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[lollerblading on a saturday morn.]

Episode I: Assumptions.

Lazenca walked the streets, oblivious to any such battles or secret meetings going on. He was on a mission! Eyeing one particular jewelry store, he turned in. This place looked nice... "A's Jewelers" with a fancy blinging sign and all. The setup was typical- glass cases and shelves housing the goods, with the best of the best behind the counter. The workers wore their suits and slicked hairdos, and were almost ready to jump on the newest potential customer.

Until they saw that he was a shaggy werewolf kinda guy... barefoot, wearing unpressed clothes, and carrying a duffel bag. Was he a thief? Initial readiness gave way to hesitation, and a couple pulled back to confer on this newest visitor to the establishment. Grab a smile, or the mace? One brave soul stepped forward and decided to take the chance. Lazenca was aware of the hesitation, and rolled his eyes at it.

The man walked up, wringing his hands together in obvious nervousness. "Excuse me, sir..."

"Yes?" Lazenca sighed, knowing they were going to tell him something stupid.

"Your bag..."

"What about it?"

"You're going to have to check it."

"... Is that what you are afraid of? Here." He took it off and handed it to the man... it wasn't heavy at all, being somewhere between 10-15 lbs. It was taken behind the counter where it was accounted for and set aside. "Is that all?"

"Yes, sir. Do you need anything?"

Lazenca twisted his neck to the left, then the right, and started talking. "Yes. I need a ring.. engagement ring. Channel set platinum frame, but only on one side. On the other side, I want a thin slit cut into the ring. Now for the channels, different pockets or whatever... alternate between diamond and ruby. The slit will be diamond, and connecting to the diamond outer pockets."

The man blinked.

"I mean... diamond, ruby, diamond, ruby, diamond. These diamond outers are connected by a diamond strip, so it's like... a ring of jewels framed by a ring of metal."

"You certainly seem to know a lot about jewelry, despite your appearance."

"My...appearance? You know what? I'm leaving. Give me my bag back."

Silver was about to bring his right arm back across for another hook when he was struck cleanly in the chin. He wasn't sure what had happened. One moment, we was looking at Reiko, then the sky, then the house behind him, and the sky again when the back of his head hit the ground.

He lay there for a moment, dazed. The sky was spinning, out of focus. Even if we wanted to get up, it would take his body a few seconds to start moving again. The blow to the chin had jarred his brain and temporarily disrupted his motor functions.

"O... Ow..."

"Wha--"

He was easily grabbed, his stunned body not putting up much resistance. It was easy to tell what was coming from the type of hold he was in, not that he could do much about it. The sudden sharp pain from his body would snap him out of it, though.

Immediately after the first blow, his arms would shoot forward and cross into a cross hand-block to take the second knee. He would then push forward against Reiko and attempt to bring his head straight down and then step back to escape the grapple.

As Silver stepped back, his body stayed hunched over, but twisted around to the right as he brought his right fist back and and his left arm up. For an instant, a ring of fire shot out and circles around his body once.

"Hrrrgh..."

He then stepped forward, and keeping his body low, moved under Reiko while swinging his right arm high and over, it erupting in white flame again aiming to strike Reiko in the mid-section mid-leap. Upon impact, his fist would explode with a white fiery blast.

"DYNAMITE!"

((Similar to Kyo's 182 Shiki from 2K/Chaos/2K3. Or Kimura's Dragon Fish, I guess.))

Silver stood there for a moment, hunched over, fist extended, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from his mouth, and sweat off his hair. Had he actually landed a solid blow against Reiko? Incredible.

His ribs hurt on both sides, probably bruised or broken, his right cheek was swolen, and his teeth still rattled from the uppercut to the jaw. It was getting hard to stand up. But he was just now getting somewhere. He couldn't let himself fall yet. He'd embarassed Vahn enough today. There was undoubtably fight left in Reiko.

Slowly, he straightened up, raising his arms into a ready stance once more, and he advanced on Reiko's position. Stopping a few feet away, he kept his eyes on his downed opponent.

"Hah... hah... Had enough...?"

Episode III: The Cycle.

People usually forget them... they're off to the side, keeping to themselves and only speaking up when they need cash to eat. Sometimes, they band together... but then they become possessive. They grow old and stingy, and cast aside all others to preserve what once was. And nobody knows when they've passed, for they go silently into the cold nights. Scoping out a nice spot under a bridge, their last breath is in synch with the chirp of crickets and just as quiet.

Leaving that one man, Lazenca walked along until he saw three more jewelry shops. They all seemed reputable enough, and Lazenca was trying to decide which one to go into first. Going solely on appearances, they were all equally good... different styles of good, but whatever. One was on the side with him; he'd have to cross the street to get to the other two jewelry shops. Thinking it wise to just go to the shop closest to him and work outwards, Laz walked further to close in on the place.

Between Laz's position and his destination was a couple... a male and female, teens. Punk skater types, back to back, playing Greensleeves on acoustic guitars. It was a bit typical, but their execution was impressive. A crowd had gathered to listen, and once the final chord was struck, coins and bills were dropped into a top hat as the crowd started to thin. Laz came up on them when they were gathering and counting that show's take. Being an appreciator of musical talents, he fished out a few loose coins from his wallet and dropped it in... about $2.50 [dollar count because I don't feel like converting to gold]. A nod was given to them in passing, but only then was Laz able to see how... young they were. It was hard before, what with dark hair draping their face. Always downcast... it made them seem more gothy than anything.

"Thank you." It was the male speaking, and he immediately started to add that to his running total.

"Mhm." Lazenca rolled his neck to both sides and almost kept going, but it was the youth in the voices and bodies that made him pause. "Hey... can I ask you something?"

"Go for it." The guy never stopped counting his money, apparent by lips moving and fingers sorting out the coins.

"How young are you?"

"Wow, that's random." This was probably the first time the guy had looked up all day... he squinted at the sun coming into his face, but his pale grey eyes were visible. He was blind. "Sixteen, and my sister's the same."

Lazenca noted the eyes, and the sister's lack of responding to anything. "You're on the street already? And blind? Why aren't you in an orphanage or something?"

He frowned a bit. "We're too troublesome, they say. Besides, those places suck. Once you're in, you're as good as forgotton. See... I'm blind, but you know that already. She's deaf. It's... all stupid. We tried once, they treated us like crap, and we left."

"Are you happy?"

"Hell n-- what kind of question is that? Coming and going... that's all people are ever doing, coming and going. Rushing to nowhere. That's alright... we'll take their cash and find our Mecca somewhere. Just me and my sis, taking care of each other."

"Yeah, I guess I see." Lazenca shrugged, then pulled out another $10. "It's too bad, really... but good luck."

They weren't the kind of people to put down any cash, and it too was taken. "What's too bad?"

She slowly turned, long aware of the lingering shadow. She remained quiet, though, trying to read lips to see what the conversation was about.

Lazenca put his hands in his pockets. "That I understand you. I grew up kinda alone too, and it sucked. But that's in the past... you couldn't tell if you could see, but my life's getting better every day. I work in a big company and I'm making my way. You'll be fine, I'm sure."

He scoffed. "What are you doing, giving me a pep talk?"

Laz shrugged, popping the bag up on his back and tightening the straps. "Not anymore... I have to keep going. Tell your sister that what I heard of your show, I liked it. Good luck." He turned away to continue his walking.

"Thank you." A slightly nasal, female voice spoke up. She had apparently been able to read the conversation well. Lazenca gave her a thumbs up as he continued walking, and her words were the last in the conversation.

"Send this one..."

Reiko turned his hips sharply to the right and hunched his body a bit.

"To Kasuga!"

He swung his hips back around and up to the left, all while unzipping his pants, a long object launched out from his crotch.

Now, what the object was, wasn't important. What WAS important, was the speed at which the object extended from the hole in his pants and moved around. It wasn't faster than the eye could see, but by the time you got a good look at it, it was already too late.

So the object shot out, the sheer power of it, ripping a long line in the turf and concrete first as it trailed it briefly before it swung up-left, almost like a whip, to smash into Silver's left side and send him flying.