citynet | video » text

[ the video comes first!

heine films from where he's sitting on top of a mailbox on a street corner. it's a slow pan across an empty intersection just northeast of the bank—the bank building itself is visible, as a landmark for where he is, but he also makes a point of filming as much down each street as he can manage. master film director heine is not, but at least he manages to pick out a few identifying storefronts so people can triangulate themselves!

there's no talking, or really any sound at all (which for heine is still one of the worst parts of this place). once he's filmed enough that he thinks the location has been conveyed, the video cuts off.

when he uploads it, it's with a text accompaniment: ]

let me get this out of the way first: i'm not trying to die
and i also don't want to kill anyone [ today, anyway! ]

but if you're also here without the weapons you're used to
don't want to get stuck with your thumb up your ass if shit goes wrong
and think you could use a good fight to keep your skills sharp

then hopefully you can figure out from the video where to go
if you can't then [ he is judging you slightly ] ask for directions

rules:
1) i have knives but if you want to use something else that's on you
2) no sparring bullshit, we fight like we mean it
3) i'll go easy if you need but don't ask me to teach you

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ the tone of the question is definitely cheeky, a little pointed, and heine grins slow in response.

—he's not much of a smiler, by nature; badou had once said that heine's smile almost always means someone is about to have a bad day. ichigo probably isn't about to have a bad day, but the smile nonetheless means something similar: a promise that he's definitely not going to go easy.

like recognizes like, here. ]

"Until we're done" is better. [ "first blood" was just a concession to the people who are a little more, say, fragile than heine is. if ichigo doesn't think he needs it, then far be it from heine to put on the kid gloves.

he still has no real idea what karate entails, but it seems like ichigo knows what he's signed up for. as such—heine has been judging the distance between them, and once ichigo is just close enough for him to make the jump, heine launches himself toward ichigo, leaving dents in the mailbox in his wake.

let's get this party started, shall we?

(fyi, totally fine with any punches ichigo lands/physical manhandling/flinging into buildings! blanket permissions for everything except death atp lmao) ]

（ any illusions he'd possessed about keeping this a Just Guys Being Guys fight are instantly thrown out the window. heine's fast — it's no shunpo, but it's more than just well-trained human. he's spent too long fighting for his life to really be caught off-guard by it, but it's surprising just the same — his weight shifts onto his back foot, braced for the impact.

he has a split second to decide what to do. if there are already people running around with powers, and no way to open a senkaimon — it's not like old man shunsui can roll up on him with a reprimand. he has a hard time thinking even a stickler for the rules like byakuya would be much offended by breaking decorum here. being normal, protecting his own identity, his abilities... in the end, that neither serves nor saves anything but him here.

and frankly — that's just not how he's built.

ichigo doesn't really want to hurt the guy without knowing exactly what he can take — so his first forays lean more defensive. heine throws out a blow and ichigo moves a bit, lets it connect against his shoulder. gauging the strength and technique with the canvas of his own tolerance. the impact has a gravity to it, a sense of heaviness behind it — and somehow he doesn't think it's his full strength, either. the first steps of a fight are always a little more like a dance, feeling each other out. if this were serious, or done for anything but the alleviation of boredom and the chance to keep up on necessary survival skills, he'd suspect otherwise. but the guy seemed pretty aligned with ichigo's own desire not to do any permanent, lasting damage to anyone who can't take or doesn't deserve it.

rather than trade blows, ichigo closes his hand around the man's wrist and drops one shoulder for leverage, aiming to fling him back down the street. it's less intended to harm and more to gain a brief distance so he can say — ）

I hear property damage gets people handcuffed. We might wanna cool it on the mailbox massacre.

（ you know, or not. ）

[ the first thing is, heine was right—ichigo knows how to handle himself in a fight. it's clear from jump, literally, in the way he brings his arms up to defend his core, how his body shifts into and away from heine's offensive. it's a challenge to even get a punch to land, with ichigo moving as quickly as he does, except the ones that ichigo allows to make for a better stance or a cleaner angle.

this isn't how heine's fights normally go. back home they're over before they begin, even when firearms are involved—the number of people living who could best heine in a fair fight can be counted on one hand. so this, the feeling of—of being more evenly matched, sensing that same strength and same restraint in the way ichigo moves is... refreshing?

(a voice in the back of heine's head mutters, you're enjoying this a lot, aren't you?)

heine doesn't see the throw coming until it's too late to pull out of it, but he knows how to roll into it. he takes the cement burn to the shoulder and uses one gloved hand as a fulcrum to hoist himself out of the skid. when he lands, crouched, heine lifts his forearm to regard the scrape of road rash, then shakes it off. it'll be a few minutes while the flesh knits back together, but in the meantime, the bright burst of pain feels kind of good. ]

Oh, yeah. I'd hate to interrupt the mail delivery. [ a little wry, because heine knows there are punishments for these things, but also thinks it's stupid, because who is using the mailbox? exactly.

but in the interest of not spending the day in handcuffs, heine will make at least a nominal effort not to destroy anything else. he's having too much fun(?) right now. ]

You're good.

I could say the same.

（ he missed this part of fighting, you know? the the time the quincy war happened, he'd been so worn down from everything he barely had time to do more than fight and move on. and just about every fight that mattered had been a resounding failure until that final clash with yhwach. but it was with grimmjow that he'd discovered a genuine joy in the clash, and this is — bringing that back, a little.

he closes the distance anew, and shifts into a stance that's almost more like american boxing, and then he swipes a strike at heine's core. he'd been on the defensive at first — now turnabout is fair play. ）

[ heine clocks the change in posture, then clocks the swing just before it comes. ichigo isn't as easy to read as some of the other opponents heine has sparred today, and he only narrowly manages to dodge the swing, dropping his center of gravity and sweeping a leg toward ichigo's ankles.

being put on the defensive this ways is interesting. back home heine tries not to fight up close if he can avoid it, but when he does, his strength and speed (and healing) almost always give him the upper hand. even in his fights with luki and noki, or with giovanni, the others of einstürzen's children, there had always been that element of distance, too—heine has never felt the physical pressure of being evenly matched against someone just as strong.

no, if he's honest, ichigo is probably stronger. heine is just mostly quick enough to dodge.

but that doesn't mean he's not going to go down without a fight! as they exchange blows, heine circles a little, putting a bit of space between them so he can kick at ichigo's chest—he's avoiding the head, having no idea what ichigo's capacity for healing is, but the chest feels like fair game. ]

video » text | @stray

no subject

same re: whatever ~fight flow~ u wanna go for!

no subject

no subject

no subject