Psyker Landshark

Rise of Rasalhague

Jaromir Zhu

They'd won in all but name, but the job still wasn't done until the DropShip was back in orbit. Jaromir would leave nothing to chance until then. He'd seen too many people relax and let their guards down too early. Hell, he'd been one of those people, once upon a time. No, there was still a chance that a pirate could be a complete son of a bitch and leave some sort of rigged up trap behind. Maybe even a self-destruct.

At first glance, the safest option would be to stay in his Trebuchet and guard the hangar. After all, he'd be behind several tons of armor still in case anything happened. But it was also a tactically stupid option. A long range direct fire support Mech on hangar guard duty? That was asking for him to be pushing up daisies if some sort of attack did happen from the rear. Only worse armament he could have for this sort of close-in knife fight would be a LRM. Actually, no, it'd be an Arrow IV. Regardless, as counterproductive as it sounded, the safest place Jaromir could put his ass while still obeying orders was smack dab in the middle of all the infantry grunts.

He made sure his extra mags were secure and grabbed his autopistol before exiting his Mech, nodding as he joined the others. God, he felt naked in the field without being in a cockpit.

"Trenchbucket's no good for hangar defense if it comes down to it. Who's getting left on guard detail?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

&

Esben Mathiassen

She couldn't sleep. How could she, with her temper still flaring after all of tonight's idiocy? First, Reisa had gotten away. The wench had been right there, and everyone else had sought to deny Izayoi the sole thing she'd wanted out of this life.

And second? The young master was being an ungrateful little brat. She wasn't the magical cure-all to his woes that he'd been looking for. Her best hadn't won victory for Osprey against Edren. Why would it against Valheim? Izayoi had told him as much, and yet he'd still rebuffed that. Incorrigible little shit. Hadn't the fact that she'd gotten him out of execution proven anything? Her job had been finished the moment Hien reached the outside with an armed escort.

The samurai shook her head, resisting the urge to put her fist through a sliding door. Instead, she slid it open like a normal person, only to see Esben out in the courtyard. An audible snarl came from her throat. She hadn't forgotten his role in dragging her away from the battlefield.

Esben looked up from his journal, over to the source of the animalistic growling that pulled him out of his notes. "Hmm. Not how I'd hoped to spend such a nice moonlit night." He snapped it back shut over its ribbon bookmark, though he didn't stand up from the post he was leaning against as he wrote. "Can't sleep? Me neither."

He'd already managed to go through and explore as much of the household as was available to explore; he wasn't about to go poking in anybody's rooms as they slept, after all. Regardless, however spacious the safehouse was, he quickly ran out of anything new to explore, and had taken to the central courtyard. Luckily, any smoke from their fighting had blown away from this part of the city, leaving the courtyard actually habitable.

He stared at Izayoi for a moment longer across the courtyard, head cocked slightly to one side, before speaking up again: "For what it's worth, I think he wants you to die about as much as you want to die."

"Then the young master must wish for my death most deeply." Izayoi retorted without a second thought, scowling. "Leave him be. He is merely disappointed at how badly his teacher has gone to rot. Once reality sets in, he will adjust."

Evidently, she wasn't keen on bringing her argument with Hien into a conversation with anyone else.

"If you actually believed that, you'd have done like any good servant and taken those last words of his as an order," Esben replied flatly. "If I was particularly worried about what he thought, I'd bother to seek him out rather than spend my time out here. I doubt he's sleeping any better than either of us."

He glanced back up to the sky, sighing.

"I'm sure you've something you want to say. May as well say it, that way we can get on with things."

"I never was much of a proper samurai in any area outside of combat. The public reviled me as a barbarian before they exalted me as a war hero." She remarked dryly, gazing up briefly at the stars before back to Esben.

"Of course I've something to say." She snapped, her moment of introspection finished. "Why did you even bother dragging me from the field? Avenging my family is my foremost wish, and not a single one of you deigned to grant me it. Only Ciradyl has the excuse of friendship for saving mine life."

Esben stared wordlessly in reply, his normally placid expression an utterly blank, unreadable mask in the moonlight. After a point, it was obvious that he was expecting more; when nothing more came, however, he did eventually speak up before the silence could become too awkward.

"I expected a statement, not a question you should already know the answer to." He finally pushed off the post he was leaning against, walking towards the center of the courtyard and pointing over Izayoi's shoulder back at the main dwelling of the household, where the others were all resting or sleeping. "What is our team's mission, Izayoi?"

"I know full well what you imply." Izayoi glared, unwilling to entertain this. "If you wish to lecture me about cohesion, do not bother. I do my part when it does not directly interfere with my own stated mission. Caradoc ought to be glad if and when I do die to complete it. He's simply pragmatic enough to put off avenging his brother for the moment. There is no logic or rhetoric to use here. Save your breath."

"They'll be a cohesive unit with or without you," Esben replied, just as dismissive of Izayoi's reply as she'd been to what she thought she was saying. "Possibly even moreso without. That's not what I'm talking about, and I have trouble believing someone like you is so short-sighted as to believe it is."

He pointed again, in the general direction of Galahad's room. "Caradoc first. From what I've gathered of what you all have told us happened prior to Rudolf and I running into you, he's basically gotten himself disowned over his willingness to put national rivalry aside and work with you." He turned slightly, his hand now falling over Éliane's space. "I know Elly came with an entire unit, and I know they aren't around anymore. I'm not particularly willing to ask who they all were, both because I don't want to pull up a painful memory for her and because I don't want to know if any of them were people I knew yet. Eve has never even known a normal existence at all, and what little she had that was close to it was taken from her and she was left to fend for herself before finding us. Arton is obviously displaced. Miina, wrong place at the wrong time, and now she's stuck with us and gets to hope we remember her in any of the rest of what we do. Rudolf and Robin, there's something pathological behind each of their choices to seek this out, and they're already starting to pay for it."

He shifted as he called out each in turn, before his pointing finger fell on Izayoi. "And then there's you. And Hien, for that matter. Ciradyl too, soon. Displaced. Multiple of those close to you killed. Whether determining the source of the Blight or trying to fend off Valheim, we're all in the same spot: All fighting from an extremely disadvantageous position. Valheim has assets to spare. We do not."

His hand dropped, as he looked to the sky again, back where the glow of the fires from before was still diminishing as Valheimer troops and local citizens worked to stop the spread.

"You are an asset we can't afford to lose at this point, especially taking out a singular captain, no matter how personal the enmity there. It was far from the most expedient choice. Hien himself, injured though he was, was still putting up quite a fight to drag you back. If we abandoned you, he wouldn't have, and he'd have even more reason to fight against us than you did. Even if the rest of us did get him out of there alive, we'd have lost him as an asset letting you get killed. Not only that, the odds are good that he would have perished as well, and likely myself, Ciradyl, and Chisaki along with him. On top of that, even losing just you, this early on, would only be a stronger blow to the morale of the group to pile atop all the rest they've already had, and that is one asset we and this local resistance cannot afford to lose ever. Not while we're still this far behind."

He turned away from the sky over the walls of the courtyard, starting to walk back towards the main dwelling.

"Be angry with me all you like for this last night. If sacrificing you is ever the most expedient choice, I'll take it without any hesitation. This time it wasn't."

"Tch," Izayoi scowled, her expression stuck in a glare. Of course she understood all of this full well. The difference was that she could barely bring herself to care.

"Perhaps you are a SEED after all, to have so effective a mindset. Though it continues to boggle the mind why you would openly declare yourself a spy." She admitted begrudgingly.

"Fine. Expedient choices are what keep me stuck here to begin with. I continue to hold a better chance of killing Reisa and as many Valheimr as possible while with you lot. Pray that continues to hold true."

She gazed out at the smoke and flame still rising into the air, her eyes less hard. More forlorn.

"Ranbu no Izayoi lost the war against Edren. None of the others should give one whit about anything past my diminished sword arm if they had any ounce of sense. Before the war, might was the only thing that defined me. I needn't tell a SEED of the quality of the majority of Osprey's other generals during the conflict. And afterwards, I had Isshin and Suzume. Now I am stripped of my godspeed sword, my credentials as a military leader, and my family. The resistance are fools to place any faith in me."

"Hien considers you close enough to worry so about you, and individual might and skill aren't the only things to define a person's worth in circumstances like this." He passed Izayoi, sliding open the door behind her. "Try to get some sleep. Don't give him reason to call you out as tired, as well as slow."

The door slid shut again, Esben's soft footfalls barely audible as he left Izayoi standing outside.

"He forgot to mention 'old'." Izayoi remarked dryly to herself, continuing to stare out at the skyline for a few minutes before turning to return to her quarters as well.

Iris Ascendis

Iraleth Kyrios

They'd returned just in time, it seemed. At this rate, it looked like almost everyone she knew was choosing Wund. Hmph. It wouldn't impact her decision in the slightest. The choice was symbolic, to be sure. But symbols mattered. Armies didn't win with shattered morale, even when they held a technical advantage.

Iraleth was interrupted from her thoughts by both Ciara and the imp. The absolute impertinence of these two. Did they think she was an idiot? She knew very well how this went. Take eyes off the little bastard for a moment, and it'd find a way loose, even if it was tied up. No, she'd do this right before anything else first.

The half-elf took the rope, first tying the imp's hands behind its back before using the remainder of the length to wrap around its neck in an improvised leash. Or a noose, if one were feeling uncharitable. After Ciara and Otis went, Iraleth practically dragged the imp along as she stepped forward, turning to Principal Raja before anything else.

"Principal, if you wouldn't mind?" She offered the end of the rope to the woman. "This creature was found in the woods, attacking Hildegunde. It surrendered, and accepted being taken to you for judgment in lieu of death." Iraleth reported before stepping over towards the side, keeping a hand on the rope if Raja didn't take it. Her other reached up to touch the pillar.

"Shield of Nero."

@Sifr @Estylwen

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Salvator Rasch

Why the hell did every digital-based life form have some inane sense of overweening superiority? Salvator had seen it no few times throughout his career spanning decades, and it had stopped being even remotely amusing long ago. At least extra fire support was welcome.

Regardless, he followed after the commander unit with the rest, keeping his opinions about the entire shitshow they'd just went through to himself. It was always a lesser evil, a technical victory for something greater down the line. That was how they strung people along. Shame that it worked, too.

They linked up with a human general and his escort, and the mystery of what that squad of dead vrexul had been doing planetside had been answered, at least. The heavy shotgun Salvator looted off one of their bodies still clanged against the magnetic holster on his back.

"We're all disposable to someone, somewhere up the line." Salvator replied wearily to the human, his tone resigned. "Every groundpounder is, special ops or not." He didn't vocalize that someone of the human's apparent rank ought to be very well aware of that. No, this was just some pissing contest that he didn't feel like being dragged into.

What came next was more interesting: the first contact they'd had on the mission, asking about the one that had given them marching orders? Great. More right hand fighting the left. Regardless, he'd answer.

"The informant? No, he was alone when we came across him. Gave us a communicator to the other squad that he swore up and down was secure. Wasn't. Locals hacked into the channel almost immediately. Was real eager to leave after he said his piece. Carried a backpack with him, but we didn't get a visual on its contents."

Iris Ascendis

My post'll be up by the end of tomorrow, sorry for the delay

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

And here was the kicker. Gerard would be disappointed at this turn of events, at least. Renar took the precious few seconds the demon spent on Fanilly to analyze it as best he could before he made a move. Constantly shifting weapons. That would be irritating. The principles of armed combat still applied in this case, though: watch the foe's wrists, not their weapon. The shifting was just a distraction to unbalance people.

The demon shifted to him next, and Renar savagely grinned beneath his helm. Perfect. Better him than the crossbowman, at least. He had one move before she managed to close the distance against him, and he spent it on pulling out a vial of pocket sand and hurling the crushed contents towards the demoness's eyes. As the sand flew high, Renar went low, bringing his poleaxe around to try to hook the axe head behind one of his foe's ankles and trip her off her feet.

He didn't have to win. He only needed to keep her distracted long enough for someone to reach the summit. And besides, if this worked, it'd be extremely gratifying to see one of his favored tactics work against a demon of all things.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

"No, damn you! NO!" Izayoi struggled against Ciradyl and Esben's combined efforts to little avail as she was forcibly dragged away from the battle. "That is not for you to decide!" She hissed savagely in response to Ciradyl's words, her glare not leaving Reisa's form even as the Valheimr captain was pelted with bombs, explosive rounds, and flame.

She could see Reisa's outline through the smoke and flame as the last of the explosions went off. The bitch was still alive. Even as Rudolf and Robin carved a path towards freedom, even as Galahad's words barely registered through the haze of fury in her head, even as she was dragged towards escape, Izayoi didn't stop strugging until they'd made it into the sewers, whereupon she went limp, her grip on her sword finally slackening as she realized there wasn't any chance that she'd reach her goal this night.

Ciradyl finally released her, and Izayoi simply trudged onwards, following silently as the Kirins were led into the sewers, through a hidden wall, and into the far side of a tunnel before emerging into a well-appointed home similar to the one the bard had first met the rest of the team in. Hien sighed in relief as they reached safety at last, slumping slightly before straightening right back up and turning to face the party.

"Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. I truly thought I wasn't going to live to see the next night." He bowed in gratitude before rising, his expression unreadable as his gaze flickered to Izayoi.

"Before I get anything else done, we need to have a talk. If you'd follow me?" As Izayoi nodded and headed off into a side room with Hien, Renzo entered the room, bowing deeply to Ciradyl before offering a curt nod towards everyone else.

"Your quarters are all prepared. For the moment, it may be best to keep your heads down for some days. Judging by the chaos that happened tonight, the occupiers likely know your faces by now, save for Lady Ciradyl and the...Dragoon." The last word took effort to be simply said and not spit. "If you must go out over the next day or two, conceal yourselves and do try not to do anything obvious, yes?"

Minutes passed, and anyone still in the common area could hear raised voices and heated tones coming from the room where Izayoi and Hien went off to go converse. Eventually, it got loud enough that they could be heard.

"-can't believe it, you think we just get to walk away? It doesn't work like that, Auntie. When you ran off to go play housewife for five years, you left me to pick up your pieces!" Hien's yell was punctuated by the sound of a punch slamming against flesh, to which no response was given aside from a snarl. "I spent YEARS rebuilding the loyalty among what was left of my family's men that you could command in an instant were you to just reveal yourself. If you were anywhere close to the sheer strength you had when you rode off to war with my father, we wouldn't be in this position!"

A blade clattered against the tatami mat.

"Here's your short blade back. If you want to kill yourself so badly, do it the proper way."

The door opened, and Izayoi and Hien exited, walking off in separate directions as both seethed.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Zhao Jinhai

So everything got wrapped up nicely. Samurai spirit was neutralized no matter how it was done, and it wasn't like he gave a shit about the civilian casualties in the first place. Most importantly, Jinhai got to enjoy himself just a tad. Of course, that meant it was back to his little grey hole they called on-site housing.

Jinhai stood leaning against the railing on top of the facility's roof, puffing away at a cigarette. Wasn't like there was anywhere else he could smoke it, all things considered. No designated smoking area outside of this, and he'd probably get bitched out if he tried to smoke indoors. Quartermaster had given him enough of a tongue lashing for returning with a broken sword, and he wasn't even able to procure a replacement, considering the samurai's odachi had been confiscated as evidence. Fuckers.

He sighed, his cigarette still stuck in his mouth as he leafed through his personal copy of the Dao De Jing. If Jinhai had learned anything over the years, it was that Laozi wasn't full of shit: just that those who followed his philosophy tended to be. Damn shame, that.

"Motherfucker," He groaned to himself as his cigarette burned down to the stub. A quick palming of his jacket revealed he was out too: that'd been his last Marlboro. Fine, he'd find some other method to occupy himself. Reluctantly, Jinhai pushed himself off the railing and tucked his book back into his jacket, making his way down to do something else. Probably food, really.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

"I hear and obey, Captain." Renar nodded, already eyeing up the eastern ascent. In truth, he would have taken the risk on the northern approach had he been giving the orders. The difficulty of the climb was outweighed by the massive blind spot it left in the mage's defenses, and they were knights. The majority of them should be physically fit enough to handle such a climb. Ah, well. He could still see where Fanilly was coming from with this decision either way.

They started the climb, and Renar gave a small smirk of approval beneath his helm at Sir Rolan's opening gambit. Smoke. Good call. As he climbed, Renar calculated the angles: everyone taking cover wasn't viable. It'd just leave the mage to target all of it. No, best to keep her attention occupied and constantly shifting angles.

One hand came off the rock and palmed his belt, drawing a throwing knife that Renar hurled straight upwards at the summit of the climb before he shifted sideways, immediately leaving the angle from which he'd lobbed the blade. Through the smoke, the mage wouldn't be able to see his sudden side swap, and had a better than not chance of wasting her time by retaliating where he'd been, and not where he was.

From here on, it was an endurance test: how deep into his and Sir Rolan's bag of tricks could they go before the mage wised up and managed to take them out?

Iris Ascendis

Heads up, job is kinda fucking me over (apparently I am too good at sales for my talent to be 'wasted' in the quiet area I'm living in so they want me to bus to the city, which is 4 hours of transit, to work in a bigger store) and I'm going to be spending most of the next two days away from keyboard. I'll try to type a post on mobile but no promises. Feel free to skip me if nothing is up by tomorrow.

@Sifr

>four hours

what the fuck