((OOC: Another party thread. You know how it goes. And if you don't... ask! ^^ Happy Riftversary! Even if it's two hours until... it's over. :/ I'm sorry I'm slow
( Read more... )
Sydney can't miss noticing the demon going for the knife, and she moves to step forward, try to kick it out of her hand - she does not want to grapple with her, knowing how strong she is, but if she can just get the knife away from her...
The problem is that demons are faster than even Sydney had bet on. By the time she gets into a position where she can kick the knife away, Missy's already somewhere else and there's a knife scoring her shoulder - she's moving, so it doesn't hit quite the way intended, but it grazes over her collarbone, and Sydney bites back a yelp of pain. She keeps moving, though, because if she stops she's well aware that she's going to get herself killed, throwing a quick jab at her stomach and then going for the arm with the knife, grabbing her by the wrist and digging a thumb between the tendons. Maybe grappling with her is a bad idea, but not getting the knife away from her is even worse.
Logan hadn't seen the kick coming, and the knife spins out of her hand, across the floor - which is probably for the best, because it's a nasty little curved thing that could probably do some serious damage. She growls in frustration and reaches back to grab at Casey's throat. It's an awkward angle, but demonic strength should lend her a little help here, and she grabs for Casey's nearest arm with her free hand, because if she can just get a firm enough grip, she can break it - and most people have a hard time choking you or throwing a punch with a broken arm.
Missy wheezes and staggers back into something that's half-crouch, because she's at the wrong angle to get firmly back onto her feet, which puts her at a disadvantage, because her attempt to make sure she doesn't just topple over gives Sydney the advantage she needs to grab her by the wrist. She's in no position to actually grapple, nor is she in any position to resist the pain long enough to see if she can get the knife in her throat (her knees her starting to protest severely and half-crouching on the ground isn't a good tactical position for long-term fighting anyway). She sacrifices the knife and topples backwards onto her back, shooting her free hand out to grab a fistful of Sydney's shirt before kneeing her in the stomach in the hopes that it'll wind her enough to her off of her and take her out long enough to get the knife back again.
Possibly someone in the crowd at this point has been smart enough to call the police, but no one's stepped in to help yet- at this point, that would probably be a really bad idea though. Two enraged demons fighting too enraged special operatives is probably not a fight anyone wants to wade into the middle of.
Casey is too busy trying to keep her from grabbing hold of his throat well enough to move his arm out of the way of her other hand. He had been trying to reach for his own knife, unsuccessfully at this odd position, but now that she's unarmed it doesn't seem as necessary.
The moment he realizes that she's got his arm he uselessly tries to pull away and throws his leg out and attempts to aim another kick of his heel back into her gut at the same time.
All Julia wanted, really, was a quiet drink. Or at least to finish her drink before getting into a fight, and God damn it, always with the demons, fucking things up. Well, she'd heard Chicago was interesting - after all, if a place like this can destroy a woman like the First Among Firsts...
She pushes herself away from the bar with a sigh and sizes up the tussling pairs quickly before deciding that the pair with the knife? Much more likely to end in someone bleeding to death on the floor before the paramedics get here. She reaches in and grabs Missy by the back of the shirt, grabs her by the wrist where she's holding Sydney's shirt and pries her off.
"You're gonna want to drop the knife," she says to Sydney, and then spins Missy around, not changing her grip on Missy's wrist as she does, so something might snap - she's not quite paying attention. What she is paying attention to is Missy's eyes, first sign of a behemoth going for a change. Her free hand goes up to Missy's throat, thump pressing down on the carotid artery. A little more pressure, and she just might be able to make her black out. Demons' hearts beat fast. It helps, when it comes to some things.
"Alright, sweetie, listen up because I'm not saying this twice. I'm much, much older than you and twice as annoyed. I don't want to kill you in front of all these people, but I will if you make me. Now, do you want to step outside?"
This is officially Missy's least-favorite night ever. She howls in pain when something snaps in her wrist and then proceeds to shoot the newcomer a disgusted grimace- fucking coldbloods, always mucking about when they should just tend to their own business- but she can't really do much else other than breathe heavily and look annoyed, all while her wrist hurts like hell.
"Yeah, sure," she growls, giving Sydney a deeply murderous look. One day there won't be angels around to save her and then she is going to end her and her little boyfriend too.
Sometime around the time Julia took off to deal with the fighting, Vincent arrived on the scene, once again proving that somehow people with police scanners are generally more likely to get to the scene before the Chicago PD, but, in their defense, Vincent's really, really fast.
He shoves through the crowd (because crowds will part when Vince enters a room, whether they like it or not) and without really taking a good look at the woman apprehending the other demon, grabs a fistful of Logan's shirt and drags her off of Casey, grabbing on wrist tightly before she has time to flail around and wrenching her arm behind her back hard enough to make it feel like he's on the verge of dislocating her shoulder.
"I can break it. Don't think I won't," he snaps in her ear. "So you can follow the lady's lead or this'll get real ugly, real fast." He gives her arm another tug, hard enough to make it feel like there's a knife slicing through her, just to drive his point home.
"Fu-u-uck," Casey hisses, grunting in an incoherent expression of pain, when Logan breaks his arm. The crack that he hears? Yeah. It's broken. Of course, it's not like this is his first broken bone. He's had more broken bones than he can count.
The pain is something that he can get a hold of after a moment of controlled breathing, but fuck. It's hard to defend himself without an arm. Demon. She has to be a demon. From the feel of the heat from her hands on his arm and the strength that she has to break his arm with little effort and without hitting at the right spot means that she is, definitely, a demon.
He locks his jaw and grits his teeth, swinging his leg toward her to kick her, again, before he rolls away when someone is dragging her off of him and making the whole defense position unnecessary. Great. It's easier not to think about the broken arm when he's engaged in a fight.
Casey gets to his feet with some effort. His arm is hanging in an awkward, unnatural position next to his body.
Sydney stumbles back and rather than dropping the knife, just tucks it away, out of sight. In this city, especially after just being attacked by a demon - or, okay, attacking a demon - she is not going to leave a weapon just lying around. She reaches up to press a hand to the bleeding gash that traces up her chest and over her shoulder. It fucking hurts, but she'll be fine long enough to get back to the Tower. She glances back to the demons, and the angels who intervened, and- COLE?
But no, he moves differently, speaks differently, has different expressions... Still. Cole doppelganger, and the Sydney doppelganger not far off... "What the hell is wrong with this city?" she mutters, and then sweeps her gaze back to Casey. She hasn't actually ever spoken to him, but she recognizes him as one of her father's... employees, and... "Hey. Do you have to go to a hospital, or can you hold up until we get back home?" They should probably clear out before any authorities show up.
Logan, meanwhile, has frozen in Vincent's grip, endeavouring to not get her arm broken while at the same time glowering at him like she's going to rip his throat out. Or get Missy to do it. "This isn't even your business, you son of a- just let me go, alright? I'm done."
She'd hold her hands up, but she's kind of... hindered there, and she snarls a little when she sees the blonde archangel pushing Missy toward the door, one hand still balled in the back of her shirt, the other around her neck. If she kills Missy, Logan really is going to rip their throats out. With her hands.
Vincent spares a glance over his shoulder, and... Oh, hey, it's that girl from the horrible feargas night. He'd make some comment about why she seems to always manage to get stabbed, but that's really not the important thing right now.
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," he mutters at Logan and starts pushing her towards the door behind the other archangel, still holding her in a position where it's going to hurt if she goes anywhere but where he's steering her. "March."
Missy is just taking this like she plans to kill everything as soon as she gets outside, and if she could move her head right now, she'd be making sure that Logan hasn't been killed by that other fucking archangel.
Logan's furious, just short of hissing and spitting like a cat, and tugging just a little at Vincent's grip on her in an attempt to find a way free without hurting herself... Yeah, that's not going to happen.
Julia gets Missy out into the cold night air, and draws a breath, without loosening her grip on the demon. One handy thing about shoving demons around in this weather - they do keep your hands warm. Somewhere nearby, there's a wail of sirens, and Julia grins like a wolf, glancing over at Vincent.
"Your hunting ground, I assume." No other reason he'd have charged in there like he owned the place. Probably got a police scanner or something. "Do we hand these ones over to the authorities, or take care of them here?" She lets her wings out, soft rusty red with a sharp shift to black when it reaches the flight feathers, lesser kestrel wings, and shakes them out, not in the least concerned about being seen on the street. If nothing else, the locals have bigger things to worry about than someone with wings. Like a behemoth possibly shifting right out here if they don't deal with her quick.
Logan hisses, and tenses a little, ready to tear herself away from Vincent regardless of what he does to her arm. Hell if he is going to let these fucking angels kill them when they barely did anything.
"You could call it that," Vincent shrugs, talking over the sounds of the approaching sirens, and still keeping his firm grip on Logan. He lets his own grayish-black crow wings out, more to give him some added strength lest his demon captive start getting as uppity. "James in the Chicago PD couldn't catch a cold, but he knows how to handle this sort of thing, and he gets bitchy if we go over his head."
Not that Vince really cares about making James bitchy, but, well, there's a treaty to uphold. "We just knocked out some peace agreements between the local demons," he explains. "It'd suck if we had to bump off a couple right here, right now in the middle of the street when the ink on that motherfucker's barely dry."
He doesn't really care about that either, but whatever. Might as well pretend he cares about upholding something that probably won't last.
A squad car, followed by a small army of more, pulls up and out of the lead car steps James himself, who flashes a badge that just earns him an eyeroll from Vince. "I know who you are, James."
"Shut up, Sterling," James snaps. He's not exactly happy that someone always gets to these places before he does, whether it be archangels or those fuckers who picked up that Rak a month ago, but at least it's not some psychotic wanderers this time.
Meanwhile, Missy's been formulating a plan since Vincent agreed to hand them over to the appropriate authorities. She gives Logan a Look. A very significant Look. One that says that they are going to unleash so much hell before this night is over, and then goes back to spitting and hissing and looking generally pissed about being handed such a raw deal.
Vincent holds Logan still long enough for James to handcuff her and take her from him, while another couple of officers head over to take Missy off the other angel's hands. Now free of the demon, he can actually pay attention to this new angel, and... There's something weirdly familiar about her, actually, but he can't put his finger on it.
"I didn't get your name," he says, as soon as he's sure the demons are under control.
Julia hands off her own demon, brushing her hands off on her pants like the demon might've possibly contaminated her. She watches a moment longer as they cuff the behemoth, and then turns back to the other angel, smirking a little.
"Sorry, yeah. I'm Julia, nice to meet you. Thanks for the backup there, by the way - not exactly used to that." She's more of a solo hunter, not because she can't play well with others, just because things never quite worked out and eventually you give up on that sort of thing.
Vincent watches James as he shoves the two demons into a car and barely notices when Missy gives him a dirty, devious look over the car door just before she's shoved inside. It's the look of a demon who knows something he doesn't and promises to make him hate this night before it's over.
He turns back to Julia. "No problem. Woulda been a bitch if it was just me. Heard the call-in over the scanner and I hadn't gotten any action since, uh..." He trails off, because telling people you got stuck in a coma for four months because your boss shot you in the head is a lovely way to meet new people. "Well, I kinda had a newbie moment, I guess. Happens when you go too long without a good hunt. Probably shoulda taken Leo up on his offer."
Vincent holds up a hand, because he knows he's rambling, and part of it's because he's trying to figure out why she seems so familiar. The name 'Julia' doesn't ring any bells, but it's a common name.
He considers his next statement carefully to prevent further babbling like a moron. "I'm Vincent Sterling. I kinda.. Took over the archangels here."
Julia's smirk grows, just a bit. She doesn't know why he's rambling - maybe he's just the talkative type. Maybe he's got a little crush on her. She shakes her wings off again, glances off once in the direction of the police cars, and pulls her wings in without the slightest wince.
"Ohhh... Sterling. Heard of you. Been in Tokyo a few times, though... not recently, I'll admit. Your reputation precedes you, sir."
She reaches up to rake her fingers through loose blonde hair, shaking it out. Now that she's gotten over the initial shock, the cold of the outside air is nice after the heat of the bar.
He gives a little salute. "Well, don't believe all the rumors you hear, especially if you're hearin' 'em from Mitsuki or anyone who knows her." He's... Mostly kidding. Hey, adrenaline high off a spontaneous hunt, apparently all that energy goes into talking way too much for his own good, although no one would have ever pegged Vince for the strong, silent type.
And, okay, this is bugging the shit out of him. "In all seriousness... We've never met, have we? 'Cause there's something so familiar about you and I can't... Put my finger on it. Do you know Leo?" There's no need for a last name. Clearly there is only one archangel named Leo. Ever.
She shrugs, folds her arms over her chest. "Doubt it. I think I'd remember. And, uh... I may have. A time or two. Never been on a hunt with him." Leo isn't the type that respectable archangels hang out with. Not that Julia ever claimed to be responsible, but... "Could've been a relative you know. I've got a few." Like... all Barnams ever? Yeah, she gets that more than you'd think.
Okay, that cuts out 'any event with Leo' which would, honestly, make a lot of sense for him, considering he can barely remember anything of most of his times with Leo, but doesn't explain her not remembering even a little.
Relatives... Okay, he knows a lot of angels, knows a lot of-
And that's about when his brain decides that whatever it was doing holding back exactly why Julia looks so familiar is a lost cause and just gives up, leaving him with a realization that smacks him right between the eyes.
"Romana," he says, his tone suddenly going very flat. It doesn't sound like a question, but the slight arch of his eyebrows asks for confirmation from her.
The problem is that demons are faster than even Sydney had bet on. By the time she gets into a position where she can kick the knife away, Missy's already somewhere else and there's a knife scoring her shoulder - she's moving, so it doesn't hit quite the way intended, but it grazes over her collarbone, and Sydney bites back a yelp of pain. She keeps moving, though, because if she stops she's well aware that she's going to get herself killed, throwing a quick jab at her stomach and then going for the arm with the knife, grabbing her by the wrist and digging a thumb between the tendons. Maybe grappling with her is a bad idea, but not getting the knife away from her is even worse.
Logan hadn't seen the kick coming, and the knife spins out of her hand, across the floor - which is probably for the best, because it's a nasty little curved thing that could probably do some serious damage. She growls in frustration and reaches back to grab at Casey's throat. It's an awkward angle, but demonic strength should lend her a little help here, and she grabs for Casey's nearest arm with her free hand, because if she can just get a firm enough grip, she can break it - and most people have a hard time choking you or throwing a punch with a broken arm.
Reply
Possibly someone in the crowd at this point has been smart enough to call the police, but no one's stepped in to help yet- at this point, that would probably be a really bad idea though. Two enraged demons fighting too enraged special operatives is probably not a fight anyone wants to wade into the middle of.
Reply
The moment he realizes that she's got his arm he uselessly tries to pull away and throws his leg out and attempts to aim another kick of his heel back into her gut at the same time.
Reply
She pushes herself away from the bar with a sigh and sizes up the tussling pairs quickly before deciding that the pair with the knife? Much more likely to end in someone bleeding to death on the floor before the paramedics get here. She reaches in and grabs Missy by the back of the shirt, grabs her by the wrist where she's holding Sydney's shirt and pries her off.
"You're gonna want to drop the knife," she says to Sydney, and then spins Missy around, not changing her grip on Missy's wrist as she does, so something might snap - she's not quite paying attention. What she is paying attention to is Missy's eyes, first sign of a behemoth going for a change. Her free hand goes up to Missy's throat, thump pressing down on the carotid artery. A little more pressure, and she just might be able to make her black out. Demons' hearts beat fast. It helps, when it comes to some things.
"Alright, sweetie, listen up because I'm not saying this twice. I'm much, much older than you and twice as annoyed. I don't want to kill you in front of all these people, but I will if you make me. Now, do you want to step outside?"
Reply
"Yeah, sure," she growls, giving Sydney a deeply murderous look. One day there won't be angels around to save her and then she is going to end her and her little boyfriend too.
Sometime around the time Julia took off to deal with the fighting, Vincent arrived on the scene, once again proving that somehow people with police scanners are generally more likely to get to the scene before the Chicago PD, but, in their defense, Vincent's really, really fast.
He shoves through the crowd (because crowds will part when Vince enters a room, whether they like it or not) and without really taking a good look at the woman apprehending the other demon, grabs a fistful of Logan's shirt and drags her off of Casey, grabbing on wrist tightly before she has time to flail around and wrenching her arm behind her back hard enough to make it feel like he's on the verge of dislocating her shoulder.
"I can break it. Don't think I won't," he snaps in her ear. "So you can follow the lady's lead or this'll get real ugly, real fast." He gives her arm another tug, hard enough to make it feel like there's a knife slicing through her, just to drive his point home.
Reply
The pain is something that he can get a hold of after a moment of controlled breathing, but fuck. It's hard to defend himself without an arm. Demon. She has to be a demon. From the feel of the heat from her hands on his arm and the strength that she has to break his arm with little effort and without hitting at the right spot means that she is, definitely, a demon.
He locks his jaw and grits his teeth, swinging his leg toward her to kick her, again, before he rolls away when someone is dragging her off of him and making the whole defense position unnecessary. Great. It's easier not to think about the broken arm when he's engaged in a fight.
Casey gets to his feet with some effort. His arm is hanging in an awkward, unnatural position next to his body.
Reply
But no, he moves differently, speaks differently, has different expressions... Still. Cole doppelganger, and the Sydney doppelganger not far off... "What the hell is wrong with this city?" she mutters, and then sweeps her gaze back to Casey. She hasn't actually ever spoken to him, but she recognizes him as one of her father's... employees, and... "Hey. Do you have to go to a hospital, or can you hold up until we get back home?" They should probably clear out before any authorities show up.
Logan, meanwhile, has frozen in Vincent's grip, endeavouring to not get her arm broken while at the same time glowering at him like she's going to rip his throat out. Or get Missy to do it. "This isn't even your business, you son of a- just let me go, alright? I'm done."
She'd hold her hands up, but she's kind of... hindered there, and she snarls a little when she sees the blonde archangel pushing Missy toward the door, one hand still balled in the back of her shirt, the other around her neck. If she kills Missy, Logan really is going to rip their throats out. With her hands.
Reply
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," he mutters at Logan and starts pushing her towards the door behind the other archangel, still holding her in a position where it's going to hurt if she goes anywhere but where he's steering her. "March."
Missy is just taking this like she plans to kill everything as soon as she gets outside, and if she could move her head right now, she'd be making sure that Logan hasn't been killed by that other fucking archangel.
Reply
Julia gets Missy out into the cold night air, and draws a breath, without loosening her grip on the demon. One handy thing about shoving demons around in this weather - they do keep your hands warm. Somewhere nearby, there's a wail of sirens, and Julia grins like a wolf, glancing over at Vincent.
"Your hunting ground, I assume." No other reason he'd have charged in there like he owned the place. Probably got a police scanner or something. "Do we hand these ones over to the authorities, or take care of them here?" She lets her wings out, soft rusty red with a sharp shift to black when it reaches the flight feathers, lesser kestrel wings, and shakes them out, not in the least concerned about being seen on the street. If nothing else, the locals have bigger things to worry about than someone with wings. Like a behemoth possibly shifting right out here if they don't deal with her quick.
Logan hisses, and tenses a little, ready to tear herself away from Vincent regardless of what he does to her arm. Hell if he is going to let these fucking angels kill them when they barely did anything.
Reply
Not that Vince really cares about making James bitchy, but, well, there's a treaty to uphold. "We just knocked out some peace agreements between the local demons," he explains. "It'd suck if we had to bump off a couple right here, right now in the middle of the street when the ink on that motherfucker's barely dry."
He doesn't really care about that either, but whatever. Might as well pretend he cares about upholding something that probably won't last.
A squad car, followed by a small army of more, pulls up and out of the lead car steps James himself, who flashes a badge that just earns him an eyeroll from Vince. "I know who you are, James."
"Shut up, Sterling," James snaps. He's not exactly happy that someone always gets to these places before he does, whether it be archangels or those fuckers who picked up that Rak a month ago, but at least it's not some psychotic wanderers this time.
Meanwhile, Missy's been formulating a plan since Vincent agreed to hand them over to the appropriate authorities. She gives Logan a Look. A very significant Look. One that says that they are going to unleash so much hell before this night is over, and then goes back to spitting and hissing and looking generally pissed about being handed such a raw deal.
Vincent holds Logan still long enough for James to handcuff her and take her from him, while another couple of officers head over to take Missy off the other angel's hands. Now free of the demon, he can actually pay attention to this new angel, and... There's something weirdly familiar about her, actually, but he can't put his finger on it.
"I didn't get your name," he says, as soon as he's sure the demons are under control.
Reply
"Sorry, yeah. I'm Julia, nice to meet you. Thanks for the backup there, by the way - not exactly used to that." She's more of a solo hunter, not because she can't play well with others, just because things never quite worked out and eventually you give up on that sort of thing.
Reply
He turns back to Julia. "No problem. Woulda been a bitch if it was just me. Heard the call-in over the scanner and I hadn't gotten any action since, uh..." He trails off, because telling people you got stuck in a coma for four months because your boss shot you in the head is a lovely way to meet new people. "Well, I kinda had a newbie moment, I guess. Happens when you go too long without a good hunt. Probably shoulda taken Leo up on his offer."
Vincent holds up a hand, because he knows he's rambling, and part of it's because he's trying to figure out why she seems so familiar. The name 'Julia' doesn't ring any bells, but it's a common name.
He considers his next statement carefully to prevent further babbling like a moron. "I'm Vincent Sterling. I kinda.. Took over the archangels here."
Reply
"Ohhh... Sterling. Heard of you. Been in Tokyo a few times, though... not recently, I'll admit. Your reputation precedes you, sir."
She reaches up to rake her fingers through loose blonde hair, shaking it out. Now that she's gotten over the initial shock, the cold of the outside air is nice after the heat of the bar.
Reply
And, okay, this is bugging the shit out of him. "In all seriousness... We've never met, have we? 'Cause there's something so familiar about you and I can't... Put my finger on it. Do you know Leo?" There's no need for a last name. Clearly there is only one archangel named Leo. Ever.
Reply
Reply
Relatives... Okay, he knows a lot of angels, knows a lot of-
And that's about when his brain decides that whatever it was doing holding back exactly why Julia looks so familiar is a lost cause and just gives up, leaving him with a realization that smacks him right between the eyes.
"Romana," he says, his tone suddenly going very flat. It doesn't sound like a question, but the slight arch of his eyebrows asks for confirmation from her.
Reply
Leave a comment