awashlogs | May Catchall with a Lion

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May Catchall with a Lion

WHO: Caramia and the whole damn town
WHERE: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
WHEN: May
WHAT: Various stuff
WARNINGS: Fighting monsters? Might be mentions of blood and stuff. Uhh... Everything else will be Good And Wholesome (probably)

If you want to plot anything with me, hmu on

rubiesriot or Rubie#6621 on discord!! Organization under the cut.

House Log with Henry and Kyrie (5/1)
The Night Sky with Kyrie (5/3)
Courage Quest with Shiho, Izuku, Kyrie and Akechi (5/4)
Teaching Ochako and Dextera Sign Language (5/?)
Catching Dumb Birds with Riku and Lupin (5/?)
Talking about Medicine Or Whatever with Yuuya (5/?)
Talking about Fun Books with Noctis (5/?)
Talking about More Fun Books with Kirishima (5/?)
Vriska's here, too (5/?)
Kyrie does the Hug Thing (5/22-ish)

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Look, Shiho, he's not gonna say the pendant's safety is more important than yours, or the others', but he's certainly thinking it. He's fond of you but this is well beyond that level.

With the ogres so neatly dispatched, there's no time to comment on Akechi's handling of the situation, but it's hard for a thing like that to go wholly unnoticed when your entire being is meant to take in information. Were it not for their newest guests, he might have taken a moment to more properly consider it--he's been around folks who are far too skilled in combat for their apparent profession, after all--but it seems that will have to wait for later...

"Monsters, by the looks of things," Kyrie replies helpfully, as his birds turn their attention from the fallen ogre and circle around to assist by way of diving after the creatures shambling towards them next. "Although it's hard to say exactly which faction of the undead these might be at just a glance."

Must be nice to not have to run all around and be out of breath! He only circles in time with the threats, moving urgently but never quite rushing himself, as if each step is taken with careful consideration to keep himself from harm's way. In theory, he ought to be able to get the pendant with his birds... but that would be risky, with the amount of trouble the forest seems to have gone through to keep it from them. He'll stay his hand for now and monitor the situation, because that's what flimsy assholes do best.

At least he's made some effort to help: the crows distribute themselves between the three ghouls, acting more as a distraction to keep them open to the others' attacks than doing any actual damage. They'll scatter if their target is attacked, but they can at least act as a nuisance in the meantime.

[Not everyone is a murder machine, a muscular attack-puppy, or a mullet-wearing lion, Akechi. Shiho is going to go for what she can actually reach.

But if she had a moment she'd probably be impressed. Deku seems like he could take care of himself. Akechi was apparently a murder machine. And even Caramia was flying high on adrenaline. Kyrie was a crow whisperer or something, she's not really sure.

The appearance of ~~ghosts~~ ghouls does immediately make her freeze in place though, fighting the urge to run (or at least to grip onto Kyrie, needing something warm and alive and not gross and dead to ground her.) Have her legs gone weak? A little bit. Any bravery she'd felt with the other monsters is immediately gone.]

Who cares what kind of faction they're from?!

[Does Caramia still have bullets in that gun? She doesn't know. But her gun does still have a charge to it and wasn't there a universal weakness in all ~~zombies~~?]

Just-... go for the head or something! Or break off their arms and legs! Pull out their jaws and throw them into the woods!! [Maybe it's a touch too drastic, but she's not good with supernatural anything.]

...I have a flamethrower. We can use it as a distraction! [Nothing was as distracting as fire, after all...?]

[ Akechi squints at the newly arrived creatures-- a second wave so soon? How many more would they have to deal with? Well, no time to think about that right now; they need to deal with the present, lest there will be no future to worry about. So he wrecks his mental files, goes over every myth, every supernatural entity he's ever heard about - or even encountered in the Metaverse - and the answer he comes to is: ]

They're ghouls! [ He calls out, in hopes that anyone else will also know how to deal with them-- although, in all honesty, he's not putting a lot of faith in that. He's always been a lot better at dealing with everything on his own-- at relying only on himself.

So he reaches for his pant pockets this time, withdraws another pair of knives and runs up to one of the ghouls-- and, he has to admit, Kyrie's crows actually do provide good cover for him. Ghouls may look intimidating, but that's all they are; they're not particularly agile or strong, or even very smart, so Akechi follows a routine as he did with the ogre: a mad dash, hack and slash for a loss of balance, and finally, two sharp knives dealing the killing blow, each buried deep in one side of the creature's head. ]

One down, two more to go! [ He shouts again, leading by example and hoping the others will catch on to how he approached the ghoul and figure out their weakness on their own. But, just in case: ] Caramia-san, Midoriya-kun, aim for their heads!

[ This was way more trouble than it was worth, honestly. Not for Caramia, of course, he'd give up literally anything personally to get his courage back, but others? Absolutely not. Of course, he was doing his goddamn best to make sure nothing happened to anyone, but who knows how long he could really keep this up if this kept going? (Please, don't keep going.)

While Caramia didn't ignore the conversation happening (as if he could, with his hearing now better than ever), he didn't seem keen on responding to much of anyone regardless. Kind of a bad time to chatter, right? He does take everything into account, though. Undead. Heads. Fire? (Please no fire.) Definitely heads. Got it.

~~Also, Akechi, why do you have so many knives on you???~~

Instead of letting this go on much longer, against Caramia's better judgement (because he really wanted to conserve his ammunition), he yanked one of his pistols from his holster and once again fired. One clean through one's forehead, and two slightly more erratic shots into the other's. So that left him with... 5 shells? That sounded about right. Not nearly as many as he would've liked, but...

Now they could grab the pendant and go home, and all of them could sit around a table and feast together and laugh about this awful scenario while pigging out on ice cream that totally had flavor and maybe there was even a rainbow in the sky with actual color? You know what? Let's add in some happy funtime music, too. They deserve it!! Good work everyone! Look, Caramia's even giving out hugs, and-

Just kidding. As if that would happen. Wouldn't that just be nice and convenient? We can't have that. Instead, before they could really think about their next decisions, much less try for the pendant, a harsh, loud shriek rang out, followed by sharply hooked, bird-like talons cutting through some of Kyrie's crows (don't feel bad, none of them are real anyway) and crushing Caramia, Deku, and Akechi............. rather, the ground where they were. They had plenty of time to react, after all, and if they didn't do so themselves, than Caramia would've more than gladly tugged them out of the way entirely.

And, hey, if one massive, angry bird wasn't enough, one look up would reveal two more vicious birds. Isn't that just exciting? ]

Really??? Seriously?! [ Fuck this forest. ]

[They were so close. Izuku makes a frustrated noise as they're forced to jump out of the way as more creatures turn up.]

They really don't want us to get that pendant back. [Keeping a wary eye on the rocs, Izuku turns his head just slightly and calls back toward the others.]

Is everyone okay? [He waits a beat and then narrows his eyes as he thinks of a strategy.]

Kyrie-san, do you think you can get your crows to distract the ones still up in the air? I think I can bring them down to the ground if they're not paying attention to me. [He can jump up and reach them, but he's sort of an easy target when he's in mid air...]

"You will not be using a flamethrower." Shiho don't you dare set this forest on fire?? The only thing worse than this, honestly, would be dodging not only horrible creatures, but out-of-control flames.

Fortunately for everyone (but mostly Kyrie), there's no need for it as Caramia downs the remaining two ghouls. It's... just unfortunate that it's immediately followed by another wave.

Really, there seems to be a lot of dead birds around the clearing by now, so what's a few more? Or a couple dozen more for that matter. For being made of magic, they certainly do seem to die like real birds... so uh, watch your step, everyone. It's a good thing he's got well over a couple hundred to spare, still darkening the branches overhead even with the casualties.

The rocs are addressed with a grimace, a swath of black already finding its way onto the creatures' wings.

"If you only think you can do something, you oughtn't bother." He doesn't really mean it, but it comes out sharply enough anyway. With his crows going after the larger birds' wings, its harder for them to maintain much height, let alone attack the group. In fact, as the giant hawk-like creatures screech and twist in midair to try and loosen the smaller birds plucking furiously at their wings, one does crash to the ground, too unbalanced to stay airborne.

It rolls itself against the grey of the grass in an effort to dislodge the crows, their black contrasting with its white--and soon red, from both sides. Especially given the fact that Kyrie, rather unamused by how long this all is taking, finally retrieves his own pistol and quite pointedly puts a bullet through its skull--and then a second to ensure it stays down. The shots probably take a couple more of his own crows out of commission, tearing through wings and bodies alike, but he doesn't so much as bat an eye. They hit their mark, and that's all that matters.

"At the rate this is going, we'll be out here all night."

I was only going to burn it a little. [She hates this forest anyway.

But she does keep the gun in hand, even if her plan is now moot with Caramia getting rid of the other ghouls. She'd expected a get in, get out sort of mission, not waves and waves of monsters. If she had known, she would have had Kaoru follow them in secret.

That feeling, followed by Kyrie's words only make her defensive and even if she could tell he didn't mean it, she doesn't respond well at all to something like that. (Though with more thought she'd wonder if anyone responded well to sharp words like that.) She grits her teeth and glares anyway, her own words equally sharp. Maybe Minamoto would be disappointed in her but in this moment she doesn't care at all.]

Then maybe I should pretend to be dead and roll my way over to the pendant instead.

[If anything, what she doesn't understand is why they even have to engage in the first place. The creatures are coming in waves, not in mixed groups. Why? If they left one alive would the others stop coming? If Kyrie, Caramia and Akechi served as decoys, could Izuku break through and grab the pendant? What would happen if they did grab the pendant? They didn't even know how many more creatures there were still, and yet here they are, wasting energy and bullets. How many more creatures could they all, individually, take?]

We need to go for the pendant.

If you try to roll over to where the pendant is, you surely will have no need for pretending to be dead.

[ What an idiot. Izuku seems to have good combat skills, Caramia has a gun and Kyrie's crows have provided effective cover and a distraction when needed, but what is this girl even actively contributing to this group at all?

Well, no matter. As it is, they all have more pressing matters to handle than bickering over useless ideas. ]

Winged creatures are often weak to projectiles... [ He calls out, recalling his own experiences-- that's often how it goes in the Metaverse, at least, so it's worth a (literal) shot. ] Kyrie-san, Caramia-san-- see if you can shoot them down!

[ But of course, yelling out orders is not all he can do. Just as he's done, Kyrie's crows manage to down another roc, and Akechi sees it as an opportunity to strike: it's very risky, and he's not really sure knives will do much damage to these creatures, but it's his only choice for now. He's not about to to reveal his identity yet again, not over this.

With that thought in mind, he withdraws the last pair of blades he had brought along and makes his move for the roc-- but between the crows' interference and the creature's own thrashing about, he can't quite climb on it and go for the head, like he had done before. Instead, the best he manages is avoid the roc's wild maneuvering long enough to take a stab at its chest-- to which it responds with a quick swat of its massive wings, sending Akechi flying off back into a more closed-off area of the woods.

... well. At least the tree branches and bushes cushioned his fall. ]

[ It wasn't as if they weren't trying to go for the pendant. Every time there was a new threat, and Caramia figured if they tried too hard to get it, one of these things would risk breaking it. He really didn't want this journey to be for naught. Plus, if he had to send everyone else away and just try to take these creatures on his own... he probably would. ]

Once... we take these out, you all should go. If there's any more, you all need to get safely back, okay?

[ As if that were going to happen, but he wanted them all to know they could leave. Alas, no, instead, the very reason he wanted them to leave to begin with came to life instead, Akechi being flung far into the woods as a response to try and help. God damn it.

You really shouldn't have been holding onto those last remaining bullets so selfishly. What if he got hurt because of you?

He quickly brushed these thoughts aside, and instead giving these damn birds his full attention. He'd have to check on Akechi when he there wasn't more immediate threats. ]

Akechi-kun! [He makes an attempt to run off after Akechi, but the Roc that had sent him flying in the first place lets out an angry shriek and blocks his way. For a split second, Izuku looks between the massive bird and the direction Akechi had been thrown in, torn.

The decision's taken out of his hands, though, when the Roc swoops down and tries to peck at him--that probably wouldn't have ended well if he hadn't jumped out of the way.]

There's no way we're leaving without your pendant, Caramia-san! We've come too far to quit now!

[As if making a point, Izuku activates his quirk again and adds some more power output before he jumps up delivers the downward kick to its head. The Roc goes down, and Izuku shudders just a little at the crack of bone breaking he'd heard. Even if these creatures are trying to kill them, Izuku feels the prick of guilt. Killing with his quirk--it's something he hopes he doesn't have to get used to.

He doesn't have much time to dwell on it, though, because the second Roc is flying down and ready to attack!]

"If it's at all broken, not even your own life could pay for the damage done. Are you sure you're willing to take that risk?" Harsh...? But this doesn't sound like his usual over-the-top theatrics. Rather, as he spares a glance back to Shiho, he sounds dangerously serious. Maybe Caramia might be upset with how easily the threat is offered to someone doing their very best to help him, but to Kyrie? Now isn't the time for pleasantries. And it certainly isn't the time to allow for mistakes.

Like, you know, getting swatted off to who knows where. That's one that could've been avoided!

With a sharp tsk Kyrie turns to more fully face the remaining roc. His birds can only keep it unsteady for so long, and it seems to have regained enough confidence to go after the others--

Another handful of shots ring out, precise in their aim: two in its skull, and two more in its breast. As its attack turns more into a crash, Kyrie shouts out a sharp, "Move!" in case the two idiots it was after don't think to dodge in time. Like the third idiot in the underbrush over there.

Just to keep it down, most of the remaining crows descend upon its fallen body... it's probably fine.

"If you want us out so badly, then consider paying more attention to your surroundings, you stupid, idiot lion." In the brief lull before the next (and, unbeknownst to them, final) wave, he shifts nearer to the trees surrounding so he can more properly glare at his don. "I won't allow you to waste my time, is that understood?"

[For a moment Shiho is tempted to ask him if it was a bigger risk than being here trying to retrieve the pendant. It's a dig at Caramia because she knows Kyrie cares in his own way, and that's where she would have struck first. But then off Akechi goes, straight into the trees and she glares at Kyrie instead, promising to (lightly) poison his food later instead before she's moving again, putting herself far out of reach before she presses a hand to the tree behind her and for a moment glad that she hadn't said anything. Caramia had enough to deal with, without her too.

The tree is connected to the ground which in turn houses every single tree in their near vicinity, giving her a crystal clear picture of exactly where everyone is in relation to her. Akechi doesn't look skewered by a branch. He's too far for her to tell if he has a concussion but whether he does or not is little consequence. If he does, they couldn't help him right now. If he didn't, he'd get himself back. They were down one person already, they didn't need to be down two, little as she could do.

At least the large amount of dead bodies she can both see and read with psychometry means that it's easy to notice movement. Her attention switches from Akechi to the source of movement. Which is...]

...bears!? [But... not, at the same time. Some kind of tiger-bear? What kind of sick mind came up with this stuff? Either way, she's already moving in the opposite direction, not trusting them to be tame with how much everything else seemed to want to kill them.]

[ Thank Ozma those birds were gone. He'd have to treat Izuku later, either with affection of some kind or food or something because he owed him quite a bit. The others, too, of course. Without Shiho's help, they wouldn't have known where to even begin looking for his pendant, and Akechi's done his fair share of work on these monsters (please be okay, Akechi...), and without Kyrie's birds they'd really be fucked, and-... ]

Bears? [ Really? They send a giant wolf, ogres, a handful of ghouls, three big ass birds and then... just... bears? Was this a desperate last attempt? It seemed entirely out of place. Their best bet would really just be to hand off some fish and tell them to "shoo", right? ] After all that, we get-... [ Caramia trailed off at the loud cry of something that was definitely not a bear. It sounded more like a roar- with a deeper reverb than most roars. ]

K... [ "Fear" is a funny thing. Sometimes, it's prevalent in people, like Caramia's former, gutless self. But that is a person with a severe amount of anxiety, with irrational fears and a very cautious nature. Caramia now, with all his boundless courage and bravery, had very little to rationally fear. Maybe losing those he cared about, or maybe doing something too dangerous and worrying everyone he's been close to. Besides that, fear was just an inhibitor that reminded himself too much of that gutless bastard. Still, "Bears with a tiger's head and other small features that towered about two times his size" seemed fairly rational.

Especially once one considered them to be the deadliest predator of Oz, known famously for their ability to slice lions in two. Caramia's voice fell, barely above a whisper. ] Kali...dah...

[ Of course, this lapse in fear may have frozen him momentarily, but certainly not enough to last very long. Before the kalidah was even able to charge when it got to the clearing, Caramia drew out his gun, and with the swift pull of the trigger (a LOT of "swift pulls" really), it fell to the ground with five sporadic bullet holes in its body, and even then he still pulled as if he had ammunition to spare. (Hint: He did not, in fact, have ammunition to spare.)

If you thought his expression he bore when he saw the first kalidah was Alarmed and Frightened, you'd not only be right, but probably not surprised when that expression only intensified as a second kalidah pushed through the forest, the lion simply taking a fearful step back at its presence. ]

[ Oof. That sure had been a blow-- to his pride more so than his body, perhaps. Fighting without his powers really isn't his forte.

He brings a hand to the back of his head, feels no wet spots whatsoever-- it's in pain, but not bleeding, so that's a relief. Next, he tries to sit up before hoisting himself to full height, and there's a blunt pang on his sides, but not so much that there should be any broken bones or ribs. Okay, still up and running, though he probably shouldn't risk any more daring maneuvers for a while.

There's barely enough time for his damage assessment to be finished, though; soon, he picks up on the familiar loud noise of shots being taken-- three, four, how many had that been, exactly? Did those idiots even have so much ammunition to spare?

Even from a distance, he can see it: yet another mutant creature, larger in size than anything they had faced so far, a twin fallen in a pool of its own blood, and the look of sheer dread in Caramia's face. There was only so much Izuku could keep doing, and Kyrie may as well have run out of bullets already, or else he would have probably have rushed to assist by now-- difficult though he may be, he wouldn't let his friend die.

Well then. Guess this is up to him again.

Using the thick foliage and bushes as cover, and with a quick motion of his hand towards his face, Akechi's entire outfit switches to a white, prince-like suit in a flash, and the red mask that manifests onto his face is quickly removed as he summons his Persona. But unlike the last time Caramia might remember, the attack he casts this time isn't light-based; instead, Robin Hood brings a pillar of dark, ominous energy crashing down upon the Kalidah, taking it down in one strike and no blood-- because it completely disintegrates the fiendish beast.

A sigh comes forth, but he remains on guard, still. Is there going to be yet another wave of enemies or...?

[Though Izuku had been shocked by the look of fear on Caramia's face, along with his panicked reaction, it shocks him even more when the second Kalidah gets disintegrated by a blast of energy. Izuku glances back at the others in the group, confused. Where had that even come from?

But that thought doesn't linger long. Because suddenly, he realizes that another creature hasn't come out of the forest to take the Kalidah's place, and in that handful of seconds, Izuku races forward, boosted by his quirk, to quickly grab the pendant from its resting place and then dart just as swiftly back to the others.]

Caramia-san! Here, take it. [He presses the pendant into the lion's hands.] Let's grab Akechi-kun and get out of here before anything else shows up!

He would have rathered bears, really. At least the disappointment in creativity would be preferable to having to see that look on Caramia's face.

Even after the creatures have fallen--he winces at the sound of so many shots into the first, a clear sign of terror even for someone so trigger-happy, and suspicion at the easy felling of the second rises quickly enough--Kyrie takes a step after Caramia, hardly paying any mind to whether another wave of creatures intends to come next.

Thankfully, Izuku has the sense to grab the pendant. Kyrie owes these kids too much, by now.

"Caramia." Pendant returned or not, Kyrie's voice cuts across the distance between them, steady and calm despite the adrenaline still racing through him. He's sure the idiot won't be so keen to act so soon after an encounter like this, after all--and it's his job, as his consigliere, to ensure he's acting as he should be... Not how his instincts might like. "We shouldn't stay any longer."

Alright, so he's effectively just repeating Izuku, which is pretty worthless to any of the others... But this is meant to get through to Caramia, specifically. They can't return to the town if he's stuck staring at the dead Kalidahs--and, while Kyrie won't move to stand between him and them, he can at least try to get him to turn away on his own.

[Shiho feels that at this point the forest is just being excessive. She doesn't know what kind of monster it is that crashes into the trees, not recognizing the term "Kalidah". But Caramia seems spooked enough that she stands by her decision to get out of there.

That pillar of energy though is... interesting. Where is that from? More importantly: who is that from? There's no body so she can't check which is a problem. Well....whoever it is, they seemed to have good intentions for now and a power like that couldn't stay hidden forever. She'd worry about it later with Kaoru as back-up. So instead, she's moving quickly to where Caramia and Izuku aren't, going to where there are bodies. It's nothing she hasn't seen before looking through her father's cold cases, and her manner is calm as she swipes a hand over mostly clean feathers or fur.

...They live here. The monsters are from here. Her hand comes back, probably covered in blood and she looks down at it in disbelief. Was that possible?]

We should go. [Because these creatures had been made to protect that pendant. There was no telling if this was the end.]

Where's the other guy? [Akechi's still in the bushes so that's the place she heads for.]

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May Catchall with a Lion

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