LOG; OPHELIA + BANSAI, ONGOING

[writinurlyrics.livejournal.com]

When; After Ophelia gets (kind of) headed off by Bansai for going after a curse-affected Takasugi Shinsuke.
Rating; R, for red bloody mess, probably.
Characters; Ophelia (therippling) + Kawakami Bansai (writinurlyrics)
Summary; Bansai thought he would take one for the team. Regardless, he's taking one. >:
Log;


He could hear her, the woman who was involved with the man who lived next to the Kiheitai. Ophelia, that was her name. He remembered it well, because Bansai was particularly intrigued by this one. Like their neighbor, she had a certain sound to her, like a wood pipe. Something soulful but inhuman, capable of being piercing and cruel to the ears. It was a noise Bansai was incredibly fond of, one that told him that there was power, power willing to test itself against his own.

He would lose, he had no doubt about it, but Bansai was no stranger to loss. He'd lost to the Shiroyasha before, lost to quite a few, but he'd survived and that had been all the difference. A survival was not a loss.

A truly proud warrior would never allow a survivor, not in Bansai's opinion, one favored by Takasugi Shinsuke. This made it all the more valid to Bansai.

He could hear her, the earthy, metallic sound of her aura coming to Bansai's ears, louder and louder. One hand rested over his shoulder, ready to draw his blade from behind his shamisen.

Perhaps Shinsuke would thank him in the morning, if he survived.

They could have a smoke together.

Comments

[therippling.livejournal.com]

She did so love games.

Games that bled, and games that screamed, and cried, and begged and all of those things she loved. It was so boring sometimes, in the City. So boring, there, in the concrete and metal and absence of nature and yoma, where she had nothing better to do than stalk around and gripe.

Because everyone whined so when she killed people.

But, when they agreed to it... well. That was much different, wasn't it? Much, much, different. Which was why she was excited, could feel her power pulsing in tune to the inhuman blood in her veins, woods racing in a blur past where she'd left the other's body, until her nose wrinkled, detecting the smell of him and she screeched to a halt, braid whipped about her face and a rather disconcerting smile on her lips.

"You came!" How surprising, that people could come to die.

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He paused when she appeared, unexpectedly and quickly. She was faster than any human or even alien Bansai had fought-- no, played with --before. It was becoming fairly obvious to him that there was no chance to make it out unscathed, no chance for an easy battle. He may even need to cheat his way into an upper hand. He stood straighter, staring at the young woman through his tinted glasses, hand contracting above his shoulder as his tendons tensed.

She made he heart-beat race.

It would be an excellent fight against a worthy opponent. Was it really any good to fight a battle one could win easily, one that offered little entertainment or honor in the winning? Better to defeat strength than weakness, or even die trying.

"One," Bansai said, slipping into the calm voice of the former de facto aristocrat (no matter how useless the old classes were in this place). He would treat her well enough. She wasn't running, not like that Shiroyasha bastard. "Is seldom late for an appointment. They're very important in his line of work."

[therippling.livejournal.com]

"Oh, good." Though Ophelia was a cunning woman, the exterior she presented to most, especially like this, was childish and innocent, innocent, even, as she smoothly drew the Claymore blade from her back, a large weapon no female as slight as she should have been able to wield, let alone one-handed.

"I hate it when people run late. Or skip out." A slight pout came to her features, and her silver eyes seemed to run warm into gold at the very thought.

"So I'm glad you came, you know." A finger, pointing and gesticulating as she spoke, animated and vivid. "I already played with the sick fuck next door," for her was not, of yet, a name in her mind, "and I was just thinking what would be best for you."

[writinurlyrics.livejournal.com]

Outlandish weapons were no novelty to Bansai. He had seen strange things in the past, things that shouldn't exist. The sword the young woman pulled from her back sang out to him in a way that was, grimly, far too like the Benizakura for his comfort.

Perhaps demon swords really did exist.

"Punctuality is an important quality," he said politely, voice half on the task. The sick fuck next door? She couldn't mean... Ophelia did smell strongly of blood after all. It was likely that it did mean that she had attacked Shinsuke. The hand over his shoulder slid the length of his sword from out of his shamisen at last.

"What kind of a game did you play with him? If you break promises, people will be less willing to come play, daresay."

[therippling.livejournal.com]

She eyed the sword he pulled with excitement, with a manic grin tugging the corners of her mouth to reveal her teeth.

"He was awful excited himself." Ophelia explained, licking her lips eagerly. "I promised I wouldn't kill him, so I just took his arm off." It was matter of fact that she walked through it, that she spoke of taking a man's arm off. Her fingers were clean, because she had licked the blood off, though residual splatters of it stained her armor.

"It was a fun game, for a human."

[writinurlyrics.livejournal.com]

Bansai almost felt jealous for a moment at her words; Shinsuke was 'awful excited.' It was a matter of course that he wanted to duel Shinsuke at the end, once their other objectives had been completed. His fingers moved along the wrapped hilt of his sword, readjusting it and holding it to point the tip at Ophelia, steadying the blade along his other palm.

Shinsuke wasn't meant to lose against anyone. Shinsuke was supposed to wait for him at the end of everything, never having lost, a pristine opponent. Bansai wanted to hear the triumphant horns when they finally charged one another. And now she had gone and done that.

"Which arm?"

[therippling.livejournal.com]

"His left." Ophelia grinned, answering smoothly, with no resistance. Her sword moved, and she began twirling it limp-wristed, eying him hungrily.

"So... don't you think..." Her thought process could be terribly simple when she was simply indulging, and this was one of those times. She wouldn't go full throttle, no, it would end too quickly, so she held herself back as she lunged forward, a quick arc of her blade bearing down.

"It would be best to take your right?!"

[writinurlyrics.livejournal.com]

It was almost ironic that Bansai had had the same thought as Ophelia. She had taken Shinsuke's left, so he would take her right, given half a chance. Actually taking what he wanted from this would be substantially more difficult than he imagined, however, something he realized when he thought to attempt to block her blade with the side of his own, thin katana.

A bad idea. The nerves in his arms screeched like a set of disturbed chimes. This was going to go badly for Bansai; she was inhuman even moreso than Okada Nizou. Bansai liked that.

"Thank you," he hissed, sending his thanks to Shinsuke for providing him the opportunity.

[therippling.livejournal.com]

"For me?" Ophelia crooned sweetly, eyes peering predatory from their locked blades, easily holding his in position. Humans were so weak, and yet, they could make the best toys. Nowhere near as good as Awakened Beings, but, she had to make do.

"We'll play a game I never got to finish." The Claymore educated with a smile, slowly pressing harder.

"I'll match you for now. And every blow, I'll get a little stronger." A wicked grin, and she broke from him, a quick twirl about and another strike, at his shoulder.

"How's that?"

[writinurlyrics.livejournal.com]

It was a cruel game to play with an opponent. Not quite humoring them in this way, though Bansai certainly was being humored, telling them exactly how the duel was to be fought. If Ophelia were to match him at first, Bansai under some circumstances would have been able to lure the girl into a false sense of security concerning his abilities. The way she was playing, however, it was better not to trust in anything but pressing back even harder each time.

The blade barely missed his shoulder. Bansai wondered how long the music would last. Five minutes? Ten, if she liked to play with her food?

"A game you never finished?" It was stupid to answer while on the defensive, but curiosity had gotten the better of him.

Bansai was a sucker for a good story.

[therippling.livejournal.com]

"A game with Clare's little human boy!" Ophelia happily explained as she lunged past. Her braid whipped out behind her, rippling, and her foot twisted, dug an armored heel into the dirt and whipped around, her cape flung to the wind as she aimed for his back.

"But it got interrupted!" Mid-swing, she still spoke. "He played so well!"

[writinurlyrics.livejournal.com]

Clare's little human boy? The conversation was distracting. The movement of her cape and braid were distracting. Though she was wearing armor, it didn't seem to slow her down by any significant degree-- and hadn't men like him given up armor in preference of quickness? More than any of the aliens he'd cut down, she was inhuman.

And she was rather more exhilirating.

The fatality of the situation, the inevitability, it was a moving opera to his trained ears even as her heavy sword cut a slice down the thin fabric and thinner skin of his collarbone.

Bansai spat.

"Bitch. Who's this boy, anyway? He's here?"

[therippling.livejournal.com]

The site of blood excited her, it always did, and her eyes widened happily, shifted briefly from silver to gold, to slit pupils and the crawl of veins across her skin.

"He's here!" She laughed, draw back only to dig her armored heels in and pounce, the sword rippling in view before her, a silver blur, faster, as she'd promised, moving just a bit faster, just a bit stronger with every movement. He was a human, but they could be fun to play with, too.

And she figured, against other humans this one was bound to be good.

"But he won't play with me!" A lament, accompanied by the powerful thrum of steel slicing through air.

{ooc: all good}