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 Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 9:35 am
The power signature of a general drew her like the proverbial moth to flame. The feel of it was... oddly attractive, these days. Probably, it was only her inner turmoil that took the edge off the coldness and the dulled the sickliness of it. That power signature meant a distraction, something to take her turmoil out on and make her feel more at home in herself for a little bit. It drew her, and she could make all sorts of excuses to explain why.
She wasn't sure if she was disappointed or pleased when the signature turned out to be a familiar figure, standing on the roof of a toy store a few buildings away from where she landed. Painite... Ida felt whatever thread of fate they share pull taut between them, while her stomach still performed that little flip flop it always did. She wanted someone she could take this jumble of nerves and feelings out on... someone faceless and forgettable, who didn't know her. But she also knew the damage Painite could do, the deadly temper she'd had in the past... Her boots carried her forward before she'd made up her mind and she jumped from one building to the next, coming down opposite the figure on the rough cement of the roof top.
"Painite." She quipped, trying to keep her voice breezy and light, though tension crept in to it. "Back to terrorizing the innocent citizenry?"
God, everything in her itched. Her fingers flexed with her inner tension, releasing some of it through the squeeze and release.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 10:09 am
Painite felt it more than heard it, turning at the voice and the aura but ignoring both. The words were almost lost, though her mind clung to them and formulated a quip for her while she let her body and instincts take the lead. She looked at Ida in wonder, a flurry of curiosities flooding through her mind until the whirlwind settled and she let her nerves calm.
"Is that what you're hoping for, Petals?"
She knew those eyes, that impossible weight in such a startlingly hollow tone. Lost. Hurting. Things Painite knew far too intimately, and yet had no capacity to deal with despite how easily she recognized them. They scared her, immediately, her piercing green eyes fixing on Ida's, when usually she endeavored to not make direct eye contact with anyone lest they read too much into her own turmoil.
Something was different. Something was wrong.
Could she help? Was she capable of it? Not likely. Did she want to try? Sort of. But the pressure was immense, all from her own insecurities. What was she letting herself get so worked up for? A weird feeling in the air? She forced a lopsided grin, pushing her shoulders down to effect relaxing, though all of the tension remained.
"You okay?" She tried.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 2:18 pm
She didn't like the way Painite looked at her... the shreds of concern flickering and gone.
"I mean, I don't come out here, leaving my warm home after a long day at work, hoping to find casual conversation." Ida shot back, trying to press down her impatience. She knew she was being reckless, taking a tone with Painite, but it was impossible to push down the urge for it. Painite didn't even deserve it, really. There were no outward signs the woman had been doing anything wrong when she'd arrived, and things had been so different between them lately, but... She was still a negaverse officer. If she wasn't hurting someone now, she would be later. It hardly mattered what Ida did, it was still going to happen.
"I'm fine. Though I'm surprised you care. Shouldn't you be speaking with your spear, point first? Why are you even out here? I know your kind doesn't just wander the city for fun. If you have your eye on a target, I can let you know right now I'm not going to let you have your way. If you need someone to pick on, you should pick on me... Unless you like your prey helpless."
She wanted to hit something... anything to let off some of the tension built up inside of her. She wanted someone to hit her to make the spiral of anxiety quiet for a while. She wanted to rip the glowing marks off her skin and feel the burden of responsibility drop from her shoulders... be free of all of it. Let someone else tell her what to do for once.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 2:30 pm
The General lifted an eyebrow, holding her hand up. At first, it looked like she wanted to wave Ida down, make some sort of gesture of peace. Her hand was empty, after all, but it was not that way for long. She curled her fingers around a staff moments before it was actually pulled from its little pocket in negaspace. Her trusty spear appeared with barely a thought, though it felt heavy against her palm..
So she was still viewed as the villain. And tonight, it seemed she needed to be one. Whatever was going on, it was beyond her, but she was used to being a pawn. Playing a role. Being used.
"Pick on you, huh? Well, Petals, that was always easy enough back then. Sure, helpless is nice, but I can always do the leg work and get you there myself."
She held her spear in front of her, her throat feeling tight as she fought to keep bile from rising too far up from the very pit of her stomach. She kept hearing herself making stupid decisions, felt her body moving the way it wanted to, and she made no effort to stop it despite the voice whispering in the back of her head. Weak and barely there, but doing its best to guide her. She never had much use for a conscience.
In fact, she resented one deciding to show up after all these years. It made everything a hell of a lot more complicated. Not like when she was younger, and more free. Untroubled, and a willing captive to Chaos' charms. Her stomach twisted again, her muscles burned as if she were bending them the wrong way, but she charged anyway.
"Let's see if your guts glow, too!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 2:53 pm
The too familiar spear appeared in Painite's hand and Ida shivered at the sight of it. Partly in fear, partly in memory, partly in the thrill it gave her. Alarms were going off in her head, but she ignored them. This was something she knew and understood. This was something she could do, right now, without agonizing over it. Painite was the enemy, had always been the enemy, and with her, Ida could truly feel like she was doing the right thing.
"Sadistic b***h." She bit out, the venom in her voice at odds with the grin she wore. She didn't even know where it had come from, that smile, but she couldn't force her face into other lines. Her nerves sang with released tension and as Painite charge her, she lept forward in response, meeting her head on in a way Ida rarely ever did. Eyes on the spear, she ducked and side stepped to force her way within it's range, close enough to get a swing at Painite even as a line of pain opened on her bicep and red welled up.
All around them the city was quiet, oblivious to clash above street level and the turmoil inside one singular senshi.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 3:19 pm
Painite grinned at that, though it was devoid of any true emotion. Maybe change was impossible, and she would always be the animal she had taken so much pride in. The monster. She felt she had come so far in the last few months, baby step after baby step, and yet here she was. Back at the beginning.
Her spear was screaming for blood. She could almost feel it pulsing under her white knuckle grip, but that was just her pulse as her heart thundered against the cage that was her ribs.
"Predictable," she sneered, almost seeing Ida's steps before she made them. A long range weapon, so counter it by getting close. Cut off its swing, and render it useless. It was simple enough, and might have worked, if it had been anyone else. Even against Painite in a normal mode, with Ida's speed and strength, but tonight was different. Tonight, as much as Painite was her old self, she was new.
She smelled blood, but it was just a drop. Her spear was thirsty. She stopped dead in her tracks as a fist collided with her face. Instead of jerking back, she was gone, the fist stopping for a moment in obvious connection, but then suddenly losing its target all together. Momentum shifted, Painite appeared behind Ida, off center to her left. She stabbed her spear downwards, anticipating the movement of Ida's leg as she adjusted her footing. She stabbed with all her strength, both hands on the spear, attempting to pierce whatever she could. Flesh, muscle, bone, even the stone on the other side: the spear wanted it all.
Painite had always been her spear.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 3:44 pm
The sudden disappearance of her target unbalanced Ida and startled her at the same time, despite years of battle experience and knowledge. She knew the Negaverse could teleport, and yet it still took her by surprise when they did it in the middle of a fight. It was... unfair they had that ability, putting them at such a decided advantage to the White Moon. She had only a moment to cast about in panic, knowing Painite was going to pop back into reality too close for her liking, and probably behind her...
Pain lanced through her lower leg and Ida shrieked as she fell to her knee, the pain of kneecap slamming into concrete buried under the firey pain of a spear going through her flesh. She knew this pain, she remembered it. With the pain came the old, familiar fear and together they knocked her thoughts out of the spiral they had been in, the desperate need gone. Her palms slammed into the rooftop as she fell forward, blinded momentarily. Blood splattered the grey stone under her, metal scraping against it, and Ida sobbed with labored breaths, tears welling up in her eyes.
This position was too awkward to make a twisting grab at Painite, or otherwise make a quick escape... she was pinned and her heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of her chest.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 3:54 pm
Painite's bones seemed to shudder with the sound of Ida's scream, but she forced herself to ignore it. Drink it in, like she used to. She pulled her spear free, gripping it high on the staff as she circled around to Ida's front as the senshi struggled. The fresh blood that trickled from the spear's head was warm against her cold hand, almost burning in its own way.
She stopped in front of Ida, looking down at her and taking in her crumpled appearance.
"Now that's helpless. Pathetic, I'd say," Painite said, tone hollow. Despite the scream before, her own voice reaching her ears was jarring. She had not heard herself speaking like this in some time. Her body was threatening to shake itself apart, and yet when her bloody hand shot out and grabbed Ida's chin, forcing her to look up, it held firm.
"Isn't this," she said, staring down into Ida's tearful face, digging into the pain behind those eyes and searching for something, though her own eyes were fathomless and dark. The bottom end of her staff, though wooden, was also sharpened to a dangerous point. She slammed it down into the back of Ida's hand, simply to cause more pain. Her thoughts flew away from her, only a few words left fluttering around her head.
This isn't...
"What you wanted?"
Is it?
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:12 pm
More pain, as the spear was pulled free from her leg with a gush of blood. It was not going to hold her weight if she tried to stand on it, and that left her on the ground with no where to go.
Pathetic.
It was true, wasn't it? She was. Useless. Pointless. Undeserving. Ida panted as Painite grabbed her face, expecting it and almost grateful for the touch. Head craned back as she knelt on the rooftop, another gasping cry broke from her as Painite stabbed the spear butt into her hand, piercing it. Tears streaming, she shuddered and her eyes met the other woman's, all her desperation rising to the surface.
This was only as much as she deserved. She was never supposed to have made it this far. She should have died years ago, run through with a sword. She should never have become a princess, squandering power someone else should have gotten. She'd struggled for so long, for nothing. This power would be better in someone else's hands... her world would be better off with someone else to keep it.
"Please..." She gasped out, grabbing Painite's wrist in her free and undamaged hand.
"I c-can't do this any more. I want... I want you to corrupt me. Or... call one of your General Sovereigns." It was her only escape, now. Break her planet ties. Release her responsibilities. Give her a place where she wouldn't feel so utterly useless any more. Freedom beckoned...
"You... you'll have to... break my transcendence. Please."
Without the weight of it all, she might finally, finally have a chance to be herself again.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:32 pm
Painite flinched at the touch, eyebrows lifting in surprise and no small amount of confusion at the words, torn by tears and sobs, that left Ida's mouth. Heat billowed under her skin, and not for the usual reasons when she saw a pretty woman on her knees. Instead of delight and pleasure, Painite felt only anger and disgust. At her victim, at herself. Were they any different at this point?
"Corrupt you?" Her grip on Ida's chin tightened, and she pulled her up, though her wounded body would not like it. Painite brought herself closer as well, until their faces were almost level, though she maintained the higher ground. She left her spear sticking in the ground, using her other hand to grab Ida's neck.
"Do you think it's that easy?" Painite hissed, releasing Ida's jaw only to smash that fist into her face. She let go of her neck, grabbing her spear and freeing it before banishing it for now. She did not need it in hand, not any more. She grabbed Ida by the hair, stooping so they were once again face to face. Her free hand made for her throat, but stopped with a feather light touch against it. She trailed her fingers down, until she rested her palm against Ida's chest.
She felt her wild heartbeat, and the pulse of her starseed. Of course she knew better, but still she found it all too tempting. That shimmering jewel, just within her risk. Literally begging to be hers, but not in a way either of them would be happy with.
"You're a coward. You're running away!? After everything you've done, everything you've learned. Do you think I'm an idiot? I know what those stupid marks mean. So what is it? You get dumped? You lose something you think you can't live without? Or is it just too hard?"
Painite wasn't sure when she had let go of Ida's hair, nor was she fully aware of striking her again. She pulled back her fist, having punched Ida hard in the gut but not moving back even if she crumpled. She would let Ida fall against her, keeping her hand on her chest.
"The White Moon is all the same. No back bone. No guts. Why should I give you what you want, when it's so beautiful to see you suffer?" This close, it would be difficult for Ida to see the tears in Painite's eyes, though she bit them back and steeled herself with a painful sounding growl. "Tell me, Petals, why you deserve to be swallowed by darkness."
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:02 pm
The sharp, throbbing pain in her leg and her hand ratcheted up as she was lifted, not quite to her feet even if her leg had been able to hold her weight. Ida struggled, but only in a feeble sort of way, a struggle to avoid more pain that was futile and ill-fated.
The grip about her throat was too tight for a response, even if she had the words for it. Of course it wouldn't be easy... the damned glow kept anyone from touching her starseed, and thus kept the chaos from touching her. The fist that smashed into her face snapped her head back and left her dazed, so she crumpled when she was released. That brought more pain as it jostled injuries, leaving her gasping for air.
Drawn up by her hair, all she could do was shuddered and pant as Painite's hand pressed against her breastbone, over the tattoo of knotted lines she'd gotten so long again as a charm of protection. Protection she no longer wanted or needed. The words pelted her, and has she been able, she might have flinched under them, feeling them bite as deep as the spear had. But the general was right, wasn't she? She was spineless. Seeking the easy way out, even as hard as it would be. Seeking any way out at all.
The fist to her gut doubled her over against Painite's shoulder and she nearly wretched, the taste of bile in her mouth. She coughed and wheezed and surrendered to it, the hopelessness overwhelming. If she'd corrupted sooner, this never would have happened. Maybe it was better if Painite killed her. She'd be as useless as a corrupt anyway, wouldn't she?
"I'm... a Princess." She managed to sputter, her breathing ragged. "I'm... a threat. I'll never stop... fighting you. If you d-don't take me now. All this power... you can have it. I just want... to be free of it."
"Its too much..." Ida whispered, at last. "Everything's dying... and I'm not strong enough."
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:21 pm
"You don't get to decide," Painite said breathlessly, as the battered princess sagged against her shoulder. She laughed, looking up at the stars and finding their very presence intrusive. She dug her nails into Ida's chest, though for now she was otherwise not touching the senshi.
"You don't get to decide who kills you. How you die. You don't get to tell me to take your power. A princess, are you kidding? You're a child playing pretend, maybe," She rose suddenly, shoving Ida backwards and making her spear appear again. Her foot slammed down on Ida's stomach to keep her pin, not that the senshi had any will to stand. She pointed the tip of her spear where her hand had been resting before. Heart and starseed, hers for the taking.
Tears were running down her cheeks now.
"I'd take it from you, you know. Your power. Your life. You could have mine. You could be a monster, and be 'free'. But then what would you have? Nothing. I can tell you that. There's nothing here, in darkness. That's why you're fighting, isn't it? To spare us from this. Aren't you supposed to protect us?"
She was shaking now, her spear wobbling and too high to really be aimed at anything for a moment.
"Do you really think you can beg me to save you, then tell me you'll kill me, and I'd believe it? You're no threat to me, to Chaos. Don't you worry, it will consume you. But if everything is dying anyway, why are you so upset? If this is what you want, why are you crying? You die, you corrupt, and the problem doesn't stop. It gets worse. Everything dies anyway. Sure, you don't care about it any more, but do you think that's freedom? You're asking for a ghost, a demon, that will never stop haunting you."
She took a step back finally, throwing her spear away with a clatter. Sinking to her knees, she seized the front of Ida's fuku and hauled her up, wrapping her arms around her tightly and hugging her almost too hard.
"Be stronger. If you're not strong enough, then be stronger. Find strength. Isn't that what your White Moon says all the time? You're together. That's why we'll never kill you all. If you die believing in something, in trying your hardest even if you fail, isn't that still better than throwing your life away to some meaningless shred of darkness that no one will remember? I don't deserve to kill you."
She sniffled, dizzy.
"I need you to save me, too, you stupid flower." she whispered. Then, louder, "I'm not giving up on you yet. I'll kill you when you deserve it. When you're strong." She grinned, laughing through her tears, "When you don't want me to. That'd figure, right?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:49 pm
The dig of nails was nothing to the rest of it. The words flowed over and around her, and all she could do was agree with it. She'd been nearly a literal child when her power had awakened at fifteen. She'd grown up, but how much, really? She'd thrown her everything into this war, made so many stupid mistakes, taken in so much trauma in return.
She fell back with a gasp of pain and felt Painite pinning her there, holding her down as she lorded her own power over her. Someone who embraced her power, used it. Was rewarded by her master with more power. They'd never been an equal match, of course. Ida had always fled from her, or fought her in groups. It had only been that once that she had ever gotten the better of Painite, and even that had been a fluke, looking back on it.
Still, she spoke truth, and Ida knew it, deep down. But was it really so bad? Anything was better than this. Anything was better than living this way.
When Painite hauled her up and into her arms, Ida grabbed for her in return, digging her fingers into her uniform to clutch at her, smearing blood into the fabric.
"I don't know what's wrong with me... everything is too much." Ida said, aching all over, inside and out. "Its never... been like this before. I want to... crawl out of my skin. Everything on Ida is dying... I don't know what's wrong, why I can't fix it. It keeps pulling at me."
How as she supposed to save Painite? How was she supposed to get stronger? She'd never been strong, only stubborn. Of course corrupting wouldn't solve anything... only make her more of a monster than Painite was... or had been. Take her family and friends away from her, destroy everything she loved. But she still yearned for it, her body pressed against Painite and the chaos that seeped from her, clouding Ida's inner senses.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 6:11 pm
Painite's shoulders sagged as she held on to the shaking senshi, tears still falling as she listened. This whole thing made no more sense to her, though she could feel that Ida was being more honest with her now than she had been before. Picking the fight was the catalyst, though Painite found she had only managed to spill more blood.
There were probably better ways to help someone in such dire need.
Yet if this told her anything, it proved that her fate was to never change. She had a role to play, whether she liked it or not.
"It's not going to leave you alone, even if you run. You can add to your problems, make new ones, but the old ones just stay there, decaying and twisting. Believe me, I've mastered the art of festering. But Petals, you're a Princess, right? A real one. I don't think the universe makes that big of a mistake. If your planet is dying and you don't know how to save it, then I don't know. Find someone who can help. Find ten people that will help. A hundred. You're Ida, right? And Ida is you. You've got one almost-person already, if that counts for anything."
She looked down over Ida's shoulder, seeing the blood that was splattered and smeared on the surface of the roof. That was probably not helping the senshi see things any clearer. She needed to get her some help, or at least get her somewhere safe. She could teleport her somewhere, maybe.
"It hurts this much because you don't want to lose it. Corrupt, and it's gone. Your suffering ends, but the loss? It can't ever be fixed. It's dying: it's not dead. You're not dead. Don't be in a hurry to die, use all this passion and anger and hopelessness and fight with it. That's what Chaos is, anyway. It's suffering. You can find a way to make it your power, without letting it eat you alive. Or I'll just have to stab a few more holes in you until you figure it out."
She pulled back, touching her hand to Ida's face and grimacing. She looked a mess, though Painite could hardly question why.
"I have to take you somewhere. A doctor, okay? I'll teleport you to the hospital. I'm not going to let all this heart to heart bullshit get bled out and wasted on the floor."
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 6:20 pm
Painite pulled back and Ida finally look at her face, really seeing the way the tears fell down her cheeks as well. This outpouring from her was... surreal. A battlefield confession between broken people. She didn't know what to do with it, what to make of it. The things she said sounded right, but that heaviness was settling around her again, now that she knew Painite wasn't going to finish things between them.
The hand to her face was strangely gentle, a stark contrast to the blood on her clothes and the pain still lancing through her. Numbly, she nodded, feeling shock starting to settle in.
"A-alright." She mumbled, feeling defeated again. She'd have to figure this out. She couldn't keep going on this way, and it seemed this wasn't how she was going to solve anything. Ida could look back, see everything she had been doing, and know it was more than something mundane, something she really could have handled on her own. Something was very wrong, and she was going to have to figure out what it was.
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