[LOG] Midnight Falls

[kannagara_npc]

Who: EVERYONE
Status: OPEN, VERY VERY OPEN
Style: Anything; Action - Comment spamming okay; Multiple threads okay
Where: Hisato EDIT: Raisato also allowed here, just put in the subject line that you're in Raisato
When: Shortly before midnight; Week 2, Day 2 - Second Wave (Yoma/Rakshasa/Hollows)
Rating: R for violence

[It's already a mess, food stores

Comments

[incisive]

[ They come from the air, seemingly from nothing at all -- bright flames woven into being through spiritual energy harnessed, manipulating Nature Herself. The materia embedded in Valeria's right glove hums strong; the flames dance and sing, enveloping the now maskless creature and setting it ablaze. It would have writhed had it not dissolved, taking with it its synthetic screaming. It's scarcely a relief, for no sooner than it fades does another of the damned things enter from stage right, an alleyway she previously thought to be empty at last. ]

I'm beginning to think the 'gods' don't want us to live in this village.

[ As though the bloody toilet hadn't been enough to suggest that. Monsters? Really? And unfamiliar ones, too. That Kadaj is not the one responsible for this chaos isn't particularly a comfort to her in this instance. She'd much rather play with his would-be canines than these masked anti-heroes. Not that she's given much of a choice.

Three more knives are procured from their nest within her suit jacket and held fast between her hand's digits. They pierce the air, the creature's chest and mask. No sooner than they find their marks does her heel drive the knife through its mask and into its face. Another scream, another unmasked creature dissolved. ]

[leadshot]

[Balthier gives himself distance between himself and the creatures. (He does not care for whatever they are named.) He's smug and without worry as he fires another round of shots, taking out the right side of the incoming fleet.]

They could've delivered the message in a nicer package.

[Fires again.

He's pleased with the way Valeria handles herself in battle; likes the way she combines long and short range attacks. He could get used to this. The monsters come from out of nowhere, it seems, infiltrating more ground faster than Balthier can load the next shot. (It doesn't matter who's summoning them, right now. His priorities are to get out of there alive.) He takes another step back, closer to Valeria.]

I see you're having fun.

[He loads another round of bullets.]

But it looks like they just might be having more fun than us both.

[incisive]

[ There is something like a twinkle in Valeria's eye as she casts a brief glance over her shoulder at Balthier. Fun? ]

You call this fun?

[ No sooner than she issues her query does the materia imbedded in her left glove come to life. Her eyes have since found their target, an unsuspecting group of four lesser, hostile, clawed creatures leering savagely as they approach. They don't manage to come nearly as close as the prior decapitated thing; the earth beneath them plummets abruptly, leaving a large circle where once was level ground. The two that manage to take to the air are brought down just as suddenly by the ice that swiftly encases their bodies. If playing combination games means saving knives, so be it.

What's more is that Balthier is proving more than capable of holding his own. His level of shooting is exactly what she would expect from any of the Turks who specialize in firearms and there's some relief to be garnered from that. Just because someone carries a big gun and uses big, pretty words doesn't mean that someone can properly, effectively utilize either. Perhaps he'd be willing to give her a demonstration of his skills with his firearm when they aren't being assaulted by gods-knows-what from near every direction. That, though, is a thought to be thought at a later date. ]

This is hardly what I'd call f --

[ The fashionable choker-Hitomi about the Turk's neck beeps twice now, cutting her short. As her finger taps the play button, she takes a step back, closer to Balthier. Realizing from the first few words that the volume is too low, she turns it up so that they can hear the audio message. ]

'-- Kakashi. If you are the vicinity of Hisato, we are evacuating.'

[ Her breath hitches as a result of the combined recoil from Kakashi's words and introducing two knives to the hearts of a pair of distant, incoming gut munchers. ]

'I repeat -- we are evacuating...'

[leadshot]

[ Balthier raises his gun to his shoulder, driving the heel into it and holds his head down near the receiver. He closes one eye, looking through the sight, on towards his target--another yoma. (They just keep coming for him, don't they?) A steady finger rests on the metal loop of the trigger as he takes careful aim at the monster.

'BANG'

The mask bursts and the bullet drives deep into the creature's skull. Another down. He relaxes his shoulders as he lowers his gun and looks to Valeria with a cocked eyebrow as he hears a faint voice coming from her hitomi. (His own has wrapped around his wrist, marked in silver characters denoting what it is.) ]

A retreat?

[ Another raging monster dashes towards them from the corner, foaming at the mouth. He takes another step back to compensate for distance and quickly takes aim, firing two bullets into its head. ]

It's about time someone came up with a plan.

Details, Val.

[incisive]

[ Although the message is barely audible over the bellows of both Balthier's pistol and the monsters so intent upon throwing themselves at the pair, Valeria manages to make it out thanks to her well-trained ears. The environment never stays quiet and calm for long in a Turk's line of work; the ability to make-out information and orders over all types of noise is a must-have for any good Turk operative, which she just so happens to be. ]

There's a cave to the north of the village behind a waterfall. We can access it from the t --

[ The strong hum of her materia interrupts her words, if only for a moment. Shards of ice rain down upon a smaller pack of incoming monsters, these seemingly emaciated and quite hungry from the looks of it. ]

The temple atop the mountain.

[ She breathes, tossing a glance over her shoulder at her partner. (Her partner, not her superior, but with monster after bloodthirsty monster approaching them, she isn't feeling particularly picky with regards to the matters of giving and receiving orders.) If Balthier wants to take charge, so be it. Their partnership presently runs on a trialship basis. (She needs to know if she can trust him to give and take properly and reliably, too...) ]

We've got two hours.

[leadshot]

[ Balthier looks beyond the village to the mountains west of where they are. He can make out the temple gate if he squints his eyes. To the east of them, another horde of monsters come raging from half a mile away. With success, Valeria and Balthier have taken out the population of creatures from their surrounding area and the only howls audible come from the distance.

With his gun lowered, he thinks quickly and responds without hesitation. ]

Ah, a pirate without a sky, again.

Race you to the top?

[ He remains calm in the most dire of situations in order to respond to any danger without panicking. (Some would say it's his survival-method--both mentally and physically.) Fortunately for himself, Valeria does the same. He thinks to himself how she is quite the temporary-Fran, and perks interest at the magick she's equipped to her glove. (He plans on reminding himself to ask her about that later. As with Lelouch, she also comes from a different world with different weapons.) ]

[incisive]

[ And Valeria appreciates that he remains calm and level-headedness despite the powerful element of danger that accompanies this, a most grave situation in which one's thoughts and emotions, actions and reactions can mean the end of a person, or people, in this case, or the sustaining of a person or, again, people's, lives. Had he been anything but, she might very well have breached their contract upon escorting him to a safer location, but as things stood? She could get used to this.

It shows through her expression, an eager sort of grin that lights up her face as she stands. (She had taken just a moment to retrieve her knives, sprinted to and back in mere seconds, wiping the blood casually upon the grass before standing again.) Race -- that is a special word, one that tickles her fancy for reasons she has yet to inform him, but now hardly seems the time to tell him. Taking the time to do so would no doubt detract from the fun to be had and that? That just won't do. ]

You're on!

[ Despite her enthusiastic exclamation, she waits to see the change in his body's posture before allowing her own and making to spring toward the mountain. Race or no, she won't leave him behind. She wouldn't allow herself to get too far ahead anyway because they're partners, even if only on a trial basis at present; they are what they are. ]