Match of the Millennium

Description: Lyraelle follows up on her threat of seeing Tairyu again, after he's left abandoned by a warehouse at the outskirts of Southtown after a Syndicate operation. Revelations are made on both ends, before the two settle into another fight.

[TAIRYU]
This isn't right.

That's what Tairyu tells his puppet masters - or their messengers anyway - every now and then. His disgust isn't at all hidden, but neither is the Syndicate doing much to hide the fact that he is considered as just a tool.

Thus is the nature of the exchange between Tairyu and a couple shadowy images in a black car, besides an old warehouse near the outskirts of the city. A warehouse from which a plethora of color gangers are fleeing.

"It's one thing to exchange goods or defend interests with those people," growls Tairyu, even while he's handing over a large duffle bag through the open back door of the car -- with the knuckles of that hand stained in blood that definitely isn't his own. "But hitting them just take something from them..."

The complaints likely fall entirely on deaf ears, and the door is slammed shut in front of Tairyu, before the car drives away, leaving Tairyu here in the middle of... almost nowhere.

Great. Wouldn't be the first time those assholes left him without a ride. Definitely wouldn't be the last one, either.

[LYRAELLE]
"Hey, there, tiger~"

The voice that penetrates the darkness behind Tairyu, for all its warmth and familiarity, likely isn't the one that the young Yakuza most wants to hear right now. Chances are that he'll recognize it, given the last encounter that he had with its owner.

"No, wait, it was a lion, wasn't it?"

Should he turn around to face the direction that the voice is coming from, Tairyu would see a certain succubus sitting and swinging her feet atop a nearby street light, her tail shifting behind her in a feline manner. Lyraelle is wearing the same costume - or perhaps, to her, just clothes? - as before, and she's either not making any attempt at hiding the fact that she's using a phone to film the gangster and the people fleeing in the distance or she's making a decent effort to make it look like she is.

"Hey, is that blood on your hands? Hold 'em up, I can't quite see from here~"

She did say that she'd be seeing him again soon, after all...

[TAIRYU]
Of course he recognizes that voice. How couldn't he, after last time? He briefly stiffens up, but otherwise he maintains a steady composure in spite of everything else... though, when he turns to look up towards the top of the street lamp, his brows have furrowed into a fairly deep scowl.

"Neither," his voice rumbles up at her. She may have forgotten, but there was a completely different animal tattooed on his back. "Calling me a tiger especially feels like a particularly bad joke."

His eyes narrow to the phone on her hand, then. No, even for him, it doesn't take long to figure out that she's filming him. Or at least making it look like she is, who knows.

"What exactly are you doing?" He calls up to her, and notably, he *doesn't* lift either one of his hands up to view. "Last time you made it sound like you should have swooped in much earlier than that, with something like this."

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's green eyes practically glow in the dark, thanks in part to the reflection of the light from her phone in them. They linger casually on the screen as she speaks from her perch on the metal post. One would think it wouldn't be a particularly comfortable one, with the way she's dressed.

"Oh, maybe I didn't get a good look at it, then~"

The demoness doesn't seem particular concerned with any offense that her tattoo identification faux pas may have caused - it could even have been an intentional slight.

"And, you know, I thought that I'd follow a fellow superhero around, get some candid documentary footage... I mean, that is what you were doing, right? A bit of vigilante justice, recovering illegal goods?"

She turns her eyes to Tairyu with a momentary expression somewhere between smug and analytical, before turning them past him toward the empty street that the vehicle has long since disappeared down.

"It's a shame your friends forgot you when they were driving off. Need a ride?~"

[TAIRYU]
"...Am I supposed to be disappointed by that?" Asks Tairyu of the notion that Lyraelle didn't get a proper look at his mostly-bared out back last time around.

"Tch." His head snaps to the side and his lips purse as if he's about to spit at the ground, but no goblet of saliva ever comes out. "First of all, they weren't my friends. Second of all..."

His gaze focuses back upwards, to the demoness perched on the pole. "Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to videotape someone without permission? THat's a pretty severe violation of privacy, ain't it?"

He pivots, slowly, on the heel of one foot to begin a deliberate, slow turn -- as if to signal specifically that he's intending on parting paths with her. Though he might just as well realize on some level that she isn't going to be letting him go that easily.

"My legs still work."

[LYRAELLE]
"Oh, good. This slowly-walking-away footage is nice and dramatic," the Demon Queen comments as she lets the yakuza trot on for a good few yards. Then, snapping her phone case shut, she stows it away and slips forward off of the lamp post, swooping down in an easy glide on her leathery purple wings to land in step with Tairyu, a few feet to his left. Her wings fold up behind her as she starts to click along next to him.

"I'm not sure if I'd get in trouble for filming you. I mean, we could always just show the footage to the authorities and see who they think should be in trouble, right?~"

As usual, the underlying threat is coated in tones of irony and sugar, and the demonette seems utterly at ease making said remarks in easy range of sudden violence on Tairyu's part.

"As for your legs still working? Suit yourself, but I'm sure I could get you there quicker and easier~"

She turns her smile partially toward Tairyu before tipping her chin indicatively at the mostly dispersed, fleeing gangsters.

"Sooo, call me a Suspicious Susie, but I don't think that that a bunch of innocent warehouse workers needed saving from all the ne'er-do-wells, there. And what was with that bag that you came out of there with, anyway?"

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu doesn't stop walking along, not for a good while, anyway. Even if he does send a brief look of exasperation over sidelong to the winged woman besides him. He doesn't say anything for a while, either. But once that veiled accusation has been made...

"Listen." His heel stomps to the ground to stop his stride. "One of the things I really hate is when people circle around and around on the point they're trying to make and pretend they don't fully know what they are talking about." Slowly, with one hand still loosely in his pocket, he turns himself over, to facing Lyraelle.

"And I'm already in a bad mood as it is. So why don't you just say it already? What it is that you want."

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's expression sinks dramatically at Tairyu's outburst, shoulders slumping and lips curling downward at the tips as she stops and turns to face the yakuza the same way that he faces her.

"Aww, that's a shame, 'cause for me, conversational hopscotch is a pastime right up there with tonsil hockey."

Her lips pull back into a sugary smile that seems to subvert the previously disappointed look thoroughly. She lifts her shoulders again, resting a hand on her hip.

"I know I may seem like I'm good at feigning ignorance, but I honestly haven't put this little puzzle totally together yet. I'd assume some kind of rival gang thing going on, based on the available clues, but that wouldn't explain why your partners in crime ditched you here."

She cants her head a little to one side, her expression becoming more sincerely curious.

"I'm guessing that has something to do with your bad mood. I mean, I like to think I make an impact, but surely I can't take all the credit for that."

[TAIRYU]
"...Tonsil hockey...?" Even Tairyu's stoic scowling breaks some at those words. Though perhaps not for the reason Lyraelle expected. His head cocks to the side in a canine-like show of curiousity, and his expression takes on more hints of confusement than anything else. Did that particular expression really fly completely over his head?

BUt then, her admission on the lack of full understanding makes his own shoulders slump, and he lets out a hefty sigh.

"Good grief... If you weren't so inexplicable, you might have actually made my mood a little better," he confesses in turn, with his head tipped downwards and eyes closed.

"Well. I'm sure you've gathered that I do also have my own principles stopping me from just giving you a straight answer. But..."

His head lifts again, just enough so that when his eyes open, they're peering at her past his brows even in spite of him being otherwise taller than her.

"If you did send that to the police, there is a chance that you'd end up doing me a favor instead."

[LYRAELLE]
The pink-haired hell-maiden makes no move to demystify the meaning of tonsil hockey, allowing Tairyu to contemplate it on his own terms.

"Ooh, I like that word. 'Inexplicable.' I mean, from my perspective I'm totally explicable, mind you, but I prefer not to explic myself."

She lifts her shoulders in a little shrug, a nonchalant expression on her lips.

"You know what else is a good word? Coercion. It's where you make someone do something that's against their principles by - well, I guess you'd know better than me, huh?"

The demonette shifts her balance from one hip to the other as she stretches both arms above her head.

"So, what's the deal? 'Fell in with the wrong crowd?' Owe them money?"

She tilts her head, giving Tairyu a sideways look.

"Anything I can help with? Keeping in mind how awesome and inexplicable I am."

[TAIRYU]
"...Hhhh."

It's a strange thing. If the stoicism of Tairyu is a stonewall, then the entire presence of Lyraelle in itself is like a giant chisel chipping away at it. One piece at a time. And it is expressed in the subtle twitches of facial muscles here and there, primarily in his brow and corners of his lips. It may well speak volumes even when he doesn't respond to her audible speculation with words.

"No, you really aren't as stupid as you make yourself seem," he growls, finally, after she's asked those two questions of him. Should... should that be taken as a complment, or an insult?

"But I've seen plenty enough people with their own agendas to get a gut feeling about people having them... So..."

It wouldn't be accurate to say that this is when Tairyu establishes eye contact, since after he turned to face her and opened his eyes, they have been meeting hers to begin with. But now... now there's an intensity to it. Like a flash of fire within his green irises that fully establishes that fact. A statement of focus, and a challenge of stances.

"What's yours? And why should I trust that - and you - to both answer that question and ask you to help?"

The fact that he hasn't even told her his name during either of their meetings so far, when she has given her own was probably a pretty good sign on the lack of trust and presence of suspicion, too.

[LYRAELLE]
The demoness' expression becomes clearly cross when the yakuza credits her intellect in his particularly way, her head twisting around the other way such that it's almost like her smile is literally turned upside down.

"You should be careful handing out backhanded compliments. You might find yourself getting a complimentary backhand in return," she remarks as she works out a kink in her neck before straightening her head to look at Tairyu more directly, matching his gaze with a coolness in her eyes that plays foil to the fire in his. Her arms slide down to fold behind her back as she pushes herself up slightly on her heels, lessening the difference in height between them until it's nearly non-existent. There's a different sort of intensity, a stoicism to her poker face that waxes as Tairyu's wanes.

"My agenda is world domination," she finally chirps cheerily, smiling brightly.

There are informality and sincerity in equally surprising amounts within the declaration, and she lets it hang in the air for a moment before continuing.

"But obviously, that's a long view of things. Campaign endgame. Right now I'm still more dealing with the rats in the basement. All I've got is this rockin' demon bod, ten thousand FightTube subscribers and a royal sense of entitlement, but I'll make it work."

She folds her arms under her chest and rocks up on her toes.

"So, what kinda rats have you got in your basement?"

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu maintains that close eye contact without any hesitation. Even when she lifts her posture up to match his height. EVen when her expression cools like that. Even under everything else.

... That is. Until she actually gives him her answer.

"...Haw?"

That breaks it all. The stoic face of idle scowling Tairyu has mastered twists up almost completely, in an image of bafflement, complete with a slightly agape mouth. He still stares right back at her, but now it's with the kind of frozen quality, like the computer inside his head has run into some bizarre line of code that it can't parse.

"Are..." He stammers out, head tilting to one side, and then over to another, like he's expecting the different balance somehow help process everything.

"...Are you serious...?"

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's posture leans a little to one side, her long ponytail swaying with the movement as her gaze remains impassive and locked with the yakuza's.

"About which part? The backhanding, or the world domination, or having a rockin' demon bod? Because either way, the answer is yes."

The demonette turns away from Tairyu, drawing a breath through her nostrils and taking a few steps apart, wrapping her arms around her middle. Her tail flicks back and forth in an almost agitated, yet somehow pensive manner.

"My family were rulers of the demon underworld once, but they were overthrown and wiped out by rebels and usurpers. They could have changed the order of things in this world, too. Instead, they had to hide for thousands of years. It was so bad, I didn't even know my parents. I thought I was an ordinary human. Then, when I turned twenty one, I got a gift..."

She holds up her right hand and looks down at it, curling it into a purple-clad fist. While the demoness seems to otherwise be steeling herself, her tail seems to be whipping about more frenetically.

"It explained everything. And it... awakened my true nature. My royal blood. And it gave me a purpose."

She whirls about to face Tairyu again as her fist opens, palm up, a small blaze of green hellfire resting harmlessly in it.

"I've only been training and fighting a few months, and you've seen what I can do already. Imagine what I could do in a lifetime. Maybe even longer!"

She closes her hand around the flame again, causing it to sizzle out in her trembling fist.

After a moment, the trembling stops.

"Or did you mean you need me to explain the rats in the basement thing? 'Cause that's, like, a metaphor."

[TAIRYU]
The comic-like expression on Tairyu's face remains for a few seconds longer even after Lyraelle turns her back on him. But, it recedes once she starts giving her exposition of her past, and he listens attentively enough.

Of course, this does result in that idle scowl returning all over again, but what are you gonna do.

With the flame coming up from her hand, however, he flicks his eyes to that ember only for a few seconds before he focuses on her face again.

And once she's done... he's still quiet for a good moment. Until his head cocks to one side. "So... Your first instinct upon getting some kind of demonic power is to try to impose it on the rest of the world?" The question is a blunt one -- though his tone no longer holds a sign of disbelief in it. "Don't get me wrong. I can relate to wanting to do right by your parents, but... I can't help but feel like that's just an excuse."

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's expression goes briefly blank at Tairyu's response to her outpouring, lips pursing and eyes staring at nothing for a moment before they refocus on Tairyu's face.

"Well, yeah. I mean, contextually speaking, I agreed to restore my family's name and rulership and got the demonic power in return."

She takes a step back closer to Tairyu, lifting one pale shoulder, turning her head and averting her gaze across it.

"It's not an excuse, it's an explanation. Excuses are for people who need to justify themselves. I'm being completely straight with you, here."

The next step she takes is disguised somewhat by the angle of her head, and when she turns it back to lock eyes with the yakuza again, she's much closer.

"I had a taste of you, you know... back in the store. I could tell that honesty's a thing for you. So my gambit is that trusting you with this will show you that you can trust me."

She lifts her shoulders a little, as if there were nothing more to say.

"That's my agenda."

Her lips pull into a more subtle smile than usual.

"So, how can I help you?"

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu doesn't seem particularly moved, really. If anything, the idea of this girl identifying as a demon genuinely trying to vie for something as ridicilous as world domination makes him all the more dubious.

Namely one question rings in his mind; 'Is she a future enemy?'.

For the first time, though, the immense proximity she's taken to him makes him actually seem vaguely uncomfortable. Not enough to make him back away, but enough to make his foot shift in an unrealized fit of nervousness, and his eyes to flicker involuntarily away from her face.

And then... Then there is the read she's made of him. And the question inside wavers. Uncertainty's clear within him, even if he still doesn't back away.

"...Let's say you do help me," he eventually manages to say in a murmur barely above a whisper. "What's the catch? Are you expecting loyalty? For some infernal kingdom? ...Besides, I'm not sure you even can help me."

That's when his gaze averts itself fully from her. Conflicting feelings crash together inside him. One part of him doesn't want to trust her at all.Realizing he might well be trading one master for another. But then... There's also just supposed to be one thing that matters in the end, right now.

"...Unless you can locate someone."

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle's face follows a little as Tairyu turns away, leaning to try to maintain eye contact until it's no longer possible. Her expression is mostly even, though there's a touch of... hopefulness in it? She straightens and relaxes a little as the yakuza drops the hint as to what he wants. She folds her arms across her chest and turns such that her posture mirrors that of the gangster.

"Loyalty isn't something you barter for, that's reciprocity. Or something you enforce; that's coercion. I know enough to know that. You have to earn it."

She draws a breath in through her nostrils, swelling a little, before breathing out again.

"Fealty would be more the word for what I'm looking for. That would start with mutual protection of interests. Loyalty's more of a question for later."

She turns her head up to look at Tairyu, searching for his eyes again.

"I'm better at finding people I've marked for it, but I'm also not a known associate of yours and entirely willing to beat people down for information, if that helps. Who do you need found?"

She arches an eyebrow as she asks the question.

[TAIRYU]
"..."

Tairyu's eyes narrow. He seems to be considering not just the offer, but everything else Lyraelle is saying. The persuasion is a strong one, even he has to admit.

"Too bad, Lyraelle-san," he ultimately says, with a shake of his head. "Ignoring the fact that signs of anyone looking for this person will easily come back to me regardless... You almost had me convinced. BUt you tipped your hand with your words there."

His foot sccuffs along the sandy ground of the warehouse's driveway, to bring him to a turn again. The motion is a small one, but somehow, that along seems like it is creating a canyon-sized seperation between the two. "As you are right now..."

"I don't think I will be one of yours."

[LYRAELLE]
Something in the devil-babe's body language suggests that Tairyu's response was not the one that she was looking for.

The first sign is the flattening of the eyebrows, accompanied by a simultaneous flattening of the girl's pointed ears below the black horns that flank her crown.

The second is the creaking of leather in the otherwise stony silence from the succubus as her fingers tighten into balled fists at her side.

The third is the smoke rising from the asphalt that's sizzling beneath the demonette's boots, accompanied by a whiff of brimstone, as her entire body goes rigid and, it seems, literally burning hot with rage.

The Demon Queen's poker face has, it seems, become momentarily ineffectual.

"Tipped my hand?! I showed you my hand! I couldn't have made my hand any more obvious if I'd...!!"

She rears her hand back across her shoulder as if about to make good on the complimentary backhand she offered earlier, but she holds back, shaking with anger for a moment before swinging it back down to her side and turning away with a growl of frustration.

"I can't believe you'd turn me down over some jerkbags who left you on the side of the road! I come here to try and fix our situation and you let me tell you all that when you haven't even told me your name!! And then...!!"

She draws in a deep breath, steadying herself - though there's still a visible tremble in her shoulders after she does.

"This is what I get for trying to trust someone like you... I can't trust anyone, can I?"

Again, she clenches her fist as she gazes down at it, squeezing until the trembling tension finally stops.

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu has already taken to stepping along. To taking the path of seperation from the Demon Queen. One step, two step, three steps... the distance continues to grow, without any hesitation in the man even underneath her outburst.

But... Those calmer words that come after it all. The almost desperate-sounding question. That brings him to a stop, even if it doesn't quite bring him to turning back to facing her.

"Don't misunderstand me," he says like that, firm back still faced to her. "Or rather... don't underestimate me. It's not that I am picking my fealty between you and... those people. The person I did swear to... is already gone."

A quiet sigh, and his head tips over a bit, to crane out his neck while a hand reaches up to rub at the back of it.

"You must have figured it out already. I am Gokudo. Yakuza. For men like me, fealty isn't just a matter of 'That person can do something for me, so I will do things for them, too'. That was your mistake."

His head straightens up, then, and he turns over again. One step. Two steps. Three steps. And just like that, he's standing there again, with a nearly uncomfortably short distance in between -- just likely standing behind her now, instead.

"I will be blunt. I think your ambition is completely ridicilous," he rumbles to her, while his eyes seek out hers. "And utterly selfish and indulgent. If that 'taste' you got of me could really tell anything about me, you must know already something like that isn't something I would align myself with."

"...But..."

His expression softens a bit. "...Maybe I just have too much good faith in people in general, but I also don't believe that is entirely who you are."

His hand comes up, and settles onto a squeeze on her shoulder. It's not a forceful thing. Not one meant to show agression, not one meant to pull her over or around. It's just... there. A light little thing.

"Which part would you care to prove right?"

[LYRAELLE]
The demon-girl has her back to Tairyu still as he approaches her again, though the tilt of her ears indicates that his return isn't unnoticed. As he gets near, she turns her head slightly, watching out of the corner of her eye. Fortunately, the shoulder isn't scorching hot to the touch - but it does seems as though it may have literally been heated up in the outburst, now cooling slowly. She lets him say his piece before turning a little more, facing him and meeting his eyes once again.

"It's not that ridiculous," she protests, her tone a bit softer. "And it's not like I'm asking for a promise now or anything. I just want a chance... to prove myself. I mean, it's not like being a demon now means I'm actually, like, /evil./"

Lyraelle looks up into Tairyu's eyes for a long moment - then suddenly seems to take notice of the fact that her sinuous tail is trying to sneakily snake its way around Tairyu's leg in the middle of the conversation. Looking annoyed, she quickly reaches down and pulls it away.

"Down, you! You'll ruin it!" she chastises the appendage as it curls up and falls limp from her hand.

[TAIRYU]
"You do realize the entire concept of 'demon wanting to take over the world' sounds just like the bad guy from an anime," Tairyu points out, as blunt as ever. "But your path is your own, too. YOu don't have to make it... so stereotypical."

Silence, after that. He maintains that eye contact for as long as she does. His expression remains the same resting scowl as ever before, too, except... something eventually starts tugging at a particular facial muscle.

Is he smiling...?

Lyraelle might not have enough time to fully register if he actually was or if that was just some brief mirage, thanks to her unruly tail. By that point, his eyes go snapping down to the tail, too, and his eyes blink with brief surprise at the sight. "You're... not in full control of it?"

[LYRAELLE]
The she-demon's shoulders rise defensively, her green eyes shifting toward Tairyu as he calls out the breakdown in her body's chain of command. She lets go of the tail, which quickly sweeps away to hide behind her back. Her hands drop down in front of her, fingers intertwining as she clears her throat.

"No! I mean, yes. As in... I'm in control of it. Mostly. I mean... it's got a mind of its own, sometimes. Like, it gets certain urges or something, responds to stimuli in ways I don't mean for it to..."

Lyraelle's face scrunches up a bit as she seems to search for the right way to describe the phenomenon, head drifting to a slight sideways cant as her eyes turn up and away, narrowing a little in an awkward, almost painful expression.

"I guess that probably doesn't make much sense, but I swear I'm not lying. Or crazy..."

Her eyes turn back to Tairyu's, seeming almost fearful of his reaction.

"...I wasn't trying to sneak attack you, I promise!"

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu's arms cross together, now, while he takes half-a-step back and leans away eeever so slightly. He doesn't look upset. He just seems... curious, more than anything, while he peers at the tail that nearly caught on to him.

"Stimuli, huh," he rumbles, before sweeping his gaze up to the demoness' face, cocking a single dark brow upwards deliberately.

"Not exactly filling me with confidence here, you realize."

[LYRAELLE]
"Yeah, stimuli. As in, it senses something it wants and goes for it. I mean... you've felt what it does, right? It's not like it's dangerous," Lyraelle says, leaning forward and stretching her arms and back as her tail starts to slowly slip back into a natural waving pattern behind her. She takes a couple of steps forward as she straightens again from the almost cat-like posture, bringing her feet back close such that her upper body remains in proximity to Tairyu once she's back fully upright. She turns sideways so that her hip is pointed at the yakuza, placing the tail near the gangster's hand.

"Here, you can touch it if you want. Promise you won't get drained~"

The tail seems to have gone rather docile.

"That way you can see it's safe, 'cause really, I'm in charge of it~"

[TAIRYU]
"...Not dangerous, you say..." Tairyu rumbles, with his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the tail again. "And yet it made me feel like the life was leaving me..."

His eyes follow the path of the tail while it swishes about, and she turns her own side to her. And... makes that offer of touching the tail.

"...Wether it will drain me or it won't drain me..." Tairyu shuffles his own foot to give a quarter-turn to bring his own side more towards Lyraelle. "That doesn't seem to matter as much as... well... how do I put this..."

Sheepishly, he unfolds his arms and guides his hand to the back of his neck, kneading fingers at the muscle there.

"Well, that is... It seems like touching it would be the same as touching... somewhere else."

[LYRAELLE]
The succubus gives Tairyu a bewildered look at the vague terms of basis for his refusal, leaning her neck to look back at the proffered appendage and raising both brows. It seems to take a moment before something clicks behind her eyes, and she looks back at Tairyu with something slightly more shy than a typical smirk.

"Well, I mean, I'm the one that offered, but I wasn't really thinking of it /that/ way. And I wasn't saying it wasn't dangerous, just that it's only dangerous if I want it to be. Like with any other part of me."

She doesn't shift her stance or retreat her tail from the position of offering, but does turn her upper body so that her face is more directly toward Tairyu.

"If I remember right, last time you were in touch with it, you said you wanted to do it again sometime..."

She raises a finger to tap her lips thoughtfully as her eyes wander off to one side for a moment.

[TAIRYU]
Usually so composed, Tairyu does have to turn his head to the side and avert his gaze briefly from LYraelle when she's bringing herself to facing him again. All because of a few errant words and thoughts that lead up to it.

But, her pointing out something he said on their previous encounter? It prompts him to take on a more serious expression, and fully direct his attention on her once more.

"You know very well I didn't mean touching your tail when I said that," he protests with a grunt.

"Or are you saying you do want another go now?"

[LYRAELLE]
At the proposition from Tairyu - or clarification, some might interpret it as - Lyraelle turns her body fully to face Tairyu, a mischievous grin crossing her lips. As she takes a step backward, her eyes size him up, then turn back to his.

"Oh, I'm always up for another go~" she says in a playful tone, a glint of excitement in her emerald irises. Her shoulders roll as she stretches, wings opening wide to flex their span. She starts to limber up, shifting her balance between her legs and warming them up while keeping eye contact with the Yakuza.

"That is, assuming you think you can handle me... and you aren't in too much of a bad mood still to get into it~"

She tilts her head questioningly at Tairyu - simultaneously stretching it in preparation for the potential throwdown.

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu's expression steels up, and a fire lights up within his eyes. He mirrors her motion with a single backward step that goes on to shift his own weight to a slightly lowered posture.

"Wether or not I am in a bad mood doesn't have anything to do with it," he tells her, all the while slowly curling his hands into fists, with one drawn up parallel to his chin. Steadily assuming the familiar stance he held during their previous meeting.

"If a fight happens, it happens regardless of those feelings. If you come at me, I'll meet you head on no matter what the result last time was."

[LYRAELLE]
"Just so long as it's clear that this is for funsies~"

Lyraelle accompanies her words with a wink as she stretches her arms over her head before finally dropping into a proper fighting stance - hands ready at her sides, legs slightly bent, and tail flicking back and forth behind her back and a smile on her face.

"Unless you want to put some kind of wager on it, that is."

Her head tips slightly sideways.

"Do you need a handicap? I could try doing this with one hand behind my back or something~"

She offers, slipping her right hand behind her back as she does so.

"Or maybe both hands..."

The other hand joins it, almost giving her the look of being in a straitjacket.

"Anyway, I'm ready for you whenever you want to come at me, Gokudo~"

The succubus makes a show of wiggling her upper body with her arms restrained behind her while smiling brightly at the yakuza.

[TAIRYU]
"Tch." Despite the sound Tairyu makes, he doesn't actually seem particularly annoyed by the show and 'offer' Lyra is making.

"That's entirely up to you, woman. Just..." One foot turns slightly, further bending up one knee, like a coiled up spring. "I won't be asking for any favors!"

That coiled spring of his leg unfurls and launches him in the pace or two that was left between them. Closing in, he launches that first at his chin-level in a quick jabbing hook-- the turn brought on to his body wth that winding up his left fist back a bit more before, in turn, getting launched into a fierce, upward-arcing uppercut...

COMBATSYS: Tairyu has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Tairyu           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Lyraelle         0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Tairyu

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle endures Tairyu's Rise and Sweep!

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Lyraelle         0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0           Tairyu

BAM!

Perhaps to Tairyu's own surprise, the uppercut finds it's mark on Lyra, fierce enough to at the very least send her jostling back.

And that backward motion is immediately taken advantage of, by a hand grabbing onto the demoness' rising leg, and the Yakuza himself turning around--

"ORA!"

The turning motion helps pull his hand up and over, and carry Lyraelle herself over his head in a high-sweeping arc to swing her body down onto the ground on the other side before he finally lets go again, and retreats with a single sliding step.

[LYRAELLE]
True to her offer - whether it was meant as a taunt or born of a sincere desire to level the playing field between the two fighters - Lyraelle keeps her hands looped beneath her wings, even as Tairyu springs toward her. Without availing herself of her arms to defend against the opening hook and not choosing to try and evade the move altogether, the only avenue left is to turn her chin with the punch, one eye flinching shut as she takes the shot to the face. The exposed position leaves her open to the follow-up uppercut, which knocks her off of her feet.

"Nnnnf! Hey, what'd I say about - ahh!"

Tairyu's hand catches hold of Lyraelle's leg as she's mid-protest, swinging her down to smack into the asphalt and tumble over a couple of times without the aid of her arms to arrest her roll. Still not freeing her limbs, she swings her legs up, then back down, forcing herself back to her feet. She turns around to face Tairyu, coiling down into a crouch.

"I told you not to aim for the face~"

Despite any sense of annoyance she might feel, the reminder is expressed in a sort of sing-song. Then, with a powerful push of her legs, Lyraelle leaps into the air, launching herself toward Tairyu in an attempt at a maneuver that doesn't require the use of arms - trying to lock her thighs around the Yakuza's head and land on her shoulders before throwing herself down to the ground to try and bring Tairyu down and trap him in the compromising hold.

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle successfully hits Tairyu with Power Throw.
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lyraelle         0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1           Tairyu

[TAIRYU]
"Told you rules like that are just for the ring, Lyraelle-san," Tairyu insists while he shifts around Lyraelle's groundbound form in a steady footwork.

Though he really should know better than to expect her to get up onto her feet before she mounts a counterattack, however. But no, that oversight results in Lyraelle's thighs wrapping up around his head efore he even realizes they're coming for him. "Whu--?!" He only has enough time then, too, to feel the warmth washing over his cheeks while he looks directly down and...

Wait, no! Focus, Tairyu!

"DROAH!!" His body slams right down onto the ground, bouncing up off of it once even while the demoness' shapely thighs are still coiled around him, eyes rolling up briefly from the sting of pain jolting through the length of his spine.

"Guhhnh-- haah! Get...!" He manages to regain enough focus after that blow, thankfully, to allow him to grab onto the woman's legs again. "--Off of me!!" What comes after is less technique and more a desperate channeling of physical force alone, while he lifts one knee up and presses a foot to the ground. All to try to push his body off the ground and shove the demoness over.

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle blocks Tairyu's Quick Throw.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Lyraelle         0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1           Tairyu

[LYRAELLE]
Committed, for the moment, to maintaining her self-imposed impediment, the demonette focuses all of her energy into her legs, tightening them around Tairyu's neck and grunting with the effort. The reaction from the beleaguered yakuza doesn't seem to help matters - in fact, it draws a fit of giggling from the succubus as she maneuvers on her back to try and retain dominance.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you~"

As Tairyu surges between her thighs in his attempt to escape, Lyraelle pushes back - clinging and flexing her legs in response to the gangster's grip. Eventually, he manages to dislodge her hold long enough to get up to his feet, leaving her lying on the ground and panting for breath.

"Ooh... this is tricky," she says as she rocks to either side, then eventually rolls onto her knees. As she's standing up from that position, she whips her hips around, swinging her tail to try and catch one of Tairyu's arms and yank him toward her with a second twist of her hips.

"Come here!"

While the appendage wouldn't be trying to sap his strength this time, it's still surprisingly strong - and if the catch works, she'll swing her hips a third time - this time trying to smack them sideways into Tairyu's midsection and bowl him over.

COMBATSYS: Tairyu blocks Lyraelle's Combo Grapple.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Lyraelle         0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1           Tairyu

[TAIRYU]
"Ghah--!" As pleasant as some might consider having Lyraelle's thighs squeezed around their face, Tairyu actually does seem relieved to manage to free himself. The sting in his spine is still in full effect, however, and it shows in the slight wobble in his motion when he settles up to properly standing on his feet again, in time with her.

He sees that tail, though. He might not know it's intent on draining energy from him this time, for he manages to snap his hand away with rather urgent alacricity when it tries to grab on. "No you don't!"

The hip-smack likely comes up anyway, and Tairyu doesn't quite manage to step away from that one. Instead, he leans his weight back in the exact moment she comes into contact. THe impact still stings, but rather than knockng him over, he sends himself pouncing back and away from her to avoid taking the full brunt of it.

He doesn't continue his retreat by more than two steps, though. And at the end of it, he lowers his weight down at the end of the momentum in a half-crouch. Eyes focus sharp on the demoness, and--

In an instant, he's up high in the air. Somersaulting through the air, with one leg extended out, marking his rotation in a horizontal axis that carries his foot pointing directly up to the sky at the apex of his leap-- and then guillotining down to Lyraelle.

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle blocks Tairyu's Dragon's Descent ES.

[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Lyraelle         1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0           Tairyu

[LYRAELLE]
Rebounding off of Tairyu with a bit of a stagger after her hip-attack, Lyraelle stumbles a few steps before she finds her footing. Still playing her hands-free mini-game, gloves crossed behind the small of her back, the pink-haired hell-maiden's balance is a bit off-kilter on her heels. Her eyes follow Tairyu as he leaps skyward, neck straining to keep him in her field of vision.

As the dragon descends, she closes her eyes and stiffens her neck, tilting her head such that the falling foot crashes first into her horns. Even with the protection of the solid black extrusions, the impact is still enough to make her flinch and skid back along the asphalt until the stiletto tips of one of her boots catches in a crack and sends her toppling onto her backside with an 'oof!.'

"Ugh," the succubus complains as she tries in vain to rub the top of her head against one of her shoulders - still trying to keep her vow of manual abstinence - and eventually manages to succeed by tilting her head back and enlisting the upper edge of her demonic left wing in the effort.

"So, were we wagering on this, or no? What do I get if I win?"

She's still sitting on the ground as the question is asked, but she brings her feet in and pushes back up to her feet in fairly short order. Having her hands behind her back does at least afford her the opportunity to brush the bits of gravel off of her bottom once she's standing again.

"Oh! Is it foul play to use eye lasers in a friendly match? I mean, I'd be fine with you using eye lasers on me~"

She flutters her eyelashes a couple of times, then stares intensely at Tairyu as her green-eyed gaze seems to glow a little brighter in the dark of the night -

but rather than jumping the gun on the question, Lyraelle instead springs forward, landing close to Tairyu into a squat and swinging one of her long and shapely legs out in a low sweeping kick, attempting to take the gangster's own legs out from under him!

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle successfully hits Tairyu with Medium Kick.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lyraelle         1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0           Tairyu

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu looks certainly surprised by Lyraelle's chosen method of intercepting his assault. Still, he bounces off from the recoil of his foot slamming right into the demoness' horn, and backflips back onto the ground.

"What are you talking about?" the Yakuza grunts out in response to her just as he lands... and consequently receives a heeled boot right into the side of his leg. "Hhh--!" Sweeped out from underneath him, his body pummels right back down onto the ground with another bounce. It's not the fall that hurts him as much, however. The muscle in his shin and the bone underneath both scream out even while he's rolling himself along the ground and bouncing back up.... to his other foot.

"The fight itself - nhh - is it. A wager of strength against strength for the prize of victory!"

And of all things? His hands suddenly grab right for the demon's horns, to pull her in to meet his own head swinging in to smash his forehead against hers before his foot sweeps into hers to jostle her balance in preperation for an explosive push of force into those horns, aimed for the ground.

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle endures Tairyu's Combo Grapple.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lyraelle         1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0           Tairyu

[LYRAELLE]
Spinning back up to her feet, Lyraelle lifts her shoulders and lowers her head a little in a shrug, smiling at Tairyu's answer to her inquiry about the wager.

"Works for me~" she says, tone amicable and seemingly not having lost any of its sugar content in the course of the ongoing violence. "I just wanted to make - hey, what're you doing?"

The she-devil is a bit caught off-guard by Tairyu reaching for her horns, and it's difficult for her to fend him off with her hands still stuck behind her. She's pulled up, face to face, eyes widening as his face comes for hers.

"Heywasthisallatrickto-"

*THUMP*

Forehead meets forehead, Tairyu's winning out thanks to the combination of aggressive intent and control due to his hands on her horns. The blow dazes her, opening her up for her foot to be swept from the ground and her person to be shoved back onto the street's rocky surface. She writhes on the ground, an aching expression on her face, teeth bared such that the slightly pointy incisors can be seen.

"Ugh...

Rolling over onto her horns and knees, the demonette raises her head off of the gravel and shakes it, then looks over her shoulder at the yakuza.

You're not Glaswegian-Japanese, are you?"

Then, still remaining down on her knees, hands up on top of her lower back, she gets a look of focus - and the tip of her tail ignites with green fire before tracing a line through the air. Where it goes, a trail of flame hangs suspended, until, a second later, a blazing green heart has been drawn above her hands.

"Alright... now, give me your best shot~"

Without getting up, Lyraelle draws in a breath, then blows hard - sending the flaming heart from her palms flying toward Tairyu! Whatever it should connect with, it'll explode in a burst of hellfire.

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle issues a challenge!!

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lyraelle         1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0           Tairyu

COMBATSYS: Tairyu dodges Lyraelle's Royal Salutation - <3.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lyraelle         1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0           Tairyu

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu has to take a step back, too, after the headbutt and throw, with a hand quickly swiping the back of it over his own forehead. "Bugh... Was that a trick to what?" He asks, oblivious of where exactly that question was meant to go before he so rudely interrupted it.

He jumps back instinctively when her tail lights up, too, growing the distnace between the two! Unfortunately for him, that probably just worked out perfectly well for her, at that. "What, because of the headbutt? That's an universal language, woman!"

Oh, that's not good. His eyes follow the tracing of a flaming heart in the air, and he swallows in a brief fit of nervousness. He watches for it. Watches, watches--

And the instant Lyraelle launches it, he takes the gamble. He sets into a run straight forward, head-on towards the approaching heart of flame, and... ducks down! In slow motion, one could see the very bottom tip of the heart just barely scrape over Tairyu's head, burning off the tips of a couple strands of hair on the way there before it sails out further and explodes into a mass of fire, while the Yakuza barrels straght on for Lyraelle still.

"Always with the fireballs with you people!" He growls out just before coming in to range, and springing up to aim a fierce uppercut for Lyraelle's midsection -- intending to send her doubling over before carrying his other arm up with the momentum and bringing it crashing down upon her!

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle endures Tairyu's Rise And Fall!

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Lyraelle         1/=======/=======|=======\=------\1           Tairyu

[LYRAELLE]
The succubus is just starting to get to her feet as Tairyu comes ducking through her fiery attack.

"It's called, like, a Glasgow -"

Lyraelle cuts herself short mid-phrase as something seems to register behind her eyes. When she twists around to face the gangster, an aggravated expression is on her face, an emerald fire behind her eyes.

"Hey, what do you mean 'you people' - hurngh!"

The uppercut catches her in the gut, faster than she's prepared to react to the oncoming assault, and the wind is driven out of her as she doubles forward. She's still teetering as Tairyu's other arm comes crashing down on the small of her back, driving her back down to her knees.

Growling fiercely, much of her earlier playfulness apparently subsumed by irritation at the off-handed remark, the demonette drives herself right back up onto the soles of her thigh-highs. Still, even in her flaring anger, she doesn't abandon her intent to fight without her hands - the wrists of which remain crossed across her spine. Her ears flick in agitation, honing in on Tairyu's location relative to herself before she acts without turning to face the yakuza - throwing herself full-on sidelong at him, such that should he not avoid it, she'll slam into him cheek to cheek, shoulder to chest and hip to groin, propelling herself with her supernatural capacity for flight to try and drive him off his feet and into the nearby warehouse fence.

Should she succeed in doing so, Tairyu would likely drop down to the ground in a seated position as she'd relinquish some of the pressure - only to have his neck wrapped around by Lyraelle's serpentine tail as it found itself at waist level and his head pulled sideways against her hip. Essentially, a headlock - only using the tail for the execution, in keeping with the vow against hands, and a bit tougher to breathe as the friendly nature of the match might be momentarily forgotten!

COMBATSYS: Tairyu fails to counter Royal Prerogative - Covetous Clutch from Lyraelle with Tiger Drop ES.
~~ Alluring Hit! ~~

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //                            ]
Lyraelle         1/-------/<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0           Tairyu

COMBATSYS: Tairyu can no longer fight.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Lyraelle         1/-------/<<<<<<<|

[TAIRYU]
Whatever effect Tairyu's words unintentionally had on Lyra, he doesn't seem entirely conscious of them. At least not enough for him not to e surprised when the succubuss charges at him with such ferosity. He leans towards it, however, with a fist winding back and knee loweri-

And then he realizes his timing is horribly, horribly off. Mostly on account of the fact that he can feel his feet suddenly off the ground, and the superpowered woman's entire body slammed into his, all the way from his chest down to immensely sensitive parts.

It all carries him to rebounding off the chain link fence surrounding the warehouse yard, and with a breathless growl of pain, the jolt from down below travels up the rest of the way to his brain to push his balance down, thumping unceremoniously onto his knees.

Wether Lyraelle intended for the impact to have such a weight on his groin or not, the lingering, sharp pain from it leaves him dizzied long enough that he has absolutely no defenses up to intercept the tail with. And just like that? He finds himself choking.

"Hhhggh--!" It's then that he does react, but it's already too late. Both hands trying to grip at the thin membrane work to no end, and if the demoness is letting even an iota of the draining effect in that tail to go through, it'll be just a matter of seconds until...

Everything blacks out.

[LYRAELLE]
For a moment, it seems, Lyraelle has forgotten herself.

The expression on her face is fierce as she holds Tairyu trapped against her side, arms still behind her back, neck twisted to try and get a good look at the gangster as she struggles and awaits an answer. Her tail both squeezes and draws forth essence from her victim, seemingly uncaring of the consequences.

"Well?!"

When Tairyu blacks out, though, the demonette's eyes go wide, and she freezes in place. The tail around Tairyu's throat goes slack, letting him slide down her side to the ground.

"Oh, crap."

Lyraelle drops to Tairyu's side, her hands finally unfolding from behind her to arrest her fall by planting on the ground next to the unconscious Yakuza. Her shadow looms over him and she worries on her lower lip a little as she considers her next course of action.

Luckily, it is an established fact that in some former life, the Queen of Fiends took a course in first aid...

==*== SOME TIME LATER ==*==

When Tairyu comes to, it'll likely be to the sensation of a pair of lips pressed urgently against his, along with the hell-maiden's hot presence hovering over him, arms and legs either side but none of her weight touching - though he may feel a bit of soreness in his chest, as if it's recently had pressure applied to it.

It seems that the Demon Queen remains without qualms regarding personal space - and that she also doesn't have a very strong grasp on the meaning of the 'kiss of life.'

[TAIRYU]
Ignorance may not be bliss, for once.

"....mmh..." The first sign of Tairyu's returning consciousness is a low, muffled sound deep with his chest. "...mm?" One eye cracks open, then, and after seeing what's up above him, both snap wide open. "...Mmmhh?!"

The Yakuza lets himself stare up only for two seconds, though, before his eyes take to drifting closed, again. He might be taking a bit longer than entirely necesssry after that, before he lifts a hand up and taps it against Lyraelle's arm in signal. Not that he seems to be in any kind of hurryto get out of... uh... thus particular predicament.

Whenever the succubus does free his lips, Tairyu opens his eyes again and lets out a hoarse chuckle. "You know... it's not polite to take advantage of someone unconscious... ow, ow..." Lifting up on one elbow, his other hand goes to rub over his chest. "...Guh. Wait. . were you trying to...?"

[LYRAELLE]
It does take Tairyu's tapping against her arm for the succubus to snap out of what she's doing - whether it's because she's focusing too hard or lost focus. Her own eyes widen for a moment before she pulls away with promptness but neither haste nor hesitation, settling back on top of Tairyu now that he's awake and obviously doesn't need her to avoid putting weight on him anymore. She raises one of her hands to her mouth, wiping it on the back of her glove.

"Oh, good! You're alive~" the demoness says with a smile - whatever quarrel in the moment may have led to Tairyu's condition clearly forgotten. She tilts her head at the gangster's words, though.

"Hey, I wasn't taking advantage!

She folds her arms beneath her chest as her expression becomes terse.

"I was doing cee-pee-arr. You know, the chesty-pushy thing, and mouth to mouth." She sweeps a hand out to gesture indicatively as Tairyu touches his own chest.

"I mean, you were out for a good thirty Mississippis or something; I was starting to get worried."

[TAIRYU]
Tairyu does give a brief wipe of his own over his own lips, though there's a vague hint of mischief playing in his eyes momentarily.

"I mean, you seemed to be really into the mouth to mouth part," he points out wryly while peering up at her. "Which, by the way, I am pretty sure isn't done... like that."

Upper body propped up on elbows, there is ab akward moment where he just stares atthe demon silently. "...So... "

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle looks taken aback at Tairyu's remark. Her mouth hangs open for a moment before she puts on a serious expression. "I was just trying to make sure that you were okay! I know first aid! I took, like, a two hour training thing in tenth grade!... My technique just might be a bit rusty."

She reaches her right hand out to try and push at Tairyu's shoulder, as if physically returning the impetus of self-explanation back to the yakuza. "And you should apologize! Throwing around words like 'you people.' Some of us don't like being stereotyped as fireball-throwing arsonists!"

Especially not ones who've recently burned down warehouses with their fireball-throwing habits, it would seem.

"Hurry up and say you're sorry and I'll give you a lift home."

The demonette's arms fold beneath her bosom; apparently, she doesn't intend to move until her request is fulfilled.

[TAIRYU]
"Riiight." Tairyu doesn't seem particularly convinces by the demon's explanation. He remains ever suspicious!

It's the shove and the proper complaint that break his stride again and he blinks rapidly at her. "Huh? You mean all you chi-channelers?" Oh. So he didn't mean demons.

He rolls his eyes with a sigh, but the following "...I am sorry," does sound sincere enough still.

[LYRAELLE]
"Good," the succubus says simply when Tairyu comes around to the apology. There's a slight falter in the aggravated expression just before she says it, when the Yakuza's words indicate that he likely didn't mean to insult demonkind, and a second after the apology comes, Lyraelle's hands drop to her knees. She draws in a quick, small breath through her nostrils before letting it out in a huff.

"Now, what other declarations can I extract from you while I have you here?"

The demon-girl smirks down at Tairyu, leaning down on her hands on either side of him, but after a second, she just uses her palms to push herself up onto her feet, swinging her leg over to liberate the Yakuza. She stoops low, dusting her palms off on her legs before offering one down to Tairyu to help him up.

She smiles.

"Jay kay. So, whereabouts can I take you to?"

[TAIRYU]
"..."

That joke isn't properly registered as one initially, and it results in Tairyu narrowing his eyes at her. "...You know you are never getting me to say anything I dont mean, right?"

Of course, he rolls his eyes again once the gig comes up on her part, and in apite of everything, he does take the offered hand. "Just - oof - in downtown is fine, I can go from there."

[LYRAELLE]
With his hand in Lyraelle's, Tairyu may be getting a bit more than he bargained for - the demon-girl doesn't stop at straightening up, but actually spreads her wings and lifts off of the ground with a mighty flap, pulling him up to and off of his feet. Lifting the man seems to take virtually no effort, and it almost looks as though she's about to take off into the sky, but she comes to a hovering stop once he's dangling a couple of feet off of the ground from her arm.

"Hey, do you get sweaty hands? Sorry, I should have double checked how you wanted to do this," the succubus says, lowering herself down so that Tairyu can get his footing before landing herself.

"I don't really have a system, so, I'll let you have first pick how you want to hold on."

[TAIRYU]
"D'eh!" Tairyu yelps out first when a suddwn lift tugs him upwards, and he finds his feet swaying over empty air. He steels himself quickly enough, at least, and once lowered to his feet he just... looks at thw succubus with some consideration.

"...Unless you want to hold me to your bosom while we go," he murmurs while letting go of Lyra's hand, and reaching up a bit higher so he can grasp onto her forearm instead, and allow her hand to so the same to his. "...Just go. I'll manage."

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle tilts her head a little at Tairyu's words.

"What, you mean like this?"

As she asks, she pulls the yakuza closer, slipping behind him in the same motion. Then, she snakes her arms under his, wrapping them around his chest and pulling him back against hers, then lifting her legs off the ground and encircling his waist tightly with them.

"Good idea! I'm used to piledriving people like this~" the succubus enthuses, before her wings push hard, driving both of them up into the sky with a gust of air, soon to be soaring between buildings and past the brightly glowing signs of Southtown, headed for downtown.

COMBATSYS: Lyraelle has ended the fight here.


[TAIRYU]
"Like wh- Weh!?"

Okay, Tairyu wasn't actually expecting that. ANd if Lyraelle could see around him at all in their positioning, she could see his eyes widened for a much longer time this time around while they're in the air.

"...Just don't do that *now*!" HE growls back to her over his shoulder, before he finally allows himself to relax there, and just allow the winged demoness to transport him over to the town proper. And deliberately rest his head back against the cushioning by his head. Might as well enjoy this while he has the chance, right?

At least it makes the sting of losing again a little better.

[LYRAELLE]
==*== SOMETIME LATER ==*==

The descent is a little bit like gliding down on a parachute or glider, except that the pilot has a bit more control, but the passenger is responsible for getting his feet down on the ground first. In the interest of Tairyu not having too rough of a landing, the pair touch down in a grassy park, the precise location of which is left up to the yakuza.

"See, that wasn't such a bad night after all, was it?" Lyraelle prompts Tairyu with a smile, now herself the rider on his back as her wings fold up toward hers. She relaxes for a minute before sliding off and stretching her limbs.

"Anyways, good luck getting home from here! I'll be seeing you around~"

The tone this time seems less intentionally threatening before, though it may not be any less unintentionally threatening, depending on Tairyu's feelings on the matter.

"Oh, and you should look me up online. Demon Queen Lyraelle at Fight Tube!" She tilts her head a little to one side and gives a sideways V salute next to her horns.

[TAIRYU]
To Tairyu's credit, he does manage to land fairly gracefully when he knows it's coming, and seperates from Lyraelle easily.

"My pride's still a bit hurt, but at least..." He doesn't allow that sentence to fully form up, instead giving Lyraelly a brief, meaningful look.

"...Tairyu," he calls out over to her, after a moment of hesitant silence. "My name. It's Tairyu Katashi. Later, Lyraelle-san."

[LYRAELLE]
Lyraelle stands there, as if waiting for Tairyu to finish his sentence. Then, she still stands there, raising a hand to flutter her fingers after Tairyu as he departs.

After about half a minute, she shifts her fingers up to her pink crown, scratching at it as a bemused look quirks her lips.

"So why'd he say his name was Gokudo, then...?"

Log created on 08:03:06 06/20/2020 by Tairyu, and last modified on 11:59:25 06/23/2020.