Ayumi sat, perched on top of the Ignition Town Police station that overlooked the town square. The wind blew through her hair as s lightning storm approached. Earlier the same morning she had picked up a job offer to retrieve a purse that was stolen from a young lady the night before. Ayumi looked at the mug shot of the man who was reported as the thief and examined it before sticking it in her shirt and closing her eyes, listening to the various sounds of the city and people around her.
A few blocks down, Ayumi could hear a scuffle that sounded like two men fighting. She opened her eyes and leaped off the roof onto a nearby tree then onto a lower rooftop. She traveled the rooftops until she came to a circular crowd spectating two men squaring off, she recognized one of them men as the purse thief. The other seemed to be a young boy, probably 15.
Ayumi leaped down onto the sidewalk, the attention of the the two men and the spectators being drawn to her. She approached the younger boy and held his face, examining a bloody scratch on his forehead. She smiled at the boy and shooed him away before pulling the mugshot from her shirt and holding it up in comparison to the older man. They were a match and Ayumi could see the purse hanging from the man's arm.
"Don't you think that's a little too...feminine for you?" She drew one of her katanas and pointed it at the man mere inches from his throat. "I think it'd look better on the girl you took it from." She smirked and approached him, backing him against the brick wall of the alleyway. She flicked her wrist that held the sword, slicing the strap of the purse causing it to fall to the ground.
"It's my ma's! Back off Miss Kitty!" The thief said picking up the purse again.
Ayumi's tail flickered as she jumped and kicked the purse into the air and snatched it. She flicked her wrist one more time as she landed and cut the man's leg. people from the crowd started to disperse as the sound of cops were filing the streets. Ayumi smirked and cut the man's other leg and held her sword to his throat. "Don't steal what you can't keep." She winked at the man and waited for the cops.
The police came and arrested the thief and took the purse to return it. Ayumi then received a reward from the police of 250 gold. She retreated down the street and back towards her shack she called home.
The day was shaping up to actually be a pretty decent one. As Ta'aren walked down the boulevard to go open up shop for the day, he looked up to observe the brewing storm, the sky an angry mish-mash of greys and blacks. Whilst his face remained expressionless, he himself felt a lightening in his mood; this was his kind of weather.
Humming a tuneless funeral march to himself, he slotted the key in the shop door and turned, pushing open the door to a dimly-lit room and stepping inside. The shop front was filled with ominous silhouettes cast by his various embalming experiments, but all it took was a quiet whisper of a spell and green torch lights pooled in the lamps that were nailed to walls, illuminating the space.
Unfortunately, this did nothing to detract from the creepiness of the room, for Ta'aren had an unexpected visitor - who really ought not to be so very unexpected by now.
"Whatcha think?"Grey asked, sat in a wooden, straight-back chair in front of the shop counter, rocking on the back two legs and looking awfully smug with himself.
Required to give an opinion, Ta'aren appraised the latest addition to his shop's decor.
A woman, aged somewhere in her late forties, dressed in a dowdy apron and pinafore dress, was suspended from the ceiling by two chains wrapped around her wrists, dangling her there like some kind of gaudy parody of Christ. Her face was unharmed, but she had been sliced from the top of her breastplate down to the peak of her groin, and her entrails were slowly spilling out of the opening. Ta'aren thought he spotted a liver dropped on the floor below her, although that could quite easily have been a cat - his eyesight was going nowadays.
"I think you'd better clean it up," he said flatly as he turned the welcome sign on his shop front door to read 'OPEN'.
"Well, don't you want to know what happened?" Grey demanded impatiently, crashing his chair back down onto all fours and grinning at his brother in anticipation.
"No," Ta'aren replied. With the beginning of a scowl he stepped around the suspended corpse - which smelt faintly of perfume and blood - and then took his usual seat behind the counter, pulling out the surgical book he was currently reading and finding his page.
"I thought you normally liked morbid things," Grey said, and he was definitely pouting by this point.
"I do," Ta'aren said, "you're just a shit storyteller."
Puffing up in indignation, Grey stood up from his chair, looked set to yell something at his brother, before releasing a low growl and turning on his heel, marching right out of the shop, letting the door slam closed behind him. Ta'aren said nothing further, watching him leave.
Well great, he thought dully, looking up at his new deceased companion, now I'm going to have to clean that up.
This wasn't something that normally happened, as he was usually too busy cleaning the horrible injustice of cleanliness that was the police precincts break room. But they had recently hired a cleaning lady to do that job for him, and since there weren't any reports of nightmares wreaking havoc currently, and smaller crimes were being kept from him, as the last time they asked him to investigate a robbery, he accidentally ripped half the house from its base with a blast of air. Because he thought the thief may have been hiding behind the curtains.
Suffice to say, they decided to keep him from the small things, and instead had him doing desk-work, which he was utterly terrible at, and after flooding the bathroom with papers...Well.
Then they tried to make him clean, which he was glad to do. But when he tried to blow all the dust into a bag and ended up flooding the main workplace with dust, causing quite a bit of hysteria.
In truth, the police seemed to think he was more trouble than he was worth.
Working for the police was a way to accomplish his goals of fighting the evils that terrorized the town. But sometimes he felt a bit of jealousy for the heroes that worked independently of the crime fighters, he was contemplating the benefits of quitting the police job and going full time hero. Pursuing the streets 24/7.
He realized he would have to sleep, and that the police were fairly good at sending him out to fight the terrors they couldn't conquer themselves. But before he could come to a conclusion, he realized the day was almost over. And they would be sending him out of the precinct before long. They didn't like to him keep around late. In case he got to twitchy and demanded some injustice to battle.
He sighed, leaned forward in the reclining office chair, and gathered his things spread across the desk.
Which wasn't even his desk, but they were nice enough to let him use it in lieu of his official one being in need of serious repair.
But regardless of whose desk he was currently sitting at. One of the officers as predicted came in to usher him out and thank him for his services, which today were nothing of large importance.
And with that Rath was now on his way out of the police station. To presumably head out and look for any crimes or injustice. And then after fighting at least 3 crimes and feeling satisfied with his help to the world, he would retire to sleep or do personal things, like contemplating fighting more injustice.
The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?
One minute the sun is shining high, now the sky is churning with shades of deep grey that look as pleasing as wet concrete, Ivy complained inside her mind, all while gently swaying back and forth on the swing attached to the children's playground. Not a youthful soul was to be seen; as soon as Ivy had arrived in the cheerful place- every broad smile and frolicking pair of plaits were quickly escorted out of the play area by concerned mothers. At that thought, Ivy mentally grinned. Finally, a place to herself.
The girl hummed to herself, a dark orchestral tune that had played over the radio this morning. Her violet eyes were cast to her feet, which were nothing but two pale white lines amongst the colorful turf inside the playground. Ivy's mind churned with thoughts and possibilities for things to do, but nothing seemed to appeal her tastes. You can't do spells in public, at least Ivy's kind of spells, unless you're planning for the spotlight to you. Today, she felt like being a shadow, lingering in the back walls of somewhere. Only one place would allow a girl hide for hours and hours behind walls..
"Honestly, of all the things we can do in Ignition, do I have to resort to a library?"
Ivy huffed. Gracefully, she leaped off of the swing-set and out onto the ground ahead. The girl dusted her powder blue dress off, as if it had gained lint in the past ten minutes, before sighing yet again and walking out into the busying streets ahead.
She was amazed at how diverse this small down had grown to be. Being a resident for almost 10 years, she had seen every single one of the economical crashes, inflation of prices, and even the small festivals they hosted. But now, Ivy was most amazed at how much she could get away with. The police forces had loosened up out on the streets, meaning that she could pickpocket her way without any concerns. Not that Ivy needed money, she had a stable job as a secretary for a large advertisement company, making plenty of gold each month..
But money wasn't important to her. A new group had arisen recently, something called the Living Nightmares. Ivy would do anything to become a part of it, much so that she had to plan her next attempt very carefully, without any flaws or errors at that matter.
Suddenly, Ivy found herself in front of a large quartz building, adorned by several flights of stairs as the front. The Ignition Library. DeLacasseur gave a sigh of relief, before darting up the stairs to the giant doors as an entrance.
Few minutes later, the young girl could be found in the back of the library, books stacked to their highest and the slightest smile of content on Ivy DeLacasseur's pale pink lips.
Ivory strolled down the streets at a rather relaxed pace, grateful for the thick cover of clouds protecting her from the suns annoying rays. Taking out slip of paper out of her pocket a smirk played across her face, her eyes lighting up with an opportunistic glow as it did. 'Nightmare, 34th Street, 5:40' An anonymous tip she'd found in her mailbox earlier in the day was scrawled across it in large, rushed lettering.
For all she knew it could be a trap, though she wasn't too concerned, she was confident enough in her abilities to make a quick getaway if things turned sour. Regardless though she'd brought a couple of vials of her blood that she'd pre-prepared a few weeks earlier just for situations like this, which were now clattering together harmlessly in the pocket of her suit jacket.
Stuffing the note back into her pocket Ivory resumed her casual pace, now approaching her destination as the first few drops of rain began to fall from the sky, dampening her clothes as it landed on her.
Great.
She'd just had this suit dry cleaned dammit. Now it was going to get freakin' soaked if she didn't hurry things up. This tip better be legit or god help whoever sent her out in this weather, she'd be sure to give them a piece of her mind if she ever managed to find out who the heck they were.
Sighing she brushed those thoughts away, for the time being at least she needed to stay focused on the job at hand, she could worry about her clothes when she was done.
Arriving on 34th Street Ivory clambered up onto a nearby roof, which provided a good view of the area below, and, as she was a little early, began to waited to see if this would turn out to be legit or not, rolling one of the vials around in her palm impatiently as she did.
6PM was approaching as Berendil was casually walking through the streets whistling a happy melody,his umbrella standing high.He was smoking on a pipe he got recently.At the next junction the sign read "34th Street".
"Hmm...what a sad little day,the skies so gray...the rain pouring down....Such a shame!".
He muttered to himself.
The sound of his whistling and the raindrops hitting the ground were the only things filling the streets.He stopped for a moment to admire the sturdy buildings and looked inside many shops that were on that street.
Sensing a nearby presence he turned around and looked carefully on the roofs."Can't fool this old coot"he thought to himself.He immediately recognized Ivory.He gestured towards her in the distinct Hero salute before going inside one of his friends' shop.He froze.The vendor was lying dead in a pool of blood.He looked around for the murderer,but didn't find anything apart from the broken glass and all the stolen valuables.Quickly rushing outside,he loaded and fired a small bolt that exploded high in the air with a distinctive noise signaling the police and Heroes in the area.After doing so Berendil gestured towards Ivory to come down there.
Spotting Beredil's signal, followed by his gesture Ivory slid down the roof, hopping off and landing on her feet on the streets below as she neared the roof's edge, landing a short distance from Berendil.
After giving a short jog to his position Ivory threw her arm around the older man's shoulder in a friendly manner "What's goin on old-timer?" Smiling happily as she spoke. The question itself was fairly redundant, it was pretty obvious that this had something to do with the tip she'd gotten earlier, but she hadn't talked with old Bereny in a while and wanted to catch up before she went and put on her serious face.
Smiling and then taking on another puff of his pipe he became a little more serious and said.
"Hmm...where should I start?Well...Richie there is lying in a pool of most likely his own blood,while the killer is free with his valuables"
He gestured towards the dead body that was clearly visible as Berendil left the door open.As he went back inside the man gestured towards Ivory to follow him.
"I'm going to try and see what kind of injuries he has so we can better make out what kind of mongrel did this.You can stick around if you want,maybe even look around for more evidence.If you don't then you're free to go after the killer,in which case I wish you good luck.The thing is probably well on it's way right now and our only chances of catching it would be getting some evidence to the investigators."
Berendil crouched in front of the dead body and began closely examining it.
Ayumi had almost made it home when she heard a very loud crack in the sky. She assumed that it was lightening when a lightening strike itself had happened seconds after. She looked back behind her, toward the sound of the first crack to see that it was some sort of signal. She looked up into the sky as it had started to lightly drizzle. She didn't like getting her hair wet but it was probably important.
"Alright...here we go." She flicked her hood above her head as she decided to check it out. She made her way along the roof tops until she saw a few police officers standing outside a small shop. Two other Heroes, it seemed, had just walked inside. Ayumi leaped off the roof landing on the sidewalk and started slowly strolling toward the store. She gave a friendly, yet joking knock on the door as he entered.
"Hey! Ayumi! Good to see you!" Leaving Berendil to inspect the body as she turned to meet Ayumi, who had just entered the shop.
"Looks like some crook got a bit feisty and downed the owner of this fine establishment" Ivory continued, filling her in on the situation. She was itching to get out there and try hunt down the culprit. With Ayumi here she could justify going after them right? If she decided to tag along she'd have backup and if she wanted to stay Berendil would still have someone to watch his back.
"I'm going to go and try find the schmuck who did this" Now speaking to both Ayumi and Berendil, her tone dropping to a more serious one as she did. Before heading out she took a small knife out of her pocket, making a quick incision on the palm of her hand which began to bleed lightly. Satisfied with the cut Ivory swiped her hand through the air, a disproportionate amount of blood spilling out of the wound as she did. The red liquid soon gathered back together, forming a fine, crimson red scimitar.
"Now then. I'll be off" Ivory finished, soon after brushing past Ayumi back out onto the streets, setting off along what she figured would be the most likely escape route.
Berendil was at the counter looking to re-enact the whole scene,and thinking how it might have gotten out of hand.He hears a peculiar knock on the door.Thinking of who it might be he realized it was Ayumi.
Before she got inside the man tries to find a piece of cloth or something to wipe off the blood from his hands.After carefully examining the wounds on the vendor he came to the conclusion that he was stabbed to death.
"Greetings,Ayumi...Thank you for coming! This man here has been stabbed to death.You'll have to excuse Ivory,she's really eager to catch the culprit.Though I wouldn't give her much chance of succeeding.
Ayumi wasn't one to invite herself along, plus she enjoyed working alone when he could. "I'll wait here with Berendil." She added as Ivory left the store. Ayumi was also not one to walk in the rain if she didn't have to, so she had no problem staying out of the rain as much as she could.
Ayumi was very excited to see the other heroes however, it had been a long time since she'd seen them.
"Ivory, you and I gotta catch up some time." She chucked and smiled.
Roof top watching, sometimes it was the best means of scouting for crime. Right now though Alkesh found him self distinctively free of crimes to fight. He stood on the roof looking around, he'd only just got up there, when he saw someone running past him, looking down he noticed it was a familiar face, one of the other heroes. He looked as she rushed past him, he called out "Hey Ivory? What's the rush?! You on a case or something!?"
Rath, despite his love for fighting injustice, didn't like getting wet.
And since it had started to rain, and there was no evil to be found, he decided he'd make a rush for home.
Or that's what he was going to do, as a distinctive loud burst of Berendils flare rocket through the sky, in an area none to far from him...
A grin cracked out on his face, some injustice to battle, possibly a great duel between nightmares and heroes was happening under his very nose and that this signal was his invitation to join! Or perhaps they'd stumbled upon a hive of villany and were searching for all the nearby heroes to put an end to it.
As he rushed to the ending sound of the flare, propelling himself with blasts of air (Completely oblivious to the people he was knocking over, and everything else for that matter) His mind raced through all the possibilities, and when he landed on the ground from the final burst of air. And peered into the open door to see A dead body, and two heroes seemingly just standing there, not fighting any evil scum of injustice.
"Where's the evil!" He proclaimed this with his voice reaching as high as possible, to what it almost sounded like a complaint that there wasn't a life threatening scenario for him to waltz in on.
Seeing Rath was so excited,yet so reckless,Berendil attempted to calm him down.
"Everywhere,my friend,everywhere.It's up to us to find it!" He points at the dead body and regaining his serious tone he started explaining the situation to Rath.
"After some closer examination I've come to the conclusion that he was stabbed to death not too long ago,the attacker on the other hand is being given chase by our lovely Ivory!As of now of course Ayumi and I are trying to re-enact the scene..."
Berendil takes a small step back crackling his knuckles,after that he began to twist his head around to release pressure in his spine.
"He was standing here and the attacker most likely pretended to be a customer,got a small pocket watch from there"he said pointing at some watches the attacker was probably too rushed to take,one of them was missing."While cashing in probably,the attacker pulled out a knife and began to repeatedly stab the vendor.He then proceeded to throw the body in that direction and took off with the money and more things Richie was selling,he was a good man...We need to inform his wife."
Having stormed out of his brother's shop, Greyson had been in a foul mood. Foul moods and Greyson tended to lead to one thing and one thing only: someone getting cut. The someone in question that day was some shop vendor going by the name Richie. All Grey had been trying to do was look at his wares, maybe get a knew watch, who knew? He was feeling in an impulse buy mood. Then, all of a sudden, the shopkeep had taken it upon himself to start asking all kinds of personal questions, like 'How are you?' and, 'How can I help you?' or even, most offensively, 'Is there anything in particular you're looking to buy?'. Well, Grey quickly had enough of that, and proceeded to take the only sensible action available.
He must say, he felt much better now that he'd stabbed the man, and left with suitable compensation for the trauma he was put through with the earlier interrogation. He was sat leafing through that money in a cafe, sat in a window seat booth. The waitress had been too terrified to come and ask his order thanks to the blood that had spattered on his clothes and hands, but after a little coercing from Grey, the chef had brought out a dinner fit for a king, trembling all the while. Grey was picking at the offered food as he counted through the money, whistling casually to himself as he did so. Whenever he caught one of the few remaining, petrified customers staring at him, he returned their gaze with an amiable grin, and were they attractive, a wink, feeling rather pleased with himself for being so charming.
Hearing Alkesh calling out to her Ivory slowed to a jog for a moment, looking around before spotting him resting on top of one of the nearby roofs.
"Bingo!, No time to chat sorry!" Ivory called back to him, giving a small, rushed salute before she resumed her usual pace. Running through the city streets Ivory thought to herself. If she were a criminal where would she run off to in this situation? A good place to hide... Public so you'd blend in... But you'd also need some privacy so no-one got spooked and called the cops on you...
Ivory's pace, once again, began to slow as she thought over the possibilities, somewhere quiet... The library? Perhaps... Though, now realizing she didn't actually have any leads it she knew that was just guesswork at this point. And she was not going to go running about in the rain for guesswork, turning off into the nearest store as the thought played across her mind, which turned out to be a small, rather empty cafe. Pushing open the door she flicked her wrist, her sword dissolving back into the small cut on the palm of her hand as she did, soon taking a seat near the door after it'd fully receded, thinking about what to do next.
Still whistling to himself, Grey glanced up upon the arrival of a new customer, because really, he would have thought people would notice the man stained in blood at the back, or the terrified others huddled within, too scared to leave. He stiffened slightly, however, when he realised who - or more importantly what - they were.
She was a hero. It was obvious in the way she looked, carried herself, smelt. Now, Grey held nothing against heroes for having their valiant cause and such, it was simply that they were always getting in the way. He'd try to carry out a basic killing, nothing fancy, just another round of slaughter, and they'd take it upon themselves to stop him, like it was somehow their business. They didn't even know him, let alone understand what he was doing. Why they insisted on constantly preventing what needed to be done, he didn't know. And Ta'aren said he was mad.
Folding up the wad of money and stuffing it in his back pocket, Grey wiped the blood on his hands upon his trousers, and then stood. As he did so, the room darkened considerably, and the natural shadows cast by the angle of the light elongated and deepened into pitch black so that the room appeared stylistic for a moment, almost comic book like. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he sauntered up to the hero and slid into the seat opposite her, looking her over with a subconscious, open-mouthed smile. He liked the red of her eyes, the way she smelt, the way she dressed, and honestly her death would be a pleasure rather than a necessity.
"Hey there," he said, quite cheerfully. His hands rested on his lap under the table, and from them the shadows twisted and contorted, stretching to form a black hatchet, momentarily shimmering before it solidified and he gripped the wooden handle. "Pleasure to meet you." He brought his arms up to rest on the table, bringing the hatchet with him, and gave her his best grin. "Now, what's a pretty girl like you doin' in a place like this?"
Ayumi heard what Berenil said about telling the wife. She felt sorrow for the man and his wife, knowing the wife's pain. "What a waste." She said quietly. The door to the shop was still open and a cold breeze rolled in, too cold to be one in July. She walked slowly out front and was met with a more still, yet colder air temperature.
Ayumi saw a hooded man standing and watching the store from afar, she couldn't see his face, but she knew he was the cause of the cold wind. She stood, staring at him for a moment.
-Gunner-
Gunner had heard the explosion made by the man who fired the bolt into the air, he was curious, so he decided to investigate. He wrapped a bandana around his face and wore his hood so he wouldn't be recognized. He took off walking toward the sound, the ground freezing wherever you took a step.
Once he had arrived to the origin of the sound, he saw that there was a murder. Not one of his own either, not even a hired one of his, which was odd. Gunner usually ordered all the killings in Ignition, stopped in the street, watching the store from afar. His confusion caused a cold breeze to be shot down the street. The rain around him freezing as it hit the ground.
A moment or two later, a girl stepped out and looked right at him. She was a hero, and a Cait Sith. Gunner knew her face instantly, it was Ayumi. He thought she was dead. The moment in which he thought he had killed his parents and her played over and over in his head, causing him to zone out.
Alkesh stared as Ivory darted off. “Why does no one ever take the time to actually explain what is going on anymore?” He jumped off the roof and landed on the ground. He looked as she headed off in the distance. “I could follow her…but for all I know…it could be just some stolen property.” He looked the way she came. “I’m guessing this way.” He walked the opposite way she had run.
As rain fell upon him tiny trails of steam lifted from him. The rain never bothered him, it was rather nice, and he never got cold anyway, being a fire elemental and all. As he walked he noticed it get cold… un-naturally so. “Huh…nothing like this should be happening in July.” Something was up…he didn’t know what…nor did he know what he was looking for. He continued his normal pace. An odd breeze was off…but no reason to go sprinting.
Ivory's eyes darted around the room as the shadows began to darken and contort. A Shadow Walker. It had to be a Shadow Walker. An odd place to throw around your powers, probably just some git with a flair for the dramatic.
Those thoughts were quickly banished though. A man took a seat across from her, and as soon as he did the smell hit her. It was faint, something most people wouldn't pick up. But she knew it well, that faint, irony smell that came whenever she used her magic. The smell of blood. Who the heck was this guy? He couldn't be...
No, no. There was no way he could be the one who murdered that shop keep right?
Yeah there was no way her luck was that... bad? Was this a good or a bad this anyway?
Whatever.
The man basically signaled himself out as some sort of crook soon after he started speaking, bringing a hatchet up onto a table as he did. Well, this is going to be interesting. "Can't a lady hide from the rain? There's no way I'm letting these get wet" Tugging on the fabric of her jack as she spoke, a small, not exactly friendly, smile playing across her lips as she spoke.
She wasn't sure if this guy was a nightmare or just some average criminal, but if he was the former then... Well her wound from earlier was still open and ready for use.
The hero's reactions weren't quite as Grey had been hoping. He'd more been swinging for a melodramatic scream, maybe her jumping to attention and drawing a weapon. Last one who'd rocked up to confront him had started reeling off some rubbish about justice and all that, which had been fun, especially to silence. Her ability to stay cool and in control pissed him off. Seriously pissed him off; he'd made an effort, and who the hell was she to reject it?
His hands shaking a little bit from the adrenaline rush, Grey slipped from his seat and stood, a lopsided smile playing across his face. "Fair enough, fair enough," he mused slowly, dragging the blade of the hatchet across the table and drawing a circular scratch upon it as he slowly stepped closer to her. Trying to decide where to strike her best, he waited, standing there, smiling amiably. He looked her over, his eyes going from top to bottom, shamelessly raking her over. This bitch hadn't even had the decency to scream.
The room plunged into darkness. Grey lunched with the hatchet, striking to severe her head from her body, aiming for the neck, all the while laughing in amusement. If the heroes were going to pursue him, perhaps he could give them a trail of bodies to follow.
Ivory had been anticipating an attack as soon as the man and gotten to his feet. What she hadn't been expecting though was the sudden darkness that swept over the room, leaving her unable to see when the man launched his attack. It was all guesswork until her vision adjusted to the room, and knowing that she decided to stay on the defensive for now, leaping back out of her chair a few moments after the darkness swept over.
As it turned out, that had been the correct move. As she was in mid air the man's hatched sunk into the flesh of her left arm, which was right where her neck was a few moments ago. If she had been anyone else she'd be running off with her tail in-between her legs after taking a hit like that, but her magic was especially effective at dealing with issues like this.
Gritting her teeth against the pain Ivory caused the blood in her arm to surge out of the wound, covering the head of the axe in a red cocoon, hardening so he couldn't pull it away. Afterwards the blood would rush up the handle of the weapon, towards the man's arm in an attempt to envelop and crush it.