Villains and Minions

(OOC: This RP is just me and Emily. ^^ Sorry. It's exploring the villain/minion thing from another RPG we're in, so we can work out various things and practice between our turns in the RPG. Here's what we have so far)

Emily:

((Anyway. I'm sorry that I didn't go ahead and ask you before doing so, but heh. Just have Hikari-san handy, mmkay? By the way, I warn you that I'm going to have a blood-and-guts spree here.))

Exhausted, a white hand swept over a creased brow during a momentary lull. The wolf-man was also doing a quick check over his wounds. He didn't have long to live. And he had shown such promise as well. If he didn't lack a soul, he would be useful.
It was almost a sha- well, regretful - that he had to be disposed of. The businessman might have been somebody's wife, father, brother, son, friend, lover. Might have. But certainly no longer. He had forfeited his identity when a black-clad woman had slashed his wrist with her katana.
Her hands brushed over her skirt, trying to remove the sweat from them so that the spidery appendages would not be so slippery. As well as sweat there was some blood. She didn't know who it belonged to. The slashes across her stomach were not overly troubling her; pain meant little and anyway, the blood was clotting and no longer distracting her. Much. There has also been a distasteful incident where the wolfman had tried to lick up her blood, as if he were thirsty.
She gripped her katana once more and felt the wind behind her, strengthing her. What was she, anyway? A warped, cheated, deranged woman who killed for pleasure; or a desperate lover trying to minimise the chaos caused by her selfishness? Nerio honestly couldn't decide.
The wolfman, as he leapt upon her, knocking her to the ground, reminded her almost of the very first battle she had fought for her cause. In fact, this man had taken almost the exact form of her first victim. The only difference between then and now was that she had Hikari behind her, for support. But now it was only Nerio and the soulless beast. He was humanity without control; she was insanity with control and focus and drive.
Which was why he was doomed from the beginning. His aura held similarites to the person she yearned for with such madness, despite the difference of gender. It didn't matter. She could have been reincarnated as anybody. But Nerio would find her. At any cost.
But she was losing. His powerful teeth were closed around her collarbone, his snout drinking in the metallic scent of blood. He tried to finish the job by driving his claws through her heart... if she truly did posess one. They were locked in a grapple; the winner's prize being the chance to escape with their life, to continue their violent, unchanging paths which would both undoubetdly lead to hell and the devil's embrace.
It wasn't quite over yet; Nerio knew that she had more in her, but... why was her life flashing before her eyes? And the blood. It was horrible, there was too much of it at least, too much of it belonged to her. She lashed out with her feet, trying to ignore the slideshow of her younger years playing in her head. But her limbs were weakening, her katana lay out of reach.
The kick found a weak spot though; the beast's jaws unlocked from her. He drew his head back and howled. It had been, shall we say, a low blow. There was a bit of distance between them now, if only a few more inches. She took more precise aim and kicked again.
"Hurry up and die!" she said, trying to thunder powerfully but sounding weak for her efforts. Oooh, she was wounded worse than she initially estimated. And the blood ooozed. The slash gash had been open again as well. She felt herself weakening with every second, lost blood forming a puddle around her.
The monster was off her. There were claw marks in her hands which smarted painfuly, but she was still able to stand with her katana.
The streetlight nearest to them was suddenly blotted out. The two of them had been encased in a dome of darkness; Nerio's doing of course. Darkness was comforting to her. She could feel the hateful power within her builind, building, building...! The beast was dumbfounded, unable to mangle an enemy he could smell and not see. And he was nearing death himself, as mentioned earlier.
There was a demented light in Nerio's eyes as the black dome jumped into her katana. She changed her stance to one of attack, took a running step and leapt into the air, not knowing how she managed it while feeling so lightheaded.
Slash! Slash! With the power of darkness behind, around and within her, she unleashed on him with such power as one would not believe to come from somebody who appeared to be dying.
Spurt! Spurt! His head toppled to thr ground with a soft, sickening thud and a torrent of blood erupted. Nerio sank to her knees, likening the spurts to a grotesque fountain. She suddenly realised her exhaustion and the pain seemed to be catching up with her.
A groan escaped her painted lips. The dome of magic disappeared and took along with it the deceased monster. To his family and friends, it would simply seem as if he disappeared one day, never to return. The part about the man meeting a violent and bloody death would neevr be discovered.
But to Nerio it seemed that she would meet a blood-bathed death of her own if she did not receive medical aid. Or magical aid. Her coal-coloured eyes screwed shut, beads of sweat trickling over them and concentrated. She was able to call out to Hikari in her sleep: could she do it while awake?

Me:

(I'm stealin Nerio for this post, because she'll need to respond to hikari-chan a few times. ^^*glimps emily-chan* yay! I'm glad you brought this RP over here.)

Nerio barely noticed the child-size hand that rested on here shoulder, and her response to the concerned "Nerio-sama..." was a pained whisper.

nerio: Hikari...I need help. Is there a hospital or someone with magic powers nearby?
Hikari: I might be able to get you to the hospital. Can you walk a little?
Nerio: I don't know.
*hikari tried to help Nerio out of the alley, but the woman was injured too badly*
Hikari: *Seeing, now that they were closer to a light source, how bad Nerio's wounds were* Kami-sama...
*Before Hikari could swear any worse, a voice called out*
Voice: hey! What's going on here?
Hikari: Who are you?
Voice: *Tsukinini Kawatte oshikyo speech*
nerio: Sailor Moon...
Hikari: We need help, Sailor moon. Nerio, she's in trouble. She was fighting a monster, and was injured.
Sailor Moon: *Leaping down from a lamp post* Let me see...I don't think there's anything I can do for her, except help you get her to the hospital.

Emily:

((*steals Hikari and stamps on self* Damnit! I keep posting this as if I were using tammy and not nerio. *bats Tam away* Go away, dangnabbit! *grabs a pile of swords and throws them in different directions* Fetch! And take your personality and writing-style with you!))

Outlined in her namesake, Light, as she always seemed to be, compared to the darkness and squallor that Nerio lurked in; Hikari had answered the call. Left mentally weaker from the strain of calling her companion to her side, Nerio had to struggle to conceal unexplainable tears. Well, at least she wasn't reviewing every grimy detail of her life. Flashbacks were so cheesy, anyway.
"Nerio-sama..." her faithful little minion faltered in awe and horror, looking at the bloody puddle she lay in.
"Hikari," her senior croaked, forgetting to add the '-san', "...I need help. Is there a hospital or someone with magic powers nearby?"
Hikari accordingly closed her eyes and searched for magical presence. The city was full of ordinary, mundane, magicless people and some ignorants not realising that they posessed potential. But Hikari needed far more than potential. A healing of these proportions would require a lot of magical power.
"I might be able to get you to the hospital," Hikari stated, carefully not mentioning that she failed to locate magicial beings - Nerio despised failure, "Can you walk a little?"
"I don't know," confessed Nerio, and before she could protest, Hikari was pulling her to her feet.
"Lean on me," she instructed with unusual firmness, compelling Nerio with her desperate eyes to obey.
Thus, despite her fierce hatred of dependence, Nerio was forced to hobble along on Hikari's shoulder. Out of something which was almost like friendship, she tried her best not to soak Hikari in blood. They only made it a few steps out of the godforsaken alley before Nerio crumpled into a pitiful heap and groaned. Pain was clawing it's way into her twisted mind, dispelling her usual composure.
'I didn't mean for it to end like this...' she thought, unable to even clench and unclench her fists.
"Kami-sama," she heard Hikari say and suddenly longed to reach out and comfort her. Which appeared beyond her motor functions at that time; she was stuck on her hands and knees. She smiled weakly. If her time had really come... Hikari needed to know... She needed to know the fate of her lover.
"Hika--" she began, but was cut off by the voice of another girl.
"Hey! What's going on here?" the newcomer said. Nerio looked up, but could only see a silhouette against the light of the lamp. She averted her eyes; the light hurt them. She didn't seem to question why the apparation was able to stand on a lampost. She heard Hikari question her presence, surprised, "who are you?".
"Atashi wa ai to seigi no SEERA fuku bishoujo senshi SEERA MUUN!" the figure cried, posing accordingly and giving a strong introduction. Luckily for them, she left out the 'tsukini kawatte oshiyokiyo' part.
That speech! It was unmistakable! Her fingers, which were getting pins and needles, tingled along with the rest of her body in the presence of such a force for good.
"Sailor Moon!" she gasped dumbly, then groaned again. Her body had jerked, causing her wounds to flame.
"We need help, Sailor Moon." Hikari said, laying a restraining hand on Nerio's glossy, raven hair, "Nerio,--" she gestured to the wounded woman, "--she's in trouble. She was fighting a monster and was injured. Badly."
The magical girl's odangos trailed behind her as she leapt gracefully down from the lampost. She examined at the woman with an expression of sympathy on her face. It was easy to see the trauma she was trying to hide. Usagi chose her words carefully.
"Let me see...I don't think there's anything I can do for her, except help you get her to the hospital."
"No." an insistent croak escaped Nerio's throat, "if they treated me in hospital, you wouldn't get me there in ti-- unngh!" wincing, Nerio was hit by a spasm of pain. Hikari took one of her hands in both of her smaller ones and squeezed it. The spasm passed, and Nerio was able to speak once more, "I need the Ginzuishou, the crystal you have. It's my only... chance." she grunted softly, fighting down another spasm and gripped at Hikari's hand. If she got out of this, she'd stop mistreating Hikari the way she usually did at school.
Softly, Usagi stepped closer to the woman, the bottoms of her boots turning a sinister shade of red. She placed her hands on her knees and leant foward, her blue eyes meeting with the woman's dead-black ones.
"How do you know about my Ginzuishou?"

Me:

(Meh, flashback time. *hits self over head* Come on ideas, get back in there!)

Hikari was slightly confused. While Nerio spoke to Sailor Moon, her mind slipped back to the long days she spent hiding her pain from her friends, trying to laugh and have fun as a girl of 15 should. To the nights she spend dreaming of her lost loved one. The painful time she had been searching, only to find herself right back where she had started, completely alone.

The first night Nerio had been in her dreams, Hikari had denied her offer. and again, again, over and over until one night...

****Flashback****
Don't leave me...*Hikari called to the empty room, but no one responded*
Voice: He's gone.
Hikari:You...You are Nerio, ne?
*A woman stepped out of the shadows* Hai.
Hikari: You look different. Last night you were a girl, about my age.
Nerio: This is my true form. Hikari, will you help me?
Hikari: Hai. I will help you.
Nerio: Tomorrow I will begin going to school at Juuban JR High. I will be in the teenage form you saw yesterday.
Hikari: I will wait for you.
Nerio: *nodding* Itte Kimasu *nerio left, and Hikari woke up*

*Hkari returned to the present when Nerio tried to stand*
Hikari: Nerio-sama, don't...You'll only injureyourself more...
*Hikari recognized this insistence on doing for herself. Nerio had demonstrated it more than once as Neriko, the Jr High School girl she knew during the day*

****Flashback #2****
Neriko: Ichibanboshi-san?
Hikari: Yes. but why?
Nerio: Why?
Hikari: Why did you choose me?
Nerio: It was kind of an accident. I stumbled into your dreams, and saw a person who needed help and would be willing to sacrifice for her happiness.
*Hikari nodded as the schoolbell rang*
****
During art class, Neriko had insisted on staying by herself in a corner. Hikari decided it would be best not to attempt to force her company on Neriko. Instead, she worked by a window next to one of her best school friends, Tsukino Usagi.
Usagi: I saw you talking to the new girl this morning.
Hikari: Neriko-san? Yeah.
Usagi: There are already rumors floating around about her. That she's antisocial and mean.
Hikari: Have you forgotten the rumors floating around about Ami-chan when she was new? It seems to be a tradition. And Makoto-chan...Everyone said she was a violent bully, but both of them are really cool.
Usagi: You're right. I just thought you'd like to know. Actually, I think Neriko-san mght be a great person too, once she gets a few friends around here. *smears paint across Hikari's face* You've got something on your face.
Hikari: yeah, I do now! *"accidentally" brushes her paint brush across Usagi's nose*
Usagi: Oh you're mean! *both girls crack up laughing*
*Hikari glanced over at Neriko, who was drawing in pencil instead of painting like the rest of the class*
Hikari: *thinking* I wonder if helping her is the right thing to do...But I need to know where he is...

Emily:

Art... again. Sonoda Neriko walked in silently, moving through the throng of laughing, chattering, ignorant peers. She cast a glance over at the light corner which always seemed so much darker when she occupied it and walked right past.
Hikari looked up from her daze when Neriko sat down composedly beside her. She felt rightfully surprised. Neriko was always so standoffish with her, never really communicating unless it was necessary.
Which still held true. Neriko didn't even bother with a smile, a greeting. Something a friend would have done. Then again, Nerio had not disguised herself as a schoolgirl to be friends with Hikari. She had agendas, some of which Hikari knew and some of which she didn't. As for her motives...
Hikari studied Neriko as she tuned out, not bothering to listen to the teacher. She seemed particularly delicate-looking today, which was no real surprise. Hikari wondered if she remembered any of it...

There was silence. Everybody was waiting her Nerio to answer, but she didn't. She was suddenly very still, her hand was still warm, but becoming colder with every second. Usagi could see her face, the way it was strangely unmoving. No more blood came from her wounds. Alarmed, she lay her hand against the woman's cheek for a tense moment.
"I'm sorry," the senshi of love and justice said, gently, "she's... she's..." Usagi choked on the words and could say no more. She had been able to recognise Hikari, but was preventing herself from question her presence. She was probably just a passer-by...
Hikari's kind eyes were brimming over with tears, but she could also feel an unreasonable anger stirring deeper down. No! Nerio had promised! It wasn't fair, after all these weeks of pain and struggle! She had gotten Hikari's hopes up as well!
Aside the pain of being cheated out of the only chance to find her lover, she realised that the majority of the hurt she felt was also because she had lost her new friend. Sure, Nerio had not once shown any real kindness towards her - to her face - but they were still friends!
"I guess I could..." Usagi murmured to herself. She had been wrestling with her thoughts for some minutes. It would be possible for her to revive Nerio, but it would also leave her weakened. In any other circumstance, she would already have the Ginzuishou raised above her head, but there was a problem...
There was something distinctly evil coming from Nerio, even though she was dead. Healing an evil person to let them cause more trouble would be terrible, so maybe well enough could be left alone. Everytime she tried to tell Hikari that there was nothing she could do, her resolve failed. No. She couldn't tell this girl that she would never see her friend again.
"You're a good person," she said, though it was more for the sake of reasoning with herself, "so you wouldn't associate with an evil person. Right. Hi--" suddenly she stopped short, realisisng that she could not call her friend by name - Sailor Moon and Hikari had never met, it was Usagi and Hikari who knew each other, "Uh... Please move back a bit. She needs to be lying down for this."
Quietly, Usagi straightened up and closed her eyes, letting out a bit of a sigh, trying to relax, looking for the power she knew she had within her. The brooch she wore in the middle of her chest ribbon opened with a small click, and the lid disappeared entirely. She held her up in front of her, on level with the brooch, and the Ginzuishou floated out between her hands. She raised her arms - with kid gloves that went to her elbows - high above her head.
"MUUN KURISATU PAWAA!" she shouted...

Thier lesson was a strange one. Listen to a piece of music and draw what came into their head while listening. At the end of the lesson, after several repititions of the song, students were asked to compare pictures with the person next to them. Usagi probably would have drawn something cute and fluffy, no matter what the music, but she was absent. Nerio's drawing was a work of pencil art - lines of darkness swooping in towards somebody with waist-length black hair who had their back turned. Nerio had a talent for drawing.
Hikari's reflected what her mind was on, as well as the general feeling the song gave out. It was a painting in red and black, roughly depicting somebody lying dead and bloodied on the ground, a katana poking out of them. And across it she had scratched with the opposite end of her brush, 'whose fault is this?'.
Nerio smiled faintly at the girl's drawing, trying to joke, "Is that me you painted?"

Me:

Hikari was deadly serious. "yes."
Neriko: *Surprised* Are you all right today?
Hikari: No. *Drops voice* You nearly died. What on God's green earth possesed you to go and fight without backup?
Neriko: I didn't think you needed to be put in danger so soon after our last fight.
Hikari: But if Sailor Moon hadn't been there...*stops short* Neriko-san, I appreciate it, really I do, but please don't do that again. I was so afraid that you were gone last night...
Neriko: It's OK Hikari-san...
****
*when Hikari got home she sat in her room thining*
Hikari: Nerio-sama...I know you only wanted to keep me safe, but you should have known better.
*Hikari's thoughts were interrupted when Usagi rang*
Hikari: *Picking up phone* Moshi moshi?
Usagi: Hikari-chan, it's me Usagi!
Hikari: Hi! How are you feeling?
Usagi: Better, thanks. Naru-chan brought me my schoolwork today. she said you were kind of quiet. Is everything OK?
Hikari: Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last nihgt.
Usagi: Really?
Hikari: I stayed up until all kinds of hours reading Lord of the Flies It's very good, but I can't understand most of it. Ami-chan and I plan to get together and read it sometime soon to see if that helps.
Usagi: Like you did with George Whatzit's 1894?
Hikari: *Laughs* You mean George Orwell's 1984, ne?
Usagi: yes, gomen.
Hikari: It's OK. Hey, it's getting late so I should be going.
Usagi: OK. Ja ne bai bai.
Hikari: Bai bai.
*hikari hung up. Late that night she dreamt not of her lost lover, but of chaos, violence, death. She woke with a start and a muffled scream*
Hikari: It's Saturday today, thank goodness.
*When Hikari went downstairs she found Neriko waiting outside the front door*
Neriko: I hope you didn't have any plans for today. I just saw something interesting.
Hikari:*shakes head* What is it?
Neriko: Come with me. Sailor Moon and some other Sailor Senshi are fighting something.
*Hikari looked surprised*

Emily:

Taking the lead and offering little explanation, as per her usual style, the disguised woman led her companion through the busy weekend-streets of residential Juuban. The way she was dressed was sligthly... questionable... to say the least. She was wearing all black: black gung-ho leather jacket; black boots; black miniskirt; black singlet; black sunglasses; black hair, eyes and accessories, even...
Something of this was in the mind of her father as he watched them leave with a frown. What right did that ghostly, gothic apparation of a girl have to simply and come and whisk his daughter away at her will? She'd done this several times before. Really, he reflected, returning to his morning newspaper, when they returned he would have to ask Hikari about her.
They were going at an urgent pace. Rounding a corner and putting them out of sight, Neriko suddenly disappeared from in front of Hikari, shamelessly leaping the fence of a front garden and entering the backyard.
"Ma-matte!" Hikari said, not daring to follow. She supressed a shiver, feeling dark magic activate. Coolly, the true-form of her questionably-clad peer returned from over the fence.
"I didn't steal anything," Nerio frowned, responding to the somewhat stiff greeting Hikari gave her. "And anyway," she added, "there was nobody home."
She watched her friend sigh with relief and almost smiled, but thought better of it. "Come," she commanded curtly, "we're not far from where I left them."
"Where you l--" Hikari began, but was cut off.
"Yes. I was going to aid them, but you don't want me running off to fight by myself. I owe Sailor Moon my life. And I owe it to you to bring you along."
If a passing person had been particularly gifted with perception-on-the-fly, they would have been able to see the unmistakable concern glittering deep down in Nerio's expressionless eyes as she gently ran her fingernail down Hikari's cheek.
"I don't need you, you can still turn back," she said, with a return to her usual crispness, "but around this corner is the point of no return. Only come if you truly want to, not because you want to fufill our bargain."

Me:

*hikari was quiet for a second. She knew she wanted to keep her end of the bargain, but there was something else there too. She truly wanted to help Nerio*
Hikari: I'll come.
Nerio: *nods* Then let's go.
*Nerio and Hikari ran around the corner and found the senshi still fighting*
Hikari: What is that?
Nerio: I don't know. But we're going to help them. Come on.
*Nerio and Hikari joined the fight*
Sailor Moon: *startled* Hikari...
Sailor Jupiter: Moon, what is Hikari-chan doing here?
Saior Moon: I don't know. But that woman is the one I revived before...
Sailor Venus: So Hikari-chan is working with her.
Sailor Mars: Maybe she doesn't know that she's evil. She's different frommost girls, true, but she's no Sailor Senshi...
Sailor Mercury: I hope for Hikari-chan's sake your theory is correct, Mars.
*About two hours later the fight was over. As Nerio and Hikari turned to leave, the senshi stoped them*
Mars: Who are you, and why did you help us?
Nerio: I am Nerio. I helped you because i owe Sailor Moon my life. Late thursday night she saved me when no one else could.
Venus: And what the little girl?
Hikari: I'm Hikari. I'm helping Nerio-sama because she needs my help, and I need hers. And also because I've found I want to help her.
Nerio: We're leaving now.
*Without another word the two left. Nerio once againleapt the fence, this time to turn back into a girl*
****
*When Hikari arived home, her father called her into the room*
Mr. Ichibanboshi: Hikari, who is that girl that you keep going with?
Hikari: That's Neriko. She's a friend of mine from school.
Mr. Ichibanboshi: How come you've never mentioned her?
Hikari: She's still kind of new, so it must have slipped my mind.
Mr. Ichibanboshi: But you talk about Usagi and the others all the time. Hikari, is she really your friend?
Hikari: *pauses for a moment* Yes. Yes, Neriko is my friend.
Mr. Ichibanboshi: I want you to be careful around her. Maybe you should ring her later and ask if next time she comes I can talk to her parents.
Hikari: Her parents...? OK I might do that later.
*Hikari went up to her room and rang Nerio right away*
Nerio: Moshi moshi?
Hikari: Nerio-sama, my father wants to talk to your parents!

Emily:

"Nerio-sama, my father wants to talk to your parents!"
Slowly, thick eyelashes cast themselves down to embrace their lower counterparts and then retreated to their usual place, above her eye. Again, she blinked slowly, kerflummoxed, trying to grasp at the proverbial straw.
"Why?" she said after a time, her voice as flat as ever, showing no sign of the panic she had just felt.
"My father," she said, and Nerio could almost see her blushing and twirling her phone's cord around her slim fingers anxiously, "he... doesn't seem to trust you."
"I could never imagine why," Nerio replied, dryly.
"So... what can we do about it?"
"I'm not sure," she said, her voice flat once more, "I'm able to project a disguise for myself... I wonder if I could create illusions to fool him? It would be like disguising thin air, I guess. Hmm..." denting her finger on her chin, she tried to concentrate.
"Nerio-sama? You do have parents, don't you? Couldn't you just have them meet my father?"
"No." something in her tone silenced Hikari, "I couldn't. I don't live with them, anyway."
"Okay... Well, do you have something in mind?"
"Yes. As I said before, I could disguise thin air and control what it says and does. Or maybe an inanimate object."
"That's good," Hikari sighed, relieved, "so, will I see you tomorrow?"
"We've both done enough for one week." Nerio answered tersely, wanting to hang up and make sure that she could do what she claimed.
"Okay. Goodbye..." Hikari said wistfully. Nerio-sama wasn't very socially inclined.
"'bye, Hikari-chan."
Hanging up, Hikari wandered whether the '-chan' was intentional or a weird slip of the mind. Then again, such a lapse would be unforgivable form Nerio's point of view. She smiled.

Me:

*Monday morning, at school*
Usagi: Hey Hikari! Ove here!
Hikari: Just a minute! *Hands her homework to Haruna and runs over to the group of girls* What's up?
Usagi: Have you heard about the strange dissappearandces recently?
Hikari: *Goes pale, but keep her voice calm* Hai, a little.
Makoto: No one who dissappears has been found. I wonder what's going on.
Ami: It's very strange.
Hikari: It is. *the bell ringsand everyone goes to their seats, Hikari looking relieved*
****
At lunch, Hikari stayed by herself. It was the first time she'd ever done this...She told the others she needed to study.*
Hikari: *to herself* I wonder if they know what's going on. Could they know? How? Why is all this happening? I know now that I did the right thing when I accpeted Nerio-sama's offer, but why is all this bad stuff hapening?
*An announcement comes over the loudspeaker*
Loudspeaker: Ichibanboshi Hikari, please come to the office now. Your father is here.
Hikari: Nani? *Goes pale* Why s he here?

(OOC: That's where we left off. I desperately need to expand on the whole Hikari's dad thing, but I'm at a loss right now. XD)