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 Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 1:31 pm
The beast continually slipped out of her sights. This was the first time it's ever happened. Normally the roles were swapped and she was the one retreating into the darkness. No matter; it felt good to play the part of the predator. Obviously she wasn't typecast for it, but she tried her best to track it relentlessly. Ideally she'd catch it, possibly dust it, and move on to the next, but the speed with which the monstrosity ran was more than she could keep up with. Though no bigger than a main coon in weight, its body was lengthy and sinewy. Lithe. She estimated it at five feet, possibly longer, with thin, spider-like legs. It moved in a combination of slithering and skittering, and its pointed appendages clacked across the pavement like a blind man's cane. It must've had six legs before, but one was broken off at the joint and simply hung in place, slightly lower than the intact ones. It had certainly seen a fight, or got its leg stuck in a door. She didn't know which it would be, but if it had encountered someone, that someone was possibly dead. Which led her to why she was tracking it. Not only was this youma injured, and possibly exhausted, but it possibly killed someone. She knew she couldn't live with letting a murderer loose, even if it meant she had to dust it herself. That was the reality of battle, right? She was given the power to harm, so she had to use it for the right reason. This felt like a legitimate reason, or so she hoped. The beast climbed over a padlocked gate effortlessly and slithered into the thick grass on the other side. She had no choice but to follow; though its spindly legs matched the width of the grasses, she could still just barely perceive it through the movement in the small field. Leda flat-out failed at climbing fences normally, but this one was short enough for her to jump over it in senshi form, effectively avoiding any potential hazards atop the fence. She landed on her feet, though she stumbled backward against the fence, before engaging in her pursuit once more. She couldn't let this monster of a youma hurt anyone else. It slipped inside of what looked like a giant tent, and she was obligated to follow. She didn't know what brought it to this location, but she hoped there weren't any civilians around, like bums or night shift, to attract its attention. She would feel terrible enough to donate all of her allowance to a bum if they got hurt, and the problem with that was she didn't have access to it as a senshi. Then again, she didn't know why a bum would want to crash in a place that looked like a... Circus?
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Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 12:37 pm
Chester was working in the main tent this evening, though his crew had all gone home for the night. He was the kind of guy that could stay working forever, if he had the option to. Or if his body would hold out for it. Things like needing food and sleep always got in the way of his goals, though.
One day they were perfect a human being to be free of these flaws, and he would be all over that technology. The constant interruptions were trying, at best, and down right infuriating at worse.
Tonight, at least, he was not too focused. He was painting some of the benches that lined the circular ring of the big top, here all the acrobatic and large effect based shows would take place. There was plenty of seating all the way around, with stands for the audience, but these benches were for the performers while they waited, included any necessary emergency crew and security.
He needed to paint and seal the benches to match the rest.
When he heard something shift in the absolute silence, he looked up. The tent was rustling, though he hadn't seen what had come in. He though about it for a moment, then opted to power up. Maybe he was getting another cat visitor, like Zia. Or maybe it was her, come for a visit. He found his spirits actually picking up a bit from their usual base level just above grumpy at that thought.
He did feel an aura, but it wasn't one he really knew. There were similar at that training thing he went to, but as far as picking them out and telling them apart went, he was still learning. He did know that this one did not feel Chaotic, for whatever that was worth.
"Who is there?"
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Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 12:39 am
Oh no, someone was here! Leda panicked and considered how to respond. Should she identify herself as Sailor leda? Should she lie and say she was the building inspector, or the landscaper or something? "Um..." She began, fumbling for words. "I'm not a terrorist, I swear!" Now that was an answer that inspired confidence. "There's just this... thing, and I was chasing it, and um, it came in here and I just need to go grab it and then I'll be on my way! Sorry for um, trespassing and stuff. I really didn't mean it!" She hoped that would clarify the situation and put the stranger's mind at ease while she tried to dust the youma as quietly as possible. Would it happen the way she foresaw? Probably not; so far, none of her attempts to destroy one of the monsters went smoothly, and nearly all of those interactions led to other order-aligned senshi or knights swooping in to assist her. On one hand, it felt very familial in their drive to help her, but on the other, she also realized that she couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag. With a dejected sigh, Leda started further into the tent. It was dark; she could hardly see where she was going, and often bumped into unknown objects. None of them felt like youma though. Then again, she didn't often reach out to pet one of the beasts, so the only way she would know if it was the youma was if she got mauled. Of course, if she got mauled it could very well have been a tiger. This place looked like it might've been a circus, after all. Didn't all circuses have lions and tigers and elephants? Maybe she'd run into them, too, or the youma could've befriended them somehow. What would she do against a youma that teamed up with lions and tigers? Nothing, really. Except get eaten, and that didn't sound fun at all. Still, she hadn't seen any signs of the monstrosity moving through the place, and the dim lighting didn't help. "Um, sir? Have you seen a weird snake-looking thing go through here? It um, has spider legs, and..." She trailed off. Should she really be explaining this to a civilian? It sounded like a nightmare raped a phobia. "Oh nevermind, I'm sure I'll fin it in here..." Leda continued to search for the beast... Until her leg collided with a freshly-painted bench. "Ow, ow!" She hopped up and down, and her hands immediately darted to the injury. "Ooh, that didn't feel so great..." Carefully she allowed her leg to touch the floor once again and winced at the throbbing. She really shouldn't be running around like this, but she couldn't think of a good way to draw out the youma. However, she didn't need to. Upon hearing her cry of pain, the beast left its sanctuary and skittered out into the open. Finally it reared up and charged at the senshi, effectively tackling her to the bench in its assault. It attempted to cover her pained screams with an unearthly, rattling wail of its own.
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 10:07 am
Luxor watched the girl, standing in stoic silence as she rattled on nervously. She was something like him, like those others at the training meeting, so he was not immediately angry for her being there. He had not seen a youma, but he supposed that was part of the game as well. He was willing to listen to things as they came up.
Learning as he went.
He was a quiet man, for the most part. Not particularly patient, though he looked like a statue. He flinched when she hit the bench he had just been painting, not immediately worried for her injury so much for the fact that she had just smeared his work and he would have to redo the whole thing for it to look right.
His eyes shifted from the bench to her face and he arched an eyebrow at her in pointed, though very obviously annoyed, silence.
Then the youma appeared and he realized that the monster she had been babbling about was very real. He moved to help her, though he wasn't sure what he could do. He did know that he needed to help her and that was enough to spurn him on to grab the youma and haul it backwards, falling with it away from Leda for the moment. Though now he had to wrestle with it.
And he did not want to.
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 12:07 pm
"Yeek!" Leda screamed as she jumped atop one of the benches and her foot slipped slightly in the wet paint. She watched helplessly then the youma fell upon a civilian, and it turned on him almost immediately. What could she do? She could steam it, but what if she missed and hit the man instead? If she stomped on it somehow, it might simply become agitated and maul the poor guy. She had to think of something... but what? She glanced about the place, and spotted a set of trapezes high above, and a ladder leading to the platforms. Some of them had rather long ropes, that looked like they might swing low enough for her to kick the youma. It was a long shot, but she leapt toward the ladder and climbed it as briskly as she could without looking down. The last thing she wanted to do was chicken out and let an innocent get mauled by that monstrous thing, and then she'd need saving since she'd be too petrified to descend the ladder. Once she'd reached the top of the platform, Leda took a firm hold on one of the trapeze bars, and after shutting her eyes, stepped off the platform. It felt like an unusually large swing, except she wasn't sitting on it. She opened her eyes about halfway toward the ground and broke out in goosebumps when she saw how high she was. Time seemed to slow down while she perpetually flew toward the ground, and she emitted a high pitched squeal to signify her displeasure for it. Still, she didn't have time to get scared! A civilian needed saving, and it wasn't like this trapeze would politely stop and let her off. Leda extended one foot outward as if she was flying dragon kicking the youma, and let the trapeze carry her into connecting her attack. It bowled the beast over, and despite rolling atop the civilian a bit, at least they were finally separated. She almost sighed in relief when she realized she either had to let go or slam her face into the bottom of another platform. Leda hadn't planned on losing all of her front teeth to a freak circus accident, or breaking most of her face, so she desperately needed to let go. Every moment she waited only lengthened the distance between her and the ground, so she let go as soon as she could and fell toward the floor loudly and gracelessly. Unfortunately, she hit the benches again. This time, her foot got caught in one of the crisscrossing supports beneath the bench. "Oh no!" She tried to yank her foot out, but she'd need to lose her shoe if she wanted to break free. "Um, hold on! I can fix this, and um, get rid of the youma! I swear!" Those were some pretty golden words of confidence there.
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Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 9:20 pm
Chester could only watch as she floundered around, wondering exactly what was going on. Her fighting style was certainly haphazard. And now her foot print was on his nicely painted bench. It was going to take a lot of work to clean up after all this.
He was not amused.
While she was swinging back from the trapeze, the youma having been thrown off of him by her kick, Chester got to his feet and powered up.
Taking a breath, since that whole transformation thing was still new and weird to him, he looked around to see what had become of the girl that saved him. She was on the other side of the center ring now, and she seemed to be having a bit of an issue.
"I can help you," he called, in a voice that tried to sound patient but failed spectacularly. He started to walk toward her, but the youma raced by him, trying to get there first. That kicked Luxor into overdrive, and he took off after it. "Look out!" he called, as it leaped at her, but he managed to catch it by the foot and, as it jerked him forward with its momentum, they both collapsed to the floor just short of the bench.
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Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 8:29 pm
Leda shrieked as the two tumbled to a stop in front of the bench, and that jolt of fear was all she needed to finally work her foot free, sans one shoe. She stumbled backward and clipped another bench, which threatened to throw her off her balance and into the fray. As she windmilled to steady herself, she tried to assess the situation. Not only did she have a youma lying at her feet, but a page too? She never would've guessed that this circus worker doubled as a knight type. "Um, hold on..." She lopsidedly trotted outo f the benches and into the center ring. "If you could just move a bit, I think I can hit it from here!" To illustrate her point, she began her attack. Steam swirled around her and formed a slight sphere just above the tips of her fingers. "Just, um, distract it, but try to stay out of the way!" Scalding an ally was an excellent way to get off on the wrong foot. "Leda swirling steam!" She called, and the steam arced off her fingertips toward the writhing youma. She desperately hoped her aim hit the mark, as she'd found she often fell short. Perhaps this time she could actually do some damage to the enemy, rather than her friends. However, as the steam came perilously close to the newly revealed page, she cringed. Hopefully it would end up a near miss. Maybe. She wasn't holding her breath.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 11:17 am
Luxor blinked and watched her as she moved into the center ring. He nodded his head at her direction, looking back at the youma. It was not looking too happy, but then, he assumed that they never looked particularly happy. He was not used to seeing them so close, and he decided that he was not a fan.
He did not feel pity for it, though. If it had once been some sort of animal, than it was too long gone now to be saved. He did not know how youma were really made, though, just assuming that they were created this way and there was nothing else to it.
He'd ask about them later, maybe.
Making sure the youma kept its eyes on him, waving his arms and taking swings at it before bouncing back, he tried to keep an eye on what Leda was doing. He'd only seen senshi magic distantly, so when she launched her attack he was impressed by it, not realizing that she might have had an issue with her aiming. It struck the youma, by luck or design, and it let out a howl before it finally burst into dust.
He blinked.
"Did your magic do that? Turn it into dust, I mean?" He looked nervous almost, if he was the type to show his emotions on his face. That was a powerful spell, if it could do that to someone.
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:45 pm
Leda breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief when she saw the monster disintegrate beneath the attack. Though she loathed the idea of fighting and killing other creatures, she found a measure of forgiveness in knowing that the beast assaulted and killed others. She could not return those victims to life, but she prevented future deaths by ridding Destiny City of the shadowy youma. And this scantily-clad page bore witness to it. "Um..." Leda was caught off guard by the question, and her shrinking stance betrayed her uncertainty. "Well... Yeah, it did, I guess." It was hard for her to believe that her magic finally dusted a youma, though she had significant help in the form of a young and budding page. Which reminded her - she hadn't introduced herself yet. Was it rude to continue fighting without taking a break for introductions? Or was that a little too old-fashioned? She hoped it was the latter, since she couldn't do anything about the former. Maybe it was time for her to explain a bit about senshi magic, or what she knew of it. "Basically, um, every senshi has magic, and you totally know that. But, like, some senshi have magic that helps or heals allies, and other senshi - like me - use magic to attack enemies. Mine can do that to youma, but um, I don't like using it on people. Not that I'd use it on you!" She threw her hands up in a 'stop' motion and shook them vigorously. Oh right, introductions! "Ooh, sorry! I'm being so rude! I forgot to introduce myself earlier - I'm sailor Leda! So, um, what's your name?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:11 pm
"But knights don't have magic like that, I take it. I was not told that we do, and I've not been able to use it, so..." he got the short of it once again. He had no magic and no ability to really fight his enemies, because all he had was this stupid glove. It was not the most useful 'item' out there.
He felt like it was cheating, really, since a glove was just clothes anyway.
He listened to her explanation, nodding his head. He was glad that she wouldn't use her attack on him, as he imagined it would not feel very good. The fact that she could attack people with it seemed scary enough.
"I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself, as well, before I started questioning you." His expression was calm now, and he was difficult to read once again. He had a terrible temper, but most of the time he just kept it to himself. And everything else to himself, as well. He did not have the best people skills, and he was not really good at making friends because he never endeavored to do so.
"My name is Luxor. Thank you for helping me with that monster."
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Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:25 pm
"Um, I don't really know..." Leda admitted. She didn't know anything about knight magic, and as she'd only met two knights and neither of them used their magic, she had nothing to offer him. No answers. Not even a guess. Maybe if she knew something about the war, she wouldn't feel quite so useless, but... That was just wishful thinking. She'd managed to dust that youma, though. Perhaps she wasn't quite as useless as she assumed. At least, her magic wasn't useless. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Luxor!" She offered him a happy smile and a small wave. She had no idea if that was his real name or his alias, but she was content to meet someone on the same side nonetheless. Who knows, maybe they'd run into each other again someday, and Luxor will have finally uncovered his knightly magics. Maybe she would be stronger at that point. Or more knowledgeable, but that seemed like a stretch... Considering she had a test tomorrow, she should probably head home, but it wasn't fair of her to simply ditch Luxor without thanking him for his help, and maybe apologizing for damaging the circus. "Thanks for helping me with the youma! And, um, sorry about your benches... It looked like you just painted them and all, and they looked marvelous, but um... I'm kind of a klutz when it comes to fighting. But you seem really good at it, I promise!" She hoped her encouragement might make up for the damages, but she supposed nothing short of monetary compensation would make any real difference. She had like, ten dollars, but no access to it in her fuku. Oh well; maybe they had some kind of donation fund she could contribute to. Leda sighed. "Normally I'd totally stay and help, but I've gotta run. Sorry, but maybe we'll see each other again sometime?" Another easy smile and wave, then she started for the tent's opening. Hopefully that was the last of her excitement for tonight.
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 10:30 am
"I'll... repaint them." What else could he do? He had to repaint them or he would be stuck with every ugly, and broken, benches for his grand opening. That was not going to work for him, or for his carnival. He needed as close to perfection as he could get, and this was certainly too far short of that goal to let slide.
He watched her, then nodded his head, eyes reflecting some warmth though his expression remained entirely blank.
"Thank you for the help, anyway. Maybe I'll see you around," he said with a nod, letting her turn and go. He watched her until she was out of the tent, imagining he did not have to worry about her hanging around and wrecking the place, or sneaking some peeks at the other rides and attractions. He was secretive, but not paranoid, at least.
Sighing, he powered down and looked at the work he had to redo, which was now worse than it had been when he started. Oh well.
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