2137/Sparring: Fayt Vs Xiaomu

Sparring: Fayt Vs Xiaomu
Date of Scene:	01 May 2015
Location:	Njorun Station - Ring of Philosophy
Synopsis:	Fayt An Xiaomu have a quick sparring match.
Cast of Characters:	319, 707

---

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Like he said he would, Fayt waits for Xiaomu at the ring of philosophy. He's actually standing in hte middle of the ring, holding his staff out in front of himself and looking perhaps just a bit nervous.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
By contrast, Xiaomu looks pretty well relaxed on her way into the Ring of Philosophy, the rings attached to her staff's headpiece jingling quietly every time the bottom end strikes the ground with her walking. "Hey Fayt," she calls out, waving to the trader-mage; she actually sets her staff aside before climbing into the ring itself, loosening up a bit as she goes. "So, wanna put any stakes on this? Make it a little more interesting?" she offers.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt waves back to Xiaomu as she calls out. "Hey." As Xiaomu mentiones stakes, his head slowly tilts ot the side. "Stakes?" his head tilts form side to side as he considers this. "What did you have in mind exactly?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Well, the odds are probably in my favor unless you really surprise me," Xiaomu admits with a lazy grin. "So I'm thinking ... if you manage to put me on the mats, I have to pay for the most expensive shipping option on my next order from you, or something."

She shifts into what presumably is a combat ready stance; if Fayt knows his martial arts, he might be able to tell that Xiaomu's a practitioner of Shaolin kung fu, or something similar.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
Fayt nods slowly. "I guess i'm ok with that, but if I lose?" AS xiaomu takes up a stance, Fayt does one of one of his own, though it's weird, He holds his Staff out in front of him, pointing at xiaomu but his stance has him leaning back slightly, more like he's about to retreat than attack.

    Then again, he is a mage. It'd make more sense that he'd want to keep his distence rather than closing in.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu shrugs, "If you lose? I wasn't gonna make you stake anything, but if you really want to ... hmmm." She ponders briefly, then shrugs. "If you come up with something you want to stake, lemme know. Like I said, though, I wasn't going to insist on it."

She considers Fayt's stance ... then bolts in, trying to wrest the staff out of Fayt's hands.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "GAH!"

    Fayt jerks his staff away, holdinging it close to his body, though there's a good chance Xiaomu is faster than him, and stronger, Fayt has a mages strength, which is to say none at all.

    He is however, a quick spell caster, either she grabs hold of it or not Fayt is quick to utter two simple words. "Force wave."

    A shockwave suddenly fires from Fayt's staff, fanning out to cover a large area in front of the tiny trader and hopefully force Xiaomu to back off in the process.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Oof - !" Xiaomu backpedals swiftly to keep her balance in the face of the force wave smacking into her, grinning despite the impact; Fayt's grip on his staff is protected for now, it appears.

The sage fox's grin widens, and she gives Fayt a quick thumbs-up. "Good one!" she calls out, taking another look over Fayt's stance, recalling what she can of the spells she's seen or heard him use. "You ever think about making or getting something smaller for a focus? Just as a back-up for if you lose your staff, or can't bring it somewhere ..."

She bounces on the balls of her feet briefly (despite still having her sandals on), then dashes to her left, apparently trying to circle around and close in behind Fayt.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "I can cast spells without it, I was doing that for awhile before I made this thing." As Xiaomu dashes around, Fayt turns to try and keep facing her, backing away as he moves. He also points his staff towards Xiaomu and says calmly. "Force bolt."

    This time, a single bolt of energy fires from the staff, quickly flying towards The speedy foxgirl.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu lets out another yelp - audibly pained, if not too deeply, by the impact - and stumbles a bit. "Good, good ..." She pauses, thinking back. "You've got other variants on the force bolt spell, right? Like, a barrage swarm?"

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt responds by way of casting another spell. "force bolt." Sending another bolt of energy at Xiaomu as he keeps backing away from her. He then says soemthing else however. "Split."

    Suddenly, the one force bolt splits into several, Xiaomu now has five of them headed her way! apparently, that was his way of saying 'yes'.

    At the same time however, something odd happens. There's an odd eletric buzzing noise as what looks like multicolored electricty starts to dance around Fayt's head, not a lot, just enough to be noticable. Weird.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Kya!!" Xiaomu can't move fast enough to get out of the way of all five of those force bolts; two of them converge on her simultaneously, leaving her teetering - and a third one smacks into her, knocking her over.

She PROBABLY could have done better at dodging, really - she wove through Lily White's rites of spring without spilling anything, after all - but then again, she also wasn't taking Fayt QUITE as seriously as she probably should have ... and she knows it, to judge by the rueful grin on her face. "So, most expensive shipping option next time I place an order through Black Dragon," she says as she gets back to her feet. "You feeling okay there, Fayt? Looks like you're sprouting a halo or something there ..."

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "Halo?" his eyes roll back for a moment, as he apparently tries to look up at his own head, frowning. "Um... d-don't worry about that!" He even waves his arms about frantically for a few mometns. "I'm alright, really! Anyway, are you alright over there?" He actually approaches Xiaomu now to check on her.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
The sage fox waves a hand, "Yeah, I'm fine, I've gotten knocked around worse than that during DDR night at Shinra headquarters."

And then she lunges again, twisting around on the approach as she makes another attempt to wrest Fayt's staff away from him. It doesn't even seem to cross her mind that this might be a tactically bad move.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    There's a surprised yelp from Fayt as Xiaomu actually grabs the staff. "H-hey! Force bolt!" a single shot goes flying off in a random direction... "Turn!" Then quickly curve around to head towards Xiaomu. There's another buzz as the electricy around his head gets a little worse..

    Fayt aslly franticly tres to pulls his staff away from Xiaomu. Unfortunatly Fayt has almost no physical strength to speak off, so he's unlikely to get ti away from Xiaomu unless she backs off quickly.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Fortunately for Fayt's grip on his staff, the turning force bolt pegs Xiaomu before she can actually yank the staff out of his hands. She's giving that 'halo' of chaos energy a more worried look at this point, though.

"Hey, Fayt? Serious question here ... is there a way you can use that discharge," she gestures near her own head, "against an opponent? Or is it too unpredictable for you to do anything that deliberate with it?"

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "If I can, I haven't figured it out yet." Fayt replies, as he QUICKLY backs away from Xiaomu. We don't want to fox near us, no we don't. He also however, quickly takes aim again as he puts some distence between them, sending another shot Xiaomu's way. "Force bolt."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
From this distance, Xiaomu just drops into a low crouch; hopefully that's enough to let the bolt pass over her without harm. "We probably ought to lay off before that goes critical though, shouldn't we?" she points out ...

Then reverses her crouch - or more specifically, plants her hands on the mats and swings her body forward, reaching out with her legs to try and entangle and trip Fayt.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt frowns as the bolt sails over Xiaomu, "Turn." There's another buzz and more electricy as he turns the bolt back towards her. Unfortunatly, she charges at him putting distence betwen her and the bolt. He brings up his staff to defend but he's too slow, there's a yelp as Xiaomu trips Fayt, dropping him to the ground with a dull thud.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Yeoooooooooowwwwwwww .... !"

Thanks to her maneuver plus Fayt making the bolt turn back to home in on her, Xiaomu winds up tanking the force bolt with her head - and she's got more sensitive appendages up there than most humans do: her ears are a much bigger target than a human's ears, for one thing. And then there's her tails.

She's not about to let Fayt up, though - even if the way she's tangling up with him also means she doesn't have an easy way to grab for his staff.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Not good, not good, not good!

    Xiaomu is pactically on top of Fayt, and with the way things are now, he can't simply throw out a shock wave, not without possibly hurting himself in the process at least. Frantically, he pulls away from Xiaomu, trying to break free of her while also bringing his staff around to try and get a clear shot.

    Xiaomu's likey a good deal stronger than him, this might prove more than a little difficult for Fayt.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Strength is one thing, leverage is another. And Xiaomu isn't so desperate to 'beat' Fayt that she's going to stay on top of him for long - she lets the mage break free after a couple of seconds. "Gotta say, you're not bad in a one-on-one fight," she grins at Fayt. "What did you need to work on, specifically? Or was this just general 'staying in practice'?"

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt quickly scurries away as Xiaomu lets him go, scrambling to his feet as he tries to get some distence between them again. "Um.. t-thank you?" He's carefully watching Xiaomu now. "Hmm? Mostly this was just me trying to stay in practice, why?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Just wondering," answers Xiaomu, getting to her feet at a more relaxed pace. "As near as I can tell, you've got a set of basic principles down that *works* for what you can do. You're not really a trained martial artist, but you know your strengths and your weaknesses and you account for them."

She pauses, considering briefly. "You might want to study staff combat techniques, though - be able to use that staff like a quarterstaff, to defend yourself without having to toss spells around. I don't know if you're limited on magical reserves or anything, but -"

She indicates the 'static electricity around Fayt's head. "- that can't be good."

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Fayt nods slowy as he carefully appraoches Xiaomu again. "Well, I only have so much mana to thrwo around at any given time... I guess I could study fighting with a staff, but I don't really have the strength for it."

    He freezes in place for a moment as xiaomu motions towards him, eyes rolling back as he looks up at the electricty around his head, and quickly lowers his head. "ERM... r-right, sorry about that."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Only way you're going to develop that strength is by working at it, Fayt," Xiaomu replies with a mostly-patient tone. "I had to train into it too, so I know what I'm talking about."

And on that note, she goes to retrieve her staff. "Wanna put in a bit of work," she asks, "or would you rather leave things at that for now?"

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "Well... you have a point I guess... but It's a little late now so... erm..." He figits on the spot, seeming uneasy. carefully watching Xiaomu. She brings up some good points, but well... Fayt's Fayt, he can be REALLY bad about seeking help, even if it is obvious he needs it.

    He watches Xiaomu for several moments, then. "H-how about we spar again sometime soon. I win? You take the most expensive shipping option on your next order. You win..." There's a long awkward pasue as he figits in place. "I'll train to improve whatever you tell me to. My strength, the surge." he points to the static around his head. "You name it, I'll deal with it, no arguing, alright?" He carefuly watches Xiaomu to see how she responds.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu raises her eyebrows. "You should train because you want to get better, not because you lost a bet," she points out. "But if that's what it's gonna take, then I won't hold back next time." Cue a biiiiiiiig cheery grin from the Chinese sage fox.

Yeah, Fayt may well be doomed now.