[Cal] A Moment of Daylight

Characters: Cal, Airednas, Mahlovian
Another encounter on the outskirts of the town, with unexpected guests. Warning: lengthy log, sizeable fight scene :P Some OOC stuff pasted at the end of this rp. Slowly getting there rpwise -- (Note that er, logs marked as Cal's will be from FL unless stated otherwise)


Traverse Town - Outskirts

A long winding road is carved through endless rolling hills beyond the town gates. Here, the sky is somewhat overcast and the weather is rather wet and cold most of the time, although occasionally, sunlight manages to break throughthe thick blanket of clouds. There is not much else to see other than a few scattered trees here and there. This road is very lonely and dangerous, especially at night, and it seems another hotspot for heartless. Fortunately there are many signs guiding many a traveller to the nearby village.

Contents:
Airednas
Obvious exits:
<Portal> [leads to 'Middleverse']
<South> [leads to 'Traverse Town - Long Road']
<Traverse> [leads to 'Traverse Town - Main Square']

[Airednas:] Sunlight, rare and warm as it shines down from the thick clouds above, paints the young woman in a dusty shade of gold. Dark clad body kneeling by the side of the road, her attention is intent on the cluster of weed-like plants sprouting from the sign post, hands pushing through the greenery, before pulling herself up with a faint sigh.

"Immature still." She murmurs, eyeing the dot of red within her palm, before crushing the tiny seed.

[Caliah:] Dust curls and trails along the largely barren landscape, whipped by a vagrant, passing wind into a fleeting, errant storm that engulfs the winding road and the flanking fringe of brush. A thin, muted rumbling cuts through the sunlit silence, like the fury of a thunderstorm riding up out of the hills. No storm it is, but a machine's deep bass growl, a vibration that wends its way ever closer to where the girl's kneeling.

A motorcycle emerges from the wall of dust, battered and gleaming dully, bearing a single helmeted rider.

[Airednas:] The loud noise, echoing from the distance beyond, draws Airednas' attention to the hillside, a flicker of worry passing amber eyes, before recognizing the noise as one of mechanical, and man-made nature, instead of a creature of the wild as she had feared.

Stilling her stance, she leans back against the post, watching the rider tear its way towards herself, noting the layer of grime and dust on the vehicle, and the rider, though her expression carefully schooled to one of mild politeness.

[Caliah:] For a brief moment one might assume that the worn bike and its slight, black-garbed rider would merely pass the girl by and go on their way into the gates of the town beyond; but with a quick turn of speed, stirring even greater clouds of dust, the motorcycle slows to a complete halt, engine thrumming erratically as the rider adjusts deftly for his sudden stop, one long leg steadying the deceptively heavy-looking roadbike.

Undoing the catches of his helmet, the bike-rider doffs it completely to squint at the girl by the side of the road, pale features seemingly untouched by the glare of the afternoon sun. "Did you lose something?" comes the polite, precise accents of that worthy, directed at her with singular frankness.

[Airednas:] The polite mask cracks a touch, as the cloud of dust rose, blowing pass the young woman's face and hair in a fine layer of grime. Her gesture unconscious as she begins to pat down her chest and side, brows furrowing at each puff of dust while under the rider's scruntiny.

A blink at the inquiry, she looks up, the nonchalant reply dying on her lips at the sight of the rider, a moment of hesitation too long held, before she plasters a small, friendly smile on her lips. "No, just... looking."

[Caliah:] "Not many venture beyond the gates." By the rather dry tone of his remark, it's apparent the rider had indeed noted the other's momentary...lapse; if he were self-conscious of the attention paid him, he doesn't give it away, the strangely electric glow of his violet gaze barely flickering in response. He eases back on his bike, one booted foot scraping the gravel. "I'm sure you've heard of the dangers, unless you happen to be one of the newer arrivals from one of the destroyed worlds. Even then, one such would be fully acquainted with them, I'm sure."

Only then does he rake a critical eye over the girl, visibly bemused at the state of her clothing. "I suppose I have to apologise if that was altogether too sudden," he comments smoothly, brushing road-dust from his own garments. "Just that I don't usually encounter people wandering the outskirts of this town."

[Airednas:] "Some, yes." The young woman replies agreeably, amber gaze flickering over to the rider's pale visage, unconscious in her study of the glowing violet eyes, her posture still lax, though a tense of her shoulders belying some inner hesitance, quickly shadowed as she waves vaguely with an arm at the sky above.

"Though the sunlight," Her tone lowering to a softer murmur, blissful in the warmth of the golden rays. "The sunlight's worth it, and I've calculated the day length, besides..." A slight pause, and she comments, assuring, perhaps both herself and the rider. "I am not exactly helpless."

[Caliah:] Slim fingers rasping softly over the motorcycle's dulled chrome, the pale SOLDIER imparts coolly, without a further glance at the girl's accoutrements as though he'd mentally filed away all that he'd seen, "I'm sure anyone worth their uniform could, but a uniform merely remains one if the training's forgotten. Even for a moment."

"Name and rank?" Softly as that inquiry's phrased, there's the simple expectation of an answer behind it, nothing of compulsion or crudity.

[Airednas:] A tightening of her jaw, body tensing in her forced reply.

"Airednas Sil'Lac. Nurs... I mean," She bites her lips, fumbling with the words before straightening, giving the rider a rather clumsy salute. "Trooper Airednas Sil'Lac, umm, sir..." She trails off into silence, hesitation and uncertainty mingling with her last syllable.

[Caliah:] Violet gaze sharpening minutely on the trooper before him, as if noting the smallest details of her posture, the lean blond nods crisply in acknowledgement, tucking the motorcycle helmet beneath one lithe arm. "At ease." That, uttered in a dry tone, seems more for the other's comfort than any sense of protocol; even then, the SOLDIER's eyes never waver, a hawk's pinning a stranger that posed more of a puzzle than a threat. "I'm assuming you were assigned here."

The barest pause, and he allows, "Caliah Liancourt, SOLDIER First Class. For your reference."

[Airednas:] Slender limbs, languid in her previous search of herb life, now shifts awkwardly at the order, hands folding in front of herself at last, still fidgeting once in a while, more so under the other's scrutiny. A bloom of crimson rising on her cheeks, flushing all the way to the tip of her ears in deep embarassment.

"Liancourt, sir." Airednas murmurs, giving a faint dip of her chin, and refrains from commenting further on the SOLDIER's assumption.

"Do you have experience in fighting the Heartless?" Leaning casually against the motorbike, the SOLDIER remains singularly detached, if not wholly at his ease; there runs a subtle edge beneath his speech. "They're unusual opponents, and newcomers tend to underestimate them in more ways than one. Far too easy when they appear just as shadows, sometimes. Out here, it's easy to forget that the day has its share of them, especially when walking beneath the sun."

[Airednas:] "Some." Airednas replies, hesitanting yet again before adding on the, "Sir." Another moment of fidgeting with her hands, and she comments again, "Then again, I would assume, so does everyone in this... place?" A note of wonder entering her tone at the last word, a faint curve of her lips before she smiles, amber eyes lidding slightly as she leans back against the post.

"It's quite..." She continues, seeming unconcerned, or perhaps, more to the truth, oblivious, to the mass of shadows rising behind the post, slowly towering over her form.

[Caliah:] And from the writhing shadows limbs coalesce, stretching clawed hands, intending to rend and maim, a hissing roar erupting from myriad, half-formed throats; Caliah's eyes narrow fractionally, a blur of bladed silver scything through the the distance that divides the three, Heartless, girl, and SOLDIER.

Black tendrils erupt from the shadow's extended stump of an arm as its severed claw falls to the ground, dissipating into smoke.

"Duck," is all the bleached-blond SOLDIER's heard to utter tersely, flinging back the flap of his coat.

And a gun's in his hand, whipping up to fire at the towering mass of shadow.

[Airednas:] Too late was the realization, as Airednas turns her gaze behind her, and with that, the paralyzing fear, rooting her to her place, eyes widening with a deep intake of breath, watching, waiting for the blow to come as the scream forms within her throat, even as the streak of silver slices clean through the appendage.

And with the command, crystal clear, breaking her immobile form. Strangled, was her choked back cry as she throws herself forward, kicking up a light cloud of dust in urgency. Roar of thunder above her head as the bullets sing through the air, breezily pass.

Twisting her head again, she stares at the mass of throbbing shadows, amber eyes wide, not in fear, but in determination.

[Caliah:] The lethal, compact little weapon in Caliah's hands spits a hail of bullets, slashing a wide swath through the shrieking maws that open in the Heartless' quivering, shadowy form. The beast shudders with the impact of each steel-jacketed round, groaning as it plants a huge paw on the dusty ground, hauling itself upright and casting a towering, hulking shadow over the prone Airednas.

A whining snarl - this time of abused machinery grinding to life - cuts through the air as the SOLDIER kickstarts his motorcycle, veering swiftly around the massive Heartless, the thin chain he'd cast once before swinging out at the wraith's bulk.

[Airednas:] Slapping a hand over her wrist, fingers brushing by the orbs of glowing green before catching a particular one, a moment of pause, her attention keenly focused on the materia, instead of the gigantic heartless above. Lips moving as she breathes out the words, studied long and hard in her past. A flash of soft, misty green rising from the materia, enfolding briefly around her form, before expanding above her, simmering faintly in place, perhaps in the nick of time, as several limbs flies down, smashing against the semi-translucent barrier. The toothy maw opening in screaming, shattering protest with the contact of the chain, enraged was the creature, suddenly unmindful of the weaker prey as it sets forth, limbs flying as they attempts to smash down the rider.

[Caliah:] Heavy, thrashing arms bear down on the fleet motorcycle, crashing dully into the dusty earth just paces short of missing the bike and its rider. They rise and fall, the beast ignoring the slim chain that had wrapped itself around one massively-thewed hind leg, loops winding out even as the bike continues its circuit around the raging Heartless.

This lapse in its attention proves fatal, however, as a thread of blue energy crackles up the length of chain, icicles spiking from link to link to shadowy limb too swift for the human eye to follow.

With a crack, a gunshot sound, the limb breaks away from the tottering beast, shattering into shards of ice as it smashes into the ground.

[Mahlovian:] Loud, heavy footsteps ring through the thick air as the shadows shift and bend, disturbed by a new presence. A young man appears to the north, just outside of the Main Square. He pauses, eyes glancing around, studying the scene, the Heartless, the slim fighter from before and a proned woman. "At least it isn't me in trouble this time", he whispers to himself.

Metal hisses as his cutlass is released from its confines. Hilt gripped firmly he dashes forward swiping twice at a nearby shadowy foe, causing the sculpted darkness to disperse. "Are you two all right?" He shouts over the fray of battle.

[Airednas:] "Ugh..." The woman grunts, straining under the Heartless' severed limbs, rolling back from the dirt road, unmindful, now, of the spray of dust over her body. She winces, the scream of the creature loud and harsh given her close vinicity, painfilled in its roar of protest. Its lumbering body shuddering as it slams in the rider's direction in what seems to be a last ditched effort to take down the SOLDIER who has dared to cause itself such pain.

"Do I look /fine/?!" She snarls under her breath, sparing the young man a quick look before her attention refocuses to her bracer, tapping a finger against another glowing green orb.

[Mahlovian:] Sighing, the young man shakes his head. "No...sorry, I'll be right there!" He shouts over the sounds of metal and shadow. Quickly he pivots on a foot, spinning once as he slashes at the surrounding Heartless and leaps upward, following through with the attack. Shadows disperse and black smoke lingers.

The cutlass held in his hand shimmers, glowing brightly with energy as the air shifts and shimmers, swirling about the blade. With a grunt he stabs the weapon upward, into the air. Spun air, twisted, thick and heavy falls downward, appearing as a comet of pure air. The geomantic projectile impacts near the woman, exploding next to the gigantic Heartless. By force alone some of its many limbs are ripped off, churning to dust before hitting the ground.

[Airednas:] A stiffening of her frame, before Airednas pulls herself up slowly into a sitting position, her back leaning slightly against another nearby post on the otherside of the road, silent in her observation of the battle, still quite close to the dying Heartless, but no longer within its direct sight, her expression blank save for a tightening around her mouth. Her hands pressing tightly to her side.

[Caliah:] "Never better." The bikerider's clear cadences cut through the melee, tinged with dry amusement, the chain streaking past as it scores a gash along the Heartless' side. The beast, its in pain and fury, had flung itself at him even unbalanced as it was; with deadly accuracy Caliah casts the entangling chain around the creature's forelegs, urging his bike to even greater speed as the Heartless begins to waver.

The shockwaves from the Geomancer's spell slam into the shadowy creature, and its weight, combined with the force of impact and the chain wrapped around its legs, hurls it off its feet.

[Mahlovian:] The young man leaps into the air and cheers. This quickly fades as he realizes the Heartless has yet to be defeated. Quickly he runs forward, leaps into air and yells out loudly. From the sparsely placed nearby trees vines shoot out, slithering through the air as they wrap about the Heartless, entangling it and attempting to bind it to the ground.

[Airednas:] Her hands glowing faintly in green, still close to her side, before the young woman releases a soft breath of air, and glares to the downed Heartless. With a hiss, she straightens herself, hands pulling away from her ribs to reveal a row of slash-marks, the jacket and shirt ruined on the side, though the flesh beneath colored red with blood.

Slick hands reaches within the dark garment, withdrawing a single pistol, miniature, compared to the gigantic creature, her stance unshaking, as she fires, once, twice, thrice, at the Heartless in front.

[Caliah:] Billowing clouds of sand swirl from beneath the fallen beast, mingling with smokelike wisps of dead black tossed back by the wind, seeping from its wounds like blood. Barely pausing to cut the engine of his bike, the pale blond spits out a mouthful of sand in apparent disgust, retracting the sinuous bladed whip with a crackle of frost and hiss of chains. "That was much too close," he utters, as much to himself as anyone else, dismounting his motorcycle in one smooth motion, his stance still strung with steel-spring tension as he approaches the entangled Heartless.

[Mahlovian:] Panting, the young man pauses, nearly doubling over as he coughs and sputters from the dust. Here he catches his breath, inhaling in and out, sweat dripping from his face as he composes himself. Slowly, but surely he too approaches the entangled Heartless, keeping his curved blade infront of him at all times as he nears.

<OOC> Caliah says, "then...*POUNCE* *GULP*"
<OOC> Caliah says, "like the blob XD"
<OOC> Mahlovian says, "sob yes"

[Airednas:] "Is it dead?" Airednas calls out to the SOLDIER, her hands tight around the pistol, body unmoving from her stance by the roadside, her attention split from the two humans, and the seemingly downed Heartless.

[Caliah:] A low, rasping breath issues from the downed beast's open jaws, building into a rumbling growl.

With surprising speed a whiplike limb lashes out, coiling around Caliah's booted ankle and flinging him bodily at Mahlovian with such swiftness that all the SOLDIER can react with is a startled grunt, accompanied by the dull thud of heavily colliding bodies. A shriek builds its in throat as it attempts to break its bonds, straining at them with alarming strength.

[Mahlovian:] With a grunt, the young man is thrown off his feet as the SOLDIER collides into him. All air is knocked out of him as he's thrown back, bouncing on the ground a few times before sliding to stop. "Ow.." he barely manages as he tries to move and fails.

[Airednas:] An echoing shriek tears from the young woman's throat, her aim wavering in suprise, before hands clenches around the pistol, knuckling straining white as the metal bites into her palm, as she fires into the Heartless' bulk despite her shaking hands.

[Caliah:] Cursing beneath his breath, Caliah frees his pistol from the encumbering folds of his coat, firing once at the black tendril still firmly wrapped around his ankle. Recoiling, it snaps back into the beast's heaving mass with a shrill roar, releasing him, only to face another burst of gunfire as the SOLDIER empties his magazine into the mountain of shadowy flesh. "Tough little bugger," he deadpans, skilfully sidestepping a swiping attempt to take off his head. "I don't suppose either of you have a grenade?"

[Mahlovian:] Lumbering onto his feet, the young man rises, panting as he dusts himself off and moves forward. He winces, clutching his side and notices streaks of blood. Body wavering he composes himself, grips his cutlass and lets out a yell, deep and loud. Pumping his legs like pistons he dashes forward and leaps onto the massive Heartless.

Metal shimmering he plunges his blade deep into the Heartless' body. A wave of energy erupts beneath and the ground begins to crack, giving way to a pitfall that slowly widens, not enough to consume the Heartless, but given enough time...maybe.

<OOC> Mahlovian says, "sob...falls into the pitfall and dies as well T_T"
<OOC> Caliah says, "XDDD"

[Airednas:] Jamming the heated pistol into the pocket of her jacket, fumbling as she retracts her hands from the tangle of leather fabric, the young woman gives a minute shake of her head, sweat and dust mingling into lines of mud trails down her temple.

"Unfortunately, no." She calls out, warily watching the Heartless as it continues to push upwards, the vines straining under its strength. A moment in the corner of her eyes caught to her attention, and she watches the young man dash forward in his attack. The ground splitting under his command, groaning as it begins its slow swallow of the shrieking darkness, as well as any nearby objects, the plant lives, a few sign posts, and one old, battered motorcycle.

[Caliah:] "Crazy kid," mutters the violet-eyed SOLDIER, distaste curling his lip. The dull thrumming beneath his boots suffices for him to leap back, putting enough ground between him and the shuddering, twisted beast now in the unrelenting grip of the earth. Sparing a single, disgusted glance at the old bike being swallowed up with a crunch of metal, he dusts himself off meticulously, checking what equipment remained to him.

[Mahlovian:] As the maw of earth slowly consumes the Heartless, the young man finds himself trapped, held in place by shadowy limbs and his own intent on holding onto his cutlass and shield, both seemingly prized possessions given his determination to keep them. "Ugh!" He yells out as he struggles to escape the sinking hulk of shadow, squirming and wiggling but to no avail.

(log continues here)