Sharp Blades, Sharper Minds

    Porunga's shrine was a serene, yet incredibly strange place. Fend had perched herself atop a tree overlooking the grove, letting the chilly wind flow through her cloak. While she wasn't the religious type, Palibur's wielder still gave this sacred place respect. Her sword itself seemed to feel... well, she wasn't sure exactly what Palibur's thoughts were, but something about the shrine's general area in particular made it glow with a pale light. She'd assume it meant the sword liked this place for now.

    She wasn't here to pray or ask for guidance from the Namekian's deity, though. No, Fend had a much more important quest here.

    From where she silently lurked in the treetops, Fend's eyes locked onto her target. A colorful, four-winged bird with rows of antennae running down its back fluttered down onto a branch on a nearby canopy. Fend whipped out her journal and pencil- Yep, she was just here to birdwatch and doodle.

    Just as Fend was halfway finished with her drawing of the avian, though, a tug at her waist made her footing falter. She waved her arms to stabilize herself again, but the ruckus caused the bird to chirp in surprise and fly away from the noise. Fend grumbled, looking to the culprit at her waist. Palibur jostled in its sheath. "Agh, just look what you did! You scared it off! That's rude, Palibur." She growled and lectured the sword despite the fact that it couldn't hear her.

    Sighing in defeat, Fend stood back up to navigate through the treeline again. Before she could find a new spot, though, Fend came to a stop in a tall tree nestled beside the central shrine. She'd passed by it a good twenty minutes ago and had seen the tailed man staring at it earlier... He hadn't moved from his spot. Fend tilted her head in concern. Did the guy even blink yet?

    The alien seemed to snap back to attention, though, apologizing to the other monks scattered about the scene. Did he not realize how long he'd been looking at that old statue?

    "Dude," Fend's voice called from the trees above. She hung upside-down from its branches like a spider, cloak fluttering in the wind and Palibur still glowing from where it hung in its sheath. "You have been staring at that statue for the past..." She reached into her pockets and fished out her ZPhone to check the time. "...Twenty-eight minutes-ish and at least thirty one seconds."

    "You good? I hope you've like, at least blinked a few times during all that cause, like, I don't think you can win a staring contest with a statue because they don't have eyelids." Nero seemed alright- thank goodness, she didn't think her shoddy healing magic would be able to help with whatever horrible condition not blinking for a solid half hour would cause- but whatever just happened sure felt strange.

Ki Masquerade prevents Fend's ki from feeling like a Shinjin's!
Ki Suppression lowers Fend's PL to 500.

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Word Count: 483

    Fend was reaching into her cloak to pull out some of her Senzus upon hearing that Nero hadn't blinked once during the whole staredown, but the saiyan affirmed that he was feeling alright. "If you say so. If your eyes start hurtin' later then I got some healin' stuff." She relented, flipping off of the branch and landing on the ground beside Nero.

    Nero asked a good question though, what was this outspoken traveller doing wandering around this sacred place? Fend pulled out her notebook in response. "Bird." Lo and behold, some messy doodles of some of the local avians that made Porunga's shrine their home adorned the worn parchment. "That and the sightseeing around here is super nice, too. I'm from off-world, y'see, my sword dragged me here from the other side of the galaxy from a little planet called Earth. Loooong story." While most people would get bored of Namek's green skies and blue grass quickly, Fend struggled to see how anyone could tire of Namek.

    The aforementioned magical sword was still glowing, though, and it quickly caught Nero's attention. Fend glanced back to Palibur. It almost seemed to be glowing brighter now... Was there something about this spot in particular? "...Gonna be honest, it hasn't done this much. The only other place it was this shiny at was like, super duper magical and whatnot- an oooold place on Earth called the Lookout." She shrugged. "That and it also gets glowy around evil stuff since it's made to like, smite evil stuff or whatever? It cut through the lingering bits of gross eyeballs and corruption up at the Plait like a hot knife through butter."

    Fend unsheathed the pale rapier and turned it around in her hands so Nero could see the cracked blade. "I really got to get around to finding someone who can actually fix this hunk 'a junk sometime." She pondered aloud to herself. 

    "Enough about me and Pal though. You got a name? I'm Fend, by the way." She introduced herself, extending out her gloved hand for a handshake. "Did 'ya just come up here to have that lil' startin contest and do prayer stuff, or somethin else?" To pass up a chance for small talk with a random stranger was impossible to ask of Fend, provided the saiyan didn't have anything better to do either.

Ki Masquerade and Ki Suppression are still in use.

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Word Count: 875 (+392)

    Fend scratched her chin, humming in thought. How was she going to put everything that happened into post-it form? "Found sword, stole sword from total assholes, sword apparently picked me to be its wielder or something I think??? Then I vibed on Earth, made cool friends on Earth, became cool martial arts teacher, got swole, sword gave me weird vision of a giant purple octopus abomination thing, and now I am here." She listed off the key points of her life in the mortal world thus far, counting each tidbit off on a finger. Of course, she left out the whole part of being a Shinjin from Otherworld, since that was not important.

    With her summarizing out of the way, the topic shifted back to the havoc wreaked upon the Outer Plait. It was good to know this guy had common sense and also was completely appalled by it. "Blugh, yeah, I heard it was two Shinjin who did it or something?" She grit her teeth, glancing astray in the direction of the distant Plait. "Fuck those guys." Fend didn't care to hide her disdain for her own species in the face of something so horrifically abhorrent. "Well, unluckily for them, it sounded like y'all had some good-ass defenders to kick their keisters. I'm doin' my darndest to help with cleanup duty as well, 'course."

    "Anyways! The grass is blue, the sky is green, and those Shinjin are dumb. Let's talk about better, less obvious things instead." They were both already well-aware of what happened at the Plait it seemed, and the mood needed some lightening. It was a good thing she had light magic!

    At the mention of Tambo, someone who could repair Palibur, Fend nodded. "Oh, one of my other friends suggested him to me the other day too. But like, I feel like I've looked everywhere for him, and nothin'! He isn't on vacation or something, is he?" She tilted her head, fidgeting with Palibur's hilt in contemplation. "...If 'ya can ring him up on the 'tele, though, that would be much appreciated."

    Fend wasn't the only one being tugged around my some mystical force, though. Nero apparently felt something similar from the dragon statue. Fend folded her arms, glancing from the stone Porunga and back to Nero. "...Do you think it was that dragon dude himself trying to tell 'ya something? I haven't got around to figuring out what this Porunga guy's whole thing is yet, though, soooo..." Gods, she really hoped she wasn't accidently saying something offensive.

Ki Masquerade and Ki Suppression are still in use.

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Word Count: 1,297 (+422)