Familiar Faces [Arc and I, Private]

Brandi took a moment to just breath before rolling onto her back. "Be fine in a minute..." She replied, sounding a bit weak. When she caught her breath she sat up and looked at Lyra. "I couldn't keep up... but it was more than that... Her hits weren't normal... They were hittin' my guts... S'that soul menace?" She asked in a very defeated tone. Her eyes moved back to Kyoko, now holding her stomach.

"Think so," Kyoko said, going from crouching to kneeling beside Brandi. A fight is a fight, and a plan is a plan, but she still didn't feel quite right about the fact that she was the reason that Brandi had to get hurt like that. She looked towards Lyra, who seemed to have recovered and was sitting there looking towards the two of them.

"That's a soul menace, yeah. Short of it is that you drive your soul wavelength into someone or something, and that impacts way harder than a normal punch. It's one of the few things that can hurt a transformed weapon, too," Lyra explained, happy enough to provide a little of her knowledge. 

"It isn't the only reason y'got pummelled, but it sure made the fight a damn sight shorter, huh?" Gyles said, crouching down and then sitting beside Lyra. He pulled a slightly bent cigarette out of his shirt pocket, reaching inside his jacket to do so. Placing it between his lips, he made no move to actually light it. "Betcha heard this one a hundred times and ignored it every one, but, Lyra takes it to heart: 'A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body...'" he paused, wiggling the cigarette as he thought back to the fight. "If y'don't think 'bout what you're doin', it doesn't matter a lick how strong your body is. If you're nothin' but brains, then your body can't keep up. The sorta control Lyra as over her soul comes with diligence and trainin' both. She understands what she's doin' and her body is strong enough to handle it. She started training herself when she was ten. What've you been doing?"

Brandi sighed. "Fightin', mostly. I don't get the whole trainin' your brain and soul stuff. It was hard enough to figure out how to use a weapon..." She rubbed her side and shakily stood. "Never really been good at the whole thinkin' thing either... Math, history, english... shit's hard." She added, dusting herself off.

"I'm not tellin' you to become a genius. Academics are important. You should pay attention in class, but that's just general.  What I'm tryin' to say, is that winnin' a street fight ain't like a fight with a Kishin that's been gorgin' themselves, and a fight with a Kishin egg like that is nothin' like a fight with a magic-user. Trainin' your body is not enough. You've got to train your skills, and hone and learn techniques like that menace or soul perception. It's not possible for some, but trying is always good," Gyles continued to talk and both Lyra and Kyoko listened, though the latter also stood up along with Brandi. "Of course, the lessons the Academy gives EAT students help with all of that. Pay attention some more, and skip less."

Brandi groaned and leaned on Kyoko a bit. "You're gunna make me use my brain and stuff..." She griped, rubbing her stomach a bit. Really, though, if it was in the name of kicking ass that was fine with her. She didn't like it, but she couldn't deny that she hadn't made any progress in awhile. Maybe she had hit a peak a needed to do something different to get any stronger.

Kyoko put an arm around Brandi, happy enough to be a support for her injured friend. 

"It's there to be used, so use it," Gyles said as he stood up. He then helped Lyra up, and started walking off. "If that's all y'needed from me, then I'm goin'. Seems like Kyoko's a good enough influence on you, like I thought she would be, so that's all I'm goin' to have to do with you for a while."

Lyra smiled at the two girls in front of her. "I need to get back to class. Ah... You should probably go to the infirmary or something, just in case, though!" she said, as she turned around to leave as well.

Brandi waited for them to walk away before groaning. "Guess I gotta listen to class now... Anyway, I gotta go get looked at... Wanna come with?" She asked, hoping that Kyoko wouldn't mind being a crutch until they got there. Climbing those stairs would be a real challenge on her own while this sore.

"Looks like I have to come with, to me," Kyoko said, worry audible in her tone as she quickly looked between the places that she saw Brandi get hit with the menace. At least the one to her leg was safe enough not to worry about... With that done, she let Brandi go for a moment to get herself situated properly underneath her arm so as to support as much of her weight as possible while placing her own around her friend for stability. She was even hunched a little, since she was a bit taller. "You'll have to let me know where you need to be going, though. I've got no clue where the infirmary is..."

Brandi leaned against her new partner, pointing with her free hand towards the school. "I'll show you the way once we're in the school. They should get me set and I should be fine in a few days... Prolly." She responded, sounding perhaps a bit strained. This crippling defeat would not go unnoticed by the reckless girl. She would get stronger so she could deal with people like that in the future. She had to get stronger. Putting Kyoko on the front line with her wasn't a risk to be taken lightly. After finally regaining something comforting like this, she had to be sure in her ability to keep it. This was more thought than she had given anything in awhile.

"Mmm," Kyoko nodded as she agreed, and started making her way towards the school. This whole exercise, as necessary as she thought it was, made her feel rather guilty in the end. After a short while, she spoke up. "Hey... I'm sorry I had you do that. Just, some the things we talked about... I couldn't think of a better way to explain to you," she spoke rather softly, as she looked sideways over her injured friend. "And I know I couldn't beat you myself, either, even if I tried. I need to learn a thing or too, as well, I think."

Brandi seemed to come back to reality as her friend apologized, then gave a sigh. "Nah... I get it. I can get in my own head sometimes. When you got skills like mine, it's easy to get lost in 'em... 'Sides, been awhile since I got my ass beat. Was kinda nice." Brandi assured her as they walked. She gave a little smirk, despite the soreness. "We'll do some trainin', and you can read some stuff to me about that sparky palm bullshit that knocked the wind out of me. I gotta get used to usin' a chainsaw anyways."

"You can read it yourself..." Kyoko said, sighing, and fighting the urge to actually make sure that she could in fact read it herself. She was glad, at least, that Brandi was fine with getting kicked around a bit. It wouldn't do either of them any favours if something like this made them fall out in any way. It'd have made the exercise moot. "But, yes. My weapon form is a bit unusual... I think it kind of suits you, though. I'm glad about that."

Brandi gave a kicked puppy look. "Readin' big books like those takes me... A lot of time. I just ain't good with 'em." Brandi replies, lost in thought. It was certainly true that the weapon form suited her. She tended to prefer taking opponents head on, so a tiny weapon like a knife would have been really hard on her. Complex weapons like chain scythes or sword breakers looked cool, but were too much thinking for her. Something big and straightforward was definitely ideal for her. Besides, there was probably some cool stuff she could learn to do when she got good with the chainsaw. She was already getting some ideas. "Speakin' of, I got some ideas about that for another time." She added.

"I can help you, but I'm not reading it for you," Kyoko added, partially because that was what she was thinking in the first place, but equally as much because Brandi just had to go and make a face like that. She was curious to hear that Brandi had some ideas, too. She turned her head away from where they were going to raise an eyebrow at her meister. "Hmm?" she queried. It was momentary, though. Brandi did say 'another time' so Kyoko wasn't going to expect an answer.

Brandi gave a grin in response to the eyebrow, but kept her ideas in her back pocket. "Deal. If it'll help me stomp people I'll learn whatever you want." She replied, glancing towards the school as they arrived at the steps. "Aw man... This is gunna suck." She added, her grin fading.

"I like to think of it as helping you not get stomped, but that's what I want to be hearing," Kyoko said, flashing Brandi a brief grin of her own. "And I'm sure I can find a way to make it fun for you, so don't start getting negative before you've even started, alright?"