[Somehow this is more objectionable than "sharp objects in the mail."
...though ugh, centipedes. Lucy didn't like them even when she was normal sized and were one of the few things that actually encouraged her to wear shoes.
[She heard the shift in the grass. A week ago, she wouldn't have noticed. Something might have taken attention away. But things were changing, and her reactions were starting to change with them. Both hands whipped out, blades spinning in them and coming to rest as she crouched.
She didn't look back at Lucy, instead nodding towards where the grass was moving. It was impossible to guess what was there, but she was certain they were no longer alone. Probably not a bug, or at least a really big one. They didn't usually make grass shift. Squirrel?]
[Lucy didn't notice the grass, but she did notice Chloe dropping into a stance and spinning more knives out of her cloak like something from a movie. The teenager just started backwards, barely avoiding stabbing herself in the leg.]
What?!
[Another grass stem moved, and...something crawled out. Something gigantic, with way too many fucking legs, translucent, segmented, good god. There must have been a drain nearby, or maybe the house centipede was terribly confused. Or curious. Its antennae wiggled towards them, even.]
[These things were, by the standards of centipedes, god-damned close to harmless. Their sting was painful but not actually hazardous to humans. However, that was at a normal size. Right now, it was actually threatening and hard to target.
Chloe frowned and started to maneuver herself to the other side of the thing, hurling one of her knives and aiming for the segmented joints amidst all of those legs. When she threw, it was not like someone hurling an axe in a spinning arc. The blade flew straight and true, in ways that throwing knives normally didn't go. There was more force than normal to it, and the bite of steel made the thing shriek horribly.]
Keep its attention divided, but don't get too close!
[Regrets for getting out of bed this morning could wait. Objections about how surreal this all was could wait. Now wasn't a time for thinking.
Lucy couldn't throw the knife in her hand like Chloe—even if she had the skill for it, it was her only weapon. Her knees bent and her weight shifted forwards on her feet, but—where did she even start?
One thing at a time. Some of the centipede's legs started thrashing in response to the blade in its exoskeleton; Lucy slashed at those, missing most. But she did carve some of the strange whiskers off of one, making the creature recoil and twist towards her.]
[The fact that the thing was recoiling now away from her gave her an opening. If Lucy could keep that up but at the same time stay away from its attacks and pincers, then they could theoretically whittle it down. She wished she had that spear right now, but the knives would do the trick eventually.
As it reared away, she took a second to watch for the transluscent plates to seem to open up and hurled another dagger. This time, she was aiming closer to the head, and as it bit in, the thing's thrashing was getting more frantic and ... as close to pain laced as could be for a beast like this. It started to twist, albeit more awkwardly towards Chloe as she bounded back, grabbing for another knife.
Those legs were like lashing, constantly whipping tendrils in the air, difficult to follow clearly with the eye as the girls fought the thing, the sounds it made awful at this size.]
[That was praise. Lucy was doing a good job. Her mind focused in on that like a laser, drowning out everything else. Her own wellbeing was a trivial concern.
She lunged in, and one of its sharp feet slashed her cheek, laying open a line along her cheekbone. No matter. Her knife hand swept back, cleaving the offending leg off at its midsection.
Blood welled at the cut, began to spill down her cheek. It didn't matter. She was dong a good job.]
[Oh fuck, that wasn't what she'd said, and Chloe was immediately very concerned with how close the thing was to bearing down on her. As it started getting in closer, those countless limbs aiming to try and slash, to pin or grab so that it could bite, she looked on with alarm and moved.
Bolting in, she took knives in both hands and threw one, right before the other. When it bit in, the first blade caused a somewhat predictable rearing of the creature, making it twist just in time for the second to slam into and go just past the eye. It let out an awful sound and proceeded to begin spasming, twisting and writhing.
The death throws of these things when not simply crushed under a boot were something else.] Keep back, Lucy!
[Alas, poor centipede. You were just trying to cross the street.
Lucy realized her mistake too late to avoid the thrashing feet; one hit her in the gut with enough force to stagger and knock the breath out of her. She dropped the knife and bent double, holding her stomach like she was trying to stop herself from retching.
Further assistance may be required. Lucy.exe is taking longer than usual to load.]
[Blessedly the centipede was done fighting, and as she'd staggered back, its flailing form wasn't going to be doing much of anything to them right now. Chloe, however, was already in motion. She raced over towards Lucy, not caring if she wasn't one for physical contact.
She got down on her knees in front of her, just out of reach of the dying bug and reaching out her hands towards her shoulders.] Lucy, are you alright? Are you bleeding? Stay steady and be careful.
please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt...
[Lucy was, for once, uncaring about being touched. She had too many other things to be concerned about, like not losing a very distant lunch and breathing normally. Her shoulders stiffened out of reflex, but she didn't flinch or pull away.]
'm fine.
[Her stubbornness is intact! She'll probably live.
There is blood leaking out of the cut on her face, though.]
[It was the stomach that worried her more, but when it did not start oozing red stuff, she grabbed for some of the fabric strips from before and took out a bit of the rubbing alcohol, dabbing it on the wound on her cheek.
She was breathing more easily now, since they weren't in immediate danger. She could retrieve knives momentarily.] You had me worried there for a moment. Why did you take that risk?
[Lucy jerked away from the sting of the rubbing alcohol she didn't see coming, but she froze in place afterwards. She was behaving, see?]
Does it matter?
[So what if she hurt? She was being stupid, and probably deserved that even if she hadn't been. If she wasn't dragging herself back from the hospital, it wasn't anyone's concern.]
[Chloe frowned and waited for the face to freeze, dabbing to make sure the cut was disinfected and then applied some pressure. Bandages were such a pain in the ass right now. Really, couldn't they have at least shrunk the bandaids too?]
Yes, because I don't want you to be hurt, Lucy. I want you to be ok, alright? We should get you away from here, and somewhere safe, with no bugs.
You fought well... I ... I just don't like the idea of you being in danger, alright?
no subject
Date: 2017-05-17 05:41 pm (UTC)[Somehow this is more objectionable than "sharp objects in the mail."
...though ugh, centipedes. Lucy didn't like them even when she was normal sized and were one of the few things that actually encouraged her to wear shoes.
Hopefully they didn't run into another.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-17 05:49 pm (UTC)I honestly didn't think he'd do anything. [She shook her head. She'd really expected the spear to be the thing that would be more important.]
Don't get that dog mad. He's... surprisingly smart.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-17 06:00 pm (UTC)What the fuck was today even.
Chloe didn't seem like the kind of person to tell elaborate jokes like that. And...Lucy could always just ask Minako, whenever they got home.
Lucy just...shook her head, rubbing her temple with her free hand.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-17 06:31 pm (UTC)She motioned Lucy to follow and started off again, smiling back.] Oh, don't worry. It's bound to get weirder before it makes sense.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-17 08:18 pm (UTC)Thanks.
[The grass on the edge of the sidewalk stared moving against the breeze, a few moments after Chloe said that.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-18 03:25 am (UTC)She didn't look back at Lucy, instead nodding towards where the grass was moving. It was impossible to guess what was there, but she was certain they were no longer alone. Probably not a bug, or at least a really big one. They didn't usually make grass shift. Squirrel?]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 12:04 am (UTC)What?!
[Another grass stem moved, and...something crawled out. Something gigantic, with way too many fucking legs, translucent, segmented, good god. There must have been a drain nearby, or maybe the house centipede was terribly confused. Or curious. Its antennae wiggled towards them, even.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 02:38 am (UTC)[These things were, by the standards of centipedes, god-damned close to harmless. Their sting was painful but not actually hazardous to humans. However, that was at a normal size. Right now, it was actually threatening and hard to target.
Chloe frowned and started to maneuver herself to the other side of the thing, hurling one of her knives and aiming for the segmented joints amidst all of those legs. When she threw, it was not like someone hurling an axe in a spinning arc. The blade flew straight and true, in ways that throwing knives normally didn't go. There was more force than normal to it, and the bite of steel made the thing shriek horribly.]
Keep its attention divided, but don't get too close!
(OOC: Roughly, "Oh shit!" or "Oh fuck!")
no subject
Date: 2017-05-20 10:19 pm (UTC)Lucy couldn't throw the knife in her hand like Chloe—even if she had the skill for it, it was her only weapon. Her knees bent and her weight shifted forwards on her feet, but—where did she even start?
One thing at a time. Some of the centipede's legs started thrashing in response to the blade in its exoskeleton; Lucy slashed at those, missing most. But she did carve some of the strange whiskers off of one, making the creature recoil and twist towards her.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-20 11:37 pm (UTC)[The fact that the thing was recoiling now away from her gave her an opening. If Lucy could keep that up but at the same time stay away from its attacks and pincers, then they could theoretically whittle it down. She wished she had that spear right now, but the knives would do the trick eventually.
As it reared away, she took a second to watch for the transluscent plates to seem to open up and hurled another dagger. This time, she was aiming closer to the head, and as it bit in, the thing's thrashing was getting more frantic and ... as close to pain laced as could be for a beast like this. It started to twist, albeit more awkwardly towards Chloe as she bounded back, grabbing for another knife.
Those legs were like lashing, constantly whipping tendrils in the air, difficult to follow clearly with the eye as the girls fought the thing, the sounds it made awful at this size.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-21 04:24 am (UTC)She lunged in, and one of its sharp feet slashed her cheek, laying open a line along her cheekbone. No matter. Her knife hand swept back, cleaving the offending leg off at its midsection.
Blood welled at the cut, began to spill down her cheek. It didn't matter. She was dong a good job.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-21 10:01 pm (UTC)Bolting in, she took knives in both hands and threw one, right before the other. When it bit in, the first blade caused a somewhat predictable rearing of the creature, making it twist just in time for the second to slam into and go just past the eye. It let out an awful sound and proceeded to begin spasming, twisting and writhing.
The death throws of these things when not simply crushed under a boot were something else.] Keep back, Lucy!
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 12:29 am (UTC)Lucy realized her mistake too late to avoid the thrashing feet; one hit her in the gut with enough force to stagger and knock the breath out of her. She dropped the knife and bent double, holding her stomach like she was trying to stop herself from retching.
Further assistance may be required. Lucy.exe is taking longer than usual to load.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 12:35 am (UTC)She got down on her knees in front of her, just out of reach of the dying bug and reaching out her hands towards her shoulders.] Lucy, are you alright? Are you bleeding? Stay steady and be careful.
please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt, please don't be hurt...
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 11:10 pm (UTC)'m fine.
[Her stubbornness is intact! She'll probably live.
There is blood leaking out of the cut on her face, though.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 11:14 pm (UTC)She was breathing more easily now, since they weren't in immediate danger. She could retrieve knives momentarily.] You had me worried there for a moment. Why did you take that risk?
no subject
Date: 2017-05-26 07:01 pm (UTC)Does it matter?
[So what if she hurt? She was being stupid, and probably deserved that even if she hadn't been. If she wasn't dragging herself back from the hospital, it wasn't anyone's concern.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-26 07:14 pm (UTC)Yes, because I don't want you to be hurt, Lucy. I want you to be ok, alright? We should get you away from here, and somewhere safe, with no bugs.
You fought well... I ... I just don't like the idea of you being in danger, alright?