soul_logs | EVENT: The Attack of the Clowns

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EVENT: The Attack of the Clowns

Early in the morning, those who had brought one back would find the bird keychains they brought back from their trip to that skii resort doing something...strange. The small eyes on the things started pulsing with a faint light that might go unnoticed at first. It doesn't stop though, and keeps right on pulsing for the rest of the morning.

Shortly, before noon, the light stops pulsing and shines bright enough to be uncomfortable.

Two things happen at once when it does.

One of these things is this: within a 50 meter radius of every keychain, strange ripples appear in the ground. From these ripples, something that is barely humanoid in shape slowly ascend. Their colours range from red to silver to yellow to purple. When they've materialized all the way, the Clowns immediately spring into action, attacking anyone nearby and, if there is no one, move in whatever direction they were facing, seeking victims.

The other thing that happens is a voice, young, lilting and feminine, being projected through the keychains.

""Thank you for all that you have done: none of this would have been possible without your contributions. I would thank you all in person except I don't believe I am really welcome here. Which is a pity as I hadn't gotten to meet all of my lovely victims the first time around. Please accept these children as a token of my appreciation instead. They are a little, ah, crude, but I do hope you will all play nicely~."

((OOC: Please put [Character Name | Location | OPEN/CLOSED ] in your subject header! Event information can be found here.))

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He furrowed his eyebrows and thought of that fight. He wasn't sure he wanted to recall it, especially after so long, and how it tore the girl up. But when his mind was on staying alive and cleaning up house, the connection wasn't entirely clicking.

But the way the 'hair' rose on a red, the smile less 'wicked' and more passive, as if it had everything under control and knew exactly what it was doing...

An uneasiness built in his stomach.

"I was thinkin' somethin' like that. 'They're too weird, the way they act, it ain't right'."

"Indeed. How have they managed to copy their attacks?"

It was definitely concerning. If Akiha and Sion's abilities were being copied by these clowns, what else could they imitate? They didn't seem to exhibit any other abilities. That at least meant they were limited.

"Well, they wouldn't be happy seeing them. We should clear them out before they drag up any more memories."

He blinked briefly down at the Deathscythe in his hands, but looked ahead soon enough with a ghost of a grin on his face. Akiha and Sion were rough as hell around the edges, but weren't they all?

The least they could do was wipe out the mocking remnants of a bad memory. "You got it!"

The trick was finding one, but they didn't have to trek out too far: They had a strange power that felt like burning, and... well, there were some burned-out husks lying on the ground. It disturbed him how less and less seeing death shocked him.

"Gettin' close to one, I think... I smell smoke. You ready?"

Naoto still had her off and on days with Akiha, but she was Kanji's friend for lack of better term. She couldn't very well leave them to deal with it alone either.

"I'm always ready when you are." Ammunition was already loaded. It was time to further test the ability they were still exercising with. Every fourth bullet was laden with a trigger, primed and ready to come back around if they missed. Naoto wouldn't have any difficulty putting a lock on the target.

Sure as shit, there was one of the spindly, creepy clowns. Standing atop a stopped vehicle, its head was lifted high as if waiting for something...

Kanji wouldn't keep it waiting. He raised the Gunblade and fired, but the moment the gunshots fired, the Clown whipped its head in their direction and moved all too quickly in their direction, letting the shots slam directly into its 'person'.

He'd been taking on different Clowns all morning... but nothing like this. Kanji paused and charged a Soul Descent. He needed distance! But he could also do with a little suppressing fire, no matter how unflinching these creepy asses were!

The bullets all struck, but it seemed to recover just as quickly as they fired. She made more as it came, enough for each pull of the trigger, but the clown wasn't going down. There wasn't time to make them stronger. The weak ammunition was being pumped out fast, but the other shells were taking their time.

Finally, enough were prepared. She slipped it into the load, waiting and aware his own energy was storing for a Soul Descent. Would they be able to knock it back in time?

"Fuck off!" He barked, sending a punch of soul energy to stop the Clown's momentum. The shrill scream that followed was almost a giggle as he felt the 'ping' that always followed a reloaded Weapon, and Kanji decided it was time to bring things back into the offensive.

He decided on a few headshots. The hell was goin' on... did this thing even have eyes? So how's it know where it's going??

Clown back and bending around, her eyes narrowed to examining it more closely. Her soul echoed after the shot and she analyzed the clown quickly. Red, just one of the many here. Other colors were cataloged: silver, yellow, and purple.

What about this one besides color was different. Obviously, it emulated Akiha's demonic abilities. Still, something about it... "... Kanji, it doesn't have eyes."

Then she confirmed his suspicions. No eyes, so... it couldn't see? It was blind? Kanji paused in confusion and backed off, gauging how much damage they'd been doing to the thing.

His eyes widened briefly when the Clown paused, turning its wounded head this way and that, grinning lips parted and tasting the air against a forked tongue. Kanji hunched down slightly, ready to charge again, but he lifted an arm and waved it. He was over in this direction, not over there...

But it hadn't even tracked the movement.

"Holy shit... they -are- blind... and the gun makes noise when fired!" He looked down at the Gunblade, but peered back at the Clown. They should switch to blade, but the change made a little noise as well. He needed to give her time to change, but guard himself at the same time it seemed.

He lifted a hand away from Naoto's weapon form and balled it. The other used a finger to flick the trigger backward. It's not his style, but if less sound keeps the Clown unaware, then more power to them.

Interesting. So it had been relying solely on the sounds they had been making in order to fight. With its ability discovered and hindered, it could only wonder where they had gone while being barely ten feet away.

"Yes. Guns make noises when fired." Not something he had to necessarily point out, but they did have to make less noise.

Feeling his eyes on her, Naoto looked back and understood what he was thinking. He wanted her to become a blade. It would make a little noise during, but they would be in a better position to fight.

His finger touched the trigger; she snapped out to the blade.

And the Clown's head snapped in their direction, and Kanji swore under his breath when it charged. He met it headlong in the middle, balling a fist. Soul Menace was something he could do on the fly now, but-

"Wh-what the-!?" But the Clown was like some sort of goop- it tried to melt around his hand and suck him in, despite the damage it took to the soul. With little emotion to be had, there was no way Kanji could tell he was hurting the thing... and he didn't like it.

He threw out a foot, kicking the lower stomach and pulling himself free. But now he was moving as the Clown was on the assault, swinging and biting as he tried to work in an opening for a slice. Goddamn it, these things were a pain!

Why did he think that would work? Not everything could be punched; they learned that on plenty of missions before. It was a conversation - yet again - for later. Teeth gritted, Naoto watched it swing and bite and pushed her energy.

"Kanji, let it bite the blade and pull!" If it wanted to keep snapping like that, they may as well cut its head off.

"But-!" Bite the blade? Good idea. He just had to hope those teeth weren't all that up to snuff, or he was practically gift-wrapping his partner to bite wounds. In a split-second offering, his own resilience was handed her way. As a Deathscythe she could withstand it, but... c-consider it a reckless blockhead boyfriend thing.

Kanji paused and turned the blade. He stopped the assault dead when teeth clamped down on the blade, chewing as the blind monster thought briefly it'd found bone, and a burning sensation began in his skin. Shit, it was just like fighting Akiha again...!

But he had to pull in the blade, slice through... clenching his jaw to bite through the pain, he hoped these Clowns were as soft as they looked.

"I'll be fine! You know that!" She wasn't some simple sword; she had her own power to put into this. Sharpening and strengthening the thin metal, she butted against his resilience, but calmly. He had to do this or they would be in trouble.

Naoto felt the teeth hit her, a clang echoing and partially making her shiver. Concentrating, she put more energy into the blade as the heat came down. Keep chewing; it wasn't going to dent her.

As he pulled, she cleaved. The blade slit into the junctures of its jaws and ripped into its throat, cutting further in. Black ooze split, but didn't bind back together.

She was cutting through and the important thing was that black ichor wasn't melting back together, reconnecting to form the whole. So its core, its brain or whatever, was what signaled everything to come together.

Sever the head, down the Clown.

So with a roar Kanji poured all in and pulled further, yanking the blade in and through to retrieve it again- he didn't like leaving the blade in something like black blood if he could help it; too gross.

The Clown's body slackened and he kicked it away, swinging the blade to whip off the ooze. He took a moment as he bucked up from the odd burning, tingling of the power the Clown had used on him, and nodded.

"Tohno-san's version's got a bigger punch. She'll probably be happy to know they can't beat the original." The smile was wry as he continued onward. They had more Reds to find!

He was pushing her further, severing the clown's head and knocking out any potential of using its powers again. It wasn't able to heal itself quickly enough and the heat died as the body did. Kanji pulled her through the rest of the way and the clown's body fell back at the kick with a splat.

Most of the black ichor came off with a few swings, but the rest could require a good bath later. Her soul touched his, concerned at the buck, but he seemed fine. His words make her smile faintly.

"Of course. A copy isn't on par with the original." Perhaps they can evoke the same feeling, but it's never the same. With this one down, Naoto focused ahead to find another.

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EVENT: The Attack of the Clowns

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