You fight me / flat on my lonely face I fell

[reconjunction]

Characters: Irvine and you.
Date: 1-5 August 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: All over the city
Situation: This situation looks awfully familiar, and Irvine is convinced that this is all a trick/imprisonment by his canon’s big bad. The solution? Find the ‘people’ that don’t fit the setting and kill them to unlock the exit.
Warnings/Rating: Almost certainly violence.

A: He who fights and runs away … [1ST OF AUGUST ONLY]
The buildings and street faded up from white blankness like a staticky connection – at first in black and white, then in colour, then with sound. It wasn't the place he meant to be. Nowhere near. What was this? They beat the sorceress, why was he walking out of that damned whitespace and into some city he’d never seen before?

Irvine’s heart pounded as he scanned the area, walking long-legged down the street with his coat flapping behind him and his hat shading his face from the sun. Most of the people on the street were humanoid, but some of them have … things, scales and wings and horns. Monsters? Some new junction? Was this the sorceress’s endgame in case she lost, just shoving them into some space filled with monsters crossed with people, as if that would stop them from fighting back?

Damn. In Irvine’s case, she was probably right.

One of them came at him and Irvine’s shotgun jerked up, and they backed away instead. But it drew attention; some of the others started eyeing him, and Irvine decided that discretion is the better part of valour. Even if they were all just constructs, like the fake sorceresses right as the time-compression began, the last thing he needed was to turn the whole setting against him.

And he didn’t even know where the others were, either. Whether they were following. He hoped they made it out. He’d call, but what if there was something else nearby, something that couldn’t see him in among the constructs, and he called attention to himself?

Dangerous. It was all dangerous. So Irvine didn’t yell, and stuck to walking by the sides of buildings, watching and looking for portals. It took about two hours before he realised why he felt so weird — because he didn’t have access to his junctions, just like in the castle. It had taken one of the others pointing it out before he noticed then, too. He wasn’t used to having junctions on the whole day, every day. He wasn’t used to feeling weird about not feeling them.

That definitely meant he couldn’t shout for the others. He had no way to defend himself, except Exeter, and Exeter was a wonderfully advanced gun but she wasn’t made of magic.

So he walked on, not drawing attention—or trying not to, anyway—avoiding anyone who spoke to him, to the point of running if necessary.

[ooc: Irvine will retreat from any prolonged interaction, but feel free to chase him! I would like for him to escape no matter what, before he finds out too many details about Keeliai, for continuity purposes.]


B: … lives to fight another day.

Finding a place to sleep wasn’t too difficult, for Irvine. He made use of the heights, because not many people had a tendency to look up. For all that it was easier to fight on the ground, alongside comrades, he’d always felt safer when he was higher than everyone else. It still wasn’t ideal and he woke up fitfully every couple of hours, but that was good. He didn’t have comrades here. That was fine. He was used to that. Used to waking up every two hours like clockwork, waking up in an instant at the most threatening sound.

It sucked, that kind of schedule, and he hadn’t missed it. But it worked and gave him time to put together the details, and not go nuts from exhaustion along the way. It kept him safe enough until his junctions came back, which was frankly a surprise. A welcome one, but a surprise. Wasn't going to stop him from using them. If he couldn't use his junctions, he was screwed no matter what.

He still didn’t know a couple of things. Didn’t know where the exits were. Didn’t know whether the local were real and transplanted, junctioned, fake. Didn’t know whether this was a city from the past – maybe Centran – or a city from the future he hadn’t experienced. Didn’t know whether he’d meet the sorceress herself here, from some point in her timeline before they killed her.

But Irvine knew about the Foreigners. They were the ones that didn’t fit, the ones with powers, like the seal guardians in the sorceress’s castle who kept the GFs and all their bestowed powers contained until they were dead.

It was pretty obvious, after that. Killing the seal guardians had released the GFs’ powers, one by one. The so-called Foreigners didn’t fit, so they were the ones that were real and keeping this whole place together, whether leftover time-compression or something else. Prison, maybe. Maybe the others were all locked up in whitespace and relying on Irvine to get them out, and this was the final gateway.

Irvine couldn’t let them down. He wasn’t very good at a lot of things, but he wasn’t going to let his comrades down. So he watched. Tracked. Waited. When timing was right, he struck.

[ooc: Skulduggery’s thread in (B) will come, date-wise, before any others, but feel free to tag in whenever. I’d prefer Irvine didn’t die, which is fine because he’ll run away if he’s overpowered, but he’s definitely aiming to kill others, so lemme know if you’re prefer that didn’t happen and we can arrange for some method of escape on the part of either him or your character as needed!]

Comments

B

[redlightgreenlight]

Though Valdis didn't remember the exact manner in which it had awoken the previous time, the Void's continued silence bothered her. She knew it wasn't gone, it's presence was simply muted, and with it, the gifts it granted. Not that she wanted to use its power, but being without her ability to regenerate was disconcerting, especially since it seemed that the Chihuleans would arrive within a month. She would need all her abilities at her disposal if it came to a fight, but at least she could still shift at will. Today, she was wandering the city in hound form, trying to sniff out the scent she had found last month and retracing her steps through the water sector. Now that he was feeling better, hunting down Anton's attacker was foremost in her mind.

[reconjunction]

There weren't many of the Foreigners that actively stood out as being Foreigners, as being those seals Irvine was looking for. The giant wolf did. To be fair, it wasn't that big. Maybe a quarter of Cerberus's size. Big enough to ride, though, and back home--in Galbadia Garden--it would've been the sort of monster he'd wrangle for the training.

He'd done that loads of times. He kept downwind so it wouldn't smell him, and stayed up high, and kept as distant as he could without losing track, using the reactions of the locals to keep an eye on where the wolf went. If it could jump it could probably reach the roofs, but the height would still give him extra protection.

Magic for this one. Hard and fast, no fooling around. Irvine stood well back from where it was sniffing and made sure his junctions were right--that Auto-Reflect was on, just in case, that he had a Protect cast to half any physical damage. Then he crept to the edge, keeping low, touched his forehead to open the magic link, touched the junction box to find his spell.

Then he pointed at the wolf and Blizzaga erupted from the ground all over the alleyway in sharp clumps of ice, freezing and impaling at once. Something that big, surely some of them would hit.

[redlightgreenlight]

The kedan in the area were wary of her, but no more than usual and in fact had seemed to accept her presence with little fuss. But she ignored them all, completely focused on the scent, nose to the ground, tail raised as she hunted. As such, it was only the sudden cold that gave her any warning of the attack and she leaped back, away from the icicle that might have torn through her throat had she been any slower. She shrieked with rage as sharp ice shot past her right shoulder and left hip, slicing through the skin, her bright red blood splattering the ground as she moved to avoid the last icy spike. She skidded to the side, senses wildly searching for her attacker, her lips curled back in a pained snarl.

[reconjunction]

Hit. A good hit, even, the best hit Irvine had had so far. This wasn't a person. This was an animal, and Irvine had hunted loads of those. All he'd needed was for the kedan to give it a wider berth, which they did, and once the magic started flowing they gave it even more.

Once that berth was given, once the locals were properly out of the alley instead of just at its edges, there was no hesitation. Irvine tapped his forehead, touched the junction-box on the belt, and from where he was crouched by the rim of the roof he flung out his hand again.

Demi gathered around the wolf like a ball of darkness and pulled in. Objects around the alley walls tumbled toward the focal point as the gravity in that area increased, enough to break bones and rupture veins. It only lasted a handful of seconds, not usually enough to actually kill, but cripple--yeah, it was good at that. Irvine had experienced it before.

[redlightgreenlight]

Without the Void to regenerate her injuries, she would simply have to ignore the pain and blood until she could reach a healer, but rage drove her to seek out her attacker instead of fleeing. She turned, her intelligent gaze landing on the man crouched on the roof. Her emerald eyes widened in surprise, she didn't recognize him, but she didn't have time to react before a dark energy gathered around her. She instantly felt heavy and then she yelped as a hind leg snapped beneath the gravity, then there was another sharp crack as her spine gave out. When the dense magic lifted, she was crumpled on the ground, her hind quarters completely useless, still bleeding from her hip and shoulder. She whimpered, the pained sound filling the air again and again as each breath sent a new wave of pain down her back. Why did it hurt so much? She wasn't used to this pain, wasn't used to not being able to heal. She didn't understand why this foreigner was attacking her, but in her current condition, she could no longer fight back.

[reconjunction]

There it was. Irvine watched a moment longer before turning to find a way down, vaulting over the roof's rim onto a window ledge, then down onto a veranda roof, and then onto a stack of bins. He wasn't enjoying this, but when reached the ground to move toward the wolf, checking his surrounds to make sure he wasn't about to be ambushed by one of the locals, his demeanour was more pity than guilt.

This was just a beast, and he'd hunted them before. It wasn't a person. That didn't mean he was just going to let it suffer, and sometimes they could get intelligent. There was something in this one's eyes that made Irvine think it was one of them, so he exited the alley with the intention to approach from the side to minimise the chances of being lunged-at.

[redlightgreenlight]

She felt the darkness uncoil, the Void had sensed the danger and seemed to be waking up. Part of her felt relieved, but the other found the knowledge bittersweet. Her soft whimpers continued as the pain slowly began to subside. She felt her spine snap back into place, her leg twist slightly as the bone righted itself. Then the slashes in her pelt closed over, the only sign of injury was now the blood on her fur.

But she didn't move, instead continuing to whimper, hoping to draw him closer. Anger simmered deep within, she had done nothing to this foreigner, his attack was completely unprovoked, but hers would not be.

[reconjunction]

Something cracked and Irvine's gaze darted around, just in case it was someone trying to sneak up on him. There was no one in sight, no one on the roofs, so he stepped a little closer, cautiously in case it was a feint. He was still out of range--barely--and to the side, at an awkward lunging angle, when he stopped.

He didn't see that the wounds had healed. He was on the wrong side.

"Sorry about this," he muttered, lifting Exeter and about to fire.

[redlightgreenlight]

He was close, but she was healed now. She could turn and flee, but that would go against every instinct she was now feeling. With the Void waking up, fighting might be an option, but she didn't want to risk the surrounding buildings or kedan and she was wary of this foreigner's power. He was strong and he was unknown. That left option three.

She lifted her head, turning it to look at him, her eyes showing far more intelligence than any animal's. What are you doing? she asked, her tone even as her whimpers stopped.

[reconjunction]

The whimpers stopped, and that was what made Irvine tense, but it was the words that made him hesitate. Not the fact a giant wolf was talking, exactly. Hell, Cerberus spoke human. He just ... spoke it through his mouth. Even Doomtrain had had a mouth, and Doomtrain was a train.

So ... giant talking wolf. Could even the sorceress make a GF a seal?

Probably not. All the seals in the castle had been ordinary monsters. Superpowered, sure, but not GFs. And okay, the sorceress had made a GF out of Griever, and junctioned herself to Griever, but ... Griever was a concept. Not a real GF. Just something she pulled outta Squall's head.

... He'd lingered too long. "I might've picked the wrong thing," he said finally, taking a step back, Exeter still raised. "Thought you were something I had to kill."

Another step back, and now he was looking into her fur, saw the drying blood and the lack of gaping flesh. It'd healed up quick. Should've used another spell from a distance. If it lunged, he'd be able to break and run. He could do without another GF. Especially one who looked like it'd take offence at being junctioned. Especially one he'd found in the sorceress's timewarped world.

[redlightgreenlight]

Then, what, exactly, were you looking to kill?

She looked down the barrel of the gun, her eyes on his, her lips curling back to show her teeth. As he stepped back, she slowly rose to her paws, her hackles rising as she tried to make herself look bigger. He was tense and he was dangerous, but he was backing away. She took a step backward too, not trusting his retreat enough to turn away. She took one more step away and then stood her ground, lowering her head and flattening her ears as she continued to show her teeth.

[reconjunction]

"Stuff," said Irvine lamely, because it was dumb to show his hand to something he didn't know he could trust--especially not a GF, if that was what the wolf was. GFs, until you earned their respect, were finicky things. And he had definitely not earned this one's respect.

He took another step, and another, tense and with Exeter ready in one hand, the other prepared to use a spell. As long as the wolf didn't move, he'd keep stepping until he was around the corner, and then break into a run, moving to the roof, and over the canals, as soon as possible to try and break the scent track.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis let him continue to back away, not taking a single step herself, keeping her eyes on him until he was around the corner and out of sight. Then she relaxed, her fur falling flat and her tail dropping. She sighed, confused as to what exactly had just happened and at a loss as to what to do about it. She shook, a rippled running from head to tail and then lowered her head to scent the ground, trying to find the scent she had been tracking. She growled softly when she couldn't recover it and after a few moments, headed in the opposite direction of Irvine.