Back with Kat
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After Lily showed off her spells the two girls really got into their training. Well, no. First Mint removed the limiter band from Kat because both Kat and Thyme had completely forgotten about it. So with Kat no longer limited, she started training. Kat focused on controlling larger and larger amounts of water in precise ways. Specifically, to set up a target rich obstacle course for Lily to run through, unleashing spells along the way.
Mint happily watched it all from the side, quite amused by her friends training. It looked quite cool off from the side. Inside, was a different matter. Lily, wanting to increase her fighting ability as a Memphis was desperately fighting her instincts to freak out and maul something. Every time she succeeded in hitting on of Kat's targets, it disrupted her girlfriend's control over them long enough for the water to splash onto Lily, who was not pleased with the result, but knew it was good training.
Kat, on the other hand, was dealing with the headache of moving everything around independently. She could almost feel the mental block that she'd created for herself, limiting her to more 'human' standards. If she just 'tilted' her thoughts the right way it she was perfectly capable of maintaining the entire obstacle course with somewhat repetitive but still unique movements of all the targets, as well as the wall structures… but if she lost her focus, or focused too much on just one part Kat found things collapsing.
They trained until sometime passed midnight and Lily collapsed asleep. Kat quickly retracted all of the water and then stumbled over to Lily. Her body not tired at all but her mind feeling a lot like a wrung-out towel. Mint helped the pair, or really, Kat carried Lily while Mint supported Kat, as the group moved its way back inside. Everyone (except possibly Thyme) seemed to be asleep, so they were quiet as they snuck inside and Kat collapsed onto the bed.
The next morning, Kat woke long before Lily, just before breakfast was starting. Kat decided to go for a bit of a walk, leaving Lily behind with a slight kiss on the nose as she was still in Memphis form. As Kat descended the stairs, she noticed Burnice leaving through the front door. Kat sped up and followed behind the elf.
Just as Kat got to the door, Burnice looked back with a somewhat hostile glare. Kat just waved back awkwardly, performing an odd not-quite jogging motion to catch up with Burnice. She didn't want to run and scare the elf off. "Um… hello?" offered Kat.
"Why are you following me?" asked Burnice, not beating around the bush.
"Well… I wanted it hang out a bit? Hopefully smooth out any rough feelings still… and I didn't really have anything else to do in the morning?" said Kat with a wry grin.
"What? No training for the great and powerful demon?" asked Burnice.
Kat gave Burnice a confused look. "What do you mean? Lily and I were up till early this morning training, why wouldn't I train?"
"Oh," said Burnice, a lot of the wind getting knocked from her sales, before a thought stuck in her mind, rebuilding some of that lost momentum. "Wait, if you were up that late how come you're up so early now and don't seem tired at all? Are you hiding the bags under your eyes?"
Kat shook her head, "I just don't need much sleep. Not sure if it's a demon thing, or one of my abilities. I know at least some other demons that need more sleep then me… but demons are rather diverse species," *and I can't say that I needed more sleep as a human without giving the part away. I'm sure D.E.M.O.N.S would be mad if I let that spread.*
"Well, whatever. If you want to chat you can come spar with my after we warmup," said Burnice with a shrug. Burnice took off after seeing Kat's nod, and the pair dashed across the island until they found a decently sized clearing. Burnice moved to the side and started stretching while Kat did a few rounds of katas.
"Straight into that? No warmup at all?" asked Burnice.
"Oh, not really? My regeneration takes care of any issues I might have from not warming up properly so I thought I'd just do these exercises for my fighting style," explained Kat.
"Don't feel like you need the extra flexibility?" asked Burnice.
Kat shrugged and stood tall, then leant down until her chest was flat against her legs. Then she showed off by leaning her body to the left and right, once again putting her chest nearly flat against her legs, showing that the only inflexible part of her body was her bones. Just to finish up, Kat pulled her leg up against her face, repeating with the other side, and the shrugging, "Flexibility is no issue,"
"Ok that's such bullshit," grumbled Burnice as she went back to her own stretches. "I can't believe you get flexibility like that basically for free. There's gotta be a cost somewhere right?"
Kat shrugged, "Honestly I'm not sure. If I had to guess I'm not as strong as other demons of my level… but that's other demons, and at my level. So… not really something that comes up often,"
"Some people get all the luck don't they?" asked Burnice, not really upset.
Kat nodded though, "Indeed. Though I technically have some things in my past you might consider tragic, I think I've been rather blessed overall. I'm strong beyond my years, I have a great girlfriend, and I have a great family. I'm honoured to have what I have,"
"Huh, I'd heard demons were usually more arrogant," said Burnice. "I was expecting you to deny it was luck or proclaim how hard you worked comparatively,"
Kat just shrugged and answered, "I'm not going to say I don't train at all, but I certainly haven't seen massive improvements from it. Most of my gains have been from Ranking up, and everyone says that's supposed to take decades most of the time. The fact I'm Rank 3 already is apparently super weird. Normally you're looking at half a century or more for that sort of power, or so I've been told,"
"Can't say I really know much about demon power jumps other than that they're significant and scary. Though… how do you find the motivation to train at all?" asked Burnice.
"Hmm… I suppose it's a question not of power really but skill. Regulating my strength is a big reason I train, then there's also just getting the most out of my abilities. I normally have the obvious use down automatically, but you can do so much more with them most of the time. Then there's my weapon skill. I made a promise to someone that I'd get better at them and… well… I've probably been neglecting my fan skill a bit, but I do try to train it when I can," explained Kat.
"So… what you're like an baby with Rank 4 magic?" said Burnice.
Kat winced at the comparison, "I'm not THAT bad. I tend to get enough proficiency with anything I'm given to not kill myself or something dumb like that. I also have regeneration to help me get through my mistakes…
"But still… somewhat. I can bully my way through a lot of fights simply because I have my demonic fire and my regeneration. Demonic fire is something that can let me win eventually, if I last long enough and my regeneration lets me take really favourable trades. Doesn't matter if I temporarily loose an arm if I take of their head at the same time, or if we just trade arms. Mine can heal," explained Kat.
"Right well… for this spar how about we go for first strike? Solid strike I mean. Not one that's blocked by our opponents weapons?" offered Burnice, knowing it was heavily in her favour… but it was just a spar.
"Sure… though… do you want me to wear this?" asked Kat as she pulled the restrictor band from where she had stashed it in her sash.
"Hmm… I know the answer I want to give… but what do you think?" said Burnice.
"I'm happy to put it on. I need to improve my skills, not push the limits of my power so it's probably better for both of us if I wear it right? Unless you really want to fight me at full strength?" said Kat.
"No, no, a contest of skill seems like the best way to go about this. It'll be nice to actually have a chance to win this time," said Burnice with a grin. Kat nodded and fixed the band around her wrist again. *This should be interesting. Not sure how well I can do against knuckledusters. Mai didn't cover how to fight against them with fans. Do I just treat them like an opponent using their hands?*
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