Under Construction (9) : Construction in Destiny City is a constant; it is never surprising to see buildings come and go. However, almost overnight it seems as though a large project has suddenly come to life. Where there was once an abandoned strip mall and a sad, trash laden park, the ground has now been completely bulldozed. There's no information about this project available in any media outlets or online, and all attempts to research it result in dead ends. A large fence has been put up, but twelve feet of wire isn't enough to keep out anyone curious enough to investigate. Cameras are set up all over the place and there is a strange, almost magical energy. The space is large enough to be a theme park. Strangely, frosted glass stars in an array of colors can be found randomly across the lot. Someone obviously has big plans for this space already, some strange, fantastical buildings are going up. The space feels strangely large, and once you have jumped the fence it feels like Destiny City is a world away. The sky seems brighter and the city lights seem far away, almost as though there is some strange barrier separating the construction zone and the rest of the city. And, oddly enough, if you are standing outside the fence and looking into the construction zone, everything appears blurry and it's hard to make out the details. It's strange, for sure, but nothing seems wrong about it. Yet.
Akaganiete had to confess to a sort of fascinated curiosity regarding the half-built amusement park on the edges of the city. This place had been under construction for at least a year; that wasn’t particularly unusual, but the strange haze that always seemed to hang over it was. It was difficult to guess what might be causing it, but Akaganeite had to conclude that it was some sort of mysterious magic. That alone had her mistrustful—and intrigued, at the same time.
Mysterious magic had brought them all back from the Calamitous Hollow’s prison. Perhaps it was not necessary to assume ill intent, given that particular bit of evidence.
She had considered jumping the fence to investigate further—strange magic might be some kind of threat—but she could also feel lurking auras, and was disinclined to get into a fight further into a construction site, if someone decided to cause problems. So she lingered on the edge, hand resting on the hilt of her sword, and scanned the edge of the woods, looking for a flash of white that might give her warning for an oncoming enemy.
At least Senshi were only so well-camouflaged.
“Come out,” she said, “and face me properly, or I may become cross.”
Honkzilla
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 5:28 pm
Sailor Tempesti had passed by the strange construction site a few times on her patrols recently. Distractions had drawn her away each time before she could clamber in, but tonight she could think of no reason she shouldn’t take a peek. After all the odd nature of the place could be magical, maybe, there was only one way to find out. A quick hop carried her easily over the fence, managing to land on her feet despite the disorienting sensation that washed over her as she crossed some threshold. As she wandered through the site, the air vibrated with some unfamiliar energy, its novelty almost outweighing what limited sense of caution she had. It didn’t carry the same malignance as what she felt from Harold or his planet-sized patron(?), but fascinating as it was, that didn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t dangerous. It was difficult to speculate what nefarious purpose someone might have for a colorful amusement park, but someone creative could almost certainly figure out something for it.
An unfamiliar and undeniably Chaotic energy pierced the aura of the construction site like a jet of cold water. Without a second thought, Tempesti darted into the cover of a half-finished building, hoping to get eyes on whoever else decided to explore this place before they could see her. It wasn’t long before another person stepped into view. This woman looked strong, felt strong, and walked with an enviable confidence that suggested she knew exactly what she was doing. Maybe she was here to investigate the strange magic here, maybe she’d sensed the presence of a senshi and decided to do something about that. Maybe it was a combination of the two. She breathed quietly, not wanting to draw attention, but when the stranger spoke she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Tempesti felt a rise of irritation at the Negaverse agent’s imperious tone, a burning cold swell within her. These people. The sheer entitlement of them. The demands for unearned deference through words or force. This woman might be more experienced that her, maybe even significantly more experienced, but she had no right to demand obedience from anybody. No matter the time or place, people like that are never difficult to find.
Maybe it was more rage than irritation, her own mingled with echoes of some long dead woman’s impotent fury. The most rational parts of her blared warnings, it made more sense to run. From her vantage point she could see the contours of what looked like a weapon, ready to draw blood for its master. It was all too easy to imagine the sort of damage that woman could do, given the chance.
Run. There are no lessons you was capable of teaching today.
Unfortunately for the senshi, the rational, the sensible, the sane were all too easy to lose in the static of her indignant anger. Picking up a stray cinderblock, she lobbed it overhead into the incomplete roof of a building next door before darting through the bare walls of her hiding place. If she was lucky, the agent wouldn’t have seen the sailing cinderblock and it could buy her a few moments to get her into a better position. If she wasn’t, well, she’d almost certainly make fast friends with whatever weapon the woman wielded.
There was a thud, and to Kaga's ears, that thud didn't sound like a person--too heavy, too solid, and definitely further into the construction area, at least a bit.
Well.
That was a direction for her target.
She moved quickly, drawing her sword and darting to get a better look at where she thought the sound had come from. Not for the first time, she wished aura sensing were more precise--a vague feeling of somewhere around here was thoroughly unhelpful, especially in these situations--but all she could do was check and hope.
There was definitely not a person in the half-built structure in front of her, at least not as far as she could tell, and she was unwilling to step too far into it to investigate.
"Damn," she hissed, and glanced up, evaluating how likely it was for her to have good footing on the roof. It looked a little dubious--unfinished, and she wasn't willing to bet on its sturdiness. So she started to move back towards open ground, scanning for more movement.
Honkzilla
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2025 10:01 pm
OK. OK the woman is heading toward the cinderblock. OK. She has a sword. That was definitely a sword. That is going to get ugly. She could always leave. Just give her the slip and let her go about her business and not deal with actual weaponry. But the agent definitely seemed like the sort who would chase her down if she caught sight of her running away. Better to at least put up a fight.
OK. Inhale. Exhale.
Springing upward, Sailor Tempesti landed anxiously but steadily on a nearby roof. She knew that her opponent had to have a similar ability to close the distance between them, but at least it would give her a few seconds to prepare herself. Maybe even give her some perspective on how the other woman moved.
There. The sound of movement. Feet on a roof. Close by--and Akaganeite was fairly certain she knew roughly which rooftop she needed to get to.
She bounced up onto the nearest one, and there--a good look at the Senshi she'd apparently been chasing.
In an instant, she teleported from one rooftop to the other, sword pointed at the young woman's throat.
"Leave," she said, "or learn exactly how large the gulf in power is between you and a Captain of the Negaverse."
As far as Akaganeite was concerned, her words were true. Magic was magic--limited in its use, often not particularly dangerous. But steel was always deadly. And steel weighed heavy in her hand.
Hopefully, this woman would make the right choice.
Honkzilla
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 11:22 am
Cold fury bloomed within Tempesti’s chest once more at the sheer arrogance of her opponent. The unabashed entitlement that made her so certain that anyone who crossed her path owed her obeisance. That she had the right to dictate who could stand in some place she’d made some arbitrary and unjustified claim to. The right to enforce that with violence or threats of violence.
It was sick. Wrong.
She hadn’t interacted with enough people from the Negaverse to know whether they all carried that sense of superiority. The agent who’d smacked her with his briefcase certainly hadn’t, or at least he kept it to himself during their brief interaction. Truth be told, she still felt a bit bad about hitting him. Maybe she’d feel bad about fighting this woman later but in this moment everything was hot pins of ice pricking her skin, trailing along her neck and cheeks. When she spoke it was less the result of her own conscious will than it was a physical certainty,
“Harrowing Storm!”
Harpies burst forth around her, surrounding them both in a maelstrom of wind and lightning.
This Senshi, it seemed, was one of the ones blessed with offensive power, and that meant that Akaganeite was very unlucky. The storm crashed down on her, all at once, and she staggered, briefly dizzy from the burst of electricity.
She slashed forward with her katana, unsure of where she might strike--but she felt something solid on the other end.
That, she hoped, was enough of a lesson.
It was impoissible to focus enoguh to teleport, staggered as she was by the magic--but she could turn and leap for the next roof, giving herself some space to recover and get out of there.
She had made enough of a point, she hoped, if she had made the Senshi bleed.
Honkzilla
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 12:35 am
The pain barely registered through the surging adrenaline and the sound of her blood pounding in her ears. Then the agent was gone and Tempesti stood alone on the rooftop, dripping crimson from her forearm. She raised her arm slightly, looking at it uncomprehendingly for several long seconds as it slid freely through the white stone of an ancient altar before colliding with the reality of the partially finished roof at her feet. Her nerves screamed the length of the wound, searingly immediate but somehow muffled through the haze in her mind.
Mechanically removing the small compact mirror pendant from around her neck, she flicked it open and carefully reflected what light she could onto the laceration streaking her pale skin. The flow slowed slightly, the pain lost the worst of its edge. Enough for the reality of her situation to clatter through. She could patch this properly when she was certain that she was safe.
