In a moment that she would, later, think of with unutterable self-reproach, Elaine almost let it go and walked off with a “not my problem” to soothe the gnawings of her conscience.

But it wasn’t in her. Whatever other errors the Code might make, it had selected her for her role for a few reasons - and while she believed these reasons were primarily her willingness to murder and her inflexibility on the subject of joining the other side, she could not deny that an overactive sense of honor where it counted had probably been a factor.

So she had slipped off, unperceived, and the sudden flaring up of her energy signature was both nearby and notably powerful. She had, of course, all the usual upgrades that came of ascending to the exalted status of a full knight, but in some sort of cosmic joke her weapon had gone from one she was accustomed to wield to one that she, quite frankly, didn’t know how to handle.

Still, no one else had to know that. So she stepped out onto the barren sidewalk, moving briskly and breaking into a run towards the scene that had arrested her attention, and once she was in range (a distance she was learning to judge, still) she gave the whip a crack that was not as impressive as it maybe could have been, for all that it sounded almost like a gunshot ripping through the night air.

“Don’t you think you’re better than that?” she called, all faux sweetness, hoping like hell that the size of the energy signature confronting her was accurate and that she wasn’t in for another nasty surprise.

Working for the Negaverse was something that he had slowly become accustomed to while juggling school. It helped that he wasn't distracted by a certain girl, and all the same, it upset him. Either way, he assumed Ashleigh would contact him whenever she was ready to continue...Whatever they were on the cusp of. For now, he was focused on draining this poor civilian so he could make his quota for the night. Dem thought he was in the clear, free of order...

Till he felt the signature of a knight.

Great.

The gunshot caused him to frown before turning to face whatever he was about to try and get away from, dropping the drained civilian on the ground. At least the knight was female...And looking quite generous in all the right places. "If I'm not? Gonna hit me with that whip?" He gave her a flirty grin, walking towards her. She was small, so maybe his height would be able to intimidate her? Hitting a female was not high on his list of things to do at the moment and he would hate to hurt her. It also helped that voice, while seemingly sweet, held something behind it that made his green eyes light up just slightly.


—

It was notable that, despite standing a full foot shorter than him and being of a general softness that seemed better suited to lounging around on a couch somewhere than parading around playing the superhero by nightfall, she did not quail at his approach. Whether this was because of her comfortable faith in her own power or simply because of something more fundamental and human was impossible to say, but she dragged the end of the whip along the ground in a somewhat threatening movement. The vines retreated - no sense in wasting her magic right now if she could help it - but she did not.

"I would keep your distance unless you want things to go very badly for you," she said, with more confidence than she felt but with a very sincere sense of irritation, which rose to a sense of righteous disgust as she glanced past him towards the fallen civilian. "Doesn't it get under your skin, treating your fellow man like cattle?"

—

Ah…

Well this one would be no fun, just like that last knight.

Tossing his thistle up and down, Dem looked back towards the civilian he just drained, shrugging. “Should it? I'm only doing what I was told to do. Just like you are correct?” He figured he might as well get ready for a fight, and while he was sure he was going to get his a** beat, it was worth a try. Witherite couldn't get on his case if he told him he did ATTEMPT to take on a full on knight. As soon as he was a bit closer, Demantoid threw the thistle at his opponent, then swiftly moved to the left, aiming a kick at her midsection.

He was going to leave if the s**t started hitting the fan too early. It's not like he didn't get what he wanted from the civilian anyway. He could get a couple miles away and start again, he was nearly at quota anyway.

—

The kick probably would have landed, if he hadn't thrown the thistle first and given her some warning that he was about to try something that, in her mind, she labeled Stupid. It probably would have landed, even, if he'd tried it a few weeks ago. But she was not the most graceful creature on Earth at the best of times, and so her dodge was an inelegant fumble that came close to putting her on her a**. She was not making herself out to be quite as intimidating as she would have liked, which in turn made her annoyed.

"No one tells me to do s**t," she said, with a sneering contempt. "And if they do, I'm not obligated to do it. Are you just a dog for them? Sit, stay, heel," she added, with another crack of the whip in his direction, briefly re-summoning the vines although the lash was nowhere even close to landing a blow - whether from unwillingness or sheer ineptitude was hard to say.

—

That question did cause him to pause for all of a brief second, then he decided that, “Perhaps I am, but at least I can admit to it.” The cracking of the whip did serve to cause a flinch given the fact that he knew whips could hurt. He did take a leap back from the vines, looking the knight up and down as if he was debating on something. “You want the civilian? You can have them. There are other prospects in this city and frankly, you can't be everywhere at once.” To which there was always truth in that.

“I’ll see myself out bella. Maybe we can meet each other under different circumstances.” He gave the knight a salute and a grin, squatting down to poke the civilian on the nose, laughing at the fact that he was still breathing. “He’ll live~ This dog will take off now~” Demantoid didn't waste anymore time before he took off into the night, hopefully to find another victim worth taking energy from.


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viva viola wordcount: 541