#I have submitted astesia to dealing with that situation | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cadcnce-archived · 1 year

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sword fight!!! :: closed

send ‘ Swordplay ’ for my muse to pin yours to the ground while fighting/sparring. send ‘ Swordplay + reverse ’ for your muse to pin mine.

@starryskied sent: Swordplay ( Zeph from ms. blue bird herself )

It's not a matter of if Zephyr deserved comeuppance, but when. Something or someone will surely, finally, catch up with the cheeky bird. Debauchery was only scraping the surface. There was an entire history even before arriving tired and haggard with his half dead sister on the front door of Rhodes Island building up a karmic debt. And apparently, he continued to be good at evading his debtors. Isn't there only so much one can get away with? And no, HR reports don't count. It may take something else for him to get the point. In this case Astesia's blade.

"I really really don't want to fight you, you know?" Troubled words spared while evading another strike of that flourishing rapier. It's unfortunate, that even at his most earnest Zephyr carries an air of someone who can't be taken seriously. Dubious to a complete fault. And cunning to a degree that everything might be a game. Either to save his own life or mess with someone else's. Talk was cheap, and even with a wealth of vocabulary the bounty accrued on him by the astrologist would take more than a speech to assuage.

So what else did he have then?

Well, his dexterity and agility for one. Swiping from tables and slipping around chairs for a chunk of your life making change and trading gossip around the clubs and casinos that made up the underbelly of Ursus is worth something. Not to mention surviving the fights when you got caught or had turf to defend in the alleys. He's been doing this since he was little. Surviving. To the great dismay of those who wished death upon him he was slippery even before the arts came into play.

They weren't, not for now. In such close quarters and with his attention on that sword it's not that he couldn't, but running away invites a certain level of cowardice on his resume and against a refine lady like Astesia that just wouldn't do. It'd be one thing if one of the elite operators or city clearers like Blaze were around where he didn't stand a chance at a parry. Oh, absolutely he would be halfway across the landship by now to save his skin.

That beautiful blade draws close to his neck and a flash of steel preludes the knife that catches it at the hilt. Zephyr knocks the attack away as footwork evades him a breath to the side from the attempted riposte that follows from the woman. She moves quick, and so does he. One might think this a tie as far as capabilities went, and they'd be wrong. The longer the battle draws on the less an advantage Zephyr has. He's a get in and get out kind of assailant. Quick attacks to take an opponent by surprise, it's why his arts made him such an effective combatant.

"Shit, you're not actually trying to kill me are you?!" This is the question that should have been asked earlier, alas, perhaps the optimism had run a little high after the supposed prank went poorly. Astesia had every right to be offended and wish retaliation for her honor. Zephyr just wanted to take his fidget spinner and leave. That wasn't going to work. And he's realizing it by the moment that in her current state an apology wasn't going to work.

Clang! Swish!

It's not the cleanest way to fight, but getting in and kicking away her lead foot and then breaking her guard with the pommel of the knife in his hand was about the only chance he had. A gust of wind to put him behind her and she's on the ground, just as angry as one might expect. But at least she doesn't have her sword, and Zephyr is no longer on the table to become swiss cheese.

"Are we good now?" There's the optimism again! As if it ever went away, and only blipped. It seemed that comeuppance wouldn't come so easily, but it was only stemmed. Much like the other Liberi's merited rage. "I'm sorry. Okay? I'm... sorry I spun a fidget spinner on your boob while you were asleep. Now if you promise not to gut me I'll get up. No hard feelings! We'll let this go..."

#starryskied #inbox :: answered ic #I hate him so much #why does he do this #I have submitted astesia to dealing with that situation #and presumably she'd react this way (':#verse :: arknights #this post was also a nice way to touch up on parts of his history and drop in little tidbits

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