[Incomplete]

[battleignition]

Characters: Ouyo/Toushi (battleignition), Bastet (felinemystique), Throne (child_proteus), & Want (unlostsoul)
Date/Time: August 12th/13th, around midnight-early morning, after Ouyo's fight with Gurren
Location: Section 4 housing
Rating: PG-13 to R for lots of violence and Ouyo being a general dick
Summary: Ouyo has taken over Toushi's body again, and wants a fight. Badly. He threatened Bastet, so

Comments

[battleignition]

The slow creak of the door only bright a wider grin to his face. Ouyo smiled rather cheerfully - if you found sadistic cheerful, that is - like the good neighbor he was. The sleepy demeanor of the other man made it clear that he would be taking advantage of an unfair situation from his opponents end, but the thought was fleeting, because he really did not care. At the end of the day, he could easily blame it on all Bastet for not rising to the bait and turning him down so easily. He was sure that regardless of how cool and collected she acted, it would bother her deep down.

"Why would I be joking?" Ouyo asked, trying to appear offended. "I was just getting the munchies. I'm sure you've gotta have somethin' in there. Let me see."

Without warning or invitation, Ouyo stuck his foot into the door before Want could close it, getting rather up close and personal with the dark-haired boy's face. His inked out eyes shone in the moonlight, gleaming with mirth as he held back the urge to laugh in the other's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I wake you? How rude of me. Let me make it up to you."

[unlostsoul]

Want's eyebrow quirked up almost on its own, and he did his best to look unimpressed over his sleepiness. It wasn't that hard; the sleepiness was pulling apart quickly, and wariness was moving in in its wake. This guy had something unsettlingly manic about the way he smiled, in combination with all the other things that were unsettling about him, and Want was not at all pleased to see his foot wedged into the door. Yeah, see? he thought. This is why peepholes and locks are our friends.

Keeping his hand firmly on the door, so that there was a clear line between creepy-guy and the rest of the house, Want took half a step backwards, reclaiming some personal space and giving Throne a better look at the person in the doorway. "He hasn't introduced himself, and I don't recognize him. D'you?" Want asked in a raised voice that made it clear that, though he was still keeping an eye on creepy-guy, he was actually talking to Throne. "He says he wants some sugar to make a cake, so maybe one of us could go get that for him? Bottom cupboard, second from the left."

He raised both his eyebrows now, like he was saying so if I get you what you say you want, are you going to tell me what you actually want?. Want was not actually sure who the guy thought he was fooling, asking for sugar in the middle of the night with a giant sword balanced over his shoulders. Out-loud, though, all he added, voice dry, was "This better not be for a carrot cake 'cause that would just be a frigging waste."

[child_proteus]

Tilting his head to one side, Throne squinted at the figure in the doorway as he tried to rub the last bit of sleep from his eyes. Failing, the world went blurry as he blinked a few times leaning forward. It took Throne a moment for his brain too play catch-up, the various synapses responsible for recognition and association still a bit reluctant to get with the program and help put a name to the shadowed face. "Toushi?" he eventually asked, his face pinching out of confusion and mild curiosity. There were a lot of things Throne could have asked in that moment. Questions like Oh, what are you doing here? or maybe Is anything wrong?. But in that moment, the one thing that Throne was able to grasp and express was, "Wait, you know how to bake?"

The same parts of his brain that had managed to recognize that it was Kazahana's roommate at the door, simultaneously failed to pick up on the fact that something was considerably off about him. That beyond the strangeness of his eyes, the bleached out white of his hair and his skin, that his demeanor -- though never quite calm to begin with -- seemed to almost shiver with the threat of violence. But at the moment it seemed most of Throne's brain was decidedly still on vacation. Because, without a moment's hesitation, he went about doing exactly what Want had asked, poking sleepily through the cupboards, messily brushing the dust from a cup, and measuring out some random unit of sugar for Toushi.

He yawned, setting the cup on the counter, before shaking out the last bits of tiredness from his mind and his body -- much like the way a dog does in an attempt to get dry. Silently, he padded back towards Want, standing behind him and partially obscured by the door. "Sugar," he said, nudging Want with it carefully in his ribs.

[battleignition]

This was entirely too funny. He did not remember them meeting the dark-haired one before, but he definitely knew the voice behind him. And they had actually believed his half-assed rouse and gotten him sugar? He seriously hoped it was the sleepiness that was causing their better judgement to go down the drain faster than a whirlpool. Or perhaps something had clogged the inflow of blood to their brains. That was too bad, it would make this fight much less exciting.

Maybe it's good that they're all fags. If they were giving it to Bastet she might contract their idiocy like some STD. Ouyo shook his head, chuckling in his distorted voice before throwing his head back with a loud, single burst of short laughter.

"Ha! Of course I know how to bake. Not as good as Nova, I'll admit. Maybe I should get her to make this for me instead?" Honestly, the thought of doing anything with Nova made Ouyo just grin wider. She had no idea what was going on. Perhaps he should pay her a visit after this was finished? He was sure her little voice would scream really nicely.

Peering over the first boy's shoulder, Ouyo made a 'tsk tsk' noise. "What, are you trying to stiff me? That's obviously not enough. Here, let me get it." That was all the warning they were going to receive before the dark-eyed version of Toushi shoved himself against the door, using the sword on his shoulders to help prop and push it open. The edge of the blade scratched against the wood, growing deeper before the tip began to poke through the other side.

"You know, it's really rude to leave your guests on the doorstep!" With a grunt, Ouyo half jumped, kicking forward against the door and Want to wedge it open completely, using the sword stuck in the frame as support. Landing back on his feet, Ouyo rolled his shoulders. "T'ch, really. Such HORRIBLE manners! What would Bastet think?"

[unlostsoul]

Want stumbled back a few steps, out of surprise at the impact, and then dug his heel in. This seemed kind of deranged. Even for Toushi, honestly. And Want felt like there was an alarm going off in his head like threat! threat! contain at all costs! Like, he knew he had to keep him away from the civilians. And definitely away from Nova. It was demanding and hard to ignore and after the week he'd had, Want wasn't really inclined to fight it much anyway.

In a few quick steps, he was back at the door, almost face-to-face with Toushi and grabbing the dull edge of the sword in his right hand. He focused on the buzzing in his skin, realizing only at that moment that it'd been there and growing for a while, and let it uncoil until blue sparks of lightning were jumping off him in little arcs, getting higher and brighter every time. And feeding -- thank you, electrical conductivity -- into the blade of the sword. The hilt was insulated or something, so it wasn't like he was at risk of electrifying Toushi -- or, his brain pointed out, whoever is going around in a Toushi-suit -- but it made a point.

"Y'know what else is rude?" he asked, eyebrows twitching down. "Stabbing a giant freaking sword into my door. What the eff, man. This is not The Shining, and I only feel a little like Shelley Duvall."

He let the lightning crawl up his arm, getting wider and brighter to the point where the crackling buzz it made was almost audible and there were inevitably going to be scorch marks left on the door. And then, when it was almost too bright to look at, he kicked Toushi in the shin hard and punched him the clavicle with his substantially less sparky left fist.

[child_proteus]

The moment Toushi -- or was not-quite-Toushi more appropriate? -- connected with door, sending Want backwards, Throne felt a hot spike of what was clearly anger shock through his entire body. His first instinct was to push it down, to try to cover it or conceal it, knowing full well what that feeling meant -- what it would do to his body if he just let it run its course. But immediately, Throne caught himself, the words Want and Nova and threat ricocheting back and forth in his mind.

You're a threat, too, a voice inside of him whispered, you can be if you wanted to. And just like that Throne shut his eyes, letting that ripple shudder its way through his body, still unfamiliar and strange and not entirely pleasant. When he opened his eyes again the room seemed slightly smaller, every corner alight with the bright blaze of Want's electricity, and when Throne looked down at his hands -- those claw-like fingers -- something about the way the blue light touched them made them seem not nearly as scary as they were the first time. Like this, he could feel very clearly the power his body possessed; it thrummed through him -- dangerous, potential, longing to be kinetic -- and as soon as Want threw his first punch, Throne could feel something not quite instinct, more like muscle memory, start to kick in.

"My turn," Throne said lowly, lunging forward to close the space between him and Toushi. Through gritted teeth he let out something halfway between a hiss and a growl, as he brought one arm up and around from his side in a wide uppercut. "Second verse, same as the first," he said, as his fist finally connected squarely with Toushi's stomach -- effectively lifting him off of the ground and sending flying away from the doorway, back outside. "Only this time, with feeling.

Throne smirked, letting out a quite, "heh" as he watched not-quite-Toushi connect with a branch on the opposite side of the path. Raising both eyebrows in what might have been surprise he looked at Want, who was for the time being, seemed considerably shorter than usual. "The Shining?" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "I knew there was a reason I liked you so much."

[battleignition]

The sneer that crossed his face crinkled the skin on his nose, ready to laugh right back in the boy's face. He was half tempted to slice his hand right off for touching his sword, but the sparks of electricity was definitely something he didn't expect. Black eyes watched the hand curiously, all too cocky this his guard down. He really doubted these two could take him out, even with the little bit of static electricity he had somehow conjured up.

"Ch'e!" he just scoffed back, listening with mild interest. Want's witty banter was pretty over Ouyo's head - and Toushi's, for that matter - considering "The Shining" held no significance to him. However, a fist connecting with his shoulder did, as well as the kick to his shin. It stung and caused him to jerk, but instead of letting out a cry of pain, Ouyo only grinned further, yanking his sword free from the door and Want's hand.

"Looks like kitten has grown some claws!"

But he was too distracted with harassing the dark-haired one, that he didn't even give a second thought to the guard dog behind him - or guard beast. There was suddenly a large figure looming there, and for a moment Ouyo's eyes widened. Then that oversized fist shot forward, and consequently, sent him flying back.

He skidded across the ground like a rock skipped on the surface of a lake, tumbling and connecting hard with the supportive wood of the oak. A large crack and a broken branch, Ouyo shakily fell into a heap on the ground, sword haphazardly sliding up beside him. Now his back was quite sore, and there was an open cut on his head, bleeding down across his face into his eye. There was a long pause as he merely stared forward at the door he had flown from and the splinters in his hands. The red liquid ran over his cheek bone, staining the skin. But in a matter of seconds, every place that had been bled on was covered with more of the white, boney mask, leaving nearly half his face concealed by it.

"Ah...ahahhHAHAHAHAAA~~~!!" that wild laugh echoed from his position, yanking his sword up off the ground by the hilt wrapping. He shakily stood up, giving his muscles a moment to ride out the flash of pain, before the little cuts and bruises began to cover with disfigured lumps of bone. Dark eyes narrowed as he began to swing the sword in his hand, the hilt wrapping seeming to grow longer.

"And here I thought I was just going to be wasting my time! Perfect. I need a good work out!" His lips stretched thin to form a wide smile. "But I wonder, boy, can your hulking friend pull that off again!?" The sword snapped forward, flying out like a large, sharp bullet on the end of a whip. It was suddenly like the cloth on the sword had no limit, stretching out as far as it needed and right towards the jolly green giant in the doorway.

[unlostsoul]

Out of the corner of his eyes, Want could see Throne freeze. He just went totally still for a moment, which was particularly disturbing looking on Throne who usually found some way to always be moving or doing something. It was a pretty momentary thing, but Throne didn't have lots of moments to spare with a sword flying straight at his chest. It was moving so fast, Want probably wouldn't be able to tell what it was if he hadn't got a good look at it before it was thrown. Throne had maybe four seconds and counting to get out of the way, but his full-stop made it almost impossible to get going fast enough now.

For some reason he couldn't begin to fathom -- and didn't want to -- Want had a very accurate, vivid mental picture of what metal cutting into Throne's stomach would look like, and it made him feel sick and like he wanted to rip Toushi's fucking throat out all at once. Three seconds. There wasn't time to pull him out of the way. Getting in between was suicidal. Two seconds. Want did the only thing he could: he closed his eyes and wished for Throne to be somewhere else.

Sound hollowed out the way it had the first time he managed his lightning. It was like the only thing he could hear, almost at all, was his own thoughts. Like a dip in air pressure, so sudden that it almost made his ears ache. He could feel the air rush past his face as the sword cut past him, but he couldn't hear it happen. Couldn't hear it impact.

And then the pressure popped, and Want snapped his eyes open to find Throne behind him, not beside him, out of the path of the sword which now seemed to stretch somewhere back into the kitchen, where it had shattered a cabinet, all of its contents, and most of a wall. Want glanced sideways, breathless, making sure Throne was whole, just a second's glance. He didn't want to ask or question or think how. Who knew? There wasn't time right now. Throne was okay, and he was already looking in the opposite direction, eyes narrowing at Toushi and his hand rising slightly, sparking already.

"Your face is hulking, oh snap," he spat and sent a wide sheet of electricity slamming through the air towards Toushi.

HI THERE, PING. I WAS HULKLING IN A FORMER LIFE.

[child_proteus]

There was a moment when time seemed to stop as Throne's brain seemed to catch on something that Toushi had said. Hulking, he thought absently as soon as he heard it, wait...what? The word sent a ripple of recognition through Throne, a strange jumble of emotional resonances -- not all of them good -- that made the world fall away for a moment and left Throne suspended in the vast wasteland of his stripped memories. It wasn't until the last moment that he realized that he was in danger and just as he was about react or mutter oh hell or quite possibly die, it was as if everything in existence just flickered on and off for a moment -- kind of like blinking, only this time, when he reopened his eyes everything had shifted several feet farther away. "What the fuck?" he asked, looking around sharply and more than just slightly disoriented. Somewhere off to the side was the sound of Toushi's sword connecting with part of the kitchen and all Throne could think in response was, Questions later.

Throne lunged, back towards the sword, hoping to catch its tether of cloth with both hands, but, miscalculating Toushi's reaction time slightly, it slipped though his fingers as it suddenly snapped taut again in recoil. "Fuck," Throne muttered, realizing at the last minute that physics dictated that this meant that the sword was not coming back. Throwing himself backwards at the last minute, he barely missed dodging the edge of the wide blade, which cut deeply into the both of his forearms as he threw them up to protect himself.

Clumsy bastard, he thought to himself feeling that familiar bright burn of pain run up and down his arms, making him see stars for a moment He tried very hard to keep his eye on the sword as it whipped back to Toushi, completely blindsided by how quickly he was able to reel it back into him while still maintaining its deadliness on its return trip. His arms stung as he finally caught himself, twisting his whole body round as he hunched down for a minute like a runner about to sprint a mile. Springing back up he moved towards Want, wincing openly as he began to feel his body start to mend itself.

"I don't know however the fuck you did that," he said under his breath sideways, his eyes flickering down and to the side to look at Want's profile for a moment, "just tell me you can do it again." Turning his attention back to Toushi, he sneered, wiping at the blood staining the undersides of both of his arms, before brandishing their undersides towards. The skin there -- undeniably green -- was completely unblemished except for the single seam that ran across them that, even now, seemed to pull itself tight before disappearing altogether. Throne hissed.

"Nice try, Casper," he then growled loudly, dropping his arms back down and baring his teeth. "You're gonna have to try harder, if you wanna leave a mark."

[felinemystique]

Even though she'd come back in the house, her nerves hadn't let her sleep. She tried to busy herself; washing her face, getting a drink of water. But by then she was still so uneasy, she knew she wouldn't be able to relax that night. She figured if she wasn't going to actually sleep, she might as well go back and keep watch on the roof.

About fifteen minutes after she'd come back in, she heard a muffled crash, and the uneasy feeling she'd had all this time crystallized into a strange awareness. He was here--and despite her wish to keep any of her friends uninvolved, it sounded like they were already right in the middle of it.

"Fuck," she snarled, running outside. Ouyo was outside Drake and Want's house, his sword recoiling towards him after having apparently been launched at his opponents.

But the two boys seemed to be holding their own for the time being--a wave of what looked like lightning was shooting towards Ouyo. She wouldn't get in the middle of that, so her decision was made for her--she flickered, reappearing to one side of the doorway and calling out to avoid getting caught in another attack.

"Throne, Want--are either of you hurt?" she asked, her voice raised. She kept her eyes on Ouyo, sure that not even lightning would be enough to bring him down.

[battleignition]

To say he was surprised would be an understatement - simple physics said that a man that large and bulky could not move so quickly to dodge his attack, but through the door way he simply watched his sword fly into nothing before making contact with the walls of the house. Interesting, and a little annoying, Ouyo made a scoffing noise before yanking the weapon back towards him like a cowboy reeling in cattle. He had enough time to sneer at the couple's comment, grabbing the hilt of the sword as it came back to him. In that instant, the wave of lightning flew from the house, and on instinct Ouyo lifted up the large sword, using the broad side to block the attack as best he could.

The energy whipped about the blade, almost like a conductor as it flew about his arms. It stung and burned, feeling like thousands of hot little needle points attacking him all at once. But there was something in it that was not complete electricity in the natural sense, something in it that just reeked of Want. With some effort, he swung the sword out in a large arch, breaking through the attack like he would through chains holding him down. Red lashes decorated his arms and hands, but Ouyo ignored the pain as he always did and instead, just laughed.

"Nice light show!" he mocked, bearing his teeth like a wolf. "And look! Bastet's finally come to join the party. How sweet of you! But, you know, you should be careful what you wish for."

Snapping the sword back up, he spun it in his hands for only a few seconds before whipping it out again, but this time in wide arcs back and for against the front of the house, making an attempt to not only get Bastet involved, but scare the mice from their hole as well.

[unlostsoul]

"B!" Want shouted, feeling his hand snap back as Toushi broke his spell. It felt weird, like he'd been holding onto something heavy by a string and now, suddenly, the string had been cut. Not painful, but distinctly weird for a second, as the energy he'd been pouring into the lightning dissipated, directionless now, going off any which way and disappearing. He took a half step forward, meaning to add, "We're fine!" when that damn sword came slicing right across the front of the house, sending a spray of wood splinter and chunks of plaster into his face.

So he fell back again, into the doorway, with his hands going up instinctively in front of his face to shield it. He spat, trying to clear the gritty, dusty bits out of his mouth and then glared out between his wrists, shouting, "What the hell did my house ever do to you?

Short of charging head-long into the path of the blade, they were sort of trapped. They could go around to a window and crawl out but that would mean taking their eyes of Toushi and leaving Bastet to manage on her own until they did. He reached back blindly with one hand, finding Throne's wrist and muttering, "No fucking clue how I did it either. Or if I can do it again. Wanna find out?" Before he got an answer, he was already digging around, finding that feeling from before and pulling it up again. It was hard to concentrate on without the immediacy of needing to save Throne but before long, everything sounded like it was echoing again, and Want could see faint blue light shining against his closed eyelids, and he had just enough time to say, "Let's pray I don't bring us back inside the damn tree" before they both winked out. Want could almost swear there was an overlap, a point when they were in both places at once but as soon as he thought it, they were fully outside, and the feeling was gone.

He snapped his eyes open, reorienting, finding Toushi and Bastet and figuring out where he was in comparison. Then, he glanced over his shoulder, half-smiling and quirking an eyebrow. "After you, T," he said.

[child_proteus]

"...let's pray I don't bring us back inside the damn tree..."

This was the last thing that Throne heard, his head turning towards Want, catching a quick glimpse of blue light -- like tiny licks of flame curling out the tips of Want's fingers -- before the world did that strange blinking thing again. One second here, one second there; although this time there seemed to be a second in between when all there was for a moment was the sensation of Want's fingers around Throne's wrist and that overall wash of blue light -- a sensation that seemed to come from within, rather than without. But as quickly as the moment came, it was gone again, the world resolving itself around them, Throne giving a small stumble forward, catching himself at the last minute.

Looking around, Throne quickly surveyed his surroundings, his mind taking stock of the shift in perspective as his eyes landed on the important parts of the equation. Bastet, Toushi, that damn sword, and a few steps ahead of him, looking back at him now, Want. "My pleasure," he said, feeling himself half-smile in response. As his eyes slid from Want's face towards a slightly bewildered looking Toushi, the smile quickly receded, the muscles of his face relaxing before growing hard with intent.

"If that's the best you've got," Throne then shouted, lunging forward, his attention trained on the edge of his sword as Toushi turned now in his direction, brandishing it. "Survey says you should maybe consider other career options." His original intention was to clothesline him, but when the tip of the blade came forward towards him, Throne had barely enough to speed or wherewithal to get out of its direct path, and instead of skewering him properly, it took a long forceful swipe along the side of his body, cutting deep into his torso for the entire length of the blade. Pain -- deep, almost to the bone -- shot up along Throne's body. For a moment, all he could see was stars, swimming across his field vision, but quickly those dissolved, revealing Toushi suddenly very close -- his black eyes laughing along with his mouth, his body moving as if to take another swipe.

In response, Throne reached out with both hands, aimed for Toushi's on the handle of his sword. Like this, with his claw-like fingers, Toushi's grip was easily covered with Throne's own, and -- concentrating very hard -- Throne tried to keep the sword's edge away from him with an intention to actually still it, twisting the hilt, wrestling Toushi for control and -- for a moment, however tentative -- actually gaining it.

Sneering, he pushed his face down close to Toushi's -- his extra height forcing him to bow down slightly. He inhaled sharply as he began to feel his body once again try to mend itself, the torn flesh slowly pulling itself together, making a wet disgusting sound. Reflexively his hands wrapped tighter around Toushi's, a small voice in the back of his mind shouting very loudly about not knowing his own strength and something about broken bones.

"'Cause you know," he snarled, his eyes flickering from Toushi to the trembling blade held off tentatively to one side, "this whole I'm a psychopath with a big knife thing? Clearly needs work."

[felinemystique]

Bastet was relieved to hear neither of them had been injured--they may all have a chance of getting out of this okay after all. She leapt into the air as the sword raked across the front of the house, landing on the roof and shielding her face from the resulting debris. Throne and Want appeared outside a moment later, and she didn't have time to contemplate how they'd done it.

Moonlight glinted dully off the bone mask covering half of Ouyo's face and everything in her recoiled, shrieking break it break it break it. Before she could call out to Throne and Want, Throne charged forward, and she winced as the sword bit deeply into his stomach. Intellectually, she knew it should heal, but that didn't mean she liked seeing it. You fucker, she thought, her eyes narrowing. Anything to get me to fight you, huh? But no matter how angry she was with Ouyo, she was even angrier with herself for not handling him better and preventing all this in the first place.

The world flickered in that incredibly natural way, and she reappeared next to Want as Throne grappled with Ouyo. "Want," she said urgently, keeping her voice low. "We need to break that mask. I don't know how long Throne can hold him still, but we need to move."

[battleignition]

For one standing in front of a tall, overly muscular green man who was obviously displeased with him, Ouyo kept a rather good face. It had been clear to him from the start that the jolly green giant overpowered him in the brute strength category - as was to be expected by something THAT big - but Ouyo never relied on such a simple tactic. If all he could do was swing a sword around, Toushi really wouldn't have any problems. Unfortunately, Throne was just at the wrong place.

The edges of his lips twisted further as his arms shook, pushing back against Throne just to keep himself from loosing complete control over his own blade. A distorted cackle slipped from between his grinning teeth, dark eyes narrowing further in amusement. The mask continue to collect pieces of bone out of no where, collecting further on his jaw and forehead, covering up his nose completely now. It seemed each time he reappeared, it just kept getting bigger. This was a good sign.

Having this man take his sword and insult him so childishly, though, was not something Ouyo was going to simply let laying down.

"You want to see something better?" he said with a cocky sneer. Pushing his left hand up on the blunt edge of the blade, he just grinned.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

In an instant, the sword was glowing a bright light, almost holy, but nothing good came out of it. Half a second later, black energy tinted with red at the edges built on the receiving end of Ouyo's blade, expanding to an impossible size in minutes, like a freight train of wave energy before it exploded. Laughing wildly, Ouyo shot backwards, ripping the sword away as he allowed Throne to see why he should keep that big green mouth of his shut.

"AhahaHAA~~~! HEH HEH HEEHHHH~~~!! You really are pathetic, Toushi!! To not have figured this out!" He slid backwards on his feet, letting his heels dig into the tree to slow him to a stop. With a breaking smile, he spun the cleaver about in his hands, drawing a cracking whip of that black energy from the edge. "Would you like an encore!?"

[unlostsoul]

Want started when Bastet appeared at his side. Fixated on the fight in front of him, he'd forgotten for a moment that maybe what they really needed here was long-term strategy and not just reacting to every swing of the sword like this was something new and unexpected. But now that she said it, it made perfect sense. He glanced over and up at her, eyebrows rising and then falling again as his eyes skitted back over to Throne. It made his fingers twitch into tight fists to watch, but it was better than just trying to guess what was going on based on the noises. He looked particularly, this time, at Toushi's face, however, and the eerie smooth, white mask that seemed to be growing actually out of the skin.

"Break it?" he echoed uncertainly, then firming his lips into a line, he nodded sharply. "Whatever you say, B. I don't... think there's anything I can do to break it, but I can circle around and try to help distract him. Okay?"

His eyes flickered sideways for a second, waiting for permission to go ahead with this plan, but then, like she'd said, they need to move. Want sprinted off, aiming to loop around to somewhere sort of behind or off to the side of Toushi where he might be able to fire off another blast of lightning without catching Throne as well.

He faltered for a second when the sword started glowing and then spun, shielding his face with his arm and the side of his body as a beam of black something came rushing out of the sword like this massive tidal wave, spreading and crashing into Throne. "Throne!" he had time to shout, before the energy spread out, crashing into Want's side too, blowing him backwards and hitting his shoulder in a way that felt like he was being burnt and cut at the same time. He hit the ground and rolled, swearing, and then came back to his feet again, swaying for a moment as pain flared out from his shoulder.

"Ugh," he muttered and raising his voice, he shouted, "Your people skills kind of need work, you know? Like, lots of it." He brought his hands up again and let off another long, fast crackle of lightning, not waiting to see if it was deflected or if it landed or what because he was already dodging across the ground again over towards Throne.