2017-11-18: Like A Key To Anything You Want
- Log: Like A Key To Anything You Want
- Cast: Janus Cascade, Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Den of Miasma
- Date: November 18th 2017
- Summary: Janus Cascade asks a group of young Drifters to accompany him and his compatriots in an expedition into the Den of Miasma. Unfortunately, his true intention is not nearly so kind. In the midst of the poison, Dean and Avril are forced to defend themselves.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus Cascade...is a man of adventure! A man of ACTION! A man who is WELL KNOWN for hanging out with two TOTAL NITWITS, so maybe it's not a great surprise or shock to Avril and Dean when, one day in town (which town, don't worry about it) he approaches them with a big grin and a fistful of promises: "I'm in the market for a couplea' go-getters'll help me ta get to the bottom of the Den of Miasma. It's a cave a little ways out from Humphrey's Peak; 's dangerous, as ya might guess, but..." He laughs, and grins. "Well, there's always treasure down in the dangerous parts. Might be somethin' can help us all on our ways. You in?"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Wow! Treasure!" Dean says. Although he's not big on treasure as opposed to, say, Golems (GOLEMS GOLEMS GOLEMS GOLEMS), he and his friends *do* need funds to... uh, fund their journeys. His Gear's reconstruction isn't quite complete either, since they'd focused on getting Avril's Gear and the Li'l Butler Golem fixed first. Plus Janus, as a total stranger, seems like a trustworthy guy!
"Sure, I'm in!" he thus concludes, before turning a big smile over to his friends. "How about you guys?" Beam, beam, smile.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Gwen had given them a hint and a lead, of a sort.
Johnny Appleseed was not a name so much as a title.
But that left the big question still open: who was the Johnny Appleseed she was searching for?
Between Guardian Statues, between her mysterious quest for a person she could not remember, between the hunt for Golems, once again it appears they must turn towards ruins for answers.
So when someone comes on up and asks if they'd like a job, well.
It's the only option left: see what they could find.
It wouldn't be the first time the lot of them had been propositioned, more or less, and had ended up going off on an expedition into the wild, either.
Avril had gazed at Janus for a moment or four before ultimately nodding and agreeing to the proposal.
"Perhaps we may find some answers, Dean. I do not believe we have traveled to that location before."
Rebecca, on the other hand...
Rebecca had taken all of one look at Janus before coming to a different conclusion.
"Dean," she hisses, leaning into whisper to her best friend's ear. "You're not really going to...?"
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Dean sees Janus' smile do...absolutely nothing, actually. "That's the spirit!" he laughs. "We'll get somethin' great outta this, s'long as we keep it together."
Janus' grin doesn't even flicker at Rebecca's open doubt. "Now, now, hold on there cowgirl," Janus chuckles. "Ain't no different from any other Dig, is it? Just callin' for some good, fine folks, that's all. 'sides." His eyes slip to Avril. "There's all sorts of things lost in the Den. I'm sure we'll find somethin' interesting."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Yeah, me neither! I think I might've heard about it once...?" Dean says, turning to Avril and Rebecca. (He has not heard of it. Dean doesn't know a damn thing about it.) "There's no harm in going along and--huh?" Rebecca leans in and hisses doubts in his ear. Dean stares at her like she suddenly started speaking another language. "Why wouldn't I?" he whispers back. "We'll be fine if we stick together! Besides, we might find something!"
And let's be real: there's nothing Rebecca can say or do that will stop Dean from instantly trusting everyone he meets. The only thing that might change that is Janus's own actions--and by then, it might be too late. Janus himself speaks up, meanwhile, and Dean nods. "Yeah! We won't know if we don't go."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"It does seem familiar, somehow..." Avril comments, her brow furrowing in thought, as something both immediately occurs to her and slips away, like a fish under the ice. She glances over at Janus, her gaze more questioning than actively suspicious.
On the other hand, Rebecca...
In all fairness, Rebecca has been... rather tolerant of various antics up to this point. She stares back at her friend, turns an identitical stare over at Avril (who merely looks puzzled), before, as Janus addresses her all-friendly-like, she stands up to her full four-foot-eleven height and does... not give him an entirely friendly look back.
Rebecca is aware of certain things in the world that her friends are not. She takes a breath.
We'll be fine if we stick together!
The proverbial camel's back breaks under the last straw.
It's not Janus who receives the full brunt of her ire. "--Fine, Dean!" she snaps, her glare redirecting towards her closest friend. "If you want to go, then go! I'm not!"
Before -- one equally furious-anxious-overwhelmed glance at Avril later -- she stalks on off, apparently not intent in joining them.
(Though this will not stop Rebecca from following them there, because she's exactly that sort of person.)
(She's worried.)
A rather awkward moment of silent follows after, as it usually does.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus watches the last member of their party storm off, and shrugs gamely. "Well then! That's a party o' five, should be just fine. I have a few mates'll meet us once we're a little ways in, I've got 'em scoutin' ahead." He grins, and turns on his heels, throwing a hand up. "I'll arrange some horses. Meet me on the north gate out of town in a few hours, mates! We'll have a blast!"
AND THEN
The Den of Miasma's noxious gases gather slowly as the party descends deeper and deeper - perhaps toward the poison's source, or perhaps merely toward where the gas has gathered across years of taint. Finally, as the group enters a large room with no clear exits - one of the walls blasts open, and thick, choking poison gas rapidly begins to fill the room!!
Which is about when Dean will feel the point of Janus' bayonet at his spine, and hear Janus' voice, muffled by a crude filtered mask he's taken a moment to put on. "And lookie here. Found me some treasure, didn't I?" he says.
And then, because this is a JRPG and Dean doesn't die here, instead of running him entirely through in a moment of weakness, Janus roundhouse kicks Dean upside his head, before leveling his weapon at Avril. "Now then! That pretty face is worth more alive, so please don't go makin' me scratch up my investment, li'l lady."
Tumbling out of the exploded-in cavern comes Dario and Romero, Dario wearing the same mask as Janus and Dario just...covering his mouth with a bandana like always. Both produce weapons.
Dario, in a show of profound threat, zips his pants without being told to.
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Dean Stark with Boot To The Head! GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action. GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Boot To The Head for 101 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Wh--hey! Rebecca, wait!" But Rebecca doesn't wait, and Dean doesn't chase after her. After all, she said she wasn't going, so who is he to try to force her? (Rebecca probably wanted him to chase after her, let's be real.) Still, Dean looks ashamed when he turns to Janus and Avril. "Sorry about that... Sometimes Rebecca gets really upset for some reason. I don't always get why."
But Janus seems totally fine with this, and Avril looks to be sticking around, so Dean perks up. "Yeah! Okay!" he agrees in regards to horses and meeting at the north game. "Let's get this done, find that treasure, and bring Rebecca back something nice so she knows she didn't have to worry about us at all!"
SMASH CUT TO LATER
Dean chokes and coughs on the miasma as the group of them head further inside the Den of Miasma. "Ugh...! It's getting so hard to breathe...! Avril, Janus, are you guys okay?" How like him to worry about others over himself. He's pulling his scarf up over his nose and mouth and pulling it tight when he feels something poke into his back. It's sharp, but Dean being as trusting as he is, he assumes it's a sharp bit of rock, and turns around--just in time for Janus to deem them treasure and kick him right in the face, sending him sprawling several feet back.
"Ungh!!" he grunts as he lands, the air knocked clean out of him. Good thing he got that scarf pulled up over his face. It's no gas mask, but it'll at least keep him from passing out due to the fumes. Thanks to that, he gets enough breath back to gasp, "J-Janus?! What're you doing to Avril? This isn't funny!"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Meanwhile, visions of Rebecca yelling "I TOLD YOU SO" dance in his head.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Rebecca..." Avril murmurs, gazing after the red-haired girl as she races off, a distinct expression of unease criss-crossing her face. Should they go after her? She glances at Dean, as if to silently query after this...
Only for the situation to get explained by Dean as 'something that happens sometimes'.
...Dean does know Rebecca better than Avril does...
"...I see," she says. "Then, perhaps..."
It seems they've made their decision, one way or another.
There's probably an off-screen moment here somewhere where Rebecca realizes that of course he's not actually going to come after her to talk, because Dean's Dean.
Where she then mentally calls herself an idiot, and probably also where she finally ends up packing up her gear to follow on after them.
But in the meantime--
We skip on ahead to the little exploration crew, deep within the Den of Miasma.
...Living up to its name.
Avril cups one hand over her mouth and nose, which will have to suffice as a mask of sorts as poison gas begins to flood into the room. Perhaps they should have brought something for this... "I am alright, Dean. That poison... Perhaps we should consider turning back?" she asks. "I do not think we can press on from here--"
That is, before Janus kicks Dean away. "--Dean!" Avril starts, already about to go after him, only to pull up as the bayonet is leveled right at her. Blue eyes travel up the length of the bladed weapon, trailing up the body of the man standing before her to stare at him, straight in the eyes. Even as the other members of Janus' posse make their appearance, she doesn't look away.
"...What is the meaning of this, Janus? 'Worth more alive'? Your 'investment'? I do not understand."
One look at her face will paint this as a blatant truth. She really, really, really doesn't understand why he's turning on her, or what he means by all this.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus is probably smiling under that mask.
"You checked the bounty boards lately, lady?" Janus says, maintaining dead-on contact with Avril, his ARM pointed straight at her. "Given you, maybe you need a bit of a reminder. Romero!"
The aspiring jounin of the Village Hidden In The Garbage produces and unrolls a bounty poster of Avril. The rendering is acceptable. The number beneath it is obscene. "See this??" he laughs. "THIS means we give it and you to some fancypants guild man and then we get more money than probably exists."
He crows; Dario chuckles, eagerly.
Janus' eyes are ice and unmoving. "Just so," he says, and his voice is as unreadable as his eyes. "So why doncha just keep your hands where I can see 'em, and we might even give your boyfriend here enough Antidotes he doesn't die on his way out. Think fast." He shifts posture; puts his grip more firmly on his weapon. "You don't have long in here, yeah?"
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Dean Stark with Poison Miasma! GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Poison Miasma! GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Poison Miasma for 63 hit points! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Poison Miasma for 46 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Ugh... I hate to say it, but you might be right, Avril," Dean says. "We ought to try again after stocking up on Antidotes. Rebecca's never gonna let me hear the end of this..." But then he feels that poke, and turns around, and gets a boot to the head, and Janus and his buds start menacing Avril, claiming she's got a bounty.
"What...?" Dean utters, staring at that poster. The likeness of Avril... *is* recognizable, now that he points it out. Dean even remembers seeing that poster before and thinking, 'Huh, that girl kinda looks like Avril!' before looking on at other, easier bounties, because surely one with a price that high would be more trouble than he was willing to get into--not when he and his friends have only been doing bounties to earn funds, not get rich.
But who would put a bounty on Avril? She's so nice, and kind, and gentle, and...
...and her past is a complete blank. Dean's sure that she's a good person and that she always has been. But who knows who might have a grudge against her for who knows what reason?
The only thing he knows for sure right now: Avril's in trouble. And he made a promise to her. He promised he'd protect her and help her find her memories.
Dean narrows his eyes as he slowly gets up to his feet, hands up in the air. He doesn't even protest that he's not Avril's boyfriend (he is a boy, and he's her friend, so it doesn't click at first what Janus really means). It's three on two, and he's got to give Avril a chance to get away... If only there were a distraction he could take advantage of...!
"HEY!" he shouts, pointing at a spot past the trio's heads. "LOOK OVER THERE!!" And the second any of them looks away for even a second, Dean summons his ARMs into his hands with a literal flash and CHARGES, bowing his head down to tackle one around the waist and use the combat rods on his arms to WHAM the other one between the legs.
"Avril!! Run for it!! I'll cover you!" he shouts. "You've gotta get out of here!!" Dean naturally doesn't worry about how *he'll* get out of here. What's important is that Avril escapes unharmed. But will Avril stand for it? More to the point, will Janus? (Romero and Dario, all considered, are probably not standing for a while.)
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Janus Cascade with Double Strike! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"The bounty boards...? Dean--" Something, at least, has clicked into place: she remembers Gwen mentioning a 'bounty' on her own head.
In abject silence she stares at a wanted poster that very, very clearly features her own face.
And a truly obscene sum.
Far too late, perhaps the odd stares that Avril has received in some places become in retrospect far more ominous. "...Is this what Gwen meant? This is what a bounty means..."
A glove and a scarf don't precisely provide much in the way of protection against the poison wafting into this section of the cave. Try though she might, Avril is already well aware of the fact that she's breathing in the poison. She coughs into her hand, grimacing; her gaze tilts over towards Dean.
"If you will promise to help him," Avril starts.
SUDDEN DEAN INTERRUPT
It's a pretty good plan. Dean distracts and attempts to tackle one of them, Avril, their target runs and gets out of here.
There's just one problem with its execution:
It involves leaving Dean behind.
So running is, in fact, not at all what Avril does. Or at the very least, she takes that moment to put some distance between her and Janus, but she doesn't precisely flee for the exit.
Instead, she draws an odd object from beneath her wrap, twists her wrist just so...
A blade manifests, all in a heartbeat.
As solemnly as a fencer greeting a rival on the gymnasium floor, she levels Absolute Zero at Janus.
"If I understand what you mean by this... there is a person who wishes to meet with me, and they are willing to present you with a large sum of money should you deliver me to them." The blade doesn't waver.
"I apologize for your trouble. There are things that I must do, Janus. I cannot go with you."
Her stance shifts; one foot slides back across the rocky floor. Her grip, the angle of the blade similiarly too slowly readjust. And from that position, she springs forward, seeking whatever gap in Janus' defenses she might find, rolling back into that guarded stance again after her testing thrust.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Janus Cascade with Innocent Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Dean Stark's Double Strike for 91 hit points! GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Innocent Saber for 41 hit points! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Yeah she sure didn't know she had a bounty on, did she. Janus' mean chuckle shows an entertainment that doesn't quite get past the mask. He starts to approach as she relents. "That's a smart girl," he says. The name Gwen makes him stop not at all; coincidence or the Gwen he knows, her opinion means nothing here.
Which of course is immediately punished by Dean "Instant Karma, Just Add Timing" Stark, who defeats two older, more experienced men by the simple expeident of yelling at them. "Guh-wha!" Dario yelps, turning to look. "Damn spiders! Thought we killed all those--!"
Which is when Dean bowls the tubbier man over. Romero meanwhile is writhing on the floor making immensely high-pitched noises.
Janus' gaze past the mask turns flat-eyed. "Ah. Right. You're idiots. I forgot."
He levers his rifle up, setting it against his shoulder in a rifleman's stance. Then he moves, a rapid blur of motion; a bullet racing away from his ARM directly at Dean, then twitching to Avril. She's swinging that blade and it sings against him, the man twisting just so to minimize the harm while his gun drops only low enough that he can operate the bolt on the rifle, pulling it back, and tucking a Cartridge into it before driving the bolt home. "You've got the shape of it. But you forgot one thing, little miss," he says. There's a brief pulse of ARM light racing through the frame of the weapon as he sights up once more.
"I'm not in the business of takin' no for an answer."
What races toward Avril shines in a way no bullet does, burrowing into her guard and forcing her arms apart with riotous force, shattering her guard apart!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Dean Stark with Sniper Shark R! GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Bolt Action! GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Bolt Action for 177 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark critically Guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Sniper Shark R for 25 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Dean Stark!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean tackles Dario and... 'tackles' Romero, but Avril doesn't run away. Dean isn't super-keen on that, but he understands; if it were him, he wouldn't run away either. So, once he scrambles back to his feet, he falls back next to Avril. This is just in time for Janus to make his own counter, and while Dean manages to get his ARMs crossed in front of him in time to reflect that bullet away, it's... well, it's still a bullet, and it still hits *hard*, forcing Dean back an inch or two as his arm goes temporarily numb.
"We don't care what your business is! You're not taking Avril anywhere she doesn't wanna go!" he shouts. As mad as he is at Janus for functionally betraying them, the important thing right now is to make sure they get out of here safe. And that also includes sweeping away some of this miasma, which is getting thicker and more poisonous the longer they stay here.
Coughing under his scarf, Dean hurries over to--there! A wind leyline! The moment his feet connect with the glowing green hex, he sweeps around towards Janus, then thrusts an arm up into the air. "Now c'mon, cut it out! What've we ever done to you?!" he demands, just before concussive gale-force winds slam in towards him, thanks to the power of the Sword Medium.
Even if it doesn't hit Janus hard, or possibly at all, the moving air will at least help clear some of the poison and making breathing easier for all of them. Very important, breathing!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Janus Cascade with Elemental Crush! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Janus Cascade critically Guards a hit from Dean Stark's Elemental Crush for 23 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Dean..." Avril murmurs, concern crossing her features.
Something shines bright, or so it seems, as Janus' ARM barks its report. Avril twists, attempting to angle her way out of that incoming shot, lifting her defensively borne blade in a slow arc as if in an attempt to deflect should evasive actions prove insufficient.
Neither are enough, as it happens. The force slams into her, cracking straight through her guarded stance, forcing the arm that bears the blade back at an angle that provokes a pained gasp as the young woman staggers, her sole free hand hovering helplessly at chest height.
Absolute Zero dangles at an an awkward angle from Avril's grasp, kept from falling from her hand completely only by the timely hook of her thumb through the trigger.
She breathes hard for a moment or two, staring Janus once again right in the eyes. "Is it... the reward that drives you?"
Her grip reasserts itself, though her hand shakes as she lifts the blade, tip pointed towards the ceiling.
Her eyes close for only the briefest of instants, reopening to regard Janus once again, her gaze hooded. "...I see. I believe I understand."
She steps backwards, as if to begin some evasive maneuver.
But the heel only lands for an eyeblink. She springs forward, the apparent dodge itself only a feint as she launches herself forward at Janus, tip of the blade no longer in a ceilingward guard but directed right at him.
The poison is getting thick in the air. How long can they sustain this?
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Janus Cascade with Spirit Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Spirit Saber for 142 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
"Just not gettin' it, are ya kid?" Janus sneers. Dean's arm snaps up and Janus recognizes that power flashing through him - he braces himself with the length of his rifle, the explosive sweep of gale-force wind battering at him but failing to do more than ruffle his jacket and chap his skin a bit. "Medium," he mutters, recognizing the power instantly. "Nothin', 'til now, squirt! But gettin' in the way of a man's payday, well..."
He produces from within his jacket a shining cartridge, burning with a terrifying light. "There's a price to pay for that." He slides it into the breach of his rifle and and then = slams the bolt home, and a pulse of light races through the weapon - and him. While Dean tries to breathe the fresher air, Janus rushes at him and swings the Bayonet, hard, whipping it at him more like a bat than a spear - and with inhuman power, boosted by the Cartridge, Dean finds himself flung skyward by that strength, while Janus raises his weapon at him and -- fires.
What comes out of the weapon is no bullet, but a tremendous lance of light, blasting Dean with full, annihilating power! And while the weapon's still cooling from that, he turns on Avril - and promptly gets blasted with that ruthless strike, stabbing into him hard. It might kill a lesser man; but armored clothing is basic gear for a Drifter, and Janus staggers back unmurdered. But he does give Avril a look of one, and then charge right back at her and try to return the favor, driving his weapon right into her with a harsh blow. Even if it doesn't run her entirely through, it'll certainly make stabbing him quite so effectively rather harder for a while. While she's still reeling from that, Janus rips his spear right back out and then whips his foot around, kicking her to the ground harshly much as he did Dean earlier.
"No," he says. "You don't understand much of anything. It's why folks like you are easy prey," he says, coldly.
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Dean Stark with Rising Nova! GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Heretic Stab! GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Heretic Stab for 127 hit points! GS: Cripple and Cripple! Statuses applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Rising Nova for 103 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Ugh...!" Dean's kneejerk reaction is to claim that Avril didn't do anything, but technically, neither he nor she knows if she *did* do anything or not. And while Dean might be a naive person, he's at least got enough of a grasp on the bounty system to understand that this is how some people earn their keep. He can understand Janus wanting to put food on his table, and he honestly can't defend against this bounty since he doesn't even know why Avril has it in the first place--which means all they can do is fight back, defend themselves, and get the hell out of here.
The winds from his Crush technique at least helps clear *some* fresh air into the cave, but... there's still a lot of poison, and once the winds die down, it starts thickening again. What's worse, Janus managed to weather through it little worse for the wear.
"He's really strong...!" Dean utters--right before Janus underscores that by smashing his bayonet into him, then opening fire. Dean screams in pain, and while it's impossible to guard against an attack well while in mid-air, he at least manages to hold up his combat rods to block the worst of the lance of light. The rest of it smashes into him, though, sending him crashing into a nearby wall, where he lands and slowly sinks to the floor, groaning. Even so, he manages to wobble back to his feet, teeth grit. What *really* motivates him, though, is when Janus stabs and then kicks Avril.
"Stop it!! Don't you dare hurt her!!" he demands, stumbling forward. Once again, he calls on the power of his Medium--but this time in the form of a spell, which he then casts on Avril. When it lands, it ought to make her feel lighter, faster, quicker on her feet. "Avril! We've got to get out of here!" he calls, staggering over to her. "He's for real!"
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Quicken Edge! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Janus launches Dean into the air, and while he holds off some of the assault...
"Dean--!" It adds fuel to her own fire, so to speak; for all her finery, she's more than willing it seems to get up close to Janus and deliver that strike.
A murderous gaze meets one that is coldly composed.
Her technique is more like a dance. Dip in, strike, withdraw. It would match with the more slender blade she favors. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
But neither is this a style meant for pitched combat, particularly of this ilk. It's too composed, too neat. While it has its advantages, while there is precisioned bite in Avril's blade--
There is force and brutal necessity in Janus'. His is the style born of necessity, the type that acknowledges the true nature of the battlefield.
And it's why, as Avril again attempts to slip out of the way of his blade, she gets it piercing deep into her right shoulder.
She's right-handed.
A pained gasp torn from her lips, she clasps her left hand over the bleeding wound, only to receive another lesson in the nature of combat as learned by those who grow up in a town like Little Twister as his boot connects with her gut and sends her sprawling on the ground.
The room seems to spin. She draws a deep breath, which is a mistake, as there is a lot of poison lingering this close to the floor. Which is why she has a coughing fit while she's down.
But magic, born from the Guardians, descends in a rain about her. She's lighter, quicker, no matter how the wound in her shoulder threatens to steal all her focus, how the poison continues to work its way into her lungs, or the way her head and body simply ache.
She gets to her feet.
Grimly, she inclines her head in a nod at his assessment of the battle, of their current state. "...Yes. This miasma, too... If we stay here, we shall succumb to it." No 'might'. They will.
She lowers her sword-arm. With her free hand, she releases her grip on her wound and reaches under her wrap to draw out her own Medium, eyes closing as she draws upon the power within it. "Please..."
Defensive might -- the impenetrable nature of the sea -- pours down around Dean.
And Avril takes a slow, cautious step backwards, all her attention on Janus.
"Perhaps we do not understand in full," she answers him at last. "However. What is it that motivates you, Janus? Does money alone satisfy you?"
GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Dean Stark's Quicken Edge for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Dean Stark with Tidal Wall! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Dean Stark takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Tidal Wall for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Dean Stark!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Janus watches Avril poison herself a bit, and as the duo of Drifters try to shore each other up. He finds a grin slowly spreading across his face, though that's hidden by that mask. Dean tried his best to stir up the air, and it does help, but - well, the whole point of luring them here was to catch them off-guard with the poison, after all. "Hah," he says, an unimpressed grunt. "Y'all gettin' your teamwork together, is that it...?" His eyes slide to Avril. "See, funny thing about money, lady, is that if you have enough - all the other doors open, too. It's like a key to anything you want. And me..." he chuckles. "I want an awful lot. BOYS!!"
And then there's a thunderclap of a ARM going off as Dario, who has by now recovered, suddenly blasts into Dean from the other end of the room, two shots racing toward him. "Boss!"
"It's time!" Janus yells back, and jabs a finger at Avril. "We'll use the Trinity!"
"YOU BETCHA!" Romero yells, twirling out of the darkness to swing a kick directly at Avril's nose.
And while she's dodging that, Janus sweeps in to slash his bayonet up her fore, a ferocious force that launches her just a bit so that Dario can leap in with a boostie from Romero, whirling his pistol down butt-first to smash her across the face and boost her back down to where Romero is waiting, with a kunai drawn to stab right into her while she's defenseless.
Dario capitalizes on that, leaping in with his whole mass, ass-first to topple her right into Janus' downward-swinging blade, a terribly powerful blow awaiting her at the end.
They all disengage, then, with a little present left behind by all three as they leap away, whirl away, and...pose; Janus striking an aggressive stance and locking eyes with Dean while Romero hits a three-point landing with a fistful of kunai in his off hand, and Dario on the other flank, grinning and adjusting his hat.
They do not look back at Avril as the bombs they left behind explode, leaving Dean to confront the most terrifying possibility of all:
They might be cool.
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Dean Stark with Gillius TH12/23 Magnum! GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Trinity! GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Janus Cascade's Trinity for 64 hit points! GS: Dean Stark critically Guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Gillius TH12/23 Magnum for 21 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
It's true. Wind was only temporarily effective at clearing the poison, and when it seeps back in, it's thick and disgusting. Dean tries to help Avril up when she devolves into a coughing fit there on the floor, but then he dissolves into one of his own. However, even as he grants Avril his magic, she returns the favor, returning the swiftness of steel with the force of the ocean. Dean smiles at her in thanks--but then Avril tries to talk to Janus, and Janus basically says that money's the only thing that matters to him.
"You're terriBLUH," Dean utters, cut off when Dario aims a gun at him and opens fire with two shots. It's a surprise attack, but thanks to Avril's defensive spell, the bullets knock him down rather than piercing through him. How does that work? I just said, magic. However, it means that Dean's too busy scrambling to his feet while trying not to cough up a lung to try to push Avril out of the way or take that big Trinity attack on for her. Thankfully, given that he just cast a spell on *her* to increase her quickness, she might be able to dodge the worst of it.
And then Janus an' Pals whirl away and pose, and Dean jumps over to Avril to grab her by the wrist. "Let's run, while we've got the chance!" he says urgently. "You're faster, so you take point--I'll defend the rear!" But before he and Avril actually start running, Dean turns to glare at Team Janus and unleashes the most devastating insult he can think up:
"Y-you're not as cool as you think you are!!"
Absolutely scathing.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Janus Cascade with THE MOST DIRE OF INSULTS! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Dean Stark's THE MOST DIRE OF INSULTS for 59 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
In spite of her predicament -- and what includes most certainly mortal -- or at least, definitely to her continued freedom -- peril -- Avril manages a steady nod as Janus explains what motivates him in life.
Though it is punctuated by a grimace and a cough.
"...I see. Then, obtaining money is another way of obtaining one's desires. Thank you, Janus. I believe I understand better now." The tip of the blade dips low, but the tension riding her forearm suggests that she's by no means deliberately leaving her guard open. She's waiting to gauge his move before she--
Janus is not content to simply fight people one-on-one (or two-on-one) when he can simply use three-on-one.
Avril ducks backwards, only barely escaping the incoming kick from Romero as it wooshes inches from her nose. Her luck is not nearly so great when Janus presses in moments later, a great cut catching her up the middle. Staggering from the impact, her blade rises in a smooth sharp arc to batter away Dario's pistol... but it's perhaps itself a distraction -- a kunai cuts right into her back.
Whirling to similarly attempt to force him back, she realizes, eyes wide, that this is another distraction. Sword Medium's spell bolstering her reflexes, she's a whirl of a blade as she spins, moving to force Dario back and away from her as he drops in...
And as Janus swings downwards.
Absolute Zero sings out as metal meets metal.
Her arm trembles. Hissing out a breath as she strains against his blade, her right arm burning in a terrible blaze of agony, she stares again right into his eyes.
Her eyes narrow.
And the press he'd begun ends as sharply as it started, as he and his men clear out.
Avril realizes exactly why moments later as their little present explodes, knocking her to the ground. "Aah--"
Dean's hand grabs her's. She hauls herself up onto her feet, and though clearly disoriented, manages a nod.
And from the doorway into this little section of cave, there comes a shout:
"Now, hold it right there!"
Rebecca, here at last, points at Janus and his friends. "I knew the moment I saw your face I couldn't trust you! I won't let you get away with this!"
Twin red braids flutter in an invisible wind.
"Sky Medium!" she calls out, in a way that is strictly speaking, unnecessary, but probably makes her feel a little more self-satisfied. "HI-BLAST!!"
The Sky Medium glows as Rebecca performs a pirouette, thrusting the Sky Medium ceilingwards as she forms the conduit for the fire leypoint, shining red around her feet.
And the firestorm rages, pouring out into three distinct paths, and from there, billowing across the room to consume poison gas, spiders, and all forms of the gunk nesting in this place.
Which might, to Rebecca's thinking, may include a few of the men in this room.
Which is followed by the shorter girl gesturing furiously towards the exit she just entered from. "Dean! Avril! Run!"
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Janus Cascade with REBECCA INTERRUPT - Hi-Blast! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Avril Vent Fleur's REBECCA INTERRUPT - Hi-Blast for 48 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Dean's stern rebuke earns him no apparent reaction from Janus - though perhaps he hears a chuckle. "That's not really the problem right now, kid," he laughs, and turns to watch Dean try to rally with Avril. "Well, since y'all were so kind as to gather up--" He plugs a new Cartridge into his ARM and starts to raise the weapon, when...!
"Boss!" hisses Dario, urgently. "It's that damn ginger!"
"The other one!" Romero adds, in a fierce hiss.
They promptly explode. Janus, though - the flames blast against him, and perhaps it seems at first as though he is lost amid fire as well.
But when Rebecca calls for them to run, the room thunders with a loud KRAK! and a small device rising up toward the ceiling, and then cracking open and releasing a massive rain of shot down on the trio!
"Reckon I remember you disinvited yourself, little lady!" Janus calls - stepping out of the flames, patting down his coat like the calmest thing in the world. "How 'boutcha get out of here before all of you get hurt!"
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Dean Stark with Multiblast! GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Multiblast! GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Multiblast for 75 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Dean Stark! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Janus Cascade's Multiblast for 48 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
It's truly and genuinely impressive that Avril can remain so calm in these circumstances, and Dean would stop to admire his friend if he weren't trying so hard to get them out of here. He wouldn't mind throwing down with Janus to the bitter end if need be, but when there's poison miasma in the air? Even he's not dumb enough to try to push the fight harder than he has to. Dean's fearless, but he's also got a pretty decent idea of when it would be a good idea to get going.
SUDDENLY, REBECCA. Dean might not have chased after her earlier, but he *lights up* to see her now, sending gouts of flame down the cavern halls to burn away the miasma, spiders, webs, and also trash garbage men. But not, for some reason, Janus. "Rebecca!! Boy, am I glad to see you! This guy's after Avril! We gotta get her outta here!!"
He's more than willing to run, too, except, again, Janus has managed to head out of the flames, patting his coat down and opening fire towards the ceiling, which rains down shot. Dean cries out and does his best to cover Avril, being the one with the defensive spell on, but... he's short. Some of that shot probably makes it through.
"Ugh...! Damn it! You're the one who's gonna get hurt if you keep picking on us, old man!" He turns back towards Janus, twin guns held at the ready. He nods towards Rebecca and Avril, then looks back towards Janus. "See how you like THIS!!"
Aiming both of Twin Fenrir at Janus, Dean channels the power of the Sword Medium copy to guide his hands and aim. He opens fire with all the bullets he's got in those chambers, which is a pretty decent number, with all the piercing force that Equites can spare. Dean's not out to kill anyone, but he's getting pretty tired of this guy treating them like kids!!
...never mind that they *are* kids.
GS: Dean Stark has activated a Force Action! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Janus Cascade with Twin Fenrir - Sonic Vision! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Janus Cascade has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Janus Cascade guards a hit from Dean Stark's Twin Fenrir - Sonic Vision for 158 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Right! Avril, Dean, let's go!"
Rebecca probably takes some satisfaction in being right, though she's got enough situational awareness not to bring it up now.
Also: probably some satisfaction in setting those guys on fire. She's in general a nice person, but she's had her limits pushed this day, and she's not precisely in a very forgiving mood.
(Probably also a little mad at Dean as usual, which is more fuel for the... er, fire.)
(Okay, she's mad at Avril this time, too, especially since she -- and Dean -- are pretty obviously badly injured.)
But any satisfaction is cut short when Janus emerges from the flames like something out of a horror movie. Those green eyes of hers widen, and Medium still in hand, she goes for her pistol. "He's still--"
Dean moves up to attempt to deflect the bullets, both girls behind him, but there's only so much he can block. Both girls are struck, errant rocks scattering and falling from the tunnelway around them as they're knocked loose under the bullet barrage.
Stumbling to her right, Rebecca quickly rights herself and does a quick body check before cracking off a few shots in response. Finding a spot of cover, she ducks behind it a moment before daring a few more, her expression contorted in a twist of concerned determination.
Avril, on the other hand...
Avril leans a little heavily against the wall for a moment, her hand there resting. She's been seriously wounded, her more fragile frame and defenses pressed to their limit against the more savvy Janus.
And yet, she still takes a few steps forward as Dean opens up.
"You will not stop, will you?" she asks Janus, blood trailing down her arm as she flicks the blade through the air. It's vanished. "I understand. This desire of yours... Whether it is myself, or someone else, if they possess what you may be able to use, you shall attempt to take it..."
She pulls away from the wall, closing her eyes briefly as she cants her head in a short, shallow nod.
The look in her eyes has changed when she reopens them. Avril does not quite look like the young woman who stood there moments ago. The way she holds her body has changed -- more straightbacked, more formal. What had been a limp has against all odds transformed into a glide as she descends down the incline those last couple of feet.
She looks not so much calm as much as coldly furious. Absolute malice rests in her gaze.
The air in the cavern, to all appearances, has plunged several dozen degrees; fires snuff out.
Rock begins to slowly, slightly frost over.
"Then so be it."
Such is her decree. Even the sound of her voice has changed.
She pulls the trigger, and with startling speed for an apparently heavily-wounded girl, 'Avril' lunges for Janus as light explodes from the hilt of Absolute Zero.
Dean and Rebecca have seen her use the weapon before. This is different, the ARM in her grasp glowing brilliantly blue as it discharges what must be several stored bursts of the light-beam's power in one massive arc.
She leaps, ascending to the air for one hanging moment.
In which she makes to bring down the overpowered photon beam. "Farewell."
DC: You switch forms to The Ice Queen! DC: Avril Vent Fleur switches forms to The Ice Queen! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Janus Cascade with Absolute Zero - Photon Gate! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Absolute Zero - Photon Gate for 150 hit points! GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
One shot from Rebecca catches Janus in the chest, but he doesn't quite yield there; a second and third, he blocks with the body of his ARM. At this point his gaze is firmly set. He looks like he's simply not going to stop. Dean lays into him - finally releasing the awesome power of the ARM Avril gave him, not so terribly long ago; and it slams into him one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, except--
Except Dario, scorched and blackened, has leapt in the way, the heavier gunman's arms crossed and bleeding from the damage, but his teeth grit and his eyes flashing with determination. "You brats...ain't takin' down the boss!!" he screams, and lunges one step forward and - falters, and falls. He hits the ground with a dull thud.
Janus walks past him silently.
He slides back the bolt on his ARM as he walks. "Think I'm about done with you kids," he says. "See how you like a faceful of this." The weapon begins to shine again - familiar, horrid light.
But before he gets there, Avril changes, and suddenly, he stops. He looks straight at her and his guard shoots up, like he were expecting anything out of this new, strange air about her.
Romero falls to his knees, croaking, "This...incredible spirit pressure...!?"
Janus ignores him, but slides his foot back for a more secure guard.
It's to his credit that he's able to repel the first four seconds of the attack, before the second shot blasts his guard entirely apart, and the overhead cannonade slams him down into the cave floor, the air scorching around him, motes of remaindered light crackling in the air in the aftermath.
He doesn't move. None of them do; not even Romero, who appears to either be playing dead or was knocked out by the shockwave.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Argh! Rebecca! Avril!" Dean calls to his friends as Janus and his gang refuse to just go down and let them escape. Although Janus's friends might be kind of goofy, Janus himself is strong--and his friends are loyal, too. He doesn't expect Dario to leap in the way of his attack at all, and for a moment, Dean is taken aback. "Dario..." he murmurs, staring from him to Janus. "We're not trying to 'take you out'... We just want to get out of here alive, and safe, and together!"
It really is good that Rebecca has a good sense of when and where, because... yeah, Dean's pretty beat up at this point. It's only thanks to Avril's defensive spell that he's not worse off than he could be. They really need to get out of here, even with Rebecca showing up as back-up, but as long as these guys refuse to back off, they're just not going to be able to run...
'You will not stop, will you?'
"--huh?" Dean turns to blink at Avril, whose demeanor has suddenly... *changed*. She still looks the same, sounds the same, but... there's something about the air around her. Something that's unlike anything he's ever seen from her. "Did... did you remember something, Avril?" he blurts out. But if that's true... there's something in her eyes that's beyond cold. It's subzero. Dean shoots Rebecca a look of alarm. He's *never* seen Avril like this before; has she?
Janus, meanwhile, seems to start getting serious. Considering he'd blasted the both of them several times, and shrugged off Dean's wind and Rebecca's fire like they were nothing, Dean's actually quite worried about what that shining Cartridge is going to spell. But Avril glides forward, and Janus too recognizes the threat and braces himself...
Frost engulfs the cavern. Temperatures drop to freezing. And then... all is ice.
"A-Avril!!" Dean shouts, running over to his friend in alarm. Janus is knocked out, Dario is knocked out, Romero is... probably knocked out. Twin Fenrir vanish from his grasp, and he grips Avril by the shoulder. "It's okay! They're down now! You don't have to get carried away!" It's not exactly fear in his blue eyes--but certainly plenty of concern and a good chunk of alarm. "Let's... just get out of here. Okay?" He nods over to Rebecca, as if seeking her approval.
Then he looks over at Janus and his companions. A pang of guilt tells him he ought to help them get out of here, too, but... the spiders in the immediate area are preeeeeeetty dead at this point, and Rebecca's Hi-Blast burned away the poison. They ought to wake up and get out of here before anything comes to hurt them... he hopes.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhq3lgUzqJw
Rebecca shares that look with him, backing away from a wall that's gone slick with the beginnings of frost. Before her gaze, too, turns to Avril, who is acting
strange
"...Avril?"
It sort of reminds Rebecca of that time at the gallows. When she had taken the mirror in hand and gone strange.
If Avril can hear them -- either of them -- she gives no sign. She instead continues her slow walk, as if she hadn't just sustained massive damage.
As if she weren't herself.
And her gaze, her focus, and all of her ill-will is aimed at one man.
Light flares brilliantly as she brings down the photon-charged beam, caught and deflected across the still-growing ice crystals spotting along the walls.
It might just manage to be both beautiful and terrible.
In the end, only Avril is left standing, faintest vestige of the ARM's charge still guttering around the hilt of Absolute Zero. Avril's gaze is an imperious one as she regards Janus' fallen form.
And Dean's hand lands on her shoulder.
She stiffens, turns to glance back at him.
Blue eyes widen.
As if under the spring sun, whatever had come over her simply melts away.
"...Dean?" she murmurs.
Absolute Zero slips from a suddenly nerveless grasp.
She sways.
Already greatly injured and poisoned, whatever she had done just now has pushed her beyond her limits. The power slips from her body, and so too does any means of support or, for that matter, consciousness.
Avril's eyes roll back in her head and she collapses.
DC: You switch forms to The Amnesiac Girl! DC: Avril Vent Fleur switches forms to The Amnesiac Girl!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
The Cascade Gang remains unmoving.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean's worried expression breaks into a relieved smile. "Avril! You're back!" he blurts out, not really considering the meaning or implications of those words; it's just what feels right when he sees whatever had overcome her melt away like a morning frost under the rising sun. But then Avril swoons and collapses, and Dean scrambles to catch her with a "woah!!"
He does, just in time. He groans a little--he's also taken a beating, and Avril is now dead weight. But he's not about to complain. With one last look over at the Cascade Gang, which helpfully remains unmoving, he nods to Rebecca as he carefully moves Avril onto his back and hefts her up. "Thanks again for saving us, Rebecca. Now let's get out of here!"
He'll leave it to her to pick up Avril's ARM. Once they're both ready, it's time to get the hell outta here!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Avril--?"
Avril collapses. Fortunately, Dean is there to catch her before she pitches onto the stone cavern floor.
A fact that causes a nauseous little jealous twist in the pit of Rebecca's stomach. Her lips press thin, but she says not a word.
She just races up to join the both of her friends and ducks low to retrieve the fallen ARM.
"...Right. We should get out of here before they wake up," the young acrobatic gunner comments, punctuated with a glance at the fallen trio.
They should get far, far away from here, in fact, she thinks privately.
After that, they can think about what they're going to do. Ohhh, she knew she should have said something sooner...
She, with Dean and the unconscious Avril, makes tracks.
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.
Five seconds pass. Ten. Twenty...
Romero kips up and rolls his neck, the bones popping loudly. "Well," he says, slowly. "That was sure somethin'. Whatcha think, boss?"
Janus, with great effort, forces a palm into the ground and levers himself up, glaring in the direction the team of Drifters departed. "Sure looked like an 'Ice Queen' to me," he says, his lip curling in a grin.