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Owner Pose
Septette Arcubielle      Septette seems to have simply materialized into an arena of bluish-purple rock, eerie carvings, and floating green orbs of light- or perhaps it's materialized around her? The ceiling is far above; the floor is alternately rough and smoothed, with subtle gradations of elevation and shallow stairs in places. Depictions of human faces and inhuman tendrils, ranging from impeccably lifelike to crudely-hewn, mar the walls all around.

     It feels very much like a Boss Fight Arena, and more to the point, like one for a boss that wasn't her. Shallow pools of opaque blue liquid in depressions on the floor add to the impression of an old battlefield, though there aren't any bodies to be seen.

     For now, she folds her arms inside her shawl and waits. When Staren arrives, she'll greet him with a pleasant wave, typical greetings, and her usual eagerness to wade right into the violence.
Staren     A hulking (well, 6') exoskeleton walks in... but, the helmet does have the tell-tale points for cat ears, and there's the tell-tale... well, long segmented tail armor behind it, so it's kind of obvious who's inside. "Woah. What is this? I mean, is it based on someplace in Etria? I mean, where is it based on?" Staren looks around for a moment. "Is that Abyssal blood?"

    He looks around for a flat spot to stand, then turns to face her, shifting into a combat stance. "So... you wanna go first, or wait for me?"
Septette Arcubielle      It's plenty hulking compared to Septette! She's all of... five foot two? Where'd those extra inches come from? ... Is she standing on tiptoe to compensate? "Sure is," she says in that cheery tone of hers. "It's where we... well, I can talk while fighting, if you like. It's not too long of a story." She leans forward ever-so-slightly; seems that suffices for a 'fighting stance' for her. "Me first. It's armor first and foremost, right? Let's see how it holds up to a beating."

     She covers the distance between them with two rapid leaping bounds, then skids to a halt on her heels and throws out a swing with her unfolding armblade aimed at Staren's thigh- too close to the tip to penetrate deeply even if it cuts through the armor.
Staren     Tink!

    Septette's carefully-measured swing just leaves a shallow scratch. Staren looks down at her, then tries to grab her and throw her!

    It's a valiant effort! The armor has almost a quarter of the needed strength! The moment Staren realizes that's not going to work, he goes for a toe kick followed by twisting to throw all the armor's oomph into a side kick. "It's also designed for more strength, but I guess against you that's not really gonna make as much of a difference!"
Septette Arcubielle      Septette twists bonelessly as she's struck by the kick, bending her spine and ribs on impact without shifting her shoulders and hips to spread out the impact over a larger timeframe. "No, it's pretty good! I think you're strong enough- you've just got to use leverage!" She grabs onto his wrist as he tries to pull away from the grapple, then spins towards him so that her back is to his chest. "Like so."

     With that, she tries to twist his arm so that his elbow is facing down over her shoulder, then use his arm as a lever to flip him over and slam him headfirst into the rocky stone floor!
Staren     Staren reflexively tries to GET AWAY when Septette goes for the counter-grab -- Those translucent energy wings manifest on his back, and thrusters on the armor's boots help them with the extra weight, allowing him to slide back to safety, though Septette's knifelike fingers tear into the plating as he slips away. "I guess."

    He lands for a split second to jump into the air, thrusters and wings taking him higher and allowing him to hover and fire his twin beam cannons at Septette from the air!

    "The strength is really more for noncombat applications -- melee never goes well for me, so I prefer to stick to my guns! Heh."
Septette Arcubielle      Rather than making much of an effort to defend herself, Septette just turns to the side to narrow her profile and takes the twin beams directly on her side, shallowly scorching the tan ceramic plates of her 'ribcage' and sending several thin wisps of smoke coiling into the air. "A viable tactic when you can choose your range of engagement. Those of us who have no such privilege-"

     She raises her hand, and a pulsing blue circle materializes in front of her fingertips before condensing into a set of seven razor-sharp icicles. They fire off at him in a volley, each projectile spaced a tenth of a second apart. "-must be proficient at both."
Staren     Staren sees Septette preparing to do magic, and is surrounded by the translucent amber sphere of a forcefield. The burst of icicles leaves white impact points, like in plastic, but doesn't seem to do much. The heavy armor is barely nudged back by the force of it. "Mmh. I guess I should really take some martial arts classes. A lot of adventurers study boxing, for some reason."

    He starts to fly in a wide circle above her, taking aim and only firing one or the other of the beam cannons, trying to see if he can fake her out by firing them at random-ish intervals. "So what's the story behind this arena, anyway?"
Septette Arcubielle      There isn't really much to "fake out" in Septette's defense- her formidable reaction time keeps her facing Staren through his zippiest movements, but even flatfooted, she's still a stone wall. Still, even a stone wall can be chipped away at: the damage is essentially superficial, but for someone physically comprised of near-unique artifacts, the wounds he's inflicting would be enough to make her seriously reconsider her investment in a real fight.

     Which is why she has no intention of allowing him to continue. The only warning Staren gets is her legs flexing slightly- and then she leaps off the ground in an explosion of dust and cracked stone, hurtling towards him and swinging her curved armblade towards him in a wide arc as it glows an ominous red.
Staren     Staren expected her to try something like that sooner! The forcefield comes up, and Staren tries to fly to the side -- one of the thrusters fires too hard, sending him a bit out of control -- but also moving him just far enough that Septette's attack doesn't hit him head on!

    He goes careening off like a hamster ball -- a large dent in the forcefield around where she hit it -- and bounces off the cave wall, making the forcefield spiderweb and fall apart more. The thrusters briefly go out as they recalibrate, Staren struggling to right himself before landing.

    It's time to get serious.

    The shoulder launchers pop up. The forcefield shuts off.

    Six missiles launch, spreading out into the air and then zooming in on Septette from different directions at scattered times!

    Staren reaches into his bag, draws a pistol, and shoots at Septette while the missiles rain down! The bullets explode into spears of plasma on impact, like miniature anti-tank missiles!

    "I just invented these bullets, too! What do you think?"

    Staren is thinking: Don't lose control of the fight keep her busy keep her busy don't let her get in melee--
Septette Arcubielle      Rather than landing on the ground, Septette latches onto a wall as she carries through with the momentum of her leaping attack. She tries to bounce off again to dodge the incoming volley of rockets, but can't evade the curving missiles even as her microthrusters flare to try and push her out of the way. They slam into her, pockmarking her frame with explosions and knocking her off of her trajectory! She lands heavily in a three-point stance just in time to catch the armor-piercing rounds to her face and shoulder, leaving concentrated sizzling points on her exoskeleton.

     She opens her eyes and sprints towards him, at first holding out the glowing-red armblade, but switching to her cool left moments before getting in range to swing at his neck. "It's pretty good! Have you got aim-assist on that armor, or have you just been hitting the range?"
Staren     Staren watches her approach, gets ready to dodge. Wings out. The forcefield comes up, and then when she switches arms he tries to juke to the side, but not quite fast enough -- Septette's arm smashes through the weakened field and clips his shoulder, warping the pauldron and sending him stumbling and spinning! He halts his spin facing away from her, lands, and aims his right arm backward at her over his shoulder, firing one beam cannon, then the other as he aims with the rear camera. "Everything's smartlinked. I still have to aim but I don't have to look down sights."