My own Fast Track (Open)

[Leogare Lasteulf]

So here he was. He was told with his ego he'd fit in well here, but he didn't know exactly what they meant by that. He'd found a room and set himself up quickly enough, but still making sure that he'd put everything precisely where he liked it.

And now he wandered around this common area, curious as to what exactly he was supposed to do here? The guy who hauled him in wasn't too specific.

Well you don't learn the right thing to do without doing the wrong thing first. So he decided the first thing to do was to 'investigate' the girls dorms for potential prospects.

Hey, a man must have his priorities.

So he walked casually over to the door to the main girls dorm and wrapped his hand deftly around the handle. With a smooth motion he turned the handle and slid the door open enough to peek his head in.

[Kirien Melantha]

Fortunately for Leo, the room was occupied. Fortunately for Leo, the room's occupant hadn't noticed the door slide open. Unfortunately for Leo, the room's occupant was Kirien Melantha.

It wasn't late enough for her to be sleeping, but it was late enough that she wasn't going venture past the Almasy common room, and lying on her bed in a long pink skirt was making her very uncomfortable. She set her notebook and pen down and wandered over to her dresser, where she began rummaging about looking for her nightclothes.

She paused, a long pink shirt in one hand, and nearly looked at the door. She couldn't remember if she locked it or not. I always lock the door. She told herself with a shrug, and yanked off her top, carelessly flinging it somewhere a good ways behind her. She gave Leo a glimpse of her light pink bra before she covered it with her equally-pink nightshirt.

Her skirt was giving her a bit of trouble, much to her annoyance. Grr! The damn zipper...is...stuck...again! She tried yanking on the zipper from a variety of angles, but the stubborn thing would not budge.

"I...hate...this...skirt!"

[Leogare Lasteulf]

Leo's eyes widened at the site before him...this was...wow.

Now Leo had peeked under his fair share of skirts, so this wasn't like that. But there was something...exotic about this girl. It started with her strong frame, without looking like one of those insane bodybuilder types, a firm body. And her hair, a hue of red he'd never seen in hair color, looked almost like flames. It couldn't be natural.

As she tossed off her shirt (which landed conveniently next to him) he fought back the urge to whistle. Yowza, she had matured nicely. Some part of him said that he shouldn't interrupt this, that he should just watch. But Leo wasn't a gawking virgin, he wasn't going to be caught standing in her door watching her undress, as tempting as it was.

And then, one of those things that can alter the very future...for the worse. Her skirt was stuck, and Leo could see why. A small string was caught in the zipper, and wouldn't allow it to unzip. Leo smirked, and got a stupid idea. Oh well, time to see how she reacted to an odd situation. In the blink of an eye he had slipped up behind her and place his hand on the zipper.

"It's stuck on a thread, you need to pluck it." He said, pulling the loose thread with a quick yank before darting back to his place just in front of the door, with a stupid grin.

"By all means, continue. Glad I could help." He said, trying very hard to keep his look from being perverted.

[Kirien Melantha]

"Um, yeah, thanks..." Kirien said absently to the stranger, moving to unzip her-wait a minute. Stranger?

She froze, one hand on her zipper, and slowly, very slowly to look at the door. She was hoping that she'd gone crazy and imagined someone fixing her zipper! Better be crazy than to have started undressing in front of someone...

Her face was a red comparable to the color of her hair by the time she saw him. Some tall, dark-haired stranger was standing in her doorway. Her open doorway. She cursed herself mentally for not checking the lock, and then cursed the stranger for having the audacity to enter a woman's room uninvited, without even knocking.

She didn't recognize him, and she knew most everyone in her house, usually by reputation. Perhaps he was new, and had simply gotten lost on the way to his room, but he had his hand on her zipper. She was not letting him off easy.

She hesitated a moment, and actually removed the skirt. It almost looked as if she was about to go along with whatever the pervert could have in mind, blushing and oh-so-shy, but in truth she was just getting the thing out of the way. It was easier for her to move without her skirt bunching up. Her pink top came down to her thighs, enough to cover anything else Leo might be looking to admire.

She made her way to the stranger like a lioness about to pounce it's prey, eyes darting side-to-side, searching for a weapon. She cursed herself again for keeping her room in such disarray. How was she supposed to find anything to properly beat him with?

"Hi. My name is Kirien Melantha." She introduced calmly, stopping close enough that he'd get a better look at her, but far enough that he wouldn't be able to touch her unless he moved forward. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes; calm as she tried to be, she couldn't control her excitement entirely. Her lips twitched into a grin that could best be described as predatory.

"I'm going to kill you now![/b]" Her voice was far from calm; she sounded almost elated, lifting her first weapon - a wooden chair - and swinging, hard.[/color]

[Leogare Lasteulf]

And she went red, classic girl reaction. Now he was expecting a shrill scream, her hand grabbing something to cover herself with (Which he always wondered about since they were always wearing more material then a standard swimsuit.) and then possibly throwing something at him. There were standards you see, and those must be met.

She started at him, still red, for a moment and then did something unexpected. She continued removing the skirt as is nothing had happened. Leo's eyes widened as the skirt was lowered to the floor.

Hah! Score! Boy can I pick em, must be my lucky day!

"Pink suits you." Leo commented, gesturing to the discarded clothing. She then started to walk at him, glancing side to side. What was she looking for? Another student in the room? No, that seemed unlikely. A piece of clothing? Another item?

She then introduced herself, but that look...it wasn't murderous, it wasn't even angry...it seemed almost...like a hungry look. Now, Leo could have taken that as a different kind of 'appetite' but somehow that didn't seem likely right now. "Leo Lasteulf." He said to her. "Nice to meetcha." He added, as she made to continue her declaration.

She was grinning, and her eyes were showing some sort of...humor? Like a sick humor you got from watching someone you didn't like fall down a flight of stairs. And then he saw her reach for anything, and make a declaration that she was going to kill him.

Oh, was that it?

To say it had been the first time Leo had been threatened with death for sneaking a peek would be a lie. Men especially could be very jealous of their women. But he was not totally expecting it from her, especially since she had just been leading him along.

She swung the chair sideways with surprising ease, and Leo ducked to dodge it. The chair flew threw the air and cracked a small table, splintering both the chair and table.

Wait...that wasn't right. Leo had been in enough bar fights to know that wood didn't splinter like that, it broke, but wouldn't shatter unless it got hit by a car or something.

You ARE in a school of superheroes...

Crap.

"Whoa!" Leo said, recovering from his duck. "Hey now, it seems a little bit of a small thing to kill someone for taking a gander! besides, if you didn't want people looking, you shouldn't be hot and getting undressed with the door unlocked! Practically inviting for a show then!"

He put a little more distance between himself and Kirien. Was it just him or did she look like she was enjoying this? Leo eyed the shattered wood and back to her.

"Your pretty tough I see..." He added, glancing back to her with a look of anticipation.

Better not let her hit me or there might not be anything left...

[Kirien Melantha]

Asking for it?! Who did he think he was?

I'll tear your face off! Her eyes flashed a deep color that was more red than brown.

She frowned at the fragments of both table and chair. Two weapons made useless, and she had no time to find another. If she turned around, or even bent down to retrieve a sharp, jagged piece of wood, he could flee. There were few things Kirien Melantha hated more than prey that would not stay still! There was a big difference between putting up a good fight, which she enjoyed, and just being annoying.

No time! Move or he'll get away! Knock him down! Targets? Eyes, nose, throat, knees...nose too fast, throat boring, knees no fun!

She aimed a quick, straight-legged kick between Leo's legs. She found that seemed to work quite well in incapacitating opponents.

I'll take your eyes! Hehehe! Left first, so you can see with your right! I'll show you, you sick...sick...sick...

She didn't even have a word for what she thought he was.

I'll put you on display in the common room! Maybe there'll be weapons there? Teehee! I love stupid people! They're so fun to rearrange!

[Leogare Lasteulf]

She wasn't talking back, well that was a bad sign, either he was getting to her or she was focused on the idea of beating him to a pulp. Either way, she had activated a very familiar female defense mechanism, the crotch kick. Now Leo had felt that sting before, but he felt that if she connected there might be nothing but powder left, so he was quite energetic in his jumping backwards.

Not like he was going to let this chance go to waste, and he reached out and grabbed her foot, holding it tight. Her shirt slipped back, and he grinned as she made it all too easy. He knew he could hold a normal persons foot like this, in this position they didn't have enough leverage to overcome his grab. But she pushed down and he was forced to release her leg, not before enjoying the show.

"See?!" He exclaimed. "You can't say you don't like the eyes on you if you keep putting on such a show! It's just not fair to us guys if you are gonna tease like that and then play 'Little-Ms-Offended."

He backed up into a modified Kick boxing stance. "It's not cool to fight a girl, but if you really are intent on trying to break me I guess I don't have a choice then do I?" He lowered his hands to blocking positions. "Well come and get it then! I'm glad your ready for bed, cause I'll tuck you in." He then added with a grin. "And by the way, pink definitely suits you. Quite sexy."

[Kirien Melantha]

Kirien had never been so mad in her life. Never had she been gawked at, much less told that she had it coming. The thought that Leo would insist that she was teasing, even as she tried her very best to pummel that arrogant expression right off his face, made her shake with anger. Her eyes were dark with anger and red-tinged. Her whole body tensed, and it seemed as if the nails on her tiny hands somehow grew longer and sharper.

She hadn't got a good hit in yet. In fact, she hadn't gotten any hits in yet. Granted, she'd only given it two tries so far, but she remembered Karmine saying she was out of practice. Am I really this bad? She thought to herself worriedly, trying her best to keep from outwardly expressing her unease. If she was out of practice when she had the upper hand, how terrible was she trying to fight without a proper weapon?

What's wrong with me? Knock him down!

She frowned, trying for a different approach. Perhaps hiding her discomfort wasn't the best way to go at all. She looked clearly frustrated as she swiped inward at Leo's face, with her left hand, then her right. It was a horribly uncoordinated move, very predictable, and certain miss; she was several inches too far back to even nick him. She made sure to give a furious yell as she did so, completely allowing her accuracy to be hindered by excess anger. Her breathing was quick and heavy; she appeared to be over exhausting herself.

She swayed dizzily and dropped to the ground, looking about ready to collapse. Emotional overload often caused her to have a dramatic drop in adrenaline. That's exactly what happened to her when she tried to fight Karmine when she was no where near ready to.

She delivered a low roundhouse kick to help Leo lose his footing, much too quickly and much too powerfully for a girl whose adrenaline level just plummeted.

Kirien grinned. She really did pride herself on her acting skills.

[Leogare Lasteulf]

Leo bobbed his head backwards from the punch, and he would never admit how terrified he was of this girl right now. She was creepy as all hell, but at least he wasn't bored. When she went down to her knees, looking like she was going to pass out he took a step towards her with a grin.

"You all calmed down now Ms. Pink?" He said. "I really don't want to fight a girl, just leaves a bad ta-JESUS!" He hadn't been expecting the kick from her, and lifted his leg to block it. Indeed he did, but he felt himself lifted up off the ground anyway, and pushed back out the open door behind him, into the hallway. In fact he would have rolled a good 20 feet down the hallway if he didn't negate his momentum as soon as he landed, which reduced the tumble damage. He got to his feet and shook his scruffy hair out of his face. His leg was throbbing, and he felt what would be a bruise tomorrow.

If it wasn't going to be a broken bone by the end of today.

"Ugh, you hit like a semi." He said stretching out his leg. "So you still have some fight in you then? Don't suppose we can just talk about this?"

[Kirien Melantha]

Of course I still have 'some' fight in me! I haven't torn out your eyes yet! Hehe...hehehehe!

Kirien suppressed the urge to cheer when she managed to knock Leo out of the room. It had been far too long since she had last fought, and it took her far too long to catch him off-guard. But now that she'd used that trick, she'd have to keep throwing him curve balls, so she kept the upper-hand.

Shouldn't be too hard, if the stupid bastard doesn't want to fight! She thought to herself merrily, quickly snatching up a large, sharp piece of table and closing the distance between them. She had a look in her eyes like a starved animal, and her vicious grin told him she wasn't planning on letting him escape.

"No."

One word was all she gave him, all she would give him. She no longer had any interest in talking. She threw herself at him, wildly, arcing her wooden weapon high and swinging down at his face.

No woman would want to look at him by the time she was done with him.

[Leogare Lasteulf]

Leo sighed at her answer. Typical women, all worked up, and all rational thought goes out the window. And now she charged him with a broken table leg. That would probably hurt if he got hit with it, and he was tired of dealing with her weapons.

This time instead of blocking head on, he spun his leg in a hook kick, striking the descending club and breaking it. Splinters of wood rained down the hall, and Leo growled. He was annoyed now.

"All right FINE!" He shouted now, returning the leg he kicked with to him, and then lashing out sharply at her gut. He hoped she was only super strong, and not super tough. If she was both, well this might be far worse then he thought. "You wanted a fight, guess you'll get one!"

[Kirien Melantha]

The accuracy of his kick stunned Kirien. He didn't look like much of a fighter...but she of all people should know not to judge a book by it's cover. And even worse! He looked like he knew some kind of martial arts.

This is annoying. Hold still so I can skewer you properly!

"Good kick." She spat bitterly, and immediately shifted her position to prepare for his next move. She kept her eyes open and her feet apart and grounded, and foolishly didn't move when she saw him draw his leg back.

She thought she could catch it and stop it, but her reflexes were more lacking than she thought. Sure, she got both hands around his ankle, but that didn't stop him from making contact with her middle.

The force knocked the wind out of her, and she groaned as she willed herself not to fall backward. If she changed position while she was stunned, he could easily finish her. In fact, he could easily finish her right then and there, whether or not she had his foot.

How could she turn the tables, now? She had a close hold on him, but she couldn't do any damage in her current position, much less in her current condition. Unless...

She desperately tried to slide her hands up Leo's pant leg, grabbing for exposed flesh so she could drain him. Hopefully he wasn't wearing high socks...

[Leogare Lasteulf]

"Thanks for the acknowledgment." Leo spat back at her comment. He kicked out and felt the contact, she almost doubled over.

"Oh ho, so your not invincible then." He said as she grabbed his foot. It was then that he felt her bare hand touch his ankle, since he was wearing low cut socks. For a moment he was puzzled, what was she trying to do. Then he felt it, a chill crawling up his spine, and a numbness setting into his leg.

"W-What the hell?!" He stammered out, feeling a feeling he couldn't seem to explain. Like his energy was being pulled out by this...girl.

The guy who brought him here had mentioned someone of other 'beings' that he might not understand, but he hadn't gotten into the specifics.

That information MIGHT have helped! Because now Leo was starting to seriously panic, and when he panicked he did stupid things.

One of the hands in his pocket gripped what it found there, and in a quick motion he pulled a switchblade knife from his pocket. A flick of his wrist and the blade came out and locked, and he threw it at her center mass.

He had no idea if it would hurt her, kill her, or bounce off of her. Survival instinct had taken over, and that meant it was her or him.

He didn't feel like being a martyr.

[Kirien Melantha]

I win.

Kirien smirked triumphantly at her opponent, tightening her hold on his ankle. Her long nails were biting at his skin now, and his energy was slowly leaving him...she was sure he would be unable to break free.

He should have never got so close! She was singing to herself, and when his hand went to his pocket, she didn't feel particularly threatened. Stop squirming, I won already! She sighed, rolling her eyes at his persistence. She quickly moved her right hand away from his leg, confident that she could still drain him with her left, and focused her attention on his hand.

She raised a brow when she saw the knife. She certainly wasn't expecting him to be armed; if he had a weapon all along, why had he taken so long to reveal it?

Hmph, fine! I can block that!

Overconfidence would be her downfall. Kirien Melantha did not have the ability to catch a knife in midair. When she moved her hand to intercept the blade, she miscalculated where her hand should have been, and the blade easily punctured her exposed palm.

It hurts! It hurts! Was all she could think as she tore away from Leo, gasping and staring wide-eyed at her bloodied hand. She couldn't ever remember being stabbed before.

It hurts! What do I do?! She grabbed her wrist with her left hand, too afraid to touch the knife. She couldn't stand looking at it.

Get it away! Get it away!

But what if it hurt more?

"I'll kill you!" She shouted at Leo as she backed away from him, teary-eyed.

[Leogare Lasteulf]

Leo pulled back from Kirien as well, shaking feeling back into his leg.

"Hah, so whatever you are, you aren't immune to knives eh?" Leo snarled at the girl. "I don't know what the hell you are, but you better not pull a trick like that again or you'll get a lot worse then a knife in the palm."

He kept his distance from the girl, still snarling at her. Though he was a little humored by her reaction.

"Never seen your own blood then? What kind of psycho tries to kill people and panics at the sight of blood?" He scoffed. "I don't know if you realize what the real world is, but I've seen people shot down for less then peeking at a girl when she was changing, I've seen people bleed out on the streets for bumping into someone. You promise to kill me and get a knife in your hand, and you start crying? Tch, whatever the hell you are, think twice before you try...well whatever that vampire grip or whatever was."

He was wary of this...girl...she was not one to be trifled with, even if she was a cry baby.