A Good Return for Their Labor [Rafaela, Yugiri]

While Rafaela would have infinitely preferred to be out and about doing her investigations, she hadn't been able to do so for the last couple of weeks. It didn't surprise her, of course, and honestly she appreciated the fact that the Emperor cared enough about her well-being to have her stay in Konigsberg for her safety.

But that didn't mean she liked sitting around this long. Rafaela was a girl of action, after all, and so even if she'd been told to stay in the area for her own safety, she could still help out around the town, keep up with her own training, and of course, keep guard. She might not have been able to do everything she typically did, but a Reichsritter didn't sit idly around.

It was easy to keep a perimeter when you could move at her speed, and Rafaela certainly wasn't the sort to avoid testing herself. She was a little out of practice from all the sitting around here, so she needed to pick things up, especially since His Majesty was out of town right now. If anyone came in, she'd have to be the first to know.

Time to visit Erchanhardt now that her business was over, it had been sometime hadn't it? It dawned on her that maybe she ought to have brought Ira along and introduce them but it was out of the way to go and pick her up, Yugiri trusted that she was big enough to take care of herself. If she was still a child then Yugiri might've arranged to see if Ada would be willing to take care of her.

Adjusting her red scarf and bringing it just a bit higher while making her way to Konigsburg with her jacket on. It was cold, huh? It's a good thing she wasn't a little chicken when it came to a bit of harsh living, she'd dealt with far worse before Erchanhardt took her in.

She honestly had not considered anything might be different, Yugiri always just walked on up as if she owned the place because in some way... she most certainly knew him well before he took up this mantle of Holy Roman Emperor.

Hm? Someone was coming in, and judging from the sheer disparity in spiritual reserves when compared to the general population of Konigsberg, Rafaela knew that it was someone she'd need to check on. Diverting herself from her course, she made headway toward the incoming individual, and while her lack of finesse made the stop something of a flashy affair, Rafaela preferred it that way. The dust made her entrance that much more standout, you know? She didn't draw her sword, of course, but her hand stayed on it, her stance clearly ready to engage at a moment's notice if need be.

"This is the domain of His Majesty, the Holy Roman Emperor Burgstaller! You think you can just pass by here without facing Rafaela of the Violent Lightning, First among the Reichsritter?"

Wait. This woman seemed...familiar? There was something that Rafaela felt like she ought to know about her. It was those Moorish features, that was it. His Majesty had mentioned his best friend Yugiri, and he'd spoken about her appearance before. Was this her? She ought to ask.

"Or are you Yugiri?"

"Firstly yes, and secondly that's me. The next flash goddess upcoming."

She said, cocking her hip and putting her hand on it with no small amount of spunk as she retorted to the woman shorter than her. Hey, it was nice not being smaller than another girl, Rafaela made her feel just that little better about herself and the fact she was a bit on the runt side with her height.

Yugiri smirked a bit while she waited for the woman's response, she sure had just said that this little woman couldn't stop her if she wanted to get to her closest friend. The dull copper eyes full of confidence at her declaration.

Rafaela would have normally just apologized and given a formal bow, informed her she was terribly sorry for the inconvenience and to be on her way. But the way that Yugiri responded, the confidence in her stance and her voice, and the smirk that accompanied it, all of it only seemed to feed into Rafaela's already bombastic presence, her confident smile growing into the cocksure grin that most knew her by.

"Well, His Majesty has always talked pretty big about you. I wouldn't ever doubt the words of the Emperor, of course, but you'll have to forgive me for doubting you could just get past me so easily."

Her hand left her sword, but to someone with as much mastery as Yugiri, it certainly wouldn't have been hard to tell that Rafaela was still very much ready to pounce at a moment's notice. She was good enough to keep it from showing openly, of course, but she was still a relatively young woman. Not that she knew that, of course.

"But I guess I can give you a pass just this once, eh? Wouldn't want to hold you up."

"I'm in no rush, unless you'd try to interfere with that goal then it might put a little bit of a tailwind behind me... if you could keep up to pressure me that is."

Now she was just being a little bit ungracious wasn't she? It was ever so fun though to tease but at the expense of Erchanhardt's followers' morale? Maybe she ought not to be so rowdy towards them, it wasn't like she knew them like she knew him. On the other hand...

Yugiri tapped her foot on the ground behind her a couple of times, a light touch of her toe like it was a countdown and then she acted to utilise Fuurinbungo. A couple of moments where the foot remained still and then the cast-off afterimage disappeared and Yugiri tried to give Rafaela a light flick on her exposed thigh as she passed and came out of a spin in a crouched over position. A light gust of wind blowing on Rafaela's face and a brief sound like a bell chime in her ear like the air was catching up to Yugiri's action.

Might as well test if Erchanhardt kept good company or not though, she didn't want her friend's guards to be underwhelming when the world was filled with incredible threats and he had become a prolific entity in it.

If Rafaela at all minded Yugiri's attitude, she certainly didn't show it, her grin staying right where it was as she readied to answer. But, before she could even respond, she realized that she was being encroached on. Of course, realizing it and actually responding to it were completely different things, and as she felt the sting of a light impact against her leg, Rafaela turned around.

"Hah! You're good, you're really good. But don't think I'll let you get away with that so easy, lady."

In the back of her mind, Rafaela knew that there wasn't any chance she could actually catch this woman. That much had been made fairly clear even just in that single motion. But just because she couldn't do something, that didn't mean she wouldn't try. If she gave up so easily, she wouldn't even be walking today. Slowly, the purple reishi that Rafaela only barely controlled began to crackle over her skin, particularly her legs, and she lowered herself ever so slightly.

"I'll owe you one now."

Unlike Yugiri's step, which had been precise and graceful, Rafaela's was raw, unrefined, but undoubtedly well-practiced even so. For someone as highly trained as Yugiri, it could only ever be abundantly clear that the shorter woman's step was something she had developed wholly on her own. Still, as unrefined as it was, the step nevertheless carried her forward with exceptional speed, enough to crack like thunder as Rafaela made her effort to match Yugiri's single touch.

Yugiri took the compliment when it was presented, it was nice when your hard work paid off right? Though something was up and as soon as Rafaela showed her body beginning to glow, Yugiri's heel came up slightly if barely noticeable. It was however the faintest hint to the nature of the technique, it was like preparing a step where it was already partly in motion rather than starting outright. As soon as Rafaela moved, Yugiri responded in kind and made a graceful arc that was a sidestep of the launch.

"You got the speed but you seem to launch yourself forward like a cannonball rather than anything graceful, stepping is about precision. You should ask Erchanhardt about it sometime."

She teased to Rafaela, having been able to give the current emperor a bit in the way of lessons when it came to footwork back in the day. Assuming she had no little tricks to immediately follow up, Yugiri leaned back with more smugness than she intended to convey by the gesture.

"You want to see something really cool?"

How many times nowadays did she really get to pull out her Shikko? It was a painfully hard thing to try and refine into a perfected form like how she had heard rumours of greater levels of Shunko. Maybe Rafaela wanted to get a peek at her neat skills to the highest degree?

Damn it. Rafaela hadn't really expected to catch the woman, so she couldn't call it much of a let down when she failed, but it was still disappointing. She'd just have to improve, then. Keep the goal of paying her back in mind. After all, she wasn't a quitter.

"Precision? I'll have to work on that. Couldn't walk much as a little girl, so I've never quite had time to think about grace."

For being such an unhappy time in Rafaela's life, she hardly minded simply talking openly about it. After all, why shouldn't she share that? As far as she was concerned, it was something to be proud of, and something that everyone should know. That anyone, even a sickly little girl, could do anything if they just tried hard enough and believed in themselves.

"If you want to show me something, I won't stop you. Maybe I'll even learn a thing or two."

It was a big maybe, and Rafaela knew that. She'd never been amazing at picking up technique based on study, and she tended to learn entirely through what came intuitively and what she invented herself. But, this woman was clearly so far beyond her that it was enough to really pull the full scope of Rafaela's attention. Even if she would have trouble learning from it, that didn't change that she wanted to.

It was such a small comment that Yugiri hardly considered that Rafaela meant it quite literally, though it did make her hesitate since it did stir her own childhood memories of being chairbound and spending so many days longing for more, just for that simple ability to walk and crying over every little thing that happened. It was brief and something she didn't linger on but it was noticeable.

"Alright. This is what I call Shikko, I made it myself and once I perfect it I'll leave Yoruichi Shihoin in the dust! I'll be the fastest person to ever exist."

She declared while leaning back a little bit, centering her energy and letting it flood through her body with the humming sound that filled the air around them. The sound that made her name it after crickets' singing.

Once it was active she tapped her foot, it was an unnecessary gesture in this state as her body phased away. Appearing to just vanish and it would feel like Rafaela was hit by gusts of wind from six different directions at the same time. Six touches, each limb, her forehead and her back. As if Yugiri had done Fuurinbungo six times simultaneously although with her target's senses she might've have noticed a tiny delay between the touches that most probably would miss that proved there was a path that she had taken.

And then she was back opposite Rafaela with a grin, though a Yugiri did wince a little bit. She had to fix this stupid pressure that it put on her body if she wanted it to be perfected. It quickly dispelled afterwards to conserve her energy and avoid damaging herself beyond a bit of pain.

"Honestly, not the best. It's a work in progress and I probably couldn't do that many if you weren't standing still for me."