|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:16 pm
Ordinarily, Andrea would not have to go to the dance studio after work, but he had to pick up his costume for his performance today. Work had been stressful enough, what with the lingering memories of the roach attack the previous week, and so by the time the bus pulled up at the sophomore's stop, Andrea was quite tired. He had his backpack on and another garment bag for his dance costume, and slumped under the weight of both as he stepped down off of the bus and onto the sidewalk.
With a sigh, he turned to walk the last few blocks home when a low growling caught his attention. He had walked this route enough times to know that the dog that the nearby house did own was hardly big enough to make such a sound.
"Hello?" he called out. Pausing a moment, Andrea listened again to be sure he was not just hearing the retreating sound of the bus.
The growl sounded again, and a moment later, a black creature about the size and build of a German Shepherd leapt out of the bushes and snapped at Andrea.
Eyes going wide, Andrea felt a rush of adrenaline, which thankfully served to help wake him up. He staggered back several paces, tossing the garment bag aside and slinging his backpack down from his shoulders to hold it like a shield. In the diminishing light, he stared at the creature, tensing and waiting for it to make its move. Fortunately, in spite of still being in his work uniform, the clothing allowed him to move around easily enough, but the boy lamented that his feet were sore after spending so much time standing at the restaurant.
Really, the last thing he needed right now was to have to deal with someone's vicious dog. he was not even sure he could right now, after a long day.
"Hey!" he shouted in an attempt to scare the beast off or deter it from attacking.
Just whose dog was this? ... Was it even a dog?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:42 am
Sailor Taranis hated patrolling in neighborhoods. In the more metropolitan areas, he could perch on roofs and take out youma without ever being in harm's way. It was the joy of a ranged attack. In the more suburban areas, Taranis had to get on their level, which made things considerably more complicated. He'd tried to hop across people's roofs, but more often than not, his footfalls woke up sleeping families, sent roof tiles skittering to the ground, or otherwise gave away his position.
If only this youma could have attacked in an alleyway. Sigh.
Cursing the boy and his house away from the industrial block, Taranis hung back in the shadows, his soft glow casting an illumination around him. He was trying to spot the youma before it spotted the civilian, but it wasn't going so well. For all his time on rooftops practicing aim, Taranis had neglected to practice hand-to-hand battles.
The youma apparently though Andrea's "Hey!" was human-speak for "Please eat my starseed!" because no sooner had the words left the boy's mouth that it lunged forward.
Taranis was already moving. "Taranis Sand Blast!" he shouted, flinging the spinning basketball of sand right at the thing's gaping mouth. It hit its mark and exploded outward, coating the beast and sending rebound sand right at Andrea. No time for apologies (not that an apology would ever come) because the youma was not down for the count.
It snapped its jaws and lunged blindly, trying to shake the sand away. "Fuuuck..." Taranis moaned. This was the part that he hated. Gritting his teeth, he charged forward and swung a fist. The dog-youma snapped his jaws outward and caught a hold of Taranis's arm. "********!" he shouted louder, punching at its head.
This probably was not be a very convincing show of senshi power and skill to Andrea.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:00 pm
Andrea had already been working on putting careful distance between himself and the attacking dog-beast; either way, a sudden blast of sand helped him in that regard. He found himself rather suddenly on his bum on the pavement, holding his now-ripped backpack and enjoying that unpleasant sensation of grit in his clothing. Reflexively, he flung his arms up in front of his face, but lowered them after a moment as neither impact nor tearing teeth met his forearms.
Someone else was here, in what looked like a costume set of armor or something - the other boy had his back to him, though, and the low light kept Andrea from being able to see too much detail. He had thought all the supposed terrorists were girls in skirts, though - was this just what a male one looked like?
As the shock of landing butt-first on the pavement wore off of his body, Andrea cast his backpack aside as well (fortunately the torn pocket was one of the outside ones that was too small to be useful anyway) and got to his feet. The other boy worked to do battle with the dog, and all the sophomore could do for a moment was gape and try to brush the sand off of himself.
Then the other kid swore loudly, and Andrea could see why - the dog-creature had clamped its jaws down on the boy's arm.
He tensed and got to a ready position, wondering if (and how) he should jump into the fight. One of the skirted girls with strange powers had come to his rescue once before, in the restaurant where he worked, and Andrea was loathe to see the kid get hurt on his behalf while he just stood there and did nothing. But, of course, making up the steps to a battle was hardly something he was good at.
"You need help?" he called out, at once feeling stupid at the question - of course any normal human would getting attacked by a giant freaking animal. But at the same time ... this kid had some sort of powers. That had to have been where the sand had come from. He did not want to be a hindrance.
Especially if that meant more itchy sand in his trousers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:32 am
The dog youma gave a shake of its head, and Taranis cursed louder. His glove was cut between two massive teeth. The rest of these pearly whites pierced his flesh and drew blood. Attempting to do his very best Kill Bill-style short range punch, Taranis made a sound like grunting and slammed his fist into the thing's temple.
It released his arm, staggering to one side like a cat with its whiskers cut off. Sailor Taranis was back on his feet, blood flowing down his wrist and soaking into his glove. He cast a glare back at Andrea, "No, I don't need your help." In his moment of rebuke, Taranis failed to notice the dog coming at him again.
This time when it lunged, it was sloppy, stumbling. Taranis called it "drunk youma" stage, the part right before they exploded into powdery bits and disappeared. It didn't make it any less painful when the beast threw all of its staggering body weight into Taranis.
Again, he was on the ground, but he had the good sense to protect his face with his arms. A strangled voice barked, "******** hit it, but don't die!" His fists responded again, and Sailor Taranis began to level punch after punch into the youma's mouth. It caught one of his fists in its mouth. Taranis grunted and then punched twice as hard with the other fist.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:26 pm
Andrea frowned when the other boy replied that he did not need help; ordinarily, he would be inclined to just leave him to himself if he really wanted to go it alone, but ... Andrea could see dark blood running down his arm. And so he was more than ready when the uniformed boy changed his mind.
Andrea knew how to punch, but he figured with all his ballet that he had more strength in his legs, and the balance to use them, too. Leaning his weight deftly to one leg, the dancer raised the other and kicked high with the ball of his other foot, aiming to topple the dog creature off of the other boy.
The youma released Taranis's hand as it fell off of him, but recovered quickly and leapt at Andrea instead, attacking with teeth and claws.
Ducking and holding his arms up, Andrea avoided any damage to his face, but the dog's sharp nails left scratches down his forearms. The boy inhaled sharply through his teeth at the burning pain, but swung another fist at the dog hoping he could knock it back. As he raised his head to get a better look to aim his punches, though, Andrea got a face full of claws.
"s**t, ow," he hissed and leaned away to kick at the beast again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:23 am
It wasn't usually in Sailor Taranis's repertoire to ask civilians for help. He liked to save from high above and not stick around for thank-yous or questions. A few had asked him to pose for pictures. Some wanted to know who he really was. A particularly intoxicated older woman asked if she could show gratitude with her "mouth and stuff." The criers were worse. Their eyes would swell with tears, and they would insist on hugging. Honestly, Sailor Taranis would appreciate a knowing head nod, maybe a compliment on his battle prowess, and then complete silence for the trip home.
Too bad that never happened.
This boy seemed at least a little useful. If he weren't busy trying not to die, Taranis might have even been grateful. It was even better when the youma totally went after Andrea. Taranis turned in the opposite direction and started to run away. He stopped ten feet back, and then let the power surge through his body.
"Taranis Sand Blast!" he shouted, voice thick with adrenaline. The ball of sand was called to his hands, spinning like a cyclone.
Taranis tossed the ball, and it collided in the back of the head of the youma. The beast let out a howl as sand exploded in a torrent all over it (and Andrea), and then succumbed to the subspace, dissolving into its own grainy substance before disappearing entirely. The sand remained.
Sailor Taranis jogged back, blood leaving a dripping trail. He checked out Andrea's face. Whoops. He hadn't intended for that. "Well, you're alive," he said, giving him a half-hearted thumbs up. Sand was piled across the ballet dancer.
It was a job hazard.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:29 pm
Though the brunt of his attention was obviously on the dog assaulting him, Andrea caught the other boy backing off out of the corner of his eye. Shifting his balance to get one leg up to kick at the creature again, he considered calling out to him, half-wondering if the guy was, in fact ditching him, but right as he opened his mouth to shout, he heard his presumed ally yell something else first.
The sand blast knocked the beast into Andrea, but he staggered under its weight without falling ... at least at first. The dog dissolved, and the continuing momentum of the onslaught of sand forced the dancer down on one knee.
For a long moment, he just knelt there, wide-eyed and panting a little to catch his breath. Then the burning pain of the scratches set in on his cheek and forearms. Andrea also became aware of all the sand now in his clothes. He stood up and shook himself all over, then stepped away from the pile of sand.
"Yeah, I'm alive," he sighed, then winced as talking aggravated the claw wounds; they were not deep, but still bleeding ... likely a good thing, to get the sand out of the wounds. "Thanks, man," he added, then, looking at the bushes where the monster had been hiding, inquired, "What was that thing, anyway?"
He brushed his hand on his pants to get rid of the sand there, and gingerly reached up to wipe some of the blood away from the marks on his face and gently try to feel just how bad they were.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:18 am
Sailor Taranis expected this boy to b***h at him. Civilians did that a lot too. Apparently they would rather have their lives saved by someone who didn't pelt them with sand. One woman told him he had ruined her designer dress and should pay for it. She ended up on the Nightly News giving some testimonial about the evils of the senshi. She apparently forgot that he ruined her dress while saving her life.
Details, details.
The fact that the clawed-up, sand-burned boy did not begin with "HEY, ********. WHAT'S WITH THE SAND DIAPER?" immediately made him much better than the average civilian. Taranis adjusted his gloves, a nervous habit, and walked over to Andrea. It was time to escort the civilian home, probably his least favorite part of the job. Sailor Magellan made him promise to always do it, just to be safe, and so here he was, following through.
"It was a youma," he said, flicking a stray piece of sand from his own outfit. "I'll walk you home now. Lead the way."
Taranis waited for Andrea to choose a direction and then followed alongside, leaving a considerable distance between them. He didn't like proximity. It led to unwelcome hugs. His eyes flickered back to the bleeding cuts on Andrea's face. "Do you want to... wash off or anything? Sand in cuts. It hurts." Taranis knew this first hand. He knew this quite well.
Too bad they were on a street lined with houses. Unless Taranis was doing some breaking and entering, he had no means of procuring any water, let alone a towel for the bleeding teen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:44 pm
Andrea's hands shook a little as the adrenaline rush wore off, and he used them to try to get more of the sand out of his clothes. He might have been one of the ones complaining loudly about the uncomfortable scratchy feeling of sand all over, but the sophomore did appreciate not dying, too. He peered with concern at the bleeding wounds on the other guy's arms, though.
And he was offering to walk Andrea home?
"Dude, do you need a ride to the hospital or anything?" he inquired as he flexed his limbs experimentally, then bent to pick up his backpack and garment bag. He held the latter out at arm's length, hoping no sand had gotten onto his costume, and started walking down the sidwalk towards his house, but looked back over his shoulder at the other boy as he did so. "We should probably both get tested for rabies or something." The thought made him grimace - just his luck that something like this happened so soon before his ballet performance. And Andrea had heard that rabies shots were not known for being comfortable.
He did not appear to pick up on the strangely-dressed boy's extremely simple answer with regards to the creatures identity right away, though. A few steps later, Andrea looked back at him and asked, "Wait, what's a youma?" It did not sound like a type of dog or other canine, which was the sort of answer he had been expecting. There was also the matter of the boy's clothes - was he coming from a LARP or whatever those things were called? Now that he was no longer worrying about not getting killed, all sorts of questions were popping into his mind.
Like whether or not he could even quite trust this guy. True, he had saved him, but still, throwing sand like that? So far, the only terrorists he had met had helped him, but they had done the deed and left, not asked to follow him back to his house.
"Who are you, anyway?" Andrea then inquired, stopping at the street corner and turning to face the strange boy again. "I would like to wash my face, but when I get home. I live nearby, but, really, I would like to know who you are before you go following me all the way back. No offense."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:12 am
Sailor Taranis eyed the boy warily. He seemed oddly positive about this encounter, but not in a way that made Taranis uncomfortable. "I don't need a hospital. I'm a senshi. Do you need to go to the hospital?" It didn't seem like it. The boy had some face scratches, but he was picking up his garment bag like nothing was wrong.
The special healing of his senshi nature was one of Taranis's favorite things. It was a necessity really. He got thrown around on a regular basis by youma; it was the least the universe could do for him. Already, the wound on his arm was clotting. By morning, it would be cut, not a gash. Lucky too. It was a little hard to explain too many injuries.
The boy kept walking so Taranis let the hospital thing die. He would have been happy to walk in silence, but the boy was full of questions. At least they were easy to answer. "That was a youma," he said, keeping his distance. "They are monsters. They will kill you. Best to steer clear."
When they reached the street corner, Andrea stopped abruptly and so did Taranis. He was half afraid that the kid was going to ask for a hug. He certainly didn't expect to be accosted about his identity. "What?" Taranis stared at him in disbelief. "I'm a senshi. I'm one of the good guys. We save people like you every day. I just saved your life, you know. If I wanted to kill you, I'd have let the youma destroy you." Annoyance flared in Parker. From a logical standpoint, he could understand the trepidation.
That didn't make it any less bothersome.
"I was going to see that you made it home safely. If you don't want that, fine. It's your life." Sailor Taranis started to walk away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:38 am
Oh, Andrea was certainly shaken up by the whole ordeal. His hands still jittered. But he felt strangely calm and detatched, like there was a possibility that he would wake up soon and find himself face-down on his homework, at home, seated at his desk. It was just the pain in his arms and face that nagged him with the reality of what had happened. If it had been a normal dog instead of a monster, and if his rescuer had been a policeman or passing jogger rather than this kid his own age who looked like he had escaped from one of those Dungeons and Dragons books, Andrea would have been properly flipping out, but his mind apparently wanted to treat this like the bizarre movie it resembled.
And it did not help that the kid was defying all logic. Refusing to go to the hospital? Andrea was heading there straight away as soon as he got home, and he had not actually been bitten by the "youma" monster dog.
"Senshi?" he repeated, stumbling a little on the pavement - his brain trying to enforce that this could not be real was starting to hamper his balance slightly. "Well, thank you for saving my life," Andrea told him, his tone getting a bit prickly to match the other boy's. Why was he out saving lives if he apparently didn't like the people he saved?
"Totally appreciate you not leaving me to die, but, no offense, you don't seem like the superhero type." Andrea's brain then insisted that there were plenty of surly comic book characters. He rubbed the heal of his hand in one eye. "... Whatever. I need to go home. Thanks and hopefully I won't need saving from monsters again."
He was asleep on his desk. He was asleep on his desk. He was asleep on his desk....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:26 pm
Sailor Taranis was retreating without pause. Magellan would be upset to know he let a civilian go home unescorted, but it was not like she would find out. He did his job. The youma was dusted, the civilian was saved. There was no "walk them home" policy, at least not from what Derp had said.
The thank-you received a grunt. Taranis was done being social. Had he every really started being social? No one could say. "Didn't choose this," he muttered. The bitterness was a vise in his voice, flipping him from savior to cynic.
Without another word, Sailor Taranis took off at a run. He pulled his sash from his waist and wrapped it around the wound on his arm. There were days when he thought the life of a senshi was miserable, but most of the time, he was just grateful to feel like he was important, like he personally could change the future.
Even if it meant saving some skeptics along the way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
