Upgrades?

[infestedcouncilpresident]

Who: Kohaku Yuhara and whoever
What: Kohaku gets a ridiculous new toy from the Anvil
When: Shortly after finals but before everyone leaves for Spring Break
Where: Around campus
Warnings: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Kohaku had dealt with the gut churning uncertainty of waiting for finals to be graded by drawing furiously in her notebook and then showing the notebook and showing it to the people in the Anvil of Hadur, accompanied with a lot of expressive gestures and wild ideas.

Then it had been back to waiting.

NOW all that was dealt with and Kohaku had a package from the Anvil with a note that read "Hope this works."

-1-

"Hey."

Someone was calling from above you. It's Kohaku! She was sitting in a tree, or on top of a statue, or somewhere else kinda high up and hard to get to. She had on some kind of weird harness that looked kind of like what a rock climber might wear, along with an elaborate metal gauntlet on her right hand/forearm that looked like it could block a sword or two and also had a grappling hook worked into it. Based the grappling hook and Kohaku's smug grin, it was pretty clear how she got up there.

"Do anything cool today?" she asked, with a look that suggests that it would have to be pretty damn cool to be as cool as having a grappling hook.

-2-

But...sometimes she didn't do so great. Either she misjudged her shot, or she misjudged the thing she had attached the grapple to. The most warning you got was a startled "FUCK!" before Kohaku came flailing out of the sky and landed either in front of you or on top of you. These things take practice.

Whatever she landed on, Nothing appeared to be seriously damaged.

Comments

1

[gaiarage]

Naoki is, generally speaking, pretty averse to being surprised from above, and he bristles the second her voice hits his ears. When he looks up to see that it's just Kohaku, though, he drops his guard just a little, fists slowly unclenching.

"No, not yet." Not that he even knows what most people think is 'cool'. He cocks his head to the side, like a curious puppy. "What the hell are you wearing?"

[infestedcouncilpresident]

"...You know? I really should have some kind of name for it." She reflected, leaning back in her tree to watch the clouds.

"It's a custom thing I asked the Anvil to make and they actually listened to me!"

[gaiarage]

"Does it do anything?" Aside from look impressive, he means. He ambles over to the tree and grabs at a low-hanging branch, starting to climb up.

[infestedcouncilpresident]

"Hell yeah it does!" She sat back up to show off by pointing her arm at the ground and, with a careful twitch of a hidden lever, firing a barbed hook on the end of a long, thin chain into the ground.

"I'm not a great frontline fighter, but with something like this I can really play the role of scout or skirmisher in a fight. Right now I'm just getting used to using it."

[gaiarage]

Naoki, to his credit, only flinches a little when the chain whizzes past his head. Getting used to fast-moving sharp objects is just a part of life, really. He stops to perch on a low-hanging bough, glancing up at her.

"You really think it'll help?" I mean it is pretty cool and all.

[infestedcouncilpresident]

She had made sure not to aim it too near to Naoki, she wasn't the BEST shot with it yet, after all, but that one had ended up a little closer than she meant. Whups.

He seemed fine though so she flexed dramatically with her right arm, which was half encased in metal and also fairly impressively muscled when you got right down to it. "Just LOOK at this thing! Sure it's a little tricky to use but once I get the hang of it I figure it'll open up my options a LOT in a fight."

[gaiarage]

He nods appreciatively, both because he's starting to come around on this whole metal-hook-arm thing and also because hey cool muscles. "I guess you need every advantage you can get." He says in what is definitely a general statement and not a jab at Kohaku specifically.

"So if you can't hit them, you'll bring them closer. That's the idea?"

[infestedcouncilpresident]

Wow dude. Kohaku graciously did not give that implied criticism any attention. "That, or I can use to get away if I get in over my head."

[gaiarage]

Naoki nods and grunts like he understands, but very clearly does not. As someone who is in over his head near-constantly and never does anything about it, he can't relate.

"Have you actually used it for anything other than showing off yet?"

[infestedcouncilpresident]

"I got it-" She checked her watch, "...Two and a half hours ago, so. Not really."

2

[heromedal]

Rex is ready to be attacked literally 24/7 most days and a surprised profanity is more than enough for him to enter a battle stance-

which swiftly swaps into a catching stance, just in time.

"Houff!" It doesn't matter how prepared you are, even if you're a giant having someone slingshot themselves at you is still a precarious thing and he wobbled on one leg for a moment before managing to right himself. Hope she enjoys bridal carries.

"Please don't hit me," he said completely deadpan but face clearly braced to receive a fist anyway.

[infestedcouncilpresident]

"OW!"

Kohaku grunted with pain as she got caught and just sat there for a moment, stunned. She'd be expecting to faceplant on the ground and instead was apparently in someone's arms???

"...Please put me down."

[heromedal]

“...oh, yeah.”

He did so delicately, since a drop from the height of his arms is no small one either. First down on one knee, then lowering the arm hooked under her legs so her feet touched the ground and raising the one around her shoulders so she’s righted. He stayed on the knee for a bit- not just because it means they’re roughly the same height when he does but also because he was a little winded.

“Are you okay?”

He said this, still expecting to get socked in the jaw. At least in that posture his nuts were relatively safe.

[infestedcouncilpresident]

Considering it was entirely her fault for landing on the guy, Kohaku magnanimously decided not to punch him, though she did quickly back up once she was on her own feet again to reestablish personal space. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. Sorry I landed on you."

[heromedal]

So kind.

"It's fine. I have had significantly more dangerous things fall from the sky onto me," he said, inscrutably inexpressive. It wasn't even approaching a joke. When she backs off he attempted to stand and lets out a soft 'augh' at having to haul that much weight up, with a soft popping sound of knees. Second time did it, but his back was going to be killing him later.

"Uhm."

He was starting to piece together she may not recall their prior exchange. He'd wanted to apologise for it, but couldn't think of a decent way to do so without appearing to be following her around so. Didn't.

"What were you doing?"

New topic it is.