Description: New alliances begin to form in Southtown. For all the deals one makes, sometimes one has to wonder if they picked the right side? Sada is paid a visit by one of her newfound 'allies' and she begins to realize that she is not on the side of the angels. What is it that the Devil of Koga sees in her? Will Sada survive the Ninja's curiousity?
Sada Asai is eating lunch.
Since school remains in partial recess (there are supplementary tutoring classes and various "fun" "things" to do, such as bonus flower arrangement courses! Hooray!!) the schoolgirls have somewhat more freedom to roam. Crossing over to the park is so close that it doesn't even need an off-campus pass, and so Sada has gone over there to eat - and to practice.
Several stands of tall bamboo are somewhat shorter; she is sitting on a gym towel while consuming the contents of her bento, the kusarigama curled up like a rattlesnake on the soft, springy grass. She is pretty easily seen from a distance, although she is isolated enough that her distant kiais and slice-chop-twists are not a threat to people who may be strolling more daintily.
Even as a den of crime and villainy, Southtown holds many places of beauty. The park at lunchtime is an idyllic setting for many of the girls of Seijyun to have their lunches or take walks, along with all of the others of Southtown to enjoy a respite from the urban sprawl. A spiritual place, a wonderful location to practice arts and align the body and mind.
Not everyone is quite so enamored of such beauty, however.
"...Kusarigama..." A soft, female voice whispers from a point behind a nearby bamboo stand. A figure seated at the base of a tree.. shrouded by a wide-brimmed parasol, eclipsing her completely from the burning sun above. "...A wonderful.. inventive weapon. A work of true skill.. unlike the tools of the Samurai.. Would you not agree?"
Somehow that voice.. drains the vitality from the air. The sounds of the wind stirring the trees dies away, as well as the faint sounds of laughter of children playing elsewhere. Even the breeze looses a bit of its warmth, baring a chill that caresses the girl's arms and legs.
Something about that voice runs up of Sada's spine. She can feel her teeth grit a little at the noise of it - even if she's used to the various sounds of the female voice from her work in Seijyun's glee club, it's still a pain in the spine and the lower back muscles. She looks up from her lunch of tuna slices and rice.
She looks towards the parasol-wielding figure, her lips pursing together. She answers, her deepish voice almost gruff, "It's great, yes." She tries to ignore that chill breeze - it's not that bad, at least, not yet. "Do you practice here? I'll be done in about an hour." She doesn't recognize the girl -- but she /is/ in a public park, after all.
What small details the shadowy umbrella divulges hint that this maiden is no 'girl', fully a woman with a deep, sultry voice to match. Sitting motionless in a proper, kneeling position. The gold highlights of her black kimono glinting in the sunlight, curiously tattered at the edges. She could be a manniquin for all of her movements, an aura of stillness that the gentle park breeze does not touch.
"Nooo.. I came here for you. Saaadaaa.. yes? I have heard many lovely things about you, girl. ... Miss Elle has spoken very highly of you.." The maiden's voice slow, deliberate. Almost hypnotic..
Sada's teeth grind against each other for a moment. This feels weird - she doesn't have the experience to put her finger on just why, but it's lulling. She is alert enough to know that she doesn't really get tired at this hour, and so there must be something strange going on.
"Uh huh," she says, lips still pursed. "What's your name, then?" Her head tilts, after a slight motion of the neck to toss her hair back. She squints again, trying to pierce the gloom of that strange parasol.
Slowly the parasol moves asside. The first movement witnessed from this ethereal maiden. Slowly revealing achingly pale skin, almost glowing beneath the sunlight even as she sits within the tree's noon time shadow. As beautiful as a funeral, her black locks arranged in a formal bun; pinned in place by a golden needle. Dark bangs hiding her eyes completely from view, like the yurei of myth. Violent lips caressing every word she speaks, "My name... is unimportant.." She breathes. Slowly gesturing a long sleeve in the girl's direction, "Perhaps.. defeat me.. And I will tell you?"
The remark punctuated with a sudden 'clack', as her parasol collapses tightly before slowly, reverently, placed upon the grass at her folded knees. Every movement a formality, traditional. As if she was a perfect student of Seijyun many, many years ago.
Oh great, Sada realizes. Someone like this. This whole thing smells like it's some kind of a trap, but she remembers being told by Elle that she wouldn't just get thrown at enormous people to get maimed or killed. Whatever this creepy coolth washing over her body is - this probably won't be fatal.
She hopes.
She reaches down as she puts the bento aside, picking up the kusarigama. "Fine," she says, stepping forwards, perhaps to spare the lacquered wooden box the fortunes of war. She chokes up her grasp on the kusari itself, spinning it at her side once, and says with somewhat assumed brass, "Come on, then."
COMBATSYS: Sada has started a fight here.
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Sada 0/-------/-------|
As the young Seijyun student assents to the request, the dark maiden slowly rises. Lifting to her feet with bonelessly smooth grace. Her arms slowly falling to her sides as her kimono falls open off of her shoulders, "Yesss.. Your heart is strong girl.. Miss Elle chose you wisely.."
The needle upon her head pushes itself free, slipping from her locks as an ocean of black silk spills behind her shoulders like a cascading wave. Rustling nearly to the grass about her bare feet and shifting in directions the wind does not push. "Show me your heart girl.."
Dark bangs part as the ghostly maiden tilts her head forth, revealing golden eyes. Glimmering within the shadows from the sun, burning with an inhuman intensity, "..Show me your strength.."
A breathless request, as the ghoulish maiden slowly advances. Her arms lifting in the manner of an unliving apparition, slowly approaching as if seeking an embrace. Movements so smooth and effortless she almost seems to glide an inch above the ground, leaving not a single blade of grass disturbed.
COMBATSYS: Marise has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Sada 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
Sada cringes back just for a moment. This is not so much from the woman's words as it is from her appearance. All of these creepy things... She lets her lips thin to a tiny line as she says, "You're not going to get to see it /yourself/," perhaps in fear that the nameless creepy woman DOES mean it literally.
She's floating, Sada also notes, although this triggers a faint moment of annoyance in that very heart. Well, she tells herself, the last time you fought someone who floated, it went pretty well.
She advances towards Marise, spinning the kusari at her side with steadily increasing force. When she reaches the right distance, she whips it forwards without letting go of the chain, slinging it down like a flail even as she tightens her grip on the kama on the far end of the chain!
COMBATSYS: Marise blocks Sada's Spinning The Kusari.
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Sada 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
The ghostly woman continues stalking closer, undaunted by the girl's fast movements as she continues approaching with a calm, errie pace. Those golden eyes do not follow the movement of that whirling chain in the slightest, no.. Those eyes remain fixed straight through the girl. As if following the movement of things beneath Sada's skin, appraising the unseen colors of her body as she moves and acts.
At the very last moment, a pale hand lifts and captures the flail-end of the chain, striking her palm with an audible crack. The Devil's arm shuddering beneath the force, but she doesn't so much as flinch, "..Faster girl.."
The creatures other hand rises.. fingers splaying slowly as her long nails slowly extend longer, whispering like blades over cloth, "..Your heart isn't beating fast yet!" Lips curling upwards, her voice adding a bizarre cadence as she swipes with her claws.. Her reach seemingly further than human. The damage from the raking nails will be minimal.. But the technique embedded within them that could disrupt the girl's very life-force?.. Something she will learn to avoid and soon..
COMBATSYS: Marise successfully hits Sada with Shinigami.
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Sada 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Marise
At least, Sada thinks as the weird cold bites into her skin, she didn't blow me up! Sada has learned to, in her ways, accept small mercies. Her eyes water as she takes a step back, her face blanching - the golden shade to her skin changing tone into something sicklier, at least for a moment.
She doesn't comment, however. Instead, she yanks the kusari back away from the ghostlike maiden, saying through gritted teeth, "So you're telling me to fight for your entertainment?!"
She whips the chain forwards again, now, aiming to loop it around Marise's floating feet and yank her forwards -- if nothing else, it might make her touch the ground. Perhaps even get dirty!
COMBATSYS: Marise endures Sada's Medium Throw.
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Sada 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Marise
While the ghost's grace is easy to mistake for true gliding, the illusion of such unnatural locomotion is dispelled as the girl loops her chain around the ghost's pearlescent ankles. The maiden breathes sharply as she is thusly yanked down, toppling swiftly backwards in a rush as she she collapses upon the soft grace.
"N..Nnha.. Yesssss.." She breathes, her excited expression partly obscured by her disheveled locks, "..I can see your heart awakening now.."
Shapely legs -pulling- backwards as the ghost spins on her hip, attempting to pull the girl forwards with the abrupt motion as a single hand lifts upwards swiftly. A pale arm extending from her sleeve to unnatural length as fingers seek to clamp gently at the girl's throat.. An almost affectionate gesture as she replies, "...Entertaiiinment..? No no.. sweet thing.."
COMBATSYS: Marise successfully hits Sada with Maou Zansatsu.
Glancing Blow
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Sada 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Marise
Cool fingers just graze the girl's neck as she begins to pull away.. For a single heartbeat Sada can feel the warmth at her neck slip away.. Leaving a frightening shade of crimson lingering on the ghost's fingertips. A color that slowly dissolves into the snow whiteness of her unnatural skin. With a quick check she can tell that she isn't bleeding.. as if her blood was taken through the touch alone..
"...Merely tasting your strength.. If we are to be.. allies.." The Devil murmurs with whispered approval, tongue running along her lips in a moment of satisfaction.
That eerie coldness saps away from Sada's heart - her blood is very rich, indeed quite vital. She probably compares favorably with the average schoolgirl, but then, she's a good deal more muscular than most. She grimaces at the sensation, cold sweat forming at the back of her neck as she steps away.
"Do you suck the blood out of your allies - float at them - do whatever the hell you're doing, usually?!" she cries out, although thankfully nobody is close enough to hear her. She raises the kama in her hand, eyes seeming to glitter. "If this is what you act like, I'm going to beat your ass down, creepy tricks or not!"
She breathes in, nostrils flaring for a moment, and lowers her head. Her arm extends, seeming to lock into position as she positions it behind her. She lets out a sudden, sharp kiai as she lunges towards Marise, accelerating as she goes as if meaning to slam into the ghostly woman -- and in a way, she is! Her arm snaps upwards, leading with the wickedly curved steel blade as she gets just within the proper range!
COMBATSYS: Marise dodges Sada's Deep Strike.
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Sada 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Marise
The creature again rises to her feet.. slow, unhurried motions as she calmly arranges her Kimono. Neatly adjusting the neckline somewhere just above her chest.. if fractionally. Seeing the girl's rage build within her like a fire as those glowing eyes half-hood, peering through her. Lips again coiling upwards, liking what she sees, "...Nnmmm.. Such rage.. such fire.."
The Devil simply holds her arms outwards, for all the world seemingly about to embrace the incoming slash that may well strike down any other mortal woman in twain with its viciousness. But as the girl charges.. The woman calmly waves her long sleeve before her, briefly veiling her movements before slipping away. Not unlike the Matador of Spain, as the scything blade cleaves only the nothingness after the deceptive movement, leaving the apparition to sidestep and avoid almost certain destruction.
"..I respect you girl.." Standing behind her now, a looming, taller figure. Simply leaning forward just enough to whisper, "..Learn to control your anger.. And many will fear you.. You lovely thing.."
At that, the woman simply inhales deeply, as if taking in this schoolgirl's vivacious aroma. The air seemingly growing even more chill.. sending shivers along her spine as sounds drown out by a rising stillness. A momentary, profound silence.. As if the woman was drawing in the warmth of the world to her.
COMBATSYS: Marise gathers her will.
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Sada 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Marise
That abrupt motion confounds Sada. She doesn't whirl around even as she can hear that whispering voice right behind her ear - a whispering voice combined with that deep breathing as if to draw in the smell of her sweat. To her, it has moved into a different realm of creepy, now, and this is almost entirely because of her anger.
"Ggh - you creepy bitch!" she cries, keeping her arm fully extended. She whirls around for a moment, before letting go of the kama and twisting her arm again, whipping out a length of several feet of chain, which she grasps firmly. "Fine!"
She advances then, whipping the kama on its chain in front of her, the blade whicking through the air; a stray shaft of bamboo is sliced through, neatly chopped in twain despite being nearly half an inch in diameter. The blade didn't even slow down! She MUST be getting angry.
COMBATSYS: Marise blocks Sada's Shinryukan Correction.
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Sada 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Marise
WHAP.
The whirling, accelerating Kama strikes true.. That is, the handle beneath the slicing blade strikes firmly into the creature's outstretched hand. Bringing the singing blade to a jarring stop, inches from what would have been a certainly fatal wound beside the Devil's neck. The gleaming silvery finish reflecting her bleach-white skin an inch away.
Far from looking scared for her life, the yurei looks entirely pleased at that growing anger. Pushing her to greater heights of strength.. There is more left in her, she knows. She can see it.. lurking in her heart.
"Almost child.." Suddenly reaching out her free hand in a bid to grab the girl's shoulder and pull her close in a jerking, painful twist..
COMBATSYS: Sada counters Quick Throw from Marise with Mount Hiei Reversal.
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Sada 1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Marise
And then that blade arcs back and up towards Sada's hand, sliding up in a twisting reversal move to press that hand reaching towards her shoulder away. Sada takes a short leap back afterwards, before pointing with the handle of the kama itself towards Marise, her eyes narrowing.
"Give me a break," she says, which she probably picked up from some TV show. "Are you really a ghost, or are you just being creepy with some kind of Evil Energy to try and throw me off?" Her eyes widen, and she grins - although Marise can probably tell it's a little forced. "Now I know how you operate! Do you really think you can beat me?!"
(probably)
The Devil's arm is twisted about in the reversal, bonelessly wrenching over in a move that would have most screeching in pain. For her? She calmly glances down to her mangled arm with lifting eyebrows, appraising the damage wrought as she quickly twists her arm back into place with several loud pops. Fingers flexing as she then looks back with a wide, devillian grin, "Very good girl.. very good." Fangs sharpened to a degree that isn't quite human.
"Your anger is erasing your fear.. control and strength is returning.." She murmurs in a tone that can only be.. desire. "..A ghost am I? ... Well girl.. Judge for yourself.."
The Devil suddenly leans forwards, falling in a quick arc until she doubles forwards like a trackrunner.. Then -RUSHING- with much more speed than an elegant, graceful thing such as she seemed capable of. Moving to vault up to Sada and throw her arms around her shoulders boldly... Golden eyes flashing..
COMBATSYS: Marise successfully hits Sada with Yomi no Junan.
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Sada 1/--=====/=======|-------\-------\0 Marise
Those long arms embrace the girl tightly.. And in a shockingly twisted moment, cool lips clamp onto her own. The Devil offers a soft moaning.. tilting her head just so as she inhales. The schoolgirl can feel a sensation similar to her heart growing colder.. beating softer than it was moments ago.. A spreading chill as her breath leaves her lungs and the very strength of her heart pulled up her throat and into the awaiting maw of the Devil, devouring the life-force with relish that borders on the perverse.
Fortunately, an academic career at Seijyun has partially prepared Sada for being kissed by another woman.
Nonetheless, it bites at her. She can't feel her lips after a moment, and the vision in her eyes greys for a moment - whether from the failure of blood or the draining of it, or from some kind of terrifying chi power. Sada doesn't pull away from the horrifying kiss, however...
Perhaps because she can't. However, she twists the kusari around with her draining strength, trying to wrap it around the legs of the ghostly woman. She then tosses the kama away over her shoulder, towards that shady tree - perhaps losing her mind due to sheer pain and agony.
Then she tears herself away from that deadly kiss, voice hoarse as she gasps, "I'm pretty sure..."
Her breath hitches for a moment, and her legs split, grasping at Marise's knees with her own. After this, she jerks her thighs up at the same time that she yanks on the chain, the kama hooking into the sturdy wood of the tree as she tries to slam the ghost-woman head-first into that very same durable wood -- probably to the detriment of her health!
"... that you're hitting on me," Sada concludes.
COMBATSYS: Marise blocks Sada's Avenging Anegawa.
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Sada 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Marise
The Creature hardly seems to notice the cool chains curling about her bare legs, immersed as she is in her violating pleasures. Until finally the girl tears herself free.. Trailing wisps of energy coil through the air, parting the schoolgirl's mouth before quickly inhaling through the Devil's lips. Golden eyes rolling into the back of her head as she just savors the vital, luscious power, "..Nnmm.."
Distracting enough for the girl to successfully trip her. Her own legs caught and the chain is pulled.. toppling backwards to -SLAM- against the surface of the tree. .... Amazingly, the impact barely seems to hurt her. Shockingly pliant body simply leaning against the tree a moment as her eyes roll forth once more to refocus upon the fighting warrior.
"...I can taste the greatness in you girl.." At that.. The Devil then simply lifts her hand. Palm towards her in a ceasing gesture. Apparently having had enough to satisfy her curiousity.
"I can see why Miss Elle desires your talents.. My name is Marise Satsuko." Declairing her name in a clear surrender. No need to damage the girl any further, or risk damage in turn. It may .. annoy.. the girl's superior in Seijyun. Something Marise's own leader would be .. miffed.
COMBATSYS: Marise takes no action.
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Sada 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Marise
[OOC] Marise hugs her block. ;_; "T..thank you from saving me from sharp pointy things. Wo Ah Ni."
Sada breathes in and breathes out, perhaps trying to stablize that thready sensation in her heart. "My name is Sada Asai," she says, before raising the kama to point the tip of it at the newly-named ghost. "You don't have an excuse to call me 'girl' any more, now. Got it?"
She is trembling a little, even now, but it's starting to fade. Her breathing is getting deeper and steadier, and /she/ at least seems uninterested in standing down just this moment.
COMBATSYS: Sada gains composure.
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Sada 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Marise
The Devil continues leaning against the tree limply. Similarly recovering from the intensity of the battle as her golden eyes continue to stare through the girl. Seeing the lines of chi coursing through her body, disrupted in part from her own destructive techniques unleashed upon her. But already those paths of life-force begin to mend, healing in the manner that all living things do.
Marise? She heals in a different manner.. as the Kusarigami wielder's stolen breath is put to use, reinvigorating her decrepid flows of life within her. Even though it does nothing to help her ghoulish complextion.
"..Of course.. Sada.." Plush lips curling into a smile. Leaning forth away from the tree to rebalance upon her bare feet, arms limply hanging at her sides as she continues, "..Where did you learn to wield the Kusarigama? ..I thought such technique was long since lost in this weakened world.. It has been many years since I've seen such skill with that weapon.."
COMBATSYS: Marise gains composure.
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Sada 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Marise
Sada frowns slightly. "Huh? It's not dead. They just subsumed it into some other schools, because not a lot of people practice it." She spins the kusari around once, perhaps more for the sake of idle demonstration --
And then she seems to relax slightly. Perhaps, now, the fight is over. "My grandfather taught me. I don't know where he learned it from, probably his father."
COMBATSYS: Sada has left the fight here.
> ///////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Marise
COMBATSYS: Marise has ended the fight here.
The fight is indeed over.
The ghostly creature may seem unreasonably vicious.. but she always has a purpose. A calculation to everything she does. Certainly, she always wishes to see the strength of those she would call comrade in arms. The Devil does not approach, knowing full well the girl would take such a gesture as renewed hostilities. Instead.. The tall woman's volumes of tendrilous hair suddenly begins to slither upwards. Her tresses curling up like a waterfall slowly reversing, reweaving itself into that previous bun as a stray lock reinserts that golden needle back into place.
Her bangs, likewise, curtain back closed. Hiding those wicked, inhuman eyes from the world once more. Even though the girl can always feel them upon her with that same, undead intensity.
"It is an art, Sada. An art lost upon most. Your grandfather was a man of the old ways.." Her head tilting forwards as her edged smile becomes somewhat wistful, "..If only more girls were like you in this day and age.. Perhaps this country would not have descended into Hell so readily."
Sada steps back with a visible recoil at the sight of that moving hair. "Are you sure you're not named Tomie!?" she says, eyes going wide at the horrible sight! It's not the weirdest thing ever, but it sure comes close.
Her head tilts to the side as her eyes narrow. "Are you sure you know Elle?" she counters a moment later, which is probably an active attempt to avoid a topic that may be vaguely uncomfortable.
At the accusation of that unfamiliar name, the Devil simply titters under her breath. Paying the look no mind as she holds out her hand.. Her arm slowly extending from her sleeve. Elongating at an unhurried, gravity-defying pace until she reaches a good dozen feet away.. near the staring girl to grasp the bamboo pole of her parasol. Pulling the accessory back carefully.
"Of course." Settling the closed umbrella over her bare shoulder as she adds, "Miss Elle and I intend to do many great things. Yesss indeed I know her. And you.. lovely Sada.. Can be a part of it. All you need do is stretch forth your hand.." Words punctuated with a twist of her wrist, unfurling her parasol with a sudden snap. Eclipsing her upper-half from view, once more enshrouding her pale form from the torturous sun above, "..And take it. I look forward to fighting at your side.. my friend. Yes indeed... Mnnn." Her voice trailing as the ghost then turns slowly.
Yes.. things are coming together quickly now. Quickly indeed.. Very good.
That is even worse, and Sada doesn't comment on it. "... Well, then," Sada says, taking a half-step back. "... I'll see you around," she concludes a moment later. Her lips purse; she looks paler than usual even now. The fervor of battle has passed, maybe, and it's hard going.
Notably, she doesn't turn away from the strange woman. Not now, at least. She's probably anticipating something.
The Devil turns away fully from the girl. Stalking forth in a calm, easy pace as she simply meanders back into the depths of the park. Looking for all the world like a woman leaving a funeral as her shadow trails her at length.
A few other passerbys criss cross along Sada's vision, passing the strange woman by while giving her a few curious looks. Until one couple passes by.. and the Devil is simply nowhere to be seen any longer. Disappeared between blinks of an eye.. As if she never was.
Only the lingering pain of injuries.. and that chilling absense of warmth in the girl's heart, is the only proof the Devil was here at all.
Log created on 20:13:42 06/02/2007 by Marise, and last modified on 17:58:41 06/03/2007.