1084/Belkan vs Unicorn, round 1!

Belkan vs Unicorn, round 1!
Date of Scene:	05 February 2024
Location:	Game Crown Arcade
Synopsis:	It's Kirara vs Steiner in an epic duel for the DDR trophy... who will go home a champion?! Belkan, or unicorn?!
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Hannah Steiner

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was a little stresed. No idea why. Why ever would she be stressed? Preparing for the first of many encounters with Project Eclipse? Or perhaps the fact she had ACCIDENTALLY poisoned Adora? Or maybe it was any of the other thousand things she had done/would do? Maybe, just maybe, her sins were crawling on her back.

And since her game station had gotten blown up and she'd had yet to get a new one, something she was planning with Usagi and Dianora, she was at the arcade.

Rocking out DDR. And kicking butt on it. One might thing she was talented. Athletic. Skilled.

HA! I mean, yes, she was. But frankly? The truth? ... It was music. And dancing to music was kiiiiiind of in her blood. She was, while she'd never admit it, cheating. A kind of magical cheat, where she was dancing with the music and working on her footwork, but it would be something that was sorta cheating. Even if it didn't look that way. But hey, with a handicap of literally being a biped most her life, it likely only kind of evened the playing field.

She wasn't the best, mind. She'd only gotten on the top ten bar once. Currently, she was dancing to end of the century...

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah Steiner certainly is no stranger to stress. Between problems with her Uncle and allies, Firefly's apparent swap to using murder as a thing, dating two amazingly lovely girls (okay that part's as much stress relief as stress inducing), and the general trials and tribulations of a girl from off planet going through high school?

Yeah she needs something terrible for her and maybe a good turn at the one video game that really does anything for her, for obvious reasons. DDR! While the arrows are kind of unhelpful, the /beat/ and patterns are easy enough to memorize. Especially when she owns the galaxy's best screen reader, Blauer Greif!

But, of course, there's another Lordess of the Dance at work, and both Hannah and Lyra pause to admire the tapping sounds of feet. Sensing a fellow soul with a decent pair of legs (courtly life, of course, includes dancing), she taps her way over and leans against the DDR machine right beside Hinoiri's claimed one.

"By the Sankt, such rhythmic stomps! Such vigor! Do mein ears deceive me, or do I hear one with the grace und pure /will/ to battle the demon that is GROOVY MOVES!?" Who /knows/ where she picked up the word 'groovy', but Sankt Kaiser strike down whoever gave it to her!

A deft hand spins her cane, and she grins Hinoiri-wards!

"Perhaps you care to join me upon the honorable battlefield....of the Dance!?" Comes the over-eager, club-your-skull-with-friendliness voice of one Hannah Steiner. A brow raises.

"Maybe even a wager over the outcome! I find milkshakes sweeten, especially when bought at another's coin, any budding rivalry or freundship!" Comes the young woman with a bright, if royally smug, grin!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara didn't even react until after the song was done. However, once it was, she glanced back. "Sankt?" she asked. And then her eyes narrowed. Who in the--

"Steiner-san? I didn't think you would be here. Oh... oh dear."

She turned to lean back against the railing, a smirk on her lips.

"So, normally, I'd make a comment on how it'd be kind of rude of me to beat a blind girl in a game like this... but you don't need eyes to have rhythm or moves," Hinoiri said. "So instead I'll just let you know I hope you made sure to bring your pocket change because it's a cold day in tartarus before I'll lose to anyone in dance. Come on up."

Well, if nothing else she wouldn't be underestimating the girl. Probably. "I'll let you pick the first song, though. Go ahead."

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah's head tilts, and the light catches her black-lensed glasses just right to make them flash! That voice hits her, and it only takes a second or two with some mental backup from her Device for her to place it.

"Acht! Mein daring und heroic motor-bike wielding saviour! It has been too long! I should ask how you are, however, I believe we have far more /honorable/ pursuits about us!"

Oh yes. Hinoiri gets her exactly. She /knew/ she liked the young woman!

"All of it, in fact, und I do not need eyes to enjoy your inevitable downfall, frau Kirara! Pray offer me your lamentations upon being best by mein smooth moves!" Comes Hannah with a laugh, and then she steps up! Honestly, she appreciates that lack of underestimation!

A few taps later?

Her first selection is a k-pop classic. And a gothic one at that!

AKUMAJO DRACULA MEDLY GO!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara narrowed her eyes. "Oh? A worthy challenge, then. Don't cry to me when you end up buying my shake. I won't show you any mercy and I'll expect none."

Akumajo Dracula Medly? Huh. She hadn't done that one before. Clever. Hannah going to something that would likely be outside her wheelhouse. A medley. A mashup of different musics she wouldn't recognize.

But it wouldn't be enough to stop HER! However... it did throw her off more than one might have expected... Especially that scream and pause at the beginning. She LOATHED those. They always threw her off, she was a girl of motion, of precision! Having things stop going right, well, it always threw her off. While she managed to get most of the notes... She only scored an A. Not a perfect, like she demanded of herself.

And so when it ended, her fury was only growing. She didn't even know if she'd won. She just knew... She'd not fall again. She went searching through the list for a game in the same release frame as that one...

Sakura.

Rapid fire tap tapping of the feet, requiring precision, balance and a drive to succeed. Constant movement, constant tapping, constant aggression.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah Steiner amanges to somehow both expertly dance to the beat of the medly, but almost seems to /relish/ the relative chaos of the song! A Belkan is a brawler at heart, and they're the type to close in, and dance with the music of fate for the lives, where plans somehow tend to go /wrong/ even worse than the often clean, calculated lines of fire for those in the Mid-Childan assumed role of fire support.

And so, though she knows most of the beats, a lot of it is the instinctual improve of feet used to dancing out of the attack of opponents close in alongside a wonderful set of ears!

And when Hinoiri hesitates? She strikes like a cobra, not only hitting those last beats hard? But she jumps, spins once in the air, and then lands the last two notes with artful, stylish beats!

Bring it Hinoiri! From the way she's grinning? She's trying to /style/ on you as much as gain victory!

But after that first dancy blood drawn? She follows it up with fast feet!

Too bad she's less familiar with this one, and so Hinoiri has an innate advantage, and the nature of this song while leaning into her similar aggression? Well, it's practically a race, and she's sweating as her feet slam down hard and harder as she deigns to keep up with Hinoiri! Teeth grit with exertion!

"Sankt be praised, finally someone with a will!" She laughs, using her greatest weapon beyond even the blade!

Friendly antagonism aimed right for Hinoiri! Win or lose, it seems Befriending is on her mind tonight!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was laser focused. She didn't even hear Hannah's words. There was an intensity to her, a burning urge to win. No. To destroy. For victory. She was almost lit in a flame of her own, that burning need to win. To never admit defeat. Though sweat glistened her body, she moved with the style and grace of her Kirakirafantastica lifestyle.

She more than danced. She flowed. She WAS the music. And she felt it in her soul.

So, when the score came up, finally... She managed to eek out a win... barely... But she was panting. Turning to Hannah...

And sees her own fire, her own desire, nay, need to win, matched by the belkans own. She smirked.

"I see that House Steiner doesn't raise quiters. So. Final round, winner takes all? Standing at one to one... random song?" she asked.

She was panting, her chest was heaving... but she would *not* allow herself to be outpaced by this girl. She would NOT lose.

She was Hinoiri Kirara. She who would break the sun. The greatest mage for a hundred generations.

She. Did. Not. LOSE!

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah Steiner lets out a sheer, loud whistle as Hinoiri beats her! Really, that was transcendant! Amazing! Beautiful! Yet even in such ignominy of defeat? A hand slashes through the air, both an offer of her own, and a challenge to a further battle!

"Finely done!" She encourages, as if to only spurr on those legendary legs of Hinoiri! There's no bitterness here, only delight, and despite her own sheen of sweat? She seems less tired than invigorated! Sightless eyes shine beneath spectacles, and she...well firmly pokes rather than punches the random button, because she's by now entirely certain that the good Knight of the Crown, Motoki, isn't one to back down on bannings when her...initial Belkan overexuberance kicked in on the first DDR machine. She's not dumb enough to risk a fight she can't win.

"Let us leave it to the Sankt und the whims of Fate indeed!" Okay, punch. Sorry Motoki, this is for /drama/!

It lands on a very, very infamous song.

DRAGONFORCE

THROUGH THE FIRE AND FLAMES!

Hannah tosses off her glasses, which Lyra catches upon her snoot! That song is almost instantly seered into her brain, as she works out that amazing, melodic beat! There's no perfection for either of these perfectionists, truly, only sheer mad dancing! Hannah is /sweltering/ in heart, body, and soul as she tries to keep up! But in that desire to trounce her opponent? She pulls it together! Hands grip the rails of the DDR machine! Like someone oddly attuned to gravity?

She all but defies it, with calves and thighs like to ache for a week? Feet smash down, jaw set, and with one final spin in the air with a jump?

She lands just a /hair/ over Hinoiri's score!

To her credit, Hannah is quite literally leaning on the 'gates' of the DDR machine to keep upright.

"...You pay today, but earn mein number. I should use a fine dance partner?" Oh gods. She's offering...freundship!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara didn't back down from any challenge. Any fight. She didn't take any shortcuts. However, in this battle of wills? This glorious singing battle? She was... a pony. Hannah was a human. That had proved to be the edge that Hannah needed.

Because while Hannah had managed to reach out and lean on the bar, to grip it with her hands... Hinoiri did not. She was used to using four hooves, but getting down on all four here wasn't an option. So while she danced, she was forced to recover, to stabilize, with just her body.

There was too much movement, too much focus on the beat, for her to even think about other methods. To grip the bar. And perhaps, had she held more time... she would have.

But as it was, when the song ended, caked as she was in sweat... Heh. There was no way she could--

And then she saw the score.

Failure.

*FAILURE!*

FAILURE!

Loser. Failure. She was the prized student of Sora's, and she had failed. She had LOST! To a BLIND HUMAN! For a moment, the rage inside her heart threatened to overtake her and it took all her self control, all her restraint, to not give into Sunbreaker there.

Loser. Loser. LOSER!

Her fists clenched and she took a few slow, deep breaths. And finally, she looked up, a smile on her lips. "Heh. I guess I did. That was a really good battle. So, what kind would you like? And of course. Sounds fun. I won't lose next time, though."

... And she wouldn't. Because she would master that song. The hell she would put herself to to ensure she didn't. Lose. Again.

There were no words. Slowly, she reached up to grab the railing to pull herself to her feet....

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah Steiner smirks! Smiiiiirks! She just /relishes/ in the victory, but not in the 'I'm superior' way. For all her natural royal arrogance, it's clear that the contest was close, and she relishes a strong rival even more than the victory itself! Of friendly competition, free of the baser depths of royal intrigue, and of course, the murder and familial conflict that so often comes with it. She staggers away from the DDR machine, balanced by the helpful bops and leeeeans of a big ol' not-dog Lyra! Eventually finding a seat in the milkshake parlor part of the GCC?

"Vanilla caramel. With, acht, what is the word? 'Velvet Cake Root Beer' sprinklings und float." Oh gods. She's literally choosing the most expensive thing on the menu, as befitting a Steiner Royal. And, her tastes apparently!

She's not trying to lord it over Hinoiri.

But she sure is doing so as a Pauper Royal in practice, as she crosses her legs!

"Best in ages." A single finger slides her number over on a card, of course that's how she'd do it!

"I await out rematch on bated...acht, toes?" Okay, she falters on that last one a bit. Sankt help her!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara followed behind her. Mentally trying to figure out how much one of those machines would cost. A few hundred thousand yen, right? She could swing that. How much would it...

Fortunately, once she found out how much they'd cost even SHE would have to nope out of trying to get her own. They were insane.

"Two of those," Hinoiri said. With just a hint of bitterness to her voice. She'd lost. She'd actually lost. Stupid. Okay, so what did she do wrong? Perhaps she could watch some videos online, find out where her feet had gone wrong. Or maybe the crossbar was important to it. Perhaps if she...

She was so mentally running different calculations and ideas about things that she almost missed the card. "Hm? Oh... right. Yes."

She glanced up at her and then... "I won't lose next time, Steiner-san. Very few people can best me once. I don't make a history of letting it happen multiple times."

There was... maybe a bit, or a lot, of aggression there.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah Steiner knows exactly the feeling of both losing and desperately going out to seek recompence! She soaks in Hinoir's bitterness openly, and simply nods to the formerly hoofed young woman!

Arms raise with the kind of open welocome that only a rich, spoiled brat can offer! And yet it's tinged with honest welcome as the singular charge is again offered to her!

She sluuuurps down her milkshake, openly, almost tauntingly towards Hinoiri!

"Bring your best, frau Kirara! ...I await either another delicious milkshake, or a legendary battle worthy of our names!" She says, brows rising, and then she once again indulges in her victory milkshake!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. Then her eyes narrowed when the other girl dared to SLURP! How DARE she! SLURPING?!

However, the fact the gauntlet was thrown and picked up made her nod. "Good. It'll need to be a pretty good battle, then. I don't serve my name lightly," Hinoiri said with a small smirk before drinking a little from her milkshake.

"How did you do that, anyway? I'm guessing you're not actually blind, so much as just... hard of seeing?" she asked. Legally blind and blind were two different things, after all. "Or is it a song you've practiced a few dozen times?"

"... And now that I think about it, where *are* you from, anyway? I don't think I got a straight answer from you last time..."

Hannah was now a rival. And Hinoiri would learn SO MUCH about her...