Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Ivan The Mouse

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 28
1
"Lad, are you deaf or daft? I asked ya to get your hands off me...", the pirate growled as he felt the taste of blood fill his mouth. "If you just apologized-", but he did not have the time to finish, his face was pounded on the ground once again.

Oh, to hell with this shite.

It wasn't quite so pleasant anymore, and he honestly couldn't care less about an apology. Using his free hand, he grabbed onto his flintlock and pointed it at the blonde man.

"Now, quit it and tend to her wounds. You're a healer, so heal. I will handle that bastard."

Neo was annoyed by the seafarer's manner of commanding him, so he slapped the flintlock with his backhand with the intention to get it out of his hands and said, "Fuck you, you don't have to tell me."

He then stood up from the ground and walked hastily towards Yukina, as he raised the Japanese lady from the ground and carried her in his arms. Neo looked at the injury and said, "Jesus fuck, we need to get to the medical room for this shit."

As began to walk inside the Manor, he then yelled to the pirate. "Give 'im hell or somethin', champ!"

2
Michael couldn't even be bothered to wince at the sound of the girl screaming. Sounded like she wasn't used to combat at all.

...You know what, forget this. It isn't even fun anymore.

"My apologies for that," Michael says to the incapacitated girl, stepping out of her reach in case she tries to use her remaining weapon anyway, "I'll send a healer over as soon as I can. Fairly sure I can find one in this city. Regardless, that was extremely stupid of you. Given the pirate's interest in you, it would have been smarter to simply put yourself between him and the kid."

With that said, Michael then takes a look at the blonde, who just pulled the blade out of his arm like an idiot.

"That was unwise, kid," Michael says, "You're going to be losing use of that arm soon. The pirate might actually be a decent fight, but I'm not in the mood anymore. Kneecapping non-combatants just sucks all the fun right out of things. If you'll let me go now, I can get a healer and we can put this mess behind us. If not, that healer is going to be looking after three people. Either way, I'm leaving."

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking faggot!" Neo told him off angrily. "I'm this outfit's alchemist, I have goddamned healing potions! That's one reason why all of us here lasted like fucking roaches, because of me! And can handle this wound on my arm, asshole! I've been shot so many goddamned times in my fucking life, you condescending fuck! You really think this would put me out of the fight, huh?!"

"And you nigger, Yukina gave you a welcome and chow and this is what you give 'er back?! And now, you fucking think this can be over with you just saying sorry, as if it was all bullshit to you?! And you're expecting us to just let ya' go after that?"

"Listen, asshole! Yukina might forgive you for shattering her knee, but go ask this guy here!" He was referring to the pirate he was violently beating out of anger. "Oh, you dipshit... I'm pretty sure this guy here would give the same fucking answer as mine, and he'll want to fuck you in the ass!"

"Neo-san, it is alright." Yukina muttered to him, still weakly crying from pain, "Just let him go. Maybe he is satisfied now after he beat us all..." She sobbed. "...Maybe his thirst for blood has been subsided now. Just stop now. Just let him go in peace."

"...You retarded bitch." Neo said to her. "Is that fuckin' okay with ya'?"

"Yes, Neo-san." Yukina replied. "I am... I am pretty sure that anyone will know who is the real coward after this, right? Just let him go."

Neo then whispered, "...Damn."

"So go on, stranger." Yukina was crying. "Neo-san can heal us all. Just go and be happy..."

3
Fair point, but this is for future reference. Also, while a tanto usually doesn't have a guard (they're meant for ceremonial usage/concealed carry), a wakizashi usually does, as it's meant for direct combat to some degree.

Actually, tanto swords could have one.

4
Doesn't matter unless the blade doesn't have a guard. Michael is fully within his capabilities to brute-force it while enhanced.

Doesn't matter now if it has a guard or not anyway.

5
...Well this is a mess, Michael notes, the sounds behind him telling him that either the blonde actually managed to get the drop on the pirate or the pirate simply wasn't paying attention. Either way, the rifle was long gone from the girl's hands, though the blades weren't so simple, Michael having failed to note that neither of them had guards. Thanks to the enhancement, the girl seems to be falling in slow motion while he's still moving in real time, and he decides to put this to good use. Reaching in, he grabs the handle of the shorter of the two blades, sliding it free of its sheath before turning his head to find Neo choking the pirate with one hand and slugging him in the head with the other.

The blade obviously wasn't designed to be thrown. It was single-edged and the balance was a bit off, but he'd worked with worse. The girl finally hits the ground in the moments it takes him to adjust to the knife.

Flipping the weapon so he's gripping the blade, Michael takes all of a singular instant to take aim before tossing the blade fast enough that it's a blur as it slices through the air towards Neo's elbow with the intent of piercing through the elbow to take that arm out of commission.

She's willing to fight, and she still has a blade. Dammit...

Without bothering to look back at the girl, Michael brings the staff down with Enhanced speed on the girl's left knee with enough force to shatter the kneecap, intending to incapacitate her as well.

Disappointing. No fun at all.

Yukina screamed and cried in pain when the staff smashed her knee in a second. Unlike her two companions, she was not used to combat, so her reaction was understandable.

Lorenzo Remei


[...]

"You rotten bastard... do it right! ", he snarled before grabbing onto the man's face, pressing onto his eyes in an attempt to get him out of the way. He too saw what just happened, and it disgusted him to say the least.

"Just... let go! There, she is in danger!"

He'd get Yukina out of this mess, but damn this clusterfuck annoyed him. First that blonde idiot being an insufferable ass and pissing him off like that, but now things were much different. If insulting a woman was a disgusting offense worthy of grave punishment, to harm one would be an unforgivable, irredemable deed.

"Quit it lad!", he roared as he struggled to get away as quickly as he could.

However, Neo heard what happened to his companion far away. "Jappy! No!" he yelled. "Goddamn it, you shouldn't have!"

He then noticed that his elbow has a Japanese blade sticking out of it. He was already used to the pain, so all he did was take the blade out of his elbow by the grip. He then moved the hand pressing on his face and pointed the blade the pirate's neck.

"Ya' heard that, nigger?!" Neo said, obviously seething with rage. "Let's fuck him up! You with me?!"

6
...Ivan, how the heck do you design sheathes/blades that can resist someone trying to remove them from their sheathes? I mean, the only way he would have tried is by catching the end of the staff on the guard of the blade and flicking it out that way, so unless those weapons don't have guards...

Well, Japanese swords usually have this curve resulting from the cooling process in their forging, as well as the fact their sheaths were custom made to have a tighter opening.

7
Seeing the pirate, definitely a pyromancer, literally come rocketing in to basically snatch his thunder right out from under him, Michael stared at the spectacle, then at the downed blonde, then back at the pirate.

"...Show-off," Michael says with a sigh.

Then he looks back at the manor entrance, where he last saw the rather weak-willed girl who, in hindsight, ended up being the linchpin in this whole mess. Granted, the immortal admitted he'd been itching for a fight, but the kid's mouth was really what made this shitstorm inevitable. Hell, if he'd just taken his lumps and tried to enjoy the fight as a chance to test his skills or something, then this would have gone over a lot smoother. If he'd refused outright, that would have been fine too, but no, fucker just had to go mouth off to his colleague and then spout off about how he apparently liked people who didn't care about the shit he gave them. Honestly, though, that wasn't even what really annoyed the immortal. The true annoyance was that, when offered a free shot, the kid not only turned it down, but acted like his victory was guaranteed or something. Power's sake, this kid earned the beatdown the pyromancer was about to hand hi-

Where'd she go?

Strangely enough, the girl was nowhere to be found.

...No matter.

With that, Michael advances towards the pirate.

"Hey now, can you wait your-" Michael starts to say, when the sound of a rifle being loaded registers.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as he turns to the entrance to see the girl bearing a rifle, which was pointed at him, loaded, and aimed. Michael's brain shifts into overdrive immediately as he processes what he sees with a mind sharpened to a razor edge from countless battles.

Rifle aimed at my center mass, gotta move out of the path. Keep my movement unpredictable, keep her from getting a bead on me. Enhance.

Michael dashes in at an angle, zig-zagging as the magic flows through him, augmenting his physical capabilities far beyond their normal limits. It's too late, though, as she's already pulling the trigger, having managed to track him before the Enhancement took effect. Unfortunately for her, Michael is already to changing his direction, turning what might have been a hit into a near miss as he dashes in, now moving at inhuman speeds with the staff moves even faster, smashing the rifle up hard enough to tear it from her grip before reaching in, trying to flick the two blades out of their sheathes and far away from her before she could possibly think to reach for them.

With that, Michael quickly lashes out with the staff, aiming to sweep her off her feet.

The man with the staff was so unnaturally fast, that Yukina wasn't really able to react to the sudden charge at her. While the rifle was flicked away from her hands, the blades can't really be flicked away from their sheaths that easily due to the inherent way that the two blades were shaped, as well as the overall construction of the whole set. However, she was easily knocked down by the lower sweep of her feet, which brought her to the ground.

Normally, Lorenzo would've facepalmed  at such a display of idiocy and utterly suicidal behavior. Still, he didn't feel like taking the fool seriously, so in an almost spiteful manner, he added insult to the blonde man by simply standing and doing nothing, waiting for whatever was to come at him.

As Neo tackled Lorenzo to the ground due to his complete inaction, he saw that was happening afar from him, that Yukina was being attacked by the man with the staff. And, as much as he usually insulted the Japanese lady, he didn't like what he saw, as Neo very well remembers the time when she saved him and Rattus from danger when the first met her. Might it be that he seemed abrasive to her, he absolutely didn't tolerate what happened. This, coupled with the fact that Yukina tried to save him once again from the two men despite not asking for it, only pushed him to a breaking point.

"Goddamn it, Yukina!" At this point, Neo's smug glee has been replaced with some kind of a berserk rage, as he began to grit his teeth and mightily grabbed the downed pirate at the throat by one hand, intending to suffocate him. His other hand was throwing hard punches at Lorenzo, targeting the general head area. He must finish the man before him quickly, he thought to himself, and then aid Yukina from the man who was challenging him earlier.

8
Yes, he has. He also understands that they're rare enough at Yukina's age (most people will usually figure out what they're good at by then) that he's not going to consider the possibility unless some evidence of this being the case shows itself.

Well, considering that Yukina looks like an 18 year old and she had not revealed herself as an immortal, it is safe to say that Michael could superficially say that she just didn't find the field she is good at yet.

Quote
Actually, looking back at the posts, Lorenzo didn't drag Neo out of the Manor. Michael tossed him out to separate him from Lorenzo, so yeah.

http://darksidemoon.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,505.msg28020.html#msg28020

Lorenzo's post. Take note of the distinct lack of Neo being ejected from the Manor. Thrown onto the floor, yes, but not ejected from the Manor.

http://darksidemoon.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,505.msg28022.html#msg28022

Michael's post, wherein Neo is tossed out of the Manor.

Furthermore, note that Michael doesn't actually start the fight until Neo comes down from the high. Once more, tossing him out the door doesn't count, as that was to get him away from Lorenzo.

Well, I didn't say anything about Lorenzo tossing out Neo. I did say that Michael tossed out Neo, so your two links are irrelevant at this point.

And no, Neo isn't out of the high yet. Nobody just comes out of the high just like that. Take it from me and my experiences regarding being a patient.

9
First of all, not a couple of millennia, way more. Second, from what he's seen, Yukina doesn't carry herself with any sort of confidence, which is funny as while the Yamato Nadeshiko archetype is supposed to be supportive of their spouse/partner, they also have their own opinions and will not hesitate to make their stance clear. Silk hiding Steel, if you will. Yukina, on the other hand, lacks the Steel from what Michael's seen. No self-confidence = no confidence in fighting ability = no fun to fight. There is a distinct difference between humility and a lack of self-confidence.

The first point is moot, although it begs the question for the human brain capacity. At that point, there would be a lot of details that Michael would have forgotten, disregarded or did not see in his life, even if he has a whole lot of experience that amounts to more than two millennia of experiences. In fact, this is the reason why I did not let anyone in the Order become excessively old even as immortals: Human brain capacity, as manifested by their maxim in the Order that you can never see it all. In fact, there would be so many changes in human civilization even at the span of almost 250 years (Rattus' age; Trust me on this because I did research on his whole background story and it was not a walk in the park.) that every experience you have accumulated, barring any human mental limitations, can be rendered useless by any technological innovation that supersedes a certain field of expertise you have. (For example, Rattus is an expert equestrian, owing to his experience as a Hussar officer from the start of Napoleonic Wars until World War 1. Well, there's a reason why he stopped being in the cavalry during WW1, and not because he feels like stopping.) But, I digress...

Second, have you not heard of anyone who weren't confident on themselves on some certain field, and then it turns out that they're actually so talented on it and only needed some shaking up? Well, if Michael has seen a lot in the span of more than two millennia and he has the skill to recall every single thing he saw or remembered, chances are he would have come across that certain kind of person.

As for the knocking him down a few pegs, that idea was first made when Neo refused to apologize, not because he refused to apologize, but because he basically looked at someone who, from Michael perspective, looked way stronger (pissed-off pyromancer swordsman vs unarmed stoned Alchemist at close range, I don't need to tell you how that would go.) and already looked pretty murderous and basically told him to go fuck himself. That level of stupid is not one that Michael will suffer for any longer than he has to. Also note that Michael tried to separate Neo from Lorenzo, granted he wasn't particularly gentle about it. But the fact remains that he doesn't like Lorenzo interfering with the fight. Again, he was about to call Lorenzo out on it, but Yukina tried to shoot him.

Well, Michael did badger Neo on duel while Neo told him off on the basis of being high. That's not stupid, that's being cautious. Neo just particularly happened to be a person of that persuasion where he's dysphemistic regarding his speech, so I thought that's where it started. And again, Lorenzo pummeled Neo for that reason, yet Michael only tried to stop Lorenzo after Neo was dragged out of the Manor. That's already too late for Michael to tell Lorenzo to not intervene.

And yes, Neo was offered a duel. But the point is not that he happened to be high when the duel was offered, but that he would get high in the first place, when anyone could pop in on the mansion. And Michael wasn't ticked about Neo refusing to fight due to being inebriated, it was because Neo gave the impression that his work on that so-called pancea would be severely set back by a quick spar. (Look at it from his perspective. A few minutes to fight, Neo heals up with a healing potion, which Michael expects that he'll have, due to his knowledge that Neo is an Alchemist, and then Neo can get right back at that cure-all.) The way he put it sounded like he was making excuses for himself, which is annoying.

First, disdaining Neo for being high when anyone could pop in the mansion is like disdaining someone who plays video games or doing any recreation when thieves can break into their house anytime. Second, Neo did mention first that he was working on the cure-all but with unsuccessful results, so he decided to take a break by intoxicating himself. That's the time when Neo told him that he refuses to fight on the basis of drug intoxication. In other words, Neo was taking a weed break from his research when he was challenged, so he refused because he was high, which happens to be a break from his panacea work. Michael only got the wrong impression.

That aside, Michael was also annoyed that Neo was inebriated in the first place, given that people can just drop into the Manor at anytime. Someone far less nice could potentially end up also in the manor, and if Neo is high at this time, it won't end well at all for him. So yeah, self-preservation instincts are hitting rock-bottom here from what Michael can see.

Again, this: disdaining Neo for being high when anyone could pop in the mansion is like disdaining someone who plays video games doing any recreation when thieves can break into their house anytime. On that basis, why take sleeping pills at night when you can potentially be invaded during that time? (I'm taking Olanzapine, which functions as a sleeping pill, and there ain't no waking up until it's effects wear off. So yeah.)

And Michael also offered to level the playing field. Then Lorenzo arrived and scuppered all of those plans, so Michael decided to make do with what he could get and try to get Neo to sober up, which he did, before actually starting the fight (Throwing him out the door was to separate him from Lorenzo).

No contest on this.

That aside, I see your points on the actions against Yukina and have modified my post to have him trying to disarm Yukina and take her down. Though, given that Michael is moving at High Supernatural, he's attacking even faster, and Yukina's agility is human, I doubt she's going to be able to do much about it, especially considering what Kat said earlier.

Yeah, I'm just waiting for Franco, since Neo is trying to tackle Lorenzo. (Hint: The whole thing is implicitly suicidal for Neo and he knows it.)

10
...did you even read the sheet? Michael is pretty much a textbook Blood Knight. He loves to fight. Also, at no point during this is he actually angered. Annoyed, yes, but not angered. And why the hell would he want to fight Yukina? She doesn't look strong at all, and doesn't carry herself as someone who is strong. No fun to fight someone who doesn't even look like they can put up a decent fight. Michael also offered Neo the first shot, and would have held back enough to drag the fight out if Neo had taken it. But no, Neo had to be all prideful and act like his victory against Michael was guaranteed. Thus giving Michael a reason to want to knock Neo down a few pegs, because the next guy Neo mouths off to might not be nearly as kind with regards to making sure he's alive afterwards, so Michael figures it would be best to try to break him of the attitude now.

As for his reaction to Yukina, she's interfering with the fight. If you'll look carefully, he's about to talk to Lorenzo about coming in out of nowhere on Neo before Yukina comes back with a gun.

First, Yukina not being challenged by Michael on the basis of physical appearance goes against Michael's apparent couple of millennia experience. In other words, it is quite possible that he might have encountered someone who looks weak but is actually strong, so why does he quickly assume that Yukina is a weaking simply because of basic appearances? And oh, strong people can be humble too, so why should her apparent demeanor be a basis of her actual strength?

Second, Michael already mention the "knocking down a few pegs" to Neo before he even said something about refusing to make the first move, which is why he was dragged out the Manor in the first place.

Third, if you look from Yukina's perspective, the fight already looks like a 2v1 battle. If Michael doesn't want anyone to interfere with the fight, he would have interfered with Lorenzo beating up on Neo right from the start. But he didn't.

Also, Michael has a natural dislike of people who resort to recreational drugs (combat drugs are fine), but all of this just added to Michael's already low opinion of Neo's self-preservation instincts. Can't fight back properly if you're drugged up. Unless that's just how you roll, in which case Michael is fine, so long as you can fight well.

Again, this is not a matter of self-preservation, because Neo was offered a duel, in which self-preservation isn't a factor at all because duels are a matter of honor, not essential survival. If anything else, Neo only gained more points on self-preservation in this case because he refused to fight him on the basis of drug intoxication. In other words, he was aware that he can't fight while high, so he refused because that would be dangerous for him. But Michael insisted, so Neo offered him something to level the playing field, right before Lorenzo crashed in the manor to attack Neo on the basis of his insults towards Yukina.

11
Then why did you refer to the shooting method that results in one's aim being thrown off? This was on you, buddy.

I mean, I'd think Yukina would specifically know to squeeze the trigger as opposed to pulling it.

Also, she's going to miss anyway. Just not by as much in this case.

Because the term referring to the resistance of the trigger is still referred to as "trigger pull". Moreso, squeezing the trigger in this case doesn't apply because the rifle is supported not only the forward hand in the barrel shroud, but also in stock by the shoulder. With that, the rifle wouldn't flinch even when the trigger is "pulled' as opposed to "squeezed" because the whole rifle is steady in her posture.

And one more thing: When he rushed towards Yukina and disarmed her, I felt like that was too fast even for him and didn't give her time to react. As if the whole thing is preemptive already. I mean, come on, flick off the two blades just like that?

In this case, I don't think Michael still has a proper casus belli towards Neo, because what angered him towards Neo was his attitude towards Yukina, more so that Neo already refused on the grounds of drug intoxication. The whole thing looks like a set-up just for Michael to beat down Neo right from the start, especially when the first thing he asked was about his fighting ability when Yukina revealed that Neo is an alchemist. This is evidenced more by the fact that he wants to "knock him down a few pegs" for his personality towards Yukina. And then, when Yukina tries to stop the two men from further attacking Neo, his first reaction is charge towards her and disarm her, instead of just dodging a bullet and being surprised of why she did that. If anything else, if his reason is simply a thirst for battle, he would have challenged Yukina first.

In other words, it is as if Michael was there just to target Neo for his attitude.

12
Alright, Panda, how the hell did you think Yukina would not know how to shoot, when there are two people in the Order who know how guns work and especially when Yukina herself is an engineer and blacksmith?

I'm just using the expression "pulling the trigger" as a matter of common parlance, man. What the hell?

13
The moment Michael saw the flask, instincts honed by millennia upon millennia of fighting kicked in, one hand leaving the staff to grab Neo's wrist, exerting pressure in just the right spot to force the hand open to let the flask drop harmlessly to relatively soft ground as a matter of routine, before Michael simply let the wrist go and kicked the blonde away.

Lorenzo Remei

"Don't ignore me you half arsed scurvy dogs!", Lorenzo barked as the other man fought the... whatever stood higher than a flea but lower than a rat in the human decentness scale. The pyre of the manor's candlelight accumulated on his legs, with a swift kick the pirate rocketed trough the manor door with a mighty trail of bursting pyre behind him.

As the able seaman soared in the heavens, he gained a good look of the situation. With a grin, he shot forward down the scoundrel with all his might, brandishing his fist and roaring like a mighty pirate ought to roar.

''Ye cheap scoundrel, a man is only as mighty good as the burdens he bears on his shoulders! To let a woman bear your burdens and having yourself bear no shame, to bear no respect..."

"FEAST UPON MY FIST!!", he cried with the strength of many men, a fiery soul with burning passion pummeled the blonde man with a fist bearing his full might. There was no time to even react, the lad was shot back trough the ground headfirst due to the fiery punch with an abundant trail of blood.

The pirate slowly descending, he gained equal footing to the two once again, and brandished his blade. "Your tongue or your hand, which will be first?", he snarled.

Neo has been kicked away, pummeled and bloodied by the two men before him, simply for his choice of attitude and diction. To any sane person, this would have been a signal for them to drop their attitude and start over again.

However, Neo wasn't a sane person, as he grinned widely right before the eyes of his opponents. "Your ass." Neo answered back. "Take it or leave it, dipshit!" He then, without any hesitation, charged towards the pirate in an apparent suicidal run, intending to tackle him.

Yukina, on the other hand, didn't exactly like what she saw. The scene, for her, was that two powerful men were beating up a man who, though rude in attitude, was less powerful than them. And they did all that for the sake of her honor, if not anything else. These two men were making her companion suffer for something she didn't really mind. While she could take the hurtful words of Neo and he, in turn, could take the contempt of people for his attitude, she realized that something like this happening isn't exactly the most honorable and admirable thing that she could bear to see.

Two powerful men were on the verge of torturing Neo for her sake, for something she didn't mind. For her, this wasn't fair, honorable and right. And she was disenchanted.

She then hurriedly went back inside the manor and began frantically searching for something in the cabinets on the living room. She found it, a key, and then used it to unlock a certain door in the hallway leading to the kitchen, which lead to a descending stairway to a basement. She then went down these stairs and didn't come back for a while.

And when she came back outside, she had, in her person, a sheathed tanto, a sheathed wakizashi and a Type 99 rifle with a Type 30 bayonet attached to it. She then loaded the rifle, closed the action and pointed it towards the man with the staff. With some hesitation, she pulled the trigger, intending to hit him.

Yukina was not the type of person who would use such extent of force for many given reasons, but she made an exemption to this.

14
Well, I have some complaints now.

How come Michael could quickly grab Neo's wrist to make him let go of the flask, when Neo quickly broke the flask by hitting it in the staff? Even if he has some sort of nigh-precognition, the very action of breaking a flask by hitting it in a nearby hard surface isn't directly threatening at all.

15
Fair point. I suppose physics got thrown out the window when Neo grabbed a nigh-instantly extending staff pointed at him, but ah well. I can work with this anyway.

He actually barely dodged it, before taking hold onto it.

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 28