[Event] Invasion!

[soul_mods]

Characters: OPEN to everyone!
Location: All over Death City
Rating: Various
Time: February 2nd
Description: Witches have invaded and are attacking the city!

The attack, when it comes, happens quickly enough that Death City would have been caught flat-footed had there been no prior warning, but it's not completely unexpected because of the city's heightened state of alarm the past day. Warning sirens start sounding to alert the citizens and guests the moment a dark, slow-moving mass out in the desert to the south-east of Death City is spotted by Shibusen sentries. There's even time for civilians to run and hide before the mass is identified as an army of what looks like decaying, shambling corpses. The city's defenders are slow to move, however; most of them are distracted and are having trouble dealing with the black blood in their bodies. While agents are gathering to head out to deal with the zombie threat, that's when the witches make their move.

Portals begin opening in the skies above the city, disgorging hideous familiars: bulbous spiders and leggy ants the size of dogs. They drop hundreds of feet down into the streets and alleyways of Death City, and scuttle off in search of victims. The spiders are poisonous and can spin copious amounts of web to capture their targets, the ants spit acid that cause agonizing, paralyzing pain. Their masters bear down on the city in a cloud of black shadows--massive ravens strong enough to carry off adult men. There are five witches, women on broomsticks, beautiful if not for their crazed grins and obvious glee at the chaos descending upon the city. At some unknown signal--maybe the cackling from a couple of them--they dive in concert and disappear into different areas of the city.

Their masterful plan has begun!



ooc: Feel free to make your own threads. Please follow the format: [Character][Location/Time][Open/Close]

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Comments

I think it has a nice ring to it~

[tuned_wrong]

[The first shot hits and destroys a wing of the first crow, sending it to the ground faster and harder than it would have wanted to. There is a sick crunch as it connects, neck twisted in in an unnatural way. AA second crow gets hit by the end of it's feathers and swerves away, but the others are still coming.

Aion curses as he sees this, itching to turn back because he could deal with this in his normal form a lot better than Takuto would be able to.]

Takuto!! Duck!

but a murder of murdering crows is... overkill?

[tauborn]

[Takuto dives into a roll, escaping the outstretched talons of the birds by mere inches. He scrambles to his feet and sends a few more soul bullets into the main body of the flock, but a pair has broken off from the group and he can't possibly hit them all at once when they are coming from opposite directions.

But at least he's got some kind of weapon in each hand, though the best he can hope for is bludgeoning the pair that's swooping back towards him.]

Only if you murder a murder of murdering crows with a 1-hit-kill

[tuned_wrong]

[The two crows come down strong and swift, buying time for the rest of the flock to gather for another try.

Aion growls under his breath. The demon is twitching to turn back and show those impertinent familiars what it meant to pick a fight with him.]

Should I?

[tauborn]

[He knows exactly what Aion wants to do, and frankly... he can't think of a very good reason why he shouldn't. Certainly, it'll leave Takuto without a sharp weapon or a long-ranged one, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.]

Go on. [With half a smirk, he hurls Aion in the direction of the flock of crows. He's not worried about his partner getting hurt--in weapon form he'll likely skewer one of the creatures, and if he changes back mid-flight there's still the fact that Aion is deadly from almost any angle.

Takuto turns to ward off the pair that are closing in on him, striking the first hard in the wing, and then blocking a vicious beak attack.]

[tuned_wrong]

[The moment he is in the air he changes back, beating his wings once and hitting the crows like a particularly nasty surprise. The first gets of a taste of his claws that leave it half blind while the second makes the mistake of trying to help its mate by attacking the demon from behind.

Aion rams his tail straight through its heart, pulling part of it out as he retracts it. Catching hold of the corpse, he hurdles it at the other as a distracting and then outmaneuvers it so that he can break its wing. Watching both fall to the ground, he grins with satisfaction.

Then he charges at the rest of the murder that is still after his human.]

*his* human.... Aion, you know you are going to have to share, right?

[tauborn]

[Takuto doesn't have time to watch Aion's ferocious attack on the other crows. He ducks and manages a horizontal bash across one's outstretched legs, breaking both of the fragile bird bones and sending the creature toppling to the ground with loud, squawking cries. He pokes one in the eye to keep it from attacking while he tosses his practice sword to his other hand and slams it against the throat of the leader of the next wave of divebombing birds. There's a sharp crack before sudden chaos, and the reasons are twofold.

First, the crack signaled the snap of the bird's breastbone, causing it to flutter wildly in pain, trainwrecking the rest of its group as it increased its own injuries. Black feathers fluttered in every direction as several birds skidded across the ground, pecking at each other and in Takuto's direction.

Second, the crack meant that Takuto's practice sword--his Christmas gift from Kaoru--had just been broken in half. The top piece went flying, landing a dozen meters away, leaving Takuto with nothing but a handle, a tiny guard, and about three inches of splintered wood.

And a mass of tangled crows headed straight at him.]

....dibs on the head :|a

[tuned_wrong]

[Aion had still his hands full fighting the crows on his end and keeping Takuto's back halfway save when he saw the bad situation his Meister had gotten into from the corner of his eyes. Elbowing a last crow right next to its eyes, the demon tossed himself down, diving back towards the redhead.]

Takuto!!

[Shortly before he reached him he changed in mid air, trusting to be caught.]

...so that leaves... the rest of him for Chrono? uhhhh

[tauborn]

[Aion's call got his attention at exactly the right moment. He jumped towards the direction his weapon was coming from, out of the way of most of the crows, grabbing Aion by the hilt in the same motion.

But he wasn't quite out of the way of the entire mass of feathers and madly flapping animals--a beating wing hit him before he even touched the ground after his leap, sending him into an awkward landing. In the next second, a clawed foot closed around his upper arm.

His feet left the ground again for a brief moment as the bird gripping him took flight. He swung Aion over his head, aiming for the leg but missing and gouging a deep, bloody streak underneath the bird's wing. He landed back on the ground in a shower of blood as the bird let go and dying, flew into a wall.]

[tuned_wrong]

[If there was one thing Aion didn't like about being in Weapon form, then it was that he isn't able to actively do something during it. Not even the destruction he helps to wreak upon their opponents help this feeling and he is one and about to jump out of it and enter the battle as himself again when the crow almost manages to drag Takuto up.

He doesn't do it because of several reasons, but he still finds himself tense and wanting to do more. Stupid as it is, he still feels a certain possessiveness towards Takuto - when the human had made the deal with him he had become part of Aion's group and his personal soul-supplier. Having some low-ranked wanna-be demons harm him rubbed the Sinner just the wrong way and it reflected in his wavelength as he channeled their resonance to make Takuto's strikes more and more effective.]

[tauborn]

[His attacks were more effective--they seemed to cut deeper and the blade seemed to move faster through the air. In fact, the pair of them would probably be unstoppable except for one small fact: Takuto isn't terribly good unless he's dual-wielding.

He can't seem to find his balance (and the crows swooshing through the air in every direction, raining feathers and occasional gory bits, certainly aren't helping) and every time he cuts through a wing or leg or throat, he keeps stumbling through his follow through, taking a few short steps to recover before looking for his next target. Normally, he'd follow through with his other hand and move fluidly from one attack to the next.

And even though he knows it annoys Aion, he can't help but toss the weapon between his hands between each attack, constantly swapping between right and left.]

[tuned_wrong]

[Aion didn't mind the being switched back and forth as much as he was worried about it becoming a pattern - which not only he but also the birds were becoming increasingly aware of.

Even though the crows had already lost a considerable number of their own they keep coming, matching their attacks more and more towards Takuto's pace and the small opening he has. They aim is to separate Meister and Weapon and the more they kept going, the closer they got to succeeding with it from what Aion could 'feel' while in that form.]

They are trying to separate us. Be careful with your rhythm!

[tauborn]

[The problem is that there really are too many of them. More black birds keep spiraling down from the sky to swarm them.

Aion's warning is helpful, but ultimately it's only a matter of time. The advice allows him to fend off several more of the birds, but he's trapped on all sides--even from above.

He steps forward to stab a bird but slips on the slick, blood-covered streets. His attack misses, and before he falls--and far before he can regain his balance--the birds see their chance.

In an instant, Takuto is being tugged in four different directions, and Aion is yanked from his grip in the beak of the bird he had been intending to kill. His feet get pulled out from under him in a confusion of feathered black bodies and hoarse, squawking cries.]

A-aion!! [He's flailing his arms and legs, trying to get the creatures to lose their hold, but each time he succeeds another takes its place. Beaks and talons close around his limbs, and one legs suddenly grips him around the throat. Where's his weapon? Is he alright?! What are these birds trying to accomplish?!]

[tuned_wrong]

[Aion lets out a yell as they get taken down and separated. He wants to turn back right away, but there are too many birds around and it's not safe to do so. The birds barely manage to stall him for a couple of moments, but it's enough to make their distance grow.

Finally seeing an opening to turn back without losing an eye immediately for doing so, the demon knows half of the crows simply to the ground and even tears or and the other into pieces with his claws, but they keep flocking to him and preventing him from taking proper flight.]

Takuto!! [His yell is interrupted by a curse as the crows try to lift him as well and he has all of his limbs full and busy fending them off successfully, garnering countless scratches and other minor wounds in the process.] Hold on! Don't let them drop you until I'm there!!

[tauborn]

[Takuto is thrashing around because being caught like this makes him feel incredibly helpless and that's not a feeling he wants to keep. Aion's words shock him into stillness, because in the few moments they'd been separated, he hadn't realized just how high the birds had taken him. In just those few moments.

He's past the point where he'd land safely if he managed to get the birds to drop him, which is a terrifying thought in itself. Are the birds planning to drop him anyway? Should he, of all things, try to hold on to them?

He's torn between acting and not acting. If he moves too much, he risks being dropped. But the longer he holds still, the smaller the chances are that he'll survive being dropped. And going quietly to whatever doom the birds are planning is... not something Takuto can so easily do.

And he promised Aion he wouldn't be a burden....]

Don't worry! I'll... I'll figure something out!! [He hopes Aion can hear him over the noise of the crows' cries and flapping wings. One lets go of one of his legs, but instead of feeling freer, it feels like the claws around his throat have constricted slightly. Swallowing is difficult--he can't even try to tell Aion that he's sure he'll be okay....]

[tuned_wrong]

[Aion lets out a curse as he is forced to watch Takuto being taken away even as he rages bloody murder on their enemies. He has realized by now that he wouldn't be able to catch up with them as long as those familiars are around and once again he finds himself cursing his lack of any special abilities.

Watching their distance grow, he calls after him.]

Stay alive! I'll come for you!

[tauborn]

[It's both encouraging and terrifying that Aion promised to come for him. Encouraging because it meant that Aion cared enough about him and seemed desperate to get him back. Terrifying because it meant that Aion had realized what Takuto was realizing: that Takuto isn't going to get out of this right away.

That, despite all the dire situations they'd been through together, this is by far the worst.

He doesn't know where the birds are taking him--and now it's becoming more and more clear that they are taking him somewhere far away--and he doesn't know how Aion will be able to find him, or even if Aion will manage to get out of the mess that he's in. What if the birds just keep coming and he gets worn out? What if the birds' final destination is high above the desert where he'll plummet like a stone to the dry, baking ground....

No. He wills himself to think positively, because Aion said he'd come. He vows to stay alive, even though he can't even gasp the words out. In fact, he's feeling rather light-headed...

To think that they'd be overwhelmed by a flock of birds....]