We're more than carbon and chemicals

[lucetimods]

Who: All Draftees
What: Fighting Third Party
When: 26th, 27th, 28th, 1st, and 2nd
Where: The Southern Farmlands
Summary: See here for overall details.
Rating: Probably gonna be gorey in places :|a

DOESN'T NEED A CUT. People should know how this works, if not, just follow other people's lead. I'm gonna set up some strategist threads at the top, for the four strategists to use if they want to, otherwise people should start their own threads.

((Mod Note: Since this has been asked a few times, just fyi, the livestock do not talk. Happy hunting!))

Comments

[all7seas]

[The pirate is suffocating to death. Buffy's efforts only earn her more gruff laughter from the Elite; the monstrous warrior turns toward her, aiming a blow with his sword.]

[herotypical]

[ desperate measures. buffy's duck and dodge doubles as a chance to wrench the pole of her scythe between the elite's knees and twist brutally, hoping to trip him up. it leaves her on the ground -- vulnerable -- but freeing jack isn't pure self-sacrifice. she'll need him to get through this. she just needs the elite to drop him and so needs to use methods that depend less on strength and more upon the weak parts of her enemy. ]

[all7seas]

[Jack is tossed aside as the Elite, thoroughly angered now, stumbles and turns on the woman.

The pirate manages to get to hands and knees, taking long, choking gasps of air. He shakes his head to clear it and tries to gain his feet.]

[herotypical]

[ the whole maneuver sends her scythe flying. she can see it, but she can't reach it. not with the elite turning on her. she comes up with a punch -- hissing loudly when her knuckle crumple on the elite's jaw. ]

[all7seas]

[Jack finally manages to stand and retrieve the fallen sword. His left leg will not bear weight.

The choice is not a simple one: kill the shifter, and re-strengthen Buffy, or try to kill the elite captain, who looks ready to spit her on his sword.

Sparrow trusts her. God, he trusts her. Muttering not swears but a quick prayer he turns away from her to engage the shifter, aiming to behead the devil.]

[herotypical]

[ after the failed punch, the elite catches buffy's wrist in his hand, twisting brutally until there is a snap. something in that arm is broken but the pain flares up so high that she can hardly pinpoint the exact where of the break. she claws out with her opposite hand. girly fight techniques -- dragging nails across whatever skin she can reach. digging in and trying to play the old game of redirecting pain into power. it's not working.

she stumbles backwards. jack going after the shifter? good. she is glad he made that choice. it's the best opportunity they have. she needs to get back to the scythe -- so she side-steps, hoping to avoid the elite's reach but only ends up caught up from behind. too slow. unable to react.

she bites down hard on the thick arm acting as a restraint across her chest; the elite twitches but doesn't let go. ]

[all7seas]

[Fortunately for Jack, the Shifter had made up his mind that the pirate was out of the fight. He was closing in on the struggle between the Elite and the Slayer, giving Sparrow a window of opportunity to take his wings as a trophy.

Jack staggered up behind the unaware Shifter and sliced cleanly through the his feathers, dropping him. The glowing eyes closed. Whatever hold he had had over Buffy, the pirate hoped, was broken.

There is no time to wonder about this, or to gloat over the victory. It is now Jack's turn to buy Buffy some time. To be a distraction. He hefts a dagger in his hand before hurling it at the Elite's back, burying it to the hilt deep into the joint of his wing. When he yells, his voice is hoarse, brutalized from the soldier's grip:]

Bastard.

[herotypical]

[ this is brutal. she can feel consciousness being squeezed out of her and her struggling does little to change that. this is worse than the test on her eighteenth -- then, she had a chance. she had holy water. now she has nothing. she thrashes her head backwards, hoping to smash the guy's nose in. it only adds yet another batch of pain.

only she hears his yell and before buffy even feels the strength flood back into her body, she realizes that she has one last thing. she has jack sparrow. the elite's grip loosened but by now she can kick and shove and break free. the after-panic of being helpless is still clear on her face and she takes it out on the elite with a firm, snappy roundhouse kick. this should deliver the soldier deftly into jack's care. ]

[all7seas]

[Armored wings. The pirate isn't prepared for how tough they are as the soldier is thrown back toward him by Buffy's kick. His sword is sharp, though. He manages to hack one wing mostly all the way through at the base before his knee gives way again---not totally disconnecting the wing, but harming it. Badly. It dangles from a few shreds as the enraged and now seriously injured Elite tries to pin Sparrow to the ground with his sword.

Jack rolls out of the way, getting to his feet once more, somehow.]

[herotypical]

[ she stoops to reclaim her scythe, spinning it easily in her hand. it's her turn now to come up behind the elite, slamming her heel into the small of his back. she takes her blade to the hanging wing. it's easy to sever but the second armoured one will take more work than she can complete considering the soldier's extreme aversion to losing it encouraged a lot of wriggling away.

so buffy steps back to regain her footing. she wants to punish the soldier for taking the power from her -- it may have been the shifter who worked the magic, but it was this elite who had been the physical agent of that helplessness. this earns him a heavy kick to the gut before he can stand. ]

[all7seas]

[Jack is happy to stand and watch, favoring that left leg. Smiling not entirely wholesomely at the slayer toying with her prey as he wipes the blood from his face.]

[herotypical]

[ the elite becomes incapacitated pretty quickly. she leans in and hacks the second wing off as though she has been doing it all day. mostly because it's what she has been doing all day.

in the end, she steps back and sighs a very long and troubled sigh. ] Check the third one. He was still alive. [ at least, he was a few minutes ago. ]

[all7seas]

Not anymore, Annie. [Because Sparrow has just slit his throat. And looks rather miserable about it, surprisingly.]

Bastards.

[herotypical]

[ she exhibits some post-trauma fidgeting. jitters, dragging bloody hands through her hair. this isn't the kind of thing she handles well. ]

Jack. [ she frowns. ] You're a little...bashed up.

[all7seas]

[He sniffs and wipes a sleeve across that bloodied face.] So're you, Buffy; you alright?

[herotypical]

[ she is holding the arm that was broken closer to her side -- favouring it, for sure. ] I'll be fine in a bit...thanks to you.

[all7seas]

[He stagger-limps over to her, frowning.] Show me.

[herotypical]

You should take a seat. [ she gives her upper-arm a few exploratory squeezes; she bits back on the wincing. ] That leg.

[ none of this at all equates to showing him anything. ]

[all7seas]

It's broken? [Anger. Worry. Check. Jack's hand hovers an inch or two away from the arm, not touching.]

[herotypical]

[ she turns towards him. to do anything else would just be admitting to how shaken she is. ] It'll heal.

[ there's a tree not too far off. she could head for it and just sit down herself. would he follow, she wonders. ] It's not the first bone I've broken.

[all7seas]

[He sways slightly, then goes about wiping his blade on the coat of the fallen Elite.] Need to get you to a healer. Mistress Raine, or our Bones.

[herotypical]

[ she shakes her head. ] No, it really won't take lo-- [ she stops dead, mid-sentence, and looks at how jack is swaying.

fine. seeing a healer means he at least has to get to one, too. so she shuts up and begins to nod instead. ]

[all7seas]

Right. Knew you'd see it my way, Annie. Let's get someplace...else. [Other than here. Other than slippery grass with crows circling overhead and broken feathers scattered. It's too close to the visions he had of her meeting the General.

His voice might still have been very hoarse and gruff, but that was simply due to his windpipe being nearly crushed by the elite and to the aftershock of fear at seeing her in his grasp, being hurt that way.]

Might be something I can do for you.

[herotypical]

[ the arm would never have broken had she been at the top of her game; additionally, a simple dislocation she could have solved by having jack hold onto her arm while she popped it back into place. this definitely is a break, though. at least the pain is now manageable.

she begins to walk. ] ...Something? [ wary. ] Something like what?

[all7seas]

Raine gave me some things, before we left. [Haltingly, he starts behind her. Slow going.]