kawaakari | Waking the Dead 2.0 || May 18, 2063 || The Mandatory Hot Springs Episode

Waking the Dead 2.0 || May 18, 2063 || The Mandatory Hot Springs Episode

[The skies are clear, the air is cool, and overall? Conditions are perfect for spending the entire afternoon and maybe even the entire night at the hot springs within Seigi. It's open to Zangyaku operatives and their families, along with any of their guests.

Oh, they're also communal. Surely no one minds? It's just skin, after all.

You're allowed to smoke, drink and eat while you're chilling out in the pools. You can also play cards, have a round (or several) of ping pong, flop around... anything goes, as long as you don't kill anybody!]

OOC Notes:
+ Make your own threads, plot out your own shenanigans and whatever else. Just remember: War Hounds and the rest were probably invited there after lunch, and are more than welcome to spend the rest of the day there. Y'all might want to specify the time. :3
+ NPCs are available on call beyond the threads I set up in here (if I end up setting some up, anyway)! Lemme know if you have questions.

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[ Surprised at the remark, Brigade uses Autonomic Control to keep his features unsurprised. Then it dawns on him that Taning has probably been playing around with his Celestial Telescope, and come across him late in the evening sitting with Kasumi. Act like it's nothing, Brig. He laughs to himself ]

Is this what you looked like in Baguio when I went missing, Taning? [ He laughs ] I'm up for a game, but you challenged Kaz first. I'll wait my turn.

[ OOC: Get ready, boyo. Dexterit •••••, Athletics •••••, Brawl •••••, Weaponry •••••, and a shield-fighting style at ••••• that translates into whacking things with the flat of a blunt object. LEZ DO THIS! hahahaha ]

Edited 2014-02-12 11:57 (UTC)

[He cracks a big grin as Brig comes over.]

I don't know what you mean bro! Yo Kaaaaz, game? [Have an almost-vacant grin.] I propose upping the stakes, though!

[OOC: I wouldn't be sure, Iaido 5 translates to some insane ball spin!]

[ Brigade smiles normally. Autonomic Control still in place. Ignoring Taning's remarks. Hikaru must not find out (OOC: Or we will have a time paradox as per MGS3 terms. haha) ]

If you're up for two on one, I think I'll pass. [ Brigade laughs ] I want to see Kaz show his stuff.

[ OOC: I know! Thank god Brig is also a geek-nerd who has Eidetic Memory + Autonomic Control and has watched Prince of Tennis. haha. I'm excited actually for shenanigans.:)) I can comment from the original post again or make a new post, and we can start a separate Taning-Brig "anime-style" match. I have a funny to end to it actually where Taning wins cause Brig is hurrdurr. haha ]

[Taning be like what, what, Brig said something, what again? High as fuck.]

Sure sure suit yourself, c'mon Kaz what are you waiting for???

[He's already holding the paddle ready, which is normal. But his face is halfway down onto the table, which is not normal.]

[Kaz's smirk kind of drops. He's just remembered that of all the games, ping pong is one he's maybe no good at. He's got the ball and a paddle in his hand.

"You got this, babe.", he hears from his left. Nico's there. He blushes.

He turns back to Taning, only a little bolstered by the encouragement, before tossing the ball a few inches off his hand and serving it.]

[He settles into a comfortable rally with Kaz, grinning vacantly the whole time.]

First to 5, okay? Loser gets truth or dared!

[And suddenly, have a slice-heavy high-looper that looks like it's going to Kaz's right side near the middle, but veers left and lands on the other side near the far edge.]

[YO MAN! Kaz really shouldn't have agreed to anything of the sort, but too late. It's vicious, but he barely manages to return the volley, before that slice.

He goes after it, pivoting on his heel - grip on his paddle flipped - and he misses just barely.]

One-Zero.

[He keeps his breathing even as he serves again, backhanded. It sends the ball spinning across the net and into the far right of Taning's side of the table.]

[OOC: Dis be some PoT shit right here.]

[A funny thing, this drug cocktail of Tohru's, of Makoto's invention. Everything seems to be in slow motion. Slow enough that Taning is running figures in his head.

He's also got Forces mage sight, Read Matrices, on, because he's a cheating cheater like that.

He catches up to the ball and sends it to the center of the table with a slice, slowing it down enough to go back to center position. Again he settles Kaz into a comfortable rally; easy enough that the young man can hit on instinct alone, but difficult enough that he doesn't get many opportunities to set up a smash or a cross-courter.

And then, Taning sees a gust of wind coming half a second before it arrives. He aims at the center of the table, ostensibly to drop it, but really to catch the gust as soon as it arrives. When it does, the ball is carried to the leftmost side of the table, very near the net.

Give Kaz a lot of credit: he actually makes it to that ball and sends it back over to his side. But...

The chances of you sending this back, as Taning rips a backhand to the far right corner, are at zero percent.

Nico deftly caught the ball with his hand before it reached his face.]

Oops, sorry Nico!

Edited (icon fail) 2014-02-13 15:07 (UTC)

[Kaz goes to retrieve the ball from Nico, who hands it back to him with a grin. They both know Kaz isn't all that great at Table Tennis, apart from mandatory Phys. Ed.]

Dork.

[He swipes the ball, grinning all the same. Nico could take on Taning, but no. This is his match.]

Your serve, kuya.

[He tosses the ball back at Taning and flips his grip on the paddle. A chopstick grip like back at school. It served him well enough, and he wanted to at least get a couple points in - no matter if he lost.]

[Taning mirrors Kaz's grip of the paddle; it is not his preferred grip, but...]

Here I go!

[He serves the ball easy, then launches Kaz into a rather intense rally that has both him and Kaz huffing and puffing after the ball. It's fast and it's fun and he's starting to get Kaz really into it.

This kid is actually good! With practice he can give me a run for my money. Not just here, but as a Hunter. That's good. I want to see more of that. But for now...

Kaz is caught in an interesting position. He is far to the left of the table and his grip... hmm. Taning slices a Kaz short ball back to the left side to draw him further out, and Kaz goes off after it like a shot. Fast! But he forgot to be wary because of the pace of the game. And so, he flips his paddle in his hand and smacks another hard backhand to the right corner. And Nico catches the ball again.]

3-0, Nico! I mean, Kaz! Sorry, Nico! Kaz, yield? [He grins affectionately at the poor, winded kid.]

[Kaz is waaaaaaay winded by the time the match hits 3-0, and he really, really can't even. When he dashes for the ball again, he just rolls onto the floor. It's clear he can't win and he's learned to be less stubborn about things.]

Aaaaagh, fine, kuya. I give.

[It's mock irritation, and he mostly just stays there, on the floor 'til Nico helps him up. His consolation prize is his boyfriend using the sleeve of his yukata to wipe the sweat on his forehead before kissing it, then flicking the ball at Taning.

"You okay?" the taller boy asks, and Kaz only nods, still breathing out of his mouth.]

I'll be fine. Just lemme find a seat and some water.

[He finds a place to sit, and just cools down. Nico running off to get him a drink maybe.]

[ Before Nico runs off, Brig catches him by the arm and puts in his hands two water bottles ] Drink up, Kaz.

OOC: Cue in Nick Nolan's "Devil Gets Your Soul"

[ Brigade picks up Kaz's paddle and walks up to his side of the ping-pong table ] My turn. [ He smiles at Taning and takes off his yukata. Standing there with only his boardshorts, and in typical anime fashion, it falls slowly to the ground while the sun glints off of Brig's skin. ] Your service or mine?

Edited 2014-02-14 09:21 (UTC)

GIVE 'IM HELL BRIG!

[He yells lamely, content to sip on his water fron the sidelines.]

[ Brigade takes that as a go for him to serve first. ] Get ready Taning. [ He grins ]

[ He taps the pingpong ball twice on the table before taking a position to serve. He tosses the ball up into the air like a tennis serve and slices down quickly with the paddle in his right hand. The pingpong ball flies onto Taning's side of the table and as it hits the wood...

Eidetic Memory + Prince of Tennis + Youtube + Autonomic Control + Uncanny Dexterity =

[[[ AMERICAN TWIST ]]]

The pingpong ball changes trajectory, flying into a 45 degree angle in the direction from where it should have gone, and away from where Taning is standing.

Brig smiles. He's not sure if that cheap opener would get a point (based on how Taning was playing amazingly earlier) but he'll be just glad to see if it plasters a look of surprise on Taning's face. He laughs inside. ]

Edited 2014-02-16 05:24 (UTC)

[Oh, definitely, Taning is surprised, but since he's high, have a vaguely amused/constipated look instead.]

Taning knew he wasn't gonna reach that by reaching over on his wrong side; his arms just aren't long enough to reach across his own body. So what he does is he he pivots on his wrong foot, so that his back is against the table, and with the motion of the rotation, strokes at the ball with the goal of imparting massive topspin on it. There isn't enough of it, though; Brig's serve caught him off balance, and the ball still manages to bounce, albeit at a trajectory really low and almost parallel to the table.]

Not bad!

[OOC: Yes that was an attempted Tsubame Gaeshi. Haha.

[ Brigade's not surprised by Taning returning it. He catches the ball and returns it with a slight lob as it reaches the end of tables, which Taning returns easily as he's regained his balance. A very intense rally ensues. ]

Dang your skills, you crazy Iaidoka. [ Brigade says with a smile on his face and a slight chuckle. This is so much fun. ] You seem to fight even better when high. Maybe we should pack some Big Balete on our missions for you to smoke-up beforehand.

Edited 2014-02-16 13:55 (UTC)

[As if to disprove Brig's point, he very nearly muffs an easy slice, which luckily clips the very edge of the table, forcing Brig to follow the erratic bounce.]

I meant to do that! [Then, muttering under his breath, no you didn't no you didn't.

Of course Brig catches up to it. This rally has now been going for five minutes, and it's not like either of them are holding back. It's a classic "unstoppable force meets immovable object" match.

The twist in that statement is that it's actually Brig that's the unstoppable force. Taning, trying to find his offense, was forced into several near-misses. When he settled on a defensive game, however, he found that as fast and strong Brig was, he can manage to keep up with him, spending less energy than the big guy, who just doesn't seem to run out.

Damn, this is fun.

Hey Brig, how about let's let this rally decide the match?

[A very lopsided grin appears on his face, because he has just realized Read Matrices is still on.]

[ Brigade notes that this is one of those moments where Taning can be very sly. The moment Brigade answers, Taning will already throw out whatever game-winning move he has in mind. And after the "Tsubame Gaeshi" which was thrown out earlier, Brig already expects a similarly dangerous topspin or backspin maneuver.

He is however, not a sly dog like his fellow blademate, so he won't take advantage of the offer.

He lets Taning return the ball before he answers with a simple -- ] G.

[ And with great control and power, lashes out at the pingpong ball at full force straight at Taning. ]

[ Eidetic Memory + Prince of Tennis + Youtube + Autonomic Control + Uncanny Dexterity + a point of Willpower ]

[[ Hadoukyū (波動球) ]]

[ He knows Taning can return this, which is only fair, but the force and speed will likely take him off-balance, and, along with the fact that the ball is going directly at Taning, keep him from getting into proper position to make a good enough swing to generate great enough topspin or backspin to execute a finisher ]

Edited 2014-02-17 07:06 (UTC)

[Your funeral.

The moment he saw Brig move into position, he knew it was going to be a power hit. He lowered his paddle as if he was headed off-balance, but the hilt is actually where the hilt of his sword would be. He sees the ball approach him head-on. Excellent.

Swift like the wind. Fu.

The ball is suddenly on the other side of the table. Only Brig's prodigious reflexes allowed him to get it, sending it back with a reflexive smack that was almost as powerful as his previous hit.

Silent like the forest. Rin.

Taning hits a drop shot totally devoid of spin. It floats over the net slowly, deceptively close. When Brig gets to it, it hits the edge of his paddle, sending it high.

Invade like fire. Ka.

Taning hits the strongest shot he's hit tonight, mirroring Brig's Hadoukyuu. Of course Brig is able to return it, and a wild rally ensues. He notes Brig trying to probe his style, trying to determine his next move.

Formless like the shadows. In.

Taning sends off several conflicting signals. Is a drop coming? A slice? A topspin-heavy cross? Taning's arm blurs, making it almost impossible to determine. Brig's response is to step up his attack, hitting faster and heavier shots with each swing.

Immovable like the mountain. Zan.

Taning's defense is perfect. He knows he cannot take Brig on force-on-force, so he gives him spin-heavy shots that make him check his own power lest the ball go awry. The pace becomes deceptively easy. Good.

Strike like lightning. Rai.

Taning takes the momentary ease of pace to flip the paddle into a penhold, the only grip that would suit this sort of shot. He takes a slow ball and runs it along the entire length of the paddle, giving it an additional flick at the apex of the roll. It hits the center of the table... and jumps sharply to the right.

Catch it, Brig! I don't want this rally to end!]

[ That, in Brig's mind, was absolutely thrilling. He's on the brink of losing, and Taning has pushed him to the very edge of tactical defeat, but he's not about to give up at the last moment.

Brigade lunges toward the direction the ball took, using the table as further leverage for pushing off with both legs and his hand, reaching the ball just in time to perform an overhead smash from the slightly angled position. He's got one chance at this. It won't end in him folding. Taning would be disappointed in him if it did. ]

[ Eidetic Memory + Prince of Tennis + Youtube + Autonomic Control + Uncanny Dexterity + a point of Willpower (again. cause damn straight he really needs it at this moment) ]

[[ TWIST SMASH ]]

[ As the powerful smash meets the pingpong ball, the ball races at incredible speed onto the table, bounces off it... and flies in the direction away from the side of the table Taning is closest to. Taning will get that, he's sure to as long as he breaks into his top sprint, but it'll give Brigade just enough time to reach for the table and push himself with the force of his free hand onto the ground without a crash

[ Judo •• - Ukemi ], and perform a kip up with his shoulders back onto his feet, just in time to return the ball Taning has sent back, and once again continue their already awe-inspiring rally ]

You are crazy amazing, you know that? [ Brigade's laughing. This was way too much fun. Miscalculated. No more shots straight at him. Better to keep it away and capitalize on what I'm strong at.

Brigade proceeds to return the ball on the side line of the table with powerful returns, on the further side opposite of wherever Taning is. He can't out-finesse the Iaidoka, but he can do his best to tire him out, and use the same control strategy against him. He's pushing the ball just outside of Taning's reach where he can't perform anything too fancy. Forcing him to run back and forth just to return the ball in a semblance of the direction Brig wants.

With every return, Brigade applies less force and more calculated spins to the ball, overriding the spins Taning has applied, so as to prevent him, even just slightly, from gaining control.

Slowly, Brigade's sidesteps grow smaller and smaller, until he's relatively just standing in the same place, taking short sidesteps from side to side, and keeping Taning running from one end of the table to the other, chasing after returns landing as close to the side line as possible. ]

[[ Incomplete Tezuka Zone ]]

[ It's not about winning anymore. It's about pushing the other to get better. He can't get through Taning's defense. He really will have to tire him out until he makes a mistake. C'mon, Taning, break this make-shift control I have. I know you can. ]

Edited 2014-02-17 14:22 (UTC)

[Good job, Brig.

But it's time to end this. He's getting tired, and if this doesn't work, he's going to lose. One way or another, it's time.

He's seen the pattern: Brig is pushing him side to side such that he doesn't even need to work. Clever use of spin, really. But spin works both ways.

As Brig hit a shot to the left whose spin would mean that it returns to his central position when hit back, Taning calculated a certain spin and angle that he needed to hit the ball at, and...

He sliced the ball in the same direction it was already spinning, making the ball hit, with extreme backspin, the table at an almost-parallel. He saw Brig expecting it to bound back to his position.

Now we see if it works...

The ball landed, bounced backward for a split-second, then, pulled by the extreme spin, bounced backward again less than a half a second after.]

Yeah!

[And after shouting that, he promptly sat against one of the table legs and made to go to sleep.]

[ Brigade is stunned. He expected Taning to pull something like that, but had hoped he'd see it coming. He didn't.

He walks up to where Taning is and chuckles at his exhausted blademate. ] Good job, Taning. [ He contemplates picking his blademate up and finding him a hammock, but opts first to sit and smoke beside his seemingly passed out blademate. If he hear's snoring, then he'll carry his blademate somewhere more comfortable. He's pretty content to just sit there and bask in the aftermath of a well-fought competition. ]

Edited 2014-02-25 15:52 (UTC)

[Taning isn't quite asleep, nope. Just very winded. He kinda forgot that it would be very tiring to fight like that, because he was high.

He shakily steals a smoke from Brig's pack and lights it. Victory smoke, yes.]

Truth or dare, Brigade.

[ Brigade can only laugh at that. But the spoils of war go to Taning. ] Dare. [ Brig chuckles as he says it. Truth isn't quite something he wants to do after what Taning mentioned earlier. ]

[Well, he can't think of one, so you're off the hook... for now.]

Can't think of one! Guess I gotta hang on to this one for a while, heh.

[And then he gets up, stumbles over to an empty pool, manages to not flop in, rests his head on his arms on a ledge, and falls asleep.]

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Waking the Dead 2.0 || May 18, 2063 || The Mandatory Hot Springs Episode

GADDAMN YOUR CELESTIAL TELESCOPE, TANING! hahahaha

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oh shit.

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;A;

:) :) :)

I'm cry XDD

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huzzah! Prince of Pingpong!

PoPP? I approve XD

Dibaaaaa? Popp(y)! Opium for you, Taning. haha

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