Murphy's Law Strikes Again

[ice_and_steel]

[On the Plains of Spite, there is plenty of room to pit yourself against whatever is chasing you down. Celes has been doing this for nearly an hour, sending herself on sprint drills followed by sets of push-ups as close to the lake as she can manage without (probably) having to draw her sword. She finishes a sprint and pauses to heal the ankle she just strained.]

[A shadow falls over her and she looks up warily, to see something alarmingly like a tentacle hovering over her.]

"Fuck."

[She draws her sword]

Comments

[onlyhonournow]

[OH NO SOMEONE IS IN DISTRESS]

[I MUST APPLY HONOUR TO IT]

[unless of course, he is beaten to the punch]

[ice_and_steel]

[noticing the GIANT METAL OBJECT nearby]

[Okay, Thunder is probably not the best action here, not with the grounding rod over there]

[starts casting Fire on the tentacle]

[onlyhonournow]

[i think i messed up.]

Did I ... interrupt something?

[ice_and_steel]

Not exactly. I did something stupid and got too close to the lake without proper recon.

I just didn't want to accidentally hit you with a lightning spell. It seems like that could be detrimental to your health.

[onlyhonournow]

[sheathing the two swords he was intending to wave around impetuously and sheepishly rubs the back of his head]

I wouldn't have minded, but thank you. Do you want some help with that recon?

[ice_and_steel]

[Aren't mechanicals weak to electricity...? That probably would have hurt.]

*glancing up at the tentacle poised above them* I think recon came to us....

[onlyhonournow]

[it would have. it would have been honourable.]

[glancing behind him at another tentacle creeping up on them]

... well, that saves us some time. You wanna take the shy one?

[ice_and_steel]

[seeing the other tentacle] Sounds like a plan.

[she starts murmuring again, bringing her shield up just in case, and lobs a bolt of fire directly at the poised tentacle. Hopefully, it reacts about as enthusiastically as Ultros does. Seafood soup might be nice for dinner.]

[onlyhonournow]

I'd ask you to go easy, but...

[meanwhile, making giant tako sashimi. did it occur to nobody to try to negotiate first? sheesh, protagonists.]

[lifestudies]

Is it difficult to fight in that much armor?

[onlyhonournow]

[looking down, a tad bit surprised that someone managed to sneak up]

I'm used to it.

[lifestudies]

[sneaking is one of the first things they teach you in ninja boot camp, pretty sure]

I suppose you must be. You wouldn't have much luck trying to depend on stealth and speed with a frame like that.

[onlyhonournow]

[you're a cheeky one :\]

That's true. But when it comes down to it, I might have some other tricks up my servos.

[lifestudies]

[things they do not teach you in ninja boot camp: how not to be a dick.]

Well, of course; you wouldn't want to blow your load right away, would you?

[onlyhonournow]

[man he is way too robot/naive to pick up on how terrible that just was.]

It would all depend on the situation.

[lifestudies]

Sometimes there is an opponent with whom you feel the need?

[onlyhonournow]

[easing himself down on one knee, offering a hand]

Something like that, yes.

[lifestudies]

[well, you seem to have the fighting part well in hand. jumping out of the way of a fallen bit of severed tentacle, landing on it when it hits the mud]

That's an interesting fire technique.

[ice_and_steel]

[turns to see someone balancing on a tentacle bit]

[for a moment, she looks almost enthusiastic, as though she recognizes him, and then her face shuts down again as she realizes it's not who she thought]

Thanks. I learned it from--I guess you don't have Espers here. A powerful magical being, or what was left of her.

[oh right people do introductions]

I'm Celes.

[lifestudies]

You can call me Sai.

[this is almost certainly an occasion where a smile is called for.]

Did she teach you any other interesting things?

[ice_and_steel]

She did. We called them grey magic--being able to silence someone so they can't cast spells, or put them to sleep.

[turning her hands palms-down so the scars that make the Runic blade work aren't right in front of her]

Do you have such skills here?

[lifestudies]

Ah, I have not been here long enough to know what skills are normal in this land. But in my own home, yes, the shinobi of the hidden villages learn a number of special techniques.

[ice_and_steel]

[curious now] Hidden villages? Do people object to your having the skills?

I know where I am from, there is a village that practically took itself off the map because they feared being hunted for their spellcraft.

[lifestudies]

The name is not entirely accurate. Plenty of people know how to find them, especially the hidden villages of the powerful nations. But living in seclusion helps to keep the secrets of specialized techniques.

[also curious] Why would they need to fear if they were the ones with the power? Or did their enemies create some new technique to neutralize them?

[ice_and_steel]

[ooc: ack, somehow I did not get the notif email. sorry.]

In part it was a question of numbers--they were few, and certainly they could wipe out sizable contingents that might come against them, but throw enough bodies at a problem and eventually you will crush it beneath the weight of the dead. By the end of that war, people were willing to do nearly anything to eradicate magic.

And they did--until someone thought old things were better dug up than left buried.