Closed Burning Gaze (Kesu)

[Brandon Blackwing]

Well, so much for keeping up the act of not having noticed her, that yell he couldn’t have not heard. Now, would he do what she said? Hell, no! Bone to pick or not, it was a stupid idea to just let them close in and give them what they wanted. As such, Brandon did not turn around, but merely shouted something back: “You’ll have to catch me first!” The thief had no idea what she wanted, but it couldn’t be all that good if she called it ‘having a bone to pick with him’. Immediately after speaking those words, Brandon broke into a run, assuming the pace he could keep up for a long while.

Feet rapidly pounded the slush as he sped through the small alleys and rounded corners, zigzagging and dodging passerby’s, navigating the maze of alleyways with the ease of someone who used them lots of times. Whether the girl chasing him was closing in or not did not concern the bat, his pace was relatively fast and he wouldn’t get exhausted right away, and if she happened to get dangerously close he could still speed up a little and get out of her reach before falling back into the previous pace.

His breathing was controlled, in through the nose and out through his mouth, in this cold he was getting a little warmer by running, but he wasn’t breaking a sweat just yet. Brandon was fit; he could scale walls, vault over obstacles and jump from rooftop to rooftop, and he did so almost every day for extended periods of time. A little jog wouldn’t have him exhausted any time soon, even if he had to increase the speed of his running legs. No, she wouldn’t catch him, not unless he wanted to. He did consider stopping to listen to what she had to say, to find out just why she was chasing him, but he wouldn’t do so without having the advantage in some way.

Not per se in terms of skill or strength, but in the form of an escape route ready to be used, perhaps a vantage point where he’d be relatively safe from harm. A wall would do nicely, or perhaps a roof… Either way, the thief found he needed to put some more distance between himself and his pursuers and what better way to do that than running into a dead end? Brandon took pride in it that dead ends were no obstacles, that he could just continue his way with ease, and that was his plan now too. The wall was perhaps two feet taller than he was, but it did not pose a problem; his speed was just right and within the couple ticks it took for him to close in the bat calculated –or rather just knew, experience having taught him well- when he had to leap. And he timed it perfectly, launching himself skywards, arms outstretched, palms landing on the top of the obstacle. His muscles immediately started to haul him up, even though his ascend had not yet come to an end, resulting in his torso soon sticking out above the wall. One foot pushed against the vertical surface, adding a little bit more force and allowing for both legs to be swung sideways over the wall, while his arms lifted his body higher.

Nothing more than a large hurdle. His vault over it was beautiful to behold, the bat imagined, the seemingly impossible made possible. It was perfect.

And then his descend began, a gentle arch that still carried some momentum with it. Upon touching down on the ground, the bat rolled over his shoulder in the snow, getting back to his feet instantly and continued to run, once more returning to his usual jog. A grin could not be withheld when he noticed the few people standing in the alley with that expression of total awe and surprise on their faces. A perfect vault indeed. Ha, let that girl try and follow him now! Brandon didn’t doubt she would, but it’d cost her some time, which meant the bat had gained a couple of ticks just in case he’d need them. But enough with the playing, it was time to find a remote place where he could confront that redhead and get some answers to satisfy his curiosity.


OOCYeah, I thought so.

As for the vault, kind of like this, but with both arms, I imagine

credit goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Kesu]

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Kesu

“You’ll have to catch me first!” The man's taunting tone conflicted with the deathly serious, violent persona displayed the first time they met. However, she had no time at all to contemplate this, as he immediately broke off into a run. Kesu's first instinct was to sprint after him, in hot pursuit. However, after a few meters, the alleyways had gotten too convoluted and twisting to run in, at least for Kesu. This meant that the man had gotten a quite significant lead on her. However, since the alleys were very close at this point, she decided that she would look for any markings on the ground, and walls. There were few enough pedestrians around, so she would be able to see the footprints in the.... it could barely be called snow anymore, so... slush? This meant, to keep up with the rapidly fading prints, she'd have to walk rather quickly, but she wouldn't have to run after the Kelvic. She turned a corner, footprints brighter now. She came to a large wall, two feet higher than herself, and saw that there were several glowing handprints, as well as several long scrapes that she assumed were markings from the man's boots. Had he vaulted the wall? Evidence suggested that he had, but he could've tried to trick Kesu by hiding on one of the nearby rooftops. Reaching out with her Auristics, she attempted to see if there was anyone hiding on the roof, out of her sight, but her aura sensing abilities didn't extend that far.

As she stood there, staring into the auras, a sharp pain behind the eyes jolted her back to reality. Nothing but minor overgiving, but she still withdrew her djed fully, anyway. She was terrified of ending up like one of the mages in the stories, the ones that Overgave and petching exploded. Exhaling a shaky breath, she dusted herself off and looked up at the wall. She might not know shyke about climbing, but still, she'd try to get over it, the best she could. Morwen's tits, it was cold out! Shivering, she rubbed her arms as she tried to figure out a way over the wall. She stood there, wondering, for a few moments, before she looked around, at the surrounding walls of the houses nearby. There was a single window ledge, just wide enough to put the toe of both feet on. Grunting and cursing, while scrabbling to grab hold of the ledge of the roof, for stability, Kesu pulled herself up, and sucking in breath, reached out to the top of the wall. Jumping from the windowsill, and pulling herself over, dragging her stomach over the bricks, she fell down onto a few sacks of rotten grain, into the midst of several people, who gazed at her as if they were less than impressed, and pointed off towards a shadowy area of the street. Staring at them for a second, confused, she realized that they knew she was chasing the Kelvic. Pushing past them with naught a word, she approached the shadowy area cautiously, wanting to use her Auristics, but too afraid to. Standing in the middle of the dark alleyway, she said, "I know you're here, you know. Come out, little bat." Hopefully, this would goad him into revealing his position.

OOC9.5/10 for the vault, judges say.

Oh, also, sorry for the wall of text.

_

Credit for this boxcode goes to Sal Mander.

[Brandon Blackwing]

His search led him to a shadowy area, which was in fact the entrance to an alleyway just as dark as the entrance. It wasn’t all that broad, Brandon couldn’t even outstretch both his arms fully, but that didn’t matter. That was good actually. If he was not mistaken –and he rarely was when it came to Lhavit’s street plan- this alley would split into two in a T shape, and both ends didn’t lead anywhere. They were dead ends. A perfect place for a trap, yes, he’d wait for her here, but not in her sight of course, no, he’d hide and ambush her.

Brandon jogged to the middle of the alley, where the gazes of curious people wouldn’t reach, and placed his palms onto the walls. He pressed hard, increasing the tension and then placed the toes of both his boots on the walls as well, also putting pressure on the stones. Then, he carefully started moving one limb at a time. First one hand, then the other. Next came a foot, and last the only one that remained. It wasn’t all that hard, and the bat clambered higher and higher fast and without too much effort, until he had reached a height that was high enough so people entering the alley wouldn’t see him –not to mention that it was night, so the dark sky helped him to conceal his form as well- and low enough for him to drop down from unharmed if it proved necessary.

The girl spoke, standing at the entrance of the alleyway, but it didn’t seem as if she was willing to come inside. That was all the better for him, he could hang around for a long while, and if he wanted to escape, he didn’t even need to come down. He could just go up, clamber onto the rooftops and walk there instead of on the streets. Her claim worried the bat though; not the part of knowing he was around, but the fact she had called him a bat. No-one in Lhavit had heard from Brandon himself that he was a bat. Everyone he’d told was gone already. Then how? Magic; that was the only possibility. That was the only explanation he had for a lot of inexplicable things. Magic, it had to be magic. Well, that was quite a problem… if that girl could use the magic Brandon thought she could, there was little use in hiding…

But not all was lost just yet. The street he’d exited a while ago had been occupied by some people, and there had been a lot of footsteps going around. However, now, in the midst of the sound of boots pounding the slush, Brandon clearly heard the sound of a knife being brandished. A voice whispered, “Let’s go for a walk shall we? Head for that alley right in front of you- and no tricks, what you feel pressing in your back is not a toy.” No-one seemed to have noticed what was happening, the footsteps continued, and people chatted ever so cheerfully. Except for Brandon of course, who had heard every word, and who saw the cloaked figure and the girl that had been following him walk through the alley, stopping when they had just passed under him. The scent of ale hung thickly in the air, and the voice belonging to the cloaked person was recognized immediately as she spoke up again, telling the other woman that she’d come for revenge. Revenge for the humiliation she had suffered. It was the potion vendor.

“Strip,” she commanded, waving her knife, threatening to stab her victim if she didn’t obey. “Take off all your clothes. Your shoes, socks and underwear too. If you value your life, you’ll do as I say. No, I phrased that wrong. If you value your face and body, you’ll do as I say. Or else…” Her voice became low and threatening, a dangerous edge in it that was enough to send shivers across Brandon’s back. It wasn’t because he was intimidated by the tone of voice, but that he valued his body more than his life. Brandon’d rather die than lose a limb. The tone combined with the line of ‘value your face and body’ was what intimidated him. He could tell she was serious, her voice didn’t waver one bit. “Or else I’ll widen your mouth, cut off one of your ears and your nose. Your lips too. And then I’ll show you just how painful it can be to be raped with a blade, both normal and anal!” Brandon’s mouth felt as if he had eaten sand, and his heart was racing. That vendor was crazy for sure, but actually, Brandon had nothing to do with this, and had no reason to interfere.

The question was what he would do. Would he sneak away and pretend nothing ever happened, or would he stick around just in case something happened he couldn’t overlook?

OOC:o Before you ask; no that crazy aspect of the vendor was not intended. I don't know what happened. I thought it was time to spice things up a little, but I'm afraid things went terribly wrong when I was writing...

credit goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Kesu]

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Kesu

There was no sound, no light, no movement in the alley, at least, none that Kesu could ascertain. She was about to search the immediate area with her Auristics, when she was roughly grabbed by the back of her Katinu, and a knife placed at the nape of her neck. Flailing about, she twisted her head around to try and see who had grabbed her, but her attacker forced her to face forward, pushing the knife's tip to her neck harder, drawing a thin line of blood that trickled down her collarbone. Going stock-still at the feeling of a knife, Kesu's eyes widened, and her mind went blank with fear. Coming from behind, the melodious voice of the potion vendor whispered, “Let’s go for a walk shall we? Head for that alley right in front of you- and no tricks, what you feel pressing in your back is not a toy.” Not trusting her to move quickly, the attacking woman started shoving her forward, before anyone noticed.

Overcoming her original panic, Kesu said shakily, a weak, but defiant grin on her lips, "Of course, you'd be the sort to know what a 'toy' is." This elicited a low growl from the woman, who then pushed her forward into a frosted wall, giving Kesu a shove that knocked her backwards enough to make her hit her left wrist on the hard brick, bruising it. “Strip, take off all your clothes. Your shoes, socks and underwear too. If you value your life, you’ll do as I say. No, I phrased that wrong. If you value your face and body, you’ll do as I say. Or else…” The woman's voice was no louder than before, but it seemed much more dangerous than a few seconds earlier. Kesu weighed her options. She could risk getting mutilated, or getting frozen to death. However, she doubted that the crazy woman would simply be satisfied with taking an eye, or an ear. Kesu shivered at the threat, but then remembered the horrifying events of her childhood. 'Mother' and 'Father' were similar to this kind of person, but they had masked their insanity and sadism behind the facade of 'science'. Noting her not comply, the insane vendor said in a deathly cold voice that matched the snow and frost of the city around them, “Or else I’ll widen your mouth, cut off one of your ears and your nose. Your lips too. And then I’ll show you just how painful it can be to be raped with a blade, both normal and anal!”

The last description made Kesu freeze. A chill ran up her spine, and not from the cold. The Inarta had quite a few scars; what were a few more? But rape? With a knife? That was beyond messed up. Kesu had the sneaking suspicion that the sadistic vendor would try and hurt her either way, but she began to comply with the woman's orders, silently, looking for a way out, eyes desperately looking about her for a way to either escape from the woman, or some sort of weapon to neutralize her. Unbuckling her Katinu, she dropped it in the snow beside her, in case she ever got the chance to escape. Pulling her chemise over her head, she held it in one hand as her red hair fell back down about her shoulders. She now was wearing only her boots, Bryda, Vinati, and undergarments. She wouldn't take off any more for this psycho.

Tossing her chemise into the woman's hooded face, she grabbed her Katinu with one hand, and ran deeper into the alley, hoping to find some place to hide. The potion vendor, by this point, had tossed away the loose undershirt, and had started to sprint after the Inarta, growling. Leaping towards Kesu, knife wielded downward, the crazy woman thrust her knife into Kesu's hip, causing a bright red pool of blood to splash from the blade onto the snow. Kesu cried out with pain, and tried kneeing the woman in the side. It seemed to have no effect, even though the redhead heard the distinct crack of breaking ribs. If she didn't get away soon, or beat the other woman, she'd be slaughtered, most likely.

OOC:D Naw man, it's good! I mean, when I first read it, I was like . But as I wrote the reply, I took the momentum you made, and kept the ball rolling. But yeah. It definitely makes things interesting.

_

Credit for this boxcode goes to Sal Mander.

[Brandon Blackwing]

Having decided that sticking around might be the best plan to avoid horrendous events. At first, it seemed as if nothing would happen as the redheaded girl complied, taking off her coat and chemise, but then she made a very bad decision. Defying the vendor and running; not the best idea, especially so when you were trapped in a dead end, and your attacker had a knife. Brandon cursed internally as it seemed that the severe mutilation of the Inarta girl was imminent. Immediately, he scurried further up the walls, grabbed the edge of a roof and hauled his body onto it, starting to chase the females over the rooftops.

His ears picked up the sound of a pained scream, and then one of surprise and noise of bodies tumbling over the ground. Peeking over the edge while running, the bat noticed that the potion vendor had managed to tackle her target, most likely by throwing herself on top of the redhead, and was now sitting on her chest, determined to start cutting off some facial features. It was a struggle to bring the knife downwards, as any sane person would have grabbed the arm and tried to push it away.

Brandon jumped off the roof, into the alley, spreading his arms and legs while falling, and stopping his descent by using the same method he’d used to clamber upwards. He was glad he was wearing leather gloves; his hands would have been a bloody mess otherwise. He still wasn’t low enough though, so he released the pressure and dropped down half a meter before stopping again, having positioned himself rather close to the two fighting females. It seemed that the redhead was in a pinch, the potion merchant being stronger than her, and taller too. Wasting no time, the bat let himself fall down entirely now, landing on the balls of his feet, softly because he dispersed the impact by bending his knees.

The potion vendor didn’t seem to have noticed him yet, and he doubted the redhead had, since she had to be preoccupied with keeping the knife away from her face. Stealthily drawing closer, the thief’s heart raced but he didn’t want to rush things. Haste made waste, and when facing an insane merchant with a knife, well, waste meant dead bodies. Once close enough, the bat aimed a chop for the side of the woman’s neck, hoping to knock her out with it, but failed. Unfortunately, she succeeded in bringing the knife down entirely now, stabbing snow instead of flesh, and Brandon’s chop hit the side of her head instead. The woman immediately turned towards him now, raising her knife and looking utterly mad.

Not wanting to be stabbed in the gut, the bat reacted by grabbing the wrist of the hand with the knife, and wrapped his other arm around her neck tightly, choking her and pulling her off of the Inarta. However, she stomped on his toes with her heel, and while the bat was able to endure the first surge of pain, the next stomp was too much and he loosened his grip a little out of reflex. While the merchant swirled around, the bat backflipped out of her knife’s reach, kicking her in the face along the way. With Bran having drawn the agro of the crazy merchant, the redhead was momentarily safe and forgotten, but not for long. She charged at the thief, intent on stabbing him, but her uncoordinated attack was easily evaded with a sidestep, and the wrist was once again grabbed. Circling the woman and twisting her arm painfully behind her back was enough to force her on her knees, and to drop the blade, but it didn’t prevent a desperate fist being swung at him, even though she could never have hit him.

It was intercepted and grabbed as well, and for a split tick the bat released the first wrist to change his grip, placed a boot on her back and pulled both the arms toward him, keeping the woman back with his foot. There was a dry couple of snaps and a howl of pain as both shoulders were dislocated, and the vendor fell face first in the slush, gasping for breath, and whimpering pathetically, not resembling the insane woman from before at all. Brandon sighed and turned to where he’d last seen the redhead, planning to ask her a couple questions himself, but first wanting to see if she was alright.

credit goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Kesu]

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Kesu

During the struggle to push the knife away from her face, she didn't notice the bat sneak up on the two, as her only focus was on the blade, inches from her nose. When she did bring it down, however, she angled it to the right, as if she was struck from behind by something. The blade merely cut her cheek, causing a red line to appear. The blade lodged itself in the snow beside her head. The she turned around, standing up, quick as a thunderbolt, to try and attack the man who had hit her in the head. Kesu didn't look very long, but it appeared to be the same man she was following earlier. Not wondering why he was helping her now, she took the distraction as an opportunity to stand up and rapidly backpedal away, leaning against the alley's wall and gasping for breath. Standing up straight, she pulled her Katinu back on, snow-dusted jacket still as warm as ever inside. However, she didn't have time to buckle it at all, as the Kelvic had gotten the upper hand and had made the woman drop her knife. Sprinting to the dagger, Kesu picked it up, and held it, not in any way threatening, but rather, just simply awkwardly. Looking back to the fight, she saw that the potion vendor had been put into quite the awkward position by the bat, and with a few painful snaps, her arms appeared to be dislocated. Shivering, and not because of the cold, Kesu decided that it probably wasn't such a good idea to try and pick a fight with the Kelvic.

When he sighed and turned, however, she gripped the knife tighter cautiously. She didn't know why the man helped her, and he might've been trying to get to her, anyways. Stepping forward, she winced as the adrenaline from the fast-paced struggle wore off, and the wound on her hip began to hurt. A lot. Dropping the dagger and focusing on the knife wound, she took her chemise up off the ground, and used it as a makeshift bandage, tying it around her hip tightly, hoping to stopthe bleeding. She wasn't trained in medicine or healing or whatever, but she thought she had done a good job. A shame about that chemise, though. Turning to the Kelvic, she said in Common, "I guess... I have you to thank for pulling her off of me. So thanks for the help."

_

Credit for this boxcode goes to Sal Mander.

[Brandon Blackwing]

Brandon just stood by and watched silently as the Inarta dropped the knife and started bandaging her hip, shrugging, then nodding in response to her words of thanks. “I’d rather have you tell me why you’ve been following me all the way from the tavern,” he spoke, a frown adorning his brow, “but you’re welcome.” If the merchant had had a good reason for trying to mutilate and kill the redheaded girl, he might have let her, but that didn’t seem to be the case. And even if it was, she was insane –or at least dangerous. “What the hell did you do to her anyway? Throw a mug of ale in her face?” It had to be something with ale, the merchant’s scent was drowned out by that of the alcohol.

“She humiliated me!” the vendor hissed with enough venom to kill twenty men. Brandon gave her a disinterested glance, then placed his gaze back on the redhead. “She humiliated me in front of everyone!” Her words held pain and rage, but the bat didn’t turn around this time, sighing deeply and choosing to ignore the potion merchant. “Anyways, I’m still waiting for my answer,” the thief spoke with crossed arms, kicking the falled blade away just in case. “This is a dead end you know, both of the alleys. The only way out is past me, and I only want to know why you’ve been following me. I won’t harm you, and I’ll let you pass once I know what I want to know.” He raised an eyebrow. That was a reasonable demand, wasn’t it?

There was some strange sound bothering him though, a sound that had been accompanied by the panting of the potion vendor, and the occasional uttering of pain. And then there was a snap, and another one. Immediately, Brandon whirled around, and was astounded. The merchant was standing again, and her arms were back in place, a couple tentacles retreating back into her neck. What in the world?! What the petch is this?! She howled then, her teeth elongating and becoming sharper, canine. A strange necklace caught his eye; had she been wearing that the whole time? No, he couldn’t remember she had. Then, her face twisted in pain and concentration, and the nails of her fingers grew larger and larger, and pointy too. No petching way! This is magic? There’s a magic that can do that?

Seemingly pleased with the horror on the bat’s face, and grinned a wolfish grin. “The both of you are dead meat!” Intimidating for sure, but not worth wasting time over. Hands grabbed under his vest and came back with a couple daggers, both flung at the figure of the vendor, who seemed to be exhausted from morphing her hands and neck. Had the bat been more competent at wielding his blades, he might have been able to end it right then and there. He’d aimed for her chest, having decided she was too dangerous and unstable to let run rampage. Besides, the killing intent had shown in her eyes, a bloodlust and despair that also could be seen in the hues of a starving or threatened predator. This was self-defense, and the bat was also shielding the redheads. Two lives at the cost of one. Brandon’s actions were justified. Though no matter how many people wanted to kill him, it would still be justified, for lives were not meant to be given up on. Killing for survival was natural, his cause was just.

However, one of his blades struck nothing but air and fell lamely in the slush, while the other buried itself into her thigh. The vendor and the bat hadn’t been standing all that far from each other, so the dagger pierced deeply, impairing the merchant’s movements. Another dagger was drawn as the potion vendor dashed towards him regardless, slashing with her claws wildly. Brandon ducked to a side quickly, but the tips of the freshly grown weapons grazed his throat anyway. The alley was too small for dodging to the left or right; this was bad. Realizing he was standing with his back against the wall, the bat dove into the sludge, rolling away a short distance and getting back to his feet, avoiding to be torn to shreds just barely. The merchant now between him and the Inarta, but even though the target of her hatred was now without human shield, the vendor still turned towards the bat, slashing and clawing at him, while the thief swiftly stepped out of the way each time, though being driven back more and more.

Brandon understood why though; it was a simple rule of combat. You didn’t turn your back towards your opponent, that was just asking to be killed on the spot. In the vendor’s eyes, Brandon was the most dangerous of her two targets, and the Inarta was wounded, she wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not quickly anyway. And she was unarmed, so she wasn’t a threat. Brandon on the other hand… well, she’d experienced his strength and skill. To accomplish her revenge, she had to kill him first, and while knowing she couldn’t outclass him, she tried to overwhelm him with a fast barrage of slashes and bites. Brandon knew this too, and he was slowly starting to get the hang of the timing of her attacks.

The vendor was fighting on instinct alone, fed by rage. There was nothing elegant or clever about it. Her body moved in a way it was comfortable with, not wanting to put much weight on her injured leg, and using the same kind of attacks over and over. A weakness the bat could exploit, an opening for him to attack once he had a good grasp of the timing of her slashes. The thief was getting ready for a counterattack.

credit goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Kesu]

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Kesu

Frowning, the bat spoke.“I’d rather have you tell me why you’ve been following me all the way from the tavern, but you’re welcome.” This made Kesu less worried that he'd kick her arse from here to the bay, and more worried what the Shinya would do when they saw the woman lying there, arms dislocated, and two people standing over her. They'd probably arrest her on the spot. The Kelvic seemed to be smelling the air, when he said, “What the hell did you do to her anyway? Throw a mug of ale in her face?” Kesu grinned viciously and chuckled. "Dumped it on her head, actually. You should've seen her in the bar." She grimaced, and continued. "Probably not the best idea to do it, though." “She humiliated me! She humiliated me in front of everyone!” The vitriol with which the vendor spewed the words out took Kesu aback. She got the being in pain and angry from having her arms broken bit, but still, the hatefulness the woman had... It wasn't right. Something within her was seriously warped, something broken.

“Anyways, I’m still waiting for my answer. This is a dead end you know, both of the alleys. The only way out is past me, and I only want to know why you’ve been following me. I won’t harm you, and I’ll let you pass once I know what I want to know.” Kesu raised her eyes at this as well. Shyke, didn't the man have anything else to ask? 'Why are you following me? Why are you following me?' Give it a rest, bat boy. Her face showed her annoyance at this question, but she answered anyway. "Back when you stabbed the doll girl eleven days ago... it just made me angry. And to see you smirking today, like it never happened... It aggra- aggrav-" She scowled. Her Common wasn't quite perfect, not yet, but she'd get better with time. "You get it." And then, it happened.

Writhing like some cerulean horror from the deeps, several squidlike tentacles extended, with quite a few painful-sounding snaps, from the woman's shoulders. They retracted slowly, leaving Kesu more disgusted than completely terrified, like the Kelvic seemed to be. Morphers are disgusting. Who'd want to do that to themselves? Changing the very structure of your body. Still, the changes, while disgusting, also made the Inarta wary. Who knew what kind of body horror this psycho was capable of? And then, she sprouted fangs, and grew claws. Ducking down quickly, she reached for the dagger, and grabbing the hilt firmly, took a deep breath. What she was about to do, would take concentration. She was aware of the risks, but she reached for her djed anyways. Inhale, exhale. She looked at the morpher with her sight, ignoring the sharp pain behind her eyes, trying to find somewhere to stick the knife in the freak. Giving her a quick glance, she saw that most of the muscles on her back were wrapped around the spine, or in her upper shoulders. So she wouldn't strike there, rather, at the place where she had caused her rib to crack. Allowing her use of the djed to fade away, she waited for the duo to halt their fighting enough for her to get a chance. Limping forward, she waited until the Kelvic had held the vendor at bay, and then launched herself forward, thrusting the dagger into her left side, causing a spurt of blood to gush into the snow. Letting go, Kesu backpedaled wildly as the morpher whipped around, bringing her full attention to Kesu, the source of her latest pain. Looking at the vendor with wide eyes, she thought, This... wasn't the greatest idea.

_

Credit for this boxcode goes to Sal Mander.

[Brandon Blackwing]

The opportunity to strike presented itself quickly, when the vendor stepped forward to slash at the bat. He stepped back and evaded her attack with ease, his movements minimalistic, weight on the leg that stood the furthest back, ready to step forward immediately. Then came the second swipe of the sharp claws, evaded by just throwing his torso back, to both dodge and prepare for the counter. Yes, there it was, the opening he’d waited for, the vendor needed to drag her injured leg forward, and Brandon was hell-bent on exploiting it. His torso came back up, and he stepped into the merchant’s range at the same time, his neck whipping forwards fast, forehead violently colliding with the bridge of her nose.

It made her flinch, which obviously had been the bat’s objective all along; exploit a small opening to create a larger one. As such, the headbutt was only the beginning. While the merchant shied back, hands coming up to protect her face reflexively, Brandon stomped hard on the dagger that had buried itself in the woman’s leg, driving it deeper, and causing severe pain. It forced her onto one knee, as the leg decided it had had enough and refused to support her weight any longer. Not for long though, it seemed that the woman possessed a whole lot of willpower and cared very little about pain. She rose again, having changed her tactic and now planning to run him through with her claws. Yet, it had only a small region where it could strike, and with only bending his neck to a side and bringing his head out of the attack’s trajectory it was avoided, though not completely. A very shallow couple of red lines appeared on the bat’s temple area, shedding red tears.

A hand coming from the side opposite of the woman’s attack succeeded in grabbing her wrist, and the bat scowled, deciding to completely incapacitate his opponent. Dislocated joints could be easily put back in place, but broken bones took a lot of time to heal. She wouldn’t be able to do anything once he broke her elbow. With a snarl, the bat launched his other hand up, striking the elbow with the heel of his palm, keeping the wrist firmly in place with his grip, pulling it back even. One downwards force, and an upwards one, it created some sort of lever effect, and the elbow was toast. It snapped. Fractured. And it probably hurt more than people would like to know. Brandon almost felt bad when he felt the arm breaking. Almost.

But then her other claw came to slash his face off, and the bat ducked, letting go of the broken limb and then proceeded to grab the other arm when he came back up. She’d seen through him though, rushing forward, ramming her head into his stomach. Of course, it didn’t hurt all that much, but that wasn’t the purpose; she pushed him back, and he stumbled for a moment. One leg stabilized him, and the incoming piercing attack was slapped aside, the vendor continuing her forward motion and bit him in the shoulder. Brandon screamed in pain, something between a grunt and a full-fledged yell, slamming his good arm’s fist into her stomach multiple time, but she didn’t let go. It was the redhead however, who managed to persuade her, stabbing a knife in her ribs with a mighty thrust.

Once more the Inarta was the primary target of the wild merchant, and the crazy woman violently whipped around with her claws. The redheaded girl was smart enough to scramble backwards as fast as she could, eyes wide. The merchant followed, limping as fast as she could manage, swinging her arm wildly. It was a mistake though, and a grave one too. Brandon was now not being kept an eye on, and while one of his arms was bleeding and couldn’t be moved because of the pain, his legs were still more than okay. He caught up quickly, conjuring up a dagger from underneath his coat and sliced at the good leg of the merchant, planning to hamstring her. He failed, though still cut her behind pretty badly. Well, she won’t be sitting comfortably any time soon… Brandon thought with a wry grimace.

It wasn’t over yet, the merchant’s attention was no teetering between the bat and the Inarta, and that moment of indecision was enough for Brandon to recover from his wide swing. This was the end, he’d knock her out now; a kick to the side of her neck or head would do the trick. Whirling around his own axis, the bat raised one leg, striking the area he’d aimed for; the merchant couldn’t dodge. She tried, yes, but failure was inevitable. The thief had been aiming for the neck and ducking quickly at the last moment only brought her head in harm’s way. She collapsed, the claws retreating back into her fingers, and Brandon let out a sigh of relief, pulling his dagger out of her leg. He brushed off the blood using her cloak, and sheathed it again. The adrenaline slowly slipped out of his bloodstream and various kinds of pain started to announce their presence.

The wounds on his neck and temple stung, his toes throbbed. But his shoulder was aching pretty badly. It was bleeding a lot too, it seemed the fangs of the vendor had sunken deeper than he had thought they had… or maybe it just hurt so much because it was his shoulder. It was a place that could hurt a lot when targeted with fists, so it was possible the same was true when it came to weapons and teeth. Either way, the bat placed a hand on the wound, applying pressure to minimize the bleeding, though it didn’t seem to help all that much. “I suggest you stick to places with a lot of people around, Shinya preferably. She might try to get back at you another time.”

credit goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Kesu]

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Kesu

“I suggest you stick to places with a lot of people around, Shinya preferably. She might try to get back at you another time.” The Kelvic had laid the woman out flat, bleeding and unconscious in the snow. Pointing to the vendor, Kesu said, sarcastically, "I don't think that she'll be going anywhere soon." Frowning a bit, and tapping her tattoo, she asked, "Would it really be that bad to just let her die here? She's got all kinds of crazy comin' out 'er arse, and I'm not feeling too inclined to get attacked again." Taking the dagger out of the woman's side with a splurch, Kesu shivered at the sight of the steady stream of blood. Wiping the dagger clean on the woman's own shredded cloak, Kesu was careful to not get any blood on her clothes, or let any of the blood remain on the blade. As an Aurist, she knew that the smallest, most telltale trace of anything could be seen by anyone with the slightest bit of skill. Looking herself over with the Sight, there were no marks to indicate that she was involved here. Blinking away the sharp pain behind the eyes, she shut off the flow of djed. It was a serious concern right now, very minor overgiving, and Kesu was terrified of it. She knew that Auristics wasn't a magic that would make you crazy if you used it a lot, but it was still a means to drain the magic energy within, and thus, still dangerous.

"Even with Shinya around, are you sure that you or I'd be safe from her? You saw what she could do. Those starry-eyes are good, but I don't know what she could do. Morphers are freakish." Rubbing her chin in consideration, she looked at the bat sardonically. "Although you don't seem to be the type of bat to hang around the Shinya too much, so I'd tell you to practice what you preach." Throwing up her hands in exasperation, she said, "Gods, it's like having a follower of Leth in here. Always "The night is so beautiful, blah blah blah." Well I don't see you out at night, sir." Turning away, she waved in the vendor's limp body. "Save her, let her die, do with her what you will. In my case, I don't wanna see her ever again." And so, abruptly, she walked off, heading to the nearby Surya Plaza, where her home resided.

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