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 Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 1:22 am
Honestly, it wasn't late at night or anything. And she hadn't been walking down unlit streets in crappy parts of town, all appetizing and stupid-like. No, as of late it didn't matter if you were stupid or smart in Destiny City. Everyone was fair game - not that most of them knew it. Linnea didn't know it, to be sure. "Terrorists," they said. "Monsters," they whispered. Problems for other people, she thought. Aren't they all? So she stayed late at the studio, turning gracefully on her feet in her toe shoes long after all the classes had ended. She stretched, did relevés and practiced her turnout, staring at her own reflection in the mirrors with naught but a shadow to be her witness. That was alright. Sometimes Linnea just wanted to move her limbs without someone telling her what she was doing wrong. Linnea had done just that until it was time to lock up the building and she was made to leave.
It was summer so it really wasn't even entirely dark when she stepped into the cooling air. The sky was still that vibrant dusky blue, only a few stars visible and the moon not yet risen. It was pleasant really, and Linnea was enjoying the feeling of the breeze on the back of her neck. She stayed on a wide and well-lit road, not minding that there was no one else on it but her. Linnea was walking under streetlights, keeping wary. That didn't matter.
She heard it before she saw it. A low rumbling to her left, in a side street- not an alley, mind. The noise didn't disturb her, it sounded like a radiator at first and she hadn't even bothered to look. Then it came again, sounding distinctly less mundane and out of fleeting curiosity she turned her head to glance in the direction. She stopped dead in her tracks. "What-"
What indeed? The youma was vaguely reminiscent of a gorilla in that it was rather top-heavy. Or front-heavy. Most of the thing's mass was concentrated in its two front legs (flat stumps, probably meant for crushing) and chest, though it had a long tapering neck that was quite eerie to look at. Even when on all fours it was as tall as a nearby streetlight.
A dumbfounded "what the s**t" was all she could manage.
It gurgled unpleasantly - she thought hungrily - in response. That was enough to start her running down the street. The youma gave chase and at first Linnea's panic-stricken mind thought she might actually have a chance of escaping it. It wasn't moving very fast. She soon found "not very fast" still translated to "faster than you" when it built momentum with those ugly, stomping feet it had. Slow to start, but it was gaining. Still, what else could she do but keep running?
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:44 pm
Where in the world was Sailor Iris?!
The cat could sense her senshi somewhere nearby, but she wasn't here where the problem was at right now! It was unlike the rainbow senshi to be late to these sorts of things, but it probably just had to do with the fact the tailless feline was closer at the time this youma showed up.
As one could predict with a youma, it was out seeking some sort of innocent bystander as a victim. Today seemed to be a pink-haired girl. A girl that the moment ********* saw her, the feline knew she was meant to be a senshi.
Despite being round and small, ********* was decently fast. It was hard to hear her approach in comparison to the Behemoth of a youma that was rampaging after her, but there was a faint hint of a bell jingling like crazy as she managed to reach the girl.
"Running straight won't do you any good! Next alleyway you find, turn in and run far back!"
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:47 pm
Cat. Talking cat. Linnea would have liked to think this was all a dream, but if this were a dream the buildings would all be made of cheese or something. And her lungs wouldn't be on fire from running like this. There was no time to splutter in disbelief or even reply, only enough to make sense of the words the cat said and do as she was commanded.
Linnea vaulted around the corner into the alley with such force that she ended up slamming up against a wall.. She was dazed by the time she'd hit as far back as it could go, but nothing was hurt. With the way she was leaning up against the wall it looked like Linnea wouldn't have been able to keep standing on her own and she breathed like she had been drowning. Not a moment later the youma rumbled past the mouth of the alley. No doubt it had seen where she went, but with the momentum it had built up there was no way it could make that turn. Just trying to stop too quickly probably would have toppled it over. She could hear it groan as it struggled to stop itself, the pounding of its feet growing slower.
Still too out of breath to call out, Linnea glanced around the alley for the mysterious talking cat. Her legs, which had turned to jelly when she first stopped, were regaining strength faster than she'd expected. It was probably the adrenaline.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:13 pm
The feline followed along in a nearly loyal manner as the girl rounded the corner, though she was oddly enough a bit more graceful on her paws and did not end up smacking into a wall after such a sudden turn. The pair reached the back, and while the girl was still in her daze, the manx paused long enough to do a quick graceless back flip. Two objects clattered to the ground, which might have been enough to snap the girl out of her momentary daze.
"Alright, good... that youma's pretty strong, but it can't do sharp turns all that readily when it is moving." The cat was smiling, and apparently, still talking. Padding back in a semi circle so the two objects would be in front of her instead of behind her, she sat her haunches down. One paw pushed forward to nudge the pen.
"Both of these belong to you. Put the phone some place safe for now, but take the pen right now. You need to be using it immediately." Despite how urgent the words sounded, the feline's voice seemed to have a strange playful tone to it as well.
"Take it, then shout out 'Euanthe Power, Make-Up!' Make sure you put as much feeling into it as possible!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:46 pm
"You uh, you're-" Linnea was forced to stop and wheeze for another moment, which was probably a good thing since it was preventing her from pointing out the obvious. You're a talking cat. The cat was well aware of that. She would have sounded incredibly stupid pointing that out. But it was still a novel concept.
Shakily she reached down to grab the pen and the cellphone, holding one in each hand. But I already have a cellphone, she thought thickly. As if that mattered. Having two cellphones really didn't make much difference if you were about to die, which Linnea was quite convinced of even if the cat didn't seem too concerned. She stared at the objects rather helplessly until ********* provided her with some minimal usage instructions. Slipping the phone into a pocket she had to ask, "Do you do this a lot? I mean, is this normal for you? You know, talking and being a cat and giving people pens-" but from not too far away the angry groan of the youma sounded, accompanied by the rumble of its feet as it made its (rather slow) way towards their hiding spot. "Actually, you can tell me later," Linnea decided quickly.
So, 'with feeling,' eh? Did 'terrified and befuddled' count? It was going to have to do. With as much gusto as she could manage she threw the fist curled tightly around the pen into the air above her head (it seemed appropriate in the heat of the moment) and yelled, "Euanthe Power, M- Make-Up!"
And so it was. The sensation was peculiar, to say the least. Movement all around her, on her skin. The light of her awakening forced Linnea- Euanthe, now - to close her eyes. Something was different. Not just on the outside, of course. When she was able to open her eyes again and see herself in the fuku the physical changes were obvious. But there was something familiar - a part of her she'd never met but had always been there - that she was aware of now. It was too subtle, too strange for her to understand the meaning of it.
Her first inclination as a Senshi was to tug self-consciously at the hem of her skirt. "This is very short," she remarked pointedly, as if it were somehow ********* fault. Euanthe might have complained about it further but the crunch of the youma's heavy feet on the pavement was loud and too close for comfort. Though she tensed at the sound Euanthe found she wasn't seized by the feeling of helplessness that had held her just moments before. The fear hadn't gone and it might not be until many battles later that it would. Or maybe never at all. But she was sharper now. Focused.
"What do I have to do?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:39 pm
********* chuckled at the barrage of questions. Her answers weren't exactly all that complex. Just a moment before the girl henshined up, the feline responded "Yes, yes, and yes." With that, she seemed to almost hop backwards a bit, as if giving the girl the appropriate amount of room she'd need to change from everyday pink-haired girl to Sailor Euanthe (now with miniskirt action)!
As the sparkles seemed to go away and the very real reality that the youma was almost back to their little alleyway, the feline stepped forward again. "Sorry... not much I can do about that though! Now, I know this is asking a lot of you, but you will actually need to get close to that youma. I would suggest while it is still kind of slow, otherwise you'd probably get trampled."
These were facts. As if she had nothing to be nervous about, the feline began to pad towards the entry for the alleyway. In a practically cheery manner, the cat called back "Follow me!"
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 9:34 pm
Get close to it? Scary! But if the cat didn't seem worried then Euanthe was determined not to be either. She was right, it was slow and Euanthe was... well, was she stronger or just more confident? The difference was pretty crucial here, where overconfidence could lead to being run down by a giant gorilla snake monster thing. Trust the cat, she thought to herself, and do it.
The youma bellowed when they emerged from the alley. Are you happy to see me, or angry that I gave you the slip? Well, ********* had given it the slip. But there was no time for such silly pondering, the youma began to run at them again. Its first steps were clumsy and slow but it would gain speed soon enough and Euanthe wasn't going to wait for that to happen. Without waiting for a word from the cat she dashed to the monster's right, putting a good several yards between them. It ran only a short distance before slowing again, only turning its sluggish body in Euanthe's direction once it had been able to stop fully.
"It can only run straight," she thought aloud. It wasn't so scary knowing that, but she still didn't see what they could do and even though ********* had told her to get close to it Euanthe was still wary of those large stump feet it had. Maybe it couldn't chase her very easily, but it looked liable to knock the sense right out of her if she got too close and it took a swing at her. So what other options were there? Run it in circles until it got tired? Maybe, but would it give up and leave then? Euanthe couldn't see how she, a slip of a girl in a miniskirt, could fight against such a monster otherwise but she had to do something. She was meant to do something. But maybe the cat would know. "Kitty!" she called out, feeling silly, "what am I supposed to do now?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:50 pm
From where Euanthe was, one couldn't even see the small cat. ********* had probably gotten quite a bit closer and was now being blocked out by the sheer girth of the youma. However, in a clear voice, the cat continued to give the girl instructions.
"Call out 'Euanthe Kiss of Tragic Fault!' You will know what to do from there!" ********* words didn't sound pained or anything, so the cat must have been quite safe at the moment, despite not being in view anymore.
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:30 pm
The pen had worked so Euanthe wasn't going argue no matter how sure she wasn't about this plan working out. With a little whine of uncertainty and nervous fidgeting she gathered up her courage again to run as close to the monster as she dared before calling out that phrase ********* had told her to. Then, as if by some strange instinct, immediately found herself blowing a kiss. This itself was immediately followed by her own (considerably unimpressed) voice saying, "Wait. What?"
She'd just blown a sweet little kiss to an ugly monster and she couldn't say why. Wait, what? Oh, sure there'd been some fancy business with the little magical light but did it even do anything? The monster was still staring straight at her, seemingly unharmed. Euanthe had expected it to, well I don't know, explode or something. While she was waiting in disappointment for something exciting to happen the youma gave a rallying cry and charged in her direction once more. Euanthe gave her own, far less impressive cry of alarm as she dashed out of the way. Given how close she was the youma should have run her down instantly but its feet seemed to weigh it down more. The youma lumbered to a stop, clumsy. It was already slow to start, now it was a tiny bit slower. Did I do that? Maybe she wasn't entirely helpless after all. But killing it still seemed beyond her.
"Kitty," Euanthe called out again. She could have said 'cat,' she realized, which was perhaps less infantilizing than 'kitty' but somehow it also seemed kind of rude. "Do we have any more tricks up our sleeve? I think we might need them."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:47 am
The cat was still out of view for now, but her voice was still just as clear as before.
"Alas, I apologize, I do not have any more tricks up my sleeve, Euanthe..."
However, a new voice suddenly chimed in.
"I've still got plenty of tricks though! It's time t'make ya see some new colors!"
Rather suddenly, the youma would find a rainbow-colored sort of lasso made of intense light wrapping it up halfway across its body. The voice called out "Iris Rainbow Slicer!!!" and the light seemed to almost tighten about the creature.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:03 pm
The poor youma had barely enough time to roar in surprise and pain before its body split along the lines the glowing lasso had made. As it fell all to pieces the only sound Euanthe was able to make was a very quiet "oh" of astonishment. Now that was cool. That was the sort of thing she had hoped would happen when she had done her attack. Sadly the sort of Senshi would have liked to be and the sort of Senshi she was were miles and miles apart. It shouldn't have surprised her, Linnea had already learned that lesson in regards to ballet.
The youma now dead (really, thoroughly dead) Euanthe was finally able to relax. She stared at the place where it had fallen, its body quickly crumbling away. To think there would soon be nothing left of what had been such a large and dangerous creature... Euanthe turned her eyes from the spot, trying to find the source of the voice that had saved her.
"And who do I have to thank for that pretty trick?" she asked, her own voice still a little nervous. "I think we'd be dead otherwise."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:47 pm
It took a moment for the large youma to dissipate into dust as all youma were fated to do, but when it finally was blown away with a small breeze, the guilty party was standing there with her arms crossed. On her shoulder was the cat.
"Sailor Iris," the blonde stated flatly to the pink haired girl.
The cat nudged the yellow-suited senshi with her cheek. "Be civil!"
The blonde snorted, then wandered over to the new senshi, giving her a look up and down. The closer the senshi with the white wings on her butt, the more evident it became that she was quite tall. "...don't call m'attacks pretty... got it?" There was something about the way those golden eyes looked at Euanthe that seemed unimpressed with what Iris saw.
The manx sighed a bit at Iris' manner of introducing herself. "I apologize, Sailor Euanthe, for what a brute Sailor Iris comes across as." In a more formal tone, the guardian continued on with actual introductions. "Euanthe, this is Sailor Iris. She is one of my girls. Iris, this is Sailor Euanthe..."
"...Senshi of Gay Emo Butterflies?" Apparently the more experienced girl noticed the butterflies on the girl's leggings.
"Senshi of Tragedy," she corrected firmly.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:04 pm
{{ Pfffff- I lol'd xDD }}
Euanthe bowed her head and stammered an apology. She hadn't meant to insult the person who saved her life. She thought... pretty was nice... The closer the other Senshi got the more intimidated Euanthe felt. The way the older girl's gold eyes appraised her reminded her of auditions, that she was being judged and found wanting. Unimpressed, truly unimpressed. Euanthe couldn't fault Iris for that... Linnea often found parts of herself to be considerably lacking.
But no matter how cowed she may have been Euanthe visibly bristled at Sailor Iris' quip about her shoes. Before she even realized what she was saying Euanthe snapped back, "Funny, coming from a walking gay pride flag."
Oh, she shouldn't have said that, it wasn't very grateful. She didn't really- but that was so mean. It wasn't like she'd chosen them herself. Euanthe bit her lip, her face still flushed with anger.
Tragedy, was it? Honestly she was none too thrilled about that either. And the way she'd handled that first battle really was rather tragic.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:25 pm
Euanthe would soon enough wish she had done a better job buttoning her lip. Sailor Iris could never be called the sort to restrain herself. So it honestly was no surprised when she reached forward, grabbed the girl by the collar of her fuku, lifted her up with one arm and shoved her against the wall. In a threatening tone, she snarled out "Ya wanna say that again, Ballerina Princess?!"
"Sailor Iris, PUT HER DOWN!"
"F*ck off, cat! Yer not a part of this!" Once again, the senshi shoved the girl against the wall, but rather suddenly ended up dropping her.
********* toes wriggled slightly as she dug her claws into the elder senshi's shoulder. "This is very much my business, Iris. I don't need you scaring this girl off because you have issues!" Pulling her claws back into hiding, the cat then hopped off of the senshi's shoulder, landing rather firmly on the ground. She rushed up to Euanthe and nudged her with her kitty nose.
"Are you okay? I am so sorry about Iris!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:32 pm
Euanthe let out a cry of surprise and fear as she was shoved roughly against the wall and- goddamn if Sailor Iris wasn't strong. For a moment the girl was more scared of her than the youma, but that fear only served to sharpen her anger. She always had harbored a belligerent streak in her. If Euanthe wasn't so sure she'd get beaten to a pulp by Iris she just might have kept running that mouth of hers.
When Sailor Iris dropped her she slumped back against the wall, far more relieved than her pride should have allowed. "Th- thank you. I'm fine," Euanthe assured the cat, now flushing with embarrassment. "I shouldn't have said anything." If she was going to talk the talk she should be able to walk the walk. Iris certainly could. Stupid, she chastised herself. You should've been more mature than that. To think that the first thing she would do after fighting a monster was get into a round of catty name calling, and then end up physically threatened for it... it was down right humiliating.
"What... what is all of this? Why is this happening?" she asked, deciding that learning about this strange mess she'd gotten herself tangled up in would help her not to think about how badly her hands were still shaking. "That monster... I- I'd heard people saying- but I never thought..."
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