Spring 2005 TOA Round 2 - vertamitlu v. Misato Anami

[LocoColt04]

Welcome to the semifinals. No, your eyes do not deceive you. Yes, you are here, and yes, this thread is stickied. Wouldn't want it to get lost in everything else now, would we?

Everything is the same as it was in the first round. Each of these fights is on a different day, and the first poster has creative choice with the time of day and the weather. Just no snow or anything, considering the hemisphere and the time of year. Aside from that, my only advice is to be aware of your surroundings, and remember the "little" things which happened to be the deciding factors in the first round fights.

One week has passed since the fourth and final fight of the first round. For timeline purposes, that specific fight was the one between Gambit and Gerrard (the psychosyd/Archis fight), which never actually started.

I only have one real request for this round -- make use of your time. I'd like to see at least four posts each, and I honestly don't think that's asking too much of you, especially in this longer time frame.

You have until the sixth of May.
I will be stopping in at the end of the month to remind you.

[Gorath Sodom]

It was a calm night, all the could be heard were the chirping crickets. Soon it would not be so calm, as a crowd would soon gather to watch... Watch her fight in a battle that could very well be the end of the line for this women.

Lucifina stretched her frame on the bleachers, getting some rest before her next round, which would start in any minute. Asides from eating and training routines in the park of a neighboring city, as well as stealing a blouse which matched the one torn from the previous round, she really didn't do anything but sleep the day away. Because she was homeless and usually had no money, she often had to steal everything she needed. Occasionally she would get the opportunity for a room, some food, or other various gifts. All she had to was sleep with the offerer, who was always a man, something she despised unlike any other, but as long as it was for business purposes only, she had no problem with it.

The women remembered the last charitable donor she encountered, some rich old man who's identity she didn't bother committing to memory. All that mattered was the fact she was given a nice car and a platinum charm with a crucifix, which she wore for the hell of it.

She sensed it was nearly time, so she sat up. The blond laid her eyes on the empty ring which would soon be tainted with blood. This arena could very well be the end of her one day, though Lucifina hoped otherwise. She had one of three of her life-long goals tallied down, and two more to go. At 20, she had successfully avenged her parents when she beheaded the Russian Mafia's don, taking down countless foot soldiers in the process. She couldn't remember it very clearly, if at all. It almost seemed like she became someone else... Something else.

Her next goal was to prove she was the ultimate killing machine. Lucifina wanted to be feared by all warriors across the globe, and winning this tournament would be a key step in winning such recognition.

Her last goal was something more simple, yet complicated. She longed to find love in the arms of a fellow women who would hold her, kiss her, and assure her all is well. Lucifina then thought back to her first true love...

She whispered, “Nisa.”

They were both only fifteen years of age when they met, both being forced into prostitution by the mob. On one slow night when they didn't seem to get any customers, they decided to get acquainted. Before they knew it, they were crying in each others arms. Without knowing it, they began to kiss and hug, all leading down to the removal of clothing and making sweet love.

Their relationship lasted no longer than a few months, when Nisa was strangled to death by one of her clients because he enjoyed it a bit too roughly.

Lucifina viciously shook her head, trying to forget the past. Immediately there after, she shot up from her seat and walked towards the ring.

' If my opponent is an unarmed fighter like the previous one, this will be an all too easy victory. '

[LocoColt04]

In light of the forum downtime, I'm giving an extra three days to the threads, thereby making the end date MAY NINTH.

[Misato Anami]

Lani sat down and buried her face in her hands. The next round was soon but all she could think about was what happened after the battle…

“It’s been awhile Lani…” said the man. He looked to be a little older than Lani, his casual look said he was there for personal business, but even then, you could tell he had money.

Lani avoided his eyes and looked down. What was he doing here? Why? Her eyes looked over towards Vincent. Had he known about the visit…?

“Lani.”

Lani popped her head up and smiled warmly. “It has been awhile Rei.”

“Do you mind if we talk for a bit?” Lani shook her head and the two found a seat in the stands, away from the crowd. She sat next to him but kept her eyes on the field, watching the grass in the wind. She preferred to keep her eyes away from his. His eyes resembled his brother’s so well, she didn’t want to look in them again... “Look Lani…”

“What are you doing here Rei?” Said Lani in a tone that showed she wasn’t really excited about his presence. She started to become wrapped up in a story that she didn’t want to be in and all she longed for was to see the man she loved once more.

“I went and visited Ren’s grave before I came to see you. Look Lani. No one knows who you are anymore. When you disappeared after Ren’s death, everyone assumed you left for good. When I found you in the TOA months later, I didn’t know what to think. I wondered how it was so easy for you to just erase your past –“

“I never forgot. Not one day Rei. Everyday I relive looking out of my closet… seeing Ren’s body on the floor. Everyday I feel the same rage I had when I murdered his attackers… everyday I feel the same pain I did when I was running from everything. But now I’m living under you and your family’s rules – what else do you want…”

Rei sighed. “I know you had no where else to go. You joined the TOA because there were other people like you who were considered different among this society. My family understood that. But it was your relationship with him that made it different –“ Lani looked up and found Vincent talking to one of the competitors. Sitting up, she looked back at Rei.

“When I ran from the scene that night, where was I supposed to go? I just witnessed the only man I ever loved be murdered in front of my eyes. The only person who had, up to that time, ever accepted me as who I was. I wasn’t a freak to him, he loved me regardless of everything. So when I found the TOA it was like finding a part of him in it. People who accepted me. And if your family thought that Vincent and I were more than friends… and only months after Ren’s death… then they must have never really known me…” Lani stood up and looked back down at Rei, “Vincent treated me like a sister and I loved him wholly for it. But never would he be able to replace Ren. You and your family took even that away from me…”

Lani headed down the stands and started to walk towards one of the tents. She felt a hand grab hers and she turned around. Rei breathed heavily as he had run after her.

“Look. I sent you away because I thought it’d be better for you. Part of me didn’t want to believe it… if you and Vincent were together. How could I not think that?! The way you two talked to each other it was as though Ren never existed! But… but I also just wanted to see you happy again. Even when you were involved in the TOA years ago, you still never seemed truly happy. I thought helping you out, giving you a job and a place to live… letting you live without such a hard time… I thought you’d be happier that way…”

Lani looked at Rei. She could picture that’s how Ren would look years from now. The hint of change in his eye color when he’d get excited about something. “I just missed him. That feeling he gave me when I doubted myself. He made me feel so sure that I could overcome anything… and when I was a part of the TOA… I felt that part of him here…” Looking down, Lani felt as though she were about to cry and looked back towards Rei. “I better leave. I have another battle I must prepare for…” Before Rei could say anything, Lani told him to come to the next battle and walked away.

Her body began to ache, Lani didn’t know if it was the battle she was involved in.. or if it was just her nerves. But she didn’t want to feel that way anymore. Rei didn’t follow her after she walked away. He stood there for a few moments, watching as his brother’s only love walked away from him. Only to leave without a word even to Vincent. Finding a cot in the infirmary tents, Lani laid down. Putting her hands to her face, she didn’t notice Vincent come in.

What had happened to her life? In her whole twenty years, Lani had seen her love die, been shunned by many and only accepted by a few. Even then it became hell. When Rei found her in the TOA, they had used her “abilities” against her to make her do what they wanted. She was forced to leave and made to work for a large scale publishing company. They played off her white hair to be from some disease and gave her blue contacts to hide her orange eyes. The symbols upon her body were faint when she wasn’t battling and she used foundation to cover up the marks. She was set up in a nice apartment and chauffeured around in a fancy car. She lived a wealthy life… but she was never happy. She felt as though she were a mere puppet who was forced to be normal in order to be happy…

“I wish it were me instead of Ren…” said Lani as she began to fall asleep…


Lani looked at her right arm. Now fully visible, her symbols gave character to who she was… A sign of her heritage, a sign of who she was. Now it being the day of her next battle, Lani was more determined to win this than the previous. She wouldn’t let herself get caught up in family tidings … With the Twins of Odin at her side, her magic, and her own tactical strategies, Lani looked forward to battling her next opponent.

Walking onto the grass, her chauffer pointed towards the stands. Lani looked to find a woman about her age lying down. She looked back at her chauffer and smiled slightly. “This ought to be entertaining…”

[Gorath Sodom]

Lucifina's eyes widened in amazement as she saw her opponent drawing nearer. She, just like the Scandinavian dyke, was female, and a gorgeous one at that.

' Lani Escalon, you are one sexy beast, ' the blond thought.

Lani was a tad bit tall, at least for a woman. She had elegant white hair, slightly curled near the bottom of her neck. She also had orange eyes, which seemed to burn like fire. Most peculiar about her however, were her tattoos. They seemed to be in a foreign language... Unworldly even.

The former slave to the Russian mob licked her lips. ' Oh Marmo, I don't think I can contain myself from raping her. '

Lucifina beamed brightly when her opponent set foot on the squared circle which would serve as a battlefield for any given amount of time.

“You are Lani Escalon, are you not?” the blond inquired.

The taller woman nodded.

' Excellent, ' Lucifina thought, deviously. “I bid you good luck, because you will most certainly need it.”

She unsheathed her cutlass, deciding she would use only one weapon for the time being until it was more clear what Lani was capable of. If things got messy, she would no doubt have to use the ax as well, and enhance both weapons with her psychokinetic powers.

Lucifina asked sweetly, “Are you ready to begin?”

“Of course. How about you?” was the opposition's enthusiastic reply.

A brief smirk crawled on to the blonds profile before she ran towards Lani at a speed too fast for a normal human to see. First she decided to test how fast her opponent was. She wanted to see if she could manage to evade her vertical slice at half speed...

[Misato Anami]

As the two stood before one another on the field, Lani watched as her opponent eyed her. For some reason, her old history courses in her schooling came back to her. This woman was the epitome of the perfect woman, blond hair, blue eyes, she wore the tightest skirt she had ever seen, and her steel toed boots screamed that her fashion greatly differed from Lani’s. Lani looked more like she came from a story the way she dressed for battle. Her soft knee high boots along with her dark tight pants over laid by her leather skirt and her wrap of the phoenix feathers…

“You are Lani Escalon, are you not?” the blond inquired.

Lani nodded and watched as the woman released her cutlass from its hold. Putting her hands to her sheaths on her thighs, Lani pulled the Twins of Odin from their chambers. The connection from them craved blood, and Lani began to feel it too. Her Orange Eyes stared into the woman’s icy blue eyes.

“Are you ready to begin?” The woman asked. Lani already could tell she didn’t think much of Lani’s capabilities.

“Of course… how about you?”

Within a second, Lani watched as the woman came speeding towards her. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she knew this wasn’t her best, and she was testing her skills. She was fast for only testing, and Lani knew they’d have a good fight.

As she felt the woman change her position in her speed, Lani felt the heat brewing within her, the woman brought down her cutlass with a vertical attack; Lani leapt to the side and swung one of her blades behind her. Her face turned round to see where her opponent was and found her within feet. “She’s good at stopping too…” Thought Lani as she felt the heat within her body surge to her finger tips. Glows of light emerged from her palm and Lani swung once more as the heat of the fire from her body began to blaze with the blade.

[Gorath Sodom]

Lucifina barely managed to evade Lani's flaming blade. That was quite the close call. So close in fact, it managed to singe the fabric on her blouse.

' Another blouse ruined... That's okay, how can I get mad at a cute face like that? '

She effortlessly threw off her burned shirt, leaving her slim torso bare, save for a red vinyl bra, which had shown generous cleavage. The blond swore she caught the other woman briefly tracing her figure with her eyes.

Lucifina smirked. “Something about me catch your fancy?”

Lani playfully smiled at her. “That's for me to know.”

The prideful Muay Thai combatant was set aback by this. ' Such a tease! '

The opposition took the initiative this time, slicing at her with another fiery attack while she was distracted by her train of thought.

In the nick of time, Lucifina had managed to deflect the attack, though she was in suspense at the fact she was caught off guard.

Winded, she spoke, “...Impressive...”

Her tight skirt would only serve to get in her way, so she decided it would be best to remove it. She first unfastened the spiked plating which was snapped on her belt, then unfastened it entirely.

Once again, the snow haired wonder made another move.

Quickly, the blonde unsheathed her hatchet the threw it towards the taller woman and did a jumping back flip to the edge of the arena, nearly falling out of bounce.

The hatchet was effortless deflected on Lani's part. But her taking time to deflect the projectile bought Lucifina the time she needed.

The dyke then unzipped her blue jean miniskirt, revealing her skin tight, red lingerie coochy cutter briefs, which exhibitioned roughly a fourth of her bare butt cheeks.

It seems the seemingly unworldy woman was now distracted by the Scandinavian's latest move.

The former mob slave decided now was a good time to capitalize. The blade of her cutlass began to spark with massive amounts of psychokinetic energy. Next, she abruptly raged forward, intending to cleave her opponent with a vehement horizontal swipe.

[Misato Anami]

Lani turned around to find that her opponent had barely missed her attack. The woman then continued to take off the remains of her shirt. Looking at the red vinyl bra, Lani knew she was trying to distract her. So she figured she’d play her game.

“Something about me catch your fancy?”

Lani looked at her and smiled, “That’s for me to know.”

With a step, Lani continued to attack – the woman was caught in some trance thought and Lani thought to take advantage. The woman deflected her attack and from under her breath, Lani heard a winded, “impressive…”

‘That’s nothing, not even close” thought Lani as she turned around to watch the woman unfasten her belt. “Hmm.”

Lani was growing tired with the woman and attacked once more, quickly the woman took forward her hatchet and threw it at Lani. Leaping up, Lani jumped out of its way. Landing on her feet, Lani looked up to find the woman undressing before her. Off came her skirt and here she revealed her red lingerie to the whole TOA.

Lani rolled her eyes but it was a stupid move on her part as the woman had raged forward at her almost immediately. The cutlass was in her hand and Lani fell to the side as she felt the energy pull off her cutlass in a horizontal swipe at her body. A little too late, Lani felt the cutlass barely skim at her arm, but still did it heavily enough to draw blood.

Lani hit the ground and felt the blood hit her in the face. Using her good right arm, Lani leapt backwards. Her orange eyes flashed a fiery glance towards the woman. Blood began to stream down her arm.

Looking to her arm, Lani saw more damage than she expected. It stung a great deal from the currents that traveled through her body at contact. The symbols upon her body began to glow and Lani screamed a terrible scream. The noiseless thunder began to roll as Lani ran at her, her arm in the air, her eyes flashed white as she created a block of ice just a bit larger than the woman behind her in seconds. With another scream, another rage of thunder rolled, hopefully knocking the woman to the ice.

Stopping in her tracks, Lani raised her arms in the air and shot three shards of ice towards her opponent.

[Gorath Sodom]

' What manner of sorcery is this? ' The Scandinavian woman thought as paranormal screams mixed with the materialization of a large ice cube behind her. ' Childish. ' Lucifina effortly shattered the ice block, but then she realized her mistake as she turned to her opponent.

Without thinking she started crushing the ice shards with her mentally enhanced sword. The first one, easy enough. The second one, not-so-easy. The third one... Found its place lodged in her ribcage. Dropping her cutlass, she scowled at the pain. Using both hands, she could not remove the debris stuck inside her. She had to channel some of her psychokinetic energy to her palms to get it out.

The blond was quickly forced down to one knee as she was a little dizzy. She looked to her hands, then her wound, noticing she was bleeding like a fountain. There was no telling how much longer she could last before passing out, so this battle had to end now. Her psychokinetic energy was then transferred to both her unoccupied weapons, and they shot towards her, gracefully stopping in her palms.

“I apologize Lani, but you have possessed me to use my absolute power. Also, I can assure you that my next attack will make me the victor.” Lucifina's eyes glowed with a holy white aura, following suit were her hatchet and cutlass which glowed with a cyan aura.

Now fully charged, she ran at her opponent at a literally blinding speed. Any mere mortal could have identified a blur earlier, but now utilizing her fullest power, they wouldn't be even be able to recognize that. Both of her weapons were leveled to come down in a diagonal strike, this attack possessing enough force to create a crater on the planet's surface.

[LocoColt04]

...and here's why.

Instead of letting you know who won at the top of the post, and showing the breakdown below it, I'm going to do this the other way around. The two of you deserve to know all the details before you can see who advances. But first...

LocoColt04: You done? Because this is tougher
oldskoolsage: Just finished
LocoColt04: This is one of those that I'd probably call a tie, because each writer had strengths...
LocoColt04: I'm a huge fan of vertamitlu's uncommon style
oldskoolsage: *Nods*
LocoColt04: The straightforward down-to-earth "I'm a slut and I know it" thing is something you never see, and it creates great imagery
LocoColt04: At the same time, Misato's posts are a little more solid, and every bit as imagery-ful-ness-etc.
oldskoolsage: Misato's intro was too...dialogue-ish for my tastes. Too much talk and minimal actions...I'm an action junkie and all that talking bored me a bit, but that's just me being an ass about little, insignificant things. After the intro I loved Misato's posts
oldskoolsage: Intro: Ver > Misato
oldskoolsage: Battle Posts: <Impossible to Gauge>
LocoColt04: Yeah, I'm with you on that...
LocoColt04: It's like the Quistis-Malevolence fight
LocoColt04: I had to go with the little technical flaws in order to judge
LocoColt04: Which I hated doing
LocoColt04: And I'd hate to judge an RPB by its intro posts, because in all reality, they aren't important
oldskoolsage: The whole way through, reading it all for the first time, I was leaning slightly in favor of Ver overall, but it really is too close to pick one without a deeper analysis
LocoColt04: Well... I think I'll just copy this whole portion of our conversation and use it in the thread, because this may be the best (and only) way to really make a decision. I'll go through them one by one with the analysis and get back to you before I post up the actual decision

This is why I hate the two of you. You're too evenly matched. I'm so incredibly tempted to let the both of you pass to the finals, but that would be unfair.

1 - vertamitlu: I refuse to judge via intros, so this will be short. Trev, man, I love the action. Much like Psiko, I'm also an action junkie. Your intro makes me drool.

2 - Misato Anami: Your intro was lovely. Less action, but very well composed. If it had been the only post you'd written, this would have been a hell of a lot easier to judge. Still, it was solid, and I enjoyed it.

3 - v: "She, just like the Scandinavian dyke, was female, and a gorgeous one at that." You're so politcally incorrect. Your writing has this sort of edge all the way through it, and I absolutely love it. It's witty, offensive, and original. (It also saves you from searching for politcally correct ways to say the same things.) You start off the action phase rather simply -- a rush and slash. Giving yourself a reason for such a novice move (testing Lani's speed) makes it actually mean something. A nice start to what ended up being a great thread.

4 - MA: Orange eyes. *sigh* Having an obsession with eyes myself, I love that the both of you actually make use of them. You can tell a lot about a person through his or her eyes. ...you guys can tell how hard this is for us, can't you? I feel like I'm going on about things that don't have any real impact on the posts themselves. Okay, back to business. Yes. Closing your eyes as Lucifina charged toward you -- very bold, very daring. As far as the dodge/attack is concerned, I enjoyed its simplicity. You gave enough description to let us know what was going on, but you didn't kill it by rambling about the attack for two paragraphs. The first hint of magic so early in the fight... nice.

5 - v: What is this? Softcore porn? YESSSS. I kid, I kid. Again, you break out this unorthodox style of yours, doing the unexpected. Burning the shirt really gives the reader an idea of just how close you came to being hit. Makes things interesting, wouldn't you agree? The presence of multiple short paragraphs really breaks up your writing, and if this were a book, I'd have to kick you. On the other hand, it's perfect for this type of tournament. There is a sense of urgency that comes from a broken post like this, forcing the reader's mind to move faster. In the action world, this is definitely ideal. As far as diction is concerned, this is the only real interruption of flow: "It seems the seemingly unworldy woman" -- you repeat yourself. No harm done, but it did make me read twice. The only real problem with your post was the slight bit of godmodding when you threw your hatchet and made Lani deflect it. It's not like you were forcing any injuries upon her, but you did make her character do something to give you an advantage.

6 - MA: This post is absolutely flawless. You did a great job adapting to the hatchet scenario, and you played into the underlying lesbian tones. On top of that, you took a hit -- always a plus in RPBs. I absolutely hate writers who are too prideful and too stubborn to take a hit. The varying elements only adds to your character, exposing a stronger mage side. You really don't see enough mages in RPBs. You either get straight fighters (like I usually use) or people who give their characters a billion godmodding magic attacks and then never use them.

7 - v: You also took a hit. Very nicely done. Projectile magic is tough, and you handled it well. Look on the bright side! It was a dagger of ice that sliced into your torso instead of a knife. Even though this (“I apologize Lani, but you have possessed me to use my absolute power. Also, I can assure you that my next attack will make me the victor.”) was a little arrogant... well, it's actually the truth.


Like noted earlier, this was tough. Very tough. The only thing that can be held against you, Trev, was that slight little godmod, but there was really no harm done by it. Your pros greatly outweigh your cons. In all honesty, you're not a better writer than Erin. On that note, she's not a better writer than you, either. You both have distinct qualities in your writing, and while I could nitpick at Trev's grammar, it's not enough of a problem to disrupt his posts.


So... yeah. I present to you the winner of this semifinal bout, vertamitlu. You are granted one kill post to finish out the round, though I'd like to see you actually let her live. I'll tell you why momentarily.

If I had to pick one amazing quality in each of your writings...

vertamitlu: For you, it's your diction. It's very original, as noted earlier. It's a fresh face on something I've done for years, and it kept my interest. Also (technically, this is diction-related, so it's still one thing), your writing kept a quick pace from start to finish, which is the element that gave you the decisive edge here.

Misato Anami: I loved your posts. Each and every one of them. As you can see from the conversation at the start of the post, Psiko shares those same sentiments. You put up one hell of a fight, and if this were an RP tournament, you would have won this round. Your paragraphs were more solid, and your descriptions were very precise, but not overbearing. You're a wonderful writer, so don't let this loss affect you in any way.


Now, the reason I want you to keep her alive... when the TOA is over, I would like permission from the two of you to move this thread into the RPB forum. I would make a copy of the thread, moving this one into the archives at the end of the tournament, and then I would delete the kill post and the judgment from the copy, and move that one into RPB. Erin could pick up where Trev left off before the judging, and the two of you could keep this going. That is, of course, if that's okay with the both of you.

Yes, that's what kind of impact this thread made on me.

[Gorath Sodom]

Lucifina brought her blades down, but just as the white haired wonder was about to block with her Twins of Odin, the blond retracted her arms and nailed her opponent in the neck with a heavy side kick--it had been a diversion all along. Lani fell on her back with a gruesome thud that made the other woman jump.

The mage did not move at all. In fact, she appeared dead. The Scandinavian felt her vitals... Nothing. A burning sensation formed on the inside. ' I didn't mean to kill her... '

Tears threatened her eyes which returned to their normal ice blue tint. She walked away, but she didn't get far. Her entire aura died down, followed by a collapsing to her knees. “Why Marmo?” She buried her head in her hands. ' She didn't deserve it... '

Suddenly, she heard some foot steps closing in... Fast!

The blond looked up to see a blade lunging for her. ' She's not dead! ' But she had to act quickly, or that Twin of Odin would possibly be lodged in an uncomfortable place. It was then Lucifina noticed her position, not more than a yard from the boundary. ' Ah ha! '

The blond swiftly rolled towards the other combatant, tripping her far enough to land out of bounds.

When the former mob slave got back to her feet, she laughed at the unworldly female, whom was sprawled outside of the ring. “Oops, it appears you had a blond moment!”

Never would she forget the smirk of disgust on Lani's profile.