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 Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:10 pm
Though it was mostly healed, Red Cliff's shoulder still bothered him sometimes from the attack some years prior from the sadistic Negaverse woman. He had not seen her, and could not remember her name, if she had told him one, but she had lingered in his mind for a while as a sort of lurking boogie-woman. Each time he went out as a Page, he feared running into her. True, he had the strength of being a knight now on his side, but it was almost inevitable that she had a better idea than he ever did what to do in battle.
All of his taiji had been for rehabilitation and strength building following the injury. It had helped, true, but Red Cliff was never confident enough to want to put his martial arts training against a crazy woman with a spear.
Tonight, it was going to rain later or something, because the shoulder ached again. So to ease the stiffness and pain, and to try to calm his mind down a little before putting in patrolling time, Red Cliff practiced the slow, smooth movements of his taiji forms on a rooftop. At least he would feel someone coming, while he focused on quieting his mind.
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:58 pm
General Painite felt the aura of something tempting. She was only out to do a bit of scoping for a good area, looking to set up a bit of fun for her and some of the lower ranked soldiers. She needed a not too open area for them to run around in, that wouldn't draw too much attention from the White Mooners if they felt the collected auras.
She hadn't found the right spot yet, but she'd keep up searching. Well. After she went and saw what this aura was, and if she could have a bit of fun for herself before getting back to the grind.
There was no point being grumpy, right? And fighting White Moon goons made her happy.
She teleported up to the roof tops, where she felt the aura was coming from, and spotted the knight there, grinning as she remembered him. She hadn't seen him in some time, but she was sure she'd messed with him before. "Dancing like no one's watching, are we?" she said, knowing he'd have felt her when she appeared, so there was no need to try to be stealthy.
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Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:44 pm
Red Cliff froze as the aura appeared rather abruptly nearby, and then felt a sinking feeling of fear as he immediately recognized the voice. His shoulder ached in sympathy as memories of being attacked in the past resurfaced. Here he was, powered up and meant to face her as an adversary, but all it really meant was that the page knew exactly how far below her in power he ranked. The darkness from her was nearly tangible.
Immediately he shifted his stance to face her, his place in the form he had been practicing immediately vanishing from his mind. The red-haired boy kept his hands raised, though, as though some combative reflex was there to at least ensure he would meet his end in a ready stance. Taiji had brought back some flexibility, made him stronger even when he was not playing at being a superhero, and had taught him how to use youmas' nonstrategic aggression against him, but it suddenly seemed rather useless when facing a human. In theory, he was prepared for this, but mentally?
No way.
"It's taiji, not dancing," he corrected the Negaverse general, his mouth dry around the only lame little words that he could force out. His mind screamed to run but for the moment, his feet did not want to move.
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:16 pm
Painite watched the young man with a hungry look in her eyes, grinning ear to ear and eagerly anticipating the battle that she could almost see dancing out before her eyes, shadows of the future, splatters of his blood, painting a wonderful image in her mind. She was more than a little excited about it.
It seemed far too often that her prey got away from her, and she never saw them again. Or when she did, they had managed to power up a lot, or had powerful friends, and she could never really make good on all the promises of return and retribution she made. It was one thing to be scary and ominous, but it was another thing all together to make good on her threats. When she said she would hunt down her enemies and kill them, she really needed to do it.
It was her reputation on the line, after all.
"Oh, it's all the same to me. So what's it for? Toughening up a bit? Muscle strengthening, maybe? I remember you, my little warrior. Though I remember you with a lovely little hole in your body." She leered at him, leaning on her spear languidly. "I think I'll give you some new ones, what do you think? Up for round two?"
It was not likely that he had a choice.
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Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:21 pm
His hands were still poised in front of him as he remained frozen partway through the form. His muscles started to shake a little, from fatigue of the stillness as much as fear. It dawned on Red Cliff that he probably should have sought out some powerful friends until he could handle himself. Which, frankly, would probably be never. And he liked friends. Making them was difficult for him at times, though.
But the red-haired boy could worry about social anxiety afterwords, if he got to be anything other than a stain on this rooftop after this.
Red Cliff licked his lips. "It's for building up muscle strength and balance," he told Painite, finally relaxing his stance and coming to stand normally. "Also good for rehab after injuries, like what you did to me before." The spear the first time had been wooden, and that had been bad enough. He was so going to get murdered.
At the same time, he would never be able to run from her forever.
Frowning, he chewed his lip for a moment again and held up his hands, both empty and free of his feather duster for now, and took up a ready stance again. "What do you have against me, anyway? Or do you just like to hurt people?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:37 am
"Hurting people is one of my absolute favorite things to do in the whole world," Painite said honestly, with an almost innocent smile, as if she were telling him how much she liked tea parties and world peace. She shook her head, though, before she continued, her grin turning wicked with only the smallest shift.
"I don't need to have anything against you, specifically, to want to kill you. You're just a knight, and that's more than enough. But, if you wanted to get specific, you survived last time. I don't like when that happens, and only let it slide a couple of times before... well, you know."
She motioned with her spear, making vague stabbing motions and laughing lightly as she did so.
"Now, I'm going to be nice and let you run away, if you want. A minute or two head start? Or until I get bored waiting. Or, you can stand there like a man and wait for it. Either way." She grew more serious now, holding her spear in both hands.
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 1:32 pm
He really wanted to run away. This woman was clearly crazy, and Red Cliff was pretty sure she would feel little remorse about hurting him again, or killing him. The thought of dying - actually dying - naturally scared the page more than any perceived slights to his manhood. His mind raced as he licked his lips with a tongue that felt dry, and tried to find his voice.
Finally he managed a reply:
"I don't need two minutes." Red Cliff's voice was a bit hoarse, but he managed to put sufficient volume into it so she would be able to hear him. "Give me thirty seconds. Then we fight."
The Page of Mars had come up with something that resembled a plan. With any luck, it would be one he could survive, too. Nerves forced him to smile at Painite for a moment, and then he ran.
Red Cliff a particular destination in mind, and with his powered self's speed (ramped up on fear, no doubt), it would not take him a full two minutes to reach it: the expansive parking lot of a big-box store he knew to be nearby. This time of night, it would almost undoubtedly be free of cars.
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Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:23 pm
Painite did not think of herself as crazy, of course. She thought she was seeing with more clarity than she ever had in her entire life. The more she steeped herself in Chaos, the most she used her powers and her strength, the better things became. The more clearly she saw the world, and her role in it. And that of the Negaverse. She was beginning to wonder why those on her side did not see things so vividly, and how they could be so blind to the future they were meant to have.
One by one, she would show them the way, somehow, but that was all for another time. For tonight, she got to play one of her favorite games, and she grinned at her target.
"One. Two. Three," Painite began, watching him all the while. She refused to take her eyes off him, the light color deceptive in how warm it seemed. She was far from friendly, but she was actually enjoying herself, and the joy in her expression was sincere. Too bad it was all geared toward him bleeding. Her eyes flickered as he took off running, and she shook her head. At least she was good on her word, or at least approximately. She finished counting to thirty in her head.
Of course, she could also teleport, which was a little less fair. She did not feel too bad about it, though, teleporting where she felt his signature growing dimmer, appearing a few feet behind him and moving to close the rest of the distance on foot.
"You're pretty fast!" She called happily.
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Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:20 pm
Red Cliff was as ready as he was going to get, but was still not completely expecting Painite to teleport. He wobbled where he stood, on top of a light pole in the parking lot, arms windmilling briefly as he regained his balance.
"Ahah, thanks," he replied, voice cracking a bit with nervousness. "Before we get, ah, started, though, you should know that this place wants to make sure the parking lot is safe." The red-haired boy fidgeted again, shifting his stance on the lamp post. "So there are cameras everywhere, watching all the time."
He forced a smile and tried to ignore the sound of his heart pounding in his ears. "Just FYI." God, he hoped that was enough to deter her.
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