[ closed ] The boys are back in town

[swordfucker]

Who: Dave, Dextera, Guren, John, Okuyasu, Ryo
Where: All around town
When: 6/26, mega forward dated
What: Bogeyman take down! This goes throughout the town ending at either the well or the harbor, depending on how things go, but they'll be working to keep it out of the line of people.
Warnings: Violence, gore, horrible monsters, death

[They've gathered together, they have a plan, and now the Boys™ are ready to take the monster down before anyone else gets hurt! Guren has made it clear that his group is going to draw it out first with Dextera's magic and immediately fling it at Dave's group, continuing in a ping pong sort of pattern until they end at the well, or the worst case scenario, all the way past it to the harbor, the second "ideal" open area decided on.

That's the gist of it!! Separate top levels below for each group and the aftermath.]

Comments

[pursestrings]

Swing enough times and it'll do just fine... [grumble mumble, you try to help and you get this glare--]

If I can get a grip on it long enough, eventually it'll go down to nothing. That what you mean?

[parodeity]

So we just have to keep it busy until then - heads up! Looks like it's gonna be our turn again. Everyone think not scared thoughts.

[ that isn't how it works. ]

[windeity]

That's what I mean, yeah! [He doesn't respond to Dave because not thinking scared thoughts is like, a no brainer, even if they can't easily do so.] Dave and I can keep it busy long enough that you can sneak up behind it to grab, so focus on that!

[And the boogeyman descends on them, volleyed back to their group and ready to strike again.]

[pursestrings]

Okay... I guess I can do that.

[Somehow, maybe. He'll keep back for now, then, poised and ready with The Hand to grab it somewhere it can't reach around and smack him off. The bogeyman comes at them in a mishmash of shapes, shifting and churning as it tries to decide which shape is the best to take now.

So, since it's a big mushy mess--] I can't grab any of that!

[parodeity]

Just look for your opening! [ dave is all business calm and collected and still willing to joke for the most part as he darts closer. sometimes his time bullshit works on things in town, but the bogeyman seems immune. it's unfair that his aspect is the only one they can't rely on, but it's kind of a "go figure" situation.

and anyway, he can't do time travel shit too much unless john says. it hasn't occurred to him to get creative with his aspect application here because he promised. ]

John said we'll keep him busy and we can - trust us! [ calm and collected and competent.

john has seen dave falter before even if dave tries to make it a rare occasion, prefers to hide from everyone the things that go wrong or that aren't easy. he's managed to see dave lose his cool in chroma multiple times, has seen him somewhere bad even though it didn't have a scratch on dave at his worst.

okuyasu and john are both going to get a glimpse of that now.

dave's a close range fighter, always has been. he's too close to back off when the illusion kicks in. it's flickers of a rooftop, and that alone is enough to make dave, always pale to start with, go absolutely bloodless. his expression is never easy to read but it locks down further and he doesn't want to look at the bogeyman but dave's already there swinging his sword.

this new form has a sword, too. it looks ridiculously similar to dirk, but older, but dave's reaction isn't great or normal. he's always hard to read but he's tense and rigid and suddenly more on the defensive. he's never won a single match against bro (hasn't wanted to know if he could win against dirk) and the movements are still too quick to follow. is it an illusion the enemy is matching dave and then outpacing him?

hard to say.

what's easy to tell is that dave is off balance. it only lasts the space of a few seconds, sword blows exchanged too quickly, and it ends the same damn way his life actually ended, almost.

this time he gets his sword through the enemy's shoulder for all the lack of good that does him. the problem is he only manages it because he's so off guard and terrified he doesn't manage to not get a sword through his chest for his trouble. as it's pulled out bro's stupid katana shifts back into a simple shadow claw and dave is flicked off of the claw and away, landing hard fifteen feet back. dave coughs (blood, ugh) but loses his grip on caledfwlch.

it's not a method of dying he's unfamiliar with and it's not instant enough he doesn't reach up to his chest and his expression doesn't go slightly disbelieving. dumb. guren had told him once before he had to get over his hesitations.

last time it only took a minute to catch up with him. he'd been stabbed twice over that time. dave is pretty certain a minute is accurate enough though. he wonders if it's possible to die without thinking stupid shit and automatically tries to look towards where john was to confirm he at least managed not to lose his cool and get killed by the stupid fucking specter of daves brother.

stupid. usually he'd be terrified of what his worst fear could tell other people and how much he didn't want them to know. right now, though, dave can only really be upset at the part where he's letting people down and john and okuyasu are going to be upset. and he didn't even manage to take the enemy down, too.

talking doesn't seem doable but he manages to mouth the word "sorry" with a forced smile towards where he thought john was because it seems like a good idea at the time to try to smile. it is his last idea, so he commits to it. okuyasu at least was staying back. dave thinks this counts as heroic again and also that it doesn't matter: he already died that final death, and resurrection isn't an option any longer. ]

[windeity]

[He's well-practiced by now and knowing Dave's fighting style that he's aware Dave's close-range and up-close and personal with their enemies. It's what happens with blades and he trusts Dave to take care of himself while John, the team powerhouse, tries to come in from above.

Granted the problem is he trusted that instead of immediately jumping in to help. It's why the illusion of Bro appearing throws him off, too.

The fight is over too quickly for him to even jump in, and he tries to swing at the boogeyman-turned-bro-turned-best-friend killer but doesn't derail the monster too far.

Dave hits the ground and John's attention shifts to that instead.]

Wait! [They've died multiple times before, but never around each other and never like this. It's jarring and unsettling and he's trying to adjust his grip on his hammer.

The split-second loss is all it takes, and he faintly thinks about how he's been scolded before about needing to learn to dodge better.

The claw whips around and the illusion flickers back into a large black dog that immediately mows him down, swiping at him and stabbing him straight through even as his hammer slams down on the creature's head before he's flinged. He lands in the other direction and he tumbles out of sight, knocked out entirely as three new marks begin to bleed through.

At least this isn't the first time he's been stabbed, but this time it's a lot more brutal and he's losing blood fast. He doesn't even have the words to say but he turns his head just enough to try and tell Okuyasu to run.

The words don't get very far though. He's on his own now.]