Public Channel B20 [CW: General Fosterness]

[criticallyfucked]

Hahaha... uh. I don't usually ask for things, but I know swords aren't uncommon here... is there anyone willing and able to teach them?

I'll warn you I'm very stupid, so you'll probably have to beat it into me, but I'll repay your time!

I'll do anything you want... except die.

If that's what you want, you'll have to do it yourself! So don't ask.

Comments

[criticallyfucked]

['Stay focused.'

Why does everyone keep telling him that? First Lambert, now this guy... is he not focused to them? What do they think he's going to do?

He doesn't complain out loud, but he does spend several seconds trying to identify his dominant hand--shifting his paws up and down the sword's shaft until he has something he thinks might be right. He continues frowning at it, but--

Yeah, this will have to do.]

[moonfang]

[Because "staying focused" is very important when you're fighting! OR ELSE YOU MIGHT DIE.

Once Foster seems to have his grip how he wants it, Zangetsu... well. He straight up charges him, aiming low. With his new form, Foster is quite vulnerable down there... and he needs to know that.

So, if he doesn't move quickly, he's going to whapped hard with the bamboo sword across his horse foreleg carpi]

[criticallyfucked]

[The good news is, Foster doesn't just stand there waiting for Zangetsu to bruise his shins (so to speak.)

The bad news is, he doesn't use the sword to react. Instead, purely by reflex, he acts on what is possibly the most Foster instinct possible--

He rushes in.

Bodily, fully engaged, his humanoid upper body leaning in and down, his equine legs kicking off like he's trying to impale himself on Zangetsu's sword.

Which... is basically what he'd be doing, if this were a real sword.

And he weren't a horse.

As a horse, though--

It's almost a viable strategy?]

[moonfang]

[Are you kidding? This is ridiculous. You are ridiculous, Foster. He charges, and Zangetsu darts to one side, raking Foster across his horse chest as he goes]

HahahahaHAHA! I like that gall! Check out the balls on this guy. But you... You have a huge body. You either need armor, or learn to use two swords. Then again... you charge a normal person like that and they might just freak the fuck out.

[criticallyfucked]

[The front of a horse is basically muscle and bone, and in Foster's case, it's a lot less muscle and lot more bone. But above that is the first abdomen, and it's just as vulnerable as any human's. So, that smarts.

But Foster mostly... looks surprised?

Foster looks surprised, because no one has ever commended him for doing the kind of thing that comes naturally--the kind of thing that is, by every metric stupid and impulsive and suicidal and designed to hurt him rather than the (un)natural opposite.

So he looks surprised, and then he laughs.

Not only is that the most unnatural praise he's ever received--praised? for being himself? for doing THAT?--but the idea of him benefiting from it? Of--

Well, the armour isn't going to happen, that's for sure.]

Let's say that was the intention.

[Maybe it even was.]

[moonfang]

[there's something to be said about using one's own body as a battering ram, but... it's helpful to have the ability to heal from the injuries that are likely to result.]

Keheheheh! Now... The problem is... you don't heal unnaturally fast, do you? Berserkin' is a great tactic, but if you break yourself to pieces in the process, ya ain't gonna last long.

I'm so, so sorry. Depression got me, then Plot got me...

[criticallyfucked]

Last long?

Oh, that's not... haha. Who cares! That was never a possibility--I was never, haha, never built to last. Dying soon--dying now, dying later, it's all the same!

[He chokes, stutters on his own laughter, a wet string of drool from his bottom lip, but his focus is clear, his shoulders back and eyes bright. One foreleg paws at the ground, leaving a triple furrow from his hooved toes.

He sobers enough to fix Zangetsu with a... particularly intense stare, the same way a bird might, focused on one eye.]

All that matters is whether or not it works. If it breaks me, if it obliterates, if it destroys me, that's even better! I have no one else to be.