2017-03-07: Mistaken Trust
- Log: Mistaken Trust
- Cast: Jude Moshe, Leon Albus, Lily Keil
- Where: Port Timney
- Date: March 7, 2017
- Summary: Leon and Lily prepare to leave Port Timney for Adlehyde -- but before they do, a young man stops them for help. Jude Moshe, however, is far more than he seems.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Yesterday, Leon Albus, Lily Keil, and no small number of other Drifters tried their luck in the Sult Ruins -- and once again, they were turned away. Afterward, they retreated back to Port Timney. It is more their speed -- and easier to vanish in -- than Saint Centour. A port town is a little easier to get lost in. Of course, taking a boat always risks being spotted -- and Leon knows himself well enough to know he is no liar.
Using his real name is the best way to lay low. Not hiding his military background is a good way to not stand out. He couldn't if he tried.
This afternoon, he remains in Port Timney. The two surviving Black Wolves checked out of Timney's inn. The two are walking down one of Timney's large streets, walking past carts that lead towards the port. Leon adjusts his dark grey coat, then smooths out the patterned vest he wears. The blonde-haired man looks sideways, at his companion.
"A train to Adlehyde, I think?" he suggests. "It's high time we investigate. We can try our luck in the ruins again later. Maybe... hn. We'll need to think of how to approach it."
He looks, momentarily, annoyed. A ruin is much harder to plan for than an ambush.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
For her part, Lily Keil likes port towns.
She also appreciates getting lost, and having just a little bit of time to record more notes about their attempts in the Sult Ruins. But that part was earlier; she only has so many to make.
In the meantime, she hides by simply not saying much, attempting to blend in well enough. She's a much better liar than Leon is for certain, but it's better to give no information than some information as far as she's concerned.
Walking beside Leon, Lily folds her black-gloved hands again and looks sideways back at Leon. "It /is/ time," she agrees, and then lets out a little rush of breath, almost a laugh. "It's getting on my nerves, too. You'd rather be planning a battle, wouldn't you?"
Lily looks forward, "I'm willing to leave whenever. I've got to spend more time thinking about those ruins anyway... And I'm tired of slime."
Her voice is low, hard to hear. Some of that's just how she talks.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
The sun beats down without relent in Port Timney; it's a fact of life most of the people have had to grow accustomed to here -- that most people in Filgaia have had to grow accustomed to. The heat is relentless, and in port towns, its aggressive focus is hardly waylaid by the salty waft of the winds rolling off the back of the ocean beyond.
The heat means that most people just mind their business. Fend for themselves. Ignore the outside world. It makes it easier to blend in, at least. People don't really bother to ask questions unless you're trying to actually use the port. On the other hand...
"Hey! Spare a second to help someone in need? H-hey -- wait up a second, will ya--!"
... it -does- make it tragically difficult to find a Good Samaritan in your hour of need.
The pleas come from perhaps ten to fifteen feet ahead of Lily and Leon, right within their planned trajectory. The source? A man with dark red hair and amber eyes, who might look well-dressed were it not for how his vest is currently unbutton and dress shirt untucked, a light tan frock coat slung over his shoulder, all no doubt to stave off the heat. The end result merely makes him look even more down on his luck than his sorry expression might suggest.
He holds out his hand to a passing man; he doesn't even notice. Tries to hail a young woman; she quickly hurries her step. Keep your head low, don't focus on him, and maybe he won't notice--
"Hey!" This time, that voice has one, pointed direction, and the man is facing two, specific people: the approaching Leon and Lily. His expression is helplessly hopeful.
"Do you have a moment to help a poor soul in need?" he asks, voice sounding almost half-resigned to inevitable failure. "My coach lost a wagon just outside the port -- I could -really- use a helping hand to get it into town so I can get it repaired." His hands clap together and raise up over his head in humble prayer as he bows his head.
"Please, it'll just take a moment. Promise!"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Can you blame me? Things can go wrong, but bouncing spiked balls and trick floors haven't ever happened to me in a fight," Leon says with a sigh. But, despite the feigned irritation, he has a smile on his face. It was fun for him, in a way. It is different.
He looks up, though, and his brow furrows when he hears someone asking for help. He finds someone wearing a broadly similar outfit -- except his vest is buttoned, his shirt is tucked, and his coat is even buttoned below. That, of course, is partly to hide the ARM inside. But, he still does his best to dress smartly. Another lingering habit from his not-so-distant days in Kislev's military.
He is always alert, and there is a briefly suspicious look at the unkempt man who addresses them. His eyes shift to the side, to Lily, and then back to the fellow just as he starts to explain.
It may say a lot about Leon, more than his bearing and his upbringing, that he finds himself nodding.
"I think we can do that," he says. He looks sideways at Lily, to get a read on her -- before he looks back at him. "Just outside of town, you said?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
A little smile quirks onto Lily's lips at Leon's answer. ...As she walks, she still seems rather unconcerned by the heat. "Can I ever blame you?" It's very different; she remembers how she reacted to that machine she was working on earlier. She remembers a lot of the good parts of it.
But she's not the first person to look towards the man asking for help. She glances after a moment, ater Leon does, and keeps walking forward. She watches each person move away rom him, each little sign that he's unkempt and down on his luck.
Lily, when she looks at Leon, is more cautious than he is, but doesn't immediately respond because Leon has already answered first. From here, the man can see that she too is dressed smartly, a red dress and black gloves, dark hair and a fairly severe look.
Speaking of severe, she looks at Leon in that moment with some disapproval before she relents.
"Yes, we can help you," she agrees. "Get dressed and we'll go."
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"It's fine, I understand, go with Granas and all that -- wait. What?"
The man looks up from what seems by all accounts to be a response that's simply become rote for him today, blinking amber eyes in confusion as if his brain was still catching up to Leon's offer of help. His head tilts, slowly -- and then he grins, a look of utter relief painting his expression.
"Seriously? Damn -- you two must be the first people who even gave me the time of day!" he enthuses, lifting a hand to push through that messy mop of red hair as he squints up at the sky. It makes him blissfully oblivious to that brief look of disapproval Lily shares with Leon. "... Wait. What time -is- it...?"
Shaking his head free of such concerns, the man looks back down just as Lily agrees, his smile one of pure gratitude. "Thanks. Seriously. You're life savers," he enthuses before blinking exactly once. "Oh -- ah, right. One sec. It's just been broiling out today, you know?" As he talks, he slides on that frock coat. There's no weapons there -- at least, no obvious ones. He makes a half-hearted attempt at rebuttoning that vest, but also doesn't quite bother with the shirt either, making him ultimately look even more in disarray than before. Just... hopeless.
"Yeah -- it's not that far. The wheel just snapped and the horses spooked and ran off," he says lamentably, shaking his head as he walks past the pair. "This way. Follow me -- seriously, thanks. I don't have much gella, but if there's something you two need -- a ride somewhere, anything, just feel free to ask. Though, without horses, I guess I'm not riding much of anywhere, am I? Ha ha ha."
And, with that easy laughter, he walks off towards the outer limits of Timney, taking a slow pace for them to follow his lead. "So, you two new here, too? Don't really look much like Timney natives."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon catches that disapproving look. It makes him wince, for a moment, but it's a subtle expression -- and quickly gone, when Lily relents. He nods, once, to the man, before he tilts his head to the side. "Mid-afternoon," he answers. "I suppose you must be in a real bind, to miss that."
Or, maybe, a lazy sort of porter who doesn't get up early. He wonders, looking at that unkempt appearance. But, he waits, while he goes about getting his clothes in arrears. Or tries, at any rate. Leon makes a face at that -- and thenn he nods.
"We can handle that," he says. "I don't think we'll have a problem. We can..." He considers, for a moment. "...I think we'll be fine. We're headed out of town, but we have time before we leave."
He follows after as the man leads the way. Leon's hands slide down into the pockets of his coat -- and his eyebrows raise at his question, before he shrugs. "We are," he says. "We come from further up north. But, we thought we should travel. It's good for us."
He looks sideways at Lily and flashes a grin. "Right, Lily?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily holds in a sigh over this whole endeavor. ...Mostly over the fact that she's not going to retract her offer of help after he's this relieved. She can discuss the matter of whether they /should/ have later.
Lily doesn't return the smile but she does nod. "Yes, it's quite warm," she agrees, again without showing any sign that she even cares about it. She watches for any such weapons but only finds messy clothes.
"Pity about your horses," Lily says, not particularly warmly. "That's..." Leon says they'll be fine, and Lily inclines her head. "Worry about yourself; without horses you're already in a difficult enough spot without repaying others."
Lily's gun stays snug against her hip as she starts off after Judge, keeping pae with Leon as they move ahead. She flicks her eyes towards Leon and grins back before looking up at th man. "Very good for us. Besides, I like seeing new places."
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"I can always spot the travelers," the man says, the perfect picture of a traveling merchant in that meandering, pointless small talk. Easy. Friendly. "Birds of a feather, right? It can be rough, though. My hat's off to you for making a go of it, the way things are in the world these days. Dangerous times, y'know?"
But the man carries on even as he talks, fretting over the helpless state of his mess of an outfit for a moment before he leads them out of Port Timney. The influx of people starts to thin out the further away from the city; paved roads gradually become beaten paths. Things grow a bit quieter.
But, just as promised, it's not that far out of the city limits that they'll find a wagon, laid out on the side of the road. It looks old -- or maybe cheap is the right word. Affordable. The wheels are ragged and worn down, and the front right of them has been cracked free from its axel, the spokes a splintered mess. No horses; the thing has already started to collect sand and dirt from the unforgiving land, ready to be forgotten and disgarded like so many of its kind.
"This breaks my heart. I've had this thing in my family since... ... well, before I was even a member of the family. Carried me through a lot of rough times," laments the oversharing young man as he makes his way towards the wagon. He hops onto the back of it, looking towards them with the tilt of his head.
"I probably ought to just think about myself, huh? But I can't just let that kinda thing be. My father always taught me to never leave a debt unpaid. I try to live by that as much as possible. My one weakness." His grin is good-natured, before he shifts, jerking a thumb towards the caravan. "Just let me make sure all my goods are still here and we can figure out what to do with this whole mess."
And with that, the red-haired man disappears inside. Quietly. Until, just loud enough to be heard --
"Ah, damn. Of all the-- I knew this was gonna happen..."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"You see a lot of travelers, then? You must, in your line of work." Leon can make a guess to that -- he saw the merchants, after all, with caravans and wagons who plied the routes and risked coming to Nortune. With the war on, that approach wasn't easy. The chance to buy wares from abroad was well worth it just the same.
The wagon catches his eye. Leon isn't experienced enough with wagons to know much about why it broke -- but he can see the age of the wagon, and he can see that the damage is significant. His brow furrows a moment, before he looks sideways at the man. "I can imagine," he says. "It isn't easy to lose your home. Let us know what we can do."
He doesn't follow him in. Leon glances, sideways, at Lily. His expression is faintly bemused; this will be something to write home about. Except, of course... 'Ah, damn.'
That prompts the soldier to look back at the wagon. He doesn't approach closer. Instead, he hazards a guess: "Bandits get to it?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I imagine that you do a lot of travelling yourself," Lily answers. "...Or did." She says it distractedly, looking around the crowds and people as they thin and stay behind them, rather than on the way the man focuses on his outfit.
Lily remembers the merchnts she's dealt with less well; their wares, certainly, but...
The wagon catches Lily's eye, too. She looks it over as her gazeflickers front to back, and she's no wagon expert itself. She keeps looking at it though the note about what this wagon is like, how important it is to him.
She's silent in regards to it, glaning away for a moment.
"One weakness...?" Lily finds herself asking anyway. "...Take the time you need."
Lily glances to Leon too, and this time she does sigh, one hand up with two fingers against her brow, her hair falling forward.
But when he speaks up, she looks back up again. "Do you need help?" Lily asks, low but loud enough to carry.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Yeah. I've been all over Ignas. You see all kinds of people in my line of work. You'd be surprised how easy to tell which is which, the more accustomed you get to dealing with people."
They're a final handful of conversational words before the man disappears within his ruined wagon. There's the sound and sight of rustling, the animal skin covering billowing mildly as the man moves. The faint sound of cursing follows his frustrated words, something being kicked. The pair speak up.
"Huh? Ah, yeah. Got most of my stuff. There's really no such thing as good will in the world anymore," comes the voice, muffled but audible. "I appreciate the offer, but it's okay." A shift. A movement. The red-haired man peaks his head out past the covering of the wagon with a small, apologetic smile.
Apologetic, probably, for the barrel of the large ARM he currently has pointed at the two of them.
"... they didn't get the thing I was looking for."
And just like that, his entire demeanor seems to change; awkward and unkempt and overly talkative before, the man seems much more calm, much more laid back -- but with a distinctly dangerous glint in those amber eyes of his. That ARM looks like a shogun combined with a revolver, large and bulky and covered in strange sigils. The hand on the trigger is steady, like someone who's lived their whole life holding a gun.
It contrasts sharply with Jude Moshe's helpless smile and the roll of his shoulders as he hangs off the edge of that wagon, primed and ready to shoot.
"Sorry about this," he doesn't sound particularly sorry. Or even look it. But at least he says it! That had to take some effort, maybe. "But a guy's gotta eat. Y'know? Sssso, I'm gonna have to ask you to drop your ARMs and kick them over to me. Both of you."
GS: Jude Moshe has fully healed himself. He is now in Boss mode for 2 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Shame about that," Leon says, idly. "That's the way Filgaia is these days. People don't--" His voice catches, when he sees the glint of gunmetal in Filgaia's sun, and his eyes drift up from the ARM's barrel to Jude's face, and then back down. "--stay altruists," he finishes more flatly.
His eyes glance to Lily. He sighs, then reaches inside his coat. Argent Divider is pulled out of the long holster on his hip. The fold-out shotgun and sword combination is lifted, looking all the world like an over-under barrel shotgun with a squared upper barrel at the moment. He drops it down to the ground.
He doesn't kick it over, yet.
"So," he says. "Either you're an idiot, who doesn't know who he plans to rob." Leon doesn't make it a question. His expression changes, too; it isn't the one he wears when talking to civilians. The affable, but confidently removed soldier who is more a protector than an equal, is gone. The cold, professional confidence of the Black Wolves' captain is back.
But it wavers, for a moment. It isn't a confidence that comes as easily as it used to.
"Or you know who we are," he says, "and you don't know better to stay away. Which is it?"
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Leon Albus with Biding Time! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Biding Time for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is silent through the man's answer, silent throuh Leon's reply to same. By now she has started to look at the approaches, to see if those bandits might come back for anything remaining.
Movement, and Lily looks back to the man, just in time to hear Leon and see the large ARM now pointed at the two of them. She frowns in an instant, her topaz eyes narrowing.
It's perhaps more telling that Lily doesn't look significantly unfriendlier than she did when they met than that she's frowning now.
Each of those changes register to her, the shifts in his demeanor and the nature of that ARM, particularly the odd sigils. Lily glances once to Leon, her jaw set, and once back to Jude Moshe.
The apology only gets a flat look from the woman in red and black, but Lily does take her pistol ARM from the holster at her hip, showing it off, and drop it to the ground before her. It doesn't match Argent Divider in the least, being a dingy affair with a wide barrel.
Her other hand comes up, and she places both palm out before her, looking at Jude's eyes the whole time. "I'm curious about the answer to that question, too. But I'm more curious about something else."
Red circles of magical power erupt into bing in front of both of her palms as four fireballs erupt forward and, on a wide arc, converge at what she judges as Jude's feet to explode in an instant.
The Black Wolves' lieutenant dives down and grabs her ARM, rolling to start for some real cover.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Jude Moshe with Hearthblaze! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Jude Moshe critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Hearthblaze for 12 hit points! GS: Lily Keil takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Ouch," is Jude's first word to Leon's biting observation -- he even winces a bit. Doubtless, if he had a hand free, he'd be rubbing the back of his head in embarassment. But how insincere the emotional pain he feels is, is probably more than evident in the way that barrel never wavers for an instant. Aimed between them in a way that it could move to one or the other in an instant if necessary, right for center mass. "Didn't your dad ever tell you words are like bullets?"
But the gun stays exactly where it is as Leon drops his weapon, and Lily's after. Dark red brows furrow inward as the Argent Divider hits earth with a whud; Jude's gaze seems to focus on it for a quiet moment longer than he does Lily's own. "Huh," he mutters, half to himself. "That design's kinda... unusual, isn't it?" He looks back up. Carefully. "Well, whatever. We can have a nice long talk about all those things on the ride to Nortune. Or..."
Lily's hand comes out. Palm presented. Jude's sentence trails. "Ah, dammit. Nope. Bad Lily. Bad. No sparky. Put that hand down, Ms. Keil, bad--"
And so, scolding her like someone might a pet about to do something particularly bad, Jude Moshe probably gets just about what he deserves when those fireballs blaze out and converge at his feet. His eyes narrow; his teeth grit. He belts out a curse -- and a moment later, he's lunging from the wagon just as the massed conflagration impacts the back of it, arms lifted to shield himself from the blowback. Splinters fly as the wagon is blown clear in half, the rest set to the blaze. Jude lands in a roll only a few feet away, vest and shirt singed. Gunbarrel lifted.
"One day, I'm going to come across people who just like to... quietly give up."
The runes on the gun start to glow a bright, searing orange. The trigger squeezes.
And a shell engulfed in scorching flames explodes out of it with a shotgun's thunderous peel, the inferno of a slug aimed not for Lily, but Leon, as Jude pushes right back up off his feet and starts to -charge-.
"Politely, too. 'Sure, Mr. Moshe, I'll just silently get in the back of this wagon for you and -not- blow it up, you come up with some great, reasonable plans'--"
Which prefaces him launching off his feet to spin through the air with surprising acrobatics, with every intention of sending one leg slamming down on Lily's right shoulderjoint.
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Leon Albus with Boogie Chillen! GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Lily Keil with Rollin' and Tumblin'! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Boogie Chillen for 126 hit points! GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Leon Albus! GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Rollin' and Tumblin' for 57 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"No," Leon says matter-of-factly. "He told me that bullets are like bullets."
He doesn't remark on Argent Divider being unusual. Nor, for that matter, does he answer anything else, because he sees the magical circle appear at Lily's feet. That tells him what he needs to. He waits until the fireballs are away before he ducks down and snatches Argent Divider off the ground. Dust flies as the shotgun-like weapon swings up, Leon already taking aim as Jude dives away from the exploding wagon.
"Good luck with that," he says. "My experience is most people with bounties have good reason to not coopera--gh!"
He didn't expect the shot at him. Before Leon can pull the trigger, the fireball explodes from Moshe's shotgun, and slams into his side. His grey coat takes the worst of it, but part of it burns black, and the impact hurls Leon backward. He hits the ground in a roll, then comes up in a three-point stance.
His hand still has Argent Divider gripped firmly. He draws a bead, aims the weapon, and fires. A round blasts out of the barrel, and before it gets near Jude, it explodes into a mass of sticky, caustic red gel. Some of it touches the wood -- and it burns at the touch, with a thick chemical stink.
"Martial arts!" he yells, as Jude comes down at Lily's shoulder. "Look alive!"
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Jude Moshe with Rustshot Round! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Jude Moshe guards a hit from Leon Albus's Rustshot Round for 31 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Jude Moshe!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Amidst the rush of flames Lily adds, "There's an easy way to get me to lower my hands." But then she is moving, hearing his complaints and certain that Leon is already going to be moving.
The explosion of the wagon doesn't bother her in the least; that's exactly what she wanted. In fact, there's a satisfied look amidst the crackling blaze's cast shadows, and it's hers.
But she's moving faster than that immediately, holstering her ARM and waiting for the slug at her until it's aimed at Leon instead. She lets out a quick breath to suppress her reaction and starts to lift her hands again as she's turning.
There's a shout that warns her, but she can't move quickly enough; all she can do is feel the impact and push into it to dissipate its impact. "Aah--!" Still it jars her enough to throw her arm down and make her actually cry out.
She throws up her other arm and this time the magic that forms is blue--before spear of ice rockets forth from her open palm, stabbing straight for Jude.
"I didn't give you permission to use my first name!"
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Jude Moshe with Iceflash! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Jude Moshe takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Iceflash for 72 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Yeah, mine too. Usually it's that they're guilty, but hey, what do I know? I'm just the guy who doesn't have fifty thousand gella on his head!"
That ARM is going to be dangerous at range. But so is that magic. Jude makes some quick assessments in his head even as he lands from that first offensive push. He comes to a conclusion:
"This sucks. Gh--!"
It's a thought that's compounded by the catch of that weapon barrel trained on him from the peripheries of his vision. He belts out a curse, and then swiftly wheels about, intent to shift his body in order to bear the brunt of what he's certain is going to be a shotgun shell aimed for his gut. Instead?
He gets chemicals. A splatter of red goop that splashes across his forearms and his stomach, filling his nostrils with their artificial pungence. "The hell--?" He begins -- but the acidic sizzle is more than enough for him to tell what's going on, there.
"Aah, dammit, not the coat--!"
Off that frock coat goes seconds later, shrugged off within a moment's notice. And yet, he's still holding onto it; and the reason why comes about the second that Lily comes for him with yet another churn of magic. The lance juts forward, and rams right for him -- but he doesn't try to avoid it. He takes that frozen magic head on, feeling the densely-pointed tip spear straight into his side in a painful tear as he pivots in the same motion... with every intention of whipping that coat around Lily's head and neck to snag her there.
"Yeah, sorry about that," he says, voice still affable enough -- and this time, maybe -slightly- genuine. Maybe.
"But then again I didn't give you permission to burn down my wagon so maybe we oughta call it even."
If he manages that hold, two things happen; one, he's going to yank Lily down with the frock coat, to jam her midsection into the upwards swing of his knee. And the other comes in the high-pitched whine of his ARM as more sigils glow in a white emanation of light seconds before the trigger is squeezed and a high-velocity slug is fired off like a crackle of lightning, aimed right for Leon to try to keep the man at bay.
"OR you could both just give up and I could owe you one--"
He sounds pretty sincere about that, too.
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Lily Keil with It Hurts Me Too! GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Leon Albus with Smokestack Lightnin'! GS: Jude Moshe takes 6 damage from Poison! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Jude Moshe's Smokestack Lightnin' for 37 hit points! GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Jude Moshe's It Hurts Me Too for 73 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Shit," Leon swears softly, as Jude fires again. The lightning explodes from the barrel and the soldier jumps away from it only barely in time to not get all of the electricity to his torso. Forks of lightning still leap out, striking him, and burning more holes into his coat. He sucks a breath in, then weighs his options, as he sees how the coat whips out for Lily.
He has fought enough battles with her, even though she didn't use her magic in most of those, to know where their strengths are. He is better at melee fighting than her -- and that, alone, is reason for him to take a risk.
Having jumped to the side, Leon lunges forward with a leap. He snaps Argent Divider out. The barrels split down the middle and fold backward; a straight, double-edged broadsword flips up into place, while the handle snaps backward. In short order, he has a guardless broadsword, and he swings it back over his shoulder.
Then he comes down. The first strike slashes for the coat, to get it away from Lily. Then, he turns, and swings the blade in front of him, slashing for the front of the other man. "That doesn't sound like a favor to me! And I didn't think that was really your wagon!"
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Jude Moshe with Black Wolf's Fang! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Jude Moshe critically Guards a hit from Leon Albus's Black Wolf's Fang for 18 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily /jams/ the spear closer as it continues to come fully-forced not far from her hand, before it winks out in a blast of mist. "You--" She sees the coat moving for her, "/Shi-/"
It jars her, pulls her closer and gets her more than stuck in the moment, though she jerks her head to the side back and forth to try to get free; all it does is muss her black hair.
"Yes well--" Lily's retort is cut off completely into a hard exhalation as Jude's knee slams straight into her stomach; it's replaced with coughing, which is more than enough to prevent her setting him on fire in /these/ few moments. She hears the lightning but can't free herself--
Until Leon slashes down, and the movement frees her and sends her quickly backing up. Her hands come up while she's still trying to breathe, still close.
In lieu of words, there's another set of red circles--and a column of flame as wide and tall as she is blasts forth from her hands, sending her rocketing backwards a few yards in the process.
"Not... Guilty!"
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Jude Moshe with Conflagration! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Jude Moshe has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Jude Moshe critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Conflagration for 46 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
His movements are efficient. Despite those easy-going words and his general behavior, any trained soldier can see there's very little wasted energy in Jude's actions. Everything has a purpose, everything revolves around a strategy -- even in circumstances as tricky as this.
And it -is- tricky. Blood stains at the side of his shirt from the wound inflicted by Lily as he staggers back in preparation for his next plan of attack; the thick, chemical compounds from Leon's acidic shells still burn through his clothes and at his skin, making his teeth grit together unpleasantly. He sees Leon starting to move from the corner of his vision. He doesn't have much time.
Within a matter of moments, just as he expected, Leon leaps into the fray. The broadsword comes down. "Where the hell--" he begins, before it just up and cleaves its way through his coat. "Oh come on -- I said not the coat! Do you have any idea how much it's gonna cost to get that fixed?" Fabric rips like nothing; the coat slices clean in half, one bit of light tan fabric abandoned to the unforgiving heat of the winds as Jude releases it. He grips onto his ARM with both hands. He knows what's coming next. Amber eyes narrow. Leon swings.
And the shriek of metal on metal rings out as the blade of that broadsword comes in contact with a bayonet blade suddenly locking into place on the belly of Jude's gunbarrel, deflecting it -just- enough to cause that brutal stroke to slice a more shallow wound across his shoulder.
"Tch--" he grunts, sweeping backwards. They're close to each other now; he notes the exact distance between them. "Well, I mean... it didn't start -out- as my wagon, but the principle's the same--"
Red curckes spawn in a manner especially familiar to Jude. He looks down, and knows what's coming, and it's only a matter of time before the revolving chamber of his shotgun is opened up and a shell is hastily shoved into the chamber. "C'mon c'mon c'mon -- shit--"
FWOOM
'Not... Guilty!'
Lily and Leon get to see Jude shooting at the ground, of all things, seconds before the blaze consumes the air and oxygen around them. A glimpse of moisture coalescing together and clumping up into a sudden, dense wall of pure ice before it's gobbled up by the conflagration.
A second passes as the heat dissipates, the smoke wanes.
BOOM -- BOOM
Two shells. Both becoming roaring spitballs of flaming napalm sputtering through the air for both Lily and Leon.
And there stands Jude, vest all burnt up, flesh here and there saddled with various degrees of burns, smelling the singe of his hair -- but at least, not burned to a crisp!
"... So is that a declaration of innocence, or you absolving me for hunting you down, because if it's the latter I'm flattered, but it's not really necessary--"
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Leon Albus with Canned Heat Blues! GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Lily Keil with Canned Heat Blues! GS: Jude Moshe takes 7 damage from Poison! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Canned Heat Blues for 80 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Lily Keil! GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Jude Moshe's Canned Heat Blues for 65 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"If you didn't want me to cut your coat, you wouldn't be trying to wrap her up in it," Leon says, smartly, back at Jude -- and then he gets surprised. Oh, he noticed the expert movements. He couldn't help but notice. But he saw many a smart movement from Aveh's soldiers, and they rarely could manage once he got in close. Jude does, as the ARM's bayonet blade swings up and catches his sword. The ARM-blades meet in a flash of sparks and a hiss from a surprised Black Wolf.
And then he jumps backward, because he sees the magical circle. He knows what is coming, and he knows to get the hell away. He lands, half-crouched, when the fire blasts upward, and the smoke rises in its wake. And then, the smoke has two holes cut in it -- and two crackbooms of gunfire. The roaring blasts of flame fly, and one slams into Leon's shoulder. It sends him into a spin, and flame licks up and down his coat. He shouts, quickly pulling the now battered garment off. His clean white shirt is less clean; his vest is scratched and torn, too.
He lets out a long hiss. "We're not guilty," he says. "And no. We're not absolving you of that. I'd say it's nothing personal... but really, it kind of is."
He snaps his ARM again. The sword blade flips back up, like a reverse switchblade, while the two gun barrels lock into place; there is a soft click when they do. Then, Leon lifts the ARM, drawing his bead quickly, before he fires. Jude might know top expect a trick, this time -- and he gets one.
This round explodes into a rush of small, metal balls -- perfect for breaking down armor and one's guard alike.
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Jude Moshe with Shellbreak Round! GS: Leon Albus takes 5 damage from Poison! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: MISS! Jude Moshe completely evades Shellbreak Round from Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily has aught enough of her breath by the time she sees Jude shoot down at the ground, and that's a trick she wouldn't have expected. She stares for half a moment through her own flames to see the ice rush upward.
"That's a nice tri--" BOOM. Lily, arms still up, crosses them in front of herself, coated in sudden ice to try to block the roaring ball of fire, but even in her guard it knocks her flying backwards before it ducks right under and hits her square in the chest. She hits the ground hard and coughs again, already rolling to her side to push herself up.
"What the Captain said," Lily answers, still slightly on fire and ignoring the pain of it to stand up the rest of the way. "It might not be personal to you, and I can respect that as a soldier..." She starts to jump to the side and run, holding up a hand erupting in blue. A blast of chill air, sparkling in the light, rushes towards Jude... and then explodes into razor chunks of ice, as soon as it gets near him.
"But it's very personal to me!"
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Jude Moshe with Blademist! GS: Lily Keil takes 7 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Jude Moshe critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Blademist for 18 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Hey now, can't blame a guy for trying, huh?"
The words are friendly in a helplessly exasperated kind of way as Jude Moshe slowly straightens out from his slouched position; his nice clothes burned, cut and bloodied, what already looks like the beginnings of what will doubtless be nasty bruising here and there, Jude nonetheless seems as affably laid back as ever as he lays his shotgun over his shoulders and holds a hand up into the air almost haltingly.
"Look, I'm just going to stop you both there. Not that I don't love the whole 'it wasn't me, it was the one-armed Veruni!' routine, I do, but--"
He sees Argent Divider snapping back into its gun configuration. He heaves a world-weary sigh.
"--maybe we could just skip the whole part where I tell you that, unless you have any proof, it'd probably be easier to plead your case in court or the arena or wherever... ah, crap."
The shotgun blast peels off in a deafening burst the very second that Jude sees Lily on the move; he plans his path within an instant, and -moves-. Darting backwards across the unforgiving, dirt-encrusted earth, he barely manages to outpace that volley of metallic beads just in time for them to collide with the path of Lily's ice; the projectiles clash in bursts of frost and shredding metal, the spare razor-slices of chilled air cutting across Jude's legs and his cheek as he rushes forward -- painful, but not nearly as debilitating as it could have been.
"-- ghhh -- if you got something interesting to say, then by all means, but until then I'm just gonnaaaa--" He fights past the brief flash of pain. Keeps moving, even as blood oozes from his leg every time he strains it. He just rushes forward, capping off several quick shots from his shotgun in Lily's direction -- each one aimed for a shoulder, a leg, someplace non-vital -- before he lunges, hitting the ground in a roll and upkick of sand to land himself square at Leon's feet.
The snap of a blade and a flash of motion might be all the Captain sees before Jude aims to carve one brutal, crippling blow across the back of his right knee.
"Besides, this is personal for me too, now."
...
"I -just got- this outfit tailored yesterday."
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Lily Keil with Killing Floor! GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Leon Albus with Crosscut Saw! GS: Jude Moshe takes 9 damage from Poison! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Killing Floor for 100 hit points! GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Crosscut Saw for 98 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Gh--"
Leon's not pleased to see his attack used to neutralize much of Lily's ice. Jude is, he concludes, even more clever than he thought. He sees Jude firing on Lily, and then he hisses softly to see Jude leap--and not where he thought, either. The red-haired main gets in past his guard, at his feet, and that blade whips out and finds purchase on the back of his right leg. It sinks in and he shouts, pained, stumbling forward.
"Gyaah!"
The only saving grace is he moved before a tendon was cut. The blade, nonetheless, has left him with a bad gash on his leg that forces him to stumble painfully. He snaps Argent Divider again; the two barrels snap back into place, and then the blade comes back out. "A fair trial isn't likely," he snaps, testier than he was a moment ago.
He swings his sword backward -- and then lines of light glow, as he goes through a simple form that unleashes some inner light. Then, he strikes with a mighty two-handed slash of the blade, chopping down for Jude's midsection. And for that brand new outfit.
"Hazard Break!"
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Jude Moshe with Hazard Break! GS: Leon Albus takes 4 damage from Poison! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Jude Moshe has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Jude Moshe takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Hazard Break for 169 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Too clever by half. Lily's not happy about what's going on, but she doesn' intend to let heself avoid it, either. The black-haired woman watches as Jude moves through their attacks, listening with growing anger to what he actually has to say. But she doesn't answer immediately; immediately, he's 'gonna' apparently shoot her, and she doesn't so much as move away except to lower her arms. They hit; one blasting her shoulder, one glancing across her leg, another in her arm, freezing her and place and making her grit her teeth in pain from the shots. Even so, she lets out a clipped scream before she cuts it off, swaying on her feet. She can imagine the sort of injury she's going to have just from those already.
But she can imagine more how Leon might be injured as a result, listen to him shout, and her fingers twitch. He's already moving, and she lifts her hands again. Still, the fire clings to her, but she looks at Jude.
"I have nothing to say that will interest you," Lily says, coldly. "But a trial isn't in our cards." Black energy starts to crackle around her hands, not merely circles this time but something else.
Her eyes shift featurelessly black, and a small globe of black-and-purple-and-white power appears not far from Jude, on the other side of Leon. "Captain, back!"
It explodes into a mass of darkness that churns up dirt to spray all around it.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Jude Moshe with Gloomhammer! GS: Lily Keil takes 6 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Jude Moshe guards a hit from Lily Keil's Gloomhammer for 107 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Well, this has quickly gone very south.
'Crap' is probably Jude's dominating thought when he sees the blade of the Argent Divider snap back into position and then just start -glowing-. Seeing a weapon like that react in the way it is, well -- it completely takes Moshe off-guard for the split second that Leon needs to capitalize on the situation. The blade swings down like an executioner's axe. The bayonet of his ARM is brought to bear...
... exactly half a second too late. That weapon -cleaves-, powerfully, through the would-be bounty hunter's defenses like they were made of butter in a motion that doubtless does a lot more than just ruin that brand new outfit.
Not that it's not -exactly- what he'll complain about if he makes it through all this, you can't -imagine- how much getting something custom tailored costs in these parts--
But it does its job. Cloth, flesh and muscle are cleaved and burned through in one motion that leaves a wide gash of blood and tattered clothes in an explosion of pain that rocks distractingly through Jude. Not distractingly enough, of course, for him to -not- notice those cold words, see the crackle of electric black, the droplet of an inky blot of darkness shimmering just beyond him.
So, he does what he can. Even grappling with the pain, Jude moves -- moves -with- the momentum of Leon's blow, looking to grab the man by the lapels of what remains of -his- coat to -drag- him along for the ride. Jude's booted heel will try to plant into Leon's gut to knock him through the air towards Lily seconds before he himself crashes into the ground -right- as the shadowy mass erupts into magical mayhem. His hands lift to shield himself as best he can; but even on the fringes, it lacerates and churns his sleeves into nothing more than rags and scrapesl, suffuses darkness throughout his being in a way that, even diluted, just makes Jude quietly thank whatever gods may be above that he didn't get hit in the epicenter of the damn thing as he goes blasting back like a ragdoll. He flips through the air--
--which is about when he fires off two slugs, both bursting into chunks of ice that rain down like hail on Lily as he goes soaring past. He hits ground, shoulder first. Feels it dislocate. That's good. Really good. He tumbles. Lands on in a smoking crouch, hand gripping to his ARM. If he's lucky, he'll manage to corral them together. And then, hope he doesn't die.
"Ugh -- damn -- message received... loud and clear... but you're probably getting a bill for me sometime soon regardless--"
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Leon Albus with It Hurts Me Too! GS: Jude Moshe enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Lily Keil with Boogie Chillen! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Boogie Chillen for 58 hit points! GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's It Hurts Me Too for 125 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Jude isn't the only one to think that this has gone south. Leon is still staggering, his leg hurt, and he nearly falls over. It isn't hard, given that, for Jude to grab him by his grey coat and swing him -- then kick into him. There is a satisfying crack; that would be a few of Leon's ribs. He goes flying backward, towards Lily. He hits the ground, and rolls a couple of times, before he comes back up and pants.
"Damn," he mutters, hoarsely. "A bill? You're serious? If you're going to be so proud of your suit, then--"
He starts running forward, despite the pain -- and it's intense. His leg feels like it has caught fire, and the slash is bleeding freely. His ribs scream with pain as he moves, and he has to force himself to ignore it. Especially when he leaps.
Part of the upper barrel runs along the blade of Argent Divider, like a squared brace for the lower half of the blade. A panel line running up the ARM suddenly glows, flashing a bright silver color, and then a blade of silver light explodes up the length of the sword and past it. Silver light shines brighter than the full moon.
And then he swings it down -- and it leaves a burst of white, glowing as an afterimage in its wake, as Leon touches down and finishes: "--at least wear it correctly!"
GS: Leon Albus has activated a Force Action! GS: Leon Albus has attacked Jude Moshe with Code.26 CLARENT! GS: Leon Albus takes 5 damage from Poison! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Jude Moshe has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Jude Moshe critically Guards a hit from Leon Albus's Code.26 CLARENT for 47 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily isn't exactly happy with the direction this day has taken. Less so, when Leon falls in her direction, and she holds her breath for a half-instant. But then... She has her problems at the same time, so she can't react much.
Like the ice. Throwing out her arm and minimizing her profile to let it hit arm first, Lily hisses as a chunk of ice hits one of her bullet wounds, not to mention the other that hits her shoulder. It staggers her for a moment, the pain, but she looks down towards Jude as soon as she's together enough.
Her eyes don't change back.
"It's so nice to cmmunicate clearly," she answers Jude as Leon moves forward, closing her eyes briefly. "Captain!" Lily starts forward and to the side, throwing out her hand as red sparks fly about Leon, floating down on him from above. With her other hand, Lily moves for a different kind of red.
This time, a man-sized column crashes down towards Jude in an instant, Lily's eyes snapping open again as she casts. "Hah--!"
GS: Lily Keil used Mystic on Leon Albus! 100 Temporary HP gained! All statuses cleared! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Jude Moshe with Conflagration! GS: Lily Keil takes 8 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Jude Moshe guards a hit from Lily Keil's Conflagration for 84 hit points! GS: Jude Moshe enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Play it careful. Play it smart. Wait for an opening. Wait for them to tire themselves out just enough...
... or wait for the Captain guy's big ol' gunsword to become a big ol' laser blade, that works too.
Jude Moshe's amber eyes widen at the sight. A blade shining brighter than silver moonlight, and a girl with eyes of pure shadow.
"... Great. I always have to choose the weirdos, don't I?" grouses the red-haired sellsword as he grips tightly onto his shoulder. He complains, certainly.
But the brief flicker of an anticipatory smile is no less there despite it.
The ease of Jude's body grows with subtle, underlying tension; he ignores the way his body screams 'PAIN' at him, an irritable protestation of nerves that is silenced within the greater weight of a need for survival against what's to come. He braces.
And when Leon lunges with that mighty swing? Jude's already blitzing across the ground at dizzying speeds. He charges at Leon just as the sparks of red sear in the air around him. He knows what's coming, courtesy of their resident spellcaster. The spellcaster with no obvious signs of tattoos to her. He needs to time this perfectly. If not...
He leaps. He leaps -right- into the sparks that conjure into a wreathing wall of flame just -seconds- before it can reach the full zenith of its heat and intense splendor, barreling headfirst through rolling tongues of flame that burn at him and wick away the moisture of his skin into nothing more than cracked and unpleasant burns. His eyes feel dry, his throat cracks, the air feels cold and hot at once--
--but he can't dwell on it as that sword comes down for him. A crackle of energy.
A CLANG of metal.
Jude Moshe is twisting as he meets Leon in mid-air, bayonet meeting energy blade and somehow not just -melting completely- at the intensity of its churn of particles. It lasts all of a handful of moments before the blade just SNAPS clean off. Sharp, impossibly dense, but broken, the blade goes flipping through the air, landing blade-first through the burning carcass of Jude's (borrowed (stolen)) wagon.
But it manages to do its part. The kinetic force of Leon's momentum is weakened, the stroke diverted such that it slices a much more shallow arc across Jude's chest, away from anywhere vital. A wound gouges and cauterizes across his right pectoral as the force of it is still enough to blow him back, going whipping into the ground until he lands in an burst of dust and debris. Clouds of the stuff permeate the air in a thick haze.
"... lesson one... I never lie," Jude Moshe lies, "about my clothes." He still lies.
"And lesson two..."
CRA-KOOM
His gun goes off. And within the veil of sand, Jude's silhouette can be seen -- pointing the barrel of his ARM straight into the sky. One shot.
"... when you look this good, you can wear it any way you like."
And then, it rains bullets.
A hail of slugs plummet from the sky, accelerated somehow like they were shot out of a railgun from space. Electrically charged arcs flit about each bit of metal as they rain like arrows from above, looking to perforate through both Leon -and- Lily without relent as Jude gets unsteadily back up onto his feet.
"Don't worry, you two -- you'll get there someday."
He tries to ignore how he currently feels like dying.
Presenting a confident image to the outside world is key, even when you're bleeding out.
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Leon Albus with Bad Sign! GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Lily Keil with Bad Sign! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Jude Moshe's Bad Sign for 170 hit points! GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Leon Albus! GS: Leon Albus has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Bad Sign for 178 hit points! GS: Lily Keil has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Gh--how did you--" Leon didn't expect the bayonet to withstand the full power of Argent Divider. He lands, on his feet, and he stumbles. He looks up, breathing raggedly, and then he sees the gun firing -- through a silhouette of sand. And there isn't a shot coming for him.
Leon is far more used to Lily's healing magic than her offensive magic. The sparks are warm and comforting, taking the edge off the worst of his wounds for a moment. But only, and it isn't quite enough. The bullets slash down -- three cut through him, drawing blood.
He stumbles, falling backward. His hand comes over his side -- and his eyes move to Lily. He snaps Argent Divider into its shotgun form -- and then he slides it into place. "You're tough," he says. "Back in Kislev, you'd have made it. Probably. But..."
He looks at the sand, looks at Jude, and weighs his options -- calculates his speed and distance, as best he can. If he goes back to Kislev, he doesn't doubt what waits him. His hand slips into the slashed up coat -- and then he swings up a pistol.
He fires, and it shoots right over Jude's shoulder. Then, the flare explodes in a brilliant flash of light.
"Go!" Leon yells -- and he's running, then, though it's ragged and it hurts /far/ more than he would like. But, for good measure, the flare slams into the burnt wreckage of the wagon. It bounces around inside, spraying sparks every which way.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily's a weirdo. That much she knows. She dresses head to toe to hide her lack of tattoos, and what rips and tears there are from bullets and burns and ice chunks show no sign of same.
But she can't really respond to the insult, which is definitely an insult, in the midst of her spellcasting and her own body calling out for pain.
"This--man--" Lily huffs, standing up a little straighter as she watches the clash, unable to cast immediately again into the middle of it. Leon answers him more fully. But then there's the silhoutte of sand, and Lily opens her eyes. She thinks she can feel it, before it happens, and more than three tear through her, through an open wound already at her arm and her other shoulder, and her side. A wordless cry of pain slips past her lips.
She doesn't say anything, her eyes sliding to Leon and then back to Jude. She obviously favors one side, forcing herself to stay upright. She makes sure not to look back at Leon for moments after that, hissing again in pain before--
'Go!'
Without so much as a farewell, the girl with the eyes of shadow turns on her heel and runs too, forcing herself throgh the pain that shoots through her with every step and the blood still pumping out of her to follow Leon.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
"Never was much of the soldier type."
The barrel of Jude Moshe's shotgun gleams in the beating light from the skies above as he makes his way toward the pair. There's a slight limp to his step, but he refuses to let himself collapse. This is, far and away, the biggest pain in the ass of a bounty (and just plain painful) he has ever had to collect. And now he needs to use some of the money to replace his clothes. That just leaves a sour taste in his mouth.
So, considering all the tragedy he's had to endure today, one can be sure he's going to collect.
Which is why he's instantly alert the second he sees movement from Leon in the corner of his eyes. That shotgun ARM instantly slings back into place, held in two hands.
"Hey, come on now, can't we just give me a break and have a nice talk first before you two start doing something dumb again--"
The pistol swings, fires, and Jude instantly snaps his head to his right to avoid it. He sees the blur of the shell and registers just what it is seconds before he realizes he's fallen for the trap.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
FLASH
Jude's entire life becomes a starburst pattern of seared colors over his vision. He hears Leon shout, hears them both move, and his ARM swings to point in the direction of the noise.
It doesn't fire. Not once. The sound grows more distance, the polka dots of light slowly fade from his vision -- and Jude Moshe is left staring at a barrel pointed at open air.
A frown settles on his lips for about two seconds before it becomes a helpless, sardonic smile. He pulls on the trigger.
The sound of an empty click fills his hearing just before he just flops bodily backwards into the harsh, desertified earth beneath him. Dust kicks up around him as he stares at the sky, smiling at the sight of a bird circling overhead.
"Well, that sure was a headache," he grouses, good-naturedly, as he shoves a hand into the pocket of his pants. "Go get 'em." The bird flies away through the stiff, warm air even as Jude heaves a sigh, bringing a cigarette to his lips.
Back in Kislev, you'd have made it. Jude's brows crumple together. A tongue of flame flicks off the tip of his index finger, igniting the end of that cigarette in orange embers.
"Yeah. I deserve this," he decides, before resting back among the wreckage to enjoy his cigarette in pained peace.
"Ha ha. What a couple of pains in the ass they're gonna be."