“Eee!” she squeaked with excitement. “I mean. Thanks! Yay!”
Subamara took a deep breath to calm herself, turning with new focus to examine their surroundings. So she was right and there was something out here, but she did not want to embarrass herself further in front of this guy by going the completely wrong way. Her aura-sensing magical powers were just not up to scratch. Remarque was right next to her, and she could still only feel the chaos feeling. She must be doing it wrong. So she closed her eyes, and tried to concentrate harder…
And when that didn’t work, she guessed. Remarque had popped out of the nearest alley, so maybe the youma was hiding in the next one over? It had to be close, because otherwise how could it be overwhelming her senses so much? Logic would triumph when magic couldn’t!
“This way?” she suggested, gently tugging on Remarque’s hand to draw him along with her. She definitely wasn’t stepping out of the streetlight without him.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Awesome, I was not expecting Remarque’s response! XD Did you want to actually find a youma, or just wander in the dark a bit more? Up to you! smile
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 1:33 pm
It was difficult to keep a bemused smirk from his face, but Remarque managed—at least until they were out of the streetlight. "Sounds good to me," he said; he let the girl lead, though it didn’t seem as though they had to go very far before something seemed amiss. There was a clattering from a nearby alleyway, which might have been easy to dismiss as a cat had a very unique hissing not followed shortly after.
It was unlike any animal Remarque had ever heard, and given his experiences with youma in the past he could only assume that they were close to their mark. He wasn't going to send Subamara in on her own if she wasn't comfortable with it, so as soon as he heard the noise he took the lead. "You think you can handle this?" he asked as they approached. "I'll be right here the whole time, so don't let it scare you or anything. I'll make sure you make it out all right."
He might have been a little too eager to have an excuse to get rid of another youma, but who was going to know? It was just them out there, and he hardly needed any encouragement to go after a youma. Now, it just came with the bonus of showing off.
LokisRose
I hope this works! If it needs to be changed, just let me know!
It was a good thing Remarque took over when he did, because Subamara pretty near froze when the thing started its unnatural hissing. She didn’t have a lot of experience with youma, and to be honest, most of what she did have had come to her while she was a screaming civilian. And now it was her job to fight them somehow. She wasn't ready, and it was already scaring her. But Remarque sounded calm and confident and reassuring. Like it was a class and nothing could really go wrong. She very much hoped he was right.
"Okay! I'm ready!” she said softly.
The thought crossed her mind that she could watch him handle it from way back here, but she quickly quashed it. He had been so nice to her, she didn’t want to let him down. And realistically, the darkness behind them was just as full of imagined monsters as the alley ahead. One definite monster had to be easier than that. Maybe it wasn’t as scary as it felt.
Steeling herself, she stepped up closer behind Remarque to try and get a look at whatever they were facing, the nasty chaos-y thing that had been lurking so close.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:16 pm
Remarque cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Get rid of it," he answered simply enough. "Here. I'll hold it still, and all you have to go do is pound the living daylights out of it, all right? If anything goes wrong, I've got your back. You'll be fine. Just try your hardest," he instructed before stepping forward. The youma came into view—a nasty, dog sized abomination with the neck like that of a giraffe and a face that looked like someone had run it over a few times. It seemed briefly surprised—moved closer, and then shrieked.
Remarque was not surprised, and he was obviously experienced using his senshi skills; looking at the youma, he called, "Captive Audience!"
Strings descended from the sky, gripping each joint of the hideous youma; it squirmed and flapped its stubby arms, tripping over itself. It tried to wriggle out of the grip of the strings but with every lurch it was jerked back to the center of the strings.
It was snapping and biting; there was no question that this creature, even if it hadn't been a youma, needed to be put down before it hurt somebody.
Ohhh wow. That was seriously cool magic. Subamara watched the youma struggle grotesquely against the strings that held it. It just couldn’t reach them. That was fantastic! Feeling a lot safer now the thing was both visible and leashed, she stepped cautiously out from behind Remarque. It sounded like a pretty straightforward plan, she thought. Pound it. Cool, but with what? She just had her phone, and theoretically magic of her own, but somehow she didn’t really think caffeinating the ugly trapped thing would help. She glanced around, but it was so very dark. Not even a shoe to throw.
Okay, well. If Remarque thought she could do it, she’d just have to give it a shot. It had a limited range constrained by the strings, and she had a pretty solid boot. Hopefully a tooth-proof boot, it still looked super-nasty even held in place. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she tentatively kicked out at the youma while its struggling head was turned. It swung around to snap at her immediately, but the magical strings held. She looked back at Remarque, wondering if she was on the right track. It wasn’t like she was strong or anything. A second kick, a little more forceful now she was confident her mentor wouldn’t let it get her.
On the third try she lost her balance a little and her booted heel missed the creature’s face and hit the elongated neck. It made a sickening broken sound and the youma’s screeching jumped up an octave. She felt her foot go through. That was a whole nother level of horrifying. Subamara jerked back with a yelp, hopping back behind Remarque without putting the offending foot down.
“Okay, I tried, but I can’t look,” she quavered.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Um. I know this is incredibly old, and I don't have words for how sorry I am. But were you at all interested in tacking an ending on this?
Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 8:57 am
Remarque offered an arm to help stabilize Subamara, though his eyes never left the shape of the struggling youma. Subamara's third kick seemed to have done more than enough damage, and he watched as the youma crumbled into dust.
"You did it," he said, trying to sound reassuring. With nothing to grip onto, his strings disappeared; with nothing left to look at, he turned his gaze to Subamara. "It's okay—you did it. You saved Destiny City from something that exists only to hurt them. Might have been a little gross but," he shrugged, "I guess dealing with gross things is a part of the job, right?"
They were senshi for a reason, weren't they?
"And you did a good job of doing it," he said, offering a smile. "So when you go home tonight, go home proud that you made this town a little safer. That guy could have gone on to hurt someone—maybe even someone you know. Someone who wasn't as strong as you, and who couldn't have handled it the way you did."
LokisRose
I would love to finish it! <3 I'm sorry it took me so long to tag back, though ;;
“I did it?” Subamara repeated shakily. She was grateful for the support, both the steadying hand and the encouraging words. Even though Remarque had done the important bit of holding the youma down, it was super-nice to be told she’d done well. She hadn’t let him down with her inexperience. The cat hadn’t made a mistake signing her up. But ugh, the feeling of her foot going through the thing was truly horrifying. That part was going to take some time to get used to. She bit her lip, steeling herself to look back at the damage, but there was no messy monster corpse, only dust. That was a huge relief.
“So gross!” she agreed, nodding earnestly. “I guess I’ll have to get less squeamish.”
She set her foot down awkwardly, stepping back from the helping hand. Despite his words, she didn’t feel strong or brave. It was only because he’d held it in place that she’d even approached it. If it was moving, she could have lost a leg. If ‘pounding it’ was the way to go, she should maybe invest in a stick or something. A looong stick. She might have to do a bit of research and see about coming along to his court for more training. Like aura-sense training, maybe. She was so lucky that she’d met Remarque before stumbling across the youma in the dark. If it had been the other way round? She shuddered at the thought.
“I know. I know, they go after civilians. But now I’ll make sure they can’t! Thank you so, so much! I’ll remember everything you taught me! ...But now that you mention it, I should probably be getting home. It’s been wonderful to meet you!”
It was good to have a friend on a dark night.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
I know this is forever old, but it could finish here, or in another post or two if you had more to add?
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 6:40 pm
Remarque flashed a smile at the senshi. "Wonderful to meet you, too, Subamara. You'll get used to it." He waved a hand to her, ready to head home himself; it wasn't necessarily late, but youma grossed him the hell out. He was going to go home now for the sole reason of washing himself off.
"You seem like a good girl, I hope to see you again. So in the meantime, take care of yourself," he said, and even if she was of the White Moon he couldn’t help but like her; she seemed like an agreeable girl. But maybe it was just because she hadn't yet been brainwashed to believe in blacks and whites of war. He figured she could go her own way and he could go his own; he wouldn't allow any awkward lingering—and, given that he could just pop through a mirror and go home, it didn't matter what direction he set off in, he'd get home one way or the other.
He turned, content with his farewell, and set off towards the nearest mirror.
LokisRose
I am so sorry this took so long! We can call it finished; I had a lot of fun RPing with you so I hope we get to do so again! <3
