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 Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 2:11 am
There was a strange new normal in Jace’s life; he wasn’t stooped over the desk studying--he was out again, running. Making up for lost time. He’d had a long day in the office but it wasn’t unpleasant--he’d gone in with his mother, stayed for a bit after her to finish up some organization, grabbed dinner, and then gone out for a jog.
He’d made a habit of getting out regularly, partly because his body missed it, and partly because it was cathartic to have a reason to clear his head before bed. He got to work himself tired to chase away the distant thoughts of failure.
He’d taken his test nearly a month ago, and half the waiting was already done. Naturally, after he’d taken the exam, he’d immediately gone home to check his answers, and he felt confident. Everything else was sort of a haze; he’d been able to exist again, to feel human again. He could meet up with his friends between work and studying, he could have hobbies, he could sleep.
Things were good.
Jace almost even felt like smiling. He had his headphones in as he ran, just a bit after dark. It wasn’t a dangerous area by any means and he’d run this path so often that he probably could have done it blindfolded.
And yet, as per usual, the world had other plans.
It wasn’t busy here, not at this time.
Which meant the youma lurking in the area didn’t have many options for gathering energy--or worse--and Jace looked as good as anyone.
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 2:49 pm
Out of uniform, he would have said he wasn’t prepared to go for a jog yet, morning, or evening, or any time really. But this new… uniform, this costume provided by a magical pen and a talking cat? Well, it somehow made it more bearable, more comfortable to do, and the idea of drifting by Jace’s favored route in the hopes of seeing the long graceful stride in action? Well, that didn’t hurt either. He was following vaguely behind having seen Jace run by, the steady rhythm of his sneakers eating up the miles with grace and practiced ease. It brought a wistful sigh to life. Except… there was… There was something as he got closer, an awful ‘feeling in the air like the way hair rose on the back of his neck after a horror movie when the lights were off. The one that made you want to press your back to the wall and scan familiar rooms for invaders, or bolt to the next lighted hallway and dive under bedsheets. But… that meant trouble, and that meant Jace could be in trouble, he crouched and moved forward as quietly and quickly as he could, wishing his ‘power’ his ‘sphere’ had given him something like a power of flight. It hadn’t of course, that would have been -convenient. He was wearing far too much white to be creeping around in undergrowth but he just had to be sure that Jace was safe.
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 4:33 am
The music playing loudly in his ears probably wasn’t the smartest thing, given that Jace knew how dangerous it was.
He just thought he was above it.
Jace was completely unaware of the shaggy dog like creature that was hounding him. An onlooker might have just thought it was a curious stray, but anyone with a seasoned eye could have picked up that it was a hungry, desperate youma.
And Jace had absolutely no idea it was after him. In a sudden burst of speed, the youma propelled itself at him--and collided right into him. Jace had good balance, but the momentum of the creature slamming into him knocked him over, and he landed, hard, on his elbows.
But the youma wasn’t done; just as Jace tried to roll over to get whatever it was off of him, it lurched scrambled to try and pin him down and drain him.
He was too surprised to be afraid, but when he looked in the face of the horrible creature, he stiffened; in this position he couldn’t heave it off, couldn't throw a punch. He tried to kick it, but one leg was trapped under a hind leg and he just wound up flailing beneath it as he tried to get traction enough to push it off of him.
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 7:44 am
Nope, absolutely not… no one, NO one was touching Jace on his watch. He took off into as close to a sprint as he’d done in some days, the pounding of ‘way too thin for this’ slippers over the ground and grass as he put to mind everything his brother had tried to teach him about fighting well. It wasn’t that he was -bad- at it per se, it was …mostly that he hated it. Sweaty, grappling and gross. He Rammed into it with a shoulder tackle expecting, little to no results honestly. He was far too used to his own mass and his ‘force’ as a civilian where he primarily needed to use judo or judo-like moves in order to shift opponents larger than himself effectively. He got more traction like this, not a lot, but enough to jostle it sideways. “Get… OFF the nice handsome jogger!!” He said, almost saying Jace’s name, which was probably a terrible idea.
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Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:22 pm
What.
Just. What.
Jace stared in complete, abject horror as some strange costumed person appeared--what had he just said?--and tackled the thing off of him. The thing that was not a dog and rolled when the momentum collided with it, but was immediately back on four legs and snarling viciously.
Jace didn’t know what to do; he’d never had to fend off a wild animal. He wasn’t afraid--well, no, he was, that thing was really ******** full of nightmare fuel--but he was too stunned to accurately process fear. He wanted to scoot back, to find something to hit it with, but he knew there was nothing nearby and he didn’t want to risk putting his back to it again--or abandoning this would-be savior.
“What the hell is that?” he blurted instead, pushing himself up even when his muscles felt like they had all locked up.
The youma didn’t seem to know whether it should try to grab Jace and run--or deal with the Senshi and then claim both of them for a snack. It pawed at the ground, snarled once more--and leapt, right at Garuda, trying to slash into him.
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Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:42 pm
“Umm… Ma-maybe ask me questions after I try and deal with it?” He replied before letting out a small ‘YEEEK’ that was entirely too high-pitched for his liking. “AHH!! S-SAILOR GARUDA STARLING DANCE!!” He yelled throwing up his arms and stammering out the thing that the cat had told him about. He hoped, honestly, for an explosion or something like it, something more impactful than a small glowing teal bird that darted forward towards the beast and through it. And then it was… Copying him. Great… “Um… Might I suggest, you ah, find something like a diner, or a car and just sort of run towards that? I don’t know how long it will keep doing this!” He started shuffling sideways, not wanting it to get closer to him or Jace. Short of punching himself in the face, he wasn’t sure what to do to try and destroy it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:47 am
Again, what.
Something about running away didn’t feel right; he wasn’t a coward! He couldn't just run!
...If he were alone, yeah. But it felt wrong to abandon the person who was trying to help him, even if he was wearing strange clothes, saying strange things, doing--where was he keeping that bird?
This thing clearly wasn’t someone’s dog--a mutated bear? Or something?
Whatever the stranger had done seemed to doing--something. The youma swatted at the bird, clearly distracted--significantly distracted. So distracted that Jace was able to push himself up. “--We should both go,” he said, and almost reached out to grab the stranger’s wrist and tugged him away while the youma was distracted.
The youma itself seemed agitated and tried to climb to higher ground to escape the bird--or catch it, or just prepare for some attack, but it seemed like it was frustrated enough to be making mistakes--like wriggling up a fire escape ladder only for it to come loose and fall, slamming the youma into the ground and pinning it beneath the metal ladder. It wriggled and shrieked--and Jace very nearly took off at that, but he was insistent that he not leave this stranger alone without at least making sure he was safe--and thanking him.
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:53 pm
“I-I mean I’d check up on you.” He stammered, though running sounded like a far too good idea. He’d totally just be protecting Jace ‘the civilian’ who he had to pretend not to know. “You know what? Fabulous idea, come on!” He should probably feel bad about not figuring out how to deal with it properly but, killing something or trying to - even if it was a monster, in front of Jace just seemed awful. “I’m uh, Garuda- pleased to uh, meet you! Sorry it wasn’t better circumstances!”
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Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:23 pm
The youma seemed dazed and distracted but Jace had no idea how long that was going to last. So, finally, he grabbed the stranger’s arm and tugged him away, breaking into a run as soon as he could. “What kind of a name is Garuda?” he asked, because even though he’d gone out of his way to grab some stranger’s wrist and make sure that they ran off in the same direction, it didn’t mean he had to be polite about it.
Especially because Jace had no idea what was going on--and, maybe--part of his whole plan was just geared towards getting this guy in some secure place, alone, so he could figure this all out. He turned another corner, still holding onto the stranger's wrist as he tried to find a safe place for them to disappear to while for as long as that thing was still out there.
“--And what kind of ‘circumstance’ is this?”
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Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:27 pm
“W-what kind of person jogs with earbuds up so loud they can’t ear the dog monster creeping up on them!” He counters scolded feeling a bit embarrassed about ‘Garuda’ but somehow saying ‘I don’t know’ outright seemed… worse… or it had until he spoke. “I get that you’re inherently attractive but that alone puts you at higher risk.” Oh, that was making it worse. “Anyhow I didn’t choose it! Garuda just… is… It’s not like I chose to have…magical starling powers.” He shook his head exasperated. “And the circumstances are… being chased by a… Youma, which is what that was, or a kind of what that was…. I mean it… there are other things that don’t look exactly like that but are somehow the same thing.” He puffed. “Magical starling powers and I don’t even get to fly, terrible oversight really… running, ugh!”
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:43 am
Anything Garuda said of actual relevance was lost in a haze of embarrassment; Jace was usually fairly collected and could handle anything anyone threw at him--except, apparently, compliments. Jace turned red. Visibly red, even in the darkness, when the stranger called him ‘inherently attractive’.
He nearly stumbled but caught himself immediately, turning another corner.
“Y-you can’t say things like that!” he said, but it was incredibly unclear what he was actually referring to. “--You’re also not making much sense! What’s a youma? --what’s--magic? I’m supposed to believe you have magic? Normal people don’t have magic!”
Or just drop out of nowhere and compliment him!
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:49 pm
“Normal people don’t dress like this either! I mean I am normal, when I’m not dressed like this…oh… oh heavens just…” He made a keening sound and glanced back over his shoulder trying to see if he could still ‘feel’ the creature. Why on earth didn’t he get something useful for a magical power like…bird gun, not that he wanted to shoot birds, or shoot birds at things, not really but… something better.
“Youma is like, that monster, it … apparently they steal things like energy or worse, and I’d really not it have the chance to steal anything worse than your energy because that’s normally when they just…you know, kill you apparently. I'm actually sort of new at this, I’m sorry! You wouldn't believe me at ALL if I told you where my information came from trust me.”
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:05 am
"Well I'm having a hard time believing you now, anyway!" Jace blurted, flustered still from the compliment and head swimming in confusion. He looked over his shoulder quickly to see if there was any sign of that evil dog thing--youma?--and even though he saw nothing, he still tugged the stranger further along with him.
"How new are we talking? --Because, you know, this is exactly the sort of thing I'd expect to see on the news and I can't help but notice there's not been any reports warning me of monsters. What do they take energy for?"
Was that why he was feeling so tired? He knew he pushed himself pretty hard, and he'd had a burst of adrenaline while wrestling with the thing, but he still felt so drained. Or, maybe it was just stress.
Stress made more sense.
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 11:45 am
“You SAW it! What’s there not to believe!?” He replied, and then hemmed a bit at the idea of admitting just how new at this he was. “Ehhh… few …days?” He admitted. “Before you complain I’d like to point out it’s at least not currently eating you! Also…given that they are stealing energy, I sort of assume it's for some sort of….diabolical plan, maybe just their continued existence, but they weren’t super clear other than ‘chaos, evil, bad, make it stop’ He waved his hands trying to explain. “And I think the news does report on it, it's just all been those stupid tabloids! Trust me I didn’t believe any of this till … till I got dragged into this mess on the costumed side of things.” “I… think maybe we lost it?” He puffed. “I can’t tell… it’s sort of got this awful feeling to it, like…horror movie with the lights off sort of awful.” He tried to see, didn’t really want to see Jace slow down enough for it to catch up… he thought he could probably make another bird but…
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:39 pm
Jace wanted to groan loudly and pull at his hair--and might have, if he weren't still afraid it was going to catch up, too. He slowed into a little trot, and while he was a bit out of breath, it was mostly adrenaline more than fatigue on his body.
"So--what, it's not safe to run around outside anymore? I've literally never been attacked by anything like that. If people do know they exist, why haven't they been stopped? Seriously, the police have to know, or something--they should be warning people until they can wrangle all of these up before they can hurt someone."
He grumbled, quiet, because he was afraid the youma might hear them if he was too loud, but now that he was all worked up it was impossible to keep his voice down.
"This is insane," he relented, because
he felt insane. He knew what he'd seen--and he'd had sleep-deprived hallucinations before, but nothing had ever felt this real.
"--So what am I supposed to do? File a police report?"
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