Holiday festivities were switching from reindeer, presents and Santa Claus to the expectation of New Years with the city prepping for the oncoming night-long festivities. Multiple events were being advertised outside of the private establishment’s parties. In a few short days the New Year would be rang in and people would start their new resolutions if they were so inclined while others continued on as if nothing of major importance had changed.
The cold wind of Winter had a prominent hold on the city now. Jack Frost wasn’t going to be releasing his hold on Destiny City for awhile and the snow that had fallen wasn’t going to be going anywhere fast. Alrakis found the precipitation to be enchanting when fresh and new but with the ongoing days since the snowfall, the white had turned muddy or black. Some places, where the snow hadn’t been cleared, had begun to turn into slicks of ice. These places Alrakis found himself more likely than not, considering his penchant for staying out of sight by scaling buildings. Roofs were not a high priority to clear off unless there was a significant amount of snow.
Of course he’d usually be careful in his footing. Taking care not to step on area that looked dubious but when one was in hot pursuit of a youma there was less mindfulness to footing and more on the creature that was trying to escape dusting. The senshi and youma had already scuffled, the youma taking the brunt of the battle as was shown in loss of some limbs. It’s tail, scaley and thin not unlike a rat’s tail was obviously shorter than it should be and the rodent like youma was hobbling along on 3 of it’s 6 legs, whiskers and nose twitching in it’s agitated state. Snow stuck to the long grey fur of its body that almost disguised it for some sort of dog.
A large patch of ice caught the creature by surprise as it went skidding across the flat roof of the mini skyscraper. Alrakis managed to just avoid hitting the patch himself when he saw the youma go sliding. It did give the basic senshi a chance to catch up though as multiple limbs scrambled to make purchase on the ice as he side skirted the dangerous spot.
“Golden Lights!”
Sailor Scout Attack: Golden Lights
Alrakis blows on the tip of his index finger and 8 small, golden balls of light appear around the battlefield (10 feet in diameter around Alrakis). They work as distractions by floating in place. If touched, the ball will rapidly grow to the size of a watermelon. When the ball reaches it’s max size it bursts in a small flash into steaming hot water, dousing the victim. The water can give a person the sensation of being mildly burned (Any further damage is at players discretion) wherever it touches. If the balls are not touched within 30 seconds they will dissipate on their own.
Alrakis blows on the tip of his index finger and 8 small, golden balls of light appear around the battlefield (10 feet in diameter around Alrakis). They work as distractions by floating in place. If touched, the ball will rapidly grow to the size of a watermelon. When the ball reaches it’s max size it bursts in a small flash into steaming hot water, dousing the victim. The water can give a person the sensation of being mildly burned (Any further damage is at players discretion) wherever it touches. If the balls are not touched within 30 seconds they will dissipate on their own.
"You let that youma go!" The lieutenant followed up her order by unbagging and throwing her issued cat toy, then promptly losing her balance. She made precarious footwork of the building's slurry-laden surface, and paid for it all at once by tossing her 'weapon' at one of the enemy. After very nearly pulling a muscle in her leg, Chrysoprase fell face-first into the half-melted snow.
Which she managed to recover from by bracing with her hands. Legs and arms scrambling, Chrysoprase worked to right herself again, fists at her side and empty bag in hand. She'd put it over his head if she had to, just as long as the youma got away.
They had to look out for their own, right?
Or she hoped so. A touch of dread leaked in when she realized that the senshi might know what they were doing, and the youma might not stick around to help her out in this fight. It looked pretty badly beaten, and was starting to track youma ash across the roof and muddy the snow further. Even if it could stick around, it wouldn't be of much help -- not against a senshi who looked pretty much undamaged.
Why did she stick up for this rat thing again? She was just putting herself in danger at this point.
Ever the graceful dancer on stage, and normally well in control of his limbs off stage, Alrakis wasn’t usually the type people called clumsy but anyone could have a bad night and as it turned out, the night was going to turn into, well, not good.
The shout followed by a well thrown Is that a cat toy? caused Alrakis to fumble as he attempted to dodge the stuffed feline. A boot found a patch of slushy ice and with all of his weight shifting to that particular leg, it wasn’t at all surprising the basic found himself falling backwards and planting his back into the cold, wet icy slush. Immediately his body reacted to the cold and he scrambled to his feet, eyes darting to the location the female voice had come from only to see his opponent was also righting herself from a toppling. At least they were both on the same level when it came to lack of grace.
“Did you just throw a toy at me?” He said, eyes eventually finding the little brown stuffed toy laying on a patch of hardened snow.
The youma recovered and hesitated. Its black, beady eyes fixated on the Lieutenant that had come to it’s rescue. An itch to leave was evident in how it paced towards the roof, indecisive in its flight. Should it stay to help? Should it flee to save itself? Already it hurt and didn’t like the senshi after it.
The waffling continued for only a minute before the creature scurried its way over the small ridge of the building. It just barely made it around one of the balls of light that floating dangerously close and disappeared over the side leaving its savior to deal with the senshi herself.
“Oh no you don’t!” Alrakis yelled as he slipped his way to the edge. He’d found nothing but the youma in his outing that night which had not been the plan. The senshi had hoped to atleast run into someone who could inform him some more about this purification thing that Elex had mentioned to him. Instead he had ended up throwing his energy at dusting the youma out of sheer frustration. What was he supposed to do if he couldn’t find someone’s brain to pick.
Unlucky for him, by the time he reached the edge, the youma was nowhere to be seen. In anger he swatted at hard snow, knocking some of it onto the sidewalk below. Thankfully no one had been near to get hit.
Now he had a Lieutenant here and she likely wasn’t going to be any help.
So the senshi objected to her cat toy, but otherwise left her alone. Rude! As the senshi scampered off toward the escaping youma, Chrysoprase took the chance to cross the distance and grab up her toy. It was moist now, what with the snow and all, which made it a bit heavier. And she found a couple chunks of rock that stupid kids probably chucked up there on the daily. So, while Mr. Senshi was burning up his time on the youma, Chrysoprase slipped a few rocks into the toy bag.
She trotted toward the senshi at the edge of the roof (because running in the snow while in heels is asking for disaster, she told herself), raised her bag behind her head, and attempted to clock him with it right upside those pretty waves of purple. But he was taller, so it was kind of a reach.
"Eyes over here, Mister Senshi!" She declared as she backed up a few paces. Neither one of them wanted to fight super close to the edge; that was a recipe for an awful fall.
So she made a little more distance for herself, and readied that bag of rocks in case he decided to really come at her. She knew senshi had magic, and she was pretty sure that was what she saw when the youma wandered off to Wonderland, but she had no idea how it would affect her or even if it was dangerous. If that was all the senshi could do, no big deal right? Oh no, a bunch of orbs floating in the sky. Better watch out, she thought sarcastically.
Maybe if she smacked him around a bit and stole some of his energy, she wouldn't have to worry about the magic part.
The rocks in the bag would have been quite the hit on the head if it wasn’t for the height difference and Rowan had decided to move at the same time she swung the bag. Instead of his head, his shoulder took the brunt of the force which was good for him. The weight would have done some mighty damage if she’d clocked him just right.
“I go and leave you alone and you attack me?” He mumbled as he turned around to meet her, a hand reached up to rub his shoulder that now ached and tingled from the hit. The brute power a negaverse officer had had been conveniently forgotten about until that instant. Now he had a painful reminder that letting her too close, even with a damn wet stuffed toy filled with…what the did she put in that bag? It looked like ice or...rocks? Was it rocks? Whatever it was it was going to hurt if she hit him again with it.
Shifting as she did to position himself away from the edge of the building, Alrakis thought about what he was going to do. Should he try and talk to her? About what? It’s not like I can ask her about purification. She’d likely either not know, not care, or go off and tell someone that a senshi had been questioning her about it. Not the best of situations if he wanted to keep all of this info on the down low for Elex. Plus, she looked ready for a fight and Alrakis was frustrated enough to give her what she wanted.
Perhaps I can use our shoddy footing to my advantage. He’d not been lucky with his magic being useful against agents. It was fairly easy to maneuver around the globes of light. It wasn’t like he could direct them or choose where they appeared after all, but maybe the ice would be to his benefit?
“Fine. You have my attention now.” Stepping forward on light feet, Alrakis attempted to close the distance between the two of them. Fight was not his forte and it showed with the uncontrolled swing of his arm towards her stomach. His goal was to push her towards the center of the roof. Get her where his orbs would at least be floating in places that could be utilized.
"Just buying time for the youma, sweetheart," she shot back. "We look out for our own!" Not that it particularly looked that way with her going head-to-head with a senshi, but she could fake it until she had to call in backup. Ms. Rey said that'd be fine, right?
The senshi struck at her, and she grabbed for his arm, using it as a steadying presence as her feet slid easily across the iced floor. Then she pulled on it, relying on his heavier weight as she kicked up toward his shoulder. He was just as likely to catch her, but… She still had a bag full of rocks and a nasty cat toy.
Her attention fixed on his hair, too -- now that was a target waiting to happen.
"How about this, big guy: I'll let you go if you promise to leave that youma alone!" Chrysoprase put on her fiercest face, gritting against the cold that easily penetrated her uniform. At least a tussle should keep her warm until she could find another safe haven…
“Youma are your own?” he knew that Youma were associated with the Negaverse he had just never thought of them as being partners so much as tolls for them. At least, that was the impression he had gotten.
Thinking on the situation wasn’t something he had the luxury in doing. His fist hadn’t found its mark. Instead, it turned out the girl was obviously better at this than himself. Utilizing his own body against him, the Lieutenant balanced herself and pulled him forward. Scrambling to get purchase on the slick roof proved useless. Foot met his already hurting shoulder.
He sucked in a breath. “I am pretty sure I am not going to find it now.” He remarked in response to her ‘deal’. Instead of just letting her keep her leverage, Alrakis decided to drop down onto his a** as his hand gripped the arm that held onto him. In a smooth movement he attempted to hurl her up and over his own body utilizing a foot as extra leverage. It were as if she were nothing more than a petite partner he needed hoist above his head.
The senshi dropped down, Chrysoprase was pulled with him, and then he launched her with his foot like half a cheer throw. The lieutenant shot through the air toward the edge of the building, but landed before she could go over the side. Her body slipped and skidded through the snow and slush until she felt thoroughly soaked.
As she pulled herself to her feet, more embarrassed than hurt, she realized they needed to finish this tussle quickly or they'd both get hypothermia. Shivering, she widened her stance.
"Good! Then get outta here!" To make her point, Chrysoprase reeled back the bag of rocks and hurled it toward the senshi. She aimed for the torso -- a large target, hard to miss and harder to dodge -- and expected he'd be on his merry way after a welt like that. He already messed up a youma pretty good, so he should've quit while he was ahead!
"And just remember! Next time you go attacking a youma, Chrysoprase'll come and beat you down!" She framed an L sign on her forehead and hoped that was enough.
He scrambled to his own feet, water, snow and slush dripping from his fuku as the cold permeated right to his core. Flesh rose in goose pimples in response to the ridiculous cold, but hey, the move had worked. He got her away from him!
Though he had originally intended to get her towards the middle, not the edge of the roof. Well, he’d work with it.
A bag full of rocks and a soggy cat toy hit him square in the stomach for his lack of vigilance. He doubled over from the surprise pain, mentally chiding himself for dropping his guard. Not like I ever said I was much of a fighter. Or trained for this. A hand holding his stomach gripped at his fuku. Not to mention I am exhausted from this fight and chasing that youma.
Gritting teeth he reached down and grabbed the bag at his feet and brashly threw it at the officer in a fit of anger. His aim was off, but he didn’t care if he hit her or not. All he had come out here to do was find information to help Elex and he ended up with this trouble. Trouble that was likely to cause more issues if he kept up with the fight. Right now, he was nothing more than battered, bruised and tired. There was much more that could go wrong and as loathe as he was to acknowledge it, he was so far out of his realm.
Plus, it looked as if the officer was going to let him go without anymore trouble. He should take that reprieve.
“Fine.” He said at last. “You’re useless to me anyway right now.”
There was that typical teen male bravado.
Alrakis huffed, a puff of steam spouting from him like an angry dragon. Turning in defeat, the basic senshi slodged through the slush for his own version of a walk of shame. Water was still dripping from his fuku and hair in a manner that made him look all the more beaten and battered emphasising the defeat not only to his body but to his pride.
The bag flew back at her and Chrysoprase ducked, though her heels slipped on ice and her legs sprung out from beneath her. She landed again in the ice, all graceless and gross, and the bag of rocks clipped her on the butt… Then flew over the building edge. So much for attacking with that now.
The lieutenant scrambled up onto her elbows and knees as she watched the senshi retreat. She never got his name, or his powers really, or anything about him, but she beat him back and rescued a youma! That had to count for something. She hadn't had all that much combat training in the interim, so for her to show her skills like that… Meant she had some skill. She made a senshi walk away, after all. Ms. Rey would be proud of her.
That was worth a little extra credit in history class, right?
Chrysoprase got herself to her feet again and rubbed her left cheek, which was starting to hurt from its injury. "Bye Felicia!" She yelled back at the retreating figure.
Finally she straightened her uniform back down. "Now that he's taken care of… I could really go for like, fifty warm blankets and a gelato. Ugh, but where can I get a gelato at this hour? Stupid nightly patrols…" She sighed to herself and dejectedly walked toward the fire escape.
Strickenized