Match of the Millennium

Description: Kiyomi is out for revenge against human kind, but another darkstalker won't have any of that and so the two face off in a standoff of epicness. Meanwhile a certain red witch is a totally innocent bystander and needs to be rescued.

[KIYOMI]
It was this time of the year again ~ this time of the year where all the mockery about their kin was laid out everywhere. Many towns and cities were celebrating this moment, exposing various images of werewolves, vampires and other supernatural creatures, feeding the fear of those 'monsters'.

A district of Southtown in its nothern outskirt had decided to hold an open event. From sunset until the big climax at midnight. Food stands offering various local delicacy, music and other traditional games going on. Some people came around disguised as monster, going about in public with their costumes.

A perfect moment for monstruous Darkstalkers to blend in, one might think... But this masquerade was not meant to last. Through the loud music and noises from the crowd on and about in the streets, screams and screeches could be heard as a wave of panic gets a hold of the crowd who attempts to flee from a menace that remains unseen for now but draws closer and closer...

In the chaos, some food stances are knocked over and people shoved and trampled by others in an attempt to run from a horde of man-beasts of all sort, predator who strives to quenches their bloodlust.

[NAEROSE]
One such person in the mix is dressed as a witch, in red. She's really got the full outfit going too. She's got the hat, the dress, well, a red dress, but it has long billowing sleeves that aren't actually attached. It looks like a costume, but it's fairly well made, not the cheap stitching and fake fabric you might expect to see in a Halloween USA dress or whatever similar place is around here. She even has a broom stick, an old timey brook with the whicker or something brush tied on with string or leather. The only real out of place thing she has is circular shades, very modern, very hip (or so she might think).

When people start fleeing she looks confused, having been standing at a food stand with a lovely bit of meat on a stick just in time to look over and get totally stepped on by someone. Then someone else. Then someone else else.

"Owww," she complains and picks herself up, dusts herself off, recovers her meat stick with a fresh foot print on it and eats it anyway. The vendor at her stand looks at the mess of his product with dismay, but the witch dressed woman just smiles.

"Aw man, bad luck," she tells him, then offers, "I can pick it up for you." And he's all grateful and until he notices that for every bit she helps him gather she eats twice as much more.

Oh well, probably couldn't have sold it anyway.

"So what are you dressed as a witch this year?" He asks, trying to make small talk,

"Huh? No way. I totally /am/ a witch. Like a real witch, I can fly and everything."

"Sure kid," he replies, still sore over his wasted product.

[VELVET BLUE]
To be honest, Velvet Blue liked Halloween. Always had, since they were a kid. After their trip to the Makai, most of the fairy stories and horror tales had ceased to amuse him, at least for a while after. Some still held nostalgic value, and he'd grown to love some of it again. It had reminded him of when the monsters were just pictures in a book, a time before adulthood and the disappointment and sad realizations that came with it. Honestly, these days he was more wary of some humans, though it had little to do with being a Darkstalker now.

As Japan is one of Velvet's main haunts (no pun intended) when there are screams heard and some kind of violence, the first thought is something like maybe a gangwar with the yakuza--or even a truck attack, something like that. The action still attracts Velvet Blue, who is quite surprised nonetheless with what they find there.

People are running terrified, and there are monsters in the streets--this time of the much more literal variety. Velvet Blue stands high on one of the nearby buildings, cast in shadow.

[KIYOMI]
Half the crowd was trying to run away from some unknown threat while the other seemed caught in confused dismay. At least until this menace was finally in sight and it was too late for them to react and hide to safety. Werewolves lunging at the running and screaming humans, fangs and claws out to tear them to shreds, the horde of beasts spreading through the smaller streets and going out to hunt their own prey.

In the middle of those rampaging beast stands a woman of pale complexion, clad in a traditional kimono, dark raven hair bound behind her head. "Kill them all, make them pay for this mockery ~! May their suffering causes some relief to the one of our fallen comrades!" Kiyomi shouts out loud, obviously to the beasts. Standing amongst them she was obviously contrasting quite a lot, and mostly there was far more than meets the eyes about this woman.

By the time the pack draws near to Naerose's food stand, the various beasts had already spotted their own prey, chasing after the humans that offered them a rush of adrenaline, more or less rushing pass her in favor of their current prey. A cursory glance at her surrounding though would reveal injuried men and woman moaning in pain. The sight was more than enough to make Kiyomi's lips curl into a sadistic grin, walking down the street and looking for the humans who were still alive to put them out of their misery...

It doesn't take long for Naerose to get caught up by one of those beast though... A hulking and towering Werewolf slowly approaching her from behind, drooling over her hat and growling softly as if to try and make her realize his presence. After all, where was the fun in trying to kill a prey who wasn't aware of your presence? He wanted to be able to feast on her fear.

[NAEROSE]
At some point the vendor that was at the meat stand flees. Naerose, however, does not. She doesn't even seem to notice the danger at all, rather once the man is gone she's like nomnomnom. She's gathering and gobbling the meat as fast as she possibly can. Her mouth is just full of meat and it's only when drops of drool start to fall over her hat and in fact dribble over the front does she notices anything is amiss at all. She looks up, around, some gets on her shades. Eew. She sees the wolf.

"Huh?" She asks, then looks at the meat in her arms then at the wolf. "Look wolfy, or is that wulf. I never could get them straight." She frowns in consideration then says, "I totally saw this first and it's mine, there are like way more others you could be claiming for yourself-." She hesitates and frowns. Like it just occurred to her that there are way more other stands /she/ could be claiming for /herself/. Also she's mostly eaten everything here already.

"On second thought, you can totally have this one." She says, trying to keep what's in her arms and scramble to the next confection stand over. Probably this is the part where she gets mauled for her impudence, but if the wulf? was expecting something more organic in the terror department, Nae disappointed bigly.

[VELVET BLUE]
Blood and teeth rend skin and bone--the carnage evident almost immediately. Dark red smears scatter the concrete, though not visible in the light of the evening to most. The werewolves surrounding the lady in the kimono soon have a new problem than just the humans that scatter before them like bugs.

Invisible to the naked eye at first, the figure is perhaps heard before seen--a clicking of boot heels heralds the appearance of Velvet Blue, their yellow cat-like eyes and the ivory slash of their grin appearing before the rest of them. From behind the strange figure's back comes a glint of silver--a long straight bladed oriental knife flickers through the air in front of them, trying to drive one of the werewolves back in an ambush!

The rest of the figure bleeds into view after the first strike--long conical bat ears, a long spaded blue tail--it's definitely another darkstalker, one clad in a dark lycra undersuit, red sleeveless qipao and long dark purple boots.

They say nothing at first except sneer and glower at the rest of the werewolves, growling in return to them!

"They are not for you, begone!"

[KIYOMI]
As Naerose turns around to face the Werewolf, the beast's lips turn upright even more so to expose his wicked fangs, as if he was growing excited at the thought of finally getting to feast on her feat. Alas, he's bitterly disappointed... Worse, he's even enraged by the way he casually talks at her like this. Enough of this : the Werewolf growls in frustration, a loud howl to the moon, claws lashed out and he lunges at Naerose!

Yet at the same time the Witch attempts to sneak past him, slipping out of his grasp, leaving his claws to shred and rip through the food stand that stood behind Naerose, shattering it, causing sauce to spill and fly all over, staining his fur. He snarls and turns swiftly on his heels to face her, only causing him to get entangled momentarily in the cloth sheets that used to be the top of the food stand.

None of the beasts had expected to meet any sort of resistance and the sudden appearance of Velvet Blue caught them off guard, the small group staggering back to avoid the swift slash of his weapon. They growl and snarl at him threateningly, driven back by his presence.

The little commotion was enough to draw Kiyomi's attention. The woman turning to face the person who dares to stand in their way. A stern and cold gaze set upon the man in dark lycra, her eyes narrowing slightly as she assesses him. Then finally, a soft chuckle escapes her throat as she gestures for the beast of her pack to back down, "There's plenty of spoils for all of us ~" She says. The woman's demeanor was enough to cause the werewolves around her to slowly back away to leave her to handle this particular problem.

[NAEROSE]
Woah woah woah. Even Naerose couldn't possibly miss being attacked like that. She only just escapes and she is gawking at the wolf as it destroys the food stand. Unforgivable. She quickly swallows the meat in her mouth and draws up her broom and her hand, holding it out and she begins a chant, which .. frankly.. is probably excessive.

"Oh, source of all power,

Light which burns blindingly bright,

Let thy power gather in my hand and erase my enemies. . !

-End Creation!"

She bellows what is far too dramatic and with her hand pointed she utterly obliterates the food stand and all of the meat and and.. . Kiyomi has already recalled all of her wolves, the werewolf isn't there when the force of the power erases the poor food stand and the remaining food from existance. Naerose's jaw just hangs opened.

[VELVET BLUE]
"I can't let you just kill humans--even if we are Darkstalkers--we don't get to make that choice," Velvet Blue holds the long knife, a wakizashi--high in a defensive stance, out in front of him, the blade pointed downward. The white lacquered handle and case of it is plain to see.

"Why did you come here? just to go on a rampage?" he seems to be looking past the wolves to the chuckling voice of the woman in the kimono. He briefly is distracted by the destruction of the food stand that Naerose was trying to get food from nearby--and is momentarily pushed back by the light of the light she summoned, and the food stand's destruction.

"What is the meaning of this, speak!"

[KIYOMI]
Kiyomi remains remaind stalwart in front of the other Darkstalkers, listening to his claim in silence, only briefly distracted by the sudden burst of light that causes her to wince and lift one of her arm up to shield her eyes. She glances away from the Darkstalker off to the stand to see just what happened, to realize some force had caused everything in that small vicinity to disappear.

"You would sacrifice your life to try and defend those who fear and oppress you?" The woman finally asks, turning her attention to him, "For you to have such words to come out of your throat so earnestly surely you have never lived in fear of humans, never been chased down, hunted down by them..." Kiyomi replies. Her hand slowly moves to reach the handle of her sword, shifting slightly in her stance, ready to draw her weapon. Things might have been different, but the little squeal she heard moment before that burst of light makes her think there's more than just this Darkstalker as a potential threat.

"You know nothing. Humans will never stop until the very last one of us, of monsters like us have been slain, and you are no different to them as we are." She lifts her nose slightly and then adds, "Stand aside, or be foolish enough to fight for your misguided conviction,"

[NAEROSE]
Though to be fair there is a hole in the ground, it was really more like blowing it to smithereens. Nothings on fire though so.. .. So no one really cares about the practical specifics of how Naerose did it. She doesn't even care. She's aware of two things. One, there was once food and now there's not and it's all her fault and two, nothing is drooling on her anymore.

The Red Witch scrambles to find a hiding spot amongst the stands still ah, standing. She peers over to watch the action, but doesn't get involved. Instead she slowly munches on something, confident in her ability to get away or defend herself, or too stupid to know when she's in real danger.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Probably, but it still doesn't mean I like what you're doing," Velvet Blue then begins to actively try and drive the Werewolves (and Kiyomi) back by slashing at them with his long knife--also raising an arm to fire a small flurry of prismatic, multi-colored chi-based projectiles at them--trying to ward them off rather than hurt or kill them--not that they're harmless.

"What's with this genocidal attitude, anyway--there are a lot more humans than us, if you get all of them after us they'll be nowhere for us to hide!" he tries to reason with Kiyomi, trying to also get past Naerose who is not trying to get in the way, actively--but less trying not to let them get in the way of his attacks.

"Do you have a deathwish, or something?!"

[KIYOMI]
The chi projectiles were enough to make the werewolves close to Kiyomi to stagger back some more. They retaliate by growling menacingly at him, showing their fangs at him but they do not yield to their obvious urge to fight as if Kiyomi's presence was enough to keep them on a tight leash. The woman also takes a step back to ward herself off those projectiles, even though they obviously weren't meant straight at them.

One of the werewolf snarls at Kiyomi, snapping his jaw at her, which the woman replies with a grunt and a glare, enough to stare him down and cause him to back away. The beasts seem to listen to some unheard command, turning away and dashing away from the scene, wandering off in smaller streets as if they were disbanded... Or wo knows, going out to hunt other humans while leaving Kiyomi to her own fate with this other Darkstalker. Or perhaps Velvet Blue's projectiles had been enough to dissuade and scare them off.

Her lips curl into a smirk as she turns her attention back to Velvet Blue, "There will always be more of them if we do not retaliate and fight back. The days of idealistic and peaceful solutions is long gone, all attempts ended up utter failure and even more massacre of our kin." Kiyomi shakes her head slowly and says, "Perhaps this will hasten our demise, but if there's a glimpse of hope for our salvation, I will gladly sacrifice everything for it,"

Kiyomi draws her blade, lifting it up and pointing it in the Darkstalker's direction, "If you believe otherwise, you comfort yourself in your own delusions. Darkstalkers and humans cannot coexist in this world, that I know for a fact.."

[NAEROSE]
For her part, Naerose is keeping down for the time. Coul anyone figure out where she is? Yes, you can see her hat sticking above the counter of the booth she is in when she ducks down, but she's clearly not interested in getting involved. The food she found? Delicious.%

[VELVET BLUE]
"I disagree--anything is possible, but the violence in other places like Metro City has turned humans against us, yes, that is true," Velvet relaxes a bit as the werewolves leave, but there is still the woman with the sword, which he watches warily. His long knife is still held in front of him, again, pointed downward in more of a stabbing grip.

"...Maybe we shouldn't? Or maybe we can, but this isn't the answer--I can't abide by senseless slaughter," he sighs, seeming sullen.

"I mean, look at that one, she's happy," Velvet points over to Naerose, who seemed to be more interested in food than the chaos going on.

[KIYOMI]
Hearing his speech causes Kiyomi to chuckle. A laughter that seems to last slightly too long for some reason, ending up in a sigh. She shakes her head slowly, "You are free to live in your delusions ~ one day, you will realize how foolish you were, to believe this could work out. When you will realize how we are ostracized by them, how we have to live in the shadow because of them.." Kiyomi sheathes her blade slowly back.

"Had you seen all the misery they have brought upon us, you would not think like this. We would not be the first species to be driven to extinction by humans, the only difference is that we are able to fight back, and have the will to take our destiny into our own hands.." The woman turns on her heels, her eyes darting off toward Naerose who is hiding in her stack of food. There was only revulsion and disgust on Kiyomi's features as she considers her. "I do not wish to fight one of my own... But if you stand with them, you are no better than an traitor to your kin," Kiyomi says with a snort.

"Think about it ~ are they really worth it? In the end, they will do you -- and us, more harm than good..." Velvet Blue's stand seems to have been enough to push off Kiyomi as she turns on her heels and seems about to return from where she came.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Humans bring misery on us as they do eachother, that's not new," Velvet Blue shakes his head. "With all this power, it doesn't give us the right to decide who lives or dies, either way--nothing does, and I've been a stranger to others long before I was a Darkstalker. I will continue to be, likely 'till I'm shuffled into my box," Velvet Blue is still not amused with Kiyomi, apparently, not sheathing his weapon even after the kimono-clad woman puts hers away.

"What if it's not /them/, or /us/, that's the problem? Maybe it's just /you/," Velvet stares coldly at Kiyomi.

[KIYOMI]
With those last words directed at Kiyomi, the cold and stern woman doesn't reply to Velvet Blue or bother look back at him as she strides away. Perhaps his words had been enough to force some reason into the woman and her pack, but soon her silhouette becomes blurry and seems to vanish into thin air, probably an optical illusion of some sort where she ended up turning a corner or losing herself in the shadow.

The least that can be said is that Velvet Blue's intervention will have spared the lives of more than a dozens humans this night.

[NAEROSE]
Still in her stall, Naerose watched everything, saw everything, heard everything. There isn't much indication that she understood anything though. She looks utterly clueless like holy cow she seems blank faced and kind of dumb. She's munching on something that used to be a sort of pastry but got stepped on, like she was watching theatre. When the scary woman leaves she tells the one still there, the fellow,

"Hey, you're like a hero." She's awestruct in watching him and for all the way she's acting you might think she was a complete bystander. It's debatable if she could protect herself, or would be if the whole in the ground didn't indicate she probably could.

[VELVET BLUE]
"I suppose," Velvet sighs a final sigh of relief once Kiyomi and her wolves are fully gone, finding something to slump against. It takes them a long moment to pull themselves back up and regain their composure. Putting his weapon away, sliding the wakizashi back into it's sheath behind his back, the performer looks over to Naerose.

"Are you hurt? we should make sure there isn't anymore people dead or injured--the police aren't here yet, even, they probably will be soon," he walks over, the heels of the long boots they're wearing clicking. He'd walk over to peer at Naerose, the tailed darkstalker's yellow cat-like eyes luminous in the dark.

[NAEROSE]
Nae Nae stares up at him through dark circular shades. They're like, the totally wrong thing to wear at night, but she still has em on. "I don't think soo.." she stands up and looks herself over, turns around. She's wearing red but other than scuff marks from crawling and a bit of debris from the stands, she seems to be unhurt on the surface. They say red hides blood though.

"Are you? " She asks, still full of hero worship, "Oh I'm Naerose, by the way, Naerose Delphine. Nice to meet you mister Hero!"

[VELVET BLUE]
"No, I am not," Velvet Blue shakes his head, blowing out a large exhale through pursed lips. He gives the woman in red a wave and bows his head, long dark hair falling over their face momentarily.

"I'm Velvet Blue, and as you can see, I'm one of the dark ones, I just don't like people going after others weaker than them, mainly..." Velvet shrugs a little. "Also, killing is not cool, so yeah--nice to meet you, lady in red," he managed a bit of a grin there, getting some of that guile back. It was a lot harder to maintain it in the face of danger, and a horde of ravenous werewolves, it seemed.

[NAEROSE]
"Oh yeah totally!" Naerose exclaims, finally someone who gets it. "I mean like, so many people try to make everything so complicated, but usually I just say, killing is not cool and hurting isn't cool either, but sometimes you have to for a treat or something." She has neglected it seems to take home the lesson of stealing is not cool, as she's been doing that for a while now this evening.

"So like, whats a dark one?" She asks, possibly having been under a rock? "Is it like a really goth person or someone who is really mean meanie? I've met some of those before, I think." She honestly looks like she doesn't remember and after a second, gives up trying.

[VELVET BLUE]
"Darkstalker, at least that's what they call them here--in Makai the term is more 'demon' or devil, or the like," Velvet explained, maintaining patience with Naerose. "Never really been into the goth scene myself, though I have been told I look great in black," Velvet smiled a little and closed their eyes, shaking their head. "You live a rather charmed life to stand there trying to eat while a horde of werewolves is trying to devour everyone in sight, I guess that's something to be thankful for," he nods.

[NAEROSE]
"Werewolves?" Naerose asks then looks mystified, "I just thought they were really great costumes." She doesn't seem to be lying, she looks alomst too innocent to lie about anything. "But wait a moment, what did werewolves want with a random market and ahh, did they hurt anyone?" It occurs to her they didn't look and she doesn't seem to be looking now. Perhaps the thought of finding someone hurt frightens her? Or she's lazy? Or just not a hero?

"I don't understand anything you said, about dark stuff though, and I don't know anything about the goth scene either."

[VELVET BLUE]
"Afraid not, that is a common form of were creature, I'm not even sure if they originate in the underworld or not, not the only type I've seen around, either," Velvet shakes their head.

"They were going to eat everyone, I assume," Velvet blinks. Apparently they're not used to Naerose. He gestures around them--the place is leveled. And soona fter that there would be the red and blue lights of police flashers in the distance, prompting Velvet to move.

"Maybe we can continue this conversation somewhere else?" Velvet motions for her to follow along, and turns to go.

Log created on 12:51:28 10/24/2018 by Naerose, and last modified on 17:12:40 10/24/2018.