You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 30, 2023 0:01:56 GMT
 I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
The grunt seemed to confirm Kioko’s unspoken concern — he wasn’t strong enough to lift her. Apparently he looked stronger than he actually was. Not that Kioko had given any thought to the man’s musculature beyond cursory evaluations. She never knew what information would be needed when. That was as good a reason as any, right?
Mercury clamped down on her limbs beneath fabric and was about to mysteriously lighten Levi’s load when he managed to summon up enough strength to push her firmly into the window. There was a scramble on her part that more than made up for Levi’s earlier frustration about the way she exited booth seats. Even so, it didn't take long for her to find her balance and scout the drop below as Levi, now relieved of his burden, decided to cause a new ruckus.
Kioko didn’t even bother to look back to see what he was doing. She didn’t care. At least not more than she cared about escaping. She descended through a combination of gravity and Quirk after ensuring no one had yet occupied the back alley. Uniforms were likely well on their way to scout the area.
She could leave then and there. Let Levi suffer whatever fate awaited those caught in the building. Distrust, not generosity, was the only thing that saved him. Kioko was certain he’d rat her out if caught and she couldn’t have that. So she used her mercury to shove a nearby dumpster beneath the window, climbed up, and leaned through the window to offer him her hand. Hopefully she had taken just long enough to make him sweat, but not long enough to endanger their escape.
Notes & Tags: ctrl
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 29, 2023 22:59:21 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 29, 2023 22:59:21 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
People faltering in her presence was hardly new for Kioko. Even before she had killed her brother and became the center of public scandal and speculation. Nothing seemed amiss about the man’s behavior. At least nothing more amiss than his idiotic behavior had shown thus far. As long as no particularly malicious compliance was given to her order, she had no reason to allot more attention to Levi for the time being. The situation continually unfolding around them demanded far too much of her focus for that, especially now that their exit was even less than ideal than expected.
She hissed yet again in obvious annoyance. At the bartender. At the literally and figuratively limited window of escape. And especially at Levi and his use of a particularly cursed term. The sound of frustration was accompanied by an eyeroll and the rest of her expression equally matched the act of disdain. But what choice did she have? Getting caught in the middle of a bar fight by the cops with her reputation was unacceptable for more than one reason.
“Shut up and lift,” Kioko said as she stepped onto the platform created by his hands. She debated doing so with the intent to drive the pointed tip of her stiletto into the palm of his hand, but she didn’t want to be dropped and already doubted his ability to lift her imposing frame in the first place. Mercury quivered in its hiding place among her clothing ready to catch its mistress if need be, but using her Quirk outright in front of the supposed reporter was nearly as bad as getting caught by the police. So she spared him and kept her heel away from his palm. However, she couldn’t adjust so completely as to fully prevent the potential of any injury. The stiletto was sharp and she was heavy. It was entirely possible the man would find the edges of one hand or the other nicked in the process of trying to lift her through the window.
Notes & Tags: ctrl
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 29, 2023 22:36:53 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 29, 2023 22:36:53 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Silence accompanied the timely opening of the grand gate. Whether it was a byproduct of preeminent expertise in engineering behind its design or just the fact that the ambient noise of life outside the secure walls covered up any sound that arose from hidden gears grinding under the weight of the gate would be a question unanswered to anyone not already in the know. Kioko was well aware it was the former. Presentation was as much a feature of Sovereign Technologies’ products as performance.
Fortunately, she required no audio cue to pull her attention to the exact moment her quarry broke from cover. Her eyes had never wandered. Her focus never wavered. She couldn’t afford any mistakes. Not when her target was more than just the businessman that Ichikawa Daiki presented himself as to the public.
How many sleepless nights had Kioko spent in pursuit of truth and vengeance? Not enough as she had yet to reach her goal, but enough that the path to it had illuminated other truths and tastes over revenge. The former arose in situations like finding out Daiki being an agent of the Umbra Syndicate that her uncle had planted in the company long before the death of her mother. It was his signature on the paperwork proving the safety of the prototype her mother had participated in trials for. That combined with the knowledge of his secret identity insisted he had the next piece of the puzzle Kioko needed.
So when the car maneuvered into the street and merged with the steady stream of traffic, there was no hesitation. She stepped into the shadows between nearby buildings and her serpent fanged maw opened wide. Silver poured forth and split. Half became an intricate mask to conceal her features even more beneath the hood she wore. The other part became a platform. One that elevated her up to the rooftop. She may not have been fast on foot, but taking an aerial route meant she could move unimpeded by crowds, cars, and clouds releasing their springtime bounty — unlike those on the ground. Though she was only aware of one soul in her sights for that night.
For now.
Notes & Tags: Shō Matsui
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 28, 2023 21:46:06 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 28, 2023 21:46:06 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Alcohol hummed through Kioko’s veins and throughout her head. Sebastian’s goading and very existence caused her to overindulge in more drinks than she had intended while spending her evening awash in a shallow mimicry of her former life. No amount of booze could make it ever feel like more than that again, but these nights were all that kept the last traces of her humanity from drowning in riptides of wrath and revenge.
Sense had dulled in favor of enhanced stubbornness. Part of Kioko, the part that retained the faculties of her sober self beneath the buzz, knew that she should have asked one of the others to escort her home or to the nearest subway station or even called a cab, though paying Sebastian’s tab made the latter nigh impossible. But she didn’t do any of those things. Instead, she just walked away, like she did from so many other things.
The path was familiar enough, even in the darkness of the late hour. Lights from business fronts and cars gave way to softer illumination from street lamps as the environment transitioned to a more residential area. Not a good one, but residential nevertheless. Kioko’s apartment building was located somewhere farther inside the neighborhood. Habit took her through a dark side street. She chose shadows whenever she could. Unfortunately, so too did the assassin that stalked her.
Had she not been mild inebriated, perhaps she would have been aware of more warning signs. As it were, she heard only the skin crawling sound of a metal blade being hastily drawn from whatever sheathed it. The sound originated from behind her. She pivoted just in time for the dagger to miss whatever vital organ it had been aimed for at her back. Not that Kioko was unscathed. The weapon found purchase in the flesh of her torso. Fat silver droplets splashed to the ground from a long gash across her side. She hissed in pain, but had enough wherewithal, and more than enough pride, to not scream.
Kioko clutched her side. The mercury there had already hardened into a makeshift patch to keep her from losing too much blood. Her eyes frantically searched for the culprit behind her injury, but no one was there. The only clue to where they had gone came from metallic splotches on the ground leading away from her. Pain was an excellent way to shake off the stupor caused by drinking. However, it had yet to clear away entirely. That made it hard to fine tune her Quirk enough to narrow in on any of her toxic blood that might still be on the intended murder weapon. Hard, but not impossible. She just needed a little time. Not that assassins were in the business of affording their victims such a luxury.
Notes & Tags: IL Fantasma
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 28, 2023 19:09:44 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 28, 2023 19:09:44 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Sovereign Technologies was nothing if not efficient. The massive compound of buildings catering to research and development in every area of the tech world had been built close to a subway entrance. Given that most of Japan’s population relied on public transportation, it was an obvious and calculated decision. A benefit to the employees and insurance for the employers that the former would be to work regularly and on time with no transportation related excuses. Of course, anyone that worked at the mega-corporation who actually mattered in the grand scheme of things was paid enough to afford private vehicles several times over while still making use of company cars provided at no cost.
Kioko had once been among them. Complete with her own chauffeur. A boon of being daughter and granddaughter to former CEOs and poised to be the next reigning Kushiki upon that throne. Now she surged out of the subway station outside of Sovereign Technologies with the other common rabble. Nothing about the young woman herself insinuated anything so mundane as common though. She towered over any not granted height through their Quirks and carried herself with a fluid grace and haughty aura that spoke of royalty not in her bloodline. Yet she was garbed in all black and a hood cast a shroud of darkness over her features. A feat furthered by artificial lights indicative of descending night obscured in heavy sheets of torrential rain.
She disappeared into the sea of commuters and umbrellas in spite of how she had stood out upon her exit. A slouch, a soft step, and a serpentine path destined for shadows enabled her stealthy approach to her chosen vantage point in a long queue huddled between bus stop, newsstand, and food stalls that fueled the blue collar workers of Tokyo’s industrial zone. It was the same one she had been using for weeks to trail her target until his routines were subject to the mercurial maiden’s iron maiden of a memory. Any moment now and the designated exit gates for the compound would open and release her prey into the streets in a sleek black sedan with windows tinted almost as darkly as Kioko’s intentions for the evening.
Notes & Tags: Shō Matsui
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 28, 2023 18:04:50 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 28, 2023 18:04:50 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
The air of haughtiness that draped itself around the exiled heiress often led people to believe she was impatient. There were moments and areas in which that was true. Most of them involved Sebastian. The rest involved people equally foolish. The young man before her toed the line momentarily before delving into a topic for which Kioko was infinitely patient. She watched the machine at work and listened to the explanation with equal focus.
Much of it sounded like standard marketing. Perhaps he had been fed lines to include. Perhaps he simply bought the company line on his own. The best of all words, the words insisted. A promise of accessibility to things that would drastically improve the quality of life for the masses — provided someone of the Samaritan quality could afford the price tag attached to such an invention up front. Most could not, and those that could, weren’t exactly in the business of generosity. But it was a step in the right direction. A part of Kioko buried in the tomb of her past whispered a wish in the back of her mind that she was still in a position to take the next step needed with it to be that Samaritan. Alas, she wasn’t that person anymore. How could she be with blood on her hands, revenge in her mind, and a violent fury in her heart?
She trailed a finger along the dome of the Venus box absentmindedly. Or so it seemed. She was applying pressure to the construction to test the strength and integrity of the material. Flaws in 3D printing often led to structural weaknesses that were equally to blame on devices and materials in many cases. Finding none in her brief examination, she addressed another facet of her curiosity in the form of a question.
“With its ability to print objects using multiple materials in a single process, is it capable of inlaying functional circuitry and wiring into the prints provided the design allows for it and the correct materials are present?”
Notes & Tags: Kei Hada
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 28, 2023 17:14:43 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 28, 2023 17:14:43 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
To her credit, Kioko did not balk beneath Shu’s stare as he turned his eyes upon her once more nor when he dragged the tattered remains of who she had once been to the forefront of their conversation. She did, however, reach for alcohol. “I haven’t been a business woman in some time,” she stated after a sip. “I’m a retiree, much like yourself.” That was certainly one way to spin the situation that had toppled her from the pinnacle of the tech industry — the legal one, at least.
Memories of the long line of events that had transpired to bring her to the booth that night soured the taste of what was a vintage she would otherwise relish. She doused them beneath a deeper draw of the dark liquid. Despite her denial of the first claim Shu had made and the alcohol she now imbibed, Kioko did possess all the acumen one might expect a business woman to have. The Tanuki wanted something, and it wasn’t to wine and dine her. Such was the case with almost everyone she interacted with before and after her life had irrevocably changed. Maybe it was for that almost sense of normalcy that Kioko played along.
“I suppose esteemed is one way to put it though. Whatever bill Sebastian racked up must be enough to cover holiday bonuses and then some for all of your employees if I’m receiving such treatment as a benefactor. Unless I’m paying for this bottle too so you can hit that goal.”
Notes & Tags: shu
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jul 28, 2023 16:36:43 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jul 28, 2023 16:36:43 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
A fine, albeit obvious, line existed between the common criminality where such a thing as class might get one by and true villainy entrenched in brutality. The former had been far more prominent in the days before Quirks. How odd it was to see someone that still imposed the expectations of the former upon an underworld that had long since shifted toward the latter. What one considered optimistic, the other considered naivety if not outright delusional. Though that did mean she fit right in with the bulk of those Kioko encountered in her work.
The speaker whom the other woman referenced was not in that category — not yet. Regardless of an easy answer at the tip of her forked tongue, Kioko was far more professional than many beyond her years. “I am not in the habit of discussing the nature of my clientele list in any capacity.” Professional and paranoid. Her ability to keep secrets was tantamount to survival and not just because she needed the money from new and repeat customers that valued anonymity. Her own thoughts veered toward the possibility of knives in places they did not belong and were not wanted.
“As far as my reputation is concerned, those that have need of me and can afford my services are informed on the matter. Those that do not or cannot, are not.” She paused her scouting in the aftermath of yet another speech and abrupt disappearance to once more look to the one that had sought out her attention. “Which perhaps brings us to the point of this conversation; what do you want from me?”
Notes & Tags: rhea
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jun 26, 2023 20:34:24 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 26, 2023 20:34:24 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
One needn’t Kioko’s penchant for a piercing gaze to see through the lie masquerading as polite manners to the nervousness below. It wasn’t an honor to see her there. Most would have summoned security as a safety precaution. Though he did not, the young man’s anxiety drenched every aspect of his person as he scrambled to fulfill the duty he had taken on for the benefit of others besides himself. His payment? Exposure to and within the industry and unfortunately for him, it was an industry that still held Kioko’s interest.
While he’d be a fool to be at ease in her presence given her reputation and demeanor, the fearful reactions of the general populace had yet to become something Kioko was truly numb to beyond her conscious self-denials. It resonated against the icy walls she had built around her more fragile parts. The fortifications grew taller and thickened defensively in response to the more personal reaction to her presence and she grew more imperious as a result through an even more rigid stature, a colder gaze, and a haughty tone as she replied to the question about a demo.
“Obviously.”
Notes & Tags: Kei Hada
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jun 26, 2023 17:50:15 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 26, 2023 17:50:15 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Pristine porcelain skin and perfectly symmetrical features were typically an indicator that one wasn’t used to taking hits to the face. That was true more often than not, just not when it came to Kioko. A childhood shared with a scrappy younger brother, a youth spent training to be a Hero in the footsteps of her mother, and a year of time served had Kioko experience her fair share of head shots. Enough so that she had just enough time to realize what was about to happen, but not enough to react. At least not properly.
Mercury beneath the flesh of her face hardened to protect the bone beneath from any substantial trauma upon impact. It was one of Kioko’s most relied on, and subtle, tricks of her Quirk. Still, her Quirk was not so strong that it did little more than ensure her nose didn’t shatter. It still hurt and there would definitely be bruising later. A trickle of silver even dripped from her left nostril as broken glass fell away from her visage. A visage darkened by unfiltered rage for the briefest of moments. Something had definitely broken.
Kioko raised her hand to her face. Slender fingers seemed to probe for damage before wiping away at what passed for blood and flicking it to the ground. She took a step toward Levi as he fumbled through his explanation of what just happened and tried to pin the onus on her. It was a distraction on her own behalf as the mercury she had drawn from her face crept along the floor behind Levi. She reached out to grab him by his collar and pulled to create an opening of exposed skin for a now forming tiny needle to hopefully find purchase.
Regardless of whether or not she was successful in poisoning him just a little bit for his sins through the prick of a pin, Kioko released him. The a lot a bit could come later either way. “Move,” she hissed then shoved him toward the door that led into the back where the potential employee exit might be. Given the chaos was now also spilling over the bar and following after them, Kioko’s wrath was only a supplementary reason to listen to her command as flashing lights now appeared outside the bar windows to accompany the sirens that had been drawing ever closer during their various scuffles.
Notes & Tags: ctrl
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jun 26, 2023 16:29:28 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 26, 2023 16:29:28 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Sight and height granted much in the way of the information Kioko valued from her vantage point adorned in the trappings of silence and stillness. She did not disappear so wholly as another so much as she blended into the background as others took to the fore with their antics and idiocy with scant few exceptions. Naturally that meant anyone qualifying as the latter drew the full force of her awareness upon them. Primarily the exchange between the unseen. Both revealing themselves outside the cover of technology. Logic dictated one possessed control to put on a show and find the other who relied on less inborn means to conceal if he had been found by the former. Of the two, Kioko’s primal sense of survival marked the light cloaked entity as more dangerous and the source of her earlier fight or flight instinct rising up.
Time and a trigger finger would prove her right because as things often did when Villains were involved, the meeting unraveled as if a devil’s delight had been the cue they were all waiting for. A knife thrown. A gun fired. Though the term gun was an understatement. The sound and impact alone implied a design far outclassing most arms on the black market. Kioko knew because she had designed many of them and intentionally neutered their potential to cause large-scale devastation. She had no love for nor loyalty to those around her in the warehouse, but she did to two on the other side of the line. The idea of Renjirou or Sebastian finding themselves on the receiving end of the weapon fired so expertly into the crowd churned her stomach — which required protection itself.
Mercury hidden in her clothing from where it had crushed the burner phone on her person snaked its way through the fabric. Her head was already reinforced by the ornate mask she wore, so the extra metal plated her abdomen and heart. Would such a thin defense even with how dense it was do much against what was essentially a portable cannon were it turned suddenly upon her? Unlikely, but Kioko was hardly the type to not make what preparations she could when faced with the reflection of another reaper. Only the phantom himself would understand the irony of her actions for the time being.
Words wailed against walls erected out of arrogance and ignorance alike. All postured from positions of knowing better. Including the armed apparition. He spoke more eloquently and with more authority than the rest to be sure. Logic even backed his statements, but Kioko perceived the truth woven into what he was saying. Motive. He was not offering them helpful advice on how to deal with the issue at hand. He was telling them how he was going to do it and his display of prose and power to set himself up as a cult of personality to spearhead the effort. That more than anything else thus far made the venom in her veins run cold because it meant it could succeed where others had failed and create a world that she was trying to burn to the ground before it existed by removing her own family that sought the same thing this man did.
So it was not with gratitude upon which Kioko looked at him when he loosely offered her services to water the seeds of war he had planted with what they might need to make up any gaps in Quirk or bodily deficiencies. Rather, hatred seethed through slitted eyes and gritted teeth. Her tongue was only held at bay for only one reason. Fear. Plain and simple. She had never been the type for a face-to-face fight. Stealth and assassinations were her forte by necessity.
Relief did not come at the end of his speech and subsequent disappearance. If anything, Kioko was more on edge. She pushed her back further into the wall for safety while keeping her senses on high alert for anything out of the ordinary and marking the best exit points whether they be doors, windows, or walls. Being approached by a stranger did nothing to help her paranoia even if she echoed Kioko’s own serpentine nature back to her right down to the forked tongue offering casual conversation before disappearing behind a smile.
That was where their similarities ended. Where the woman projected a manufactured but pleasant warmth, Kioko was nothing but imperious ice as she responded, “And what exactly, pray tell, did you expect from such a meeting? A cocktail party?” A pointed glance at the woman’s attire was spared from Kioko’s reconnaissance efforts.
Notes & Tags: IL Fantasma rhea
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jun 26, 2023 14:34:42 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 26, 2023 14:34:42 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Though her eyes had been granted the freedom to move among hallowed ground, Kioko’s guard had by no means dropped in full. Her senses tuned past the ambiance of Noyote’s regulars and newcomers alike to focus on any aberrant information. With a keen focus on anything that might give her cause to bolt — as much as one could do so while limping. What she expected to that effect was noise from beyond the walls or lurking shadows outside the windows. Instead, she got Shu.
The path he carved from bar to booth was no less worrisome than those pursuing her on the outside. She weighed her options just as gravely. Stand her ground or flee. Kioko chose the former. It was part necessity if her civilian identity was to stay in tact and part because her left leg was adamant in its inability to cooperate with the latter option at the moment. Especially in a way that didn’t further accrue suspicion.
Mean queen mien firmly in place as Shu took a seat, Kioko greeted him with nothing more than an arched brow. His quip posing as a question garnered more of a response though. She scoffed.
“Hardly.”
The lie fell from her tongue and easily and naturally as breathing. Shu had come close to the truth. It might not have been a direct family meeting, but it was an encounter with agents of her corrupted lineage. Marionettes whose strings she needed to cut to get to the puppet master behind them. An act easier said than done. The bruising and her limp were proof enough of that.
“To what do I owe the pleasure,” she asked in return. The emphasis on pleasure indicated it was anything but. “As a reminder, I am not liable for Sebastian’s actions no matter how much he insists.” Kioko would have included the never-ending tab that her friend kept going at Noyote, but that it would have been futile. She had been fighting, and losing, that battle for years now. Her money settling Sebastian's tabs was, at least in part, responsible for the establishment turning any kind of profit during slow seasons. The only thing that had changed over the years was where that money came from. Though her blood was still the root source in the end.
Notes & Tags: shu
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|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jun 22, 2023 22:52:12 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 22, 2023 22:52:12 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Night drenched Tokyo’s quieter thoroughfares in deep shadows far from the neon lit arteries pulsing with traffic and pedestrians alike. Most of the darkness and its ilk were stationary. Unmoving except subtle shifts from the moon’s passage overhead. Save for a singular entity set apart from the rest of the nocturnal abyss by silver orbs illuminated in the reflection of lights radiating from an establishment all too familiar to the wraith.
Kioko detached herself from the shroud of situational and self-imposed stealth to approach the door. What grace usually punctuated her long-legged gait was absent, replaced with a limp that favored her left. The same side saw grey shadows cast across her face indicative of bruising with her altered blood beneath the surface of the stoic mask of porcelain and pride.
Pain did nothing beyond the limp to falter her steps. If anything, it added an urgency. Predator had become prey in a twist of fate on behalf of a universe determined to see what resided beyond rock bottom for the fallen scion. Nothing else could have driven her to the safe haven of Noyote without the other Nobodies in her wake — and in the middle of a job.
Its status of sanctuary came from the sovereignty and reputation of the owner as a former Pro Hero. Which was exactly the last kind of person Kioko needed to draw attention or scrutiny from in her current state. Yet her options were few. As in two. And the other was to greet the reaper far earlier than intended. So Kioko opened the door and crossed through the threshold, leaving what hounds of hell which pursued her trail on the other side of safety.
She did her best to reign in the limp as she walked the familiar path to the back corner booth by the photo wall. Her gaze was firmly averted from the bar itself. Only when she finally slid into the seat with her back to the wall did she relax enough to both let her gaze wander away from the goal and remove her hood to reveal a cascade of chrome that she immediately brushed forward to cover the bruising.
Notes & Tags: shu | Outfit
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|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
|
Jun 12, 2023 19:59:44 GMT
Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 12, 2023 19:59:44 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
Coward.
The single word resonated through Kioko’s head as she gazed peered across the turmoil still in full swing around her. The journalist was nowhere to be found. Only drunkards as far as the eye could see.
What was I thinking re-
And then she heard him. Calling out to her from across the bar. He had found himself positioned behind the counter. Kioko’s brow furrowed. The space between them pulsed with erratic flailing worthy of a moshpit from the early 2000s. At least according to the history books. It would have hindered crossing far longer than it had taken Levi to get from point A to point B.
How did he…
Her curiosity was momentarily quelled by his audacity as he declared her to be taking too long. It was a karmic statement, but the fact that Kioko deserved it after previously telling him to hurry up did nothing to soothe her ire. Fortunately for Levi, he was spared from immediate retaliation thanks to the distance he had put in between them. Unfortunately for the people now stuck between Kioko and the subject of her current irritation, they were in her way.
What Kioko had retained of fighting from a youth spent pursuing the path of a support Hero focused on stealth, evasion, and sneak attacks. It was perfect for a moment such as this. She was rusty, but they were drunk and wholly untrained by comparison. Kioko wove through the crowd with the same grace she had originally used to extract herself from the booth — and the same violence that had been on display since then through the hidden application of her Quirk. More than a few brawlers were laid out by quick jabs envenomed by the very nature of the toxic blade sneaking its way in and out of Kioko’s hands.
By the time Kioko reached her destination, bodies bent over blood and bile lined the wake of her crossing. She hoisted herself over the counter with the subtle aid of a silver platform beneath one foot. “How was this faster or easier,” she hissed at Levi. Literally. Her forked tongue even peeked out from behind lipstick blackened gates that more often than not bound it for the safety of those around her. This would not be one of those times if the so-called reporter wasn’t careful.
Notes & Tags: ctrl
|
|
You should see me in a crown.
ALIAS
Meliora
OCCUPATION
Black Market Tech Spec.
EVENT TOKENS
50
QUIRK
Mercurial
Archived
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Post by Kushiki Kioko on Jun 9, 2023 21:25:12 GMT
I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
The issue with tempting fate was that it often rose to the occasion. “The way you came in.” Kioko’s words were spoken without an overt air of mischievousness beyond dry amusement over the general situation at hand. She might have been unknowingly living in the stranger’s head rent free, but she couldn’t actually read his thoughts. Especially when her eyes were otherwise occupied following the feats of his body incapacitate another. Or so she thought. For much of the same aforementioned reason, Kioko had no way to know that he was employing the very same trick she was with her Quirk in the method he made use of for his own.
“The fire exit is farther away,” she clarified through both words and a gesture toward a dim lit door down a hall removed from their proximity and blocked by numerous inebriated bodies either brawling or sprawling from the bar fight. “There might be an employee exit through there.” The addition of another potential escape route was accompanied by a second gesture. This time it was toward a door marked as Employees Only behind the bar where the bartender was understandably ducked down on the other side of the counter. They were likely the one that had phoned for the police being heralded by still distant sirens barely audible over the din surrounding Kioko and her unlikely companion.
If she was planning on giving an opinion on what route to take so Levi would know which path to clear, her chance to do so was caught off by a pair of scrappy thirty-somethings barreling into her at the same time as they wrestled for dominance. Kioko was shoved far less gracefully into the booth compared to how to she exited it previously. Perhaps it was some sort of divine retribution on Levi’s behalf for her being able to achieve such a thing in the first place.
Kioko hissed in pain and bared her teeth at the fools that now rolled about her feet at the edge of the booth. Her arm dangled under the cover of the table which allowed Kioko the freedom to unleash her mercury on its underside through her sleeve even as she moved her arm in a motion that made it look like she was capable of lifting and flipping the table over onto the pair that had knocked her over with just one arm. Of course she wasn’t. Her Quirk had done the heavy lifting before slinking off the table and up her pants leg where it was out of sight once more.
“Can you hurry it up,” Kioko demanded loudly and impatiently of Levi after the newest cries in response to her vicious side had died out. Not that he wasn’t trying. Probably. Kioko just couldn’t see him from her unwillingly prone position. She sat up, eyes searching for the man she had addressed to see where the commotion had taken him while she had been momentarily indisposed.
Notes & Tags: ctrl
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