If I could attack with a more sensible approach, obviously that's what I'd be doing...

Jan 08, 2009 23:32

In the training room at the Main Gauche, there's a Slayer with her Christmas present, going through a few sword exercises she remembers from before. It's been a while since she's had a sword in her hands, but now that she does... It's easier to fall back into than she would have thought. Muscle memory comes easily to Slayers ( Read more... )

martha jones, cy, raziel, dmitri lang, gene hunt, ruvin, andy mackenzie, the doctor (ten), michael westen, buffy summers, sam tyler, the other, dante, abby maitland, april, jack bristow

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cleverblasphemy January 9 2009, 20:48:27 UTC
Raziel is hungry and desperate, and it's coming down to whether he wants to risk taking a meal here with his superior strength and hoping that no one will be over their shock to attack him before he gets away, or venturing back to the wilder area of this city and waiting for a human to pass by on their own.

Venturing so far into human-controlled land was a mistake, at the very least. He's learned this now. And there is no ideal answer.

So, for the moment, he'll take the one which offers a more immediate end to this torment, one way or another. If he can feed and run, he'll be strong enough to rethink his strategies. If he's attacked and sent back to the Spectral realm, well, it was likely in any case.

It just happens to be the Doctor's luck that he's the one passing closest to the maintenance alley in which Raziel lurks when he strikes...

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thatsortofaman January 13 2009, 11:07:50 UTC
The Doctor, for all that perhaps he ought to, is not in the habit of scanning the shadows for possible threats. Maybe it's just a smug assurance that he can handle whatever comes at him, or maybe he's just thick, but the end result is more or less the same. He doesn't notice Raziel until he comes out of the shadows.

Luckily, his reflexes are good enough that as soon as he notices something coming out of the alley at him, rather quickly, he's jerking himself out of its path, stumbling back and reaching for his sonic screwdriver, holding it out threateningly. ...Which really won't do anything at all, because whatever this is in front of him, it's obviously organic, at least, but maybe he can convince the thing it's dangerous.

"...Hello. I'm the Doctor." He considers saying please don't attack me, or something to that effect, but then he loses a bit of the dramatic effect with the sonic screwdriver and all.

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cleverblasphemy January 14 2009, 03:21:51 UTC
Raziel stumbles when his prey eludes him, steadies himself against a streetlight, and turns his head to look at the human (he assumes) who's decided to introduce himself. His eyes are glowing a sickly blue-green, and lines of energy crackle across his skin. Given more time and he's just going to lose cohesion on his own. He wonders if his robe will follow him to the spectral realm; his half-cape does, but then, it fell with him into the Abyss.

"A doctor," he says, cleft claw digging into the metal of the light. "That is a profession I've not had use for in a long, long time."

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thatsortofaman January 15 2009, 15:24:43 UTC
And now the Doctor's interested, fascination overcoming caution. He's still got the screwdriver raised in half-threat, but his expression doesn't match the posture. He leans forward a little, tilting his head to one side to examine the creature a little more closely in the light.

"Well, I'm not exactly your average doctor..." he says slowly. "Sorry, but... what are you, exactly?" Some things the Doctor can't resist.

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cleverblasphemy January 15 2009, 17:44:41 UTC
Raziel hauls himself up. As little dignity as he does have left, he will conserve whatever he can. The fact that his claw remains against the streetlight when the rest of him stands on his own is his one concession.

"I should think that, at least, is obvious," he says, despite the fact he's been mistaken for everything from a vampire to a demigod. "I am a ghoul. Do you always attempt to converse with those more interested in eating you?"

He doesn't have time for this. There are other people on the street, but a fair number of them see him now and veer to avoid him. He'd just go for this one, but for that object he's holding. Small and unimpressive, and thus likely magical, or like the thunder-weapons used on him before.

If he must fall back to the Spectral realm, he will at least not do so as an expression of defeat.

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thatsortofaman January 16 2009, 06:29:31 UTC
"More often than you'd think, yeah," the Doctor says, not at all put off by the comment about eating him. It's not like it's the first time that's happened, and at least this time the thing trying to eat him is at least... mostly human-shaped. "And it may be obvious where you're from, but you're a long way from home. I've never met a ghoul, what's a ghoul?"

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cleverblasphemy January 16 2009, 07:00:42 UTC
Raziel tries to muster a glare at the Doctor. He he is, starving to dissolution, and this creature assumes he's here to answer questions for his convenience. If anything the reverse should be true.

"Kain Turned the Seraphan brotherhood, protectors of Nosgoth, into vampires," he hisses out. "Among them I was the foremost, his lieutenant, until I had the audacity to surpass him in our metamorphoses. For this offense I was cast into the Lake of the Dead, there to burn in its waters until destroyed." His claws tighten on the lamppost, leaving scratches on the metal surface. "I should have been extinguished. But the Elder God, hub of the cycle of rebirth, remade me. Fashioned me to be his Reaver of Souls, taking my sustenance from the trapped souls of vampires, and by ingesting them returning them to the then-stagnant flow of resurrection."

His claws trace another few centimetres down to the ground, the support of this arm yielding to his weight.

"That is what a ghoul is, human. But in this place the vampires are not the ( ... )

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bloodsoulrhythm January 17 2009, 09:42:43 UTC
Charlie's Guardian senses are tingling. Well, not so much tingling as giving him a vague sense of gnawing dread. So the conversation is interrupted by a screech of brakes as a red pickup truck pulls up nearby, and a very, very large angel throws himself out of the driver's seat, wings snapping out.

"Problem, Doctor?"

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thatsortofaman January 17 2009, 12:29:10 UTC
"First, before we go any further - I'm not a human," the Doctor says, stepping back a little as the creature collapses. He doesn't think it's a threat, not really - but there's always the chance it could be bluffing. "And second, is there- Charlie!"

He recognizes the sound of that engine. Or maybe it's the squealing of brakes. When he hears that sound, it's usually something to do with Charlie. He turns to give him a bright grin as he approaches, still holding his sonic screwdriver, though now it's more idly than in threat. "Not a problem, I was just talking with this... ghoul... Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

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cleverblasphemy January 17 2009, 18:46:22 UTC
It's hard to bluff being on the verge of dissolution. Raziel glares up at him, glares at Charlie, glares at the Doctor again, well aware that it's a futile and largely pathetic gesture and hating the moment and circumstance which has lead him to it.

There was a time when humans offered themselves to him. Warriors and hunters and townsfolk alike would fall to their knees and invite him to drink from their vitality. It was an odd symbiosis, to be sure, but one he finds himself longing for.

Then, he's hardly a defender of anyone, here. He has no vampire hordes to keep at bay, no vampiric masters to slay. There is no right by which he can demand sacrifice. So he is reduced to this.

"...Raziel," he says after a moment, and now defeat has crept into his tone. It finds a comfortable bed here with the bitterness. "Shall we continue this farcical exchange, or will you leave me to starve in peace?"

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thatsortofaman January 17 2009, 20:31:34 UTC
The Doctor lowers his screwdriver finally, not putting it away yet, but no longer even remotely threatening. He glances briefly to Charlie, and then steps forward - maybe a little reckless, that, but it seems safe enough.

He crouches down, tilting his head to one side and meeting Raziel's eyes with genuine concern. They are odd and disconcerting eyes to meet, but the Doctor doesn't seem to mind one bit. "Well, you can't go around eating people. That's... well, rude, for one, not to mention wrong. Can I help, though?" Because just as long as the creature's not actively causing harm to other sentient beings... well, the Doctor can't help his desire to fix it, in whatever way he can.

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cleverblasphemy January 17 2009, 22:13:10 UTC
Raziel gives him a dark look. Which, given that his eyes have started to dim in favor of the rest of him sparking, isn't... as ironic as it usually is.

"I don't take their flesh, if that offends you," he says, and reaches up a claw to pull away the cape which covers the lower half of his face - or what's left of it. His lower jaw is missing entirely, leaving his vampiric canines hanging into empty space. His throat has closed up as well; the back of his 'mouth' has sealed in a mass of scarred tissue, and the bloodfangs are translucent and fairly obviously disused. "I feed on... energy."

Never tell a human, or whatever this creature is, that you wish to sap their soul. Even if they sustain no permanent damage, it's unlikely they'll enjoy hearing it.

"As for help..." He gives a dry chuckle, weakly replacing the halfcape, "this is the state to which I was bound. Hardly an illness, Doctor. There is no potion or poultice which can erase the need to feed ( ... )

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thatsortofaman January 21 2009, 17:57:04 UTC
The Doctor leans forward as Raziel pulls down the cape from his face, tilting his head and... a sane person, or at least a person with some sort of survival instinct, would not willingly get so close to its mouth when it just told him it wanted to eat him. The Doctor is not one of those people. "You're... Sorry, but how do you talk? I mean, you haven't got a jaw, any of the things traditionally used for... speech..."

He glances down to the sonic screwdriver just as Raziel does, and then looks back up at him, smiling a little. "Oh, that's not a weapon, by the way. Sonic screwdriver - practically harmless, but very useful. But this... energy you feed off. What is it, exactly? Well, I don't expect you to know in exact terms, most people don't know the scientific breakdown of the things they eat, but..."

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cleverblasphemy January 21 2009, 18:55:39 UTC
Harmless. Practically harmless. And this creature keeps coming closer, practically offering himself up...

Raziel can't help it. His eyes narrow on the Doctor's face, and he says "I would be more than willing to demonstrate."

He might be failing, weakening, losing the last vestiges of the strength with which he holds himself together, but he's still fast, and the creature before him is in almost as much a state of surrender as the humans which once offered themselves to him. He lunges forward, crashing into the Doctor in a rough embrace and opening the deep pull at the core of himself, finding the well of life energy (so CLOSE) and drinking-

-and it's not human, whatever this is that's flooding back into him. It overtakes him in a rush, washing over him, filling him up so quickly and completely that the Reaver manifests before he can stop himself, that he reels back, lightheaded. Heady wines had this effect, aeons ago; now it's receding into a buzzing full-body ache, like he's overstuffed on energy and aching to contain it all ( ... )

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bloodsoulrhythm January 27 2009, 02:12:47 UTC
Oh, fuck no. You do NOT get to drain Charlie's ward's energy, even if you are a freakish ghoul thing. This is not happening.

As Raziel reels back, there's suddenly seven feet of pissed-off angel helping him get even further back -- by means of a perfectly executed roundhouse kick. And the fact that the freakish ghoul suddenly has a weapon? Well, that only makes it all the more vital that he get his ward away from him.

"Back off. Right now." Charlie's tone is a step away from a growl, the weakness and dizziness the Doctor's feeling playing across his mind, but not slowing him down in the slightest.

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cleverblasphemy January 27 2009, 02:22:03 UTC
Well, that weapon disappears pretty quick. Seeing as that was a pretty solid kick.

Raziel skitters back another step or two, putting just above striking distance between them and displaying his claws in a defensive posture. He has no interest in attacking Charlie, but he has no interest in potentially being beaten within an inch of dissolution again.

"...your friend will recover," he says, attention flicking to the Doctor and back to Charlie again. "And I will not be needing to replenish my strength again for some time. ...unless you persist in attacking me."

Though he has quite a few questions as to what that being is.

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