2021-01-17: Those Who Hunt Two Rabbits
- Log: Those Who Hunt Two Rabbits
- Cast: Bounty Hunters, Eika Zuse, Cyre H. Lorentz, Jacqueline Barber, Ratatoskr, Seraph Ragnell, Riesenlied, Azoth, Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Apple Market
- Date: January 17, 2021
- Summary: There's a popular saying, 'those who hunt two rabbits catch neither'. What happens when you get more than a few people with a price on their head in a well-populated city encounter more than a few bounty hunters after the same? Chaos, is what.
<Pose Tracker> Necronomicon has posed.
"Piping hot fries! Come get your fries here!"
"Hang around! We're gonna have some music later!"
"Face painting! Fun for the whole family!"
Today is the day for a street festival in Kattelox. A section of street in the Apple Market has been set aside for the vendor stalls; colorful fluttering garlands drape from poles and buildings and the general mood is bright and merry. The whole thing is of course to a play to drum up local business -- somewhat flagging of late, due to various reasons -- but that doesn't it can't also be fun. According to the posters up, there'll be some live music later--
Huh. It's been a while since events conspired to drag people away from this part of Filgaia, but are there more wanted posters tacked up on lampposts and billboards of late?
Some of them... might feature familiar faces, in fact. And some of those reference a particular incident in Damzen City, claiming those so named were involved with a criminal gang there--
But surely this is just a minor detail and nothing at all to be worried about.
Pay no attention to some of those moving through the crowd with a purposeful stride and the faint suggestion that maybe, just maybe, they might be packing heat.
Look, over there! It's a guy on stilts!
DC: Necronomicon switches forms to The Happy-Go-Lucky Bounty Hunters!
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Eika Zuse doesn't really care all that much about a street festival. They're nice to see, but she's not really in the mood to participate herself, despite the exhortations of the hawkers to do just that.
But she *does* need to buy things, there is a decent chance for a good deal, and Eika doesn't have a lot of reliable sources of money - just what she scrounges up on odd jobs or Digs. She needs to take advantage of that kind of thing when she can.
That's why Eika, dressed in shorts and a rather baggy sleeveless shirt with a ragged hem, is currently busily haggling with a seller of non-tailored clothes. Half of her haggling appears to be over the price; the other half is about sizing, as she is insisting she wants a different size than the vendor is trying to press on her and it didn't occur to her to lie and say she was buying it for someone else.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Who could possibly have predicted that a homicidal robot uprising taking place half an island away might have a detrimental impact on the local civilian economy?
The apple market is trying, though. By golly, they're trying. It's a wonderful, festive atmosphere full of delicious foods and colorful characters from popular local TV broadcasts and all manner of different attractions and distractions that can draw even the most worried eye away from the wanted posters festooned on every other streetlight.
Honestly, Cyre isn't sure why they made him out to be some kind of burly, fluffy tiger man. That is just the most inaccurate thing. And possibly also racist? If there's someone behind all this, then it's clearly somebody who doesn't know how to properly represent beastmen!
He's way more handsome than some gross baracat. Come on you guys.
While the Carakin may or may not actually have a stall up today, Cyre is presently just wandering the festival for his own amusement, and to stock up on a variety of supplies specific to Filgaian travel, now that they're finally back from Spira. Why not support the local economy while he's at it? He can get stuff on the cheap and feel good about it too! A win-win!!
Has he noticed the people who definitely aren't bounty hunters stalking nearby...?
Well.
Maybe?
But really he's a little preoccupied with picking out a selection of animal feed. They need more kibble for the critter car.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Where there's excitement and a lot of people gathered, so too will the Caravan Kinship be. It's always a good opportunity to make sales and meet people, and so, she's requisitioned a stall alongside Apple Market's street.
As always, her stall is lined with a veritable rainbow of potions and other general goods as she hawks her wares. She's been getting... a lot more attention that she expected! Maybe people have just been looking for goods for protect themselves - there has, after all, been a lot of dangerous activity on Kattelox Island of late.
But, there may be a reason for it.
Among the posters that has been put up, there is one of a particular individual. Someone with a villainous sneer, glasses gleaming with malice. At least, that's the intent, but the artistic abilities of the one responsible are...
...Questionable, to say the least.
It's a shame that it won't actually prevent anyone from recognizing that the figure depicted is one Jacqueline Barber. She'd be insulted if she knew.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
INTRODUCING...
ONE OF MANY POTENTIALLY UNHEALTHY OUTLETS FOR RATATOSKR'S OBSESSION!!
There is a Hyadean soldier who has all but let himself come out to the light of day to crowd around the wanted posters around Kattelox. (He should not be blatantly parading around in the open, given his association with a handful of attacks to have happened on Kattelox soil.)
Wanted posters. Bite-sized, by-the-moment pieces of history. Accounts of deeds of scoundrels, worthy of address. So many names. Faces. Nicknames. Accounts! It's a treasure trove of information of the day's most (in)famous names. Documentation of any kind is scarce and hard to come by, even in this age of discovery where so much more is being put into written word nowadays. He'd like to see what Ida's done for the survivors of Hyades (boring, to him, as he is far too young to appreciate the work she is doing for his people) for... like, everyone else on Filgaia. A who's-who of who fought what. That'd be great. Maybe some of them will be pages like this.
But then... he sees one particular wanted poster.
"...What?" His eyes dim. "What!!"
And then he takes that offending poster, right the hell off the post, crumpling it in his hand. "Lies! Lies! Who posts these lies?!" Anger. Raw, unchecked, youthful indiscretion, as if any other passers-by have any answers. (They don't.) "This is a bounty? This is a bounty!!"
He throws the crumpled heap on the floor, where it unfurls to reveal the visage of a young woman whose face may be known for other things than what's shown there.
Jacqueline Barber.
"Her crimes? Her crimes!" His segmented metal plate tail is on end. It's like a jagged pineapple, now, baring the fullest grimace of that eternally-grinning, shark-toothed maw. His clawed hands curl as quicksilver blood boils at the thought. "Her crimes are against history!!!" All but screaming and screeching, and... maybe clearing that part of the town away. "She refuses to fight me! She refuses to show me her mettle as a legendary warrior of the day... and you accuse her of this? You accuse her of this!!"
He picks it up and just tears the damned thing apart into the tiniest fragments. "Lies! Lies! Liesliesliesliesliesliesliesliesliiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeees!! The history of the great warriors among humans deserves only the truth! The truth I can see! The truth I can fight...!"
...He's, uh. Well.
Going to need some space, or a polite escort (into the local paddy wagon or executioner's noose, he's an Odessa operative). Not that anyone's keen to offer much of anything - the fury of a stirred Hyadean warrior, a remnant of Mother's Metal Demons - is not the sort of thing anyone wants to be within arm's reach of. Or twenty paces of. Or more.
He continues to froth about lies as a foul eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-old's mood swings compel him towards the market street for no other reason than having all this pent-up energy over the most offensive thing he has seen in some time.
Jacqueline Barber, wanted for... that. Who would ever believe such lies.
The sheer commotion of his appearance may already throw some carefully laid plans awry.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Music, food, and all around noisy partying? Ragnell's there. For all that she might not like humans on the whole, she sure has an appreciation for human trappings and achievements. For example: fried, breaded meat on a stick. Who thinks up these things?? Apparently, humans. (Did she pay for this treat? We'll leave that to your imagination.)
Also, there's a whole lot of WANTED posters for a whole lot of people she personally knows. Ragnell looks over a wall of them while ripping chunks off her meat-onna-stick and chewing heartily. The artist's renditions are... rather dubious, for the most part. The depiction of Cyre in particular as a big burly baracat in particular is somewhere between hilarious and nauseating. After shaking her head, she meanders towards the venue where there's supposedly going to be music later.
Considering certain members of the crowd appear to be both full of purpose and bloodlust, she imagines there might not be instruments, but someone's going to dance. Like, for example, Ratatoskr over there, who is actively pitching a hissy fit over Jay's poster. Ragnell watches this for a moment, then looks away.
"Oh hey, a guy on stilts," she remarks aloud with open interest.
Ratatoskr is still frothing.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied hasn't been present very often lately, for the usual reasons -- her health's been touch and go, she's had a lot to occupy her with her recent reunion with the Fereshte and managing all of that as well as their collaboration with the Al Bhed...
But at the moment, she's present in Apple Market to enjoy some of the festivities, watching a man on stilt balance with some excitement in her eyes as she gently pushes her wheelchair to a position where she can spectate.
She might be a... wee bit late date-wise, but today she's not in her regular Fereshte garments, no, she's in a very pretty white and pink and brown yukata with cherry blossom and mountain patterns, along with a little puffycloud trim around her collar and -- well, still a capelet ontop of it, with Baskar designs on it.
She sewed a New Years outfit together and she's going to wear it gosh golly.
She has a candied apple in her hand as she claps and smiles for the show, not aware of... some of the other things going around her.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
It is an uncomfortable reality for Azoth to consider, but he can't ignore the possibility: some of his missing parts may have already been discovered and be up for sell among the salvage discovered by Drifters and Diggers. That there's a festival makes it easier for Azoth to feel comfortable searching. No strange hunts of his own going on here, no siree! Only an excited, happy Drifter wide eyed at every festive sight.
He already has his face painted with some blue flowers on his cheer.
Hmm, music later tonight... It would be best to be thorough and remain in the markets a while, wouldn't it? Azoth bounces on his heels as he looks over the posters, but then recognizes...
A Ratatoskr! Azoth's eyes brighten. "Oh, h--" Azoth shuts his mouth, stunned into silence as Ratatoskr expresses himself. He picks up the fallen poster, looking at an unflattering rendition of Jacqueline Barber.
"... This doesn't seem right at all," Azoth says in subdued agreement, frowning. But it's more than likely it's said too quietly to be heard over Ratatoskr's passion.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
A fried slice of potato is dipped into a little cheap-ceramic cuppy that holds a generous dollop of a sauce made from mystery ingredients - which are, for the most part, mayonaise and tomato-and-spices ketchup, equally mixed and blended with some shredded scallion. The potato is swirled and raised up, in all of its crispness, to a pair of waiting lips, where
*crunch*
"these are so GOOD," exults ELLY VAN HOUTEN, eyes squeezing shut in the simple and pure delight of the taste of salt and oil and acid and fat all on her tongue at the same time. They had thirty seconds to cool - they're delightfully hot but without pain!
"I'd had fried potato before, of course, but ohhhh these are just delightful - do you think it's that they're fresh, so completely fresh, or is it because of the ambiance?" Elly van Houten - who is currently wearing a pair of leggings underneath a ruffly sundress that leaves her arms bare - asks Fei Fong Wong, who is also probably wearing clothing.
Elly has not noticed any of the wanted posters because she has a deficient WITS stat, relative to her other digger attrib--- that is to say, that she was not on the guard for such details, and was instead inside of her own world.
She swirls the french fry - whatever a french is, this seems to have been the longest one in the wrapped twist of paper to begin with - in the sauce and holds it outwards. "Here," she says, cheeks blooming faintly, "try it...! Say aah--"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Addendum: Riesenlied still does have a wanted poster that's been around for at least three years old, which has just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger -- that is, the number, along with the size of her horns. She's depicted as basically a stag beetle with a :> face...
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is sitting in front of a Wanted Poster with his face on it and is watching Elly eat what is totally not french fries because what's french anyway? Something not real that's what. He is enjoying his own batch with his own different dipping sauce. because Fei is many things but he is not someone who can avoid eating food. He is dressed in his old village garb because he basically has like two outfits, not counting the Wedding Dress that gives significant ether defense. This still qualifies as clothes.
"The dip really makes it, you know? But the potatos are incredible too. The food in Aquvy is much tastier than what you can usually find in Ignas."
He munches on another fry even if he's trying not to gulp it all down real quick because he doesn't have that kind of self control. His head is probably blocking the part of his poster that has his face but isn't blocking the part that says WANTED.
R
'Say aaah--'
"Aaah...!"
Oh no. It's cute.
DC: Cyre H. Lorentz switches forms to Wind Shaman Cyre!
<Pose Tracker> Necronomicon has posed.
In fact, there... are quite a few people here who seem to be wearing awfully bulky clothing. Technically speaking there are laws against open carry of weapons in places like this, so certainly this can't be the illegal carry of weaponry--
They must just be cold. ...Probably.
One such figure investigates with care and noted interest the wanted posters that are pasted up -- turning to regard a certain squirrely fellow with some bemusement as Ratatoskr starts tearing a particular poster down. And ranting about it. Okay, that particular person is now backing away slowly from Ratatoskr, but they're not the only ones here who are at least a little bit sus. Another, talking to someone else, points at a few figures in the crowd. Someone else slips behind some crates to do... something. Some soft clanking sounds can be heard.
They are not perhaps the most subtle bounty hunters ever.
And neither is this the place to collect. And yet--
And yet, it still happens.
It's hard to tell where the first shot comes from.
It's easier to tell where it strikes, the plate glass of an apparel store shattering under the impact.
And after that, all hell breaks loose in the streets.
The crowd is in a tumult, seeking shelter among any place they can find, be it behind stalls or inside nearby storefronts or within alleyways. You'd be best-advised to do likewise, but you'll need to press through the crowd to make any ground -- it's that or risk a potential trampling.
It's shortly after escaping the crush that you realize you're being followed by some others within the crowd. Wait a minute -- those people are armed! And while fortunately for everyone else they aren't wielding an ARM, they are well equipped with heavy clubs. Wait, are these bounty-hunters?! Whether or not there's a price on your head doesn't seem to matter for them -- they come at you regardless. The weapons would be certain to wound you if you were struck and there is no time to rush those who wield them!
Wounded or not, it becomes clear that you need to move away from here and get to a place within Kattelox that isn't as full of other people. You need to lose your unwanted pursuers somehow and get away from the market.
_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________ _ Chaos in the Streets! _ _ _ _ _ _ Fei Fong Wong, Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten, Azoth, Seraph Ragnell, _ _ Ratatoskr, Jacqueline Barber, Cyre H. Lorentz, and Eika Zuse: _ _ +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge> _
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Fei Fong Wong takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Ratatoskr takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Cyre H. Lorentz takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Eika Zuse takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Riesenlied takes 74 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Azoth takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Jacqueline Barber takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Seraph Ragnell takes 79 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Elhaym van Houten takes 114 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE: That's the last target of your QTE done!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied vaguely registers Ratatoskr's heated cries, though perhaps doesn't track it to the person himself; her attention is more drawn to Fei and Elly, who're enjoying delicious potatoes. There's a mild perk of delight as she tries to wave, horns wiggling, through the much taller crowd--
"Fei, Elly! I am h--"
*BANG!*
Glass shatters and people scream and shove and find cover; she's jostled in the midst of a flock of folk that aren't quite in the right frame of mind, and her wheelchair precariously tips over.
"W-waaah!"
That was a terribly unfun landing, as Riesenlied rubs her sore back and whimpers. Fortunately, most of the crowd seems to be parting around her rather than ontop of her, and being prone means that her assailants (?) have lost track of her.
"What is happening...?" Riesenlied asks, looking around haplessly. She has to push her wheelchair back upright and climb back on if she's going to get through this!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Thanks to the both of them admiring the same stilt-man, Ragnell catches sight of Riesenlied before she catches sight of anyone else. A slight frown flickers across her face. She also spots Azoth picking up one of Jay's posters and trying to talk to Ratatoskr, but Azoth can take care of himself. Riesenlied isn't *helpless*, but she's also... not in the greatest of health. Not to mention, one of those bounties was Riesenlied's--and it was a great big one, too, the ridiculous horn overhang aside. Wolfing down her treat at speed, Ragnell glides through the crowd to reach Riese in her kimono and wheelchair before someone decides she makes for a fine target.
"Riese, you gotta get--" she has time to say right before all hell breaks loose. A shot fires; the crowds panic. Ragnell might not be getting followed, having no particular bounty on her head (what a world, what a world), but lots of other people do, and they aren't exactly making room for the Seraph. She curses as she gets shoved with the crowd several feet, having to weave and shove her way back to where Riese has fallen out of her wheelchair.
"What a night already, yeah?" Ragnell says dryly as she moves to help Riese get her wheelchair back up and her back on it.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"Of course it's not right!!" Ratatoskr shouts back to Azoth. "It's wrong! Wrong wrong wrong! I will not stand for it! I will not sit down for it! I will have nothing to do with it!" Some of this will one day be reprinted in a children's book, repurposed for some other strange, silly plot in wonderful rhyme.
Not today, though.
Glass shatters, and Ratatoskr looks up from his WAR NERD RAGE at his full height. Suddenly he's excited about what kind of ARM that might've been that went off, why, that report sounds like a rare Cele--
The crowd goes nuts in panic, as it should, because most of them are reasonable people bound by frail flesh who understand their lives might be cut short if there's an actual shoot-out, but Ratatoskr... is more offended he can't go pick up the bullet as to be absolutely sure it's what he heard it is, going wide on all fours to try and navigate towards that direction. He's built for fast, agile movement in chaotic conditions, running across walls and everything like he were a biological war machine built to strike at novel angles in battle (...he is, as the stain Mother has left on his genome - as per the genomes of all the surviving Hyadeans).
The bounty-hunters draw nearer, as Ratatoskr ducks a heavy club. "Wait a minute...! Wait a minute, is that..." His eyes light up at those clubs, as if they might be something more than blunt instruments of destruction (they really aren't).
He merrily bounds around as if the rising blood pressure of utter anger at LIES is melting away to an outlet for this pent-up energy that is... not really an improvement! So many Hyadeans have renounced their ways of being cogs of a war machine in the name of peaceful coexistence with Filgaia and its people, but Ratatoskr... no matter his respect and desire to preserve as much of the history of native Filgaian warriors around him goes... has not left that sort of bloodlust behind. He is overly excitable as always at being swung at, that blood pumping as he just bounds along in front of, sometimes alongside, at one point behind, these bounty hunters as they escape out of the market and into other parts.
"Hyahaha--! Come on, come oooooon...!" After having to suffer LIES, he feels content being in the face of TRUTH and HISTORY, in so much these bounty hunters will ever register as more than a blip. Any blip is of value to him, just bounding around and having an awesome time of it while his body temperature rises with the adrenaline high. His eyes are alight! His grin is... a grin, like it always is! The segmented plates of his tail smooth out.
This is a terrible idea of youthful fun!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Boiling Quicksilver! GS: Ratatoskr assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr accepts Ratatoskr's Boiling Quicksilver for 0 hit points! GS: Burst applied to Ratatoskr! Name set.
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Eika doesn't have wanted posters that look like her, but that doesn't mean she's not wanted; it just means that, so far, the Etones have kept it... in-house, so to say.
Finishing her investigation of the shirt she'd picked up, Eika tosses it back on a pile of other mismatched, bargain-bin items. "I don't care about the colour," she says, before tilting her head slightly. Something is making the hair on her neck stand up and she has no idea what it is. Did she hear something? Or -
"Get down!" Eika moves between the time the gunshot fires and the window shatters, practically tackling the man she was talking to to the ground. He starts to object until it sinks in that someone is shooting and he's probably safer on the ground, and then he decides staying quiet is for the best.
I have to get out of here, Eika thinks to herself. She can *feel* the tension crawl over her skin, though she manages to hold any changes back by sheer willpower. "Stay down," she growls as she rises into a runner's start, launching herself away from the stall and shouldering through several people panicking the other direction. Her training tells her to try to calm them down, but she's not sure she *can* - that was never her strong point, anyway.
Eika vaults out of the crowd - literally, as she makes a running leap and pulls herself onto a stall. Which immediately starts to collapse under her weight, so she leaps to the next one, which is a little sturdier, and lets her grab an outstretched line, swing herself on it, and throw herself several yards down-street. She narrowly avoids one of the club-men, and she feels the crawling sensation in her skin again; she hunches as if in pain, trying to hold it back.
She mostly succeeds, though it's one of the weirdest, most unpleasant sensations she's ever felt. Ducking under the club, Eika whirls and runs at her full speed, leaping over obstacles like boxes, tipped-over stands, and short people. She is vaguely aware that there are other people escaping too, but she doesn't have any attention to spare. Trying to breathe evenly and lower her heartbeat, almost meditatively, while running - that's a trick she can only just barely do at the best of times.
At least she hasn't turned into a monster. Not really. But she can't stay here any longer.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The first sign of trouble Jacqueline notices is the shouting. She blinks, makes a quick apology to someone currently browsing her wares, and then stands up from her chair, adjusting her glasses to get a better view.
"Is that... Ratatoskr? I wonder who he's shouting about..." Jacqueline asks with a frown. Someone with a wanted poster, apparently. That pirate lady she's seen around a few times, maybe?
It can't be herself. She's no legendary warrior.
She catches sight of Azoth, too - but only briefly, as her attention is soon drawn away by the sound of gunfire, and the sight of an apparel store's window shouting. Jacqueline's head quickly snaps in that direction, and with a flourish, she scoops all of her wares back into one of her bags.
"Sorry, I need to deal with this..." She apologises, before raising her voice.
"Everyone! Please try to remain calm! I know you're frightened, but you must seek shelter in a calm and orderly fashion! You might hurt or trip over others!" Jacqueline calls out, trying to direct the crowd.
...Of course, the problem with drawing one's attention to oneself in a situation like this is, if you happen to be one of the targets - or if there's just someone around with an interest in you - it happens to make you rather easy to spot.
And that's about what happens, as Jacqueline catches sight of several untoward-looking individuals diverting her way, wielding rather unpleasant-looking weapons.
Unfortunately, with so many people running about in a hurry to escape, it means that there's no real safe places. She can't just bring out her Sea Medium and Jump to safety when there's no open spaces. And so she has to do things the old-fashioned way - ducking down, putting her hood over her head, and trying to disappear into the crowd as she tries to make her way to a less-crowded portion of the city where she might be able to escape with a bit more success. Though she does raise her voice again, at one point.
"Cyre, are you still here? We're leaving!" Jacqueline calls out. ...But then again, he was smart, and had a better sense for things like this than she did. He'd probably already figured out a way out.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly has at times thought that she should encourage Fei to get a new look that he might enjoy, but she has several qualms. One is that it always occurs to her when they're not in a shopping area, the other is that it's kind of rude to do, and the third is the risk that she will, for instance, buy him a handsome shirt, and he'll have someone else tell him that he's TOTALLY ARROGANT and force him to bury the shirt.
This is Elly's hypothesis on how a lot of the really weird stuff gets into remote digs.
"I think Riesenlied is over there... we should go say hello," Elly states, before --
BULLETS!! Elly immediately hurls herself onto Fei, probably tackling him to the ground. The fries aren't THAT good -- though she throws one arm aloft to hold the fries carefully, to protect them perhaps. (Don't waste food.)
"Oh no," Elly says, laying momentarily atop Fei. "Is this Vash the Stampede again...?" Pulling him up after shoving the table over in order to provide some space, Elly moves on forwards and into the crowd, her other hand holding firmly onto Fei's as she looks round, both for a way forwards and, perhaps, for Riesenlied - if she's alone then she might either be hurt or be forced into --!!!
A moment later there is another BANG and Elly's hand jerks and she lets out a hellacious shriek, crushing it to her chest. "AI HYAI HAI Fddddshhghhhhhhh," Elly gasps, as a thin trailing line of glistening, agonizing ... stray fry fat from the still very fresh potatoes runs down the back of her wrist and along the side of her arm. (And into her front, since she hugged it to her chest.) Fragments of fries fly quite spryly!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Shattering glass puts Azoth on full alert, and then everything is chaos. The crowd moves, and he tries to move with it, keeping step, but wildly looking about for further data on what happened, where it came from, what's going on --
If only this chassis were taller!
But he does spot several critical points of data. There's familiar faces in this crowd. Jacqueline is HERE? That's not good. And she's not the only one with a matching ("matching") poster. Azoth's afraid to call out to them and call attention to them, but he tries to navigate the crowd toward them.
Maybe that's what makes someone decide to swing a heavy club at him from behind. Azoth spins and appears to stumble away, but it's a controlled feint of a dodge. It flows easily into faking falling, to duck and weave other assaults.
It's a ploy to keep their attention. He's an easy target! You just have to swing one more time! And keep swinging at him and please don't swing at the likes of Rieselied and Ragnell and anyone else caught in the crowds...! It's a game he needs to keep up before trying to disappear himself.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
It's true. Not having a poster doesn't mean you're not wanted. Everybody wants you, Eika. We're lucky to have you.
Fei quickly swallows though when he hears Riesenlied's face, being able to pick her out by the wiggling of her horns. "Riesenlied's here! I bet Noeline's here too...!" Fei says happily, starting to stand and wave towards her with a small carton of fries but then--
--BULLETS! Elly tackles Fei to the ground as a bullet punches through a french fry leaving a small bullet hole inside the freench fry. Fei ducks behind the table and puts the wounded fry out of its misery by shoving its remains into his mouth and swallowing it.
"Aw geeze," Fei says. "Here we go again--" He quickly shoves as many remaining fries as he can into his mouth. "Mmpphh...!"
He aimms to take Elly's hand and run with her towards Riesenlied and Noeline which is sure to be safe. He tries to give Elly some advice on outrunning people trying to kill you in the meanwhile.
"Mfffph! Mhh! Nffth...!!"
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
A gunshot rings out above the din of the crowd, and the festive atmosphere suddenly turns into one of tension and terror. People panic in the streets! A sea of humanity (and beastmanity, and hyademanity) sluices this way and that like a storm of violence had stirred it into a chaotic tempest! Cyre makes a sound of mild displeasure as he sets a few gella on the counter (whose attendant is presently hiding behind a cardboard cutout of a cheerful-looking dog, panting out a wordbubble which reads 'Kattleox is for more than cats and cattle! Adopt today!') He nods apologetically and picks up a couple bags of Animal Chow.
Are they after him? They're probably after him. They're probably after Jay too, judging by what she's yelling. His ears twitch this way and that at the chaotic cacophony of noise, but it's pretty obvious which way the danger is coming from.
Which means he just has to go the other way to get out of it! Genius! Blending in with the crowd isn't hard to do when you've got a handy, cowled cloak to cover your head and the blessing of the wind at your back!
Except it's not the other thing at his back, is it?
"Hands where I can see 'em, catboy," the accent drawls out of the mouth of someone Cyre very much doesn't care about. But he does have an ARM drawn, so that's a problem. The shaman sighs and lifts the Food Bags...
And then a great wall of wind suddenly blasts one of them open with a booming POP and hammers the gunman with all-natural beef byproduct-flavored dog chow!! "Sorry, you've got the wrong guy," Cyre smirks as his shockwave carries him away, "I'm a catman! Jay! Head over this way! We've gotta get while the getting's good!"
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Bounty Hunters with Stepping Wind! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Stepping Wind for 139 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
Jay's calm-headed instructions -- and Eika's roar of a command -- help with dispersing the crowd and keep them from harm. They are more than happy to follow any guidance possible, if given.
Of course, the better thing is to get away from here, and hopefully lose those who are oh-so-intent upon...
Actually, there is only one sort of person they're focusing on, isn't there? It's those of them who have a price on their head--
Or in a few cases, looks like someone who has a price on their head. Or just happens to be close enough to someone with a price on their head. While this means that the relatively uninvolved citizens of Kattelox are likely to get out of here unscathed -- they part like waves in the wake of a boat -- it does bode a little bit more for those who...
Well, have a price on their head. Or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Fortunately, once people evacuate from the previously lively street set aside for the street festival, things are a good deal (word spreads fast huh) more quiet and empty. Or, well, nearly so:
"Ain't that Barber?" one woman calls, pulling an ARM from a previously hidden spot on the inside of her jacket. "C'mon! It said dead or alive, right?" With that she takes aim and opens fire!
Seriously? In the middle of the street?!
Azoth plays a feinting game, attempting to lure attention away from others -- such as Ragnell and Riesenlied -- as the two of them attempt to make their own escape. It's well-timed; one of those with the clubs does start advance towards her wheelchair (can they even see Ragnell?) but as Azoth pulls into their path almost tauntingly, it's him that they're soon after. In fact, one of them gets perhaps a little too close in to Azoth and swings that heavy-looking club right for him!
...Meanwhile this permits Ragnell and Riesenlied the moment they need to escape, but this path may be compromised as another shot rings out and a stack of precariously-perched crates tumble to fall right atop the both of them!
"What the hell?!" barks another -- one of those with the clubs -- who has just turned from chasing Azoth to find that Ratatoskr is behind them rather than ahead, despite the fact that they'd thought they were chasing him just moments before. It may be said that their swing of the club for him is more than a little reflexive and certainly highly unnerved.
Another of them has a go at Eika -- does she stand out in some way, is it just a case of 'wrong place, wrong time' or is this something more sinister? Her sole warning sign is the light shining off the man's blade as he draws from under his coat (how??) a blade that is entirely too long to have been hidden there. "Got you!"
Elsewhere, Elly and Fei find themselves right in the sights of a man with a shotgun, who seems a little too trigger-happy for comfort's sake. Which is to say: he shoots at them!
Cyre, meanwhile, handling one of the would-be bounty-hunters with aplomb (he may be in fact KO'd there, in the street) darts towards the next one over to find himself facing down yet another man with a gun. How many of them are there here? Was there some sort of weird bounty-hunter convention in Kattelox that no one mentioned?
The man with the pistol grins nastily and then levels the ARM at Cyre; he pulls the trigger. Think fast!
GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Bull Shot! GS: Bounty Hunters has gained 1 Combo! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Ratatoskr with Bushwacker! GS: Bounty Hunters has gained 1 Combo! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Eika Zuse with Snakebite! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Azoth with Gin Fizz! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Riesenlied with Inconvenient Debris!! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Seraph Ragnell with Inconvenient Debris!! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Blow My Skull Off! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Blow My Skull Off! GS: A targeted player wasn't found. [#-1] GS: Fei Fong Wong critically guards Bounty Hunters's Blow My Skull Off for 22 hit points! GS: Bounty Hunters has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Gimlet! GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Bounty Hunters's Inconvenient Debris! for 18 hit points! GS: Slow applied to Riesenlied! GS: Riesenlied activates Guard bonus! GS: Bounty Hunters has completed its action. GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Bounty Hunters's Bull Shot for 118 hit points!
DC: 1 turn has elapsed in the battle against Bounty Hunters! 4 turns remain!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Bounty Hunters's Gimlet for 115 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Bounty Hunters's Bushwacker for 61 hit points! GS: Eika Zuse takes a solid hit from Bounty Hunters's Snakebite for 124 hit points! GS: Azoth critically guards Bounty Hunters's Gin Fizz for 23 hit points!
DC: 2 turns have elapsed in the battle against Bounty Hunters! 3 turns remain!
GS: Seraph Ragnell guards a hit from Bounty Hunters's Inconvenient Debris! for 24 hit points! GS: Slow applied to Seraph Ragnell!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's head spins and her world churns for a moment, but she hears someone call out to her to get out-- and when she lifts her head up, she sees Ragnell. There's a relieved smile as the Lightning Seraph helps her chair up, and she pushes her way back up with her arms in a way that's practiced. It isn't the first time she's fallen out of her wheelchair, after all.
"Thank you, Ragnell... to think this is happening in the midst of a festival."
It seems like Jacqueline is here too, trying to calm people as she often does; someone else, Eika, is shouting for people to get down as well. She hears Fei call out, and then she sees both Fei and Elly coming towards them. That's a big relief!
The citizens are parting and leaving, which is a relief to her; one of the clubs comes towards her, and Azoth's in their path too! He's under attack!
"Ah-- Azoth--! Watch out!"
Another shot rings out, and crates tumble and come towards them. ARMs are getting involved, and Fei and Elly are facing a man with a shotgun! Riesenlied forcibly throws her hands out with a wince!
A spiritual barrier erupts, cascading out of the Dragon's Tear and swirling around them; it first envelops her and Ragnell, and perhaps affected most by her immediate thoughts, spreads out to those closest: Azoth and his perilous club activities, and Fei and Elly, who're facing a gun.
Joining the Go-Home Club has never looked more appealing until now.
GS: Riesenlied has activated a Force Action! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Riesenlied with Ley Channeling - Border of Life! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Seraph Ragnell with Ley Channeling - Border of Life! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Ley Channeling - Border of Life! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Ley Channeling - Border of Life! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Azoth with Ley Channeling - Border of Life! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
>THINK FAST.
"Fuck," Cyre says about as succinctly as he can manage, and goes to block...
With his last bag of dog food!?
It's admittedly not the best option. The bullet tears through and carves a series of bloody wounds into his flanks, but it turns out that those bags are built digger-tough! Cyre is not, in fact, dead yet! Even though much of the kibble has probably been turned to powder. You're a rude dude, mister pistolero!
And so he gets kicked in the face.
Or rather, Cyre lands in such a way that means the gunman's face is the only thing his feet have any chance to find purchase on! He's definitely not just upset that he wasted half a bag of dogfood to get a few new wounds or anything. "Hup," Cyre hups, and leaps again! "Seriously you guys, are you really doing this here? Now? Geohounds, more like Geohyenas you damn dirty scavengers!"
A wind gathers and propels him forward! Racing ever and onwards toward what must be a way out. Or at least, toward where all these people are running. When has following the crowd ever led him astray!?
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr just up and hurls himself across the club's swing, twisting and contorting his form with a flourish afforded by the quiet touch of Hyadean shapeshifting to make up for some of the physical limitations of joints and other body parts that give themselves a defined limit of 'no, don't bend that way,' to the point that the club's swing is mostly caught across the surface of that large, squirrel-like tail he has.
His visage is frightening to look at. Solid yellow eyes, that grin with sharp teeth - 'what the hell?!' is one of the more composed sentences one can make, but for all the frightening monster-like features this horned squirrel-like fellow has... there is an undeniably youthful, boyish enthusiasm.
"...Wow. Could it be? Could it be!" He says as he twists and lands in a three point stance. "I think I know you... a famous bounty hunter! One that, that... that I know almost everything about except your name!" This is rare! Usually he's good at catching names first! "Who are you hunting? Who are you hunting! C'mon, c'mon, tell me, tell meeeeeee," he's hurling himself at them with a flying knee, but then...
He hears something, distracting him mid-flight (but not enough to retract the flying knee attack).
"Dead or alive... Barber?"
His grin recedes to a mere smile, because that's as 'low' as his facial expressions get. "Barber? Barber! Jacqueline Barber...?"
Then the screaming starts again.
"WHICH ONE OF YOU HAS BEEN READING LIES?!"
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Bounty Hunters with Fly Into Fray! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Elhaym van Houten used Defend! She takes Bounty Hunters's attack on Fei Fong Wong on herself! GS: Fei Fong Wong used Defend! He takes #-1 NO SUCH OBJECT VISIBLE's attack on Elhaym van Houten on himself! GS: Fei Fong Wong used Defend! He takes Elhaym van Houten's attack on Bounty Hunters on himself! GS: Elhaym van Houten used Defend! She takes Fei Fong Wong's attack on Bounty Hunters on herself! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Bounty Hunters's Blow My Skull Off for 103 hit points! GS: Riesenlied heals Elhaym van Houten! She gains 210 temporary hit points! GS: Riesenlied heals Seraph Ragnell! She gains 210 temporary hit points! GS: Riesenlied heals Azoth! He gains 210 temporary hit points! GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Fly Into Fray for 118 hit points! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"I figure the folks doin' this think a festival's the best time *to* do this. Your target lets down their guard, an' the crowds o' bystanders make it harder to get away," Ragnell assesses as Riesenlied gets herself righted. She'll help push Riese's chair if need be, but if not, she'll let Riese handle herself--even as she sticks close to handle any would-be bounty hunters.
It helps that Azoth, not far away, is helping distract several of the attackers, dodging and weaving and drawing their attacks towards him. Ragnell salutes to him to show her gratitude, then has to consider her next move.
If she were alone, she'd join in on the fight, get a good brawl in. If her sole goal were to protect Riese and it were entirely up to her, she'd get her out of here quickly and expediently. But it's *not* entirely up to her, and Riese is of course not going to abandon her friends when they're also getting attacked, so Ragnell draws her guns as she assesses escape routes.
The most promising one just got a bunch of crates caving in on it, too. Bummer.
At least Riesenlied's emotions set forth a spiritual barrier to help defend Ragnell, Azoth, Elly, and Fei from the bounty hunters. That's a temporary measure at best, though. So, step one: convince her friend that leaving is a worthwhile option after all.
"Riese, did you know your face is on a bunch o' WANTED posters over there?" Ragnell says, jerking her chin towards the wall plastered with them. As she does so, she opens fire on the guys swinging clubs at Azoth--hopefully making it easier for him to dodge and keep the heat on him. After all, his assailants (probably) can't see her. "These guys must be after you an' other folks with bounties on their heads. If y'all get out of here, they'll leave too."
GS: Seraph Ragnell has attacked Bounty Hunters with Storm Runner! GS: Seraph Ragnell has gained 2 Combo! GS: Seraph Ragnell has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied heals Fei Fong Wong! He gains 210 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I hear you!" Jacqueline calls back, as she hears Cyre's voice in the distance and starts diverting her path that way. If they can group up, they'll have a greater chance of escape than if they tried to handle this alone.
That's about when she hears someone say her name. Jacqueline turns quickly toward the sound, wrapping her cloak around her as she does. It's well-timed, too - a bullet impacts her solidly in the moment immediately after. If it weren't for her cloak, she'd be in trouble... and even with it she finds the air knocked out of her as she's sent doubling back. She winces, quickly scanning the crowd for the culprit as she catches her breath.
"...It is 'Barber', but I swear to you, you don't want to do this. You're making a big mistake - not the least of which being that you just opened fire into a crowd of civilians. If you're not careful, you'll be the one with a bounty on you next. Do the smart thing - put your ARMs away and back off. This isn't worth it." Jacqueline pleads. Just as convincing an argument, if not more so, are the bottles of liquid that suddenly start rolling up to the feet of several Bounty Hunters, courtesy of some quick sleight of hand on Jacqueline's part. They're emitting a pleasant, pink cloud of smoke that, when breathed in, invokes a feeling of sleepiness that may just make them more interested in taking a nap than hunting her down.
...If she's lucky. Jacqueline has a feeling today isn't very lucky for her today, though.
Case in point, as Jacqueline runs, she hears a voice shouting her name! ...It's Ratatoskr again.
"...Oh no." Jacqueline says with a sigh, burying her face in her hands. ...Is he... standing up for her honor?? It's a little touching, but a little embarrassing at the same time...
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Bounty Hunters with Apothecary's Fire! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Eika skids around a corner, looking around for an escape route. It's getting harder to hold it back. She can feel her teeth trying to change shape, and if that's not something you have ever experienced before, *be glad*. Because of this, she is tense, hunched up. It's not her they're after, she realizes around here. She can get out, calm down, and slip away...
...but what about the civilians? She already feels guilty about just bailing. Someone could get hurt. She *can't* just leave. She turns, looking back the way she came. She takes a deep breath in, then slowly releases it. She can do this. Eika starts to look back the way she came, taking a step - she can try to handle the runners, right?
She makes it a few steps before she is accosted by a man. "I don't have time for you," she says, expecting him to have a club since he's clearly not holding a gun. "Get out of here - "
That is not a club. That is a sword. Eika was not expecting a sword.
The blade hits her in the side and completely scrambles her focus. The churning sensation under Eika's skin spreads; her hair rises, and then there are a series of ripping and popping sounds both from her badly tailored outfit and her body itself. Hair grows, bones shift; she puts on nearly a half foot of height, her skin changing colour as fine fur grows along it, shaggier down her back in a long stripe to make a vertical mane.
It leaves Eika with shaggy red hair merging with a thick mane down the line of her spine in a rough V toward a leonine tail. White-furred over her neck, stomach, and the inside of her limbs, but orange-red down the outside of her arms and legs and across her back, where it merges with the thick mane that goes down her spine, she has zig-zags of darker colour along her body. Her hands and feet are big, and clawed; her ears are elongated, pointed, and end in a tuft of fur. She is still wearing the ill-fitting clothes, though they are differently ill-fitting now.
Eika's oversized hand snaps out. It looks, at first, like she's going to claw the man - but instead she tries to grab him and, with a surprisingly graceful and practiced whirl, spin him around with her before launching him down the street. Chi gathers around her as she spins, whirling with her and bursting in a sudden draft of wind as she releases.
"DO YOU WANT SOME, HUH?" she yells at him - her voice is the same, no change in pitch, though it's more resonant. "You think you can go after someone who can't fight back?" Her temper has gotten the better of her; she does not immediately bail, despite the fact that there looks like nothing so much as a Hellion in the streets. (Though there's no real Malevolence in her, if anyone thinks to check.)
GS: Eika Zuse has attacked Bounty Hunters with Gale Rush! GS: Eika Zuse has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth's calculations falter. A club comes straight for him. He raises his hand in defense, just a fraction of a second too slow to erect his own barrier, and he's about to get his metal skull caved in. But a barrier -- not his own -- shimmers over him and endures the hit in his place.
He smiles brightly at the bounty hunter, waves with his fingers, then turns the wave into a finger gun as a blade of light forms at his side. "Bam." It shoots into his target with an explosive shockwave, trying to knock them back into an unfortunately placed stand of produce while Azoth uses the explosion himself momentum to flip backward through the air.
"Thank you!" he calls to Rieselied after he lands nearer her and Ragnell, dust settling around him as he pops into a salute. He tries to position between them and incoming hunters. "It was a very interesting artist's rendition!" he adds to Ragnell's explanation. "I don't understand why they're after you, but we'll get out of here together. All of us."
He may not have his own bounty, but he's not going to run off without them. ...Even Ratatoskr. Maybe. Hopefully. Assuming anyone can pull Ratatoskr away from his quest for truth. Violent truth.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
As they move forwards, Fei choking down potato and Elly choking back screams, the two of them move forwards, ever forwards, towards friends, towards hope, towards escape, towards the guy with the shotgun.
Elly stares directly down the barrel of the shotgun, her mouth momentarily agape in total surprise even as his finger tightens on the trigger--!!!!
-- which goes shoomp then BLAM and then fires a good half-pound of ice directly into Elly's sternum in several large fractionated chunks. This is, of course, painful as hell and makes her make another horrible shrieking sound - maybe the festival has given her permission to be a giant crybaby about little things like 'burning her finger' and 'getting shot', but it is clear if she can scream that loud and still has all her major limbs and organs, it can't be THAT bad.
Right? Or is that just a jugend thing?
And then even as Elly draws her hand back, she sees... a *smidge* of blood with the water, and it certainly feels like she just got punched in the chest, but there is a distinctly non fatal air to this injury. She looks up slowly, eyes wide as she perceives the spiritual boundary.
Elly squeezes Fei's hand. "We have to do something for Riesenlied for the new year," she says. "I can tell... this is her feelings to protect us..."
Directly behind Elly is a sketch of 'basically Elly, but winking and blowing a kiss that produces a little heart with a skull and crossbones in it', together with her various bounties. She still hasn't seen her poster. "Put that down!" she tells the man, a moment before sending a sudden surge of heat towards the shotgun--!!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Bounty Hunters with Thermo Crystalmelt! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Bounty Hunters critically guards Seraph Ragnell's Storm Runner for 32 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Bounty Hunters fully evades Jacqueline Barber's Apothecary's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Bounty Hunters activates Evade bonus! GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Eika Zuse's Gale Rush for 146 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riposte applied to Eika Zuse! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Goomba Stomp Height Gains! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Cyre H. Lorentz accepts Cyre H. Lorentz's Goomba Stomp Height Gains for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei lashes out with his hands and catches a slew of bullets into his hands. He looks at them for a moment. "Oh wow," He says, blinking. "I've never managed to actually do that before." He looks over to Elly but sees he's taking aim at her too--he takes a leap for it, flinging the bullets at the guy's forehead before hitting the floor.
After Fei faceplants into the ground and starts bleeding from his nose, Riesenlied helpfully encases him in a protective barrier.
"Thanks Riesenlied." Fei says into the ground, picking himself up from the Yamcha pose to cover his nose with one hand and look around. "Riesenlie--Why are the bounty hunters going this crazy? Never seen them push so hard before." Why does he think Riesenlied might have an idea!? It's not like she's an empath----
oh.
"Guess Noeline wasn't here." He admits. "That one's on me."
Elly takes his free hand and speaks of getting Riesenliedd something for the new year.
"Oh I have an idea. We can get Riesenlied some horn-warmers. They look so cold sometimes I bet that's why they always wiggle.."
GS: Azoth has attacked Bounty Hunters with Hello World! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Bounty Hunters with As Strong As Three Raditzes! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Azoth's Hello World for 128 hit points! GS: Delay applied to Bounty Hunters! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP! GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's As Strong As Three Raditzes for 131 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Bounty Hunters guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Crystalmelt for 95 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
It's a fortunate thing that Azoth has led the pack here away from Riesenlied (and by proxy, Ragnell); that shimmering swirl of light under other circumstances might have drawn all eyes towards her. But right now, she's just another target in a sea of targets.
It also helps Ragnell out: eyes certainly aren't over in her direction (if they could even see her there to begin with) when she takes advantage of the moment and opens fire her own way. Unfortunately, her target of choice swings down their club unknowingly at the exact moment the bullet speeds their way; it rebounds off of it and leaves its wielder looking stunned for a moment. Which, is probably good for Azoth, since that moment of confusion means they're not looking at Azoth when he produces a literal fingergun and promptly sends his assailant hurtling back ass over teakettle into one of the stalls. Time to make tracks!
Not far from them all, Fei and Elly tangle with their own problem, in the form of a man with a shotgun! Which has... just disgorged a pellet of ice due to some Ether-related trickery. The good news is that this does seem to throw him for a few perilous and critical moments, particularly when Elly SCREAMS--
and then throws fire at his gun. Just moments after he does in fact shoot again. In this same moment Fei hurtles the bullets back at him and...
The shotgun has... seen better days. It's not completely nonfunctional, but it may just as well be unless its user wants to try to shoot around a corner. Which may be low on the man's list of priorities right now: he's laid out on the ground from Fei's return attack. He just twitched a little. ...He's probably fine.
"What're you doin', man?!" one of the gunslingers snarls at one of those with the clubs as they fail to... make an impact on Ratatoskr (and indeed, are... backing away from him).
"Stop horsin' around! Ming said we'd get double the rate for bringin' back their heads!"
Ming? That's a name some here might remember from that incident in Damzen City and the preceding incident in Honeysday -- Ming, the leader of the Bronze Tigers, a notable (criminal) organization in Guild Galad -- had been behind the hire of those thugs that tried to level Honeysday (in Gears!). And apparently not content with the price on their heads, she's opted to finish the job...
Though, uh, perhaps the one that has opted to tangle with Ratatoskr--
"It's James! MY NAME IS JAMES oh my god please stop"
--might not be causing any more trouble for anyone anymore. Ouch, that had to hurt.
Similarly, while the would-be gunslinger gets in a hit on Cyre, he soon gets a faceful of... foot. As he becomes an impromptu platform which Cyre uses to make good his escape to less-populated environs. "Guh," the man says, eloquently, his pistol clattering onto the pavement.
Out in the streets, Jacqueline tries to reason with one of her assailants. Indeed, they hesitate a moment, as if they were reconsidering whatever it was that brought them here. But they shake their head. "Nah. You seen the price on your head lately, girl?"
The bottles meanwhile clatter their way down the street, carrying their own argument of a sort, but as one or two of the bounty hunters step wrong, suddenly they're the ones involved in a sort of slip, trip and fall. The gas may discharge harmlessly into the air but the fact that a couple of those guys aren't getting back up in a hurry may be a good compromise.
Slightly further down the street, one of the bounty hunters has a go at Eika and soon finds that... he's
possibly picked the wrong target as her form shifts. He backs up slowly, sword shaking in his grasp. "M-m-monster!" he screams, moments before she snatches him up and...
Let us say that he may need a change of pants in his near future. It may be slightly down the list of his worries as Eika sends him hurtling away and into a pile of crates.
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
But there are still more of them.
While everyone caught up in this mess has made it to the opposite streets, it's completely clear that they've been followed by the instigators of this chaos, and with gusto! You're completely encircled, with no obvious escape...
Unless, that is, you choose to break through them!
But this leaves everyone involved with another problem once they get through: specifically, now what? Some of them have guns! Some of them are not even hesitating even a little bit to open fire! There's a saying that while it's a fine to shield yourself against incoming blows, it's a finer thing still to not get hit in the first place.
Relief presents itself before long -- a gap, between the buildings! Perhaps if you could make it through before they catch up to you again, you could buy yourself some time to deal with these relentless bounty hunters.
_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________ _ Run Through the City _ _ _ _ _ _ Fei Fong Wong, Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten, Azoth, Seraph Ragnell, _ _ Ratatoskr, Jacqueline Barber, Cyre H. Lorentz, and Eika Zuse: _ _ +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge> _
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Seraph Ragnell takes 72 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Jacqueline Barber takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Eika Zuse takes 109 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Elhaym van Houten takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Azoth takes 72 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Cyre H. Lorentz takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
DC: 3 turns have elapsed in the battle against Bounty Hunters! 2 turns remain!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Ratatoskr takes 75 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Riesenlied takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Fei Fong Wong takes 79 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE: That's the last target of your QTE done!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"I--I see the issue now..." Riesenlied does nod at Ragnell as she points out the obvious: her face is on a bunch of WANTED posters. "But it seems like they are after other people too. I know Miss Jacqueline has one as well, from some circumstances."
Eika transforms!! Riesenlied takes one good look as she gains a solid foot and a whole mess of red and white fur and thinks--
Finally! Someone else who turns into a monstrous creature!! Hooray!!
Azoth assures they'll get out of here together, and she nods in turn. "We should flee as fast as possible," Riesenlied agrees.
She misses Elly and Fei's collaboration for New Year gifts, but she'd love a pair of horn warmers...! Not that she had them before. Unless you counted socks.
"Um, I did come here with Noeline, we just were a bit mixed up in the crowd..." Riesenlied does assure Fei, looking about and thinking that focusing on her ring to find her partner might lead her to Seek A Way Out.
For a moment, she relies on her friends to cover her -- as the Dragon's Tear sparkles with a genteel blue colour that gradients towards a warm yellow. Then, she points her finger to a nearby gap overlooked between the buildings.
"There! She is telling us to meet that way."
GS: Riesenlied heals Riesenlied! She gains 210 temporary hit points! GS: Riesenlied spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Riesenlied with I don't have to be Afraid...! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riesenlied has launched an attack Link! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied heals Riesenlied! She gains 115 temporary hit points! GS: Shield applied to Riesenlied!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
You know, these kinds of things are honestly kind of exhilerating. Or they would be if there weren't so many people in the crossfire. If it was just Cyre escaping through the wilderness from a gang of bloodthirsty geohounds, that'd actually be pretty fun. He could lead them on a wild goose chase and dump all manner of obstacles in their paths like the trickster figure that he so wants to be.
But instead, he's here, in a city, trying to deal with a bunch of triggerhappy assholes with more greed than sense.
At least from the sound of it, Jay's still in one piece. It'd be a shame if any of them got taken down because of some gella-blind fools--
Ming?
Cyre's ears twitch. That's a name he recognizes. So that's what's going on. She's sending these goons after them out of a sense of personal revenge for the crime of doing a good thing for some unfortunate people. And she's on the Veruni's take! That's double-bad! He'll have to remember this for later, though. 'Cause...
Well.
He can't exactly do anything about 'Ming' right now, can he?
But there is something he can do something about. An unexpected rush of wind draws Cyre's gaze away from the chaos. There, he finds...
...Huh. Was that beastwoman always th-- oh.
Oh no.
Oh no they think she's the baracat, don't they?
"Aahhhh crap this is probably my fault, isn't it?" Cyre mutters and adjusts his trajectory mid-leap. He twists with catlike grace and lands... just out of face-ripping range. "Don't worry," he smiles to Eika, "I'm a friend. Here, you look like you could use some help."
Cyre raises his hand.
And then he darts forward and boops Eika on her shoulder!?
...But then, the wind stirs. It rises, forming an ablative shroud of swirling force around the beleaguered beastwoman(?!). "Come on, this way!" Cyre beckons, gesturing toward a not-too-distant alleyway... Currently being blocked by a bunch of goons. He clicks his tongue and...
Charges them anyway!?
His lunge is accompanied by a shockwave of force, blasting the goonsquad aside. "We might be able to lose 'em if we go down this way...!"
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Eika Zuse with Blowhard Bulwark! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"James oh my god please stop?" Ratatoskr looks back to the guy he just threw a knee at. "James oh my god please stop!" Beat. "...I thought the name would be shorter than that..." But he's not going to question that's their name! Some humans have long ones. He's heard of a guy in a red coat being confused for Vash the Stampede but instead have this impossibly long name, once. There's precedent!
To James oh my god please stop's relief, Ratatoskr does stop - for being a remnant of a killer horrible quasi-metallic shapeshifter army under a horrid planet-eating monster, he doesn't come off as all that keen to ever seal the deal. (It is possible James oh my god please stop will never stand under his own power ever again, but it's easy for a former Metal Demon to take fighting health for granted.)
Still, he's on edge. Someone has believed lies, and as great an opportunity as it is to meet James oh my god please stop... he feels a deep-seated responsibility, as someone who has charged himself with keeping the memory of the day's greatest warriors. Something that needs to be corrected, lest it propagate as a falsehood on history's pages.
"...Later, James oh my god please stop...! I'm glad I got to meet you at last..." Ratatoskr turns away as he charges across a bunch of surrounding thugs, heading somehwere in Jay's direction (and just missing, out the corner of his eye, a Beastfolk and someone lying in a heap in a crate).
Some start shooting. He sees a flash of that rare Celesti ARM he thought he heard! So he does the reasonable thing and stands there and lets himself get shot up, because his body is a great place to keep bullets. (They tend to fall out of his hands, and that is IMPERMISSIBLE when in a high-stakes, high-mobility battle.)
(Also it stings, but... Metal Demons can have a strange relationship with the concept of pain as a deterrent.)
Quicksilver leaks where some especially potent high-caliber ARM rounds embed themselves... but it's okay, this is almost as good as having their ARMs and if they didn't have their ARMs, they couldn't keep fighting. This is the next-best thing! In fact given the situation it's the best thing. He'd stay around and collect some more, but...
He has a record to correct. He hurls himself bodily across a space, fanning out a liquid metal patagium between his limbs to glive towards a small stack of boxes to get up to a roof and continue along.
"Jacqueline Barbeeeeeeeerrrrrr...!" He calls after her. "Who's telling lies about you?! Are you lying?! Why would anyone WANT you for something you never, ever can do...?" He's so stunned by this idea that he forgets to follow up on his gimmick of taking a question and repeating it as an exclamation, look, he's wound up about this and also wounded and...
"It doesn't make any sense...!" Beat, in the middle of running after/alongside some of the others from the rooftop. "Unless you're willing to show me? Unless you're willing to show me!!"
...Maybe he needs a few more shots before he thinks he should get a nap or something.
GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Mystic extends positive status by 2 rounds! GS: Ratatoskr used Mystic on Ratatoskr! Status effect durations increased by 2! Temporary HP duration increased by 2! GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Cyre H. Lorentz heals Eika Zuse! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Cyre H. Lorentz!
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Eika breathes out after she threw the man - and then does not follow up on him, letting him fall to the... boxes without interruption.
'Monster'. That hurt. (She didn't hear or see Riesenlied. It is unclear if that would make it better or worse.)
Eika turns and pushes away from the man, shouldering back into the crowd. Now that she's actually *transformed* she can pass as beastfolk (if nobody saw her change; if nobody recognizes her because her face isn't that different; if nobody hears her voice and heard it before, which is also unchanged; if the Ethos aren't putting bounties on her head, which she is no longer sure about).
Breaking past the first line works well enough, but a barrage of bullets drives her backward - she's a bigger, obvious target now. She lunges to one side, throwing herself behind some miraculously not overturned crates to take cover, one hand pressed against a brand-new bullet wound, where one left a furrow along her shoulder.
That's where Cyre finds her. She looks up, startled, and uses his reached hand to pull herself up. An actual beastman, she thinks. He thinks I'm... Well, it's better than the alternative.
"Right behind you," Eika says. She has a bullet wound and a sword slash, neither of which look great, but she makes good time anyway. And none of them are on her legs, which are the important part. Cyre opens up the goon squad with a blast of air, but it's Eika that finishes them up, performing a flip kick backwards and driving both feet into one of them before catching herself on her palms, leaping again and following it up with a spinning hurricane kick. Blue chi dances along the side of her leg and foot.
"Eika," she says, once she lands again. That seems to be all the introduction Cyre is getting.
GS: Eika Zuse has attacked Bounty Hunters with Whirlwind Snap! GS: Eika Zuse has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Bounty Hunters guards a hit from Eika Zuse's Whirlwind Snap for 92 hit points! GS: Drowsy applied to Bounty Hunters! GS: Bounty Hunters activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell grins as Azoth explodes some dudes (non-lethally) and kickflips off that explosion to land near her and Riesenlied. "Nice shootin'," she tells him. "I'm all for gettin' out've here." Though when Riesenlied points out that there are other people who are also targets, including Jacqueline, Ragnell counter-points out, "I'm sure she's tryin' to get out of here too. The best way we can help 'em is carvin' a path out of here."
While Eika might transform into a big furry creature, Ragnell does not register her as a Hellion for one instant. When you have a racial sensitivity to Malevolence, you get good at telling who is and isn't rife with it. Apparently this lady she doesn't know is just a were...creature? Nice moves, though. Ragnell always appreciates a lady who can make a man soil himself.
Fei and Elly, meanwhile, join up with this growing clump. Ragnell gives the two of them a cheeky sort of two-fingered salute, then nods to Riese when she says Noeline is communing with her to indicate the way out. "Let's get goin', then," she says, and charges for the gap in the buildings.
Of course, being invisible means that, while no one is aiming at you, no one is *not* aiming at you, either. A few bullets tear through Ragnell's poncho as she makes for the exit. However, once she's at the gap, she doesn't head all the way through. If Riesenlied is going to kick up a fuss about the *other* targets here, Ragnell will just have to give the hunters something else to worry about.
To whit: a Seraphic glyph lights up beneath her as she chants. "O darkened stormcloud! Thunder Blade!" she calls, outstretching a gun towards the group that's harassing Jay. A blade made of lightning strikes the ground around them at an angle, causing a concussive burst of force that may knock them off their feet; a moment later, the blade *explodes* with lightning, electrocuting anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in range. It won't kill them--probably--but it'll certainly give them something else to worry about.
As for Ming... this name is news to Ragnell! She'll have to ask after whoever that is when the dust has settled.
GS: Seraph Ragnell spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Seraph Ragnell enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Ragnell has attacked Bounty Hunters with Thunder Blade! GS: Seraph Ragnell has gained 1 Combo! GS: Slow expired! GS: Seraph Ragnell has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"DO YOU WANT SOME, HUH?"
Uh oh. "M-Miss Eika?!" Oh no, oh noooo Eika's gone cat mode. She doesn't like it when people see her in cat mode. "Miss Eika, you're not alone!" he shouts, hoping that might mitigate urges to over extend into bounty hunters or work herself into more cat panic. It's a meager thing, but she does have an ally here.
The chaos continues. Azoth catches what he can. Ming -- that's important, but not this very second.
That award goes to getting away. True to his word, he tries to keep with the group without outpacing it, constantly keeping a headcount of those involved and trying to keep his internal map and navigation updated on their approximate locations. It's prone to error -- it isn't as if Azoth has trackers on anyone present.
They're circled. Azoth's fingers flicker and his arm sparks. He produces a shield of blue-white light and charges, trying to smash straight through to create an opening for the others. He keeps it to help shield from incoming fire, cracks appearing along the surface until it finally breaks from repeated abuse.
Rieselied points out the gap, but Azoth's not nearly close enough to make an immediate dive for it because he's terrible at Agility Challenges err no, wait, apparently it was a quick time event this time.
"Go on ahead!" he calls out. "I'll catch up!"
What was this about together, Azoth?! Well, there's still others in the fray...! And Azoth may be able to help push the pursuit back a little longer. He turns to those still incoming with a friendly smile. "Well, I'll let you have a few more shots, I suppose...!" He forms a blade of light for himself and pretends to snatch it out of the air so he can further pretend he's actually wielding the thing and not controlling it with his core. Time to make some careful, testing strikes and play the defensive...!
GS: Azoth has attacked Bounty Hunters with Hardwired! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth assumes the Stoic stance! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Bounty Hunters takes a glancing hit from Azoth's Hardwired for 49 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shield applied to Azoth! GS: Bounty Hunters activates Evade bonus! GS: Bounty Hunters critically guards Seraph Ragnell's Thunder Blade for 35 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Chaos! Gunfire! The man before them falls and Elly huffs out to Fei, "Was all of this some kind of a trap--?? The entire Festival? Thank the - thank heavens we didn't bring Emeralda!"
Someone screams monster and Elly looks towards Eika -- then takes a second look, for she has been replaced by... No, Elly thinks in wonder. She can change her shape. She has no time to reflect on this in depth because there are still a lot of people around them with guns. But they've come together with someone else.
Something about this tickles the back of Elly's mind, an eerie familiarity, but this too does not leave her a lot of room to dwell. "I hope you at least got to try the fried potato bits," Elly says. "I love those. I want to eat them every day, I think --"
But if they're dead, they can't eat potatoes ever again, Elly thinks. Then she sees Ragnell, who makes her cheeks color slightly, from several different embarrassing memories, but they are also neither here nor there. "Can you-- okay!" She leans forwards then, to run forwards and try and push at that ring-- to break it, before the circular firing squad can really get going!
It can get going after they're clear, of course. Along the way, Elly crooks out one foot at a particularly unbalanced-looking bounty hunter's ankle. When in doubt: sweep the leg...
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Bounty Hunters with Break Through! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Horn... warmers? I never thought of that, but we could, couldn't we," Elly breathes in response to Fei's proposed engiftening. How can they obtain such a thing? Can they make it? Can it be purchased - with money?
BUT: Chaos! Gunfire! The man before them falls and Elly huffs out to Fei, "Was all of this some kind of a trap--?? The entire Festival? Thank the - thank heavens we didn't bring Emeralda!"
Someone screams monster and Elly looks towards Eika -- then takes a second look, for she has been replaced by... No, Elly thinks in wonder. She can change her shape. She has no time to reflect on this in depth because there are still a lot of people around them with guns. But they've come together with someone else.
Something about this tickles the back of Elly's mind, an eerie familiarity, but this too does not leave her a lot of room to dwell. "I hope you at least got to try the fried potato bits," Elly says. "I love those. I want to eat them every day, I think --"
But if they're dead, they can't eat potatoes ever again, Elly thinks. Then she sees Ragnell, who makes her cheeks color slightly, from several different embarrassing memories, but they are also neither here nor there. "Can you-- okay!" She leans forwards then, to run forwards and try and push at that ring-- to break it, before the circular firing squad can really get going!
It can get going after they're clear, of course. Along the way, Elly crooks out one foot at a particularly unbalanced-looking bounty hunter's ankle. When in doubt: sweep the leg...
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"I still can't believe that worked," Fei says, looking to Riesenlied and smiling. "Heh well--I'd hate to be a bounty hunter who crossed paths with Noeline."
Fei is so used to Ragnell just showing up to be cheeky that he throws a wave back without even thinking about it. He nearly gets shot in t he hand as a result but, wel, this is fine.
"Man this is real chaos." Fei adds, electing to follow after Riesenlied's suggestions. Riesenlied hasn't steered him wrong yet.
Though he does get shot i n the arm in the process. "Oh yeah," He tells Elly. "It'd be terrible if she grew afraid to go to festivals because of a little thing like this."
Of course it's also possible, he supposes, that Emeralda would just see it as a big adventuree but he's been worried about her lately. Something seems..
"They just look cold to me," He asides to Elly. "If nothing else, they could be fashionable? It could have a little picture of a cucco on them too..."
If nothing else Riesenlied isn't the hardest person to shop for.
Fei elects to use this mment to slam his foot into the grounnd hard enough that it cracks a fissure into the floor, aiming to send a whole slew of Bounty Hunters tumbling down i nto it.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Bounty Hunters with Chikei! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Indeed, Jacqueline hears a name she recognizes. Ming...
"...So that's what this is about, huh?" Jacqueline replies with a frown. Was she responsible for the bounties being spread too, then? That would explain a lot. "Sounds like I know who to blame for this, at least."
She'd have to look into this further later, but right now the important thing to do is get out of here.
"I have. But doing this? Here, in an inhabited city? It's going to be more trouble than it's worth - I can guarantee that. There's a lot of people who've seen your faces - and the Kattelox City police are bound to have heard the ruckus by now." Jacqueline replies, shaking her head. As she speaks, she very carefully and subtly draws out one of her Artificial Copy Mediums. The crowd has cleared out a little more, now that she's put some distance between herself and it. "Take it from me. This isn't worth it. Because, you know... money has a tendency of disappearing on you, too."
And with that, a lightning storm crashes down around her! Jacqueline takes it as her cue, invoking the power of Jump to teleport several feet out of the way, closer to the source.
... Which turns out to be Ragnell! Of all the people she expected to come to her, Ragnell wasn't one of them.
"Ah... thank you for the help, Ragnell..." She says, grateful but surprised. And Riesenlied is with her, too!
"Oh, Riese, is that a new yukata...? It's quite lovely." She says, moving into a run beside the two of them. Just because they're being chased by bounty hunters doesn't mean she can't take the time to compliment someone's clothes!
And then she hears Ratatoskr shouting after her. ...Now's a good a time as any to disperse some information, she decides.
"Ming, of the Guild Galad Bronze Tigers!" Jacqueline calls out. "She's the leader of a notorious criminal organization! She hired some thugs to torch Honeysday, but we put a stop to it! We started poking around after to find out who's responsible... but it looks like she found out that we know she did it! She has her claws everywhere, it seems!"
GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Chikei for 185 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break and Delay applied to Bounty Hunters! GS: Bounty Hunters guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Break Through for 112 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
Cyre teams up with Eika, giving her a handy boost before opting to just bowl on through -- indeed they scatter! -- the bounty hunter goon squad in his (well, their) way. Eika's might also helps with this task: they might try to shield off her blows with their ARMs and clubs, but the sheer force of her swings pushes them aside.
Also helping with the 'breaking through' business is without question the sudden and apparently divinely ordained intervention from the heavens: a bolt streaks down right into the middle of the streets and while it hits none of the bounty hunters dead-on (someone gets a shock from their ARM and drops it, good enough?) it does have the effect of making some of them scatter and look to the skies as... a giant lightning bolt from on high would tend to do.
Still. A few of them regardless turn their attention on others, like hounds hunting rabbits if any rabbit -- any at all -- would do. One of them, a woman, bearing a club, goes after Azoth.
"What the-- hell--?!"
Just to find that he has in his possession a blade of light! This woman's not too shabby on her feet but Azoth still gets a few good nicks in. And this still means someone is focused on him and not any of the others.
Elly opts for the leg sweep on one close to her and usually, this would be a good option. Except while they stagger and nearly topple, they don't actually fall!
But this is where Fei comes in. The young martial artist slam a foot into the ground, cracking open a fissure in the street which just so happens to open under the feet of that one that Elly failed to topple... and a couple others. It's not so deep that it'll cause more than a minor headache for the Kattelox roadworks team but...
Speaking of breaking the law, that's the tactic Jacqueline takes. "Tch! Not a problem if we skip town first!" one of the women snarls back at her. "Make it easy on us and reach for the sky, Barber!" A few of her compatriots are looking a little more leery than before, though. Perhaps some of them are having second thoughts. But it may also be hard to disengage now. ...As a few of them are finding to their dismay.
Take for example, poor James oh my god please stop. He's had better days for sure. But at least he gets to (maybe) walk away from this one; in any regard, that's another of the lot out of the fight.
Speaking of Ratatoskr, perhaps it's his presence (and the fact the bullets DO NOTHING) that helps the others break through: it takes the bounty hunters firing upon him way too long to realize that they are not having much of an effect.
At which point they back up, reconsidering their targets (and possibly also reloading. That was a lot of bullets!).
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
It's onwards and outwards: the alleyway leads to another street, another place that might give them the opening they need to escape the chaos before anyone (other than the bounty hunters that is) gets hurt. Perhaps even Noeline, as Riesenlied's senses tell her, might be waiting somewhere on the path to safety.
But these guys just won't quit. And just how many of them are there?! At this rate everyone could get overcome by sheer attrition. There's got to be a better way--
And then everyone sees it. A helpfully large, unattended motor vehicle. If one were to, er, borrow it, perhaps they could put some serious distance between themselves and their pursuers. The problem is largely an issue of getting there -- you're still within shooting distance of your pursuers and there isn't anything close that you could use to shield yourself with.
They're a little trigger happy, though, and a large sign falls from a nearby building, dislodged by an errant shot. It's just big and unwieldly enough that it could be used as an effective barrier.
The car is within reach! What luck -- someone left their keys on the seat. All you have to do is break in and grab them. After which point, well... what are you waiting for? It's time to go!
_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________ _ Steal a Car _ _ _ _ _ _ Fei Fong Wong, Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten, Azoth, Seraph Ragnell, _ _ Ratatoskr, Jacqueline Barber, Cyre H. Lorentz, and Eika Zuse: _ _ +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge> _
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Eika Zuse takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
DC: 4 turns have elapsed in the battle against Bounty Hunters! 1 turns remain!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Cyre H. Lorentz takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Riesenlied takes 113 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Jacqueline Barber takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Azoth takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Ratatoskr takes 111 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Seraph Ragnell takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Elhaym van Houten takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Oh no! Embarrassing memories! It's fine, Elly. Ragnell won't make fun of you for them, right this second, probably. She does smirk when Fei salutes her back, though, before focusing back on Azoth, who urges them to go on ahead without him. "Cool, thanks," she replies--and Riesenlied, with her spiritual empathy, might note that this easy acceptance isn't borne of indifference to Azoth's fate but confidence in his skills. Of course, Riesenlied will probably refuse to leave him behind, so she adds, "Don't you linger too long, now."
Jay Jump-teleports away from the crowd and towards Ragnell. She shrugs at her obviously surprised gratitude. "You can thank me by gettin' out've here so Riese doesn't dawdle 'round a bunch o' folks what want to kill her," she tells her bluntly. At least she doesn't leave it a mystery as to why she helped.
And at least Jay makes it clear why all of this is happening in the first place. Ming of the Guild Galad Bronze Tigers, huh... "Rude o' y'all to go havin' adventures where I couldn't see," she jokes. "Good t' know, though."
Not that the bounty hunters are giving up, which, naturally? Ragnell would think less of them if they were so easily dissuaded. Still, that makes it tougher for the rest of them. As Azoth covers the group, she hurries through the alleyways until everyone comes across a decently sizeable truck, plenty large enough to fit all of them.
"Convenient!" she declares, dipping down to present a smaller target as she hurries over to it. When errant gunfire shoots down a large sign, sending it rolling, she's more than happy to hit it just enough to get it to roll around and create a barrier between the group and the hunters--though not everyone may be fast enough or inclined towards defense enough to make it. Either way, she hops into the back with grace and ease, holstering her gun and offering a hand up to help load Riese and her wheelchair--since presumably, she's not the only one who'll help her out on this mark. Hopefully Noeline will be able to direct them onto the safest road to get out of dodge once someone's got the ignition in gear.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Somewhere in the chaos, people mention the name of Ming, leader of the Guild Galad Bronze Tigers. Riesenlied holds her head for a moment, before Jacqueline refreshes her on the incident in Damzen City.
"I see... this is rather well set-up, is it not?"
But Jacqueline also pauses to compliment her yukata, and as if entering Tales of Skit Time during a tense chase scene, Riesenlied's smile doubles as she waggles her big sleeves and says, "Yes! It is a New Years' outfit. I designed a few for several people, I still need to hand them out... would you like one too, Jay?"
Serious Time resumes.
Ragnell summons a big blast of lightning to assist Jay, and she nods as the Seraph urges them to get going. "Right--"
Azoth calls on them to go on ahead, which causes Riesenlied to hesitate. "Ah, but...!" Fortunately the Seraph already picked up on her hesitation, giving them more cover.
Elly says she's glad Emeralda's not here; Riesenlied also has a sigh of relief at that, nodding. "I meant to ask, but if she is not..." A pause. "I did not have a fried potato, but I am certain I can make them for you! The children love them."
They go onwards; they're still hot on their heels! Then-- they see it.
A motor vehicle!
Riesenlied gasps again as the shots keep coming; she throws out a reactionary barrier, haphazard in shape and size--
*DING*
--it bounces uncomfortably and grazes her skin, drawing red blood; there's a wince as she shuffles closer and has Ragnell help roll herself up the ramp of the-- probably van, if it's big enough for all of them.
GAS GAS GAS
Riesenlied pauses as she sees the keys left inside. "S-should I..."
DO YOU LIKE... MY CAR?
Her heart is pounding. She has not driven a motor vehicle before, per se, but Muni-Muni and flying with other Dragons is KIND of like driving a car, like?
"I--I will at least start it! If anyone wishes to take over..." Riesenlied says, yet with a voice that basically betrays her inner thought of
I'm gonna step on the gas... toniiiight!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Jay shouts up to Ratatoskr as to what the deal is. It's hard to get a read on his face when he only has fully-open eyes that just dim or brighten, or a mouth that only operates on a gradual gradient of grins... but she has his attention. Even more importantly, he's not shouting over her. That's a sign he's listening! Maybe the only grace in this chase, all told, is a moment in which Ratatoskr ratchets it down, shuts up, and actually listens for... once.
"...Yeah... you don't strike me as someone who'd lie about what you did..." His voice is low. It might not actually be able to be heard at their respective distances and what with all that's going on between them and the bursts of power and all that. However, there is a problem that's about to become a different kind of problem but might end up being a solution for almost all involved! Almost.
The pursuers are still in shooting distance, and...
Ratatoskr just jumps right down in the alley, in the way, taking several more shots. One choice shot pierces the chest armor and buries itself above the heart. Only high enough to just avoid probable death. Enough to get him startled and coughing up.
"...Don't you get it?" He snarls. "Don't you get it!"
"JACQUELINE BARBER IS WORTHLESS!" He shouts as he takes another few shots. He deliberately hurls himself in front of her, and by extension gives almost everyone extra time to find cover behind that large sign. "SHE DOESN'T FIGHT!" He heaves, breathing a lot more labored. It could be blood loss. (It is blood loss. Pain may be able to be disregarded. Blood loss... not so much.)
"THIS MING TOLD YOU LIES!" He's screaming. "LIES! LIES! LIES! She... she..." He's shaking in anger. "Jacqueline Barber will... will never be part of history as one of the greatest warriors of our time... whoever says she's capable of... of what that poster said... it's lies!! Lies lies lies! Stop shooting her... she's not worth it... she won't fight back..."
He sounds genuinely upset by these words he's saying, like he desperately wishes she would be. He knows she's been there, several times over - but she's refused to truly fight him every time. It's vexing, it's frustrating. He wants to believe there's something there, but... she's kept it from him. Maybe she's still holding out. Maybe these bounty hunters have the right of it.
Until then, that wanted poster is lies of a caliber he simply cannot abide by - as if the gravest insult he's come across in a long, long time.
They're still shooting. He hurls himself against the car. She's not worthy of the bullets. Also, uh, there's quicksilver all ov-- you know what never mind as long as they don't look back it's fine, it's fine, he's covering. He has a deeply manic look on his face from someone whose body is coming to grips with the idea that he's grievously wounded himself for... pretty much nothing? (The folly of youth.)
But he has principles and he is sticking by them. (Such as being a young and dumb eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-old.)
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Fei Fong Wong takes 71 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE: That's the last target of your QTE done!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre is indeed a beastman! Even if he kind of cheats by being the kind of beastman that your overly traditional grandma might be okay with if he wears a hood or hat at the family dinner table. That is to say, he is an ears n' tail kind of beastman, but that's still a beastman! "You're going to want to get those wounds looked at," he says as the goons go flying. "Nice follow-through by the way. Name's Cyre, I'm apparently a wanted man, but the situation is kind of complicated!"
He's just about to slip down that shadowy corridor to places unknown, possibly the deep dark underbelly of Kattleox. (Kattleox does not actually have a place like that, probably, it's a nice upscale town overall! The mayor does a very good job.) But then...
Then, he catches sight of a CAR of all things. A car big enough to fit everyone inside and still have... Well, not too much room to spare. It'll be a tight squeeze... And there are still more goons coming. How many of these mercenaries did Ming sicc on their trail? How did they all know that they would be attending a festival on Kattleox!? A bullet races between the catman's cowled ears but manages to miss anything important by mere inches. He leaps, a current of wind holding him aloft as he rebounds from storefront to storefront, kicking deftly off of walls amidst a hail of bullets before sticking his dismount...
Right behind a well-placed billboard!?
"Car," he breathes a sigh of relief and... Hops into shotgun.
He called dibs.
You didn't hear him? Too bad, he's already there!! But so is Riese, and Riese apparently can't drive!? "I never thought I'd be so glad to see a car that wasn't ours. Uhhh... Jay, you want to--" No, wait. He's already in shotgun. He's the closest. Cyre makes a face that goes :I and wiggles his fingers over the wheel. "Leeemmme just take care of that..."
Time to put all those Carakin Driving Shifts to good use...!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth had also before grinned wide with Ragnell's praise because he's still easy like that and, apparently, not even the least big upset about any previous fighting. He likes the rules she's set, and it would be a good world if he could stick to them... at least as far as her half of it is concerned.
Jacqueline helpfully explains the situation -- Azoth is very fond of this trait of hers -- and he gives her a wide eyed blink. "That's a terrible reason to put a bounty on someone!" Yes, thanks, Azoth.
Azoth faces off with his opponent for a few blow trades, then smiles brightly at her. "You're pretty good at this! But... sorry, I really can't stay." He waves after a back lunge and books it to catch up in the Escape Effort.
This involves a mad dash through bullets and getting grazed by three or four, dive rolling behind a sign while ducking and holding his head, and then scrambling up into a car. He does not opt to grab a secure seat yet because if it comes down to him, he trusts his body in a crash more than most of theirs.
Ratatoskr smashes into the car, and with a surprising amount of strength for his small frame, Azoth tries to tug him up all the way into the vehicle with a wince. Now might not be the best time to argue about Jacqueline, even if he wants to say something. Instead, he gives her an apologetic glance.
He counts them all as they come, trying to ensure everyone's accounted for that he saw in the fight. He hasn't been formally introduced to Cyre, be he watched Eika's back, and this makes him Good. "Is everyone all right? I-I have a clock elixir? Do those help?" He trusts the others with driving, which may be a mistake.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"And then what? Word's going to spread. You might get out of Kattelox safely, but trust me, people are going to find out." Jacqueline replies. "...Especially when they found out you've gone Riesenlied, of all people, not to mention several innocent bystanders. I mean... did you do any research? At all? Do you know exactly what kind of enemies you'll be making?"
And then, one of them tells her to reach for the sky.
"'Reach for the sky'? That's what you want me to do? That's a strange request, but... okay." Jacqueline says, with a grin not unlike the one on her poster.
She reaches for the sky... and in the process, makes a gesture that invokes one of the Crest Graphs in her gauntlet, causing a pillar of earth to rise up in front of her, blocking her from view!
And with that, she resumes running.
"Sorry, I can invite you next time. I have a feeling we're going to have a lot more quarrels with her in the future." Jacqueline apologises to Ragnell, with a smile that suggests that she, too, is joking. She glances toward Riesenlied, then, offering her a genuine smile. A yukata of her own...
"...If it wouldn't be too much trouble..." Jacqueline agrees, after a moment of thought. ...And there's someone she knows who'd probably like to see that, too.
But right now, they're running!
And Ratatoskr is... shouting about her. Jacqueline winces. ...She knows what he means, knows what he's about... but it still hurts a little to be called worthless. And... he's getting shot, getting hurt, for her sake. She approaches the car, but winces as he throws himself against it.
"You're... bleeding all over. Here, take this..." Jacqueline says, pushing a bottle of liquid that shines like gold into his hands. It's a healing, empowering brew - maybe it'll help.
Cyre has called shotgun, though, so Jacqueline slides into the backseat.
"Azoth, and Miss..." Jacqueline calls. ...She doesn't know Eika's name, come to think. "Over here! We've found a way out!"
Riesenlied is in the driver's seat. Jacqueline could help, but, it might be more productive to say...
"...I believe in you, Riese! You can get us out of here!" Jacqueline says.
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Eika is spotted by several people, but most of them she doesn't know or recognize has any particular interest in her. Elly, for instance, or Ragnell. But she does hear at least one more voice she recognizes - Azoth.
Who sounds concerned about her. "I'm fine!" she calls back. This is a lie - she is not fine for several reasons - but it's probably as close to an answer as he is going to get. Adrenaline only goes so far into dimming the pain.
She sticks with Cyre because she doesn't know the city and she'd rather not completely ditch everybody else. "Thanks," she says, a little more quietly. "Gotta - keep them moving, right? I didn't know I was wanted either," she lies. "C'mon, let's keep moving, I don't want to stick around and let them shoot into the crowd."
Eika sees the car an instant after Cyre does. She was delayed slightly by dodging another shot, hunkering down. No wind holds her up as she follows him, running flat-out before leaping, springing off a wall (somehow) and triangle-jumping onto a roof with a thump. She doesn't duck behind the hanging sign.
She runs on top of it instead.
The whole structure bows under her weight, and Eika bounces on it, using it like a springboard. She has a nice high arc but she isn't getting as much distance as she really should; she lands some distance behind the car, rushes when she hears the engine -
Well, the car is going to move with Eika hanging on the back like a particularly tenacious barnacle, but it's fine. It makes her hair billow behind her dramatically, at least. "I don't care who drives, but do it fast! I don't make good armour!"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Ming, of the Guild Galad Bronze Tigers," Elly echoes as she hears other people mentioning that name. It seems like it could be a clue. As they press further, Elly covers her head with her hands and wails, "I don't understand why they're doing this! What did we ever do to them!? Are bounties even good internationally?"
As she says this, Elly passes another wanted poster with the BLACK WIDOW on it, which in this case is a completely different, privately-commissioned portrait of what sort of resembles Elly resting a stiletto on her lower lip while sitting at a table full of ARMs, poison bottles, dynamite, a tightly confined hob, etc. -- all instruments of pain and death. The text reads: WANTED FOR KILLING - DANGER! PURSUIT RISKY! 666000G!
And then she looks upwards as they all move towards a car and as they get closer she can see that Riesenlied is in the front, Cyre is reaching for the wheel, people are calling out excitedly.
Elly closes her eyes.
SOME TIME, LONG AGO:
There is a long, long road, across a long, long plain. The sun beats down relentlessly over the grassland. It hasn't rained in a long time, so the air smells heavy and tired and laden with smoke.
A glossy red tube of a racer rolls past an irregular metal polygon, currently pulled over and full of vigorously squabbling people with intense tans and blonde hair in a range of ridiculous hairstyles. A second later, it passes by a blue aeroshell disk, which has spun off the road and landed in the grass, where it is industriously starting a brushfire that will, in two days, be visible from space.
A second later it pulls up alongside a dejected-looking man walking on the shoulder. The left side window rolls down. Cool and scented air erupts. A long, long arm leans out the window, and a moment later does a head, bright blue eyes beneath a red dome of glossy hair, barely hidden behind yellowplas sunshades. "Hey," she calls out. "Any you can walk away from, right?"
A switch is flipped, and so too does part of a bulbous protruberance on the back of the racer. "Listen: I need a second hand, and you're just the right size. This is as slow as I can get without the motor catching fire... and the autogun's all messed up," the driver drawls. "If you think you can fix it up, I'll letcha ride for the rest of the heat. What do you say?" Something explodes in the distance behind them.
HERE, NOW:
Elly opens her eyes.
"Yes," Elly says. "We have to go fast, or we're definitely going to..."
"... get caught and sent to jail!! Or worse!!"
Elly somehow already got into the back seat. "Where's the belt?" she asks. (There is no belt.)
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Jay hands Ratatoskr a potion with concern in her eyes and intent for him to... not die. He's seen all the concoctions she's utilized. He's got a wild look on his face, and now he's sharing the back space with a large Beastfolk. He doesn't take great heed of her presence because of Jay, who is handing him a bottle. It's probably medicine. It's probably the stuff she bandies about instead of fighting him, but he thinks... what if it's poison?
What if it's like the most virulent poison ever, wrought by human hands, that may have given the inkling of truth about the claims on the wanted poster? What then?
He's too wild-eyed and hazy-minded to thank her. His claw hands damage the cork in his haste (which he will regret when he's a bit more lucid) and dump the entire contents into his maw before the car takes off.
He really hopes it's poison. That would be excellent and redeem Jay in his eyes. (It's not, though, it's good medicine that still works just fine on Hyadean bodies.)
(seriously what the hell is wrong with him)
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Eika, hanging on the back, immediately checks her waistband.
She has, in fact, lost the rough length of fabric she uses as a tied belt. She usually does when she transforms, but she can't imagine what else Elly is talking about.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Ugggggh," Fei says, upon hearing Ming's name, or maybe just 'Guild Galad' honestly. Fei takes more fire, gritting his teeth as he dives into the car. "Belt?" He asks of Elly in a haze because he's bleeding all over the nice leath--the crappy seats, let's be honest.
SOME TIME, LONG AGO:
The dejected-looking man looks up when the racecar rolls on by. He has like three or four piercings in each ear, including one in his lip, and strange tats across his arms. He looks towards the fire. He runs as if to put it out--
--No, he's picking up the disk, reaaring back as if he's going to throw it at the red car.
And then he lowers it as the window slides down. The air blasts i his face. He finds himself looking into bright blue eyes of a red haired woman.
He lowers the blue disk and seems at a loss for words for a moment but eventually manages, "Next time they'll be the ones walking."
He smiles and is about to continue on but the woman stops him with a request.
"...You need a mechanic?"
He thinks for a moment. "Heh, well... don't you worry none, I've already thought up a bunch of improvements on the last car. By the time I'm through, it'll be purring like a lion."
He throws the disk behind him. It hits a car and it explodes and he runs up, grabbing ahold of the car door and pulling himself in. "Blue eyed beauty, you've got yourself a deal."
HERE, NOW
Fei says, "Cars... are really..."
Her lowers his head. "...Explodable."
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
Forced into the defensive by his feints and lunges, the woman with which Azoth is dueling draws back, trying to use the alleyway as a protection against his blade. At which point he... compliments her and runs away?
She may be a little too dumbfounded to chase, at least at first. Plus also to be fair, he has some sort of sword of light and it hurt a lot.
Ratatoskr screams his defiance at the bounty hunters, which, when paired with his bleeding wounds (and the fact that he's full of bullets, still standing, and Clearly A Monster) makes them hesitate. This is important because it buys everyone else the time they need to reach the car, get the doors open, and pile in. Important, when you're under heavy fire.
Others, perhaps the ones with some sense on their head -- particularly when taking into account Ratatoskr over there -- start to perhaps more strongly reconsider this whole business! Jacqueline will be able to see the hesitation in their eyes. But not all of them are swayed, and indeed, one of them tells her to reach for the sky.
After this, there's a stone pillar in their path. This probably helps Ratatoskr with not getting shot so much.
You've got yourself a car! That's a step up from where you were before, e.g., not having one. The first problem you encounter though is the fact that those jerks with the ARMs are still trying to take a shot at you (or at least the car) as the car you've borrows peels away. This may be the time for some choice footwork-- carwork? Is carwork the right word?
For a time it might even seem like smooth sailing once you get the car rolling down the streets of Kattelox. Obviously the best option would be to get right out of town as soon as possible--
But a shot rings out behind you. What?! Did they also steal a car?! This is going to end badly. They lean out of the vehicle, clearly trying to shoot you down -- or possibly take out a tire. But all is not lost: there is an intersection ahead, busy with the occasional passing vehicle. It's going to take nerves of steel to get through the intersection but you've got to do it!
Against all odds, they're right on your tail in spite of that incredibly dangerous situation, though. They're also gaining! But all is not lost.
Ahead of you is a traffic light. It is yellow.
You know what to do when faced with a yellow traffic light when in a car chase, right?
_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________ _ Obligatory Car Chase Sequence _ _ _ _ _ _ Fei Fong Wong, Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten, Azoth, Seraph Ragnell, _ _ Ratatoskr, Jacqueline Barber, Cyre H. Lorentz, and Eika Zuse: _ _ +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge> _
DC: 5 turns have elapsed in the battle against Bounty Hunters! No turns remain! Time has expired! The battle is over!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Cyre H. Lorentz takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Jacqueline Barber takes 73 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Azoth takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Eika Zuse takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Ratatoskr takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Seraph Ragnell takes 73 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Elhaym van Houten takes 64 damage and gains 30 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth looks to Fei and Elly with a little waves of his palm. "Are you two... okay...? It was a lot out there, wasn't it?"
A lot, and it's not over. Azoth grips the edge of the car as it accelerates, and for a moment it seems safe until he winces with the loud ring of bullets. Azoth leans to the window to see their pursuers in their own stolen car. He feels bad for the owners...
"You've got this, Miss Rieselied! I'll cover us!"
This is normally the kind of action she'd take, but he can step in and let her live her car driving dreams. Also, she needs to keep her foot on the gas. Azoth's eyes take on a brighter glow. He glances out the window, then holds out his hand. Energy gathering, and he can feel his core overheating. Geometric lines of light crawl through his body. This again? It doesn't matter right now...!
He snaps his fingers, and a surge of energy engulfs the vehicle and everyone in it, wrapping them in a protective shield to help guard from the incoming fire as they make their getaway.
GS: Azoth has attacked Azoth with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Eika Zuse with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Ratatoskr with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Seraph Ragnell with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Riesenlied with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Body Electric! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth's Stoic stance ends. GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Azoth heals Jacqueline Barber! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Azoth heals Fei Fong Wong! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Azoth heals Ratatoskr! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Azoth heals Azoth! He gains 200 temporary hit points!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Fei Fong Wong takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
GS: Azoth heals Cyre H. Lorentz! He gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr doesn't know it right now (there are a lot of things that have been maturity-gated for him to ever 'know it'), but Jay's concoction might have saved his life. Might. Spunky as he is, he is on the more lightweight end of the Hyadean warriors that still mill about. He gets back some strength in his hands as Hyadean regeneration works with the resources it's given. A few bullets get shoved out of his body in the process, which is a good thing but he really hopes he at least has the one from the rare Celesti Civil War-issued sidearm, he's been wanting one of those for a while...
He has enough sense of balance and impending movement that he readjusts his grip on the back of the car and starts moving towards one side - which may dissuade some weapons fire only on the virtue that the bounty hunters are now aware that shooting him may not do much good (...immediate good).
Even riding the back of this car, it feels so... slow. He's capable of achieving far faster speeds on foot - or even gliding... but he can also appreciate having the extra time to just take this all in. He's still being accosted by the associates of James oh my god please stop. There's a few more he can pick out he wouldn't mind having a go with. Even if it's really brief. He values being able to be accosted by any and all of them. Even if they are being directed under LIES.
You know, a small bright spot on the day beyond having to come face to face with LIES. His tail has gone all limp from fatigue, occasionally dragging across the road and kicking up sparks. (There are some close calls with nearby traffic.)
He makes eye contact with Eika, as they're both currently hanging for dear life around the back. Before he can ask a weird question about her shoulder, there is a surge of energy that blinds and engulfs him within a shield that is helpfully protective but from this vantage point he's basically grazing the shell with his horn. It's causing bright, blinding sparks around it.
Thus Azoth delivers one of the greatest gifts of all - helping keep Ratatoskr quiet as the car speeds along.
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Riesenlied takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE: That's the last target of your QTE done!
GS: Azoth heals Elhaym van Houten! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Azoth heals Eika Zuse! She gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.
Hanging on the back with another monster, when he meets her eyes, Eika has another conflict in her increasingly busy life:
Whether it is OK for her to just kind of lever Ratatoskr off the car and let him fend for himself.
She's really considering it, but before she makes up her mind one way or the other, gunfire erupts from behind her. She presses herself closer to the back, digging into the frame of the car with her fingers and toes (she lost her sandals too, apparently) and half-crawling, half-climbing up toward the roof.
Car roofs really aren't meant to have somebody clambering all over them, and they certainly aren't meant to have somebody *standing* on them, but Eika does just that; she can't quite manage standing up straight at this speed and ends up about half hunched over, facing backwards and letting her back take the wind. Her hair whips around her wildly and the vertical hyena-like mane down her spine can't decide which way to go.
From up there, Eika draws back her hand and punches forward, sending a suspiciously Demon Fang-like wave of chi outward at the other car. "SONIC FIST!" There's no way she can really damage it at this range, but if she makes them pull back and slow down, that's enough. She gets off a couple more for good measure.
Then she dives down, because she has made herself a big target. She presses herself against the roof, hard, as Azoth's barrier appears. She can feel it pressing against her back, and she feels a little squished, but better squished than exposed. "Go faster!" she yells through the roof; it may not be audible.
GS: Azoth heals Seraph Ragnell! She gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has it in the back of her mind to speak to Ratatoskr sometime because the context of what he's shouting about -- and Jacqueline's subsequent patient healing of him -- is going somewhat over her addled head as she inspects the equipment that makes up the controls to the car. Pedal, brake, wheel, gearbox... this isn't all that different from some of the forms Muni-Muni has taken in her significant lifespan.
She's about to relent the controls to Cyre when Jacqueline gives her inspiration! "I-- yes, I can do this. It is not all that different from flying upon a Metal Dragon! I can do this, I can do this..."
Riesenlied why is your voice warbling towards convincing yourself?
Azoth lands in the car, much to her relief, offering curatives along with Jacqueline as she feels something LOUD thump atop the car; that was the werewolf woman from earlier! She tells them to do it fast. "Right!"
Unfortunately, Riesenlied was not alive in a past time when there was an Elly and a Fei and it was a nuclear wasteland upon which enormous contraptions were bolted onto something that resembled vehicles and pushed past their limits.
It was just wasn't her time.
"I will not let us be captured!"
The Hyadean's clawed, monstrous arm rests on the gearshift. Foot to the clutch; she can do this. She feels the natural click as the gears shift; the way the van purrs as the motor coaxes it to life, and pedal--
Pedal!
Their assailants are persistent, and Riesenlied spots ARMs from her rearscreen and reflexively shouts, "Gun!" and suddenly hits the brakes, her arms making magic as the wheel turns to the tune of her fingers!
The van inexplicably powerslides smoothly around the corner, letting the brunt of gunfire be soaked against a lamp-post.
"I feel it," Riesenlied whispers. Even when driving: emotions. "I feel... the line..."
It's as if the world has melted around her, and all she can see is the afterimage of their van's brake-lights as she crisses, crosses, and as the road curves in an unsavoury manner:
"Fly!!"
Who knew mild-mannered Riesenlied, Queen of Cuccos, has high-stakes racing in her?
She feels Azoth's electric surge, which seems to just power the vehicle further. But then, the deadliest of all enemies ensues!! The yellow light!! There's only one thing to do when there's a yellow light--
*SKREEEEEEEEEE*
Riesenlied slams the brakes and stops riiiight at the line just as a kindly granny obliviously passes by. At first, that seems to be it: their pursuers will catch up to them.
But...!!
The Hyadean's fingers shift once more, as she throws them into Reverse; she plants her elbow and looks behind her as the van craftily reverses, possibly as their opponents zoom *straight* past them... and then she slips into an alleyway instead.
Well, it's not always about the race.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"They must be if the wanted posters are gettin' posted locally. No point if there isn't gonna be a payout," Ragnell points out to Elly.
Fei comments that cars are really explodable. Ragnell pauses. "Good to know," she says.
As Riesenlied guns it, with some help from Cyre, Azoth gets out to cover the ride from their pursuers. Ragnell eases back to let folks do their own thing at this point so she can enjoy the ride. Azoth's electric protective field helps too--it's a pleasant hum around an already lightning-attuned being, and she hums along with it as she watches Eika fire off a Demon Fi--sorry, *Sonic* Fist. It's oddly quiet (comparatively speaking), despite all the chaos. Why is that? What could be so--oh, right, Ratatoskr isn't talking. That's why. Maybe his raging hate-on for Jay has finally incapacitated him into silence. It's a pleasant thought, at least.
Well, it is until Riesenlied hits the brakes HARD, hurling Ragnell into whomever is in front of her. She curses, loud and vile--but Riese backs them up into an alley, right out of their pursuers' way, possibly as those pursuers zoom past them.
...well, the point *was* to get away. It's a little disappointing all the same, though.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"And you're really good at that!" Jacqueline adds, as Riesenlied comments that it's not much different from flying a dragon.
...And Jacqueline notes, pleased, that it looks like Riesenlied can do it! She sends them on their way! But... there's a problem. It looks like the bounty hunters have a vehicle, too. Jacqueline frowns, considering her options.
She could try to cast Shut Out on their vehicle... but, putting an obstacle like that up might seriously injure or kill them when they make contact with it, not to mention any other vehicles that might be nearby.
She could use her momentum-erasing spell to slow them down temporarily... but, it might cause similar effects. She really doesn't want to hurt the bounty hunters too much, if she can help it...
...So, it looks like the only answer is to affect their own vehicle, somehow. Which, she has an idea for.
"I've got an idea! I'm going to give this vehicle a little extra juice." Jacqueline says. "Watch out, it's going to speed up considerably!"
With that said, she leans out the window. Ordinarily, this would be pretty dangerous... and it still is, but thankfully, Azoth has generated a shield of protective energy. A few stray shots manage to graze her as she leans out the window, but thanks to Azoth they're merely unpleasant rather than leaving marks.
"Hold on tight, you two!" Jacqueline calls back to Ratatoskr and Eika, clinging to the back. "Now... where do you fill this thing up again...?"
She's used to her own vehicle. She just needs to give the Carakin a good zap with lightning and it'll be good for several days. But she knows that other vehicles run on other things.
Eventually, she locates the fuel tank. Jacqueline uncorks a bottle full of pale green liquid, very carefully opens the tank and pours it in before retreating back to the safety of the car interior.
With any luck, it should give their vehicle some extra speed! ...It's actually kind of impressive that her potions work on vehicles, too.
Soon enough, though... their vehicle slams to a halt as Riesenlied slams on the brakes. Jacqueline holds her breath. Is this it...? No, she just has to trust - and then, Riesenlied reverses into an alleyway! Jacqueline exhales... and then with a gesture, brings up another pillar of earth - sealing off the entrance to the alleyway.
Unless those bounty hunters are really sharp, from the outside it'll look like just a normal wall between two buildings rather than an entrance to an alleyway.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Today is not a good day to be Cyre Lorentz. Today is not a good day to be riding shotgun when gentle-hearted, cucco-snuggling Riesenlied ignites the spark of SPEED within her heart.
Cyre is a man who knows how to go fast. He is in fact some kind of High-Speed Beast in more ways than one. But this?
Letting someone else take the wheel and drive like a demon on wheels down populated roadways? That's something else. That's something that makes Cyre reach for the seatbelt.
There is no seatbelt.
There is only speed.
(Until there is not, whereupon Cyre abruptly hurtles forward and squeeshes his face into the windshield, because who would have expected Riesenlied to have actually stopped for a yellow light granny!?)
( (Everyone) )
"Guhhhhhh," Cyre groans, turning into some sort of semi-liquid state as he oozes back into his seat.
This is his comeuppance.
This is what happens when one has the hubris to declare shotgun before the face of God...!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is kinda in the back seat here so there isn't much that he can do to influence hte race so easily. He taps his feet a lot but he sees Azoth looking at him. His cheeks pinken faintly aand he says, "Oh uh. I'm just bleeding a little." He looks down. "A lot. But I've taken hits worse than this. Course I could get an infection and die that way but Riesenlied put a barrier up and that's really helping and okay we can haave a second shield too that's really cool. Thank you Azoth."
His hands wrap gently around Elly's. And he sees something on the side of the road that makes him blink and remember that memory that filled him just moments before. "Elly..." He says. "Let me borrow your rod!"
Drawing Elly's fishing rod out he casts the line out the window and--
--hooks a banana peel off of the street.
And then he waitsfor it... Waits for it...
And then flings it behind the car at the last possible moment so that it will slide underneath the nearest chasing car's tire!
"It's no blue disk, but it'll have to do!" Fei shouts.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Bounty Hunters with The Ultimate In Getaway Technology BANANA! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Bounty Hunters takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's The Ultimate In Getaway Technology BANANA for 137 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Bounty Hunters gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Charge!! You gain 35 FP! GS: Azoth heals Riesenlied! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Slow removed!
<Pose Tracker> Bounty Hunters has posed.
Obscuring energy, courtesy of Azoth, flares about the vehicle, helping to deflect errant bullets as the borrowed car speeds on its way.
Also helpful: the part where Eika delivers a pressure wave of a punch towards the car, forcing it to swerve (and thus not actively shoot at them for a precious minute and a half).
This is also the point into which Fei, using Elly's fishing rod, introduces the key element of getaway banana into the mix; the car skids wildly as they approach the intersection. The light is still yellow--
And Riesenlied pulls their car into an abrupt brake and zips out of the way into the alleyway. The other car keeps going, barreling through the intersection and skidding all over the place as it goes.
The light turns red shortly after that. Even if the other car realized their mistake, it's already too late! The traffic heading in the crosswise direction is too heavy for even the gutsiest of drivers to attempt to ford.
Police sirens echo out elsewhere in the city, some sounding as if they're steadily drawing close to the direction in which the carthieving bounty hunters had headed.
However, for the occupants of this particular vehicle, all is well as they, via the alleyway at first and then sidestreets after, continue their flight to Kattelox's outskirts.
Well, okay, there are some stares and a few pointing fingers. There are people on the outside of the car!
All is more or less well.
Now to start planning on what to do about Ming.