* Kairi is, for lack of something better to do, idly checking his bo for nicks
and cuts, a lacquer repair kit (not that helpful, but one has to keep up
appearanced) on hand. "... hn."
* Ao-Lang is sprawled on her stomach in the common room, stuffing, sealing, and
stamping envelopes. Every once in a while, she takes one and weighs it on the
little scale she has nearby. The pile of letters is at least ten tall, and
growing bigger with each one she adds.
<Ao-Lang> What'd you do now?
<Kairi> I just have to keep my weapon in presentable shape. I have an image to
maintain and all... um. Er, Ao... might I ask who you're sending those out to?
<Ao-Lang> Oh.  Aunts, uncles, cousins... this one's for mom.
* Ao-Lang seals the envelope shut. "And then I got my brothers and sisters,
too." She stamps it and checks the address before tossing it on the pile..
<Kairi> ... wow, you've got a big family. It's really just me, mom and dad and
all of dad's relatives. Mom's family's still in Japan. And no siblings, either.
<Ao-Lang> Really?  That's too bad.  They're good for kicking around.
* Ao-Lang grins and stuffs another envelope.
<Kairi> ... well, it would be nice to have a sparring partner closeby all the
time...
* Kairi gives Ao a funny look nonetheless.
* Ao-Lang rolls her eyes. "No, not fightin' for real. Not structured, anyway.
You really are an only child."
<Kairi> ... oh. ^^;
* Kairi goes back to both cleanin' up his bo and looking mildly embarrased.
"Hey, Ao?"
<Ao-Lang> If you're going to adopt me, I'd have to say no.
* Ao-Lang tosses another envelope on the pile.
<Kairi> No, I actually wanted to ask you if you wanted to still go through with
that wager we made.
* Ao-Lang looks up at Kairi. "Sure. I don't make wagers I don't mean."
<Ao-Lang> You sure you wanna kiss Karasu, though?  I can change it.  Week of
slave labor or something.
<Kairi> Like I said before, I have no intention of losing.
* Ao-Lang laughs.
<Ao-Lang> Okay, I'll just leave it up to you when you do.
* Ao-Lang seals and stamps the envelope she's holding before getting to her feet
and stretching. "Now?"
* Kairi smirks, maaaaaaaybe with confidence. "Now." He pops up to his feet and
works out the ass-in-chair kinks.
* Ao-Lang pulls on her boots (how does she fight in those things?) and leads the
way into the training room.
* Kairi follows along, and manages (through sheer innocence) to not be an ogling
teenage lech. ^_^
* Ao-Lang walks a good ways in, turns, and faces Kairi. She grins. "Say when."
* Kairi takes a few practice swings, then chuckles. "Ready. Are you?"
* Ao-Lang laughs and makes no move to drop into a ready stance. "Always."
* Kairi takes a resolute step foward, spins his bo, and aims a poolcue-shot at
Ao's breastbone. His grin's gotten larger, it should be noted. "Show me your
heart, Ao-Lang... 'cause I'm gonna show you mine!"
* Ao-Lang is caught offguard by Kairi's rush and takes the hit full on, falling
to the floor and rolling back. She's on her feet quickly enough, a smirk on her
face and tessen suddenly in her hands. "Nice one." She throws the one in her
right, then left.
* Kairi winces as the first tessen glances off of his bo and smacks him across
the jaw, but dances out of the way of the second. "... good, good." He pauses,
striking a pose as the wind kicks up around him. "Get ready..."
* Ao-Lang catches the first tessen, then the second. She grins, backing away as
a thick mist fills the room. "For you? I will."
* Kairi takes a deep breath and concentrates. "I'm glad you're in my team... but
I think I might be able to find you... WHITE HUNTER!" He sends a disk of
buffeting wind into the miasma, then follows with his now-familiar wind-aided
staffstab. "For you! White SPIRAL!"
* Ao-Lang takes it and goes spinning off to one side, barely managing to regain
her balance before she ends up as an ugly mess. "Ow. Shit." She turns, running
at Kai and striking him with her left tessen as she passes: a blue-gray glow
covers its edge. "Strike of Flowing Water!"
* Ao-Lang goes right past him, retreating into the mist again.
* Kairi throws up a quick defence, but nonetheless skids back a bit from the
impact, grin straining into a thin smile. "Gnnn... strong..." He turns to follow
where he saw Ao go. "... what the hell. The *strongest*! Whiiiiiiiite...
CLIMAX!" He goes into a swinging, striking and stabbing frenzy, not exactly with
the best of aim...
<Kairi> ... well, it was worth a shot.
* Ao-Lang dances around the flurry of wind and ends up at Kai's side. "Don't let
the door hit you on your way out. Chaos Stream!" She cross-slashes Kai with her
both Bolt and Wave, a powerful stream of electrified water, shooting forth.
* Kairi leans back as he sees the strike coming, then seems to blur faintly
before he puts his bo in the way, lean to the right and use the momentum to get
the hell out of the way. After all's said and done, he looks winded. "... nice."
Then he swings at Ao again.
* Ao-Lang brings up her tessen and frantically tries to push the bo away, but is
just a fraction too slow. She grimaces. "Can't," she begins, but stop herself
before she gets any further and forces herself to jump up and over Kairi,
flipping to face his back. "Strike of Flowing Water," she gasps as she spins,
her left, glowing tessen slicing at his shoulder.
* Kairi hobbles forward as his strike's half-blocked, taking a bit too long to
recover... but not long enough to cartweel to the side as he feels Ao behind
him, quickly countering with another White Hunter as he tries to get *away*.
* Ao-Lang takes it and stumbles backwards. She looks... well, shocked, before
falling unconscious on the floor.  The mist dissipates completely.
* Kairi follows through with the momentum of his armswing, then pauses. Given a
moment to catch his breath, he makes his way to Ao's side, picking her up a bit.
"Ao... are you alright?"
* Ao-Lang opens her eyes after a bit and blinks a couple times at Kairi. But
instead of punching him, she grins and says, "Luck's better than skill."
<Kairi> ... eh, not really. You're good. Really, really good. We all have
offdays now and then... mine lasted a really long time. ^^;
* Ao-Lang snickers. "You had nothin' to do with that." After taking a deep
breath, she pushes herself to a sitting position, and then gets to her feet.
"Deal's a deal. I'll treat ya to dinner. You sure you don't wanna kiss Karasu
anyway? He's cute."
<Kairi> ... wuh?
* Kairi blinkblinks a few times as he tries to parse 'Karasu' and 'cute' in the
same thought, and apparently has a mild brain lockup.
* Ao-Lang laughs as she walks off. "I'm getting a healing potion. And a rematch.
You *are* giving me a rematch, right?"
<Kairi> Of course! ^_^
* Ao-Lang returns with two of the disgusting concoctions and tosses one to
Kairi.
* Kairi catches it and gulps it down without thinking. "... yech, I can still
taste it."
<Ao-Lang> At least Isaac didn't kill your tastebuds.
* Ao-Lang plugs her nose and drinks the stuff, barely keeping herself from
spitting it out.
* Kairi wings the bottle aside. "So long as it works..."
<Ao-Lang> Yeah, but you think they could do something about the taste.  Mint
flavored, maybe?  The breath mint with exciting healing powers.
<Kairi> It's probably another excuse for them to make us tougher... or it could
just take horrible no matter what they put into it.
* Ao-Lang grumbles, "Bet it's the first." She clears her throat.
<Ao-Lang> So, rematch later.  Wait for bruises to leave now.  Dinner... when do
you want dinner?
<Kairi> In a few hours, maybe? And I won't try to go overboard. Don't wanna get
you too upset at me. ^^
* Ao-Lang grins. "Deal's a deal. Going overboard is just gonna make me take it
out on you some other time."
<Kairi> Oh, really now?
* Kairi resumes smirking. "I welcome that kind of challenge anyday."
* Ao-Lang laughs. "Not so bad, Kai. C'mon, help me stuff envelopes."
<Kairi> ... okay. ^^
* Ao-Lang has a seat on the floor and starts detailing the intricate letter
process.
* Kairi listens in raptly... and still manages to ignore his hormones. Amazing,
that.