He couldn't recall the time, though he knew it was sometime late, perhaps ebbing into the early morning. Aurostibite paced down one of the long alleyways, boots quiet on the pavement, his dark hair waving over his shoulder in ebony curls.
There was no particular reason for his patrolling now; he could have gone home quite some time ago, but ever since Mintaka had told him about what Chariklo had done to her, he'd been staying out a little longer. Not out of a desire for revenge - Aurostibite was not that kind of person - but more out of a sense of frustration, his heart heavy.
She'd been hurt by the betrayal; and that hurt was sinking into her, ebbing into her mind, her heart, her entire self. It was painful to watch, Aurostibite trying to figure out why things had not worked out. Mintaka had changed for him, had given up her former lifestyle because she had believed in what she thought was right.
And it had been thrown back into her face.
He stopped at the corner of an alley and leaned against the brick wall, one gloved hand pressed to the side of it. Aurostibite's gaze swept from left to right, picking up the faint traces of a power signature, though it seemed to distant to be able to tell whether good or bad.
frayedflower
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:59 am
It was late, and Amphitrite had filled her energy quota and then some - but she just wasn't ready to head home yet. Home was empty without Elle and Pastiche there with her, for one thing. For another, she was still feeling too good about this upgrade. After everything she'd gone through, then all the work she'd put in since her corruption, to have it finally culminate into more raw power felt - it felt better than she could even say, really. She'd earned this. She deserved this.
But she hadn't had much of a chance to spread her wings and see what what she do - so when she sensed an aura close by, she crept a little closer to scope it out. The corrupt was vaguely disappointed when she realized it was a chaos aura instead of order (she would have loved to find Methone again now that they were on equal planes, really), but it felt like it was captain level, so - hey! Maybe they'd still be willing to help train with her or something! At least they'd be sort of equals, right?
"Hello~? Captain?" Amphitrite called as she got closer, finally peeking around the far alley corner. Ah, there he was! She strode towards him, flipping her hair over her shoulder and holding her chin a little higher. "Sorry to bother you out of nowhere, " not like he wasn't just standing there anyway, "But I was just wondering -- "
When she got close enough to get a good look at him though, a surge of deja vu hit her something fierce. The corrupt blinked, tilted her head to a side, and carefully pursed her lips. "Huh. Do I uh. Know you from somewhere?"
The aura of power grew stronger the closer that it came towards him. Aurostibite remained where he was, because there seemed to be no reason to move if it was going to come to him instead. He stepped back into the shadows a little, if only to avoid being seen by anyone not of either faction. He wasn't really in the mood to energy drain today.
The power signature rose, and then a young woman's voice called out, vaguely familiar, a face appearing. It was backlit by the moonlight and half shrouded in the shadows cast by the building, and Aurostibite stepped to the side, trying to get a better glimpse of her. Something about the way she carried herself was strangely reminiscent of someone else...
"Wondering what?" he asked warily, circling a little, and as he took a step left, a ray of moonlight hit her face, illuminating her features.
The pieces clicked into place. He knew her, remembered her from before he'd been promoted. Her face was the same, but her uniform was not. Instead of bearing the loyalties of the White Moon, it had shifted, transformed into....
Mintaka wasn't, apparently, the only one whose loyalties had changed.
"You," he said, tilting his head, a frown on his face. "I remember you. You've...changed."
frayedflower
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:50 pm
Look at that, so she did know him! - well, sort of. She didn't really at all, but he knew her so they were halfway there. "I thought you seemed familiar!" she just about chirped as she came closer, taking a better look at his face to try and trigger something specific. It happened sometimes, like with Cinnabar and Leucite. Him, though, no such luck. He was familiar, but otherwise she was drawing a complete blank.
"Yup, I have! General-Queen Laurelite decided I was worth everyone's time." Amphitrite glanced down at herself, still not completely over the changes that her upgrade to super had brought. "Big improvement, I promise, " she added in an almost playful little purr, all smiles.
"But, uh, " she looked vaguely sheepish, then, "See, the transition was kind of rough, so... I don't really remember your name or... anything else, really. - could you remind me, kind sir?" So she was flirting a little. He was cute, that wasn't really her fault! "Did I ever give you my name?"
She'd been Corrupted; that was what had changed. He could see the difference now, could see that she was no longer the uncertain, stumbling senshi that he'd first met several months back. This young woman was confident, holding her head high, a swing in her step.
"Did she now," Aurostibite murmured, still mulling over this information. He couldn't pretend to even know the inner workings of the Negaverse as well as he'd wished to; he was still low on the totem pole, still just a dog of the Negaverse, to do their bidding as they saw fit. "Well...I suppose I should welcome you, but..."
It unsettled him. Her smile was throwing him off, the playful expression on her face making his own darken in annoyance.
"You did," said Aurostibite, and one of his daggers slid out of his sleeve, into his gloved fingers. He made no move to attack yet, but lifted his chin, lips pressed together. "You said, if I can recall correctly, 'In the name of Amphitrite, you have been punished.' And then you threw a stick at me and ran away."
The other dagger slid free, into his other hand. Aurostibite's eyes narrowing.
"I'm Captain Aurostibite," he said flatly, and lunged.
frayedflower
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:16 pm
"Oh?" Her cheeks burned a little and the corrupt laughed, trying to mask the noise by sliding a hand over her mouth. "Well wow - jeez, I'm sorry about that, I -- "
Wait. Was that a glint of a dagger in the moonlight? - well damn. Amphitrite took a few steps back, hastily muttering, "Blessing of the Sea" as she bought her arms up. Seemed like as good a time as any to try out her updated magic. A pair of shells, pearl oyster to be precise, appeared on her forearms, and the dagger scraped along its length with about as much shrieking charm as nails on a chalkboard.
"Hey, hey, I said I was sorry about the stick! Really!" she called, just to be clear on that because she definitely didn't remember that - okay, so it sounded a little hilarious, but - oh, whatever, she'd been planning to ask him to spar anyway.
[b]Super Sailor Scout Attack:[/b] Blessing of the Sea Rather than scallops, the shields on her arms form from the shells of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_oyster]pearl oysters[/url]. The inside is lined with [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacre]nacre[/url], the same material that forms pearls, thus making it more durable than the Gift of the Ocean. It will still shatter with two or three intense hits, though it handles smaller hits with much more ease. If used to augment a tackle, the shells will shatter, and the fragments could potentially be harmful to both Amphitrite and her target. Limit one use per battle, period.[/spoiler]
He wasn't going to give her an option to respond. Aurostibite wasn't generally a man who held onto old grudges or revenge, but there was a certain sense of annoyance that stemmed from his last meeting with her. Not to mention that he was already relatively high strung from Mintaka's situation, so the concept of a corruption was fraying his nerves.
He'd managed to scrape one of the shells; the blade of the dagger screeched unpleasantly along it, and Aurostibite shifted his feet, trying to get away from her without putting too much distance between them.
"This isn't about the stick," he growled. "Though that was annoying."
He twisted again and shot one of his legs out, trying to kick her knee.
frayedflower
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:35 pm
"Oh come on!" Amphitrite was fine with fighting, but really, "I don't even remember any of that! Can't we just -- "
Apparently not, since he went ahead and kicked at her knee, knocking her leg out from under her. She recovered enough to land in a kneeling position instead of flat on her a** or something (again, the training had paid off), but it'd still hurt and now she was getting annoyed.
"If you thought that was annoying - " She shifted her weight onto the abused knee and swung her other leg out to try and catch him. If she couldn't figuratively sweep him off his feet, fine; she'd make it literal! (And man she hoped those fancy shoes was she wearing were as painful as they looked.)
"That's not really an excuse," Aurostibite pointed out flatly, taking several quick steps backwards. Her power signature was neither stronger, nor weaker than his own, which meant they should have been on even footing - even if Aurostibite was loathe to admit it.
"You should know by now that - "
But the rest of his sentence was lost, because Amphitrite's leg smacked into his ankle, and Aurostibite staggered, almost falling over. He managed to catch himself at the last minute, leg throbbing painfully, caught off balance as he stumbled into the brick wall.
"That was uncalled for," he said darkly, and darted again, kicking out at her torso.
frayedflower
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 2:23 am
The corrupt's eyes darkened at his words. She should know by now what? - that some members of the Negaverse didn't like her for what she'd been? That she had a lot to prove? - she hadn't come across it as often as others, but among all the kindness, of course there'd been looks, sideways glances, whispers. But her success alongside Bolton during the mission had earned her some added attention, in a good way.
But then, her reputation as a white moon in this case preceded her, didn't it?
"You started it, " she bit with a smile that was sharp at the edges, and she allowed his leg to strike her torso - and she was ready for it. It still ached and drove the wind from her lungs, but although she wavered, she did not double over. Instead, she grasped onto his leg hard and pulled with everything she had.
"That's an incredibly childish point of view for someone who is supposed to be an example of all that the Corrupted stand for," said Aurostibite with a sharp scowl, even as his foot connected with her chest. For a moment he felt the solid presence of her body against his sole - and then her hands latched onto his leg and suddenly he was yanked forward, caught completely off balance. Aurostibite gave a startled shout and tumbled forward.
He probably crashed straight into her, swearing up a storm in the process.
frayedflower
Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 5:28 pm
"Me childish?" she burst out, and she really would have laughed if he hadn't already gone and pissed her off. "You're the sore loser that attacked me even though I'm on your side now!" Seriously, just saying. She'd been trying to apologize!
Well goddamnit, you know - yeah he was cute and all, but the whole a*****e angle made it a whole lot less appealing when he crashed into her and they both went down, hitting the ground solidly. Maybe that hadn't been the best tactic in the world after all. The corrupt hissed and clawed and wriggled, trying to gain enough purchase in spite of her throbbing ankle to pin him.
The term sore loser made him irrationally annoyed, perhaps a little more than it should have. Aurostibite disliked having to be reminded of anything he'd lost, especially in terms of his position in the Negaverse; or really, anything having to do with the Negaverse at all.
He hadn't meant to fall forward, but she'd grabbed his leg and now he was snarling in irritation, Aurostibite smacking at one of Amphitrite's hands.
"Get away from me," he growled, and all but pushed himself away, rolling sideways and trying to catch his breath. Aurostibite staggered to his feet, swaying a little, and scowled down at the senshi with a look of utmost irritation and disgust.
"My previous statement about childish tactics still remains true."
frayedflower
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:13 am
"Oh, or what? Are you scared I've got cooties or something?" she taunted as she rolled up onto her heels with practiced ease, snorting and turning her nose up at him. She waved her hand in his direction once, "Oooh, watch out, I'm gonna touch you! Better watch out!"
Still, though - that look he'd given her - even if he'd made her angry, it made her a little sad too. No, it wasn't the first look she'd gotten like that. But it was the first one she seemed to have gotten for not what she was, but who she'd been. To her, it made a difference. " ... if I did apologize, would it make a difference?" she asked suddenly, taking a step back. "I really don't remember. But I am sorry."
Maybe, just maybe - "You fight very well." It couldn't very well hurt to play up the flattery. (Well, actually, it could. He did have blades and all.)
He let out an inelegant snort and didn't deign to reply to her comment about cooties, because it was simultaneously immature and annoying. Aurostibite swept a few stray strands out of his eyes; most of his hair had fallen out of his ponytail already.
But her apology - and her compliment - caught him off guard.
Eyes raising, the senshi was given a wary look, bordering on suspicious. He hadn't expected her to stop fighting, nor had he expected her to be anything less than the snarky, sassy person she'd already proven herself to be. Aurostibite stood there, knives in hand, and frowned.
"Thank you," he said slowly, eyes narrowing slightly. "What exactly are you playing at here..?"
