sirenspull_logs | Let me fly once again

Entry tags:

Let me fly once again

Who: Aoko/White Dove (

motioned), and "Joe" (

madeinoblivion)
When: Late
Where: Approximately sector 9
Summary: Aoko meant to practice her flying . . . which does not go well. Joe and Ahiru go witch hunting.
Warnings: Nothing I know of?

She should not have gone out in the dark.

But determined to keep working on her flying, currently without a teacher, White Dove had wandered beyond her usual path, taking a wide loop around the island's edge that should have been easy, managed several times before without incident.

The Icarus Winged diving down on her, however, had thrown everything off balance. Quickly Dove had found herself careening between rooftops with an assailant that simply wouldn't give her up, forced to push her speed in order to stay ahead of it. Within a matter of a couple of minutes she'd become disoriented, merely focusing on survival as the wind tore past her ears, trying just to cling to her broom and not slam into any of the buildings around her.

The flight was uncomfortably familiar . . . The whispers of trees sounded in her ears; the memory of pain was fresh, battering against the bark . . .

She twisted to glance back. She couldn't see it now, but imagined she could catch the outline of it -- that melted body, derelict and unyielding . . .

Pain. It exploded in her head as her shoulder caught an unforeseen pole; it yanked her sideways, sending her spinning through the air. She shrieked, clinging to the wand beneath her, clinging to the last bit of hope she had left to avoid the ground below.

No good. Stars again exploded behind her vision as she slammed into the edge of a brick building, and she was falling -- a dim spot of white in the blackness as the creature dove in.

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Though it's a fairly routine event by now, going out to watch Joe fight still left her feeling uneasy each time. Most times she could ignore the anxiousness by focusing on the lives that would be saved, but it seemed this time no thoughts could distract her from the nervousness. The Darkness certainly didn't help. She was fairly confident she could keep herself safe after sirens, especially with the added grace and poise her transformation gave her, but traveling during the night was still one more thing to worry about.

All her worries disappeared, however, at an unfamiliar sight. Though she knew there were others who went out after dark, she certainly wasn't expecting to see a figure slam into a building and go down. She watched in alarm for another moment before she noticed the monster rush after the girl. Then, there was hardly a pause until she gasped, moving forward and looking behind her to make sure the other boy was doing the same.

"Joe, I think she could be in danger!"

"Huh?" He lowers his blade glancing back over his shoulder at Ahiru's call, having just driven another sickly-looking mutation down into the gutter- not the witch they'd gone out looking for, but just another gross obstacle in their path. He toes one of its many arms with his boot, just to make sure it's good and defeated-

But then Ahiru sound urgent, so he hurries forward after her.

"Aw, man-" His bright eyes wide, Joe misses sight of the falling girl, attention caught by the sickly dripping creature mid-dive. "That's an Icarus Winged!" He gapes, pointing. "I've read about them in the guide-"

But there was no time to think about Darwin's Darkness Guide, or his mental checklist of how many different kinds of monsters he's seen in his time. Playing monster bingo had to take a backseat, if there was a person who needed saving.

"Yeah, looks like someone's in trouble." He's not as light on his feet and graceful as Ahiru in her ballerina form, but the shadows of his own inner darkness speed him at pace with her swiftly. "Lets go!"

The fall seems to take a small eternity, even though the drop is ultimately not that long. For a bare instant Dove yields to it, giving way to a welcome darkness and a release from the pain in her body.

Her eyes snap open; the Icarus Winged is almost upon her.

In a last burst of effort before she crashes, she slings a handful of fiery coins at it -- coins meant to explode on impact. Her aim in her haste is poor; only one grazes the creature at the edge of its wing, but it's enough . . . it shrieks too as the waxy flesh melts, spiraling out of control, and they're both falling.

Her next bit of awareness is slamming into a spongy mass of cardboard boxes that never quite dried from a previous rain, but still it is enough to leave her stunned, the air knocked from her body.

The Icarus Winged is not quite as lucky, but has less distance to fall, and though it too is stunned, likely it will recover more quickly.

She hurries forward, almost appearing to glide, as she tries to reach the girl before the monster can. As she trusts that Joe is close to her, she doesn't turn her head before she begins to speak.

"Do you think you can handle it on your own? I can move her away from it if you're sure you can take care of it after that." Of course, she doesn't enjoy the fact that he needs to 'take care of it' at all, but at the moment, her attention is focused on the needs of the endangered girl.

As she speaks, they grow closer, and she notes that the monster seems to be ready to move again. Clenching her teeth, she pushes everything inside her to move just fast enough to do something to help.

"Sure-" He nods, hurtling forward and drawing his Soul Eater high to gather a palm full of darkness, calling out to 'Tutu' as she heads for the girl in trouble. "I'll distract it!"

Teamwork is something he never thought he'd get the hang out, back when he'd first offered Sora his help in protecting Namine. But between Ahiru and joining a superhero team, he was divvying up the hero's share more often than not.

Being the one to tackle monsters head on and hostile was his specialty, though.

"Hey!" Joe hollers, hurtling the mass of dark firage upwards at the waxy creature as it dives. "UGLY! Eat this!"

The creature shrieks as the mass of energy tears through its good wing, obliterating it. If it had any dream of escape, it's gone now -- though a cornered creature will still attempt to bite. On the ground, it lumbers towards its new opponents, trailing rope-like intestines that quiver like live snakes.

Dove gains barely enough presence of mind to push herself upward, trying to nudge the world back into focus. The creature . . . she has to find it . . .

Mere moments after Joe reaches the monster, she approaches the girl's side, resting a hand on her shoulder. She looks towards the boy, making sure he has everything under control, as she begins to speak.

"If you can stand, I can—" It's at this moment that she finally turns her attention to the injured girl, seeing the black feathers poking out of her arms for the first time. She lets out a sharp gasp, nearly letting go in a mixture of shock and fright. She stays frozen for a split second before she realizes the monster is moving towards them. For now, those feathers and what they could mean are the least of her worries. She stands, trying to gently pull the girl into a standing position.

Joe advances on the creature with an eagerness to see- sure enough, yep, it's one of those monsters he's read about in the guide. Darwin's advice is to use fire, get it on the ground, useless then. It looks pathetic on the ground, dragging itself toward the boy with a horrible sound, melted wings irrevocably damaged.

"Not so tough eating dirt, huh!"

Augh, and those guts they use to tangle up prey are out too! His nose wrinkles with revulsion, but he stands his ground to keep it away from the others, diverting attention from Ahiru and the fallen girl.

"Come n' get me then!" he taunts, jabbing at the monster with the end of his blade, corralling it back towards the shadows of the alleyway.

The world spins, dips, blanks as Dove fights her own eyes, wills them to see the owner of the voice.

Only to clear just as Ahiru inhales sharply, her mind catching the horror on her face like the snapshot of a camera, imprinting on her brain. Immediate shame floods what can be seen of Dove's face; not even thinking, she yanks back, sending herself sprawling again back over the boxes in her haste to get away. The eyes beyond the white-feathered mask are enormous, dark, like a trapped animal's.

The Icarus Winged, meanwhile, lurches forward after Joe, hissing. Darwin is correct; on the ground, all its offensive tactics are nearly useless. This one seems to understand that its arms can better help propel it, however, in the absence of legs; it stumbles towards Joe like a monkey gone horribly wrong, balancing on its knuckles. It snaps towards the taunting blade, hisses a higher note, and races forward after Joe as quickly as it can, trying to regather its intestine-ropes as it goes.

She stands up hurriedly, ready to assist the girl again, feeling a pang of guilt and shame travel over her. She stops, though, when she hears the high pitched hissing. Though she trusts Joe more than nearly anyone on the island, she can't help but pause in alarm when she sees the monster moving towards him. It serves to freeze her in place for an additional moment before she turns back to Dove. Though she's filled with worry now, she takes a step towards the girl who's tripped over the boxes once more.

"Wait! I only want to help you!"

"Hah!" He sneers as he retreats, leaping around the monster drive it off and to lead the creature away from the girls, stabbing forward and slashing just shy of its gnashing, nasty, warmed-wax face. The guts are leaving a trail across alleyway, disgusting, and that's an image that will stick with Joe for quite some time, the next time he sees long chains of sausages in pale intestinal casing, hanging in the butcher's shop. Spoil his appetite at least till after he's slept in the morning. "How pathetic!"

"Ahiru!" He calls over his shoulder. "Is she okay?!"

Dove's eyes flash between Ahiru and Joe, still wild and dark. On her arms, the black feathers have risen slightly, rather like anxious goosebumps; her fingers go to them, pressing them back towards the skin. She rises slowly, without assistance, still measuring them both.

It's hard to erase that snapshot of Ahiru in her mind -- that brief moment of horror -- even though it's been replaced by obvious worry, concern.

. . . Still. The evidence that Joe is leading the creature away can't be denied.

"'M okay." Her voice is quiet to Ahiru, and her arms still, though her hands remain in an uncomfortable cross, covering much of her forearms. "Thank you."

There are definite bruises, though, and scrapes where she rammed into the wall, and her head won't quite stop pounding.

To Joe, raising her voice, "Don't kill it, if you can!" After all, a creature like that, damaged or not, will likely be good money to SERO.

Another glance to Ahiru, and she begins to clamber over the damp boxes and other refuse, wobbling slightly, hoping to take charge of the creature herself.

Meanwhile, the Icarus Winged feints, managing to suck its innards back into the maw of its underside. This particular one seems to have been through some life; it is marked with scars of previous battles. It tilts its head to eye Joe sideways with an over-bright eye, pausing, sucking the last bit in like a piece of spaghetti . . .

Then abruptly twists like a gymnast on parallel bars, exposing its underside as it spews its intestines over Joe, hoping to entangle him in the mass.

Though she's momentarily turned her attention away from Dove in favor of making sure Joe is alright, it takes a moment for what had happened to sink in. Once it's processed, she lets out a cry, running forward and trying to pull him away from the monster's intestines. They move over her skin as well, but even in her fear, she doesn't let go, instead moving backwards as fast and hard as she can.

She turns back to the other girl, desperate where she had been comforting a moment ago.

"Please, do something!"

Don't kill it? Joe turns his head, surprised that's what the girl should cry out for a monster that almost made midnight snack of her. He has no qualms with killing monsters, even if the used to be human once. They'll just be alive again tomorrow night anyway.

But there's no time to question her motives, because in the half-second he glances back, the Icarus Winged flings its innards out, drenching him in slimy bile and tangling intestines. His first instinct is to recoil in revulsion, then struggle, pulling frantically at gut casing as it tangles his limbs - the intestines burst apart when he shoves at them hard enough with his arms, and Joe doesn't even want to consider the vile smelling slurry of digestive juices that spill out, covering his front.

He's just glad to be wearing the protection of his darkform - Ahiru is not so lucky, reaching bare- armed around his middle and tugging him free.

"Let go! I've got it!" He can't fight back with his Aura, not when his friend is this close, and could get hurt in the process. His blade is difficult to swing when Ahiru's likely to get elbowed, too.

She hesitates. She'll hate herself for it later -- that brief, hanging moment where she mourns the loss of the revenue over the human life. It startles her, stabbing through her brain.

Other attacks are a no-go . . . At this range, particularly with her aim, she can't be sure she'll hit the intended target. Very possibly she'll hit the others instead.

"Smoke and Mirrors!"

For a moment the world hangs still, paused as mist floods inward, thick and cloying. Around the small grouping of boy, girl, and beast, a circle of flat, rectangular shapes emerges, their faces blank and dark.

Suddenly, as though lit by an unseen spotlight, they clear, brilliant with light. The reflection revealed is a truth about the circle's occupants -- a truth of identity or another truth kept hidden.

All three will not be able to move for a moment until the reflection clears.

((ooc: Kelly, sending a message to Joe's account about this attack.))

Though she's doubtful for a few seconds, she does let go before trying to step back and hurriedly move away from the intestines still touching her arms. Just as she begins to try, though, she hears the voice sound from behind her. Though she's realized that the girl seems to be taking action, she's unprepared for the mirrors that spring up out of nowhere. And that bizarre fog-like substance...

As she stares into the mirror, she sees herself; but not what she looks like now. Instead of Princess Tutu's image appearing as a reflection, she sees what she looks like every day; slightly shorter, a bit younger looking; overall, not as poised and developed as the young woman in the white dress. Though a feeling of panic comes over her at the sight, she can't help but feel a little grateful that she isn't appearing as a duck. Still... Could the other girl see this? That would mean Dove would know who she was, something that Ahiru's been trying her hardest to disguise. She stares into the mirror and calls out behind her:

"Who are you?"

Still wrestling with intestines, Joe is completely off guard for the sudden appearance of mist and mirrors, and the suddenness of light is piercing. While he's wearing the darkness this way, it hurts him in opposition to his element too, enough that he'd cry out with pain, if he could only move.

Instead, he can't even shield his eyes from the true self that's revealed in the glass, a hooded nothing of a prototype data replica, half-formed and lacking identity, dressed in a long black leather coat, zippered all the way up and concealing his face. Behind him, flanking each shoulder, two sources of memory stand- two boys, one silver haired who looks identical to Joe and the other with spiky brown hair and colorful clothing... both are younger than they appear in Siren's Port.

His eyes are wide and frozen in the agony of it's brightness. It's too much.

The monster, on the other hand, is caught in the blinding glare and in the glass it is a glorious thing for only a moment, proudly winged and golden skinned, a flaxen-haired and full-figured Adonis of a man, who slowly melts away to his current twisted and malevolent form, mutating and shriveling as if from some decay exposure.

The images streak across her vision like the sudden rake of a knife -- Ahiru, the mute figure in black, and a boy who looks much like the Joe she knows . . .

This Icarus Winged, for a moment human and whole.

"No!" The word tears out of her, but she either cannot stop the attack or doesn't know how; the light intensifies, searing through the creature, shredding it even as it changes back. It utters a high-pitched scream, almost humanlike . . . and goes silent.

The alley darkens, and the mirrors vanish. The feathers on Dove's arms are alert, piqued, then slowly settle, flat against her skin. For a long, long moment, Dove's eyes are closed, blocking out everything.

"'M White Dove," she murmurs. "'M sorry."

She remains frozen, unable to move, as she watches the light cut through the monster, at the exact moment it seems most human. She lets out a gasp, her eyes widening, before the creature falls silent once more. Devastated, she stares in horror - all darkness creatures were once human, and though she knows this, it doesn't stop the sudden wave of guilt that washes over her. Seeing it so mortal, even for a moment... Before she answers the girl, she has to remind herself that it'll come back the next night, more likely than not.

"Don't apologize."

Joe is screaming too, although he doesn't quite even realize the raw sound tearing through his lungs in his own, shielding his face with his hands as soon as he is able.

The light doesn't destroy him, like it sears the monster into nothingness...but it does still hurt, and he crouches, covering his eyes.

"Ow..." he groans, hanging his head when the darkness finally settles back in..

Dove's eyes fly open again at the sound -- both the groan from Joe and the words from Ahiru. Water, collected in her lashes, darts downward from beneath the mask; her heart feels like a rock, contracted. She doesn't pay it any attention; immediately she's moving forward, bending forward down next to Joe.

"J--" She bites the syllable back; she isn't supposed to know it. "It wasn't . . . It shouldn't have . . ."

It's a whole night of errors . . . and Ahiru really thought she shouldn't apologize?

Briefly she presses the back of her wrist to her forehead as though warding off a sharp headache. "I'm sorry . . ." she repeats, sending a second glance up to Ahiru as though to ward off anyone telling her it was all right.

As soon as Joe bends down, she moves forwards as well, trying to be soothing as she plants a hand on his arm. If he doesn't shrink away, she'll try to support him enough for him to stand up. There's still a pain in her chest, not to mention her eyes. However, when Dove speaks again, she addresses the girl kneeling at Joe's other side.

"I was the one who told you to do something."

"What was that?" He grumbles, glowing faintly with an ultraviolet aura of darkness, stirred up from within to compensate for the energy lost from being blasted with light.

Though he can feel both girls at his sides, Joe feels dizzy and a bit out of sorts, trying to make sense of the vision that just flashed in front of him so brightly, leaving him with flashing colors blinking before his closed eyes.

"Hey. Hey, It's okay, I'm okay. But... ugh. Don't apologize. That was a close one." His voice sounds a little ragged, as if someone's had stolen all the air from his lungs, although he hadn't been running.

His heart is pounding wildly in his ears.

"Are you both okay?"

"I would have done it anyway." Dove's voice is flat in response to Ahiru. In spite of her uncompromising tone, her shoulders quiver, as do the tips of her fingers as they balance on Joe's shoulder.

Kaito tried to do that too -- steal the responsibility from her, tell her it was all nothing, that it wasn't her fault for the things she did.

Sometimes she felt it was something he did to make himself feel better more than her.

A quick shudder, as though trying to cast it off. "I was stupid. They probably even knew . . ."

Quickly pushing on to Joe, "Just a few cuts and things?" Slightly pointedly, ". . . I'm not the one who got hit."

She looks away from Dove, supporting Joe as the other girl speaks. She takes the tone of her voice as a sign to not argue another time. And yet...

"I can heal him if the damage is really too much. So please, don't blame yourself."

"I told you I'm okay." He grumbles sourly, pressing the backs of his hands to tightly pressed shut eyes. Joe moves to wipe down the expected monster guts off his front, and finds that the light has seared his clothes (mostly) clean.

"It looks like you took quite a big fall."

. . . One would almost get the impression Joe didn't like to be fussed over.

But he's getting it anyway. Dove looks him over too as best she can.

A flicked glance to Ahiru. Likely were she in Ahiru's position, she would be saying the same thing. And yet forgiving oneself is so much different than forgiving someone else.

"'M bad at this," she mutters, sitting back on her heels. Technically her answer can be a response to them both. "It came up on me out of nowhere, and I always screw up the flying bit."

Silence for a moment, and briefly her eyelids press closed again behind her mask. When she speaks again, her voice is a bare murmur, "Are they . . . all human?"

She pauses for a moment before, in a gentle tone:

"Maybe you should try to practice more during the daytime if you feel like you aren't skilled enough yet. It could be dangerous." After all, if they hadn't come at the right moment, who knows what could have happened?

She gazes to the ground at Dove's next question, wondering if she should let Joe answer. It'd certainly be easier, but...

"Yes. But it'll come back tomorrow night no matter what."

"The monsters?" He hears Ahiru give a softer answer, but Joe can't believe so many people just wander out into the dark without the right kind of preparation, knowing what they're up against.

(Okay, so there had been closer calls than this one, and trial and error near disasters in his first few months here.)

But the boy prided himself in following his resources like his idol Darkness Savant and Explorer- and telling about him gave just enough courage to stave off the lingering pain of light, and shake off the nerves of having nearly been strangled by a pile of waxy intestines.

"Yeah. They used to be. This guy Darwin, who wrote the guide to the darkness? He's been out in the Darkness studying them for years. His theory is that people who died when the Core first got messed up- when the Darkness started, they became the first monsters, and every other person or animal to get swallowed up after siren adds to them."

"Last year, when this herd of horses got let out accidentally after siren to run their field- they all got killed. The next night there was a herd of half-scorpions, half horses running around Sector 7. Darwin calls them the Night-Mares. There's darkness-messed up cats too, birds, dogs..."

"You knew?" Dark eyes flash between them both, darting, almost stabbing. She pulls away, no longer quite touching. "You knew, and you just . . ."

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Let me fly once again

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