Gamer Training

    It may be March, but today is unofficially Spring if Fukaziroh is any sign of things! The little Sylph is cheerfully zooming about the fields just outside Shibuya and in clear sight from the town, leaping and jumping at surprisingly high speed even compared to her normal speediness. She's also sent out notifications to various people, telling them to come see her new discovery about how to move super fast!

    It seems to be working, if her current speed is anything to judge by. Her running speed is acceptable but nothing unnatural. It's only when she leaps that she gets a burst of acceleration, as if flung by magic in the direction of her jump. But... only when she ducks down before she jumps. She runs, dips down into a running crouch then on the very edge of collapsing she springs up again. Clearly this isn't a terribly easy maneuver to do, requiring a fair degree of athleticism to power that jump from such a deep crouch, but leg power is something she has no shortage of! And the boost the maneuver gets her is definitely significant, impressive, and quite clearly unnatural. She seems to be enjoying it however, given the peals of delighted laughter she lets out whenever she manages to successfully loft herself forward!

Shenmi has always been known to be the curious type who would try to poke at the game and see if there was any trickery he could exploit. So, when the news of a potential new technique reached him, he made sure to be present for this demonstration. Such claims could go either way, and as a prestidigitator, he has an intereste in either the possible trickery or appropriate debunking, whichever turns out to be the case.

"Either way, this should be fun," he comments as, hands clutching the lapel of his jacket, walks into the area.

He quirks an eyebrow at the enthusiastic sylph, and with what might seen as a hint of amusement, he focuses on her technique. "Mmmmm."

On this day Shenmi wasn't alone, and I am not talking about the bun-bun in his hat. Though Daiyu still had a somewhat pensive nature about her, not entirely sure if she should really be following him along on this venture. It wasn't long ago she was one of the people occupying this town from it's founders. Even if she had spent most of it making sure the Library did -not- become a casualty of war. Or the ignorance of her former allies. "I never really would of expected to be back here," she murmurs to herself.

Before her attention finally comes upon the Sylph and her peculiar motions. She tilts her head. Tails continue to flick about behind her. Even knowing the Yamatoan Adventurers having a knack for finding peculiar techniques this was... unorthadox.

    Fuka also has nice new boots, but it's unlikely anyone present knows her well enough to recognize the significance. Perhaps it's just fashionable footwear for the upcoming tournament, or perhaps the boots have a more sinister implication. Regardless, Fuka zooms around and circles back to those who come by.

    Coming to a halt in an entirely ordinary fashion, Fuka grins up through a sheen of perspiration. She's been going hard it seems. "Oh hey! You're that bunbun guy!" she greets Shenmi cheerfully. Yes, she remembers the rabbit more than people. Daiyu gets a curious look, but no hostility from the sylph. "I bet you never knew this game actually lets you go faster if you *bunny* hop!" Fuka points out, apparently trying to turn a simple descriptive term into some sort of pun, and seemingly proud of it.

Daiyu gives her spectacles a nudge into place at the bridge of her muzzle with one fingertip. "The name is not without merit," she remarks in that sort of analytical tone one would probably expect from her scholarly appearance. "Rabbits are known for being fast and agile, able to turn more sharply than their larger predators made for forward moment to execute a takedown lunge or embowlment."

"You should get used to it," Shenmi smirks at the fox. "Shibuya is one of those places one always ends up in. It's where the action is at. The bees' knees. The cat's meow. The hog's fob. The sloth's cloth."

Some of those might have been adlibbed. Determining whether or not, and if so, which, is left as an exercise for the reader.

"It is I, indeed," Shenmi replies with a flourish. His hat is doffed, and moved so that it's held upside-down, the corresponding forearm held horizontal around his chest as he bows. Bao the bun-bun pokes his head out of the hat, and sniffs the air around. He is, likewise, dressed in a scaled down tuxedo complete with miniature top hat.

He straightens up again, and turns to Daiyu and, with a suspiciously sweet tone, asks, "My, oh my, both this young lady's performance and your enlightening lecture on the biomechanics of lagomorphs have put me in a mood for giving this technique a shot. Would you care to assist me in this endeavour?" With a sigh and a bit of a comically exaggerated tone of sadness, he adds, "It is not fun to do this -alone-..."

Erufu was getting excited about the upcmminmg Spring festivals to be sure but something about what Fuka was up to did have the elf's attention so here she was and she'd bee watching her for a bit from a perch. She'll leap down making a three point landing before she rises up with a big old grin.

"Good day to you all do you mind another?"

    Fuka gives an odd look to Daiyu at that, but quickly begins to nod enthusiastically. She's not the type to disparage nerds and generally approves of knowledge-seekers and sharers, encouraging them to be themselves! "Right, exactly!" she says. "I mean, it makes sense. I only know the term from gaming. I play a *lot* of games. And when you play as many games as I do you know that a whole lot of games let you move faster if you jump!" she explains. "And roll. Rolling is faster than running in a whole lot of games too, but I never figured out how that works here if anything. BUT! Bunnyhopping! Bunnyhopping works!" Fuka says enthusiastically. Perhaps too enthusiastically. The glee in her expression, the sparkle in her eyes, is almost unwholesome.

    When Bao pokes his head out, Fuka grins. Less unwholesome, this. A look of a somewhat more pure delight. She reaches out to offer pets, though she's good enough with animals to pull her hand back if Bao seems afraid, not being pushy or mean enough to insist.

    "Oh I'd be happy to teach the technique!" Fuka claims, gesturing to Erufu, her grin shifting back to something a little more predatory. "Like okay, it's not a combat technique or anything. I guess you might be able to use it to dodge? But it's more something you can just do with enough practice. Just run as fast as you can, then you need to crouch and immediately jump! Go on, give it a try! The more the merrier!" she all but cackles.

"I am not the one that has an issue with speed," Daiyu ribs back. And of course he brings the bun out. They're talking about bunny stuff, after all. The fox rolls her eyes. "Besides, someone should observe to validate the potential enhancement the technique purportedly provides."

Which is probably just dignified ladyspeak for 'I'm not going to jump and flail about like a five year old but go ahead knock yourselves out.'

"By all means, young lady!", exclaims Shenmi in Erufu's direction, and then, with a nod of acknowledgement towards Fuka, he repeatts, "The more the merrier!"

Bao is a professional (in training)! He is used to direct interaction with an audience, mostly because of Shenmi's recent transition from stage performace to busking to be fair, so pettings and food are generally accepted with enthusiasm.

"C'mon, Daiyu!", teases Shenmi. "Get out of your comfort zone! You should try new things! New things like 'fun' and 'not having a magical staff up your tails!'" He puts the hat back onto his head and slowly, slowly inches his face into Daiyu's field of view. "Pleeeeease? Pretty pleeeeeeease? Pretty pretty pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

Did he- did he just manage to willingly dilate his pupils?

"Pretty please with sugar on top?"

Eyelash flutter.

"And I mean the thing that tastes real, none of that menu crafted nonsense!", he adds, resuming his mischievous grin.

    "Come on, it's FUN to go fast!" Fuka claims, entirely seriously as it turns out. "And besides, you don't need others to say when it works. When you get boosted by the bunnyhop trust me you feel it! I mean, as long as the magic stick doesn't get in the way and absorb the effect I guess." she grins teasingly. Try to have fun indeed! Try not to suffer from buttstaffitis! "Oooor are you just too slow, too weak? Come on, let's see you run and jump!" Fuka encourages, her blunt and enthusiastic personality having all the subtlety of a hammer. "You don't want rabbitguy having to do this alone right?" she encourages, having apparently forgotten Shenmi's name. "Come on, anyone who has any guts follow me!" she cries.

    And with that, Fuka's off and running, breaking into a sprint and then ducking low, then leaping with a burst of air-power that sends her at perhaps-not-quite-literal breakneck speed.

Erufu says "I do like games sure, Chees, Go and many others. Also the guilds training exercise is a lot of fun."

D&D anyone? Yes D&D.

She watches with some amusement and tilt her head grinning.

"I am 2000 years young after all!"

Daiyu lets out an exasperated sigh... that is mostly for show as she is happy just being able to go about the day with her friend again. "Just being here is well out of any 'comfort zone', if you insist on bring that up." She was still readjusting to being able to do things of her own inclination for 'fun'.

Fukaziroh tries to taunt and call her out, which is cute but for the most part ineffective. Other than in a general getting her involved. "The only slow scout, is a dead one," she retorts flatly.

And then the fox is off, tails flagging behind her. She runs as one would expect a quick striker to, with one arm at her side for balance and the other held angled before her, ready to strike. She likewise uses the wind for some extra propulsion, but it's much more precise than the Sylph's breakneck boosting, using it in smaller controlled surges to steer as well.

    Hyuga wasn't much of an outgoing personality, but he had resolved to change that, which is why he'd given Shibuya a chance when he'd heard about it, and found himself turning a corner to find the scene at hand. He was in his armor, just in case, and the greatshield he carried with him was absolutely massive. Thankfully, his helmet was off, horsetail hair style blowing in what little breeze there might be. "Eh? What's... huh?" He cocked his head in confusion.

"Bunnyguy? That's a strange accent you have there, and an odd way of pronouncing 'The Amazing Shenmi Jinreng, Master of Illusion, International Star, Overall Great Guy, and I Should Definitely Buy Him Lunch At The First Available Opportunity!'", Shenmi rattles out in mock indignation. And yes, he apparently still is a shameless moocher.

He turns and squats, ready to 'demonstrate the technique' when-

He blinks.

"Oh well, I guess this has turned into a race now," he says, as he stands up again, slowly, and scratches his head.

His being perplexed, however, lasts but a fleeting moment, for he soon is back to declaiming, "Ladies and Gentlemen, who shall turn out to be the winner of this competition? Who shall outrun, or outlast, the opponent?" He turns towards the small crowd of onlookers. "Will it be the noble Hulijing Daiyu, with her cunning and the power of the Fox, one of the most lean and mean hunting machines nature has ever produced, or will it be What's-Her-Face, the Sylph who can't even pronounce 'The Amazing Shenmi Jinreng, Master of Illusion, International Star, Overall Great Guy, and I Should Definitely Buy Him Lunch At The First Available Opportunity!' properly?" He spins in place, and as part of the movement, he rolls his hat through both arms, across his shoulders, and grabs it at the end, lifting and extending it towards the audience, one person at a time. "Give your bets to the bun-bun! He's a trained bookmaker!"

Bao sniffs out of the hat, once again, in a beret, loose shirt, and those elastic straps to hold your pants up which are called differently in the US and the UK (braces/suspenders); there's there's two little collection boxes next to him, one labeled "Daiyu" and the other "What's-Her-Face".

Yes Hyuga is going to have the bunny-in-a-hat-with-betting-boxed shoved in his face soon enough, if he doesn't move!

Erufu is fairly fast herself all things considered she's watching Fuka as she's going to teach she doesn't mind at all but that predatory grin? What's up with that? She seem eager to get started she's bouncing in place.

"Oh I'm Erufu!"

    Fuka turns to watch Daiyu run, nearly tripping and recovering only by flailing her arms madly. She turns instead, keeping the foxgirl in sight in a somewhat less precarious manner. "Alright now JUMP! JUMP!" she encourages, trying her best to be a cheerleader. Note that in real life she's *definitely not* a cheerleader. She's not even a cheerfollower. She's just a cheer.

    Daiyu doesn't jump though, which is a shame. Still Fuka can appreciate the speed, and the willingness to participate even if she's not willing to make a fool of herself. That counts for something with Fuka!

    And she'd go on appreciating it if Shenmi didn't open his mouth. "HEY!" she calls out, stopping and turning to face him. Apparently conceding the race. "What's-her-face? How rude!" she calls out. "As for Shenmi, you don't even know me! You don't even know my name, which is Fuka by the way! As for you, I'll call you Baoman!"

    Having settled the score, she sets sight on Daiyu again. "Not bad." she claims. "But could be better! Now..." she begins to run. "The quick brown dog jumps over the lazy fox!" she exclaims, crouching and ... then stumbling. "Wait I'm not brown. Or a dog! This saying is CRAP!"

In all fairness Fuka was moving pretty fast, technique or not, she just let herself get distracted a bit too easily. Does that count as winning? Not that Daiyu is particularly concerned with that notion, she just slides to a stop when she realizes the other girl has stopped running for a moment. "I tell him if he wants to be remembered more easily to drop some of the rediculous titles, but he never listens." One of her fans is flicked open in a hand, and given a light wave to cool herself off. "You are neither, nor am I lazy."

Fuka tries to run at her, only to stumble when she goes for a jump. Without missing a beat Daiyu jumps, doing a flashy laterial spin as she soars over the staggering Sylph, and lands nimbly on her paws. "But this fox will jump over -you-."

Then resumes fanning herself like it was nothing. "Exceptional speed is one thing. Knowing when and how to use it, that is what really makes the difference."

Erufu is jumping away she's having fun with it. Bounce bounce goes the elf, bounce bounce, as she jumps away working with her super human aglity and she seem to be in very good spirits.

"It is fun though!"

    Hyuga has a choice to make.

    1: He can go full tank mode and provide a wall with which to impact folks into, the massive greatshield almost a toothpick in his trained, dextrous hands. This would likely not make him any friends, and would only barely be funny. Or...

    Hyuga braces, crouching, as the figures approach. Instead of blocking their way, Hyuga turns himself into a human ramp! He calls back to real life and tries to sound encouraging, or like a game show host, or something. "Will the participants use this jump to their advantage? Or will it confuse them and allow others to springboard past to victory?" If jumped on, Hyuga is able to give a substantial boosting SHOVE! to those who wish to springboard.    

"The titles are not going nowhere! It's part of the -branding-!", Shenmi retorts to Daiyu, in a playful outraged tone. He then makes the most comically hurt face he manages, while placing his open hand on his chest. "Dame Fukaziroh! Don't you remember we have already met? Ninetails Dominion, Zombie quest? Eastal forest, Igneous Stones?" He sinks a little, with a mock sob. "Did all those adventures mean -nothing- to you? Am I so easily forgotten and ignored, used and thrown away, like a used tissue?"

Exaggerated sniff.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand we have two new contestants!" he exclaims, with an abrupt spin back to the audience. He gives the bottom of his hat a couple of robust taps, and up pop two more boxes! "One marked 'Erufu (2000 years young)' and the other merely 'Contestant 4'"

"What is your name, young man?", he yells in the direction of Hyuga. Sure, he can always inspect him if he takes too long to reply, but it's nice to give this a human touch.

    Fuka frequently forgets to compete when the time to blab comes around, and it's always time to blab. "There you go, Eru!" she says encouragingly, fortunately not changing that last letter to something less appropriate. "Now you just need to crouch before you jump! You'll learn the secret technique in no time compared to someone JUST RUNNING!" she calls.

    "Of course I remember you, Baoman!" Fuka claims cheerfully. And of course, then a fox jumps over her. Now she can't really taunt Daiyu, now that the Hulijing has the literal high ground. Not really the best thing for the ego, so Fuka once again looks to race. And of course she spots Hyuga with that big angled shield poised. Okay, why the heck not? Fuka likes tanks in general, and the whole idea of this sounds hilariously fun. So she runs at the human tank enthusiastically, leaping up to spring off the shield and getting just launched in the process. It might be a really bad idea if she didn't have wings, mind you, but she's kind of small and even if she's heavier than she seems due to the armor, she can be flung pretty high by someone strong enough. And of course she *does* have wings, even if they're more suitable to plummeting than to gliding. She's okay with plummeting. "I CAN SEE MY HOUSE FROM HERE! Wheeeeeeeee~!"

Daiyu watchs Fuka springboard off the shield. "Clearly her previous game experience included platforming. Or Vikings." Or both. And despite her stoic persona gives a brief approving nod. "Teamwork is important. Achieve goals not possible alone." By now she's not running, yet somehow has already ended up back next to Shenmi. She's just that nimble. And magical. Tilts her head. "She has her own house?"

    Hyuga -springs- Fuka into the air with a smile and a cheer. "Hyuga is here to launch you into the sky!" He resettles and waits for someone else to approach. Oddly enough, he finds out that he is, in fact, having fun! This concerns him quietly, but through sheer force of will, he ignores his anxiety and lets the shadow of his shield hide the blush. "Good to meet you all!" Perhaps the proximity of a Japanese town is giving him some grounding in reality. Or it's the absurd silliness of the entire affair...

The box is corrected to spell 'Hyuga', as per inspection. The audience is starting to tipping in more and more coins, and as the vicissitudes of the race cause the flow to shift. The satisfying clatter of metal in increasing degrees of preciousness against the wooden bottom of the small boxes seems to delight Bao as well, even if nowhere as much as Shenmi: he's positively gloating by now. "That's it! Show your neigbor you were right all along and, most importantly, that they were -wrong-! Buy your bragging rights while they last!"

He's having far too much fun with this.

"And what are you calling Bao then, huh? Shenmibun? That sounds like a rather backward way to do things," he shoots back. "Careful about shooting her into the sky, young man!", Shenmi jokes once again. "We don't want to anger the Goddesses, do we?"

And finally, to Dayiu, "Always giving wise advice, huh? In a brief instant of seriousness, I have to agree with that." A moment of silence. "...ok, instant over."

Erufu is sitll sprining into the air with a chere and come in for a landing she grins at Hyuga.

"Good to meet you as well this is fun and after the last few months!" She then bounce again even higher, way higher than someone on Earth could have done.

    Fuka's gaming experience includes platforming, vikings, driving, shooting... shooting vikings, driving platforms, and explosions. Among other things, naturally. Despite how many times she's stumbled while trying to do a very unnatural and awkward maneuver, she manages to handle being lofted quite well, even managing a landing that's not a total catastrophe. And then she's off running and leaping again, no longer even caring if Daiyu continues or not. She's having fun after all, and Erufu is keeping up!

    "Don't be silly, Bao is Bao!" Fuka argues. It's not like a name like Bao needs a short form, though Fuka'd be happy to call him Bun. Or something equally ridiculous. The complaint doesn't stop her though, she's going to jump until exhausted.

    That actually comes sooner than she realized, given how much mana her trick takes out of her. Her own mana, flooding into the boots, triggering the runes engraved into the soles to trigger a burst of air whenever the angles line up in a certain way. It's not efficient, and she's not exactly a high-mana powerhouse either, being only a secondary caster.

    Net result is one moment she's running and jumping, the next she's falling and gasping, exhausted from mana depletion. Gasping and ... laughing? Well, probably laughing. Someone might mistake it for crying.

When Fuka flops to the ground in a combination of panting and laughing something catchings Daiyu's eye. She walks over and crouchs down next to the Sylph. Or more accurately next to her feet, giving the boots a scrutinizing gaze. "Oh, I see what you did now you sneaky little fae." Which is fairly accurate for fae in general. She extends a clawed fingertip to tap a boot sole. "But it would be more efficient to craft these 'bunnyhop' enchantments to regulate the amount of mana channeling into them so it does not directly deplete your mana so rapidly. Also you could refine the control so you do not expend more windpower than necessariy for each jump."

    Hyuga stands and decides to move closer to the finish line/area where players are. Setting the shield to one side, he finds a seat, and accesses his inventory. /Good, I -did- cook that corn./ Producing a farmed food item, he begins to snack. A few taps on a control panel, and he is back into his casual clothing, though the shield remains. "I'm glad I came out today." Enjoying the breeze, the people, and the snack, Hyuga smiles and relaxes for the first time in a long time.

There are groans, cheering, booing, murmuring, and disappointed moaning among the crowd. The race seems to be over by now, and the ending is- well, confusing. Still, it seem that Shenmi's glib tongue manages to persuade the betters of what the outcome actually is, and how it affects bets. Money exchange hands, and soon, it seems that a lot of people are left a few coins short, others a few coins richer, and Shenmi, well, he didn't do this whole exercise for free, did he?

"Good going, you four!", he congratulates the 'racers' as he approaches (after making sure to have pocketed the money and replaced the hat atop his head -- don't want to actively -remind- them you've collected some coin before trying to bum some food). "It was a very productive day!"

"Cool trick, huh?", Shenmi drops in Daiyu's general direction, with a cant of his head in the direction of Fukaziroh's boots. Seems like he had noticed earlier than Daiyu. How earlier, it remains to be established.

Then again, he may be bluffing. Thre's no telling with Shenmi.

But he probably is not.

"So, celebratory dinner? Who's offering?"

    Fuka nods to Daiyu's suggestion and holds up a hand, taking a moment to get her breathing and laughter more under control. It's a particular struggle as both feed each other. Finally though she manages. "Yes, I'd considered that." she agrees. She's a renowned enchanter after all, but no great enchantment has ever worked precisely the first time around. It takes a lot of crafting theory, a lot of diagrams or prototypes, testing all parameters to make things balance. Enchanters were popularly considered the hardest class after all. "And if my goal is to make jumping boots I'd definitely do that! Not to mention remove the current trigger, make a good variable dial or something, maybe a glove, to control the force of the jump..." she muses, not quite getting lost in thought, but perhaps recording some ideas mentally for later.

    "But then, didn't make these to jump well. Made them to have FUN, and they worked BRILLIANTLY!" she beams, holding up fingers on that outstretched hand into a V. "I could go for a celebratory dinner, sure! Don't worry cheapo, I'll cover for you!" she adds in Shenmi's direction. "Wouldn't want Bao going hungry!"

Daiyu just rolls her eyes in that way of someone familiar with another person's quirks. "It's always food with you," she retorts towards Shenmi. Then gets to her feet. "I see." Offers a hand to help the Sylph up once she gets her breathing back in order. "At that, they did... but we can talk about more developed applications over a meal. I am well versed in utilizing Air as a means of mobility boosting."