Servant Archer ~ Signum of the Cloud Knights (
nightskysword) wrote in
imperial_stage2012-07-19 11:28 pm
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
It's Time to Duel
Who: Signum, Garviel, and any spectators for the peanut gallery
What: A friendlier battle
When: During Summer Court
Where: On a list amidst the festivities happening in town
Signum hadn't been back to the capital since the previous Court - thinking back, it had been an eventful one. Meeting Shamal, having her first face-to-face encounter with Berserker, and that whole bloody coup that had come close to starting a war. Still, the parts she had actually been involved in she could almost look back on fondly, and coming here again with Hayate before her courses started at Onylith was certainly a pleasant experience. Especially since the theme for summer seemed to be much, much more sensible than the one for spring.
After some time wandering around enjoying the spectacle of people fighting and competing in various sports (and making sure Hayate stays shaded and hydrated in this heat), Signum spots someone she knows.
"Ah, if it isn't the dictator of Rome," she said, tone much more familiar than the title as she greeted Garviel near a large, open park that was playing host to one of the sports tournaments.
What: A friendlier battle
When: During Summer Court
Where: On a list amidst the festivities happening in town
Signum hadn't been back to the capital since the previous Court - thinking back, it had been an eventful one. Meeting Shamal, having her first face-to-face encounter with Berserker, and that whole bloody coup that had come close to starting a war. Still, the parts she had actually been involved in she could almost look back on fondly, and coming here again with Hayate before her courses started at Onylith was certainly a pleasant experience. Especially since the theme for summer seemed to be much, much more sensible than the one for spring.
After some time wandering around enjoying the spectacle of people fighting and competing in various sports (and making sure Hayate stays shaded and hydrated in this heat), Signum spots someone she knows.
"Ah, if it isn't the dictator of Rome," she said, tone much more familiar than the title as she greeted Garviel near a large, open park that was playing host to one of the sports tournaments.
no subject
"Signum. I have heard tell that you and Mamzel Yagami will soon be taking up residence in Onylith?"
no subject
She looks over the other knight's shoulder (somehow.) "Aren't you playing in the tournament for this sport?"
no subject
"A thought occurs to me. In all our battles, we have either fought side by side, or I fought only to lose, and in so doing convince you of my ideals. You and I have never gone blade to blade, without noble phantasm or the use of Tarot. It would be a great honor to test myself against the skill of a Wolkenritter."
no subject
no subject
He looks her in the eyes, a mix of emotions, all of them fairly positive, in his own. He shifts, and briefly brings a fist to his chest, the old symbol of Unity. It is not as old as the Wolkenritter's iconography, but it is the most ancient show of respect that he knows.
no subject
"Alright. My sword against your tools, no magecraft except for protection, and no unlocked Noble Phantasms. Are those satsifactory conditions?" she asks, stepping back and transforming Laevatein into its sheathed sword form. "I think these people are about finished, so we can use this court if you like."
no subject
He moves to the court, drawing his chainsword and taking a two-handed grip. Waiting for her to take her stance, almost statue-like in his stillness. The Berserker curse far from him, now, not because of suppression but because of the utterly ritualized nature of this challenge. He clings to the old ways because they are his anchor, what he knows. He clings to these connections to his old life. In a way... Signum is one of those anchors, though he'd never admit it on a conscious level. A bridge to the time of Legends and larger than life demigods.
no subject
She stands herself a dozen paces away from the other Servant, unhooking her scabbard from her belt. Without the unfair advantage of flight, she'd have to be ready to defend herself from heavy attacks directly.
When Garviel looks ready, she draws her sword slowly and sets herself in a defensive stance, waiting to see if the man would make the first move.
no subject
Well that was bound to happen eventually.
Maintaining her focus on Garviel, rather than his sword, Signum sidesteps, slashing across her body with both sword and scabbard to send the chainsword and the man behind it wide to her left. As Garviel's momentum carries him forward, she hooks her left leg out in a snap-kick toward his knee to try and break his balance. Signum has seldom fought humans larger than herself, but that doesn't mean she hasn't learned how, either.
LOL I was hoping I'd get the megablush emote too, darn.
no subject
Besides, she knows that he knows that in a serious fight, this opening would be enough to cook him alive in there.
Instead, with a spin, she brings Laevatein's hilt around to crash in through the opening Garviel left with enough force to dent steel, hoping to knock the once-Berserker fully to the ground so she could feasibly put a point under his helmet.
no subject
The force of the strike sends him into a controlled spin, backhanding a blow at Signum with great force at about her midsection, the chainsword ripping. Garviel is trying to tear into her barrier jacket and knock her down.
The only sound he makes, aside from a brief grunt as his helmet is torn free, is the low gasps of his breathing, obviously lost to the moment of the fight, his eyes narrowed as he watches her movements.
no subject
That would be why I wasn't supposed to let him hit me..., she thinks.
The teeth of the chainsword tear a shallow gash through her magically-projected armor, not enough to give her more than a scratch on her flesh, but opening a dangerously long gap in the clothing across her upper stomach. Meanwhile, she does her best to land gracefully without abusing flight magic, coming to rest in a low crouch several yards away. She pauses there for a moment, ready to spring, and staring back with violent intensity at Garviel's revealed face, trying to read his next move.
no subject
For the barest moment, his eyes flicker down to notice the gap in her clothing and armor. A mental mistake! he chides himself, as he tries to finish the fight with the chop, hoping the millisecond distraction hasn't destroyed his technique entirely.
no subject
Hopefully that would draw blood and end the duel, because she was sure that even with his grip broken she couldn't hold that chainsword back one-handed for more than a couple of seconds.
no subject
"I suspect you are my better." He rumbles, his first comment in the fight proper.
He waits for her attack, clearly switching strategies now. He needs to learn her pattern, and break it, just as he did against Lucius.
no subject
Signum slips her scabbard back onto her belt and takes Laevatein in an overhead position, seeking a gap in Garviel's defensive weave. Without the ability to move around it or shoot through it, that would be slightly problematic. She lunges forward, testing, thrusting into the middle of his defense to see if she can shake his pattern.
no subject
no subject
is made out of swordsand her blade are one and the same thing. She recognizes it even more for her opponent when he is covered in spiky adamant.Signum lunges in, unwilling to leave a stalemate and lose her rhythm, and is parried as she expects she probably will be. Seeing his movement, she does her best to ignore her shock and spins over her right shoulder to disengage and get out of the path of his strike, taking only a glancing hit on her cheek that was likely to leave a bruise. The sudden evasion, though, leaves her too off-balance to do anything but put her guard back up.
no subject
His face is grim as he closes, eyes showing little but intense concentration. Gone is the psychotic destructiveness of a Berserker, instead, he fights with technical skill, physical strength, and an aggressiveness that was the hallmark of Horus' own Legion, a ferociousness on the attack that made them masters of the speartip, the shock assault. Close combat, and going right for the throat. Not for him the slow attrition battles of the Imperial Fists, or the patient war of the Salamanders. No, this exchange will be decisive, one way or another.
no subject
There's not much she can do as she goes down under the sheer mass of the Astarte and his armor, but there's only two things she needs to do. First, she falls back along with the weight that's toppling above her, setting herself to fall on her back with both legs and an arm up to stop him from smashing completely into the ground.
Second, as Garviel falls on her and puts his blade across her neck, Signum takes Laevatein in one hand and, with the care only possible for a veteran swordsman, brings Laevatein up so that the point rests under Garviel's exposed chin when they're finally both on the ground, face-to-face and stuck in a position that would be fatal to both of them without careful control.
She did have to give him credit for the sheer intimidation value of the buzzing chainsword, and the fact that he'd managed to get on top, though.
"I think this is a draw," she admits, looking up at Garviel and praying that there wasn't any temporary slip into bloodlust to cause that chainsword to dip.
no subject
"Indeed." His hand lingers there for a few seconds longer than it has to, and he steps back swiftly, aware there are people watching, people that will likely be mocking this.
"I think we'll have to do this again in the Fall, until a clear winner can be determined."
He turns away a bit as he says this, as if to conceal some embarassment on his part. Or maybe to conceal the fact that he desperately hopes she'll agree to it.
no subject
"Yes, definitely. I'll be sure not to underestimate you next time."
no subject
no subject
"What are you doing?"
He almost snarls, chainsword still churning.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Didn't take you to be the understanding sort, but thanks.
[He looks back at Garviel.]
Hey, Cerberus! You better do pretty good if you want me to cheer for you! Or else I'm gonna be cheering on this lassie over here.
no subject
Cheating on me already? I'm appalled.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
He breaks the lock, sweeping back into the fight.
no subject
Levin nods his head in approval as they spar. "In terms of looks, a stellar showing from the secretive Signum. Fighting technique, unparalleled. Personality, sharp, but even the keenest of blades will dull after wear. Aaand... well, no need to be as lewd as to mention assets in a situation like this.
"Wonder if I can get my hands on something she wrote..."
This would all be much less awkward if Levin wasn't playing one of Dagaria's most well-known love songs as loudly as possibly. (It was called the Cicada Lovers and it was about a man who waited 17 years underground for his lover only to die a week later.)
no subject
no subject
The music softens a little into a more delicate part of the melody.
no subject
That's Signum's only comment as she continues trying to find an opening in Garviel's defenses.
no subject
He seems to be playing hard to get, as far as openings go, however, feinting, his blade moving so fast it looks almost like a flickering flame.
"And a truth teller. My best friend, I suppose."
no subject
Levin's harp simultaneously breaks all its strings at this description. Way to throw your best pal to the wolves, Garviel.