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 Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 4:59 pm
Sailor Taranis was a god among senshi. This much was obvious (to him).
Despite his many snafus (which largely involved him hanging upside down, faceplanting, or hitting himself with his own attack), the Senshi of Sand had racked up a pretty nice record when it came to defeating the bad guys. Youma quivered in fear. Sort of. He hadn't gotten the chance to battle a lieutenant -- but why bother? He had taken out a captain already. That blue-haired captain had to run away in order to escape another lashing from the Sandman.
Attention Negaverse: fear him. Fear the Sandman.
Okay, so it was a nickname the newspaper had cooked up after unexplained mounds of sand started cropping up all over Destiny City. That didn't make it any less cool. Taranis pretended not to care when Dani first caught sight of it in the paper (not a headline, page five by the obituaries), but when alone, he may or may not have a tendency to whisper Sandman and flex.
That night, it was hazy out. The light from the moon was diffused through gray clouds, and the stars were cast under a shroud. Sailor Taranis was near Chinatown by East Heights. He patrolled his own neighborhood frequently; it was convenient. The red paper lanterns strung from balcony to balcony helped his own red accents blend in. He was perched on the angled roof of a temple-styled restaurant, one leg draped over the side of a pointed edge.
It was peaceful out, even if he was patrolling.
Even if the Sandman was out to fight evil.
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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 6:10 pm
Being a part of the Negaverse -- and, hell, being part of the Lunars and Zodiacs as well, Uranophane figured -- turned out to involve a lot of standing, waiting, running around through the city in the hopes of stumbling across something. Standing guard. Patrolling. Positioning yourself properly so known active parts of Destiny City were well-covered and other areas had someone probing them. Uranophane had gotten used to this, and the hours of waiting that sometimes led to a target, other times led to disappointment.
She had positioned herself and Vivianite up on the roof of a Chinatown trinket shop, while Hematite and Fayalite were out patrolling elsewhere, all of them on the lookout for some sign of Kunzite. It had been tiresome, unrewarding work. No Kunzite in sight, and large investments of time seemingly wasted.
No sign of Alexandros, either. Uranophane briefly wondered what he might have been up to.
After an unmeasured stretch of the two of them standing on their rooftop, gazing out at the city around them -- just standing and not saying anything, with Uranophane occasionally glancing back to check on her charge -- finally, their eyes caught on a speck of movement, a leg idly swinging down over the edge of a roof a little ways down the street.
He was alone.
"Well, at least we know it wasn't a total waste to come out here," muttered the officer, and gave a shall we? cant of the shoulders to her companion before making to leap away from their perch.
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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 6:55 pm
Vivianite was bored. All of this standing around and patrolling was boring and they'd never yet caught sight of the Cavalier they'd been tasked to find. Find, and kill. As if it would be that easy, and just thinking about it soured the corrupted senshi's already dark mood. At least hunting starseeds ended in success more often than not, even if the activity wasn't one she particularly enjoyed. But she was obedient, if only to Uranophane, so she silently followed after her assigned keeper whenever she had to.
Vivianite was tempted to sit on the edge of the roof, but didn't think Uranophane would have approved, so she stood behind and to the left, shifting her feet occasionally. Heels were absolutely not the most comfortable thing to stand in for long periods of time, and she was about ready to ask if they could go somewhere else when something moved down the street.
"Not entirely," Vivianite agreed as she followed after, waiting for the signal to trigger her attack.
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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 7:18 pm
Sandman was a good moniker. It was better than what some of the other senshi got slapped with. There was a particular Neil Gaiman series that Taranis enjoyed that followed a Sandman of sorts. It was certainly better than Captain Boyscout, or Mr. Ascot, or Sergeant Sandslinger. (Okay, Taranis kind of liked the last one.) Of all the things that came with being a senshi, Taranis liked the super hero aspects of it, the nicknames in the papers.
Maybe Dani would humor him and help him collect all the articles that mentioned him. There were only two as far as he knew, so it wouldn't be hard. Would it be safe to make a little secret page of them in his journal? Certainly it couldn't be too --
Dangerous.
A very dark, very strong energy aura billowed out down the street from him. It grew stronger as it drew closer, black tongues of vile darkness creeping into his skin. How had he not noticed it before? There were two auras, but it was the second one that had his stomach sinking to his ankles.
This was bad. This was very bad.
Perhaps they hadn't seen him? He blended in fairly well with his surroundings. He had been comfortable enough to day dream about being the Sandman and blatantly ignore the tugging of black energy, after all.
Very, very slowly, Sailor Taranis drew both legs up and under him, crouching low on the rooftop. Maybe they hadn't sensed him. Maybe they couldn't tell where he was? For an instant, he considered transforming back to his civilian state to get rid of his own energy signature. If they had already locked onto him though, that could be catastrophic.
So instead, Taranis ducked down lower, drawing himself into a tiny ball behind the peak of the pointed roof. He could keep away from them, he had to.
Like evil versus good hide-n-go-seek.
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 7:48 pm
Black heels clattered across concrete, shingles and steel, the noise trailing closer to Taranis by the second and the sleek silhouettes of the dark presences growing ever larger in size. Vivianite and Uranophane had done their hopping and skipping, and now just a little jump remained in closing in on their target. The senshi ducking out of sight, however, was enough to give the Lieutenant a bit of pause, stopping at the edge of the roof right next to his, and holding an arm out to signal to her charge to do the same.
She stood up rail-straight, jaw set, the corner of her mouth quirking upward in a small smirk while she cracked her knuckles under her gloves.
"It looks like our new friend doesn't want to come out and play after all," Uranophane called out, "how sad. Well, I guess if he doesn't want to donate his star seed to those less fortunate, I'm sure someone down below will have one to spare."
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 3:03 pm
Damn.
Apparently he hadn't moved as quickly and stealthily as he thought. Nestled in the crook of the roof, Taranis didn't have many options. In one direction, there were two big glowy evils, one oozing a giant cloud of dark energy in all directions. He had never felt anything like it before -- who was this? Even Captain Linarite had not given off this much energy.
The other option wasn't much better. He might be able to jump off the roof without breaking anything, but they could jump too. Maybe better than him, even.
The third option would be to stand up and reveal himself for the ensuing battle. A battle in which the odds were stacked sky-high against him. A battle that could kill him.
His fingers touched lightly at the cellphone in his side pouch. If he had seen them earlier, he could have called for back-up, but that would be impossible now. Even if he could dial the number, the senshi would show up in time to find his body, not to help him.
Sweat prickled along his hair line, his fingers gripping the tiles beneath him. The roof was angled high. It rose up above them into a faux-Japanese temple, each layer smaller and higher than the next. Taranis glanced over his shoulder where the next roof section bent.
Slowly, he edged toward it, bending one leg around the wall. If he could put the tower between him and them, maybe he could get away.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:58 pm
"Trying to sneak away," muttered the lieutenant, peering at the structure towering nearby before glancing momentarily back at Vera and then at the streets below. There wasn't much activity, she didn't make out any people or cars meandering through the streets at the moment -- that cut out the possibility of plucking up a hostage to draw him out with. Oh well. She waited a moment, thinking, then her pen and clipboard appeared in her hands with a pair of ozone-scented, bubblewrap cracks.
And with a few quick strokes she drew a quick, messy diagram of the roof they were standing on.
"Your attack has a radius of about ten feet," Uranophane started explaining, hurried and hushed, "and that roof is angled, probably hard to maintain your footing if you can't see what you're doing. If you use your smokescreen here--" she tapped at the part of the diagram representing Taranis's position, and drew a rough circle-- "that should cover pretty much everywhere he can jump to, so if he tries to start running he'll either compromise his position or fall. You'll strike immediately upon landing from your next jump, is that clear?"
She waited for some acknowledgement that it was, and then they would be off.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 9:33 pm
Vivianite was not concerned about the senshi trying to sneak away. It made sense, really, and odds were they could still follow him even if he ran. She watched without much curiousity as Uranophane sketched out her plan. It was workable, certainly, provided that the unknown senshi reacted correctly. And didn't have an actual attack. That could be very important, but the corrupted senshi didn't mention it to the lieutenant. There were an unfortunate amount of things that she wasn't mentioning, and most of them were about senshi.
"Alright," Vivianite said flatly to indicate her understanding of the plan and jumped, Uranophane staying where she was. She judged it to be roughly outside her attack radius, which was an interesting choice. But the Negaverse officer knew what she was doing, and with a slight clatter of heels against the roof, she landed. "Perennial Eclipse!" she yelled; that was unusual, but she wanted Uranophane to hear her.
Then again, it was fairly obvious that her attack had started. The red flower petals swirled in from nowhere, forming into a familiar grey fog that swirled up into the rough shape of a dome. Vivianite could see everything within clearly. Taranis would see nothing. And Uranophane would hopefully see two silhouttes in the fog, one in motion and the other still.
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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 9:06 pm
Faint murmurs trickled over to where Taranis crouched, but he couldn't make out what was being said, save the occasional scratch of pen on paper. They were plotting something. They had seen him. Neither of these things spelled anything good for the direction his night was about to go in. His last encounter left him victorious against a Captain. Would he be so lucky again?
Too much time was passing. He needed to make a move, or they would make it for him. Swallowing every ounce of strength he had (which was an arguably small amount), Taranis called to his own attack, "Taranis Sand Blast!" The ball was in the midst of forming as he swung out into the view of the two Negaverse agents.
His resolve faltered as the pink-haired one leaped forward too, calling to her own attack. A negasenshi? The last time he saw something like her, it had been in the park. But that was a different girl, one they called Nova. The momentary surprise was brushed away. The ball spun like a top at his fingertips as he launched it at the pink-haired senshi just as a giant cloud of dark fog exploded all around him.
Blind to his surroundings, Taranis stumbled over the slanted tiles. He lost his footing almost instantly and fell over the edge. His chest caught on the edge, winding him, and then he toppled forward over it and belly-flopped on to the hard concrete of the non-decorative portion of roof. The senshi of sand groaned, totally unaware of the success or failure of his attack.
All he knew was that his chest <******** hurt.
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Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:08 pm
Vivianite had assumed that her attack and appearance would be shocking enough to catch the other senshi off guard; it had, in fact, done so the last time she'd set out to catch one. Unfortunately, Taranis was either made of stronger stuff, or possessed much quicker reflexes. She had seen the ball of sand in his hands before her attack blanked everyone's sight.
Everyone but hers - alone of the three combatants, Vivianite was fully aware and able to see the attack launched unerringly towards her. She threw up an arm in blind defensive reaction before it could hit her full in the face. It hit her arm and exploded full force, the whirling impact of the sand shredding her black glove and abrading her skin. The pain caused her to scream briefly before it died off, her mouth clamped firmly closed. She had reflexively closed her eyes when the attack launched, and missed the enemy's fall off the other side of the roof. Staggered backward, the unnatural fog wisped loose before reforming solidly about her once more.
It didn't last, however, as the pink-haired senshi's heels lost their delicate balance on the uneven rooftop. As she crashed backwards, unable to find purchase on the sand coated roof to stop her progress, her attack of blinding shadow faded away, wisped as if it was fog in sunlight. Vivianite felt a bleak moment of despair as she realized she was heading for the ground head first --
The heavy dark energy signature disappeared as the corrupted senshi called upon her ability to teleport, having retained presence of mind enough to do so. Still falling, Vivianite landed with a thud and powered down. Vera Valentine lay shaking on the floor of her apartment, left arm cradled against her chest. Uranophane would know where to find her, as long as the lieutenant didn't panic (go berserk was more likely, all things considered). Her last thought before passing out was of worry for the friend she'd been forced to leave behind.
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:14 pm
Go berserk was more likely.
Go berserk really was more likely. But it was, ultimately and retrospectively, Uranophane's fault that it ended up playing out that way: she hadn't anticipated the senshi's attack. They were always so infuriatingly different, and so difficult to predict what they would do if you hadn't seen it before. And she had gone into this without a name, without a power sphere, without anything to gauge this one's abilities by. Stupid. She'd thought Vivianite's smoke screen would take care of any problems regarding their opponent's magic. Stupid.
And so, faced with her own stupidity and the fact that her friend and charge had just gotten injured, Uranophane did what came naturally.
She was on that damned senshi like a journalist on an oil spill.
The concept of "look before you leap" was gone. The notion that Vera Valentine was probably scratched up but safe in her apartment was the last thing on her mind. All that was at the forefront was that the smokescreen had vanished and Vivianite along with it, and the reason for it was still a bit sprawled down on the concrete, just waiting for a good kick to the face. Which Uranophane delivered with a cutting smack, before summoning her clipboard to deal another blow.
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Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 4:47 am
Falling to the flat of the roof hurt. Getting kicked and pummeled in the face with a clipboard made it worse.
Sailor Taranis was unprepared for the first blow. Her kick caught him in the chin, cracking his neck upward and clouding his vision with hazy white spots. A muttered curse fell from his lips. He raised his arms to protect his face just as the clipboard swung, deflecting it from breaking his nose but otherwise blessing his arms with a serious of red, angry marks.
In the darkness, the rage of Uranophane's face was muted, but Taranis could feel it coming off of her in peals like a pot of water rushing toward boil on the stove. He couldn't just lay there. Two feet kicked outward to set the Captain off-balance, and then Taranis was up and scrambling away, kicking up bits of concrete in his wake.
His gait was awkward, but he swung himself on to a fire escape and disappeared deeper into an alleyway, hopefully throwing him out of harm's way long enough to escape the rampaging Negaverse agent and make it to safety.
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:35 am
"Damn you," she snarled as the clipboard made contact -- "Damn you!" she said again as his feet met with her ankles and she and her weapons were sent skidding into the concrete. Uranophane could hear his footsteps bouncing off the walls, he was running away.
He was getting away.
"Damn you, get back here!"
It had gotten too dark, the senshi's shadow melted seamlessly into those of the alleyway, his footfalls quickly faded from its human clomping to a distant, rapid pattering. And then, after clawing her own way noisily up the fire escape and running blindly after him for a few moments -- there was no noise at all. He was gone, he had gotten away, he was gone.
Uranophane kept running anyway. She didn't know what else to do.
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