vietmyke

The Things We Fight For

---

Perhaps luckily for them, it was more or less agreed upon that a dynamic plan was better than a slow slough. Unsurprisingly, the Constellations were unafraid of throwing themselves into the fight- though at least one suggested taking a slightly more calculated approach. Perhaps it was the superpowers or top of the line gear and special weapons that made them so much more bold than the average man or woman. Perhaps in another life, Sabine might've resented the sort of cavalier attitude they all had towards danger- easy to do so when you were by and far the most dangerous thing in most people's lives, a bit harder when you were just a regular human. Though at this point, Sabine had stopped caring, a fight was a fight, and a soldier was a soldier; Constellation, pilot, grunt, didn't really matter anymore.

"Aww, Howie, are you keeping track? I like when you pay attention to me." The head of pink hair bobbed as Sabine offered a sweet, albeit fake giggle. "Besides, my last ration pack is riiight- there." Sabine added lightly, punctuating her statement by pointing at one of the empty ration wrappers at Rudis' feet. Sabine wasn't particularly worried about finding more sustenance in case the fight ended up dragging out longer than they liked- it wasn't hard to sweet talk grunts, and for better or for worse, there was no shortage of bodies and vehicles to scrounge supplies from in an environment like this.

Though it was a pleasant surprise to not have to go scrounging for a medkit, as one of the Constellations approached them. Usually, Constellations held a sort of lofty, almost holier-than-thou air about them, usually not deigning to do much more than order their MHA colleagues around. At least by Sabine's recollection, most never really approached them for much more than to bark orders, but perhaps they were just not good with small talk- being trained to be a weapon from incredibly young ages could probably do that to a person. Could it be that perhaps Sabine's attitude made them not like her? Impossible, surely. The Constellation in particular introduced herself to them as Selene. Soft, gentle, refined even, like talking to a noblewoman at tea time rather than the burnt out hotel they found themselves in.

"Merci, belle." Sabine offered Selene a broad, beaming grin as she graciously took the medipen, flipping it once or twice casually in her hand. "Aren't you just the sweetest? Don't mind Howie, he's always a bit of a stick in the mud, but he means well. Probably." Popping the cap of the pen open, Sabine quickly applied the analgesic gel to her burn. Her eyes flickered a bit with a wince, and her breath caught in her throat for a moment, but made no audible complaints otherwise. She breathed out a relaxed sigh as the antiseptic painkiller did its work. She'd slap a wrap over it once she got back to her machine, but for now this would do.

"Sabine." She said as a way of introducing herself, pulling out a noticeably full pack of cigarettes from a side pouch and offering the soft-spoken Constellation one, "But the other flyboys like to call me Rabbit. I'm flying the big white one right there." She jerked a thumb at her mech, parked just a few meters away, the once pristine white paintjob now scoured and sullied by scorchmarks and ricochetting shrapnel. A particularly large scorchmark on the side of the cockpit's torso lined up with the burn on Sabine's own side. Luckily, the stray blast hadn't punched through the hull, but the resulting heat had been strong enough to cause one of her side displays to short and blow.

"Looks like you guys get to do all the fun stuff, again, but I'm happy to wingwoman your date with royalty." Sabine chuckled, offering Selene an audacious wink, "Though I guess she doesn't know you Constellations are the one-night-stand type, huh?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

The situation was handled. Even with Mizutani waving around a pistol, this situation was all but handled- the crime lord wasn't a warrior like the rest of them, so Galahad doubted she could do much with the firearm. The others seemed to have a similar idea as a few of them began to disperse, Eliane with her newfound toy and Esben taking away Robin. Galahad merely stayed in the room to hold an imposing presence, heavy armor and weapons had a tendency to do that. They'd gotten to Mizutani, and now Miina could get her questions answered, then they could dispose of her and be done with this dirty business. At least, that was the plan, right?

It was incredible how quickly plans could unravel- by this point, Galahad should've hardly been surprised, but he was still caught by surprise nonetheless. Galahad had a feeling Ciradyl had come here for more reasons than just a cup of tea in the middle of the night, but stabbing her while another of their group was trying to get answers wasn't exactly what he had expected. "Grab her!" Galahad bellowed, but Rudolf was already on it. Galahad quickly slid across the floor to grab Mizutani in turn. His hands moved to her wounds, putting pressure on them. He had no particular need care for the woman- after all she had just sent an entire building's worth of goons on them, but Miina's questions deserved answers- that was the main reason she was out here with them, after all.

"Etro above! Ciradyl you damned fool!" Galahad cursed her. Could her revenge have not waited ten godsdamned minutes? It wasn't as though they couldn't have lied to Mizutani about ensuring their safety. Sure, lying wasn't exactly in Galahad's wheelhouse, but there were plenty of folk in their group that probably would have had fewer scruples regarding such a thing. It wasn't as though Galahad didn't understand the desire for revenge- it was as common a motivator as any that anyone could find. But honestly? It wasn't as though Miina had been keeping her need to find her brother a secret. Ciradyl at the very least was aware of such a thing, but couldn't find it in herself to even let the girl find answers before exacting vengeance for whatever reasons she had. She knew they were here to kill Mizutani anyway- she could've gone with them and her vengeance likely would've been sated one way or another way. Instead, she let herself in while letting the rest of the party bumble around through dozens of goons.

"Rudolf. Keep her there." Galahad growled, pointing at Ciradyl with his halberd before gesturing to Miina, "Come, I won't be able to stop the bleeding without magic."

Glancing down at Mizutani in his arms, Galahad's look offered no pity. One arm kept the woman restrained, in case she tried anything funny, a broad hand holding both of her wrists like a vice. Setting down the heavy halberd, the Galahad's other hand rested on the grip of his hunting knife on the small of his back. "New deal Miss Tane. Miina is the only one in this room capable of keeping you alive. I'd be trying to get into her good books right about now- first by answering her questions."

Tales Of Endoroth (A Slice Of Life MMO Roleplay)

Rathello

---

"Like I said, if you want to run off on your own, don't blame me for what happens." Rathello remarked. If he was peeved with the lack of attention paid to his very simple rules, he didn't show it. To be fair, this was a lower level dungeon, so perhaps he shouldn't have been too worried, but a history of dying party members never looked good on a solo player's resume, so Rathello liked to keep risks to a minimum.

Luckily Elian had his back, as did Claudia, so he didn't have to worry too much. Goibniu, their defacto leader- as he was the one who had put the party together in the first place suggested that they go through the dorms first, and Elian suggested that they clear the first floor first anyway, which Rathello concurred with.

"Dorms it is then." Rathello nodded in agreement as they approached the first door. Nothing had sprung out at them yet, but this was a dungeon, so Rathello didn't expect it would stay that way for long. He glanced back at the others to make sure they were ready, before he placed his foot on the door to the dorms.

"Knock, knock." Rathello chuckled as his foot kicked the door down, his bulky form quickly stepping through the doorway so the rest of the party could filter in behind and around him.

SPIRITUM

Gerard Biserus

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Came the twin voices of both Gerard and the Princess as they tumbled out of the back of the truck. Thank the gods for Justice and Silje's early warnings or Gerard wouldn't have been able to tell where the bullet sharks were until they were right on top of them. Though things weren't fairing much better for the support mage, bullet sharks traveled a lot faster than he did, and he'd barely gotten the half full Jerry can of fuel below his feet before he felt the ground rumble and a pair of jaws appeared beneath him.

Flimsy steel crumpled beneath the heavy jaws as Gerard scrambled out of the way, a roar muffled by a half gallon of Etherium fuel pouring down the beast's gullet. Shoving Gerard out of the way, the princess produced another one of her light arrows, though this time instead of firing it from a bow, instead threw it directly down the gut of the offending shark. There was a pained roar as the beast literally breathed fire, writhing as it was cooked from the inside out.

Another pair jumped out of the ground, and were subsequently batted away by Gerard's telekinesis, a heavy gauntlet smashing them left and right- though it did little more than make them angry. "This is probably why they suggest we carry bladed weapons with us too, huh?" He grumbled as a wave of magic sent the princess floating into the air, narrowly missing the jaws of one of the sharks. The pair seemed ready to continue their attack, but aburptly turned their heads and charged towards a new source of mist, Silje from atop the RV.

"H-hey! What's going on out there?" The trapped voice whined, "You gotta get me out of here before they come back!"

Perhaps his warnings were too late, as the ground below them rumble and shifted, the mother shark close to the surface as she burrowed beneath them, reappearing as a pair of jaws appeared below the RV and snapped shut. Not quite large enough to get to Silje through the RV, but enough to knock it a few feet into the air as it almost sundered the RV in half, heavy jaws attempting to crush and chew through the RV and Silje with it!

"Shit! Fuck! Help!" Came the piteous cries as the man fell out of the side of the broken RV, his legs no longer pinned, but seriously injured. He opened his mouth to say something more but was cut off as an olive drab crate slid out after him and smashed into his jaw, knocking him out clean. The crate clattered to the ground and cracked open, depositing half a dozen pistols, loaded magazines, a quartet of hand grenades, and a block of plastic explosives.

Undeterred by the metal vehicle frame, heavy jaws forged forward as the mother shark found its target and began to close its mouth, seeking to swallow Silje whole.

Shadowrun: Lost Heir

Jackie "Frost" Hara

&

Wildfire

---

“I need a drink, any drink, so let’s do that? Two gangs…right? So we find one, in a bar, and we go from there,” Wildfire said.

“I’ll get them talking, one way or another. You can count on it…” she added, swiping an imaginary set of claws through the air.

“Besides, Frost’s credits are burning a hole in my pocket. And I could be doing so, so much more with this sweet, sweet pile of Nuyen than standing here.”

“Keep pressing me and there might be a hole in more than just your pocket.” Frost growled threateningly, and though the sentiment might have seemed serious to anyone out of the sisters’ loop, to those in the know, this was just more of the usual. Frost hadn't touched a hair on her sister's head since the day they met- though certainly not for a lack of trying, in their earlier years at least. Nowadays Frost was cybered enough that she could at least track Nadya's movements, though their cat and mouse games usually never went too far while working.

“We've been drinking all day.” Frost grumbled, “Small glasses in a small airplane.”

“And now we can drink bigger drinks in bigger glasses in bigger bars! Just say yes, Frost. Please? Don’t make me pout. Oh! I know! We can sit outside!”

Frost glared at Nadya for a moment, bright beaming puppy dog eyes staring back at her. A vein on Frost's forehead pulsed, a rumble in her throat suggested something close to aggression. With a tired sigh, Frost relented.

“We're supposed to be working, mui.” Frost grumbled, an oversized hand rubbing tiredly at her temples. She was almost certain she felt wrinkles beginning to form on her face. “A self guided tour of Gangland might not be a bad idea though.”

“Fine.” Frost eventually relented, “But first we need to get transportation. Drones and guns aren't exactly subtle in the middle of the city. Work first, then we can get drinks.”

“Moya lyubimaya starshaya sestra,” Wildfire replied, a cheshire cat grin plastered on her face as she reached up with her right hand to softly pat Frost on the cheek, her sister's face notably contorting and slowly burning red- seemingly uncharacteristic to her given handle. “You finally see sense! The Old Timer always said drinking was a full time job!”

“You are most right though! We need a ride. Something discreet. Preferably fast. Something big enough for your many, many guns and the drones of the Josei,” Wildfire added, nodding in Captcha’s direction.

“The old man is full of shit.” Frost grumbled, but nodded anyway, shooting a glance at the rest of the group. “We'll find a ride. Send us your location in the district and we'll meet you there.”

“Yeah, or wherever,” Wildfire said, “Just remember, we charge by the kilometer. And don’t keep us waiting...”

---

EZ Glossary
Mui = Cantonese “younger sister”
Moya lyubimaya starshaya sestra = Russian:“My Beloved Older Sister”
Josei = Japanese “Lady”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

Fighting in such tight quarters was a real pain, at least for someone like Galahad. Tight corridors and small spaces did little to allow for wide swings of his halberd. At the very least, there seemed to be no one able to follow them through the fire, though it did not bode well for the structural integrity of the building- and Galahad hadn't accounted for Éliane's explosives either, though knowing the Skaeler, he probably should've. Thankfully, at least the gunfire stopped- or at least slowed, one of the Kirin's above must have taken care of the gunner that was pinning them down. That meant they were basically at Mizutanei's doorstep.

The sounds of rapid gunfire were replaced with the muffled thud and shifting of feet and bodies, as the Kirins were likely handling the last of the bodyguards as they spoke. Galahad turned to follow the rest of the Kirin's up the stairs and into the proceeding floor when he heard the muffled sounds of voices. Glancing above him, he saw the slight traces of dust dislodged from movement above, and the creaking of the wood denoting weight and steps. There were several figures in the room directly above him. One was heavy and slowly stepping. A slight ways away was a muffled tone, feminine but unfamiliar. In the opposite direction, Galahad heard a more casual tone- difficult to tell what exactly was being said, but he knew the casual confidence well enough at this point.

A glance around the corner confirmed that weight above was neither Arton nor Rudolf, and he saw Éliane messing with the gun emplacement that had pinned them down. The remaining members of the party were too light footed to have been this one in particular either. Pressing down on the floor below him, Galahad tested the weight and strength of the floorboards and nodded to himself.

In Mizutani's office, the remaining Samurai slowly paced towards Esben, blade at the ready, his eyes darting between the door and Esben, half expecting someone to barge through the door. Turning towards the spy, the samurai held his blade over his head, and yelled, readying a charge. The scream was cut off halfway through as through the floor came Galahad's halberd, splintering through the wood as though it were little more than plywood. The heavy point of the weapon pierced through the bottom of the Samurai's jaw and pinned him to the ceiling above, sword clattering unceremoniously to the ground. A moment later, blued steel and dragonscale armor burst through the weakened floor, following his weapon as the dragoon jumped. Armored boots took the place of samurai sandals in the center of the room as Galahad lightly dusted off the top of his armor, swatting away splintered wood and dust.

"Pardon the intrusion." Galahad apologized, offering both the women and Esben a short nod as he reached up and grabbed the haft of his halberd, pulling it off the ceiling and discarding the corpse with a simple flourish. Now in an open room, he had a bit more space for his weapon, the axe blade slowly interposing itself between Tane and Cir as Galahad pulled off his helmet. Cold eyes glared at Ciradyl for a moment before shifting towards Mizutani, the point of his weapon moving a bit as he gestured for the two to separate "Good evening, Miss Tane. I wasn't aware you had a guest. My apologies, but I believe you have some more pressing matters to attend to."

Tales Of Endoroth (A Slice Of Life MMO Roleplay)

Rathello

Shehar Guild Hall

---

Rath chuckled cheerily as more offered to join the party. Frankly he was a bit surprised they'd rounded out their number so quickly, but Shehar was a pretty busy area, so perhaps it shouldn't have been too surprising. With Elian along, Rath felt fairly confident he could tank just about anything that was thrown at them fairly easily enough, especially if they were looking at Rank C dungeons. Rath was already well and used to participating in high level raids, so this oughta be a walk in the park.

"The more the merrier I say, we'll clear rooms faster with more DPS." Rath remarked as he looked over their growing group. They had Tanking and healing with himself and Elian, a mixed smattering of DPS between the paladin, death knight and ranger, and then they had their artificer- who perhaps was not cut out for higher level dungeons, but they had enough around to carry him.

Outside the dungeon, Rath did much the same as Elian, tied up his horse and set a teleportation marker- he'd have to buy some more teleport crystals soon, he had just the one left and wasn't capable of casting the spell himself. Rath twiddled his thumbs idly as they party began casting their party wide buffs, sizing up the entrance to the dungeon itself. "Sorry, don't have much in the way of party buffs." Rath chuckled, "Mostly just personal buffs- and anything I could cast, Elian does better anyway."

"Some ground rules- since most of us haven't worked together yet. I'm always the first through any door, in case of traps or ambushes. Unless you're able to finish them on your own, don't fight enemies I haven't aggro'd. Rath rattled off like a football coach. "That means don't run off on your own and expect the rest of us to come to your rescue when you get into trouble. We'll go slow through the first few rooms to see how quickly we can clear, if I think we're up to it, I'll pull more and faster." He figured most of the people here knew the basics of dungeon running, perhaps aside from their artificer, but it always helped to keep the basics in mind. He glanced at Elian, "If somehow we get into a situation where we need to choose one person or the other to survive, we obviously keep the healer alive. Uhh... I think that's about it. Anything to add El?"

Tales Of Endoroth (A Slice Of Life MMO Roleplay)

Will get a post out today!

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

As always, Esben had found another way in- a lucky thing the SEED was on their side. Also, in what was seemingly a disturbingly regular occurrence nowadays, something went wrong. Not for lack of planning, or lack of stealth, but the sheer dumb luck of a pair of guards slacking off and going out for a smoke break. On another night, Galahad might've found the change in schedule humanizing, but tonight was not that night. The Kirins were spurred forward, the element of surprise lost, and they now made do with violence of action and the shock and surprise that came with it. Galahad had no need to bark orders, they were all basically stabbing in the dark anyway, rushing their way to the uppermost floors, and dealing with any unfortunate soldier that got in their way.

Galahad found himself rather limited in these close quarters, stuck holding his halberd close to the chest and employing short stabs and kicks, lest his wide swings get caught on a wall or an ally. Luckily, none of these men wore the same armor and had the same weapons as Valheim soldiers did, and his jabs easily pierced and sundered through their relatively light clothing and armor.

The stairway that filled with gunfire might've been a problem had Eve not subsequently filled it with fire, Arton leading the charge up the stairs shortly afterwards. Galahad began to hang towards the back of the formation, where he could swing and stab with impunity to hold off any goons that were trying to reinforce their boss from the lower floors. Out of the corner of his eye, Galahad spotted a man bearing a crossbow, a glinting tip levelled at the firebreathing pseudolon.

Grabbing the half-dragon by the back of her robe, Galahad yanked her a step back, crossbow bolt spiraling through the air her head just occupied. Rearing back, Galahad hucked his halberd down the hall, the heavy weapon knocking the offending man off his feet, through the outer wall, and clear off the building. The sound of rushing wind was accented with the faint noise of a man screaming as the halberd flew back into Galahad's hand. He pushed the black mage onward towards the rest of the party.

"Set the corridor behind us on fire, prevent reinforcements from catching up with us." Galahad said as he stabbed forward at another man rounding the corner, pinning him to the wall. "But lets try not to blow up the building while we're still inside."

The Things We Fight For

---

Visiting Alora had always been something in the cards- supposedly the resort scene on this planet was to die for, but this wasn't exactly what Sabine had in mind. A a few months ago, if someone told her she'd be getting a month and a half on Alora, she'd have been jumping for joy. She was still jumping of course, though now it was mostly over rubble and pockets of radiation- not exactly her idea of a vacation. Not for a lack of trying of course, Sabine had conveniently parked her mech more or less in the center of the pilots' congregation and was currently lounging in a hammock strung between the mech's leg and the remains of a nearby pillar. In her hands was a scorched magazine, and the remains of the tanning mirror she'd found somewhere within the remains of the hotel did little for her skin- currently clad head to toe in her flight suit. To her side, a holo-display slowly scrolled by, displaying diagnostics information as she was wrapping up the Hare's maintenance checks. Only a scorch mark gouging through the left side of her flight suit from a rather close call signified that their current situation could've been anything other than a vacation to the young pilot.

Not that the situation around them was any better. Even after over a month of hard fighting, they hadn't made nearly as much progress as they needed. The planet was dying. If they didn't take care of the Aberrant threat soon, then the entire planet would be lost within the week. No doubt Howe was beginning to think this was all a wasted effort, and Sabine couldn't exactly blame him either. Sure, she enjoyed flying and fighting- loved it in fact, but brutal attrition wasn't exactly her style, blaze of glory was much preferred. The White Hare was designed for rapid assaults, and instead they were bogged down in what more or less amounted to a slow slog through the middle of Aberrant territory. Damage was slowly but surely mounting, and she down to about a quarter of her smartcannon and missile ammunition, forcing her to rely mostly on her energy weapons for the past few days. But with resources spread thin the way they were, they all had to make do: ad hoc units formed in the middle of fighting, picking up pilots and infantry from depleted and shattered units to fill out their own dwindling ranks.

Commander Aurigae- Ahkari had approached their small formation with a plan: One last daring, all or nothing type of raid. End the Aberrant threat in a day, no doubt at the cost of many- or most of their lives. A suicide run with dubious odds of success at best. Sabine snorted at the thought of the mission being a request. They all knew that at the rate they were going, the planet would be lost before they could get to the Princess. They were going in, or they were pulling out, no two ways about it, though Sabine at least appreciated the courtesy of asking, as unnecessary as it was.

"Safe is boring." Sabine whined. The mirror cracked and broke as it clattered to the ground, magazine unceremoniously dumped aside as Sabine swung off of her hammock and back down to the ground with the rest of the crew. Her footsteps light and bouncy as she casually sauntered over to Howe and swiped the lit cigarette from his fingers, taking a long drag from it as she leaned on the taller pilot. She winced slightly as she stretched the burn on her side, but otherwise ignored the discomfort. With a languid yawn, Sabine fixed her eyes on their current Constellation-Commander and winked. "Howie's right, and you said it yourself, we don't have enough time to take it slow. Might as well quit beating around the bush and hit that bitch where it hurts."

"Besides, as much as I've liked Alora, all the radiation really isn't good for my complexion."