Three Final Fantasy characters walk into a bar

[silentnarration]

WHO: Squall, Seifer, Cloud, ??
WHAT: Trying out weapons
WHERE: Workshop outside the city
WHEN: Sep 3
WARNINGS: Fight! Potentially blood and injury

Holding a gunblade in his hand again, even if it's just blade without the gun, is exhilarating. Doesn't matter what else Squall doubts about his own future, he won't give this up anytime soon. Plus, it's great stress relief from the hellish invasion of memories just weeks ago.

There's a lot of things making this fun. One, he's never fought alongside Seifer before. Two, Cloud is... remarkably powerful, way beyond what his stature and figure would indicate. Three, the prototype gunblade is a great teaser to what Seifer is going to eventually make.

He falls back to stay out of range of Cloud's buster sword (how is he even wielding that so easily?), eyes flicking over to Seifer to see what he's doing. It's strange having to flip his thoughts from how to counter Seifer's attacks to how to complement it, but all those years of fighting each other is working in their favor now.

He runs in to swipe at an opening from the other side. He's precision and skill even without the trigger component. It's clear he's treating the sparring session like a real battle. Seifer's taught him that much.

Comments

[firacrux]

They're prototypes, not sharpened, but good enough for a practice run. He hasn't completely finished the work on honing Cloud's blade either, there's still some fine polishing and sharpening to do there as well. But with it built they might as well see if it's weighted correctly for his combat style, right? Such a large sword is so out of his realm of expertise it's going to take some time to get it right.

Astonishing the guy can even lift the damned thing. It took all of Seifer's arms to maneuver it from the heat into the specially made quenching trough, and even then he was so worried it'd break in the bath. Thankfully it held up, and now it was time to see how it performed. He kept a faint eye on what Squall was doing out of his peripheral, but much of his attention was focused on Cloud. These gunbladers took sparring seriously, Seifer in particular.

As Squall closed in on one side, Seifer closed in on the other, surprisingly light on his feet for someone so large, his combat style more a spinning dance of whirling blades than the heavier more focused punch of Squall's strikes.

[bravers]

[Both Seifer and Squall had looked surprised when he'd taken the slab of steel from the workbench with a single hand, turning it in the air slowly as he'd examined it. Of course, the cursory examination of the thing Seifer had made wasn't enough to really get a feel for it- so the suggestion to take things a little more physically was a good one.

Youth's something that smiles on all of them- but Seifer and Squall especially so. Especially because they seem to shrug off the stagger from every deflection he can offer and come right back at him. That's what makes this fun. Their energy, for the moment, seems to be just as limitless as his- and while the sword he's using is unfamiliar, the only issue he's having is not wrecking the place, to be honest.

That, and forcing back the pincer-like attacks of two talented soldiers with a similar style, similar training, and enough coordination to actually be a threat without actually hurting them.

As they both near, seemingly combining their efforts, He finds a small breath of amusement leaving him. Honestly, this is probably the most fun he's had for a long time. He charges toward them- his sword raised slightly, but behind him. And as they near, the glint of their prototype blades turning blinding, he throws himself onto his knees- skidding past the both of them, turning his sword in his wrist to level the flat side at knee height.

...Think fast, SeeD and should have been SeeD.]

[silentnarration]

[It's a surprise move. Squall's eyes widen and he has just enough time to leap forward and over it, turning his landing into a roll before he rights himself in a crouch. He sprints forward to get at Cloud's back. Both hands clutching the prototype and swinging it in an upward backhand slash.

He doesn't remember to use the flat side despite Cloud having just done so.]

[firacrux]

[Sure, Seifer had known Cloud was ridiculously strong. He still couldn't anticipate the ease with which Cloud would lift that damned hunk of metal. As if it were light as a feather after he himself struggled to move the damned thing around! Guess he won't have to worry about the weight for future designs.

The maneuver seemed strange as Cloud turned to run at them with his sword behind, and Seifer was right. Like the low sweep of a T-Rexaur's tail, aiming to take them out at the knees. Squall took the first portion of the swing, and Seifer followed suit mere moments behind, landing deftly and spinning with a surprising amount of grace for someone his size. Agility and constant motion were more his area of expertise than Squall, who was typically far more calculating.

His slash came more quickly, as he'd hit the ground and turned upon his opponent in one fluid motion, aiming a spinning slash, flat side out, as he moved.

He's been practicing being more careful with Nida. Evidently Squall forgot his memo.]

[bravers]

[Perhaps this is unfair. He can take in everything exactly as it happens- react and counter accordingly, with reflexes far quicker than what most have any right to be.

Or perhaps it's not unfair, since he's not had to watch his every move like this for a long time.

The pair certainly have him on the defence, unable to press any sort of attack so far. Seifer's quicker than what someone his size has any right to be. Squall, he's certainly tactically a cut above most too. It's clear from the way they're working together, both attacking from each flank, both attacking from front and rear, that they're using their numbers as an advantage. The moment he'd strike at either of them, the other would have the opening they needed.

Squall's strong, too. If he can use that...

As Squall's blade comes at his back, he can only hope he's putting full force into the upward slash. Because if he was, his blade would clang and probably bounce against the slab of a sword at his back, impact driving it backward and (if he was lucky) staggering him.

As for Seifer's slash, it's all he can do to take advantage of the height disparity between them and step under it and hopefully around him- wrenching his sword from his back and using it, lengthways, in attempt to drive him back.]

[silentnarration]

[Squall is attacking at full strength. Slamming into a slab of solid steel is more jarring than he anticipated, the vibrations ramping down to the hilt that he has to tighten his grip and also take a step back to avoid Cloud taking a swing at Seifer.

He swings his gunblade one-handed to shake off the residual shock. Just in time to see Cloud trying to step around Seifer's attack. If he's quick, he can get in a jab in his side. He's moving as he makes the decision, prototype gunblade held near horizontal for a forward stab.]