Wrong Place, Wrong Time (SANGUINE)

The sky was burning with orange hues as the day started to reach its end and the streets started to bustle with life. That was Lyza's queue to dip the hell out and head home. Through a few alleyways she weaved herself through, knowing full well how to navigate the back alleys and roads of her home town. It was nothing impressive, just knowledge she had picked up from having been born and lived here for so long. Her general disdain for the callous crowds and insensitive people got her searching pretty early on for ways to make it home without dealing with the hordes of post-work rushes. That did, however, mean that on occasion she would find herself in rather unsavory positions. Today though? Today seemed like a good day.

Almost.

As usual, Lyza was dressed in just a tank top, jeans, and boots. Nothing special, just enough to keep her comfy while looking at least presentable enough to show up to work. No more, no less. On her person was just the essentials, her wallet (purses were a pain to lug around) and the clothes on her back. Today was just supposed to be an easy day hauling cargo and unloading boats, but it appeared that random chance had a completely different intention.

With her hands in her pockets Lyza casually strolled through the backstreets, on edge in case of any troublemakers. Her magic, while unimpressive, would definitely help her out in any sticky situations. At least, that was the point. It seemed she wouldn't need it though, as she was just a few corner turns away from ending up on the main road that her apartment was on, and-

*SNAP*

Lyza's stomach churned and every hair on her body stood up straight in warning before she even had a chance to see the horrid scene that was playing out in front of her. A woman, dressed in a maid outfit, had her hair wrapped around a man's neck in what she only assumed was a sort of chokehold. And the crackling pop that she had heard earlier... was the snapping of bones.

Never once in her life had she heard that noise before, but just looking at the sight of a man's lifeless body being dropped to the ground was all that she needed to know what was going on. But what would she do about it? Seconds passed and all that the poor snowy haired girl could do was stand and stare, her expression not changing much from its usual blankness asides from a new level of intensity and a bead of sweat gently rolling down her forehead. Should she fight? That was what mages were supposed to do in this situation? She was a mage, she had magic that could let her fight, and she was certainly versed in the art of streetfighting. Maybe, just maybe...

Yet her body still forced her to take a step back, as if it was reminding her of the fear that her heart was pumping through her body. Two sides, conflicted and unable to agree, kept her rooted in place. But the sound of a rock scraping against the pavement below her made everything that much more complicated. Her taking a step back had kicked it, and now the murderer knew she was here before her mind and body could find something to agree on, and far before the paralysis faded and she had the power to make a move consciously.

Sanguine
Erring Rising {} A-rank

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Word Count: 1248/8000 words
Tagged: @
Muse: sleepy
Music: song name by composer

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Appearance: https://imgur.com/a/U8FHhbc

Today just seemed to be a nice, peaceful day in which she had a chance to relax. Knowing the maids whom served her guild Mistress were covering for her in regards for her duties. She was given a free pass for the day and to just sit about and relax, but instead she chose to do something else entirely. It had been... well frankly she couldn’t really remember the last or any time she went to the beach or even just close enough to smell the salt water air. So long was she so used to the cold, frigid air of the mountains that the change was always an endearing feeling. Something to take her mind away from her work and normal tasks to feel a bit more than something some more snobby types have referred to as “the help” or some other derogatory remarks.

As per her usual clothing, the standard, more “open” dress of a maid uniform covered her body, but still showed off what she had much more to care for. Regardless, it didn’t stop people from enjoying a look at a lone maid wandering the streets. None of them really approached her at all for most of the day either, which only made things easier for her in the long run. Sadly, once the sun began to settle, the fun of the day was ready to come to an end. Normally, she wasn’t one to argue over having to go back, but when’s day is as peaceful as this, it wasn’t hard to want more. And yet, that was soon to come to an end as well.

Continuing along her stroll into the eventual night, she was stopped by a male who gave her a rather nasty looking grin. His eyes peering over her body and with little words to speak. “Let’s go. Hand over all the money you have, now.” He threatened, the click of a pocket knife opening up and pointing towards her while it was still by the males own body. Without much worry at all over being approached like this, Sanguine simply smiled and shook her head. ”I’m sorry, sir. I have no money.” She lied, but she didn’t care whether he believed her or not. Giving another careful look over with perverted eyes. Suddenly the idea clicked in his mind. “Well I supposed I could take something else~” His suggestion caused the maid to look down, then back up and laugh at him mockingly. ”If you’re not going to back off, I’ll make sure you pay for it.” The return of the threat angered him.

Swinging his knife held hand up at her, it was grabbed by a soft, but tight feeling restraint. Her own pure white hair lengthen enough with her magic to catch him mid stride. Another struck like a snake in the grass and wrapped tightly around his neck. All the while, her hands not moving a single bit from in front of her body, resting one hand atop the other in a rather habitual manner. ”I don’t give many people second chances.... and you’re more of a danger to others alive, so...” Raising one hand up, she gave a light wave of her hand before the horrid sound of his neck snapping raised into the air. As she released the grip, her eyes settled onto an onlooker who just witnessed the maid having dispatched of a very unsavory type. Her look of fear was a little off putting, but also a little exciting. She felt something twinging in her mind, as if trying to connect it to another memory that just wasn’t there. ”Oh dear... we can’t have any witnesses, now can we? My apologies, but I can’t risk it at all.” And then the wild hair reached out to strike again, intent to hit, but unsure of how quick they just might be.

IVYLEAF33

Lyza's muscles tensed underneath her skin as she watched the killer turn to face her and announce the problem with her having a witness, the man's body having already been completely discarded and forgotten. The paralyzing fear struck even deeper as the newbie mage stared down the barrel of the gun and wondered just what the hell she was even supposed to do. It felt like a brief oversight on her part when she signed up for the whole being a mage thing. She actually had to fight people.

And it wasn't that she didn't have experience with fighting either, just not magic fighting. Lyza had never actually used her magic in combat, she didn't know how it compared to other mages or if this was even someone she could compare to. So when the woman's hair darted towards her with the clear intent to strike, Lyza didn't know how to react. Block it? Bad idea, she didn't know how tough it was, so instead she lunged to the left and back around the corner she had initially came around. Just running away it is then.

But there was quite a way to any sort of proper civilization, and on top of that Lyza was just naturally slow. Her muscles were dense and weighed more than a normal person's, and top that with her lack of usual exercise meant that she was just downright sluggish. It was embarrassing, but now was not the time to be thinking about that. Now was the time to live.

How far she made it, Lyza didn't care. She just knew that she needed to run away from the threat of death and inform someone with actual experience as to what had just happened. That was, if she could even get far enough away from this woman to do so. She had only made it several yards and when she looked over her shoulder, all she could feel was a deep tension.

"Fuck this day..."

Sanguine
Erring Rising {} A-rank

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Word Count: 2090/1500 words
Tagged: @
Muse: sleepy
Music: song name by composer

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Appearance: https://imgur.com/a/U8FHhbc

Frankly, this wasn’t turning out to be her day at all. First she gets this perverted man who would have tried to assault on top of trying to take her money, but now she had a witness to her murder and frankly, she tried her best to avoid having to be seen doing things like this. Not only that, she couldn’t have been any ordinary girl as her ability to dodge the hair was near inhuman, but nothing that was honestly improbable with the right training. ”Oh my... this is troublesome. But, kinda fun... maybe?” She sighed. It was impossible to be happy forever. One moment she enjoyed the act, the next she detested herself for it. Why it was, she just couldn’t figure out, but it was consistently every time she tried.

Now, she had to give chase. A maid chasing down a young girl in the middle of daylight was not on her to do list for the day. If anything, this kind of sight would only anger her Queen. Or so she thought. This girl though was interesting at least. She darted around the corner so fast her hair had reached a point where she ceased it leaving the alleyway. Attracting more attention to herself was not what she was trying to accomplish, and chasing someone down wasn’t really what she wanted either, but she had to clean up her mess like a good maid should, so this was surely a necessity. This really could not get any worse for her, could it?

Well, as luck would have it, when she got to the end of the alley, the girl was long gone down the street. No amount of running in her heels would get her there. No, she had to resort to the chance of it being seen, but frankly this didn’t matter to her anymore. The chase was on her mind and it was beginning to excite her to play some cat and mouse with a helpless little girl. Wings sprouted from her back and with a step back into the alley, she shot up into the air over the heads of the buildings. The sun glaring into her body, she let one powerful flap of her wings and she began to dart off in the girl’s direction. Now it wasn’t long to reach this girl, and even less for her to have gotten in front of her since she paused, but making a silent descent was easy. What wasn’t was the shadow of the maid and her wings lowering from behind the white haired mouse. ”You’re not bad at this, Miss.” She spoke before a hand grabbed hold of her forearm and now kept her from running, but a swift kick into her gut would burst the wall open with the force of her hit and the colliding girl.

As her body was going through the wall, her hand let go of her, allowing her to freely fly into the building and make her crash landing. ”Hmm.. only cracked. I’m losing my touch it seems.” She folded in her wings as the maid stepped through the hole and then stood there as though she were just some normal maid awaiting an order. ”Two of your power ribs are cracked. I suggest slowing your breathing less you want your death to be more insufferable than it already will be.. but.” In a pause, she stopped advancing, her glance moving behind her to see nobody had been around, then back to the girl. ”May I ask for your name? I am not entirely heartless, I may even let you live if this goes over cooperatively enough.” She kept a smile through it all, as though this were a normal day, but honestly this day was going crummy...

Screw Monday’s.

IVYLEAF33

Lyza felt a creeping suspicion well up inside of her as she failed to see the murderer following her. Why wasn't she? It wasn't like it would be hard to stalk her wherever she went. Lyza wasn't very fast, a result of her more compact muscles giving her notable strength, but weighing her down. It made her such an easy target to follow, so why wasn't the woman behi-

A voice from behind, a hand on her shoulder, both followed by an extremely painful kick to the ribs. She couldn't possibly have reacted to that in time. The inexperienced mage cried out in pain as she was struck and sent quite literally flying through a wall, the impact only adding to the hurt. Lyza crashed into the ground with a shower of broken concrete rubble, landing with the grace of your average roadkill. Dazed and confused, she instinctively grasped at her abdomen as she grit her teeth in pain, right around the ribs that she could feel were now broken. It wasn't a new experience but after a kick like that, it only felt worse than the last time.

Slowly, her vision started to return after the initial shock wore off, leaving Lyza laying sprawled out in a pile of rubble and looking up at her assailant pathetically. Were those... "Dragon... wings?" Lyza mumbled to herself, only to realize her mistake once it was too late. She managed to roll over just enough to not choke on the blood as she coughed it up. Deep crimson blood splattered on the floor as the poor girl spat it out as it just kept coming, only settling down several moments later. When it did, the white haired mouse looked up at the figure before her, sweating both in pain and in fear, though her expression was still as calm as it ever was. The only thing that betrayed her was the shivering her body did in response to the pain.

"Lyza..." She muttered shakily in response to the maid's question. It sounded like she was struggling to keep even the slightest bit of composure. "And just... what are you?"