10/18/2003

01:59 AM

Logfile from Sebastian.

 

Central Park (Midtown Section)

Walking farther north through the park, you find that there are several pathways you can take. A two lane asphalt roadway is open on occasion to incoming cars who wish to cross NYC by a more scenic route, but mostly it is made for the myriad of bicyclists and joggers that flood the roadways as they exercise their right to exercise. Otherwise, one can walk the simple pedestrian walkway that weaves through park, stone sidewalks guiding your path. The more intrepid actually climb about the erratics, huge metemorphic stones flung from the ice age into a city they did not originate.

Up ahead, the Metropolitan Museum of Art sits at the edge of the park and Fifth Avenue. Around the back and to the north side are huge glass windows, spanning all the way up to the roof, and revealing the greek/roman statue gardens within, as well as an authentic Egyptian Temple. To the west of the museum, you can see a tall obelisk, the weathered surface testament to the wet climate of NYC, though it had once stood untouched in the dry climate of its homeland.

Tokaki and Nicolette are here.

Obvious exits:

Central Park (SO)   Central Park (NO)   Museum   Cleopatra's Needle

 

It took the oni a rather long time to make a showing in the park again, didn't it? Actually, it is only by coincidence that Nikki came strolling through the area where the bizarre murder had occurred, her lingering in the area perhaps caused by some nagging sensation as the result of a very weak chi sensitivity. Pretty soon though, boredom sets in and she starts to eye other things for their flammable potential.

Lee doesn't know that Nikki is a Yin Miko.  At least, he doesn't think he does.  But he is still here, in the park, idly wondering /why/ he's still there.  Yes, he's quite bored.   Extremely bored.   He's sitting on one of the benches, idly watching the people walking through the park.

 

Now, what possibly reason would a man like Sebastian have for being in a place like this? If you think that you can figure it out, then good for you, 'cause you are simply going to have to let your little minds wonder. Seb here isn't going to tell you. But, indeed, there he is, walking past... or something. Just blame it on fate and the like.

Sadly the thing about a park is that there is a definite shortage of buildings to set on fire. It's also been rather damp and the trees don't exactly burn that well as a result. People however, in their nice polyester clothes and easily flammable cotton are a different story. The girl wears a long coat, not so unusual these days. It's what she carries in it that makes it special though, especially as she goes to plunk down on the bench beside Lee, looking all innocent and sweet. In her head though, she's wondering how fast she could douse him with gasoline, light him and then run.

 

Probably not as fast as he could move away from her.   But then, when you're a teleporting hentai, you tend to be able to avoid more mundane methods of being set on fire.   Sebastian, on the other hand, might pose more than a small problem.   Quite a large one, in fact.   But Lee hasn't seen him yet.    Instead he turns his head to give Nikki a slight smile.  "Evenin'."   He's been in NYC long enough that his accent is mostly gone, but there still is a hint of Alabaman in that slow greeting.

 

Sebastian is still walking. Walking. Walking. Walking. Indeed, rather a novel sort of way of getting around for those that can port about at will. Drawing in a long breath of the cooler evening air, he walks just behind the bench that the pair are on, his mind on other things. Like birthday celebrations and presents and such.

 

"Bon soir." The little french girl replies in that exoticly accented voice, crossing one leg over the other, letting the hem on the all together too short skirt ride up a little higher. It's a bit cold to be wearing so little, but the tall boots help to make up for it. Tossing a head full of golden loose curls over her shoulder, she eyes the person on the bench a little more critically. Such strange hair, but then again this is New York. Discretely, she puts a hand into the pocket of her coat, fingering the bottle of incendiary liquid and her favorite zippo lighter. Movement behind her makes Nikki tense for a second though, making her turn her head, only to make a soft surprised sound. Well hasn't it been quite a while since she last saw one of her seishi aside from Rathan?

 

Lee grins, and regards her a little more...closely.   "Isn't a bit cold to be wearing that?"   He pauses for a moment, then adds.  "Not that I mind, really."   He says.   There's a rest of the park?   Not that he knows right now, or cares.   Hey, she may be evil, but she's /hot./

 

Sebastian would have continued right on by to wherever he was off to, only a wind had to go and whip right past him. It literally steals the newspaper that was tucked under his arm, tugging it out of his grip and sending it scattering away. He blinks, turning some to glance after where it has gone. Spying the paper somewhat caught by a bared tree branch at arm level not all that far from him, he turns right on back about to retrieve it.

 

Well that should put Sebastian in a good place to see what his miko is up to. The girl smirks to herself, taking her eyes off her ever quiet oni to go turn her gaze back on Lee. In a low honeyed tone, she suddenly leans closer to the white-haired man. "It is a bit, how do they say.. Nippy? But, I find other ways of warming up." Her free hand slides over from her own lap to trace down the side of his knee with a feathery light finger. "As you said, not that you'd mind, hmm?" It's just a distraction technique though, since her other hand is reaching behind him with the bottle tipping over to sprinkle his back and the bench.

 

Damn!  Damn her and her lack of chi related abilities!   Tokaki can't sense that he's doomed.  DOOMED!  He smiles and leans closer.   "Well.   And what ways would you have in mind?"   He asks, flashing that sly grin.  RUN!  RUN YOU FOOL!   But no, he doesn't run, clueless to his impending fiery doom, and the fact that the Number 1 Destructive Oni on His List is behind him.

 

Sebastian reaches over to pluck his precious financial paper from the clutches of the tree, examining the edges only to see that the paper had been speared through by one of the branches. And right through the international section. It is times like these that a man like him could actually mutter a curse, but he refrains. Instead, he moves to be a responsible citizen and dump the paper in the nearest trash can.

 

Instead of replying, Nikki smiles and shows him instead. Behind him there is a click of a lighter's flint being struck and suddenly there is flame. She of course feigns immediate horror, a sharp gasp and a sudden pull back as she scoots down the bench away from him and the burning side. A bit of slight of hand and the lighter vanishes back into her coat, while the bottle was dropped behind the bench. "Mon dieu! You are on fire!" And not in a good way.

Lee leaps to his feet, immediately doing the first thing that comes to mind, and that is yanking himself out of his trenchcoat, though the fire has spread to his neck and hair.   Then the chi sense goes into over drive.  "I DON'T NEED THIS SHIT!"  He yells, reaching back to slap at his head.   Hey, it could make the fire worse, but he's about to do something he doesn't normally do.   His face is screwed up with pain, since hair catches fire pretty easily, and his is no exception.   Still he swats at it with his hands.

 

Sebastian startles to a stop. He knows that voice. Especially when that voice is speaking about fire. Whatever color there was to his face drains away, and the man nearly facepalms then and there. He slowly turns about to take notice of a man on fire. Well, he really does have to give his miko some props for picking a good subject, but he'll just keep that to himself. A wearied sigh as he moves over, striding up behind Nikki, arms crossed over his chest. "Must you?" Hear that? It's disapproval.

 

Nikki proceeds with that innocence act, which means she's fanning at Tokaki and trying to make the fire worse. The fact that the other end of the bench she's sitting on is still on fire doesn't seem to faze her one bit. "Run around! Blow it out!" she sing songs at the cop. That is till that disapproving tone sounds out behind her and makes her scrunch her shoulders. "Ah.. Monsieur Bastian.." She tilts her head back to look at the tall blond. "Oui." Yes, she must. ^.^

 

Lee is fed up.  And though he would not do this ordinarily, he does.  He teleports away.  Disappears.  Vanishes in a flash of white chi.   And then, glowering agrily, he reappears a moment later, soaked through to the bone. (At least, if the gas had burnt off completely and allowed him to put out the naturally burning fire with water...)   The good part is, the fire's out.   The bad part is, he's pretty badly burned over his neck and most of his scalp.  Not to mention his hands.   "Goddammit."  He mutters, glancing down at his hands, before his eyes flick to his coat.   Then they look back up and narrow at Nikki, standing with Sebastian.   "And which one of you was responsible for that little trick?"  

 

Well, not to say that seeing a seishi on fire isn't something to really warm the heart, it is times like these that he rather wishes he had one of those cameras with him. Wouldn't the boys back at the penthouse just love to see this one? Especially a certain artist. Sebastian looks mildly surprised as suddenly Lee disappears, only to return looking like a drowned rat. Oh! This gets even better. Only thing is, Sebastian here simply peers at Lee as though he is about as entertaining as a block of wood. "I believe this was a lesson well learned in how one must avoid distraction, seishi?"

 

Nikki swings her crossed leg, her hands now folded primly in her lap with that straight correct posture that they only teach in private school. She too looks startled to see Lee blip in and out, but she looks far more curious than anything else to finally meet another seishi other than Mina. "Ah, this is one of them? I did not realize. He seemed like a simple man, just sitting here in the park." No direct answer to Lee's question, just that distant scrutiny as if one were examining a bug.

 

Lee smiles grimly, though he doesn't ball his hands.   It actually hurts a bit much to ball his hands into fists.   So he's being careful.   He looks pretty terribly bedraggled now.  Soaking wet, half bald, and pissed as hell.  He doesn't say anything.  Not to either of them.   He just fixes upon them both a glare that would probably kill a normal mortal, and grits his teeth.   He needs to call Hikitsu to go check out what that chi disturbance was, but he can't.   He can't touch his phone.   So instead he's going to glare at the pair, weighing his chances winning a fight.

 

Sebastian sighs faintly, continuing to peer at Lee. "Indeed, he is. Encountered this one before. I had hoped to drop a dojo on his head, if only to keep him preoccupied. Teleportation can be an asset." At the glare from Lee, Sebastian doesn't seem all that impressed. He'll just peer right on back.

 

"Well, it does seem to be a useful skill." Nikki replies, smirking in Lee's direction. Her own imperviousness to flame is the only real protection she has though, and while the flames creeping along the bench are nothing to fear, the bench isn't going to last long. She stands, moving back to stand beside Sebastian, enjoying the warmth from the fire. "He looks a little upset at the moment though. I didn't expect that he would have been able to put himself out like that."

 

Lee just growls.  "If I'd set you on fire, then thrown you into a freezing cold body of water on a flat-assed cold night, you'd be more than a little pissed off too."   He says, and this time his fists really do clench, and the symbol of stride flares to life on his cheek for all to see.  Yes, this is probably not the most intelligent thing he could do right now, but Lee is now officially fed up with everything.   The fire, then the chi sense going off, his inability to investigate it right now because he is definitely going to need Subaru or Mitsukake's help in the immediate future, and getting torched by...either Sebastian or an attractive woman haven't really left him in the most sensible of moods.   Most sensible thing to do would be to teleport to safety.   "You know....I've about fucking had it."   Feel the power building, baby.   "I've about had it with all of this.   You think you can set me on fire....and get away with it.  If I weren't who I am, I'd probably already be dead.   You think you can just...blow up parts of my city and get away with it.  Well, I've had it."   His eyes narrow dangerously.  "Your asses are mine."

 

Sebastian reaches a hand over, deliberately keeping contact with the girl as he places a hand behind her neck. "I imagine that I'd be rather upset too should you set me on fire. You really cannot blame the man. He is justified." As Lee begins to get rather... angry, Sebastian continues to eye the seishi with consideration, and then physically try to tug Nikki back to the side of him. "You have clearly had a rather stressful evening, seishi. Might I suggest that you take a moment to calm yourself, and I will take care of this lady here."

 

Sebastian's phone begins to ring.

Sebastian picks up his phone.

 

<Phone> "Sebastian?"  The weak, breathy voice on the other end of the call sounds like Rathan, but not quite his usual quietly respectful tone.  "This is Rath... Do you have Toshie's number?  I need to ask her something important, but I don't have her number handy."  The voice is rather strained, but the younger oni is using every ounce of his will to /not/ start hacking up a lung while on the phone with Ichijin.

Nikki is a little more circumspect with her oni around. Well, slightly more anyway. She is pliant enough as she lets Ichijin pull her back beside him, eyes wide at Tokaki's irate look, but the underlying amusement is still there. "You have a point there, Monsieur Bastian. I did not have any idea that he was who he was. Most others would not have protested." Because they'd be too grievously hurt or dead by now. 

 

<Phone> "Yes?" Hear that. That would be Sebastian's slightly annoyed voice. He is getting a call right when a fried seishi is getting just a little bit pissy. "What? You want..." He won't roll his eyes, but come damn close to doing so. "Rathan..." A slight touch of admonishment there. "At this moment, I am sincerely questioning your protecting abilities." And then he finally rattles off a number.

 

<Phone> "Thanks," Rathan says with obvious relief.  "I'll abase myself at your feet and beg forgiveness later."  What's frightening is that it's difficult to tell if he's joking or serious.  "but right now I need to give her a call.  Thank you again, Sebastian.  I owe y..."  Okay, he can't hold off the rattling, wracking coughs any longer, but he /will/ hang up as soon as they begin, cutting the call off abruptly.  He then spends a few moments coughing up blood before dialing Toshie's number and hoping he's remembering it correctly.  Intense pain and wracking coughs tend to strain the memory a bit.

 

Rathan hangs up his phone.

You hang up your phone.

 

Lee is clearly angry.  And he doesn't /want/ to calm down.   He wants to hurt someone for all the hurts, real or imagined, that have been heaped upon him since the oni started showing up in New York.   Yes, someone has just snapped.  Guess what?  It's Lee.   "I don't think so."  He says softly, dangerously, hands coming up as he drops to a fighting stance.   He's hurt.  He's angry.   He's tired.  So someone needs to pay.   Besides.  He's had his favorite coat ruined.

 

Sebastian finally finishes with the call, tucking the phone into the pocket of his coat with a smirk. Next, cuts a portal through the air, ready to shove Nikki into it at the least hint of anything coming their way. He doesn't move away from the miko, but sticks right beside her, if a little ahead. "You are already injured, seishi. Rethink this," he drawls slowly, warning touching his voice. Granted, Seb here would like nothing more than to rip apart the park with blasts, along with the seishi, but he always was the level-headed one.

 

Well, Nikki doesn't have the same ability to rattle Sebastian, unlike certain other onis, but she wrinkles her nose at Lee. "This one, he does not know when to pick a fight, and when he should not, oui?" she remarks to the blond, even as she notes the portal opening. Ah, this again. The miko sighs quietly, but does honestly expect to get shoved through at any moment.

 

"Gyaaaaah!"   Lee is /so/ not in any sort of thinking mood at the moment.   Heck, if he were thinking, he'd've probably remembered that he does have a gun, it isn't melted or anything, and he probably should've just drawn it, fired it, and teleported away.   But no, he's going to do this the old fashioned way.   A bruising.    He leaps at Sebastian, teleporting as he does so that he's suddenly right in front of the oni, his fist aiming for the Ichijin's chest.

Sebastian was ready for the fact that the teleporting seishi was going to do something. He wasn't sure what, but it was pretty obvious that something was going to happen. The oni fists a hand for a moment, but doesn't push Nikki through yet. No, he actually wants her to see this, for some reason or another. As Lee disappears, and then suddenly reappears before Sebastian, the oni is actually caught off guard at the close proximity, grunting and falling back as he is struck in the chest. Maybe he'll have to try to get the boys to teach him some defensive techniques. He stumbles back, a heel catching on the base of the bench. There is a reactionary flash though, a chi blast of blue and black flashing for Lee, but with hardly any of the effort he is capable of.

Did anyone think that Nikki was going to just stand there while Lee attacks one of her oni? Certainly not. She's not stupid though, jumping in front of Lee to pummel him while someone's blasting would make her life a short one, so instead she bends down and scoops up her abandoned bottle and chucks that at Lee's head instead. "Sacre bleu, why don't you just go away. Or /die/."

 

Lee crosses his arms in front of his face, taking the brunt of the blast on his forearms, and sliding back a few paces with the force of it.   The bottle of gasoline breaks against his head after he lowers his arms to look once more at his opponents.   He grunts with the force of the blast, his arms smoking slightly, and his head aching.   He disappears again, this time to reappear as close to Nikki as he can get, his goal now to place his foot firmly against her chest and shove her through the portal.   He doesn't /want/ to attack a woman unless he absolutely has too, but since he recognizes her as a threat, it's best to take her out of the situation, even as he also aims a classic 'karate chop' at Sebastian's shoulder.

 

The miko is going to attack the seishi? Sebastian would smirk with amusement if he wasn't currently trying to avoid that very seishi himself. Too bad the portal doesn't work that way though, Lee. Only if Sebastian is touching her, can she go through it. Poor Nikki'll just fall through open air. He tries to gain his balance once more, only to be hit with a chop to his shoulder. This sends the man grunting away once more. Nothing like getting your ass kicked as close quarters. So, he'll just fix that. He keeps falling back, right into another invisible portal that leaves an almost liquid ripple to the air. He appears once more, further along and closer to the path. And it is with that distance that he lets loose with another blast of chi at the seishi.

 

Nikki might not be the trained fighter that Tokaki is, but she's a streetwise brawler that came from the slums of Paris. Not all Frenchmen are cowards or fools, just the ones in charge. Rolling across the ground after being shoved, she comes back up on her feet as Sebastian's blast comes whipping past her. She times her retaliation, hoping that the oni's shot succeeds so that she can follow up with a nasty round house kick in those steel toed boots of hers. Her punches can't match a guy's... but the girl can kick like a mule.

 

Lee is hit twice, once in the side, by a pretty powerful blast that he didn't defend against, and once in the side of the head by a mule-like kick.   Everything goes hazy for a moment, his vision swimming.   Indeed, Tokaki staggers backwards several steps, his head drooping so that he can no longer see his opponents.   His hands remain up, though, in a defensive position, and that symbol on his cheek still glows brightly.   He doesn't want to quit.   And after a moment, his eyes lift back to his opponents, and he glares angrily at them.  He doesn't say anything.  No quips, no witty banter.   And then, another attack.    He teleports forward, but is obviously off his mark when he does.   His movements have become sloppy.   If he hadn't been burned, already exhausted, and emotionally stretched thin by all the things he was worried about, he'd still be going strong, and a lot more able to handle this.  But he's isn't, and he's not, and as he reaches for the Miko's neck to put a pressure point on her to cause her to lapse into unconciousness, he over extends himself badly. 

 

Sebastian tries to roll the shoulder that was hit before, only to wince with the sharp twist of pain there. If there isn't going to be a bruise both there and on his chest in the morning, he'll be mildly surprised. He watches Lee with barely restrained menace. When the man suddenly goes for the miko, the man's eyes narrow. A flash of blue/black power dances about his hands, coalesingn into a solid ball that actually grows as he pulls his hands apart, almost clawlike. This blast is quite focused and at full power, but aimed just off to the side of the pair and right at the earth. Striking the ground, digging a trench into the very soil before sending up an explosion of dirt and sod, it is mostly meant to cause the very ground to rock and hopefully disrupt the seishi from the miko.

 

Sadly, for all the guts and chutzpah that Nikki displays, she is a miko and not a fighting seishi. It would not be hard for Lee to get to her and the girl sways as the pressure point momentarily cuts the circulation to her brain. Only a surprised angry gasp escapes from her before the french girl drops, hopefully falling away from the blast that comes up beside them.

 

Too bad for Lee that he can't say the same thing.   The blast flips him into the air, even as his fingers leave the Miko's neck, flinging him high and away from the scene of the fight, the dirt and rocks lacerating his body and ripping what was left of his clothing to shreds.  Hey, it's anime, right?  So he lands hard on the ground, crumpling like a ragdoll.   Now he's bleeding, and the fight, the anger, go right out of him.   He tries to get to his feet again, and fails, instead propping himself up to a sagging kneeling sort of position.   The symbol on his cheek starts to fade, slowly.  

 

Sebastian shakes his hair back and away from his face, his braid having come loose in the midst of all of that. Yes. Indeed. Anime. He narrows a gaze after wherever he last saw Lee sailing through the air. Instead though, the man walks over towards Nikki's form, laying upon the ground. He moves over to her, kneeling and then lifting a hand to press to her to check if the girl is still alive. Hard to tell if he would really rather her dead or not though. Mikos. They come and go around the Yin. "Nikki?"

 

Nikki makes a soft complaining sound at the touch, a really bad headache resulting from being knocked out. She's not all there frankly, a nerve pinch isn't something that you just snap back from right away. However, it is rather clear that the miko is in fact still alive. Whether or not Sebastian likes that doesn't matter. Nyeah! Now, finish off the seishi! Just kidding.

 

It's not going to end tonight.   Tokaki's only concious thought now is that of survival.  And the only way he knows how to survive is by getting away from there as fast as possible.  Especially since he's rapidly losing conciousness.   His symbol flares once, brightly, painfully so.   Then he's gone, having gone to somewhere safe.   He believes, anyway, where he can get proper medical attention.

 

Sebastian does make that final check that Nikki is alive, and then the man rises to his feet. He looks back after Tokaki, his intent to finish the seishi that completely ruined his evening... only to scowl as the seishi disappears. Mutter. Back to the miko. He drops down, wincing as he reaches over to take the girl in his arms, and take her home with him. Best to leave the scene of his rather hasty landscaping before the authorities show up.