(D5, EE) Last flights of the day

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka had gotten another request for a duel on the Flying Battle Carps website. This one was to take place by the Azure Dragon. Having a relatively good relationship with the owner, she was pretty sure she'd be ok to duel in the area.

So she sat with Coin's Edge awaiting this new and mysterious oppoent.

[Soshi Kotori]

Taraka had gotten another request for a duel on the Flying Battle Carps website. This one was to take place by the Azure Dragon. Having a relatively good relationship with the owner, she was pretty sure she'd be ok to duel in the area.

So she sat with Coin's Edge awaiting this new and mysterious opponent.

Try new things, they'd said. It'll be fun, they said. And so she'd spent a whopping 12 koku on a... battle carp... and wandered her way onto the website to attempt her first match. Suffice to say she barely knew what to do and had no idea why she was listening to the advice of random strangers, and yet there she was, battle carp in hand.

She looked about until she eventually spotted someone else with a battle carp - must be them.

"Ah, hello?" Kotori paused a few meters away. "I think... I might be meeting you?"

[Yasuki Taraka]

Try new things, they'd said. It'll be fun, they said. And so she'd spent a whopping 12 koku on a... battle carp... and wandered her way onto the website to attempt her first match. Suffice to say she barely knew what to do and had no idea why she was listening to the advice of random strangers, and yet there she was, battle carp in hand.

She looked about until she eventually spotted someone else with a battle carp - must be them.

"Ah, hello?" Kotori paused a few meters away. "I think... I might be meeting you?"

Taraka bowed at the approach of the opponent.

"That seems likely. Good evening, I am Yasuki Taraka of Flying Battle Carps. I hope this evening finds you well." she offered.

[Soshi Kotori]

Taraka bowed at the approach of the opponent.

"That seems likely. Good evening, I am Yasuki Taraka of Flying Battle Carps. I hope this evening finds you well." she offered.

"Ah, Hello." Kotori bowed politely. "I am Soshi Kotori."

She straightened, smoothing the pleats of her skirt with a single motion. The corners of her eyes crinkled slightly as she smiled behind the veil.

"It has indeed, although the weather doesn't look far from taking a turn for the worse." She said, glancing at the sky before her gaze returned to Taraka. "Admittedly, this will be my first time engaging in Flying Battle Carps, so please forgive me if I'm unfamiliar with the protocol."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka shrugged a bit.

"The protocol is fairly loose, Soshi-san. The rules are straightforward, first banner to fall is the loser. Other than that people tend to be varied in their approach. Bayushi Senshuken like to add a dramatic story to go with the action, Bayushi Kazushi just converses, and Shinjo-san is utterly quiet when she plays." she offers.

[Soshi Kotori]

Taraka shrugged a bit.

"The protocol is fairly loose, Soshi-san. The rules are straightforward, first banner to fall is the loser. Other than that people tend to be varied in their approach. Bayushi Senshuken like to add a dramatic story to go with the action, Bayushi Kazushi just converses, and Shinjo-san is utterly quiet when she plays." she offers.

"Oh - you played against Bayushi-sama?" Kotori perked up a little at the mention, although it seemed to spark equal dread around the possibility of being compared. "Might I ask who won?"

[Yasuki Taraka]

"Oh - you played against Bayushi-sama?" Kotori perked up a little at the mention, although it seemed to spark equal dread around the possibility of being compared. "Might I ask who won?"

Taraka tilted her head at the question. She had mentioned to Bayushis and wasn't sure which she was being asked about.

"Hmmm, I've beaten 'The Ethereal Sunset' but not 'Pinky Swear'" she said, using the names of their carps. Even if Kotori didn't check the leaderboard, the names made the identities pretty clear.

She set her carp up with banner attached, and with a few practiced motions of the controls, sent the carp in to the air, carrying the banner of 'Flying Battle Carps'

"Shall we begin?"

(OOC: Posting five rolls now just in case the thread goes longer than dayflip, we can rp them over time

First Pass: 37
Second Pass: 22
[ur=https://sakkaku.org/r/19827l]Third Pass: 32[/url]
Foiurth Pass: 25
Fifth Pass: 27

[Soshi Kotori]

.

Truthfully, Kotori couldn't for the life of her figure out which was which. She couldn't imagine Kazushi using either, but truth be told she'd barely even met the other Scorpions so she didn't have much to go off beyond their reputations.

Kotori watched Taraka, more or less copying the motions - she'd done a little research online but hadn't actually done this before.

Once she set it up, she looked down to the controls and then back to the flying battle carp, then back down. She pressed something. It went up. Let go. It went down.

She nodded to herself.

She pressed it again and then pushed the joystick to one side. Left - it went right. Right - it went left. How strange.

"Ah -alright." What's the worse that could happen...

Flying Battle Carp Vs Taraka Roll 1 Piloting/Agility +2 (Legend Class) - Untrained | 4k4+2 ⇒ 32
Flying Battle Carp Vs Taraka Roll 2 Piloting/Agility +2 (Legend Class) - Untrained | 4k4+2 ⇒ 24
Flying Battle Carp Vs Taraka Roll 3 Piloting/Agility +2 (Legend Class) - Untrained | 4k4+2 ⇒ 26
Flying Battle Carp Vs Taraka Roll 4 Piloting/Agility +2 (Legend Class) - Untrained | 4k4+2 ⇒ 15
Flying Battle Carp Vs Taraka Roll 5 Piloting/Agility +2 (Legend Class) - Untrained | 4k4+2 ⇒ 18

[Yasuki Taraka]

Coin's Edge was off and flying. Taraka was keeping close to the shoreline, so should things go poorly, the banner wouldn't be lost to the deep, hopefully. The Scorpion was also off to a good start. She seemed to be getting the hang of the controls, but had a lot of natural talent.

"Not too bad a start, Soshi-san, not too bad at all." she offered sincerely.



(OOC Results will be:

Taraka 1, Kotori 0
Taraka 1, Kotori 1
Taraka 2, Kotori 1
Taraka 3, Kotori 1
So Taraka will win, though definitely close. On to the rp!)

[Soshi Kotori]

"Not too bad a start, Soshi-san, not too bad at all." she offered sincerely.

Kotori was a picture of concentration as she learned on the fly,

"Ah-wrong way." she muttered, initially just focused on avoiding the the other drone - to get used to the movement, the handling, how to recover. "You're much better at this than I am, but I think that's to be expected..."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka chuckled, though that one pass by the Scorpion had been pretty close.

"I'm good enough to manage the store at least." she offered. "It's actually a bit of a balance, really. I could spend my time getting really good at this, but it's really disheartening to new players if their first duel is getting shutout. Not to mention winning your own league isn't the best look. But it'd be insulting to hold back. And having no idea what I'm doing would not speak well for the brand."

The drone ducked and weaved, but it wasn't time yet for the climax.

"So really, the best thing to get people into the hobby is to be reasonably good, not crazy good." she added.

[Soshi Kotori]

Taraka chuckled, though that one pass by the Scorpion had been pretty close.

"I'm good enough to manage the store at least." she offered. "It's actually a bit of a balance, really. I could spend my time getting really good at this, but it's really disheartening to new players if their first duel is getting shutout. Not to mention winning your own league isn't the best look. But it'd be insulting to hold back. And having no idea what I'm doing would not speak well for the brand."

The drone ducked and weaved, but it wasn't time yet for the climax.

"So really, the best thing to get people into the hobby is to be reasonably good, not crazy good." she added.

"You're more than welcome to let me win, if you're worried about it looking bad when you inevitably beat me." Kotori laughed. "But don't worry, it'll take a little more than losing a game to dishearten me." The bar in such regards had been set extremely low.

Kotori focused for a moment going, deciding to gamble on an aggressive turn - unexpected from an amateur if nothing else.

[Yasuki Taraka]

It WAS a good move, and Taraka had to do a quick duck to avoid the sting of defeat.

"Ah I would never do that to you, Soshi-san." she said, putting a little more concentration into the duel. "Victory is only sweet when you take it with your own two hands. I would not deprive you the opportunity to taste it out of misguided pity...... simply deprive you of it honestly."

[Soshi Kotori]

It WAS a good move, and Taraka had to do a quick duck to avoid the sting of defeat.

"Ah I would never do that to you, Soshi-san." she said, putting a little more concentration into the duel. "Victory is only sweet when you take it with your own two hands. I would not deprive you the opportunity to taste it out of misguided pity...... simply deprive you of it honestly."

"Or perhaps winning through my words, and having the ability to draw sympathy from you enough so that you allow me to take the victory -is a victory in itself." She says, a subtle teasing tone in her voice. "Not all victories need to be fought for Yasuki-san."

[Yasuki Taraka]

"Or perhaps winning through my words, and having the ability to draw sympathy from you enough so that you allow me to take the victory -is a victory in itself." She says, a subtle teasing tone in her voice. "Not all victories need to be fought for Yasuki-san."

Having met the Fun Scorpion and the Sad Scorpion, it was nice to finally meet the Clever Scorpion.


"Possibly true, Soshi-san....but only if one is very narrow in how they define 'victory' and 'fight'. It's not just crossed swords, but crossed words that can be a fight. And you have a whole verbal arsenal to draw from: the sharpest retorts to the softest coaxing."

She maneuvered her drone for what would soon be the killing blow on the Soshi's banner.

"Now, when it comes to victory, when one fights with swords...or even just rotors, there is only going to be one winner. But when one fights with words, both parties could win. I rather like meeting new and interesting people through these sorts of fights, and Soshi-san certainly qualifies there. It is definitely a win, hopefully for the both of us."

[Soshi Kotori]

Having met the Fun Scorpion and the Sad Scorpion, it was nice to finally meet the Clever Scorpion.

"Possibly true, Soshi-san....but only if one is very narrow in how they define 'victory' and 'fight'. It's not just crossed swords, but crossed words that can be a fight. And you have a whole verbal arsenal to draw from: the sharpest retorts to the softest coaxing."

She maneuvered her drone for what would soon be the killing blow on the Soshi's banner.

"Now, when it comes to victory, when one fights with swords...or even just rotors, there is only going to be one winner. But when one fights with words, both parties could win. I rather like meeting new and interesting people through these sorts of fights, and Soshi-san certainly qualifies there. It is definitely a win, hopefully for the both of us."

A small sound of surprise escaped from behind the veil as Kotori drastically directed her drone out of the way, momentarily losing handling.

"It is rather complex, isn't it. Winning. Losing." She had probably thought to say more but found herself focused intently on the match for a moment, and recovering from the near loss (feebly). "Very true Yasuki-san, you're wise beyond measure."

Her eyes narrowed as she tried to come back from immanent loss.

[Yasuki Taraka]

Sadly narrowing her eyes had as much effect as turning the controller when you turned in a racing game, it felt right but didn't accomplish anything. The dice and the Yasuki had spoken, and with one more pass, the Yasuki clipped the string holding the Scorpion's banner aloft. She did make sure to hit her where the banner was going to land nearby rather than off in the water. She owed her opponent that much.

She brought her drone back to base and offered her opponent a bow.


"Well fought for your first match, Soshi-san. I hope you enjoyed the experience. There's a lot of people out there to face off against, and meeting people in this hobby really is my favorite part of it."

[Soshi Kotori]

Sadly narrowing her eyes had as much effect as turning the controller when you turned in a racing game, it felt right but didn't accomplish anything. The dice and the Yasuki had spoken, and with one more pass, the Yasuki clipped the string holding the Scorpion's banner aloft. She did make sure to hit her where the banner was going to land nearby rather than off in the water. She owed her opponent that much.

She brought her drone back to base and offered her opponent a bow.


"Well fought for your first match, Soshi-san. I hope you enjoyed the experience. There's a lot of people out there to face off against, and meeting people in this hobby really is my favorite part of it."

Little did Taraka know, Kotori just couldn't see. Because she has bad eyesight.

"Ah-..." The exclamation cut off as succinctly as the banner's string. "It seems it was an inevitable result."

Smiling slightly behind the veil, Kotori navigated the drone back, setting it down on the ground. She bowed politely to Taraka.

"Thankyou for the match Yasuki-san. Despite the result I enjoyed it, and learned much from you."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka chuckled.

"Inevitable is a strong world, Soshi-san." Taraka offers. "I've got some skill, and that and the winds were enough to see me through. The next time way well go differently."

[Soshi Kotori]

Taraka chuckled.

"Inevitable is a strong world, Soshi-san." Taraka offers. "I've got some skill, and that and the winds were enough to see me through. The next time way well go differently."

"Perhaps by the next time we meet I will have had some more practice - and things will not be so sure." Kotori smiled. "Even with skill and the winds, your experience speaks for itself."