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 Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:59 am
Tonight would be the night, the first time she would try taking a starseed. It felt like it would be crossing a line in a way, into more of the fighting and killing part. But she wanted to grow, she wanted to balance the scales and stabilize her magic. She needed to decide on her path and make her way forward with assurance. She would have to just not think about what might happen to them after she takes their starseed. At least if she found someone homeless or suffering it might do them good to put them out of their misery. Still….it bothered her a lot, she had never gone that far before. Maybe she fought and punched and did some shady things to get people punished fo the things they had done but never kill anyone. But this was a war, and she had to do her best just like Aloysius did and just like Alexandre.
She could sense some very faint and far away order auras but nothing quite nearby where she was intending to go. Today she was trying some of the run down areas on the shadier side of town, the place where people who wouldn’t be missed roamed. She stood out against the faded grey buildings and makeshift shelters that the homeless stayed in. It was late and most of them still slept but she kept her guard up as she knelt down and drained just a few at a time. She wanted to make sure any witnesses would be passed out asleep before she chose one to finish off.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:02 am
Minsoo had been out wandering the city, he’d been out grocery shopping earlier in the day, because he’d been bored remaining at home in his apartment with little to do. He hadn’t had work that day and Minsoo just didn’t want to bother his friends either, he didn’t want them to feel like they needed to occupy him and keep him company, it wasn’t their fault that he was bored today.
That wandering of his however had taken him to a less than friendly, and ideal, part of the city. Every city had homeless people, it was a fact of life, even if it was something most wanted to ignore or pretend didn’t exist. It was a truth they should all accept. That did not however mean that homeless encampments weren’t dangerous, they were, or that they were a place people should visit for no particular reason. Even with a reason, such as wanting to try and help them, was it a safe idea as there were many reasons to avoid such places.
Minsoo however did not know there was a homeless encampment where he was headed until he saw it. It was late and these people could be awake and that could get him caught and in some manner of danger, depending on who might catch him here. However, as he was preparing to leave he caught sight of something else. How could he not notice that particular outfit…it was bright and stood out, for so many reasons.
He might be a knight but really he’d only awoken and had then forgotten about it honestly, he hadn’t even told his friends about it. But here he was about to do something very stupid, as his friends would no doubt say, as he ducked out of sight in order to power up. This was a very awkward thing for him, very new though also not new, as he stepped out of the hiding spot and knew he’d be noticed by the other.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:05 am
Aoede noticed the figure stepping out as she felt an order aura blip into existence. Part of her cursed and turned to face them, still keeping her focus on draining the homeless person she had rested her hand on. They didn’t look like a senshi she thought, the colors sort of looked like one of the Knights that she had seen in her training guide on her tablet. This didn’t bode well for her goal of the evening but if they were just as inexperienced as she was, she may have a chance to shoot her shot at his starseed instead.
“I can see you knight.” She called out to him, just barely loud enough for him to hear but not loud enough to alert the few remaining homeless people that were awake and undrained. If needed she would use her magic and leave everyone in the area disoriented and probably deaf at least for a bit if her magic acted up again. She would feel bad, at least a little bit, at hurting these poor unfortunate souls but her safety and progress were more important when it came down to it.
“Are you going to try and stop me?” It was a cautious tease as she tried to lure him out of the alleyway. From what she could tell, they were much taller than her and she really didn't look very intimidating in her own right. If she could get him close enough to use her magic she would probably have the upper hand in all this.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:05 am
“Of course I’m going to stop you.” Though he really didn’t feel that confident in the statement, he did put up a good front and hide it well. He didn’t sound so lacking in confidence, he’d learned well he supposed, as he stepped out of where he’d ducked into, arms crossed and watching her.
“I’d suggest leaving them alone and backing away.” Perhaps even leaving altogether but he didn’t suspect he’d get that granted. He was fairly certain this person, he wasn’t sure what they were, would leave the homeless people alone either. He could hope though.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:06 am
Focusing on what she was doing, she carefully pulled the person’s starseed from their chest and stood up. “Ok I’ll be leaving them alone now?” She took a step towards the knight as she examined the starseed. If she remembered correctly she could just put it back and the person would be ok so for now it was a good bargaining chip to make sure she didn’t get hurt if it came down to it.
“You don’t sound one hundred percent convinced that could stop me. Too many unknowns right?” She was good at bluffing and making herself seem scarier than she was. It was a dog eat dog world in high society and the skills she gained from that worked nicely here as well.
“Want this back?” She waved the seed a bit before tucking it into subspace.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:07 am
Minsoo honestly couldn’t say he knew what she’d done, or what was in her hand, however he could tell it was important. It also had come from the person, out of their chest, so was it…a soul? He’d never believed in such a thing as a soul, figuring it was just some name given to a mysterious essence or something. Like what made a person who they were, all that it entailed, was a soul but there was no physical form for it or anything like that. Perhaps, watching this now, he was wrong and it was a real thing? If so then she’d just taken a person's life, and everything which it encompassed, and it vanished. She was tinkering with such a thing.
“I think they’d like it back more than I would.” Though how much they might want it back he didn’t know, considering the life they were living. Did a person even know when they were dead or realize it…so could it even be missed really? He really shouldn’t be thinking about that sort of thing right now, it wasn’t the time, but he couldn’t help it.
But who was he to assume that once a person was dead that was it? That they didn’t know they were dead and there was nothing after death? He couldn’t know for certain, he wondered if anyone could. Either way he didn’t know and so they might miss the body they’d been in, making his words possibly correct.
“You’re going to bring that back and return it to them.”
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:08 am
The knight hadn’t even done so much as take a step towards her and now it was annoying her. All talk talk talk just like her brother and no action. Deciding to hedge her bets she took a step towards them. They did say to bring it back and maybe with the close proximity she could try for his starseed. Benitoite might think it a good sign of progress if she brought one back from a knight.
As she got closer to the knight she noticed the convenient lack of people nearby so if she used her magic right next to him, there wouldn't be any collateral damage. Just because they weren’t combative now didn’t mean that they weren’t on the other side of things. Benitoite made it clear that this was a war and things needed to be done. Although she mentally ticked down the time for the person she had taken the starseed from. She would return that if she could, since they were just a regular civilian. It was another matter entirely about taking one from an enemy and she could justify that easier with her morals.
Now she stood just a few feet out of their reach, she could see how tall they were but nothing else about them was intimidating to her anymore. “How do you plan on taking it then?”
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:10 am
s**t, that wasn’t a question he really wanted to answer. She had magic, he knew it, and he had a damn shell that would no doubt break if he did so much as throw it at her. That was not a weapon or a tool for him to use in a fight; it was a joke.
Watching her get closer he knew he’d actually have to fight, since he had no magic of his own, and damn it if he didn’t feel bad about striking some small little female. He didn’t like anything about this but someones life was hanging on the line so he had no choice really; he’d have to act.
As she got within a few feet he chose to close the distance and aim a punch for her face, hoping that maybe he could end this fast by putting her off of this fight. If he could prove his willingness to fight maybe it would back her off and she’d return the soul and leave? He could only hope she didn’t leave with the person's soul.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:10 am
She smiled a little as he swung at her. At least they had decided to act on their words and try to do something. They must be a first rank just like she was since he didn’t try to do anything like magical or weapons. Given the height difference she had enough time to step back out of his way and set off her magic. The homeless population would be just outside of her bubble as the skill went off.
Closing her eyes she held her hands in front of her as if she was about to sing into a mic. With the whispering of her skill and a scream, a cacophony of noise blasted out from her. This time it was more stable, she had been working hard and practicing with everyone that supported. It only slightly rang her ears but left her able to move forward again towards her opponent.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:11 am
She looked like she was about to sing, and he might have said something about it, but soon his ears felt like they wanted to bleed. It wasn’t that she had a bad voice, he didn’t know, it was just a loud jumbled mess of noise from a cat making noise, like it was in heat, to some barking and something else screeching. He wasn’t sure what the screeching was exactly but he knew it was enough to cause him to cringe, and grind his teeth. His hands came up to his ears and the former singer stepped back a few paces. Ducking his head, as if it might help, he looked up at the approaching corrupt senshi.
Like hell she was going to hit him now, that wasn’t fair at all, and he did try and kick at her despite the very awkward position he was in at the moment. “Someone needs to teach you to sing!” He shouted, trying to be heard over the noise…which maybe only he heard, because she seemed perfectly fine come to think of it.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:12 am
The kick was unwieldy at best given his disorientation so she stepped to the side and reached forward to dive her hand in his chest. It felt… way different from the one she had pulled from the homeless man. It was.. warm and soft almost, wildly different that what she was used to with the Negaverse and Dark Mirror Court.
“You’re quite vexing, you know that right?” It was really awkward given the height difference as she held his starseed within his chest. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do this anymore though. The way it had felt made her pause there at the precipice. Just because she was ready to fight doesn’t mean everyone else was and did they deserve it? This person barely seemed to have their wits about them.
She was just frozen there as she stared at him with her hand in his chest. The magic would fade soon but the ringing in her ears was replaced by her own panicked heartbeat.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:13 am
The pain in his chest took the air right out of him, if his head wasn’t already hurting from the noise, and his ears didn’t feel like they wanted to bleed, he wouldn’t be in as much pain as he was now. Gazing down with wide brown eyes at the hand in his chest, but no blood, he was shocked by the sight and could feel panic trying to seize him. He knew what panic felt like, had felt it in the past, and he managed somehow even now to beat it back so he could focus as the noise was slowly coming to an end.
“No blood….” He wasn’t sure what else to say or how to articulate much better. There was pain and shock and the sight was just a whole thing which he couldn’t put words to entirely. He was too scared to move, to strike her, incase what she was holding onto came out and caused more pain…or death.
“Let go.” He really was hoping to get lucky right now, since she hadn’t done anything. Maybe she’d think this as odd and almost intimate as anyone would if they saw this picture they presented.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:14 am
She heard the panic creeping in his voice as well as confusion and that was enough to send her back. She wasn’t ready yet, not like this and not against someone like this. “I’m sorry.” She carefully caressed their starseed one more time before pulling her hand back out. There was no blood just as he said and just as she knew there wouldn’t be. Taking steps back, she pulled the homeless man’s starseed from her subspace and placed it on his chest. It would find its way back to where it belonged shortly if what she had read was correct.
Even if she hadn’t managed to take a starseed tonight, she still had a very nice sized blob of energy that she had gathered from the camp. I’m her mind draining them to make them sleep when they otherwise might not be able to sleep was a merch anyway.
“Don’t follow me.” She ran off the way she came as she started to have a small panic attack. She had never doubled back like this before once she had set her mind to a goal. Hopefully Beni would understand, at least she knew her brother would.
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