Post by Endivia on May 14, 2016 19:10:04 GMT
Washed Up Super Star
The still waters of the lake quivered and rippled, reacting to the resonance of Ki energy that slowly poured from the body of a dark-haired woman. Above the crystalline blue she hovered, cross-legged with the ebon form of her guitar resting in her lap, and pondering the recent happenings of the world. Endivia’s arrival on the planet just over a year ago had been met with very little issue, the Saiyan having been incorporated into the societies of Earth’s very own Satan City with naught in the way of hesitation. Her music – melodies that echoed of cosmic power – had taken the town by storm. That was until something drastic took place.
“You just had to go and do it, didn’t you?” she sighed. The world’s rapidly growing appreciation of her talents had been snuffed out like a candle’s flame, all because of a single woman’s selfish decision. Zucceta, Queen of the Saiyans, had ordered and led an assault upon Earth on what had likely been a road to conquest. And though that attack had inevitably failed thanks to the efforts of the planet’s own heroes, it had made such a splash that waves were still resonating across the globe. Endivia, through all her talent in the music industry, had been shunned by nigh on the entirety of her fan base – shunned because she shared the blood of the empire that had dared to strike down upon the planet.
“I guess it could be a lot worse…,” the musical maiden muttered.
Straightening her back, she allowed her tail of chocolate hair to descend, tip brushing across the tranquillity of the rippling water beneath her before curling up again. Like an artist’s brush, she gently stroked the canvas that was her own face, daubing sunbathed skin with the cooling feel of fresh water. It was somewhat refreshing, but it could not douse the flame stirring within her very soul. The actions of the Saiyan Solar Empire were brash and warmongering – why should she have expected any different? Was it because she was different? She was a woman born of the warrior race, yet lacking in the typical love of combat that was the defining characteristic of Saiyan mentality. War did not appeal. Chaos did not appeal.“…I could be dead. Ugh!”
Again, she whipped her tail – this time with greater force – and splashed her face with a spattering of cool water. Silently she reminded herself; best not to dwell upon the horrors. But alas, she had come to Earth to escape such things, only to wind up sitting on the warpath once more. Nowhere in the cosmos was safe from the tyranny of such empires as the Saiyan and the Arcosian, so this recent attack had proclaimed. Strumming the strings of Tohnari, Endivia loosed her chains upon the anger welling up inside of her. Hatred of her kinfolk would get her nowhere; neither would her holding a grudge against the people who had betrayed her. She had put herself beyond all that, so she thought.
Slowly, she shifted her guitar into position, gently slipping her fingers between the silvery strings as she tuned into the subtleties of its sound. The instrument had been with her for quite some time now. An unorthodox crafting of a six-string, it was certainly nothing special – neither the work of some skilled craftsman, nor forged of superb material. Tohnari was just a guitar. But even so, it might as well have shared her very life’s energy. Taking a deep breath, filling her lungs with coolness as she remained aloft, she let her digits dance and begin to play a steady melody.
They can keep their misconceptions, Endivia thought. Just because I’m a Saiyan doesn’t make me a monster… Their blood might flow through my veins, but I don’t care about their ideals… We don’t need to prove our strength to anyone, least of all weaklings… Why won’t they see that…?
The damsel’s dark eyes stared down at her own hazy reflection; a distorted mirror of a jet-haired Jane dressed in asymmetrical attire. Tight ivory denim bottoms that hugged her hips, with her left leg three-quarters bare and the right covered with torn cloth, a pair of black flip-flops on her feet. A deep purple shrug of sorts, styled with the left sleeve long (but without shoulder) and the right absent, covered what might have been a black tank top of torn style. Her style was no doubt extremely abnormal, considered ‘fashionable’ by some human youths, but to her it felt comfortable as she continued to pluck and strum at the strings. Every wave of sound carried on it some vestige of her emotions, echoing quietly across the peaceful landscape which surrounded her on all sides.
Maybe I am a monster… Eyes closing as she continued to play, the woman known on stage as ‘Chicory’ thought back to the passing conflict that had swallowed the planet. It was well known to her by now, that with the russet tail attached to her rump there were times when she simply could not control the raw power that flowed through from her ancestry. Amidst the chaos and the carnage of the battle between the Earth’s forces and the invading SSE, the latter had employed the use of the ‘Power Ball’, and the resulting Blutz Waves had sent many a Saiyan into the mighty Ōzaru state.
Though she had not directly been involved in the battle, Endivia too had experienced the transformation. Admittedly, she had only surmised this after the fact, and try as she might, she simply could not recall what had happened in that space of time. Even as she continued to strum, she silently cursed at her own inability to harness such power consciously – cursed at her stupidity of allowing herself to be exposed to such things unwittingly. Still, she shrugged it off through strength of song. Like a bad hangover, it was perhaps best to not try and remember what had taken place.
I came here to Earth to become a better musician, not turn into some freakish outcast! Feverishly she continued to pick at the steel, the mix of tranquillity and energy flowing through every inch of her body as she played and let her emotions swing through rhythm and chorus. Gracefully, she abandoned her ‘seated’ position, allowing her feet to stand just inches above the rippling sapphire beneath her. Her tail cradled the body of her guitar, supporting some of its weight as she shifted into a more fierce display of finger-work.
“I’ll become stronger,” Chicory whispered melodiously. “I’ll learn to control my power – maybe music is the way towards doing that. Humans do always say that ‘music soothes the savage beast’, so maybe it can control the Ōzaru, too. Heh… I doubt it, but it might make a good song.”“Oi! Oi!”
Endivia’s eyes narrowed, her palm calming the rumbling strings of Tohnari and silencing its solitary wails. She hovered for a moment, exhaled, and then peered back over her shoulder. A few dozen yards away, standing upon the shores of the small and placid lake, were a group of people. Humans, none of whom seemed any older than the guitarist herself, dressed in a variety of clothing that screamed of tackiness and overpricing. One of them was a scrawny example of a boy, his musculature not even close to what she might have deemed as impressive and his greased hair styled into some sort of lick that covered one half of his face. Another, head shaven to ashen stubble, bore a far more deserving amount of beefiness. The rest were nothing outside of average for Earthlings.
“‘Sup,” she answered.“Hey! You’re Chicory, am I righ’?”
“Who wants to know…?” She met the brute’s question with caution.“Swee’! I’m a pre’y big fan of yours!”
“I don’t do autographs,” Endivia replied, somewhat pre-emptively, and also with a hint of mockery. She did not need to sense Ki in order to see the intent of these lowlifes, for their posture and ‘disarming’ words were clearly deceptive. Or were they? There was always a subtle chance that she was misjudging humanity – enacting prejudice based on the discrimination that had bit at her heels as she had been chased from the limelight. But, even if there was a slight insecurity about such things, she did not let it manifest. Rather, she hindered its approach, but humoured it somewhat in unseen hope. The fact that they had identified her by her name and not her race seemed a partial step in the right direction.“Tch!”
“We aren’ here for au’ographs!” he called. His consistent failure to pronounce the ‘T’ sounds in his speech was somewhat annoying. The mutterings of his cohorts seemed to indicate unrest – perhaps anticipation – akin to a waiting audience. The Saiyan’s tail twitched; a sure sign of her own growing unease. Save herself craning her neck, she shifted her stance, facing the gang side on. A whisper escaped her lips:“I figured…”
“We heard you playing. Jus’ though’ we’d drop in and see wha’ was happening, y’know?” explained what was likely supposed to be the gang’s leader, given his strong appearance. Almost befitting of a Saiyan’s stature, save for his ugly example of a rather flat and slightly crooked nose. Even so, she watched nonchalantly as he and his comrades walked forwards, their feet sending soft ripples across the waters as they too demonstrated the ability to levitate. Endivia did not move much further. Some grain of Saiyan pride still planted deep within her soul stirred, trying to take root.“Then we saw you!”
“Momen’ I saw tha’ ‘ail of yours,” the balding boss smirked, “I knew i’ had ‘o be Chicory!”“…Always the tail…”
The thuggish throng now floated higher, steadily dancing up into the sky so as to look down upon the woman. Unfortunately, that growing sprout of pride was not about to let them revel in such trivial matters, with their quarry rising almost subconsciously to match them. Their intent was most definitely clear now, manifesting in the palm of the rugged rebel as a ball of energy.
“Shame you had ‘o go and have our plane’ a’acked, Saiyan scum!” Without hesitation, the human pitched his freshly manifested sphere of Ki as one might have done a baseball, sending the radiant projectile flying straight towards the ‘scum’ he seemed so willing to annihilate. It was quite shocking, really. For one, she was being labelled as an instigator of the SSE’s assault of Earth, which was most definitely not the case. But what also startled her was the power of her opponent. Darting sideways, the guitarist slipped free of the projectile’s path, watching with widened eyes as it skipped across the water’s surface like a stone and sailed straight into the grassy banks. Grass and reeds and soil were scattered every which way, leaving a smouldering scorched groove on the body’s shore.
“Are you done yet?” the Saiyaness sighed, fingers starting to work the strings of Tohnari once more.“Like hell we are!”
The attacker grunted, huffing and driving his clenched fist firmly into his meaty palm. With a snarl on his face and a peal of anger in his eyes, he pointed straight at her and barked:“Ge’ that b!’€#!”
Two of the lesser warriors broke from the pack, descending upon her like fierce wolves. Or, as she saw them, more like misbehaved puppies. To match their vigour, her melody picked up, strumming energetically as they came into melee range. One threw a punch, a strong right hook, which Endivia danced out of the way of with ease. The second came in from an angled swoop, throwing a sharp skyward kick. Again she evaded – this time side-stepping. Such predictable attacks, she thought, questioning whether or not it was really worth retaliating. Fanboy number two adjusted his angle, bringing his leg back around into a sharp roundhouse aimed for the throat. Rolling backwards, hair flicking the surface of the lake, the acrobatic entertainer managed to evade yet another assault.“Haiyah!”
Number one came in fast, Chicory having barely recovered from her own manoeuvres before his left fist sailed out of nowhere. His thumb’s knuckle brushed her cheek, forcing her yet further back as she pivoted and kicked off towards the skies above. But by the time she looked down, her foes were hot on her heels.
“And I though the paparazzi was bad,” the Saiyan did jest, continuing the ebony instrument’s charismatic cries as she careened through the skies. Her pursuers were persistent, throwing everything they had at her, but to no avail. As disdainful about it as she was, the dark-tailed demoiselle was an accomplished combatant. Such mediocre examples of martial artistry were not going to do much, even if one of them was lucky enough to land a punch. Speaking of punches, one of the other unhappy dogs had joined the fray and was attempting to cut her path off with a strike of his own design. An uppercut driving straight up from below, ascending in a corkscrew in order to maximise potential – or more likely just to make it look cool. A simple attack, possibly an effective one had it not missed entirely, escaped easily by little more than a roll to her right.“Close call- Uff!”
Chicory grunted, struck from above by a fourth member of the thugs. A descending dropkick struck her hard in the shoulder blade, jarring her and knocking her out of her flight path. Tohnari’s echoes diminished. Before she could recover from the attack, yet another blow came in – the skinny scoundrel raced in and jabbed her hard in the stomach, knocking the air straight out of her lungs before sending her spiralling down. With a great splash she struck the water.
It was cold – almost icy upon her skin. The solemn wailing of her guitar’s trembling strings echoed distantly, fading into nothingness as the tides embraced both entertainer and instrument. Eyes narrowed, tail twisted, fingers flexed – she was not about to let them best her. And, of course, she was definitely not about to let them cut her performance short. Steeling her resolve against her body’s pleas for oxygen, she focused. Above, hovering over her, she could see the rippling silhouettes of her attackers. A grimace shifted into a grin. It was time to show them a real fight. Her hand steadied, her body righted, and then she strummed[1].“Weak li’l monkey… Wha?”
The water exploded beneath the rebels, rushing out on all sides as a surge of light erupted from below. The vivid screams of Endivia’s guitar filled the air, some of the thugs wincing at the sudden burst of volume. But even as the sound reached their ears, they were already made aware – a barrage of luminescent bolts raced to meet them. Each and every pluck of the strings sent yet another cannon shell of Ki up like a fireworks display; a frenetic volley of punch-like bullets that slammed into the youths, sending them scurrying and sailing every which way as the desperately tried to dance out of the way of the assault.
And then silence.
Eyes closed, the lonely Saiyan lingered over the lake’s surface once more, listening to the waning groans of Tohnari as the parted tides steadied themselves. Her audience had scattered, some having received several blows whilst others had escaped with glancing hits. She could not see it, eyes still darkened as she let the sting of the water fade, but the lack of further assault was as sweet a melody as any.“D@mn, that stings…!”
“I told ya we shouldn’t ‘ave, I did!”“Can i’, all of you!”
Damp waves of ebony clung to her face, an already dark tail now sodden to black brushing them away. Endivia looked up, seeing the brute snarling as his underlings hovered cowering. This was probably one of those moments where the words ‘if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself’ should have been spoken. However, the gang leader did not at all seem smart or wise enough to make use of such a phrase. On top of that, the guitarist really did not want to hear him butcher it through lack of proper pronunciation. The thug lingered, glaring at her with fists balled tightly.“You want an encore…?”“Why you… You alien monkey!”
“Sticks and stones,” she shrugged. Right now, the Saiyan songstress was far more annoyed about having to fight back than about being tossed derogatory remarks. Alas, the cycle was repeating itself – leave a place behind in order to escape conflict, yet wind up roped into such things anyway. Perhaps fate was trying to tell her something about trying to break from her ancestral binds. Patiently she patted the polished body of her guitar, awaiting her opponent’s next move with an insouciant flick of the hair.“You think you’re be’er than me!?”
“No,” Endivia replied sternly. “I know I am.”“Grr. Wha’ever! Le’s bail, boys! Ain’ go’ ‘ime ‘o deal with this!”
“Yes, Boss!” “Right, Boss!” “Okay, Boss!”
“Now that’s dealt with, maybe I can actually relax for once…” Ebon eyes watched as the disgruntled gangster and his men flew off, though not before tossing her some obscene gestures. Honestly, human males could be just as bad as their Vegetan counterparts. Maybe they could even be worse? Still, she let the thought slip. The more she dwelt upon the trivialities, the less she could kick back and relax and focus on what she truly thought important. First things first, though; she needed to dry her clothes…Word Count: 2,932
Profile: Endivia
[1] Hajiku 弾く (To Strum) [N1] 33% ~ Endivia plucks forcefully at her guitar’s strings, sending out a wave of sound and Ki energy that surges out around her. It is an area of effect attack, but is only effective at shorter ranges. Endivia can perform the attack without her guitar.