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 Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 5:47 pm
“So when can we start beating people up?” Arawn asked as he tugged on the decorative ropes and cords that wrapped around him. He wasn’t complaining about them! He just thought there had to be other uses for them. Better uses. Maybe not when boss man Remarque was around.
They’d met with a cat. A meow-van or something that kept transformation pens up their -- in their fur probably. Although he was told it was magic, so up their magic. He thought it would take some time to get used to the heels, but would tolerate them because he could easily kick someone’s a** with them.
“Just send them our way and we’ll handle them, right, Laon?”
Oh, it was such a nice name. A sophisticated name. Suited for Kaelan because it was perfect like the rest of him. He looked perfect, too. Mature and regal and in perfect silvers and grays.
Ah, right they were supposed to be learning about magic or something.
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Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:34 am
Remarque had opted not to take the two into Mirrorspace to start their practice. It was too much at once, and he had a hard enough time keeping them focused on any one thing. The more questions they asked the better, but he didn’t want them to overwhelm themselves and forget everything.
Instead, they were on the outskirts of Destiny City, far away from where anyone could find them. The mirror he’d brought them through had been here for over a year and a half now so he doubted there was much foot traffic here, anyway. Tall trees encircled them but they were in a sizable clearing. It gave them plenty of space for practice.
Which, Remarque was certain they’d need a lot of.
Laon kept fidgeting in his outfit and smoothing over his pants like they were magically going to change if he rubbed them enough, and Remarque hadn’t missed the way he’d stumbled over his footwear a few time. He might have walked them both a bit extra just get them used to how it felt.
“What?” Laon asked, stirred from whatever thoughts he’d gotten lost in. “Handle who?”
He looked around like he expected someone to jump out and Remarque sighed. “I don’t think you’re ready to start beating people up. That’s not supposed to be your priority, anyway. You gather energy, remember? The fighting is only if someone attacks you first. I want you to be able to defend yourself. I don’t want you running out and trying to make enemies.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 5:49 pm
Arawn clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, because sure, beating up people isn’t their priority, but he wanted Remarque to know that they were capable! Well, Arawn didn’t want Laon to get himself hurt, so he would just have to do all the beating up for them both, but that was fine. He could handle it.
With Laon fidgeting with his outfit though, Arawn reached over to take hold of his hand and give it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
“Okay, well, people like being enemies with me, so I can’t help it if I try to defend myself first,” he huffed, but made sure to rub the back of Laon’s hand to make sure he knew he wouldn’t try to pick fights. Fights just happened to find him!
“Alright, so do we yell out some magic words and magic happens? Can we pick our magic? Can I throw fireballs?” It sounded cool, so he thought it was worth asking. Somehow he already knew it didn’t work like that.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:09 pm
The reassurance was welcome, and Laon was grateful to have Arawn’s hand in his own because two steps later he had nearly stumbled over his own two feet again. His face was red by then, in stark contrast to the monochrome colors he was wearing. He kept his head down deliberately to buy some time to collect himself–and hopefully watching where he was going might help.
The weight was just strange and the heels weren’t helping. He wasn’t used to being so tall and he felt like he stuck out too much. He tried to walk with a bit of a slouch but that didn’t help his balance.
Remarque had noticed. It wasn’t something he felt pressed to comment on, and with Laon’s attention on the ground it was easier to catch Arawn’s eyes
“You don’t get to pick your magic, sorry. Fireballs would be convenient. I’ve got string,” Remarque sighed, visibly underwhelmed by his own magic. “So I don’t use mine that often. It’s good to buy time or make an opening, I guess.”
He absentmindedly pushed his closed fist into the open palm of his other hand as if to emphasize where his real power was. “You don’t have to yell your magic, but when you’re just starting out you’ll probably have to say it out loud until you get the hang of it. If you practice, it’ll become second nature to you. There are limitations, you can only cast it a few times before you wind up exhausting yourself, for example. But there’s no way to tell what your magic is until you try it. Mine won’t hurt you, do you want to see how it works before you try to summon your own?”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:18 pm
Arawn noticed too, of course, but he noticed everything about Laon. And if he didn’t, then he was sure to notice something was off eventually.
But that was okay. He would just carry Laon if he needed to. He liked showing off how strong he was, which really wasn’t very, but he was strong enough to carry Laon, especially like this.
“Of course yours won’t hurt me,” Arawn scoffed haughtily, even as he rubbed at Laon’s back to try and soothe him. “Even if we had a real fight, I bet I could still kick your a**. I’m just joking, it’s fine, I’ll go easy on him,” he was quick to reassure Laon before he got upset.
He pat Laon’s back a few more times and made sure he wasn’t going to fall over, before taking a few steps away from him and putting up his fists in a horrible stance, but it was the one he’d used for years and he managed to survive until now so it was better than anything else he knew.
“Alright, if you go easy on me I’ll make fun of you,” Arawn promised, but caught Laon’s eye to give him a little wink of reassurance.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:39 pm
Remarque eyed the stance and took a second to just appreciate how awful it was. From the untrained eye, sure, it was probably fine. But he’d been doing this for long enough to know that there was room for improvement.
A lot of improvement.
Laon gave Arawn a sort of helpless smile, exasperated only slightly because he knew he was probably being a little more dramatic than usual to take Remarque’s attention away from Laon. Who could walk. Who could do all of these Dark Mirror Senshi things he was supposed to be doing.
“How will you know I’m going easy on you?” Remarque pressed, squinting at Arawn. “You’d still lose even if I were. I don’t want to humiliate you, I want to help you.”
He had half a mind to tell Arawn to forget about the magic because they needed to start with the basics but he didn't know what their magic was, and it was always easier to develop a fight style based around that when you could. Well, when you were powered. If you didn't have magic you should still know how to throw a proper punch...
"We're going to try this first, okay? I'm going to use my magic on you, I want you to try and break out. Stop if you feel like you're hurting yourself. Your magic probably won't do what mine does, but I'll teach you how to summon it and then we'll have you two practice using yours. So take a minute," he gave them a few seconds, and then he summoned his magic.
He didn't have to say it out loud, but for their benefit, he did. "Captive Audience."
Strings descended from nowhere quickly and wrapped around their joints. The thin strands bit into their skin, but not enough to hurt. Unless they struggled.
Which Laon immediately did, because he thought that was the point of it all. With a grimace on his face, he swatted at the strings and tried to brush them away. His movements were disjointed and off, but at least he wasn't falling down. He couldn't tell what was Remarque and what was his shoes, so he looked at Arawn quickly as he struggled against the magic and tried to prove that he could break free, even if he was only hurting himself in the process.
The strings were sharp--not so much that they were cutting into his clothes, but the fabric wasn't doing enough to stop the sudden, painful sting as it worked more into his skin.
Quote: Super Sailor Scout Attack: Captive Audience Strings descend on the target’s major joints and affect movement; the target is unable to move more than four feet in any direction before being jerked back to their original starting point. Limbs might feel a bit heavy and uncomfortable, making movement choppy and difficult to control. The strings will remain in effect for around twenty seconds until they lose strength and snap off.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:48 pm
The sneer that Arawn showed Remarque was full of teeth and furrowed brows. He would still lose? So Remarque really must think poorly of them if that were the case, to just automatically assume he’d lose.
He was prepared for the magic. Prepared to show Remarque that he was wrong.
He wasn’t prepared for strings to actually bind his joints, nor was he prepared for Laon to get hurt.
Was Laon supposed to be a target too? He couldn’t remember what they agreed on. He was more focused on trying not to look like a complete fool.
He tried pulling his arm free and hissed when the strings dug into his skin, stinging and digging into him. Arawn didn’t want to see Laon hurt, so the sooner he was free, the sooner he could help Laon.
He growled and tried jerking free again, and when that didn’t work, he snarled out a word that seemed to appear in the back of his head at Remarque. He didn’t know why it was there, or why it felt as though something would happen if he used it, but he did.
“Intimidation--” Quote: Sailor Scout Attack: Intimidation When opponents are within ten feet of Arawn, they will see the illusion of orange eyes peering out through the darkness at them and hear the loud growling of canines. As the eyes draw closer, the growling becomes softer. The illusion invokes and increases fear and horror. This could involve the magic causing shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, sweating, dizziness, or similar effects of a panic attack left up to the player, with the potential for lasting effects. The illusion causes the target’s mind to perceive the environment as ominous and Arawn as dark and foreboding, or even as a feral canine of death or monster himself. This will last for thirty seconds and has three uses.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:20 pm
Laon had opened his mouth to protest Arawn’s struggling, but he was a hypocrite for doing the same. A magic word didn’t pop into his head, and when Arawn spoke, he froze. The strings stopped biting into him almost immediately–and he felt a bit silly in hindsight. Remarque had warned them. Instinctively, he’d struggled. He wanted to break free. He’d regained his balance quickly after he stopped fighting, and now he stood just a bit awkwardly, watching–
Well, watching Arawn’s magic.
He wasn’t the target; he couldn’t make out most of it. All he knew was that he’d seen Arawn summon magic.
His heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t afraid, he was excited. Eager. He didn’t exactly know how to describe it because he’d already come to terms with the fact that this was real, but he had magic.
…And theoretically, that meant Laon did too.
Arawn’s magic immediately made Remarque tense. He wasn’t nervous about it, he was just surprised that he’d managed to do it so quickly.
“You’re lucky I’m a dog person,” Remarque said, squinting at the eerie eyes that had appeared around them. Fear wasn’t common to Remarque; he didn’t seem to have much capacity to be afraid. He felt uncomfortable, and his instinct was to respond with aggression.
His heart rate had picked up and he clenched and unclenched his fists. Practically speaking, he knew Arawn couldn’t do much. He just didn’t know what he could do. Remarque could have sworn that he saw shadows moving and tried to ground himself with the fact that he knew how to fight. He knew how to defend himself.
“Are you paying attention to what it’s doing?” he asked, because Arawn might as well have been taking the opportunity to learn what his magic could do.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:38 pm
Even though he used magic, he didn’t really process that he had until Remarque said something about paying attention. Arawn was still glaring at the man, but forced himself to -- first yank hard on the strings again -- then glance around him to see the eyes and darkened area around them.
He cast a glance over to where Laon was, making sure he wasn’t being affected as well, and when it only seemed he was being caught up with the strings still, Arawn’s attention turned back to Remarque.
“This is my magic?” he asked, almost incredulous despite apparently casting it himself. “A bunch of glowing eyes in the dark?”
Was that him growling or something else…? Oh… no, it seemed like the magic was doing that as well.
“Laon, are you okay?” he finally couldn’t stop himself from asking, worried about his boyfriend.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:52 pm
Laon jerked his head to the side immediately so he could look at Arawn, like his priority at all times was just trying to stay in contact with him. “Yeah,” he said, so quickly that it might have been impossible for him to actually assess as much. He must have realized this because after a second he smiled, too. “It doesn’t hurt if you don’t move,” he admitted quietly, like he didn’t want Remarque to hear that he was probably stating the obvious. He’d warned them anyway, hadn’t he?
Remarque was distracted by the magic, and despite the bristling effect it had on him, or the way his stomach churned–in the way that it did when you knew you were doing something unsafe or unwise–he started walking towards the glowing eyes.
Arawn wasn’t going to learn what his magic could do if they weren’t doing their best to figure it out. Was it just an illusion? Were there monster dogs hiding just out of reach?
The illusion almost seemed to move with Remarque but he didn’t get a chance to really investigate before it flickered and faded. The strange pressure and unease left the area slowly, but the strings from his magic had become brittle and started falling from the other two already, too.
“It’ll get stronger,” he said after a moment. “This is only your first time using it. I’ve got a few variations of magic, myself. Mostly strings. I don’t use it so often in battle, but then, I don’t get into that many fights these days.”
…Not that he’d admit it, but he did miss it a bit. Nowadays, everything was about playing the perfect businessman.
He shook his head and turned back to the two of them. “Did you hurt yourselves too much? I told you to take it easy.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 8:00 pm
Arawn huffed. Not at Laon. Never at Laon. But when Remarque reminded him that he warned them to take it easy -- which had already been reiterated by Laon, Arawn couldn’t help but roll his eyes and quickly make his way over to where Laon was so he could reach out to place his hands on his arms and look him over to make sure he was actually okay.
He didn’t bother telling Remarque if he was hurt or not.
“You could have just attacked me, you know,” he grumbled at Remarque, reaching up to gently brush Laon’s hair behind his ears and fuss over him. He knew Laon had been through so much worse, but he didn’t like him suffering at all, if he could help it.
Sure, it was probably something, something, educational, blah blah, training or some other bullshit like that, but he could have just told Laon what it was like. He didn’t have to experience it too.
“We should figure out your magic so you can throw it at him, too,” he huffed some more as he patted Laon’s clothes down and made sure he was really okay.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 8:37 pm
Laon looked at Arawn and tried not to look too pathetic. “I’m fine,” he insisted again but did nothing to stop Arawn’s inspection. He just didn’t want Remarque to think he was useless or weak or a mistake. He flashed another quick smile, apologetic but grateful. Arawn wouldn’t worry about himself so he put all of his worrying towards Laon. It wasn’t exactly embarrassing–Laon appreciated Arawn’s attentiveness–he was just worried about, well, everything.
Their relationship with Remarque was still new and he still felt a heavy need to make sure he still wanted to give them a chance.
“I didn’t mind the magic, it was interesting. I’m okay, honest. And I learned a lot already.” Like, to listen to Remarque.
It seemed like something of a private moment, so even though Remarque was exasperated he only crossed his arms over his chest and looked away to give them a moment to fuss over each other. He scanned the area, just to examine if there were any other fading effects of Arawn’s magic he could observe.
“How did you cast yours? That just popped into your head? You must be very clever to have gotten it so quickly,” Laon praised.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:06 pm
Arawn huffed and puffed and grumbled about how Remarque’s magic wasn’t that interesting, but he seemed to be satisfied that Laon wasn’t super injured. Good. Otherwise he would have to have some serious punches thrown at their magical benefactor. Oh. And he was employing them.
Maybe Arawn should behave himself better.
Fine. He flashed a teeth bared smile at Remarque, but it looked like he was forcing it too much. Oops.
“I don’t know. I’m definitely not clever like you. I was just thinking about how much I wanted to fight back and… I don’t know, that kind of just felt warm or something. It sounds weird, but there was something of a spark that just started to sizzle.”
It made no sense, and he felt a little silly for saying it out loud, but at least he found out he was capable of using magic.
Just not fireballs.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:19 pm
Remarque was going to have to take some time to get used to Arawn, because sometimes it was hard to tell if he was smiling or snarling. He didn’t comment on it and tried not to roll his eyes, but he understood that the two had been through their fair share of things and were still trying to figure out who they were.
He wasn’t going to help that by snapping at them.
And, Laon seemed to have a better understanding of how to deal with Arawn, anyway.
He took the other Dark Mirror Senshi’s hand in both of his own and squeezed while smiling. It was encouraging, but Laon seemed perpetually reserved, like he was always holding back.
“That sounds very clever to me. I’ll have to see if I can do the same. Your magic seems spooky. But it didn’t hurt you?” he asked, turning to Remarque. He tried to keep the both of them distracted so he could rub at his wrist and elbow where the strings had done the most damage. They stung and felt tender, and he hoped that if he could just rub it all away.
“Not all magic hurts,” Remarque explained. “Sometimes it gives you a boost, sometimes it creates a distraction. It’s why you have to learn to work with it. Knowing what it can do and knowing how to use it can be the key to winning a fight. Or just getting out safely.”
Laon nodded and shifted positions again, but he was keenly aware of the sharp ache in his knee. He kept an even face and adjusted himself again. Focusing on what Remarque was saying was easy enough, but trying to focus enough to summon some unknown magic seemed so out of reach right now. He could probably spend the rest of the evening coming up with questions, even if it made him look dull, just to get out of having to do anything physical enough to out that he might have hurt himself already.
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2023 6:23 am
Arawn was happy to keep fussing over Laon, but it seemed like he was trying to do that thing where he was tough and didn’t need help. Which was fine. Arawn knew it was important for Remarque to not want to ditch them, and he was trying to behave himself. It was easier when he focused on Laon at least.
“If anyone tries attacking you, I’ll make sure to make them regret it,” Arawn promised, squeezing Laon’s hand back. There was a slight tremble in his muscles, but nothing noticeable. At least not unless someone was holding his hand, which Laon was. But that was fine. He was sure Laon would rather have something else to focus on than himself.
“You don’t have to try your magic now if you don’t want to, but you do have magic. I don’t need to see it to know that. Besides, I’ve been experiencing your magic for years now,” he couldn’t help but grin rather cheekily, lowering his voice so Remarque couldn’t hear him as easily.
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