Ebonsquire

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

@Letter Bee

Damn, that's too bad

Good luck going forward

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

so, how were your christmases? (or how're they going if you're not done)

@Lucius Cypher @Heap241 @TheWindel @KoL @Letter Bee @MacDuffy @liferusher @CorpusMundum @BubbleGumKing @Lonewolf685 @Aether Spawn @RoflsMazoy

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

hope you guys have a good christmas

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

Maaz

---

Maaz had been tapping his booted foot incessantly on the tiled cafe floor as thoughts churned in his head.

Sure, Chasers were a resourceful and hardy bunch, diverse in background and ability, but the Association, though global, was still nowhere near as influential as their corporate opponent, he imagined. The Assocation deals with the Crimson Sky and the Youkai that inhabit the realm, while Yotsuba Tech essentially has their name on every electronic product in Japan and other first and third world countries. The general populace relies on the YTC to provide them a slew of medicinal and technological products, both necessary and luxury, to indulge in, so everyone knows who they are. Toppling them would cause a massive amount of instability worldwide. Millions -- no, more like billions -- would suffer in the wake of the corporation's downfall, including him. They have 'real world' power. But Chasers? Who knows about what the Chasers do except for the select few individuals not apart of the Hunters' Assocation, the organization itself, and Youkai? Of course, if Chasers were to disappear, that would also spell trouble for the real world.

There was also another unfortunate realization about Chasers which Maaz had just come upon: disorganization. As a whole, they weren't very unified. The grand portion was quite self-centered and concerned themselves only with making the next paycheck, but friendships were forged, regardless. So, at least there was that. A shame the structure of the Hunters' Assocation was a tad precarious.

Maaz concluded on his own that he didn't want to involve himself in butting heads with one of the most powerful companies on the face of this planet unless he was absolutely certain that he would make it out alive. Perhaps the most troublesome thing Yotsuba Tech had was guards along with soldiers. And those typically have guns. Military-grade guns, in fact. And guns suck. Magic, superhuman strength and other eldritch powers are incredibly useful, there's no doubt about that . . . But guns are especially dangerous. The majority of Youkai Maaz fought in the past didn't carry assault rifles. They had claws, teeth, swords, shields, fists, legs, other medieval weaponry, and magic. Bullets were fast, hot, and very capable of hurting like hell. Guns are so useful that even Chasers use them because they know how effective as weapons they are. A well-placed bullet to the head can kill most Chasers he knows of. And a lot of them, like himself, don't own a gun. Maaz had a hunch that the YTC could afford plenty of them. Then there was always military-grade weaponry which fired something other than bullets . . .

Needless to say, he was stressed. It wasn't like Chikage herself declared war on the YTC. She just said that they 'had something to with it', 'it' being an elder evil which would usher in the apocalypse. Mentally, all Maaz saw this as was being between a rock and a hard place. Mess with the hornet's next known as the YTC and potentially fuck a lot of shit up or face extermination. Maaz lowered his head further, and the tapping of his foot ceased. The cash that he previously reached for to pay for Sheolred's apple juice was hanging half-way out of his pocket. Seemingly fading out of his overly concerned state, he remembered the greenskin's request.

"Right . . . Right," Maaz muttered.

He slid the money towards Dinky after setting it on the counter. Once Sheolred had finished speaking, Maaz was about to answer, but then Elliot abruptly inserted his string of loud boastings, following it by destroying restaurant property with the glass which was a bit vexing, to say the least. More obnoxious for Dinky, probably, since she'd have to clean that up. Elliot's booming voice nearly made Maaz want to cover his ears.

Note to self: don't associate with this dumbass.

Glancing back down at the ground and sighing, Maaz nodded curtly and responded to Sheolred's mild chiding. "Yeah, you're right about that. We don't really have a choice in the matter. Damn..."

@Lucius Cypher @Heap241

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

@Heap241 elliot is too much

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

Maaz

---

Jeez...

The scene turned real violent when the orc girl began brutally tearing into the apparitions with her knife and other brutal methods. More and more ghosts began targeting her with their weapons seeing as she was the only one besides Miranda, the newcomer, who had begun to deal with the pests hands on. Seemed like Sheolred was far too busy slicing and dicing to respond to Miranda's offer of assistance. Maaz was practically on the edge of his seat while he watched her fight, not sure if she could combat the entirety of them. And then one of the ghosts managed to run her through with its spear, which caused Maaz to jump off of his stool and onto his feet, eyes wide.

"Shit!"

Albeit ready to jump into action, he still hesitated for just a moment to see if Sheolred would fall. He was taken aback when the green-skinned Chaser smiled and continued fighting, even with the wound in her stomach. An incredulous look took over his visage and he simply sat himself down again. Looks like . . . there wasn't really a problem. Chasers sure can be tough cookies. After, Sheolred finished and took a seat beside Maaz and, without delay, asked for apple juice. Was she sure she don't need a doctor? Some bandages, at least? Damn. Then Avalanche patted him on the back, goading him to comply with her wishes -- not like he was going to decline or anything to begin with, but he wasn't too keen on spending his own money on others. Wouldn't do him any good to treat strangers coldly, though. Maaz reached into his right pants pocket and fished for some cash.

Zamora's entrance caused him to freeze and redirect his eyes over to her . . . before it was summarily cut off by what he could only assume was her own laziness. It was not long after her attempt at an illustrious introduction that she crashed onto a table. A bit dumpy, but alright. Sleep is sleep. Overall, given the amount of Chasers unknown to him pouring in so suddenly, Maaz had to guess that they had just finished up jobs of their own or there was just some happy hour he didn't know about.

He went to pull out some notes . . .

Rather suddenly, the succubus Ellie made her appearance, words reverberating throughout the Dangeki as she addressed all Chasers present. He had seen her maybe once or twice before when he had passed through this fine establishment. A voice like that easily grabbed Maaz's attention. Initially, he thought that 'special guest' just referred to some . . . Legendary Chaser, or something. But when the vicinity was enveloped in darkness and a mysterious g -- Woah. Is that who he thought it was? The Chikage Akange? The leader of the Youkai Junction? Here? Maaz didn't know what he was feeling, but it was probably some amalgamation of fascination, fear, and a lot of confusion. He silently listened to her announcement, and each word she spoke only made his heart sink a bit deeper. "End of the world" was a particular phrase that just . . . Not a good thing to be hearing during a time of rest. Chikage opened the floor for questions afterwards. Maaz was still in a bit of shock at all the ongoings. Quite a lot of information to have dropped on you in such a short time.

"...Uh, yeah, I got one," Avalanche said at the request for questions, rising up slowly from behind the counter. "This sounds like real important stuff, what'll you be doin' about it?"

Maaz nodded vigorously after that inquiry because it was a good question. Why wasn't she bothered a little bit by this? But surely it was a large enough issue if the leader of the Junction made an appearance. But why just thrust this responsibility onto the Chasers here? And the YTC was involved? Fuck. "Uh, I don't . . . I feel comfortable fighting and everything, because, well, that's my job. But . . . "

Maaz had to take a second or so to recompose himself, as he was firing off words at a rate too rapid to even be comprehensible to those gathered. His thoughts weren't all there either. Inhale deeply and exhale.

"Why are you so damn calm? I mean, if you're not panicked, then why should we be? It's, uh . . . "

The end of his statement was left hanging off, still processing some of what Chikage had said. Maria interjected with her own comments, and when the raven-haired Chaser mentioned taking on the YTC, Maaz stood up so fast that his stool nearly fell over. "First off, fuck that. No. Fighting them is like fighting the Illuminati. They have a shit ton of money, and money translates into power. They can keep Chasers quiet or have them join their side. They can probably buy mercenaries five times stronger than anyone in this goddamn room -- excluding Miss Akane, I mean. Hell, they could probably buy most of us in here. If we get on their bad side, I'm pretty sure they'll try and kill . . . just . . . a lot of us."

His train of thought barely considered the gang of immoral Youkai that Chikage had brought up in her explanation.

Maaz took in another deep breath before taking his seat once more. He placed his hands on his knees and dipped his head down, clearly deep in thought. This was certainly an eventful day. Plenty of new faces. Ghost infestation. He finally managed to make some decent money from the last job he cashed in.

The end of the world, though?

Jeez...

@Lucius Cypher @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @KoL @MacDuffy @Letter Bee

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

I'll try and get a post up in the next 2-3 hours or so.

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

@Lucius Cypher Aaaaaaaah. Okay, gotcha.

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

@Lucius Cypher

Is Sheolred just confusing Maaz for a bartender?

~Chasers: Boundary of the Crimson Sky~

I'll hold off on my next post until the GMs get their next posts in.

@MacDuffy

yeah same. ive already posted enough.