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 Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:41 pm
This was the first time Deneb Kaitos was going out alone.
He wasn't paired up to patrol that night, but he had quickly found himself restless, and well, missing on a lovely opportunity - most of the town's population was out partying and getting drunk.
Easy energy, right there. and ultimately, the senshi of twilight couldn't resist - certainly Leto would be impressed with his loot, yes ? With the girl still recovering from her wounds, he was eager to make her happy, to put a smile or a grin on her face.
And well, her being proud of him was certainly a lovely bonus side-quest to have in mind.
He was careful, through - he'd memorized the location of the two mirrors that had been planted in alleys by Ares long before he'd became a part of the court, then set off to harvesting. It was doing well, and his caught his mirrorwraith back in his shard, nearly chock full of energy, when he felt it.
He wasn't experienced enough to tell if the aura pressing down on his sense was senshi or knight - all that it mattered was that it was order-aligned and therefore trouble, so the young senshi started to head toward the nearest mirror.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:01 pm
Unfortunately for Deneb Kaitos, the knight (because it was a knight, and she would laugh if anyone said she looked anything like a senshi because hello, her outfit made a lot more sense than any senshi's did and she would fight the person who said otherwise) had already spotted him and recognized him. Avalon distinctly remembered nutting this guy, hard, and you know she thought it might have been a bit of a dissuader as far as the running around fighting evil thing went, but apparently she was wrong. Oh well, it had happened before, it'd happen again, but she could try one more time to convince him that it really wasn't a good idea to defy Justice the way he was.
Avalon dropped off the building she'd been running along the top of, knees bending sharply when she hit the pavement. It'd only been a single-story drop by the time she'd been able to jump down (oversized stair city construction, lovely) so she was already brushing herself off by the time Deneb Kaitos rounded the corner.
"Oh, hello," she said, pretending to be surprised. "Good to see you again, didn't you get blown up by the Sailor Galaxy whatever it was? Apparently not. Don't mind my rhetorical questions. It's good to meet you again, Sailor... whatever you are."
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:09 pm
Hazel eyes narrowed as he turned the corner and saw her, coming to a stop quickly enough.
Oh crap.
It was her.
Deneb Kaitos remembered her alright. He'd been the most clueless senshi in the middle of an huge fight to the death and this b***h had come out of nowhere, threw an apple at him, and then speared him in the nuts. Seriously, who the hell did that ?
It wasn't like he went around kicking bitches in the boobs.
Even if some of them deserved it.
Ahem, he's thinking about you, Avalon.
"Funny, I don't see a wall for you to hide behind." Of course, of course, the mirror was right behind her, the glass reflecting light faintly, as if trying to becon him over. Did she know, or did she just get lucky ?
"It's kind of rude to ask for a name without offering your own, itsn't it ?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:15 pm
Jovial. Jocular. Thrilled out of her goddamn mind. All of these words could be used to describe the expression on Avalon's face as she brought her apple to hand and started to calmly flip it from one hand to the other. Maybe she needed to learn contact juggling, or something--it really depended. If her next weapon (she'd heard that you got upgrades, rather like the Negaverse) was another spherical object, she would invest the necessary time into it. Yes, that seemed reasonable.
Okay. Mind back in the game, Avalon, she didn't have the time to ******** around with hypotheticals when faced with any enemy.
"Not sure what you mean," she said, casting a glance behind her to see what he was looking at. A mirror? Oh, right... wasn't he one of those Dark Mirror senshi she'd been told about the day she met Babylon? Something about mirror transport, whatever. It didn't matter if he escaped, as long as he didn't take her with him. Returning her gaze to him, it swept from his feet to the crown of his head. He was nowhere near tall enough to make her go anywhere she didn't want to go, she thought.
So she hefted the apple. "I seem to recall establishing that I'm a much bigger threat to you than you are to me," she said, arrogantly as she could. "So if you want to avoid a repeat of the last time we fought, you should probably do as I say."
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:23 pm
b***h was completely and utterly full of herself.
It got of Deneb Kaitos' nerves really, really fast.
"Oh no, an apple. Whatever shall I do." He said, tone clearly mocking. "I realize you probably have to go around kicking freshly-awakened opponents in the nads to feel better about yourself, bully complex and all that, but..."
He slid into the battle stance Leto had taught him, eyes staring right at her, defiance clear as day.
"I don't have time to waste on you, so make it quick. Also, screw off."
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:38 pm
She offered him a condescending smile, slipping into her own stance, the apple quite immobile now, fingers closed tight around it as she held it up at shoulder height. Where should she aim to give herself the most advantage, she wondered, and then she shrugged. Where-ever would probably work, he'd seemed to be a bit (okay, more than a bit) of a wuss the last time they'd fought. Really she was almost too close to miss him, but she really had to chill out. Take it seriously. The attempt at intimidation hadn't worked, but she still had the advantage of blocking his escape route. Getting arrogant led her to making Sessrumnir's mistake at the tournament. She would not let her starseed get ripped out because her ego demanded that she rub salt in an enemy's wounds.
(Wow, that fight was teaching her all kinds of things!)
"Either way you look at it," she said, trying to be as matter-of-fact about it as she could, "I've got four times your experience, roughly, assuming you woke up for the first time there at the Surrounding and I'm fairly sure you did, since you referred to me nutting a freshly-awakened you. Realistically, you're taking a big risk in fighting a bigger, theoretically stronger, and certainly more experienced opponent." Translation: I'm wasting my time on you.
Drawing on her pitching lessons from Valhalla, she flung the apple towards the short senshi's head and then lunged after it, aiming to slam her knee into his torso.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:49 pm
See, this is where things got interesting. An apple was easier to avoid when you knew it was coming, and Deneb Kaitos' only regret was that he knew he couldn't kick her own projectile back at her.
This wasn't anime, as much as Veer had subjected him to a lot of it lately - so he simply swerved to the right and let it fly past him. Goodbye, weapon.
He couldn't bite in her condensation, in her arrogance, and on a logical level, he knew this - a tactician always had to keep a level head. Not that he was a tactician at all yet, but the base of it that if he gave in, then she had the advantage.
She had enough advantages as it was.
This time, Avalon didn't have the advantage of picking a very confused, only freshly risen from the dead opponent. That still didn't make him particularly fearsome, sure - but it made him more aware, more at the top of what little game he had.
And, you know, less likely to get speared in the nuts.
Being shorter had it's advantages, really - really, he was nowhere near a midget, through also nowhere near tall, how the hell did this one get so tall ?! - in the way that it was easier for him to wriggle away. He felt the knee connect, but to his side, rather than where Avalon had intended - and hands shot to catch it, hoping to catch her off balance and topple her over.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:08 pm
Goodbye for now--but not always. Avalon didn't need the apple right now and didn't want to expend the energy to call it back, so it simply bounced off the curb and into the middle of the street. (Several cars would probably run it over, but she knew it wouldn't even be bruised.) He was moving, and she noticed that more than she noticed the truck that accelerated upon seeing the pair of them fighting in the alleyway. Avalon threw her arm wide--if she couldn't wind him, she'd at least, um…
Slam her arm into his trachea.
She didn't hit his stomach, no, she hit his side, felt him grab it and hold on. Avalon felt herself begin to fall, and shoved herself further into her enemy--the arm around his shoulders meant he would go down with her, and when Avalon finally toppled she did it in a way that meant she could plant a hand on his sternum, pinning him in place for now. A bright starburst of pain shot up her spine from her knees, from the arm that curved around his shoulders. "Nice," she said, her tone almost appreciative. It was luck, it had to be luck, and she needed to shove that arrogance down a little more. There was no mockery in her voice, just acknowledgement of an enemy's skill: "Very nice. You've been getting an education, then?"
Then she was rolling away, getting to her feet and blocking his path to the mirror again.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:21 pm
That was a stupid question. Of course he'd gotten an 'education'. The dark mirror was small, very small still, and they banded together in ways it didn't look like those in the order-side did.
They were a family. A family took care of their owns. The end.
He had gone down with him, through, and pain was flaring where she'd hit him on the way down, but he had to push it away, ignore it. It would go away. Pain was temporary. A broken limb was much less temporary if the brown-haired page was more tempted.
He didn't intend to give her the window of opportunity, but it wasn't like Leto had asked to get her knee ******** up either.
He got back to his feet as well, and... right back to the beginning, really. He was tempted to shoot his mirrorwraith at her - really, distraction and some of his energy taken right out of someone who opposed him ? It would be delicious irony, but... too risky.
Too risky indeed. He couldn't afford to have his effort of the night reduced to nothing thanks to that, and certainly didn't want to have to go ask Ares for a new shard because he'd decided it was a nice idea to shoot his wraith at a knight.
This time, he rushed her - still a little clumpsy on heels, but better than before - feigning a sucker punch before he instead aimed to knock the air right out of her.
He didn't need to kick her a**, not really - he just needed to get to the damn mirror. The asskicking would come later - Deneb Kaitos was in no hurry. Vengeance was a dish best savored cold, and all that.
Maybe one day he'd beat her silly and deliver her to this enigmatic negaverse, see if they had any... uses for her.
Who knew.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:08 pm
What was he thinking about? She narrowed her dark eyes, eyebrows stooping low and casting them into shadow. Looking down, thinking a concrete thing, then, but he wasn't letting her out of sight which meant he was still looking for way to get her to move. He wanted to get to the mirror, and it was simple enough that she wouldn't let him--although, of course, no big deal if he did as long as she could assure herself that it'd been her best go.
Avalon didn't dodge left or right when he charged; she skipped backwards, and swept out a foot. Not to fell him, but to knock the mirror onto its side. It didn't break, much to her annoyance. Apparently this was a hardier mirror than the ones she was used to. She could have stomped on it, but now--since it'd landed face-up--it was much harder to keep him from reaching it. She lashed out with a kick, aiming to wind him before he could get to his ticket out of there.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:28 pm
s**t.
Deneb Kaitos was certain his heart stopped when she knocked the mirror down, and only started up again when it landed in one piece. That had been a very important thing he'd been told. Mirror had to be bigger than you, or you were screwed.
Broken mirrors, on average, were smaller than him.
It landed face up, and thankfully, in one piece, through Avalon knew way too much for his liking. No, he had to get the hell out of dodge before she got lucky enough to break the mirror. There was another nearby, but he had no want to have to run to it with crazy apple b***h trailing him.
No, he had one option. The mirror had thankfully landed the right side up, it would just be a little more... difficult.
He'd only done this once, as practice, but he found that the motion came easily, the words even easier, almost as if he'd been calling upon this all his life. Arms crossed in front of him of what first looked like a meaningless gesture, but then...
"Twilight Illusion !"
He slashed his arms through the air, and a dark purplish wave shot straight for Avalon.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:41 pm
Was he trying to defend himself? If so, whoever was teaching him was doing it all kinds of wrong, because you didn't defend yourself by crossing your arms over the higher part of your chest.
She should have realized he was preparing his attack, but even if she had the wave it manifested as was just too wide for her to avoid it. Avalon shuddered as it hit her, but nothing seemed to actually happen--except there were now slinking shadow-shapes at the corner of her vision. She couldn't quite shake the feeling she was being watched, either--remembering the youma that had attacked her on the night she'd upgraded, the auburn-haired page went tense. It'd scarred her, literally, and the way she couldn't quite reason out the shapes of the shadows...
It was just his attack, she told herself, but she'd already looked away from the dark senshi, trying to find the source of the shadows.
When she looked back, the enemy wasn't there anymore.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:50 pm
Indeed. As tempting as it was to get a cheap shot, he had to bite down that urge. If the mirror had been standing upright, he probably would have had the time and still get away, but slipping through a mirror on the ground was harder, and he'd only done it once on his own power.
Still, he was unable to bite down the urge completely. Eventually, in spite of the twilight shadows nagging at her, she would guess to where he had to be - and sure enough, when Avalon looked, Deneb Kaitos was standing on the mirror.
Then he waved at her, hit his heel against the surface of the mirror, and it rippled, turning almost to water. The mirror all but swallowed him as if he'd been standing on thin ice that had finally given out, splashing about just like water before finally settling and becoming nothing else than a normal mirror once more.
Deneb Kaitos was gone, he was going to tumble his way in Leto's living room and she was going to laugh at him again, but he was in one piece and his loot of energy was safe.
This was all that mattered, ultimately.
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