— 01 / open / past us is distant

[morns]

🧙 WHO: Kate & Anyone who wants to run into her
⚔️️ WHAT: In which our sullen heroine cleans up the city (After The Storm quest), fights with some bridge trolls (...Bridge... Trolls quest) and remains unsettled by her familiar.
🕒 WHEN: Throughout the month.
🗺️ WHERE: All over the place, really.
⚠️ WARNINGS: IDK I'll add to this as necessary.


— do you wanna get some more.

( the city isn't in ruins, but close enough. the storm battered everything it could, snapping branches from trees and sending anything not completely fixed in place several (hundred) feet away from where it started.

but this sort of damage can be fixed. buildings can be repaired, trees... well, she can't just sellotape the branches back on, she doesn't think, but those which are still standing should be fine. it's the ones which aren't standing that are the problem. such as the one Kate finds herself staring at, having already hefted the shattered branches and debris surrounding it into a canvas bag at her side. she exhales a breath and reaches a hand to her hair, just to find it remains neatly in the same tight pink braid it's been in all day.

this isn't happening by herself. so where...

ah! )

Oi!

( you, rando. ) You seen a saw?

— we just lost sight.

( there are people who'd disagree, whose eyes would widen in pity and shock to hear it said, but sometimes there are things which can only be solved with violence. and it seemingly doesn't matter what world you find yourself in, because these things do not seem open to negotiation.

violence for violence is the rule of the beasts, but beasts these things seem to be. and so, Kate ends up ensconced behind a (standing) tree, crouched and staring at the group of trolls as they lounge in the surroundings of several pilfered products.

(none of which are hers, thank you very much. she's not a total idiot... mostly.) )

Think you can get round the back?

( well, howdy, partner. we're trying a pincer formation here. any objections? )

— do you wanna go somewhere.

( she just. stares.

stares and stares, following Kate around the city with an unblinking gaze and a dress as white as moonlight. not that Kate even remembers calling for this ridiculous woman — familiar. whatever. somehow she ended up with the eeriest fucker in the lake instead of literally anyone, anything else.

(okay, so maybe she wouldn't exactly want a waste monster, but they wouldn't just stare at her all the damn time.)

in the middle of the city it all breaks down, and those who pass by will certainly hear the irritated tones of half an argument as the familiar answers each question in a monotone as unperturbed as her stare is unblinking. )

D'you have to follow me?

You... called me.

The hell I did. What're you supposed to be anyway?

I'm the washer woman.

... What.

( no one would blame you if you just moved on, but maybe you're a particularly kind soul who wants to stop someone fighting with their own familiar? or maybe you just want to poke the bear a little more?

i'm not your boss. )

— we only try to avoid it.

( wildcard option! write your own starter, or contact me at isanghae / isanghae#8071 and we can hash something out. )

Comments

[birdflipping]

[Nero does at least shut his mouth once Kate attacks -- no point baiting them any longer when they're confused and under attack.

While she cuts the first by the throat, a second swings its club toward her. He pulls out his revolver, Blue Rose, and sends two bullets punching through the troll's bicep, sending it reeling and howling in pain.]

[morns]

( the term all hell breaks loose isn't quite right here. it's not nearly chaotic or dangerous enough to earn that title, but things quickly turn into a messy flurry of trolls moving to attack whatever doesn't look like them. they're strong, and faster than Kate expects, but she avoids the club just as Nero catches it with two well-placed bullets. )

So y'are a good shot...

( look, there's enough time for her to be an asshole, and she can manage to make a compliment sound surprised even while using the reprieve Nero's granted her to grab the troll's injured arm and twist it painfully, using it as a shield between herself and another oncoming club attack. )

[birdflipping]

Gee, thanks. [No need to sound so surprised, Kate. With her using one of them as a shield, though, he can't risk aiming that high again without accidentally hitting her, so as another troll charges toward her he puts a couple of bullets in its thigh.

The rounds are designed to pierce the armour of even tough demons, so even on a large enemy as a troll it causes it to flinch and slow down, giving Nero enough time to draw his blade and charge forward to hamstring the troll with a few slashes, sending it reeling.]

Maybe it's a good thing those pants didn't fit. You'd have blood all over them! [Even if the trolls are too dumb to understand a word he's saying, he seems to enjoy shit talking them anyway.]

[morns]

( she's had quite enough of this thing, thank you very much. the troll is pushed into the nearest other one with a grunt and a flare of magic which pulses through her veins like adrenaline.

nice. the energy gives her that extra push to follow up the collision with her own knife, ignoring Nero's shit talking in favour of aiming strikes at the troll, who's pushed the dazed and bleeding hunk of its friend (? she doesn't know what these things consider each other) to the floor to try and swing its club once more.

her blade finds its wrist and slices, the pain distraction enough for her to get in closer and aim a kick at its kneecaps. or what she assumes is its kneecaps, anyway. )

[birdflipping]

[Trolls aren't the brightest of creatures, and while the troll Kate kicks howls as it's struck in the kneecaps, a third troll takes an... extreme measure to deal with the situation. Lifting up a chest of goods from their amassed loot pile, it hurls it with a grunt at friend and foe alike -- and Nero has to step in and halt it with kinetic magic to stop it crashing into both him and Kate.]

Get out of the way!

[Nero shouts to her as he backs off, before letting the chest go and watching it smash into the troll she'd been fighting.]

[morns]

( oh for the love of—

not knowing when to quit proves a lot more annoying when it's being used against you, that's for sure. but she doesn't need to be told twice, rolling away from the danger zone and to the edges of the battle. a moment to breathe and get her bearings—

or to see a troll winding up to aim its club at Nero. )

Give it up, already.

( she pushes herself forward and slams her shoulder into the troll's side. it isn't enough to knock the guy off balance, but it stops it making a hit on Nero, so that's good enough for Kate. )