Description: Though Rose regularly makes a habit of rounding the exhibition circuits and promotions in attempts to sentry against the evil presences of the world, she elects to attend the Rock Show for a different reason altogether -- to obtain the autograph of the lead for Thundersex, whose brutal, sludgy bass is good for centering yourself in meditation. (Also, she admits, she is a fan.) Unfortunately, an altercation broke out backstage, and most of Thundersex had to be taken to the hospital--now Iori's band, Rickenbacher, is taking the stage to replace them. It's not hard to sense foul play. How is Rose going to handle being confronted with the (somewhat) known Iori Yagami's antics interrupting her own plans? (Winner: Rose)
If there is one lesson that has been learned backstage at the concert, it is this: Iori Yagami does not play the support act to ANYBODY. Least of all to 'fake-ass wannabe rockstar douchebag prettyboys'. Said prettyboys had taken offense to Iori's characterization of them, and now most of them are in the hospital. Let that be a lesson to you.
"And in a change to our scheduled act..." Comes a crackly voice over the PA system, "Due to, uh, technical difficulties, Thundersex will be replaced by... RICKENBACHER."
The announcement sends ripples of disappointment through the crowd as voices either outright protest the sudden change in lineup, or murmur against it. A few people - most likely hardcore Rickenbacher fans - shout and woop in support. The really hardcore ones start fights with the people around them booing.
The house lights die. Blackness descends over the arena. There's more shouts - is this MORE technical difficulties? There aren't even lasers, and the evening has had a lot of lasers! And then... then the show begins.
A thick, heavy, angry bass line thrums in the darkness, and strange purple light begins to illuminate a figure standing in the middle of the stage. Long red hair covers his features, and he stands with his legs far apart - tied together by the design of his pants. He's attacking his guitar, and the instrument wails in protest, transmitting his fury, his hatred, out through the strings to the growing confusion of the crowd. Thundersex uses bass for a sludgy, flowing, dark sound... this? This is the very opposite. Brutal, but in the frantic, furious way of a man beating another man to death in a back alley, in the way that a beer bottle smashed across a person's face is brutal.
The purple flames lick up around him, and Iori's snarling visage is suddenly displayed leering over the entire crowd. The bass player is so rarely the centerpiece of the band, and yet here he is; defying the rule that says they are meant to stay in the background and provide support alone. His violet flames illuminate his bandmates; a drummer who begins to lay down a matching, discordant rhythm. An electric guitarist, whose screeching notes sound more like the wails of a desperate victim than anything else, and, finally, the singer... the young man's voice is a growling snarl, more animal than person.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up...
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP
SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUUUUUTUUUUUP
AND FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"
'Fuck You'
The new single by Rickenbacher. Surely a Worldwide Number One by the time this goes out.
The woman known only as "Rose" is a woman of many tastes and jet-setting elite circles. But taste finds no limitation, and the thick thudding bass line of Thundersex is as stimulating in its way as a concert at the Met or opera in Milan. They may say that rock is dying and that punk is dead, but this music retains its low and thrumming thrill. Especially live.
She had been in the front row wearing a black Thundersex shirt. She had purchased it four years ago shortly before confronting an agent of 'that man'. It is a memory in textile form, even if it does sit a little tightly. In the crowd, though, she really does not stick out all that much. Rose's rather outlandish hairstyle does not stack up much to mohawks, fauxhawks, and worse. Why, she doesn't even have a piercing outside of her ear.
But then the PA speaks... and Rose is among those who lose heart at this news. A Rickenbacher fan screams in her ear and Rose grimaces, a miniscule ripple of Soul Power resting on the inside of her ear to prevent that particular bit of hearing damage. Only Thundersex (or later, Ataxia) can be permitted to leave such marks.
Then the place goes dark. In a moment, Rose senses a certain presence of fury and outrage which makes her wonder for a fleet second - is HE - no, he can't be everywhere, Rose muses, and this feeling is a natural eruption, a thousand different shades - a flame, not the laser-like artificial glow of --
He erupts in purple flames. Rose's eyes gleam as Iori roars out his immortal lyrics and his howling outrage. It's a sonic assault. Rose narrows her eyes. Is this a mere happy accident? Or --
"Graaahh!" shouts a fan. "TAKE THIS MOM," he declares as he swings a fist at Rose's face.
Rose catches his wrist and twists him forwards into the barrier that keeps the crowd from rushing the stage in an orgiastic celebration of freedom, liberty, drugs and sex (like all good rock concerts threaten to). That chunk of barrier clatters over, and Rose's eyes cut down - aha, she thinks, the way he's laying resembles the Tower, reversed.
Rose steps forwards and climbs up on stage. (Someone bounces a beer bottle off her backside.) She approaches the origin of these purple lights and shouts out a daring and forceful interrogation.
It has no chance in the face of this brutal shredding of sound itself. Rose's lips quirk to the side and she tries again, reaching out with a faint ripple of Soul Power as she does, imperceptible to the naked eye. Words don't quite carry, but the intention - well, her intention is 'What have you done with Thundersex?!'
But these intentions must reach the target as well. And to Iori Yagami's mind, heart and soul, it may well read as 'get the fuck off the stage!!' And perhaps that is not entirely false.
Iori doesn't seem too interested in the fact that a woman is approaching him. In fact, there's no visible indication that he's even noticed! When Rose is standing right in front of the young man, she can feel first hand the roaring, coiled fury of the Yagami bloodline. Cursed power. As a connoisseur of such things, Rose may likely note the heady differences. Some forms of strength want to dominate the world, to crush other beneath their heel, to control and command, or even corrupt...
There is nothing of that in the Yagami's Flame. There is only the urge to destroy. Dark, sinister and violent - Iori's flames want nothing more than to burn down this arena and everyone in it... but they are kept under control by the young man's self-control. He refuses to give in to his urges, not because he is a good person, not because he can't see the /appeal/ in obliterating the worthless throng of ungrateful idiots engaged in the orgiastic frenzy before him...
He resists because he is Iori Goddamn Yagami, and he will not be a slave to his blood!
It isn't until Rose makes contact that he breaks out of the trancelike state. All at once, his head whips upwards, and his eyes meet hers. In an instant, she KNOWS that he knows what she just did. This bitch just touched his mind! His surprise draws a throaty chuckle from him.
The young man keeps playing, but there's less of a frenzied air to it now. The purple fire flickers away, replacede by stage lighting as he slouches forwards. His lips curl as his fingers work across the strings, and he makes a very obvious sign of looking the elegant woman up and down... finally, he takes a deep breath, and then he shouts - right there in front of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people...
"GROUPIES WAIT BACKSTAGE."
He snaps his attention up with darkling eyes. Iori Yagami looks at Rose and Rose looks back. She is bracing to repeat herself, the fringes of the scarf around her neck fluttering in the breeze of the room.
The purple fire vanishes and is replaced with a far more perilous flame - Delinquency.
'Groupies wait backstage,' he says in front of the crowd, in front of everyone. Warmth in Rose's eyes, if present before, vanishes. Her lips purse disapprovingly, and given that they already tend that way, this may be saying something. But then she makes herself smile, just a little.
And she raises one hand up in a big dramatic thumbs-up as she smiles wide enough to be seen as she steps towards Iori, or rather, past him, towards the back. For an instant he may think he has won this particular butting of heads, but nothing is ever that simple, because Rose's leg hooks to the side - and she whirls on her heel, reaching up to touch the toe of one shoe to that dangling strap between Iori's legs.
Not that strap. The actual linking one. Normally such a contact would, at worst, tear it or snap it loose from its intensely stylish fastenings. Rose's real aim is to send a ripple of Soul Power through it, and thus throughout Iori's entire pants/leg situation -- which would be delightfully tingly, but would also let her defy the laws of gravitation as well as morality to whip forwards, and then kick-launch HIM towards --
The drum kit, but that's on the WAY to backstage, isn't it?
COMBATSYS: Rose has started a fight here.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Iori has joined the fight here.
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Iori 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rose
COMBATSYS: Iori blocks Rose's Medium Throw.
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Iori 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rose
Iori doesn't have a whole lot of training - what he does have, is instinct. When Rose's Soul Power starts to tingle through his painfully fashionable bondage pants, the Yagami Flames roar in response. He plants his feet firmly into the ground, and refuses to let himself be lifted up. The strain does, however, rip the strip of connective cloth right out of the legs of his pants, and Iori stumbles back a pace.
Instantly, the music stops.
Iori's bandmates know him well enough to know That Look coming over the young man's eyes. He LIKED these pants. These were GOOD PANTS. "That was a dumbass thing to do." He growls, and then? Then Iori is hurling himself right at Rose!
The teenager's bass guitar flies wildly about him, held on by his strap, as he just tears towards her as fast as he can. His aim is pretty simple: He's going to grab Rose by the shoulders and take her bodily THROUGH the barrier between the stage and the crowd. If he can manage that, he'll just start laying into her, sat on top of her with his legs straddling her waist whilst his clawlike grip tears at her upper body.
This will give the crowd the opportunity to get nice and close to Rickenbacher's core attraction! ... Whilst the rest of Rickenbacker will take this opportunity to get the hell out of dodge. They managed to play half a song at a gig in public before Iori totally lost his shit, that's, actually not the worst gig they've ever played! But they know better than to stick around from here on out.
COMBATSYS: Rose dodges Iori's Combo Grapple.
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Iori 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Rose
"As compared to what," Rose answers Iori even as she tosses that strip of fashioncloth in the air. It floats, twinkling with Soul Power. She can't make a faster witticism because he's coming right for her!!
Rose dives to the side when Iori lunges towards her, even as the rest of his band decamps for a situation where they're less likely to get struck by thrown Yagamis or miscellaneous sparkling soul sparks.
The scarf around Rose's neck slithers down her arm like a living thing as she twists about post-evasion, not eager it seems to let Iori just dive outwards and possibly rip those horrible claw-like fingers and those strange, corrupt-seeming flames into a helpless crowd. Her scarf whips forwards to try to grasp around his ankle and twist him back to a landing on stage.
"What have you done with Thundersex!" she demands as this goes on - "Have you hurt them!?"
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Iori with Aura Scarf.
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Iori 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Rose
This time, Rose's attempt to grab Iori is more successful - possibly because he wasn't expecting a scarf to be a real concern. The painful way he bounces off the stage upon being returned to it soon disabuses him of that notion. Clambering back up to his feet, the young man raises his hand to his head and chuckles, "Who're you? Their mom?" He mocks, "You want answers? Okay."
Low to the ground as he dashes forward, this time, Iori doesn't try to just grab Rose - he attempts to ram his fingers into her sides. If successful, he'll lean in nice and close, his smile now completely gone, she can get a good look into his pissed-off eyes instead. "Fuck you."
If he's got his fingers inside Rose, he'll suddenly whip around, and fling her back the full length of the stage, where she'll collide heavily with that drumset. Iori is PISSED, not just because of the fact that his pants are ruined, not just because that trick with the scarf actually hurt him, but also because his band have abandoned him, and the set is over.
He'd actually been having a good time before she turned up to ruin everything! Why can't the world just give him ONE good day, huh? ONE good day! Is that so much to ask for?!
COMBATSYS: Rose fails to deflect Saka Sakahagi from Iori with Soul Reflect.
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Iori 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Rose
See what thanks you get for protecting someone from a stage dive. Straightening back up, Rose draws her scarf in to herself again, scoffing as she does. "You're running low on rude things to say about women," she replies, but then Iori promises an answer.
And he doesn't give one! Oh, Yagami - how could you give your erstwhile fighting opponent who busted up your set and the debut of your new single the ol' Spicy Counterassault? Rose's scarf whirls around herself in a manner most resembling an improvised belt, which spares her from having Iori's fingers sink deep into her flesh and give her an impromptu Mikadectomy --
But that doesn't mean he doesn't sink in deep, pushing his way past the rippling of Soul Power Rose pulsated through the fabric on pure reflex. Perhaps it's the power of his flames - perhaps it was the sheer soul-shattering realness of his remark. Either way, Rose gasps out, curling backwards like a shocked lobster.
And from there, she smashes out into the drum kit, puncturing the big one like an overenthusiastic Keith Moon, the cymbals falling with a smashing clatter. The crowd may or may not be enjoying this.
(At this point, the Soul Power in that sweet leg-strap fades and it starts falling out of the air. Can you get it in time, Iori?!)
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT WOMEN, YOU STUPID BIMBO!" Iori roars, not... really helping the overall thrust of his argument with his choice in words, admittedly. That purple fire is back, and in full force. The brilliant flames coil about his limbs as he stands opposite the woman, glaring at her. She's clattering amongst the drumkit, and the crowd is rapidly turning into one even more violent than the usual fight club circuit - drink and hard rock have been flowing freely all night. Now they'll eat each other.
Iori's eyes alight on the strap as it flutters down towards the ground. How it stayed up there so long is beyond him, but it is now between himself and Rose. The redhead's teeth grit, and the cursed flames surge in response to his anger. There is nothing - nothing - in the world he'd like to do more than eviscerate Rose right now... well, maybe eviscerate Kyo, but Kyo isn't here, and Rose?
"HRAGAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
That cogent and coherent response given, Iori's arm whips around, and all the purple fire he had been gathering surges out across the ground in a brilliant wave. The energy burns the strap to nothingness, destroying any hope of repairing his favorite pants, and carrying on with the full intent to incinerate his opponent too.
COMBATSYS: Rose reflects Yami Barai from Iori with Soul Reflect.
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Iori 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Rose
See? SEE?
Rose is getting back up despite being speared into the drum kit. She has enough presence of mind to pull herself out of it rather than wearing it like an absurd hula hoop. She looks strained, and to herself she's marvelling at just how STRONG this delinquent wanna-be rocker is. She might have expected a lucky blow, but this seems to be on an entirely different level.
Perhaps he's related to that man she met on top of that building, she muses in an instant, before she hears that unearthly scream - and stops woolgathering. Hoisting herself upright, Rose's scarf twirls --
LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY
"What's that on the television?"
The older Romany man looks at the precocious four year old with her too-wise eyes. Then back at the screen.
"It's a video game. I bought it from one of the Americans over near Venice."
"A video game? How do you play the game?"
"Well," the old man says, "I'm not so good. But you move the paddle and you bounce the ball, you see? You bounce it at the bricks. They break, and it bounces back."
Rose watches intently.
"Can I try it?" she asks, a half-minute or so later.
HERE AGAIN
And that low rippling of flame erupting across the ground smashes through wood and wires, sending sparks flying. Rose sinks to a knee, despite the risk to her distressed denim fashionplate jeans, and twists the scarf around - the corrupt flames seem to sizzle against the auroral colors of her yellow length of cloth, and when they return, they are also purple. But it's a different hue, a singular color rather than fifty subtle shades.
"No," Rose says, rising to her feet. "This is about Thundersex. And I will have my satisfaction of you - Iori Yagami!"
COMBATSYS: Iori dodges Rose's Reflected Yami Barai.
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Iori 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Rose
"SHUT UP!"
Iori is already running forwards when the fire is bounced back at him, but you know - he'd be the worst Pong player in the world. Rather than engage in the game any further, he vaults over it, and as he does, he brings his heel swinging around overhead.
What this is 'about' any more doesn't even really matter, does it? Iori isn't getting his pants back, Rose isn't getting her band back. The whole damn fight is pointless. Really, it was pointless the moment Rose got up on the stage. Maybe it was pointless for Iori to beat the hell out of Thundersex. Maybe life is pointless. Probably, actually.
But these dark thoughts don't swallow Iori completely, because *right now*, in this moment, he is aiming to plant his heel directly into the top of Rose's skull and - again - smash her into the drumkit he has already started to destroy using her. All of this might be utterly, completely pointless...
But whatever. Maybe it'll feel good to beat up on her some more.
"HRAAARGH!!"
COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Iori's Fierce Kick.
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Iori 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Rose
Rose would - were she asked - speak perhaps on how life, even in its disappointments, are a series of pleasures. Battle can be one, as can loud music and cheap beer; but even this moment may lead to a spark of real publicity. His music was controversial enough to start a battle! RAVEL was the last one to get that kind of -
Etc. etc. she doesn't have time right now. Iori is antagonistic to editorialization. Or anything. Staggering back into the wreckage of the drum kit in advance of Iori's brutal kick, she twists up the nearest thing to hand in an effort to parry that enraged kit.
It is a cymbal stack. There's a huge CLASH - one of them flies loose, slicing into Rose's hand and temporarily deafening her - another one dangling loose from the stand as Rose finds her meaty calves bumping against the drummer's stool.
At this point she swings the remaining cymbal and its strut around to try and blindside Iori and knock him down. She needs space, room to breathe and focus! Without getting ripped up into store-brand dogfood by Iori, of course.
COMBATSYS: Iori dodges Rose's Light Random Weapon.
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Iori 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Rose
The cymbal comes around, and Iori goes underneath it. The young man ducks down until he's almost flat against the ground - really, it is an impressive display of reflexes, fighting talent, and aggressive desire, because this isn't so much about evading the damage of the cymbal (although, that is definitely a positive side to it) - it is far more about placing himself in perfect position.
Iori's hand comes tearing up, and those sharp fingers aim to rip right along Rose's midsection, taking from her hip up to her shoulder. If it connects clean, she'll be able to see how dangerous the Yagami Fighting Arts have made his hands - he couldn't have done better if he'd strapped razorblades to his fingers - but more worrying is the fact that he's just... staying in her guard, keeping the pressure on and determined to beat her into the ground. What he is not, is one of its more witty members.
"RRRRGHHHHHHHHHH! DIE ALREADY!"
See?
COMBATSYS: Iori successfully hits Rose with Aggressive Strike.
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Iori 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Rose
Rose leans back as the Yagami Strike raises upwards, together with Iori's demonstration of a dangerously real punk-rock fury. As she does she leans to the left, which means his lethally sharp fingertips hit her just over the hip, scraping a huge bloody gash up along her waist and up over her ribcage - though it tapers quickly, it's definitely wrecking her vintage shirt, which splits significantly, one of the ragged edges sticking in her own blood.
Well, that's no good.
By now, she reasons, Rickenbacker the band must have cleared away from their dreadfully brutal bass player. They're probably halfway to the next country if they have any wit. So:
Rose twists upwards again, and now she pivots impossibly quickly in the air. A droplet of blood lands down right on Iori's face as she reaches a fully vaulting position, perpendicular and then then fully vertical, a 180 degree angle between her body and his.
Rose's hands glow - and if Iori is not quick or vicious enough they bracket, as she defies gravity for a fleeting second. If he ain't: A surge of that synaesthetic light, along with a clear intention -- 'Where does this fury come from? If your bass was as strong as your fury--'
Followed by a burst of light and an effort to whip him towards the stage entrance, and into the close warrens of the venue's backstage! Hopefully this will not just mean he can eat Thundersex to regain his strength.
COMBATSYS: Iori blocks Rose's Soul Drain.
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Iori 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Rose
Iori sneers as Rose bleeds on him. That actually feels good. The aerial acrobatics that she displays are - objectively speaking - very impressive. But to Iori's fury-tainted gaze, it is all just pointless. POINTLESS. A fact which he displays most clearly when the light bursts, and--
A thrumming bass chord of incredible fury rips out, and when the flash of light clears, Iori is standing tall, back arched sickly and hair pointed straight up towards the ceiling. Once more that heavy music starts to flow, Iori's fingers working to drive his guitar into a pounding, soul-searing bassline, one which thrums in the pit of the stomach, reverberating in the heart.
Violet, iridescent flames roar up about Iori as he plays, staring up at the ceiling. The crowd really is going wild now - between Rose's amazing acrobatic display, and the sudden return to hardcore heavy bass, they are getting more than they could ever have dreamed of.
"YOU WANT TO KNOW." Iori bellows, and his VOICE alone somehow cuts across the noise of the crowd, mixing with the sound of the guitar, and a deeper, terrifying crackle - the noise of fire, the sound of an inferno pulled out of his very being... the unmistakable touch, of hell. "YOU WANT TO KNOW!" He repeats, "WHERE MY FURY COMES FROM?!"
And he takes a deep breath, making sure he's really got the lungful he needs to exclaim the next part with the clarity it deserves.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"
COMBATSYS: Iori gathers his will.
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Iori 1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Rose
He's gotten his bass again. Rose's eyes widen. Is she undone!?
The music is robust. Thick and juicy. Delicious, almost. Rose's lip curls up as she puts a hand on her hip after landing, tilting her head back and pursing her lips. It DOES reverbate through the body - that elusive quality of loud music, live, that subsonic stimulation which even the finest playback can only approximate, no matter how many $10,000 audio cables you purchase.
Rose sucks in a breath. Aching and bleeding as she is, she gives Iori the respect of both an upright, prepared opponent, and not interfering in his explanation. In pouring out his passion. And then -
Oh wait, no, there it is again. Rose's lips thin to a red slash over her face (which Iori might well wish he'd put there) as she takes several deep breaths as well, before she raises her own voice, extending her free arm to point towards him with accusation.
"No," she says.
Her eyes widen.
There is only one way to communicate with a man of this nature. You must speak to him on his own level. Rose speaks with less trailing vowels but similar, resounding volume, her words practically visible as they leave her mouth. The glittering purity of Soul Power rises up along her scarf like the visible crackle of a tesla sphere in a science museum as she speaks:
"FUCK - /YOU/."
It's how they say 'hello' in Metro City, after all. And even the mystically serene have their limits.
COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.
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Iori 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Rose
The music keeps flowing, and when Rose says that to HIM, Iori's anger just surges to a whole new level. That was a cool thing to do. But this woman is mentally pegged in the 'uptight bitch' box. How DARE she be cool? She's not ALLOWED to be cool! And anyway, how dare she tell HIM to get fucked?!
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The fire raises higher, practically a bonfire of searing purple which illuminates the stage, standing in stark contrast to the woman as her power crackles before the terrible cursed flame of the Yagami bloodline.
Feedback starts to surge in the speakers, crackling terribly, and then the sound system blows out, but Iori is still hammering at his bass, and the painfully dark power surges with the renewed vigor of BRUTAL METAL. Iori lifts one leg, and slams it into the stage, eyes meeting Rose's as he plants himself firmly into the ground and lets the beast inside off the leash, not all the way, just enough to cause the flickering fire to surge...
Lights burst above them, and the crowd is plunged into eerie half-light, terrified, excited faces looking on in wonderment. It looks, for just a moment, as though the falling glass from the blown out lighting are shimmering scales - an echo of a monstrous serpent born from destruction, mirrored in the power of the damned soul.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH /YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!/"
COMBATSYS: Iori gathers his will.
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Iori 1/---====/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Rose
Rose's eyes glow in that bonfire's echo. It is not the first time that Rose has reflected violet light, nor will it be the last. Her lip curls up in a look of disgust and disdain that would probably not seem out of place in a photoshoot for one's band.
That shimmering light, clean and faint compared to the brutal flames erupting off Iori, keeps shining. As glass falls, the image crosses Rose's eyes and seems to sit there, but what does it mean? She can't say, but this image of the Tower seems all the more and more valid, all the more real. A destruction, a collapse - but ill-favored.
The crowd's screaming now - with delight - but can they scream with pain? With horror? Quite possibly. And yet, this man has called her a groupie, a bimbo, and probably two or three other things which Rose could not comprehend.
Her eyes narrow. "You've got a lot of balls, Yagami - but all of this flashiness is going to wear you out before I get the truth out of you. FOR THUNDERSEX!" Rose shouts, and boy won't that be regrettable on the video--
She snaps the scarf outwards towards one of Iori's provocatively upheld wrists. It would swirl around that member and the neck of the bass. The resulting electrifying arc of Soul Power, pure and distilled, would of course be stingingly incomprehensible to the young man, save perhaps as a synesthetic overload and a powerful desire to go flying away from Rose and/or explode -- it would, at least, put a truly majestic singular chord through the bass.
The instrument itself will escape harm. Vicious violence for your favored band is one thing. Mistreating an expensive musical instrument? That's beyond the pale.
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Iori with Illusion Spark.
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Iori 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|>>>----\-------\0 Rose
Iori doesn't need to understand what the power he's fighting is - understanding shit like that is, in his opinion, grossly overrated. The only thing he needs to understand is that Rose's scarf is a deadly weapon of mass destruction, and it is now his mission in life to hang her from the rafters using it.
The material coils about his wrist, and his attempt to pull back and yank her towards him fails - mostly because the next thing he knows, he is bouncing across the stage, vision alight with sparks. He actually goes down for a second. He can't remember the last time that he was hit that hard. When he gets back up to his feet, though, he isn't seeing sparks any more.
He's seeing nothing but red.
The unearthly howl that tears from Iori's throat is unlike the previous shouts. Those were human. This? This is a demon. He tears the bass guitar from his back, and hurls it into the crowd. Some poor soul will be getting a concussion from that; someone else, when the melee that erupts around it has died down, will be getting the ultimate trophy. Iori, though? Iori is hunched forwards, and shrieking.
"UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUGH!"
He throws his hand towards Rose, and a second bloom of that bright purple fire shoots across the ground towards her. She might be forgiven for believing that this is the attack in its entirety. Unfortunately, she would be incorrect in that assessment.
Because Iori seems almost to blur as he streaks past the flung fireball, and aims to grab Rose by the throat. The teenager has been consistently brutal, but this is the first time his moves might ACTUALLY be lethal rather than just horribly painful, as he aims to slam his forehead into her nose, and then hurl her into the onrushing flames he just passed.
If that is successful, the resultant explosion will lift her into the air, where he SLASHES across with both arms, claws tearing into her back... and a giant cross of roaring purple flame finishes off the maneuver.
COMBATSYS: Rose deflects Yami Sugi from Iori with Soul Reflect.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ < > ///////////////// ]
Iori 1/----<<</<<<<<<<|=======\-------\0 Rose
That rich yellow cashmere is not for hanging. It is, itself, hung - no, never mind -
She snaps it back as Iori is blown across the stage, eyes slim and dark as she steps forwards. Her heels click loudly on the wrecked stage as she composes what she will ask next-- ah, but Iori isn't down yet, is he?
What marvelous tenacity, she thinks, but then Rose is moving to defend, perhaps, her very life rather than the simple possibility of bruises or broken bones. That flame ripples towards her but she can see the tower falling behind it. She pivots around it, Iori smashing forwards and actually grabbing her by the throat.
And this is where things go wrong. Iori may sense that he's not grasping the succulent and tender skin of a woman who may be in the mother-oid range, age-wise, but is instead touching something he's felt before - rich cashmere. Thickly wrapped, coiled into a triple layer in front of her neck. Rose smiles for a moment, a tight, pained, but sly smile.
"Reflect!" she declares -- for sometimes the brick comes down to you, and bouncing the ball against it is simple.
The three layers of cloth compact underneath Iori's hand. There is a glittering like a star being born right over Rose's throat. It casts a sharp shadow and stinging echo in the crowd's eyes --
There is no noise to the burst, but it is as if Iori had just decided to grasp a live grenade in his hand. (AND MAYBE HE WOULD.) Naturally enough it goes off. The corrupted flame is strong enough to prevent the eruption of Soul Power from rupturing skin, but the whiplash sends him flying directly towards a stack of amps, Rose's scarf expanding outwards like a leaf spring before it twirls around her shoulders and Rose herself, who had been floating about two inches from the ground, gently lands on her feet.
"Powerful... but I think you could do with more rehearsal."
Once again, Iori doesn't really know what is happening - then again, right now, Iori isn't really at home at all. Rose can probably sense that, what with her mystical emotion sensing powers. There's no PERSON in there to talk to - there's just anger and hatred, which is why, when he feels scarf under his fingers, he doesn't try to pull back - he just tries to keep on beating her into paste.
This is going to be a consistent theme over the next few seconds.
Iori hits the amps crouched, you see, and even as Rose is giving her witty rejoinder, Iori has a pithy comment of his own.
"Ooooooooooooooooooh... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAGRGH!"
And then he's exploding through the air all over again. Driven by berserk fury, Iori aims to crash right into Rose. If she gets out of the way or deflects him, well, he won't be getting up again - but if she doesn't, and she winds up with Iori on top of her...
Well that's a position no woman wants to be in.
COMBATSYS: Iori can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Iori's Ya Otome.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Rose 1/-----==/=======|
That rage, Rose thinks as Iori rears back up yet again.
It really is a bit like 'that man's'. Pursing her lips, though, she shuts up - and finally! Iori gets what he wants, though he may not like how he had to get it.
He's on his feet and lunging forwards with only blood and turmoil in his mind. A squirt of guilt fills Rose; is this not, in a sense, her fault? But at the same time, she reasons as Iori closes the gap, she cannot be held accountable for his decision to murder or otherwise detain Thundersex to steal their slot. Such decisions rest in the heart of young men... and are none of her affair.
Except when they are.
Iori closes with Rose, whose scarf cannot save her. She is forced to throw up her hands - to catch his hands by the wrists, even if the raw bloody force behind them drives her to one knee and a reflexive swinging of the head gives her a bloody nose. Before she can gather her Soul Power to issue a punishing counterstrike of some sort, though, she shoves him to the side -
And perhaps in the end it isn't necessary. Rising up to her feet, Rose pants for breath, reaching up to dab at the blood welling from her nose and grimacing as she does.
Log created on 16:02:43 03/21/2015 by Rose, and last modified on 23:34:05 03/24/2015.