Possession is 9/10 of the law

[raavashing]

Characters: Anyone helping Wan attempt to counter-possess Asti; Malicant
Date: Sat. 10/25
Location: Various TBD
Situation: Wan is attempting to possess Asti; others are acting as distractions/helping power boost
Warnings/Rating: Will post them in subject lines when/if needed

The log is going to be broken up between the following Event 'points' just to manage them easier:

Pre-Possession Power-Up (Mingle for those powering up Wan before his group heads to the Turtle's Head)
Pre-Distraction Meet-Up (Mingle for the distraction teams to finalize tactics or throw caution to the wind)
Possession Attempt (The actual possession attempt)
Distraction Group One (Headed up by Dante, this group is going to be dealing with the cultists directly)
Distraction Group Two (Network distraction group and/or different group of cultists)
End of the Day (for people to deal with the fallout of the event if they want to do so in this log)

ANYONE can tag in and take part in any of the threads except the Possession Attempt itself - that's closed to Wan, Valdis, Zuko, and Katara so the group is small and less easily noticed.

Comments

[lordhotman]

[Zuko watches as they go, his jaw tightening for a moment and then settling in a stubborn frown. He would have to believe they knew what they were doing and trust them to do just that. He looked over at Katara, studying her then scanned the area around them. He would have to stay alert if he was to help protect their bodies while the attempt was made. All that there was to do now was wait.]

[oceanblue]

[Katara watches until they're out of sight, then risks a glance at Zuko once Wan is gone. Catching his eyes on her, she immediately looks away, her expression troubled, and takes a deep, Settling breath as he studies her. She's anxious, but ready for whatever this battle brings them. While nervous, her mind is set on the mission. Responsibility for three. She can handle that.]

Group Split - Zuko and Katara vs ???

[raavashing]

[As Wan and Valdis landed on the Turtle's head, a good half mile from them, the area that Zuko and Katara stood took on an eerie silence. More unsettling than it usually was following the death of Evandau.]

[lordhotman]

[As they waited, Zuko started to grow more restless. His brows furrowed and a deep frown seeming to have permanently settled on his face.]

I don't like this. It's too quiet.

[oceanblue]

[Katara tried to stay neutral, hovering toward the edge of the shell to keep the waters within her sight, fighting to keep her hands free so she could be ready at any moment. Zuko's comment drew her attention toward him, and she let her eyes sweep around them in survey of their location.]

It's...eerie... [she agreed, releasing the deep breath she had taken to loosen her nerves.]

[raavashing]

[[Behind the two of them, on the Turtle's Head, both Wan and Valdis disappeared.

In front of them, over the vast expanse of the visible shell, the world remained still and silent. As if in wait.]]

[lordhotman]

[Zuko looked up just in time to see Wan and Valdis vanish. So much for guarding their bodies, but they would have to come back at some point. ... Or so he hoped. There was worry in his eyes, though he tried to hide it.

Folding his arms, he looked over at Katara as they waited.]

Yeah.

[Words were failing him right now.]

[oceanblue]

[Katara, too, turned her gaze to the turtle's head just in time to see the others disappear. She then switched her worried gaze, back to Zuko, gauging his reaction.]

...Zuko...

[A deep breath as she convinced herself.]

...they're going to be okay.

[lordhotman]

[Zuko's jaw tightened a little at Katara's words.]

You don't know that.

[oceanblue]

[She paused. He had a point, and it only stirred more anxiety in her stomach. Already tense, she frowned, then moved closer to him.]

If I have anything to do with it, they will be. You trust Wan, right? And Valdis? They can take care of themselves...Wan is the avatar and Valdis is... Well, she's Valdis.

[A pause before she actually lifted her eyes to him, standing at his side, blue filled with every ounce of confidence she had in her as she reached for his shoulder.]

Do you trust me?

[lordhotman]

[Zuko didn't look at her, his eyes directed downward. But he didn't resist when she touched his shoulder.]

Of course I trust them, and you. But we don't know what this thing is capable of or what might happen.

[Wan knew that he might not make it back, and so did Zuko.]

[raavashing]

[At roughly the same time, Wan and Valdis reappeared on top of the Turtle's Head and a small group of cultists appeared in front of Zuko and Katara from the same portal the four had come through at the Palace. Considering that Zuko and Katara were the only two within (relatively) easy reach, it was them that the group started running toward with knives out. Several of them calling praises to Malicant and proclaiming that they would destroy the foreigners and turn them into loyal servants. The poison on their blades would be obvious - particularly to Zuko.]

[oceanblue]

She squeezed his shoulder, but paused as Wan and Valdis appeared again, her surprised gasp stalled only by the sudden sound of footsteps falling far too quickly nearby. Jerking her head to look over her shoulder, she took a deep breath, giving Zuko's shoulder one more reassurring squeeze. She, too, knew what was on those knives, and while it terrified her, she would not allow him to be poisoned again if she could help it.

"Then trust me when I say I'll do everything in my power," she declared, turning and pulling her water from her pouch as the cultists approached. "...to get us all out."

Promise made, she turned, ready to defend them both, and lashed out with an array of icicles as she went before him to meet them head on, and hopefully draw them to the edge where she had intended to be all along.

[lordhotman]

Zuko was grateful for her reassurance, but before he could express it... things started happening quickly. Zuko's eyes widened as he saw both Wan and Valdis reappear, but then was forced to tear his gaze away when cultists showed up. There was a flicker of apprehension in his eyes when he saw the blackened knives.

"Whatever you do, don't let them cut you," he told Katara. It probably went without saying but they would have to be careful. He was determined not to let them get the better of him this time, or allow his friends to suffer the way he had.

"WAN!" Zuko shouted, hoping that he was okay and that it would get his attention. They needed to get out of there if it was at all possible. He then focused his attention on the advancing cultists. Sending boughts of burning flames at them following Katara's ice.

[raavashing]

The cultists weren't informed what kind of threat they'd be facing when they came through to claim the victims for their Master, but more than enough of them were familiar with facing a firebender that within a few strikes the first into the thick of battle had skin like obsidian. The fire passing harmlessly over them, while they dodged Katara's icicles and closed with their prey. Katara certainly didn't have to do much to draw them to the edge of the shell, they were more than happy to believe they had the two 'trapped' between themselves and the dangerous fall onto Asti's neck and head.

[oceanblue]

When they followed her, she slid to a stop at the edge of the shell, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she drew up enough water to surround herself with as she tugged at the ocean below. It wasn't close, but it was certainly there, and she could feel it pushing at her for her use.

Pulling hard, she brought a wave up and swept viciously at the cultists nearest them, aiming to sweep them away from Zuko. She had seen how ineffective his fire was, and it made her blood pump all the faster through her veins.

[lordhotman]

Zuko gritted his teeth in frustration as his fire was easily adapted to. He had forgotten they could do that. It was just like last time. Thus Zuko resorted to his blades.

Pulling out his pair of swords, he watched as Katara's water swept past him. Taking advantage of the distraction and leaping in right after the wave. His weapons swinging indiscriminately, not caring if he hurt or killed any of them. The last time he had tried to preserve their lives and he had suffered the consequences.

May I cut in?

[redlightgreenlight]

[Valdis didn't wait for an answer, instead she called upon the strength and speed that the darkness offered. It gleefully responded, driving away all exhaustion as she raced to her friends. The distance up to the shell from the head didn't intimidate her as she allowed the darkness to flow freely. She leaped into the air and slammed into the shell, half on and half off. For a moment she feared she would fall back, but she pulled herself up and, eyes blazing, leaped into the fray.]

[raavashing]

The sudden wave caught the first four cultists off-guard and they were swept to the side. It took all they had to not fall off the edge of the shell. But they would have to fight to get back up on their own because the two behind them had to meet Zuko's swords with their knives.

Behind that first group, a few more kedan cultists came through the portal from the palace. Now that they knew where their prey was, and that they were so easily trapped, their number would only continue to grow.

[oceanblue]

Katara took only a second to find both Valdis and Zuko from the corner of her eyes, relieved when Valdis joined them. Sweeping her arms again, she brought more water up from the turtle's side in a great wave, hoping to splash the area that had become a battle ground.

The more water right at hand, the better.

When more cultists began to arrive, she moved again, drawing up a steady stream and racing toward the cultists closest to her once more, water rising before her in an effort to cut them off and keep them at bay.

She did, however, remain close to the shell, her attention divided between her own attackers and Zuko's, once she had deemed Valdis unharmed and capable of fighting. She did, however, know she would need to find Wan soon.

[lordhotman]

First order of business? Disarm those cultists, even if it means he has to take their hands off in the process. And that is exactly what Zuko goes for, not wanting those blades anywhere near him or his friends.

He glances up as Valdis suddenly plows into the fray nearby. And that's when he notices that there are more coming through the portal.

"Valdis, where's Wan?! We need to get out of here!"

There was no way they could keep holding off all these cultists as they kept coming.

[redlightgreenlight]

The children were fighting for their lives and more cultists were pouring through the portal. She flashed back to the fight with the cultists at the midnight hotel, the fight where Zuko had been tainted. She couldn't allow that to happen again, but she hesitated at Zuko's words.

He's injured, She replied, You and Katara must get to him. I'll hold them off. She was only thinking of getting them out of danger before they could be tainted, but she had to be rational about it. If you can get him close enough to me, I can carry the three of you back to the city. I'm faster than they are.

[raavashing]

The first cultist Zuko sought to un-arm screamed as his hand was removed from his body, but the second managed to get his skin to harden to near-stone like strength just as the blade sunk in. One of Zuko's swords was now firmly buried half into the bone of the second one's wrist. And though the wound clearly hurt her, she was more than happy to toss her knife into her other hand and last out at Zuko with it while she yanked the 'sword-arm' backwards in an attempt to pull Zuko close enough to be hit. Assuming he didn't let go of the sword's handle, she would surely manage to get her blade to sink in.

The newest arrivals broke around Katara's attempt to meet them and instead went for Valdis after they dodged around the waterbender. One of them recognized her from their previous scuffle, as made obvious by his declaration, "That's the giant bitch I told you about! Avoid her jaws!"

[oceanblue]

No way.

There were so many of them coming now, and while she fended them off as best she could, she growled in frustration as they evaded her, sending her stream toward them in another spray of ice shards, careful not to hit Valdis or Zuko. Her heart hammered as she spun and saw the two closest to Zuko, and immediately, she brought up as much water as she could in an attempt to drench and freeze the attacking cultist in place, even if it meant his losing one sword.

As close as she had put herself to the new arrivals, however, she barely had the time to draw up water around herself again, forming a quick wall as she moved to put space between herself and the attackers again, and put herself between the newest arrivals and her friends.

Valdis and Zuko were right, but with control of a long range element, Katara knew she couldn't abandon Valdis, even if it meant taking both herself and Zuko from the battle and to safety.

"You and Zuko go get Wan. I'll hold them off and you can come back for me," she called. Taking a careful stance, she pulled again at the ocean with all of her will.

After a moment, a massive wave would rise from the side of the turtle, just as she had done from the firenation ships back home. The call from the one about Valdis made her smirk in a single second of vanity, the wave towering over her as she faced the cultists again.

"Avoid this," she muttered to herself, bring her arms down in a smooth but powerful jerk.

The great wave would slam downward, crashing into any of the cultists threatening to overtake the battlefield.

[lordhotman]

Adapting to fire was one thing... but adapting to blades? This really took him by surprise, his eyes widening in horror as the cultist's flesh literally hardens around his sword, lodging it there. He's so in shock that he gets yanked forward, not thinking to let go out of the blade until he's right there. Practically staring a knife in the face. Time seems to slow down for a moment as he sees it coming for him... only to have Katara's water streak in and surround the cultist, freezing her in place. For a second or two he can only stare, his heart pounding in his chest.

But he then quickly snaps out of it as the battle continues to rage around him. Now wasn't the time to freak out. Bracing his foot on the frozen cultist, he pushed and yanked his blade free. But... they were now useless, so he sheathed the weapons. But there was a deep frown as both Katara and Valdis commanded the other to go get Wan while they held the cultists off.

He had a better idea.

"Katara, can you make an ice bridge to the turtle's head? I'll go get Wan. Both of you can hold them off until I come back with him."