Re: Thou Art a Knight (Astarte) GM'd by Hafnium
It came as a relief to Lyra that no other interruptions popped up along the way to the training grounds, finally allowing her to get something done in peace. Setting what she was carrying aside, Lyra walked out a few metres from where she'd left her things and began her practise. She began with a familiar routine, the last one she'd performed, to re-accustom herself with the lighter weight of both the sword and clothing. Her armour wasn't as heavy as steel plate would have been, but it still had a fairly significant weight, and restricted movement a little. It was designed for her fighting style, so it was flexible, but it still provided some resistance to certain movements. Little that would affect her ability to fight, but it did limit her range of movement a little in her dances.
Being free of those restraints was somewhat liberating, she had to admit, and she gradually began to work it into her dance as well. She didn't think something like this was appropriate for ever performance—She still preferred to keep the image of a knight—but it wouldn't be bad to do something like this on occasion. The enchantments were nice as well. She couldn't tell exactly what they looked like to an observer, but she was fairly certain that it was a nice effect. The dance she was working on incorporated a lot more twirling and exaggerated movement than her usual performances, but that was the best way to make the most of the enchantments' effects.
Lyra's usual dances were much like mock battles, but choreographed to flow smoothly and gracefully. Her belief was that swordsmanship itself was an art worthy of admiration, and while she could certainly appreciate ordinary dancing, she did her best to mix the two arts in a way that stayed true to both. She was compromising a little on the swordsmanship side this time, but sometimes that was necessary for the sake of the performance. The style was still the same as her usual, but her focus was on constant motion, to keep the enchantments active the entire time. It was rather disorienting to get used to those at first, but after the first hour or so she had grown accustomed to the extra distraction.
Several observers stopped by to watch, but Lyra paid them little mind so long as they only watched quietly and didn't disturb her. Several hours after she had begun, once she was free of observers for a time, Lyra finally took a break, sheathing her sword and taking a short walk over to the edge of the water. Kneeling down and splashing a little water onto her face, Lyra stared down at her reflection once the water calmed again. She'd had an idea or two about what else she could do to prepare for the performance, and this seemed as good a time as any to try it out. Concentrating on her hair, Lyra first shifted the colour. It remained her normal red at the base, but gradually grew lighter, and took on an orange tint, before eventually becoming pure white at the tips, which hovered only a couple of centimetres above the ground when she stood. She turned around to the to get a good look at the effect in the water, nodding in satisfaction before moving on to the second step. After a few moments of further concentration, the tips of her hair began to glow, mimicking the glow of her sword and clothes. It wouldn't have the same effect, but she thought it would be a nice accompanying effect. Twirling once in place to get a view of it in motion, Lyra was satisfied with the result.
With that done, she returned to her practise, refining the dance she was planning for that night. All of her sword dances tended to be mock battles against phantom opponents, and this was no different. Instead of a single opponent, she modelled this one around the idea of fighting alone amidst a horde of enemies, constantly changing from one angle to another to facilitate the constant movement required for the enchantments to trigger. It was fast-paced, and incorporated many more spins and kicks than she usually made use of, but she was happy with her progress.
When Abla showed up, Lyra didn't react to her at all at first, finishing her current routine before lowering the sword to her side and turning to face the blacksmith. "Yes. I was planning for tonight, after dark." Lyra answered, taking the opportunity to catch her breath and take a short break. "That seemed like the best time to show off these enchantments. I think I'm nearly ready. Took a bit of getting used to, but this all certainly lets me do some unique things." She motioned to the sword and clothes in general as she approached, before taking a seat next to Abla.