Sparring Room B - Iona
"I plan to surprise her, since I doubt anyone here can control their chi like I do. But your vision has given me an idea. Thanks!"
It was Iona's turn to step up to the plate. She emptied her body of breath, feeling the anxiety fleeing through her nose, and breathing in calm. Budoka was a seasoned veteran. Iona was experienced, but not even close to what she had seen from the instructor, especially against multiple opponents. She shook a bit, nerves getting to her. She stood opposite the 6-armed instructor, giving a proper sparring bow. Respect where it was most definitely due. Her body eased into a fighting stance, knees bending slightly as she slid her left foot back and lowered her posture.
"Win or lose, it'll be an honour to face someone as skilled as you, Instructor Budoka."
Reflect the mind of your opponent.
"Clear your mind."
Still water, like a clear mirror.
"Like water undisturbed."
The body reflects the mind.
"As mine reflects nothing, my mind everything."
That's the essence of meikyo-shisui. Reflect the mind of your opponent in yours.
"A mind clear of evil."
There was a perfect stillness for a moment, one laborious heartbeat thundering in Iona's ears alongside the mantra.
Then strike.
The stillness broke like shattering glass, Iona flying forward on her feet like a blur. Chi gathered in her right hand as she pulled it back, her breathing still calm and controlled, her left arm brought up to guard her charge. She counted the distance between her and Budoka, and she approached, she crouched, looking to thrust her hand forward towards Budoka's stomach...
Only to plant it on the ground and pivot on it, sending her foot on a collision arc with her head, only to pull her leg back at the knee, cutting it short as she rolled onto her side, her other leg hooking towards Budoka's own as soon as the feinted leg touched the ground again, completing the rolling sweep back onto her feet.
Training Room-Milos
"Skye, I have a plan but I'm going to need you to let me follow your lead on this one." Milos had watched carefully as each of the class made their attempts to attack the teacher, even the most exceptional of them could do little more then force a more complex block or dodge. It was a perfect demonstration about how far they had to go, facing a perfect shield that their best efforts couldn't break. But it was simply in his nature to find a way around, after all he only had a short time to save the entire world, and that meant every minute of training for him had to be worth its weight in gold.
"I need you to find me the lowest possible chance for me to land a hit, the closer you can get to zero the better. Once we have that I'll make my move and provide you with cover. Right before they would dodge or block I'll swap places, so that means you need to already be moving in time with me to get around that block. I'm going to set it so that we are in sync, so on your order we start."
Sparring Room B
"Don't be too hard on yourself. No one is born strong - even those with super strength must learn to control it." Budoka said. "You all have strength within you, and I will help you find it."
Then Kano attacked again. His invisible energy was surprisingly difficult to deal with. Though it was easier once she realized it wasn't a true psychic attack - telekinesis did not create projectiles, it directly applied force to an object - and therefore could be dodged.
As his blades lashed out, Budoka's hands swiped this way and that, deflecting them, while she stepped left and right to avoid others. To an outside observer, it appeared as though she was fighting the air.
When the attack subsided, Budoka paused and breathed deeply, holding up her arms. Several of them had been scratched by the blades. Her skin had not been pierced, but there were thin white lines where small amounts of skin had been abraded.
"Impressive move. Take notes, students." Budoka said. "Kano noted my weakness and exploited it. While I am unmatched in physical combat amongst everyone at this school, I cannot deflect seven attacks at once. Know yourself, and know your enemy."
Budoka steeled herself as Iona approached her. This girl was one after Budoka's own heart - her chi was vibrant, and judging from how she fought unimpaired by blindness, her skill with it was readily apparent.
Six arms spread out to intercept Iona's assault. Six equidistant points on a sphere. Budoka referred to it as her 'shield of the Earth' stance; by spreading her hands out, it minimized the distance they needed to travel to block.
However, Iona's attack was too low for any of Budoka's arms to reach. She was impressed by the double feint, but even more so that Iona went for the legs rather than the arms. In fact, Iona had even rolled in such a way that Budoka couldn't get a clean hit on her knee. The kneecap was one of the more easily broken parts of the human body, and Iona clearly knew it.
Budoka jumped over Iona's leg like a jump rope, avoiding the sweep entirely.
"As I expected from someone trained in chi, you are clearly the most skilled martial artist in your class. I'm quite impressed. We'll have to have some one-on-one lessons at some point." Budoka smiled, still in a defensive stance. "I'll show you some advanced techniques."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Smallest chance? Okay... Skye quickly ran through what his visions showed. The one that has the smallest possible chance of success is if someone in the class shouts, "I AM GOING TO ATTACK YOU NOW", then walks up to her and punches. Punch with your right arm and she dodges to the left, punch with your left arm and she dodges to the right.
So how will you turn an obvious failure into a success? He had to admit, he was rather curious.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Ryan Brady - Sparring Room B
Ryan knew that he was done and all, but the fact that his tackle had actually hit home was a very welcome thing. He'd actually landed that on the teach. He laid there on the floor, flat against the mat soon after he landed on it, looking up at the ceiling. He chuckled a few times and grinned like a fool. It sounded like there was a new arrival, and then Lucy made some kind of move against the teacher.
And going by how things were sounding now, was it all just about done?
Ryan slowly got himself back up and dusted off, stretching a bit. The shirtless teen got up. Take notes, take notes. He took a seat by the wall to continue watching whatever else happened in this sparring session.
Class DYmania MMXX
So, that's what she was about to hit me with... Ortrun looked around for a long time at her classmates picking themselves up even as Lucy's ink-monster show was fresh in her mind and would be for a long time. And then she sighed and marched to Ms. Benkei's space. Yes, marching. Oh she had no illusions about her chances. She had to crane her neck up to look Ms. Benkei in the eye even before she got close to her and could barely follow what the heck Iona had just done. But, this was her assignment.
She didn't rush in. Ortrun had been paying attention to the last several rounds. They were supposed to learn something from this. But what Ms. Benkei said about frontal assaults... She thought about circling but what would that do? Ms. Benkei could casually turn to face her and had a shorter turn to make. Plus, given recent events, this had probably stopped being a hand-to-hand exercise. But that was what she had. And I hate to say it, but if it comes down to me, we're boned anyway. Better to face the thing head on while the actual fighters do something. I can't believe it takes training to be a decent distraction.
Trying to keep track of the things she noted—even if following some of them was impossible—Ortrun experimentally held up her open palms. She chose palm strikes not for any martial art she knew, but because she'd read somewhere that it was better for the hands. She less slid than jerked into a very stiff and unbalanced stance vaguely resembling a boxer she saw once on tv. In Creed not from watching the sport. Well, she was a little prepared. She had replaced her glasses with goggles back when she changed.
"Are you prepared, Ms. Benkei?" Ortrun asked the teacher earnestly. She knew how stupid the question was. She had been awake in this class. But well twas unfair to just rush her. She had spent time psyching herself up and getting into a stance after all.
"I'll move now then," Ortrun nodded if Ms. Benkei answered in the affirmative. She pulled back her left arm at average speed and made obvious her intentions to anyone paying attention before thrusting forward with an off-angled palm strike. And stopped. "Um.. now then."
What? She had been trained not to strike people since... ever. She inhaled and repeated her move down to the pulling back and the using the same arm. And she struck aiming only in Ms. Benkei's general direction. Because her eyes were squeezed shut. But she was able to thrust her open palm forward.
Edited by CenturyEye on May 22nd 2020 at 10:29:04 AM
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our livesTraining Room-Milos
Milos frowned a bit and thought back to Skye. "Simply put, whatever action I take look into how she will react to it and then attack in a way that she wouldn't be able to dodge with the split second we will give. We are giving this the lowest possibly chance because the amount of variance in how a trained fighter will deal with an attack goes down with how little effort is thrown into the assault. Throw a punch or a kick at the exact right time and we've got this."
It was a lot to put on faith, but then he was trying to get used to this whole 'putting faith in other people' thing that others went on about all the time.
"I am going to attack you now!" Milos moved toward Budoka, creating a minor illusion around Skye that would make it seem like they were standing still. He didn't move fast, but he didn't exactly take it slow either, and he telegraphed his attack exactly like it had been shown in the vision that Skye had chosen for them. And then, right before the inevitable moment of block, dodge, or riposte they swapped places, a small blip in space as Skye was in front of the teacher, and Milos was collapsed on his back, without his powered form and looking all to pale. The fallout of using too much power was the ill effect on his body, but it was worth it to take that one extra step.
Okay...attack with your dominant arm. She'll dodge right if you use your left hand, left if you use your right hand—and she'll block just in case. She'll then use her arms to slam you into the mat. Skye paused. I'm shorter than you are, so she might block too high to block my attack. Still... He took a breath. When Ortrun finished her attack, he said, Go.
He took another breath as Milos power-walked to Budoka. Slowly, he winded up his arm, ready...ready...
A second before the teleport, Skye made his move. By the time they switched, he was already throwing the punch.
Cmoncmoncmoncmoncmon—
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Sue
Just as Sue was about to crack that epiphany but good, she was taken out of her rare bout of self-contemplation by Lucy's all-out assault. Still didn't work. She wasn't sure if most anything would. But damn if it wasn't impressive.
As Lucy sulked back to the sidelines, Sue hopped over. "You okay, Luce? Gotta say, that was nuts! In a good way! Kinda like the time this one evil spirit motherfucker tried to skewer everyone with a bunch of spears made out of the blackness of his soul or some shit. Only his bullshit actually worked. Not sure how I even got out of that in one piece. But hey, your stuff was still fucking wicked! Didn't think you had it in ya!"
Though Bodaka did have a point. As powerful as Lucy was, there was only so much she could do without muscle.
They'd have to work on that.
Sparring Room B
Budoka had to look down quite far to see the girl who had just approached her. A tiny, dusky little girl. She almost had trouble believing Ortrun was a teenager.
Nonetheless, she remained in her stance as the girl approached. "You may attack me when ready." She said.
Ortrun's palm thrust outward, and smacked harmlessly against Budoka's stomach. Budoka made no move to block it. Instead, she pat Ortrun's head with one hand.
"You should probably build up some muscle first, little one, before you get into technique. No offense." Budoka said, sincerely. "Though I suspect that you, like Lucy, aren't the direct combat type to begin with."
As Ortrun backed away, the lanky boy, Milos, finally made his move. There was something viscerally wrong about him. Something dark, and twisted. She'd felt it the moment he'd entered, but couldn't understand why. She guessed that it related to his power of illusion.
She was expecting a trick as he approached. She could tell he'd done something to Skye, as well - her eyes and her chi sense were telling her different things - though she wasn't sure what.
His blow was so obviously telegraphed that he was clearly planning something big. Her arms came up to block the blow and grab him, ready to use Milos as a shield to discourage whatever Skye was doing.
She was surprised to find herself holding Skye. She grabbed his arm a second after his punch had already thudded harmlessly against her chest, looking down at the limb and blinking a moment, before glancing over to where Skye had been, to see Milos.
"Okay." Budoka said. "That was actually kind of clever. Well done, you two. Excellent teamwork."
She took count of the students, before her eyes settled on the only person who hadn't yet fought her. The girl with no name, who had provisionally been called 'Locksmith'.
"Now, one more bout and I believe we'll be done for the day." Budoka announced, getting into her stance one final time. "Whenever you're ready."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Sparring Room B
“Oh... Sue...” Lucy noted as she approached, ceasing her precision practice as she shifted slightly to better face the monkey girl. “I meant to tell you that was really smart of you... the um, the cloning thing. You must be really quick... wish I could be like that.”
She blushed a little under Sue's praise, fidgeting and tugging at her hair as she mumbled something incoherent and shy under her breath. Her eyes seemed to glaze over at Sue's continued comparison, but she got the gist of it at least—and with a sheepish grin she scratched at the back of her head and tentatively pulled down her hood.
“Th-Thank you... th-that means a lot. That's the most I've ever... I-I don't think I've ever done something like that before. But since she's actually got powers... I probably couldn't use the same stuff I did on normal bad guys...”
She hesitated a moment, before ducking her head and scowling towards herself. On instinct she wrapped her arms around her thin form, aware of how obvious it was. Her tone became more bitter but retained its soft quality; as if to illustrate her anger wasn't directed at Sue as opposed to her own self.
“Just wish I was better. I mean it's not... that's not even the point of this, I know that... but I was... I-I was scared if I hadn't used my powers I would just...”
The colour had drained from her face by this point, and it only hammered in how unwell her overall appearance looked. She shook her head after a while, and at least some colour returned to her cheeks. The mental images that came with what would've happened if she'd actually gone hand-to-hand made her feel sick.
“...I'm glad I did something, though. I didn't know I had it in me either,” she said truthfully, giving Sue a tentative smile before looking back down and resuming her practice with her ink. “Thanks, though... maybe I'll do a little better next time...”
Never.
One step at a time. I'll get there. Eventually.
borkWe...did it?
Skye stared at his own fist, still pressed against Budoka's chest. They'd done it. One of the least athletic students in the class had gotten in a blow. The plan has worked. They'd done it.
We did it.
We did it.
...We did it!
"WE DID IT!" Skye cheered, freeing himself from Budoka's grasp and pumping his fist in the air. "WE ACTUALLY DID IT!"
He ran over to where Milos was lying on the floor and pulled him into a hug. "Your plan worked! We did it! We won! I hit her! We got her!" He grinned. "I can't remember the last time I've been this giddy!"
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Kano Agano - Sparring Room B
Kano sighed a breath of semi relief. He had got her, which was the goal, but not well. He had only managed to land a couple scratches, which impressed him even more. He could imagine how hard it would be to dodge so many time invisible attacks, even if they were only limited to a certain area.
Regardless, Kano stepped back out of the ring. His rend attack didn’t usually find too much resistance, so it didn’t take much out of him. He wasn’t as wide awake as before, but he wasn’t asleep.
He smiled as two of his other teammates managed to land a hit, and noticed the monkey girl and the ink girl conversing in the side. He decided that now would be a good time to go and introduce himself.
He walked over a bit cautiously, so as to make sure he wasn’t interrupting them, but upon finding a decent enough time, he walked up to the two of them.
“Um, howdy there. How are you?”
“You see son, in life there are facts and there are opinions. Your opinion is wrong, and that’s a fact”Sparring Room B
The girl had mostly just hung back and watched as her classmates all threw themselves at the teacher. They were pretty good at this, it seemed. Well, most of them, at least. Eventually, everyone had gone but her. She winced.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to pull off anything fancy like the others. Her time on the streets made her confident in her ability to throw a punch, but that was about it. She was small and a little more thin than was healthy (though the latter was beginning to improve), so...
She was overthinking this. She ran toward Miss Budoka, circling slightly to try aim for her side, and threw a clumsy right hook followed by a low jab with the other hand. It wasn’t much, but at the moment it was the best she could do.
Sparring Room B - Iona
Budoka had jumped over Iona's kick, but seemed suitably impressed with her skill. Coming from her, that was high praise in Iona's mind. She relaxed, giving one more bow to signify her acceptance of failure in the bout.
"My teachers taught me well, and would be honoured to have you as one as well."
The blind girl retreated to the sidelines, doing some cooling down exercises, aware of the success of Milos and Skye's trick against the 6-armed master. She walked up to the two, helping lift Milos up.
"That was really impressive. Nice trick. Now, let me help Milos here out..."
She jabbed two fingers sharply, yet softly against his chest, letting chi flow through her into Milos to stimulate his own and help him recover quickly, filled with a feeling of warmth and vigour.
"Well, I'm glad I impressed the teacher at least. I was never one to go for trickery like what you just did."
Swallow your pride.
Okay, maybe she was jealous that they had landed an attack on the instructor and she had not. Hand to hand combat was her thing, and here these 2 were basically cheating.
Pride is the downfall of many who would otherwise be great.
Class DYmania MMXX
"Um.. yes," Ortrun answered downcast. Its not like I didn't know this was going to happen. She should have considered herself lucky to be walking away on her own two feet after technically hitting her but... Well, I thought she'd bother to put me on the mat. That bad huh? "I'll do that."
She made herself step back, just missing being caught in whatever awesomeness Milos and Skye had dreamed up. Well, I didn't have to follow that. Skye's loud cheer had to have echoed everywhere. Really glad.
Okay... She had failed so badly that Benkei could only say what amounted to get better. Okay. Focus on one thing at a time. The sparring room was here. And she was already used to exercise, the backpacking and moving heavy equipment kind but... it was a start? Okay, drawing board.
Wrapping her arms around her sides, Ortrun bypassed the forming groups of the more successful and extraordinary students and went right to the equipment room. Class was still on. She had an obvious weak point and no success to really speak of with the others. So right to work. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Miguel
Well, that failed, so Miguel just tried to back for a minute when the others ran wild. He just jumped in the air, as his flames ignited from his legs and he shot like a rocket, aiming a potent kick with his leg burning red hot.
Some would say this is stupid and reckless, but then, I've nearly died pretty often
Wake me up at your own risk.Sparring Room B
As she expected, the nameless girl had little skill. Though her power supposedly held quite a bit of promise - at least according to what Dexter had told her - she was clearly not practiced at fighting.
Still, Budoka kept a calm smile as she gently deflected Locksmith's blows.
"Your form is decent, though like Ortrun you're clearly in need of some muscle mass first." Budoka stretched out her arms, feeling the joints pop pleasantly. She hadn't expected to exert herself this much. "But do not be disappointed in yourself. Always focus on your drive for self-improvement. The smallest mountain starts as a stone. And do not worry about fighting me again; now that I know your levels of skill, I'll start each of you at an appropriate exercise and diet regimen when next we meet."
Ellie clapped. "Good job, everyone!" She spoke up, rising from her seat by the door. "You all did well today. Always remember that; even when you're going over what you did wrong, have confidence that next time you'll do right."
She gave Budoka a thumbs up. "Thanks, Buda."
Budoka bowed. "My pleasure, Ellie."
Ellie smiled. "Right. Given it's your first day, and you all did so well, this will be your only class for the day. You're free to look around the campus, but if you'd like to follow me, I'll show you to the dorms and you can all pick out your rooms."
Dorms
The dorms for Class DY were on the third floor of the dormitory building. The first floor of the building held a well-stocked convenience store and a room meant for showing movies, while the second was a series of rec rooms with various games - table tennis, billiards, and even arcade machines - and soft chairs, as well as empty tables for playing board games on. The second floor of the building connected to two other buildings, the library and student counseling services.
The dorms proper started on the third floor. Each dorm floor was split into two central living areas with six bedrooms surrounding it. The living areas connected to each other near the elevators and staircase. Each bedroom had its own decently sized bathroom, and each living area had a full-size kitchen with an expansive fridge. All the appliances were polished and clearly state-of-the-art.
Ellie grinned as the class stepped off the elevators, spreading her arms.
"Welcome to your new home! I hope you like it!" She gestured to one of the living areas, where the students personal belongings were laid out by the couches. Each area had enough seating for 12 people, and a large flatscreen TV. "You each get your own bedroom here, so feel free to take whatever room you like. And you can move the furniture around however you want. Feel free to decorate and make this place your own."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Sparring Room B
“Oh... h-hey...” Lucy mumbled as Kano approached, offering him a hesitant smile and a small wave in greeting before shifting in her spot about an inch or so further away. Only since there were now two people to deal with being near to her. “Sorry I couldn't say hi off the bat... but you did really well back there, y'know...?”
He... weirdly kind of looks like me...
She shook it off. It was weird to her, but nothing important. Still, she felt that familiar awkwardness settling in again. Now that the fighting was over, it'd all come flooding back...
The mention of dorms perked her up somewhat, however, and she got back up onto her feet in order to follow. Her ink absorbed back into her clothing, and she resumed her usual stance—walking with her head ducked low and her hands in her pockets. Though she seemed much calmer now that it was over.
The Dorms
They'd... really thought of everything, hadn't they?
In fact walking into that room was so lovely that Lucy had almost felt the urge to cry. But she didn't, even as her face softened to the point where it looked as if she was about to. Seeing their belongings all placed neatly about the seats was also surreal, and she quietly beeline for her bag upon seeing it. A brief check through it, and she found herself smiling again. Her suit was there, her clothes, her paints...
Now, which room?
“Um... I-I'll take that one, if it's okay...?” she hesitantly pointed in regards to one of the rooms set near the corner, and with the assistance of a couple ink tendrils began moving her items towards it. Even so, she wasn't extensive in the amount of items she had taken. Just the barest essentials—even though her singular hobby took up a lot of space. Still, she was satisfied by what she'd taken. Not wanting to miss a second, she pushed her things into the corner of her chosen room before returning to the main living area immediately afterwards. She could sort it all out later.
“Anyone... need any help?” she ventured, idly poking her fingers together before wringing her hands and letting them loosely drop in front of her. “I-I can help move stuff... if anyone wants, I mean...”
borkSkye was still grinning as he followed Ellie out of the sparring room, the giddiness of victory not having worn off yet. He lightly stepped off the elevator and looked at both of the living areas.
"It's lovely," he murmured. "I think I'll take..." He walked into the left area and put his hand on the door closest to the elevator. "This one."
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Ozvald
"I'll take this one."
Ozvald was quick to claim one of the rooms. One of them anyway, one he didn't exactly mind or even take into consideration. Ozvald had very little, and everything he did was currently stashed in his inventory. At the moment though after that incredibly embarrassing showing in front of his peers he kind of...wanted to get the hell away from their sight ASAP.
He liked them. That much was certain. He liked them all but even then he could feel that burning hot shame rise in his face and reminded himself this wasn't just some game he could zip around and teleport in. Consequences were had and the one opportunity he had with any of them made him look like a joke.
He didn't listen to the teacher. He made himself look like a damn fool. He got laid out like yesterdays laundry and as much of a reality, and a humility check as it was, it was still damn humiliating. But that was the point he guessed.
Still.
Dude you just got WRECKED!
"Got a lot to learn." He mumbled, tugging his hat down further over his eyes and opened up his inventory and started to place his belongings, whatever they may have been, around.
Something to get his mind off it.
Sue
If Sue had met Lucy before their little pity party, she would have said she was pathetic. Always doubting herself. Never thinking she was good enough. Rarely looking anyone in the eye.
But now? Not so much.
She just needed a little work, was all.
"Hey ,don't worry about it! Sides, you've got us now! By the time we're through with ya, you'll be belching brimstone and shitting lava! Or however that goes."
Sue barely had a chance to even acknowledge Kano's presence before they were all whisked off to the dorms. Eh, whatever. He could wait.
For now, DORM TIME! Sue hadn't really lived in a dorm before. She'd spent most of her time sleeping in abandoned temples or large treetops. But if this was anything like Animal House, it was gonna be awesome!
She rushed into the nearest room. Didn't matter to her which one it was, long as it was free. Of course, it wasn't like she had any belongings to speak of. All she had were the clothes on her back. Well, okay, she didn't have any clothes on her back persay. But either way, unless she could think of something, her room wasn't gonna be much to look at.
She'd just have to improvise.
The Dorms - Iona
It seemed everyone was marveling at the dorms. It was certainly big, Iona could sense that much, but without being able to see, she was deprived of any aesthetic pleasures. She swept her cane around as she figured out the layout.
"I'll accept the help. I don't like relying on my chi when finding my way around a place I'll be in often. Just help me put my things in the room next yours if you want, Lucy, I'd appreciate it."
The familiar braille tags that marked her belongings brought a smile to her face as her fingers brushed over them, one hand lifting up a suitcase easily. With a few more crashes of her cane into objects, Iona found her way to the room she'd chosen, pushing open the door and feeling her way along the wall inside till she reached the bed, where she unceremoniously dumped the suitcase onto.
Ryan Brady - Dorms
"Wow, this place would be awesome for a party or something...just look at all the shit they got going on here! I could get a whole bunch of my bros in here and we could have a banging good time!" Ryan was basically on cloud nine when he saw the interior of the dorms, excited for the prospects of this place. He was looking forward to both exploring the dorms and seeing what in all they could do around here, and exploring the woods around the school.
He'd put back on his shirt and jacket by now and was checking out some of the interior. Movie room looked sweet as fuck, and he could see himself and some of his peers watching some movies on there.
He walked by Lucy and Iona, seeing as that it seemed Sue had run off into the nearest dorm room. He asked, looking around, "Hey, Lucy, I'll go ask Sue about it, but would you and anyone here be up to go explore the woods after we're all settled in?"
Edited by NickTheSwing on May 22nd 2020 at 1:16:31 AM

Sparring Room B
“I know. M'sorry,” Lucy mumbled, still having to raise her voice slightly considering she was still at a distance from their instructor. She wasn't particularly surprised by the outcome, but she still felt a little disappointed anyway—though she couldn't help but admire Budoka's ways of dealing with her attacks. “I'd have done that but I'm... I-I don't wanna hurt you. Even on... principle. Sorry. I'll just...”
She reached out her hand, not meeting Budoka's eyes and absorbing the ink that had been repelled away from her. It sucked back into the fabric of her clothing at a rapid pace, and she seemed to falter slightly—breathing shakily and closing her eyes for a moment.
“...I'm... I'm too weak anyways to fight like that. If... if something did negate my powers, then I'd...”
She seemed to grow pale at the thought, but shook her head vehemently. Slipping her hands back into her hoodie pockets, she relaxed her body language and offered Budoka a small smile. She wouldn't take up any more time. She didn't have anything else to prove, after all. Plus, the others needed to go as well.
“It doesn't matter. Um, thanks, by the way... I-I've practiced a little before, but I never thought I'd... get that close...” she admitted, gesturing at Budoka with what looked to be the hints of a grin twitching at the corners of her lips. “...a-anyways, I'll... get outta the way...”
She moved to the sidelines, idly noting she'd missed saying hi to the newcomer and deciding to wait until he was open to talk. She could observe again without pressure, at least. And nurse away her brewing headache. Releasing her ink somewhat would help with that. She resumed in weaving it between her fingers, even as she sat down against the wall and watched the others plan or continue to fight.
...Hey, we didn't do too bad after all that...
Should've done better.
Don't be selfish. We did fine. We still need to learn some stuff, though... this isn't just common crooks now...
Edited by Enirboreh on May 22nd 2020 at 5:30:03 PM
bork