[x] Squee, success!!!
[x] Spar more with Ariane.
-[x] Defense first. Let's try that energy shield thing again!
-[x] Then practice offense. My turn now!
[x] Think of tests for Ariane (write-in).
-[x] Tell her about her Ghost Girl thing and get her to try it.
-[x] Have Ariane try to control the sword and the orbs of light telekinetically while fighting.
For a moment you stay completely silent, trying to comprehend what you just did. Then, your confusion turns into understanding, followed by the feeling of joy. You can't help but to squee out loud at your success, "Yes, it worked!"
However, the feeling is short-lived as you realize that you are not exactly alone there. You start rubbing your neck apologetically and turn to look at the confused Ariane. This is getting embarrassing, "Uh, s-sorry, I just thought about trying to figure some kind of defensive use for my powers. I-I wasn't expecting such a success so soon, and…"
Ariane raises her eyebrows and nods slowly, "Huh? Well, I'm glad to hear that, but… are you okay?"
You nod at the girl, "D-don't worry, I'm unharmed but surprised… A-anyways, I'm going to try that again, so can you try attacking again? I-I'll have to figure out if there are limits to this." While you say that, you charge up your shield half-full again and put it in front of you.
"D-don't hesitate to attack it!" you offer a final piece of advice before pushing the charge to the outer layer of the shield. At the same time, Ariane grabs the sword orbiting her and pulls it into her grasp. The barrier flares into existence and the girl charges in with a wild overhead swing.
You are pleased to discover that the strike has no effect on the glowing shield you conjured, and it just bounces harmlessly off. Ariane frowns in surprise but nevertheless continues the assault from different angles but to no avail.
It lasts about ten seconds. After that, the shield dissipates and Ariane lays down her sword, panting slightly from the effort. All through this, the sword barely did anything against the barrier and you suspect that the dissipation was more due to an actual time limit rather than losing its strength from the repeated strikes. It certainly is sturdier than your force bubble at least.
"T-thank you, I think I got the gist of it," you say to Ariane who smiles brightly in response in between the panting, "but let's get to the next point. Y-you also need to practice your defense! S-so, I'm going to attack in turn and you need to dodge or parry my strikes. N-no worries, I won't go all out."
"Uh, are you sure this is a good idea?" Ariane asks you nervously, clearly not entirely behind the idea, "It seems quite dangerous…"
You smile and nod slowly, "M-maybe, but we won't be fighting for serious, just practicing. I-I'll try to make my attacks easy, just use your Magical Girl instincts."
The girl seems to cave in, even if reluctantly, and sets her sword in front of her in preparation. You don't waste time and charge her with your sabre, going for half-assed strikes by your standards.
Ariane seems to have some difficulties keeping up with you at first, getting disarmed by you within a minute. Not to be discouraged yet, she simply summons another one, keeping the old one around her at your suggestion of getting to know the limits of the telekinesis.
The swirling flambard makes it a lot more difficult to approach Ariane, but after a few minutes of more sparring, you manage to get rid of the new one. Unfortunately, it just joins the first one in orbit while ariane summons a third one for use.
The duel lasts for a few minutes after that, before you finally decide to call it quits. Approaching what is pretty much a defensive buzzsaw is not exactly the healthiest form of friendly sparring after all, and you both seem to have gotten a bit better at fighting in the end.
After dispelling the swords and sheathing the sabre, you and Ariane make your way back to Evelyn and de-transformed Kishi.
"W-well, I think that is enough basics for one day," you begin, smiling happily at your friends. Around you the Sun has finally started to set and the amount of light is dropping rapidly. "Still, I think there is one thing we could still try out! A-Ariane, do you know how to use your, uh… Ghost form?"
The girl seems confused at your question, "My what?"
"W-well, I think it is when you are seeing your dreams. I-it seems to bring forth a ghostly version of you, so I thought we could figure out how exactly it works! I-if it's okay with you, though…" you answer, trying to summarize the phenomenon. Next to you, Kishi stays silent but seems to passively support the idea while Evelyn seems to become mildly curious at the mention of ghosts.
"Oh, so it looks like that to others…" Ariane says, "I kind of need to sleep for that though, so I'm not sure if it works here… But if it's needed, I can try! Just wake me up, okay!"
The girl sits on the ground and de-transforms, trying to focus on something. It takes a few seconds, but her body suddenly seems to lose all strength it had and slumps down.Her Soul Gem, quarter-filled with grief, falls next to her, and you watch as the darkness rapidly proceeds to swallow the Gem half-way through before stabilizing.
A cloud of mist forms above Ariane, solidifying into the all too familiar spectral girl you have seen before. Her eyes are closed and her face remains serene as she floats silently above her body.
Then without warning she turns a bit, turning her head to face the city itself. Barely giving you time to react, Ariane's ghostly body flashes weakly before she crouches slightly and shoots into the night sky, leaving you and Kishi standing there with her body lying motionless on the ground. Evelyn is crouching next to the body, looking like she is about to panic, "She's... barely breathing? How... how does this even?"
What do you do?
[] Write-in.
===
So... This happened?
Things gained:
- Tamiko got +2 to atk rolls and +1 to dodge rolls. Once again your reading of the books and watching of HEMA videos is the reason for the large offensive increase.
- Tamiko learned Force shield.
- Ariane gained +1/+1 bonuses and learned to use orbiting weapons n the most basic manner.
These have been added to the mechanics post.
