trans_9 | Damn Paperclip [Open]

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Damn Paperclip [Open]

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..."

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"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.

"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.

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."

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Edited 2010-07-10 00:29 (UTC)

"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.

"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."

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

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

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

"You never asked," he teased. Then held out a hand for her.

"Julian Keller, codenamed Hellion. And nicknamed about a thousand other things." The most popular of which seems to be 'Hey, asshole!', but she didn't need to know that.

Nanoha took his hand in hers, giving it a firm shake. "Well, if we're going to be formal," she smiled. "Nanoha Takamachi, callsign Stars-1. And Fate Testarossa-Harlaown, callsign Lightning-1."

She turned her head to the other girl. "Fate-chan, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Fate had flown over shortly after the battle ended, but had been keeping her distance; it was obvious she didn't want to get too close to Julian again.

"... I guess not." She said reluctantly. It really wasn't that bad, compared to most of Nanoha's sparring matches, but Fate still preferred it not even happening. "Now you better rest all day, like you said you would."

Man, why'd they have to be lesbians?

"Taka... mara... and Testa-harley?" Yeah, he knew he was way off. "Yeah, it's gonna take me a minute; I suck with names alright?

"Can't we just stick with Dollface and Sweetheart?"

"I don't like nicknames," Nanoha shook her head. "It's not that hard! Na-no-ha," she paused. "Taka. Machi. See, just break it down!"

"Why don't you like nicknames, Na-No-Ha-Ta-ka-ma-ki?" He was genuinely curious about that.

"Machi," she corrected. "And is there something wrong with preferring to call people by their names?"

He shrugged some. "Names are something other people give you, especially if they want to remember you. Calling you the same thing that everyone else calls you seems rather... impersonal." As if he were calling her by her rank, social security number, or some other cold arbitrary identifier.

"Besides, I suck with names anyway. It's easier to just make one up for you that I can be reminded of every time I see you, rather than having to flip through some massive mental rolodex." Because you really don't want to know how many women he's hit on over his lifetime. "Dollface and Sweetheart suit you both, anyway."

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Damn Paperclip [Open]

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