piers | 05. bang bang

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05. bang bang

violinist • insomniac • paper aeroplane • dandelion seed • feather • she sings • a stolen ring • fairytale gone wrong • cliche • ribbon • cadence • 3:28am • icarus • hallucination • letters to the moon • silhouette • breathless • start running • astronomer • comet in a bottle • reincarnation • mirage • filigree • everyone was dancing but me • nameless • exhale • fortuna major • vices and virtues • gunpowder and gunshots • china teacups • pinkie promises • chrysalis • piercing • north star • kerosene • dark horse • vanilla • the cat meowed • blink • text message • smirking • firefly • daisy chain • doe eyes • "where are you?" • typo • no shoes in the rain • heterochromia • swallowing silver spoons • a spoonful of sugar • mistaken identity • twisted ankle • touching the clouds • i told you so • lump in the throat • shoulders • sunburn • ambulance • talking nonsense • perfect • bare branches • pale • everyone found out • not enough • i owe you • she won't say it • russian roulette • dried flowers • actress • tattered notebook • smell the roses • justice • all that glitters • the cat and the king • grudge • apathy • all dolled up • decadence • blush • too easy • healing • then, i changed • write to me • caffeine • rumpled sheets • close your eyes • message in a bottle • morphine • fahrenheit • fighter • i lit a candle for you • after all this time • newspaper • pendulum • soundproof • skeletons in the closet • nightingale • arms crossed • prologue • epilogue • bully • i dare you • arms outstretched • woken up early • we're all made of stardust • dancers • hero • blurry • aftermath • even you • whatever you want to believe • a dance with the devil • roses are red violets are blue • lantern • they kept their promises • live fast and die young • interlaced fingers • i wish i tried harder • don't blink • envelope • congratulations • just look down • wayward • when you say nothing • as you wish • runs in the family • fight like a girl • the bright side • skyscraper • sunshine • bye, beautiful • don't mess with me • fire at will • fire and water • peek-a-boo • don't die before i do • wanderlust

pick a character + prompt (or tell me what you want &or bring your own) and get words.

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[He can sense it in her, even from this far away. The frantic urgency with which she rides, the reckless abandon with which she throws herself into danger, it's all familiar to him. A way, perhaps, to cope with a world gone mad. Throw oneself into a thousand smaller dangers and emerge alive, even victorious, and the greatest danger of all may seem less daunting for a moment. It's a deception upon oneself, a small and welcome comfort... if a false one. It's a desire he knows well.

And one that leads only to destruction and turmoil.

He raises his head from his crouch, locking directly onto her eyes with the glowing green visor and holds that contact. Unblinking, unflinching, he straightens up slowly and then stands in place directly in the path of her oncoming bike.]

[ Over the roar of the bike, she watches the figure rise. It's weird. There's something off about how calm it is. Actually, the sheer serenity of it makes anger spike in her on impulse. Everything around her is in tatters, she's in tatters, the grip of her right arm clenching on the handle, and this guy is just gonna stand around in her way? Distrustful of the metallic, phosphorus looking glow, Yang maintains her speed. ]

I'm not gonna stop, no way.

[ She gives it about fifteen seconds. ]

Not for you!

[ Not for anyone. Or so she thinks. The temptation to go straight through him just to prove she can is immense, but some smaller, more faraway instinct still alive in her takes over. With a loud frustrated grunt, Yang kicks the brakes at the last second, pivoting her whole body and sending the bike into a loud, screeching arc. It sails around the guy, leaving a burning smoke trail in its wake, and she wheels it about to face him, now behind him on the street. Yang doesn't cut the engine, but she slams one boot down on the ground, whipping off her helmet and goggles. Her eyes and hair are both glowing, but the colors are dim. Suppressed. ]

Rrgh. Hey! You got a problem?

[There's no change in the stranger, even as she roars toward him on her bike. He stands in place, unintimidated and fearless. That faint metallic gleam and eerie glow not moving an inch from its place as those fifteen seconds tick by.

Ten. Five.

One.

The sash hanging from the back of his head flares out, whipping in the wind as Yang veers sharply away from the impact and goes screeching around him. Still, he doesn't move. Doesn't even turn his head until Yang's come to a stop.]

I have many. [He finally turns toward her, his voice human enough but electronic and distorted, like it's coming through a speaker, and just as peaceful and calm as his motions.] But one less now that I have finally found you. Yang Xiao Long.

[He turns to face her fully and slowly draws the wakizahi on his back, settling down into a ready stance. Oh, his old friend would not be happy to see this but he has no choice. Words will not reach this girl as she is now.

He must take another approach.]

Huh! [ So the guy had a good gauge on reflex. His tranquility only stokes her petulance. Her anger. ] Is that so?

[ Yang shoves the helmet aside, dismounting her bike in a flourish of color. Her hair fans with the impression of flame, incandescent and chaotic. Elbows crooking at their angles across her body, she plants her feet on the asphalt, halfway to a fighting stance. Despite being incomplete, a gesture that alludes to much more than just her physicality, there's prowess to it. A raw sort of animal strength that sears her all the way down to bone. To whatever it is that she has left. She can't back down now. It's all over her, bold words scrawled in an open book.

Once the blade makes its appearance, her eyes tick at their corners, suddenly sharp. It reminds her of another fighting style. Fluid, precise, dark. Her heart's in her throat. ]

Sorry to burst your bubble there, but if you think I'm gonna be one less problem, then you've got another thing coming!

[ Yang's fists ball. Her right streaks with a glow that seems separate from the rest of her. Not just in how it looks, but how she treats it, also. ]

[An open book. Clear as day. Whatever your metaphor of choice, it's all there. Her strength, he can see it in both her aura and her body. Her skill, he can see in her stance. Her anger, he can see blazing off of her like a fire. Her fear, he can see being drowned in that anger. And he can see her disgust in the way she holds her right arm. Not as a part of her but as an extension. Unwanted.

Fear. Anger. Hurt. Brashness. All coming together to take the place of pride, of the confidence of the warrior she falls just short of truly becoming. He sees all of this in her. He can see it because all of those things were once a part of himself as well.]

Do I? [He anticipates and adjusts, the slightest shift in his stance in preparation of the attack he seeks to draw in.] If you are going to boast, you should do it only after you have managed to strike me. If you can manage to do so.

[His blade flickers, a slight gesture of challenge.]

Come.

If you know my name and you still wanna go, then don't complain when you're in pieces!

[ That he knows her burns in her gut, but she can use that. She can use that fire. No one was supposed to know what happened to her, that day. Maybe he doesn't.

Just the prospect makes her blood stir.

He beckons, and she shifts in answer. A golden bangle at her left shifts, morphing along the contour of her arm. It expands, metal whirring and clicking and locking. Ember Celica. Or half of it. The rightmost becomes something completely different. Yang doesn't wait for it to finish its sequence, melding what once looked and felt human into this... thing, this familiar and yet completely phantom mass she now carries. She vaults off the cracked pavement and charges him as her right arm continues to unfold, leading with her left. It's not her dominant side, but she doesn't need it. Not to win a fight like this.

With a loud growl, Yang takes a leap, focused on the pale glow that defines him against Vale's darkness. Ember Celica loads, and her swing levels at his solar plexus. Right through the middle — fast, uncomplicated, aggressive. She cares so little about defense.

As long as she can deal a hit, she can take a hit. ]

I know more than your name.

[There it is, just as he'd expected. It's a good attack, swift and powerful, likely enough to topple many opponents with ease but it's reckless and unprepared. Her right arm is still shifting into its combat mode and she's clearly not at her best with her left. With training, perhaps, but now....

He shifts to the side when she makes her attack, the blast from her weapon blowing past and doing little more than adding to a broken chunk of rock's woes. Seizing her arm, he twists, using the momentum from her wild charge against her to destabilize her and throw her aside.]

I know you still fight guided only by your anger. Have you truly learned nothing?

[ Yang hits nothing. Like trying to harm the wind itself. She breathes in, lungs igniting with the taste of ash and her own flame. She grunts against the sudden shift and throw, equilibrium flipping. Yang twists midair and hits the ground skidding back on her heels, concrete grinding to dust beneath her. With knees at a sharp bend, she stabilizes herself as she comes to a stop by lashing out and grabbing the road in front of her with her right hand. Asphalt cracks under her grip, the robotic limb finally whirring to life with a sentient orange glow. When she looks up, her eyes have gone red, teeth grit. ]

I learned plenty! [ Bracing, she orients herself and launches forward again, arm pouring fire and steam, electrical currents latticed throughout. ] And you know what good it did me?

[ Slamming herself down, she spins, throwing her weight into her arm as a clothesline. ]

Nothing!!

[He turns with the momentum of the throw, spinning to face her direction and crouching slightly in preparation for a follow-up. When he sees her land on her feet, stabilizing herself and regaining her equilibrium there's the slightest upward tilt of his head.

Impressive.]

You say that while refusing to live by the lessons you have learned! [He ducks under her wild clothesline, spinning and leaping backward. His left arm flashes out and a trio of shuriken hum through the air and curve toward her.] You will never move forward if you continue to fight a battle you have already lost!

[ There's no going back, so she can only rush forward. Dangerously, quickly. Towards whatever there is left. She'll get there eventually, she doesn't have to prove it to anyone that she's strong enough for it. Yang stands her ground, going on the defensive in one practiced blur of movement. Her arms raise to meet the projectiles; a tilt has one pinging off half of Ember Celica, then two. The third whizzes past her as she dips aside, raking off a few strands of her hair.

Growling, Yang follows the volley with a rush, hair aglow. Land a hit on her, c'mon... ]

I've always done things my own way! [ Coming up on him, she brings her leg around to sweep into a low kick. ] No matter who leaves!

[Again, impressive. This girl is talented, there's no doubt about that, her reflexes and timing are impeccable but then, what else is to be expected from somebody of her lineage? If only she fought with more control, more caution. As it is, she relies only on her power and that alone will never be enough.

Perhaps it's time to finally drive that point home.]

You cling to the familiar out of fear! [He slips back out of range of the kick.] You remain the person you were. The one who failed!

[He doesn't retreat from this exchange, instead pushing forward with a flurry of attacks from fists and feet and blade. Rapid, harrying strikes. Never quite powerful enough to give that boost to her Semblance but enough to put her on the defensive and chip away at her Aura.]

[ Power is her security. Her Semblance is her gasoline, her fuel. And the loss she feels the kindling that threatens to send it all up in a glowing inferno of smoke and ash. Let it burn, she'd argue. Yang does argue, with her fists instead of her words, because what had words ever done for her when she could just rip her way through whatever threatened her.

...except, she knew that often wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to go as hard as she could on her own. It'd nearly cost her life. Ruby's life. It'd probably saved Blake's — but she was gone. Her eyes blow wide at his dodge, the red streaking against the dark, hollowed out backdrop of the city. Vale.

The city they'd failed. That he knows they failed. ]

It's not fear! [ Yang stumbles beneath the flurry of hits, grunting in frustration as she fruitlessly tries to block and drive them off. ] I want to fight!

[ A pitched growl leaves her as a kick resounds off her arm, blocked, only to have a fist connect with her side. It's like she's being played with, the connections enough to immobilize her without causing enough harm to activate her Semblance. Her Aura dips, hair flickering. He must know. Her teeth clench so hard in her mouth that her jaw aches. ]

No, I — I have to fight! If I want things to go back to the way they were!

[And now this, this, is where instinct and talent fail. He's better than she is, the first few seconds of this exchange have already shown that clearly enough, shown that she won't win fighting like this. She should have broken off, retreated, perhaps used those weapons of hers to gain some degree of advantage at range.

But he knows that isn't her way. He can hear it in her fists as loud and clear as if it were coming in words. His own fists and his blade speak back to her as they slip past her defenses and turn aside her counters. Power is rigid, it makes her brittle. Fire is temporary, it dies when it burns out.]

A will to fight is not a lack of fear. [His blade catches the side of her weapon and twists to lock in place as he pushes back against her. That green light of his visor burning into her eyes.] What has been done cannot be undone. Not everything that has been lost can be regained. Facing that truth is what you fear!

[He pushes hard, twisting his blade to break her guard and spins around to deliver a sharp kick to her middle. Enough to deplete the last of her Aura, should it connect, but perhaps also enough to give her Semblance the fuel it needs.

If he's calculated correctly.]

[ Yang bristles when she raises her arm to block, only to have its rigidity turned back on her. Every sense is under siege, every nerve blazing with the will to end this. To destroy it, put it in the ground, wipe it from memory so she can move past it. That is her idea of a path forward. Grunting, she anchors herself, intending to exert enough force to break the stalemate, to grind it down to dust. When nothing comes but the thunderous tremor of her own muscle as her grip starts to give, her eyes flash upwards, pupils pinning beneath the eerie glow that faces her. That split second is all it takes for his movement to uproot her, leaving her wide open.

His hit should produce more than it does. Yang feels her Semblance surge through her, but it's too late. Her Semblance flares as her Aura wanes, and all it leaves behind is a destructive ripple. Everything she's got fizzles out in a violent plume of color, her hair's glow dying out, steam pouring from her clenched limb as it reverts without the power necessary to maintain it.

Yang sinks to her knees in the rubble, breathing hard, flame extinguished. A flicker up show that her eyes have dulled to their pale purple color, though anger still creases them and darkens her brow. ]

Fine, show's over. [ Her knuckles touch the ground before her, between her knees. ] You've got your shot, so just take it already!

[ Granted, that's mostly talk. Her body is still wired to defend itself. She just has to muster up the strength... ]

[Or perhaps he hasn't. His final blow breaks through the defenses of her Aura, leaving it falling to pieces around her in a violent burst of energy and light. The cyborg shifts his stance when his foot comes back down. Low and poised, left hand stretched toward her while his right brings his blade back, point aimed at her and ready to deliver the final killing strike.

A strike that doesn't come. Her words echo off the broken streets and are met with an eerie silence and stillness from her opponent. With her fire out the only light besides the broken moon above their heads is the one that comes from him, casting everything in a ghostly green glow.

Finally, he moves, but not to strike. He straightens with an easy, fluid movement and sheathes the short blade across his back, sliding it into place with a light click.]

No. I did not come here to take your life, Yang Xiao Long. [He steps forward and stretches a hand out to her, whirring with the soft sounds of gears and servos.] Forgive me for attacking you. I did not think you would listen to what I have to say otherwise.

[ Even with her Aura dulled to a chaotic whisper within her, her own energy is electric in her veins as she waits. Left virtually alone with just her own challenge to accompany her towards whatever will happen next. Not death, she thinks. Never that, not yet, no matter what. Just those short seconds seem impossibly long as her thoughts heave through her options, until — click. The noise of mercy is so loud in her ears that it actually physically jolts her.

Yang's eyes flicker upward, eyebrows raising in surprise, anger momentarily sucked away. It's the most honest reaction she's had yet to any of this as she searches the glow of his visor for answers. What she finds is an extended hand. Probably not human, and yet...

She huffs a rusty laugh, reaching up to rake her knuckles across her lips before anything. Everything tastes sharp and metallic. ]

That's sure a funny way of saying, hey, listen up...

[ Yang seems close to leaning forward on her knees, like a beast having to be coaxed out.

She doesn't take his hand just yet. ]

So I'm guessing it's pretty important, huh.

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05. bang bang

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