(no subject)

[fox_the_kitsune]

Who: Fox, Ray, Auria, Roxas, Kairi
What: Fox has accepted a Hunt for a White Mousse, but with her lack of offensive magic, she thought it best to ask for help.
Where: The poster reported the quarry hanging around the Crystal Fissure. The crew meets at the bailey.
When: Noonish Saturday
Status: Ongoing



Fox leaned on a wall in the bailey, checking her equipment for the umpteenth time. She wasn't sure if she should bother with the incendiary arrows she'd been playing around with or not, though she'd brought them anyway. They might not be useful against the Mark, but there were other monsters around. Case in point, just on her way to the bailey, she'd fought a friggin' Bandcoeurl. It had escaped... but not before she'd cut a whisker off. She had two options with that: tease Roxas with it since Coeurls seemed to unsettle him and possibly have the loot destroyed, or keep it and find out how much it would sell for. Supposedly, Coeurl whiskers had magic properties.

She was early and she was the one who'd set the time. Which really wasn't that odd. She was generally on time when the departure time was under her control. So... with nothing better to do but wait and keep checking over her stuff... she waited and checked over her stuff.

Comments

[thirteenth_brat]

At about the same instant Kairi spoke up, the Keyblades were out without Roxas calling on them. Whatever it was it was coming from the same direction they were headed. He listened hoping to have some idea what it was or how big it was, not to mention many if there was more than one. The general skittery nature of the footsteps made him think if a bug.

He thought right, as the thing came skittering into view from wherever the hell it'd been hiding. It looked like some sort of mantis, but beyond that, he really had no ideas. At least there was only one.

Only one and it must have been hungry as it moved into attack as soon as it spotted the potentially tasty morsels, raising its sharp forelimbs to go for a kill. It was feisty, he could give it that, but it really was out of luck. As it brought the claws down he skirt around to its left, striking quick at its side. This wasn't a serious attack. He just wanted to get its attention. It worked. The bug turned toward him and raised its claws again.

"That's a nice stupid bug," he said with a smirk, taking a defensive stance, "Care to dance."

[auriatetsukai.livejournal.com]

Auria took a couple steps forward to help Roxas when two things occurred to her. One: This was Roxas, a dual Keyblade-wielder who despite being a bit of an angsty brat was good at what he did.

And two: There were more behind her.

Auria spun, realizing in half a second that it would be no good to strike at the thing leaping towards her. At the last moment she swung her hand out and cast what was probably going to be one of only two Reflect spells before she needed an Ether.

The creature bounced back, rolling ass over teakettle until it rose again to face her. This time Auria had her hammer ready, and she swung it sideways to knock her target a good twenty feet to her left.

Then Auria frowned and recounted a move she had used during Xemnas's final battle. In desperation, she had thrown her hammer at a Nobody and then used a Reflect spell to make it bounce back to her. She wondered if she could do it again.

As the creature prepared to come back, Auria tossed her hammer. She had managed to misjudge the length of the handle, though; it caught on the dirt and the spike came crashing down to a dead stop. Seeing an excellent opportunity, the bug leaped over the fallen weapon and put itself between Auria and her only means of survival.

[seolearo.livejournal.com]

"Now this is more like it!" Ray crowed, grabbing her other nunchaku and throwing a quick Fire at the monster going after Auria. She followed up with a swift, strong kick.

With the creature out of the picture for now, she turned and smirked at her friend. "Who needs saving now, hm~?"

[auriatetsukai.livejournal.com]

Auria threw a scowl in Ray's general direction, then sprinted to her fallen hammer. She hefted it over her shoulder.

"Fuck off," she told Ray airily. Then she downed an Ether.

[fox_the_kitsune]

The bickering was not going to help. Fox was already pondering the wisdom of announcing this venture at the community. She had briefly toyed withthe idea of just seeking out a handful of people and asking, but had feared the job would be gone if she took too long. Hell, she'd even just toyed with asking Roxas if he was bored enough to help and leaving it at that. He could probably have handled the hunt alone... and would gloat if she told him that to his face, so she made a mental note not to.

Instead, she considered her options. There weren't that many of the bugs and no one was in need of healing... yet. With a mildly disgruntled sigh, she drew her sword took on the nearest bug, dodging its claws and stabbing into its side between the edges of its carapace. It kicked her away in its death throes.

"Fucker," she growled standing up and looking for another target.

[papoupromise.livejournal.com]

Kairi ducked a swipe from one of the claws, once again thankful that she had insisted on the boys helping her during their time back home. Her reaction time still wasn't the best, and she hissed to herself quietly as the countering claw came a little too close for comfort.

Gritting her teeth, she swung her sword and sliced off the offending arm. Hop stepping away from the flailing monster, she paused for a split second before stabbing it though what she assumed to be it's neck.

A small part of of her recoiled at a killing it, but there was no time to think of such things now. She paused, taking a deep breath before spinning around to take care of the other monsters behind her.

[thirteenth_brat]

Roxas gave his own opponent another feint before deflecting its claws one way with one blade and stabbing into the bug with the other. It flailed, its dying thrashing shoving him back. He stepped away and turned his attention to other monsters. He had been hoping there would only be the one, but he supposed he should have known better.

He felt his stomach twist a little uncomfortably when he saw Kairi taking on one of the bugs and was reminded again of the fact that Sora and Riku might just kill him if something happened to her. He shook the thought away. There was more than one monster coming up on her and he wasn't sure he wanted to find the hard way whether or not she could handle all of them alone.

At least these were the last few. He wasn't going to bother counting them but there didn't seem to be any more coming. He dashed past Kairi and the closest monster to her and confronted the rest... ok so there were a few more than he thought, but as long the numbers weren't growing, he saw no problem. He would just have to step up his game a bit.

[fox_the_kitsune]

If Fox was counting right, there were only about five or six more bugs to fight. And she needed to remember to take down some notes on them so she could add the info to the Bestiary when they got back. Which was part of the reason she took the hunt. There were other monsters that just weren't coming into town and she wanted the info on them. Who knew when they would come into town?

She tossed a rock at one bug to get its attention and draw it away from the pack. She preferred to fight one-on-one if she could. The bug took the bait, hissing as it rushed toward her and raised a claw to strike. She ducked under the claw as it swung and went for a soft spot between the sections of its shell. The bug stepped away quickly and countered. Fox was starting to really love her quick reflexes at this point. The bug managed only a small scratch on her shoulder and managed to get its claw stuck in the ground. She took advantage of the predicament to to finish it.

[auriatetsukai.livejournal.com]

Auria finished off what she thought was her third or fourth crab-spider thing and hugged the handle of her hammer to her chest, panting. Why the small fry? Why were they wasting time, actually killing these things, instead of just fending them off?

Are you askingfor another Behemoth? she asked herself, part in disbelief and part in derision. She shook her head. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't going to be as bad as the Behemoth.

Auria worked her way over to Fox as she killed her quarry. "Fox? I think we should regroup and just wait for this thing to show up. Killing the small-fry isn't really getting us anywhere."

[fox_the_kitsune]

"I'd like to just wait for the Mark to show, but the guy asking for help was out where it hangs out, not in town, when he lost that locket," Fox replied, "There's only four more of these. I'd rather finish them off than have them follow us."

Incidentally, Roxas seemed to have drawn the attention of all but one of the remaining bugs. She supposed they could just let him finish them off, but not only would that not be any fun, it would take longer. Fox tossed another rock, drawing one of the bugs away. It charged in with its claws up, not seeming to have learned any lessons from the deaths of the other bugs.

[auriatetsukai.livejournal.com]

Auria voiced her understanding and, with a sidesweep, dislodged a bug from the pack to attack it separately.

She didn't know if "the Mark" was the creature's actual title, or if it was just another word for "target".

That's kind of a stupid thing to worry about.

Yeah, I know, but it'll stick in my head and keep bothering me.

Look out; that thing's going for your leg.

I know. Auria brought her hammer spiked-end down on the beast's face and watched it struggle. She moved back before letting the pressure off. The bug surged to its feet, but was extremely disoriented and soon fell back over.

An emptiness had taken over Auria, and she wasn't sure why. It made her turn away from the half-dead bug, lean on her hammer, and doze. Suddenly she was exhausted; she wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. But then this Mark would come and she wouldn't be here to help.

Auria downed her only hi-potion and watched it stitch her scratches together and ease her bones. But though she pulsed with new energy, she still felt empty.

She turned around and crushed the bug's skull beneath her hammer.