Snippet #2815352

Ebon talons. Hulking forms of muscle flanked by fire breathing hell hounds. Few forces were as powerful and destructive as lightning, and bending it to her whim while it lashed against her tenuous grip was the most empowering feeling. Go here... gather, strike... away from the path of least resistance. Flurry, staccato beat... deflect blow, punish error. Fuck that one monster in particular. There was no being wishy-washy when it came to lightning. Her will had to be the path of least resistance; her body the conduit of destruction.

Lightning was one of the most terrifying destructive forces on the planet... equally as terrifying as having that power abandon her like a rebuked child in a time of urgency. So now she lay there with the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, uniform shredded and mustering all her will simply to pull herself slowly along the ground like a worm. Isn't this where she was supposed to get her second wind? Her sparkling flash of renewed magic to smash the monster in the face with the power of friendship?

Something grabbed her ankle roughly and started dragging her. Fear welled up inside her chest and she struggled to escape the iron grip, clawing at the asphalt for any kind of purchase. The searing heat of flames was washing over her back more and more intensely as she was pulled. She didn't dare look, but she knew what it was: a flaming rift into the Layers. Her fingers dug desperately into a crack in the asphalt but her grip was tenuous at best. She felt her body lower slightly as the demon gripping her ankle braced itself to heave.

"Himari!"

She jumped like a startled cat, knocking over a cup full of pens and showering her desk with multi-colored paper clips. Himari's heart thundered in her ears and her face was drenched in sweat. Her eyes flicked down to her keyboard to meet the piercing yellow eyes of her familiar, Quiet. Right. It was a Monday in September. She was a 37 year old accountant, not an 18 year old Luna Senshi. It was 4:48 pm.

"You okay? You were zoned out pretty hard," asked her coworker... we'll call him Steve. Himari had worked with him every weekday for the past several years and had never bothered to learn his name.

"Uh. Yeah," she hesitated, mainly because her hands were trembling like a five point earthquake. "I'm uh... not feeling so great all of a sudden, I think I'm gonna call it a day," she said, more or less shooing him out of her office. When he was gone she let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and locked eyes with Quiet for a long uncomfortable minute.

"I know what you're thinking, and you can clean up your own mess," Quiet huffed, narrowing her eyes at Himari.

"Mehmeh mehmeh memememeh meh," Himari muttered back in an annoyed tone, flicking a handful of paperclips at the cat to get it off her desk. "Whatever, I'll deal with it tomorrow. Let's get a drink," she said as she got to her feet, digging a handful of paperclips out of her blazer pocket and letting them drop haphazardly to the ground. She scooped up her purse and shuffled out the door as Quiet leapt up to her shoulder.

"Kaho has the support group on Mondays," informed the cat.

"Ah fuck," Himari hesitated at the elevator for just a moment before rapidly mashing the button. "If we get there before all the wierdos she might still serve us, and hopefully nobody we recognize shows up." It was a brisk walk to Sin Eater from her office, but she managed to make it there just as Kaho was exiting, presumably before the support group arrived for their session.

"Kaho-Cha..." A sonic boom interrupted her, drawing her eyes up to a streak of purple energy in the sky... and a Thoughtless. Himari skidded to a halt and Quiet dug her claws into Himari's shoulder to keep her perch. Its wing got clipped and now it was falling. Morons... you don't clip a flying opponent unless it was a deathblow, otherwise it might fall on a bystander... Or... was it curving towards her? She blinked, just to confirm... that yes... it was going to land in or on her vicinity. Quiet inhaled an excited breath and began to say something, but Himari spun on her heels and began briskly walking in the opposite direction.

"But!"

"Nope."