manner similar to an angry dog. There was no way this person was going to propose a challenge in such a seemingly smug manner. She was absolutely certain he was mentally smirking at her, if not literally smirking, but the scarf obscured his mouth. She was so certain of this, that she could practically feel the smirk.

"Fine then, Curious it is. All I have to do is strike you in less than a minute?"

Knowing full well he had not been saying his name was actually "Curious", but not giving a single badger about it, she rubbed her blade against his before switching her blade to the other side of his and flatly striking it once. Normally she would have nailed down the 'rules' more concretely before agreeing either by word or deed, but she was feeling rather affronted and that was clouding her judgment in that regard just a bit. Though she knew that her katana really wasn't meant to be used like a rapier, it made the most sense to answer his challenge by striking his blade just like she had in the fencing class to determine the strength of the opponent's hold. "I definitely cannot go blade to blade in the normal sense with him....it's far too likely I'd somewhat seriously damage my blade long before I'd manage to do anything to his..."

Again, she repeated the move, except this time she struck his blade twice, before breaking away and taking a half step back to better assess any possible openings.

(WORD COUNT: 735)

Saber

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

As he stood there and waited, the Assassin began to pick apart the woman’s stance, her position, and his mind began to pull in several situations out of the air. Much like a human combat calculator, a bubble expanded outwards from where the man stood. It was much like that of a massive blue digital sphere, and it incased the entire zone within fifty feet. In Saber’s mind, the world was moving fast. His mind worked like a clock and started to put out various different actions he could take as well as ones this woman could take, and then he began to put together reactions to all of them. Much like chess, the Assassin put his pieces on the table and observed the entire field. It was swift, and his eyes remained affixed to the woman in front of him as his brain ticked.

If she stepped forward, he could push back and snatch her wrist, or he could step to her side or potentially even mimic her direction and move backwards. If she stepped back herself, he could press or create distance. The movement would also cause her blade pressure to loosen, so he could attack her grip. Should she try to jump or step to the side, Saber could use his feet to eliminate her base, step into her, or create distance. The general themes to any movement in combat were of three types; offensive, defensive, or neutral. Saber could block, step forward, or step back. Whichever movement he picked didn’t really matter, but it would influence the next step he would take. An offensive movement would be met with the woman’s attempt to either assault him or defend herself if she was unable to keep her base. If he wanted to promote a stalemate, dodging and stepping away or even shadowing the woman would make things easy. Although, the sixty second timer would work neither for him or against him until there was only ten seconds left, and then it would be against him. Saber had to avoid that blade the woman held no matter what and performing any kind of attack motion would hinder that. But he couldn’t stay completely on the defense either or she would press, if she was brave… Oh how he loved chess.

But, as Saber’s mind ticked, the mental sphere around him suddenly ticked and flared; the woman moved. She spoke back in a response to his wording and her blade shifted on top of his, crossing from one side to the other. Then, she attacked. Her strike was much like the one he had seen her practice and his body moved fluidly to escape the strike. His vision focused and the world slowed as her sword closed in on him, but not on him specifically. No, she targeted his sword and her blade smacked against his own. Saber huffed and his arm barely moved in response as the light jab merely bounced off his weapon. Saber tilted the sword down towards the woman and then deflected another one of her strikes. It didn’t surprise him that the hits were weak, but what did surprise Saber were the woman’s motions and her choices of strikes.

The attacks weren’t ones a katana user should have been performing; they weren’t of the slashing nature. This woman was using the blade much more like a rapier than what it was actually designed for, and the hits were weak. Saber didn’t even have to move in order to avoid being disturbed by the strikes and he even considered encroaching on the female to try and get her to perform a third poke, but he though against it. Instead, the Assassin watched as she attacked him again. This time, he moved his sword, twisting his wrist to avoid the simply slashes, causing his female opponent to whiff. The strikes were predictable now and his eyes could read them quite easily. Her stance showed how she would attack and her arm hid nothing. Her poke attack was most likely some sort of set-up movement.

After the dual swing, the woman took a step away and gave Saber some breathing room. The Assassin huffed beneath his scarf and his eyes narrowed on the woman. He relaxed his stance and stood upright, but kept his sword out in front of him for a moment. Once he determined she wasn’t going to strike him again, the man tossed his sword in the air for a split moment and twisted his body, shifting on his feet and rotated himself around. Then, he snagged his blade into his left hand. He twirled the weapon around once and then clutched it firmly again, tilting the tip of the blade back down towards the female player. His base widened and the man bent his knees slightly.

“I hope that wasn’t it…” The Assassin wasn’t extremely good with his taunts, nor was he any good with waiting. The only thing which kept Saber from lunging forward at the female was the clock. He had to milk it to the best of his ability if he wanted to win his own bet and there was fifty-five seconds left on it.

: Post Title :
-Coiling The Spring-

: Word Count :
865

: Skills Used :
N/A

: Tagged :
Saber, Amu Tsukiyomi

: Notes :
---

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[Amu Tsukiyomi]

“I hope that wasn’t it…”

Narrowing her eyes, she snorted derisively. Either he had thought she was actually attacking him or he was simply attempting to enrage her, which though he had tripped her stubborn streak, he hadn't actually compromised her calculating nature. There was no way she could go directly at him and hope to win the somewhat unusual bet. Normally, a bet would involve both sides having a kind of penalty in case they lost, but all she could see was no real penalty at all for her, other than the loss of information.  But she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and risk having her head bitten off.  This was a marvelous opportunity to learn from someone much more experienced than herself and fighting against an actual opponent was far superior to shadow boxing like she had been.  There would always be some use in practicing alone, but it would never beat the understanding that came from trying to actually defeat an opponent.

As she was watching how he twirled about, threw his blade and then caught the blade to point it at her once more, she decided that he was neither going to take this lightly, but he also wasn't out to harm her.  It felt like he was not exactly trying to showing off, but also like he was kind of trying to show off.  Not wanting to waste too much time, there was a time limit to this bet after all, Amu shifted her stance from her more fencing-style stance, to one that mimicked his. "No harm in taking a few pointers from him via observation, now is there?"

Choosing to not reply to his remark with words, she instead chose to take a step back and 'blindly' rush at him, actually trying to look like she was being an idiot making a very ill-advised and purely frontal attack. Though fencing might not work well as a fighting style for a katana, it certainly helped in terms of knowing ways in which to mislead your opponent, a skill she had been the most adept at amongst her classmates in college. So many times her classmates would think she was going to move, and hurry to meet her attack, but instead were met with nothing and then a swift touch as they collected themselves.  But now was not the time to remember practice bouts, there was a much more important task that required her attention.  She could only hope her skills at misdirection would still serve her well when her opponent was not one of her equally inexperienced classmates.

Holding the katana's grip with two hands, the blade facing away from him and pointing to her right. He had not said that she had to cut him or that the first to draw blood would be the victor. Since that was the case, she saw no reason to use the sharpened part of her katana. Winding the blade back ever so slightly, she made as if to swing it like a baseball bat towards his blade, before she moved a little to the side and tuck rolled, aiming for his legs. As she did this, her right hand swiftly moved to pinch the blade closer to the tip so that she might have more control over it at such a close range and hopefully that would increase the likelihood of this tactic ending in a successful strike.

Jumping up from the tuck roll, she flicked her ears and tail to remove the dirt from them.

(WORD COUNT: 594)

Saber

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Dancing was something done with two partners. It was a short movie played through the movements of their bodies in harmony with the music which floated in the air about them. It could be long or short, violent or beautiful, but it was an art. Dancing was something that went back thousands of years and was ever present, even as technology advanced. It remained as a core part of the rich and lavish, and provided an escape for those who weren’t so lucky. However, for Saber, it was something else. A dance to him was a matter of life and death. It was his feet moving to the song of his enemy, his body reacting to the sounds of his enemy’s fury, and the choreography provided by his mind. Dancing, to him, was fighting. In his mind, and through his eyes, Saber danced every day. Every step he took was an addition to the long, winding twirl he did with his partner; Nature. Every fight was its own small branch off of that larger pairing, and everything beyond them was just a small bump and apology.

This fight was just another one of those dances, to Saber. As the woman answered his request with acceptance, the music began to play in Saber’s ears. This music was created by the orchestrated sounds of her feet on the fresh grass, her lips sucking and blowing out fresh and old air, her hands clutching her blade, and the clothes covering her nude body brushing against her skin. Even the sounds of the world around the two players aided Saber in creating his small play. It was beautiful, in his mind, and his body began to flow to the music the woman was providing him with. She was not perfect; he could hear her mistakes, could see the holes in her song, and he could feel the weakness in her strength. She was young in the world they were in, inexperienced in the ways of the dance Saber had practiced for so long, and she was predictable. Saber’s eyes dissected the female’s body and took in the images he saw much like that of a computer reading data. Every line of code was an action with the endgoal being victory. Although every line was fully exposed and Saber’s eyes picked apart the program in front of him quickly. The music was beautiful, but the orchestra behind it was not so much.

Saber’s eyes narrowed on the woman as he watched her; she shifted her feet, turned her hips, and her chest adjusted. She mimicked him, her body taking the stance his was in. It made him grin beneath his scarf for a moment; she was ignorant. The stance Saber took had its strengths, and its own weaknesses, but those were only good to a person who knew them. His own stance had many holes and defensive faults; a strong fighter would be able to pick him apart with their eyes. However, Saber knew them all by heart and his center of gravity was shifted from the position it looked to be in simply by the Assassin applying pressure to his forward foot. Not only that but his right hand’s position, hovering in the air just by his waist, gave the man enough time to draw either his second blade or a dagger should he need to. The woman didn’t have those additional weapons, and he doubted she had her center of gravity shifted onto her front toes; very few people ever did.

Of course, the Assassin spoke nothing of that. Instead, he let the female player do as she pleased. Even as she finally moved, Saber remained still. She stepped forward and then began her rush, taking the path many players would take. While under pressure of the clock, attacking and using up as much of that time on the offensive side of things would be the best time spent. With that being said; attacking straight on was the best option for the impatient. However, as she rushed, Saber transferred his weight more to his back foot and his hips slowly shifted towards it. His eyes narrowed and the man continued to wait. His eyes blinked once in order to keep them from drying and then lowered down the woman’s body to her hips. He ignored her hands, but watched her waist. They were quite motherly, to say the least, but that was not why he stared at them. As she continued forward, he could see her body’s path of motion and his hand slowly squeezed on his blade. Her hands pulled back, the katana shifting further backwards into the air. Saber’s eyes continued to watch the woman’s hips rush towards him… And then they shifted; she moved to the side and off her head-on path.

“Close…” Concealing such a thing was difficult when facing an observant opponent, but a smart player did not watch their enemy’s upper body. When facing a rush, watching the enemy’s eyes and hips were the primary ways to see where the enemy would move. The enemy’s eyes would give away the target, and the hips would give away the movement. Controlling such things was difficult and required much practice, practice this woman still needed.

As the woman moved her hips in one direction, Saber stepped forward and moved straight towards her, his own body moving in the same direction she took. His blade twisted inwards towards his own body and he turned, his chest staying pointed towards his opponent as she dove and rolled over her head; she took her eyes off her opponent, a foolish mistake. When she returned to her knees and swung her blade low, Saber was at her side, his blade sliding across her shoulder as he continued in his path. Ultimately, Saber would end up being in a position behind her as she swung at the air in front of herself. His swing would generate a light gust of air, warning her of the potential hit.

A moment later, the woman bounced up to her feet and Saber accelerated, remaining in close proximity. When her body fully extended and her chest was almost level with his, Saber twisted his wrist and raised his elbow. His arm retracted for just a moment before he stabbed forward, his blade piercing the air on a collision course with the woman’s face. As the blade would take the elevated path, his right hand clenched into a fist and shot low. Just before impact, his blade would stop; inches from the woman’s cheek. However, his body would then twist and his fist would accelerate towards her stomach.
Contact would cause some extreme discomfort…

: Post Title :
-Every Action has a Reaction-

: Word Count :
1115

: Skills Used :
N/A

: Tagged :
Saber, Amu Tsukiyomi

: Notes :
Now the test truly begins...

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[Amu Tsukiyomi]

There was no time to completely stop moving, to take such a pause would be a costly luxury that Amu did not have.  Leaving her back turned to an opponent who had so much more experience than she did, would definitely prove to be a terrible mistake.  The moment the dirt was out of her ears, she sprung to the side, flipping over once again by performing a move akin to a one-handed hand-spring of some variety.  Learning which gymnastic move was what as she watched the summer olympics had never been a priority, mainly as she never figured she would need to know such knowledge.  At least having watched their moves served her fairly well now, considering that her class and 'species' were both relatively agile.  Trying as much as possible to keep from making any extraneous movements and expending energy she needed for other things, she landed a few feet away facing towards where she had been previously standing, noting that not only had she completely missed the other adventurer's movements and that he had just been about to nail her with something that obviously would have been painful.  Apparently she was not paying as much attention to her surroundings as she thought.  She had not felt him move behind her, nor the close proximity of the blade he had pointed towards where her face had once been.  While it probably had been the mild distraction of removing the dirt from her ears, a nuisance that would have been distracting her the entire battle had she not removed it, that caused her to not realize what the other adventurer had done, she couldn't just blame that.  Her inexperience also played a part in it.

Currently, though she was doing her best to focus intently on the battle, her surroundings, her opponent, and the sensory input from it all, she could also feel the adrenaline that was partially fueling her decisions.  The small shock from finding out that she had completely missed the movements of her opponent had given her a millisecond pause that helped her notice the surge of adrenaline running through her system.  The desire to just up and rush him, do anything to try and get a hit in on him was very strong, but instead of listening to that desire she chose to back off a little further, willingly wasting a few seconds to collect herself.  "I need to work on not getting so hyped up....guess that will come with time and practice."  Unsheathing her second starter katana - really, she needed to make herself a better pair of blades once she leveled up a bit - Amu moved back towards her opponent, holding one blade in front of her diagonally across her chest and the other horizontally across her lower abdomen.

As she got a little closer to her opponent, Amu decided yet again to go for his legs.  Out of every part of his body, they were the most exposed part of his body.  Sure, going for the upper body would probably be more noble or valiant or whatever, but if the goal was to get a singular hit in on him within the span of sixty seconds, there was no point in choosing to go after his much better protected upper body.  Especially because of that cloak.  She had no interest in risking him using some sort of fancy cloak-work that could trap her blades or even worse, completely divest her of one or both of them.

Once more she chose to accomplish this by tuck rolling, except this time her target was to land right in front of his legs.  She would hold one of her katana so that it would be sticking out more than far enough it would be able to hit him, before laying on her back right at his feet.  From there she might be able to create for herself a few more opportunities to hit him.  It was a rather risky move, or so she thought, but without some amount of risk there would be no reward either.  Flattening her blades so they would be much less likely to injure her as she attempted this, she also flattened her ears against her skull to keep out the dirt this time.  She had learned her lesson from the last time she tuck rolled that open ears were not the greatest of ideas if you wanted to keep from getting little rocks, dirt, sticks and anything else that might be on the ground in your ears.  

(WORD COUNT: 758)

Saber

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Well, it seemed that the female had somehow teleported away from him, as his fist hit nothing but air even though he was quite close to her. Though, it would not be the first time something strange and confusing had happened to him. Yet, it would be the only time such a thing would happen. As the woman phased backwards, distance appearing between the two players, Saber stood upright and leaned back onto his heels. He let out a slightly annoyed huff and twirled his sword into a reverse grip, letting the blade tap gently against his bicep as he flicked it back. The sharp, jagged object felt like nothing but a feather in his hand even though it weighed several pounds because of its hardened material. His constant use of the tool made it light and his muscles formed in such a way to adjust for the weapon. Saber had been physically strong when he started the game, but now as he simply toyed around; he realized that his actions had conditioned him for war. It was a good feeling.

As he watched his opponent draw a second blade from her waist, the Assassin reached to his thigh and pulled out an ever so tiny throwing knife. He kept the sword in his left hand back against the underside of his arm and patiently twirled the throwing knife his held around in his fingers as he watched his opponent step closer to him. She took a very defensive stance, guarding herself with two layers of metallic armor but it didn’t bother the Assassin. She could defend all day but with only forty seconds remaining, she wouldn’t be able to do so for very long. At some point, she would have to attack him. He was the target now, not her. He was the objective which gave him the benefit of declaring the rules of the fight. She would have to come to him if she wanted to win, and Saber was not foolish enough to give her any excess time. He had attempted to do so once, to give her a shot at maybe countering him, but she did not take him up on the offer. Now, his smile was gone. He was going to make this a living hell for her.

After another few seconds ticked, the woman finally moved again and tucked into a ball on the ground again. Saber shook his head and watched as she came close to him. The grip on his sword strengthened and his eyes watched the rolling foxtail. As she popped up from her roll, one of her blades came for his legs. Saber rumbled and slapped the blade out of the way with his throwing knife, deflecting the strike as he moved off to the side. The woman flattened herself at his feet and pretty much exposed herself to him, but he didn’t take the bait. No, instead Saber took a few steps away and placed himself in the position of where the woman had previously been standing; pretty much switching places with her. He didn’t attack her, he didn’t try to pin her, and he didn’t even try to trick her with anything or set up some kind of trap. The name of the game, for him, was to avoid being hit. If he had engaged her and dropped into her chest, he would have been in a sticky situation. It would have been even worse if he had stayed right beside the foxtail as she was on the ground. It was smart of her to go for his legs, but it seemed that the woman was having trouble figuring out a way to do so. However, what bothered Saber wasn’t her tactics, but something else…

“Rolling around on the ground won’t get you any closer to me… And taking your eyes off me is even more foolish.” Saber leaned back on his heels and wiggled his nose beneath his scarf. He stared down at the woman, waiting for her to get back to her feet. As he twirled his throwing knife, a glowing sigil began to burn on its edge. The Assassin let out a rumble and then snagged the weapon by the tip, holding it out in front of him for the woman to see.

“This sigil is a bomb. Take your eyes off me again and I’ll blow off one of your limbs.” After giving his warning, Saber snagged the hilt of his knife and flipped it into a reverse grip as well, closing his fingers around the hilt tightly. Then, his stance shifted. His hips turned to the right and opened as he lowered himself down, bending his knees to balance himself . His left arm curved around his body and extended slightly in front of his chest. His blade swirled outwards and lay parallel with the ground as he pointed the tip of it towards the female foxtail. His eyes narrowed and his core tightened.

“You’ve got thirty-five seconds. Make the most of it.” From what he had seen, the Foxtail was no swordsman. She had a sword and knew how to perform summersaults. She didn’t know how to swing her sword correctly, how to counter intelligently, or how to attack. Whatever she was doing with herself before was not helping her and it made him frown. He wanted to help her, but he would not help someone who was too far gone to even be worth it. If she wanted his help, she was going to have to prove it to him and deep down, Saber hoped he wasn’t wasting his time.

“I hope she isn’t an armadillo in disguise…”

: Post Title :
-Set Up to Fail-

: Word Count :
946

: Skills Used :
N/A

: Tagged :
Saber, Amu Tsukiyomi

: Notes :
---

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M