Solo Battle: The Shadow Emerges For the dark skinned youth of the noble, life seemed to have turned a little stagnant. Perhaps the abcense of Veryuu, the young man she'd come to hold in such high regards. She hadn't seen him in a while, and once again she'd fallen into the familiar habit of worrying over him. It was funny really, how she'd come to care for someone she shared such limited time interacting with, but there it was, and there was no changing it, not that she would want to. She understood why he was so scarce, they'd spoken about it before, but that didn't make the distance between them any easier to handle.
A gentle sigh passing between glossed lips, Shin-Mu made her way through the winding streets of the city on her way home from the Artisan's path. She'd been burying herself in her hobbies as of late, even picking up a few new ones, but she'd gone out that day on the hunt for a new puzzle to occupy her mind and her time. Seldom did she find one that was actually a challenge, but today she'd stumbled upon a very interesting puzzle ball, something she'd yet to try her hand at, and the vender had assured her it would be quite the challenge.
It, along with a few other odds and ends, were nestled within a silk embriodered bag slung over one shoulder.
She didn't see the two young men that had been weaving their way through the crowds behind her. Following, but doing a splended job of staying inconspicuous. Burly individuals, unsaviory sorts that were almost always up to no good. One had an eye patch, his hair clipped close to the head. The other, a little shorter, more athletic then muscled, had a ponytail. Both were cream in skin tone with blueish scales, they could have been brothers, and likely were.
They tailed the young nuble all the way through the city and onto the path that led up to the extravigant manor's that were nestled within the nooks and crannies of the mountain. It was here they made their move, beside a particularily dense bit of wood long the path. A hand closed around Shin's arm, fingertips squeezing, and yanked her off the walk way and into the shelter of the trees. Startled panic kept her from screaming for the first 2 seconds, the firm hand that closed over her mouth effectively silenced her after. The larger of the two had her pressed against his chest, one hand keeping her quiet, the other like an iron vice around her arms and chest. She coulnd't help but struggle, but even as she did so she knew it was pointless. The brute outweighed her by double.
The smaller of the two - small being a relative term in this case - came to stand before her, narrow features split into a wide, and not at all friendly grin. "Well what have we here, such a pretty little thing to be wandering out all alone." There was no culture to his tone, if Shin had to place him she'd bet he'd been raised in one of the little fishing ports along the coasts. A particularily seedy one, if this was the sort they were turning out. Shin's eyes narrowed, and she thought very postively about biting down on the hand that was pressed over her mouth, but two things stopped her. For one, There was no telling what the man would do, he could turn around and crush ehr ribs for all she knew. For two, she had no clue where his hands had been prior, and if smell was any indication, she really didn't want to taste test his grubby skin.
Instead she settled for glaring, painfully aware that her dizi was pinned between her and her captor at the small of her back. Even if she could get it, she wouldn't be able to play it. She was little better then helpless, and if the look in the other one's eyes was any indication, he was well aware of it.
In the shadows around them, half felt by the young woman, lurked a spirit. One that had been lingering for a while now, but had very stubbornly remained hidden. She'd caught glimpses and feelings, evidence, but barely, and it was there again, though closer. It pulled at the nobles attention, had her searching the trees, but she couldn't see what she was feeling.
"What do you think, Po? Should we have a little fun before.." His voice trailed off, and Shin's eyes snapped back up to the smaller brute's face, widdening as she took in the flash of a blade pulled from the small of the man's back. She had no idea what he meant by "fun", but nothing pleasant came to mind.
What had been carefully maintained calm was beginning to crumble around the edges. The blade rise, and Shin couldn't help but fight against the arm that held her, breath coming in progressively shorter, more frantic pants, until the cool steal pressing into her cheek froze her in place, and she let out a helpless little whimper. By gods she felt weak, but nothing they taught at the academy prepared for things like this. She was on her own, out manned and ridiculously outmuscled, and her only means of defense was cut off from her.
Goddess help me!The first sharp bite of the blade made the girl flich, writhing within the larger man's grip as his companion had his fun. The brush of strong fingers along her side made her grunt, and she squeezed her eyes shut as that hand pressed against her hip and began to slide along her thigh to the slit in her skirt.
Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it!If she could have concentrated she might have been able to do something, but her mind was racing, blind with panic. It left her helpless, not only to the two men assulting her, but to the realm of the spirits as well. A desperate soul was an easily accessable one..
Her whimpering took on a higher pitch as the man found's hand found bare skin and began a slow climb upward. Tears spilling down her cheeks, some meeting the trickle of blood from the press of the blade. Has that hand reached her very inner thigh, silencing hand or no, Shin screamed, and it was thin the lurking spirit made it's move.
One moment the girl was hysterical, the next she'd stopped moving completely, features calming even at probbing fingers carried on. The smaller man didn't seem to notice the change, but the larger, Po, had. "Li.. " He sounded slow, dimwitted. A lacky at best, if not simply a muscle bound tool for the smaller man. Dimly, Shin realized the thought was not her own, and on the tail of that realization she knew she wasn't alone in her body. She'd always heard of possession, even seen a case of it, but never fallen victim before. Although perhaps "victam" wasn't the best word.
With shared minds came shared knowledge, and what she had trained and studied for so long was now so very clear. Her energy, her chi, or Ki, or whatever you labeled it, was her weapon, and she needed no medium to weild it. Turning her hand, she lay her palm flat against the larger man's stomach. A careful breath found her center, and as she exhaled she let free a thin thread of her ki. She could
feel the inner curcuit of energy within the man that was holding her, and through the shared knowledge of the spirit that was within her, she knew how to disrupt it.
She withdrew her hand, channeling her ki to the tips of her fingers, and at the same time opened herself to the haunting presence within her. It knew what to do, and for reasons unknown, it wanted Shin alive.
It was an odd feeling, having your body controlled by something other then yourself. Shin felt her hand move, felt fingers connect with the larger man's abdomen, and felt thearm around her loosen as the man grunted in pain and disbelief. Utterly baffled by the growing numbness that spread along his stomach and side.
It wasn't much of an opening, but it was enough, and because Shin had no other choice, she let the spirit take over in full. She ducked, or her body did, beneath the arm that had been holding her. Dropping to her knees and turning, so she could angle a strike at the big man's arm, fingertip dimpling the flesh of his shoulder and firing energy to cut the curcuit within. It wasn't lethal, but it was startling and numbing. Shin's limited power kept the attacks from being serious, and she felt the spirits frustration with that, but it did nothing to slow it down as it turned it's attantion to the other man.
The grin was gone, replaced by confusion and anger as he watched his companion stumble back against a tree with his arm dangling at his side. "Little b***h, what have you done?" Shin didn't respond, but the spirit smiled as it made the noble sink into a defensive crouch. Growling, the man shifted his grip on the blade, and like the wild animal he was, charged forward with no more skill then a child. His thrust would have been easy to avoid by Shin alone, but the spirit riding her body made it look graceful. It grabbed his wrist as he came by, thumb pressing just below the palm, and let his own momentium carry him into a flip that landed him on his back with her arm in Shin, and the spirit's, possession. A strike to his elbow paralyzed his hand, and the knife fell harmlessly to the ground beside his face. A strike to his chest stole his breath, numbing the lungs so he couldn't draw air. The kick to his face was purely physical, and incredibly stasifying to both noble and spirit. He was out, and he wasn't getting back up anytime soon. The larger brute had run, she could hear his heavy feet along the path back towards the city.
"Thank you," was Shin's first responce as she reclaimed the control she'd relinquished.
"Oh no, thank you.." Was the spirit's answer, and a chuckle fell from Shin's lips as the ghost sank into the depths of her being, away, but not gone. It made the girl shiver, lips dipping in a thoughtful frown.
"Who are you?" She wasn't sure if the spirit would answer now that it had withdrawn so far, but a cool, feminine voice eased through her mind. "In time you will know. For now, I am Mi Lee." And that cryptic answer was the last she would hear from the ghost on the rest of her walk home. Gone for now, but not for good, and not even entirely. Shin could feel her there, at the back of her mind. Watching and waiting, but for what, Shin didn't yet know.
The noble daughter had fallen afoul of possession.
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When she arrived at the Xia manor she was quick to tell her father of what had transpired, and his men had been dispatached immediately to aprehend the two men that had attakced his daughter. The one was still laying where Shin had left him, the other was found in a bar. Both were arrested, tried, and punished accordingly.
我心要還你了 真的不行要了 只得放了
放了... 忘了...
