if you're feeling dead i'll be your reanimator

[whichcraft]

WHO: Summer and YOU!
WHAT: All over Chroma!
WHERE: Various times in the month of October!
WHEN: Catch-all prompts for the month of October, some open, some closed! See below for links to open top-levels.
WARNINGS: Will be marked in their individual threads!


QUEST 29 (SKELETON WAR) — OTA! | QUEST 30 (TRICK OR TREATING) — OTA!

Comments

QUEST 29 (SKELETONS). - open to all

[whichcraft]

[So as it turns out, Summer's got plenty of reasons to really dislike skeletons. It'd be one thing if they would just stay in the damn forest where she could more easily avoid them, but these assholes are coming into the town proper, where she spends her time, where she would greatly prefer to not have to deal with shamblefuckers following her around and trying to grab her and whatever else skeletons tend to do.

It probably comes as no surprise, then, when she decides one day that enough is enough.

She's used her powers in combat while in Chroma before, back when the werewolves were marauding, but this is a different breed of cat. The werewolves had been people, for one thing — recognizable people, sometimes — and they'd hunted at most in packs, not in armies. But skeletons? Those are much easier to reduce down to nothing but targets, and these ones come in groups big enough that it's actually both practical and sensible to turn up the heat and really cut loose.

Of course, the last time she'd gone into battle on her own she'd lost track of her magic and nearly fallen from the sky like a safe dropped from a tenth-story window in a Looney Tunes episode, so maybe it's no real surprise that she's shopping around for a battle partner to go with her when it's time for these bastards to get Tyrannosaurus-wrecked.]

Hey. You wanna go clear out some skeletons with me?

[photoshooter]

Oh, you know it, Ace.

[He flicks his fingers and his handgun appears mid-twirl around them before he holds it safely low, unloaded.]

Man, times like these make me wish I'd gone for the bazooka instead of the sniper rifle. What's the plan?

[whichcraft]

Sniper rifle might actually be better here. More precision.

[She chews the corner of her lip, pondering.]

I'm thinking we lure a bunch of them out to some field in Flavo, where it's more open. The downside is I won't have much of a vantage point to hit from unless I go airborne, but that'll make me run out of magic faster if I'm trying to stay up while cutting out chunks of them. So if I'm gonna stay on the ground, I'm gonna need cover.

[She hesitates a moment, then confesses: ]

I can't do close range. I'll handle the big clusters, if you can keep stragglers off of the two of us...?

[photoshooter]

[He thinks it over only a second before nodding firmly.]

Yeah. 'Course I can.

[It's different, providing cover fire for another ranged fighter, but it actually makes his job a thousand times easier. She won't be in the thick of it, hacking and slashing with a greatsword; he won't have to aim around her.]

Actually, how open's your schedule, or is this a right-now, take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal? Because I have an idea, but it'll take some time.

[whichcraft]

Are you kidding? A fight I've got the luxury of getting ready for sounds like a dream.

[She's visibly intrigued, though, by this promise of an idea. Ideas were always few and far between back in the day, and good ones even rarer still.]

Why, what've you got cooking?

[photoshooter]

Height would be good for me, too, if I'm gonna be picking these guys off with a rifle.

[He points upwards with his free hand.]

If we're choosing the battlefield anyway, why don't we build some kind of temporary tower or platform first? That way, once we draw them in, we can take 'em out at our own pace from our penthouse view.

[whichcraft]

...So like a hunting blind. Sit inside and just pick 'em off.

[She shrugs a little, having no objection to the idea.]

I'm not exactly Crafty McHandytool, though. Carpentry's a little outside my scope...

[photoshooter]

I can do it! As long as we only need it temporarily, something like that shouldn't actually take all that long to put up.

[Not that he's Bob the Builder, either. But there's something about envisioning the structure they'll need, about putting it all together and having something solid, that feels pleasant and empowering in his chest.

Maybe it's all the camping. Maybe Gladio rubbed off on him. After a moment, he chuckles and swings his arms.]

It'll be like that treehouse I always wanted as a kid.

[whichcraft]

You know I never had a treehouse either? I was never really the outdoorsy type. I mean until I stopped having a choice about it.

[She watches quietly as he swings his arms the way he does, and on one of the backswings she smoothly moves her own hand into the way and catches his fingers with hers. So slick.]

What can I help with?

[photoshooter]

[Oh. Goodness, he's caught. Whatever shall he do? Blush and fail not to smile like a big goof, apparently.]

Well... why don't we draw up the plans together? And would your magic help us get wood, maybe?

[...]

For building!

[THAT ISN'T A SUSPICIOUS CLARIFICATION, MR. ARGENTUM!]

[whichcraft]

...You know for a minute there you had me thinking you were going to pound nails with your —

[...]

...fists.

[there was another way she was going to finish that sentence and spoilers: it wasn't with "fists".]

But yeah, I think I can figure something out.

[photoshooter]

[AND THEN THEY DID.

Their somewhat rickety, small-ish hunting blind waits. Visibility's good. The moment for... nailing has passed, likely without incident.]

I can do a flare thing. Why don't you head for the blind first and I'll catch up once I've got their attention?

[Prompto is, after all, a speedy boy.]

[hamerhead]

[He may not know this round-eared one, but Sidon is more than ready than to lay waste to a few more skeletons. His bow and arrows at his side, he looks downwards at her with a nod, himself standing at over thirteen feet tall.]

I am ready for this glorious day of combat! LET US BE OFF!

[He gives her a grin with his shark-like teeth and they somehow glisten in the sunlight.]

[whichcraft]

[...Okay that is. A fucking gigantic fish guy, right there — well over twice Summer's height, bright red, and with some kind of appendage like a hammerhead shark all up on his face. Definitely one of the weirder residents she's come across in her stay here — and in Nevermorrow, for that matter — but at least the guy seems...hmm.

At least he seems like he's more interested in fucking up a skeleton than in fucking up her. But it's still probably better to be careful anyway.]

Yeah, okay. You're an archer?

[She motions vaguely to his bow and arrows as they set off.]

[nascere]

C'mon, let's get going.

[ Noctis is raring to go despite the casual words -- he's got a cool front to upkeep, you see, and when she offers he's more than happy to go along. Fighting relaxes him almost the same way naps do, and Noctis has a lot of frustrations he has to dispel recently.

He nods at her, giving Spot one last pet before he veers away to meet her halfway, hands in his pockets. ]

Are there a lot of them mucking about?

[whichcraft]

Yeah, they kinda come in swarms. And I just personally hate these fuckers especially, so.

[When they meet up, she pivots and falls easily into step next to him, though perhaps curiously she carefully manages to stay about a quarter-step behind him as they proceed — not enough to make it obvious that she's letting him get a little ahead of her, but enough that he's got a hint of a lead on her, however slight it might be.]

How do you want to do this? Teamwork, or split them in half and each take a side, or...? What works for you?

[She flexes her fingers absently, making the folds of her cloak shift.]

I'm not exactly a close-range fighter.

[nascere]

What kind of attack magic are you good at?

[ Noctis considers her, calculating. He's not quite the strategist that Ignis is, but he can do in a pinch, and it's pretty easy for him, considering the fact that he's been in more skirmishes than he can count. ]

If you're good at mid to long range, I need to know that you won't hit me with one of your spells.

[ Because that might be slightly troublesome, considering everything. Then, he adds. ] And I move quick. Really quick.

[whichcraft]

Long-range, wide area. I don't like it when things get close to me.

[He raises a good point, though, about the possibility of friendly fire — pun intended. She'd adapted well enough to avoiding her boys back when their battles came fast and constant, but those were her boys. She knew what they were like, what their habits were. Noctis is more of an enigma, and if he's really as fast as he claims to be...]

...Show me. What you're working with, I mean. One of my friends was fast, too, but I knew how he moved, so.

[nascere]

All right, I can work with that.

[ More or less. Noctis considers her briefly before he decides to demonstrate, and instead of charging he warps into the midst of the skeletons, mowing through them with his word, phasing and warping, darting amidst them like a wolf tearing through sheep. Turns out, he probably doesn't need cover all that much, but still.

Noctis is a dervish of movement, appearing and disappearing in flashes, and before long this particular army is nothing but bones, with him standing in the middle of them, his sword disappearing from his hand with an idle flick. ]

[whichcraft]

...Holy fuck.

[That's...that's actually terrifying to watch, in a way that hits her with a sort of rare apprehension she doesn't usually experience, even in battle. There's fear, and of course she understands the fear of a credible threat, but there's the sort of fear that makes you aware that you have to be careful of something, and then there's...well, this.

Watching Noctis reminds her of how it felt to watch the old man cast magic: the sudden, sobering recognition of someone whose skill so far outstrips yours that you wouldn't even know where to begin when it comes to trying to stand against it, and the fear that feels like a block of ice dropped into the pit of your stomach when it occurs to you that if this person wanted you dead, you already would be.

She's so used to sword boys being stupid and dumb and reckless. She's not used to this.]

...Fucking fuck.

[Congratulations, Noctis. You've rendered her both wide-eyed and speechless.]

[nascere]

[ Noctis is a little too far away to notice the look on the face, but that isn't a problem. Noctis doesn't even look like he's broken a sweat, because he warps to a few paces before her, dusting himself off.

Up close, however, he notices, and his brows raise in concern. ]

You okay?

[ Is it the skeletons thing? Is she scared of them? He knows she hates them to pieces, but you never know with girls. ]

[whichcraft]

[Make him love you, her instincts snap immediately, not because it's a good thing but because that's how problem-solving works sometimes, you take an answer that worked once before and you use it again and again, no matter how shitty it is or whatever better answers might be out there, just because you know for a fact that this one does. And this is how she'd felt about Nick at first, isn't it, when she'd seen what he could do, how fast he was, how powerful when she was still so clumsy and inept. This is exactly how she'd felt, when it had occurred to her that he could abandon her or betray her or kill her if he ever wanted to, and she couldn't stop him, and she didn't have a way to prevent that.

Kind of funny in retrospect — she'd gotten him to love her, except that then she'd kind of fallen into the exact same trap of her own, and in the end he'd abandoned, betrayed, and killed her anyway, on a battlefield just like this one.

She's glad for her cloak, because it means she might stand a chance at hiding the way her hands are shaking. She's glad, too, for a moment to catch her breath, because it leaves her time to remind herself of all of the good things Prompto has ever said about Noctis, and how she trusts Prompto's word if nothing else, and how his promise that she's safe has meant so much toward freeing her from fears exactly like these in the past.

She swallows hard, and tries to get hold of herself.]

I've never seen anyone move like that.

[A shaky laugh escapes her, accidentally betraying some of what she's really feeling as she adds absentmindedly: ]

Maybe I'm the one who should stay off the battlefield, so you don't get me mixed up with one of them.

[nascere]

Yeah, well.

[ Something's not right here, but he doesn't know her well enough to put a finger on it. What he does know, however, is that something about this whole thing makes her nervous, and he's not entirely sure what to do. ]

Good that you're long range, I guess...?

[ He offers, not coming any closer for fear of spooking her. ]

[whichcraft]

...What do Prompto and Ignis even do, if you can fight like that?

[And here, maybe, reveals another telling difference between her experiences and his. One of them was trained to be a warrior, taught to use his abilities, pressed and grilled and honed into the skilled fighter he is today. The other was dropped into it and told to survive on nothing but her wits, surrounded by boys who simply picked up swords and thought that somehow that made them heroes.]

You just...

[She motions back vaguely at the piles of bones where skeletons had once stood.]

They're...all gone. By yourself. With a sword.

[nascere]

They fight along with me.

[ Noctis tells her simply, not quite understanding the question because it is what it is. His friends, Ignis, Prompto, Gladio, they bring their own gifts to the table, they show him the way. They make things less... lonely.

He tilts his head at her, curious. ]

You haven't seen something like that before, huh.