[GRO] Rasali Panaka - Adult

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 13
Eagle Eyes: 2

Twisting to keep form landing on the rifle, Kursha landed heavily on his side. His head knocked against the tatami floor. As stars burst in his thinkpan, he heard Aandes continue to shout. ******** great. That would teach him to ever take a living hostage. Things were unravelling faster than they usually did. Snarling, Kursha struggled to his feet. He fixed a murderous stare on the bound greenblood and screamed, “Shut the ******** up and stay out of this, or I'll kill you for real!”

Quote:

Okay, this is ridiculous. Eagle-eyes coming up next.

[ Kursha does 0 damage. ]

 

[seekingCylem]

HP: 35/40
Military Weapon: +1 DMG
Trinkets:
1/1 Defensive Style B: Nullify damage from last hit.

Had Rasali been in any other state of mind, she would have been mortified by the sloppiness of her attacks. She was a warrior--a troll. Yet in this crucial moment she could only muster the energy to be petty. She savored the sharp thud of Kursha hitting the floor regardless.

Kursha couldn't make Rasali do jack s**t against the Initiative. He'd made her bring him his rifle, and this was how things had turned out. Kursha didn't have enough luck for the amount of pushing he was wont to do.

Any attempt to take advantage of the situation was interrupted by Aandes. Rasali's attention whipped behind her, struck that Aandes was even still alive. "Aa..."

Rasali went quiet. Even her breathing stilled. For a brief moment, all sound in the room belonged to Aandes. Rasali's face went through a series of expressions as he railed. None of them were good. Fragments of words she couldn't articulate were sucked back with her lips between her teeth. Her attempt at a deep breath was laughably strangled. It was the best she could do. She couldn't... This wasn't something she could accept. Not this; not now.

Kursha screamed. The sudden excuse to ignore Aandes very nearly brought Rasali a sense of gratitude for Kursha's presence. It wasn't an opportunity she would risk passing up.

She didn't bother attempting to regain her footing. Rasali grabbed the recently-downed Kursha by the leg and yanked him across the smooth floor. Her free arm prioritized trying to pin his shoulders down ash she grappled him.

Rasali does 5 damage!

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 8
Military Weapon: +1
Eagle Eyes: [ACTIVE]

Even as Kursha uprighted himself, Rasali grabbed him by the ankle and yanked him back down to the floor. He let out a snarl, the rifle slipping from his fingers. Before he could grab it again, the greenblood pulled him across the floor and away. Desperate not to give Rasali an opening, Kursha wiggled onto his side, and then his back. She in turn, pinned him down by his shoulders. It bore an uncanny resemblance to how their last fight had ended.

Except this time Kursha had a trick hidden up his sleeve.

In dizzying contrast to his savage attitude only seconds before, he grinned up at greenblood crushing him to the ground. “Hey Razz,” he began, speaking through grit teeth. He tried to catch her eye. “Do you play this rough with your boyfriend too, or is it just me?” Pupils pinwheeled into crosshairs. He focussed all of his gaze on Rasali. “Oh, sorry. I meant ex-boyfriend.”

There. Eye contact. Kursha kept his eyes locked with hers. He reached back behind him with one arm, straining his muscles. He only had a few seconds, if even that. His fingers scrabbled over the floor until they found they stock of the rifle. Grasping it tight, Kursha pulled it towards him. He did not bother with setting the gun in his shoulder. Lifting the muzzle off the floor as best as he could with one hand, he fired a haphazard shot into her shoulder. Close proximity would more than make up for his s**t aim.

seeking Cylem

Aandes was right. Simple troll.

Sypon

Hook, line, and sinker.

[ Kursha does 8 damage. ]

 

[seekingCylem]

HP: 27/40
Military Weapon: +1 DMG
Trinkets:
1/1 Defensive Style B: Nullify damage from last hit.

The ratio of times Rasali had seen Kursha smiling from genuine happiness to any other was violently skewed. At this point her resultant fury was an ingrained reflex.

His words struck Rasali and a wet sound caught in her throat. Tears. Blood. Bile. Rasali had no retort for him--not one that would do anything but make his grin sharper. Rasali couldn't bear more humiliation. Between speaking and strangling, she struggled to find a way to shut Kursha up. By the time she realized it was a struggle just to move, it was too late.

Pain blossomed through Rasali's shoulder, down her fingertips and into her lungs. For a split second she thought Kursha had blasted the whole thing off. The force of the blow and instinctive recoil tossed Rasali from Kursha's torso, clawing him as she fell. There wasn't enough pride in the world to keep Rasali from howling in pain.

Rasali does 4 damage!

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 4
Military Weapon: +1
Eagle Eyes: [ACTIVE]

Following the shot there was a burst of green spray. Blinded by the blood in his eyes, Kursha relied on his other senses. On top of him he felt Rasali reel back, and even as her nails raked across his throat, he barely registered the pain. A half second later he heard her land somewhere to his right. Her screams punctuated the ringing in his sponge clots.

Sitting up, Kursha wiped the blood from his eyes. He spat more from his mouth. His face and shoulders were drenched in Rasali's colour, while more stained his arms and hands. Still half-blind, he reached into his pocket to grab a handful fresh rounds. As he tried to reload, half of them slipped from his wet fingers and fell to the floor. Kursha did not bother to scramble after them.

He clicked the revolving chamber back in place and focussed his muddied vision on the target. Another shot fired.

seekingCylem

Your choice!

[ Kursha does 3 damage. ]

 

[seekingCylem]

HP: 24/40
Military Weapon: +1 DMG
Trinkets:
1/1 Defensive Style B: Nullify damage from last hit.

Rasali's body rattled with conflicting orders to curl protectively around her damaged arm and to get up and run. Had she failed to hesitate, she may have taken the next bullet point-blank. Instead Kursha's shot tore a scorching line across her shoulder blades and buried itself in the floor. Rasali's back bowed violently in recoil.

The act of standing was nearly accidental as Rasali threw herself away from Kursha. Her good arm collided with the wall and fought for leverage against the slick of blood accumulating on her person. She nearly went back down again as the burnt-out planks of wood crumbled from beneath her grip.

Startled, Rasali whipped her head towards the deep bower of blackened trees. She then looked back to Aandes, then slower still, to Kursha. Cautiously, she braced her legs.

Rasali does 0 damage!

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 4
Military Weapon: +1
Eagle Eyes: [ACTIVE]

Kursha picked himself up the floor even as Rasali lurched away, punching a fresh hole through the wall. He oriented himself to face her and the woods beyond. The rifle dangled from his fingertips. Blinking back the last of the blood clouding his vision, he stared Rasali down. The greenblood had begun to back outside, away from the match. Kursha's expression tightened as did his grip around the gun.

Rasali would not get away. He fired another shot, aiming for the greenblood's knee.

“Thinking of running away?” he asked, following her through the newly made exit. At this point in the game he felt comfortable within melee range. Rasali had taken almost a full chamber's worth of bullets, two at close range. Unless she could somehow pull a move like Ganyma from out of no where, she was as good as done. He sneered down at her. “Or do you wanna call it here and surrender?”

seekingCylem

[ Kursha does 8 damage. ]

 

[seekingCylem]

HP: 16/40
Military Weapon: +1 DMG
Trinkets:
1/1 Defensive Style B: Nullify damage from last hit.

The bullet tore a gash in Rasali's thigh. The wound was unaided by the explosion of splinters caused by the bullet tearing through the remains of the brittle wall. Rasali moaned and stumbled backwards into the overgrown lawnring. The last wisps of adrenaline and sweeps of rigorous skating kept Rasali balanced on one leg--just barely. She hobbled backwards with Kursha's approach, looking every bit the cornered animal she was.

"Oh please," she spat, literally and figuratively, "What would surrendering get me other than a postponed death sentence--or quicker depending on what you decide 'being merciful' means for the night!"

Rasali does 0 damage!

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 4
Military Weapon: +1
Eagle Eyes: 0

Kursha hopped down into the grass. The right side of his face twitched as he landed, putting pressure on his ankle. A moment later the mask was back in place. “You never know until you try it,” he replied lightheartedly. Not that he had any intention of showing Rasali mercy. At this point she was probably already well aware of the fact.

He fired off another round, this time taking her in the shoulder, as he closed the remaining distance. He aimed to incapacitate her, not kill her, though he would not be particularly heartbroken if she bled out. Rasali was only as useful as the information she could deliver.

seekingCylem

[ Kursha does 4 damage. ]

 

[seekingCylem]

HP: 12/40
Military Weapon: +1 DMG
Trinkets:
1/1 Defensive Style B: Nullify damage from last hit.

Rasali had stopped backing away at the edge of the lanwnring where scorched grass met wild brambles. In her condition, the clinging overgrowth would prove as effective as any cholerabeartrap. She'd be downed in seconds. Almost as if to emphasis the limitations of her movements, Kursha approached closer.

At his current range, Rasali hadn't anticipated another gunshot. She quickly realized her mistake as her other arm was disabled with another hot blast. Rasali wailed and rocked precariously on her feet. The sporadic twitching of her fingers was the only indication her arms still worked. She couldn't throw a punch like this. She couldn't grapple. At this rate, she soon wouldn't be able to stand.

Rasali did what she could. She held her ground, silently craning her neck as Kursha loomed before her.

Rasali does 0 damage!

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 4
Military Weapon: +1
Eagle Eyes: 0

Before him Rasali stood—barely—face drawn, muscles taught, and drenched in sweat and blood. To be fair, the both of them were. Adjusting his grip, Kursha lowered the muzzle of rifle and regarded her. It was impossible to say what his thoughts were in that moment. The lapse in violence was nothing but an illusion however. A second later the butt swung around to clip Rasali on the chin.

“Give up.”

seekingCylem

[ Kursha does 2 damage. ]

 

[seekingCylem]

HP: 10/40
Military Weapon: +1 DMG
Trinkets:
1/1 Defensive Style B: Nullify damage from last hit.

Rasali and Kursha faced each other down far longer than Rasali was sure either of them would have liked. Even the forest was silent, or perhaps, Rasali merely couldn't hear the birds over the sounds of the pair's thick breathing.

Rasali's head snapped ninety-degrees. Blood and a tooth disappeared into the grass. She didn't fall, but her head hung limply at an angle, as though it had yet to realize she had even been struck. Kursha spoke. Rasali said nothing. Her hair obscured much of her face, exposing only the thick stream of blood that coated her lips and chin.

Kursha had said it like it was so simple. To an extent, it was. If she stopped, it would be over. She'd be dead, captured, or both. The idea was almost enticing in its transparency.

Unfortunately, as tired as she was--of running, of hiding, of losing, of being shot--Rasali was certain that even as a ghost, she wouldn't be able to rest if this was how she went out. "Give up," and to what end? Aandes was gone from her. The Phoenix Initiative was far beyond the military's reach. Ganyma, and even Odette, were hidden in plain sight. Everyone was safe. Rasali might have been on her literal last leg, but when it came down to the heart of the matter--Rasali's heart:

Kursha didn't have s**t on her.

Rasali tensed her knee and jumped, headbutting Kursha between the eyes.

Rasali does 8 damage!

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 0

“Son of a b***h!”

There was a mighty crack. Kursha staggered back, dropping the rifle as his hands went to his forehead on reflex. His vision swam with bursts of colour. A sharp pain resonated all the way through his skull. He felt the tightening in his throat and jaw as nausea welled up. Blinking furiously, pupils dilated, he tried to see through the cloud of lights. A shape appeared somewhere to his left and he reached to steady himself. Instead the world tipped and momentarily all sense of gravity was gone. Then he found himself laying in the grass on his side.

Kursha propped himself up, shaking his head to clear the stars. It did little good. Lights still burst in his vision, though some of the world reappeared through the glow. Acting more on instinct than any kind of conscious thought, he groped around in the grass for his weapon.

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

Rasali wobbled herself from the force of the blow, as well as the sudden change in elevation to her body that was already lacking in a great deal of its blood. Kursha hit the ground and Rasali steeled herself against the impulse to drop her guard with relief. She'd lived through this scenario before. She knew what she needed to do next.

Kursha's gun lay in the grass. Rasali stumbled. She forced herself to move at a painfully slow pace to pick it up without losing balance. Rifle in hand, she turned to Kursha to make sure he hadn't regained his bearings. With sharp, fumbling movements, Rasali released the cartridge from the gun. Bullets spilled around her feet. She took the barrel in one hand, the stock in the other. She cracked the rifle over her knee.

The rifle snapped at the grip. Its chamber mechanism bent open at a severe angle, spilling its smaller parts among the bullets in the grass. Rasali screeched with the effort of rending the gun and the strain it put on all of her damaged limbs. She dropped the remains of the stock and was left loosely holding the dented barrel from her fingertips like a club.

She advanced on Kursha, expression both tensed and deadened from the events of the night. All this work and Kursha ended up right where he started. She should kill him. It would be clean, efficient, and a hell of a lot more merciful than anything he'd do for her.

Rasali's weakened grip struggled to find purchase on the gun barrel. It was still a little warm from earlier.

But what had Kursha actually done to her in the grand scheme of things? Nothing she hadn't already had coming by her own hand regardless. Rasali had unapologetically committed numerous acts of treason. The loss of her home and public identity was inevitable. Kursha's involvement was practically a coincidence. She had a new hive. It was one with neighbors. Comrades she could share every facet of her life with. After everything she'd been through, Rasali hadn't really lost anything but time and patience.

What did Kursha have to show for it? He was still clamoring for this literal garbage. An attempt to reclaim dignity could not have gone more wrong.

It was pathetic.

"...You haven't grown up at all."

Rasali had a lot of time to think about scorekeeping that night. She'd fulfilled her end of the bargain. She'd played the game that was demanded of her. She owed Kursha nothing--least of all putting him out of his misery.

He'd spun his own recuperacoon. It was time for him to lie in it.

Rasali swung down on Kursha. What he'd do when he woke up was on him. Rasali had no part in it.  

[Sypon]

Drifting in and out of consciousness. Whenever the sound of gunfire roared through the room, Aandes’ eyes fluttered open and nothing more. Rasali was dying. Please, Rasali… Please.

The unfamiliar cacophony of wood splitting and snapping roused Aandes. Kursha was down. She had won. He breathed out, a small whistle like he had been holding it in. Some sense of pride flickered like a dying flame inside of him. Aandes’ mouth twitched up, his fingers curled. “Good… Ras… Leave me.” He hoped she saw, hoped she heard. His vision fuzzed out.

Quote:

and exit stage left