RP:Paying the Piper
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Satoshi is nosing about, mumbling darkly to herself. "Why are there traces of my magic around -here-..? I've only ever used it in the arena..." The two shop Drow don't seem particularly bothered by the lingering mage's presence, either because she's been in and out of the place often--most frequently the past two days--or because she's known as an ally to Trist'oth. Whichever the matter, matriarch and clerk offer only the slightest glances any time the pacing kit passes the counter, still grumbling to herself.
Noemi had been hiding down here for days, such hate for this lands, and such stupid reason to stay here, but she can't risk it, she had to hide until all news fade, sighing quietly thinking how much money was wasted for being down here, the gold she could've accumulated if she stayed working at the tavern or any work for the shop, such loss... sighing quietly as she try to be 'un-bored' sniffing the air quietly as it seems someone is near, unsure who it was, oddly thinking if she should look out at the window.
Satoshi's skulking search for the source of an unusual strand of her mana comes to a pause, eyes caught by the glint of a black steel katana perched upon a display case. Drawing nearer, the kit peers at the item with enough interest to warrant an expectant look from the shopkeep. Perhaps the loitering queen will purchase something today after all? Satoshi's certainly considering it as she lifts the blade, hand finding an almost natural grip upon its hilt while hefting it experimentally, thoughtfully... before she abruptly goes rigid at a sound of movement. Sniffing faintly, Satoshi turns and narrows her eyes, the katana already levelled in her hand as she faces Noemi. "I thought I smelled a rat. Monsieur~," the minstrel calls over her shoulder to the waiting drow, "may I test it before I buy it~?" The wolfish grin the clerk gives can only mean one thing.
Noemi shakes her head, "Such a cruel day to see you here yes?" oddly she started walking away, moving through the long corridor, but somehow, not to escape, she was walking toward the counter, about a few meters straight, from the door, walls are adorned by weapons on display, facing the other woman and said, "And oh, you did smell right, I was thinking when did the last time you took a bath..." grinning a bit as she watch the floor, she is about... 18 and a half steps away from the fox, shrugging at the though of 'I should've simply ran away' but oddly she didn't, she even let the woman stood at the only exit by the front door, tilting her head a bit, "If ever things get broken.... well she is a queen, ask her for pay..." rubbing her palms to each other, keeping them warm.
Satoshi shrugs without lowering the blade point trained on Noemi's heart, and without showing a sign of bother at the retort. "I'm a loyal ally to this city. I would never leave a bill unpaid." The kit grins suddenly, her voice taking a musical turn that transforms her next words into lyrics, "In fact~, I intend to settle our bill, here and now~. En guarde, Pinky~." The result of the mage's words become obvious rather quickly as glass cases grow foggy, metal weapons gain a layer of frost, and the temperature of the room plummets unnaturally fast. The frost singer is weaving a chilling blanket around the entire shop, with the brunt of her focus on Noemi in hopes of sending a debilitating chill down the feline's spine.
Noemi shrugs, scratching her head at first before moving her hands toward her ankles, rubbing them a bit, then taking a bottle from her pack and drinking it, suddenly her whole frame felt warm, "Dragon breathe elixir.... such a nice drink for this weather..." using her mana to channel around her pyromancy, taking a rune stone and placing it onto of her mechanical arm which it oddly took into it, facing the fox, yawning a bit, "I must say... we must begin." taking a step forward and as if she is... bowing.. smiling a bit, "And now.. for some... sight seeing..." using a hand to lower her goggles as she place her other upon her belt, flicking something from it making a cylindrical object be thrown behind her, suddenly the feline charged forward, ground seems to break as the rockets upon her boots burst suddenly, shattering some of the glass covering the displays, sliding off 2 adamantite reinforced tonfas off her sleeve as she took her first step, suddenly, a powerful flash of light erupts behind her, knowing that the woman would be looking at her, throwing a flash grenade behind her would be a very fine idea, using her goggles to protect herself and her Goblin Rocket boots to increase her speed as she charges forward, the 18 and a half steps turned to 4 or so leaps toward the fox, knowing that she would be unable to react fast enough, she would use her left tonfa to deflect her weapon, and then send a punch with her mechanical right hand upon the queen's 'Royal' stomach, ofcourse once a person was punched there, they would be forced to tilt forward, she would step upon the fox's folded leg and use it as a leverage to do a somersault and ask the queen to kiss her boot with her 'Royal' face.
Satoshi quickly regrets watching Noemi so closely once the flash grenade makes itself known. Instinctively, the kit recoils from the dazzling burst of light as she turns slightly, a backwards stumbling retreat that becomes a saving grace seconds later when Noemi closes the gap between them. Satoshi's flinching turn is only furthered unexpectedly by the tonfa swiping aside her borrowed blade, and thus where Noemi might have desired to strike the queen's unprotected stomach, she's instead given a firm shoulder and lower back as a target. It's not the worst punch she's endured, but Satoshi still can't quite bite back the hiss of pain as she lurches suddenly under the collisions of momentum. Fluid grace taking control, the fox allows her body to simply pitch forward, following the direction of her initial turn that's been furthered by the hit, giving her the chance to perform a somersault that carries her beneath and beyond Noemi's reach. There's a faint sigh of relief from Satoshi as she hears the whistle of that mechanical arm whizzing above mere inches from her head. She hasn't forgotten her last encounter with the limb, and has no desire to repeat it. Blindly, trusting to her familiar memory of the shop, the minstrel does another dancer's tumble, using the movement to take her away from Noemi as well as grant enough time to blink away the spots left by the grenade. With a snarl, Satoshi's back on her feet, a display of weapons now standing between the two. "Clever piglet, aren't you? Bit too flashy, though~," the magus croons, brandishing the black katana once more in a fanciful pattern as a layer of darkened ice creeps over its surface. The motion is meant to catch Noemi's eye--as Satoshi knows how drawn to movement and glimmer cats are--long enough that the kit can deliver a flat kick to the weapons' case, sending it, and its arrangement of keen daggers, cascading down upon the feline in a razory hailstorm.
Noemi hates this, she missed. Tumbling away as a normal response for making a somersault, she stood for a bare few steps away from the fox, her boots had been burning hot, good thing she is wearing a ring for protection, looking upon the woman, flexing her tonfas carefully, expecting an attack from her, watching the blade as it move around, grinning a bit as she know tonfas are perfect against this kinds of weapons, knowing that staying on one position won't save her at all, the pinkette started to charge forward, only to welcome a whole case of daggers, trying to protect her face from shattered glass and blades, her body took some stabs from the flying daggers, they were not thrown properly, making her quite lucky as she didn't took any major wounds, but moving covering her face is a very wrong move, thinking that the fox would use it to charge at her without her seeing it. lowering her guard suddenly as she released the flames from her mouth, the potion she took earlier have enhanced her pyromancy, hoping that it would stop any incoming attack, afterward she would try to tumble away from the woman, knowing the queen is deadly if taken one on one
Satoshi has learned well from spars with Kasyr to never waste a moment, and readily seizes upon her chance in that split second Noemi's distracted. 'Never take your eyes off your opponent' is a lesson Satoshi's all too familiar with, and she'll teach it to the maid now. Thus, when Noemi lowers her guard, she'll find no oncoming attack. In fact, she'll find no Satoshi at all, the kit seemingly vanishing like the Ghost she's been dubbed. Maybe the little ice queen's been melted by that burst of flame, just as some of the weapons have been reduced to silver puddles and blackened hilts? One can only hope that's what Noemi thinks so that her guard drops all the more. That's when Satoshi will strike. The kit's disappearance is truly the result of vampiric agility and strength used to leap upward, where she's found a careful perch in the shop's rafters among many dangling weapons, directly above Noemi. Lowering herself with all the stealthful grace of her alter ego, the assassin Jelko, Satoshi turns upside and hangs from the beam by her legs almost like a bat. Save that this petite white 'bat' is equipped with a noose--once her watery scarf, now transformed into an executioner's weapon. The suspended blades around Satoshi quiver, their ropes frozen by the cryomancer and just waiting for the cue to snap, allowing gravity to take over. That sudden cue comes at the same moment that the fluid loop of scarf-turned-rope drops, aimed to fall over Noemi's head and encircle her neck even as another rainfall of swords descend upon the feline. The minstrel doesn't wait to see if her noose hits the mark, simply whistling a note that directs the waters to tighten and harden as Satoshi rapidly flips over the other side of the rafter, intending to use her own weight as means to lift the feline by her neck, if aim is true. Satoshi's only desire is to see Noemi perform the Hangman's Jig to the tune of the fox's Phantom Song. She'll settle for shish-kabob-maid too, however.
Noemi was unsure what happened but she did what he have planned, tumbling away, suddenly as if in slow motion, she was staring at the queen..... eh? how.. what happened? she cannot believe this! the fox have moved too fast and with her tumbling backwards, she is very open to any attack, slowly blades fall down from the ceiling, unsure how much more time she has, being unable to stop her movements as she was already mid-air, searching her mind for any exit, her heavily runed left arm suddenly started glowing, almost inches away from the blades, suddenly the pinkette vanished, falling off suddenly about a few meters behind the counter. A simple teleportation rune, slowly the feline stood up, with a sword upon her stomach, bleeding slightly. grunting a bit as if the fall even made the blade go deeper, breathing heavily as she slide off the counter, "A very... cruel day to see you... like..... really....." drawing out the blade from her, throwing it at the floor, taking some blades from her belt and throwing four of them with her right mechanical arm toward the fox
Satoshi puts on a moue of disappointment when she discovers neither a strangled nor skewered feline upon returning to ground. Someone's obviously greased that piglet to make the kit's work harder. But at least one sword's managed to hit the target, even if the target isn't where it -should- be. "Teleporting. Tch. Warped magic." The magus grumbles along similar lines of unintentional puns, shifting slightly to keep Noemi in sight while calling her liquid scarf back from the rafters, gathering it in her hands. A grin both delighted and malicious crosses Satoshi's features at the maid's words, and she can't help chiming in, "But it's a good day to die, Frills~. Now, c'mere~." Whistling, Satoshi flicks out an arm, the scarf coiled around it lashing out as if an extension of the mage's limb, ending in broad, icy claws poised to tear through the feline. The mauling strike falls short of Noemi, however, slashing through the floorboards beside her as Satoshi's sent reeling by two of the four blades that have buried themselves beneath her collarbone. Snarling in pain, the kit advances upon Noemi and lifts her uninjured arm--the clawed scarf following the motion--before bringing it down in a violent swing, the water claws closing and hardening into a frozen fist meant to crush the feline beneath it. Satoshi does not care if she catches Noemi on the first strike or not, in her anger she'll continue to bring down hammer blows of ice until she closes the gap between fox and cat.
[OOC: Satoshi said to Noemi, "Sato Smash! >>" ]
Noemi was too busy tearing the fake skin off her mechanical arm and try to cover her wound with it, the fake skin started to cook itself upon the wound covering it to stop bleeding, it might appear fixed but the wound was still there, seeing the blade as 2 of them hit the other feline, as it seems the other two went too low, snapping her fingers as the 2 daggers that hit the fox suddenly exploded, being a demolition expert, this kind of tricks is easy, oddly, the other 2 daggers didn't follow suit, only stabbing themselves on the floor as they got deflected from the explosion. Knowing that she can't ran now due to the damage she took, seeing the large fist moving close to her, cursing, unable to come up with something to escape this, flexing her mechanical arm downward then forcefully sending a powerful punch toward it, with the rune of shockwave engraved upon its fist, sending the ice to crack and then shatter, dropping upon Noemi in large enough pieces, getting her left shoulder stabbed by a shard of ice.
Satoshi's pretty sure she's missing the better part of her right shoulder, but she's not remotely willing to look once she's managed to disentangle herself from the display of maces she's been hurled into from the twin explosions. She'll worry about missing parts later, though, and she'll beat the price out of Noemi's flesh for it now. Stumbling in a haze of pain, senses scrambled, Satoshi turns unseeing in the direction of the feline, finding her purely through the ties that bind vampiric cryomancer and the split blood of prey. A low hiss escapes the minstrel then, the sound musical in a warped way, calling for the ice shards littering Noemi to reform themselves into frigid straps meant to lock the feline in place against the floor, intent upon preventing escape. With determined, measured steps, the kit approaches, eyes locked on Noemi despite temporary blindness while her free hand reaches off to one side in a seemingly blind grope. Satoshi doesn't come back empty handed, however, as the black katana that caught her eye earlier once more resides in her grip, still gleaming with a sheen of dark ice. "You've skipped out on your bill long enough, Pinky," Satoshi growls out in a strained voice as she reaches the maid, "Time to pay the piper." Drawing the blade back, the frost singer invokes a simple spell within the frozen tip of her blade, a spell of kinship, a magical bond to seal the gap between the icy sword's point and a nearby source of liquid, so long as it remains within reach: Noemi's heart.
Noemi cannot move anymore, she is running out of options, of blood, of fake skin, of mana, grunting as she watch the fake skin upon her womb earlier seems to flake away, unable to stop the bleeding and it got spilled on the floor, grinning a bit as said, "The coppery scent of blood..." then she stopped smiling, blinking a bit, "blood.... copper..... rust....." then a pause... "Iron." using the rest of her energy to transmute the spilled blood, only to get trapped upon the ice, Noemi have read alot of books, even the ancient way of healing... acupuncture. as there was not much blood, she was only able to make a brownish needle, using the last of her strength to throw it upon the queen's shoulder, hoping that she hit the right nerve to momentarily immobilize her, "And yes... such a fine day to die...." smiling before suddenly snapping her fingers, all grenades, explosives, fireworks that the feline has upon her body suddenly exploded, hopefully she got the queen taken out aswell. after the smoke has faded, the body was impossible to be distinguished, the only thing that is left whole upon it is the mechanical arm, and a blade slowly slides off its hatch, as it seems the gear that holds it got broken due to the explosion.
Kasyr is actually in Trist'oth, albeit closer to the arena due to the nature of his investigations. Nonetheless, a cascade of deafening explosions is enough to actually warrant him changing directions in the hopes of finding his prey, the elusive "Giant-Metal-Scorpion-Thing-That-Shouldn't-Possibly-Be-Able-To-Dissapear-Like-It-Has."
Satoshi isn't entirely sure why she's suddenly lost feeling in her arm, but there's a noticeable lack of sword clattering to ground despite her grip going limp. (Hopefully that's not the compromised hearing.) In truth, the spell propelling the blade is already in motion, even without a hand to guide it, allowing Satoshi to stumble back as pain washes over her anew without a focus to ward it off. Whether the katana finds its mark before or after the feline's explosive death will remain an unknown factor, and not one Satoshi plans to dwell on. Not when she's suddenly faced with a finale fit for a demolition expert like Noemi--that she's not exactly aware of until -after- the concussion blast hits her. Even after the kit's been hurled through the door, she's still not fully conscious of what's happened, and only begins to start processing it when her path is halted by a solid wall. Or at least what -feels- like a solid wall. Really, when thrown by that much force and then abruptly stopped, stone walls and kensai wearing armored trenchcoats feel about the same.
Satoshi will eventually notice the black katana, still sporting a casing of ice, embed itself in the wall--an actual wall, not an imposter kensai--not far from the kit, propelled there from the explosion. Or drawn to the magus. Who knows?
Kasyr , having braced himself the moment he heard something whistling towards him, can only stare at the improvised projectile (His wife) that's slammed into the barrier he's created with his still armoured arms. Or at least, he stares until gravity starts to peel her off of him and towards the floor; a development which coaxes the hybrid into abruptly dropping to one knee and slipping an arm around her in an attempt to salvage her from an impromptu fall. "Et bien, It never ceases to amaze me, these few instances where you fall into the role of a Damoiselle Distressed." Even as he speaks, the hybrid begins to pull back towards the arena- as while he's interested in ascertaining just what calamity befell the feline...well, he's not exactly rushing to put her back into that situation. ..And than there's the fact that he left Sazume alone... "Well, I suppose it'll be entertaining for the audience..and it's not like she'll have a shortage of food."
Satoshi isn't arguing with being whisked away, although she does manage a vague, "Forgot to buy the sword..." before doing that damsel in distress thing and fainting--swooning isn't really a Sato word.
Kasyr manages a cursory check of his surroundings once Satoshi departs the realm of the conscious, before his eyes settle upon the ice coated sword affixed to the wall. Sparing it an odd look due to the curious colouration, the Kensai simply proceeds to shake his head. "Et bien, I suppose we'll have to say it's on loan, peut-etre indefinite." Taking a few moments to carefully place his wife over his shoulder, he than simply meanders over towards the Katana is embedded, as though awaiting liberation by some would be hero. As events should happen, it's stuck with Kasyr, who wastes no time in manifesting a caliginous Katana so that he can simply carve out a chunk of the wall around the foreign weapon. Really, while the hybrid normally doesn't have that many concerns, potentially touching that ice and setting off some form of defensive spell from his wife actually falls among the few things that could bother him- especially when he's holding her not-too-conscious body at the moment. So instead, he's left hefting his wife, and a chunk of wall that he carved out... At least the walk to the Arena is short.
Satoshi has a thing for katanas with heavy sheaths, apparently. This one is not going to be keeping its stony one, however.