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 Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:58 pm
Pandora had ended up winning her battle against the youma. Slaughtered was certainly not the term for it, as the beast had left her with an extremely painful set of wounds on her leg. She'd limped for days.
Mostly, though, it had tore out another part of her.
You couldn't have saved the civilian anyway, Pandora.
It was the fueling words that allowed her to send her foot cracking down on an eely youma's skull. It writhed, gurgled, and then died. Back to whatever crackly world it had come from.
Pandy was getting very good at battling youma. Unfortunately, they were also getting very good at battling her. They came from everywhere, demonic, in so many forms, and the felt as chaos as the hooded being she'd seen earlier. The utter fear she'd felt left Liberty with no doubt she was on the right side.
Or that's what she told herself.
There came a hollow breathing from behind her and the ground trembled just slightly. Pandora took in a deep, evening breath and swallowed. The senshi backed as she turned, and her eyes fell into focus on a pair of bright, yellow eyes staring back. They were strangely calm, as though asking a question.
The beast they were attached to looked anything but. The size of a bear, it's huge, inky paws held distinctive, curved claws. The lower part of its jaw had been severed by someone, and serum-like ooze dripped onto the ground. It didn't seem to matter if it could bite, for its fur was elongate and sharp from back to butt, like the quills of a porcupine.
The animal breathed heavy, wheezing. Pandora breathed heavy, tensing. Could this youma run as fast as a bear? Bears easily could outrun humans. Better not test that theory. She bet it couldn't jump, though.
High ground was Pandora's last thought before she sprinted.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:16 am
Ganymede could feel them nearby—one senshi and one youma.
It’d been a quiet night for him for the most part, as quiet as anyone could possibly hope for in a city like this one, but he’d not gone without his own fair share of action. Youma were everywhere, or so it seemed. Odd were the nights when he went out and felt no trace of one whatsoever. Even odder these days were the nights when he went out and felt no trace of anyone else at all. Their numbers always seemed to be increasing—both a reassuring as well as a worrying prospect.
Each new face meant one more life ruined by war, and yet even he had to admit the senshi could use all the help they could get. Differing opinions they might have, different reasons for fighting the all might maintain, but there were people who needed protecting and so few out there in comparison to do it. They only had so much to give before the city sucked them dry.
Ganymede felt rejuvenated after a Thanksgiving spent elsewhere. As much as he hadn’t wanted to return, he’d known—as he always seemed to know—that the time wasn’t right to leave. Not today, not this week, or this month, or this year.
But when?
When would it be over? How much longer could they all last?
He saw them approaching, the one senshi and the one youma—an aggressive one, chasing after a senshi that looked injured. Higher ground might indeed have been preferable, but Ganymede tended to do most of his work below all the tall buildings and seemed to reach higher and higher by the year. He kept himself hidden for a moment, peering around the corner and gulping down the nervous clog that always seemed to work its way up into his throat no matter who or what he was fighting.
Youma were better than people, in his opinion, but that didn’t mean they weren’t just as terrifying.
There it was then, he thought as he took a calming breath. He’d have to use his magic.
“Searing passion,” he said, and the creature stopped to writhe and fill the air with the sound of its agonized howls, as the magic went to work and burned, though there were no visible flames, and Ganymede stepped out of the shadows to watch with a mix of pity, revulsion, and the barest trace of satisfaction.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:52 pm
Pandora sat atop a two-story building, heavily pulling in breaths. Her legs dangled over the edge of a concrete roof-rim, and she slowly placed a hand over her mouth to still the sound of her breathing.
It was then Pandora let her mind water enough to feel it. It was a familiar, warm tingling - the feeling of something similar and safe. And it was strong.
Jealousy's heart began to take hard, thumping beats when the creature stopped its angry snuffling and began to writhe. Her eyes flicked down to pale, long hair. Whoever she was, she was dispatching the beast of a youma with ease.
Helping Pandora out, or doing her job? She must know Pandora was there, by now.
"Hey!" she called loudly from where she sat, waving her hand to announce her presence. The youma was on its side now, taking in heavy grunting breaths, but not doing much else. It was like an animal that had succumbed to pain. Still, it did not yet feel safe to come down.
"Thanks for the help."
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:42 pm
A stranger’s voice distracted Ganymede from the scene he watched with mixed emotion and pulled his attention away from the heaving youma. He glanced up, momentarily bewildered, but saw no more than the senshi the youma had been in hot pursuit of. Right, yes, of course. She’d needed his help. He figured that much was obvious, injured as she was. That was alright. His magic was necessary. He didn’t have any other choice.
He wondered what it meant that he had to continuously reassure himself of these facts every time he used his magic these days, whether he was weak for caring so much, for being so affected by it, or whether that concern, that… compassion? …kept him sane, kept him from becoming the sort of person, the sort of senshi, he’d never wanted to be.
Ganymede liked to think it was the latter.
His mouth twitched up into a small smile as he lifted an arm to wave back, relieved at least that he’d actually been around to help. As easy as it often was for him to power down and go about his life as normal, like there weren’t monsters skulking around town, seeing another senshi’s face, coming across another senshi in need, served as a stark reminder that all of this still existed and people could still be hurt even when he tried to live a life separate from it all.
“Don’t mention it!” he said.
He returned his gaze to the youma, his smile faltering to be replaced with a grim frown.
“Suppose we should put it out of its misery,” he decided. “‘D’you like the honors? I could handle one more attack, maybe. Prefer not to, though. Guess I could stick a heel through its head, gross as it is. Should be close to being dusted.”
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:38 pm
Well, that certainly wasn't the voice she'd expected. Not that it was a bad voice, but she'd expected a high-pitched shrilly sort of sound from someone so dressed up and so utterly, well, blonde. The intelligence of bleach blonde city-folk wasn't highly regarded in her home town.
So, the calmer, lower voice took her simply by surprise.
"I can try," she immediately offered. He seemed experienced in youma, or experienced enough. Liberty didn't like to think of the creatures as feeling misery, or pain. They didn't often die quickly, and it reminded her of having to put a bullet through a rogue cougars skull but missing a vital organ. The first time you had to fire more than two shots to fell an animal is the last time. After that, she'd practiced shooting for hours and hours until every shot was true. The memory still made the bile rise in her throat.
Now, it was more like holding a bolt-gun to a bovine that had broken its leg. There was no strong emotional attachment, but there was still guilt, you could still see the fear in an animal's eyes. It was hard not to empathize with that.
Carefully, Pandora made her way down from the rooftop. The bad leg was nearly healed now, but she habitually put less weight on it as she moved her way to the huge beast, its breaths heavy, and its eyes clouded over and going.
"Powers will kill it?"
She needed to practice those. They still left her feeling uncomfortable, eerie. Feeling the power surge through her body was a bit like an electric current. It didn't hurt, but you knew it could.
"Green Eyes," she whispered out, before leaning forwards and placing both her hands at the back of the creature's neck. She left her hands there for as long as the power lasted, until even she could feel the warmth pulsating back down her own arms.
It was safe to say, the youma did not die a comfortable death.
When she pulled to her feet, and finally got a chance to look at her hero, it became immediately apparent that blonde ditzy girl was about as far off the mark as Liberty could possibly have gotten. No, it seemed a feminine young man had gotten stuck with the most girly outfit Senshidom had to offer. That was the second time in one week she'd seen boys in clothes they really shouldn't be in. Curiosity dug at the back of her throat, but how did you ask someone if they were comfortable fighting in a woman's dress? Answer: you didn't. Just like you didn't ask the one who actually chose to wear girl's clothes why on earth they did. You just tried to ignore it, and move on.
"I'm Pandora." She offered her hand, but she was still having a lot of trouble moving on.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:44 pm
Though he was perceptive enough to sense that there was something that had gone unsaid—or perhaps it was more paranoia than true perceptiveness; he expected people to ask because it was a common thing by now, and when they didn’t he could only wonder what they might be thinking—Ganymede pretended like he had absolutely no idea that there was even an issue.
Well, perhaps “issue” wasn’t quite the right word. Confusion, maybe? Unease? No, confusion seemed better. That and inquisitiveness. It was not a foreign response at all, but also something he felt absolutely no need to make mention of at the moment. He didn’t mind discussing it, didn’t mind answering questions or alleviating the confusion, but sometimes bringing it up himself was just awkward for both parties involved. He’d much rather someone else ask first. Then at least he knew he wasn’t imagining an interest that might not be there.
“Ganymede,” he said in turn, taking her hand for a quick shake.
He tried not to think about the youma that had only seconds ago be writhing around right there but was now little more than dust on the wind. If he seemed calmed, he figured that was a pretty great accomplishment. Calm detachedness wasn’t always something he was capable of.
“Wait, so was that the first time you’ve used your magic to kill a youma?” he wondered, made curious by the question she’d posed before doing just that.
“Not that… I mean, not that that’s a bad thing. I don’t like to use my magic if I can help it, even on youma, so… You know, sometimes I go days at a time without it. Or weeks, if I can manage. Are you new?” he wondered before he could start rambling too much. He looked her over quickly, trying to place the fuku. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Er… not that I really know very many people, to be honest. Or… not well. But your outfit’s kinda distinctive. You’d think I would have noticed it before. If I was, uh… paying attention…”
Then again, maybe he wasn’t the one who should be pointing out distinctive outfits.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:57 pm
There was a change in her posture and demeanor as he said the word wait. The senshi's eyes remained on Ganymede, sizing him up, considering the question. Though it was hard, at first, to concentrate on taking him seriously.
"Yeah," she ended up answering, honest as always. She glanced back, following his gaze to the absent space. At least there was no more feeling of chaos. It helped eased the anger she forgot she was brewing beneath the surface.
"Using powers doesn't feel right." As such, Pandora tended to punch them in the nose, or kick them, or otherwise fell them directly and physically. A smile then, for him as he stammered on. Perhaps cool and collected was no longer the word she was looking for.
"I'm new," she affirmed. From the sounds of it, he definitely wasn't. Pandora scanned over his outfit again, feeling her lips purse at the word distinctive. But there were more important questions to ask, and less awkward ones. Later. You can ask later, Pandora, after you get to know him better.
"Is there something bad about using powers?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:07 pm
“Not… not really bad, no,” Ganymede replied somewhat hesitantly, not quite sure what he wanted to say, or even what she wanted to hear.
Most other senshi he’d ever talked to—and he would admit that wasn’t a great many; “talk” was kind of a relative term there, too—hadn’t ever seemed to have much of a problem using their magic, whether it was offensive or defensive, though he supposed defensive magic was somewhat easier to cope with since defending usually wasn’t viewed as being morally wrong or in any way reprehensible. Popular opinion as he understood it, however, tended to follow a more aggressive path.
And it wasn’t all that hard to understand why. They were there to fight the bad guys. What better way to do that than with magic?
Still, it had never really sat well with Ganymede. He couldn’t really stomach causing someone else pain, even if that someone was evil and crazy and maybe sort of deserved it.
“I’m just… not overly fond of it,” he explained. “I mean, when I do it. If you want to, more power to you. Sometimes it’s quick and efficient, ‘specially with youma. It’s the… you know, the actual people I have a few problems with. I used to complain a lot ‘cause my magic kind of sucked before, and now that I’ve got a pretty useful power it’s just… not really what I was expecting. Kind of makes me uncomfortable to think of what I can do to someone.”
The one time he’d actually used it on another person was enough to last him a lifetime.
“But, no, seriously, do what you have to to get rid of ‘em. Beat it, use your magic on it, whatever. That’s sort of up to you to decide. There’s no real right or wrong way to fight a youma, I don’t think. Except maybe being too reckless isn’t such a good idea, but as long as you’re, like, careful and you pay attention and you’re comfortable with whatever it is you decide on, no one can really tell you you’re doing it wrong.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:52 am
Pandora was staring at the place the youma had been while he talked. It always left her with a sort of emptiness inside and an overdose of adrenaline with nothing to seep it out onto.
"Magic is a lot like a bullet, then?" The question slipped out of her mouth naturally, just as she'd begun to think it. She glanced over at Ganymede, expecting a rather shocked answer, as it was a bizarre correlation to have made. Magic was nothing like a bullet, you couldn't fire from a distance (could you?) and it seemed to percolate through the entire body, but it gave her the same itchy skin when she thought about using it. You had to respect a gun, and use it only when necessary.
"I'm guessing we don't all have the same powers." How did he fight in those boots at all? The corsette looked restricting, too. Pandora focused on his face. "What are yours like? How do they feel?"
Now they were getting into the more private questions, weren't they? If magic was, indeed, a personal thing. Perhaps she just needed to get used to the idea.
"Do you mind if we move somewhere else to talk?" The missing youma had really started to bother her now. "How long have you been. . ." She chewed on the tongue, searching for the word. "Fighting?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:13 am
Indeed, the correlation surprised him, and Ganymede blinked in response to it before pausing to take the time to consider it.
“Yeah, I… guess it sort of is. Some of it, at least,” he said.
He wasn’t completely without understanding. Even though he had no need for firearms, had never touched one in his life and didn’t particularly like them, he thought he knew what she meant. He’d seen guns, heard them, saw what they could do to people, understood their worth as well as their danger. His life hadn’t been completely removed from them, though the violence he experienced these days was much different.
Guns, bullets, those things could potentially be regulated.
But could magic?
“I don’t really know what it feels like,” he admitted. He said nothing about her discomfort—or his own—but moved with her to begin walking away from the scene, happy to leave the dusted youma behind. “I don’t know that I’d want to use it on myself to find out. If I even could. I’ve never really been sure how the whole magic thing works, but… I’m pretty sure mine sort of… burns people.”
Ganymede frowned lightly, clearly not comfortable with the idea. “I mean, you can’t see any flames. It’s sort of internal, I guess. Either way, it doesn’t make a pretty picture. I’ve only used it on one person so far, and that was enough to turn me away from it for a while.”
Her other questions were somewhat easier for him to answer, and he did so with an expression that looked resigned, but also, he hoped, somewhat comforting—or, at the very least, commiserating—to someone who was new to this.
“It’s been almost two years,” he said. “Or it will be in February. Awakened the last week of sweet sixteen, got sucked into my first huge battle the day I turned seventeen. A seriously ******** up birthday present from the cosmic powers that be. This,” he added, motioning to the useless wings behind him, “happened earlier this year. Keep at it long enough and you might get some, too. Apparently it’s a mark of experience, or whatever. Some people like to look at it as a sign that they’ve proven their worth, like it’s a mark of respect or something, but I figure it just means we’re lucky to have survived so long.”
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