01 | Action

[talktothedoll]

[A]
Even supervillains need a little fresh air every now and then. Maki would have preferred to relax in his lair, but it's hard to locate nice sources of desire when you're a Greeed who would prefer to stay cooped up in a laboratory floating in a void all day. He was sitting on a park bench, reading a thick and imposing-looking physics textbook. Just a little light reading. He also has a strange-looking creepy bald doll perched on his left shoulder, and the doll is holding a tiny replica of the very same textbook. It's posed as though it is reading, as well.

[B]
In addition to getting a little fresh air that day, Maki also decided to indulge in one of his hobbies. Screams and alarms are ringing out from the Venture City Museum of Dolls, which is currently being overrun by shambling gray monsters. These monsters are smashing display cases, menacing museum patrons, and grabbing any doll accessories they can find. They're leaving the actual dolls alone. There's a line of them carrying doll accessories outside. Maki is impassively supervising the monsters with his doll perched on his arm. The doll's pose suggests that it's in deep thought. Some of the monsters are given the go-ahead to carry their ill-gotten gains through a tiny door-sized black hole, while others have their offerings rejected, causing them to shamble back towards the museum in search of something better.

Someone probably ought to put a stop to this.

Comments

[hinavelous]

That's what he thought. Hina swivels her ankles outward and as soon as one of the Yummies is close enough, she grabs it. With an oddly cute grunting sound, she hoists it easily over her head, spins it once, and throws it like a bowling ball into the collection of others, taking a quick hop backward to evade any that lunged for her or kicked out as they fell. She glances between the hoard of them and Maki a few times, considering making a break for him as opposed to the Yummies.

For the moment she stayed put, remembering what she'd seen him capable of doing. He had proven to be a challenge for Eiji, who knew far more about fighting his kind than she did. Her strength aside, Hina knew next to nothing about fighting anything even slightly supernatural.

[talktothedoll]

Maki hadn't quite been expecting such a spirited show of resistance. "It seems I'll have to take a different approach..." He's picked up a piece of loot, a doll's bed, and a coin slot appears on it. It had been owned by a little kid who only wished for a good night's sleep, surely nothing horrible could come from a Yummy spawned from this, right? If Hina doesn't act quickly, Maki's going to create a Yummy from it.

[hinavelous]

Well that was a huge nope. She remembered what that did, and she remembered how terrible it tended to end for everyone involved. With a cry, she lunged for one of the fallen Yummies, intent on throwing it at Maki.

[talktothedoll]

Maki was not expecting that Yummy to go flying towards him. He's forced to grab his doll and dodge and roll. The doll's pose suggested it wasn't expecting that either; it was now covering its creepy little eyes.

[hinavelous]

There's a brief triumphant shout from Hina, and then she marches toward him with her shoulders squared, right on past the parade of shambling Yummies. She keeps a safe distance, but stands nearby and puts her hands on her hips to look down at him.

"What are you trying to do here, Dr. Maki?" Her tone is surprisingly level for someone who has never really confronted a bad guy before. She's a little terrified, but she's got to start somewhere.

[talktothedoll]

Maki has gotten to his feet again, though this time he looks a bit more on guard. She can fight back; he needs to be aware of that. "Same as always." He sniffs and still manages to look a bit dismissive. "To bring an ending to everything."

[hinavelous]

She squints at him for that, shaking her head.

"That's not fair, though," she says. "It's one thing to want an ending, or for something to stop, but it's not fair to wrap everyone else up in your desires!!" Jeez Maki write a book or something, you can end that and rocks can fall and everyone can die.

[talktothedoll]

"You wouldn't understand. No one does--the world must end while it is still beautiful. Before it can become tainted." Nope, not sorry, overdramatic novels aren't going to sate this lunatic's appetite for destruction.

[hinavelous]

She balled her hands into fists and shook her head.

"Then help me understand. If the world is beautiful now, why end that? Is it that you don't want the world to become ugly, or just that you want it to end? Because you aren't preventing it from becoming ugly if all you're doing is hurting people!" Hina this is really not the best time-- or the best person to try being Eiji Hino at.

[talktothedoll]

"The world must be ended while it can still be remembered in a favorable light." Maki seems a bit disdainful of Hina's arguments here. "It cannot be judged until then. The same goes for those people you're so worried about."