Scene #8544: Hurting the Wrong Sort of People

Owner	Pose
Remee Halcyon	Remee Halcyon is still getting the hang of this whole 'wanted woman' thing. It's something she anticipated happening eventually, and had plans for, but planning for something and living through it are entirely different things. Yesterday's hideout was compromised. Today's hideout is a nice little camping grounds at a state park. Remee's counting on essentially nobody thinking to look for her in plain site here, after her previous few hideouts were out in the middle of nowhere. Right now, she's taking a leisurely walk through one of the campground's nature trails, on a winding path between the trees, getting some fresh air now since it's scheduled to start raining later. Surely, there's no chance she'll run into someone who'll recognize her by chance out here.
Touta Konoe	"Huh, yeah I think it is her...She dye her hair or something or that just the light?" A voice can be heard through the trees along the path. At first, it's not immediate who it is that's calling out to her, or if they're even calling out to her at all. And yet... "Oi, you're the one from the bounty, right? The one Solty was butting heads with? At least I think you are? Small girl? Pretty good at taking a hit?" A voice can be heard calling out from farther down the path from Remee, a young man appearing to be in his twenties. A black blade with no sheathe rests upon his shoulder and while he steps up towards her, his expression at first doesn't seem immediately antagonistic. "Definitely had me running around for you or your friend. Although, you definitely got good taste in hiding spots. This a Watch location, or just a favorite? Still...I do feel kinda bad about this though..." If there was still any question to his intent, it likely was going to be changing as soon as his stance shifted. "This place looks really peaceful. Guess this'll make me the bad guy this time around, huh? Well...I'd tell you not to hold it against me, but...I'm sure you did too when you did what you did, and look where that's got ya?" With that said, the distance between the two seems like it's all but closed in an instance. The young man's form moves into a blur as he rushes in towards Remee. His body only appears in proper form at the point of his attack as he grips his blade coming in for a vertical slash at her chest cleaving downwards.
Remee Halcyon	Oh, come on, universe. A girl kills just 15 people and you can't cut her a break? Remee bristles (not literally) at being called little. "Where it's... got me? What the heck do you mean by that?" And then he's closing in on her. Remee takes a cut across the chest before she can jump backwards, leaving a cut along her clothing and the skin beneath, though it's starting to heal now even so. "This is the thing I shouldn't even bother explaining to you, because you just wouldn't get it, would you? That the status quo is so ingrained in you that even the slightest action against it gets a reaction as if I'm about to tip the whole boat over? Or do you even think that far, and everything is my fault simply because I stood up against it?" She yanks her pistol out as she runs backwards. She can't go around visibly armed, but she always has at least something as backup. "Are you going to tell the Paladins its their fault they're in here too, since they hung onto that mech instead of dismantling it, and they stored it in a facility that couldn't contain it?" Remee aims and fires. The pistol isn't a semiautomatic, so she just gets one shot, but typically one shot is all she really needs.
Touta Konoe	"Kinda meant getting chased down when you're trying to go on a nice walk." It's the immediate remark he gives to answer that question as he lands the blow, though he's quick to see that. "Oh, healing factor...Huh?" His eyes light up, but it's not with annoyance, or even on the level of concern as of yet. It's as she says that she gets her shot in but Touta seems to be quick enough that at first it looks like he just needs to nudge his head to avoid the impact, it's at that moment she might be able to see there's a cut on his cheek...That was also starting to heal rather fast. "Hate to say it, but it's a bit late to explain at this point isn't it? I mean, if you wanna rock the boat against other Elites, I'm not the type to usually tell you otherwise, but you could have at least left the dingies out for the non-Elites don't you think?" Remee attempts to make distance, but Touta's follow suit rather quick. "And yeah, you're right those Paladins kinda screwed the pooch too! But..." Again he goes into that blur, his speed picking up as he attempts to cut her off, "It's still bad taste to be out on a walk when there's funerals happening, ya know?!" Touta impedes her path as she ran, his blade prepped once again only this time, she could see as the ground beneath him was starting to tremble. He'd slam into her with that blade, the back-side of it of all things and while it wasn't a cut like she received before well...She'd find that this time it felt like she was getting slammed into with a truck as he attempted to swing it into her abdomen, with enough force to knock the wind out of the poor gal.
Remee Halcyon	> "It's still bad taste to be out on a walk when there's funerals happening, ya know?!" "Are you telling me I should never go outside?" Remee gets slammed into again. She jumps back, and then abruptly turns and runs to the side, into the woods. Whether trying to follow her or staying on the path, it'd be very easy to lose sight of her. She's fast, and more importantly she's silent - she doesn't so much as make a sound as she's running across the forest terrain, making sharp turns and feints to further make it harder to keep a line of sight on her. Unless Touta is very on the ball in following and tracking her, the first real indication he'll get of her location is when she takes another shot at him.
Touta Konoe	The blade comes down and Remee's able to ride the impact. To which leads him to start shouting out. "Not never! But ya know--You're getting away from the--" She wasn't just getting away from the point, but getting away from him too! It eventually reaches the point where even the sound of her footsteps are masked from him. It's the point where he's at his guard but not even trying to listen for it now...Just waiting for one thing. "Ya know, it'd be one thing if I just didn't get why you went as far as you did...No, it doesn't even matter if I get it, right? It doesn't matter if the Paladins or someone 'ingrained' with the status quo feels...But, shouldn't the others in the Watch have been at least one-hundred percent on board with you? From what I heard... You're butting heads with more than just Paladins." The next shot would fire and while it'd likely find purchase well...Touta's seems to be buffet for a moment with a bullet wound, though, if he's in pain he's not showing it. More than that...It's enough of an indicator on where she is now. From the wound upon where she got him...A black miasma starts to form. At first it's rather slow, but it begins to fan out over the forest trail. So much of it comes over the area that it almost becomes difficult for the remaining sunlight of the day to penetrate as Remee would find herself in what felt like complete darkness. What's worse, the level of fog is so pitch-black, if she wasn't careful even running into trees likely wasn't out of possibility with what was occurring. Now it would have seemed like it was Touta that was going to be taking advantage of the lack of presence to mask his next attack as she'd find a fist that came out from within the darkness.
Remee Halcyon	Darkness. Remee's taken by surprise, at first, and Touta lands a solid punch on her - but then she starts adapting. She has more than just her sense of sight to rely on. Sound, and smell. Remee has to slow down a bit, as she's not familiar with the woods and doesn't want to run into too many trees and make too much noise, but she keeps her ears perked and her nose alert, trying to keep Touta's position and actions in mind as she stays mobile. There's no more words. Not now, or at least not yet. Words would give her away. Instead, there's merely a wolf, moving silently through the forest and through the darkness, evading the hunter. Instead of speaking, Remee thinks. > "Shouldn't the others in the Watch have been at least one-hundred percent on board with you? Who... wasn't? She hadn't heard too much from any others on the factional radio. She wasn't expecting nor fishing for congratulations, but she hadn't heard too much negative either. Really, the factional response had seemed neutral except for- Hibiki. ... Huh. Remee wouldn't have thought she'd be capable of this sort of thing. Sending someone after her. She'll have to handle that later. For now - Remee stays mobile, and doesn't fire another shot. She makes Touta find her and come to her - and only when she senses him in close does she make her move. It's not a gunshot this time, but a sudden shapeshift to her monstrous werewolf form, followed by swinging both arms down at him as if they were clubs!
Touta Konoe	"Nnnnnggggh!!!" Remee's choice to wait till his close proves fruitful as Touta's forced to take the full force of her clawed strikes. He's not even able to properly defend before he feels chunks of flesh clawed away at and the smell of his blood taint her form. Even without sight she can feel it's a clear hit. One that he isn't immediately recovered from as she senses all the indications of a proper hit. The smell of iron as blood is drawn in mass quantity, the sound of flesh hitting the floor, the sound of dripping blood. There's an exhale that can be heard from the darkness. It's blatant. Almost like a taunt. "Werewolf, huh? Ya know...If things were a little different right now, I'd definitely be the type who'd love to ask ya if you're similar to the ones back home. For now though--" Something immediately seems wrong. Her sense of sight was still disgruntled in this black fog, but her sense of smell...Her hearing, were thrown off. The scent of his person, the smell of his blood, it all fades from existence for a moment. Not in the way as when he was dashing at her before, no it's...Much more chaotic than that. It was like he himself had faded into that fog, and in doing so she could feel his presence return. There was no time to let her breathe. If anything the force of his follow-up punch would be...Unusual. He must have been faster than before, cause on his next hit within the darkness Remee would feel as three blows connected. Three right-hooks that dig into her jaw, her ribs, and her kidney all at once. Though...He only had two arms, and one-right arm, right?
Remee Halcyon	Another hit. Three, actually. How? Focus. The how isn't important. As is how he's fading from her senses and coming back in somewhere else. Remee's not doing great now. Regeneration can only get you so far, and repeatedly rebuilding one's body in a short span of time is getting rapidly diminishing results for the amount of energy and effort her body is using for it. Deep breath. Say something, buy a moment of time while he listens. He knows where she is, at least for now, so staying hidden isn't as important. "Do you even... care what I'm about?" "Why I'm acting like I am, why we all are acting like we are? What the Watch cares and thinks, what the Paladins really care and think, what Hibiki cares and thinks, even?" "You're coming off more like a tourist than someone who actually cares! Like I'm the bad guy of the week, and you're just the next one in the line up to teach the evil bitch who stepped out of line a lesson. Do you care about the fifteen people who died, or are they just a convenient excuse to commit valid harm? Do you care about what Hibiki thinks or what she wants to change, or are you just glad for the opportunity for some white knighting here?" Remee spins around and grabs the nearest tree - even in darkness it's not hard to find - and strains to yank it fully out of the ground and swing it around, using it as a giant club, trying to hit Touta no matter where he might have ended up.
Touta Konoe	"Do you even... care what I'm about?" "Why I'm acting like I am, why we all are acting like we are? What the Watch cares and thinks, what the Paladins really care and think, what Hibiki cares and thinks, even?" "You're coming off more like a tourist than someone who actually cares! Like I'm the bad guy of the week, and you're just the next one in the line up to teach the evil bitch who stepped out of line a lesson. Do you care about the fifteen people who died, or are they just a convenient excuse to commit valid harm? Do you care about what Hibiki thinks or what she wants to change, or are you just glad for the opportunity for some white knighting he" Remee had simply intended to buy a moment, in truth her attack had succeeded in causing some rather gripping emotional damage. It's enough that even after being hit that well...He just stands where he is. It's as odd as the last movement, though in a totally different sense. If the previous attack had been surprising for how he countered so quickly, it was more surprising just how effectively she could feel the tree connect with her blow. She can feel as he's literally thrown off with such force that even the fog around them clears as though she'd fanned out a puff of smoke. She can see again, she can see as Touta's coated in his own blood as he was caught in the trunk of one of the trees. He starts to slowly pick himself up, but the entire time his eyes connect with Remee's. It was funny that no words were being exchanged now, it was his time to be dead silent, and yet...There was something about his eyes. They felt like they were speaking for him. The way he was looking at her looked pained? Did that last strike hurt that much? Had perhaps she just hurt his feelings? Or...Was there another layer to the look. For there were definitely layers. Pain, confusion...Though as he takes another breath, it starts to slowly shift. There's still those layers. But a new one that shines through in his gaze that could call out to Remee like the light of a full moon perhaps. An honest determination. Touta jumps into the air with such force it almost seems like he's about to just fly. He brings up the blade once more, and yet...Rather than it appearing like a tiny katana at this point, like Remee it goes through a transformation. The handle expands to a length that makes it look like the pole of a bo staff. The blade vanishes entirely as from one end of it appears what looks like a...Rock...No, a rock doesn't give this a proper description. It looks as if Touta attached some sort of boulder...A meteorite to the edge of that staff and was planning to just drop it down on Remee as it's shape began to eclipse the sky, and it's shadow could be seen swallowing up the area around Remee as if indicating she was on a collision course right with it!
Remee Halcyon	Remee is... surprised at the reaction. "What, you're - why are you the one who's acting hurt?" "When you came in on my peaceful enjoyment, like I'm not allowed to have a moment to myself?" "Did that finally get through to you? Good! Don't act like you're above all this, don't act like you understand me - or, actually, that you don't have to understand me..." And then he's gone. Remee looks up at the growing shadow. She runs. It impacts. There's silence, again. Is she gone? Did she get crushed? The answer comes in the form of a dart flying out from somewhere else, aimed at Touta's neck.
Touta Konoe	The ground ripples like a wave as Remee evades. Feeling as if an earthquake had been caused by the impact of that meteor strike and yet...She's able to ride it just as smoothly. Her attack on the other hand is nothing like it, smooth and precise and it sees purchase to claim Touta where it hurts. No, the attack looks as if at first it was going for a decapitation but instead that dart...Was just a dart. "W-What...Damn it..." He finds himself fumbling a moment, trying to do his best to stay stable. She's hit him with physical damage, emotional damage and now debilitation too? Want to know what was worse though...? Even if he knows that she's wrong with what she's done, he finds himself as he loses his balance, questioning the very notion of this fight. And that's something that messes with him even more. Still...He slowly starts to bring himself up. It's hard to tell if he's still in this fight or not now...Though he does speak up again. "You're right. Why am I acting hurt...? Oh wonder...Well, one way or the other you're gonna have to keep hurting me to get that peace right? Just like you did with those people. So come on...It's not like either of us are /really/ listening to the other right? So the only way this ends is when we shut the other up. So...If you want me to listen, if you want me dead. The first thing you'll have to do is finish me off!" Another blur of his appearance goes as he prepares another attack strike. Though not a bladed assault, a simple fist that intends to strike at her abdomen in the heat of the battle.
Remee Halcyon	Remee tanks the hit. She uses the opportunity to load another dart. "Really." "That's where you're at - you don't like what I've said, or my reaction to what you've said, so you're going straight to 'What's the point of talking'. That's... depressing that it's not surprising." The dart's loaded in the pistol, and she calmly re-maneuvers to put some distance between herself and Touta, and fires. "If you want me to listen to you, to treat you as more than just some tourist, then actually understand where I'm coming from. Or - if that's too hecking hard, understand Hibiki." "I'm not out here because I want to hurt people. I'm not out here to cause mindless mayhem. But the world's in a state where it truly, honestly cannot be fixed until certain parts are broken first."
Touta Konoe	He's forced to take another heavy blow and well, no it's just a dart, but the weight of it against him is starting to take its toll. Even the immortal's find it hard to muster strength, seriously who packs immobilizing darts?! Even now after taking it he's forced to take hold of his blade and use it as support. Truthfully even listening to Remee is becoming more difficult, and yet he's still doing all he can to muster. Still, he holds his fist up. "I'm not telling you I won't listen. I'm saying we're like everyone else on the radio. Just talking over each other trying to shout louder. Though...who's gonna listen to someone who won't take responsibility?! Of course I don't like what you said! It makes you sound as heartless you're being made out to be! 'Can't fix things till other parts are broken'?! Those are people you broke, and they're never getting fixed! Even a fucking tourist like me gets that! Don't think I'm just after you for a cheap buck damn it!" There's one last breath he takes, as he tries to compose himself. If he doesn't he's sure he'll break down just like before...But he knows this is his last shot. And now well...Even if he's a 'tourist', even more than for Hibiki's goal, or for the victims of the Paladins, he feels like...Well, maybe it's something selfish, but he feels like he needs to put more of himself in this than ever before. Will it prove his point? Will it make him more a tourist to get agitated and drive by such? It's hard to say, but at this point if the two were going to talk...The next step was going to determine it all. "If you want me to listen after all this...Then I'll listen in earnest. But before that..." Slowly his arm begins to wrap in black miasma. "Even if you're in the right...Even if the world, the Multiverse is broken...You should be able to accept what you did, and the pain that comes with it...So grit those teeth..." Remee had tanked his attack in earnest the last time, and now he was telling her straight up. That he was going to punch her tried and true, that along with this punch if she was to accept it, that she'd be accepting that the actions she had that day came with consequences. Not just things to be broken. It was just going to be a question now of...Could she muster against it?
Remee Halcyon	The hit connects. Remee goes sprawling. There's silence for a few moments. "... Talking over each other, trying to shout louder - is that really what you think we're doing?" Her voice is slightly muffled, since she's face down in the dirt. "You think I don't accept what I did? I killed 15 people. In whatever life comes next those fifteen will weigh on my scales. But I'm not going to let those weigh me down, right here and right now, when I can save others, who matter more than the dead. I have my mission, and the world will get to pass judgement on me when it is done, and not a day before." "Do you think that since the status quo is a static sort of broken, that makes it okay to leave it as is? Because those at the top of the status quo have no problem not taking any responsibility, and they've taken out a lot more than fifteen people, and they'll take out more."
Touta Konoe	"But you're trying to be better...Right?" At this point he had taken his time to make his way up to her, but ultimately, he found himself face down in the dirt right next to her. Still, he talks through. "I gotta think you're trying to be better. Better than the people you're trying to break. Don't tell me that you couldn't have done it. You nearly beat my stupid ass half to death, I'm sure you could have kept those guys out of the way too. Even if you didn't like them..." "But I'm not going to let those weigh me down, right here and right now, when I can save others, who matter more than the dead." A hand goes up to bop her head lazily. "What about the living? You were telling me to think about Hibiki, but what about you...? Your actions, they had more consequences than just for you. She's got her own faults in this too, I know that...But did you take a second to think the kind of weight she's bearing right now? That girl...Even being a fucking tourist like me I can tell she hates this kind of stuff. Your her ally, her confidant, right? You're both suppose to have each others back...So, even though she went, even though she helped you guys out...She's taking just as much--They're making her the poster girl of this thing." At this point, The darts appear to be wearing off, and Remee could realize now that with Touta's healing...He could take her in to the Paladins. Instead...She finds that he's picking her up slowly, unfortunately dowsing her a bit in his blood and sweat but bringing her over somewhere to sit. "Anyway, you took the hit, so listen up...First...I wasn't planning on turning you in. Another thing...I /understand/ that Hibiki wanted to clob you and the other one a bit in the face for what you did...But maybe if you tell her you already got one already, and apologize to her...Maybe she'll be fine with this. Otherwise..." He starts taking a seat down beside her, looking just drained, "I was planning to just see what kind of person you were. If you're as shitty as the Paladins make you out to be...I don't think you are...But then you called me a tourist and well...That part was me being an ass." Admittedly he gets a bit red on that one. "Anyway...Before that...If I won, I just wanted you to give an honest word out of you about two things. First...If you or anyone else you know in the Watch learned about where Kana's originally from, or if you remembered where Petra Soroka ever talked about her world. If you guys are serious about that thing, you should know what the hell is under the hood of it... Second...You know where I can find Xion, or that Hamada Haru guy...?"
Remee Halcyon	"... Both are from this place called the Titanomachia, I'm fairly sure. Big giant robot city. Might not be welcome to visitors." "As far as Xion and Hamada... no idea. Xion's the sort of person who finds you, I think."