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 Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 12:08 pm
Lianli was safe. Treated. Settled at home to recover from the aftermath of his injury. He would heal, if he was careful and rested. And Helene would make sure that he rested, because he would not permit further harm to his zhiyin. His fiance, now, in a way--there had not been a formal proposal, but there was a promise, now. One day, when they were both ready, they would be wed.
And that promise made this even more imperative. Helene had business to settle, with the one who was the cause of Lianli's injuries. In his arrogance and foolishness, Corvina had not minded the safety of his allies. That would have been intolerable enough on its own, but perhaps expected from an arrogant, shortsighted warrior with care for little but violence and Lanting. But his idiocy had harmed Lianli.
Helene would not stand for harm to his zhiyin.
The message was simple. He waited, at the same statue where the incident had occurred--there was little memory of it now, with a few days for it to be cleaned by the weather and the city, but there was memory in Helene's bones.
Kaifeng, lying there, dazed and wounded. Because Corvina's amgic had distracted him. Because Corvina was an idiot.
Helene would have to correct him.
text to corvina Meet me at the statue. We have business to settle.
He could bring Lanting or not. Helene suspected Corvina would need his Knight's healing abilities when this was done.
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 1:34 pm
Strictly speaking, Corvina did not want to heed the summons from Helene of Inhibition. During the Silver Millennium, he had never traveled to the Saturnian mood that the other senshi had once called home. As far as Corvina had known, the people of Helene had nothing good to say about Corvina’s world or about his people. One more group who thought that the Corvinate people were nothing but brutes and garbage, even though they might not have been able to defend themselves (not that anyone really had any reason to bother with any conquests of Helene, but they might not have been able to handle it, had that ever happened).
On top of that, Corvina had seen some skill out of Helene in the fight with the gargoyles, but he doubted that said combat proficiency extended too much further. The Helenians had been a people of peace, a people of unregulated temperance, a people who didn’t even eat meat much less raise a hand to fight for anything. They didn’t train or anything like that, so how could their senshi really be that formidable? The thought was as risible as the new Murikabushi insisting that he could and would lay Corvina out flat, utterly devastating him with whatever depraved and weakling magic he had hidden in his fingertips. Regardless of how powerful he and Helene were, neither of them could’ve been that much of a threat.
Still, when he received the summons on his senshi phone, Corvina snuck off for the statue where the fight had taken place. Shuangxu was quite busy with the “Veilguard” video game that had come out recently, which apparently only tangentially involved dragons despite having “dragon” in the main title, and so Corvina had left him to it. Besides, Lanting might have tried to intervene in what was to come. With the cold night wind rustling through his fuku’s over-robe as he closed in on the statue—on the senshi already standing there, waiting for him—Corvina didn’t want Lanting to intercede on his behalf. Partly, he had meant what he’d said that night, about allowing Helene to be angry about a grievous injury to his Knight.
Head held high, Corvina advanced on the statue and Helene. He kept his expression impassive, brow unfurrowed and lips pressed together in the most neutral way that Corvina could manage. Folding his arms over his chest, he asked, “Is Kaifeng healing well?”
He’d heard about Kaifeng—well, Liánlí, more properly—texting Shuangxu after the incident and the trip to the hospital. But he hadn’t understood a lot of it beyond “Humans are extremely vulnerable to head and neck injuries, they can get very dicey if not properly treated.”
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 1:39 pm
Good. Corvina had come alone. Helene would not have enjoyed having to work around Lanting's near-certain interference--not that it was an insult to the Knight, simply....Helene expected that Lanting would not wish to see him and Corvina fight. But a fight was, simply, inevitable.
He did not bother with a formal, polite greeting.
"Kaifeng will recover." He said, flatly, bluntly. "The injury was not too severe, and we were able to have it treated. So I may focus on other things." On extracting penance for the harm.
"Tell me, Corvina. What possessed you to decide to throw your magic about so uncautiously, knowing as you must that Senshi like us have dangerously unstable abilities, and after being specifically warned that the creatures we were fighting were not particularly susceptible to emotional manipulation magic?"
He would hear Corvina's answer, regardless of what it was. Give him a chance to speak for himself. Determine the exact shape of the lesson to be imparted.
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 2:25 pm
“My magic has not been, as you say, unstable,” Corvina explained, blunt and straightforward as a twenty-pound brick smashing into someone’s nose, “only less powerful than it was in the past. Likely a symptom of the atrophy the Chaos infesting our worlds induces in all of us who have lived so long.” He nodded toward the collar of Helene’s own fuku, at the mere two stripes that it bore instead of the three that (Corvina assumed) it must have carried once. “If I’d had the full power of my magic as the senshi of windflowers, the creatures resisting any of the emotional effects wouldn’t have mattered. They had mouths, so they could have been debilitated by coughing up windflower petals.”
Refusing to look anywhere but at Helene, right in the eyes, Corvina shrugged. He could tell that Helene was asking from a position of having already decided what must have happened and what Corvina must have been thinking. Like so many others before him, the senshi of inhibition clearly thought that Corvina was an idiot. Maybe giving him an actual rational explanation wouldn’t change that, but in this case, hitting the smug b*****d only would have proven him right, so Corvina could only use his words.
“But since I don’t have my full array of magic available to me, I had to use what I could. Maybe your magic only demands that its targets inhibit themselves,” he pitched up his voice and incredulously arched his brows, “but mine has other capabilities. Perhaps the monsters wouldn’t have understood what rejection feels like. But even the basest and stupidest creatures understand feeling fragile. You see it when wolves look after an injured pack member or when Corvinate unicorns would hobble to a water source and lay down until either they perished or recovered and could walk again.”
Corvinate unicorns had stood larger than Corvina himself and had been notorious for their irascible, violent tempers. One never would have known that from seeing one of them injured, though. When they needed time to recover, the old unicorns of Corvina’s world had demurred, turning docile and sweet in the hopes of someone helping them.
“In the moment,” Corvina concluded, “I thought that my magic would shock the monsters enough to pause. Create a better opening for us to attack them without needing to waste energy on dodging. Nothing like that misdirected cast has happened to me since I arrived on Earth, and I never wanted to harm Kaifeng. I may not understand your Knight, but he is a good friend to Lanting and Lanting looks up to him a great deal. I thought that my magic would help, in the moment. Obviously, I was wrong.”
The words “I’m sorry” did not leave Corvina’s lips, nor did he plan to say them. Lanting hadn’t asked for that and Helene seemed determined to treat him like an idiot child instead of an accomplished senshi in his own right. So, ******** it. Apologies were a sign of weakness and a mark of humiliation anyway.
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 7:22 pm
Helene listened. He was silent, as he did. Thoughtful. Turning over exactly what Corvina was saying, analyzing, and holding his gaze the entire time.
He had to admit, even to himself, that Corvina's thought process was not entirely ridiculous. Fear, as they said, was old and strong; something in the base brains of any creature. And fragility was frightening. Perhaps especially to a creature that could shatter.
"I will confess," Helene said, "that I was wrong. Your assessment is not as terrible as I had thought it was. It is true, if your magic were working, that it may have done as you say. And yet."
He strode forward. Slow, deliberate.
His rage had not cooled.
"You never once paused to consider that there might be other effects than the stripping of your rank. Never bothered to learn from anyone else, discover if they had experienced anything different. You assumed that your magic would work as it always had, without even pausing to consider that if Chaos could strip your rank, it could alter other things, as well. Moreover, you fought as if you fought alone, not bothering to give your allies the respect of a warning."
He stopped. Held Corvina's gaze.
"Inhibit Vice."
Perhaps his cold, focused fury focused his magic. It leapt from him, easily, powerfully, and he followed it, moving with a Super's speed to aim his fist for Corvina's gut.Quote: Super Sailor Scout Attack: Inhibit Vice! Helene speaks the name of his attack, and makes a sweeping gesture with his hand. Enemies within a 15-foot radius of him feel overcome by inhibition, as if every action they might take would be shameful and worthy of judgment. This feeling lasts for 35 seconds, and Helene can use this attack twice per battle.
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2024 10:20 pm
Corvina hadn’t really expected to be listened to.
Wanted it? Of course he’d wanted it. His whole life, he’d endured garbage from people who thought themselves his betters without having earned that sense of superiority. Among his own people, among those from other worlds, it hadn’t mattered; they’d simply decided that they were better than Corvina because they felt like it. He hadn’t expected Helene to be any different, to listen when Corvina offered his explanation.
Nor had he expected for Helene to……? Corvina wrinkled his nose and openly frowned at Helene admitting to having been wrong. People didn’t just do that. Not normal people, anyway. For Helene to say that and then to keep walking forward—something had to be wrong about this. Something had to be afoot.
The words of Helene’s spell caught Corvina mid-rolling his eyes. Of course he went for the magic.
Of course Helene thought himself worthy of dispensing advice that no one had asked for. Of course he decided that he had the right to teach people anything. And the heat that rushed through Corvina as the magic took hold of him.… That flush of shame, the sharp awareness of how Helene felt entitled to judge Corvina for anything—that hit harder than the punch. Instead of grunting when Helene’s fist connected, Corvina snarled.
He reached out. Grabbed at Helene’s rope harness. Tugging on the other senshi, Corvina snapped his fingers. Summoning up his own magic, he exhaled over his palm, blew the spectral petals into Helene’s face.
If Helene wanted to judge Corvina, then Corvina had to take him down. Had to prove that Helene didn’t have that right.Noir Songbird Sailor Scout Attack: Petals On The Wind. Corvina snaps a finger, then blows over an open palm, sending a rush of spectral windflower petals toward a single target within 10 feet of him. The spectral petals whirl around the target, after which they are seized by a sense of fragility, both physical and emotional. Although this feeling is illusory (enemies are not actually made weaker), it is difficult to shake off. Targets feel as though small emotional slights cut more deeply (e.g., passing disregard may seem like deliberate rejection), and they feel that the pain from other attacks is magnified. This magic lasts for 30 seconds; any lingering emotional effects are at individual players’ discretion. Corvina may use this attack three times per battle.
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2024 10:29 pm
Helene had, of course, been prepared for Corvina to fight back. Had even been prepared for his magic--and he'd felt it secondhand, through Kaifeng, butt hat didn't change that it felt....terrible.
Kaifeng would be furious if he found out about this, Helene was sure. They had not really had a proper fight, as a couple, but it was easy to see this leading to one. The thought of it brought Helene great displeasure--but he grit his teeth. He would not let Corvina know that he was feeling...weak. Fragile, inside--if Kaifeng were to actually condemn this in the way he felt certain Kaifeng must, it might break him.
But he could not let this arrogant brat know that he was getting to Helene.
So Helene did not speak--instead, he took advantage of them being so close together to bring up his knee, driving it into the same place he'd aimed with his fist before. Getting Corvina to stumble so that he could take him down swiftly was the most important thing, here. This was not meant to be drawn out--not as far as Helene was concerned. No, this was a short, hopefully quite powerful lesson.
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2024 3:35 pm
Corvina allowed himself a smirk as his magic crashed into Helene……but then, Helene barely reacted.
Gritting his teeth could have meant anything. From Corvina’s magic affecting him to Helene simply shoring up his own determination…… Seriously, anything. Corvina’s smirk fell away almost as quickly as it had blossomed. He stared at Helene, searching his face for any signs that the other senshi was faltering. Signs that Corvina’s magic had done more than simply annoy him, as though Helene wasn’t permanently annoyed with everything except Kaifeng. That smug son of a—
Whump.
A sound burst out of Corvina as Helene’s knee slammed into his stomach. Somewhere halfway between a grunt and a gasp. He fumbled, trying to catch himself on the other senshi’s rope harness, trying to take Helene down with him. But Corvina’s grasp had stuttered when Helene kneed him, and as he crumpled around the sore spot—the part of his stomach where Helene had now hit him twice—Corvina struggled to actually get his fingers around anything.
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2024 5:45 pm
Good. Corvina was going down.
Helene took one last swing--this time, his fist at Corvina's face, and his leg snapping out to sweep Corvina's feet out from under him. The point of this was to make a point--and the point was that Helene was not someone to be trifled with. And that Corvina needed to think before he charged into whatever he went into next.
The second lesson might not stick so well as the first, but Helene would take a halfway success rate. The other half could come with time.
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2024 11:32 pm
Another grunt came from Corvina as the fist hit his face. Swept up in the pain from the blow, he didn’t notice Helene’s leg shifting. Thrown off-balance, he gasped. For a brief moment, everything seemed to slow down as he realized what was happening.
But realization didn’t stop the ground from rushing up to meet him.
Didn’t stop his chest from hitting the pavement, or stop his face from slamming forward next. Corvina had been too startled to catch himself properly. Instead of bent up where they might have done some good, his arms sprawled out ahead of him on the ground, as though they were still grabbing for Helene’s rope harness. If they had moved at all, maybe they would have.
Through everything, the shame burned as though Helene’s magic was still in effect. Maybe it was. Maybe its course had ended. But the shame blazed through Corvina’s veins all the same, twisting around his nerves and through the pit of his stomach, filling him with a sick feeling that made his face itch. His breaths shuddered into him, then rattled out. What sort of humiliation had he just allowed to transpire.
What sort of failure was he, allowing someone who wasn’t even a warrior to defeat him.
Corvina groaned into the pavement, but he didn’t move from it. Whatever. He didn’t care. Getting taken down like this meant nothing good about him. He could stay here until he died for all it mattered, which it didn’t.
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2024 11:37 pm
It was probably unnecessary. Surely Corvina had gotten the point, at this stage. But Helene did not want there to be any chance that the lesson was not imparted as thoroughly as possible.
He moved, and placed a boot at the center of Corvina's back. Just enough weight for Corvina to know it was there. That he had been thoroughly bested.
"You will think before you act, Corvina. Or next time, it might be your Lanting who suffers for your lack of foresight. And you will never behave in a way that puts Kaifeng at risk again. Am I clear."
It felt wrong, somewhat, to pile it on this much. Normally, Helene would have stopped long before this. But Corvina was...stubborn. It seemed as if a thorough beating, and then a little extra, would be the only thing to get through to him.
And, perhaps, he would not underestimate Helene again.
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