Watching the people get lairy/ Is not very pretty I tell thee

[loves_war]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Everywhere
WHEN: The evening of March the 4th and through the night
WARNINGS: Violence
SUMMARY: The City has been saturated in haterade hate gas for days, and the emotions of those affected have hit critical mass. Rioting, fighting, looting, and heroism are all about to break out.
FORMAT: Whatever works

Comments

'SUP SANJI

[unastregadoro]

Beatrice, deep inside, is a little taken aback by Sanji's newfound cold, harsh attitude---she's used to him semi-flirting with her, and she was honestly somewhat touched when he lended her a bit of moral support during the whole Keith fiasco and Bakura's demise. On the surface, however, she's all bemusement and smirks. She lets out a chuckle, saying coyly, "take a wild guess, my dear. All I can say is, the Major is a man of his word."

Indeed. She can see the unbridled rage struggling to force its way out of Sanji's subconscious. And she's going to make a game out of it. To forget. To forget all that she has done.

She will test the limits of his restraint, woman though she is. She snaps her fingers once more, and out come her spears of light---seven of them.

"Lock away that rage, that anger, all you like. It will only make your itch harder to scratch. Don't be silly, Sanji. At their core, humans are animals, and they will give in to their primal instincts."

And she bids the spears to go flying at him, before she teleports away so it'll be difficult for him to counterattack.

[notadartboard]

Sanji didn't know if those things were solid enough to be kicked away, so he simply dodged them, twisting and leaping and turning a handspring to get away. One barely missed, ripping through the loose folds of his winter coat a bit too close to his thigh. As his feet touched down, he considered whether to counter, but he squashed down the urge. It was logical, right? She could teleport and stand off too high for his reach, his style wasn't suited to fighting that. Taking a breath, he straightened up and looked around for where she had gotten to.

"I didn't know you liked them fat and long-winded," he said flippantly, keeping a wary eye on the sky above him. "What has he got that I haven't got - besides three times my weight and number of chins?"

At least none of his crewmates were around, this time. It was much harder to maintain his chivalry when there were others to protect. He didn't care about the civilians at the moment, since most of them didn't care about him either - they were either fleeing the area or involved in their own fights and not even paying attention to a floating witch and a high-kicking pirate.

[unastregadoro]

They are solid---as evidenced when Beatrice reappears (yes) above him, using a tile made of light to stand upon. Her expression is now unreadable, eyeing him critically and looking for a way to at least incapacitate him so she can get him somewhere where the effects will wear off. In the meantime, though, she raises her arms and yells:

"Arise, Shoulder Towers!"

...And with that, two gigantic towers made of light are summoned, glowing brightly as they charge up energy to unleash rapid fire salvos of arrows, swords, and stakes to keep Sanji away from her.

But, she manages a chortle at his remark. "Hah! I'm afraid you have the wrong impression. I was interested in him only for his intellect. But, as it turns out, he is a coward just like the rest who fancy themselves as worldly."

[notadartboard]

Oh, boy, these again. Sanji remembered them from last time. He also remembered that he could kick them all he wanted. Flying swords were easy to dodge, but the hail of arrows and stakes, not so much. He flung off his coat in mid-whirl to block a bunch of them and then launched himself whole-heartedly into the fray. As long as he wasn't anywhere near landing a foot on a lady's person, he could beat the shit out of everything and anything in his way, and so he did.

"Oh," Sanji said in response, gritting his teeth on his latest cigarette, "then you won't mind if I go and find the fat bastard and put my foot through his face." Good, a target would be good, something he could unleash all this pent-up rage towards that wasn't his crew. First, the towers, though, and they were not going to be easy. If he focused on one, he had the other at his back, and simultaneously dodging projectiles from both of them while moving in to kick them directly was stretching him to the limits of his agility and speed. It was exhilarating, though. He hadn't been tested like this in a long time. Ignoring the slashes where arrows got close and ripped across his legs, shoulders, and flanks, Sanji zig-zagged his way in towards the right-hand tower, approaching it from an angle in order to use it to block the projectiles from the second tower.

[unastregadoro]

Guess what? She's going to fortify her towers' defenses----by yelling:

"Arise! Giant Soldier Battle Line!"

...Thusly, about ten golems come to save the day, charging at Sanji as he proceeds to make his way to the towers. Beatrice can't help but cackle a bit at all the blood flying from Sanji's person as he gets struck by the smaller, faster projectiles---he reminds her of a bull seeing nothing but red. Perhaps the sight of his own blood was angering him? Amusing.

"Oh, no. My business with him is done and will never happen a second time. He may have sparked my cooperation at one point, but he also sparked my anger by crossing a very fine line of mine. Tell me, Sanji...are you willing to kill a man for the sake of a child?"

[notadartboard]

One of the golems got him smack in the middle, sending Sanji flying into the nearest building. It took a minute or two, but then the rubble shifted and his lean figure rose up out of the debris, dusting himself off. He was quite a bit more bloodied, but that was generally how he liked it. He had heard her question before getting knocked back, but it wasn't until he was clear of the shattered wall that he could answer.

"It's never so simple, Miss Beatrice. You know that, right?" He wiped some of the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "I have no problems killing someone, sometimes they don't even have to deserve it. But it's pointless to justify it by saying it's for anyone. If you're going to kill, it's going to be because you want to."

With that, Sanji took off at a dead run, heading into the cluster of golems around the nearest tower. The more enemies the better, he had an arsenal of melee attacks that served him well. He vaulted up as high as he could and planted his hands on the head of one, giving himself a perch from which to whirl his legs around and smash his feet into all the others, windmilling through them and then swinging his whole body gracefully upward. Instead of striking down at the last golem, he used it as a springboard to aim a stronger kick at the center of the tower. A few more arrows sliced across his chest as he came, but they weren't enough to slow his momentum as he flipped in mid-air and slammed both feet into the tower.

[unastregadoro]

"Of course it isn't." Beatrice says, with a long, bitter, cold laugh. "Nothing in life ever is."

She watches as her golems get kicked into shards of energy, and her tower toppling to the ground. But Sanji was getting more and more battered and beaten, and that was enough. He had limits. He was only human.

...That comforted her, in a sense. Because it confirmed the fact that she, too, could still live as a human in spite of her previous endless existence, as befitted her former title of "Endless Witch." She could be human and actually exist without having to rely on the fickle sense of belief of mortals in beings like herself.

She was real here. Flesh and blood. As much as it limited her, it freed her at the same time. Staved off the loneliness, the distance. Fighting with Sanji like this...

...But yes. She had wanted to kill Keith Anyan before. She wanted to kill the Major now.

For revenge. Anyan reminded her of the hell that Kinzo had put her through; the Major reminded her of the hell that Lambdadelta had been putting her through.

Beatrice laughs again. She spreads her arms wide, vanishing in a flurry of golden butterflies once more, summoning more tiles and pedestals to stand upon as she calls upon spiked wheels that come hurtling at Sanji as he leaps about.

"But what if the motive behind a murder was revenge? What if the victim had done something terrible to the so-called 'killer'? Is that death, then, not justifiable?"

[notadartboard]

The powers Sanji didn't know he had allowed him to keep fighting for as long as he had the will, or until he was knocked out should that come first. He was aware of the strength, but not the stamina, and yet he didn't question it when he crashed to a landing on the sidewalk and was able to get up and keep going. He paused to light a fresh cigarette, since he had lost his last one when he hit the wall a little while ago. "Who do you need to justify it to?" he asked honestly. "Your reasons are your own. Only Marines and the like feel the need to claim 'justice' for their actions so they can sleep at night. Pirates?" He grinned slyly around the cigarette. "Pirates don't give a damn. If you want to kill someone in revenge, be my guest, as long as it's not me or my crew."

The wheels were coming at him, so he leaped to avoid them and looked for a clear spot on the pavement to plant his foot and kick a few away. He was wary of the second tower, but the hundreds of tiny cuts and nicks from the arrows and stakes were only making him feel more alive. Beatrice was keeping him moving and thinking, and it was much better than striking out in blind hatred at nothing. Of course, the fight was starting to block traffic, but Sanji didn't care. He leaped up onto the hood of a semi and used it to spring up and redirect the wheels into the sides of buildings, up until one came in too quickly and knocked him sprawling again.