2014-06-23 - Testing One's Resolve

The night has been long, and so has the second one, even the third. Though it is into the third that Talia arrives, with water and bread. A simple meal, but water is what Kasumi most needs. The cage is lowered and clunks on the wooden table. she then offers the items to you through the bars. Talia al Ghul says nothing right now, just giving a silent offering.

Kasumi, in the cage, has looked better. She wakes when the cage is lowered and takes the water with shaking hands that don't need to be faked; she's pretty messed up. She drinks the water over cracked lips with admirable restraint so she won't throw it back up, and eats the simple bread. She licks the last of the water off of her lips and eyes Talia al Ghul through her bars, mumbling something that sounds vaguely like thanks.

"Sparing your life has placed quite a fight on my hands. I hope you will prove reasonable. I heard your name was Kasumi, why don't you tell me why you decided to target The House?" A typical name for Roulette's fight clubs.

Obviously deciding that the water she's received is all that she's likely to get, possibly in this lifetime, Kasumi sits cross-legged and places her glass down. She straightens her back as well as she can, luckily she's quite short. A cough, and she licks her lips and speaks. "I'm going to assume you saw every second I was in the building, I'd be rather stupid to pretend innocence right now. Money, I'd never have touched the place if I'd known how dangerous it was. Poor research on my part, I expected to get a decent hit off the betting and find something useful in the back I might be able to sell. This is what I do. I'm assuming you'll be killing me soon?" She's had plenty of time to rehearse this speech in her head; it comes out fairly smoothly, and her rough voice sounds perfectly natural with the lack of water for days.

"You usually take katana's on your thievery trips?" Talia doesn't sound so convinced. She mmms softly, "And it depends how useful you are to if you will be killed. I see potential, so I am sparing you," she advises. "The point is, will you prove your potential and worth?" Talia's eyes narrow at Kasumi. "Your fighting skills are sorely lacking, but your ability to move, it reflects skill that takes years of training and talent. Who was your mentor?"

Kasumi 's eyes flicker to the empty water glass. Just a flicker, but she doesn't ask for more in any other way and knows she's unlikely to get more regardless. "Yes. I always take a katana on my thievery trips. I'm better with a katana than with my hands. But you can't take a katana out in this skirt and not have it noticed, so I stash it in case it's needed. I got some teaching from a cat, the rest is all me." She looks Talia in the eyes, not even lying. That was actually the truth. "You could just have me arrested."

"Yes, because having someone arrested for stealing from a illegal organization is so efficient. In either case, my organization handles their own...security." But Talia does slip fingers in to snatch the glass and takes her leave.

It is only a few short minutes later though, before Talia returns with another glass of water and Kasumi's katana. The water is slipped between the bars, and she then places the katana down upon the dining room table. "Then it is time to stretch your muscles, and show me what you can do child. This will decide your fate," and she taps the katana sword.

Kasumi would be weakened from the lack of food and water, and being cramped in that small space for days. She would be at a great disadvantage, but it will also reflect the steel of her will and level of her training to push her at this point.

Kasumi takes the water, sniffing it subtly before drinking half of it back. She pours a little onto her hands, rubbing the precious liquid into there to help her fingers unstiffen, not letting Talia know that she's kept herself quite amply limber all this time with inner-body exercises. She has better control over her body than anyone should have, bordering on the supernatural, and is actually in far better shape than she really should be right now. Looks like ass though. She holds her hand out for the katana quietly.

The cage door is opened and Talia actually first reaches for Kasumi to help her out, her touch surprisingly gentle and consider rather than handing the katana over immediately. She leaves the katana on the table, "Prepare yourself, then step into the ballroom."

Kasumi would notice moving shadows from nearby ninjas. There would be no escape without making a mess of things, and drawing Talia's attention even more.

Talia moves through an open archway as the double doors are pulled wide, and exits into the ballroom as she waits the girl with her katana. Her movements are that of a predator, a sharp contrast to the gentleness she showed earlier and the lack of disgust in touching Kasumi.

Kasumi eyes the ninjas, concealing her normal all-purpose loathing of the breed. Overall she's never liked ninjas. Clumsy, poorly-trained amateurs overall, an embarrassment to their teachers. The fact that she's surrounded by them makes her angrier than her actual entrapment did; the ninjas didn't catch her, after all. Talia did.

The girl takes the katana and takes several passes through the air, 'limbering' her body until she's certain that she'd be reasonably capable, then she walks out through the door into whatever this ballroom is. She has a slight limp on her right side which she hides poorly from when she fell onto that leg in the arena. Apparently a weak point.

...of course, she's shaking inside, wondering if she has enough control to pull this off. She's the weakest she's ever been in her life right now, has no defense against incoming attacks, and can't tell what people are going to do. She's really very worried she might slice someone's head off with this thing!

There is no such concern in Talia's eyes. She has full confidence, a katana also held within her hand with years of ease and comfort. She raises an eyebrow at Kasumi. "You should work to hide your weakness from others," she critiques. "Luckily, my goal is not to kill you, unless you are completely and utterly disappointing. I suspect you are not however," a disappointment that is. Talia then lets out a soft breath. "It has been a while since I have tested someone, most are unworthy of my interest. Not since my Jaybird and my Little Wing."

Talia then slips into a fighting stance. "We shall begin child." And she attacks!

Talia's movements are smooth and vicious, but they are not aimed to kill. They are aimed to injury if they are not properly guarded, and she is moving a bit slower than she normally would for an equal.

And Talia very likely doesn't expect the freed baby bird's first move. Kasumi steps right squarely into the path of the first incoming strike, her eyes absolutely and completely free of any fear of being struck. She looks for all the world as if she either has no idea that the strike is coming, which is utterly impossible, or that she's using a sacrifice play to START!

The katana held by Kasumi sweeps up and across, slicing with absolutely precise movements that scream decades of training in Iaido, the drawing strike that is so very hard to defend against even if you know that it's coming. Her move is invisible until she's close enough to get hit herself, and then slices at an unpredictable angle across Talia's body forcing Talia to retreat or lose an arm.

And Kasumi never once blinked at the strikes coming her way, an unfakeable courage against incoming strikes that actually comes of her being completely unaware of them coming at her. But who'd guess that was the real cause?

Talia does draw back, her body twisting as she leaps back with years of practiced ease and her father's vicious training. Her eyes narrow. "Interesting..." She no longer restrains her speed as she moves to fient to Kasumi's right, and instead the sword twists to head downward to slice at Kasumi's right leg instead of her upper arm.

Kasumi is unable to defend against the increased speed strike, taking the hit as hard and as damaging as Talia chooses to make it on her right leg. She grits her teeth and narrows her eyes, ignoring the blood and the slash which, of course, was kept low-damage by the high skill of Talia. Talia however would note: Kasumi's eyes never once leave the target, not for an instant. And she says, "Now left, I like to match," as she raises her katana high for a downward slash that's slightly slower but no less vicious, stumbling slightly as her leg fails her.

Talia moves to smoothly deflect the blade, the sound of steel against steel heard. She mmms quietly. She is almost done her judgement, but still, she says, "What binds you child? Let it go if anything binds you, and swear allegiance to me. I will move you to greater heights than you have ever dreamed of."

Talia is moving again, this time only pausing in her attack briefly to give Kasumi the briefest time to recover before she moves to attack again, but this time attacking toward the wrist in a feint, as she plans to twist the blades and disarm the girl.

The 'child' has her blade deflected, cursing inwardly at what must be coming, she knows that she's open to some kind of strike and has had time to work out what must, logically, be the next move. She actually closes her eyes at the end, since her eyes aren't doing her any good anymore, and makes a guess.

Kasumi actually manages to flip her katana around in her hands, reversing her grip, with a move to tap it against Talia's arm with her eyes closed, a move that would likely have Talia guessing. It's not enough though, and Talia's skilled disarm leaves Kasumi's blade clanging on the ground several feet away, skidding to a stop against a wall.

"Again."

And Talia? She chuckles. "You are a sweet one, I like you," she states simply. "Pick up your blade." She moves to slip her own blade away. "I will give you two days time to consider my offer Kasumi. I suggest you think upon it carefully. In the meantime, I don't think you need that bird's cage anymore. Let us get you bandaged." A mixture of cruelity with kindess...it can make most anyone's head spin with confusion.

Kasumi picks up her blade and shakes it off; a habit picked up by purely classical Japanese students. She slides it along her left arm, down to her hand, and slips the blade into the carp's mouth (the opening of the sheath). Clicks it into place and lets it hang in classical style, which is also the most dangerous position for an Iaido user. But she removes her hand from the handle wisely, as the offer is likely contingent on NOT attacking Talia from behind. She takes her first unhindered breath in days and waits. She talks when necessary, is quiet when talking is not needed. And doesn't want to ruin a good thing.

"Come," Talia states, and she heads the way out of the large ballroom which appeared empty beyond some weapons hanging on the walls. She carries her own sword as she heads for the kitchen of all places. It is an old manor house, old money, but the place appears to have been abandoned for a few years. Talia moves to open a cupboard and actually pulls out a heavy-duty first aid kit. "Sit upon the counter," she advises.

Kasumi bleeds on the counter a bit as she sits, pressing her hand to her wound. She says, "Medical plan, nice," with a bit of chagrin appearing on her face. FINALLY. "Teach me that move," she almost demands, her hands shaking from the encounter. "....please," is added afterward, coming across as almost like she's accepting Talia's superiority finally. Her body language is a bit askew, something a bit off, but her voice at least suggests she's still a student at heart and has some respect for what the woman could teach her. If her voice wasn't so torn up from days without water.

"This disarm? It is watching your body language and a matter of the wrist. You swear loyalty to me, I will teach you that and more." Talia actually starts to clean and bandage the leg wound first as it is deepest, taking careful care of it as someone that has handled wounds for their entire lives. She is careful of the wound, again, surprisingly gentle. "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself child?"

"I don't like talking," Kasumi says with brutal honesty that hints of a very strong reason. She doesn't block the pain of her wound. She lifts her chin, showing a scar across her throat that's years old. "Family taught me to keep quiet. I taught myself to hide." She closes her eyes, remembering things that are hidden inside those pale eyelids. "I stole the catsuit from Wildcat by the way...please don't have it destroyed..."

An arch of Talia's eyebrow, "Oh? Jaybird seems fond of that old man." Not surprising for her to know this when she knows Batman's secret identity. "Your things are in storage right now, they will not be harmed." She finishes the bandaging and then rises up straight to pull out some stuff for your lips to clean them and help moisturize them to help heal the cracking. "You can have some more water now and more a sandwich this time." She also hands some cream to Kasumi, "This will help your muscles heal from your fall."

Talia then moves to get stuff to make a sandwich after getting another glass of water for Kasumi. "One of my ninja will show you to your new quarters once you are finished eating," she advises. "You can rest there in comfort."

Kasumi stifles her annoyance at being led around by a ninja and assumes it'll be taken as reticence on other reasons. She goes where she's told, fully aware that she's being watched just as much now as she was on the giant television screen, and tries not to get killed.