Dress for Success {open}

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl currently wore what appeared to be about half a jewelry counter. To be more accurate, there were about three or four hefty gold chains around his neck, layered in a fashion that nearly formed armor of some kind. Under that he wore what appeared to be at least three shirts, each layered in such a fashion as look almost planned that way. tags stuck out from around the edges, one nearly hitting the young man's ear with each motion. There was also something that probably had been a coat before it committed too many sins and was condemned to coat hell. Baggy pants hung in a very desperate fashion about his waist, showing off what appeared to be a pair of shorts underneath.

"Muhahahaha!" laughed Laharl. He'd crossed his arms over his scrawny chest and posed before a mirror. "My abilities might have failed me... and I might have lost all my stats... and my strength... and my cool hair... but with this equipment, I shall take over this pathetic world!"

Laharl shot a hand in what he thought was truly an epic pose. The entire ensemble shifted dangerously, looking as though it might bowl the small boy over. He held the pose for entirely too long, long enough to garner a few stares and for one little girl to pause and ask her mother if perhaps that was an incredibly lifelike, stupid looking manniken. Then Laharl shifted, drawing himself in and crossing his arms over his chest yet again. Yes, he looked superb, and he was certain that the clothing would give him the necessary boost.

"Pathe--" Laharl began while turning, only to remember that store keepers always had ridiculously high levels to prevent you from stealing from them. "Store clerk! I demand all this clothing! And that!" he pointed at another shelf of necklaces. "Now, put it in bags so that I might show the populace their new Overlord!"

"Uh, sir?" asked the clerk, blinking.

"What?"

"Uh, how are you going to... you know... pay?"

"Pay! I shall make you pay for your insolence, you insignificant little worm!" with that Laharl launched himself toward the store keep. Levels be damned; he was going to show them what an Overlord could accomplish; assuming, of course, the he didn't fall over thanks to the bling first.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash was really enjoying the mall. She wasn't really that into clothes normally--that was a Rarity thing--but now that they were mandatory, well, she was starting to sort of...like it. Don't tell anyone. The people at Tentenbree or whatever it was had given her some clothes, but she was heavily debating trying to get some new ones. She didn't have any money on her, but soon she'd find a job and that would be settled. Or she'd make friends with the nearest designer; that would work, too.

As she walked past one store, she heard a ruckus coming from inside. She glanced in and saw a young kid, probably a boy (short hair), yelling at some of the clerks. Frowning, Rainbow Dash stepped forward. Not even kids were allowed to be bullies.

"Hey!" she shouted as the boy launched himself forward. She jumped forward, too, expecting her wings to launch her. Instead, though, she just leapt forward and fell.

"Stupid...body," she grumbled. "I want my wings!"

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

In a move that nearly defied physics and the laws of Nature, Laharl twisted mid jump, turning to look at Rainbow Dash she sprang toward him. Thus she succeeded to some degree: instead of plowing into the clerk as per his plans, Laharl body-checked a desk and a rack of jewelry. This meant that several heavy bits of metal soon rained upon his head, which would likely have been painful even if he'd still maintained his demonic powers. As it was, it was certainly a sore boy who crawled out from under, still weighed down by the ridiculous amount of clothing he'd draped over his body.

He glared at Rainbow Dash. "You there, with the utterly stupid hair! You threw off my vicious attack! I was going to teach this---clerk," people cursed with less distaste, 'just who she was messing with. But now... now you--you've encouraged my wrath!'

He tossed his hand over his shoulder in a dramatic motion. This probably would have worked better had the motion not disturbed just about everything he wore, creating a vortex of energy that pulled Laharl a little further than he'd planned, nearly knocking him off balance. He paused and glared at Rainbow Dash, as if daring her to so much as say anything.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash picked herself up off the floor and stalked forward toward the boy. "You wanna say something about my hair, kid?" she asked, putting on her best seriously? face. "You're just a kid, and you can't even manage to stand upright. I don't like bullies no matter what size they are, but I'm starting to think I shouldn't have bothered. It's not like you're going to hurt anyone."

She looked over at the clerk. "You doing all right?" she asked. "This place is looking kind of...yuck."

She turned away from the boy, not seeing any reason to worry about him, since he obviously wasn't a serious threat. He might be a bully, but he wasn't going to do any damage here. Maybe if he ran into a baby with a lollipop there would be trouble.

"I always heard it's good for character for kids to do some hard work," she suggested in general. But if she needed to, she could help clean up, too. Even if she couldn't do it at typical Dash speed, it wasn't like her to leave somebody hanging.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

"Yeah, your hair is stupid," retorted Laharl, using all his innate wit and witticism, "you look like you dunked your head in a rainbow to see all the pretty colors. As for standing upright," He struck a pose, proving that he was, in fact, standing upright now. True, it took far, far more effort than it rightly should have, reminding Laharl yet again of all the power he'd lost in coming here. Still, he was confident in his ability to handle one rainbow-haired punk. "What you are witnessing is all my power! These garments will provide me with kickass strength, and I will use it to kick your butt!"

Laharl then crossed his arms over his scrawny chest and laughed. The clerk, meanwhile, had been ignoring him and was answering Rainbow Dash's questions, while casting slightly worried looks over at the laughing young man. It wasn't the "he might jump us" kind of worry, but the "I think something's wrong with that small child" concern. Not that Laharl could really notice the difference; he saw the worried look and interpreted just as he wanted.

"You had better run now, dweeb," announced Laharl, pointing vigorously at Rainbow. "Else I'll show you why you don't mess with an Overlord!"

[Rainbow Dash]

Aside from the fact that Rainbow Dash actually had a rainbow river that made rainbow-striped paint, she couldn't see what was wrong with the idea of someone wanting to look as cool as she did. "You're sounding jealous," she said with a smirk, crossing her arms across her chest. "If that's all your power, well, you might want to have a little more practice first before you go up against a master." That should be enough information for him to want to back down, right?

The kid was laughing, too, and in a weird way that reminded Rainbow Dash of Discord. Slightly unhinged and definitely aiming for maniacal. But what was a guy in a bunch of necklaces going to do? Just as Rainbow Dash was coming to the conclusion that she should probably stick around for a little while and help tidy, the kid decided to speak up again. It might not have been the best idea for his health.

She turned and frowned at him. "I'm sorry, what did you call me, your overlordship? Overlord of what? The heavy jewelry? I'm no Rarity, but even I can tell you need a lesson in how to accessorize." She looked the kid over again, frowning at his diminutive stature and impish face. "I don't usually bother with kids, but if you try to mess with me I'm not going to keep from grinding you into the ground. Which shouldn't be that hard to do, if you are as puny as you look."

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

"Jealous? Ha, don't make me laugh!" spat Laharl, as though he hadn't been laughing mere moments before. He was certainly smirking now. He could totally take this girl. Sure, he'd had some trouble with the scrawny guy back at the school... and there'd been some difficulties with the guys in suits... and he hadn't exactly won against that little girl whose candy he'd stolen... but this time, this time he would be victorious! For he had all the talismans upon him, granting him his strength. Why, he could probably even use some of his demonic powers.

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you, you rainbow haired fool! For I am the great Laharl, Overlord of the Netherworld! I've killed people for less insolence!" Okay, so that wasn't entirely true. Laharl very rarely killed anyone, even when he was at full power and acting his most demonic. It wasn't that he couldn't; it was just usually too much work. Yeah, that was totally it. He shifted now, moving into a combative pose, a hand extended in a tightly clenched fist.

"So why don't you just attack me, puny human, and we'll see who's pounding who into the ground!" snapped Laharl. And he smirked. Oh, how he wished he had a sword right about now. He'd look so damn cool.

[Rainbow Dash]

Yeah, the kid definitely sounded jealous. If Rainbow Dash hadn't been as cool as she was, she would have been jealous of her own awesomeness, as well. After all, she was the fastest flier in all of Equestria, and a friend of Princess Celestia. How much more awesome could it get? The guy couldn't actually think she was a loser, since she was so clearly amazing, so he must be jealous. Typical.

"The Neverworld?" she said with an impish grin. "Never heard of it. Definitely never heard of it having an overlord. So uh, yeah, I'm just going to say you made that one up. It doesn't even sound like a real place. Maybe the Neighver world..." She was so busy considering this that she almost missed the kid raising his fist and moving into a fighting position.

"Woah, hey, hey! Easy kid!" Rainbow Dash glanced around the store. "I'm serious, I don't want to beat up a little kid. Especially not in the store. So just take off all the stupid jewelry and get out, all right?" But when it looked like he wasn't going to listen to reason, she sighed and placed a hand on his forehead, keeping him at arm's length. "If you really want to see if you've got the stuff to take me, then you'll get rid of all those girly necklaces that are weighing you down and come outside to race me."

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

"Netherworld," repeated Laharl, nearly through gritted teeth. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He hadn't wanted to attack someone so much since he'd arrived here. Oh, if only he had his abilities. Just to be able to casually blast this girl would be a-freakin'-mazing. So amazing. Laharl was nearly blissing out on the mere thought of doing it.

Not helped by her mocking his attempts to fight in the slightest. If anything, Laharl bristled further at the insistence that she wouldn't beat him up. Being referred to as a child certainly didn't help matters either. Laharl hated that, though even he had to acknowledge that his appearance, especially this pathetic human body, certainly lent itself to such interpretations. His rage would not be contained by such logic, however. Instead he began swinging at Rainbow Dash in a manner most comedic, the comedy only increased by his inability to connect given her longer reach.

"You want me to remove my equipment? Are you insane?" Laharl barked, finishing with a sharp laugh. "Nice try, loser, but I'm not about to let go. Now, release me! Or feel my wrath!"

Which was then followed by some more flailing. After a few seconds of that, Laharl resorted to the oldest trick in the Netherworld: fighting dirty. In this case, that meant pinching Rainbow's wrist, hard, and shifting to get to a position to bite if she still didn't let go.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow Dash was happy to see that her tactic for keeping the kid out of her way was working. She began to laugh at the way he was swinging his arms out, trying to reach her. Not a loud laugh, of course. Her big laughs actually involved rolling around on the floor, so she contained herself to a more restrained guffaw.

"Equipment? How does that count as equipment? And I hate to tell you, but your wrath is pretty--ouch!" She yanked her hand away and shook it out, frowning again. "How did you...what did you even do?" It hadn't felt like a hit, and it had looked almost as though he had squeezed with the things on his strangely-shaped hooves. Rainbow Dash hadn't quite figured out what those things were for, but if they worked well for causing pain, well, that wasn't really beating someone up, was it?

"Give back what you took," she said, holding up her hands with her fingers ready to squeeze at him if he came close again. "It's not yours. And don't think you can scare me just with a little pain. I've dealt with way worse than that." She looked at him with narrowed eyes, holding her hooves up as weapons. This had gone far enough. She reached forward to try to take one of the necklaces off the boy's neck, since he wasn't doing it himself.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

It looked like Laharl's initial gambit had worked. He barked a laugh as she pulled away. His eyes lit with a wicked glee, and he folded his arms, striking a semi-triumphant pose. Serves her right for attempting to assault an Overlord! Laharl might not have all his powers, but he could still do damage. He was still chuckling when she looked up at him, obviously surprised. "That's only the smallest portion of my powers! You should be thankful that I don't have all my strength, or else I'd vaporize you on the spot."

He gestured in the universal "I'm pretending to shoot fireballs at you gesture," which, being universal, does not need further description than that. This did leave him rather exposed, so that Rainbow caught hold of his necklace easily enough. Laharl let out a very unimpressive "hurk" as she pulled at it, nearly threatening to topple him over. His arms flailed to the side, desperately fighting to restore what balance he could manage.

"Unhand me, freak!" he snapped. His hands went down on Rainbow's, slapping away with the ferocity born in every spoiled child. Admittedly, it was still slapping, and it was less hard than fast, but the ferocity was totally there. Totally.

[Rainbow Dash]

"Yeah, well, it doesn't look like you have any power," Rainbow Dash said in a low growl. "So now what, kid?" She had no idea what in the world he was doing with his hands--maybe it was supposed to be some sort of offensive gesture? Well, these creatures didn't have tails, so it would make sense for them to come up with something else.

She grabbed the necklace with ease and tried to pull it off his neck, but he fell forward instead, the weight of all the jewelry making him even more clumsy than she guessed he would normally be. It actually messed her up, since it meant that the necklaces only got more tangled instead of coming off, and it threatened to drag her down with the load. When he slapped her arms, she let go quickly, frowning. She shook out her arm, wincing at the stinging pain. Things seemed to hurt more here than they did in Equestria.

"Okay, that's it, you little runt." Since he was already off-balance, Rainbow Dash decided to use gravity in her favor--for once--and leaned forward to knock the boy to the ground. She reached out to push him, hoping that the fall might stun him long enough for her to come up with her next step. "I think it's time you figured out who you're actually dealing with here. Nobody attacks Rainbow Dash and gets away with it."

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

"I HAVE POWER!" yelled Laharl. He could feel the anger coursing through him, practically bubbling his blood. If rage and fury unlocked abilities (as they did in many of the universes our poor Shifted come from), then Laharl would have likely leveled up there on the spot. As it was, all he did was essentially throw a temper tantrum, complete with some stomping and arm waving. By now, even the clerk was beginning to feel decidedly bored with it all.

and there had been the wobbling and the slapping, and Laharl was starting to feel at least marginally better than he had been only a few moments before. The girl had felt his fury (sissy slap) and had obviously been injured. "Ha! See, that's what you get for messing with an Overlord!" he crossed his arms and barked another laugh. "Just be thankful that--woah!"

For Rainbow dash had lurched forward, connecting hard with Laharl. The scrawny kid likely would have went flying even if he hadn't been off balance from all the lunging and the heavy jewelry and all. As it was, he went tumbling hard, barely able to do more than windmill his arms and attempt to snatch at Rainbow's arm. The fell was a hard one too, the heavy jewelry bouncing against Laharl's chest, likely hard enough to cause a bruise. It certainly winded the boy, who had to curl slightly at the sheer pressure of it all. He still managed to lash out with a foot in a desperate, wild attempt at a kick, but otherwise, he most closely resembled a turtle that had been flipped onto his shell...

[Rainbow Dash]

From a distance, the whole altercation between the two opponents might have looked like a simple squabble involving some flailing and name-calling. But for Rainbow Dash, the fight was turning completely serious. She was sure that the spot on her arm where she had been pinched was beginning to bruise, and the yelling was getting out of hand. They were causing a distraction, which was only good if she came out looking like a hero, which was certainly not happening now. She was certainly becoming frustrated with the whole thing.

"Yeah right, Overlord of Nevernothing," she said as she pushed the kid, already regretting her poor decision of a witty comeback. She was also regretting the push, actually, since she hadn't been prepared for all of his subsequent flailing. Really, that was her own fault; what had she expected?

As it was, the kid managed to snatch at her arm, pulling her slightly off balance as he fell. The effect was more dramatic than it might have been on someone who wasn't use to autocorrecting balance using her wings, and it was enough to make her balance precariously on one foot while she struggled to regain her footing. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time for that, since the boy managed to lash out and kick her other leg out from under her, sending Rainbow Dash herself falling to the ground. She lay on the floor for a moment, wincing from the unexpected pain in her chest. She'd somehow managed to avoid smashing her nose, but she took an extra moment to catch her breath, arms and legs sprawled out on the ground.

Eventually she rolled over and looked over at the boy, whose fall she chose to interpret as a full defeat. "Ha!" she said, pointing at him. "Now, I hope you learned a lesson about trying to steal and pick on others. So just--ow" (her chest was still tender) "take off the stupid jewelry and give it back. It obviously didn't give you any sort of special powers."

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl still couldn't quite move, mostly because his chest hurt about now. He was, however, quite aware of the fact that Rainbow had hit the ground as well. This was an unqualified success in Laharl's book, and he barked a laugh and pointed at her. He still didn't get up to actively taunt her or anything that would make him seem a little more... imposing, but there was definitely some pointing and laughing going on, expert level pointing and laughing...

which was being reflected back. "Foolish human!" the way Laharl spat the word made it clear it was a curse, "I have brought you down to my level, that is clearly a---hey!"

For while Laharl had been wrapped up in dealing with Rainbow, he'd ignored the clerk. Said clerk had had enough of Laharl and his childish antics several posts...err, minutes ago, and had been watching the whole altercation with something akin to amusement. She'd been rooting for Rainbow the whole time, though she'd had to face-palm as the rainbow-hued rescuer hit the ground. Now, however, the clerk had taken advantage of Laharl's position to come around and seize some of the jewelry. As Laharl was currently stunned, he couldn't do more than slap pathetically, which looked like something an infant would manage. the clerk gave Rainbow a look that was half "thank you" and half "seriously, you're on the ground?"

"Hey! Give that---I have money!" insisted Laharl. He dug into his pockets, producing several coins. "See, money! Now relinquish unto me the clothing!"

And he was attempting to scramble, which looked like nothing so much as a turtle attempting to right itself after falling on its shell.