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Kushiko Given that the purpose to this little discussion and demonstration is to serve the point of her blades and various forms of melee to support one another, the current Warframe of Kushiko's that's here is in fact, Valkyr--she has plans for others as demonstration, but for now, this will do. The felinoid berserker is actually sitting seiza--crosslegged and hands resting on her knees. And a few feet above the ground. Meditative position for sure, but all the more mystical for it.

The surroundings themselves are interesting: a fairly flat surface with numerous pillars, and most of it looks like it was hewn out of data itself somehow, with nearby terminals and the like for further modification and resupply, as it were--the nominal blackness that would ripple in the 'sky' is replaced by what looks to be clouds and oceanic currents all at once. Not that they'll have any effect on the terrain here, but it's definitely not a normal sky she's picked.

Must be a reason for it, right? Familiarity--which begs other questions...
Lemeza Kosugi Perfect. The Warframe's here, presumably equipped with all manner of blade, and the scene is set. Lemeza himself is kitted out rather lightly as usual: whip and revolver for weapons loadout, and unarmored save for a medium-sized golden shield. He takes a moment to admire the scenery Kushiko -- or her Warframe? -- picked, pausing to consider what it might be, before turning to his sparring partner this evening. "All right. So, melee combat and relics. Am I to assume the arena you've prepared is suitable for demonstrating both?"
Kushiko One good thing about being here: depending on preference, it would be /super/ easy to swap weapons--and Warframes, but that'll do for explanations as they talk--right now, not /as/ important. Not just yet. She unfolds her legs, coming to a stand, nodding once. <"Both, though truly cracking a relic as it were, is not something we can do here."> her ephemeral, nigh disembodied voice offers. It's /obvious/ it's from her, now that one isn't say, hundreds of meters below ground on an island with a giant robot.

But it's definitely not a voice the Warframe itself is making.

<"We can simulate a number of regular opponents, or simply spar with you ourselves,"> she continues, the Warframe itself flexing her clawtipped fingers ever so slightly, before gesturing with a hand. <"Relics themselves are... interesting, to put it mildly."> the feminine voice offers--young? Definitely young, resonance aside. From her hand an odd-looking thing comes together: it resembles some kind of hard, spherical casing, elegant patterning detailing it but some kind of encrusting material, like it was pulled free out of some sight. It's about the size of a grapefruit, cradled in her hand.

She would smile, if she could, at least visibly; <"Though we think we should clear up a few things regarding what we are, yes.">
Lemeza Kosugi Oh cool. Just what he needed, a distraction on Concord radio frequencies. That impudent moron Mitsu decided it would be a good idea to taunt an entire rival faction BEFORE trying to recruit backup from her allies, and seems to think everything's okay! And--CHICKEN?! That is not a word that ever describes Lemeza accurately! "Wow okay. If we weren't about to spar, I'd be joining her just to watch. Anyway." He turns to the far more sane Valkyr addressing him. "In regards to relics, I'll be content with a facsimile. That sort of thing you really can't figure out for certain until you're in the field."

With that, he starts warming up, stretching his arms and legs out. "I honestly want to see just how well I can stand up to the warriors of the Multiverse. I figure, if I can keep up with you, then fiends of aeons past should be no issue, yeah?" A few practice swings with the whip. "Though I don't see anything too special about the relic just yet... it's just gold or bronze with intricate patterns. Does this open?" And, ah yes, there's that Warframe proxy weirdness he for some reason didn't think unusual enough to ask about. "What do you mean, 'regarding what you are'?"
Kushiko For what it's worth, Kushiko is extremely sympathetic. She's not one to actually say it, but Mitsu Mirage reminds her--very unfortunately--of someone else who puts so much into their 'brand' as it were. And reckless besides. Ah, she and Maroo would get along a great deal. Maroo would probably grind the /crap/ outta Lemeza's gears given statues and other things she hunts after. Oh geez. Ahem.

Closing her hand with a slight nod as hte relic is stored back in her personal space, as Valkyr shifts her weight slightly. From her shoulder, an emitter brightens, and projects a rectangular light panel: from it, one can see the actual origin of the voice, Kushiko herself is visible--she can't be older than 14, with some bizarre, blackened burn scarring around her right eye. Coupled with a few pieces of metal--small and smooth at least--grafted into what remains of her eyebrows and on her forehead. There's an eerie quality to it, not something to be pitied, yet the mind would probably wonder what the hell happened. Darkened purple hair besides, she smiles.

<"Yes. You referred to us as Warframe, which is both truth and not the truth. The figure you see here is Valkyr, one of my Warframes. We--/I/--am Kushiko, and the name for us as a whole are Tenno."> Which has connotations given the language callbacks to ancient Earth--Lemeza's current Earth aspect. Even as she explains, the way she glances or seems to move from what looks to be a seat from the projection, Valkyr occasionally mirrors the motions of her head. Only slightly.

To answer his other questions, she nods, <"They're fragments of the past--relics that is. The Void that gives Tenno like me our power sometimes manifests as fissures, rips in space-time. Brings things from the past forward. There's an energy, a reactant that exposing these relics to causes them not so much to 'open' but..."> She hmms slightly, trying to recall a certain someone's words. <"They say the contents of a relic are simultaneously this thing, or this thing, or this thing, but also that thing and certainly never just one thing. Once it's exposed to a Void Fissure, at that point, all the possibilities collapse, each one falling away until the Relic cracks open and exposes one, singular thing.">

That should do for explanations, the Tenno giving a slight nod. <"If you have any more questions, now's the time, otherwise I think now is a good time to test your ability as you ask.">
Lemeza Kosugi Void... like back in Creation? That sounds dangerous--oh, no, this Void isn't actually empty destruction. It's merely a distortion in space-time, and that's something that Lemeza can wrap his head around. The relic explanation also hits home perfectly. "Schrödinger's relic. It is simultaneously many things until properly observed. Although, I think the proper term in my world is 'quantum uncertainty'. And the Void Fissure is what has to 'observe' it in order to collapse the probability wave." Lemeza laughs. "Never thought I'd actually use that bit of knowledge in my line of work, though!"

Kushiko herself looks rather young, though, if in rather good shape. Hrm. "Do you Tenno have a long history of war, then? You can't be older than, what, 14? 15?" Lemeza does keep in consideration that this is technically an alien race. "Though you definitely seem to know what you're doing, at least. And... yeah, I think that'll just about do it for discussion for now -- I can ask later about specifics when one of those fissures opens. For now, let's spar!" He bounces back and forth from foot to foot, whip at the ready, waiting for Valkyr to make its first move.
Kushiko Void is... actually anathemic to all forms of life, including inorganic, not that this question has actually been /breached/, but as Kushiko is practically part of the Void herself and /needs/ this Warframe to even interact or control her power, well...

A faint smile, <"Hard to say. The long and short of it is that we were needed to fight another. Most of us simply don't remember /how/ much time there was, how long the Great War was. Only that at the end of it, we went to sleep, and the Orokin Empire collapsed."> For their betrayal, she leaves unspoken. <"But you're quite right. The Void is what's made us, and the Void is what you face here."> Ah. That might give Lemeza a dawning realization that the Void is much more than what it seems--if one had a reference point, they might well compare it to the Warp and Creation's own Void. If in different ways.

As to a first move, she crosses her forearms together as twin claws suddenly make a *snkt* noise, extending as she unfolds her arms and suddenly /lunges/ forward in a short leap, only to throw out one of her clawed hands, sending a grappling cord of light towards Lemeza, to grab him by that whipwielding wrist and yank him forward suddenly, swapping her style of attack with the feint of her first lunging attack.
Lemeza Kosugi Iiiiiinteresting. So he gets to face this thing called the Void, after all. Doesn't seem so bad. Especially since Valkyr's first attack is a simple claw lunge. Should probably just step out of the way of this one -- wait, why is he suddenly being yanked /toward/ his opponent?! He does react enough to try to turn the momentum to his advantage, though; he brings his shield up in a good position to guard his head and torso against a followup claw swipe, and pushes off with his legs to launch himself even /harder/ into Valkyr. With any luck, he'll take the both of them off balance.
Kushiko Indeed, Lemeza does--admittedly 'Void' being what fuels that power she just used to do a smashing impression of a certain fighter from a certain world of kombat, and if her Warframe could grin, certainly it would at watching--seeing that little shift and balance of weight. A smart move--to use her attack against him, but that goes both ways, of course.

She makes a short hop to catch both feet and claws against the shield so she can roll with the sudden increase in momentum--catching her with the impact, certainly, but she's putting her weight on it to ride and pull it down, intent on pulling him with her so she can basically /kick/ him upward, using his own shield to launch him skywards.

Should he let go of the shield, she'll /probably/ do her best to simply roll backwards from landing on the ground to kip up to facing him once more.
Lemeza Kosugi Hrm. Valkyr's just rolling backwards with it. Lemeza's lunge isn't really doing any damage - he didn't expect it to - but he /did/ expect a counterattack. In fact, as his brain finally catches up to what Valkyr's doing, he's counting on it. The opportunity was not one he foresaw, but it's one he's taking nonetheless.

Lemeza does not take any immediate action, allowing himself to be pulled along with the roll. Valkyr thusly launches him pretty far up in the air. Sure would suck if he landed on the ground, eh? Fortunately for him, there's a nearby pillar he can work with. He switches from his whip to his grapple claw and jams the claw into said pillar, letting him hang out for a good while. Once he's secured himself, he switches from his shield to his revolver... and just fires a single shot directly at Valkyr. No tricks, no stunts. Just one round, to see how she reacts.
Kushiko It's a test, in it's own way--and really, she's feeling out Lemeza's own inclinations, his own predelictions with what and how he reacts. In fact, it's something she's utterly pleased to see, at least from evaluating a combatant perspective--that's thinking on one's feet. And because of that, that rapidly causes Kushiko to ratchet up her own plans of attack.

As to the bullet itself, she simply weaves her claw forward and /slices/ through it in one elegant move, nothing wasted. A shard glances uselessly off the surprisingly well armored hide of Valkyr. She suddenly sprints forward--much faster than seen before, rapidly scaling the pillar, only to launch to another, her body spiralling like a bullet, only to rebound off that after momentarily clinging to it and seemingly making a single-clawed lunge at Lemeza at high speeds!
Lemeza Kosugi Ah. That bullet was well spent, even if it got rendered utterly useless in the end. While Septette could merely track Lemeza's shots as they connected, it would seem Valkyr can actually intercept them with the effectiveness he expected. Good, good.

And then that speed turns into Valkyr chasing him up the pillar! Oh man. Lemeza's gotta move. The battlefield happens to benefit both combatants here, at least, as Lemeza promptly launches off the pillar he's on toward another one, then another, clinging to each pillar in turn. He's not fast enough to keep this up, though, and he knows this; once Valkyr catches up to him and makes her lunge at him, he simply lets go and starts falling to the ground. Valkyr's claw clips his arm as he drops, drawing blood, but the landing's simple enough - one short hop in midair right before touching down and he resets his momentum, landing safely on the ground.

He puts away his whip after that -- there's no way he's matching Valkyr's demonstrated speed in close quarters -- and shifts to carrying shield and revolver. He's gotta slow the battle down somehow... he starts scouting the pillars for any structural weaknesses, keeping one eye on the rampaging Tenno as he does so.
Kushiko Slowing down the fight against Valkyr, hell against /any/ Tenno is usually not a bad idea. The problem is, that can sometimes go both ways. She makes no sound--the actual organics, the 'body' that is the systemic infrastructure simply will not. A momentary cling, hauling herself rapidly up to the top, and then using that same grappling line of hers to launch herself up and over towards another--sailing herself over where Lemeza is actually positioned at, but instead of those claws?

...she's got a bow out. An elegant, technologically-enhanced looking bow, one that she has the string drawn on, a thread of light that she lets go, the bow sending out a half-dozen arrows as she keeps hurtling towards a pillar on the other side to stop her momentum. Might be as an opportunity there.
Lemeza Kosugi Shit. This isn't looking good. Lemeza figures, he's got two options. One, keep dodging until an opening arises. Two, take an attack on the chin so that he actually has time to fire off an attack of his own. Well, his little pillar ping-pong has left him rather exhausted, so option two it is! When Valkyr stops to fire her volley of arrows, Lemeza takes aim at several pillars, intending to have them ricochet and hit the Warframe from multiple angles. He fires the shots as Valkyr fires hers, leaving him with not enough time to dodge -- he ends up getting hit by every single arrow, and even though he's still standing he immediately regrets the decision.
Kushiko Not the worst plan there ever was--and even as quick as she managed to get the shot out, actually properly defending against Lemeza's own counter attack is another matter altogether. When the shots hit, it makes a layer of blue flicker then *shatter*, a burst of light heralding the Voidshields simply cracking under duress, bringing down the Warframe's shields--a good thing, even if the armoring still remains.

Which leaves her in a somewhat better position, so to speak, literally lunging off the pillar itself--and howling--something that was perhaps unexpected, but energy coalesces, wreathing itself around her as it just feels like something has /changed/ in the air--the Warframe's previous three-bladed claws giving way to long blades of energy as she basically spins like a ball of rage towards the young man, claws out like a veritable buzzsaw looking to scythe into him!
Lemeza Kosugi Well, at least the bullets hit, even if Lemeza isn't in the best of shape. And now he has to make the decision again - attack or defend. This time, he throws his shield up while trying to leap out of the way; he figures at this point he's going to get walloped in a straight exchange of blows, so best to mitigate as much as he can. The spiraling blades catch his shield and send him crashing into a pillar, knocking the wind out of him -- he /could/ still continue fighting, but the eventual result is clear by now. "Alright, I think that settles things. I yield."

He's in a pretty decent mood, all things considered. He still has his eyes on Valkyr, in case there's still some follow-up attacks to come, but he's ready to close this out and go over what he's learned. And, he wants to know what Kushiko thought of the encounter. "Yeesh. Alright, Warframes are a lot tougher than life-tree androids. I think... I think that's enough for today."
Kushiko For what it's worth, she's still /about/ ready to continue the fight--that is, at least, until Lemeza signals.

In that instant, she dismisses the energy, the Hysteria state she had summoned to the fore, emerging out of a crouch and she nods instantly. She's recovering some of her shield energy from the impacts those shots made, and she sounds chipper when she responds, <"You're not bad yourself! Fighting a type of opponent you had no knowledge of beyond observation to begin with."> She reaches, offering a hand to both shake and well, help steady himself from sending him to that pillar.

<"I saw you adapt, quickly, and that's how you have to fight sometimes. That's how I fight. Those richochet shots of yours are /awesome/.">