|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:50 pm
Well, this was the spot.
It was just some bench in the local park, not far from the shopping district, but it was the spot. Khaldun was becoming more and more aware that it was ******** cold out on mid-December evenings like this one, but all he had in the way of protection from the elements was a threadbare hoodie over a t-shirt, and jeans that had been painstakingly shredded at the knees from scuffing around concrete during schoolyard fights. Pacing, he'd tried that. Didn't really keep him as warm as skipping this whole covert operation would have. He should have. It would have served her right for ******** everything. Least she could do would be to show up on time for her own damn meeting, becase he had better things to do. Shrugging his sleeve up, he checked his wristwatch. She was late. Fantastic. If he'd known she was going to take her god-damned time to walk over here, he'd have at least brought along some music to listen to. Another sharp glance down the little concrete path and he plunked himself down on the bench with a growl of annoyance. This was so boring.
He'd give it another minute, just one, and then he'd bail on this. His patience was gone. He could change into his Negaverse uniform and just jump roofs back to Hillworth, and be back in half the time it ought to take. Yeah. ******** it all. He looked around carefully for signs of life. No one was walking through this windy part of the path. It only took a split second to phase into the heavy black uniform. Much better. Hematite got to his feet, brushing ice crystals off the back of his jacket.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:02 pm
Gabbie inhaled the cold, crisp air and grinned. There was just something about a cold December evening that made her crazy to be outside and moving. It was.. invigorating. And it helped her to think. And after the events of the last few days, she badly needed to get her thoughts sorted out. Talking cats, homicidal purple-haired girls and weird, dangerous powers had not been part of her five year plan. COme to think of it, searching for some mysterious Princess hadn't been either. All she'd wanted in life was to do well in school, get her Paleontology degree from uni and spend the rest of her life digging up dead mysteries.
She didnt notice the boy near the bench until she was almost upon him. And then, caution made her duck behind a tree before he could see her. She wasn't sure WHY exactly the odd black uniform sent chills up her spine, but she was quickly learning to trust the little voice of instinct that had blossomed in her head after she'd become Sailor Saiph. Moving quietly and carefully, she got away, finally finding a safe place to transform.
Moments later, Sailor Saiph was on the move. If she froze her a** off in this cold for nothing, she was going to be seriously annoyed. Finally, she stood, framed, between two trees near the bench with her arms crossed.
"I hope for your sake," she began in a flat voice, "that you aren't the trouble starting type."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:16 pm
Hematite was just standing there by the bench, busy figuring out his semi-aerial route back to Hillworth, when he was interrupted. Still partially lost in thought, he turned his dark-eyed gaze over to the speaker. It gave him sudden clarity of thought to realize he was staring at a sailor senshi. Oh, for ******** sake, he didn't get to duck out that easily, did he? Well, he couldn't just back off right away in case someone decided to finally show up for their own get-together and catch him turning tail and running. She took this Negaverse s**t too seriously, and that might actually piss her off more than anything else he'd done lately. Fine. He'd stick his goddamn neck out long enough to make it look like he maybe probably might have potentially had a serious fight, and then he was so ******** out of here, whether or not she actually showed up. It was still cold as ******** balls, even in his Negaverse uniform, and he was freezing his a** off standing around here.
"For my sake?" He looked insulted at first, but his expression softened slightly after a long leering pause. Now it was merely a jagged, barely surpressed grin, like she'd just told the sort of joke that was wildly hilarious but offensive to laugh at. He didn't have a weapon, but did he need one for this? Probably couldn't hurt. His hands groped at his pockets and then down to his makeshift belt, on the off chance he had a lighter or something to throw and maybe get a reaction out of the senshi. They had ******** magic on their side, and it was always something absolutely bizarre. Fingers paused, then slowly, casually, Hematite undid the sash from around his waist and tied a knot at one end. It was heavy cloth, so it would have to do. The whole time, he kept talking, his voice casual and almost friendly. The things he said weren't as nearly suited for it, pretty deliberately trying to get a rise out of his opponent. "You know, for a second there, I thought you were, I don't know, threatening me? But that couldn't be right. I must have misheard you there. See, if some dumb little b***h like you was trying to intimidate me, she might want to try giving me a reason to take her seriously in the first place. So why shouldn't I start any trouble, senshi?"
Hematite had been a lieutenant for a year already, and had sparring experience to span it all, even if he'd avoided most senshi fights. He did had a hell of a lot of practice with the jumping, though. Without warning, the Negaverser darted forward with a few steps and launched himself into the air. The sash-weapon he swung like a whip, aiming the knot at the senshi's head as he sailed over her like a skull-studded flea. Like hell was he going to just jump right at her; that was Obsidian-scale crazy. He needed to see if he could get that close first with fists alone. God only knew what she could do to his sash, but better the cloth than him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:13 am
Oh, this was too rich, she thought. If she'd been a little more tempermental, his words might have stung her into doing something stupid. And if she hadn't just been victorious against the purple haired girl with the dead eyes, she'd have likely been even more prone to doing something stupid. As it was, she couldn't really leap into the air where she was standing. But she could lunge forward and give him less of a target. Which is precisely what she did.
Mimicing her opponent, she kept her voice purposefully light, amused, as if this cocky little b*****d was nothing more than a routine clean up on aisle 4. And hey. At least this one only weilded a knotted bit of fabric and not fricken' jumper cables.
"I wouldn't call it threatening so much as, mmm... friendly warning. But, now that you've gone and ruined my lovely gesture, trust me, we can skip the threatening and go right to the me putting you in traction phase."
Her bruised shoulder twinged as she moved, causing her to wince. That was going to make things a little harder if she couldn't keep dodging this guy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:17 am
"What did I ever do to you?" he asked sardonically. Hematite's boots hit the icy concrete, and he steadied himself for the impact before turning sharply to face his opponent again. Dark eyes searched her for several seconds as he pondered his next move. He was clear to make a run for it now, at least, if he wanted to back down. But it had been, what, five seconds? He just knew the meeting planner of sorts would show up right at the worst time. So this would have to be drawn out just a bit longer. If he didn't get close, he wasn't going to land a shot. Hand to hand combat was extremely effective for humans, since a human couldn't pull magical bullshit out of thin air to attack with. And all this piece of cloth would be good for would be strangling her, but again, he'd need to actually get up close enough to wind it around her windpipe first. Confident, was she? He could take a chance. Call her bluff, come at her, hit her in the right places and she'd be down in minutes, and dead not long after that. He didn't run across a whole lot of regular people who had to stick to a strict sparring regiment, anyhow, least of all teenage girls in slutty uniforms.
But--
But she might not be bluffing. Hematite had run across senshi that could make it hail, could throw magical energy balls that hurt like a b***h, and of course there was Tisiphone and her hole puncher attack. There wasn't a whole lot he could gauge from this senshi's unusually ratty costume, since they all really looked the same. Could be ******** anything she'd try and pull on him, which included anything from a minor annoyance to something extremely deadly. However, her confident tone and talk did jar against her pained expression as she'd dodged his makeshift weapon. Was she not holding up so well as she was letting on? It wouldn't hurt to get one more senshi's star seed if it was that easy...
"Oh, wait, I know what it was!" he called out with feigned cheerfulness, swinging the cloth weapon idly at his side. It was probably a bad idea, but he banked on the assumption that senshi who were not Tisiphone, the ones with a great deal more personality and small talk, also had a great deal more value of 'life'. He was in this to call her bluff; missing was at best going to ******** hurt, at worst not hurt for too long at all in the end. She'd left herself framed between two trees still, even dodging away as she had. One expert leap had him crunching his boot against flaking bark a good ways over the senshi's head, realigning his jump more vertically. He was a little ways above her now, switching the aim of his boots for landing mid-arc, a hard kick in waiting while the other foot would absorb the impact. His aim wasn't where she was this time, though, but where he expected she'd dodge to next, back toward the spot where she started.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:44 am
Huh. What had this guy ever done to her? Sure, he hadn't been doing anything activiely evil when she'd stumbled on him. And for all she knew, he was innocent. But that jarring feeling of 'BADBADBAD!' had her firmly in it's grip and wasnt' about to let her go. Besides, innocent people didn't start attacking. Had he simply gotten away, Saiph would have been happy to leave him alone. So. What had he ever done to her?
In a flat voice she answered, "You came into existence."
He was moving almost too fast for Saiph to keep track of, reminding her of a flea hopped up on crack. She saw him coming down and dodged, realizing almost too late that she was doing exactly what he wanted and tossing herself back to the other side. But not before his foot connected with her wounded shoulder. White light exploded behind her eyes as her shoulder blossomed in fresh pain. But she didn't give him the satisfaction of screaming or whimpering.
Instead, she gave him a taste of what she could do in the form of a scream-snarled, "Tail Thrash!"
Her aim was off. She knew it was off. But even if the bulk of her uncontrollable attack missed him, it should still catch an arm or leg or something.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:58 pm
Hematite was starting to reach the point where air intake was going to be a lot more useful to his fighting skills than tossing out petty insults, and had to hold back from wasting breath snapping back at the senshi. He grinned as he landed the shot on her shoulder, his other foot hitting the ground and allowing him the chance to get in close. Not even bothering with the magic, huh? This was going to be too easy! He really should have been suspicious, because it turned out there was no bluff to call this time.
The paddle-like end of the energy tail caught him as he was about to move in for the kill. He'd been in better shape than she had, till now. Even with the aim off, the sheer force behind the sweep knocked him aside and bodily into another tree nearby. The back of a shoulder and one of his legs hit it hard before he stumbled back, disoriented, the cloth falling from his grip in the process. Something had cracked too hard. He'd felt it rather than heard it. Each step he took on his right leg was painful, too painful to think he could do any more jumping for a while yet. Or running. Walking was also not working out so well the more he experimented with it. She could probably see he was leaning heavily on his left leg, taking careful, agonizing steps to redistribute his weight on only one good leg.
His expression was hell as he looked at her, but instead of doing something sensible like limping away, he cracked his knuckles. She'd get him in the back if he tried to run now, unable to move any faster than one of Obsidian's track rejects. He wasn't supposed to be alone here for long, anyway, right? He could still... he could still take her out. And his leg would have to be better tomorrow, so he wouldn't have to even deal with the Negaverse's Dr. Killingworth. Yeah. Instinctively he geared up to swing a punch underhanded toward her abdomen, intending to wind her before she could shout any more magic words. They were still in awfully close proximity, so it wasn't a lot of ground he had to cover as he tried to close the gap by running it. She could hear him swearing under his breath each time he put down his right foot.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:57 am
Clutching her shoulder, she couldn't help but grin tightly as she heard the boy swearing. That'll teach you to start tossing insults, she thought as she blinked away tears of pain. She didn't see him limping, didn't see him coming at her. So when his fist said hello to her stomach, she went down hissing and gasping for breath. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Khalla was going to be so annoyed with her for getting beaten up. She just knew it.
Still, even as she went down, she tried to protect herself. Gasping like a landed fish, she fell to the side, kicking a leg out as hard as she could. Granted, it didn't have her full force behind it, but at this point, she was just hoping to trip the little b*****d up long enough to get her breath back and introduce him to her fist.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:03 am
Her kick smashed him right in his uninjured leg, crumpling him to the ground beside her. And there they both were, lying on the frosted over concrete, neither quite able to get to their feet before the other could drag them down again. One short of breath, one short of viable legs to stand on. But the fight wasn't over. It was a wonder no one had come running, but Destiny City had an unspoken curfew and no human with even a vague sense of self-preservation would want to be walking around a park after dark running toward trouble.
It wasn't a particularly glorious scuffle that spanned the next handful of seconds. Blocking and clawing and elbowing between the two, with the occasional kicking and kneeing blind to their targets, it looked to any observer like a really lazy fight. The lieutenant wasn't putting his all into it. Turned out he'd just been testing her for a pattern he could use. Hematite grabbed an opening in her defense to smash the base of his hand against the bridge of her nose. The senshi would be temporarily blinded by tears. Then, wasting no time, both his hands went for her throat and successfully wrapped around it with bitterly cold fingers.
Unfortunately for his opponent, air was a necessity even for sailor senshi. She didn't even have much before he started choking the life out of her. She'd struggle. They always struggled when he tried to crush their windpipes like this. But it would only take another minute or two before she was unconscious, and then he'd pluck out her star seed. Like some kind of Christmas present, no wrapping necessary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:20 am
Lieutenant Hematite had done his damndest against a talented first-level senshi. He really had. Saiph had a lot of promise for somebody who was pretty new to the scene -- and didn't have a lot of fear to boot, which compounded it. But now she was getting choked to death, which would be nobody's Christmas miracle but Khaldun Cilentani's as he presented the thing to his boss (who was really busy with something else).
It was snowing. The roaring that suddenly started up could have been from traffic, could have been from a plane going overhead, the noise slightly muffled by all the snow except for the tiny voice of: "Tidal Concrete Vortex!"
But he was busy choking Saiph, and let his guard down. So when a senshi grabbed on his long dreadlocks and made a sharp eyewatering tug upwards -- "Jesus, dude looks like a lady," he was faced with a new scuffle: one on the edge of a whirlpool in the middle of the road, that had sucked in all the snow and was hungry for more. Its suction was tugging on Saiph, Nerissa and Hematite -- Nerissa, he'd heard about Nerissa. He punched her full in the face. She went "Ow," and headbutted him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:29 am
Hematite hadn't expected to be dragged away, from a senshi he was once again this close to snuffing out, by anyone. He did a quick assessment of the situation as his fingers were peeled away from the senshi's throat by distance alone. They had him by the hair. They didn't seem keen to let go, either, and if he did anything too reckless to escape their grip he'd be sporting a bald patch. He could have read this one out of even a zombie survival handbook, if he ever bothered to read any books (he didn't). For an experienced fighter, yanking someone around by their long hair was an easy trick in the book. Hematite twisted his head, blinking away the tears, trying to get a look at what kind of idiot would try to-
Oh, jesus, Sailor Nerissa. Super Sailor Nerissa. He'd heard that much about her. He didn't know what was so 'super' about her, but then again he'd never understood the 'sailor' part to begin with.
She received a gutteral growl and a sharp right hook for her comment. He got a hard hit to the head, prompting yet more growling, a loud "********!" and a muttered "Jesus CHRIST." Lights flashed in his vision as he tried to blink it away, quickly becoming part of an unwanted tandem with the pain in his leg. Something was tugging at his feet, as though he'd stepped on a deep pile of snow and started to sink. He couldn't see what, couldn't waste a moment. Senshi fought with words. Silence, then - he needed to shut her up before she could shout some ******** thing too, if she hadn't already. That or get her screaming. Hematite raised his hands slowly, flat and vertical, like he was planning to try something he learned out of Karate Kid on her and --
The Lieutenant delivered a sharp kick to Nerissa's left kneecap, hoping to crumple her enough for a chance to deliver a blow to her spine. His full weight landed on his bad leg, causing him to stumble and curse some more as he tried to right himself before he could fall backward.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:04 am
Stars were dancing in Saiph's eyes as she gripped at Hematite's wrists, trying to weakly pull his fingers from her throat. Oh, Khalla was going to be so upset with her if she let some dumb boy kill her... Even as Saiph's amber eyes were dimming, something yanked Hematite off of her and she lay with her cheek against the cold ground. Between her shoulder, face, stomach and throat, she hovered in a momentary limbo, wondering if she wanted to live. And then, she could breathe and the world around her came flooding back. Blinking furiously to clear her eyes, she pushed herself up slightly and saw Hematite fighting with someone else. Someone who had apparently kept him from killing her. Someone, she abruptly decided, who needed help in beating that little ******** down.
And then she was on her feet, wobbling slightly as muscles protested this course of action. Saiph ignored the protests, focusing all her attention on Hematite, saw him kicking out, and she started to move. This time, she didn't miss seeing the stumble. Sporting a feral grin, she charged him, her fist moving, curving to slam directly into his eye.
If she could have seen herself, she might have noticed that her eyes had gone as dead and flat as Tanzanite's. And if Hemetite had ever watched Jaws and noticed her eyes, he might have been reminded of Quint's line about shark's having "dead eyes, dolls' eyes".
"I," she began in a ragged, hoarse, growling voice, "am going to make you very sorry that you didn't just walk away when you had a chance."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:13 am
"Holy s**t!"
That was from limping Sailor Nerissa. The blue-haired whirlpool senshi turned from the beating that she was delivering to Hematite to Saiph -- as she grabbed her arm, for the first time Saiph felt the massive suction from the whirlpool that Hematite was staggering away from. Attempting to stagger away from. Nerissa dragged Jaws Junior away from the gaping maw currently devouring every single piece of litter from the street -- "Jesus, Rambo, get away from that thing."
When Saiph had wobbled away enough for Nerissa's comfort, she reached up, beeped Primordial's nose and looked back. Hematite was trying to stagger away from the whirlpool too, away from the both of them. It was a tossup now as to whether
- you went after Hematite, who was already limping away like a hedgehog who was going to die after being hit by a car
- you let sleeping dogs lie
Nerissa liked letting sleeping dogs lie.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:53 am
Letting sleeping dogs lie had never been one of Saiph's strong suits. Even as she was pulled away from the whirlpool in the middle of the path, she struggled. Until she actually LOOKED down and saw what the hell it was she was being pulled away from. Blanching, she allowed the other senshi to get her out of the way, blinking in bemusement as her nose was beeped. A quick glance at her rescuer provided no helpful clues as to who this girl was or how she'd managed to make a fricken' whirlpool appear.
Still, as she watched Hematite trying to get away, she couldn't help but feel a small desire to "help" him along his way. Her hand began to glow as she started to whisper the words, her voiced sounding strange to her own ears. But before she could finish the phrase that would release her attack, somethign made her stop. Or rather seeing how little progress Hematite seemed to be making had Saiph on pause. She didn't know what her own power would do to the whirlpool. And frankly, she was tired. Her breathing was ragged and painful thanks to Hematite's crushing fingers.
With a small sigh, she unclenched her fists and swallowed the rest of the attack phrase. Sinking down to the ground, she sat near the other senshi, watching her curiously. Just for tonight, she'd let someone else be the hero.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 5:01 am
"Attempting" and "trying" were the operative words in this situation. Wild-eyed, Hematite was moving in a confusing zigzag thanks to the disparity between how long he could put each foot down. His thoughts came in bursts of anger. It ******** sucked. "Tail Thrash" ******** sucked. Mystery senshi's giant glowing tail attack was now resting comfortably at the top of his list of 'reasons to kill senshi', which was not actually a particularly long list, just one full of personal grievances. He looked like he'd just had a double dose of domestic violence with a side of ski injury. The pull of the vortex was stronger than he could get away from now that he'd further messed up his bad leg by trying to use it for the kick. And then he'd had his foot stomped on. The senshi he'd almost managed to kill had done a number on his face, but he hadn't held up well to Sailor Nerissa with one eye swollen shut and the ground constantly on the move under his feet. For every step he took toward the outside edge of the whirlpool, he was dragged one and a half inward.
Escape was the only thing running through his mind. This was just supposed to be an easy kill or a quick fight, not a losing battle! He took on a senshi. He almost killed a senshi. The senshi brought some... some ******** backup. It was time to run, or whatever constituted running for him now. Staggering. Staggering away. He didn't sign up for this s**t, wasn't going to stick his neck out in a two-versus-one fight when he was the 'one'. And she was STILL LATE. Canceled on him, huh, ******** b***h. And Charonite was a b*****d. And those sailor senshi whores, all of them, they could all go ******** themselves. God damn his leg hurt. Crookedly he wiped some blood from his busted lip. He could feel the cold now, more than ever, clawing at the inside of his lungs with every breath like knives. The senshi could be following him, still, now, like this. Like ******** komodos, following prey at a distance till it dropped dead. Worried for his life, he turned his head to reassure himself, but it was all the distraction his already hazy mind needed. There was a reason people balanced better with both feet firmly planted. It was like the ground had taken hold of his feet and tugged sideways, hard - he fell.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
