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Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:01 pm
Quote: "Schörl, Beautiful, I've upset your pet... you should come home before I pass out and he drowns me in the tub." Message sent over the crystal communicator, Cinnabar let herself fall back against the tarp-covered couch and relaxed, drifting on the left over high from swallowing a starseed. With her eyes closed, she fancied she could feel the stolen life flowing through her... making her dark, chaos riddled flesh glow from the inside with innocent light. It felt so good... and she hated it so much. It was so much like other times in other places, when other things flowed in her blood.
Laz was off somewhere, doing some stupid thing... drawing a bath, maybe? She didn't want to pick her head up to check and could only vaguely remember what he'd said he was going to do. The pain of her ribs, once strong enough to hint at a breakage, was vague and muffled, as though it were outside of her... same with the nasty slash that stretched from shoulder to opposite hip, gaping wide, but appearing almost burnt into her flesh. It still hurt, but the starseed's energy did much to set that pain aside.
Slack fingers released the crystal and Cinnabar made a soft sound as it fell to the floor, unable to work up the drive needed to get up to reach for it. Lazarus could retrieve it later if he wanted it back... she was more concerned with the corset she was laying on and the chains on her jacket that were digging into her arms and shoulders. She wanted to remove them, settle herself more comfortably, but movement felt like such effort right now... especially when she considered how much it was going to hurt to twist her arms about enough to slide the jacket off. <******** that s**t. She could deal with the pinching.
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 6:44 pm
General Schörl considered the small voice coming from her breast pocket while a body went limp in a bed. The search for the perfect stickpin, sadly, continued onwards as the starseed she turned over in her hand proved to be a boring pastel pink. Not suitable at all. An eyesore, really. Upsetting Elʿazar may as well be a sport. Passing out is an interesting addition. Curiosity piqued, she turned away from a limp body to the rest of the city and a successive series of teleports and rapid jumps to make the distance between uptown and the highend, industrial lofts. The half-youma captain's presence in the area was noticeable well before her building was in sight. Schörl sighed through her teeth, found the roof, the improvised climbing anchors that formed stairs down the bricks to a small grate porch and windows that had been converted into a glass door entry along the more private side of the building. That entrance fed into the commons area with the hookah, drink set up, plush carpets and seating rolls that she had made long ago to house any powered company that may have stopped by. "Mayhaps the lion is sleeping because she doesn't roar?" The words echoed up into the industrial ceiling. Blood clotted the air as well as a scent of ashes and burning, curious compared to what might otherwise be expected of distress. Occasional slight crinkle of tarp followed to the reclining captain in her plight of discomfort. "Well now. What made a mouse of you, luv. What's been done already by way of energy or starseeds?" Unusual combination of ashes and blood. Half-youma, half-destroyed. Youma regenerate...do you? Humans heal, not regenerate. Humans who can't heal die. Would that there was more research and reports submitted by Mica or Amethyst, or any other of the fledgling medical. It would put dealing with this less touch and go. The Lady or the Tiger.
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Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:47 pm
The familiar, teasing voice pulled Cinnabar out of her drifting doze with a start and her body twitched, making her groan as pain rocked through her. Starseed energy only lasted so long... and already the high was fading, leaving her markedly better than when she had arrived, but still miserably injured.
"Schörl." She sighed as she relaxed back, soaking in the wash of chaotic energy from the blonde like a balm. Finally... Schörl would take care of her, even if the admission of needing such care remained privately sealed away. Reaching up with a grimace, Cin rubbed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Lazarus gave me a starseed. Most of the energy has faded by now, but it helped, I think." There was a groan from her as she dropped her hand to the couch and forced her body to roll to the side, swinging her legs off the crinkling tarp to counterbalance her torso as she pushed herself upright. The world dipped and spun, but she managed, rolling her shoulders under her leather jacket.
"Help me get my coat off, would you?" Her hands fussed with the edges as she attempted to push it back without lifting her arms and aggravating her ribs. The corset would come after that was gone, already unzipped and gaping over wound and bare skin. The half-youma didn't much mind... Schörl had already seen everything there was to see. "I found a senshi girl alone and felt her out for recruitment... she seemed interested enough in me, with the way her fingers wandered, but not too keen on coming back to meet the General-Queen. She warned that she was with a Prince named Castor, but I thought she was bluffing... 'My boyfriend will be home any minute', but I couldn't feel anyone nearby, prince or otherwise. When I tried to force the issue, he came flying up out of no where before I could pick up on his signature."
She shifted self-conciously on the couch, sliding a side-eyed look towards the General.
"He felt like an eternal, Schörl. We both know how much a youma increases my power... I weighed the risk and decided we were equal enough my training would give me an edge. He was the one that left that pile of bodies at the old printing place, I figured it was worth it to try and take him down, or even damage him some. He... did something with his tiara and hit me with it. Kicked like a mule and it burned... Which is when I retreated and teleported back here. Laz picked me up off the floor and fed me a starseed... I think he went to make a bath or something, I don't remember."
It was a light recounting of what had happened, but it was told without bluster or posing. She'd ******** up, but in her defense, it was a mistake anyone could have made. It wasn't like with the youma, or standing up to Bischofite... there had been clear goals this time, real assessment of what she had been up against. The tiara had be an unknown factor... there had been no planning for it.
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 12:57 am
" It always helps- that isn't a matter of thinking. The life of one to heal the flesh of another. But too many starseeds eaten in succession leads down one road. It would finish off what's left of you, pet. I'd rather not flirt with damning your potential to the base limitations of a full youma. " " Not astute strategy, for a bounty hunter. How much serendipity it would take for a super senshi to defeat one of our General Sovereigns? It is simple math, even for what formal martial training offers. The average human reaction speed 0.25 seconds to a visual stimulus. Say a captain is .083 seconds. A general .0625 seconds. A sovereign or a royal then is .05 seconds. There's a significant difference between .08 and .05 seconds. There is a similar significance in the difference between lifting 250lbs as a captain, 300 as a general and 400 as a sovereign. Roughest estimates, but telling. " I leapt onto that eternal who turned into a princess....but that was at a mission. I'd gauged risks, knowing how many other operatives were near, we had the ambush of fire above and Leto on our side. Bischofite was supposed to open that gate to the Rift. It was playing for time, not expecting that I was going to win against the eternal or her friends right next to her. Much of it depends on how early into any of it she knew it was Castor, a known Royal. " 'Just thought I'd try' was stupid on the basis of being alone, worse you weren't just facing a royal. It was a royal plus one. " Schörl let Cinnabar struggle a moment, going to a drawer to retrieve a straight razor. Once back, the problem pieces of clothing were quickly removed by clean, cut removals. It could all be summoned back good as new like any uniform. " 'Left a pile of bodies' but 'decided we were equal enough and I'd have an edge'. These do not add up in quick assessment and strategy to command a situation. " It was more than a rookie mistake out of a captain, it was plain hubris and stupidity in a double cocktail. The wounds were deserved, and it drew into question Cinnabar's fitness for any sort of command or rank other than shock troop. Oft times the burned hand teaches best of fire. Are you capable of being Edmund Pevensie, thrice the loyal and fit because of your early failing? That seems someone more for a lieutenant's trials. We've done this sort of thing before with you. Is this Strike Two or Strike Three? "Lay back and still. What flesh there is to stitch, or to pack with sterile gauzes, will be better done not bent in sitting. The ashing...it is no boon to wound care to lack the meatstuffs wanted to pinch closed a hole. How much you regenerate as a youma, and how much as a woman will be an interesting race. More energy balls will come later, with enough time passed." She endangers herself only on these solo stupidities. At least so much cannot be brought against her, that she leads others to death and dismemberment and waste. Does ending her here an now add up to more or less for Metallia? As long as others are not given to similar bravado and bad influence....less. She should live. An effective distraction, maybe, if a formal strike and hunt could be called for the Prince. He might go for her, seeing her out and about. It could give time for others to close on him and a trap sprung. Another chance to learn. "This might be useful." It didn't take long to bring over the substantial first aid kits stocked for just such occasion.
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 10:20 am
Cinnabar took her dressing down in tense silence. Every moment of her stupidity laid bare stiffened her shoulders and pinched her mouth, but she suffered it, her eyes on the floor across the room. Not at her feet, but... she couldn't meet the blonde eye for eye either.
They were all valid, black and white points of logic... and they hurt. They hurt like nothing had in so long. They hurt worse than the ******** slash across her chest. Muscles jumped in her jaw as she ground her teeth together, but there was no protesting it, no pulling anything out of her a** to excuse herself. Once, she might have laughed in Stroud's face and told her to ******** off, but now?
She'd thought she'd killed the part of herself that cared what people thought about her reckless, self destructive ways. Truly though, it had just been hiding, waiting for a time when she started feeling again to rear up and sucker punch her in the gut. She hated it, but at the same time... the person who lived without it wasn't who she wanted to be any more. Cinnabar wanted to be... more than that.
Part of her winced as her jacket was cut off her back, instinctive mourning for good leather destroyed even as the better part of her knew it was fake and would return unmarked next she called for it. Her throat worked as she swallowed her pride, bitter as it was. And what pinched the more? Laz was right, in a way. Though she had blustered it off, it was true. Her life was an out of control car and she'd floored it, throwing up her hands so that someone else must grab the wheel or let her crash and burn.
What does it matter if it does? No one cares if I burn alive or not. Except... I've started wanting someone to. Damn all of them. It was easier when I didn't care.
"My apologies, General." She said stiffly, but without sarcasm, as she turned and eased back onto the couch again. It hurt to do so, both the acceptance of her failing and the motion, but she embraced the pain. "You're entirely right. I made the wrong decision. I will work on my risk assessment."
I wanted to be better than this, more than this. I have to try harder.
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 12:14 am
Schörl let Cinnabar's words hold in the air between them, unanswered, in order to work silently on the task at hand. Wound packing. This will need changed periodically and checked for how the Youma part is progressing in healing. And how much energy balls consumed effect it.
So much salvage there must be from so much wreckage. Tentanus didn't seem a likely problem for someone not even of a viable earth biology anymore. Magic didn't get viruses or bacteria, and there was some argument in that truth that Youma wouldn't either. Or at least they would be more resilient. The wound was deep, gaping open but lacking most debris. A quick assembly provided a squeeze bottle with fluid for flushing the edges off with the precision of a pipette. No signs of infection, such as redness, or discharge. There were no streaks forming around the wound on the skin that remained womanly. The General unpacked swaths of sterile bandage next to dab away the leavings of the rinse first, then to start packing and applying pressure. With some maneuvering and lifting at Cinnabar's ample hips, wrapping and securing of the packing with more sterile bandage was achieved. A constant, low level pressure would stabilize without interfering the way a tourniquet would. Finally, Schörl pet palms flattened against Cinnabar's temples and back into her long hair. The gesture was repeated, pulling lightly to relieve the scalp muscles with stimulation from tension. It was more than a little like petting and tugging on a cat's cheeks. "Mistakes can be learned from; it would be worse if you were stagnant and doing naught like so many. You will do better." The last was punctuated with a kiss to the dip between bottom lip and crest of Cinnabar's chin. Then another at the very corner of the full lips, still not on them. "You will rise above this. Your willingness to push your limits is not the failing. You've learned you cannot make the wall into a door with your fists, but you are using too much dynamite to make a door there...and just blowing yourself up. One stick will do. Or digging under the wall. Or climbing over it. Let's consider our uses of this." "Tell me about the battle itself. Did you incense this Castor? Would he chase you to finish the job? Or on a larger field, could you lure him to focus on you ? A 'battle' could be made to look to have one purpose, when his maiming, capture, or death could be the real aim. Or this little senshi that you played with...she could be a useful target. You did not come away empty-handed of information. " As much as pain and injury may addle you, Sinner, time and sleep ruin more memory. So you must do your thinking now that you didn't then.
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 9:05 pm
She was stoic through the rinsing and the packing, despite the aggravated pain. At least it wasn't stitches... though she'd almost welcome the bite of the needle right now. It would take a hefty amount to close the whole of the gash, too. Ribs protested the lifting of her hips, shortening her breath until she was prone again.
It wasn't until hands slid into her hair that a wary sort of life came back into her red eyes and she finally brought her gaze up to Schörl. She tried to fight the easing of her tension, but it was a losing battle... and a shivered sigh slipped from her as she softened.
You remember what happened last time, how much it hurt. You can't do that again. But it was hard... so hard when lips pressed affection to her skin and sugar came from the same hand that had held the stick. Easier by far to ignore it instead and focus on the questions asked.
"He hated me, I could see it." She said finally, shifting to ease her ribs. "Spat something at me... Spanish or Italian maybe? He was enraged, and I'm not sure that it was just because of the senshi girl."
Cinnabar frowned, running through the confrontation in her mind. "He said I was weaker than 'the other one'. I'm not sure if he would chase me, or focus on me in a pitched battle. Maybe, but it wouldn't be something to count on without testing it first. He claimed I didn't make him afraid like this 'other'. The girl though... she's special to him. She'd be a useful lure if what she said was true and he doesn't let her far from his side. What do you know about Castor, Schörl?"
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 11:39 pm
"Not nearly enough. There's not been reports recent to the database itself, or to the mouldering, over-sized bulletin board in the general halls, on most senshi or knights of any kind or title-tier. But on the old board there is a page wearing thin and faded- 'Name: Sailor Castor, White a** and arm wings, pale blue pants, white spats, white cross-top over crotch. Rank: Eternal, Power Base: Hail. Blue eyes and sandy hair. Known 'magical' attacks being All offensive, involving a cold fist and hail from the sky. ' " "He is not unknown to the Intelligence Branch, once upon a fledgling time. And that bit about corpse pile. I would appreciate, once you're well enough, if you'd make an entry in the database regarding your experience. What InFos doesn't keep themselves, SpecOps can still use. " And so far as I know, the upkeep is so rare and dour that the sovereigns still offer a medal just for making an entry. Schörl considered a few moments more, letting silence settle over the gentle tuggings. "Priority can be given to finding out more about the girl, if the information was true, who she is, and what her magic is. But this is all for later. " It's easy enough to take the prize from his side, whether he will or no with our teleportation skill. It just means that part of a plan should be done by a General. Things to consider for later. Things that could be recruited and trained for. "It will be at least a day before we should try giving you energy or a starseed to boost your healing. Sleep now, Cinnabar. " The General pulled her own communicator out again, speaking generally into it the order for a corrupted Mauvian to report to aura-blocking duty immediately and the address of where. "I keep my own. Rest. "
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 6:50 pm
"That was the senshi I faced, but his hair was white. I never saw any evidence of his new rank when we fought, beyond that strange tiara attack." Cinnabar said. The hands in her hair made it hard not to relax, as much as she tried to resist it. It didn't help that she was exhausted...
"I will update his entry as soon as I can get to a computer." The captain agreed as she shifted to a more comfortable position. "And I'll make sure all senshi and knights I've met to date are updated."
Call it self-imposed punishment. Entering all that information would be a pain, but it was time she stepped up and made herself useful.
"The senshi's name was Methone. Sphere was Aurora Borealis." Cracking red eyes open, she frowned in thought. "Dark hair, blue-green eyes, tan skin. Basic level. Skirt and collar were teal with a large, paler teal bow in the back. The body suit was distinctive... top and bottom separate save for a single connecting ring. She had boots with slouching tops and straps that wrapped up to her knees. White fingerless gloves and gold bracelets."
Gorgeous rack and legs forever. It really was a shame she'd been so resistant to joining their side.
"Thank you, Schörl." Cinnabar murmured as she let her eyes close, every muscle relaxing. There would be time enough to deal with where to go from here later.
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