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 Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:10 am
Aventine had ventured into the park, not necessarily looking for trouble, but looking for something to do. Meeting with knights, senshi—maybe even just taking a walk in the early evening. She didn't care; she was out and about and doing her job.
Sort of.
It wasn't until a scream ripped through the air that she really started to take the evening seriously. The park tended to be a hot spot for activity, and from the distance she was at, she couldn't tell what was going on—just that someone had sounded terrified. For a split second she wondered what to do—and before she'd even realized she'd made up her mind, she was hastening to the brush towards the scream.
It had to be close; the trees had a habit of muffling too much noise, though the more she walked, the further away she felt the screamer had to be. Originally she had assumed a dog had jumped out and scared some schoolgirl heading home, or maybe there was a mugger out and about—but then she felt the familiar tug of something wicked.
A Chaos signature in the area was enough to beckon Aventine for investigation. She'd had good run ins and bad run ins with what she recognized to be a Dark Mirror Senshi—and one at least a bit stronger than her. Immediately she thought of Aurora, as the senshi of Romance was her favorite of the Court, and had hope that it was her had picked up on her radar. Well, her, but a bit stronger then the last time they'd met. If she was lucky, she'd find that Aurora had simply walked into a tree or something, or startled herself and screamed.
Unwilling to bank on assumption alone, Aventine approached with trepidation and curiosity—and when she poked from behind a tree, she was glad she'd done so. All she saw was the back of a man—and given the circumstances of finding him, she couldn’t help but demand, "What the hell is going on here?" before she could really even see what was going on.
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:02 pm
Virtus had not meant to make the lady scream. She had been napping on a park bench and he'd thought her a perfect target for some energy draining. He really hated having to confront or scare people, and most did not really go for him just asking nicely.
Though it worked once or twice and it was always the first option he tried if his target was conscious or aware enough to actually notice him.
He had put his hand on her shoulder to make sure she was sleeping before he released his wraith to drain her energy and that's when the scream came. He tried to quickly drain it but she was scared and the struggle that broke out almost made Virtus himself scream, though he managed to topple her and drain enough to quiet her. Of course, seeing the mirror wraith did little to comfort her.
Sometimes this job was difficult. He jumped when he heard and felt an Order aura behind him, turning and looking at her with wide eyes.
"It's okay! She just got a little scared, but she's asleep now," he explained gently.
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:53 pm
"That's—what where you doing?" Aventine demanded again, trotting a little closer. She was obviously wary despite the apparently gentle tone of the male in front of her; she wasn't going to be forgetting that scream any time soon. Her heart was racing and her adrenaline pumping. "She was screaming! What, is 'asleep' some code for—did you murder her?" she asked, voice taking on a much shriller tone.
She looked worriedly at the woman and then back to the Dark Mirror Senshi, reluctant to lower her guard at all. Her hand immediately went to her perfume bottle, though she knew it was relatively useless as a weapon. It smelled nice and looked pretty, but good for battle? Absolutely not. She'd do better with any old rock she picked up off the ground—and right now she figured she ought to start looking for one.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:34 am
Virtus watched her, eyes wide in surprise. He knew that the White Moon were not fond of this, of the Dark Mirror or Negaverse taking energy from civilians. Even though, especially with Virtus, a lot of the time the people were left unharmed.
"Oh, no, no! I promise I didn't! She's not dead, I swear! I would never hurt anyone that badly, not on purpose! Not even on accident!"
He could not fathom ever killing anyway, and he was fairly confident when he said he never would. He was still naive enough to believe it, thinking that this war was something he could get through without having to face the real horrors of what war was.
He looked at her and offered a smile.
"You can check her if you want!" And though it sounded like one, he was not setting a trap.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:48 pm
Aventine bristled; she didn't like that this guy or the fact that he felt stronger than her. She was on edge, so of course the offer sounded a little too good to be true. He'd let her check on this lady, no strings attached?
The page decided she ought to take advantage of his offer. "Fine, back off," she said, and stormed towards the woman. She didn't necessarily do so nicely—she showed no hesitation when she pushed Virtus—sweet little smile and all—away from her to make sure he didn't try anything funny while her back was turned. She knew how to check a pulse—albeit not well—and set to work on that, immediately demanding, "What the hell did you do to her—why is she like this?" She huffed at the male and then glanced over her shoulder at him. "Did you roofie her or something? —Is that what your court is up to? Just—abducting women off the street, intent to do creepy, weird— illegal—things?"
Her face was flushed in agitation; whatever she was imagining Virtus' intentions to be, it was obvious that she wasn't happy about them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:54 pm
No strings attached. Virtus didn't know how to think on that level, two meanings in one. He was not the kind of guy who operated in ulterior motives, that was for sure. He smiled like a dope, as if he were a dog just waiting for a scratch behind the ears.
Anyone could be his friend if they wanted to, he wouldn't stop them.
He did back up, watching her as she checked on the civilian. He was certain she was fine, so he didn't offer any more placating comments. It was best just to let her look for herself.
"She's just sleeping! I borrowed some of her energy, but if you just let her rest she'll be fine. I scared her a little bit, but I can write an apology note for her? I didn't mean to. I don't have anything to write on, or to write with though."
He looked thoughtful.
"I don't think what we're doing is illegal? To be honest I never really asked, but I probably should now."
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:05 pm
"Borrowed?" Aventine demanded. "More like stole. I seriously doubt you walked up to her, politely asked if you could 'borrow' some of her energy. Anyway—borrowing? Kinda implies you're going to give it back, right?"
Her tone was coarse, and it was obvious that she was building up over there, stewing in her own little fit of rage. "So how's about it? If you're borrowing energy, how do you give it back? Or do you just nab some energy drink and throw it towards them?"
For as angry as she was at this whole situation, she at least wanted to nab some information. He was a bit more social than Toutatis, but she had still caught him up to no good. Maybe she was still holding her grudge against the senshi of horror and had decided to take it out on Virtus—or maybe she was just really, really passionate about people not gathering energy.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:51 pm
Maybe borrowed was the wrong word for it. He couldn't give it back, even if he wanted to, but he was kind of restoring it by letting her sleep? So that had to count for something... right? Sure.
It made sense to him.
He smiled brightly and shook his head.
"Oh, no, I couldn't do that. I've tried before but I guess it's not how we do it! I was told how to do it right though so I'm not going to mess that up again!" He spoke as if she were checking on him and making sure he was, in fact, stealing energy from innocent civilians correctly.
"Well it puts them to sleep," he explained patiently, as someone who knew how to be condescending might. "And while she sleeps she gets the energy back. So it's sort of a no harm no foul thing, because she was going to go to sleep anyway and I didn't hurt her at all!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:39 pm
Something about how happy this guy seemed about everything was just driving Aventine insane. She couldn’t figure out if this guy was dumb or just being an a*****e. "That's not no harm, no foul. That's like stealing a wallet and saying 'no harm, no foul'. So I'm giving you one warning now. Don't you ever try to gather energy from anyone again. I've half a mind to knock you into the ground right this moment. In fact, I think I just might. If it'd knock some sense into you, I'd do so gladly."
She cracked her knuckles in front of her—mostly for show. Rarely did she ever attack someone with her fists, but it was a hell of a lot easier to intimidate someone that way then to gesture to her knees and expect them to assume that meant she was going to knee them. "So, what's it going to be?" she asked, taking a step closer to Virtus. "Gimme that. Gimme that weird little thing you had, the one that was attacking her. And I'll leave you alone." She held out her hand expectantly, still wearing as stern an expression as she could muster.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:52 pm
"Well, it would be like stealing a wallet and... leaving them with uhm... some way to make that money back before they woke up." He was not so great with analogies, really, and metaphors were lost on him. He looked perplexed, though not unhappily so.
It was certainly something to think about.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't give you that," he said, shaking his head. "I would love to if I could but I was told I could never lose it! I don't think you can use it, anyway, I think they're bound to us. Maybe you can get your own some time? But this one... I have to keep it."
He knew that, and something in him, something he never felt before, flared protectively at just the thought of handing it over. He had to shake his head, though it was one of his least favorite things ever to have to say no.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:10 pm
"You'd still be making them work to get back something they already had," Aventine said, still holding out her open palm expectantly. "Anyway, I don't want to use that stupid little thing, I want to take it to make sure you don't. What the hell would I do with it? I want people to not get hurt. It seems kind of counter productive for me to nab your little gizmo just so I could run off and drain energy. Now, last chance. Give it to me, or I'm going to take it from you. And I'm gonna throw it on the ground and break it, right in front of you, if you make me do this the hard way. Got it?"
She certainly sounded demanding, but if that's what it took to stop the Dark Mirror Court from hurting people—from draining energy—she had absolutely no problem being a b***h about it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:22 pm
Virtus watched her, then looked down at his shard. He frowned, then sent it away so it could not be taken from him. He looked at her with a guilty wince.
"I'm sorry, you can't have it! I would really like to share too, but I just can't! You'll have to understand, it's just not something I can give someone else and I don't think I would do any better if I got it broken! I'm supposed to take care of it!"
It was almost like a pet.
A horrifying, horrifying pet.
"I'm going to go now, though," he said, knowing when a punch was about to land before it was swung this time. He bowed as he backed up, as if he thought she might just let him go if he asked. "I hope that's okay! Have a good rest of your night!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:17 pm
As far as Aventine was concerned, she has played nicely. It didn't matter if he looked or sounded genuinely sorry. "You're not going anywhere," Aventine said, already feeling a bit apologetic that she couldn't just let this drop.
She had to remind herself that he was the bad guy, and for all she knew, this was just some elaborate ploy for him to get out of everything scott free.
The fact was, he had some unique little thing that allowed him to take energy from people—and she was going to do whatever she could to get it from him. Which meant that she had to throw the first punch.
For a girl that thrived on picking fights in her childhood, it wasn't really an issue. She curled her fist just over a breast and lunged, elbowing Virtus in the chest—hard.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:35 pm
Virtus let out a gasp of surprise as she slammed into him. He fell backwards and hit the ground hard with a whoosh of air fleeing his lungs as he did so. He gasped and rolled, panicking for a moment.
Pain had a singular effect on him. It made him panic and it made him feel like he was going to explode in nerves and energy. He did not like pain, he did not like the fight or flight impulse that flared up inside him. His eyes watered from pain and he struggled to scoot along the floor.
Away from her.
"Stop, stop, I don't want to fight you!" he yelped, hoping that she would realize he meant it. He managed to get to his feet but he stayed low and curled defensively.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:40 pm
For a long second, Aventine felt bad. Virtus was not reacting like a man who had just failed to pull off a con. He was acting like some kid being bullied in the hallways. He was panicked and looked genuinely hurt. She couldn't even beam from a successful blow when he was looking at her like that.
"Then cough it up. You know what I want. I'm not letting you off the hook," she said—and had to force herself. Picking fights with bigger guys was one thing—she kind of enjoyed that. Picking a fight with this guy…just felt dirty.
But she wanted that shard—she wanted to make sure he stopped draining energy. So she forced the gruff exterior and stomped towards him even as he tried to scoot away. "Don't make me start kicking you," she warned, half-hoping he would find some way to defend himself—or lash out at her—so she didn't have to feel so bad about this.
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