Description: Objective: Making a point. Obstacle: Crow girl of Seijyun. Alias: None. Summary: Intent on teaching Miu a lesson for her previous interference, Ayame breaks into the student's dorm room looking for anything of value. While she finds nothing with any kind of monetary value, the girl discovers that there are other measures of worth besides pricetag when Miu catches her in the act.
Ayame doesn't usually hold grudges. But sometimes she determines that someone hadn't sufficiently learned their lesson to stay out of her business. Usually this is because someone ends up besting her to the point that her plots, plans, and machinations are foiled, much to her chagrin. The girl tends to let the dust settle before returning to 'follow up' with previous obstacles, wait for them to not suspect a thing... Then she'll strike!
Accessing the administration building records gave Ayame information about Miu's class schedule as well as which dorm room is hers in the all girl's dormitory. Armed with that information, it was just a matter of time before the foiled thief made her move. Timing her visit to the building when she expects Miu to be off in classes, Ayame approaches Miu's door with her own 'key', a pair of lock picks she keeps hidden beneath her left wrist guard normally.
Glancing up and down the hall to make sure it's empty, the strawberry-blonde grins faintly, crouching down, lock picks in hand as she narrows one eye and inserts them into the keyhole. With her experience in the trade of 'locksmithing', it will only take her a good fifteen seconds to get the door open...
Her last run in with Miu seemed to indicate she didn't have much in the way of anything particularly /valuable/ in the sense of cash or money, but this time it's personal and Ayame is more than happy to swipe anything that might look to be valuable in a 'personal' sense just BECAUSE she's a mean spirited little hellion!
The halls of Seijyun Academy for Girls is quite a sight in the middle of cold winters. The occasional snowfall, the drop from warmth to cold-- and certain friends migrate to the south in this time of year. It's that time when the likes of Miu Kurosaki tends to stay indoors, even despite the fact it means that she's forced to be boxed in with the very people she finds it so hard to get along with. Since coming to this, the school for the elite, she's also found herself wishing for the times she could just walk down to the on-campus shop and get a melon bread and -get away- from the others.
And sometimes, she just needs to cut class in order to keep herself sane.
With a plastic mug of hot chocolate in hand, she paces through the grand foyer and toward the stairs, shoulders sagging and her face more somber than usual.
In Miu's room, however, the theme of not having much in the way of money seems to hold true here, as well-- there're no real fancy decorations aside from school-provided materials; the desk, the bed, all of it issued by Seijyun. A corkboard is propped up against the wall at the top of her desk, letters tacked up onto it. A few are of a business sort, notes and messages from things like the Saturday Night Fight crew for her hard work, a couple from the school regarding fees, and ... more than a few of a personal nature, signed by her hospitalized younger brother.
Aside from the four-function calculator on the desk next to the stack of notebooks (and curiously, medical textbooks), there really isn't a whole lot there that's worth a monitary value... but this so-called 'sanctuary' for Miu is -exactly- what Ayame is looking for, everything chock full of sentimentality, history, and value.
And as she reaches the top of the stairs, she pauses, fishing her room keys out before continuing down the hall toward her room...
Once inside, Ayame had closed the door behind her and locked it once again, taking in the small habitat with an expert eye for picking out items of interest. Moving away from the door, the thief swept over everything in the room, running her hand lightly across Miu's bed sheets, pulling a drawer or two open before closing them, finding nothing of interest that caught her attention.
But eventually she moves to the desk and the corkboard, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she skims the letters and examins the bindings of the textbooks to see what topics seem to interest the strange black feather spewing girl of Seijyun High. Nimble fingers pluck a couple of the letters from the board, brown eyes reading their contents more intently as she recognizes that they aren't the formal sort sent by school administration or league officials. "Well, well," she muses as she quickly reads letter after letter, oblivious to the approach of the room's occupant.
Folding the papers in into quarters, she slides them into the outter pocket of the pouch attached to her belt before turning around to look at the room again. A couple swiped letters doesn't really seem significant enough to her, but petty vandalism doesn't really fit into her MO. And Miu really just doesn't have much stuff. "She must be /really/ popular," Ayame ponders out loud, voice laced with sarcasm.
She's just on her way toward the closet when she hears the sound of keys rattling out in the hallway outside the door. Freezing, she blinks at the door. Pesky students, why don't they ever STAY in their classes like they're supposed to?! Frowning faintly, Ayame presses herself up behind where the door will swing in on its hinjges, holding her breath as she waits to see if the door is going to open...
And if it does? She's just going to slam it right back, trying to clock Miu in the face with her own door!
Her brother is sick, the doctors still don't know, mom and dad are fine, he's doing okay. Is she doing okay? That fight on TV looked like it hurt.
All of the letters follow the same general theme, painting the portrait of a caring brother even when he's in no position to help out his sister. Of course, a few letters missing may mean little to Ayame, but it'll mean the world to Miu...
The keys jingle for only a moment. There's only all of three before the one she finds is chosen, putting the key to the lock and giving a quick thrust, the metal-on-metal *tik-ik-ik-a-ik* ringing through almost louder inside the room than outside. The lock inside turns, likely to Ayame's dismay, and the hiding place proves to be valuable as she twists the knob and starts to walk in. Her messenger bag is unshouldered while she balances keys and mug, calm and centered as can be.
*SLAM*
The door closes back up before it can even fully open, slamming into her on her toes and her forehead. The mug can be heard dropping to the floor with the keys, the light *thump* is either the small girl or the messenger bag.
Miu stands with her back to the wall behind her, eyes wide and eyebrows creased. It's all confusion by this point, and with her mouth drawing into a tight, flat line, the small crow girl lunges at the door and moves to rip it open with all she has-- and to hell with whoever it may be invading her room!
Success. At least in Ayame's mind. Her intent was to disorient Miu as severely as possible. She really isn't interested in fighting the psychic powered recluse a second time if she can help it, hence all the attempt at not actually being /caught/ here.
Miu has only a second to reach toward the door handle after Ayame had slammed her right back out into the hall before the portal opens on its own accord; or, rather, Ayame's, as the intruder yanks the door right back open and blitzes out into the hall, attempting to shove Miu right back against the wall she just thudded against a moment ago. The intent is clearly to just daze her long enough for Ayame to push off her and make her way down the hall...
"Oh, sorry, wrong room." the girl chirps in the act of trying to slam Miu up against the wall. "Should probably keep your door locked, never know when some unsavory sort might help themselves in!" Last time she was Santa Ayame, but this time the girl is dressed in one of her strange array of black and reds, including a black blouse and a plaid skirt and a black hair ribbon tied into a sizeable bow in her hair.
Of course, the time to take all this in is rather brief, as Ayame is moving quite fast!
COMBATSYS: Ayame has started a fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Miu has joined the fight here.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Miu
COMBATSYS: Miu blocks Ayame's Medium Throw.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Miu
The dramatic charge to the door with the step of black and blue shoe into hot chocolate on an expensive carpet is cut off-- cut off as suddenly a rush of blonde, black, and red is upon her, slamming her up against the wall-- and with her arms thrown back to catch herself and reduce the damage, as well as her stun time. Wait, that face-- that hair. Is that?!"
"HEY!"
One of the times you hear Miu shouting, looking into the room she's been living in with a panicked expression before charging down the hall after Ayame.
With no lead-up to the sprint, the girl takes off down the hall with a hard, angry expression to follow Ayame, to sling herself through the air like a projectile. Twisting, her arm lashes outward in a harsh arc, a white feather bleeding out of her knuckles. It makes a hard slice at her back-- looking to cleave her as the crow girl lands, from shoulder to hip with that powerful energy. She doesn't know what to say, what to think-- just... -act-!
COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Miu's Shubatsu.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Miu
Oof, it looks like Miu wasn't as stunned as Ayame had hoped. The speedy thief doesn't get nearly the distance she had expected before the anti-social but surprisingly alert girl sprints down the hall after her. The last time they were fighting Ayame struggled to sense the strange energy Miu wields in the form of feathers capable of slashing, cutting, slicing, or piercing...
But this time she is not so oblivious to that power. Having been forced to fight a certain Southtown Syndicate agent while blind folded in a SNF left Ayame getting a better feel for how to sense the unusual power sorts like Miu are able to fling about. The 'mystery' of psychic attacks has ceased to be such a mystery to the girl since then...
And when Miu gains on her and makes that strong slice toward Ayame's back, the agile girl hops forward, spinning around while still in mid-air to weave out of the way just in time, landing on her feet facing Miu while still skipping backward several steps due to the momentum she's trying to get control over now.
"Whoa, you shouldn't waste time chasing me, don't you have a room to get back hiding in?" Ayame states, wagging her finger as she skips back another couple of steps, making sure that the white feather is no longer at risk of striking her before she weaves back in toward Miu, sweeping her foot low to the carpet to try and trip the girl off her feet...
And if successful, she won't even give the dark clad student the chance to simply fall down as she'll snap out with her foot for a follow up strike intending to send Miu rolling back down the hall a little. With an almost sing-song voice, Ayame continues, "I'm afraid I don't have time to play today - I already got what I came for... o/~"
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Miu with Light Kick.
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Ayame 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Miu
The feather misses by a narrow margin-- is it her emotional state, or has Ayame become more agile? Whichever the case, the small girl's recovery from her own strike is cut short as her ankles are taken out from under her, the following kick one hard enough to ring bells and make her gasp for air. Tumbling back into the hall and landing sideways, it doesn't take Miu more than a moment to get back up to her feet. "What did you take-- WHAT DID YOU TAKE?!"
It seems like a fire's been lit underneath her. Her purple eyes are wide, her teeth bared... for the second time in awhile, once again: Miu Kurosaki's very, very angry. Running toward Ayame one more time, she whips around in a hard circle to throw one of her trademark feathers, twisting the other way and very nearly tripping over her own feet to throw the other.
"COME BACK HERE!!"
COMBATSYS: Miu successfully hits Ayame with Kakure Amagakeri.
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Ayame 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Miu
Lowering her foot back to the floor after the follow up snap kick to send Miu a little ways, Ayame pauses, hands up in front of her as she looks ready to defend herself from whatever might be coming next from the girl. The ire in Miu's eyes is unlike anything Ayame had seen in her when she interferred with her holiday scamming. "Now, now, no need to get so testy," Ayame replies, mouth curling into a faint smirk.
Then come the feathers and while Ayame tries to continue playing hard to hit, she finds herself struck by the first one in the side, the impact staggering her long enough that the second one catches her in the stomach, doubling her over as she tries to fight back against the pain that courses through her nerves from Miu's unque style of attacking.
Hissing, the girl stumbles back a couple more steps before she stops clutching her stomach and instead slips her left hand down to the pouch at her side, undoing the snap cover to the main pocket, "Nothing of any value to anyone, sadly. I can't even make a dime off the paper. Maybe some bum on the street will appreciate adding them to his barrel fire though... it is still pretty chilly out there after all," the wicked teen smirks, slipping her left hand into her pouch as she continues to backstep.
COMBATSYS: Ayame focuses on her next action.
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Ayame 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Miu
It almost doesn't even register to Miu that Ayame's gone and taken the hit from the feathers, so focused and directed on Ayame's actions that she just -keeps moving-. Don't let her get to the lobby. Don't let her get to the stairs, unless it's to throw her down them! Keep moving forward!!
With the letters in her hand, Miu's eyes widen in horror-- then narrow in anger. The ambient energy around her rises, the noise caught in her throat one of ferocity. Moving in a full, hard run toward Ayame, Miu's small frame suddenly launches into the air, looking to grab the blonde by the arm and pull her in close-- and with any luck, hook a leg up in an attempt to drag Ayame to the ground, as well as cause some damage to joints on the fall. "Give-- those-- BACK!!" she cries, the invasive energy seeping through her very -touch-.
COMBATSYS: Ayame fails to counter Medium Throw from Miu with Requiem For Fallen Blossoms.
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Ayame 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Miu
Having Miu charge her recklessly is just what Ayame was hoping for as she was backing down the hallway, trying to make it to wider ground where more of her tricky techniques have room to be utilized. But Miu's speed of aggressing still catches her quite off guard in spite her preparation.
There is the sound of a hydraulic hiss as Ayame draws her half foot long metal tube and presses the button to cause it to telescope out in a blink of an eye, becoming that infernal staff of hers. It'll be precarious, she realizes, as she hasn't made it out to the stairwell as she had hoped, but she should still be able to...
The staff starts to swing forward but Miu is already inside its ideal striking range and Ayame ends up getting the weapon caught on the wall instead, gouging both the top and bottom of the titanium pole into the walls, locking it in place rather than striking out hard at the black haired girl.
And then she gasps, finding her arm grabbed and Miu's leg coming up to pull her down hard to the ground, twisting her limbs and inflicting harm with that power of hers as Ayame crashes to the floor, leaving the staff simply sitting in place stuck between the two walls of the hallway. Growling, the girl thrashes, attempting to twist her way free, shoving the letters back into the outter pocket of the pouch affixed to her belt.
Her leg hooks up, her foot crossing over Ayame's arm and coiling about it-- her foot even hooking to try to get the top of her shoe lodged on the girl's upper arm, all while holding that vice-like grip on the wrist. She drops with Ayame-- and despite her best efforts in using her collapsable pole as a brake, takes the elder girl to the ground.
Releasing the hold after landing, she rolls, scrambles in the hallway to get back up to her feet. "Give--"
Her right arm rears back.
"Those--"
Black feathers suddenly surge out of her arm, swirling and writhing around her fist-- almost reacting to her heightened emotions.
"BACK!!"
And then she punches at Ayame, her arm whipping around as hard as she can manage to slam the growing psychic energy into the thief-girl like a drill, to pummel her with an onslaught of psi-power before the discharge puts out enough force to blast her backwards.
COMBATSYS: Ayame stops Yomosugara from Miu with Midsummer Fantasy.
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Ayame 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Miu
Ayame is swift to get to her feet after being taken down by Miu, rolling up into a standing position right by her staff. Both hands take a grip of the weapon in order to try and pry it free from the grooves cut into the wall by her previously failed attack but it doesn't budge as Miu comes back at her with a massive attack intent to do her an incredible amount of harm.
Releasing her staff to leave it stuck in the wall, Ayame whirls back around to face Miu directly, brown eyes lighting up with a certain amount of amusement. "Tsk," she remarks, holding up her left hand in front of her, her right hand clenching her left wrist as if ti lend support to her arm.
And then it manifests, a swirling, violet surface of negative energy in front of the girl directly in the path of Miu's feather charged arm... But as Miu's energy smashes into the discus of purple, swirling chi, her arm will come out on the other side completely bereft of those energy feathers meant to impale the clearly deserving thief, rendering the potentially devastating attack completely harmless.
Releasing her wrist, Ayame allows the field to collapse, the purple energy laced with black and white streaks running through it before it swirls in on itself at the center like a whirlpool circling a drain... and then it is gone, right along with that portion of Miu's energy it sucked right off her arm.
Ayame's right hand clasps Miu's fist and the girl pulls Miu forward, turning her around and pushing her back just lightly, attempting to trap her back against the staff wedged between the two wall. "Such a temper, Crow Girl of Seijyun," Ayame muses out loud, "All over a couple of letters, hm? That brother of yours must be really important to you..."
She shakes her head slightly, her expression becoming almost sympathetic. "It almost saddens me to have to take something so sentimental for you in order to teach you a lesson..." Her mouth curls into a faint smirk, "Oh, who am I kidding. I'm enjoying this far too much to be able to conceal it!"
The drilling force continues. -She- continues, even putting her small weight into the thrust and pressing against the defense that Ayame seems to have hastily crafted. Miu's jaw tightens, a "tch!!" of irritation escaping her clenched teeth through the noisy wind generated in the attack-- and then, suddenly, it's over.
Her fist taken and shoved backwards, she hits the crux of the staff in the wall and the wall itself, one leg thrust out and her arm set to catch herself from falling by using the staff as a balance.
'Such a temper,' Ayame says, and Miu looks at the girl with tears in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. Those letters are important-- her brother...
Her brother.
She -read- them.
Her face starts turning red. Her hands ball up into little fists, and her legs tense. She -springs-. Leaping straight up, she pushes off on the wall itself, flipping in a very tight circle to land feet first on the wall behind Ayame. Feathers accompany each burst of movement, aiming to spring back down and land on Ayame's back in the space of the hallway, her fist drawn back and a white feather extending from it. "YOU-!!"
And then fist rains down, the feather seeking to slam down into the back of Ayame's head, giving her a direct jolt to the nervous system-- that burning electrical feel before it bleeds into cold numbness. Even if she hits, it isn't as though it won't have a side-effect on Miu, the released energy throwing her backward. Without proper room to adjust, it'll just shoot her back against the wall harder than she would really like.
But if she hits Ayame, isn't it all worth it?
COMBATSYS: Miu successfully hits Ayame with Psi-Launcher.
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Ayame 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Miu
Ayame turns to follow Miu's jump, hands coming up as if preparing to defend herself. Having her trusty staff wedged in the wall is really starting to get to her because it both keeps her from just bolting the second she sees an opening and is also negatively impacting her ability to fight at full brutal effectiveness.
But as she starts to turn, Miu, driven to move faster and faster as the irreverant thief continues to antagonize her, drops down to land on her back, catching her before Ayame can position herself properly. And then the older girl finds herself being struck hard by a fist laden with psychic energy that drills directly into her system as Miu strikes, causing Ayame to collapse to her knees as the smaller student gets thrown backward by the discharge of power.
Gasping as her vision begins to blur, Ayame slips her hands to her belt, withdrawing from hidden sheaths two butterfly knives that are flicked open in an instant... And then she's lunging up from her kneeling position as she attempts to strike out at the other girl with a stabbing attack, aiming one blade toward Miu's side, just below her rib cage, and her other thrusting in for a straight stab toward her stomach. Teeth gritted, Ayame is silent for a moment. Fighting Miu here and now hadn't been in her plans, and things aren't working out too good in that regard either...
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Miu with Medium Strike.
- Power hit! -
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Ayame 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Miu
The attack strikes fully-- and Miu is launched, as much as she has tried to control the manuver in the past, straight back and upward. Her back slams against the wall of the dorm's hallway, dropping to the floor as the thief girl comes charging in to meet her on the landing.
The first knife causes her to go rigid; the second draws a short, "Hiyygh!!"
Eyes wide and holding the two hands that stabbed her in a futile attempt to have stopped it in the first place, her knees shake and her breathing starts coming in gasps. Her head tilts back, hands slipping as they shake.
This isn't like getting cut. This wasn't like getting smacked around with energy. This was cold steel, penetrating her. Invasive, and letting that precious lifeblood out.
Feathers start to spill out.
With her back arched a bit, feathers start to spill from Miu's arm and shoulder as her hand balls into a fist-- her tiny left. The knives in Ayame's hands suddenly feel resistance-- as if her body itself is trying to reject their presence, push them back out.
And then the small girl's arm thrusts ahead, her outstreched middle and index finger's knuckles pressing to the blonde's chest.
"Give them back," she says.
There's no buildup, no freaky smell of ozone, no more feathers than what were there before. Now there's just one massive, unrelenting -drill- of energy, trying to rip into Ayame and slam her into the opposite wall of the hallway-- and hard enough that part of the building begins to shake from the force. With nowhere to push Ayame, it would only result in pushing her harder against the wall-- all while the sound of that roaring gale-force wind fills the second floor's hall.
COMBATSYS: Miu successfully hits Ayame with Chou Yomosugara.
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Ayame 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0 Miu
Pulling back on her knives the instant she feels something not quite right with how they have cut into the other girl, Ayame starts to try and back away, putting distance between herself and the psychic energy flinging terror that is the enraged Seijyun student. But Miu's hand strikes out, knuckles driving into her chest and pressing her against the wall as if intending to simply hold her there...
Until it is the real nature of the attack is unleashed and the drill of energy strikes the wouldbe thief at point blank range, driving directly into her and slamming her back against the wall hard enough to send cracks spiderwebbing out from behind the trapped girl. Her arms tense, her mouth frozen open in a silent gasp of pain as the attack brutalizes her defenses on every level, making it perfectly clear to her that she hasn't much of a chance of lasting any longer at this rate.
Blood stains the front of her blouse, skin beneath the black fabric torn by the power Miu poured into her chest, and then Ayame stumbles off to the side, barely staying upright as one hand comes down to rest against her wedged staff, her other hand slipping into her pouch and coming back up with several folded papers, "F-fine," the girl hisses as she releases them to drop toward the floor...
Though it seems the letters are to be returned, there is risk in thinking the danger has passed as Ayame presses the button on the center of her staff, causing it to collapse back down, no longer wedged into the wall. And then she whirls one end of the small tube to point toward Miu, expanding the staff back to its full length...
A cloud of smoke partially conceals a net of wire-thin cabling intent on entrapping the dark clad student...
COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.
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Miu 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Miu with Entrapment.
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Miu 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Miu has ended the fight here.
From the smoke screen the wire-thin netting launches over the smaller girl... and Ayame is right behind it, unloading a series of strikes with her staff as best she can in the narrow space of the hall, coupled with kicks and swift punches. A frenzy of attacks driven in no small part by the desperation felt by the mounting injuries Miu has managed to dish out on her. Landing hits on limbs and torso alike, it seems at first like she might not slow down for anything.
It's any question how far she would go were it not for her own strength giving out, Ayame eventually falling forward, catching herself with her hands, her hair falling down over her shoulder as she gasps for breath, staring at the carpet intently, leaving Miu to struggle with the tangled cable netting. "You," the girl begins to speak between trying to get control over her breathing again, "Might be able to beat me..." Her left hand tightens its grip on the center of her staff and the long weapon collapses back down to a small half foot long tube, "...in a fight, but..."
Ayame grits her teeth, struggling to keep from simply falling face down against the floor, her arms trembling from the effort, "...I can hurt you in ways you can never hurt me. Don't ever get in my way again." A racking cough shakes the girl and her right hand comes up to press against her chest as she sinks to her knees and falls quiet.
Driving Ayame to the wall with only those two knuckles, the great surge of psychic energy is enough to radiate up and down the halls of Seijyun's dormitories. Miu's small frame puts out a great deal of force-- and for her efforts, in this point-blank, no-range attack, it also shoves -her- backward, stumbling against the opposing wall. When it's over, the red-faced girl forms another angry scowl. The tears in her eyes do nothing to soften the expression, or the hostile intent still virtually bleeding out of every step. The holes in her stomach and side likewise continue to knit -themselves- back together, the blood stemmed and healing quickly. For all intents and purposes, Miu still isn't ready to let Ayame off the hook.
But then, neither is she.
The staff and the netting make quick work of the crow girl. Restrained by the netting, the furious flurry of strikes and staff, the kicks, Miu lets out startled gasps and cries of pain while it seems like she just won't get a chance to -fall down-.
And finally, she does. But it's around when Ayame does.
Slumping back to the wall and landing in a sitting position, she breathes heavily with the pain in her stomach and side reintroduced, the netting keeping her tiny stature from breaking free of the confinements so easily. Pulling at it, trying to get the length over her head, Miu's fierce expression returns-- even through the blood, the pain, and the bruises already forming. "I-- I mean it-- give those -back-...!!"
Slowly, Ayame lifts her head to look toward Miu, still gasping for breath. Watching the small girl fight against the netting it becomes pretty clear that she's going to work her way out of it pretty soon. Narrowing her eyes, she glances toward the few letters she had dropped on the floor in order to distract Miu just before catching her with the net.
Of course, those were only a couple of the letters, the rest remaining in her pouch's pocket. Ayame pauses for a long moment, slipping her staff into her pouch and pulling from its outer pocket the rest of the letters she had swiped. "All right," the girl remarks, brown eyes focusing on the struggling girl as best she can. "All right," she repeats, lowering the folded letters to the floor.
All but one. One she keeps held between two fingers, her right hand slowly pushing against the wall as the girl starts to push herself back to her feet. "Don't move, or else I'll simply tear this one to so much confetti," she warns, leaning hard against the wall, her hand coming to rest in the dent left when she was slammed against it by Miu's powerful attack.
"If you stay put, I'll drop this one at the end of the hall on my way out..." Her words are steady, her voice very neutral. It's hard to tell if she's bluffing or not as she begins to limp back a couple of steps. She's good at hiding the fear in her that Miu might just come after her anyway... in her condition, she'd be hard pressed to do anything to stop the angry girl from exacting revenge for all the misery Ayame has caused her today.
Struggling still, it takes her a minute-- she's still finding her way to the end of the netting, still flinging it over her head to bundle and pile with the rest behind her. But Ayame finally agrees to let her letters go free... though at a cost.
The letters are set down, and Miu freezes, falling forward to all fours. "Don't--!!"
She'll put it down when she's able to get away.
Sinking back a little bit, it seems like even though Ayame's looking like she's about to keel over... the blonde may've 'won,' from another standpoint. Hands bunching up to start forming fists on the floor, her head hangs a little. "Fine...!" she says, though she's still worried. Worried that Ayame will go back on her word. Worse than that, if she managed to pick the lock to her dorm room, what if she tries to go after her brother? Her family? A noise caught in her throat, Miu looks like innocence and rage twisted into one compact shell at the same time.
It looks like she's cooperating, Ayame ponders, reaching the end of the hallway where she stops, right hand holding her up, left hand still holding that folded letter between her two fingers. It's there that she pauses, regarding Miu for a long while. Silent, weighing out so many things. She could keep the letter and make a run for it. One final act of spite in the face of the student that has all but given up... But then Miu might chase her down, letter be damned, and she'll not make her get away. She's definitely not on friendly territory here to say the least.
But that isn't the only thing on her mind. She also ponders how such simple pieces of paper can have such a profound effect on someone. It's not like the girl is completely unfamiliar with attachment to others, even if it means nothing to her... but... on the other hand, she can't help but ponder having something... someone... matter so much as to provke such powerful emotions. She told Miu she could hurt her in ways she herself could never be hurt. She doesn't have those attachments... those weaknesses... But what is she missing out on?
Holding the letter up in front of her, Ayame glances back and forth between it and Miu, attention coming to rest on the small folded paper for a moment before she finally sighs softly, releasing her hold, allowing it to spin down to the carpet at her feet.
Turning around on her toes, the girl makes her way to the stairs, "Well, I'll see you around," she states, not pausing to look over her shoulder as she continues to make her not so amazing escape. It's impossible to tell what the risk of future entanglements may be. Maybe she thinks she's made her point and there's no profit to be made with further tormenting of the Seijyun girl. Or perhaps the score isn't settled in her mind... one would be hard pressed to guess when it comes to Ayame.
With Ayame working her way to the corner, Miu's whole body seems to be trembling-- a mixture of pain, fury, and scared out of her wits. Watching her like a -hawk-, the purple-eyed girl breathes a sigh of relief as the paper spins and falls to the floor. Ayame's heading down the stairs, and Miu finally finds her way to the edge of the net bundled at her knees, flipping it up over her head and finally breaking free. She grabs the letters on the floor, an arm reaching around her side while she gasps, breathes heavily. Her entire body is a knot of pain, but it doesn't keep her from moving.
Heading to the end of the hall with a half-hearted gait, she stops at the final abandoned letter to pick it up and breathe a deep sigh of relief. Clutching the bundle to her chest, the crow girl of Seijyun reaches out to grab the railing and support herself, slumping down into a sitting position at the top of the stairs. With tears welling at the corners of her eyes again, the little Kurosaki slouches a little more. The combat high is wearing off-- and all of the power she threw around in one burst takes an eventual toll. Though still conscious, her breathing slows and her arms lower a little, still quietly holding the papers.
"Sinobu..." she murmurs aloud, lip quivering.
Log created on 00:15:23 02/12/2008 by Ayame, and last modified on 02:34:45 02/13/2008.