Her weapon was unexpected - the naginata's blade of metal swirled with dark lines in some odd manner that looked almost like wood grain. Her finger touched the metal, determining it was smooth.
"Damascus," said Ranma sleepily from where he was watching his bedmate.
"Pardon, my Lord?" asked Tenten.
Ranma gave a momentary glare at the term, then went ahead with the explanation. "Damascus steel. It's that kind of metal. Takes a whole lot of effort to make."
"Oh?" asked Tenten, wiping the blade with a small cloth she kept for her more mundane weapons. "Yet the haft is so small."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "It's a Saotome weapon."
Tenten thought about that, then sat up and got off the bed to stand and hold the weapon ready. The wood stretched until it was finally of a length more expected - roughly five feet long.
"What qualities does this possess?" asked Tenten as she put the weapon through a few careful stances. She was being careful because they were still in a tent after all.
Ranma had gotten used to seeing Tenten naked, or so he'd thought. After the time he'd had to spend caring for her, there had been a sort of detached intimacy involved. After the previous night, he found himself reacting to her stretches and movements in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with being a caretaker.
"Don't know," said Ranma. "I've studied up on some of the basics 'cause it was all part of trying to understand how this stuff worked. So that kinda pattern in the metal I know. Those brass rings on the haft are what does the expanding-shrinking thing. Any lettering on it?"
"Other than these runes there's just two words," said Tenten after examining her weapon. "Foreign. 'Gardien Debois.'"
"No idea," said Ranma. "Still, that last guy - Hima Saotome - died off in Africa so the clan apparently got around."
Tenten frowned. She thought of herself as a long to midrange attacker. Her main skill was accuracy, and she could hit a bullseye ten times out of ten. The naginata didn't seem to quite fit that, but the weapon supposedly chose HER.
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(Posted Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:38)
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