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 Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 6:41 pm
Chariklo had never made time for church as a civilian and certainly hadn't thought much of it as a Senshi of the Dark Mirror Court. But Bianca had wanted to see the bell tower of Destiny City's main catholic church. And Chariklo hadn't had the heart to tell her no.
As the two stod on the sleeply sloped roof of the church, Chariklo turned to her petite companion and waved her hand.
"Well, what do you think? Worth breaking patrol to come see?"
She tried to sound cross. Tried to look stern. But when it came to Bianca, she always failed miserably. The short girl's dark eyes always seemed to twinkle with hidden amusement. And she knew instinctively when Chariklo was trying to put her on. Privately, Chariklo considered Bianca the sister she'd never had, but always wanted. And to have her as a team-mate... well. If she were not adamantly not-religious, she might have fallen to her knees to thank God right then.
---------------
For her part, Sailor Jadis (aka Bianca Traglione) treasured that her teacher and friend had thought enough of her to bring her to the church. Above them, the wind blew through the bell tower, moving the bell just enough to lend a soft, heavy ting to the air around them. It was beautiful here.
"Yes," she said in simple reply to both questions. "Thank you for doing this for me. Amytis will not mind?"
Upsetting Amytis was something that Jadis lived in horror of. Not only because she was so important to Chariklo, but also for her own sake. Jadis had few enough true friends to risk alienating any of them. She saw Chariklo shake her head in a quick negation and smiled crookedly.
"I am glad. She has too many worries as it is and I do not wish to add to them."
Then, "We could practice the song have been teaching you, if you like?"
It was a silly thing, but it was part of the cement that sealed their friendship. Chariklo had never teased her for her particular love of the Heroes of Olympus books or the fact that she shared names with one of the series tragic characters. Not to mention Italian in the bargain. That she'd found a song on the internet in italian and written purposely as a fan work for the series. Well. It passed the time and Chariklo was a better singer than most.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:43 pm
The tones of change rode heavy on the wind, beckoning rebellion to those who would heed its caresses. Bischofite evaluated himself as one of many, one of an unknown legion rallied together by one general cloaked beneath a mask. And had that general approached with anything less than an all-out declaration of war, Bischofite would've scoffed in his direction. Half-measures wore too thin these days; stagnation crept into the corners of the city where the shadows camped for their last meals. If nothing else, such a miraculous show of force against a counterfeit court may yet lure his posthuman allies from the depths of the sewers and the caves of the Rift.
But suspicions ran rampant within the ranks, and given his own tarnished reputation... The feathered general recognized that he could not afford any reservations toward his belief in their cause. Should they meet failure, he expected death - for anything less indicated that no one truly believed he poured his all into the task of annihilation.
And for someone who wore skulls as nameless war trophies about his belt, doubt in such regard was intolerable.
In sprinting through the city's vast expanse, testing the limits of his recovering wellness, a pair of telling signatures accosted his senses. Drawing to a stop not far from the great church looming prominently over the town square, the misanthrope's gaze prodded his environment meticulously for any signs of the origins to those auric energies. Surely enough, a pair dawdled at the base of the church, engrossed in each other's company.
In closing his eyes, the general called to mind the whisk of feathers against his arm, marble skin gleaming in the dim lanterns of night, swaths of white hair barely tamed in a loose ponytail. He listened for the whispers and moans of voices aplenty, all while her lips remained pursed. And lastly, he remembered the sharp fingers encased in strange, monstrous carapace. And surely enough, a soft grasp lit on his shoulders as the curious youma formed her appearance at once. "Malicious," he offered, each syllable as much command as greeting. "Do you remember my mentions of a revolution? Ze Vordenker and his promise to annihilate zat petulant court of dead children?"
A low, lilting laugh confirmed her memory. Her grip on his shoulder tightened as she hoisted herself marginally off the ground, silvery eyes peering in the direction of his pointed gesture. "Are we starting on our own, General?"
"No - to do so would be folly. However-"
"You want to prove yourself to him, don't you? Don't try to hide it; you can't keep anything from your youma." Finally she lighted on the ground in her typical light step, and gestured with her carapace-laden hand toward the pair near the church. "The one on the right looks a little weaker. If you want him to know you're serious, take her starseed."
The general looked on in silence, unmoved by her suggestion.
"Quit dwelling on it like it's a tough decision. Unless you were thinking about taking both their starseeds and feeding one to me..." The youma leaned against her general and tugged on his sleeve in hopes of eliciting a favorable reaction.
However, Bischofite only shoved the birdlike youma toward the edge of the precipice. "Quiet, Malicious. Distract zem, and I will steal ze weaker one away to ze bell tower. If ze stronger one pursues you, use your ability to buy yourself time to escape to ze Rift." Afterward the general started toward the lip of the roof.
"It's a shame that you're letting this Vordenker run the show, you know. You're much more suited to the part." Malicious bounded off the roof soon afterward, splitting off from her general and approaching the pair of Dark Mirror entities at a quick clip. Perhaps it was brazen to approach them at such an angle, but her orders were clear.
Besides, to taste one of their starseeds proved a delectable reward for such a simple mission.Twilight Jaws hope this works! if anything needs changing just aim me!
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:54 am
Chariklo had grinned and started to reply when her body went ramrod straight. Holding up a hand to signal for quiet, she turned and tilted her head as if trying to listen for something.
Or at least that was how it looked to Jadis. Against the edges of her own perception, she could feel something, but had no idea what exactly it is. Clearly the same was not true for Chariklo. Jadis withdrew into herself slightly, determined to keep our of her superior's way. Only when Chariklo herself seemed to shake off whatever had bothered her did Jadis venture to speak.
"Are you all right? Is something wrong?" she asked breathlessly.
Only to be bowled over in the next moment.
-----------------------
The tall, mohawked senshi went still as she caught the edges of a Chaotic aura against her senses. Something in her stomach fluttered softly, though she was used to Chaos auras.
Meh, it was probably misplaced nerves thanks to what had happened to Amytis at the hands of a psycho White Mooner. Chariklo was ready to laugh it off and dismiss the feeling as nerves when something hit her from behind and sent her flying across the roof.
What. The. Hell.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 7:42 pm
Surmounting the tower proved vastly different than the cliffs of the Rift, but her encrusted feet found purchase regardless. Malicious scaled its various precipices in practice, wings fluttering lightly in a curious expression of energy as she crested the great bell tower. Soon she crested its open balcony, just behind the large bell that blocked her direct vision to her target. However, a few quick, lilting steps covered the ground necessary to launch herself into the air with a kick aimed toward the super senshi. And once her foot struck exposed flesh, a guttural hiss accompanied by moans emanated from her form.
While Malicious breached the balcony, Bischofite overshot it entirely in favor of lighting atop the steep, conical roof crowning the tower. He crouched atop the lip of the precarious precipice, gold eyes scanning toward the breathtakingly distant ground for some indication that Malicious succeeded in her task. Surely enough, a mohawked super senshi took flight in a somewhat comical manner. Seeing such an incident as signal enough, Bischofite about-faced on the roof and grasped the edge tightly enough to swing downward toward the remaining auric energy in a tackle that sent the two into the bowels of the tower.
Initially their intertwined fall was broken by a wooden ladder, splintering beneath her back in great, jagged shards while the pair fell through its remains. Splinters accosted the feathered general's face, with a singular scrap of wood tearing through the bulk of his uniform and grazing his side. However, his focus on this impossibly weak Dark Mirror b*****d of Remarque's quelled all pain for the time being - no single source could stop him outside of a stake to the heart. A snarl seized his features to feral proportions while the general finally called his weapons to grasp - two deadly chakrams poised for assault.
And at that moment, the girl squirmed from beneath the weight of their collective predicament, scrambling under the guidance of adrenaline to move just a little faster, just a little further into the belly of the tower to seek some desperate sanctity from her sudden assailant.
Straightening, Bischofite rounded on a heel and paced with purpose about the circular room, peering around accompanying bells or dusty boxes for some sign of the girl whose auric energies felt so irritatingly weak. The misanthropic general only snarled further in light of the lull in his plans. "I'f no time for your petulant dallying, senshi. Your life will stoke a fire so great zat it will consume zis city, you see - I cannot afford to let you lif'." Afterward, he froze - gold eyes prodded his environment for any scrap of movement.
There.
The whisper of a translucent sash across the ground, peering out from behind a stack of crates. The general crested the pile almost immediately, chakrams brandished as he descended upon the girl. With a growling hiss, he seized her pointless sash and summoned the strength to banish her to the lower bowels of the tower in a show of force and hatred.
Atop the tower, Malicious waved facetiously to the super senshi below. Her job was to distract from the cacophony within by whatever means necessary - and she fully intended to fulfill this role. Both her plans - and her general's - depended on it.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:36 am
Sunset eyes went wide as they caught the source for her graceless tumble. Youma. Holy ******** balls, a youma had attacked her! Confusion warred for a moment with chilling anger. Okay, so they weren't exactly Best Buds anymore, but she'd thought that the Court and the Negaverse at least were maintaining a polite neutrality with each other.
Apparently she'd been mistaken.
At the sight of the youma waving to her, Chariklo found herself snarling, well, if that was the youma wanted to be...
Launching herself at the monster, Chariklo spared the briefest of thoughts for Jadis. Jadis was a smart kid, she'd be okay.
-------------
Jadis was, most assuredly, Not Okay. She was terrified out of her mind, had splintered shards of ladder in her back and was currently the target of a homicidal crazy man. Shivering slightly as she crawled further into the shadows, she wondered if Chariklo was all right. What if she was outside and unconscious? What if Scary, Crazy Man decided to go after her instead?
I am still alive and awake, she thought. If she could keep her teacher and friend from harm, wasn't it her duty as a member of the Court to try? A whisper of movement broke the silence as she held her breath and listened to the tall male speak. Only when he'd stopped talking did she feel a spark of anger ignite deep in her heart. Because she refused to go out and let him kill her, she was being petulant? Really? But oh, she did not like the sound of her life stoking any fires that would consume a city.
It was time to get out of here. Biting her lips to keep from making any sound, she reached behind her and grabbed one of the longer ladder fragments that had lodged itself into her flesh. Taking a deep breath, she yanked it out, hissing softly through her nose.
And for a moment, she'd thought that she'd managed to not draw attention to her hiding place. She hadn't realized just how very badly her attacker wanted her dead.
Suddenly, he was over the crates sheltering her. Even as she scrabbled to get away she felt the tug on her sash and reacted blindly. Had to get away! Run! Move! Without thinking, she lashed out with her impromptu weapon and put it through her sash. The sound of cloth tearing filled her world as she continued to scrabble and flail.
And to curse her magic which, unlike Chariklo's couldn't be used for attack. Her's was a distraction at best. Just noise. Just... noise...? Noise! Her magic wouldn't stop Mr. Homicidal, but if Chariklo was awake, it would let her know that Jadis needed help.
"Jadis Song!" she gasped, calling the magic up and letting the energy swirl around as it created a shrill thin voice lifted in wordless song. And in the bowels of the bell tower, that voice echoed and grew in volume. If Chariklo was out there, she'd here it.
Hopefully, it would not be too late by then.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:08 am
With a hushed squawk, Malicious backed from the banister toward the stairs descending into the tower. Utter derision led her to snarl at the mohawked senshi, be it from some ancient conditioning or recent experiences, and she drew breath into the plethora of mouths dotting her back. The youma recognized her orders involved distracting the senshi, not attacking it, but Malicious already picked through the thin cluster of phrases to understand that he did not ban her from a well-timed strike or two. Why deny oneself the pleasure?
Now dauntingly close to her, the crowlike youma loosed a shrill screech spanning several sets of vocal chords, maintaining enough volume to stun for a short duration - even if the act itself did not strike temporary horror into her foe. However, Malicious could not deny herself the one small pleasure, so she took a clawed swipe at the senshi's cheek before summoning the energy to return to the Rift.
She knew her general would be crippled if she lingered - and he knew that she fully expected a starseed for her services.
Inside the bell tower, Bischofite recognized that shriek instantly. Surely enough, seconds later her auric energies faded to absence as she left him to his own devices. Not long after, the strange and somehow mystifying sound of foreign singing drew his attention. The lull in his movements did not last; the remainder of her break from assault ended with the push of booted toes against the floor as he launched himself toward her once more.
As the largest church in the area, the bell tower spans several stories, he thought inwardly as his hand found purchase on her throat. So how many stories can you endure before your back splinters into your organs and your skull caves in from impact? We've a long way yet, senshi, and you'll be the brace for my fall. Like Lucifer I am, possessed of hubris and the intent to reconstruct the Negaverse to better working order. These are my heavens - and you'll soon meet yours. With his grip tightened on soft flesh, their temporary freefall broke beneath a cluster of barrels. To his dismay, they did not fracture into the ragdoll body of a senshi beneath him.
Now poised above her, Bischofite drew a lone chakram back before plunging it into the sinew just above her clavicle, gathering enough force to sink the blade into the wood below. "I know what it's like to face deas', senshi - I suspect we'f all crossed its pas' at least once. But zis war... it's a necropolis. It prolongs its own life srough ze murder of anozzer, and only srough bones heaped atop bones can it continue to rule zis city. Zat means, senshi, I haf' no interest in obstructing its rancorous rampage."
With her now pinned between his weight and the chakram's biting grasp, Bischofite possessed a clear shot to her starseed. Slowly he removed the gloves from his hand before draping them across the girl's eyes.
She would die a blind as she was when she entered this war.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:40 am
Chariklo felt herself stumble in her headlong charge as the youma screeched. Clapping her hands involuntarily to her ears she felt her face twist into a stunned grimace. In a distant corner or her mind, she thought that she would quite like to find the person responsible for creating the first youma and punch them right in their god-damned face.
And then, she was rocking back in pain, eyes flying wide open as she felt claws tear through her cheek. But even before she could react, the youma was already gone. Holy balls, it was fast. Holding a hand to her cheek to try and stop the bleeding, Chariklo grimaced again. ********, it hurt! And judging by what she could feel, she was likely going to need stitches. Oh yeah. That'd be fun to explain to the doctors.
See, it was like this, Doc...
THen, a shrill song caught her flagging attention. That... that was Jadis' magic. Oh shitballs, Jadis! Whipping her head around, she caught the faint edges not only of the song, but also a thin, ragged scream. Cheek forgotten for the moment, Chariklo leapt for the bell tower. It was the only place that could echo a scream like that.
Please, she thought frantically, please let her be okay. Let me be in time.
-------------------
They were falling. With the fingers of the man above her clasped on her throat, she couldn't even scream as she felt her already injured back collide with objects that didn't give way under their combined, plummeting weights. Then, a cluster of barrels brought the fall to a stop and though they hadn't broken under her, she could feel something inside her body had broken. Probably several somethings, she thought with an odd sort of detachment.
She could feel something sticking under her head as she tried feebly to fight back. Had her head been cut? Above her, she could see starbursts around the figure who crouched over her body, could pick up a few words, though none of them made any sense.
What did pierce the languor taking over her body came in the form of a chakram plunging through flesh and sinew and sticking in the wood below her body. Jadis became the scream that tore from her throat, shrill, piercing and full of unimaginable pain. For Jadis, it seemed to last forever. In reality, the scream lasted for perhaps a minute before her body couldn't sustain the energy to keep it going.
Tears poured down her cheeks as she gasped and whimpered under the weight of her attacker. He was doing something with his hands.. taking off a glove? It was hard to be sure in the dim lighting and her vision seemed to be flickering in and out. Only when she felt the gloves being draped over her eyes did she try to fight in spite of the blade sticking though her flesh.
No, she wanted to scream. No, please don't. I don't want to die in the dark like this. Please don't... Please...
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:00 am
Only when her gaze met with pure blindness did the senshi finally exhibit her survival instinct, to which Bischofite smiled. As she fought, clawed and struggled to free herself of her murderous burden, the feathered general squeezed the damaged flesh surrounding his chakram. However, he wanted his sole audience conscious for the final act, so he released his grip in due time and elected to pin her arms against the shattered barrel just behind her head.
"Zere are... a few rules in zis life, senshi, and I am certain you are aware of zem. Ze first: everysing dies. You, me, ze White Moon, your cousin's pet cat. No one can escape it - saf'e for, perhaps, ze youma.
"However, few murders haf' ze privilege of sparking somesing new - yet yours has zat opportunity. Ze Dark Mirror Court will soon find itself extinct, entirely erased from zis damnable planet, and your life is ze catalyst for such change. Ze spark to light a wildfire..." Drawing a breath, Bischofite sighed. "You should be honored." No one of our side will claim such a death - not even I, assuming Thraen still finds himself committed to the task. A sole senshi to stoke the fires... Would Remarque rise to the occasion? Would Leto? Perhaps the latter, and that might be enough. As the sole driving force behind the Dark Mirror Court beyond her useless and lackadaisical subordinate, she would mark a pinnacle victory. Even if that petulant weasel gets away...
The accompanying senshi's signature drew close - he hadn't much time now to complete the act. Straightening up, Bischofite gestured with his index and thumb. "Rule two - pain is ze key to change. In your case, it marks ze change toward ze inevitable. In your partner's case..." The misanthrope glanced toward the boarded ceiling, listening for the frantic footfalls of a fretting friend. "Ze pain she suffers due to your deas' will change her irrevocably. It will be a pleasant sight, seeing as your court affords nossing but floundering and perverting ze natural law. I wonder if she'll mourn you, child? If she'll dismiss your downfall as good riddance? Or perhaps, even yet, she will try to strike me down wis' every last scrap of energy in her body and die alongside you - in a more valiant fashion, at least."
Finally Bischofite traced imaginary symbols into the senshi's chest before his fingertips dipped beneath the surface of her skin, following with the remainder of his hand. Surely enough, there it was - a strange, chaotic starseed pulsing warmly in the depths of her chest. A second heart, of sorts. Slowly his fingers curled around the seed, for now refraining from tightening their hold. It wouldn't matter much; the systemic pain emanating from even touching a starseed often peeled yelps from their victims. "Rule sree," he began, but promptly cut himself off with a jerk of his head toward the stairs. "So it seems your friend is quicker zan I sought. Let's gif' her a show to remember, shall we?" A low, whistling laugh emanated from the back of his throat.
"Do you hear zat, senshi?" He shouted at the new arrival. His grip on the girl's starseed tightened to the point of cracking the frail gem. "Pain is ze key...
"To change," he finished as he reaped the starseed from her chest.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:32 am
In the tiny, dim corner of herself, Jadis wanted to laugh at this man. Laugh at the idea of anything destroying the Dark Mirror Court, destroying Chariklo. Even through the monstrous pain and fear, she wanted to laugh right in his face. As for feeling honored... maybe if she was able to kick him right in the balls. Then she'd feel honored.
Instead all she could do was retreat further inside of herself to try and escape the pain and the words raining down upon her.
It was only when she could feel his fingers somehow in her chest and grasping something that she hadn't really know existed did she scream again. His laughter mingled and blended into one horrible noise in her ears.
Make it stop, she thought frantically. Make it stop, make it stop, please please please...
This was a pain and a violation beyond anything she could have ever imagined.
And when her starseed was ripped from her chest, she felt her body convulse as she gave a shocked gasp.
And then true darkness began to close in.
------------
Following the echoes of Jadis' scream, Chariklo ignored her torn and bleeding cheek, ignored the bruises she was acquiring in her headlong rush to reach the other girl. She even ignored the way she bounced off of a broken bit of ladder, cutting her thigh in the process. Though, some deep instinct made her grab the broken strut of wood. She only wished she could have found a broken clay tile to grab with it.
The further she descended, the better she could hear the soft murmur of a single, masculine voice punctuated by what would only be soft moans of pain coming from Jadis.
Faster, faster, faster, she spurned herself to greater speed, forcing herself to focus only on reaching Jadis and stopping whatever the ******** was going on down there. And...
There. Now she could see them and for a moment, she wanted to freeze and throw up. A lot. Such a thing shouldn't have been allowed to happen. As her startled eyes took in the tableau, she saw a tall, be-feathered man crouched over Jadis, pulling his hand from her chest with a small, delicate starseed clasped within his fingers.
A scream tore herself from Chariklo's throat letting loose all of her fear, rage and shock as she launched herself at the man. She knew so little about starseeds, but she knew enough to know that she had to get it back quickly before Jadis.. before Bianca's life faded away entirely. And if this.. this <********> wanted to play mean, well, she'd be happy to oblige. Let's see how he liked a faceful of Angry Senshi Magic.
"Mobbing Cry!"*Sailor Chariklo emits a harsh, squawking call that seems to come from more than one throat and it feels as through a small swarm of wings are attacking. Able to perform three time per battle if needed. The attack is now able to encompass 2 to 3 people if they are not standing too far apart (about a 5'-7' radius). The targets are now in danger of being knocked silly as well as painful bruising around the head and shoulders. Also, the wings take on just the barest, tiniest shimmering definition of shape. Attack duration is now 30-45 seconds. Also, should the main target of the attack try to escape, the attack will follow them for about 5 seconds.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:40 am
With starseed in hand, Bischofite pocketed his acquisition and turned toward his new assailant - the Dark Mirror super that Malicious successfully stalled moments ago. Sliding off the now prone body, the general whirled around to face her. A curious noise emanated from the girl almost immediately, followed by a violent pelting sensation. The general winced as a sharp cut of feathers slid across his cheek, and even as he backed toward the window, no amount of movement seemed to deter the strange magics. Only when he he peered through the irritating pain did he finally spot the vague, almost invisible images of wings buffeting around him.
After loosing a chakram in her direction to deter immediate pursuit, Bischofite darted along the wall toward a set of stairs leading deeper into the building. As painful as it was to run through the plethora of wings striking at him, the depths of the church found more promise than lingering in the midst of an avian onslaught.
Rounding the banister, Bischofite grunted when a wing caught him behind the ear to a painful degree, but he kept to his course even as he lifted his free hand to check for blood around his piercings. "Scheiß," he cursed to the increasing darkness in the depths of the tower. Was there no end to this damnably irritating attack? No amount of movement dissuaded it, and swatting at the wings amounted to the same idiocy as swatting at air... Even breaking eye contact with his form proved unsuccessful.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the general spotted next to nothing useful - a cloth covered what he assumed was a large painting in the corner of the room, more barrels dotted the area, a small collection of donated wares and celebrated paintings leaned against the far wall in apparent neglect. A door marked a small closet, and with a painful glance over his shoulder, the general confirmed he still had some measure of time to explore the place before the mirror b***h caught up with him.
And oh, what wonders he found in there...
Lamp oil in jugs, jars, and other containers lined a shelf in the closet, enough to amount to a veritable fire hazard. While he preferred gasoline for his arson needs, he found kerosene amounted to a comparable alternative. While the closet lacked enough to set the whole tower ablaze, he had plenty to douse his foe... Or her friend on the cusp of demise.
"Face me, senshi..." He called lowly to the rafters. His narrow, derisive gaze combed the darkness for any signs of her presence beyond the flitting wings that still assailed him. Slowly he reached into the closet to usurp one of the containers, a large glass mason jar with a homemade metal handle. "Surely you want to reclaim ze foreign soul of your companion, or at least avenge her deas'... Do you sink she wanted to die here, senshi? Do you sink she wanted to perish by losing her starseed in ze bell tower of a church? You can haf' it back if you tell Remarque I said hello." Bischofite indulged himself in a low, mirthless laugh before the slap of a wing cut him off.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:17 pm
Hard on the heels of what Chariklo could only assume was an officer of the Negaverse, she had paused only long enough to gently scoop Jadis up. Thankfully, her magic was keeping the man too busy defending himself. Carefully cradling her team mate, the tall Dark Mirror darted down the steps in pursuit. When he rounded the banister, still swatting at the invisible wings, Chariklo held back a moment.
Then, she jumped the banister, folding her own body around that of Jadis. She landed hard, feeling something in her ankle snap. Stifling a pained yelp, she laid Jadis down before straightening and forcing herself to stand between her friend and the officer.
Eyes scanning the darkness as she spoke, she took note of anything that she might be able to use as a weapon.
"Well, a*****e? I'm facing you. And frankly? Not impressed. No one wants some homicidal shitstain to hurt them."
Choosing to ignore that barb about Remarque, Chariklo instead opted to throw caution to the wind. Throwing herself and the officer, she ignored her own pain. All she wanted was to make this guy hurt. Her fists were already striking out wildly. Deep down, she knew she needed to get herself and Jadis away.
Unfortunately, reason had taken a backseat to raw emotion.Strickenized I hate this keyboard. Also sorry for terribleness. [quote="Strickenized]
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:36 am
Bischofite smiled at her disdainful comments, her hurt-turned-rage toward his very person. a*****e. Homicidal shitstain. She hated him now, hated what he embodied, hated his actions and his visage and his intentions all the same. Perfekt, he thought. The spark caught. It's time to stoke the fire. "No one wants to get hurt, senshi, but zey need it. Zey need it to change, else zey will stagnate. You should sank me - for wis'out my assistance, you haf' no reason to hone your skills." Lips curled into a baleful laugh just before the mohawked senshi reached him, and moments before her strike, the general dissipated.
Her touch met air, clean and clear and unobtrusive.
Now the general loomed over the body at his feet, prone without the starseed that now pulsed in the depths of his coat. Leaning over, Bischofite feigned thorough examination of the one that was to die at his hand. "Tell me, senshi - what is zis life wors' to you? Is it wors' your own? You could trade. I might just drop zis starseed back into her chest if you forfeit yours in exchange. Ozzerwise..." Wrenching the lid from the canister of lamp oil, the misanthrope dumped the kerosene contents atop the body in even distribution. The rank scent assaulted his nose almost immediately, but nothing compared to the coming pungent stench of a human body cooking at amplified temperatures.
Stepping backward slightly, Bischofite prodded the pockets of his coat to produce a lighter. Extending it outward, his thumb raked across the rolling flint to spark a singular flame. A mix of memories called into his concentration as he watched the flame dance before the senshi's visage, old thoughts that rekindled a searing ache across his body from times long past. "I'll let you in on a secret, senshi. I'f set myself on fire before - so immolating someone else is far easier by comparison. She won't scream when ze flames catch her, you know. She won't cry. She won't gasp for air and crawl toward you as her savior. Do you know why, senshi? Does your bastardized kind understand ze significance of ze starseed? You should find out soon.
"I am reasonable to some extent, senshi. Use zis to your advantage. You haf' sree seconds to decide - your life or hers. However... I wonder if you haf' less zan zat before her powered form fades and all you haf' to trade for is a corpse. Are you ready, zen?" Bischofite narrowed his gaze at the boisterous, determined senshi. Hisl ips twitched just before he started the countdown.
"Drei." The word felt heavy in the dank depths of the bell tower.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 4:53 am
Right. She should thank him for being an awful person. Sure. Why not. She'd thank him with her fists. Punches were the new flowers, after all. Except, he siddenly wasn't there anymore and Chariklo found herself stumbling and catching herself on the cloth-draped rectangle. What had just... Oh. Right. Officers could fricken' teleport. Good job remembering your Negaverse facts, Chariklo.
He was already talking again as she steadied herself and started to turn to attempt launching a second attack. Only to completely freeze as the heavy, bitter scent reached her nose.
Oh no. He wouldn't. Would he? Chariklo raised her eyes to meet the officer's. Oh yeah. He would. s**t. Somehow, she doubted that he'd hold to any promises of a trade that he might make.
"You," she hissed softly, "are completely ******** insane."
She couldn't control the shudder than ran up her spine as he talked so casually of setting himself on fire. Nor could she control the tears to began to spill from her sunset-colored eyes. There was no doubt that he'd set the lighter to the kerosene soon. But maybe she could stall him. Somehow buy herself enough time to think.
Chariklo allowed her shoulders to slump in defeat as she took a wobbly step backwards and rested her back against the cool cloth.
She loved Bianca like a sister. Bianca was a team-mate, a Dark Mirror and frankly, Bianca was family. But, deep in her mind a coldly logical and pragmatic voice was whispering that Bianca was also not as skilled as Chariklo herself. She wasn't an experienced fighter and if Chariklo were to attempt this mad trade, she'd be depriving the Court of a needed fighter. No, she thought, heart sinking, she couldn't trade her life for Bianca's. Not when that trade might hurt the Court.
And not when she knew that too much time had passed for Bianca's starseed to do her any good. Maybe if she'd been uninjured. But her body had been brutalized even before the theft of her starseed. It would be cruel to revive her into a broken and dying body with this.. this <******** animal around.
But he didn't have to know that she was anything but shocked and stupid right now.
"Please," she whispered, voice cracking from the need to sob, to throw her head back and howl her grief to the skies. "Don't. Don't do that to her. I... I'll behave, okay?"
Allowing her body to slump a little more as if in defeat, Chariklo was carefully wrapping her fingers into the cloth. Let him think me weak, she thought. For the sake of the Court she was anything but.
Once she had a decent grip on the cloth, she simply stood there as if waiting for her own death. Instead, her brain was racing. Throw the cloth at him, she thought. Try to get it over his head. Grab Bianca and run like ******** hell. Of course, he could teleport, but maybe the cloth would give them enough time to get a decent head start.
Maybe.
Tears still streaming from her eyes, she turned slightly as if trying to hide from the scene before her. That was when she moved. Whipping the cloth from whatever it was covering, she spun and threw it out like a net. And apparently someone listened to the prayers of distraught senshi, because Chariklo caught a glimpse of a mirror hiding under her new impromptu weapon. Quick, she screamed to herself. Move, you dumb b***h. Move!
Following the cloth as it rippled and spread out, she slid to where Bianca lay and grabbed the other girl. Then, she had Bianca's body half in her arms and was racing for the mirror. The mirror would save them. With a glance over her shoulder to see the face of the officer, fear gave Chariklo the edge she needed to cross the room and leap through the mirror, dragging Bianca with her. And if there was a God out there and he was kind, the officer wouldn't be able to follow.
For the first time in her life as a Dark Mirror senshi, Chariklo was absolutely terrified and she didn't stop running through Mirrorspace until she had Jadis' body tumbled out of a different mirror clear across town.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:12 pm
Bischofite eyed her coolly through her sudden shift toward pleading. He didn't like it. Though he knew too little of her to surmise crocodile tears, he simply detested the easy win stemming from this deal. Why swap herself for some belligerent child doused in kerosene? "I promise to leaf' her be should you follow srough wis' ze provided deal." As he spoke, he watched her sunset eyes for chance glimmers of treachery, mirror to his own. After all, with her dead, what point was loyalty to a corpse? All it took was a flick of his lighter to reduce her weaker partner to cinders, and who would be the wiser to assume that a church burnt down due to the pair's mischievous antics?
Who bothered to know the story behind crimes, these days, with the perpetrators outnumbering the police?
Stepping over the body irreverently, the hems of his coat sweeping across the kerosene coating her face, Bischofite approached the mohawked senshi sporting an utterly stoic countenance. Dead eyes stared back at hers, unassuming and patient. With a little luck, she might surprise him - she might breathe a little excitement into such a tired exchange. It was all he could expect from dead bodies puppeted by dead dreams.
As he extended his arm toward her, level with the breastbone that provided pointless protection over her starseed, movement caught his eye and he hesitated. A cloth, worn and mottled grey in appearance, swooped over him from behind the senshi's back, and Bischofite seethed in a snarling hiss as he recoiled into the fabric. The chance dodge only entrapped him further, and every second wasted amounted to another second spent in limbo. Would she set fire to him, as he intended to her partner? Would she douse him in lamp oil and leave him to rot in the heavy fumes of kerosene? Why wait? He thought. Why stick around beneath this grungy scrap of cloth and wait to feel the flames again? I can do better than this. Better than her.
Summoning weapons to grip, Bischofite split the cloth in two crosswise slashes, allowing the ribbons of fabric to pol around him in a slow exposure of his visage. A quick glance about confirmed that he wasted too much time - the mohawked senshi already hoisted her partner over her shoulder and sprinted toward her original location, which harbored... a mirror? A damnable mirror in a place like this? With a snarl, Bischofite peeled after her at his quickest speed, forcing withered legs to work against the unforgiving wood floors as he tried desperately to close the distance in time. Inwardly he cursed himself for the weakness that wasted him so - for all those night spent idle in the throes of drug abuse. Permanent damage. Permanent weakness.
Surely enough, even as he tried at last to hurl a chakram toward the back of her head, the weapon struck the mirror in an ear-piercing screech and Bischofite himself slammed into its surface, with enough force to leave a sizable crack. A gloved fist struck the mirror afterward, as he watched the twin images shimmer and fade. He laughed - a low, whistling, derisive sound. "Nicely done, senshi... So you'f stolen away wis' her wors'less body. Are you planning to eat it, girl? Are you going to consume her strengs' and claim it as your own? Somehow I suspect even zat measure of repurposing is beyond your narrow scope of action.
"Lay her on ze pyre and burn her to ze heavens, zen. Bury her in ze ground. Spread her ash across ze ocean, for every fish to wear upon zeir scales. It matters so little now, while I hold zis catalyst in my hands..." Dismissing his weapons, the general chanced another glance at the starseed he hid within his coat earlier. It gleamed darkly, almost menacingly with the taint of Chaos.
"Hörst du mich*, senshi? Pain is ze key to change." With a smile, Bischofite aimed a strike toward the surface that splintered the mirror irreparably.Twilight Jaws *[Informal] Do you hear me? and close! thank you sinny!
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