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 Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 8:03 am
Quote: Midnight is a magical time of night; parties, dancing, kisses--there are a number of rituals celebrated in the winter nights. Every night as a midnight, but this one is special. There is an old church with an older bell tower on the quiet outskirts of town near a beautiful forest that has been decorated with lights to celebrate the season. Maybe you are alone, maybe you are with friends, or maybe you’re at a party celebrating one of the many events--whatever the case, small, delicate snowflakes have been falling lightly for the past hour. And then--suddenly--they stop. The clock strikes midnight and the bell echoes a low, metallic chime that feels like it can be heard for miles. By the second chime, you realize that nothing else is moving. Snowflakes are suspended in the air and all living creatures--plants, animals, and people alike--are completely frozen. The clock chimes twelve times and the world is still frozen. Suddenly, there’s no way to tell how much time has passed--but nothing moves. Maybe it feels like a moment, maybe it feels like an hour. You can try to leave the area but you can never go far enough that the church is out of sight. In an instant, time seems to snap back into motion. To everyone else, it feels like no time has passed. To you, you know. The church seems eerie and foreboding and if you return you feel uncomfortable, as though you have broken something and are unwelcome. If roleplaying with a partner, multiple characters can remain unfrozen as the world around them freezes!
The chase had been going well but in the grand scheme of things there were some youma that were simply faster and more agile than she could ever hope to be in her current state. Throughout the duration of this sprint through the city it had always been justout of reach, lurching around corners as she skidded and was forced to drift through them.
There seemed to be very little promise of catching it and yet the red-head persevered. After all, if she was pursuing the thing then it couldn't hurt any one and eventually it would get tired. Granted she might also get tired as well but if she managed to hang on for long enough she could push it towards the edges of the city and then camp out on the perimeter. She didn't mind being the hunter in that scenario and it was easier to lie in wait when she knew it was safe to do so.
However, all of that had soon changed as the bells chimed and the very beast she had struggled to catch up to ground to a halt. It wasn't that it had chosen to stop, merely that it had come to a halt in something akin to suspended animation. Almost as though time had stood still for the beast and not for her, she'd been able to catch up to it and unceremoniously deal with it...before she actually afforded a glance at her surroundings.
In hindsight it should have been the first thing she did, it wasn't every day something just stopped moving, but in the heat of the moment...
"What...?" She held her hand out, palm to the sky and gazed upwards expectantly. When no snow fell into it, she afforded herself a moment to take a few measured steps before she realised that actually, it wasn't just the youma that had met the same fate.
At first it looked like no one was around, nothing of immediate concern that she needed to address, but this wasn't a natural occurrence. Something had to be causing it, a random distortion of time in the middle of a reasonably 'public' area was something out of the ordinary. She knew better by now then to start any fights she couldn't win, she'd injured herself too often for that in recent times, but at the very least it would serve her well to try and find the source.
Thus, the red headed senshi began to move carefully through the area with her lips pursed in a thin line. Snow pressed under foot, yet the eerie stillness remained. Once she'd found the source she'd call for help, but right now, there was no point calling for anyone until she knew whether they could even get in or not right?
If they were unlucky they might end up stuck like the youma.
She needed to figure out why she was moving right now when nothing else was.
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Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 8:05 am
Sometimes a patrol didn't need to be anything more than a session in which to gather information. It had been a few months now, and Rakovanite was somewhat more confident in patrolling on his own. He preferred to have Wolframite, or ideally Fettelite with him, as their experience with their own chaotic powers and the abilities of those aligned with Order still far surpassed his own. But they weren't always available. At his stage, it would still be way too easy for Rakovanite to get in over his head with no means of escape. So he tried to keep a low profile when left to his own devices. Not every outing needed to involve a confrontation.
And in fact, almost none of his had.
He had a quota to meet, but beyond gathering energy when necessary, Rakovanite kept out of fights. He didn't instigate anything with the Order, and whenever he felt a White Moon aura, he tended to avoid it. He simply didn't have the capabilities that would make an engagement worth it. Not yet.
So his time was better suited simply discovering what he could, when he could. Destiny City was full of inexplicable oddities that didn't seem to originate from any Chaos or Order abilities, and there was enough to learn within his own faction that he didn't need to actively seek out anything else. At least until he was ready.
Youma were something he still had very little experience with. Likely because they respected him almost not at all. If Rakovanite were to ask anything of any of them, they were as likely to refuse him as not.
Which seemed completely ridiculous and outright offensive to him. It wasn't like he had made them what they were, and new or not, he was still an agent in his own right.
But whatever.
As offended as he might be over blatant disobedience, Rakovanite didn't mind simply observing them, either. Youma were... interesting and terrifying. Useful and unpredictable. Some were wickedly intelligent and others no more so than a dog. They were more varied than humans and a resource that fascinated him to no end. Rakovanite watched, leaning over the cement railing of a church bell tower, as one four-legged youma outpaced what looked like a senshi. His aura-sensing was a bit lacking, but Rakovanite had to assume it would be obvious if she were a particularly high-ranking senshi...
But he'd never had the experience of meeting one to know what a stronger aura would feel like. She seemed as quick as any basic agent, but the youma was still much too fast-
The bell immediately behind his head chimed, and Rakovanite started with a jump, lurching forward at the unexpectedly abrasive sound so close to him. He jumped to escape the proximity and landed at the base of the church, covering one ear with one hand and still wincing from the noise. He ought to have known better...
When he glanced back up, the youma had gone, but the senshi remained, holding her hand out in the still air.
...Still. It was, wasn't it? Ridiculously, unfathomably so. The light snowfall had paused in midair, but the girl did not seem frozen in the same way. A trick of her magic? Would she be capable of this? It didn't seem to be affecting him, personally... Rakovanite tipped his head quizzically, but otherwise remained silent.
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 9:24 am
If she had possessed such phenomenal cosmic power the senshi wouldn't have been quite so uninspired by who and what she was. Unfortunately when it came to Adorea, she did not have the ability to freeze time or render those around her immobile. What had occurred was both coincidental and entirely out of the realms of her understanding; not that she wouldn't be grateful for such a timely intervention, but she couldn't take credit for it either.
She lifted her other hand and brought it down over the top of the other firmly, clasping the snowflakes in her palm before opening them once more. Despite her best attempts, 'disturbing' the air around the flake had done nothing to disrupt the others and only those she had come into immediate contact with ended up clinging to her clothing.
Whatever little bubble she now found herself in was certainly different.
Nevertheless with absolute stillness came absolute clarity; a now dissipated youma's aura gave way to another. What she hadn't previously detected now became clear to her. She wasn't alone and her company wasn't the type that she would consider to be benevolent either. Sure, on several occasions she'd been lucky and they hadn't mauled her to death, but when it came to probabilities a more negative outcome was inevitable.
Had this youma been directed by this signature?
Truth be told the senshi had yet to get a firm grasp on just how powerful one of the Negaverse needed to be in order to secure the obedience of a youma, and even if this aura was similar to her own in strength, that didn't necessarily mean that it couldn't actually direct something like that.
If fortune favoured her then whoever it belonged to might be in stasis as well and she would have the opportunity to simply walk away, but given her own track record, things were rarely that simple. With that in mind it wasn't long before she let herself be guided towards the aura's current position, she turned from the direction she had been facing and after several moments of searching, finally settled her gaze on the agent at the base of the church.
Now he definitely hadn't been there before, had he? He'd at least have caught the corner of her eye so where had he come from...
She made no attempt to move immediately but she had already deemed it necessary to proceed with caution in relation to this one. Better to be safe than sorry and given she might have just dusted his youma, he might not necessarily have been the most favourable towards her...
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Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 9:30 am
The air was oppressively still, frigid in the cold, and growing silent as the last echoes of the clock tower's chimes faded. Rakovanite watched the young woman swat at frozen slow flakes in the air, as though curious like a cat might be. Had she not expected this outcome? The affected radius of this spell did seem large, as far as his eye could see, and aimed at more than just the youma. But not afflicting him. And not her. Perhaps he didn't need more of an answer than her curious antics implied. With that moment of consideration, Rakovanite did not have to ask if this magic was hers. He expected it wasn't.
Still, it took only a second longer for her posture to stiffen, for her focus to find him. She stilled too, the intrigue from moments ago replaced by reservation. Warranted reservation. She did not know him. And, similarly, if this magic wasn't hers, then Rakovanite still didn't know what she was capable of.
It was too late to avoid her aura, as he might have previously, and the uncertainty of the surrounding situation left him hesitant to act too brashly.
Rakovanite folded his arms behind his back and regarded her through dark crimson eyes. At least this wasn't the first time a force beyond what he or other unfortunate bystanders recognized had acted out spontaneously. "This city seems to have a way of making sure we know where we are and what we are involved in."
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:27 am
He'd adopted a reserved stance as he'd approached, one that almost mirrored her own. Admittedly he seemed to hold himself with more dignity than she did but that really wouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone who was actually familiar with the senshi. At least he hadn't acted out against her yet, but she'd been in a fair number of spats by now that gave her cause to be a bit more reserved when it came to individuals she didn't know.
He seemed like he would be similar to her in strength but when the chips were down, there was every chance he would absolutely crush her. Sure, she was getting better at hand to hand combat, but in the grand scheme of things? The facts were clear in that respect, if he had any measure of prowess then he was going to best her scrappy style before she even had a chance.
"That's a very diplomatic way of putting it," she replied at last, her manners kicking in despite the present company's identity.
"Though I've had more than a fair number of your people swear until they're blue in the face that this definitely has nothing to do with them," she pointed out carefully. Would he be the one to advise her that this was wrong and her suspicions were correct, or would he be similar to the general that had been quite offended at the prospect that it was driven by his order and he hadn't been informed of it!
She knew better than to expect pleasantries in the long term though and was full prepared to make a swift exit if she had to, she just needed to work out how best to proceed with that...running was an option, but if he were faster than her, she was going to need other options.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:56 am
It would be basic nonsense to let her out of his sight for even a split second, but it did seem rude and perhaps unnecessary to stare directly at her. When most predators locked eyes on something, it was a challenge. Rakovanite didn't need this girl to think he intended to strike. So even though he was careful to make sure she stayed within his line of vision, he allowed his focus to wander. First across the ground, where their footprints had been left in the snow, even after time had stopped. Then to the surrounding buildings, and there were a few across from the church, with a scattering of people he could see behind windows.
But no one seemed able to move. No one seemed as though they'd noticed anything strange. No one seemed to acknowledge the senshi and the agent standing in the church's courtyard.
Would she have luck calling to someone for help if she felt threatened?
Would he if she was too much for him?
Rakovanite flexed his fingers behind his back and tipped his head.
"It is... difficult to say," Rakovanite admitted as he considered what the source of this occurrence might have been. He didn't think it was her, and he didn't feel the presence of any other auras. "I hold no impression that if someone stronger than me among my ranks was capable of casting a spell that could do this, that anyone would see any reason to inform me of it. I am not that important." He moved then, slow but still purposeful, to where the senshi had done away with the youma.
Its dust hung suspended in the air like a shroud, frozen as it had been when she'd landed the blow to finish it. Rakovanite reached, running a hand through the dust and moving the particles out of the way. "But I have to wonder what the benefit is, if it allows even basic senshi to dust youma without a fight. It seems as though it does you more good than it does me."
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:19 pm
"Can't say most of us like to summon beasts from the abyss to eat people," Adorea nodded towards the Youma he'd referenced and wrinkled her nose. "Perhaps I've got an ally who agrees with me that your buddies here aren't really welcome," she pointed out. Sure, she'd heard a couple of times that Youma didn't always obey an Agent but that didn't mean that Rakovanite was going to be one of those.
One shouldn't judge on appearance of course but just looking at him, he didn't exactly give off the 'weak' vibe that would probably encourage a youma to disobey.
"I'll not say no to someone agreeing with me on that one," she added. Maybe it was something more precisely, but with nothing to give away whatever was here or what it may have done, she couldn't credit whatever might have chosen to intervene at that point. However, based on previous experiences, she was also fairly certain that the city probably wasn't taking sides and quite frankly...
"But let's be real if we had to agree on one thing it's that this city doesn't really take sides," she chose, for now, to take a step back. She wasn't easy to spook but she'd learned over time that being a little too friendly got her hurt fairly badly. He could inspect and he could wander, but she'd maintain her distance for now... If he wanted to get near her he'd have to close the gap more quickly than his measured steps were currently capable of.
"So I'd assume whatever is happening is more likely to be a case of boredom, convenient timing or...I don't know, science."
Maybe something or someone was curious as to what would happen when you put two of the opposing factions in close quarters?
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Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:59 am
"Mm. I would hardly say I enjoyed it." Or was even capable of it, but she didn't need to know that. "Neither would I say they are 'from the abyss.' When a youma enters Destiny City, it is simply returning to the plane it was originally born on."
He skimmed long fingers through the still-suspended dust, almost like he was petting it. "I have wondered what it feels like," Rakovanite murmured quietly. "When they land here for the first time after being turned, is it like coming home? Is it familiar? Most of them don't remember being human, but would they see their old favorite places and know...?" The history of the youma, how they were made, what it meant, was one of the very few truly frightening things in this world. "Or is it all wiped completely away, like starting new?"
Senshi destroyed them because they were monsters. No one paid any mind to the thought of what was once there, to what was lost. Rakovanite had never heard of an Order member reasoning with a youma like they would try to reason with agents and corrupts. Life was only meaningful to them as long as it was human. He scoffed softly.
"I suppose most of them are too dim to even be able to consider what something 'feels' like. They are typically not very receptive when I ask them questions."
Rakovanite's arm fell back to his side, and his dark gaze riveted fully to the senshi. There could be someone else nearby looking out for this girl. There could be more that she was capable of that she hadn't put on display. Maybe there was someone bored and watching them. Maybe there was something bigger casting a spell that they should both be wary of. So many coulds and maybes, and so little chance for an answer. It was his least favorite type of situation.
He sighed. "I do not prefer to act unless there is a marked benefit to doing so."
But that didn't mean there wasn't an opportunity to learn. He didn't know what the girl's powers were, but that didn't mean he couldn't attempt to discover. There were risks- but there would always be risks. And from what he could sense around him, this was likely as 'safe' a situation (despite all the unknowns) as he could hope for.
Rakovanite kicked off from where he stood, propelling himself toward the senshi and throwing a fist at her stomach. He wasn't as well-trained in the art of combat as some of his more experienced comrades, but he had received some instruction since his corruption.
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:37 pm
Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he spoke, musing over who and what the youma may have been. Was it his intention to sound as though he was genuinely sympathetic to their plight, when more often than not, the source of their corruption and ill gotten fate was courtesy of his kind? How was it possible to judge a senshi for removing them from the world and returning them to the void when it hadn't been them who had stripped away their humanity?
...Granted, she didn't know of the nuances and no senshi had seen fit to educate her on the 'truth' of the matter. Her most basic understanding was that in the majority of circumstances it was Chaos that created them, spawned them, and introduced them into the world. Even if they hadn't asked to be made, even if they hadn't been sent, their base instinct was that of animals.
To bargain was impossible.
Truthfully she'd found that one out the hard way and some of her injuries hadn't been the prettiest in the world as a result. You couldn't reason with something that didn't want to talk, you couldn't reason with something that just wanted to eat; and you definitely couldn't reason with something that was ignoring you to attack someone else!
If even her basic understanding was close to the truth then ending the life they had was a blessing. If she had known the reality of it though, the truth of what really happened to those people, perhaps her life's mission may have been a little different...
Nevertheless the opportunity to challenge him on these remarks had passed, and while she had been distracted by his musings, she hadn't realised that his interest had shifted to her. No sooner had she looked up then she caught sight of the agent lunging towards her and despite the strength and speed she was meant to possess, he was simply too close for her to avoid. Thus the punch connected and it was only through her willingness to go limp that she was flung backwards and out of the way ever so slightly, rolling a small number of times across the ground.
A brief second to recover and with a wince she pushed herself up, casting her gaze towards anything that might be of use to her. Unfortunately the only thing she did have at her disposal was her tried and true rocks. They lay nearby and she reached for one, weighing it up in her hand before she lobbed it with considerable purpose towards him.
...With no offensive power or combat training to her name the only thing this senshi had going for her was ingenuity.
This wasn't a lot in the grand scheme of things.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:18 pm
The intention was, without a doubt, to be threatening and dangerous enough that the girl would expose whatever tricks she had, so that in another time under less uncertain conditions, Rakovanite could be more threatening, more dangerous. There was no benefit to pulling his punches if his goal was to reach this end quickly and efficiently.
The expectation, however, was that she would likely not fall victim to an agent who didn't have the knowledge, strength, and experience of someone more trained than himself. Rakovanite's fist connected with the girl's abdomen, and there was a blip of stunned confusion as he launched her several paces away from him.
He wouldn't say he'd never been in scuffles before. He'd been a young man of school age once, where hormones ran rampant and emotions of almost any variety resulted in... some kind of physical display. Sometimes things came to blows. And typically, when they did, there was a sort of agreed-upon rule that when someone went down, that was where things ended. No one was trying to kill anyone, no matter how it may seem at the time. And it was frowned upon to keep attacking someone who'd fallen. Nataniel had always been wary of suffering consequences more permanent than a bloody nose or a split lip.
He didn't need authorities of any kind thinking he was aggressive or a bully or a delinquent or unhinged or... Or any of the other social stigmas that came from being too excessive with school fights.
When someone went down, that was it.
It occurred to him in the fraction of a second that the senshi skidded away from him that this was that point. She was on the ground. Going further than that ran the risk of unintended consequences.
...Except he wasn't a schoolboy fearing retribution from some other kids' parents or the school principle or the police. He was an agent. In a war. Where the end goal was ultimately to eradicate those who fought on the side of Order. Rakovanite's adrenaline spiked so hard he could taste the bitter of it on the back of his tongue. The senshi tumbled away from him, and it took the span of a heartbeat for the thought to fully form in Rakovanite's mind:
'This wasn't 'it.''
He followed as she skidded away, swinging around to launch his foot at her face while she was low to the ground. Rakovanite didn't even see the motion of her throwing the rock. It cracked against the side of his glasses as he whipped to the side, sending fissures of glass radiating across his vision as the glass shattered but held fast to the frame.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:22 pm
She was a scrapper, that was probably the most appropriate way of describing her technique. No sooner had the first stone hit than another had been swept towards him. Regardless of whether this one hit though, it may have been clear that in the given circumstances she didn't seem to have any offensive abilities... either that or she hadn't elected to use them.
Instead, the smaller woman had chosen to use the agility and speed she'd been granted; and some of the expertise she had developed over the course of being beaten up more than her fair share of times. She knew better than to let someone pause for breath now, she knew better than to let them think. In the grand scheme of things it was more advantageous of her to ensure that a hail of 'bullets' rained down upon them.
...And besides, he was just a Lieutenant, no more powerful than her, right?
That being said the young senshi knew better than to assume that she could best him for long and though pelting her target with dust and stones may work for a time, eventually he would have to wade through it. Generally speaking her options were fairly limited at the moment and with that in mind the young woman was going to have to come up with something creative to bail her out of this one.
Had she brought any of those little trinkets she kept finding?
She couldn't recall picking up any of those little sparky flashbang things on her way out this evening, but she did tend to toss things at random into her pocket so maybe...
One hand swept behind her back to reach in to the fabled space pocket to discover what she might have stored in there, perhaps her past self had done her a solid.
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