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 Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:42 pm
For the first time in weeks, it wasn’t freezing, and the recent snow was already mostly melted. Although Cybele was thrilled by the comparably balmy weather, the mess of slushy mud that the park had become was a bit disappointing. She’d better luck than usual finding people there over the past few weeks, but she wasn’t going to risk cold water in her less than protective heels just for tradition’s sake. There were plenty of drier places where the Negaverse lurked, she was sure, and perhaps if she left her comfort zone she would finally find someone from her own faction to talk to. Tonight she would hunt on the city streets instead. In reality, of course, it just meant walking past dark buildings and brighter streetlights and occasionally some graffiti or empty cars instead of leafless trees and park benches and fountains. There was salt on the sidewalks keeping them more or less dry, however, so it was worth the change to duller scenery. When she felt a chaos aura in the distance, it became even more worth it. She picked up her pace as she started towards it, as silent as one could be when half running in heels on concrete.
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:37 pm
So the city can be its own entity, she says. We'll see how well it compares to the birches, the cherry trees, the aspens that form the woods that I know. Concrete and rebar are no longer mere fixtures, with rust and weathering as their comparisons to moss. People build and tear down. She is right in that. It evolves, but it does not breathe. Still, it houses its own set of endemic species. Us included.
We hunt ourselves just the same - through pine or pipe. It bids us no difference.
Umber tore his gaze from the quiet river beneath the bridge when he felt the slow buildup of auric energy in the distance. It felt foreign, grating as a headache behind the eyes, which placed it as an enemy of some sort. He knew not which, or how powerful. Directionality itself seemed difficult to manage at this stage, with nothing more specific than 'in that vicinity'. Whatever it was, it approached at a clip that built up the invading energy at a quick pace. Umber estimated that he had little time to counteract the approach before his visitor would be upon him.
A quick glance in both directions confirmed no legitimate area to hide - no stalled cars or any kind of maintenance area that might hide him from sight. Instead, he only had a lengthy run to the nearest building on either side, which left him in the open for too long. And his last potential hiding area lay directly beneath him - which proved at least quick for obscuring his visage. He went for the latter and scaled the fence hemming in any pedestrians with relative ease. Once he swung both legs over the top and walked himself down the rear of the fence, effectively hanging from the very bottoms offered him enough distance from the concrete bottom to make a quick scan for any kind of piping or suspended cable he might use to hide for a lengthier time - at least until the approaching creature gave up its search.
Nothing lay on the underside of the bridge, but a pipe mounted alongside it offered a perfect foothold to crouch down beneath the surface. And given its stability, he could use it as a springboard to jump over the fencing entirely. After lying flat against the pipe, he waited for the incoming force to discover the area bereft of Negaverse officers and move on out of impatience.
If nothing else, he hoped for an edge on the first strike.
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Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:09 pm
The chase was exciting at first, with her hair flowing back in the wind she was creating, the soft moonlight showing her where to go, and most importantly, the aura getting closer and closer. Of course, auras weren't much help when trying to track at close distances, and by the time the aura had become just a feeling of looming nearby darkness, there was still no Negaverser nearby that Cybele could see. It was discouraging. A quick glance around didn't reveal anyone, or even anywhere where someone would probably be. She refused to even look at the other side of the river, at first, not until she'd checked behind the small trash can that was the only place someone could possibly conceal themselves, and up and down the empty sidewalk a few times. The aura wasn't moving, though, and that meant they were probably doing something, hurting someone, and the on the other shore, there was a commercial looking area with alleys and everything that looked considerably more promising. Between Cybele and the other side of the river was a bridge that she really did not want to cross. She walked towards it slowly, reminding herself that she had been almost choked to death and been trapped in fires and had had someone seconds away from pulling out her soul. She had seen others tortured, ripped apart, and presumably turned into monsters. Compared to that, a drop of ten feet or so was nothing… logically. In reality, her attempt at a pep talk did nothing to make her feel better, especially as she remembered that most of her worst moments as a senshi had happened the few times she had forced herself onto rooftops and other high places. Chaos and heights were bad on their own and worse when mixed, and this was a height, and there was Chaos around somewhere, so it was very plausible that things were about to go horribly wrong. She took her first step onto the bridge, breathing deeply. With everyone intent on using their superpowers to leap from roof to roof, she was going to have to face her fear eventually. At least the bridge had guardrails and was designed to carry several tons of metal whenever necessary, and so she walked across, one step at a time, eyes locked on the ground right in front of her, fists sweaty and white knuckled. I can do this, she told herself, but that was quickly replaced by I’m going to die. It’s going to collapse and I’m going to get crushed by rubble… crack my skull on the rocks, drown in three feet of muddy water. It’s going to fall… It’s going to fall. It didn’t, of course. Then, she was on the other side, somehow, and not dead. She sprinted to ground that she was sure was solid, and then turned around, still shaking a little, to properly appreciate what she’d done. It didn’t happen. She saw him almost immediately, crouched back across the river under the bridge, and it was suddenly very obvious where the aura had been coming from. “Really?” she whispered. She’d really gone through all that emotional turmoil just because she hadn’t searched hard enough? And now he was across the river again? He'd also probably seen her struggling to cross the bridge. She sighed dramatically, then continued in a louder, somewhat threatening way, " There you are." The annoyance was clear in her voice, almost as if it was directed at him. She would never admit it, but the Negaverse was a good place for her to take out her frustrations with herself.
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Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:36 pm
Umber remained quiet, listening intently to the sparse shuffles and tracks made by his pursuer. Something clattered - something metal. He made no move to straighten and observe what transpired outside the bridge. Instead he remained motionless against the pipeline, his gaze occasionally darting down to the half-frozen river where small chunks of melted ice flowed down to catch on the bridge's maw. Maybe I run the same fate. Waiting here... Something is bound to carry me through that wedge of attention. It may not be in my sway to keep from lodging on the sides, or in her sights. We are not a species made to predict.
Umber stiffened, vigilance heightened when the tracking steps came closer, then slowed to a carefully paced trek across the length of bridge. A risked glance above the surface allowed full view of the senshi in sullen moonlight, hair mint green and body crowned with flowing materials in silver and white. He surmised silk, or some other soft cloth that provided no protection in the heat of battle. Most tellingly, though, her eyes grappled the ground with such ferocity that she provided no outward recognition that she had seen the movement coming from his direction. He lingered in his position a measure longer, watching the sight, while she forced her way across the bridge. Inwardly he wondered if she so feared and loathed crossing bridges, but it was not a question he would waste breath asking.
After sprinting to the other side, Umber ducked back down to slouch against the pipe and keep himself hidden from prying eyes. By now, the cold ate through his pants and numbed his posterior to the uncomfortable pipeline, but he fought to remain until she abandoned the search entirely. Once she left to search the wider alleys, he would find chance to drop to solid ground and scurry into the maze of buildings to circumvent her search altogether.
It was not so.
Her exclamation dropped his blood pressure in a cold sweat that numbed his skin. A short glance to his right confirmed her location - and eye contact. She knew precisely where he was, and her aura spoke of greater power than what he commanded. Chances did not fall in his favor.
He abandoned the thought of slinking toward the opposite side, instead springboarding off the pipe and over the stretch of fencing to land on the bridge itself. He now stood on the opposing portion of the riverbank, and inwardly gambled on her strange behavior being an aversion to these platforms. If she is so harrowed by a bridge, then here I should stay. Let her come if she is able. The fear response should inhibit some of her might. And if she will not cross it twice, then I have all the time I need to escape.
"Here I am," he stated in return. Crossing his arms, he studied her swiftly. "Tell me who you are, and I will be elsewhere."
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 6:35 pm
Had he seen her? He must have heard her, at least, and must have noticed that it took her far to long to simply walk across the bridge. Had it been obvious that she'd been afraid? She hadn't been hiding it. She hadn't been able to. As he leaped across the fences and onto the bridge with ease that made her both disgusted and jealous, she took a few slow, very careful steps to where her side of the bridge began, planting herself on the last inch of solid ground before the line of lighter pavement that marked the beginning of the river. She met his gaze, but she couldn't read his expression from this distance. It didn't matter, really, if he knew. He wasn't coming to her. If they were going to fight, it was going to be there, and she was going to be at the disadvantage, despite her upgrade. She had been so stupid. His uniform wasn't even the type that would blend into the shadows that well, maybe better than hers, but it was still decorative, with feathers, and his tattoos were practically neon, but even if he'd been dressed like a ninja, she would have seen him if she'd looked. She wasn't going to fail twice. Keeping her eyes fixed on his, she took one step onto the bridge, and then another. She didn't look down. "I am Sailor Cybele, Senshi of the Hunt," she said, and although she trembled slightly, her voice was steady and clear. "And you're not going anywhere. Cybele Hunter's Grace!" It was her basic attack, a single phantom arrow on a phantom bow, which she pointed at him with practiced, fairly steady fingers. Actually hitting him with it would be a very bad idea, but he didn't need to know that.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 7:20 pm
Elsewhere it is, then, Cybele of 'the Hunt'. "You are no hunter if you cannot spot your opposition. A misnomer, at best." His judgments rang cold and harsh, but knew no tone above conversational. There he stood for a measure longer, watching the girl in silver as she declared her insistence that he would not leave.
So persistent you are in stopping me. Why. I have no energy orbs in my hands, no weakened civilians in my vicinity. Why do I vex you so, false hunter? Can you tell that I know the craft whose name you take so blasphemously? You, who cannot master a bridge over water, are going to put a halt to my intentions, whatever they may be. There he remained steadfast, waiting for her slow and graceless approach on the bridge that shook her to her core earlier. She trembled but persisted, which earned a measure of consideration, but he still felt her unworthy of her purported title.
And when she stopped, calling unfamiliar and displaced words, a bow and arrow appeared in hand, stylized much like the old long bows of distant times. Umber immediately hunched before he darted toward the street that ran perpendicular to the bridge, until the concrete and fencing stood between him and the senshi that now aimed for him. From there, he watched her at an angle, where her appearance sectioned off in diamonds from the chain link.
So they get viable weapons. More than we. And why can't I have a bow? I would find far more success in hunting our opposition with an actual weapon than a pair of gloves. Maybe I could claim it from her - if she does not shoot me squarely first.
A quick glance around confirmed nothing of worth for improvised weapons, save for a small section of rebar discarded after a recent addition to the building nearest him. It lay in a thin dusting of concrete, among a few tools where the worker likely left in a hurry. Umber edged toward these findings with his gaze still focused on Cybele, watching for the release of that arrow while simultaneously keeping within the guarding presence of the fence. He stooped when his heel struck the rebar, and felt around until he grasped it squarely.
Come, Hunt, if you can make it across the bridge. Come and let us fight as hunters never do.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:08 pm
He was right, and she knew it. The Senshi of the Hunt should be the at her best when finding the hidden, should not give up after searching the obvious places, or half expect her prey to come to her. Most importantly, she should not be so scared by heights that she was put at a disadvantage. Cybele allowed herself to think these things, perhaps more often than she should, her excuse being that she needed to know what her mistakes were to fix them and become a true huntress. Her enemies did not have the same privilege. For a moment, she simply watched him, eyes narrowing to a glare. He left the bridge, at least, without vanishing like he’d promised. It was the most she could have asked for. “Shut up,” she said, arrow still pointed at him. There was a fence between them now, but she was was fairly certain that she could have shot through it if she’d had a real bow. “I found you.” Her words were steady if not the most threatening. That was when the thawing bridge decided to creak softly. Anyone else wouldn’t have even noticed. Cybele stiffened, the fear that she had carefully been trying to push to the back of her mind turning back to raw panic. No. She couldn’t stay here. Forward. She had to go forward. Without further hesitation, she moved her aim to a point straight above her and fired. The magic kicked in a moment later, turning her fear from distraction to motivation as her focus shifted back to her prey. She crossed the bridge at a brisk pace and didn’t look down. On the other side, she exhaled, relaxing visibly. Then, without missing a beat, she broke into a sprint, gliding onto the street and around the fencing with grace she hadn’t shown before. She was in her element now. He would see that she was Senshi of the Hunt. The distance between them closed easily. She stopped several feet from him, still glaring, because charging was a stupid move, even with the help of her magic, and she could already just feel him silently judging her. Instead, she took a fighter's stance and began to slowly edge towards him, eying his newfound weapon with interest. It didn’t look like it would be that hard to get away from him. Strickenized Just out of curiosity, did you know she was afraid of heights?
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 1:07 pm
The speed at which she reached him proved astounding - already she stood near the clearing, and readied. It offered no consolations to the lieutenant, who now gripped the discarded rebar tightly. There is a great gap between myself and those stronger. She being one of them. I can't afford to misstep here - not if I want to survive.
Steeling himself, he flexed the muscles in his neck before venturing out on a dangerous line of attack. "Where is your bow, Cybele? Are you not going to shoot me, as hunters do? To engage prey is a mark of failure. It should be dead before it sees you." And strange it is that she doesn't just shoot me where I stand. Why put herself in range of a weapon. Why approach at all when a ranged attack sits at her disposal, awaiting her beck and call. It makes no sense, unless she can only manage it once.
Fine, then. A strike to the brain stem should be all that I need.
He noted her caution and promptly proceeded in a wide berth around her, intending on reaching the opposite side of the hemmed-in mess of demolished construction. His boots found gravel and rock intermixed with dirt on each step, proving the uneven footing in this area. A small hill composed of jackhammered concrete, concrete dust, more rebar, and other detritus offered a minor advantage in the event of a true fight. The windows dotting the flanking buildings each sported escape paths, or paths of destruction should one of them find themselves thrown through one. The glass offered cutting advantage to whoever claimed it.
Ultimately, escape seemed a far better idea if he could manage it. Incapacitating her, though, may be required in the advent of leaving. And if he could attempt that... Then a call to one of the highest orders of officers to corrupt her idle body into the Negaverse seemed most efficient of all.
Finally he sprinted toward her, crouched low with a hand drug across the ground to scoop some loose dirt, and flung the acquisition toward her eyes in hopes of blinding while he attempted a strike at her soft midriff region. any blow to the viscera held promise of a stagger in most animals, or some amount of breathlessness that might promise him some desperately needed advantage in this fight.stari_maga i did not! i just thought you were improvising lol
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:26 pm
Now that Cybele was back, hopefully permanently, on solid ground, she managed to register the lieutenant's words. Her terror faded quickly, replaced with a bit of caution and growing anger. "Why do you care so much about my sphere? Do you want me to kill you?" she asked through clenched teeth, quickly stepping back and to the side as he tried to get around her. No, at this point he was not getting away, not after everything she had already gone through, not after what he had said to her. His insults weren't exactly insults, but they got under her skin in the same way, crawling around as her fists grew tighter. Insults were not a good reason to kill someone, she had learned, but this was almost a challenge. He wanted her to be a hunter? Fine. She'd corner her prey. Of course, she'd already seen him jump, and she was sure that the fencing and the nearby rubble wouldn't really stop him. She didn't really have time to stratetgize, though. Suddenly, there was a clod of dirt flying at her face. She dodged it, but before she even had time to feel proud of herself, she felt the weight of the metal rebar slamming into her stomach, the air being forced out of her lungs with a half cough, and then, a split second, the pain. She took a step backwards, and a moment to try to breathe, with minimal success. Her narrowed eyes never left his. Then, she took a step towards him for leverage, and threw a fist at his face, wincing. "Do you? Because I can, lieutenant," she said, her breathless voice holding a surprising amount of determination.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:32 am
The success afforded by his strike left him distracted a moment, as he had not yet learned to return his guard toward his face once landing a blow. Before he could even draw a breath, the creature retaliated with a fist to his face at a speed he knew he could not manage - and it struck him squarely in the cheek.
The attack set him off-balance and he collapsed backward onto the dirt. A quick roll had him in a more favorable position, and he fought to get to his feet before she followed up with a kick or something of greater deadliness. Inwardly he knew he should've let her be - that her preposterous sphere should've gone unquestioned. He was prey, and retreat was the better option beyond overzealousness. However, with no way to outrun her, his options were slim.
"You don't murder what you don't need," he hissed through clenched teeth. A spit toward the ground revealed blood - he knew his teeth must've perforated part of his cheek. His tongue prodded the now hamburger surface to confirm. It ached considerably; his face throbbed over that side, and he knew the swelling would render eating enormously difficult - even after icing and anti-inflammatories.
And by that thought alone, I have no need of her starseed. I was never possessed of wanton ambition. Why did the potential venture even come to mind.
If I can cripple her, or just hamper her movements, I should be able to escape. But they are resilient - getting taken unaware by a piece of metal to the gut with that much force should've ruptured something. The fact that she is still standing is something to consider when faced with these creatures. He started toward her again, hoping that a feint toward her face might distract her long enough that he could land a strike on her ankle where the fibula ended in the lateral malleolus - where most he knew broke their ankles in careless venture. But her sheer speed worried him; the fraction of a second bought by recoil may not be enough.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 7:12 pm
Cybele wasn't really in a position to take full advantage of her attack. She watched him topple with relief as well as satisfaction. While he struggled to stand up, she struggled to breathe. This time, it worked, but after a few moments of relief, the effects of her magic faded, and the pain which had already been a distraction became impossible to ignore. One breath later, he was back on his feet and she was hunched over, wincing, and weakly raising her fists in a way that probabally wasn't offering her much protection. "In hunting, maybe. This is war," she snapped. It was a first instinct comeback that she wasn't sure she believed. No, that wasn't right. She didn't believe it at all. She had more or less promised herself that she would never kill someone just because they were 'the enemy'. "But you're right," she continued, glare softening ever so slightly for a split second before he was coming towards her again. She dodged the punch, not realizing it was a feint. This time, she was wary of follow up attacks, but even though she registered the kick coming towards her, she barely had time to react. She shifted reflexively, and that sent the force of the kick into her foot, not her ankle, probabally saving her from broken bones. It still hurt. It still hurt a lot, and it knocked her off her already unsteady balance. She hissed as she stumbled, trying to stay on her feet and ultimately failing. Her foot throbbed, and her immediate attempt to stand up made it worse. Luckily, her stumbling had put some distance between them, but it wasn't a lot. "I'm assuming you need my starseed, then, or somebody else's," she said, scooting backwards a few feet towards a chunk of concrete that had rolled away from the rest of the pile. It was small enough that she probabally could have picked it up as a civilian, but still heavy enough to be dangerous, maybe even heavy enough to crack a skull. "So... I need to stop you." It wasn't really a threat, but a justification. If he had walked away after his line about killing, she would have let him go, but instead he'd attacked her when she was trying to be merciful. That could only mean one thing. Her fingers tightened on the concrete.
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Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:46 pm
"Then you assume baselessly." Even speaking invoked considerable pain, and he was loathe to offer too much. She stumbled, and between them lay some distance of jagged piles and detritus. This proved favorable. If starseeds warrant actual intervention, then I wonder if you would leave me be for energy draining. Do you ascribe yourself to Hammurabi's code? Ancient as it is, and simplistic. "I'm not interested in starseeds."
Just life.
Her securing a weapon prompted Umber to back up further and shift to a wider stance for need of blocking. Judging by the size of the chunk, she could use it as a projectile somewhat easily. And if her accuracy was on par with her fighting, he had nothing to fear, but such assumptions often ended poorly. A quick glance toward the ground confirmed no shields save for another piece of rebar that might stand up to the assault - provided he could block it effectively. He wagered that dodging was a better gamble to take in this fight.
There's no way to determine if she would believe me. Likely not - we are already at odds. However, she cannot fight well, and to that capacity she falls slightly below me. In all other categories, she is superior. I wonder if that foot injury is enough to hold her at bay.
Umber hesitated a moment to wipe the blood that trickled from his lip, and afterward started across the field of dirt and debris toward the lit streets. Staying engaged entailed pointless disaster for both of them, and should she believe his admittance that starseeds are of little focus, he might find a free escape. However, if she chose to doubt, then he may find himself face down with a bleeding crack in his skull. Such a thought conjured the dumpster from his first engagement with the enemy, where the senshi's magic sent him stumbling with the landscape adrift. He was lucky to escape.
And he would be lucky twice, in this instance, if the false huntress let him leave.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:07 pm
Cybele’s glare didn’t waver. "If you say so," she replied, obviously unconvinced, picking up the chunk of concrete and firmly holding it in both hands. Although she wanted to believe him, if only because he was holding a sturdy piece of metal while she was on the ground with a comparatively less useful weapon, she had enough experience with lies and broken promises to know that words meant nothing. A few tense seconds passed. When he backed away, she relaxed enough to breathe, which was getting slightly easier. When he turned to leave, she began the slow process of standing up. It hurt. It hurt a lot, but after several long seconds, a muffled curse, and various other hisses and such, she was upright and balanced as comfortably as possible on her good foot. Her battle stance had been abandoned, and she was not looking forward to walking, at all, but she wasn’t giving up, not after all the insults. They still burned. “I’m not stupid,” she called out, half as a distraction of some sort and half because she was feeling the need to say it. She took a limping step towards him and winced, but set her teeth and did her best to ignore the pain. “I know about the Negaverse.” She took another step and winced again. It probably wasn’t worth the effort. He could easily outpace her. She stopped, and went back to breathing. "They don’t care if you’re interested. You’ll still have to do what they tell you." Cybele’s words were calmer and slightly more logical now that she wasn’t fighting her injuries. “You’ll have to kill… maybe have to kill people I care about. I can’t let that happen,” she repeated, glancing down at the concrete in her hands. You don’t kill what you don’t need, his voice reminded her, but it wasn’t going to be that sort of attack. It was going to be her sort of insult. Then, she threw it at him, hard.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:47 am
"I never called you stupid," he answered over shoulder, "but you have a lot to learn." About your claim to the hunt, at the very least. About life, I suspect. You seem jaded, and it's clouding your ability to grow.
Her comment concerning the Negaverse halted his retreat and he half-turned to look back at her. The damage to her foot took well enough that she could not pursue him at a capable speed, which meant his lingering might not entail certain doom. They don't care if I'm interested in my duties, it's true. Energy harvesting is still mandated, even for those who do not see point in it. As is fighting the enemy, should they impede our progress. But murder? Would they command murder in situations beyond those that demand it as a retaliatory act? I doubt it.
"They don't condone killing. It's wasteful." Not to mention unnecessary. Turning away from her, Umber started his walk back toward the alley to leave the girl be. I could try to call a General-Sovereign here to demonstrate that to her, but I am uncertain if I should. If I discover this one again, and she has grown more, then I should do so if I can survive the wait. But right now, I wonder if she would only bring more problems to an already strained kind.
The concrete chunk struck him squarely against the shoulder, sending the agent lurching forward at a quick clip to recover from the transferred inertia. He grunted with the impact and gritted his teeth to prevent further groaning from the stricken pain that bolted down his arm and through his chest. A hand shot up to greet the site with some amount of pressure. That says as much as I need to know about my opinion. She has no ears to learn anymore. This one has stagnated on her path.
The lieutenant kept to the walls of the alley on his way, hoping that no further detritus rained down on him from the spiteful senshi at his back. He was to leave with his life, and found no further reason to jeopardize this favorable conclusion by engaging her further. Instead he kept to his pace until he could round the corner and power down to eliminate his energy signature altogether.
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 7:09 pm
Cybele's gaze remained fixed on his retreating figure, and her hands curled back into fists in case he changed his mind and and decided to come back at her now that it was obvious that she was weakened. That would be the strategic thing to do, she was fairly certain, and he seemed to know about strategy. He'd taken advantage of her fear of heights and false attacks to leave her, the stronger one, temporarily crippled. His comments this time were honest without being too taunting, so she endured them even though they made her seethe. When he turned back, she tensed. Then, he told her the Negaverse didn't condone killing, and she thought of the two starseeds she'd held in her own hands from innocent people, the youma made from the victims of the funhouse at New Years, and the literal heaps of fallen bodies at the execution in the dark future. She exhaled sharply in frustration, shaking her head. "You must be very new," she decided. If that had been the beginning of their conversation, she might have kept talking, might have even tried to bring up the topic of purification, but it wasn't. Instead, she watched, frowning and still fairly upset, until he was out of sight and his aura had faded, then slowly made her way to the road, powered down, and called a taxi.
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