18 - voice/video - slug plot

[firstaid]

[The feed starts off as a voice one, silence, static, but then laughter slowly creeps in. It’s cute, but creepy.]

Mmmhahahahahahaha!

I wonder where they are? My knight in shining armor and my true knight!

[She makes a soft sound, amused at what she just said, before a melodramatic sigh ends her amusement.]

Flynn, Yuri, why don’t you be dears and pick your princess up from the desert? It’s not nice to leave her out here, all hot and sweaty. Oh, it’s terrible!

[It’s easy to tell it’s Estelle speaking now, but there’s something terribly off.

It’s then that the video feed turns on, showing Estelle:



She laughs some more, amused, obviously not herself.]

Perhaps this brings back memories, your girl under some kind of control. Oh, so much fun!

Come and get her!

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[lovelydragoon]

[Judith saw the post, and heard some of the replies. At first she wondered what was wrong with Estelle, but then she understood. It was one of those... things, whatever they were. Taking over Estelle's mind.

Why Estelle of all people, she wondered? The girl didn't deserve that, not twice.

The thing wouldn't listen to reason, she knew that, and that's why she didn't bother to reply. That, and she had more of an advantage if she didn't. Estelle was easy enough to find, and soon Judith was watching her from a very short distance away, apparently unnoticed. She--it--was distracted by other people on the device, and Judith can be very, very quiet when she wants to be.

Even now, she isn't quite sure what she intends to do, how far she's willing to push to get rid of the thing infecting Estelle's mind. But if she could at least get her weapon away from her, that would be a good start. So for now, that's her goal. Unannounced and spear ready, she lunges from her hiding spot, aiming to knock the cleaver from the possessed girl's hand.]

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[firstaid]

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice--

[She lunges out of the way from Judith, dodging her spear and finding herself to safety before turning to her and giving her a smirk.]

--shame on me. I'm afraid the same trick won't work on me twice, but sadly, the first person that tried is a bit inanimate now thanks to his attempt.

[Distracted by the device it may be, but oh so much more aware now. It's not willing to stop putting up its fights yet, especially when yet another one of her friends has decided to come and oh, 'free' her.]

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[lovelydragoon]

[She stumbles slightly with her momentum as Estelle--the thing--dodges her attack entirely, but she quickly recovers, whipping back around to face the possessed girl, leaving no opportunity for a counterstrike. Whatever this thing is, it's not to be underestimated, and she won't again. Nor will she ask who the other person was, even if she wonders. She can't trust anything this thing would say to her anyway. For all she knows, that much is already a trick.

Saying nothing in reply, she swings again. She knows the thing is aware of her now, and so she lacks the advantage she thought she had a moment ago, but that won't stop her.]

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[firstaid]

[It is waiting for it to strike again as it brought up the cleaver to defend itself, pushing her back and staggering a little bit before she balances herself. Looking into its host's memories, this one doesn't use magic, so, she's going to distance herself and start casting a spell.]

O' power that tries soul's shine!

[And it raises the cleaver up to cast the spell.]

Photon!

[Hopefully that would buy it some time.]

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[lovelydragoon]

[She recognizes the incantation, and prepares to dodge the spell. It doesn't cause her much trouble, but it does buy Estelle a small bit of time, if only because Judith needs it to think. The thing in her head seems to be fully aware of her capabilities. If it knows how to cast one spell, it probably knows them all.

Still, casting has left "Estelle" vulnerable for a moment, and Judith will take advantage of that and strike again, this time aiming to hurt and not simply to rid her of her weapon. Not too badly--she won't risk killing Estelle--but she hasn't seen this thing deal with pain. Maybe it will panic. Maybe it will forget Estelle's healing artes and abandon a damaged host. If it did, then Estelle could heal herself easily enough. Or maybe it would just heal itself, but either way Estelle wouldn't be in any more danger, and Judith would learn something.]

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[firstaid]

[Of course it knows them all, from all the little spells, to her quirks with a sword. Luckily, it used a spell it could recover from rather quickly, thus when it sees Judith coming her way to attack her, she hops away, dodging the spear. It was too much of a close call, though, and one that it didn't want to try again. Judith wasn't its target. It knows this girl cares for her, but it also senses that maybe the same pain wouldn't be felt from the Krityan.]

I don't think I want to fight you!

[That that it thinks it would lose, just that it doesn't want its host injured.]

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[lovelydragoon]

Then why don't you just give up?

[Not backing off at all, here. Given how this has gone just far, she doesn't expect to hit, but she'll keep on trying. She'll start tossing in artes if she has to. In fact, try dodging Dawn Moon, not-Estelle.

But as relentless as her attacks are, the slug couldn't be more wrong about how much Judith cares. It doesn't show--Judith's poker face is near perfect--but it already pains her that hurting Estelle is the only way she can come up for now to try to get rid of the thing controlling her, and she wouldn't even be trying that if Estelle wasn't so well equipped to recover from it. At this moment, she would like nothing more than for that thing to just give up and let Estelle go.]

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[firstaid]

[Maybe not dodge all of them so well, but she can and will block. Taking a few back steps, she catches her breath before it simply realizes that staying here any longer is doing none of them any good. By none of them, it means itself.]

I think I will do just that!

[Sending a Star Stroke in Judith's direction along with a Pow Hammer coming down from above, she turns on her heals and starts running off, more specifically back to the safe zone. Maybe Yuri and Flynn will be there waiting! Then the show can really begin!]

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[lovelydragoon]

[She dodges the Star Stroke and brings up her spear to block the hammer, but the thing had bought itself enough time to put some distance between them. She could chase, but for now she'll let the thing make its escape. That confrontation hadn't gotten her anywhere, and she needed time to think.

So instead of running after her, Judith stays right where she is and pulls out her device. She needs information, and she wants to warn Yuri about what he might be dealing with if he runs into Estelle.]