summertime chill // OPEN (Event)

[nosotros]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Downtown
When: June 24th, evening
Summary: Ice pixies are such jerks
Rating: PG-13

It should have been a nice balmy evening. Instead it's chilly, and only getting colder.

Throughout downtown various civilians are asleep on their feet. In some cases literally. What's more the ice pixies, little humanoid creatures that look like tiny and slightly spiny ice sculptures, are out in force, flitting about in groups of two and three and generally causing problems.

But the citizens of El Sera aren't alone. The magic stirring in the air calls out to the mages and magical boys in the city, seeking to draw them out of their homes and to the defense of the city...

(ooc: Go nuts, guys! You're free to NPC the ice pixies on your own, as I won't have time to reliably do so myself. However, I can provide prompts, IC stumbling blocks, or other tools for you to play with on request!)

Comments

open!

[oakleaf]

[Well, it could be worse.]

[Hakuren could have been wearing shorts.]

[His new magical form is bit odd, a bit over formal, and a bit too casual all at once, somehow. He can't help but appreciate the ribbon tie around his throat, and the shoes on his feet are well-fitting and comfortable, and the fabric of his vest is just the right combination of soft, sturdy, and textured enough for Mikage to keep his balance.]

[Hakuren lurks, baculus in hand, near the front gate of the school. It's late enough and cold enough that the majority of the other school residents are already asleep--so as far as Hakuren knows, it's just him out and about and hunting for the source of this cold snap.]

[amnesiadragon]

[There's someone else lurking nearby, too. His black pants and vest blend well into the night, but with the white shirt, red mask, red bowtie, and most of all horns and wings, he's pretty obvious. Still, he doesn't look like he's about to attack anyone. He turns his head and spots the other boy, and his expression softens. He looks a little similar to him... maybe he's peaceful?]

[oakleaf]

[Caution and prudence were both essential. So of course, Mikage had to immediately go and ruin it. Ryu may not be the sort of dragon that Mikage is used to, but that doesn't stop the little pink dragon from letting out a happy chirping 'pyaa!' before launching himself off of Hakuren's shoulder.]

[Hakuren lets out a startled choked noise before chasing after Mikage, but he at least manages to not make more noise than that.]

[amnesiadragon]

[He grins behind the mask as he sees the small dragon, and holds out a hand if he wants to land on it.]

Hello there. What's your name?

[It's directed towards Mikage, but Hakuren is welcome to answer, too.]

[oakleaf]

[Mikage lands immediately and spreads his wings proudly. He announces himself with a cheery 'pya!' and a little puff of fire before Hakuren catches up enough to speak with Ryu.]

His name is Mikage. [Hakuren slows from a light jog to a sedate walk, giving Ryu a thorough once over. He doesn't seem bad...]

[amnesiadragon]

[Oh... he's really cute. He gently pets him with his other hand.]

Mikage? That's a nice name. I'm Ryu, Mikage.

[He looks up at Hakuren, and smiles.]

Is he a friend of yours?

[oakleaf]

[Mikage trills in delight when Ryu pets him, his bunny-like ears twitching this way and that.]

Not quite. [Hakuren crosses his arms as he speaks.] I'm watching him for a friend of mine.

[amnesiadragon]

Aw. I'm sure he'd like to have more friends!

[Why so cute...]

Open!

[amnesiadragon]

[Ryu can feel something tugging him, and so he heads outside. It's not the same pulling that'd been drawing him to Fou-Lu, but it's similar. The cold hits him in a wave, though, and he finds a place to transform without disturbing people.]

[He's grateful that this form is more resistant to the cold, and he speeds off towards where he can sense the magic. If his outfit isn't enough to draw strange looks, the horns in his hair and wings on his back probably are.]

OPEN (John could use a rescue)

[warmgun]

[John's careful not to bother Elijah as he slips on his jacket and heads out of the apartment. He doubts the other man will care all that much, but he'd rather not cause an undue fuss. There's something calling to John outside, though he can't place it - like a shadow flickering at the edges of his vision. What he does know is that it's much too cold for summer.

As soon as he's stepped out of the door, it becomes apparent that the temperatures aren't the only problem. There's a wreck in the middle of the street. Several of them, in fact. John hurries to the nearest car and clears away the frost on the window. There are a man and woman inside just keeled over. They don't appear to be hurt, though. John bangs on the window.]

Oi! Are you, all right?

[They don't respond, and he's about to go for the handle when he feels something very like ice water trickle down his spine. It makes him feel tired, somehow. Hypothermia? John shakes his head sharply and whirls around to see...]

What the hell?

[His hand goes to his service pistol where it's shoved into the back of his jeans. What are those things? Fairies? Is he hallucinating? One of them raises a delicate hand and another wash of intense cold moves over him. John shivers. Not good. Very not good. He starts shooting.]

[estranges]

[Kain's first thought is 'what kind of piddly little gun is that'. Even Laguna has something more substantial that than-- quite a number of them too.]

Behind. [Not that there are a few of those fae, or whatever they call themselves, behind the man. Instead, it's Kain, in full dragoon armour for the first time since arriving in his world, whirling his lance around in a circle to deflect the fae's version of a Blizzard spell.

He still has the urge to change but apparently even being in his armour again, brandishing the lance that apparently had been a trinket around his neck, isn't enough to satisfy the urge.

But Kain's not in the mood to indulge right now.]

[warmgun]

[John glances over his shoulder and up where - all right, now he knows he hallucinating. Who even wears those kinds of things outside a renaissance festival or parade in front of Buckingham Palace? He keeps his gun trained on the pixies, regardless. However bizarre the bloke chose to dress, he was defending both of them, not attacking. He turns his attention back to the pixies, firing off another round at one. It hits the thing dead on and does nothing.]

Yeah, thanks. Do you know what those things are? Or how to kill them? Don't suppose that armor's just for show?

[He has the urge to go for the electric blue magazine clip in his back pocket, though he couldn't say why.]

[estranges]

[The man talks too much, but thanks to practice, Kain ignores what he deems inane rambling.]

I've no knowledge of these things at all.

[Magic creatures, pfaugh. Kain dislikes them for the reason that they're usually weak to things he cant do-- these are clearly attuned to ice and a Fira would probably do nicely, but neither Lightning nor Yuna are here to help with that.

He could ask the man though. Worth a shot.] I don't suppose magic is in your field of expertise.

[warmgun]

[John has the sense not to ask the other man if he looks like Harry Potter. Whether reality or dream or the effects of some mental breakdown, there is magic here. As the knight, or whatever he is, is being terse, John responds in kind.]

It's medicine, actually. [And sniping, but that doesn't appear to have much effect at the moment. He empties the last of his clip into one of the pixies, and it does finally screech as a crystalline crack appears on its body. The other two with it raise their hands and send another blast of cold at John and the other man.

Without thinking, John ejects the empty, pulls the blue clip from his pocket and slams it into the Sig Sauer in his hand. At which point, there's a flash of light, and he's suddenly holding what appears to be an oversized assault rifle. And he's dressed like some bloke from a period drama. There isn't much time to worry over that as the pixies dart toward them.]

[estranges]

['Medicine', not 'healing magic'. That implies that the man would need supplies instead of magic ability to cure people-- swell. In his opinion, potions take a little more time to take effect than a well-timed Cure.]

Let us hope you have some supplies on hand.

[But he does have to hold a smirk in when the man changes (so that's what it means to 'change') because he does look like he's dressed more for a play than a battle, save for the gun.

The gun is a little more of Laguna's style, so Kain thinks it's acceptable.]

Impressive.

[warmgun]

I'm trying only for your benefit.

[John's fairly certain he's being mocked and in the new get-up, he wouldn't honestly blame the other man. Excepting that the other man is dressed as a knight.]

Eyes up.

[The pixies are upon them, one flying up to harass the knight and the other taking aim at John's eyes with its pointy little fingers. He jerks back, then slides right when the car blocks his retreat. Close range isn't exactly conducive to a gunfight, but he takes a swing at the monster. It dodges neatly, but it gives John a moment to regain his personal space. When he comes to a stop just a few feet away, he's engulfed in the warmth rising from a manhole cover on the street. The pixie's still in pursuit, but it stops abruptly, like it's hit a wall, then falls back. Well, that was interesting.]

Got anything hot?

[He calls out to the other man as he raises his new gun and takes aim at the pixie who's forming a ball of ice to return the favor.]

/rolls in

[amnesiadragon]

[Fortunately for John, a large form swoops down, fire burning around its fists. It smashes into the fairy casting a cold wave on him, and then turns to smash into the next. The third flies away, but the figure raises a clawed hand, fire shooting out and smashing the fairy against the ground.]

[It turns, and the fire's gone. He seems to be... grinning, but it's not predatory, at least. When he speaks, his voice is rough.]

Are you okay?

we'll just assume time shenanigans, i guess! next time I will make options. ahah.

[warmgun]

[John simply stares at the dragon thing for several seconds. It's not attacking him, though, so he decides to just... ignore that for the time being. He'll deal with the fact that one mythical creature just saved him from another in a moment.]

Reckon so. Cheers for that. Do you know where these things came from?

[He frowns, thinking of the man and his wife possibly dead in their car.]

That is my usual assumption with these things. ~TIME SHENANIGANS~ /jazzhands

[amnesiadragon]

[He shakes his head, and seems to look a little... embarrassed?]

If I did I'd stop it. Sorry.

[warmgun]

Have you seen more of them around town? There's more than just a bit of ice to worry over.

[John taps on the glass of the car behind him, then gestures to the various wrecks along the street.]

I'm a bit cold, but I'm pretty sure Americans aren't that sensitive to a little summer chill.

[amnesiadragon]

Yes. Too many of them. I know fairies like playing pranks, but this is too far.

[He shakes his head.]

I'm pretty sensitive to it, but I'm holding up okay I think. I'll walk with you if you want.

[For a certain value of 'walk'.]

[warmgun]

[John glances down at the pistol held loosely at his side. It hadn't seemed to do much to the pixies.]

Yes. I need to find a better weapon, though. We can't all be dragons, of course.

[He pauses.] You... are a dragon? Or is that some kind of armor? [Not a question he ever expected to be asking, but there you were.]

OPEN

[crotesque]

[He misses Wolf Trap already. It was his home base, his nest, his hideaway. His dogs are there and he's wondering who's feeding them, but he knows that if he's missing Hannibal or Alana or Jack will go do it because... (Because they're his family. His rock. His stability, but he shies away from saying such things unless Hannibal makes him.) It's not much of a comfort, however, as he misses the dogs, their feet on the floor and the sound of their breathing and barking. It was an ambient noise of life and well-being that Will used to recharge himself.

Now it's just empty, and he's wary of this roommate that he doesn't know. He'd rather not hang around there, so despite the cold, he heads out. He uses what small amount of coin he has to buy some hot coffee and walks, trying to get acquainted with El Sera. But it isn't Wolf Trap. It isn't home and he feels like a child again, from town to town, always a stranger. He huddles down into his jacket.

The first snowball hits him at a corner and he winces, but not angrily. It takes more than a snowball to incite him, and he turns. He expects a child and finds nothing there at all. A snowball hits him from another direction. It doesn't bother him, immediately, and he steps off the sidewalk, looking for the children. Maybe if he'd have found them, he'd have set his coffee down and played with them. Children were so much easier to deal with than adults and something as mindless as a snowball fight might have made him feel a bit more at peace on a difficult day.

There aren't any children, however. And eventually, he catches sight of the pixies against the snow. The first one startles him terrible, and he throws the hot coffee all over a small swarm of them. They shriek and sink into the snow writhing. The buzz of their brethren is audible, like bees, and the onslaught of attacks comes more heavily laden with ice. It starts to sting and he ducks down, fleeing.

They're driving him towards the lake.]

sorry about the late tag! ;;

[revile]

[Suzuki tends to pride himself in being the most mature and reasonable of his group of friends, even more-so than other people he knows back home, but when it comes down to it he's still a regular high school boy away from home, away from anything familiar and safe and secure, and deep down, it sort of rattles him a bit. As posh and accommodating as El Sera is, it's not home, and he sure isn't terribly enthusiastic for however long his stay is meant to be.

But the presence of his good friend Heisuke does ease his worries a small bit, though just barely. Heisuke always makes plenty of things difficult, and he'd surely make this world a handful to deal with. However, for once, his friend is not the top of his list of concerns when he'd suddenly woken up in the middle of the night with a strange sort of stirring in his heart, a weird tug and sense of urgency. As much as he'd wanted to go find Heisuke to see if he felt the same way or had any sort of idea of what was going on, all he could really do was drag himself out of bed and outside, and without any knowledge as to how and why, his feet led the way.

The air is ice cold, puffs of his breath escaping in front of his vision, and though he'd catch little hints of movement from the corners of his eye, he just assumes it's was nothing. He's most likely just tired.

The thing ahead of him though-- no wait, person. That can't be nothing.]

Hey! Stop! [Suzuki calls out before racing forward, waving his hand to grab the person's attention. It's someone far taller than him, larger build too, so it must be an adult, and hopefully a useful one. One that knows why in the world the temperature has suddenly dropped and where the heck he's meant to go.]

I do not mind at all :)

[crotesque]

[Will has a soft-spot in his heart for children. He's a good man who wants to protect everyone from the evils in the world -- (It's a heavy burden for one man, it's eroded him away into pieces that have started to crumble. It's a lonely burden too.) -- but he sees the potential of younger generations. More than that, he spent his entire childhood far away from anything safe or familiar or secure and he knows how much it hurts.

Right now, everything has been turned upside down. He's in a strange city, where he's been told strange things. And far too many of those things are turning out to be 'true.' He's still convinced this is a delusion, but he's learning it's rules. He's not enjoying the learning process.

Will can hear the boy calling as he flees down the bank, and he doesn't have time to shout for him to stay back. What he does have time for is to grab the kid around the shoulders and pull him down, using his own back and his jacket to cover them as ice continues to be pelted at them.]

Stay down. [It's a terse warning, and Will glances over his shoulder. All he can really see are faint glittering shapes, can hear their angry muttering. He takes a long deep breath, eyes closed, before he actually looks down at the kid he all but tackled.] You need to run. I'll lead them off.