[HH 1 v 1] But You're So Fluffy?! (Mads & Shoji)

[keiifuu]

The Haunted House definitely needed some cheering up.

Madeline had explored it a few times now, bouncing from room to room like a pingpong ball. She'd only encountered a few horsemen - one of which she'd thoroughly enjoyed tousling around the broken floorboards with. Tonight though was predictably boring as far as scouting missions usually went, and Madeline had escalated from humming and skipping to full out singing as she perused the halls for anything out of ordinary.

As she got to the chorus, she all but belted it out, knocking open another door and striding through it with purpose - and a very savage looking club swinging in hand.

The first rule of scouting was to be surreptitious.

But hey, since when had Madeline been one for subtlety?

HP: 40/40
Target: N/A
Damage: N/A
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry

synnovu

hi lovely ; u ; <3

 

[synnovu]

Shoji was always one for trying new things, but this was getting ridiculous.

The raiju turned a corner only to be greeted with yet another long, winding hallway. Go check out the Haunted House, they said. It'll be fun, they said. With a snort, he ran a hand through his bangs and resumed walking, boots grinding loudly against the wooden flooring. He was past the point of caring who or what heard him; there'd been absolutely nothing since his arrival save for never-ending fog and the occasional creak of the house settling.

And that faint humming in his head that had started up a couple of minutes ago, which seemed to be rising in volume to complement his growing headache. Hell, it'd even started sprouting words on its own-- though his mind had a rather odd taste in music.

...And apparently it was female?

Shoji's head snapped up at the distinct bang of a door around the corner, tails flaring in both curiosity and trepidation as the singing reached a new height. Moving closer, his ears twisted in relief as he realized it wasn't actually his gender-confused brain discovering its musical side-- no, it was...

"WHAT?" he wondered aloud, peering into the room at the other with open interest.


HP: 30/30
Target: N/A
Damage: N/A
FEAR: Y1 Battle Cry  

[keiifuu]

"WHAT?"

Madeline jumped at the sound, turning around and coming face-to-face, nose-to-nose with Shoji.

"WOAH - " She shouted, still not entirely out of her singing spree. She also might have been echoing the volume of Shoji's own voice. For a long moment the girl scrutinized the strange, fluffy thing. And then, without remembering that this was kind of supposed to be her enemy, she reached out and tugged one of his ears. "YOU'RE SO FLUFFY - oh," She realized she was shouting and lowered her voice into a conspirator-like whisper, "hi, cutie."

Scratching the back of her head, Madeline swung Arsen over her shoulder and frowned.

"Are you like - the prettier side of the monster parade charade or something? You would look adorable if you were a stuffed toy."

No, Madeline, this is not the time to assess Shoji's cuteness level. Down, girl.

HP: 40/40
Target: N/A
Damage: N/A
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry  

[synnovu]

He took an instinctive step back at the sudden yell, large eyes staring in confusion. This was... a hunter? Wh--

"OW," he shouted back, pulling his ear out of the others grasp. "W-WHAT. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT." He rumbled indignantly at her words, momentarily forgetting his initial curiosity with the strange... girl, was it?

"I AM NOT PRETTY," he continued loudly, words echoing against the walls. Without thinking, he lashed out with a clawed hand towards the others face. Years of scuffling with his siblings had conditioned him to hit first and sling insults later... though both at once was good too.

HP: 30/30
Target: Mads
Damage: 0
FEAR: Y1 Battle Cry  

[keiifuu]

Madeline couldn't help but giggle at the loudness with which Shoji - er - shouted. She ruffled the boy's hair almost teasingly before yelping and nearly bending over backwards into a bridge to avoid the claws. "WOAH THERE TIGER!" She shouted back for kicks, enjoying the sudden volume change in the normally eery house.

"But you - " She gave triumphant "harah!" as she popped back up, "so pretty. I want to stuff you and put you up on my dresser and put a dress on you, ha." She swung Arsen and grinned at him. "But thats not what we're here for, I guess, cutie-pie!"

And then she swung.

HP: 40/40
Target: Shoji
Damage: 2
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry (Charge 1/3)  

[synnovu]

Shoji was already quite irritable at having wasted a perfectly good day lost in this maze of a house. He growled as his claws tasted air, tails writhing as she continued to speak.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT A CUTIE-PIE IS, BUT WHEN I FIND OUT--" He yelped in surprise at the sudden fast-approaching weapon, barely having enough time to leap out of its trajectory. He felt it catch his forearm as he moved to the side and stumbled to regain his balance. "WHAT SORT OF NONSENSE ARE YOU SPOUTING." This... hunter continued to baffle him with every word that escaped her mouth. Were they all like this?

Rubbing his arm briefly, the raiju spun to face her, eyes sweeping over the large bat in her grip. It seemed she had accepted his invitation to fight. He widened his stance and lunged again.

HP: 28/30
Target: Mads
Damage: 0
FEAR: Y1 Battle Cry

 

[keiifuu]

"WOW WHAT KIND OF HOLE HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING IN FOR YOUR ENTIRE LIFE, CUTIE P - ACK!"

So apparently it was a shouting match. Madeline liked this guy already. She leapt nimbly out of the way of his claws, twirling around and using Arsen's heaviness to propel her into another fighting stance.

"THE BEST NONSENSE?" She yelled questioningly. "ALSO WHY ARE WE YELLING SO MUCH IS THIS HOW YOU USUALLY TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE?"

She adjusted the club and grinned at him. "Here I come, sweetcheeks." She tilted her head to the side. "By the way, what the hell are you called?"

She shrugged, not waiting for an answer before she dove forward again, sweeping at Shoji's legs with her club.

HP: 40/40
Target: Shoji
Damage: 2
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry (Charge 2/3)  

[synnovu]

He hit the floorboards on all fours, tails fanning out to steady himself.

"I LIVE IN DORM," he grumbled. "WHAT SORT OF HOLE DID YOU CRAWL OUT OF." If he'd known hunters frequented this place, he would've had second thoughts about coming here. This one was already too much for the young boil to handle.

The swinging club collided with a leg, which buckled under his weight. He gave a bark of pain as his knee smacked against the hard flooring. "THIS IS HOW... MY PEOPLE TALK." It wasn't entirely true but of course she didn't need to know that. He rolled away from her as he spoke and rose slowly to his feet, settling his weight on the other leg. He wanted to keep going, though his leg would need a moment to recover. There was still one thing he could try while he waited.

Shoji's hands began to crackle with electricity, bright sparks coming together to form a large mass. He'd only tried this a handful of times and there were no guarantees, but what better time to practice than now? "WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU," he huffed at her latest question, the ball of lightning now large enough to obscure his view. With a flick of his wrists, he flung the ball towards the hunter.


HP: 26/30
Target: Mads
Damage: 0
FEAR: Y1 Battle Cry  

[keiifuu]

Madeline giggled, bouncing back on the balls of her feet. "I USED TO LIVE IN LOVELY NEW YORK," She screamed back, raising her hands to cup around her lips, "NOW I LIVE IN A DORM FULL OF WHACKJOBS. IT WAS THE BEST HOLE TO CRAWL OUT OF - SO HA." She giggled again (she might or might not have had one too many drinks before coming down here), and swung Arsen down into the floorboards, leaning on the top of the clubs thick handle and leaning on it.

"Is it? Wow, what are you? Do you scare the s**t out of five year olds by yelling?" She straightened up, tilting her head down at Shoji. "Um." She almost, almost felt bad for hitting him so hard. He reminded her of a puppy. A loud... oversized puppy.

Squeaking at the sudden tang of electricity in the air, Madeline raised Arsen just as the ball was released. It collided the the brunt of the weapon without really affecting her, though it did frizz her hair into an ungodly mess. "HEY, WOAH NOT COOL! THE HAIR IS OFF LIMITS!" She growled and swung the club at him. "NO TOUCHING."

Arsen, meanwhile, was laughing like a lunatic in her head.

"And anyways," Madeline sobered, reaching out to pet one of Shoji's tails instead, "I kind of like you, so why not get on a first name basis before I smack your a** into the floorboards again."

HP: 40/40
Target: Shoji
Damage: 1
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry (Charge 3/3)  

[synnovu]

He watched her scream and laugh with a bemused expression. She was almost as bad as his siblings during a particularly good storm.

"I'M A RAIJU. WE MAKE THE THUNDER WHEN IT STORMS," he explained impatiently, like it was common knowledge. "SO YES, YOU CAN SAY WE SCARE CHILDREN." He flexed his leg as he spoke. "AND WHAT ARE YOU. YOU'RE NOT SO QUIET YOURSELF."

He snorted as the ball dissipated, hand brushing the air to rid the smell of sulfur left behind. So he didn't have it quite down just yet. "YOUR HAIR IS HARDLY ANYTHING TO GET SO WORKED UP OVER-- HEY." Shoji braced himself as the club came at him again, his shoulder absorbing most of the blow. He swiped at her as she came into range, tails crackling at the touch.

The boil wasn't sure if he wanted hand his name over to this crazed hunter. She was like a child that somehow ate a box of firecrackers and was now periodically spewing it out. But maybe she would stop clubbing him if he gave her an answer.

"IT'S--" He blurted out the first name that came to mind. "IT'S MAKOTO."

HP: 25/30
Target: Mads
Damage: 0
FEAR: Y1 Battle Cry
 

[keiifuu]

Despite the circumstances, Madeline buckled over laughing when the Raiju attempted to explain himself to her. It was just too much, and there was a pleasant warmth spreading around her bones that had to be the buzz of alcohol. "YOU'RE SO DUMB AND CUTE," She barked, "ITS ALMOST PAINFUL TO HIT YOU, YOU'RE LIKE A PUPPY."

She rolled her eyes and stood back at her full height, kicking Arsen up off the ground so the club landed with a thunk on one of her shoulders. "I'm just copying you; its fun to yell sometimes." She put her finger to her lips conspiratorially. "I'm in a library most of the time," She whispered, "so hey - you're a welcome change, sunshine."

She grunted when his tails crackled, tugging sharply at one of them as though she were going to wrap it around her shoulders like a boa.

"My hair is lovely, thank you," She responded with mocking tartness, putting a boot against Shoji's butt and giving it a kick. "No one touches the hair."

The name was met with another barking laugh. "Makoto? THATS HARDLY FITTING, I THINK I'LL CALL YOU SOMETHING ELSE. Mako-chan. Mako-chama. Machan." She laughed, "Machan!" She gave a hoot as though the name was fitting to her and lunged at Shoji a second time, her club swinging viciously down in an arch as soon as she got close.

This one was definitely on her to-remember list.

Makoto, he said his name was? Madeline grinned when she finished executing the wild swings, leaning over Shoji with a wild grin. "So then, I guess you can just call me nichan, okay?"

HP: 40/40
Target: Shoji
Damage: 17
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry (3/3) using  

[synnovu]

Scratch that, she was like a kid who had eaten a wagon of fireworks and was now spewing it out from both ends. Shoji's ears flattened as she started up her strange chatter again, bristling slightly at the words she casually threw about. In any other circumstance he would've been fairly angered, though this hunter was just too bizarre to be taken seriously.

His tails slapped at her hand, beads clinking at the sharp motion. There was surely a lot of talking going on in what he had thought was a sparring match. At a certain point he had almost forgotten that they were supposed to be brawling. "LOVELY," he parroted with a roll of his eyes, swatting at the others leg. "YES, OF COURSE."

He cleared his throat to cover a laugh, hand brushing over his face to hide the brief smirk as she launched into a list of names meant for Makoto. Oh, he mustn't blow his cover just yet, but how he wished his cousin were here to witness this. Shoji bent slightly to hide the smile threatening to form, not quite catching the others movements until the bat collided against his shoulder a second time. His bark of surprise resonated against the walls as he did his best to block the flurry of hits, occasionally returning the attacks with a fist of his own.

"I'M NOT CALLING YOU ANYTHING BUT CRAZY," he grumbled, glaring up at the hunter. He was beginning to tire, though he stood his ground stubbornly.

HP: 8/30
Target: Mads
Damage: 6
FEAR: Y1 Battle Cry  

[keiifuu]

Madeline ran one of her hands appreciatively over the hard exterior of her club, letting it crunch into the broken floorboards at her feet, watching Shoji with a fairly amused expression. Of all the battles she'd had with these guys, he definitely took the cake for most exciting. The ongoing moral dilemma over hitting a puppy in her head had taken a back seat once he'd shown her his claws, and she shrugged a delicate shoulder when he yelled at her for the hundredth time.

"Don't knock it - you could woo millions, being so lovely and wonderful," She crooned, her voice rising into sharp and needle-like laugh. She hefted the club again to block Shoji's blows when they came, grunting as her arms began to tire. After swinging Arsen so violently, like a child left too long with a toy, she was nearly out of breath.

"Ha, you're one to talk!" She teased, raising her weapon above her head as though she were stretching her hands. "I might be crazy but you're downright mad."

And grinning again, she slammed the club down towards the student, as though she were just squashing a particularly resilient bug. But her arms were beginning to protest and despite Shoji being a fun little opponent, she was beginning to regret her choice to hit the puppy so... well, hard. Grunting, she drew back with a few light steps, swinging the club up onto her shoulder and staring down at the boy on the ground.

"Look, I'm gonna give you a get out of jail free card this time." She admonished with a small amount of wickedness still in her tone. "You're about as dangerous as a two day old puppy, and while I don't have much problem rattling your brains around, I think I'll give you a fighting chance to actually learn a little bit about - ya'know - surviving first."

Shrugging, she de-summoned Arsen, began to whistle the same tune as she'd been singing when they'd met, and turned to disappear beyond one of the tall stone arches that led back into the labyrinth of the Haunted House.

Next time, she wouldn't be so kind.

HP: 34/40
Target: Shoji
Damage: 4
FEAR: Y2 Battle Cry ( 3/3 used )