Characters: (1) Sora, Kaldur, Ninja-Style Dancer, Granny Weatherwax, Franky; (2) Eraqus, Fred Weasley, Agent Derek, Galahad, Linkara, Clare Edwards
Time: After the Bean meeting
Location: The forests of the Nevernever
Content: It’s time to find the eleventh pillar.
Format: Poster’s choice
Warnings: No tag order.
(
Far from day, far from night / Out of time, out of sight )
Just outside, the tremendous and continous pounding of something very large and very fast drew closer to the cabin until out of the darkness, three pairs of demonic red eyes hovered from the black density of the forest. From the level of the approaching eyes, the beasts that were quickly approaching out of the forest's gloom were taller even than Franky, and as they emerged from the darkness, it soon became clear that these gargantuan beasts were perfect guardians to whatever lay deeper in the forests of the Nevernever.
To call them unicorns would have been a great disservice - they were nearly nine feet tall and they were covered, not with the fine hair of a regular horse, but with an armor-like plating, a metallic greenish-black that glinted dully in the light of the cottage. The manes and tails of the three creatures were darker than even the blacks mists from which they had appeared, and white foam dripped from their mouths as they came to a sharp halt in front of the Mothers' cottage. The maddened red glares fell on the house and they whinied viciously, hooves scraping at the ground as they tossed their heads, the two-foot long piercing horns on their foreheads wickedly sharp and glinting in the pale light thrown from the cottage's windows.
The owl sitting on the post by the door flapped its wings and then took to the air, landing near the smoking chimney on the thatched roof. As the group emerged from the house, it seemed to turn its head away as if it say, "follow me".
And then it took off in the direction of the horses, swooping high over their heads and vanishing further into the dense cluster of trees. A faint hoot was the only hint of which direction it went in.
Reply
He did not move his eyes from them even as the owl took off, "Some of you should follow the owl. The rest of us will stay behind and ensure they do not pursue." Kaldur didn't wait to see who stayed and who went with the owl. There was no time for that. Instead to ensure that the horses didn't follow he twisted one of his water bearers into a whip and cracked it against the ground beside the horses hooves, "Hee-yah!"
As he pulled the water whip back he made sure to crack it again against the horses' bodies. Yeah, that would get their attention.
Reply
His hand darted for his knife as he gestured to the others to go on and follow the owl. Being lent Harvey's gun was looking like a better idea now, but if he could get away with not using it, he was going to. Kaldur occupied the three great beasts, so he took the chance to slink behind. It was probably pointless to hope his dark clothes would conceal him in the dark; it honestly wouldn't surprise them if they could see in the dark. But he still tried, swiftly leaping to slash at the joint on the back of one of the horse's legs.
Reply
"Giddyup, kids!" He called out with a grin. "I think we got things covered on this end!" Slots and compartments in his arms flipped open all over, missiles and bullet shafts all at the ready as the big man put himself between the massive fae and the other group. A barrage of bulletfire--yeah, iron bullets--would make sure the creatures wouldn't go after the retreating team.
Reply
There was only one thing left to do, especially in the absence of a proper blacksmith. Someone was going to need to stand between the monsters and the people headed for the tree and she'd had years of standing between people and what was coming and after carefully sizing up the unicorns, she shot the mental equivalent of a shot across the bows at the one that appeared to be the leader of the group.
Reply
The other, whose leg had been slashed by the ninja, kicked out its back legs ferociously before sprinting off to the right as the other remaining unicorn charged at the group, its head low and leading with the deadly horn.
Reply
Summoning his keyblade, he turned to face the unicorn that was charging at the group, quickly going through his spells. He didn't know if these unicorns belonged to Summer or Winter and- well, it was far too close to really think about, he really was just going to have to go with instinct or he was going to get impaled and Kairi and Riku would never forgive him-
Except instinct was suddenly reminded of the aforementioned Hydra, and Phil's frantic advice to "get up on the Hydra's back!" and before Sora quite knew what he was doing, he was dodging centimeters beneath the unicorn's horn, Aero magic already boosting him into the air, and suddenly he found himself awkwardly kneeling on the unicorn's back. Grabbing at its thick mane while still keeping a hold of his keyblade, he quickly looked around to see where the other two had gone.
Reply
It was difficult to tell if his strike did any damage at all, as it was clearly still mobile. Now that he thought about it and got a better look through the dark that skin did look like armor. Well that made his job look more difficult. His eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to think.
Sora had leaped onto one of them, standing on its back. It was certainly worth a shot, and now was his chance as they charged at the group. He ran toward the one he'd just slashed, hoping to jump on its tail to climb to its back.
Reply
Reply
The one charging was the closest, and therefore the obvious option, Franky considered. With a grunt, he lifted his arm and launched off his hand, to loop the attaching chain around the beast's neck. Either he'd be able to reign it in and get an easy ride, or he'd choke it. Or he'd miss and get impaled, you know, whatever.
Reply
More alarmingly was the fire that suddenly engulfed its horn.
The unicorn Sora had mounted skidded to a halt the moment the keybearer grabbed its mane and began bucking wildly, trying to dismount its sudden rider. Matters were only complicated when Franky tossed the chain around its neck - the unicorn screamed in fury, backpedaling, and finally attempting to just gallop away.
The remaining unicorn seemed to have decided that this was far too much, its head turning in the direction the other group had vanished in. One of its ears twitched, and it abruptly turned to follow the group that had vanished into the forest.
Reply
In doing that, he caught sight of the one of the other unicorns making a break for the woods.
"No!" he shouted, one hand still clasping the unicorn's tangled mane while he used his keyblade as balance. Swinging the blade in the direction of the retreating unicorn, he shouted, "Blizzara!" The sound of ice cracking along the length of the blade snapped through the air, and blue magic, sprinkled with tiny flakes of ice, shot from the tip of the blade and towards the unicorn's legs.
Reply
There were no grandiose gestures. Granny had never stood for the kind of flash that wizards seemed to think magic needed. Instead, she simply drew herself to her full height and stabbed an accusatory finger at the retreating unicorn. Mere seconds later, a flare of octarine** light split the air, leaving behind an unscathed, but very confused unicorn; now laboring under the fact that it thought it was a frog - and thus was a little uncertain as to just was, exactly, it was meant to do with its legs.
The cat resting across Granny's shoulders had no real comment throughout the whole affair, save to shift slightly at the flare of octarine that the magic had caused.
*No matter their species.
**Octarine, naturally, is the eighth color of light and is generally referred as the color of magic, due to the fact that only magic users are capable of seeing it. Attempts to describe its color are thus somewhat awkward, but the general consensus is that it's a sort of greenish-purple.
Reply
Reply
With no one looking at him, he pulled his mask down just enough to hold the knife between his teeth, and he swung forward on the tail, finding a handhold in the plated armor and grabbing it. Feeling around in the dark, tossed about in the horse's stride, he managed to climb a few paces onto the underside of the beast, where he held with one hand and both feet, raising the knife again and driving it towards the horse's stomach.
Reply
Giving the makeshift reigns of chain a good yank, the cyborg glowered at the screaming fae. "Whoa there, nelly." Every tug it gave against him was met with a hard pull and stern word. He had beaten more than enough animals into being his steed before, and this fussy little thing wasn't going to break his streak.
Reply
Leave a comment