poly_chromatic | 004 || Video//Action

Entry tags:

blood plus - saya otonashi

004 || Video//Action

[Saya looks battle-worn, but in control as she turns on the feed, perhaps to call for help or check on someone's welfare. But the chance is lost as the device is knocked from her grasp, tumbling to a stop feet away. The tilted feed shows Saya leaping to meet the attack of multiple assailants, using little more than a kitchen knife and her inhuman speed and agility to fight them off.]

[Then, just as the battle seems well in hand, she stops. The knife clatters to the pavement as she instead backs away from the fight with slow and shaking steps. The feed shows only her lower half as she's backed against a wall, essentially allowing the ghoul, whose face is off-camera, to close in.]

[Her skills and agility from just seconds before should allow her to take this one enemy in seconds. Yet she is still, and in fact extending a hand to it...]

((OOC: Halp please? Videos will be answered after the fight! ...Though she might be a little off. >.>;; ))

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[Of all the god damn things she's had to go back out for, it was pet food for Sonic. Ugh. This was unfair. Why was it always pet food?

Still, Charlie's out and the second she spots Saya being cornered, she immediately turns and rushes over.

She's almost hesitant to use her ability. This thing is a child. But it looks wrong and behaves wrong and everything is off where there's not much hesitation.

Just a look of hurt as Charlie pushes at it with fire. And keeps pushing until it's gone. She heads over to Saya a moment later.

It was her friend. Really right there for once and not on video and Charlie's happy to see her and afraid for her and all of this was on her face as she reached out to touch her.]

Saya, let's get you somewhere safe.

[Saya lets out a scream as Charlie attacks, and then rushes over -- toward the ghoul.] No!

[They're not people and she knows that, or she did, but the way that one looks at her and she's filled with the unmistakable instinct to save him -- ]

[Saya puts herself between the child-ghoul and Charlie, arms spread to keep Charlie from hurting it any more.] No, please, I... I think I know him... [Meanwhile, the ghoul is all too happy to take advantage of Saya's back toward it, and is about to take a nice bite.]

[Charlie immediately pulls her fire back from the kid the second Saya is in the way.]

They only look like people we---SAYA, LOOK OUT!

[Charlie reaches for Saya, intent on pulling her out of harms way this time.] I'm sorry. That's not who you think it is.

[Saya trusts Charlie enough to let herself be pulled, stumbling and then falling to the ground.] I know but... what if it's my only chance! I don't even remember his name.

[Her eyes are stinging as she looks again to the ghoul, who she wants so much to remember but no matter how she strains, there's just a haze of regret.]

Sweetie, I don't think trying to remember someone because a flesh eating monster is the way to do it. Now, come on.

I need to get home. [Please come with her, Saya. Just this once. Charlie's fingers lace through Saya's hand, a gentle but urgent tug on her arm should hopefully do the trick.] We need to go. And that thing needs to be stopped before it hurts anyone else.

[Charlie's right, of course. Saya knew that, hasn't forgotten it. But down to the deepest part of her, she would rather die herself than hurt the gnashing, clawing monster that is advancing yet again on her and Charlie.]

I know. [Saya can't hide the tears that slide freely down, making wet trails through the grime coating her skin. She grits her teeth against a sob and strikes, fierce as she had been with the others whose faces meant nothing to her.]

[The knife goes in, and she smells the acrid sting of smoke, distantly hears a desperate wail ripped from her throat.]

[Charlie just grabs her hand and starts moving away. She tries to keep behind Saya, eyes once again on the monster. There's a flash of heat and she's hitting it -it's an it it's not a child it's an it an it an it- hard, keeping fire in one place. On the creature. Keeping it from going anywhere else when the creature moves and flails. It's hard work and her concentration is elsewhere for a moment.]

We'll be fine, Saya. We'll go back to my house for a bit.

[Her tone is distant for a moment, shifting a bit as she pulls the fire back. She turns her attention to Saya, takes one look at the girl and the wail registers. Charlie's arms go around her. She's not good at comforting people but this is Saya. She can try for her.]

Sweetie...

[Charlie has you, Saya. And she's so very sorry.]

[Saya's trembling as the ghoul splats on the ground, the knife still in its chest. A deep breath, two, and she's composed enough to lean down and yank the knife free. She may need it. And beyond that, she doesn't want to worry Charlie any further. Breaking down now isn't safe for either of them.] I'm okay. It's okay, Charlie.

[While she's down there, she brushes her fingertips over boy's face and whispers an apology.]

[Then, it's time to go. And yes, she'll follow Charlie; she couldn't leave anyone alone in this. Saya's still holding back tears but she can manage this, she has to.] Okay, let's go.

Home, then. [And Charlie's off. She knows this city well enough to know back-alley routes and all, so they're home sooner than usual and with minimal ghoul related trouble. She keeps the fire in check, not burning anything now. Just using it to knock zombies out of the way. Once they're home, the animals greet Saya first and Charlie almost smiles. Phantom is the happiest to see her, running around Saya's feet and rolling onto his back for attention.]

You alright?

[Saya stoops down to pet the little ones, half-heartedly. Part of her, still in half-mad grief over whatever or whoever she just killed, wants to snap at Charlie to stop always asking that.]

...Yeah. [She straightens and nods, offers a muted smile at the pet menagerie.] I can't decide if it's better or worse that I can't remember him.

[Just desserts for the shoddy treatment of Solomon.]

[You mean that person Saya hasn't threaded with one single time? Just checking.]

[ He hangs back on a rooftop, drinking it all in. Her speed, her footwork, her ferocity. Near-perfect -- but not yet there, which makes it all the more maddening. He can't get by on a thin gruel of substitutions when he's experienced the full feast of bloodlust and hatred. It just makes the wait longer, the yearning worse. ]

[ When the ghoul corners her, he waits for her attack. Any minute now, she'll cut him down. ]

[ But. ]

[ Wait. ]

[ Before he knows it, he's let fly a barrage of red spikes at her attacker. Whether they hit or not is irrelevant. He just wants to shake her from her torpor. ]

Don't get distracted, Saya.

[She knows these things aren't people. She knows that, but -- something about this one, his hair tied back with a ribbon, the bandages on his right hand. Something comes almost into focus, temptingly close, just one more second and she might have it -- ]

[Saya's stupor is broken by Karl's intervention (more his voice than the attack, which will trouble her later) and she dives out of the ghoul's reach, tumbling beneath a vicious swipe to retrieve her dropped knife. She should attack (shouldn't she?) but...]

[Her vision swims, tears of frustration and guilt and she hesitates, just as the ghoul charges.]

[ Unlike Saya, he knows why the ghoul made her falter. Because it's the exact replica of her pest of a Chevalier. Haji. Except it's not Haji -- she's not supposed to see him as that. All he is, is a threat. ]

[ One meant to be butchered. ]

[ He watches her dive and retrieve her weapon. When she doesn't immediately retaliate, he grits his teeth. The frustration, the knowledge that she's not yet ready is maddening. His body is already in motion, one clawed arm lifting to deflect the clang of the ghoul's identical cello-case (what is that thing made of? Titanium?) Shooting a hot glare over his shoulder, he snaps, ]

Stop sniveling like a helpless girl and fight him.

[The jibe ignites her eyes, though her anger is at Karl rather than the almost-familiar ghoul. Nearly enough to break through the dizzying haze of half formed images that tug her a different direction, urge her to leap to the defense of the rotting man with the dead eyes.]

[She grips the knife handle, steeling herself. This isn't a person, despite what her instinct screams at her. Sparing him won't yield her a single thing, not one moment of her past regained.]

[She should kill it. She must. Not because Karl demands it, but because this thing is an abomination, nothing but a mockery of what she seeks.]

[Saya lanches herself over Karl's head, forcing herself to commit to the attack, no turning back. He in't a person, she repeats that to herself, a silent mantra as she lets fly a perfect strike to the chest, center mass. Her heart isn't even one bit comforted by it.]

[ He watches her move in a dark blur, closing the gap between herself and the zombie. Excitement spikes through him, sharp and electric. Yes, that's it. A secret side of him gloats at the sight of her destroying her Chevalier's simulacrum. The other part is simply arrested by the destructive beauty of her dance. ]

[ Splattered in blood, strewn in roses, she'll always be a timeless beauty for him. ]

[ He gives no sign of assistance in chopping the enemy down. This is hardly his battle -- she's not his ally, although they share the same roof. But he makes no move to withdraw either. He couldn't if he wanted to -- he's riveted to the spot, eyes fixed on her. ]

[ It's not just a trance of lustmord, or a homage to the voyeur in him. He wants to see her step away from this battle -- victorious. Alive. ]

[The other ghouls had been slow and clumsy, little trouble for someone of her speed. This one matches her at every turn, deflecting every strike, never leaving an opening. A being whose abilities parallel her own. Her equal.]

[It's several long minutes and a blurring plethora of near-misses before Saya finds her chance and takes it, her pitiful, stained kitchen knife plunging deep enough to pierce its heart. Arms come around her and there's a rasping whisper in her ear just before a thrust of her blade pitches the ghoul onto its back.]

Saya...

[It's just a flash, no more than a blink, but she suddenly sees him -- not the decaying monster but him -- his hand held toward her, offering, waiting. More than anything, she wants to reach out and take it, to follow him away from everything.]

[She topples down with it, both hands still gripping the knife handle, still entombed in its arms. A long moment passes before Saya shrugs off its embrace, pushing herself up to yank the knife free. Enough of her face is visible for Karl to know she's not crying, but her eyes are veiled behind a dark curtain of her hair.]

What is his name? [Her voice is dark and accusing, you know don't you?]

[ It's like watching a duel. Or a tango. The zombie is quick, but she is always, always quicker. He all but applauds when she deals the coup de grace. But her demeanor when she straightens isn't victorious. Far from it. She may as well have butchered a secret little part of herself. ]

[ (It's all those signs that make him sneer; little cracks in an otherwise perfect weapon.) ]

[ At the question, he frowns, but not at her or anything. He's not her fount of information; certainly, his experiences and memories will never be hers. But he supposes one little scrap (ha, scrap. The word fits her mongrel-Chevalier well) can't hurt. ]

Haji. [ Cool and crisp, as if the word, the man, means nothing to either of them. ] The shadow ever at your side. The thorn in mine.

[Haji. The name meant nothing to her seconds ago, and now echoes through her with near-reverence even as she looks down at the rotting corpse that is a sick distortion of the man she'd seen in that fraction of a memory. He was supposed to be at her side. She was never meant to be this alone.]

[Saya grips her knife handle as anger floods in, a swirling storm in search of a focus. The facsimile of her Haji has its fair share, as does the original for his absence, neither a suitable target. The only one who is...]

[She turns on Karl and charges in a mad, hissing rage, ichor spraying from the blurred arc of her blade strike. It's not Karl's fault, but the jilted Queen in her doesn't care. Knowing she cut down the visage of the one she's been seeking has her caught in violent, spinning freefall without a net. Karl wouldn't catch her, can't be what she needs, and so justified or not he'll bear her wrath.]

[If he sought the frenzied tempest of Vietnam, here she is.]

[ While she absorbs the words, Karl watches her. It's not just captivation. It's disquiet. She reminds him of epileptics who check out for unmeasured moments, leaving vacant bodies and dead gazes. Except something is brewing in the molecules around her. Something terrible. Then Saya rolls back in, a thunderstorm flashing across the face of the heavens. That eerie blankness coalesces into red-hot wrath. ]

[ Perfect. ]

[ All of it perfect. ]

[ His smile is quick and sharp in its spread -- one clawed arm swinging to deflect her filthy blade, even as his eyes dance with mad glee, basking in the unhealthy radiance of her rage. ]

What's wrong, Saya? [ He laughs, the beast in him riding his bloodlust to the surface. ] Was that last kill not enough to satisfy?

[She shows no reaction to his taunts, or indeed any sign of even hearing them. Her awareness is like the crackle of thin ice, barely holding. Any moment now it will give way and swallow her, and her hemorrhaging temper demands she not go alone. Survival, with all its noble trappings, is no longer the reason for the surging storm that glows in her eyes.]

[It's a different instinct that has hold of her now. The blade slashes across her open palm, the pure red of her blood mingling with the dark stains left by the slain ghost of her Chevalier. Again she swings, three times in blurred succession, relentless. Vicious. Wild.]

[ Oh. ]

[ Oh this is it. She's going for the kill now, no holds barred. The red stripe of blood streaking her sword matches the murderous shade of her eyes. She comes at him like a cyclone -- crushing velocity and deadly force. Karl feints, first to the left, then the right, evading each whistling blow. This close to her terrible blood -- to the searing heat of her bloodlust -- would be terrifying. ]

[ But he's exhilarated. ]

[ He's a kamikaze lunatic in the end. Glutted on boredom and despair, alive only in the moments where he's toeing the edge of death. He lets off a laugh, high and unearthly cold, right before slashes at her -- the motion savage and dancelike, a matador with a charging bull. Or a contender tossing the rose-studded gauntlet. ]

[ Let the dance begin. ]

[In contrast to Karl's colorful delight, there's no passion in Saya's attacks. Her fury is ice-cold, uncaring and barely noticing who's dancing just outside the path of her knifetip. The trill of her anger loses cohesion by the moment until it's only a rushing, dizzying blur. Without music, there can be no dancing.]

[One final swipe of her blade and then a misstep sends her stumbling. Shoulder first, she pitches toward the place here Karl stood last. If he moves she'll land sprawled on the ground and if not they'll collide, while Saya gulps down desperate breaths as if she can't fill her lungs.]

[ There's music enough for the two of you in his mind. Can't you hear it, sweet Saya? ]

[ It seems not. The magnificent performance has barely begin before it's aborted. Karl's eyes lose their wild sheen -- the smile fades from his face. When she sways and crumples, he doesn't catch her. He's too dismayed -- too disgusted -- to do anything but stare. He watches her scoop in lungfuls of air, all that beautiful energy mysteriously extinguished. It's enough to make him rage and howl and gnash his fangs. ]

[ No. ]

[ NoNoNoNoNo. ]

Get up, Saya! [ It emerges half-throttled between clenched teeth. ] What's wrong with you?! Get up!

[The better question is what's right with her, and since arriving here it's nothing. Her few bright spots were tarnished by interference and insistence that she become the snarling, rampaging animal of a moment ago. Karl prefers to watch her fall, and she's killed the one person (he can't be thought of as a ghoul, not when it's all she has) who might have propped her upright.]

[Clutching at the ground, Saya curls up, knife lying forgotten in the dirt. Her mind, flooded with half-spun cello music and rapid-fire scenes that blur into nonsense, shuts down completely in defense of itself and leaves her laying there, unconscious and exposed to whatever the remaining ghouls would do to her.]

[Unable to help himself, he watches the feed without comment or notification that he's there.]

... [Amused? Surely. Interested? Oh, yes... one might say that. His voice resembles the low rumble of thunder on the horizon. Soft, yet full of hidden potential danger.]

What a scene this is. Whatever will you do next~?

[It's a stretch before Saya hears the response, and her eyes immediately twitch, wanting to narrow in response to the perceived threat. This man's tone immediately rubs her wrong in a way that reminds her of far too recent transgressions.] It's the same scene everywhere.

Is it? Really. [Clearly he doesn't believe so.]

[No one could be unaware of the situation, so either this is willful ignorance, or...]

Plenty of people are fighting. I don't know why I should interest you any more than they do.

[Uhura is hiding somewhere safe, checking the network to see if there's any update on when this will be over. Her heart stops when she sees Saya. She can't believe the young, slightly awkward girl she's been helping with her languages can fight like this. It's remarkable and frightening.

But not as frightening as when she drops the knife and backs away.]

Saya? Saya, are you all right?

[DAMN IT! Why is she so far?]

[It's a bit of time before Saya responds, her eyes glazed with a post-adrenaline weariness many of them must be experiencing this week, but also strangely hollow, as if reflecting a shadow.]

I'm okay. Are you somewhere safe?

Yes.

[She tries to look over the other woman, to really make sure she's okay because there's something wrong with her eyes, but it's hard to tell across the network.]

What happened?

[A significant hesitation, in which Saya fails to find a reason to dodge the question entirely.]

I think that maybe I knew two of... them. [Difficult to refer to the ghouls as people, but when they spark such familiarity, can she really use "it"?]

[Oh. Yeah, that would be pretty upsetting. Uhura knows that first hand...she can only imagine how much worse it would be without her military training.]

You wouldn't be the only one. I recognized a few of them myself.

So they are people we know? [The confirmation enhances her ache in ways both comforting and not so.] I wasn't sure.

They look like people we know. They're not actually... they can't actually be the people we know.

[Otherwise she killed her boyfriend and that's not something she can deal with.]

[A nod, more firm and confident than she feels.] You're right. Of course they're not.

It was still cruel, all the same.

Extremely.

I'm sorry.

Me too. [For Uhura, as much as herself.] I's ask why it's happening, but why does anything here happen?

I wish I knew.

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004 || Video//Action

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