trans_9 | Target Practice

Entry tags:

Target Practice

Since living in the new castle with Ruffnut, Mindy had done her best to maintain upkeep, even "borrowing" a few things from the wreckage of Grand Central to spruce up the place. It helped, especially since the events of the homecoming, to keep her head busy. On the one hand, yes, dad had appeared: he wasn't dead, he was proud to know they won, and for just a little bit? She got to be a little girl again, to crack wise with her dad, to show him how far she'd gotten.

But then he was gone again, and the new pod pop didn't bring him out. She shouldn't have hoped for it, but she had, a little. Once that was a no go though, she was either training or helping Ruffnut patch up some of the frayed tapestries or fix up carpeting or overall making sure there were no holes for them to fall through anywhere. It had been good, but even Ruffnut had sort of side stepped asking her about dad. It was something she appreciated: Mindy wasn't known for easily delving into her feelings.

This naturally led to another thing on her mind: what had happened on the mission, where the Castle gun shootout had almost taken her out- SHOULD have, if it was anyone else. She had severely underestimated what she could do: the way she;d moved, the accuracy in each shot, the sheer carnage: that was akin to a limit break.

And now, she wanted to control it.

She emptied herself of all thought: that was how a fight in the dark was, if you had no edge. There were only a few precious seconds to gather your mind, and then you opened your eyes and all hell broke loose. Your eyes and your hands had to work in tandem then, and you pulled back and took out people one by one until you got the job done or you were dead.

Like now: it was those gun slingers from the castle, and she started with ten at first, taking them out easily. The background was the saloon again, only she made it bigger to accomdate the increase in shooters.She cursed to herself (it was too quick!) then brought the number to fifteen, then twenty.

Each took less time, and Hit Girl nodded: she HAD gotten better. She wasn't even using Zetta's gun or her artifact, and she was still taking these bastards down.

"All right: switch it to forty, and place them all over the bar."

Ok. GO.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Heh, don't worry, I get it. Nowadays we tend to keep our powers to ourselves since people find it weird. Or they hassle us about talking to dead relatives. Or think that we're a bunch a hippies talking to trees." He shrugged, the spectrum of prejudice was pretty wide.

"I've been trying to teach Ruff how to see 'em." The look on his face indicated that it wasn't go so well. "But she's gotten real good at sensing them. And of course she can hear them, especially the non-human ones, they're always giggling." Hana smiled. "Most of the time it's just easier for me to show them to her."

He looked Hit Girl over. "You can probably hear them. You've got power. You could probably sense 'em too, if you try. Ruff said she found it confusing at first coz her powers were new so she didn't know the difference between all the different types of energy, they all ended up meshing together and not making sense."

"Those are all really stupid reasons not to listen to you guys. Ghosts are serious business, at least as far as I know. These guys sound ok though. But look at it this way: now that you're on the ship, its not like people are going to hassle you about it. Hell, we have a girl on board that sees ghosts, right?"

At least she was pretty sure about that.

And there was that stupid twinge when he mentioned Ruffnut again, like she should get mad about that. Why? Its not like Ruffnut would only stay her friend forever, that was retarded. Anyway, what the hell, she liked Hana: he cared about Ruffnut like her, right?

"Sometimes her powers of observation aren't so great," she said. "She tends to put more stock in what she can see and hear and taste. I think its why the Overlord likes her as his disciple in the first place: she barrels along into things, when shes sure they're there. I just make sure she doesn't, you know, fall off a cliff or whatever. For me? Um...maybe. I never really thought about using my abilities to detect stuff like that."

Hana grinned and chuckled. "Heh, that's why the non-human ones like her. They're all about impulse and doing as they please without thinking too far ahead. It's why their pranks can be dangerous. They think 'making a step on the stairs disappear would be so funny' not 'that could really hurt someone'." The cheery look on his face showed he probably thought along the same lines.

Hana was totally oblivious to Hit Girls thoughts.

"Well, you can always just come get me if you want to talk to them so it's no big deal if you don't wanna do the whole sensing thing. I mean, I need to know where spirits are because it's kinda important to how I fight, but it's just second nature to me, I see 'em even if I don't wanna. And Ruff just wanted to know how because she thought it was cool." He flashed her a playful smirk. "Plus I think she wanted to make sure they couldn't sneak up on her."

Hana waved his hand dismissively. "But you don't need to worry about that, since you've got your friend there, no other spirits will be goosing you." He said, oddly.

"No wonder they're always messing with her: they just like doing that! In that case, I don't feel too bad about the ghosts being ?around: as long as they're not spying on us, what's the big deal? They're probably just mischievousness, right? Steps disappearing and stuff isn't such a big deal."

All the better: those thoughts were stupid to her anyway. Probably a result of not having actual friends as long as she had.

"Good to know," she said. "Hopefully we won't need to have someone talking to ghosts, but you never know. Anyway, I do think its cool to be able to see and talk to ghosts. I'm with her though: I dont exactly want one walking in on me in the shower or something."

She cocked her head. "Goosing me? Do they do that?"

"Yeah, you might get some perverted ones. But usually the other spirits will see them off and keep them at bay."

Hana burst out laughing, his mane of hair bouncing. "Joking! Joking!" He bit his lip to hold in his laughs. "I mean, some might give you a pinch but I've never heard of a ghost goosing someone!"

"It's a reaction they love. Screaming. Squealing. All that." He was still chuckling, just a bit. "But like I said, you've got your new little friend to watch out for you, so he'll probably stop the others bugging you too much." Hana gestured above Mindys head vaguely.

Hit Girl looked pretty stricken now. The last thing she wanted to do was contend with a perverted ghost: wasn't the occasional perverted demon along with crazy humans and nutty aliens enough?

And then Hana revealed he was joking, which earned him what Ruffnut got on a daily basis from Hit Girl: a swift punch on the arm. "You bitch!" She exclaimed, grinning. "You really had me going! Perversion is not something that's hard to find in my world!"

She shook her head. "Ghosts are messed up then. But I guess everyone likes a practical jokes, especially when they're dead."

Now Hit Girl looked puzzled. When he mentioned her having a friend she thought he was taking about Ruffnut: but now she thought he was talking about someone else.

"Wait, are you serious? Do I have a ghost following me?"

"Hey!" He rubbed his arm, feigning pain before reaching up to ruffle her wig. "Oh man, your face! Should have seen it! Best thing ever!" He laughed so hard he almost lost his balance.

"Come on, admit it! It was funny!"

Hana looked at her, tilting his head. "Yeh. I thought you knew." He pointed to just above her shoulder. "It's not really 'attached' to you, you know, when they follow you everywhere all the time? But it does seem to like you."

"I should totally crush you for that, and easy on the hair man! It gets enough abuse from me!"

But Hit Girl was laughing now. It seemed silly, thinking of Hana as just one of Ruffnut's friends. He seemed like one of those guys you could hang around with, occasionally feel like killing, but in truth she generally did like the guy. He was one of those guys you could just hang out with and laugh with before puberty did weird things with your brain.

"Ok, it was a little funny, in a perverse kind of way. Now, I figured it wasn't attached to me, otherwise it'd be a pretty fucked up ghost by now. But how do you know it seems to like me?"

"Ha! Like I don't know you could totally beat my ass!" His tone became playfully taunting. "Aww, does the girl not like me messing up her hair?"

He put his hand just above her head, in that irritating 'I'm not touching you!' way friends just love to do. He liked Hit Girl, but in typical boy fashion, you had to tease your friends.

"S'not really a 'ghost', it's more like a Holy Spirit. And I can just tell." Hana looked contemplative for a moment before smiling. "Wanna meet him?"

"Damn right you know I can kick you ass!" Hit girl said, tripping him on purpose. "And don't you forget it! The wig is...kind of important, actually. Hides my hair and keeps it in place, and honestly, I do enough insane shit I'm surprised it's still in one piece."

She was serious, but she also didn't mind the teasing. She did bat away at his hand playfully though, not seriously trying to keep him away.

"A holy spirit?" Hit Girl said, looking skeptical. "Ok, now I know you might be full of it. Nothing with the word 'holy' in it would willingly follow me. I'll believe it when I see it."

He flailed his arms so he'd stay upright, pouting and poking her cheek. "Oi! Meanie!"

"Yeh, most people think it's weird when we say 'Holy' but that's because you're thinking about human definitions. Spirits aren't bound by the same rules."

In smiled at her 'when I see it' comment. "Whatever you say."

Hana reached over, looking as if he was going to stroke her cheek, but instead the hand veered off and he grasped at something in the air just beside her ear.

Suddenly, an orb of bright light appeared in his hand, as it shined and flicked, a cheerful giggle filled the room. As he drew it around to hold it between the two of them, the glowing orb grew long wings, giving it a similar appearance to Navi.

With what could only be described as a 'pop of light', the orb had suddenly been replaced by what seemed to be fairy of some kind. It had the shape of an infant or young child's body, the long wings now sprouting from its back. It didn't really possess any distinguishing features aside from a vague indication of where its nose should be, the general shape of what seemed to be eyes, and what looked to be the outline of spiky hair around its head.

"This," Hana declared, "is a type of Holy Spirit (http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/Itako_No_Dragon/holyspirits.png)."

Its whole body, including the spiky head of hair, was a light shade of lilac, aside from the eyes, which were slightly darker. Its stumpy hand was holding onto Hanas as it looked at Hit Girl curiously.

Hit Girl couldn't help it: she giggled, then remembered herself. That was a MINDY thing to do, not a Hit Girl thing. It was hard enough these days, keeping the two personas so separate.

"Well if that's the case, why don't you show me different?"

No sooner were the words out of her mouth that she twitched slightly as he reached out for something near her cheek. Had she thought him up to no good, he would have never gotten that far: likely she would have caught the offending finger and bent it back. But it was obvious he was going for something and a moment later, he had this circle of light, which seemed to be laughing. The longer he held it, the more it looked like something out of a Miyazaki film (SO SHE LIKED PRINCESS MONONOKE AND SPIRITED AWAY FUCK YOU).

She stared at the creature, and it seemed to stare back. It sorta reminded her of Kodoma, a kind of spirit that said nothing but seemed to stare holes through you. It smelled good though, like the memory of something she forgot a long time ago. In a way, the only word to describe it was pretty.

"It's...wow," she said, dumbfounded.

The spirits eyes seemed to scrunch up to indicate a smile and it giggled a sweet, echoing laugh despite having no visible mouth. It was about the size of Mindys head and gave off a faint glow, its wings didn't move, instead it just floated in the air of its own accord.

Hana grinned proudly as Hit Girl stared, always happy to show off the more wonderful aspects of his world and powers. "Yeh, these guys usually hang about in groups. They're real big on tricks and pranks. Just like little kids really, love having fun."

Hit Girl really didn't have any smart alecky comments that came to mind, or any real criticisms to make: she knew it was likely that most people in her world wouldn't have seen something like this without completely losing their shit somehow. What was more, it was weird in a way, Hit Girl thought she was looking at something that seemed kind of...what? Pure?

Well maybe not, with all those pranks those guys would likely play. Likely, it might be something about her age or her energy?

"Wish I knew why it chose me," she finally said. "But man: little kid spirit guys. How do you handle seeing all of these spirits and things, Hana?"

Edited 2011-10-09 02:38 (UTC)

"Because you seem like fun, human!" The spirit suddenly spoke up, again, with no mouth. It had a high voice, enough so to be endearing, but not so much so that it would be annoying. Like the giggling, it had a slight echo to it. "I could tell right away you were interesting! We can sense things about you!"

"Eh." Hana shrugged. "I'm used to it. I've seen 'em since I was born. Really, it's just like having other people around all the time. So it can get kinda annoying. Luckily, being a Shaman has its perks, I can usually have 'em do stuff or make 'em go away for awhile."

Hit Girl definitely started when she heard the voice, but finally she had to laugh a little. "Fun? I guess that's a word for it, fun. I know some other people might have more creative words for it. But who am I to go arguing with spirits?"

And that definitely got her attention. "You can actually make these spirits do things? Not that I would say you should be making them do stuff, but I'm curious. What exactly do you make these guys do?"

The spirit laughed again, doing a little mid-air somersault to show its happiness.

"Well, I mean, it's not nice to 'make' them do stuff. But they usually don't mind so we aren't really 'making' them, and having them do things is just sort of what we do."

He paused to think about it, remembering when he had to try and briefly explain the same thing to Ruffnut. "We can have them do loads of stuff. We can Hyōi Gattai, which is sorta like letting the soul integrate with us, which is handy, it gives us their strength, knowledge and wisdom but there's a few catches."

Hana then tried to put the idea of integrating into more relatable terms. "So, if anyone but a Shaman had a soul integrated into them, even those who can see ghosts, it'd be a 'possession', since only Shamans can control spirits. Strong willed people can fight 'em off a bit but really they're no match and the spirit will take over."

He gestured to the Holy Spirit, which was now waving at Hit Girl. "So, if this guy wanted to possess you, even though you can you have some power, which allows you to see him sometimes, and you're strong willed." He prodded Hit Girl in the chest, smirking. "I can tell." Hana continued. "He'd still end up taking complete control." He pointed to himself. "Shamans are incapable of being possessed, as our souls will dominate any others that try to enter."

Hana grinned widely. "But the best way of using a spirit by far is an Oversoul."

"Hey, its actually cute," Hit Girl exclaimed, laughing at the acrobatics. "I think I could used to this little guy."

Now she was starting to get an idea of what Shaman's, as he called them were supposed to do. They were apparently working in tandem with the ghosts to gain their strengths. In a way, it was a bit like her barrier jacket: it had a mind of its own, and sometimes had to act on Hit Girls behalf, just so the girl didn't wind up taxing herself needlessly. In a ways she hadn't lied to Morgan: she wouldn't injure herself. She just left out telling him that the barrier jacket would make sure she didn't do it to begin with.

She did look a little alarmed at the idea of some spirits possessing her. "They won't do that though, right? They seem pretty ok. And what;s an Oversoul?"

The spirit made a happy noise at Hit Girls praise and floated over to sit on her shoulder, chirping. "I wouldn't possess you, human! I promise!"

Hana smiled and shook his head. "He'd probably protect you from any other spirits too. Or come and get me if something was wrong. I think you could fight one off long enough for me to come and remove it anyway."

He seemed glow with excitement as he explained the power of Oversoul. "That's where we can create weapons, armour or really anything by mixing the soul with some of our power and putting it into an object, a medium."

"This is my medium, most of the time." He made a wild gesture with his hand as he pulled out a small red stone sword (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090628141412/shamanking/en/images/thumb/0/01/Hana_2.jpg/200px-Hana_2.jpg) from his back pocket. "Oversouls can really do anything. There's basic stuff, like fetching things, or major, like fighting."

Hana closed his eyes and waggled his finger, his tone implying he was repeating some lecture he'd received at some point. "An Oversoul is only limited by the Shamans imagination."

He chuckled, dropping the pretense. "Course, there's more to it than that really. There's your furyoku to consider, then there's the spirit to think about, and of course the spirits reiyoku, the medium your using." He shrugged. "But a good Shaman will have taken that all into consideration already so imagination really is the limit."

"There is a Unity-type Oversoul but that's... Difficult to master. I can't do it with any of the spirits on the ship yet. Sort of like combining Hyōi Gattai and Oversoul together into one form. Takes alot of skill." He waved it off in a way that said 'don't bother thinking about it'.

Whoa. It talked! OK, more and more she was going to have to get used to all of this crazy ghost spirit stuff. But at least it seemed nice.

"Good to know, now that the possibility of random ghost craziness happening," she said, shaking her head. "But yeah, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve if it were to come down to me versus some weird ghost thing."

Some magic, or even her own strength of will: she was beginning to see that it played a more substantial part than she realized.

Now the weapon. A weapon was definitely something that a girl like Mindy could get behind, even if it did look pretty simple in design. At this though, even Hit Girl knew she had to throw out certain notions, like how pretty a blade was or how big it was represented strength.

She wouldn't...because he kept dropping in Japanese words she knew nothing about, so she had to sort of gleam it.

"What's a furyoku?"

Hana saw her looking at the sword. "It's called 'Futsunomitama no Tsurugi'." He rattled off the complicated name easily. "It used to belong to a sword god. It's the perfect medium for creating a sword Oversoul. Any sword you make using this will be the perfect weapon for that sword style. Unbeatable, as long as you wield it correctly." He turned it this way and that. "It's been in the Asakura family for over 500 years, it's sort of a family heirloom. It's also a national treasure. Here." He tossed the apparantly expensive and important item to Hit Girl.

"Power, I guess you could call it. Furyoku is the measure of how much of the 'sixth sense' you have. Even basic Shamanic techniques require furyoku. It's linked with willpower, kinda made by it really. It reflects your conviction." Hana expression was calm and still as he spoke about such an abstract concept. "Every living thing has at least some furyoku. You're born with it. Even you've got some." He looked down at his hand, curling and uncurling his fingers. "It's always changing. There's many things that can effect the amount you have, but even having a large amount will be meaningless if you're unable to correctly harness it. Someone with half your furyoku will beat you if you're incapable of understanding and using the sense."

Hit Girl took the sword, and handled it delicately: to her, a weapon was an extension of yourself, and even if she seemed to be very cavalier in how she handled her weapons, this did not mean she didn't respected the weapons. She took it, admiring it in the light for a long time, running her hand from the cross guard to the point. Finally, she handed it back to Hana.

"Now that, I understand. My trainer and the Overlord call it something different, from chi to mana, but will power is really what it comes down to. But now I have a new word for it: furyoku. I've seen that at work too. Like I said, that last battle...I definitely learned firsthand what you can do with your willpower."

He took the sword back, spinning it around and around in his hand.

Hana tilted his head, considering this. "Mmm, they are similar, but in a sense, they aren't. It's difficult to explain."

He ran a hand through his hair, laying the weapon across his lap. "I wouldn't call them the same at all. Furyoku may exist inside you, but it's not the same as the other power that I can sense in you. Furyoku is inborn, you get a set amount, the way of changing the amount you have is difficult, and pretty much impossible for humans. They may all tie into willpower, but I think your 'mana' is different in nature. They're related in some way but... I don't know. I can just tell they're different too. It's hard to put into words."

He sighed, this philosophical thinking was taking its toll. He turned to her, looking apologetic. "Sorry, I'm not explaining this so well, am I?"

Hit Girl grinned when she saw him spin the sword around in his hand she had done the same thing with her butterfly knife.

So she got it wrong? Guess she better listen up.

"You're trying to explain it, and I think I sort of get it. Either way, I'm going to use my power to kick some ass. If there's something significantly different, I'll find out about it on my own."

He picked it back up and tapped her on the head with it.

"They're sort of the same thing, but not. And sort of joined, but not."

Hana then threw his hands in the air and grinned. "Enough confusing crap! You'll know what you gotta do when you gotta do it!"

Target Practice

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)