Welcome to Gaia! ::

“This is much better than the gym,” Iselin remarked with awe as she rolled into the Beacon Academy Arena, surprisingly empty for the weekend. "Good idea, Kes."

True to their orders, Iselin and Kestrel had remained on campus, supporting Cecil in the murder investigation. But there was only so much brainstorming and organizing of data they could do in their limited roles. So after finishing their homework that week, the roommates realized they could use a better understanding of each other’s abilities. Hence, a friendly sparring match.

”One moment,” she remarked, targeting Kestrel briefly and then herself to ensure they both had their full aura for the fight. She tied her hair back securely and nodded. ”Just making sure it’s a fair fight,” she said with a wink before rolling a few feet away. ”Don’t pull your punches on me now, okay? We’re here to learn from each other. Hopefully. Right.”

She felt there should be some order to a friendly sparring match and bipper her head in a bow before turning in an approximate fighting stance. With that, Iselin took the initiative and spun on one wheel, lashing out. Her right wheel unfolded out into a bladed chain, lashing out towards Kestrel’s knees. Iselin herself rolled fluidly around on the ground. A moment later, a second chain came down from above, hoping to catch her avian faunus friend at the wing.

Just as her first chain was about to strike true, a blast of aura knocked both weapon—and Iselin herself—back. She recovered by channeling aura into one chain to maintain tension and stabbing the blade on the end into the ground, essentially anchoring herself before she went flying much further. The other chain swung around, reaching for Kestrel as the faunus took flight--only to come up quite short. Iselin took in the speed at which Kestrel had put distance between them—enough that Kes evidently felt comfortable enough to offer advice. She called back playfully: "Noted!"

Distance and Aerial combat. Hovering. Hm. This is a disadvantage. Spotting no nearby advantageous terrain, Iselin started shifting Sidereal Stream around to its rifle form before getting a sense she was in the wrong place. Instead, she used her arms to roll and twist away, chains briefly crossing over her small body as they formed into the barrel of a rifle. Just in time— a hail of blades fell where she had been a moment ago. As it was, the attack grazed her defensive barrier.

Immediately, Iselin fired three shots in rapid succession, aiming slightly around where Kestrel was hovering to hopefully catch her if she tried dodging in any particular direction. She reached for the dust container in her pack. As long as she didn’t have to dodge, she’d be able to load a crystal of dust in. Otherwise, she’d have to shift forms again to escape.

Iselin managed to load in a crystal of earth-dust, hoping to ground Kestrel, or at least make it harder for her to move quite so quickly. She took aim and recognized the glow of aura--shoot! if it was the same attack as before, there was no way she'd get out of the way in time.

She fired off one shot, hoping to catch Kes' right wing before scrambling out of the way-- not fast enough. Iselin cried out as she felt at least half of the aura blades strike true, and at least one landing close enough for her to note the texture. "Are these...feathers?" She'd have to get excited over them later.

Iselin glanced up and then around the arena. She swiveled her rifle around and fired one blast into the ground directly, the shot creating a pillar of matter. Then, anticipating another attack, she shifted Sidereal Stream back to a wheeled form and got well out of the way.

Iselin grinned a little when she saw her first bullet had knocked Kestrel at least off balance. Kes avoided the pillar she'd set up and stabbed--if Ise had been even a moment slower, she could imagine Hope stabbing her side!.

But now they were on the ground. Finally. Now you're in my range.. She spun on one wheel again, wheels unfolding into chains. This time though, what looked like four foot bladed chains extended out to their full 10-foot length, connected by strands of aura. She came down again in the same pattern, going for a low strike, then cutting down from above.

"Well, let's make this a little more fun," Iselin replied with a small grin. If uninterrupted, she'd roll forward, smashing both chains down over Kestrel.