[OPEN] fight fight fight!

[paladinforhire]

Who: Fridtjof and OPEN!
What: Fridtjof is bored. He imagines others are bored as well.
Where: Top deck, near the pool.
When: Day 6-8ish?
Warnings: Violence probably, but preferably controlled violence.


Around day 6 there's a poster that appears in various parts of the ship. It's clearly hand-drawn, but someone at least looks like they've put a lot of time into it.



The person in question is loitering around the area, leaning against a tree. There's a rough circle made out of dirt, large enough to be a modest arena. He's wearing his shiny blue and white armor with a blue and white shield on his back. He looks to be very bored and his rabbit-like ears are twitching, searching around for any sound. Sure, she said there were no monsters, but...

In any case he greets anyone approaching with a smile and a wave.

"Hello! Here to fight or here to watch?" He'll show off for people if they want, he's just trying to not be flashy.

Comments

[fauxcalors]

"I see!" Furina says brightly, and nods in turn. It's to be an exhibition match, then--like dance, some things simply go better with a partner. Not everyone can be as well at ease as a soloist. "I shall look forward to seeing your match when it arrives."

"Ah, but one must also rest when they can, monsieur," she says. "I should know! I spend most of my time resting." And fretting, but he needs not know that.

[paladinforhire]

"I suppose so." Ah, so she's - well, maybe not actually Ishgardian but she sounds somewhat more like them than she doesn't. "I've been called a precocious kit before, and I suppose I can't blame them. Even when I was very small I was running around the Wood more than most."

Wait, she might not know what that is - "That is, the jungle in which I spent the first half century or so of my life. I did leave it at a young age, in all fairness. And after that I spent most of my time learning about the wider world and fending for myself, so I haven't rested much outside of being forced to by injury. Or by other people."

[fauxcalors]

Furina tilts her head at the information she's been given--the man before her does not look as though he has lived for over half a century, but, eyeing his ears, she supposes his species might not age like humans do.

"You have lived quite a different life to me, monsieur," she comments. "Rarely have I ever left the city I call home, and never have I left the nation it stands as the heart of. And I am much older than I look, so I can assure you that is quite a length of time to remain in place."

There might be something like both longing and fear in her voice when she asks, "what's it like? To travel so much, and fight your way through it."

[paladinforhire]

"It's all right. Not everyone can or wants to be an adventurer." He discovered the love for it along the way, amidst a storm of blood and the winds of change. Though hm... she doesn't appear to have the pointed ears of the elezen... maybe a different world thing.

The tone makes his features soften. How to even explain it? "It's... freeing. The fighting I grew up learning in order to defend my home from beasts and monsters, but using it against sentient creatures is a... difficult ask. It took a while for me to become all right with it, aside from those from my bitterest enemy. But you learn a lot about yourself while traveling. What you want, where your limits are, and whom to put your trust in."

"For myself... I learned that I wanted to help people, not just the person I left to follow. My limits... are broader than they used to be out of need. But I trust in my friends - my comrades whom I have bonded with through the years. They're the reason I fight. They're the ones who give me the strength to carry on when I cannot do so on my own. And I would do anything to protect their smiles."

[fauxcalors]

Furina nods slowly. "I see. I suppose that makes sense, in its own way," she says. "I can't say I've ever had...comrades, like that, but...I understand the sentiment. There are people I have a duty to as well, and while they don't require anything so direct from me as my presence on a battlefield, I would give everything for them."

Too forward, too direct? Mayhaps. But Furina is tired, and she's spoken nothing of the prophecy--her words to this stranger are perfectly poised and Archon Approved. Who is he going to be gossiping about her to, anyway? This much, and no more, is safe to share. She thinks. And it's...somehow easier to do, with him being a stranger. She doesn't know if she would have been able to be so frank to Neuvillette without more hesitation. The burden of expectation, and the weight of history...it does not exist here.

It's nice.

"Maybe, one day..." she says, gaze distant. "Maybe one day, I'll be able to travel." After all, hadn't Neuvillette promised her that her duty had reached its end? "After five hundred years spent in one place, it could be...nice, to see what the other nations have to offer."

If they ever get off this Ship, that is.

She smiles. "Of course, if that is my plan, I should probably brush up on my combat skills. Teyvat isn't the safest place out there to wander--I certainly wouldn't suggest taking to the roads unarmed if you ever happen to find yourself there."

[paladinforhire]

"Five hundred years? Your people must be very different to mine, indeed." She looks so much like a hyur... but so did someone else he knows and she's been alive for possibly thousands of years. He really has no place to judge.

Still... she sounds almost... lonely. "Ah, well. Unarmed is something I rarely am, whether it's with sword and shield or staff. Even when I'm a healer I still have combat options." Enough to injure at least, if not kill. Enough to stun and get away if he must. "Maybe one day we can see it together. I'm fond of visiting other places and seeing how other people live. It does make my homeland feel... a little restrictive, but I've long since accepted that to be the case."