The Mighty Pen
Kashira Lavellan - The Fall
Kashira closed her eyes as the light filled the world once again. When the glare faded and she opened them again, the cold night air was whistling past as she plummeted into a void-dark abyss. The scattered stars she only saw as an afterthought, at that moment all her being was focused on the fall and how the ground was no doubt rushing up to meet her. She at least managed to avoid a yelp of fright, but it was a near thing. She did see a faint constellation of lights on the ground, no doubt the fortress they were here to infiltrate. With no way of knowing just how far away the ground was, she wasted only a few seconds in getting herself oriented before scrabbling for the little handle and the cord that would release the sailcloth strapped to her back. She found it, grabbed, and yanked, and heard the rippling sound as it unfolded above her, followed shortly by the sharp crack of cloth snapping taut. The harness abruptly dug into her, crushing mail rings against cloth padding and the flesh underneath, but her headlong plummet became more of a gentle glide.
The rest of the descent was the most enjoyable part of the experience. While she was aware it was possible to steer the sailcloth to some degree, she made no attempt to do so, not wishing to tangle the lines in some way. It was very high up to be experimenting with something you knew nothing about which was keeping you aloft. Instead, she simply watched and marvelled at the sight and sensations as she drifted down on the wind, silent as a falling leaf.
The landing, when it came, seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly, trees and grass hurtled towards her out of nowhere and her feet slammed into solid earth. Fortunately, she was already rolling forward to absorb the impact, and if she didn't come out of it standing, at least she did so intact, while the open sailcloth drifted down around her. After letting her eyes adjust to the darkness - she had heard humans couldn't see nearly as well by starlight - she unbuckled the harness and hooked it on the nearest tree to stop the sailcloth from blowing away and possibly alerting someone. Time to find the others.
It took some time, of course, to gather everyone together. She couldn't risk a bright burst of magic or light to rally them, and the messenging devices they daren't risk using, not yet. But it seemed they hadn't scattered so far as she had feared. The human earthmover, Toph, proved to be a great help, being able to sense the location of almost everyone and more than that, orient them so that they faced the fortress. Claw wished, sensibly enough, to know the details of the plan.
"The distraction team will come with me," she answered him. "We'll get as close to the fortress as we can without being spotted and wait. When the infiltration team has circled around to the best point they can find for a quick entry, they can signal us and we'll commence the attack, being as obvious about it as possible. If we encounter no resistance, we'll try and push for the power source. If we do, that will have to be up to our agents to destroy. Actually, if the infiltration team thinks they can destroy the power source as the signal, that would be best of all, but I'll leave it to their discretion. The important thing is that the distraction is the only attack they're aware of at first. Once we have their full attention, we'll make our fighting retreat. Once our agents have taken care of Kane and are safe away, they can give us the signal to withdraw. We'll meet up here, and depending on how the mission went, we'll have to decide which escape route to use. Any other questions? Ideas? Suggestions? Now is the time."
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
Calamity is a housewife
Guts
Free-falling at such a great height did a good job of pumping one full of adrenaline. Despite himself, Guts writhed as he fell, heartbeat quickening to a panicked staccato of incoming death. His teeth grit, his eye grew sharp and intense. This feeling he'd familiarized himself with all his life on the battlefield, but this time; there were no enemy soldiers in sight. It was a different kind of feeling in that sense. Even so, Guts nearly lost himself when his beast threatened to unleash itself, the beast that did battle. Enough rationality remained, however, for Guts to recount to himself the steps he needed to survive.
After a few seconds, he pulled the cord.
Inertia pulled at him suddenly, his entire body yanked so hard he could almost feel his soul spill out of it. And then, his body began calmly descending, the ground below no longer fast approaching, but patiently waiting touchdown. Guts looked up at the 'parachute', the large thing that caught the wind and saved his life. Amidst the sudden shift to tranquil descent, Guts' mind wandered as he studied the great sail above him. The last time he'd marveled at the accomplishments of human technology was when Rickert gave him his new arm. The boy was smart as hell, he'd probably be able to invent this 'parachute' if the idea came to him first.
On the ground lay the objective; the enemy camp.
Guts' landing wasn't perfect, but he failed to injure himself in any meaningful capacity. Rolling to a stop and dropping the parachute pack to the dirt, he approached Kashira, making known his intent to go with the distraction team, his boots crinkling the grass in the darkness.
"I got one; don't bother trying to keep up with me."
The sounds of crunching grass continued. Guts kept his pace slow in spite of his words (those words were more for the actual battle, whenever it came) as he approached the enemy camp by his lonesome.
It was night-time. He didn't hear them yet, but they'd be coming soon enough.
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Reimu
Reimu sat quiet for a while in the laboratory, trying not to mind the various conversations going on as she tried to meditate. Baring her mind and soul, she sought to communicate with the local gods, to sense their workings upon the world and identify their true nature. Whether it was because of the noisy surroundings or there was simply nothing to talk to, Reimu failed to make contact. It was, quite honestly, a bit disconcerting. In the World of Two Swords, she had tried to fish with a net in waters that were in truth empty. In this world, it was more as if there was no water at all.
Her musings came to an end as the teleport was initiated. Reimu was possibly the most relaxed about the whole landing affair. With her Ability to Float, flying through the air was as natural as breathing or walking, and she descended graciously through the air. Reimu was aware that not all of her companions were as versed in the art of flight, so she had an eye out for those who might struggle with their descent, but there seemed to be no reason to worry. All made it down safely, though their methods varied.
Upon reaching the ground, joined the others in the strategizing. Most of all she was thinking of a way to avoid hurting anyone. True enough, she was not entirely unknown to using violence to accomplish a greater goal, but these were humans. Humans of a different world, and warriors to boot, but she had a responsibility to keep all from unnecessary pain. Finally, she spoke up.
"Those of us who can create large and flashy displays of magic such as large-scale Spell Cards should be in charge of the distraction. If this world does not know magic or gods, that should be effective. We should not give the impression that they are under attack, but instead make them investigate. They will be bewildered more than aggressive, and that way we might be able avoid unnecessary bloodshed."
In truth, these kind of methods were what she would expect from Youkai, luring their victims with lights and sounds to trap them. But Reimu would go far to avoid hurting another human.
edited 25th Feb '17 6:59:57 AM by Lemurian
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
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Qrow - Falling Towards The Sky
One moment there was lab, the next there was sky.
One moment there was a group of people around him, the next they were falling, flying, or pulling their chutes.
Qrow brought his arms inwards and faced down, pushing himself downwards fast. With the lack of light on his person, and the lack of light in the night sky, he was quickly far enough away from his team to make his transformation unseen.
He considered using his weapon to recoil his way down, but stealth was paramount at the moment. Not that it was stopping the Schnee and her glowing white glyphs, but those were much less recognizable than gunshots, and would probably go unnoticed or dismissed.
Dammit, he was getting soft on that kid already.
He fell for much longer than he would've recommended, and he could make out the treetops before the transformation finished. He pulled up just in time to feel the grass scrape his belly, then burst up over the treetops and began circling, waiting for the others to come down.
Once they finally started to, and gathered in a convenient loose grouping, he circled one last time above the treetops, before returning to human form and falling the rest of the distance to the ground.
With a puff of kicked-up dirt, Qrow made a three-point landing next to Claw and Kashira, his spare hand on the handle of his sword. He straightened up, took his hand off the handle, and stretched lazily. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Guts already walking off into the woods, and he glanced at Kashira and Claw, his eyebrow raised.
"So, who wants to bet how long until this all goes to hell?"
Einstein's Laboratory
Lillie watched quietly as the people heading out to the mission were warped away. One minute they were there, covered in some kind of force field. Then they were gone, as if they were never here at all. One part of her hoped their job ended in success; the other part of her was still opposed to the goal, even if Kane really was some kind of supervillain.
After that, her attention turned back to the people who stayed behind. Her attention was especially caught by the now-human Asgore, who looked...well, like how she'd expect him to look like if he was human, except maybe a little taller. She also wasn't expecting him to be wearing something that'd fit perfectly in Alola, although it looked like the woman with the disguise ring had a better idea for the local area.
Meanwhile, she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to go with a disguise herself. If she could walk around Hau'oli City wearing her current outfit without attracting much attention, she'd probably be just fine wherever they were going now. Besides, compared to Asgore or even Mother she hardly looked abnormal.
On the other hand, this new town, even if it wasn't dangerous, could've been less welcoming than Hau'oli. Furthermore, maybe now would be a good time to actually try and pick out an outfit for herself, rather than just wear the same one Mother gave her before all this happened...?
She'd have to think about it. In the meantime, she couldn't imagine they'd be sticking around here for that much longer. It was probably time to make sure Nebby was ready to go as well.
At that, she walked over to where Nebby was playing with the little bear familiar.
"Nebby, we're going to be leaving soon," she said, "And...unfortunately, you need to go back in the bag for now."
Nebby turned to her, frowned heavily, and flailed about a little. "Pew!"
"I know," Lillie replied with a frown herself, "But we're trying to not attract too much attention, and we don't know how the people here will think when they see you. It's probably for the best if they don't."
"Pew...." Nebby replied, before ultimately complying and hopping back into Lillie's bag. At that, Lillie zipped it closed before rejoining the others.
"I guess Nebby and I are ready to head out when you are."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
It seemed that no one wanted to give the spirits a shot. An odd decision, since regardless of their abilities an extra edge never hurt, but it was ultimately up to them. Stashing the bottles back in his pack, The Kid made his way towards the portal and waited for his chance to move through it.
It didn't take long for his chance to come up, and the soldier didn't hesitate to move through the portal. The first thing he noticed was the cold. It was far colder than anywhere he had been before, colder than the Wall even during the winter. The wind whipped past him as he fell, threatening to tear the scarf from his face and forcing him to squint. Still, trained eyes made out the shapes of the others Climbers below him, and the distant lights of the target below.
Seeing a few of the others pull their chutes, shooting past him as their speed was suddenly halted, he moved to pull the cord on his own. When the first tug did nothing, he frowned beneath his scarf, and pulled harder again. This time he felt something shift, but the parachute didn't deploy like the others had. Something was obviously wrong.
The Kid gave it one last try, and the cord promptly snapped. And then the Kid fell to his death.
Nah, I'm just foolin ya.
He stared at the broken cord for a moment before letting it go and focusing on the darkness below him. Looks like he was doing it like he usually did. It had never been from this high, though, so he was hoping the Falling Malt had kicked in. He braced himself for the impact, unable to see how quickly the ground was approaching. He caught sight of trees and ground, and the vague shapes of a few of the already descended Climbers, a few seconds before he slammed into the ground.
At the bottom of a small crater not far from the group, The Kid laid face-down with a mouth full of dirt. His body was aching pretty badly, but he'd survived and he knew how to deal with a little pain. As he pushed himself slowly to his feet, he could already feel it fading slowly. Dusting himself off, he unstrapped the useless parachute and left it in the crater. As he casually walked up to the rest of the group, he caught the tail-end of the conversation. His lips tightened briefly at Qrow's question as he thought it over. "Things aren't going to go according to plan, I'm sure. Too many people with their own ideas of what to do."
Lucha Libre goddess
Weiss Schnee-Falling with style.
As she was near the bottom, Weiss jumped from her last glyph into the ground. One forward and one back; her arms one at her side and the other up. Balance was the key for a graceful landing. It would seems closer to a ballet move than the hasty arrival of soldiers in an enemy base.
It felt as the first day back at Beacon: falling from the sky, trying to find Pyrrha and...avoiding Jaune. She would be lying if she didn't admit she wasn't hoping to find Qrow . Come to think about it, did she actually see him land? She wasn't worried; huntsmen were expected to know how to land after all.
The heiress walked around slowly, trying to find the others. If only she had faunus' eyes to see in the dark. Luckily she found the Kid and Qrow's talking between each other.
By the sound of their conversation, they weren't being very optimistic. She sighed deeply with her arms crossed. If only her friends were here. Team RWBY was so synchronized that they barely had to talk to each other when fighting. But this team? They barely knew each other.
She approached the duo to give her own opinion. "I don't expect this plan to work perfectly. But, If we can keep this long enough , we'll be fine."—She took a glance at the base near them —"That's not the only issue I am worried about. I am still not sure about killing "Kane." I do want to get home. But I don't like the idea of being used as killer. I am not even sure he is that bad."
By Einstein's pitch, Kane didn't sound exactly like the leader of the white fang.
edited 26th Feb '17 6:26:53 AM by FallenLegend
Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.
The Kid turned his head as Weiss made her way up and spoke, taking a moment to look at her. She was one of the newer arrivals, there seemed to be more every time he turned around, and was one of the ones that stood out to him for a few reasons.
The first and biggest one was her hair. While he'd come to realize that while here, unique hair colours wasn't that special, he still wasn't used to seeing white hair on anyone but himself; And the memories of his mother. Seeing it brought a wave of old emotions up. The other things were her obviously wealthy clothing, her unique and interesting weapon, and her height. She was short, and that was coming from him.
Seeing the girl, who must have been around his age, unsure about their task, made The Kid feel bad for her. Taking someone's life was a big thing to ask, and he didn't fault the girl for it. Reaching up to tug down his scarf, he smiled at her with an understanding expression. "Sometimes you have to do things that seem cruel, or wrong, to make things right. But, you don't need to be the one to kill him, or even have part in it. There's nothing wrong with choosing to stay out of it."
Stop Killing My Titles
Baron
"Doncha worry, Lil' Ice Queen." The magnificent opulence that was The Blacker Baron, has landed a moment ago, having shaken the parachute off himself and now giving both Weiss and The Kid a proper, resplendent grin. "Is like dis playa's sayin'. We can always take dat Kane hostage, so he stay alive as long as possible."
Frankly, interacting with someone that had moral compunctions about killing someone was kind of a new one. Back home there were some people like this, but you could count them on two hands, and only on a good day. Even if a Chaser was out to grab his marks alive, most of these marks were still going on a death row. "Anyway, my homie's right ovar dere, so I ain't keepin' ya. Have fun pummelin' sum commie muddafuckas!" And with a beautiful flair, Baron stomped away to join Guts, his garishly yellow outfit starkly contrasting Guts' all-black.
"Yo, Gutsman. Dem demons o' yours, what do they look like?" He asked the Black Swordsman once they've been far enough from the rest.
Claw
"Sooner than later." Claw grunted at Qrow upon seeing the massive figure in gold stroll past without a care in the world. "Though I suppose we could make use of multiple distraction groups."
"I doubt we can afford not to shed blood, as much as some of us would want to." He was not a stranger to fighting, of course, but he didn't go out of his way to look for a scrap, especially if it could prove more counterproductive than helpful. "Confused or not, they will likely shoot first and ask questions later, especially since we're intruders on their freshly erected base."
grah
Mancunian Candidate
Dio, Missing Chapters
The fall was uneventful, slow, frigid, and almost ruinously scenic. On some mad reflex I tried at first to fly, but the power had been revoked along with all the rest, and all I particularly managed was a period of self-made turbulence. This was a cloudless, moonlit night, all in luminous silver snows and ephemeral blue shadow, nebulae rearing their head beyond the yoke of electric light - I have seen too many. As far as is possible, I have made it my business to see nothing but. All I particularly remember noting was the tactical disadvantage.
Impatient, I cut the chords too early and broke both ankles and a wrist on impact - fortunately, as I crouched immobile, my comrades assembled around me. Greater fortune; haemorrhage aside, under that pallid moon, my skin and the snow blended almost seamlessly. I shrugged the parachute from my shoulders, and between my teeth and working fingers tore its spotless linen into a gleaming cloak, the closest I'd achieve to camouflage.
Murder is an ugly word, after all. This was an operation.
Thus, in charge of our op, natural leader and enforcer both, our behelmeted and elven waif. The criteria here were simple, in that she had a plan and in that she was the first to articulate it. A natural.
It was a good plan, and like the majority of good plans, flawed only in its intended practitioners. The crux was a simultaneous effort of distraction and infiltration, to make away with Kane's skull (perhaps even the rest of him, a fit of spurious wishful thinking - we'd all seen the door) before he realised it had been plucked from his head. The problems, of which she was almost certainly aware, were three-fold.
First; We had few infiltrators. Those best-suited had opted to stay behind, and they were rare enough already. Whatever the rules of this contest, bravado was preferred - witness the twin and ornate blackamoors.
Second; Nobody was stupid enough not to notice, but a few were stupid enough to assume she had. Mercifully, we'd yet to have alternatives offered, and the unmitigated hell of planning by committee seemed to have escaped us. This was only by the grace of god. Clever Things were being said. Strangely, murder was not one of them.
Third, and most damning;
I don't like the idea of being used as a killer, I heard, as the last few bones knit back into place and I pushed the communicator home into my ear. I saw the culprit from the corner of my eye, some white-haired sacrificial lamb who had thus far escaped my notice, and enjoyed a nanosecond of instinctive hate. Revulsion, at the very least. I knew the smell of old money, the stench of inheritors and babes far from their crib.
"Then why did you come?"
Still, my voice was level.
I turned to our budding sergeant, rising to my feet - in truth, there was a certain gravitas to her, a fragile straight-jawed authority, something grim in the fog pluming away with every breath. Burdened shoulders, sharp mind. She understood, even if she didn't want to, of that I'm sure.
Besides. I didn't have a better plan.
"I'll infiltrate," I said. Cold breaths, there was no fog. "I'm probably best suited, especially if the rest of you find it distasteful."
edited 26th Feb '17 5:24:17 PM by OG-Sama
"There's an adage from my world: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. There's probably a good chance that any and all such plans will go up in smoke so be prepared to ad-lib should it come to that point. This is not me being negative, but speaking from experience." Answering the gloomy and darkly dressed man's dour (the one that was a drunkard, not the one with a single eye) but logical statements with my own words of experience, I let those people go on ahead while keeping an eye out for those in the back and for those who hadn't landed yet.
"The phrase of 'too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth' comes to mind as well." Casting a rather gimlet eye at the backs of those people marching forward boldly while not being in accord and actually making sure to have a consensus, I hung back with the crowd for now, content to let the foolhardy take the brunt of the assault should we be spotted. Then, excitement happened.
There was a brief moment of shock and surprise when a short but chiseled youth smashed into the ground at artillery-shell like speeds, though the fact that he survived in more or less one piece was the most surprising thing. No spillage of blood or broken bones. "You must be made out of something rather sturdy to be able to perform that particular deed." Making small talk to the young lad while casting a somewhat jealous eye on the sheer durability of the similarly experienced child soldier in the group, brief flashes of fantasy concerning that level of survival flitted about my thoughts like fireflies on a moonless night.
Weiss' words were of course that of a person on the fence, someone who hadn't witnessed the end process of what a leader with too much power could do to the surroundings at large. "If you are not sure about killing Kane, then let your eyes see the truth during this outing. Confirm for yourself whether or not it is worth it to fight for a cause instead of listening second hand through those with prejudices. It is better to doubt and see than blindly follow in my opinion. Though from what information I've gotten beforehand and what I know about the faction he belongs to in general, subject 'Kane' is probably a man who would be better of dead than alive."
Grim words, but then again I knew the cruelty of two worlds. "Not to say that any faction is without its faults and dirty secrets, but there are some with much more misdeeds than others. Soviets are high on the list of those that cause great harm to others as well as their own people, at least when the government leaders are interested in personal power than the ideals their credo stands for." Gripping my rifle from the particular run-in with the Red Stars, I couldn't help but grit my teeth at the way they did their business. It was so inefficient and stupid, wasting long term potential for short term gains. Troublesome, so damn troublesome. The itch to shoot the idiot puppets of the state surged, burbling inside like molten magma.
edited 26th Feb '17 7:09:55 PM by Makaioh
The Mighty Pen
Kashira Lavellan - Technical Difficulties
Kashira had once heard her Keeper compare leadership to trying to herd a few hundred poorly behaved children. It wasn't something she had shared with many people, even within the clan, but it had never lost meaning or truth. First things first.
"One moment," she said, then jogged off, crunching over the snow, to get in front of Guts and the Baron and turned her staff lengthwise to bar the way.
"You two, wait," she said firmly. "This won't take long, but I won't have anyone going off ahead on their own and getting spotted. You don't know what sentries are posted, where they might be, or what other means they could have of seeing you. This world is like none of ours. Also, you need to stay so you don't miss any last-minute adjustments we make and when things are crucial, you don't know what to do. Patience, please."
Afterwards, presuming they had sense enough to listen, or at least to pause and wait regardless, she returned to the others, for they had, in accordance with her wishes, raised questions and concerns that had to be addressed. First and foremost, the issue of death. Reimu and Weiss had spoken fairly and it was to them she spoke first, adding to Tanya and Dio's own remarks on the subject.
"It all depends on how well we can withstand their attacks. If we can avoid being wounded or killed ourselves without overwhelming effort, then we should try to avoid killing them, yes. But sooner or later, they will bring enough pressure to bear on us that we'll have no choice but to answer with force. If that time comes before our agents have gotten out..." she sighed. "...we will have to kill as many of them as it takes to lessen the attack upon us. Until that time, if they can't wound us, everyone is to avoid killing, if you can. But I must concur with Tanya. At some point, it will probably be necessary. That doesn't mean you need to like it, in fact I would prefer it if you didn't. But there it is."
Second, the matter of who was going where.
"A smaller infiltration team is better, too many people will be noticed. I would say no more than four or five. We have Theron and Dio. Tanya, as you're familiar with this world and human, I would support your going as well." She let her gaze linger on the immortal for a moment, for she knew exactly what he intended. That cold clarity with which he spoke had only one outcome, razor-sharp. And she could do little enough to blunt it. "If at all possible," she said, though her words weren't intended for him, "Find out if Kane is deserving of death. A hostage might be valuable, but he may well be too dangerous for that. Again, that must be left to the infiltration team's judgment. You will have little time."
She turned to address the group as a whole, her voice soft and intense.
"We have little enough time now as it is. The night is wasting as we speak. If there is no one else with the skills and wish to infiltrate, that matter is settled. Whatever comfort we can offer to those of you reluctant to kill has been given and our plans adjusted as best they can be. Whatever your hesitations, doubts, fears, or mistrust, I ask that you trust me, at least, and believe that I have done what I can for you. If need be, I will die for you." She let that statement sink in a moment before concluding. "Is there anything else before we go? Tanya, a quick summary of what their weapons can do would help us decide when we might need to start killing."
edited 26th Feb '17 8:11:35 PM by RedCedar
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
The experience that followed once the portal brought us into the nights sky was....invigorating, I shall not lie. For an immortal such as myself, it is nearly impossible to find anything in the way of new experiences after even 1000 years, let alone longer. It is impossible to describe, to do justice with mere words. But suffice it to say, I required some time after to get past the adrenaline and return to my normal stat. By the time I did, the plan was already being finalized. I stepped forward towards those who had been chosen to be the stealth team.
"My skills are not suited for the open battlefield. However, I wield considerable skill in magic, including the ability to create illusions in the shape and face of any man I see. I will join the infiltration team."
Left unsaid was my own thoughts towards the woman's foolishness about leaving the enemy alive. such foolish idealism had gotten countless men and women killed over the eons for no other reason then pure cowardliness at the thought of taking an insignificant life. I was not about to be among them, and so I resolved to ignore the woman's orders about that and the "judging" of Kane completely
Meanwhile, the robot obsessed girl popped up literally not 2 feet behind Kashira.
"So you want a distraction, but you don't wanna kill anyone? You know that's, like, impossible right? I get you're from a fantasy universe or something where guns probably aren't a thing, but I'm pretty sure they'd invented guns by this time period if they have tanks. Quick noob lesson, guns are things that fire tiny metal balls that can rip through your body at like 200 miles per hour and fill you with holes. A single hit to the head is usually lethal for anyone without super advanced shields. Then they might send tanks, think a horse sized metal moving fortress that can fire giant fireballs that explode. Oh and don't forget choopers, flying metal things that can fire really really big guns that'll turn you into paste if you get hit."
She paused a second before going on. "So with that in mind, how exactly do you wanna not kill people when they can kill us in a nanosecond if we don't go all out? Because even a single guy with a gun could kill half of you if they get a lucky shot.
Heavy - Not-So Heavy Landing
The Russian had landed among his allies as they announced their positions. He decided to speak as well, "Hiding is not usually my job. I shall be with distraction. It would feel better this way for me." Like Tanya, his blood was boiling, seething with the hate for the ones who abused his family, his sisters, his mother, his father, and himself. The adrenaline in his mega baboon heart had not yet reached its peak but for the catharsis to come, it was getting there. He heard of plans to take Kane in alive, but he scoffed in response, "I see no reason to keep him alive. He will die anyway. His death should crush morale. Leave them broken."
"I treasure every day with you, darling." "No need to be so sappy, love." "You know that's how she is, Nia." - AU!Pyra, Nia, Mythra
Einstein's Lab
Einstein was busying himself with fiddling with his device after activating it, it seemed like he didn't remember there were other people still in the lab."That's not too different from what the beach-dwellers in Alola wear," Lusamine remarked on Asgore's choice of attire. He still stood out like a sore thumb because of his height, but at least he didn't look like a human-Pokémon hybrid anymore.
"I won't be requiring the services of your cosplay device," she said to Momiji. "I paid good money for this outfit, I fully intend to wear it. In any case, we're on a world that has humans, so I am not too worried about my appearance. Although... I think it's for the best if Bewear returns to her Pokéball before we leave."
"Bewaaaaa..." Bewear groaned from over where she was playing with the other Pokémon/familiars.
Reimu
Reimu waved away the concerns over bullets and explosions with a motion of her hand, as if they were but gnats. The concerns, that is, not the bullets. Well, the bullets too.
"Navigating through curtains of bullets and projectiles is nothing new to me," she said cheerfully. "I have fought tanks as well, and won without killing the operator."
Of course, that was quite some time ago. And it hadn't been a metal tank. But how different could it be?
But it didn't seem as if the others wanted to listen. In fact, more than a couple seemed filled to the brim with bloodlust already, their eyes shining with hatred of the foes they were up against. Others again had the dead eyes of killers, wanderers of the path of carnage to whom the value of a human life was already so low as to not matter any more.
"Then I will take the opposite flank of where the infiltrators will go, and I will go alone. I came to this battlefield to save humans from pain and violence, not to inflict it. I will not judge those who would meet the opposition with tools of murder, such is not my place, but I will not step onto your battlefield either."
She turned to leave.
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
sword of promised halp
Emi and Remi; Or, Going Seek
As Emiya threw the deflated parachute over his head and stood, cloak wrapped tight around his shoulders, something very fast and very pink plummeted with a puff next to him, vanishing into several meters of powdery white.
"I am glad you witnessed my marvelous descent, little man," mumbled the silky pink spot in the snow.
Emiya sighed, before reaching down to fish Remilia out by the armpits.
"Can't you fly?"
"What an adorable question," beamed Remilia, snow pouring down her neck and into one of her twenty camisoles. "Of course I can, you irredeemable ninny. I simply decided to land in style - umph."
This last noise came in response to Emiya shaking her out like a rug.
"Don't - no - you dare -"
This went on for a good while. When he finally put her down, she was not only free of snow, but well and truly shaken, and bright red to boot.
"You might want to avoid jumping into snowdrifts from now on, Your Overwhelming Munificence. It's not good for your bones."
Remilia wobbled, tottered, then wove a circle in the snow and landed on her bottom.
"While I appreciate the service," she said shakily, "you should really take your own advice. You're hardly wearing anything at all. Don't you have any decency? Or are all you humans this… unpresentable?"
"I'm over here. That's a tree."
"I knew that," snapped Remilia, shuffling around with her arms on her knees. "And you still aren't wearing much."
"I have a rugged constitution."
Remilia, seemingly caught in a fit of immortal pique, put her nose in the air and bunched herself into even more of a ball.
"Then I shall go where I am appreciated. You there - your name is Brando, is it not? Well, Mr. Brando, I suggest you put your people in order."
The ball unsprung like a fluff-filled grenade, and shot high into the air, and then, catching something very small, twirled down with the unsteady ease of a ruffled shuttlecock.
The little winged girl landed elegantly in the snow, parasol perched like a parrot on one shoulder. Her eyes and her shoes were very red, and her smile was very sharp, and in the white night her hair and lips were blue as morning-glories.
"I am Remilia Scarlet, a pure scion of the line of Drăculești, and I will be accompanying you on this little jaunt."
edited 27th Feb '17 2:17:49 AM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Qrow - On the Act of Killing, Somewhere in Yugoslavia
"Red's right." Qrow said, pointing a thumb at Gaige. "These guys will be using guns, and as far as I can tell only me and the Schnee have aura. You'll go down to a single bullet. Two, if you're lucky. We're gonna need to kill."
"But, kid has a point." A glare went towards both Dio and Tanya. "We've only got Einstein's word, and the orders of the old man. Some of us like to be on right side of morality. We'll kill, yeah, but only in the right sort of fight. And we don't know what sort of fight this is."
He looked at the assembling teams, noting how quite a few of them were going for infiltration. He'd wanted to join that group, but as Kashira had said, smaller was better.
Unfortunately, a bigger team meant more opportunities for his semblance to kick in.
A part of the briefing came back to him, and he smiled. That would help.
"I'm gonna deal with the power plant. After that... I'll head where I'm needed."
It seemed The Kid's own words were coming true quicker than even he had expected. As more people touched down on the ground, lines were already being drawn. There were those who felt they were more effective on their own or just didn't care for the idea of being commanded or working as a team. Something he could understand, being used to working alone for long periods of time. But, in a situation like this where the actions of one soldier could bring consequences on them all, it was selfish and ineffective; A good way to get someone needlessly killed.
His attention was drawn from the slowly growing conversation by one of the other Climbers, a young blonde girl who surprised him when he got a good look at her. The way she carried herself was familiar, obviously the bearing of a soldier, and she carried weapons that were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He made a mental note to ask her about them after they returned. He shrugged at her words, at a loss of what to really say. It had been a fall, but surely it wasn't that bad? "The parachute didn't work. And I am used to it, I suppose. Seems to be happening a lot lately."
He listened carefully to her words as she spoke to the white-haired girl. For some reason, a few of the words stuck with the young soldier. It is better to doubt and see then blindly follow. His mind drifted to his home, and the terrible truth he'd learnt about his home. He wanted to save his people, didn't he? Them and the Ura. But...
He shook off the line of thought, in neither the time nor place to be distracted by such things. Instead, as the conversation moved forward, The Kid stepped forward. "I will go with the infiltration team. I have experience in scouting through dangerous areas and... contested territory."
edited 27th Feb '17 4:14:08 AM by Alleydodger
Calamity is a housewife
Guts
Guts would've groaned if he felt like the Baron was deserving of that level of effort. The more the gold-drabbed court jester insisted on being a thorn in his ass, the higher his chances of dying got. Guts then realized something; what did he care? The extra pair of hands could even be... moderately helpful. This in mind, Guts answered his ever daring companion.
"Who the hell knows? They look like humans most of the time."
He would've mentioned the more spiritual beings that haunted him, but that would've been self-explanatory. As soon as someone saw a ghost, they'd probably know it was bad news.
As the woman with dark skin and pointed ears intercepted him, his lips thinned. Her words made sense, sure, but Guts still wasn't sold on the idea of working with a team of complete strangers. People talked of how soon this group would fall apart. To Guts, that didn't matter; it was already so fractured as to merely be a hindrance to him.
Besides, he was already going to wait for them once he scouted the enemy camp a bit, he mused to himself with lips pursed.
Then the topic of conversation went to whether it was right to kill these men. Already, Guts tuned out. Were these people serious? Did they actually go into this hoping not to get their hands bloody?
The swordsman's eye turned to the teenagers in the group... the children.
Suddenly, the desire not to kill made a bit more sense.
Looking at Weiss, Guts grimaced. Looking at Tanya, he nearly had flashbacks.
"If you don't want to kill anyone, then I'll just have to do your jobs for you."
He turned away from the group once again, looking ahead into the darkness awaiting him.
"Maybe you two should've stayed with the old man and that other kid, if you can't do something as simple as take someone's head."
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Stop Killing My Titles
Baron
"Rightcha, elf lady." His and Guts' merry walk halted for now, Baron tuned in to listen to some of the discussions going on, most importantly the talk on not killing.
"Right on da money, playa." He grinned at Qrow's explanation before turning to Ice Queen. "Babygirl, it ain't pretty, but ya gotta get used to killing real quick, real fast. Far as dis here Baron's concerned, this is like a second muddafuckin' floor, ain't it? How much ya think is up dere? Twenty? Fifty? Hundred?"
"Listen to what's Major Four Feet be sayin', folks. Commies fuckin' suck." He gestured briefly to Tanya before grinning once more. "And I'd much rather have some red scum turn into red paste on me than any of you playas."
Claw
"It was easier back on the first floor. There was no outright hostility." The cat pirate shook his head as he listened to some of the people chime in. The desire not to kill was understandable, but they couldn't afford it to weigh them down, especially if - as the idiot in gold had noted - someone of the team were to die instead.
"We have to assume they will shoot on sight and unlike the elves back there, there's only so much one can do against a gunman." A brief pause as he looked over at Reimu, then moved his gaze to Weiss. "Taking another man's life isn't as easy as some of our group make it out to be, but in a situation like this, it is either you or them."
"If you wish to merely disable them, feel free to do so as long as you can make sure they won't get up too soon to surprise us, especially if they are as dangerous as Major Degtyaryov and Miss Gaige say they are." He concluded before looking over to Kashira. "Time's a-wastin. Distraction team, we head with Miss Lavellan. The rest of you can head out as you see fit. Poseidon bless you, scallywags."
edited 28th Feb '17 2:53:38 AM by FergardStratoavis
grah
feeling blue
With the suggestion made about his clothes, Asgore merely nodded before trying to use the cosplay ring again to change to an outfit like the one Momiji showed him, except one that fit him.
"Well, I am ready to go now," He said, smiling.
Mancunian Candidate
Remi and the D
She accepted, soft but intense, took charge of our wayward wanderers, rallied, roused, and, most crucially, organised. Divides were drawn, fast if not particularly hard. I counted four heads to join me, or rather, three and prospective. A white haired thing of indeterminate age who answered to 'Kid', dusky skinned and thickly armoured; a skinny man in ill-fitting plate and leathers who, though pallid, was possessed of Kashira's delicate jaw and slender neck; the first and greater ornate blackamoor, his voice a sonorous baritone, his blade a glittering scythe. A man to know, one look gave you that.
The remainder, undecided, was a young girl in a meticulously miniaturised military uniform, winter gear from the turn of the century. Decorated in a major's gold, blonde hair begrudgingly tied, bushy eyelashes, large and soulful eyes - she carried the same grim sense of commitment as our natural leader, spoke and postured as a career soldier, and was undercut only by her height. The rifle she carried was barely half a head shorter than her, and the cresting dome of her helmet could barely reached my solar plexus. Four feet and nothing to lose.
Still, when she opened her mouth she spoke sense. I sensed the formation of a pattern, a trend, a fanciful kind of premonition. As the climb wore on and the weak began to lose their footing, I felt, I'd soon find myself surrounded by these porcelain dolls and their terrible burdens.
I was accosted, as I took count, by a child who was no child at all. I knew it in one glance, before the words had left her pallid lips, intuitively so; there is a certain smell to a woman, just as there is a man, a panoply evolving through each and every stage of life. By the age of ten years a girl-child will have cultivated an air of dry sweet sweat, earthen tones of mud, and the first high bitter precursors of puberty.
The thing in front of me, scarce inches shorter than the major and dressed in silken nightclothes, smelled of nothing save her perfume. No human undercurrent poked through from beneath the veil, no sweat despite her youthful plump, not a single thing hormonal. No. She smelled of violets and cold copper, and not a thing besides. I knew that symptom well. This was the smell of a corpse, cleaned and forbidden to rot.
That she possessed bat-wings and professed descent from Vlad the Impaler, the glittering fangs which winked with every sharpened smile, these were but happy confirmation. Enter one Remilia Scarlet, vampire and perfumed hellion, whose name you will despair of reading.
In the then-and-there I was sceptical, as well I'd later learn I should have been - the girl is an avowed and gleeful liar - but intrigued enough to meet a true and genuine unchild. She had my eyes, by the grace of some celestial farce, and idly twirled her parasol, and smiled a mouth of glittering needles, and spoke with a cut-glass pretension which could transform the most formal of titles to a derogatory slur. Mr. Brando, said she, hard and long-drawn vowels, I suggest you put your people in order.
"You'll call me Dio," I said, evenly, "and these are not my people. Still..."
That made six, or five-and-a-prospective. Despite Kashira's efforts to constrain it, eldritch laws were beginning to assert - the crowd was starting to move, in any number of private directions. Hands were being forced, so mine brushed gently against my communicator.
"Infiltrators, come to me and the girl. Do hurry. If we're not inside by the time they attack, then there's no point to us."
edited 27th Feb '17 5:32:29 PM by OG-Sama
The Mighty Pen
Kashira Lavellan - Promise of Destruction
There was momentum gathering within the different groups. Kashira could feel it and it could not be denied any longer. Always among soldiers and warriors was the demand for action. But as her last act before they split up, she had to address this new information. Murderous Gaige might well be - Hopefully Risinn's investigation will give me the proof of that - but she knew this artifice far better than Kashira and it seemed the others concurred. Such destructive power wasn't something she could easily picture. She had seen the effects of Qunari black powder and the most powerful magical rituals in living memory, but this...this sounded more akin to every common soldier having the power of a mage within their sword or spear. Or, in this case, whatever weaponry they carried here. More than that, they had the power of someone like Corypheus within each of many machines. She had gone as pale as she could just thinking about such a world. How many dead are there in a single battle with such power? How could anyone be left alive at the end? More to the point, how could they manage to stay alive. The answer was simple and it had already been given, like a great weight of metal thumping on the ground.
"If what you say is true," she said, keeping her voice loud enough to reach everyone, but speaking to Gaige in particular. "Then if you believe the only chance of our survival is to kill, as I said, I will accept that. If you can break the enemy's weapons, that would be better, but again, I'm not so familiar with things here, so I'll trust your judgment." Even though I know you'll disappoint me, as will many. It's rare to find soldier or warrior who can see beyond the fight. She held back a sigh.
The infiltration team was getting rather large and she took a last look at them. She would have preferred The Kid keep out of battle entirely, but his eyes were much older than the rest of him and she shuddered to think what was behind them. If he had to go, it was better he go with the team that would see combat the least, and yet, it was getting too crowded. She again heaved a silent sigh. There's no choice but to trust them, as always. Creators help us.
"All right," she said to the Kid. "Go. But that has to be it. No more for the infiltration team. And those of you already there, keep hidden at all costs. I don't want to hear that one of you wasn't quiet enough to go unseen and the whole group was discovered. Keep each other safe, and good luck."
With that, she turned and nodded briefly to Reimu. The priestess' determined pacifism was admirable in its way and not the sort of thing she would change, even if she could. The world had enough of those dedicated to death. Then, back to addressing the others.
"Well enough. Distraction team, with me. Gaige, take the vanguard and tell us when we need to stop to avoid their sentries. While we walk, if you could summarize effective tactics in this kind of war, it might keep some of us from less...advanced worlds alive. Everyone else, stay quiet, watch, and listen. No lights, no sounds, nothing until we hear the other team is in position."
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
Weiss Schnee-Landing strategy.
At the mere instant she had appeared, Weiss was able to see the night sky around her. The cold air played with her ponytail as it caressed her whole body. The full speed of a free fall and the sheer speed of the winds almost deafened her.
Just like the others Weiss was falling from the sky. Her whole body was facing forward the ground, each passing second, she was getting closer to the ground. She wasn't wearing a parachute, but she didn't have the power of flight like Reimu or Tanya.
Yet she was emotionless. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as her whole body got closer to her demise.
In an instant she opened her eyes again. She unsheathed her weapon Myrtenaster. Weiss leaned her whole body forward her feet now aiming at the floor below. She waved the rapier at her side, and as she did, a snowflake Glyph appeared, still in the air,
just below her feet.
She jumped from it towards another glyph just below the other. Like jumping from rock to rock in a river, until she finally landed with the others in a single bound.
edited 24th Feb '17 9:19:17 PM by FallenLegend
Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.