DEPLOYMENT 8: When the Wild Wind Blows
[PHONE - THANKSGIVING NOVEMBER 24 (Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]
[Balin's already heard about this. It's a good thing he's been asking around, and that Quinn let him know what happened last year in Mayfield. And yet, that phone call from Jack Smith left him wondering. What were Mayfield's leaders up to now?]
[He decides to actually respond to Jack's ( Read more... )
[Balin's already heard about this. It's a good thing he's been asking around, and that Quinn let him know what happened last year in Mayfield. And yet, that phone call from Jack Smith left him wondering. What were Mayfield's leaders up to now?]
[He decides to actually respond to Jack's ( Read more... )
She needed food and energy badly--all that flying kept her metabolism burning white-hot--yet the instant she landed on an unfortunate ghoul, crushing it to death with her feet, its fellows had surrounded her before she could take off again.
These only had hatchets, rather than guns, but there were five of them gathered into a loose, jeering, shrieking circle around the raven. She had her great wings mantled and tented over her kill, ripping chunks of the putrid flesh away and shoving them into her mouth at great speed--but not fast enough.
One ghoul approached too close, and the hell raven hissed, jolted her head up, and threw the corpse's skull at it. The force bowled the ghoul over, but it still got up again.
She kept up her hissing act, lunging by half-steps at any ghouls that came too close. There was an animal-like sort of accord between the ghouls and the hell raven--but that wouldn't last long.]
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[Balin steps out from cover, taking a few steps before putting all his strength into throwing one of his scavenged hatchets toward a cannibal's head. Without pausing, he turns and takes aim at another cannibal with the revolver, also aiming for a headshot.]
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The other ghouls follow her gaze--and the hell raven seizes on the momentary distraction. She rushes at the first one she can reach, using her wings to cover the distance that much faster in a half-jump. She intercepted the ghoul's rising hatchet arm by grabbing hold of it--then savagely wrenching the rotted human off its feet. She swept it at the next one like a particularly gruesome flail, hissing terribly--and leaving the half-eaten corpse in full view.]
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[More than that, though, Balin notices that all that blood and gore around her mouth ... and then he sees what she had been coveting-a half-eaten human. For a moment, Balin's aim lowers as his mind grapples with that-was that the half-eaten body of another survivor? He couldn't tell from this angle, though it's clear that the girl was the one eating the body, not the cannibals. Balin's left wondering whether he should worry more about them or the woman-]
[-but the roar of another charging cannibal forces Balin out of his confusion, reminding him of exactly who is the greater threat here. He turns and unloads a few rounds, aiming for the cannibal's face while reaching for another one of his scavenged hatchets.
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Utsuho hits the ghoul coming after her dead on, smashing one ghoul into the other hard enough to crumple the ribcages of both, bowl the one off its feet and shatter the elbow of her unorthodox weapon.
Balin's bullets rupture the face of the ghoul charging him, dropping it scarce inches from his feet. Okuu turned, writhing ghoul in hand to target the last--but it was already motionless.
The hell raven stood motionless instead, though she painted a savage picture regardless; her wings were bristled out in an aggressive display, blood smeared on her hands and arms and face.]
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[He kneels down to take a closer look at it ... given how much of its body was already eaten, it takes a few moments before he can confirm that it was indeed one of the cannibals invading the town.]
[If he were still the same guy he was seven years ago, Balin would have wanted to throw up at seeing this gruesome display-it probably would've mentally scarred him. He's had plenty of time to live with the cruelties of the Bane, though, even though they don't eat sentient beings like youkai (and cannibals) do.]
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Are you going to take it away?
[Not that she minds so much now. There were five other corpses to chew on.]
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[Maybe he can afford to lower his guard some ... Balin shakes his head in response to her question.]
Nah. No point.
[Balin rises to his feet, holstering his revolver.]
What was that about, then? Doin' some kinda karmic justice on 'em?
[He doesn't actually know he's speaking to Utsuho Reiuji herself-from what others have told him, he's expecting her to be a giant raven rather than ... well, something that looks like a fallen angel.]
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She doesn't break eye contact with this man, though; her red eyes still smolder like coals.]
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[There's a touch of sarcasm there, but it's mostly somber. Inwardly, Balin is rather conflicted. Normally he'd be rather upset finding a non-human eating humans, but in this case, she's doing to them what they're trying to do to the whole town. Paying evil unto evil, he supposes. A modus operandi he's all too familiar with ...]
Wasn't'a best idea goin' after 'em as food, though. They're prolly contaminated as fuck.
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Nothing else here.
[All the drone corpses she could find had been consumed--and she was used to eating putrid things.
...though these did upset even her stomach a little bit.]
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Nobody offered'a take you to a shelter or anything? There's like several people in town with one.
[Balin's blissfully unaware of Utsuho's drone-eating habits; he hadn't even noticed her kidnapping zombies during the zombie virus outbreak of September, despite staying on the move throughout the city with Virginia.]
[For now, though, he's glancing up at the sky again.]
... Eh, prolly not gonna matter anyway. Fuckers're probably dumpin' fallout on us.
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Wouldn't be able to fly.
[--can she eat now she's getting impatient okay yes--he looked away.
Utsuho's wings folded out and cupped around herself like an umbrella, shielding most of her torso and some of her other limbs from view--though she keeps at least one eye fixed on the other human at all times.
She stripped the flesh away from the ghoul's abdomen first with her hands and teeth--and the slippery ropes of intestine fell out at her feet, followed shortly after by the liver--sickly looking and full of mottled spots. Utsuho split the ribcage with the ease of someone tearing wet tissue paper next. The spongy lungs her teeth squashed through without issue--and then she set upon the heart with a hideous squelching, crunching noise.]
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[Used as he might be to the horrors of war, well-it still doesn't make it any more pleasant, especially when we're talking about raw cannibalism here.]
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This finished, she dropped the body like so much garbage. There was enough food here--for the day. She could afford to be picky.]
What?
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We're still alive even after, what? One, two days? An' so was'ese bastards. So'at rules out anything stronger'an eight grays. They would'nt've survived'a trip out here an' we'd already be dyin'.
[Saying this while pointedly still looking at the sky. At least while he's not looking he can take comfort in the whole revenge aspect of having one of the town's resident youkai feasting on the cannibals.]
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