trans_9 | Tightrope

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Tightrope

It had been a few days since the Outsider's gathering, where Hit Girl had finally been able to utilize her strength and talent to help others. All in all, it went pretty well: choices were made, friendships were had, blah blah and kumbaya. What SHE had wanted to show was that she was the type of girl who got the job done, and if anyone needed to be reminded, she would show that to them. Grabbing the flag had just been the start: now she wanted to make sure that whatever happened next, she would be ready, she would show people the type of person her daddy trained.

Which led to today's excursion in the Sensorium: she was doing tightrope walking, one of her weaker points, in order to maintain balance and poise. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop had demanded both, and while she had mastered that, she had not yet made her foray to really careful jumping in tight spots. To give her some energy, she had this playing in the background, and she jumped from rope to rope, her eyes concentrating, her tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.

Each step took courage, and the slightest imperfection would result in her falling, although of course it wouldn't be that big of a deal when you were in the Sensorium anyway. Despite this, Hit Girl demanded nothing less than imperfection: once she had this mastered, going to Negi and learning the delayed spells would be next, not to mention training Sasami.

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"Huh." That was the first she heard of this. She would hate to think that the reason for being picked to be an Overlord in training was her gender being a reason. Then again, despite the Overlord's occasional lapses into perversion, when else had being a girl mattered? The Overlord had usually seemed to prefer girl's because they kicked ass more on the ship, she heard him say that before. Still, she would definitely ask him why this guy wasn't training right alongside them.

"In trees? So what, you were an active child or something? That's one reason for chilling out in trees all the time, right? Or were you working on your balance then too?"

She looked a little at a loss for words. "So you like shiny things that have a story to them? Well, tell me about it. It isn't like I couldn't afford the break for a little bit."

"I wasn't exactly an active child. I was the opposite, really. Sickly, fragile body., terrible sight. By certain circumstances I found myself living in the forest. I found a mentor there eventually," he said with a fond smile. "Taught me how to be self-sufficient and strengthen my body through training and the blessing/lessons from nature's creatures. I did have to learn a lot of that, though...balance. In the trees. Climbing them, having to go from tree to tree. So many fractures from falling during those years," he laughed. "I slept in them quite frequently before my world went all explode-y," Nokosi casually added.

"Which brings me to this," he said with excitement, lifting up an earring that seemed to be a thin, twisted vine with two red and yellow leaves attached to it. "My mentor gave this to me when I learned my first Aspect. I didn't get it, then, but in all this time they haven't wilted or dried out."

"Which makes me wonder," he started, abruptly changing the subject for no reason at all. "Why did you choose that for your 'hero' uniform?"

"Actually, my story is kinda similar, kinda different. It was my dad that trained me, after he realized that local law enforcement was pretty much in the pocket of your big time gangster. So he needed an sidekick, someone he could trust. That person was me. Spent years getting shot at, getting agile, making myself skilled with the weapons we had at our disposal. I've still got a few scars from that kind of training, but more from actual fights. Not many, because I got that good, but still, a few."

The emotional scars were really the worse, but Nokosi didn't have to know what caused that. She eyed the earring with interest though: she had never heard of an earring made in this way that didn't wilt. Most likely it was enchanted.

She shrugged. "I needed something that was going to be bulletproof, that disguised me well, and let people know who I was. That, and I also wanted something that wasn't going to show me off like some kind of cheap hooker-y hero girl: there's a few too many of those drawn in my earth comics."

"Oh, you know," he started, tapping a fist in the palm of his other hand. "I can understand that. In the Kingdom of Humans a lot of things are run by the noble houses. They have their hands in everything, it seems. The guards, all the businesses, the King. Well, not so much the King anymore after his advisor was discovered to be an evil dragon," the elf rambled on, shaking his head in amusement.

"Bulletproof...?" He peered at her, examining the different textures of materials she was clad in. He wanted to feel them; the materials did look interesting enough. "Unless you're swift enough to dodge projectiles, I do not see what the appeal of wearing very little protection offers, bar being of the type that spends much time running through the forests."

Now that he thought about it, some of the hookers in Goldshire and Stormwind did moonlight as fighters, mages, priests and the like. "I think the clergy complained the most of the Paladins walking around like that. Those 'Light-forsaken trollops make a mockery of the Light'." It was clear that he was repeating something he'd heard before. "Defeating the purpose of wearing platemail by leaving their most vulnerable points open. Silly."

Wow. That sounded like something out of Lord of the rings or Worlds of warcraft, something of that persuasion anyway. She figured that he had to have had some involvement with Ronnae then: she talked a little bit about that geek stuff too, with the dragons and the houses and things.

She nodded. "Well yeah. Where I'm from, people have guns, and being shot with one is pretty much a death sentence. One of the first things I had to learn from dad was how to avoid a bullet. And yeah, where I'm from there aren't really forests, its all city and skyscrapers and bright lights."

She laughed. "Yeah, I figured that the girls who went around fighting crime like that had to either be strong enough to do it or else entirely existing for showing tits and ass. It wouldn't be the first time. Luckily for me, I'm way too young to be a reckless teeange girl obsessed with my body. I care more about living long enough to get there."

"You said 'earth', right? Billy has told me of it a bit and Beast Boy has shown me his 'West Coast city', once. It was all very dazzling. Still, we have guns, too but I'm willing to bet that your own are extremely advanced in comparison." Of course there were always the magic guns and Goblin laser weapons to speak of. "I prefer a bow, though. It makes a much more pleasant sound and is far more discreet."

Younger than a teenager? Well, she did look the part...from her stature and the shape of her face at least. Strange, considering her language; not that it seemed to bother him at all.

"I see. Maybe for the sake of morale? But perhaps I'm giving the 'women of questionable virtue' and 'strumpets' far too much credit," Nokosi said with a toothy grin. "In any case, you sound very experienced for your age. Though children arming themselves to fight is certainly not unheard of, they rarely have the skills and strength to be useful as much more than pickpockets and distractions."

"Yeah, that's Earth all right, but the West Coat is actually the opposite of where I'm from. Its pretty grand, but where I'm from there's more of a business in the air, like people are always busy doing something. But as far as guns go, I kinda have to rely on the guns, because that's what people use in my world, but if I could just use weapons like a bow and arrow, I would."

She shrugged. "I don't know much about strumpets and women like that, although the ones I met in my world attract scumbags and are pretty nasty themselves, so I don't really show them mercy. As for kids, well, I had a vendetta too. There was something in it for me. I'm not gonna lie and say I was in it purely for the good. That criminal fuck owed me."

"It is not very difficult, especially for those of us who rely on deftness. Though I could see where the attraction of a smaller gun would come in handy in tight places. Then again, that is what traps and Fontaine are for."

Nokosi laughed at her words, and nodded in agreement. "Nothing wrong with that. Having an additional motive for something like that just means you are going to try harder to accomplish your goal. And it benefits everyone anyways."

"You have to be quick, and that's why guns are preferred. You just need to speed to reload and you need to have one of the quickest hands out there. The most important thing is hitting your mark, but that would be something that a crossbow and a gun would have in common."

She nodded. "Oh believe me, we really didn't have anything to do but concentrate on that goal. Sure, we took out some useless shits he hired, but it was destroying him and his whole operation that we were really after. And it would benefit the people who's lives he didn't get to ruin."

"Ah, I see," Nokosi started, nodding his head in understanding. "Though I can be fairly accurate, I am not a marksman and so hitting a vital is not of too much importance for me. That is where poisons and explosives come into play."

"But from how it sounds, you were successful? You will certainly have to tell me the story one day!" He exclaimed, eyes full of childlike hope as if they had just been promised their favorite ice cream if they behaved really well.

"Yeah, that would be pretty handy," Hit Girl said. "Not that we usually did stuff like that. Most of the criminals tend to just torture the hell out of people, just for fun. I just cut their limbs off though."

She sighed a little. "Well, it is a pretty awesome story, although I kinda wish that dad had been able to stay alive to see the end of. Unfortunately the bad guys were able to get the drop on us, and that led to losing a bit."

She tried to sound casual about it but there was no mistaking a bit of sadness behind it.

Most negative aspects of death hardly seemed negative to him; it was always a bit hard relating to those who had lost someone. So though he frowned suddenly, it wasn't long before a smile rose to his pallid lips.

"Well you did finish what you both set out on, so you have the 'avenged' angle covered, too. Your father sounds so cool, though and once I know of his exploits," he pressed a finger against his forehead, "I surely will not forget them."

"He was," Hit Girl said. "It sucks that he bit it, but that's the risk that you take when you go around as a hero. And I'm still here: the last thing he did was advise me taking out these whole bunch of guys. Right before he went he told me he loved me and I told him that I'd get revenge for him."

She grinned. "I don't know what he'd think about me becoming an Overlord, but its not like there's a place to be a hero for now, and we took out the guy that we had to anyway. It's not like there's anyone else to tell me what to do with my life but me."

"Oh, might as well. It seems like a lot of responsibility but so many chances for adventure! And fighting against other Overlords all the time; always busy and in the middle of action. I-" he paused for a second, eyebrow furrowed in confusion.

"Zetta does realize that he is essentially training an Overlord that will one day surely challenge his rule? You know, because that is what demons do and all. Hrm. Nice guy," he commented with a shrug.

"Yeah, exactly!" Hit Girl said, her eyes blazing a little. "And its not like I'm alone, there's Ruffnut right alongside me, getting into trouble. I mean, yeah, she'll be my rival someday, but its not like I had a friend to do all this stuff with. He took down a freaking video game dragon together, for Christ's sake! It was awesome!"

She laughed. "Yeah, he knows that, and I think he wants the challenge! That's just the kind of guy he is. At least he knows that Ruffnut and I are not gonna go and fall in love with hi like his last pupil."

Video game dragon....? He'd never heard of that species of dragon before. Maybe it was some type of dragonkin? "Was this 'video' dragon ferocious? I am uncertain what flight it belongs to but fighting any type of dragon is usually an exhilarating experience," he said, nodding sagely.

"Oh?" Well that was something he hadn't heard. He could only assume it was back when he was actively being a 'badass' in his Netherworld. Oh well, just more information about his 'Overlord buddy'! "Though it would seem a bit odd to fall in love with a book, despite his 'real' form, I suppose I have seen stranger."

"Well, he's more like this fat but super tough dragon turtle hybrid that breathes fire, talks and has all these minions," Hit Girl said, sounding stupid. This would make much more sense if Nokosi had played video games. Now she just sounded like a crazy person.

She laughed. "No, that happened before he turned into a book. The person who was his disciple fell for him or whatever, and nothing was gonna happen because, you know, demon equals douche bag who can't love. So all they can do is have hot, crazy sex, but he can't return her feelings or whatever."

"Oh, like Nemesis," he said, as if she knew who or what that was. "In which case, that sounds like a whole bunch of fun! Dodging fire, defeating minions and trying to be attentive to any other sneaky tricks they might have, all the while your enemy is shouting threats and other degrading things in hopes of lowering your morale," the elf rambled in a fond tone of voice. "And I wanted to tame him! But intelligent creatures are notoriously hard to coerce in being your companion," he lamented.

"Interesting how different demons from other worlds are, but so alike, too. I think that 'hot, crazy sex' between demons and other mortals are a standard for demons," he agreed. "There is a difference between 'can not' and 'will not', though but it does seem like one of those things that were ingrained on someone from however long ago."

He shrugged and shook his head. "Admittedly most of the things I know about demons is the best and most efficient way of killing them...and other weaknesses. Perhaps when I return I shall sit down and speak with a demon regarding their society, stories and goals in life," Nokosi said with finality.

"Eh...though I suppose they'll try to kill me first. Oh well, I will not know until I try!" the elf commented, with far too much cheeriness for a man suggesting having tea with an ages-old enemies.

"I have no idea who Nemesis is, unless you're talking Star Trek," Hit Girl replied. "But yeah, Bowser is the type of person that might actually get more pissed off if you called him an 'Intelligent creature,' I would say he's more like an aspiring overlord, but not quite there yet. I at least know that Ruffnut and I are up to snuff because we took him down."

She shrugged. "I didn't even know there was any such thing as actual demons that were real, to be honest, and its kinda freaky to imagine them having sex with humans or whatever. As for the falling in love, well, I think I'm too young to know what that feels like anyway."

She snickered. "You and Overlord Zetta sitting down and having tea just sounds like a hilarious thing to me. I don't know if you could kill him though, since he's supposed to be Overlord of the Cosmos or whatever."

"Nemesis was this turtle...ancient...thing that these cultists summoned. His shell is made of lava and he breathes fire," he explained excitedly. "But this 'Bowser' sounds more like a humanoid than an actual animal? Nemesis was an ancient and a sentient creature, but...he was still just a turtle in the end."

Nokosi nodded, "It's not totally uncommon where I'm from. Demons overran the world and all. Since they hold a lot of power, mortals tend to make bargains with them and some have mastered how to control them outright. Succubi are some of the easier to control ones so I suppose that's why. Though...regarding that as well. I'm not really sure what love is supposed to be like, either. Just from hearsay, so we're in the same boat, so to speak."

His face fell suddenly, "Although I would love to have tea with my Overlord pal, he tends to avoid me I think." He laughed, "It's probably because when I first met him I claimed I was an Overlord as well because he wouldn't explain the criteria and about his Netherworld to me beyond, 'we do whatever we want, we fight others for dominance and we rule over our own Netherworlds.'"

Nokosi raised his hand, his thumb and index fingers only a few centimeters apart. "It got us just a little bit into a silly argument that consisted of 'yes I am', 'no you're not' for a good 10 minutes. It was amusing!" He said, chuckling. "Though I do not think I could beat him at all, actually. I was referring to demons in general...as few of them are as he is, back 'home'. And honestly, I think I would have an easier time convincing a Pit Lord to tell me of the ins and outs of demonic life than I would, Zetta."

"You might be right about that," Hit Girl said, pausing to consider the ways that Bowser acted a bit like a human. "He always had this way of acting all big and bad and kidnapping this princess, though why he bothered I couldn't tell you."

She made a face. Yeah, demons must be really different from dimension to dimension, because she couldn't imagine any human controlling Overlord Zetta no matter how much they wanted to. "I can't see how a human could control a demon, and the Succubi thing is even harder to imagine: I mean, guys always want sex twenty four seven, right? So wouldn't the Succubi be controlling them?"

She shook her head. That definitely sounded like her Overlord, arguing about who was better and who wasn't and whatnot. Maybe he was just that annoyed with Nokosi, and suspicious, that he didn't want to trains someone who might try to overthrow him?

"I can't imagine him really avoiding anyone: usually, people have to do the exact opposite with him."

"Easy. With their 'true name'. If a Warlock knows that, they can get the demon to do whatever they want. Granted, they're very guarded about this knowledge and to control any demon of worth it would probably take hundreds if not thousands of years to find out. Then there's binding magic..." he said, eyes rolled up in thought. "Demons aren't native to our realm, so the lesser demons can be banished back to the Nether or enslaved to your whim. Since Warlocks aren't generally the nicest of folks they also trade souls for servitude." He spoke as if he had plenty of knowledge on the subject. Considering his people were the reason Azeroth was infested with demons, it almost came with the territory.

"The bigger demons, though? The ones with actual rank? They can't be bound and it takes a lot of people and a lot of magic to hope of banishing them. Those are the ones who can turn entire forests into ash or destroy cities with a few words. Luckily those demons are usually too powerful to open a portal into my world with which they can fit through." Yep, that was the pinnacle of 'luck' for avoiding 'world destruction'. "But," he shrugged, "There is no real shortage of people helping to summon them into our realm."

He laughed at her words and nodded, "It does seem like many people do not have the kindest opinions of him but I like his attitude. He shows a lot of passion for...well...everything that he speaks of, even if it's loathing! Passion for things seems to sometimes be lacking in this place, so I admire him for expressing his true feelings about things, even if that would lead to the displeasure of others."

Wow. Running into a Warlock sounded like no joke. Then again, a warlock wasn't that much of a stretch from the scumbags she knew in her world anyway. If Frank D'Amico had known anything about having Warlocks in his employ, chances are he would have used it to torture and kill more people to keep his filthy businesses running. It seems that even on a ship like this, human beings tended to be nothing more than the scum on the earth, plotting to hold sway over other people and terrorizing them to do whatever they wanted.

Suddenly, Overlords didn't really sound like such a bad deal.

"The Overlord is like that, but he speaks in other terms, stuff like Mana or whatever. I'm still not sure what it is, but I think I'm getting closer to understanding what part it plays in the struggle of demons to rule over others. I have to keep training though: I'm not gonna rest until I fully understand what it means to be an Overlord."

She shrugged. "You can't really be on top without pissing other people off anyway. The Overlord is sure of himself because he knows he can accomplish what he sets to: he's done it before, so he figures in time, he'll get it all back."

Mana. That phrase was familiar to him, what with all the creatures of nature he'd spoken with.

"In respect to nature, anyways, Mana is like a spiritual well of energy inside you. Controlling nature requires you to expend this spiritual energy. Like training your body, you can also expand that energy." He sighed suddenly, "I was not strong enough to be a druid, though. So many adventures missed out on," he lamented.

A toothy grin replaced his frown, almost as if it were never there. Nokosi nodded his head, ears bobbing with the motion, causing a light chiming sound. "I suppose you are right about that. I never understood the thinking behind so-called 'white lies' to 'spare one's feelings'. It seems like such a silly concept. I do hope you succeed, though. I like you and your passion for perfection as well. It is all very refreshing."

Ok, so that was spiritual energy, likechi or auras, right? She wasn't a hundred percent on her terminology of course, but that hardly mattered, she had the gist of what he was saying, and now she might have a better idea of what the Overlord kept going on about.

"I think I can do that," she said. "It sounds kind of like working around the constraints of your body or whatever. It's probably gonna be difficult at first, I'm used to working purely with weapons or my fists, but then it'll just be an adjustment. But I'm Hit Girl, so I can do that."

She grinned back at him. "Now you're getting it: I don't do shit like this and do it half way. Dad trained me to fight as if you're gonna die, or at least that the possibility is always there, so overcompensate where you can and use everything at your disposal."

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