[BAT] Lo, we are not all doves ( Hypnos/Kurma vs. Schörl )

[Ivynian]

It was a popular time of year for malls- all the after holiday clearances and returns meant for a lot of traffic. People were loath to be outdoors much since parks were full of snow and winter camping had complications that weren't covered well in horror movies and girl scouts. It still seemed like a likely spot to set up some of her motion-activated cameras from before she was recruited. There was a decent chance of getting some amusing footage of either youma attacking mallgoers, loitering senshi, or loitering allies. She'd set them up attached to the regular mall security cameras. The mall subcontracted its security and the company didn't maintenance their cameras except once a year. Hers would be safe and undisturbed for the month.

For now, she was crouched, smoking one of her less expensive travel pipes and watching chatty women out on girl-dates as they returned to their soccer-mom vans with laden bags full of clothes they'd bought two sizes too small. She didn't envy them.

As she was moving to re-tamp her bowl she paused. There was a strong signature in the area, but she couldn't pinpoint it. She started looking around, sure there must be a bow-toting fool somewhere to accompany it.  

[Appeal]

There was definitely a bow-toting fool around to accompany the energy signal that Schörl felt, although the one carrying it probably wasn't what she would be expecting. It was a chibi senshi, and at first glance her fuku actually looked a lot more like a nightgown than a fuku. She had bunny slippers to go with it, and little bows in her hair! In her arms was a bunny plushie, and on her face was a look of confusion that might have screamed lost child.

Hypnos had made her way to the top of the roof expecting to find a youma but when she got there her facial expression changed severely. This wasn't what she was expecting at all. She had run into Negaverse soldiers before and it typically didn't bode well for her. She had gained a bit of caution on the subject, but she was stubborn. She had learned some self defense from both her sister and allies and she really wanted to know more about youma.

"Umm..." she paused. "Excuse me? Could you help me?"

Ivynian

 

[Ivynian]

A kid in a nightdress? Plushie and all. There was no mistaking that the energy signature was right on top of Schörl's own, an amorphous mass of boring swamping up the mall with white mental glitter and lace. The Lieutenant shifted her pipe to the side of her mouth, "I don't know....could I?"

"Wandering on buildings when you never learned how to get dressed properly. "

There were bows. And little stars. And bunny slippers. This kiddo must be the sailor scout or knight or whatever she was feeling. There was no other reason for a kid to have managed to get on top of a mall otherwise. Schörl put one hand to the bottom of her pipe in mimic of Sherlock Holmes, puffing once and walking casually closer. "What does a ....little scout need?"

Appeal

 

[Appeal]

Hypnos simply shook her head at Schörl's insulting observations. She knew how to get dressed and there was nothing wrong with what she was wearing! She wore it proudly like she would any other dress in her closet. She wasn't here to pick a fight, although she retained caution with a simple distance because she couldn't speak for this woman in front of her.

"Do you know anything about youma?" She asked politely. "If you do, would you mind sharing with me?"

Ivynian

 

[Ivynian]

"You do know what war is. " Schörl regarded her pipe momentarily, tapping out the embering tobacco onto her palm. It stung a little, but not greatly- her hands were well calloused from her years in restoration work. Its a very basic vocabulary word.

"Giving information to the enemy..that would brand me a traitor. It's from 1200, the Old French traitor and earlier from Latin. Traditorem , as translated...'one who delivers,' " The girl was smart enough to keep conversational distance.

"Espionage requires payments, even if I were a traitor. If you're going to try to play the games of adults, learn the rules. " The lieutenant threw the smoulder at the girl's face - hoping it would be a distraction and a blind her. "If you live long enough."

She followed it in, to close the distance between them so that the little pint would be in actual reach.

Appeal

 

[Appeal]

War was not a word Hypnos liked to recognize, not because she was dumb and couldn't see it but because she wanted to hope for something better. If she tried her best not to participate then she hoped she could help even just one person from the clutches of the war. Right now she wanted to help he youma, and everyone who ended up involved with them. It was a bit strange, but she didn't understand how something that benefited everyone would make someone a traitor.

"We don't have to be enemies, I don't want to be anyone's enemy."

How Hypnos felt on the matter didn't really seem to matter though. The threat Schörl cast to Hypnos was real and as she approached her, Hypnos cautiously took a step to the side to try and keep the distance between them. She didn't want a repeat of the Zippeite incident, still remembering the pain of the sting that had bruised her face.

Ivynian

 

[Ivynian]

"It feels good to want, doesn't it."

Schörl liked it when opponents didn't seem to do enough history homework. While flowing tresses and lengthy ribbons could advertise surpassing confidence in abilities to willing wear a detriment, it was still a detriment. It was part of why, while she kept long hair, it was kept out of immediate hand reach and tamed into a tail. Why she had been glad to discover her uniform was devoid of wood shop or metal shop warning sign fly-aways.

Prettybird here however, was not so lucky. The lieutenant relied on her towering stature, and therefore long legs to bring her the rest of the way in- a single step back on toddly, four-and-a-half foot stature legs was great for keeping away from other children, but not from a six foot spindle. She aimed a distracting swipe with her left hand, but followed it secondarily to try to grab the trails of that stupid lavender bow off the girl's dress. If she could grab that, she could control the girl's weight and whip her to the gravel covered roof ground for an actual blow.

Appeal

 

[Appeal]

It wasn't hard to corner a child, nor was it difficult to deceive her into parrying the attack so her bow would be more accessible. However, Hypnos feared the backlashed of being caught so greatly from her experience with Zippeite that she began to heave and pull as hard as she could until the fabric of her bow tore and she fell backwards onto the gravel.

The end result had been similiar to what Schörl would have wanted but she was further away and it gave Hypnos a chance to move again, even if just a bit, and allowed her hands to form the sleep dust. She didn't want to fight but she wasn't going to be picked on either! She threw it at Schörl with all her might, allowing it into the air as a distraction at least to try and get to her feet.

Ivynian

 

[Ivynian]

She'd been expecting the girl to throw gravel at her, which Schörl did not fear. The lieutenant had not stopped in forward momentum, following forward in pursuit of the struggling girl even as she fell with tattered, torn ribbon. But gravel did not hang on the air like a puff of faintly glittering dust. The lieutenant waved her arm once, warding, at the disseminated stuff, then brought it over her mouth to cover a yawn.

You've got to be kidding me. What do I do but consume nicotine and caffeine...and I'm yawning ?
Honest to effing god sleep dust? Schörl's mouth pulled tight with disgust, even as her hand shifted from mouth up to rub palm roughly along cheek to fingers-splayed over forehead. "You'd better start flying, littlebird. I hate stationary prey."

The lieutenant didn't pause. She was already in the cloud of stuff, so stopping wouldn't prove helpful. Her target was still clear- mangle the little scout beyond forensic recognition. She aimed a slow, yawn-detrimented kick at the girl. It wasn't well aimed.

I've got to stop yawning... it was as bad as staying up to crunch time a project for a handful of days. Just...drive her for now. Back to the edge. Keep her panicked and then nowhere to run.

Appeal

 

[Appeal]

The little sleep senshi threw her attack in hopes of stopping the lieutenant but instead Schörl kept coming! She thought at first that maybe she had missed her target but when her blue eyes looked up at her opponent she did caught a good glance of her yawning. She wasn't distracted at all! Well, maybe a bit but Hypnos usually didn't have too much trouble with it that it left her stumped. Nicotine and caffeine sure would have helped, lucky adults.

She did what she could: Got back up to her feet. It was one small step for Hypnos but in the midst of this fight it was one tall leap for her situation. She didn't have much choice in terms of places to run, in fact, she had none. All she could do was back up and simply put as much space between her and the incoming lieutenant as she could.

The back of her heels felt the edge of the roof, informing her that this was the end of the road. She could not back up anymore and the sleepy lieutant had made her way in. She attacked her, throwing in a small (although poorly aimed) kick at the small senshi. A quick, deep breath—Hypnos moved to avoid to attack. Of course, she had no trouble avoiding the attack because that's when she fell off the roof. What she left for Schörl to counter the kick was a very loud power shriek as she fell.

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Ivynian

 

[cibarium]

It was the strangest thing. Hypnos's shriek stopped suddenly, but without the noise of bones cracking on the ground to accompany it. The possibility arose that, perhaps, she had passed out from terror, but it hung in the air for too long to serve as a good explanation. Senshi couldn't fly. It had been ten seconds. The only noise besides the Lieutenant's breathing was a slight breeze, the buzzing of the roof light and tires crunching against pavement as a lone car passed through the street below. No lifeless, tiny body was on the sidewalk next to it.

Instead, there was a bizarre power signature. A beige-colored boot, hovering the air a few yards behind Schorl and a couple of feet above her. Wearing said boot was a dark-haired man in a fantasy traveler's regalia, a gold glowing fisherman's bouy under one arm -- and a safe, unscathed Sailor Hypnos in the other.

"Now that's not very nice," said Kurma, "shovin' a kid off the roof."

Ivynian

 

[Ivynian]

Schörl cringed at the scream. Why must small humans always have such shrill voices? Why can't their tiny throats reverberate at just a little lower of a pitch?

She listened to it, but didn't immediately follow to watch the impact, instead opting to try to wipe the magic s**t out of her eyes and off her face. One more yawn. One more yawn and she was going to forcibly shotgun six pots of coffee as soon as she found an open diner. As the grittiness was coming off on her thumbs, she kept a tab on the feel of auras, hoping for that telltale loss of the order one as it fluttered out like a candle. There was a chance it wouldn't- after all, she expected the senshi could all jump two stories or more just like she was able to. A simple fall could badly hurt, but they were all super human. The flicker didn't come. Not only did it not, but there was no sound of impacting body- a wet and heavy whud.

And there was another aura. And a voice. And a very odd looking man. He could fly. He could also spout idiocy, it seemed. "You must have had a bad angle. Herding and shoving are rather different, even if the end result is the same. "

But he meant the intention and that end, not so much the method of delivery, which she was well aware. "She understands what she's doing when she puts on that uniform. Post-modernism calls her a 'child' and claims she cannot reason for herself. I don't. "

He wasn't exactly out of range of leaping onto and attacking, but that didn't allow for what happened if he just....dodged out of the way. Schörl woudl be left gravity-surfing and trying to compensate for a ground coming where she hadn't hoped to meet one. There was also whatever else he could do. She'd never been informed of anything that could fly, and whatever other magic or combat it could command. The girl was still safe and on his arm. She was still a fully capable and functional combatant, disappointingly. Schörl was officially outnumbered and there was a possibility of being outgunned. She started making a slow arc, walking along the inner ring of the roof so as not to present a completely stationary target, "Are you her chaperone? Taking her home? Your move, lothario."

Appeal

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[Appeal]

Tightly shut eyes hadn't expected to open again but they flew open when her body was caught by Kurma. Deep blue eyes like the oceans in the arctic stared at Kurma with disbelief, hope and a large pool of appreciation as the reality of the situation overwhelmed her. Her small body was shaking as it set in, and slowly tears began to fall from her eyes like a waterfall. Thin arms clung onto Kurma, her face burying into him as just the muffled sound of the situation surrounded her.

She wanted to thank him, she wanted to say something but all that came out was the sound of her cries. She was alive.

Ivynian

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