The Tools of the Trade (Avari)

[Maxwell Tendas]

Max rested a hand on Quicksilver's pommel as he looked up at Twilight Town's sky, contemplating the predicament they had found themselves in. Their odds of beating whatever beastly Heartless they had left Gabranth to fight didn't look good. Just to make things worse, Jin was refusing to help organize the few fighters they had available. It had only been a day since they had returned from their quest through the corridor of darkness and things were already looking like they would only continue to get worse. He couldn't shake the feeling that they would be doomed from the moment the Heartless Gabranth warned them about appeared.

He pushed those dark, pessimistic thoughts from his mind. While such thoughts may have some small measure of a masochistic cathartic effect, they were far from constructive. Such distractions could prove fatal to their efforts to prepare the town for the upcoming fight. Considering that they knew it would be extremely difficult at best, they couldn't afford such distractions.

And so he turned his mind to what needed doing: finding the keyhole.

If he could find it, and if Xion woke up in time, they could have it sealed off to protect Twilight Town's heart. It wouldn't protect the town's citizens from being attacked by the heartless directly, but at least they wouldn't have to worry about their new home being destroyed, and them along with it. It would be a small victory if they could manage it, but a victory nonetheless.

He tired of the subject and pushed all thoughts of the keyhole from his mind. He decided to kill time while waiting on Avari by practicing some strikes and counter-strikes with his spear. He retrieved the polearm from his back, gripped it tightly in both hands, and took up a ready stance. Then, he began with a powerful thrust forward, a move designed to run his imaginary foe through, and then followed up with a parry of an imaginary slash from the side. He continued this, moving throughout The Sandlot as he took steps forward and backward in the mock-fight. He finished it out by striking his imaginary foe's head with the butt of his spear and then using it to take his legs out from underneath him. He then brought the spearhead down where his opponent's chest would be, stopping just short of touching the ground to avoid damaging or dulling it.

[Avari]

Avari
Refugee

Time seemed to be running short for Twilight Town since the party's venture into the Corridor of Darkness and learned of the coming threat they all faced. They had no idea when it would come, so it was a race to prepare for the inevitable battle as well as to find the keyhole that they needed to protect. Or so Avari had gathered from what Maxwell had explained to everyone previously. Where a keyhole could possibly be, or what could it even look like, Avari hadn't the faintest idea. Hopefully with Maxwell's expertise in all this and Avari's familiarity with the town they would be able to uncover this keyhole's location.

Avari stepped out into the Sandlot with her sword in its sheathe and a few new trinkets on her person: a light blue feather linked to a button on her coat and a new earth materia charm in her pocket with the fire charm. She even had an ether stashed away for when she ran out of magic, having learned from their previous battles that she needed to be more prepared on the off chance that she were to exhaust her magic again.

Looking up, she saw Maxwell running through some drills with his spear. The way he swung his weapon around made it easy to picture the imaginary enemy he was striking and how the mock battle appeared to be playing out. Avari watched closely and remained rather quiet up until he struck the finishing blow on his invisible quarry. She had seen him in battle before, but they really hadn't talked much apart from when they investigated the manor with Marmadue, so she didn't know much about him apart from being really strong like Jin. With an eager grin, she walked over to him.

"Hey Maxwell! Ready to go keyhole hunting?" She of course would have wanted nothing more than to ask him to teach her, seeing as Jin made his stance on the matter quite clear. However, she knew that finding the keyhole was more important right now, so she didn't say anything on the matter and instead focused on the mission.

[Maxwell Tendas]

"Hey Maxwell! Ready to go keyhole hunting?" Avari called out to him as he straightened and rested the butt of his spear on the ground. He silently regarded the girl for a moment as she walked up to him, thinking about her chances to make it through the fight they knew was coming. None of them faced good odds, even the experienced fighters. Ones such as her though, with little experience at fighting, were facing even worse odds. Even despite all that Max knew they would need all the help they could get against that enormous heartless they had encountered back in the remnants of Gabranth's world. The best they could do was teach the inexperienced as well as they could and hope it was enough. So as the girl approached Max gave her a small smile to hide the gloomy thoughts swirling in his head.

"Ready as I've ever been," he said in reply as he replaced his spear on his back and rested a hand on Quicksilver's pommel, "How about you? We're gonna run into heartless while we look. Some might be strong. Are you ready for that?"