Description: Episode #11: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil OR Sight Beyond Sight. In the middle of the chaos, two people seek peace. However, they do so in completely different ways. The smiling monk girl demonstrates the dark side of the philosophy that rules her life, and Raoghnailt demonstrates that not not everyone that swears alleigance to the dark are consumed by it. Two women. Two fighters. Two ideologies. One walks away.
"Miss Raoghnailt, this is a bad idea."
Around the edge of the small lake, it was peaceful. The nightlife of this part of the park was remarkably serene, separate from the consistent fighting of the rest of Southtown. Past the small oaks and dogwoods that highlighted the path that wound around the lake, there was a tall woman walking by. Draped in a beige muumuu, she shuffles along in sandles with a grey, faceless man in a suit that would make Walmart proud. He is somewhat frazzled, contrasting with the broad grin of the woman. With a Scottish trill, she firmly tosses back at her cohort. "Oh, soak your head. I haven't had a walk in a long time!"
And then, she continues sweep her cane across the ground, keeping her bearings as she walked around. The lavender silk blindfold rustled a bit as a gust of wind ran over her. She stops short, and puts her cane in front of her. Propping her weight on it, she stands there, taking in the scene. She feels the wind run across the mass of water, rippling it subtly. With the wind, they keep rushing by, stroking the soft earth, the life-blood of the surrounding trees. Even the annoying henchman was curious, his thin life-force holding strong against the soft wind. The only trouble was the lack of heat. The warmth would have made it even more of a kaladeoscope of energy. Raoghnailt takes a deep breath in.
"Beautiful, isn't it."
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, the beholder has no eyes, which brings a quandary far set from the norm. After all, how do you quantify the beauty of something that's seen solely by the mind's eye? As ethereal as it is, there's a certain finality of it. Where words fail to describe the beauty of things seen, can they even hope to match the purity of the things that settle in the vast reaches of the human soul?
But still, beauty is a concept that stands in front, often heralding something else. The gossamer wings of the wind bring a cool breeze... and something else. A surge of life force fills the air. A hot, stangnant sensation filtering through the otherwise gentle winds that only serves to bring the stench of actual life blood.
Sensitive noses would find the scent rank, almost foul. The affront to the senses doesn't get any better as a person progresses through the trees of the park, for within it lies a beast of a totally different color.
Where the energies of humanity flow freely from most, even thinly, as with the G-Project henchman, there's scant little within the core of Nataya. Instead, there's a tiny light, surrounded by pure emptiness. It's not a black morass, indicating evil, but a blank slate, devoid of any features, both disturbing and comforting to some... just upsetting to others.
But her composition is hardly as important as her actions. The woman is moving furiously, her body set in destructive motion as a sparkling... something that would appear to be starlight appears against the background of the visionless woman's senses. The solid sound of bone on flesh and the strangled cries of people crying for mercy against someone that simply has none to offer because she was never granted any in the first place carry over that cacophony of sound and energy.
Bodies fall. The tremors echo through the ground, the vibration through the air as small but powerful fists crack bone, rend flesh. The starlight, beautiful in it's own right, swirls maddeningly around a man, ripping, tearing, rending until he energy is released from him violently like magma erupting from a volcano.
Three men stood.
Three men fall.
They lay there, broken, shattered, dead or dying as the energy seeps from their tattered vessels. And standing in the middle? That almost infinitesimal light in the middle of black, surrounded by stars.
Stars that almost seems to smile with a quiet contentment reflected on the woman's face as she settles to the ground in the middle of the horrible scene, falling into silent meditation.
Nataya's ripples are felt.
Raoghnailt gasps the moment the flare of energy shoots up. A strange, powerful force, much like Urien broke up through the air. Immediately, she moved towards it, sweeping her cane. "Raoghnailt, Mrs. Black will kill me if something happens!" The henchman pleads as he nervously shuffled behind her, falling further and further behind. Raoghnailt, however, just didn't care. She sensed... trouble.
Danger.
Raoghnailt doesn't know what she walks through. Pillars of life. Tendrils of earth. And finally, she reaches an opening. There was an alien feel, something wrong. There was mounds of life, slowly waning. Perhaps they were large dogs sleeping? Lambs? And in the heart, was a dense block... of a human. Some strong, burning light, turned low. Like Urien, like someone holding back. Raoghnailt stands there, delicately drawing her cane back. She furrowed her brow, confused. And then, she calmly calls out.
"Excuse me... are you alright? I heard... felt something wrong."
There's no answer. Not at first. Nataya's contemplative, not chatty, and not particularly authoritative enough to say much other than what needs to be said. After all, she's just a pawn of the Universe. She's guided purely on the wings of fate, and finds herself often the operative for joy, but more visibly the agent of sorrow.
"Wrong?"
The question is quiet, a postulate maybe more for the dying men around her, dressed in Shadaloo and NESTS uniforms. "It's interesting," she says after a time, pausing in her thoughts as she seems to mull over them like a particularly stubborn stain that she's trying to remove by sheer willpower alone. "That someone's initial reaction to things is to determine if they're right or wrong."
"So what goes into the dictation of what is correct for you?"
That's the question that hangs in the air as the smiling monk girl sits in the grass, eyes closed in quiet thought as the final lights die in each of the men around her.
"What?
Raoghnailt cocks her head as the life energy dims and dims. Whatever the creatures were... they were... dying? Raoghnailt was becoming more and more uncomfortable. "I just.. um... I just wanted to... um... see if anyone... you..." A concerned whimper bubbles up from the chest of the girl as he shuffles backwards. And with that, she screams as she trips over a body of one of the dead men.
It takes only a moment for Raoghnailt to understand what was going on. Her cane strap dangling lightly from her wrist, she lays on the ground. As she waves her hands around on the ground, slowing down as she feels the body of what she tripped over. The girl swallows back a horrified gasp, and pushes herself away along the ground. Gripping her cane tightly she takes some short, panicked breaths. "You killed people, you killed people... you... why did you... why did you kill them- What are you?"
Nervously, she draws the cane infront of her body, shiverly lightly as she sat on the gorund.
"What am I? Now that's a question that people have asked forever, and if you can answer that of yourself, then you're a better person that I," Nataya replies, not budging from her lotus position, her hands still stained red as they rest in her lap motionlessly.
"Why are these men dead? More questions. An inquisitive mind can come from two sources: a desire to know for the sake of knowing, or a desire to know for the sake of desire," the monk girl continues, the stars backlighting her seeming to stare at Raoghnailt with a warm but unflinching gaze.
"These men are dead because fate conspired to make them that way. They sought to disturb the natural order of things, and as a result received what the natural order required. They aren't dead because of malice. They're not dead because of hatred. They're not even dead because of the need for righteous vengeance, no," Nataya says, her eyes finally opening as she shakes her head.
"These men are dead because the Universe demanded it. I had very little to do with the actions that resulted in what you see. No retribution took place here. In the end, all that occured was the restoration of balance," the woman explains quietly. "So."
There's a pause, the woman stands slowly. Despite being far smaller, there's a sort of something about the smaller woman. Not presence, exactly, but something more than just existance. She simply seems to take up more space than she should. "Does that answer your questions?"
Everything subtle was not for Raoghnailt. Everything overt was not. There was something... alien about her aura. Her presence was one that broke through the aether of the world, something more significant to the chi of the world. She was... dangerous. And Raoghnailt listened to her words carefully. She was frightened, she just wanted to be here amongst the trees, to experience nature, to connect herself closer to the world. But now, she was in a den of death. Of course, if she knew that they were NESTS and Shadaloo, it wouldn't be so nasty. But Nataya gave her a different message, one that a serial killer would justifying her actions to the world. And in that, a small flare of resolve rose from her heart.
"... You are one... you are one of the people... I was told about..." Raoghnailt staggers up, using the cane to support her weight. Through the darkness, a dim light seemed to flow over her. "My... my group told me that there would be people... cruel people, who murder, who mislead, who lie, and who control. They are... they are what make the world sick..." Raoghnailt spreads her arms open. She must bring justice. She must save the world now. "You are... you are a poison! And I will stop you!" Then light florishes once more, wreathing the woman in a pale blue light. And in that, she points the tip of the cane at the figure of Nataya. "You... you don't have... you don't..."
And Raoghnailt falls silent, her lips pursed tightly.
Nataya's smile is as honest as anyone else's. Not a sinister bone in her body, really. But the fact that she's caked in blood and surrounded by death... what could she possibly say to deny the fact that, yes, she murdered these people? They died by her hand. Byt the law of that land, that makes her a killer. They're dead and gone, and Nataya is to blame.
But she operates on another level entirely.
Not a level above of below. She doesn't hold herself to anything superior. There's no justification made to the law. She understands that it's been broken. But there are some things that are demanded of her, and she's powerless to follow due to the dictates of her teachings. People are dealt with by fate as fate sees fit. She doesn't question, she simply acts.
And now something is demanding that she act. Her job's not done yet, and the flare of power from the blind girl meets her eyes with the clarity of day. She's going to have to defend herself. The clouds swirls around her, pouring from her sleeves as the starlight dances within the silver and gray billowing energy.
The woman's smile isn't pitying. It's not bemused or imperious. It just is. A gentle, warm, content look is on her face as she faces down Raoghnailt without a fraction of hesitation.
"No," she says softly, "I don't."
But she won't make the first move. That's reserved for the person that seeks to stop her.
COMBATSYS: Nataya has started a fight here.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt has joined the fight here.
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Nataya 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Raoghnailt
Nataya's smiles are meaningless to Raoghnailt. The only thing that matters is what she says, what she does... and her own energy. The clouds reveal power, her own body delicately. Raoghnailt felt that part of her very clearly. Nataya was someone of great power. But so was Raoghnailt. As she opened her arms, her luminance was bright enough to cast the area in a dim, etheral light. And to that, Raoghnailt reaches out towards the girl, a single finger pointing at her... and begins to draw.
A symbol begins to be drawn in the air by the fingertip of the girl. Nothing but a simple spiral, winding in itself as it hovered in midair. Bright blue-gray, it burned with raw energy as she drew her aura to surface, the underlying chi of the world acting as her canvas. As she reached the heart of the spiral, she drew back her arm, leveling herself calmly. Brow furrowed, she manages to finish her sentence.
"Then begone!"
A blue-white beam erupts from the symbol, firing a wave of light straight for the heart of the starlight mist. She was taught to aim for the center of mass. The dark core that sat in the storm. The energy is dense, but almost overwhelmingly bright. Raoghnailt is somewhat knocked backwards by the blast, swinging her cane around to keep her balance. This was it. This was the first time she was on the attack. She was... she was now a true warrior.
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Raoghnailt's Starlight Dreamer.
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Nataya 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Raoghnailt
On the other hand, Nataya has been fighting for quite a while. Her style is destructive, built for warfare combat where men and women fall in conflicts between nations. It's a merciless, brutal and unforgiving style. And because of it, she's been rendered far tougher than her unassuming frame would present.
The blast flies towards her, and Nataya responds by stepping towards the blast, her feet picking up speed as the clouds billow around her. They swirl with a slight incandescence as they absorb most of the hit for the Muay Boran fighter. The blast that finally strikes her does only a fraction of the damage it would have. It does stagger her steps slightly, but nowhere near enough to stop the incoming attack.
She's heedless of the cane. Has no pause for the woman's disabilities. To engage in battle and show any restraint was an insult. The girl was blind, but it didn't mean she had no defenses, and clearly packed considerable offense. As she closes in, the only thing that enters Nataya's mind is where to land a strike.
The woman goes in for a low body blow, the feint perhaps useless against Raoghnailt's handicap, but drilled into Nataya's brain through practice. Instead of going through, she swings her body into a swift left-side elbow, aimed at the other woman's ribcage in an attempt to crush the wind out of her lungs.
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt blocks Nataya's Strong Punch.
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Nataya 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Raoghnailt
Raoghnailt follows the movements of Nataya carefully. So far, she was following her training closely. Whatever unassuming form others saw was not what Raoghnailt saw. All she saw was that inner power that she kept under lock and key. When she whips the energy upwards, the attack is somewhat deflected. The damage was done, but still, her reaction times and technique was somewhat different to what she was used to.
To that end, she turns her body, twisting it around to allow her cane to move in. Her height could be a disadvantage, that was clear. But the cane, at the same token, could help give her a little trade off. Turning her entire body away, she takes the impact full body instead of narrow point, throwing her stumbling backwards instead of cringing in pain. "Ouch! Ouch! That hurt!" She exclaims, righting her balance awkwardly. Stumbling backwards, she tries harder to read the girl.
She was shorter than her. She used that... cloud of stars as her chi. The soldier of G-Project gradually began to flare with greater power. Her cane drew a brighter white light, highlighting it with a bluish edge. Moving backwards, Raoghnailt tried to exploit her increasing distance, and answered with a solid, smooth swipe of the cane towards the top portion of the mass. Should it cut through the clouds to the soft woman underneath, Nataya would face not just a simple slap of a tool for the blind... but a razor-edge cut of ethereal energy.
COMBATSYS: Nataya blocks Raoghnailt's Medium Punch.
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Nataya 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Raoghnailt
The clouds again offer some measure of resistance. It doesn't offer the same energy feild as normal chi. It's almost as if the clouds were actively pushing the attack away physically, applying active pressure against the cane so that it slaps against a guarding forearm. It leaves a burning slash across the arm, but that's hardly the worst Nataya's ever faced.
But that takes her a step further, allowing her to close in on her target with all the ferocity of her training. She's aggressive, pressing the attack on the blind girl, doggedly exploiting any possible defensive gaps that her opponent may have. She jabs experimentally, looking for a reaction or a mistake in her stance that she can use to her advantange.
That is, until she whips a leg forward. The foot kicks up four of the bright 'stars', which are actually brighting shining beads. The beads immediately position themselves into a square pattern, expanding a screen by her foot that Nataya seeks to plant squarely on the G-Project girl's body. Upon impact, the energy strikes with pure force like a sledghammer to the chest.
COMBATSYS: Nataya successfully hits Raoghnailt with Four Noble Truths.
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Nataya 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Raoghnailt
Nataya's aggression was not playing to Raoghnailt's favor. She was instructed to keep people from closing in too close to her, and to use her long reach and powerful energy attacks to her advantage. Now, she was slowly being driven backwards. Being forced on the move is not a beneficial thing for the Scottish woman, and it is likely that Nataya knew this. Raoghnailt had many holes in her defenses, and that was something that Nataya was hounding.
But she takes a somewhat different opening.
When the pattern emerges, Raoghnailt seems to steady somewhat. She spots the energy position itself. Immediately, she draws her arms up. Instead of evading, or even blocking the attack, she just erupts in a flare of light. The attack lands squarely, and is followed by another yelp of pain. "Eeeee!" As the light died down, however, Raoghnailt was unmoved, and glowing with an even brighter light with some slight sparkling. And with that, cane up high, she steps in again, dropping her cane downwards at the center of the figure's mass.
Clearly, Nataya's technique was working.
COMBATSYS: Nataya endures Raoghnailt's Fierce Punch.
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Nataya 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Raoghnailt
The monk girl seems heedless of the retaliation, thoroughly intent on her relentless assault of the blind girl. Nothing seems to stop the gently smiling menace of activity, not even the cane that descends on her. Instead of bothering to avoid it, she charges right through it with such force that the attack barely has enough to make her take pause, glancing off her shoulder as Nataya uses the opportunity to drive the attack closer.
That little extra is all she needs to come in with her own follow-up attack. With a turn, she uses the force of friction under her feet, boosting herself up and off the ground. The leap forward hurls the monk-trained fighter at Raoghnailt, her raised knee looking to crash clean into the blind fighter.
If successful, Nataya would bounce back into the air, the mists that follow her carrying her up as beads flear to life around her arm. They'll rotate quickly, swirling around her forearm before focusing a beam that will hose down on Raoghnailt in a torrential downpour of solid force
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt fails to reflect Six Seals from Nataya with Crucible.
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Nataya 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Raoghnailt
Raoghnailt panics.
Nataya's aggression finally forces the woman into taking more drastic measures. Still recovering from the swipe from her cane, the charge is met with a sudden swell of energy. A bright white haze shines around her body, drawing from her slowly building aura. Like the bloom of an onion, small walls of the energy spread out, choking back the cloud. In an instance, the flash of energy almost works to slow Nataya down. However, before the flash is triggered, Nataya's overwhelming offense does something all too efffective.
She knocks Raoghnailt out of it.
The knee is more than effective enough to deal damage. The tall, skinny woman only had partial defenses against such physical force, mainly from experience. Falling on her back, Raoghnailt lays silent, mouth agape in shock. Prone, she is all too easily struck by the follow-up blast. The energy, however, has a more subdued effect. The moment the beam strikes, even without conscious effort, it seems somewhat diffused. Raoghnailt's own aura, the bright light growing brighter and brighter, was still fiercely fighting against the energy. While Raoghnailt may not notice it, the arena was now clearly illuminated in the ethereal light that was consuming the woman more and more. Whipping around her frame, her hair danced around on the ground as slowly, slowly she rose herself up.
The smaller woman lands on her feet, not with the lightness and delicacy that most female fighters land, but with all the weight that her offensive capabilities afford her. The ground shakes slightly as her feet touch the earth, sending a light tremor through the grass.
Each force is acted on in kind in the world. Nataya's vicious attacks lack malice. But nevertheless, they're what they are: horrible, painful, destructive. There's a primal force behind them, as pretty as some of the effects may be, and she's not going to let up for any opponent.
The Muay Boran practitioner once again approaches the G-Project member, circling around, carefully observing her target with precision. Her breaths are even, regular, the sparkling cloud swirling around her as if it was the corner man in a boxing ring, giving her some measure of reassurance.
And then Nataya takes off. She hurls forward at the same breakneck speed that seems to accent every one of her strikes. This time, it's nothing fancy, met primarily to capitalize on the fact that Raoghnailt is still recovering from her horrific assault. The fist shoots forward, aiming for the woman's gut. But just prior to connecting, Nataya sends a vicious knee crashing to the other side of the blind woman's body.
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt blocks Nataya's Strong Punch.
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Nataya 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Raoghnailt
Keep calm.
While on the ground, the girl did not have many options to her favor. But when Nataya comes piling in, she must react. Raoghnailt responds by tucking into a ball. Extremely crud, it was still somewhat effective in managing both the attack to her abdomen and the follow up kick. Rolling with the impact slightly, she squeals when she runs into one of NESTs corpses. Immediately, she is upright, cane out to help support her rise. A nausated look was over her face, a face of someone disturbed by what was going on around her.
And just like that, she takes a long, deep breath.
She needed to calm her own nerves. Be calm and focused like the woman she was fighting. Small will o' wisps were drifting up from around the woman's body, the blue and white lights dancing around her. Like the stars in the clouds, she too was sharing the pure chi. Her long braid was still dancing in the air, the unseen chi from around Raoghnailt swirling around her. And then, just like that, bright streams manifested around her. She was drawing back the energy, consuming it to stabilize herself. To fight the exhaustion that was beginning to eat away at her.
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt gains composure.
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Nataya 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Raoghnailt
And still the monk girl comes. She's relentless, implacable. No matter how many times that Raoghnailt stands back up, Nataya is more than ready to smash her back to the ground again. She's focused, ready, willing to fight with every ounce of skill and strength at her disposal.
But there's no taunts, no cajoles. Nothing said to break the other fighter's concentration or morale. Raoghnailt to Nataya is a trial. Something put before her to test her will and resolve in the face of someone that has no beleif in the cosmic order, but places all her faith in something else. Placing those beliefs in anything but the cycle of life leads to pain, to Nataya's understanding.
And Nataya is just a manifestation.
She doesn't let the rest linger. She's rocketing through the air again, putting all her effort into her sprint. Robes and lights trail behind her as she whips a leg around swiftly, the motion of her attack snapping one foot forward. No feints this time: it's a straight, brutal roundhouse blow to the neck and collar, desinged to drive the taller woman back to the ground with a punishing blow.
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt dodges Nataya's Heavy Kick.
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Nataya 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Raoghnailt
Unlike Nataya, Raoghnailt is acting on behalf of the cosmic order. G-Project, after all, is to try and save humanity. She is blind to everything else. To Raoghnailt, Nataya is just part of the sickness. She is a dangerous part of the sickness, but still part of it. Still holding upright, she watches as Nataya comes piling in. With a vicious charge, the monk rushes in. A limb of some sort rushes up to catch the woman in the neck and collar, certainly a very high kick. To that, she reacts with careful, simple timing:
She ducks.
Leaning her weight on the cane, she feels the wind of the limb pass over her. What Nataya may feel is a sort of thick substance, like a thin haze. It isn't hindering in any sense, but there was some sort of presence from the woman. And as she crouched down slightly, Raoghnailt drew in the air.
Once again, Raoghnailt draws a symbol in the air. Unlike the spiral before, this was a long, looping syntax, weaving in itself. Raoghnailt had to touch the aether carefully. To release the chi in the world was difficult, even from her own aura. It was a careful balance of different elements, from different points. She would not have much time to react, either. Nataya was too fast for her safety. Finishing the symbol, the small series of loops hung there, glowing with a bright white light... with some deep, green tones rising up. And with a smooth motion, Raoghnailt strikes the symbol with the flat of her hand, releasing an explosion of bright white light... and invigorating life, drawing from the earth that held so close nearby.
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt successfully hits Nataya with Mortal Recoil.
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Nataya 1/---====/=======|=======\=------\1 Raoghnailt
Nataya is engulfed in chi energy. That's the best way to describe it. The explosion of power seems to consume her, enveloping her and attacking her with the very energy of life itself. It's a harrowing experience, and the weighty attack causes Nataya to collapse like a sack of bricks.
But the clouds around her react in a wholly different manner. The swirling energy enters a maddening dance, boiling, crackling as the stars within blaze brightly. The starlight begins to collect into a massive sphere, hovering over the monk girl's head as she slowly stands. Recovering from that hit will take a moment or two, and Nataya's not quite ready to go hurling herself headlong into battle this time.
Her body is covered in burns. Smoke rises mot from the clouds, but from her wounds, mixing in with the boiling energy around her that wreaths the ball above.
But she's still smiling, glad to have the chance to test her abilities against someone that's essentially a cannon. Still, she's got more than enough power to reatliate, and retaliate shedoes.
Suddenly, the ball overhead shatters out into four 'spears'. Two land in Nataya's hands, and she rips towards Raoghnailt like a rocket. Nataya leaps, and then spins, hurling the javelins at her opponent one after another, the weaponized beads peircing and delivering crippling explosions of force, driving the G-Project experiment back if it connects.
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt fails to reflect Four Stages of Enlightenment from Nataya with Seventh Seal.
-* CRITICAL FAIL! *-
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Nataya 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Raoghnailt
COMBATSYS: Raoghnailt can no longer fight.
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Nataya 0/-------/----===|
The release of energy, for the most part, pays off. As Nataya is engulfed in the energy, it buys Raoghnailt distance. Letting the cane dangle from her wrist strap, she releases it. From behind her blindfold, a bright blue light erupted from where her eyes would be. And from there, she saw the utter clarity of the chi. The tiny beads became clearer. The position of Nataya was deadly accurate. It was as if Raoghnailt was moving her, guiding her to herself. It was that intuitive knowledge of what was happening, and what she was doing. She could finally tell that in fact, Nataya was a woman. A shortish woman that was... was far weaker than she should be. How curious.
As the tiny beads of energy are launched hurled towards her, she begins weaving another symbol. Looping in itself, however, it began to become larger and larger. Like a huge pattern, she was drawing a bright mass of winding, looping symbols. Around and around she draws, hurrying to complete it before the first bead strikes. As the pattern becomes almost complete...
Suddenly, she something impale her chest.
The bead stops short of the symbol, hovering in midair. Promptly, Raoghnailt yelps in pain... and surprise. "GA-" Soon, the other beads follow. Raoghnailt only somewhat understands. With each impact, she takes a step back, struggling to stand up. Without her cane, this was not possible. Upon the fourth bead, she is struck down to the ground, landing on the flat of her back into the mud.
She faces upwards, the light that cut through the blindfold slowly dying down. The pattern remains in midair for the same amount of time, slowly fading back into the underlying world. Raoghnailt doesn't speak, nor does she move. Clearly, she was defeated.
And from behind a tree, her escort watches, too terrified to act, to rescue her.
Weakness is relative.
Nataya isn't any more 'weak' than she should be. She only has so much strength and endurance for a woman of her size and combat experience. In that respect, she's average. No more, no less. It's strong enough to deal with most people her level... but against Raoghnailt's chi heavy assaults? It's hardly anything to write home about.
But when it comes down to it, Nataya lets her actions speak for her. Weak, strong, it's clear that whatever guides her has allowed her to carry the day with only minimal damage compared to the usual battles she engages in. Normally, they're brutal fights that force her to draw on every last erg of power.
But still, the fight wasn't about a physical contest. It was a test of belief. And this time, Nataya's beliefs carried her forward, allowing her to face someone that holds diametrically opposed ideals.
The woman lands, her feet slamming to the ground, the clouds raising around her, swirling with what seems like satisfaction for a job well done before they eventually seep away, curling back into the sleeves of her robe. She takes a deep breath, letting the energies within draw around her, slowly healing the chi-burns that were inflicted upon her, as she's able to when given the moment.
And so now what? Has Raoghnailt been marked for destruction by the will of the cosmos? The woman strides over to the fallen blind girl, looking over her with no pity, no sorrow, no remorse. And finally, she speaks, despite the girl being unable to hear her. "Balance is the ultimate truth. There is nothing more noble than the careful maintenance of that balance. When there is a violation of the natural flow, it has to be dealt with. But..."
She passes by, heading towards the man behind the tree, though still obviously addressing the fallen G-Project girl, "...you're unique. You're obviously someone that understands nature, beleives in it, and yet you want to make it act in your favor. Being part of the natural order as you are, it wouldn't do anyone any favors to remove you. Noy yet. Your story's not done."
She stops by the tree, looking at the girl's escort. "Here," she says, placing money she retreives from her robes in his hand, "Call a taxi. I'd take her to the hospital myself, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." Her smile hasn't wavered, and her hands stain the money red with dried blood as she presses it into his palm, curling his fingers around it. "She'll be fine in the morning. I promise."
COMBATSYS: Nataya has ended the fight here.
Nervously, the escort approaches her. He was going to lose his head over this. Mrs. Black made it very clear for her not to go off on her own. She was to stay at the base, and wait for Mary. Mary would manage her from there. Instead, she ran off, and now, picking fights with someone who was obviously acting in the favor of G-Project.
"Thank... thank you."
He hustles over the unconscious Raoghnailt, her muumuu ruined, her body impaled. And yet, she was fortunate. If Nataya was truly a part of NESTS or Shadaloo...
She would be dead.
Log created on 23:49:45 05/01/2009 by Nataya, and last modified on 23:21:09 05/02/2009.