wingenvy | [Action / Voice]

[Today Zack has a few errands to run- first of all, since Sokka's back, he stops off at the smithy to pick up a little something that he's hoping is finished by now. He's in luck, too, because after that visit is done he leaves the smithy with this glorious piece of weaponry slung over his back. It may look like a mess, but he is ridiculously excited about it. Thus, a voice post:]

Hey, any weapon fans out there who name their blades? How do you pick 'em out? I've never done it before, but it seems kinda fitting to start...

Oh, and I could use a couple of sparring partners over in the Battle Dome this afternoon of anybody's interested. Especially- Yuri, Light? ...Cloud? You guys up for it? I need somebody who can handle a big broadsword or two. [...Or six.

And that's where Zack'll be for the majority of the afternoon. Once he's had his fill of sparring (assuming he had some takers) he pops over to the community building Cloud lived in to check on him.

A short while later, after returning home with one less friend and one more sword than he planned to return with (and informing certain housemates of what he found) he adds to his journal-]

Hey, anybody who knew Cloud Strife... he's gone back home again. Just wanted to let you guys know.

[What a day.]

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[Hey man, he'll ~~abuse Free Run~~ run in semi-circles all he wants okay. But he's going to have to change things up a little more, since - while he was expecting (and hoping) Zack would make a move - what he's doing now is ... not something Yuri wants to chance a Ghost Wolf on. Not during a spar, of all things.

So, Yuri does the most predictable thing ever - dodges to the side.

... Buuut he doesn't stop there. As soon as he gets out of the way, he's looping right around and charging at Zack himself, trying to get close enough to land a Destruction Field arte on or near him. Key word definitely being "trying" here.]

[Well, he's in luck, since Zack is significantly slower than Yuri is, especially with a heavier sword. Destruction Field hits, and hits hard since it's on the side unprotected by the blade, causing Zack to stagger backwards, though he's not off his feet yet.

So he'll have to make up for the sudden lack of speed... well, time for a little innovation. Getting his balance back, Zack flips a switch on the sword, detaching one of the larger blades. Instead of arming himself, he rests it on the holster at his back, effectively giving himself something extra to take hits at his back, as well as redistributing the weight a little. Yeah, that ought to make a difference.]

[As Zack's doing this, Yuri's backing off, mostly because he's not sure what he's up to ... well, until he finishes, at least.]

A weapon and optional armor - not bad!

[He's still hanging back for the moment, though - can't get too close with something as big and heavy as that sword Zack's got without trying to create an opening or distraction of some kind. Which is exactly what he'll attempt to do by sending out a Final Gale arte, a large X-shaped gust of wind, almost immediately after speaking.]

It's multi-talented like its owner! [Griiiiin. He is getting blown around an awful lot, though, with that attack pushing him backwards once again; it catches him off guard, tumbling backwards a bit and falling into a crouch to regain his footing. He doesn't stop smirking, though.] Come on, are you just gonna blow smoke at me the whole time?

Maybe I will! It's sure proving to be effective!

[Well, no, because that would be boring ~~and he'd run out of TP eventually~~. But for right now, he's still hanging back - though he's not doing anything just yet. None of his artes are showing themselves to be all that effective in terms of knocking those swords away ... so he's more or less giving up on that bit and switching back to actually treating this like a spar.

... But rushing in right now would be really dumb, so. HANGING BACK YEAAAAAH.]

[Oh, you wanna be like that, huh? Well, Zack is about ready to switch things up a bit again, so with a quick flash of movement he detaches one of the smaller blades and swings it around with a really good heave, releasing it rather than approaching Yuri so that it flies at him like the world's largest throwing dagger. He fully expects Yuri to dodge, of course, but it's good to keep the guy on his toes.]

[Damn straight he dodges! Yeesh, at least his artes don't have a chance of instantly killing someone 8| Geez, Zack.

But that's fine, he's not about to take it personally or anything silly. Instead, after dodging, he decides that hanging back isn't going the way he was hoping it would and just outright charges at Zack, a horizontal swing at the ready. Even he doesn't think this is the best idea, but it's better than playing Dodge the Broadsword again.]

[Bros don't gripe bros for attempted murder, okay.

And hey, Zack has no complaints about close-quarter sparring; he moves his broadsword into place to meet Yuri's attack, letting the sword shield the blow rather than swing against it. He's already thrown one at Yuri, he doesn't want to just bowl the guy over. Yuri's faster than he is, though, so he's taking it more seriously now that his opponent is closer to him. Hard to swing that big sword around as fast as as a smaller blade.]

[w/e w/e, he does what he wants.

Regardless, Yuri doesn't let up once he lands the first blow against Zack's sword. Instead, he continues striking at it - though, every hit seems to be concentrated in the same exact area.

Either he's up to something, or he's trying to seem as if he's up to something.]

[Huh... up to something, Yuri? Zack blinks at him between blows, though he continues to block, curious as to where Yuri's going with this. He can't keep that up forever, can he? Though he's making Zack's job pretty easy.]

You better not be trying to break it, man!

[At that, Yuri just smirks and continues striking at Zack's sword ... until he flat out vanishes from view for a moment. He's just used his Ghost Wolf arte - a move that allows him to quickly strike behind an opponent before moving back in front of them.

Not that that'll do much, with Zack having a sword behind him to shield his back as well. But that's fine. 'Cause he's going to try to follow that arte up with a second one - Lone Wolf Charge, a close-range version of the arte he used at the beginning of the spar, Lone Wolf Storm.

Of course, there's an emphasis on the word "try" there. Those artes aren't easy to quickly execute one-after-the-other, after all, and the cool-down/warm-up time between the two artes could leave Yuri quite open.]

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