Match of the Millennium

Description: Banyu runs into a strange woman that reminds him of someone else.. someone that made him very, very angry.

[BANYU]
"Hrrrng-"

The elderly fisherman had just turned a corner, in the middle of the Southtown district known as 'Chinatown'. The name rather speaks for itself, a collection of streets full of stores with obvious chinese cultural influences.

But Banyu had gotten lost.

The man has a map folded open in front of him, which he looks at intently- Attempting to find his way.. somewhere. Maps and Banyu do not mix very well, however! He had always preferred navigation by compass on the open seas, but that possibility is not open to him in the big city. "Graaaah! Where is this stupid-" He yells out, a few locals looking his way on the moderately busy afternoon street. The Indonesian shakes his head once more, before looking up and around his vicinity. His eyes eventually settling upon a local Chinese grocery store. "Hmph- I guess I'll make a stop here." Still mumbling to himself, he steps inside- almost right away finding himself the store's snack isle, and browsing through the various buns and salty snacks. "Gah- Pork, pork, pork.. and.. chicken. I guess chicken will have to do. These folks really do like their pork.."

[ECHO]
Echo had been making more trips out now that there was apparently some kind of 'spring event' going on, well, was already feeling like summer around town--which had led to her spending the mornings napping with the air conditioner on, and only venturing out when the giant ball of plasma and it's cancerous rays of heat were starting to fall back down beneath the horizon.

While her alien Makai animal person physiology dictated that she subsist mainly on the hemoglobin of living beings, water was still a necessity.

Which is what brought her to this very same small grocery store. Back in the states, they'd call these things 'bodegas' or the like, if they were smaller, but who was counting?

The woman's long black dress wasn't too out of place, perhaps a bit--though the magical charms that disguised her monstrous nature made her appear as a blur on security cameras as she traipsed through the place, peering at one of the bottles of water lined on a rack. Lacroix brand, in particular.

"Hmph, little wonder they'd name something after my clan, but that packaging, so gaudy, no style, tch," she rolled her eyes, sliding a hand along the rack as she continued around a corner of the aisle--coming right in the view of Banyu.

She paused, the click of her high heels stopping briefly, eyeing the very large man up. He was /big/, and probably wasn't any normal kind of person...

[BANYU]
Banyu took a brief glance backward, toward the mystery woman that just arrived. She stands out amongst the other persons around, mainly because of her dress and features. Banyu only looked for a second or two, before shrugging and walking off with a basket full of chicken dumplings. A big man has a big appetite, it seems. He dumps all of it off on the store counter, much to the disturbance of the elderly lady behind it. He counts out the required amount of yen, handing it over and stuffing all of the food in his small backpack-

Comically small, compared to Banyu.

He mumbles a quick "Have a nice day." Before walking out, then grabbing the folded up map from his pocket again- He seems very worked up as he looks over the map once more-

"Where am I even supposed to be on this darn thing..."

[ECHO]
There was for a brief moment a flicker of 'oh shit' over the bat lady's face, as if she suspected the larger, older man could see her--really see her, past the magical guise that she usually wore. However, when the man simply shrugged and turned disinterested--she visibly relaxed, though with a brow raise. She could of sworn someone that big probably was special in some way... but apparently not in the way she might have thought.

The water momentarily forgotten, Echo instead opted to follow the man out of the store, her curiousity aroused.

"Not able to find your way, stranger?" she would ask from behind the man, having followed along with him--surely he'd have heard the click of her heels, though perhaps she was able to follow along unnoticed, in his puzzlement of where to go.

[BANYU]
"Ugyaah--!" Apparently, he had /not/ noticed her approach, as he turns himself around in a bit of a fit. "Hrmph- Be careful what you.." He composes himself, trying to stay friendly towards someone he hadn't met. "Sorry about that, girl. Aye, that is so-" He rubs his head, as he readjusts his dungaree, below which he wears a white shirt.

"I just can't seem to figure it this wretched map! It's so.. confusing!" He complains, tilting the paper so she'd be able to peek with. "The darn' cityscape is so confusing, you hear me?"

"Was attemptin' to find me my way to the local Tailor back in- What did they call it? Southtown Village?

[ECHO]
"Girl? Hmph, that's a bit reductive, don't you think," Echo clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she sauntered closer, pointing a pale hand with a red painted, tapering nail toward the map that he was puzzling over. The way her skin seemed to shift and shimmer out of the corner of her eye, like that wasn't really skin at all... was it lined with threads, like on a carpet? Or lined with strands of hair...?

Or fur??

"You are in Chinatown right now, good sir, you are looking for Southtown Village, which is..." she traced her nail downward. If he'd ever seen a horror movie or a cartoon about such things, it might almost remind him of a long pointed nail of some kind of... witch?

"There," she smiled as she located the area where the village lay. It was several streets down from his current location.

[BANYU]
"Well..."

At her response, he looks over the woman- and can't help but sneak a glance at the more curvaceous aspects of her physique. Finally, he nods. "I suppose ye be correct, Lady."

Is it his imagination, or is something up with this woman..r
He looks at her curiously. "Hrmmmm..." For someone who claims to have slain gigantic monsters of the sea, he seems awfully dense at detecting darkstalkers. "I.. see. Thank you, woman." He closes the map- somewhat aggressively, before stowing it into his wide pocket again. The dark-tinted fisherman takes one more look at her- Trying to find what is bugging him about Echo. Before-

"A-Hah!" He looks at her like he's got it aaaall figured out-

[ECHO]
"Well, it pays to have a lady's touch," Echo grinned and actually booped the man's nose as she turned back and away from him. Perhaps she could feel the large musclebound man's eyes roving over her. Or maybe that was just an assumption. Either way, Echo was enjoying this game, such as it was.

"See something that transfixes you, stranger? Something about me, is it?" Echo was easily able to slip back into a more archiac style of speech, especially when she was fucking with people. It was perhaps second nature, moreso the style of speech her inner monologue might be in.

[BANYU]
"Hmph- No, that's not it."

Where it seemed like he realized something for a moment, he brushes it off soon after it happened. "Geh- Keep your hands away-" Another grunt as he halts himself. "Sorry. Bout' that. Old' habits, y'see." A vague statement to explain his marginally hostile moments.

"Nothing about, you, I believe? There's just this strange sense of.."

"Familiarity.."

[ECHO]
"Not anywhere near you--" Echo begins, looking a little confused, but also probably a little annoyed that he apparently isn't recognizing her for what she is--which obviously spoils the surprise gag factor for her. Then she realized--wait, shit, was he just admonishing himself for wanting to touch her? Wuh oh--

"A bit... HANDSY there, are you sir?" Echo found herself grinning, with those great big sharp ivory teeth. This next bit truly made her wonder, though.

"Familiar? Oh? more familiar than little old Echo here?" she raised her brows, though still grinning.

[BANYU]
Its just-- Your presence reminds me off..." Another few seconds of thinking. Before it finally hits him.

"OOOOOH-A THAT FOUL SHE-WITCH- THE TEMPTRESS- THE DEMONESS! THAT... BITCH!"

And he explodes in a fit of rage, as he is reminded of Lyraelle Darkheart, the woman that humiliated him in front of a huge audience. And huffing and puffing, he turns to her aggressively- As he finally sees through that disguise. Her furred skin, her majestic wings, and her long, pointed ears. "Grrrrah- You are one of /them/, are you not- get- get out of my sight! The last time I encountered one of you was one of the /worst/ days of my life- it's- Rah!"

[ECHO]
Beneath the illusion, Echo's hair was blown back, with clenched teeth and eyes wincing, her large bat ears buffeted by the sudden outburst of air and rage that Banyu expelled. Finally, once it was over, she managed to regain both her balance, and fussily swept her hair back, eying the man a bit differently now.

"Oh, so you've seen through my disguise, old man--all you needed was a spark of emotion, it would appear, usually it's only lunatics or those that bask in the full moon," well, besides children--Echo has had a bit of fun with a few of those who she ran into and could see her, for sure. Not in a meanspirited way, even--she was actually impressed with the reactions some of them had.

"And who is this of who you speak?" Echo raised a brow, her wings rustling a little bit as she fixed her hair back behind her large ears.

[BANYU]
"Hgrrr-" He calms himself down a smidge, at least enough to not blow up further at the (mostly) innocent Echo.

"Lyraelle Darkheart..." He utters, contempt ringing out loud and clear in his voice. "You know the Neo-League? Well, be fightin' in that. Eventually I got assaulted out of nowhere by that she-fiend and all of her DROOLING fans. It was despicable-"

The man shakes his head, before clenching a fist. "Aye, I will be gettin' my revenge soon enough. That creature deserves to pay..."

The man is angry, truly angry- Seething, even. "A darkstalker, was the name? You gave off a slightly similair.. scent."

"Although you be an angel' in compared to that hellspawn.."

[ECHO]
"Oof, I remind you of /her/?" Echo visibly shrunk--lot literally, though--one could tell from the slight bow of her head and hunch of her back momentarily that that was quite a remark to unpack there.

"Oh yes, she has many men that she bewitches!" Echo nods, seeming to try and placate the very large and very enraged man, somehow.

"A sorceress, indeed!" Echo continued, then raised a brow there. "Wait, what kind of scent--but YES--a temptress of the night!" the bat continued to nod, keeping her distance but not apparently as intimidated by the man's sudden outburst.

"And--awww, I wasn't fishing for that but thank you~" she grinned slightly at the 'angel' comment.

[BANYU]
"You're.. Welcome.." He grumbles back.

"Only a fool would fall for such a woman." He explains. "No grace, no humility- Just- just- A nice body!" In his anger, he admits to that, at least. "Aye- I cannot explain it exactly. But you 'darkstalkers' just give off a certain feeling. That's what I had been feelin' I wager"

He clenches a /second/ fist "Any mention of her gets my salty blood boiling, it does."

[ECHO]
"Of course," Echo is nodding, but it's obviously more to get Banyu to calm down, the gag she attempted to pull on him has backfired a bit, it would seem.

"Salty? Hrm," Echo made a face at that. Suddenly she was reminded of the fact she could have really used that water, damnit!

"I know not why either, sirrah, everyone knows bats are a boy's best friend--" she slipped that in there with a bit of a grin, gesturing to herself, not about being a little bit of a flirt, but also also shameless.

"Would appear the pink temptress of the night has been getting quite a bit of attention... not to mention a lot of unwanted attention for me, hmm..." what to do, she must have been thinking.

[BANYU]
"Salty, like the oceans that I called home. The raging waves and bountiful harvest that lay beneath." He looks toward the sky wistfully, talking about this calming him down further- "I miss sailin' on that fickle mistress- Even for a fisherman like meself there be plenty of adventure on those rocking waters." That, and the bat's friendly tone further helps with that calmness- and to snap him out of his nostalgia.

"Aye. I be sorry for rantin' and ravin' about er'. I lost meself." He apologizes, seems like the old man can be friendly from time to time.

"A bat, y'say? I suppose that is an apt description.." The fisherman looks over her once more, not sure whether he should be interested or repelled. He seemed to have come to a conclusion, and nods.

"S'pose I can agree with that, Aye."

[ECHO]
"Well, yes, that's what I've always been," Echo nodded, her long dark hair falling over one eye. She was sometimes curious as to why people compared her to Lyra, was it the wings? That was some racial profilin', that.

"It's true, Echo Lacroix, at your service, milord," she nodded, putting on a bit more flair and charm for the salty old fisherman. Who apparently didn't like being touched. Again, odd!

"You should visit my place in Chinatown if you're ever in need of service," she handed the man a card, it was to some occult store in Chinatown, indeed. It was somewhat generic-looking, white, with a little violet pentagram on the upper right hand corner, followed by a stencil of her name.

[BANYU]
"I see." He gingerly accepts the card, inspecting it with a somwhat dissaproving look. "Occult, be it? I Cannae say I be interested in such things." Yet, he still neatly stows the card in chest pocket respectfully.

"Though ye never know when such things become useful, aye?" He then admits. "I s'pose I must thank you for ye assistance. Tis' well appericiated, aye. I am Banyu Darma, it be a pleasure." A quick bow, a nod, almost.

[ECHO]
"A pleasure indeed, a sea man like yourself might be in need of my... special skills at some point, but for right now, I must quench my thirst," Echo grins and uses one of her wings like a dragon lady's folding fan, playfully and seductively flicking it over her face as she begins to turn and gives the man a wave.

"I will see you later," she then begins to grow quite dark, as if the light is refusing to touch her--then she softly implodes in a small fluttering cloud of bats--which leap into the shadows of a nearby alley.

It's one helluva exit, and one she doesn't always bother to make, but Mr. Darma had been... intriguing.

[BANYU]
"Perhaps." He responds simply, as he watches- assuming she'll just walk away to go about her business, but-

"By Allah! How did she?!" The man looks flabbergasted at her exit, frantically looking around to look for her. "Hrmgn- Sorceress..." Mumbling under his breath, he starts to follow the way that Echo had explained to him- back to the village and the shoddy apartement he had rented.

"It be this way, aye..?"

Log created on 15:21:51 06/05/2021 by Banyu, and last modified on 19:59:48 06/05/2021.