3971/Action and Consequence

Action and Consequence
Date of Scene:	02 April 2016
Location:	Alberichstadt <P:WTWM>
Synopsis:	Lezard comes to Alberichstadt to teach Janine a lesson on consequences.
Cast of Characters:	Lezard Valeth, Janine Liberi

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Janine Liberi has posed:
    The moon shines down on one of the nicer parts of Alberichstadt. A suburb built when the town started to boom, deliberately designed to capture that charming 'rustic German village' aesthetic. Cobblestone roads and paths, faux cast iron gas lanterns, plenty of trees and grass. But of course, while there are few buildings, mostly private homes that try to match the theme, with thatched cottages, walls that at least appear to be stone and the like, there are also modern structure of one-way glass, steel and aluminium that clash rather sharply with the environs.

    It's in one of these monstrosities where Janine is sleeping.

    A towering apartment block, for folks who want an apartment with rent that could pay off a small house in a year or so. She's in a corner apartment on the 8th floor, experiencing yet another fitful night's sleep. Her room is surprisingly tidy for someone of her... nature. There's a bunch of sweet wrappers on her bedside table and on her desk. The wall above said desk is covered with frame photos, with some conspicuous gaps. What appears to be a large cabinet has had a sheet thrown over it, concealing the contents. A full-length mirror has gotten the same treatment in the corner.

    It's a quiet night. What could possibly happen?

Lezard Valeth has posed:
There's a german word, a phrase used to describe the time between setting oneself onto a goal and working towards it before finally putting into motion. Spannungsbogen. 'The span of the bow'. It is with that sensation that the dark man steps into the modern city. He does not belong here. He looks, at best, perhaps like one of those strange cosplayers, but there's no anime conventions in the city at the moment.

No, this is much worse than some Harry Potter cosplayer. Lezard Valeth, the Necromancer of Midgard, has come to Alberichstadt. The Necromancer looks up at the building from outside... And smiles. From the darkness, there is a wash of a deeper black, a twisted rod taking shape as it seemingly grows from the depths. Held solidly in his hand, he steps forward...

A few minutes later, the fitful sleep of Janine is interrupted with a dull explosion, thick black smoke beginning to wisp up from beneath her door.

Draw, aim, and release. This arrow will strike deep.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    In her restless state, the explosion actually causes Janine to jerk awake, legs kicking out to help let sit up in bed, bleary eyes peering about for the source. And then the smoke begins to seep in.

    The apartment is a modern one, and thus, equipped with smoke alarms. And since this is an apartment building, sprinklers immediately kick in to try and suppress whatever is causing it. The water helps the girl reach full consciousness. And of course, the first thing out of her mouth is an oath.

    "Oh, fuck me," she scowls, getting out of bed and looking around her room. Everyone is taught to just get out in the event of a fire, but who really listens. The photos on the wall she looks at with a pang. But, her myriad relatives probably can get them reprinted for her. The covered cabinet gets a similar look, followed by a scowl. Remnants of a life she no longer has. What's the point?

    No. There's only one rational thing to try and salvage out of this.

    With a surprisingly clear head, that she'll later credit to staring down Death Itself, she picks up that heirloom sabre she uses. Thankfully, she's gotten into the habit of leaving doors ajar behind her, just in case her one hand is free. So, she kicks her bedroom door open, exiting into the living area!

Lezard Valeth has posed:
They also teach you not to open doors when there's smoke coming out from under them.

Janine kicks open the door and looks into her living area, confronted with a sea of flame. Fire licks up along the carpet and walls, greedily consuming it as the magical flame rolls through the area into the kitchen. Electricity sparks and arcs as wires melt, only adding to the hazards...

And there, at the exit, she sees /him/. The dark man, standing there at the exit and apparently unaffected by the smoke as he looks upon what he has wrought.

Lezard Valeth looks up, the flames reflected in his glasses as he affixes upon Janine, and smiles. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Janine looks about, as the one stable part of her life literally burns away.

    That oak table where she choked down her nanny's cooking, turning to ash. The fridge-freezer she had stocked with gelato and chocolate, sparking wildly as its electronics melted. That bookshelf she never even took the time to examine, those fresh flowers set out daily. All burning away.

    The heat and smoke hit her immediately, a hard cough escaping her lungs. She peers through the latter, looking to the exit... and there he is.

    It takes the implications of all this to hit her. He's here. The place is burning, and the flames don't seem entirely normal... he did this. "You son of a bitch!" she screams, drawing that sabre by flicking it, causing the sheath to fly off. She peers into the blade and yells for "Biancabella!"

    The Persona shimmers into existence behind her, bringing with it an angry flurry of wind, which probably just fans the flames hotter! Immediately, she's running across the hot carpets, mindless of the blisters raising on her feet, all her intent on slashing Lezard!

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Janine thinks she's kind of a bitch. That she takes pleasure in the suffering of others, inflicting the problems she's going through to try to live the sumation of 'misery loves company.'

But this is on a different scale. She looks into Lezard's face, and sees, perhaps, a reflection of what she could be. Vindictive. Terrible. A being wrapped in power and the will to use it. A selfish creature who only values precious few things in this world... And you are not one of them.

The rage that flares in Janine's face seems to just make him exude... /satisfaction/, as he looks upon your anger, the desire for vengeance. As Janine's Persona appears, he arches an eyebrow... But he's seen Janine fight before. He knows of Biancabella... And as the fires grow intense, roaring about her, he leans into the strike, bringing the divine-forged Manus-Catalyst to bear against the blade, black sparks and flame rolling between them as blade and rod clash.

And Lezard has no problems holding his rod steady, the Necromancer of Midgard deceptively strong. There is a quick pulse of air. "Force." He states, moments before the sorcerous shockwave fires, blasting Janine and her Persona backwards.

"Are you sure you have time for this, child?" Lezard states, as he raises the rod. "Dark Savior!" He calls.

Against the crimson inferno, black, jagged spears begin to form, orienting in the air towards the fencer and the expression of her mind and soul. She gets precious little time before the spears begin whipping towards her, carving and shredding into walls as he sends them one at a time after her.

Is he /playing/ with her?

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Perhaps, if she were in a more reflective mood, she might see some of herself in Lezard. That crazed selfishness, that smug satisfaction in the hurting of others.

    But the middle of an inferno is no time for soul-searching. Only time for action.

    The mundane sabre clangs against the twisted artefact, Janine hopping back to prepare for another lunge. Which only helped to amplify that force blast, launching her back into what remains of that oak table, which crumbles into ash under the impact! She starts getting back to her feet with an effortful grunt, her pyjamas totally filthy now. "I got plenty of time to kick your ass!"

    And then one of those spears goes right through her calf.

    She screams, a loud, pained sound. Even Biancabella writhes before fading from existence. Has Lezard stumbled across a weakness? Even though she slumps to one knee, she uses her sabre to try and parry the subsequent spears.

    And yet, her form is clumsy, her manoeuvres sluggish. She takes a few more cuts and some deeper gouges, each one eliciting another shriek.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Soul-searching is best done when your house isn't on fire. So many shounen protagonists forget that fact.

As the apartment building explodes into chaos, Lezard and Janine continue to clash. Or more accurately, Janine's leg is wounded and Lezard continues to play with her, only putting a bare amount of force into his strikes and looking amused as she parries the dark spears that rip through the air around her.

As she continues to take more damage, Lezard simply smiles, stepping back. "You know, I wonder..." He asks. "This is your home, is it not? Surely you do not live alone..." His tone is facetious, mocking as he looks towards another door leading from the living space. "I truly don't hope anything... /Unfortunate/ does not happen to them."

At that, he raises the Manus Catalyst... And points it at the floor. With a surge of blackness, a hole opens, abyssal and terrible, as a clattering draugr claws its way into the room. A skeletal figure, looking barely intact as rotted and rusted mail clings to its body, skull surmounted by a horned helmet and eyes burning with evil. A metal-bound wooden shield is on one arm and the other holds an axe.

Lezard turns away, walking to the doorway as the creature hulks there... And he looks over his shoulder. "Break into that room and kill whoever is within." He states simply.

The beast moves immediately, turning and roaring hollowly as it crashes towards the door, attempting to batter it down.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Janine can tell she's being played with, and she hates it. This actually plays to Lezard's advantage, as those parrying swings become wider, wilder. Leaving more openings to strike through. She's a right bloody mess by the end of the spell, and those looming flames are making her blister further, stray tongues of flame burning her hair. Her eyes remain on Lezard throughout, burning with all the hate a high-school girl can muster.

    But then she makes sense of Lezard's idle comment over the crackling flames. On reflex, her eyes flick towards the same door he's examining.

    It's said that in times of great stress, your true self shines through. When you don't have the time or mental resources to project the person you act like you are, the person you really are comes to the forefront. At times like this, aggressors can become cowards, the timid become heroes.

    And even bitches can become saints.

    "NO! BIANCABELLA!" She lurches on her wounded leg, getting in between the summoned warrior and the door, the Persona arising once more. Again, the winds roar, fanning the flames further as a concentrated blast of wind attempts to send it flying back at Lezard!

Lezard Valeth has posed:
The Necromancer seems to just feed on that hatred from the girl. The fact that she simply confirms his belief is just icing on the cake.

But desperation can make heroes of anyone, and the sudden rallying of the woman causes Lezard a moment of surprise as the draugr is sent launching over into him. the hulking undead crashing into the Necromancer of Midgard and causing him to get crushed into the burning wall for a moment. He yells in pain and irritation, the damage to his pride greater than that of his flesh.

However, for someone like him, that might be even more telling. "Stupid beast! Attend to your mission!" He yells, thrusting the undead from him and stumbling through the door, the drama of his villainous exit thoroughly ruined as he slips out into the hallway and slams the door behind him.

Which leaves Janine with an undead, rattled from the wind assault but still... kind of intact. Despite his mission, it seems that it sees the Persona-user as an impediment. With a dull roar, it lunges forward, making a brutal, but clumsy overhead stroke with that axe while her home continues to burn.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Janine is too tired to take satisfaction at Lezard's frustration. Instead, she only tries to take a proper fencing stance, but that calf wound has her unsteady. A vague smell of meat cooking fills the air as the flames burn the blood she's spilled and licks at her skin.

    As it approaches, she raises her sword once more, planning on parrying the swing and going to decapitate the summoned undead. And maybe, on any other day, she would be able to do it. She did manage to kill drakes, this would probably present no great difficulty.

    But between less sleep than usual, the various wounds, the overwhelming heat... it's too much. Her guard is crushed under the swing, the edge of the axe cutting into her torso. The slashing damage brings with it another agonized scream. Again, Binacabella writhes before vanishing. But this time, Janine falls back, the sword clattering to the hot ground.

    She hits the ground and doesn't move. And then that door opens.

    A dumpy woman, looking to be her in 40s crawls out, keeping low to avoid the smoke and coughing heavily. She spots her charge on the ground, bleeding heavily. Then looks up at the beast looming over her.

    She screams. This is likely the last sound she'll ever make.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Janine is brave, and in that moment, showed the determination and the power of a hero.

But sometimes, even heroes fail. The hulking undead creature prepares to lift its axe, prepating to finish off the wounded Persona-user while she lies there insensate... But the scream of the woman causes it to turn, burning eyes affixing on the 40-year old. She is not special, she is not gifted. Her job was to care for the sullen, sick girl, and she performed that task.

And her reward stands before her, horrifying and terrible, a great statement that Fate is not kind, and that sometimes, innocent people pay for the crimes of others.

The beast does not hesitate, his prior orders taking the for. Leaving Janine to the flame, the creature leaps forward, slamming its boot upon the woman with a cruel stomp, raising its axe. There is no pity or mercy in the fiend. A moment later, the blade falls, aiming to sever the woman's head from her neck in a smooth stroke.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    SHUNK

    Her head comes off easily, blood gushing from the stump. She was only human after all, and now she's dead. And it looks like Janine might be on her way to join her...

    But then, sirens from outside. The emergency services have arrived. Moments later, highly-pressured water sprays through the broken windows to suppress the flames, followed by the thumping of heavy boots coming up the stairwell.

    Now might be a good time for Lezard to make himself scarce.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard is no longer here. He has been gone ever since leaving the undead to perform its final task, something it had successfully accomplished.

As blood spreads across the floor and water sprays in through the window, another abyssal hole yawns open, swallowing up the undead creature to banish the damned thing back whence it came, leaving the authorities to wonder just how a woman was decapitated in the process of an apartment catching aflame.

In the distance, Lezard watches the panicked people from the top of a building, and he turns away, the moon reflected in his glasses. The light of his teleportation magic shines from below, casting his terrible, cruel features into relief as he smiles at the evil that has been committed this day... And he vanishes, gone to allow Janine to live another day and perhaps awaken to the cruel reality that awaits her.