mayfield_rpg | All my life I've been good but now I'm thinking what the hell (Forward dated to release)

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c: sephiroth

All my life I've been good but now I'm thinking what the hell (Forward dated to release)

[A: Violent]

[Today, Sephiroth is prowling the streets. And to those who know him, or who have talked to him on the phone, he'll be borderline unrecognizable. There's an air of dangerous purpose to his movements, and his eyes - already bright from mako - are blazing. (The particularly observant may note stitches on his head.)

And if he sees anyone - drone or otherwise - he'll be making a beeline for them. There's nothing subtle in the air of menace around him; even though he's visibly unarmed, you'd probably be better off running.]

[B: Lucid]

[In the immediate aftermath of hurting or killing anyone, Sephiroth returns to his usual mindset, and can be communicated with normally - for a brief time - before the pain and violent compulsions start to recur. Anyone can luck out and find him during these lucid moments; you'll have to keep up with him during these moments, however, since he's frantically looking for a way to restrain himself before he loses control of himself again. This is easier said than done, given how strong he is and how little time he has between lapses.]

[OOC: Sephiroth is currently under the effects of experimentation, which is swinging him back and forth between his normal self and needing to harm/kill others! While you can pick either scenario, the nature of his experiment means that he can go from violent to lucid during a thread if you want, or vice versa! Also, HE WILL TRY TO HURT OR KILL YOUR CHARACTER IN SCENARIO A, so please be aware!]

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[Beast Boy is not particularly observant. Observant and Beast Boy probably don't even belong in the same sentence.

It is a miracle that he even notices someone running at him before he is punched in the face.]

Gaaaaaah!

[His first instinct is to turn into a turtle.]

[It's a turtle that's going flying if it doesn't dodge, because Sephiroth strikes incredibly hard and moves almost preternaturally fast. Beast Boy will have enough experience taking blows from exceptionally powerful heroes and villains and everything in between to be able to tell that there is way more force behind the blow than a human of Sephiroth's size and build should be able to exert.

Assuming he doesn't dodge, that is, which as a turtle...he probably can't. Tactical error, Beast Boy.]

[The thought, of course, was that shrinking to ground level would cause the blow to miss, but in the case that he kicks, there is suddenly nothing where the turtle was.

...Unless he looks closely enough and sees the termite, anyway.]

[Well, that brings Sephiroth up short, registering surprise and consternation even in his half-crazed state. He looks around with narrowed eyes for the boy (turtle? thing?) that has somehow managed to elude him...but there's no sign.

Even if Sephiroth knew what to look for, not even a SOLDIER's eyes are so acute as to be able to pick out an individual termite on the ground without close inspection - and Sephiroth is wild with pain and rage and has no time for that. Frustrated, he turns on his heel and begins to stalk off, looking for a new victim.]

[Tap, tap.
There is something poking at your shoulder, Sephiroth.]

[Sephiroth turns, already coiling an arm for a strike in preparation. Even insane, he doesn't loose a blow before seeing what he's dealing with, but he doesn't expect anyone or anything trying to get his attention right now to be something he'll play nicely with.]

[It is a 27 foot long green apatosaurus. It looks mildly aggrieved.]

[This is enough to give even Sephiroth pause, looking up at the thing in a way that's less alarmed or even shocked than it is measuring. As if debating if he can take it, and what would be the best way to do so.

If he had Masamune in hand, this wouldn't be particularly complicated. Without it...significantly more difficult.

As his maddened brain ticks over his options, he simply stands where he is. No running or dodging - certainly not before the creature makes a move of its own. If it's large, it also takes some time to build up the speed and momentum behind a strike; he's not overly concerned. He's certainly fought ridiculously large and vicious lizards before; those just happened to be dragons rather than dinosaurs. If he weren't debating how to approach harming this thing bare-handed, he'd already be attacking it.]

[The dinosaur looks down at the puny human with a look of disdain. Clearly, it is the superior one. Beast Boy is happy just turning around and beginning to lumber away knowing his opponent didn't dare to lift a finger.]

[As understandable as Beast Boy's assumption is, it also happens to be incorrect.

Sephiroth is moving as soon as the creature turns its back; that gives him all the time he needs to find an effective weapon. Nothing suits him as well as the nearly unbreakable Masamune, of course; the sheer physical strain he puts on most other weapons prohibits the use of much anything else, at least as anything other than an exceedingly temporary measure. And, of course, there isn't much just lying around to use that would be feasible even by those standards, especially not against a dinosaur.

However, his strength is enough to give him more options than most. And almost anything can be a weapon when thrown with sufficient force behind it. He heads directly for a nearby house, where he'd flung a drone straight through the wall before spotting Beast Boy.

Several seconds later - long enough for Sephiroth to get in range and position - a chunk of splintered beam nearly a foot thick is speeding through the air at the dinosaur's back, thrown with the speed and strength of a javelin.]

[Fwumph. It is a direct hit. The dinosaur falls sideways with an unceremonial flopping motion.

Well, that sucked.

Beast Boy assumes the charateristic swirl in his eyes as he lies twitching on the ground for a few moments before rapidly shrinking back to his normal size and shaking it off. Given that his mass was a tiny fraction of the apatosaurus', the massive injury he had just received was rendered into an insignificant wound - his rapid cellular reorganization took care of the rest.

It was so on.]

[Even though the massive damage he'd done was rendered almost instantly insignificant, he'd still gravely hurt the dinosaur - which is enough to satisfy Sephiroth's forced bloodlust. The incredible pain in his head subsides, and with it his unreasoning violence, and he simply stands where he is for a moment, trying to process where he is and just what he's done during his last loss of self-control.

It's...not easy. His memories are confused already from his altered state of mind, and the strange events from the last few minutes aren't helping him piece together what just happened any more easily.

Did he really just attack a giant green dinosaur that turned into a boy?

After a few long, uncertain moments, he walks forward, approaching Beast Boy. He tries to think of something to say, but what the hell does one say under the circumstances?]

[Approaching may not be the best idea, given that a green tiger is now leaping at his head.]

[Sephiroth isn't particularly surprised. Instinct starts him moving to catch the cat in midair, to either arrest its flight or redirect its trajectory in a throw - something no normal person would even think of attempting, but his exceptional strength makes feasible - but in mid-intercept, he hesitates.

Why defend himself? He has no right, of course, having attacked this shapeshifting boy first, but more to the point...he's been looking for a way to stop himself, to prevent his making any further attacks when he loses control. He hasn't found a way to do so successfully yet - but perhaps he doesn't need to. He could let this boy do it for him. It seems like a more feasible option than any other he has.

And then it becomes a moot point, because in his hesitation he's gone down beneath several hundred pounds of angry tiger, one way or another. He hits the ground hard, the cat on top of him, and - with a concerted effort fighting his own combat instincts - offers it no resistance.]

[Luckily for the both of them, Beast Boy is a superhero. The primary compulsion of any hero is to bring the perp in without lethal damage, but it is, usually, necessary to disable them.

Sephiroth will find himself the subject of a disgruntled pinning from a small elephant. Given the size of what had hit him, this was probably someone with super strength; he had debated blue whale for a few moments before deciding that was probably going overboard.]

[The weight is crushing, but Sephiroth is built to take far more abuse than any ordinary human could. He's by no means comfortable, but he's not being actively injured by the weight, either.

But he is, effectively, immobilized. He doesn't actually know for sure if he could move the weight of an elephant under ideal conditions - he's never tried - but he most certainly can't shift one in this position. And his primary reaction, overriding even the pain of a pachyderm parked on his chest, is relief.

It's a struggle even to breathe, but he manages two short words.] ...thank...you.

[If elephants could raise eyebrows effectively, Elephant Boy's would be up there. The dilemma, of course, was that he couldn't talk when he wasn't human, but turning back would give this guy the chance to escape, too. Beast Boy continues to perch on top for a few awkward minutes longer before...]

What was that again?

[Sephiroth blinks when the pressure is suddenly gone, and he finds himself with a boy on his chest rather than an elephant. He makes no effort to move, all the same - though he does take the opportunity to breathe deeply again.

So he'll be able to explain himself. That's...something of a relief. There's no excuse for his actions, but he still feels the desire to apologize - and this boy also possesses the capability to perhaps keep him from attacking anyone else. Explaining himself isn't just something he wants to do, it's something that could be vital to preventing any more incidents like this.]

I was taken last night. Something was...done to me. [He - slowly, as non-threateningly as possible - raises a hand to his head, pushing his hair away from the stitches there.] I keep losing control of myself - becoming violent. I only regain control of myself after I've hurt someone...or killed them. It's happened several times now, but I haven't yet found a way to restrain myself before I lose control again.

...I thought perhaps you could stop me.

[N has left his Pokémon in the park today. All the mysterious injuries, the changes... he doesn't trust bringing them out.

This turns out to be a good thing when a person he's never met decides to make a beeline for him. N isn't as well-versed in human facial expression as he really should be, but this one is of clear aggression. Holding his ground? Not really an option.

Instead, he tenses and braces to dodge. Running straight only makes a predator give chase.]

[Sephiroth approaches rapidly; his height gives him a comfortably long stride. He can tell the boy is preparing to dodge - violent insanity hasn't obliterated the senses and knowledge developed over years of being a SOLDIER - and doesn't particularly care. He'll run him down, if necessary, something he's confident he can manage.

As soon as he's in range, he aims a quick, vicious blow at the boy's stomach. Aiming at the center of mass means the boy will have to move his entire body out of the way to dodge in time, rather than just something like his head, and it will sufficiently cripple him for follow-up attacks.]

[N's reflexes are decent, but they're not on par with a Mako-enhanced supersoldier. His dodge is only partial; he moves, but the punch clips him more than enough to knock him off course. It's also a far worse hit than he'd been expecting, and rather than darting around behind the man to run, he can only stumble as he works to catch his breath and recover. In the meantime, he tries to stall. Usually he's pretty good at calming enraged animals, but his own panic and surprise aren't doing him any favors.]

Relax! What did I do to you?!

Reasons are meaningless. [Sephiroth is moving with N, almost leisurely; keeping pace with the boy seems to cost him no effort at all, especially with N stumbling and breathless. As for calming him...N's words have all the effect of a spitball launched into the teeth of a hurricane for all the noticeable effect they're having.] Accept that...and despair.

[Somewhere, beneath Sephiroth's homicidal, borderline insane rage, his mind is still ticking away, making its cool, logical battlefield calls. N is, however unprepared and outmatched, an enemy in Sephiroth's eyes, and being treated as such. And one of the most effective tactics in achieving victory over one's enemy is to break their spirit, to destroy their will to fight. It's even more effective than breaking bones, or breaking armies. It's one of the primal truths of warfare - despair is the ultimate weapon.

Of course, it never hurts to back it up in more conventional style. A hand lashes out, aiming to seize N by the throat.]

[N isn't fast enough to avoid being grabbed, but he does have the strength to throw all of himself into the struggle. He is not one who goes down quietly, even at a sharp disadvantage. Sephiroth gets a hard glare and a knee just a bit below the stomach for his troubles.]

[Sephiroth grimaces in pain, but he doesn't let N go; his grip doesn't even loosen. He's taken much harder blows, after all; between his discipline, natural toughness, and training, it would take the blow of a SOLDIER (or someone of similar strength) to make him truly flinch.

Sephiroth lifts N off the ground easily, dead eyes fixed on his face. They almost burn green with mako and malice, but they seem somehow empty at the same time - as though everything behind the eyes has been shut down. Or, perhaps, as though the body were being operated remotely by some outside force.

They also seem to be searching N for something. Whatever it may be, he doesn't seem to find it. Fortunately for N, Sephiroth doesn't choke him while he's dangling there, at least not beyond gravity's own pull on the boy's neck. And when he determines N as being disposable, by whatever mysterious standards he's judging on, he simply tosses the boy away.

Of course, being thrown by a SOLDIER will carry you quite a ways. And at some force.]

[N can't help but cry out on impact with the ground. It hurts; it's not the same pain as was inflicted by Nepeta, but it's not enough to ignore, either. His whole arm is scraped up and he rises, very slowly, to his feet; it's slow enough for more retaliation from Sephiroth, but once he has the strength, he turns and bolts if he can. It's blind panic now; there is no reasoning here. No talking him down. N... N might die here. God, it's a horrifying thought.]

[Fortunately for N, that first punch combined with the damage being thrown had done is enough to meet whatever strange internal criteria there is for Sephiroth to return to sanity. Pinpoint pupils dilate as awareness and comprehension flood back - along with a significant degree of self-disgust and horrified regret.

He doesn't even begin to pursue the fleeing boy. There would be no way to explain this, certainly no justifying it, and a pursuit to do so under the circumstances would only incite further, entirely logical panic. He simply...takes note of the boy as he flees. Long, rough-cut green hair. A cap. Perhaps later, if he gets himself under control...]

[Equius is up a tree. No reason why, really, just that it's a rather nice vantage point to watch people from. There are corpses nearby that look like they've been bludgeoned to death, as well they should! The blood sledgehammer at the foot of the tree is the reason why they look that way.]

[And Equius?]

[Well, a towel took care of the blood splattered on his skin. His shirt is a mess of indigo and red]

[And watching Sephiroth is rather amusing.]

[It's amusing, of course, except that while Sephiroth is more than ready to exact violence on any drones he sees, they don't seem to do as much to pacify him as hurting fellow prisoners does. So, after having flung the last drone in the area through a wall, Sephiroth is still looking for a victim.

And he notices Equius. The smile he gives Equius may give him chills - of what variety, of course, there's no telling - and is definitely highblood-esque.]

Come down. [It's unquestionably an order, laced with malice. Sephiroth has no idea that Equius might be susceptible to such things, of course; he would have said the same thing to anyone in his position. It's a subtle warning that, if Equius doesn't come down, Sephiroth will bring him down one way or another.]

[...Yep, chills are a thing that he is getting. The kind of chills that make his toes curl and cheeks flush. He'd kind already been "enjoying" Sephiroth's behavior, but having it directed specifically at him?]

[Yeah, he could feel his blood rushing. Rushing south, specifically.]

[He dropped down from the tree easily, standing beneath it and shuffling a bit awkwardly]

[Sephiroth wastes no time; in a split second he's closed the distance between himself and Equius, a fist driving into the boy's stomach hard enough to fling him against the trunk of the tree behind him. There's actually a crackling sound as the force of it drives Equius' body into the trunk, nearly an inch deep.

It's not, however, Equius' bones snapping, because Sephiroth placed this blow rather carefully. Either because he recognizes Equius as someone he's friendly with on some level deeper than his insanity, or simply because he doesn't feel like killing this particular victim for reasons known only to himself, he's made sure the punch won't do any crippling damage.

But oh, it's going to hurt like hell.]

[The punch forces all the air from Equius's lungs with a gasp, and reflexively, he grabs onto the arm driving the fist into his stomach. It's partly for support too, because the blow made his knees go weak and head swim. He's never been hit like that before. Sure, his robots had knocked out teeth, tried to strangle him, and otherwise bludgeoned the dickens out of him, but with his STRENGTH, it hadn't slowed him down much]

[In this squishy body?]

[He coughed for breath, body curled around the fist, hyperaware of the splintered wood digging into his back. Blood blossomed on the front of his shirt, the infected surgical wound on his stomach forced open from the inside out]

[Yes, the punch hurt. It hurt like amazing]

[The sight of the (indigo?) blood seems to wipe all the pain from Sephiroth's mind in a heartbeat, and it's supremely satisfying...

For a few seconds.

Then self-awareness crashes over Sephiroth's mind like a wave, sanity washing away his desire to inflict random violence and his inability to reason with himself, and - for the seventh or eighth time today - he regains the mental clarity to realize just what he's been doing. And, this time, who he's done it to, because this is the first time he's snapped out of it to recognize someone he knows.

It's been a sickening shock every time, but this time he almost loses his breath. Not just that it's Equius, which is a blow in itself, but that he, a SOLDIER, with his mako-enhanced strength, has struck a child. Forget the lack of honor involved, enough that Angeal probably never would have spoken to him again if he'd been alive; forget the screaming the ShinRa executives would have done about the scandal; forget that harming a child wouldn't really be considered acceptable anywhere. Sephiroth has the strength to kill even adults bare-handed; if Equius isn't completely broken, then it's only by a miracle.

He jerks his arm back, his fist away from Equius' stomach, his eyes wide and aware in a way they weren't a few seconds ago. Before, they had been sinister, but distant - almost dead. He reflexively moves to cast Curaga, only to remember that his materia are gone still, along with most of his equipment.] Equius... [He doesn't know what to say, what to do. He doesn't even know how badly he might have hurt the boy, since he can't clearly remember what he was thinking when doing so.]

[Deep breath-]

[Then Equius sinks to the ground with a whine, head thrown back and eyes screwed shut, arms wrapped tight around his stomach. He'd have splinters in his back, but at that moment, he really didn't care. There were too many other types of pain he was feeling for trivial little itchy things like splinters to even register in his mind.]

[And he was mentally cycling through them all, picking them apart and examining the way they effected him, the way they played against each other, how focusing on one reduced the feel of another.]

[The living body truly was the greatest machine of them all]

[Finally, he took another deep breath, opened his eyes, and forced a small, pained smile] Ow.

[That... wasn't what he meant to say. Although it did sum things up rather nicely. But goodness gracious, he should be far more articulate than this!]

[Sephiroth relaxes ever so slightly. That Equius is able to speak - able to smile - suggests he must have considerably pulled that punch. So Equius isn't dying, at least not yet, and that's a relief.

Though why Equius is smiling at him after what he just did, he has no idea whatsoever.]

I...apologize. When I was taken, they...did something to me. To my head. I don't have long before it starts again. [He gives Equius a look that's somewhere between guilt and pleading - a much more open expression than Sephiroth normally allows himself.] I need to be - restrained. I can't control myself.

[Equius snorts, but it quickly turns into a cough, a bit of the indigo blood coming up and filling his mouth. No, he's not dying, trolls are made of much STRONGER stuff than that, and even if his skin is soft, his guts are hard.]

[Still, that was quite the punch.]

[He swallows the blood from his mouth and shakes his head, gesturing over at the bodies nearby]

Highblood rage. I've been going through the same, though I suspect, not as STRONGLY, as I am used to such emotional uprisings. Eheh, you're talking to the wrong person, if you truly wish restraint.

[Sephiroth's eyes follow Equius' gesture, widening slightly when he takes in the corpses that he doesn't think he made. Had Equius been affected the same way he was...? Although that didn't explain the strange phrase he was using for it.]

Highblood rage?

[He lifts the hem of his shirt, running his fingertips through the indigo blood, then holds them out to Sephiroth] This is the highest blood color a landdwelling troll can have. Higher even than my own. Borne within it, is the highblood rage. A rage that can only be controlled and contained, but never completely quelled. The higher up the Hemospectrum you go, the STRONGER it is. This rage compels us to kill, to spill the blood of others, to seek conflict.

Normally, I would fight robots in order to keep the compulsion in check. There are none here, and the rage is even stronger than before. So... [he gestures back to the corpses, bowing his head]

But even that is not enough. I kill, but they do not fight back. There is no struggle, there is no conflict. I grow bored before I grow sated. And then I feel guilty, though I should have no reason to. By the standards of Alternian society, I have done nothing wrong, but the others-

Don't approve. And my behavior upsets them. So the guilt comes, and I become angry at myself for feeling guilt when I should not. And once the anger comes, I struggle to reign it in, but then I feel guilty for denying what is my hatchright, and then I feel even angrier...

Until it's either hurt myself, or hurt others. And I am already in so much pain...

[Sephiroth can't help it; it's his inner scientist, the inquisitive part of him fascinated by new knowledge that's sometimes uncomfortably like Hojo. He reaches out to touch the blood on Equius' fingers, examining the deep purple on his glove.

He's silent for a moment, considering the information he's been given, and then he looks up at Equius.] How powerful are you?

[What's that, Sephiroth? It might be difficult to keep up with you? Not if you're the Ultimate Life Form... on wheels.

At some point while the SOLDIER attempts to find a means of restraint, he may find himself bumping into what appears to be a 3'3" hedgehog with wheels for legs.]

Gotta go fast gotta go fast gotta go---

[BUMP.]

[Sephiroth turns on his heel to look down at whatever's collided with him, and for a moment his own alarm and guilt fade into bafflement. He's...not exactly sure what he's looking at. And when he speaks, his confusion is more evident than he'd normally permit...but he's having a rough day, to say the least.]

What are you?

[Wrong question to ask this manic little guy, especially when he's so worked up that he doesn't even recognize who he's talking to.]

Every time. Every time, that's always the question. Never "Who are you?" "What are you?" Let me tell you what I am. I'm the Ultimate Life Form; created by the late Professor Gerald Robotnik, crudely modified by this Doctor Johnson. [He spits her name out like poison before shooting off again, wheeling himself rapidly around Sephiroth.]

[Sephiroth is...more than a little taken aback. Something about this brief case history the creature has handed him rings...weirdly and uncomfortably familiar. It's the sort of phrasing and tone that Hojo might have used to describe him.

He tracks the animal's progress with his eyes to some degree, but can't follow it too closely without making himself dizzy.] Forgive me. I've simply never seen anything like you. What's your name? [He pauses.] And what was done to you?

Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog.

[He glares up at Sephiroth.]

How many hedgehogs do you know with wheels for legs? And I---Gotta go fast! Gotta go fast! [He snaps his mouth shut.] That inane phrase. I can't stop spouting those three words out.

I hadn't seen any that are red and black and can talk, either. [Sephiroth is largely unfazed by this hostility, too bemused and curious to really give it any weight. It's almost enough to make him forget his own predicament.

But not quite.

After a pause, he inquires - ] Have you been running all over town?

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All my life I've been good but now I'm thinking what the hell (Forward dated to release)

A

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Returning to lucid state

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A like a boss

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Transitioning to Lucid

[Violent]

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Aaaaand going lucid

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[B, potentially going back into A? We shall see...]

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