EVENT: The Attack of the Clowns

[soul_mods]

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.))

Comments

[de_faulty_hero]

Having dispatched the clown, he cut a clear path to allow people to get into buildings where it would hopefully be safe. He knew that Sephiroth was doing the same grudgingly because his partner accepted his own need to keep innocent people safe from harm. He appreciated the older man doing so and let that emotion slip down the link between them.

He twisted to the side of a sweeping strike from a purple clown that came down before him, narrowing his eyes at the sensation of his energy being pulled from him. He engaged it immediately, not about lose himself when there was plenty of fighting left. His sword flashed before he slammed his charged fist into the clown's chest to blow it off of its feet and leave an hole from his soul menace.]

"Like it was suppressing or wrestling control of my thoughts. Be careful."

[pure_lineage]

Sephiroth's attention was on the opponents in front of him, but there was always some part of his mind that would never stray far from the connection he had with Cloud. Now was undoubtedly one of those times, and he took what comfort that it provided as the clown was taken down. His main concern was no longer the clowns though but on what his partner wanted to say. Sephiroth didn't like the thought that there was something that could get close enough to Cloud to create such a thing. No, it got his possessive side flaring up as he had to hold himself back from reacting. It wouldn't do well for him to lose his cool and slip into possessiveness.

"Suppressing and wrestling control of them?" He couldn't stop the near-possessive growl that slipped into his tone. Slashing at the silver one that attempted to come up from behind, Sephiroth stabbed it without even glancing at the creature as his sharp gaze fixated solely on the one thing that was most important to him. That clown dared to touch what was his so intimately? The thought was already starting to cause well tempered fires to start flaring out of control, and even despite being unaffected with madness, Sephiroth felt the darkness attempting to leak back through his mind.

His strikes turned more vicious as the air around him seemed to cool around him. The person hiding behind him scrambled wisely away as his wing burst out of his shoulder and flared in all of its might. The caution didn't even register in his mind at all. No, he would make it his mission to destroy every single one of those clowns to protect what was his.

[de_faulty_hero]

Cloud finished off the clown that was probably already dead on the ground, but he wanted to make certain that they couldn't regenerate either. He tilted his head at the building emotion in his partner, alarmed at first and then amused when he realized what it was as he lifted his sword to set it against his shoulder as he turned to regard the older man.

"You can kill the yellow ones from now on, if you like?" He knew that sensation of possessiveness well, and he knew it would continue to eat at Sephiroth and set the older man until some level of vengeance had been achieved against the slight that his partner perceived. The emergence of Sephiroth's wing only confirmed how deep the possessiveness went, and he offered his partner a sly look. "You're welcome in my mind instead, you know."

[pure_lineage]

The possessiveness curled through him much like a snake coiling in on itself when it was shifting defensively. He would strike and do so with no semblance of regret in his motions. There would never be any remorse in him, not when it came to protecting what was his.

The sound of Cloud's voice only further drove that thought through his mind. There was no 'like' about it. He would be taking down any yellow coloured clowns, or any colour that stood in his way to strike them down. His feathered wing seemed to shiver with the dark possessiveness he felt, and even despite the sly look Cloud offered him, he found no amount of his determination straying from his new path.

"No one is allowed within the confines of your mind other than me," Sephiroth growled, his pace going from standstill to near-invisible as he took off towards the first yellow clown he saw. Nothing stood in his way as he rapidly darted through whatever was in his path. Flames and shapes would form, but never would they go beyond the first stages of transition as he cut each one in half.

[de_faulty_hero]

He knew better than to get between Sephiroth and anything the older man had set sights on for possessive reasons; his partner meant to destroy those creatures now. He shifted his weight, also knowing better than to tease or make an attempt to calm the man down at this point. It was not worth his time and Sephiroth would only calm when the threat had been destroyed.

"Ah... yes, I suppose that's true," he murmured before rubbing the back of his head. Sephiroth had really been the only one in it before, aside from maybe those weird illusions that Aerith had given him to say she was going off to stop Meteor.

"Hey wait, we're fighting together!" It was too late, the older man charging off. He sighed and took off after his partner at a sprint, but the clowns stood no chance against the speed and power in which his partner moved. He finished a few off that didn't die right away before hastening after the growing path of destruction.

[pure_lineage]

Revenge was the only thing on his mind as Sephiroth took off. He cared nothing of the other colours that was attacking the city, and picked up his pace when he locked his sights on the yellow clown. Growling lightly, his muscles almost seemed to bulge when he drew in closer. The Masamune swiped out with blinding speed as it cut through the flesh of the yellow clown. He swiped it through successfully five more times before the clown could even react, and the ex-General watched with satisfaction when it seemed to fall to bits all around him.

Cloud had only just seemed to get back to his side before he was throwing his right arm up to take control of the shadows beneath the feet of another yellow clown. Unmindful of the fate of anything near it, his expression darkened as he controlled the shadows to cause the clown to implode.

[de_faulty_hero]

It was clear that Sephiroth's only real focus was the yellow clowns, even if the older man might have injured a few to get to those the older man deemed in need of serious hurt. He cleared the rest of the way, killing the clowns left over as he doggedly followed after his partner and guarding the man's back when it was clear the older man relished destroying the yellow ones in particular.

He should get ahold of Sephiroth and give the man a firm shaking to break him out of the mood, but it hadn't worked in the past and it wasn't going to work now. Instead, he brushed his back against Sephiroth's to let the man know he was there before he moved away to cut into another silver clown, only to return to his partner's side when the threat was taken care of. "Are you planning on destroying all the yellow ones or just the ones in this area?"

[pure_lineage]

He sensed Cloud's approach and felt something else flare along with the possessiveness as their backs lightly brushed by each other. He wouldn't let anyone or anything else become so intimately involved with his partner. The spaces of Cloud's mind were his to do with as he pleased if he willed, not the playground of any other filthy life form. He guarded that private space viciously and would spare no remorse for any yellow clown that flaunted their presence. Cloud was there with him though, was there supporting him, and he wouldn't ever compromise what belonged to them and allow it to be soiled ever again.

"If they dare to flaunt their presence near you their lives will be forfeit," Sephiroth growled as he scanned the area and sighted no further yellow clowns. He would make certain that he would find more. Turning his heated eyes on Cloud, he pinned the blonde with his overly bright glare. "If one dares to enter your thoughts again I will tear it limb by limb."

[de_faulty_hero]

This close to Sephiroth, Cloud could sense his partner so clearly and while his expression didn't change and his concentration was for the clowns that still lurked in the city, he also knew he was safe body, mind and soul with the older man. A year ago, he would have never believed it because Sephiroth had always been a threat to his everything and now his partner went so far to protect it.

"I'll be certain to let you know if any of them bad-touch my mind," he murmured with a smirk before he reached back and played a hand over Sephiroth's backside. He turned to regard the older man, aware they had a brief reprieve for a minute or two. "I don't think yellow would look very nice on your coat..."

[pure_lineage]

The mere thought that any of them would dare to do such a thing to Cloud was enough to set the ex-General off. While an attack, whether physical or not, on Cloud's body was enough to get on Sephiroth's bad side, to him it wasn't anywhere near as infuriating than something coming into contact with Cloud in such an intrusive manner.

"I would have it no other way," Sephiroth growled through the brief reprieve of clowns in the area. The feel of that hand playing over his backside did draw Sephiroth's attention back to the blonde behind him although his eyes remained narrowed. "Why would I have such a colour on my coat?"

[de_faulty_hero]

He was really going to have to stop needling Sephiroth in this mood because it clearly was only raising the older man's blood pressure and want to destruction. He honestly couldn't help himself, given his partner was so easy to tease and he saw so little wrong with enemies attacking what they could as long as damage wasn't done. The older man's anger and irritation was easily felt.

"You'll be the first to know, I assure you," he murmured, and he offered a playful wink at the older man for his previous antics. He knew he had best be careful as flirting and possessiveness might land him in a bad position. "If you kill them all and they spray their... blood or whatever it is, you might get some on you. Then you'd look like a honey bee and I could ask you why you have such a bee in your bonnet?"

[pure_lineage]

Sephiroth was at least pleased that Cloud wouldn't keep such things from him. The playful wink was returned with a grudging grunt while he kept close to where his partner was. "You had best keep it that way as well," Sephiroth warned with a subtle growl. Cloud may have been right about one thing though, if he wasn't careful it would end with him in a bad position.

"When have I ever been so sloppy as to get such a mess on me?" The ex-General grunted in reply before a sharp glare was given to Cloud at the honey bee comment. Another clown was fortunately coming on in which allowed for Sephiroth's attention to partially switch back over to it. He was on the move again to attack it but not before he muttered, "I believe the answer to your question would be rather obvious."

[de_faulty_hero]

He snickered a little at the grunt, aware that his partner savoured his attentions in such a way, and he didn't move away from the older man either. He restrained himself from touching his partner though even if he wanted to; there was a time and a place for such antics and the middle of the battlefield was not one of them. "You know that I will. If anything happens, you'll know."

He shrugged his shoulders, aware that it was true that Sephiroth was a very clean fighter. He wasn't so certain about the different coloured blood the clowns released when cut, so he wasn't about to put his gloved hands into it. "I get the feeling you don't appreciate my attempt at humour in these situations," he called as Sephiroth moved off to engage another clown. "You're supposed to laugh at my jokes, by the way."

[pure_lineage]

The clowns were beginning to amass again near their location. Sephiroth had seen their closing movements, but he hadn't yet moved away from where his partner was stationed at his back. He would in all due time, but the comment Cloud made had him pausing to peer back at the younger male.

"Do not assume such nonsense," Sephiroth found himself murmuring while his gaze lingered on Cloud. It dropped away a few moments later as his gaze drifted back over to the clowns. He wasn't quite certain what had gotten over him in that last moment. A fool, that's all that he was. He had already lost Cloud once and had told himself that he would use every moment to appreciate the once-blonde's presence, but it appeared as though he had already gone back on that vow. "You have my apologies however."

Sephiroth didn't stick around after that and launched himself back at the clowns to take the next few out.

[de_faulty_hero]

Cloud saw the clowns, but he wasn't quite concerned about their numbers yet, not when he knew that he and Sephiroth would rush in and take them out very soon. He would relish fighting with the older man more, but that would come after he had finished teasing Sephiroth.

He snorted and feigned being chastened by the rebuke, and he simply crossed his arms over his chest to regard the upcoming battle. His partner was always so rough when it came to teasing, but he did it anyway because he liked to see the older man lighten at times. He nudged his partner with a finger to the ribs at the sudden downturn of mood. "I don't need your apologies on being you. When I say something amusing, you'll do that chuckle that you do."

He followed at the older man's elbow when he felt Sephiroth about to leave, positioning himself to fight close and savour the battle.

[pure_lineage]

The reaction Cloud gave didn't settle his thoughts even after his partner poked him in the ribs. He still felt as though he was taking this far too seriously even if he knew that he would slaughter any of those yellow parasites on sight. Still that didn't keep him from peering at the younger male from the corner of his eyes when Cloud said that there was no need for an apology.

Sephiroth didn't say anything, but felt those words run through his mind along with find comfort in Cloud's presence when he took off again after the clowns.