(closed) crash test dummies

[armd]

WHO: Abby & Ellis
WHAT: So there's this shield
WHEN: Backdated to September cuz I'm slow
WHERE: Training yard
NOTES: Context.

Tomorrow it is. Maybe Abby's more into this than she should be. She wonders if Ellis will let her have a go at holding the shield at some point.

It doesn't look like she was expecting it to. She had a mental image of something round and fortified but instead the shield is very tall, and pointed at one end which seems... off to her somehow, a weird fuck-you to the shins and ankles, but if it really can knock people back with a single block she supposes it doesn't need to protect his entire body anyway.

She's cracking her knuckles, loose and easy as she considers her options.

"You want me to just..." She indicates slamming her shoulder forward, one brow raised, "Go for it?"

Comments

forgive my tardiness, what is time

[heorte]

"Aye."

How else can they test it properly?

Though Ellis tempers that almost immediately after, adjusting the strap and his hold on the grip as he cautions, "Mind you be ready to step back if something goes amiss."

Not that Ellis can divine exactly what might go amiss. But he has been party to far too many minor fires and less minor explosions to rule out the possibility of either manifesting.

[armd]

Abby straightens up.

"Do you think that's likely?"

That isn't reassuring, Ellis... but this is the way the Provost asked for it to be tested, and she knows where the infirmary is, so. Whatever.

"- Fuck it, I'm going," she warns him. She drops her stance as she charges forward, her shoulder slamming abruptly into the center of the shield, and the force might have knocked him over had the thing not immediately redirected the hit. Abby goes up off her feet as if thrown by an invisible hand, and hits the ground solidly a few feet away with a grunt of pain.

[heorte]

Every piece of experience and all good sense and reason says that any force that might propel Abby away from him in such a manner should knock Ellis back to some degree. Maybe not off his feet, but—

Except there is nothing. No staggering backwards. All he need do is hold his footing, and the effect bears out. Still there's a moment of incredulous inspection before his attention shifts to Abby.

"Are you alright?" he calls, crossing to her quickly. "Nothing broken?"

It seemed to him she'd landed well, but she'd landed hard. And Ellis hadn't know to warn her to brace herself against that effect.

[armd]

"Fine," she manages. The fall clearly winded her, but she's moving, sitting up already with a soft wheeze.

Ellis seems just as awed by the shield as she does. Abby has to admit, grouchily, that it works as advertised. In fact-

"... Didn't think it would that well."

She's rubbing the back of her head.

[heorte]

"The Provost doesn't do anything by halves," Ellis says, though this might have been a warning better imparted before they'd started their experiment.

Admittedly, Ellis hadn't expected it to work quite so well. He shifts it on his arm, fussing with the strap, before leaning down to offer Abby a hand up.

"Can I ask you to try again?" He asks, before adding quickly, "Maybe throwing something at me and seeing what it does."

How good is Abby's aim? Or maybe the real question is, will Abby throw rocks at Ellis and presume his reflexes are sharp enough to deflect them in time?

[armd]

She grips his hand, and gets back on her feet with a rough exhale.

"Yeah, course." Now that she's over the surprise of it, she's eager to keep testing. She wonders if this shield has a limit, but of course everything does, so now it's up to them to find it.

And maybe it is a tiny bit of revenge for the blow-back (something that was not his fault!) that inspires her to scoop a rock up from the ground and throw it more at him than the shield, but she won't ever admit to it.

can't believe that dw stole this notif from me

[heorte]

There is just enough time to discern the trajectory of the rock, but not quite enough time to bring the entire shield up to deflect the rock properly.

Does the enchantment spread to the very edges of the shield? Maybe in most cases, but Ellis dings the rock on the very edge, stumbling clumsily back a step trying to create distance.

The rock does not ping back to Abby. It does wing in a wobbly arc off to the side, clattering on the stone while Ellis finds his footing.

"Try it again? I'm not sure whether that was the shield or me."

No comment on Abby's aim. It's fine.

i can

[armd]

Thank you.

In any case, it worked in their favour, because they may have just found a weak spot on the shield. Abby looks impressed, and then she picks around for a couple more stones that she can throw. She can't help but wonder what this place would be like with guns, for the thousandth time.

Imagine somebody shooting at you, and making it bounce straight back into their allies, or worse. So useful.

"'Kay."

She throws again, and she's aiming properly this time. At the shield, right at the middle.

pls forgive...my tardiness...

[heorte]

It's an easy throw. Ellis has to make very little readjustment of his body to get the shield into place and catch the stone right over the heraldry.

And it works. There is a satisfying clang, as the stone soars back in Abby's direction.

A split second where Ellis' grin flashes over the top of the shield, satisfied.

And then, a spurt of fire bursts from the shield and catches his sleeve aflame.

what tardiness 💕

[armd]

She watches, fascinated, and has enough reflexive instinct to jump in time–

And get the stone in the air with the tips of her fingers, a great catch!

Ellis is grinning at her. He's also on fire.

"Oh shit–"

No water in sight of course, but plenty of dirt. She's got two fistfuls of it immediately, stone forgotten on the ground. She jogs over to help him pat the flames out.