The Friendly Smell of War (Erek)

"Easily," he replied calmly as he lifted his foot, shifting his positioning calmly-- before he watched her dash to the side, her weapons lowering as the bolts of energy shot forward like rounds, and out of curiosity, he flashed to the side using his hirenkyaku-- and sure enough, the rounds kept coming, and she was firing more of them. He grunted a bit, interesting-- if she could get her spiritual force higher, then the raw power of those blasts could become overwhelmingly deadly, especially en-masse. Thankfully, Erek stopped trying to dodge, and instead followed her with his senses-- the rounds converging all at once.

The impacts exploded against his hide-- covering him in reishi and smoke, leaving him unharmed as he cracked his neck slightly, and then gave chase. Flashing forward as he charged right at her, not utilizing his hirenkyaku-- instead, his hands opened firmly, closing the distance between them before his arm came swinging in like a great tree limb to smash into Natalie from her right side. He was careful to hold his force back immensely-- probably at about twenty-five percent of his real power. His blow aiming to send her crashing heads of tails directly into the ground.

He wanted to ensure he was superior to her, but not so much that she couldn't try to turn the blows into glancing ones through deflection or dodging, giving her a chance to work would be key or there was no point in the actual training. Whether the impact of his arm hit her dead on, a glancing blow, or missed-- Erek wouldn't fall back. Giving chase to her no matter what as he would shift his body into the stance she'd seen countless times, his elbows up with his hands, his footing spaced-- and begin his own assault. He was the perfect testing dummy for her-- her attacks couldn't hurt him, so it meant she could test and push herself as much as she wished.

That was exactly what she needed-- and as his barrage of jabs and elbows flew at her, chasing her without mercy, he knew she'd rapidly evolve or go down trying-- it was just in her nature. Balls of instinct like her were impossible to really "teach" instead you had to get them to learn through their own personal reactions, it was a bit difficult, but still entirely workable thankfully. He was used to working with her, and that made it all the easier on him.

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Her bullets, surprisingly enough, didn’t explode like a detonation, but they burned on impact, trying to eat through his tough hide and Natalie didn’t even miss a beat as they did next to nothing in regards to damage, if that. He was rushing her with speed that she knew she couldn’t match, and she knew first hand that his agility would make outmaneuvering him next to impossible. So, she was forced to deal with him in close quarters, but if there was anything that was true of the woman, it was that she was never one to be without a bag of tricks. One of her pistols went under her arm, aiming perfectly at the arm swinging at her, and fired to stop it or hopefully at least slow it down so it wouldn’t hit her while she acted. Meanwhile her other pistol let loose a shot directly towards his chest, trying to create some distance as she jumped directly backwards, trying to get away from him, as her specialty was the long range game.

He chased her, using his fighting style she had seen dozens of times to assault her relentlessly, and she went to slide under a strike when she realized, almost in slow motion, that she was moving entirely too slow, and the strike struck her square in the forehead. Luckily, her Blut activated, mitigating what would have been a critical strike, and while her head snapped back, she merely turned it into a no-hands cartwheel backwards as she took a moment to pause. “Time out, time the fuck out…” she said, holding up her pistols, and while she was able to literally see it with her own two eyes, she was still struggling to believe it. “This is that Iron Blood or what-the-fuck-ever right? Where the hell did this shit come from? Why’s it poppin’ up now? You do somethin’?” she asked, seeming legitimately concerned.

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PWC: 323
TWC: 646

The dance began-- and just as he assumed she would, she fell into her normal habits. Using her blasts to try and keep him at bay with the raw force, even if it didn't deal any damage, the impacts showering around him as she deflected the blows with her shots, trying to keep his blows from hitting her within inches again and again. Each time trying to fall back at a distance so that she could play at her specialty-- and he didn't let her, continuing to close the distance again, and again as he forced her back, causing her dodges to dance around him as his withheld blows rained against her again and again.

Of course, it would only last so long-- especially since her blasts weren't affecting him much, and his own martial arts skill in melee was far superior to her own-- thankfully, it didn't take long, before his fist shot out-- and she was too slow. The resounding thud of his fist meeting her forehead filling the air, but he grinned-- even with his power held back as much as he was, that would have floored her without her blut. Sure enough, she somersaulted back-- no worse for wear, just legitimately confused.

He raised a hand, a signal for her to calm down as he would smirk a bit.

"That's something we have in common-- mine reacted instinctively like that too. It's likely a combination-- you've never had anyone get this close to striking you with reiatsu-- and the reishi here is rich. Not as much as Karakura, but it definitely has more reishi to play with due to the materials it's all made from. You have more fuel, and you're being pressured. Your instincts reacted automatically." With this, he would take a single step forward, his hand cracking in his palm as his reiatsu fluctuated around him, flowing in streams before his grin formed.

"Let's see how much else you can use on instinct, I had to do it bit by bit because no one would really take me seriously-- but you get an advantage. I'll beat the shit out of you all at once if it means you help awaken those powers." His arms lifted, raising in an offensive stance once more, preparing for her go-ahead once she had gathered her footing and prepared once more. They were both fast learners-- even if it was through different methods, she was instinct, he was analyzation and study with hard effort. Either way worked just fine, both produced strong warrior that the Quincy needed right now.

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Natalie spat to the side, thinking about the fight as it had been going so far while she had a moment… and knew that Erek had far outpaced her with this bullshit Spirit crap. He was able to tank the shots and just keep coming, although she did notice that, whether because he let them or her shots were doing their job, she was able to slow down his limbs enough to dodge properly when she shot them directly. It was an unusual thing to get used to however, because she was used to leaving holes in whatever she was shooting. The style of gunplay unfamiliar, she was having trouble breaking out of her old habits, but adaptability was something she was good at, it appeared. Looking at herself and the blue tattoo looking shit on her forehead began to fade as Erek explained.

“Well shit… how do we unlock the other stuff? This one ain’t half bad. Felt like I had a helmet on, and didn’t even fuck up my hair.” The question was rhetorical, of course, because she understood perfectly well what he was saying; he was going to drive her into a corner until she unlocked something, and was probably specifically catering his style of fighting to do exactly that. “Checked out Karakura… tryin’ to find my Mom. Nothin’ to go off of though, makes her hard to track down.” Yes, here was Natalie, in the midst of a fight, making the only small talk she could. “Figured maybe she might know something about my pops.”

She leveled her pistols, her senses still locked on to his spiritual pressure, and without another word, opened fire. She fired two low, trying to trip him up with the bullet curve by making them hit him in the legs, or at least send him off balance and try to make him dodge. Aside that, she simply opened fire as fast as she could shoot, trying to make him keep his distance so she could continue to pummel him.

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PWC: 338
TWC: 984

Erek's brow arched slightly as Natalie would comment on her mother-- stepping forward as she lifted her guns once more, and flashed forward again-- the impacts to his legs wouldn't do anything if he used his full power, but there was no point curb-stomping her. Instead, due to him weakening his power, the force of the gun-blasts slammed into the sides of his ankles-- and though they did no damage they did flip him. However-- true to his nature instead of stumbling and falling, Erek's hand lowered as he tilted-- and the momentum of her own attack propelled him forward, springing off his hand to fly through the air even faster than before due to her little "helpful push" as his elbow snapped down at her from above.

However he had little doubt the blow would be blasted off-course by her, and had planned for that, at the last moment his arm snapping out of its angle-- and instead of an elbow, the strike became a full-force backhand aimed to slam the gun into her fingers, damaging them conceivably, and either disarming one hand-- or at least knocking her hand flying to the side. Trying to force an opening for his other hand that had shot out in an open-palm blow directly aimed at her stomach, the goal to pressure her even further, knock the air out of her, take one of her weapons from her temporarily-- push her into a corner, toward the wall that was rapidly approaching her back.

Arterie was useless for long ranged combat unless you used a very specialized type of bow that you actually pulled back-- or if you threw things, like he did. If he wanted to force her into using it, he'd have to drive her back into a corner, trap her against the wall, force her instincts to lash out in her weakest area: melee. Due to this, he didn't fall back even if she countered at him, instead releasing a barrage of jabs at high speed, trying to keep her footing off, pressure, pressure, and more pressure trying to push her back into the wall, completely corner her, and drive her abilities forward.

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The bullets to his legs did their job, but naturally, Erek had a way to turn such a stumble to his advantage, springing off his hands like an Olympic Athlete and driving him into a semi-flip, coming down on her with a crushing elbow. All of this caused her to have to plan a tuck and roll to the side, using the momentum to get back onto her feet again and firing a couple of shots for good measure, as it was proof they did work to slow him down, whatever the reason, but she never got the chance. The elbow had been a feint, and his arm snapped out, aiming for one of her gunhands with enough force she was sure to break some fingers.

But she had that damn Iron Blood didn’t she? Focusing on the hand specifically, a dark orange light pulsed through her hand, protecting it from the damage that would be inflicted. The move was still effective for reducing her down to a single gun, however, that was able to fight in the moment, and she was just a hint too slow to stop the blow to her stomach, lifted off her feet and sent backwards a foot or two. To her credit, Natalie managed a pair of shots as she was falling, and coughing, stood back up quickly and leveled her guns, breathing heavily through that predatory smile. “Can’t make it… go two… places at… the same… time yet… I assume… you can… She swallowed hard, trying to get her breathing under control. She was being driven back, she knew that, as well as the fact that, if he wanted to, he could have easily finished the match with that single blow. She gave a couple of coughs and spit to the side, her eyes never leaving Erek.

“COME ON!” she roared, opening fire yet again.

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PWC: 312
TWC: 1296

The combination had been effective-- and when his palm made contact he silently applauded her snap judgement, as usual, it was sharp. If she took the blow to her stomach, she would suffer some bruising-- but if she had lost her hand then the fight would have been over then and there, being down a limb was one of the worse situations you could be dealing with in a battle, there was a reason one-armed fighters were often so heavily applauded. It changed everything to have a limb you're used to relying on, out of commission. Seasoned fighters could make due, but it didn't make it any less difficult to deal with.

Her reiatsu pulsed, as he guns lifted with that same grin-- her words echoing out through the air as her barrage was fired, and Erek took a single step forward, finally replying ot her, despite the fact he was usually dead silent in a battle, this wasn't quite a battle-- it was a spar, and he could afford to be a bit less serious. Of course, in his mind saying only a few words was breaking plenty of rules as it was, let alone talking away like Forge always did.

"My entire body, inside and out." He replied to her comment simply-- before he flashed forward, taking the rain of blasts without hesitation, using a bit more of his power, blasting through them as if they weren't even working, and instead, he aimed to slam his shoulder directly into her, figuring the sudden influx of power and speed (even if he wasn't even close to going seriously on her still) would catch her off guard and allow him to managed the full-body tackle to slam her into the wall. Force her to use her blut, force her to defend her body from the impacts, the more he pressured her, the more she'd break past the instinctual limits and keep pushing herself.

Whether it was artier, or vene, or both-- it would be an improvement that would greatly help her survivability.

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Natalie’s Reiatsu was nothing that Erek needed to be afraid of, but it was interesting to see none the less; amber colored smoke started at her feet, wrapped around her body and dissipated a short bit above her head, looking like a series of snakes that was hot to the touch like fresh brass. Her hail of gunfire rang in her ears and she smiled like a lunatic as he just kept coming, fear something she had long since conquered when facing down a foe. But she had grown too used to him limiting his speed and strength to such a degree that she knew how much time she had between how far he was, how many shots she put in him, and how much she moved, so as she started to backpedal he was already far too close.

“FUCKING HACKS!” she managed to roar as she fired shots at point blank range, knowing she had no chance to dodge this one, feeling the shoulder drive into her bruised abdomen and lifted her off the ground. She knew how important it was to memorize the battlefield they were using and the terrain, always keeping track of her general position so that in a losing fight, she could retreat without tripping over something. That said, she knew that she was about to be pinned to the wall, and while she knew her abs were going to hate her, she also knew her spine was far more important, and focused her Blut Vene there to protect her back from the impact. Smashing into the wall, she coughed up and spit a bit into the air as her lungs forcefully decompressed, but true to her feral nature, she was not giving up so easily.

“GET OFF ME DICK!” she roared, bringing a single leg upwards and planting it on his chest, driving her boot as hard as she could to knock him as far away as possible. Instincts, true to their nature, flared again, but while her defensive Blut was a dark orange, her offensive was a bright yellow, the veins showing as the power surged to the leg, giving it supernatural levels of strength.

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PWC: 362
TWC: 1658

The force of his shoulder slamming into her seemed to resonate with her, and the next second he felt the shift in the reishi as the impact of her spine smacking against the wall filled the air, and her screaming fit made it quite clear she wasn't overly thrilled by her current situations. But, something else was far more important: he had her, and she knew it-- and when she screamed out and released a kick, the force of the blow slammed into him with far more power than before-- arterie. His grin formed and he let the blow send him skidding back as his heels dug into the ground, slowly straightening as the spot of his stomach she had kicked steamed slightly.

"That's more like it," he stated simply with a smirk, before he slowly lifted a hand, "Next, I'm going to make you move your ass, Forge," and then he disappeared. He'd force her to use it all, blut-- arterie and vene, pressure her into using it repeatedly until even that couldn't save her. He'd make her run, until she had no choice but to fall back on other means, and when even her newly awakened powers weren't enough, he knew something in her would snap. Hirenkyaku was far too important a skill for her to not know how to utilize-- especially since her fragility, at the moment, was definitely her greatest weakness. A glass cannon was fine, but not if you didn't have a way to deal with it otherwise through dodging and defense.

He reappeared, already beside her as his knee shot out like a missile, aiming to slam into her side, using his own hirenkyaku without mercy to attack her-- knowing she'd have likely no choice but to use her blut once more. He'd force her to focus-- and the more her defensive abilities increased, the greater her reishi capabilities as well, would increase. One step at a time-- vene and arterie, till she hit her limit-- and then, she'd develop even further along, of that, he had no doubt.

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Natalie coughed and spat, struggling to regain her breathing for a second time in the past minute or so, her breathing coming out in heaves as her sight allowed her to keep on eye on things, but she didn’t let herself take a knee, unwilling to relent. No pain, No gain… she was seeing a fair amount of both, but she wouldn’t lie and say it didn’t suck ever second of the way. Even without being able to look at him with her eyes just yet, she had seen the power that went along with what the high tech stitching tattoo that was slowly fading on her leg had been able to accomplish; far more than her pistols, that was for sure. Still, her long range game was better; she sucked at hand to hand.

He mentioned that he was impressed in his own way, and he was going to make her ‘move her ass’, and she finally stood up straight, still breathing heavily, and yet still smiling. “Pretty sure… that’s… Styrofoam’s… job now…” she managed to joke between gulping down air, sweat making her skin glisten in the light of the room, bruises forming on her stomach that she would be feeling for days to come. She wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t thankful that he gave her a minute to be able to use her lungs properly again, but soon enough she spread out her feet, still struggling to get a gasp on her breathing, and gave him the bird, still holding her pistols. “Let’s go you… juggernaut… wannabe… bitch,” she taunted, still smiling like an idiot.

She spoke too soon, because the bitch vanished and her eyes picked him up, but she was still too damn slow to block it. Instead, she flexed her screaming abdomen’s muscles to help absorb the actual force and save her breathing, or what she could do anyway, and pushed her Blut to handle the impact of the blow. Wanting to be able to counter somehow, someway, as her body was lifted up she twisted, trying to land a kick, powered by the yellow blood, against his chest. She could feel the fatigue starting to set in… it could only get worse from here, as she knew that her expenditure of energy had been tremendous and she was running dangerously close to empty. She needed to conserve what little she had left… but she had no idea how to coat her feet in energy to allow for fucking teleporting. The mere concept made her brain hurt. For now she would just try to create some distance, but she wasn't shooting anymore for a moment, trying to save the equivalent of ammunition so she could handle whatever came next.

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PWC: 456
TWC: 2114

As per usual, she was full of her verbal quibs-- but similarly, he knew that she wasn't at her limit just yet. The impact of his blow landed-- and he felt her go barreling to the side right as her own kick shot out to counter, slamming into his lifted forearm, launching off it to try and give her distance. He didn't let her keep that distance-- his body suddenly blurring forward once more before he outright disappeared once more. Her eyes couldn't see him, not until he stopped and appeared, but that still gave her a slight advantage over others that wouldn't even be able to see that much as he appeared beside her.

His fist clenching before he released another strike, each punch shooting out, and this time he was changing it up. He didn't release a barrage of strikes that she could try and follow normally, instead he threw a jab-- then disappeared in a hirenkyaku, appearing behind her, then again, besides-- each time attacking from another angle. Surrounding her with blows that rained in from different angles, chasing any time she tried to get away, not letting her get that distance she so desperately chased due to her specialization. If she wanted to be a glass cannon-- she had to learn to run.

Again, and again-- Erek didn't let up as his superior skills in martial arts continued to take advantage of her, anytime her footing was even slightly off, his own was between them. Anytime her body moved at even slightly the wrong way, he took advantage of it, abusing the opening that it created and releasing blow after blow as he tried his best to impact her as much as possible. The point was to damage her, but not to the point of rendering her motionless-- instead, it was to instill that instinctual desire to avoid the pain, to make her instincts take over so she can properly escape the impacts and attacks that it knew was coming.

To make her fall back on her instincts to retreat and escape.

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She managed to get her Blut to activate in time for the first strike, the bitch teleporting around her though and striking from other angles made it impossible to shift the blood in time though, and the other two connected, causing her to grit her teeth from the pain and stumble forward a moment before catching herself. She probably managed to fend off a quarter of the strikes, but by the time she tried to make a move to counter, the bastard disappeared again, making it impossible for her to land a blow against him. Frustration building, she crossed her arms to ensure she protected as much of her body as possible and fired off a series of shots sideways, hoping that the seeking rounds would find him regardless of his speed and at least throw him off balance.

A particularly powerful strike sent her off her feet and tumbling a bit, and her hand shot out, pushing off the ground and giving her enough room to her get feet under her and skid to a stop. She spat a bit of blood that lingered into her mouth and looked up, appearing more and more like a demon as her rage at the situation built. She was getting pissed because she knew he was still handling her with kid gloves; she knew that he simply didn’t want to actually hurt her, but it was a blow to her pride not to be on his level so they could spar seriously. She didn’t have much left in the tank… her Blut was just about done and was getting more sluggish by the second, and she needed to put everything she had left into one shot… but he couldn’t see it coming. If he did, he would just use his own Blut and tank it like he did everything else, and she could go all out because if she did manage to hurt him, the dickweed would just heal.

The brass colored eyes locked onto the target, and she focused her every ounce of will and energy into planted the pistol into his gut and shooting the strongest bullet she possible could. She could imagine it, visualize it, and before she realized what was happening, she was directly under him, moving to plant her pistol into his abdomen and see if, for once, she couldn’t knock the air out of him for a change. She had successfully performed her first Flash Step, and was using every bit of energy she had left to try to send him to the god damn moon. It didn’t matter if it worked or not; she didn’t have anything left, and yet, after everything, she still couldn’t wipe that demon grin off her face. She could get knocked to the other side of the arena for all she cared… it was all or nothing.

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PWC: 477
TWC: 2591

She managed it. It took him a bit of pushing-- and by a bit he meant tossing her around like a damn rag doll, but she still managed it. Lifting her with each blow, she was covered in bruises and clearly nearing her limit, for a brief moment he wondered if she needed time to recover first before they went any further-- before she flashed forward. It was slow, by his standards, but that didn't change the fact that for a first usage-- it was pretty damn good. Smirking slightly, he watched all the reiatsu and reishi flood her gun-- and knew it was coming.

The explosion of power rocked directly into his stomach-- and he skidded back a few feet, slowly straightening-- the rags of his shirt tossed to the wind revealing the scar-coated skin beneath along his abdomen, a slight grin spreading over his lips before he would straighten fully. She was done, but she'd managed it, and that was the key here-- cracking his neck and moving forward, Erek's voice filled the air-- calm and collected with a slight smile decorating his lips, clearly not overly concerned with the fact she'd just blown him with everything she had in one shot.

"Well done, Forge," he stated simply before his hand opened, offering it to her in order to help her get up once more-- figuring she could use the hand, "--lets get you in a chair at least, get you something to drink so you can catch your breath." taking a short break while she wrapped her head around the feelings she'd just gone through was fairly important, as much as hardcore training was useful, without and rest in-between to recover it was pointless. Erek had been able to avoid that drawback, his regeneration allowing him to seemingly just keep going without issue or complication.

"How'd it feel?" he inquired simply, obviously meaning the spiritual abilities and not getting her ass handed to her-- but he figured she'd make her own set of quibs about that anyway.

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He didn’t counter-attack, which meant that not only was this something that he could handle, but he knew too that she was toast, and fell backwards afterwards, taking in rapid, deep gulps of air and covered in sweat, dirt and bruises. Laying flat on her back, she couldn’t do much aside focus on her breathing, struggling and failing to get a hold of her breathing pattern for a moment and she could feel hyperventilation trying to kick in before she closed her mouth. Forcefully, she breathed through her nose, but it allowed her to slow it down and prevent anything worse from occurring from her rapid breathing. Forge had never been one for fleeing; she charged, straight at them, no holding back… that had been the catalyst, the desire to push forward and land a good, solid shot against him.

She can solidly say she accomplished one of those things.

She didn’t have to look to see that she had blown away his shirt, but not done any real damage at all. His defensive skill had always been good, but this was fucking stupid. She accepted his hand weakly and got to her feet, stumbling a little bit as she tried to get her feet out from under her. Soon she had a chair, and held the water, but waited a moment to finish getting her breathing under control a little bit more before taking a long swig, downing the bottle of water in a single go and letting it fall at her feet. He asked her how it felt, and she sluggishly reached and grabbed her pack of cigarettes, grabbing one and her lighter, starting it up and taking a drag before she answered.

“Like it isn’t good enough…” She knew that this was not going to be enough, and even her tone seemed to show there was thought behind it and not self-pity or resentment. “By body knows what the fuck to do… but… I think I need to learn more about it… before I can say I’m any good at it.” She looked at a hand and clenched it a couple of times, but nothing significant happened. “I need more control, like… active control so I can practice it right. A way to make my bullets piece armor would be good too… Hollow can have thick skin… Hero or some shit, right?” she asked, knowing full well the actual name was Hierro and simply playing dumb.

Regardless, her pistols were gone, and she was looking at the dog tag on her right wrist, stamped with her father’s information. She slowly clenched her fist and then locked her eyes onto Erek again. “And I need to learn how to fight without my guns too… in case they don’t work for some reason.” It was a jab, but one that brought a smile to her face, because she knew at least in this aspect, Erek was probably one of the best teachers on the planet. She would just have to take what he could teach and adapt it to her own style.

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PWC: 513
TWC: 3104

Erek couldn't help but laugh as she commented that it "wasn't good enough" as she grabbed his hand, downing the water bottle as she waited for the weakness to end. As her cigarette was lighted, he would simply nod a bit in agreement. It was the same way he had felt, apparently, it must be a common trait among people like them-- if he had a guess, it was odd because when most people were given power, they immediately thought they were gods, heroes, like children given a gun. But they were soldiers-- they already had power before this. All the spiritual energy did was open a new door for them to push through, and nothing more. Glancing down as she explained her feelings on the matter, he would lean against the wall and contemplate the information given to him quietly.

"All the information on the powers are in the documents I sent you, but if you want to ask any questions by all means-- I'm happy to help." He shrugged slightly, knowing she likely already knew that. Lowering a hand to gently grasp at his shirt, he grunted a bit and tore it off-- or what remained of it. Tossing the scraps to the side as he leaned back against the stone as he nodded at her statement.

"Hierro, but you already knew that." Why she insisted on "playing dumb" around him, he wasn't sure-- but he'd seen right through it a long ass time ago. Instead, he would simply contemplate her idea.

"No one's bothered because we have blut arterie and seele for that-- and of course, the solution is usually just to get stronger. If you're interested in that kind of versatility and customization, you should play around with seele and customize them into rounds for your guns perhaps." As he stated this, he would lift a hand and point toward the far wall where the weaponry lined it-- specifically at a row of slim metallic hilts that hung from pegs but had no actual blades on them. He'd touched on them lightly in his information he'd given to her, but it wasn't as detailed as he likely should have said.

Mostly because he didn't use them. But he could understand her wanted too-- grunting he hauled himself up, moving toward the wall and grasping one of them before he turned to her and lifted it up, allowing the reishi to pulse once before flooding the hilt and causing the rotating reishi to manifest into a blade.

"One part chainsaw, two parts lightsaber," he stated simply, spinning it on a fingertip as he walked back toward her, cutting off the flow of reishi and offering it to her simply.

"As far as learning to fight without your guns-- seele are another good substitute there, and you can learn to make secondary spirit weapons as well. But--" he smirked a bit, "I think learning to fight using martial arts would do you a lot of good too-- learning only one area of melee combat isn't usually something that ends well for you. Go big or go home, as it were." As he stated this, he would fall into a seat next to her, arching a brow curiously.

"If you want to learn any of it-- I can sure as hell teach you. I've gotten alot of experience doing that recently anyway. If it's related to blut, martial arts, or weaponry-- I doubt there's anyone else in the Order that can measure up to me, in all honesty." That wasn't a brag-- that was how he honestly felt. The others simply weren't that skilled in those areas, only Frey came close to him in the ability to utilize blut, and he taught her everything she knew for martial arts.

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She idly wondered what he was laughing about, but dismissed, taking a guess that it was something of an inside joke of some sort. If it was any good, he would have shared it. She scoffed as he commented about the information he had sent her, and Natalie gave an exaggerated eyeroll as a response. “That’s like lookin’ at the specs for a rifle and immediately fuckin’ buyin’ it. Only an idiot goes by what’s on paper.” But since they were on the subject, she might as well throw a few questions out there as well. “As far as teleportin’ goes, what’s the biggest difference between the platforms and the steps? Pro’s, Con’s and shit. And how the fuck am I supposed to train my god forsaken blood so it isn’t such crap?” Her questions, while less than elequantly stated, were actually leading somewhere, and that was a deeper understanding of the abilities he had unlocked for her. “Oh yea, and how the hell do you train the built in energy radar too, cause I got no fuckin’ clue there.”

The information had described the abilities, how they worked to the best of the knowledge of the person giving information, but the methods in which to train these abilities was vague beyond ‘practice’. Natalie was no idiot, and assumed practicing was key, but she also knew that there was usually more to it than that too. She rolled her eyes again at the comment about her already knowing what Hierro was, shaking her head and giving him a smile. “Not so loud, damnit. I got a reputation to uphold.” She nodded in regard to the idea of customization, listening carefully because the heart of the matter was that the more versatile and adaptable you were, the better your odds.

“Think’in about Ginto bullets too. If I can get it right, those will pack a fuckin’ punch.” She had been paying attention, and watched with interest as he grabbed one of the Seele and began to use it before extending it towards her, and already her brain was breaking it down to where the seams were, what materials were used to make it, screws, balance, and anything else she could come up with before holding it out in front of her. There was a brief yellow sputter, but other than that, nothing. With a shrug, she set it down. “Either too drained or not caring enough. Toss up really. I’ll mess with it later.” She actually chuckled at the idea of her using the Seele as a melee weapon. “Pretty sure that’s your schtick.” She had shown him one time; Natalie was an expert with any sort of weapon, including knives, as she had proven during a mission where her pistols had run out of ammunition entirely, and she had picked up a pair of kitchen knives to lethal effect.

“I did like the U.S. Army Combatives style… I’m sure you are familiar. I’ll start there since it’s the most well rounded.” The army used a large assortment of styles and meshed them together into a simplistic, teachable method in which to disable or kill an opponent with the highest chance of success with the least amount of effort. It had a particular preference towards Blood Chokes, which could knock out the biggest badass in less than five seconds if done properly. She could always practice on the recruits later… the thought brought a smile to her face.

The last bit brought her to a point she had been working towards for a while now. “Yea yea bigshot. You know… I am going to take that weapons title from you soon enough… but now is not that time. For now…” she stood up slowly, stretching. Her body was littered with bruises, scrapes and dirt, and still she was able to finish her cigarette and crush it, stuff it in her pocket, and drop, knocking out a few pushups, forcing her muscles to activate again despite the pain. After a quick set of 20, she was back on her feet and dusting off her hands, looking at Erek with curiosity. “So, you hang that knife up on a plaque or somethin’?” she asked, not having seen the signature tungsten knife anywhere around and more than away that it wouldn’t be something he would simply get rid of. Had too much sentimental value.

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PWC: 730
TWC: 3834

Erek chuckled at her comparison softly, "Only if you don't trust the dealer," he stated with a smirk before he would lean back as she started a few questions-- and contemplated them, letting her get them all out at once, for now, to answer them in bulk. Once she was done with her initial set, he would answer them all once at a time.

"Hirenkyaku's shifting depends on the situation. For long-distance travel making a platform and riding it is far more effective, less body movement, it's like riding a skateboard-- but you control it." As he explained this, he would then lower a hand and the reishi around his fingers would shift, wrapping around his fingers and allowing him to "grab" the air, and haul himself up with it, pulling himself up repeatedly as he did pull ups quite literally utilizing the air as he dropped down calmly afterward.

"As far as steps instead-- in combat, I tend to prefer it. It's a bit easier to predict because you're using your body as you normally would-- just at high speeds. But, as a trade off, your control improves significantly for mid-air combat and rapid shifting to deal with attacks." As he explained this, he would lift the hand he had demonstrated with using his fingers.

"It also allows you to coat your other limbs for mid-air combat, which happens quite a bit with higher level opponents apparently," with that he would then lower his hand behind his back, and continue on forward. "Controlling blut is a bit more difficult. It came to me naturally due to my clan, but I found that my medical background helped-- studying up on the human anatomy, veins, and learning to feed the reishi into your veins-- letting the blood pick it up on its own, is a good way to start. Once you have more refined control, you can learn to sense the individual blood cells and infuse the reishi into them individually with ease." With that, he would then shift to the final question-- reiatsu sensory.

"Train it the same way you do any sense. But the first step is learning to distinguish the different forms of energy-- the three of them, you read about them in the information I sent, correct?" his brow arched, and of course, he snorted in amusement at her talking about having an "appearance to uphold", shaking his head in bemusement at her way of handling things before he would then watch the seele sputter a few times briefly, noting it was mostly her attitude and tucking his hands behind his back as the reason came forward quickly enough.

"I don't use them," he stated simply in reply to it being his "Schtick". "My power is just as good, if not better, and passive. I'd recommend looking into it-- seele for anyone that isn't me tend to be the weapon that is fallen back on when your opponent is too durable to effectively damage," as he stated this, he would then nod a bit as she commented on the style of combat that she had actually enjoyed.

"That's a good base to build on. Learning the intricacies of more styles and added them to your arsenal helps quite a bit," as he stated this, he would then grin as she commented on taking the weapons title from him.

"Gladly. Though I'm fairly certain it will be less taking it from me, and more splitting it with me being melee weaponry and you being everything else." A soft chuckle forming from his lips as he would watch her begin her pushups, and once she was ready, motioned toward the door as he tucked his hands behind his back. They could get something to eat and catch up a bit, chat and trade information and ideas if nothing else-- he was sure she had plenty of questions and now-- so did he. His mind briefly fluttering toward her comment on her mother, and his own issue that he had been putting off due to his-- responsibilities, or so he kept telling himself.

"It broke," he replied simply, re-lightning his cigar now that they were out of the training area, releasing a puff of smoke from his lips as his eyes trailed down to her.

"The hollow that first attacked me, snapped it like a twig. It's how I awakened my spirit weapon and blut. Cut the fucker in half vertically," despite his words, he did feel a pang of remorse-- that weapon had been with him for many years. It still hurt knowing it had snapped, but he was also a firm believer of never "fixing" a broken weapon. Once something was dead, it was dead for good. He'd buried it where the corpse of the Hollow had landed, as a final nod to the weapon that had saved his life so many times-- and "died" trying to do it a final time.

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She chuckled at his comment, shaking her head. “It’s never about the dealer… it’s about how it feels in your hands. The balance. How she handles. You can never get that from anything but handling it yourself.” It was pretty obvious that she applied this philosophy to a lot of things in life, but in this particular instance, it was definitely about weapons.

She listened to his explanation about the pros and cons of the different styles of Hirenkyaku, nodding occasionally and watching his examples, her brain kicking into overdrive about practical applications for something of that nature. The flexibility of that skill was truly something to marvel at, and something she would probably be practicing to master as quickly as she could. Precision tools that could work on parts of a rifle, or, hell, a rifle itself if she got good enough at it? The limitations felt limitless, but she made no real external implications of her thoughts.

The conversation switched to blood, and she nodded again, considering the implications and knowing she was going to have to study up as well as practice, hanging her head a little bit. “Fuckin’ Homework. Yes Moooooom,” she joked, nodding again at the fact that she had indeed received the information that she had been sent. The truth of it was she was going to have to go over it again because without this practical demonstration, she hadn’t really been able to wrap her head around most of it. With the fresh understanding though, a second read was going to do wonders for snapping the pieces into place. She picked up the Seele again and took another look, muttering “could probably make one the size of a bullet…” mostly to herself before hanging it back on the wall.

She gave him a look of actual remorse when he claimed that it had broken. “Damn. That sucks bro.” She walked behind him, falling into step again, stretching and rotating her arms as she went and trying to get the kinks out. She was definitely going to feel this shit in the morning. “Probably isn’t a way to ‘learn’ that healing shit, is there?” she asked, only somewhat hiding her envy at the ability.

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PWC: 370
TWC: 4204