“And here we have our first full match of the Cheshire Charity Tournament. I am your commentator Auroras Hallward of Blood Brothers LLC. The best choice in elite huntsmen and mercenary services. Today we have a match between Ivory Reynard of Atlas Academy against George Jasper-Lapin of Beacon Academy. Hari, what do you make of this match?”
“This could go either way, Auroras. We’ve got two very versatile fighting styles up against each other. Let’s see how they do.”
Ivory stood at one end of the arena with her ax in hand. She stared down her opponent. “Ready?”
“Alright, time for another match! This time we have Violet Goodfellow vs. Robin Ironwood. Auroras, thoughts?”
“Both of our competitors have notable family in the field- and both still have that shadow looming over them. However, Ms. Ironwood is a graduated professional. This is going to put the young Ms. Goodfellow at quite a disadvantage.”
“Did they really have to say that out loud...?” Violet already knew what she was up against and had to calm her nerves. This was no time to do anything embarrassing. She knew she was very likely going to lose, but she was determined to put up the best fight she possibly could. “It’s okay, Vi... You survived a lot worse than this.”
“Welcome one and all to the Cheshire Charity Tournament. Our competitors are assembled and the matches have been announced. Auroras, Hari, please announce the matches.”
“With pleasure. As you all know, huntsmen and huntress from all walks of life are here to compete for your enjoyment and to showcase their skill at arms. Viewers are encouraged to place wagers on bouts. A reminder that the half of all pots will go toward relief efforts for the families of those who lost loved ones in the latest attack. Now, Hari, announce the matches.”
“Alright, everyone! Here are your placements! Find your partners and get ready for your bouts!”
(Reminder: Check the blogs of character names HERE. It’s up to you to meet with your RP partners to set up the scenes and determine how they go. People paired with their own characters should just decide a winner and write a scene with them both. Please let me know if you have any questions!)
“I know you’re all enjoying that tournament out there! So let’s get to the next match! Here we have two competitors who arrived on Ty’s own say so.”
“First up is Lapis Hamelin from the far-off little village of Pineyard. His whole team is competing so stay tuned to see how the rest do.”
“His opponent is Auburn Huldre. She’s a bit young for the huntress gig yet, but she’s got herself a sweet little apprenticeship with Cheshire Financial.”
Auburn sneered at Lapis the blades slowly flaring out of the discs at her wrists. “You know, you and your sister didn’t put up much of a fight when I saw you last time. Want to see what happens when you don’t run away?”
“Yeah, too bad I missed what Cheshire did to your face,” Lapis replies darkly, “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for a second for what you put Lazuli through. Count yourself lucky there’s rules- because this is personal.”
Lapis held out his weapon to his side while he let it unfold and spin into its melee form. He grips it tighter when the blades spring out from either side. He held out his other arm in front of him, his barrier semblance forming in front of him- then he rushes forward.
Auburn rushed forward and jumped up on top of Lapis’s shield, letting him fling her in whatever direction he chose upon landing and taking to the sky in that direction. She turned and flicked her wrists out, sending the six blades attached to her wrist mounts to fly off in circles. Her shadow beneath her started to writhe and spread out beneath her, roaring to life when she landed and spreading out a mass of eyes and grins throughout the arena and obscuring both their forms.
“Then I won’t waste time with a warm up.”
Lapis carefully tried to follow the motion of his opponent’s blades. He knew they could fly around for a lot longer than they looked so a miss didn’t mean they were out of the game. He had to stop their movement. He spun and ducked, bringing his barrier up around to intercept as many of the flying projectiles as possible. He brought it around one more time in front of him just in time to see Auburn slamming a kick right into it.
“Don’t forget me.” She twirled backward in a cartwheel, catching some of her blades as they spun past, flipping past a quick jab from Lapis’s unarmed hand and swiping. She saw him deflect that and then two more oncoming blades as they clatter to away. With another jump backward, Auburn’s discs glowed and the blades flew back to her, locking back in place.
Lapis brought his weapon up to shift back into its rifle mode and began firing. He kept a rigid stance as he gave a cautious advance. He need to keep his eye on her at all times. The churning scenery and unearthly screams that echoed around it made it hard to concentrate, but he was aware of Huldre’s tricks. Once he saw her ready to fling her blades out again, he fired a shot at her shoulder.
Auburn jerked backward from the shot but ran with the momentum and flung her other arm out, releasing the set of three blades from that side. The disorienting shadows started to cover her silhouette. She ducked down to avoid another shot and released the other three before racing around Lapis.
Lapis twirled his weapon as deftly as he could to deflect oncoming blows and make it more dangerous to approach him. He felt an impact on the weapon when he spotted his opponent renew an offense, both catching whirling blades as well as kicking and swiping to keep him on the defense. “I can do this all day you know...”
“Defense, won’t win you the fight, you can’t just block your way to victory here.” Auburn taunts, flinging an arm around Lapis’s weapon to send a set of blades out into the air again while she kept him busy.
“I know.” He moves his weapon out of the way of a blow he could have blocked and moved to punch with the side of his barrier instead. An unlucky blade skid across it as he pushed forward and dismissed it. The shimmering blue aura in front of his arm dissipated and he grabbed Auburn by the collar, yanking her forward and slamming her in the face with a headbutt and then hurling her over his shoulder to the ground. Pressing his weight into the equation, he shifts his weapon back and points the barrel of his rifle down at her fires a burst.
Auburn brings her discs up to try and block the shots. The churning shadows around them shrunk and ran up Lapis’s gun, releasing a horrible shriek and twisting of motion in front of him. She rolled and swept a leg as his knee but her much larger opponent held firm. She kicked herself away and recalled her blades back, taking steps backward to avoid the oncoming swings and slices from her opponent who had already shifted his gun back to its melee form. She snarled and brought her arm around with intent to stab with the flared blades on her wrist.
Lapis blocked the oncoming blow with the side of his weapon and pressed his weight into the block. Then the disc on Auburn’s arm glowed again and the blades shot out at an angle that wrenched his wrist and pulled his weapon free. She was still at close range though. He reached out to grab her shoulders and pull his knee to her gut.
Auburn lost her wind for a moment and felt a crack of aura with the blow. She couldn’t take too many more of those. An attempt to twist herself free resulted in Lapis tightening his grip and she felt his momentum move to lock her arm in place.
Lapis hoisted his opponent up and slammed her back into the ground. Then he picked her back up and hurled her into the wall, keeping her pressed there.
“Don’t... think I’m done.” One of Auburn’s disks started glowing and the set of blades that send Lapis’s weapon free came flying back toward them. She felt herself get released, but her opponent was still standing behind her.
Lapis held his arm up and his barrier ready, using it to block the oncoming blades. “That’s not that threatening when I know exactly where they’re coming from. Now where were we?” He planted a boot into her chest and she bounced against the arena wall again. He sent out a few more solid punches before Auburn crumpled to the ground, her aura and semblance both dissolving around her.
“Now you’re done. And if you ever put my sister or anyone else in danger again, I won’t go easy on you next time.”
“So... we just got camera footage back now that the creepy mist thing is gone, everybody. Well at least we have a winner. Too bad we couldn’t see the damn match.”
“We have quite a turnout for our event. Huntsmen and huntresses of all ages and backgrounds have come to compete for the entertainment of the viewers and, more importantly, to help raise money for the victims of the latest Grimm attack following the election. With that out of the way, let’s get to the part you’re all here for.”
Representing @firestormmaidenanddragon
Jackie Yu-Shi
Regina Konsho
Representing @firestormtriforce
George Jasper-Lapin
Merlo Vampir-Copil
Representing @strykingback
Blade Stryker
Eros Ahab
Louvel Shinba
Excelsus <Last name not given>
Representing: @team-orgk
Robin Ironwood
Zeke Striker
“We have a total of twenty competitors each performing in three matches overseen by my good friend Mr. Hari Lackey of the Blood Brothers mercenary company. They have helped sponsor this event and will be placing wagers on each bout. We expected a betting turnout among viewers as well so please call in with your guesses and favorites. We will now outline the details of the tournament:
Alright everyone, taking over OOC for this next bit as it’s oriented for the players/writers themselves! Here’s the things you need to know for when the tournament starts.
LATE ENTRIES!
I’ll still take late entries for now. Into the end of today. This is the “finalized” roster for now, but if anyone didn’t notice and still want in, please send me an ask, submission, or IM! The roster on this post will be updated to reflect that. Reminder to those still sideglancing at this, I recommend you enter no more than four characters but it’s not a hard limit. Just don’t bring a whole squadron with you unless you REALLY want to balance that many threads.
You can swap out/alter fighters you’ve submitted between now and the end of the day as well, just make sure I know first.
PARTICIPATION!
There’s nothing binding about this event. If you get bored, don’t have time, or just don’t want to do anything with this anymore, you’re free to back out at any time.
The list of people involved is made public for a few reasons. First, this is so everyone knows who/what is around. I encourage you all to at least glance at the blogs/profiles of other participants to see what’s up.
Matches will be determined by me randomly with a few edits. I allow players to tell me privately if they don’t want to interact with certain people to avoid reopening past drama should it come up. If you tell me, you won’t be matched with their characters at any point. I also understand if we wind up with two people playing the same canon characters that don’t want a mirror match.
You may also have your characters be matched with each other! If this happens it’s encouraged to use this to practice writing fight scenes solo and control the tempo on both sides. If you aren’t interested in this, tell me and I’ll make sure you don’t get that result either.
THE FIGHTS!
The first set of rounds will be shown off on Monday. When that happens, contact your writing partner and get to planning!
REMINDER: All characters are to be considered on even footing for this tournament. No insisting that someone would win/lose purely because of one being “obviously stronger” than the other. Try to plan this out from a storytelling standpoint. The actual winner of the fight is inconsequential- getting better at writing fight scenes and making new friends is.
If you and your writing partner don’t wind up getting along, that’s okay! Let me know and I’ll keep that in mind for the next set of matches. However, keep it respectful! If things get into actual arguments or personal spats and I catch wind, I reserve the right to remove someone from the tournament.
A major tip for writing fight scenes: Always determine the winner before even starting the scene and then use the rest of your space for the sweet action moments and choreography. Hello Future Me recently uploaded a series of writing guides on writing fight scenes and I highly recommend you check them out!
As a courtesy for everyone else, I ask that you prioritize these threads if possible. There’s no time limits or anything like that, but the second round doesn’t start until the first is done.
Unofficial matches are absolutely okay! If two characters want to face off and aren’t part of the main bracket, they can do so for fun! I want to encourage more connections and practice after all!
Lastly, this event is as canon as you want it to be. If it otherwise doesn’t make sense for your characters to do this or have it be canon, it’s not. If you want it to be for future threads with you and other characters, you’re free to do so!
Any questions? Please let me know! Tyrael will announce the Bracket on Monday. Have fun and remember what we’re all fighting for!
