"Damn it," Shin grunted. He'd expected only one candy.
Shooting for the first now would just be meanspirited and not necessarily guarenteed. Better to take the easy shot than let his fall to the ground.
He quickly followed the movement of Rudy's arm in the arc trajectory, doing his best to keep aware of the girl in the corner of his eye incase she tried to overshadow him with a double shot.
He let her fire out her first shot. He was actually a little curious as to how the word synced up with the shot and her aim.
Before she'd so much as had the chance to catch her breath after the word he fired himself.
Shattering the little candy to pieces.
It wasn't all he expected; show the little mage girl that baselines are more capable than she thinks but it was rather thereputic to shatter the brain altering candy to shreds. It freaked him out a little and knowing the thing was in pieces was a bit of a relief.
Figure of Hourai
"Lighten up, Ryuuzaki, Shuji-chan has to lose it some time and she's got to be pushing two hundred by now. Think she owes me food, too, want to come with us?" Kumiko said, shrugging and adjusting her illusion to be a little more wrinkled. Why had she picked a sailor fuku again? Gah... it would be too suspicious to just change it, now, so... getting mistaken for a junior high student it was! Damn it, she wanted some sake...
Avatar Source
...
Well, Ryuuzaki had done it again. She'd prevented yet another humiliating encounter escalating any further. Falling to her knees, the will youkai desperately caught her breathe, trying to recover before something else happened.
"I-I'm... a hundred... and s-s-sixty... three..." Shujiko gasped. "A-a-and I d-don't have to lo-lose anything!" She added, her face flushing anew.
After another few moments, she shakily got to her feet. "T-thanks, miss Ryuuzaki... I-I'll be fine, I'll get her next time... somehow...
Well, Shujiko did owe the kitsune lunch, so she had better fulfil that obligation... preferably with Ryuuzaki coming along, because Shujiko was beginning to think that, maybe, being alone with Kumiko was extremely hazardous to her health. And a bit more. "Yes, come with us, Miss Ryuuzaki! It'll be great!"
Shujiko totally wasn't pleading.
"...So what if I am?" Alice replied guardedly, crossing her arms as the cat's head bobbed along behind her. "And why should you care anyway? We have very important business!"
"We do?" Minato asked with slight surprise. "I thought there was no news to relay until-"
Alice slapped a hand over his mouth. Of course, she passed right through, and Minato grimaced.
"So anyway!" Alice again turned to Rosalie. "Lovely chatting with you but we have to go now to do important stuff which is very important and serious and not for a little girl to know so go away now hurry up!"
"..." Minato merely stared blankly at his ghostly companion, not catching a word of her rapid speaking.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
"Well, it's undoubtably clear that you're familiar with the supernatural," Rosalie replied, inclining her head to one side with a faint smile. How to go about this... all she really wanted to do at the moment is find out about what they were doing and why. So, perhaps she should be more upfront about it? She didn't seen any reason not to...
"So, what are you doing with all this information-gathering?" Rosalie asked.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
"This one would be honoured to join you," Ryuuzaki replied, bowing her head respectfully. Even if she was a loudmouthed pervert, Kumiko was still her elder and deserved her respect. Shujiko too, although it was hard to believe it just by looking at her. "This way I can make sure you don't go back to abusing Ishi-san, after all."
She was a bit worried about being around Shujiko, though. The youkai always seemed to panic whenever she was around recently... Maybe she'd heard about how the Ryuuzaki clan were trained from birth to slay youkai? Could it be she was scared of her? She needed to convince her otherwise, then. Her honour as a samurai could not accept such a misunderstanding to continue.
Figure of Hourai
GS'S POST
"Hngh... Okay! A walk it is!" Fang replied, rolling the work coat off himself. Underneath the coat was a white cotton tunic from the Oriental past, a pao. Removing a smaller red umbrella from his work place, the boy once more held it above his customer after unfolding it. "Where to, little miss?" The dragon inquired rather enthusiastically, already alive with curiosity. He's often seen young people walk through the area like that during his hours and on TV. This was an opportunity to experience the profoundly stimulating social interactions he watched over the years.
Allen nodded at the "girl" and said, "Alright, a walk it is."
He had to wonder where "she" was thinking of going.
Rudy grimaced. "Again. Double or nothing!" he shouted. The American dug into his pocket only to find his candy all used up. He looked over to the only other person in the room who wasn't participating.
"Hey, Theo! You got any extra candy?"
The Silly Gloom
"Of course. Of course I do."
Theo reached into his pocket, where the candies lie. Pricey things, he understood that, but bothersome, nonetheless, and not very... proper. He assumed he'd have enough to last a few days, so one being turned into a target won't hurt all that much. Now this was rather entertaining, he thought to himself. If they ever reached the third round, he might as well join on the bet.
"Catch." In a slightly more cheerful tone, he threw the candy at Rudy.
edited 18th Jun '12 8:01:10 PM by arreimil
On the foundation of glass a dream is built. And, like glass, it shatters.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
After paying the boy, Maylene straightened and held the popsicle in the shade as much as she could manage.
"Thank you," she said, shortly, before turning to look back down the street. Last she had seen her, her Mistress was very close by. She would simply locate her Mistress, hurry over and drop off the frozen snack, and then return to her errand...
Quietly, under her breath, Maylene murmured a rhetorical question of her Mistress' location to herself. She didn't see her...
"Another one?" asked Kameyo. Double or nothing? Well, she was always ready to prove just how awesome she was and earn free dinners in the process. She reached into her pocket and withdrew another coin, suspending it with yet another electromagnetism spell and readying her arm to fire again. "Sure! But just so you know, you're a thousand years too early to beat me!"
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
Quaerat et Intelligere Veritatem
Kokoro in the meantime was running throughout the hallways of the building, in search of something, while carrying a small bag full of paper from one of the office shredders. As he ran his red scarf trailed behind him as if an after image, following him at every turn, "Where is it? Where is it?", he silently said. Going down a set of stairs, he looked into a supply closet and finally found the item which was a glue stick, "Yes! Success!", he yelled jumping up and down in the closet.
With everything collected he continued running, but then altered his course hearing someone laughing. He soon ended up in front of Ryuuzaki, Shujiko, and Kumiko although he was a bit confused about what they were doing standing around.
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing- Wernher von Braun Until proven otherwise, Everything is Relevant
One candy.
One coin.
One shot.
It was all lined up again, so beautifully.
Shin smirked, "I'm in."
With that he leveled his rifle to the range, around where the first two arcs evened out.
Rudy tried a different approach. He'd played baseball in high school and pitched the candies like balls. For Kameyo he wanted a throw a knuckle ball, but he had never managed to get it right. Instead he tried a curve ball. With Shin he wasted no time and threw a fastball as soon as the first candy had left his fingers.
"For the pizza!"
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
"Railgun!"
Another tremendous crack. Kameyo flinched a bit, this time, the recoil getting to her after firing three consecutive shots. Still, it's not like that bothered her too much. She could fire a hundred shots in a row and come out just fine!
Once again, the candy was gone in a flash of heat and sound. The streak left behind by the projectile slowly faded after the coin had left yet another deep crater in the wall. "Haha, keep this up and the wall's going to fall down."
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
A second candy where the he-
He lowered the rifle slightly and squeezed the trigger. This time there was no explosion but the candy's course spiralled oddly and it collapsed prematurely.
A look through his rifle and Shin smirked. He chipped it. It wasn't a whole sale explosion or what he was expecting but he got a visible chunk out. Enough to have "Hit it" at least.
The Sword of the Morning
In a practice room not far from the shooting range, Sho Kuro gritted his teeth as he savagely beat into the boxing bag before him, smashing his raw red fists into the material. The plain-looking Japanese boy's fists and feet were sore and worn from his third hour of daily practice. Sweat stained his black bangs, shone on his forehead, and drenched his workout clothes as he smashed his fists and feet into the bag again and again, before finishing with a flurry. His breathing heavy, he dropped his fists and slumped.
Practice over, I'm done, before my knuckles start bleeding. He thought, exhausted. Not gonna make much difference against demons anyway. He thought pessimistically, grabbing a towel from a rack and wiping the sweat off of his forehead. Tiredly, the teenager hung the towel around his neck and left the room, still barefoot.
As he walked down one of the long, featureless hallways that characterized ATLAS HQ, Sho glanced boredly to the side, and saw a steel door labeled "Shooting Range". A red light indicated it was in use. With a shrug, Sho grasped the door handle and entered. Wasn't like he had anything better to do.
He entered the range and stopped abruptly. Agent Hasimoto and Agent Ortega, two of the only ATLAS agents he knew, were apparently involved in some sort of shooting contest, judging from Hashimoto's rifle and the damaged wall he faced. Directly next to him, a shockingly pretty blonde around his own age stood.
Sho raised an eyebrow at the group and scratched his head, trying and failing to come up with his own plausible solution. After a few moments, he gave up. "ATLAS..." He muttered resignedly, and sighed.
Your legacy shall drift away, blown into eternity, like the sands of the desert.
"Hmmm, that sounds good." the white haired girl said, nodding. It had been a while since she'd eaten takoyaki too. She scanned the area and quickly spotted the food stall. "Ah! Come on, Yuki-chan, over this way."
Keeping a good grip on the younger girl's hand, Momoko headed towards the yatai.
"Ah, thank you." the half-angel replied, moving closer to the other boy. "Hmm, we could go catch a movie, maybe grab a bite to eat..." the crossdresser paused, before half-jokingly voicing what he really wanted to do, "or maybe we could find a hotel room~?" Burn up, hurricane of justice!
The Silly Gloom
Not minding the damage to the infrastructure, at all, Theo clapped his hand. Only lightly, of course, he's never one to be overly loud or cheerful. One part of his knew exactly if the 'Gold Gunner,' Shin, and their friendly rivalry didn't stop soon, some officials of ATLAS might have to step in, just to avoid unnecessary damage, but another part of him thought that, after all, this was a training room. They wouldn't design it to be so fragile, knowing how... volatile their members could be.
"Extraordinary." He tried to raise his voice, but the man still sounded as if whispering. The worse part, still, was that he didn't even aim the praise at any of the participants.
—
Tonight's the night.
Tonight, they come.
Seven months in ATLAS, and finally, the day comes. There were times when she thought all the training were lost on her, times when she thought what her lovely aunt taught her would have been for naught. In such day and age, where witches, demons, and evil sorcery no longer lurk in every corner of civilizations, what destiny could await a mage such as her? In such day and age, where it is the evil of man that plagues societies, sorcery no longer seemed the answer. In times such as these, she wished she had obeyed her father's wish and actually went to business school instead.
But no more of that.
Marinette. Marinette is her name now. A fully fledged mage, an aspiring witch hunter of the Whitewood clan, though she dared not bear the name now that she has not yet proven her worth. Freshly awakened from a nap, and still on her bed in her room, she slowly collected her consciousness, got up, and tried to focus. The sweet touch of slumber won't deceive her tonight, that much the woman was confident.
And where's that book?
Marinette finally stood up. She was in a sack dress, lacking in all kinds of details except that it's almost all-black, save for the white collars. The black shoes also served to reinforce her somewhat grim appearance. She went to the desk next to her bed, sat down, and reached for the drawer.
'Collection'
There's that lovely book. Plain brown cover, with the word 'Collection' written in a decidedly cute way, as if by a small girl trying to label her doll. It was a rather small book, and judging by the paper used should last around 150-200 pages. All in all, a rather useless-looking handbook, except that to Marinette, it was her everything.
Tonight's the night.
Best be prepared.
edited 19th Jun '12 12:26:11 AM by arreimil
On the foundation of glass a dream is built. And, like glass, it shatters.
Figure of Hourai
"It's not abusing her, I was only tickling!" Kumiko whined, tails swishing back and forth for a second before she just swung them around and hugged the fluffy mass to her chest. She tended to wonder how jealous people were of her tails: weren't they nice? All sleek and fluffy and warm and fluffy and soft and... they were really, really fluffy, really. And she had them available at all times to hug and stroke and... maybe it was a bit odd that she liked her own tails so much? "Anywhere, where're we going? Race you there!"
Like the obedient girl she was, Yuki stayed close to Momoko and carefully made her way over to the yatai, arm securely wrapped around Mr. Teddy. Not only was he enchanted to protect her from the bumps and scrapes her condition would otherwise bring with her carelessness, it was almost impossible to drop him or take him away: the level of strength required was far above what you could get from one person using just muscle. Apparently, quite a few of ATLAS more experienced members had come together to make him for her birthday when she was younger. Avatar Source
...
"Yay!" Shujiko squealed. With Ryuuzaki around, the will youkai had nothing to fear! Um, well, she totally could defend herself, though! Kumiko had just caught her at a bad time! But still, bad things wouldn't happen with Ryuuzaki around! Although she blushed slightly more at the mention of preventing more 'abuse'. It was a nice thought, but it sounded more like Shujiko needed constant protection. And not even from their enemies. Funny how that worked out...
"Well, um... one of those restaurant places?" Shujiko suggested, having no idea what would be a good place to go to.
"Like I said, none of your business!" Alice replied. "Now go away!"
Minato suddenly a hand, waving Alice's words away. "You don't have to be embarrassed, we can explain."
"We can't! It's highly confidential!"
Minato merely stared at Rosalie, his perfect cover story already formed in his mind. With this, he would clear both him and Alice of any and all suspicion. He had to admit, he had his moments.
"We are simply attempting to gather information on the next instalment of a very popular doujinshi game series." Minato began, his voice as deadpan as ever. "My friend here is merely cosplaying as one of the ghost characters - not to say she isn't dead, Alice clearly is. She takes her role as the characetr very seriously."
And then, in order to cement the point that he was merely a fanboy gathering information...
"...Youkai moe. Mukyu."
Infallible alibi.
Alice was completely stunned, her mind refusing to acknowledge such an explanation. Her eyes had become as vacant as Minato's, jaw falling to the floor. Minato, however, was just the same as ever.
Wild Horse
Humming, Fang nodded in agreement with the angel's inquiries. A bite to eat... Something like a snack and not a meal. So appetizing, but not that filling. Movie... giant moving picture show with loud sound effects. Like TV without glass. Hotel. Where people go to when they are away from home and not in family or friends' house. This era's version of inns. Mapping the routes in order, the dragon smiled.
"Hm... I have no problem with the hotel." The innocent boy stated, thinking he was just going to be in a sleepover of sorts. "Um... does little miss want to eat crepes?" He asked, having eaten those hand snacks before as a sample. He's also seen it be more popular with females than males.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
Quaerat et Intelligere Veritatem
Kokoro quietly stood there watching the three, till he saw Kumiko start stroking her tail. Seeing the mass of fur he couldn't resist himself, "Yaaay, surprised attack!", he yelled out dropping the bag of shredded paper and running forward. He quickly jumped up along the wall, wall running across, and then leaped over the other two landing in front of Kumiko. He then grabbed her in a big hug, his scarf also wrapping around her, getting as much of her tails in between them as possible.
"Oh fluffy buddy! Your tails bring me so much joy, hee hee!", he laughed as he spun around with her, momentarily stopping only to say, "Hai!", to the other two before continuing to spin again.
edited 19th Jun '12 7:15:46 AM by DAcriznips
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing- Wernher von Braun Until proven otherwise, Everything is Relevant
Figure of Hourai
... or that's what Kokoro would have done, had his whole series of actions not been completely idiotic in the first place and contingent upon successfully hugging the premier martial artist of ATLAS and candidate for 'most experienced hand-to-hand combatant alive'. Reflexively, the kitsune backed away from his reaching arms, snapped one hand out, and made a valiant attempt to punch him in exactly the right place to drop him like a stone and earn some piece. For all the obnoxious male's speed, he had just gone for someone of supernatural origin and flawless skill, versed in taking down demons with nothing more than her bare hands. Being knocked unconscious in a single blow was the nicest thing that could be expected from showing up out of nowhere when she didn't know you and attempting to embrace her.
tl;dr? If you don't get knocked out (this was a stupid thing to try and do), it'll be worse for you.
Avatar Source
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Kameyo lowered her arm, and then stretched. The recoil had jolted her a little bit, though it wasn't as if she wasn't used to that sort of thing. After all, she'd practiced for years with this spell, so if she couldn't handle a little bit of recoil from firing a coin that would be kind of ridiculous. She glanced over at the sound of the door to the firing range opening, and noticed that a boy around her age had entered the room. Kameyo didn't recognize him, but it was obvious he was a part of ATLAS given that he was here and all. With another stretch, she returned her focus to the other people who'd been watching or participating in the bet.
"So, the candy's pretty clearly gone," she said, "So I get two free dinners, right? Right."
Rosalie's smile widened. Really? That was the excuse? That was what the excuse was? This was too perfect, too incredibly perfect. She didn't want to be rude, but she almost laughed at his excuse. Quite simply because she knew exactly what he was attempting to reference.
"That might've been an ideal excuse against someone else," began Rosalie, her smile approaching an outright grin by this point, "But I know exactly which series you're talking about. The 'yokai moe' is one particularly notable sunflower yokai, and 'Mukyu' is a popular catchphrase for a certain purple librarian. And she looks nothing like the notable ghost characters in that series. Or the half-ghost, for that matter."
Rosalie had actually become a fan of the series a few years ago. Not to say that she was good at them, but she liked the games. And was somewhat surprised they had come up in this situation.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
"I'm not going to eat you," replied Rosalie, guessing what their conversation was about from hearing Minato's side. That was amusing... Whoever he was speaking to apparently saw her as a threat of some sort. "I'm just a little girl, after all. What could I possibly do?"
Continuing into the alleyway, she came to stop before turning to face the man and his apparently invisible partner with a smile. So, how to go about this? She was merely curious about what method that Minato was using to...
"A spirit? That glare is somewhat impolite," Rosalie said, sizing up the spirit that had now appeared beside Minato. "So, you are the invisible source of assistance, I assume?"
"Railgun!" cried Kameyo.
The coin was fired with an immense crack, leaving a blazing trail behind it as it was fired. She couldn't... actually tell what had happened to her candy. The coin had at least come close enough to disintegrate the candy into nothingness... and leave a crater in the wall behind it.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."