>> And the award for most masturbatory lude goes to... >> The ruined town is a picture of stagnant peace; shattered, decrepit buildings stand in silence, a testament to the slow decay of the ages. It could almost be tranquil, if it weren't so morbid - instead the lack of noise is almost foreboding, a oppressive force that blankets the ancient place. Then a martial artist impacts a wall with a sharp cry of unexpected pain, and the illusion is shattered. * Saki bounces off the wall, her eyes flashing in anger for only the barest of moments. She regains her footing in the nick of time, kicking off in a sideways hop and leap as a ghostly black gauntlet proves tangible enough to blast stone chips and lichen away from the corner of the structure. Two more hops backwards and a lightning-fast change of stance and she's launched in on Rachel, visible as a purplish outline through the stonedust, in a series of kicks. * Rachel nonchalantly catches the first kick in one hand; before she can follow up, however, Saki has twisted in midair, simultaneously freeing her foot and taking the older martial artist off-balance. The spinning kick lands on a shoulder and drives Rachel further back; the follow-up sends her tumbling over backwards - but not before she's got a hand on Saki's leg and uses the momentum to lob her overhead and behind. * Saki rolls with it all too literally - a mid-air twist gets her facing her opponent once more then as she hits the ground she tucks into a backwards roll and an automatic reaction flipkick that hits only air. When she lands back on her feet it's with her guard up, and it's only thanks to that that she's able to take a quick succession of punches on the arm rather than the torso as Rachel, already back up and moving, presses the attack. * Rachel pounds on Saki's guard three more times; each punch pushes the original fighter back several steps before the last sends her skidding back and bumping against a largish chunk of rubble lying in the road. Rachel darts in for the finisher as Saki, balance lost, pitches over backwards; at the last second, however, the vicious downward jab is turned into a hard grip on her arm, and one woman is hauled back upright by the other. * Saki is breathing hard as Rachel lets her go and stalks off a distance. They've been at it some time, it seems. Hunkering down into a squat and stretching as she gulps for air, all she can do is nod helplessly when Rachel gruffly notes, "That's two. You should be /faster/ than this." A few more moments of tense breath and she jerks up in a spasm of motion, setting herself for the attack. * Rachel cocks a leg at the knee, stepping forward a half-step-- then is moving, swooping in at breakneck speed with one arm leading, nothing more than a vicious lunge at her opponent's chest. Surprised at the speed, Saki stumbles back a second time but in the next split second throws herself back with the momentum, pitching as she grabs the incoming arm in a lock. * AmyDinner is now known as Amy * Saki twists as she falls, making the hold awkward but efficiently stopping the incoming charge as the other fighter is forced to follow along for the ride. Another twist and a sharp yank earn a yelp of pain from somewhere behind her right ear, and that's the cue to catch her angled fall with a foot on the same block of stone, bunch her muscles, pivot like so, and /push/ and /throw/-- * Rachel desperately tries to maneuver, suddenly airborne; Saki is far more prepared for it, however, and in the next moment has kicked off her oblique perch to slam a leading shoulder against the disoriented flyer, one arm drawn back in readiness. The impact kicks them both upwards, rising in a crazed somersault. * Saki foregos all subtlety and merely drops her arm - fist first - into the other woman. The shattering blow sends them both crashing to the ground, skidding along it in a scree of gravel and pebbles, and then in the blink of time it takes for Rachel to yell in pain and try to mount a proper defence, Saki has hopped up and back and away. "Better," the pupil assesses, all quiet smiles. Then she wobbles bodily, nearly dropping to the ground. * Rachel curses under her breath as she sits up, the pain jolting her shaky grip on reality for a moment before concentration reasserts itself. Dully, she watches Saki barely catch herself against a wall, and shakes her head. "That's enough. You're in no shape to go on." * Zack is now known as Platinum_Storm * DooM_GazE is now known as Aimless_Key * Amy is now known as GMAmy * Saki holds up a hand, treating herself gingerly as she lets the wall support her for a spell. "... I'll be alright," she manages at length, "We need to do this, after all--" * Rachel looks skeptical, then more than skeptical and less than angry. Two strides take her over to the other woman, and in a flash what she would probably deem 'a light punch' to the side has caused a strangled yelp of pain and sent Saki to her knees. She looks up, bewildered and almost frightened. * Rachel bends over, glaring at Saki point-blank. "Did you lose. Your. Mind? Or does all the high-and-mighty advice not apply when it's to you rather than from you?" She straightens as Saki merely blinks stupidly, then plants her hands on her hips and takes a space next to her on the wall. "I'm not going to help you spar if it leaves you a corpse." * Saki lowers her head, sitting limply against the structure and clutching against her side for a long beat. For her part, Rachel only offers an irritated snort of noise, then leaves her to work it out. * Saki finally nods, and with a groan of pain gathers the sense of mind to at least sit in such a fashion that she won't eventually throw her back out, scooting up against the wall. A few minutes of waiting in silence, and she tries again: "... I may still have to learn to cope with it. Like it or not, we can't be sure if this will go away if we split properly." * Rachel shakes her head, voice dropping in tone and volume as she dully recites facts. "--it should. Hhn, I think, at least. It'll likely be a dropoff; adjustment time." * Saki cuts Rachel off with a hiss through her teeth. Her eyes unfocus a moment, then she grits her teeth and looks up to give Rachel a rather unpleasant rictus of a grin. "... how much of an adjustment time is there on 'your insides are crawling around wanting to get out'?" * Rachel takes pause at that, frowning downwards. "It's that bad?" * Saki just looks dumbfounded in response for a moment; when Rachel doesn't drop her expression, a note of exasperation manages to raise her tone a couple of notches. "... you can't even tell?" * Rachel shrugs off-handedly. "I'm just a half a soul floating around. I think," she adds, flicking the wall. "You're the one who got left with the body. Heh, any kind of damage I'm taking's a bit too spiritual for me to tell, I guess." * Saki scratches at her hair, finally crawling out of her hunkered up state and looking... well, rather baffled. "... alright for some people," she sulks, earning a snort of amusement from above. * Rachel crosses her arms, and stares resolutely at the middle distance. "That woman is right; we need to plan and decide. We're on a time limit, now, Lazarus or no Lazarus." * Saki turns thoughtful in an instant, flicking a pebble away from her. "... then, what's the plan?" * Rachel turns her head to one side, frowning and distant. * Saki waits. And waits some more. And then a little more, and then she tilts her head and tries again. "Well?" * Rachel nearly spits and growls, recrossing her arms with a haughty movement. "--I don't /know/!" she responds in irritation before looking down incredulously. "You couldn't make a decision about it just like this either!" * Saki nods, and the simple acceptance of this stops Rachel cold and sets her right back to staring at some nasty motes of air about ten feet away in a different direction. "... of course I couldn't," Saki elaborates. "But we need to figure out what... well, what we can figure out. I'd at least you rather not disappear in some fashion, obviously. I'd-- like less tearing apart of my body, too, for that matter." * Rachel finally sits down next to Saki, shaking her head in some vague contrariness. "I suppose we don't have to decide yet. But I don't like the thought of some goddamn machine that cranks out superundead - or whatever the hell those things are," she adds as Saki starts to protest, "To get us a body. It isn't--" * Rachel actually starts to flounder; a moment's wave of a hand and she's lost the sentence, giving it up as a lost cause with a shake of her head. * Rachel starts it up again as a thought strikes her. Cutting off whatever Saki was about to say point-blank, she holds up an accusatory finger. "You're not fucking making me a six foot industrial worker-zombie if we do that. No way in the hells." * Saki covers her face with a gauntleted hand, and can only nod in agreement. "... very constructive," she remarks while doing an excellent job of keeping the sarcasm out of her voice, "I shall make personally sure it's a five-foot zombie instead." * Aimless_Key is now known as DooM_GazE * Rachel stands - or, well, sits - firm and resolute. "I'm serious. I'm not living like that if there's a choice. Those things are fucking creepy." * Huw is now known as Huwnap * Saki frowns off, watching the same piece of air that Rachel's still giving a death glare. "... it's not that I don't agree with you, but..." * Rachel shrugs again, and ignores the sigh of irritation as she denies Saki the chance to speak again. "--but what?" She turns to face the other. "We've got to be prepared for a lot of things. Maybe Lazarus won't work, or it's locked down, or we can only make clones of those things. Or that I'm something that isn't meant to exist at all. I'm old: heh, out of time in most every way." * Windstar (~Windstar@24.28.17.240) has joined #lunar-iog2 * Saki kind of droops, frowning at the ground. "... I don't believe that. Or at least, I'd rather not." * Rachel huffs out angrily. "--regardless, it's true, and possible. My /point/ is to not cling to this like it's your only holy saviour or some ridiculous thing like that. We did fine this far. Consider your options." * Saki nods slowly as she considers that, then breathes out at length. "... alright. The rest..." "--we go on gut feeling, of course," Rachel answers quickly. * Ark is now known as Ibis * Saki looks skeptical - an owlish glance over at Rachel only gets her a smirk in return - and she signs, slumps over, then bodily shifts over to prop herself against Rachel's form. "Fine, fine," she gives in far too airily. "'It's got us this far', right? You're not the one who paid for it with bruises. Now let me sleep on you. ... you're a better pillow than the wall, although it growls and mutters less." * Rachel 's initial indignant snort and yell as the body hits her side are cut off when Saki is practically out like a light - the sleep of the dead, perhaps, or instantly unconscious. Either way it's enough to stop her protests, which die down to a steady sotto voce rumble. >> And this is where we segue to the later lude(s?). Session Close: Sat Feb 09 04:27:11 2008 * Niri is prowling about the town of Ien, looking for the wayward martial artists. * There's a suspiciously familiar boot visible from around the next corner at ground level. Rounding the corner is a rather bizarre sight; Saki, apparently having run down her internal batteries, is draped on one of Rachel's shoulders as she sits propped up against a crumbling wall muttering darkly about damned mortals or somesuch. At the first sign of Niri's approach she's shoving her more solid double. --get off, damn it! --gnh! * Saki 's only response is a mumbled something and a very suave and smooth sliding off to neatly trap Rachel's legs. Rachel just sighs, hand against her forehead in a familiar gesture. * Niri quickly covers her mouth to hide a grin. Schooling her face, she removes the hand and raises an eyebrow. "How are you two doing?" * Rachel glances up and back, but doesn't move her head. "--she's not used to having half a soul, and it's been a long time since we got any decent rest. I think I wiped her out," she adds. "Handy being a ghost-thing." * Niri nods, then hesitates and awkwardly sticks out her hand. "Well. I'm Niri, nice to properly meet you. Even though you know perfectly well who I am, and all that." * Rachel does finally look up, frowning in perplexed fashion. "--mm. We /have/ technically met, you realise," she adds. She's more clipped than Saki: still with the angry tone of voice, but at least not snarling. Well, we've spoken, I suppose. Is that what you mean? * Rachel huffs out a breath - that's very familiar, at least - and rakes her hair. "I suppose. You learn to equate the two." I suppose that makes sense. *Niri leans against the wall* Well, it's nice to finally meet you in person, I guess. Anyway...I wanted to check on the two of you, see how you were doing. It doesn't sound as if this situation is entirely healthy for either of you. * Saki smirks with some kind of humour, still laying flat across Rachel's legs, and earns a shove for it. "Shift," she mutters, and scowls when Saki's response is a feigned yawn and the slowest getting up you've ever seen the martial artist do. * Saki straightens up, blinks twice, and nods at Niri. "... that's something of an understatement. We're living on borrowed time." * Rachel growls audibly. "--which is to say, it hurts like fuck." * Niri sighs. "Well, yes, but I was trying to be tactful about it. We're going to leave probably within an hour, I think. We've all suffered some major shocks, but we need to get moving...much as I wish we could give everyone a little more time." We need to fix you guys as soon as we can. * Rachel starts to yell a "We'll be--!" but is smoothly cut off by Saki, speaking far quieter but more carefully over the top of her. "... we've time yet. If we want any choice at all, we've got to wait until we can reach Lazarus. So anything may as well wait until then." * Niri nods. "All right. Here's the plan as I see it..." She ticks off on her fingers. "First we go find my dad. Now that Tanan's ready, we need the sword. Anything else we might try could very well be useless without it. Next, we find out what's going on with the Lazarus project. If what my dad told me is true, and what my mom seemed to hint at is right...we'll find answers in New Meribia." So hopefully we can sort out the trouble there AND fix you too. I hope. Maybe. * Saki nods as, next to her, Rachel simmers. She's full of quiet confidence even in the face of it, it seems. "Don't worry about us. If worst comes to worst and we can't make it in time, all anyone needs to do is warp us to the Spire." * Niri relaxes a little bit. "That's true. Mom will be able to help you pretty soon - she's nearly recovered, I think." She even smiles as she says this, looking pretty relieved. * Saki nods in agreement; Rachel mutters a quick "Nice to have good news, for once..." then shakes her head in irritation. "--tch, New Meribia. It's a long jump from there to whatever-the-hell Valley it was." But with the Wings it's easy. And from what my dad said...it sounds like the things from Bluetooth have been seen near the Academy. There's a connection, and whatever is there is moving east. In any case, we'll be moving out soon, I think. Mikel will probably be ready. Much as I'd rather not, I'll go wake Trune up in a little bit. * Saki frowns in concentration and thought. "... Those tunnels, I suppose. ... that's not good. That's a long distance." She nods, glancing up. "... how does everyone else look?" * Niri frowns, thinking. "Mikel's about how you'd expect. But he's functioning...he'll be ready to go with us. He's...kinda focused on revenge right now, but I guess I'm not really surprised." She sighs. "I'll be keeping an eye on him, but...well." Trune's ah...he's really tired, but once he's gotten some rest I think he'll be okay. *Niri fidgets as she says this.* * Rachel has finally looked Niri's way, all business. * Saki mirrors Rachel's look with a side serving of compassion. She nods after every summary. Not sure about the others, I haven't really talked to them much, but I think they're about ready to go. I know Tanan and I are ready. * Saki winces as she pulls herself to her feet - shaky, perhaps, but what's new? Rachel doesn't so much stand as flow upwards, one moment sitting down the next standing. It's a neat trick, if a little eye-wrenching. ... alright. I'm good to go as well. ... though I leave it on record that I miss having time to recover on the Destiny. Point noted. I'm sorry, the Wings are convenient, but they have their drawbacks, I guess. * Saki snorts in amusement, ignoring Rachel's accompanying and more derisive one. "... it's fine. It's important, and I wouldn't mind if I weren't feeling like this." Anything I can do? I've been practicing some interesting variations on healing spells lately. You never know, I might be able to come up with something. * Rachel shakes her head. "You could try, but it probably won't work. Especially now that I've the matrix back, they'll slide off like so much water off a duck." * Niri makes a face. "All right. Well, it was worth offering, anyway." She straightens from where she's been leaning against the wall. "I guess I'd better go round up the others." * Saki nods, and looks up at the tower with a weary glance. "... mm. Foot of the tower?" * Niri nods. "Sounds good. Meet you there in less than an hour." * Niri strides off to go investigate the tower and track down the others. The pair watch her leave in relative silence, then Saki breathes out a low sigh and rakes her hair. Behind her, Rachel nods. ==Lude End!==