157/Training Time

Training Time
Date of Scene:	25 July 2023
Location:	Four Clover Mall
Synopsis:	Zephyr teaches Francesca The Way Of The Sword and is otherwise a mysterious and enigmatic sifu.
Cast of Characters:	Francesca Leon, Zephyr Windstar

---

Francesca Leon has posed:
    <Kitten, you've got a call.>
    "What huh?"
    <It's Zephyr. She wants to meet.>
    "... Okay. Where?"
    Cue a meeting at the Four Clover Mall. Or specifically in the mall's parking lot. Francesca sits on a guard rail, one leg crossed over the other as she waits, watching people come and go at the mall as the sun starts to set in the horizon, painting the sky various shades of orange and yellow.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Mistoffelees has replied. She is waiting. > announces Tenraikaze telepathically, chiming like a smartwatch giving a notification to give her a cover. "Oh! Right, I've gotta go. Seeya tomorrow Boss!" says the teen as she turns and runs out of the Akibahara storefront via the service entrance.

    She jogs down the street, stopping by her apartment and grabbing a dufflebag with things she needs, she then takes a more casual walk to the meeting spot, lifting a wave to the other Device user when she spots her.

    "Hey, thanks for coming. I wanted to start teaching you some basic techniques." Zephyr's voice is soft, almost playful. "We'll set up a Barrier so noone disturbs us."

Francesca Leon has posed:
    So that's what this meeting is about. Well that's all well and good with Francesca as Zephyr arrives and tells her specifically why she had called.
    "I've got nothing but time on my hands." The younger teen replies, plopping her hands on her knees.
    Pause.
    "Soooooo... A Barrier."
    She has no idea how to make one. So far she's been lucky that someone else has been setting those up whenever things go crazy and she's around.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr nods, dropping the bag and pulling her Device from the bracelet. "Like I said before, I can't really teach you how to use Mid-style Magic... but some basic concepts should be useful... Misty, take note, see if you can parse this."

    Tenraikaze chimes softly. < Set up. Gale Mode. > The device expands out into its axe-shaped form. She taps the haft-spike on the ground. >Displacement Barrier.< < Barrier Expansion. > Zephyr's words sound almost like Japanese, but it feels wrong somehow. The barrier expands regardless, covering a ten meter radius around the pair and washing the colours out into an oil-on-water mix of hues. Anyone mundane also seems to vanish along with vehicles. This leaves a nice, open and flat area for sparring, or other exercises.

    "There, that should do us for a while at least."

Francesca Leon has posed:
    With the Barrier set- a process that Francesca watches pretty intently, she hops off her perch.
    "I think just the basics are what I need, for now." She says. "I barely have any of this down." Admitted as her own device chimes.
    <Standby ready!> and in a flare of purple light her clothes are instantly replaced by her Barrier Jacket, her device now in sword from slung over her shoulder.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr nods, then dismisses her Device and clips it back to its bracelet. She does deploy her Barrier Jacket, but stoops to unzip the bag, pulling a pair of wooden katana, Boken, from it. "So, we did this in Enforcer training, to help condition muscles." she stands, holds up the wooden weapons, then tosses one toward the younger mage. "If you can learn how to use this, your Device will be much more effective in melee combat."

    The wooden weapon is clearly weighted, but not too heavy. "Mock battle. Melee strikes only. If you can land a hit on me, I'll call it a win for you." she says, brandishing her own Boken and giving it a flourish before settling into a samurai stance.

Francesca Leon has posed:
    "... What."
    That. That was the last thing Francesca had expected. She thought she was going to learn magic, how to fight, how to battle evil using the power of friendship and stuff like that.
    She barely catches the wooden sword tossed her way, fumbling with it between holding her actual device and trying to not drop it.
    <Oh this is going to be good.> Mistoffelees chirps, dismissing himself into his smore easily carried form of a necklace.
    "Traitor!"
    Francesca huffs indignantly at her device and takes ahold of the bokken though, shifting into an approximation of a fighting stance that says she barely has any idea of what she's doing.
    "Alright though... I'm warning, I'm not gonna hold back."
    Oh this should be good indeed.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr chuckles. "All about the basics, 'Kitten'." says the elder Mage, giving her bokken a flourish and darting in quickly, tapping Francesca's weapon to break her stance.

    She then turns quickly, and taps Francesca in the side, against the Jacket's thickest part.

Francesca Leon has posed:
    It all happens in slow motion...
    Francesca flinches as Zephyr flourishes--...
    And bats her training sword aside.
    "Gwah!" Francesca squawks, the tap isn't too hard or painful, but her stance is broken and the surprise catches her off guard.
    "..."
    Well that was embarassing.
    Ahem.
    Well there's nothing to it but to give it a try herself now. Lunging in, her swing is...
    Pretty badly telegraphed, unfortunately.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr seems to be frozen in place, she couldn't be that surprised at the girl's return strike, surely?

    The bokken connects... and goes straight through, the afterimage vanishing as another tap lands on Francesca's shoulder from behind. "Your Device is melee focussed, right? That means, if you were in a TSAB combat team, you'd be the Forward." she comments idly. "Getting right up in the face of Lost Logia and other things and taking the hits for others." She hops back, and, holding her bokken under one arm, turns her hands up. "Using Shields to deflect attacks." A rhomboid spellseal appears over her left hand. "Barriers to absorb it." A shimmering set of interlocking hexagonal plates of purple magic appears over her right. "And Fields to reinforce your Barrier Jacket's strength." a shimmering film flutters over her entire body after a moment of focus. "I'm /not/ a Forward, my position was a Guard Wing, all-range, high speed."

Francesca Leon has posed:
    "HAH!" ---"huh?"
    Needless to say, Francesca's victorious look turns to one of confusion as Zephyr's afterimage fades and she's left offbalance from a blow at thin air and...
    Gets tapped on the shoulder for her effort. She's at least managed to right herself by the time the older mage hops back, but the frown on the younger teen's face says that was pretty frustrating.
    A slow breath, though, and she takes her stance again.
    "Right..." Shields, barriers, and the like are all things she's going to have to eventually learn. But for now she tries for a feint- lunging left before shifting her weight to come in from the right and swing from that angle.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr's eyes are closed. She almost looks like she's going to be hit easily...

    CLACK.

    The bokken strikes another bokken, and Zephyrs eyes open and her face shifts into an impish grin. "What's wrong? Stop trying to hit me, and HIT ME!" she goads, shoving the other weapon away, tapping Francesca on the thigh, before backing off again and holding her weapon ready. "I'm not the best teacher, but hopefully I can at least give you some fundamentals to work from."

Francesca Leon has posed:
    Wooden blades connect and Francesca's lips tug into a scowl. That's another strike denied, and the goading...
    Hopping back after the next tap, Francesca purses her lips together. No. No she's not getting mad. This is to help her, she knows and understands that. But it's frustrating.
    Then again... That's when she's stricken by an idea.
    "Alright... If this is about the fundamentals... Then a fundamental thing is that I need to work with my device, right?" She asks. "So then. You won't mind if Mistoffelees helps me out, yeah?"
    <Hoh...?> The device seems to perk, intrigued as Francesca takes a swipe at Zephyr's legs followed up by a sharp jab aimed for the solar plexus.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr nods. "I thought that was obvious, Tenraikaze's been running autocast for me since the start." she replies, tapping the Device on her wrist. She hops over the low swipe, then brings her bokken in to deflect the jab, though does get knocked back a ways from the impact without a firm footing.

    Landing and skidding back with sparks coming from her iron-shod boots, she chuckles. "That was pretty good!"

Francesca Leon has posed:
    "Well then... If I'm allowed to work with Mistoffelees..." Francesca muses while Zephyr recovers...
    <Alright. I'm in. I want to see how this goes.> The device chimes before the pendant on her necklace glimmers faintly.
    <Disappearing Trick!>
    With this announcement the very light around Francesca bends, slowly warping and shifting until all that's visibly left of her is a cheshire cat's grin, and after a second even that vanishes.
    Then. For a moment. For a long few beats, it seems like Zephyr is alone in the parking lot.
    The air ripples.
    Barely a breath can be heard.
    And that's when Francesca appears, from the Enforcer's side with a kiai as she takes a swing. It's actually more controlled- she doesn't want to actually hurt her teacher if it connects from a blind angle like that so it won't be more than a tap of her own if it does connect.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Sensor profile going dark. I have lost them. > announces Tenraikaze. Zephyr grins broadly, lifting off the ground as fanlike blades appear around her ankles. < Flier Fan! >

    Time slows down, the air ripples, and then Francesca appears. Zephyr lifts higher, attempting to get out of the path of that strike...

    CHANK.

    The wood connects with the metal of one of the Enforcer's boots. < Hit detected. A winner is you. >

Francesca Leon has posed:
    There's a clink.
    And there's Francesca looking as smug as the cat that caught the canary as she hoists the booken ti rest over her shoulders.
    "Gotcha." She declares brightly. "Next time I'll have this doofus help me out from the start though, I think." She says tapping her device with a fingertip.
    <If that happens, you might actually learn something.> Mistoffelees points out, almost teasingly.
    "Hey!"

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr drops back to the ground, and reaches out a hand. She clenches the fist and lightly bonks the younger mage atop the head. "Don't get cocky kiddo." she says... then opens the hand to gently ruffle the other girl's hair. "But y'did good... might wanna keep that little trick in reserve unless y'need it." she remarks.

    "Next time, magic practice. Get your barret shots more stable and powerful." she adds, moving to return her own bokken to her dufflebag, but not making a move to take the other back. "Keep that bokken, practice some movements in your own time. It's to condition your body with something using actual mass and weight."