Watching as Essoat accepts her attack, Nanami grits her teeth in frustration.  Stand up fights like this were never truly her specialty - she preferred to have the time to analyze a potential opponent and counter or manipulate their strengths into weaknesses rather than try to puzzle them out in the middle of a battle.  Watching his behavior, the sudden flick of his eyes to something behind her is all the warning she needs, and even as he speaks, she's already diving forward into a roll, using her tails to cushion her somewhat ungainly efforts.<br/><br/>[<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255654">Careful Defence</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+2</span><span style="font-weight: bold">2</span>Gonna call the boost from the last attack 'Frazzled Nerves', and will burn it here to give Nanami a second of warning before the statue swings for a +2.  Will also use my second Fate point to invoke Nanami's previous combat experience through Daemonically-Charged Magic for another +2, moving the final total to +6.  She'll still take two shifts, so she'll fill her Mild Consequence with 'Nasty Bruise'.  This'll also just barely slip me into Essoat's truce offer, which she will take.]<br/><br/>Despite her best efforts, the wing of the statue still clips her back, sending her sprawling before she manages to roll to one knee.  Arching her back, she grimaces as she can feel the knot already starting to form where the wing impacted.  "As much as I'm tempted to berate you for pulling such a cheap trick, I'd do the same in a heartbeat if I thought it would work."  Wiping away a small trickle of blood from her mouth (and being careful to lick it back up to deny Essoat the chance to obtain any), Nanami draws back up to her full height as he makes his offer.  "Well, we've both had our fun, I think, and found that this fight would have been far closer then either of us would prefer, so I'll bite.  Considering the energy that went into the spell that caught us, your master obviously brought us here for a reason, and I doubt it was just to have someone to toy with."  While she speaks, Nanami's mind is racing, trying to think of anything that offered a deeper hint as to his motivations.  For all she knew, this could just be a lull in the storm, and she wanted every advantage she could get if they started fighting again.<br/><br/>[<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255657">Clever Create Advantage</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+3</span><span style="font-weight: bold">4</span>, looking to try to figure out one of his Aspects.  Not sure if Expansive Knowledge would apply here, so I left it out for now. ]