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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 5:18 pm
xxxxxAgain, her coach's voice echoed in her mind as she whacked the tennis ball square over the net, just missing the hula hoop she had carefully set up as a target. The ball missed the hoop by six or seven inches, and bounced backward towards the net. "Again," she mumbled to herself, as she picked up another ball from the raised basket sitting next to her. The ball flew over the net and landed right on the rim of the hoop and bounced out. Talia growled in frustration.
xxxxxIt was getting a little dark, maybe a few minutes until sunset, but Talia wasn't going to give up until she hit inside this hoop enough times to please herself. Besides, there were street lamps set up all around the court, so it was filled with florescent light.
xxxxxTalia took a moment to compose herself and straighten her stance. She wiped her forehead with the wristband pinching her wrist and gazed around. The park was pretty quiet at this time; most people were eating dinner right about now. There were a few couples out for walks and few stragglers walking through the park due to the cool temperature. Thank God there were no children. Talia hated children.
xxxxxShe picked up another ball in her hand and squeezed it for luck. As the ball flew through the air she whacked it and it landed in the hoop. "Yes!" Talia shouted, loudly enough for a few passer byers to turn their heads. Of course, she was too ecstatic about hitting the target. Well... it had only been a few inches in, and was probably just luck, but she was going to count it as a victory.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 5:58 pm
Attracted by the commotion, a figure approached the tennis cage. For a few minutes, it seemed to skirt the cage, as though the lights were warding it off, or it was sizing up the cage and its contents. Maybe it was just trying to figure out a way in. A dark youma licked its chops, and returned to watching in a slack-jawed state. Drool oozed from the corner of its mouth and dropped on the pavement with a disgusting plop, as though it was more than saliva that it was secreting.
As far as youma went, this one was rather... simple. It had shining, black eyes that were bright and curious, but didn't seem to register much of what was going on. For now, it just lingered in the bushes and moved every now and then, its left arm, large and distorted and its fist seeming like a small boulder, dragged along on the ground and made its movement slow and its posture hunched. Absentmindedly, it played with one of the dull tusks on its lower jaw with its other hand which sported a few human-like fingers.
It had spotted the door of the tennis cage and hesitated before approaching a few steps, its larger fist dragging and disturbing the dirt behind it.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:09 pm
Tony was exploring yet another new part of town on his patrol. It was strange, discovering just how big the place was. He had lived there for most of his life, and yet he had not explored half as much as he thought. A resident should know more about the place he lived, shouldn't he? Yet now he felt like he should be carrying a map.
Just in case.
It wasn't just the city that was big. It was the park. He knew he had been here before, but here, this area of it, was completely new to him. That blew his mind. It wasn't near the trails he usually walked Dogby along, and let her play near, so he had no reason to visit. Except to protect it from things that go bump in the night, of course.
Looking around, he noticed various kinds of courts. Basketball, there was a baseball field, soccer. This was the sporty sector. He expected it to be quiet, but there were still a handful of people around, so he was powered down as he walked. It meant limping along on his cane, but it was better than being the weirdo in the knight outfit.
He was just passing by the tennis area when he spotted a shadow that did not look human. He followed it and saw the back of a twisted youma moving into a tennis court. No one was around to see him do it, but he bounced behind cover to power up anyway, before heading over to the court. He had lost some time with the change, though, and by now he was sure the girl in the court had seen the youma.
And the youma the girl.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:42 pm
xxxxxTalia hadn't noticed the youma at first. She served another ball into the other side of the court, narrowly missing the hoop. She cursed under her breath at her luck. It was only when the latch on the tennis court down squealed that she turned her attention away. This was a single court. Did someone want to play with her or something? Couldn't they see that she was practicing on her own right now? Of course, another contender might not be a bad thing.
xxxxx"Look I don't mean to be rude," she said as she was turning, "But the court is clo- EEEEEEEEEE." She screamed as she saw the ... thing. It couldn'tve just been some deformed human. No, this thing was far from human. It was disgusting. What was it?
xxxxxWas it some sort of movie prop? Maybe it was ... Talia had no idea. Pure fear racked her body, but she wasn't stupid. She held up her racket defensively. "Y-you stay back m-mister ..." she said feebly. It wasn't much of a battle cry, but what could she do?
xxxxxIt was then that she noticed a man in stranger, even funnier clothing. Well if there were two of them, maybe it was a movie prop indeed. It sure was realistic makeup then. Regardless, she let out a sigh of relief and said, "Oh it's just a costume? Gosh you guys gave me a good scare. What's with the get up though?" Internally she was scolding herself for being so rude to the person. What if they were offended, Talia? God you're so stupid sometimes she thought to herself. She let down the racket, and her guard for the time being. They were just costumes she repeated.
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:37 pm
The youma lurked onto the court with its wide smile. The door to the court was now slightly dented where it had swung upwards at the latch. It was such a clever youma! So smart! (not really) It tilted its head dumbly as Talia spoke to it. Such a noisy food thing. It licked its big chops at the thought of her starseed.
The beast leaned back and closed its mouth and then began to make the strangest of noises. Almost as if it was choking or gagging on something. And then the next thing you know...
WHAP.
A spitball with quite a bit of substance hit Talia square in the head. It had a sting akin to diluted rubbing alcohol, so its real punch came from the mass it had. What fun! The youma's jaunty expression reappeared on its face and it raised its hammer-like fist and smashed the ground near its feet in happiness, leaving a small hole in the court and began to advance closer to Talia, before it noticed the energy that had just popped up in the area. How strange.
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Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 2:04 pm
xxxxxTalia screamed. She screamed louder than a banshee on halloween. All of the bystanders that were in the park at one point probably thought she was being raped or something. Well maybe that was just Talia's imagination going a bit farther than need be, but the effect was the same.
xxxxxOf course, some might say that Talia was overreacting. Needless to say though, SHE WAS COVERED IN SPIT. PAINFUL spit at that. What was this, some sort of stupid hollywood prank? Was it like the show Punk'd? Why her? Was someone at Crystal secretly out to get her?
xxxxx... SHE WAS COVERED IN SPIT.
xxxxxShe tried to wipe it off, but found that the stick substance just coated her hands more. She felt like throwing up it was so gross. Eventually she had to use her racket to pry it off. Luckily it was her spare racket, but how was she supposed to explain this to her parents?!
xxxxx"Oh yeah, while I was at the park some pranksters came and threw a baseball sized spit wad at me."
xxxxxConfusion turned to anger as she faced the weird ... actor ... monster ... whatever it was! "Just what the HELL do you think you're doing?!" She was bright red at this point. No one dumped some weirdo movie prop spit on her and just got away with it. This was Talia Chu they were messing with! "I will have you know, my father is a very important lawyer. Layton Chu, ever heard of him?! Whatever the hell this practical joke is, my father will being hearing about it, and I promise you he will NOT be happy!" Normally she didn't like to throw around her father's name, or even mention him at all. It just seemed like the appropriate situation to throw in his name though.
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Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 7:24 pm
The Knight trotted into the area expecting a scared girl and a youma advancing on her. What he got instead was a ranting girl and a youma looking fairly disinterested in her. Or at least disinterested in what she was saying.
It still looked rather interested in what she was saying. It did look hungry.
"Miss, stop!"
Camelot hurried over, realizing the girl was giving a lecture to the youma which, in the end, would not do much good. She was just going to let the youma get too close to her, and what good would that do her? From the look of the thing, it would not end well.
"I wouldn't talk to it: it can't understand you."
He didn't realize she thought it was all some kind of prank. A knight showing up was probably not going to help dissuade that idea, though the Page was only trying to do his job and keep her safe. He moved closer to her, watching the youma carefully.
If she did anything... reckless... he hoped he would be able to stop her.
"Just leave this to me, I'll get rid of it. When I have it distracted, you should seek shelter somewhere, alright?"
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:47 pm
The youma's slack-jawed grin grew twice as big at the girl's scream. What a pleasant sound! It laughed in a deep, guttural sound, but it soon stopped. The girl was still blathering away. While the scream had been entertaining, the youma soon grew tired of all of her blathering. Before advancing, it leaned its head back again and launched another spit-ball, this one aimed at her shoulder.
Its attack left it drooling more than ever, and at the sound of another voice, it turned. Another starseed! What luck! It leaned its head back to prepare another spit ball for the new man and launched its drool-y attack. It then proceeded to fiddle with a tusk and tilt its head playfully before returning to the loud one and walking towards her. His heavy, mutated fist was the only thing that slowed his approach.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:18 pm
xxxxxSuddenly Talia's rant was interrupted by a call somewhere to her right. A man dressed like a knight straight out of Camelot was yelling at her, to ... stop? Was he some sort of movie extra? If this was his daily wear, Talia could just assume this was some sort of insane, deranged man, but if he had this get up for a reason...
xxxxxCan't understand me? Talia thought. Just what was this ... thing? Maybe an animal was controlling this ... machine? Talia just stared in disbelief. Was it really ... not human? No there had to be something in there controlling it. Talia was too old to believe in monsters and fairy tales. Knights and dragons didn't exist.
xxxxxTalia squeaked as the ... thing started moving towards her. What the hell was she supposed to do? The man had said to just run away. "Run away? Sir, with all do respect, you don't know me at all. The Chus never run away!" she said in his direction. Talia wasn't quite sure if she was ready to trust this man. After all, he could just be insane too. Cautiously, she raised her tennis racket. That's right, she wasn't going to give up. It's not real. You're probably sleeping or something Talia. God you have messed up dreams, she thought to herself.
xxxxxWith a girlish little "battle cry" Talia ran towards the youma and started smacking it with her racket. Luckily this was her spare racket; it could be replaced. She whacked and whacked, but nothing seemed to work. What, was it made of metal?!
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:30 am
Camelot made a disgusted face when the youma made to spit at him. He could just see that was what it was doing, though he hoped it would reconsider because that was just disgusting. It didn't, and he didn't even pull his shield up to protect himself. It would just get hit with the spit and splatter, and he would still suffer it hitting him.
Instead, he opted to get out of the way completely, thanking some unknown force for his boost in strength and speed. He darted and rolled to the side, stopping in a crouch with his shield instinctively in front of him. He peered from behind it.
"Then don't consider it running away!" He called to the obstinate girl. He had not yet run into a civilian who had not wanted to be saved, though he knew they existed. More than once he had gotten in a Senshi's way, he was sure, in his efforts to help.
Though he wasn't getting the impression she wanted to help him. He got the impression that she wanted to handle it entirely. Maybe she didn't quite understand the situation she was in.
"No!" The Knight called, lurching to his feet and kicking off toward the girl, like a track runner at a starter pistol, when he saw her barreling toward the youma. He reached her and caught his arm around her waist, hauling her up and away from the youma as quickly as he could. It was like pulling a child away from an open flame, as far as he was concerned. She didn't understand how badly she could be burned.
For half a moment he had his back to the youma, while he settled the girl back to the floor behind him. He kept himself between the two on purpose.
"This is more dangerous than you seem to think! Please, let me handle it!"
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:07 pm
The youma was made quite sad by the assault on it by the little girl. She was awfully pesky, too, but it did bring her starseed closer! He swung his heavy fist at her, but it seemed the impact only helped the page catch her and take her away. How frustrating! The seed had been so close. It scowled and tilted its head back while the page was facing away from him.
Hock... SPIT!
Another loogie was headed for Camelot. After launching that, the youma, with a much meaner expression and drool flowing feely, leaned forward to approach on all fours. Thinking it was close enough now, it raised its large fist to swing at the page and get him out of the way between this youma and what would soon be his starseed.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:25 pm
xxxxxA scream penetrated the air as the giant fist came rushing towards her. An amalgam of pain and relief overtook her as the man tackled her out of the way. As the man lay on top of her, she sort of nudged him out of the way. Talia was searching for a prince or a knight to sweep her off her feet, but this wasn't exactly how she planned it.
xxxxxTalia was feeling a mixture of confusion and general understanding of the risk of her situation. Part of her wanted to listen to the man and just run the ******** away. Still, some part of her wanted to play the knight in shining armor. She was about to answer his pleas when another spitball came flying their way.
xxxxxInstincts moved her body. Talia bolted and whacked the spitball with her tennis racket. Years of tennis lessons and practice had formed her body into a machine when it came to tennis. The spitball just sort of stuck to the racket for a moment, then oozed through the holes. Luckily though, it hadn't hit anyone. She turned back to the man triumphantly and said, "See! I'll help you beat this ... thingy. Mister, what is this? Some sort of movie prop gone wrong?" She had already forgotten about this man's plea to run away.
xxxxx"Dangerous?" she questioned. Was it going to explode or something? Surely with how realistic this animatronic monster was, it was bound to have quite a few wires and things. Talia was far too stubborn. She was valiant and heroic right?
xxxxxShe also didn't see the second fist headed straight for her.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:35 pm
"Yes, we can call it that," he said, frowning deeply. He did not really care what she chose to believe, at least not at the moment, as long as she was safe. They could talk about the youma later. Or he could run off.
When she blocked the spit ball he was thankful, but he didn't want her to get in trouble. He looked at her in wonder.
"Th-that's okay. I'm sure I can handle it. Please, just find a safe place-"
He, at least, saw the fist flying at them and moved to protect her. He put himself between her and the attack, letting the fist hit him in the back. The chain mail wasn't much for absorbing the blow, but he kept his footing and grimaced.
"I can't fight it if I'm worried for you, please go and hide!"
He turned around, keeping on arm back toward her to make sure she was protected. He focused on the youma. He had to get rid of it, but the girl seemed dead set on 'helping' him, which only complicated things further.
"Let me handle it: I know where to hit it to... turn it off."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:15 pm
The youma gargled a noise that sounded of disappointment. The spitball didn't land. Shameful. At least the blow did. Its eyes followed the knight and it tilted its head and followed then with its head and body until it no longer faced the girl. This extra special starseed would be extra yummy, right? It tilted its head back once more to launch an attack at the page, but then thought better.
Instead it hunched over and charged at him, its blunt but elongated tusks bearing down on Camelot. Of course, it was a little bit hindered by its large fist. If it were to successfully gore him, the spit would seep into the wound and cause an unpleasant burning sensation, far worse than what was felt just upon skin contact. That is, if it managed to land a good hit.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:41 pm
"We can call it that"?! What kind of response was that! Still, he seemed rather intent on getting her away. The sound of that fist crunching his back wasn't exactly helping her decision though. She twitched instinctively at his grimace, but wasn't about to get in the way of him and that ... thing.
Talia stubbornly held up her racket, and opened her mouth as if to respond, then thought better of it when she glanced up at the monster's arm. She really did want to help, but ... ending up dead wasn't high on her list of priorities.
For a split second, Talia only saw the man's back, and was taken aback for a moment. The way he was protecting her ... it was kind of ... princely? Maybe it was just the costume, but Talia's heart gave a brief, instinctual flutter. Then the man turned back around and she saw his face. Oh yeah. He was old. Rats.
Wait wait wait. He knew where to turn it off? Why the hell didn't he say so in the first place?! "What the hell! Then turn it off!!" she shouted. Talia didn't want to have to sit with this thing any longer than she had to.
For a moment, she hesitated wanting to stay and help him, but realized it really wasn't the time. Especially if he was a technician, a professional. With a worried look over her shoulder, she bolted to the edge of the tennis court and shouted, "Okay fine! Now hurry up and kill it!"
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