[This time, at least, he sees it coming - diminished though his faculties may be, it would be plain embarrassing to fall for the same trick twice - and a dark mist (the reddish-black of an aging bruise) coalesces around him almost before the bowstring is pulled taut, though here it resolves into neither shield nor dome. Instead, his own form shimmers, and seems to mingle with it - the arrow passing through it as if through smoke - and the entire cloud lurches a couple of feet forwards before reforming.
- and there's a beat, after he reforms, where he seems almost as surprised by this as she likely must be; as he'd told Ciel at the party, he has had little chance to truly test what he's capable of (and there is no substitute for a real battle, in that regard) so he is grateful to this Jinba for that, at least -
The trees are an issue - a blade such as his requires ample room to truly sing - but he will not catch her on foot in his current condition. Another lurch forwards, then, this time aiming to reform between her and the treeline. A risky move, perhaps - the kind that might well see him trampled - but life without a little risk is exactly the kind of beige this place wants him to surrender to, isn't it?]
no subject
- and there's a beat, after he reforms, where he seems almost as surprised by this as she likely must be; as he'd told Ciel at the party, he has had little chance to truly test what he's capable of (and there is no substitute for a real battle, in that regard) so he is grateful to this Jinba for that, at least -
The trees are an issue - a blade such as his requires ample room to truly sing - but he will not catch her on foot in his current condition. Another lurch forwards, then, this time aiming to reform between her and the treeline. A risky move, perhaps - the kind that might well see him trampled - but life without a little risk is exactly the kind of beige this place wants him to surrender to, isn't it?]