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 Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:24 am
Another night of misses. Tch. Ruan Ruan rolled her eyes, a small frown crossing her face as she stepped through the fire exit that doubled as a shortcut to the adjacent side alley for the employees of the club that she was currently working as a waitress at for her break. The cool night air and the accompanying tranquility were a sharp contrast to the stuffiness and din that the brightly lit wooden door behind her currently separated her from for the moment. Yet not even that could detract her mind from the looming problem that she would have to face come end of the month which was tomorrow. Or, technically, today given that it was already past 12 midnight according to the watch she wore on her wrist.
Her apartment rent was due and she was still a couple hundreds short of the amount she needed to ensure that she still had a roof over her head and a bed to sleep in the following month. There was no way that she was going to make it at the rate that she was going and she knew that she had no one else to blame but herself for her current predicament. If only she hadn't misplaced, of all things, her own passport. Times were already bad enough with the limited number of jobs avail to immigrants like herself in this city but to find a place willing to hire her when she had no identity documents on herself...
With a soft sigh, she lifted her gaze to the night sky, her hand clasping the handmade peacock feather necklace she wore around her neck as she kicked idly on the ground with the heeled shoes that she wore. She supposed that she could always go to the authorities as a last resort. Go back to the pop idol life that she decided she already had enough of and wanted nothing more than to leave behind and start anew. No more worrying over things like her apartment rent or running from the police and the media that her foster mother Yulan had sent after her in a desperate attempt to locate her. Her precious investment.
There was another option for her of course. One in which she would have to willingly subject herself to the 'extras' that some of the regulars at the club had been rather persistent in trying to get her to agree to, with promises of wealth and everything she ever needed provided for so long as she agreed to be their 'special girl'. Shaking her head quickly a few times to dispel that thought, Ruan Ruan smiled wistfully to herself as she reaffirmed her resolve in her mind. It would be so easy to give in. To not have to worry again for awhile but her pride would not allow her to stoop to something as low as that. She would see this through to the end one way or another.
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Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 4:00 pm
The highest point she could manage was always Laoise's goal: bounding her way up stairs and across rooftops, clawing her way up trunks and branches to watch human from above. Tonight, this was easy. Night clubs and commercial districts meant fire escapes everywhere, winding alleyways lined with windows, minor balconies, ledges. A treasure trove.
So she was watching as the girl emerged opposite and below her, and something about her caught Lee's eye. It must have been some inner glow, something about her that captured the cat's interest and made green eyes narrow to glittering slivers. Some force of personality that made her a worthwhile target, someone worth following.
Then again, maybe it was just the necklace. Peacock feathers.
Lee didn't have any of those.
So. She followed. For now, it was slow and careful, slinking in the girl's shadow to see which direction she went. To judge her at more than just a first glance. And to try and trick her into giving up that feather.
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:48 am
The night was still young which meant that Ruan Ruan probably had the entire alley to herself until people started getting their inebriated selves forcibly 'relocated' there when the club approached closing time three hours from now. Finishing the last of the orange juice that she had brought out of the club with her in a paper cup, she tossed the now empty cup aside, her heels clicking on the concrete ground as she sashayed further down to a more dimly lit part of the alley near the corner of the building that would take her directly behind the club premise itself.
Left. Right. Keep your entire back straight and your foot turned inwards a little.
Famous words from her instructor back in the days when she had to walk repeatedly from one end of the studio to the other until she finally got the poise and angle right. All while wearing stilettos. It was a terrible memory. One that she was glad to put behind her though that didn't stop her from starting a soft humming of the song that she sang during the promotion event held in this very city, a small smile momentarily gracing her features as her arms and feet moved in line with the dance steps that had taken her months to finally perfect.
It was a pity that she would not have a chance to see the fruits of her labour however, she couldn't help musing sadly to herself, wondering offhandedly if any of her fans would miss her as a twirl at the end of the number suddenly snapped the catch of the necklace that she wore and sent it onto the ground next to her feet.
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:50 pm
And lo: victory. About ten or twelve paces behind the girl, Lee's eyes narrowed as she watched the necklace turn, swing, tumble, and hit the ground. And like that, she covered the ground between them, a bold of red-gold in the darkness that stooped to catch it between her teeth and continue past to the end of the alley. There, though, she paused. Itchy. Frowning, just a bit. She turned around to take the girl in again, head tipped to the side and necklace trailing from her mouth to the ground. Something about her was striking, and maybe Lee was starting to see what it was. Potential. She knew what that potential was. And yet. She seemed...older than the usual, she thought. Not that it was bad, just strange. And it made her hesitate. baby_gwing If you have specific plans about how you want this to go down, IM me!
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:05 am
More often than not, Remarque was slipping through the dark, dangerous alleyways of Destiny City, looking for trouble. There was a certain pleasure he derived from picking off the less than savory folk, draining them, and then discarding them in the gutters. He had such intention for tonight—if he could only get the mirrorwraiths to ******** work—though he would take just about anything he could get.
Which included stalking a cat.
He had felt the energy signature the second he slipped out of one of the many well hidden mirrors in the area, and within the next second, he had already taken his first steps towards it. Cats were problematic, especially the order ones; rarely they divulged useful information, though as long as they were haunting the streets, that meant that all senshi candidates were in danger.
He'd lost enough of them to the White Moon; if he had to throttle a cat to even the odds, he had no qualms. He just needed to find what dark crevice it was hiding in, first.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 5:42 am
Snapped out of her reverie, Ruan Ruan's hand went instinctively for her neck, the feeling of the cool night air and now her own fingers against her skin confirming that her necklace was indeed lost to her. She dropped her gaze to the ground to search for it, figuring that it shouldn't be too hard to find it plus she could always retrace her steps if it wasn't in her immediate vicinity.
The blurred red-gold form of something that came really close to her in its vested interest to retrieve its prize caught her totally unaware, surprising her so much so that she reflexively took a few steps back from where she previously stood. It wasn't until another couple more seconds before she managed to compose herself so that she could take a closer second look at what it was when it stopped at the end of the alley to look at her.
A cat.
Not just any ordinary cat given that this one had a rudimentary necklace made of feathers around its neck and her necklace between its teeth. Now that struck her as odd really. She knew that there were some birds that had a habit of picking up random shiny stuff but a cat? She shook her head, a mildly disapproving look on her face as she tried to close the distance that remained between her and the feline. "That isn't yours..." Not that she was expecting the creature to comprehend her words but some animals were pretty intelligent so she figured that she might as well take a shot in the dark.
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 1:06 pm
Remarque felt the cat and she felt him: similar flares of energy in the dark of the night, and it was something that made Lee freeze, feather still clutched between her teeth and her eyes narrowed. A proper feral beast would have skitted back out of Ruan's grasp, would have kept fierce eyes on her. Would have raised her hackles and panicked.
Instead Laoise did the unexpected. She looked away, head tipped back and up, eyes scanning the rooftop's above, all of her unnaturally still. Let the girl approach. Let the necklace fall out of her mouth. She felt danger approaching, and at a good clip -- so close now --
Green eyes would flash back onto Ruan Ruan as the chaos aura rounded the corner, and she spat out the necklace so she could speak:
"You should be ready to defend yourself."
And maybe, just maybe, the necklace would be forgotten in the face of talking cat.
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Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 7:25 am
"Defend herself?" Remarque asked, heard before he was seen. He stepped around the corner to eye the scene. "From what, me?"
There was a certain silkiness to his voice, practiced and perfected. It was a strange situation to wander upon, though he was handling such as gracefully as anyone could. Cat, order. Talking to a civilian. Warning a civilian.
…There had to be some rule about outing your identity to just anyone, so there had to be something special about this girl. He just needed to find out.
"If I were here, I'd be more rattled by the talking cat. What is your business here?" he asked, eyeing the cat disdainfully. He did not seem wary or bother to keep his distance; in addressing them, he continued to approach. There seemed to be no harm in his movements, but with that saunter, that slick little grin? Something was amiss, and anyone who knew anything about the Dark Mirror Court ought to have known it.
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Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:35 am
Now that's a good kitty. Stay right where you are and drop the necklace that didn't belong to you in the first place then all would be well. Ruan Ruan mouthed the words as she approached Laoise cautiously, still oblivious to the cat's bizarre behaviour until the look it tossed her way followed by the words that left its maw made her stop and pay attention.
Defend herself? What?
The necklace was very close to her now. Another step or two and she should be able to retrieve it easily. The dark-haired Asian chose not to pursue that course of action however, opting to take a step back from both feline and the strangely attired blond who had just stepped round the corner. Whatever they were, they seemed to know the other - that much she could tell at least. "Who are you? Both of you... and what do you want from me?"
She was starting to wonder how far she could go with the heels she wore before either of them caught up to her if she turned tail and started running now. She had heard of all sorts of bad things lurking in alleys like these but a talking cat and a man with pitch black wings sited on his butt were far from anything she had in mind. "If it's the necklace you're after, just take it. It's not as if I will have a penny to my name or a roof over my head come daybreak."
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Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:18 pm
The necklace; in the face of evil, Laoise had completely forgotten about it. Remarque was approaching and it slowly brought up her spine, hair standing on end all down her back, tail bristling into a heavy brush. If she looked bigger, perhaps she'd drive the dark senshi off. Or at least that's what her instincts said.
"He wants to turn you to the dark!" Forget the necklace. They didn't need to talk about that now; there were more important issues at hand. Laoise straightened and, still puffed up to almost twice her size, did a gracefully-executed backflip before the girl.
Instincts would prove right. There, in front of her, would sit a pen. "Take this, and you can drive him off!"
Said the thief.
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Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 2:50 pm
The sizzle of adrenaline and anticipation coiled in Remarque's stomach, though he struggled to repress the emotions in favor of focusing on how to manipulate this situation so he got what he wanted.
"Drive me off? Cat, you are the one who beckoned me here. I would have tended to my own affairs had you not been making such a fuss. If anything, you seem to be the troublemaker around here, hmm? I'd ask for you to enlighten me a bit on what's going on here, though, I think you've had your time to speak. Too bad you've wasted it traumatizing some innocent."
He looked from the cat to the girl, and the pen in front of her.
"…Though. You're looking pretty good for a girl who has," he pulled out a wrist watch from his pocket, eyed the time, and then looked back up at her as he slid the trinket away, "Six and a half hours before she doesn't have a penny to her name. You'd have to be in a lot of trouble to be that poor off."
He took on a tone of seriousness then, eyes flicking once more to the pen and back to her. "How'd you manage digging yourself a hole so deep?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:16 pm
Ruan Ruan must be missing something here. The cat clearly saw the blond man as some form of threat judging by its words and how it was puffed up twice its size to presumably deter his approach. Which would be entirely consistent if Remarque started addressing it with as much contempt as it seemed to have for his presence but no. It would seem from the latter's words that the feline was the one that had summoned him. Curious.
"... what am I supposed to do with the pen in order to drive him off? Poke his eyes out with the nib?" She eyed the pen that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere like magic with Laoise's backflip. Another trinket the red-gold feline had conveniently picked up from one of its earlier adventures much like the way it did with her necklace? Nope. Not touching that until she had a better idea as to where that had come from. She already had enough trouble on her plate as it was.
"And what is this about you turning me to the dark that this talking cat seems to be so upset over?" Turning to the Dark Mirror Senshi, she gave a sigh at his reminder of just how little time she had until she had to clear her belongings from the rental apartment she currently resided in, the look on her face softening a little as she began to recount her tale. "Not every day that someone in this city will care to listen to a lady's woes. I'm not from these parts if it's not already obvious from my appearance. Ran away from home when I had the chance, only to misplace my own passport so my employment options on the street are kind of limited. What little cash I have with me isn't enough to pay the month's rent and going to the authorities is not really an option."
She shrugged a little, an exasperated look on her face as she looked at both feline and blond in turn. "So it's like I've said, I'm sorry but it seems like the both of you have got the wrong person."
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:53 pm
Lee's fur stood on end, all bristling fury, hopping one length to the side and then back: at this point, it wasn't just the Agent of Chaos she was angry with, but the girl as well. Her tail swished, pupils swallowing up most of her eyes, and she fought down the urge to attack, digging sharp claws and tiny teeth into Remarque's leg --
"I know I have the right girl, and you can't trust his kind! You have strength enough in you to fight, don't just stand there!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:42 pm
"Ignore the cat," Remarque insisted. "She's the one asking you to fight. She's the one slandering my name," he sneered, glaring at the cat. "Which is interesting, as she doesn't seem to have the faintest idea what she's talking about." He looked back at the girl in front of him; he didn't know how long he had before the cat actually managed to screw things up, but if he could help it, he wasn't going to stick around and give her the chance to do so.
"I'll tell you what. You've got nothing to lose, right? What if I told you, in exchange for two minutes of your time, I could help you rewrite your life? If I told you every mistake you'd made up to here, I could fix. If I had the key to give you the fresh start you seem like you could really use."
He approached, ignoring Laoise and keeping his eyes on Ruan Ruan now. He extended his hand. "If you're interested, I'll explain everything. Not here, not in front of her," he said, and while he didn't look at the cat, it was obvious who he was referring to. The disdain melted from his voice when he continued, "But somewhere safe. Somewhere where you can forget about rent and passports. And if things don't work out," he shrugged. "Hell, then I'll give you all the money in my pocket to help you however it can."
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