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 Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 6:52 pm
To someone born and raised within it's borders the city was familiar, but could still be a challenge to navigate. It was large, spanning many miles, and if you found yourself in a part of the city you didn't venture to often it was not hard to get lost. For outsides, those that had never set foot inside anything even remotely close to a small city, let alone the vast metropolis that was Destiny City, it could be overwhelming, to say the least. Xenotime had felt in in her travels to distant places. Excitement had never been enough to fully mask the unease that came from finding herself in unfamiliar territory. This, at least, she could easily relate to, sympathizing with her poor ward. So she had taken to bringing him to various parts of the city, showing him around, allowing him to explore, and encouraging him to gather his bearings enough to figure out how he could get back to the apartment. Tonight's destination was one of the seeder parts town. Bars lined the streets, their bright neon glow broken up by the occasional cash exchange or laundry mat. Take out places catering to the late night wanderers that roamed the streets in the wee hours of the morning. Filthy allies, filthier people occupying them. It would, she knew by experience, also serve as a wonderful place for energy gathering. They'd appear on the roof of one of the twenty-four hour take out places, and the General couldn't help the lingering drag of fingers along his chest as she stepped back from him, pushing her hood back to lay across her shoulders. "You know the drill by now." She fingered a feather, let it slid through her her loose grip to fall back against his chest. "This is the East side," she'd inform him, striding towards the edge of the roof with a way to her hips and the clap of wedged heels. "The name for the area, as well as the directional location." Leaning forward, she peered down at the sidewalk, watching the bodies moving back and forth for a long handful of seconds before drawing back. "It's full of vagrants and bar rats, easy prey for energy gathering if you're looking to collect in large quantities." The general herself preferred to go after more challenging prey, senshi and knights, but there were occasions where she would turn to the humans. Mostly when she'd been a lieutenant, when she'd been eager to please.
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 7:28 pm
Again she touched him, a routine he grew to expect. He never favored it beyond its uses in tempering his restraint, though most of her small advances fell within the 'easily tolerated' category. Her nails only disturbed his shirt, folding the ruffles born of wind into flat planes before they billowed out again with the night air. Sometimes his hair strayed after his passing in a vicious whip, only to never strike its target. He offered no comment to any of this, instead directing his gaze to the moon to gauge for time before he set his sights on the rusted dregs of society beneath.
It is just as Jack said. The city lives, even thrives, in certain portions. But places like these, where the rust grows thick and all the wear shows through like old skin, these are the parts soon to die off before they find their rebirth. Or maybe they'll be entombed as ancient portions left exactly as they are. Time capsules, I believe she called them. Yes - what we're looking at now could find so few changes in the next fifty years. Or a hundred. Or longer. So what are we doing here, but finishing off the inevitable? These people will soon abandon the area, especially if we continue to drain here. Already crime probably runs high. The amount of vagrants indicates that.
Umber paced the length of edge before he cast his gaze over shoulder toward Xenotime, who stood confident as always. He lingered on her sliver eyes for a measure, as if to ask of her certainty for this location specifically, but the words never left his mouth.
It is exactly like a living entity, he thought as he looked back toward the stragglers in their dirtied leather coats from bygone eras and their ratted jeans and gaits unsteady from their alcohol consumption. A virus won't attack a healthy body. Cells within the body won't attempt to break down and mend areas that aren't broken. By that same idea, we don't pursue the heart of the city where the highest volumes of people lay, with energy vibrant and vast for our taking. To do so would be suicide - we'd be crushed in short notice. But here, where it's already sickly and broken down, we can speed along the process to our own tastes.
"The energy we gather here - is it as worthwhile as energy gathered from the healthy? Or is there more risk and reward to pursuing energy draining in more active parts of the city?" While he spoke, he visually combed the cattle below for a decent mark. "These people are aware - to some degree - that crime is higher here. In other areas, they are less likely to carry pepper spray. Or know self defense." His thoughts drew back to Quenton, who warned of disabling agents or youma in any manner possible. But there are also police. And I don't know the incidence of senshi in places like these as opposed to parks or schools or shopping malls.
There are still too many questions.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 5:53 pm
A twitch of brow followed that long look, almost daring the question that never came, and as he turned his attention down to the street below them she'd smile, chin tipping up just a touch before she followed his gaze towards the dredges of life passing along unawares. Destitute and down trodden, they were the the bottom of the food chain, but they still clung to life. They had their value. Hands lighting on her hips, she strode along the edge of the roof until she was at his side again. "Energy is energy, and it is essential. You are correct, a senshi or knight would be more fruitful, but collecting from them comes with it's own risks." A tilt of her head, thoughtful, as she looked up at him. "To which you're no stranger, I'm sure." The man was a hunter, Xenotime was sure he'd faced down his fair share of dangerous prey while he stalked through the woods she'd found him in. "However, there are occasions where quantity is more important than the challenge. We all have our quotas." He was learning the ins and outs of the city remarkably fast. It'd only been a little over a month, but already he was grasping the subtle nuances. She knew he was special, and that sharp mind was a point of pride for the general. "They are aware, and some do arm themselves, but they are still only humans. They can be overpowered easily if you catch them by surprise. What self defense they may know is nothing against our strength, especially not when combined with skills of our own." Oh, that reminded her. She turned, arms coming up to fold across her chest. "Speaking of which, how would you like to learn boxing? It will give you an edge against the Order hordes." It would help keep him safe when she wasn't there to watch over him. He was already strong, muscular and agile, it would be nothing to pick up the skills that came from boxing and martial arts.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:10 pm
"Challenge and necessity are on different planes of vocation." Umber closed his eyes a beat. They felt weary; he wondered if nights in the city weren't as restorative as he thought. "Most of us, when first learning, hunted livestock and predators. The pigs were domesticated, and would seldom move faster than a trot when one was allocated to the beginners. It was good live target practice. Slaughtering pigs were our 'daily quota' until we completed the challenge of shooting one of the predators, like the coyotes. Another challenge, and our dailies were larger prey. Then the small and most agile.
"I was on the final challenge before my second mark - one we set ourselves for our betters to evaluate. Maybe it's irony now, but I intended to hunt a youma." But a solid month passed with no signs of one, and by the time I discovered one, I was ill-prepared and mortified. That was when you arrived. Life took a strange turn.
"But those stories aren't important right now." He eyed the stragglers that passed through the streets, too poor to hail a cab and avoid the dangers of walking. His hands crept further into his pockets with his fingertips itching for the warmth. His shoulders relaxed backward while he evaluated the scene in the methodical, detached means that he learned after so many years of hunting. The most obvious target are those sleeping on mats, but how many have veritable energy reserves when already asleep? And even then, how many sleep with shivs and the reflex to use them upon disturbance? The walkers, then. An easy ambush, and they can't outrun me.
Xenotime's offer sirred his attention, and he broke his concentration on the streets below to offer eye contact. "I think it's necessary," he admitted. "This isn't normal hunting - our opposition feels us approach as we feel them. It's so much more a game of violence instead of tactics. And without a bow..." He let the assertion hang, knowing that she inferred the remainder.
"Cinnabar offered some training, but I need to have more than one experience with it."
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Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 10:36 am
H was a quiet on, speaking when spoken to, and seldom long winded. When the odd occasion where he felt like talking about his life before she'd found presented itself Xenotime was always eager to listen. It may not always seems as though she were the sort that listened well or retained what she heard, but she certainly did when there was something worth hearing. Umber was worth hearing. His life, where he came from, his thoughts and opinions. The general valued all of it. There were times when what he had to say surprised her, and now was one of those times. The mention of Youma was not uncommon between members of the Negaverse, but hearing that he'd known of them before she'd brought him into their shared world was startling. Silver eyes widened, as she looked up at him, and lips parted as if she meant to say something closed as she thought better of it. The chances of the youma Umber had seen being Bischofite were very small, and asking would mean explaining, and she did not particularly care to get into that. Not now, not with him. It was better for all parties involved if she continued to push the youmafied general from her mind. Her expression was schooled as he looked down at her, and the corners of full lips ticked up as he agreed to her offer. "Good. I'll make the arrangements." There were a few instructors at the gym, though it was more likely Xenotime would be the one to teach him. Or, as it would turn out, Cinnabar. If the general remembered correctly, the other woman was also a fighter in profession. Or at least had been. Word of her change had spread, though Xe had not yet crossed her path. "She is a good resource as well. If she is willing to help with training, it would be wise to accept." Arms uncrossing again, she slid around him, strolling along his back as fingertips trailed lightly along the material of his shirt beneath the bottom of the jacket. "You have so much potential to be truly fearsome." Violet painted nails danced across the skin of his arm. "powerful and untouchable." Again, that note of pride. The warmth of fondness in pale eyes as she looked at him.
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Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:59 pm
A brief shudder ran up his spine with drifting contact. Goosebumps treaded the same path as the fingers that forged the way. You tease so much, and so often. Are you testing my resolve? Attempting to break it felt more likely. Umber never questioned if bodily connection stood as a requirement in her training regime, nor had she offered an affirmative answer either way.
Have I ever been feared? The question came as a surprise, and for a moment he blinked as if suddenly coming back to his senses. Not personally. Fear is a long-observed custom among predators and prey - a formality. So does she speak of those formalities, or something more personal? I suspect both. Some senshi may foster abject terror for the Negaverse's brand of auric energy, and others... If I find need to hunt them, then they may know my name in fear. That has not yet happened.
Strength over kindness. The black moon will rise and fixate in the sky, where no star's light may touch.
"You expect much of me." But the time arose for their dallying to conclude, and Umber slipped from the parapet with little sound to alert those beneath them. He landed upon the fashioned overhang and felt the bars threaten to bend beneath his weight, but another quick slide from their surface landed him on the street side. The pair in question walked northward with backs turned to him. Actual approach demanded a brisk gait of light footing, where their conversation would hold more interest than the ambient walkers. And once Umber closed enough distance to bear notice from his targets, he seized an arm from one while incapacitating the other with an elbow to the nose. With the taller man stumbling off, he sought energy from the shorter until exhaustion clarified the need to stop. The orb found itself in subspace soon afterward.
The remaining target found no compunctions in fighting - a left hook toward the lieutenant's face nearly caught him were it not for the coordination lost to inebriation. With no reason to damage the man, Umber took him to the ground and pinned shoulders beneath knees while he drew off the excess energy from the man's adrenaline. After completing the two sizable gatherings, he ascended the fire escape mounted to the side of the building to rejoin Xenotime with his latest gatherings.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 12:26 pm
Any small reaction her constant affections could elicit from the man were savored. He was frustratingly stubborn in his continued refusal to respond to her advances, and now it had become something of a game for the woman. High stakes, three shakes. She was a determined creature, it was one of her better features; a flaw or a virtue, depending on where she set her sights. But regardless her ambitions, failure was very seldom considered an option. Brightly polished nails grazed the soft edge of a feather, and she chuckled. "Of course I do. I do not choose lightly." He was already moving, a target selected from dredges below. She watched him disappear over the edge of the building, approaching just in time to see him hop off the over hang behind a pair of wanders likely walking from one bar to another. There she would wait, sinking down to perch on the very corner of the building's roof so she could cross one leg over the other, foot bouncing slightly, and a soft, hummed melody barely filtering through the din of the city around her. One elbow came to rest on the top of her thigh, and she leaned to cup her chin in her upturned palm, bright eyes watching with rapt attention as he stalked behind his unsuspecting prey. Again that proud, near propriety smile tugged at full and painted lips. Not one orb, but two collected from the duo, and her lieutenant walked away from the encounter untouched. Of course she had high expectations of him. She lifted her head from her hand as he returned to her, voice a pleased purr as she held her hand up to him expectantly. Clearly waiting for him to draw her up to her feet. "Very well done."
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:05 pm
His elbow buzzed from the impact, but mostly Umber left without real physical toll. His challenges stemmed from his General, mostly, who strung together advances that frequently threatened to distract him. Even now she held her hand out to him as she would in the apartment.
And how many times had he walked past that very hand before she clarified his role in the social endeavor? It must've been a dozen, he figured. one dozen passes with nary more than a glance to her outstretched hand before she spelled it out to him. Her assumptive expectations with cultural idiosyncrasies was astounding at times. But ultimately he learned, oh how he learned, and soon took the gesture as presented. The alternative was a catch of sleeve, a finger's brush against obliques that shuddered at foreign touch. Life in the apartment passed easier when he simply caught hold and lifted.
So he did, as he would in any other moment. His gloved hand clasped over hers and he pulled her to her feet.
His pale gaze shifted to the orb in his free hand, humming with gold dashes of fireflies that danced within. "You gave me easy targets," he rebuked in kind. He offered the globe back to her as formal allocation to his quota. "Were we elsewhere, I might have a harder time of it. Or if I was to drain from senshi." But their current challenges demanded no such finesse. Her lessons for the night warranted attentiveness over technical skill, so he simply paused to take in the environment while he awaited further orders.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:30 pm
His hand was large and strong beneath her own as he drew her up effortlessly to her feet once again. Obvious strength aside, she was a petite thing, a factor that often went missed in the heat of battle, because no matter her physical size, Xenotime appeared larger. The potential for physical violence filling the very air around her. Umber pulled her up as if she weighed nothing at all, and she had to wonder how very frightening he was liable to be given the time and the training. "Thank you." Attention falling to the orb as his did, the general gave a small shake of her head. "I gave you no targets, you selected your own." And he'd chosen well. A single drain would have been adequate, but he'd managed two with very little additional effort of time. Luck might have placed the duo on the street tonight, but Umber had been observant enough to select them from the other lives flitting about inconsequentially below them(in proximity and worth). "The execution of that drain went off almost flawlessly, you did well." Senshi were another lesson entirely, and one they would get to soon. They housed their own unique set of risks. She let him drop the little orb into her hand, let it roll through her fingers, between tucking it away safely within the pack at her hip. "Now then." On to the more relevant bit of tonight's lesson. Umber had proven himself capable time and again where gathering was concerned. "You know the street we live on, you know the section of town it resides in, and you have a general idea of where we are." Her head tilted as she looked up at him, arms crossing loosely across her chest. "Take us home."
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Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 7:56 am
Umber figured that meant he was on course for a lieutenant. Considering that energy gathering was his priority as a low ranking officer, her praise entailed he could perform his duties as expected or better. It did not, however, imply that he could use what he currently knew to exceed expectations and potentially earn a higher rank. That information may have to come from elsewhere.
All of those thoughts ground to a halt with her next command, which left him at a loss.
I might know where we live, and am aware of where we are now, but that doesn't offer me any juxtaposition. You teleported us here, remember. Umber kept his comments to himself regardless - it would do him no good to backtalk a general - and instead searched about his surroundings for a higher point. A few establishments down offered a church, steeple standing high and clear over the surrounding buildings. It seemed an odd place to leave a church, considering the district and its demographics, but they must've figured that the people in this area needed some form of guidance. It didn't matter the reasoning, he told himself, when he slipped into an easy venture across terraces.
Climbing the church demanded more finesse than simply traveling across ledges. Its steeple was indeed steep, and very few handholds existed within the shingles. Careful treading about the precariously narrow parapet led to the discovery of a few iron bars meant for climbing to the very tip. Using the cross as an easy support, Umber curled his arms around the symbol and looked beyond it to the great stretches of cityscape beneath him. Some of the districts held vague familiarity while others looked entirely new to him, and one in particular he recognized as neighboring to their own. Good. That's a start, he thought before relaying that information to his general.
"We'll have to go west," he shouted back to her.
Afterward he carefully slid down the shingles at a speed much to fast to control, struck the parapet and nearly broke it before he reclaimed his footing. Then came a much less climactic jump to the neighboring building before the long trek home would begin.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:37 pm
Brows were arched as she watched him, thoughts flickering across his face, and she waited, a hand lifting to her chin, for any sign of protest from her lieutenant. None came. She hadn't really expected him to argue, but there was always that chance. He had thus far proven smarter than that though, and it seemed that wasn't going to change tonight. Instead he was turned his attention outward, located the highest point, and made his way to it. She trailed after him, watching eagerly as he left their rooftop and scaled the steeple of the nearby church to get a better lay of the land around him. It was predictable behavior in that it was what she would have done if their roles had been reversed--a smart choice--and her smile lingered somewhere between pride and amusement as she watched him climbing. It didn't take long for him to spot something familiar, and as he called back to her she'd give a nod, disappearing as he started sliding down from his perch to appear beside him as he leaped across to the neighboring roof. "That's right." Maybe he found such training exercises a pain, but they had their importance. She wasn't always going to be with him, so matter how much that would have been her preference, and it was important that he be able to find his way back to the safety of their apartment. In the process, he was learning the flow of the city itself. "Let's go." A little pinch to his arm, then slender fingers circling his elbow as they vanished, reappearing a few blocks away in the direction they had intended to travel in. It was a long way back, but she wasn't going to make him walk it, not when she can shorten their travel time considerably.
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:40 am
Umber suppressed a groan when her touch left them blocks ahead. The bodily lurch abated further with each endured teleportation, but it had not yet reached a natural feel as it seemed for her. And with their position now altered, the lieutenant paused to looked around and reestablish his bearings before shooting her a glance that said you're jamming me up.
"If you prefer getting home sooner," he ventured as detachedly as he could, "then you can teleport and I'll meet you back there in an hour." A rough estimation given their location, with enough time left as a buffer for potentially getting lost. The granted speed and endurance in Negaverse attire offered great advantage there. However, there was no time allocated for encountering a senshi along the path home - if he encountered one of their kind, he might incur great delays.
Or death.
The alternative entailed staying with his general, a safer option, but enduring her constant teleports that left him scrambling to reaffirm his directions. Familiarity often deceived in the forest, and while the city always offered a view of the sun or stars for guidance, he still occasionally suspected that they'd turned themselves around. He started to mentally weigh the benefits and costs between safety and sanity, wondering if leaving his general to teleport around as she pleased might wind up in his death from finally assaulting her over it. However, he managed to stay his tongue - and his hands - for the duration of their night out, only once letting an exasperated sigh slip through his lips.
Afterward he would wonder if this entire exercise was a test of his patience.
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