|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 12:51 pm
"For someone so damn tiny, she weighs an awful lot," Kadyrelite grumbled as she ran the rooftops of Destiny City, only occasionally pausing to make sure that the body she carried didn't go slipping from her grasp.
Somehow, she doubted that either Melian or the General whose aura she followed like a bloodhound would be impressed if that happened.
Size has never been an indicator of potential, sweet one. Hold tight now. We're almost there.
For once, Kadyrelite was grateful for Strytha's presence. Had the youma not been a second, guiding voice, who knows what mistakes she would have made by now. Certainly kidnapping her own cousin as a potential recruit would have turned out verrrry differently.
"We're getting closer, right? Whoever it is, they feel closer. It won't hurt Mel to stay trussed up a little longer, will it?"
Stop worrying. Your cousin will be fine. And yes, the General is closer. Slow down and be on your best behavior now.
------------------
Melian was dimly and painfully aware of an odd distant throbbing in her skull. And that she was wrong side up, somehow. Through the pain, she was fairly certain that the ground should not be what looked like above. Nor should it be moving so quickly.
Groaning slightly, her body twitched instinctively and felt caught up. Something wasn't letting her move. This produced enough alarm to let her claw her way out of the throbbing darkness just a little more. That was good. She hated to be in the dark. THough, she had to admit that the dark didn't make her head hurt as much as climbing out did...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 7:25 am
He had felt the power signature faintly for a few minutes now, wavering in and out of focus like a badly tuned radio. Sometimes it grew stronger, then faded, then grew stronger again, and Aurostibite deduced - correctly, he presumed - that whoever it was had been following him. When he sped up to test this theory, the signature grew quieter, and then a second later, stronger again, as though the person did not want to lose him.
He did not know who it was, but he slowed down enough to at least gauge the type of signature. Chaos, not Order; a good thing, he thought, as he stopped on the rooftop of a building that had once been a hotel. It had fallen into disrepair over the years and now was some sort of hostel instead, somewhere on the outskirts of the city.
Running seemed pointless, especially since it was Chaos, so Aurostibite came to the conclusion that waiting was the best option. When they found him, he would be standing near the parapet of the hotel, weapons summoned, but held at his sides, the very picture of a calm and collected demeanor.
"What do you want?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 9:14 am
Panting from running, Kadyrelite halted on the rooftop and dropped her cousin's mostly unconscious body nearly at his feet. Holding up a hand to indicate that she'd answer once she wasn't wheezing like old bellows, the tall Captain sank to her knees and held her side.
You needed the exercise anyway.
Grimacing at the youma's words, Kadyrelite finally got her breath back and opened her mouth to answer the General's question.
"Please, sir. I," was as far as she was able to get before Strytha took matter's into it's own hands and took over her vocal cords.
"Honestly, the child would take all day to explain her errand," the odd, hissing voice chunnered. "Dear General, little Kadyrelite would like to bring her cousin into the fold. She, rightly, believes that only a General or Sovereign should handle such a task."
Then, as quickly as it had taken over, Strytha retreated, leaving Kadyrelite crouching beside her cousin's body and looking up at him with entreating eyes.
"Could you do it?" she asked breathlessly. "Would you?"
-------------------------
The sensation of being dropped onto a hard surface made Melian groan in pain. But the world had stopped swimming around her and she could hear voices. Even if she couldn't understand the words just yet.
Once it became clear that she wasn't going to be moved, she sighed and tried to move again. This time, she felt the bite of the rope that held her wrists together. Well, that wasn't good.
Nor was the extremely painful ache near the back of her skull. Did that mean that whomever had trussed her up and dropped her here had clonked her head to knock her out? It was certainly probable seeming. And the train of slow, but rational thought helped to drive the darkness back further.
Opening her eyes carefully, she glance up at the speakers and felt her heart seize up. No senshi wore clothes like that. Nor did any of the knights she'd ever encountered. Which meant that these were Negaverse officers standing above her. She was tied up and who knew where with people who very probably didn't like her kind much.
Oh s**t.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:39 am
He waited for her to speak, face calm and remote, in spite of the figure that the Captain had dropped at his feet. Neither one of them was recognizable; one was a civilian, her silvery hair cascading around her head in long waves, her eyes closed. She was still breathing, clearly, but raggedly.
The change of voice from the Captain made Aurostibite look up, his gaze flickering towards her once more. It was a rougher, hissing sort of voice that made his eyes narrow, but he did not interrupt, a glint of silver at his sides as he shifted position to better face them.
"You wish me to recruit her?" Aurostibite said, with a careless glance back down at the civilian. She was awake now, staring up at him with wide, terrified eyes. Her arms were bound by a length of cord around her wrists, securing her carefully.
His voice remained level, though with the faintest tremor of disdain.
"Why is she restrained?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:12 am
Unlike the General, Kadyrelite hadn't yet realized that Melian was awake when she answered his questions quite candidly, the very picture of pleased innocence.
"Well, I had to restrain her a little. I mean, what if she's woken up when I was roof-running and started flailing about and trying to escape? Or started screaming? I didn't want to lose my cousin before I found you or attract undue attention."
She felt Strytha wriggle warningly inside her chest and grimaced a little. What was the little beast's problem this time? Ignoring the sensation of shifting muscle and bone, she reached out and began to work on the knotted rope that kept Melian safe.
"It would be wonderful if you could recruit her. She's smart and I know from experience that small as she is, she packs a wallop when she decides to punish someone. And... I'd like to know that she's safe in this war. And the only way to ensure that is to make her one of us, right?"
You talk to much, child. Hold your tongue, the youma's voice was purely internal this time and edged with a harsh weariness.
---------------
Melian could feel the blood rush from her face as the more feminine of the voices chattered happily above her. She might be a bit dazed and dizzy, but she'd clearly heard the word 'cousin'. That was frightening enough on it's own. Cousin implied that this female knew her. That her dear, stupid Alodie had gotten mixed up in things that she shouldn't have. Melian didn't have much use for people. For family. But in her own way, Alodie was important. If only because she needed to be protected from her own stupidity.
But to hear a colder male voice speaking of recruiting her...
Could Negaverse officers recruit Dark Mirrors? She was fairly sure the answer was a resounding no. But still. She didn't exactly want to give him a chance to try. She didn't want to give her cousin a chance to offer her up for recruitment either. She could feel fingers messing with the rope and decided it was time to start struggling. She needed to get out of this mess.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 2:39 pm
Her reasoning made sense, even if it wasn't particularly appealing. It did not, however, answer the question of why. Why had she been unconscious in the first place, and why had she needed to be subdued in order to be brought to a General?
"There is logic to that, yes," he said, in response to the question of her cousin's safety. Aurostibite's eyes swept over the young woman once more. "I'm not averse to forced corruptions, however it seems a tad...unwise to merely take her without planning."
Everything - from the breathlessness of the Captain, to the way the young girl was restrained - spoke of a snap decision, not one meant to be carefully and precisely executed. He could have been wrong, but judging from the hasty way that she wished him to work...
He was not simply some machine for them to use at will. Aurostibite took a step closer to the young woman, gazing down at her with an expressionless look on his face, flat and calm.
"Who are you?" he asked. "What is your name?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:53 am
"My name is Kadyrelite, sir. Her name is Melian Sambrook," the Captain explained willingly. "And sir, Strytha told me it was better to do it this way."
She paused for a moment and visibly gritting her teeth, slammed her fist into her chest. "Say hello to the General, Strytha. Otherwise, he's likely to think we're mad."
Though her expression remained cheerful enough, the suddenly bloodless-ness of her face was obvious, even in the moonlight as something within her forced muscle and bone to ripple. And for a moment, there was even a faint impression of a face pressing against the thin skin near her breastbone.
"Good evening, sweet General," the hissing voice was back and this time, Strytha took the time to make it obvious that Kadyrelite wasn't simply a skilled voice actor. "Strytha did not mean to cause concern, oh no! Kadyrelite refused, once, to bring this girl's starseed to the Dark Kingdom using more... direct methods. Strytha thought this was the better compromise, though perhaps our haste is unseemly. We did not want little Kadyrelite to have time to talk herself out of being a good officer."
As quickly as it had taken her voice, Strytha retreated, leaving Kadyrelite to scowl a little as she rubbed at her throat.
"I will be so glad when it can't do that anymore," she muttered a touch resentfully. "I'm not that useless, Strytha!"
-----------------
Melian might have answered the General boldly, even as she struggled to free her wrists. But that moment quickly vanished the moment an inhuman voice began speaking. Feeling the fine hairs on the back of her stand up, she sagged a little, feeling sick.
Alodie had, apparently, had brief thoughts of murder and starseed theft. That she'd ultimately refused was thin comfort given that she'd instead opted for kidnapping, but hey. Her cousin still loved her. Why Alodie still loved her was kind of a mystery, but one that Melian would be happy to consider at length later.
Preferably far away from this cold General and that voice!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:09 am
The names were committed to Aurostibite's memory, carefully put into place so that he would remember them later. Kadyrelite. Melian Sambrook. Strytha. The last of these was unlike the others, however, and he cast a narrow-eyed gaze towards the Captain, awaiting explanation without actually asking for it.
He hadn't needed to; a second later, something had shifted, and then something was pressing grotesquely against Kadyrelite's sternum - a face, nestled into her chest, as though some creature was writhing about inside of her. It was somewhat horrifying, but Aurostibite, who had had long years of experience in the Negaverse now, had learned when not to react. His expression was impassive as he listened.
A youma, he thought, because it was the only explanation. How...odd.
But it was not the time to consider what the oddities were in having such a creature embedded into one's body. They were asking him to take her, after all, to make her one of their own. Aurostibite had always had the mindset of willful corruptions - unless one counted Kainite, which he never did - and this was one of the first times that he had been designated for an unwilling participant.
Aurostibite let his gaze rest on the civilian, blue eyes searching her face before they returned to Kadyrelite.
"My name is General Aurostibite," he said, "Have her stand up."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 12:05 pm
Leaving the rope half tied, Kadyrelite nodded and stood up before tenderly pulling her cousin into a standing position.
"Up you come, Mel," she said cheerfully. "You just lean back against me and everything will be just fine."
Keeping her hands on Melian's shoulders, she felt Strytha stir a bit as she leaned Melian back a bit. She wasn't entirely ready to let go of her cousin completely. Part of it was the hint of blood in her cousin's hair where she'd had to hit her hard enough to knock her out. Wincing in guilt, she'd decided her cousin's silence was due to being dazed from the blow.
Perhaps. But she is awake. Perhaps terror is stilling the stinging tongue you told Strytha so much about.
The idea of Melian, of all people, being afraid was a novel idea. Kadyrelite considered it for a second, then dismissed it. It didn't really matter, after all.
"All right, General, we're ready. And thank you, really. Mel'll be amazing, you'll see."
------------------------
Allowing herself to be hauled to her feet, Melian stayed silent. There had been a moment when she'd felt something move within her cousin's chest. The owner of that voice, she guessed. Shuddering a little, she forced herself to take in as much of her surroundings as possible. She was on a roof. Roofs were good. Though this one had clearly seen better days.
Her wrists were mostly unbound. A good pull wouldn't snap the rope, but it would allow her to pull herself from her bindings. Sometimes, being tiny had advantages. Her position was no good for foot stomping though, not the way Alodie had pulled her up. And there was no good, natural, yet subtle way to get into the position she needed.
Crap.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 4:24 pm
Standing up, the girl looked even less as though she belonged there than before. Kadyrelite was holding her steady from behind, and Aurostibite let his gaze sweep up and down her helpless form. Civilians seemed so very weak in their natural state, after all.
"Stand very still, both of you," he instructed, as he stepped closer. "The less you move, the less it will be a pain."
Aurostibite stretched out a hand, gloved fingers hovering just above Melian's chest, his expression quite impassive. This was not his usual route to follow, but he had been asked for assistance by a fellow agent. Perhaps he wouldn't have done so under normal circumstances, but there was a first time for everything.
"It will only hurt for a moment," said Aurostibite to the girl, and then his hand pushed into her chest, into that space beneath. His fingers wrapped around the starseed he could feel, warm and pulsing gently, and with one thought of concentration, he pushed the Chaos forward.
There was pressure - it wasn't working. He tried again, concentrating, but -
There was a frisson of feeling, and a jolt; Aurostibite jerked his hand back abruptly, eyes narrowing. For a moment he stood there, staring at the civilian with an intensely scrutinizing expression on his face, his chest heaving for breath.
"You," he said shortly and reached out, gloved fingers tilting the girl's chin up.
"You're not just a civilian, are you."daisymilk LEMME KNOW IF THIS IS OKAY I can fix as necessary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 6:10 am
There was an avid, almost hungry curiosity rolling off of Kadyrelite in near palpable waves. She remembered her own corruption vaguely, but had never witnessed the corruption of anyone else.
Well, this will be educational then, won't it.
She did as the General ordered and held still, keeping a light, but firm pressure on her cousin to keep her upright. And when the General's hand plunged into Melian's chest and began to bathe the starseed in Chaos, she could feel muscles spasming moments before a horrified, pain-filled scream ripped through the night. She did her best to keep Melian still, but her cousin seemed capable only of screaming and thrashing wildly.
"What's going on?"
Something is very wrong. This is not how it should go!
----------------------
Pain, worse than anything she could have imagined, rippled through Melian as a hand clutched at her starseed and tried to flood it with Chaos. She'd tried to bear it stoically, but in the end, all she could do was scream until her throat felt as if it had been shredded.
And when the pain stopped, she sagged against her cousin, panting and sobbing. She felt the officer's fingers under her chin and shuddered from revulsion at the touch. Still she was able to meet his eyes and glare poisonously back at him.
"You have no idea," she hissed before deciding that cousin or no, she was getting the hell away from Alodie and her crazy ideas. Counting on residual shock from her failure to corrupt, Melian brought one foot up before slamming it down on the arch of her cousin's foot. And once she felt her cousin stumble and back away, she twisted, freeing her wrists and moving as far from the General as possible before seizing her henshin pen and snarling at him.
"Orcus power, make-up!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:42 pm
She was screaming. She was screaming, and there was a jolt like he'd been shocked, and it did not make sense. The corruption should have worked; there was nothing that should have stopped it, nothing that should have prevented him from pushing the Chaos in and letting it overtake her starseed.
Nothing except for one thing.
Aurostibite had shifted back as the girl twisted, struggling madly. The Captain had gone stumbling back, and both of Aurostibite's blades were summoned now, held defensively in front of him, the scalloped edges facing towards the two of them.
And she had shifted, transformed, shouted a name. Aurostibite stared at her, feeling a growing sense of anger and annoyance that he had been called into this; that he had been asked to do such a thing without any sort of information with it.
That he had almost gone along with it.
"Dark Mirror," he said in irritation, his blue eyes flickering up and down her fuku, tonfa still held protectively in front of him. "I don't have any quarrel with your kind, senshi."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:02 am
Stop screaming, you idiot and get her! Strytha's voice hissed angrily within Kadyrelite's mind as her cousin, her tiny, stupid cousin managed to almost destroy Kadyrelite's foot under her heel. Forcing herself to her feet, the Captain began to stagger towards her cousin, only to stop in sheer shock as Melian shouted and transformed. And while Kadyrelite could have, perhaps, reconciled herself to her cousin being a senshi, seeing the tiny woman as one of the Dark Mirror Court was too much.
"Traitor," Strytha's voice roared from Kadyrelite's throat as her injured foot was forgotten. "Abomination in the face of Metallia's grace! I'll kill you!"
As quickly as Strytha had taken over her voice, the youma released control so that it was Kadyrelite and Kadyrelite alone who vowed to kill her cousin. As she lunged furiously for the dark mirror senshi, she dimly heard her cousin shout something and, in spite of herself jerked back as a heavy mist appeared in front of her, making it difficult to catch a proper breath. Coughing and choking slightly, Kadyrelite could feel Strytha's rage and confusion.
What has that little witch done?
Kadyrelite could only cough in response, her eyes closing briefly. And when she opened them again, her cousin had vanished. Snarling, she turned to the General and after a moment, bowed deeply to him.
"My deepest apologies, sir. I had no idea of what she was. If I had, I'd not have wasted your time tonight and just... killed her outright as Strytha wanted in the first place."
She'd deal with whatever punishment this garnered her later. For now, she could only stare into the night and growl.
---------------------------
Eyes casting frantically between the two officers, Orcus felt her lip curl in derision at the General's words. How lovely, she thought, he has no quarrel with me!
"Well, ********, slap my a** and call me Spanky. That just makes me feel so much better!"
She would have said more, would have considered physically assaulting the man were it not for the sound of her cousin's voice combined with the look of bestial fury in Alodie's otherwise sweet eyes. Paling, she did the only thing she could think of in the face of her cousin screaming promises of murder. Orcus summoned her magic and sent it directly at her cousin.
That the mist appeared so quickly and with enough weight was a source of relief, even as she could hear her cousin choking and coughing as the mist did it's work. Not much time left, she thought as she shot a poisonous look at the General and his tonfas. No, this was not the time to attack. Not when she was outnumbered and one of the two wanted her dead.
Flipping the General a double bird, Orcus ran to the edge of the roof and threw herself off. Twisting cat-like in the air, she just barely managed to land on her feet. Still, it was enough and she took off running into the night. Get away now, she thought. Fight back later.
kuropeco Oh my god, I am a failboat. Gon' get this thing wrapped up. Thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
