2017-07-18: June Lim Ze vs. Lady Chloe Alexandre
- Log: June Lim Ze vs. Lady Chloe Alexandre
- Cast: Talise Gianfair, June Lim Ze, Layna Manydays, Lemina Ausa, Jean, Leon Albus
- Where: Lacour
- Date: July 18, 2017
- Summary: Ninja vs. pirate ends badly.
==============================<* Lacour - Castle *>============================== Lacour Castle is a medieval-styled stone keep, although it shows several signs of having profited from more modern construction standards. Gas and oil lighting provides illumination rather than fireplaces and torches, and the castle seems designed more for first impressions rather than resisting attack. The one particular oddity of the castle is the large built immediately beside it; this is where the annual Lacour Tournament of Arms is held, and as visitors flock to the spectacle, Lacour opens its doors wide open. Guards are present throughout the castle, but are generally polite to visitors. The lower levels of the keep, however, are strictly off-limits and constantly guarded - perhaps the dungeons, perhaps something more sinister, but whatever is down there, there is no way of finding out. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bqMqHag86c
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Last time Lady Chloe Alexandre stepped foot onto the Lacour tournament stage, she'd watched on in horror as her opponent was torn into by her own phantom companion. She'd thrown in the towel rather than allow Lululu Wait to be tortured for the sake of a tournament bout.
Since then she's had a bit of downtime - but as she steps out onto the tournament grounds nevertheless, setting her Old Man Ettlesbury's shield down to one side, there's still a cheer from the crowd. The woman in the green mask, with cheekpieces coming down like butterfly wings, pushes back a fold of her coat and reaches back to draw her two-handed sword, resting it over one shoulder as she strides out towards her side of the arena.
"ALL RIGHT!" screams Master Torque from somewhere up in the announcers' booth. "Folks, we've got a BAAAAAAAADASS FIGHT GOING DOWN RIGHT HERE! It's gonna be a SLOBBERKNOCKER! A BY-GRANAS SLOBBERKNOCKER! IT'S GONNA BE VINTAGE LACOUR ARMS TOURNAMENT! IT'S GONNA BE THE GREATEST NIGHT IN THE HISTORY OF-"
Next to him, Personal Assistant Pete sighs and leans into the mic. He inexplicably has a fistmark still pasted into his forehead. "And hailing from the Mystery Mare," he shouts, cutting Torque off. "The sweet swordswoman with that magical moonlight touch... Ladyyyy... Chloe... Alexahhhhhhhnd!"
"Wait, how'd you pronounce that," Torque mutters.
Behind the mask, Talise just smirks a little, before whirling Rastaban in one hand and hoisting the blade high to fire up the crowd. Then she reverses the weapon and plants the point against the turf, her heels apart as she looks across the arena with a broad, anticipating smile.
June Lim Ze isn't a fighter she knows personally, but she's seen and heard things that have raised her eyebrows in good ways. Fighting someone new is a nice change from fighting cute little people she considers friends, at least.
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
Don't do it, June thinks as she approaches the stage.
'And in the other corner, coming out of Guild Galad with an explosive burst, sponsored by the Savage Slayer, is'
Don't do it, June thinks as she approaches her corner, sauntering as she inevitably does by the balancing of her prosthetic leg - she is not in high boots now, just the leg and a slipper.
'JUNE'
DON'T DO IT, June thinks with psionic energy that she does not have any means to actually transmit:
'LIMSEY!!'
"You were real close on a couple of syllables there," June says sourly, before exhaling with force and facing the Lady Chloe. Rolling her neck and stretching herself, adjusting and tightening straps and fittings, she calls to her, "Nice sword!" She gives her a black-wood thumbs up in the process, and awaits...
The Begin.
June Lim Ze
June Lim Ze is about five foot six and extremely pale. Her hair is in a fairly well kept pageboy, with plenty of body to it: however, the color is a sort of dingy gray that might be trying to be white. Her skin is pale to the point where you can see exactly how much pinkness comes from the natural flow of blood; her face is heart-shaped, with an expressive mouth and eyes hidden partially behind tinted round spectacles. When they're off, her eyes are clearly brown, if with a red undertone.
She wears a blue denim bolero jacket, sleeves rolled back from the wrists. Her right hand is a polished wood-and-brass prosthetic with a black leather collar cover the wrist and straps connecting up past the jacket and into a harness over her upper torso. Under that jacket is a sleeveless gray blouse, buttoned up the front with the top button left undone.
The top button is *also* undone on a pair of black leather shorts that set off muscular thighs. Her left leg has straps coming up it, much like her right arm does, connecting to a more visible harness around the waist. The details are hidden by over-the-knee boots in black leather, well tended but battered.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Present amongst the audience is a certain Infamous Pirate Captain of Legend. She stands with her arms folded in front of her, with her cape and hair billowing dramatically in the wind.
I'm sure we've all heard this before, though. You're not even in the tournament anymore, Layna, do you still need to disguise yourself? She doesn't even seem to notice the objections of the people she's standing in front of, and at this point most of them have moved aside with a grumble.
No, right now her attention was solely on the fight that was about to unfold. It was a good friend and a kindred spirit fighting against that intriguing woman who had knocked her out of the tournament. Ever since that ill-fated challenge of the Team Exhibition certain thoughts had been lingering at the edge of her mind, but she had managed to chase them away long enough to witness this.
She wasn't going to let them make her miss something like this.
"Alright...put on a good show for me, aye? 'Course, with the two of you on the field...I expect no less!" Layna says with a grin.
Somewhere a distance away, the Quartermaster of the Ruby Empress watches this behavior, facepalms, and gives a long-suffering sigh.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I'm sorry. They usually miss my name too," Talise murmurs, catching a little of what June's saying. The louder comment does draw a broad smile from her as she flips the sword back up, saluting with it. "Thank you. I'm looking forward to this! Don't hold back on me, now!"
Sliding one heel back, Lady Chloe turns her body, bringing one shoulder forward and holding her weapon almost vertically. Behind her mask, her eyes dart across June, watching the woman's body language, measuring the way she carries herself. She takes stock of her for a couple of seconds. The leg's a prosthetic, she realizes right away, though intellectually she figured it out from what she saw during the earlier rounds; beyond that, she's not sure quite what to expect. There's no Cut Branch School on Lunar.
Only the martial artists coming out of Lunn's dojo. And Talise only knows one of those.
She wets her lips briefly - then springs forward. Breaking into a brisk charge, she crosses the battlefield swiftly, heavy bootheels thumping against the turf, a few buttons on her coat clinking against her breastplate. It seems like she's going to charge June head-on.
Except she doesn't. Her right shoulder tips as if she's going to spin right.
She jerks her hips left instead, wheeling and coming around towards June's left flank. Lady Chloe's bright green coat streams behind her as she grips Rastaban with both hands, more for control than for force as she snakes the weapon out with a quick, probing slice, aimed to try and slice across the Cut Branch Fighter's left thigh.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked June Lim Ze with Breaking Wave! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: June Lim Ze guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Breaking Wave for 61 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina Ausa is in top 8!
So, too, will be one of these two in the ring right here right now. Accordingly, like a rocket -- Lemina Ausa is here!
Yesterday, Lemina had a tournament match and then went to try new food that was a little overwhelming for her delicate palate. Accordingly, she has taken up an entire second seat with an ice construct designed specifically to hold yakitori skewers. -- Except, of course, for the one she has in each hand.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"Hey Aifred!" Jean's voice calls from behind Layna, from her seat at the edge of a bench in her wheelchair. "Come sit down! I have a spare beer!"
She can see right now herself, looking over each fighter and listening to the... enthsuastic announcing. "Those guys..."
Regardless of whether Layna joins her, Jean watches the opening of the fight thoughtfully... and eats her steak fries. Highly spiced, highly gooey. Highly delicious food for something like this.
She pauses. "Hey Lemina," Jean says, "Can I have one of those? Though, wouldn't you want them hot?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon Albus is sitting in the stands, arms folded. He hasn't gotten any food or drink -- the food looked disgusting, the beer wasn't Kislevi (so disgusting) -- but a chance to watch the fight is worthwhile. He sits back in a chair, and his eyebrows knit for a moment, and then he frowns a moment.
He doesn't recognize Lady Chloe -- he never met her, and he only met Talise Gianfair a couple of times. He doesn't recognize June, either.
But... a martial artist.
He frowns for a moment, and watches her move. He leans forward, frowning. Though he glances Jean's way, when he hears her speak.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"Well yeah," Lemina points out as she takes a bite of her own delicious food. She also spares a wave for Layna, and then sets her own skewer down to get one for Jean. It is very briefly set on fire, then extinguished.
"See? Warm again. I can't make a thing out of fire or light, unfortunately," Lemina explains, as she hands the skewer over. "Besides, if I do it this way they're practically calorie-neutral!"
GAME> June Lim Ze looked at you.
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
June carries herself strangely. She should probably not be in a martial arts tournament. The Cut Branch school is not known... at all; but Guild Galad produces new styles of martial arts the way that weird yellow ore produces free neutrons.
June smiles at Chloe's statement. "I won't," she says, even as she charges forwards, armor and blade against - uh - instrument wood and bare skin? She's actually showing a lot of skin. When the blade comes down, June swerves - but it does manage to cut most of the way through a strap on that left thigh!
SHIT, June thinks, exhaling even as she pivots herself slightly. She has a lot of advantages, but, June thinks -
The mask! It comes to her and she acts without reflection. June shoves herself up on her right leg, aiming to slam her gray-haired face up and into that mask before rebounding back and sweeping back a pace, maybe to try and lure Chloe into another lunge.
GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Talise Gianfair with Headbutt of Doom! GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action. GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from June Lim Ze's Headbutt of Doom for 58 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Even in this hyper-focused state, there were a few things that could catch her attention, and even fewer things that could convince her to stop posing dramatically.
Her name being called...the offer of a beer...
It was probably the latter that get her attention the most, honestly. She glances toward Jean, and spares her a grin. She'd heard what happened to her, but didn't linger too long on her present condition.
"Well, if you're offering, how could I say no?" She replies and steps down from her seat. I'm sure the people responsible for cleaning up really appreciated the boots prints she was no-doubt leaving behind.
Layna herself hadn't picked up any concessions - most of her attention was planned to go on the fight.
As she moves to join Jean and Lemina, she glances toward the latter.
"Heard you've been moving up in the rankings. Good luck with the rest of your fights, aye?" She says.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Most people have not met Lady Chloe. She seems to have come from out of nowhere. All in all, she's kept herself fairly mysterious outside of the tournament arena.
Lady Chloe doesn't let June's bare skin and evident wood distract her - though it's much easier to be distracted by the fact that the woman just jumped at her headfirst. Startled, Talise does the only thing she can think of: She gets her elbow up, her arm held across her chest as she attempts to buffer the blow by allowing June to go only so far. Canting her head to the side, she attempts to pull out of the way - but there's nevertheless a fleshy thunk as the martial artist slams her head into Chloe's cheekbone. it doesn't dislodge her mask, but it does knock her back a foot or so. She winces, pain shooting through that side of her face.
She takes another step back. (Don't let your anger rule you.)
A few seconds tick by as Lady Chloe re-establishes her guard. Her sword weaves across her body. Somehow it seems like overkill against someone who's unarmed and half-naked. She wets her lips and reminds herself not to be fooled. Martial artists are supposed to be sneaky - capable of using the entire body as a weapon.
When she moves forward again, it's with a little more care. Watching June with darting eyes as though to try and predict her movements, she swings her sword out to one side in a couple of quick, herding cuts, aiming to try and feint the woman into making a defensive play, or even starting an offensive one -
At which point the woman in the green mask dips her sword point low, levels her shoulder, and attempts to drive her shoulder into June's chest in a hard check - following up by swinging with a hard but controlled slash aimed to slam the flat of her sword into June's shoulder. "Hoooaht!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked June Lim Ze with Tidal Blow! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: June Lim Ze guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Tidal Blow for 73 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
June raises up her prosthetic hand as if to guard her face, waggling it back and forth insolently. Maybe it's a lure. She takes a step back, saying as she does, "I feel a little like this is unfair -" Then she dips the sword low and comes in hard and
CRUNCH
Hits June RIGHT in the chest! Her rib cage's cartilage makes an impressive noise as she staggers back and the breath is knocked out of her, pain filling her lungs as the slash comes up. She isn't cleaved but the blow makes her sway, leaning backwards as she raises up her more intact arm, about to pitch down -
EXCEPT . . .
For when this is a prelude to a sudden rising swing of her left leg! Which, brave Juneketeers would note, has a heavy prosthetic full of gunbarrels and secret machinery on it. "HORA!" June shouts as she slings this up, the prosthetic actually closer to a mace than a piece of hollow wood as Chloe might have expected!
"So what brings you out to Lacour, anyway?" June asks, mid-swing.
GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Talise Gianfair with Axe Breaker! GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action. GS: Talise Gianfair critically Guards a hit from June Lim Ze's Axe Breaker for 27 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"Mmm!" Jean answers and takes the skewer, immediately moving to take a bite of it and declaring it, "Delhichus!" She lowers it as Layna actually moves hear her, and grins up at the pirate. She doesn't say anything about her current condition right now, either. Instead she just picks up and offers her the beer. "Lemina's a great fighter," Jean says, sounding obviously proud.
Leon looks at her though, and Jean tilts her head. "Hey," she calls over to the ex-soldier. "Do I know you? We've got a little space over here!" She eats. Forget manners. She's very clearly not a noble of any kind, looking down at the fight.
"...This June is really flexible," Jean comments. "I've never seen a style like hers..." She shouldn't be excited about that.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Lady Chloe hits June a little harder than she expected. The woman tumbles backwards with a protest, the flat of Rastaban leaving a mark, and the swordfighter widens her eyes just a touch. Is this going to be another Shalune fight - a fight where someone clearly vulnerable is in the ring with her?!
No, she realizes. No, June Lim Ze made it to the Final Sixteen because she's good. That's not just luck.
June proves it. As June swings her prosthetic leg into play, more like a mace than a leg now, Lady Chloe clicks her teeth together and flicks Rastaban up into a defensive sweep. Steel screeches against steel as the mace shaft thumps against the sword blade, the head of it coming close enough to hit Chloe in the shoulder and dent the armour hiding under the epaulets of her jacket - but she's able to flick her sword to the side and divert the leg down towards the ground again.
A wolfish grin flashes across her face. "What anyone would come to Lacour for! To test her skill against the best Filgaia has to offer!" she fires off before she bulls in. Her guard bought her a couple seconds of breathing room and she presses it as best she can.
She takes her left hand off her sword and balls it into a fist. Something ripples subtly - and Chloe's shoulders bunch as she draws upon the ogre-power magic of the steel gloves. Her arm snaps out as she attempts to slam her fist into June's midriff.
The punch, if it connects, has a force behind it well beyond what even a six-foot-two human being with nice muscles could muster. It's the kind of blow that could take the wind out of someone.
"And what of you, June Lim Ze?!"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked June Lim Ze with Roaring Wave Stance! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
Lemina doesn't know Leon Albus from Adam, but that's fine; when he looks over, she gives him a wave too. Then 'Aifread' sits down, and Lemina grins. "Yep! I think I'm in a good position to keep going, too... I've seen almost every one of Xantia's fights, and, like -- she's good? But I'm feeling pret-ty confident."
She takes her own skewer up again, briefly heats it up with magic, and then looks to Jean. "I fought her earlier. She's got some surprising stuff because of her fake arm, but... I think she's really susceptible to people who have more consistent range on her."
The last few weeks have seen more fighting than Lemina's ever had before -- it's been a very rapid education.
GS: June Lim Ze takes a glancing hit from Talise Gianfair's Roaring Wave Stance for 46 hit points! GS: Break! Statuses applied to June Lim Ze!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon pauses for a moment. Someone is inviting him over. He blinks at Jean, before he nods once, and then walks over. The ex-soldier is wearing a slightly dusty white button-up shirt, vest, trousers, and grey coat. It could be called formal, though it lacks a tie, and the coat and boots are both sturdy enough to use in the wasteland. He nods, once, to them.
"I don't believe we have met, no," he says. He pauses a moment, before he looks at Layna. "Though... I recognize you. And you, of course, Miss Ausa."
A nod to Lemina. "Congratulations on your recent victory," he says. He looks sideways -- and winces at the sheer force of Chloe's latest punch. "Hrm..." Then, he looks at Lemina, and nods once. "I should imagine. No cannons in those prosthetics of hers, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna accepts the beer gratefully and takes the offered seat. The pride in Jean's voice doesn't go unnoticed, and she chuckles good-naturedly.
"Aye, she'd have to be, to make it this far." She agrees, then takes a drink as Lemina speaks.
"Let's hope that confidence holds out then, aye?" She says.
The comment about June brings Layna's attention back to the fight.
"That she is...I noticed it when I fought her. She's a tricky one, she is." Layna comments. Of course, tricks alone weren't enough to secure victory - June had the skills to back them up. Of course, Lemina's assessment wasn't wrong, either.
"Aye...but she has ways of dealing with that, too. Found out m'self." She comments.
Another person approaches them then, at Jean's invitation - Leon. Layna glances toward him and tips her hat to him in greeting.
He recognized them? He must remember them from the fights.
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
"Pretty much the same, to be -"
June sees that steel gloved hand come towards her midsection and she pulls back and she is only partially successful and SO IT IS that June Lim Ze goes flying upwards, crumpling momentarily around Chloe's deadly fist!
Her expression is classic, at least. Her shaded glasses fly into the crowd. If not seized, they may be taken by a small dog and lost forever.
It is not a horizon-clearing blow. She tucks her legs up and comes down to land in a crouch near the edge of the arena corner, exhaling with great force. "I see why you managed to get this far. That wasn't just you in that glove, huh."
June is actually guessing wildly. Inwardly she is swearing because her leg is loaded with blanks and right the hell now it would be really handy to instead have slugs in there. She has armor! She can take it! BUT NO, June tells herself, I had to be fancy.
So she runs forwards, keeping her head low but tilted up to watch. When she sees Chloe move - almost any move will do - she tumbles -- rolling in a somersault and then aiming to slam the slimmer pad of her leg up, aiming to get it UNDERNEATH an armor plate, and from there -
click FOOM
- it's a blank, of course, but the explosive force behind it can leave its own message, possibly in the form of a nasty bruise.
GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Talise Gianfair with Bent Branch Snapback! GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action. GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from June Lim Ze's Bent Branch Snapback for 99 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Honestly, Lady Chloe doesn't have anything as surprising as a leg full of clockwork weapons. She's a pretty classic swashbuckler, albeit one who tends to stop sometimes and just deck her opponent when the chance presents itself.
June's glasses go sailing into the crowd. Lady Chloe moistens her lips and takes a step backwards, seemingly not in a hurry to hit June while she's collecting herself. She may fight rough sometimes, but not that dirty. "I might have a few tricks of my own, miss," she concedes, giving her hand a shake and gripping her sword again.
June sprints towards her. Chloe ducks to one side to try and gain some distance on her - but June does something she isn't expecting. The woman's leg doesn't quite get through Chloe's armour, but it does plant against her hip and go off with enough force to throw the taller woman off her feet. With a choked sound, she hurtles away and hits the ground on one knee, wincing as pain races from her hip down to her thigh.
Squaring her jaw, Chloe pushes through it. She reacts instantly, pushing off the ground and sweeping her other leg out.
She attempts to just kick June in the face as hard as she can. Then, swinging her sword into both hands, she pushes back to a standing position, pursuing the woman and launching into a series of blindingly quick slashes, each intended to tear into the Cut Branch Fighter's left side.
She would really like to get that leg out of the fight without cutting it off. That'd be going too far for a tournament match.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked June Lim Ze with Infinitely Rippling Stream! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"I think you're solid," Jean says, "But be careful about Xantia. She's not your average fighter, and she can do a lot when you back her into a corner." A pause, and a laugh, "But I told you all that already, I know. Be confident, just be careful."
Jean takes another bite o her skewer, chews. "And range is your advantage. That's normal for you."
Jean's been working on that education herself.
Jean for her part is in light colors, a wrap skirt in gray and a long-sleeved drapey-top. It doesn't look very combatative, down to the thick bandages keeping her knee immobile. She doesn't look like a fighter... To the casual observer.
"Well, I'm Jean," she says to Leon. "Who're you?"
"Huh. Cannons in your arms...?" Jean beams at Layna. "I'm coaching her. It's important to have a second eye on things." Layna mentions... hmmmm. "Good to know."
June fires a blank an Jean blinks. "That's a trick. What was that?" Chloe starts back, using weapon and limbs together, and Jean watches while she drinks.
GS: CRITICAL! June Lim Ze takes a glancing hit from Talise Gianfair's Infinitely Rippling Stream for 105 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to June Lim Ze!
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"You know it! And -- thanks!" Lemina loves the praise and congratulations she's getting here. She loves them so much she takes a big stupid bite of her food. "She does have some, or at least did -- I don't know if everything she's got is still working, or if it's been replaced. But you can only pack so much ammunition for a thing like that, right?"
A beat, before she adds, "Meanwhile, I'm great and can go forever."
Tapping her chin as she watches, Lemina notes, "Oof. She's got a lot of ground to make up after something like that -- I mean, I think she can do it, but that's rough."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon nods down, once, to Layna. "Aifread," he greets. He isn't from Lunar; he doesn't recognize the name in the slightest.
"Leon Albus," the blonde-haired man says with a nod to Jean. He frowns, before he looks up at the fight. The echo of the report from June's fired blank makes him wince -- and then he watches Chlpe go on the counterattack. "An ARM," he explains. "Her limbs are artificial--they're ancient relic machines."
An ARM in the more generic sense of the word.
He adds, after a moment: "I fought a few soldiers with those during the war, but none like hers," he says. "Tough opponents. They can take you by surprise."
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
The face kick is pretty successful. "Guh!" June says, tumbling and twisting --
And then her prosthetic leg comes up and parries two slashes as she stays down. She seems to be finding advantage in being low to the ground and it may be unclear to Chloe - or June herself - just how she's managing this. However, it would be pretty straightforward for Chloe to get the leg out of action:
The straps. It's not like, built into her body. It's held on by a mixture of suction force and those leather straps. Without the straps, at the very least, she'd have a lot less capacity to swing it. Right?
And intentionally or not she does manage to finish that strap. A cartwheel forward reveals this truth to June when she finds herself wobbling, swaying - she catches herself but the distress is visible. Staring up at Chloe, June exhales with force.
Her hands tense into fists. "This is kind of hard, huh," June says, tonelessly.
AND AT THIS POINT - it's time for the magic guys, who may be getting tired of having just plain old fisticuffs, to kick it up a notch! With a shout and some upraised arms, Symbology comes into play, the floor turning into gently rolling hills of gold, and a massive R O A R as if of long-mythologized dragons fills the area.
Fire! The smell of smoke! A sweep of glacial ice above them as an intimiation of a golden cavern. The air is filled with sparkles and light as gold reflects off crystal and crystal reflects off gold and June says, "Oh good," twisting her leg up as if she's doing a ballet pose. It is almost indecent, but SOMETHING flies from the pink repaired plate behind her leg and up into the cavern 'roof'.
As that something goes 'tink,' June explains to Chloe. "What I've been taught is flexibility... and the thing is that flexibility is really strong. But there's some things you just can't flex around, right? Sure, water can kill a mountain, but it's eventual - that doesn't do you any good when the mountain's there NOW. You know what I mean?" June twists herself up and prays silently to the Guardian of Ice that this will work.
And lo and behold, it does. June dangles from the ice, spreading her arms out for a moment. She then puts her right hand, the wood-and-clockwork hand, on the ground as she looks upside down up at Chloe. "But the thing about the elements in nature is that," June pushes herself forwards, "they're powerful," pushes herself back, "but they're not," pushes herself forwards, "the only game," back, "in the card house," forwards, "if you know," back, "what," forward, "you're," back, "doing," forward, "you know?" back....
June swings back quite far, dangled on a thread of cord. Then she slaps her leg, and something goes whrrrrr--
June puts her fake hand on the cord as she swings forward and then a little novelty fruit-peeling knife in her thumb snaps out, cuts it, AND SHE FLIES AHEAD while leading with that prosthetic hand: "LIKE THIS!" Above her the ice cracks, ten yards of tight-braided cord swishing around like a lizard's shed tail, but perhaps it's going to be enough to let her overwhelm that armor!
GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Talise Gianfair with The True Face Of Cut Branch! GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action. GS: Talise Gianfair has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Guard! GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from June Lim Ze's The True Face Of Cut Branch for 109 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Behind the Chloe mask, Talise becomes peripherally aware that most of the cheering section seems to be rooting for the other girl. It rankles her just a little but she tries not to dwell on it.
She wets her lips briefly. "You think you've got it bad," she huffs, taking a step back, then canting her head as June starts lecturing her. Finally she just curls her lips, her irritation with this beginning to get to her. "Just do what you're going to do and stop talking trash, already!" she shouts.
June does so. Possibly because she's an idiot, Talise eases one heel back and braces herself for it.
June comes swinging into her. Chloe attempts to intercept it by slamming her elbow into June's face but it doesn't quite work out that way. She's hit square in the chest, the impact enough to leave a deep rent in her armour and hurl her backwards bodily. Hitting the ground with a metallic crash, she skids towards the edge of the stage, tearing up turf behind her as she goes.
Wincing, she rolls to her feet again and spits out a mouthful of blood.
For a moment she looks down at her sword. She may have a few tricks in her tank, but they're mostly sword tricks. She can't swing from the rafters or pull a gun out of her leg.
Instead she just glances towards the cheering section for a moment, scowls, and rolls her shoulders again - then leaps back into action.
This time she doesn't bother using her sword. She just attempts to grab ahold of June by the collar and physically slam her into the ground with her own strength, at which point she winds up and attempts to knee her in the jaw.
Then she takes a swing at her with the sword. She's still swinging with the flat, but trying to cuff June in the cheek with it. "Ghh--"
GS: That attack doesn't exist. [info] GS: That attack doesn't exist. [info] GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked June Lim Ze with Infinitely Rippling Stream! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: June Lim Ze guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Infinitely Rippling Stream for 81 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna glances back down at the fight. Lady Chloe's bladework was impressive, as usual...she was curious as to how June would try and handle it.
Looking back up, Layna sends Jean a grin. She was coaching her, was she?
"Aye? Sounds like she's in good hands, then." She says with a nod. She'd fought Jean herself, after all, and knew how good of a fighter she was. Anyone coached by her was in a good position.
"Well, lass, I imagine if it's something she fights with, she's got a lot of resources tied up in making sure she's got in the best possible shape." Layna suggests with a glance toward Lemina. The new situation in the fight draws her attention, however, and she turns toward it with interest. June was using this new environment pretty well, but...
"Lady Chloe's no slouch herself, aye. Pretty damn determined, too. She's not going to make this easy for her." She comments, then glances toward Leon when he addresses her.
Picking the name 'Aifread' had been a calculated risk - she knew that Filgaian's wouldn't know the significance of it, while any Lunarian folk who heard it would focus so much on the name itself that they'd overlook the true identity of the woman bearing it.
It'd been a pretty clever plan, if she said so herself.
"Those are ARMs, too? They come in a lot of different shapes, don't they?" She observes. It wasn't the first time she'd seen a prosthetic ARM, though it was no less interesting.
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
June has enough clothing on that the grab gets hold, snarling up the straps of her hand and making her hiss before she's slammed into the ground. When the knee comes, she raises both hands up -- and with a crossblock, catches the knee, eyes narrowing as she looks dead ahead. The swung sword hits her in the cheek hard enough to leave a bruise and put blood in her mouth but June grins to herself as she slams the prosthetic into the ground, breathing out, "All that gear - and you're sweating? Shit,"
But then her leg fires!!
The gun shot isn't at anything in particular. No, it's at the ground. The recoil ripples through June's body and she moves with it on the rebound from the arena floor, the 'gold' beneath her shimmering as she snaps upwards, aiming to pitch Chloe over with her sudden gunpowder-accelerated kip. After this comes a sharp kick to the side with the blunt end of the leg and a hop backwards -
And her intact hand comes up to gesture Chloe closer. She's grinning despite the blood on her lip. "I mean I appreciate it," she says, "but you can't just lean on it, you know what I mean?"
GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Talise Gianfair with Bent Branch Snapback! GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action. GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from June Lim Ze's Bent Branch Snapback for 94 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean isn't quiet exactly but she isn't talking for a bit, rolling her eyes lightly at what Lemina says. She doesn'tdampen her fun though. Instead she lifts a beer at Leon,inclining her head. "Nice to meet you, Leon. Is that it?" Artificial... "That's really impressive. Especially with the way she fights." She considers. "You were at war? I bet they could be surprising though."
Jean is watching June as she moves, cartwheeling and then the battlefield changes. June moves, and Jean likes what she's doing here.
"Chloe keeps striking with the flat," Jean points out. She doesn't sound approving. She sounds concerned.
Jean grins back at Layna though. "Hey, thanks! I'm doing what I can. Hrm..."
Jean finishes off her skewer all at once. She's definitely quieter now.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Once again Chloe gets kicked in the face. At this point she feels...
Well, mostly she feels like her face hurts as she once again falls on her back with a thump. But she also feels like an idiot. Part of her debates just quitting right now and walking away in complete, utter shame.
(God damn it, what kind of weak fighter am I?) her brain screams at her. (What the fuck kind of weak fighter am I?! Why can't I even touch this woman?! Goddess fucking damn it, why?!)
With an angry snarl, she rolls back to one knee, spitting out a mouthful of blood. She's decidedly not grinning. Because that's all she is. A rank, disgusting amateur who's useless without her equipment. "How about you take off your ARM leg and we can sass each other about relying on our gear, huh," she snarls back, and there's no hint of teasing there - just genuine frustration and anger.
She hates this. She hates it. She's being completely humiliated and all she can do is sit there and twitch.
One hand dips into her coat. It comes out with a throwing knife - and she sidearms it at June, hard.
Then she's on her. Her sword flashes, though in all likelihood it's useless and she knows it. She simply gives in to anger and frustration and lets her fuel her moves; she hurtles at June like a complete idiot and swings with a heavy, overhead chop, attempting to drive the business end of the blade into the martial artist, before she growls and begins to swing for the fences with hard, brutal chops aimed at the woman's hips and shoulder - and she finally spins back, leveling the last swing in an effort to carve June's gun-leg out from under her.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked June Lim Ze with Savior's Storm! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"It's a very general term," Leon answers Layna, with a shake of his head. "A lot of Drifters use it to mean firearms. Guns." He motions to his side, where Argent Divider -- looking all the world like an over-under barrel shotgun -- is tucked into a holster along his waist. "But really, it means any ancient technology. The word hides a lot of meaning."
He shrugs his shoulders once. "You're right, though. Chloe's also quite good. I wasn't sure what to expect from her. I hadn't heard of her before."
He hadn't heard of most of the fighters in the tournament, though.
He looks at Jean, then he nods. "It was. And I was, yes," he says. He frowns, and his nose wrinkles as he sees Chloe lose her cool. His fingers tense, a little, at his side. Then, he looks at Lemina. "Have you been working on your close quarters fighting, too?"
GS: June Lim Ze has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! June Lim Ze guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Savior's Storm for 156 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to June Lim Ze! GS: June Lim Ze has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Ahh, that explains it. Layna nods in understanding. She was still fairly new to some of these things, so she still had a lot to learn.
"Aye, so it'd seem..." She murmurs, turning her attention to the fight. It was true...as Jean had said, Chloe had been using the flat of her blade. That was a style of fighting in itself, but right now...it looked like Chloe had had enough of that.
"Come on, lass...don't do anything you'll regret..." Layna murmurs under her breath, a little concerned. She could see the frustration in her movements.
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
June raises her arm to block the incoming knife and - well, in a sense it works really well and in another sense it doesn't. June doesn't seem to notice as she advances, still grinning, raising her arm to block again -
At the second stroke down low there's several cables snapping and June staggers backwards, letting out a hearty laugh and a YEAH but then stumbling backwards, the prosthetic leg falling away as she reaches the edge of the arena.
The illusionary gold glitters red in a few spaces as June tumbles back, staring at the roof and the sky above. For a moment, she could swear she sees a tree with a thousand thousand fractal roots but -
Instead she hits the loosely yielding material around the arena floor.
Whistles blow, and the winner, without question, is the Lady Chloe. One of the Symbologists goes "uhhhh" and the illusionary field starts to fall away as he hastens over to start putting pressure on things.
"It's so weird," June says. ("No it's cool just relax, I mean uh, keep talking, which is it, I forget") "I don't feel like I feel it, you know? Wow! It's pretty bad, huh?"
Two seconds later, below the edge of the stage, June says, "Yeah... it seemed like it was probably pretty bad."
<Pose Tracker> Lemina Ausa has posed.
"Yeah, good to see you, Leon!" Lemina glances to Jean after the comment about the flat, and notes, "Yeah -- it's kind of weird... like, does she not know there are runes to prevent lethal blows, or what?" She purses her lips, and gets herself another skewer before lookng down at the --
She lets out a yelp and buries her face in Jean's shoulder, failing to respond to anyone, as Chloe goes in.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise can feel things giving way as she swings Rastaban. There's a hot, blinding feeling roaring through her skull, like a pressure just above her eyes and at the back of her throat. It's been a long time since she's been this frustrated and she vents it all on June in a dizzying array of hard, serious blows.
The last time was when she was younger - when one of Althena's Guard simply mocked her feeble attempts to fight, and proceeded to hand her the worst beating of her life.
Something snaps under her blade and June tumbles backwards. Things begin to shift. For a moment, all Lady Chloe can do is plant her heel and drop into a defensive stance, half-expecting it to be some kind of trick. Any second now, she's sure, June's going to pop up, flip her leg up from over there, and --
(Wait.)
Talise's mind backpedals. She glances towards where June's leg landed. Then she glances towards June.
Someone's pronouncing her the winner, but the woman in the green mask doesn't hear it; she's sinking forward, moving to kneel beside June. Her face has gone pale and her eyes are wide behind her mask. "Oh no," is all she can manage at first. "What have I...."
She trails off. Internally, an immense surge of shame bubbles up from somewhere at the bottom of her chest.
(You let your anger rule you, and now someone's seriously hurt. Congratulations, Talise, you complete shithead.)
Chloe reaches out to try and rest a hand on June's shoulder. "I didn't mean for this to happen," she tries to apologize, but it feels hollow to her. She's tearing up.
<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.
Fortunately nothing new came off. Unfortunately there's a lot of blood. June looks pale, but when doesn't she! That said, the runes didn't go off, so at least these are not injuries incompatible with life. One of the other Symbologists hustled over and is using the straps as tourniquets - thinking dude!
Her eyes focus on Chloe as Chloe touches her.
"... it's not the first time," she says. Her intact hand comes up, though, to half-assedly push at Chloe's own.
"I don't want your sympathy," she says. "I run into you again..."
"I'm going to crack that armor like a boiled crab."
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Behind the mask, Talise closes her eyes. All June's sass does is make her want to punch the woman in the face again. She buries the sensation and just sighs, "Not likely. I don't exactly wear this often."
June pushes her hand off, and she opens her eyes again, her lips pressed together in a tight line. She finally reaches into her coat and comes out with a bottle of pale red alcohol, which she sets down beside June. It's, as expected, a bottle of Old Man Ettlesbury's Olde-Fashioned Heal Berry Liqueur. "Then don't take it, but at least have a drink," she says, her voice dulling a little but with a bitterness behind it. "At least you'll be alive to mouth off at me next time."
Eventually, though, she settles for sinking back and letting someone more qualified with treating the injured take care of it. She ends up kneeling off to one side, planting the point of her sword against the ground and lowering her head, grappling with another wave of intense, gut-tightening shame. She wants nothing more than to crawl under a rock and hide.