V. Important Requests

[flickerflash]

Who: Katie and anyone
Broadcast: Fleet
Action: The Vanquish if you want
When: 10 Feb

Dear Atrama,

Can we please visit a planet with beaches next? I keep meeting people who haven't seen one and that's terrible. It's actually a crime where I come from.
Please don't let anyone get arrested.
I believe in you.

Also if you take requests can I have my cat please. And some chalk and I was meant to have a sword I think I could be wrong. It's a short silver gold magical
IT'S A LIGHTSABER
A RED ONE
Either that or just give me Mihawks.

[GO BIG OR GO HOME]

Please thank you love Dorothy.

[This has been a totally efficient use of your communicator, Katie, gj.]

Comments

[flickerflash]

[And then Kirito was arrested for apparently threatening a small child.]

I will meet you!!

[Annnd she's gone. Hope you're okay with 'straight away'.]

[huaaaaagh]

[that would line up with his usual luck, anyway.

But! He'll be wandering into the closest park a very short while later, hands in his pockets, a little silver gun tucked into a holster at his belt, half-hidden under his jacket. He's looking around for her.]

[flickerflash]

[Katie can be found under the trees, where she was first looking for any fallen twigs or sticks remotely resembling the right length but got sort of sidetracked kicking leaves up into the air instead. She does have one branch that's a bit crooked in hand, but she can probably do better.

I'm sorry I'm easily distracted.]

[huaaaaagh]

[Pfft. Well, at least she's having fun, right?

One should never approach a swordsman from behind without fair warning, whether they're armed with a real blade or not, so when he gets close enough, he calls out.]

Hey, Dorothy.

[flickerflash]

[She looks up sharply, only about two seconds later because it takes her a moment for 'Dorothy' to process followed by oh yeah that's me.]

I found one! ...sort of. [She waves her stick doubtfully (and shakes the leaves off her shoe.)] You might have better luck.

[huaaaaagh]

[He tilts his head, looking the stick up and down, then shrugs his shoulders.]

Sure, I can look for something. Have you got any techniques you want to show off?

[flickerflash]

I don't know. I haven't got any special techniques I have to call the name of or anything. [Because cartoons, what.] I just swing it and it does what I want it to.

[huaaaaagh]

[What, blasphemy.]

That's usually how swords work. But sometimes a good technique name can pump you up in a big fight!

[Excuse him while he starts trying to climb the nearest tree to get himself a good branch.]

[flickerflash]

Oh, okay. [Kirito makes solid points. /totally not a pun

She peers up after him as he vanishes into the leaves, batting one that floats down afterward casually aside.] Do you have technique names then? What sort of thing do you call it?

[huaaaaagh]

Oh, sure. Where I'm from, every attack that was more advanced than a simple swing have specific names. You don't have to shout it every time you use them or anything, but it helps.

[There's a quiet snap, and a moment later he drops back down from the tree, breaking loose twigs off of the branch he'd found to make a long "sword".]

A lot of them have really simple names, because they're simple skills- "Slant", "Horizontal", "Vertical", stuff like that. But the advanced techniques are pretty cool, and they get more original names. Like Meteor Break! That one's fun.

[flickerflash]

Oh that does sound rather impressive. Did it break meteors? [Because if it doesn't she likes it even more. Techniques that lie. Pretty solid for a pooka.

She looks between her stick and his and makes a face, then jumps for a low hanging branch to pull herself up in a nearby tree. Let's see if we can't find something better.] What other technique names do you have?

[huaaaaagh]

Nah, it's mostly for breaking monster faces.

[So yeah, pretty much a lie. As for the rest... god, he'd wondered momentarily if he would have any trouble remembering, but two years in SAO have cemented every single technique solidly into his head, and it all just comes rushing back.]

Let's see... Sonic Leap, Vorpal Strike, Star Q Prominence, Horizontal Square, Vertical Square, and Savage Fulcrum. And those are just the one-handed sword techniques!

[flickerflash]

[Okay wow. Technique games are cool.]

I like Star Q Prominence! What's a Savage Fulcrum? [What's a fulcrum? Also, there's a cracking sound up in the tree. This one looks a little better.]

[huaaaaagh]

A fulcrum is a central point of rotation. It's a technique that involves three different angled slashes, attacking an enemy with your blade turned a specific way each time. Um, savagely.

[That part is important.]

[flickerflash]

Savagely. That doesn't sound very polite. [She doesn't sound like she minds. She may be planning to co-opt it.]

And you don't have to yell them every time? It feels a little silly to give your enemy a warning.

[She jumps down lightly from the tree, holding a much better stick this time. Excuse her while she plucks the leaves away.

...and bats at them a little.]

[huaaaaagh]

[Welcome to the Aincrad School of Hard Knocks, Katie.]

Well, to be fair, most of the enemies I used to fight couldn't understand what the words meant, so they had no idea what was coming. But no, I don't usually go shouting it out. Only when it feels right!

[Or when it's time to show off. Sometimes that is fun, okay.]

[flickerflash]

I shall have to keep that in mind. Did you fight a lot of foreign people or just a lot of monsters?

[Either or.

...yes, this stick will do nicely. She swings it a few times. It's not as heavy, but eh.]

[huaaaaagh]

Er... monsters. Usually giant animals that can't talk at all.

[flickerflash]

That's good. Much less rude of you. Unless they're mean, of course.

[She swishes her stick one more time, then draws herself up like a... well, a little kid playing with pretend swords. But she's certainly holding it like she knows what she's doing.]

Do you say anything like "en garde"?

[huaaaaagh]

[That's actually not a bad stance at all. It's probably more official than his own, though he looks confident enough as he shifts into a responding position, hand out, blade part-way behind himself as if prepped to swing.]

I don't, but I've heard others use words like that.

[flickerflash]

Then I won't say it either.

[Katie you just did... but here! Have an experimental attack! It's a simple one and it's not very hard, but right now she's more curious as to Kirito's fighting. She hasn't seen someone get ready like that before.]

[huaaaaagh]

[He shifts forward and blocks the strike with his own, not too forcefully, but more to gauge her attack strength. He's not expecting much based on her size, but he's not very big himself, so it would be reckless to underestimate her. Sticks can still hurt if they connect in the right way, after all.

For the first few strikes, though, he'll mostly dodge. It's best to get a feel for the weapon before you charge right in.]

[flickerflash]

[Whereas Katie kind of... charges right in after the first couple of strikes, because now she's confident that Kirito is taking her seriously. There's not a lot of strength behind her attacks because smol child, but she's fast and definitely knows her stuff. She's not gonna land a hit on Kirito unless he wants her to because she hasn't trained furiously hard all year or anything, but she's ferocious enough.

...though she kind of giggles after a little while. She's enjoying this, sue her.]

[huaaaaagh]

[He'd have to sue himself if he did, because he's smiling, too. Serious fights are dangerous, and people can get hurt or worse. Spars are different. They're fun, just a friendly challenge to check out someone else's skills.

At some point he switches gears and starts attacking back, keeping his charges much more light and casual than he would in a real fight. She's not lacking for enthusiasm, and he'd like to see how far she goes with it.]

[flickerflash]

[She's actually not used to fighting with someone Kirito's size. Her two teachers were Mihawk and an eight foot tall guy with horns, respectively. Tall people everywhar. So she finds this way more fun than usual, because Mihawk is super serious and never let her mess around.

When he switches she'll roll with it. She's better at defense than offense anyway. Probably she should be countering around these but she kind of forgoes it for now in favour of talking, but her guard is excellent.]

You're really good! Have you done this a long time?