the test of techniques/the forms/and stances/the flow/the rythm/the internal answers [open]

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

God knows where she'd gotten the blades.

They hovered in the air, little menacing antigravity buzzsaw shuriken. Violence lay coiled within them, not directed outward but in, at Sheeana who stood poised with her arms spread. This was the attitude with which she called the great worm. Her toes curled in, feeling the strange, unfamiliar grass (coarse, yes, like the rare poverty grasses that sometimes grew on the leeward side of the dunes but still far too thick for her liking and multicolored). She opened her awareness, allowing herself to become part of the place and her of it.

Seven, a warm up. Their timer finished counting down, they converged in on her

There was a series of contortions that blurred in and out of visibility. She leapt. She hugged the ground. At one point she found herself poised on one hand, feet thrown up into the air like a Minoan athlete over the bull.

For practicing the Weirding Way, no artificial lightshow would do, no matter how real feeling.

Comments

[lightspeed-attk.livejournal.com]

"So, do you have some special powers that let you move like that?" While Sonic was perfectly willing to accept that skilled martial artists did exist, he kind of figured that it would take much more than that to move like Sheeana just had. More to her credit that she hadn't been hit once.

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

"Oh no, it is all a result of training. Is there some reason you took that fall without injury?" She could guess of course, but she wanted to see what he said for himself.

There. One of the voices from Other Memory, much decayed by millenia chimed in. A small, ground dwelling insectivore with spikes on its back. Quite strange, but he did say his race was a product of the fusing of men and beasts...Perhaps he can help me figure out the origins of Futars.

[lightspeed-attk.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that? That's nothing. It's just part of my super-speed; helps me back bounce back quicker than others. That and the billion plus power rings I've used have kind of given me a surplus of energy to spare when it comes to healing." Sonic didn't mind talking about what he was or what he did. It wasn't so much bragging as ... well, he was proud of it. And he liked it. It was cool to go fast and fight bad guys.

"What's a Reverend Mother, anyway?"

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

"I see...and where you born with this speed? And do these rings of power assist you?" She asked questions that would lead him to talk more.

"A Reverend Mother is one who can access Other Memory....That is, complete ancestral memory on the female side, plus the memory of all Reverend Mothers that have come before."

[lightspeed-attk.livejournal.com]

"Cool! Yeah, I was born with my speed. No one really knows how I got it, but I'm pretty much the fastest thing in existence! I can outrun a laser if I put myself to it!" Getting Sonic to talk about himself or his home was not difficult at all, really. He didn't know most, if not all of the people awake right now, so talking to them was a great way to make new friends.

"Well, this scientist named Nate Morgan made the power rings by mixing magic and technology or something like that. It's a long story, but I used to be able to use Power Rings to boost my speed or strength temporarily, or to give myself flashes of knowledge and insight. That part really kicks my rear, though, so I tried to avoid using them for that reason.

"Anyway, ever since I absorbed my billionth power ring, I don't get as huge a boost from them anymore, because I'm already pumped up so much from them. Now we mainly use them to help others out. Like my buddy Monkey Khan. Most of his body was forcefully cyberized by Doctor Robotnik, so he uses a Power Ring crown to keep anyone from taking control of the cyborg parts of his body."

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

"Born with it, eh?" Genetic engineering was not out of the realm of possibility here too. And this 'cyberization'...The idea disgusted her a bit.

"Interesting. I know a substance in my world that is similar. Would you like to try the blades?" A dangerous suggestion and the devil's own smile came with it, but she had a feeling he was up to the challenge.

[lightspeed-attk.livejournal.com]

"Yup! Just lucky, I guess. My little buddy Tails was born with two tails, and he can use them to fly, so while it's uncommon, those things do happen." He stepped up to Sheeana, casting a glance towards the blades. They were moving pretty fast, but that didn't bother him. He just didn't want to accidentally break anything and have the woman mad at him.

"Sure! I'm game, if you want me to," he replied, accepting the invite eagerly.

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

Genetic variation, accelerated by the fusing of man and animal in his species... And Sheeana added it to her already very long list of things to investigate.

"Alright, but i'm not responsible for any injury you might incur. Let's start easy..." And from the pile, she handed him two of the blades. "When you're ready, throw them."

[lightspeed-attk.livejournal.com]

"All right, I've got this," he replied. Grinning at Sheeana, he held the blades a moment more, then threw them straight up in the air.

He hoped this was fun.

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

And the blades swooped down at him, curved edges spinning and whirring.

[lightspeed-attk.livejournal.com]

Sonic was quick to respond, revving himself in his patented Figure Eight Spin. Raising himself from the ground, he easily deflected the blades, sending them back around and forcing them to readjust. "So I guess you've never heard of Mobians, huh?"

That's right, Sheeana. Not only was he fighting the blades and keeping them from slicing him to bits, but he was also having a conversation with the woman. About Mobian history.