Duelist League: Kauchemar vs. Uta

Something other than the casual background music drifts through the centeral square of Mac Anu this morning. The source of the musical prelude isn't hard to find, as there's a certain Nightmare sitting on the edge of the fountain, one leg propped up on it to help support her instrument. It's not any particular song being played, she's just warming up while waiting for the fated moment to arrive. And her opponent. And hoping her opponent hasn't managed to forget the actual time.

Today, the hustle an bustle in the main square is comprised in large part by tourists. You can tell the tourists, because they consider the pigeon-like birds (which might or might not be pigeons, and we are calling coo-coos anyway to go with the same patterns as bun-buns) as an entertaining show to watch (and feed) and not a nuisance.

Needless to say, off in a corner, someone is tossing seeds from a bag to a group of them, and watching as they vie for the food. "This is so amazing!", Uta exclaims. "I'll have to see if I can do this with slimes as well. Or if I can make a slime...' she squints at the birds. "...pigeons? Coo-coos? What /are/ you?"

She slaps her forehead. "Oh my! The duel! I had completely forgotten about it!" She flicks her menu open, and checks the clock there. "...less than one minute to go! I can make it! I just have to find Kauchemar!" The bag is stuffed away in her jacket, the menu is navigated to shimmer her staff into existence, and off she goes to eventually find the fountain the other Bard is leaning against. "Hi Kauch!" She bows. "Thanks for accepting this challenge if I was the one to challenge you, and... it's a honour to be considered a worthy opponent in case it was you who challenged me."

Of course, if there is a duel between Uta and Kauchemar, Rylen is certainly going to make sure that he shows up. Between his usual support of almost any of Uta's endevors and his deep appreciation of Kauchemar's skills, the fact that the two would be going head to head is bound to be entertaining.

In fact, Rylen seems to have brought with him, more than his fair share of spectators. Many of them have the flamboyant dress of performers, perhaps fellows who were all part of the same traveling troup that he and Uta sometimes accompanied.

"This is going to be one hell of a show, I promise you that." He grins in that boyish sort of way, flipping a few strands of silver hair over his shoulder as he hops up onto a stack of empty crates belonging to some nearby store or location, making sure to get a good view of the fight.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, he lets out a whoop, which doesn't seem aimed particularly at either of them. Rylen, being his usual diplomatic self and trying to support both fighters.

Oh there she is... And true to Uta form manages to forget something. But not remembering who challenged who is far from the worst thing that could of been forgotten.

Kauchemar just shakes her head a bit with a hint of amusement. "You're here, who originally challenged who doesn't really matter." She pauses in playing to sling the lute away onto her back and gets up from the fountain. Whirls a hand in an idle wave as she starts to walk away. "Besides, I'd be a terrible rival frienemy if I didn't put your skills to the test personally.. Oh, right." The equine were fang stops and turns, and gives a sharp whistle.

There's a metallic rattle as the sword and shield sitting next to the fountain spring to life. Sword flips mid-air so the hilt lands safely in Kauchemar's hand, while the shield stops to just hover near her. "That's more like it." She gives her head a shake to get some of her glamrock bangs out of her face, though it's a somewhat futile gesture. Smirks and waves with the unoccupied hand in Rylen's direction after the whooping cheer. "And our wonderful audience is ready as well."

"Rylen! Kimiko! Janken! Murimi! Bo! Himoshi! Shibuku! Jugglenaut! Zon! Nakuto! Tarou! Hammerface! PotatoSoup! Chiiko! VanillaPudding! So many familiar faces!", Uta beams, as she recognizes many of the pefrormers. "Guys, this is going to be an amazing fight! I'll be cheering on each and every single one of you, I'm sure you'll be-" Uta turns as Kauchemar begins to speak, and after he equips his weapons of choice, she continues, "OH! Right, I'm the one who's dueling you today. We just established that. DUH." She takes a few steps backwards and lowers her stance, in a defensive position. "I don't fear your sword!", Uta exclaims, determined. "...that shield is a bit creepy if you ask me, tho'."

The shield spins in it's hover, but being a haunted item with no real visible face it's hard to tell if the Binder took being called creepy as an insult or a compliment.... though knowing the manner of it's master its probably the later. "Well, she's not entirely wrong. A sword is just the -obvious- threat..." That's when her eyes flare brightly, the crackle of supernatural sparks flickering from them. One of the reasons she uses a shield that can animate itself becomes apparent in how it leaves one arm free for a few arcane gestures, then flicking it out to snap her fingers in Uta's direction and discharge a an abrupt shot of debilitating darkness.

"o/~ I put a spell on you~.. and now you're gone, gone, gone... so long!
My wammy fell on you~... and it was strong! so strong so strong so strong!
Your wretched little life has now been cursed!
Cuz of all the Nightmares lurking.. I'm the worst! o/~"

Kauchemar snaps back the arm and then thrusts it forward, sending the shield rather than the sword hurtling towards Uta. Streaming arcs of water shoot off of it as it spins, making it a sort of big hydrophilic buzzsaw!

"o/~ I put a spell on you~... and now you're mine! o/~"

Rylen, from his place atop the crates, sits down with one leg drawn up, the other dangling, leaning slightly forward. "Yep. This is your fight, your highness." A couple of those who were called out specifically start to cheer, though the Pooka just grins.

"Try to make sure we get Uta back in one piece, if possible." He winks in Kauchemar's direction. Of course, he knows that these duels aren't to the death, but it doesn't mean he can't have some humor about the situation.

As the fight gets started in earnest, he sits back a little, appraising, "Nice. Already setting the tone." There is something to be said for that dark aesthetic of Kauchemars. It is absolutely spellbinding.

Uta remains impassible in the face of the crackling magical energy directed her way. She flips the tip of her staff up to function as a ligthning rod that absorbs the darkness shot her way, letting it pass through her body, and discharging part of it into the ground, while shooting back the remaining portion at Kauchemar, through her other hand, an open palm pointed at her opponent. She begins to sing a song in response to Kauch's, "o/~ I am rubber, you are glue- OH GOODNESS I'M SO SORRY!", she shrieks, interrupting her singing. "Oh sorry sorry sorry sorry! I didn't mean 'you are glue' in that sense! That must be an exceedingly insensitive things to say to horses! I didn't think of it, it was a honest mistake!" This lack in concentration makes her lose concentration and let some of the curse linger on her. This doesn't stop her from avoiding each of the shield's incoming attacks with lighting fast movements. She latches onto Kauchemar's song, and segues into ad-libbing some sort of operatic vocal solo which both fits with the chord progression, the general contour of the melody, but diverges enough to apparently hit the right requirements to turn it into an Arte able to trigger the magic into her staff: portions of it glow at different heights, in different colors, corresponding to the pitch, timber and instensity of the notes, and when the final note is hit, a blast of light shoots towards the Nightmare, a beam so powerful to push Uta back with recoil, forcing her to flip in the air.

Kauchemar raises a brow a little at the unintentional glue remark. "It's a duel, Uta. A little trash talk is to be expected." Oi, why is -that- something she has to explain? On the other hand, the rhyme seems to actually have an effect thanks to magic, really turning back something on its source. How that pans out is to be seen.

Kauchemar is more concerned about the beam of energy that Uta fires. Her shield, for some reason, has kept spinning along instead of coming back to her. So instead she turns, and with a few strides leaps off one of the bridges connection the main square to other parts of the city.... At the same time a surge of water shoots up from the canal, catching the nightmare and launching her into the air like a spring, the light beam slicing through it a moment later. That's using the environment to your advantage!

Kauchemar lands back on solid ground, thrusting up an arm as she does. "Still, you could stand to chill out!". Some of the spray from the water spout collects, only to turn into a frigid spray as Kauchemar down in an arc to propel it towards Uta. Then complicates the matter by letting loose one of her lesser power screams.
That's when the ghost shield stops and uprights itself BEHIND Uta, intending to reflect the scream off itself and back at the fairy.

The sound of Kauchemar's scream is enough to have Rylen wincing, then lightly shoving a finger into one of his ears. Some of the others in the audience make similar gestures, though one of the older fellows doesn't seem bothered by it at all.

"Looks like Kauchemar may have the upper hand." Rylen comments, even as some of the circus performers seem to be talking amongst themselves. It's obvious some of them have made bets on the fight. Likely, those who are cheering more consistantly for one particular fighter have some kind of money in the game.

Rylen isn't a betting man, though. He just leans forward, trying to get an idea of the techniques used by both fighters.

Uta flips her staff and stands ready to fight the water-propelled Nightmare, dodging the scream with the kind of mastery one would expect from someone intimately familiar with sonic attacks, and ready to counterattack, when-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Well, looks like someone was not familiar with floating shields surreptitiously reflecting springing up to stand and reflecting sonic attacks.

Once she's done being knocked off-balance and glowing stippled, she turns and points her staff gem-first at the shield, accusingly. "You dirty scoundrel! You accursed traitor! You worthless cheap replacement for a toilet lid!" She blinks. "Hey, wait. I think I might be getting the hang of this trash talk!"

She does not spend too much time with the Shield, since, well, there's a duel going on. She faces Kauchemar again, and this time she presses in for some melee, going straight for a punch to the face. Which might require some spin-leaping, given how Kauch is taller, and how, well, wuxia. You just gotta give the audience those sweet, sweet spinning motions.

In the brief respite between attacks while her opponent is cussing out the haunted shield Kauchemar pauses. Blinks slowly. Did Uta somehow actually turn back... Or is it just because she has some Dark powers as well. Weird. Either way, she takes a quick moment to dispel that nusciance. Then makes a swishing motion to swirl her cloak up around her body. There's a flicker of arcane energy along the material to help soften some of the blow from Uta's attack. But not entirely, and despite the size different the spinning momentum behind the strike is enough to make her step back hastily to keep her balance. "Mm.. You're hard to predict. -That- is the greatest strength you have." No wonder even an expert duelist like Yuuki had trouble keeping a bead on Uta.

A snap of fingertips finally recalls the Binder Shield to her side, though why she waited until after defensive maneuvers is anyone's guess. "But nothing will prepare you for the chaos that *I* can bring forth!" She flips the companion sword in her hand as ghostly flames ignite around the blade... but instead of striking at Uta thrusts it towards the ground...
And a blade made of similar ghostly energies erupts out of the Spriggan's own shadow to stab at her from the one direction many people forget to consider -- Down!

It's a flash.

The blade juts out of Uta's shadow, and a split second later, the fairy does a 180 degrees turn to chop-deflect the blade before it can deal any damage. This time it's her own shadow that gets Uta's staff accusingly pointed at it... and due to the 180 degrees turn, she is /still/ giving her back to Kauchemar? SERIOUSLY?

"If you thought I had not noticed you, always stalking me, always following, never saying anything...", Uta scowls, "well, you're WRONG. My superior observation and deduction skills made it pretty obvious that you, sneaky and mysterious dark silhouette, were distinctly girl-from-the-menu shaped! So I /knew/ you would have tried doing something like this one day..."

What she does next is... abruptly carrying a tune, quickly, without furter warning or apparent logical nexus with what she's just said. Once the last note is hit, which is hard to tell which one it is in advance due to the rambly and wandering jazzy nature of the melody, and a blast of light shoots /back/ from the bottom tip of the staff, the one pointing away from the shadow, and, due to Uta giving her back at Kauchemar, right at her opponent. Sneaky sneaky Spriggan, misdirecting attention and pulling a surprise shot...

Okay -that- was impressive for defensive maneuvers. And Uta being Uta to start accusing the shadow instead is just the sort of opening one would hope for. Kauchemar takes a step, raises the real ghostly sword with one hand.... and only manages a yelp of surprise as the beam of light erupts from the -bottom- of the staff and directly at her!

As she was saying about Uta's randomness being an unpredictable strength.

The Nightmare ends up on her back at the other side of the square. She makes a face, and sputters a bit. "Ugh. Tastes like sunshine and cheer." Then rolls over and back onto her hooves. "Okay girl, play time is over." With one hand she grabs her lute from her back and twirls it into position. "Now the real show starts!" With one hand she conjures a large orb of water, and flings it at Uta.

Then starts to strum on her instrument. It's hard and disjointed, a rising staccato instead of a proper harmony.

But that is what it's meant to be, as every time she hits a riff in the cacophony a bolt of electricity arcs off the head of the instrument sent crashing towards the soaked Spriggan. "RIDE THE LIGHTNING!"

    Merek finds a place to settle in and watch the duel, having come from a few quests. The man wears the usual dark attire, while he takes the time to adjust his cloak about him.

If you can fight fire with fire, it stands to reason that you can fight lightning with lightning. This must be Uta's reasoning as she begins a dance of lightning-propelled wuxia rotododges, her steps and wake leaving behind lightning bolts that interact with her opponent's, crackling, dissipating, reforming and exploding, in a show of electrical fireworks, while the Air magic propels Uta in an unpredictable brownian motion in all directions, including, occasionally, up -- but not by much: it's not flying, it's leaping higher than average. That, however, adds an extra dimension to her martial dance, since it also incorporates planing glides in the air, impossible for a non-winged creature.

"I have tried riding the lightning once. My tushie found it too spicy. We've agreed we're never doing this again," Uta states, as downwards and sideways feather-fall corkscrew accelerates due to her pulling her arms closer to her body. "...we technically had also agreed we were never going to talk about that again, but I think I've just accidentally breached this pact."

Instead of increasing the distance between the opponents, the Brownian motion seems to have taken Uta right up into Kauch's face by now. In fact, she even leans forward, violating the Nightmare's personal space in a bold stance, fists on hips, eyebrows lowered, and an intense stare as her eyes fix on Kauchemar's in challenge.

She raises her right arm, vertically, theatrically extensd her index finger, and slowly and determinately arcs it, its tip descending inhexorably towards booping the Nightmare's snoot...

...except she doesn't. While the theatrically obvious finger was taking care of its act of misdirection, her left hand had reached into her jacket, pulled out the bag of seeds she was feeding the pigeons earlier, and tossed it at Kauchemar.

"Get 'er, boys!", she yells, as she flip-leap backwards as far as possible from the fleet of pigeons nosediving like fighter jets to peck the precious loot entangled in the horse's mane.

The mental image of Uta trying to ride lightning has Rylen chuckling under his breath. The Beastmaster raises a hand, lightly covering his mouth as he shakes his head in amusement. Even that moment of amusement is brief though, as he watches the back and forth between the two with some intensity.

Though Rylen refuses participation in the league, it's obvious from his posture that he does thrive on that thrill of competition. Perhaps that's the reason he won't fight. Sometimes competition can change a person.

He winces at some of the exchanges. "That could have been bad." He notes, lightly tapping one foot as an outlet for his own excitement, a sign that the usually calm man is getting into watching the fight.

Unfortunately for Uta, Kauchemar has already dueled Setsuna, and recognizes the 'BOOP' maneuver. She's not sure if Uta actually -has- that technique in her repitoire, but can assume it is something similar that she probably doesn't want to mess with. So she just outright grabs Uta's wrist before the smaller lady can touch her snout. "No, I don't think so -- ack!"

Fortunately for Uta the knowing of 'BOOP' works on keeping the Nightmare's attention on that until the seed is thrown in her face and hair. She lets go of Uta as she jerks away. "Now that is just rude! You know how long it takes to get my mane just per --" She pauses "-- Actually, that argumement doesn't work here since everything can be done by menus for appearances. Dang." She plucks a seed out of her mane, and flicks it with her fingers.

Watchs a pidgeon swoop down to snatch it up. "Oh ... OH CRAP!" It's a literal 'Oh crap' moment as the revelation dawns, and she promptly turns and bolts in the other direction, hooves kicking off the cobblestones for some extra oomph. "No! Shoo! This is not a re-enactement of The Birds!" she snaps, as she sweeps her cloak around to help swat the birds away while trying to shake some of the seeds out of her hair. "Fine, if you want to play the minion game..." Out comes the instrument to be strum once again, though in something oddly more charming that might of been expected. The words, on the other hand, and just weird.

"o/~ Fish heads! Fish heads! Roly poly fish heads!
Fish heads! Fish heads! Eat them up -- yum! o/~"

That results in dozens of skeletal fish leaping out of the canals at the bardic summoner's call, flinging themselves like small boney rockets at the pidgeons and Uta alike!

As Uta's wrist is released, she wastes no time, and begins doing what Uta always does in similar circumstances!

"Pigeons can be messenger birds. So... do you need [Handle Animal] or [Telecommunication] to deal with them?", she wonders aloud, finger on her lips, as she completely ignores Kauchemar's clop clop'ing around and complaining about her mane. Well, at least she's not one of those people who gloat over their opponeng when they're in a tight spot.

"Oh, no! Zombie sushi!" An intense stare, a fighting stance, a battlecry. "CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!", and she rushes into the thick of battle, staff flipped upside-down, and dealing blow after blow to those fish, as if this was some sort of combat baseball tournament.

Which, technically, it currently is?

Once that's been taken care of, and the pigeons have as well, she turns to face Kauchemar once again.

"YOU!", she points. "First of all!"

Her staff still held upside down, she dips its head into a nearby canal. "First of all, do you have any idea of stinky this staff will be now?" Hopefully the improvised bath will help it not to be too offensive. Hopefully. It's hard to tell.

"Second!" She exclaims. And then sniffs at the tip of her staff.

"...Eeeeeeuch..." her face twists into a grimace of disgust. "Nope."

Staff flipped right-side-up with one swift motion, she frowns. Now she's downright /mad/. She SLAMS the tip onto the ground, and if this were an anime, it'd have the obligatory reverberating sound effect and dramatic camera angle, and states, "...third. You shall PAY for this. CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!"

She rushes towards Kauchemar to slash at her with the mephitic wing-shaped decorations on her staff. A... rather unusual way to deal poison damage. But very karmic?

Kauchemar uses her hoof to flip one of the skeletal fish in her her hand, and use that to slap aside Uta's staff. Though some of the nasty stuff still splatters on her. She wrinkles her snout. "You're right, that's stinky... So have some more." She conjures a small glob of the rank liquid and flicks it at Uta like a water balloon filled with toliet water.

That gives her some room to work, at least, even if that sting is not going to go away for a while. Kauchemar snaps her fingers, bringing her companions Binders back into play. "Lets get this fight back on track. Sic her!" This time it's the sword actually being used like a sword though, glowing with ghastly dark energy along the blade as Kauchemar sends it slashing towards her opponent. Quickly stepping in herself after, opening her maw and belting out another one of those window rattling screams. Arguably this one is nastier than the other one at the moment, since it actually produces a harmful soundwave and isn't just numbing the senses.

"En Garde!"

Uta's Bo techniques counter the flying sword, which despite being parried, blocked, deflected and knocked away multiple times, or simply dodged by virtue of sidestepping, jumping or ducking, still manages to get the occasional slash or jab in. At every technique, though, the Spriggan progresses in singing a song, melodic, radiating, and tendrils of light and color interwine with the sound, reaching Uta and boosting her HP bar.

After the last note of the healing song, Uta jumps back at a farther distance than usual (with the mandatory flipping in the air), to put some distance between her and the ghostly blade. She studies her trajectory for a moment, rushes forward again, and just as she swings her staff to deliver the final blow that would send the weapon flying back to her owner, Kauchemar's scream stuns her. She staggers, just in time to miss the incoming liquid sphere of nefariousnes.

The bubble downright devastates Uta, who is left there drenched, fetid, and flabbergasted. Seaweed and sticky substances better left undescribed sticking to her, skin and clothes alike, her hair a dripping mop sticking to her face and covering her eyes, her mouth open in an expression of outrage, she blurts out, "...Kauchemar. How could you! Were you raised in a barn- I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY that's the cradle equivalent of what the glue comment was for the grave- wait." She parts the hair on her face to reveal her eyes. "Do you think there's a technique equivalent of Grave Call, except it's named Cradle Call and summons baby creatures instead?" Despite her miserable status, her mouth stretches in an ecstatic smile. "D'aaaaaaw. That would be /so adorable/!", she whimpers. "Ducklings. Bunnies. Kittens. Baby slimes!" Her eyes pop right open, grow a few sizes, and she emits a loud "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" of excitement at the thought.

A 'squee' so loud that the windows that were rattled by Kauchemar start to shatter in the vicinity, sending shrads flying about... Hopefully membership in the Duelist League comes with insurance?

Kauchemar stops bellowing for a moment, if only to check what Uta is going to do after that wave of attacks. Of course, she's going to get all Uta over first another unintented trash talk, then distracted with her own rambling thoughts, and then... oh geez that is NOT the sound she was expecting to reach that kind of pitch. Thinking quickly, she takes a breath, stomps a hoof to the ground both to brace herself and send a discharge of arcane energies off into the waters of the nearby canals. Shattering glass cascades around her, but she's just standing in the middle of it, ignoring the brief jabs of sharp edges as she puts her own technique into motion.

She grabs the ghostly sword as it returns to her, the shield with the other hand, and then raises the sword over her head. It's a dramatic pose, that's given a bit more emphasis to her stature. Up until she opens her mouth wide and lets loose with another horrendous wail, this time resonating with darker energies as well as sonic waves.

"AA-AAH-AAAAH-AAH! AA-AAH-AAAAH-AAH!"

Kauchemar swipes the sword forward as she roars, as if leading some manner of charge into battle!

And kind of does, as water erupts out of the canal, sending a large wave of assorted undead water creatures surging over the edge and crashing down towards Uta!

Uta stares.

Uta stares like a small-to-medium sized mammal caught in the headlights of an incoming wave of terrifying sea creatures. A mammmal that also happens to be covered in unpleasant substances, but we will not dwelve too deep into that.

Her mind races, as she scrambles to find the correct course of action for this crucial moment, and what it comes up with is-

"o/~ Fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads
     Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up, yum! o/~"

"CURSE YOU, KAUCHEMAR!", she exclaims, eyes shut as she stomps one feet to the pavement in frustration.

And what do you know, that seems to do the trick. A bolt of darkness shoots out of her staff, and darts straight for the Nightmare.

"...I can do that? Cool...", Uta says after a blink. Luckily for her, this is enough to snap her out of her earworm induced trance, and she manages to do a decent (but not perfect) job at deflecting most of the incoming creatures, gaining ground, and once she's close enough, narrow her eyes and strikes in what she believes to be a particularly vulnerable point for Kauchemar.

Kauchemar just smirks that viper-fanged smile of hers when Uta starts re-singing the song, and then cursing at her for getting it stuck in her head. Waggles a finger playfully at Uta in return as she singsongs "~ I don't care what you think, as long as it's about me ~"

That was a pretty crazy move on her part, but there's a method to the madness. That method being that now the area were they're dueling is pretty well soaked. Kauchemar makes a sweeping motion with her arm, drawing a large portion of that moisture up into a sort of freezing mist. The mist is sent rolling towards Uta, forcing her to run through the biting cold if she wants to assault the equine, possibly leaving her with a bit of vulnerablity inducing frostbite.

The misty aura forming around her also provides a bit of protection as the Nightmare sidesteps the lunge, the strike only glancing off her now glimmering side.

"o/~ In a world of human wreckage... in a world of human wreckage...
I'm lost and I'm found and I can't touch the ground... o/~"

Kauchemar plants a hoof for support and leans forward to put her strength into another one of those defeaning cries, though this time actually keeping to a song even as she unleashes the sonic assault.

"o/~ PLOWED INTO THE SOOOOOUND! o/~"

Uta had already begun charging towards Kauchemar when the mist rolls in. Drenched as she is, it is not long before she shivers and her teeth chatter. But she soldiers on, and in what must be an insane move, she sings a breezy aria which, after musically illuminating her staff as usual, summons a gust of wind which propels her forward from behind.

Okay, 'gust of wind' and 'propels her forward' are a bit of misnomers. She kind of overdoes her song, and she ends up with a blast of air that shoves her flying uncerimoniously (and rather messily) straight at Kauchemar, more like a projectile than a duelist aware of what she's doing. And yes, she's still covered in gunk, which is... not exactly healthy to have shoved right on you. And the possibly sharp wing-style decorations of her staff might /still/ be covered in undead fish gunk...

That did not work out entirely as Kauchemar had intended, but we just kind of roll with these things. She moves as Uta moves, turning this into a literal battle dance of sorts as she uses the magic shimmering around her shield and cloak to help disperse the attacks. It doesn't really do a lot about all the foul gunk that's being splattered about, and at this point who can really tell what originates where.

"Well you're definitely putting me through my paces. And vice versa." There's always a little room for mid-combat banter, when neither of them are singing. "That's what rivals are for!"

Eventually the two break apart, and once again Kauchemar draws from the moisture around them. Funny how Water is one of her better elements. Then again, she's a creature of the night, the night is overseen by the moons which also has folklore connections to magic and trickery, and moons affect the tides, so it all makes an odd sort of sense, too.

Here's a good lesson in how those things can be played together, as she charges some enervating dark magic into the forming shards of ice before sending the hailstorm hurtling towards Uta.

"Pacing is very important in storytelling," Uta responds. Depsite the cold, the chattering, and the stench of the whole situation, she seems to be enjoying every moment of it.

But then the ice storm comes. "Water..." Uta grumbles. "Why does it have to be water?!" At least it's a storm, and a storm can be countered with air. Air is something Uta has plenty of control over, and her wuxia-style rotododges, for once, serve the purpose of spinning a vortex that wraps around her every time she leaps from place to place. This has the effect of making the storm go around her, never hit her. All she has to deal with is the cold and stench. Which... does take a little damage, but not as much as that ice would.

When both Artes have been carried out, and Uta has come to a stop, she spins and points a finger at Kauchemar. "Now!", she exclaims...

...and keeps pointing...

...and finally admits, "...I forgot what I was going to say. Sooo..."

An abrupt motion, her staff is flipped, she launches into that quick, jazzy singing from earlier. In a matter of moments, another blast of light shoots out of the tip of the staff, aimed at Kauchemar.

Kauchemar sees the staff being flipped around. "Oh, no no, not this time." There's a rumble through the pavement as Kauchemar kicks off of it, using the earth itself to lauch herself towards Uta as she's bringing her staff borne attack to bear. At the same time bringing the Binder shield up in front of her, which ignites into flames as she does so. With that combination Kauchemar charges directly into the beam, dispersing it... and smacking right into Uta with the burning shield since it didn't stop her charge.

Which the Nightmare quickly follows up by skidding to a stop and hopping backwards. To give the ghostly sword its chance to jump in after her and slash at Uta quickly.

All the humidity Uta was drenched in helps limit the damage from the fire, but it's still quite the amount. Having been pushed back, she rolls to backwards to absorb the blow, skids to a halt, and resumes charging towards Kauchemar, singing a powerful aria. Without even turning to look, Uta sweeps her staff sideways, deflects the incoming sword, and hits the final note, which sends a powerful beam of light towards Kauchemar.

But wait, that's not all! It's one of those feint finales where one more note follows, and that one is the real ending of the song! Which results in a second unexpected, more powerful blast to follow the first.

Kauchemar does the best thing she can do right now -- keep moving. Not hard when she's got wet surfaces to slide upon, and that gleaming aura of arcane protection flickering back around herself to help diffuse the blows. "Com'n, we're reaching the final number of the act. Don't give up on me now."

Roostertails of water splay behind her as Kauchemar uses the last of her evasiveness to launch herself towards Uta once more, grabbing the ghostly blade as she does so and thrusting it like a lance at the Nurse-Fu Spriggan once more.

Uta charges on her own, and... slips. She slips on the wetness Kauchemar so well thrives in, just as her staff is about to make contact with Kauchemar's jaw. The sword coming for her, which seems to take the unforeseen slip into account, is however blocked with- Uta's feet?! It's like the previous move with the two hands clapping on the blade, except this time it's the soles of her feet as she slides under Kauchemar, pulling the sword with her... and the staff she had kept straight and pointing away from her head up to now, is abruptly turned to rest across her chest, in the hope that her sliding motion will make Kauchemar to trip on it, and fall face-first.

The fairy slips and fails. Kauchemar is briefly thrown off balance by the yank on her weapon, but in the awkward shuffle that follows instead of tripping over the staff the Nightmare is ... gone!? What did she do, teleport?

Not quite, but it -is- moving so fast that she briefly disappears from view save for that eerie 'edge of vision but can't see you' effect that accents her haunting nature well enough.

The Nightmare is on the opposite side of the square when she does come back into full view, and when she does she's already got her mouth open wide to unleash another one of those auditory assaults upon her opponent!

And Uta is quick to retaliate with a counterattack of her own! Harmonizing and dissonating with Kauchemar's vocal Arte as needed by the system's rules, her staff powers up to unleash a counterspell to Kauchemar's incoming attack.

Again Kauchemar draws ambient moisture around herself through elemental magic, this time freezing it into an actual layer of crystal-like ice over herself. It's surprisingly hard, enough that it takes several chops to crack and splinter parts of it away... But that's just enough for the poisonoust -stab- to manage to get through and cut her in the side. She hisses, staggering back a step, and then it turns into a chuckle. "See. You're learning not to hold back... That makes it worth it." The Binder weapons are dismissed.. and out comes the one weapon she's had the longest but not used as much, a snap of her arm unfurling the length of whip and then lashing it repeatedly at Uta.

"Thanks!", Uta exclaims. "I see you're an expert at this. You are not an easy one to battle. You really know how to mess with people."

"OH! A whip!", Uta exclaims, all excited as she recognizes the item being lashed at her. Once she realizes what she's done, she blushes a deep red. "No, no, NOT for THAT reason!", she hurries to explain, while she flicks her menu open and materializes a leather hat on her head, the kind made famous by a bunch of movies about some guy who goes on adventures while wearing a hat and cracking a whip. "See, I have the matching item!"

To prove that her reasons were perfectly innocent, well, there's the point where she manages to dodge every single attempt at hitting her. Except the last one, where she manages to grab and wrap the end of the whip directed at her against her gloved forearm. A dark chant is sung, and tendrils of blackness travel their way through the weapon, back to the owner.

This results in a somewhat weird tug-of-war. ".. I should of expected a martial artist to do that..." And then there's magic being discharged down the length before Kauchemar can pull it free. So she lets go of it, prancing away from the handle sparking with magic angerly as it drops to the ground. Pauses to take a few breaths. "Okay, lets wrap this up." She puts her hands together with a few quick gestures, and sends another rolling frigid blast of bitter cold at Uta. And just focuses on doing that...

Because remember, she let her Binder weapons loose of her grasp before. Which means the sword is free to come charging through the mist at Uta in a visious sneaky attack!

Step 1, whip is pulled and released by Kauchemar. It flies towards Uta.

Step 2, do a 180 degrees turn, and holding onto the end of the whip, fling the handle to hit the sword away.

Step 3, proceed with your rotation, the handle of the whip now coming at high speed towards Kauchemar, at head level.

Step 4, intone a quiet song that'll shoot a beam of energy from your staff at the right moment -- if Kauchemar focuses on the whip, the blast will hopefully get her, and if she focuses on the staff- you get the idea.

The loose whip turns out to convenient to use, smacking the ghost sword out of Uta's way. And sending it jabbing into the guardian ledge of the bridge. The running gag of it getting stuck in things has been maintained.

Just as Uta unleashes her -real- attack the Binder Shield zips in front of Kauchemar, igniting itself on fire once more. But this time it doesn't have the additional enchantments backing it up, and while it withstands the initial hit of the blast, its quickly overwhelmed. This sends it flying backwards.

Right into Kauchemar. With enough force to still bowl over the Nightmare, and

*SPLASH*

Right into the fountain. Though with her height her legs are still sticking out comically. Cue the fanfare of victory for Uta.

"Well, this fight was a washout." Kauchemar's sense of humor is still intact at least.

Uta blinks in confusion. After getting over her disbelief, a proud smile of satisfaction appears on her grime-encrusted features. The kind of smile one gets at an unexpected, and unusual, kind of success. She walks calmly towards the fountain, climbs on the rim, and instead of offering a hand to help Kauchemar out-

-she lowers herself into the water, and places her legs to stick out the same way Kauchemar does.

"Hey, how about a menu bath and laundry?", she offers. Staff floating in front of her like a very unwieldy rubber ducky, she flicks her menu open, and begins to navigate through her inventory. "We don't have to undress, that way. Look, we have access to water, and I think I have some soap around here. We can share if you have none..."

Kauchemar can't help but snicker a little when Uta climbs into the fountain to join her. "With all the noxious stuff we were tossing around a bath is probably a good idea," she agrees. Not that she would... well, let's not go there. This may not be a game any more but there's still appropriate for public to consider.