What's It Like Getting Stood Up? [R / NDE]

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna nodded in agreement at Luke's request to be handled if her ever lost control, "I'll take care of you don't worry," she said in a light tone, trying to side step around the more uncomfortable possibilities of her having to do that, it was clear she was still playing on the tone of just smacking him upside the head would return him to normal. She doubted it would really be that easy if something did happen to him, but those didn't really need to be discussed given the current situation. It was then that she got a rather interesting request from her new vampire friend, he wanted her to hit him.

Her initial response was going to be a denial of his request, she didn't feel the urge to hit Luke just because he had launched an attack at her while he was emotionally unstable. She knew that Luke didn't have enough power to pose much of a threat to her in any way, at least based on their last meeting, so him trying to attack her didn't bother, even if his orb had hit her it wouldn't have done much besides smart a bit. But even if Luke could have actually done something potentially damaging to her she still would have hit him for it, Luke had been under duress and he just lashed out, she couldn't blame him for doing that, but then he explained another reason he wanted her to deck him. He hoped that a good hit would set his mind right

In terms of logic it didn't seem entirely unrealistic, pain triggered the fight or flight response which generally caused the mind to focus of the source of said pain rather then any personal issues, but at the same time a single punch wasn't what Luke needed to clear his head. He needed a fight, a real, and fun, fight. A punch to the face will only cause some pain and sharpen the mind for a few minutes at most, but a real fight, where were he's actively battling as well as having fun, would help him far more. There was more of a reason then her rowdy personality for why she found herself getting into bar brawls so often.

"I have a better idea," she'd say smiling evilly and with a playfully sinister tone in her voice, "Why don't we have ourselves a little brawl," she say as the sword on her back slowly started to encroach on her form once more. Luke would be able to tell that "no" wasn't going to be an acceptable answer in this scenario so he was going to be better off just going along with it. "It'll help clear your head better then just getting punched in the face and who knows, maybe this time you'll hit me, you seem like you've got a few new tricks up your sleeve."

[Deleted]

He blinked in surprise. Instead of just slugging him in the gut like he had wanted, Yetsuna instead presented him the offer for them to have themselves a little fight. He was unsure. He didn't quite know how to feel about the idea of them fighting again, considering what had happened last time. His frown was evident, and it was clear by the expression on his face that he didn't seem to excited about it. Last time they had a round it had been completely one sided, with Yetsuna then decided to crap all over Lukes efforts with an overpowering display of her abilities. She offered a dinner date with him as a consolation prize, something that neither Luke nor Jäger liked after giving it some thought. Luke had just wanted to get a date with Yetsuna, and even though he had liked the idea of hanging out with her for an evening it had felt cheap and unearned.

So repeating that embarrassment wasn't really...exciting. "Mmm.." Luke grunted slightly, scratching the back of his head. But what she said made sense. Maybe fighting her would help get Luke out of his funk. If he thought getting hit would do the trick then the intense emotions, and activity, a fight would bring out would be even better. "Do it. I want to see you actually hit her this time. Don't puss out." Jäger chimed in as Yetsuna began covering herself in her armor once again. Considering her tone and what not, it became painfully clear that "no" was not going to be an acceptable answer.

"Alright fine.." Luke replied, though he didn't sound too thrilled about it. Regardless, opening his eyes back up Yetsuna would see that despair he'd been feeling before replaced with cold determination. As Yetsuna allowed her armor to retake its form, Luke pointed a hand at her. He patiently, and politely, waited until her armor was nearly finished with its coating before he let the building pressure of energy be fired. It was like the gunshot of a race, a signal for them to start, and Luke was not really worried about a very obvious Spirit Wave hurting her. Regardless, after firing he decided to relocate himself. When that energy left his body he used even more spirit energy to utilize the Movement technique, appearing high in the air above the rootftop they had been hanging out on.

Her powers are all about the earth...so if I stay clear of it I should be good. Luke summarized mentally. Until cowtits rips out a tectonic plate and has it follow her up here with you. She can make rocks float too. Jäger, annoyingly, decided to add. It was true, but it wasn't something that Luke had forgotten. Having height meant Luke would, hopefully, not get caught off guard by a rock floating behind him. Plus, being so close to the river meant Luke could take positioning over above it. She couldn't control mud could she?

Remaining Reiatsu: 1835 / 2000
-100 for Spirit Wave
-25 for Movement

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna could sense some reservations coming from Luke about the two of them fighting, though she couldn't really figure out why he had them. She was about to ask about it as her armor finished forming when the man's reiatsu spiked and he launched another one of his weird spirit ball orbs at her. She let this one collide with her armor causing it to explode in a puff of smoke harmlessly while Luke used that moment to his advantage to rise above her into the air in what she guessed was an attempt to get her away from the ability to use her powers. Focusing her reiatsu under her feet for a moment she formed a small platform under her feet which she used to elevator herself to Luke's height.

Once the two of them were face to face once more she cracked a taunting, but friendly, smile, "You'll need to better then that," she'd ask as a stone blade appeared in front of Luke, the obvious implication being for him to take it a use it. She took up an unarmed fighters stance, something similar to a boxer's pose, and smirked at Luke. "Hope you're ready, cause this time I'm gonna be the trying to hit you," she said as she started a dash towards him. She didn't use any movement techniques and she was moving slow enough where Luke would be able to attempt a counter if he was paying any sort of attention.

She was no point in starting out the fight bringing all of her power down on top the man at once, starting off slow would get him engaged and focused, as then she would be able to begin ramping up the pressure on him. Just because she was starting slow didn't mean she was taking it easy though, she had every intention to sock Luke right in the gut if he didn't react fast enough, and if connected it was going to hurt. Whether the fist connected or not was going to be sheerly up to how Luke responded (or didn't), but was mentally prepared to deal with either scenario.

[Deleted]

While Luke had a lot of reservations, doubts, and apprehensions about having another fight with Yetsuna, he really couldn't say no to it this time. Sure, fighting anyone as cocky and strong as her was a huge turn off, and normally Luke wouldn't have even bothered, but he decided it really was best to fight. Fighting would do more for him than just getting punched would. Like before she created a stone blade for him to use, and though he was hesitant to wield it on account of what happened the last time he did, Yetsuna’s approach didn't give him much time to ponder using his own sword. With a click of the tongue he grabbed onto the stone sword before he didn't have the chance too.

He'd seen that his Spirit Waves had about as much an effect on Yetsuna’s armor as pissing into a bonfire. Did it mean that he was too weak to get through the armor, or that her armor was too strong for anything to get through? There really wasn't much of a difference in that question, but irregardless Luke knew that he'd be the one who'd be getting hurt in this spar. Luke actually felt some irritation that she was wearing armor at all. About as much irritation as he felt last time when she said he couldn't do shit. In response to her approach, though, Luke had shifted the position of the sword so that it faced forward, both hands on the grip and kept down to his lower torso.

His knees would bend like he was about to dash at Yetsuna, to meet her head, and if that had been her guess she would have been almost right. Luke lunged forward, only to vanish as he used the Movement technique to burst straight forward at 3x his normal speed. Unless Yetsuna countered it, she would hear the sound of rock hitting metal from her left waist, from Luke dashing past and slamming the sword into her armored form as he passed by her. When he had lived forward he had kept his head low, so he could more easily travel underneath her raised arms without bonking his head on her elbow. Plus, using airground, he was able to lower himself even more when he was using Movement.

Spinning around to face her, Yetsuna would see an annoyed look on Lukes face. ”Tch. It must be nice getting to wear armor. I'm gonna have to bust my ass to not get hit, but it'll be a day at the beach for you. Maybe I should whip out my own bullshit to even things out.” Luke commented with an annoyed tone of voice. He wasn't belittling Yetsuna for using her armor, he just found it annoying. It wasn't an even playing field if she never had to worry about getting hit. ”Kekeke, are you thinking of letting me out?” Jäger asked with a hint of entertainment. Luke didn't have a answer for the Doll. If Yetsuna wanted to rely on her armor, then Luke would pull out his own special powers as a response.

Remaining Reiatsu: 1810 / 2000
-25 for Movement

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna closed the distance between the two of them fairly quickly, but it seemed like Luke still had some of his wits about him. As she got closer he shifted his position in a preparation to lunge at her, but just as he was about to execute his attack he instead used a step technique. Yetsuna found the move rather weird, she knew that Luke wasn't thinking wasn't overly rational at that moment, but charging at her head on while she was wearing her armor? That just seemed stupid even for his mental state. Had the technique been faster Yetsuna might have found herself in a slightly harder position to react, but shunpo combat and her strong reflexes let her react without resulting to a knee jerk.

She brought her right forearm down to intercept the blade, with it resounding with a solid "thunk" as metal met stone. She felt a few vibrations travel up her arm as a result of the block, nothing painful, more just a sensational feedback, but what she was surprised about was how little force she had felt. Last time they fought she had been using a shield to block his strikes so she hadn't gotten a great gauge of his strength, but now that it was just her "bare" arm she got a better idea, and it seemed physical strength wasn't exactly his forte. Then again considering he was hurling balls of energy earlier she probably should have seen that one coming.

After the sword struck the armor there was the distinct sound of metal rubbing on stone as Luke continued his step past her, ending a few yards away, a sour look on his face. She spun on her heels to look at him prepared for him to try and follow up with something else, but when she saw his face she relaxed her guard and cocked an eyebrow. She was about to ask what the look was for when Luke answered for her, and she chuckled a little bit at his annoyance, not because he was mad or anything, but because of the assumption he made about her power. "Everyone always thinks this thing in indestructible," she said bring her right arm up for inspection, namely where the blade had struck, there was a small scratch, mostly superficial, but a scratch none the less.

"It's not as bad as you think actually, it's only really good against spiritual attacks, and even then it as limits. A lot of the time when someone hits me while I wear this I still feel a good amount of the force behind the strike, all the armor does is dull impact, it doesn't stop it. The only time it full on stops attacks is when the attack is either weak or a low level spell," she paused mulling her her thoughts, "I guess you do have a point though, I guess it is a bit unfair isn't it?" As she finished her statement her armor disintegrated to sand and began reforming into its sealed form on her back.

As her armor fell away the blade Luke held also fell away, with Yetsuna's zanpaktou sealed again, along with her earth powers, the blade no longer had anything to support its structure. "Oh yeah, with my armor gone you don't have a weapon anymore," she laughed as she rolled her right shoulder, "You gonna be able to make do unarmed or do you need to get yourself a club or something?" Yetsuna didn't really care if Luke wanted to use a weapon or not, chances were she wasn't going to use one, she was trying to smack the bount around a bit, not do any real harm so using a sword wasn't really the best thing to do that with.

[Deleted]

"Really? Huh. So it's not unbeatable" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow as Yetsuna explained some of the details behind her armor. If her armor was designed to fight against spiritual attacks, then it seemed Luke really was at a disadvantage against it. He wasn't a complete idiot. He knew where his strengths lied and weaknesses fell. His spiritual capabilities put his physical ones to shame. But while Luke may not have been able to lift a car, he knew he could at least cut through one. He blinked as he watched Yetsuna's armor peel away, followed by the sword in his hands. Seems that if she didn't get to use her armor, he didn't get to use the borrowed weapon. But that was fine.

She asked if he needed a weapon or if he was good with doing it unarmed. Luke couldn't help but smirk a little. He terminated his airground slightly, descending back towards the roof slowly as he grabbed onto the bag Yetsuna had seen him carrying. For a second he questioned if whether or not using this was cheating, but he was completely certain that Yetsuna could more than handle him. Opening the bag up and letting it drop to the ground, Luke held the still sheathed Zanpakuto given to him by Aevus in his hand. He exhaled softly before reapplying his grip, but not unsheathing the sword like Yetsuna might have expected.

"Feel free to use your own sword if you want." Luke commented, before kicking off the roof with a burst of Movement. He hurtled himself straight towards Yetsuna like a rocket, moving at 3x his normal speed. Once close enough, but just out of range of her arms, he launched his attack. His left arm thrust forward, glowing for a moment before firing a blast of spiritual energy right for her face, before following that up with a swing from his sheathed sword. Something to get the fight really going now that things had shifted again.

Remaining Reiatsu: 1685 / 2000
-25 for Movement
-100 for Spirit Wave

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna watch as the man dropped back onto the rooftop where they had been standing only a few moment before and began to rummage through the bag he had been carrying, producing a sword, though he did not remove it from its sheath. Yetsuna knew the tactic, she had actually used it herself a few times, keep the sword covered so that you can still use it against someone without have to worry about doing any lethal damage, though it still would hurt like a mother if you got it, it also tended to have a high chance of breaking bones if someone was strong enough. 

Luke gave her the option to use her own sword, which she did contemplate for a moment, she had been expecting Luke to get a stick not a sword, but she decided against it. Her natural strength was more then enough to kill the average human, let alone break bones, concentrating that behind a sheathed blade could cause more injury to Luke then she wanted. "I'll be fine for now," she said with a mixture of a friendly and cocky smile. With her reply Luke kicked off of the rooftop and flew upwards towards her using his step technique, an action she was able to follow without much difficulty, but Luke wasn't just attempting a blind charge.

Striking out with his hand Yetsuna felt him expend some reiatsu and his hand begin to glow again, she knew the attack Luke was about to use, and she needed to move quick. In her armor that attack hadn't even bothered her, but without it to absorb the attack it would be able to do some real damage. With a quick snake-like move to get her face out of the line of fire, followed by a small jump to the left to compensate for shifting her center of balance, she just barely managed to dodge out of the orbs way as it flew by her face, literally millimeters from making contact.

Her high instincts and battle analysis are what let her actually observe the attack, but the main grace that had let her dodge was the brief moment before the ball left his hand, if she hadn't known what attack was coming she likely would have gotten hit and been in some decent pain. Luke immediately followed upward with a swing from his still sheathed sword. The swing was aimed near her chest, what would have her arm had she not moved just before he tried to strike. She brought her right arm upward to take the blow on her forearm, making contact with a solid thunk with her armored forearm.

Even though it contacted the supplemental armor Yetsuna wore everyday this armor shared almost none of the same defensive properties as her release, sure it was metal and it could take the edge off of a hit just a bit, but overall a vast majority of the strike was going to go through it. Luke's full strength resounded through her forearm, not as strong as the hits she was used to taking, in or out of armor, but still enough to definitely smart and leave a solid bruise. In retaliation Yetsuna attempted to chest the male bount in the chest.

The shinigami didn't use her full speed or strength on the hit, had she done that the chances of him dodging would have been slim, hinging heavily on his instincts and ability to react, and the hit likely would have shattered his ribs, possibly killing him. She kept her speed capped at about 3/4 (150) and her strength about half (125). If the hit did contact it was going to contact his sternum, one of the stronger bones in the body, so that it would still hurt, but not cause him any crippling pain or permanent damage. Because the blow would also be absorbed by bone instead of flesh the impact would be a bit more forceful and likely cause him to go stumbling back a bit.

[Deleted]

Permission given from Kento for a member grading.

51 Paragraphs from Luke: 510 TP

53 Paragraphs from Yetsuna: 530 TP

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Grading approved.