2014-07-23 - Beware Of Cat
| Title: Beware Of Cat | |
|---|---|
| Summary: It's supper-time, and Mamoru had an open invitation to Mai's place. He really should have listened to her warnings about a certain feral cat of a roommate... | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ohtori Dormitories | |
| OOC - IC Date: 16 February 2014 - 7/23/2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It's a dark and stormy night.
Chilly rain drenches the grounds of the Ohtori campus, driving most inside quickly, with the umbrellas of independence and the boots of inspired squelching wryly accompanying those who brave the paths. One thus beleaguered is Mamoru Chiba, though he can be clever, and is, at least tonight: he has on galoshes, boring and black but blessedly functional.
Also, an umbrella.
Also, a book, and a flashlight in his mouth.
The flashlight's turned off and gripped in the book hand when he reaches Mai's door, but it's the book he uses to knock at a more or less reasonable volume; so engrossed in the history of medieval food dyes is he still that he doesn't even think before opening it and coming in without waiting for an answer.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
It's a dark and stormy night.
Mikoto is dying.
Wait, what?
You'd think she was, flopped on the floor where she's rolled off the bed, fingers weakly twitching against Miroku's bag. It's fallen on top of her. She hasn't bothered to reposition. Isn't that thing heavy?
"Maiii...iiiiiii...iiiiiiii..."
Her suffering is palpable. Her low, droning whine is, too -- though it's too quiet to be heard from very far away. Mai said she was going to see Takumi. She should be back by now. She's normally back by now. Mikoto is suffering. Mikoto is hungry. Mikoto is--
-- hearing a knock at the door. Which is strange, you know? Mai never knocks. And Mai announces her presence. And Mai doesn't sound that heavy, even considering how water adds weight to everyone.
In a moment, her attitude shifts.
That isn't Mai.
Mikoto rolls to a crouched position, withdrawing Miroku quickly and quietly. With him, she stands, pressing herself against the wall as she listens for the intruder's actions.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
It's not Mai. Mai is still some distance away, near the boys' dormitory. She and Takumi went grocery shopping together after the hospital trip, which was nice; she'd pointed out a few deals he hadn't caught, and he'd done the same for her. Plus, a chance to spend some time with her brother for a change.
Of course, the rainstorm started, and even though they each had their own umbrellas Mai had insisted on walking Takumi to the boys' dormitory. Just to be safe, after all. Once fully satisfied that he was home and dry - which frankly she wasn't until she'd handed Takumi off to his roommate - Mai started to make her way back home.
She'll be there soon. Hopefully.
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The intruder pauses just inside the door, listening for a second.
"Mai...?" he asks uncertainly. He'd been about to take off his galoshes, but instead he stills, umbrella closed and book and flashlight pocketed. His hand rests on the doorknob. It's awfully quiet.
Too quiet.
Lightning and thunder hit at the same time, the brilliant electric burst silhouetting the tall and gangly male dressed all in black as the floor and walls shudder with the sonic force of the boom.
He grips the umbrella like it's his cane and reaches out with the senses he can't define and can't control, looking for the darkness he fears might be there, and takes a cautious step forward.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
The thunder and lightning is very very frightening -- but it also serves to cast the intruder's shadow onto far walls, giving Mikoto an idea of what she's up against. (Either a horrific new Orphan, or a very cluttered human.)
As Mamoru steps forward, Mikoto steps out, obsidian sword blending with the darkness. With those wide golden eyes, and the way she hunches just /so/, she seems more like a demon than a person--
And that's before she snarls at him, too.
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Horrific! The nerve! The sudden golden-eyed black-sword-wielding apparition drives all doubts from Mamoru's mind: he couldn't feel anything evil, but DAMN.
Just damn.
With a sweep of fluttering black silk and sparkling starry night sky, umbrella and upperclassman and spectacles are all gone, leaving a graceful and elegant phantom in formalwear and a gleaming white pointed mask in their place. The umbrella is a cane now, topped with a silver skull; a top hat rests on unruly raven locks, and lightning flashes again--
--it casts the whole suite in stark monochrome, the matte black of the masked man's clothing drawing all the light in and making the brilliant white of mask and gloves and shirtfront sing with their startling contrast.
Still, he doesn't attack first: this is Mai's place. He should at least try to take the fight outside.
Instead, he holds the cane up and loose, ready to parry, and his voice is authoritative as he demands, "Who do you work for?"
COMBAT: Mamoru Chiba transforms into Tuxedo Mask! COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Mantle of the Earth on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Tuxedo Mask's Mantle of the Earth, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Withstand applied to Tuxedo Mask!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Ah. Maybe an Orphan? Doesn't smell like an Orphan...
But Mikoto doesn't need something to be an Orphan for it to be her enemy.
There is no change in the demon-child -- no costuming, no facade -- and yet the energy she radiates makes her seem different, somehow, like some other feral student. Such are the wonders of inhibition!
The fact that Mai might object to their apartment getting wrecked doesn't really cross Mikoto's mind -- but the fact that they're in tighter fighting quarters does. And so, she doesn't swing her blade too broadly -- instead she surges forward, hoisting it up before her in an effort to back the intruder up against the wall. When she speaks, her voice is low, and threatening:
"What you want?!"
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into HiME Mikoto! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Destabilise on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask narrowly dodges Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Destabilise, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Tuxedo Mask's Flash ability activates! Stagger applied to Tuxedo Mask!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
He moves with inhuman swiftness, spinning out of the demon-girl's path and leaping unsteadily up to the back of the couch and swinging his cane to slide the sword away from him-- he's not cut, if that was even the intent, but he is too tall and his hat falls off and he does end up hitting his head on the ceiling. "Ow, dammit!" he yelps, grimacing, and slides off to lunge at her with the cane.
It's absolutely no Obsidian Blade.
What it is is pretty aggravatingly solid and quick in Tuxedo Mask's long-fingered, white-gloved hand as he feints and tries to trip Mikoto up with it. "Me?!" he retorts. "What do YOU want? This is Mai's dorm! How dare you lurk in her sanctuary, waiting for her to come home so you can ambush her! Her dormitory room is a place of excellent cooking and terrible timing, and I, Tuxedo Kamen, won't forgive you for trying to ruin her day!"
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used Tuxedo Mirage on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi narrowly dodges Tuxedo Mask's Tuxedo Mirage, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Fade ability activates! Mikoto Minagi's Flash ability activates! Diversion and Exhausted applied to Mikoto Minagi!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Grandfather and her dear Lord Brother had trained her for this eventuality -- the precious obsidian blade is a hefty instrument, and there would always be people who preferred the easily-manoeuvrable daggers. Miroku angles down as she steps away, hurriedly, her dorm too small for her to properly leap. Frustratingly, even if she avoids falling into his clutches, it's still a move which requires far too much of her attention devoted to it. She snarls, again.
But her enemy is talking. Her enemy mentions Mai, Mikoto's golden eyes flash with rage. No -- he knows about her -- his intentions are as deathly-white as that mask, and --
Mikoto launches forward, her sword slamming towards him. A lamp is clipped by Miroku's edge, and it falls to the ground, shattering into a million sad little pieces which Mikoto's bare feet will inevitably find over the next few weeks. She intends on ramming into him with the flat of the blade, to incapacitate, so she can get his plots out of him, even though she knows--
"You won't hurt Mai!"
Mikoto won't allow it.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Devastation on Tuxedo Mask. COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Devastation, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Tuxedo Mask!
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Aaaand-- Tuxedo Mask is very effectively bowled over, the flat of the blade hitting him in the chest like a stinging piledriver. Already offbalance, he goes down like a ton of bricks, with Mikoto and a very very sharp implement of destruction on top of him; he hits the floor as hard as the lamp, but thankfully does not shatter.
The wind is thoroughly knocked out of him, and he's left making that horrible sound that's the surest indication that someone needs his lungs reminded how to function; his blue eyes are wide and dark behind the luminous white mask, and it's all he can do to hold his cane up in front of his face and neck with both white-gloved hands, really hoping he's not about to be decapitated all over Mai's floor.
She's gonna be SO MAD.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Abruptly, the overhead lights flicker on. "Mikoto, I'm home!"
Mai had, admittedly, taken her time getting back. The rain was heavy, and her bag of groceries was larger than usual; they'd needed more rice, there was a good special on ground beef, and there were some nice onions worth trying. Plus the supplies specifically for tonight's supper, of course - one of the chefs at Linden Baum gave her an Italian-style pasta recipe worth trying out. In any event, there was enough food that she had walked carefully, so that the pouring rain wouldn't damage it.
In one hand, a bag of groceries, bulging with supplies. In the other, a tripping umbrella, being placed in the stand next to its forlorn companion. It is at this point that Mai actually sees the tableau. Miroku out of his- er, its case. Mikoto wielding the blade, holding it to someone's throat. Someone pinned to the floor, wearing a tuxedo and a mask-
Oh, no.
"-Mikoto, no! No killing!" One hand still holding the groceries, Mai hastens past the shattered lamp to the battlesite, to ensure that there won't be bloodstains to clean up too. She needs to confirm the identity of Mikoto's target - whether it's her friend or some imposter - and to drag her roommate back from delivering a lethal blow in case she's not listening.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Mikoto follows him down, burying her knees into his belly even as she repositions Miroku, its (his?) tip resting on the ground a foot or so shy of Tuxedo Mask's amazing haircut. She's confident, if she tried, that she could overpower that cane; but instead she holds the claymore up, above him, like a guillotine waiting to fall. "You won't--"
Her threatening tone is interrupted by a flast of light and Mai's familiar voice. Mikoto stiffens, her grip redoubled as she glares down at her captive. "Mai, careful!", she hisses, even as she presses down just the slightest bit, in a warning for him not to try anything. "He knows Mai! He snuck in! I won't let him hurt Mai!"
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Words are usually Tuxedo Mask's closest ally. Right now, he can't make use of them: he's winded /and/ there's a feral cat with a big sword and magic kneeling on him, and -- words really wouldn't help here anyway --
When the lights come on and Mai's panicked voice seems to send the amber-eyed... girl? She's a girl, not a demon, and Mai knows her, and...
...Mikoto? Oh, no.
There is such raw startlement on the boy's face, mixed in with the gut-level panic of not being able to catch his breath for love or money, that he wouldn't even be trying anything if he could.
Yeah, it's Mamoru all right.
At least that sword's not actually at his neck. Or with the pointy end digging into his chest or anything.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
A hand comes to rest on Mikoto's back; comforting, firm, and ready to grab the back of her shirt if she continues the argument. Mai's gaze falls upon the panicked tuxedo-clad gentleman on her floor, and it's surprisingly serious. She needs to be sure - but as far as she can tell, it really is him.
Her face softens to a warm smile for at least one of the people involved here. "This is a friend of mine, Mikoto, and I told him he was allowed to come over for supper. You don't have to worry about him hurting me."
Well, not in the way Mikoto's thinking. "Now, could you let him go? Even if he did barge in - " She gives Mamoru an amused look. " - I'd like to get started cooking supper."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
He'd better not try anything -- that's what Mikoto's expression says. But Mai persists, stepping forward and physically reassuring her. "Allowed...?"
In the end, it's the golden word which makes Mikoto relent, straightening up and shifting Miroku so it's no longer hovering over Mai's friend(?). She gives him a long, suspicious look before she stands, turning to look up at Mai...
And instead of that dark, threatening expression, she looks like a pitiful little cat. "Mai's late," she whines. "Hungry..."
<Pose Tracker> Tuxedo Mask [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
... which is why when Mamoru finally manages to suck down a double lungful of sweet blessed oxygen, he rolls over and out of henshin into a fit of half-coughing half-laughing, totally helplessly. "O-oh my god--" he gasps out, "--you DO exist--"
Ugh it's definitely him.
Gingerly, breathlessly, calming himself so he can start to basically reinflate himself, the upperclassman -- for that is, in fact, a modified black and white Ohtori high school uniform he's wearing -- drags himself over to sit with his back to the couch. "The bunny is n-not that wild--"
Black hair, blue eyes, strong for his build...
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask transforms into Mamoru Chiba!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The demon has become a kitten, and Mai ruffles her hair. "Sorry I'm late - I had to walk Takumi home." She really should have left a snack, but she hadn't expected things to take this long.
Mai then looks to Mamoru, and her gaze is sympathetic, apologetic. The effect is spoiled, however, by the smirk that blazes to life only moments later. "Rarely do I get the chance to tell you this, but - I. Told. You. So." That smirk flares into a full grin, and Mai makes her way toward the kitchen, groceries in tow.
"I'll get started on supper - make yourselves comfortable, or start sweeping up that lamp." She starts taking things out - pasta, a can of tomatoes, ground beef, onions - and then looks up. "Right, I should introduce you. Chiba-san, this is my infamous roommate, Mikoto Minagi. Mikoto, this is a good friend of mine, Mamoru Chiba."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Mikoto looks up at Mai, with those big, gold eyes -- but the sounds of coughing and laughing do, eventually, call her attention back to the man on the floor.
He's not wearing a mask, any more.
His hair is shorter, and he's dressed differently, but...
The way Mikoto frowns as she clutches Miroku's hilt in her hands is conflicted, confused. She opens her mouth to speak--
'I'll get started on supper.'
For the moment, the spell is broken, as Mikoto looks back to Mai. And over to the lamp. And back to Mai. "It broke," she offers, apologetically, even though it's obvious that it's broken. And she looks back to Mamoru, again - 'Chiba'? - and then she hurries off to go and fetch the dustpan and broom.
What is /wrong/ with that girl?
Maybe she's just hungry. After all, she's always hungry.
