| Picking the Wrong Marks | ||
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Luna walks through the city, her blue hair wafting in the wind as she looks about at...well, everything. This whole place is huge, and she's started trying to explore it all and get a hold of everything, especially the odd properties of the world. o O ( You would probably be better suited for this. ) She thinks to her past self's life that lives inside her. o O { Yes well, you should take more of a lead since it's your lifetime. } She can't argue with that exactly, but they're almost kind of the same person. Really. She holds a paper grocery bag, balancing it contents by hugging it with both arms and moving around people as she heads down the sidewalk. She has just about everything she came for, so she should probably head back to the Tower soonish. Oh...there's a large pack of thug looking people up ahead. She stops and moves to cross the street to avoid them. Another walking along the sidewalk is a teenaged girl that is trying so very hard to just meld in with the crowd, but there's just something... off. No, to the trained eye, it's clear she's never been here before. The darting eyes moving not towards people or threats... no, to the buildings. Everything seems so... backwards compared to what she's used to! It's clearly discomforting to her, but she has determined that she must get used to this place... like it or not, Center City is her new home. She doesn't like it, for the record. She's always heard this place was horribly dangerous... The large pack crosses the street as Luna does. The blue haired girl sweatdrops and stops walking. o O ( I think they're hostile. ) o O { Indeed. } o O ( Want to take over and deal with them? ) o O { I fear such actions may lead both of us closer to the path of inevitable madness, yes? } That's true, as the black dragon of Lunar, she's fated to go mad eventually, and fusing with her past life's soul wasn't the best way to prolong that fate. Okay, then...she scans around the area, pairs are better than singles, right? She spots Shizuko, just a block behind her, reverses direction away from the thugs, and starts walking faster towards her, halfway there she'll bring a hand up in a wave, though she almost loses her grip on the grocery bag, and has to replace her hands before the insides all topple out. Whoops. Shizuko continues along her way as if nothing was wrong. Some... elf girl is waving in her direction? She ignores her... Considering she's never seen the elf before in her life, it's simply a safe assumption that she's not the one being waved to. Just... fit in, don't make a scene of yourself. Even looking behind herself would be too attention grabbing... right? But someone could be back there... No! Just keep walking on! ...Towards the elf. Oh. And the pack of troublesome looking individuals behind her. Stay cool, just... keep walking. Luna doesn't get a wave back from Shizuko. But she looks so friendly! o O ( Humans sometimes. ) She's sure it's an honest mistake, so she smiles as her left ear twitches and she waves again, "Greetings!" Right at Shizuko as she draws closer and closer. She'll then stop directly in Shizuko's path, glancing over her shoulder. The large group has slowed their pace some, assessing the situation. Other people wandering about the area have begun to move into shops, get into vehicles, or turn down into alleys. Shizuko looks blankly at Luna as the elf blocks her path and makes it clear that she's the one being spoken to. Unless... yes, now she does look behind her. Of course no one is there. "Uh... hi?" she says as she looks back to Luna. "Um... can I... help you?" Luna smiles as Shizuko finally says hi in return, one of her fangs gleaming a moment. She lowers her voice, "Hello, I'm Luna, it's wonderful to meet you!" She glances back again, shifts her footing, and adjusts her groceries, "I'm hoping that if we're together we'll be left alone by the large group of humans coming towards us." She steps in closer, to a conversational distance, "I recognize a few of them now, yes? They've been watching me shop throughout the day. I have no idea why they'd want what I've bought though." o O { Hmm hmm hmm, they want your money, not your goods. } Oh. The group stops half a block away, conferring quietly with each other, eyeing and watching both Luna and Shizuko, greed written in their eyes. Shizuko blinks, then says slowly, "I'm... Iwamatsu Shizuko?" Her heart drops a few centimeters, however, as Luna explains just why she's decided to greet Shizuko. "Oh..." she says. "Um..." She looks to the group and it's clear... They're not about to leave Luna alone just because Shizuko is nearby. "I, uh... don't think it's going to work... very well." Luna nods at the name, tilting her head at her halting talk. Quick look back at the group, back to Shizuko. She frowns a moment and looks at her grocery bag. Will it survive a fight? If she's careful, maybe? She could just turn into a dragon maybe...what are the rules here? "Predator's often chase prey when they run." Although that's not always true for humans. She doesn't want to give her money to them either, then she'd be marked for the future. o O { Indeed. } Okay, past self agrees. The group decides they've waited long enough, a few pull knives, a couple small laser pistols, while two more hang back, magic energy starting to swirl around their feet, as the knives and pistols move forward. One of them calls out in a squeaky snarl, "Cough up your money and we'll leave you two birds alone." Shizuko brings a hand up to her mouth as the group approaches more openly. "I don't have any money on me," she says. It's actually the truth. She didn't bring any money... she's not used to carrying anything that could be stolen as money. It's kind of an old, out of date concept in Synthatec... But she's also pretty sure they'll not take that as an answer. Or worse, they'll just try to get something... else out of her. She shoots the elf a look of 'why did you drag me into this?' before looking back to the thugs. Oh. She's going to have to use THAT, isn't she? Luna has a lot of money on her. The shops around here take all kinds of currency, so gold and gems were easy to get goods for. But she should have known better than to wander a new world without knowing the laws...are there laws here? She turns and steps to the side of Shizuko. She smiles at Shizuko's look, trying to be friendly, even though it's obvious the girl isn't happy with her. o O ( They're advancing. ) o O { Yes well, scan them first. } Oh yes, right. Her eyes take on a deeper green than normal, allowing her to view peoples magical makeup and their souls. She'll look at Shizuku, because... well, she's right there, and then towards the thuggos. Knife and Laser Pistol dudes have no magic, and their souls are black messy things as they move in. The two mages in the back have flight magic in their feet, and are summoning something? Their souls are also black. "Yeah, sure. We saw that pointy eared blue haired bird throwing gems around, and obviously she knows you. Now pay or pay." They stop close to them both, knives out and guns aimed. Shizuko's soul looks like... an ordinary person's. Maybe a bit more innocent. Maybe a bit less magical than usual. As if magic itself were just... unfamiliar with her. "...Stay back. I-I'm warning you..." What was that phrase again? Oh, right... well, she'll give them one last chance... though she's pretty sure she failed horribly to intimidate them... Luna's human form just isn't built for intimidation. She made it to go blend in with humans and try being a barmaid at a tavern in Meribia after all. "I'm also warning you." She'll say, glancing at Shizuko. She's going to have to protect the human she dragged into this. All she does is try to help repent and repay for the atrocities of her past life's self, and here she is getting someone in trouble. o O { It isn't your fault, yes? } Well, she can say that all she wants, but it feels like it is. A magic glow of blue flows up around her, forming an aura, and a general feeling of static electricity fills the air. Knife 1 shakes his head, "That's it," and him and Knife 2 both move forward, each one grabbing for the bicep of each girl respectively, as the laser pistols keep their weapons trained, though they drop them to the side as the Knife men move in. The summoners are...still summoning, the magic around their feet spreading out into magic circles in front of them both. Shizuko quickly thrusts her right hand forward, palm facing out and fingers spread, her left hand on her right bicep. "Strike Star Transformation!" she calls out! And that's when things get flashy. Sure, it's quite possible, probable, even, that her arm was grabbed by the man... But there's then that flash of light. A very bright one. It's suddenly as if she were sheathed in white energy, her form glowing as the shields first come up opaque to protect what comes next from unwanted eyes. Because there is that split second where first what she has on her is transported away, leaving her otherwise exposed if it weren't for that bright light. It is, however, clear that something happened to her clothes, as the obvious outline of her skirt is gone for that split second, as well. But it doesn't last, as a completely different outline of a skirt appears. Longer elements are on it, as well as something appearing on her arms. A hair accessory as well has clearly appeared, replacing the bow that had held the ponytail in place before. As soon as it appeared, the light vanishes, leaving her in white, black, and gold armor. Well, 'armor' might be an exaggeration. Whatever you call the outfit, part of it immediately moves, flying into place from her skirt to right in the face of the man that had just grabbed her. . o O ( okay, set for stun and- ) The part shifts and opens, firing its own laser at her assaulter. Luna's bicep gets grabbed. She wasn't really ready for the thugs to move in right away. But, her combat experience isn't on the high side, especially not in a human body. Thankfully, she was channeling her magic, and it happens to be electricity based at the moment, and so the thug that grabs her gets lightning and electricity ripping at him, sparks and fizzes erupting off of Luna's body. She turns it off before it'll kill a normal human though, she's trying her best not to kill anyone in this life! She looks over as Shizuko transforms! That was pretty. Her ears twitch and she ohs as she fires lasers, and she visibly de-tenses. Knowing that Shizuko can fight is great news. Knife 1, who grabbed Luna, screams and collapses in a heap of smoke, burned clothes, and some flesh. He'll roll away screaming. Knife 2 gets ahold of Shizuko as she transforms, and his eyes visibly widen and enjoy a nice eyeful of her body, even if it's obscured in light, but then she's got all this armor and whatnot and...laser fire to the face! He screams, face getting lasered, and if they are just set for stun, he'll collapse back unconscious, if they weren't, well, there's some plastic surgery shops around and maybe the brain damage isn't toooo fatal. Laser pistol 1 & 2 both scream and start to retrain their weapons, firing as soon as they can at both girls! Summoners be summoning, their circle growing to a ten foot radius and the light inside of it forming into some kind of four legged creature with a long tail, wings, and giant overlapping fangs. Strike Star shouts, "I warned you!" with a far more confident and... somehow altered voice from before. Hey, at least the 'armor' still looks nice on her figure. It's just clearly very weaponized. The other five bits fly off of her skirt as she sweeps her left arm dramatically to the side. The weapons arrange themselves in front of her arm, each opening up to reveal their own weapons. Her eyes are flickering between the laser wielding men, and the weapons split themselves between the pair, three firing at one and three at the other... except she never set any but one to stun! ...uh-oh. That was not what she intended! Okay, she needs to remember to tell them all how to fire. Luna is more than happy to not be grabbed by thug face, and it feels good to feel him sizzle a bit. o O { Careful, yes? } o O ( Yes. ) She IS a dragon, but...she's a good dragon! She steps back, the blue magic around her body flowing up again, lights and sparks fizzling off of her. Looks like Shizuko or...Strike Star she said? Is handling the laser pistol people, so she holds her hand out towards the two summoners, and lightning rips across the sidewalk and street, smashing into light poles and buildings, before making it to their target of the two summons, attempting to zap them out of commission. Laser pistol guys both fire! But, really, their aims are a bit off, as they weren't expecting a sudden barrage of magic and lasers tossed around. Their shots go wide, and as they're attempting to re-aim and fire more, Strike Star's lasers rip into them, shredding clothes and cutting through flesh (if they're powerful enough anyway!) possibly going right through them! They drop to the ground amidst screams of agonizing pain. The summoners are focused on their spell, and lightning moves rather fast, so even as they start raising their hands to shield themselves, the lightning rips into them, bringing more screams and collapsing them to ground, sizzle sizzle smoke, from all of the thugs, rises into the air...looks like they're out of commission. Strike Star lets out an audible "Eeep!" as she realizes just how much she hurt these guys, covering her mouth with both hands as the bits fly back to dock with her skirt. Magical girls aren't supposed to hurt people, even thugs that much! Just monsters! At least they were just on normal power and not high power... They... should survive? She thinks? She's new to all this! But what she can use heavy force against is monsters, like those last ones were trying to summon... She looks to see if they're still there, or if Luna's attack against the summoners themselves dealt with the monsters. It looks like after the summoners got zapped, whatever they were summoning failed. The lights around the incomplete circle slowly fading. And whoever trained them gave them instructions on how to NOT let your summon continue if you stop in the middle, which is impressive for some thugs. Luna lets out a gentle breath, "Well, that was unpleasant." She looks over at Strike Star and smiles, showing her fangs, "Thank you so much for helping me! I'm new to this world, so..." The magical light around her fades away, and she looks down at her groceries...which she dropped when she got grabbed and then cast at the summoners. Her stuff is spilled everywhere. There's breads, some brushes, diapers, some fabric, milk bottles, and formula. She sighs...a lot of it is now charred or straight up on fire. "Maybe I should have paid them off..." o O { Possibly, yes? } Strike Star lets out a sigh of relief that it's over, then looks to Luna. "Oh! Uh, you're welcome!" She looks down at the groceries and winces. "Oh, uh, sorry." ...as if she was in any way responsible for that. Which she's not. "Oh, um... I'm new here, too... Uh, just to Senta, though." She looks over at the thugs again... all either unconscious or writhing in pain. "Um, we should... probably... go. In case they have more, um, friends." Luna looks around at the thugs, and decides Strike Star is speaking wisdom worthy of a dragon. She grabs the few pieces of her shopping not completely toasted, sniffs them, and tosses them aside. They smell like burnt smoke and flesh. Shopping day RUINED. Maybe she'll send Morai next time...but she wants everyone to be safe. She smiles at Strike Star, "Yes, let's go elsewhere. It's possible they're part of an organization or group and not a random gang." She looks around...which way, which way... "It's unfortunate we're both new here, otherwise I would suggest a place. I only know of my tower, which is on the road in the sky. We could make our way there?" Shizuko nods enthusiastically. "Yes, they're, uh, this place is known for widespread gangs and organized crime..." Sure, a lot of what she's been told has been horribly exaggerated... but it still isn't completely untrue. She looks around for a good exit, as well, then looks at Luna. "Tower? You have a tower? I thought you said you were new to the universe..." Strike Star nods enthusiastically. "Yes, they're, uh, this place is known for widespread gangs and organized crime..." Sure, a lot of what she's been told has been horribly exaggerated... but it still isn't completely untrue. She looks around for a good exit, as well, then looks at Luna. "Tower? You have a tower? I thought you said you were new to the universe..." Luna ohs, well, if it's known for it, that explains the sudden attack. They're likely in someone's territory. She'd chase humans out of her territory on Lunar if she still lived there and had her cave...she misses her homeworld sometimes, but she has a duty to fix the mistakes of her past life. Sort of. "It came with me..." This is a long story, but she can shorten it, maybe? "It's the second time it's moved, the first was during an error in a ritual to seal Oceia, one of my wives, my past life's wives, I mean, yes?" She starts walking...towards the city center at a hurried pace, looking back once to lament her spilled groceries! Sigh! "And this second time, I woke up and...it'd just reappeared. It might be that the spell is still having after effects." o O { Indeed. } Shizuko hurriedly walks along as well. . o O ( stay cool, act like you normally wear gold armored bits on a sleeveless white and black minidress... ) At least she knows where the floating bridge is already. Her school is there! Tower, though? She pauses mid-step at the mention of wives, sealing, rituals... past lives? Who is this elf? Is this the kinds of things that happen when magic corrupts? Is this why it's so dangerous? "...Wives?" is all she manages to actually say, though. Luna keeps in step with Shizuko, looking her up and down. o O { Pleasant, yes? } o O ( What? ) She rubs the back of her head, explaining this to strangers, it seems to happen every time she meets someone new. Maybe she shouldn't mention it, but it's a big part of her life now, and things just come out of her mouth sometimes. o O ( Can you explain it? ) { Yes, well, I suppose. } o O ( Thank you! ) She's more than content to sit on the back burner for this. She takes a step, her leg lengthening, then the next step the rest of her body lengthens, shifting and morphing, cat ears popping up out of her head and her blue dress' fabric changing to a black satin, until she's a completely different looking person. She takes in a deep breath as the bell around her neck jingles, "Yes well, greetings. I'm Luna, or well, I'm Luna's past life, yes? While it is complicated, she is currently working at atoning for the errors I made while I was insane and acquired a 1,000 wives." She smirks, showing her fangs. Shizuko sees that Luna is still walking, so she catches back up quickly. It's actually not until the sound of the bell that she actually looks over and... different person entirely? Well, she's not really one to talk, now that she thinks about it. Still, it's... apparently actually a different person? Sort of? She does, however, stop in her tracks again. "A... thousand?" 'Acquired'? Danger! Danger! Luna turns around, but continues walking backwards, even as Shizuko stops, her smirk widens, "Hmm hmm hmm, yes well, one thousand. Not all at once of course, yes?" o O ( I feel so less anxious now, thank you. ) o O { Mmhm. } "However, I was insane, mad, yes? It is a horrible fate that the black dragon of Lunar must face." Her left ear twitches, and she holds her hand out towards the girl, offering it as a hand to hold, "Fear not, yes? I am no longer taking souls and am in my right mind. It should be at least a few hundred to a few thousand years before the insanity begins to grip me once more." Luna (OOC) says, "no longer taking" Strike Star says nothing at the further explanation. She looks down at the hand. 'Don't be afraid of me! I'm totally not stealing people's souls any more! It will be several generations down the road before I'm that crazy again!' None of these things are acting as comfort to the 'magical' girl. "Um... You know what? I think I can... make my way home on my own now..." Luna looks down at her extended hand as she walks further from Strike Star. She did say she was going to leave the area. Her bell jingles softly with each step. She closes the hand and lets it fall to her side, "Yes well, as you wish." She stops and curtseys, "Your assistance tonight was appreciated, yes? And your outfit is alluring, hmm hmm hmm... The tower is up the long stairwell along the sky bridge, yes? Should you ever wish to visit." She then will turn and walk away, though she looks back over her shoulder for a final peek. o O ( Maybe she's not used to shapeshifting? ) o O { Mmm, I think it is rather, the dialogue that was exchanged. } Strike Star says, "I, uh, yeah. You're welcome? Um..." She doesn't know how to take the next part, and thus... just suddenly takes off flying. Likely for wherever her home is. | ||
