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 Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:42 am
She stared down at her mirror, flipping it over to once again admire her reflection as slender fingers caressed the smooth rim of the hand held accessory.
Nealite sat among the branches of one of the many trees occupying Destiny City's largest park, at least, one of the branches that remained void of a blanket of wet, slushy snow. The Negaverse Captain had been sitting patiently for the past twenty minutes or so, awaiting for an especially helpless park visitor to make their way into her terriroty so she could formally introduce herself to them before helping them shed their mortal coil.
It had been quite some time since she'd gone out on star seed patrol and she was quite eager to get back into the swing of things. Life was so simple as a lieutenant. No worries of ruling the Negaverse, dealing first hand with angry General-Kings, little responsibility, and far less pressure than what she had now. Not that Nealite minded any of these things, of course, but it was nice just to get away from it all and go back to the basics every now and then.
Sighing, she turned Precious back over once more, her hand running along the mirror's back. While it had actual use now that she was Captain, having a mirror for a weapon was still rather.... well, crappy. Perhaps force wouldn't be necessary this evening and a young woman or student would come upon the scene?
Oh, if only things were that easy!
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:09 am
Unfortunately, Nealite wasn't the only one on patrol that evening. The first soul to wander into her territory would be both a young woman and a student, but so much more than that. Well, at least it appeared so. Deep down, she would probably have something to say against her own general effectiveness.
Alkaid had to patrol, just like Khalla had to sit for hours at a desk answering phone calls from teen girls worried about their boyfriends cheating on them. It wasn't because it was a duty, it was because it was a calling. Even knowing that if she encountered a negaverser and was absolutely powerless to stop them alone, that she might in fact end up in worse shape than whoever she was trying to save, she still felt like it was a crime not to try.
So there she was, patrolling the park of all places. For one, she had never seen Tanzanite here. That wicked witch of a negaverser still gave her nightmares. Secondly, she generally seemed to think there were more helpless individuals in the park - old ladies and their pigeons, children with their pets. It was like it was a collection of weak individuals. The sunset was throwing the world into shadow, making it easy for her to walk mostly concealed along the paths of the park, especially since the automated lights hadn't flickered to life quite yet. From a distance civilians would probably think nothing of her, and she would notice anyone before they got too close. Well, anyone but Ursula, at least.
Blame it on her nervousness at being separated from Saiph, or the fact that she was still new to this in general, but it never really occurred to her to look in the trees. Behind them, sure. Under them? Of course. But as she approached Ursula's perch, she seemed completely unaware of the danger she was in. Her eyes were alert and scanning the park around her, her arms tucked behind her back in a casual way (an effort to take attention away from the fact that she was actually terrified that Tanzanite could show up at any moment), and her heels making a distinct 'click' against the walkway. Still, she never once looked up.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:26 am
She held her breath as the sight of a senshi appeared from practically out of nowhere. Out of all the people to wander into the park at this hour...
Her eyes closed and she exhaled softly. Opening her eyes once more, she waited in frigid silence, keeping as still as possible as the blond girl wandered closer...closer... and then stood, directly underneath her tree.
This... this was a joke, right?
Nealite sent a prayer of gratitude to the deities above as her hand gripped around the mirror's handle. This was a Christmas gift, sure as hell, wrapped in striped tights and an adorable braid on top. And Nealite, out of all Negaverse agents, wasn't about to miss out on such a present.
She glanced around the park, ensuring this wasn't a baited trap. It would be her luck for it all to be a set up, but no one seemed to be lurking nearby. At least, nobody visible.
Determined to take care of business before anyone else could show up, she took in one more deep breath before leaping off of her branch, sailing down, down, down, her mirror poised and ready to swing. She was on the ground in a split second, Precious crashing down onto the back of the girl's head as high heels made a loud thump against the ground behind the Sailor Alkaid.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:40 am
The saddest thing about the whole situation was that Alkaid never even saw it coming. Just as she had stopped to consider her path of patrol, everything happened in a blur. Well, maybe it just seemed that way because she got hit in the head. One moment she was standing there, hands moved from behind her back to braced upon her hips, and the next she was doubled forward with both of them clutching at a head that had suffered quite a bit of abuse at the hands of the negaverse already.
"Ow!" she screeched involuntarily, her eyes squinted up as she waited for the stars to quit swirling. Her head was a tender area, especially the back where Tanzanite had introduced it to the pavement of an alley a few weeks prior. Healed, but tender. It was this melodramatic reaction to the blow that kept her from taking in the situation at first, meaning the sound of heels hadn't even registered.
She was just beginning to turn and look for the branch that had fallen out of the tree and onto her head when her eyes saw said pair of heels instead. Almost as if it were slow-mo, her gaze traveled up until they met the eyes of a fiery haired woman. Negaverser alright - complete with weapon and dreadfully drab uniform. With one hand still cupped behind her head almost comically, she hopped backwards and brought up her other. As soon as she opened her mouth to call her attack, however, her words died. They shriveled right in her throat and became nothing more than a little croak instead.
All because Alkaid actually stopped to take a good look at the actual type of weapon the fiery woman was holding.
"Is that a mirror?" Her voice climbed an octave or two, no help in concealing the sudden horror that had overcome her at the realization. What if that had broken when she hit her? Alkaid's suddenly bug-eyed expression probably made no sense at all to anyone outside her own head.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:54 am
It was disappointing, to say the least, that the girl hadn't passed out from the blow. Nealite should have expected as much, honestly, as even her promotion hadn't helped her weakness when it came to physical attacks. Well, either that, or this chickie had an especially hard head.
She'd credit it to a bit of both.
One hand fell to her hip, her eyebrows furrowing as she shot the other girl a glare. Her mirror had fallen to her side, dangling by her other hip as the glare worsened at the girl's question.
Great, ******** great. All she needed now was more taunting, more insults from little skirted brats. It was so like them to make fun of her mirror as they stood there with their magical powers and matching attire. It wasn't Nealite's fault that she'd been destined to haul around an essentially worthless primping accessory for a weapon. Hey, if anything, she should totally get credit for working with such a ******** stuck up senshi.
"Yeah, it's a mirror," she snapped huffily, the mirror rising as she spoke, as if showing it off to the other girl. "So what of it? I can still kick your a** with it, you know. Just try one of those little magic tricks, I dare you. Then we'll see who's making fun of who!"
Of all the ******** times to not be able to access Beryl's power. She'd show this little pompous princess a thing or two, with or without the help of the Queen of the Negaverse.
Hmph.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:36 pm
The woman still didn't seem to be getting it, but at least she hadn't hit her with that mirror anymore. Through all of Nealite's huffing and puffing, Alkaid's eyes remained glued to the mirror in her hand, almost as if she expected it to shatter into a thousand pieces right then and there. If it had, she probably would have fainted on spot. That would have been a disaster.
"I'm not making fun of you!" she squeaked out, her voice shrill and breaking over her words like a prepubescent teenage boy. She threw up her hands and put them up like a barrier between herself and the other woman, taking a couple of steps back as if she were actually truly frightened. Sadly, Khalla was never much of an actress when it came to hiding her true feelings and she just kind of laid it all out on the table. This was real, in the saddest way.
"Look, I won't use any fancy magic tricks on you if you just put the mirror down, alright?" Nealite might have assumed she was mocking her, but if she looked closely, the bug-eyes weren't mocking - they were a sign of true terror. Her pale skin had gone paler with horror and she seemed like she was debating whether or not to reason with her or turn tail and run for her life, because her hands and legs both seemed a bit jittery. Her only real hope here was that Nealite had no idea that Alkaid was a failure as a Senshi in the power department - or that she wouldn't realize the last thing Alkaid would do was attack her with that mirror in hand.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:54 pm
Initially, Nealite did indeed believe the little tramp was mocking her further with her exaggerated reaction towards Nea's response.
Her lips pursed and she continued to glower, stepping forward as her grip tightened around Precious. This little b***h had the audacity to mock her? To make a fool out of her, over her stupid mirror, of all things? This senshi must have been really desperate for attention to come upon a Negaverse agent just to mock them over their weapon (in all fairness, Alkaid probably would not have chosen to stumble upon Nea, had she had the decision).
It wasn't until the older woman noticed the visible paling of the other girl's face that she paused, her head tilting in confusion as she stared at her opposition. It hadn't hit her until now that the possibility existed that she could indeed be terrified of her mirror.
"You're scared. Of my mirror."
The words hung in the air, more of a statement than a question. This senshi was scared of her mirror? She was terrified of her mirror!
"I'm not concerned with your magic tricks dear," she said coolly, raising the mirror between the both of them as she took another step closer, a new plan forming in her mind. "Though I am curious as to who in the world you are, if you're scared of a lil 'ol mirror like Precious here."
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:41 pm
Well, at least the woman had finally realized that Alkaid was not playing any games here. Quelling the woman's anger still didn't put her out of danger of seven years of bad luck, and Alkaid's definition of bad luck had recently gotten a lot worse.
"I'm not scared of the mirror," she tried her best to sound defiant, but it came out more like a choked stutter as the negaverse captain took another step closer to her. "I'm scared that you're going to break the mirror." Alkaid had tried to tell herself time and time again that her superstitious nature was ridiculous, but there were a few flaws in being raised by an old-fashioned lady like Granny Anselm it seemed.
She backed away as her opponent (could she really be an opponent if Alkaid refused to fight?) stepped forward, hands still up between them defensively, though they were beginning to shake a little now that the mirror was closer to them. Had it been any old mirror, it probably wouldn't have been an issue, but she was using this one as a weapon. Mirrors were for hanging on walls, not swinging at people! "I'm no one important, honestly," she shook her head, at least having enough clarity left to recall her run-in with Uphane. Her newest rule of thumb - don't give the Negaverse any more information than necessary.
She turned and looked over her shoulder, judging the distance to the closest exit. She wanted out of this situation desperately, but irrational fear had a funny way of clouding one's judgment and she wasn't sure she could make it. She was still backing away, as carefully as she could manage with her attention divided, but in addition to cloudy judgment came bumbling legs and Alkaid found her heel hooked in a crack in no time. She had complained about the poor maintenance of these walkways time and time again! Being that she was already jittery from the threat looming over her, it was only that tiny crack that was needed to send her sprawling onto the ground ungracefully, landing on her rump.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:53 pm
"Oh, honey."
The grin was unmistakable. The cat had caught its canary and was homing in on its injured prey, ready for the kill.
Purple heels attached to cobweb boots made their own click click click as she sauntered closer towards the fallen senshi. Nealite took her time while approaching the terrified girl, her mirror still very much directed towards her opponent. She paused, one gloved hand rising to tap against her chin. "Now why in the world would you tell me of all people, what you're afraid of?"
Lunging forward, she swung the mirror towards the girl's head, intentionally missing its mark as a whoosh of air brushed against the senshi's cheek. Nealite merely grinned, bringing her mirror back up to stroke its rim with one finger.
"Not the brightest one out there, hm? At least you're cuter than some of the others. I can't say I care for most senshi outfits, but at least yours is matching and not something dreadfully gothic or rainbow."
Thoughts of Lyra and Nemesis crossed her mind and she scrunched up her nose disapprovingly. "Shame that the one I get to kill has to be fashionable. Tsk."
Leaning down, she dangled the mirror above the girl with two fingers, the accessory threatening to drop at any moment.
"Any last words before we finish this, dear?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:38 pm
She tried scrambling backwards over the cement as the woman advanced on her, but she quickly realized that crab-walking was not really her forte. It ended up with her scooting only a couple of feet, her heels finding no grip and her hands chafing themselves raw against the cement as they tried in vain to drag her along. In the end, the only thing she could do as Nealite advanced was watch with eyes as wide as saucers, staring up at her as if she were the grim reaper. She might as well have been in that moment. When she swept down with the mirror, Alkaid shrieked - not just screamed, but shrieked like a banshee - and curled in on herself, arms going up over her head.
After a moment, when she felt the brush of air and nothing else, she began to unwind her limbs and chanced a peek up to where the woman was standing. Where she had been pale before, now she looked as if she'd seen a ghost - nearly translucent and as if she might faint at any given moment. On top of that, her breathing seemed to have increased to the level of 'hyperventilate'. She did hear the woman speaking, though, and tried to focus on that instead of the faint feeling swarming over her body.
"I would thank you if you weren't trying to kill me," she muttered, carefully leaving out her own opinion of the Negaverser's outfit. Bland and dark was really not her thing, and the gaudy accessories like cobweb stockings of all things? Could anyone say bride of Frankenstein? Her grandmother had always said not to say anything if you couldn't say something nice, however, and she stuck to that even as she stared her death in the face.
Her eyes rolled up to stare at the mirror dangling over her, and she drew a deep breath. Last words? Last words? Was she really going to let her superstitious nature be the end of her? She stared up at the mirror, glimpses of her own reflection staring back down at her. Death, or seven years worth of bad luck? She realized that it was stupid of her to even be considering that - at least bad luck had an expiration date. All that was left was a good way to go about this. Her mind reeled as she tried to decide before Nealite dropped the figurative bomb. Thoughts whirled over how Saiph would handle this, or Nemesis. For their differences, they were still two of the strongest Senshi she'd met.
She decided on a Nemesis approach.
"No," she stated simply in response to Nealite's question, before she arched her back in one quick movement and, using her hands and left leg to push herself up a bit, aimed a kick right in the direction of the fiery woman's face. Only the close proximity assured a hit, otherwise it would have been a bit iffy. Even with the unlikely miss, the damage behind it probably wasn't what one would expect from someone like Nemesis - Alkaid's attack was clumsy.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 4:31 pm
She'd been too full of herself, too cocky to have factored in all the potential possibilities.
Nealite let out her own ear-piercing shriek as the heel made contact with her face, a sharp pain shooting directly into her nose as she stumbled backwards. Her mirror clattered to the ground (unbroken, probably to Alkaid's utter relief) and her hands shot up to cover her face in a knee-jerk reaction.
It didn't take long for the blood to begin pouring out, streaming all over her hands, in between her fingers and down onto the ground in silent little drips. Orange eyes grew wide as she felt the wetness on her fingers, seeping into her gloves, and she stared down in horror at her own blood covered hands.
Now, pain was not a foreign concept to the Negaverse Captain. She'd been in many fights and had earned many bruises in the line of duty when it came to fighting senshi. Facial disfiguring, however, was some she was not accustomed to, so the idea of her nose now deformed, possibly even broken, sent her into a state of panic.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."
She continued her chanting as she scrambled to pick up her mirror, completely forgetting about the fallen senshi as she hoisted up Precious to stare back at her bloodied reflection, red fingerprints now covering the handle and sides of the mirror.
She was a mess, she was terrible and her nose would not stop bleeding.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 4:58 pm
Alkaid only paused long enough to stare in temporary horror as the mirror came cluttering down onto the cement beside her. She hesitated, halfway up into a standing position, and stared at it wide-eyed in fear that it had broken. There mere seconds she paused to look at it felt like minutes to her, but eventually she collected herself enough once she saw that it was intact to push herself up onto her feet.
With only a moment's hesitation spared for the woman that was now profusely bleeding all over her own outfit, Alkaid sprung into a run and headed for the nearest exit. This was one time that she was truly thankful for knowing the park like the back of her hand. She could get out and find Saiph - that's really all she could think about. Get out, find a place with more cover, and concentrate on finding Saiph before the fiery haired woman collected herself and came after her with a vengeance.
As she was running towards the exit, however, she couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that was starting to creep up on her. The Negaverse woman hadn't exactly been nice and sure, she had been trying to kill her after a session of what could only be described as cruel and unusual torture. Still, Alkaid's escape hadn't exactly been honorable - it had been tricky and underhanded. Not to mention, the last image Alkaid had of her was one of her covered in blood - red to match that fiery orange hair. It was a sickening sight accompanied by an ear splitting screech that still echoed in her head.
Alkaid passed through the park gates and out into the city beyond, accompanied by the rapid clicking of her heels, but there was little relief to be had in her grand escape. Despite knowing it was an action purely spurred by self preservation, Alkaid was beginning to realize she didn't really like to hurt others. She was no Tanzanite, she was Khalla Anselm, the do-gooder that would give someone the shirt off her own back.
She paused, her steps slowly, and turned to look back into the gates of the park. The negaverser was too deep in to see from such a distance, but she stared in none-the-less. It was only a small hesitation, then she sighed and used her Senshi agility to leap up onto the awning overhanging a shop, immediately propelling herself onto the roof. Saiph was out there somewhere and she would feel extremely more comfortable at her side.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:18 pm
It would be minutes before Nealite even realized the senshi was gone, her rage and fury over being hit in the face mingling with the fear and panic over the potential cartilage tear. Was her nose broken? It looked crooked - was her nose crooked now?
Oh god. Oh GOD.
Fingers shot up to gently nudge at her nose, the pain atrocious and continually throbbing, blood still gushing. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to get that stupid girl's star seed and then go home. Go home and fix dinner and continue to be the beautiful Ursula she was. She was beautiful, her nose wasn't broken, it couldn't be broken.
Memories quickly flooded her mind, recalling back when Khaldun had gotten his nose broken on several occasions. How distorted and deformed it had look, how terribly painful and awkward it had been.
No.
No.
Her nose was fine, it had to be fine.
Taking a deep breath, she shot a teary-eyed glare in the direction that the senshi had fled in. ******** little brat.
In a blink and a moan, Nealite herself was gone, vanishing herself into the apartment's bathroom, silently praying Charonite was still busying himself in his office.
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