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 Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:50 pm
It was official. Anthony Darrow absolutely adored the snow. So what if his brat of a son had stolen his cane that morning, leaving him to limp to work? And that now, after working all day on his bad leg, leaning on counters and sitting down as much as he could, he had to walk back home?
There was snow, at least. It was lightly falling. Bundled in his coat, a silly scarf around his neck, Tony walked slowly through the fresh white powder. It was after closing, and he had stayed late at the library to get some paper work done. The twilight and stars overhead just seemed to make it that much more perfect.
He liked the way the air smelled... cold. Fresh. It had a crispness to it that could only be accomplished by snow, the wisps of his breaths coming out in small clouds as he enjoyed the night air.
Along the way home, he paused to play in a particularly large drift, which happened to be someone's car, creating a snowman that whoever owned the vehicle would hopefully meet come morning.
He paused, though, hearing a growl behind him. It was a sound he was almost getting used to hearing, though it sounded different each time. It was weird to think, but it was familiar in the sense that it was unfamiliar. It wasn't an animal.
He didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to ruin his perfect evening in the snow, or upset the peace by engaging whatever it was that was stalking him. Of course, acting like an ostrich and not looking at the youma was not a good way to keep from being eaten.
It jumped up on the roof of the car, mercilessly killing the snowman.
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:46 pm
Patrolling in the snow was interesting, to say the least. Birhan didn't really feel the cold while powered up, which was a godsend considering how little material there was to her uniform. Unfortunately she stuck out like a rainbow thumb against a white blanket of snow - anyone weaker than Birhan would see her coming and flee, and anyone stronger could easily target her before she could notice them. But hey, the thrill of danger was half the fun, right?
Slightly less fun was the occasional slip on icy rooves as her boots slipped when trying to land the stupid acrobatic leaps and spins Birhan loved to use when moving around the city. What good was a senshi's enhanced abilities if you didn't use them, was Birhan's thought. And maybe she liked to show off just a little... Not that that was working out well in the snow.
Birhan paused on a rooftop and looked down at the street. Not many people were out in this weather - not even the Negaverse, it seemed. Maybe they were taking a snow day off. Stranger things had happened. It was turning out to be a very boring patrol and Birhan was just about to call it quits when she saw it.
It was a youma, around the size of a wolf, though Birhan couldn't quite make out it's proper shape and form from this distance. "Yes!" she pumped a fist in the air. "Play time!"
And then the youma jumped up onto a car and Birhan could see something else on the street. A person, formerly bent down in the show, entirely too close to the now growling youma for comfort. "Ah s**t, rescue time," Birhan corrected herself, bright grin dimming down to her serious game face. Rescue wasn't an unfun job - just a more urgent one.
"Boot grip don't fail me now," she muttered as she took a few steps backwards. A running start, and Birhan leapt off the roof with an exuberant yell. One leg kicked out, striking the youma and knocking it off the car, thankfully to the other side than the civilian was on. Birhan used the momentum from the kick to perform a backflip and land next to the civilian. Which would have been great if not for, again, the snow.
"Gah!" One foot slipping, Birhan grabbed for the nearest stable surface - which happened to the man she was 'rescuing'. Face as red as parts of her outfit, Birhan muttered a quick, "Sorry. Uh, better get behind me, I don't think it's down for the count just from that..."
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:11 am
Tony watched as the youma, whose shape was somewhere between a grotesque bear and a double jointed orangutan, went flying off the car and crashing to the floor nearby. He barely had to register that someone had just kicked it before that someone was right beside him.
Falling!
"Oh!" he yelped, instincts telling him to catch the person that had just saved his life. He grabbed her arms hastily, supporting her for a moment before she pulled back from him. She was red. He was red. But he was panicked, and that was not something she seemed to share.
"A senshi!" he said, sounding rather joyed. Senshi were also so nice to him: they made sure giant monsters didn't turn him into a snack. He wanted to help them, and was increasingly dedicating his time to learning what he could, following all the strange reports in the papers and on the TV, so he could finally discover how he might be able to pay them back, and be useful to them for once.
At the moment, though, he was very glad she was helping him.
"Aren't you cold in that?" he asked obscurely, noting her fuku and wondering how a little thing like her wasn't freezing to death. But the youma growled viciously and scrambled back to its feet. Arms? Limbs. It seemed to have six of them. Tony looked at it, then back at the senshi. The youma charged, bellowing all the way.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:55 pm
Birhan's first thought on seeing the civilian was that he was awfully cute... if you liked hot men her parents' age. Which, unfortunately, she did. Oops. Even with his little goatee, when Birhan usually found most facial hair a turn-off, she couldn't help but perk up a little at having some older guy eye candy to save.
Her second thought was a giant 'BWAH?!' that he was familiar with senshi already. "Uh, you know about us?" she gave an awkward smile. Sure, it was great to not have to worry about the rescuee thinking she was weirdo who had to be beaten off with a stick or something. It was just that he knew the correct name and everything, which meant someone was blabbing to civilians after rescuing them. Birhan had the feeling that the BMC wouldn't approve of that (though she could understand why someone might want to show off a little to a hot older man). "I... guess that makes things easier. I'm Birhan Isat, and I'll be your rescuer today. Please keep your arms and limbs out of the youma. In case of mortal danger, please scream loudly - though hopefully not in my ear."
Her cocky grin faded a little when the man brought up her attire. She glanced down at herself. Yes, so she probably looked like she was about to die from frostbite. "Uh, not really?" she answered. "I'm not really feeling the cold at all. Thank god for magic, right?" She gave a bright laugh.
It was a good thing Birhan couldn't read minds. At 5' 11", she'd never been thought of as 'little' before, especially when combined with toned muscles from practising her martial art of choice.
The niceties were brought to an early end by the youma getting back on its feet. It's grotesque and rather brutal appearance had Birhan blinking at it, mouth pulled up in a half snarl, half 'ew'. It charged. Birhan quickly pushed Tony to the side - into a snowdrift she'd noticed was there. She leapt over the monster's head, giving it a kick to the back as they passed each other. She landed on all fours in the snow, which was more graceful and stable than her earlier attempt on just two feet.
"And now I'm just making it mad," she noted, as the youma bellowed again. If only there was another senshi in the area so she could have a proper attack. Though maybe, if she was lucky, one might have fought nearby recently enough for her to still drag it back into being... But first she had to find a long enough opening to try!
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 10:44 pm
He might have laughed at her jokes about proper being saved procedure, if he weren't earnestly listening and nodding his head diligently. He did want to keep his limbs out of the youma, after all, and all his other body parts as well. And he did have the screaming thing down at least. Kind of. He tried to be as manly about yelling in terror as he could, but hopefully he wouldn't have need to exercise that tonight.
"Oh, right, magic. Yes, of course," he said, nodding his head, though he was still wondering if she might not benefit from a sweater. Or from pants.
Tony was very easy to knock over, particularly without his cane and how he was balancing on his good leg more. He toppled over and landed in some thick, fresh snow, which crunched under him and started to melt against his warm body almost immediately.
The youma was not amused that its snacks were running and falling and jumping. It certainly did not like being kicked, and Tony saw it turn and charge after the senshi again, wobbling just a bit because it was dazed by the blow to its head.
"Oh, look out Birhan!" the librarian yelled, rather uselessly, as it was difficult to miss the big ugly monster running toward someone. Still, Tony had a bad case of Hero Complex, and he pushed himself to his feet. He grabbed some snow and threw the snowball at the youma.
Helpful!
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:01 am
Fighting with an audience was kind of funny, Birhan decided. The good kind of funny. It didn't hurt that the man was nice and good looking. But there was something about him yelling out 'help' that made her want to break down into giggles. She resisted the urge, because that could only end with human limbs being ripped off by the four-armed youma.
The youma itself seemed a touch woozy, so Birhan decided now was a good time to take a chance. Considering how many senshi there were running around these days, there was good odds that someone had been fighting here already. So while the youma was acting dazed, slowing its next charge, Birhan closed her eyes and trusted to destiny.
"Departed Strike, Renewal!" she cried. Violet eyes snapped open, eager to see if anything would happen.
A snowball hit the youma in the side of the head. Birhan turned to look at Tony. Not the kind of attack she was hoping for. Oh god, and here came the giggles. Laughter bubbled up in her throat, spilling out and filling the air. Birhan bent in half, laughing uncontrollably even as the youma shook off the compacted snow and resumed its charge.
Trying to calm herself, Birhan raised her fists, hoping to be able to block in time. It was only now that she noticed her hands were smoking faintly. Twin columns of smoke abruptly shot out. They launched themselves at the youma. The shrieks it made as the smoke blasted into its face made Birhan shudder - it was worse than nails on a blackboard. The shrieking quickly died off into a coughing fit, the smoke also having reached the youma's lungs. Now it staggered about, clawing at its throat. Unfortunately, having turned itself about, it was now facing Tony...
(( Sailor Ares' attack renewed with permission from Akina. ))
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:27 am
The librarian heard laughter on the air and saw that his senshi savior was bent over laughing. It wasn't difficult to put together that she was in stitches over his effort to help, and he supposed that a snowball against a monster was probably a silly thing to see. He smiled, but the youma moved and he was reminded that they were still in danger.
Tony, who felt like he should be hiding but didn't have a good place to duck behind, watched as the senshi used her attack. He wasn't sure what was happening, assuming the smoke was her attack, and watched in wonder as it choked the youma.
Useful! But would it kill the thing?
When the youma turned to face the civilian, said civilian looked ready to pass out. He eeped and stepped back, looking around for anything to assist him. He would certainly have felt a bit more protected if he had his cane with him, but that damn son of his...
Not really the time for thoughts like those, he grabbed two handfuls of snow and hoped the monster would lose track of him in all the smoke. It staggered toward him, still coughing and gripping its throat, unable to breathe. If that was what they did: Tony didn't know.
He threw the snowballs at its face, but it wasn't coming for him anyway. It fell over, disoriented from the smoke and the blow to its head from before, and landed right in front of Tony. It wasn't dead, but it wasn't getting up in a hurry, pushing two of its four front arms under it. Tony stared at it, wide eyed, then looked at Birhan.
"It's got my foot," he said, not sounding half as panicked as he should. He was also speaking quietly, like he thought the youma had decided to take a quick nap. It really was just holding on to Tony's leg, not trying to tear it off at the moment.
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:45 pm
The renewed snowball attack from her civilian almost had Birhan back in stitches again. This wasn't a passive guy that she'd come to the aid of. If he had a better weapn than compacted snow, she actually wondered if he might have just taken care of the youma himself. It was a strange idea, to think of normal humans getting involved. She rather hoped he would keep himself safe and not go looking for trouble...
If that was a sobering thought, it had nothing on Tony's quiet, "It's got my foot."
Birhan hissed a few swear words under her breath. Slowly and quietly, she made careful steps in the snow towards them. The crunching under her boots made a silent approach impossible, so she decided slow and obvious would have to do in making the youma think she wasn't a threat - or was a nice snack voluntarily delivering herself. "Stay still," she warned Tony. "Don't make any sudden moves."
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 6:12 pm
Tony nodded his head. He was not inclined to go anywhere, with the Youma using his head as a teddy bear. The last thing he wanted to do was upset it by taking its new toy away. Or making him rip said toy right off of the librarians body. He cleared his throat.
Quietly.
"So... so what do we do? Can you use your smoke thing to... to suffocate it?" He didn't know that she had borrowed the attack, assuming she could control it and make it do what she wanted. Of course, he thought Senshi were rather all powerful, and could do many things. He hadn't had a lesson on the specifics of senshi attack limitations.
The youma growled.
Tony looked at Birhan pleadingly. "Maybe if you... uhm..." The youma moved then, slowly getting to its feet. It pulled Tony to him. It wasn't quite like taking a hostage, or with a particularly threatening grip. It held Tony like a doll, disoriented, and looked at the senshi. It growled and Tony tried to stay as still as possible. He made a face at Birhan, panicked and very slightly amused, though he would never be able to admit to it in the middle of all the worry. Also, he was upside down.
The youma swung one of its other hands at the senshi abruptly, waking up enough to try and attack again, though it was huffing and blinking.
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:05 pm
Birhan winced at Tony's suggestion. Not that it wasn't a great idea, it was just... "Funny story," she said, ducking her head slightly and looking over his shoulder. "That's, uh, not my attack. I just reactivate ones that have been used in the area recently. And I have no way of knowing if the smoke senshi used her attack twice, so..." She trailed off. If she tried the attack and nothing happened, it didn't sound like such a great loss. Only, what if the youma didn't like the shouting, or recognised what had led up to the smoke before? She didn't want the monster taking anything out on Tony. Maybe she could risk it once he was free, but not while the youma had him held like an upside down teddy bear.
"Let's see if we can't make it let you go, first," Birhan decided. "Hey, could you play dead? It works on bears, right?"
She didn't approach the youma, but darted quickly to one side. She was hoping that if she was on the same side that Tony was, maybe the youma would drop him in an attempt to grab the pesky senshi instead. "C'mon, come and get me," she taunted the youma loudly. Birhan ran in closer, then leapt back. In and out of grabbing range, hoping to provoke a swipe at her that would loosen its hold on its civilian captive. It wasn't the best thought out plan.
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:43 pm
"As long as I'm only playing..." Tony said softly, looking miserable. Which still looked miserable, even though he was upside down. No 'frown upside down' here, it seemed. He watched her for a moment, hoping she knew what she was doing, then closed his eyes and did the best impersonation of a dead person as he could.
At first, the youma didn't notice. It was too busy growling at the senshi, wanting her to go away. Or better yet, die, since she had attacked it and it was not too pleased with her for it. When she darted to its side it tried to follow her with its free arms, but couldn't get her.
The more she darted in, then left it swiping at air, the angrier it got at her. It finally looked at its hostage, as if wanting to figure out what to do with him, and noticed he was not moving. It shook him hard in an effort to wake him up, then tossed him to the side and into some snow like a broken toy.
All hands free now, the youma charged and Birhan, bellowing in frustration as it did so.
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:15 pm
That was the plan, Birhan nodded, that Tony only playacted being dead instead of really getting killed. He didn't look happy about it, but how happy could anyone really be, held hostage by a giant, angry youma? Birhan hoped that Tony wouldn't be too mad at her for convincing him to go along with this scheme.
When the youma threw Tony aside, Birhan winced. She spared a moment to sincerely hope that he was okay before the charging youma took precedence. Nothing like six plus foot of hairy, roaring beast running at you to capture your full attention. She dug one foot into the snow, wiggling it until it sunk further, holding her in place. The other foot and her arms latched onto the youma as she ducked to one side. Pivoting on the buried foot, she used the momentum of the youma's charge to send it flying even faster behind her.
The youma slammed into the side of someone's car. Birhan winced. It was the one Tony had initially been standing next to, so hopefully that meant it wasn't his car.
"Are you okay?" she called over her shoulder to Tony, while jiggling her foot back out of it's snowy prison. She kept one eye on the youma, waiting for it's next move.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:55 pm
Tony had hit the snow and stayed there for a moment. Not because he particularly wanted to, or because he had hurt himself, but because his head was stuck in the snow. He pulled himself out, flopping back on his bottom after getting his legs under him and pushing back.
He took a breath, feeling a shudder run through him as snow slipped down from his wet hair down his neck. He shivered and shook his head like a dog might, looking back over his shoulder and spotting the senshi as she threw the youma.
Impressive, indeed.
He grimaced at the sound of bending and groaning metal as the youma slammed into the car, but at least it wasn't his. He had already lost one car in a youma fight, and was lucky that his had been buried under a ton of snow so he hadn't been able to bring it.
Shame about who ever had that car, though. They were not going to be happy when the found it.
"I-I'm fine," he said, hurrying to his feet and stumbling over to her. He looked at her, then at the youma, who was looking rather put out and exhausted. But it was already pushing itself up, one of its multiple arms hanging limply. It growled fiercely at the two of them, though Tony imagined it was mostly aimed at the senshi who had thrown it.
"How do we kill it?" he asked Birhan, looking at her with a frown. He remembered how Perry had killed the one they had to fight without a senshi to help them: by driving his car into it.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:38 pm
Birhan gave Tony a relieved smile. She was happy that he wasn't hurt - the last thing she needed was to be defeating youma at the expense of the civilians they were supposed to be protecting from the Negaverse. "Good, I'm glad," she said, before the youma distracted them with its growls.
"How do we kill it?" Tony asked, sticking close by her.
Tilting her head to one side, she considered it. The youma seemed drained, barely any energy left. Not the threat it used to be, especially with one arm dangling as though it were broken or dislocated. She was fairly sure she could get in close enough to kill it physically, rather than hoping for another magical senshi attack to have been used here recently. Besides, magic may have been flashy, but physical abilities were just so much more impressive (to her mind).
A slow-growing grin spread across her face, widening to the point where she must have looked a little crazy or high. Opinions that weren't likely to change after her next move. "I have an idea," she told Tony, still grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "I saw this once in a video game."
With that 'reassuring' comment, Birhan was off and running at the youma. Thankfully it was still exhausted and only just back on its feet. A short distance from the snarling beast, she jumped. Onto its head. Knees either side of the youma's head, Birhan twisted sharply at the waist until she heard a dull snap. A showy backflip off the youma, and Birhan watched it collapse forward into the ********," she said, impressed with herself. "There is no way that would have worked as a human."
It was always nice to know that you were being protected by people who knew what they were doing. Poor Tony.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:08 pm
Tony wasn't sure he liked the look Birhan was giving him. He frowned at her, hoping she hadn't inhaled any of the smoke, and it had made her lose her senses or something. He shook his head very slowly, about to protest whatever idea she had before she even said it, based on the grin alone.
"You saw it once... where?"
But she was off, and he watched in surprise as she climbed up the youma and, even though it was trying feebly to grab her and get her off of it, managed to get her knees on its head and then twisted.
He winced when he heard the snap.
When it fell he hurried over to her, looking stunned. "That was... very impressive." He laughed, shaking his head. He didn't quite know how to handle it. In a bit of a daze, he shrugged off his jacket and put it around her shoulders, still maintaining the thought from when he first saw her that she might be cold. "Thank you," he said, laughing at last. "Though I would hate to see what kind of a video game had that in it."
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