middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

Dawn Attack

It's been a busy few days of fighting demons, attacking keystones and fighting both on the demon and human planes. On the morning of day nine of the month of Kazoo a gate opens close to the base camp that the two teams have made.

It seems the demons have decided to focus on this unexpected threat, because it is a sizable force, with a number of the large demons. They march towards the camp with single-minded focus, the opportunity to stop these unwanted defenders taking precedence over their desire to destroy the city.

The advantage to the landscape being as ruined as it is, is that there isn't much to stop the lookouts from seeing this force headed towards them. A gate opening is not subtle. There should be enough time to make sure the defenders are ready.

Scouting Ahead

Once that skirmish is won those on the Red team will find their SCA's beeping, with an exclamation point far out to the east.

A group of demons is congregating at the location indicated. Investigate why, defeat the demons and close any gates nearby.

It will take a while to get there and there is plenty to do on the way for those that follow the exclamation point. Roaming packs of demons, gates to be closed. Exhausting work, especially for those going in and out of the demon gates.

Protecting the City

Once it is clear that these defenders are not going to be easy to wipe out, the attacks on the city itself get more frequent. The demons have changed tactics: rather than sending in large groups they open many small portals, sending small strike teams to harry and target individuals.

Some of the attacks are clearly meant as traps: they open the gates in or very close to the city, to lure the Voidtreckers in to where they will be affected by the spell. Ranged attacks may be useful here.

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It is, luckily for Otoha. It and Sarge filled them in on what they were supposed to be doing, so they at least managed to complete the patrol, and it's a more familiar expression of subtle chagrin that Otoha sees on their face as they meet up again. "Sorry about that," they say. They really are more casual than the Asset, not that that's saying all that much.

He nods at Soldat, unable to convey any facial expressions with the armor on. "It's fine. It didn't bother me once I knew what was going on."

Though it was a little unnerving to be basically looking in a mirror. More blank than he had been in recent years... but basically like a grown up version of his child self, if he had never changed. That wasn't Soldat's fault though, or the Asset, or... whoever.

Otoha looks around and lowers his shoulders with a small clanking noise, relaxing slightly. "My body is back at camp. I told people that I trust to protect it."

They give a startled little twitch and give the armor a second look. "Wait. You're not in there?" They thought that was some kind of suit, for some reason. (Maybe at one point they were briefed on Iron Man and they no longer remember it.) "It's just a bunch of metal moving around? Remote-controlled?"

They're not sure if they like it or don't like it. Otoha's body being somewhere safe is a good thing, but they don't know what piloting a suit like this remotely takes out of him, either.

"No. Well. Yes. My soul is in here. So remote controlled in a way. I fight better like this - there's really nothing that can crack the armor other than another Karas' weapon."

Probably. It'd have to be something extremely strong and extremely magical.

"This is what Yurine allows me to do." Wait, bad choice of words. "This is what her power grants to me. ... Not that I can't fight outside of it. You've seen what I can do."

There's something in Soldat-- maybe the Asset-- that immediately wants to test that assertion. The metal arm can crack lots of things. It could probably crack it.

(Except we don't want to. Why not. Because he's my friend. No. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Asset. No.)

"As long as the rest of you is safe," they say, only a little dubiously. "And it doesn't hurt you to use it. How do you go back to... yourself?"

"No, it doesn't. Can go back to my body if I need to... turn into crow feathers and I wake up again. ... Only done this a few times with my body actually involved. Was in a coma almost a week after I got nearly killed the first time."

He spots a demon trying to get too close to camp and draws his sword, letting it hang in the air before it goes spinning like a propeller blade high into the air, chopping off the demon's head and returning to Otoha's outstretched hand.

"... Left Yurine at the main camp where she'll be safe. We can still communicate. She'll be more helpful serving food or helping with supplies." Not that he thinks that she'll do anything but sit by his body. "Got standing orders to report to medical for scans after every mission, anyway. I'm not worried. If it was an issue on a Karas' body then I'm not sure how Eko... hm."

He pauses for a moment. ... Maybe what he killed was just his soul. He saw him transform... but not a body. That's... slightly worrying. He pushes the thought aside. "I'm getting checked out."

"Let's maybe try not to get you nearly killed," Soldat suggests, watching the sword with clear envy. Like Steve's shield, something that always comes back after you decapitate someone with it. (That would be so fucking awesome. Seriously.) "Or killed entirely, for that matter."

They shake off the expression, look around once more, and say, "Come on. Patrol's done, we completed a mission, we should check in. Eat something." Before going out to find more gates. Soldat's SCA doesn't have the Red team's blinking exclamation point on it, so they're unaware of the threat as of yet. (Someone clearly should let them know.)

"I'm not going to take on all of the demons at once or something, you can calm down. But I'm a lot more durable with this on than most people." If a suit of armor coudl look amused, he would.

"I'll go with you, I -" ... Hm. "... Apparently the red team SCAs are flashing with something. I don't know what it is... I'll have to get back to my body to check." He waits a moment for that to sink in, and over the course of a few seconds the armor dissolves into black feathers that float up before disappearing.

When Soldat gets back to the central area where the food is kept, Otoha will be sitting there, frowning at his SCA.

Soldat has two thoughts about the de-materializing armor: first, that's actually really pretty; second, that is so wasteful, good god, do they make a whole new armor set out of nothing every time?? They stare at the feathers, maybe make a brief grab at trying to catch and keep one, then shake themselves out and head back into camp.

"What is it?" they ask, approaching his actual body, now.

Unfortunately the feathers dissolve into nothingness, so catching it won't do more than have him holding a crow feather for a second.

"There's a group of demons gathering at this point." He turns the SCA so Soldat can look at it. "We're supposed to find out why." He's tired... he needs to get some coffee or something. "Guess I'm going to get back in the armor faster than I thought."

Aw, too bad.

Soldat peers at the SCA, comparing it to their own, trying to gauge where on the map that dot is. Then they sigh a little. Looks like more to do. That's not going to be an easy one, they're pretty sure, not if all of Red team is being summoned to it. "Make sure you eat something first," they suggest. "I'm sure going to."

"... Right. Let me see what's around." He gets up, looking at where the point is. "My back's going to sound like I'm stepping on raw noodles when I get back, since it's so far away." No way is he dealing with some of this stuff outside of the armor. As fast as he is and as confident as he is in his skills, he knows what happened the last time he faced down a giant monster without his armor.

Soldat motions for him to sit his ass back down again, and takes a moment to imagine Misty smiling at them, Remember to eat, too, now, and handing over a pair of the bear-meat pies stored in the Arms Band. They appear on their own open palms, and they offer one to Otoha. "Here. These are made to be filling."

Meat, vegetables, and gravy baked inside a thick pastry-- it was a pain and a half to work out how to do, and several batches wound up soaked through with juice or burned inedible before they got it right. But these are edible. Maybe even tasty, if one doesn't mind the slightly weird taste of bear meat.

Otoha'll take pretty much anything at this point, so he takes the meat pie and starts digging in once he sits back down. There's none of his vaguely polite table manners here - it's just bite after bite like a kid trying to finish breakfast before the bus gets there.

If he keeps eating steadily to the end, Soldat will provide a second-- well, they'll produce one, and then cut it neatly in half so they can both have a piece. They devour their own, finding a seat beside him, perfectly happy to just eat and not talk.

It's been a long few days. A good few days, to be sure, if feels even more like what they're made for than the siege back in Beacon. Like they're using their skills for good instead of just stagnating. But still, long.

Once they're both done eating Otoha sighs. "... It looks like where we're going is maybe a day's walk for most people? I can cross the distance pretty fast, but I'm not going to just leave people."

More importantly, there's people in Red he wants to protect, Soldat being one of the top priorities.

"No, stay with the group as much as you can," Soldat agrees. "People out there alone are easy prey for smaller groups of demons. Even if you think you're invincible." They give his shoulder a little poke with one finger, smiling a bit. "I bet you're not. And I'd rather not lose you to something dumb like going out without backup."

Like they're going to yell at Thanatos about shortly, here, for that matter. Scouting without backup is stupid.

"... I mean, I've been told nothing but another Karas' weapon can crack it, so unless they're on the level of something like a city guardian..." Still, he bumps his shoulder against Soldat's. "But someone needs to be the shield."

A shield. Yeah, Soldat knows that feeling. But they don't want to be melancholy, here. So they say, "Quit bragging about your suit, pal." They're grinning, though. "You're gonna make the Asset jealous, and then it'll go back to insisting we test it."

"Probably not a great idea to crack open something housing a guy's soul, Asset. Unless you actually want to kill him." And they're friends, right? "... I don't mind, though. Even if I'm stiff after using it, at least I'm able to fight better in it."

Not that he's bad at fighting out of it, but with monsters like these...

Soldat gives a little wince. Given their lantern... yeah, they understand that. (No. Shut up, Asset.) "Your soul isn't bound to it, though, right? It's a temporary thing. I watched it disappear."

"No. ... Well, it's inside there, but it's bound to my amulet." It's okay to tell Soldat that, right? He understands. He... trusts Soldat enough to not tell anyone.

Even if there's a weird feeling in his stomach at revealing something so critical.

Well, fuck. They're even more alike than originally anticipated, aren't they. Soldat sighs a little, lowers their voice, and says. "Yeah, that's. My life force is technically in this." They tap the strap for their lantern, hanging off their shoulder. "It's why the demon magic can't really hurt me."

They hesitate to call it a "soul", in part because "life force" is what Solis always called it, and a soul feels like an awfully person-ish thing. They're not sure they have much of a soul left, after seventy years of murder. But it's clearly similar enough.

It's fine, he still has a little trouble grappling with the concept of a soul, too. Let alone him having one.

"You carry it everywhere... I kind of had a feeling it was something special." He sighs and runs his hands through his hair. "... We should probably get going soon. Don't wanna miss the party."

"Yeah." Soldat picks themselves up again, and ducks into their tent to put their tablet back away again. They don't need it in battle, not even for the trip out... though they do squirrel a few pieces of paper away in their combat uniform. Origami will probably be needed. "I've got to wash up a little before we go," they add apologetically as they come back out. There's blood all splattered in places all over their clothes and some in their hair, which they'd ignored while eating, but stepping into the pristine tent made painfully obvious. "If you wanna go ahead, I can catch up in a few minutes."

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bakegarasu - 2021-03-27 00:09 (UTC) - Expand

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