Scene #2600: White Snow and Black Ice

Owner	Pose
Shizue	Darkness abounds as silvery veils of moonlight spill through the treetops from on high. The barely audible stirrings of a light breeze blows through, carrying the complaints of foliage disturbed across the plains as wing beats rise swiftly after. The sounds of a quiet yard is omnipresent, but somewhere deep in the distance the honking of Japanese automobiles and barking of dogs can be heard. Sheomewhere from deep in the dense tree cover, a white and red whisp - a blur of movement - emerges only to disappear into it again. It comes and goes several times, moving swiftly toward a dimly lit window in the distance... ...and then, with a creaking of window opening, emerges finally into the house proper only to perch at the sil with the moon at its back. A tiny, 15 cm, figure garbed in white and red armor with a kitsune mask guising its face. ....It's quiet...
Fuki	The odd noises never bothered Fuki. She lives with her Master, various Shinki, a Coeurl and a Behemoth and a small farm of chocobo for them to eat. Odd noises are her forte. But tonight, everything is quiet, a peace that Fuki long revels. She's out and about the house, the traditional Japanese styled house replete with the kotatsu and small television, it's almost a wonder what the Shinki does with her paychecks from the Confederacy. The many breakings of her body and research, that's what. "Even Maomao's asleep. This is good." she starts, taking a small scan around the area and, with her stealth systems turned on, she finds a small corner near the computer and unloads her repository of weapons and armor out of her slipway. "Begin nightly maintenance. Year three, month seven." Picking up one of the small blades she has, she looks at it in the moonlight, a soft smile, "You'll see more use soon."
Shizue	Still perching on the sil nearby, the white, doll-like, figure lifts its right hand to grasp at the obscuring mask upon its face. Red optics and a face like stone emerge from the mask, the optics stare blankly into the room in which the figure emerged. It's still deathly quiet, but it moves swiftly from sil to nearby table top and perches there... with metallic crows feet grasping at the edges. "Begin nightly maintenance..." The figures optics trail across the room toward the source of the voice, and its stony mask cracks... "...Sleeping now, sister? I suppose I lost track of time more than I thought I had..." The sound of metallic objects clattering to the table's surface comes, and the brief flash of light that accompanies a slipway asctivation soon after. "Nothing interesting happening tonight... shame."
Fuki	"Not sleeping, weapons maintenance." Fuki states, looking up towards the noises. "It is a shame that Miki is nowhere to be found... Master considered her lost." she looks back down and starts banging a small ball on a stick on one of the kama.. nodding. "Straight as an arrow these blades are. Need to sharpen them a bit more, they've gone dull with the flesh and bone they've been hitting." she shakes her head some, "I do not keep track of time as much as I should, Sister..." Fuki moves onto her pride and joy, the advanced looking scythe in her arsenal. The one with the sleeping eye. A whetstone is produced and it goes about lightly scraping the blade, sharpening it. "Come, join me. We should talk since we have not been... privy to each other in a long while." she lifts her head and gives Shizue a soft, inviting smile. "I don't bite my sisters... unless you're Maomao."
Shizue	A slow blink as Fuki laments the loss of a sister Shizue never really knew, her expression giving off no hint of any sort of stirring in her soul. But a thought emerges, and and as it does her porcelean lips briefly part, "...I'm sure she will return some day, sister." Shizue has heard much of this Miki since her awakening but even now she isn't quite sure how she should feel about it. If she felt like a 'replacement', she gave no indication of it. "...a whetstone could fix that." comes another bland response to the comment about dull blades shortly after as the auburn-haired Mizuki model begins to make her way across the table's surface toward the opposite end of the room. ...And no sooner does she say this, the scraping of metal against stone was already underway. She pauses to stare down at the activity in barely animated fashion. The thought occurs to her, "...But of course, she's already more experienced than me..." The inviting smile and the offer to join her is met with yet still features, yet her optics betray the formulation of an idea in her head that gives way to another crack in her mask... and a smile. "Yes... I will do that..." After but one second, another flash of light is emitted in Shizue's vicinity as a pearlescent katana with black handle and guard materializes. At two seconds, Shizue is lunging through the air swiftly like a ravenous wolf at Fuki... burning red optics reflecting off the steel of her sword briefly as she brings it high... "...But I do...! En Guarde, sister..!"
Fuki	Fuki gives a nod, "Perhaps, but I do not mind it. I've gotten more accomplished without her." she looks up towards the Mizuki, nodding, "Do not think you just a replacement, for you're my sister." that soft smile is there, an odd moment of tenderness from the otherwise bloodthirsty ninja, before she turns back to the blade and stone... scrape... scrape.... Fuki's eyes blink just slightly, something felt... off in her sister's movements, something she's quite used to... and with a quick flash of light, she's equipped in her armor and her scythe is at the ready, her stock scythe. "Already there!" she shouts, surprise attacks were Miki's specialty and something she's learn to detect well from her sister model. "Do not think I will go easy on you just because you're a Mizuki..." In fact, Fuki was hoping she'd go all out. It's been a while since she's had a fight from her own kind, she even turned down the offer to join the Battle Rondo. However, with the Mizuki coming in at a fast pace, she swings her scythe in a downwards diagnoal arc. It was a slow swing, easily dodgeable, but it was a practiced swing, one designed to lob off arms.
Shizue	"Hmph...", Shizue responds to the swift counter-attack with a grunt of expectations fulfilled, andc perhaps a hint of disappointment. Another flash of light, and from out of the slipway come wings of white like those of the mythical angel. Shizue rolls on the air, narrowly avoiding Fuki's swipe bt being sent into a near-uncontrollable tumble as a result. A setback already, but it was better to be delayed than to lose a limb... Master wouldn't like that, especially not given it's his own shinki that did it. Recklessness was not the way of the ninja. ...But neither Fuki nor Shizue really had that part down yet. Shizue rolls to her feet and kneels, sword held at the ready at her side as she stares pointedly at Fuki. "...If you did, I'd never forgive you." Well, maybe not until a few days from now. That's pretty close to never right? ... Yeah, no. Shizue springs to her feet again and darts, three brief flashes of light accompanied swiftly by the sound of lobbed metal piercing the air between them come. Shuriken. "I expect much better of you."
Fuki	Fuki was going a bit easy, after all, she didn't want to actually lob off an arm... Master wouldn't be too happy. She smirks a bit, and the flash of her own slipway erupt her own black wings counter to the Mizuki. "You're fiesty this evening, dissapointed in the lack of action? Come on, best me..." the three lights, yep, Fuki knows these. A quick windburst from the wings and they scatter. "Shuriken are best deployed when you know your opponent has no way to knock them away. Reckless could be a part of Fuki's middle name if she had one, the scythe dissapears in its own flash of light and the kama she's so familiar with for close combat get picked up with a dash towards the Mizuki. "Good, I wouldn't expect you to have remorse." Fuki's eyes squint, the lights shut off and darkness envelops the area... "Welcome to the dark, Sister." the voice seems to be ccoming from everywhere at once, quiet... whisper... icy. With a small tap on the Mizuki's shoulder, Fuki darts off back into the darkness... she's now just toying with her.
Shizue	"...Except when deployed only as a distraction." Shizue replies, almost haughty, but barely restrained. She already knows who is the better fighter here, but she had to get little victories where she could. The Shinki stops, mid-dart, though when the lights go off and pauses instinctively. "Games...?" The tap on the shoulder is noticed, but Shizue keeps a cool head despite - not being one to swing wildly in darkness. Instead, her support systems kick in... and her auditory, heat, and radar sensors kick in. Most of these won't work too well on her opposite model, but it didn't hurt to listen and watch for want of possible mistakes. "...I am the dark." comes the reply, icily as her sister's own. "It will take more than head games to throw me off my game..." ...Another dull flash, a rustling of manufactured feathers comes... and then a clinking sound.... ...Hssssssss.... Soon after the hissing of a smoke grenade comes, as Shizue hovers overhead. "...Fight me!"
Fuki	Fuki smirks... a smoke grenade? In the dark? "Really, sister? A smoke grenade in the dark..." she shakes her head from her hidden position, a small flash from behind and... nothing. "A smoke grenade in the dark is like putting water in a filled tub. Wasteful." The whoosh of wings in the dark is hidden by the fact the smoke grenade is still spewing smoke, "And creating advantages for me, really? Tsk, you need more work." Fuki shakes her head once more, aiming down the barrel of a rifle. With her stealth systems on and the Mizuki's seemingly not on... heat sensors and radar ping... "Duck." and with a click... a rifle bolt shoots out from the corner right at the Mizuki!
Shizue	Shamed. No sooner had Shizue gained a bit of ground with that insight, and she lost it again due to ill-tempered hair-trigger instinct misfires. "...Kuso." She curses briefly in Japanese beneath her breath, before briefly hanging her head in acxknowledgement of her failure. She can't really track Fuki well at all ironically, unfortunately, because of their shared model advantages. Stealth was her own worst enemy right now. But then the voice comes, piercing the darkness, before a brief flash of intense heat explodes onto her radar from a fired rifle. "!!!", and duck she does... just barely in time. The fired munitions round might have missed its mark slightly, but not by much... a large chunk of Shizue's shoulder armor is shredded in the doing! "#$#3318" colorful words fly from her direction, even as she's rising to her feet and darting in the direction of that brief heat signature. She leaps into the air, shortly after, swinging her katana downward in a wide but barely controlled arc. "...No, you!"
Fuki	Fuki shakes her head, the colorful words echo and the shout... that wide arc was also not doing her any good. The flash of her slipway was bright as all of her armor and weaponry gets stored and as the light dissipates, Fuki twirls around and lunges with a kick to hopefully strike home before the blade hits. "Sloppy...." she comments, "Though, Master is to wake up soon and I need to register you with the Confederacy. Now stop this silly nonsense and SIT!"
Shizue	Losing ones head in the heat of battle is never a good idea. Shizue knew this already, yet even so... The kick finds her square in the artificial abdomen, blade stopping just short of its target as the impact registers painfully enough to make her pause. Being an artificial being meant having no wind to knock out, but that didn't mean a roundhouse wasn't still an effective stopping measure! Thud! With a lazy rolling motion, the red-haired Shinki collapses to the floor - her armor dissipating into the Slipway as she concedes the battle. A murmured reply comes shortly, "A thousand years penance must I pay for my failures..." Or a lot of puppy watching and sulking later probably. But that wouldn't be as dramatic, now would it? After a moment or two, she sits up again... leaving her katana on the floor. "Thank you sister, for the amusing diversion."
Fuki	Fuki shakes her head, giving a sigh and looking at her sister as the lights come on. Slowly approaching the red haired sister, she kneels down to rub at the shattered shoulder peice... "Hmm, my aim is off." she muttered, "That shot should have pinned you, but it's okay." she shakes her head once more from the dramatic reply. "A thousand minutes will suffice, Shizue." as Fuki looks around, "You get to clean up the mess you started." and with a sly smile, "After all, you also lost. Now, I need to write up your dossier for the Confederacy, being your superior." a pause and a light mutter.. 'in every way...', "You'll come to like the Confederacy, they treat us well."
Shizue	Shizue sideglances at the muttering, but says nothing. She just continues to sit and stare pensively at the opposite wall. As for cleaning... "...Cleaning is not my forte. But if it would please Master, or avoid his disapproval, then I shall endeavor to do so." And then more sitting, and long quiet staring. She doesn't reply again until several moments after Fuki mentions the Confeeracy again. "...My feelings about my employer due not factor into my loyalties. Only Master's standing matters." She glances at her sister then, "...I shall endeavor not to disappoint you also."
Fuki	Fuki's face grows stern, "My standing is Master's standing. Do not forget this." then the smile comes back, "I'll help, sincce I made some too, it will be fine and perhaps I may let you ride on Keesha later. Now, let's get this cleaned before Master wakes up and has both our chips..."
Shizue	"I will do my utmost to support you, it is what I was made for." comes the even-keeled reply to Fuki's admonition. It needn't be said, really. Shizue knew he depended on them both to look good. "...Yes, Sister.", she replies again to the bed to stand and get to work -- immediately moving to pick of discarded or thrown items, armor pieces, and other things nearby. It would be several long minutes before she says anything again. "...Do you.... have friends...?"
Fuki	Fuki nods and moves off to clean a small area of herself, "I do. Quite a few. I was even up close and personal with the General of the Confederacy. More of a working relationship than friendship but never the less, she was someone ... is someone I look up to." she looks around and nods, "Then there's Taro who I work closely with. A few other Shinki in the Confederacy... and my own personal allies elsewhere." She takes a look at Shizue, "Why do you ask?"
Shizue	"...friends are good to have." comes a succinct reply. Shizue then proceeds to busy herself with straightening things that may have been knocked over, like the curtains and a cup of pencils on the table. This last one is so large and heavy that she visibly struggles with it... ...only to somehow manage to flip it over onto herself with a resounding CLANK! and a rolling of pencils across wood's surface. "...Man created fire ... and he brought light to the earth to fill night's darkness... The man who knows fire... gains a fear of the unknown: ... the dark he forgets." ...And, muffled by the cup, recites a haiku immediately afterward.