An RP Log!
This is a log of Claire from TIG. TIG is essentially a dream world, where 'gods' give the people they've chosen gifts. Claire's is that she has wings that have a chameleon-like property. This takes place during the Dream's 'olympics,' called the Middleton Games. It was a fun scene, so I wanted to share.
Okay, so. This probably isn't her best idea ever, but the fact is, she's kind of been a coward since the whole thing with being attacked and eaten, and this is a good way to get herself back into things, so to speak. Maybe? She's sure that if Peter or Riku are watching, they're gonna kill her after this if she doesn't get herself dead while she's down in the arena-- hell, she hasn' even told anyone she plans on participating yet. She did tell Peter she was going to /watch.../
--It was just a /little/ lie.
Having slipped off from the crowd, using the excuse that she was going to get herself something to eat, Claire now finds herself paired off with someone she's never met before, in the lower bowl of the dusty Games arena. She's not really nervous, though her heart's beating a little faster than normal, and her wings do betray the fact that she's not quite comfortable in a contest like this. The feathers are all puffed out and fluffy. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, blue eyes look toward where she left Peter sitting in the stands. "Don't come down here, okay?" she says softly. There's no way he can hear her - there are too many people - but hopefully he knows that she can do this, and doesn't need him to carry her off. She doesn't want to forfeit.
At least one good thing came from the time she was Branded, and that is that she got a little bit of training - VERY little - with a knife. It's strapped around her thigh at the moment. This one has a bit longer of a blade than she's used to, but it's the same thing, right? It's light, usable - she hopes - and sharp, so... Really, she won't be doing too bad. So... She's ready.
It's so warm down here! Or maybe she's just imagining it. Maybe Claire's a little more nervous than she initially thought. The thing is, there's no backing out now, and even if she can feel her heart in her throat, she can't wait to see how much she can take. The girl's never been a fighter, but she can defenestrate herself with the best of 'em. Bring it on!
-------
The Games had been a great promise of glory and excitement to Azul when he left Promethea. A grand event where the best of this world could show their talents. But his first experience with them, Roadrunner's competition, had been a bitter disapointment and embarassing failure. He was bested by children! Children!!
But this- yes, this was going to be /fun/. A contest that the ex-SOLDIER can really sink his teeth into! A great combat, where surely the strongest warriors would gather to test their strengths against each other.
Azul's blood is pounding in his ears before he even sets foot onto the arena floor. The anticipation of the battle to come made his heart sing. He strides out onto the sand, head held high, gold eyes casting out across the stands as the crowd cheers. It seems their anticipation for the melee is almost as great as his own.
His booming steps are muted on the soft terrain as he makes his way towars the center, with his enormous cannon hanging from a shoulder strap. But something isn't right. The brute looks at Claire. He looks around the stadium. He looks back at Claire.
"...this must be a joke." he says, incredulous. The gun is unslung and let fall, and Azul casts about again, hoping to see one of the Priests nearby. No doubt they're all laughing themselves sick over this. "You expect me to fight a CHILD?!" he roars to no one in particular. "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! BRING ME A WORTHY OPPONENT!"
-------
Holy crap, this guy's tall. That means there's more places to stab right? Maybe she'll get a lucky shot off, who knows? Well, she /hopes/ she does, or her entire point for being here will be -- he's got a cannon of some kind, so /cannon fodder./ Well, at least she's resiliant. Pulling the knife out of its sheath, Claire looks between the blade and the weapon that Azul is carrying. Yeah, this is gonna be over pretty quick.
--Oh, come /on./
She frowns, pressing her lips together. Everyone in the Dream knows that some of the most powerful people are 'kids!' She's hoping to bluff, of course, but the fact is, the kids here aren't exactly weaklings. Riku, for example, is pretty tough. Sora, too. Squall. "I'm seventeen," she corrects, which, as far as she's concerned, isn't a child anymore, given that she would have moved out by the time she was eighteen or nineteen if she lived at home. Give her /some/ credit.
So, anyway, she'll use the element of surprise to her advantage folding her wings against her body and making a quick dash for her opponent. She's not going to hold back, and she hopes - really hopes - he doesn't, either. Her entire point for being here is to see how much she can take when she's not in a situation where she's being torn apart by an Asura. This is more controlled, there are rules, and it's not quite as gross. She swears to God(s), though, if this guy decides to snack on her heart, she's gonna be pissed.
When she's close enough, she brings the knife down on Azul wherever she can. Of course, it's somewhere around hip-range, because she's a lot shorter than he is. Almost half his height.
------
Frankly, Azul's not really paying attention to the tiny girl across the field from him. He's more concerned with finding out just who to pound into dust for this INSULT. Expect him to fight a child... FEH! Of all the...
When she yells at him, he fixes her with a glare that could crack stone. "I don't care how old you are, child. You have no place here. I suggest you go home before you get hurt." And of course, she doesn't listen. They never listen. It looks like he's going to have a little convincing to do here.
The brute doesn't move as the girl rushes towards him, save for folding his arms across his chest. As if there weren't already enough reason for Claire to despair over the likely outcome of this event, when she swings down her knife stops well before striking Azul, glancing off of something invisible that flashes briefly with a greenish light. The big man just sighs.
"I told you," he begins, unfolding his arms. "That you were going," he raises one large hand, "to get hurt!" A fist like a wrecking ball sweeps towards Claire in a backhand strike. If she won't listen, then she'll just have to face the consequences.
------
Yeah, she's going to get the most awesome stab away on this guy before he even knows what hit him, and then she'll-- She'll-- "Frak," she swears.
Got that from Kara.
The blade just glances off the big man like it wasn't even there, which makes her definitely think twice about what she's doing here. How'd she get paired with a guy she can't even hit? Okay, it makes sense, in a way, since she can get hit all she wants and heal it, but this is /so unfair!/ And really, Claire doesn't expect him to do anything now since he was such an ass when he first saw her, so the backhand to the face comes as a /huge/ surprise which sends her flying to the dirt.
"Ow," she mutters, looking back up at him. He definitely broke something there; there's already a bruise stretching across her face, her nose is /definitely/ not supposed to be where it is. But she can't be /very/ hurt, because she aims a kick for the big guy's leg, before scrambling to her feet so she can run a few feet away from him. Better to regroup and all that before she tries again, right? In any case, when she looks back at him, there's absolutely nothng wrong with her face ,not even a bruise to show she'd been hurt at all.
Question now is... How does she stab a guy who can't be stabbed? Her chin juts out in concentration, before she rushes again, this time using her wings to take her a couple feet into the air so she can try his shoulder.
------
As before, both of the attacks glance off of the invisible barrier that stands between Azul and the girl, and the giant simply stands impassively, glowering at his 'opponent'. He's still hoping someone will come out and tell him it was all a joke, or a mistake, and that his real opponent is coming. His eyes cast skyward for a moment, and he sighs. Someone up there must hate him.
"Girl, I will say this once more," he growls. "Go. Home." He reaches back again, and hauls off with his fist a second time. The fact that she came back so quickly after the first one showed that she had some sort of gift, at least. So to make sure the message sinks in, and out of pure frustration, he throws a lot more force into this one. Maybe he can even get her to skip once or twice.
------
There's gotta be something that gets through this guy's defenses. If she can just do it /once/, she'll be happy, but she has no idea /how./ Unfortunately for Azul, the message never really sinks in with Claire, because the pain she feels... Well, it /hurts,/ but it's just another sensation, like 'hot,' or 'cold,' or 'soft.' She just knows that the pain goes away pretty quick, and it doesn't bother her like it does other people.
There's no 'ow' this time, because she kind of sees it coming, since he had no qualms about attacking her last time. And she does go farther, sliding across the ground, which lays open her shoulder in a sort of scrapey-type pattern that the baseball jocks called strawberries. As soon as she brushes the sand off, though, the injury heals, and Claire pushes herself to her feet.
It's obvious as she stands that Azul broke ribs. The girl winces, pushes the bones back inside, and takes a deep breath. Her shirt's already covered in blood, but - after cracking her neck - Claire herself doesn't seem very tired or hurt. Leaning down, she picks up the knife that fell out of her hands, and rushes at him again. The blade comes down harder this time, though she's kind of expecting the same damn result.
------
Contrary to Claire's expectations, she doesn't encounter the barrier on the third strike with the knife. This time the knife doesn't even reach the barrier before Azul catches her arm and lifts her into the air by it. This is boring, and aggravating, and dammit where is a Priest when you need one! Azul holds the girl level with his face for a moment, the tips of ears twitching in an aggitated manner. Then his other hand grabs the girl around the waist (and his fingers nearly touch together!) and PULLS. "ENOUGH!" he roars, as her arm comes off at the shoulder with a sickening squelch and pop. He tosses the arm, still holding the knife, to one side, and the girl to the other. This joke isn't funny anymore. Not that he thought it was funny to begin with, but hopefully the perpetrators will see the lack of humor in it now.
------
Can't breathe can't /breathe--/
Blue eyes meet the huge man's face as she struggles to take in air; she expects him to throw her again or something similar, since he only seems to want to bat her around a bit, which is kind of boring, considering that cannon he's carrying. Not that she wants to see what /that/ thing does, because she'd probably have to scream or something, and that would be embarrassing.
It's just too bad she didn't wait 'til now to have that brand cut off her arm, because Azul would have just done it for her. Of course, /then/ she was asleep. Having never lost a limb before, this is a new feeling entirely, and the pain does actually /get to her/ for the present as the arm is raggedly torn off. Tears come to her eyes, she utters a loud, painful yell, just before she's thrown to the ground. "Uh-- Nnnh--" And other varied syllables follow as she grits her teeth... Momentarily, her wide eyes show terror - what if it doesn't grow back? But then she feels the stirring of regeneration at her shoulder, which is a sort of pins and needles feeling. It's easiest to focus on something to keep the pain away, so she looks at her dismemberfied arm lying in the sand.
Briefly, she wonders if it'll grow another Claire.
She's lost a lot of blood, but that doesn't seem to affect her much. She's still lying on her side as bone begins to grow from the damaged socket, which is almost instantly wrapped in muscle and tendon. The regrowth doesn't hurt, but it's not exactly comfortable, either, and Claire can't bring herself to look for a couple seconds, right around the time that the nerves reconnect and there's a sudden stinging pain all the way down through her fingers. That doesn't last long, however, as new skin covers the entire limb, and just like that, there's a new arm. That? Was /awesome./ Smiling, she looks up at Azul. "Did you /see that!?/" Claire asks, pushing herself to her feet? She's almost laughing. Did Peter see it? Damn, she hopes so.
Giving Azul a really wide berth, she heads over to the arm, (EW) reaches down, and picks up the knife. Then, she brushes herself off. "At least tell me how I can hit you."
------
At the sight of Claire lying on the ground, bleeding, writhing in pain, Azul looks grimly satisfied. But it quickly slips away as the regeneration process begins. As bone and flesh begin to knite themselves into a new limb, the brute scowls in anger, and yet watches the spectacle with interest. It makes him wonder if ShinRa ever produced anything like that. Which, in turn, reminds him of a certain scientist that he... no, that's business for later. Right now, it seems that he has been given an indestructible ragdoll to play with.
The blue warrior doesn't wait for Claire to retrieve the knife before charging headlong at her. There has to be a way to harm her. Nothing is truly invincible. He reaches her on the words "hit you" and does precisely that, throwing a massive fist at her with enough for to slam her against the arena wall. If she won't stay down, then he'll just have to kill her.
------
Indestructable rag doll, what?
The knife goes flying from her hand again. She's just going to have to give up on holding it, it looks like. Not like she can get it through his skin anyway, which makes this /completely not fair,/ which is her last thought before her head strikes the far wall, cracks her skull, and leaves her in a bleeding (and dead) pile on the arena floor. Luckily, there's no sharp object in her brain, and her head seems to be able to put itself back together, so Azul might not even notice the fact that she's not breathing before she opens her eyes again.
Stands up.
There are other broken bones from that one that she has to shove back into place. Her knee looks like it's been turned inside out, her shoulder's dislocated, there's more blood on her shirt than there was before, and her wing-- There's an idea. As the delicate bones in her wings fit themselves back together, she takes to the air, careful not to go beyond the arena. She's not ready to be disqualified just yet, cuz she needs to hit the guy first.
Once she's high enough, she folds her wings in and just drops like a stone. If he moves, she'll move. But she fully intends to land right on top of him, using gravity as a weapon.
------
Having learned by now that one hit is not going to finish this girl off, Azul is already running to meet her again as Claire hits the wall. He charges, reaches back, and swings that massive fist again, only this time she takes to the air just before he can connect. There's a terrible crash and a portion of the stadium shakes as his fist smashes through the stone wall, scattering debris into the hallway behind it. With a roar of outrage, he spins around and casts his golden eyes upwards, seeking to locate her again.
He has to shield his eyes against the sun with a hand before he spots her, but spot her he does, stooping towards him like a hawk on her prey. There's no way he can get her in the air like that unless he goes back and takes up his cannon, but she seems fairly intent on coming down to meet him. What a fool. Another roar escapes his throat, but this one shifts gradually into a much more terrible, beastial sound.
Over the course of several moments, as Claire plummets towards him, Azul changes slightly; his face elongates, becoming that of a large animal; a pair of horns like a bulls grow out of his skull, sticking out to either side before curving forwards; pale fur grows all over his skin, and his ears grow larger; a silvery-blue carapace spread over his head like a segmented helmet, essentially armor-plating him. The echoes of the roar die away, and he lowers his head to meet the descending girl.
------
She really can't see the changes that are happening to him as he shifts, though she can tell something's going on. With wind in her eyes, she's keeping them open only as much as she needs to to see exactly where he's at. One thing Claire's sure of, though, is that he's gotten a lot larger, and she's pretty sure at this point that all the gravity in the world isn't gonna do a bit of damage.
Still, she's gotta try, for the sake of trying. So just as she's about to hit, she curls into a ball, knees tucked in, arms around her legs to make her as compact as possible. At this point, she flips so she's not crashing into him head-first, because she's not sure she wants to see the damage that would do.
As soon as she hits, she's flung to the ground by the force of the impact, bouncing off at an equal angle to the one she came in at and falling downward. She's pretty much broken everywhere, including an arm, a leg, probably her spine. Things are already mending, though... She looks up as she regenerates, hoping to see that the impact at least did /something./
------
CLANG
The silvery blue plating over Azul's head is like steel, and it turns the blow like one. His head is forced down by the impact, and he digs his feet into the sand to mantain his balance, but seems otherwise unaffected. He had bucked his head when she struck, in an attempt to do some extra damage, but it seemed like she did most of it herself. With a gruff snort, he lets the transformation slip, returning to normal, and stalks away from the girl.
And towards his gun.
The cannon he brought with him, having been ignored since he discarded it at the beginning of the match, lies a few paces away. The ex-SOLDIER picks it up with ease, despite its incredible size, slings the strap across his shoulder, turns towards Claire, and clicks it on. The thing whirrs to life, motors spinning within, spitting out a little sand here and there. "I'm afraid, little girl, that I have to end this now," he says without regret or remorse.
The sound is deafening, like thunder in fast-forward, as the muzzle of the cannon flashes repeatedly, spraying a hail of large-calliber, armor-piercing bullets in the winged girl's direction, kicking up sand and chips of stone from the wall behind her.
------
Dammit. Okay, that was a bust, and because it really does hurt, she's not going to be shattering herself like that again. She can't fix herself in time to get out of the way of that gunfire either, and is, in fact, only /just/ getting to her feet - slowly - as he picks up the cannon. And with her leg still a mess she can't run closer to him to get within a melee range.
So as the weapon fires, she takes several charges before she wraps her wings around her body. That prompts Nightingale's gift, which basically makes her blend in perfectly with her surroundings. And, while Azul is still spraying the area with bullets, she runs, the camoflague changing as she moves. While it leaves an outline of her visible, she's still hard to see, especially with the sunlight shining down on them.
As her body heals the damage, it pushes the bullets out, which fall to the arena floor with dull thuds. The adrenaline which kept her on her feet wears off after that, which leaves her fairly tired for a moment while her body recuperates. Her wings droop, she places her hands on her knees, and just sucks in as much air as she can.
It's then that she notices the fact that she's close to her knife, and reaches down to pick it up. Her wings droop, revealing her presense again, but that's okay. In rder to run, she has to fold them inward, anyway, cloer to her body so they don't catch the wind. Jumping on his back, she attempts to stab him over and over again, hoping that she will, at some point, actually get through.
------
The main problem here is that this is exactly what Azul was made for. Except that he only has one opponent, and options for collateral damage are limited. But combat, fighting, /violence/, these are his purpose. With Claire on his back, there's a deep rumble in his chest, and he scowls fiercely. His skin is like thick leather, only more durable, and the knife doesn't go in the first time. Or the second time. The third time it may have left a mark, but there's no blood yet.
This has gone well beyond frustrating now. Hitting her doesn't work, crushing her doesn't work, tearing pieces off doesn't work, riddling her with holes doesn't work. Azul goes through a mental checklist of ways to kill someone until he reaches one he hasn't tried yet.
The next problem is getting her off his back. He reaches around behind himself, fishing for a limb, or her head, or SOMETHING to grab onto. Anything will do. Once he has a grip on something, he drags her off, holds her in front of himself, and proceeds to wring her out like a towel.
Blood splatters the ground, bones crunch, gore spills between his fingers. It's not a pretty sight. But he didn't come here to look pretty, he came here to kill someone. Satisfied that he won't get much more out of the body, he wads it up and drops it to the ground in a ragged mess. "Grow that back!" he snarls, and spits on the mangled corpse. Gods damn. The nerve of some people.
Just for good measure, he stomps on the remains.
------
"C'mon!" she yells as she can't get the knife through the barrier. Over and over she tries, and over and over she misses because there's just no way to get through. She can feel him reaching for her, but she's not sure she'll get another chance like this, so instead of flying away, she just hangs on...
Then, suddenly, as she's trying to avoid being caught, Azul's hands clamp around her leg. It's almost dizzying how quickly she's wrung from her position; momentarily, she just dangles, and it's at this point that she really gets that there's nothing she's going to be able to do to hurt this guy. Not fair. Then again, she'd probably be apologising profusely if she did, so she's just about to surrender when--
Okay, that makes her scream for as long as she's able, though as the necessary organs are crushed and rendered useless, the sound abruptly turns into a gurgle before there's nothing left at all. Yeah, she's dead, and it doesn't seem like anything anyone can do is gonna bring her back from that... And for a long time, she does lay there, mangled and motionless. Seems like Azul's won.
Except there's a crack here a pop there. The crushed body starts to fill out again as organs regrow and bones mend. It's a lot slower than it's been previously, because she's starting to get tired, but it's not too long before the dead eyes focus again, and Claire sucks in a ragged, painful breath.
When Eden tore her apart, there was nothing left for her to wake up in. But, being surrounded by her own remains actually makes her ill. Covering her mouth, she backs away from the gore until she's at least in dry sand, before she retches. Of course, there's nothing in her stomach since it's newly regrown, so there's nothing on the floor of the arena from it, either. Too tired to stand, she just hopes that Azul isn't going to do that again, because... Because she's sure she can't take it.
------
From where the five Priests watch out in the Arena, one of them leans forward and watches this bloody mess very carefully. And as soon as he's absolutely sure that she's not breathing, and that the big man has gotten a majority of his fun on, he jumps to his feet and leaps through the shield protecting the audience. Right through it. Doing a summersault of form and fashion, he lands deftly beside the mangled corpse and raises his hand, "Winner declared!" This man looks like some kind of psychopath. Wearing pilot goggles that aren't even covering his eyes. He even has an insane smile.
Turning his back on the blue monstrosity, he actually gives the young girl a thumbs up and a smile, knowing full well that he might get pummeled for this.
------
When one of the Priests makes himself apparent, Azul's eyes light up. His former opponent forgotten, despite the rather impressive regeneration show, he stalks across the arena. The man has his back turned, so he may not see it coming. Azul certainly HOPES he doesn't see it coming.
He walks up behind the Priest and hauls off with one big fist at the back of the bastard's head.
"NEXT TIME I WANT A REAL OPPONENT," he bellows, whether or not he actually manages to strike the man. "NOT A CHILD." Sure, it was amusing when he tore her arm off and it grew back, but overall it was just a huge pain in the ass. After this, the ex-SOLDIER might not even consider entering any more competitions. Not if they're all going to be like this.
------
Well, she shouldn't have expected to win. Still, she smiles weakly at the priest as he gives her the thumbs up. It almost feels like she's weighted down as she pushes herself to her feet... Claire is exhausted. And ravenous. She could eat a whole pantry at the moment if such a thing was made available to her.
She tries to open her wings so she can get the hell out of here, but she can't, and just falls back to the arena floor. Too weak, she can't do it. It's like her arms and legs are made out of lead. At least she can turn and look toward Peter in the stands. She doesn't know if he's listening to her thoughts, but at the moment, they're all centred around one thing. /HELP./
------
When Azul's fist connects to the Priest he goes flying through the air laughing insanely and emitting a strange buzzing sound. It almost sounds like a bomb flying through the air at top speeds... or a sound someone would hear in a cartoon. And when he impacts the wall, he seems to flatten out against the wall-- but that only lasts for a moment. A moment later, the air around the man explodes. Guess there was a bomb involved somewhere. He doesn't dust himself off, infact, lays in a heap of bones and broken skin with burn marks around him for a while, before the medics can come down and get him.
But speaking of medics, someone up in the audience finally stops being held back. The match is over. He teleports down into the field and picks up his niece. Peter does /not/ look happy, as he looks at the bloodied blonde indestructable cheerleader. "You-- I-- You do that again and--" He'll kill her!? Kick her out of the house? Deny her icecream! ... "You're grounded. And I'm yelling at you later." :| Closing his eyes, the two vanish.
Okay, so. This probably isn't her best idea ever, but the fact is, she's kind of been a coward since the whole thing with being attacked and eaten, and this is a good way to get herself back into things, so to speak. Maybe? She's sure that if Peter or Riku are watching, they're gonna kill her after this if she doesn't get herself dead while she's down in the arena-- hell, she hasn' even told anyone she plans on participating yet. She did tell Peter she was going to /watch.../
--It was just a /little/ lie.
Having slipped off from the crowd, using the excuse that she was going to get herself something to eat, Claire now finds herself paired off with someone she's never met before, in the lower bowl of the dusty Games arena. She's not really nervous, though her heart's beating a little faster than normal, and her wings do betray the fact that she's not quite comfortable in a contest like this. The feathers are all puffed out and fluffy. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, blue eyes look toward where she left Peter sitting in the stands. "Don't come down here, okay?" she says softly. There's no way he can hear her - there are too many people - but hopefully he knows that she can do this, and doesn't need him to carry her off. She doesn't want to forfeit.
At least one good thing came from the time she was Branded, and that is that she got a little bit of training - VERY little - with a knife. It's strapped around her thigh at the moment. This one has a bit longer of a blade than she's used to, but it's the same thing, right? It's light, usable - she hopes - and sharp, so... Really, she won't be doing too bad. So... She's ready.
It's so warm down here! Or maybe she's just imagining it. Maybe Claire's a little more nervous than she initially thought. The thing is, there's no backing out now, and even if she can feel her heart in her throat, she can't wait to see how much she can take. The girl's never been a fighter, but she can defenestrate herself with the best of 'em. Bring it on!
-------
The Games had been a great promise of glory and excitement to Azul when he left Promethea. A grand event where the best of this world could show their talents. But his first experience with them, Roadrunner's competition, had been a bitter disapointment and embarassing failure. He was bested by children! Children!!
But this- yes, this was going to be /fun/. A contest that the ex-SOLDIER can really sink his teeth into! A great combat, where surely the strongest warriors would gather to test their strengths against each other.
Azul's blood is pounding in his ears before he even sets foot onto the arena floor. The anticipation of the battle to come made his heart sing. He strides out onto the sand, head held high, gold eyes casting out across the stands as the crowd cheers. It seems their anticipation for the melee is almost as great as his own.
His booming steps are muted on the soft terrain as he makes his way towars the center, with his enormous cannon hanging from a shoulder strap. But something isn't right. The brute looks at Claire. He looks around the stadium. He looks back at Claire.
"...this must be a joke." he says, incredulous. The gun is unslung and let fall, and Azul casts about again, hoping to see one of the Priests nearby. No doubt they're all laughing themselves sick over this. "You expect me to fight a CHILD?!" he roars to no one in particular. "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! BRING ME A WORTHY OPPONENT!"
-------
Holy crap, this guy's tall. That means there's more places to stab right? Maybe she'll get a lucky shot off, who knows? Well, she /hopes/ she does, or her entire point for being here will be -- he's got a cannon of some kind, so /cannon fodder./ Well, at least she's resiliant. Pulling the knife out of its sheath, Claire looks between the blade and the weapon that Azul is carrying. Yeah, this is gonna be over pretty quick.
--Oh, come /on./
She frowns, pressing her lips together. Everyone in the Dream knows that some of the most powerful people are 'kids!' She's hoping to bluff, of course, but the fact is, the kids here aren't exactly weaklings. Riku, for example, is pretty tough. Sora, too. Squall. "I'm seventeen," she corrects, which, as far as she's concerned, isn't a child anymore, given that she would have moved out by the time she was eighteen or nineteen if she lived at home. Give her /some/ credit.
So, anyway, she'll use the element of surprise to her advantage folding her wings against her body and making a quick dash for her opponent. She's not going to hold back, and she hopes - really hopes - he doesn't, either. Her entire point for being here is to see how much she can take when she's not in a situation where she's being torn apart by an Asura. This is more controlled, there are rules, and it's not quite as gross. She swears to God(s), though, if this guy decides to snack on her heart, she's gonna be pissed.
When she's close enough, she brings the knife down on Azul wherever she can. Of course, it's somewhere around hip-range, because she's a lot shorter than he is. Almost half his height.
------
Frankly, Azul's not really paying attention to the tiny girl across the field from him. He's more concerned with finding out just who to pound into dust for this INSULT. Expect him to fight a child... FEH! Of all the...
When she yells at him, he fixes her with a glare that could crack stone. "I don't care how old you are, child. You have no place here. I suggest you go home before you get hurt." And of course, she doesn't listen. They never listen. It looks like he's going to have a little convincing to do here.
The brute doesn't move as the girl rushes towards him, save for folding his arms across his chest. As if there weren't already enough reason for Claire to despair over the likely outcome of this event, when she swings down her knife stops well before striking Azul, glancing off of something invisible that flashes briefly with a greenish light. The big man just sighs.
"I told you," he begins, unfolding his arms. "That you were going," he raises one large hand, "to get hurt!" A fist like a wrecking ball sweeps towards Claire in a backhand strike. If she won't listen, then she'll just have to face the consequences.
------
Yeah, she's going to get the most awesome stab away on this guy before he even knows what hit him, and then she'll-- She'll-- "Frak," she swears.
Got that from Kara.
The blade just glances off the big man like it wasn't even there, which makes her definitely think twice about what she's doing here. How'd she get paired with a guy she can't even hit? Okay, it makes sense, in a way, since she can get hit all she wants and heal it, but this is /so unfair!/ And really, Claire doesn't expect him to do anything now since he was such an ass when he first saw her, so the backhand to the face comes as a /huge/ surprise which sends her flying to the dirt.
"Ow," she mutters, looking back up at him. He definitely broke something there; there's already a bruise stretching across her face, her nose is /definitely/ not supposed to be where it is. But she can't be /very/ hurt, because she aims a kick for the big guy's leg, before scrambling to her feet so she can run a few feet away from him. Better to regroup and all that before she tries again, right? In any case, when she looks back at him, there's absolutely nothng wrong with her face ,not even a bruise to show she'd been hurt at all.
Question now is... How does she stab a guy who can't be stabbed? Her chin juts out in concentration, before she rushes again, this time using her wings to take her a couple feet into the air so she can try his shoulder.
------
As before, both of the attacks glance off of the invisible barrier that stands between Azul and the girl, and the giant simply stands impassively, glowering at his 'opponent'. He's still hoping someone will come out and tell him it was all a joke, or a mistake, and that his real opponent is coming. His eyes cast skyward for a moment, and he sighs. Someone up there must hate him.
"Girl, I will say this once more," he growls. "Go. Home." He reaches back again, and hauls off with his fist a second time. The fact that she came back so quickly after the first one showed that she had some sort of gift, at least. So to make sure the message sinks in, and out of pure frustration, he throws a lot more force into this one. Maybe he can even get her to skip once or twice.
------
There's gotta be something that gets through this guy's defenses. If she can just do it /once/, she'll be happy, but she has no idea /how./ Unfortunately for Azul, the message never really sinks in with Claire, because the pain she feels... Well, it /hurts,/ but it's just another sensation, like 'hot,' or 'cold,' or 'soft.' She just knows that the pain goes away pretty quick, and it doesn't bother her like it does other people.
There's no 'ow' this time, because she kind of sees it coming, since he had no qualms about attacking her last time. And she does go farther, sliding across the ground, which lays open her shoulder in a sort of scrapey-type pattern that the baseball jocks called strawberries. As soon as she brushes the sand off, though, the injury heals, and Claire pushes herself to her feet.
It's obvious as she stands that Azul broke ribs. The girl winces, pushes the bones back inside, and takes a deep breath. Her shirt's already covered in blood, but - after cracking her neck - Claire herself doesn't seem very tired or hurt. Leaning down, she picks up the knife that fell out of her hands, and rushes at him again. The blade comes down harder this time, though she's kind of expecting the same damn result.
------
Contrary to Claire's expectations, she doesn't encounter the barrier on the third strike with the knife. This time the knife doesn't even reach the barrier before Azul catches her arm and lifts her into the air by it. This is boring, and aggravating, and dammit where is a Priest when you need one! Azul holds the girl level with his face for a moment, the tips of ears twitching in an aggitated manner. Then his other hand grabs the girl around the waist (and his fingers nearly touch together!) and PULLS. "ENOUGH!" he roars, as her arm comes off at the shoulder with a sickening squelch and pop. He tosses the arm, still holding the knife, to one side, and the girl to the other. This joke isn't funny anymore. Not that he thought it was funny to begin with, but hopefully the perpetrators will see the lack of humor in it now.
------
Can't breathe can't /breathe--/
Blue eyes meet the huge man's face as she struggles to take in air; she expects him to throw her again or something similar, since he only seems to want to bat her around a bit, which is kind of boring, considering that cannon he's carrying. Not that she wants to see what /that/ thing does, because she'd probably have to scream or something, and that would be embarrassing.
It's just too bad she didn't wait 'til now to have that brand cut off her arm, because Azul would have just done it for her. Of course, /then/ she was asleep. Having never lost a limb before, this is a new feeling entirely, and the pain does actually /get to her/ for the present as the arm is raggedly torn off. Tears come to her eyes, she utters a loud, painful yell, just before she's thrown to the ground. "Uh-- Nnnh--" And other varied syllables follow as she grits her teeth... Momentarily, her wide eyes show terror - what if it doesn't grow back? But then she feels the stirring of regeneration at her shoulder, which is a sort of pins and needles feeling. It's easiest to focus on something to keep the pain away, so she looks at her dismemberfied arm lying in the sand.
Briefly, she wonders if it'll grow another Claire.
She's lost a lot of blood, but that doesn't seem to affect her much. She's still lying on her side as bone begins to grow from the damaged socket, which is almost instantly wrapped in muscle and tendon. The regrowth doesn't hurt, but it's not exactly comfortable, either, and Claire can't bring herself to look for a couple seconds, right around the time that the nerves reconnect and there's a sudden stinging pain all the way down through her fingers. That doesn't last long, however, as new skin covers the entire limb, and just like that, there's a new arm. That? Was /awesome./ Smiling, she looks up at Azul. "Did you /see that!?/" Claire asks, pushing herself to her feet? She's almost laughing. Did Peter see it? Damn, she hopes so.
Giving Azul a really wide berth, she heads over to the arm, (EW) reaches down, and picks up the knife. Then, she brushes herself off. "At least tell me how I can hit you."
------
At the sight of Claire lying on the ground, bleeding, writhing in pain, Azul looks grimly satisfied. But it quickly slips away as the regeneration process begins. As bone and flesh begin to knite themselves into a new limb, the brute scowls in anger, and yet watches the spectacle with interest. It makes him wonder if ShinRa ever produced anything like that. Which, in turn, reminds him of a certain scientist that he... no, that's business for later. Right now, it seems that he has been given an indestructible ragdoll to play with.
The blue warrior doesn't wait for Claire to retrieve the knife before charging headlong at her. There has to be a way to harm her. Nothing is truly invincible. He reaches her on the words "hit you" and does precisely that, throwing a massive fist at her with enough for to slam her against the arena wall. If she won't stay down, then he'll just have to kill her.
------
Indestructable rag doll, what?
The knife goes flying from her hand again. She's just going to have to give up on holding it, it looks like. Not like she can get it through his skin anyway, which makes this /completely not fair,/ which is her last thought before her head strikes the far wall, cracks her skull, and leaves her in a bleeding (and dead) pile on the arena floor. Luckily, there's no sharp object in her brain, and her head seems to be able to put itself back together, so Azul might not even notice the fact that she's not breathing before she opens her eyes again.
Stands up.
There are other broken bones from that one that she has to shove back into place. Her knee looks like it's been turned inside out, her shoulder's dislocated, there's more blood on her shirt than there was before, and her wing-- There's an idea. As the delicate bones in her wings fit themselves back together, she takes to the air, careful not to go beyond the arena. She's not ready to be disqualified just yet, cuz she needs to hit the guy first.
Once she's high enough, she folds her wings in and just drops like a stone. If he moves, she'll move. But she fully intends to land right on top of him, using gravity as a weapon.
------
Having learned by now that one hit is not going to finish this girl off, Azul is already running to meet her again as Claire hits the wall. He charges, reaches back, and swings that massive fist again, only this time she takes to the air just before he can connect. There's a terrible crash and a portion of the stadium shakes as his fist smashes through the stone wall, scattering debris into the hallway behind it. With a roar of outrage, he spins around and casts his golden eyes upwards, seeking to locate her again.
He has to shield his eyes against the sun with a hand before he spots her, but spot her he does, stooping towards him like a hawk on her prey. There's no way he can get her in the air like that unless he goes back and takes up his cannon, but she seems fairly intent on coming down to meet him. What a fool. Another roar escapes his throat, but this one shifts gradually into a much more terrible, beastial sound.
Over the course of several moments, as Claire plummets towards him, Azul changes slightly; his face elongates, becoming that of a large animal; a pair of horns like a bulls grow out of his skull, sticking out to either side before curving forwards; pale fur grows all over his skin, and his ears grow larger; a silvery-blue carapace spread over his head like a segmented helmet, essentially armor-plating him. The echoes of the roar die away, and he lowers his head to meet the descending girl.
------
She really can't see the changes that are happening to him as he shifts, though she can tell something's going on. With wind in her eyes, she's keeping them open only as much as she needs to to see exactly where he's at. One thing Claire's sure of, though, is that he's gotten a lot larger, and she's pretty sure at this point that all the gravity in the world isn't gonna do a bit of damage.
Still, she's gotta try, for the sake of trying. So just as she's about to hit, she curls into a ball, knees tucked in, arms around her legs to make her as compact as possible. At this point, she flips so she's not crashing into him head-first, because she's not sure she wants to see the damage that would do.
As soon as she hits, she's flung to the ground by the force of the impact, bouncing off at an equal angle to the one she came in at and falling downward. She's pretty much broken everywhere, including an arm, a leg, probably her spine. Things are already mending, though... She looks up as she regenerates, hoping to see that the impact at least did /something./
------
CLANG
The silvery blue plating over Azul's head is like steel, and it turns the blow like one. His head is forced down by the impact, and he digs his feet into the sand to mantain his balance, but seems otherwise unaffected. He had bucked his head when she struck, in an attempt to do some extra damage, but it seemed like she did most of it herself. With a gruff snort, he lets the transformation slip, returning to normal, and stalks away from the girl.
And towards his gun.
The cannon he brought with him, having been ignored since he discarded it at the beginning of the match, lies a few paces away. The ex-SOLDIER picks it up with ease, despite its incredible size, slings the strap across his shoulder, turns towards Claire, and clicks it on. The thing whirrs to life, motors spinning within, spitting out a little sand here and there. "I'm afraid, little girl, that I have to end this now," he says without regret or remorse.
The sound is deafening, like thunder in fast-forward, as the muzzle of the cannon flashes repeatedly, spraying a hail of large-calliber, armor-piercing bullets in the winged girl's direction, kicking up sand and chips of stone from the wall behind her.
------
Dammit. Okay, that was a bust, and because it really does hurt, she's not going to be shattering herself like that again. She can't fix herself in time to get out of the way of that gunfire either, and is, in fact, only /just/ getting to her feet - slowly - as he picks up the cannon. And with her leg still a mess she can't run closer to him to get within a melee range.
So as the weapon fires, she takes several charges before she wraps her wings around her body. That prompts Nightingale's gift, which basically makes her blend in perfectly with her surroundings. And, while Azul is still spraying the area with bullets, she runs, the camoflague changing as she moves. While it leaves an outline of her visible, she's still hard to see, especially with the sunlight shining down on them.
As her body heals the damage, it pushes the bullets out, which fall to the arena floor with dull thuds. The adrenaline which kept her on her feet wears off after that, which leaves her fairly tired for a moment while her body recuperates. Her wings droop, she places her hands on her knees, and just sucks in as much air as she can.
It's then that she notices the fact that she's close to her knife, and reaches down to pick it up. Her wings droop, revealing her presense again, but that's okay. In rder to run, she has to fold them inward, anyway, cloer to her body so they don't catch the wind. Jumping on his back, she attempts to stab him over and over again, hoping that she will, at some point, actually get through.
------
The main problem here is that this is exactly what Azul was made for. Except that he only has one opponent, and options for collateral damage are limited. But combat, fighting, /violence/, these are his purpose. With Claire on his back, there's a deep rumble in his chest, and he scowls fiercely. His skin is like thick leather, only more durable, and the knife doesn't go in the first time. Or the second time. The third time it may have left a mark, but there's no blood yet.
This has gone well beyond frustrating now. Hitting her doesn't work, crushing her doesn't work, tearing pieces off doesn't work, riddling her with holes doesn't work. Azul goes through a mental checklist of ways to kill someone until he reaches one he hasn't tried yet.
The next problem is getting her off his back. He reaches around behind himself, fishing for a limb, or her head, or SOMETHING to grab onto. Anything will do. Once he has a grip on something, he drags her off, holds her in front of himself, and proceeds to wring her out like a towel.
Blood splatters the ground, bones crunch, gore spills between his fingers. It's not a pretty sight. But he didn't come here to look pretty, he came here to kill someone. Satisfied that he won't get much more out of the body, he wads it up and drops it to the ground in a ragged mess. "Grow that back!" he snarls, and spits on the mangled corpse. Gods damn. The nerve of some people.
Just for good measure, he stomps on the remains.
------
"C'mon!" she yells as she can't get the knife through the barrier. Over and over she tries, and over and over she misses because there's just no way to get through. She can feel him reaching for her, but she's not sure she'll get another chance like this, so instead of flying away, she just hangs on...
Then, suddenly, as she's trying to avoid being caught, Azul's hands clamp around her leg. It's almost dizzying how quickly she's wrung from her position; momentarily, she just dangles, and it's at this point that she really gets that there's nothing she's going to be able to do to hurt this guy. Not fair. Then again, she'd probably be apologising profusely if she did, so she's just about to surrender when--
Okay, that makes her scream for as long as she's able, though as the necessary organs are crushed and rendered useless, the sound abruptly turns into a gurgle before there's nothing left at all. Yeah, she's dead, and it doesn't seem like anything anyone can do is gonna bring her back from that... And for a long time, she does lay there, mangled and motionless. Seems like Azul's won.
Except there's a crack here a pop there. The crushed body starts to fill out again as organs regrow and bones mend. It's a lot slower than it's been previously, because she's starting to get tired, but it's not too long before the dead eyes focus again, and Claire sucks in a ragged, painful breath.
When Eden tore her apart, there was nothing left for her to wake up in. But, being surrounded by her own remains actually makes her ill. Covering her mouth, she backs away from the gore until she's at least in dry sand, before she retches. Of course, there's nothing in her stomach since it's newly regrown, so there's nothing on the floor of the arena from it, either. Too tired to stand, she just hopes that Azul isn't going to do that again, because... Because she's sure she can't take it.
------
From where the five Priests watch out in the Arena, one of them leans forward and watches this bloody mess very carefully. And as soon as he's absolutely sure that she's not breathing, and that the big man has gotten a majority of his fun on, he jumps to his feet and leaps through the shield protecting the audience. Right through it. Doing a summersault of form and fashion, he lands deftly beside the mangled corpse and raises his hand, "Winner declared!" This man looks like some kind of psychopath. Wearing pilot goggles that aren't even covering his eyes. He even has an insane smile.
Turning his back on the blue monstrosity, he actually gives the young girl a thumbs up and a smile, knowing full well that he might get pummeled for this.
------
When one of the Priests makes himself apparent, Azul's eyes light up. His former opponent forgotten, despite the rather impressive regeneration show, he stalks across the arena. The man has his back turned, so he may not see it coming. Azul certainly HOPES he doesn't see it coming.
He walks up behind the Priest and hauls off with one big fist at the back of the bastard's head.
"NEXT TIME I WANT A REAL OPPONENT," he bellows, whether or not he actually manages to strike the man. "NOT A CHILD." Sure, it was amusing when he tore her arm off and it grew back, but overall it was just a huge pain in the ass. After this, the ex-SOLDIER might not even consider entering any more competitions. Not if they're all going to be like this.
------
Well, she shouldn't have expected to win. Still, she smiles weakly at the priest as he gives her the thumbs up. It almost feels like she's weighted down as she pushes herself to her feet... Claire is exhausted. And ravenous. She could eat a whole pantry at the moment if such a thing was made available to her.
She tries to open her wings so she can get the hell out of here, but she can't, and just falls back to the arena floor. Too weak, she can't do it. It's like her arms and legs are made out of lead. At least she can turn and look toward Peter in the stands. She doesn't know if he's listening to her thoughts, but at the moment, they're all centred around one thing. /HELP./
------
When Azul's fist connects to the Priest he goes flying through the air laughing insanely and emitting a strange buzzing sound. It almost sounds like a bomb flying through the air at top speeds... or a sound someone would hear in a cartoon. And when he impacts the wall, he seems to flatten out against the wall-- but that only lasts for a moment. A moment later, the air around the man explodes. Guess there was a bomb involved somewhere. He doesn't dust himself off, infact, lays in a heap of bones and broken skin with burn marks around him for a while, before the medics can come down and get him.
But speaking of medics, someone up in the audience finally stops being held back. The match is over. He teleports down into the field and picks up his niece. Peter does /not/ look happy, as he looks at the bloodied blonde indestructable cheerleader. "You-- I-- You do that again and--" He'll kill her!? Kick her out of the house? Deny her icecream! ... "You're grounded. And I'm yelling at you later." :| Closing his eyes, the two vanish.