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 Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:29 am
It was a quiet evening, quiet enough that Athene was considering powering down and picking up some coffee before heading back home.
He’d been patrolling from since not long after he’d left the hospital, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary – at least not tonight. Still there was a diner nearby, he could pick up some coffee from there, maybe a doughnut too – something sugary would be nice. The diner sold tea too, but (despite the fact the dark-haired personally preferred tea over coffee) he found the tea there too watery for his tastes. Then he could go home and finish working on the jewellery project he was working on, a bracelet and earring set that he was fashioning out of some beads he’d cannibalised from a necklace that he’d picked up from a charity shop.
Decision made, the dark-haired senshi turned his footsteps towards the diner. He’d power down when he got closer. No point wandering into the establishment as he was. Even if the senshi outfit had come with something with a money pocket, Athene wasn’t sure if the people there would serve him since a lot of people seemed to consider the senshi ‘terrorists’.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:21 am
The senshi might have been thinking of home, but not far off, a cat was just starting his nightly rounds. Tomlin didn't have anywhere particular to be tonight, and the bins behind the diner were a bountiful place for scrounging. They never put the lids on properly there. The ginger guardian perched on a nearby fence, waiting for the opportune moment to sweep down and claim some snacks.
But something was not right. It was a small sense, niggling, and his tail twitched in irritable motions as he tried to pinpoint the aura that was making him so uneasy.
He jumped down onto one of the bins, dislodging the unsecured lid in a clatter, and then to the ground, pausing till his own noise died down. There was nothing else to hear except voices inside, so he slunk around the side of the building, watchful.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:37 pm
Athene was a street away from the diner, when the clatter of what sounded like something metallic toppling over made him pause. Looked like that coffee and doughnut was going to have to wait a little longer. He sighed – he could have really done with something hot to drink right about now.
The sound had come from the alley near by where the diner kept their bins, so the dark-haired senshi turned his footsteps in that direction. One small look he told himself, and if it turns out to be nothing then I'll power down and go get that coffee. Sometimes he wished that whoever had come up with his outfit had thought about the logistics of evening patrolling – seriously evening patrolling in what amounted to a t-shirt and shorts get-up got very cold very quickly.
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:14 am
From the mouth of the alley, Tomlin still couldn't get a fix on the disturbing energy signature, but another aura caught his attention. The approaching senshi was a welcome sight, even if it was an unfamiliar face and uniform. He watched the boy – girl? This one was hard to tell. Probably a boy, he decided, by the way he moved, the rhythm of his walk. But either way, it didn’t matter. The senshi was out alone, and that was a bit of a worry.
Keeping to the shadows, the cat edged quietly out of the alleyway, heading towards the senshi. He’d covertly keep him company, just until the boy was off the streets. Or another senshi stepped in to patrol with him. Just in case.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:36 pm
Near the mouth of the alley, Athene suddenly picked up on the aura and slowed. Whatever it was it didn't feel like a senshi aura, or like that page that he'd met – the one who had looked like he'd stepped out from a King Arthur and Knights of the round table story.
Athene paused for a moment before taking a few hesitant steps towards the alley and then jumped as he thought he saw something move in the shadows. He'd managed to half convince himself that it was a figment of his imagination when it moved again.
It was... It was – a cat? Athene hesitated. Yes a cat, a honest to goodness cat! A cat with something that glinted on its front paws. He moved over to get a closer look feeling a little foolish. And there was I thinking that it was one of those youma monsters.
Further down the alley red eyes watched the short male. The source of energy. Strong. There was a fine starseed in this one – it was sure to be soo delicious. It unable to stop the drool of anticipation, the drool hitting the ground with a soft plop. It needed to be closer... Just a little closer and then that delicious starseed would belong to it.
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Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 7:30 am
Apparently not covertly enough. At least it meant the senshi was paying attention.
Spotted, Tomlin stepped out into clear view and sat down just outside the alley, in the light, giving his paw a casual lick to let the watcher know he was simply sitting here by choice, and had had no intent to hide whatsoever. To outside eyes, he might have been an ordinary cat, but for the measured look he gave the boy, the metal accessories he wore, the copper star faintly visible against his orange fur. Despite the relaxed posture, his eyes flicked from the approaching senshi to the alley he’d come from, and his tail tip twitched at the dark energy closing in on them. He could feel it, a crawling chill all up his long spine. With nervous energy, he fussed over the easily matted fur just under the edge of his bracer until the senshi was close enough to speak to safely.
The chaotic energy signature was not abating, and his fur bristled up.
“Stay on your guard, something’s out here,” he said softly. “Got an attack ready?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:38 am
Bracers – the glint was some sort of copper bracers – Athene's brain dimly noted as the cat moved casually into the light and started licking a paw as if for all intents and purposes it had meant to do so all along.
The dark-haired senshi had just noticed the copper star and let his mind muse on why the notion of seeing a cat with a star seemed kind of familiar when the cat spoke.
“You're like *********” Athene blurted out unable to help himself as his mind suddenly made the click. He bit his lip as he picked up on the chaotic aura, voice admitting quietly. “Um my senshi ability's not really that reliable.” Looking down the alley he added “It doesn't seem to work that often.”
There was a sense of impatience as the energy source stopped. It was supposed to get closer – away from the light further down. It didn't like the light so much, but neither did it want to give up such a fine starseed. No it wouldn't give up on the starseed – even if it meant moving closer towards the horrible light.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 5:03 am
“Similar,” Tomlin agreed, with a faint smile. “You know her?”
If he was familiar with *********, that was a good sign, but the lack of confidence in his power was less so. He was obviously pretty green to be out alone. It seemed Tomlin had been right to worry.
“What are you doing patrolling by yourself, then?”
His ears flattened back suddenly as he sensed the youma start to move, and he continued without waiting for a response. “Never mind, what can you do?”
The white paw was silently set down, and the guardian got to his feet again, back arching into a stretch. Even as a cat, it was good sense to limber up before a fight. He wound around the senshi’s legs reassuringly, brushing against the beaded sashes, before moving to the side out of tripping distance. Even if the senshi’s power didn’t work, it wasn’t a hopeless situation. The bin lid was still on the ground, and there were bound to be sharp things in the bin itself. Not much use to Tomlin, but to a senshi who could pick them up, they might be helpful.
“Give it your best shot. I’ll back you up.”
There was an awful lot of confidence in the tone, coming from such a thin and threadbare moggie.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:49 am
It had had enough of waiting. A clawed foot took a step forward and then another leaving a dark ooze-like substance in its wake lured towards the light by the promise of a tasty star seed.
“********* gave me my henshin pen” Athene said quietly. Well that and a cell phone that he hadn't totally figured out – although maybe some day he'd poke about with it.
His back stiffened slightly at the ginger cat's question, the words stinging. It wasn't as if Athene knew of any senshi he could dial up and say 'Hey want to go patrolling with me?' and he certainly hadn't asked to be dumped with a senshi ability that only seemed to work when it wanted to instead of when he wanted it to.
“When my senshi ability works, I can trap things for a little bit” the dark-haired senshi's voice was slightly frosty as he answered the cat. “I can chuck things too” it had worked for that bat-like youma. “Maybe...” Athene's voice tailed off, his eyes shifting towards the alley just as the youma hit the light cast by the street lights.
About the size of a medium dog, it stood on two clawed feet. With two more paws tipped with more claws. It's fur glistened with a a dark ooze-like substance which plopped to the ground as it took lumbering steps towards both senshi and cat, a malevolent look in its red eyes.
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:50 am
The change in attitude didn't go unnoticed. The cat ruffled his fur, a huffy movement. He knew he shouldn't really be complaining if a senshi was out doing their duty, protecting the streets - but who was protecting them? He'd met other senshi working solo, but it was possible the Jovian Court had biased him in favour of teamwork.
"It's dangerous out here alone," he qualified, concern and perhaps a hint of apology colouring his soft voice. "There's nothing wrong with finding allies."
But the boy had already latched onto Plan B, which was reassuring. At least until the youma came out. Ugh, it was an ugly, soggy thing, too. Could they still reach the chuck-able objects? Tomlin backed away slightly, more from the disgusting ooze than from the claws.
"Go for it," he said, and realised suddenly that he hadn't checked yet for the senshi's name. No matter, he'd work it out when the thing was safely trapped. "You can do it."
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 12:35 pm
“I'll not say no to a bit of help with that thing” Athene's quiet response to Tomlin was spoken absently as he stared at the youma. Goodness but it was an ugly thing and all that ooze stuff certainly didn't help any. The dark-haired senshi couldn't help but take a step backwards – a sub-conscious attempt to put some distance between himself and the ooze that he didn't particularly want to get anywhere near to – not with it looking as icky and nasty as it did.
If the ginger-furred guardian cat was waiting for Athene to launch his senshi attack, then he was going to be quickly disappointed, the dark-haired senshi's gaze going instead to the bin lid on the ground as he attempted to work out whether he'd be able to reach it before the youma reached them.
A moment of indecision, then another before Athene finally started moving towards the dustbin lid – just as the youma chose that moment to break into a lumbering run at them – its clawed paws ready to swipe out at the nearest target.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:48 am
"What are you-- ?" Tomlin began, when sparkly magic failed to be initiated. Not all senshi attacks took effect immediately, the cat knew instinctively, but a moment passed, another moment, and no sense of the power the boy wielded. The youma kept moving, unimpeded. The attack definitely wouldn't work if he didn't even try it! Throwing things was a good plan, he couldn't fault it, but the youma was much too close, trailing goo and putting on a fair turn of speed for something so misshapen.
As Athene went for the bin, Tomlin darted in front of the creature - a smaller target, but closer - hopefully enough to distract it from the senshi. If he could lead it away, give the senshi time to grab a weapon... He tried not to think about what the ooze was going to do to his fur.
"What are you doing?" he called again. "Trap it!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:44 am
Athene wasn't sure he got the guardian cat's logic – what was the point of trying to rely on an unreliable senshi ability when there were things around that potentially could be used.
Pausing and turning briefly to politely point that point out, the dark-haired senshi found himself paling as he noticed how close the ginger-furred cat was to the youma. He isn't... but it seemed like the guardian cat was and even as the horrified senshi watched the cat darted out in front of the youma barely missing a swipe from one of its claws.
What to do. Bin lid or senshi ability. The cat wanted him to use his attack, but Athene personally reckoned the bin lid was the better opt – more reliable.
The youma was lumbering after the cat and the dark-haired senshi bit his lip as its claws reached out to swipe at the cat again. If the cat wanted him to use his senshi ability then he'd try using it – if it anything was better than watching the youma attempting to turn the cat into kitty cubes.
Focusing nervously on the youma, Athene clenched his right fist and raised his left hand up as he concentrated calling out the word of his attack as he did so “Blue beads of Nazar!” It took a moment as always for the beads to appear floating above his upraised hand.
“There!” Athene's heart sank as the beads moved towards the youma, hit the dog-sized thing and faded away, one bead winking out after the other. Looked like it was plan B. Picking up the trash can lid the dark-haired senshi tried to spin it in the direction of the youma like a frisbee. There was perhaps a fair deal of frustration behind the throw, down to Athene feeling that plan B should have been plan A.
[ooc note – Athene can use his senshi attack 3 times, but has to post 3 times between attack attempts (re-charge period). If it hits the target will be trapped for 15 secs. The target has to be going after Athene specifically for it to work otherwise it auto-fails (he hasn’t figured that part out yet)]
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:14 am
Tomlin wove an erratic path in front of the slimeball youma, ducking under the swiping paws while trying to bunny-hop over the worst of the ooze where it pooled around the monster's feet and dripped in slow-motion globules from the outstretched claws. He'd successfully placed himself between senshi and youma, turned the monster's head away, it was even following him. He listened with approval as the young senshi finally called his attack, words clear and strong, beaded lights sailing past him... only to disappear? Coppery eyes widened, genuinely shocked that the attack had failed as the senshi had predicted. But it clearly had, because the youma didn't even break stride as the magic faded out.
Tensed to run, but somehow too startled to move, the cat stole a look over his shoulder to see how the boy was reacting. There'd been nothing wrong with the attack. It didn't make sense. He saw the senshi take up a weapon in the same moment he felt the shadows shift above him, the swing of dripping claws descending. Heard the welcome sound of a ballistic dustbin lid behind him. Thank the stars for Plan B.
One spinning edge glanced off his forepaw as he jumped back, ringing metal against his jewelled bracer, but the lid continued on its path. The youma was not as fast, and the impromptu discus slammed into the oozing fur.
The youma howled, a thick burbling sound underlying the unnatural noise.
"Great shot!" said the cat, fractionally breathless from the close call.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:57 am
Oh god that was close. Kitty cubes had been prevented – at least for now.
“Are you okay Mr...” Athene started, the words tailing off at a loud growl from the youma. Oh god it was still there.
Throwing the trash can lid again was kind of out of the question considering that to get it would mean having to get in close range of the youma and those claws. There was however a container with potential projectiles nearby – the only problem was that it would involve rummaging through a bin. A dirty bin with god knows what in it. Worse he'd have to do it bare-handed because his magical outfit hadn't seen fit to come with gloves. Ugh the thought of it was pretty gross.
Wondering how the ginger-furred cat was faring, Athene spared a glance over and across in the direction where he'd last seen him. Only to catch sight of the youma trying to swipe a claw out at the cat. “Hey!" he called out a warning. "Watch out for that thing Mr Kitty!”
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