Suggested changes: {before : after}
On 06/05/2004 01:15 PM, Mark MacKinnon said:
"I'd thought you would be tougher," Karla murmured derisively. She
didn't recognize Minako, of course. At least, not yet. But Minako
remembered her, and a fine trembling trilled along the muscles of her
bowed back. "But look at you. As soon as events turn against you,
my pretty one, you just fold up like a cheap card table. The mighty
Sisterhood? You're no better than that rabble."
This is probably the first hint that Vanka still thinks they are Sisters.
"Red or Black, Lady Karla?" one of the guards asked from a long way
off.
It appears that neither type of jell is intended to be immediately fatal
since Minako had felt both in the past. The question is what torments
to inflict and possibly how quickly the victim is disabled.
"There may still be more guards somewhere, sweetie," V replied. "We
need to make our own exit." So saying, she {focussed : focused} her
power and blew out the wall at the far end of the hall. It exploded
outward with gratifying drama, sending stone and mortar sailing
through the darkness beyond.
Shampoo would have approved.
Her bare flesh was patterned with scarlet and ebony as two forces
fought for control. She could feel a long, oily strand circling her
throat, making its way towards her mouth. Rei controlled her
breathing carefully, although not without effort. Vanka was watching
her, eyes wide, and Rei felt some satisfaction at the thought that
the woman had never seen anything like this before. Of the few
Sisters who could command Shadow Magick, only she and Saekianna could
have pulled off anything like this.
It seems like this would have been a good time for Vanka to do something
to distract Rei. I guess she just couldn't conceive of anyone resisting
a Gan round.
"No," Vanka whispered, and Rei was greatly gratified by the fear in
the woman's eyes. "No, that's not possible. What are you?"
"I'll show you," Rei replied, her voice filled with dark promise.
Sometimes I'm a... :}b
"That so?" I asked lightly. The supports that held up the floor
above us had been damaged, several of them had splintered into sharp
wooden teeth that hung above Arj. He seemed unaware of his
predicament, or at least unconcerned. His one good eye lingered on
my breasts, {barley : barely} clad in black mesh, and his grin made
my stomach twist into an ice-cold knot.
"What about our mission?" V pressed. "What about our princess?" Rei
stopped then, a crease appearing between her eyes. "Have you even
wondered where Phobos and Deimos are, Rei?"
Rei blinked, and it seemed to V that those inky tendrils slowed in
their undulating dance. "The girls?" she asked, frowning. "I ... I
can't sense them."
As deep in her shadows as Rei was I'm not sure either the Princess or
the girls alone could have gotten her attention.
So here I was, half-naked, sifting through the rubble of an office
which belonged to a Tyrian noblewoman. Said noblewoman was lying
unconscious on the floor, showing no sign of moving anytime soon. V
seemed to have been infused with manic energy, Rei had gone all the
way to the dark side, and we hadn't managed to find out anything
except that the Sisterhood had been doing something with the Sultana.
Boy, do I know how to have fun, or what?
Talk about an expensive date. Lucky they aren't paying for the damage.
"Look, I'm fast enough that they won't even be able to get a good
look," I told them. "I'll lead them away from you, buy you some
time, then meet you back at the car."
I turned to go, but Rei called me back. "One thing," she said
brusquely.
"What?" I asked, expecting a lecture. Instead, she reached around me
and tugged at the loose ends of my makeshift top, whipping it off
with a flourish. She looked down at my full breasts, and although
she didn't smile I thought I saw a flash of something deep in the
darkness of her eyes.
"Now," she said archly, "you're a distraction. Go."
Now the cops will definitely get a good look. Won't have a prayer of
recognizing her face though.
V slowly turned the dial, feeling that old familiar rush. Breaking
into things was a lot more fun than most people would have suspected.
This particular safe was a very expensive model, not to mention
something of a challenge. It required just the right amount of
pressure to move the crystal pinwheels instead of the {steels :
steel} ones; a sure touch was her only salvation.
"Incident?" Kendra sat up a little straighter in her throne. The
Tyrians were a necessary evil in her city and her kingdom, but that
did not mean she {had : wanted} to cut them the slightest bit of
slack.
From the discussion of how the earlier incident was handled, it appears
that they do get cut a lot of slack because of the power they control.
"Possibly," Shizuku told her. "If so, the operation must have been
carefully planned and carried out with nearly military precision. We
found no sign of the intruder or intruders. The one who accosted the
first unit on the scene was very strong and fast, and apparently
naked. We have no description other than that, unfortunately."
I don't think Shizuku is being ironic at all with the military precision
comment. They may never realize how close it came to being a total
botch-up. Just looking at the results makes it look a lot more
impressive than it felt from the inside. When they start the
interrogations, they will probably have trouble believing that only
three people did all that damage.
"Indeed." That one word held all the dark, erotic promise of a
thousand nights in one syllable, and Gar felt his mouth go dry.
Great, he thought. She's still got it. The woman who lounged
indolently in the great throne, one leg slung over the arm, was more
compelling than any of her succubi. Her skin was dusky, a warm
{caf�-au-lait : cafe-au-lait} that gleamed smoothly in the golden
light. Her glossy platinum hair was bound up in complex patterns,
framing the arresting planes of her face with its calculated silken
disarray. Crimson leather and silk, trimmed with black, sheathed the
long, lean length of her, barely containing her full breasts,
revealing as much as it hid. The woman's body seemed to have been
poured from distilled desire, intoxicating and utterly flawless. Her
cheeks and forehead bore marks like Mara's, only hers were
six-pointed stars.
"It's not like I haven't looked for you, you know," Gar shrugged. "Of
course, in the early days I just wanted to kill you."
After he'd cooled down a little of course.
Of course, she would have to punish him for his impertinence. Sending
humans into her realm, cutting off one of her gates, and forcing her
to give up a treasure were all acts she would need to hold him to
account for. Of course, she had other gates, many in fact. Even
though she could cross into the mortal realm without them, she did
not care to leave such a trail. Shadow gates were safer, {generic
even : anonymous}. And the treasure he'd bargained for had long
since ceased to be useful to her, having already lured that which
she'd sought.
Something flew up out of the group, and Hild sighed. Maia. The
traitorous little bitch had joined with humans? How desperate she
must have been. But then, she would have known what fate {awaited :}
she would suffer if Hild had gotten hold of her.
Still, the outcome was never in doubt. The dark probes ensured that
Peorth could hide nothing from them. As Hild stared down into the
captive girl's {unfocussed : unfocused} eyes, she heard a strangled
cry from behind her.
"Hey!" I blurted, interrupting her tirade. "Half-naked!" Usagi
stopped and looked at me. "Only because Rei stripped me," I went on.
"Er, of the curtain I was wearing. You know what, never mind."
Good time to quit while you're behind.
"Er, that's right," he said, teeth clenched. The comedy relief
cat-boy sidekick? Oh, he was so gonna get her for this. "I'm
Mistress V's sidekick. Tama-tora to her Lovely Justice Angel. And
I'm here to get you settled while she, um, fights evil."
Robs from the rich and gives to the poor. (after expenses) :}b
"Partly," Minako said with a crooked smile, letting her gaze wander
over Rei's naked body. "I was thinking that you might need some
help, washing that mane of yours."
Influencing Mamoru with her bessim root oil probably wouldn't be a good
idea.
"Glorious," Cyrie breathed. Her dark eyes were {unfocussed :
unfocused}, a beatific smile upon her full lips. Yes. Even now,
Cyrie dreamed of using her new power to dominate those she had once
bowed before. Well, that could be useful. And if Cyrie ceased to be
useful, then she would be destroyed. But either way, she was the
first of a new breed. Wynneth had gifted very few with her blood
over the millennia, but soon that would change.