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 Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:17 pm
Halloween had been an odd time, right on the heels of whatever business that was with the mirrors. A black crystal sat tucked under her collar and it was good to see that the last of the linger webs were disappearing from the city as Ida patrolled each night.
Tonight came on the heels of a visit to her planet, leaving the senshi more relaxed and at peace with herself than just about any other time. Her dusky skin still held the warmth of sunlight and the smell of flowers as she trotted along the roof tops, making her way towards the business section of town and her father's little flower shop. She might not live there any more, but there was ample reason to keep the place under a watchful eye... particularly in the case of Negaverse activity. Activity that never ceased.
She felt a creeping dread climb up her nerves, chasing the sunlight and Ida turned to follow it, knowing the feel of a youma signature like she knew her own address. Loose youma were not to be tolerated, even more so than the officers that commanded them. An officer might have a plan and a target, but their 'pets' tended to be nondiscriminatory, putting the weak and vulnerable at greater risk.
Ida found the snake-like creature in the dark of an alleyway, unsurprisingly, between a little bookstore owned by a family she knew, and the new coffee place that had gone up last year. Street light barely filtered back here, offering only silhouettes and highlights in the dark and cold. A shot from one of her arrows, lighting up the dark before it exploded, took care of the youma with only minimal fuss and left Ida to deal with the young man on the ground, drained of his energy on his way to the dumpster with the last of the day's coffeshop garbage.
Light glowed, curling down her face and arm and Ida pressed a hand to his shoulder, letting the energy she had gathered from her planet pass to him... picking up a note of healing as it passed through the bracelet she wore and the chunk of amber in it.
"Its okay..." She murmured to the unconscious man, even if he couldn't hear her. The need to soothe was strong. "We'll get you inside in a moment, only a little dirty from your adventure."
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:58 am
While it was rather typical to patrol at night, General Labyrinthite felt best when cloaked in the comfort of darkness that settled over him like a second skin. Chaos was abuzz in his veins, an ever present reminder of his pledge to Metallia, the call too strong to ignore as it tugged him.
Pink spatted boots carried him forward, the pulse of energies flicking here and there as he moved about the city. For the most part, his wandering was aimless, driven by the need to be out of the house unshackled and yet, he knew, something in him knew that he was looking for something. While he couldn't place what it was, he knew that he would recognize it upon finding it.
The beast was throwing itself at the bars of it's prison, jaw snapping and snarling, and Labyrinthite could feel it's hunger strong at his core.
It was not long before her felt that light, sugary aura that signified senshi and the strength of the pulse, the area it encompassed said eternal to him. Instinctively, his feet carried him forward, driven by the desire to find the source before they had the chance to run and disappear.
Let me out, the caged beast snarled and he pushed back. Not yet. It snapped at him, claws raking down the bars, but he pushed back more resolutely, this time.
Eventually, finally he found the source and his lips curled up in a happy snarl. This, this was what he had been looking for.
"Idaa~" He called in a sing-song voice, stepping into the alleyway almost jovially. "Have you missed me?" He asked, arm extending out to summon the heavy scythe to his hand.
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Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:31 pm
She felt the power as it approached, as much as she knew her own sang out to it, betraying her location. It was a boon and a hindrance, but at least they were on equal footing there. Whomever it was knew she was here, but they couldn't sneak up on her either.
It was problematic though, and concerning. Pouring energy into the young man on the ground took concentration she couldn't afford it when she was looking over her proverbial shoulder, waiting for possible attack. It was unlikely she'd be lucky enough for the signature to belong to Titan... and the odds of it being someone who was more talk than fight only slightly better. There were so precious few of them who walked a more peaceful path... how Hver managed to get by all these years without being taken, Ida had never really figured out, but thanked God for every day.
She heard the footsteps, her face shadowed by her hood as she half turned towards it and finally broke off her attempt to restore the lost energy. A pulse of nerves sent her to her feet, the light falling more easily across her features, and she stepped away from the body, hoping against hope that this second-to-last person she wanted to see would focus more on her than on him.
Dismiss him as irrelevant... I'm the one you want.
"Labyrinthite." She greeted him, though there was no welcome to it, or gladness. More like contained wariness. "I've missed you like I'd miss a paper cut I'm afraid. Maybe if you let me be for a while longer... I might develop the proper longing."
She tried to keep her voice light and a touch bored. She didn't want to instigate anything by being combative, but... she didn't want him to think she was scared of him either. Bluster... she was never good at faking it.
Just keep your eyes on me.
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:24 am
The general's attention was largely on the woman with marks on her skin that glowed brightly in the darkness of the alleyway and the cloak of nighttime on the city, but he still took note of the person behind her. The 'innocent' she was hoping to help and protect. The simple idea that she thought she could stop him, if he wanted the man, made his lips curl in a dark, sinister grin.
"Ah, but like a papercut, you can't ignore me. I'm always there, present, making you aware of me." Her attempts to dismiss him did little to dissuade him. "Don't worry though," he cooed, drawing closer to her and allowing his gaze to drift over to the civilian she was trying to hide. "I can make sure you're always thinking about me."
How, he didn't elaborate, but it was clear from the way his gaze drifted back towards her that he had something in mind.
"It's cute how you think that you can posture with me." His chuckle was low and throaty, the metal of his weapon glistening as it turned in his hand until the pointed blade faced her. "Or that you think you could stop me if I wanted to get to him." Teleporting would have made it easy, a blink of an eye and he could have been at the man's side with his hand pulling the starseed from his chest with minimal effort.
"I thought you were smarter than that."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 10:59 am
The way he looked at her, the interest in his face, sent a creeping anxiety down her nerves, a sense of wrongness she couldn't shake off. It was a conflict of emotions for her... intense dislike of his attentions, undoubtly coming from unsavory intentions, mixing with a strange... excitement in having all of that focus directly on her. She didn't like it by any means, but her heart beat faster under his gaze and adrenaline sang in her blood, preparing her to do whatever it was she needed to do to come out of this meeting in one piece.
He drew closer and she sidled around him, away from the civilian, even as ice prickled down her spine. Always thinking about him? And how did he plan that? She wasn't sure she wanted to know. It was nothing good.
"I am under no illusions that you're faster than I am. But that doesn't mean I'm going to just give over for you. You could take him, certainly, but I have a feeling you want me more, don't you?" She said, spreading her hands for him. "So you have to decide if he's worth it. Because I'm going to use your distraction to run away, and I highly doubt you'll be able to deal with both us in time to stop me."
It was the only way she could think of, to tempt him away from the young man on the ground. Offer herself, like she had to Bischofite in those memories, and hope he took that bait. She wasn't someone who could successfully cajole or threaten someone, to talk them down like Hver probably could have. But at least she was a nice, juicy target, if nothing else. She just had to hope she was strong enough to get herself out of trouble once she invited it in.
"He doesn't seem like much of a challenge for you, really. Already knocked out, and all you'd get out of it is one starseed, and not even one with power. But I guess I could be wrong and you truly do need whatever low hanging fruit you can get your hands on. Has the hunting been less than successful lately?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:10 am
Labyrinthite enjoyed the way he could see Ida's skin practically crawling from his attention; the way he looked at her, what he said to her. It was what tugged the corners of his mouth upward, what widened his grin and kept him stepping closer even as she moved to step around him. He knew what she was doing, how she attempted to keep him distracted so his little civilian toy could make a break for it.
It was tempting, to show her that he could have both if he wanted, fingers twitching in anticipation of possibly pulling a starseed.
"Come now little canary," he practically purred, hunger for something flashing in the molten gold of his eyes. "Things wouldn't be half as fun if you rolled over and bared your belly for me already." Another step forward, another attempt to crowd her against the wall. "Do you want to take that chance? That risk? Because the more you try to taunt, the easier it will be to remind you that if he dies it will be because of you."
Take her, the beast snarled and he pushed it back.
His fingers ached to wrap around the bone staff of his scythe or the pretty neck that glowed in the shape of flowers along her skin. He did neither, though he reached out to catch some dark locks of hair, trying to twist them around the fingers of his gloved hand. "Do you think you have what it takes to beat me?" He asked, voice low and raspy.
Eyes of whiskey-gold dropped down to the bow that sat in the center of her chest and he let his hand drop, moving to press against the golden center. "I can't corrupt you, but that doesn't mean I can't make you suffer my pretty little canary."
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:14 pm
Rolled over and submitted to him? The thought made her cringe. She'd had more than enough of playing the pet for someone, of being used, at the mercy of whatever dark intention they had.
The only problem was that she was only one person, and only so strong. She could only do so much, no matter how much will she had or how hard she fought. The senshi of orchids had stubbornness in spades though, and she wondered how long it would take him to grow tired of her resistance.
A gloved hand reached for her hair and she jerked back, feeling some of the finer hairs catch in the creases between his fingers before she took herself out of range. He was fast, fast enough to back her up till there was no more backing to do, and then his target dropped, centering on her chest.
He knows he can't corrupt me... does he know why? Was it worth gambling on? The blast of energy only worked once, because once they knew, they rarely tried a second time.
Brown eyes stared hard into gold, refusing to wilt in the heat of it. There was a spark of something there... madness maybe? She had met a few older generals and they all seemed to hold that sort of wrongness to them. The more the chaos took them, the more it showed. At least it made them all fairly predictable. Take and take and bare your fangs. Smash anything in your path till there is nothing left... All alike, though Painite had never made her skin crawl the way Labyrinthite did.
Her movement against him was fairly simple, all things considered, and she didn't bother replying to him. It was something she'd learned in self defense classes and applicable to the situation she was in. He'd moved into her space, trying to intimidate her, and in turn giving her what she needed. Ida grabbed for the arm he had extended, digging her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, and the opposite shoulder as she threw herself forward, bringing her knee up between them as she pulled.
It was fighting dirty, but only in a playground scuffle. When lives were involved, anything was fair game. Push him back, turn and run. I'll have more maneuverability out in the open, and a chance for back up.
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 10:49 am
He was a man who enjoyed challenges and Ida was proving determined to make herself just that for him. She refused to respond to his taunts, sinking into her stubbornness all while trying to find a way to escape. It would have been admirable, if he didn't think it to be such a lost cause.
But he would let her learn that on her own, all while being a 'happy' teacher.
Her knee connected with his gut when she chose to act instead of react. His body hunched forward, grunt from impact slipping out of his mouth when he stumbled.
It didn't deter him, if anything it only made him grin wider.
"There's the spirit I was looking for," he laughed, the sound dark, rich, and almost bitter. Still, his footing slipped and his body lurched forward, towards the wall away from her. Even has his shoulder hit wall, he grinned wide and sharktoothed. "What else do you have in you?" He asked, pressing the palm of a hand against against brick to right himself.
Labyrinthite was capable of going after her, of stopping her, if he wanted but he did nothing but watch and wait to see what his canary would do next.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:22 pm
He doubled over as she hit him and the leverage of gripping his body was enough to direct his fall, turning him aside as she slipped free of the pinning space between him and the wall. She felt lighter with space around her, the oppressive weight of his presence gone, at least for the moment.
There was no time to think about what to do now and weight the pros and cons of each action. If she hesitated, he was going to be on her again and the same tactic rarely worked twice. Her chest lifted and fell with Ida's quickened breathing and she had only long enough for a quick glance around before her decision was made.
I need more room, more distance. This alley way gave him too much advantage without room for her to maneuver effectively, and still held the young man who would be a constant reminder that he could turn from her at any moment.
White boots crunched against the pavement as Ida leaped for the roof above them, trailing flowers at her hips till she landed lightly. She only spared a moment to glance back into the darkness below before the senshi girl was off and running again, heading directly away from here, though she had no plan and no destination in mind.
Sometimes you have to improvise. And hope.. It was pretty clear at this point she needed back up, because short of the slim chance that she might manage to best him in a knock-down, drag-out fight, she didn't see him giving up. She was highly skeptical of her ability to do that.
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:17 pm
Labyrinthite lingered against the wall, the gold of his eyes barely a ring around black while he watched her move. He should have been chasing her, nipping at her heels like a herd dog among sheep but instead he waited, slowly pushing off the brick and taking slow, measured steps forward.
Right now, all he sought to do was keep her in his line of sight. As long as he held that, there was nowhere for her to escape.
A strong part of him wanted her to call for back up, to force her to admit that on her own she wasn't good enough to beat him. He wondered if he could best her unpowered, the thought taunting and strong but he was too clever to give into the desire to test such things. Perhaps one day, but that day was not today.
It was when she jumped that he started to move with more insistence. The leap was easy enough, practiced years of running across the roof and taunting Iris back when he'd still been a little green, boots landing upon the rooftop with precision as he followed after her.
"Come on little canary, don't you know how to do anything besides run?" He called, body shifting into a jog that picked up as he chased after. His hood remained in place but the cloak billowed behind him.
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Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 3:33 pm
He called behind her and Ida's mouth set in a firm line at the jab.
Of course she knew how to do more. But she wasn't stupid either. She didn't care to get injured, or even maimed, because she tried to take on more than she could handle. He was and she could admit that, even as it gnawed at her pride to run from him. He enjoyed it far too much.
Ida's hand snapped out and her phone appeared in it, her pace never slowing.
He thought she was easy prey, something to be toyed with, but like many of them, he forgot that they were strong when they banded together. So what if she couldn't best him alone? She had friends and allies to lean on.
Ida thumbed the screen on, her legs pumping and boots beating a quick time on the roof before she gathered herself and jumped, clearing the gap between two buildings. Her finger came down hard on the emergency app and her phone began to wail.
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Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:11 am
"You're disappointing me canary, falling on such old and tired tricks." When he laughed, it was a rough and scratchy rumble that filled the emptiness of the night. It didn't echo, not the way it might've if they'd been on the ground surrounded by buildings but it still traveled, just like the sound of his feet against concrete drummed a song for his arrival.
His strides lengthened, the distance between them growing shorter and shorter as he quickened his pace.
Whiskey gold was trained on her hand and the phone she held in it and when he was close enough, Labyrinthite reached for it. Like it had when Aue presented his to the general, the screen darkened and went unresponsive even as the wailing continued.
"You think this would work on me twice?" He snarled, reaching for her wrist with one hand and waist with the other after dropping the cell phone on the ground. His foot lifted, heel pressing against the screen before his weight was deposited upon it.
Cr-ACK.
The first one was loud, followed by a serious of other sounds until the thing was smashed beneath his boot and the wailing subsided.
"No one's going to save you Ida and you can't even save yourself."
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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 5:51 pm
Old and tired tricks... Ida would have snorted, but she didn't have the breath to waste on it. If they worked, they were hardly old and tired, were they? They didn't have to be glamorous to be effective, and if they saved her skin, then they were effective enough.
The sound of his laughter crawled down her spine though, cold and uncomfortable. He laughed like he had already won, like he had nothing to lose, and she hate it, deeply. Laby acted like she was nothing to him but a toy he could pick up, break in two, and discard without a second thought... but she had lived through so much already. He hadn't been there for Bischofite, for Painite... for more than a passing glance for Alkaid. He didn't know her and she would prove to him she was not easy to subdue, even if she couldn't meet him in brute force.
Ida heard his pace increase, but she didn't anticipate how quickly he could close the distance between them. She had been sure of some sign, some warning... but all she got was his hand wrapping tightly around her wrist, pulling her off balance and loosening her grip. Her phone dropped as she jerked and clattered against the ground, his arm coming around her waist to restrain her forward motion.
How did he get so close... She jerked, arching forward to fight his hold, before she tried to slam her elbow back into him, gasping as she heard the sound of plastic crunching under foot.
The shattered remains of her phone scattered across the rooftop, it's emergency beacon silenced, and for the first time tonight, Ida felt a true fizzle of fear mix with the shock of someone actually managing to wrest her phone from her. The senshi knew she couldn't afford to be idle though... even as her mind raced for a new exit strategy, she was struggling wildly to eel out of his grip, fighting against her own desperation to remove his hands from her body.
"Let go!"
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:03 am
This time when he laughed, it was a low chuckle that he made sure was right against her ear. Still, Ida squirmed to get away and her elbow caught his gut sharply enough to earn a harsh intake of breath. It did not, however, give her the distance or space that she wanted. Instead, her actions only served to have him yanking her closer.
Her wrist was released but that hand went for her throat instead.
"Why don't you make me," he sneered, pressing his fingers more tightly against the parts of her body he managed to hold. She was struggling and he liked that, it made things fun for him.
Let me free, the caged beast demanded and this time, Labyrinthite didn't resist.
He was hungry.
Pushing his thumb against her jaw Labyrinthite pushed hard before he was giving her some space, grip shifting from her body to her hood so that he still held onto her. "You're disappointing me Ida," he cooed, barely disguising the pleasure in his voice.
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Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:54 pm
His hand around her throat, his voice near her ear, his body pressed up against hers... it sent all of her senses into high alert and made her stomach clench with the mix of adrenaline and fear.
He could snap her neck like this... Break bones. Snuff her out. He couldn't touch her starseed, thankfully, but there were so many other things he could do to hurt her. She never let an enemy get this close, and there were very good reasons for that. Now that he was, all she could think about was the screaming alarms in her head...
But he did little more than bruise her jaw with his grip before he released her, the material of her hood digging into her throat as he pulled it. Her hands when automatically to the brooch at her sternum, desperate to release the pin and separate them. It came free and she twisted away, dark hair sent tumbling as she left him with nothing in his hold but a scarf and some flowers, her shoulders now bare and her dark eyes wide.
She couldn't understand what he was trying to do. He hadn't hurt her yet, though her jaw throbbed faintly. She'd run, he'd caught her, but here she was, free again and staring him down like a doe in lights. Was he... playing with her? Her mind stuttered over the thought. What did he WANT? Ida's jaw clenched as he prodded at her, as though she should care about his disappointment. She wasn't here to please him, or anyone really, but it was obvious enough he was the cat and she was the mouse, now.
I'm not as strong... so I have to be smarter. Not an easy route to take. She was exhausting her options.
Run.
Ida turned and fled for a second time, her feet flying this time with a true kick of adrenaline fueling them. The phone was a bust, so it was down to hide or find an ally. Hopefully before he caught her again, and before he got tired of letting her dangle at the end of her tether. This time, her course was straight, headed for the glow of downtown with its throngs of people and more used patrol routes.
Someone had to be out tonight. Anyone.
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