| The Second Death of Johnny C | ||
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You walk into a well lighted room, it's high ceilings lit by dozens of fluorescent lamps hanging from the ceiling. To the south and west are windows, which you would normally expect to see the outside world from, but looking out of them, you see only a misty gray haze. On the walls to the north and the east of the inn are an eclectic collection of paintings, photographs and even holographs of many cheap 1970's to 1980's B-movies. The bar on the east side is made out of hardwood, it's surface polished and shiny. Behind the bar, the various beverages that are served here are kept in relatively neat containers on wooden shelves. There is a large stage in one of the corners of the restaurant with a impressive sound system and a few microphones strung about it. Multiple round wood tables are in this room, near the north wall, is a double swing door that leads to the kitchen. On the east wall is a door leading to the UR's dance club and on the west one leading to the Gym. To the south, is the exit to the outside. A recent addition to the UR is a large fireplace against the west wall, it matches well to the rest of the restaurant and looks like it should have been there all along. Samantha distractedly flips a wave to Rifter as she stares at Zel, blushing brightly, "Nani? Y-you want -me-.." she touches a hand to her breast, eyes wide and disbelieving, "To.. teach you?" Rifter says, "Yeah, I'll be there. See ya tomorrow." Zelgadis says, "Well, I can handle myself in a fight Sammy, but I am not as proficent without magic or weapons as I would like. Martail arts would give me somthing new to work with." he nods to Rifter,"Tomorrow then." Johnny walks in smiling happily with his dagger twirling in his right hand. He heads straight for where he sat the night before - the table farthest from everyone ((OOC: But somehow is beside the bar? I'm confused. You figure it out...). The Usual just has that natural arrangment where no table is fatehr fromthe bar or each other than any other. Don't ask how it works, it just does. Zelgadis says, "Rock said he could teach me the basics but that would be about it since his style is so dependant on who he is." Zelgadis waves to johnny as he sees him come in. Nuku-Nuku wanders in..."Hihi~" she greest in her usual cheeful way. Samantha clears her throat with a cute little 'ahem', then swallows and takes a deep breath. She smiles and nods, "S-sure.. I c'n try, I guess. I mean, don't expect much... I've never really.. -taught- anyone before.." she rubs at the back of her neck, frowning a bit uncertainly, "But I guess I c'n try... what was it y'wanted ta know about, just basic stuff or ki..?" Zelgadis waves to Nuku,"Good evening Nuku." He turns back to samantha,"Well, the basics more or less. the ki is something you learn later on ne?" Adan moves back over to the bar and takes a seat next tot the drink Cale left for him. He takes a few more sips of it and gives up, leaving it about half full. He offers a wave to Johnny and Nuku-Nuku as they come in, offering Nuku-Nuku a friendly smile and a sly once-over. Johnny grins at everyone who waved as he props his feet up on his table. Spotting Nuku-Nuku walk in he makes a point to smile especialy wide for her. His enjoying the fact that she's nervous of him now. Nuku-Nuku smiles back to Adan as she takes a seat at the bar to order her usual milk. And Nuku Nuku doesn't seem to be nervous around Johnny, even if he might percieve it that way..but the catgirl doesn't seemt o want to have much..if anything..to do with him either. Samantha nods to Zel, "Yeah.. though really y'ought ta start meditation pretty much right away. An' while you're doin' that there's no harm in focusing a bit on yer energies." She shrugs, "Personally it came quickly, but I think that's to do with my race an'.. who I am." She shrugs again, pausing to wave to everyone who just came in, including Adan who also gets a raised eyebrow, "Where'd ya go?" Zelgadis glances over at Adan who he truely had not seen come back,"Well, I shall have to see aobut htat then. The meditation that is." Adan pretty much has nothing to add in to the ki conversation. As far as he's concerned, ki is the same thing as the adrenaline he feels in a good fight. He scratches just under his ear when responding to Sammy's question, "Erm, well. I intended to go back to my uncle's house, but my magic device sent me right back here..." He looks away, a little embarassed by the screw-up. Zelgadis blinks,"Ah...I bet it can't cross dimensions." Nuku-Nuku gets her milk and gulp gulp gulp gulp's it down..then sigh a happy puff-cloud. "Ahhh...." ^_^ Johnny uses the point of his dagger to clean under his fingernails as he waits for something worth taking an intrest in... Zelgadis notes that Nuku is the only person he knows tha get's a puff-cloud of something other than Sake or other alcohol. Adan shrugs his shoulders at Zel, "...it can. I used to be able to cross between Britannia and this dimension with relative ease. I bet it's just off polarity or something like that. I need to relearn its settings..." Nuku-Nuku wipes the her mouth off with the back of her hand and smiles just for the heck of it. She's a happy girl after all. Zelgadis says, "Hmm, interesting. I'd like to take a look at that sometime Adan." Samantha falls into a comfortable silence for a little while, just happily sipping her soda as she quietly ponders what Zel has suggested. Adan waves to Zel as he turns in for the evening. He glances over at Samantha, then back at Nuku-Nuku. Hrm. He decides to move a little closer to her, bringing his soda with him, "Good evening, miss. I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of being introduced to you." He offers the same friendly smile he carries with him most of the time. Nuku-Nuku turns to regard him with her bright green eyes. She smiles all friendly-like. "Hihi, I'm Nuku Nuku," she says, tilting her head cutely. Johnny sighs. This place is just too dull tonight... Standing and streatching he decides to walk around and inspect the various objects in the room. Johnny frowns, unintrested in everything in the room. Pausing briefly to stare into the unlit fireplace he has a flash back to the old days and chuckles before he goes back to his seat. Noticing Sam sitting alone he detours towards her, "Mind if I join you?" Adan can't help but be in just a little bit of awe at the girl. What a live one! "Nuku-Nuku, I'm honored to make the acquaintance of such a beautiful lady." He extends his hand, "My name's Adan." Nuku-Nuku says, "Nice to meet you Adan-san!" She shakes the offered hand with her own slim, soft and delicate *looking* hand. "Are you new here?" she asks him. Adan nods his head, "I just arrived here yesterday, met Zelgadis, Sammy, Cale and some other nice people. NNY too." He admires her hand for just a moment, then takes a zip of his drink. "It seems a lot of people here have some pretty amazing abilities... what's your secret?" Samantha gives a little start as Johnny comes up to her. She looks at him with a small smile and nods, "Sure.. knock yerself out..." she winks and takes a sip of her soda. Nuku-Nuku says, "Nya,,,Nuku Nuku doesn't have any secrets,,," she giggles a little, 'Nuku Nuku is just Nuku nuku!" ^_^" Johnny grabs a seat, turns it around backwards and sits down. Folding his hands on the top of the chair he sighs. "This place is really getting boreing lately..." Ooo, the sweet and innocent type. They're usually the craziest ones... to take out on a date, of course! Adan smiles, "Well, it is good to just be yourself, I suppose. What do you do, aside from drink milk and talk to mysterious, handsome young men at bars?" He flashes a smile to downplay that last statement. Nuku-Nuku says, "Umm..Nuku Nuku goes to high school and iw ork as a waitress..and...I have fun with my sisters and my brother..and...I like laying in the sun and batting yarn around,,,," ^_^ Samantha smirks at that, rolling her eyes, "Depends on whatcha call 'boring'.." she murmurs, scritching lightly behind one of her ears. "I can't say I've been bored recently.." she shrugs and sips her soda again, "But I'd guess by y'long face, that you really got nothin' to do, huh?" Johnny shrugs, "Yeah... you could say that... now that my 'hobby' is gone I don't have anything to do but watch tv, and the tv here sucks..." Batting yarn around? Adan takes a quick glance at Nuku-Nuku's empty milk glass, checking to see if there's any clear liquid remnants that didn't quite mix in. Okay, maybe she isn't drunk. That leaves just one thing - this girl is good. Good at the subversive turn-down! But Adan maintains his cool: "That sounds like a lot of fun. Wish I got a chance to go to a regular school and lead a somewhat normal life sometimes, too." He didn't bother asking what her favorite color or fabric was. Let's not pursue that interest. Samantha giggles softly, "I wouldn't know.. grew up without it, so I've never really bothered to check it out. When I'm not workin' or with Sun-chan I tend to train, an'... well, that's about it. Aside from a little maintenance on my gear, guess I don't really have 'hobbies' per se." She frowns thoughtfully and tilts her head, "Where are you workin' anyway?" Johnny stares blankly at the sound of the 'w' word. "Eh?" Samantha gives a faint shrug, "Work, baka... whaddya do for money?" Nuku-Nuku says, "Hmm? So what do you like to do, then? Ne?" she asks, resting her chin on her palm; the small, cute cat-collar with bells jingling on her wrist. Johnny shrugs his shoulders again, "I use cash? I haven't had to worry about money in years. I don't eat much and I got more cash than I know what to do with. Plus, except for when I come here I don't spend anything..." Adan grins broadly, "That depends. Back home, in Britannia, I used to track down and apprehend criminals that local authorities couldn't catch. I was pretty much the best- Lord British commended me numerous times." He thumbs the car picture on his chest, "Here, well, that is, on Earth, I'm an amateur race driver. Every now and then I used to do somethings with the SCCA, and I'd campaign this 'vette. It's an absolute blast to see the other side of six-thousand RPM as you come out of a corner at just over a G..." Samantha grins, nodding, "Uh huh.. rich parents? Must be pretty handy... not that I spend much either. I've been kinda forcin' myself to buy stuff, just to get rid of what's been coming in. You gotta eat though, right? I mean," she winks, "Can't survive on air alone..." Nuku-Nuku says, "Ohhh..hai! I do that on my bike!" ^_^ She drinks down more milk and giggles a little, licking off a milk musatche as she sets her glass back down. "Nuku Nuku hasn't gotten to drive much yet, though," she says. Johnny stares blankly, "Parents? Shit... I don't even remember who they are.... my whole past is gone! Nah, I got all this money from... uh... nevermind..." Adan arches his eyebrows, maybe he did find a pretty good catch after all! "That's awesome. I love girls who are into going fast. There's nothing like that thrill, is there?" He grins, and offers, "I'm working on getting my car shipped over here. As soon as it comes in, I can take you for a ride. Maybe let you drive it too, if you promise not to mess the clutch up too bad..." Samantha raises an eyebrow as she takes a long sip of her soda, watching Johnny. When she is done, she swirls the straw around a bit, "Get it from where?" She asks innocently. Johnny nervously casts his gaze down at the table. "Uh... you know... well, uh... it's not like they where using it or nothin' anymore..." Nuku-Nuku giggles and thinks about what her cousin Marie did to that one guy who was taking her to a motel, well, what she did to his car anyway. "Nuku Nuku can drive a stick! Papa-san's landrover is one of those..he lest me drive it sometimnes, but not on my own yet," she says, "Mayeb one day I'll get one of those cute VW bugs~ Waaii!!" Nuku-Nuku imagines an SD Nuku Nuku riding around in her cute littel car and picking up her friends and driving around. ^_^ Samantha's ears twitch and she frowns, tipping her head to one side. "Ne... y'mean... oh!" She straightens up with a smile, holding her straw aloft and jabbing it triumphantly at Johnny, probably sending a few drips of creamy strawberry soda thundering towards the pale boy's face, "Gotcha! Taken to raiding the fringes of the Badlands, huh?" Johnny gares defensivly at Samantha having missed her comment, "Hey come on now.... it's not like I was doing for money or anything but when you got about three hundred rotting..." Suddenly he stammers realising what she had said, "Oh! Oh yeah... that's it..." Adan's vette, more than likely, does not fit that image. "A bug, huh? You'd look cute in it, but I'm sure you'd look cute in just about anything." Ah, Adan, never gives up despite the fact that the little comments are going straight over her head. Adan's imagining something right now, but let's not go into detail! Okay, he's actually just started to day dream about running the Corvette around town. With Nuku-Nuku, of course. Or maybe Samantha. Or perhaps that pretty Hotaru girl from the previous night. Or all three, just not at once... uh oh, zonage... Nuku-Nuku says, "Hai! I think they're so cute! I'd get a shiny red one with a convertable top and drive around down with my top down!" ^_^ Samantha winces as Johnny says the first, and nods when he is done.. "Yeah, I know.. kinda hard to deal with. Cashing my first cheque was.. difficult." She sighs a little, then reaches out to lay reassuring hand on Johnny's shoulder, "There's no shame.. at least the families get to know...." Johnny is now completly lost, instead of commenting he remains silent and nods his head. Poor, poor Adan. Why do you have to torture him so? He pauses for a while while he ponders the best response to that, just grinning ever so faintly, "...yeah, me too! I bet if we went to the Volkswagen dealer, the two of us could probably work out a really good deal on a new one too. I know the angles, and you, of course, could charm him a little. You know?" He smiles, "Maybe we could give it a shot sometime. Have you got some money saved up?" Nuku-Nuku shake shakes her head, "Not much...when we just got here Nuku Nuku got a job first, so i had to support my family for a bit 'til things got settled. Maybe for my birthday, Papa-san and Mama-san might get me a car like that! That would be so much fun!" Samantha gives the maniac's shoulder a slight squeeze then pulls her hand back, "Anyway.. enough o' that, huh?" She wrinkles her nose, "I only just yanked my happiness back, I don't need another load of angst... an' we still haven't found a way to make ya less bored. How about your inventing? That seems fun, ne?" Adan nods again, "Well, it's good that you take such good care of your family. My brother and I used to take pretty decent care of each other growing up. When I became a tracker, he decided to lead a rather normal life and became an instructor back home... I wonder how he's doing right now..." Johnny sighs, "Hell no... Sure I can make a weapon or two, or a cheap toy, but without a reason to make something it's useless... kinda like my drawings. I used to draw all the time but with all that Doughboy crap my skills died. Now that I'm getting them back I never want to draw anymore... Eddie offered to let me do tatoos, but that's gonna be awhile..." Nuku-Nuku exclaims, "Nuku Nuku loves her family very much! I'm really lucky! They take good care of me, too, and Nuku Nuku would do anything for them! Even go through fire and water!" Adan says, "That's the spirit! I'd do the same thing for Lyle, if I knew he were in trouble. But now, I have no way of helping him..." He glances down at Nuku-Nuku's empty glass, and offers, "Hey, could I buy you another milk?" Samantha clears her throat softly, "Doughboy crap?" She makes a face, "Don't tell me ya used to collect those little things?" Johnny sweatdrops, "Um... Oh right! You missed all that... Long story. I could tell you but it'd take awhile..." Nuku-Nuku says, "Nya,,,,maybe some other time! Nuku Nuku should get home now," she hops off her stool and smoothes her skirt out; then fishes out a few yen and puts them on the bartop, "It's getting late and i don't want to worry my family." Samantha grins, leaning back and crossing her legs, "I got all night.." she murmurs. Adan nods and stands with her, "All right, thanks for the conversation, Nuku Nuku. Again, it was a pleasure meeting you." He offers his same trademark smile and waits to walk her to the door, so that he can hold it open for her, "Be careful on the way home!" Johnny sighs, "Well... um... how much about me do you know already?" Samantha blinks, "Well.. nothin' you haven't told me..." she glances to the bar and sighs, rolling her eyes, "Ugh.. not again. Carry on, I'm listenin'..." she smiles then vaults the bar, wincing a little as she lands but then busily starting to mix another soda. Nuku-Nuku says, "Arigato! It's nice to meet you too, Adan-san! Don';t worry about me," she sticks her tounge out cutely, "Nuku Nuku can take care of herself!" she giggles, then steps out the open door and into the dark Metropolis streets. "Ja ne~" she waves happily, then pads off in a fluury of red sneakers. Johnny nervously watches samantha get her drink as he tries to think of where to start. "Um... ok... uh... well, your Dad made me promise to stop... uh... " Tapping his fingers on the table he sighs, "Alright let me start over. I used to be called Johnny the Homacidal Maniac, that tell you anything?" Samantha stops abruptly in the act of pouring a little syrup into her glass, and blinkblinks at Johnny. "It.. well... it tells me not'ta talk to ya." She shakes her head and stops pouring just as abruptly, with a little 'eep' as she realises she's just poured in more than enough to make herself pass out again. She nods to Johnny as she begins from scratch, "But ya did say 'used to' so go on..." Adan glances over at Johnny and Samantha before returning to his spot at the bar. He's not entirely sure what to think of the little altercation with Nuku-Nuku. Probably not his style, even if she was cute as heck! Oh well. He stares around the bar with a vacant expression on his face, starting to think about life back home. His right hand absently moves to his left ribs, lightly palpitating a wound there. Johnny sweatdrops. .oO(Haven't even started and this aint going well) "Well... um... you know all these weapons I have? You never thought it was odd? You never wondered what your Dad made me promise? I'm not right in the head. I've been screwed up for years... maybe I went around things wrong but, uh... I used to... um... anyways I..." Growling at himself he searches for a better way to word things... Johnny starting over yet again he sighs, "Look, this ain't going well... How about this? Ever talk to yourslef?" Samantha starts to stir her concoction, staring at Johnny blankly as he stammers away. "You.." she suddenly starts to speak, blankness replaced by some kind of startled revelation in her expression, then her voice catches and she clears her throat, 'ahem', "Don't take this the wrong way, but you, er... y'used to kill people, right?" She tilts her head, tail flicking steadily behind her as she regards Johnny seriously. Johnny nods quietly. Samantha nods, looking down at the bartop and letting a soft sigh part her lips, "Okay... no prob." She straightens up with a shrug and finishes stirring her soda, "People c'n change, no?" She doesn't sound too certain about it, eyeing Johnny with a bit of wariness. "So what happened?" Johnny nods at the cat-girl as he continues. "Well... I'm not gonna go into the reasons why I did what I did, but uh... after awhile I started to talk to myself. The more I listened to it, the more I lost track of what I was doing. Next thing I knew it had gotten to the point where nothing could stop me. I could go out in broad daylight and kill street performers... no wait I really did do that... anyways, it got to where I couldn't be caught. Which would have been great and all but I couldn't remember why i was doing the things I was doing anymore..." Samantha nods slowly, "Uh.. huh.... so.. why couldn't they catch you? Too quick, too stealthy?" Her tone is carefully set to neutral, her expression still wary but showing little other emotion as she calmly sips her soda. Adan pulls his sword from his hip and moves to a more open area in the restaurant and begins to practice, using slow, even strokes with all his motions. The Edge of Virtue glimmers at the beginning of some of the strokes, just to remind everyone that it's there. Although the pace is not too frenetic, Adan does seem quite entranced in the kata. Johnny shrugs, "Well.... that's what I started to wonder about. I mean, here I was I've always hated touching things. Blood, sweat, dirt. It's disgusting! So where did things start changing to the point where I was no longer just killing assholes who diserved it, but draining them of their blood and painting my fucking wall with it? Then I started to pay attention. it was Nailbunny who first pointed it out to me. See, I'd always talked to myself. I'd put my voice into things and talk to them. Well... two of them weren't my voice anymore. It was these two styrofoam doughboys I'd painted up. Mr Fuck and Psycho Doughboy. They where using me to feed that damn thing..." When Johnny gets to the part about painting his wall the nekogirl unconsciously takes a step further along the bar, yet more wariness creeping into her expression. "Right..." she says, nodding, "To feed.. no. Hey." She sighs and shakes her head, "What're you talking about? They were using you to feed what?" Her glance then shifts to Adan as he starts to practice, the girl raising an eyebrow appreciatively. Johnny watches Samantha as he tries to think of how to describe it. "Well... there was this thing in my wall. At first I thought it was my imagination but I was painting this wall with blood feeding whatever was inside it. I tried to tell myself that it was just in my head and that I needed to get some help. But, then I stoped painting it... AND IT STARTED TO PUSH THROUGH... Whatever it was was pissed at me. It was using me to try to escape it's imprisonment. So I tried to stop. I tried to beat it. Hell, I tried to kill myself..." Adan can sense when people are watching him, and is always ready to showboat a little as soon as he knows he has an audience. He stands still for a moment, concentrating. He extends his left hand out and Magebane appears, the sapphire blade glistening under the UR's lights. He returns to a ready stance and quickly spins the blades around in his palm, holding them in a reverse position. He then charges forward at an invisible target, slicing forward with Magebane at a medium level, then stabbing with the Edge as he spins the other side of his body forward ninety-degrees. Both swords are quickly spun back to a normal hand position, and he raises them up and slashes downward, their pathes crossing in an X through the air. He continues his kata, at a much faster pace before, every once in a while getting to the speed level where the blades start to whistle through their strokes. Sometimes his movements make him look like he's on the edge of falling over, almost floating on the ground- but he never seems to falter once. He's definitely had some practice with these things. Samantha gasps a little as she gets another burst of enlightenment. She holds up a finger towards Johnny, though her gaze remains fixed on Adan as he works out.. the girl always ready to watch another martial artist at work, whatever the origin of those arts. "So this thing in the wall... it was controlling you, makin' you do all this stuff?" She nods, "Kinda like Orochi I guess..." tailing off a little as Adan speeds up. She tips her head to one side. (Not bad...) Johnny blinks confused as to what an Orochi is. "Yeah... I guess so... but, anyways... like I said, I killed myself. Can't believe I did something so stupid. It was enough to free the damn thing and I didn't even get to see it. I just got to bleed on the floor while some redneck asshole kicked my head in! Anyways, I get to heaven and they kick me out. So I go to hell and the devil. No wait, I'm sorry, Mr Satan, tells me that I'm this damn flusher for a waste lock! My whole life and all that shit I had to put up with was just to keep this damn waste lock in line. And the fucked up part was that it was all triggered to blow when I died. I have to fucking die to kill the damn thing!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD???" Blushing a bit he drops his head and contunes, "Sorry... anyways they sent me back. Told me that i might never have to do that shit again. There was no way of knowing. So once my hair grew back I moved to Tokyo and got stuck in Neo Tokyo... All I wanted was to get away from all that shit. Make a new life, you know?" Well, well, What can he do to show off something aside from his speed? How about a little bit of a sparring match? He loosens his grip on the Edge of Virtue and lets it fall, tucking his right arm behind his back and darting backwards, simultaneously swiping upwards with Magebane to keep the Edge from hitting the ground. He swipes at the Edge again and sends it spinning around to slice at his own side, quickly parrying with Magebane. He keeps up the display, moving the Edge around him and back and forth, all the time slicing and blocking blows from his own sword, as if there were some invisible combatant fighting him. He glances over at Sammy after this exchange has finished a couple times, this time knocking the Edge of Virtue into a 180 spin, and catching it again with his right hand. Dragonmaster Cale comes on out of the kitchen, tsking as he reaches under the bar to retreive his five books and put them back on the bartop, he really shouldn't leave these around, even if no one else could hold to translate and read them. He then takes a moment to glance around the UR.. Samantha nods, looking over the bartop at Johnny as she sips her soda again. "Alright, I think I'm followin'... not sure about the waste lock part, but, er.. well... no.. no. Better tell me, what's a waste lock?" She looks to Adan again, leaning on the bartop as she watches him duel his own blade. When he is done she grins and claps her hands a few times, "Pretty cool..." she murmurs, winking, then looks over as Cale returns, "Oh hey!" She's behind the bar, by the way.. having prepared her own soda - danged NPC bartenders running off. Johnny glances at Cale with a nod and waits to see if he should continue... Adan wipes his forehead with his offhand, yeah, the one holding Magebane, and then dives back into his training, just going through something more routine than duelling with himself. He tips his head up slightly at Cale, noticing him while practicing another spin move, Dragonmaster Cale smiles fangedly over towards Samantha, "Hey Sammy!" He says with a fanged grin, spreading his books about some before setting a purple leather bound one before him. He turns his eyes onto Adan as he moves about, "Ahhh..practicing again?" He grins fangedly, "Just like old times, he he he." He watches Adan for a few moments, glances at his book...then decides he'd best have a strawberry italian soda before doing anything else. He moves over and around Samantha (she's back there, right?) to start mixing himself one. Samantha steps aside to let Cale move more easily past her, "Gomen.." she murmurs, smiling and waving a hand vaguely, "There was nobody about so.. I came back to grab my own drink..." she wrinkles her nose apologetically, then places a hand on the bar and vaults over, hopping down into a barstool on the other side and dragging her soda across. Suddenly a mysterious shadow begins to appear and spread out rapidly from the roof above, as it reaches just the right size some jet-black boots slip through followed by some black feathered wings. Datenshi slips through and follows soon after, stretching out his massive wings in mid-fall and slowing his descent- landing silently enough on the floor and ruffling his wings before retracting them. Glancing briefly around the room and noticing is recognisable here bar one strange looking human, as Datenshi nods briefly to Cale as if he'd expected to find him here. You'd think there'd be more of a welcome after a transdimensional shift, but there you go. o O ( That Cat-girl again with the strange aura too... hmph. ) Dragonmaster Cale shakes his head back and forth as he takes a sip of his new soda, "Eh, no big deal. I can't really blame some of the people that work here, eh heh...I mean, a lot of them just work here without pay...for some reason..." He shrugs his shoulders. NPC's are weird. He glances back at Trinune, then up at the shadow, "Eh! Ahh! Hey Datenshi!" He says even before the dark angel is all the way through his ceiling shadow. He grins fangedly, "I was wondering when you were going to show up here, he he he." Johnny suddenly jumps at Datenshi's appearance. Not from shock or surprise but for some other unexplainable reason. Staring at him a moment he glances back at Samantha and wonders if he should go on... Samantha glances back over her shoulder as the dark angel makes his entrance. She raises an eyebrow, peering at him thoughtfully for a moment, then just offers a friendly smile and turns back to the bar, sipping her soda calmly. As Johnny's gaze falls upon her, she glances sidelong at him and blinks, "Hm? Oh.. you waitin' for me to...? Oh, gomen.." she giggles softly, "I've been listenin', just keep talking ne?" Datenshi raises an eyebrow at the Dragonmaster and crosses his arms rather indignantly, "...How'd you know I was there even before I came through?" There's some advantage to keeping a measure of surprise in people and it's never good if people can tell you're coming, not that he'd ever need to use that on Cale for any reason. Nevertheless, the Dark angel glances over at Samantha again with narrowed demon-red eyes before casually moving towards a table near the bar and leaning back- stretching out his black-feathered wings so they're just above the tabletop and leaning back on it with hands resting on the edges. "Did the mansion make it through okay, or just the Usual?" Johnny stamers for words, "Um... so uh... anyways, What's a waste lock? Hmmm.... the way it was described to me was like this: Humanity casts off it's negative emotions like a slime that collects in the ether. Hate, anger, fear, all that nightmareish stuff. And they made these waste locks to abosorb all that crap and keep it from choking us from it... That's a waste lock... it gets assigned to stupid things and then that object is given a flusher. Um... someone or something that has to be extinguished to open up the void and suck all the crap into oblivion. Someone screwed up and I got stuck with both..." Dragonmaster Cale raises an eyebrow at Datenshi, and then actually laughs, smiling fangedly, "Mou, come on Datenshi. Trinune here has re-worked your aura almost three times now, he he he. You think I can't sense your aura when you're in the area. Or in the city for that matter?" He snickers and moves over to look at the five books he brought out, frowning for a moment as he forgets which one he was going to start on first...stupid memory... Samantha blinks, craning her neck to look at Johnny face-on. She stares at him unblinkingly for a few moments as she puzzles her way through that one, "Ne.. so... you're..." she flicks her tongue at the back of her teeth thoughtfully, then concludes, "You're like, the 'waste lock' and the flusher? In one?" Her ears twitch suddenly and she looks at Cale, smiling as she reaches over to tap the purple book, "It was that one.." she winks and looks at Johnny again, "Or I guess I should say.. you -were- the lock an' the flush, ne?" Johnny grins, "Yep, two in one with extra foaming action. I thought that part of me was behind me. That it was over... Well, anyways, like I said I came over here to get away from it all. That's when I met your Dad. He made me promise to stop killing people unless I had a reason - like self defence or something. But, that's when... that's when the Doughboys came back. I'm still the damn waste lock. All that crap, I still absorb it. One moment everythings fine and the next I've got all this hatred jabbed into my skull like a knife..." Adan stumbles a little in his practicing as he notices Datenshi's presence. He spins the swords around to reverse-grip and sheathes them both. Enough training for one night, anyhow. He closes his eyes and focuses on Magebane, making it disappear and return to wherever its rightful home is. He then returns to the bar where he was sitting earlier, throwing a couple quick glances at Datenshi. Dragonmaster Cale erms over at Samantha, "A-ah, eh heh..th-thanks." He says, flipping open the purple book and then glancing up as Adan approaches, a fanged grin spreading over his face, "Greetings my old friend! He he he...how are things going? Find a place to stay okay and everything?" He's rather sure he has, Adan was always rather capable, at least in his opinion. He glances over to Datenshi as Adan does, but doesn't say anything, "Eh, was the italian soda any good?" Datenshi likes that one even less then the idea that Cale can just tell where he is when he's in the room, "That's nice, but you didn't answer my second question." Datenshi ruffles his wings and reaches deep within his shirt, pulling out his flask and casually opening the lid. "I've not no place to stay now and I don't like sleeping on rooftops." It's a good thing Datenshi dosn't own much that was left in his apartment either, which is always on the plus side as he takes a deep drink from the flask. Got to keep those blood-levels high or else all kinds of hell could break loose- speaking of which; a quick narrowed glance is given at the Paladin Adan as the swords are sheathed, and it's hard not to pick up what righteous streaks /that/ one possesses, "... Where do they keep training that trash?" And why do they always train them to double-wield? Dragonmaster Cale looks back over to Datenshi, "Oh, er, right, my house, sorry..." He says, about to explain when he glances at Adan and then back to Datenshi. His eyes narrow down and he slams both of his hands down onto the bartop, actually causing the glasses atop it to rattle, he growls towards the dark angel, "Nani...? This is Adan Hunter." He says, his wings ruffling up behind him, "My best friend from years ago, and he is anything -but- trash..." Wow...not very often you see Cale make an angry face... Samantha nods, "Right... with ya on the waste-lock stuff, an'..." she smiles softly, "That sounds like my pop alright, but what I don't get..." she shakes her head, smirking a bit, "Is why ya keep bangin' on about these Doughboys? You just imagined they had voices right, so what y'mean is that the voices came back? That you lost it again?" Samantha jumps a little as Cale's hands come down, eyes widening on the Dragonmaster. (That.. was unexpected.) She glances at Adan, then at Datenshi, and lifts an eyebrow. Adan waves to Cale offhandedly, still a bit put off by Datenshi's presence. He turns his head to look at Cale, and shakes his head. "Haven't come up with an apartment yet, got some new clothes as you can tell. My car's on the way over from the US, and I've found a rather nice hotel to stay at until I hook up with a good apartment." He thumbs the soda which has about 24.381% of its volume remaining, "It was pretty good, but no competition for my usual." A grin, which isn't faded by Datenshi's remark. "...my uncle, Sir Dupre of Trinsic trained me, personally. A finer man never lived, and you'd best remember to respect your superior." Adan glances over at Cale when he interjects, "That's right, Adan Hunter, Paladin in the service of Lord British, one of his most loyal servants, and the second greatest fighter in Britannia." He reserves the first spot for his Uncle, even if he is no longer shuffling the mortal coil. Johnny shakes his head while trying to ignore the events going on around him, "No... that's not it. They wheren't mine anymore. Something here... well... something in Neo Tokyo made them real again. That thing... ugh... inside the waste lock theres this thing somekinda demon or something. It's trapped inside it and it's pissed. It was using the doughboys to control me. So, when the doughboys showed up in Neo Tokyo I didn't know what to think. I-I didn't want to die, but I didn't want to feed that thing either. Then this woman showed up... I don't know where she came from but she was like a goddess or something. She did something to them and made them go away. I don't know who she really was... just that she was beautiful... But, anyways... I didn't see them again till just as Neo Tokyo fell apart. Luckly it's been quiet ever since..." Datenshi isn't fairly concious of the Dragonmaster's angry face because he's seen it before a few times, like that time Yuki got torched alive which was much more impressive, or the time Cale got drenched with water- come to think of it; he seems to make him angry almost all lot of the time, "... So have you fought everyone in Britannia, or are there just you and Lord British there?" Datenshi dosn't seem particularly phased as the raven-haired dark angel generates a shadow near his foot and suddenly a midnight handle shoots up out of it followed by a silvery shining blade, as he places a black-gloved hand on it without any real reason, "And you'd best remember your superiors when you meet them, /Paladin/, or you'll end up like those before you." Samantha turns back to Johnny and nods slowly, "But.." she smirks a little, "It hasn't... has it? I mean, that thing I fought wasn't you. An'... wait." She tilts her head to one side, peering at Johnny, "Doughboys?! That little black thing.. the last thing that appeared down there. -That's- what that was?!" Dragonmaster Cale growls again, but his wings settle down behind his back as he glances over at Adan, then at Datenshi. Must stay calm, don't want to get angry...anger leads to stupid girl form...he still wants to know how the heck that happened. It's so...agrivating. "Sheesh...all right, fine, why don't you guys just go spar in the gym or something." He rolls his eyes, mostly at Datenshi of course, before taking a sip of his soda and closing his eyes, trying to relax. He hates being angry. Johnny is staring at Datenshi with a bit too much of his intrest. It takes him a moment to realise what Sammy had asked him. Glancing back at her he nods, "Yeah... in the sewers? Little guy in evil clown makeup that makes you want to eat pastries? That's Mr Eff..." Adan's hand drops to the crystalline hilt of his long sword, pulling it out of its sheath just enough to show off the luminescence of the blade. Yeah, it looks pretty ticked off right now too. The /Paladin/ offers a smug little smile in return to the dark haired angel, "...I've no fear of dying in combat, especially not against you. Your sword is long and heavy, I could run laps around you between strokes." He lets the Edge slide back into its sheeth and folds his arms over his chest, "Why don't you go down to the YMCA, run a couple laps, maybe pick up a lighter sword on the way back, and come back here. I'll give you a lesson in proper technique, so the next time I see you out on the street, I won't have to feel too guilty about taking you out properly." Samantha nods, "Right. Didn't I?" She frowns, looking off to one side, "Um.. I've forgotten... didn't I.... hm." She stops, shaking her head a bit. (Wow.. whatever happened with Alex really fried my memory.) She looks back to Johnny and offers a small smile, "Well, either way, seems like whatever we did back there beat him.. it'll be okay." She shrugs and takes a sip of her soda, then glances sidelong at Datenshi, flicking him with a once-over before craning her neck and doing the same to Adan. She sticks her bottom lip out thoughtfully, glancing between the two a few times. "I wouldn't place any bets..." she flips off in a casual murmur as she turns back to the bar. Johnny leans on the bar and sighs, "Great... I'm supposed to be the one with the bad memory... All I really remember is waking up in the sludge. The bits before that are pretty blury..." Datenshi raises an eyebrow at Adan's assumption that a mere /human/ would run laps around him, and clenches his claws around the handle of Masamune with a fanged smile, "You think you could run laps around me? How long have you lived, twenty to thirty mortal years? You don't know the first thing about sword techniques- attacking on the streets would be the only way you'd even begin to get the upper hand." Insolent little child, not even worth humoring though the abbreviation of the crack is a bit beyond him considering his age and all, "How do you know /my/ weapon is heavy? I'd say you're the one who can't dodge my attacks, double-wielding is for pathetic fools who can't move fast enough to get out of the way. Come back when you learn to master a weapon like mine and then I'll consider you worth my attention." Those pitiful little toys would simply snap in battle anyway, by the looks of what he's wielding. Dragonmaster Cale lets out a slow breath at them both now, picking up his book and looking the first few pages over. He glances back at Trinune for a few moments, then snickers, grinning fangedly, "Ha ha ha...maybe..." He says, to himself? He turns another page, resting back against the wall, his wings fanning out. Apparently, letting Datenshi and Adan toss things back and forth between them now. Johnny stares towards Datenshi and Adan, his hands curled up into fists as his nails slowly dig into his palms drawing blood... Around his homeland, he was called "the Dancing Blade" for a reason. Speed is Adan's thing. Adan's thing is speed. Run fast, fight fast, life fast. Okay, love slow. But you have to make an exception there. Adan eyes up Masamune, not entirely impressed with the long blade: "My brother fights like you, with swords that require two hands to fight. We have swords that are enchanted with the same spell." He unsheathes the Edge again, just slightly, "Both are far lighter than their non-magical equivalents. The fact of the matter is, the longer the blade, the longer the recovery from the stroke. Even if the swords were made of equal metal and enchanted the same, the longer sword's going to be slower. Not to mention, if you're as old as you say you are, you'e got to suffer from a creaky joint or two." Adan reaches into the neck of his shirt and pulls out a golden ankh necklace, putting it on display for whatever reason. "By the way, the only reason I learned to fight with my offhand is from beer-betting with my Uncle." And those who were watching earlier, know the young paladin is decent with his offhand. Dragonmaster Cale turns another page on his book, glancing between Adan and Datenshi again, he yawns slighty...tired. He looks over at Samantha briefly, then back to his book. "Mou, I think I need to get some sleep..." He gathers up his books, this time, intent on not letting the NPC's file them away anymore. He glances to Samantha, "Oyasumi, sleep well, ne? Practice with the magic!" He then looks to Datenshi, "Night, and be careful, I think Adan's probably better than you at swordplay, eh heh..." He then looks to Adan, smiling fangedly, "Night to you as well, my friend. And, be careful, Datenshi's pretty fast." Samantha listens to all this with her head slightly to one side, sipping her soda quite happily, her tail flicking gently against the floor behind her. Deep down though, she's dying to see these two fight. As Cale bids farewell she smiles and lifts a slender hand, wiggling her fingers in a little wave to the Dragonmaster, "Mm hm! Night, Cale! Seeya tomorrow.. I'll be tossin' the fireballs around, too.. you'll see..." she winks. Johnny has begun to ignore everything going on around him as the events evolving around him absorb his complete attention... Datenshi raises an eyebrow and examines the golden Ankh for any astral signs of magic just because it's always good to know more about the person you're weighing up, as he lifts Masamune up and places it on his shoulder as nightmare black whisps of energy suddenly begin to travel up the silver glimmering blade of which weight is undetermined, "While that's a sound theory i'm afraid it dosn't apply in my case, and I can assure you in my old age my bones don't break half as easily as yours do..." Datenshi gives a slight nod as Cale leaves the room and obviously dosn't heed his warning, since what does the magician know about swordplay anyway? Though in a completely non-threatening way, the Dark angel brings his other hand up as white whisps of unknown energy begin to gather across and weave through his fingers- and at this point you might notice that Datenshi dosn't in fact use a two handed weapon. In fact, that one hand on Masamune's handle implies that it's a seven-foot weapon used in only one which really shows exactly how light it is to him. Dragonmaster Cale heads off into the kitchen, then pokes his head back out, "Ano...by the way...if you two do decide to fight, don't kill one another, ne?" He gives Datenshi a look, then nods his head at Adan. "I'm gonna have Trinune monitoring you two while I sleep, be careful." He heads off, permanently this time. Samantha flicks her head over her shoulder, quickly enough to shift her hair back too so that she can get a good look at Datenshi as he starts to channel.. whatever energies he is channelling. The nekogirl hmms quietly, her ethereal gaze settling on the dark angel's hand as she calmly tries to pick up what she can of the mysterious white energy. Adan pulls the Edge of Virtue out of its sheath completely and gives it a few quick twirls around with his good hand. He levels his eyes at Datenshi for a moment, then turns away, taking a ready stance, not facing the dark angel. He concentrates for a moment, then moves forward with the sword, slashing three times in rapid succession, although unless your eyes are really good, you probably didn't even see his arm move- but you heard it, the wind whistling much louder and sharper than it did before. Quite a light show, too. The sword has been glowing a very bright blue color in Datenshi's presence, and the three strokes looked almost like an explosion. Datenshi's eyes as a matter of fact /do/ move that fast as the dark angel watches the glowing Edge of Virtue move through the air with amusing speed for a human to reach, and wonders if that last explosion was magical or simply breaking the sound barrier? Though that last idea's a little ridiculous, considering no-one's arms could possibly generate that kind of speed made of flesh and bone, "So you practice your days cutting air? How droll, i'm sure in practice you wouldn't have time to get three consecutive hits in like that so as a move it's fairly impractical- should the explosion actually have an additional effect." Datenshi stretches out his wings as a dark-blue electrical energy suddenly crackles down the midnight-black feathers, before he retracts and shuffles them again- scant black feathers floating to the ground and dissipating on contact with the flat surface of the table and floor. Meanwhile the opposing white and black energies seem to be gathering around Masamune's massive blade and in his clawed hand, but there dosn't seem much to do with it since Adan's busy practicing beating his chest instead of actually attacking his opponent. Seeing as this is probably going to take the atypical 'No fights, all words' way- Datenshi reaches into his shirt and pulls out an ancient jug with a tattered cord around his gloved hand, taking a deep drink from it without removing his eyes from Adan. Johnny shakes his head for a moment, trying to free himself of the hypnotic trance that Datenshi and Adan seem to have drawn him into. Glancing around the room a moment he realises there's nothing else worth drawing his attention to and gets out one of his daggers and begins to twirl it around. Adan spins the sword around to a reverse-hand position again and sheathes it, turning his head to the side to look at Datenshi, "...cutting air? No, I track down criminals for a living. For money and glory. Money to make a living. Glory because it's nice to have. Plenty of unvirtuous elements have fallen to my blade, human and demon." He runs a hand through his gold-blond hair, those deep-blue eyes checking out Masamune again. Even if it is a rather evil-looking sword, there is something a bit attractive about it. (Why can't he just leave well enough alone and not fall for all these other swords? He already has two amazing ones.) All of a sudden, something unexpected happens. Samantha chews thoughtfully on her lip and decides to finally bother facing the 'action', leaning back against the bar as she sips her soda. "You're pretty cocky..." she murmurs, directing the offhand comment to Datenshi and continuing when Adan answers his phone, "Y'both are.. but... I dunno." She preens at her silky black hair with one hand, pulling out a couple of tangled strands and re-arranging them unconsciously, "Cale seems'ta think highly of ya.. but there's something odd aboutcha. What's that energy you're using?" She smiles sweetly at the dark angel's back, tilting her head to one side as she finishes sorting her hair. Adan says, "Uh-huh. Yeah, it's Adan. It's on the boat? A WEEK?! What kind of boat do you have it on? You've got to be kidding me... they go that slow?" Adan pounds his hand against the side of head, frustrated with whoever he's talking too. "Tell you what, I'm going to head down to the airport right now and see if I can't get an air freighter to bring the car over here. Yeah, thanks for nothing. Idiot." *click* Datenshi is too busy drinking whatever's in that ancient jug of his as a very narrowed glance of demon-red eyes is directed Samantha's way as she sips her soda, to which the Dark angel eventually replies, "It's abyssal energy- fairly useful for killing Paladins and just generally exploding human heads." Like that biker-gang which was fairly amusing, with all those blood and guts all over the place- and to give an example Datenshi suddenly grips onto the ancient weapon's handle and in one blinding movement- to which is highly doubtful any human eye or even superhuman would be able to track- abyssal black energy suddenly rips off the back of the blade and lets out a screeching noise that echoes off the walls of the Usual and probably has a high possibility of deafening anyone in the near vicinity. The excess unholy energy suddenly seperates and forms a midnight raven of shifting energies that swoops down hugging the ground and then moves up and right around Samantha's head, with burning red eyes that seem to mimic that of thier creator. Suddenly it flaps it's wings and settles on a nearby chair, simply staring directly at her and tilting it's head with mock-curiosity... "Who knows what Cale thinks, because I certainly don't." Adan says, "I need to head out guys, I'll---..." He's cut off by the loud noise Datenshi's little trick produced. He throws the dark angel another glare, silently vowing that he will show the smug old demon what he's made of. Just not tonight. He'll collect his armor, and he'll bring Magebane. That should level the playing field quite a lot. Adan grins smugly, giving his ear a quick rub as he walks do the door, he turns to face Samantha and Johnny, offers them a quick wave, and then darts out the door. Off to the airport to find out about getting his voiture lifted over here. Samantha winces as Datenshi throws off this quick display of power, shaking her head a little, her ears twitching from the wave of sound. (Ouch.. gods, what is with people and being so fracking loud.) She straightens up in time to watch the raven shoot past, shifting her head just a little away from it so she can keep following its path to its landing point. "Nice.." she murmurs, leaning a little closer to the perched energy-creature and peering at it curiously. "Fer somethin' described as 'abyssal'.. it's actually vaguely cute," she comments, then hmms quietly and sits up again, looking across to Adan as he goes to leave. She smiles sweetly and finger-waves, "G'night..." then gives a few flicks of her tail as her gaze shifts back to Datenshi and she regards him in silence. Datenshi dosn't believe he made the raven made of black burning unholy energies to be vaguely cute, and reaches out towards it and closes it's hand- an even louder screaching noise fills the room as the raven spontaniously combusts and Datenshi tilts his shades; seems the raven had a mind of it's own, "Whatever you say, daughter of Terry. I'm sure your father would be ashamed to see you 'entertaining' the company of the one they call Sun Kinomoto." What an observant type the Dark angel is, but then he's always had a sharp eye for such things concerning Sun- the whole thing gives a whole new meaning to licking carpet, wouldn't you say? "So, were you Meilin's or was your mother just some cheap alleyway cat he found out the back when he was drunk? The latter seems more likely." Datenshi swings Masamune up without releasing the black whisps of energy whipping around the ancient blade and places it characteristically on his shoulder, shuffling his wings as they begin to crackle again. Johnny points tiredly at Datenshi's sword. "Hey... what was that?" Just the faintest flinch crosses the nekogirl's expression this time, despite the much louder noise.. seems she got herself ready for that one. As Datenshi speaks she watches him, scritching lightly behind one of her ears.. though her ears narrow more and more as he goes on, flashing dangerously as he comes out with the last. She makes no movement however, just glares at the dark angel, "-I- think.. y'oughtta keep your opinions to yerself. My name.." she takes a breath and sits up, lids lifting a ways to reveal the depths of her eyes a little more.. they are currently filled with boldness and determination, and not a speck of fear. He insulted her too much for that. "Is Samantha Li-Bogard." She nods, "So, yeah, Meilin was my mom. An' my father would -never- have betrayed her... he still hasn't." She turns to the bar, setting down her soda and then slips down from her barstool, striding over towards Datenshi.. if he makes no move to resist she comes up right in front of him and peers up into his face, smiling with false sweetness. "And Sun.. we're in love, an' nothing you can do or say'll change that. Whatever my pop may or may not have thought of her, he'd respect that.... I don't expect you to, but don't fuck me around before we've even met properly ne?" Datenshi glances at Johnny and raises an inquisitive eyebrow, "What do you think it was?" That should keep Johnny occupied for a while- while Samantha walks up, "I'm sure you're in love, just as she was in love with the Saiyajin before that, and the man who she was living with prior to you, and way before that when she simply scuttered around the rafters preying on people and slipping Ai Sake into thier drinks so she could sleep with them... Oh, love has /always/ motivated Sun sure enough." Datenshi gives a wry fanged smile as Samantha stands close to him with that false sweetness as he raises a black-gloved hand with a accusatory claw, "... Do you think you'll be any different from them? You're a disgardable furry sex toy, and I won't prejudge you- but I will tell you what you are. Don't expect any different when the time eventually comes." Funnily enough, Datenshi oddly gives a fanged smile and leans back on the table again, "... So, how is your mother going anyway? Dead?" Johnny stares blankly a moment and realises he doesn't know what it was. No wait... he just asked about that. DAMNIT! "I wanna know what that shadow thing was! That looked like the same thing I saw the last few fights I was in..." As the dark angel leans back, so does Samantha. She hooks her thumbs through the waistband of her jeans and regards him with a wry smirk, biting down any pain his comments might threaten to cause. Meeting his gaze boldly she shrugs, "An' supposin' I wanna challenge this 'fate'?" She rolls her eyes as she sneers the last word, then lifts a hand and flings it out to her side, waving back at Johnny, "Can it wait? I need a few words with the big bad here.." She winks at Datenshi, though it's lacking any humour, as the hand returns to its perch. "I'll give ya time to think about that one while I tell you that, far as my mommy goes, I ain't got a clue." She gives the faintest of shrugs, her tail curling gracefully behind her and then resuming its rhythmic flicking, "But I feel like she's alive, an' that's good enough. So.." she puts on that mocking sweet smile again and tips forward on her heels, angling her face to turn up at Datenshi's again as she leans closer. "You believe everything's worked out, like I don't have a choice? Coz I sure as hell don't..." Johnny sighs and drops his head on the bar. .oO(Why do I even try?) The bar suddenly speaks back! o O ( Use the force, NNY... ) Johnny gets out his knife and stabs the bar without lifting his head. o O (That'll show it...) The Bar screams and goes silently into that good night, ( Goodbye cruel world... no more stains shall seep into my weathered face... etc... etc.... ) Datenshi probably should have made this vitally clear about his character, but as Samantha tips forward on her heels and begins to talk about free-will instantly the Dark angel's hand turns into a flat-palm and moves forward at /beyond/ super-human-speed striking at the center of her chest in such a blinding movement she probably won't even notice anything's different until it's over. There's enough strength behind the blinding 'telekinetic strike'- instant stillness to motion- to most likely crush a human's chest right in though Samantha's probably made of sterner stuff, with the intention of the extremely close range blow picking her up and sending her flying across the room in the air and crashing near or into the bar. Samantha has taken the same gamble Adan came close to doing before- which is going within the range of reflex attack. We're talking about a demonic black-winged creature who sleeps with a seven-foot ancient weapon capable of slicing through steel like a hot knife through butter when he's sleeping, let alone pushing right into his face. Really, Samantha's about as smart as her father is. Something stirs inside the nekogirl as Datenshi moves, the instant the blow lands her eyes have begun to flicker with the recognition of an incoming attack... her racial speed thrusting to its limits to dodge, but too late.... the blow hammers into her chest, a shocked and strangled gasp escaping her throat as her ribcage vibrates dangerously. Her gaze latches onto Datenshi's own with fierce intensity as everything seems to stand still for a moment.. and then the full force of the attack explodes and Samantha flies off across the room trailing vicious, jagged tendrils of blazing white energy, her back arching and head rocking back\; torn, charred flesh flaking up into the raging ivory flames that lick across her torso. As the burning stops and the girl comes down onto the bartop with a sickening crunch, limbs crashing limply out around her, arms hanging to either side and feet and tail trailing off over the side of the bar. As impact comes, blood lashes from her throat, spattering out across the myriad bottles stored at the back of the room, and a wide curl of her crimson life's waters also flies up from her ravaged chest, bone visible at the worst point of the wound, last flakes of the charred flesh falling away and evaporating as the last of Datenshi's holy power courses away, a couple of electric crackles marking its final departure. The last sound before silence descends, though, is a strangled, juddering moan from Sammy's throat as her body spasms and falls still. Dead? Perhaps... Johnny sits up quickly as something dark surges through him. Seeing Samantha crash into the bar makes his sanity snap. His eyes growing black from the dark energy inside him, his mind shuts down and whatever dark force is hiding inside him takes over... Johnny begins to laugh. His skin begins to grow dark, like a piece of rotting fruit. In seconds his entire body is as black as night. His clothing begins to get darker too until he is nothing but a black mass, only his eyes remain the same. Suddenly the inky mess begins to drip off of him, the drops running together until they are absorbed by his shadow. Finaly he lets out a childish giggle and returns to normal, except now he seems about five years younger... Datenshi retracts his smoking outstretched midnight-gloved palm as he brushes back his raven-black hair and lets out a huff of air, "Pathetic furball-hacking Bogard, don't you know that those who have the chance to change fate first have to be able to decide what concequences lies in the choices they make? You however don't know even not to let your guard down for a second..." Datenshi dosn't even consider her half the martial-artist her father Terry was if she dosn't even adhere to that simple principle, once again the Shinigami technique comes out on top- Datenshi stretches out his magnificent black-feathered wings and begins to casually walk towards her bloody corpse propped against the bottles on the back of the room amonst the shattered glass. Datenshi hops up and slides over the bar and lands deftly before Samantha's body and reaches back a clawed hand- as suddenly dark purple necromantic energy begins to twist and weave through his claws- and suddenly the Dark angel slams his open clawed hand deep within her chest and attempts to rip out what's left or intact of her possibly still beating heart! The necromancy spell cast was the Death Claw; a necromancy spell that allows the victim to survive no matter what injury is inflicted with all the lovely agony of being on the brink of death- even if they're limbless and bleeding in agony. Noodle Boy continues to laugh manicly at the distruction around him. His eyes are still jet black and featureless. Pulling out his dagger he stabs the bar and cackles. "HELL YEAH! KILL THE BITCH!" And from Samantha's throat comes the strained, high-pitched and prolonged gasp of a person surfacing from the brink of drowning... her body spasming again as the heart is torn free from her already open chest. Her wide, bloodshot eyes fix on the ceiling, seeing but not seeing, comprehending but not comprehending both what was happened and the world outside. Her tail gives a limp swing against the side of the bar, and the gem on her collarbone, mysteriously intact and with a small expanse of smooth, similarly clean and intact flesh around it, begins to pulse with a bright glow. Datenshi stares at the Gem instantly after he's torn Samantha's still-beating heart with dark-purple energy crackling around it from her body and stands up, slipping it deep within his shirt and baring his fangs as the Dark angel notices one of Sun's trademark gems in her collarbone- just like the one used on Cale when he was possessed by Hyakuhei's minions. Realising that this means that Samantha has the same regenerative powers, Datenshi extends his claws to half-length as the midnight-black razor sharp claws glitter against the light as he moves in one blinding movement to tear /that/ out of her collarbone so he can possess one once and for all! Though how successful this might be is doubtful, assuming he gets it out he'll immediately slip it in with the heart- and if Datenshi dosn't then he leans back against the bar and stretches out his wings- placing the glistening ancient blade of Masamune against her throat and waiting to see exactly what happens next. Noodle Boy jumps up and strains over the edge of the bar to get a better look at the cat-woman with the opened chest cavity. He can't remember anything before this moment, but he's enjoying every minute of it. "HA-HA-HA! I couldn't have done better myself!" As Datenshi's claws move towards the gem the girl gives a vaguely aggressive murmur and starts to shift her hands over it.. but no need it seems as the bright purple glow then intensifies to a blinding level and with a crack like distant thunder repels the dark angel's grasping hand. This done the girl starts to push herself up, eyes still staring into nothing and everything, her pupils dilated. "What..." her voice is painfully low, barely audible and cracked hideously. But considering the state of her body even that's rather good going... "What happened? J-Johnny?" Noodle Boy glares down at the woman and frowns, "Come on, the bitch ain't dead yet! Cut her throat out! Gut her! Come on do something... this is so weak! Where's the bleeding?" Datenshi smirks and brushes back his hair as the Dark angel appraises exactly what Samantha has on her worth stealing- and notices the ring on the finger and figures -that- would get her attention when she got back. Reaching into his shirt with Masamune still gathering dark abyssal energy running down the silvery blade, Datenshi pulls out a throwing dagger and hurls it downwards at the ring finger- with obvious intention to simply sever it instead of going to all the effort of trying to get it off while she's starting to wake up, diluted though her vision is. Should Datenshi sever it to which there is a good chance, he outstreches his hands and it is swallowed by a shadow where it lands. Though you know, there's not exactly much Sammy can do to stop it from happening as Datenshi dosn't notice Alex's presence just yet- though he hasn't really shown up on the scene yet of course. Samantha's finger is indeed severed.. the ring-finger and the one next to it as the girl's instincts kick in and she shifts away from the knife. She might have made the 'dodge' had her vision and other senses been working.. as it is she only succeeds in losing the middle finger as well. As this happens she directs a blank stare towards her hand, slowly lifting it and watching the blood spray from the sliced veins, scattering down her shirt and onto her jeans. But she shows no reaction, her body already numbed to any further pain. The door to the Usual flies open as Alex stumbles and near falls through the door. The pilot was clutching his chest with hsi left hand, panting heavily, face covered in sweat. Last checkup he wasn't told he was going to be at risk for heart problems, so he'd been left to only one assumption. Finding where it was wasn't too hard either, just had to follow your nose...er where it hurts the most! ^_^ Leaning heavily against the wall, Alex was also holding his deasert eagle in his right hand. In his current state he didn't wait to see what else was going on, heck by his concerns he didn't need to. The sight of the winged guy huddling over a very out of it samantha and now taking her fingers off was more than enough reason for him. Shakily he levels the gun at the fallen angel, finger starting to squeeze down on the trigger... Noodle Boy climbs partialy up onto the bar in excitment as he sees the girl's fingers removed. "YEEEAAAH!!!" As the door slambs open he turns and spots Alex. Already too caught up in the excitment he resheathes his dagger and pulls out his hooksickle. Despite his own sudden decrease in size, he manages to twirl the weapon like a bo as he hops down and advances towards the door, "Ooooh! FUN!" Datenshi turns around at Noodle Boy's sudden reaction but is not quick enough, if Samantha wasn't bleeding so much maybe the dark angel would have been able to pick up on Alex's smell but as the desert-eagle erupts Datenshi moves to the side- suddenly a large hole taking a chunk out of his arm and ripping through black feathers and shattering all the bottles behind it, smearing it with blood. Scowling suddenly at the VF Pilot standing there Datenshi takes this chance while he's reloading to leap up with a slight flap of broken wings- since it's the magic within them that allows him to fly- and slides across the bar towards Alex- flying off the edge and landing on the ground behind a table and making one blinding sideways slash from left to right and severing all the table-legs underneath it at superhuman speed- such as that almost all human eyes wouldn't be able to see him do it! It's not exactly this that's worrying except for the black abyssal energy that's been charged within it since the start of the confrontation with Aden- which takes the form of a massive abyssal shockwave that rips out and hurls the severed table and chairs through the air- reaching a height about that of Alex's chest and almost hugging the ground as it blindingly approaches towards him! Leaping backwards and gathering Holy energy into his hand, Datenshi dissapears within his own shadow and rips out instantly out of Alex's own and unleashing a back attack with Masamune upwards- making another weaker shockwave with the sacred white energy upwards! This is Datenshi's ultimate atttack- since Alex can't dodge sideways or forwards because of the black energy approaching him, or forwards and leap because of Masamune and the white energy, or up because of the rising slash- or obviously backwards, it's an attack from all angles! When the Sacred and Abysal energies collide they create a shockwave much greater then thier component parts, which at this point will most likely tear everything apart from the Usual from within and shake the very foundations of the building- leaving Alex no room to escape. It seems Datenshi wants to kill any witnesses before they reach the police this time. The nekogirl watches all this numbly, her head lolling to one side as blood continues to fountain from her fingers.. and pump freely from her shattered chest. As the energies explode everywhere her own react, her still-full supplies of ki raging around her and forming a blue-white shield, following her form but a few inches away from her flesh, that envelops her from sight. Inside the shield of energy, which somehow begins to flicker with more powerful golden tendrils as Datenshi's power washes over it, the girl's gem pulses brighter and brighter, until her vision is obscured completely by a white void, the exterior of the shield glowing brightly in response. (It's.. okay... just hold on... stay alive and... you'll be okay....) Fed by Sun's power and the power of Felixia, the girl then feeds what she is receiving to Alex, her own wounds healing more slowly but plenty going to Alex as well. Noodle Boy screams as he's ripped apart by the swirling energies around him. Somewhere deep in the world something stirs. A door unlocks. Unfortunitly it's no matter. It's not of any importance. NNY dies a horrible painful death where he screams until there is nothing left of him. What's left of him is scattered across the floor in a bloody mess... The last time he died he left a message that somehow applies to this situation. >>Sometimes... you can cry until there is nothing wet in you. You can scream and curse to where your throat rebels and ruptures. You can pray, all you want, to whatever god you think will listen. And, still, it makes NO difference. It goes on, with no sign as to when it might release you. And you know that if it ever did relent... it would not be because it cared.<< ...written in blood before everything went black. At the moment Alex is experiences one major case of of disassociation. Or at least that's what doctors would chalk it up as when the world suddenly turns to slow motion on Alex. Despite the pain making it hard to concentrate, his gaze manages to follow Datenshi for the most part. Alas his body didn't want to move at the same speed as his eyesight was. Still trapped in that slow motion world he turns to try and face the fallen angel as he tries to attack Alex from behind. (I'm going to die...) flashes through his mind as he can practically hear his heart pounding inside his head (Damnit! I'm not gonna be able to get out of this one!) he still had too much to do to die. Promises left unfulfilled, things not said to friends. Even as Sam's message reaches him though, something in Alex's demeanor changes. Something in those crimson eyes of his hardens and becomes blatantly defiant as their gaze meets Datenshi as best as possible from the awkward position. And then there it was, blue and gold light formed within those twin pools of red. For a moment Datenshi might catch the sensation of his hair standing on end. And then it came,time instantly came back in full swing with a bright light eminating from deep inside Alex. Bright and painful as hell to stare at directly as a positively massive shockwave of energy ripped out from the boy's body/ The blast wave collided with the energies coming in on Alex and continued to rip out, pausing only briefly during the initial contact before ripping out further. For up to 500 meters anything not anchored or smaller than a mac truck would most likely be tossed about, the windows in the usual were undoubtedly shattered, tables and chairs flung every which way, many lodged into the walls from the concussive force the shockwave carried. Moreover (and probably ven more infuriating from a city maintenance standpoint) is all electronics up to a mile from where everyone had been was burnt out by the staggering amount of energy released. Datenshi performs his ultimate attack only to rise out of the shadow in a rush of black feathers only to be cast back by a massive emotional-induced shockwave which was probably the one best way to dispell both the abyssal and holy shockwaves (Which never got released because of what just happened) and propels him backwards through the open doorway- considering Alex appeared there and Datenshi rose up behind him- and far out of sight outside. Somewhere outside the Usual there is the massive rusling of feathers and suddenly after a few moments a shadow appears upon the roof Alex- should he notice it or not since what appears to be a flask is suddenly thrown out as a distraction- as Masamune's blade suddenly rushes up below him in one blinding movement to impale him a few seconds after the shockwave had actually been dissipated to get him in the aftershock of generating it. Maybe he dodges and it impales something else or clears it entirely, but it dosn't seem to constitute a major attack as much as prodding to see if Alex still can generate the kind of power that he just did for a second time. Datenshi is nowhere to be seen. The forked golden lines working their way across the shield surrounding Samantha now blaze out, whipping through the air and curling around whatever resistance they meet, dragging any of this resistance - namely, whatever foreign energies those coming from the girl encounter - back down to the flickering blue-white surface of her shield. All oxygen in her immediate surroundings is sucked away and suddenly the whole explodes outward, the blinding emission of her Felixian gem adding to the effect of both the shimmering blue and shining gold ki and hammering off in every direction around her, only running for a dozen feet or so but shaking the very foundations of the building and wildly hurling about anything even vaguely moveable within, whether or not it was already knocked over or destroyed by Alex's defensive shockwave, so concentrated is the blast. As the blaze slowly dissipates to reveal the nekogirl's outline, she remains seated in exactly the position she was in before, apparently the only thing not shifted about by the blast, and as it dissipates further her wounds can be seen to no longer be freshly bleeding though otherwise just as bad, her expression still lifeless and glazed.. showing no signs of comprehending the scene of destruction around her. Well what goes around comes around as Alex's player likes to say. Still despite the undeniable unpleasantness of being nailed by a shockwave himself now, Alex can't deny it makes for a very effective way to pull off a quick dodge while one is somewhat disoriented. That said, Alex now follows nearly the exact same course as Datenshi took through the doors of the Usual and is sent sprawling across a street. He lays there only for a moment before pushing himself back to his feet, his body being fueled by adrenaline as he starts to make his way back to the Usual, gun still somehow in his hand as he raises his left to wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, ignoring the burning sensation of a telltale slash running along his right leg. Datenshi leaps up out of the shadow in the Usual in mid flight and flaps his wings, deftly catching the falling flask from above and landing with a whumph and a pushing of debris outwards while taking a deep swig and glancing out at Alex running back into the Usual. With Masamune now resting on his shoulder, Datenshi still has the holy energy charged and decides to do something to unsettle Alex and spins around- aiming for the rafter supports that were nearly destroyed by Alex's shockwave- and the sacred shockwave finishes them off as they suddenly buckle under thier own weight. Datenshi knows the Usual very well indeed, as he leaps backwards and dissapears into his own shadow as the rafters and the entire roof begins to shudder under the immense weight and cave in. Samantha's still inside under the bar, and now the shield's down whatever damage she sustains so will Alex. Alex has a limited amount of time to get to the bar and save her as well before getting out and he's already on the off foot. It's a good thing the Usual rebuilds itself by morning so no one will notice, but this is Datenshi's parting gift to Alex. Samantha's eyes take on a little understanding as the roof cracks around her.. whatever instincts she has still working kicking in, and the ravaged girl's tail flicks once behind her before she kicks off in a burst of activity... hitting the floor behind the bar and tucking into a roll across the floor - strewn as it is with broken glass and.. well... broken -everything-.. and ending up tucked in at one end, in a hunched up ball of near-dead catgirl. It took a moment for Alex to realize just what had happened as he was about to go back into the Usual expecting a fight. The moment he heard the rafters give, his mind instantly flashed to Sam. Quickly holsteringhis gun, Alex rushes into the Usual, his link with Sam guiding him to behind the bar. He was still working on pure adrenaline so (mercifully) no smartassed remarks as he tried to pick up the neko-girl and get her outside before the building collapsed, leaving whatever remains of poor Nny nehind, no more than an after thought in his mind at the moment. Xue Qian sweatdrops as she steps from an ally across the street, only to see the UR collapsing (aside from it being this early, i'd almost call this NORMAL for this place.... ) o.o; "So much for the wakeup drink...". She doesn't see anyone, however, as of yet | |