Sylvite might not have had hunting magic the way that Cybele did, but she was still good at finding things. When she wanted something, she went after it with dogged determination. Cybele was not sure if the General wanted her dead or dragged back, but she knew that the girl would not be happy that she'd slipped her chains.
Once or twice, she'd seen the way that Sylvite's bubbly happiness would slip into something more sullen, but it turned out that she had not seen the depths of Sylvite's rage. Tonight she did.
She didn't notice the tiny pink figure watching the streets from the rooftop above. One moment, there was simply a powerful aura in the distance. The next moment, the aura was right there, and a knife was whizzing towards Cybele's back.
The senshi shifted just enough that the blade buried itself in her shoulder instead of going through straight to her heart. Cybele gasped and then hissed. She was used to some pain, but the wound burned, and sharp, awful tingles quickly spread all the way down to her fingertips.
"You ******** b***h," spat Sylvite as she pulled the dagger free, enunciating the curses carefully, as if she wasn't used to saying them. Blood splattered to the pavement below. "I did everything for you. Everything."
tatterpixie
Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:05 pm
Jumping across the rooftops as fast as he could, Puck could feel the enemy aura growing stronger the closer he got. He knew Faustite's warped youma-fied and burning aura like the back of his own hand, but this didn't feel like his arch-nemesis. Now alongside the dark and twisted Negaverse aura he felt that of a senshi. And by putting two and two together, he came up with a battle. Never one to pass up a fight, he grinned. As powerful as the Nega felt, they were probably a General; the senshi, he couldn't tell.
He leapt to the ground and continued at street level. Rounding a corner, he saw the General, a nightmare of pink and purple, throw a knife into the shoulder of a mint-haired Super with small antlers on her head. Then the General spoke, her voice filled with fury, and he figured something deeper was going on between these two than just an opportunistic starseed swiping attempt.
"Who's the ******** b***h here?" Puck interrupted, smirking.
With that, the Eternal charged down the street toward the General, ready to deck her with a punch and prepared to receive a dagger somewhere in his body for his trouble. "Run!" Puck called to the Super. He didn't want her to become collateral damage -- not after having gotten stabbed in the back like that.
stari_maga
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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:38 pm
Sylvite glanced over her shoulder, not hiding the heavy sigh that escaped her lips at the sight of the Eternal who had decided to show up.
"Her," she said, watching as the man charged at her from across the street and teleporting again when he got too close. She appeared a few feet behind him, but the knives stayed at her side for now.
Cybele made a guttural sound that was not quite a disagreement. The burning in her arm was only getting worse. She certainly did not have the energy to argue that she was a good person.
"Not you," said Sylvite, although her eyes were now locked on him instead of Cybele. "So go away, okay? This isn't about you."
On the other side of the Eternal, Cybele took a shaking breath. She wasn't about to leave someone else to Sylvite's mercy. There was no way that she could punch someone right now, but magic? Magic might be doable. "Hunter's Deadly Grace," she muttered. When the ethereal bow formed, it took all of her concentration to wrap her fingers around the string, and just as much to release it upwards, but she managed it.
The arrows came down towards the two senshi, and Sylvite narrowed her eyes.
Puck skidded to a stop when the General suddenly disappeared from in front of him, and he wheeled around angrily. "s**t, I keep forgetting those guys can teleport…" he muttered to himself as he regained his composure and allowed his anger to fuel him.
"I'm making it about me," he growled at the General, fists clenched at his sides. "So go away, okay? Leave her alone."
He didn't hear the Super's muttered attack behind him, nor did he see the arrow that hit him square in the back. Surprised at first, it was only when he began to feel the effects that he realized what had happened. Apparently this Super's magic was a buff! Concentrating on the General with a focus he'd never felt before, Puck rushed her with a blinding burst of speed, hoping to hit her before she had a chance to teleport out of the way.
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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 6:55 am
Cybele was not a healer by any means. Her magic did nothing to stop the pain wracking her body, but it did give her a few seconds where she could think about something else.
Her eyes locked on Sylvite. Her lips curled. She was suddenly missing her Eternal magic more than she ever had.
Sylvite was still staring at Puck. “Okay, whatever,” she said, voice still angry even as she gave a little shrug. “I guess you can die too.”
She knew about Cybele’s magic, but she must not have calculated for just how fast it was going to make him, because his fist slammed right into the side of her face. She reeled. She sucked in a breath and blinked away invisible stars.
Then, since the Eternal was right there, she swiped out with a dagger.
Cybele took a few steps forwards, closing in on Sylvite from the side.
tatterpixie
Magic: Wounds from Sylvite's daggers sting terribly, as if the blades themselves were coated in a layer of salt. The magical sting fades after twenty seconds.
Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:53 pm
The dagger grazed Puck's arm, not enough to stab him but enough to cut him, sending blood spattering over his uniform. "s**t," he hissed as the pain kicked in; it felt like pouring salt on the wound. A burning sensation shot down his arm to his fingers and began coursing through his body. Was it poisoned? He wouldn't put it past the Negaverse to use toxic substances on their weapons, or in their magic.
Unfortunately, the pain just made him angrier, though he did lose the laser-like focus the Super's magic had given him.
Puck shot his wounded arm out in an attempt to grab the General's wrist and force her to drop the dagger. He figured she would be able to summon it again, but it might be sufficient time and distraction for him to use his favorite attack on her: the time-honored head-butt. "Hold still, you b***h," he snarled.
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 8:34 am
"Hunter's Grace," called Cybele, again, as she felt the sharpness that her magic always brought to the world fade into something that seemed almost muddled.
At least some of the sting in the wound had faded, too, but her head still spun, and everything felt sort of distant. That feeling only seemed to grow as the seconds passed. She was definitely losing blood. At least the Eternal was pulling Sylvite's attention, and she could help him as much as she could.
She sent the arrow of her basic magic in his direction.
The senshi knocked Sylvite's dagger to the ground. It clattered on the concrete, and then it was Sylvite's turn to hiss.
She couldn't teleport away with his hand on her.
The headbutt hit square. It hadn't been what she'd expecting, and she reeled again, really seeing stars now. Her eyes were blank and unfocused as she looked back to him, but she still had one knife left.
She stabbed out with as much force as she could manage, not even worried about hurting him anymore as much as just getting him away.
tatterpixie
Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:53 am
Puck gave the pink-haired General a headbutt that would have done any football hooligan proud. He could tell he'd got her good by the blank expression on her face.
He felt the Super's magic arrow impact him again, just as the General started flailing at him with the dagger in her other hand. With the speed boost he'd gotten from the arrow, he was able to avoid getting thoroughly stabbed, though the razor-sharp edge did catch him repeatedly in the shoulder, sending that sharp pain down his other arm. It also caused him to release his grasp on her wrist and dodge back out of the dagger's reach.
The Eternal growled menacingly at her. He could have used his Super magic to cage her up, but he just wanted her gone. "Now clear off or I'll do it again," he threatened.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:37 am
Sylvite didn't need the warning. The world was spinning. Her attacks were getting weaker. She might have been outmatched even if Cybele wasn't there, backing up this Eternal with her magic.
As soon as his hands were off of her, she vanished, and this time, she did not show back up anywhere near them.
Cybele staggered forwards, one of her hands finally moving to press against her wound as well as she could. She could feel warmth dripping down her back. It was probably good that she could not see what was happening there.
Yet, painful as it was, Cybele was mostly aware of how much differently things could have gone. "Thank you," she managed to say to the man who had come out of nowhere to fight off Sylvite with her. She saw the leaves in his hair, similar to the flowers that she wore in her antlers, and that alone was enough that she managed a small smile.
"I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come," she whispered.
tatterpixie
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:30 pm
As soon as the General vanished and Puck was satisfied she wasn't going to pop up again somewhere nearby, he turned his attention to the wounded Super. "Easy, love, easy," he said, moving to help support her. "You're losing a lot of blood." Using the tails of his sash, he pressed the fabric against the wound in her shoulder, applying compression as firmly as he dared. "Let's get you down on the pavement, okay?"
Gently he eased her down onto the concrete sidewalk. "I just happened to be in the area and felt that b***h's aura… I don't know what would have happened either." He had a pretty good idea, though: either corruption or death, probably to both of them if the General had had her way. "What's your name, love? I'm Puck, of the Woods. Want me to contact anyone for you?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:38 pm
"Puck?"
Cybele laughed. It was a thin, hollow sound that was definitely affected by the amount of blood that she'd lost. "That's funny, because I think you're older than Oberon," she said.
He probably wouldn't understand unless he knew both Shakespeare and the other senshi, but the words came out anyway.
Her energy was spent, and she leaned against him there on the sidewalk, her head spinning. She clenched her teeth as she set to work on the wound. The pressure he was applying stung almost as badly as Sylvite's magic had, but she didn't squirm. She knew that she needed this.
"I'm Cybele," she said in between sharp breaths, "And I think I should go to the hospital."
tatterpixie
Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:49 pm
Puck blinked, then laughed at Cybele's teasing. "Yeah, I wouldn't doubt it. Too bad we don't have a Titania here, she'd have put that general in her place. Maybe even given her a donkey's head."
Then he blinked again as her words sank in. "Hospital? Oh, yeah yeah," Puck nodded. The hospital would be able to get her mended up much better than he could. They weren't too far from Destiny City Memorial, where his father worked as a doctor; who knew, maybe his dad would take care of her himself. But they had to get there first – and despite the advantages of being magical people, they couldn't do it powered up.
"I'm going to power down, okay? You should too, if you can. Wouldn't do to have the likes of us turn up in the ER, would it?" He gave her a wry smile, and in a blink he was back in his civilian form. "I'm Rob Attewood. Now you have a name to go with this face, yeah?" He continued to use his hand as a compress to stanch the bleeding as best as he could. "Can you power down, luv?"
The concern and sense of urgency were evident on his face. She was in a bad way, that was for sure.
stari_maga
sorry this took so long! /hangs head in shame
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:39 am
The comment about Titania got a smile out of her, at least. Sylvite would hate the donkey's head so much, and it would serve her so right.
Cybele winced as she powered down, not just from the pain but because she liked this floral blouse. She'd just picked it out a few weeks ago, with all the other nice clothes from her new wardrobe, and now it was going to be ruined by blood.
He was right, though, about them showing up in their senshi clothes, and so she let them fall away.
"I'm Brielle, like this," she murmured. Her voice was still weak but at least she didn't think she was more dizzy than she'd been. The bleeding was slowing.
Not enough to save the shirt, but enough to save her.
"I think I can walk," she said, "If you can make sure I don't fall or something?"
tatterpixie
Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:05 pm
"I'll carry you if I have to, Brielle," Rob smiled. Reaching around her to hold her shoulders, he carefully sat her up, then adjusted himself to a kneeling position. "Please don't think I'm being handsy with you or anything – I'm going to reach under your arms and try to get you to your feet, okay? I'll be holding you the entire time so you don't totter over."
Gently and slowly he rose to his feet, at the same time raising Brielle up so she could get her feet underneath her and stand. All the while he kept contact with her with his body; he knew his shirt was going to end up bloodstained and need a good washing, if it wasn't permanently stained. He'd have to ask his mum what the best way was to get blood out of a t-shirt.
"How you doing, luv? You sure you're okay to walk to hospital? Like I said, I can carry you if I have to...."
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2021 4:20 pm
In another life, Brielle had been proud. She would have shied away from his support, insisted that she shouldn't ruin his clothing. Within a few minutes, back then, she would have collapsed and ended up face first on the sidewalk.
Recent events had not been easy on her, but at least they'd gotten her to the point where she could accept help from other people.
All that meant that she accepted quickly enough that walking was not going to work.
She stood, with Rob's help, but with the wound on her shoulder, the pressure under her armpits was excruciating, and try as she might she couldn't hold back a small gasp. Her legs felt like gelatin. Most of her weight was still leaning back on him.
"All right," she said, breathless, when he offered to carry her the second time.
