Standing at the entrance to the courtyard, there was a relief to see that some life had come back to the space. Some of the grass had grown back and there was a peace to the place to replace the lurking dread she had felt the last time she had been here. It wasn't a lot of regrowth, as fall had come on quickly and the cold weather fast behind that, but enough to assure Ida that the Blight that had been here was truly gone. It seemed silly to feel this need to check, but visiting the dead spots she knew of and making sure they were recovering was easier than dwelling on herself and the changes in her life. Easier to think about green growing things than what she was doing to do with herself now, the duty she had to use her new power to the fullest benefit of the White Moon.
And, at least she was doing something. Being out, being active. Better than sitting around brooding.
As the senshi wandered through the courtyard, bending to look at some of the new leaves the bushes had put out, there was a rusting she just faintly heard behind her. Furtive, quiet... it immediately put her on edge and she froze, slowly turning her head towards the noise. A sharp, yowling shriek broke the peace as something launched itself at her, nearly knocking her to the ground. As it was, she was forced to her knee and she struck out at the slashing youma, knocking it side to skid across the paving stones. It hissed as it rounded on her again, gathering itself for another leap. Ida gathered herself and pushed off, jumping backwards to put space between them.
This... this was that youma that the General had been holding, the half-youma she'd tried to get to join the fight. Had he left it here? Had it returned on its own after the Blight left? The idea of it taking advantage of this already wounded place sent a sharp anger through her. Hadn't this place been through enough? Didn't these people deserve some sort of rest before being assaulted again?
Warmth gathered within her and Ida released it, letting go of her eternal form to blossom into the dress and wings of princess. Reaching, she touched her forehead and came away with a glowing disc, gathering power into it. With a sharp, decisive swing of her arm, Ida released it, sending it buzzing and spinning towards the spitting youma. For a moment, it seemed outlined in the glow from her attack, and then... it was gone, leaving nothing but a few glittering particles that quickly melted away. Something like relief washed through her as she stared at the empty spot, a new sort of wonder bubbling up beneath it.
It was gone, wasn't it? Truly gone, and not just ash. It hadn't left the usual ash behind. If she could do this... this might be a true way to fight back against the Negaverse.
Strickenizedxx
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:42 am
Faustite was making his rounds, such as they were. The more time he spent in Destiny City, the more often he met youma who made routines of the place — like the scorpion youma who preferred loitering on the fence behind a theatre, or the cat youma who made a home in the garden area of an apartment complex, or a crow youma with a few extra feet who habitually parked itself atop cars on the most bar-laden street in Destiny City. They each did their jobs, they each had a method to their hunting practices, and they each brought home reliable energy that they themselves didn't necessarily need. To Faustite, that made them as worthy to the cause as any given Lieutenant. But to the other, more human Captains and Generals, these youma weren't necessarily worth noticing.
It wasn't part of his job description as a youmafied officer to go checking in on them, but he liked doing so. Youma were easier than people — less complicated, easier to relate to — and the youma were always quick to answer his questions. Even when they weren't, he could order them to answer without wondering whether they'd disobey or talk back. And once they learned he was there to meet their needs, they stopped minding his intrusion so much.
That night, he'd visited the other two. The scorpion complained about the Hat, but Faustite struggled to remedy that situation without any way of contacting the offender. The crow had an ongoing spat with a basic senshi that had just gotten good at dusting it, but that basic senshi was a much quicker problem to solve. That left the cat youma to visit that evening.
It was a trek to reach it from where the crow youma perched — a solid fifteen minutes of crossing rooftops and dipping into vacant alleys. He couldn't sprint across streets like a regular officer, which would've shortened the distance considerably, so he gritted his teeth in frustration when he felt a Princess's aura explode over his senses. He couldn't guess how large that aura spanned, but since he was still a mile out from the cat youma, Faustite assumed the royal could've been anywhere.
He kept on track, ducking flags and hopping HVAC systems and skirting roof access points until the apartment complex was in his sights. Then, once he slid to a stop at the apex of its roof, Faustite saw the royal in question. Saw her standing over a pile of dust like she was satisfied for it.
That's where the cat youma should've been. The cat youma who now faced the same fate as Squiddy.
"What the ******** is your problem," he growled as he dropped down the tiered roofs to meet her on her level. "You're the one from that Blight problem. You got wings out of it, so you think you can go pissing off the Negaverse now?"
Caught up in her own thoughts, Ida only felt the approach of a general moments before he appeared. She heard the thunk of his boots as he dropped down and she turned in a hurried rustle of feathers and fabric to face him. There was a moment of that feeling of being caught doing something she shouldn't be, but the moment Ida realized it, she squashed it ruthlessly. Schooling her features into something she imagined was appropriately aloof, Ida lifted her chin and stared him down.
"I didn't think the Negaverse particularly liked me anyway. You tried to roast me alive the last time I saw you." She said as she considered him, the realization that she was stronger than he was moving through her like a slow, warm dawn. They'd been more or less equal before, though it could be argued his flames gave him an edge she couldn't match. Now, the energy of her asteroid thrumming through her, she knew if it came down to a fight... she'd win. It was a heady thing.
It would be stupid to think herself immortal or unbeatable, she knew that somewhere in the deep parts of her. A few more officers, especially other generals, and whatever advantage her new powers gave her would be quickly overwhelmed. But one on one? Oh, she could thrash him soundly. That thought brought a new sense of confidence now.
"If you're upset about the youma, that's fine. I don't expect you to rejoice about it. I suspect you've probably done worse to people on my side of the war, though. Generals tend to be blood thirsty in my experience." Painite was a good example of that, her recent changes not withstanding. Schorl with her devil's smile, and Labyrinthite's promises on Alkaid.
Strickenized
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 2:24 pm
"Would do it again." Faustite conceded as he looked down at the Princess that juggled her facial expression. He thought most of the Negaverse would be happy for barbecued Princess wings as a snack. Whether the wings qualified them as not of this species, or if they weren't truly a part of the girl and were more magical material didn't matter to him. They'd ripped the wings off of Ganymede once, they could do the same to this one.
Much feistier now, Faustite noted, since she'd become a Princess. That must have been the first time she channeled that sort of power, then. Faustite's mouth pressed into an ugly line as he considered the dust at her feet — must be testing out her new abilities, then. Wasting lives just because she could.
Faustite approached slowly. One thumb remained hooked in the belt loop for one of his draping belts while the other followed his words with gesture.
"That one was a good listener. You killed it because… you could? Because you wanted to see if it would work? Or you thought, what's a monster to anyone? They can't possibly mean anything." His lip twitched.
Her suspicion was a telling one — especially of her experiences. "I have," he admitted. "Going to dust me, too?"
She watched him approach her with a feeling of the fine hairs rising along her bare spine. Ida held up a hand, palm out, to warn him away. Princess or not, she wasn't keen to let him slide up close enough to try and hit her with something. He likely knew he couldn't surprise her and pull her starseed, but she wasn't immune to being damaged.
"I killed it because its a danger to the people who live here." She said. "To stop it from draining anyone or potentially killing someone."
Did he really think she took this sort of thing so lightly? The way he spoke, it was like he didn't think the youma was a parasitic, human-killing monster... But then, he wasn't entirely human either. Maybe he felt some sort of kinship with them. His question seemed to support it, saying 'dust' instead of 'kill'. Did people like him dust like youma? Bischofite hadn't... but she hadn't stayed to watch.
After a moment's pause, her answer was simple. "No." Ida said in a low voice, still watching him solemnly. "I don't kill humans. Even murderers. Your life is too precious to be wasted like that, even corrupted."
Certainly, there were enough people who would disagree with her. He likely would, and obviously was willing enough to do his own killing.
"I'm surprised you care so much... don't you have thousands of others just like it? You seem fine with killing people, why are you surprised I'm willing to kill a monster?" She asked.
Strickenized
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:41 pm
"So youma have less of a claim to this place because they're not people anymore." Faustite snarled the words at her, caring little for how his voice shook with his fury. "So what if they're the same, but for the damaged starseed and negative energy holding them together. So what if people kill each other and ruin each other's lives. Can't have youma doing it, too."
Heat gathered around him. Gathered under his hair with slow convection, lifting it up as his flame grew brighter. Brilliant orange limned the undersides of his arms and knuckles while he carried on between his words and hands. "Spare the scum of the earth. But ******** youma."
Faustite rankled, shaking his head at her. "You're a ******** hypocrite. Just like the rest.
"And no, I don't have thousands of others just like it. I had one cat youma that would let me pick it up. It liked to bat energy orbs around and steal my pens and harass the ribbons on Negaverse senshi. But now I don't even have that, do I. Because you think all youma are the same. That they're worth less than people, even though they're leagues more diverse than the milquetoast ******** that made them!" He finished, spitting sibilant as his flame erupted outward.
whimsical blue
Meltdown ;; Range: 10' radius around user Duration: Up to 30 seconds Use Count: Up to 2x Miss Chance: Escaping range at or before the buildup stage Effect: By expending some of his core, Faustite can whip up a firestorm on a local area, prefaced by dancing cinders seconds before the burst. Inferno gusts orbit clockwise, burning anyone caught in their whorl. Friendly fire possible.
She let him rant in that sharp voice full of teeth and flames, her face set in calm, uncompromising lines.
Youma were not human. They were broken shells of what had once been human. Yes, there were terrible people, he was proof enough of that, but there were good people too. She'd never met, see or heard of a youma that was anything but ravening hunger or sly scheming. Something to be pitied, but never trusted. If left to their own devices there would be injury, even death. Ida refused to let his anger shake her resolve. If he truly cared about the broken, corrupted things the youma were, to her mind, he'd want to heal them and set them free.
His words passed over her like the wisps of smoke he was giving off, laced with sparks. Her eyes narrowed as the heat in him seemed to grow, something in him building with his anger. That anger couldn't touch her, but she'd felt his flames before... unease rising with the heat.
Even having seen it before, the explosion took her by surprise and she leaped up and back as the flames burst outwards from him, bare arms thrown up to protect her face as her wings beat the air behind her. The air swirled under the beat of them, licked with fire, and Ida hissed at the pain of the burns. Even as the air filled with the smell of burning feathers, Ida pushed herself back until she broke free, landing on the roof top behind where she'd been standing. Skin pink with the heat and dusted with ash, she threw her wings wide and swept a hand up before her, trailing a path of glowing petals. Grabbing up the shape of a new bow, Ida pulled back the invisible string to call to life a glowing arrow between her hands.
There would be no more talking to him, it seemed, but that was fine. There didn't seem much more they could say to each other... She wasn't going to start calling youma people just to please a half-youma general who was actively trying to kill her, and he seemed too far gone in his anger for anything constructive.
"Heavenly Orchid Arrows." She murmured before she released her arrow at the heart of the firestorm, the bright spear of light roaring across the space between them with a rush of air.
Eternal Sailor Attack: Heavenly Orchid Arrows! [What it does] An out-flung hand casts a trail of petals that form a bow-like shape. She takes it up and uses it to fire arrows of light with hardened petals as arrow heads. The arrows have an 'aura' of power to them and explode on contact. The explosion is more concussive, causing a pressure that can push a target backwards a foot or two, but doesn't do much in the way of actual damage. Unbalanced enemies could be knocked over, if they were caught unaware. Particularly heavy opponents may not be moved by the attack, but could be distracted or slowed by the pressure of it. Each arrow takes a lot of power to cast and her limit is three, which exhausts her and can force her to retire until she's rested.
Strickenized
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:09 pm
She'd been caught in the blast, then Faustite saw Ida flap those overgrown chicken wings to gain distance on him. It was then that he sprinted forward, flames in his face, licking fire obstructing his vision and blinding him to the night, knowing that if he could catch her, then he could scorch and cripple her. If he could reach her, if he could summon his team to his side —
Faustite pushed himself to move faster, his attention focused on the scant few feet in front of him that he could see. He fast approached the edge of the roof —
Then he felt something strike him like a punch to the gut, winding him, rerouting his inertia so violently that he slipped as he tried to find his center of balance and slammed into the ground. As he lay there, his flames raveled out from around him, forming superheated ribbons before they faded into a shimmer in the night. It was then that Faustite, too, dissolved into a pool of humanoid flame.
Then that form dispersed into three lengths of fire, each circling about before they approached the edge of the platform. Faustite was now gone, but his aura was not; the ropes of fire braided over one another as they arced into the air and landed on the building that Ida now occupied.
"Ida," the crackling, flamewrought, disembodied voice murmured. "Your magic is ******** garbage. All that power and you can only match the youma you obliterate.
"You brought that ******** s**t to Earth. Made us fight it for you because you couldn't hope to kill it yourself." The boy materialized, no longer rendered in flame. Arms opened wide, Faustite spoke words that crackled and popped on his tongue. "Hit me again, b***h. I ******** dare you."
whimsical blue
included the ability below, but he just used it to travel
Hellborn ;; (Enhancement) Range: Self Duration: Up to 1 minute Use Count: Up to 3x Miss Chance: Escaping his reach Effect: Faustite's fire expands and engulfs him, transforming him into a living embodiment of flame. For the duration of this magical ability, he appears fully youmafied. When he moves, he moves amorphously as a gout of fire. Faustite can pass through or over nonsolid surfaces, and cannot be hit by physical attacks. He becomes highly susceptible to magical attacks and enchantments, however. Any attacks he makes toward others will be fire property, and will provide the illusion of being burned.
Her magic exploded in a familiar way and it shoved back the licking flames that swirled in the storm, exposing the general she had knocked flat onto his back. To her surprise and horror, he burst into flames and dissolved, those low flames running like snakes across the ground. She'd never seen anyone do something like that before. Was this the youma part of him? Bischofite had had that tar he could produce, but never anything like this. Was it simply a difference between the youma?
The questions chased themselves around her mind as that fire flowed towards her and she backed up, long dress brushing against her bare legs. His voice came then, crackling through the flames and sharp with castigation. The comment on her magic was easy enough to ignore... she knew its limitations, had lived with them for years on years, but the p***k brought up the Blight, throwing it in her face. It needled, teasing at uncertainties she'd struggled ignore.
No one really knew how the Blight had gotten to Earth, to any of the other planets it had manifested on. She couldn't say with one hundred percent surety that she hadn't played unwitting carrier to it, and he was unlikely to care about the multiple pieces of evidence that pointed to not. Her face remained in its determined lines as she backed up further, but there was a hesitation in her step.
"Would you rather we had ******** off to space and left you to deal with it alone?" She snapped back as she threw out her arm again. In a few snappy motions, she had taken up the bow and drawn the arrow again, releasing it in moments.
Why was she even still here, listening to a man she cared nothing about throw insults at her? This was just ridiculous. Dropping into her eternal form, her dress and wings falling apart into petals that dissolved away, Ida turned and fled under the scant distraction of her magic, jumping to the next roof and letting her boots dig into the gravel as she ran.
Strickenized
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 2:15 pm
The burning boy snarled as he vanished and reappeared beyond her fired missile, glad for seeing the tell of it in the way her arms held the bow and snapped its string. When he reappeared, he was in her face, but she'd already turned and started to run.
Watching her retreat should've been satisfactory. Feeling her Princess aura give way to Eternal and watching her wings fade in a fit of feathers should've been exhilarating.
It was infuriating. "Should've let it eat your ******** planet!" He shouted after her. "Should've let it die there, on your dead ******** worlds, instead of trying to kill Earth with it! ******** parasites!" The words echoed in flame and crackle, just as his ire followed her sense. To him, it hadn't mattered that they stood shoulder to shoulder. The Blight should never have reached Earth — should never have ridden on the coattails of the senshi who went back and forth to their worlds with all manner of supernatural diseases following them back
But she wouldn't accept fault. She ran.
Not that it would help her. Not that he would let her leave. Faustite tore after her, crossing to the next building as he dogged her steps, two paces for each one of her own as he pushed himself to catch up to her. As he ran, he expended a burst of dark energy to draw the team to him — those tandem to his rank were but requests, but the rest were called by demand.
"Kill that ******** Princess!" He spat in a shower of cinder.
whimsical blue
Calling Fafs~
kolina
Calling Helio~
noir songbird
Requesting Alkemene, calling any one of your lovelies who needs reqs and you feel like playing~
Albite came through like a wrecking ball, all hazard and skidding heels stepping out at the edges of his husband's blazing fiery and searing display. So it was one of those days then, huhn..
All fine and well and good in the moments where he had enough time to blink a slow once over before other auras appeared in a shattering crackle of energy around him.
Faustite wasn’t visibly dying — this was something else then— Oh! Oohhhh! There was a Princess!! Even at Eternal and missing the big floofy wings he knew the form he’d met before at the Bitching Blight Bonanza!
They’d never actually gotten to attend that after party, no crumpets n scones for any of them. But now? Looked like they were going to get to have that tea party after ******** yes.
“Sup, princess of petals! Leaving the party so soon—“ and even as he spoke he was in motion, distanced from her by a rooftop, leaping it at speed and being careless of whether or not they woke any of the slumbering city's occupants far below their clash.
“That’s just ******** rude,” It was poor manners all around. All the white moon beam types always dipping out before they could really have a proper good time, n Albite just couldn’t find it in himself to abide by that.
Not at all— and if he was too far or close enough it didn’t matter. He couldnt kill what wasn’t beneath his hands so he just had to ******** catch it. Albite reached for that, the power that sizzled at his fingertips and frayed into life like a lion's wide jaws, stripping away from his flesh in an attempt to snare the lovely leading lady up.
If he was close enough—-
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Choking Retribution!
Albites tattoos appear to come alive, slithering off his harm like ethereal magical ribbons. The tattoo ribbons wrap around his intended opponent (pick a body part) and tie the two together for a duration of 20 seconds. The bindings slowly begin to tighten on said opponent, squeezing a bit like a boa constrictor would. Neither is able to escape the other until the magic is ended, or the weak ribbons are severed. He can now use the attack twice in battle, but can still only focus on one target at a time. Effect: Instantaneous Range: 6 Feet Duration: 20 seconds Number of uses: 2 Number of targets: 1
Syrus was suddenly in the night air, a Senshi, and watching cinders smolder beneath a mournful rage. The sounds of that order joined by the sounds of someone maddeningly happy to be there.
Welllll..someone was very clearly pissed off in a way that caused Cryolite to falter in his initial dragged heel of a step, to nearly find his knees before he was hearing albite, dodging the fire, moving and *up*. He didn’t know if things were alright, if Faustite was alright — he’d revisit that later, right now? He could hear albites gein, the giggle beneath that, free as a child playing tag with no fear of consequences.
That fool loved his fights. Cryolite did not. He did like to win, though, and to stay alive while doing it.
So he moved, not nearly able to keep up as a high octane eternal and a man that burned on the wind, but he did move to dip over a gap.
His eyes on Albites' flank because Syrus had been given lessons for handling these sorts of things. Paired tandems and group fights. He was never to go at it alone. His ‘supervisor’ had honed the basics into his bones, and Cryolite had taken to learning them like a duck took to mud.
But he had learned, under the grit of Albites smile, under bloody, frosted kisses and the press of heels showing him how little his height meant compared to gravity and the compact hardness of the earth. Under muscles that were concrete solid and a body that moved like quicksand.
They were very simple lessons, really. If the Eternal was moving in? If anyone was moving who had any sense of rank about them. Then he was flanking them, at distance enough that he wouldn’t become entangled while still keeping an eye out for openings that would let him in close enough, and it was a ******** shame his magic relied on touch — but what could he do but adapt?
He’d ask why about all of this later— more specifically? What this one had done, as last he’d checked she’d been aiding in saving them - right along with the rest - from a much more vicious form of doom than any white moon counterpart possessed.
xStrickenized
Hello husband!
xwhimsical blue
Calling Fafs~
xkolina
Calling Helio~
xnoir songbird
Requesting Alkemene, calling any one of your lovelies who needs reqs and you feel like playing~
Fulgurite felt a gentle pull, too, and his deep temptation was to simply ignore it. One of the biggest advantages of his eternal stature, as much as he had hated everything else that had followed behind it, was the fact that only the general sovereigns and the ******** Queen herself could continue to make him heel. It was enough, though, to keep the pressure on. And it was enough to feel that pressure, anyways, hard to exist without it--
But he did know one thing.
If he was getting requested, there were several others that did not have the choice, and one name bubbled to mind immediately.
Cryolite.
He knew Cryolite would likely be there with Albite nevertheless, but that didn't exactly curb him from feeling that gentle request and tugging on it. In short order, he found himself with Faustite screaming about something and Albite already running off to go attack the not-currently-a-princess Ida -- why the ******** did he feel like he should know her? it had to be glamours messing with him, no doubt they caused a lot of mistaken identities -- and spotted the one who he was looking for, running along her flank. He jogged over, tapping Cryolite's shoulder and dragging the backs of his fingers over it to encourage Cryolite's attention a bit closer.
"What happened here?" He glanced at Ida. "What did she do?"
It was one of the main misfortunes of his power, really, the lack of control which he had on using it. One of the signs of that yawning gap in what he could own and what belonged to the Negaverse's superiors came in that they could simply decide when he was needed. And he had gotten some control of that back; he could usually convince Faustite and Jadarite to work within his schedule confines, for one.
Today, usually was the operative word, and he looked down at his hands with a disappointed sigh as he no longer held the rope he was practicing a few knots on. No particular reason, but he had been busy--
What was Albite crowing about? He was curious, no doubt, and summoned the flimsy excuse for a weapon - that was, his ink pen, a strong instrument in itself but nigh useless fighting the White Moon, and came closer.
Perhaps it didn't matter. It this was their adversary--
Well. It was many against one, no matter the power she claimed.
Strickenized
boss,
whimsical blue
Calling Fafs~
kolina
Calling Helio~
noir songbird
Requesting Alkemene, calling any one of your lovelies who needs reqs and you feel like playing~
The pull was a demand, no courtesy of a request of presence. No instead, Aelius felt himself ripped from where he was at home under a blanket to the cold bite of winter's air. He flinched a the abruptness of it, but that winter bite was masked some by the fiery wrath of the General that had summoned himself, and others to his side.
Helio's eyes lighted upon Albite who was already making a clipped pace for their target. A familiar, floral form in purple and white. He'd watched that eternal form shift and mold into an order princess only scant months ago. Leave it to Faustite to flush her out for the team. A team that was quickly responding to the summons.
Such a pretty early Christmas gift!
Helio followed suite of the others. Wooden sandals clapping on the ground as he followed to gain his own ground on that fleeing form. Albite was already attacking. Cryolite hot on his heels. Borax even seemed in on the fun while Fulgrite looked for answers. Whatever, questions could be asked later. Right now they needed to do.
"Don't leave us behind again, Princess." Helio called as he drew closer. "It wasn't very nice of you the first time. Left us all after we helped you clean up your mess."
To punctuate the cleaning part, Helio hollered out his attack. "Roaring Cascade!" If they were lucky, the attacks would work in conjunction with each other to stop the princess from flying off on them again.
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Roaring Cascade Visual: An opaque wall of hot water shoots up around the target before cascading inward and slamming down on the target. Duration: Immediate effect lasts 35 secs Effects: The pressure of water is great enough to make it difficult to move away and could knock the target off their feet. It can cause the sensation of severe bruising, up to second degree burns or drowning with lasting damage at players discretion. Area of Effect/Range: Anywhere from Heliodor to up to 13 feet away from him. Can be used 2x per battle. Preparation/Incantation: Snapping his fingers, a ring of small golden spheres appear around the targets feet just before the wall of water shoots upwards.
whimsical blue
Calling Fafs~
kolina
Calling Helio~
noir songbird
Requesting Alkemene, calling any one of your lovelies who needs reqs and you feel like playing~
There was a pull. A pull that felt lovely and familiar, and it made Alkmene smile. It wasn't--couldn't be--a demand, but ti didn't have to be. Yes, he'd been out doing his own work, but a summons from his husband was always worth responding to.
(His husband. Yes, he shared Faustite's affections, and no, he'd never previously thought himself capable of sharing someone in that way, but....well, lots of things had changed for him when he left his old life behind. Apparently, that was one of them.)
He appeared at Faustite's side, flashed him a smile.
"Kill the Princess."
Such a deliciously simple command.
"As you wish," he said, and with a little blown kiss, he teleported to her, swinging into a kick with the aim of knocking her into the way of either Albite or Heliodor's magic. And if she got clever, well. He'd make sure she wouldn't get to sling around any of that lovely, sparkly Princess power.
The tug sat like a weight in Lilith's gut. Every interaction with her team felt more and more like lead, like a weight that was binding her and keeping her imprisoned. Like something that she wanted to escape, which wasn't what she had ever expected.
She had come to Faustite because she respected him. Respected the work he'd done in the Rift, respected the company he kept, even if Albite was. Well. Very himself-shaped, the source of many of her headaches, et cetera. She'd believed they could be great, as a team. Believed that she would be able to get all the power and influence she could want. Had brought her brother to him, even, when he chose to remake himself.
She regretted it all. It hurt, to realize that she hadn't joined a team--she'd joined a cadre of fanatics, barely leashed by Faustite's will, so eager to be unleashed that it was almost terrifying.
She thought of Murikabushi, cornered and surrounded by this particular bag of lunatics. She thought of herself, and wondered what they would think of her if she proved even the slightest bit disloyal.
And so she came. Not that she had any choice. And when she arrived, she put on a grim expression and called her magic to hand, looking for an angle to get in and strike their target.
A dead Princess. What a name for themselves that would make. All the glory and accolades she'd once thought she wanted.
Valjean came, like a good soldier. Faustite's summons was non-optional, and considering the power of their prey, Valjean couldn't pretend it wasn't prudent to bring in assistance. Still, he hung back, observing the fight first, rather than leaping directly in the way so many of their teammates had.
Valjean read the database in his spare time. It was the only thing to do, really--know thy enemy as yourself, as it were, and the more information he had going out fighting, the better. There were purple flowers on this girl's costume, and Faustite named her a Princess--so this must be Ida of Orchids, and as he recalled, Faustite's database entry mentioned offensive magic. Arrows of flowers.
Better to engage at close range, then. And no need for Valjean's magic; everyone was worked up quite enough without the need for any additional revolutionary zeal.
Better to decide where he was best applied when they saw exactly how the fight would play out. Especially if the Princess took their arrival as a cue to call for her own friends.
Somewhere behind her, she could hear the General hurling insults after her. They were ridiculous, but they still made her heart beat faster in her chest. Parasites? From someone who drained the people of this world to feed his own power source? And the venom in his voice… All that, over a single youma? Because she was a princess? Both, neither, or for some other reason she couldn’t fathom? All the more reason to remove herself from the situation… if she could manage to do so.
He was following her, by the sound of his feet pounding in time with hers. She jumped to the next building and changed directly abruptly, sprinting off to the left. As she ran, new signatures began to ping on her inner senses, more and more appearing with every step. Kill that ******** princess! Ida could only spare a glance back before there were people coming in from all sides, their faces a range of excited, angry and apathetic. Two… three eternals… three supers… a couple of basics. This was very quickly getting out of hand, in a very bad way. If she couldn’t outrun them, she was going to need a plan B.
Water exploded around her, fountaining up to stop her short and send her stumbling backwards. Something grabbed her from behind, wrapping tightly around her arm and dragging her around to face her adversaries, like a fox run to ground, and Ida felt her breathing go tight and fast. Dark eyes wide, she struggled to right herself and get her feet back under her, pulling hard at the… ribbons? That held her by the wrist. Someone got in from the side, all long hair and ribbons, to hit her hard even as she threw up an arm to block the blow. Too many… whatever head start she’d had was gone now, and there was no opening to slip free. They had her, held fast, and if she couldn’t get free, killing her would be the most merciful thing they did…
No. No, she was not going to be captured again. She was not going to spend another six months in a cold, dark little closet of a cell, drained till she could barely keep conscious, fed barely enough to keep herself alive… Never again. She’d take death first.
Her phone appeared in her free hand as she summoned it from subspace. With a practiced motion, she thumbed it open and slammed her finger down on the little app that was the distress beacon… and released her power again, the glowing petals falling about her to form wings and train and glittering gold. The new strength filled her again and she yanked hard to either snap the ribbon or pull that eternal with the dreads towards her with that smarmy, punchable face of his. Wings flared open to bat at the eternal who’d struck her from the side, and the smell of flowers was everywhere, incongruously soothing.
Quote:
Royal Passive: A floral scent surrounds Ida when she takes princess form, making those in her vicinity calmer and less prone to violence. It won’t stop someone in mid-attack, but can influence them passively to be less violent in her presence. For those already passive or friendly, the smell gives comfort and can ease the mind. It lasts for a minute before the scent fades.
Quote:
Senshi phones and knight rings within a mile rang start to blare an alarm. When touched, they display a map showing the pulsing dot of light that is Ida, surrounded by the contrasting lights of the Negaverse officers. A distress message is displayed, asking for assistance.
Noir Songbird
Kolina
Seiana_ZI
Shiningamisgirl
Strickenized
tefla
He felt the pull and growled as it took him from his office and shunted him across the city. When he arrived, he nearly stumbled and only barely managed to right himself. Everything before him was chaos... moving bodys and magic flying, a bunch of chaos signatures and one, glaring, burning order signature that came with the smell of flowers. Fafnir let out a deep breath as he paused, glancing about to get his barings. Kill the princess! His eyes snapped to Faustite at the shout and the look of rage on his face took the corrupt aback, feeding the concern and confusion.
"The ******** is going on..." He murmured to himself, falling into a defensive stance to cover his hesitation. Where the ******** had Faustite found a princess?
