Welcome to Gaia! ::

To say Shang was a bit overtired and more that a little cranky was an understatement. Between work, family, his sister’s situation and his girlfriend, he was stretched a little thin, but still he was patrolling. He felt obligated lately, like it was really important for him to make a difference in this war. Currently though, he was mostly just standing on a rooftop looking out over the streets and not actually doing much of anything.

He summoned his weapon and debated between moving on and just poofing himself to his wonder for a bit. Even feeling obligated as he did to patrol, the pull for him to be there, which wasn’t a literal pull, was very strong. He loved it up there. He shook his head and decided to keep moving, jumping to the next rooftop and casually strolling across it.

The night was young, and the city was alive, per the usual war of Order versus Chaos, good versus, plaguing its streets. Or at least Buddingtonite considered that the usual White Moon versus Negaverse shenanigans would commence, considering he’s already managed to run into one senshi and had one rotten of a time with the little tart.

She was a basic senshi, saucy, if not a little stupid and foolish, and their encounter, initially, wasn’t anything out of the norm for him. Despite having fought tooth and nail to get himself into the rank of General, Buddingtonite liked to think of himself as a fairly peaceful guy and assuming members of the opposing team weren’t interrupting his work or, with complete lack of regard for common courtesy, just bullrushing him into a fight, he was willing to walk away from certain encounters without so much as raising a hand or summoning his boomerang. He thought that this was going to be one of those encounters, but he misjudged the situation and almost fell right into her trap.

Can’t trust anyone these days.

“No, you really can’t!” Buddingtonite remarked with a sneer, licking the open cut on his lip and regretting it immediately. Still too fresh, and the taste of blood? Disgusting! He looked down at the starseed in his hand, still glistening and bright having just been plucked a few moments ago. She put up a fight, but it was definitely worth the effort! “Would eating this get rid of the taste of blood and embarrassment from my mouth?”

He never ate a starseed before, and after seeing Mica’s reaction, he was hesitant. Not even if it would have spared his tongue the salty taste of blood would he eat a starseed, but he was certain that anyone would might happen to stumble upon him at this moment wouldn’t have known better.

Shang felt the energy of the general even though he couldn’t see him. He stopped and frowned looking around to see what the other was up to, as soon as he found the party. It wasnt until he turned around to look at the rooftops as opposed to the ground when he saw the other a ways away. He turned more fully and started to walk across the roof to get closer to the other. After a moment he stopped because it looked like there was something glittering in the other’s hand. He couldn’t really make out exactly what it was, but he had a feeling and he didn’t at all like the conclusion he was drawing. Stepping back he jumped to the next rooftop and moved closer.

“Hey,” he called out, “what have you go there?”

Drawing attention to himself was probably stupid, but if the other had someone starseed, Shang certainly wasn’t just going to let him go. If it was still glittering, maybe he could find the person, amusing they weren’t outright stabbed to death or something they might end up in the coma ward at his job.

“I hope that’s not what I think it might be, what it appears to be,” he said sternly even though he was slightly worried about approaching the other. He didn’t have the best luck of track record with generals.

Buddingtonite felt the aura of the squire approaching but had paid little attention to it, and that was something he had a feeling he was going to immediately regret. The last squire that approached him had proven to be far more trouble that he was worth, and what stopped him from panicking at the thought of that insane Cosmos squire returning was the knowledge that he had apparently ranked up into a knight during that same encounter. So, at least the squire that called to him could NOT have been that fellow.

Still, being caught by a squire, or anyone on the other side of the fense at this point, wasn’t settling well with Buddingtonite, and he shot the intruder a heated glare. “Hey yourself. Don’t you know it’s rude to just shout to a senior ranking officer like that? Have none of you any respect or discipline at all? Rude!”

But certainly attractive, in his own way, which was a pity. Buddingtonite felt that had it been another night, he might have tried a more friendly approach with the squire before him, but the pain that resonated on his lip every time he spoke and the starseed nestled firmly in his hand kind of made any effort to push for a friendly encounter right out of the window. He turned his attention fully to the squire now and held the starseed out to where he could clearly see what it was, even with the distance between them. “I don’t know, why don’t you take a look for yourself? It’s not the prettiest I’ve ever snatched, but the senshi I harvested this from was certainly a fighter. I’ll give credit where it’s due… but I’m certain that I can find a fancier one resting inside of that chest of yours. Mind if I look?”

Not that he’d give the squire a choice in the matter. No sooner had he made the request, he brought his boomerang back to his hand and threw it at his opponent, hoping to either hit or distract him from the follow up. It wasn’t in his nature to go onto the attack so quickly, but recent encounters had left his fuse unimaginable short these days!

Shang’s face frowned up at being called rude and the mention of the other being a senior ranking officer. The general seniority meant literally nothing to Shang, aside from the possibility that he had done more horrible things in this war. Shang of course was anything if not polite even when attempting to be less than that, or at least he felt. He continued moving toward the night, but stopped gaping after a moment when the other had the gale to boast about having taken the starseed and from a senshi.

Shang’s eyes went wide and panic flooded him. His thoughts immediately one Antares, Acrucis, Ida and Phact. That starseed could possibly belong to any of them. He had terror coursing through his veins and a silent prayer to the starts quickly left his thoughts for it not to be any of them. The threat on his starseed made him summon his weapon. He was not one for fighting and it wasn’t always easy even to push him into it, but tonight that little starseed gave him plenty of motivation, if not the threat on his own life.

The boomerang, was a bit of a surprise, as it sliced quickly through the air causing Shang to drop down in attempt to avoid it, rolling to get out of its path. He wasn’t an idiot he knew the thing would be headed back around. He knew how boomerangs worked. This was not going to easy, he determined quickly, but that didn’t mean he was going to give up.

He jumped up and shuffled back slightly and kept moving sort of making to circle the general. “You will not be getting a look into my chest and you will be handing that senshi’s starseed over. It doesn’t belong to you and you shouldn’t have taken it. That’s a life, it belongs in the body you stole it from.”

He gripped his weapon tighter.

The boomerang worked like a charm, and the general gripped the starseed in his hand all the tighter as he made his next attack. He was hoping that the blow would have connected and cut into him, but in all honesty, he was quite done with blood this evening. His smiling had caused his lips to crack and the taste of it was still prevalent in his mouth, and even if it was someone else’s blood, he was just simply done with it. So seeing the squire drop to avoid the tri-bladed boomerang was just as fine as seeing it drive into his chest or face.

There were multiple ways to skin a cat!

Or, in this occasion, deseed a squire!

The squire said something to him, but he wasn’t really paying attention. After so many fights, a lot of his enemies kind of sort of ran together into a hodgepodge of self-righteous statements and muddled screams of pain, and though this squire was brilliantly stunning in appearance, his threat to take back the starseed sort of just went in one ear and proceeded to go out the other. He was on his toes, but Buddingtonite had another trick up his sleeves. “You know, you all start to sound the same after awhile… and if there’s one thing I hate more than being blue balled…”

He teleported, making sure to appear directly behind the squire and whispered in his ear, before thrusting his hand forward, aiming for that taut chest of his. “It’s broken records.”

Shang’s words seemingly fell on deaf ears and his movement did little good when the other teleported right behind him. He jumped, turned quickly stumbling slightly, but it made little difference as he found the other’s hand shot of for his chest. He wasn’t fast enough to escape the hand and his eyes went wide as it slipped into his chest. He hadn’t been expecting it, or the pain that accompanied it. A stream escaped his lips and he his weapon could be heard clattering to the ground as pain wracked through him.

Tears escaped involuntarily and tried to talked through the pain, “no get off, let go.” The words were only half audible and more of anguished cry that anything. His hand made their way up to the offending limb sticking out of his chest frantically clawing and wailing at it, without much accuracy.

“Gotcha!” Buddingtonite shouted triumphantly, not too surprised that the squire moved how he wanted him and in almost perfect unison, too. By the time he spun around to face him, Buddingtonite plunged his hand in and he went deep, not once stopping or slowing down until he gripped the seed with his free hand, and when he grabbed it, he made sure to squeeze really, really tight.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Buddingtonite leaned in a little closer, moving his ear closer towards his opponent’s mouth as though he didn’t quite catch what he was saying. Oh, Buddingtonite heard him, obviously, but he was just playing along. It was all a game, and he was winning. Those were the best kind of games! “Squeeze tighter? Alright, I can oblige!”

By this time, the squire was fighting back, and Buddingtonite found himself in a bit of a dilemma. If he had a spare hand, he could have stopping the flailing appendages of his next victim, but he held on tightly to the starseed he had fought to get earlier, thus making his efforts a bit more difficult. He’d have to end this struggle soon, unless he wanted another fist to the face, but the squire’s flailing made it hard for him to pull his hand back now. “Oh, would you cut it out and just give in already? If I wasn’t me, it’d just be someone else later! Stop fighting already!”

Having one’s starseed squeezed more even more painful than the initial act of hand in chest. The pain was unbearable and he was desperate to remove the hand from around his delicate starseed before it was shattered, right inside his chest. He wasn’t sure that could happen, but it certainly felt like it could. “Let go,” he screamed out flailing more wildly until after a moment he pulling a foot back and launched it forward aiming for the other.

He didn’t care where he hit, he just hoped he hit hard enough for the other to release his starseed, so he could get away from the other. He would be more cautious about the general’s ability to teleport once he was free and certainly not let the other get close enough to launch his hand back into Shang’s chest.

“Get off! Now! You cant ….”

In hindsight, Buddingtonite should have known better, and if Serpentine or Mica were present to watch his display, they would have both said the same thing. ‘Justly deserved’. He had been so focused on inflicting pain onto the starseed and its victim that he left him a wide opening to attack, and for Buddingtonite, it didn’t matter if he was aiming for his legs or stomach, as the pain that shot through his body from the blow did the trick in forcing the general back. The squire wasn’t the only one that let out a scream, and though Buddingtonite’s was brief, it held nothing back.

You deserved that.

“Sh….shut...up…” Buddingtonite released the starseed and retreated completely, giving the squire his space and managing a few lengthy steps backwards before dropping to one knee. He couldn’t believe this… a general, a GENERAL of the Negaverse, respected and feared, was still vulnerable to a cheap shot like that?! It hurt too much to stand now, and as undignified as it was, he assumed the embarrassing position to offer his loins some measure of relief.

In a matter of seconds, Buddingtonite, the general Buddingtonite, was at a squire’s mercy, and had he not been in such pain, he would have choked on the shame he felt right now. Thankfully, the kick to the manhood offered him a good distraction from his crippled ego.

Shang had never been so relieved by anything in his life than he was by having him starseed released. He spent a free moment rubbing at his chest to sooth away lingering pain before scrambling to pick up his weapon. He hadn't heard the general tell him to shut up or even notice the general at first until he look. When he did look he felt instantly guilty, a classic Shang emotion. Not only had he caused the other pain, he had accidently kicked him in his nethers and well no man wanted to be kicked there. It was dirty move, though so was trying to snatch someone starseed. Still Shang hadn’t meant to do that intentionally.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kick you there. It a little hard to aim when you have a hand choking your starseed. That really wasn’t my intention though.”

Shang stepped back, though he was tempted to make a grab for the captured starseed, he didn’t know just quickly the other would recover and part of him didn’t want to further ‘kick’ him while he was down. He kept a tight grip on his weapon, this wasn't over yet.

In his tenure in the Negaverse, Buddingtonite had survived several injuries and if he had the time of day to count them all, he might have been surprised that he was even alive at all. In truth, this blow, though painful, wasn’t the worst that was ever inflicted on him, but he refused, REFUSED to try and dig up those memories to do a comparison on which of them was the worst.

All that mattered now was that he was not in a good position, and any member of the White Moon or knights would have taken advantage of that situation. Except this one, oddly enough. He stood ready to defend himself, but he didn’t go in for the attack, and the words that tumbled out of his mouth left Buddingtonite speechless. Was his ears fooling him, or was he…

Apologizing?

“Are… you serious right now?” Buddingtonite said with a pained snarl, regaining some of his strength and pushing himself back to his feet, though standing straight was out of the question. Oh no, the searing pain reminded him that he’d have to go in half-massed for the moment, but that didn’t keep him down. Even as he was, standing but hunched over, he looked over the squire, stunned, but not enough to leave him speechless. “Are you really apologizing to me… for defending yourself? I was going to kill you… slowly, yes, but I was going to kill you. Why are you apologizing for defending yourself?”

Shang blanched a little at the question he was asked, but he simply nodded. Yes he was serious, why wouldn’t he be. He wondered for a second if he sounded like he was trying to mock the other. As the general stood up, Shang brought his weapon up ready to be used but the general didn’t attack instead he furthered questioned Shang.

Shang sighed, “I’m not apologizing for defending myself and I’m well aware what you were going to … trying to do to me. I am however apologizing for kicking you in the gonads because no one wants to be kicked there. Women don’t want to be picked there and their privates are mostly on the inside.”

He crosses his arms over his chest weapon still in hand looking slightly annoyed, “otherwise its just my nature I guess. I would rather not hurt someone if I can help it, so …”

For a moment, Buddingtonite was left speechless, and that in itself was no small feat. Little by little, the pain began to subside to a more manageable level, but still, no words came from the general for the moment. For awhile, all he could do was stare at the squire and wonder the possibility of this being a dream. No, that was impossible. The pain he felt from the kick and the taste of blood that lingered in his mouth from his cut lip were enough to disprove that theory. Perhaps it was a ploy? No, impossible, there was no one else around and he had no opportunity to call for them.

No, this was legit. This was genuine. And the pain Buddingtonite felt from his damaged pride took a back seat to the humor he felt, to know that someone like this… simply existed. He had started to laugh, but it simply hurt too much and he stopped himself before he could get carried away. After a few slow breaths, the general managed to pull himself into a full, upright position, and he worked hard to keep as little pain, and humor, from his voice as he addressed the squire. “Your nature… intrigues me then. So I think I’ll spare you tonight.”

Shang didn’t see what was funny, but at least the laughter was extremely short lived and it was followed by general saying he wasn’t going to kill him. That was a relief and Shang almost relaxed, but he wouldn’t forget what he had approached the other in the first place. “That’s a nice sentiment I guess but, I clearly had no intention of allowing you to kill me. As much as I would like to just walk away and be done with all this, you still have something in your possession that doesn’t belong to you. You don’t need it, its not yours, so give it back.”

Shang couldn’t see it sadly, not he wasn’t sure if the life inside the starseed had dwindled and dulled, either way he didn’t like the idea of the general walking away with it. He gripped his weapon and pointed toward the general , “ the senshi’s starseed if you will. I would greatly appreciate it.”

The poor squire knew he was probably asking for it and possibly biting off more that he could chew, but he was pretty determined.

“Well you certainly have some nerve, making such a demand from me,” Buddingtonite sneered, never liking to see his act of kindness to be squandered in such a fashion. Had he not struck such a sensitive area, the notion that he could get away from making such demands from him would have brought him back into the offensive, but he dared not risk it. He could have teleported to him, yes, but the idea of moving his legs at all didn’t bode well with him. So, for now, he’d simply have to attack verbally. “I have every right to crush it into dust or eat it at this very moment, just to see you heartbroken.”

He held out his hand for the squire to see, but he was not handing it back. Not yet. There was still a luster to it, but it had faded considerably, knowing it didn’t bode well for the senshi that was reliant on its presence to keep her alive. “Or, I could simply teleport away with it still in my grasp and leave you here to find the body to mourn over. You have no right to make any demands over me, squire…”

And yet, Buddingtonite did neither of those things. He only wanted to see if the squire’s fear would overtake his nice features and how they’d look on him, before he suddenly, and without warning, tossed the starseed to the side, not even once looking at where it landed as he muttered, “Oops, butterfingers. Well, good luck in finding the senshi, then… I’ll simply have to find two more starseeds elsewhere to make up for my loss here. Good evening…”

And with that, he teleported away to safety. He should have stayed behind to sabotage the squire’s efforts, but for now, he simply didn’t care enough. The pain was too intense, and all he wanted to do was retreat home to an ice pack…

Shang kept the weapon pointed at the general he body language clearly still demanding the starseed, though his eyes widened when the general said he had the right not crush of even eat the starseed! He wasn’t aware that someone might eat it. Why would you want to eat someone’s soul. He almost growled, but he capped it down not wanting the chance to really provoke the general to action.

He felt slightly hopeful when the starseed was held out for him to see and it still twinkled somewhat with life, but he knew that meant he didn’t have very much time. His eyes traveled from the starseed to the general and back again. He wanted to just snatch the thing and run. He cursed himself for hesitating, as the general spot again. In his mind he was screaming that he had every right, just like the senshi had every right to live. Shang wasn’t at all like that the general was pretty much making light of the situation. His heart and mind were racing at the possibility of this ending badly.

Instead the starseed was tossed and Shang made to catch it, grabbing it as gently as he could. He heard the generals words and really hoped the other would refrain from doing what he threatened. He uttered a thank you as he took off jumping to the next rooftop, checking the ground frantically for the senshi, the general far from his mind. When he finally found the other the starseed barely had a glimmer, but it was enough. Shang couldn’t have been more relieved to see the senshi wake up. He smiled, “a favor if you will … don’t patrol alone.”