In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
A special thank you to ChasingArtwork of Deviantart, who allowed us to use this stellar banner image.
There aren't enough praises in the world I'd like to give to wonderful coders for the Proboards community. The following have contributed to World Destiny in some way: W3 Schools for countless how-tos and countless of other souls who have helped get WD up to where it is.
The icons you see across the site are from FontAwesome, an amazing icon library.
All images on this site belong to their respective owners or creators. Kingdom Hearts: World Destiny does not claim ownership of anything except our unique story.
All Original characters are the intellectual property of their respective RPers. Do not steal any characters or other creative works.
All Canon Characters belong to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Square Enix and Disney.
As one looks upon the shop, they may notice the peculiar architecture which frames the porch - a set of black pillars of an otherworldly design rising up to meet a multi-inclined roof in an ornate corbel wood bracket that seem to spill out across the overhang which juts out from the wall above the door. The pillars are hewn into the form of two coiled dragons, but they have no face - as if the sculptor left his work unfinished. The windows are formed from dark slats crisscrossing each other in an illusion of conformity, inlaid with opaque glass. A lantern hangs from above the doorframe, glowing dimly.
As one enters the door, the noise of the world is left behind them, and the space beyond the porch ceases to be. Only shadows of what was shift briefly behind the transluscent glass panes. They may wonder why there was no sign outside indicating the name of the shop. They may also perceive that the shop is somewhat larger on the inside than it had appeared on the outside. Tall shelves line the outer edges of the room in a comfortable asymmetry, upon which are piled rows upon rows of not only books of all shape, size and age, but peculiar items which seem to catch one's eye in the same way one might notice a childhood toy, an old picture, or a forgotten memory.
As ones steps into the dimly-lit space, the room may seem to grow brighter, although the various lights around the shop have not changed. Their eyes may look up to see a sign which they could have sworn did not say the same words a moment before, but now they appear to read:
What is lost is merely waiting to be found.
Then, a youthful voice may call out to them, though for some reason, they may not be able to quite gauge exactly how old its owner is, like the scent of a freshly-made cup of a thousand-year-old tea brew.
'Welcome to the Mu. How may I help you?'
t h e · r u l e s
The Mu is a place of equivalent exchange. Nothing can be sold or bought here. You must give as much as you gain, or whatever you gain within the walls of the Mu will disappear and/or be forgotten as soon as you leave. If you were to take something which cannot be returned, the Mu will take its equivalent value from you when you leave e.g. if you were to take someone's life in the Mu, you would die as soon as you stepped outside.
The Mu can only be found by those who need it. This thread is by request only - please send a PM if you wish for an appointment. Group appointments are also possible. When an exchange is in session, no-one else may enter until the exchange is concluded. They are on a first-come, first-served basis, with very occasional exceptions such as for vital plot devices.
The Mu is a place for learning, not wishes. This is not a place where you can simply power up your character. You are limited to how much Kuu can teach you and which items he has in stock, but also by how much your character has to offer in return. The amount you are required to exchange is judged not only by the power or rarity of what you gain, but by its current significance, i.e. how much your character is improved/changed by it. You cannot expect to come to the Mu and come out an all-powerful being.
t h e · d o j o Through his extensive training in multiple worlds, Kuu has gained a vast knowledge of fighting styles. The current regular classes are listed below, although unlisted lessons may be offered upon request. The price is a piece of fighting knowledge or a technique - the rarity and usefulness of the knowledge in question will determine how far the instruction will help you.
Discipline
Info
Tutor
[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Strength Defence Magic Agility Spells Weapon Unarmed Combat Technique [/td][td]Trains physical strength and attack power Trains physical durability and reaction speed Trains magical stamina and resistance Trains movement speed and athleticism Instruction on spells and enchantments Instruction on use of various weapons Instruction on unarmed fighting techniques Instruction on combat techniques and sparring Instruction on developing a unique move or attack [/td][td]Kuu Kuu Kuu Kuu Kuu Kuu Kuu Kuu Kuu [/td][/tr][/table]
t h e · a r t e f a c t s A wide collection of rare items from across the worlds sit upon the shelves, some collected upon travels, others made by Kuu himself. The price for these are an artefact of same value and type. The current stock is listed below.
A tattoo that raises magic A stone figurine that prevents negative buffs A crystal-lit lantern which never goes out A brittle knife that can cut through any defence An incense that disorientates summons An earring that sharpens one's senses A cloth that grants brief physical invulnerability A coin that deters thieves after money A longsword that burns when held by a pure heart A stick that can be traded for a free ice-cream bar A chain that increases elemental resistance A ring which draws health from struck foes A burner that shows the closest to one's heart A seashell charm that connects two people forever
Kuu used his foot to pull the door open, as his hands were preoccupied with the large stack of books he was carrying. Stepping inside, he used his other foot to hold the door open for his visitor to follow him into the shop. He carefully lowered the pile of tomes in his arms onto the shop counter, before brushing himself down, throwing up clouds of dust from the old bound volumes he had been clutching for the past ten minutes.
'Right,' he said as he turned to face his guest. 'Welcome to the Mu. Please follow me to the dojo at the back of the shop.'
The silver-haired young man led the way through the corridors of bookshelves, and after what seemed a slightly longer time that one would have guessed would be required to make their way to the other end of a small shop, a doorway opened up to a large area with a high ceiling and a wide wooden floor. The surrounding walls were laid with brackets of weapons of all sizes and origins, as well as shelves of musky-looking scrolls, and a wooden sign which was blank.
Kuu bowed before entering, and crossed the floor to one side of the wide hall, gesturing towards his visitor to do the same.
'You mentioned that you wanted to learn about magic in the art of combat - before I'm to help you learn, however, I think it would be wise to see in which areas your learning would best be channelled,' he said. 'I believe the fastest way to do so would be for us to engage in combat.'
With this, Kuu slid his foot back, with a single arm raised with the palm facing inwards. 'Attack me.'
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 9, 2012 22:42:05 GMT -4
"I can get that for you, oh nevermind," Kairi mused over once Kuu managed to get the door opened. She wiggled in making sure she doesn't bump into him in a dim light shop mainly by the natural light that milked in from the windows. The teen merely stood there lost, while drinking in The Mu. It nearly reminded her of Merlin's House with the variety of books, but unlike the elder wizard, it was quite organized along with other knick-knacks.
Her brows perked up as he directed her elsewher; she followed suit gazing at everything as if she was a child in a museum. But how much more was to this shop? Her brows scrunched wondering where he was leading, while contemplating on where he found these things, "Wow you truly been all over the place to make such a collection..."
They stopped at a door, and the red-head stood on her toes to peer over Kuu's tall frame as he bowed to take a quick curious peak. The walls were decorated with weaponry. WOW He's definately been to other places than just the islands and here.
Hopefully he wouldn't ask of her to use one of them; she was mediocre enough with her keyblade as she swung it here and there efficiently to knock heartless away from her and parrying. With a squeaked hum, her eyes blinked as he gestured towards her and gave him a meek and unsure bow before stepping in.
It sounded like he was going to put her through a test of sort to figure the best learning method. The girl merely nodded not knowing to what she just agreed to or what was going to occur next. Just the word combat was enough to knock her off ease. He wanted her to attack him.
"....," a cricket could fill the room with the current silence while blue eyes glanced at Kuu incredulously, "you're serious aren't you?"
She haven't truly fought hand to hand in her life...that would count unless one would count the many of times she would jump on Sora's and Riku's backs to crash them into the sand. Kicking and screaming didn't really seem appropriate either; WAIT KICKING SHE CAN DO!
...this is going to be...embarassing. Alright shut-up and atleast do something, might as well stick to what was natural...even if delivering the first strike was down right uncommon for her. Uncertain at first, she ran towards him, then used her left arm to swipe his raised arm down as her right leg lifted up to kick his side.
As Kairi charged him, Kuu already spotted multiple things. Uncertain steps, indicating an unwillingness to attack, which would immediately weaken her strikes no matter what she did. Center of gravity all over the place, making her movements unbalanced and without focus. He also had to actively prevent himself from smiling at the look of sheer panic in her eyes.
Not a bad idea for a first strike though, lowering the defending arm in order to create an opening for a kick - the sense of rotation was not too shabby either. However, using a kick aimed to the side as a follow up to a parry that moved the opponent's arm into a perfect position to block a low attack - obviously her mind was filled with the concept of creating an opening rather than aiming for the success of a strike. Her lack of adeptness at controlling her centre of gravity meant that the kick was off-balance and without form or power. She did not summon the weapon he had seen earlier, neither did she attempt to use any magic - he wondered if she was underestimating him slightly.
Kuu allowed her to swipe aside his arm, but simply used it to follow the circular movement of her body, fluidly ducking under her kick. As her leg passed overhead, he spun into a low sweeping kick to take her off her feet. Immediately afterwards, he swept his other foot around into a second revolution, going into a low crouching stance with one leg out straight with both arms curved slightly behind him right below where he predicted Kairi would fall, so that he would be able to catch her before she hurt herself on the hard wooden floor.
'You're trying to learn magic with your weapon, and brawling isn't your thing,' he told her. 'Don't hold back and do what's the most natural and comfortable for you - but come at me as if I'm an enemy.'
He straightened himself and returned to his previous stance, waiting for her next strike.
Learning how to do magic and learning how to use magic are completely different things. It's impossible to fluidly join both the magic arts and the combat arts without full commitment into each and every strike.
'Elbows in, feet shoulder-width apart, keep your movements as relaxed and as relevant as possible,' he instructed. 'Don't make unnecessary movements, and try not to move out of panic, but out of purpose.'
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 10, 2012 23:47:19 GMT -4
Her teeth gritted once feeling her stability swept from beneath; they clenched so tightly as she inhaled sharply to surpress any squeals of surprise. Her eyes closed shut just preparing to deal with the pain that would bolt through her head upon impact, but her fall stopped. There was a small sigh of relief, while an eye peaked open to see a pair of dark eyes staring down at her.
"Hehe so you noticed," there goes her epic fail of today, and for moment she truly thought she wasn't built for this kind of thing as she stood back up,"natural and comfortable you said...okay."
Alright elbows in...feet shoulders...okay you're over-thinking juuust relax, and do what's natural...natural, natural, natural...
"Alright," she nodded as she inhaled deeply and laxed. If she was going to do this with purpose, then she'd have to seem him as a heartless, and even they weren't truly enemies in her eyes unless they are the bunch that plotted for her heart with full intent. Generally she's one to react rather than initiating a fight with an other, but with heartless, she tended to engage willingly for their hearts can be freed sooner, Just remember natural...Think as if everything you do is trying to help him.
She couldn't put her heart into on-slaught attacking him to attack him, but for the heartless she freed there was a different willinglyness to oppose them and free them from their torture of living an empty life of a heartless.
Holding her left arm up, she showed her palm before a ball of line shined from the center and shot out rapidly at him. This was as natural as she could get, and her right fingers were already twitching to call her keyblade as it formed out of a familiar shine of light. She was used to carrying the light weight of the floral, and with a step forward, she put her weight in a swing as a wave of water flowed from the invisible line it drew.
As he quickly leant back and stepped to the side to avoid the beam of light, Kuu watched Kairi's movements quietly, as his mind attempted to put his knowledge to the situation at hand to piece together the best way for him to apply his experience and expertise to the areas she lacked in. One of the problems was that she had no intention to harm her opponent, which weakened the power of her attacks before she had even begun. Something had to be done about that uncertainty in her movements, it made every move she made unbalanced and unrefined.
Perhaps that stemmed from the fact that she appeared to have no formal discipline - her attacks and movements had neither form nor deliberation, which meant that her reflexive actions were practically non-existent. She'd need at least some work on developing her moveset to a certain discipline before she began the synthesis of martial fighting with magical supplementation. Perhaps it was presumptuous of him to to assume that she would be a martial combatant first and a magician second, but there was something significant about that weapon which somehow made him think that she would always fall back to that form of defence.
And that weapon too. From the way she swung it, Kuu guessed that it was to be wielded as some sort of bladed weapon, not as a staff as he had previously thought. She held it far too low down the shaft, and the curling elongations around the grip where she held it looked too similar to handguards for the weapon to be anything else. But it was a peculiar weapon, and despite it looking like it had no cutting edge (heck, it was made of flowers) there was sufficient confidence in Kairi's swing that it confirmed it for him. It was that weapon which suddenly made it click for Kuu - it was certainly unorthodox, but Kairi was that sort of person, and it might just work for her.
But first things first.
Kairi had launched a water-based attack from her weapon, and while the single-directional light magic could be avoided, the wide, splashing range of the water meant that it was far better to counter it with a method that redirected it over an even wider range that dissipated its damage potential to nothing. An Aero spell would do the job nicely.
Summoning up a wind about him, the spell intercepted the water, and after briefly spinning it about his torso, scattered it into multiple harmless droplets that showered outwards. He allowed his hand to lower. 'That's enough,' he said. 'I think we can begin now.'
He sat himself down in a cross-legged position on the floor, and bid Kairi to do the same. 'Let me start with the positives first,' he said. 'Your magic's nice and stable, and you don't seem to have much problem with channelling your magic through a medium. You're in physically good condition, and your magic reservoir's also seems surprisingly high.'
He tapped the floor lightly with his knuckle. 'Now to the important stuff... your movements have no cohesiveness, and no focus. Because you don't join your attacks together, your moves are predictable because its easier to see where each technique starts and ends, as well as the amount of time required to carry out each attack. The source of this, I think, comes for your inability to translate what you intend and envisage in your head to your physical movements. This could, in turn, stem from your lack of battle experience, your inconfidence in battle, or -' He glanced up at her. '- the personal difficulty in the application of your passive nature to a situation that calls for violence.'
Kuu traced a slow circle on one of the wooden planks. 'Essentially, what you need is a discipline,' he said. 'Something that will give you greater balance and confidence in your movements, a moveset you can depend on, and a form with which you can use to apply your intentions with ease. From that, we can work out how to cultivate your magic and blend it with your physical attacks.'
He walked to one of the walls, and after pausing briefly, he took down a pair of exotic swords - with a hooked handguard protecting the grip, and a narrow, straight blade that ended in an elongated hook rather than a point. 'These are called "shang gou" or hook swords,' he explained. 'They're the closest weapons I know to the one you're holding now - appearance-wise, anyway. The thing with the shuang gou is that they're almost always used as part of a pair. It's a difficult form enough to learn with two swords, but I think for you, something like this might be a good discipline to learn.'
Kuu beckoned her to stand back. 'Now, imagine that the sword in my right hand is your weapon,' he instructed. 'And imagine that the one in my left is your magic.'
Closing his eyes, Kuu readied himself for the pattern. He then held both swords to the side, and began cleanly sweeping them through the air in gently curving arcs. From the slow, uniform movements, he switched to the next, more dynamic step, in which he began spinning the swords in each hand in a defensive manoeuvre - one that took full advantage of the light, short range of the sword to move as quickly as possible through the air. He then crossed the swords in mid-spin, allowing the two swords to hook together at the tip, and swung them in suddenly incredibly wide-ranged circular slices through the air, making several revolutions before catching the handle in the corresponding hand again.
With a moments pause, he threw one of the swords aside, and with an indicative look to Kairi to motion her to keep watching, he began the form with a single sword, but in his open hand, he summoned his magic. As his right hand finished its slash, his left came around to launch a blade of wind. In this manner, Kuu replaced the use of the second shaung gou with his magic attacks, aiming to perfectly blend the slashing of his weapon with his offensive spells. He completed the form with the variation of the final manoeuvre he had been contemplating in his head as he had watch Kairi attack.
Channelling magic into his blade, he swung the sword as if a second blade was hooked onto it. But instead of the additional sword, Kuu released a whipping Aero blade to slice through the air in a broad arc that easily reached more than two metres around him. As he finished the form, Kuu lowered the blade and looked back at Kairi.
'That's the shuang gou form,' he said. 'That final move you saw is the technique we're aiming for.'
He pulled an easy grin. 'How about it? Feel like quitting yet?'
((That's one of the forms for the double hook sword that Kuu did just then. Youtube it if want a more visual idea ^^))
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 11, 2012 16:16:09 GMT -4
The wave was rejected with a bending sphere of winds, and the little combat was over with. Personally she was somewhat thankful for it feeling that it placed her in an uncomfortable spot light of the obvious; she was beyond rusty; actually there wasn’t even good iron forged to collect rust to begin with. The keyblade stayed in her hand as she sat down as instructed. Listening to the ‘positives’ made her wonder if she preferred the hearing the bad news first, so the sting would lessen once hearing the good. Inwardly, she glared too herself as she dropped kicked any flickering thoughts of being sensitive or taking it too personally; in the end of the day, she asked for it, so she might as well drink everything with open arms and start tackling her problems head-on.
With each flaw, she stared at the floral keyblade wondering why she was given this thing in the first place; one would think the cosmos would pick someone more suited for the job more or less far more experienced than she was. The boys appeared to be naturals at it, while she had loose wires that needed to be connected…as well as how he put her ‘passive nature’. Her eyes turned up towards with a playful smile of guilt, “you hit the nail on the head there…”
Who would give a borderline pacifist a sword anyways?
Red hair bobbed with a nod as he got straight to the point; despite how far in the dark she was with combatting, at least there was someone to tug her out of it, which was reliving since Kuu apparently knew what to do and what he talked about, especially when he could dissect someone he haven’t seen in days within a few minutes.
Yep, he’d always been the smart one…
Her neck craned over following him as he went to a wall, and her body twisted afterwards to see what he was grabbing. Her brows bundled up at the odd swords thingy with the hooked ends. Then again, she can’t really talk in terms of oddity. Her keyblade didn’t looked like the most sensible or functional weaponry in existence, “and those are…”
Learning that the worked better in pairs, the wielder-in-training wondered if she bit off more than she could chew. Surely after her previous display of inadequacy, he would have her use those. At the sudden thought, she snorted at herself, Jeez you’re not THAT hopeless…talk about self-esteem…
“If you say so,” she started, while hopping up on her feet. Her anxiety was slowly returning despite her miniscule doubtfulness. What the princess didn’t expected was to be taken back at the rhythmic fluidity; it looked like he was almost dancing with the grace each sweeping swing had. For some reason, she couldn’t help, but feel a small smile bloom on her face. At least she can boldly admit one thing; she fulfilled a promise; he had her undivided attention. If she was able to come out of who knows how many sessions like that, then she would surely tackle and smother him in thankfulness; she doubt there was anything in return she can give for this.
“Heavens no, I’m ready!” She beamed as she swung her keyblade up to catch its length in her free hand, “so where do we start for I’m less predictable?”
Kuu couldn't help but chuckle a little at her enthusiasm. At least she had the keen thing down - he only hoped that she'd be able to keep it up till she finished the training. As hopeful as he was, he knew that proficiency didn't come with a single session - it would take a lot of time on her practicing everything before she was able to apply these techniques with any degree of mastery. The best thing he could do was to push her through the form (with swords, with magic and with both), the art of weaving magic in a shape useable within the form, and the final technique, which hopefully she would be able to develop and evolve once she became more confident in the art.
'Alright, first things first,' he said as he walked back to the wall. 'Relax your body. No, don't flop. Just be in a very comfortable position on the balls of your feet. No part of your body should be locked up. Yep, that includes your knees.'
He took a pair of wooden hook swords from its rack and handed them to her. 'Take these instead - better than cutting yourself to pieces if you mess up. Now -' he picked up his own pair. 'Just start by sweeping your weapons from side to side, like this. Just get used to the weight of them being in your hand. Now, remember - they're sweeping motions, not swings. Every inch of movement is controlled. But don't tighten up - keep your wrists loose. Flow. Like the blade of the sword is slicing through water.'
Kuu demonstrated with his own weapons, his hands moving in the familiar motions of the form. 'It's like there's a bubble between your swords - too far apart and it'll pop, too close together and it'll pop. The same distance, always flowing together. No unnecessary movements that waste your energy. With each slash, breathe. Your insides have to be loose and free too. Now, once you've gotten used to that motion, you do this -'
He spun the swords around in his hands swiftly. 'It's a lot easier than it looks. Keep your wrists loose, but the trick is in the circle you make with your thumb and forefinger - roll the handle around that circle and use the rest of the hand to support. Like this-'
Kuu repeated the movement, slowly. 'This can be used as both an offensive and defensive maneuver. You can parry attacks and deliver powerful slashes using the momentum from the spin, or you can parry with one and counterattack with the other.'
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 11, 2012 17:39:06 GMT -4
Right when she was about flop loose like a limp noodle; he instructed her not to. She laxed herself amused at the concept of him being telepathic. With upward sway of her hips, she elevated on the balls of her feet. Her ankles quivered a bit before she settled into pose getting use to the redistribution of weight; evidentally her knees were locked tight. With some readjustment she bent them a bit to be more loose. She ended up finding herself waltzing back to a memory of standing like this on the shoreline with her toes curled deep into the same with the occassional waves licking up to her heels and back.
Relaaax.
Hm? An unasked question was answered when he grabbed similar hook swords that was Kairi-proof. The keyblade shimmered away with a glow leaving her hands bare to take hold of the wooden swords. Perhaps she should've taken part of those little quarrels Tidus, Wakka, Sora, and Riku tend to engage in with their wooden trinkets. Round eyes looked back up at him drinking in every direction, but for a moment Kairi found herself stuck in her current position. She wondered if she was suppossed to move with it, but besides asking questions she just...followed his lead.
She started to move her arms similar to his. The less she thought about it the more natural the flow started to feel compared to structured harsh swings. The weight was...different to say the least; she had two to deal with compared to her single keyblade; at least it forced her wrist to be loose, so she would have to put some effort to stiffen them. A few times the woodens swords clang together. The sound woken her up to be more conscious of their distances apart. For a while she was staring at the hook ends to visually keep them apart, but Kuu's voice called her away for the upcoming agenda.
She hummed thoughtfully as he explained the easiness of it and found her self following suit. Now she was twirling them with ease, but for a moment they were spinning inward in front of her rather than straight out, yet it wasn't difficult to get it back on track, "Alrighty..."
Her ears picked up the swishes of its motions, while mentally repeating after him. It made sense one for offense and defense, "sooo how can this...in particular be translated to what I have?"
She didn't have a sword of light to take the place of the wooden sword in her left hand. Now that she thought about it, she never tried manifesting her light other than its natural ball form. Now her mind began to crafty paint what she can do with it, but nothing seem to be as engaging or fulfilling the activity she's doing now, twirling two swords in her hands.
Sounds like I need to broaden my horizon on that one...
Kuu smiled. 'Don't worry about just yet. Just trust me when I say it's all going to come together later.'
He watched as Kairi continued to spin the swords, her movements becoming more confident as the practiced ease of constant repetition began to sink into her muscles. 'That's better. Good, just keep them nice and relaxed - don't keep your back so tense. Mmhmm... okay good. Now put the swords away.'
Placing his swords neatly on the ground, he took up his stance. 'Now, take the same stance - except this time, you don't have your weapons. Open palms, facing your opponent. One arm at your chest the other in front of you. Now, sway while doing the same movements with your arms, exactly the way that you did just now with the swords. You can move your body from side to side, but try not to hunch. Use your legs to move, bending them back and forth rather than your spine, like this. Absolutely no tension. Keep the bubble in your head, except this time, you've got it in your hands. Just roll that bubble about, gently.'
Drawing his hands smoothly through the air, he traced the same movement he had made with the shang gou moments before. Kairi had to learn that the movements in casting magic and the martial art were one and the same if she were to truly bring the two together - it was best if two disciplines did not have to clash with each other if one were to obtain unity within their art. The way she swung her sword had to be exactly the same movement as the way she delivered her spell. No sense of separation, just a single, wholesome movement, so that it would be impossible to tell whether her next strike would be the slash of her blade or the wrath of her magic.
'Now, this is going to be tricky, so start very gently, very slowly,' he warned. 'Control your magic flow so that only a trickle comes through your fingers. Keep the bubble image in your head. Your magic must be contained within that bubble. Your entire being has to focus on keeping that bubble intact. Once you've found that balance, just roll that magic bubble around your hands in exactly the same movement as before. Watch.'
Kuu used the basis of an Aero spell to summon the magic in between his hands. Drawing it apart, he rolled it into one palm before pushing it outwards, but not releasing it so that the magic dissipated - as if the breeze was gathered inside a undulating sphere at his fingertips. He then rolled it back inwards, and he switched positions, this time going into the other palm and sweeping it outwards, but never losing control of that area of effect so that the wind always stayed in contact with his skin, as if the swords he had been wielding before had been replaced by that shimmer of air that rolled about his fingers.
'Now, you try,' he said. 'Just a small wisp of light. Just a bubble.'
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 11, 2012 20:38:14 GMT -4
She chuckled bashfully finding herself jumping the gun already when they just started, then nodded, "If I can't trust you that'll leave me with quite a small pool of people."
Now she was getting so acquained with the spinning that she began humming to herself, while doing so as well as readjusting herself as instructed allowing herself to be molded into an intricate clay pot. Slowing down the swings she grasped the handles harder to make it stop completely before placing them down. Perky as ever, she hopped back up on her feet with a few bounces for further instructions, "What's next Master Kuu?"
Blinking she held out her hands and arms out; she noted the familiar position when she ejects her light and gave her a mental pat on the head for being observant. Self-consciously her left arm was closer to her chest, while the right was extended out; she was naturally falling into the motions as if her right arm was her extending keyblade, while the other was her natural light force.
With this rinse, wash, and repeat method, the sway with the feet was easy to come by after thinking of it as as a simple breeze pulling and pushing her too and fro, left, and right, side to side. Now she saw how all of this was stitching together, but the bubbly teen had to narrow in the task at hand versus getting stoked and excited to put one and one together.
Tricky? her face reflected her thoughts with a concerned look. With the thoughts of something difficult was afoot, she felt like she was overthinking what he wanted her to do, but the visualization he displayed put her at ease. In her mind that didn't seemed...difficult at all, but in speech and in practice were two different things right? She always thought she had a firm control over her light, since it was an extension of herself, yet she never extended the works it did.
Exhaling her chattering thoughts, she called unto the light from with in, and with a glint a small ball was formed; he did said small after all. It wasn't as big as the one's she ejects from her hand, which can literally fit in her palm; this one was like a marble, a little marble of hope, faith, and all the other romantic meaning light had. The presence of her light always had a warmth like a fire, but this one would never die out or fade away into nothing. Even when she would dismiss it, it would return from where it came.
The little orb nestled between her hands and moved with her like baby being rocked to sleep, and now unlike anytime, she was truly seeing it as that. Now she was getting lost in its brightness as the shine of it framed the sides of her fingers before she glided it over from one hand to another. Reflecting on the light as she swayed from side to side practically put her in a meditative state.
How many people had fought and scavenge for something like this? Her grandmother's voice echoed in her head of people once squabbling over the light selfishly, which brought the first wave of darkness to the world. Their greed cause the light to hide away as their world fell apart making the little worlds that dotted the universe...or that's how the legend went. Yet there was some truth to it; people tried to grab her for her light some years ago. She wondered if they understand that this light was not only strength and power, but life as well.
Something so precious shouldn't be stolen away heartlessly or snuffed out for one's own personal gain. Everyone needed their light. Perhaps the keyblade wasn't foolish in its current owner, since she can undestand that.
Kuu nodded. She was picking it up much faster than normal - he supposed that he hadn't underestimated Kairi's affinity with her magic after all. However, while she seemed able to execute the moves, her sense of timing was still yet to come - that would become more natural with time spent in combat. She certainly seemed to feel comfortable managing the magic beneath her fingers, so he was less worried about her panicking and losing control of her spells rather than her weapon.
'Alright, good. Now, we're going to up the game a bit,' he said. 'The magic you've got now is not going to be enough to damage. But instead of just pouring more magic into it, we're going to turn it into a form that makes it easier to strike effectively with.'
He took up his stance again. 'Now, for my Aero magic, the best shape for it to take is a blade - it's convenient because you don't need an exponential amount of energy, since you just need to meld it into a sharp edge. It depends more on the speed rather than the power behind it.'
Moving his arms in the slow initial motions of the form, he summoned the wind in both his palms. Very briefly, they whirled into spheres before expanding outwards into two slicing scythes, mimicking the spinning motions made by the hook swords. He moved his feet in the motions of the shang gou pattern, the pair of Aero blades spiralling about him in the same seamless flow of techniques.
'To be fair, I think that form's going to be just a tiny bit too difficult for you to pull off right now,' he said with a smile. 'And especially with your light magic, this shape is going to be even harder to form - you might end up a disproportionate amount of magic, which could be lethal in the heat of battle.'
He drew more magic into his hand. 'It might be better if you took a simpler form, one that capitalizes on efficiency over power.'
Taking the magic into both his palms, he carefully skewed and stretched it, making it thinner and more focused, narrowing it down until its focal point could be held onto a single fingertip. As he moved his hand, the dot of magic in his finger tip traced his movement through the air, making it seem as if he was wielding a wire-thin whip of shimmering wind.
'This form doesn't need much power at all - the narrowness of the beam makes the magic sharper, meaning that the more focused the magic, the more damage it will do. However, the faster you move, the harder it is to keep the edge focused. To compensate for that, you flatten it outwards as you slash with it. That maintains the sharpness of the attack, but it means that you must control its length so that only the tip strikes the target - otherwise, you'll hit it where the magic is spread out, weak and unsharpened, and your spell will be broken. So you do it like this.'
He repeated the motions, this time, slicing through the air with his hands, but with each slash, he elongated the magic on his fingertips so that it shot outwards into a blade just at the point of contact. 'This'll help you improve your timing in battle as well, especially since you have to get used to measuring distance when using this. This is the most basic form of the blade, so once you get better at it, you can use even more powerful forms. As you learn more and more types of magic, you'll discover the best forms for each of those different kinds of spells to meld in with your style.'
Kuu gave a quick grin. 'But... that's a lesson for another time.'
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 12, 2012 16:35:17 GMT -4
A pair of doe eyes snapped open in awareness as his low voice rang through the silence. Looking up at him, she glanced back down at the little ball thinking naturally it won't due much since it a marble. All she truly had to do was pump up the volume; the light started to swell to the size of a tennis ball with the thought. Yet his method was a contradiction and something new. The ball constricted back down to a smaller size, "Mmhm..."
She watched the bundle of air thinning out into a blade understanding how that would make more damage; think about trying to scale down the strength of tornados in concentrated bladed winds, "So you're saying that I'll need to find a form more suitable for light..."
That concept was harder to wrap her head around, since light wasn't as physical as air, water, ice, fire, thunder, and the earth. With a flash it can blind another, which is the full extent of its physical damage to ordinary people. With heartless, isn't light just all the same depending on how much is present? How about a different form to make it travel quicker and less avoiadable? Kuu had no problem dodging a mere ball. Maybe she needed to home in on a form with a wider ranger. Her eyes glanced down at the practice hooked sword; hopefully that last move he down with it, the merger of her weapon and magic, would do just that.
If she wasn't going to sharpen her light like he had down with an areo spell, then what exactly would she be doing. Her head titled in curiosity and confusion," sooo more efficient than a ball, but less difficult than the bladey thingy..."
Where was THAT happy medium? Her mouth was ajar to question again, but it hushed into an exhale at his demonstration. The air was bended and thinned out to be as thin like a needled thread. Staring at its form, she shuffled the ball of light in one hand; her fingers pinched the surface of it, while her mind focused on the shape.
Lithe and thin.. Her pinched right fingers withdrew from its source as the light elongated and slimmed down, while her left hand drank in some of the excessive amount of light presented. The head of the light was like a ball with a luminous white train. Instead of a sharp whip, she had stretched a miniature comet in her hand. She began coaxing it from one hand to another, while absorbing back more light to get it in better proportions.
Alright flatten he said.. She tried moving it faster, while keeping the overall flow in her arms. Repeating after him, she swept her arms towards the right releasing the light with it. A white stream trailed away; her head titled wondering if that was done fast enough or how effective that would've been. At least with pratice she could be more precise and with more spells, she can use them all in similar ways.
She hummed happily at his grin, while recalling a small amount of light to her fingers to try again, "Sooo that means I'm not that bad of a pupil, since you can stand for another time."
Grinning back, he said, 'Alright, I admit you're not too shabby - you pick things up pretty quick. But you're not quite getting the whole flattening concept yet... maybe I just phrased it badly.'
He held up his own finger. 'Basically, what you've got to do is to allow it to flare into a blade real quick, like this.'
The shimmer at his fingertip shot upwards briefly, forming a needle-like blade for a moment before retracting back to its original length. 'That flare creates the edge, and the speed you slice produces the power. You've got to practise the timing so you can maximise on both speed and power.'
Lowering his hand, he shrugged. 'To be fair, what you did works pretty good as well, but it takes longer to restart a spell once you've released it. That could potentially create an opening. Remember that this is a close-range technique - launching your magic as a projectile in this form is not as effective because once you let it loose, the magic is self-fuelled, which means it only has as much energy as you put in. The advantage of using this kind of form is its speed, and the fact that it doesn't get any weaker as long as you're maintaining the spell.'
Kuu took up his stance beside her once more. 'Okay, now we're going to do that pattern again, except using magic. Ready?'
Casting Aero in both his palms once more, Kuu began moving - instead of pointing with his finger, he channelled the magic into a wider area, to envelop his entire hand. He hoped that by showing this next development, Kairi might get an idea of how a single concept could be altered and improved for better use in battle. Sweeping his arms in the familiar motion of the shang gou pattern, he elongated the blade of wind from his hands just as each motion reached its peak. In the same way, as he moved into the spinning maneuver, he lengthened the blades just at the point in each revolution where they would strike directly in front of him. He completed the pattern with the final variation he had not yet taught Kairi - crossing his hands together, he melded the two spells into one long whipping blade on his right arm, and spinning quickly on one foot, he spiralled it about him before bringing it lashing downwards, dissipating it before it caused any damage.
Post by Ellie who has 0% on Mar 12, 2012 18:37:23 GMT -4
With a wiggling sway of her hips, Kairi shimmied a little victory happy dance; she wasn't as hopeless as she presumed. Now she was more upiddy to get it right the second time around...or how many trials it takes to get this manuever down. Shuffling on her toes, she watched him intensely as if paying harder and closer attention will make it all the more clearer.
"Hmm I think I get it now...it's more of an extension right, so I'll have to maintain it for it can be effective?" Or that was how she translated it. She brought her right hand up to eye level and tried to pull of the same thing; her mind reflected back on the sharp flares of the claymores. The first go made it look more like a pillar of explosion of light from her finger tip. Her brows wrinkled and willed herself to do it again after shaking her fingers. It flared and she was able to draw it back to hieght of extended nails. She hummed flatly; she would need to practice on this one; maybe she can sneak up on Yuffie and use her as a test dummy.
With her case of trial and error done momentarily, she looked over at Kuu standing next to her and nodded, "Ready as I'm ever going to get."
Taking a proper stance at looseness, the wielder began leaning and swaying, while using her fingers to direct and extrude her light for practice for percision. At the extrema of her arm sweeps, she concentrated on containing the form of her light to spike and retract for it won't dart away like before. Her eyes stayed on Kuu for reference, but she was taken back (moreso out of intimidation) at the additional spinning to empower the force and speed behind his air magic.
"Hehehe something to look forward to...," after she can get this down packed of-course; personally she doubted she wanted to skip steps.