School is out for the day and its Friday. Sure she has school tomorrow too but hey, That doesn't mean ice cream is off the menu! Rena is actually quite happy today. She had an idea and today she was going to act on it. In her bag is a bunch of soft and yummy chocolate chip cookies. Floating along with her is the bear-esque fairy, Dabble.
Quickly she slips into the ice cream shop and comes out with a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Once out, she gets into her bag and pulls out the yummeh chocolate chip cookies. From there is just a matter of putting things together. Ice Cream Cookie sandwiches. She gives one to dabble and then devours one of her own. "Oh goodness, Its a piece of heaven! Don't less Usagi-chan know about these! She'll never leave this place!"
"And you would?" Chloe says as she enters the ice cream store. "I don't know who this 'Usagi-chan' is, but She sounds worse than you when it comes to food." Chloe chuckles at Rena when she sits down.....and gets a reasonable amount of ice cream....sprinkles and the like.
Ice Cream. Even /evil/ likes Ice Cream.
So thusly, Craft has a scoop of dark chocolate chocolate chip ice cream in a tea cup. Yes. The worker did give him a really odd look when he asked the scoops to be placed into his tea cup.
Tea cups where the tool of a GENTLEMAN.
Then, his eyes glanced from his booth at Dabble.
Ah yes, Dabble.
WAIT, WHAT, DABBLE!?
They're already out the door when Craft leaps out the door, tea cup flying as he raises that cane of his right out the door. He's floating about half a foot off the ground---- the tip of that cane opens up into a net as he swipes downwards-- ignoring Rena an Chloe.
He's being loud about it. Lots of time to get in the way or for Dabble to run.
"DABBLE!" he screams disdainfully.
"Usagi-chan is a friend from School. She can actually out eat me any day of the week. She has two hollow legs and a tanker for a stomach." Rena states playfully. "I actually hook her up with cookies more often then not. She loves baked goods."
And then out runs Craft! "AHH!" Dabble screams and takes off flying.
"CRAFT!" Rena drops her ice cream sandwich and quickly moves between the green haired dapper guy and the fairy. "So much for a calm day! I thought you went back to Red Tree with your tail between your legs." She glares at him. "We've been through this before. You're not taking Dabble." Rena is just a little fiery to say the least.
"Hey, Remember when I told you about Red Tree and the guy who was after Dabble. This is him." She states to Chloe as she braces herself to fight.
Chloe whips her head around as Craft yells at Dabble, and Rena puts herself in front of Dabble. "-THIS- is Craft. When you described him, he sounded scary. This guy looks like he'd develop a cramp from lifting his pinky too quickly." Chloe's brutal when it comes to bad guys. "Well....this WAS a good bowl of ice cream." She says softly....
Just before hucking it at Craft's face. Whether or not it hits, she grabs both Dabble AND Rena, and makes a break for it.....ducking around the first corner they get to. "There's only one way to protect you Dabble, and you know it."
"Burning Soul Activate!"
"Burning Soul, stand by....Setting Up!" the device says as it detaches from her necklace, and under CHloe glows a magical circle. As the device becomes a spear, Chloe clothes change in bursts of light to a long red coat, black blonde hair with red tips and a blue shirt with black gloves. After her feet touch the ground, she holds up a hand to put a barrier up....at least temporarily.
Craft arrggggggh------then he stops dead in his tracks when he blinks at Rena. He seems to be trying to place the face when---oh!
"Wait... you're the /STEAM SENTINEL!/." he spits out. "Nrrrrg---! Give me the Fairy! Give me your Sentinel Watch and maybe I won't hurt you today!" he commaands as he points his cane.
Then ice cream gets thrown at him and it messes up his fancy suit.
Then Chloe runs. Then Chloe transforms and he twitches obviously when she reappears back with the spear.
"Seriously? Two of you again?" a spear!?
"ANOTHER HALBERDIER!?"
No that's a spear, Craft.
"Stand down-- and I won't hurt you both!" he demands, wagging his cane!
Rena wasn't goign to to transform. She was hoping to be civil. Sadly civility went out the window with the threats. "Craft, You really should have walked away. You do not have a cog to hide behind this time and now you just threatened me and two of my friends. I just have three little words for you now." She glances back to dabble and nods.
"Aether Spirit, SHINE!"
She quickly sets her watch and Dabble puts the face on it. Color errupts all around her as the sound of a ticking clock can be heard. Not to mention epic music! Her clothing changes and the normal school girl is replaced with a very familiar Steam Sentinel. "The fire which melts the the coldest hearts, Steam Sentinel Joy!"
The light show ends and Joy is ready to fight. "We are giving you one chance. Get off this world. Go crawling back to Red Tree. You are not going to be taking Dabble with you or this watch."
Chloe actually smirks as she points her spear at Craft. "Yeah, it's us again, Craft." She then gets a very hard look in her eyes. "you're not taking my friends, or their possessions, Craft. In fact, I think you're the one who's going to get hurt if you remain here. Shooter Mode."
The spear opens with a snap and a crackle of energy as it arcs between the tines of the trident. "Leave, Craft. This is your only warning."
Craft clenches his teeth as he looks between Steam Sentinel Joy and Chole. Back and forth. He is not happy. Nope.
"I may not have a Cog...." he says softly. "BUT I STILL HAVE THE BACKUP!" he yells as he slams the tip of the cane to the ground. In puffs of black sickly smoke, three mechanized gear-work 'Clockworks' show up, tin soldiers of steam and gears and cogs. He throws the cane forward.. "ATTACK!"
Two lunge for the Steam Sentinel while one also leaps toward's Chloe! Whoops! Seems he isn't alone at all!
"Looks like we are doing this the hard way!" Joy comments. "Destroy them but don't obliterate them. Their parts can be used for more important things." She states as the two Clockworks come at her.
With all of her strength and ability, she unleashes a flurry of strikes at the first Clockwork. It doesn't last long. Sadly this leaves her exposed to the other one. It quickly grabs hold of her. In response she takes hold of it and throws it in the direction of Craft. "Hey Craft! CATCH!" She states finishing the first mechanized attacker. Then with all the grace of a true warrior she proceeds to give craft a devastating akanbe!
"FIRE BOLT!!"
And a red ball streaks at the Clockwork, leaving a hole in the middle of it's chest...where it drops to the ground fairly easily. Chloe makes a face and looks towards Craft.....and the flying clockwork heading his way. She raises her trident and chickles....as she repeats the command....sending a red ball streaking towards Craft.
Strrrikkkkee!
Clockworks careen toward's Craft and he gets bowled over. He frowns as his Clockworks get dispatched, thrown about. Are these Steam Sentinels on Earth really that powerful?
Well Earth did seem to be 'special'. Ugh. He hated it. Chaos. Disorder.
he raises his hand upwards. "Do you really think I'm so easy like that!? My help may be..."
"Lack luster..." he mutters....
"BUT ME. MYSELF. I!...."
"AM MUCH STRONGER!----"
"JOIN THE MACHINE!" spits out Craft as he suddenly fires off a wave of horrible dark energy--- it permates the surrounding and if it hits, your being-- trying to induce horrible feelings of despair and depression---
It feels very much like what one expects reverse purificiation to feel like that.
Joy watches as suddenly Craft becomes a bit more of a threat then he had been. Then everything starts hitting. That dark energy quickly envelopes her. The sensation tears at her. Doubts begin to flood her mind. Things that are definitely not her own. She drops to her knees and winces painfully. She can feel the darkness building within her and its making her sick.
"NO!" She cries out. "I will not be another cog in your machine!" She exclaims as she begins fighting back. Its taking every bit of strength she has to fight off the magical attack but she is resisting. "I'm not going to give in."
Chloe's despair was only a under a year ago, so the 'wound' is still fresh in her heart. Her eyes darken rather fast and the tip of the trident hits the ground. "Not again.....No....brother....don't touch me......" tears begin to run down her face.....it's not something she wanted to relive.....
A magical circle appears beneath her and begins to shine.
"no...." She moans out.....then louder. "NO!" She's baring her teeth as the trident comes back up off the ground......and the sigil now turns red beginning to flow into the sky.
"NO!!! I WILL NOT RELIVE THAT! NEVER AGAIN!!!!!"
A high pitched whine as red energy begins to accumulate in front of the trident.....and a red, spinning arcane sigil appears in front of the trident. "I will not be a cog in your machine. I will protect my friends with all of my being......everything that I have...."
"FIRE BLASTER!!!!!
That command makes the trident fire a large red beam at craft, which makes the tears on Chole's face almost look like blood streaks.....
Craft is keeping that hand raised. "It'd be so much easier though wouldn't it!?" he asks in almost a teasing, condescending voice. "Let someone else think for you-- right?" he asks with suddenly wide eyes. "Just gi----"
He doesn't get to really do his elaborate speech any further because a streak of fire blazes into him--- and it causes his hand to close and that flow of dark energy from his being sort of collapses as he looses his concentration---- he stares wide eyed in anger at Chloe, because he was /SO CLOSE/ to a full auctualization of despair.
"Ugh. I'm not prepared for this. Another day. Another day I'll have my USELESS BRETHREN..." he yells. "Here to help me!" he snaps.
And then without a second though he sort of fuzzes into a teleport away--- probably somewhere else not near here.
Yup, lots of clockwork parts scattered about here tonight.
Joy gets to her feet and just looks at Craft. She is just about to use one of her own powers when, oh there he goes! "Well. So much for that." She winces and rubs her head. "That was less then fun."
Quickly Dabble flies out and begins going through the clockwork parts. She goes a picking through the scrap. "Good. Ooh! I've always wanted one of these. Not good. Trash. Scrap. Why would they even think of using these!!!" She keeps going just picking through everything.
"Thanks." Joy states to Chloe. "He only looks like a weak baffoon. What the hell did he hit us with. I started doubting myself but it wasn't me!" She shakes it off for a moment.
Chloe doesn't exactly answer. She's.....curled up in a ball on a brick wall near where she was standing just a few moments before. Not only is she crying....she's shaking. Seems whatever Craft hit her with was a lot more effective than he realized.
Joy quickly moves over and sits beside Chloe. She gently places a hand on her shoulder. "Hey it's okay. It wasn't real. It was just some evil magic. You're safe." She states in a comforting tone. "You can beat this."
She turns her head to where Craft made his escape. "He is going to pay for this. I swear he will. The next time I won't hold back. He is a jerk and has threatened my friends twice now. Next time I swear I've got a spirit blast with his name on it." She is very angry and that is something that she rarely shows.
Joy might have put her hand on Chloe's shoulder, but Chloe wraps her arms around Joy and cries onto her shoulder. Apparently she is letting it all out now. This....takes a few minutes.
After she's able to calm down, Chloe's able to lift her head and......blow her nose into a hankie. Cuz we don't want to get anything on Joy's jacket. She leans her head on Joy's shoulder and shudders again. "Mmmmf....I already have, Joy. He just....showed me what my life was like before I moved here. I.....didn't have a happy home life. My brother was very abusive. Verbally, Physically.......more. And it only got worse the older I got. Made me feel like I was nothing but a toy for him. The couple of times I stood up to him, I promptly got a broken nose or a bloodied lip. I even told my parents, but they couldn't stop it....or wouldn't. It's why I'm living here with my grandparents......I ran away. I told Ma and Grandad that I needed to live with them, and I didn't explain why until I got here. That's.....what I saw when Craft hit me with that magic......."
Steam Sentinel Joy just holds her friend tight and begins crying as well as she tells the story. Its a very painful tale. She just frowns as she takes it all in. There are no words. There is so little she can actually say. She can't relate to this. She's had a pretty good life.
Finally the words come to her. She looks at Chloe and frowns, "You're safe now. You aren't the person you were before you came here. You're not some punching bag for a jerk of a brother. You're a hero now. You saved my butt twice now. Tell you what, if you ever want to just come hang out, maybe help bake stuff, or just pretend like we are two normal average, every day school girls, You can come over to my place and we can just do whatever. You're my friend and you deserve some good in your life." She smiles softly.
"I know I am, Rena....." Chloe calls Joy by her real name. "And I saved your butt because I don't want any of my friends to go through what I did.....ever." She then chuckles. "We /ARE/ normal, average, every day school girls, Rena. We just happen to fight hard for our friends. And....I do have some good in my life." She says leaning her head on Rena's shoulder. "And you're One of the bigger ones."
Steam Sentinel Joy blushes a little, "Speaking of, maybe we oughta power down before we wind up drawing a crowd?" She giggles playfully. With a flash of fire which engulfs her body for a moment, Her henshin breaks and she is left in her more typical form.
She looks around and finds a puddle of chocolate ice cream which has melted entirely. "Oh come on! Craft! You owe me ice cream!!!" She exclaims as she looks at the mess of a cookie that is on the ground. Idly she reaches into her bag and pulls out some cookies. She gives some to Chloe while she nibbles at some of her own.
Quietly stands up and looks to her spear. "Find it odd that I happened to buy Burning Soul the day we first fought Craft." She says as she takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes. A sigil appears under her feet and glows white before she lifts off the ground, and her spear turns back into a jewel on her necklace.....her clothes glow and change back to her normal clothes as well. She exhales in a huff. "At least I'm not wearing heels in that." She says before she looks at the ice cream. "Come on, Rena. I'l get you more. My treat."