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 Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 3:30 pm
It was just another Saturday. A Saturday where Yvette had to go to work at the mall during the busiest hours. Nothing was new about that, since that was how her work schedule had always been since she started working at Elizabeth's Secrets. It was always nice to get a break from the regular weekday schedule where she'd go home when it was dark. Weekends she got to go home while it was still light out.
Since her shift was over, the girl wandered over to the bus stop, not nearly as strained to make it to the stop on time. On the weekdays, she had to get to the stop at a very precise time. Weekends were more forgiving, since there were at least two other buses that stopped by after the one she usually went home on. The girl wouldn't be stranded if she missed it. She had no intention on missing the bus though.
As she approached, she couldn't help but notice there were no others waiting at the stop. If it had been night time, it wouldn't have been all that strange. However, it was still a decent time, so there should have been maybe 1 or 2 people there. Nobody else was there.
"That's weird...." she said as she edged forward. Normally, the small girl was the sort to stay standing while waiting for the bus. Even with an empty bench, it usually went ignored. Something didn't feel right about today. She wasn't sure why, but something was bothering her. Her legs felt like absolute jelly. Gooshy jelly that wanted to mush into the floor.
"...fine... I'll sit down... I guess..." In a wobbly manner, she made her way to the stone bench and sat down. She sighed and leaned forward, wondering why she felt this way. It was reminding her a lot of when she went down that alleyway with her cousin a while back.
There couldn't be another monster? Could there?
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:37 pm
Anthony Darrow knew he should have been at home resting. He had gotten told off by his superiors, after his fellow workers at the library had betrayed him, for working 'too hard'. They didn't know the half of it. They wanted him to take time off to let his arm heal, seeing him coming in with new casts and now a sling, and not healing properly.
They thought he was stressing himself at the library.
But his line of work had extended itself rather far. He was not just a librarian now, after all. He had more responsibilities that were far more commanding: going out and fighting monsters to keep them from eating people, for one.
A broken arm wasn't a good enough excuse for him to stay home and ignore anyone that he might have otherwise been able to protect.
He was walking home from work, against his will, when he saw the youma. It wasn't usual for him to see the monster before he saw it attacking someone, and he thought he might be able to stop it before that happened. Unfortunately, there were still people around, enough to make powering up a bad idea. Of course, even one person around made powering up with them watching a bad idea.
He had to duck down a nearby alley, willing the youma not to go anywhere. Like to the bus stop, where a tasty snack was sitting, just waiting for it to enjoy. How could it pass that up? As if on cue, as soon as Tony ducked down the alley to power up, the youma moved toward Yvette, emitting a low, hissing growl.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:17 am
How blissfully ignorant was the girl? She might have been a bit ignorant, but it wasn't quite as blissful as one could think. It really bothered her that there was nobody else at the bus stop. It bothered her enough that she had to take yet another look at her watch to confirm that she had not been late at all. In fact, she was still a bit early. If there was one thing to be certain of, a bus would never leave early. It was a liability issue. They could be late, but they could never leave early.
She could feel a twinge in her legs. It wasn't a twinge of pain, but just a twinge. A twinge followed by a sound that didn't quite sound like the normal sounds of the city. No, it sounded like the sound of an animal, almost like an angry cat, but larger.
It was a classic horror movie moment. The one where the victim suspects something in nearby and they need to turn to face it so they can scream as loud as they can out of horror. Yvette could hear the sound of her heart beating through her temples. Everything but the sound of her heart and the hissy-growl was mute to her ears for the moment.
Wasn't that monster with Lyddie just a bad dream?
Her eyes finally began to shift around in the direction the sound was coming from.
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:58 pm
The youma moved to attack Yvette and Camelot panicked. He wasn't sure if he would get there in time, and he was hoping that she would manage to see it and run away before it was on top of her. he didn't know that she could actually sense them, but then it didn't seem to matter.
She hadn't run.
He was determined to get there. He might not be able to put himself between her and the youma, but he could do something to stop it. So he pulled his shield from his arm, something he had never done before save to wield with his other arm, and threw it at the youma.
In his mind, he hoped it would turn into some kind of flying blade of death. In reality, it bounced off the youma harmlessly, but made it stop to look back at him.
Well, there was that, at least.
"Run, miss!" He yelled, as the youma ran toward him and slammed him to the ground, the shield left on the floor nearer to Yvette than it was to Camelot.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:36 pm
The girl seemed to be suffering from the Deer in the Headlights syndrome, though that wasn't truly an accurate description of her problem. She was terrified as this monster had rushed towards her with what seemed like a hungry look in its eye. However, no matter how much she tried to tell her legs to cooperate, they just didn't seem to want to do such a thing.
Yvette was going to be monster food.
She winced for a moment, as if accepting her fate, but a man's voice seemed to interrupt what she had deemed to be her fate.
"Run, miss!"
Her eyes peeked open and found the monster was now facing a different direction. No doubt towards whoever was supplying that voice. A small part of her wanted to argue with that voice, telling it a simple I can't in response. He wouldn't believe her though, and he's probably say something like she could and she wasn't trying or being stupid. He didn't understand that her legs didn't feel right at the moment, and even if she tried to explain, he probably wouldn't understand.
So in all of her distress, she attempted to get up from that bench. Her legs were wobbly, but she was able to push herself up by using the bench for support. Maybe, just maybe, Yvette would be able to run away. She couldn't help but get brief flashes back to her other encounters with monsters, like with Daddy or with Lyddie. How useless she had been, unable to do anything! Maybe this time it wouldn't be the same.
With that, she attempted to follow the stranger's advice.
She made it a total of 4 haphazard steps before she was on the ground again, her legs seeming unable to support her at the moment. At least she didn't scrape her knees or anything, but it wasn't like that was anything important to worry about at the moment.
There was a monster, and she couldn't get away from it! In all of her frustration, the girl did the only thing that was left to her as a viable option. She began to cry.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:23 pm
He saw Yvette start to cry and knew she was not going to get anywhere. The poor thing was prone to panicking when she made a simple error, like dropping a book, but being chased by a monster? He could only imagine the kind of turmoil she was feeling.
His urge to protect her was even stronger now. He had to stop the youma at all costs, before it got anywhere near her. Letting her get hurt or even more scared was absolutely out of the question.
The youma turned to look at Yvette but Camelot didn't let it escape. They were tangled on the floor, claws digging at the chain mail he was blessed with when he had first powered up. It kept him from getting ripped to shreds in moments like this, at least.
He didn't have his shield with him, it was still on the ground near the weeping Yvette, though it was unlikely to do any good there. Or get back to him.
The youma sank its teeth into his shoulder, though it couldn't get through the chain mail. It did, however, squeeze like a vice and Camelot let out a pained cry. He struggled to push it off him, or drag them both to the shield, but he could do neither.
"Yvette, please, my shield!" He called, knowing she would have no idea why he knew her name but not really thinking about that at the moment. "Then run for cover! Get up, Yvette! I'll keep you safe but you must run!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 3:19 pm
At the moment, she was too frustrated to even notice that this complete stranger seemed to know her name. All she could hear was him telling her exactly what she thought he'd say. He was telling her to run. He was telling her she could do it. And he was 100% wrong! She couldn't run, she couldn't make her way to cover. She turned a blurry eye to the object nearby that this man had pointed out during his struggles.
He had called it a shield, but to her it didn't look like anything more than a toy shield. It was only made of wood and looked like it was flimsy at best. Had he thrown it to save her earlier? He had obviously saved her already, and since it seemed to be so important, and wasn't even close to him, it was the only logical answer. Did he need it? Her eyes shot to the man and beast he was fighting, as if trying to judge with tear-blurred vision how much he needed the object. Then back to the piece of wood.
I don't know why I'm doing this... she mentally whined to herself as she attempted to get herself back up to her feet. She used her arms to push her upper body up, but then tried to get her legs to cooperate. They seriously felt like limp noodles, each time she tried to get it to hold her up, the seemed to flop uselessly beneath her body. At least she was holding her upper body up this time so she wasn't falling on her face or anything.
"Th-this.... this isn't working..." she huffed for a moment as she glanced back to the man, then to the monster, then to the wooden shield.
With tears still rolling down her cheeks, the girl then proceeded to make her way to the shield in a very strained four-legged crawl. If anything was growing more obvious to the girl, it was the fact that she couldn't do anything right when a monster was around.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:45 pm
"Arrrghh!"
Camelot felt the youma trying to rip through the resilient chain mail by force, biting harder. It felt like there was a large clamp bearing down on him, slowly crushing his shoulder under its weight. Except it was divided from one flat surface into many sharp points.
It didn't feel great.
He saw Yvette struggling and, unfortunately, so did the monster. By asking her to get his shield he had accidentally put her right back in the line of danger. He could not allow himself to do that. He would have to remember that once he was in a fight, he was in it alone unless another powered being was around.
Civilians were innocent, and they needed to stay that way. Some had the drive to help, as Tony had, but now he saw that either way could prove a liability.
"Yvette!" He cried out in a strained voice. The youma slammed him down into the ground and leaped from him as it released its jaws. It turned to lope toward Yvette again, and Camelot seized the change to get back to his feet and chase it. He tackled it again, barely making it in time to stop it from closing its jaws on Yvette, the teeth snapping just short of her face before the thing hit the ground and slid with Camelot on top of it. They would have slammed into her but an arm lashed out and tugged her to a warm body, leaping them both away from the youma.
Panting for air, Camelot looked down at the girl he now had safe in his protection. Though, he had lost track of where his shield had gotten to.
"Are you alright? Stay behind me."
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:21 pm
The girl had just managed to reach the simple shield the moment that she heard the sound of jaws crashing together practically in her ears. It was loud, almost like two plates of metal slamming together. She let out a little yelp and grabbed onto the shield before curling up in her place, as if trying to do her impression of a hedgehog.
It seemed as if she always missed the important things that happened when she cringed. Rather than feeling the concrete against her body, she felt something warmer. She trembled slightly in the man's arms as she cautiously opened her eyes to see what had happened. The man who had been protecting her had once again protected her again. He seemed older, probably closer to Daddy's age. He was dressed strangely, but not a bad strangely. It was like he was dressed like a performer at one of those medieval carnivals or something. Maybe his shield was a prop for his act?
Her face was already red from her crying, so there was no way it could really get redder, but she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed that she had caused some stranger of a man to take time out of his busy schedule to save her. Guilt also seemed to nibble at her conscious, since she could only remember what had happened to Daddy. The man had been thrown like a rag doll by one of these monsters. He had broken his leg and suffered from a concussion. More tears seemed to find their way to the corners of eyes.
"Th-this... this is y-y-yours, right?" She whimpered a little before revealing the top of the wooden shield she had pressed up against herself before getting rescued yet again.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:16 pm
The youma was struggling to get to its feet, and did not look very happy about anything that had happened so far in what should have been a tasty, simple snack time. It had road burn and if it were possible for an ugly mess of a creature like it to look furious, it was working hard to pull it off.
The sounds it was making cleared up any confusion its grotesque face might leave behind. The growls came from deep in its belly, echoing in the air like wretched, gnarled musical notes.
Camelot looked at Yvette in surprise, though he was not too keen on taking his eye away from the youma. He smiled, warmly, as if it she was scared of a monster in a closet and he was there to turn on the light.
"Yes, that's mine, thank you," he said, taking it from her and gently guiding her to stand behind him. He kept his hand on her shoulder, though now his eyes were forward, glued on the youma. "I know you're scared, but I need you to do one more thing for me, okay? When I move, drop to the floor and cover your head. Don't look up for anything until you hear my voice telling you it's safe. I promise, it will be."
He figured the last thing she needed to see was him having to kill the youma, on top of everything else. She was scared more than enough, and protecting her did not just mean keeping her safe from the monster itself. It meant making sure she was not scarred for life afterwards. The youma started to charge and Camelot moved forward to cut it off.
He would not let it get close to her again.
"Now, Yvette!"
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:46 pm
Her hands easily released the shield she had held up against her body. It wasn't hers, it was the medieval man's shield. In all honesty, it was a wonder she was able to stay standing after being moved behind him, her knees still felt like jello. The man's hand on her shoulder seemed to almost make her tip towards one direction. Even though his hand wasn't nearly as big as Daddy's, it was almost like having a father figure try to console her at the moment. She felt like a child, and even more so because all of the stranger's words were consoling her.
With a sniffle, she accepted his terms with a simple "...kay...."
It seemed, however, that Yvette had taken a 2 second early start to the man's request. Her legs gave out once more, and she was already on her knees when he told her to get down. Much like how a young child had blind faith in doing the earthquake drills in school, the young adult set herself to the ground and then covered her head with her arms. She could already feel little pebbles and gravel from the ground sticking to her wet cheeks.
It felt gross.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:43 pm
Camelot charged for the youma, hoping Yvette wasn't watching. He was going to have to be a bit brutal with the monster if he was going to get it down for the count. It was a vicious thing, and it did not look too keen on going down without a fight. It lashed out at him as they collided, and he smashed his shield down on its head.
The old piece of wood broke clean in two, leaving a piece in each hand, the binds that usually attached it to his arm broken and frayed. He stepped back as the youma tried to bite his face, disinclined to allow it to.
He still had need of his face.
His shoulder and arm were throbbing but he forced his way through it, relying on the strength of his powered up form to aid him when he most needed it. He drove one piece of wood forward, straight into the youma's open mouth, the other driving downward into its eye. It closed its mouth around his hand with the intent of biting it off, but turned to dust just before its powerful jaws could fully clamp down.
Camelot stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, then made to hurry back to Yvette. He kneeled beside her. "It's safe now," he said softly, not wanting to startle her.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 2:19 pm
Yvette was good at following instructions. It wasn't like she could do anything anyways aside from what she had been told to do. She wasn't brave, she wasn't strong, heck, just earlier she could barely even manage to walk the right way. Yet, the very moment that the monster had been defeated, her legs didn't feel strange anymore. The man didn't even have to tell her. She already knew the monster was gone.
The girl wanted to move right away, but she waited for the stranger to let her know it was time to get up. Only on his quiet signal did she once more get up. Her face was red and covered in dirt and tiny pebbles now. Without any problem, she managed to get up to her feet and stand just as any regular person would have. Whatever had caused her to be such an unbalanced wreck earlier seemed to have vanished.
Despite being safe, despite being super grateful to this man she had never met before in her life, she couldn't bring herself to smile. In fact, she was frowning and almost starting to cry anew. She rubbed at her eyes to try to get her eyes to stop, but it was always hard to turn off the waterworks when it came to Yvette. "Wh-why... why does this keep happening?" First with Daddy, then Lyddie, then here with some stranger. Why couldn't she do anything when these monsters showed up? Why did she always have to be the one siting by as others protected her?! Why did her legs always consistently fail her during these urgent times?!
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:50 am
Camelot was surprised when the girl managed to just pop right back up to her feet. He blinked at her, lifting his eyebrows in wonder, then smiled. At least that was a relief. He was worrying that she had been hurt when he was not looking, and she couldn't walk because of that.
So why she had been so wobbly was a mystery to him. He rationalized that it was fear based.
"The monsters?" he asked softly, keeping his tone level and supportive, his hand resting lightly on her arm. He felt bad any time he saw Yvette crying, but now was distinctively potent. He didn't like the idea of her being attacked by youma. It was bad enough when he was there to protect her, but if she was alone? It made his stomach turn and his instincts thrum. He had to make sure she stayed safe.
"Don't worry," he said, kneeling, "there are people here who fight those things, and I'm one of them. I will keep you safe, I promise. Why didn't you run to hide when I told you? It's okay to be scared of them, anyone would, but you have to be able to get away..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:35 am
No matter how kind this man was being or how well he attempted to present the matter, all he was doing was making her crying get worse. By the time he had asked about her failure to get out of the way, she was childishly smooshing her face with her hands to try and wipe away the tears that were falling much too fast for her to be able to catch up with. How in the world could she explain it? "M-my legs..." No, he wouldn't understand what she was talking about. It would have sounded stupid. So instead, she just changed it to something a bit vaguer.
"...I couldn't..."
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