12-08-2009, 07:39 AM
God DAMMIT!
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of adversity after adversity, Sage had managed to pick up the shards and forge some kind of nearly sane mosaic from them. She was sitting at a table with a friend and just talking. No fighting or stabbing or explosions or running for her life. Even Alexander’s obvious anger was welcome, because it didn’t escalate to violence.
Of course, that mosaic basically exploded - or at least fell apart - when the girl was teleported to some random, barren looking place, under the unfriendly dome of yet another stasis field. Teleported against her will, Sage angrily protested. She almost felt if she thought hard enough, she could somehow telepathically yell at the bastard who was pulling the strings.
The girl with the silver hair and the bright blue clothes, the one who asked to sit with her and Sophia, stood across from her, warily eyeing Sage. She didn’t seem... menacing... in the way that the changeling or namek had. It was difficult to say what she seemed like, half-in-a-stance and just carefully watching, her hand gingerly gripping a series of knives.
“I... I’m... sorry,” the older of the two declared. Significantly older, Sage realized. This girl couldn’t have been have been any more than sixteen or seventeen, tops. What was a kid doing in a bloodthirsty contest like this??
“I told you, I understand why you did what you did,” came the reply. The child spoke through clenched teeth.
Sage let herself relax, and then looked around herself. They were standing on a fairly steep incline. It was like the battlefield had tilted over, hard. She sighed. “We could still ruin Damon’s combat day,” she thought that’s what they were called, anyway.
“Don’t you think he would be upset?”
“Yes,”
“He would eliminate us,”
Sage contemplated the thought for a moment, and shook her head. She sighed. “Maybe. I... don’t know.”
“I already told you. We’re going to fight,” the youth replied, violently shaking her head. “I have to win in place of my master.”
The blue haired girl almost laughed at her, as horrible as she knew that was. So they were both in this for somebody else, and neither one wanted to give up the chance to find them. Or, in the silver haired girl’s case, to avenge them.
Sage recalled what she said to the youth. ‘I’m sorry.’ Yeah, some apology. ‘Hey, sorry for killing your friend. We’re cool, though, right?’
The worst part was that the girl wasn’t even insulted. Or at least, she didn’t seem to be. Was she so... cold? No, distraught, maybe. Maybe there just wasn’t any way to cope. It must have been so ridiculously unreal, so unrelateable. ...Not to mention, Sage’s fault.
The ‘ice witch’ nodded to herself. Appropriate title, she thought with bitter mirth. Her powers had caused unbelievable harm to people many times. Mercifully, she’d sworn them off for so long.
What good was that hiatus now that she seemed to be more dangerous than ever?
It didn’t help that Damon was clearly interfering with her actions. Preventing her from being able to tell the truth to the girl was disturbing enough. What if he forced her to act, like he had done to Kaden?
“M-My name is Sage,” she declared. She didn’t know why, but she felt she had to at least introduce herself.
“Tamsin,” was the reply. A pretty name for a pretty young girl. A girl who should have been in school, not risking her life in some barbaric tournament. Sage closed her eyes. Fake barbaric tournament.
Tamsin sank into a combative stance. Sage just nodded, and did the same. Sort of. Sage moved into a clearly uninformed approximation of a fighting stance. Her fists were up, at least. Uncomfortable. She didn’t want this. Tamsin was a child.
A child who wouldn’t actually die after Sage killed her, she reminded herself, doing her best to steel her nerves.
It. Was. Not. Real. It! Was! Not! Real!
Before Tamsin could throw her first blade, a wall of snow came rushing up from behind Sage. The child’s eyes widened as the wall enveloped Sage and raced past her. The girl braced herself for the sudden chill, but wasn’t expecting the snow to- to hurt!
As the painful revelation washed over her, Tamsin desperately swatted at the snow and covered her face. She didn’t panic and flee, much to Sage’s surprise, but she had been distracted long enough for the princess to form her Chillrend claws and duck behind a large boulder.
The plan was to jump out just as Tamsin rounded it, to catch her by surprise and take her quickly. Maybe she would be so shocked, she wouldn’t even have time to experience fear. Fear of death was something she’d seen in the eyes of her patients so many times. But she’d only ever lost one.
Now she would be forcing a life to end.
Sage’s eyes closed as she leaned against the rock. She took a calming breath as the flurry died away. Tamsin would be looking for her any second now. She had to be ready. There would only be one chance.
Oh, God, why does this have to be so hard?
The girl pressed her back against the boulder, watching her left side intently, absolutely sure Tamsin would come from that side. Sage raised her right arm, claws pointing the way she was looking. It would be like stabbing with five stiletto knives all at once.
She should have just poured all of her energy into one killer wave right at the start. Sheer overwhelming force. But she didn’t. Something kept... pulling her back. Why couldn’t she just clear her mind and set her sights on winning the tournament?
Sophia... Ashe... what do I do? What would you do? ...What can I do?
And then the maid came around the corner. From the right side. She hadn’t even noticed Sage, but the doctor panicked and shouted, giving herself away to the younger girl, before lashing out and raking her claws across Tamsin’s face.
She only grazed her; the cuts would heal. But she still had four bloody scratches across her delicate, young face. Sage only had a moment to feel her heart break, because Tamsin kicked with her shin, and smashed the hybrid in the face, tossing her off her feet.
The quarter saiyan stared up at the sky as blood ran from her nose. She had to roll out of the way quickly, though, as a fistful of knives came sailing down at her chest. Tamsin was out for blood.
Clambering to her feet, Sage instinctively slashed at something the girl threw at her. Her eyes widened as she realized she had literally clawed a knife out of the sky. A knife intended for her face.
The schoolchild launched herself at the doctor, but Sage managed to keep her at bay with a few swipes of her claws. The hybrid was having trouble taking the fight seriously, and was doing little to act aside from defending herself. It just seemed so absurd. She was fighting for her life with a high schooler. This wasn’t possible. It simply wasn’t possible.
She left herself open long enough for Tamsin to land a boot in Sage’s gut, before punching her in the cheek and sending her sprawling to the ground. The ridiculously long haired Valium addict got to her feet, stumbled, and shook her head.
Already, Tamsin was upon her. Blades gripped between her fingers swiped at her, narrowly missing her brand new clothing - and her flesh hidden just behind it. Sage rapidly backpedaled, narrowly evading another wide slash from the smaller woman. Schoolchild or not, if Sage didn’t do anything soon, she would kill her.
With a wave of her hand, Sage sent another Frostbite blasting at Tamsin, giving her the chance to retreat. Breaking into a full sprint, the girl raced away from the momentarily disabled youth. Clearly, the maid had the upper hand in close quarters, and Sage had to break away.
Finally, the princess halted, and spun about on her heel, just as Tamsin sent a knife sailing after her. Wide-eyed, Sage raised her hands and shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut as she cowered at the incoming projectile.
...But it never came.
Hesitantly opening one eye, Sage’s eyes both went wide as she saw the knife floating harmlessly, only a few feet from her. She let her arms drop, and the knife dropped along with them, clattering uselessly to the ground.
She looked at Tamsin, and saw the same confusion scrawled across her face. It didn’t stop the youth from hurling another knife. And then another. Sage dove out of the way, narrowly evading the deadly blades, but already, Tamsin threw a second pair.
In desperation, Sage formed a pair of icy spears in the air above herself, and telekinetically propelled them at her opponent, hoping to at the very least create a breather for herself.
The spears did their job, forcing Tamsin to throw herself to the dirt to avoid them. But Sage was already on the offensive. From directly beneath the youth, a spear smashed through the dirt, and Tamsin only just rolled away from it, as it shredded through her cloak. She was so close, she could feel the Frostroot against her chest as it curled up into the space she had just been in.
Sage wasn’t done yet. A half-dozen more spears had materialized over her head, and launched themselves one after the other at young Tamsin, while a quartet of Frostroots burst from the earth at the same time.
Expertly, the Servus maid twisted and weaved around all of the deadly stabbing instruments as a wall of fog rushed at her, consuming the battlefield in obscurity. Looking up, Tamsin saw Sage’s silhouette rushing her in the fog, arms wide open with claws outstretched.
She threw her knife, and it passed harmlessly through the shadow, before it broke up and vanished. Another came charging at her from her right, and Tamsin attacked it the same way. Again, the shadow was unfazed by the weapon, and simply faded away.
Suddenly, two dozen or more Sage-shapes materialized all around her. Some were walking in no particular direction. Others ran, but not all toward Tamsin. Still more sat or leaned against objects obscured in the fog, while a few more seemed to be attacking the nothingness all around them. Confusion and fear settled in as Tamsin realized she was caught in her very own horror movie, in a glittering fog with a woman who intended to kill her.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of adversity after adversity, Sage had managed to pick up the shards and forge some kind of nearly sane mosaic from them. She was sitting at a table with a friend and just talking. No fighting or stabbing or explosions or running for her life. Even Alexander’s obvious anger was welcome, because it didn’t escalate to violence.
Of course, that mosaic basically exploded - or at least fell apart - when the girl was teleported to some random, barren looking place, under the unfriendly dome of yet another stasis field. Teleported against her will, Sage angrily protested. She almost felt if she thought hard enough, she could somehow telepathically yell at the bastard who was pulling the strings.
The girl with the silver hair and the bright blue clothes, the one who asked to sit with her and Sophia, stood across from her, warily eyeing Sage. She didn’t seem... menacing... in the way that the changeling or namek had. It was difficult to say what she seemed like, half-in-a-stance and just carefully watching, her hand gingerly gripping a series of knives.
“I... I’m... sorry,” the older of the two declared. Significantly older, Sage realized. This girl couldn’t have been have been any more than sixteen or seventeen, tops. What was a kid doing in a bloodthirsty contest like this??
“I told you, I understand why you did what you did,” came the reply. The child spoke through clenched teeth.
Sage let herself relax, and then looked around herself. They were standing on a fairly steep incline. It was like the battlefield had tilted over, hard. She sighed. “We could still ruin Damon’s combat day,” she thought that’s what they were called, anyway.
“Don’t you think he would be upset?”
“Yes,”
“He would eliminate us,”
Sage contemplated the thought for a moment, and shook her head. She sighed. “Maybe. I... don’t know.”
“I already told you. We’re going to fight,” the youth replied, violently shaking her head. “I have to win in place of my master.”
The blue haired girl almost laughed at her, as horrible as she knew that was. So they were both in this for somebody else, and neither one wanted to give up the chance to find them. Or, in the silver haired girl’s case, to avenge them.
Sage recalled what she said to the youth. ‘I’m sorry.’ Yeah, some apology. ‘Hey, sorry for killing your friend. We’re cool, though, right?’
The worst part was that the girl wasn’t even insulted. Or at least, she didn’t seem to be. Was she so... cold? No, distraught, maybe. Maybe there just wasn’t any way to cope. It must have been so ridiculously unreal, so unrelateable. ...Not to mention, Sage’s fault.
The ‘ice witch’ nodded to herself. Appropriate title, she thought with bitter mirth. Her powers had caused unbelievable harm to people many times. Mercifully, she’d sworn them off for so long.
What good was that hiatus now that she seemed to be more dangerous than ever?
It didn’t help that Damon was clearly interfering with her actions. Preventing her from being able to tell the truth to the girl was disturbing enough. What if he forced her to act, like he had done to Kaden?
“M-My name is Sage,” she declared. She didn’t know why, but she felt she had to at least introduce herself.
“Tamsin,” was the reply. A pretty name for a pretty young girl. A girl who should have been in school, not risking her life in some barbaric tournament. Sage closed her eyes. Fake barbaric tournament.
Tamsin sank into a combative stance. Sage just nodded, and did the same. Sort of. Sage moved into a clearly uninformed approximation of a fighting stance. Her fists were up, at least. Uncomfortable. She didn’t want this. Tamsin was a child.
A child who wouldn’t actually die after Sage killed her, she reminded herself, doing her best to steel her nerves.
It. Was. Not. Real. It! Was! Not! Real!
Before Tamsin could throw her first blade, a wall of snow came rushing up from behind Sage. The child’s eyes widened as the wall enveloped Sage and raced past her. The girl braced herself for the sudden chill, but wasn’t expecting the snow to- to hurt!
As the painful revelation washed over her, Tamsin desperately swatted at the snow and covered her face. She didn’t panic and flee, much to Sage’s surprise, but she had been distracted long enough for the princess to form her Chillrend claws and duck behind a large boulder.
The plan was to jump out just as Tamsin rounded it, to catch her by surprise and take her quickly. Maybe she would be so shocked, she wouldn’t even have time to experience fear. Fear of death was something she’d seen in the eyes of her patients so many times. But she’d only ever lost one.
Now she would be forcing a life to end.
Sage’s eyes closed as she leaned against the rock. She took a calming breath as the flurry died away. Tamsin would be looking for her any second now. She had to be ready. There would only be one chance.
Oh, God, why does this have to be so hard?
The girl pressed her back against the boulder, watching her left side intently, absolutely sure Tamsin would come from that side. Sage raised her right arm, claws pointing the way she was looking. It would be like stabbing with five stiletto knives all at once.
She should have just poured all of her energy into one killer wave right at the start. Sheer overwhelming force. But she didn’t. Something kept... pulling her back. Why couldn’t she just clear her mind and set her sights on winning the tournament?
Sophia... Ashe... what do I do? What would you do? ...What can I do?
And then the maid came around the corner. From the right side. She hadn’t even noticed Sage, but the doctor panicked and shouted, giving herself away to the younger girl, before lashing out and raking her claws across Tamsin’s face.
She only grazed her; the cuts would heal. But she still had four bloody scratches across her delicate, young face. Sage only had a moment to feel her heart break, because Tamsin kicked with her shin, and smashed the hybrid in the face, tossing her off her feet.
The quarter saiyan stared up at the sky as blood ran from her nose. She had to roll out of the way quickly, though, as a fistful of knives came sailing down at her chest. Tamsin was out for blood.
Clambering to her feet, Sage instinctively slashed at something the girl threw at her. Her eyes widened as she realized she had literally clawed a knife out of the sky. A knife intended for her face.
The schoolchild launched herself at the doctor, but Sage managed to keep her at bay with a few swipes of her claws. The hybrid was having trouble taking the fight seriously, and was doing little to act aside from defending herself. It just seemed so absurd. She was fighting for her life with a high schooler. This wasn’t possible. It simply wasn’t possible.
She left herself open long enough for Tamsin to land a boot in Sage’s gut, before punching her in the cheek and sending her sprawling to the ground. The ridiculously long haired Valium addict got to her feet, stumbled, and shook her head.
Already, Tamsin was upon her. Blades gripped between her fingers swiped at her, narrowly missing her brand new clothing - and her flesh hidden just behind it. Sage rapidly backpedaled, narrowly evading another wide slash from the smaller woman. Schoolchild or not, if Sage didn’t do anything soon, she would kill her.
With a wave of her hand, Sage sent another Frostbite blasting at Tamsin, giving her the chance to retreat. Breaking into a full sprint, the girl raced away from the momentarily disabled youth. Clearly, the maid had the upper hand in close quarters, and Sage had to break away.
Finally, the princess halted, and spun about on her heel, just as Tamsin sent a knife sailing after her. Wide-eyed, Sage raised her hands and shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut as she cowered at the incoming projectile.
...But it never came.
Hesitantly opening one eye, Sage’s eyes both went wide as she saw the knife floating harmlessly, only a few feet from her. She let her arms drop, and the knife dropped along with them, clattering uselessly to the ground.
She looked at Tamsin, and saw the same confusion scrawled across her face. It didn’t stop the youth from hurling another knife. And then another. Sage dove out of the way, narrowly evading the deadly blades, but already, Tamsin threw a second pair.
In desperation, Sage formed a pair of icy spears in the air above herself, and telekinetically propelled them at her opponent, hoping to at the very least create a breather for herself.
The spears did their job, forcing Tamsin to throw herself to the dirt to avoid them. But Sage was already on the offensive. From directly beneath the youth, a spear smashed through the dirt, and Tamsin only just rolled away from it, as it shredded through her cloak. She was so close, she could feel the Frostroot against her chest as it curled up into the space she had just been in.
Sage wasn’t done yet. A half-dozen more spears had materialized over her head, and launched themselves one after the other at young Tamsin, while a quartet of Frostroots burst from the earth at the same time.
Expertly, the Servus maid twisted and weaved around all of the deadly stabbing instruments as a wall of fog rushed at her, consuming the battlefield in obscurity. Looking up, Tamsin saw Sage’s silhouette rushing her in the fog, arms wide open with claws outstretched.
She threw her knife, and it passed harmlessly through the shadow, before it broke up and vanished. Another came charging at her from her right, and Tamsin attacked it the same way. Again, the shadow was unfazed by the weapon, and simply faded away.
Suddenly, two dozen or more Sage-shapes materialized all around her. Some were walking in no particular direction. Others ran, but not all toward Tamsin. Still more sat or leaned against objects obscured in the fog, while a few more seemed to be attacking the nothingness all around them. Confusion and fear settled in as Tamsin realized she was caught in her very own horror movie, in a glittering fog with a woman who intended to kill her.
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)