Not Even a Miracle Will Save Me

[[red].Raven]

A lone figure was sprawled on the ground in a bed of exotically colored flowers. It was warm in the rays of sunlight, regardless of whatever season it was. There were no clouds in the sky, and butterflies, as well as other things with wings flit about the grassy field idly. However, despite this seemingly ideal piece of nature, the expression the girl wore was solemn, pensive even. Sky blue eyes stared almost unseeingly into the clear atmosphere, the girl lying on her back with one arm resting over her abdomen and the other behind her head, legs crossed neatly one over the other. Her breaths were few and far apart, but steady and paced; she seemed to be completely lost within her own thoughts, drifting over the borders of reality and daydreams.

'What's... happening to me?' Rei's mouth was set in a thoughtful line, auburn strands of hair blowing gently over her face. It may be noted that her apparel was not of the norm. She wore a black wife-beater styled shirt that fit her snugly, outfit no longer revealing her stomach. Blue jeans encased her legs, slightly baggy in appearance but secured with a leather belt. She seemed to like the 'no-shoes' aspect though, and wore nothing but skin on her feet. Even her hair had changed; having grown since arriving at Twilight Moon Academy, she was now able to wear it back in two short ponytails. These changes were not like Rei in the least.

A soft sigh escaped her throat and her voice was no more than a quiet whisper meant only for the breeze to hear. "I won't let myself give up..."

((I decided to make this thread one of the more significant ones for Rei's time here >> <<))

[Creator]

"Who are you talking to?"
A gravelly growl of a voice had spoken from a few yards away as a dull, gray, and bare foot stepped down onto the grass, actually sinking into the ground slightly. Adren was looking down at this strange earthican - he called them earthicans rather than earthlings, as it was the only suffix he knew - girl, looking up and down her body. Anyone who didn't know him well would think he was examining her for other purposes, but he was merely trying to assess how much of a threat she was. He didn't look too happy, but then, Adren never did.

Slowly but surely, he made a circle around her, leaving obvious footprints behind him. It seemed he was much heavier than he appeared, and he appeared to be rather thin. Finally he stopped and wiggled his toes on the grass; anyone who didn't know him would think the black toenails were optional. Then he flopped backwards, giving a loud thud as he hit the ground spread-eagled. He proceeded to ignore her, closing his eyes and lying there as if dead.

[[red].Raven]

Something sharp and foreign flashed through Rei's eyes as they flickered smoothly over to the stranger. With teh swiftest of movements, her gaze took in the man's demeanor and appearance. Nothing about her expression changed... why wasn't she jolting to her feet in surprise or fear? Why was the air that hung around her unwelcoming and somehow resentful? Only after a moment of silent staring, following Adren's flop, did Rei move herself into an upright position, one leg bent and the other straight, arms keeping her upright on the ground behind her. Though Rei's voice was no longer a whisper, it was monotonous and somewhat dead. "Myself, obviously." In the new angle of light, a thin silver chain could be seen dangling around the girl's neck before disappearing behind the black cloth of her shirt. Actually, it really stood out against her skin, which seemed more tan than her usual ghostly complexion. "Who are you?" she asked, voice hinting at wariness. Her scrutinizing, deadpan gaze never wavered from Adren's dead form; she had learned some time ago that it was never safe to look away from a stranger.

[Creator]

Adren laid in silence for a moment, before opening his eyes to glance over at her with an 'are-you-still-here?' look. Closing his eyes once more, he forced a response. "I am Virdan Avedis Nevoru Kimme Adaven Adren. You may call me Adren, or not speak to me at all. I don't care." He was silent for a moment before going on. "Talking to yourself is stupid."

[[red].Raven]

Rei's eyes appeared to narrow uncharacteristically. "If talking to myself is stupid, then what would you call talking to you?" Emphasizing the word 'you' with heavy sarcasm, Rei bent her other leg as though she were preparing to stand, but managed to remain seated in the grass. Self restraint was always something Rei had to live with, but never like this... and... since when did she have a piercing in the upper part of her ear? She was not given permission to do that... Anyways, the girl went on after a a long pause, voice defiant. "You can't come strutting in like you own the place and then demand my absence; if you don't like me here, talking to myself as much as I wish to do so, then why don't you leave?"

[Creator]

Adren stood, leaping to his feet with a thud. He turned and looked down at Rei, glaring with more anger than before. "Are you really going to lecture me? I can't blame you, because nobody knows what a Virdanican is anymore, but we were once feared by all who did." He clenched his fists tightly. "I will stay here, and you will be quiet or I will make you. Be quiet," he tacked on, to clarify. His teeth were clenched and revealed to be mildly pointed, at least for the time being.

A small voice in the back of Adren's head warned him to stop. Seger had always managed to calm him down, but from what he had heard, nobody knew where Seger was or what had happened to him. So he was on his own, and natural instinct was telling him to eliminate this girl who insisted on infecting his peace. How dare she? He unclenched his fists, revealing several deep gashes where his pointed nails had dug in. No blood trickled out, and the gashes were soon gone as well. "Stop."

[[red].Raven]

A spark of crimson shot through Rei's sky blue eyes before disappearing with a blink. She seemed to move with unnatural timing, already beginning to stand before Adren had straightened out. She stood with a different layout to her figure than usual; her body was turned halfway away, arms hanging loosely at her sides, feet locked shoulders' width apart, and eyes locked fiercely onto Adren's. "You cannot make me do anything; fear is something I live beside, not within." The girl's expression was stern, but somehow nonexistent. An acidic tone crept beneath her voice. "People forget many things that hold no significance to the world." The silver chain she wore loosely around her neck appeared to shimmy in the sunlight, the metal actually moving as though it were alive. It coiled up upward to form a solid, steel collar around Rei's neck; the purpose of this was unknown for now. "So," she began once again. "Adren, either you shut up, leave me alone, and maybe even extricate yourself from this earth entirely, or I will make you."

This person was not the Rei her friends or anyone else had come to know; something was painfully different about her. Since when did she not back down from a potentially violent situation?

[Creator]

Adren didn't speak, but shook with anger. He had been told to hold back, to not hurt people, but she was insulting his entire race. Steaming mad, he began to stomp around in circles and clench and unclench his fists rapidly. After a moment of silent raging, he brought a fist down toward the ground. It seemed to expand as he punched, slamming into the grass and leaving a good-sized indention in the earth. With a whirl he looked back at Rei, teeth now razor-sharp. "I'll kill you dead, you rat." With a thrust, he sent his fist forward. It stretched quickly toward Rei, aiming to land a blow to her gut. He really couldn't be blamed. After all, not only had his people been created solely to fight, but they had placed a lot of importance on the honor of their people. When you lose everyone you had and someone's around saying it doesn't matter, you tend to get a bit upset.

[[red].Raven]

A low, throaty, animal-like growl could be heard just barely emanating from Rei's person, her eyes narrowing onto Adren's fist like daggers. With abnormally fluid movements, she dropped down and rolled to the side, coming out of the roll almost perfectly to stand in a half-crouch. "A rat? Oh, how close you are." Had Rei not been wearing un-modified jeans that would not allow her to do so, she would have revealed her tail to Adren, which is, in fact, very rat-like. But, because of her change in clothing, any sort of major shifting did not seem possible. Memories flashed through her mind about the last time someone had made such a threat to her life and she blinked to clear those thoughts away; there was no point in thinking about them now, for a number of obvious reasons. "Killing me will bring no one back for you to share your lonely existence with." Faster than one may think possible, the steel collar around the girl's neck seemed to liquefy and slither down her arm to form a wristband with a single long spike traveling over and past her hand. Rei lunged forward and aimed the metal-clad hand as a punch to Adren's side, meaning to impale him; where had her forgiving, kind attitude gone away to?

[Creator]

Adren didn't move, not when she went on to insult his existence, not when she made a move to attack, and not when the spike went straight into his side. He stood for a moment, staring harshly ahead, then turned slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye. With a frown on his face he reached down and gripped her arm, then slowly pulled the blade out of his side. There was a hole, but no blood, and no signs that there was anything inside him but solid grayness. Then the hole closed itself, and his upper body twisted around on his waist to face her. "Consider me a memento for my race." Making a quick movement, he swung his other fist up in an attempt to uppercut the girl. Now was when he would settle into the calm rage of the battle until one of them was dead or unable to fight.

[[red].Raven]

Rei hard-set expression faltered when her stab did not seem to affect Adren in any way. The metal around her wrist slithered back up her arm just seconds after Adren pulled out the blade, moving quickly as though it were running from him. The girl's arm was limp in his grasp, but her other was tense and had its hand clenched in a tight fist. Even while his fist was on its way to meet her, Rei's sharp eyes glared directly into Adren's. The blow was met without much resistance and she was thrown backward, neck snapping backward with a dangerous cracking sound, and skidded painfully along the ground before coming to a rest. She remained where she was- breathing heavy, eyes closed, lying on her back- for a couple tense moments before, with a low, moaning growl, she rolled backward slightly and then kicked forward, on her feet once again. Well, somewhat, anyway. Rei was crouched low to the ground, hands resting on the thick grass to keep her balanced; she still looked very human. Her head rolled a bit to one side before jerking straight again with a disturbing popping sound, a thin line of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth; she ignored it completely. The wings tattoo that covered a good portion of her back began to shudder a bit, seemingly starting to crawl over Rei's shoulder and down her left arm. It didn't get farther than her shoulder before freezing where it was. "I consider you nothing more than a problem; an annoyance that has crawled into my peaceful mood and wedged itself beneath my skin." The wind picked up quite noticeably, whipping any of her loose hair around in a wild fashion and bending over the blades of grass. "I'll have to claw you out of me." From directly behind Adren, a whistling wind vortex shot from the forest, intent on tearing through the man's body to get to Rei.

[Creator]

Adren seemed unimpressed with her display so far, but knew she was far from her potential at the moment. He had a feeling in his metaphorical gut, and these feelings were usually right. "I feel the same about you. All I wanted was someplace quiet to relax, and here you go screwing it up. I could have even forgiven that, but not after the way you've insulted me and my people." The trouble with Virdanicans is, they get so focused on their opponents, they rarely see sneak attacks in time to avoid them. Sure, he heard the wind whistling long before it struck, he simply didn't register what it was, or that it was even real. He relied more on vision during combat, and right now he was examining Rei closely. So of course he was more than surprised when a funnel of wind tore through his stomach area.

He was flung forward and felt something different, the feeling of air touching where his body usually was. He stumbled and looked down, seeing bits of gray slime littering the grass before him. His eyes wandered down to the hole in his midsection, which only left a small amount of gray to support him. With a glare to Rei, the gaping hole closed itself up in the blink of an eye, and the fabric of his shirt began to reweave itself, regenerating more slowly but just as effectively. "Well, you've managed two hits. I hate having to waste energy healing myself, so that will be all you manage." He assumed she'd be ready for her own attack and ran in an arc toward her, preparing an unskilled fist for her side. By Earth standards, his fighting had little finesse. He had been taught to attack in ways that satisfied his need for brutal bone-cracking, rather than ways that made efficient hits and kept him out of harm's way. And to be honest, his strength wasn't that much greater than a normal person's. Certainly more than one would expect for a boy as average-built as he, but not unreachable by humans. Still, his towering height of 6'9" usually offered a psychological advantage over the opponent that he didn't even realize existed.

[[red].Raven]

Rei's void expression pulled back into a devilish grin upon seeing the damage done to Adren's stomach and she caught Uindo mid-spin with a taunting swipe. "Your forgiveness is not something I'm after. And you've landed one hit." With the back of her hand, she wiped away the warm blood from the side of her mouth. "I may give you just one more, if I get bored." Eyes trained on Adren, Rei stood halfway up from her crouch, readying for quick evasion and a possible counteract. Almost as though it were choreographed, the girl pivoted on the ball of her foot, palms meeting Adren's fist before she was twirled from the momentum out of harm's way. The impact held more force than she expected, though, and a sharp tremor ran up and down her forearms. She grimaced, but maintained her composure, not noticing that the tattoo had crept to just past her upper left arm. Mid-spin, she dropped down and made a wide sweeping motion with her leg, intent on tripping the man while he still had his speed going. She had discarded Uindo for now, leaving the dagger to drift in idle loops around the field until she called upon its powers once again.

[Creator]

Rather than giving way to her sweep, Adren's leg seemed to loosen up, as did the rest of his body soon after. His white shirt, black hair, even his eyes all faded into the same dull gray as his skin, and he melted down into a thick slime. Most of his sliminess splattered down onto her leg, and quickly, hundreds of tiny teeth began to form, all as sharp as those that had been in his mouth. It was as if he was actually trying to eat her leg. But despite this, the goo didn't seem to be capable of moving, and gradually retreated.

[[red].Raven]

Rei's sadistic grin- Rei and sadistic in the same sentence?- faded quickly when she realized her kick would do nothing, and there was no trace of it left at all once the goo covered her leg. Her jeans provided some protection against the gnawing teeth, but many of the points ripped straight through. As soon as she could, she yanked herself free of the liquid and jumped away from Adren to do a damage check. She grumbled; she didn't have many pairs of jeans, and one of the few times she wears them, some gray-skinned, organ-less freak goes and shreds half of them! Oh well, she supposed she could just go and stab the other half until it looked like the tears were purposeful. Small splotches of blood seeped into the material, but pain was hardly an issue.

Without wasting another moment, Rei pulled something small, shiny, round, and black fro her pocket, tossing it right into the semi-liquefied Adren. A shadow dweller would burst forth from the orb and hopefully mangle whatever Adren would try to reform.