soul_logs | [Closed]

Kid had his own worries as he ascended up to where Azusa waited for him. Although head resonated with Spirit, being able to resonate and being able to hold the Deathscythe had been two completely different challenges. Resonating on their own had not been so difficult—Spirit certainly helped quite a bit in that.

Wielding the Deathscythe?

The pain and suffering and turmoil—needless to say it had been quite the challenge. But a challenge that Kid was not going to let his little special condition get the better of him. Practicing and just trying to hold and twirl around various long, asymmetrical objects like a broom helped, and it definitely helped when he focused on the proper aspect of being a shinigami over the symmetry. He still had a long road ahead of him, but he was getting over those speed bumps. Slowly but surely.

So when he finally got up to where Azsua was, he was more than determined to get this done right. Granted he had never seen his father wield any of the other Deathscythes before, and he had only ever seen Sid use Azusa. He had a very, very basic idea on the position (he may or may not have researched into the general use of the sniper rifle) and somehow the fact that she was a firearm type seemed to bring some sense of comfort and familiarity.

"Azusa," he said as he arrived with a polite nod. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting long."

"Not very long. I was checking on the targets we'll be using." Azusa nodded at the balcony's rather breathtaking view of the desert: they were very high up, and from this vantage point the five big splotches of white paint she'd ordered to be painted on random rocks were perfectly visible, even from several miles away. Then she turned her attention back to Kid, and looked the boy over with a measuring gaze.

"How are you feeling?"

"...A bit apprehensive," he admitted. Even if he did not tell her, he knew that when they attempted to resonate she would sense his nervousness about the prospect of wielding not only just one weapon, but one that was virtually impossible to do it symmetrically.

"However, I still want to do this. I just hope you'll be able to bear with me."

"It's fine to be nervous," Azusa said with a small, hopefully reassuring smile. However admirably Kid had been comporting himself with regards to performing his duties lately, it was impossible to forget that he was still very young; too young to be pushed into the role that had been vacated by Shinigami's death. Spirit, Stein and herself, the other deathscythes, and all the other teachers and staff at Shibusen had been doing their best to lighten the burden of that role, so it was quite heartening to see Kid gradually, steadily stepping up to that plate.

"And I will bear with you for however long you need me to," she added. It wasn't obvious, but she was glad and actually excited for the chance. After all, to be of service to a death god was one of the reasons why she worked hard to make deathscythe.

Kid gave her a small small. "Thank you," he said, and he did feel a little more relieved. It would not until they actually tried to resonate and he managed to even wield the Deathscythe would he gain any confidence, but this was a bit of a start.

He took a few steps forward to get a better view of the targets, noting their positions and wondered if he would really manage it. But he could also see the rest of Death City beneath them, and that view was all he needed to be reminded of why he was doing this and why he had to be able to do it. If not today, at least soon.

So he took a breath and turned back to her. "All right, let's begin," he said, his voice hardening back to his more serious and "down to business" tone. "I'm the student, so just tell me what to do."

It would be good if she could add something to reassure the boy and get him to relax at the same time, but she didn't have Spirit's easygoing manner, and given Kid's issues, she would technically be lying if she said that he shouldn't have any trouble wielding her. Her weapon form was symmetrical, if one drew a straight line, lengthwise, down the rifle part. But to actually wield her Kid would have to place his trigger hand near the trigger and his non-trigger hand on the forestock, and the position was hardly going to agree with his sensibilities.

"Well... let's start with resonance." No shooting right away--but Azusa was certain that she could push him to take potshots at the targets before long. She backed into the low balcony wall and set her shoulders against the railing; Spirit had told her that he'd transformed first and let Kid take hold of him however he wanted, rather than jump immediately to his hands. It was a good idea; she didn't want to shock him by forcing him into the position right away.

Azusa triggered the transformation, going through the change more slowly than if they'd been on the field. It still happened in the span of a breath, body disassembling and reassembling into a crossbow rifle, butt set on the ground and the point with the wide-curving bow leaning against the wall.

"Try to pick me up, first," she stated clearly. "You may set the bow against the railing while you find your balance."

Edited (last edit I swear) 2012-08-27 10:40 (UTC)

Kid had seen her form a few times before, but never as up close as this. So he could not help but be a little fascinated and curious as Azusa transformed, noting that as he suspected, at her form was indeed symmetrical. Something that certainly helped.

But now was the hard part. Like with Spirit, this was...going to be difficult and he was starting to have a war between his notion of symmetry and what is proper. If he could just get the be a proper Shinigami! thought more dominant in these cases, it would be a little easier. Unfortunately, that was going to take a while.

So there was a clear moment of hesitation as he kind of stood there and stared. Part of it was the fact that he still was not sure where to begin despite doing his own personal research on how rifles work.

Anyway, it was just picking her up and moving her right? That would only take a few seconds. He could do that. He could pick up things. And she had a lovely symmetrical form. Yes, that would help—just imagine that he was holding something symmetrical despite not being able to do it...symmetrically. Like moving furniture around to a centered spot.

Yes, that was what was going through his mind as he slowly reached down and tried to do as told.

Oh lord and his hands. Well if he was able of being able to learn those crazy and asymmetrical martial arts stances, he should be able to do this, right? Well he managed to pick her up, though she was quite heavier than what he was used to. Part of that was likely due to them not yet fully resonating, but at least there was not a negative reaction. He could at least pick her up and...hold her awkwardly as he tried to figure this out. Balance...balance...if he could...somehow...

"Er, like this?"

But there was more weight...on his right...maybe if he moved his left arm forward more a bit? Ah, actually that helped out in a different way. Also the bow...okay this part, right? Against the railing...wait, need to align this so that it was perfectly centered—

Yeah this was going to take some time. Give him a few seconds. Or minutes. Possibly the rest of the day.

Edited 2012-08-27 17:24 (UTC)

Aah. Oh dear. Maybe giving Kid the space to figure out the most comfortable way to wield her at his own pace wasn't such a good idea--and yet she could hardly have forced herself into his hands; he'd surely have passed out from shock. Watching him slowly growing frustrated was hardly any better, of course, but at least, connected as she was to his soul, even on the lowest level of resonance, she could try to do something about it--such as distract him from thinking.

"Yes, that's it," Azusa said encouragingly, voice just a bit tight from the strain of holding herself back from rushing. "Hand under the forestock. That will help your balance. Finger out of the trigger for now, while we're not shooting at anything yet." And slowly, slowly, she reached out for Kid's soul, like holding out an open hand in invitation. The quiet, controlled flow and ebb of her wavelength lay within reach. She intended to wash away the boy's doubts and preoccupation with it.

Edited 2012-09-02 15:52 (UTC)

At first Kid did not notice, he was so preoccupied with trying to find the right balance. But now the question was: which type of balance? The one of perfect equilibrium or the one of just trying to find out how to hold the damn thing?

Hearing her words, he tried to do as told. Ah, that did make it a little easier in terms of having the weight of the weapon a bit more balanced... But now the alignment was off and—

He was about let out a small curse of frustration as his own self-induced pressures, expectations, and impatience started to press more on him when he felt the faint but still noticeable presence of Azusa's soul. Unfortunately it did little help—at first, anyway. There might have been a bit of a "negative" reaction from his soul at the "intrusion", like how one would initially reacts when someone intrudes on them while in the heat of trying to accomplish a tough task. But Kid was quick to correct himself. Not too harsh of a reaction, but enough to disrupt their resonance to snap Kid out of his mental state and realize his errors.

The feedback was nothing--or at least, it was within her expectations. It would have been too easy for someone with a sensitive soul like Kid to fall into step right away. Anyway, as a deathscythe, Azusa was used to dealing with all sorts of reactions, from resonating with all sorts of meisters.

Well, she was heavier-handed compared to Spirit, and tended to lose patience and just bowled through the more finicky cases, especially in emergency situations, but this wasn't an emergency. This was a delicate, important task, a critical mission that she couldn't afford to fail at, and she had given her word.

It's all right, she murmured, then repeated out aloud in case Kid failed to pick up on the mental reassurance. "You need to find a balance, with larger arms, or you'll overset. Think of that correct firing position as your equilibrium."

Still dancing between his wavering confidence and stubborn determination to do this, Kid heard the deathscythe's words and tried to focus.

"Correct firing position," he murmured before closing his eyes and taking a deep, long breath. He needed to cool his head. To focus. To steady himself.

For a moment he stood there, recollecting himself. Then slowly, with his eyes still closed, he shifted his arms again to find that point where he noticed he found the most balance. Once he found it, only then did he reopen his eyes to try and set the weapon so that the barrel would be aimed dead center at the distant target.

Even if he was aware that his own body was asymmetrical, if he focused on the target goal of being in the correct position, he could do it just like he had to train himself for those shinigami martial arts stances. That had been just as trying, but he did it. So, too, with enough time and practice he will be able to do this without even having to worry about balance and the like.

Correct firing position, correct firing position—

He may have started to mutter those three simple words as he continued to adjust.

She almost crowed in triumph when she felt that click, of correct focus achieved, of proper balance found and held by someone of Shinigami blood--it felt good, it felt very good, and she had to restrain herself from just surging forward to envelop the boy's soul with her own. She could do it easily, grab Kid's soul wavelength, mould it into a bullet, spit it out at one of the targets, all in the space of a second and without leaving any room for Kid to panic about it, but where would that leave them after?

But she did inch closer, all the while radiating approval and encouragement. Azusa felt proud--he was actually doing it. The muzzle of her rifle was now aimed at the closest of the targets, and Kid wasn't wavering.

"Are you ready to resonate, Kid?" she asked, voice quiet and low.

It was almost instinctive that one eye closed as he stared down the sight at the target. Having finally found a point of balance, his breathing had evened and his pulse slowed. Now he felt more like when he was aiming a particular difficult shot with his own weapons, but there was something more "huntsman" like about this. More concise.

"Yes," he finally answered after making one last minute adjustment.

All he needed was to maintain this line of focus. Just keep focusing on hitting that target dead center perfectly and properly and then it didn't matter how he looked.

She was only waiting on his word to begin; as the person in the lead, it was her responsibility to make sure that the transition was as smooth as possible, that she didn't push too hard or too fast. This meant that she needed to adjust her wavelength to fit Kid's, along with all the other minute recalibrations she needed to do before they could actually mould the bullet from the boy's soul wavelength.

But now, having obtained the go-signal, she slipped her soul alongside Kid's, and opened the floodgates a bit wider, giving Kid something to root his own soul to. This was the part where she'd normally start cranking up the rate of resonance, but she forced herself to start slowly, giving him more than enough time to get used to it.

Like with Spirit, having to adjust to another soul other than the Thompson sisters was a bit different, but not jarring. He had been waiting, everything running less on thought and more on natural instinct. The moment he felt her soul open up, his soul reached out to make the connection. Not too forceful, but not too weak, either. A nice, solid connection to not only anchor himself, but also to allow her to anchor to him.

Here was where he could really start to understand and feel the deathscythe's soul and it really was not too different from his. Well, a lot less negativity, but it was one he held a lot of respect and admiration for. A soul that he really wanted to and felt that he could work with. And most of all, work together with. He knew he could trust this woman, and hopefully she could trust him.

But once that was set and the initial connections seemed stable, Kid went ahead and signaled with his soul to begin full resonance, his own wavelength strengthening as his eye narrowed on the target. His mind focused on the image of that bullet hitting the target—preferably dead center but at this point he'd be satisfied with a hit—which only further increased that sense of determination.

Now he was in the right zone. Not about symmetry or perfection. But about getting the job done.

It was incredibly satisfying to be in the perfect position to watch things falling into place like this, to witness someone with great potential quietly coming into his power. Azusa appreciated the explosive, awe-inspiring displays of her colleagues as much as someone who was aware of their capabilities could, but in the end she preferred silence and calm, and the serenity she could hear thrumming through Kid's soul--all that worry and nervousness taking a backseat to his intense focus.

Azusa responded to Kid's signal with her own mental nudge. Acknowledgment and approval. Nothing verbal, to avoid distracting the boy and undoing all his hard work. The first step into full resonance was as easy as a whispered sigh. This was nearly impossible to screw up, with the kind of concentration Kid was giving her. A moment and she'd locked the link, and began revving their wavelengths into a full-throated roar. Another moment and she'd gathered enough to start forming the first soul wavelength bullet. Motes of white light began gathering in the air around the muzzle of her rifle part, energy coalescing into a single point. It was tempting to push it and see how big of a shot they could create, how far it could go, but she halted the process sharply the moment she felt that they had enough.

Kid could now fire anytime he wanted.

The gathering of their wavelengths was not too dissimilar to how he first experienced with the Thompson sisters. However, such a build-up was only more analogous to their Death Cannon. Here, he and Azusa were only performing a simple resonance. To think what could happen were they to go into full Soul Resonance...

But he had his aim and he knew there would be some sort of kickback so he braced himself before pulling the trigger and releasing the soul bullet. Now it was just a matter of seeing how far it actually went.

She was a rifle, and the Thompson sisters were handguns. The kind of recoil she discharged along with her shots was different--any meister who wielded her would have to brace with their entire body to avoid getting pushed back, and avoid getting bruised, for that matter.

However, Kid was a handgun meister who dual-wielded handguns, so the recoil shouldn't matter to him--almost half of it would travel down the arms of her bow and disperse harmlessly, and the other half would shudder up along her stock and down his arms. He'd lined up the shot perfectly, as was expected of someone used to gunfighting in the heat of battle. The target he'd chosen was a bright white splotch of paint two meters in diameter, on a flat boulder some six miles from their position--Azusa merely needed to adjust for windspeed and angle--and she felt the release of the trigger, the thought that accompanied it, the vaccuum of the air getting displaced as the soul bullet flew straight.

It didn't explode when it hit the target, but the effects were as destructive as if it had; concussive force blew out the back of the boulder and split the remaining face in two, rather like a watermelon getting hit by a round with an explosive tip. The sharp crack of the damage echoed thinly back to them just then, owing to the distance.

The recoil was definitely stronger than he anticipated, but he was able to endure with only a slight bit of jostling. Still, he managed to maintain his form and was still eying the target for a few seconds before he broke out of his concentrated focus and stared at the results.

"...It hit?"

Yeah, he couldn't really believe it.

"Give yourself some credit," she replied dryly. "You should find a rifle easy to handle after dual-wielding handguns."

Well, all right, she did do the tiniest bit of tweaking--and perhaps she'd controlled the amount of energy that had gone into that shot, but that was her job, to make sure that it wasn't too weak to reach the target, or too strong that it would have overshot the boulder and decimated the entire swathe of desert behind it. But Kid had done it; a successful resonance, and he'd demonstrated excellent form.

"You pass."

"Ha...haha..."

The laugh was strange, but it was almost like relief as his grip loosened.

"I actually...resonated with a Deathscythe..."

And then his hands completely released the weapon and collapsed backwards. Part of it was from the exhaustion finally hitting him from having to deal with the handling, but a lot of it was from the relief and disbelief that yes he resonated and managed to execute an attack with a Deathscythe. He had been able to resonate with Spirit, but even then it was only for a few swings and not that long. At least with Azusa he could at least get off a shot and it would mean something, particularly if they were at a great distance.

But more importantly he did it. It left him feeling like a truck ran over him eight times, but he did it. Maybe he really did have a chance at this. So were Azusa to look at him, he had not fainted—he was still conscious. But there was a very small ghost of a smile there as his mind continue to wrap around the fact that he fired the shot.

"Aaah--!"

Oops. It looked like she'd jumped the gun in her excitement, preparing as many as five targets. Shinigami could squeeze off a dozen shots with her without any problem; but she had to remember just because the father could do it didn't mean the son could, especially at the first instance of resonance. Kid did remarkably well, actually, for a first try. Duty was a great motivator, overcoming a debilitating personal quirk where talent failed as often as not.

Azusa quietly changed back to human form the moment she felt the boy releasing their resonance, and delicately stepped back to avoid treading on Kid's face. She placed her hands on her hips and bemusedly watched the blissful expression on the young meister's face. "Congratulations."

This was the easy part, resonating with Spirit and then her. She couldn't imagine Kid doing as well with Marie or Tezca.

No, the others were going to be more difficult (oh God, Tezca). But yes. This was a major first step down a long, horrifically arduous road.

After a moment he sat back up and stared out at the remaining targets. ...Yeah, he definitely would not be able to do another resonance. He was at his limit. But he was staring at them to remind himself that one day he would have to do it. One shot was is great, but it wouldn't be enough—particularly if he always felt like this afterward.

"Thank you for your help, Azusa," he finally said as he looked away from the targets to up at her. Though he hadn't been fully aware, he had felt the support and encouragement from the Deathscythe during his troubled time of need.

Now, what should she do with the remaining four targets? It should be fine to leave them as is, she supposed, in case anyone wanted to take potshots at them--or perhaps Kid would like to try again some time.

"You're welcome," Azusa replied, tone equal parts encouraging and promising. You did well. You'll get better soon. For now, however, the boy's face looked pale and drawn, as if he'd been sucked dry. She held out a hand he could use to pull himself upright, if he needed to. "Are you all right?"

He would try again. ...Just perhaps not right this instant.

"Yes, I'll be fine," he said. There was a moment when he looked at the Deathscythe's hand before taking it and standing upright. Not that he needed it, but it would be more polite to take it, wouldn't it?

"Though that was a bit more taxing than I expected."

"It's perfectly normal, for the first few shots. And you did better than most." A lot better than those who would try to wield her only to get knocked flat on their backs for the next few days. But she wouldn't recommend trying again today, no.

"You should take it easy for the rest of the day, however," Azusa added as she gestured vaguely towards the entrance to the balcony.

[Closed]

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lovely tag, by the way

rotflmao XD this is always hard OTL

/pats

mother Azusa ;a; guide hiiiim

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easy, Azusa. don't turn cougar on me--

T_T

...yeah I can't read these tags the same way anymore |D I REALLY. CAN'T. /dying.

>.> You did this with Yukeh, too.

I did. I guess I have a bad mind.

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