destinystrings | The Best Intentions

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The Best Intentions

Who: Maugris, open
Where: Sagittarius District (the industrial district), nighttime
What: Vampires have very unique ways to screw up helping someone. Like, say, sudden berserker rages when attempting to stop a mugging.
Warnings: TRIHARDO infection, violence (though I try not to get too graphic).

Sagittarius District, like a lot of industrial districts, offered a lot of warehouses and seldom-watched stockyards and suchlike that offered a wonderful habitat for punks and gangs and suchlike. Muggings were not unknown as a hazard, especially if someone was so foolish as to wander in isolated areas at night. If you happen to be in or near the district tonight in particular, you might come across someone who seems to have just escaped such an incident. But even for someone who's just been mugged, he seems awfully panicked. It takes him a moment to calm down enough to relate what happened.

As it turns out, a handful of thugs had jumped him on his way home from work, and suddenly another guy - some Visitor, probably American - had turned up with a Persona that looked like a knight and declared his intention to stop the mugging right there. The thugs decided they could take a crazy Visitor swinging a sword around, Persona or not, but soon after the fight had started something seemed to snap in the man's head. He'd dropped the sword and lunged at one of the thugs barehanded, punching his arm hard enough to send him spinning halfway across the street, and then he'd turned on his own Persona! That had been about the point where the worker had turned and run for it; he thought he'd heard the thugs doing the same.

Anybody who teases out the location of the incident and thought to follow it - or, alternatively, has the misfortune to wander into the area by accident - will find Maugris and his Persona Malagi in the middle of a heated fight. Malagi's shield is dented in a way that really shouldn't be possible using it against someone fighting with his bare hands, and Maugris's clothes are ripped. In a couple of places he's actually got some nasty cuts, but they aren't bleeding.

It turns out that Maugris, with his slightly off-kilter sense of justice and a sudden burning desire to be helpful, had been patrolling the area with the express intent of stopping any muggings. Unfortunately, a quirk of vampiric nature that Maugris usually keeps well under control decided to force its way to the top, and now the Beast is in control. Malagi probably notices you long before Maugris does and shakes his head frantically, trying to warn you away.

((OOC: So, yeah. Maugris's kind of vampire is subject to something called frenzy, which is essentially an animalistic rage that can trigger when they're angry that forces them to attack the closest target, with preference for living ones. If you try to deal with Maugris, you've got two options - beat him into unconsciousness, or try and talk him down. The latter requires pretty good social skills to pull off; the former can be accomplished the hard way (i.e. bludgeoning him), with something that causes sleep, or with a stake through the heart. Either way, he'll be back in control when he wakes up. He'll calm down after a long enough time, but that will require evading him or standing up to a beating from a superstrong vampire for that long.

... I guess you could use something that cures Berserk, too.))

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"Burn, more like. And risk dying entirely, on top of-"

Malagi trails off as she dives, and Maugris lashes out at her... and looks awfully confused when she goes through him again. If he was thinking more clearly, he'd have ways around this, but if that was the case, this whole fight wouldn't be happening. He tries to jerk his arm out of her grasp, but doesn't quite manage it before she succeeds in pulling him down and his head cracks against the pavement.

He's looking hazy after that, and even if she gives him the opportunity he's slow to get up. It probably won't take much more to knock him out completely. The impact was also enough to knock his glasses off and send them skittering away - Malagi snatches them up and sets them carefully on the curb. Hopefully no one will step on them.

((OOC: Whoops, misunderstanding there. Edited!))

Edited 2013-09-17 22:21 (UTC)

((Sorry about that again!))

[Phantom Girl remains somewhere underneath the earth for a few moments as Maugris struggles to recover. Whether for dramatic effect or simply because the timing works out that way, she bursts upwards through his chest just as he's about to rise once more.]

This'll hurt me just as much as it hurts you.

[A spin in the air, and she falls, ready to dropkick him straight in the head.]

Were he in any state for witty retorts, Maugris might suggest that Phantom Girl would have to have very fragile legs for this to be the case. As it is, he doesn't even acknowledge her words - her kick hits his head solidly, and he drops back onto the pavement.

If she needs any more indication that she's succeeded in knocking him out, she'll have it when Malagi disappears. Of course, she now has an unconscious vampire - which bears a remarkable resemblance to a dead body, seeing as Maugris doesn't need to breathe - in the middle of the deserted street. What she does with that is up to her.

((And for some reason I went brackets whoops.))

Phantom Girl allows a moment or two for the guilt about having mercilessly dropkicked one of her few friends in Hinoto-ri to settle in. ...It passes pretty quickly, though.

"It looks like he's o -- "

Her voice echoes on the empty streets as she glances around for the Persona before realizing - oh right. Part of Maugris. The guy decked out on the street. She floats awkwardly above him for a moment or two before giving a slight groan.

"I guess this is going to hurt, after all."

Dropping down behind Maugris, she attempts to prop him up by pulling up on his arms.

"You could stand to lose some weight if you don't need to eat, you know. Just a thought."

Maugris is unfortunately limp and thus very unhelpful in the effort to prop him up. Not unless she drags him over to the wall, anyway. Thankfully, being unconscious means he isn't busy feeling guilty about having tried to attack and probably feed on one of his friends in the city.

It's going to be a few minutes before he comes to, so she has a little time to attempt to do something with him. Or, if she's so inclined, to just take off and leave him to his own devices).

Phantom Girl may have some other options in mind.

"Thankfully, I have the perfect weight-loss solution right here."

Still half-propping him with her free limbs, she slides off the ring she usually wears and reaches to place it on Maugris's hand. The Flight Ring, as it is called, remains a marvel of 31st century technology and the envy of all non-Legionnaires. Phantom Girl herself has no practical use for it whatsoever given that she could already fly.

"There. Light as a feather."

If she tries to put the Flight Ring on his right hand, she may find (if she hasn't noticed before), that Maugris is actually missing his ring finger on that hand. Thankfully, he still has nine perfectly good fingers, if slightly larger ones than Phantom Girl's.

In any case, 31st century antigravity technology works something indistinguishable from magic, and Maugris's unconscious form is indeed perfectly light and easy to transport. She may or may not also spot his sword lying in the road a little distance away; he'd probably be grateful if she brought that along, but if not he'll just have to come back for it later and hope no one's pinched it.

She does notice it indeed. A slight blink is all the commentary it receives, though, before she shifts her attention elsewhere. The ring was hers, personally, but it would fit well enough onto his pinky. Brainiac 5 was intelligent enough to make it difficult to lose.

With her new load (or lack thereof), Phantom Girl attempts to flip Maugris into a sort of bridal position before lifting up with him into the air.

"Alright. Let's get you home, big guy."

Alas, she does not have night vision as keen as a vampire's and she misses the sword entirely as this routine is carried out.

Maugris, of course, doesn't respond to her, just lays limply in her arms. She might notice as she carries him, though, that some of the bruises and scrapes he's sustained in the fight slowly start to fade. Nothing seems to happen to the cuts from Malagi's sword, though, not yet.

"I could totally suspend you on the top of some satellite and see how you react when you wake up, you know. See what a good friend I am?"

She apparently feels the need for witty commentary even without anyone to hear it. Probably some sort of personality deficit. It is again a bit too dark for her to notice his healing as she carries him through the air; primarily as her attention is focused on searching the surrounding landscape. Eventually, she will locate their building and glide straight inside.

"...You'll forgive me if I leave you on your bed and not on mine, right?"

Phantom Girl will pass through the wall of his room without waiting for an answer.

Maugris is starting to stir by the time they reach the apartments, and once she sets him down he raises his head. "Ugh... what in the...?"

It only takes him a few moments to work out what's going on. The fact that he's very obviously in his room and not in the street, and that he hurts all over, is a pretty obvious clue. That's really all he needs to go from confusion to "Oh, hell, did I really...?"

He's a bit too distracted and upset to halfway-censor himself like he usually does around Phantom Girl. Of course, he may not have entirely registered her presence yet.

"Rise and shine, sparky."

Phantom Girl is very busy examining the stuff in his room though she doesn't go so far as to rummage through his drawers or anything.

"Actually, don't shine. It'd ruin all of the hard work it took me to drag you back here."

There's a couple of mystical-looking books lying on his desk. The one that's lying open is, to all appearances, written in little blocky pictures - there's a dictionary for translating the script next to it. There's also a half-splintered chunk of wood sitting on the desk, and a bag full of blue ribbons.

Maugris winces a little when he sees her looking around and gets up quickly, moving to stand in front of the desk - even if there's really no need to be so here, he's still protective of his magic. "Oh, Jesus. I... great. Just great. I didn't kill anybody, did I?" This is what's actually been going through his head since he woke up, but having the realization out loud seems like an excellent way to distract Phantom Girl from getting too curious.

Phantom Girl, naturally, takes this as a sign that whatever is on his desk is supremely interesting and will await the first opportunity she can get to peruse the dictionary. ...Not that she really needed to wait, given her powers, but she could at least manage a semblance of etiquette.

"There were a few casualties, actually. Your ego lies strewn in pieces all over Sagittarius, and I think most of your dignity, too.

Your glasses are fine, though....." A slight pause. "Even if I forgot about them and left them on the street, whoops. Your Persona grabbed it for you, actually."

"I meant actual people casualties. I haven't really had any dignity since I became Prince, anyway. And I can probably go get my glasses back..." He glances at the clock. "Yeah, it's still a while before dawn. I can get across the city without them." His eyesight wasn't even really bad enough that he'd need to boost it with Auspex, he was just kind of nearsighted.

"Sorry about... that. I don't do that much, honest." He looks back at her seriously. "But really. How bad was it?"

"I can get there much faster than you can. You just stay here and rest."

These words are possibly the first serious thing Phantom Girl has said all night.

"You probably broke a few bones. I don't know; I heard this second hand, but you tried to stop some sort of robbery, apparently. When I showed up, you were fighting with your Persona."

"Yeah, I was trying to stop a guy getting mugged and... it must have happened right after that."

He glances down at his side. "Uh. If you go, could you get my sword too, please? It's at least as hard to replace as my glasses." He didn't know whether anyone in the city besides him knew how cold-forged iron worked, and he doubted anybody would put up with him hovering over their shoulder telling them how to make it. And that was apart from the cost.

"Second hand... well, the guy got out all right, then, at least. If I'd managed to kill anybody they'd have probably been right there. In that state I would've drained them. And it's not like humans ash." He pauses. "... Speaking of which, just for future reference, if you find me and I look dead, I'm not. If I'm really dead I'll turn to ashes."

"...Duly noted. Try to sprinkle your ashes in the shape of an M or something when you die so I'll be able to distinguish it from normal ash."

Because there were random piles of ash just scattered all over the city. Phantom Girl frowns as Maugris glances down at himself.

"I didn't see a sword, but... sure, no problem. It will probably be easier to find than glasses." A slight pause. "As long as we're talking about broken bones and all of that... I could have sworn you were a lot more busted up when I flew you out. You look... perfectly healthy, actually."

"I'll try. I didn't say it was likely to happen anytime soon, but just letting you know so I didn't end up ruining a funeral by waking up or something. Assuming there's even anybody in the city who'd come to a funeral for me. Off the top of my head there's, uh, you and maybe Johnny."

This is meant as humor rather than anything actually depressing. You can tell because he chuckles a little.

"Oh, that. The superficial stuff heals faster, that's all. Uh, it's super vampire healing." He needs to try and go out hunting later, probably after the Thirteenth Hour when there's still some time before dawn, but that can wait for the moment. Healing up properly is going to take quite a bit of blood.

"Oh, well." She gives a slight shrug. "I'd have to see if it would fit into my schedule. It's hard finding time for the little details of life when you're a superhero, you know."

This is meant as humor rather than Phantom Girl being a jerk although it could very well be a little of both.

"...Note to self the next time I have to punch you out: 'Feel less guilty since it will last all of 10 seconds, anyway.' I'm surprised it was so easy to punch you out at all, honestly."

"Trust me, I can guess that. Vampire wizards don't have it very easy, either. If I didn't basically turn off at dawn I probably wouldn't get any sleep."

He shrugs a little and laughs quietly. "I'm kind of glad I don't remember that fight - it was probably pretty embarrassing. I'm not actually any good at fistfighting." He leans back against his desk and drums his fingers on the surface - one-two-pause-three. "But yeah. I need blood to heal, though. I don't actually do it automatically, apart from that first one to wake up. If you have to punch me out I probably deserve it anyway, though."

"Oh, come on. Vampires are supposed to have super speed and super strength and all of that. You should really go to the gym or something." This from the girl who presented the figure of a stick. "...What have you been doing about blood, anyway? Are there little drained squirrel carcasses all over the park?"

Phantom Girl has moved away from his desk at this point to examine the rest of his room, although this is more to have something to occupy herself with rather than actual curiosity.

"I'm not that kind of vampire. I'm the kind that has super senses and does magic instead. I had to get someone to teach me some super strength." He frowns a little at the memory; his relationship with the guy who taught him didn't end well.

"And, uh... yeah, basically. Though I don't usually go after squirrels. There's a few bigger animals around that come out at night, before the demons turn up, the sort of thing that can survive losing enough blood for me to wake up in the evening. Not really dignified, but it's probably my safest option. Haven't wanted to experiment with demon blood." He carefully edges around the issue of why he isn't hunting people, even if he's pretty heavily implying he isn't. Because even if the reasons are logical, he doubts anybody really wants to hear it.

"...I've never heard of that kind. And how do you get someone to teach you super strength? What is it, do you take some sort of stimulant and rub it on your muscles?"

Phantom Girl's compensation for saving Maugris's hide is to be as difficult as she possibly can.

"You know... You could probably see if you can't get anything a little more convenient. They're supposed to try and accommodate us here, right; you can't be the first person who's had special dietary needs." Although he might be the only person with dietary needs that would make people scream and run in horror.

"It's... hard to explain to anyone who isn't a vampire. It's kind of a willpower thing and kind of that vampires are two or three different kinds of magic." Maugris literally doesn't actually have words for how it works. He suspects the language there were words for it in was wiped out with the flood.

He rubs the back of his neck. "I don't know, maybe. It's just that the normal people around here - like, say, the ones who run hospitals and things - probably won't react as well to vampires as Visitors. I'm honestly just grateful I haven't met any vampire hunters. I really don't need someone going Van Helsing on me."

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