Training Wheels Not Provided (Ribbon / Revenant)

Still reeling from many of the memories that he recalled, Tomomi sighed to himself at his home, flipping his phone open. He was weak. He already knew that from how scared he got, and how much he held everyone back in fights. When Isabella needed to be protected, he'd narrowly avoided claws going through his throat. When the Playhouse did an excursion through alleys to fight demons in the full moon, Tomomi became possessed by one of the demons, and found himself proving so useless that he ended up leaving dejected and shameful. And then that the strong Revenant was his best friend, Cecil? He had to fix things, sending a text message to said person.

Tomomi: hey cecil this will sound weird but ive got a fancy dress party in the backlight tonight theres a bar and a bunch of people here and id love if you could come too
Tomomi: dont worry its the place you know about although if you need directions ring me and we can meet up and walk there together
Tomomi: and dont worry its not urgent so if you want to not come i understand. i just want help with something

Messages sent, Tomomi stretched his neck out, before throwing his jacket over his shoulder, shoving his phone in his pocket before leaving the house, catching a bus to just outside of the backlight and, as the sun was setting, walking in and through the district. After a time, the boy ducked into an alleyway as naturally as he could, taking a single deep breath as he confirmed that nobody was watching before transforming into his terrorist alter ego, Ribbon. In terrorist garb, he entered the building he'd only been twice before, the Platinum Playhouse, waiting now for his friend and colleague to arrive.

As he sat outside with a burger and a mental list of personal failings to organise, Cecil felt his phone buzz, checking it.
A party at a bar...? That seemed a little...
Ah.

CECIL: Couldn't have given me more notice, could you? I'm going to have to go as a "Random guy off the street".
CECIL: I'll definitely going to stop by though. You at a fancy dress party is something I HAVE to see.

Tucking away his phone, he spent a while longer finishing his burger, and disposed of the packaging before setting off.
It was dark outside as he found himself to where he needed to be, wandering by at a meandering place. Somewhere along the place, he changed at a spot nearby his destination, and slipped inside the building. The Revenant's entry was marked by clanking steps, unmistakable to the person he was there to meet.

At the sound of metal, Ribbon turned their attention to the door, grinning and waving to the knight before walking over, speaking up with a nod of his head. "Hey! Glad you could make it! I um... I am sorry for how delayed it was? Is delayed the right term? No, wait. Last minute, right? Yes, last minute."

Sighing, Ribbon put a hand to his face in exasperation. "In truth, I... Kind of... Maybe... Need your help with a couple of things. Firstly, as you can probably tell from the other night, I'm... Weak. But, I want to be able to protect people, save lives, and figure out the truth of what's going on. So..." Suddenly, Ribbon gave a quick bow of respect, before standing back to how he was. "I heard that there is a training area here, and I would like you to spar with me. I know I could ask anyone, but you seem relatively experienced, and I have seen you in action myself. So... Please fight me, so that I may learn how much stronger I need to grow. So that I can see how much more I need to reach to be able to save people like you can."

Then, stepping closer and whispering, the short terrorist added. "I'm also still getting used to this whole being in character thing, so, I kind of want help with that please..." before stepping back away to a respectable distance.

The armoured visage was utterly impassive, little motion in the knight's body to express his thoughts, nor an expression that could be read save for the fixed in stone look of the helmet.
Behind the metal helm though, Revenant frowned. "You are not nearly so weak as you claim to be. You displayed greatest strength than I had in my earlier days. Nonetheless..." He nods. "I cannot claim to be quite so experienced as you believe me to be, but I have learnt a few things at least. It is only proper that I pass that on."
He steps toward the doors to the training room, gesturing for Ribbon to follow. "Come. We shall get started."

"I see. Thank you, Revenant." He replied, bowing his head once more before following after Revenant into the room at the gesture. Inside, he looked around, trying his best to maintain a merely friendly gesture, focusing on his feelings of friendship for Revenant to hide his amazement of the room existing - then again, the whole building was essentially a different world to what he knew before.

There, inside, Ribbon rolled his shoulders, before gesturing to Revenant. "So, I'll confess I don't know much of what's expected in these spars. I imagine they aren't exactly like traditional definitions, so, what's your take on the way this should be, um, done?"

Revenant made sure that he stopped relatively close to Ribbon, and turned about to face him. "Truth be told? I have never used this room before. Nor engaged in such behaviours thus far with out allies. This shall be a first for me as well." He reaches out and calls his weapon to hand, moving it so as to look over each part. "Given the nature of the conflict we are dealing with, I believe the first thing to do is test limits, no? Our weapons operate on different rules to the mundane, so we should test what our limits to see where they lie in reference to each other."

He holds out his blade towards Ribbon. "Do you remember when I laid finger on your copy? Do the same, and tell me how you fare for it. Do it as you need to in order to know your limits, but if you believe repeating the action will rob you of consciousness, then halt there and tell me so. Once you have taken the measures you need to in order to recover, we can gauge my resilience to your own arns.."

"I see... Get a grasp of our relative strength in relation to one another. Makes sense..." He muttered, before stepping forwards and pressing his hand to the sword in Revenant's hand, before recoiling, feeling it sting. A lot.

"To... Answer your thing of how I feel, I feel it hurt. So, now to... Figure out where I can go... Don't worry about me over doing it though, because... Well... I will say, my persona is at least okay at healing wounds... Now then..."

Ribbon repeated the process a further... 1 more time, before gasping, and shaking his head. "I... I won't...I don't think I can take another hit... Only just, but... For now, I think that's my limit... That's... A lot lower than I would have liked but... Oh well I g-guess... So um... Now, before you try..."

Sighing and gasping, Ribbon's chains formed over the cuffs of his sleeves, before shattering against each other, the appearance of Goole arriving and covering the small terrorist in a soothing green mist, allowing the persona to fade once more before holding his hands out, and forming both of his kama. "So, um... Your turn. Let me know after, and I can heal your discomfort."

Spoiler:

The weapon is quickly dispelled after it's made clear that he's reached his limit, and Revenant gives Ribbon a tight nod. "At the least, we now know. Any use of arms will have to be carefully managed...I have a feeling that Ankou is likely out of the question as an offensive tool, as well. If my weapon does this much, then they shall be even worse. You may have to learn to confront that handicap...but not yet."

As the kama at outstretched, Revenant steps up and taps the blade, feeling a familiar small jolt. Again, he taps on the handle. Another jolt. He taps 3 more times. A few more small jolts, and he's slightly tired.
He figures that's about time to put an end to it.
"...I think the simplest summation is that you shall need to land a significant number of hits to leave me in the same state, Ribbon. It should at least help you to note that any part of your weapon will be effective should it make contact. A light touch from the handle is all that is needed "

OOC:

"We...are going to have to take measures, aren't we?"

Seeing how unfazed Revenant was at touching his weapons, even with the helmet Ribbon could tell it was practically a tickle. Revenant may have said earlier that Ribbon was not weak, but, seeing such a disparity between the two certainly gave the opposite impression. Dispelling his weapon, once more Ribbon summoned his persona, letting it heal Revenant before sighing audibly and putting a hand to his face. "I... Well... That was more embarrassing than I would have liked. So, Revenant, would you still... Suggest that there isn't a strength difference between us? Because, um... Well, I don't think I could do little more than inconvenience you at this rate..."

The green in his visor catching the light, Ribbon shook his head, before flicking his cape with his arm to get it out of the way. "Ah, that's annoying... I admit, I was looking forward to seeing what you could do, but, if just touching your sword drains me that much... Well, I don't think I'd be able to even stand long enough to see you at your fullest. So, that established... Is there even a way that we could... As you say, take measures? Because, I suggested this but... I guess I was naïve in my suggestion."

Once more, he shook his head. "I did not say that you were my equal quite yet. That would be somewhat of a poor standard to go by, since you have seen less in the way of combat, no?" He walks over, to stand by Ribbon. "I said you were not weak. And truthfully, you are not. You handled yourself capably in our last outing. Even now, you are not using the main font of your power, are you?"

With a shattering of chains, a spectral figure came and went, and Ribbon would find himself swifter and surer of step. "It is in these expressions of our being that our greatest might comes."

At Revenant's explanation and summoning of his persona, Ribbon nodded slightly. "True... True... But, I don't... I mean, I do not wish to cause harm with my persona with anything but self defence. So, I would prefer not to use it in this, um, spar. After all, I can heal wounds, but, it's not quite as controlled as, say, your sword, or my kama."

Sighing, Ribbon shook his head. "Sorry. I... Didn't expect this request to be so difficult of one."

Revenant nods. "I do understand, Ribbon. But in terms of what harm they do,
attacks such as these do not do the harm one might expect, if our conflicts with demonkind are of any indication. It is painful, to be certain...but to any such as us, it does not deal physical harm the way one would expect from being ravaged by flame and lightning. Though...I cannot say the same for certain of those without this power, and I would hope I'd not have to find out." He shrugs. "If nothing else, it is worthwhile to practice with it in order to learn control of it, if not so you know what kind of power you wield. I understand the reluctance to cause harm, but to not practice with your main tool in combat will only hav you suffer later."

"...and if that truly is too much for you..." Revenant gestures out with his hand. "What of the persona you display to others, rather than that you summon and wield? What struggle have you there?"

At Revenant's advice, Ribbon just silently listened, nodding his head. It certainly made sense that it would be completely different to standard logic. It was supernatural and such after all. So, as he finished, Ribbon crossed his arms in thought, looking down at the ground. Yet, at Revenant's gesture, the boy terrorist tilted his head confused, and listened further. As he finished speaking all, Ribbon spoke up in reply.

"I see what you mean... I... I would like to be able to control my power, and if you're sure that it won't... No, never mind. I trust you when you say it won't be as bad as I am expecting. And I guess... If nothing else, I shall trust me ability to help us recover. To support us through the sparring if I have to. Thank you. As for that..."

Coughing as a sort of transition, Ribbon sighed. "I don't really know what personality I wish to show. You are a stoic knight, Nightingale is a flirtatious heroine. But, who is Ribbon? Who am I supposed to be? Heck, even looking at my appearance, what is my appearance? Who am I representing? When we go in public, I need to be someone. But who? That's what I mean."

Cecil raises an eyebrow - and then, realising that it was impossible to see that, tilts his head to display his confusion. "...while I cannot speak for Nightingale, I do not truly believe I behave that much differently. There is a certain...confidence, to this guise, I shall say. But I do not seek to alter more than my speech, on a conscious level. From there, people saw my guise and heard my word, and constructed an idea of their own, aided by the inability to see into what lay behind the helm."

"Or...so I imagine." He gives a half-shrug. "In any case...all it can take is one change for the rest to fall into place without needing your effort to make it so. A singular aspect that differs. You may not need to build a full persona, so much as create one point it shall build around."

At this, Ribbon hummed in thought, hand to his chin. "I see..." He muttered, thinking on that final sentence. A singular point to build around. Who is the terrorist Ribbon? The face of the terrorist seemed confused for a moment, Ribbon putting a hand to his temple in thought. Then, he shook his head. "Right. Well, I guess no point in trying to think on that now. I don't think I'll get an answer right now, so, should stop that train of thought for now. But, thank you for your insight on that. It helped a lot, definite... Uh... Definitively? Whatever."

Allowing the chains to form on his wrists once more, Ribbon gestured to Revenant. "So... If we are using our persona, have you got an idea in mind?"

» Vigilante Protectors [Runaway/Revenant]
» Picking up the slack [Ribbon]
» A Stickly Introduction (Ribbon)
» Pop-Up Pummeler, Game 1 [Sosina/Lunar/Fanta/Ribbon]
» --- training day! ★ [o]