7th Combo

[redcladidealist]

Who: Lloyd and anyone who might be interested
Where: Island
When: Backdated to the curse week
Style: [Action]
Status: Open

[Crack!]

Dammit, not again!

[Lloyd glares at the two broken sticks in his hand, frustration mounting. Ever since this curse started, he's been breaking everything. He'd always thought being super strong would be really cool.

It's not. Not when you can't control it. Bowls, cups, the door to his apartment, the coffee table he'd accidentally banged his shin against, it seems like everything he touches is shattering to pieces. Thankfully, he hasn't hurt anyone yet, but how long will that last if he can't control his strength? He doesn't want to avoid everyone for an entire week, or however long this curses lasts!

Assuming it isn't permanent. Despite having been here long enough to know that curses don't stay for very long, he can't quite dismiss the possibility.

So here he is, on the island, practicing picking up and touching things that no one will care if he breaks - mostly rocks and sticks. And logs. Whole fallen trees.

Okay, that's pretty cool.

But once again, when he'd picked up two sticks to swing like swords, the moment he'd tried to grip them properly, they'd snapped just like twigs. He doesn't even dare to use his own swords for this, and he'd left them back in his apartment. What if he breaks them, too? Dropping the sticks, he growls - yes, growls, no one's here, he doesn't care if he's losing his temper now - and to anyone sensitive to ki or mana, his uncontrolled emotions send his power level rising. A scouter would read his power at nine thousand and one.

Yes, it's over nine thousaaaaand!

But Lloyd doesn't know that. Still frustrated, he turns and kicks a convenient rock. It goes flying, disappearing from sight in a blink. He moodily watches where it went for a moment, then plunks himself on the ground.

Sitting on his tail. Oh yes, let's not forget the other thing that he'd gained besides super strength. Pain lances through his body, toppling him to his side - and mercifully off of the fuzzy brown appendage. Tears prickle in his eyes anyway.]

Ow ow ow ow ow! Augh, I hate this curse!

Comments

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius has been having problems of his own this week. With his blue blood swapped for yellow, he's lost his freakish STRENGTH (which is kind of good), but gained uncontrollable psionic powers (which is definitely bad). He's been hanging out up on the island since he's already put a hole in the roof of his home back in the bubble, and the sounds of destruction catches his attention.]

[Hey, it's Lloyd. He remembers this guy!]

You okay?

[redcladidealist]

[Oh, hey, yeah, he remembers Equius, too. Boring poetry and that friend of his who was afraid of standing up. Lloyd sits up, trying to rub the soreness out of his tail.]

I'm fine. Just frustrated.

[He lets go of his tail and gestures toward the scattered remnants of sticks.]

But sheesh, you'd think I was using crackers instead of sticks!

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Wow, rude! Equius' poetry is great, and Eridan most certainly is NOT his friend!]

You're having problems with your STRENGTH?

[He knows that feel, bro. Does he ever know that feel.]

[redcladidealist]

[But you were such a great friend to him, trying to help him overcome his fear!]

[Lloyd nods, more of his frustration leaking out.]

I came out here to try to figure out how not to break everything.

[He picks up a stick and it cracks in his hands the moment he actually gets a grip on it. He scowls and hunches his shoulders.]

See what I mean? But I'm not having any luck so far.

[stayb100ponyboy]

You're trying too hard.

[Equius walks over, giving Lloyd a wide berth--hey, he understands how easy it is to lose control and accidentally damage things around you, and he doesn't want to get in his path--and picks up a stick. That's about the only nice thing about being a yellowblood, beside his one lovely blue eyes... he can touch whatever he wants.]

Hold your hands out flat for me.

[neededahand]

[While Lloyd is experiencing an increase in power, Gohan and the adorably grumpy rat on his shoulder -- otherwise known as Trunks -- have experienced a decrease. Gohan's got a fun little fancy wrist-not-a-watch, and Trunks has a skinny bald tail and a tiny Capsule Corp jacket.

Still, Gohan has good reflexes, and when he sees the rock Lloyd kicked careening straight for him, he can DOOOOOOOOOODGE.]

You okay, kid? Hang on, I want to see where that came from.

[Because that had to be a bit shaky. He runs off in that direction, and once he hears the yelling, he frowns.]

Lloyd? Did you hurt yourself?

[fighting4afuture]

[Yeah, he totally squeaked there. His grip isn't half as strong as normal, as he has tiny little rat hands.]

Yeah, I'm good.

[Luckily, the lack of muscle strength is made up for a bit in the fact that he has claws that he can dig into the fabric of Gohan's gi with.

Lloyd, huh? At least he'll recognize one of them. Sob.]

[redcladidealist]

[Yeah, sorry Trunks, Lloyd recognizes one of you, but it definitely isn't the rat. He looks up when he's addressed, feeling just a little bit sheepish at having been caught in his moment of indignity.]

Gohan? Um, yeah- I mean, no, not really.

[Hang on, he's trying to stuff this tail back under his shirt. Why won't it just stay/i> where he puts it? He wouldn't have sat on it at all if it had just stayed put.]

Mostly just my pride.

[He might have grumbled something more, still moody about this whole frustrating business, but Trunks catches his eye. He blinks.]

You have a rat on your shoulder.

[redcladidealist]

[Lloyd eyes Equius, trying to figure out where this is going. Trying too hard? How would he know?

Moody or not, though, he's still Lloyd, and he doesn't think twice about complying. He holds out his hands, palms facing up.]

What do you mean, trying too hard?

[tsundyne]

[Yukari's been dealing with a lot lately since the curse started. Things have calmed down considerably, but the island is still one of her favorite places to get away, so...here she is, taking a leisurely stroll along the beach. After it transformed into that weird city once, she'd never take it for granted again.

And upon seeing Lloyd, she stops to offer a sympathetic stare before approaching with a sigh. He's pretty darn frustrated with himself, by the looks of it; but it seems he's at least practicing like he intended.]

...Hey.

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius carefully lays the stick across Lloyd's open palms.]

When you're STRONG and can't control it, you have to treat everything like it's made of the finest spun glass, even if it's something that's normally STRONG too. Tilt your hands back and forth and try to roll the stick as far down your palms as you can without dropping it.

[This is something Darkleer showed him that he's been working on!]

[redcladidealist]

[Something about that description resonates with Lloyd. He grumbles in agreement.]

It does feel like everything's made of glass sometimes.

[Still a little confused about the purpose of this exercise, he tilts his hands and lets the stick slide down, slowly, slowly, until it catches almost at his fingertips.]

Okay, now what?

[redcladidealist]

[He looks up, forgetting for a moment that he's holding his tail, trying to rub the pain away.

Aw, man, did Yukari have to see him when his pride was at its lowest?

He manages a weak smile in return that he clearly doesn't feel, quickly picking himself up off the ground.]

Hey. I didn't expect to see you here.

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Oh gosh, he's helping someone deal with their own chaotic strength, this is so exciting!]

Now roll it back onto the base of your palm and catch it there.

[Equius picks up another stick and does the same with his own hands. He can roll his much faster and with more control than Lloyd. This is because he's spent hours practicing.]

When you're so STRONG, you can't blunder through life touching whatever you want like other people do. You have to let things roll against you, touching you like this stick is touching your hands. Touching things directly breaks them. Indirect touching, if you're careful, is okay.

[saiyan_prince]

[Vegeta still visits the island, though the rain has him in a bit of a bad mood. When he feels that spike in power, he approaches from the front, thinking it's Bardock.

It's that human kid. He hasn't noticed the tail yet, so he gapes openly.]

What did you do to increase your power so quickly? Your power level... it's over nine thousand!

[strength_of_tomorrow]

[He hadn't intended to run into Lloyd. The weather wasn't exactly great up here, but he could really feel it. Besides, on the island, there were less people to see him stumbling slightly when he walked around. He's startled to walk up behind his son and see him with a tail. Frowning and adjusting his glasses (which do nothing for his vision. Humans didn't really have vision this terrible, did they? He doesn't remember it being this bad!), he speaks.]

Is something the matter?

[redcladidealist]

Nine thousand?

[He has absolutely no idea what Vegeta is talking about, and strangely that actually helps him push mess of emotions aside. Or maybe it's just Vegeta himself. Something about the man makes Lloyd want to stand up straight, and he does, letting his tail drop from his hands to swing free behind him. Maybe he'll find something to tie it up with to keep it out of his way. Right now, though, he focuses on Vegeta.]

I didn't do anything. It's the curse that did this to me.

[saiyan_prince]

[Closer now, he notes the tail as well as the scent that identifies Lloyd as no longer human. No, he's better than human now.]

You have become Saiyan, then. Like me.

[He unfurls his tail from around his waist and waves it to get Lloyd's attention before curling it up again.]

This is how we hold our tails.

[redcladidealist]

[Strength isn't the only thing Lloyd's gained with this curse. His sense of smell and his sense of hearing are much sharper now. Even with that, though, somehow Kratos still manages to sneak up on him. He jumps and whirls around-

-and something inside him seizes up.

It's Kratos.

His f-

Even with all the time he's had since Zelos confirmed that fact, his mind still trips on that word. One set of jumbled emotions is traded right for another. He can't even tell if he wants to shout or run.]

You. What do you want?

[strength_of_tomorrow]

[His facial expression doesn't change when Lloyd addresses him, though he is frowning more than usual. It feels like he can't see, he's constantly squinting.]

Nothing in particular. It sounded as if you were in distress.

[Lloyd had sounded in pain, even. He wanted to help, but it's difficult to vocalize that. It's not as if he can offer much help at the moment anyway, he can't even cast First Aid.]

[redcladidealist]

Wait. That's what I am?

[Lloyd gives the man a startled look. It hadn't occurred to him that he might actually be the same race as someone he knows.

Sure enough, though, that tail catches his attention. Curled around his waist? That's... Actually, that's a good idea. Why didn't he think of that? He tries to copy Vegeta, feeling a little bit awkward controlling an appendage he's never had before. His tail is only wrapped around his waist for a few moments, though, before it falls away, like it has a mind of its own.]

How do you get it to stay?

[redcladidealist]

[There's something about Kratos's utterly blank face that never fails to rankle Lloyd. Now, though, after learning who this man really is, it makes it even worse. Lloyd bristles at the words that should be filled with concern, but aren't.

He snaps, losing his temper.]

Oh yeah? What do you care?!

[saiyan_prince]

If we forget, someone grabs it. It is a weak spot, you can't just leave it hanging.

[Unfortunately for Lloyd, Vegeta's going to demonstrate by lightly thwapping the tip of his tail. It's not that paralyzing level of pain that would be felt if grabbed or stepped on, but it would still hurt.]

[redcladidealist]

[That... sort of makes some sense. Things that touch him without him using any force shouldn't be in danger of breaking. Unfortunately, that doesn't cover everything.]

But what about when I want to pick something up, or hold something tight enough that someone can't knock it out of my hands?

[Still, he continues with the stick practice, rolling it to his palms. It slips, though, and he fumbles, trying to catch hold of it. The minute his fingers wrap around it...

Crunch.

Now he's holding a splintered mess.]

Dammit! That's exactly what I'm talking about!

[strength_of_tomorrow]

It is not as if I wish any harm on you.

[Quite the opposite, really. He wants to protect Lloyd, though for the boy's sake he's entrusted it to Zelos for now. Why had he called out to him? He should have just turned and walked away, but dammit, he'd been worried. He couldn't just walk away when it was obvious something was wrong.]