View source for 2005-01-13 (PreU) NNY meets Meln

[[Category:Logs/ChronoMUCK]]{{Logsummary|
Title=NNY meets Meln
|Summary=Johnny runs into Meln at the local Inn and decides she needs to learn to defend herself.
|Who=[[Meln]], [[Johnny_C]], [[Targer]], [[Vashtearnia]]
|Date=2005-01-13
|Where=Truce Inn
|Log=


With a cough the door to the Inn swings open and in walks a tall thin man wearing all black. Smiling to himself he creeps in and takes a seat at the rear of the room as if eager to watch whatever might be going on...

Meln is leaning against the bar, scribbling in her notebook. She smiles at Targer. "Thank you. All this information has been most useful. Now, what is the obvious extrapolation from it, I wonder..."

Targer nods, giving a nervos smile. "No problem..." 

Johnny tosses his legs up on the table and leans back. Producing a long black bladed dagger he begins to twirl it carelessly as his eyes slowly pass on everyone here.

Meln's eyes shift to the dagger, and she brightens immediately. She walks over to Johnny, and stares at him for a moment, before tilting her head a bit to one side. "...Hero...?"

Johnny jumps a bit at the sudden statement. Staring in confusion he suddenly grins, "No thank you... I would like a soda though if you don't mind."

Meln blinks, and points at herself. "Sorry, I don't have any soda." She pauses. "I think you might have better luck if you asked one of those people in funny outfits." She waves at the waitstaff vaguely. "...Or Vashtearnia. But she doesn't seem to be here."

Johnny raises an eyebrow, "Funny outfits? The ugly French maid uniforms?" Not that there is anything french on this world... but eh, Johnny's weird. "So your not a waitress? What's with the notebook then? You a secretary or something?" Secretary... another odd word...

Meln frowns. "...I suppose that matters what a secretary or waitress is, I'm not that familiar with this culture. I'm pretty much an iterant anthropologist. Used to try to be a hero, but I seemed to do rather poorly at it."

Johnny nods slowly. "Ahhh... I see. Seen alot of them over the years. The trick is to do one really big thing so you get a name for yourself, then do a bunch of small things so they don't forget you."

Meln frowns. "That's true, whatever your vocation, if you want to be famous. But fame isn't so important to me as wealth and knowledge..." She shrugs, then smiles. "...So what are secretaries and waitresses?"

Johnny blinks, "Huh? What do you mean?" Nervously looking around he rubs the back of his head, "You know a waitress... like the chicks in the outfits you where talking about?"

"But... I thought those were humans in those outfits!" Meln shakes her head. "This culture is so confusing. It'll probably take me *weeks* to get the nuances..."

Johnny blinkblinks, "Um.... those -are- humans in those outfits... a waitress is generaly a woman who works at a restarunt and waits on people.... I think they used to call them serving winches are some crap." Shaking his head he resheaths his dagger, "Your not like, lost or something are you? If your from some other place..." Trailing off he stares at Meln's face as serious as he can be. ...even if he does sound like a loonatic.

Meln blinks. "Course I'm from some other place. I lived in an academy up on a mountain. Didn't learn much about this culture except for the language and stuff." She pauses. "It'd be really hard to research your own culture, after all. You're too close to see it."

Johnny stares a moment before snickering. "Oh I see.... but I don't know about me being too close. You could say I live up in the mountains myself..."
"...I more meant the general sense of you, really..." Meln sits down and stares at Johnny for a moment. "Meln Recantation. Who are you?"

Johnny grins manicly, "Johnny. Johnny C. Friends call me NNY, nice to meet you..."

Meln looks over to Johnny's dagger curiously. "Likewise. Why do friends call you NNY? And what do you do?"

Johnny watches Meln's eyes and quickly unsheaths both his twin daggers and sets them on the table before her. "Well... These days not much. I've been living up on a cliff for longer than I'd like to admit to." The daggers are elaboratly carved from some strange black material, very cold to the touch. On the ends of the hilts are large balls with a baddly drawn face etched into them. "You could say I needed a vaction for life and got a bit more than I bargened for. I've grown a bit tired of watching so I decided to come down and take a look around."

"...You got tired of watching so you decided to come down and take a look around? What an enchanting way of looking at things!" Meln smiles, and scribbles down a few more things, then sets it down and pokes cautiously at one of the daggers.

Johnny snickers again, "Ahhh... a romantic. How quaint. I see where the hero desires come from now. You been trying to live your life like a story from a book? Bah... it can be done, but be careful what you wish for.... once the story ends you wind up with far too many unforseen concequences..."

Meln nods after a moment. "Books are based on reality. So it makes no less sense to base reality on books." She frowns. "What kind of unforeseen consequences?"

Johnny shrugs and leans back again after reclaiming his weapons, "Life, death, getting thrown into a parallel reality and having your inner voices become real and try to kill you on several occasions despite how many times you assasinate them. Life has a funny way of making things intresting when you least expect it." With an almost mournful sigh he quietly adds, "...at least that's how it's supposed to work."

Meln smiles. "Well, that sounds heroic too..." She blinks, and looks up at Johnny. "...You *are* a hero, aren't you? Or at least you were one?" She smiles, pulling a roll of measuring tape from one of her pockets.

Johnny raises an eyebrow, "I'd never use that word to describe myself. I've done far too many horrible things to be suddenly calling myself a hero..." With a nervous sweatdrop in reguards to the tape he stamers, "b-besides... what good did I ever do for the universe? I'd hardly call killing off my best friend heroic..."

"Killing your best friend? How dramatic! It would make a good book..." She walks right up next to Johnny and begins to measure. "Hmm..."

Johnny stares, "...just why are you doing that?"

Meln blinks and stares back at Johnny for a moment. "Research." She then resumes her work.

Johnny shrugs and lets her do whatever, "Uh huh... what is it with people these days trying so hard to study things. You should just enjoy life for what it is... quit trying to make sense of it all..."

Meln shakes her head. "On the contrary. If you don't understand life, how can you possibly hope to enjoy it? Interesting view, though."

Johnny frowns, "Because I do... that's why I don't enjoy it..." With a sigh he shakes his head and absently goes for his dagger, begining to twirl it once again.

"Really? I've heard of a very interesting procedure you might be interested in. It's called a 'lobotomy'. I'm not a physician, but I remember most of that book." Meln holds out her hand, palm up, and smiles. "Can I borrow your dagger for a few minutes?"

Johnny grins manicly, "Ok, that just earned yourself quite a bit of respect from me, but no thanks. I might be damaged, but I like who I am. I wouldn't change it for the world... besides, last thing I want to do is have to relive some of that crap again."

Meln shrugs and sits down. "Fair enough." She stares at Johnny a few moments longer.

Johnny shakes his head and snickers, propping his feet on the table and leaning back again he smiles, "So, Meln was it? What do people do for fun around here? I'm a bit tired of watching festival after festival... isn't there something fun to do that doesn't involve balloons?"

Meln frowns and shakes her head. "No, I really haven't investigated that part of the culture yet." She pauses, then brightens. "Oh! I think Yoko was planning a tournament. Those are supposed to be fun, right?"

Johnny sits up quickly and blinks, "A tournment?? Really? Oooh... now that -could- get intresting? What kind? ...fighting or something?"

Meln frowns. "Not entirely sure. I forgot to take notes." She leans back in her chair and rests her feet against a table leg.

Johnny nods slowly, "Ahhh.... gotcha." With a slight hmmm he starts to twirl his dagger once again. "...still, sounds intresting. It'd be great if it was a fighting tournament. Last time I remember seriously fighting anyone besides the idiots who show up at the cliff was.... oh." His eyes suddenly becoming very distant, the skinny man clutches his dagger very tightly and puts it away. "...yeah, it'd be good to challenge someone again..."

"See? Bloodlust. If that's not a sign of being a hero, I don't know what is." Meln nods to herself in a self satisfied manner, then pauses. "Maybe I'd be a better hero if I carried weapons around..."

Johnny's sullen expression is suddenly broken at that and he begins to laugh aloud, "What? You don't have a weapon?? What kind of hero you think you are? You know how to handle one, don'tcha?"

Meln looks at Johny agahst. "You have to *learn* how to use a weapon? I thought you just sort of picked them up and swung them at things."

Johnny stops laughing and stares into Meln's eyes. After a few seconds he begins laughing once again, this time his eyes begin to tear up. "Oh my god... your serious aren't you??" Wiping his eyes he shakes his head, "Alright, sounds to me like you need some practice... wanna learn?"

Meln narrows her eyes. "So this is why the path to becoming a hero was closed to me." She nods abruptly. "Yes, I would like to learn."

Johnny leaps to his feet, producing a short sword from behind his back as if unsheathing it over his shoulder. An impressive feet without a sheath on his back. Passing it hilt first towards Meln he grins, "Here. See if this is too heavy for you."

Meln doesn't seem to notice the impressiveness of this feat. She accepts the sword with both hands, then shrugs. "I think I could carry it around for a while. What does it weight, five pounds or something?"

Johnny shrugs, "Something like that. Just something I made awhile back. Stand like your getting ready to charge at me. Hold the weapon out infront of you as steady as you can."

Vashtearnia comes out of the back, brushing off her hands on her sides and glancing behind her. Then looking around the Inn proper. Ah, customers, oops...thankfully the NPC's were on hand to help out, now that a PC's here though they all scurry out of course, cheh. Vasthearnia looks over towards Meln and Johnny, who seem to be dealing with weapons, so, she stays a moderate distance away from both of them, while casting a glorious fanged smile, "Good evening sir and ma'am, is there anything I could get you?" She asks, grabbing up a wet rag and twirling it around her wrist in circles, it really looks as if the towel should just fly away, because at one point just a single edge is twirling around her skin, but somehow it doesn't ever flick away.

Meln holds out the sword straight in front of her with her right hand, and narrows her eyes. Then hearing the fanged girl, she turns and waves with her sword hand, smiling. "No, but thanks for asking, Vashtearnia." Of course, this style of waving probably isn't very safe, but...

Johnny shakes his head at the sword-waving and nods curtly towards Vashtearnia without so much as acknowledging the fact that she's a Mystic. "When your ready, come at me. Let's see what you can do..."

Vashtearnia watches the girl wave the sword around. o O ( Oh yes, hero in training no doubt. Wait till she lops off someone's earlobe. ) It always happens, these humans and there weapons, one of them ends up killing the other on accident. Course, it happens with Mystics too, but -she- can't recall any specific name's, so maybe that's just a rumor. She eyes Johnny over for a few moments, well, there's a human not like the others around here, that's for sure. So, no one needs her, fine then, she flips her rag onto the nearby table and begins wiping it down, twirling her finger this way and that making the rag do almost a dance to music unheard.

"Hm?" Meln stands there for a moment, then runs towards Johnny with the sword not pointing at Johnny persay, but still somewhere close to pointing forwards.

Johnny takes a step off to the side and raises his arm to catch her before she runs past him. "Not bad... but you see my point?"

Meln runs into Johnny's arm with a whump, then blinks and stands there for a moment. "Yes. I hadn't anticipated you moving out of the way..." She takes out her roll of measuring tape, and begins to measure the sword.

Vashtearnia keeps a sideways eye on the two -combatants-, amused at the teachings. o O ( Oh yes, teach me how to fight? Of course! Here, take a sword in your heart! Agh! There, that's what should never happen! ) She barely manages to hold back a light giggle at that, moving on to another table in a nice fluid motion, tossing the rag down upon it with a smack, and then sticking one finger upon the towel, using this to move back and forth on the surface, which somehow manages to clean itself rather promptly.

Johnny casts a quick glance at the slight smirk on Vashtearnia's face as she halts her giggle and hums slightly to himself. Turning towards Meln and watching her measure her weapon he shakes his head. "Would it help if I gave you some motivation? Anything bad ever happen to you in your life? Maybe there was something someone said about you that just really made you mad?"

Meln looks up from her measuring and frowns thoughtfully. "No, not really." She furrows her brow, then smiles. "Ah! One time, I couldn't finish a book because we didn't have the last volume."

Johnny groans.... "Alright... hmmm..." Rubbing the side of his head he glances around the floor. "What was the name of it?"

Vashtearnia goes about her table cleaning business, at times literally cartwheeling over a table in a hypnotically graceful movement, though she's not trying to get attention, she's just enjoying amusing herself. o O ( La da da de dum...la da da de dum... ) She sings inside of her head, half-closing her eyes as she moves from table to table, though she continues to give smiles. "The Legend of Glenn the Somewhat Brave!" She nods a little, and returns to the measuring.

Johnny nods. Lifting his head up and staring at the celing the light suddenly flickers. In almost the blink of an eye the entire world grows black and then, everything is right once again. In Johnny's hands appears to be a copy of the book in question. Smiling he lowers his head and flashes the cover of the book forwards. "...just a little trick I picked up." Snickering he procceds to rip the book apart, grabbing large handfulls of the pages and throwing 

Meln frowns at Johhny. "...Really, couldn't you have let me read that before you ripped it to shreds?" She sighs, and puts the measuring tape back in her pocket.

Vashtearnia comes to a stop in her table cleaning as the entire places goes black and then becomes light, even if it was only for a moment, that wasn't something a normal human should be able to do. She looks to the rag in her hand and then sets it down on the table, twisting it around into the shape of a beer mug, then looking towards Johnny. o O ( A little trick? Smells like magic to me... ) She reaches behind her head to fluff some of her hair behind her, watching Johnny rip the book apart, then looking to Meln, obviously he wants her to get mad. She looks at her beer mug rag, then back to Johnny. She taps her bare foot once, then grabs the rag and resumes cleaning again, albeit a bit slower and with a much closer eye on the two.

Johnny sweatdrops, "Oh come on.... that wasn't the reaction I'd hoped for... your just no fun...." Dropping his hands to the side the light flickers again and the pages seem to melt away as if never having been there before. "You know, if you can't motivate yourself to take me seriously there isn't much I can do. If Terry was here he could teach you better, but that was way too long ago..." Pausing he glances off to the side, oO(Just how long ago was that...?) Shrugging it off he leans against the edge of a nearby table. "So are you done measuring yet?"

Meln blinks. "Who said I didn't take you seriously? I'm just unfamiliar with the use of weapons." She balances the sword in her hand, then nods. "Yes, measuring is completed. I think I have a good idea of how the weight is distributed as well."

Johnny raises an eyebrow at his 'student' and shrugs, "Alright then. Come at me again. You might want to try to loosen up a bit first though, if your too tense you won't be able to react very well if I decided to strike back..."

Vashtearnia finishes her cleansing of all the tables but the few that are around Meln and Johnny. She twists the rag between her fingers, each one intertwining itself inside of the towel and then coming free of it at the same time, it's nearly impossible to follow with the eyes how this is even accomplished. o O ( Humans with weapons, not safe to go around Vashtearniaaa... ) She thinks to herself, especially when one is trying to teach the other basics, the most dangerous time. Hm. Oh look, she forgot the bar. She moves over towarsd it, beginning to wipe that down now.

Meln nods and relaxes her shoulders, then stares at Johnny for a moment, muttering something under her breath. She then takes the sword in both hands, and stepping forward, swings it down at him in a smooth crescent.

Johnny blinks, having expected more of a charge than a calm step. The sword cuts into his shoulder sending a slight spray of blood along the blade and instantly staining his clothes a deep red. "...ow." Instead of trying to push the girl or the weapon away he stands there dumbfounded. "I thought you where going to come at me... sneaky..." As calm as he seems to present himself, his eyes clearly show a wince from the pain.

Meln blinks, and pulls the sword back out carefully the way it came, trying to inflict as little damage as possible. She frowns at his shoulder and then kneels down. "Charging seemed to be putting more forward motion than needed... Are you all right?" She rips the bottom of her cloak off, and stands back up.

Vashtearnia's hand stops upon the bartop, pressed down against the rag. The blood that sprays from Johnny just permeating through her senses, even if she's not breathing right now, she can still smell it, oh yes, right down to her core she can smell that fresh gout of red life flowing juice. Her eyes widen and her pupils dialiate, the vines around her body begin to tremor and rustle, some of the flowers that were closed up come to life blooming a fiery red. o O ( Oh, oh yes..that...would be just...delicious... ) She thinks ot herself, turning her eyes over towards Johnny, her mouth inching open and revealing a pair of far more pronounced fangs than they were before. Her other hand moves over and grabs onto the bartop, funny, this was the same place where it happened last night. o O ( Maybe I shouldn't stand here anymore, I should just move off to the side there and reappear right behind him and latch onto his back and suck out the rest of that blood, I mean it's just going to waste hanging around in his body, in the girls as well! Ha ha! They don't even really -need- that much blood floating around inside of them, do they?! )

Johnny shakes his head as he watches her rip her cloak, "Nah... don't worry about it. I'm fine, trust me. I've had much worse..." Snickering he reaches up and rubs his shoulder which, just before his hand touches it, begins to turn a dark black as if the blood where clotting itself with black threads. When he takes his hand away there's no blood on his palm. "I'll live. Ready to try that again?"

Meln glances over to Vashtearnia and stares at the fiery red flowers for a moment, then smiles and turns back. "Well, that's good, I guess. But if I can hit you, doesn't that mean I know how to use a sword now?" She stares at the torn robe for a moment, then places it in her pocket.

Vashtearnia's tongue runs out along her left fang, curling around it momentairly. She looks down at the blood that's splattered on the floor, then over to Johnny, who ha patched up his wound, what a pity! o O ( Oh, just some, no...yeees, just, have to clean that up, just clean it up. Clean, clean, clean! ) She disappears, reappearing right next to the both of them, her eyes wide and dialted, fangs noticeably longer, and the vines and roses around her have begun to squirm and churn, some of them branching out almost like a finger reaching to grab something, "Best clean that up right away." She says, in a voice that very much defy's everything going on inside of her. She deftly flows down to her knee's, taking her rag and beginning to stop up the blood. Normally, a rag wouldn't go about sucking up blood so well, but this rag seems to just pull it up faster than a hero dragging a damsel up from a perilous cliffhanging.

Johnny takes a step back as Vashtearnia practicly leaps to her knees after his 'mess'. "Um... I could do that you know..." Shaking his head he looks up at Meln once again. "Just because you can hit me with a sword doesn't mean you can use it. Fighting isn't exactly a skill you can just learn once and that's that. It's something that you always work on... you always learn more. If you assume your done learning your going to get yourself killed..."

Meln frowns and bites her lip, looking down at Vashtearnia. "Sorry about the mess." She looks back to Johnny, then raises her sword again. "Ah, I suppose I would need a bit more knowledge. The amount is probably finite, but out of reach of human lifespans." She waits until Vashtearnia isn't in immediate danger, then steps forward and makes the same crescent swing at Johnny, ready to pull back if it gets too close.

Vashtearnia swings her rag this way and that, all of the blood on the floor soaked up inside of it, she then wipes it across a nearby chair that got a bit of the splatter, and spins around in a fluid motion onto her feet, looking at Johnny, "Of course not, sir, this is my job!" o O ( Get away from my blood you little human gold pile of punkis puke! ) She then spins in a circle towards Meln, smile wide and alive, "Quite all right, I enjoy cleaning ma'am." Then she disappears, reappearing behind the bar and then sinking down onto her rump, resting back against the bar wall. o O ( Ohh, look, it's so red...it's so beautiful, there's so much more too, ohhh, gouge off his head... ) "PLEEEASE!" She screams from behind the bar, oops. Well, she's not the best at controlling herself just yet, though she's far better than most of her kind, not that she's met too many. She brings the rag up before her head, dangling it back and forth, teasing herself as she gives a gentle squeeze, a small droplet pooling upon the end of the rag. o O ( Oh, come, come, come to mother... )

Johnny sweatdrops at the sudden scream and then slowly shakes his head as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Going for his daggers he goes to hold them up in a cross before him, trying to catch the sword between them. With a huge grin he leaps back and cackles, "THERE YOU GO! Keep it up!!"

Meln nods slightly, and takes a step back, pulling up her sword from the block created by the daggers. She quickly sweeps the sword down in the exact same style of blow, although a little off to one side.

Vashtearnia's eyes watch as the droplet of blood falls down from the tip of the rag, landing down upon her tongue which arches out to grab ahold of it. Oh, that's tasty. She licks her lips and then brings the rag down towards her mouth, snapping at it once, but pulling it away. o O ( Oh you tease, you're a sick, sick Mystic. ) She thinks to herself, reaching over with her other hand and wrapping it around her wrist, bringing the rag down into her mouth. It only takes a few moments after her lips are sealed for the redness to simply flow out of the rag, who knows how one can suck the blood from a rag, but she seems rather able. Her eyes close and she hugs the rag against her churning vines, which immediately all lurch out, cocooning the rag up and pulling it within the depths, disappearing from sight forevermore. "Mmmmmnn..." She moans softly, sweeping herself up to her feet with her eyes closed and smacking both of her hands down upon the bartop. o O ( How I want more, just a taste, a little sliver...an inkling, a droplet. ) Her eyes pull over towards Meln and Johnny, really, would the prey be that hard for her to take?

Johnny pulls the blades apart as she takes her sword away to swing again. As the metalic ring echoes through the air he charges forwards with his head slightly down, using one dagger to try to shove the weapon away as it falls towards him again. With his other dagger he swings widely to the side trying to gouge her neck with it's sharpened point. ...or so it would seem. Really he's trying more to startle her, intending to halt the blade before it reaches her skin.

Meln doesn't seem to notice the incoming dagger, and swivels the sword backwards off the defending dagger, taking a step forward to strike with the pommel of the sword at Johnny's stomach.

Vashtearnia's right hand drums once upon the bartop as she watches the two dance, or rather, fight, or are they practicing? o O ( Oh yes, they're practicing, aren't they? Well, mistakes happen when people practice! They must of both slipped and skewered their heads off! ) She takes a step from behind the bar, pausing as her eyes play over their weapons. o O ( A bit, yes, if they're both dead no one gets to know, right? Ha ha, mmm... ) She licks one of her fangs and takes another step, but finds herself held by her hand. Her eyes flow over to look at it gripping the bartop. o O ( Oh, yes, true, I'm not doing that am I? No, not drinking the life out of the little humans, not going to just yank they're eyeballs from their sockets and stick a straw into the holes! ) She closes her eyes, o O ( Outside, -go- outside... ) "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a bit faint sir and madam." She disappears, reappearing near the exit and hurrying out!

As Meln steps forwards Johnny abruptly yanks his neck-gouging dagger back, not wanting to hurt the girl, but inadvertantly stepping into the on coming sword and forcing it deep inside him. Coughing up some blood he begins to cackle... "HA-HA!!! STILL ALIVE!!!" Wobbling a bit from the blood loss he takes a weakened step back as the darkness begins to build around his bleeding wound. As he struggles to catch himself he faintly hears Vash's comment and glances towards the door she ran through, "Hmmm.... I think she's a bit squemish after all..."

As Meln steps forwards Johnny abruptly yanks his neck-gouging dagger back, not wanting to hurt the girl but inadvertantly stepping into the oncoming blade. With a noticible "Eeep!" he stumbles and falls, his balance completly thrown off. Hitting the ground rather hard he moans and chuckles, "Damnit all..." Blinking away the stars he glances up at Meln and tries to pull himself up. "...that's what I get for trying to be fancy... I've lived alone too long..."

Meln looks down at Johnny and frowns. "...Are you sure you're really that good?" She pulls out a bit of torn robe out of her pocket, and rubs off the blood from earlier.

Johnny laughs! "I never said I was good. Your the one calling me a hero." Standing up once more he rubs his back and shakes his head. "Besides... when I fight I fight to kill.... used to spar the same way. I mean, unless you where wanting me to go all out and try to hurt you I'm pretty useless when it comes to sparing. But, at least you have a weapon and can handle it too. Just practice every chance you get... never stop." Putting away his daggers he glances at the door. "I think I need to go get off my feet so my shoulder can heal a bit more." Smiling he guestures towards the north. "I live up on a cliff overlooking the fairgrounds. If you ever need anything feel free to come track me down..."

Meln smiles and waves with her sword hand again. "Farewell. Thanks for the weapon and training." She bows slightly. After a moment, she looks at the sword, then begins to wrap it in the torn piece of robe.

Johnny glances around for the strange waitress who ran quickly out the door but shrugs not finding her.... "No problem. Catch you next time, Meln.... good luck with the hero thing." Waving slightly he steps out the door and into the night, seeming to disolve into the darkness as opposed to walking through it...
|}}