Night 54: Soccer/Recreational Field
[from here]Though the night felt the same as any other, Brook felt that something was a little different than the usual. It was as though he could sense something about the place - like where things were dangerous and where they wouldn't be. Usually he knew that pretty well without the strange feeling. The Sun Room was always a big no-entry, and
( Read more... )
To her disappointment, the field showed no signs of any life besides Rita herself. There was one thing that seemed out of place, however... a dirt patch that stood out among the smooth grass. Rita shone the beam of her flashlight over the patch, but could see nothing more than dirt.
The sudden sound of movement behind her caused Rita to spin around in alarm, but it took only a second to identify the source as being a couple of other patients coming from the building. All this waiting, and that was all she was going to find out here?
She wasn't quite ready to head back inside, but the wait was growing more and more boring by the second. Finally, Rita decided to investigate the odd patch to kill time. Walking slowly, holding the sheet of paper out like a weapon, she drew closer, her flashlight pointed at the suspicious spot.
Reply
For a second it paused there, its sickly-grey tongue lolling out of the absurdly overlarge mouth that was the only feature on its leathery face -- and then it surged up and out of the hole, its small, stocky body moving with more determination than speed as it swiped at the girl with one claw-tipped hand.
Reply
But then the creature struck, lunging suddenly with more speed than expected. Rita had been prepared to move, but as she leapt back, the creature's claw caught her shin, tearing a line through her pant leg and the flesh underneath. As soon as she landed, Rita immediately took another quick, long step back, gaining a little more distance for herself. She could worry about the wound later. As long as she could stand, she could ignore the pain.
This was her chance to test the spell. She'd have to do it quickly, before that thing could strike again. Holding the piece of paper, the spell symbol carefully sketched on it, Rita focused on the heraldic crest, on the element of ice...
Before her, a stake of ice began to materialize, suspended horizontally in the air. This was it! This was heraldry!
But before she could celebrate her success, several cracks began to form along the surface of the frozen spike. That wasn't supposed to happen, she was sure. Could it be that she could only hold the spell for so long? The mage hastily launched the spike at the creature, but the instant it began to move, it broke apart into dozens of pieces. Only a few small slivers followed the intended path; the rest sprayed in random directions, some of it even flying back to Rita. The shards decelerated as they scattered, and didn't even carry enough force to pierce Rita's thin skin.
For a moment, Rita could only stare in disbelief. A spell that she, Rita Mordio, had cast had just failed. Her theory was perfect! Wasn't it...?
Reply
Even if the spike had managed to remain solid long enough to be thrown, the gnome would have taken no notice of it -- it wasn't the brightest of creatures, and its only focus was on its target. The girl was injured already, and the smell of blood drew it forward, slashing at whatever it could reach.
Reply
It was still early in the night, but 622 was still quite relieved that nothing too drastic was happening on the Recreational Field. At least, not yet. His night vision wasn't the best, however, so he had to be especially careful in his sweep.
The quick, flashing movement of something exploding, however, couldn't help but catch his attention. He started towards where he could see a prisoner and something, breaking into a run once he'd gotten a better assessment of the situation. Whatever had happened, the patient was unarmed, and didn't seem to be acting to defend themselves.
622 readied his sword as he closed the final distance to the target, taking a hard sing at it while its attention seemed to be entirely on the other prisoner. It wasn't the most expert of technique--CQC training had been a little iffy on bladed weapons--but it had power behind it, if nothing else.
Reply
She managed to stay on her feet, though, and so she hobbled back further. Figuring out how and why the spell had failed would have to wait until later. Right now, she needed to teach this thing a lesson. Retreating might have been the wiser choice, but right now, Rita was mad.
But before she could even begin to reach for the chain belt around her waist, she was intercepted by a stranger with a sword, striking at the creature. Who invited him? Rita never asked for anyone's help!
Reply
Reply
"Are you alright, ma'am?" He'd seen the thing manage to land a blow, but he didn't know how badly it had hit. And at the moment, he didn't exactly have time to check. He trained his glowrod on the thing, instinctively trying to blind it (if it had eyes at all, he couldn't really see any, but now he'd definitely gotten its attention. He stabbed at the grubby little whatever-it-was, aiming for the open mouth. If that didn't work, well, he was a proud servant of the Empire, but one with more sense than pride. Retreat might potentially be the best course of action.
Once again, he really just wanted his nice, familiar, accurate E-11. Nothing quite had the stopping power of that rifle.
Reply
Whoever this idiot was, it looked like he was determined to play hero in front of Rita. His first strike hadn't been very effective; it looked like the creature had tougher skin than she thought. Her makeshift whip wouldn't do any significant damage either, then. Despite knowing that, however, Rita stuffed her slip of paper away and held the chain in an offensive stance, ready to strike if the thing tried to come at her again. It wouldn't damage the monster, but it could possibly disrupt its attacks.
At least the man had enough sense to aim for its mouth for his second strike. That lolling tongue looked to be an obvious weak point. Whip in hand, Rita stood by for now, deciding to wait and see the result of this attack before acting.
Reply
Reply
"It's a deferential form of address, ma'am," He tried to explain, turning towards the already monumentally confusing probably-civvie. "Are you hurt?"
Reply
"Maybe for old ladies it is," Rita retorted, rolling her eyes. "If you want to call me something, try using my name. It's Rita Mordio." Really, just about anything would be better than ma'am.
When asked about her injury, Rita raised her right leg, bending the knee a bit. There was a dark red stain around and under the knee, and it hurt to flex it, but the damage wasn't terribly serious. "It's fine. I can still move it," she announced in an unconcerned voice, bringing her foot back down flat on the ground. Rita hadn't bothered to examine the wound closely, but she had a good idea of the extent of the damage.
With the threat gone, Rita snapped her chain back around her waist and pulled the slip of paper from her pocket once more, examining the intricate symbol drawn on it. The page now had several new creases - the result of being hastily stuffed away. Somewhere on that single page was an error that had caused her spell to fail... but what could it be?
Reply
And now this Mordio was staring at a piece of paper, which to 622 didn't seem like the best priorities when out in the open and potentially vulnerable to attack. He scanned the area, both the grounds around them and the sky. He didn't see anything, but the hostiles here, especially those large birds, always seemed to come out of nowhere.
Reply
Whatever. At least he apologized. Rita didn't do much to acknowledge the apology, however; she merely shrugged at the man. As she did so, she only glanced away from the piece of paper for a moment before looking back to it.
She was positive she'd copied the symbol exactly as it was written in Leon's notes. There was no reason for the spell to fail as it had. Unless... Had the deep creases created by folding the page distorted the symbol? Rita's analyzing gaze turned to a scowl as she considered the possibility that she had been foiled by such a simple mistake. It was a ridiculous thought. Yet... she'd have to test it later. Probably another night.
Folding the page up once more, she put it back into her pocket and looked over the man who had come to her rescue. Standing at more than a full foot above her, with a strong-looking build, he could make a decent meat shield if she needed one.
"Do you know anything about the area outside the institute?" she asked after a long pause.
Reply
"Most of the navigable terrain is forest, and also contains hostiles." Likely not with the same high distribution as inside the institute, but there would certainly be at least single patrols. Most of the information he had on the outside was from posts on the message board from before it became heavily censored, so all he had were memorized maps and descriptions to go by.
Reply
It sounded like this guy knew a few things about the area, at least. "I was thinking of exploring the area outside the walls... and giving this a try," she explained, retrieving the broken-jeweled ring from her other pocket and raising it to show. "You know what this is, right?" Rita hoped he did, and that she wouldn't have to explain.
Reply
Leave a comment