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 Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:27 pm
The blade deflected her punch, and Ares cartwheeled back from it, neatly missing the next swing of his sword. Her hands gripped the wet grass, feet moving over her head as she made her landing. The senshi of smoke straightened and put a hand on her hip in mock casualty. "Oh you know us girls," she said, rolling left in an attempt to disorient the cavalier. "We are so bad about expressing our feelings clearly. Always have to pick a fight."
Drawing her hands over her head, Ares slowly lowered them into the shape of a gun at her chest. It was a familiar form to Laocoon's eyes. He had to know, even before she spoke the incantation, what was coming next. Twin columns of smoke formed in her palms. She crossed one over the other and guided them straight for Laocoon's head.
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Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 1:05 pm
The cavalier fell for the feint, bringing his blade up flat between them again and stepping back. Laocoon winced as the motion reminded him very pointedly of the numerous injuries Ares has bestowed upon his pasty white midsection. Those were going to really, really hurt tomorrow. He had to remind himself that they'd been done out of love. Love, and maybe perhaps a side helping of genuine hatred and/or contempt. It was the same kind of idea.
"You do," Laocoon agreed readily, shifting his weight from foot to foot in an effort to keep focused. "That was why I liked Hermes. She solved all her problems with romantic comedies and large tubs of triple-chocolate-marshmallow ice cream." Unlike Ares, the cavalier liked to hide when he was injured, sulking in dark corners and licking his wounds. He liked being left alone, to wallow in his misery while it lasted. Fighting meant getting more hurt and Laocoon had had quite enough of that in the past few weeks.
Ares was already pulling out her smoke attack which was bad news bears for the cavalier of the maze. The only benefit that Laocoon had over any other competitor was that he'd seen the attack before. Unfortunately, it didn't make the sting in his eyes any less. Taking a deep breath he held it and ran straight for Ares, drawing the sheath of his sword up as he did so. It would be extremely difficult to aim after being blasted but he was willing to risk it to stay out of the smoke column (or at the very least force Ares in with him). As he charged he swung the sheath as if it were his sword, dropping his grip on the actual rapier so he could swing the handle at her instead. When it came to nonlethal damage, being bashed with a hilt was much nicer than being slashed with a sword.
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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:54 pm
For Ares, it was hard to distinguish one passion from another. She hated people with the same vehemence that she might love others. At times, those emotions twisted and entangled until she could only feel the strength of the emotion, if not the emotion itself. Perhaps this was the thing at work here with Laocoon. She needed a soldier beside her, but she also needed a friend. As far as either of them knew, they were the last two remnants of the parallel kingdom that would ever exist on this plane. They needed to stay together. Their royalty would have wanted that.
And Ares, more personally, knew that Nehelenia would want their mantle carried on, farther and deeper into the fray. Beyond getting the crystal back, the senshi of smoke wasn't sure what that mission was, per se. But she was willing to improvise.
"Well, Hermes isn't here," she said sharply. "And she never will be. Ever." Neither would her cavalier; Ares would never be fully whole. It limited her power, but deeper than that, it took away one of the only people who had ever fully understood her. What was he doing on the other side of the mirror? Was he unable to see her in the same way that she was unable to see him? A p***k of emotion cut at her sides. She pushed it away to focus on the other sword swinging at her.
Ares began to parry, but then slowed, allowing the blow to hit her. It might not have been obvious at first to the cavalier. Now, it would be clearer. The more he swung, the better he succeeded, the more Ares eased herself into taking his blows. It was some kind of communion between them, one that the senshi of smoke was orchestrating.
The sheath collided with her gut, and Ares reached both arms forward, locking her arms around Laocoon and then wrapping both legs around him as if they were two lovers embracing. Her weight was heavy against him. It looked like a hug, but it wasn't a hug. There was something fierce in it, a quiet battle of wills. Sailor Ares grunted in his ear from the pain of his strike, sinking her fingers into his shoulders and pulling him to the ground.
Locked there, she whispered in his ear, "We are not enemies. We are allies, and Laocoon, we are all that is left." Her words tipped with emotion. "There is war all around us, and we can not stand by. We will not follow their queen. We will carry the mantle of the Black Kingdom. We will bring our people their honor back, and then, when we have that power, we will bring our comrades to us and restore our Kingdom to greatness." She paused, let her head dip to his shoulder.
"Or die trying."
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Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 8:25 pm
Ouch. Ares was pulling all the stops when it came to causing the cavalier pain. He knew Hermes was never going to be here, nor were any of his fellow cavaliers. They both knew that with a kind of ice cold, razor sharp clarity. That was what made it hurt more. It was worse than being captured, worse than dying. Laocoon hadn't just been left, for dead or otherwise. He had been left behind.
The first hit was a victory, but any smugness he may have felt quickly vanished in lieu of Ares' attack strategy. Fists, he'd been expecting, kicks also fairly high up there on his expectation list. Hugs, however, had been entirely out of the question. By the time he realized what she intended to do to him it was already too late. He'd been snared. The humour of such an expression was not lost on him and Laocoon made a breathy noise that may have started as a laugh but quickly deteriorated into a noise of pain. Ares was heavy, damnit, not to mention the fact that she was rather uncomfortably squeezing him. Their rather ungraceful descent did nothing for his knees and he tried his best to support the sailor senshi without literally stabbing her in the back with his sword. (He wasn't too inclined to drop it just yet).
Ares was whispering now in that kind of voice that you couldn't not listen to even in you wanted to. Laocoon watched her out of the corner of his eye, torn between instinctual wariness and the knowledge that so far everything that had come out of her mouth had been right. To anyone else she might have sounded crazy, power hungry, or worse, just plain delusion but at that moment it was as if Hector was ordering him. Ares and the captain of the cavaliers had always shared some similarities, most notably in their fighting style. They were more like each other than they thought, even if it wasn't something either would readily admit. To be reminded so clearly of his captain burned like having a scab ripped off an old wound but at the same time it was oddly comforting. Ares was right. They were all that was left, and hell, he'd already followed one battle fiend down a bloody road, so why not follow another?
For a second he was tempted to ask her to bond with him, to join souls as if they were truly partners. But now felt too raw, too sore to even think about such things. The loss of everything was fresh enough that Laocoon wasn't entirely convinced that Ares wouldn't go and do something stupid and get them both killed (soul bonds were tricky like that). Another time. For now, he had to accept the terms of his surrender.
"You know, that sounds it just might work," the cavalier murmured, settling his weight back on his heels to relieve some of the pressure on his knees. "But only because you're crazy like a fox." He gave a kind of bemused, wheezy chuckle, the corners of his mouth curving upwards into a small smile.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:32 am
Sailor Ares kept her hold on Cavalier Laocoon until she was certain that the words he spoke were the truth, until she felt the sag of his surrender in the face of her persistence. They were not each other's favorite, certainly, but it hardly mattered now. The senshi of smoke and the cavalier of the maze drifted alone, untethered, in the ocean, waves rolling over until they finally made it back to one another. That was a quiet comfort. It was as close to home as they would ever get.
Heeled boots squished on the slightly moist ground as Ares got back to her feet. A bit of blood trickled from where the cavalier's sword had hit on its edge. The injury was laughable, hardly a scratch. Laocoon had fought back, but he held it all in check. Ares didn't think she could show that restraint.
One hand extended to help Laocoon up from the ground. "Is that supposed to be funny?" she said flatly. Ares was renowned for her distinct lack of a sense of humor. Some things never changed. "We have much to do, Laocoon. But first--" Her eyes glazed over in a vision of battlefields to come, of mountains to climb, of jaws to break.
"We need more power."
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:12 pm
Laocoon tried for his infamous Cheshire grin but failed miserably in the face of a split lip. Wincing, he touched the injury gingerly and settled on a less sparkly smile as he took the offered hand to haul himself up. For now, the adrenaline of the fight made it easier to stand, injuries a dull throb. He had no doubt that when he got home he'd be sitting in front of his television with several bags of frozen peas and lots of pain killers. C'est la vie.
"Ares, I am always funny, don't you remember?" Hector was like Ares in that way, just a little snider. Where the captain of the cavaliers would have replied with some scathing retort, the senshi of smoke would have responded with a fist. He supposed he was lucky in that respect. She hadn't hit him for trying to be funny. Yet.
The talk turned quickly to power and Laocoon nodded slowly, rolling the idea around in his head. Power. "Well, lead the way oh honourable senshi of the Parallel Moon. The Black Earth cavaliers are happy to aid you in your noble cause." It was naturally a little overdramatic, playing on the language of old but the message was simple. Laocoon was in.
To victory, or to death.
~ FIN
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