2455/Snowy Samurai, The Enduelening

Snowy Samurai, The Enduelening
Date of Scene:	07 April 2025
Location:	The Shed - Woodland Surrounding
Synopsis:	A sparring match between Yukihime and the Shadow Shogun, witnessed by Amy Faust and Entrapta.
Cast of Characters:	Miho Inada, Hinata Muramasa, 281, Amanda Faust

---

Miho Inada has posed:
    Miho is stretching a little bit. Her knee has healed a bit since the last time the two faced each other. During a kendo practice, Miho asked Hinata if the two could spar as their mahou selves. After a few days, so both were fresh, they agreed to meet in the woods behind the school.

    As she's stretching, Miho sends a text out in case. The last real spar she had was against Chrono. The young woman isn't sure just how things are done in terms of how the school handles outside practice time spars. She breathes out as she pulls out a protein bar from her duffle bag.

    The woman breathes out, and her magatama hairpin goes from jade green to frost pale blue. Snow gathers around Miho, and Yukihime steps out of the snow storm. Snow gathers around her hand, and forms her naginata. Her pale eyes look around, as her breathing settles.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Stepping into the clearing, Hinata's green eyes glint in the light. She watches the stretching, and the transformation silently.

    Once the shift ends, the young scion of the Muramasa family bows formally.

    She reaches into the blouse of her uniform, and pulls out a talisman. It looks like part of a katana blade, its edge dull, and the two ends jagged, the whole thing looking like its made from many fragments of metal.

    The tracery of jagged seams glows a baleful blue-white, bursting into soul-fire as she speaks.

    "Good habitation
    A luminous, dark flame eats
    because of the sword."

    Sakura petals start wafting in from seemingly nowhere, obscuring the girl as her form shifts. The silhouette within the 'cocoon' of petals not growing any larger, but gaining the traditional armour of a samurai, a pair of blade handles showing over each shoulder.

    "Lady Yukihime, I, the Shadow Shogun, have come to honour the challenge of a duel." she states somberly.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
The Entrapta is tangled in a bush, trying to get her coveralls un-caught. Branches, always branches. "Who gave nature so many...arms?" she mumbles, off to one side. She gets free with a yank, then tumbles backwards onto the field.

Just in time to witness the events. She's fine. Just mussed, and looking at the two combatants upside-down. No wait, that's her. She turns over so she can see properly.

Honestly she overthinks things so much, it's really better that she's not directly involved. probably mess it up somehow or get stabbinated.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime bows her head a little bit. Her breathing is soft and gentle. "I thank you for this oppertunity to test our skills.", she speaks formally. The mahou raises her left hand. The prayer beads glow a little bit. 8 of the beads fly off, and form 8 wolves surround Yukihime. The mahou looks at the wolves a bit.

    The mahou takes a moment to get into a ready stance before she starts to move her feet a little nit. Its a soft, gentle movement that leads into something akin to a miko prayer dance. It soft flowing movements seem a bit elegant as her naginata flows into the dance. The wolves move with Yukihime, but not aggresively.

    "When you are ready, lets begin.", she speaks softly.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    The Shogun glances toward Entrapta, her dark eye flicking quickly, one quick glance then back on Yukihime.

    She doesn't say anything.

    As Yukihime summons the wolves from her prayerbeads, Hinata lifts her hands to grasp the swords over her shoulders, drawing them in an X shape in front of her. She then intones again, the same tone she used for her henshin.

    "Smoggy timberland,
    A single, opaque crow stings,
    despite the mushroom."

    A flicker of motion erupts from the brush behind the samurai-mahou, as a whole Tengu warrior leaps out with his staff ready, landing beside its mistress in a ready stance. "I can dismiss Yo-Jim-Bo if you prefer I only use my core powers." she suggests, eying the wolves. "Though I feel outnumbered with your summons on the field."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is walking through the woods looking for the match. She spies Miho and starts to wave, only to see Entrapta tumble out of a bush. "Um... are you okay? ...I guess that's a good reason to wear clothes that cover all of your skin, if you're going through bushes. I feel like I scratch easier now, even if it's easy to regenerate scratches..." She's dressed in a T-shirt, uniform skirt, schoolgirl socks, and sneakers, with a jacket tied around her waist in case it gets colder.

    Wait, no! Focus! She catches herself.

    Amy shakes her head and smiles to Yukihime and the Shadow Shogun. "Hiii! Been a while since I watched a sparring match... Good to see you both again!" She backs well out of the way to where she can still see them, and leans back against a tree.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
The Entrapta on the field isn't exactly certain what to say. She looks at the two, now eleven, and frowns. Mathematically it does seem unfair. But she's studied enough to know that pure numbers aren't the entire equation.

Amy's question turns her head, and she pats the ground next to her butt. "I am squishy and likely taste good with ketchup." Pausing, she frowns. "Where did I hear THAT? Huh. Fascinating concept."

She doesn't move to get up, given how little she has to do with actual combat. Maybe a little 'you're both number one' flag or something.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime looks a little confused about her summoning. "It is fine, but summons? Oh! I guess they do seem like and act like summons...", she says while in her dance. Yuki nods to Amy, and feels its safe to show a little. Yukihime pulls anpittle magic, and the wolves fade a little. One can see the prayer beads floating in the air from Yukihime's magic.

    The mahou gives Entrapta a small nod of her head. She blinks a little bit as she continues her dance. "My magic is a bit odd, I admit. But that is why I asked to be tested. My magic takes on the forms of Nature in snow and ice. Let us test our limits, and see where we need to grow.", Yukihime says formally.

    As Yukihime moves, her naginata spins up. At this distance, there is no way for the attack to hit. She's nowhere close...but one of the wolves seems to trace the movement of the naginata. It crouches low, and then streaks towards Shogun, sweeping up, following the path of the weapon.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    Hinata nods at the explanation, and with a subtle nod to the tengu. It nods, and leaps back the way it came, almost like an old video tape being rewound. It reappears... but in a much smaller form factor, floating out of the woods near to Amy. it floats in mid-air, looking like a living tengu doll.

    Then the fight is on. Hinata's grip on her swords tightens a alittle, the material of her gauntlets creaking slightly as she watches the movements.

    The wolf comes in on a sweeping arc, and with a quick shift of her feet she turns away from the snow-wolf, and brings both blades down on its back as she grazes past its strike... the claws raking across the lacuer plates on her thigh, leaving gouges in the protection. "Impressive." she compliments.

    With a step forward, she brings her blades around and down in an overhead double-slash, the blades glowing with that soul-fire, and emitting a pair of wispy blade-beams in return. They're unstable and start to drift off-course well before they reach Yukihime's position. She's not a ranged fighter.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "It's a quote that's been circling the internet for decades." Amy replies. "I think it's from a fantasy novel? 'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and likely taste good with ketchup.' or something like that. The insinuation being that dragons will eat annoying interlopers."

    She watches the fight begin. A chibi-tengu floats by her, startling her when it enters her field of view, but then she sees it's not attacking her and calms. "Huh."

    She watches the way Yukihime directs the wolf. "Interesting. They can't follow and auto-attack a target, I take it?"

Entrapta (281) has posed:
"But I haven't read it," Entrapta says. Her eyes are on the ongoing fight as she talks, her attention split. "I just had this feeling that it was there to be said, and I rarely have..."

Pause.

"Imagination? Yes, that's the word. It looks like a directed magical simulacrum, but with eight of them at once she's clearly holding back. You're accurate, there is likely a deficit of pure control."

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime nods as she quickly moves. "I provide support to melee range fighters. I can guide them around fighters to hit targets from different angles.", she tells. Yuki raises her left hand, and the wolf turns back into a bead, and lands on her wrist. "Amy knows about how much magic each wolf is worth.", she states.

    The mahou takes a deep breath, as she moves. "They can't auto-attack, no. They can auto defend as barriers. Or act as a capture field. But thats too dangerious to do, one on one.", she states. Yukihime guides a pair of wolves in front of her. She's clearly a distance fighter, trying to keep her distance. However she's not pressing her advantage.

    "I will admit that melee is to my disadvantage. Onihime owns the melee, and I offer support so she can focus on dealing with those around her. Basically, I crowd control while she rampages.", Yukihime says. Though it seems odd that Yukihime isn't following up her attack, or calling the wolf back out...

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    "Much like the relationship between Jolly Roger and I." remarks the samurai. "She prefers to shoot from distance, while I step in to tie down a target." Hinata then sheaths her swords, and with an outstretched hand, 'grabs' something from out of thin air. A Gohei appears in her grasp, its paper streamers fluttering in the air as she twirls it a little. Standing straight, she brings her other hand up, and holds up some ofuda slips. "Though I can support from distance in some capacity also." she adds, flicking her wrist and sending those slips flying toward the snow princess... the slips are each imprinted with a single word... commands, perhaps. 'Seal' 'Purity' 'Bind' and a couple 'Explode'. They seek to attach themselves to the youkai musume, or the wolves, their effect beginning on impact.

    They're very weak, easily resisted, but the utility comes from having to resist them in the first place.

    "My magic takes three forms. I call them 'Stances'. Grasscutter Stance is my sword techniques. Miko Stance is what you see here, not powerful on its own, but a force multiplier... or at least enough of a nuisance to let someone more powerful land a hit. And the last is Shakuhachi Stance, where I play a flute to bolster allies, and put fear into the heart of enemies."

    That's, probably the most the dour girl's said in one go, explaining her powers to those present in a measured, almost clinical tone.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta has pulled out a pad and pencil, an invention that she fully plans to recreate when she finally returns to Etheria. pencils. So simple, so useful. She's taking notes, her penmanship having improved quite a bit since her arrival on the planet.

If Amy were to glance over, it seems to be a tactical estimation of strengths versus weaknesses, starting currently in the overwatch of 'ranged versus melee' and the pros and cons of those two situations, then moving into a systematic look at how both can break the rules of those two categories.

She then reaches a pencil nub up to poke at the miniature ...spirit? That's floating near her and Amy. Just curious.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy shrugs at Entrapta's response. "You must have heard it somewhere. Maybe on the internet?"

    She watches Yukihime curiously. "What's a 'capture field'? And I feel you on that, my weapons aren't really specialized for melee either..." She holds a finger to her chin. "Although figuring out how to use them that way might be something I could practice and improve upon with sparring..."

    Amy watches Shadow Shogun work magic curiously. It's true, she has mostly seen Shadow Shogun fight physically, and hasn't gotten a close look at her more mystical prowess. "Did that say 'explode'?"

    As the stances are explained, Amy ooohs and nods. "I see, I see... And which do you think is best for countering Miho's-- I mean, Yukihime's magic?"

    She does glance over at Entrapta. "Do you want to try a pen? You don't have to press as hard with this kind. And it continues to write fine without constant sharpening." She reaches into her messenger bag -- which she was carrying the whole time to have a water bottle to drink from -- and offers a rollerball to Entrapta.

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime watches as her front two wolves block the explode ofuda. There's a flair of a barrier. The two turn to beads, and fly back to Yukihime's wrist. Yukihime winces a bit. The wolves dodge the seal and bind ofudas, but one of the beads fly out. Yukihime blinks, and the Jwolf comes out. The wolf with a dog jweater. It runs right in front of one of the purity ofudas. The dog jweater gets purified. There's a happy pant before the bead flies back to Yukihime's wrist.

    Yukihime blinks at the bead, before catching one of the ofudas with her left hand. She looks down, and smoke comes off it. She caught...purify! It smokes a little before Yukihime shakes her hand. "So glad that I'm a purified yokai, or that would really hurt!", she tells. The yokai mahou dances back a bit.

    Yukihime still hasn't made any attacks since her openning. The 5 wolves remaining still stay close to Yuki. The mahou hasn't been moving her naginata a lot since that first attack. "Remember when Walpy seemed stuck for those few seconds? I surround the witch with the beads, and then used all my magic at once to force the witch to freeze in place.", she explains. She doesn't tell that it nearly killed her in the process. Minor detail, almost dying.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    The question of which of her Stances would be best used against Yukihime makes Hinata frown subtly. She shrugs a little. "I believe that my powerset would not match up to Yukihime's. If she can keep me out of range, which her dancing movements appear capable of, she has me at a major disadvantage that I have no answer to."

    She looks over to the Tengu doll floating near Amy and Entrapta... it squeaks a bit when poked, shaking its tiny staff at the science nerd. "Yo-Jim-Bo may give me an advantage, but supporting him puts a drain on my reserves and we cannot fight together for very long."

    Hinata lets go of her gohei, the wand disappearing in a flutter of blue-white sparkles. "Speaking of, I feel my limit approaching, I ask that we take a break here, perhaps we can make this a semi-regular occurance, with others of our peers."

    Is she suggesting a mahou fightclub? Because she's following rule one and not specifically talking about mahou fightclub.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
The pen is accepted, and the sketching and diagrams continue. A note of 'find a way to recharge mahou' is added, with notes on the possibilities of not only saving lives but adding to tactics which seem to be working by taking power from mahou who are not.

Entrapta is very good at statistics and efficiency, though at this point she's had very little success with actually applying the skills. "My memory is essentially perfect," she says softly as she writes. An answer to Amy. "I don't forget things. So not knowing where something comes from in my mind is a conundrum. But one that will wait until I can get into a barium chamber."

No explanation of that? Seems not. Okay, moving on. "I wonder if there's a tactical situation for failure..." Deep thoughts, perhaps based on what's just occurred.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods as the capture field is explained. "I see... Thank you for doing that, that day."

    She cocks her head to one side at Shadow Shogun's judgement. "What do you mean? She attack from range through summons, but the summons themselves attack in melee. Couldn't you just kill all the summons?"

    She blinks as Shadow Shogun says she's getting tired. "Perhaps you are more evenly matched in endurance than I expected."

    Beat.

    "It uh. It already is a semi-regular occurance. After Inai-sensei's public self-defense lessons. Nobody told you about mahou fight club?"

    "...Although come to think of it, I dunno if there have been meetings lately. It might've been more popular back in 2023 when we were all new and figuring out magic and fighting and stuff."

    Entrapta explains her memory. "I see. That is troubling."

    "...What do you mean a tactical situation for failure? And what's a barium chamber?"

Miho Inada has posed:
    Yukihime summons her beads back to her. "The question would be where are the prayer beads? Very small target thats actively moving. Also, I was scared crapless when I tried the spell. I think if I tried it again on something like that, I probably would die.", Yukihime says honestly. The naginata disappears, and Yuki lifts her right hand. She blows some snow off her hand, which becomes snow bunnies.

    The bunnies hop around to everyone, and hop up to Hinata. If Hinata picks up the bunny, or pats it, she'll feel a bit of energy flow into her. Healing bunnies! "I think Hinata has the advantage of being able to constantly attack, and at close range. If I defend, I can't attack until the bead comes back to my wrist.", she tells.

    "A lot of my magic is focused on support, over attacking.", she tells.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta does, in fact touch a bunny.

"A barium chamber, also known as a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, is a pressurized space where a person breathes one hundred percent oxygen at a pressure higher than normal," she says, but it's coming out autofire.

Her eyes are on the bun. Her attention is on the bun. Her mind is on the bun.

"Tactically, failure offers opportunities that overwhelming success does not. There are ways to win by going backward."

She's not paying attention. Her mouth is moving without brain engaged.

"This is it. This is the way. I have to go!" And Entrapta rises, dashing off as soon as she's vertical. She's inspired. She's got an idea.

Her notes fall to the ground. 'Way to recharge mahou' is left, clearly visible. Almost like it's an anime or a manga, and this is foreshadowing?

I mean, either way, it's clearly either that or she's got to pee.

Hinata Muramasa has posed:
    "My stamina for combat varies." she replies. "Those ranged slashes I used at the start are highly inefficient.. and ineffective." She closes her eyes and dismisses her henshin, returning to her normal state. She kneels down to pat the snowbunny, her face not shifting from its natural emotionless mask.. though her eyes do sparkle a little.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy ahhs at Yukihime's explanation. "So unless you hit the bead, you don't actually do anything to your summons? Interesting."

    And blinks at Entrapta. "...Is that safe? I thought I heard that pure oxygen can be poisonous..." She also picks up a bunny.

    And also... "Your notes!" She picks them up, "...I guess I'll leave them in the shed for her. ...I guess she liked the pen. That's why I have a box of them."

    She looks back to Shadow Shogun, petting the bunny she's still holding. "I see. Yeah, I feel you, some stuff I can do is less efficient in practice."