[video]

[murasamia]

[ Maria appears on the screen of the NV without much flourish, forehead wrinkled just slightly by what could be interpreted as either a look of intense concentration or utter confusion. Considering who's making it, it could be both, but she opens her mouth and starts going on and on, answering the question pretty much immediately. ]

Siren's Port! Something really weird happened to me, amigos! You're gonna blow your wigs!

[ her brown eyes focus quite intently on the camera, and as she starts talking, her hands match her words with various little gestures. ]

So the other day when I went to sleep in my bed like normal, I woke up and I was suddenly back in 1933, amigos! Well, not woke up - it's more like I never left! I was just there! And when I was there, I didn't even remember none of this Canada stuff! Crazy, right? [ instead of waiting for an answer, she nods in agreement with herself and continues. ] Anyway, I went and did all the stuff I was supposed to do back there! It was great -- well, parts of it weren't great, but I won in the end, as usual, and I beat up that annoying chica and I kept Tick safe and I cut the sky open and everything -- but I shouldn't talk about it, you know, Mr. Luck gets mad!! Yeah, but I finished that, and then all of a sudden I woke up back here again last night!! My stuff's still here, and I remember it all.

[ finishing up her clearly new and intriguing little tale, she leans back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest and looking quite puzzled. ]

... I've been trying to figure it out, but I hate puzzles that I can't just beat with my swords. But it's really eatin' me, amigos! You don't think this place is some kinda weird dream I'm having, right?

Comments

[murasamia]

[ Yes, this was definitely the same woman she'd fought with on Millionaire Row; fighting was her nature, and the feel of this clash was already familiar to her. It was exciting, too, and Maria grins widely as their blades clatter together. The collision doesn't last long - she knows the openings she'll have fighting someone with such short weapons, and she swiftly backsteps, Chane's dagger barely nicking her clothes. ]

Yeah, yeah! It's definitely you! I remember those little knives of yours!

[ her voice is a shout over her own footsteps - she's lunging forward again, feinting briefly to the right before coming in forward again. ]

[fidele]

[ Nothing about this feels familiar, nothing at all, plus she's hardly had experience with any other sword-wielders for comparison; yet there seems to be an easy flow to her opponent's moves that nearly eases her into a pattern. Perhaps Maria's strong belief is forcing itself on her through the energy carried by those swords, their swift arcs mimicing her steps. That next stab sends Chane ducking instantly as though falling, the ends of her hair grazing the blades, her knees an inch from the floor before she leaps away at an angle to put distance between them and keep the hallway walls at her back. Whatever chance she can get to judge the full length of Maria's swords, the way they rest in her palms, she will take, watching intensely from halfway down the hallway. There isn't much room to escape unless she heads upstairs. ]

[murasamia]

[ Against Adele, her swords had been quicker and more numerous, but shorter; here she had the opposite problem. Agile as she was, katanas were heavy, and Chane would certainly move faster than her with only those knives - she can't catch her as she leaps away. Still, Maria was only getting started, and she quickly hops back to her feet after the miss, eyeing her opponent with wild glee for a moment before dashing towards her again. No sense in keeping distance -- length was on her weapons' side this time, and it was worth playing with. ]

[fidele]

[ As quickly as she'd leapt aside Chane nearly staggers back, the staccato of her heels across the floorboards a giveaway for the freely-carried weight that dictates the movement of her feet. This is completely different to fighting somebody with a gun, long-range as both weapons are. Maria's movements feel long, sound long with the unmistakeable ring of air giving way for each blade, a strange enough phenomenon that it bewilders Chane as soon as the realisation hits her, makes her eyes widen then in reaction to the points aimed towards her again.

Rather than flatten herself against the wall her steps lead her back, back further down the hallway until touching her tailbone to the flat of the doorknob of the door at the end seems imminent, and there she decides; she cannot only run away. The only audible expression of such a thought comes with the distinct sparking of metal, the flats of her blades colliding with Maria's swords, the large, solid hilts of each knife and the twisting motions outwards all that exist to protect her thumbs being sliced clean off by the longer blades. ]

[murasamia]

[ the sight of the blades just gets her riled up. Cut or be cut! And Maria only likes one of those options. She smiles widely, shaking out her wavy brown hair as she presses forward against the block of Chane's knives. ]

See! I knew you'd fight me, amiga!

[ for all her skill with katanas, though, she is not an honorable Japanese assassin - she's a crazy killer from America's city of crime, and her goal isn't glory, just blood. The force behind her blades suddenly lets off as she drops down into a crouch, crossing the blades over herself as she tries to kick Chane's legs out from under her. ]

[fidele]

[ A flicker of anxiety in her look quickly transforms into impenetrable resolve-- if there hadn't previously been a chance to test the strength of her knife handles, now can prove her capabilities and theirs perfectly well. Maria's sudden withdrawal like a receding tide practically heaves Chane forward in a tug-of-war, the clash of their blades, and in that swift movement she can see arcing from Maria's shoulders down to her knees she knows that not even the floor is safe from this demon. Again her body is ahead of her thoughts-- a sharp thrust of her weight onto that bare contact of knife against sword, she leaps, kicking herself up and over Maria's head-- the tips of the swords nick the hem of her dress in the motion but do not drag. The tearing of fabric preludes the solid tap of heel on wood again. ]

[vinovidivici]

[ Maria might not have the "silent" part of the silent killer shtick down, but you know which guy does?

This guy.

Or at least he did while picking the lock on the front door, pinpointing the location of the fight from the footsteps and occasional Mexican-accented shouts echoing from the floors above, creeping upstairs and rounding the corner to the landing ready to dodge any katanas or catch any shivs flying his way - ]

- Uh. Woah.

[ He had been planning on breaking the fight up and disarming Maria if necessary but boy did you see that flip? ]

[murasamia]

[ Maria only notices Claire's intrusion out of the corner of her eyes, a subconscious footnote of a Something entering the battlefield. Right now, her focus is all on Chane, especially when she's doing something as ridiculous as leaping right over her own head. She really was something! No wonder.

But of course, in Maria's mind, that only meant that she was even better. The momentary surprise is only that, and she somersaults forward to get back to her feet, impressively managing, once again, not to cut herself in the process. She never stops moving; there's a hop in her step as she turns to face Chane again, and soon enough, she's rushing in from the left, taking a big circle around the room to get to her and bringing a sword down on each side. No criss-crossed slashing this time. ]

[fidele]

[ There's a waver in the instant her feet touch ground again where she seems to register something in the immediate area, her lips pressing into a line as though an unpleasant thought struck her briefly-- of course she knows Claire's there, but his spoken remark will not weigh on her intentions or her movements. The balls of her feet barely meet floorboards; she spins, rises, blades curved outwards, almost aligned with her wrists as to block the swinging swords and the clash that results sends sparks between the grinding metal, light reflecting in her steady eyes before summoning all her strength to push up from where the weight of Maria's momentum held her posture down and away, away to where Chane can gather the speed to strike again. If it's a match of strength, she has less chance of coming out of this unscathed. Speed, however, is her refuge. ]