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 Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:14 pm
Youma were the only enemies Newgrange had come to know in his time since first meeting Julienne. Rarely had he made contact with any energy signature he picked up, partially because he was still having difficulties discerning good from bad.
But he knew what youma were, and he knew that they had to be eradicated.
He was still learning his strength, but when he had powered up that night, he had gone looking for youma.
He wasn't out for long before one found him.
It was half his height, but easily as wide as he was tall. It's eyes gleamed under the moonlight and seemed like they would have been the best target, though the nasty maw only inches beneath its eyes was intimidating to Newgrange.
The youma hadn't really given him a chance to make the first move; while Newgrange was assessing the youma, it twisted its black body towards him and charged. The fight had been ungraceful and unworthy of praise; ultimately Newgrange landed only one hit that did any damage. He had acquired a branch and, in an effort to fend the youma off had managed to whack it once, in its cluster of eyes.
The screech hurt his ears so much that he wound up dropping the branch to cover his ears, but in that moment the youma scrambled away. It was faster than Newgrange, though as soon as he realized that it was on the move he began chasing after it. Entirely focused, he lost track of where he was.
The youma was only barely in his vision—and then he lost it.
Perhaps, if it hadn't been able to scale buildings and disappear on a rooftop, he would have been able to catch up—eventually. Or come up with some plan to attack it. His running slowed to a trot when he realized he'd lost it but, frustrated and unwilling to give up he continued forward hopefully.
His intent focus on the youma prevented him from noticing another aura in the area, and whether or not it had been intentional, the youma had continued straight towards it. The youma wasn't in the best condition, as evidenced by the fact that in its haste it lost its balance and toppled from the roof—straight towards the Dark Mirror Senshi below.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 11:09 pm
The night was cold but thankfully nowhere near as cold as the season had previously been, and Sailor Canopus was certainly grateful for that. Though she had sleeves, the fabric was not at all kind to her in keeping the cold air out and it made her patrols short, with more time spent looking for cover or warmth instead of collecting energy or scouring for the enemy. Not that she liked the idea of running into them. A night that she didn't find the enemy in her line of sights was a good night for her, as she had little taste for combat. It wasn't that she thought her fellow Mirror senshi wrong when they said the enemy was to be feared, but Canopus simply didn't like the idea of harming another, or allowing harm to come to her or an ally. If she could skirt by without having to raise her fists, she would be so very, very happy.
And yet, it seemed as though trouble was destined to find her, and from an unusual source. She had sensed the Chaos aura as well as the Order, but there was little time to pinpoint their locations, much less prepare for it. Suddenly she found herself engulfed in a shadow and she looked up, just in time to see eight appendages and she immediately let out a scream! Anyone with a working terror reflex knew what was coming even if they couldn't get a good look at it, and Canopus scrambled out of its shadow, overshooting her jump and slipping on the ice before crashing down on the ground, mere seconds before the beast did.
She wasn't sure if she was hurt from the fall or not, as pure terror overcame her senses for the moment, and she looked back at the creature, getting a good look at it and confirming that it was, in fact, a giant, ugly, disgusting, terrifying SPIDER! She let out another scream and that seemed to gain its attention, as the moment it pushed itself onto its eight, slender, harry, horrifying feet, it was charging towards her. Was it venomous? Was it hungry? It certainly looked that way, and Canopus found herself practically crawling as she screamed, feeling little shame if anyone heard her. "AHHHHHHHH! HELP, HELP! PLEEEEEEEEEASE!"
In her terror, she had completely forgotten about the Order aura that was nearby, but that didn't stop her from screaming in the least. She didn't want to die! Not like this!
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:18 pm
The scream was enough to jolt Newgrange back to life; he took off running towards the scream. In only a matter of seconds he came upon the sight of that damn youma—only, this time it was attacking someone. "Hey, hold on!" the page called, quickly bolting towards the two. He felt responsible for this whole mess; if he had hit the youma better before, it wouldn't have gotten away and tried to hurt someone else.
He could only hope that whoever was screaming over there wasn't already badly hurt.
Without his stick or any other sort of suitable weapon, Newgrange could only be grateful that he had gloves on with this outfit; he might not have been afraid of bugs, but that thing was absolutely disgusting. He didn't want to touch it, but he didn't want that girl to get eaten, so…
Not a proficient fighter by any means, what Newgrange lacked in technical skill, he made up for in heart; with a running start, he managed to get some speed to him before he leapt and kicked the youma, hard. It was not a very damaging hit, but it was enough to send the youma rolling away from its target. It bought them at least a few seconds, and in that time he extended his hand to the girl, trying to pull her up. "Are you all right?" he asked, far less concerned about her darkly colored outfit or strange aura than he was about the youma that was already pulling itself to its feet and turning to face them again.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 6:02 pm
Had there not been a massive and grotesque spider closing in on her position, she would have noticed the Order aura and her fear would have likely escalated from that point on. However, she could only see and feel the terrifying beast before her, so when there came a shout from not too far away, she felt a jolt of hope surge through her and that seemed enough to motivate her to at least try and get back to her feet. Someone else was coming to help her! Maybe she wouldn’t be alone in this fight after all!
His movements were quick and valiant when viewed from the point of view of a terrified young woman, and she watched with relief and awe when the Earth page kicked the youma away from her. Only when the creature was no longer posing an immediate danger to her did she realize it was a page and thus an enemy, but between the two, it was hard to see him as anything other than a savior. Was it perhaps a rule in the universe that all knights were strikingly beautiful and made her heart flutter, or had Canopus simply lucked out with each visit? Or maybe it was his gallant effort in getting the horrifying monster away from her that left this reaction in her? It would forever be a mystery, it seemed…
“Y-yes… I think so…” Canopus said, not hesitating for a moment as she took the hand that was extended to her. Maybe other members of her Court wouldn’t approve of her standing with them, but anyone that saved her from being that spider monster’s lunch was a friend in her book, even if only temporary. She wanted to know more about this page, but the moment she was on her feet, the youma gave a hungry hiss and looked ready to charge towards them. The mirror senshi gave a shriek and stood next to Newgrange, her fists curled and looking ready to fight but one could clearly hear the terror edged in her soft voice. “What is that thing? And… and do you think it can be defeated? Should we run?”
Would she be forced to fight? She had never used her magic before, and she was never too proud to admit it to her savior. “I’m… not really a fighter, but if you want to fight it, I’ll help… I’ll try, anyway.”
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 1:38 pm
Newgrange watchd the youma warily; it looked like it was going to run at them at any time, but with the Dark Mirror Senshi next to him, he was worried if he moved she might be the sole target of the thing. And she wasn't really much of a fighter…
He wasn't either, but that didn't mean he was going to throw her under the bus—even if he had no idea what she was. "It's a youma," he said, albeit a bit uncertainly. There didn't seem to be much similarities between the youma, but with his limited experience, he was still convinced.
"We can beat it," he promised. "I've beat bigger ones that that."
Though, he'd had help…
At least this one was already slightly damaged; it's eyes looked like it was swelling up, and judging by the way it kept twisting its head side to side, Newgrange hoped that meant that it's vision had been affected. "We'll be okay. You're a senshi, aren't you?" he asked, trying to skim the area to find some sort of weapon. His fists were currently his only weapon and while he could pack a punch with them, he would have taken just about any alternative.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:10 pm
”Youma?” Canopus didn’t mean to show just how green she still was in all of this, but there was no use hiding it and she found it hard to reign in her emotions after such a fright. Little by little, her breathing started to slow, but her heart was still racing and if anything she became more alert of her surroundings and the situation she found herself in. The best part was that she wasn’t alone, at least, and while her fellow Mirror senshi may not have approved of her taking the side of a page, she would not abandon him. He didn’t abandon her… she would certainly not abandon him to this menace. “Must be from the Negaverse. What disgusting creatures…”
Maybe it was a good thing their alliance with the Negaverse was broken off, if they resorted to using monsters to attack their enemies and innocent civilians. She tried her best to keep this bitterness to herself, knowing that the two of them needed for focus on the youma that looked ready to pounce them at any moment. The page sounded so confident that the two of them could beat it, and she didn’t even want to think of the possibility of there being others bigger than this one. She could do without seeing those…
“I… I am. Dark Mirror Senshi, to be precise…” Canopus said, trying to swallow her fear and stand her ground. What she didn’t tell him was that she was technically his enemy and that he shouldn’t have trusted her. What she also didn’t tell him was that she never used her attack before, and thus she had no idea of what it would do. Her sphere was so strange and abstract an idea to her… who was to say it had an immediate effect at all? Might have been something that took time to develop? It seemed that fate was willing to give her the chance to try it out, as the youma made another charge forward, screeching in hopes of spooking its prey, and it partially succeeded. Canopus acted swiftly, seeing that it was charging straight for Newgrange and she held out her hands, aiming her attack at the approaching youma and hoping for the best. “Canopus Confinement!”
The orange sphere of energy hit the youma and immediately, it began to glow from the attack, but its movements slowed considerably, giving the page and senshi enough time to get out of its way.
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 12:35 am
Dark Mirror Senshi? Newgrange looked at her, perplexed for a few seconds, and then shook his head. They could talk more about what she was when there wasn't a youma to deal with.
Her magic surprised him; he hadn't had much experience and didn't quite know what to expect from it. He took a step back, worried that being too near to it meant it might have adverse effects on him.
The youma stiffened almost immediately, confusion causing it to pause. It tried to charge again after it realized it was in one piece, though its speed greatly suffered and it made little distance.
"What was that? What—what did you do to it?" Newgrange asked quickly, taking the opportunity to look around for something a little more solid for him to use to try and whack this thing.
He spotted a wooden beam, roughly four feet long and two inches thing was discarded in a heap of similar sized pieces; it seemed like one of the buildings had been doing construction or something inside. Immediately, he moved to take arm himself with it.
They wouldn’t miss one oversized stick—especially if it meant they could get rid of one oversized spider.
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:03 am
Canopus wasn't too proud to admit that she had never used her attack before and had absolutely no idea what it would even do. Longevity was such an abstract sphere to command over and there could have been many outcomes to this spell. She would have hoped that it'd have an adverse effect to her enemy, maybe lock it behind amber or temporarily freeze it so that Newgrange could escape its grasps. Or maybe it'd allow the youma to live forever... oh, she -really- hoped that wasn't it.
"I'm... not sure." Canopus admitted, taking a step back and wondering if she had perhaps done something wrong. The youma was still charging, but it was slow, sluggish, obviously affected by her magic. She wasn't sure how slowing down the youma had anything to do with Longevity, but if it gave her temporary ally a chance to escape, she wasn't going to complain. "I think I've slowed it down, but now it looks like it's wearing some kind of shell..."
Of course she would not consider that until after she summoned her attack. Perhaps it was meant to preserve someone or something and the outer shell was now acting as a plate of armor, which would likely make Newgrange's efforts more difficult. She followed his example, never the less, spotting a hefty looking rock and grabbing it, slamming it against the youma but hitting the shell she gave it. "Oh no, I'm sorry! I think... I think I just made is stronger?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:43 pm
Newgrange swallowed; it definitely wasn't exactly the effect he'd wanted—but it was something, right? "It's okay," he insisted quickly. "It's better than any magic I've got, so at least we've got it moving less. If we've got time, maybe we can break the shell."
He shifted positions to get a better grip on the piece of lumber he'd grabbed and then moved; there was no need to take it easy on a youma—with or without a shell. He took great effort to make sure that when he whacked the youma it was a decent distant away from Canopus. She wasn't his enemy here, and he didn't want to hurt her. They both had the same goal—get rid of the youma.
The youma didn't seem fond of this teamwork in any capacity; it let out a shrill shriek, and even with the shell Canopus had provided, it seemed like they were causing it some harm. It flailed, awkwardly slow, and tried to scurry away but there was no way for it to outrun the two with Canopus' magic still in effect.
Newgrange might have taken sympathy on the creature had he not already known how troublesome it would be for anyone it ran into, and while he was inclined to offer mercy wherever he could, this was not the time.
He hit the youma again, relentlessly. It was moving less and looked almost like it was cracking; the final blow had to be near.
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Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:09 pm
Canopus may not have shown it at the moment, but she was extremely happy to have come across someone like Newgrange. Had it been anyone else, would she have been safe? Would they have jumped on the side of the youma? Or maybe there were more like Newgrange on the other side than she had even realized? It was not a matter to be considering right now, and given their predicament, it was quick to push it to the back of her mind.
“Maybe… it can’t last forever, right?” Canopus asked, but it was filled with uncertainty. Her sphere was all about longevity, so who was to say that the shield wouldn’t lock the youma away behind a protective barrier for all eternity? She had her doubts and for once, she put hopes on such doubts. What good was a power that made the enemy immortal? She tried her best to absorb some of Newgrange’s courage, taking the other side of the youma and slamming the rock against the shell with all her might. She never thought she’d be resorting to such violence against another, but she would apologize afterwards, when she and her companion were alive to offer such condolences. This couldn’t have been one of God’s creatures… it simply couldn’t!
She almost stopped when it gave out a shrill shriek, almost as though it were in pain, but Canopus never stopped. She closed her eyes and continued slamming the rock down over and over again. She couldn’t see it cracking, even when there came a loud ‘WHACK’, she kept her violet eyes slammed shut. What she didn’t see was the orange shell splitting and dissipating, and between their combined efforts, the body had shattered into thick, black dust, and its last cry let out into the air and was carried away with the breeze. Only when there was nothing there to hit did Canopus stop and she fell to her knees, eyes wide and looking around for the monster. She saw only black dust, and Newgrange, and she asked softly, “Where… is it gone?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 4:43 pm
Newgrange blinked when the youma shattered, but he wasn't upset in the slightest. He had exerted a little more energy than he'd noticed, and once the youma was gone, his adrenaline started to fade. Panting, he hunched forward a bit, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to fill his lungs with air again. "Just gone," he answered a few seconds later. "So far as I know, that means it isn't going to bother us again. It went back to…wherever it came from."
He took a few more seconds to try and even out his breathing and then stood up again, holding a hand out to Canopus to help her up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get anyone else involved. I tried to stop it, but it was too fast for me. I guess it's a little late for introductions, but I'm Newgrange. It's, ah, nice to meet you, thank you for helping me take care of that thing. How are you doing, you okay?"
He tried to give her a quick look over, but something about young girls in short outfits made him feel like he couldn’t look for too long without giving off the wrong vibe. Their auras were already different enough; he didn't want to give her any more reason to worry. The youma had been more than enough trouble for him and regardless of why her aura felt the way it was, he was just happy they'd been able to stop the youma before it got to someone else.
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:51 pm
It was certainly a hair raising experience for Canopus and she certainly had no idea how to feel now that the deed was done. She knew that she and Newgrange were doing the right thing and that the creature, whatever it may have been, needed to be destroyed, as no good could possibly come out of it. And yet, seeing it dissolve into dust... there was something tragic about it, something heart wrenching, and she fought down tears and bile. It may have been a monster, but it was still a living creature, and she had helped kill it...
She tried not to cry or think about the act she had just committed, even as she accepted Newgrange's assistance, taking a moment to check on him. He seemed winded but otherwise unharmed, and that offered some relief at least. She held no anger against the Page for bringing the danger to her- it would be silly to blame him for a monster's actions, right? It's not like he intentionally corralled the youma there to attack her, right? "It's alright... I'm alright, I think. No broken bones or scratches or anything, just... startled, I suppose."
She waited until she was back on her feet before introducing herself, and she gave a small curtsey with her dressed as she did so. "I'm Canopus, Dark Mirror Senshi of Longevity. It's nice you meet you, Newgrange... even under weird circumstances like this. Thanks for helping with that monster... had you not been there, I'm sure it would have eaten me or whatever those things do."
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 10:30 am
Newgrange cracked a smile, though it was without much humor. "I'm sure it wouldn't have eaten you…you'd have been fine. Your magic was really helpful—even with that shell. I was more worried about it skittering around getting away—or moving so fast we didn't have a chance. I'm lucky I ran into you—thanks," he said, and genuinely sounded like he meant it.
"Though…I know what a youma is. I can't say that I know what a Dark Mirror Senshi is. I've never heard of a senshi call themselves that."
He hesitated. "Is there a reason for that—is that why you feel different? Or is it just some fancy name for some fancy type of senshi?"
Newgrange didn't seem to have anything against her, but he still had so much in this war that he didn't understand—and Dark Mirror Senshi were one of them. Not that he understood much about normal senshi. Or the Negaverse, beyond the fact that they had youma and youma were bad.
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2014 3:12 pm
Canopus wasn't so sure that the youma wouldn't have eaten her, but she wasn't going to argue with Newgrange over such details. Maybe he was right and she would have worried for nothing, but still, the very idea of that monster breaking loose and hurting someone that couldn't fight or defend themselves left an unpleasant taste in her mouth. The Negaverse really should have been more conscious of their youma! Still, it was nice that her efforts were appreciated, and she hoped that her cheeks weren't cherry red as she mumbled, "It's... no problem. I'm glad we both made it out of this okay."
Considering he just helped her, she figured there was nothing wrong with exposing who and what she was to him. After all, if either side ever sought to seek a peaceful coexistence with one another, then there was no reason to leave others in the dark, right? Especially if learning more would perhaps open then up to the idea of their cause. "Personally I'm nothing too fancy. Just a regular senshi with a strange sphere, but I'm of the Dark Mirror Court, meaning my loyalty lies with Princess Ares, Prince Remarque, and Princess Leto. We're different because we were awakened through mirrors, as opposed to the usual methods of your own senshi. Hence the Mirror part."
She wasn't sure why she felt different from him, though she had an idea. "I'm told that we carry Chaos in our bodies, so that's probably why we feel different from you. We're also different from the Negaverse, so... that might be why we don't feel the same as they do? We were once allies, but not anymore, last I checked. Not sure why, but... that's just how it goes, I guess. I'm sorry if the way I feel offends you... you didn't have to help me, but I'm eternally grateful. Is there any way I can repay you?"
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:44 pm
Newgrange had been following along, nodding with each new tidbit of information, though seemed surprised when she apologized. "No, no. You haven't offended me in the slightest, and you don't have to worry about repaying me. I don't care if you fell out of the sky or popped out of the ground, I wasn't going to let that thing get you."
Well, at least—not if there was anything he could do about it.
He didn't want to admit that he really hadn't met anyone from the Negaverse and had no idea what to expect from their aura; had she not said that she carried chaos within her, he might not have figured it out for himself.
"I'm just happy to have met you. Feels a little better getting a taste of what else is out there. Though, I admit—I haven't heard much of the Dark Mirror Court. Or, ah…any of those names. But the awakening through mirrors doesn't sound too bad. The Chaos, though…isn't that something the concerns you? I mean, I always thought the Chaos was bad, can you get it out of you?"
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