lucetilogs | Zompania Draft - Draftees and Reinforcements, mid-day 4-early 7

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Zompania Draft - Draftees and Reinforcements, mid-day 4-early 7

Who: Draftees and Volunteers
What: The draftees and the reinforcements must hold against the Third Party army until rescue arrives
When: From May 23 through the wee hours of May 26 (days 4-7)
Where: Zompania
Summary: Draftee information and Volunteer information
Rating: Varies on thread, please mark explicit material.

This post is for the rest of the draft, beginning when the volunteer reinforcements arrive. Look up in the sky--your friends are parajumping in! Be sure to use the above info post for any plotting needs you might have. Enjoy!

Be sure to tag this post appropriately: [canon] character name

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[Though she's tired and hardly stops for rest, Raven continues to seek confrontations with the Cultists, particularly those with Shift Hunters doing their dirty work. No one deserves to be ambushed by one of those. Because the Cultists can fly and the aerial vantage point is advantageous, Raven also spends three-fourths of her fighting time in the air.

The problem with birds is that they are fragile, even demigod monster-birds that have magic fire. The right feathers clipped or flight-hollow bones broken and they're grounded. Unlike the hours before the bomb, Raven fights through the sixth day with this in mind; she focuses on picking out problems before they start, coming in to lift Lucetians out of the fray or, if there's time and they aren't massive, offer to let them ride to somewhere less dangerous.

Most of the time, the feathers hide all the damage she's taken.

At the arrival of the ship on the last day, she keeps fighting through the onslaught of Cultist attacks until suddenly there is no one left in front of her to fight. Then she leaves her feathers behind, on her knees in human form for several long minutes, unable to move.

After a while, using her sword to help herself stand, she gets up and follows the others, staggering in the direction of the ship with them. Is it over? She still feels enough of a rush that she can ignore some of her aches, but she's cradling her right arm to herself with her left, and one leg drags enough to slow her down.

With or without help, she'll slump into semi-consciousness on the ship, completely blank to the food and most noises of others. It'll take effort to rouse her enough to tell she's still with it.]

[He'd been a concerned when the reinforcements were called in -- and then a little more when it became obvious that they'd lost contact with the draftees from Luceti. To think that the situation could be so bad as for something that bad to have happened.

So of course he volunteered. He knew people who were out there, and with the risk of permanent death that the cultists represented, he couldn't sit still in the village when he knew he would be of better use on the battlefield than assisting with the injured that streamed into the enclosure.

The first day, he'd been stressed over the fact that he couldn't find his housemate. By nightfall, with no obvious central base to check, he had to fight the terrible feeling that she could already be dead and he just wouldn't know until after the battle.

His worries were somewhat lifted when he saw a blaze of color streaking across the sky the next day. He scrambled through the streets, trying keep sight of Raven as he also tried not to run into cultist patrols.]

[She didn't see him at first; she's busy fireballing a Cultist who had the gall to try diving on one of the Pokemon trainers. Once she grounds that one successfully, she spots Leon as she turns, and doesn't know it's him.

The blue hair and the ears register with her a few moments later, after she takes a lightning bolt that sends her to the ground. She manages to land after a shaky half-dive and Leon's face shows up inside her head, matched to the sight of someone waving around buildings.

He's here? She knew reinforcements came, but-

She's up immediately, searching for him specifically this time.]

[He wants to shout out to her, but he knows that's just suicide for him; running around is bad enough, but calling out his position verbally would send any cultists nearby right after him.

A curse leaves his lips as he trips where the street has cracked and broken, protecting his face by allowing his forearms to take the brunt of the fall. He freezes midway through picking up himself, hearing the nearby rattling metal place against metal plate -- armor in movement.

He looks around alertly, scrambling for a nearby alleyway. As he runs for the other end, he's stopped by the sound of growling Shift Hunters. He retreats back the way he had entered, backpedaling again when he sees an Elite exiting the building across the way.

Trapped? He couldn't be trapped. No way.]

[Raven can see it, see him and the corner he's backed into, enemies advancing on all accessible sides. It's a tough call whether she has enough lift to clear the buildings in a dive; she tries anyway, feeling a roof rail brush across her feathers before she lands as close to Leon as she can get. That puts her between him and the Shift Hunters; she thinks it's better that he have a barrier between multiple enemies.]

We don't have a lot of time. [Raven ducks her head and lowers one wing. It's bloody, despite the cover of feathers.] Don't argue.

You're hurt.

[The two words come out as a rushed hiss, worried and stressed for a variety of reasons. But he's moving close to her, relieved to see Raven even if it's in this terrible situation, and he sheathes his sword, knowing it won't do him any good right now.]

Can you even continue to fly with that?

[He shouldn't be questioning, shouldn't be arguing, but it's simply how he reacts.]

I flew to get here.

[She grits her now-nonexistent teeth through it. Not all of the blood is hers.]

We have to go, Leon. [In order to look at him, she has to turn her head and stop watching the Shift Hunters. It only lasts for a second.]

[His brows knit together worriedly, but he notices how quickly she shifts her gaze away from him and back to the other side of the alley. She was right -- they couldn't linger.]

O-- okay. I'm ready, however we're going to do this.

[It was up to her. He didn't have much in ways of supplies, but...]

If you need me to drop any weight, I can drop my pack.

[The only thing he would definitely need was his tome and the communicator in his ear. The rest were magic potions and some light survival gear and what little first aid stuff that could be snatched en route to the battlefield.]

You're fine.

[She doesn't know what's in the bag, he might end up sacrificing something really important. Can't let that happen.]

I can't carry you the way I did last time. You have to ride.

[Her leg won't hold him. It barely lands her, and she'll ignore it until the last possible moment because it isn't as important as what she's doing now.]

[He nods, already sidling closer so he's better positioned against her back. His eyes go down to his sword for a second, and he reaches over to carefully loop one arm around Raven's neck.

He's so unsure about this; he doesn't want to hurt Raven, and the only other thing he's really ridden was a giant bunny that didn't particularly care where it was clung onto.]

Got it. I think.

[He looks up, feeling like the alleyway was far too narrow for what they were going to try to do.]

I'll probably squeeze tighter when we take off. ...Sorry in advance.

[The very real possibility that she'll lose some feathers to him, that's just part of the fight. He isn't touching her Luceti wings. That's more important.]

It's fine. [She unfolds her flying wings, maneuvering a bit around Leon. It's not too uncomfortable.] You want to hold on.

[With him astride, she has to use a bit of wind-magic assistance to get herself airborne; she's cutting it close with the Shift Hunters, who leap at her tailfeathers as she tries to gain altitude. The burst of wind makes for a very abrupt lift, and she only gets her stride of flying when she flaps in earnest. Humans are heavy dead weight riders.]

[The armored Shift Hunters being so close cause Leon to tense his grip even before Raven is off the ground -- but there's no time to worry about it, as his suddenly he's pressed up against Raven's feathery body and they're flying up, up, up--

Then the Shift Hunters are letting out a guttural howl as they burst out of the alleyway, and Leon muffles a curse against the back of Raven's neck.]

Damn it. Who knows how many cultists are nearby...?

[He hazards a look back. The Elite he had seen earlier has taking off into the air as well.]

[Damn it, she thinks along with Leon, knowing she can't do as well in an aerial fight with him riding along.]

Not too many. [Not the last time she looked, and that doesn't count any that might be in hiding. Raven turns, slower than she likes, this is going to take a lot of energy.] I don't want to fight, just keep them away.

I can do that.

[He tries to muster up a confident voice while holding on to Raven; at least their ascent wasn't nearly as vertical as it was in the alleyway, so he can shift his grip and look over his shoulder again.

There. The Elite was rising into the air, quickly gaining altitude and following after them. Fighting in the air would just cause more harm than good, introducing variables that he couldn't risk introducing while Raven was already injured.

Spin and slow, temporal stream. His splayed hand glows as he twists backwards, targeting the Elite.]

Delay!

[There's a visible difference in the speed at which the cultist moves, but he's still following. Leon shakes his head, clinging again to Raven.]

[His moving around and that final twist backward throw her off a bit, forcing her into another fast turn. She can see the Cultist following, for a few seconds, see him moving more slowly and struggling in the air.

Flapping her wings at the end of her glide, Raven tries to use what little wind exists to give herself a speed and altitude boost. The bloody wing took the strain of that last turn and if she had teeth to grit in this form, she might break one.]

Can't go forever. We'll have to land soon unless you can drop him.

[Crap. He didn't want to strain Raven more than necessary, especially when they were in such a dangerous area. He chances another look behind him, gritting his teeth.]

Okay. Hopefully those Shift Hunters aren't anywhere nearby.

[Their flight grows unsteadier as Raven grows weaker and more burdened, but Leon forces himself to focus on the symbol he has to craft.

Death on the wind, the blades of darkness converge... He's never used it in real combat before, but he's seen its effects within the battle dome. The air around him seems to solidify into compact, churning winds in the form of long blades.]

Black Reaper!

[The spell had been an improvement on Black Saber, to pin a subject with multiple dark blades. Now, they attack the Elite as one, sending the cultist careening out the of sky and into the side of the building as the spell bites into his wings.]

[Raven feels the changes in the air, losing some altitude just before Leon fires off the spell. She changes direction again, using the drop to her advantage and landing behind what remains of someone's home. The Elite was too busy to see where they went, she hopes.]

That was advanced magic. [She'll wait until Leon touches the ground before changing out of bird form.]

[As soon as he can see them rushing towards the ground, Leon tenses and tries to ready himself for the landing. Despite that, he still stumbles and falls bonelessly onto the dead grass, definitely not used to flying like that.

Though the house had taken visible damage, with shingling spilling off the roof and the sidings punched through as if it had been paper, it still provided some cover from the air. He scoots over to the side of the house to catch his breath, still warily glancing upward.]

Yeah... Nothing less will definitely knock them down. You doing okay?

[She's sitting, too, brown grass and brown dirt gathered under the fingers of one hand while the other arm rests in her lap, throbbing.]

I'll be okay in a minute.

[Probably more than a minute, but, details. She's never seen Leon like this, though, looking at him with mild interest.]

You don't like flying?

Not used to it.

[At all. He groans and resists the urge to rub at his face, taking a deep breath.]

Funny, huh? I'm used to teleporting around knowing exactly what's happening, but not flying.

[He scoots closer to Raven, look at her arm worriedly before reaching into his bag.]

I have a few potions, so we shouldn't need to use any healing magic.

[Especially Filial magic.]

[So Leon gets...flight sick? Not that she ever expects to do that again, but it's good to know.

When he appear beside her to peer at her arm, Raven scowls at him, pulling it away...using her other hand. She'd be stupid to say no to healing potions, though.]

Thanks. [She doesn't have a healing-magic tome with her so that's out, too.] You're doing all the hard work today.

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Zompania Draft - Draftees and Reinforcements, mid-day 4-early 7

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