(As if he needed help being any creepier, right?<img alt=";)" src="./images/smilies/wink.gif" title="Wink"/>Lol Not sure that any of the characters would actually say it, so I just had to. )<br/><br/>(On a side note, it took a while for me to figure out something appropriate for Sin. I mean, I knew the perfect weapons for her almost instantly, what was tricky was the personalities that might work. I think I settled on something in an old cliche that could be funny. XD<br/><br/>Since she likes to use her hands, a pair of combat bracers, or gauntlets depending what terminology you prefer, were the perfect fit. But hers is a difficult personality to match with. Someone either has to be just as hard headed as she is and appreciate the challenge, or like taking orders and abuse like some sort of dom/sub relationship. But then I thought, there've been plenty of shows where you see someone with tattoos on their knuckles, one says love and one says hate.  What if that's what they were. One is quick and easy to activate (hate) eager for any chance to get into a good fight. The other (love) is more defensive and actually packs a more devastating punch but takes longer to coax into battle either needing a legitimate reason to do so, or an appropriate build-up time.<br/><br/>I haven't really thought of anything for Melissandra yet... a hat could be cute. Like the sorting hat from Harry Potter, except it would be used to store supplies in an extradimensional pocket and provide advise for spells and potions and stuff. That could be nice and appropriate. Or maybe a little dagger. Not unusual for a witch/sorceress to carry their trusty dagger wherever they go. )<br/><br/><br/><br/>Sin was headed back to the galley, ready to try and ambush Melissandra again. Realistically they both knew she didn't HAVE to. The big tigress could easily just march in there and snatch up the mouse woman, but, it seemed like she was having more fun treating it like a game and wasn't concerned about rushing it or anything.<br/><br/>This time she was being more careful, still creeping quietly, but crouching down, doing her best to keep her large body hidden from the mouse's line of sight... until one of Spectra's shadows rushed up alongside her. "Captain, would you come to the captain's quarters, please?"<br/><br/>There was a loud thud as her head quickly rose and hit one of the counters before she growled "Damnit!!!"<br/><br/>Melissandra turned around with a start, though had to stifle a laugh as she realized what had happened. Even though she knew the tigress was trying to sneak up on her to do, any number of unspeakable things to her, it was actually kind of cute and funny that she was trying to play fair, in a way. "Better luck next time!" Melissandra called out jokingly as Sin rose up and shook herself off before leaving the galley once more to head to her destination.<br/><br/>Upon entering the captain's quarters she was quite surprised to see all the weird things that were going on. Primarily the armor moving around and acting as if Grandus was currently inhabiting it. "How NOBLE of you..." She said, in a low and sarcastic tone, after hearing his remark about wanting to find these weapons a home. "You don't strike me as the altruistic type. I imagine you simply think we couldn't handle it..." She added, without even thinking about it, picking up a right handed combat bracer.<br/><br/>"Captain, don't--!" Spectra wasn't even able to get out in time, before the captain had already taken the weapon in hand. Sin's eyes rolled back as her body went limp, falling into Spectra's arms as the succubus moved to catch her. "Damnit Vivian, why do you always have to be soo damn... Rrrgh!!!" She growled angrily though she continued to hold her closely anxiously waiting to see what would happen.<br/><br/><br/>(Rather than get sidetracked on a whole big thing, I'll just let the trial remain vague and mysterious. But, yes, since Sin didn't actually take the time to learn about or consider what she was doing, she'll definitely have a battle trial to prove her strength and determination to the "hate" bracer until a better name is sorted.<img alt=":P" src="./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif" title="Razz"/>I imagine he would enjoy both how stubborn she is and how capable she is with her hands in battle. )<br/><br/>Spectra could feel the struggle and turmoil taking place within the captain as she underwent her test. She knew how this worked, even though mere seconds were passing for her and the rest, for Sin it was like she was in a whole different world with its own set of rules and a completely separate sense of time. For all she knew the captain could have already been fighting for months in the few minutes she'd been waiting.<br/><br/><br/>"Gasp!!!" Sin's eyes opened wide and she took a deep breath as she quickly stood up, shaking off Spectra's embrace. As she did so the weapon she had previously been holding moved and transferred, wrapping itself around her arm. The golden bracer taking a dangerous looking sharp and pointy form, large spiked knuckles appearing as she raised her right hand as if to strike any oncoming threats.<br/><br/>Spectra rose and showed her hands to reassure the captain she was safe. "Oh, thank the goddess... it's alright captain, you're safe. Though that was a foolish thing to do, you should never have simply grabbed such a weapon so carelessly, you have no idea what could have happened to you if you'd failed."<br/><br/>As Spectra spoke, Sin looked around, taking in her surroundings, taking in deep breaths as she came to grips with her reality returning again. Though none of them knew what she'd been through for sure, it was clear to see her challenge had been anything but easy and was likely quite violent and challenging.<br/><br/>"Gasp... gasp... hooo..." She took a few more deep breaths before finally lowering her hand, the gauntlet changing and compressing down into a golden ring around the middle finger of her right hand. "It's all right... I'm ok..." She said. Though by her tone it was hard to tell whether or not she was saying this to convince the others, or herself.<br/><br/>She looked challengingly at the suit of armor that was Grandus's stand in.<br/><br/>"Vivian... what are you doing...?!" Spectra asked with concern. She could tell the captain was feeling defiant, which meant she was likely about to try something foolish, the question was what?<br/><br/>"It's a matching set." She growled, reaching out to grab the left one as well.<br/><br/>"Oh, come on!!!" Spectra growled frustratedly, catching her again as Sin took the left bracer in hand and appeared to pass out once more. "I should have let you fall..." She growled angrily at the captain's seemingly continued hasty foolishness.<br/><br/>At least this time the emotions coming from her didn't seem nearly as violent or frightening. In fact it seemed quite the opposite, the captain almost seemed vulnerable, desperate, helpless... almost like when she talked about losing and retrieving the bloody devil, or those rare moments when you could actually catch her admitting to care about something or someone.<br/><br/><br/>The gauntlet compressed down to a gold ring around her left middle finger, matching the one on her right before she woke up once again. "That one was... better..." Sin said weakly, not rushing up into an attack position right away this time.<br/><br/>"Urgh!!!" Spectra growled, removing her hands, letting Sin fall backwards to the floor.<br/><br/>"Hey!" Sin growled, as she picked herself up off the floor. "Fine... you were right..." She said, rubbing the back of her head sorely.<br/><br/>Just the fact she admitted something like that so quickly and easily caused Spectra to raise a brow in curiosity. Just what happened in those few minutes she was out? Even when she KNEW she was wrong getting her to admit that was usually a battle in itself, so this was certainly new.<br/><br/>"And fine... I believe you. So, as a courtesy, captain to captain... I'll be done with your ship soon. Since you're probably using whatever... THIS... is..." She said, waving her hands to the suit to signify how he was using his chi to control it, or however he explained it earlier, "to keep track of where everything is anyway, I'll save you some time. You'll be able to find it at Cloud Nine... in tact. It's nothing but a means to an end for me, it's too big and I never really wanted it anyway. Besides, I'm sure you'll love fighting off Nonoke and any other dumb shits stupid enough to try and claim it before you get there, so have fun with that. I look forward to never having to see you again." She said to Grandus before looking to anyone else who was currently there. "These things are... fucked up... don't be stupid, take your time." She said, reinforcing the caution Spectra and Grandus were trying to instill earlier. "I need a drink." She then muttered before making her way back out of the captain's quarters and below deck again.<br/><br/>Spectra rolled her eyes and sighed. That woman really liked pushing her luck, hopefully it didn't run out on her soon.