[!] [HH 3 vs. ?] Sitting Ducks [Eva/Lucky/Reine]

[Kaiyumi]

...So, uh...

...Where was she?

No matter which way Eva turned, she was consistently greeted with the same sight: fog, fog, and an extra helping of fog. For all she knew, there could have been another hunter or--god forbid--one of those insanity monsters within the vicinity, and she would never know because she couldn't see a thing. Had it been this bad earlier? The rooms inside the actual Haunted House had not been too bad, but clearly deciding to explore the area surrounding the house had been a poor decision on her part.

She was making a lot of those lately.

Perhaps it's best if you were to return to the Haunted House, Chara suggested, the crystal atop her weapon form giving off a bright purple glow, Considering how dangerous it is out here, it would be best if you were to find some more company.

Yes, company would be nice, though there was one problem with Chara's suggestion. "Trust me, Chara. I'd get my butt back into that building in a heartbeat if I knew where the entrance wa--woah!"

And unsurprisingly, Eva walked right into something. Or rather, someone. Her automatic response--in case it was one of those over-aggressive horsemen or an insanity creature--was to spin her weapon around so that it was blade-side up, her fingers tightening around the staff...but then she paused, squinted, and took a good look at the figure who she had stumbled into.

"...Reine?"

She gaped at the girl for a good second or so, only to stiffen and whirl around when she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. Something...green? Geez, when was this stupid fog finally going to disperse?

Quote:

ALL PLAYERS AT ANY POINT CAN FORFEIT THEIR ATTACK TO ROLL 2d12. If you roll odd, you do this damage to your opponent. If you roll even, you do this damage to YOURSELF - no modifier, you can ONLY DO THIS ONCE. You feel an uneasy unsettling feeling, as if something is coming, but you can't place what or when.

danse-hexe

Iizbot

 

[danse-hexe]

Somehow she had managed to drag herself out of the briefing room. If the chair Reine had settled in had wheels on it, she would have rolled all the way to the portal and, really, to where she was now- but all she actually had to move around with were two spindly legs that ached. A lot.

Definitely not in shape for any form of combat, the life trainee thought mournfully. Ally hissed softly, disappointed; they were around somewhere, and she hadn't eaten in so long.. Perhaps they could get the element of surprise, hiding in the fog-

But you wouldn't be able to see them either, Reine pointed out.

You can feel them, the apophis argued, like-

There was only a few milliseconds warning, a soft rustling sound, before Unidentified Entity One collided into her, sending her tumbling to the ground. Whatever reflexes she had left after months of being in a golem kicked into action, and she rolled over- more like a clumsy bear cub than a ninja- before shakily getting back up on her feet.

"Evie?!" Reine squinted back, through the fog, managing to make out a faint purple glow. She felt her heart leap with joy- and then Eva would feel Reine leaping at her, arms held out wide for a hug.

Dakota would be so jealous. To be fair, most guys probably would.

"IMISSHEDYOUHIIIIIIIIIII."  

[Molten Tigrex]

The moment that Szczeosny had stepped through the portal, Song had returned to her natural state. He wrapped his fingers around the horn handle anxiously. Outside of the training fields, Szczeosny never got to see her this way. Whatever the reason she didn't change forms outside of training, he never felt comfortable trying to argue with an inanimate object for long before he felt, well, silly. But he had the chance to get a closer look now - for science.

Yes, darling, I am a weapon. Song had caught him staring at her, and at least she seemed amused rather than scandalized. She still spoke half in words and half in flickers of images and feelings, just enough that he could piece together most of her meaning between the two 'languages'. Szczeosny immediately snapped his attention back up to the blanket of white fog. Please tell me you don't look at human women this way.

"Przepraszam," he muttered.

Song gave a small laugh, like the lightest clinking of windchimes. I was just teasing you, dear. But you must be aware of your surroundings now. You're not safe here, and I can only help you if you pay attention. There are... things... out there, awful things.

He could feel it too. An ominous feeling that made him want to throw glances over his shoulder. Waiting for something to appear. It was so much more than ordinary fear he'd experienced during his life. It was fear on steroids. He spoke in a low voice. "So we find house, look for unsane creatures, and -"

Song shushed him mid-sentence. We are going to investigate that purple light.

And sure enough, the fog did have a violet sort of tint in front of him. Channeling the spirit of shooter video games, Szczeosny assumed an offensive stance and stepped through the grass, closer and closer and -

SZCZEOSNY BRZENCZYSZCZYKIEWICZ, PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT.

Szczeosny slowly lowered his sawblade, Song's voice still ringing on the inside of his ears. White coats. Hunters. Women. Who happened to be hugging. Yeah okay maybe he was staring a little bit. That Krzyk was right. Well, at least they weren't.... whatever really lurked in the fog.

"Cześć... er, hello..." he called out awkwardly to the women in greeting.. "Can join search for house? Alone in fog not good for anything but to get more lost."  

[Kaiyumi]

Eva was more than happy to return the hug, wrapping her arms around Reine and giving her a tight squeeze as she leaned her head against the other girl’s. ”I missed you too, Reine.” Eva had definitely begun to worry as well about her as well—the fact that she hadn’t seen Reine for a while was been all the more emphasized when she realized that the first anniversary of their awakening had quickly been approaching. Eva wasn’t sure whether to be more surprised that a year had already passed, or the fact that it had only been a year.

It matter right now, though. She drew back a little to grin at the girl, looking her up and down. ”How are you doing?” There was a pause, and she her smile faded a little, changing into something a little more wry than happy. ”Have you, er, run into any of the things lurking around here yet?”

The movement she had seen earlier had all but been forgotten until the figure actually emerged from the fog, and her first reaction was to re-summon Chara, swinging the bladed staff up in front of herself and Reine, in a defensive posture. ”Who--!?”

And then came the awkward silence when she realized that hey, this guy was wearing a jacket like theirs. Oops.

Emitting a sigh of relief, the girl lowered her weapon, lips curling upwards in an apologetic smile. ”Ahaha, sorry about that. And uh, if you want to stick with us…” She lifted her brows and turned to look at Reine questioning, blinking at her friend for a few seconds before turning back to look at the young man.

”Sure? It’d definitely be safer if we stick together.” Grinning, she suddenly thrust her hand out towards him to shake, ”Eva Valente, Death division.”  

[danse-hexe]

"'m okay.. kinda shaky still. Being in a pod forever kinda does that to you, heh heh, you know... and you?"

Just as she was about to say no, nothing strange had popped up, there was some sort of intrusion- the sounds of movement, and a voice calling out.. but not the emergency she had expected. Reine was thankful that whatever interrupted the deeply emotional reunion between herself and Eva was not a monster, but rather a somewhat.. shy, foreign-sounding boy; a hunter she did not recognise, but whose jacket bore the same mark as hers.

Which kind of meant he was family. Taking a tentative step towards him, she held her hand out, as if beckoning to a stray cat; belatedly, the intermediate trainee realised that rummaging in her pockets for a treat had actually been a thought that ran across her mind. Looking over, it seemed Eva felt the same way, extending her hand to the other hunter.

"We'd be glad to have you around," she piped up. "Reine Walker, best division."

It was likely that Lucky wouldn't have caught her wink, though, not with the swirling and thickening of the fog around them, or the sudden, unprovoked attack from a monster, lashing out at them.

"Get going, then." Ally materialised in her hand instinctively, and she returned the blow, slashing through the creature. "Home's not this way."

HP: 43/50
Damage: 7
Charge: 1/3 l Swift Strikes (11d4): 0/1 | Tainted Fang (3d4): 0/1
Mei HP left: 53/60  

[Molten Tigrex]

Szczeosny continued to keep a nervous grip on Song as he wandered closer to the others. Only bits and pieces of what they said processed, unfinished sentences pegged to names. It was times like these, trapped in an abysmal foggy universe with only a sentient weapon for comfort, that he had some regrets about the amount of English he'd learned and the fact that he might have lied about that amount just a bit to get that recruiter to take him seriously. His weapon was practically purring in his mind, deftly handling the duty of translating the women's words so as to make up for his handicap.

These hunters will allow you to stay with them. One of them is in your division; try not to scare her off. She could actually provide useful information. Her words blurred in and out of imagery, until it seemed Song could speak in pictures and still retain her distinct, feminine voice. She faded into quiet curiosity as he regarded the extended hands with some concern before he tentatively shook Eva's first. There came a gentle nudge. Aren't you going to introduce yourself?

"Ah, Life Division, Szczeosny B-" His grip now on Reine's hand completely dislodged itself as his train of thought shifted to a new set of tracks. On the job was a bad time to play 'Americans can't pronounce Polish'. "Is translate to 'lucky', much easy to say for Americans."

And just as soon as he'd taken a step back, something knocked him back, hard. It was like no shadow he'd ever seen before. Following Reine's lead, he took a swing with Song's serrated blade and made contact with the creature of fog. Every one of the runes hidden in the metal saw lit up. It was her first taste of FEAR in what felt like forever--

All of the training and flipping through books full of monsters in the library really didn't prepare Szczeosny to see one up close and personal. And violently. "What is??"

HP: 33/40
Damage: 2
Charge: 1/3 (The Eye)
Boss HP: 51/60  

[Kaiyumi]

(( omg I'M SORRY FOR THE WAIT YOU THREE ALFKAKDSF FFFFFFFF ))

Eva's brows shot up beneath her bangs as the stranger began to introduce herself, a voice in her head (or maybe it was just Chara) telling herself that there was no way she would be able to pronounce his name as fluently as she would have wished. Fortunately, he provided a much more manageable nickname that even someone as ineloquent as Eva could pronounce. "Lucky, huh? It's nice to meet you--!"

Eva hadn't seen the attack coming, so seeing both of her companions suddenly get knocked back was quite the shock. Recovering quickly, she turned her attention to the insanity creature that had suddenly appeared, her fingers curling more tightly around her weapon. "Geez, this place is just riddled with these things," She grumbled, twirling Chara around so that she was blade-side up, "I'm not sure what this 'home' that they keep calling for is, but it's. Not. Here!"

She brought her weapon down on the distinctly feminine creature, and then immediately leaped backwards lest it try to get a hit in on her. Her gaze briefly flickered to Lucky when he spoke, and she offered him a small frown and a half-shrug.

"Students corrupted by insanity, I think. I've already run into a few of them earlier and they...well, they're pretty strong, so be careful."

HP: 40/50 (carryover from last thread)
Damage: 6
Charge: 1/3 (The Chill)
Boss HP: 45/60  

[danse-hexe]

'Szczeosny' didn't sound quite as terrifying as it probably looked; she was grateful, at any rate, for the 'translation' he gave. Eva answered the boy's question before she could- Reine had almost forgotten, too, until Eva mentioned they'd run into more students corrupted by insanity, that the hunters back at Deus had been dealing with insanity.. and in possibly a more productive way, consdiering how research was going. Or.. not going.

Now wasn't quite the time to feel guilty- besides, Eva clearly was surviving just fine without her around. She slunk closer to her friend for comfort, and also so that they maybe looked a bit more threatening together, rather than spread out.

"How many more of them are there?" Her blade was still pointed at the monster, ready to strike should it do the same; but it went for Eva instead, and Lucky, the tendrils of fog that served as arms barely missing the two. With a hiss almost identical to Ally's, Reine stepped forwards, trying to reach the monster- but it moved faster and further, possibly due to the fact that it wasn't even corporeal- and then it disappeared into the fog.

Disappointing. There was one less thing disposed of.

"You okay?" She was still looking around, circling Eva and Lucky like an anxious mother bear, searching for any sign of the monster- or any other monster. If nothing, that little encounter had provided somewhat of an adrenaline rush; slowly, she was beginning to get back into the swing of things.

"I don't get this 'home' thing either," Reine admitted, glancing back at the two. "We should probably try doing the same thing, though, uh, start heading back."

Wherever 'back' was.

HP: 43/50
Charge: 1/3 l Swift Strikes (11d4): 0/1 | Tainted Fang (3d4): 0/1