all that blood was never once beautiful [closed]

[handofrapture]

Who: Big Sister and Rinzler
When: The beginning of January
Where: In one of the nearby caves
What: In Bioshock, red lights are a signal that the being wearing them wants to wear your guts for garters. This presents an obvious problem for a certain red-circuited program minding his own business.
Warnings: Violence, two assholes trying to stab each other in the dark



[It’s finally over

A lack of ADAM means she still doesn’t have access to her plasmids, but as the month comes to an end, at least the heavy, smothering feeling of weakness ebbs away. She’s still not as strong or fast as she was before coming here, but after a month of being too feeble to even wear armor, even a partial resurgence is a relief.

The trip to the caves is more of a test than anything, a chance to see how much of her strength had returned -- and how much still hasn’t. Even at partial strength, she’d been a formidable opponent to the creatures that lived there before. Now, garbed in her full armor and stronger than before, she’ll be even more of a threat. And if things do get chancy, there’s always that mysterious cave water to allow her to either finish a fight or escape from one with the temporary help from her plasmids.

In other words, she feels quite confident stepping into the cave. She knows what kind of danger to expect and she knows how to react to it. At least, that’s what she thought.

As it so happens, she isn’t prepared when, after several minutes of moving deeper into the cave, she hears a low rumble and sees red lights glowing balefully in the darkness. Her mind flips through several options in the space of a second, none of them good. The lights are too small to be a Big Daddy, too mobile to be a turret, and not in the right place to be another Sister. No, this is something new. But that color tells her everything she needs to know about its intentions.

In an instant, the color of her own light changes to match, going from yellow to furious red, and what starts as a growl quickly grows to a steel-edged shriek. If it wants to challenge her, she's more than happy to reciprocate.]

Comments

[notglitching]

[Sparks. Force. But no crack, no fracture, nothing to expose what was inside. Even before the creature's head starts slamming back down towards him, Rinzler knows this tactic won't work. Its shell is too strong to beat his way through, especially as weak as he is now. He needs to cut, to slice past the tough surface. He needs his disks, but he can't light them.

He needs a blade.

The enforcer's head tucks, point down against his chest. For a change, there's no evasion. No effort to retreat or slip aside, no drop or flip or dodge. His frame stays braced, a jagged forward lean as the threat's mask slams down into his own with a rattling impact. It doesn't break the surface, but it's enough to white out visuals. Enough to stun or daze a normal being.

It's enough to hide the view as the long user knife rezzes from Rinzler's PAC-disc to his empty hand. And plunges forward.]

[handofrapture]

[The Big Sister feels a grim satisfaction at the connection, even as the impact leaves her own skull ringing. She’s disappointed that it wasn’t enough to shatter the creature’s mask, but it should still buy her some time – time to step back, to pull one arm into position, to plunge a needle through the dazed creature’s chest–

Only the creature isn’t dazed. She has only a moment to react to the glint of steel flashing through the air before something long and serrated pierces her side, a shriek of pain escaping her throat. She can’t think about it, can only use it as fuel as she follows through with her attack, body twisting as she uses what little distance she has to thrust a needle upwards in an attempt to skewer the creature through its chest. Her wounded side pivots away, the pain only worsening at the movement, and she knows she’ll be the weaker for it in the long run if this fight drags out. Win or lose, this has to end fast.]

[notglitching]

[No voxels. No satisfying crash of blade through code. The red that coats his weapon is almost disappointing, even as he flags the proof of his success. This creature certainly hadn't acted like a user. Belatedly, the parallels map: the odd suit, the light, the blood... one of the moaning hulks he'd encountered on the ship before?

A subtype, maybe. Rinzler postpones classifications for later, swaying back from the upwards jab and hooking his baton around the blade to push with the threat's momentum. If he can create an opening, he'll use the knife again: a quick slice toward the outside of its leading shoulder.]

/necromancies this thread

[handofrapture]

[She can feel the wound tear further as the creature forces her to twist to follow her leading arm, and she doesn’t bother to quell her own snarl of anger and pain in response. She uses her own twisted stance to add force to a follow up with her other needle, body uncoiling as she aims a sharpened blow to where its arm connects with its side. The movement is fast, forceful, and desperate – the creature may not smell of ADAM, but the Big Sister is still aiming to draw blood, to heal herself even though she knows it isn’t possible. She turns fast enough that the creature’s knife scores off her pauldron rather than her shoulder – but with the amount of blood she’s already losing, another wound may not even be necessary to weaken her.]

/bows to your cleric skills~

[notglitching]

[It's still fast. Or he's still slow, low power dragging at every motion, making it that much harder to draw the resources to fight the way he should. A charged disk would have sliced through its defenses with ease, but Rinzler has barely a moment to spare in sheer annoyance at his weapon before he's forced to drop back, arm spreading wide for balance as the point of its blade slams into the ground between limb and core.

He could trap it. He could grab the wrist, slip back into its defenses: trip or throw or knock it to the ground. For all its speed and ability, technique isn't something he'd attribute to this threat, and even in his current state, Rinzler is sure that he could outmanuever it if he tried.

Or...

The enforcer glances back, twists his weight onto that hand, and drives back in with a rapid, forceful kick right for that damaged side.]