Hueco Mundo Infiltration - Behind Door #1
WHO: Yasutora Sado, Simon Parker/Simeon, Maria Tegawa, Lady Vol puppeted by Sousuke Aizen
WHAT: What Chad, Simeon, and Maria found behind the first door. And a very sweet ending.
WHEN: September 12, 2008
WHERE: Hueco Mundo
The door on the left leads into a big, black chamber. The tiles are hexagonal in shape and neatly fitted together. The exit is on the far side, with what appears to be stairs slanting upwards. Fresh air seems to be coming from that direction with a light, cool breeze that washes over the staleness of the room. It should be fairly easy to cross, save for the Arrancar standing guard. It looks somewhat female in shape, though the shoulders are broader and bonier, with the hips narrowed and legs tapered into sharp little points rather than feet. Her hair is wild and black, and a whip-like tail thrashes the air with her movements. Wicked claws sprout from her fingertips, and a feral, jagged bone mask seems permanently glued to the top half of her face. This is Lady Vol.
Running ahead, Chad never expected anyone to follow him. Not that he'd turn help down, either. Truth be told he was still feeling a little less than confident in his abilities...
His pace doesn't slow until he reaches the exit into the new room. He doesn't waste time looking around, he notices the Arrancar first, and anything else that might decorate the area becomes horribly insignificant. His body tenses as he keeps his gaze locked on the female, not sure how to start.
It's not like him to strike first, but can he afford to wait to be the reciever of the initial blow?
Simeon is hot on Chad's heels. The Balseraph is careful to stay between Maria and whatever nasties might be lurking further down the corridor--the Judge leaves a trail of phantom blood droplets in its wake as the demon waves it here and there, jumping at shadows. Then they pass through the door, and a spiritual signature assaults Simeon's senses.
"Arrancar," he says, holding out an arm to motion for Maria to halt. Not Grimmjow. Part of Simeon is a little disappointed by this.
Scions apparently react strangely to this place, if Shane and Maria were any indication.
"I hope someone runs across her." Maria murmurs as she briskly walks along, not far after Chad. She wasn't nessessarily following him, per say, but the presence of a local was helpful. Well, local in the sense of being from the world this...underworld belongs to.
At theh appearance of the half-masked woman, Maria stops and reaches for her pen-the disguised spear of truth. "Ah. An arrancar. I see what they mean by the mask."
Chad continues to stare at Lady Vol. TENSION!
The Arrancar's tail continues to swish; sometimes the motions appear agitated, sometimes slow and thoughtful. One by one she studies the assortment of party members, sizing them up. "A humaaaannnn," she speaks, the words sounding garbled within her strangely-shaped mouth. "You arrrre big. But boring." And she moves from Chad to Maria. The sight of the woman causes the Arrancar's glowing eyes to narrow to hateful slits. "You. Your scent reeks of weakness," she practically spits, the black chunks of hair stiffening. And then she regards Simeon.
Lash. Lash lash. ...Purrrrrrrrrrrr.
"Now what's a handsome fellow like you doing in a place like thiiiissss?" her tone changes immediately as she drops to her palms, strutting forward saucily on all fours. "You would not wish us to be enemies, hmmmm? Good friends we could be...veeeery good friends."
Is it...she...hitting on /him/? And in Celestial form, no less. Then her head abruptly snaps around, jaws dislocating to open her mouth to an impossible width as she belches flames at Chad and Maria. "You two I have no use for, save meat for nourishment!"
Lady Vol misses Yasutora Sado with her FIIIIYAAAAAHHHHH! attack.
Lady Vol hits Maria Tegawa with her FIIIIYAAAAAHHHHH! attack.
The Balseraph drops into a fighting stance--knees bent, arms drawn back, blade held out perpendicular to his shoulders like it was a fraction of its real size. Tegawa might recognize it as Sephiroth's, or something very similar to it. As Lady Vol struts towards him, he /laughs/--the sound is halfway between a snake's hiss and an eerie resonant chuckle.
"I don't do living dead," Simeon quips. "And besides, I'm spoken for." By /whom/ is a mystery for the ages. The shadows under Simeon's hood shift, and for a split-second, six green, burning eyes are visible beneath it. "Wrong answer, lady. Now /die/." Simeon is a blur as he rushes towards Lady Vol, bringing the Judge down in a violent slash aimed across her torso. If it hits, the wound... bleeds far more than it has any right to.
Then again, this is Bleach, copious blood loss is par for the course.
Simon Parker critically strikes Lady Vol with his Mighty Cleave attack.
"And you reek of ignorance. How disappointing that, when encountering something new, you immediately qualifiy it with weakness." The golden pen twists over her knuckles before suddenly being grabbed by her fingers with one violent motion. Light spreads in her palm and the spear of truth appears. "Now stand down and continue being disgusting elsewhere, I have no time for you."
Standing down does not occur. Setting on fire does-something Maria usually weathers so well with her power. Today's slightly different though and the flames seem to /hurt/ more than usual. Scowling, Maria takes a fierce step foward...
...and slams the point of the spear at Lady Vol's throat.
Maria Tegawa hits Lady Vol with her LONGINUSSS?! no not really attack.
Chad has no witty retort, it's not in his nature. He does move to try to intercept Lady Vol before she can get close to Simeon, though, but is met with a wall of flame. He just narrowly avoids it, by ducking to the side and rolling a few feet away.
No one told Chad that Stop Drop and Roll is only for when you are actually on fire.
Getting back to his feet, he spares his words. He doesn't expect this Arrancar would provide decent banter, aside from more hissy insults. Forming his spiritual armor over his right arm, which takes on a decidedly different pattern than it did back on Coruscant, he fires a quick blast at the Arrancar out of his fist.
He doesn't like to hit a woman, but it doesn't count if it's by lazor-proxy, right?
Yasutora Sado hits Lady Vol with his I'MA FIRIN MAH-- oh hell with it, you know the drill attack.
Vol yelps as she's struck by Simon's sword, leaving a burning jagged line across her body from hip to shoulder and throwing her back to go spinning across the floor. She scrambles back to her claws and points, snarling. "Oh no...your claim will be invaaaaaalidated before the hour is past," she warns, before she comes charging across the tiles once again and leaping for the Balseraph with outstretched claws.
She never reaches him. Maria's spear catches her in the throat, silencing her yelp with a strangled noise, shortly before Chad's blast lifts her clean off, bounces her off the ceiling, and drops her violently back to the floor. The tail twitches, and Vol's body shudders. Moist cracking noises sound as she pushes herself back up, bones disjointed and being popped into place. "S-so...be it..." she rasps, her voice fading fast as blazing fluids drip from the hole in her throat. "Alllll...immolaaaaation..."
Fire explodes from every wound and every orifice, filling the room with a power that chills the bones and chars the flesh.
Lady Vol hits Yasutora Sado with her Alliteration Attack! attack.
Lady Vol gets a glancing blow on Maria Tegawa with her Alliteration Attack! attack.
Lady Vol misses Simon Parker with her Damn your alias attack.
Simeon reacts out of instinct. The Balseraph Sings a few bars of something that sounds suspiciously like Gimme Shelter--his voice is beautiful, even though the notes are underscored by jangling ripples in reality. A wall of green energy surrounds Parker mere seconds before the fire wave hits. For a few moments, he's lost in the blaze, a black silhouette against a fire-bright background.
And when the fire stops, he's still standing, still surrounded by that green glowing shield.
"Not bad," he says. "But predictable." Simeon's form distorts and shudders, transforming from a human... into something else. A monstrous serpent, easily thirty feet long and big enough to devour a grown man. "Sit down, please." The Serpent's next attack isn't physical at all--instead, he lashes out with his Willpower in a vicious crushing attack, striking at the very essence of Lady Vol's being. It feels, physically, like someone or something has the Arrancar in a vise. Mentally, it's not that much different.
Simon Parker misses Lady Vol with his I'M CRUSHING YOUR HEAD attack.
Chad has no luck dodging this fiery blast. He ducks out of the way of the flames the moment he is able, furiously patting himself down to put them out.
So he doesn't stop drop and roll when he NEEDS to.
He decides that if lasers don't work, he'll have to try something a bit more direct. No, he's still not going to punch her directly, but the attack will certainly be physical.
Partially kneeling for a moment, Chad's right fist is driven into the floor, breaking it up into several large chunks. Hefting the largest piece of debris, Chad flings the massive projectile at Lady Vol. There's no witty remark like 'heads up' or 'the sky is falling'. The stone chunk should speak for itself. He doesn't let up, though, he picks up and flings the remaining pieces that were broken up from the strike. They're not as big, but the hail of debris should do some damage to the considerably frail-looking Lady Vol.
Yasutora Sado hits Lady Vol with his Head's Up! The Sky is Falling! super.
"I get subjected to fire so often, I wonder what it is. I think you may be onto something with the predictability, Simeon." It's true, at least the last four people she's fought have /exploded/ at her and expected her to turn to ash. This time, the power of the Aegis comes into play, warding off some of the flames and allowing the lawyer to handle far more punishment.
She was going to continue with the spear but then Chad hurls a particularily large piece of stone at the woman. Grinning, she thumbs through her packet of post-it notes and pulls out one in particular. Moving swiftly, she steps forward and sticks the note to the rock, then slams her hand down next to it.
The tranmutation array drawn upon it flares to life and the debris shifts itself into stalagtites, all pointed into the woman.
For those who are sensitive to the powers of the spirit, there's a sudden burst of HOLY F***!!!!! from the direction of the room where Ichigo went.
Maria Tegawa hits Lady Vol with her ONCE MORE WITH FEELING attack.
Simeon's attack is powerful. /Very/ powerful. But never underestimate the willpower of the dead and their determination to survive. Vol grits her teeth, her injured body trembling as she struggles against the mental attack...and then she throws back her head with a shriek that could shatter glass, throwing off the effects. "No...you shaaaaall not have me...I...shall have yooooouuu...consuuuuuume you...make you...miiiiiine."
Snake or not, she still seems to want him, and badly at that. She takes one unsteady step forward, before rocks fall and every Arrancar dies. Shards of rock courtesy of the lady lawyer spear her form, nailing her to the wall. And then Chad's big hunk of floor falls to seal the deal. The flames begin to hiss, diminish, and fade with a curl of acrid smoke.
There's a long moment of silence. But before anyone can feel too comfortable with a victory, the rocks explode, and a bloodied mess of the Arrancar comes tearing across the floor. Her arms is missing. Half her head is gone. The tail is missing chunks of bone and flesh, but it lashes out razor sharp at Maria and Chad as she guns straight for the serpentine target. She leaps for Simeon, teeth bared to take a bite out of his scaly flesh, gulping down what she can and digging with her claws for more.
Lady Vol misses Yasutora Sado with her Whip It! attack.
Lady Vol gets a glancing blow on Maria Tegawa with her Whip It Good! attack.
Lady Vol hits Simon Parker with her OM NOM NOM attack.
This is getting /way/ too personal for Simeon's tastes. Granted, this isn't the first time some creepy woman has hit on him, but the biting is taking things a bit too f--
There's a rustling of coils, as Simeon just... sits there, and takes the hit. Vol's fangs bite deep into his side, gouging out chunks of flesh, but the Balseraph merely braces himself and tries not to scream in pain.
Another rustling of coils. The Serpent's bulk shifts, coils wrapping around Lady Vol's broken form even as she tears into him. All it takes is force of will, and a quick tensing of muscles. Simeon constricts, eyes narrowing as he attempts to choke the life out of the Arrancar with his own body. "Good night," he hisses.
Simon Parker hits Lady Vol with his CRUSHING YOUR HEAD (and everything else, really) attack.
Lady Vol has been knocked out!
Only now does Maria really take notice of what Simeon has become. Is this his /true/ form? His true demonic form that Deliah is trying to save him from? ...it's...actually not that bad. Maria is biased, however.
Hissing, Maria recoils as she is whipped, stepping backwards and not yet attacking. She doesn't need to, not as Simeon sails in and squeezes the arrancar to death.
"AHHhhHhhhIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Vol howls, throwing her head back. Her body crunches, oozing blood that runs in thick rivulets over the snake's scales. The glowing eyes from within the mask flare...then fade...before her head lolls brokenly.
The heat of the room, baked into the tiles, gradually begins to diminish. This Arrancar is very, very dead.
Gradually, the coils retract--Simeon doesn't let go until he's damn certain the thing is very, very dead. The Serpent's six-eyed head turns around and looks at the mortal remains of Lady Vol, and a shudder wracks his frame. "Made quite a mess," the Balseraph grunts. A quick shift of his body dumps the Arrancar's corpse on the ground, where a tail-lash swats it into a corner. "I am going to go home and shower, and I am still not going to feel clean."
The Balseraph Sings once more; this tune is as eerily beautiful as the last, and no less professional for being sung by an enormous goddamn snake. Maria will find the worst of her wounds healing, and a repeat chorus does the same for Simeon's own injuries. A leathery wing reaches out to try and wrap around Maria's shoulders in the Balseraph equivalent of a shoulder to lean on. "Are you all right?" he asks.
Surreal, is what anyone else would probably describe it. While this shouldn't be unusual for Maria given her background, there is still something that's rather surprising about finding out a close friend's...true form. Especially as a large, singing snake. Any apprehension over the matter is quickly washed away with the song.
She sighs in relief, "I feel better now..but I am alright for the most part." She doesn't move as the wing is draped around her, instead curiously lifting a hand to touch it. "You seem well."
Just wait until you see a Shedite, Maria.
Or don't, if you value your sanity.
"Doing much better now that I'm not being hit on by some freak," Simeon grumps. Slowly he settles into a more relaxed pose, looking Maria in the eyes. "You're not screaming and running, and you haven't called me a monster, and that makes me feel even better." The wing feels perfectly solid, leathery and (oddly enough) warm to the touch. This Serpent isn't cold-blooded.
"But yes, this is me. Anything else is just a seeming or a vessel."
Maria holds his gaze, unwavering as the demon peers at her. "It's funny, Sephiroth reacted in a similar way not long after the JENOVA incident. Always expected to run or call things monsters when they reveal their true forms."
She narrows her eyes a little. "Like Sephiroth, you have been true to me in our interactions and are therefore still you, regardless of whether you adopt a human shape or this one." The warmth is a bit more of a shock to Maria. She's far too used to her reptiles being cold-blooded creatures. "You remind me a little of a coatl."
Something scrabbles furiously in the back of Simeon's mind at the word 'true', but he ignores it. The Balseraph retracts his wing, replacing it with a coil; if Maria doesn't freak out or otherwise react badly, he gives her shoulders a gentle squeeze before retreating from her entirely. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that from someone who means it," the demon says. The look on his face softens, and he actually /smiles/--it does not look very pleasant, needless to say, but the sentiment is there.
Another shift and pop, and the demon is back in his humanoid form. The Judge is back in its sheath, and the hood is back in place, obscuring Simeon's face. "Coatl, hmm?" A pause, as he closes his eyes. "I don't sense anything else nearby. I think we're in the clear for now."
Smiling snake is a /little/ unsettling, even if it is friendly. She doesn't move either as she receives the equivalent of a hug, though there is still the distinct sensation that Maria isn't one to welcome the touch of others very often. If at all.
"Then we should keep moving." She says, touching upon the matter at hand and somewhat happy to discard the talk of monsters. This is especially true as Agrias starts talking elsewhere.
Maria Tegawa is also watching Simon make sockpuppet motions with some amusement.
Simon Parker looks at Maria. "...What?"
Maria Tegawa tsks. "Nothing."
WHAT: What Chad, Simeon, and Maria found behind the first door. And a very sweet ending.
WHEN: September 12, 2008
WHERE: Hueco Mundo
The door on the left leads into a big, black chamber. The tiles are hexagonal in shape and neatly fitted together. The exit is on the far side, with what appears to be stairs slanting upwards. Fresh air seems to be coming from that direction with a light, cool breeze that washes over the staleness of the room. It should be fairly easy to cross, save for the Arrancar standing guard. It looks somewhat female in shape, though the shoulders are broader and bonier, with the hips narrowed and legs tapered into sharp little points rather than feet. Her hair is wild and black, and a whip-like tail thrashes the air with her movements. Wicked claws sprout from her fingertips, and a feral, jagged bone mask seems permanently glued to the top half of her face. This is Lady Vol.
Running ahead, Chad never expected anyone to follow him. Not that he'd turn help down, either. Truth be told he was still feeling a little less than confident in his abilities...
His pace doesn't slow until he reaches the exit into the new room. He doesn't waste time looking around, he notices the Arrancar first, and anything else that might decorate the area becomes horribly insignificant. His body tenses as he keeps his gaze locked on the female, not sure how to start.
It's not like him to strike first, but can he afford to wait to be the reciever of the initial blow?
Simeon is hot on Chad's heels. The Balseraph is careful to stay between Maria and whatever nasties might be lurking further down the corridor--the Judge leaves a trail of phantom blood droplets in its wake as the demon waves it here and there, jumping at shadows. Then they pass through the door, and a spiritual signature assaults Simeon's senses.
"Arrancar," he says, holding out an arm to motion for Maria to halt. Not Grimmjow. Part of Simeon is a little disappointed by this.
Scions apparently react strangely to this place, if Shane and Maria were any indication.
"I hope someone runs across her." Maria murmurs as she briskly walks along, not far after Chad. She wasn't nessessarily following him, per say, but the presence of a local was helpful. Well, local in the sense of being from the world this...underworld belongs to.
At theh appearance of the half-masked woman, Maria stops and reaches for her pen-the disguised spear of truth. "Ah. An arrancar. I see what they mean by the mask."
Chad continues to stare at Lady Vol. TENSION!
The Arrancar's tail continues to swish; sometimes the motions appear agitated, sometimes slow and thoughtful. One by one she studies the assortment of party members, sizing them up. "A humaaaannnn," she speaks, the words sounding garbled within her strangely-shaped mouth. "You arrrre big. But boring." And she moves from Chad to Maria. The sight of the woman causes the Arrancar's glowing eyes to narrow to hateful slits. "You. Your scent reeks of weakness," she practically spits, the black chunks of hair stiffening. And then she regards Simeon.
Lash. Lash lash. ...Purrrrrrrrrrrr.
"Now what's a handsome fellow like you doing in a place like thiiiissss?" her tone changes immediately as she drops to her palms, strutting forward saucily on all fours. "You would not wish us to be enemies, hmmmm? Good friends we could be...veeeery good friends."
Is it...she...hitting on /him/? And in Celestial form, no less. Then her head abruptly snaps around, jaws dislocating to open her mouth to an impossible width as she belches flames at Chad and Maria. "You two I have no use for, save meat for nourishment!"
Lady Vol misses Yasutora Sado with her FIIIIYAAAAAHHHHH! attack.
Lady Vol hits Maria Tegawa with her FIIIIYAAAAAHHHHH! attack.
The Balseraph drops into a fighting stance--knees bent, arms drawn back, blade held out perpendicular to his shoulders like it was a fraction of its real size. Tegawa might recognize it as Sephiroth's, or something very similar to it. As Lady Vol struts towards him, he /laughs/--the sound is halfway between a snake's hiss and an eerie resonant chuckle.
"I don't do living dead," Simeon quips. "And besides, I'm spoken for." By /whom/ is a mystery for the ages. The shadows under Simeon's hood shift, and for a split-second, six green, burning eyes are visible beneath it. "Wrong answer, lady. Now /die/." Simeon is a blur as he rushes towards Lady Vol, bringing the Judge down in a violent slash aimed across her torso. If it hits, the wound... bleeds far more than it has any right to.
Then again, this is Bleach, copious blood loss is par for the course.
Simon Parker critically strikes Lady Vol with his Mighty Cleave attack.
"And you reek of ignorance. How disappointing that, when encountering something new, you immediately qualifiy it with weakness." The golden pen twists over her knuckles before suddenly being grabbed by her fingers with one violent motion. Light spreads in her palm and the spear of truth appears. "Now stand down and continue being disgusting elsewhere, I have no time for you."
Standing down does not occur. Setting on fire does-something Maria usually weathers so well with her power. Today's slightly different though and the flames seem to /hurt/ more than usual. Scowling, Maria takes a fierce step foward...
...and slams the point of the spear at Lady Vol's throat.
Maria Tegawa hits Lady Vol with her LONGINUSSS?! no not really attack.
Chad has no witty retort, it's not in his nature. He does move to try to intercept Lady Vol before she can get close to Simeon, though, but is met with a wall of flame. He just narrowly avoids it, by ducking to the side and rolling a few feet away.
No one told Chad that Stop Drop and Roll is only for when you are actually on fire.
Getting back to his feet, he spares his words. He doesn't expect this Arrancar would provide decent banter, aside from more hissy insults. Forming his spiritual armor over his right arm, which takes on a decidedly different pattern than it did back on Coruscant, he fires a quick blast at the Arrancar out of his fist.
He doesn't like to hit a woman, but it doesn't count if it's by lazor-proxy, right?
Yasutora Sado hits Lady Vol with his I'MA FIRIN MAH-- oh hell with it, you know the drill attack.
Vol yelps as she's struck by Simon's sword, leaving a burning jagged line across her body from hip to shoulder and throwing her back to go spinning across the floor. She scrambles back to her claws and points, snarling. "Oh no...your claim will be invaaaaaalidated before the hour is past," she warns, before she comes charging across the tiles once again and leaping for the Balseraph with outstretched claws.
She never reaches him. Maria's spear catches her in the throat, silencing her yelp with a strangled noise, shortly before Chad's blast lifts her clean off, bounces her off the ceiling, and drops her violently back to the floor. The tail twitches, and Vol's body shudders. Moist cracking noises sound as she pushes herself back up, bones disjointed and being popped into place. "S-so...be it..." she rasps, her voice fading fast as blazing fluids drip from the hole in her throat. "Alllll...immolaaaaation..."
Fire explodes from every wound and every orifice, filling the room with a power that chills the bones and chars the flesh.
Lady Vol hits Yasutora Sado with her Alliteration Attack! attack.
Lady Vol gets a glancing blow on Maria Tegawa with her Alliteration Attack! attack.
Lady Vol misses Simon Parker with her Damn your alias attack.
Simeon reacts out of instinct. The Balseraph Sings a few bars of something that sounds suspiciously like Gimme Shelter--his voice is beautiful, even though the notes are underscored by jangling ripples in reality. A wall of green energy surrounds Parker mere seconds before the fire wave hits. For a few moments, he's lost in the blaze, a black silhouette against a fire-bright background.
And when the fire stops, he's still standing, still surrounded by that green glowing shield.
"Not bad," he says. "But predictable." Simeon's form distorts and shudders, transforming from a human... into something else. A monstrous serpent, easily thirty feet long and big enough to devour a grown man. "Sit down, please." The Serpent's next attack isn't physical at all--instead, he lashes out with his Willpower in a vicious crushing attack, striking at the very essence of Lady Vol's being. It feels, physically, like someone or something has the Arrancar in a vise. Mentally, it's not that much different.
Simon Parker misses Lady Vol with his I'M CRUSHING YOUR HEAD attack.
Chad has no luck dodging this fiery blast. He ducks out of the way of the flames the moment he is able, furiously patting himself down to put them out.
So he doesn't stop drop and roll when he NEEDS to.
He decides that if lasers don't work, he'll have to try something a bit more direct. No, he's still not going to punch her directly, but the attack will certainly be physical.
Partially kneeling for a moment, Chad's right fist is driven into the floor, breaking it up into several large chunks. Hefting the largest piece of debris, Chad flings the massive projectile at Lady Vol. There's no witty remark like 'heads up' or 'the sky is falling'. The stone chunk should speak for itself. He doesn't let up, though, he picks up and flings the remaining pieces that were broken up from the strike. They're not as big, but the hail of debris should do some damage to the considerably frail-looking Lady Vol.
Yasutora Sado hits Lady Vol with his Head's Up! The Sky is Falling! super.
"I get subjected to fire so often, I wonder what it is. I think you may be onto something with the predictability, Simeon." It's true, at least the last four people she's fought have /exploded/ at her and expected her to turn to ash. This time, the power of the Aegis comes into play, warding off some of the flames and allowing the lawyer to handle far more punishment.
She was going to continue with the spear but then Chad hurls a particularily large piece of stone at the woman. Grinning, she thumbs through her packet of post-it notes and pulls out one in particular. Moving swiftly, she steps forward and sticks the note to the rock, then slams her hand down next to it.
The tranmutation array drawn upon it flares to life and the debris shifts itself into stalagtites, all pointed into the woman.
For those who are sensitive to the powers of the spirit, there's a sudden burst of HOLY F***!!!!! from the direction of the room where Ichigo went.
Maria Tegawa hits Lady Vol with her ONCE MORE WITH FEELING attack.
Simeon's attack is powerful. /Very/ powerful. But never underestimate the willpower of the dead and their determination to survive. Vol grits her teeth, her injured body trembling as she struggles against the mental attack...and then she throws back her head with a shriek that could shatter glass, throwing off the effects. "No...you shaaaaall not have me...I...shall have yooooouuu...consuuuuuume you...make you...miiiiiine."
Snake or not, she still seems to want him, and badly at that. She takes one unsteady step forward, before rocks fall and every Arrancar dies. Shards of rock courtesy of the lady lawyer spear her form, nailing her to the wall. And then Chad's big hunk of floor falls to seal the deal. The flames begin to hiss, diminish, and fade with a curl of acrid smoke.
There's a long moment of silence. But before anyone can feel too comfortable with a victory, the rocks explode, and a bloodied mess of the Arrancar comes tearing across the floor. Her arms is missing. Half her head is gone. The tail is missing chunks of bone and flesh, but it lashes out razor sharp at Maria and Chad as she guns straight for the serpentine target. She leaps for Simeon, teeth bared to take a bite out of his scaly flesh, gulping down what she can and digging with her claws for more.
Lady Vol misses Yasutora Sado with her Whip It! attack.
Lady Vol gets a glancing blow on Maria Tegawa with her Whip It Good! attack.
Lady Vol hits Simon Parker with her OM NOM NOM attack.
This is getting /way/ too personal for Simeon's tastes. Granted, this isn't the first time some creepy woman has hit on him, but the biting is taking things a bit too f--
There's a rustling of coils, as Simeon just... sits there, and takes the hit. Vol's fangs bite deep into his side, gouging out chunks of flesh, but the Balseraph merely braces himself and tries not to scream in pain.
Another rustling of coils. The Serpent's bulk shifts, coils wrapping around Lady Vol's broken form even as she tears into him. All it takes is force of will, and a quick tensing of muscles. Simeon constricts, eyes narrowing as he attempts to choke the life out of the Arrancar with his own body. "Good night," he hisses.
Simon Parker hits Lady Vol with his CRUSHING YOUR HEAD (and everything else, really) attack.
Lady Vol has been knocked out!
Only now does Maria really take notice of what Simeon has become. Is this his /true/ form? His true demonic form that Deliah is trying to save him from? ...it's...actually not that bad. Maria is biased, however.
Hissing, Maria recoils as she is whipped, stepping backwards and not yet attacking. She doesn't need to, not as Simeon sails in and squeezes the arrancar to death.
"AHHhhHhhhIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Vol howls, throwing her head back. Her body crunches, oozing blood that runs in thick rivulets over the snake's scales. The glowing eyes from within the mask flare...then fade...before her head lolls brokenly.
The heat of the room, baked into the tiles, gradually begins to diminish. This Arrancar is very, very dead.
Gradually, the coils retract--Simeon doesn't let go until he's damn certain the thing is very, very dead. The Serpent's six-eyed head turns around and looks at the mortal remains of Lady Vol, and a shudder wracks his frame. "Made quite a mess," the Balseraph grunts. A quick shift of his body dumps the Arrancar's corpse on the ground, where a tail-lash swats it into a corner. "I am going to go home and shower, and I am still not going to feel clean."
The Balseraph Sings once more; this tune is as eerily beautiful as the last, and no less professional for being sung by an enormous goddamn snake. Maria will find the worst of her wounds healing, and a repeat chorus does the same for Simeon's own injuries. A leathery wing reaches out to try and wrap around Maria's shoulders in the Balseraph equivalent of a shoulder to lean on. "Are you all right?" he asks.
Surreal, is what anyone else would probably describe it. While this shouldn't be unusual for Maria given her background, there is still something that's rather surprising about finding out a close friend's...true form. Especially as a large, singing snake. Any apprehension over the matter is quickly washed away with the song.
She sighs in relief, "I feel better now..but I am alright for the most part." She doesn't move as the wing is draped around her, instead curiously lifting a hand to touch it. "You seem well."
Just wait until you see a Shedite, Maria.
Or don't, if you value your sanity.
"Doing much better now that I'm not being hit on by some freak," Simeon grumps. Slowly he settles into a more relaxed pose, looking Maria in the eyes. "You're not screaming and running, and you haven't called me a monster, and that makes me feel even better." The wing feels perfectly solid, leathery and (oddly enough) warm to the touch. This Serpent isn't cold-blooded.
"But yes, this is me. Anything else is just a seeming or a vessel."
Maria holds his gaze, unwavering as the demon peers at her. "It's funny, Sephiroth reacted in a similar way not long after the JENOVA incident. Always expected to run or call things monsters when they reveal their true forms."
She narrows her eyes a little. "Like Sephiroth, you have been true to me in our interactions and are therefore still you, regardless of whether you adopt a human shape or this one." The warmth is a bit more of a shock to Maria. She's far too used to her reptiles being cold-blooded creatures. "You remind me a little of a coatl."
Something scrabbles furiously in the back of Simeon's mind at the word 'true', but he ignores it. The Balseraph retracts his wing, replacing it with a coil; if Maria doesn't freak out or otherwise react badly, he gives her shoulders a gentle squeeze before retreating from her entirely. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that from someone who means it," the demon says. The look on his face softens, and he actually /smiles/--it does not look very pleasant, needless to say, but the sentiment is there.
Another shift and pop, and the demon is back in his humanoid form. The Judge is back in its sheath, and the hood is back in place, obscuring Simeon's face. "Coatl, hmm?" A pause, as he closes his eyes. "I don't sense anything else nearby. I think we're in the clear for now."
Smiling snake is a /little/ unsettling, even if it is friendly. She doesn't move either as she receives the equivalent of a hug, though there is still the distinct sensation that Maria isn't one to welcome the touch of others very often. If at all.
"Then we should keep moving." She says, touching upon the matter at hand and somewhat happy to discard the talk of monsters. This is especially true as Agrias starts talking elsewhere.
Maria Tegawa is also watching Simon make sockpuppet motions with some amusement.
Simon Parker looks at Maria. "...What?"
Maria Tegawa tsks. "Nothing."