[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

[morecowbell]

As the coyotes took turns lunging at her, she was able to parry them well enough but the fact that she could feel the sharp edge of her sword cutting through flesh was downright disturbing. Luckily, a lot of the blood was quickly getting covered with the fresh flakes of snow that were growing thick in the air. Her voice cut through every now and then with some line like, "back off you filthy animals!"

With each attack, she backed up further toward the mountain until she... backed into a group of small trees. It was done with such grace and artistry, the trees trembled and thusly all the snow that had been sitting atop them dislodged and fell with a loud "whump" on top of her. "Ahhh!" You see, it was very cold and she lost hold of her sword somewhere in that pile of snow leaving her with only the dagger she had hidden up her sleeve;of course being stuck in a giant pile of snow made it difficult to actually get at it. And then there were the coyotes who she basically just handed herself over to on a snowy white platter. "J...just not the face...?"

[nofarplaneyet]

Oh fayth. Auron saw the girl trying to fight some wild dogs and manage to trip and land in snow. A newbie if there ever was one. He took long running strides and slapped one in mid-air before it could think about making the girl a snack.

Now the coyotes had six feet of skilled swordsman and nearly six feet of steel to contend with. "You all right?" Auron asked with his slightly raspy voice.

[morecowbell]

She would headbutt those damn things if she had to, Nanami was not going to be eaten without a fight, hell, if she took a bite out of a few, she could always acid wash her mouth later, right?

There was a moment of panic as one jumped at her but then a hero appeared, a really tall hero. He easily knocked the attacking beast aside with one swing of his arm. Nanami was awe struck as she looked up at the man's rugged features. "Y..yeah." was all she managed to murmur while still lodged in the snow bank.

[nofarplaneyet]

Good to know she was only shaken up and buried in snow but not seriously hurt. Auron turned his attention to the pack of dogs and proceeded to carve them up.

When the last of them flopped dead, Auron knelt down and wiped his sword clean on the snow. He shouldered the massive blade and then turned around to help the girl.

[morecowbell]

The girl was on an emotional roller coaster, one part of her was amazed at how cool this guy was and the other part just really wanted to throw up, however she wasn't about to give into that second side in front of anyone, ever. She focused on his movement rather than the damage his over-sized sword was dealing.

She did manage to feel her way to her own sword and free it and her arms by the time he turned to help, and for once in her life, Nanami was speechless as she looked at him dumbstruck.

[nofarplaneyet]

She looked a little shaken up, but not too hurt. "You all right?" he asked. "Need help getting up?"

[morecowbell]

"Um..." She set her sword off to the side and shifted uncomfortably in the giant pile of snow trying to push herself the way one exits the side of the pool using a little bounce of the feet and mostly upper arm strength. Of course she had loosened the snow up a bit earlier and like a needle through a piece of fabric, her arms simply punched through the snow beneath her causing her to face plant.

"Yeah, that's just great..." she mumbled into the snow and then adding a little louder, "help..." It was either that or roll out like a moron somehow and hope to not fail worse.

[nofarplaneyet]

Auron managed to hold back the sound of amusement he wanted to make. He scooped a bit of snow around the girl before taking her hand and helping her out.

"You alone or do you have a partner nearby?" he asked.

[morecowbell]

She appreciated the fact that he didn't laugh at her and she held onto his hand while carefully stepping out of the snowbank. Once out she worked at brushing herself off. Snow had soaked into her jacket (which was not made for snow) reminding her that it was freaking cold out here.

"Thank you. I came on my own," she answered picking up her mundane sword and glancing over at his unsure if it was a human weapon, "what about you?"

[nofarplaneyet]

"On my own, like you. Couldn't find a Weapon partner to join up so I thought I'd stick around here."

Auron knew how to survive in different climates. Judging by the girl's clothing, she was going to get a lot colder sooner if they didn't find a cabin to warm up in.

[morecowbell]

Her ears perked up, "so you're a Meister then? Um..." how did one ask about this, she wasn't sure, it seemed a bit awkward. "I'm a weapon... would you be opposed to attempting resonance?" She wondered if it would be warmer in weapon form.

[nofarplaneyet]

"All right. It'll be safer for both of us if we can resonate. If kishin eggs come crawling, we'll at least be able to defend ourselves."

Auron nodded for her to start transforming.

[morecowbell]

"..." Nanami stared at him for a moment with full knowledge that he was waiting for her to transform. "...could you.. turn around?" Yeah, she still wouldn't do it directly in front of someone.

[nofarplaneyet]

This time Auron couldn't hide the snort of amusement but he did as he was told. He supposed everyone treated their transformations differently.

[morecowbell]

Did he just snort at her? "..." Seriously, was she the only one here that thought changing in front of someone else was indecent? The blond waited until he wasn't facing her anymore and quickly changed into her scimitar form. "Okay, gently now..." Hanabi had warned her about bad resonance and she was a little worried about that but he had rescued her so he was obviously a good person or so her simpleminded thought process told her.

[nofarplaneyet]

"Interesting looking sword form." Auron tended toward giant blades, but this could work. He picked up the blade gently and began to try to match his resonance with hers. His experience and that touch of grief that never left his soul might be a good match for her youth and enthusiasm.

[morecowbell]

Nanami pushed back a little remembering how it worked when she tried it with Hanabi for the first time. So far so good, their determination seemed well matched. "What do you think? ... wait did we do this backwards? I suppose we should have introduced ourselves first... it might be a little late now but I'm Nanami."

[nofarplaneyet]

"Auron. Good to meet you."

He swung the Weapon a few times, getting a feel for it. The sword, despite how different it looked to Auron, handled well.

"You ever fight a kishin egg before?"

[morecowbell]

"A pleasure to meet you as well." For only her second resonance, Nanami was getting quite used to being swung around. "I... uh... no, I'm still pretty new to all of this," and it was true, she'd only been in Death City for two weeks.

[nofarplaneyet]

"I have. Resonance is different than probably anything you can ever do, but the main point is to trust the person you're with. Together we can make each other stronger."

Nanami might have been a newcomer but she seemed to bounce back fast enough. A good sign.

[morecowbell]

Nanami agreed since that's what several people had told her. His voice was reassuring making her feel more confident, "I've been told one of my abilities is speed so let's test that out, shall we?" She wanted to know to a greater extent, just what her abilities entailed.

[nofarplaneyet]

"Good idea." The more they talked and resonated, the easier it got. Auron felt his Soul Armor cover them both. "Now we're ready."

[morecowbell]

The sensation was different than when she was with Hanabi. Nanami was beginning to realize that each partnership would have a completely different feeling. She was determined to show Auron that she was better than the human snowman he found.

As the two moved around in the snow Nanami was on the lookout for mostly anything that might be around them. It was a strange view from where she was being held. "Did you hear that? Something off to the left." Something had rustled over in the foliage, it was different from the sound of snow being crushed under foot.

[nofarplaneyet]

In response, Auron flipped the sword to cover himself perfectly in front. He walked slowly in that direction to both flush out whatever it was and to be protected from the attack.

lol you decide! It's like a choose your own adventure book?

[morecowbell]

The blonds heart rate increased but not from fear, perhaps it was anticipation or even a little bit of excitement. After all, Hanabi had hacked away at a practice target with her in weapon form and it totally didn't hurt at all. Whatever popped out at them had better be ready for one heck of a beat down, her temporary partner was pretty strong from what she could tell.

Nanami strained her ears in order to catch any nearby movement, then there it was, a couple of twigs snapped to the side of them (it had moved several feet from when they had first heard it), closer than she had anticipated. Out leapt something light in color with dark thin markings. Was it a kishin egg, a hungry mountain lion, a bunny rabbit?!