[OPEN] Mission 156

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to participants who signed up here.
Location: Lake Tahoe, CA
Rating: Various.
Time: March 27th, late morning.
Description: The second of the three Madness emitters outside Death City is the target for this mission. Bundle up, everyone -- it's gonna be a cold one.

The mission begins late in the morning, to allow the mission-goers as much sunlight as possible in the warmest part of the day. Not that it'll help much… Temperatures are well below freezing already -- unnatural even for early Spring in the mountains -- and a howling snowstorm threatens to blot out the sun, beginning up the mountain where the slope just begins to rise sharply.

The slopes themselves are fairly barren: a windswept-looking tree here, a cabin that may have once belonged to the snow patrol there, maybe a Madness-crazed bear or mountain lion. Those braving the storm are lucky enough to see five feet in front of their face in these conditions!

Those brave few who manage to make it to the top (enduring falling temperatures and defeating the corrupted fauna and hulking kishin yeti along the way) may come across their goal at the very summit of the half-mile-high mountain: the Madness emitter itself, in the eye of the storm… And one last obstacle: the Witch guarding it.



OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED]
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!

Comments

[awokentospring]

Lee was immune to awkwardness on such a subtle level, and even more overt awkwardness no longer bothered him for the most part. Came part and parcel when you were often the butt-end of jokes for a great deal of your childhood and people were constantly calling you out on your own failings. Some people broke leaving them hyper-sensitive to that sort of thing, but Lee had denied his tormentors satisfaction and, along with Gai's support, he had managed to block out a great deal. In this case, however, it might have been better if he had noticed the shift between him and his partner.

Oh well. The mission went on. And Lee's hands were starting to get a little cold at last.

Pulling his hands away, Lee reached back into his pockets to retrieve his gloves. "I am not afraid of anything that comes our way. I have confidence this mission will be a success!"

He pulled on the bright orange gloves and almost immediately felt his fingers recharging their warmth. It wouldn't be long before they were back to feeling toasty, though he wondered if the transformation into his weapon form would nullify the need for warmth or not.

[heavenly_earth]

Where Lee was oblivious, Neji was acutely aware of himself and the things around him. More specifically, the people around him and their perceptions and expectations. There might've been no one to watch, but he was still conscious of the weight of those expectations.

So Neji straightened with a nod and took a step back, looking around and feigning another sweep of their immediate surroundings he already had a mental layout of. But there was very little to be seen with regular vision, and he was grateful that they had Clairvoyance to avoid being surprised by anything. Veins slid back to his eyes and opened the world back up to him as he sweeping over snow fields, trees, and abandoned buildings to catalogue the nearest threats.

Sucking in a cold breath, Neji forgot all about the pervading self-consciousness, and hopes instead that Lee's confidence was more than sheer optimism.

"A corrupted soul, roughly 450 meters northeast, stationary for the moment. Two wolves heading down the slope at 300 meters and closing."

[awokentospring]

Duty called. Lee's face drew into a neutral look of determination. Neji was already scoping out the surroundings again, and judging from his stance they were not as in the clear as they had been minutes before.

"Understood. We should take out the wolves directly." Before they could get further down and disturb the medic area, or reach any other teams. They could worry about the corrupted soul after the first obstacles were taking care of.

Lee reached out his hand to his partner. "Shall we begin, then, Neji?"

[heavenly_earth]

Neji affirmed this with a nod, and reached out for Lee's hand, grasping it with his own. He kept steady eyes on the incoming wolves, waiting and watching for the moment either of them would pick up on their scent and veer toward them.

"Take it easy on them, Lee. We'll need everything for the Kishin Egg ahead. Judging by the way it's built, it won't go down easily."

[awokentospring]

Lee grasped Neji's hand back with full confidence before letting himself slid into the transition from human to Weapon. The transformation, as always, was disorienting at first, especially when augmented by Neji's Clairvoyance. But he was slowly growing more used to the sensations. He almost welcomed them, like some sort of rush.

"Then I shall hold back for as long as possible! Let us beat them out with speed and precision!" That was the best defense against Lee's own handicap as well. If they could move fast enough and strike the weak points of the maddened creatures then he wouldn't even have to use his ability to take them down. And, hopefully, that would be enough.

Lee could see them now, all the enemies Neji's power had managed to pinpoint. Even that Kishin...

Damn, that's huge. The thought was pulled unbidden through their resonance, along with Lee's realistic view of the situation. This was not going to be easy. He wasn't going to give up, but this was not going to be easy.

"Let us do our best, Neji."

[heavenly_earth]

Focused on the inbound wolves, Neji reached down and unstrapped his snowshoes, ignoring the way his feet sunk into cold he felt even through his boots.

He could see them without Clairvoyance now, and watched them, waiting, analyzing, pinpointing vulnerabilities, and swung Lee in preparation of the fight. His vision expanded as they drew close and he drove forward, splintered into 360 degrees that would allow him to see everything that came.

Legs, underbelly if they rear up, jaw