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| No title. |
| (2012-09-30 - 2012-09-30) |
| No description. |
| Riku | Flags rustle in the warm breeze that flows across the circular square. The sound of the crowd is a constant lull, a roar like the ocean not all that distant. People talk and walk, eat or stand or sit in groups or alone. The cheerful trees rustle, strips and swathes of grass and wildflowers making the streets cheerful and bright. The only warning this peaceful scene receives is from the fountain. The ornamental crystal in the midst of the castle goes dark. A few people lounging near the fountain are close enough to see this happen. Their screams, and that of the crowd, are swallowed up by a crack far louder than gunshot, purple smoke and darkness exploding from the fountain. The crowd starts to panic as the waters turn black, shadows skittering from the water, yellow eyes wide and hungry as they lunge for anybody close by. In the wake of the surge of shadows, a baleful howling can be heard reverberating through the air around the fountain. A dark portal rips open in the middle of the air. Ragged hound shaped shadows pour from the portal, spiked collars jutting from their necks, fanged mouths stretched wide and panting as they snap and yip to eachother in dog like pantomime. |
| Zeke | The Valiant. Small ship by most people's standards, but it was close to a dozen feet longer than the last ship Zeke Captained. His crew, if you were going to be charitable about calling the different 'monsters' that made up the bulk of the vessel's staff a crew, was busy loading provisions, weapons, going over proceedure, and in general trying to be have while their captain was out seeing to a few last minute details. "I don't feel right about this Cap'n." A rather large dark skinned man walked close to Zeke as they looked through shop windows. "Relax. They'll do fine. Remember that lot we got out of Augustine?" The big man laughed at the memory. "Worthless to a man, but it innt the crew I'm worried about. They look like they at least know port and starboard. I'm talkin' 'bout who we're workin' for." "Ah." Zeke's tone was understanding. "I don't much like it ether, but we're given a long rope to do with as we please and they agreed to my terms. Keep an eye on the horizon and even if things turn sour we'll find safe shores. Til then we use them to get back out to sea and maybe rally against these creatures that've been- Correction. "Zeke's voice was deadpan as heartless start spilling out into Everywhere. "Are devling us." He pulled a pair of flintlocks out, as did the large man he'd been walking with. "Go make sure they're not torching my boat!" |
| Auron | All right. So the word was out that he and Rikku were looking for Yuna in Traverse Town. Now that /that/ was done, Auron could begin to explore more completely this world he'd ended up in. Hopefully that they'd all ended up in. And where was he going to start? With familiar surroundings, of course. He'd been told that Luca connected to Traverse Town somewhere, so he headed there first, to see where the city stopped being familiar to him. He would start his exploration of the world -- or rather, the worlds -- there. Sadly, the city parted course with familiar pretty damn fast after his arrival. In the form of everything turning shadowy and dark, and shadows starting to grab people. Auron is forced to grab a girl that got too close to the fountain by an arm around her waist and quickly haul her back away from it, back to who are probably her parents -- they're the ones screaming the loudest over her plight, he figures. He desposits her down in front of the couple, who immediately commence with hugging. He can respect their relief, but now isn't the time and he knows it. "...Take cover," he instructs, both to them and to anyone who's near enough to hear him. Now, Auron holds a little clout in Spiran cities like Luca -- to them, he's the 'legendary Guardian', after all (though he scoffs at the title every time he hears it). So it's likely the Lucans will listen to him. So much the better; fewer civilians in the line of fire means less chance of them getting hurt, either by whatever these... things are, or by friendly fire. |
| Riku | They don't have to be told twice. The family bolts from the square, the screaming crowd surging in all directions being chased by several of the hound heartless. Something much bigger meanwhile is emerging from the central portal. A sleek black form extends a paw twice the size of a manhole cover. Two orbs of red light punctuate the darkness, bringing such a wave of gloom with it that the sky darkens. The giant panther heartless turns it's head, jaws opening wide as it spots Auron nearby. It raises it's head and lets out a scream of static, the feedback squeal rippling out as the other hound heartless raise up their heads to add to the chorus. |
| Zeke | Screaming, running, pannicked crowds. Zeke tensed at the scream, bracing for something to leap at him. Instead he sees one of the hounds running headlong at a pair of teenagers apparently cowed into terror by all the death and darkness and nightmarish scenery going on. So rather than aim at the big giant nasty he instead opened boath barrels on the critter. Look it's an innacurate weapon but Zeke's had lots of practice with muskets and fighting heartless. |
| Auron | Well. This is going to be a mess, isn't it? As the Couerl-like fiend Auron faces the things... and suddenly finds his resolve wavering. What if this is the invasion that will wipe Luca off the face of... whatever world this is? What if he can't do this alone? Just like last time. Auron's brows draw into a frown, and he makes a soft, choked sound that might have been a growl. He's worked past fear before, and he's got to this time, too. Sin is a much worse opponent to have to figure out how to face than these shadowy fiends! ...Of course... he's got to convince himself of that first. Besides, Auron will let /it/ come to /him/. He fights better when on the defensive and reacting anyway. |
| Riku | The Heartseeker snarls, gunfire raking it's side. Darkness fills in the gaps and the Seeker turns on Zeke, opening its mouth. No sound comes out, the panther body arched into a silent scream of fury as dark claws rend the stone. It charges him, shattering into first one copy, then three, then six giant heartless bearts bearing down on him, each of them surrounded by swirling blades of sharp glass. The lesser hounds begin to circle around Auron, yellow eyes staring. |
| Zeke | Zeke has seen this 'splits into lots of copies' trick before and while in theory it was easy to dodge if you could keep your nerve long enough to keep the bigger one from mowing you down. Then it hit him. Well not the Heartless. He's seen this before! "You!" He shouted at Auron. "All of you!" He pulled his sword and pointed at the 'hounds'. "No tracks." He pointed at where one of the heartless seemed to rebound off a wall. "No damage." He stood. Aiming his cutless at the Big One in the middle. "Take that one down and the rest fall!" He ran about trying to make a huge distraction of himself. "Hey you Motherless son of a goat! Over here!" He pulled a pistol and fired it into the air to try keeping it's attention on Him and not on any of the nice chewy people nearby. |
| Auron | And the mess just gets bigger! Might have known. Can't expect a fiend to play fair, after all. Auron is aware of the other fighter of these dark fiends as well. And he's also aware of something else. These tactics are meant to confuse an opponent long enough to strike the mortal blow. Zeke's shout does catch Auron's attention, though he doesn't show it. He doesn't take his eyes of his opponent...s. But he does nod when the seafaring man makes his statement, indicating his acknowledgement. His sentiments exactly. And he turns his gaze on the Big One. "...All of you. You're nothing but shadows. Nothing more." ...Boy he knows that one. Suddenly his brows draw into a dark frown. He straightens, and points his sword at the Big One, and a growl enters his voice as he says the next. "Go back to the darkness, then!" And then he runs toward the large shadowy fiend! |
| Riku | The Heartseeker lets out another silent scream, tearing up the ground in it's cheated rage. Some of the hounds break away from chasing the crowd to harry Zeke's crew, the bigger one distracted by Zeke running around like a man person.. or like prey. Juicier, more available prey even though it might bite back with those stinging guns. The heartseeker gathers itself together, pacing back and forth across the courtyard. At about that time, Auron gets it's attention in a more or less big way. The slash carves deep into the shadowy form. Almost lightning fast, it whips around and changes targets, giant maw bared only a foot or two away from the swordsman's face. |
| Zeke | Zeke continued running and screaming even as he saw a few members of his crew sneak in amongst the chaos... though to be honest it's hard to say how an eight foot tall one eyed grey skinned monster of a man could sneak anywhere. Especially if he's carrying a cannon. As in an actual ship's gun. Said Cyclopian shipman aimed, or rather sorta pointed, the gun at the heartless and fired. Grapeshot. Think shotgun pellets only each one about the size of a musket round. And then he threw the cannon barrel itself at the heartless. Zeke just stopped and stared at this. What.... Just. What? |
| Auron | Auron's smart enough to know that cutting up a shadowy fiend is /going/ to get its attention. So when it turns around and BITES at him, he's wise enough to pull his sword in front to avoid some of the damage. /Some/ of it, mind. And only that initial bite, as the mouth clamps down around his blade. It does nothing to dampen the shaking, clawing, or dragging across the square. Which kinda hurts. 'Kinda' meaning 'a lot'. By the time Auron frees himself, he's more than a little ticked. He is not a doggie chew toy. And he's been treated as one. Which means one thing. All bets are off. He straightens, and places the sword in his left hand, picking up the jug from his belt. Now is hardly the time for a drink. Or perhaps this is the best time for a drink, who knows? But he doesn't actually drink it. He spits it onto his blade and then raises the sword above his head, where runes apprear, circling it then he swings down, and dark-colored orbs fly up from the ground where his sword hit! Oh, but he's not done yet. He angles the sword down, sliding a foot back, and a wind kicks up around him, becoming stronger as he channels more qi into it. The wind forms a whirlwind, which he turns against the shadowy fiend with a spin and a swing of his sword. Should the beastie be caught up in it? Why, he'll just toss his jug into the mess. Which will, uh, make it into a WHILRING FIRESTORM OF DEATH! And, after all that? /Now/ he decides he's going to be more careful, so he steps a little ways back, and shores himself up in a defensive position for whatever else the fiend may wish to throw at him. |
| Riku | The Heartseeker finishes using Auron as a chewtoy just in time to be staggered backwards by a sweeping barrage of gunfire. It's then hit on the head with a flying cannon, crushing it down onto the ground. The shadowstuff that makes it up wavers, the entire construct becoming unstable for a moment before it snaps back into malignant life. Dark cracks open up in the courtyard, tendrils of living darkness snapping at Zeke's Crew as the hounds snap at their heels, yipping and snarling and bouncing about being cute in an all too dangerous way. The heartseeker is decimated by the whirling firestorm that comes from a badass with bourbon. It catches fire, thrashing across the courtyard and leaving flaming tracks as puddles of liquid shadow burn as they drip from the heartless as if it were a melting candle. The heartless still remains standing, if barely, staggering as it begins to circle around and around the courtyard. The pools of burning shadow flare up, and a towering pillar of dark flame spews upwards into the sky. The tornado sways back and forth, tongues of fire lashing out with a deafening roar of backdraft. |
| Zeke | Ever been set on fire? Zeke just did. Well... Not quite real fire but close enough to not want to have it happen again. He had the misfortune of standing too near one of those shadow puddle footprints when it went up and even though it wasn't 'real' fire and rolling around put it out Zeke staggered to his feet looking for all the world like he just got the worlds worst sunburn. "Right then." He readjusted his cap, straightened his coat, then charged the heartless. Oh sure he wasn't the giant of a man Auron was and where Auron had a giant flaming sword of Awesome Zeke's blade was rather lifeless and unimpressive. He shouldn't be running. By rights he shouldn't even be standing, but Zeke's seen those fires snuff too many of his friends out to roll over. Not the day before he would get to sail again! "I'M GOING BACK TO THE SEA AND NO INKSPLOTCH IS KEEPING ME FROM MY SHIP!" The edge of his blade seemed to catch the light as he charged forward. There was no finesse here. Raw anger. Raw Will went into the attack. STAB! STAB! SLICE! DIE BURN YOU! |
| Riku | And it looks like, for today, raw willpower and pique wins the day. The stabbing and the chopping and the carrying on continue for a long time. The shadow creature slowly collapses into the courtyard, spreading like an oil slick that bubbles away in the heat. The smaller hounds flee back through the portal, which slams closed with another thunderous explosion of noise. Even louder is the silence that follows, punctuated by the clatter of a jug falling somewhere and rolling across the street. |
| Zeke | Zeke looked around, sword held forward in a high guard position as his brain was processing the Heartless departure. After a long moment of nothing happening his sword wavered, then fell to the ground before he fell to his knees and started shaking uncontrollably. He was alive! That shouldn't have worked but he was alive! Then as his men, human and monster alike, began sifting through the wreckage helping those they could he started laughing. |
| Auron | Shadowflame burns like ice. And Auron's just gotten a first-hand demonstration here! The chill of the grave seems to engulf him, and he emits a choked sound of pain and staggers back, nearly dropping his sword. That's about all the reaction the Heartless gets out of him. But whether he showed it or not? Ow. That hurt! He falls back from the shadowy fiend, to collect himself. That burning chill the fiend just aimed at them both... that chill is very similar to one that he's already intimately familiar with -- that same chill that resides with him, just below his breastbone but just above his stomach. The death that he hasn't really escaped, only temporarily cheated. He straightens, placing his left hand on that core area of his torso, and looking at that hand, his frown becoming a worried one. ...Might these fiends be the Farplane's way of trying to reclaim that which it has been denied? Is death closer on his heels than he thought? However, he composes himself after a moment, and all expression entirely wipes itself from his face. He returns to the impassive, unreadable expression, and looks around, to make sure there are no more of these shadowy fiends. His first priority is securing the area against any /more/ invasion, since that one had happened so easily. And also seeing to the safety of the other who'd fought against the fiends. That in mind, he sheathes his sword, and heads over to where Zeke is. "...Are you all right?" he asks quietly. |
| Zeke | Zeke giggled even while Auron stared down at him. Then he heard the dead man speak and looked up, still giggling, before sitting up and taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Just a bit loopy 'm afraid." He put a hand to his face to feel where the flames hit his skin and exhaled sharply. "Right then just a touch of the grave then." He obviously tried sounding chipper about the ordeal but just as obviously was shaken by it. After another look around and getting to his feet he staggered in the direction of the cannon Frank the Cyclops threw. "Handy thing about Frank I suppose. He doesn't go by partial measures when I tell him to grab the biggest gun he can when these things show." |
| Zeke | Zeke can and will find a way to break your walls. All in the name of his employer of course. |
| Riku | Riku says, "Maybe it's a "save the world from the safety of the lounge" thing. Maybe there is an app for it?"" |