Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been such a nice patrol.

Had been, being the operative phrase. Valjean had successfully drained a civilian or two, pulled in plenty for his quota, and was more than prepared to find a Captian who could bring him back to turn it in, but as he was finishing off his last target, letting the man slump over in his arms and slowly lowering him onto a bench, the damned Order Senshi had arrived.

This was, Valjean thought, an objective pain in his a**.

He dropped the unconscious civilian, turning to face her.

"Please do not get in my way," he said, frowning.

Valjean sighed, and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. Really, truly, he wondered if he had been half that self-righteous back before his corruption.

"You could, actually. You could quite easily let me get away with this by, you know. Turning around and walking away. All I did was drain a little energy, and now he gets to take a nice nap, and we all move on."

Ah, but it was never that easy. Valjean shifted.

"Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but I really don't think we're fairly matched at all."

Weird things happening in Destiny City was just part and parcel of living here, as far as Reiki was aware. Half the time, when Cersei perked up like she’d heard something, there wasn’t actually anything there for her to have heard. No neighbors in the hallway, no Haruhi getting back from one of nis weird shifts sorting mail, no stupid teenagers outside the window. Best guess, Cersei had just picked up vibes from one of the many weird entities that probably lived in Destiny City.

As far as weird s**t went, though, wandering home from Scandals—before last call, for once, but all Reiki’s numbers tonight were done and he was tired, so he’d washed off his face and headed out—and spotting……some kind of encounter going on near one of the benches? This distinctly had the feel of something that would be way outside even the Destiny City average scope of “normal.”

Dimly, some part of Reiki’s brain told him to just duck down an alley and take a different route home. He’d come this way because there were usually fewer people to deal with, reality had proven him wrong, and he had every right to check out of this situation—especially when here he was, wearing his most recent exceptionally slutacious dupe of the St. Magdalena’s uniform and stompy heels, no makeup or lashes on, and his hair still pinned up in the braid that allowed it to fit under his wigs. Letting people see him like this didn’t sound fun.

Except another part of him piped up to ask, What would Obaasan do in this situation?

And really, there was only one answer: Dr. Murasaki Rokugin, née Tatsuhana, would, as her grandson now did, clacky-stomp her way up toward the encounter and project without raising her voice, “Excuse me, is there some kind of problem here?”

Objectively, the answer seemed like a firm “maybe.” Some redhead in a purple skirt and a cranky-looking blond in tiny shorts stood around a bench, where some man looked like he had maybe fallen into the same sort of mysterious comas that had hit several people in Reiki’s graduating class.

The blond also, on a second glance, seemed to have the same kind of star tattoo that Toráin had had when Reiki first found him…the tattoo that had mysteriously disappeared from his forehead and that Toráin, on reflection, never had gotten around to explaining.… Did that mean something, then? Hard to imagine someone as sweet as Toráin being friends with someone who looked like a royal d**k (albeit a technically good-looking one)—but then again, he had implied that his alleged support network left quite a lot to be desired.

"But you're not perfect, no one's perfect, it could happen, right? Even if it didn't happen this time, with this person, that doesn't mean it won't happen later when you get cocky." Though really, he might already be getting that way, with how...unamused he appeared.

Before she could really say anything more, however, there was a...person? Very tall person. Man? She thought so, but regardless, whomever this was was a civilian, needing to not get involved.

"A-ah, hey now, don't -- please, turn around and leave. This man is dangerous, but I can handle him!" Her voice trembled, so very much, face going pale as she took in a breath to puff herself out as much as she could. ...what? She was tiny compared to the both of them.

Then, she heard what could only be an attack, her heart racing, panicking, every bit of her trembling now as she stepped forward, not even caring about the magic hitting herself -- she had to keep the civilian safe!

A single, even, medium toned note came from her throat as she hummed, closing her eyes before, "Simple Verse!"



She couldn't get the whole thing off before being hit with Valjean's magic -- but it seemed almost as if...it only helped her, eyes opening and locking onto him, still aware of the civilian's presence, but now she was focused on Valjean rather than protecting Reiki. Thus...

"Get out. You'll only get hurt if you stay here."

Valjean wanted to be paying attention to the civilian, this brash, loud, bold b*****d who thought to stride up on two people with magical powers and get in the middle of it. There was something almost charming about that, really. It was just also colossally stupid.

But the other Senshi sang her note, and his attention was pulled to her, and he blinked, shaking his head. There was something wrong, but--hmm. Perhaps he could solve all his problems at once.

"He's fine," Valjean said flatly, almost idly. "Unlike you, or her, if you both keep getting in my way."

He moved with unnatural speed, the blessings of a Senshi's power, and aimed a hand directly at the center of the pretty redhead's chest. Grab her starseed, squeeze a little, make some threats, and send them both scurrying.

But he'd have to find this civilian agian late,r if he could. He'd make a fine recruit, Valjean thoguht, if he was already brave enough to come stomping into a fight between two Senshi. Brave or very, very stupid, but either were useful.

“What the—”

Reiki was saying and thinking that far too much for his liking tonight—but really: what else could he say in response to the ill-tempered blond shoving his hand into the feisty redhead’s chest like some ******** up s**t out of Raiders of the Lost Ark (or whichever Indiana Jones movie had done something similar, Reiki had never paid attention), then hoisting her up as if it were nothing.

Which it obviously wasn’t to the redhead. And regardless of their differing philosophical approaches to “secure the area” vs. “get the unconscious man away from the area,” she didn’t deserve this.

But what could Reiki do? Unfortunately, he didn’t keep a taser in his wig case, like Armand did.

………He did keep a metal thermos, though. And fortunately, the case’s latch opened quite easily. So, taking a deep breath and his thermos, Reiki crept up behind the tragically attractive blond, and tried to konk him in the head. Maybe he’d drop the redhead, but a short fall to the pavement seemed a good deal better than someone’s hand inside your chest.

Pain. Pain. All Polyhymnia could think of was pain, burning and firm and tight and it was distinctly....different. Unpleasant somewhat but...

She was not thinking about that right now, this was a fight, there was someone -- multiple someones -- in danger, she had to--

--and then she was thrown and oh, it still hurt -- physically and...magically? Whatever it was with the hand in the chest, it was strange, different, hurt, oh so hurt--

And then Valjean spoke and...

"Go. Take him and go." Her words were pointed at Reiki specifically, even as she rolled, moved to push herself back up on her feet, legs wobbly, various scratches along her legs and arms and even her face from how she fell when she was thrown, but she was determined to stand her ground.

"There is nothing for you here, why don't you leave? Don't you have someone you need to report to?" She didn't want him to get away, but she knew between herself and the civilian, there wasn't any way they could really win, especially with her in the condition she was in. She was lucky she could stand, given how wobbly she felt...

Valjean looked between the two of them, and smiled, poisonously.

"I'm going," he said, and then, casually, with very little care for there being a civilian watching, he took a brief running start and vaulted upwards onto the nearest rooftop.

"Another time, Ginger," he called down at the Senshi, before bounding onto the next rooftop and into the night. He had his energy; no reason to hang around here.