Southern Sass [Vanyel, Violet]

Beaches weren't something he really frequented, even when it came to training. He had come to appreciate them a lot more after that vacation with Kenichi to visit his home and celebrate his return to humanity. It was a fun change of environment, whether for relation or just practicing. They were long, often flat and empty -- not including the people -- perfect for early mornings -- as long as you weren't trespassing, of course.

But, today was one where he enjoyed the peace and quiet of an empty beach in the early morning. In an attempt to try and get a newer perspective and environment to possibly help in his own self-discipline, improvement, and development, Vanyel found himself in the City of Lights, on a beach -- or, well, as close as you could get for a city rooted and chained to a series of islands in the Pacific.

What he hadn't expected in this, however, was seeing someone else with what seemed to be a similar mind as him. A young woman in the distance, practicing...something. If it was a martial art, it wasn't any that he knew or had seen before. If it was just general combat, she had a ways to go.

Before he thought against it, he was walking over to her, examining her stance and footwork, already making mental notes on what she could improve on -- even thinking of possible martial arts that could suit her.

"Oi. What kinda trainin' are you doin'? If you're interested, I might be able to help."

The beach became Violet's training ground. It was the place she first summoned her scythe, so she connected her success with this place of relaxation. She also connected the beach to someone else, but Violet wasn't able to find Al'in again, at least not the last three times she had been here. He was likely busy, which did let her focus on her training, so that was good. The problem became that this empty beach started to feel too big and a bit lonely. She could go to another, one with more people, but that could be dangerous, so she refused to chance it.

Instead, Violet trained. She was pretty good in the technique of regular ol' martial arts, but the moment she pulled out her scythe, she was off balance. She didn't hold the weapon well, and it came off as too tall for her. Now, whether that was by design or an accident of her mediocre summoning, who knew? An awkward swing threw Violet completely off. She stumbled forward and released the scythe, the energy dissipating into the air before she caught herself. Standing up straight, she took a breath and was suddenly startled by an unexpected voice, so she tensed.

"Uh, wh-what?" Violet looked over toward the stranger. Her eyes and body were tense, wide as if shock had taken over. There was a silence. She looked left and right. "I, uh..." Violet looked behind her. No one. Okay. It was just him then? Looking back to this newcomer. "Sorry. You startled me... What did you say?"

As he grew closer, he caught a glimpse of the weapon she was wielding before it vanished -- a pretty big scythe, larger than both of them. Given that, it wasn't really a surprise that her form was clunky. It wasn't impossible to use a weapon bigger than you, but it was something that definitely required a lot of work and proper instruction, especially when it came to the weight difference.

"I was askin' what kinda trainin' you were doin'. Don't know a lot, if any martial arts that use a scythe in them. If you were interested, I might be able to give you some pointers."

He didn't have his sword on him, but, even without a visualization, he hoped it would still have the same kind of effect. More than anything, he hoped he wasn't basically about to explain for nothing. It was something he was passionate about, and if someone wanted to learn, he was more than happy to give pointers. Even if Kenichi had mentioned a couple times that he'd make a good teacher for it, he doubted it. His personality wasn't suited for that role very well, at least not with the types of people that the idea of a martial arts teacher tended to attract.

"Prime one, heavy weapons aren't really that suited for martial arts. It's about the body just as much as it is about the weapon itself. The weight imbalance is gonna get in the way of attacking or just movement in general."

Just... looking... This man put Violet on edge. No one else was around, and only one person knew she was out here at this time: Solomon. It was bright and public, so she should be okay, right? Violet's mind went crazy, imagining ways that this newcomer could take her. It had happened before...

"I, uh..." Violet took a moment to resummon her scythe, though the energy within was shakier than she liked and it didn't fully form a strong shape. "Damn it..." she muttered. It wasn't like she didn't hear what the guy had said, but she didn't seem 'ready' to talk to him yet. "Ju-... Look, do me a favor," she said to him, frustrated and desperate, as the weak scythe vanished. "Can ya smile?"

Whoops. Did he get carried away? When it came to topics he was passionate about, like the current one of martial arts, he didn't really know when to shut up, especially when it came to people doing it wrong. But, as he sensed the gathering energy and took a half-step back in response while the scythe manifested, he noticed that he didn't seem to have overwhelmed her -- rather, she seemed...afraid of him.

He raised an eyebrow as she mumbled, only taking that half-step forward again when the scythe vanished. Then, he heard her request. At first, he just sort of...stood there, blinking uncertainly. She just...wanted him to smile? Why? Well, probably to put her mind at ease, in all likelihood. But, smiling apropos of nothing would only look awkward -- and, frankly, probably also make him look worse. At the same time, though, it wasn't really something super harmful.

Sighing softly, he set a hand on his hip, the other on his head as he took a moment. Eventually, he stood up straight again, attempting to offer a smile to the girl. It was awkward, and probably not the best he could do, but with her wanting him to do it with basically zero context, it wasn't like he could help it.

Blink, blink, blink…

Violet slapped her hand over her mouth and tried not to laugh too hard. “You did it…” she said through the giggling, surprised that he just fulfilled her request. He looked so awkward and silly too, so she couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Sorry, sorry…” Violet took a breath and forced herself to calm down. "That was sweet. Thank you. It did make me feel better, though..." She was sure he noticed her fear, so a smile, no matter how fake, was a good way to bring her guard down.

Violet wasn't completely off guard though. While speaking with him, she kept glancing down to her hands, trying to resummon her scythe, but she was shaking nervously. A small purple glow shined, and faded just as quickly. 'I wonder where Solomon is... Or Al'in... I shouldn't have come out here alone... Stupid, stupid, stupid...'

"So.. What did you say a moment ago?"

Vanyel's eye twitched as she started giggling and laughing at herself, grumbling in annoyance. He complied with what she wanted to try and make her feel more comfortable, and he got laughed at in response. Rolling his eyes as he shook his head, he rested a hand on his hip.

Least it did make her feel a bit better, for whatever that was worth. He noticed that she was constantly looking down at her hands -- probably trying to bring that giant scythe back. He wasn't too surprised that she was still on guard -- he...did kind of just come up to her randomly, after all.

"I was sayin' that heavy weapons aren't great for martial arts. Too big, the weight makes it impossible to move or attack well. And, if you're strugglin' with conjuring it in the first place, might wanna start with somethin' smaller or simpler, or even somethin' you can easily get your hands on to do image training, if that helps you."

Violet wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she did feel a little bad about laughing. She just didn’t expect him to listen, and then for it to look so awkward. She actually expected the opposite… to be yelled at or attacked… or something.

"Well, at first, I wanted to make a sword, but I couldn’t condense my energy down enough just for that, so I tried thinking of something bigger… A bigger sword felt unwieldy, I don’t like axes… bats look stupid, like delinquents. So, I remembered this old show I saw about a girl who used a scythe. Figured it’d be cool.”

Violet tried again and again, but her shaky hands weren't helping the situation. She couldn't actually focus with a new man standing near her. She gave up and looked to him, slightly suspicious. "So, did you just come up to me to try and help me? Or was there actually... I don't know... somethin' else you were looking for?"

Condensing her energy down? Vanyel put a hand to his chin as he listened to her. He definitely agreed that a bigger sword was unwieldy, and could even be worse than a scythe in terms of martial combat at times. But, he could also respect her inspiration behind using a scythe, chuckling softly. Hell, that kind of inspiration was basically the entire reason for his notebooks full of illustrations and notes on what he wanted to make with his powers.

He looked down at her hands, noticing the shaking. His eyes briefly lit up with a crystalline cyan as he looked at her hands, forcing Reikaku into his eyes as he noticed the flickering sparks of energy. Just as quick as it came, the ability faded away, and Vanyel hummed softly as he thought to himself on what could be the problem.

Judging from the whole conjuration aspect, she was probably a Quincy, which threw a wrench into things, since, well, he wasn't a Quincy. But, he did know a bit about them, and he did write down a lot of notes about a similar process for something he wanted to do himself. But, as he was gathering his thoughts, he got distracted with her last comment.

"...Yeah? Figured it'd be good to have someone give you some advice if you're tryin' to do martial arts stuff, and I just happened to be nearby. But, back on topic, I'm no expert on Quincy, but, maybe the problem isn't compressing the energy. Maybe you need to learn how to more finely control your overall output."

He fiddled with his pockets, reaching in and pulling out a switchblade, though not unsheathing it.

"Image training could probably help you better know the length, width, and specifics of the weapon, so you know how much energy you need to exert to make it. Plus, you'd be able to visualize the weight, and, eventually, make the process effortless. A knife or sword would also be easier than a scythe since it's a lot easier to physically come across. A bow would be even easier than that, it's one of the easiest weapons to make, just in general."

Violet glanced up at the right time, just quick enough to see Vanyel’s eyes light up. Seeing that, her attempts ceased and she stared at him, wondering what in the hell he was doing. Since he was staring at her hands, she did not feel too scared, but it was still awkward. When he answered her question, she sucked in her lips. He put her back on topic real quick; he seemed really into all this…

“My output?” she questioned, looking back at her hands again. “Image training…” She had done that before, but it never seemed to work. Of course, if her problem was output and not energy condensing and shaping, that might have been what created the problem. “I’m not sure what to imagine… Just the scythe? I’ve been doin’ that a while now. Not sure what I could be doin’ differently.”