paixaorpg | Bring It On (Active, Closed)

Entry tags:

Bring It On (Active, Closed)

Character(s): Sephiroth, Tanaka Hajime
Content: A demonstration is in order.
Setting: J. R'handom Park (no, really; it's located in H6)
Time: Mid Afternoon, Early Week 3
Warnings: ...None yet.

Sephiroth felt rather dubious about this whole affair. He was there to meet a man he did not know, who had abilities he also did not know. This, in and of itself, was not a major issue. He'd done it countless times before.

What he felt dubious about, then, was not the meeting itself, but rather the nature of this man's abilities. He'd never had any particular use for cheerleaders; indeed, they were nearly nonexistant in Midgar, except at sporting events whose nature Sephiroth had never quite seen the point of. The fact that this one was supposedly capable of performing in such a way that it boosted one's performance measurably was what he found interesting - and a bit on the silly side, if he was being quite honest.

Still, he had said he would see this ability for himself. What else could he do but show up, and hope that he wasn't wasting his time.

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Tanaka, on the other hand, was glad for the meeting. He did not know this man, who he was or what he was looking for, not even his goals. This was generally something he knew before going into a job, but that didn't matter much to him at this point. The cheerleader simply wanted a way to prove his worth, at this point.

It wasn't too hard to identify the man he was meeting. His soul was... impressive. Bright, determined. It was a high-burning flame, already; Tanaka couldn't help but feel a bit of his serious expression drain as he took it in. It wasn't something he often saw before helping...

He reeled his awe back in and tried to regain his composure as he neared. He was no longer a wide-eyed rookie, and he wasn't about to walk up looking like one. Before any words could be exchanged, Tanaka gave the low, sharp bow before the man. "You are the one to have called, then? Tanaka Hajime." He rose out of his ninety-degree angle. "I hope not to let you down." He wouldn't.

"You may call me Sephiroth," he said in reply, returning the bow with a nod. "One can only do one's best, and hope that it is adequate. In the end, that is all any of us can hope to be."

And... that was that, really. He didn't have any more words of encouragement. It was Tanaka's show now, and success or failure, it was up to him. "Begin whenever you are ready."

Tanaka paused. He wasn't quite sure how to start. The man was not in clear stress; quite the opposite, really. There was no particular task to overcome, no immediate goal to see. There was no starting point, no ending point, and he did not have any teammates with him to help him figure out where to take it.

But it was as Sephiroth had just said he could only do his best. And it would have to be adequate. Tanaka set his jaw and nodded to the other man. He gave his cap a tug, planted his footing, and focused all his energies. "Osu!" he shouted, and felt his fire flare.

Sephiroth quirked a brow as he felt the first wave of strange energy wash over him. Strange, yet familiar; he'd felt it before. The surge of blood, of vitality, of -power-; it was the same thing he felt in the heat of battle.

Beyond that, he gave no reaction; if this man could do more than this to a subject forcing himself to display apathy, what could he do to someone whose need was much greater?

The man gave no reaction, but Tanaka saw his fire rise, at least a start; as he'd feared, the lack of clear goal had set his resolve off. But if he gave up that easy, he'd have no place as an Ouendan in the first place. It was only further motivation for him, a challenge that he would not back down from. A spirit of this strength would only prove how much power he had on his own.

He set into the movements of the cheer: not a dance by typical standard, instead an almost violent act, movements sharp and cutting. Perhaps breaking out into this performance in the middle of a public park looked odd, but he was more than a little used to it; back home, people didn't even bother staring anymore.

And his spirit was charging with the action, as he found the familiarity and fell into his comfort zone of intensity. And as his spirit expanded, its connection with Sephiroth expanded; one fire fed another.

By now, Sephiroth had a fairly good feel for what this person could do, and he was impressed. What he did not know was, how would it translate to a combat situation, and did this guy know how to protect himself?

In what was perhaps a fateful decision, Sephiroth decided to test that capability. Approaching at somewhere far to the left of full speed and strength, Sephiroth threw an easily avoidable punch at the man's midsection. He'd dodge or block it, or he wouldn't; the reaction would tell him what he needed to know.

Oh. Okay. Well. He wasn't quite expecting that. The attack was sudden, but Tanaka brought the dodge into part of his routine, a lean backwards with his arms held wide. It was a near miss, but a miss regardless.

He flashed a quick glare at Sephiroth in the instant it took him to understand. So the man's motivation was to determine his worth? Fine, then. Improvisation was key to any proper cheer. "Hyaa!" he bellowed, before continuing on, keeping his attention for another attack. He'd need to make up for the instant he'd fallen off-beat; it was only a moment's distraction, but that was all was needed for him to lose ground and his flame to flicker. If the attack had hit, the effect would be... he would not think of that.

Sephiroth nodded appreciatively, but he wasn't done yet. A little faster this time, a looping punch from the side. Still far below his greatest speed or strength, though.

"The foes we will face will not stand idly by while you perform," he said, even as he was throwing a low kick into the mix. "They will attempt to hit you, kill you if they can. Can you perform under such circumstances?"

He was ready this time, and he did not let his performance slip. Tanaka kept his attention open, aware of his attacker's movements, and sidestepping them while still charging them both. He realized that by motivating this man, he was simultaneously putting himself in more danger. But that was the point, wasn't it.

"Ouendan will never back down when another is in need," he insisted. "To fail is unacceptable, and I will not do so easily. We have helped people overcome fears, squash doubts, fight monsters." The fact that it was his superiors who took on the more dangerous missions need not be mentioned.

"If for nothing else..." He aimed a punch of his own, but it decidedly and consciously missed Sephiroth; the moves of the routine appeared violent, but Ouendan were not fighters of any sort. "We protect ourselves because it keeps our targets safe. Defending others is all that matters."

Sephiroth knew enough about his body, and the effects of various enhancement spells, to know how to keep from injuring Tanaka. Even so, his movements came faster and faster, until he had reached what he perceived as the other man's physical limit. Trained or not, he was still only human.

Flowing backward out of the pattern, he motioned for Tanaka to stop. "Well done." Skyrocketing praise, considering who it was coming from. "Now, I have a question. When you perform like this, do you focus only on a single individual, or can you enhance others as well?"

He kept up his end of the work; his work rarely involved splitting his attention, but that was the idea. Tanaka wasn't backing down. There was something resembling relief, however, when Sephiroth finished. The cheerleader stepped back, crossing his arms behind him and catching his breath. He nodded back at the word of praise. "Dai sei ko," he replied.

Tanaka quirked his head for an instant at the question, before adjusting his glasses. "Spreading my attention is possible, and I have done it before. But smaller groups are preferred; the more there are, the less likely they are to be in sync with their goal." A small pause for breath. "Also, without the other members of my team here to work alongside me, I cannot be sure how far I can stretch my focus."

Sephiroth nodded, conceding the point. "I see. I must say, yours is an interesting ability," he said, giving the Ouendan an appraising look.

And then, he quirked the faintest hint of a smile. "You're in." And it was as simple as that.

"It is what it is," Tanaka replied. Smug? Him? Never.

He raised a brow, again nudging his glasses. "I'm glad to hear. But what exactly is it I've gotten myself in to, if you don't mind?" He had an idea, but the details were something he'd been hoping to have explained for a bit, now.

Sephiroth produced a dossier folder from an inner pocket of his coat and handed it over. "As you know by now, we are apparently held in this city against our will. The person or persons responsible for this have never stepped forward, but there is reason to suspect that a group known as Organization XIII is behind it. On top of this, the same group have repeatedly kidnapped and experimented on various of the people they abducted into this city in the first place, in a wide range of ways. They have taken the old and the young, the strong and the defenseless, with seeming impunity. And some of them seem to delight in doing so."

He folded his arms behind his back, gesturing for Tanaka to follow as he started walking. "A group of the abducted have formed a resistance movement, whose purpose is to combat the Organization and eventually to find a way out of this city - out of this world, if we are able. Complications have arisen, in the forms of Hades, Maleficent, and Jafar, a trio who have claimed ownership of the city recently; we are still trying to work out their relation to this entire problem."

Tanaka took the dossier, and briefly looked into the files as Sephiroth explained. He'd indeed heard details about this, and the idea of what these people--this Organization--were doing was deeply grating. Using others for some sort of personal gain against their own will was a right that no person had.

He closed the folder as he followed the other man; it would be a lot of reading. He took the information in silence, nodding to indicate he understood. The city was complicated in its problems, but that only justified the need for help.

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Bring It On (Active, Closed)

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