Orah heard screaming, and in Destiny City, that was never a good sign. She hadn't even been patrolling... just out on a quick trip to the corner store for toilet paper and milk, but there was no ignoring the terror in the voice she heard. It squeezed at her heart, grip painfully tight. Without a second thought, Orah darted around the corner of a hotel building into the cover of its alley and trash can to drop the bag she carried and pull the purple and gold wand that sparked her power.
"Ida Eternal Power, Make-up!" She called and light answered her, swallowing her whole. When it cleared, Ida was pounding down the alley in her fuscia flowers and gold heels, heading immediately for the swell of chaos energy she felt like the stink of sewage in her inner senses.
That's a General's aura... and that... that tiny one must be a basic senshi. This is bad... Thank god I was close.
Ida rounded the corner and pelted straight for the signatures, clearing cover to find a terrible scene. There was the General... there was the Senshi... and there was someone on the ground, unmoving. Ida's heart sank, but there was no time... worrying about the downed person would have to wait.
Her boots crunched on gravel as she skidded to a halt within her range, letting the call for her attack be all the warning the General in brown and feathers got.
"Heavenly Orchid Arrows!" She shouted, sweeping her hand to call up her glowing bow and pulling back the string with practice ease. Her focus narrowed in as she sighted down the length it and aimed straight for the General's chest. She released it without hesitation, the arrow roaring across the distance as the bow burst into sparkled and dissolved.
Eternal Sailor Attack: Heavenly Orchid Arrows! [What it does] An out-flung hand casts a trail of petals that form a bow-like shape. She takes it up and uses it to fire arrows of light with hardened petals as arrow heads. The arrows have an 'aura' of power to them and explode on contact. The explosion is more concussive, causing a pressure that can push a target backwards a foot or two, but doesn't do much in the way of actual damage. Unbalanced enemies could be knocked over, if they were caught unaware. Particularly heavy opponents may not be moved by the attack, but could be distracted or slowed by the pressure of it. Each arrow takes a lot of power to cast and her limit is three, which exhausts her and can force her to retire until she's rested.
Strickenized
frayedflower
kuropeco
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 2:13 pm
The rake of sunbleached white over his perceptions meant nothing to him. Where it should force him to heel, it became his impetus. The senshi ran for him, circled about and darted for the empty corpse of his comrade, as if sentiment could call his starseed back. He reached for the hair that streaked back in long, careless waves.
A general's strength and speed, he realized, far outstripped his captaincy. He knew from experience that his fingers would catch little more than slippery strands in a situation like this, and yet Metallia's speed urged him further. His grasp caught and held firm on the thick, heavy braid, and he reeled it about his hand to wrench the senshi backward. While he pulled taut on his purchase, he reached for the senshi's back, fingers splayed out and locked at every joint as they urged all available length to just brush the outskirts of his starseed cavity-
Heavenly Orchid Arrows, she said, and the moment his mind processed her vocalizations he knew that the magic spelled projectiles propelled via bow. He needn't see it for the
sudden impact to his chest that sent him staggering back in opposite inertia. The paradigm shift in direction left him scrambling for footing that was otherwise sure, and the deathly grip on the senshi's hair transferred some of the inertia to his target. But Umber thought little of claiming that starseed then, for his chest pained with a bruising and he struck the ground with a grunt.
A gem tapped clattered, and chimed with each collision on its bouncing path. When it settled, its octahedral shape and smoldering glow gave away its identity as one soul belonging to a Saturn squire.
Kuropeco
feel free to fall on him and prevent a roll recovery or whatever you like!
Whimsical Blue
Strickenized
Garbage Cat
Offline
kuropeco
Dramatic Marshmallow
Offline
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 2:38 pm
The only two thoughts currently running through Thrymr's mind were get to Mont Blonc, and get his starseed back, the two of which combined forming one, solid desperate need inside of his head (another thought, less prevalent, but still there, was the consistent repetition of not dead not dead not dead).
But in that desperation was also a recklessness, Thrymr blinded by it. He did not see the hand snake out, but felt, it, fingers curling into his hair and yanking. He gave a sharp, startled shriek of pain and staggered backwards, dragged entirely off his feet as he was pulled back against the general, and there was a hand starting to dig into his body, searching -
Thrymr felt the sharp pain, the coldness, the sense of wrongness -
An aura flared into being around him, an unfamiliar voice ringing out, and then something slammed into the general. Thrymr gave a gasp of surprise, pulled along with him, and the fingers slipped from his back, away from his precious starseed as down he went, taking Thrymr with him.
He hit half of the ground, half of the general, the impact winding him, and Thrymr grunted. He dug his elbow automatically into the general's chest -
- and then he saw it, glowing, warm and still intact, rolling away.
Thrymr dived for it, scrambling and kicking to get away, his hands outstretched desperately towards it.
strickenized
whimsical blue
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 12:05 am
Ida saw the general go down and she didn't wait for him to recover. She needed to get between him and the others, before he tried something else. She had Eternal strength to take his hits... they did not.
It was horrible, to kick someone who was down, but there was no room for that sort of consideration right now. The Eternal rushed to the pair on the ground, her feet eating up the distance separating them with a rapid beat of heels on concrete. As she skidded to halt, she drew back and kicked at the General with his feathers and cape with rings. She aimed for less damaging places than his face... his hands, or his chest. Letting the senshi escape was the priority, injuring this man was not... even if there were others who might have disagreed with her.
It was hard to say what the right choice was, when you were in the thick of things. It was even harder, not knowing where her own morals stood any more. All she could do was focus on the task, the goal of two people saved, and hope the rest came out in the wash.
The little senshi was scrabbling for something on the ground and Ida's heart froze, sinking to the pit of her stomach. Oh god, was that a starseed...? That would explain the man unconscious on the ground and put even more urgency into the situation.
A worst-case scenario transpired immediately after he hit the ground - the senshi landed on top of him Umber couldn't roll with his inertia and avoid further attacks; instead, he received an elbow to the chest which caused further pain to an already sore component. The senshi scrambled off of him, however, and next came the eternal that found necessity out of kicking at him. The boot swung and struck him in the side painfully, but Umber rolled with the impact and swung his blade crosswise to retaliate against any further swinging boots.
Rings clattered across the ground to announce his rise. Umber was significantly taler than his attacker, an apparent eternal senshi. Heavenly Orchid Arrows, she had said. At least he knew what her magic entailed.
Umber checked the pocket of his coat quickly, only to find his quarry stolen. He leapt backward several feet to place distance between himself and the eternal senshi, as well as to keep both senshi in his line of sight. The white-haired one aimed for a gem on the ground -
This is a bad scenario already, he reminded himself. Outnumbered and outstripped on the whole. I won't get any more information out of this. But she already used her magic.
If I'm going to do this, I need her down first.
Umber gathered his concentration to teleport directly to the side of her and thrust his fist toward her side, the bladeless one, to begin neutralizing her. If he could take this one down intact, then perhaps her starseed would be useful to the Negaverse.
Whimsical Blue
kuropeco
frayedhana
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 9:51 am
He was not strong enough for this; he was not good enough for this, he'd already gotten Mont Blonc's starseed ripped due to his own inability to hold his own - and now there was a third involved. He didn't even know who she was, but she was here, and she was rushing in -
There was a clatter of heels on pavement, and Thrymr felt, rather than saw, the general recoil under the swing of a foot that connected with his side. It gave him a little leverage and time to scramble forward, a tangle of limbs and long hair, a flash of silver metal from the blade that cut through the air.
He did not have time to hesitate. The senshi's stepping in had allowed Thrymr the possibility of movement in drawing the general's attention, and move he did, stumbling on the pavement as he lunged, his hands outstretched. His fingers closed around the warm, glowing starseed, and relief spread through him, a gasp escaping as he gathered it to him. He staggered across the pavement, scraping his knees through the fabric in his haste to get to Mont Blonc, and Thrymr practically fell on top of him, his hair cascading everywhere around his shoulders and back, free from the confines of its braid.
Please still be alive, please still live -
He had no idea how to properly put someone's starseed back in, but he had to at least try - but the general was attacking the Eternal now, and Thrymr glanced at her desperately, then back at Mont Blonc's motionless form, his heart in his throat, and she'd rushed in without even knowing, to help him, he could do the same for her...
She was at the general's level. She could handle him - and the more time that passed without Mont Blonc's starseed, the more damage that Thrymr was terrified he would have.
He turned back, with guilt and shame in his head, lifted the gem, and pushed it into Mont Blonc's chest.
The moment the shining starseed was pushed back in, a harsh intake of ragged breath that'd been lost rushed between the squire's lips. Eyes once unseeing widened and began blinking furiously, tearing both to recover from the dryness and out of a sudden sharp rush of pain. One hand surged up to clutch at his chest, gasping for air as awareness returned to him.
(Although it hadn't quite dawned on him then, just yet, just how close he'd come to dying in that moment.)
He looked up, finally, rather than to the side, and although Mont Blonc could not yet will words to form, relief flooded his gaze when he saw Thrymr there looking down on him, seemingly whole, his hair down and - and that look on his face, and -
- and Umber. He could still sense him. Him and someone else, too, another power signature, another -
The squire made an attempt, driven purely by adrenaline, to rise.
kuropeco
strickenized
whimsical blue
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 10:44 am
She felt steel cut through the leather of her boots, but she was already dancing away from it, feeling the stinging path it had traced across her calf. No time to think about it now... she had to stay focused on drawing attention and giving the other senshi the time to get himself to safety with that starseed.
The General rolled away from her kicks and back onto his feet, giving her a moment of space that she grabbed with both hands.
"Heavenly Orchid Arrows!" She called out as she swept her hand up, calling the petals that would form her bow. But before she managed to grab for the arrow, the General had disappeared and reappeared beside her, catching her off guard in the midst of her magic. His fist slammed into her side and Ida doubled over, the air rushing out of her in a wheezing groan. She clutched her ribs as she stumbled backwards, her free arm thrown up to protect her face. That blade was going to come next, she was sure of it... She needed to get out of his arm's reach and find some distance to call her magic again.
Had the others made it? There was no time to spare to check.
The senshi stumbled away, and he would later realize that he should've followed it up with a stab to the neck, but beyond her laid the squire by the senshi and he jerked about with consciousness. Umber wished he hadn't left the ground, for now the fight tilted heavily against him. Three against one, a combined power value of two eternals against himself. It spelled more than twice the loss by strength, and thrice by body count. He needed to abort, now.
But he had one last opening to exploit. he pursued the staggering senshi with his weapon hand outstretched and the blades retracted to their nonlethal locking position. With his last focus, he aimed directly for her chest, where a billowing bow of petals offered meager protection. Fingers passed the meager cloth, and the bodice cover, and -
his ears rang, he felt himself propelling backwards but the world remained in such an uproar that Umber couldn't regain his footing in time. His back struck brick, and he reached out with the hand not covered in fire to steady himself. Stinging turned to numbness, he blinked to clear the blisteringly bright afterimage from his eyes, and struggled with peripheral vision to keep his vigil. For the moment, he couldn't move his weapon hand, and his chest felt far worse for wear between all the battering it received in such a short span. A last glance was spared toward the squire and his senshi, then toward the eternal and her bow magic, and at last he closed his sights altogether. Memory recided the cold familiarity of the alleyway behind his apartment complex - he remembered the position of the garbage cans, the crunch of gravel beneath his feet, the way the chain link fence rattled constantly in the breeze.
He remembered, and he disappeared.
kuropeco
frayedflower
Whimsical Blue
umber out!
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 11:31 am
For a split second, Thrymr thought it hadn't worked, and he felt the panic begin to rise in his throat. But then - but then Mont Blonc gave a rasping gasp, his eyes flying open, and he was alive. He was breathing, even if he seemed to be struggling, the squire pushing himself up, and the relief was so blatantly obvious in Thrymr's eyes that it almost seemed palpable.
He had a hand on Mont Blonc's shoulder and turned around just in time to see the general disappear, the Eternal left standing in a defensive position, her arm thrown up over her face. Thrymr dragged in a breath at seemed to rattle in his chest; the fact that his desperation to revive his friend had not resulted in the severe injury of another was enough to ease some of the tension in his shoulders.
Ease, but not take away. Thrymr's gaze flickered towards Mont Blonc, and an uncharacteristic, strangely hard expression was on his pale face, red beginning to suffuse his cheeks. For a second it seemed he was struggling with something inside, and then a hand raised -
- and with a sharp crack he slapped Mont Blonc across the face.
His hand stayed in mid-air a few seconds after, fingers stinging with the impact, and Thrymr's breath was coming out unsteadily, his eyes sparking with, not relief anymore, nor his usual kindness, but anger, red rimmed as tears began to gather at the corners. He pushed himself to his feet and swayed for a minute before going over to the Eternal, his hand smarting painfully.
"Are you all right?" he asked, voice thick. "I'm so - I'm so sorry, thank you."
Mont Blonc's shoulders sagged in relief as the general and his aura vanished, and for the first time he took in the sight and presence of another senshi, a stronger one, glowing like Methone did. He took it all in and tried to piece together what had happened in the span of time he'd been out, only to lose track of all of that when he caught sight of the look in his friend's eyes.
He puzzled over it for a moment, unreasonably exhausted and aching from the ordeal, and was about to ask when he saw the hand raise and felt it fall, and he didn't even made a sound in response - instead, he just stared, slowly raising a hand to cup at his stinging cheek, half-frozen by the look of pure anger (no mistaking it now) laced with tears before Thrymr rose and moved away from him.
The squire said not a word. Instead, his eyes were wide, still, as he stared down into his own lap, still cupping his cheek. Shaken, in a lot of ways.
kuropeco
whimsical blue
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 12:11 pm
Rather than the expected knife, he made the mistake of going for her chest instead and Ida had a moment of deep satisfaction as his fingers pressed to her and her planet surged inside of her. Ida's energy burst from it's senshi and threw the General backwards, denying him access. One of the gifts of being Transcended that Ida had found many instances to be grateful for.
The strange general took that moment to teleport away, leaving behind him a wash of relief through the Orchid Eternal. She might have been his level, but she suspected she did not have his skills at combat, even as long as she had been at it. Straightening up reminded Ida of the cut across her leg as it radiated fresh pain. A glance confirmed blood down the side of her white boot, but her attention was called back up when someone approached.
Ida blinked at the pale haired senshi, taking in his pretty sunset colors before her face eased into a smile.
"I'm okay. Nothing I haven't deal with before, and worse. Are you ok?" She offered back, glancing from him to his friend, who seemed to be at least awake and sitting up, if a little dazed. He was holding his cheek, but seemed unharmed otherwise. "I see you got the starseed back to your friend in time. I'm glad... My name is Ida."
She offered her hand to him with a jingle of bracelets, purple light tracing up her dusky skin in loops and swirls. "I haven't seen that General before. I wonder if he's new."
He knew it probably wasn't fair, getting that angry at Mont Blonc - but at the same time - at the same time, he couldn't get the image of the general reaching his hand into Monty's chest and pulling out his starseed, of watching him collapse a second later, eyes dead and unseeing.
And Mont Blonc had told him to do it. Told him, because Thrymr had been in danger.
He couldn't look at the squire, not yet, as he went over to the Eternal - who, aside from her bleeding leg, seemed to be in one piece. Thrymr blinked rapidly to dispel some of the dampness in his eyes, and gave a little nod, his shoulders still tight with tension.
"Thanks to you," he said. "I'm Thrymr, and that's Mont Blonc, of Saturn."
He reached out and accepted her hand to give it a squeeze, sucking in a sharp breath. "I've never seen him before either, but I think my friend has; he was more than a little...hard on us, we would have both been seriously in trouble without your assistance, so thank you again."
His chest was throbbing painfully. Thrymr's voice shook as he spoke.
"I have to get him back home," he said. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? Your leg, it looks - it looks painful, do you need help?"
whimsical blue
frayedflower
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 12:37 pm
On some level, Mont Blonc was aware that he should have been more social, more - something - should have tried harder to pull it together and been friendly to the senshi that, it was coming readily apparent, had stepped in and fought for them. Gotten injured for them. Was bleeding for them.
He should have at least smiled at her, thanked her, something.
But he was dazed. He was pained. And more than anything, he knew he'd made Thrymr angry, very angry, and that just made it nearly impossible to focus on anything else. He hated upsetting people. He hated arguments, especially with friends, he'd - no, wait, no, he'd - he hated fighting as a whole, yes, but he'd -
God, he'd never actually had a friend angry at him before. Not like that. He hadn't had enough friends for it to happen. And the thought now, coupled with everything else, the feelings that came with him, tangled him up and dragged him down, and his gaze did not rise from his lap.
Briefly, some completely irrational part of him longed to slip away - even his wonder seemed more tantalizing than the prospect of facing that look again.
Ida heard the tremor in the senshi's voice and her face softened. She cupped his hand in both of hers and gave it a warm squeeze, offering him an encouraging smile.
"I'm glad I got here in time and I'm glad you managed to save your friend." She glanced down at her leg as he mentioned it and she shrugged, brushing it off. "It hurts a lot, but it'll be okay once I take care of it, don't worry. I've had worse, so if this is all I walk away with, I'm grateful. I can handle pain when I need to."
Her eyes swept over to the squire on the ground and Ida squeezed Thyrmr's hand again before she released it. She favored her leg as she walked over to join him, but she put it out of her mind as she sank down on her knees at his side. The squire looked painfully pale when she got close enough to see his face and more than a little shell shocked, which wasn't too surprising with what had happened. Having your starseed pulled was traumatic... but at least he didn't seem injured otherwise. He would recover, in time. With support, hopefully of the senshi behind her.
Ida reached out, setting her hand gently over the one that held the squire's face.
"Mont Blonc? My name's Ida. Its okay... you're safe now." She murmured soothingly, hoping to draw him out of whatever distant place he'd gone to with that thousand yard stare. The nurse in her rose up, gentling her hands and her voice. She'd always had an affinity for those who needed help... she knew how they felt and she hoped a small part of that came across.
