Welcome to Gaia! ::

There were only a few days remaining before both she and Wolframite would be running away for a week on their cabin trip. During that time she assumed that their duties as Negaverse Officers would be put on hold so the two of them could simply relax and enjoy each other’s company. This meant that her quota had to be met before it was time to leave.

To a degree, it kind of felt like she was back in college again. Waiting until the last minute to finish a project before it was time to turn it in. Usually, her assignments were done well ahead of schedule but circumstances surrounding the Negaverse and her inability to teleport out of the Dark Kingdom on her own kind of made things a bit difficult.

Fortunately, she had managed to run into General eating in the cafeteria and, on his way out, asked for a taxi to Destiny City. She’d have to find her own way back of course but by then she hoped that Wolframite would be free.

Snow blanketed the sidewalk and streets but oddly enough the temperature outside was more like Spring. Not that she minded, of course. But it was definitely strange.

For the better part of the last hour, Lavendulan had been shifting between glamoured form and her natural half-youma state. Blending into a crowd until she could find a safe place to hide so she could siphon off a bit of energy from someone while their backs were turned.

In time her quota had almost been met, just one more and then she could call someone, perhaps Tinaksite, to take her home.

Marissa turned a corner and was nearly blinded by a bright burst of light that illuminated the sky overhead. The thundering boom echoed through the streets nearly causing her glamour to shimmer from the loss of concentration. “Holy hell…” She turned, and in doing so spotted her final target of the evening.

A block ahead of her was a young girl walking home alone with nothing more than a side bag at her disposal. It would be easy to just walk beside her as if they were both going in the same direction and to simply drop glamour at a stoplight and take the last bit of energy needed to finish off the day.

At least… that was the plan as she quickened her pace until there were only a few feet between them.

Marissa smiled and nodded as she passed by the young girl. A wordless greeting, both a hello, and goodbye all within the same gesture.

She continued on and rounded the corner at the next intersection. At a quick glance, it appeared to be an empty street which allowed her the brief opportunity to drop her glamour and jump to the rooftop of the two-story hardware store.

Simply walking back would alert the girl to her approach so she went with plan B.

Shifting into her water form Lavendulan’s body became semi-translucent as she lept from the roof over near the bus stop where her target was resting her feet waiting for the next bus to arrive. Thankful that physical objects simply moved through her, the half-youma approached from the shadows and reached out with a claw-tipped hand to siphon some energy, just enough to leave the girl a bit tired but not enough that she’d pass out here in the snow and freeze to death if the temperature were to suddenly drop.

Lavendulan recoiled backward as the bag passed through her. A look of shock and surprise was lost in the shadows that cloaked her and the objects behind her that made the half-youma harder to see.

While in this form she was quicker than a person riding downhill on a bicycle and within a fraction of a second, Lavendulan knelt beside the young disoriented woman. She may look like a monster but that didn’t mean she enjoyed hurting other people.

Her form then shifted to a more solid-state; beautiful sky blue dragon-like scales adorned her cheeks and shoulders, small v-shaped plates perfectly place to provide a natural armor. Atop her head were two sets of smooth horns and her eyes, like the weather, looked cold but held a bit of warmth in them.

A clawed hand cupped the girl’s elbow as Lavendulan wordlessly tried to help her sit upright all the while trying to siphon a bit more energy to dampen her targets will to fight.

Laven’s pupils slitted and eyes narrowed as a low growl rumbled in her chest. The audacity of this girl calling her such things was truly insulting to her youma nature.

Like the officers in the cafeteria who never bothered to approach her, let alone learn her name; they too called her similar names such as Fish Bait. They see scales and think she’s some delicate sea creature, when the reality is that she was most definitely a predator of the ocean; a sea serpent type youma.

Irritated by the ignorant girl, she was half tempted to drop her back in the snow when the unmistakable most stomach churning odor hit her senses. Laven’s lips pulled into a smirk. “Call me what you want Ms. Lumberjack…” She bit out with an added snarl. “At least I’m not the one that just dropped a log in my pants.”

Rather than help her up, the half youma grip around the young pale-haired woman’s wrist tightened as she instead drained more than she intended to, her walk home was going to be slow and miserable. At least that was the retribution she so desperately wanted for all the times she’s had to put up with the name.

But then, after a moment, she recoiled back. Releasing the girl Laven stood and took several steps away. This isn’t me… This was the youma side taking over, punishing someone for simply being scared.

A pang of guilt struck her like a lance as Laven watched as the girl began to cry. Any time she had been caught before, she had simply ran in the opposite direction. But something had urged her to stay and try to help the girl up only to get verbally smacked in the face.

At what point since her awakening had she actually devolved into the monster the young woman had claimed her to be? This wasn’t who she was, as Marissa she did not enjoy in others suffering, but that girl had died almost a year ago. While a glimmer of that human side remained a constant light in the darkness that was the half youma she became. Lavendulan worried that she would lose herself completely if she continued down this path.

She was weak willed in the eyes of her fellow officers but that was the side of her that remained most human.

“Go home…” she said quietly before turning towards the shadows and disappearing completely. The half-youma leapt back to the rooftop and watched below, waiting for the girl to get up worrying that she had taken too much energy and that she had actually caused harm to the sobbing girl.

With a frustrated sigh directed at her own weaknesses, she jumped back down on the opposite alleyway and donned her glamour once again. “Wolframite will throttle me if he finds out.” Not really, but the spar that would come of it would not be fun for her in the least.

Marissa jogged around the corner over to the girl. “Oh my god!” She knelt beside the girl to help her up. “I heard you scream. Are you ok?”

Marissa watched the girl as she retreated down the street. The cold shoulder was undoubtedly well deserved in this case, even if the young woman knew that she was the one who attacked her or not.

Never had she made a mistake quite like that, perhaps the firework had disoriented her just enough to lose sight of reason and allow the youme nature to come out and play why her more human side stood there dazzled by the pretty lights.

Either way, Marissa felt regret for what she had done, to make someone actually s**t themselves was honestly a testament as to how ugly people actually perceived her to be. Maybe being hidden away in the Dark Kingdom was better for everyone’s sakes because next time she might not be so lucky in that her next target may have a taser or gun, then she would really be in trouble.

For now though, she had what she needed and it was time to go back to the Barracks where Wolframite likely waited so they could pack their final belongings for their trip.