Damn Paperclip [Open]

[telekinetic_badass]

Julian glared at the paperclip. Or, rather, the charred shard of metal that used to be a paperclip, which was sitting on the floor of an otherwise empty sensorium.

He had tried to pick it up and move it, something that should be a simple task for a telekinetic like him, but his precision control was still shot to hell. He ended up using too much energy in too small a space, which resulted in an explosion.

For the fifth time in a row.

It was getting annoying. He used to have perfect control. Hell, he was on the verge of learning how to disassemble molecules. Now, thanks to Emma unleashing him into overdrive, he can move a mountain through sheer force of will, but can't pick up anything smaller than an SUV without exploding it.

He was getting better at it with practice, but it was slow and frustrating. But damn it all to hell if he was going to ask for help. He could do this on his own. He'd just have to try again.

Which he did, having the sensoriums make another paperclip for him. All he had to do was concentrate, focus, grab hold of it, lift it and then.... then shield his eyes from shrapnel as that one exploded too.

"Dammit..."

Comments

[starlightace]

And right you were, Julian - Nanoha swiftly followed Raising Heart as it fell out above the water, narrowly plucking it out of the air and skidding to a stop mere feet before she would have been out of bounds.

[telekinetic_badass]

Perfect. From above, he dropped a wide energy dome on her, one that was steadily shrinking.

"Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted... I was insistent that she come in and sit down because I was worried about her. Seriously, Sweetheart looked like she was gonna fall over if she had to keep searching the ship looking for you. It wouldn't do to have someone trip over her in the halls.

"The fact she's cute and would be bangable once she healed up was an added bonus."

And this is another reason why people though Julian had evil potential, he loved monologging when he should be finishing off an opponent.

[starlightace]

"And you had to put her arm around her like that? Maybe she'd have been willing if you'd just asked instead of tried to force it." A shrinking barrier around her. All right - she'd just have to punch right through it. Nanoha's grip tightened on Raising Heart as she pointed the spearhead up at her opponent, centering him in her firing lock - out here over the water, there wasn't much he could use as a shield.

She tried not to let that comment about Fate being 'bangable' - and his true intentions - get to her, she really did. But it wasn't as effective as she might have hoped.

"Divine."

A spark of light flared up at the tip of the spear even as the dome shrunk tinier and tinier around her, quickly growing into a large ball of light that crackled with barely restrained magical energy. Nanoha gritted her teeth ... and then abruptly changed tactics mid-spell. "Restrict Lock!"

Don't look now, Julian, but there were little rings of hard magenta light quickly contracting around your wrists and ankles. If he didn't pull away in time, they'd lock and hold him in place - where he couldn't dodge Nanoha's spell. Which had grown quite large by now.

"And keep your hands off of my Fate!"

"Buster."

She fired.

[telekinetic_badass]

Oh, Julian wasn't going anywhere. He was confident that she couldn't break out of the dome, and kept squeezing tighter.

He really should've moved.

Her blast was able to shatter the dome, and probably would've done the same to him had he not hastily flared his TK field to life.

When it was all said and done, he was still standing, though much worse for wear. His shields took the worst of it, but even if you hit an airbag first, it still hurts like hell to be in a head-on collision at highway speeds, and he looked like he got ran over.

His own TK was behaving slightly differently now, the energy seemed to linger, moving around him as if it were in a lava lamp. More energy seemed to steadily drip out of his pores, almost as if he was bleeding it now.

"What do you mean... your Fate?" He asked, hoping to buy at least a couple of seconds to catch his breath.

[starlightace]

No such luck, Julian. Nanoha's life philosophy: If at first you don't succeed, you weren't using a big enough spell. "Raising Heart, Exceed," she muttered as she tried to catch her breath. "Exceed Shift: Stand by, Ready." There was a quick flash of light, and when it faded the golden spearhead was slightly longer and sleeker.

And she pointed it at him again. "I told you, didn't I? She's spoken for."

"Excelion Buster."

The light swelling at Raising Heart's tip seemed brighter, now - much harsher to the eye than it had been previously.

[telekinetic_badass]

Well, he's used to being under the gun. Literally. Being hunted towards extinction tended to make him motivated to keep moving.

With a burst of green energy the field expanded, pushing off the remains of the shackles. And now that he was free, he placed the fingers of his left hand into the palm of his right hand, making a 'T'.

"Time out." Surviving also made him clever. Not that he backed down with his field, nor did he expect her to suddenly switch off the staff. But he figured that as long as he held his fire, she would too. He needed to clear something up before they continued.

"You and her are..." More than just roommates and friends, apparently.

"...are we actually fighting over a girl?" Was that what this was about?

[starlightace]

Nanoha didn't fire, though the Excelion Buster grew steadily bigger as they spoke. "Well, I wouldn't phrase it like that. Sorry, but ... you're not really a threat to me like that." She had no doubt that Fate wouldn't ever reciprocate something like that.

"I just don't like when women are treated like that. Especially not my girlfriend."

[telekinetic_badass]

"Oh my god... we actually are fighting over a girl!"

That was just... it just so absurd that he had to laugh. He really couldn't help it. He just found out that he was hitting on a lesbian and ended up getting into a fight with her girlfriend. This was so hilariously fucked up its awesome.

Kon would never believe this.

"Oh, man... and I was actually thinking about asking you out when this was all over." And he never stood a chance.

[starlightace]

"We're not fighting over -- geez, can't you phrase that differently?" Nanoha wrinkled her nose - that made it sound totally different than it was. And she still wasn't canceling her Excelion Buster.

"And sorry, I wouldn't have said yes." He was an interesting man, this one.

[telekinetic_badass]

"Yeah, I know, lesbian and a girlfriend, and all of that. It's cool." He could take being rejected by a girl who was dating another girl.

"Anyway--" He focused his field, and pointed his palms at Nanoha, but still didn't fire.

"Ready?"

What? He had called a time-out. It would be kinda dirty to just restart without warning.

[starlightace]

Nanoha was about to protest that she wasn't, it just so happened that she was in love with a girl, but decided that this really wasn't the time nor the place for that sort of conversation.

The Excelion Buster crackled with barely contained energy as she aimed carefully. "I'm ready."

[telekinetic_badass]

"Go!"

And with that, Julian clapped his hands together, emitting a blindly bright flash. He used the light as a cover to drop out of the sky and come low at her, because, frankly, he barely stood up to her last attack. He wasn't in much of a hurry to take another to the face.

[starlightace]

But Nanoha wasn't where he'd left her. The bright flash of light had dazzled her eyes, true, and the world was only now coming back slightly into focus... but she didn't need to see to fly. "Flash Move."

She blinked quickly to clear the light from her eyes, now a ways above where she'd been previously - aiming her still-chambered Excelion Buster at Julian from above. Hopefully it'd hit before he noticed where she was.

"Buster... shoot!"

She fired again.

[telekinetic_badass]

God damn that girl was slippery. He had lost track of her, but while he didn't catch sight of her at first, he sure as hell saw that bright beam of energy coming towards him.

It was too late to dodge, and he already knew he couldn't block it. But as they say, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. He put everything he had into his next shot, firing his own beam of energy right at her Buster. Hopefully, he could overpower it, or at the very least, match it.

[starlightace]

The last time she'd ended up in a beam war like this, she'd overpowered the opponent by engaging her Blaster limits. But Nanoha had a sneaking suspicion that Fate would probably kill her if she did something like that in a practice spar (...again). Hell, she'd probably get chewed out just for using her Excelion Buster.

So she just gritted her teeth and tried to overpower the boy with as much magical energy as she could spare.

[telekinetic_badass]

Perhaps that was the case in magic against magic, but telekinetic energy was something entirely different. And apparently something that didn't quite get along with magic.

The two energies continued assault on each other spawned a rather violent reaction, as a huge explosion erupted from the point where they collided, forcefully separating the two.

[starlightace]

Nanoha wasn't fast enough to throw up a shield in time to protect herself from the blast - all she had time to do was brace herself, cover her face with her arm, and rely on the (admittedly considerable) built-in protection of her Barrier Jacket.

That explosion was new.

[telekinetic_badass]

Julian didn't have much of a defense himself, but he still managed to weather the blast. That said, between fending off the last two major attacks, he was left drained, exhausted, and with quite a bit of bruising. Flight was quickly becoming a luxury he couldn't afford.

He floated back over to the bridge, and landed there, keeping his eyes on Nanoha the whole time. If this was going to be it, he'd make his last stand there.

He made a simple motion with his hands. If she had anything left, bring it.

[starlightace]

Nanoha's breathing was deep and ragged - he hadn't landed any direct hits on her, but she'd been going into this fight at a disadvantage and her injuries were beginning to take their toll. Still, she could tell that he was running on empty as much as she was - but finishing it in melee would be foolish. And she really didn't want to be known as Dollface for the rest of their time on the ship.

Three more energy orbs appeared circling her, as they had at the beginning of the fight. With an almost lazy gesture, Nanoha pointed at Julian, and the spheres flew at their target.

That finger then sparked with light as the mage fired off one final Crossfire Shoot at her opponent in addition to the orbs - just for good measure.

[telekinetic_badass]

Julian smirked, then inexplicably laughed as the orbs came towards him. He was about to lose a fight that a lesbian... a magical lesbian, who had started a fight with him because he hit on her girlfriend in front of her. In space.

Yes, so hilariously fucked up its awesome! You just can't make up shit like this.

Still, pride wouldn't let him go down without giving what last little bit he had. The last of his tk flared to life, and after one hit-- two hits-- three hits with the orbs, he was still standing, but the Crossfire to the chest was enough to finally put him down.

[starlightace]

Nanoha exhaled sharply as Julian went down, though she remained battle-ready - he could still get up - until she'd manually counted the seconds in her head. The opponent went over to where her opponent lay on the ground, her Barrier Jacket and Device fading from view in a shower of sparks ... and held out a hand.

"Mm, that was a good fight."

[telekinetic_badass]

"Says you." Had he known she was that slippery, he would've chosen a less open battle ground. Not even a single direct shot.

Still, he had respect skill like that, if nothing else. He took her hand, picking himself up off the ground. "Next time, I won't go so easy on you, Dollf--" Crap. The bet. Right.

...what the hell were their names anyway?

"...it's Aloha and Faith, right?"

Hey, you try taking a Divine Buster to the face and see how good your memory is.

[starlightace]

"I hope not," Nanoha smiled. "I hate when people pull their punches."

That didn't stop her sighing at his next statement, though. "Nanoha and Fate. Na-no-ha."

[telekinetic_badass]

"I got the 'o-ha' part right," he pointed out.

[starlightace]

"But not the rest of it," she countered.

"...I don't think you ever actually told us your name, either."