tab It had been quite the eventful afternoon for the redheaded swordsman. After all, it wasn't every day that a giant bug shows up at your village and you have to fend off a group of insane cultist so that said bug can be sealed inside your best friend. Definitely not how Moriyama had expected to spend his day off, that was for sure. Still, as crazy as all that had been, the most unexpected thing of all was having Kiku request he meet her at the training grounds. Just him. Normally he was just Nimure's plus one when it came to Kiku, but for some reason she just wanted him there. He figured it was because Nimure was out of commission at the moment, having just have a giant demon insect sealed inside of him and all, so he was all that was left but still, it was odd. She'd also been rather cryptic about what it was exactly that she need him to join her for. Then again, he had learned long ago that it did him little good to question her and even less good to keep her waiting. Thus, after dropping off Nimure at the hospital, Moriyama quickly made his way towards the village's training fields.
tab Arriving at his destination, Moriyama could see that Kiku was already there, as expected. 'Whelp. Time to see what this is all about.' he thought, taking a brief moment to stretch before making his way over to where his teammate stood. "Yooo! Kiku! What's poppin?" he greeted, offering a friendly wave. "So, whatdja call me out here for? Need a sparring partner for one of your puppets or something?" he asked, offering his best guess as to reason for his summons.
The Gilded Queen Rank:Chunin ็ฃๆฐ | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline ๅ | Body Rank:A ๅ | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku had never been a patient person. This fact had only become worse when she became a puppet, as she was now forced to experience every second of every day without pause. So as Moriyama showed up to the training grounds, heโd already be able to see the puppet princess. Kiku was pacing a trench into the ground, irritably tapping her finger against her crossed arms. She was thinking. Not about anything specific, just that the girlโs mind was racing as she tried not to stress about the events that just played out. It was due to this that, once Moriyama showed up, Kiku didnโt react to him at first. Once the weaponsmith greeted her, Kikuโs head whipped up from her trance to look at him. โHowโs Nimure?โ The words practically fell from her mouth in a jumble at her feet. Kiku rushed over, gripping Moryamaโs arms tightly as she looked up to him for something, anything, positive about her friendโs condition. Kiku hadnโt formed the full thought yet, but deep down she knew she wouldnโt be able to handle the loss of another friend. She took in a breath to calm herself, not that it did anything, and released her vice grip on the boyโs arm.
โSorryโฆโ she muttered, looking away. Idly, Kiku started to notice that she'd been apologizing a lot more lately. That was new. โThank you forโฆ taking care of him.โ Kiku almost looked ashamed, but for exactly what she didnโt say. The girl didnโt feel okay going to that hospital, not after everything thatโd happened. โAnd howโre you holding up?โ Kiku finally asked. It was an afterthought to be sure. The blonde Chunin didnโt want to admit it, but it was the truth. Kiku mentally shook away her distraction while Moriyama answered. โSomething like that.โ The girl finally answered as she kept her gaze averted as she lightly kicked a small stone. She needed to focus.
And like that her demeanor changed back to her usual sharpness. โYou remember that sword we go from Hoehoemu?โ Kiku asked. With an effort of will she called the sword to her side with a cloud of smoke. Nuibari, the sewing needle, appeared in her hand. โIโve been trying to figure out how to use it, but something about the damn thing feels off. I donโt get it; whatโs so hard to understand about โswish, swish, stab?โโ Her voice and expression were filled with her usual frustration that was fueled by her perfectionism. โAnd youโฆ seem to know weaponsโฆโ The next part was hard for Kiku to get out, resulting in her upturning her head so Moriyama wouldnโt see her blushing. It was an old habit that told when she was embarrassed, even without actually blushing. โSo lemme get some practice in with you, so I can figure out what Iโm doing wrong.โ
tab Moriyama was a bit caught off guard when Kiku suddenly rushed to him, gripping his arm as she asked about Nimure. Thankfully her grip was light but he knew all to well just how strong her grip could get if he didn't choose his words carefully. "He's fine! I swear! Got him to the hospital with no issues! They're taking good care of him! I promise!" he quickly spat out in a panic. He then felt Kiku release her grip on his arm and let out a sigh of relief.
tab"Sorry."
tab'Sorry?' That was the last thing Moriyama expected to hear from Kiku. Had he really heard her correctly or were his ears still ringing from all the explosions that had happened at the falls? Regardless of if she had actually said it or not, it definitely caught him off guard. As such, he felt a bit awkward responding to her expression of gratitude for taking Nimure to the hospital to receive treatment. "Uh. Yeah. Sure thing." What came next only made him more convinced that he had suffered some horrific head injury. Kiku actually asked how he was doing. 'Maybe I should be in the hospital too/' he thought. After a brief pause, he finally responded to her, though his tone was a clear indication of his confusion. "I'm ..... fine ..... Thanks?"
tab Thankfully before Moriyama fully lost his grip on reality, Kiku changed the subject, bringing them back to the reason for his being there. When asked he remembered the sword Kiku had recently gotten, he paused to think for a moment. "Uhhhh ... Yeah. That was the needle looking thing, right?" His memory of the event wasn't especially clear but he at least knew that she had gotten her hands on a weapon through some means. Regardless, Kiku went on to explain her difficulties with mastering the sword, describing it in an almost insulting way. Now that was the Kiku he knew. "Swish, swish, stab?" he repeated her words back to her, as if she were speaking a foreign language to him. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Moriyama let out a heavy sigh. "I don't ... I don't even know where to begin with how wrong that is." he said, shaking his head. "Look. Why don't you just show me what you're doing and I'll try to give you some pointers. Okay?" Then, in a puff of smoke, a simple boken appeared in his hand. He was confident that he'd be fine if she used a real sword but in his case, it was best if he used a practice sword. He'd never hear the end of it from Nimure if cut his girlfriend, even if just by accident. "Come at me whenever you're ready." he explained, bringing the wooden sword into his hands as he took up a defensive stance.
The Gilded Queen Rank:Chunin ็ฃๆฐ | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline ๅ | Body Rank:A ๅ | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku blinked as Moriyama pulled out a wooden sword. โIs that a.. Did you justโฆ?โ She stammered with an incredulous look on her face. She groaned and shook the surprise away and replaced it with her usual irritableness. โOkay whatever, fine. I donโt care neither does anyone else.โ The girl flicked her wrist and a cloud of smoke formed in her hand before she gripped what was inside of it. The needle sword, Nuibari, was held at her side and was easily as long as Kiku was tall. โDonโt blame me if you get hurt though!โ Moriyama conjuring a practice sword ticked Kiku off. Was it because she felt like he wasnโt taking her seriously? That would fit her perception of the weaponsmith, with his constantly making jokes. Of all people to look down on her tooโฆ She charged Moriyama, and the thought of him thinking less of her just pissed the girl off. The Chunin would make sure he learned for his mistake the hard way. Kiku twirled Nuibari at her side as she charged before taking a wide swing with the weapon. She would flourish the weapon around, attempting to chase Moriyama through his block or after his dodge and strike him with the body of the blade once again. Kiku would spin the weapon through her fingers before turning the blunt end towards her sparring partner, thrusting it at his chest as hard as she could! [Basic Attack x3 C>>S Simple]
tab Moriyama watched as Kiku brought forth Nuibari and charged him with a mighty cry. 'Well, she's got spirit. I'll give her that.' he thought. However, that was all he had to say in her favor at the moment. Unaware of the nerve he had struck, he found her approach for too reckless when her sword was clearly one of finesse. That was definitely something they'd have to address. Firstly though, it felt it was best if he provided her with a first hand demonstration.
tab Rather than attempting to side step any of his teammate's strikes or distance himself back from her assault, Moriyama instead chose to meet her head on. Drawing power from the firm planting of his back foot, the crimson haired swordsman was able to knock aside his opponent's first two swings with ease. He was at least a little impressed that she made better use of Nuibari's design by switching to a thrusting motion with her final strike. She was even kind enough to come at him with the blunt end, which he appreciated even if it was unnecessary. However "Gonna have to do better than that!" he shouted, his mouth curling into an impish grin.
tab After once more knocking aside Kiku's attack, Moriyama followed through with the motion, shifting his weight to his front foot in a pivot. Continuing with this circular motion, he then leapt into the air, his simple wooden sword beginning to glow from the chakra flowing through it. Upon returning to the ground, he would bring the edge of his boken down upon Nuibari, just above Kiku's grasp. The colision of the two weapons would create a concussive force, sending forth a strong wave of chakra {Tsunami Crash | Rank A | Simple} .While the force would probably be enough to push Kiku back a few feet, this was not the intent of Moriyama's strike. His true goal was to hit Nuibari in the just the right spot that it would be dislodged from Kiku's grip, effectively disarming her {Disarming Wave | Rank X | Simple}.
tab When the dust of his counter attack settled, Moriyama was pleased to find that his plan had been a success. Picking up Nuibari from where it laid on the ground, he turned it over in his hand several times, taking in its weight and balance. After coming to blow against it several times and now being able to actually hold it in his hand, he was able to get a pretty good idea on the sword's construction and intended use. "Interesting. It's a little long for what I'd consider an ideal saber but whoever made this thing was definitely a master craftsman, No doubt about it." he said as he continued inspecting the blade.
tab After a brief moment, Moriyama finally turned his attention back to Kiku. "Your instinct to go for a thrust with that last attack was a good one but you put way too much into your forward motion. All that momentum left you wide open for a counter attack, as you may have noticed." he said, chuckling a bit towards the end. "The blade's got a ton of length to it so you should take advantage of that. You really only need the first couple of inches at the end to pierce your opponent, especially if you aim for a vital spot so that gives you a good balance of offense and defense." he continued his explanation, taking up a standard fencing stance as he gave a few thrusts as an example. "The key is finding a firm position for you back foot and falling back on that between strikes. Then you can use a lunging motion to thrust at your opponent while keeping them at a distance. Eventually they'll be forced to try to close that distance if they hope to hit you and that's when you go for the finishing blow."
tab With his little demonstration over, Moriyama flipped Nuibari around and held the handle out towards Kiku. "Ready to give it another try or do you need me to explain some more?" he asked, the tiniest hint of smugness in his tone. He definitely wasn't hating that Kiku was needing his help in this matter.
๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ โข Tsunami Crash | Rank A | Simple The user deflects an oncoming strike, then presses forward into a fast and effective stab. Using tight circular footwork, the user continues the momentum and circles while jumping in the air, performing a powerful over the head vertical slash. Defending against this technique requires two activations. Has a two post cool down. โข Disarming Wave | Rank A | Simple This technique is applied to a defensive technique's use when interacting with bukijutsu. The user does not pay an additional activation for this technique but simply adds on it's cost to the defense. The user's defensive technique is so overwhelming to the opponent that it causes them to lose control of their weapon. Disarming wave must be executed at the rank of the technique it is paired with.
The Gilded Queen Rank:Chunin ็ฃๆฐ | Classes:Puppeteer | Puppeteer | Bloodline ๅ | Body Rank:S+ ๅ | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku had seen Moriyama fight. She knew he was skilled with weapons. But her mental exhaustion and her own cockiness still made the puppeteer look down on the skills of her teammate. She wasnโt prepared for the swordsman to react so quickly and strike with such force! The wooden blade hit her hand, but the impact itself was ineffective against her artificial body. However the burst of energy from the wooden sword caught the blonde girl by surprise. It knocked Kiku back by quite a few feet, almost back to where sheโd started. With her anger, it took Kiku longer than sheโd like to admit to realize what Moriyama was holding.
โHey! Who said you could take that?โ She yelled as she jabbed a finger at him. Her purple eyes had even seemingly turned pure white as she yelled. โDo you often just take things from girls like that? Thatโs deplorable, Moriyama.โ A few seconds later, Kiku pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. The red headed swordsman began to talk to her about the โproperโ way to use Nuibari, but the words were just going in one ear and out the other. She tapped her finger against her arm impatiently. She wasnโt sure why she was getting so irritated. Maybe asking for help was a hard enough thing for the princess on her own. And asking Moriyamaโฆ it was a bitter pill to swallow. It felt like his helpful suggestions felt more like condescending jabs. โYeah yeah I got it.โ She waved him off with a look of indignation on her face. โGimme.โ She added, snatching Nuibari from Moriyamaโs hand. Without much marning, Kiku flicked the tip of the needle sword at her teammate. It was pretty contradictory to his instructions, showing that she hadnโt actually retained anything.
However, Kiku put her puppet body to work for her and try take to Moriyama off guard. Her wrist rotated into an unnatural position that enabled her to aim the tip of Nuibari at the Chunin. [Charged Starโs Fury A rank Complex]
โฐ Charged Star's Fury | Rank A | Complex The user rushes forward, thrusting twice. After each thrust, a chakra spear the length of the user's blade appears where the blade just was. After the inital two strikes, these chakra spears thrust towards the opponent. These two chakra spears are treated as spiritual attacks and dealt with separately from the original attack at one rank below it's execution.
Third Action:
Stumpleton
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2022 12:23 am
tab Kiku's attempts to cut him down for disarming her and taking temporary possession of Nuibara had little effect on Moriyama. After all, he was used to being insulted by the blonde puppeteer. Her verbal assaults were practically white noise to him at this point. What did frustrate him though was the way she seemed to blow off the in-depth advice he'd taken the time to give her. Instead, she merely snatched Nuibara back from him when offered and turned away in a huff. He could only hope that she'd actually been listening to him and was just being a pain for the fun of it.
tab Unfortunately, these hopes were quickly crushed when she charged full speed at him once more. Granted, the way she made use of her puppet body the change the angle of her strike was impressive, but he wasn't there to gage her puppetry skills. He was there to assess her ability to wield Nuibara and from what he was seeing, those still left a lot to be desired. It certainly confirmed his suspicion that she hadn't been listening to him throughout any of his demonstration. It seemed that she was determined to learn the hard way. 'Here we go again.' he thought with a sigh.
tab At the very least, Moriyama was pleased to see Kiku using Nuibara as a piercing weapon, like it was intended. However, her form and forward momentum left her wide open for a counter, something that Moriyama was all too happy to take advantage. As the first two thrusts of her attack came at him, Moriyama shifted weight onto his back foot. firming his stance as he met the strikes head on to block them {Blocking Stance | Rank C | Simple + Basic Combat: Block | Rank S | Simple}. For her strike though, Moriyama took the opposite approach. Rather than meeting the attack head on, he pivoted on his back foot, side stepping her thrust and allowing Nuibara to glide along the broad side of his sword {Sideward Parry | Rank S+ | Simple}. Kiku would be fine as long as she managed to sure up her footing and halt her forward momentum. If not though .... well perhaps that would serve as a good lesson as well.
๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ โข Blocking Stance | Rank C | Simple The user stands in a front stance, their weapon held with two hands down by their hip. Their stance is more linear this time, with the blade held just off their body slightly to offer the opponent as little openings as possible. The blade crosses over the users midline, with the tip pointing at the enemies forehead. The userโs feet are firmly planted, making their strikes, blocks, and deflections have more power and effectiveness. Techniques executed from this stance confer a [1] point increase to endurance per rank of the technique. If a technique is executed from this stance and the user returns to this stance, they are not required to pay for it again until a new stance is taken. โข Basic Combat: Block | Rank S | Simple โข Sideward Parry | Rank S+ | Simple Taking a small step to the side and bringing up the dull side of the rapier, the user lets the opponent's weapon slide along the blunt side of the sword. If used at or above the rank of the opponentโs attack, the opponent continues forward and falls flat on their face. The user gains a [1] point increase to agility per rank of the technique.
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