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 Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 2:53 pm
Two little ducklings accounted for. One was still a mystery--a vague memory of a face and nothing more. That was a problem that needed to be fixed. Ursula had already made it quite clear that he was going to lead a team, whether he liked it or not. Perhaps that was why she had assigned Kunzite to him; nothing like a little incentive to stay focused and keep him from dragging his heals.
He'd sent an order out to this Lieutenant, told her when and where to meet him. Captain Obsidian was out in the backwoods of Hillworth around eleven PM, idly sipping a beer and letting his gaze absently wander across the darkened, looming figures of the surrounding trees. The young Negaverser would show up, or she'd suffer for it. Of that, he had no doubt.
A smirk curled for a moment as his lips as he reflected on the lesson plan he'd etched out for tonight. Mentally stimulating? Check. Physically wearing? Check. Life-threatening?
Well, maybe a little.
Above the Captain's shoulder, gleaming, green orbs winked into existence for a moment, hot breath pooling against his plated shoulder. "I DON'T LIKE THIS PLACE..." Came the grating grumble.
"Don't care." The man reached back to idly thump the beast on the face, just below the large, center eye. "Eyes shut, dumbass. You're like a goddamn flashlight."
There was an unintelligible mutter, but the youma obeyed, and the eyes vanished back into the dark. While Garbdis was impatient, Obsidian was perfectly content to continue leaning against the brute, taking slow pulls on the beer. He had all the time in the world to wait.
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:11 pm
The Hillworth grounds were not a place that Bixbyite was at all familiar with, so she'd made sure to sneak out of her bedroom early to ensure that she wouldn't be late. She'd heard... well, disturbing stories about the Captain that she had been assigned to. And while she didn't think that he'd kill her out of hand, she didn't want to take the risk either.
And so it was that about five minutes to 11, she came jogging through the trees, pulling up short when she caught sight of the Captain. Drawing herself straight, she closed the remaining distance at a sedate walk, then stood before him and saluted crisply.
"Captain Obsidian, sir."
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 4:22 pm
"Bingo. Right on time, lady. Early, even." The man was focused on his beer for a moment before he'd elbow the large, shadowy outline behind him. Garbdis would obediently open his mouth, and the can was thrown inside. With the monster now mindlessly crunching on the metal treat, the man would straighten and approached. "Lieutenant Bixbyite." He named her, mulling over what he had to work with.
Really, as lieutenants, all they could do was harvest all the potential their enhanced speed and strength afforded them, and hope they survived long enough for an upgrade. Weapons? Likely utterly useless at this point.
"Let's get one thing straight, Lieutenant; I'm here to train you. You ******** up, it falls on my head. You do good, it falls on my head slightly less. I already know what your teammates can do--Ametrine and Variscite. But you're the wild card. So think of this as your Negaverse-gym-test. Meet Garbdis."
He shifted aside, and Garbdis crept forward--an awkward sight for a beast as large as a small car. Perched on seemingly delicate fingers, the youma would gratefully open its eyes at last and studied the Lieutenant.
"He's got orders to not. Kill. You." His gloved fist pounded on the plated back of the beast, as though to make that message firmly sink in. "He has trouble remembering, see." Obsidian explained with a nasty grin. "However, he's gonna be trying to ******** your s**t up, to put it bluntly. Nothing fatal, but I want to see just how physically capable you are. Fight back in any way you can. This is a sparring match against an opponent that outweighs, outsizes, and overpowers you. Is that understood, Lieutenant?"
"WHY MUST IT COME TO THIS..."
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 4:34 pm
If Bixbyite was alarmed by Garbdis' sudden appearance, or the fact that she had to survive a bout with him, it only showed in the slight widening of her eyes. Well, she thought a little weakly, at least I'm relatively in shape.
Rather than waste time asking questions, she fired off another salute and went into a defensive posture, eyes trained on the enormous beetle youma.
"Understood, Captain. Good evening, Garbdis."
Oh, she was going to be hurting before tonight was over. She knew it.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:03 am
The large, armored youma almost seemed surprised that it had been greeted so cordially, rumbling a "HELLO," before it watched her shift. There was silence for a long while before (with a helpful boot to the head) Garbdis remembered what it was that he was supposed to be doing.
"Play nice." Said Obsidian.
With a snort, fingers flexing into the dirt for a moment, the youma tossed its head with a roar and straight out charged for the Lieutenant. It was fast, it was deadly--but Bixbyite could jump like a deranged flea, and could easily get out of the way.
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 5:54 am
Bixbyite used that surprised silence to her advantage, calling her weapon to hand and studying her opponent. She doubted the ribbon dancer would do anything more than perhaps provide a distraction or a momentary tangle. Obsidian had told her to fight back in any way she could. And as she stood tensed and waiting, she watched Garbdis. It/He, she settled on 'he', was armored, huge and well, really ******** scary.
But his eyes, a little voice whispered in her mind. His eyes don't look armored. And eyes are always vulnerable...
Then, there was no more time for study and the youma was charging her. For something so big, he moved fast. Still, Bixbyite had been prepared for it to charge. She leapt up, moving forward a little and completely by accident managed to go over Garbdis, using her own momentum and one of the spikes on his back to further propel her.
Somehow, she had a feeling that that would the be only time tonight that trick, accidental as it was, would work. And as she landed, she hit the ground rolling, hands searching for a decent sized rock. Finding one, she moved to her feet and took the precious little time she had to aim, let fly and hope she could hit one of the glowing eyes.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:08 am
A ribbon. Either Charonite had absolutely no control over the weapons he granted the new Lieutenants, or he was becoming a lazy ********. Still, Obsidian approved of the agility she showed she utilized to fling herself up and over the back of the beast. She had the coordination that could make her a vital asset.
Garbdis almost tripped over himself as his little target was suddenly gone, vanished into thin air, and searched the grounds for a moment before it struck him. Awkwardly, he would turn, and as soon as his gaze locked on again. Well. Eye, meet Rock. The pain was instinctively enough to make the youma unfurl his wings, bellowing his pain and his rage until an unspoken command from his master demanded he be silent. The eye was oozing a little, now squeezed shut even as the beetle took a low, labored breath. She'd hurt him, blinded him--but he still had many more eyes to use.
Still, Garbdis was wary now, not used to being injured so.
He began to slowly approach, unwilling to risk more pain. His mandibles stretched open so he could hiss at the girl, tossing them threateningly as though to see if she would back up. He did not like this, and he did not like her anymore, and Garbdis was rather sour about this entire thing.
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:41 am
The momentary feral grin that curved the tiny blonde's lips vanished as soon as the youma roared and unfurled its wings. As she paled and took a step back, she had the suspicion that Garbdis wouldn't be taken by surprise by thrown items anymore either. Should have thrown dirt, she thought as she trembled very slightly and stood her ground against the approaching monster.
She'd never been fond of normal sized bugs to begin with and this huge beetle was, to be frank, squicking her out in a huge way. The wings, the hissing, the multiple glowing eyes... these would be the nightmare elements that would haunt her sleep for the next three months if she managed to get out of this with life and limbs intact.
Think, she admonished herself. What do we know so far? He's fast. Really fast. Don't let him get close enough to use that. Garbdis was big, presumably heavy. She could always try to tire him out, make him do all the work while she danced and dodged. Well, it was worth a shot. Rapidly crouching to gather as many rocks as possible, she straightened and leapt again, peppering Garbdis' body with a shower of little nuisance attacks.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:11 pm
Assaults from every side! The rocks bounced harmlessly off the youma's plated back, but Garbdis was whipping this way and that, confused and alarmed by the attacks that seemed to be coming from just about everywhere. Uncertain on what else to do, the beast folded its human limbs underneath it, miserably burying its head to protect its poor eyes from being smacked again. While Bixbyite had done no more visible damage, she'd effectively stopped the youma in its tracks, and that was something to be commended for.
You know, considering he was about as dumb as a wall and could be out thought by a box.
The Captain snorted a little to himself at the display, mentally weighing his options before he saw it fitting to step in. "Alright, enough." A swift kick was aimed at Garbdis' side, and though the blow was harmless, the youma muttered under his breath even as he reluctantly peered out for any sign of the small girl.
"Not bad," He turned to look the lieutenant up and down for a moment. "Enough speed and agility on you to make you a damn threat, later on. Weaknesses, though, need to learn to exploit them. The eyes were the obvious target. When that didn't work, a sharp stick to the belly might have sufficed, mm?"
Garbdis had the sense to look vaguely uncomfortable at that thought. As uncomfortable as a salivating, monstrous beetle could look, anyway.
"As far as senshi go... Well, hell, half of them like to play hero, don't they? Use that to your advantage. Hostages, civilians in danger, all that s**t. Makes sense?" Obsidian seemed satisfied that he wouldn't be stuck with a total deadbeat. It was hard not to flinch in the face of a monster, and though it wasn't the best performance... well, Garbdis wasn't exactly the ideal sparring partner, either.
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:19 am
Straightening warily, Bixbyite kept one eye on the youma and the other on her Captain, listening intently as he spoke. When Obsidian had finished speaking, she saluted again.
"Perfect sense, Captain," she answered softly. "To be honest, I was under the impression that Garbdis was your own youma and that you would not appreciate him being... compromised, so I tried to think of things that would stop him without disabling him. Just in case you needed him later."
Well, that was diplomatic enough and she'd made sure to keep her eyes down and her tone apologetic. While the pecking order of her dance classes could get uncomfortable at times, none of her classmates was likely to murder her out of hand if they got annoyed. The same could not be said of Obsidian. So Bixbyite was careful to maintain politeness and deference at all time around him.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 8:47 am
"Kind of you." The man chuckled a little; he didn't buy a word of it, but that was another matter entirely. Regardless, Obsidian shifted slightly, green eyes flicking over her for a moment more. This was good--better than good. There was potential here, in all three of his lieutenants.
"Lieutenant," He'd wait till her eyes would finally lift to meet his face. "You're to report back to me in three days, same time, same place. You’ll be meeting the other members of your team, if you haven’t already—and I expect you to be prepared to work."
The pause was punctuated by a weary sound from Garbdis, who cracked his good eyes open to evaluate Bixbyite warily. Was she good? Was she bad? He no longer knew.
"We've got a dangerous mission ahead of us, Lieutenant, and if you don't want to die, then I have to prepare you for it." This seemed like the prime opportunity for him to grin at her, but he only looked thoughtful.
Could these girls and himself really take on Kunzite at full strength?
Undoubtedly, in his mind.
"Three days, Bixbyite. Until then." His fingers flicked at her in a parody of a wave before, with a surge of power, he'd dismissed Garbdis to wherever he'd came from. The beetle slowly faded out of existence before the Captain turned, striding through the trees. Teleporting would waste too much energy, and the walk would give him ample time to decide just what to do with his three ducklings.
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 3:12 pm
Blushing hotly at the chuckle, Bixbyite forced herself to look up at meet Obsidian's eyes as he spoke. Three days, huh? Well, she'd managed to find ways to keep her nightly activities secret from her family so far. She'd just have to be extra careful. So, she nodded obidiently.
"Of course, Captain Obsidian," she replied demurely. She stood, waiting until he'd banished Garbdis and then left the area himself. Then, heaving a tiny sigh of relief, she sank to the ground and sat a moment, trying to collect her spinning wits. She wondered what the dangerous mission was, wondered if she would be up to par for it, then decided that if she wasn't yet, she would be. That was the point of this training, right? To get ready.
With that thought, she finally stood and headed back for her home. She still had a little time to sleep after all.
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eldritch stardust
eldritch stardust
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