Let's Turn Up The Heat!

[Teki]

Maelys Arkana

---

A Day in a Powered City

The sky was black; the last of the Sun’s rays left the earth, and the skies let loose a rainful upon the modern city of Hong Kong, darkening the skies even more between flashes of bright lightning and thunder rolling through the clouds. To many, it was a horrible night, but to Alexis, it was a pretty good one. At the very least, the rain could have been coming down harder... but then, she had the luxury of being a pretty warm gal.

“Welp, time to get off my ass.”

The black-haired, red-eyed girl suddenly kicked off her bed, a half-rotted thing, which she covered with a blanket of slightly better condition. Her shoes hit the grating that qualified as a floor, walking a few steps before making a grimace as she heard dripping. She looked around, and confirmed what she thought with a sigh; the tarp had another leak, which meant that she had to tape it up again. At this point, she was wondering how much was tape and how much was tarp. “Great, that’s a problem I gotta deal with,” she grumbled, moving aside some discarded newspapers from the drip, then grabbed her bright blue hoodie, slipping it on.

Stepping slowly out from her makeshift home, she grabbed the side of one of the billboards, flinging herself to the front of the electronic plasma display, looking up at it, surprised that it was advertising something she was actually interested in. Apparently Mr. Donnie’s was trying out selling some char siu. “Now that’s worth taking a look at!” Laughing softly, she threw her hand up, the display suddenly dimming as energy, swirls and baubles of colors pulled from the screen, flowing into her arm, forcing itself into her body as it danced across her limbs, turning her eyes and hair as blue as her hoodie as she grinned, suddenly yelling out, “AW YEAH, THAT’S THE STUFF!” as she jumped completely off the edge of the sign. She let herself fall a few dozen feet from her home three stories up, but as she neared the ground, she suddenly threw her hands on, a bright mist surrounding her as a brighter mist appeared from her palms, suddenly slowly down significantly, enough so that she landed on the ground as if she had jumped two inches as she canceled this ability. She rolled her neck, still grinning, as she thought about she wanted to do tonight.

Come to think of it, a fight would be great.

[Maelys Arkana]

As the sun neared the end of its descent, a tall, white haired individual would step out of a dark alleyway, a light bluish glow quickly fading from his body. Though most passerby would ignore him entirely, those that did take notice would either scoff at him or keep their distance, wary of the strangely dressed outsider. The fox-like ears and a pair of tails didn't help earn him any friends, either, nor would the weapon affixed to his back, the long, dual edged sword that stood nearly as tall as he. As he walked down the road he eyed the cars parked at the curb with a curious glance, wondering what purpose they might serve.

He assumed this was a path at least, given that there were humans walking along it even though it was quite hard and rough. But even as the humans would avoid him, his eyes would remain attentive as he walked, watching that man who, poorly so, concealed the knife in his pocket, hands tucked away and trying to act nonchalant as he approached an unarmed woman. The kitsune would move in closer, keeping his eye on the man as the knife holder walked up to her, demanding that she hand over her belongings. While this act would not surprise him, he knew full well the chaotic nature of humanity and had witnessed it, what did anger him somewhat was the inaction of all other humans nearby. Even as the knave drew his meager weapon, the other passerby would continue on their way, barely giving a glance to the situation before hurrying off.

In a flurry, Rikkan moved in, grabbing the attacker's knife arm and pulling it away from the woman, delivering a swift elbow to the man's chest, forcing him away from his prospective victim. "Quite the dishonorable knave to draw steel on an unarmed individual." The attacker would stagger back a bit before regaining his balance, three more individuals seeming to approach the scene, allies of the attacker by the looks of them. The armed man would speak up as Rikkan moved to stand between the attacker and the woman, who was still recovering from the shock of the whole situation. "I'm sorry, you must be confusing the real world for some kind of fucking fantasy. Out of the way, weeb."

Rikkan wasn't familiar with the slang, but he assumed it was some sort of derogatory phrase. No matter, he would not budge, instead widening his stance, turning to place his right arm forward, extending his arm partially into a combat pose. He kept his gaze moving, eyeing all four opponents as they stared back at him, clearly eyeing his own weapon. Without warning, the attacker would throw his knife straight at Rikkan, and things quickly escalated. Knowing full well that he couldn't evade the weapon, lest it strike the woman behind him, he reached back and pulled Laevateine from its holster, pulling it over his back to slap down the clumsy knife. Without hesitation, he rushed in, passing the other opponents and going directly for the original attacker, but before he moved the whole distance, Rikkan would fade out of view, leaving a frozen shade of himself for half a second.

As the thugs were left confused, two seconds later Rikkan would appear, thrusting his sword just past the attacker's head, just over his shoulder. He would hold his sword in place there, letting the thugs realize what happened, or at least what he was capable of. As they turned to see their leader nearly get decapitated, one of them ran on the spot, while the other two gave Rikkan a frightened glance, expressions of disgust plain on their faces as they turned to run soon after. "If I live in a fantasy, then you must be the foe I'm supposed to kill." The attacker would move away from the blade, staring at Rikkan for a moment. "Fuck you, freak... you don't belong here..." All bark and no bite, however, to Rikkan's disappointment, as even this last one would turn and flee.

"Such a disappointment..." As he returned Laevateine to the straps on his back, he would turn back to the woman from before, still watching him with an expression of surprise. He would stand straight and give her a bow before returning to the path and continuing on his way, the sun finally ducking below the horizon. Rain would begin to spatter the ground, starting out as nothing more than a nuisance, then slowly turning into a light drizzle, not quite a downpour, but enough to bother him. He'd need to clean Laevateine when he got home... His sword would be the least of his worries, however, as he continued on, spotting a child atop a building up ahead, the lights of a neon sign appearing to shock her before causing her to fall from the signboard. Immediately rushing forward, Rikkan did his best to try and make it on time, but he was simply too far away.

It would seem that his assistance was unnecessary, though, as the girl proved to possess some sort of power, surrounding herself with a strange mist and slowing her descent. Slowing himself down, he came to a stop around ten feet from the girl, standing up as the girl landed safely on her feet instead of becoming a bloody stain on the ground. "You're liable to scare someone, jumping off of buildings like that." Perhaps sudden, but in these worlds where humans normally have no special powers, this human child seemed to possess a power akin to magic. This interested him greatly.

[Teki]

Ah, the smell of the city was always great to wake up to... the smoggy air of car exhaust and chimneys, the faint scent of food, the smell of filth and muck, and a bit of the rain on top of that. Sure, it was an... acquired taste, but hell, she got used to it a long time ago. Was hard for her to really wake up without it by now; somehow, those clean houses she slept it sometimes just didn’t really felt like home.

‘Yeah. ‘Somehow.’’

She snickered to herself as she rolled her shoulders, popping her neck as she prepared to get it on for the day, but paused when she heard a voice directed at her.

Heartbreak Kid

Alexis grinned widely, turning to the man, opening her mouth to reply, but paused, blinking her bright neon blue eyes as she took just a moment, taking in the height of the man. Sure, she was pretty short – her friends loved to make more than a few jokes about it – but damn, she might be short, but he was tall. “Damn, dude, can ya reach the top shelf from there?” She smirked softly, shifting her head, proudly displaying a neon blue pair of letters just under her left eye, as tall as her nose, spelling ‘HK’, though the movement was just habit by now. Returning back to the comment before, she replied, “Hell yeah I am, and believe me, it’s funny as shit.”

She grinned ear-to-ear, snickering loudly, remembering more than a few occasions of terrorizing her friends... hell, she’s done it so much they didn’t care anymore. Their fault, though; those fuckers didn’t know a good joke. She looked at the man again and gave him a closer look, casually walking around him with her hands behind her head, finally noticing the sword on his back. “Holy hell, ya got a permit for that meat cleaver? That thing’s almost as big as I am!” She laughed softly, but she stopped herself, looking closer at the sword and doing a quick comparison to herself before pouting. “That thing IS as big as me, at least! What the hell, man, you compensating for something? Got some sort of nifty trick for using a sword that big?”

Suddenly Alexis’ eyes went wide with a realization, another grin slowly forming on her face as she completed her circle around the man. Already, she could tell a bit about him. Traditionalist type, definitely a fox-morph Powered, and with a sword like that, probably fancied himself a ‘honorable swordsman’. “Ya part of one of those fight clubs, fox boy?" she said, with a playful, confident grin, "Itchin’ for a good fight, and damn if ya don’t look like one. Wanna get your ass beat by a little girl?”

[Maelys Arkana]

Rikkan Zelora

@tag

Her little quip about his height was not unexpected. She was, after all, short even by human standards. It did however amuse him that the bit about scaring people was intentional. Good to see at least one other person that shares his propensity for playing tricks on people. He kept a wary eye on the child as she paced around him, seemingly sizing him up, her gaze apparently catching his blade and becoming indignant at its size.

"Laevateine is an extension of my will, and I would not suffer to have a weapon that lacks in any regard." She continued on about the blade, seemingly curious about how exactly he could wield such a hefty and unwieldy weapon. But afterwards, her tone changed. It had been some time since he last tested himself against an opponent, and he would hardly call those thugs from earlier worthy opponents. Even still, when the girl issued her challenge, he couldn't help but wonder if she was far too young for what she was about to get into.

It was no secret to him that human children were often sheltered, as they lacked any redeeming capabilities, but then again this child had already shown experience with some form of magic or other power, and he could not judge her mastery of it from appearance alone.

"... Know that I do not take challenges lightly, nor will your young age warrant any restraint." He would avoid killing her, but such was the concept of a duel moreso than mercy. "So long as you understand this, I accept your challenge." He would turn to face the girl, sliding his left foot back and holding his hands up in a stance.

"I am Rikkan Zelora, a traveler of sorts, and I will not give in easily."

Made by Maelys