zerotohiro | Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

I mean, I came home and he was in the attic and he couldn't tell me how he got there. I didn't even know I we had a attic in the apartment.

[He's probably focused on the wrong thing... but it was a surprise!!]

The fact that you guys have an attic that you never knew about surprises me more than finding a demon in there. Hopefully he wasn't stuck in there too long. But absolutely. Wanna meet me at the gym? I'd like to meet him even if we don't start training right away...I mean if you have time today.

Long enough to cover himself in dust, lemme tell you.

I've got time today, though. We'll have a little demon to human meet-and-greet, plus I wanna hear more about what kind of training you've already done.

Your poor demon. I've got time, too. I can meet you there in maybe half an hour? Give you and your demon time to prepare, give me time to finish the work I'm doing here and come up with a good answer for that question.

Sounds good. We'll be there.

[He doesn't text back, but he's absolutely watching the time and speeding through everything to get ahead. He finishes, wrapping up his project at work before grabbing his backpack and heading for the gym. At about the half-hour mark he strolls into the gym to wait outside of one of the training rooms for Naoki. When he spots the older boy though he grins brightly.]

Hey!

[Naoki prepares at a much easier pace-- he doesn't have things to speed through, after all. All he needs to do is catch the metro to the gym and here he is. He waves his hand lightly in greeting as he sees Hiro, and something swoops out from behind him, circling around him in the air.]

Yo. You beat me here. [With amusement.] Me and Inugami. [The demon stops his incessant looping, peering at Hiro with bright red eyes, sniffing in his direction.]

[He'd been about to say something probably to the effect of "too slow, bro" but he stops short when the dog-like (snake-like? dog-snake-like?) demon loops through the air and stares at him. Hiro finds he's staring right back. This one definitely isn't like Pixie and he grins curiously as he approaches the pair.]

I didn't have to worry about bringing an extra friend with me so that probably helped. [He knows how dogs behave, and so even if he's a demon Hiro stands still to let the creature sniff at him.] You found this guy in your attic?

[Inugami sniffs at Hiro, circling around him next before, apparently, he likes what he smells and makes a happy sound, his tail beginning to flick back and forth behind him.

He's way more dog-like than other animal demons so this seems to be working out well.]

Yep, I did. Way better than mice, right?

Definitely way cooler at least. [He laughs at the noise that comes from the demon, tilting his head to follow the demon's movements as he goes. A dog is a dog is a dog. And Hiro likes dogs quite a bit so this works out.] Can he speak like Pixie can? What can he do?

[Hiro's going to even get a nuzzle from Inugami, for his trouble, before the demon barks:] INUGAMI CAN TALK.

He's different from Pixie, but hey. [Much more animal, he would say, but he doesn't want to get Inugami aggravated. Even if he's harder to offend than other demons.] As for what he can do... most of my demons have a combination of elemental abilities and physical strength, so Inugami's like that.

He's got a couple of moves, though, that'll be good to learn how to deal with, just in case. [Ah, Naoki's being purposefully vague...]

[Aw, what a good--oh god. He can't help but jump at the sound, whipping his head back to look at Inugami before staring at Naoki in bewilderment. He knows that the older boy knew about this but whoa.]

Yeah, I can tell. Good boy. [Eh heh. Aggravating demons isn't on his list of "to dos" today, so he instead makes a face at Mr. Vague McVagueson over there.]

That the roundabout way of saying start warming up? [He's moving to begin stretching out, still keeping an eye on Inugami. He's absolutely excited to finally try something like this, and while he liked Pixie quite a bit, Inugami's too fascinating not to want to spar with.] Yang's been training me for a while, but it's not like I've never sparred before I met her either.

[Naoki's just snickering a little, don't mind him. He beckons to Inugami, who comes back to him, his tail whirling happily back and forth. Naoki scratches his ears and grins mischievously at Hiro.]

I hope this'll be a whole new experience for you anyway.

[He pauses.] Have you had someone train you in things like battle strategies? More than just how to dodge and counter, mind you.

[Wow don't laugh at him that's rude. But it's kind of cute watching the demon respond to Naoki just like a pleased animal. He's still stretching his back even while he pauses to think on that.]

Nah. All of my battle strategies come from just acting on instinct. Tadashi and I always just went through martial arts tactics.

Then today's gonna be a little intro to battle strategies with me.

[Naoki grins. Does he not seem like the strategizing type? He might not, but it was completely necessary back in the Vortex World. He skritches under Inugami's chin.]

It'll work especially well with demons, since you'll be training with those, but you can also apply it to anything or anyone else you might fight.

Edited 2016-03-22 18:30 (UTC)

[It's sort of cute how he's bonded with the demons. It's a little like he and Baymax, he thinks, though it's hard to hide the fact that Naoki absolutely has his full attention. Battle strategies would be a huge help around here.]

Could be useful for whatever's coming next. [He's trying to sound casual. It's hardly working. Please teach him everything, Naoki-sensei.] What's the difference between battle strategies and normal strategizing though?

Normal strategising you can take a little time to make. But, when you're in the middle of a battle, you don't have that. So I'm gonna teach you what I've learned to do during battles.

You watch something while you're fighting it, you pay attention even while you're being attacked to try and figure out what the strength and weaknesses of what you're fighting are.

[Naoki scratches his fingers behind Inugami's ears as he explains.] 'Course, you can come up with strategies before you head into battle, but you're not always gonna be prepared or even know what your enemy'll be like.

[Oh wait, this sounds vaguely familiar and it's for that reason he suddenly blurts out:]

Oh! I've done that before. [...] Just once, I mean. We're still sort of getting used to the whole hero thing but when we were trying to stop a crime back home our strategy wasn't working so we had to regroup and think around the problem while on the field so we could use the guy's own attacks against him. So you mean it's kinda something like that?

[Naoki snaps his fingers and points at Hiro with a grin.]

Yeah, like that, though sometimes you won't have a chance to regroup and have to be able to think and analyse on your feet.

When I first started training with Yang, I didn't know what her weak points were, so I had to pay attention to her. Now I've got a good idea on what frustrates her with fighting, and what I can use against her.

[All through observation!!]

You mean Yang actually has weak points? [Cue the mock surprise.] I get what you mean...I think I've still got a lot to learn. The last time we really fought something huge that required a lot of regrouping? It was a bunch of machines that I actually made so...I kinda already knew how they worked.

[So it was kind of like cheating.] So. Does that mean I'm going up against Inugami and trying to pay attention to his weak points?

Don't tell her that I said that. [Hiro, you didn't hear it from him. He's not elaborating on what those weak points are, either. It's more like... frustration points, honestly, things that get Yang frustrated oops.]

But yeah, that's right. Find 'em, and use 'em against him and figuring out how to work around his abilities.

I think I can do that. Yang activated my aura for me, so I bet I can stand up to whatever Inugami can throw at me.

[It occurs to him maybe he should ask if the demon's dangerous or anything but...nah.] It's not going to hurt him, is it?

[All demons are dangerous, Hiro... all of them.]

Don't worry about Inugami. He's tough.

Just checking. [He grins easily, facing Inugami and choosing to speak to the demon directly this time.]

Okay. I guess I'm ready to get started when you are, Inugami. Come at me with everything you've got.

[Hiro, no.]

[The demon grins-- or, rather, he bares his teeth and lashes his tail behind him. He opens his jaws... before Naoki reaches over to tap him on the nose, making Inugami startle.]

With restraint. Until we see how much Hiro can handle.

[His voice is teasing.]

text

text

text

text

text

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action