[b]Yellow! (and friends)[/b]

"Yeah, I know what you--"

Euna cuts herself off with a jolt. Her teeth clench and her hands reach for her hair, but when they pass through empty air she sniffs and adjusts her eyepatch instead. The impulse to try and relate via superficially similar circumstances is powerful enough within her that it's often out of her mouth before the speed of thought. But usually she's wrong, and in ways that matter. 

She shakes her head. Thought banished. Business mode. Business. She can't disappoint such a spirited request, and especially not from one of her best and most interesting students! One, two, three, nod! And smile, just like she practiced. After all, she's trained for this too.

"Right, yeah. Fight music? Lemme... oh! No yeah yeah yeah, I have the perfect thing. You're gonna... oh, maybe you still don't know. Here, I'll set the scene. So. [i]Burn, My Sword[/i] right? Arguably one of the five greatest films ever produced by humanity. I think, anyway. But yeah, the protagonist of that movie, she's been dying from a then-incurable disease since before the story even starts. And after an hour and a half of action and drama, her team betrays her! She's wound up on the losing side of a war and now they're betraying their principles to secure their future and she won't compromise, so she's been cut off into the squad marked for death!

She's already coughing up blood here, she's got nothing left in all the world, but what makes the moment so beautiful is that she doesn't give up. She's surrounded by a hundred swordsman down on one knee, but she still draws her blade. There's somebody she promised to meet, see? And she always-- anyway. This is the music that plays during that battle scene. One against a hundred, body giving up, and sister they do [i]not[/i] skimp on the details. No slash is implied, the camera pans in just this.... mmmmph! When I think of fights, I, I just. I want you to be able to picture it. You and Cinders both, try to match that energy while you're sparring. Today's lesson is in understanding this music, and what I just told you about the type of fight it represents."

She walks over to a table where she can turn the gym's sound system on. Her face is lit up like christmas all of a sudden, like none of the other things that have gone wrong today matter anymore.

"Your goal is not to win. [i]Impress me.[/i] Whoever does the best job of that gets to fight with me next. Runner up has to learn by watching, instead."

She pushes a button, and old speakers crackle to life. A wooden flute warbles its way to life instantly, all alone in the word of music for the span of an extended cry like a bird singing to the morning sun. Various electronica notes fill underneath it, swelling wider and larger as an imagined camera zooms wider to catch a greater and greater number of drawn swords and flowing jackets (picture it, remember?).

At the crescendo, electric guitar fills the main melody, quick and heavy but steady. The grinding background of a melody. The flute drifts away and a woman's voice rises up to replace it. She sings without words, a powerful cry that evokes a world long since left behind for brighter prospects. It's as defiant as it is beautiful, and when the flute rises up to greet her the pair of them dance in battle harmony. It's frenetic and traditional, sometimes the old world notes quiet down and let the more modern instrumentation take over and thrash around like a constantly turning tide, but it always returns to that woman's voice with the ferocity of a wolf.

Cinders, for her part, is burning with determination. She's failed her mentor twice tonight and revealed her terrible disaster lesbian secrets to a rival. She's not going down without trying something big, but she's also not about to be the one to make the first move, especially with that weird velociraptor trick you've got going on. She knows to be cautious, and she knows to focus on agility. That's why her hands are raised to face level in a power boxer's stance, with her legs pulled in tight to make her targettable space as small as possible.

She's going to be relying on footwork. She'll need to step into blows to create any threat, but with her profile the way it is it's very easy for her to focus on turning, pivoting, or sliding backwards if she thinks the situation calls for it. She's trying to be shield and sword at the same time, or at least a sword inside of a shield. There's still a color to her cheeks that says she's wondering if losing wouldn't maybe lead to a fantasy or twelve coming to life and oh god please Cinders you can't presume like that you'd never have a chance with super hotties to begin with! Focus focus [i]focus![/i]

So that's her and her plan. Euna's jumped up onto her table and is sitting on the edge of it hunched over like a gargoyle. Her eye is laser focused on what she expects to be the battle area, and her lips are pulled tight in concentration. Rest assured, she isn't going to miss a single detail. So what's your play, Nova? How have you come prepared for a fight today?