[Masao Ando]

Masao had received many commissions and requests in her time as a support student at UAU, but none as strange as the one made by Natesa Bee. The young upstart didn't exactly know what she wanted for her weapon, but Masao still encouraged her to take the commission further with her. It wasn't uncommon to find that first years didn't know exactly what they needed and it was at times like this where she brought out the armory.

Having wheeled all the weapons out to an open training field, Masao had spent the morning setting things up for Nat to come and test an array of prototype weapons on test dummies strewn about the open field. All of these weapons were basic by design, as they were meant to serve as templates. For instance, was Natesa the type of fighter to wield an axe, or a dagger? What would feel more natural in her hands and what did she feel like she could grow accustomed to? Once they settled on a framework, that's when Masao could get to work on making something more complex and worthwhile.

While she waited for Nat to show up, Masao took out her phone and backed up a few paces before snapping a picture of her setup, including as many training dummies and as much of the weapon rack as she could, before sending it to Enma with a few sword and sun emojis.

Once they woman of the hour arrived Masao would take a formal bow in greeting her. ''Bee-san I assume? Welcome to the training field. I am Masao Ando. I have procured an array of weapons for you to test out.'' She indicated the weapon rack. ''Feel free to try them out at your own pace. If you have any questions I will be here to answer them.'' She was also going to be taking notes and keeping an eye on her form, just to make sure her client didn't injure herself.

nat

[nat]

Getting in touch with Masao, Nat had expected she would need to argue her case. She had no specific ideas or plans, she only knew that she was lacking right now and weaponry was her only idea on a solid route of improvement. Which was completely useless to any sort of craftsman, she imagined. But Masao had been reassuring and the blonde was hopeful she could find something that would work for her and help her pull her own weight a bit better.

Not being able to have Yoko's back as much as she would like during fights, solely because she only had her present physical ability to rely on, irked her.

Giving an incline of her head and the slightest tip forward that could be only vaguely considered bowing in return, Nat glanced at the weapon rack when it was indicated. “I appreciate it.” She noted, sincerely despite the flatness to her tone, and walked over to try out a… she wasn't sure where to start and hesitated for a moment. It didn't matter that much, did it? She would be trying multiple things anyways so she just grabbed the leftmost one, an axe.

Once she took it off the rack she spent a few contemplative moments adjusting how she was holding it with her hands close together before turning to a dummy and swinging.

Something about Nat was that she didn't have much talent for anything, even though she was always trying new things and could kick pretty good. Stuff rarely seemed to click and unless there were strict instructions to follow, like in cooking, she floundered. So she was entirely unsurprised when she whiffed the edge of the dummy, swinging with far more force than she could control and the axe slipping from her grip as it flopped right down into the ground.

“I didn't hit my feet at least.” She noted with a side glance at Masao, the slightest frown on the corner of her lips as she looked back at the axe. “Its hard to stop it once you start swinging it. Was I holding it wrong?”

Masao Ando,

[Masao Ando]

Nat was a quiet person, which made her a lot easier to not only help, but also deal with.

She observed the student closely as she swung for the dummy, scribbling down a couple of notes before going back to the weapon rack and grabbing a slightly smaller axe. ''You were holding it correctly. There are multiple factors at play here.'' She pointed down at Nat's boots. ''For one, you want to make sure your feet are firmly planted into the ground. 'Grounding' is an essential rule of combat.'' She demonstrated by doing it herself. ''It may seem counterintuitive to consciously stop and digging your feet into the ground, but once you practice enough it becomes automatic. This will help you keep a better balance. You want to direct the axe, and you want to avoid the axe directing you.''

She handed Nat the smaller axe and offered to take the one she was holding. ''The other factor is much more simple, it could be that this one just isn't for your size and build. Knowing the right size and proportions of the weapon you want to wield is crucial. You can learn to wield bigger or smaller weapons, but you will have to learn it one step at a time. Usually, practicing with smaller models is a little easier. Try again, swing with this axe.''

This time she made sure to activate her armor and stay near Nat. Just in case there was any chance of her actually harming herself with a missed swing. This way Masao could more easily step in to save her. ''Let me know your thoughts afterwards. Not just on how it feels to wield that axe, but on axes in general. Do you have a fondness for them over other weapon types?''

nat

[nat]

To Nat's surprise, Masao just took the botched swing in stride and started giving straightforward and to the point advice. Glancing down at her boots and shifting her stance a bit, she accepted the smaller axe with a quick “I see.” and tried to get into the right mindset for putting that advice into action. Bracing her feet, tightening her grip, hefting the smaller axe up and pausing at the activation of Masao's armor.

Was that a Quirk, or was that a piece of gear? Or was it both? Quirks always caught her attention and fascinated her, like the first time she had seen Yoko's in action, and she couldn’t help but get distracted.

But only for a moment, catching herself with the slightest start before focusing on the dummy and swinging the axe. It hit the dummy, and she didn't drop it this time, but her form was awkward and she had to remind herself mid-swing to dig her heels in and nearly stumbled. She didn't, though, letting out a small breath before frowning down at the axe in her hands and giving a shake of her head as she glanced back at Masao.

“Your advice helped, but I don't think an axe is for me. Feels off, too stationary and…” She trailed off to search for the right word. Briefly something Yoko might say came to mind but she went with a more polite alternative: “Clunky?”

Masao Ando,

[Masao Ando]

‘‘You are on the right track, please, continue.’’ She tried to give Nat somewhat stiff reassurance, but she really did mean it. Most first years didn’t even know what to do with their quirks, let alone gear, and here Nat was taking initiative in seeking her out and actually trying out new things. She was going to go great places with her gadget hero style idea, Masao just knew it.

Then she took the next swing and… No yeah, it wasn’t just Nat’s good intuition, she could see it too observing from her own perspective. Something was off, something wasn’t clicking about the axe. ‘‘Please, hand me the axe for a moment.’’ She held a hand out to Nat. It wasn’t faulty equipment, Masao knew this because she built and maintained the prototypes herself. However, what Nat said got her thinking. Putting the axes aside Masao rejoined Nat and assumed a defensive battle stance. ‘‘Bee-san, I want you to kick me. Don’t hold back, my armor is durable. Kick me like this is a sparring match. Keep going until you’re out of breath.’’ Since she was expecting it even if Nat was fast she was prepared to guard against her strikes. She did nothing to counterattack, and instead just observed the first year student just as she had been.

‘‘The reason I wanted you to kick me, and not the dummy.’’ She straightened her back once Nat was done kicking. ‘‘Is that I can offer you more resistance, more counterplay.’’ She paused and turned back towards the weapon rack, before looking over her shoulder at Nat. ‘‘I think I know what kind of weapon would suit you, Bee-san. Follow me.’’

nat

[nat]

Listening to Masao was almost like she was listening to a teacher. Not in a bad way, though there were some impatient and terrible teachers she had come across in the past. Maybe this was just how students further along in their courses were, that had gotten used to everything and didn't need to worry about making it since they were pretty much already done? Putting her musings aside after handing the axe over, she raised an eyebrow just a bit at the request from Masao to kick her.

“Alright. I haven't sparred with someone in armor before, so I apologize if either of us ends up a bit bruised.”

She was mostly thinking it'd be her own feet and legs getting bruised up, but she wasn't going to hesitate over that. Lightly shifting from one foot to the other, Nat lashed out with a testing kick that sent a sharp tingle down her leg when it hit. She'd have to try to hit at a better angle, or not as hard, and with that in mind she swapped to bring her other foot around into another kick. There was no way anything she was doing could make Masao budge, but she did manage to show how she fought - quick movements, constantly shifting her balance from one foot to the other, and not staying in one place for too long.

Once she was done she gave a little series of shifts from one foot to the next to shrug off the little tingling that lingered from kicking someone in armor. She hadn't hurt herself after all, but it certainly wasn't comfortable. She'd need to train harder so things like this weren't a problem in the future. More importantly Masao explained her reasoning and had an idea, the blonde giving an incline of her head as she followed along. “That makes sense, I've been told similar things from instructors. What do you have in mind?”

Masao Ando,

[Masao Ando]

‘‘Do not worry, Bee-san. I will see to it that you do not get hurt.’’ She smirked, knowing that she would need to guard from Nat’s kicks in such a way that she only hit the softer parts of her armor. Just as she had suspected, Nat seemed a lot more in her element doing kick-based attacks. Which led her to her current conclusion. ‘‘I see. Your instructors are quite observant.’’ As she indicated for Nat to follow her back over to the weapon rack she also fetched her a bottle of water and handed it to her.

‘‘These are two prototype builds I have made for my newest inventions.’’ She handed Nat what just looked to be a sword hilt without a blade. However, once Nat found the mechanism on the side of it a retractable blade would shoot out of the top, making it appear as a regular sword. ‘‘With this one I experimented with retractable blades for not only convenience’s sake, but to delve into the realm of creating hidden weapons.’’ Next she picked up a prototype katana and handed it to Nat. ‘‘Swing this one at a training dummy, then engage the mechanism the same way that you did for the other prototype.’’ She would wait for Nat to do as instructed. The katana would cut like normal at first, striking the dummy like one would expect a sword to. However, once the mechanism was activated the blade turned dull, and turned into a blunt weapon from a sharp weapon.

‘‘The reason I am showing you these prototypes is because I have a proposition. What you need is not a battle axe, or a sword. I think boots would be much more beneficial to you. Boots that you can use not only as weapons, but as tools.’’ She deactivated her armor. ‘‘My proposition is this: I can combine the sharp to blunt and retractable blades feature and implement them in a pair of boots.’’

nat

[nat]

Nat accepted the hilt with a very slightly raised eyebrow, curiously turning it over in her hand. The blade suddenly shooting out when she triggered it made her eyes widen a bit, fiddling with it to make it retract again. Then extend, and retract, before Masao handed her something else and she stopped playing around with it. "Alright, that sounds simple enough..." She trailed off, shifting her grip on the katana until she felt like she was holding in a comfortable enough way to trigger it after her test swing. The test swing was normal enough as expected, but then after doing as instructed it was suddenly blunted and a second test swing prompted a soft thwack like she had hit it with a bat instead of a sword. Cautiously she poked a finger at the no longer sharp blade, wondering exactly how Masao had made that work.

"Boots?" She repeated, glancing away from the katana and down at her own pair of boots. For some reason that hadn't occurred to her at all, that boots could be considered a type of weapon. Listening to Masao's reasoning made a lot of sense too. "That sounds perfect, I wouldn't have thought of that." She did think of something else though and asked with a slight tilt of her head to one side. "Should I leave my shoes here for you so you can get the sizing right?"

She didn't know how having weapons or boots made worked, but if Masao wanted to she'd hand her boots over and simply go back to her dorm room to fetch a spare pair of shoes to wear until Masao was done with them.

Masao Ando,

[Masao Ando]

It was amusing to see Nat play around with the prototypes like they were toys. There was a kind of blissful innocence to the first years who had yet to be put through the wringer. Whether that was UAU sanctioned events, or the world coming for them in a big way. In any case, by getting this gear out for Nat soon, Masao was making sure to do her part in getting her prepared for whatever lied ahead on her path to heroism.

''Indeed.'' She waved her hand dismissively. ''No need to leave them here, I can simply take your measurements and write those down. The blades I would be putting in your boots would not be as long as sword blades, but they can cut things, or add a little bit of range to your attacks all the same. Because the blades are shorter, I am also thinking of including multiple, building them as 'claws' so that they are more robust.''

While they talked and wrapped up their session Masao would begin packing all her prototypes away and cleaning up the field. ''I can have your new boots ready in about a week's time. You know the location of my workshop, yes? Stop by on next Wednesday and a brand new piece of gear will be waiting for you.'' She smirked, bowing her head politely at Nat. ''Thank you for doing business with me, Bee-san. I look forward to showing you the finished product. I can guarantee on my family name that it will not disappoint you.''

nat

[nat]

Crossing her arms under her chest, Nat wasn't experienced with crafting of this nature but she understood what Masao was explaining. Plus, it sounded kind of cool to picture. She wasn't the type to value style over substance by any means, but she couldn't deny that cool was cool. She would have to make sure to show them to Yoko when she got a chance, and they could figure out new teamwork tricks. Like if she ever got a leg tied again, she could probably cut the binding super quick and unexpectedly with her other leg. Or do the same to help out Yoko. It didn't permanently alter her ability to kick normally without changing shoes either, and she was sure the blunt version would have its uses too - like if she had to fight someone in armor, or made of stone or something.

"I do." She returned the bow with a slight incline of her head, making a note to herself about picking up her new boots on Wednesday in her phone. "Thank you for your time and expertise, Ando-san. I am sure I won't be."

Taking her leave, she turned her thoughts towards the other errands and things she could do that day. Maybe figure out something new to try to make for dinner? Actually, since she already had her phone out she might as well ask Yoko if she had any opinions on that.

Masao Ando,

[Matsu]

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[attr="class","likedotitle2"]Approved

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steppen wau wau

+5000 EXP for nat
+5000 EXP for Masao Ando

PHARAOH LEAP.

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