Hah. And you all thought I was dead. ^_~
IA! IA! CTHULHU FHTAGN! PH'NGLUI MGLW'NAFH CTHULHU
R'LYEH WGAH'NNAGL FHTAGN!
Now we have resurrected...oh, it's just Morgan Hudson.
Sheesh, can't we do anything right here? Oh well,
let's go home. ^_-
Truth is, I haven't written any new chapters for
this behemoth of mine in a
while because I haven't had the time. University can
be pretty rough,
especially with a lot of the courses I've been
taking. I had time to plan,
but never time to actually write.
Sacrilidge! Thou must lose sleep, food, and all
things worldy to your ficcing gods! They demand all
that you are! You see! Ar has spoken...err...damn,
that's not right...
Now it's finals week, and I found myself with a day
or two free and -for the
first time in about a year- no projects or essays
due. I present the results
below, so that you can determine whether I mix with
free time "as well" or
"better than" baking soda and vinegar. ^_^
I'm thinking more like Sodium and water. Or maybe
Aeka and Tenchi...paint drying on the walls that one.
^_-
I would also like to take this opportunity to beg
and plead for C&C.
Please, please, please send me C&C! I live off of
the stuff! My address is
quite clearly displayed in both the "From" and "Cc"
sections of this
message, as well as within the fic itself. I've even
been told that pressing
"Reply" works, if all that typing seems like too
much work. I really do
appreciate anything I get, even if it's just a "hi".
There, that seems like enough.
You're slacking on your ass kissing man. ^_^
Oh, and anyone wanting to read earlier chapters in
this story arc are more
than welcome to visit
http://dataraven_659.tripod.com/roninsummer.html
and see what they can see. There are also earlier
stories from the same
series to be found there, in case you're not sure
why Haruka knows that
Anubis' real name is Kujuurou, or something.
Nah, no one cares about continuity! It's how Dragon
Ball GT got made after all. ^_^ *shudder* 56 episodes
of pure Goku worship at the expense of all story and
continuity. The pain...even my mistress is not that
cruel.
Anyway, on with the fic (assuming the attachment
works this time)!
You're in luck! It certainly looks like it has. ^_^
OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : Some of these guys
aren't mine. The
Sailor Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the
Samurai Troopers
are owned by Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay?
So don't bother
suing me; I'm a student, and far too poor to be
worth the effort.
You remember the good old days where people didn't
used to sue each other? Shit, they did it like real
men and stuck swords in each other! It certainly did
away with a lot of the stupid people...so much for
natural selection. ^^
RONIN SUMMER VI : DARK CRUSADE
A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers
cross-over
by Morgan Hudson
(dataraven_659@excite.com)
Chapter Seventeen : Perspective
Control. He had to maintain control.
*bap* Just because I've seen that statement in far too
many fics (mine included), comic books, books, and
what have you. Heh.
For the second time in as many days, he found
himself sitting
cross-legged on the floor, hands resting on his
folded knees as he
closed his eyes and took long, deep breaths. His
eyes were closed, and
his pose one of total and complete submersion into
the act of
meditation. A small briar to his left allowed its
small trickle of
smoke to waft lazily upwards, and the only sound in
the entire room
was that of his breathing.
The smoke have any particular smell to it? If it's
the kindof thing I'm thinking it is, it might have
both a pleasent (or not) smell and a relaxing effect.
He was a big man, his broad and muscular frame
covered with an
almost endless criss-cross of scar tissue - a road
map of countless
battles fought through the mists of time. He had
faced armies, beasts,
He still got those when he gets killed? Ressurected I
mean?
and creatures that defied description, and he had
bested them all. He
was known only as Thraw, and he had stalked through
the ages bringing
destruction and chaos with both hands. His body was
the only monument
to his greatness, no statues ever having been made
to honour him. Such
an act was one he reserved for those he had humbled,
that in some
small way their sacrifices could survive longer than
the worlds they
had ultimately failed to save.
I suppose that's honorable...in a psycopathic killer
sort of way, but hey... ^_^
His lip twitched upwards in a sneer. He would
relish the
sculpting of a certain Masho's statue. It would be a
moment to be
enjoyed only less than that when the dark-haired
rogue's skull was
finally ground to paste beneath Thraw's own
iron-soled boots. That foul
horned helmet would be upended, and Thraw would be
sure to toast his
fallen foe with a thick, heady draught of blood and
brains, drunk from
his newest cup.
Some think that things like that give you the power of
your enemy. Or at least to be able to see through his
eyes, which is a power all it's own.
Unfortunately, Thraw thought, as his fingers slowly
curled
against his knees, the tendons creaking from the
force of his grip,
that moment was to be delayed for a little while.
Like one of the
creatures he claimed to share his nature with, the
Wolf Masho had
managed to slip away from a trap that should have
been his end. Not
alone, oh, not alone -Thraw had crushed the
miserable dog fiercely
enough to insure that- but still he had fled.
At least he didn't claim to crush him fairly. Unlike
say...Megatron who kept saying he crushed Prime with
his bare hands as he drifted in space broken and
bleeding...heh.
With a snort of irritation, the massive bald man
lunged to
his feet and kicked the smoking briar, sending it
skittering away
across the bare floorboards, finally bumping to a
stop against the
carpet he had torn up and set in the corner.
<Mother> If you insist on acting like a spoiled brat
there will be no mass genocides for you for the next
10,000 years!
<Thraw>Awe, but mom!
"Go ahead," Thraw growled, his sharpened teeth
bared as his
lips pulled back in a sneer. "Stick your tail
between your legs and
whimper in your mistress' lap for so long as she
will have you. Writhe
Ouch. ^_^ Double whammy of an insult there.
in your agony." His hands suddenly clenched into
fists as he raised
his arms above his head. "But I shall still find
you, do you hear me?
YOU WILL KNOW NO REST, MASHO! I will track you down,
wherever you are,
and I swear by Mother, I will dig you out of
whatever hole you've dug
<Marsellus> I'm prepared to scour the earth for this
motherfucker. If Butch goes to Indo China, I want a
nigger hidin' in a bowl of rice, ready to pop a cap in
his ass.
for yourself. I will hunt you to the ends of this
world, Masho, and
every time you try to sleep, you will HEAR ME
COMING!"
<Skydive> YOU HEAR ME MEGATRON! WE'RE NOT GOING TO
REST UNTIL WE GET YOU!
"So you're too busy to have some fun with me, but
you've got
all the time in the world to scream at the ceiling?
You're lucky I
have such a good self-image, love; a lesser woman
might think you
weren't interested."
<Thraw> A lesser woman would be right, so what's that
say about your intelligence?
Course, I don't think he has the mind for these kinds
of insults. Heh.
Tuls crossed her arms under her breasts and smirked
as she
Mmm...ample breasts. You know, that's something that
both series were really missing. A nicely neked ample
breasted woman with a libido that would match Ataru
Moroboshi. Heh. But then I figure that might have
taken care of most of the enemies (and good guys) of
both series...they really needed to get laid.
Beryl especially, that girl must have done without for
eons to get to her bitchy level. ^_^
stepped into the room. Her golden, almond-shaped
eyes closed slightly
as she winced, raising one hand to rub her temple
slightly and glanced
down at the thick pile of stools and chairs that she
was standing up
to her waist in. "It was quite thoughtless of you to
prop all this
stuff here, brother Thraw. Now I'm going to have to
go through SO much
trouble to show you the souvenirs I picked up!" With
a mocking scowl,
she wagged a finger at him and turned on one heel,
melting back through
the door she had entered from as though it Thraw
himself had not
personally closed and locked it.
I bet Tenchi feels this way from time to time. Course
I'm wondering if that boy even HAS a sex drive.
The massive figure sighed as he watched his sister
leave. He
hated people who walked through solid objects like
that - it showed a
distinct lack of respect for the order of things.
Walls were places
that creatures were not meant to go. At the very
least, breaking a
wall down was something that showed proper respect
for it; simply
ignoring the entire affair was somehow wrong in a
way that Thraw had
never bothered to figure out. Shaking his head
resignedly, he leaned
Heh, I've never seen someone describe a 'work ethic'
so well before. ^_^
against the wall and waited to see what new
perversion his sister had
uncovered and decided to try out on him. In his
current mood, he
almost wouldn't mind the distraction of knocking her
unconscious; it
took a surprising amount of effort to make her stay
down.
I take it he's had the occasion to do that to her?
Damn, if she can phase like she does, what happens if
she pulls a Vision on him?
Moments later, somebody phased through the door.
The truly
surprising thing was that it wasn't his sister. For
one thing, the
figure was far taller than Tuls usually liked to be,
and definitely
not curvaceous enough. It was probably male, Thraw
reflected, although
Usually liked to be? She's a shape shift...oh my
god...you know, I'm not sure I need to know that kind
of information. I mean, if she can do that, it's
possible for her to grow...other appendiges, and I
really did not need that mental image. Bastard! ^_^
the slender build was just ambiguous enough that he
wasn't placing any
money on it. The intruder was dressed in white
trousers that seemed a
trifle too large for them, and a tight black tunic
that covered them
from the neck down. It didn't look very protective,
which explained the
vest. There was a fair bit of padding on that vest,
Thraw thought to
himself. It would probably absorb a fair bit of
force from an
opponent's strike.
I note how he considers everything in the point of
view of how it would handle in a fighting scenerio.
Too bad it's not Saiyan or Space Warrior
armor...that'd look pretty cute on the both of them.
^_^
The mask annoyed him, though. White ceramic or
metal of some
kind, with blue lenses over the eyes and a smile
like a slit throat.
Looked like it was laughing at him, or something.
Why a mask?
"Well?" he asked gruffly. "Are you going to do
something, or
just stand there like some kind of grinning idiot?"
<Tuls> Leering brother, it's called leering! Really,
didn't you read that dictionary I got you? If you
had, you'd be able to call me a dirty slut in more
ways than the one! And you know how I love hearing
you talk to dirty to me!
The figure tilted its head to one side, its short
shag of
blonde hair swaying with the motion. Thraw ground
his teeth together.
"Are you simple?" he asked, spitting the question
out as he
pushed himself away from the wall with a reflexive
shrug of his
shoulders and placed his hands on his hips.
<Haruka> No, I'm obtuse.
A second person entered the room, stumbling through
the stone
wall and swaying slightly as they tried to regain
their balance. Thraw
raised an eyebrow as he turned to the newcomer, who
was also not his
sister. This one was definitely female, with a long
mane of hair the
colour of the ocean. A peaked cap of dark green
rested atop her head
Question: Ami and Michiru both seem to be water
elemental based. Did this not raise a few eyebrows?
Then again, one is liquid water, and the other one is
geared more towards solid water...otherwise known as
ice. Still, it's water none the less.
Then again, I'm wondering how Electricity and Oaks mix
too, so who'm I to question these things?
at a strange angle, as though it had been knocked to
one side and
nobody had bothered to set it back where it
belonged. That, combined
with the blank, glazed look in the woman's eyes, was
more than enough
to explain what was going on.
"So?" Tuls asked, poking her head through the wall
that the
second woman had walked -or more likely, Thraw
realised, been pushed-
through. "What do you think of my little puppets?
Aren't they just
precious? I swear, I could just eat them up...
except, of course, that
Pedri told me not to."
Would she? I mean, litterally eat them and not
umm...figuratively eat them? ^_^
Thraw snorted and rolled his eyes. "And I suppose
that you
always do what Pedri tells you to do?"
"You'd better believe it, baby. And speaking of
doing things, I
have a few ideas that we could -" Tuls' usual
predatory smirk faded
Which makes me wonder what he has Tuls DO for him? ^_^
with unexpected speed as the lavender-haired girl
suddenly wobbled,
stepping back quickly to save herself from falling
over completely.
Blinking rapidly and opening her eyes wide, she
placed one hand over
her forehead and slapped the other against the wall
to steady herself.
"Woah. Hold that thought of mine, supersize; I think
I need to lie
down for a minute. Not that you aren't free to join
me." Holding her
You know, each of these siblings has a very
interesting psychosis. I wonder, will you go into the
reasons behind them?
head and moving like a drunkard, Tuls weaved over to
a convenient couch
and flopped into it gratefully.
Thraw watched from across the room and scowled
thoughtfully.
She WAS his sister, so he supposed that technically
he was obligated
to check on her.
"Are you all right?" he asked, making sure to keep
his
distance as he did so. No point in ending up like
those two mannequins
in the corner, after all; he had enough trouble
controlling himself
without letting someone like his sister take a shot
at it.
So what is this? Telepathy? Pheremones? Something
else? ^_^
"Ooh," Tuls moaned, "getting those two through that
wall was
such a very BIG job, and I am such a very small
animal. I fear I
may have pulled my phasing muscle, dear brother
Thraw - wherever it
is." Lifting her head wearily, the woman smiled and
winked at him.
"Would you care to rub it and make it feel better?
It might take a
while to find, but..."
<Me> YES!!! err...that was a mistake wasn't it?
"I see there's no reason to worry," Thraw said
acidly, as
he took an extra step back, "you're obviously on the
mend."
You know, I hope that healing factor of hers doesn't
intefere with her loss of virginity...unless she gets
off on that sort of thing every time too...assuming
she ever had that slight problem that plauges our
females for the most part. ^^
"Would it have been more convincing if I had
coughed?" Tuls
asked curiously, rolling over onto her front and
resting her chin on
one hand. "I was thinking maybe I should, but then
it occurred to me
that it might be too melodramatic." With a dramatic
sigh, she rolled
over again and shifted position, resting her long
legs against the
wall as her hair spilled onto the floor. She had,
Thraw noticed from
his vantage point, decided to wear stockings for
some reason. It was
hard to tell -her skin was nearly as white as the
silk itself- but
the garters were a dead give-away.
White, eh? Mmmm....
Well folks, I think it can be safely said that Morgan
here has finally fulfilled the fanservice portion of
the story...at least for this chapter. ^_- Still, you
haven't quite gone to the extreme that "Not Another
Teen Movie" did with their fanservice. Hehehe.
"I've got a surprise for you," the upside-down Tuls
cooed,
smiling at Thraw.
"The last time you said that to somebody," Thraw
growled, "We
didn't see Erdge or Holts for nearly a month. They
STILL won't say
what happened to them."
Which makes me wonder why Pedri even tollerates...oh
wait...never mind. Doing the boss...forgot. ^_^
"This is a nicer surprise," Tuls promised. "At
least, it is
for me. YOU might be in a bit of trouble, though."
"Explain," Thraw snapped, crouching slightly and
spreading his
feet as his hands moved away from his sides.
Something told him he was
about to get attacked...
Ryouko tried attacking Tenchi once. I don't think he
quite appreciated DBZs version of foreplay. ^_^
Sighing deeply, Tuls sat up and brushed her hair
back over her
shoulders. "Let's just say that an hour ago upon the
stair, I met a
man who wasn't there."
<Tuls> Note, this was after I met Wheelie, he was
such a sweetie. Fun though, dontcha know? ^_^
"Pedri?"
<Tuls> No, Thanos! Did you know he has the cutest
little birth mark right on his...
"Do you know anybody else cute, dark and astral? I
mean it; if
you do, introduce me." With a hopeful look, his
sister smiled and
<Thraw> *thinking* Hmm...nah...Galactus would never
forgive me if I did that to him.
blinked innocently at him. After a moment, the smile
faded and she
placed her hands between her knees, leaning forward
and biting her lip
slightly as she rocked back and forth. "He said we
better get back
home as soon as possible. He's got some kind of
thing he's getting
<Tuls> Oh, I hope it's an orgy! That would be the
best unbirthday present I ever gots, it would it
would!
ready, and he wants everybody there." She chucked a
thumb in the
direction of the two motionless figures standing
nearby. "Especially
them."
You ever going to go into how he actually captured
them? Or did I miss that in a previous chapter. ^^
**********
Once, a very long time ago, Haruka Ten'ou had been
twelve years
old, and she had gone to a carnival with her
parents. That had been
back when she still had parents willing to be seen
with her. Or, at
least, parents who did more than just sit at home
and wait for their
little girl to 'get over' whatever was 'wrong' with
her, and find a
nice husband. Parents who spoke to her. Parents who
didn't treat her
like some kind of-
I imagine she shares a common problem among those that
have chosen a similar lifestyle. One wonders what
Michiru's parents think of the situation, if she has
any?
Also, you ever note that the Senshi rarely talk or
even associate with their parents, cousins and/or
siblings? And in the future of Crystal Tokyo, it's
like those people don't even exist and never did.
You'd think they'd be more...interested in such
things.
I still have this idea...the beginnings of a fic
really...
<Serenity> Shingo, dear brother! Why are you so...
<Shingo> You're not my sister!
On second thought, that was ground Haruka didn't
really enjoy
going over when she was rational, never mind
whatever state her brain
was currently enjoying. Somewhere between 'scramble'
and 'puree', she
was guessing. The point, as best as she could
recall, had been that
she went to a carnival. On the roller coasters,
because, well, the
bumper cars were only fun until they busted you for
flipping over
somebody else's cart.
<Kup> Then let's hold a demolition derby!
You ever notice that Kup and Hotrod were doing far
better as cars then doing the hand to hand thing they
wound up pulling right there? Makes one wonder why
they even bothered to transform.
The roller coasters had been fast, which was good
in her book,
but that was when young Haruka had learned a
valuable lesson; roller
coasters were not a good thing to combine with a
stomach full of
cotton candy and soda pop. Or, she assumed, a
stomach full of anything
else, but as everybody on the coaster that day could
have verified,
hers had been full of cotton candy and soda pop.
Until about three
seconds after she got off of the ride, that was -
then it had become
rather violently empty.
She ought to have tried that pendulum type ride...the
one that swings in a large circle after it gets up to
speed. ^_^ I was maybe 10 when I got on that
ride...they had no seat belts strangely enough...just
a bar I hung onto for dear life. Being right at the
line in order to ride that thing I found was not
neccessarily a good thing.
Any of the 4 times I got on that thing. ^_^
She felt like that again. Actually, to go back to a
more
recent memory, she felt like that time one of the
guys had dared her
to drink an entire bottle of sake, and she had woken
up hanging from
Say hello to Mr. Alcohol Poisoning! There's your
liver Haruka, Mr. Liver, you got anything to say?
<Haruka's Liver> You're an asshole!
a coat hook in her hallway with her arms and legs
tied together. To
her dismay, she hadn't been able to get down by
herself, which had
left her stuck until the next morning, when Michiru
found her. Of
course, a few weeks later, Michiru finally confessed
to having tied
her up and hung her there in the first place...
Michiru?! That seems almost out of character...I
could see her letting someone else do it, but her do
that herself? Well, maybe the tying up part, but the
coat hanger part seems almost like something the guys
from Oh My Goddess would do. ^^
MICHIRU! Snapping her eyes open, Haruka sat up
quickly, cursed
loudly, clutched her head, cursed loudly again, and
lay back down.
Okay, so quick motions were out of the picture for
the immediate
future. She'd have to make a note of that.
"I see you're finally up," said the sweetest voice
to ever
slice through her brain like a dull chainsaw.
"You're rather lucky; I
was only going to give you a few more minutes before
I tried something,
anyway."
Whatever that might have been. ^_^
"Michiru?" Haruka croaked, hands clapped over her
face as she
stared through her fingers at an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Is that you?
Come closer, darling... It's... It's getting so
dark, and cold... I
You know, this sounds more like a dying speach rather
than, "Hug me, I need squeezes!" type speach.
can't hardly see, anymore..." Plus, she was pretty
sure there were
<Leia> Your eyesite will return in time.
angry midgets trying to poke her eyes out from the
inside, but she
wasn't going to say that out loud until she was a
little more certain.
It could be hedgehogs.
Sonic ain't got nothing on these babies.
"Stop being so dramatic, Haruka," Michiru sighed,
"you've had
worse and lived."
To be strictly technical, they had worse and died.
Heh...were they present in the Silver Millenium? I
remember you once asking me about the Crystal
Millenium, but what about the Silver Millenium? If
not, that raises a whole new set of possibilities
concerning what they really are. On the other hand,
they were never shown back then because they weren't
thought of before hand, I know.
"Not on purpose," Haruka groaned, slowly rolling
onto her side
and daring to focus her eyes on something closer
than the roof. "Ooh,
I feel like somebody took my brain out and rolled it
around on some
thumbtacks." Scrubbing her face with her hands, the
tall woman eased
herself into a sitting position and winced
noticeably, a brief flash
of pain flitting across her features. "Situation?"
"Unknown." Michiru shook her head, her
shoulder-length mane of
sea green hair rippling from the motion as she
crossed her arms and
leaned against the opposite wall of the chamber.
"Probably trouble."
"Okay." Haruka took a short breath and blew it out,
shaking her
head gingerly in an attempt to shake loose the last
few cobwebs
clinging to her mind. "So, what's the last thing we
remember?"
She's going to be shaking for awhile then. ^_-
"Wine cellar," Michiru replied morosely. "Then
here."
"Yeah, same with me." Haruka ran her fingers
through her short
tangle of golden hair, dark eyes narrowed as her
mouth turned
downwards in a thoughtful scowl.
"Honestly," Michiru said with a slight laugh, "why
do you
always have to look so upset when you're thinking?
It's as if you're
angry that somebody's making you do it."
"I am," Haruka replied honestly. "Every time I have
to think
about things like this, it's usually because we're
all about to get
screwed. And you KNOW how I feel about that!"
"No," Tuls cooed, "Tell me how you feel about being
screwed."
"You're always so negative," Michiru scoffed,
waving a
dismissive hand in her lover's direction. "You
should be looking on the
positive side of this - it's not a problem, it's an
opportunity!"
<Han>Together again.
<Luke> Wouldn't miss it.
<Han> So, how we doing?
<Luke> Same as always.
<Han> That bad, huh?
"Sure... an opportunity to get tortured and killed
by our
enemies," Haruka spat out acidly, resting one hand
against the side
of her face as she crossed her long legs and rolled
her eyes. "Whee.
Sign me up for THAT."
Express elevator to Hell. Going DOWN. ^_^
"We're not going to die here, Haruka," Michiru
said, a stern
look in her eyes as she pushed away from the wall
and walked over to
the door of their rather spartan room, running her
fingertips along
the grain of the wood.
"Michi, I love you, but you need to cut back on the
booze."
And the wacky weed, and the crack...no, not that
crack! Get yer minds outta the gutter. ^_^
Haruka sighed deeply and lay back, lacing her
fingers behind her head
as she looked up at the bare flagstones of the
ceiling. "The way I
see it, we don't know where our allies are, we don't
know where WE
are, and we have even less of an idea as to how we
got here! Even if
we do manage to escape, we won't have the slightest
idea where to run
to, and I doubt we're going to get much of an
opportunity. You saw
what these guys did in that village we were in - a
massacre like that
is the work of people who don't like loose ends."
She sighed again.
If nothing else you can never say these guys do half
measures. Heh.
"Unless you have a better idea, I'm going to attack
whoever opens that
door and hit the ground running."
<Vegita> And that was supposed to do what to me now?
"Fortunately, I do," Michiru replied. "I say we
play along for
a while and see where it gets us. At least long
enough to get a bit
more information on what's going on; I, for one, am
a little tired of
having to take that Rajura person's word on things.
If Setsuna is to
be believed, we shouldn't trust that man if he tells
us water is wet.
Besides which, I'm not that sure he has any idea
what we're up against,
either."
Heh, they noticed that too it seems. Same with
Setsuana...if she really knew what they were up
against, she'd likely have already planned for the
situation.
"He does kind of strike you as someone going
through the
motions, doesn't he?" Carefully, Haruka swung her
legs over the edge
of the coarse wooden bench she had been lying on,
setting her feet on
the cool stone floor. At this rate, she guessed, she
might actually
be feeling up to doing something when the enemy
appeared. If they gave
her a few weeks.
"We've worked with the Masho before." Michiru
frowned slightly,
and Haruka felt the sudden urge to rush across the
room and give her
a hug. "This isn't like their usual modus operandi."
"You're kinda cute when you use big words," Haruka
quickly
interjected, with a devilish smirk.
"Thank you, sweetheart. Irregardless..."
Now it's just getting saccharine. Heh.
"See? There you go again."
"As I was saying," Michiru continued, blushing
slightly, "the
Masho of the Dynasty have never struck me as the
type who would retreat
from a battle. Most of the times we met them before
this, they seemed
rather busy LOOKING for fights. But ever since we've
come here, it
seems as though Kayura and her troops are running
scared."
It's generally what happens when you catch your enemy
by total surprise and overwhelm them with superior
fire power. In fact, that's actually considered good
tactical sense right there.
"Not Anubis," Haruka said forcefully, "he wasn't
scared of
anything. I think he wanted to fight. Running away
was Rajura's idea."
"And -as long as she doesn't find out I said this-
Rajura is a
lot like Setsuna. They may not like each other, but
they think and act
alike. Would Setsuna simply run away from a fight?"
Which might make you wonder about a few things, but
they're not speculating on that.
<snip...but only a little one>
With little ceremony, the thick door opened
abruptly, and
both women looked up. The man in the doorway was
tall, his bald head
almost brushing against the top of the frame as he
crossed his muscular
arms across his broad chest and parted his lips in a
sneer. His teeth,
Haruka noticed, seemed to have been filed into
points, and his left
ear was gone, leaving only a mass of scar tissue.
She shifted her
position slightly, steeling herself to leap at him.
It might throw him
off balance, she thought hopefully. Maybe give Michi
a chance to run...
The man's eyes met hers, and Haruka froze. "Try
it," he said
quietly, and smiled.
I take it that's happened a few times before.
Slowly, the slender young woman let her body slip
into a less
aggressive stance, her muscles relaxing as she
lowered her hands and
carefully composed her features into a look of
indifference. "Maybe
some other time," she replied, in the same tone that
he had used.
"Follow me," the man rumbled, and stepped back,
leaving the
doorway open.
"Gee," Haruka muttered, as she and Michiru left the
room and
followed the giant down a marble corridor, "I wonder
how long it took
them to train a gorilla to talk."
"Mind your tongue, wench," their muscular captor
growled.
"Wench?" Haruka blinked. "You know, once you get
the hang of
bipedalism, you might want to consider working on
your manners."
"I assure you," the man replied with a smirk,
"compared to my
brothers, I am a paragon of gentlemanly behaviour.
For example, despite
your foul attitude, I have yet to fold you into a
swan. Others in my
family would be far less considerate. Now watch your
tongue, or I will
gladly tear it out and watch it for you."
Ah. You know how refreshing it is to hear enemies in
Sailor Moon actually act and talk like they've studied
the evil overlord's manual? ^_^ They are the bad
guys, so there is no need to act compasionate and
polite...they're peers would never believe it anyway.
I mean, had even one of the generals in Beryl saga
actually thought to turn invisible, follow the Senshi
closely, learn their identities, and then kill them in
their sleep, things would have gone a lot better for
them.
THAT'S the kind of thing that evil overlords should be
thinking of! How to kill the good guys with a minimum
of resources and loss of troops.
I mean, they should have turned the cockroaches of the
city into little Youma. Then they could have had eyes
and ears everywhere! Use a big expendable Youma to
lure them out, have the roaches record where they head
off to after it's defeat, wait til the night time,
ensure they'll be where you THINK they'll be, and then
a very quick surgical strike. A high powered laser
beam, or a simple snaping of the neck or something of
that nature.
Oh wait...I'm giving them ideas, aren't I?
Haruka shrugged, and pinched her fingers together,
drawing them
across her lips and miming the act of turning a key.
With a flourish,
she threw her arm back and opened her hand, then
returned it to her
side.
Cocky even when she's shutting up. Heh.
"Wise choice," Michiru said, sliding her arm around
the other
woman's waist as they walked. "He looks like he
might actually back up
that threat, and I prefer all of your parts where
they are."
He He He. ^_^
"Well," the gigantic form gliding down the hallway
ahead of
them mused, looking over his shoulder, "I can tell
which one of you
he'll enjoy the most."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The person we're going to meet has a bit of a
temper. Your
friend will probably wind up getting herself
obliterated. You,
though... You I think he's going to like. Show
respect."
<Vader> You like to strangle underlings for minor
infractions, fuck you! Bounty hunting is a man's job,
if you can't do it make room for someone who can!
Michiru looked over at Haruka, who merely looked
confused. "If
you don't mind my asking," she called after their
guide, "who exactly
are we going to be meeting?"
"Nobody that you WANT to meet," the man growled.
Throwing his
head back, he began to chuckle, a deep, rumbling
sound that resembled
a peal of thunder more than any noise that belonged
in a human throat.
"Nobody," he continued, once his laughter had
subsided, "that anybody
EVER wants to meet."
I have a list of people I know that fit that
description. ^_^
**********
After nearly an hour of walking, Michiru's feet
were beginning
to hurt. She had thought that those blasted suede
boots she picked up
in the village might be a little too small for her.
Grimacing slightly,
she clenched her teeth and forced herself to keep up
with the group.
It wasn't easy, either, with Haruka's long legs to
compete with;
sometimes the dear girl forgot just how much longer
her stride was.
How tall are those two anyway? Are their 3 sizes
recorded on any pages? ^_^
At least the scenery was distracting, Michiru
thought as she
glanced around. In the past few minutes alone, they
had gone from a
marble hallway with Roman pillars and burning
torches on the walls to
what looked more like a smooth tunnel bored straight
through some kind
of softly glowing crystal, and then on to a place
that vaguely reminded
her of her dentist's office, with grey shag
carpeting and concrete
walls painted a soft tone of grey. Wherever they
were, it had to be an
architect's idea of hell. Iron staircases that lead
straight into blank
Kal Torak and Jareth the Goblin King construction!
When you need places designed that make MC Escher wet
his pants!
granite walls, floors fused together so badly that
she could stick her
fist through the gaps between them... it was like
someone had decided
to build the place by simply taking a few dozen
other buildings and
then gluing their parts together at random. For
heaven's sake, there
You know, she's probably more right than she realizes
presently.
was a DOOR in the CEILING! Who would bother putting
a door in a
ceiling? It was almost as nonsensical as the hallway
that had seemed
*raises my hand*
to be formed entirely out of leather sheets
stretched between wooden
struts. Or the one that appeared to be made out of
coral. Come to
think of it, a door in the ceiling made more a
little bit of sense,
comparatively.
The rather large gentleman who had been leading
them finally
came to a stop, placing his hands on his hips and
looking up at a
massive pair of doors blocking the path. They were
nearly twice as
tall as he himself was, and looked to be made out of
solid oak. Michiru
But probably weren't...oak that is.
paused and considered that for a moment. If those
doors were even half
as thick as they looked, they probably weighed more
than all four of
the Outer Senshi put together.
Which really made it a little disconcerting when he
pushed them
open with one hand as though they were made of
cardboard. Michiru
raised an eyebrow and made a thoughtful sound.
Obviously he was even
stronger than he looked. If the situation got worse,
she'd have to make
certain that he didn't stay around long enough to
pose them any
problems. It was a good thing that Haruka was so
aggressive; she
all but painted a bull's-eye on her chest as far as
any enemies were
concerned. People rarely expected trouble to come
from placid, quiet
little Michiru. That usually guaranteed her at least
one free hit.
Hope she has enough power to make it count. Bet
that's what she's hoping too. But you know, it's
never the loud ones you gotta worry about. It's the
quiet ones in the corner minding their own business
that you should really pay attention to. Heh.
She gently tightened her grip around Haruka's
waist, and felt
the other woman stiffen slightly in response. Their
eyes met, and
Michiru nodded as she stepped away from her lover
and let her hands
dangle loosely at her sides. Haruka rubbed her
wrists in what appeared
to be a nervous gesture, and smiled as she nodded in
response. Good.
Her henshin stick was still in her sleeve, then.
Michiru took another
hensin stick? wouldn't that be better stated as
"Henshin wand?" or is that redundant?
surreptitious step to the side, making sure that
Haruka would have all
the room she needed to move. Just in case.
As they entered the room, Michiru felt her eyes
bulging at the
sheer opulence before them. Rich velvet draperies
hung from golden rods
along all eight walls of the octagonal room, their
dark purple nearly
black, with slight gleams of colour where the light
struck them.
Silver saucers filled with some kind of liquid
burned atop intricately
Yeah, but what color liquid? ^_^
sculpted stands of dark iron, standing in rows along
each wall like
soldiers at attention, carefully set far enough from
the draperies
that there was no risk of fire. The centre of the
room was set higher
than the sides, with a short staircase leading to
the raised dais,
where a table had been set up with eight chairs.
Covered dishes sat
in front of each chair, the steam creeping out of
each dish and mixing
with the smoke from the two candelabras dominating
the table.
Which really leads me to wonder who their cooks are.
Nice description, BTW.
It wasn't quite the torture chamber Michiru had
been expecting.
Don't give me those mental images! I have enough
problems not thinking of Michiru like that! Now I
have the idea of her in an S&M...
*beats head on the wall* Bad thoughts, bad thoughts,
bad thoughts. Bout as bad as Clover Way's dubb of it.
They made them cousins. Not only are they lesbians,
but they are also into incest. Real smart there.
Haruka glanced over at her and shrugged. Michiru
shrugged back
and followed as their guide led them up the stairs
and indicated two
chairs on opposite sides of the table. The two women
shared a glance
and pulled out the chairs, sitting down and looking
around in
confusion. To Michiru's surprise, there was someone
already sitting
next to her - the high backs on the chairs had
concealed them from
view at first.
The stranger was dressed in some form of faded
violet
turtleneck sweater and what appeared to be denim
jeans, with a
shoulder-length mane of crimson hair. Aside from
that, it was hard to
tell much else about her - the girl was bent over,
with her head
cushioned on her arms and her face on her plate. A
gentle prod with
Michiru's elbow resulted in nothing more than a
slight change in the
pattern of the strange girl's snores.
Narcolepsy. Really, Frued would have a field day with
these people.
<snip>
The black shape suddenly opened, flashing white on
its reverse
side as the cape's wearer straightened and let it
fall away from him.
Almost vampire like of him.
He was tall, with a slender build that seemed almost
scrawny in
comparison to the behemoth who stood next to them.
Pushing away from
the ceiling, the youth pivoted in mid-air and slowly
began to float
towards the ground feet-first. His cape spread out
as he descended,
the black and white fabric unfurling around him like
a flag in the
breeze. His coat was a dark crimson, the colour of
drying blood, and
his pants were as dark as the abyss itself. Hair the
colour of a
raven's wing swirled about his head as he floated
towards them, and
his blue eyes seemed to glow with an inner light as
he scowled at the
two women.
"Oh, my..." Michiru breathed, feeling a strange
lump form in
her throat.
Didn't think men could get that kind of reaction out
of her. ^^
"If his hair turns gold," Haruka said in a
strangled tone of
voice, "I'm bolting."
BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!!!
"What?"
The blonde woman shrugged. "Just thought I should
warn you."
Hell, I'm wondering if Michiru even got the joke. ^_^
Course if his hair turned gold, you'd have a shitload
of OTHER problems...the least of which being the
survival of yourself, the planet, and most of the
surrounding area, but hey...
There was a soft tapping sound as the strange man's
steel-toed
boots finally made contact with the floor, and his
ebony cape slowly
drifted down around his body once more as he landed
at the head of the
table. "Good evening," he said, in a voice as soft
as powdered chalk.
Tell me he's got a Transelvanian accent. ^_^ It'd be
as cool as listening to Janos Aldron's accent when
talking to Rahziel. ^_^
"You ladies will have to forgive me if I don't shake
your hands." His
<Pedri> Terrible case of radiation burns I'm afraid.
You know how that goes right? Your siblings get
killed and you have to bring them, back. Ungrateful
little brutes I tell you.
cape parted and spilled back over his shoulder as he
raised one arm,
and the chair once again moved of its own volition,
sliding forward
until it made contact with the back of his knees. He
sat, resting his
wrists on the arms of the chair and gazing at the
two Senshi as though
he were a king on a throne.
At least he's not doing the Gendo Ikari stare. Heh.
Here's a question. Suppose for a moment they do whack
the entire universe. What then?
<snippage, oh yeah!>
"That's an interesting pin," Michiru said,
gesturing towards
the stylised silver bird holding his cape. "It looks
rather old."
"It is."
"Roman?"
"No."
<Pedri> Archillian actually.
<Michiru> And they are?
<Pedri> Extinct.
The silence continued. From the corner of her eye,
Michiru
could see Haruka begin to fidget slightly, playing
with a fork. With
a philosophical shrug, she decided to let it be.
Whoever they were
with, he didn't seem very interested in talking. No
point annoying the
man - he'd have to let them know what he wanted
sooner or later.
Quietly, one by one, forms came from the shadows
and took their
seats. It was really rather macabre, Michiru
thought, the way that
seemed to melt out of the darkness and moved without
making any noise
at all. The first to appear was a woman. Her entire
body was swathed
from head to foot in black leather - leather pants,
leather boots,
leather jacket, leather gloves, and with leather
belts and straps
wrapped and twined around her like some kind of
biker mummy. Steel
spikes gleamed in the torchlight from where they
protruded out from
between the pieces of leather stretching over her
shoulders, and a long
braid of golden hair hung down her back, brushing
against her ankles
as she stepped up onto the platform and sat herself
on Michiru's other
side. Even her head was encased in some kind of
tight leather hood,
a zipper peaking out from behind the tangle of
straps and buckles on
the back of her head. Unless Michiru was mistaken,
there even appeared
to be a small padlock on the thing. The front of the
hood was thicker
than the rest, with what looked more like a hard
shell of cured
leather over the woman's face. Only her eyes could
be seen, her
green irises glowing balefully behind the wire mesh
screens that
covered them.
Whoa. Probably the best description of her yet in the
fic. Any particular reason she's got the leather
thing going?
It must take her all day just to get dressed,
Michiru mused,
with all those buckles and snaps and zippers. Not to
mention that the
suit was quite tight enough to make it unlikely she
was wearing much
underneath it - it showed off her trim figure quite
well. She was
about Haruka's height, Michiru guessed, but she was
as thin as a
rapier. Didn't seem to have an ounce of body fat on
her, and the way
she kept eyeing everything made Michiru wonder when
the girl last ate.
There was a certain furtive manner about her, and
her fingers kept
twitching slightly whenever she looked down at the
silverware.
And here's another in the list of psychosis.
Cleptomania, isn't this one?
"If you even start to consider it," the caped man
said
warningly, "I will personally handcuff you to your
chair."
But would he need to? With his power, couldn't he
just hold her there? ^_^ Nah, that would take
concentration. Never mind.
"You can borrow mine," the next entrant offered,
slinking into
the light and sitting at the far end of the table.
"I'm more than
happy to share ANYTHING with YOU, dear Leader..."
The woman in question
And probably has, too. Really, this family is
increadibly dysfunctional.
was slightly shorter than her leather-clad
compatriot, with a wild
mane of purple hair and golden, cat-like orbs with
slitted pupils. She
was wearing nothing, or at least, a costume that
achieved the same
effect. Her pants were made of a nearly transparent
material that
managed only to tint her pale skin a rosy pink, and
the matching
I note she didn't note wheather the hair color was
natural or not. ^_^
blouse was held on by nothing more than a silver
belt and some good
intentions. There was also what looked a bit like a
fishing net made
You know she doesn't have good intentions...come on
now.
from steel wires hanging on her hip. Noticing the
Senshi's gaze on
her, the strange woman gave Michiru a sultry smile
and lounged back
in her chair, rubbing her neck with one hand and
throwing the other
back over her head. "Aren't I?" she asked, and ran
her tongue over
her lips before blowing a kiss in the Senshi's
direction.
I question...with a whole shitload of really nasty
answers...and everyone of them something she'd agree
with anyway. Heheeheheheehh.
Michiru shuddered, and quickly turned her attention
back to the
leather-clad woman, who was apparently much too busy
glaring at Haruka
to notice. She heard a soft chuckle come from the
far end of the table,
and felt her spine stiffen in response. She made a
mental note not to
look in that direction for the rest of the meal.
Something about that
purple-haired one made her feel queasy.
Now, asside from that fact she puts most nymphs to
shame with her libido, one wonders why she'd get that
feeling? I mean is it something more than Tuls just
looking at them as if they were only in existence to
satisfy her rampant lust?
<snip you will fear, yes!>
Nice descriptions so far of each of the siblings as
they appear. I note you're doing it form the Senshi's
perspective, so every detail is noted as it is fresh
and new, rather than the casual familiarity they
exibit around each other. Good one.
Somebody stepped on her foot, and Michiru forced
her gaze away
from the silent spectacle to look over at Haruka.
Having gotten her
attention, the blonde woman simply pointed at the
candelabra sitting
a few feet down from them.
The once small and flickering flames had grown into
thin
streamers of fire, wax flowing down the sides of the
rapidly
disappearing candles like water gushing from a hole
in a dam as the
flames swirled around each other and reached towards
the ceiling.
Keep in mind, all Pyrokinesis is, is really
telekinesis taken to a very small level. What is
heat? Simple the motion of particles. And what is
fire? The light and heat byproduct of two elements
reacting to each other...by increasing the heat, often
you can increase the chemical reaction.
Or did I just make myself look really fucking stupid?
^_^
"If you will all excuse me for a moment," the caped
man said
in a tightly controlled voice, "it seems one of our
guests has
forgotten about his invitation." His toes floating a
few inches above
the ground, the youth slowly drifted away from the
table and the
flames on the candles slowly shrunk back down to
their weak selves,
flickering feebly within a shapeless mound of
rapidly cooling wax.
**********
Thraw looked down at the silverware in front of
him. On his
left, there was an array of what appeared to be
forks. Apparently,
his usual fork had invited its extended family to
the dinner. On his
Heheheh. So, who does the catering for these people?
right, he saw something he was more comfortable
with: knives. He
didn't necessarily recognise the immediate use for
each of them, but
knives were things he never had too many of. Most of
the forks were
either too short to have good range or too flimsy to
do much damage.
Again, really good description of this man's inner
thought processes. He sees tools to kill and maim,
and how best to use them as such in even these
innocuous household items.
A quick glance around the table was no help: Holts
was still sleeping
on top of her silverware, and all of Erdge's
silverware had somehow
disappeared completely, leaving only a plate and
glass behind. The
two mortals looked about as confused as he was, and
Tuls... well, he
knew better than to ask her what she thought the
utensils should be
used for; her answer was bound to unnerve him.
Him and most of the surrounding universe.
"I don't suppose anybody would have any
chopsticks," the
blonde woman sitting next to him muttered, holding a
small fork with
two prongs and examining it as though she expected
it to explode.
"That's an oyster fork, Haruka," the green-haired
one
explained. "You don't really need it."
"Then why the hell did they GIVE it to me?" the
blonde -Haruka,
I ask the same question when I go to places like that.
Never have gotten a straight answer.
apparently- asked in a harsh whisper. Thraw was
forced to agree: it
seemed rather dumb of his brother Pedri to give
people tools they
weren't going to need.
"Do you suppose we should eat?" Tuls asked, looking
from one
person to another with her stange golden eyes. "I
mean, there's no
point waiting for everything to get cold. Besides,
the sooner we
finish, the sooner I can get out of here. I mean, I
have things to see
and people to do, don't I, Erdge?"
Erdge stiffened again, and her eyes began to dart
around the
room. "I, uh, think we should wait," she said
quickly, "until Pedri
comes."
Until Pedri comes. Interesting choice of words when
considering who she's talkign to. ^_^
"Well," Tuls replied, "as long as THAT'S what we're
waiting
for, I don't mind in the least..." Raising her
eyebrows, the
Heheheheh, even she caught that one.
violet-haired woman leaned forward and propped her
chin on one fist,
giving her sister a sultry smile. "Of course,
sometimes it seems like
as soon as he comes, he goes... know what I mean,
Sister Erdge?"
BWAHAHAAHHAHHAHHAHAAHAHAHHA!!!
<snip>
"People like you are why I prefer to work alone,"
Vyne
Considering it's unlikely he's actually worked with
anyone else, wouldn't it be better to have him say
something like "You know, you are the reason I prefer
to work alone." ?
commented as he soared across the room and landed
beside his chair,
wings tucking back behind him like a feathered cape
as he sat. "Tuls,"
he said, nodding slightly in the woman's direction.
"It's nice to see
you finally managed to get off of your back..."
"Oh, I believe in giving equal time to all the
positions," Tuls
replied airily, waving one hand towards the winged
man. "Of course, if
<Ruddy Rodd> I don't want one position I want ALL
positions!
you were a little more friendly, you'd know that."
"I'm very friendly," Vyne objected, with a hurt air
about him
as he turned to the others at the table. "Erdge, am
I friendly?"
"Usually," Erdge admitted.
"Thraw, I'm friendly, aren't I?"
"You're a weak, simpering little twat," Thraw
growled around
a mouthful of food. "Don't talk to me."
Heh, gotta love the honesty in this room. ^_^
"Right, then." Vyne forced a smile and turned to
the person
next to him. "Hello. I don't believe we've met. My
name is Vyne. I'm
the only person in my group who's even remotely
sane."
"Haruka Ten'ou. The same."
If they're considered sane, their groups are beyond
hope. Heh.
"You shall forgive me for leaving so abruptly
earlier," Pedri
said brusquely, smoothing the front of his jacket
with one hand as he
reclaimed his seat at the head of the table. "I'm
afraid Brother Vyne
here had lost track of the time."
"Was that before or after the train hit his face?"
Haruka
asked, peering at the winged man's bruised and
battered features. There
were large bruises under both eyes, and his nose
seemed red and
swollen.
"Shortly before," Pedri answered her, smiling
politely. Leaning
forward, he stretched a hand towards his wine
goblet, then stopped
mid-way there. Biting his lower lip slightly, he
curled his fingers
into a fist and set it down on the surface of the
table, instead. "So,"
He's telekinetic...why not just drink that way?
he said pleasantly, turning to Michiru, "you and
your friend are
visitors here?"
"In a sense," Michiru replied, taking a sip from
her goblet.
"You might say we're visiting friends. Except that
they aren't really
friends."
"Then why visit?" Pedri asked. "Why not go home?"
"If we did that," Michiru answered him, "it would
be rude. They
invited us to come and see something. We really do
have to stay until
we've seen it; that's only common decency."
"And what, pray tell, did they invite you to see?"
"You," Michiru said with a smile. "Leaving."
I thought it was more on the order of them dead, but I
suppose if she's clever enough to come up with this
whiticism, she knows how far to actually take it. Heh.
Pedri snorted, his lips twitching upwards in a
humourless grin
as he leaned closer to the green-haired maiden.
"That may pose a
I don't think she quite qualifies as a 'maiden.' ^_-
Ami on the other hand is going to be a maiden for
quite a while longer...the poor girl. Heheheheheh.
problem," he confessed. "We aren't planning to leave
any time soon."
"That's quite all right," Michiru reassured him,
"my friends
and I can be very patient. We'll wait."
"Why not simply leave things as they are?" Pedri
suggested,
spreading his hands wide and shrugging. "We have
caused you no harm,
and we are posing you no threat. Why risk your lives
trying to resist
us, if you have no stake in whether we succeed or
fail?"
"That's a good point," Michiru admitted, holding
her goblet
and staring into its depths contemplatively.
"However, I have a feeling
that if we left the youjakai to your tender mercies,
it wouldn't take
I think that's the first time I've heard them referred
to as 'youjakai.'
you long to get bored with it. Eventually, you'd
show up in our
backyard, and then our stake would be very high
indeed."
It's kinda on the order of knowing what Kagato was
going to become, when he was simply a disgruntled
Science academy student. Heh, how many lives might
have been saved had someone gone in and shot the guy
when he was simply the disgruntled science academy
guy?
"We move rather slowly," Pedri argued, "and the
mulitverse is
an unbelievably large place. It make take us
thousands of years to
reach your home."
'make take us?' don't you mean 'might take us?' ^_^
"We have friends who plan to still be around in
thousands of
years," Michiru explained with a pleasant smile as
she lifted her
glass in a toast to the caped man. "It wouldn't be
very prudent of us
to let you show up and surprise them. I think it
will be better for
everyone involved if we just do this earlier,
instead of later."
I dunno, later they'd probably be better prepared to
take something like him on, but then he'd probably be
far stronger as well.
"Besides," Haruka interjected, "we're do-gooders.
You call it
risking our lives for no reason, we call it
Saturday." She shrugged.
"It's a sickness, really. If we weren't here, we'd
probably be off
helping old ladies cross streets."
No, I think that's probably Jun right there.
Pedri frowned, closing his eyes and lightly
pressing his
fingertips against his forehead. "Do you truly want
to throw your
lives away so recklessly?" he asked, almost looking
pained at the
<Haruka> That's a question...
<Michiru> Don't you dare say it!
<Haruka> Awe...c'mon! It was the perfect setup! ^_-
idea." Is there nobody who would miss you? Nobody
who needs you, or
would feel pain at your passing?"
Michiru nodded slowly, giving Pedri a skeptical
look. "Why do
I think you already know the answer to that
question? We have a
daughter - Hotaru. She's twelve years old."
"That is a shame," Pedri said quietly. "You see, if
you refuse
to leave this world willingly, I have no choice but
to personally
remove you." Rising from his chair, the slender man
glanced to his
left. "Sister Holts, wake up."
"Snuh?" Blinking slowly, the red-haired girl lifted
her head
from her plate and glanced over at her brother.
"What's up?"
<Pedri> Sky. Taxes. The body count. You know, the
usual.
"It's time, Sister Holts. Bring it."
"Ah, geez," Holts grumbled, sliding out of her
chair and
staggering towards the door, "again? This is the
nine millionth time
we've done this, bro. When are you going to just
start killing them and
sparing your ears?"
"There is an order to things, Sister Holts. Bring
it."
Unfastening his ebony cape, Pedri flung it aside and
gestured with one
hand, sending his chair scraping back across the
carpeted floor.
"Dinner is over," he said brusquely, as another
gesture caused the
long table to upend itself and hurl its contents
through the air like
<Shang Tsung> And now for a taste of things to come.
a makeshift catapult. "Go," he ordered, his voice
rising over the
clamour of plates and silverware clattering against
the wall.
"But Pedri-" Tharw began to say.
"GO!" Pedri snapped, his face flushing red as he
began to
away from the floor, rising into the air. "All of
you go! You have
things to do! DO THEM! LEAVE US ALONE!"
Leave us alone? That sounded weak, even the way he
said it. Perhaps "Now, DEPART THIS PLACE!" or
something of that nature.
One by one, the other people began to file out of
the room.
First went Vyne, muttering foul things under his
breath as he headed
towards the door. Thraw followed quickly after, a
sour look on his
He really doesn't quite do a good Starscream. Then
again, even Starscream didn't do a good
Starscream...he kinda got himself perished...two or
three times. I'm senseing some similarities here.
Heh.
face. Tuls stalked after him, holding Erdge firmly
by her braid and
using the hair as a leash.
"Drop her," Pedri ordered. "Erdge stays."
Tuls pouted. "But, Pedri, love... I was going to-"
She was about to describe in gorey detail how she was
about to do Erdge, wasn't she? ^_^
"Let her go, Sister Tuls, or I swear I will find a
way to hurt
you that you will NOT enjoy." As the violet-haired
woman reluctantly
relinquished her prey, Pedri straightened one cuff
of his dark crimson
jacket and turned back to Haruka and Michiru.
What's really bad is that she believed him. ^_^
"There is a practice," he explained, "which I
follow. A
contest, you might say. The stakes are rather
simple: win, and you
Get this shiny fiddle made of gold! But if you lose
the devil gets your soul! ^_-
<I am SNIPPAGE MAN!>
Rather...romantic scene right there. Considering the
circumstances, I suppose I could kinda sorta use that
word, heh.
Pedri stared down at his hands, seemingly
fascinated with the
way that his fingers moved and flexed under his
leather gloves. After
<Pedri> Holy shit! I can feel my right thumb again!
what felt like an eternity, he lifted his head and
stared at the two
Senshi.
"I suppose," he said, "the fates have chosen to
smile on you
today. Congratulations, you are free to go. State
your wish, and I
shall grant it."
My question is, what he would have done had it
actually been the REAL song.
"Our wish?" Michiru turned and looked at Haruka,
who nodded
almost imperceptibly. "We wish for you and all of
your people to leave
here and never return."
She actually tried that? ^_^ Heh, it's never that
simple, but I guess you gotta try these things. Bout
as bad as trying to get the Djinn to will himself out
of existence. Heh.
<just an itty bitty one...you'd hardly feel it. ^_^>
"That," Pedri replied with a smile, "I can do. I'll
have one
of my siblings take you to your compatriots - we
happen to have
stumbled upon their encampment just this morning."
The Keep you mean? Or did he find Jun and his gang of
Wreckers? ^_-
"And you didn't attack them?" Haruka asked,
incredulous.
"Why?"
"They don't seem to pose an immediate threat,"
Pedri said
simply, "and I have other things to do. As long as
they aren't
bothering me, I'm content to leave them alone." With
a flippant toss
<Pedri> At least til it's time to kill them, of
course. But again, you know how it is, right?
of his head, the youth settled back in his chair and
folded his arms
actoss his chest. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have
busy things to
do. Holts will take you to your friends. Farewell."
'I have busy things to do?' ^_^ How about 'I'm quite
busy and have many things to do.' ^_^
**********
Pedri hadn't moved since those women left. He
merely sat,
staring blankly at the far wall as though he didn't
even see it. Even
his face remained in the same carefully veiled
expression it had had
ever since he heard that strange song.
Erdge quietly knelt on the floor, gathering a
handful of the
candles that had been sent flying when Pedri flipped
the table and
setting them on the edge of the raised podium. After
all, someone had
to clean up, and if a few more pieces of silverware
went missing, well,
they must have been lost under the drapes somewhere.
Stealing a quick
glance over at Pedri, she eased down the zipper on
the front of her
costume and tucked a few spoons and knives in before
quickly zipping
back up. After all, nobody could find everything in
a room this big,
not the way all that stuff went flying. An oyster
fork slid under the
edge of one glove. It wasn't like it was her fault -
things just went
missing sometimes! Another quick zip, and another
fork was quickly
tucked in to join its fellows.
Does she ever question WHY she likes the shinys? I
mean, it's not like their monetary value has any
meaning to her...if they need something, they just
take it.
"Not that one," Pedri said quietly.
"What?" Erdge blinked innocently. "I was just, you
know,
picking some stuff up, Brother Pedri. Seems kind of
sloppy to leave it
all lying around, and..."
Without even turning his head to look at her, Pedri
extended
a hand. "The fork," he said. "The one you just
tucked into your
ample. ^_^
cleavage. It happens to be MY fork. I would
appreciate it if you
returned it to me. And for the last time, stop
calling me 'Brother'.
It's just Pedri."
"Fork?" Erdge glanced down curiously. "I don't
think I remember
picking up any forks, especially not any that I -"
Pedri looked at her.
Heh, to be telepathic must be an interesting
experience for him around his siblings. Her thoughts
would be rather funny to listen to, but Tuls would be
in the area of outright bizzare, would she not?
"Crap," Erdge muttered, unzipping the front of her
suit and
reaching in to draw out a silver fork. "Would you
believe it was an
accident?"
"I know, Erdge," Pedri said calmly, as though not
really
paying attention to her. "You just can't help
yourself. Like a little
raccoon."
So he's been to earth and knows what a raccoon is?
Then again, they DO have legends of him on
Earth...makes one wonder how they got such legends,
and if he did visit, how they repelled him.
With a heartfelt sigh, Erdge let the fork slide
from her
fingers and land in Pedri's palm. Good-bye little
friend, she thought
sadly, may the wind be ever at your back...
"On second thought, it's just a fork," Pedri said.
"If it
means that much to you, keep it."
Squealing happily, Erdge grabbed the silver
utensuil and
clutched it to her like a long-lost child. Pedri
could be a pretty
cool guy, sometimes. In fact, he wasn't so bad. She
wondered if he'd
let her take a closer look at that brooch of his,
maybe even touch it
for a second. She'd only touch. And maybe borrow it
for a while...
"No," he said glumly, "you can't borrow my brooch.
You may
look at it, if you wish. No touching." He glanced
back over his
You ever going to describe this brooch? I mean it
seems like you've gone out of your way to mention it
quite a number of times, so I'm wondering just what it
is. Heh.
shoulder at her. "Erdge, can you put the fork away
for a second? I
need to talk."
Nodding dutifully, the masked blonde tucked the
utensil back
inside her costume and zipped it back up to her
chin. "What do you
want to talk about, Pedri?"
"Nothing. Everything." Pedri sighed. "Nothing.
Rules, I guess.
Whether they're made to be broken, or not." Hanging
his head, he
stared at the floor as though it had some kind of
clue written on it.
"I'm supposed to be Leader, Erdge. That's a rule.
Mother's Chosen. The
only one gifted with the power to hear Her voice.
But now you... you've
heard Mother. You're Her Chosen, too, now. There've
never been two of
us before."
"I didn't mean to hear Her," Erdge said
apologetically. "Maybe
she was trying to talk to you, and I just got in the
way?"
"No. She Chose you. That makes us equals." Pedri
smiled. "I've
never had one of those before either. Rules are
getting broken all over
the place. You and Thraw have both failed, and
THAT'S against the
rules. Holts has been working overtime instead of
slacking off, and
that's DEFINITELY against the rules. It's like an
epidemic. Even I'm
breaking the rules."
He talks as if the universe is not a dynamic entity
where things constantly adapt and change. Or is that
the problem with the entire situation concerning him,
his mother, and their siblings?
Erdge sat next to Pedri and carefully reached up,
letting her
hand brush against his as she rested it on the arm
of the chair.
Encouraged by his lack of response, she placed her
hand directly on
his, and squeezed it gently. He winced in pain, and
she immediately
eased back on her grip.
"That tune the girl played," she said softly, as
though afraid
to even breach the question, "it wasn't the right
one, was it?"
"It wasn't even close."
Again, I wonder what he would have done had it really
been the right one.
"Why did you release them, then?"
"I'm not a monster, Erdge." Pedri's smile turned
almost
sorrowful. "I can feel some compassion. They would
have won that
contest if they had plucked strings at random. If
they refuse to
leave, then we will have to destroy them with the
rest of this place,
but Mother never said I had to kill them right away.
I guess I just
thought that a mother's place should be by her
child's side."
"You know, Pedri? Sometimes you're all right."
For a perpetrator of Universal Genocide, but everyone
has their faults. Heh.
Pedri turned to look at the leather-clad woman in
surprise.
"As I am far too polite," he said, sounding slightly
stunned, "to
disagree with a lady, I shall merely thank you for
the compliment."
"We're still destroying all life on the planet,
though, right?"
"Well, of course," Pedri answered, staring at the
wall again.
"It's for their own good."
I'd really love to hear the reasoning behind that one.
**********
TO BE CONTINUED...
Man, speaking of slacking my whiticisms devolved into
movie quotes and bad sexual innuendo jokes...oh, I
guess that's business as usual. ^_^ Anyway, I hope
what little I put in could help in this chapter.
Seems there at the end you were writing REALLY late at
night, and it showed with some of the weird ass errors
that popped up. Other than that a nice fleshing out
of the bad guys chapter, so we don't see them as the
totally one dimensional villain element that pervades
the current batch of cartoons we see on domestic TV.
You ever notice though, that those that want to take
over the world, and/or destroy all life on the world,
don't generally consider the step after that? I mean,
you take over the world then you assume responsibility
for it, and then it's listening to your warlords bitch
and moan all the freaking time! You destroy all life
on the world...umm...then what? What next...I mean, I
can't even begin to think there'd be a step beyond
that...there's got to be something you're doing after
you blow everything up or why bother to do it to begin
with?
Oh well, just something I was considering while
reading G.I. Joe the other day. They never really say
what they're going to do with the world after they get
it.
Hope this helped a little bit. Take it easy man.
K'thardin
"One shall stand, one shall fall."
-Optimus Prime
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