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 Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 10:09 am
Rooftops. Remarque hated rooftops. He probably shouldn't have been climbing considering how difficult it was just to convince himself to stay out any later, but he needed a change in scenery. The city had planted a new patch of flowers in the park and it was just sensory overload.
The rooftops of Destiny City provided a glorious view, sometimes of the bright city lights, sometimes of the stars. He was too close to the city now to get a good view of the night sky, but he wasn't complaining. Much.
Aside from being stiff and sore from running around all night, things were going decently well. Once you got past the fact that he'd been scouring Destiny City for some clues as to their damned wraith issue and come up with nothing. The eternal senshi had strained to keep on task, but after four hours of nothingness he needed a break.
From the park he'd gone through a mirror and stepped out onto one of his least favorite mirrors—a smaller one that he had to wriggle out of, hidden atop some modernist art gallery he'd never stepped foot in. He was expecting a cool breeze and to be briefly blinded by the change in lighting (which he was) though he was pleasantly surprised that those were not the only thing to greet him up here.
There was an energy signature—close. When he stood up straight to brush himself off, he saw her silhouette, just two buildings over.
It was an opportunity he didn't intend to pass up.
The gap between buildings wasn't so much that he was in great fear for his life; he still held his breath when he jumped them. Getting a good landing in was always hard for him; for the first jump he just kept running to make sure he had enough speed for the second one, but come time to actually stop moving, he had a little too much momentum. Instead of waiting for his boots to get a grip on the roof so he could skid to a stop, he reached out and grabbed a metal pole protruding from the roof.
Pulled his shoulder a bit, but at least he hadn't run right over the edge.
"Anything interesting going on down there?" he asked, even as he lifted his other arm to massage his shoulder lightly.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 11:33 am
Tortali loved the view from the rooftops. She loved being able to get up here and just lose herself looking out at the twinkling lights of the city, much like the lights painted on a Christmas card. It was just so…so magical.
The one downside to it all was the fact that she did indeed lose herself up here…and in doing so, she completely lost focus in everything. And of course…she wasn’t aware of any sort of energy signatures or anything…at least until she heard the voice right behind her. A male’s voice.
She blinked, wondering for a moment if it was in her head…then WOOSH. The aura hit her like a ton of bricks and the girl leapt up, turning on the spot, eyes wide and staring at the…flamboyant guy that was behind her.
For a moment, she almost laughed. Almost. Then finally she decided to go with a snarky comeback, just to make sure he didn’t think she was a total idiot for just sitting there, unprepared and off guard. “Glad to see I’m not the only homo senshi out here. Makes me feel better about myself…but at least I get to hide it. You’re so bright, I think I need sunglasses.”
This was all said in a rush, and for a moment, she seemed confused. Why had she called him a senshi? Was he a senshi? He had wings…but they were black…so uh. What was the deal with that? Hadn’t…yeah. Maia had mentioned something about bad senshi…so she was quite sure that this was one of them. Well. There was no way in hell this creep was going to touch her starseed.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:02 pm
Remarque immediately snorted. "Clearly you're new or you'd know that insulting someone so much stronger than you is a very poor idea. You're lucky I'm not out for blood or I might have mistaken that for an opening to fight."
He brushed himself off, still obviously a bit huffy from her comment. He couldn’t choose how he was dressed, but all be damned if he was going to give up this power just because he was a little colorful.
He'd gotten a lot of jabs about his sexual identity, though her phrasing made him c**k his head a bit to the side after he paused to consider it. "Should you really be announcing your sexuality to just everyone you meet or is that your way of letting me know you're taken and-slash-or not at all interested in any advances you presume I'll be making?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:10 pm
She shrugged, watching him warily. “It’s not the first time I’ve had to deal with assholes. And I’m sure it won’t be the last.” Tortali kept her arms over her chest, not looking happy at all, not wanting to deal with a hand going towards her chest. Why was it that all of the creeps were guys?
“Aren’t there at least any pretty girls on the bad side? Seriously I think I could take one of those on in a heartbeat and not care at all. But you guys. You’re just all so awful.” She thought back to both Buddingtonite and that other guy. The real scary one. “And seriously, I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you try and rip out my starseed. I’d rather go and jump off this roof, to be honest.”
The senshi was trying to sound tough, but she felt really rather scared to be honest. She wished she had been paying more attention…and she wished she hadn’t been on top of yet another roof. It was hard to flee from rooftops.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:40 pm
Remarque's nose wrinkled. "Now, now. There's no reason to be rude. Rip out your starseed? What would I do with that? I've told you, I'm not out for blood. Really, who told you we did that—the Negaverse? That's sort of their thing. I'm not interested." He shrugged nonchalantly. "The most I've ever asked of anyone was a spot of energy, but even that’s painless. Is that all you were worried about?"
One brow was raised skeptically and he mimicked her by crossing his arms over his chest. "Dark Mirror Senshi are a different breed entirely. Unlike the Negaverse, we're not interested in hurting senshi, only saving them. So…jumping off this roof would actually be pretty counterproductive to my goal of helping you. You ought to relax. Here," he held out a hand. "Introductions, would that calm you down? I am Remarque, Dark Mirror Senshi of Puppetry. And the only thing I'd take from you was a moment of your time for conversation. How's that?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:35 pm
Tortali hesitated. “You don’t rip out starseeds? That’s what all of the other chaos people have tried to do. And I mean. Two crazy ******** telling me they’re going to end my life? Why would I be even the slightest bit okay around anyone from your side of the fence?”
She narrowed her eyes and scoffed at him. “Saving the senshi. I don’t even…why would you say something like that? Why do we even need saving? You’re crazy, all of you people…you’re all just crazy. Dark Mirrors, Negaverse, chaos…it’s all stupid. You’re all stupid. My name’s Tortali…senshi of grudges, and I really…”
The senshi hesitated another moment, before her mouth twitched into a smile. “Sure. A moment of conversation. Jeeze you sound like some religious freak about to tell me of the wonders of God and all that such. Not interested. Go knock on another door. Leave me alone.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:47 pm
Again, Remarque huffed. "Awfully bossy for a basic senshi. You'd think you'd be walking on eggshells if you were so afraid of Chaos. Especially given that you have no idea what you're talking about. What you are talking about is the Negaverse. Which I am not. Comparing the two of us, the Negaverse and Dark Mirror Court, is akin to hating apples because you ate a bad orange. And maybe if you'd stop to think about that, you'd realize that conversation wasn't so bad, hmm?"
The wind was a bit chillier up on the roof, and Remarque found himself a bit relieved for the break in summer heat. Relaxing, he continued, "Though I suppose you wouldn't be the senshi of grudges if you couldn't hold a grudge. All you need to know is that it is a misplaced grudge. I've never even seen a starseed," he waved his hand dismissively, "Much less had any interest in one. Keep yours in your chest."
She wasn't of any use to him without one.
"I only stopped up here because you seemed lost. Forgive me for taking the time out of my busy schedule to make sure you were okay."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:53 pm
Tortali bristled. Was he seriously getting an attitude with her? Seriously? “Excuse me? You thought I looked lost? I was sitting here staring at the city, how the hell do you even think that seems like a person who seems lost? You crazy homo.”
She lifted a hand, pointing it at Remarque. The time for chatter was gone. This guy was on her last fear induced nerve and she was tired of it. “Tortali Simple Grudge.” She felt a grim sort of satisfaction as she saw that little cloud of energy making it’s way towards the blondes’ ugly face and took the moment to take a step backwards, crossing her arms back over her chest again.
Comparing apples to oranges? Well. Now the jerk could see how he liked THOSE apples. Her eyes flitted to the edge of the roof and she nodded slightly to herself. Next plan of action was at work at least. Time to get the puppet to take a great fall.
See if she would let chaos get the better of her. She was a hell of a lot stronger than that.
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Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:25 am
Keeping his cool was easy enough—when he was in control of his emotions. With Tortali's attack, the eternal senshi bristled. Trying to sidestep the cloud was ineffective; they were too close together. Even while holding his breath he inhaled enough that the effects were almost immediate.
He was angry, resentful—he almost felt hurt. The sensation reminded him, quite vividly, of all the people he was currently agitated with. Their faces very faintly flashed across his vision—but there was one that stuck out among all of them.
Tortali.
His lip curled into a sneer and he reached out, gripping the front of her outfit tightly and lifting her into the air. "Did you think that was clever?" he seethed lowly. Effortlessly he held her off the ground—and took a step forward, closer to the edge. He still had a very solid stance on the roof but held her, just slightly, over the edge.
"I didn't realize you wanted to die. But perhaps that's for the best. There are no hope for the foolish senshi. I'm tired of your lot, you know. The ignorance you possess. The inability for you to think on your own. To feed on the drivel the rest of the white moon feeds you. You mean to tell me you have never felt dissatisfied with your positon—you have never feared you were doing the wrong thing, have never anguished that you can fight as long and hard as humanly possible—and you are content, never getting anywhere?" Bitterness clung to every word; he had a lot to be angry about.
…Even if he was pretending everything was perfect in the Dark Mirror Court.
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Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 11:15 am
Tortali let out a yelp, finding herself dangling over the rooftop. This was not what she had expected, not by a long shot. She struggled slightly in his grip, shaking her head. “No, I haven’t felt dissatisfied before. Not from my part of this gig. I’ve found people that need help…and I’m damn sure I want to protect all of them from people like you. Get your ******** slimy hands off of me!”
The senshi kicked wildly, hoping that her boot would make a nice home against Remarque’s crotch. She didn’t need this crap in her life.
“Put me down you stupid creep! It’s not nice to dangle people off of rooftops!” Talk about lame comebacks…but she just didn’t know what else to say right now.
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Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:20 pm
"Put you down?" Remarque asked slowly; he took one step close to the edge. He held her a little further from himself to ensure that, in her flailing, she didn't damage anything precious to him. "Oh, I think that might a bad idea. It's a long way down, don't you think?"
His eyes flicked to the ground below; he had a clear enough view to know that he did not want to be in her position.
Her attack had gripped him tightly; his adrenaline was rushing and the desire to hurt something was very strong. For a brief moment, he thought about how satisfying it would be to drop her. About how easy it would be. What was one senshi? Just one senshi, troublesome as they were, gone?
He drew in a deep breath, just as he was about to release her—and with that breath came clarity. His senses quickly returned to him; his rage, his anger, his frustration faded.
Another breath and he relaxed a bit. After a third he seemed to realize what he was doing—what he had wanted to do—and took a step back, turning to drop the senshi back on solid ground.
…Was that her magic that had possessed him or was he just at wit's end? He wasn't a bad guy. He had never wanted to murder someone.
Well. He had, but that was well before he'd ever learned what a senshi was.
"You are mad at me for defending myself? You attacked first," he pointed out, taking a step back from her. He still felt a bit lightheaded, but at least dropping her off the roof wasn't sounding like the best option right now. "What was that? I don't know that I've wanted to hurt someone so badly for a long time. And you are absolutely not the most obnoxious senshi I've run into. I'd apologize for that reaction, but I am inclined to think you brought it on yourself."
…As if there was any salvaging this conversation. It didn't stop him from trying, at least.
He didn't want her to leave here with intent to slander his name, so he'd take any shortcuts he could to clean the whole mess up as much as possible.
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:24 am
When Tortali was dropped back on the roof she didn’t move for a moment, legs shaking far too much for that. Well. That was the first time her attack had failed her…normally it was so good about making her enemies too distracted to be bothered with her…what was wrong with this guy? “I think you have way to much pent up rage there, Remarque. You should see someone for that…”
She took a hesitant step towards him, glad to see that she could move again. “But…I’m not really happy with what just happened…so I think I’ll take my leave now. But…until then…”
The senshi took another step towards him and gave slightly trembling smile. “I want to make sure you don’t forget me.” She was right close to him now, and drew her leg up, depositing her knee right into his crotch. “See if you ever have babies, you a*****e.”
And with that, Tortali fled, running as fast as her damn legs could take her, jumping right off of the building and continuing her journey back on solid ground.
Maybe she would avoid rooftops for a while…Almost being thrown off of one was enough to make a person dislike them.
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:05 am
Too much pent up rage might have been an understatement; he should have been hitting up the gym to work out all of his frustration, but after all of these long nights he just didn't have the stamina. His every free moment was devoted to either Raven or hunting down the damned wraiths.
Maybe some downtime was in order.
If he'd been thinking clearly, maybe he would have been able to grab her leg or dodge the senshi's knee. Instead, he took the hit, full on.
There were few places that the senshi could be damaged so badly, but no one had the gall to hit him there for a long time. He would remember Tortali, certainly.
Remember that maybe dropping her off the building hadn't been such a bad idea.
After he'd been nice! What the hell was wrong with senshi these days? Tortali must have had a death wish. For a long moment Remarque just stood there, trying to even his breathing and take his mind off the pain radiating through him, but finally he caved and flopped down on the roof. Tortali's energy signature had faded, so he wasn't worried about her seeing him in a state like this, though just in case he rolled onto his back so he could be ready for any follow up attack.
There wasn't any, but he was greeted by a surprisingly clear view of the night sky.
He had thought going home and icing up might have been the best plan; instead he was just reminded of all that he was fighting for.
He was back out, hunting wraiths again, not but ten minutes later.
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