Filling the void

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma entered Worth Woodsea wondering what exactly it was he was hoping to find. He had been wondering where he should go. The villages and towns he had been to, the islands he had seen, he had almost traveled all of Fiore and there was still so much left to be done. His recent training had brought him to something of a plateau and while he knew there were still much more powerful people out there, he had yet to figure out how to span the gap between point A and point Z. There were goals he had in mind for himself all along after all, but he hadn't really wanted to win journeyman of the year in order to get there. The last time he had been forced to push himself to his breaking point had been when Kotone was around, either their sparring match or their job together. He had to weave his spells together and use them in conjunction, get creative with how he dealt damage, and fight an uphill battle where every effort he put into it was somehow matched by someone just as powerful. She had been the first person to force him to drain himself of all of his mana and had been the first to teach him how to truly become a force of nature. Even though he had won it wasn't exactly by a huge margin, and if it had gone on for much longer he wouldn't have been able to continue with anything but the most basic of attacks.

In the end he was not a monster elemental of nature, he was no where near what legends had built the dragon slayers up to be. Besides that as much as he told dark guild mages that they could climb to higher levels of power if they had friends to help them and opened up and all that positive stuff, they still couldn't have understood just how much one had to give of themselves to make that happen. He hadn't gotten that far. He had no one that he simply went everywhere with, while many Fairy Tail guild members had many other people they could truly open up to. In the end Tatsu was left with questions, loose friendships, and a deep inner void where he still felt like an outsider. It was possible that was due to his nomadic tendencies, but there had to be something more... Something he was missing...

[Kotone]

(Since by no fault of my own we're stuck on that mission that's supposed to get her her katana, I'm going to go about assuming she has it in posts from now on until we finally get some post action and I can buy it)

Kotone let out a sigh as she adjusted the strap on her sword. It was a reasonably cool summer afternoon, and the ice user always appreciated cool. Her eyes scanned the forest around her, thinking back to the last time she was in a forest. A lot had happened back then, and she'd gone through a lot since. A slight smile crossed her lips as her confident amber eyes scanned around her. It was good to get some time alone again. Spirits knew she needed it. Shoving her hands back in her jacket pockets, Kotone started her leisurely walk through the massive Worth Woodsea.

The dragon slayer had grown up in nature, and nature was where she truly felt alive, no matter how long she had spent among the humans... among people like her. It was helping her relax... but it was also helping her find her center. She'd promised herself after the events on Galuna Island that she would take the time to do so every once in awhile and not lose sight of who she had pledged herself to be, both for herself and her missing father. Sure, it was hard. She still had a temper, after all. And she still enjoyed messing with people. But at least she wasn't actively pushing people away.

With a leap, Kotone landed on a branch in the trees as she often did. She caught her balance just as she caught a whiff of an unlikely and all too familiar scent. "Tatsuma..." she mumbled as she took off in his direction. She came to a halt when she landed above him. "Fancy meeting you here, Sparks," she told him with her cocky grin. It was different than it once was. Still confident, but not so massively egotistical. "Are you lost, or did you come for a camping trip around here too?"

[Tatsuma]

Of all the... he had sensed her bioelectrical signature before she had found him, though it wasn't quite as effective at the same range as her sense of smell. He had come here to get away, pretty much as he had done on Galuna Island and just like on the island Kotone had gotten the same idea.
"Well you know I can't stay away from these excursions, but every time I do you seem to have planned the same trip. So what brings you to this forest ice princess? Saving trees? Or were you hoping for a rematch.
" He asked, keeping the annoyance from his voice more or less, but taunting her all the same. After all he actually did want a rematch. It wasn't that he wanted it to teach her a lesson, it was because he had plateaued and needed some sort of push, a push that he was sure she could give. It wasn't something he could simply do on his own anymore, and the old man at fairy tail had run out of time to spend teaching him.

"If it's that last bit, I'll warn you I've gotten better since the last time we fought." He added, hoping that she had too and that her personality would initiate the challenge. He had noticed that she carried around a new weapon now, and wondered how he would fare against it. It had been a while since he tried to take someone on with a weapon in their hand.

[Kotone]

So the little static-filled kid was looking for a rematch? Kotone only grinned slightly wider. She’d improved a ton since their last match, and in more ways than just her fighting skills. She was nothing like before. Stepping backwards, Kotone fell gracefully to the ground, landing in a crouch before standing back up. “What, we can’t just meet in forests without hitting each other?” She asked him without losing that grin. “C’mon, Tatsuma, you know as well as I do that I’d like nothing more than to smoosh your ego into the ground after Galuna, but there’s no hospitals within miles, and I’d rather not accidentally kill you.” Kotone shoved her hands back in her pockets. It wasn’t nearly as hot here, so she was able to wear her black longcoat she hadn’t had back on Galuna Island.

Above her, Sid caught up finally, laying down on the branch above them. He hadn’t wanted to be a part of her mad dash through the trees, and had abandoned ship, so to speak, once she had caught Tatsuma’s scent. “Good to see you again, by the way,” she told him, still visibly relaxed rather than ready for a fight like Tatsuma was. “And Ice Queen is a rather fitting title, if I do say so myself.” Yeah, Kotone was still cocky, but a lot of it was just a show for Tatsuma.

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma looked at Kotone quizzically. She was actually trying to talk down a fight? She was definitely changed from the last time they met. Still it wasn't exactly the ego he was trying to assuage. It was the emptiness, something he didn't expect Kotone to understand.
"Well Ice Princess, He started, deliberately ignoring her statement about calling her ice queen. "Actually as I recall, the nature of our last meeting had you needing the hospital and me needing food. I won't lie though, I'm pretty sure I had a cold the next day." He finished, trivializing her efforts in their last fight. Still he supposed the most effective tactic with this version of Kotone was to simply tell her the truth.
"Actually I've hit something of a plateau and need to push myself harder. I got that from our last fight, but not since and I'm figuring fighting you again will help with that. Don't worry about killing me though, there's no way you'll get that close." He said as he dropped into a fighting stance presumptuously.

She was right, they did seem to have managed to create a standard of fighting each other or fighting something when they were around each other for very long. He didn't have his food source Charlotte here this time either. Still he figured they were on about the same level as far as a fight would go.

[Kotone]

The so-called Ice Princess was pretty sure she’d hit Tatsuma pretty good a few times before she had had her butt handed to her last time they fought. She still remembered the sting of her previous loss, and had dedicated a lot of time to becoming the hero she had originally aimed to be when she was younger. Kotone crossed her arms, not assuming the same battle stance as Tatsuma or presuming anything this time. She’d learned her lesson and wasn’t going to lose to him because she was overly cocky or too gung-ho. Still, the thought of getting a rematch excited Kotone, igniting her dragon slayer blood with the cold fury that powered her ice magic. She finally let her face slide once more into a cocky grin.

“Things are different,” she told Tatsuma, her fangs showing over her bottom lip. Her amber eyes danced with excitement at the thought of a rematch as the air chilled around her again, frost lines trailing out from her feet across the vegetation and causing the plants themselves to become covered in a thin layer of frost and ice. This time it wasn’t from a loss of control over her temper, but from a release of magical energy she’d gained since their fight; or rather, that she’d gained control of. “I won’t look like a fool again, win or lose. But I promise you, I don’t intend to lose this fight, Lightning Dragon Slayer.”

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma smiled, happy to have finally convinced her to have the rematch with him. If anyone should have been asking for it, it was her. She was different from the last time they met, that much had been made obvious, but he wasn't about to hit her with everything he had. First he wanted to get the speed ball rolling. He started by activating his lightning flash. It was now slightly improved and he liked the idea of getting to use it for the first time against her. It was fitting since she was pretty much the inspiration for having taken the time out to learn ways to increase the effectiveness of his already existent spells. Next he activated his lightning storm ability, they were done within seconds of each other as the resultant crackle of electricity in the air invigorated him. He was positively brimming with electrical energy as he walked slowly towards Kotone, not yet wanting to use the speed from his lightning flash ability.
"I've been wanting to test some of these ideas of mine out. I think I might have been a bit too slow in our last fight." He said as he stepped to basic striking distance.

His eyes flashed a dull, blank, emotionless look as he took up his stance, wanting to see what she would start with at this close of a range. It wouldn't give him time to use his shock shield, but he still wanted to know what it was she had in store.
"Don't forget you can use that katana if you want, ice princess." He said softly as he prepared to react.

[Kotone]

Kotone sighed just a bit condescendingly when Tatsuma opened with the same ability he had started with before in their initial fight. Her hands dropped to her side and she closed her eyes rather than opening with an aggressive strike as per her normal style. Tatsuma was equally aggressive, and likely faster than before. It would be hard to keep up, but she was good at predicting movement thanks to her senses. Still, it couldn’t hurt to even the odds a bit, since her magic wasn’t conducive to increasing her physical power or speed. She inhaled a breath, opened her eyes, and grinned right before she exhaled, covering the area around them in a fog that induced a wintery chill. It didn’t affect her, but Tatsuma would be slowed down by the ice forming on everything the fog touched.

Even as she exhaled, her right hand went up, unsheathing her sword as she lunged forward and swung hard and fast. He was asking for it, and she had faith in her own swordsmanship skills to not kill him. She would show him that she could grow up too. She didn’t need a guild to do it, though letting a few people in had certainly helped her to improve since she wasn’t focusing so much on keeping people out. “Sorry, Sparky, no amount of speed will help you when you’re fighting someone with real talent,” she taunted, slightly less seriously than she sounded.

MP 225/250:

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma hesitated briefly, just enough for her to get him with frost. She had obviously forgotten about his shield, but so had he for a moment. As she lunged at him with the sword he didn't have a way out, he couldn't manage the speed to keep up with her, so in the interest of keeping things in his favor he charged his dragon wolf needle as he activated dragons might, empowering himself with the force of Rhidran's lessons. As he got close he tossed the lightning made senbon at her, aiming for center mass so it would be more difficult to dodge, as he leaped backwards, falling to his back and rolling as his teeth chattered and he attempted to recover from the cold though it wasn't going very well. If nothing else proved that she had improved the bite of this cold certainly did the trick. The attacks from the last time they had fought were like thrown ice cubes in comparison to the way her ice felt now. It most definitely had more life to it and it was plain as day that she had been training, though he didn't have a way to call exactly how much she had improved. Still he wasn't about to lose to her just like this.

As he rolled back he took a second to get to his feet, his arms crossed over his body as his he exhaled what felt like cold air from his lungs.
"Well that is surprising... you must have... been working on... not being a brat." It was meant to be an insult but the effects of it were decreased by the fact that he was too busy trying to keep warm. Once he focused past the cold he realized he was still capable of moving bout as well as he could before he had activated all his spells. With still chattering teeth he steeled himself for her next attack.


WP: 250/250
MP: 179/240

cool down: Lightning Flash: 2 posts, Dragon's might: 2 posts, Dragon Wolf Needle: 3 posts
sustain: Lightning Flash(8), Lightning Storm(8)
Total Agility: 8(-2 from debuff)=6

[Kotone]

Kotone had been ready for the speed demon of a dragon slayer to retaliate when she attacked. His advantage was speed, even now, and if he didn’t press that fact he was going to lose in a matter of moments. Both of them knew this, of course, and Kotone had counted on it. As his needle aimed for her center mass, her shield of ice she had used before formed around her, shattering as his relatively weak attack connected with it. It lasted just long enough to stop her from being paralyzed and losing the fight for sure.

As the attack shattered, she halted her assault as she skidded to a stop. She could overpower him, but she couldn’t outmaneuver him, and as he sat up to give her a line about working on something other than being a brat… or something like that… her mouth curled into a bemused, if slightly annoyed, grin. “Better a brat than a perv,” she told him, thinking about something he had said back on Galuna Island.

Kotone’s katana sang as it sliced through the air while she assumed an attack stance once again. Charging towards him, she brought up her sword like she was going to attack again, but instead, she threw a punch with the other hand. The hand was covered in ice, forming a set of wickedly powerful dragon claws. “You have a weakness for pretty girls,” she told him as she sliced. “I could use that to my advantage if I were the type.”

Cooldown - Breath 2

MP 185/250:

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma watched as she approached. A regular slash, no she would back that up with a spell. He opted at that moment the bring up his shock shield, he expected the hit to harmlessly strike his shield, maybe even shatter it, but what he wasn't expecting was for it to punch though. It didn't matter, it would still launch its own damage back, and as he was punched he went to kick, aiming to land a solid strike on Kotone, but he was too slow with the chill on him already. She was definitely much stronger. Her own shield was shattered so easily last time. She must have gotten better with that too. As he rolled across the ground and recovered from the strike he slid himself up on one arm at the last instant, trying to recover in order to mount a proper counter attack. He had improved by leaps and bounds he had thought, but she had somehow managed to pull something even greater off, and that pissed him off. She had most assuredly earned his full respect.
"Well, I guess this means I'm going to have to defend the old fashioned way. Who would have thought a carrot like yourself would have gotten this much of a leg up on me, i'm not done yet though." He said with a grin.

Wordlessly, and just as he had done with Taiga after some coaxing, Tatsuma let himself slip into his rage. It was pure, clean, and free of anger. It was only rage in the sense that it was a primal mindset that increased his speed and skill. He had expected it to work with the other spells he had going, but he was still so very very cold. He closed his eyes for barely an instant, and when he opened them they were blank of any emotion. No more smart ass remarks were forthcoming, no more taunts, no more petty squabbling. He was a hunter, and at the moment, Kotone was his prey.

Shock Shield:

Primal mode:

WP: 220/250
MP: 113/240

cool down: Lightning Flash: 1 posts, Dragon's might: 1 posts, Dragon Wolf Needle: 2 posts, Shock Shield: 3 posts, primal mode cooldown: 3 posts
sustain: Lightning Flash(8), Lightning Storm(8)
Total Agility: 13(-2 from debuff)=11

[Kotone]

Kotone had felt the shock from the shield he brought up to deflect her attack. It was familiar after the last time, though no less painful. Sometimes pain was necessary to pull off a victory, after all. Kotone stepped back, shaking her slightly numb left hand as Tatsu taunted her figure yet again. Better or not, it still got a rise out of the seventeen year old dragon slayer. “Hey!” she said, breaking her concentration momentarily. “What are you blind? I’ve got a gorgeous figu-“ she’d put her hands up near her chest to emphasize what she was saying, but Tatsu had already entered the odd trance he had learned from Kotone’s father figure, the guild master of Fairy Tail himself.

Kotone’s hands dropped back down, her right hand gripping the katana again as she assumed a readied stance. What exactly did this mean? He hadn’t used the trick before when they’d fought…. But then again, Kotone had more tricks, herself. Letting out a gentle breath to center herself, Kotone closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she was covered in a diamond-like armor of ice. He had speed, but she had everything else. Tatsuma was getting serious already. Kotone would be ready.

Recharge - Shield 2, Claw 3

MP 160/250:

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma looked at her blankly as two glyphs appeared on his hands. He held them up in front of him as they glowed.
"BOOST!" He roared as the glyphs glowed a dark purple color and his essence shuddered with electricity. So she had scales up, she hadn't used that before that he could recall, but he assessed it as if it were no surprise, and wordlessly zipped toward her, disappearing and reappearing directly in front of her, no less than and inch away with his fingers outstretched he punched straight forward. It was one fluid motion before he disappeared and reappeared again, launching a second strike on her from behind before disappearing and reappearing to her right, though he didn't strike from her right. He simply disappeared and reappeared again this time above her, launching a vicious kick. All of his attacks remained electrically charged from his lightning storm ability, and if any of them hit he had another surprise for her. His wanted to charge her ionically, in the next few instants she would be zapped with yet another surge of electricity, and all she had to do was fall if she wanted the assault to stop. As it stood, he refused, disappearing and reappearing three more times and attacking on all of them, once low from behind aimed for her leg, once high from the right, a kick aimed for her face, and once high to the right, a strike aimed for the brachial plexus origin, a spot at the base of the neck he often used to knock people out. Once the assault was finished he reappeared several feet from her to see what more he would need to do.

Lightning Flash:

Dragon's might:

aftershock:

Boost- Used for buffs boost has the ability to allow the user to cast the buff again in order to double the effect. After the initial casting start the cooldown for a spell of that level as it must be sustained for the duration of its cool down after which it can be applied a second time to double its effect, mana cost remains same to recast it but sustain cost doubles, thus a level 1 spell costs 10 to activate and 5 to sustain, to boost it requires another 10 mana and 10 to sustain, and to boost again costs 10 mana and 20 to sustain.‏
can be boosted once for each * in boost (max 2), requires buff, requires sustain





WP: 220/250
MP: 73/240

cool down: Lightning Flash: 3 posts, Dragon's might: 2 posts, Dragon Wolf Needle: 1post , Aftershock: 3 posts, Shock Shield: 2 posts, primal mode cooldown: 2 posts
sustain: Lightning Storm(8)
Total Agility: 16=16

[Kotone]

Kotone had expected fast, but he was fast enough she actually lost his scent for about a fraction of a second as he moved. He still smelled like he was where he started, but unfortunately, he wasn’t. His first attack landed on her armor, which cracked and shattered in a single blow. It wasn’t a weak ability, but Tatsuma wasn’t weak either. It didn’t matter; the shield had served its purpose. Stumbling backwards, she barely managed to dodge his second blow. The third hit her squarely in the back, and she yelled out in pain, the electricity surging through her as she stumbled forward. She jumped up in time to dodge the leg sweep, and brought up her sword, blocking his final attack with the flat of her blade. The blade was charged with electricity, but she only felt the minimum pain from it.

“It’s gonna take more than speed…” she panted, shaking off the pain from the electricity with a twitch. She grinned. “At least there’s one advantage to you forgetting I’m a girl. You actually give me a good fight,” she told him as a shard of ice appeared in the air directly over her shoulder, firing at a high speed towards Tatsuma’s center of mass. She fully expected him to dodge. If he didn’t, it was going to impale him. As the shard launched, she turned quickly, slashing with her sword again. He would dodge in the direction that gave him the greatest advantage – the one furthest from her sword arm, if he had any sort of strategy. Even as she slashed, she threw a follow-up kick. If he caught it, she would react much faster than before, leaping and kicking him in the head with her other leg as the caught leg coated itself in ice so she could twist without hurting anything.

Recharge - dome 1, claw 2, armor 3

MP 130;250:

[Tatsuma]

Tatsu could see ice spike flying at him, but instead of dodging, he simply rushed forward, moving toward it and using the force of the magical energy from lightning storm to smash it, creating a cloud of shattered ice dust as he rushed Kotone. The ice dust trailed after him as he seemed to disappear and reappear in front of her. The sword slash was predictive and well placed, but as he ducked to avoid it, and the follow up kick was thrown, he held up his forearm, using the other hand to brace it and his shoulder to deflect the rest of the blow while his leg darted out with his own kick aimed for the knee that was connected to the leg that was on the ground as he circled the blocking arm around her other leg to tuck it under his armpit. Briefly he smiled as his aftershock went off and the glyph on her back from the attack that had hit her before she launched the shard, drew a bolt of electricity directly from him.

The first kick was to throw her off balance, possibly knock her down, while the grapple was designed for a more deadly and final tactic. He was to go into a death roll where he would roll forward with his body leading to pull her down so that he would be on top of her with his hip being pulled quickly behind her in an attempt to dislocate it do he could wrap his other arm around her neck for a lock and get off an electric attack to hold her down while he opened up with a volley. Not much work would need to be done as long as his bolt did its job.

If all went as planned the fight would be over in no time, but he could already feel himself running low on mana, but that wasn't all, he had grappled her before, the last time they fought, and it hadn't turned out very well for either of them. It was too late to change his mind, he was going to have to commit.



WP: 220/250
MP: 26/240

cool down: Lightning Flash: 3 posts, Dragon's might: 2 posts, Dragon Wolf Needle: 1post , Aftershock: 3 posts, Shock Shield: 2 posts, primal mode cooldown: 2 posts
sustain: Lightning Storm(8), Lightning flash [boost](16), Dragon's might [boost] (10),
Primal mode (13)
Total Agility: 16=16

[Kotone]

Kotone had admittedly not noticed Tatsu’s aftershock ability yet again. It had worked in the fight before and it worked this time, She didn’t manage to avoid his assault due to her temporarily paralysis, and he successfully grabbed her. Despite the pained look on her face as she was thrown to the ground, she could tell he was trying to end the fight quickly, and a grin appeared on her lips in amusement. No way it was going to be that simple. For all appearances though, it looked like she was amused that he would be so crafty.

Kotone managed to put up just enough of her ice dragon’s scales as she fell to break not only the worst of the fall, but also to stop her hip from dislocating, though the ice was under her clothing so Tatsuma shouldn’t be any the wiser in the heat of combat. She laid there for a long moment as she waited for the stun to wear off. With any luck, he would get up and think he’d won. Her facial expression matched what she was supposed to feel. Direct was normally her favored approach, but if he was half as cocky as he was before, she could use that to get her revenge.

Recharge: Claw 1, Armor 2
MP – 115 (Used Armor again)

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma released his speed abilities and his lightning storm. He was thoroughly exhausted, but was convinced that he had beaten her. She was still a bit cocky, but it wasn't enough that he could easily take advantage of it. He had been forced to go overboard and put it all on the line to beat her, it was the very reason why he liked fighting her. He had even managed to avoid being hit by her cold attacks less than before. She had improved, but he hadn't learned too much more from the fight, at least not right off the bat. True he had learned he could apparently push his speed to the point he was convinced he could keep up with anyone in Fiore, but it was at a fairly heavy price. He was exhausted, his mana was pretty much gone, and if it hadn't been over yet he would probably have been forced to give up.
"Well, you did your best, but I guess your best wasn't goooooodd enough." He said the last part in a singsongy voice at the end to accentuate the win.
"Joking aside, you are the best opponent. Next win is yours i'm sure." He said confidently as he turned to walk away leaving her on the ground but making preparations to go somewhat slowly so that he could watch and make sure she got up. So caught up in his assault was he, that he hadn't even noticed that hit punches were hitting something far more solid than her flesh should have been.

[Kotone]

Tatsuma walked away, taunting Kotone with his assumed win. Kotone waited, and almost to her surprise, he deactivated his abilities that were giving him such a huge advantage. As he started walking away, Kotone opened one eye, that naturally cocky grin returning to her face. She got back on her feet, ignoring her katana on the ground or sudden movements for a short moment. Yeah, Tatsuma was out of it. He’d tired himself out too quickly, while Kotone had been pacing herself the entire time.

Without warning, Kotone rushed Tatsuma from behind, her ice dragon claw reforming as her other hand reached out, grabbing Tatsuma’s shoulder as her foot slid into his ankle and she pulled him down, coming down on top of him with controlled grace. When they stopped their fall, Tatsuma was on the ground and Kotone’s claws were less than an inch from his face. She was panting, but didn’t look nearly as exhausted as he was.

“Something you taught me,” she told Tatsuma as she stayed in the position so that he couldn't properly fight back. Her grin turned a bit more gentle, more sincere. “Being cocky in a fight could cost you an easy victory.” It had, in fact, been a fun fight, and she was glad to have run into him. He'd forced her to face the fact that she was still learning, even though she was a mighty dragon slayer, and that sometimes, even loners needed help. "Now... care to do the manly thing and admit you were beat by a pretty girl this time?"

[Tatsuma]

He didn't struggle as she placed him in the hold, she was stepping on the wrong spot, the ankle. It was good if you were trying to fracture it, but that wasn't a hold point on the body. He ran through the ways he could have gotten out of this. She wasn't a grappler, the real problem was the ice claw she had in front of his face... That and the fact that he was out of mana. She was right he had burned himself out, though had he been at full strength he could have done something about this. Had he been at full strength he would have rotated his ankle, delivered a strike to the inner elbow with his left hand and forced her claws into her body, but he was weak and something like that at this point was stupid. She had bested him, not just with brute strength, but with planning and the clever use of opportunism.
"In the interest of my health and warmth, sure... Though I'll only admit that you're cute, not pretty, your chest is lacking." He said in a fairly happy tone given what had just happened.
[#ff0000]"Now see if this had happened in town some passerby might think that you're trying to rape me. Not that I'd fight THAT hard."[/color] He said, now mostly trying to just make her get off him more quickly by making her blush ashamedly.

[Kotone]

Tatsuma really had a way with women – a bad way. Kotone glared at Tatsuma when he told her she was cute and not pretty. “My chest is-“ Kotone started before cutting herself off. “You just don’t have a halfway decent taste in women. We’re not objects you know,” she told her captive audience of one. “The ones that let you treat them as such aren’t worth your time. You're an animal, you know that?” She hoped that made sense to the other dragon slayer; he’d spent too much time out with animals and was basically one himself. It disgusted her, but she also pitied him, hoping that he might learn one day before he got himself into trouble.

Tatsuma’s second comment made Kotone’s eye twitch, but it hardly had the desired reaction. Instead, her foot shifted to where it actually was pinning Tatsuma’s leg, and she looked more angry than annoyed as her grip tightened around Tatsuma’s shirt. “First off, you’re completely disgusting. Second, no I’ve forgotten the second because I’m too busy thinking how stupid that sounded. No way in Hell I’d ever come close to wanting anything like that from you. I can’t believe there’s a single girl out there who would.” Kotone let go of Tatsuma roughly, shoving him into the ground as her claw disappeared. She walked over and picked up her katana, practically seething with anger. “I can’t believe we’re both dragon slayers. Ugh.”

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma listened to Kotone yell at him, that was expected too, but at least she hadn't blown up completely. Regardless, he decided it was time he showed someone a part of the version of himself that had yet remained unreleased to anyone, not that he was particularly close, in fact to date he didn't have anyone he actually considered a friend, but since Kotone had managed to trip a trigger he decided to stand up since he was freezer burn free. After brushing himself off, he walked, just as slowly, toward her, a completely blank expression in his eyes, as if he was looking at her from a bottomless pit.
"Animals, despite habit, can typically survive on their own. They don't have to build complex relationships and don't rely on others to the extent they are helpless without them. Convenience, survival, amusement, these base emotions define what one NEEDS in order to maintain their sanity and that happens to stand at the level of bare minimum. My Taste in women fulfills a need, amusement to be specific, and you deny your innermost desires to the extent you push people away to fulfill your own desires." He started as he took another couple of steps toward her.

As he stood so that he was shoulder to shoulder with her, looking at her out of the corner of his still seemingly empty eyes and continued.
"We are both dragon slayers because that's what fate willed, and whether you like it or not, we're both just cast offs that our human parents didn't even want. Though feel free to keep talking down to people." He whispered the last sentence as he started to step past her, though as he did he grabbed her chest (right side) and softly squeezed as he passed, letting his hand fall off and anticipating shock to keep her from grabbing it.
"Hmmm... I was wrong, you do have a chest." He turned back and said with a smile, his eyes now seemingly full of the light and life they normally exhibited, but only briefly before turning back around to walk away. Regardless of whether or not he was injured he still needed to rest somewhere.

[Kotone]

Kotone was more than a little bit surprised when Tatsuma’s response was to adopt an eerily neutral voice as he explained that he was, in fact, just an animal, and that like it or not, he was fulfilling what he considered a need. He also told the slightly stunned girl that the pair of them were both castaways, people not considered good enough for their own parents. Kotone didn’t have time to react though, because out of nowhere she suddenly felt rather violated as she was told in a suddenly ‘friendly’ voice that she did, in fact, have a chest.

Now, Kotone was doing better than she had been. She was less prone to snapping and pushing people away, though Tatsuma didn’t know that. That didn’t really apply in this particular situation. No, Kotone outright snapped. Grabbing Tatsuma, she shoved him up against a nearby tree, easily lifting his feet off the ground as she roughly gripped his shirt with a deep scowl on her face. “We are dragon slayers,” she told him. Her eyes reflected the cold blue ice she used rather than her normal amber tint, and the air temperature around them had dropped to near-freezing. “Like it or not, we’re special. We aren’t stupid animals. I push people away, yes, but I don’t hurt them like you. You use people for your amusement. I would die for a complete stranger before I would hurt someone nice enough to show the kind of kindness it would require for you to be able to use them like that.”

The malice in her voice didn’t lesson as she kept going. “I have my issues. All dragon slayers must. I don’t fault you for your issues. I fault you for how stupid you are. How you preached to me and yet you’re so much worse. I begrudgingly looked up to you for your ability to rely on a guild to help you. Now… I see what you are. You use people. Women. The people we should be keeping safe. You say it’s just to keep your sanity? Well I would lose my sanity before I’d do something so utterly disgusting.” She wasn’t even mad about his grabbing her at this point. No, that had just been the final straw. His utter disregard for women disgusted her, and not because she was a woman. “You are a human, taught by a dragon with intelligence and ability far beyond our own. You insult your own mother by claiming the things you do.” Kotone’s fist clinched tighter, a shard of ice appearing in it like a knife. She slammed it into the tree with enough force to crack the tree and send wood splinters onto both of them. Her face grew dark as the cold fury didn’t leave her eyes, but she did seem to calm down slightly as she roughly dropped him to his feet. “Goodbye, Tatsuma,” Kotone turned, letting out an angry breath as she started to walk off for real this time.

[Tatsuma]

Tatsuma listened to what Kotone had to say, though she was misunderstanding something. Still it was good she had put him down since he had planned on causing some damage otherwise. He didn't even flinch when she stabbed the tree, though her reaction still wasn't outside the parameters of what he had come to expect form doing similar things in the past.

"You're mistaken about one thing. Animals do not USE people. I don't mislead people as to what my intentions are, I don't force myself to feel something I have no need for either. You're wrong about my guild, they are still my pack, though any creature that runs in packs knows that if your pack happens to fall apart on you, or abandon you, all that's left is to move on and rely on yourself, just as I always do. I'm with my guild because they are that pack, and as soon as they decide I have no purpose with them, or they fail to understand me as has been the case so far, they will simply disappear when it's no longer convenient. Or eventually we will make enemies with the wrong people and all will die, or the magic council will shut them down, something will happen. Something always happens and you realize you're just the omega. Maybe it will be different for you, but I doubt it. Move along ice princess, maybe one day you'll understand what it's like when your ego stops protecting you from your own emptiness." He said with a wave as he adjusted his clothes and walked the opposite direction of where she was heading.

Despite her words, he had much to think about. Besides growing stronger, he still had to spend some time considering his own way of thinking just the way that he expected his words might one day affect her way of thinking. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to tell her about that, even if it did end up making a different one day.

[exit Tatsuma]

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