Polished to Gleaming Perfection [Action/Open]

[gunbladegrrl]

[She usually did this sort of thing in her room, but... well, at this point, isn't she the only person left in Garden who uses gunblades? She has a proud legacy to uphold, a duty and an honor.]

[So today, the polyspecialist SeeD has camped out in the quad, with her weapons case open next to her. One of her gunblades still sits in it, as picture-perfect as anyone could ask; the other is lying in front of her in pieces, as she carefully examines and cleans each part of the revolver mechanism. She may be concentrating on her work, but not to the exclusion of the world around her -- there's something open about her, that encourages questions.]

Comments

[fisheyes]

[But why use gunblades when you can wave a wooden stick around, instead? They need far less cleaning, too.]

Oh, if it isn't Giggles. [Gintoki squats down, peering at the gunblade still in its case.] Man, someone really couldn't make up their mind, huh?

[gunbladegrrl]

Don't call me that, I outrank you and I have weapons in easy reach. [She swings a hand at him, though the swat is about three feet from connecting.]

It's a gunblade. As near as I can tell, this particular form of weapon hasn't ever been developed on another world. At least not one that has had people come here from it.

[fisheyes]

And you have really bad depth perception too, aa?

[That's one of the weirdest weapons he's ever seen. Seriously. And he's seen a lot of ugly-ass weaponry before.]

What's so bad about carrying a sword and a gun? You can't stab and shoot someone at the same time with this, can you?

[gunbladegrrl]

Gunblades actually came into existence as a power weapon for infantry around the same time as refined gun technology was really taking off. Guns proved easier to use and required less training time, besides the obvious advantage of range, so they generally grew to a dominant role, whereas the gunblade is an extremely technical weapon and difficult to master, so for personal combat regular blades end up preferred. So in that respect it's a dead-end in weapons technology, but...

[She casually fits the grip back onto the blade, demonstrating that there is no firing barrel whatsoever.]

With the proper training, it is a massively powerful weapon. Particularly for a SeeD.

[fisheyes]

[Blah, blah, blah, history lesson, whatever.

The last line is enough to wipe the bored expression off his face and make him raise an eyebrow, though.]

How powerful, exactly?

[Gintoki's curiosity helped help but be a little piqued by that.]

[gunbladegrrl]

Imagine hitting someone with a blade that explodes.

Repeatedly.

[fisheyes]

[... He kind of wants some of that.]

Oi. Don't try to tempt me with your wizardry, wench. Gin-san has +1 to resist.

[Screw 'half gun, half sword'. He wants 'half gun, half bomb'. And he can think of someone back home who'd want it too. Almost as good as somehow managing a bankai!]

[gunbladegrrl]

You wouldn't want these models, I don't think. You strike me as preferring the Revolver class. Two-handed models designed for power.

[fisheyes]

[Is there a newsletter he can subscribe to?]

Two-handed...?

[WHAT IS THIS FASCINATING DEVILTRY?]

Like hell! I'm not that easy! Don't expect me to cheat on Lake Touya with something that can't make up its mind whether to shoot or stab!

[Yes, his bokuto has 'Lake Touya' engraved on it. It's a fantastic name, shut up.]

[gunbladegrrl]

[Yes. Weapons Monthly. Maria has ten years of back issues in her closet. No joke.]

No shooting involved. Pulling the trigger sends a shockwave down the blade.

That being said, Instructor Farron had a model that transformed between gun and sword, but that was from her world, and not the same in any way except the name.

[fisheyes]

[If you find Gintoki in your closet later - he's probably not being a perv. Probably.]

... I'm not interested. I don't get interested in that kind of thing. It's old-school all the way for Gin-san.

[His fingers may be edging in the direction of the gunblade, before he regains control and pulls them back.]

A-ah - Make that a +2 to resist. What kind of a man do you think I am, huh?! ... I'll give you 5 gil for it.

[gunbladegrrl]

Oh no. No one gets my gunblades.

[She's pleasant enough about the statement, but make no mistake, there's an underlying promise of absolutely doom in her voice.]

But they're covered very briefly in WTR101, and even more so in the advanced electives, if you're really curious.

[fisheyes]

[But he wants to swing it around. :(

It takes more than that to intimidate Gintoki, but he's got better things to do than attempt to steal someone's weapons anyway. Bah.]

Eh, I'm taking that already. Might drop dead of boredom if it keeps on like it is.

[Screw his original plan of 'lie low' - standing around and listening to the basics might well force him to snap and kill half the class.]

Wanna show me how well a gunblade works in a real fight?

[curiouseyes]

[And Koriand'r is out in the quad. She was looking for something to do to take a break from studying. Spotting someone she had spoken to before, she immediately headed over to see what she was doing]

Hello.

[She looks at what she was cleaning. It wasn't something she had ever seen before]

[gunbladegrrl]

Good afternoon.

[Maria flashes a bright smile to the other girl.]

[curiouseyes]

What are these? They don't look quite like anything I've seen before.

[Yes, they looked kind of like swords, but the handle was all wrong]

[gunbladegrrl]

[Yay! Her idea has worked exactly as she hoped it would!]

These are gunblades. They're a weapon that seems to be unique to this world, and they're a little something of a Garden legacy.

[curiouseyes]

Gunblades... They are interesting, nothing that I've seen. I've never really fought with firearms before. Blades yes.

[gunbladegrrl]

They're not firearms, actually. [She joins the grip of the one she's cleaning to the blade, demonstrating that the two merge without any barrel for a bullet.] They're bladed weapons designed for high-power. They were originally developed as the next step in close-combat weapons, but they required too much training compared to actual firearms.

[curiouseyes]

[Koriand'r looks it over when she puts it back together] That's very interesting. I'd like to see how they work at some point.

[gunbladegrrl]

That's handy, because I enjoy showing them off. Sometimes I think they're the only thing that makes us at all special compared to all the amazing things people from other worlds can do.

[She grins as she begins tightening the screws that hold it all together.]

[curiouseyes]

It might be. As far as I know these don't exist where I am from.

[And she is waiting patiently. She wants to see how it works. For a girl who dresses as nice as she does, she has such a fascination with weapons and fighting techniques]

[gunbladegrrl]

Well, are you capable of and able to go in the Training Center, yet? Ordinarily I'd insist on at least being able to Junction, but if you can handle it without that, a live demonstration is best.

[curiouseyes]

I am perfectly capable with the training center. I've wanted to do some of the more difficult missions there.

[Too bad she teeeeechnically needed an escort just in case]

[gunbladegrrl]

[For good cause! T-Rexuars are rough! Deliberately fighting one is no small task!]

It'd be hypocritical of me to insist anyone who went in there know how to Junction. [She holds up her gunblade, examining it to make sure it passes visual inspection.] Well, if you ever want to go after one of those missions...