929/Sacred Stone and Scarlet Perception

Sacred Stone and Scarlet Perception
Date of Scene:	07 November 2014
Location:	The Eastern Valley
Synopsis:	Raine took exception to Tenshi interrupting his dramatic introduction on the Confederate chatter band. He challenged her to a duel. This is the result.
Cast of Characters:	477, 604

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Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    A grassy mountainside, the sort of hill-strewn meadows one would expect sheep or goats to be raised on, except in this particular field there are no goats and no sheep. Only rocks, strewn about by some ancient glacier or another that has long since receded. There's no audience, no technology for miles, and also conspicuously no Tenshi.

    Just a particularly large pile of stone slabs forming a rather jagged heap. It's large, but pretty sturdy and looks like it's been there for ages.

    Just no mouthy angel!

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     A portal gate opened and out hopped Raine, resident black garbed asshole extraordinaire. He landed upon the grassy terrain and took a cursory glance about. "...Well, how about that." He mumbled to himself, sounding a bit amused. He took a few steps forward, arms crossed behind his head in a lazy fashion.

     "Am I the first here? No way!" He exclaimed in a faux dramatic manner. "Welp! In that case-" The young man plopped right down to the ground, closing his eyes and seemingly beginning to take a nap.

     ...Someone was taking things just a bit too easy.

     "Perhaps it would behoove you to be a bit more prudent about your surroundings, hm?" A female voice spoke up within the vicinity. But there was no one else to be seen other than Raine himself. He opened one eye lazily, and half shrugged from his position. "Eh, whatever. What's the worst that could happen?"

     Famous last words.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    rumble

    Scant moments after Raine started taking it easy, the ground shakes. It's subtle at first but rapidly mounts until the trees themselves are swaying and the roar is impossible to ignore. The pile of stones starts to shift, slabs and boulders grinding against each other as the pile starts to unfurl like a flower made from the very same Earth upon which it blossoms. In the center, hands on her hips, is a certain blue-clad Tennyo, her lips spread into a huge grin, "Heh! Took you long enough!"

    Stepping forward, she leaves her perch. Before she can fall, stone bursts out, forming a step in a flash of dusty powder. Each step she takes, a corresponding step of stone extends out to meet, forming a staircase all the way down to the meadow. However, she doesn't set foot on the grass.

    At the bottom step, Tenshi plants her feet. One hand reaches up, tugging down the brim of her hat, while the other produces a bladeless sword hilt. The blade itself erupts--scarlet flame--and she jams it into the stone at her feet, at an angle. Posed like this, she laughs.

    "Your entrances /suck/! I'm so much cooler than you."

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     And all while Tenshi made her overly grand entrance, Raine opened one eye yet again, watching the stone form up. He then sat up, cross legged to watch the 'show'. "Oooooooh..." He intoned faintly as the Tennyo produced some manner of scarlet flame emitting blade, and thrust it into the ground all haughtily.

     "We were supposed to be comparing entrances?" Asking this, Raine glanced off towards seemingly nowhere, as if the air would give him an answer. After a moment, he looked back to the girl and shrugged. "Welp, since you worked so hard at it..."

     The young man smirked and brought his hands together clapping in a mocking manner. "Good job, Peaches! You got me good! Maybe when this is all over, we can get a drink and you can teach me the finer points of making an epic entrance!" That said, he stood, still clapping mockingly. He produced no weapon however. In fact, he was totally unarmed. What was he going to even fight with?

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    "You make all this bluster!" Tenshi stamps her foot, "And then you just snooze in a field! Man," the girl lifts the Hisou no Tsurugi out of the ground and twirls it, dispersing the blade into scarlet mist until all she's holding is an empty hilt, "Kinda takes the fun out of it, y'know?"

    After a moment, she shrugs, "Eh~!"

    Giving the Hisou no Tsurugi a twirl, she reforms the blade and then uses both hands to thrust it into the ground at her feet. The ground rumbles and, some distance out, jagged slabs of rock erupt out, forming a ring several dozen meters across that encircles both herself and the mouthy explorer. No sooner has the shaking stopped that she wrenches the weapon out with a twirl and then points it straight at him, "So you wanted a fight, right? You're the one that issued the challenge, so you've got it, a battle with a real live Tennyo! The great, magnificent, adorable, and most humble of all the celestials of Bhava-agra, Magical Pretty Angel Girl Hinanai Tenshi!"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "You? /Humble/? That's a load of....ah nevermind." Raine gave up, leaving it alone before he even began. "Well, you know, I was mostly kidding, right?"

     A pause followed that. "Actually, you probably didn't. But hey! This is a good chance to see just what you can do, huh?" Grinning at that, Raine shrugged. "Alright, Fragarach, mind helping me out a little?"

     The air next to Raine shimmered a bit, and then a female figure faded into existence. She wore a short white dress, her skin was pale with blue markings all over, and hair hair was extremely long, waving about unnaturally. Her eyes were a deep blue, and her sclera were pitch black. A long tail could be seen behind her. She did not make landfall however. She floated in the air rather casually.

     "...And here I must assist you after you run your mouth yet again..." The girl, Fragarach, laid her eyes upon Tenshi. Then she shook her head and closed her eyes. Her body took on a bright glow, and then in a flash, she disappeared, replaced by a rather large sword which Raine took hold of.

     "So yeah, here we are. Time to have ourselves a party! Show me what you can do, Peaches!" He took a ready stance, awaiting her first move.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    "Doesn't matter!" is Tenshi's immediate reply when asked if she knew he was kidding, "In Gensokyo, we fight all the time, for fun or whatever." The Hisou no Tsurugi's blade disperses again and she lets it dangle by a strap from her wrist, resting that hand on her hip, "That's the devil girl from your video--Ah!"

    Lifting a hand, she points, "The girl is a sword, creative! But it's not gonna make me go easy on you, y'know!"

    Lifting both hands, she pushes them down and then wrenches them up, clenching her fingers together. From the ground around her, half a dozen stones wrapped in braided Shimenawa ropes erupt and begin to orbit around her. Following this, Tenshi lifts off, floating up from the stone she's standing on, "Time to educate you, boy, in the ancient art of Danmaku!" Drawing one hand back, she pushes the other forward. In that gesture, all six keystones shoot forward in a spread, then suddenly bend inward towards where Raine is standing, "The point is to dodge it!"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Danmak--what--WHOA!"

     Raine had been too busy watching the stones appear that he was rather caught off guard as they shot straight towards him. "Holy crap-!" Thinking quick, he ducked low, barely in time as a number of the flying rocks scraped past his back. "Ow ow ow ow!" Complaining, the young man brought his sword out and it became cloaked in an aura of red magic energy.

     "Okay, so Danmaku, right? You mean something like /this/?" Following that, he swung forward, causing a single beam of energy to fire towards Tenshi. ...It was simple. Too simple to be called Danmaku.

     Someone had a ways to go yet.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    "Nope!" Tenshi floats higher, the beam singing past the lower hem of her dress, between her feet, "You're so simple!" A new keystone floats up and she lifts it. Crimson light pulses across the surface, then shoots off in every direction in the form of thin crimson bolts, "Single shots, come on! What are you, a fairy?"

    Those bolts cluster up above and behind the girl, expanding into glowing crimson spheres. It forms a wall of scarlet light, framing the floating angel, "In English the term is 'Curtain Fire'! I heard someone say that there's no such thing as 'Too Much Dakka', once, but I'm pretty sure this proves 'em wrong!"

    One by one, each sphere bursts, sending out clusters of keystones in every direction, filling the sky with a rain of stone.

    "Dodge 'em!"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "A fairy? A FAIRY?" Raine reeled back in dramatic horror at that. Fragarach chuckled in his hand, and he glared down at the sword. "Quiet you! Alright, time to turns thing up a notch!" And then he nodded to himself and looked back up to Tenshi.

     Rocks.

     Rocks everywhere.

     "HOW IS THIS NOT CHEATING?" Complaining, Raine crouched low, and then jumped. One by one, and in rapid succession, he began to use the falling rocks as stepping stones. It wasn't easy. He got hit more than a few times, having to correct his path of ascent.

     Interestingly, he deflected a few rocks with Fragarach. And each rock the blade touched, it took on a brownish, yellow glow "Haaaaaaaaaaaah! Here I come, Peaches! Try this!" Finally reaching her, the young man reared back with his blade, and then swung downwards. What followed was a spray of rocks and earth magic. An erratic array of 'bullets' without any sort of design of thought behind them.

     If Tenshi would look, she'd notice that some of the rocks had makeshift ropes tied around them. Like a cheap copy of her own display. Fragarach lost it's earthy glow soon after that attack.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    "That's right, a fairy!" Tenshi teases as her spell rains stones down on the field. The sudden spray of bullets and shards in her direction prompts a defense, however, and she wrenches a slab out of the ground to act as a shield. It shatters under the onslaught, leaving the girl surrounded by rock chips. However, the crimson spheres floating behind her suddenly disperse.

    Tenshi grins, "Now you're getting it! Though you're still just a fairy with danmaku that simple. Let's try something more advanced!"

    This time, she whips up her sword. The blade erupts into a positively enormous crimson shape, bent halfway up. Slinging the hilt, the blade flips off and spins its way down across the sky.

    Flipping the hilt back, she laughs. That blade reaches an apex and then twirls its way back to her. It's a giant freakin' laser boomerang.

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Oh come on!" Raine yelled out comically as his basic assault was defended against rather easily. Out of ideas for the moment, he watched as he prepared her next danmaku attack. Upon seeing the results, his jaw dropped slightly. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

     A giant laser boomerang.

     How in the world?

     "Fragarach, can we absorb that?" He asked his sword, eyes following the boomerang's flight path. A voice echoed from his sword moments after.

     "Yes, but you will need to put yourself in danger to do it. The sheer size of it means that you will inevitably wind up taking damage." Hearing that assessment, Raine went quiet, thinking for a second or two. "....Well, you know what they say; Fortune favors the bold! Let's do it!" He glanced at Tenshi and gave her a two fingered salute. "Excuse me. I'm gonna go borrow that thing you just threw real quick." And then he turned and ran off, straight in the path of the flying laser boomerang.

     Waiting for it, he brought Fragarach up and the force collided with him. The sheer, massive amounts of energy washed over him, burning his clothes in places. "Ergh....!" Knees buckling, Raine forced himself to stay standing as Fragach took on a brilliant red glow. The glow eventually got so overwhelming that the sword turned into vaguely sword shaped mass of glowing crimson.

     With the worst of it passed, the young man grinned and turned around where he stood, looking at the Tennyo. ".....Time to return the favor!" With the crimson blade held upwards, he focused, and it began to extend...and extend....and extend. Till it took on the form of a massive, red, pillar of energy. Energy borrowed from Tenshi.

     "Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!" And with all his might, Raine swung the blade down into the ground. As it arced it's way to the ground, the descending pillar of energy left a trail of smaller red bullets in it's wake that quickly began to gravitate towards the girl, swerving inwards towards her position.

     And once the blade hit the ground, the large majority of the energy borrowed from her dissipated, returning Fragarach to her original weapon form.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    When boomerang strikes blade, Tenshi leans forward more with interest than anything else, "Hmm! What's he doing now?" A transferrence of energy from the loosed blade of the Hisou no Tsurugi into Fragarach. Those red eyes widen with a "Oooh~! You can absorb magic?" That blade is hurled back in her direction and the girl pushes her hands out. A keystone rises up defensively, only to be cleaved in half. The blade itself strikes her, swatting her out of the sky and into the ground in a pillar of dust and smoke.

    Trailing bullets follow, hammering her landing site even as the girl rises to her feet. She's tattered and dirty and bleeding and ... laughing. Rising to her full height, she places a hand on her face, still laughing, "Good one! Caught me totally off guard! Maybe you're not such a fairy after all, huh?"

    Lowering that hand, she lifts the other, wrenching a keystone out of the earth in front of her. A ring of scarlet light forms around it, created by spheres of light. Once the ring is completed, those spheres lance forward in a spread of lasers, firing in the same sequence they appeared.

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Ahahaha...hahaha...ha....oh christ-"

     BOOM.

     Raine had no time to savor the compliment as a ring of lasers hammered into him and sent him flying. "Daaaaamn iiiiiiit--!" Fwump. He handed into a patch of grass, kicking up a cloud of dirt and rock. Silence followed for a few seconds. And then... ".....Ow." He groaned from where he lay. Sighing to himself, Raine sat back up, looking dirtied and bloodied, but otherwise, still quite alive.

     "Okay, okay. I'm totally not that great at this Danmaku thing /at all/." And then he stood up, using Fragach for support and chuckling all the while. "...But it's kind of fun. It seems more...expressive than just a regular old duel." Rolling his neck, and then his shoulders, Raine lifted his weapon, testing it's weight. Once his spot check was over, he nodded to himself.

     "Let me try something without stealing from you then." Smirking, he took a stance with his blade held slightly downward. And then he thrust it into the ground. ...Nothing happened. At first anyway.

     But then the ground beneath Tenshi began to rumble, and soon, several featureless energy pillars erupted upwards, one after the other in a circular formation. Once the circle was completed, a final pillar erupted in the center, followed by a spout of non-elemental bullets. Like a volcanic eruption...except lesser in scale.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    "Hah!" That final burst of energy envelops Tenshi in a flare of billowing skirts, hair, and light. There's a flash of crimson within that energy light, though, and she explodes from the side trailing bullets and wisps of smoke from singed clothes. In her hand is the Hisou no Tsurugi, its blade of crimson flames ignited.

    "You got a sword, right?!"

    No, she's not uninjured. But being a Tennyo the girl's pretty tough. And there's something about getting beaten up that she seems to get a kick out of. Surging closer, she brings the blade down, flips her body around, and slams her boots into the meadow behind Raine, skidding to a halt and sweeping her sword to one side, a grin on her dirty face.

    "Let's try that now!"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Hah? Well of course I've got a swo-WHOA"

     Digging his feet into the ground at Tenshi's sudden approach, Raine brought Fragarach up in a defensive position, clashing with Hisou no Tsurugi. The crimson blade pushed back against the magic absorbing weapon, forcing Raine to step back. "Guh...Where the hell are you getting this strength from? You've got noodle arms!"

     Gritting his teeth, he stomped into the ground, and began to push back. As he did so, Fragarach began to change form again, continually absorbing energy from Tenshi's weapon. It begam a shimmering mass of red again.

     Not willing to risk reprisal at this juncture, Raine maintained the deadlock, though he had a feeling he wasn't going to win this one as it stood. This girl had some freakish power behind her blows as far as he could tell.

     "Looks like someone's been eating their peaches every morning, huh? Care to share the wealth sometime?" And despite everything, Raine grinned as he made conversation amid the deadlock.

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    "Sounds like you missed the part where I'm an angel from Heaven!" Tenshi grins around the crackling crimson of the two blades clashing. Leaning into it, she laughs, "As for my peaches, don't make me laugh! Heaven's peaches aren't for mortals!" Releasing one hand from the hilt of the Hisou no Tsurugi, she raises it, "Besides--"

    A single finger is extended upward, "You're getting plenty of energy from the Sword of Scarlet Perceptions as it is!" The ground rumbles in response, then erupts out from her in rings of jagged stone. This is, however, just a distraction. Enough that she can draw the flame-bladed sword back and them thrust it forward in a stabbing motion that does not actually cause a wound.

    No it just hurts. A lot. And if she gets purchase, Tenshi wrenches the sword back out, drawing a plume of crimson mist that disperses towards the sky, all with a laugh, "So let me show you what it can REALLY do!"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "Aw, don't be a cheapskate!" Raine replied in turn regarding the subject of peaches. Kind of working against him, the idle chatter distracted him into being fooled by the flying stone. He disengaged, about to retreat, but instead, he found a sword jammed into his side. "....!?"

     A sharp feeling of pain exploded out from his side and he immediately fell to a knee. "Guh...!" Clutching his side, he felt....no blood? Huh? Wait, what just happened!? Gritting his teeth, he glared at Tenshi, and then upwards as crimson mist dispersed upwards into the sky. "What it...can really do? Damn it, ow...!" Raine grumbled, watching warily as a mist began to settle into the area. It grew to be about to knee high length, dimming the area some.

     Confused at this, Raine wobbled to his feet, still clutching his side. "What just happened? The weather...changed?" A moment to let the cogs turn. "....Wait, is that it?"

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    Tenshi whips the Hisou no Tsurugi back, then twirls the weapon and plants the flaming blade into the earth at her feet. Resting her hands on the hilt, the girl grins, "Cool, huh?"

    Lifting a hand, eyes towards the sky, "I use the Sword of Scarlet Perceptions to pull out a piece of your spirit." A finger extends, "And then I use my spell card, Temperament Manifestation, to convert that spiritual mist into weather reflecting your true nature."

    The blade's flame extinguishes and Tenshi suddenly flops back. With a rumble, stone erupts behind her, forming a chair for the girl to land on with a "Whew~!" One foot kicks up, folding over the opposite knee. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Raine Arland (604) has posed:
     "....My true nature, huh..."

     Raine took a deep breath, and then took a cursory glance about the area, taking in the sight of the mist. ...This was his true nature? What was this supposed to mean? ...He didn't like it. He didn't know what exactly this was supposed to be telling him, or Tenshi, but he instinctively didn't like it.

     So much so that his usual idiotic demeanor seemed to edge out into something rather cold. "...Fascinating." And then with a shake of his head, Raine donned another idiotic grin, and raised Fragarach. The sword floated into the air, and in a flash of light, she returned to human(oid) form. As a result of the continual absorbtion of energy, she was currently surrounded by an aura of shimmering crimson.

     The girl closed her eyes and the aura gradually vanished. Having been drawn inwards. "That was an intriguing display of ability, Miss Hinanai." That said, Fragarach opened her eyes, crossed her arms, and assumed a sitting position in mid-air. "I think I would like to try this...Danmaku, for myself some time."

     Raine shrugged after that. "Hell, she'd be better at it than I was. That's for sure!" And recovering swiftly, the young man donned a grin and held out a hand towards Tenshi. "Okay, I admit, you've got some cool powers. I'm glad I'm not on the side that's against you. Now what do you say we get back, you share your secrets to the art of epic entrances, and I try to recover from the fact that my spirit was stabbed?"

Tenshi Hinanai (477) has posed:
    The girl shrugs, "It's all tennyo spiritual riddle bullshit." Gesturing to the mist, she adds, "I mean, I don't even know what this means. But it sounds cool when I talk all mysterious about it and that drives heroes /nuts/." Tenshi laughs, propping her chin up on one hand using the armrest of her makeshift throne, "Girls are usually better at it anyway, everyone who fights in Gensokyo is a girl. The only guy I've seen actually using danmaku was a cloud."

    Kicking her foot up, Tenshi rises to her feet, the bladeless Hisou no Tsurugi hanging by its strap when she holds out her hands to either side, "Epic entrances are just part of being a supervillain. It's instinct! And having cool powers." She then claps her hand into Raine's, "But just so you know, calling me Peaches doesn't actually bother me." Handshake! "Also that'll stop hurting in a bit."